We’re in Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 through 14.

Matthew 7, 7 through 14.

Jesus goes on to say this,

Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

I was outside last night, and this strange thing happened. Water started falling from the sky.

Yeah, and that is something we haven’t seen in a long time because we’ve been in a drought. And you begin to accept things as normal that aren’t. My grass is a very nice shade of brown. And I just kind of, hey, it’s brown, and that’s what grass looks like. I have one gardenia that looks so pitiful. I think it’s dead. I don’t think it’s coming back, right? And why is that that way? Because we had a great lack, didn’t we, for a long time. And we need more rain. And when we have a great lack, we tend often to just accept it as a new normal. We’re at the very end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We’ll just be in it one more time next week. But I want us to think about why has Jesus come, and why has Jesus shown up as the God-man? Why has Christ gotten in front of the people and with the language of the people, preached this sermon?

Well, He’s done it, friends, because you and I have a great lack. We have a great need. We have a great need of heaven. We’re filled with that which we should not be, and we’re empty of what we should have. So Christ is here to preach to us about our great need. Will we listen? Will we listen?

Verse 7, Jesus says, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. So ask. Jesus says seek. Jesus says knock. The Lord is adamant. We do this in three separate ways. Jesus near begs us, His followers, to implore the Father time and time and time again. And He assures us, Hey, if you come to the Lord in secret prayer, it will be given to you. You will find. The door will be opened. So the command comes with a gracious promise attached to it. But what I want to say to you, this is ought we not consider at large and at length whether or not we’re asking God for the right things. Because we can, and we so often do, ask God for things He doesn’t want for us. We want from God, what He doesn’t want to see us get. Right? And to His great displeasure, we find in ourselves a heart. We find in ourselves desires that don’t line up with God’s heart and God’s desires at all. So I wish it were so that Christians were like cast iron skillets. My wife got one of these a while back. And the thing about a cast iron skillet is they are what they are. They’re not going to be changed. I mean, it is immovable. It’s heavy. I wish it were so that Christians are like that. We’re more like vases with cracks in them. That’s what we’re more like in this lifetime. We’re filled up with water, all the good stuff we need, but we leak. And we’ve got to constantly go back to the source and be filled up with the right thing so that with the right thing in us, we desire the right things. And so we ask for the right things lest we be empty or be filled with the wrong things and then still ask for the right things. The wrong things desire the wrong things. So as much as we should be rushing into the presence of God to ask, I want to say to you first, ought we not make sure the presence of God is rushing into us

so that we desire and ask for what’s right?

