Well let us turn again to the
portion of scripture we read here in John chapter 16 and in particular I want us to
centre our attention for a while on the words that we have in
verses 26 and 27 John 16 verses 26 and 27 at that day ye shall ask in my name. And
I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for
the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved him, and
have believed that I came out from God." Here we have the context
of prayer as is so evident from what he said previously, verse
23, for example. At the end of that verse, "...whatever
ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you. Either two, have ye asked nothing,
give my name, ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be
full." And observe there in verse 23, we have a double, "...verily,
verily, verily, says the Lord, I say unto you, whatsoever ye
shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." And you
know the significance of that word used many times in this
Gospel. It is the Greek word Amen. Better translated, truly, or
so be it. The Lord Jesus never spoke any
vain, idle words, so when the Lord prefixes His teaching with
a single, verily it is significant. How much more so then? when here
we have the double, verily, verily, the Lord's underlining and underscoring
what he is teaching. The whole context then is that
of prayer. And as we consider these two
verses that I just read, verses 26 and 27, I want us to see Prayer involves all of the persons
in the Godhead. Prayer involves God in all the
fullness of his triune being. Here we see something of the
Trinity in prayer, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At that day
ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will
pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you,
because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out
from God." The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who is speaking, the
Eternal Son manifest in the flesh, and He makes mention of the Father.
but there is no specific reference here to the Holy Spirit and yet
as I trust we shall see the Lord is really in the whole of the
general context in these verses, speaking very much of the ministry
of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And so, first of all, I want
to say something with regards to that ministry, the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. Observe the opening words of
verse 26, at that day. Previously in verse 23 he has
said, and in that day. What is the significance of the
day that the Lord is speaking of? Well, he is making mention
of the gospel day, the gospel dispensation, but more especially,
is he not speaking of how that day is marked by the coming of
the Spirit and the ministry of the Spirit? The whole dispensation
of the Day of Grace involves that special ministry of the
Holy Spirit. And as I said in the general
context of these chapters 14, 15, and 16, the Lord has much
to say concerning the coming of the Spirit. Go back to chapter 14 and verse
20, At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye
in me, and I in you. Previously, verse 16, the Lord
had said, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
comforter. that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit
of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. Well, what is that day then that
the Lord is repeatedly speaking of here in these chapters? It is that that would come after
he himself had been crucified and glorified in the resurrection
and the ascension. It is the day of Pentecost. In that day, and those days that
follow the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. Remember, we have
the record there in the second chapter of the Acts, and there
in the opening verse, when the day of Pentecost was fully come. Oh, it is the fullness of Pentecost,
the Feast of Weeks, from the Old Testament. And Peter, in
his sermon, makes reference, as you know, to the prophecy
of Joel, there in verse 17 of Acts 2, "...it shall come to
pass in the last days." The last day is that day, the Gospel day. It shall come to pass, in the
last day, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And
on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." Now, The language,
of course, of the prophet Joel belongs to the Old Testament
dispensation. But he is speaking of the New
Testament. He is speaking of those things
that would follow that glorious outpouring of the Spirit that
would bring in the great day of grace, the acceptable time,
and the day of salvation. And how The Spirit is that one
who very much has a ministry with regards to the preaching. The mark of the Day of Grace
is that preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
Paul makes plain, we preach Christ is His and Him crucified. And now the Spirit is involved
in all that ministry. What does Christ say here in the previous
verse, verse 25, these things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs.
But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs,
but I shall show you plainly of the Father. Now, the margin
instead of Proverbs gives us the word parables and that is
a more literal rendering of the word that is used. We know how
the Lord's ministry was very much a proverbial, a parabolic
ministry. He spoke in parables. These things
have I spoken unto you in parables. But the time cometh when I shall
no more speak unto you in parables. But I shall show you plainly
of the Father and part of the purpose of the parabolic teaching
of Christ was that there might not only be a revealing of truth
but also a certain concealing of the truth. But how different
it will be when the Spirit is come. Look at what the disciples
say to him in verse 29, Now, we have to be careful in
understanding what is being said there. Dr. Gill makes the observation that
the problem is not owing to the way in which Christ is speaking. The real problem really has to
do with the disciples and the dullness of their hearing. Even
in the parables there was a a revealing as well as a concealing. The
problem was to do with those who were the hearers, not the
Lord who was the speaker. But when the Spirit comes, what
is going to be the great ministry of the Spirit? It will be to
enlighten darkened minds. It will be to move stubborn wills
and to warm cold hearts. How this is the particular ministry
that the Spirit has come to accomplish. How God reveals things to his
people by and through that ministry of the Spirit. You know the language
there in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians. God hath revealed them unto us
by his Spirit, says Paul. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. We just sang, of course, in that
hymn of John Berridge, and did you observe there at the end
of the hymn, 1128, and there in the last two verses, Thou
Holy Ghost, who dost reveal the secret things
of grace, and know as well the Father's will and His deep mind
can trace, disclose the heavenly mysteries, and bring the gospel
feast, give gracious hearts and opened eyes that we may see and
taste." Now we have to recognize our complete and utter dependence
upon the ministry of the Spirit. We are in that day. that is being
spoken of here at the beginning of this 26th verse, this day
of the ministry of the Blessed Spirit, and so we see. Now, when
it comes to the preaching of the apostles after they had known
