All right. Thank you, Jeanette. While that
tune was, or that hymn was written, for the ordinance of baptism,
yet we can sing it at any time. All right, John chapter 14. John 14. Do you remember that threefold
rule or criteria for reading the Word of God? that I'm always reminding us
of in order to properly understand the Word of God when we read
it. That is, apart from the Holy Spirit. Well, not apart from
the Holy Spirit, but with the Holy Spirit. Do you remember
those three things? Number one, who is speaking?
Who is speaking? Do you remember in the Bible
study, ladies, Man, when we looked at some passages in the Word
of God that were men speaking and they were speaking falsely.
So you need to know who is speaking or else you might be quoting
a heretic. Because the Word of God does
record some of the blasphemies of men. Who is speaking to whom? To whom is this one speaking
or writing? That's vital, or else you misapply
it. And this is what's happening
all over the world today. They're taking the Word of God,
which clearly tells who it's written to, who he's speaking
to, and they're applying it to everyone. And they're lying on
God and lying to men. All right? That's important.
to him. Thirdly, what is the subject?
Because generally there's a thought that's carried through. It begins
in a chapter or in a place and that thought is carried on through.
All right? Here in John 14, now let's look
at, let's read verses Let's read verses 12 through
14. Let's go ahead and read the text here. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also. And greater than these shall
he do, because I go unto my Father. 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. Now, do you see why I started
what I said the way I did? Who's speaking? The Lord Jesus
Christ is speaking. To whom is he speaking? His apostles. His apostles. Privately, particularly. And these, although this is recorded
for our reading, our learning, and there's some application,
yet this was said to the apostle. All right? Now, and the subject, what's
the subject? Christ had been talking about
who he is, hadn't he? All of John 14 had been talking
about who he is. You've seen me, you've seen the
Father. He's talking about where he's going, going to prepare
a place for you. And he's talking about the fact
that he's leaving and he's going to provide, he's going to provide
them with some things while he's gone. Okay? That's the subject. He's talking
to the Apostle. Now, he just told them, he just
told them, and we looked at this Sunday. He said, believe me,
believe the words that I've spoken. Believe the works that I've done. Remember, he says, what I've
said and what I've done. Now, that sure applies to us,
doesn't it? That does. Remember what I've
said and what I've done. Yet, knowing their frame, like
as a father pitieth his children, the Lord pitieth them that fear
him. He knoweth our frame. He remembers that we're just
dust, we're flesh. The thing that flesh is more
prone to than anything else is forgetfulness, along with sin, but forgetfulness. Right, Henry? Right? That's the thing we're more prone
to, especially the older we get. And the Lord knows that, doesn't
he? He knows that. And so he's reminding them. He's reminding them. And he's
going to send his Holy Spirit to do just that. Look at verse
26. He says, I'm going to send my
Holy Spirit, verse 26, the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things. He will teach. He will apply.
All that I've said to you. The Holy Spirit will will. Build
on what I've already said. And remember so many times when
they it's scriptures as they remembered that he said these
things to him and. And this is where the apostles
got their wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Everything that they
said was the Holy Spirit speaking through them. Building on what
Christ had already said, the foundation, because no other
foundation can any man lay than what is laid in Christ Jesus
the Lord. All right, now read on. Verse
26, and he'll bring all things to your remembrance. What things? Whatsoever I have said to you.
He'll bring these to remember. I want you to turn quickly to
Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah 62, I like this, how we
need reminding over and over and over again of the simplest
of truths, don't we? How we need reminding of the
simplest of truths, all that our Lord said and did. If we could just in this life
learn one good lesson. of what the Lord said and did,
we would do well. And the apostles, the Holy Spirit,
that's what he does. He reminds. He reminds us of
all that Christ said. That's what he said over in John
16. Bring to remembrance all that
he said in John 14. And the apostles, this is all
that the apostles are going to do when they're taught. When
the Spirit teaches them, then they in turn are going to just
remind men and women over and over what Christ did and what
Christ said. That's what the epistles are
all about. That's what preaching the gospel
is all about. Look here at Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah 62, look at
verse 6. I have set watchmen upon thy
walls," this is prophets, preachers, "'I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor
night. Ye that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence.'" Now this is why I like the Cambridge Bible. You have a marginal reference
to that, make mention. What does it say in the middle
of that? next to the word make mention, it says, the Lord's
remembrances. I like that. I like that. That's what the prophets were.
