Matthew 7:7–11)

You Can Trust God

(Matthew 7:7–11)

rayer—no subject is more precious or more help] that ever fell upon human ears.”5 I have needed. John Wallace (1802–1870), a Scot- titled this lesson “You Can Trust God.” tish clergyman, wrote, “[Prayer] moves the PHand which moves the world.”1 The British poet TO ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) said, “More things (7:7, 8) are wrought by prayer than this world dreams 2 First, the passage teaches that you can trust of.” US President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), God to answer your prayers. Jesus said, “Ask, and referring to the dark days of the US Civil War, it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; said, “I have been driven many times to my knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had 3 who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and nowhere else to go.” to him who knocks it will be opened” (vv. 7, 8). In previous lessons on the Sermon on the Mount, we have received instruction and encour- Persistent Petitions agement regarding prayer. In Matthew 6:5–8, we The key words in verses 7 and 8 are “ask,” learned how not to pray: We are not to pray “to be “seek,” and “knock.” The word “ask” expresses seen by men.” In 6:9–15, we learned how to pray as desire. Phillip Brooks defined prayer as “a wish we studied “The Model Prayer.” Now, in 7:7–11, turned God-ward.”6 “Ask” also indicates de- we will be told what to expect when we pray. pendency on God.7 The word “seek” conveys a In the lesson before this one, we looked briefly sense of urgency. In Jeremiah 29:13 the Lord said, at Matthew 7:7–11 as it related to “getting along 4 “You will seek Me and find Me when you search with others.” In this lesson, we want to examine for Me with all your heart.” The term “knock” this potent passage more closely. It is my favorite suggests perseverance. The parallel passage in passage on the power of prayer. E. Stanley Jones Luke (11:9–13) follows Jesus’ parable of the man called it “the most intimate, the most gracious, who would not take “no” for an answer when he and the most utterly adequate offer of [divine was trying to get food for an unexpected guest (vv. 5–8). 1John A. Wallace (http://www.fullbooks.com/The- World-s-Best-Poetry--Volume-108.html. Internet; accessed Most agree that in the progression from “ask” 26 July 2008). to “seek” to “knock,” there is an increase in in- 2Alfred Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur, line 247; quoted in tensity. One writer illustrated the progression Frank S. Mead, comp. and ed., The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations (Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1965), with the account of a child who has bumped his 348. 3Abraham Lincoln; quoted in Frank S. Mead, comp. and ed., The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations (Westwood, 5E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of the Mount (New York: N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1965), 342. Abingdon Press, 1931), 256. 4You may want to review the discussion of Matthew 6Mead, 337. 7:7–11 in the previous lesson “Getting Along with Oth- 7You may want to review the need to be “poor in spirit” ers.” (Matthew 5:3).

1 knee and wants his mother.8 He calls out for her, If anything is clearly taught in the Bible, it asking her to come. If there is no answer, he goes is that God answers prayer. “. . . out of 667 looking for her. If he discovers that she is in her prayers for specific things in the Bible there are room with the door shut, he pounds on the door 454 traceable answers.”10 I asked my Bible class until she answers. Another writer used the illus- for some of their favorite passages on God’s an tration of a man trying to locate an old friend.9 swering prayer, and here are some of texts they He asks regarding his friend’s whereabouts. He shared:11 seeks the place where he lives. Then he goes and knocks on his door. I sought the Lo r d , and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears It is interesting to note that the word “ask” (Psalm 34:4). begins with an “a,” “seek” with an “s,” and “knock” with a “k.” By a happy coincidence, when “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received you put those letters together, they spell “ask.” them, and they will be granted you” (Mark Jesus wants us to ask. James wrote, “You do not 11:24). have because you do not ask” (4:2). However, The effective prayer of a righteous man can ac- Jesus does not want us to ask once and quit. He complish much (James 5:16b). wants us to keep on asking and not cease from asking. “Ask,” “seek,” and “knock” are all in the And whatever we ask we receive from Him present tense in the Greek, indicating continuous (1 John 3:22a). action. The AB has “Keep on asking,” “Keep on seeking,” and “Keep on knocking.” Jesus taught Many other passages could be listed to show His disciples “that at all times they ought to pray that God answers prayer, but no single passage and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). teaches this truth more clearly or with greater power than our text: “Ask, and it will be given to A Powerful Promise you; seek, and you will find; knock, and itwill be If we persist in prayer, here is the wonderful opened to you.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, promise: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, “I cannot imagine a better, more cheering or a and you will find; knock, and it will be opened more comforting statement with which to face all to you” (v. 7). To make sure we do not miss the the uncertainties and hazards of our [lives]. . . . message, the Lord repeated the promise and, if It is one of those great comprehensive and gra- possible, made it even stronger: “For everyone cious promises which are to be found only in who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and the Bible.”12 to him who knocks it will be opened” (v. 8). Some people protest: “Wait a minute! God The words of Jesus are true to some extent hasn’t answered my prayer! I’m hoarse from in all spheres of life—whether we are talking asking, I’m exhausted from seeking, and my about acquiring a skill, making money, improv- knuckles are bruised from knocking. But I ing our health, or reaching some other desired haven’t received or found, and the door is still goal. If we want something, we generally have shut tight!” Passages like Matthew 7:7–11 teach to persevere in seeking to attain it. Few goals are that God answers prayer, but they do not teach reached without earnest seeking. That which is that prayer is some sort of magical incantation generally true in the secular world is even more that compels God to say “yes” to our every wish. true in the spiritual realm. If we desire to be Other passages teach that there are conditions to blessed by the Lord, we must ask, we must ear- acceptable prayer. nestly seek, and we must persist in knocking. If We must ask according to God’s will. “This is the we will do these things, Jesus promised that we will receive, we will find, and the door of bless- 10 ings will be flung open. Eleanor L. Doan, comp., The Speaker’s Sourcebook (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960), 193. 11Other texts given included Psalm 32:5; Hebrews 5:7; 8Richard Glover; alluded to in John R. W. Stott, The James 1:5; 5:14, 15. Message of the Sermon on the Mount, The Bible Speaks Today 12D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the series (Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1978), 184. Mount, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans 9Jones, 278. Publishing Co., 1959), 195.