So if our need is great, are we asking for the right things? Are we asking for the right things? If Jesus is going to bid us, hey, you people, my people, you should come into God’s presence and ask of Him what you need. Well, are we aware of that? Are we desperate for it? Because I think the only thing worse than having a great need is not recognizing the need you have nor knowing what the remedy is. So surely Jesus isn’t trying to keep from us these right things we should be asking for. Well, He’s not at all. Well, how do we know He’s not? Well, because Jesus just spent chapters 5-7 saying explicitly what we should be asking for. So just by way of recap here, what should you and I be asking God for in our lives? Well, to go all the way back to chapter 5, we should be asking that we’re poor in spirit, that we mourn for sin, that we’re a meek people, we hunger and thirst for righteousness, that we’re merciful, that we’re pure in heart, that we’re peacemakers, that we’re okay with being persecuted for righteousness’ sake, that we bless others that don’t bless us, that we be salt and light to the earth, that we don’t get wrongly angry with people, certainly not murder them, that we don’t lust in our hearts, that we don’t get divorced as our marriages look pure and holy as Christ loved His church, that we don’t make false oaths and lie and ruin our own integrity, that we don’t retaliate against people who hurt us, that we love our enemies, that we give to the needy, that we pray right as Jesus taught us how to pray, that we fast when God’s calling us to fast and we don’t do it for His show, that we don’t lay up our hands and we don’t keep our treasures on earth but we lay them up in heaven, that we don’t have anxiety, that we would remember God is a good provider, we learned in chapter 6, that we don’t judge others last week. That’s a whole bunch of stuff, right? That’s a whole bunch of stuff. If we were to be praying, you know what, for all of that stuff in the Sermon on the Mount and everything else that Jesus has said and all the other Gospels, and if we were praying really everything else that the inspired writers have said, you know what we’d be praying for, and I’m going to say it, and I feel like at this point, I’m always waiting to see someone roll their eyes when I say it because I’ve said it so many times, but if we were praying for the Sermon on the Mount, everything Jesus has taught us, you know what we’d be praying for? We’d be praying for the kingdom of heaven in our life. That’s what we’d be praying for. For God’s spiritual rule and reign in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives. Why is that the one thing then that Jesus says you should be praying for regularly? Because, friend, hear me say it to you, the kingdom of God, if you received it, it’s the only thing that could truly satisfy you. It’s the one thing for which you need. What Matthew knows about the kingdom of heaven and Mark, Luke, and John talk about as the kingdom of God is this, Jesus, knowing Him, being overwhelmed by His power and His love will fill you up and satisfy you like nothing else. That’s what they know. No, that’s what they’re sure of. It’s what the Laodicean church forgot. Revelation 3, verse 17, Jesus says to that church, For you say, I am rich. I have prospered. I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments so you may clothe yourself in the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and sap to anoint your eyes. so that you may see those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. And here’s familiar language in Revelation that we’re looking at in Matthew. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. What is Jesus saying to that church? And what is the same thing He’s saying to us this morning? All the possessions you could accrue, all the fame and prestige you could get, all the power you could hold, all the knowledge you could attain, all the relationships you could ever make in life, nothing will satisfy you like Jesus because you were created to be satisfied in Jesus alone. It’s in the fabric of our humanity. Anything else is a lesser love if it’s not Jesus. We were created for God and His kingdom. So let me tell you, let me ask you, is Jesus and His kingdom the request of your soul?

And you know, God doesn’t force Himself on anyone. It starts with an earnest desire and a humble request. So Jesus says, hey, you should ask. You should knock. You should seek. Jesus is so kind. He knows these people are so dull, they’re not even going to ask for what I would freely give. So ask. So seek. So knock. You recall the woman, at the well, running amok, and her sexual promiscuity going from man to man to man. And Jesus says to her, if you knew who I was, you would ask me for living water. And from that day forward, she found her one satisfaction, her one purpose, her obsession, and her passion in the man Jesus Christ because this man Jesus loved her and knew her and led her in a way that no other man ever could. And she says, hey, come meet this man who satisfied me. Come meet this man that knows me really. For the first time, she knew what it was to be known, truly known and truly loved. It’s something Jesus, the man, could only give her. No one else could.

Jesus says the same things to those who wonder the world for satisfaction. But you know, He says the same thing to you and I who are in the church. He says ask. He says seek. He says knock. Have you drifted? Come back. Ask. Seek. Knock.

Paul says in Colossians 3, verse 1, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. So if we’re in Christ, we’ve crucified the desires of this, this fallen temporal kingdom and we’ve come alive to what? Desire the right things. We’ve exchanged the wrong desires and passions for the kingdom of heaven. What are you asking for? If you really got one thing you could ask for and get, and I don’t mean your church answer, you know. What is the thing that you would really say, oh, if I could have that thing, this is the desire of my soul.

You know, it’s hard to be honest with yourself because you find out things about yourself that aren’t so beautiful. Isn’t it so? But friends, Jesus is pressing. If you could ask of God, what do you really want from Him? Is it Himself?

Sir Francis Drake, he was an explorer, a naval pioneer. He was the most renowned sailor of his time in the Elizabethan era in the 16th century. He sailed the world. He accrued vast sums of gold and treasure. He had everything. But he once penned this prayer. Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little. When we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life. Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity. And in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of a new heaven to dim.

