If You Keep Knocking, Will God Open the Door? (Acts 12)

Welcome back to the podcast! This week we're continuing in Acts to clarify what Jesus meant when, Matthew 7:8, he said: "For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

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Q. If You Keep Knocking, Will God Open the Door?

• What did Jesus mean when He told us to ask, seek, and knock?

Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT) 7 “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 opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

• Is this a promise or a principle?
• Ex: Prov 22:6 “train up a child…”
• Clearly a principle

So: If I Keep Knocking, Will God Open the Door?

• Let’s go to Acts to find our answer…

Acts 12:1-2 (NLT) 1 About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. 2 He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. 

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) King Herod in this context means Herod Agrippa I (reigned AD 41-4), who was son of Aristobulus and grandson of Herod the Great (reigned 37 BC – 4 BC).
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) son Agrippa II in Acts 25:13—26:32. Agrippa I also had two daughters, Drusilla, who is mentioned in 24:24, and Bernice, who is mentioned in 25:13.
• James dies. First apostle to go.

Acts 12:3-4 (NLT) 3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter…. 4 Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. 

• Sound familiar?
• John 21:18-19 (NLT) 18 “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”

Acts 12:5 (NLT) 5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

• Here we go. Prayer works!
• Acts 12:6-8 (NLT) 6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered.
• Acts 12:9-10 (NLT) 9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. 10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.
• Acts 12:11 (NLT) 11 Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!”
• Acts 12:12-14 (NLT) 12 When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. 13 He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”
• This next verse is the one that sheds light on prayer: 

Acts 12:15 (NLT) 15 “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.”

• Did you pick up on the insight? 
• The believers couldn’t believe it when Peter was rescued. 
• Let me say it another way to make sure you get the point:
• The church prayed very earnestly for Peter… and then couldn’t believe it when their prayers were answered.
• IOW: they weren’t expecting this outcome. They were shocked.
• Doesn’t seem very earnest, does it? 
• Where was their faith? 
• One of two possible answers:
• Either: They weren’t praying for his rescue, just for strength
• They probably knew what Jesus had said about him, how he would die.
• Or: They were praying for his rescue, but with weak faith
• Obviously, or they would have all run to the door at the sound of knocking

Acts 12:16-17 (NLT) 16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.

• A couple of random notes:
• “Tell James” 
• James the bro of Jesus, not the martyr from above (Gal. 1:19; cf. Mk. 6:3; 1 Cor. 15:7)
• An indication that James was a leader in the church (see also Acts 15)
• Another place: left Jerusalem? 
• Now Peter fades away in Acts (shows up one more time in ch 15)
• From here we follow Paul and his ministry
• But for today’s question: 
• Peter kept knocking… they finally opened the door.
• Some of us feel like this with prayer
• We’re the ones knocking… will he ever open?
• Is Mt 7:8 a promise or a principle?

Both! The answer can be found in one more verse:

1 John 5:14 (NIV) 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

• “Approaching God”
• This is the principle: prayer is about connecting to God
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The NIV translates pros auton as 'in approaching God'. It is better translated 'in his [God's] presence' (cf. John 1:1: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God [pros ton theon])'. 
• Prayer is about God, not about what he can give us. 
• This is what the early disciples were learning
• Peter wasn’t the central focus of the story; Jesus was
• Too many people “ask, seek, knock” for their own selfish purposes. 
• “Knock and the door will be opened” is an invitation to relationship.
• “According to his will”
• This is the promise part: God’s will WILL be done
• That’s for sure!
• The point: the more we are “with God”, in his presence, the more we can ask “according to his will”. And those are the prayers that get answered.
• James 4:3 (NLT) 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
• “Knock and the door will be opened” is about God’s will, not ours.

So, Q. If You Keep Knocking, Will God Open the Door?

• Absolutely, because he wants a relationship with you.
• So keep knocking, keep seeking, keep asking
• But like the disciples, what you find when the doors gets opened… might not be what you expected.