2 confidence which we have before Him, that, if The biblical view is that life is a journey, a we ask anything according to His will, He hears journey full of perplexities and uncertainties.15 us” (1 John 5:14). What matters in this world is not so much the We must ask in faith. “But he must ask in faith problems we meet as whether or not we are ready without any doubting, for the one who doubts to meet them. One thing that will help us is the is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by certainty that God answers our prayers. the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James TO GIVE YOU 1:6, 7). ONLY GOOD THINGS (7:9–11) We must pray unselfishly. “You ask and do not You can trust God to answer your prayers. You receive, because you ask with wrong motives, can also trust God to give you only good things. so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Earthly Fathers (vv. 9, 10). Protesters speak up again: “Conditions for In the next section of our text, Jesus first prayer? So God just answers prayers if they spoke of earthly fathers: “Or what man is there meet all the conditions. I knew there had to be among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will a catch!” Give the matter serious thought, and I give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will believe you will be happy there are conditions. The not give him a snake, will he?” (vv. 9, 10).16 The idea of God immediately granting every request Sermon on the Mount was preached in Galilee. might sound like a dream come true, but such an The most common foods found around the Sea arrangement would soon become a nightmare. of Galilee were bread and fish. (Remember the We frequently ask for stones and snakes when little boy’s lunch in John 6:9?) Also, the shoreline we think we are asking for bread and fish. Alec of the sea had an abundance of water-smoothed Motyer wrote, limestone rocks and a variety of snakes which hid among the rocks. If it were the case that whatever we ask, God Jesus’ first illustration was about a son ask- was pledged to give, then I for one would never pray again, because I would not have ing his father for bread. Jesus asked, in effect, sufficient confidence in my own wisdom to “Would a loving father respond to that request ask God for anything; and I think if you con- by playing a cruel joke on his son? Would he put sider it you will agree. It would impose an 17 intolerable burden on frail human wisdom if a round, brown rock in his son’s hand?” The 18 by his prayer-promises God was pledged to implied answer is “Of course not!” In the second give whatever we ask, when we ask it, and in illustration, the joke turns deadly as a snake is exactly the terms we ask. How could we bear the burden?13 substituted for a fish. Since, as a rule, snakes do not resemble fish, some writers have suggested that “snake” (o¡fiß, ophis) may refer “to some eel- Let us not detract, however, from the won- 19 drous promise of our text: God answers the like fish without scales.” Jews were forbidden to prayers of His children. He may not always an- 15 swer “yes,” but He always answers. One preacher This sentence and the next were adapted from Lloyd- Jones, 195. used a simple outline to illustrate possible divine 16The parallel reference in Luke 11 has a third illustra- answers: tion: an egg vs. a scorpion (v. 12). A large, pale scorpion curled up into a ball might resemble an egg. 17 o If the request is wrong, God says, “No.” When you read “loaf,” do not think of a large loaf of o If the timing is wrong, God says, “Slow.” bread. Think of a small, individual loaf. In my part of the o If you are wrong, God says, “Grow.” world, some of us would call such a loaf “a dinner roll.” A o But if the request is right, the timing is right round, brownish stone would resemble this loaf/roll. 18 and you are right, God says, “Go!”14 Both questions asked by Jesus contain a negative (mh, \ me) which calls for a negative response: “No, a father would not do that.” 19 Robert H. Mounce, Matthew, New International Bibli- cal Commentary (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 13Alec Motyer, Studies in the Epistle of James (London: 1991), 66. One writer referred to “the eel-like catfish of New Mildmay Press, 1968), 88. Galilee, Clarias lazera” (R. T. France, The Gospel According to 14Bill Hybels, Too Busy Not to Pray, rev. ed. (Downers Matthew, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Grand Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1998), 88. Emphasis added. Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1985], 144).

