Well, after our message in Zechariah,
I'm so pleased that Bethy chose these hymns. I need thee every
hour. How much do we need him? How
much do we need him to have to be saved from him? We have to be saved from this
world, we have to be saved from Satan and we have to be saved
from ourselves. So I'd like us in these 15 or
so minutes we have left just to turn back to John chapter
14. These are the most remarkable words of encouragement that you
could possibly wish to have from the lips of our Lord. and he
was about to go to the cross. He speaks in the previous verses
about the works that I do, but in these three verses I want
us to briefly look at here. In verse 13 of John chapter 14,
and he says, He speaks about the greater works
that you'll do because I go unto my Father and so it's related
to it. And whatsoever you shall ask
in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son. If you shall ask anything, In
my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and
he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Prayer is the most remarkable
thing. We're just saying that hymn,
I need thee every hour. Isn't it remarkable? It's the
greatest need of this hour and it's the greatest need of every
hour of our lives, isn't it? We need God and what remarkable
promises he's made to us about me. We need him. Without me you
can do nothing. I wonder how many people actually
believe that. Without me, you can do nothing. Every time we
try and do anything in our own strength, we're actually saying,
no, no, no. You can help me, but I'm the one wielding the
power here. Prayer is the greatest. It's
the greatest need of every hour. It's the greatest blessing and
the greatest comfort. We looked last week in Luke chapter
9 at the glorious picture of that lady who was a sinner and
came to the Lord Jesus and she stood weeping and then she bowed
and wiped his feet with her hair. And she ended up in the greatest
posture of praise and prayer and worship that we have seen
in the New Testament almost, isn't it? She bowed and kissed
his feet. Prayer is humbling for us. And what we really are before
God is really seen in what we are when we're in prayer, and
it's just us and Him, because so much of what goes on publicly
is polluted by our feelings about other people and our feelings
about what we want other people to think about us. that in prayer
it's just us and God alone. It's the greatest need, it's
the greatest blessing and comfort, and it comes as a command from
the one who makes the greatest promises, and all the promises
of God are yea and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the
promise of glory to be revealed. I don't like talking about my
prayer life very much because I think anyone who is honest
about it would say that we are thankful for our times of prayer. And we're thankful for the extraordinary
encouragement we have in the Scriptures for prayer, and we're
thankful for the extraordinary example of people at prayer in
the Scriptures, and we're particularly thankful for the pictures of
the Lord Jesus Christ at prayer in the Scriptures. But so, like
everything else that is done in our flesh, it just reflects
so much of our weakness, and I sometimes wonder whether The
real true prayers that I have prayed are prayers that have
been prayed when I've really just cried out and begged God
to do something which is impossible for me. When we're in desperate
need for him to reveal the glory of his sovereignty and his power
and his grace. And we are told to pray and to
not cease praying. We are told again and again in
the scriptures we are to pray continually. We are to pray with
thankfulness. We are to pray with faith. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter six and I want us to have a look
at a couple of these descriptions of prayer here. The Lord was always mindful of
what religion was doing around him. He says, when thou prayest,
he's assuming that his people will pray, Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward." They wanted to be seen of men. They did their
religious activities to be rewarded by the praise of men. They got
it on this earth and that was the end of it. May that not be
us, brothers and sisters, but thou, when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, Pray to thy Father which is in
secret. We can't see him. And thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when you pray,
use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that
they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore
like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need
of, before ye ask him. Isn't that a lovely thought?
He knows all of our needs. He's created the need, and he's
created the solution to the need. He's created the satisfaction.
All the works of God are finished from the foundation of the world.
After this manner therefore pray ye. So this is not a prayer that
we are to repeat rote as if somehow it has a power like the Catholics
believe that if you pray it over again they call it the Our Father
and if you have a situation you just pray this and all of a sudden
it's like rubbing a rabbit's foot. He said in this manner,
in like manner. So this is how you pray. After
this manner, not copying what I'm saying here, the real Lord's
Prayer is in John Chapter 17, of course. This is the prayer
for us. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Isn't that a glorious way to
start prayer? It's exactly what the Lord Jesus
Christ was saying in John chapter 12 and in John chapter 13. He
says, now my soul is troubled. What's his next words? Father,
glorify thy name. We really pray when we're in
trouble, don't we? Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your name, who you are, needs
to be set apart as holy and reverent and other. Thy kingdom come. You are a king. Our God is a
king of a kingdom and his kingdom is all the kingdom of this world. Everything you see is under the
direct rule and control of our God. Thy kingdom come. Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. And you might well ask,
well isn't it done anyway? There's not much point praying
for things that aren't going to happen. So much better to
be praying for things than acknowledging that God's will is being done.
