And then I'm going to draw some other verses in. But for now, just chapter 11, verses 9 and 10. So I say to you, 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 he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. So just looking at those verses, the context here is obviously a context where Jesus is teaching on prayer. He's just taught the disciples the Lord's prayer. And then he begins to expand more on prayer. And the context that comes to us from these verses is need, desperate or real need that's being highlighted here. And the scenario that our Lord sets is found in verse five and eight. He gives us something of an illustration, a picture of the context of this great need. He says, which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him. And he will from within say, do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. And I was thinking about this text and thinking about this great need and thinking about our time of prayer and how this encourages us to pray. And I have spoken on this several times before, but I was reflecting on this and thinking about how this man is not giving to his friend because he's his friend. The text says that. There's no graciousness here because there's familiarity or friendship. That's not the ground. or the basis on which his friend answers his request. So what is the request given on? What's the basis? And it's because of his persistency. It's because of his persistency. He says, yet because of his persistency or persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So there is this persistence of this man who won't take no for an answer. And so again, the picture here is one of imposition. This man is, this is an imposition. He's putting his friend in an imposition. He's inconveniencing. He's even frustrating his friend. You think about that. Your friend has a problem. He hasn't prepared for his guests. It's late. He comes to your house. You are locked up. And in that context, they had one house and they were all in one room and the children are all cuddled up in bed. And there's this banging on the door. And then there's this voice coming in from the outside. And it's very inconvenient to get up. In fact, if he keeps on doing this, he's going to probably wake the whole neighborhood up. And so I was thinking of this, that this is really a picture of frustration. The man has no respect. In fact, if you thought about a friend like this, you would probably think this isn't much of a friend. I mean, he's abusing his friendship. He's actually quite, he's being quite rude, right? And, but he's not taking no for an answer. And the reason that you get up and you help this man is because of frustration, because this guy just won't take no for an answer. He's not going to go away. I better get up. And there's this picture of shameless persistence. Why would it be shameless persistence? Shameless persistence because he came at an inconvenient time and that shows his shamelessness. Shameless persistence because he's not stopping. He's begging and he's pleading for bread. That shows his shameless persistence. So think about this for a minute. What is the point here? What is Jesus driving at you? Well, our Lord uses this illustration and he contrasts this picture, this friend that's irritated, and answers his friend's need out of frustration, irritation, and he contrasts that with who God is. and how patient God is, and how loving God is, and the fact that God does not get frustrated with or wearied with our bold, shameless requests and our desperate needs. And there's also this idea that this man's friend would be shamed and dishonored if the man he was asking or pleading with him had to eventually give up and go to another neighbor and get help from a stranger rather than his friend. It would be a shame and a dishonor. And again, I think there's this contrast. Likewise, not only is God unlike this friend, who is frustrated by the situation. God is willing, and he is merciful, and he is gracious, and he never wearies by our persistence, but also this, God will never suffer his children to be supplied by a stranger. You know, I immediately thought of David's words, once I was a young man and now I am an old man and I have never seen the children of the righteous begging for bread. And so there's this contrast that God will never suffer his children to be supplied by a stranger. God will always honor his name. None of his children will ever be caught begging. from strangers. And that's what makes leaning on the arm of flesh so sad, friends. Because when we're doing that, when we're leaning on the arm of flesh, we're actually impugning. We're impugning God. We're impugning his character. We're saying that God is tight-fisted and stingy and God won't give to us. And how often is it not the case that that is what we do? We run to the arm of flesh. We try and work things out in our own sin, and as a last resort, we go to God. And it's a grief and a sorrow to God. And I think our Lord Jesus is showing these disciples. And there's another comparison to this in Luke 18, the widow who gets justice from the unjust judge. That's a similar passage. but there's this contrast. And Jesus does it again. He talks about a father giving his children what he asks. He doesn't give a stone for a loaf of bread. He doesn't give a snake for a fish or a scorpion for an egg, right? And then he says, if you being evil know how to give good gifts, how much more won't your heavenly father give to the Holy Spirit when you ask Him. So our Lord is showing the goodness of God and He's portraying it in this context which we can all relate to. We all know what it is to be frustrated at a fire with somebody and just give in to it, right? We all know what that is. And God never God is never provoked. God is never frustrated. He is always willing to give us. And hence Jesus' words. So I say to you, ask. And Jesus makes this point. If our sinful friend will help, whatever his motive might be, then our heavenly father will surely help us when we ask him. And I was thinking of a number of texts, Psalm 50 verse 14 and 15. Offer to God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Lord on high. Call upon him in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. And then Jeremiah 33 verse 3, call to me and I will answer you and show you great things which you do not know. Now think about this picture, beloved. If that desperate man can succeed with such a friend, then how much more will our heavenly Father meet us in our great and our desperate needs? But I want you to think about the verbs that Jesus uses here. Ask, seek and knock. And the acronym is ask, right? Ask, seek and knock. Think about this. These highlight, these verbs, highlight the fact that there's a persistency here. And again, the context is in this friend's house, everything's locked up, the lights are off, doesn't look like anybody's home, but still he comes and he persists. And he's asking and he's seeking and he's knocking and these words, Jesus connects them together. Now, I've heard people separate these words. Ask. Asking is this. Sometimes you ask. Sometimes you seek. Sometimes you knock. But in the language, the Greek, that doesn't make sense. These words are all tightly fit together. And the reason why they fit together like this is because there's an intensity. There's an intensity. It's a growing intensity. You ask, you seek, you knock. And to ask, think about what it is to ask. When we ask, what are we declaring? We are declaring our dependency upon God. We are seeking the God who gives to ask. To seek refers to seeking God's face. The person with a need asks and he seeks the answer. He seeks something from God. He