Fitness Training — Don McClure

Jesus’ Teaching on Asking, Seeking, and Knocking

Matthew chapter 7 if you'll turn to it in verse 7 just to back up for a moment said asking it shall be given unto you seeking you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Verse 12. Now he goes on. He says therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you do even so unto them. For this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth under the destruction.

And many there be which go in thereat because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there are that find it. Father we thank you for your word and Lord the wonderful things that you always have to say to us and we'll just but open up our heart.

And Lord we ask that now that you would help us just to open our heart set everything else aside. Lord maybe even tonight in one way or another our world is in turmoil it seems as if the earth is being removed the mountains are just crashing into the sea the waters are troubled and the mountains are swelling and shaking with their swelling thereof.

And but Lord may we therefore just be able to be still and know that your God and those things that you have for us that we would hear them tonight that our lives would be strengthened our walk with you would become stronger and stronger our convictions deeper and deeper her walk our fellowship her strength would be touched by you even by your word tonight.

For we ask it in Jesus name. Amen. Well here is Jesus as you would picking this up when he noticed there in verse 12 as it begins with. Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them.

This is the law and the prophets. But as many people have often I'm said that anytime you see the word therefore you should always ask what's it. Therefore and and because the word therefore it's basically wanting to go back in a sense gather some of the previous thoughts just have been made and then take those thoughts into another thought.

That's what essentially when somebody you know they present an argument and then and then they said now therefore or as if to say in light of these things or because of these things that leads now to this and the things that he is essentially been teaching here in the previous verses is therefore and essentially because if a person knows what it is that God knows all the things that we have need of before we do that God is our father he loves us he's created us in his image he's prepared all the ways to get to heaven all by himself all in his own sufficiency his work on the cross his wonderful life bet death burial resurrection ascension he ever lives to make intercession for us we are complete in him.

God as the Source and Sustainer of Every Need

Everything that my life truly needs is found in God. And therefore I'm to come and a to unto to ask of him to seek from him to knock from him. You know in his door is if he's saying you come in whatever it is you have need he says come and ask me for it.

Everyone that asketh you'll receive everyone that seek it find it to him that knock it that shall be open and hear this wonderful promises of there of God. I believe being two aspects there. One is is God meeting all of our needs.

But even more than that God being all of our needs there is the when I realize that there's two great things in life. Number one is I need to be found in him. I need constantly to have my life being rooted in him grounded in him growing in him maturing in him never endingly.

So all the way through my life to say Lord take me strengthen me draw me seek me. You know yourself into a greater relationship with you. And in those processes you'll always be giving me himself and not only will be given me himself but he'll give me what things that I have need of.

And here is he's essentially been to been insane there. He says that I'm the source I'm the sustainer. I'm the provider. I am your heavenly father. Your heavenly father knows all of these things. Go to your father.

We looked at that word earlier in our studies. Pater means provider and protector and sustainer. Go to your father and he'll provide. Go to your father. He'll protect. Go to your father he will sustain.

Rejecting the World as Life’s Ultimate Source

And therefore when I realize this it ought to have an effect in my life. And that is is that the world is no longer the source for my life. We come into this world and we're constantly you know needing from the world and constantly requiring you know from people or circumstances or environment to draw from it constantly in our life we're all the sources of life.

And on one hand in many ways we do have much from there. I mean parents obviously have been the channel through its God has given to his life. Others give us education. Somebody else gives us a job and a paycheck.

Other people along the road do many many things for us and our agents essentially that God uses many times in our life. But still God looks he says I'm the one from which he came. All of it comes from God as far as he's concerned he is the source from which all the rivers you might say of life flow from all the blessings of life.

And thus he wants to be the one that we rather than we spend our life looking at our boss looking at our friends looking at our parents looking at all of these other people around there that rather than that we'd realize God you are the sovereign one.

You are the one that loves me. You're the one that's created me. You're the one that is going to take care of me and you are sovereign. And you are powerfully wonderfully sovereign. And therefore God you're working out your plan in my life.

