Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to John chapter 16, John 16. I'd like to read two verses,
verse 23 and 24 of John chapter 16. I've entitled this message, The
Privilege of Asking. privilege of asking. John 16,
23, 24. Our Lord says, and in that day,
you shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give
it you. Hitherto have you asked nothing
in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that
your joy may be full. The Lord, and we've looked at
this for the last few months, His earthly presence is soon
to be gone for these disciples. And he's told them some things
that they just did not understand. Look at 16 to 18, he said, a
little while and you shall not see me and again a little while
and you shall see me because I go to the Father. Then said
some of his disciples among themselves, what is this? that he saith unto
us, a little while and ye shall not see me. And again, a little
while and ye shall see me. And because I go to the Father,
and they said, therefore, what is this that he saith? A little while. We cannot tell
what he saith. They were listening to what he
was saying and they just didn't understand. And the Lord knew it. Look at
verse 19, now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him
and said unto them, do you inquire among yourselves of what I said?
A little while and you shall not see me and again a little
while and you shall see me. Then he spoke a proverb to them.
In verse 20 and 21, he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you
that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice,
and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because
her hour is come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembers no more the anguish for joy, that
a man is born into the world. And then he reminded them that
though they would have sorrow now, he said, you're going to
see me, I'm going to see you. Again, he said, you're going
to rejoice and nobody is going to take your joy away from you.
Look at verse 22. And ye now therefore have sorrow,
but I will see you again. and your heart shall rejoice
and your joy no man taketh from you." Now, he's preparing them
and he's telling them and they're admitting they don't understand. He said, I know you don't understand
but there's coming a time when you're going to understand and
you're not going to be sorrowful anymore. and you're going to
rejoice and nobody's going to take your joy away from you.
Now let's consider for just a few minutes our Lord's promise about when
they were going to have a settled joy. When They were going to
have some knowledge and some understanding about when he was
leaving and where was he going. Remember Philip? Philip said, Lord, how can we
know the way? The Lord told him, I am the way.
I'm the truth. I'm the life. And they didn't
understand. But he said, there's going to
come a time when you will understand. And you will have some assurance.
You will have joy. And listen to verse 23. He said,
and in that day, ye shall ask me nothing. in that day. Now, in that day. Now you know there could be a
lot of things that we could probably speculate on concerning what
day was he talking about? What day? What do you mean in
that day? But, if we'll just stay in the
context of what he has been talking about. Now listen, Look at verse
7 and 8. Chapter 16, 7 and 8. This is
a continuous conversation. Look at 7 and 8. He said, Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto
you. And when He's come, He shall
reprove or convince the world of sin, of righteousness and
of judgment, of what man is by nature, about the only righteousness
that God Almighty is going to accept, and about judgment that
shall be spewed out on the haughty, and the judgment of God that
is not there for God's elect when He's come. Look again at
verse 13-14, how be it when He the Spirit of Truth has come.
He will guide you. He hasn't fallen in power yet,
but when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into
all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He
shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to
come. He will, He will. In that day,
in that day, when He's come, and He says, in that day, Now
verse 23, in that day when the spirit of truth has come, now I know this for a fact, on
the day of Pentecost, He came in power. And they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost. That's when they began to preach
in these unknown languages. Languages that other people knew,
but those that were speaking didn't know. They'd never learned
them. So I know this. On the day of
Pentecost, the Spirit of God fell in power and taught them
some things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says now,
speaking of the Comforter coming, he said, in that day, You shall ask me nothing. Now to understand what our Lord
meant when he said in that day you shall ask me nothing, we've
got to understand what the word ask in that particular verse
means because he's getting ready to use the word ask again. and
it's not the same word. So let's just look at this first
word for a second. In that day you shall ask me
nothing. That word, ask, means to make
inquiry, to obtain information. It means to ask something because
you don't know the answer to it. It's the same word in verse
19. Now Jesus knew that they were
desirous to ask Him and said unto them, they did not know
what He was talking about. It was like, can I ask you what
you mean? I just don't understand. I just don't understand. In that
day, when the Comforter has come, he came on the day of Pentecost,
but I'll tell you this, he comes to God's people in regeneration
and in power. He imparts life into them. In
that day, he said, you won't be asking me anything to receive
information about what I've been talking about. I'll show you
that. What he was telling them was
in the day that the Holy Spirit of God comes in regeneration
and revelation, you won't be asking me why do you have to
go away. You that believe, because the
Spirit of God indwells you, do you know why the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross? Sure you do. You know that the
Spirit of God has revealed to you, the Comforter has revealed
to you why He had to go. Because without the shedding
of blood there's no remission of sin. If he goes not to the
cross, justice is not satisfied. If he goes not to the cross,
the law has not been honored. So you don't have to ask anything
concerning why. He told them, he said, I'm going
away. And they didn't understand. Why? Why are you going away?