3 eat fish without scales (see Leviticus 11:12). If a are not good (either not good within themselves, father gave a scale-less fish to his son, he would or not good for us or others, directly or indirectly, render him ceremonially unclean. Whether a immediately or ultimately) he denies them.” Stott snake or an eel-like fish, it would be a harmful concluded his thought with these words: “and joke—harmful either physically or spiritually. only he knows the difference.”23 Jesus said that a responsible father would never, (2) God is always able to give what is good to His never do that to his son. children. Regarding what I could do for my chil- Jesus wanted us to understand that our dren, I was limited by time, energy, and finances. heavenly Father does not treat us like that. The God does not have those limitations. Paul wrote, pagans in Jesus’ day believed in gods who played “And God is able to make all grace abound to tricks that were painful and hurtful. One Greek you, so that always having all sufficiency in ev- myth told of a goddess who fell in love with a erything, you may have an abundance for every mortal man.20 The king of the gods offered the good deed” (2 Corinthians 9:8). goddess any gift she desired for her lover. She (3) God is always kind to His children. Have asked that he live forever—but she failed to ask you ever lost your patience with your children that he remain young. He grew older and older and said or done something you regret? I do not and older, but he could not die. The gift became like to recall such moments, but on occasion I a curse. The true God is not like that. was short-tempered with my children, especially when I was exhausted or frustrated. God does The Heavenly Father (v. 11) not have the deficiencies of human parents (see Jesus was ready to make His application. Hav- Isaiah 49:15). ing talked about how human parents respond to (4) God is always near when His children need their children’s requests, He said, “If you then, Him. There have been times when one of my being evil, know how to give good gifts to your daughters needed me and I was unable to get to children, how much more will your Father who her immediately. God, however, is always near, is in heaven give what is good to those who ask always ready to give “what is good” to His chil- Him!” (v. 11). dren. The Lord is “a God who is near . . . and not “When compared with God, all men, even a God far off” (Jeremiah 23:23). kind parents, are evil.”21 We all fall short. When When Jesus said that God gives “what is my daughters were growing up, I tried my best good to those who ask Him,” what good things to be a good father. I did what I thought was did He have in mind? In the parallel passage in best for them at any given time. Now, when I Luke, instead of “what is good,” the text has “the look back, I see many mistakes I made, and I am Holy Spirit” (11:13). In Luke 11 the emphasis in sure I made other mistakes of which I am still the passage is on spiritual blessings God gives unaware. How thankful we should be that our His children.24 As noted previously, these are heavenly Father does not have the shortcomings the most important “good things” He gives us. we human parents have! Unlike us. . . .22 However, in Matthew 7 physical blessings are al- (1) God knows what is best for His children. It most certainly included. In chapter 6 the promise was not always easy to know what was best for was made that God gives the physical necessities my girls, but God always knows what is best. John of life to those who seek first His kingdom and R. W. Stott wrote, “. . . if we ask [God] for good righteousness (6:33). In His model prayer, Jesus things, he grants them; if we ask for things which indicated that we are to pray for both physical and spiritual blessings (6:11, 12). The phrase 20Adapted from William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, “what is good,” therefore, surely refers to all the vol. 1, rev. ed., The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 275. 21David Hill, The Gospel of Matthew, New Century Bible 23Stott, 189. Commentary series (London: Butler & Tanner Ltd., 1978), 24According to Romans 8, many of the spiritual bless- 149. Jesus did not use the word “evil” to teach the doctrine ings we enjoy are directly or indirectly related to the Holy of total hereditary depravity. Spirit. See the discussion of that chapter in David Roper, 22The following list was suggested in W. Robertson “No Condemnation . . . in Christ,” in “Romans, 5,” Truth for Nicoll, ed., The Sermon Outline Bible: Matthew 1—21 (Grand Today (February 2006): 35–41, and David Roper, “Romans, Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1958), 182. 6,” Truth for Today (March 2006): 3–51.