God’s Sovereignty over Human Circumstances

And when I learned this great truth when it really settles in even though there's all sorts of people around me I'm realizing God you are the one that I need to be looking to in all ways. I realized people are not in control of my life.

Sometimes it may appear that they are but they aren't. God's in control even as when pilot you know of course so well when Jesus stood before him and he says don't you realize I have the power you know do whatever I want to in your life.

And Jesus of course look right at him. He says you have no power at all except to be given you from heaven. I don't know what you think about yourself. But Jesus could look right at him and say you can't touch me without heaven.

Yet heaven is where all the power it's my father. And when we realize that in our own lives realize there are people around us pronouncing judgments having opinions doing these things hiring or firing or blessing or cursing or do all of those other things around us.

But when we realize no God is the God is the one that's the center of it all people aren't making it for me and they aren't breaking it for me yet God is the one who's behind it all. And if I if I don't know that if I don't know that God is sovereign.

If I don't know that he is a sustainer. If I don't know that he knows what things I have need of and he cares about it. And he is going to be working in my life. If I don't know those things I'll look to you I'll simply look and say I've got me to find somebody else therefore to take care of me somebody else to get me out of trouble somebody else to resolve my problems.

And it'll have huge effects on my life if I don't know that the the absolute power and love and a commitment that God has for me. And but if I do know that then the flip side of that is therefore I can look at my circumstances right now and realize well God you know all about them don't you everything about them.

And God you're working. You're working in my life right now to produce something we may not like them we may not like them circumstances. But when we realize God knows all about them and he knows what is best and he is doing that right now my business now is to know it and to respond to it.

Paul’s Thorn and the Sufficiency of Grace

We may as I said we may not always like it. Paul the wonderful great tremendous the Apostle Paul himself when you look at him on one hand he knew what it was to come and ask of God and to seek God and to knock on the door the three times he knocked and he sought after any and he asked God to take away this thorn in his flesh he looked at the circumstances in his world and he went in he said God change it God fix it God do something about it.

And after he's asked and he sought and he knocked on God's door essentially and there's still no great no no change. Then God spoke to him and he said one of the most wonderful and yet I suppose amazing things.

But he said Saul or Paul he says my grace is sufficient for thee. And here the interesting thing is is here on one hand Paul is there saying God I have this thorn I have this problem. I've got this circumstance in my life that is not going away.

Take it away. Remove it. Remove it in the name of Jesus remove it in the name of Jesus Christ remove it. And it didn't go in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth remove it in the name of Jesus Christ son of the Living God creator of heaven earth remove it.

And it's still there after he prays and he no doubt fasted and other people waited upon God remove this. Then God did the most interesting thing. So I'm not taking it away but I'll tell you what I'm gonna do.

My grace is sufficient for thee. I am gonna give you a greater portion of grace with which to resolve it. And you know that's when we say oh no that's not the answer I want. You know we have problems in and in and we just want something taken away.

And if God doesn't take it away then with the other day at that point we usually do systems shut down. And and rather than realizing so often when God doesn't take a thing away he is offering us a greater answer.

I believe then taking it away because he's actually turns the Paul. He says Paul how. Instead of fewer problems how about greater grace. How about a greater measure of me. How about a greater work of me in your heart and in your life.

How about a greater presence than you even known of me thus far. What do you think Paul. And when you and I realize that means so often had let me ask you a question if right now let's say you're $100 ,000 in debt.

And and if you're a good American you ought at least be that much. I suppose. But you know something. But but anyway suppose you and you don't how am I gonna pay it. And you're saying God take it away take away this debt.

Please take it away. Take it away. Come on God I beg you in Jesus name I know you can do it. He doesn't take it away. But instead he says hot tell you what. How about if I give you $100 ,000 raise. Would you say no take it away.

Or would you say really that means I can even handle more debt. You know or something how. That's so often what we want. Most people do not spend their life getting rid of debt. We find ways to get more capacities to create more debt and handle more debt.