Or as the psalmist says, as the deer pants for the water, so my soul thirsts, it pants for you. And you know what I want sometimes as a preacher, and it never works out? What I always want is to come up with these big, beautiful words, and if I could just preach a sermon just right, and just say the gospel just right, oh, I could stir up in us this incredible, incredible fire and passion. But you know, the truth is, I can’t do that, and no preacher can do that. The only thing that I can really do is say to you, in the simple name of Jesus, is power and life and love and purpose and freedom and redemption. And all you can do is listen to His simple command to come and ask and find, and you will have it, friends. It’s nothing that words can give you. But when you come to the Word of life, Jesus will speak life into you. Have you asked? Have you knocked? Have you sought Jesus out? He’s waiting at the door.

What petty things own our affections? What thing do you want? What position do you want? How much money do you think it’s going to take to truly be satisfied in life? I’ll give you a little hint.

You’re never going to get there. And you know, I don’t believe the Lord’s calling us to a poverty gospel. Like if we all got super poor, Jesus would be happy. I don’t think that honors the Lord. At the same time, I think we should be happy if God puts us in poverty because we would still have the riches of His kingdom. We would still have Christ. So here’s what Paul says you people should be doing. He says in Romans 12, renew your mind so you can discern what God’s perfect and acceptable will is. So Lord, I need you to constantly fill up this broken vase. Fill me up with heaven. Fill me up with Christ. Fill me up with the Scriptures. Fill me up with your kingdom so I’m desiring the right thing. Because I drift. I drift. Time and time again. I get so hot and I know where I’m going and I’m asking for the kingdom. It’s like, oh, how did that happen? I was over here and then I drifted. Friends, we drift. And as long as we’re in these bodies, we’re going to be leaky. You’re going to leak heaven. So you’ve got to constantly be going back to the source and saying, Lord, fill me up. Fill me up so that you’re the thing that pours out of me. Are you asking for the right things?

Our need is great.

Verse 9.

Jesus goes on to say, or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks him for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? So Jesus builds upon this command that you ask with the comfort that you will receive. And the comfort is based simply on this. It’s the belief that God is a good Father to us. So what becomes paramount to desiring and asking for the right things is the very real expectation that God’s going to provide. And again, I think our Sunday morning answer is, oh yes, God’s a provider. God’s going to give. But it doesn’t matter, does it, on Sunday mornings as much as it does in real everyday life when you’re struggling with that sin. Right? When you have this problem. When it’s the hardest to trust that God is going to see you through a spiritual disaster and a valley. That’s when it matters whether or not you really believe that God is good and whether or not you’re really going to expect God to provide for you. So Jesus chalks it up like this. He says, hey, think about yourself for a second. He says, you people, He doesn’t include Himself in that circle. He says, you people are evil. And if you people who are evil depraved bunch of creatures, you know instinctually how to take care of your own offspring. You will, you know, feed them. I’m not saying everyone’s decent. But majority of people are decent enough to take care of their own children and to feed them and to rear them up. Like if you do that,