that gracious outpouring of the Spirit, What manner of ministry
was it that they were exercising? Well, again, writing to the Corinthians,
this time in that second epistle, look at the language of the apostle. He says, we use great plainness
of speech. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 12. And then again in chapter 4,
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. their preaching
then was plain, and clear, and straightforward. Again, writing
there in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul says, "...my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power." This is the ministry then of
the Holy Spirit. in that day. But it's not only
a ministry that is to be evidenced in the preaching of the Gospel. There is also a ministry of the
Spirit in prayer. Verse 26. At that day, says the
Lord, ye shall ask in my name. What is the particular ministry
of the Spirit at His coming? He comes very much as the Spirit
of Christ. As the Lord says previously,
verse 13, Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is 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 shall glorify Me. for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. He is very much
coming then as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again,
look at the end of chapter 15. 26 When the Comforter is come, whom
I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." Even when it comes to our prayers,
it is the Spirit who directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord can say in verse
22, Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall
receive, that your joy may be full. Or when they are endued
with that blessed ministry of the Spirit, then they will have
all boldness as they come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what is that pouring out
of the Spirit? Well, it's not only the fulfillment of those
words in Joel chapter 2. But what of the language that
we find in Zechariah chapter 12? I will pour upon the house
of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace
and of supplications. and they will look upon me whom
they have pierced and mourn for him as one mourneth for his only
son and be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. That is the ministry of the Spirit.
How he bears testimony to Christ and Christ is that one who has
been crucified for his people. There is then In the context
here, very much a ministry of the Spirit. It is the day of
the Spirit. At that day, ye shall ask, says
Christ, in my name. But then, besides that emphasis
upon the Spirit, as I said, it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself
who is speaking. And so we see here the second
person in the Godhead, the Son of God as that one who is also
involved in our prayers. There is to be asking in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what are the words that
we have at the end of verse 26? Strange words. I say not unto
you that I will pray the Father for you. At that day you shall ask Him
my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for
you." Surely we might say Christ's resurrection and ascension, His
session now in heaven where He is at the Father's right hand,
His presence is a constant plea and prayer on behalf of His people. Romans 8.34, who is even at the
right hand of God, says Paul, "...who also maketh intercession
for us." Again, the language of Hebrews
7.25, "...wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them." Do not these scriptures indicate
something very different to what seems to be said here at the
end of this 26th verse? I say not unto you that I will
pray the Father for you. Well, the reference here at the
end of the verse is to Christ's prayer for the Holy Spirit specifically. This was something that the Lord
Jesus Christ had already spoken of. This is something that the
Lord Jesus Christ had already prayed for. We know that the
Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet
glorified. But what does the Lord say back
in chapter 14? verse 16, I will pray the father
and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with
you for ever and we understand then what he is saying here at
the end of this 26th verse in the light of that I say not unto
you that I will pray the father for you the Lord is already praying
to the Father concerning that ministry of the Spirit. This
is the one of whom he is speaking in all of these chapters, 14,
15, and 16. And he knows that whenever he
prays, and whatever he prays, the Father will hear him in all
these prayers. Chapter 11 and verse 42. He says in prayer, I know that
thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by
I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. This
is at the resurrection of his friend Lazarus, that great miracle
that the Lord performs in raising Lazarus from the dead, how here
is Christ and we see all the reality of the human nature of
the Lord Jesus, how his spirit is stirred within him, how he
weeps there at the tomb of Lazarus, how he groans within himself
and then he utters his prayer and he prays with that assurance
that he will be heard. I knew that thou hearest me,
always. And why did he do this? Because of the people which stood
by, I said it, that they may believe. All the Lord is heard
in all his prayers. And here at the end of that 26th
verse, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for
you, why He has already prayed for the Spirit, and the Spirit
will come in that day, just as has been prophesied there in
the Old Testament Scriptures. Christ is always heard, and our
prayers are always heard when we come in His name, as the Holy
Spirit emboldens us to come. At that day, ye shall ask in
my name, All in Him we have that boldness, that access, with confidence,
and it is all by the faith of Jesus Christ. But then, also
here we do have the ministry of the Father, because the Lord
goes on to speak of the Father. Verse 27, For the Father himself
loveth you, because you have loved me and have believed that
I came out from God. Notice then the opening word
here in verse 27 for, well it has the force really of because,
because the Father himself loveth you. because you have loved me
and have believed that I came out from God. Not only the ministry
of the Holy Spirit in that day, not only the intercedings of
the Lord Jesus Christ, but here also we have that love of the
Father. The Father Himself loveth you. And it was the Father's love
to them that was the cause of their love to Christ. because ye have loved me," he
says. Again, Dr. Gill observes in his
commentary that the cause is known by its effect. The cause
is known by its effect. Here is the effect, because ye have loved me. What
is the cause of it? It is the love of the Father. This is where, of course, we
have to take account of what the old writers would call the
analogy of faith, not just the immediate context of a portion,
but the totality of the scriptures. We have to bear in mind what
he said elsewhere and bring to bear that fullness of the revelation
upon any particular passage. Now, we have those statements,
in Scripture, particularly in John's first epistle, that make
it quite clear that none of us can be beforehand with God. What
does John say, 1 John 4, 19? We love Him, because He first
loved us. Again, verse 10 of that chapter,
here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us.