That's the good American way. Well as a Christian I think so often that's almost sometimes God's plan as well in the spiritual realm where they're going on take this away take this away take this away.

And he says how about I just give you a greater measure of my power and my presence with which you know to handle all of the problems and the burdens of life. That's what God did for Paul. And later on Paul actually commented on this thing.

And when he didn't get the answer he realized later that had God not given him greater grace. But had he taken it away Paul himself commented that he himself would probably have been exalted above measure.

And if God had removed the thorn he would have had an air of pride that maybe would have been above measure and crippled his entire life. We don't know what Paul's thorn was really don't. We know he was small in stature.

We know that he had bad bad eyesight. We know by other comments that people made and that Paul referred to he seemed to be a rather unattractive man to common people's thinking. It's a belief by many that his wife if she was alive was an unbeliever.

She's never mentioned but it's believed to be a member of the Sanhedrin which Paul was that he had been married so either she had excuse me died or an unbeliever and that he had some sort of a speech impediment of one form or another.

We just don't know exactly what it has been. But at the same time so often God gives to us things in our life that he designed specifically to cause us to need more of him. And instead of taking them away he takes us into a greater knowledge of him.

Joseph’s Suffering and God’s Hidden Preparation

You look at Joseph on one hand here God gives him these wonderful dreams for his life in these visions. And then of course his brothers end up selling him and down you know to the medium at the Midianites and down they take him down to Egypt.

And then Potiphar's wife sells him or I mean tries to seduce him and then gets him thrown in prison. And then he sits in there as the years go by but each time instead of God removing and solving the issues of the human problems in his life God gave him a greater measure of himself.

That's so often. What growth is really all about David. On one hand though he oftentimes prayed God get me out of this is God allowed for years and years and years 10 -15 years Saul is chasing him over every hill and dale and nook and cranny and cave and corner of Israel and he's running for his life is praying that it would end.

And instead you know God is doing something wonderful within David he ended up to be one of the best runners I suppose in history you know he was pretty fast guy ultimately pretty strong pretty powerful.

And yet God conditioned him sometimes spiritually and and made him a great warrior and put together so many facets of becoming a tremendous leader through those years and years of difficulty. And instead of God removing the trial he gave him a grace that was greater than the trial so that he could handle and lead a nation through trials later on.

God’s Work through William Cowper’s Suffering

And so often when we you know when we realize this of God's power and God's strength. William Copper a man in a previous century but pioneer ultimately great spiritual awakening in England. But he was a man who knew great suffering.

He was frail described as a shuddering bundle of nerves. A man with a pinched face and eyes that were constantly swollen from chronic inflammation. The man was so disturbed by his health and other problems that he once even attempted suicide.

He actually spent time as well in an insane asylum and where all sorts of contempt and cruelty seemed to be the order of the day. But yet out of these sufferings God brought this man William Copper into a man who ultimately again brought about a great revival.

He became a great writer of many letters and ministry in England. But one of his great things that William Copper once wrote he says God moves in mysterious ways as wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps into the sea and he rides upon the storm deep and unfathomable minds of never frailing failing skill.

He treasures up his brightest designs and he works his sovereign will. But so often God he has this way where he puts people through and he lets them knock and he lets them seek and he lets them ask and he lets them while all of this thing that sometimes the superficial thing that we are knocking and seeking and asking and wanting so desperately knowing that if that was answered our life would become so much better it'd be so much easier condition around us would become so much more acceptable in the environment or to be so much more wonderful.

And so often God doesn't change the environment but in the process of it he takes us into a depth or a strength or an understanding of him of his grace of his sufficiency of his capacity to do something we never dreamed would happen.

Learning Trust through Unanswered Prayer

Sometimes God allows things in our homes allows them in our marriage allows them in our family or children or with our health or job or financial situation and times there to where they almost seems unknown to God or isn't interested in it.

