ANNOUNCER: If belief is the only condition for receiving eternal salvation, then why does Matthew suggest that we ask, seek, and knock? And why does Romans say that no one understands and no one seeks after God? It will make a great discussion, stay with us, it’s just ahead. This is Grace in Focus a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Find us on our website, faithalone.org. And today we want to tell you about our subscription-free magazine. It is also called Grace in Focus. It is published six times per year. It is a full-size, full-length, full-color magazine with great articles. You will enjoy it. It is free, all but the postage, if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States, you do have to pay the postage, otherwise absolutely free, and we want you to happen. Get signed up today at faithalone.org.

Now with our discussion for the day, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr.

SAM: You’ve got a question from Alberto. It comes from, I think, one of your videos talking about Ray Comfort, but really this is just kind of a good Bible question. He’s asking about, by one point in the video, you talk about belief being the only requirements for salvation. But then you say, when a sinner asks, he will receive; seeks, he will find Him, he will open the door for God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. But then Alberto points out a verse from Romans, Romans 3:11 that says, “There is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks after God.” So it’s an apparent contradiction. How can we seek after God if no one seeks after God?

BOB: Yeah, that’s a very good question. And the answer is fairly simple. And by the way, the passage that I referred to in the video that Alberto was asking about is Matthew 7:7-11, ask, seek, knock. And by the way, it’s easy to remembe,r because ASK, for ask, has asked, seek, knock. The A, the S, and the K, ask, seek, knock. And Matthew 7:7-11 is easy to remember because it’s a 7-11 passage. So it’s a convenience store passage.

But in my view, the answer is that Romans chapter 3 and verse 11, which is a whole series of quotes called, they call it a “catena,” where you have a whole series of Old Testament quotes put back to back to back, has a fairly easy explanation. Maybe you could read Romans 3:11 through around verse 12.

SAM: Well, I’ll start with verse 10, where he says, “As it is written,” and then the quotes begin, “there’s none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is no one who does good, no, not one.”

BOB: So you got what, none righteous, none seek, none understand, and what else?

SAM: All have turned aside, all become unprofitable.

BOB: All unprofitable.

SAM: No one good.

BOB: No one good. When you look at the rest of Scripture, you find that there are people who are righteous. For example, Luke chapter 1, the parents of John the Baptist are called righteous because they were keeping the commandments. They were righteous in their experience. We’re told in 2 Peter that Lot was righteous, and that his righteous soul was tormented night and day by the wickedness around him. If you study the word righteous, you’ll find that lots of people are called righteous. Of course, David’s called a man after God’s own heart. Abraham’s called God’s friend.

In terms of none seeking, we know there are people who sought God. For example, Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 is a man whose prayers and alms ascended to God. And because of his prayers and alms, God sends him an angel.

SAM: And we have the disciples who followed Christ for all of His ministry. They were clearly seeking and trying to understand what He was saying.

BOB: And they did understand some of what He said. Now they didn’t get everything, but saying none who understands, no, that’s not true.
So what this is referring to, all of these things here are referring to man if left to his own devices. In other words, if God was not drawing us, if God was not illuminating us, if God was not opening our eyes to the truth, no one would seek God, no one would understand, no one would be righteous, no one would be doing anything good. But as a result of God drawing us and illuminating our eyes, then there are people who seek, and there are people who do good.

So the harmonization is this: when Jesus says, ask, seek, knock, that’s all within a context of God already drawing everyone. Remember Jesus said, if I’m lifted up, I will draw all men unto me, John 12, I think verse 38? Because God is drawing all, therefore all can respond.

You asked me before we started here, if I thought that this Matthew 7:7-11 passage is primarily evangelistic or evangelistic, and the answer is no. This isn’t evangelistic. This is a general statement about asking, seeking, and knocking. And it’s saying that if we come to God and ask Him for wisdom, He’s going to give it to us. If we ask Him for what we should do, He will guide us. And it doesn’t mean we’re hearing voices or anything like that.

But it means God gives us the direction we need in life, and He primarily does that through His Word, through His commandments. Now, sometimes He can help us with other people in our local churches that we can lean upon and ask them for their suggestions and their advice, because with many counselors, there’s wisdom. But the truth of the matter is, we can seek because God is a loving Father who wants to reward us. Remember Hebrews 11:6, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him?

