If you will, let's turn our Bibles
to 1st John. 1st John, Chapter 5. As our brother
read to us a couple of weeks ago, Christ was led by the Spirit. Imagine that. How is that possible?
I hope we can see that this evening. They're one. He is God. Triune God. We just read there
in our scripture reading how Christ prayed, not my will be
done, but thy will be done. That could be confusing to us,
couldn't it? Everything that's required of
me, everything that's required of you to enter into God's holy
presence, being led by the Spirit, praying, following the law, keeping it
all, in heart and in deed, with the proper attitude, everything
required of us, Christ completed that. We won't grasp that fully in
this lifetime. We won't get a hold of it, but
if we get a glimpse of it. I hope today We can look a little
bit at prayer. It's time I message, thy will
be done. But it's always important whenever
we read the scriptures, we look at who is writing it, who they're
writing it to, and why they're writing it. In our text, John
is speaking, Apostle John, is speaking to believers. He's writing
to those born again, those that Christ dwells in. And he's been
telling us over and over throughout this letter, throughout this
epistle, to believe on Christ and to love our brethren. Now
here in our text today, our wise brother, John, led by the Holy
Spirit to pen these words in love. He writes to us. He was moved by God to do this
in love, to give us guidance and to give us comfort in our
prayers. Look there in verse 14, 1 John
5, verse 14. And this is the confidence that
we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will,
He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. Now God only hears Those who
ask according to His will. Look there in verse 14 again.
This is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us. And the petitions that He
hears, the ones that He hears, those prayers and requests He
hears, He grants them. There in verse 15, if we know
that He heareth us, Whatsoever we ask, we know that we have
the petitions we have desired of Him. A true prayer from a
child of God is submitting to the Lord's will, asking Him to
perform His will and not our own. And whatever we're praying
for, not just saying the words, Lord, your will be done. But
to have a heart that desires His will above my will to be
performed. It says there in verse 14, and
this is the confidence that we have in Him. It's only through faith in the
name of the Son of God that sinners like me, sinners like us, can
approach God in prayer and have a confidence that He'll hear
us. Verse 14, it begins with the
word, and. So that means that verse 13 and
14 go together. First John 5, 13. These things
have I written unto you that you believe on the name of the
Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and
that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God, and this is
the confidence that we have in Him. These things are written
to you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Our confidence
in prayer is confidence in the name of the Son of God. And it's
only through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that we have
boldness, we have confidence, we have a welcome access to God's
throne of grace. But it's impossible It is not
possible to have confidence in prayer if we do not first believe
on the name of the Son of God. If we don't know Him, we cannot
have a confidence given by Him. Only sinners who believe on Christ
have a confidence in Christ and a confidence to approach God
our Father in prayer. It is in this is the confidence
that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His
will, He heareth us." Our confidence is that by approaching God our
Father, in the name of His Son, He will hear us. And it does
not say, if we ask anything, He'll hear us. If we go ask for a new jet plane,
or a car, or just any old thing, it's not what it says. It says
that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. Asking
according to the will of God involves two things. The way
that we pray and what we pray for. So first, the way that we
approach and ask. It's God's will that we come
to Him in the name of His Son. our Lord Jesus Christ. Our confidence
to approach God, our Father, is in the name of God's Son. It's the Father's will that we
come owning Him to be our Lord and Savior. Paul wrote to us
in Ephesians 5.20, he says, giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Involved in the way we approach
God is to come owning Him as our Lord. our King, our Master, and we
His servants. We own Him to be our Jesus. I
come owning Him to be my Savior. It says His name is Jesus for
He shall save His people from our sins. We come owning Him
to be our Christ, the one that God anointed and sent to save
me as well as all His people. Approaching God in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we are saying to the Father that we
are sinners and that Christ is all of our salvation and all
of our righteousness. I'm preaching to myself today. So we pray in Christ's name.
That's not just words. We don't say that flippantly.