They were just repeating what God had already said. And the
apostles did the same thing. They were repeating what Christ
had already said. And that's what preaching is
all about. The apostles, true preachers, dare not tell any
new thing. They're not looking for something
new. That's what false preachers are doing. And that's what false
disciples want to hear. Remember the Scripture that says
they delight in nothing more than the telling and the hearing
of some new thing. new thing. But the apostles,
the prophets, true preachers, they're searching and seeking
and finding out the old paths, Scripture says, wherein is the
good way, the one way. And telling that. Repeating the
same old story. They're one-string fiddle players,
is what they are. All right, back to John 14. The
Lord's remembrances. The Lord's remembrances. That's
what these apostles were. And that's what every true preacher
of the gospel is. And that's what you who preach
the gospel to others want to do. Just tell what you've been
taught. What you've been taught. The
Lord is speaking to his disciples, his apostles, and he says this.
Look at verse 12. He says, Verse 12, "'Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me the works that
I do, shall he do also, and greater than these shall he do, because
I go unto my Father.' He that believeth on me the works that
I do, shall he do also." Remember this. Christ had been with these men.
He's talking to these disciples. He's an apostle. He had been
with these men for three and a half years. And during that time, he sent
them out by twos, preaching. OK? And he equipped them with
special miracles, powers. He equipped them with special
miracles and powers. To confirm who they were sent
from God. To confirm their message in God's
Word. To get a hearing. Not to get
a seeing. Not to make a show. But to get
a hearing. A hearing. Alright? Now, the
Lord tells them he's leaving them. So what do you think is
going through their mind? And we're going to lose these
gifts, these powers. Every time they went out preaching,
Stan, they went running back to the Lord. Hey, we cast out
death. You remember that? They came running back all excited. And he had to upbraid them for
that, didn't he? Remember that? Don't rejoice that the demons
are subject to you. Rejoice that your names are known,
that you know me. So they think that perhaps if
he's leaving that the gifts are going to be gone too. So he's
comforting them and assuring them that the gifts will remain.
Healing, languages, and so forth. Why? So the gospel will be heard. That's what gifts are all about.
Stay with me. Do you wonder what all the talk
in the scriptures is about tongues? healing these things. Do you wonder if these things
are still going on? If they're real? Who has them? Who doesn't? Do you wonder? Well,
stay with me. The whole purpose for these things
was in order that the gospel would be heard. The whole purpose
for healing tongues, which the right word is language. Language. is that the gospel might be heard.
That was the whole purpose of these gifts. Number one, these
men didn't have a Bible. When they went out preaching,
they didn't have a Bible. They couldn't hold up a Bible
and say, I'm reading from such and such. They didn't have one.
People didn't either, did they? They didn't have copies of the
scriptures like we did. No way. There was one in the
synagogue, and that was it. And the Jews kept that hidden
from the people. Well, they didn't have a Bible.
Besides, the whole Bible wasn't written. Number two, they didn't
have time to learn languages. They couldn't go to a language
school and spend three years learning Arabic and whatever. Well, that's what they spoke.