Can you imagine? You think they would have been
with him and they would have just understood, but uh-uh. Not until the Spirit of God revealed
it to him. He said, when the comforters
come, in that day, he said, you shall ask me nothing. You'll ask me nothing. You'll
be taught. The only reason we know right
now anything is because the Spirit of God has taught us. Brethren,
we didn't figure this out. And we're not figuring it out
right now either. Faith cometh by hearing. The Spirit of God
has got to grant faith right now, right now, as I've said
before. Faith for right now. is fresh, just like you're not
living on yesterday's air. I had to breathe yesterday. I
was glad and thankful for the air that I had yesterday, but
I got to have some brand new air right now. I got to have
some right now. I just took another breath. I
got to have some right now. Faith cometh. So it wasn't that the
Lord was trying to discourage His disciples concerning prayer. He wasn't saying that at all.
What He was saying is, in that day when the Spirit of God comes,
He's going to teach you the things of redemption. He's going to
teach you back in 16.8, when He has come, to you in power. When I'm gone, and the Spirit
of God comes and tells you what I've done, The Spirit of God
had something to reveal when the Lord was gone. He then taught
them of the reason that he went to the cross. Because of sin. He then taught them concerning
righteousness and judgment. before the Lord was gone, the
Spirit of God would not come. Who said that? Christ said it.
If I go not away, the Comforter will not come. It's expedient that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter.
Then he gives him a word. He first tells him, in that day
you shall ask me nothing. You won't ask me because you
don't understand. You'll know. You'll know. Why? The Comforter's
going to teach you. He's going to teach you all things.
He's going to reprove. He's going to convince. Then
He gives them a word of encouragement pertaining to their daily walk. He said, there's coming a time
when the Comforter's come. You're not going to ask me, why
do you go away? Do you know why the Lord Jesus
Christ ascended into heaven? You know why? You know why. You
know why. I'll tell you why but you know
why. He ascended as our forerunner. Accept it. Accept it. And where
our head is, His body is too. He entered into heaven, accepted
of the Father. What He did, the Father was well
pleased with. And all in Him, the Father accepts. Accepted in the Beloved. And
He's seated on the right hand of power as our intercessor,
ever living, to make intercession for us. his blood ever speaking, ever answers. And because he's
entered in, we are absolutely right now, mysteriously, I know
that. I know we're seated in the heavenlies
right now. I don't understand all that.
But I know based on God's word we are. But I'm telling you there's
a time coming when this mortal's gonna put on immortality. and we're going to be changed.
We're going to have a body. I know that. We're going to have
a body. It's going to be a spiritual
body. It's going to be a different body. It's going to be a... I don't mean an invisible body.
I mean a body. This body, this mortality is
going to put on immortality. This corruption is going to put
on incorruption. And we're going to be like him. You say, well,
how was he? Well, how did he ascend? How
did he ascend? The angel says this same Jesus
that you see shall in like manner return. He had a body. He said, touch me. He said, touch
me. I'm not spirit, touch me. Peter said, we touched. And that day, you'll ask me nothing,
but verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask,
whatsoever you shall ask in my Father's name, He will give it
to you. Now, there's a different word there. Look it up. That's a different word, ask. Here the Lord uses a word that
means a lowly petition. One of them, the first one meant
to gain information because I just don't know what you're talking
about. I don't understand. This one is a lowly petition. This was the word. that Martha
used when she was speaking to the Lord concerning Lazarus'
death. Here's what Martha said, John
11, 22. Martha said, but I know that
even now whatsoever thou, and she's talking to the Lord, whatsoever
thou shalt ask of God, God will give it thee. Now do you think
that there was ever a time that the Lord didn't have any information
or any knowledge of what was going on? Ask here means to petition according
to God's will. Ask according to His will, not
for information. It's not for information, that's
not the word. This word means to petition according
to God's will. It is a word of humility. It's a word of bowing Matthew 7, 9, O what man is there
of you whom if his son ask bread? Will he give him a stone? It's
a word where a subject petitions the royalty. It's an asking word
for mercy. So having first promised that
they would be spiritually taught by the Spirit of God and would
not be at a loss for understanding to His work of redemption, here
He promises that all spiritual blessings asked of the Father
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for His sake, according
to His will, And for our good, whatever He's pleased, He said, the Father's going to
give it to you. Does that mean that we're going
to get everything that we ask for? No. Whatsoever you shall ask the
Father in my name. That little phrase right there,
in my name, according to my will, according to the Father's will,
according to God's will, whatever's the best. And that's what we
want. We know right now. We don't ask. We understand. We understand.
