Mat 7:7-12; Don’t Quit Now – You’re Not Even Close.

Class Outline:

Thursday October 10, 2024

 

Main idea: Keep asking, seeking, knocking is tenacity in life’s journey on the way of Christ.

 

MAT 7:7-12

 

The Christian life is a journey, which is a common motif in the Bible. “Walk.” A journey has a beginning, middle, and end. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. 

 

Jesus’ final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem is a manifestation of Him as the new Moses, the prophet like Moses who all Israel were to listen to. 

 

We must realize our need. 

 

Holding up this sermon and these promises or any promises are not enough to make us apprentices like these. 

 

We must realize our need as sinners and that our need is met by our Lord and will be met as we pursue Him (pick up our crosses and follow Him). 

 

We must persist in reliance on grace, no matter what our track record has been. Jesus tells us to keep going, keep asking. 

 

Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem (Luk 9-19): His promised land is the cross. 

 

Let’s look at the start of the journey (preparation):

 

LUK 9:18-22

 

They know He is the Christ, but they do not know all He is called for. This is a common problem. 

 

Need: Understanding (from ignorance). 

 

How far are you going to get on the journey with ignorance?

 

LUK 9:23-27

 

Pick up your cross does not mean to die on one. It means that you live as one already crucified with Him. The difficulty is in the faith decisions to consider yourself dead and alive with Christ. 

 

Poor in spirit, mournful, meek, able to love your enemies, seeking God, seeking treasure in heaven. 

 

Need: faith in your own death (from worldling life). 

 

How far are you going to get when you generally pursue a worldly life? 

 

LUK 9:28-45

 

Transfiguration: what do Moses and Elijah and resurrected Jesus talk about: His death, resurrection, and ascension. What Moses and Elijah lived towards and cannot wait to see. 

 

LUK 9:43-45

 

The disciples are afraid to ask (second time in this chapter that He told them that He was going to die in Jerusalem). 

 

Need: courage (from fear). 

 

How far are you going to get if you won’t take risks in faith? Afraid of the question? The answer? Bias, status quo, hate change all are advancement killers.

 

LUK 9:46

 

Disciples want to know who is the greatest of them. 

 

Need: humility (pick up your cross). 

 

How far are you going to get if your main concern is your own greatness? 

 

LUK 9:49-55

 

Some are doing good works who are not in their group (like a denominational fight). Then the Samaritans will not let Jesus stay and the sons of thunder offer their judgment. 

 

Need: love (from self-centeredness). 

 

How far if you do not have love for all? 

 

LUK 9:57-58

 

There will be a lot of posers out there, and within, who say that want to travel the journey with you, but do not really.

 

Need: patience. Do not judge. And if you see the fruit clearly, help them in any way you can. 

 

How far will you get on the journey if you keep judging the posers?

 

Keep at it. 

 

As Luke shows us, Jesus is repeating a lot of the teaching He has already done (read Luk 12-19). His words have such a depth of meaning that every time you heard them, you would think, “How did I miss that before?” 

 

In the case of “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” Jesus adds a parable for clarity. 

 

Luke 11:5-13. The parable has one meaning - keep at it.

 

Need: tenacity. No matter what you’ve done, how much you’ve failed, how many wrong things you asked for and sought after, how many wrong doors you tried to enter… keep asking, seeking, and knocking and He promises to get you to a place, a condition of heart, that is beyond your wildest dreams. 

 

MAT 7:12 “In everything therefore” … means that this famous line is linked with what as come before. How? 

 

When you ask, seek, and knock for all in this sermon, which some have considered to be an introduction to the NT, how does that become related to how you want others to treat you? 

 

With this mind, the mind of Christ, what do you want for others? 

 

How then would you want them to treat you? 

 

You must do to them in the same way, whether they do or not. This is the way of the kingdom of heaven.