how much more is Jesus’ logic? Like if you do that, if you’re that low and you’re doing that, and God’s how much more to this greater extent and degree and is perfect and is better and is eternally good, how much more do you think He knows what it is exactly you need when you need it? It’s an immeasurable degree that you and I can’t know, but we can trust it. So what I want us to do is see God not only as He is to us, and He is to us a good Father, but let’s consider who God has always been and so who He will always be. Who was it that said to Adam and Eve, you take care of the garden, but He also gave them instruction and provision so they would thrive? Or who supplied Abraham with the ram so he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his own son? And when God’s people cried out in slavery to Egypt, who was it that answered their cry and saved them? Or who was it that gave them food and water in the wilderness when they asked? And who was it that, that told Joshua when he was scared that he would have the courage he needed to lead the people into the promised land? Who was it that had mercy on God’s people time and time again in the era of the judges by raising up a judge to save them from their slavery when they fell into it? Who was it that supplied Israel with the great King David when they asked for a king to rule them in justice? Who was it that told Solomon, I’ll give you anything you need. What is it that you want? And God gave him wisdom to rule well. Or who was it that said by the prophet Isaiah, even when the people were in spiritual apostasy, here’s what God said through him, can a woman forget her nursing child that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget. Behold, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands. Or what about when the Israelites actually fell into captivity? Who then said this to them through the prophet Jeremiah? Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it, the Lord is His name. Call to Me and I will answer you. And I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Friends, in all of these things, Christ has made it so plain. God has made it so plain. He is a good Father to His own. Yet here we have God in the flesh speaking the common language of the people, saying to them, hey, if you ask Me for what you really need, I’m saying it to you right now, you will get it. And Luke says plainly what Matthew veils a little bit. If we look at the Lukean account of what we’re considering in Matthew, we’ll see explicitly what Jesus says we need most. In Luke 11, verse 13, Luke writes, If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So in no dispensation of human history has God withheld from His own people, but now Jesus says, I’m going to give you the thing you need most. And the thing we need, friends, is God’s Spirit inside of us. Why do I need God’s Spirit? Because it’s God’s Spirit alone that can change my desires. It’s God’s Spirit that gives me the strength to obey, the power to obey. It’s God’s Spirit that gives us the wisdom to understand and discern. It’s God’s Spirit that gives us the fruits of the Spirit to be Christ-like. He gives us provision to endure the trapping and temptations of this world. The Spirit applies to us when we ask for the Spirit, the very power of Christ’s resurrected life. The Spirit seals us, promises us, puts a guarantee on our heads that we will make it home to the Lord. And all this to those who merit some standing? No, Jesus says He gives the Spirit freely to those, who ask.

Friend, if you’re not receiving from the Lord, or if we’re not receiving it as a church, it’s not because God isn’t taking care of us. It’s because we’re not asking.

Ask.

Seek. Knock. You will receive. You will find. It will be open. And the unconditional promise, hear me say, is backed by the character of an eternally good, good Father.

Christian author Jerry Bridges, very popular author. He’s written some great books. He says if we’re truly praying, we won’t have a plan B, we’ll just have a plan A.

He says this, John Knox prayed,

God, give me Scotland or I’ll die. There was no plan B for John Knox. And God answered his prayer. He gave John Knox Scotland. Knox’s sermons, turned that country upside down. And truly, John Knox had so much to do in the Reformation era that’s even shaped our faith today. He goes on to talk about. Friend, the Lord certainly doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want Him to, when we want. That’s part of being a good Father. He gives us what we actually need, when we actually need it. And a lot of times, God often withholds things from us to stretch our faith, to stretch our belief. So Jesus is not saying, hey, hey, just ask God and boo, it’s going to fall out of heaven. But it’s a present tense thing. Be asking. Be knocking. Be seeking. And you will find what God would have you find. I want you to consider for a moment, and I know people like this, think about the marriages that are so broken. People you know have such broken marriages. And the reason they’re broken is because those people won’t get down on their knees and ask God, and ask God for healing.

Didn’t we read about in the Sermon on the Mount, divorce and how God hates divorce and it’s not His plan? Don’t you think if two people really sought God, He would heal their marriage?

I wonder how many people in your life you know who don’t have the Holy Spirit and they’re lost and they’re on their way to hell and they’re going to stay that way because you aren’t on your knees asking and seeking and knocking. I remember reading the story of an old lady who for decades and decades prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed for her husband to come to faith and it wasn’t until very, very late in life he finally came to Christ. What if she had said in her 30s or 40s, oh, God’s not hearing this prayer. It’s been 10 years since I’ve been praying and God’s not answering this prayer. No, the prayer of faith, it asks and it knocks and it seeks like Jacob who wrestled with God until he got the blessing. God will give it if you will truly ask for it.

Something I pray for you and I every day. I pray this, I won’t say every day, most days. I pray, Lord, hold nothing back from us so that we won’t hold anything back from you. Whatever your will is for us as a church, let it not be said you haven’t given us what we need to live out that will. I pray that for myself as a pastor. I pray it for you. I pray it for us. I pray it for us as a church. Are we that prayer dependent? Like, I can’t go on, Lord, if you’re not going to supply and equip what I need. It’s that kind of desperation we should live with in our hearts.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but probably one of the best books ever. It was a book I had to read in Bible college. It was entitled The Kneeling Christian by an unknown author. No one knows who wrote it. But The Unknown Christian writes, if there are any regrets, the greatest will be that we spent so little time in real intercession while on earth. Oh, how we could have moved the hand of God to do great things. We didn’t. You know? I think that is the greatest tragedy of life. Friends, are we a prayer dependent church that expects to receive God’s blessing that we may live out whatever He’s calling us to for His name’s sake?