Disregard. That's the only reason we have
a way to approach God is in Him. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
10 with me. Hebrews chapter 10. Involved
in the way we approach God in the name of His Son is to have
our confidence in His blood. His wounded flesh is our new
and living way into the holiest, into God's presence. There in
Hebrews 10 verse 19, Hebrews 10, 19, having therefore,
brethren, boldness for confidence, to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. God's elect children deserve
to die for our sins, but displaying that righteousness of God, Declaring
how holy God is, Christ took our sins upon himself. And then
justly, he bore the curse upon himself. He said, Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. So it's Christ's broken body
and his shed blood that is our new way into the presence of
holy God. We were cast out. We had no communion. And since Christ is risen, He
is our living way. He said, I'm the way and no man
cometh to the Father but by me. When we come to God through faith
in the name of His Son, we come speaking of His righteousness
alone. Next, the way we approach God
in the name of His Son is owning Christ to be our great high priest.
Look there in verse 21, Hebrews 10, 21. And having a high priest
over the house of God, What's the importance of that? In the
Old Testament, the high priest entered into the holiest of holies
alone. No one else was allowed in there,
only him. And he entered with the blood
of a slain lamb that was killed in the place of the children
of Israel. Then the high priest sprinkled that blood on the mercy
seat, making atonement in a picture and a title. make an atonement
for the sins of his people. Christ is our high priest. That was just a picture. Now
we have the true high priest. Christ is our high priest. He
entered God's holy presence alone. We didn't have a hand in it.
He entered with his own blood. It wasn't a sacrifice of bullocks
and goats. His own blood having accomplished
our redemption. And we ask God to follow to honor
Christ who redeemed us by hearing us for His sake on His name. It's Christ who intercedes for
us as our high priest with the Father. Now we can approach God
because our confidence is the full assurance of faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Look there in verse 22. Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Praying in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, we come to God with the confidence that we are
the children of our Heavenly Father and He will hear us for
the namesake of His Son, our High Priest. Look back a few
pages there in Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4, begin verse
14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Him being our high priest, let
us therefore come boldly. On that cause, we can come boldly
to our Father. We see then that the first thing
in praying, according to God's will, is the way that we pray. We pray in the name of His Son.
What that means. The second aspect is that we
ask according to God's will. That involves what we pray for. When God gives us a new heart,
that new heart is in submission to God's will, even when God
brings a heavy trial on us. Remember now, it's not God's
will to give us what we want. He gives us what we need. A loving
father does that. We know that. A small person,
they want ice cream all the time. People say, well, I love them.
I couldn't tell them no. If you love them, you tell them no.
Make me some broccoli. That's just something simple.
We understand that. Our loving Father doesn't give us everything
we want. He gives us what we need. We ask for everything. James told us, he said, ye ask
and receive not, because you ask amiss that ye may consume
it upon your lusts. My lust, my desire is what I
want. I'll let it be a sunshiny day. Whatever it is. That's my will, not the Lord's
will. If what we ask is not God's will,
His will will not be given to us. He won't perform it. Instead,
the Holy Spirit will teach His child submission. We must stand and ask the same
thing over and over and over again. And the Lord doesn't fulfill
our petitions. And then the Spirit will come
and teach us to submit to His will, not to our own. We remember
Paul had that thorn in the flesh. That was needful. Paul had a
great revelation given to him. The Lord gave him great wisdom,
great understanding, great knowledge of our Lord and the ability to
explain and stuff. But he had a thorn in the flesh. Three times
Paul prayed and said, Lord, take this from me. And the Lord said,
my faith is sufficient. My grace is sufficient for you
to deal with it. And he did. If he'd have took that from Paul,
that would have been to Paul's detriment. That wouldn't have
been a help to Paul. That was needful. And Paul submitted. He asked three times. There's
some things I've asked a lot more than three times. He told
us in 2 Corinthians 12, he said, Therefore I take pleasure in
my infirmities, in reproaches and necessities, in persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. Paul wouldn't have known that
if he didn't have that thorn and it didn't stay in him. He
wouldn't have looked to the Lord and said, You're my strength.
Let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 6. God reveals in His Word His will
so that we know some things that God is willing for us to ask
of Him. There in Ephesians 6 and verse
18. It says, "...praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. It's God's will that
we pray in the Spirit. The Lord's people, we don't just
say a prayer. We don't simply repeat some words
or say something that sounds nice. We don't say our prayers.
It's God's will that we pray in the Spirit. That new man put
in us, that new heart put in us petitions our Lord. It communicates,
has communion with our Lord. And it's earnest and it's sincere. And it says, "...and watching
with all perseverance." It's God's will. We watch in prayer. He told our brethren we just
read there in the Scripture reading. He said, you stay and watch.
You don't be tempted. We watch for the proper time to pray.