And yet there he's working yet there in those times God is teaching us to learn to trust him in a wonderful way. And it isn't so much that in these times he's making our life any better. Sometimes we dislike and we were living there with these things but at the very same things that God is taking in our life and in our home and in these experiences taking us deeper with him.

And what Jesus here when he says there. Therefore at this point to me when Jesus turns in a key aspect of this in verse 12 he says therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you. In other words here Jesus he's there now he takes us thereafter looking to God seeking God knocking and seeking and asking God answering hold looking to God letting him become the total sovereign sufficiency of our life.

Treating Others as We Want to Be Treated

If you can do that he said now what I want you to do is hold God accountable for everything in your life. And hold man accountable for nothing. Let man off the hook let him go leave him alone don't be worried about it.

Essentially that's what I believe he's saying here when he says in verse 12. Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you don't be worrying about men and what they're doing what they're not doing what they're all about.

But he wants to free us up now he says just instead of looking at by the people that you wish would do this and you would knock here and you seek this and you ask this from people and they aren't fixing it.

You go to your wife and you say honey I love you but you're not perfect yet. And and I wish you'd get perfect you know or something in life would be so much more wonderful me if you're perfect you see because I don't intend on getting perfect so I do need somebody that is perfect to balance me out or whatever else.

But we're looking to people say do this. Or we're looking at our children because we don't have the strength or the wisdom or the power to know what to do with them. And so God just then then then get him out of here you know or something and said God says no let them go look to me knock and seek and ask for me in these things.

And then I now want you instead of being upset with them or holding them accountable or frustrated with them I want you now to be able to look at all these people around you and however it is that you would like them to treat you you treat them let them go.

Don't worry. You know about all of this. And until we can really begin to understand this and just so simple it's so wonderful but it is yet so powerful. Maybe tonight right now you could be so happy you're convinced you could be happy if one or two people would just do something for you or three or four maybe ten.

I don't know your your personal list but you have people on your list. We all have people in circumstances on our list. If I could have my wish list of one or two or five and I could knock at this door and I could seek it that one and I could ask over there and this guy would do this and that person would do that.

And then whole life would be wonderful here Jesus said you come and ask me anything everything all things. And then as far as people are concerned now instead of worrying about them I want you to just treat them however you would like them to treat you isn't it a wonderful thing.

But you see we can't do that if we're mad at him. We can't do that if they aren't doing what we want them to do. We can't do that if they aren't solving our problems and we and we want them to. But if we can look there and realize it's all solved.

I mean right now you may have a problem with your boss. But suppose on the way home tonight you won the lottery. I'll bet tomorrow with your boss you'd say you know I knew I had something I wanted to ask you but I can't remember it how all of a sudden you could be so free towards people if somebody had something you needed or you wanted but all of a sudden it was entirely taken care of.

You wouldn't have to worry about it. And this is something that is so powerful so important. And now as he goes on in verse 13 he says enter he in at the straight gate wide as a gate and broad as the way that leadeth unto destruction.

And many there be that go in there at straight as the gate narrow as the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. But here is something now I think again as you stay within the context and you realize here I believe two things are happen.

I believe he is winding down the sermon and that he is pulling some final thoughts together. But I believe the thoughts still have a tremendous flow to them in the sense that on one hand is wanting to tell you and I as he's closing off the message come and seek me for everything.

Entering the Narrow Gate as a Call to Obedience

Let people off the hook. Don't worry about holding them accountable and just simply look at the whole world however you'd like to have them treat you treat them that way. Just start doing it. And in so doing now just you enter in with your heart with your life with your walk.

You know what the straight gate within why it is there at the straight gate. For why does the gate and broad as the way that leadeth unto destruction. But here you know the thing that essentially the Lord is wanting to do now as he's closing off the sermon is essentially saying listen.

I've told you a lot of things now I want you to do them. I've told you a lot of things in the sermon but now I want you to enter into them and I want you to follow through with them. And as if to say don't just listen to the sermon and like it he says now I want you to do it.