They couldn't learn these languages. They didn't have time, didn't
they? They were going out preaching. The Lord sent them immediately
out preaching. And so he gave them immediately the gift of
speaking in many languages. That's what happened at Pentecost,
because the people that heard them said, we do hear them speak
the wonderful works of God in our language. It wasn't an undiscernible
gibberish or babbling idiocy like is going on today. Not at
all. It was a discernible language
that some who spoke it understood what they were saying. And they
were preaching the gospel in that language. All right? They didn't
have time to learn it. They needed his gift. Are you
with me? And they were coming in the name
of God. They were saying, We come from God. We come from the Christ, the
Christ the Messiah is here, he has sent us." Oh, really? Everybody
heard that before, right? There have been people running
all over the place before saying, we're God's people, like they
are today. We're God's preachers, we're
preaching the gospel. Oh, really? So these men were given special
gifts to confirm, and when these things were exhibited, these
powers and all, people said, hey, these men are from God,
aren't they? And they listened to what they
said. So our Lord is assuring them that these things aren't
going to leave. Look at verse 12. He says, "...greater
works than these shall he do." greater than physical healing,
greater than physical sight and hearing. What's greater than
physical sight? Spiritual eyesight. What's greater
than physical hearing? Spiritual hearing. Right? Now,
there's no greater work, period, singular, than what Christ did. His work of redemption. That's the work from which all
works flow, but they're not going to do any greater work than he
did. But works, he said, miracles,
he's physical healing and so forth. Yes, listen to these things. And while you're turning to Acts
chapter three, Acts chapter three, turn over there quickly. He says,
because I go to my father, I'm leaving you. I'm leaving, you're
going to need special unmistakable power. Acts chapter three. And there were several times,
you remember when Paul was shipwrecked on that island? You remember
that? And he would gather some wood,
and it was a heathen island, there were jungle natives that
lived on that island. And they were gathering some
wood and Paul reached to get a stick and a snake bit him,
hung on his He grabbed ahold of his hand and he pulled it
up and there's a snake hanging from his hand. And the scripture
says he just threw it off in the fire. Now, I believe it was
one of those deadly poisonous snakes because it says the natives
waited on him to die. They just knew he was going to
die. Like that green mamba snake over in Africa. Brother Ken Wymer,
when he lived there, he said there's a green snake. If you
get bitten by it, forget it. There's nothing you can do, forget
it. Just forget it, you're going to die. So, and I believe it was one
of those, some of equal, you know, equally lethal. And
Paul shook it off in the fire and just went on about eating. And they were amazed. And Paul
began to preach to them. All right? And then when unlearned
fishermen, I mean fellas right off the boat, longshoremen, about like teamsters,
you know, they're not known for their eloquence, are they, Joe? Unless it be in cussing. Right? They can do that real good, real
fluently. They're not known for their ability,
their polished ability as orators, are they? Ten-four, good buddy,
is about to stem it. Right? So here these fellows
right off the boat are going to go out and start preaching
to Pharisees, doctors, lawyers, kings, and they start speaking,
and they moved to masses and swayed the multitude. And doctors
and lawyers, they said, from whence comeeth this wisdom? They've never learned letters
that came from God, that the excellency of the power might
be of God and not of men. You see? Peter, greater works
than these. Peter not only raised a dead
girl like our Lord, but there was a husband and a
wife that lied to him, and he killed them. Then he said, die,
and they died. And the scripture said, great
fear came on all men. And so you see, greater works.
That's what he's saying to the apostles. Us? No, he's not speaking
to us. But here in Acts chapter 3, And
these works were for the preaching of the gospel. This was the sole
reason, not so people would be taken up with the apostles. Read
that here in Acts 3. And some were. Peter and John
had just healed a lame man, verse 11. And the lame man which was
healed held Peter and John. He was hanging on to them. I
don't know if he was hanging on to their coats or something
or wrapped around their legs or something. He didn't want
to let go of them. And all the people ran together,
a big mass, a swarm of people to the porch, greatly wondering,
look at these men. And Peter looked at it. Peter
saw it. He answered the people and said, you men of Israel,
why marvel ye at this? Why do you look on us so earnestly,
on us as though by our own power or holiness we made this man
to walk? You see, these men are really
sent from God because they're going to immediately get people
to quit looking at them. We didn't have anything to do
with it. Right, Joe? Immediately. Read
on. And now hear what they're saying.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, God of our fathers, hath glorified
his Son. He tears right into preaching
the gospel. Read on. Whom you delivered up
and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was delivered
to let him go, you denied the Holy One and the just. and desired a murderer to be
granted unto him, killed the Prince of Light, whom God hath
raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses in his name,
through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye
see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him,
by Christ, hath given him this perfect." Christ is the one who
gave him this faith. Christ is the one who gave us
this power. Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. Read on, look down at verse 19,
repent and be converted that your sins are blotted out. Here
is what you need, not physical healing, but spiritual healing,
your sins blotted out. And God will send Christ, verse
20, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must
perceive unto the times of... They just go on preaching Christ,
preaching Christ. You see that? You see why gifts
were given to these apostles? I know you do, but I'm reminding
you. Some in here may not, though.