4 good gifts we receive from our heavenly Father. keep on knocking. Do we need to do this because As James wrote, “Every good thing given and God is like a stingy miser whom we must per- every perfect gift is from above, coming down suade to give us good things? No, when we look from the Father of lights . . .” (James 1:17). at our text as a whole, we see that Jesus was Sometimes Christians object, “But I’m a child teaching that we should persist in prayer because of God, and He hasn’t given me good things! In we are confident that God is generous and fact, some really bad things have happened to openhearted. If we keep asking, seeking, and me lately!” I wish I had the ability and insight to knocking, we will receive, we will find, and it explain satisfactorily why “bad things” happen, will be opened to us. but I do not. What I can do is suggest several Does this mean that God will give us any- truths to keep in mind. thing and everything we ask for, exactly as we First, we do not always know what is best for ask for it, and precisely at the time we ask for us. We may think we know. We may be certain it? No, God is not an indulgent grandfather with every fiber of our being that we know—but who will gratify our every whim. He gives us we do not. My four-year-old grandson thinks eat- only what is good for us to have. Neither is God ing nothing but cookies would be a good thing, a mean-spirited practical joker who tricks or but he is wrong. As human beings, we know as tantalizes His children. You can trust God. You little about what is truly “good” for us as my can trust Him to answer your prayers. You can grandson knows about nutrition. trust Him to give you only good things. Second, that which we think is bad may turn Understand, however, that the promises out to be a blessing. The psalmist wrote, “It is good of Matthew 7:7–11 are based on a father/child for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your relationship. To appropriate them, you must be statutes” (Psalm 119:71). Perhaps you have heard a child of God. Are you His child? Have you the words attributed to an unknown Confederate come to Him through faith and obedience? Paul soldier during the US Civil War:25 wrote, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were He asked for strength that he might achieve; baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves he was made weak that he might obey. He asked for health that he might do greater with Christ” (Galatians 3:26, 27). If you are a things; he was given infirmity that he might do child, are you a faithful child? Long ago, God better things. said to His unfaithful children, “Return, O He asked for riches that he might be happy; he was given poverty that he might be wise. faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness” He asked for power that he might have the (Jeremiah 3:22a). If you need to become a praise of men; he was given weakness that he child of God, or if you are an unfaithful child might feel the need of God. He asked for all things that he might enjoy who needs to return to God, now is the time life; he was given life that he might enjoy all (2 Corinthians 6:2). things. He had nothing that he asked for, but everything that he hoped for. His prayer is answered. Preaching and Teaching Notes He is most blessed. Various applications can be made in your conclusion to this lesson. Here is one possibil- Third, only God knows what is ultimately best ity: “In this study, we have talked about prayer. for us. We must therefore leave all matters in His Now it is time to stop talking and start doing. hands. We need to pray, as Jesus did, “. . . not My Determine to intensify your prayer life, start- will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42b). ing today.” The three segments on prayer in the Sermon CONCLUSION on the Mount could be studied in one lesson We are to ask and keep on asking. We are to on “Three Truths You Need to Know About seek and keep on seeking. We are to knock and Prayer.” The lesson could be divided as follows: “How Not to Pray” (Matthew 6:5–8), “How to 25Quoted in Ralph Sweet, Moments on the Mount, Living Pray” (6:9–15), and “What to Expect When You Word series (Austin, Tex.: R. B. Sweet Co., 1963), 65. Pray” (7:7–11).

5 However, the main problem with such reason- ing is that (as Moses put it), “God is not a man” “Universal Salvation”? (Numbers 23:19a; emphasis added). We cannot In Matthew 7:7–11, God’s relationship with reason, “We would do this, so God will do this.” His children is compared to the relationship of God Himself has revealed that unbelievers and a human father with his son. Any comparison of the disobedient will be punished (see 2 Thessa- God to humans must be limited to the specific lonians 1:7–9). It is not even necessary to leave message of the text. Some have taken the com- the Sermon on the Mount to learn this truth (see parison in Matthew 7:7–11 too far; they use it to Matthew 7:13, 14, 21–23). Harold Fowler wrote, teach universal salvation. They reason, “A lov- “The concept of eternal punishment for unfor- ing father would never punish his son eternally. given sins, in whomever they might be found, is Therefore, God will not send any into eternal God’s idea, and man is a fool to argue with Him punishment.” Many errors are found in that rea- about it.”26 David Roper soning. For instance, the passage is referring only to those whom God recognizes as His children, 26Harold Fowler, Matthew I, Bible Study Textbook Series not to mankind in general. (Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1968), 413.