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BOB: So, the real answer here is that all the way through Scripture, God delights in blessing people. He delights in saving people. If we seek Him, someone like Cornelius, well, then we’re going to hear the saving message, and God sends an angel and says, okay, send for Simon Peter. Well, was it 3:12 that says none understand?

SAM: That’s part of 11.

BOB: 11. Did Cornelius understand when the angel said, send for Simon Peter, who’s with the Tanner in Joppa? Did he understand? And did he actually send three people to go get him?

SAM: Yeah, I mean, I think he’s probably the best New Testament example we have of someone who was seeking and received.

BOB: I love that because, we should have a lot of people named Cornelius, because like you say, I think he is a wonderful example. Now, there’s a female example, a little bit later in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 16. She’s a seller of purple named Lydia, and I’ve met a lot of people in Christian circles named Lydia. Lydia was also a seeker. She’s a God-fearing Gentile who’s at the place of prayer, Philippi evidently didn’t have enough Jewish men to have a synagogue, so instead they would meet down by the riverside, and that’s where Paul went, and she was seeking God, so she was at the place where Jews would meet, and she went there and heard Paul preaching, and God, we’re told, opened her heart, Acts 16:14, that she might heed the things spoken by Paul and Silas.

Well, what I would suggest is that because she was open, and she was seeking, then God allowed her to understand and allowed her to believe, and she did, and I think that occurs for every one of us, God opens our hearts at the moment we believe. It’s not that we choose to believe, it’s that at that point the evidence persuades us, and there’s kind of, as I see it, a kind of interaction between us and God, in that we go from unbelief to belief, and in most people’s cases, that involves a period of seeking.

Now, in someone like you where you grow up in a Christian home, you probably can’t remember a time you didn’t believe, right?

SAM: Not really.

BOB: And so when you have a situation like that, well, you may have had some seeking as a child, but that seeking was far different from someone like Saul of Tarsus.

SAM: I mean, I was reading the Bible in church, my mom reading the Bible to me, reading stories from the Bible. It is still a different journey, but in that way, I was rewarded for diligently seeking, but that was also my mom, I think, was rewarded for diligently serving in that way, ministering to me.

BOB: So, and by the way, that’s a good thing for all you parents to realize is that it’s really not the job of the local church to lead your children to faith in Christ. It’s really your job to lead your children to faith in Christ. Now, yes, you want to find a local church that’s clear on teaching the word, especially clear on the promise of eternal life, because they can back up what you’re saying in the home. But mom and dad shouldn’t be silent at home and hope that the local church leads their kids to faith in Christ. The church should just be backing up what you’ve been saying all along.

So, in any regard, I think the harmonization between those two passages recognize Scripture never contradicts Scripture.

SAM: I’m glad you brought this up, Alberto, because I had never considered this, so I think it’s a really good thing to examine, because the more we examine Scripture in this way, these two verses seem to contradict each other, let’s dive into the context of both and see what they have to say. That ultimately strengthens our understanding of Scripture and strengthens our resolve, because now that’s one more time where someone that wants to attack the faith might come and say, well, Scripture contradicts itself all the time. And now this is just one more defense that you have. No, it doesn’t. Like, we can see here, these are two different contexts, two different things being talked about. And there is a harmony between them.

BOB: Yeah, and I point out that Luke 24:45 talks about how God opened the hearts of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, so they might understand the Old Testament Scriptures about the death and resurrection of Messiah. God does that for believers all the time. So, it’s not just unbelievers that God gives insight into the saving message and we believe. It’s believers that He opens our mind so that we might understand and believe the truth of Scripture.

When you’re reading the Word of God, don’t just think it’s a matter of like, you know, making sausage. You just do the right things and the right steps and out comes the sausage. No, it is a matter of a spiritual interaction between you and the Holy Spirit. You, as you read the Word of God, should be prayerful. Lord, help me understand what I’m seeing here. Open my eyes to the truth. Now, yes, we need to study, but if we’re not humble and prayerful, then we shouldn’t expect God to reward us. Him being a rewarder of those who diligently seek him is primarily directed toward the believer.

Well, thank you, Alberto, and thank you all. And remember, let’s keep grace and focus. Amen.

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