It’s a great need.

Verse 12, Jesus goes on to say, So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. And it seems like Jesus is shifting gears because we were talking about asking and receiving, but now all of a sudden somehow we’re talking about these horizontal relationships. It’s not a pivot in a different direction. It’s an application of the same principle. It’s a point.

So much of what Jesus is talking about in the Sermon on the Mount, it has to do with people. Our horizontal relationships, living ethically, living moral in front of other people. And the reason why it’s important to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is because it’s largely what’s important to the Torah, to the Old Testament law, the law and the prophets. It was about how to live well with other people. Like in Leviticus chapter 19, it says, You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord. Now, why are laws given? Why would God have given the Torah

if it wasn’t necessary? God is not just making up rules to make up rules. God gave the law because He knew His people and all people are prone to do bad things, right? We have speed limits to hopefully, you know, curb people from going too fast. Like, hey, it’s a law. You can’t break into a store and just steal what you want. Why do they make that law? Because somebody wants to do it, right? So laws shouldn’t be, I’m not saying on a human level, all laws are good laws. Certainly they’re not. But when it comes to God dispensing laws, they’re always good. Laws, rules that God gives, they’re a reflection of God Himself. So you cannot say, I love God. But I don’t love the rules.

In other words, if we truly love God, we would love the rules He’s given. He would love the way of life He wants us to live. As He has loved us perfectly, He’s given us these rules because we’re so bad at loving one another the way that He has loved us. So Jesus is saying, if you want to really obey the Sermon on the Mount, you really want to be God’s people, how can you have a very real proof that you’ve experienced the love of God? How can you find it out about me? Not, not how well I can preach. I can’t find it out about you, about how well you show up to church or how many good deeds you do. We can find out about one another if we’ve experienced the love of God by how well we do or don’t love one another. That’s the great acid test of obeying God is loving His commandments and loving people the way that God in Christ Jesus has loved us. You cannot encounter the cross of Christ by which the pure and innocent Jesus shed His blood for God’s enemies and then treat people as you did before. It won’t happen. It won’t happen. I imagine you kept up with this story or you’ve heard about it recently because it’s been in the news, but the story about the young man, you know, Botham Jean, he was accidentally killed by the cop and, you know, it was a big thing and his brother, Botham Jean, Botham Jean’s brother, Brant, gave a testimony on the last day of the trial and what he said was nothing short of a beautiful illustration

of the law and the prophets. If it means to love people well, that’s what he did. He says to this woman, I love you just like anyone else and I’m not going to say I hope you rot and die just like my brother did, but I personally, I want the best for you and I wasn’t even going to ever say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that’s exactly what Botham would want you to do and the best would be for you to give your life to Christ, he says to this lady. I’m not going to say anything else. I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that Botham would want you to do. Again, I love you as a person and I don’t wish anything bad on you. He tearfully continued. He then asked the judge, I don’t know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug, please?

Friends, that is a living, breathing example of a person being gripped by the love of God, being gripped by the purpose of the law and prophets. It is to love God and in loving God, you love others the same. The same.

If you truly desire God’s kingdom, let me say something to you, it’s going to come out in your relationships.

Church ought to be a place full of charitable, forgiving, not easily offended, not ready to end a relationship kind of people. Ought to be. But oh, how we ought to beg the Lord for a greater measure of selflessness like Christ and bearing with and loving one another. You know, we don’t hurt ourselves, but we hurt the church when we refuse to be the church to one another. Because it isn’t bearing with, with one another that so often the Lord teaches us more about Himself. Christ died not for a place. Church isn’t a place. Christ died for a people to fill His kingdom up with a people. Do you love Christ’s people the way that Christ does? That’s so much of what it means to be a church member, you know.

