We All have Need…So Ask
By Pastor Michael McPherson

Part 8 of an 8 Part Series

              I.      Introduction:  I like to begin each sermon with a reminder of the importance of getting ready to receive the Word of God.  As you read these questions, realize the conditions that are required for the Word of God to produce fruit in your life.

a.       Who believes they will hear the Word of God today?

b.      Who is ready to have the Holy Spirit teach them?

c.       Who has come to humbly receive God’s Word today?

d.      Who is ready to put the Word you hear today into practice?

           II.      Before we begin today’s lesson, let us first review what we have covered in the previous seven lessons.

a.       Without abiding in fellowship with Jesus we can do nothing worthwhile.

b.      One way to help maintain this fellowship is by Asking, Seeking, and Knocking (A.S.K.)

c.       We need to ask and keep on asking.

                                                               i.      We are indigent on our own and prayer needs to be the foundation of everything we do.

d.      We need to seek and keep on seeking.

                                                               i.      We are not supposed to seek after things; we are supposed to keep seeking to “See the King.

1.      In other words, we are supposed to seek God’s rule in our lives.

2.      One of the hardest parts of seeking God’s rule is hearing His voice.

3.      We can seek God’s rule by hearing His voice through sign and wonders, the Bible, circumstances, the Church and through prayer.

                                                             ii.      God is speaking, are you listening?

e.       Hearing from God can be difficult.

                                                               i.      On our own, we tend to misunderstand what God is saying.

                                                             ii.      On our own, Satan tries to deceive us and can even use signs and wonders to misguide us.

                                                            iii.      On our own, our selfish and deceitful hearts can twist what God is saying.

                                                           iv.      This is why we absolutely need the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth and application of what God is saying.

         III.      Only the Spirit can guide us into the truth of what God is saying.

a.       One way the Spirit helps us to know God’s voice is by helping us to know God.

b.      We need to know God well enough to know what He would and would not say.

c.       Our natural minds cannot properly know God.

d.      We need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through the Bible.

e.       We need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through our experience.

f.        Part of allowing the Spirit to guide us into knowing God, is allowing the Spirit to change our mind by burning any wrong “mental maps” we have about God.

        IV.      Another way the Spirit guides us into the truth of what God is saying is through helping us to know God’s voice.

a.       Knowing God’s voice comes only by growing in an intimate, experiential love relationship with Him.

b.      There is no formula for growing in an intimate relationship with God.

c.       However, Scripture does tell us that prayer, the church, being filled with the Spirit and having Christ in your heart are all keys to being able to experience God’s love and being filled with the fullness of God.

d.      Not only do we need to know God, we also need to wait for Him to reveal His Word.

e.       Waiting is an active time when we examine ourselves, empty our hearts, and remain spiritually attentive.

           V.      Asking and seeking are not all that we need to do to help us abide.

Matt 7:7-8
 

7 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.  AMP

        VI.      Not only are we to ask and keep on asking, to seek and keep on seeking, but we are also to knock and keep on knocking.

a.       What does it mean to knock and keep on knocking?

                                                               i.      You knock on a door.

                                                             ii.      A door is something you go through to access someone or something.

                                                            iii.      Knocking is what we must do to access what God has provided for us.

b.      Once we have asked for God’s provisions, and we have sought God’s rule in the situation, then we need access what He has given us.

                                                               i.      In other words, after we ask and seek, we are knocking to find God’s grace in our lives.

                                                             ii.      Remember, grace is the activity of God in your life.

                                                            iii.      We knock to access God’s working in our lives.

                                                           iv.      How do we knock?  Through a living faith in Jesus.

                                                             v.      Let’s look at this concept in more detail.

      VII.      Jesus is the door through which we access God’s grace.

John 10:9
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

a.       Note that Jesus says, “I am the door”.

b.      In other words He was saying, “I am the only access”.

                                                               i.      It is only through Christ that we can access the fullness of what God has for us.

