ASK AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN;

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND;

KNOCK AND IT SHALL BE OPENED

READING: Col 3:1-17

1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:
but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and
the Father by him.

Matt 7:7-11 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or
what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give
him a serpent?If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your
Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

I. ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU.

A. God has promised to “freely give us all things.”
1. Rom 8:31-32 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things?

2. Matt 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

3. James 1:5-7 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he
shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Page1
 B. There are prerequisites.
1. John 14:13-14 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

2. John 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and
my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

3. 1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments,
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

4. 1 John 5:13-15 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that
ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this
is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired
of him.

C. What is the limitation of what we can ask.

1. Eph 3:20-21 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

II. SEEK, AND YE SHALL FIND.

A. What is the most precious goal that we should seek?
1. Matt 6:31-34 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

2. Acts 17:23-28 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription,
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that
made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he
giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though
he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also
of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

B. If one wants to find God, the way will be revealed to that person.
1. John 1:35-38 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus
as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they
Page1

followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?
They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
 2. John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which
testify of me.

3. Acts 10:1-6, 19, 48 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band
called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much
alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the
day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he
was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up
for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is
Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou
oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his
household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; And when he had
declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.

Acts 10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.

Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to
tarry certain days. (Cf Matt 28:18-20)

C. There are prerequisites.

1. Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

D. What should we not seek?

1. 1 Cor 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

2. Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men,
I should not be the servant of Christ.

3. John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I
seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

III. KNOCK, AND IT SHALL BE OPENED.

A. We are asking to be allowed into heaven.
1. 2 Peter 1:1-11 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine
power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And
to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and
abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was
purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Page1
 2. Matt 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

B. There are prerequisites.

1. Matt 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Page1