This is God's will. Whatever the circumstances are,
this is God's will. God's good and perfect will for
his people. Give us today our daily bread. Cause us to acknowledge that
the very food that we eat Give us today our daily bread. Give
us the bread of life, your precious son, but feed us also. Our bread,
our food comes, our life comes, and everything about it comes
as a gift from you. Forgive us and forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. God's forgiven children are forgiving. It's as simple as that. The sign of being forgiven is
that we will be forgiven. The sign that we are recipients
of grace is that we will endeavor to be gracious to other people. Lead us not into temptation. What happens if you're tempted?
I can only speak for myself. fall every single time. It's
as simple as that, isn't it? Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. And it can be just as well translated,
deliver us from the evil one and all of his schemes and all
of his deceit. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. So let's go back to John chapter
14 and try and come to terms with these remarkable promises.
This chapter of scripture is littered with the most remarkable
promises. It's just such a glorious passage
of scripture. I pray that we have little time
to look at it closely today, and Lord willing we'll do so
next week. But I trust that you spend time. I trust that our
preaching of these passages of scripture is an encouragement
for you to go back and say there's so much more there, there's so
much more that is missed, there's so much more that needs to be
said. But this is just glorious, isn't it? He says, Whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. Again and again and again, we
need to be reminded what the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
is. It's a glorious, glorious name,
his name, isn't it? His name throughout the Scriptures
is a glorious name. I'll just read you out some of
the ones that he describes himself in the Old Testament. In John's
Gospel he is the I Am, he is God Almighty. And so when we
read that prayer in Matthew chapter 5 we're acknowledging that God
Almighty is God Almighty and his will is being done. And we're
coming into the very presence of one who is absolutely sovereign
of all things. But I love that our God communicates
his name and his character in ways which touch. the very needs
of people. And I'll just read these out
to you, but in Genesis chapter 22, he's Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. And you know the circumstances
there. Abraham had taken Isaac up onto the mountain and was
to sacrifice him. What will the Lord provide? The
Lord will provide himself a sacrifice acceptable to God. And that's
what Abraham believed, and that's what Abraham witnessed. Jehovah
Nissi, Exodus chapter 17 verse 15, is the Lord our banner. We hold up a banner. Every church
and every religious institution in this world holds up a banner. A banner is that flag that was
held up before an army and the army gathered to that banner
and we hold up the Lord Jesus Christ as our banner and we shy
away from nothing that he declares about himself and we delight
in who he is. We find great, great comfort
in the attributes of our God, in his sovereignty, in his immutability,
in his successful sacrifice. We find great delight in the
things that the religious world finds most offensive about him.
Jehovah Nissi, we hold up that banner. And what a banner to
hold up before this world, what a banner to hold up before each
other. Jehovah Rapha in Exodus chapter 15, he's the Lord that
doth heal thee. Isn't that lovely? He's a banner, he provides and
he heals. The Lord Jehovah Kedesh in Exodus
chapter 3 verse 13, 31, 13, sorry, is the Lord that sanctifies you. Now isn't that a remarkable thing?
One of the things that we hold up in our banner is that the
Lord Jesus Christ is our sanctification. And if he is our sanctification,
then our sanctification is not a growing and a changeable sanctification. And if he is our sanctification,
it's not a cooperative sanctification where he does his little bit
and I add my little bit of holiness and together we end up with this
concoction that pleases God. He is all of our sanctification.
He's all of our holiness. He's all of our righteousness.
is all of our justification, is all of our supper, is all
of our redemption. We don't look anywhere else.
We hold up that banner. The Lord that doth sanctify you. Jehovah Shalom. The Lord our peace. Do you have peace with him? People
say make your peace with God. You can't. You can't. He makes his peace with us. He
is our peace. Jehovah-rah-ah, the Lord our
shepherd, Psalm 23, 1. Jehovah-sid-kin-you, the Lord
our God. This is in Jeremiah 23.6, and
he goes on a few chapters later to describe the bride and declare
the bride's name. What's the bride's name in Jeremiah
32? What's her name? She has the
honor of taking his name. What's her name? The Lord, our
righteousness. Jehovah Shammah, Exodus, Ezekiel
48, 35. The Lord is there. Where? Everywhere. You can't go from His presence.
And of course, in the New Testament, He is Jehovah, Jesus, our Saviour. So in that name is the declaration
of his character, but it's the declaration of his character
in relation to his people and the way he interacts with his
people. And so when we are hearing the Lord make this extraordinary
promise, whatsoever shall ask in my name, that will I do, it's
simply acknowledging who the character of our God is and who
we are coming into the presence of and who we are bowing before.