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Or the great moving
cause of love is the love of God, the love of the Father. And where that love is shed abroad
in the heart, Christ will be loved. Because you have loved
me, he says, and have believed that I came out from God. What is the evidence that that
love of God is in the heart? There is that believing in Christ,
and what is the consequence of true faith? Well, faith without
works is dead, being alone. where there is true faith, there
will be the evidence of the path of obedience to all the commands
and precepts of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he says in chapter
14, 21, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Again, there in verse 23, the
Lord answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep
my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him. Oh, the ministry of the
Father. It is the love of the Father.
that is the great cause of any love to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But besides the Father's love, here we also see something of
the faith of the disciples. They believed. Because you have loved me, he
says, and have believed. Have believed that I came out
from God. As God's love was the cause of
their love to Him, so also with their faith. What was their faith? It was faith of the operation
of God. We cannot give ourselves faith.
We cannot work up faith. We might be able to work up a
natural faith, but saving faith is a different matter. What is saving faith? By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Saving faith is God's gift. Saving
faith in the heart is God's work, faith of the operation of God. This is the work of God, that
ye believe in him whom he hath sent. But what is it that is
believed here? and believed that I came out
from God." Oh, they believed in the eternal Son of God, and
they believed Him as that One who was the Christ sent out by
God. Remember Peter's confession at
Caesarea Philippi there in Matthew 16. What did Peter say to the
Lord? Thou art the Christ. the Son
of the Living God. Two aspects then to that confession
of his faith. What was it that he believed?
Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. He believed in Christ's
Sonship, the only begotten of the Father, the eternal generation,
And here we have it, you see. They believe that He came out
from God. As Micah says, His goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting, or as the Margin says, from the
days of eternity. He is the eternally begotten
Son. The people of God are sons of
God, but they are sons by adoption. He is the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and of truth. But with that confession
of Peter, it's not just that he confesses Christ's Sonship,
he also confesses that Christ is at once sent into the world.
Thou art the Christ. He is that one promised in the
Old Testament, the Messiah. All these, you see, they believed. They believed, says Christ, that
I came out from God. And now, the Lord will go on
to pray for them, of course, in the following chapter. Chapter
17 contains that remarkable prayer, that great high priestly prayer. Look at what the Lord says there
in verse 7. Now they have known that all
things whatever they was given me are of thee, for I have given
unto them the word which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee. and they
have believed that thou didst send me. And then again at the
end, verse 25, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee,
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me. Oh, they believed that this was
the Son of God, and this was the Son of God sent now into
the world, the promised Christ. And he came into this world in
order to accomplish that great work of salvation, that great
work of redemption. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman made under
the law to redeem, to redeem them that were under the law
that they might receive. the adoption of sons. All that was the work that very
much lay before the Lord Jesus Christ now. How he would reconcile
sinners unto God. How he would pay that great propitiatory
sacrifice and in his own person bear all that wrath of God. He would die the just for the
unjust to bring sinners unto God. Oh, as the Lord Jesus came
out then from God, so the sinner can enter in through Him. That
is the great blessing, is it not? In whom we have boldness
and access with confidence through the faith of Him. Through Him we have access by
one's spirit unto the Father. one God, one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And how He declares Himself here
in this Gospel of John to be the great I am that I am. He
is Jehovah Jesus. I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. All that day. It is the day in
which we are so favoured to be living in, the day of the Gospel,
the acceptable time, the day of salvation, the dispensation
of the Holy Spirit. At that day you shall ask Him,
My name. I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you."
Why? He has already prayed concerning
the coming of the Spirit in that day, for the Father Himself loves
you. because you have loved me and
have believed that I came out from God." And so he goes on, I came forth
from the Father and am coming to the world. Again, I leave
the world and go to the Father. And they understood. His disciples
said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly. and speak us no
proverb or the Lord then help us to come and to approach unto
the Father by that mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ the
one mediator and ought to know that blessed ministry of the
Holy Spirit emboldening us as he comes to us as the Spirit
of the Lord Jesus Christ Before we do pray, we're going to sing,
as is our practice, sing God's praises in the hymn 821. Father of Heaven, Almighty King,
how wondrous is thy love that worms of dust, I pray, should
sink, and thou their songs approve, since by a new and living way
access to thee is given. Poor sinners may with boldness
pray, and earth converse with heaven." The tune is Heaven,
136, hymn 821.