So we won't be tempted. We won't be bothered with the
things around us. We don't do it in the middle
of a busy street. We watch for what was needed to pray for.
We pay attention. What do I need to pray? My brethren
suffering? My brethren enjoying themselves?
We watch for God to answer our prayer in His time. We wait on
the Lord in prayer, not in our time, in His time. And we do
this with all perseverance. We do this with all persistence.
We don't stop praying, we continue to pray, continue to submit to
our Lord. And it says, in all supplications
for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of
the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. It's God's will that
we pray for His saints and we pray for His preachers for the
message they are to speak and the boldness to face opposition
as we ought. Let's start over in Matthew chapter
6. We've looked at this before. It's just so, such a blessing
to see it often, be reminded often. Matthew chapter 6. We learn what God is willing
for us to pray for from our Lord Jesus. And that model prayer
He gives us, He didn't mean for us to simply say this prayer
over and over again. Here's not a prefab prayer, but
this is a model. It shows us some things that
God is willing for us to pray for. Christ said there in Matthew
6 verse 9, After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. It's the Lord's
will that we ask for God's name to be sanctified above everything. Lord, Your name be hallowed.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
It's the Lord's will that we ask His will to be done for the
good of His kingdom on this earth. While we're here, that His will
be performed the exact same way it is in His heavenly kingdom. Give us this day our daily bread. We pray for today's needs. Grace for today. Today's when
I need today's grace. I'll need tomorrow's grace tomorrow.
Right now, I need help right now. And we pray for that living
bread to come to us. Lord, show me Christ today. Let
me feast on Him today. Verse 12, and forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors. It's the Lord's will for us to
confess our sin to Him. We ask His forgiveness for our
sins and that we forgive those indebted to us due to their offenses
towards us as God forgives our offenses towards Him. and lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. It's the Lord's
will that we ask Him to lead us, to keep us, and to deliver
us from the evil that's ourselves. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. It's His will for His child
to give Him all the glory and all the preeminence in all things. Lord, this is Your kingdom. It's
your power, and Lord, glory is yours forever. Amen. So we see that praying according
to God's will involves the way we pray, and it involves what
we pray. Back to our text there, 1 John
5. We have a confidence that we
have our petitions. Our prayers are met. And we have
there in verse 14, 1 John 5, verse 14. And we have this confidence
in Christ that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth
us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. Knowing that God hears us, we
know that we have the petitions we desire of Him. We know He
hears us. The key to that is that we pray
according to His will. God does all things according
to His will and only according to His will. We've talked about
this before. We'll have a big old prayer meeting.
I was invited to A prayer meeting the other day, I respectfully
declined. I don't know who they're praying to, but it's not a mutiny.
We're not going to gang up on the Lord and twist His arm. If
we get enough people, we can make some things change. The
change happens in the heart of God's child. You show up asking
for something, and you're going to walk away in submission, looking
to Him for all things. Say, Lord, Your name be hallowed. Your glory be given to You. Your
will be done. as you see fit. But for those
that know Him, He hears us. Those that believe on His Son,
He hears us. And we know that our petitions are fulfilled. And all who God hears, He grants
the petitions we desired of Him. Everything in salvation is worked
according to God's eternal will. I want to be with my Redeemer.
I want to be saved from myself, from this world, from eternal
damnation, and I want to know Christ, and I want to be with
Christ." Is that the Lord's will? It ain't man's will. You ain't
going to accomplish it. He said in Ephesians 1.5, Paul
wrote to us, he said, "...having predestinated us into the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will, Acts 4 says, For of a truth against
the holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done. I've heard people say, if I was
there at the cross, I'd have stopped them. And I'd have fused
a sinner in you, wouldn't I? Those wicked men and their wicked
hands put cross on that cross according to the Lord's will
for His eternal purpose to be accomplished for His people.
Ephesians 1.11 says, "...in whom we also have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will." Nothing changes
God's will. He is unchanging. His will is
unchanging. And I'm thankful for you and
me. Praise be to God. Salvation in
His Son is unchanging. Some may say, why do we pray
then? We look to death the other night.
We start seeing the sovereignty of God. His almighty hand in
the elements of this earth. The things me and you can't see.
