Have you ever wanted to ask a question, but were somewhat apprehensive that the answer wouldn't go the way that you wanted, or expected or preferred? Then when you worked up the courage to ask that question, sure enough the answer isn't quite what you expected. Perhaps you've just been flat turned down or someone just said, "No". How did that feel? Were you disappointed or perhaps even discouraged? I suspect we've all made a request at one time or another and gotten turned down. Maybe the answer to our question was 'no', but it was done in a gentle way… but the answer was still, 'no', nevertheless. Maybe the answer we received was like a splash of cold water in our faces or maybe the answer we received was simply quiet… no response at all… not even a tiny peep or squeak to acknowledge our existence. So what do you do when you get a negative response? When you hear the word, 'no' or you simply don't get a response to your question?

Today I want to examine how several people, as recorded throughout the Bible, responded when they did not get the answer that they were asking for. I've entitled this sermon "Ask, Ask, and Ask Again", the alternate title is "The Value of Persistence".

When I was a young man in college, my fellow students… the guys in the dorm, would share the reasons that they were rejected when asking a young lady for a date. One fellow said that his request for a date was rejected because the young lady said that she had to wash her socks that evening. Another guy said that he was rejected because his intended date would need to talk to her grandmother that evening. The reasons for the rejections went on and on and after a while some guys just gave up asking for dates because they were afraid of the rejection.

I will make the five points today in the form of rules.

Rule 1) DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK BUT PLAN CAREFULLY.

Let's take a look at Esther. We may have an idea of what went on with Esther in the Bible. A young woman is selected as the new queen by king Ahasuerus, but the king did not know her background… did not know her heritage, did not know that she was a Jewish girl. She had to be careful of what she said and whom she said it to. She followed the advice of her cousin of whom she was a ward. Her parents were deceased. The previous queen had been deposed and Esther was chosen as the new queen. In that process of being chosen, she sought advice.

Esther 2:5 In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. 6 Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

8 So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women. 9 Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.

10 Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. 11 And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.

12 Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women. 13 Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.

15 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

Notice at the end of verse fourteen that she couldn't go into the king again unless the king called for her. If he were happy with her, he would call her back… but if the king did not call her, she could not approach him again. It was up to him to do the asking.

Verse 15b-18 And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. 16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.

We have quite an occasion. Everybody knew who the new queen was. He proclaimed it far and wide and he was pleased with his new pick.

Then we enter into the story of a fellow by the name of Haman, one of the king's closest advisers. Haman had it in for the Jews. Esther 3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

In other words, he was saying, "I'll pay you, king, if you'll sign this law. I will contribute mightily to the king's treasury."

Esther 3:10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

12 Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

Esther 4:4 So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. Mordecai was mourning, so he put on sackcloth. 5 Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why this was. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king’s gate. 7 And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people. 9 So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Mordecai communicated back to Esther all that was going on and now she was worried because all of her people would be subject to dying by the king's decree.

10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Mordecai was telling Esther that she needed to go before the king to ask him to reverse this, to make some changes here. But she said, 'If I go to the king without being called, the law is that I will be put to death unless he holds out the scepter and I haven't been called to come before the king for a month.' In other words, what is the chance of this happening? I'm likely to be struck dead.

13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Mordecai was urging her, "You must take the chance. You're going to have to ask the king to change his decree." How did Esther go about this? She was perplexed… 'How do I ask the king, because just taking the chance means that I may very well die? Look what he did to the last queen." He disposed of her. We aren't given the details but you know that queen isn't around anymore. So what is she going to do? Esther had to think about how she is going to ask this question.

Esther 5:1-8 1 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. 2 So it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. (Step 1) Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. The king held out the scepter for her; he wasn't going to kill her for approaching and so she was able to get close enough to the king to be able to ask him a question.

What question would you ask? You took a chance and you lived. Would you fall down on your knees now and ask him to save all of your people? That's not what Esther did.

3 And the king said to her, “What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you—up to half the kingdom!” Now let me say that when he says that, it is an expression of love, faith, and encouragement… that's not necessarily the way it is going to be if she says, "Yes, yes, I'd like that half of the kingdom." That's not exactly the way it's going to come out. In other words: "I'm willing to give you anything that's reasonable whatsoever if it's in my power to do so."