That's what he's saying when enter in you with your life. You go on and you follow God you follow his Lordship. You follow the things that he has to say and he said it but it's a call essentially to obedience.

And I think sometimes you know to hear Jesus as if people love to listen to him and say wasn't that a tremendous sermon. He'd like to say well it is if you enter in yeah I think the Lord he's very very used to be listened to but he's also used to being ignored.

He's somebody we all love to hear what Jesus has to say. But then when he says you like it we saw I love it he says now do it. Oh no I don't want to do it but it was really good in fact I'm gonna write it down and I'm gonna put it on my refrigerator you know and look at it every day you know or something and hope other people look at it and think I believe that but I'm not gonna do it.

Hearing God’s Voice and Entering His Rest

I mean we're famous for that we're famous for ones that the Lord has looked at us and says I'm your father now trust me entirely knock seek ask of me trust me give your whole life over to me let people go all handle them.

And now he says now follow me follow me into these truths follow me into this life you know. And and this is where you know God is so used to having masses of people that love what he has to say that they don't want to do it back in the Old Testament as it's written about in the book of Hebrews in chapter 3 it says wherefore if you hear his voice in reference to God's as you hear his voice he says today if you'll hear his voice he says hard not your hearts as in the provocation the day of the temptation the wilderness he says when your father's tempted me and they proved me and they saw my work 40 years but wherefore I was grieved with that generation and he says they don't always err in their heart and he says so they I swore in my wrath they'll not enter into my rest because of their unbelief.

God looked at them and he says I loved him I ministered to him and they did nothing but provoke me and provoke me and provoke me for 40 years every time I did and works and I blessed him and I fed them and water out of what rocks man out of heaven quail out of the sky earthquakes to destroy their enemies.

And yet every time as I revealed myself I said now follow me. He's oh no we don't do that. And he says didn't you know to us he says that we are to be ones that we need to be following him not just hearing his word but doing it coming him giving him our lives and saying Lord I give you my problems.

I do want this thorn removed or whatever it is. But if you've got a dimension of your grace and your power your sufficiency that I have not yet known that can overrule and give me the power in this then God give it to me take me if I want to follow you I want to hear your voice and I want to enter into your rest and I want to go through the straight gate and the narrow is the way as he says there and here essentially there's Jesus is closing off the message he's saying they're doing.

From Religious Listening to Active Faith

And this is where we struggle so often. You know we kind of do things. We come together and we sing we have a wonderful worship time. And here Noel sings for us tonight be still and know I'm God. And we just think oh that's so wonderful.

But are we still. Are we knowing he's God right now within our life. Or as we sing some of these wonderful songs that we sing do we believe them. Or do we just sing them. We can hit the key know the chorus sing right along with everybody else not as we sing him.

Isn't that beautiful. But do we believe them. Do we follow them. We you know the church sometimes we get together and we sing you know standing on the promises of God. You know I cannot fail. And things you know we'd all get together standing standing standing on the promises of God my Savior.

And we sing it all through. Are we standing on the promises. No but it's a wonderful song. You know something we should change the words. I think they're sitting on the premises you know or something instead you know and you know or something that is what we ought to just do and then just put it in there.

I'm not standing on it. I'm just sitting on the premises occupying space nodding at it but not doing here. Jesus says do it follow me enter into it. The amazing things about us is like with the children of Israel is they went so far they actually heard so much and they were so familiar with God's voice and with God's work and with God's revelations of himself that they actually made assumptions that they were just fine.

And at the same time they had a hardened heart of unbelief because their life was not following. They were not hearing his voice. They hardened their hearts and they provoke God through unbelief lack of obedience to go into the land or to trust him.

The Narrow Way and Christian Liberty

In many times we can be like that on one hand we kind of believe but yet our life doesn't follow. We're kind of like the story of the fellow that went into a bar and he asked the bartender he says I want three shots of whiskey.