Again, I admit, we know in part. We know in part. We see through
a glass darkly. But we do know, we know why the Lord went to
the cross. We know that He's seated in the heavenlies. We
know that He's at the right hand of power. We know that. But I tell you what, we don't
know what God's will is, but we ask. Lord, if it be your will, as I think about the congregations
here, I've thought about so many times. And I try to pray for
this congregation, pray. And the best way for me to do,
because I'm just a frail creature, I have a hard time, I have to
kind of in my mind go down the pews. Praying. And my mind crosses those that
have yet to confess the Lord in baptism. And I'm just honest
with you. I ask, Lord, would you have mercy? Lord, if it would be your will,
Lord, would you show mercy to this one? Lord, would you have
mercy? Lord, you're the great physician. I'm like that leper,
you know, that would ask, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Lord, would you show mercy? Lord,
would you help me? Lord, would you guide me and
direct me as a pastor? Would you teach me according
to your good pleasure? I understand. I understand. I know that Almighty God's going
to do right. I know that. I know that. I know
he's put away the guilt of his people, but I don't know what
his will is. And I ask, Lord, have mercy. Verse 24, hitherto
have you asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive
that your joy may be full. Our Lord is still speaking of
what shall be in that day, and the day of the spirit's indwelling. And I'm telling you, believer,
We're living right now in that day. He told them, he said, the spirit
of God is going to come. And he said, sorrow fills your
heart right now, but not always. They heard those things that
were just not able to heartfully enter into. And up until then,
His kingdom had not fully been grasped by them because the Spirit
of God just had not taught them as He would. You remember when
they asked the Lord in closing, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray. And I may be wrong here. But I don't know of any prayer
that was ever recorded before the Spirit of God fell on them
of the disciples. But after that, when they went
forth after the Spirit of God fell upon them, He told them
in verse 24, hitherto have you asked nothing in my name. You
haven't asked according to my work, according to my going to
the cross. You haven't asked. Hitherto have
you not asked in my name. Ask and you shall receive that
your joy may be full. When did they pray? When the Spirit of God taught
them. In closing, I want you to turn
with me to Acts 4. And I want to just read one of
the prayers that was recorded. Acts chapter 4, verse 23 to 31. Here's a prayer that was recorded
after the Spirit of God indwelt them. The Lord told him, he said, hitherto
you've not asked me anything. Hitherto you've not asked. Ask. Ask. When did they truly petition? In that day, when the comforter. Listen to this recorded prayer. Acts 4 verse 23. And being let go, they went to
their own company and reported all that the chief priests and
elders had said unto them. Now I want you to listen to these
next few verses. Now here's the heart of one that's
been taught by the Spirit of God. When they heard that, they
lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord,
thou art God. and has made heaven and earth,
and the sea, and all that is in them is. Who by the mouth
of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage? And
the people imagined vain things. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, against
His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod, Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles, the people of Israel were gathered together for to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness that they may
speak thy word by stretching forth Thine hand to heal, and
that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy
child Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place was shaken
where they were assembled together. They were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness. Before the Lord went to the cross,
before the Comforter was come, And here again, we hear the Word
of the Lord. You say, well, when did He come? Well, I can tell you this, I
don't know all things, but I can tell you this, He fell in power
on the day of Pentecost. And I know this, He indwells
His people in regenerating grace. And when he came and he taught
and he convinced the world of God's elect, of sin, and of righteousness
and judgment, and no more, these that were praying after the Comforter
was come, there was a difference in their attitude, there was
a difference in their assurance, there was a difference in their
boldness. He said, you're sorrowful now,
but in that day, He said, your sorrow is going to be turned
to joy and nobody is going to take it away from you. Why? Because they were kept by the
power of God. You know why we have some assurance
today? Because the Comforter has come.
Ask. Ask. Ask the Father in His name. And the Father, according to
His will, you know this, He'll give it to you. Lord bless these
words for Christ's sake.