4 So Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.” Notice the question she asked. Did she ask a great and grand thing of the king? No. She asked a nice thing, a very comforting thing. The king felt good that the queen thought enough of him (instead of being despised and running the other way like the previous queen) that she would invite him to a banquet and be seen with him. And she invited his top adviser Haman to come. 5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. A banquet is not a small thing when you're roasting a sheep or an oxen and it takes a lot of time to prepare… particularly one that is befitting a king who owns an empire that stretches from Ethiopia to India… which is a huge swath of the known world at that time?

6 At the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!” Once again the king asks, 'What do you really want here? And I know it's not just for this banquet… come on, come on. Let's get serious; what do you really want? What request do you have?' 7 Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and request is this: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.” She says, 'Why don't you come to another banquet and then I will ask you.'

First of all, she was seen in the courtyard asking permission to come into the presence of the king. Step one… she made it; she didn't die. Then she asked the king to come to a banquet and he did and then she told the king, 'I'll tell you tomorrow if you'll come to another banquet.' Obviously, it's the royal court… there's a lot of intrigue going on… what is happening with all this partying going on with the king?

Esther 7:1-6 1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!” The king must have thought a lot of this young lady because she has now teased him just to the brink to where he can't take it anymore. 'What is it you really want? Come now.' 3 Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. Let's put that in a little better English: 'Let me live and let my people live.' This is a bit puzzling, but she goes on to explain. 4 For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.” If it had only been that they were to be sold as slaves, we would accept this… but to be killed or annihilated is unacceptable.

5 So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?”

6 And Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!” This is very scary because the king's top adviser is right there. I can imagine in my mind's eye that they're sitting at the banquet table and the king's heart is a bit merry with the beverage and she turns and says, 'It is THIS evil wicked Haman', pointing to him because he is right there as a guest at the banquet as well. That had to be a bit discouraging for Haman who was really enjoying himself being in the royal palace.

The king then was very upset with Haman and one of the palace attendants says, "Look, there are the gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai." What they didn't know was that the king had had a sleepless night and the king, in order to get back to sleep, had somebody reading the royal history of how Mordecai had saved the king from an assassination attempt years before. He had put it in the history book of the kingdom. Now, he sees that Haman wanted to kill all of the Jews and that Haman had designs to hang Mordecai and yet Mordecai was the one that saved the king's life. So, when the servant says, 'There are the gallows right out there… ' Fifty cubits is what? Fifty times eighteen inches is what… seventy-five feet high? That's pretty tall. You could see that for goodly ways around. Apparently, Haman wanted to make sure that everybody could see that Mordecai was being hung. The king said, "Hang Haman on those gallows." That's what happened and then he gave Mordecai, the intended one for the gallows, Haman's property. That's a big turnabout!

Esther 8:1-6 1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. Now the king knows they are related, that the one who saved the king's life is related to the queen. 2 So the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman. Mordecai inherited all the household and the property of Haman which is exactly as it says in the proverb: that one who wants to roll a rock on someone else, that same rock will roll back on them. That's what happened here. Haman had in mind to take everything away from the Jews and yet it ended up the other way around. The signet ring was interesting. Whoever held the signet ring could make commands in the king's name and that affixed the king's seal to it because the king didn't want to be bothered with the little items, so he trusted someone else to take care of the ordinary business. You could take a document, write it, put wax on it, and put the king's seal right on that document and it was as if the king himself had done it. There was that much trust; the king trusted Mordecai where previously he had trusted Haman, but Haman had lost the trust.

3 Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. Yet again, she asked a question. She had a supplication; she implored him with tears. I know guys hate it when their wives come up to them and they're crying and they can't refuse a request… because that's the way it is, right? It happened with king Ahasuerus, his wife was in tears and it was a terrible, terrible thing that the law still existed. All of her relatives and all her people would die on a certain date and all their property be confiscated. 5 and said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?” Of course, that couldn't be because the king could not revoke a command once given. It was their way; it was their law. You couldn't revoke it.

However, Esther engaged the king in this discussion: Esther 9:12 12 And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done.” Esther had asked to eliminate the threat of retribution that Haman's ten sons would still pose under the king's order and asked for them to be put to death so that would stop the conspiracy to kill all the Jews.

You have this terrible, terrible situation which Haman has conspired to create and here is Esther whom you can imagine is half the age of the king who is the mightiest ruler on the face of the earth and you have this scared girl who has to come before them and asked these questions and not just once. She had to ask them wisely and she had to plan ahead instead of blurting it out at the beginning and she had to have the faith to be able to ask those questions. She stood up to the job. Rule one: Don't be afraid to ask, but plan carefully.