Verse 13.

Jesus ends here by saying, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.

And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few. And Jesus is just being honest here. Jesus is not a Christian. A con man. It’s the last thing Jesus is. Jesus is not figuring out every possible way to do good PR and marketing and try to convince people, hey, what you need to do with your life is follow me. It’s going to be great. Jesus does not do that. If anything, Jesus is trying to like ward off people that don’t really know what they’re getting into. Jesus talks about a cross and He talks about suffering. He talks about a sword and He talks about, you know, you got to hate your mother and father. In comparison with how much you love me if you’re going to follow me and if you look back, you know, the fields, you can’t follow me. So Jesus is very, very honest about what it means to follow Him. He says following Him will be hard. The entry point is narrow. There’s only one way to follow Him. It’s His way. Exactly His way. And the pathway until the very end is difficult. It’s a narrow, treacherous one. He says few people will find it.

Why can’t it be said that everybody will find it? Why can’t He have just said that? Right? Great. Everyone will find it. It’s not what Jesus says and here’s the hard reality. Everyone won’t find it because most people don’t want to see their own desperation for what they need. That’s why. Most people don’t want to deny their flesh. They don’t want to ask for the right things. They want to ask for what their flesh wants. Most people don’t want to live by faith. In a good father they haven’t seen. Most people don’t want to walk those valleys that Christ will lead us through as He suffered in His life. Most people don’t want to love other people the way that they love themselves.

Most people.

But Christ has called us to be His people.

So, if Christ has called us to be His people, He’s called us to a hard thing. And He’s honest about that hard thing. But just because He’s honest about how hard it is doesn’t help. It’s still a hard thing. My need is still great. My lack is still great. You and I are all laughably ill-equipped to follow Jesus on this pathway. But still, Jesus has the nerve to say, ask, seek,

knock,

enter the gate. Jesus still says as hard as this, if you ask of Me, if you seek, if you knock, you will receive. You will get everything you need to follow Me despite how hard it is. And you know why Jesus can say that? Because as great as your need and my need is to follow Christ as ill-equipped as we are, God’s provision in Christ is that much greater and that much better. Every time I see a failure in the mirror, I look to the cross and I see how Jesus in His life, in His death, in His resurrection, how He accomplished everything in my place and His blood washes me clean and by the power of His Spirit, I’m sealed. And I’m filled with the power and the person of Jesus to do everything He’s called me to. So yes, it is hard, but friend, Christ already did the hard thing on the cross. He’s asking you and I to believe, to believe His promises that the command to follow is accompanied by a promise of power,

a sureness that He will lead us all the way home. And that’s the good news about the gospel is that Jesus has supplied Himself to us. He supplied Himself.

Proverbs 8.17 ends with this proverb.

The Lord says, I love those who love Me

and those who seek Me diligently

find Me. It’s a statement.

Not a question. Not a possibility. It’s a sure thing. Those who seek Me diligently will find Me. So let me say to you this morning,

won’t you ask, won’t you seek, won’t you knock, won’t you enter the promise of Heaven’s supply. Heaven’s Christ is yours if you would.

Father, Your greatness it knows no bounds. Your kindness, Your mercy, Your love, they are, they are infinite.

Lord, we haven’t as, as followers of Jesus, we haven’t as a church even begun to scratch the surface of what it means to know You and to live life in You.

Oh Lord, expose those parts of our hearts that are so set on this world. Oh Lord, how lazy we are in the things of God. How satisfied we are with the lesser thing. Let it not be said, so. Oh Spirit of God, would You stir repentance in us that we would be changed and we would turn to the person of Jesus. And Jesus would be our story and Jesus’ love would be our song and it would be our love to one another and it would be our love and it would be our life to the world around us. Yes, we say we are weak.

Oh, but by the grace of God, Lord Jesus, and You, by You, we’re strong.

So strengthen our weak knees.

We lift our heads, we lift ourselves up to follow You, Lord Jesus.

Because Your calling and Your command, it’s accompanied by a sure promise. We thank You for that.

And it’s in Your name that we pray. Amen.