Go into the world, saying unto all, Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near unto you. And the mysteries of the kingdom you shall keep within yourselves, for it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls unto swine, lest they trample them under their feet; for the world cannot receive that which you yourselves are not able to bear. Wherefore, you shall not give your pearls unto them, lest they return and rend you. Say unto them, Ask of God. Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you; for everyone that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened.
And then said his disciples unto him, They will say unto us, We ourselves are righteous and need not that any man should teach us. God, we know, heard Moses and some of the prophets, but us he will not hear. And they will say, We have the law for our salvation and that is sufficient for us.
Then Jesus answered and said unto his disciples, Thus shall you say unto them: What man among you, having a son — and he shall be standing out and shall say, Father, open your house that I may come in and eat with you — will he not say, Come in my son, for mine are yours and yours are mine? Or what man is there among you who, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you 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 unto them that ask him? Therefore, all things whatsoever you desire that men should do to you, do even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:6-12)
Within the kingdom of Heaven are topics Christ calls mysteries. The disciples were sent to preach repentance, not to share the mysteries they had been taught. The apostles were told to tell those who asked to know the mysteries to ask God directly.
In response the apostles said that those they spoke to would respond by saying that they couldn't ask God for such because they had no standing with the Lord. That the people would instead say that they had the Law of Moses and that obedience to such would be enough to save them.
Many of us in our day mirror them by claiming the Bible is all of God's word that we need and that there is no need to inquire after the mysteries of the kingdom that God teaches directly and that there is no need for true messengers to be sent by Christ with more of His word.
Christ says to ask, seek and knock but what for? I view the following verses that we've looked over to contain part of the answer.
Part of what you are asking to know is the wisdom to tell whether the messengers claiming authority to teach the gospel are sent by Christ or not.
But a greater part of what you're supposed to be asking God for is to know the mysteries of God that his messengers know but are not permitted to teach and instead need to be obtained from God by an individual directly.
What greater mystery of the kingdom of Heaven is there than the King of Heaven himself? Therefore you should be asking to be personally visited by Christ and whether or not you correctly understand and obey His commandments so as to invite such.