Rule 2: ASK WITH DETERMINATION

 Jacob was coming back from Laban in Syria to the land that he would inherit from Abraham and Isaac. He's on the way back and he hears that his twin brother, Esau has four hundred mounted men… horsemen coming to meet him. He knew that he had tricked his brother in the inheritance matter and that his brother would be very unhappy with him and so he was very worried. So, Jacob split his family and belongings. Half he sent with Leah and half with Rachel. Gen. 32:1 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. I don't know how he recognized the angels of God, but he clearly did because this is written for our understanding. After Jacob had split his camp up into two different parts and sent one each way so that if his brother came to annihilate all of his family, he would only catch half of them and the other half could get away.

Gen. 32:24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”

But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

27 So He said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”

And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

We don't know all the details of this particular encounter, but we do know this… that Jacob wrestled all night. I've stayed up all night a few times in my life; I was not in peak form the next day. When the sun was coming up, I could not say that I was full of energy, enthusiasm, and vigor and that I would be willing to take on anybody or anything. Yet Jacob wrestled all night and what did the person he was wrestling with say? "Let me go, for the day breaks." And Jacob responded, "I will not let you go unless You bless me." How willing are we to grab a hold of a potential blessing? How determined was Jacob with the knowledge of who he was wrestling? Because of this particular occasion, we can know that it is okay to ask with determination. Jacob had that determination and he did receive the blessing and his name at that point was changed to 'Israel'.
 
Rule 3: ASK REPEATEDLY

 We have an example that we'll be coming up on here and we'll probably speak more of as we come upon the Spring Holy Days.

The children of Israel were in Egypt for over four hundred years and Moses was raised in Egypt and fled for forty years. At age eighty he was called by God to go back and help to rescue the children of Israel from Egypt. Moses said, I'm not very good at this talking thing; I can't really speak well. God said okay fine, I'll give you Aaron to be your spokesman, to help you out.

Ex. 5:1-2 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” They're setting it up so Pharaoh knows that the message is from God, the God of all these people that you have enslaved. Mind you that this particular pharaoh is the strongest ruler in this region… capable of life and death at the snap of a finger. 2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” We can read now what happened to Moses and Aaron and in fact the children of Israel because things got worse for the Israelites. Ex. 5:5-9 5 And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!” In other words, you're interrupting the work that we need to get done. Why would you do that? 6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ In other words, they want to go waste time. Rather than waste time, we'll let them go pluck straw and get their own straw for the bricks. 9 Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.” Pharaoh thought this was all very silly, this nonsense about going into the wilderness. That reminds me of when my wife was in graduate school many, many years ago. She had a professor that she told she was going to the feast and this particular time she would need off and the professor said, "That's silly." You know the answer isn't going to be good after that. It was a very difficult time to get through.

 Ex. 5:20-23 20 Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them. 21 And they said to them, “Let the Lord look on you and judge because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Now the children of Israel start to blame Moses and Aaron for even asking Pharaoh to let them go in the first place saying they were now going to work them to death and if we aren't worked to death, they'll just kill us; look what you, Moses and Aaron have done! You went and had to ask them that. Moses reported to God and he's saying, you know that asking thing that you wanted Aaron and me to do, it didn't work. I'm not saying that it was a screwup, but it didn't work. 22 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.” Moses is saying, I don't understand. I did what You said, I asked just like you said to ask and things got worse. Did it ever happen to you that way? You ask and you meant well and you had it all down, but things didn't get better. You did what you were asked, but it got worse. We know that as we read through the book of Exodus that Moses and his spokesman Aaron came before the pharaoh… how many more times? Another ten times. Thence we have the stories of the plagues and so forth. It was ten more times and nine more times Pharaoh said what? NO! You're not going to go. The eleventh time, after ten plagues he not only said GO, he said go quickly and take your stuff. Then he reneged on that afterwards.

Can we say to ourselves, yeah that was Moses and the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt? My problems are a little different. I'm insignificant in the world, why should anyone listen to me? After all, I didn't see the burning bush. I'm not Moses; I'm not Aaron. I don't carry the rod that budded and produced almonds and then swallowed snakes and all these other things. That was different. When I ask a question, I'm just little old me. It doesn't matter.