1.      Through the Law we have access to blessings and curses.

2.      Through works we have access to reaping and sowing.

3.      But through Christ we have access to the fullness of God’s grace.

a.       Through Christ we have eternal life.  (Jn 3:14-15)

b.      Through Christ we become the Children of God. (Eph 1:5)

c.       Through Christ we have forgiveness of sins. (Mt 26:28)

d.      Through Christ we can approach the Throne of Grace. (Heb 4:15-16)

e.       Through Christ we are filled with the Spirit. (Jn 14:26)

4.      It is through Christ that we have access to all of the fullness of God’s grace.

c.       Note that here specifically Jesus is saying that if you enter through Him you will be saved and you will find pasture.

                                                               i.      By entering once through the “door of Christ”, we are saved.

1.      Once we have truly entered through Him, our salvation is secured. (Jn 10:29)

2.      Once we have entered through the door of Christ, the grace of salvation is our forever.

a.       Please note that not all who think they have entered through Christ have actually done so.

b.      We will speak more about this later.

                                                             ii.      Note also that this Scripture says that those who enter in through Christ find pasture.

1.      In other words by entering in through Christ we find provisions.

a.       A pasture is where a sheep’s need for food and water where met.

b.      The pasture of the Good Shepherd is where all of your needs will be met.

2.      Observe that the sheep “go in and out” to find pasture.

a.       To find salvation we only need to go through the door once.

b.      To find the fullness of God’s provisions of grace we need to go to the door continually.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Remember in the Lord’s Prayer we are taught to ask for “daily bread”.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      In other words God wants us to come to Him daily for provisions.

c.       The grace of provisions, like manna, needs to be received anew every day.

   VIII.      If Jesus is the door, to what or whom does He give us access?  Christ gives us access to the Father!

John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

a.       Christ is the door we go through to access the Father.

                                                               i.      Often we want to go through Christ to access God’s favor or provisions.

1.      Through Christ we can get access to these blessings.

2.      But we must remember that all of these graces come from the activity of God in our lives.

                                                             ii.      Remember, grace is not a thing, but the activity of a person.

                                                            iii.      When you go through Christ to find grace, you are really going through Christ to invite God to personally move inside of you, your life and your circumstances.

                                                           iv.      Often we go before God and we want to receive a thing from Him.

1.      We seek things like money, power, wisdom, healing.

2.      We like things, because we can take them out of His presence and return back to our own selfish lives with the thing we wanted.

3.      The gifts of God are irrevocable (Rom 11:29).

a.       This means that we can take our gifts and leave God’s presence.

b.      Often God will let us take the gifts He has given us and do with them as we please.

                                                                                                                                       i.      If God gives you a great singing voice, you can use it for His purposes or your own.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      If God gives you financial blessings, you can use it for His purposes or your own.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      If God gives you the ability to influence people, you can use it for His purposes or your own.

                                                             v.      However, while you may be able to take God’s gifts and leave His presence, grace and true power are only the result of God personally working in you and your life.

1.      You can take the voice God has given you and you can leave His presence.

a.       On you own you might be able to use your talents to become successful and famous by the world’s standards.

b.      However, the grace and power to wield your singing ability to change lives and benefit the Kingdom only flow from God’s presence.

2.      You may be able to take the finances He has blessed you with out His presence.

a.       On your own you can use them to try to buy whatever temporal thing satisfies your lusts.

b.      However, the grace and power that can enable those finances to produce true fruit that will last forever, only comes from God working in your life.

3.      You might be able to take the ability to influence people and leave God’s presence.

a.       On your own you can use your charisma to become a successful politician or sales person.

b.      However, the grace and power that enable your gift to influence people to save souls only comes from being used by God.

                                                           vi.      We should knock on the door of Christ to access God working in our lives, not to receive gifts we go and do with as we please.

        IX.      So if Christ is the door we use to access the provisions of the presence of God, how do we knock?

Rom 5:1-2
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

a.       Specifically this Scripture is talking about the grace of justification.

                                                               i.      However, I believe that principal of this Scripture can be applied to the other graces God has given us.

                                                             ii.      Remember the same door by which we were “saved” is the same door we “go in and out of and find pasture”. (John 10:9)

b.      Note that we have access to this grace through Christ Jesus.

The word “access” here means “entrance to the king through the favor of another.”^[1]

                                                               i.      Again note that it is through Christ that we are brought into the presence of the King.

                                                             ii.      It is through Christ that we gain access to the Throne of Grace. (Heb 4:16)

c.       Note however, that it is by faith we are able to access the grace of God through Christ.