seeks what brings righteousness, what advances God's kingdom. And along with asking, there is this actively endeavoring to obtain the end or the fulfillment of what is needed. So this seeking begins with seeking the face of God. And then this asking is actively seeking God's will and obeying Him and acting on His word, examining the scriptures. It's while we wait upon God's answer, We are seeking to do all that is required of us or necessary on our part. It is taking responsibility. It's working out our salvation with fear and trembling. It's beginning with prayer, beginning to seek. And then the asking is the activity of moving and waiting upon God. In fact, the verb, is commonly used of seeking after God. And what it indicates is that God is waiting to be found. He's waiting to be found. It's like we're looking for him, we're seeking him, we're actively pursuing him, and we're expecting him. And the reason we're expecting him is because he wants to be found. And then the word knock, And that is to come into God's presence so that when asking and seeking the answer, the disciple brings his request directly to God. And you think about knocking on someone's door. You go into a neighborhood. And if you're visiting a friend, you don't just start knocking on doors. You know exactly which door it is, right? Okay, his number is 306. We go there. We knock on that door expecting our friend. And so this idea of knocking on a neighbor's door, you know you are going directly to God. You know that you are rightly asking and seeking, and that constitutes knocking on the right door to enter the heavenly house of God, where God will open the door favorably, and He will meet us in our need, and He will relieve us in our petition. What's going on here, friends, is Jesus is emphasizing the importance of perseverance, the importance of truly laying hold of God, This asking and acting, diligence is required. And it represents urgent sincerity in asking and seeking. Another thing that's important here about this passage is that these verbs are in the present continuous, which means this doesn't stop. It's asking. It's seeking. It's knocking. It's habitual practice. It teaches us also to trust. Amen. Just a little further on, Jesus said, talking about a strong man, he takes his armor away and he says, he who is not with me is against me. He who does not gather scatters. So if we don't learn to trust, then we don't go knock on 306. We go knock on 306 because we know. Amen. Amen brother. Thank you for sharing that. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And believing and trusting that our God is more than able and willing and desirous to meet our needs. Just a thought, you know, I was thinking about this. No prayer is spoken in vain. No prayer of God's children is spoken in vain. But not every prayer will be answered in the way we desire. And that's important for us to understand. So let me make some applications. So that when we go to prayer, we can think about this on a practical level. I really do think that there is this invitation to never stop praying. To never stop asking. Asking, seeking and knocking. Isaiah 62 verse 6 and 7 says this, I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent and give him no rest till he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. And you know, I was thinking about how easily we give up, how soon we stop praying. Do we know how to persevere in prayer? Do we give God no rest until, as it were, He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth? And you can apply this to so many different areas. Think of your own life. How many things do we tolerate and think they'll never change and allow because we don't really Seek God's face about them. We don't really lay hold of God and give God no rest until he answers us. There needs to be a hunger, a pursuing. Think of our church or the church. How often is it not that we complain and we point fingers? And yet the question is, how much persistent prayer can we say that we are asking and seeking and knocking? You know, just to give a practical application of this, some time ago a well-known preacher did something and said something and the internet just blew up over what he said. It was, you know, it just caused quite an uproar. And everybody was talking about how wrong it was and how bad it was that he said that. And one brother came to me and said to me, you know, as we were talking about it, well, what do you think? And that brother said to me, well, brother, have you prayed for that man? Have you prayed for that man? Because that man is a very, he has a large footprint on the internet and a large footprint in the evangelical community. And if that man fails or falters or makes a mistake, he affects so many people's lives, right? And how often is it not, beloved, that we gripe and we complain and we criticize and we point fingers, but do we earnestly pray? Do we truly pray? Pray for these people. Pray for the church. How many of the problems we face and the failures we experience again and again because we do not earnestly, persistently seek God in prayer. This is so simple. This teaching is so simple. This is Jesus contrasting the foolishness and the wickedness of man and even the persistence in the light of that and saying God is infinitely more glorious and infinitely more full of love and kindness and compassion. We should never give up laying hold of God and seeking his face in prayer. I was thinking again, how often do we not pray persistently because such persistent prayer really has a way of showing us our heart. Sometimes we pray for something and we want God to do it so badly, but in the praying God shows us the motives of our heart are wrong. And we change our praise. Or the Lord shows us the motive and we don't like it and we stop praying. And we stop praying. And I think of James. How often is it not that there is no persistent or little persistent praying because the reality is we're often seeking our own desires. James says this, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. I think we're often, we find ourselves prayerless because we're often seeking our own desires. And we're not prepared to let the scripture search us. And we're not prepared to lay our hearts before the Lord and let him lead us to pray right prayers. You know, beloved, real prayer is our birthright as Christians. It is our glorious birthright as Christians. This should be one of the most important things we do, coming together and praying together with one heart, with one desire to see the kingdom of God expanded and God glorified. Listen to what Jesus said, and I'm going to end with this. In John 16, 24, Jesus said this to his disciples, until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. that your joy may be full. That really speaks to the question of why are so many of us so joyless? Because we're seeking things for our lives that are not of the Lord. And even the things we are seeking that we believe are from the Lord, we don't seek them the way the Lord has called us to seek them. We try and we work those things in our own strength and they fail. that your joy may be full. And then Jesus said this, until now you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. So the question is, what are we gonna ask God to do for us? Are we content with the status of the church? Are you content with the status of your life? Do you want to see the glory of God in your life? Do I want to see the glory of God in my life? Do I want God to move? Well, this is our privilege, beloved. Let us come and let hold of God. And if our motives are wrong, let him change our motives, but let us not stop asking, seeking, and knocking.