 

Rule 4: ASK YET AGAIN

Luke 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, He is trying to encourage them. Do you always get the answer you want when you pray? Here Christ is giving the instruction that we always ought to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18 2-5 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Do you suppose the widow came more than once? Because what did the judge say: Lest by her continual coming she weary me. Do you weary someone by coming once? No. We have the example here that Christ said about prayer… that we should be persistent and then He gives the example of this widow who should have been one of the most taken care of ones in society, the orphans, and widows. The judge wasn't regarding God nor man. He was a big shot; he didn't have to do any of this. And yet she kept at it continually. Her persistence was there. Luke 18:6-8 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Let's have enough faith to cry out to God for ourselves, for others, for the work of the church. Will God find such faith on the earth at the return of Jesus Christ? That was the question and it's up to us to come up with the answer for our individual lives. Ask yet again, just as the widow did.

Rule 5: ASK, BUT KNOW WHEN TO QUIT

During the time of Abram and his nephew Lot, they migrated to the land of Canaan and they were living together… both their flocks and herds and their families and there was strife between the two. Sometimes living together doesn't work out when two households are living in the same area. Like they say… maybe relatives and fish three days in the house may begin to stink. I suspect the stink level here was kind of high between Abraham and Lot. We read in Genesis that Abraham (Abram) said look we have all this land. You take to the left and I'll take to the right and if you take to the right, I'll take to the left.

Gen.13:8-13 8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

10 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. He throws in this little note about Sodom. Lot went in the direction of Sodom with all of his great possessions and all of his livestock.

I'm sure you've read the story where a couple of angels visited Abraham and Sarah and told Abraham in his older years that he and Sarah would have a child. Sarah laughed, but indeed it came about. Then we read on:

Gen. 18:16-33 16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, (He is presumably talking to the angels with Him.) 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” 20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? (Notice what Abraham did. He was curious and boldly so because he knew his nephew and all his family headed toward Sodom. So what does Abraham have the courage to ask God: Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?) 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So Abraham now is questioning… are You sure You want to do this? I don't understand. How can you destroy all the wicked there but kill fifty righteous people?

26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” So, we have a deal going here. Abraham asked and what did God say? Okay. For fifty, I'll spare the whole thing. I don't know the population of Sodom… whether it was a thousand or fifty thousand or a hundred thousand, but if there were only fifty righteous, He would spare the place.

27 Then Abraham answered (and boldly I must say) and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes (he understood his relationship to his Creator) have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: (Do we take it upon ourselves to speak to God, to ask Him. We know what dust and ashes are. That's what we're made from. We eat and the food comes from the ground and so we're all made from the same things that come from the ground… the dust and the ashes of the earth. Abraham understood that, that he was the created being and that he was talking to the Creator.) 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” If fifty is going to work, how about forty-five? Will that maybe work out okay? I could probably see the mindset of Abraham because he knew how many people were in Lot's household… how many servants he had and their families and so forth, and surely, saying fifty would spare them. Maybe forty-five because maybe some are on the border, on the fringes… but would You go forty-five? This is sort of like a reverse auction we have going here.

So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” First, he went in increments of five, but now he's jumping down to thirty. He's agreeing so far, let's speed this up a little bit. He was also respectful. He asked God, 'Don't be angry with me. I'm pleading their case for them.'

31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord (In other words, I know this must be getting really irritating now.): Suppose twenty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”

And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33 So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. You notice Abraham put a limit on it. He wasn't going to be totally unreasonable here. He didn't say okay what about nine, eight, seven. He asked one more time and put a limit to it. He understood there had to be a limit at some point. It was over. Abraham recognized that. He had done his best. He had asked repeatedly and had gotten a favorable response every time… even down to the ten. Abraham stopped bargaining. He knew when to quit. Do we know when to quit? We're to ask and we've seen all the examples about asking and asking again. We've learned how to prepare to ask, but do we know how to set the limit?

What is the goal and purpose in this life?

 Psalm 90:12
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
 
What is wisdom? The understanding of taking knowledge and rightly applying it. So that we may gain not just wisdom, but a heart of wisdom… a way of life so that we learn to make good decisions. What is the result of making wise decisions?

Proverbs 3:13
13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;

That's where Abraham was. He was exercising wisdom. He was putting a limit on what he was asking and not an unreasonable limit. Even non-Christians have discovered the rules of asking. There's a book that some of you may have read twenty or thirty years ago by the author Robert Ringer. He has written a number of books. He even has a website. I don't know how old the fellow is, but he is certainly an interesting author. You can find him at Robert Ringer.com. He wrote: "The Ten Never Fail Rules of Success". You can go to RobertRinger.com and look up his "Ten Never Fail Rules of Success". Rule number one is to ask. Rule number two is to ask again. Rule number three is to ask yet again. Rule number four is to ask again. Rule number five is to ask still yet again. Rule number six is to still ask again. I think you know where we are going for the ten times. He said, interestingly enough that it continually amazes him that people do not get what they seek because they fail to ask… again. We're all looking for an answer and we want a favorable answer, we don't always understand that a favorable answer may NOT be the one we want to hear. I thank God for unanswered prayers, as the old country song goes. Sometimes I'm sure glad I didn't get what I asked for there. That's where the wisdom comes in.