                                                               i.      If we want to knock, then it is in faith you must walk.

                                                             ii.      It is through faith that we access the Grace of God we have in Christ Jesus.

                                                            iii.      It is through faith that we knock on the door of Christ to gain access to the Father.

           X.      Please understand, that the faith in Christ by which we access the Father, is not just a simple belief.

a.       True faith is authored by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit. (Rom 10:17, Eph 3:16-17)

b.      Faith is the Greek word “pistis” and it means firm persuasion.

                                                               i.      We need to be firmly persuaded that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do.

                                                             ii.      We need to be so firmly persuaded, that who God is and His activity in our lives is very real to us.

c.       In true faith, this persuasion of God and His activity is so strong that it moves you not only to believe but also to work according to that belief.

James 2:26
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

                                                               i.      The persuasion of true faith is so powerful, that our actions are drawn into alignment with our beliefs.

                                                             ii.      True faith needs to be expressed in more than simple belief.

1.      True faith must be expressed through actions that correspond to our belief.

2.      True faith that is authored by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit, brings what we do, what we say and even what we think into total agreement with what we believe.

                                                            iii.      Without our actions aligning with our beliefs, our faith is like a body without a spirit: dead and useless.

d.      True faith in Christ is so powerful that it not only moves us to do works, it can move us into an intimate relationship with Christ in which He dwells in our hearts.

Eph 3:17
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

                                                               i.      Note that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith.

                                                             ii.      Note also that the dwelling caused by faith is so powerful that it causes us to be rooted and grounded in love.

1.      This means that love becomes the foundation of all that we do.

2.      It is only this relationship caused by true faith that allows us to keep the commandment we find in 1 Cor 16.

1 Cor 16:14
14 Let all that you do be done with love.

3.      All the works that faith moves us to do are to be done with love.

4.      It is faith working through love that avails in the Kingdom of God. (Gal 5:6)

e.       True faith is a persuasion so powerful that it moves you and enables you to walk in loving obedience.

                                                               i.      True faith persuades us that Jesus is the Son of God.

                                                             ii.      True faith persuades us that He died for our Sins.

                                                            iii.      True faith persuades us of the love of Christ toward us.

                                                           iv.      True faith persuades us of His holiness and righteousness.

                                                             v.      True faith persuades us that He wants to be an intimate part of our lives.

                                                           vi.      True faith persuades us that He wants to exercise His love and power in and through our lives.

                                                          vii.      True faith persuades us that He wants what is best for us.

f.        True faith persuades us of who God is, what He is doing in our lives and what He wants to do in our lives.

                                                               i.      By the power of God these persuasions are energized and they move us to respond to these beliefs with loving obedience.

g.       The faith that moves you to loving obedience is the faith that knocks on the door of Christ.

                                                               i.      This is the faith that was required for us to be saved.

1.      Those that think they are saved should test themselves to see if they are in the faith. (2 Cor 13:5)

2.      They should ask God to send the Spirit of Truth to help them look at their lives to see if they have a faith that has brought Christ into their hearts.

3.      They should ask God to help them to see if their lives have the fruit of loving obedience.

                                                             ii.      This is also the faith that is required to receive the fullness of God’s provisions.

1.      We need this type of faith to receive the provisions we ask of God.

Matt 21:22
22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

2.      We receive provisions as our prayers are empowered by true faith.

3.      But remember simple belief is only half of the story.

a.       True belief moves us to loving obedience.

1 John 3:22
22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

b.      To receive the fullness of God’s provisions, we need true faith that is powerful enough to produce the fruit of loving obedience.

                                                            iii.      This is the faith that “knocks” on the door to access salvation.

                                                           iv.      This is the faith that “knocks” on the door to access provisions.

        XI.      Remember, however, that it is not enough just to knock on the door.

a.       We need to knock and keep on knocking.

b.      In other words we need to allow God to help us to live a life of a living faith in Jesus.

c.       We need to allow God to help us live a lifestyle of faith that produces a lifestyle of loving obedience.

      XII.      How do we put this into practice?

a.       Once you have asked God for provision, and you have sought His rule for the situation, you need to walk in faith.

                                                               i.      This means believing that God is going to do what He said He would do.