They line up the three shots of whiskey and he lifts one up and drinks it and lifts the second drinks it lifts the third drinks it. Well he came in every Friday at three o 'clock ordered up these three and sat over there in the corner and drank these three shots of whiskey.

And finally one time the bartender you're so interested this is it. Can you tell me. I've never seen. But do what you do. You come in here every Friday at three and have three shots of whiskey. And he said well I had two fellows we were went through the war together and we were said great buddies and we used to go and have a whiskey together.

Well then we all went our separate ways but in honor of each other wherever we are in the world at three o 'clock every Friday we all gather wherever we are though we're not together line up three shots and lift one to each one of us you know and wherever we are thinking about each other and what we mean.

He says oh that's nice. He thought it was. But anyway the then one day the fella kept coming in but this time he ordered two and then for he noticed him for a few weeks of Friday at three he was only getting two and you know it didn't take long.

The bartender realized well one of his buddies must have died. He goes to him and he said you know I noticed you only getting two now. And he said yeah. And he said I assume one of your friends died. He says no no that didn't happen.

He actually what happened. I became a but somehow or another we're kind of like that a lot of times we go and in one sense we lift one to God you know I believe that you know I trust in that but don't happen to put two and two together and realize we're still doing a lot of stuff that we aren't entering in.

We ourselves are not following. We ourselves are not really in our own life wanting it to be transformed. We're just doing it less or something. So we say see look at my I'm being changed and I think other people would look at this and say well I'm not sure about that but here Jesus see essentially as he goes on he says I want you to follow me and I want you to trust me.

I am your father I am your God. I want you to come to me and seek me for everything in life you need I'll take care of you. And he says and then let people go and now follow me just let him go and follow me and trust me and seek me and you'll find me and I'll take care of you.

And then he gives this wonderful little picture here to us as we're kind of following him. And you might say in a sense when here he tells us there to go in at this straight gate as he you know turns to us you know to follow the straight gate in this narrow way and kind of as we come along here we look over and here on one side we see this this broad gate it is wide gate in this broad way this wide wide road and we look there and there's many people going in and we look over this he's kind of showing it to us you might say and then next year we look over here and here's a narrow little gate and there's a narrow way there is it kind of seems to go on at least awful narrow and confining in appearance starts narrow stays narrow sort of a thing.

And there is he looks at this he says one of these is the way the world goes and the other one is the way that the people that know and love and trust me fully go with their lives. And he looks at there and he says as he draws this picture he tells you and I it's like you saying I I know exactly the perception the world has of me and all the things going on.

And I know the world looks at life in a certain way and it can go and do what it wants to and has all of its liberties and all of the way that it lives. And he says I know that when I am asking somebody to turn to me and love me and trust me and follow me it seems very very narrow.

It seems very very tight. It seemed very very confining. But I'll tell you the most wonderful thing that ever happens is that when somebody I believe becomes very very narrow about Jesus when something happens in our heart and in our life and we become very confining you might say about him.

I believe the Lord loves his people to be narrow about him. He loves us to take him very very literally. He loves us to look at God and take his father is very very narrow. He loves us to take his lordship and his mastery and his right to rule and be very narrow upon about that.

He loves us to look at the spirit of God be very narrow. He loves us to look at values and processes and lives and be very very narrow about them narrow about his right to rule narrow about his authority therein and to do that because you see the wonderful thing is though is this narrowness.

It's also a tremendous paradox because here Jesus says the broad way leads to destruction but the narrow way leads to life. If the Son has set you free you're free. Indeed there's nobody freer in all the world than the person that is extremely narrow and confining about Jesus and following him.

There's nobody more liberated. There is nobody that is that it has a greater freer fuller richer life than the one that is he has has determined. I want to be very narrow about Jesus Christ in my life and whatever it is he wants I don't want to play with it.

James in his epistle he like he calls the gospel the law of liberty. I like that. It's like on one hand he did this law but it's something there the gospel when it when it becomes only in a sense to my heart it becomes something so high so narrow so confining.