I used to work for a Taiwanese owned company and I was the white face of the company that spoke English in America and I had a number of employees. When I had a new Anglo employee, I gave them a book because the employees could never understand how I was the only person they hired who got a new desk and new office equipment… new this, new that, a new chair… They said, 'They don't do that. What happened, how did you do that?' I said, "You have to know how to ask." They asked, "How do you do that?" I said for them to stick with me long enough and they'd understand. Each new employee that came in, I gave a copy of a book and the book was entitled: "The Asian Mind Game" by Chin-Ning Chu written in 1991. This book was rather interesting. It had six categories of deception that you had to learn if you were to learn how to do business with Asians. The number six is the number of deception. Each category had six strategies of how to deceive your adversary… so there were thirty-six deceptions. This is not a Western mindset. The lady who wrote it was actually brilliant. Chin-Ning Chu grew up in Manchuria, in northern China under Japanese occupation prior to World War II and grew up across the river from the Koreans so she saw three cultures: the Chinese, the Korean and the Japanese cultures and played with all the kids. In the communist revolution of 1949 in China, she fled with her family to Taiwan, which has a slightly different culture. Then when she was an adult, she came to America for her formal post-secondary education. She wrote this book because she could explain herself very well in English but she could also think in multiple Asian languages and cultures. One of the thirty-six deceptions is 'How to gain superior control over one's adversary' and the way that's done is to ignore a question. Simply remain silent, don't answer at all. As a result, whomever you're asking gives you no information. That was very, very helpful for me when negotiating with the contracts we did for the various suppliers from Asian countries because I learned not to say anything at appropriate times. They had no idea that I had read the book, which was rather interesting for them because it was a rather successful negotiating technique when I used their own techniques on them. I'd say it was rather interesting. They did not follow the Robert Ringer rules who copied them out of the Bible… whether he realizes it or not… to be the persistent widow; to ask, but know your limits, as Abraham did; to ask appropriately and plan ahead, as Esther did; how to ask from a position of strength, as Jacob did; to continually ask. They didn't know how to respond because they'd never come across a Westerner who was just quiet and just did the same thing they did. You have to know how to answer as well, but understand how to ask.

We're instructed to ask in Matthew seven. Matt. 7:7-12 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being 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! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

How interesting that we are instructed to ask and not be afraid to ask. As we've learned from these examples, it's okay to ask more than once and to plan our asking. John 14:13-15 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. So, there's a condition here, it's all wrapped up together. Are we going to ask or are we going to ask amiss? If we're keeping God's commandments, we're in a better position for God to help us in His response. John 16:23-24 23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. That's a reason to ask, isn't it? That your joy may be full. Is it always that we get the answer that we want, when we want it? No. Does God say ask once and then give up? No.

NIV Eph. 3:20-21 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! God is able to deliver far more than we could ask. Immeasurable means it's so much we couldn't possibly imagine it. It's not measurable. It's not like you have a yardstick and you get to the end of the thirty-six inches. It's immeasurable; it's so much beyond that. Yes, people have calculated out how much sand is in the sea. You can take a cubic foot of the sand, break it down and what's the smaller amount and project and measure that. This is immeasurable. It's beyond the sand of the sea that God is capable of doing then.

When we look at the issue of asking, we look at rule one: Don't be afraid to ask, but plan carefully. Queen Esther built up courage by repeatedly asking the king's favor and then boldly came to ask her ultimate question to the king. Rule two: Ask with determination. Jacob wrestled all night and wouldn't let go until he received the blessing. Rule three: Ask repeatedly. Moses repeatedly entreated Pharaoh, over ten times. Rule four: Ask yet again. The importunate widow bothered the judge continually. Rule five: Ask, but know when to quit. Abraham bargained with God over Lot's family in Sodom and he exercised wisdom by knowing when to quit asking.

We've been given a guidebook on how to approach God and our fellow man. That guidebook is here. Let's use that guidebook, the Bible, to reach the potential that God has in store for us.