Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?
8 sermons cite this verse
don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy don't throw your pearls to pigs they will trample the pearls then turn and attack you keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for keep on seeking and you will find keep on knocking and the door will be open to you For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him? Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Have you thought recently about the power of words? …
… but that's where Jesus, He kind of reiterates parallel what we saw in Matthew chapter 7, verse 7 through 11. If your son asks for bread, we give him a stone. And what Jesus does is he changes it up a little bit in verse 13 in Luke chapter 11. He says, if you then, though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven? Now, Matthew chapter 7, verse 11 said, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? In Luke 11, 13, Jesus says, how much more will your Father give? instead of good gifts, Jesus says, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? I remember reading that and thinking, well, what if I didn't ask for the Holy Spirit? What if I was asking for good gifts? Why does he give the Holy Spirit? And the beauty is, don't miss this. …
… Which of your fathers who goes on the brotherhood hike, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then are evil and you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? I'm going to give you four things to write down today. Write down number one, prayer works. I'm just convinced of it that I believe in the power of prayer. In fact, there's an old saying that goes like this, prayer changes things, mainly me. When I pray, it's not that I always get what I want, but it's that I'm at peace and I'm at rest because God is a good God. Come on, is there anybody here today that believes in the power of prayer and you believe that prayer works? Oh, come on, everybody, clap South Bay. Clap if you believe in the power of prayer. …
… if his son asks for bread will he give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent if you then being evil that just simply means lost human beings 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 are you guys awake? can you see Jesus going like this? ask me, come on just ask I wonder how many times I go through the day and he wanted me to ask but I never stopped to ask Okay. and he says to search to search for hidden treasure whenever I read in the Bible about God's hidden treasure things like this I always see God bearing the treasure with the handle sticking out that's how he is we dig it deeper and hide it and camouflage it God takes the treasure and leaves part of it sticking out so we can get the hint. …
… The one who seeks, finds. To the one who knocks, it will be opened. Which one of you? If his son asks him for bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he 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. Do you hear what Jesus is saying here? God is our Father who delights in giving good things to all of his children who take the time to ask him! Exclamation point. And here's the problem. Because we think God is reluctant, we are reluctant to pray because we don't really know whether it's going to matter or if God's going to answer and give us what we want. And Jesus is saying, no, God is the perfect father, your heavenly father who delights in giving good things to those who ask him. But we immediately think and almost object, saying, okay, but God hasn't given me everything I've asked for, which is true for all of us and is good for all of us. Like, what parent among us has given your child everything they've asked for? If my children got everything they'd asked for, they'd be eating Sour Patch Kids all day watching a screen. Like, no. And that's the whole point of what Jesus is saying here. Because he's saying, you're not even the best parents. Like, you have …
… 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? The reason why this passage stuck out to me so much today was our focus on prayer coming up this next month. But in particular, it was those last couple of verses. Versus which of your which of you fathers, if your son asked for some bread, you're going to give him a stone. Or chew on this. Like you just you don't do that. And he talks about, okay, if you guys as fathers being evil, you can pull that off. What do you think about your heavenly father when you ask him? Okay, if your son asks for a fish, you're going to give him a serpent? You're going to give him something bad? Here's why it was so big on you. …
… He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. This is God's word. We're going to do a brief series by Jesus, sayings by Jesus on finding. And you see, though it's actually acceptable nowadays to say I'm spiritually searching, it's not acceptable to say I found. …
… FOR WHAT MAN IS THERE OF YOU, WHOM? IF HIS SON ASKED GRED, WILL HE GIVE HIM A STONE? OR IF HE ASKED 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, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? Dr. C. Roy Angel used to be a noted pastor in Miami, Florida when I was a boy. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT DR. ANGEL WOULD DO IN HIS PREACHING WAS TO TELL STORIES. HE WAS A GREAT ILLUSTRATOR OF MESSAGES WITH STORIES, AND HE TOLD A STORY ONE TIME OF A SHEPHERD BOY WHO WAS OUT TENDING HIS SHEEP, AND HE HAPPENED TO LOOK DOWN, AND THE SHEPHERD BOY SAW THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER HE BELIEVED HE'D EVER SEEN. HE GOT DOWN ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES TO LOOK AT THAT FLOWER, HA, HA, AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL THAT HE DUCK IT OUT OF THE EARTH, ROOT, ROOT AND ALL, AND CUPPED IT IN HIS HANDS AND BROUGHT IT UP CLOSER TO HIS FACE TO LOOK AT IT. WHEN HE DID THAT, THERE WAS A MOUNTAIN NEARBY, AND IT SEEMED AS THE ENTIRE MOUNTAIN WOULD OPEN UP, AS IF THERE WERE DOORS IN THE MOUNTAIN ON GREAT OILED HINGES, AND THE DOORS SWUNG OPEN. AND THE SUNLIGHT WENT INTO THE SIDE OF THAT MOUNTAIN, INTO THAT GREAT VAULT IN THE MOUNTAIN, AND THE BOY LOOKED IN THERE, AND HE SAW ALL KINDS OF TREASURES, GOLD AND SILVER AND DIAMONDS AND …