                                                             ii.      This also means doing what God told you to do.

b.      To knock we need to walk in the faith that moves us to believe and lovingly obey.

c.       We must knock and rely on God to do all of the work required to open the door

   XIII.      Usually, you cannot knock on a door and stay where you are.

a.       There are often times in life when we must move from where we are to position ourselves to receive from God.

1 Kings 17:2-11
2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 "Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, "Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink." 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

b.      Note that in order for Elijah to receive the provisions of the Lord, twice he had to leave where he was and follow the command of God.

c.       Elijah’s loving obedience allowed Him to follow the provision God had made for Him.

d.      Note also that in the first instance God had commanded the ravens to feed Elijah.

                                                               i.      Ravens were considered to be an unclean animal and were considered to be one of the abominations among birds (Lev 11:13).

                                                             ii.      God used unclean animals to provide for Elijah.

                                                            iii.      Do not put God in a box as to how He is going to provide for you.

                                                           iv.      Once He has told you how He will provide for you, believe that He is going to do it the prefect way and obey anything He tells you.

e.       Sometimes the hardest box to break is for us to do nothing but believe.

                                                               i.      There are times when God will tell you that you have to do nothing and He will provide everything.

a.       He calls us to rest from all attempts so that we can receive the fullness of His goodness.

b.      He calls us to cease from all of our work in order to receive the fullness of His gifts.

                                                             ii.      Remember, we are knocking on a door.

1.      You only knock on doors because you cannot open them yourself.

a.       There are some doors upon which I knock because they are locked and I do not have the key.

b.      There are some doors upon which I knock because they are closed and I do not have permission to open them myself.

2.      Regardless of the reason, I knock on a door because I cannot just open it myself.

                                                            iii.      Sometimes it is very hard for us to knock and then do nothing but rely on God to open the door.

1.      It is very hard for some of us to do nothing but believe.

2.      Often we convince ourselves we need to do something to help God.

a.       If God has asked you to rest, any attempts you make to “help” God are likely to only make things worse.

b.      Like when Abraham and Sarah tried to help God bring forth the son of promise, all your work will do is bring forth an Ishmael.

c.       Our “help” often does nothing but mess things up.

3.      Sometimes we feel like we have to do something to earn provisions.

a.       Grace is a free provision from God.

b.      There is nothing you can do to earn God’s grace.

c.       We can position ourselves to receive the benefits of His loving work; but please understand that no amount of obedience is worth enough to earn grace.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Grace cannot be earned.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      “Knocking” is about positioning ourselves to receive a gift we could never deserve.

f.        Note also that after a time Elijah had to once again move to remain in God’s provisions.

                                                               i.      Where you are abiding in God’s blessings now, may not be where God’s grace will provide for you later.

1.      As humans we tend to dislike change.

a.       I have taught classes in which no seats were assigned to the students, and yet for 15 weeks almost all of the students would come and sit in the exact same seat throughout the class.

b.      We must be careful not to let our patterns of “comfortable” behavior hinder us from receiving from God’s grace.

2.      We must never get so comfortable in our behavior that we stop seeking God for direction.

a.       Remember we are to ask and keep on asking.

b.      We are to seek and keep on seeking.

c.       We are to knock and keep on knocking.

   XIV.      One last word about knocking before we close.

a.       We must knock and keep on knocking.

b.      There is no expiration date for walking in faith and obedience.

c.       There are times when God tells us He is going to provide for us and calls us to loving obedience, and yet the grace seems to tarry.

                                                               i.      Whether it was Noah and the Ark or Abraham and Isaac-there are periods when the people of God had to keep on knocking for a long time.

                                                             ii.      There will be times when we must keep on moving in faith even though we have not yet received.

                                                            iii.      If God’s grace seems to tarry, do not grow weary of doing good.

                                                           iv.      Keep knocking and in due time God will pour out His grace upon you. 

Lesson Summary:

• In addition to asking and seeking, we need to keep on knocking.
• We knock on the door of Christ to access God and His grace.
• We knock on the door of Christ by walking in faith.
• Faith is not just a simple belief, but a firm persuasion of God and His activity that is strong enough to move us to loving obedience.
• A life of faith will move us to position ourselves to receive God’s grace.
• In living a lifestyle of faith, we need to remember not to put God in a box, not to stop seeking God, and not to quit.