We come like that woman in love for who He is before we receive
anything for Him. He's worthy of worship before
He does anything. And He has a reason for it, isn't
it? He's going to do this, the things He does, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. What's He going to do? We all
come to Him, we come to Him that the Father will be glorified
in the Son by us bowing before the Son and pleading for Him
to do what we can't do for ourselves. Because we only really pray when
we have a great, great need. He reminds us again, doesn't
He? I will do it. How broad, how broad is his promise. I will do it. I will do it. I want us, as we
close and come to communion, to be reminded of some of the
great prayers of Scripture. And all the great prayers of
Scripture are really simple prayers. The prayers of the New Testament
are really simple prayers. And I'll just remind you, because
we have talked about them often, The leper comes to the Lord Jesus
Christ in Matthew 8 and Luke 5 and he says, You can make me clean. Leprosy is a picture of sin,
isn't it? And cleaning is a picture of
salvation. If you will my salvation and
you speak my salvation to me, I'm going to be clean. You will. The publican who we speak of
so often because I just love what he says, he says, Lord have
mercy upon me. He's saying, Lord, you look upon
the sacrifice of your son In the mercy seat, in that temple,
and when you see the blood, you have promised to pass over me.
I'm coming as a sinner, and I'm beating him on my heart, because
my problem's in my heart, and the problem's in my hands, and
the problem's in my feet. The problem begins in my heart.
Lord, will you look upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You look upon
your anointed. You look upon our shield as your
anointed, and you be merciful to me. I love what Peter said
to the Lord. He said, if it's you, Matthew
14, he said, bid me to come to thee. Isn't that a glorious prayer? Bid me to come to thee. And he
was on the water, wasn't he? It's a prayer that's so often
prayed throughout the scriptures. Draw me, sisters, Shulamite,
draw me and I'll run after you. But Peter prayed another prayer
on the water, didn't he? He said, Lord, if it's you, bid
me to come to you. come. You cause me to come. You
put in my heart the desire to come to you as you are. When
Peter came and walked on that water, he did what all of us
do. We look around at the circumstances of our life and we look around
at the troubles and we sink beneath the waves, always, always. If we take our eyes off the Lord,
that's all we're doing. We're continually sinking. And
Peter prayed one of the loveliest prayers in all of the scriptures. I can't save myself. Lord, save
me. The apostles prayed, Lord, increase
our faith. Lord, increase our faith. I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. The thief on the cross had a
beautiful three-word prayer, didn't he? Remember me. Just remember me. You're a great king. You are
God Almighty. It's one of the greatest prayers,
isn't it, in the greatest circumstance when he's hanging on a cross
about to die. Just remember me when you come
in your kingdom. You're a great king. You're going to die and
you're going to resurrect again and you will come as a reigning,
ruling king. Just remember me so I can be
part of your kingdom. Isn't that extraordinary, the
circumstance of that? What a gift from God to give
that faith to that man at that time. Our God doesn't change. Can you do that again today?
Can you do it amongst people that we know and love? The lady with the demon-possessed
daughter came to the Lord and she said, Lord, help me. The
circumstances of my life are way beyond my capacity to do
anything about it. This is all completely out of
my control. Will you just help me? And I'll
close with one that I just love so much that is a call from our
Lord. to this woman at the well in
John chapter 4 verse 10. He said, if you knew the gift
of God and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou
wouldest ask of him, and he would have given thee living water. What do you know? What do you
need to know? You need to know the who and
the gift that comes from the who. And then you'll ask. Ask
in his name. Ask that his father might be
glorified. And that's how our Lord prayed
before the cross, didn't he? Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son may glorify thee. And what's that glory he speaks
of? He says, And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And he doesn't finish there.
He keeps praying, doesn't he? He's praying that they, they
who hear through the word preached, May all be one as Thou, Father,
in me, and I in Thee, that they may also be one in us, that the
world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which
Thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one as
we are one. Did the Father answer the Son's
prayer? Is the Father glorified? Is the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ glorified? Amen and Amen. Let's pray. Thank you and praise you for
the recording of these words that we can read and we pray,
Heavenly Father, that the Spirit would come, the Blessed Holy
Spirit would come and take these words and make them spirit and
life to us, that we might be those who come and ask. Ask that the Lord Jesus Christ
might be glorified. Ask that you, our Father, might
be glorified in him. Ask again and again. Heavenly Father, make us to be
asking people. Bring into our hearts a spirit
of prayer for our brothers and sisters here and for those that
we long for in this world, Heavenly Father. to come by your grace
to a knowledge of who you are. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
for the glory of the finished work of your Son. We thank you
for the preciousness of who he is and the extraordinary preciousness
and efficacy. We thank you, our Father, for
salvation, complete and full and perfect and eternal in the
life and the death and the resurrection of your dear and precious Son.
Lord save us, Lord increase our faith that you might be glorified
in us and through us. For we pray in the name of your
dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.