We become fatalists, don't we? Why? What's the matter? With
all these things, if His will is going to be done anyway, why
should I pray? Turn over to Ezekiel 36. God
uses prayer to bring His child into submission to His will. Ezekiel 36. God declared His will for His
people. Nothing would change His will. That is what God declared
long before He ever brought it to pass. He said, here's what
I'm going to do. And then He did it. God said that that house of Israel
would ask Him to do His will for them. So it would not be
God's will that would change, it would be the will of His people
that would be brought to submit to His will. The change will
happen in us. Ezekiel 36, verse 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
you a heart of flesh. and I will put My Spirit within
you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep
My judgments to do them. And ye shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be My people, and
I will be your God." That sounds definite. That sounds like man
ain't got a hand in it. The Lord is going to save His
people. He keeps going on there and telling
us all the things He will do. Well, if He's going to do them,
why don't we just sit back and let it happen? Look at verse
37. Ezekiel 36, 37. Thus saith the
Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel to do it for them. He said, I'm going to do everything. You're going to ask me to do
it. You will inquire me to do it. Well, what's the purpose
of that? We submit to His will. We bow to Him. We have a general prayer. We
pray. There's a general call and a
specific call. Every time I preach, there's
a general call made. I tell you who Christ is. Then
there's an effectual call. The Lord uses that message to
go into the heart of His child and make them believe it, make
them submit to His will. When we pray, we ask for some
general things. The Lord puts a petition in the
heart of His child. We ask for in Christ's name and
for His glory and according to His will that His sheep will
be called out. Lord, save Your people. Make
Yourself known to Your elect child that hasn't yet heard of
You. We ask the Lord to do that. And we know that because that's
His will, He will call out His sheep. We know He hears us, and
we know that that petition will be answered, because it's His
will. He will not lose one of them.
And at His appointed time, He will give His lost child a new
heart because it's His will to do so. We know that our prayer
has been answered. Lord, if you have any children,
save them. He's going to. That's a general
prayer, but the same thing goes for our personal prayers. Christ
said, your Father knoweth what things you have need of before
you ask them. Then the Spirit of God puts prayer
in our hearts according to the will of God with groanings that
cannot be uttered. He knows what we needed first,
and then he puts that petition in our heart. He makes us pray
as we ought for what we ought according to God's will. Christ
also intercedes for us with the Father so that our prayer comes
out to the Father in perfection in that sweet incense because
He's our High Priest. John's words used here came directly
from Christ our Master who said, what things soever you desire
when you pray, believe that you shall receive them and you shall
have them. In other words, knowing that God, our father, hears us,
we know that he will not turn away from us, but we shall have
whatever we need. He's a perfect father. Seeing
how he provided for us, he gave us, his people, righteousness.
Lord God Almighty gave you forgiveness. You think he's going to give
you something little? How am I going to pay the bills? What
am I going to eat? Am I going to lose my job? God
Almighty gave His Son righteousness to you. He put your sin on His
Son. If we ask Him of these things
to provide for us, do you think He's able? Do you think we'll
receive our petition? Lord, keep me forever. Don't
let me stray. Keep me looking to Christ. Do
you think He's able? For you that know the Lord, don't you
want His will to be done? I've lived in this will, I've
experienced my own will enough to know that I don't know what's
best. If I make a decision, it's going
to be the wrong decision. And I see a glimpse of His perfection,
His wisdom, His power, His mercy and grace. Do I want my will
done or do I want the Lord's will done? I want His will done.
We have an all-wise, all-powerful and loving God. Lord, Your will
be done. and teach us to submit to Your
will in all things. Lord, teach me. Teach me to pray
as I ought. Let's pray together. Fathers, we come before Your
throne. Lord, let us worship You. Let us give all praise and
glory to You. And let us understand that The
only way we can approach Your throne in this earth or after
is in the blood and righteousness and the perfection of Your Son.
Lord, let us praise Him. Teach us what He has done for
us. Keep us in remembrance of these
things so we can always look to Him and be humbled. Let us
submit to Your will, Lord, in all things. And we ask, Lord,
Your will be done Lord, You've told us, You've promised salvation
in Your Son for Your people. We are confident. We come to
You in confidence, Lord, knowing You'll call out Your children.
We come to You in confidence knowing that You'll keep us,
because we cannot keep ourselves. And our Savior will present us
faultless before Your throne. Give us a heart that rejoices,
Lord, Keep us praying, keep us submitting, keep us joyful always. We ask these things because of
our Savior, because of our Master, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.