All right? These works were for the preaching
of the gospel. That's it. No Bibles. No Bibles. These men didn't learn languages, and they said they would come
from God. So they needed these signs. All right, are these signs
needed today? No, sorry, Bob. Why? That's right. Peter said we have all the sign
we need right here. We have all the gift we need.
This is it right here. This is the standard by which
preachers are judged. This is what And this is the
miracle which God works now. All right, back to the text in
John 14. All right, now look at these two verses. I hope I'm feeding you. I don't
want to just feed you with knowledge and instruct you, but we need
to get some feeding from this, how this applies to us. 13 and 14, 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. Now, does this apply to everyone?
No. No, it does not. Who's speaking? Christ. To whom? He's still speaking
to the Apostle. What about believers? No. Not
principally. Let me illustrate that, all right?
Look at chapter 15, verse 16. Got it? You have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. You know, he told
the apostles, If you agree as touching any one thing, it shall
be given you. And men use that today. He's
talking to the apostles. Read on. He says in verse 16,
Whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give
it to you. Verse 19, If you were of the
world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of
the world, I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you." Now over to John 17, quickly. Now our Lord's praying
for these disciples. All right? In John 17, our Lord
is praying for these disciples, principally. Look at it. John 17, verse 6. He says, in
praying to the Father, I have manifested thy name unto the
men. which thou gavest me out of the
world." Now didn't he just say, you're not of this world, but
I've chosen you, didn't he? Talking to those apostles. Thine
they were, thou gavest them me, they have kept thy word." Verses
8 and 9. I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and known
surely that I came out from thee. And they have believed that thou
didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. For thine they are. Who's
he talking about? The Apostle. All right, look
down at verse 14. I have given them thy word. And
the world hath hated them. Didn't he just say that over
John 15? Didn't he just say that to the
Apostle? And the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
All right? Look at verse 20 now. Neither pray I for these alone. You see, he was just talking
about, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
work, their epistles. For them which shall believe
that they come from God, that will believe what they said,
not as the words of men, but as it is in truth, the word of
God. You see? Who's talking to whom? What's the subject? Listen to me. We need to believe
that Paul was sent from God just as much as people back then did,
don't we? We need to believe that Peter
was sent from God just as much as people back then did, don't
we? Huh? Yes, we do. We need to believe that what
they said was God's Word. Not the words of a man. Right,
Deborah? You see, most don't today. Most people don't today, people.
They think this book is up for argument. Don't they? They think it's up
for debate. They think the epistles of Paul
were just that—letters from a man. A bigoted bachelor at that. You
want to guess who really is offended by Paul's writings? Women. And so they say, well, you know,
you can take that or leave it. No, you can't. See, we need to believe that
those men were sent from God now just as much as people did
back then, don't we? And remember when Peter said
over 2 Peter 1, he said, And holy men of old spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. There's no scripture of any private
interpretation. Old or New Testament. It's no
man's personal opinion. It's the word of God. Either
believe all of it or none of it. Right? Well, sure. Sure. If any of it's the words
of a man. Which, what part is the words
of a man? It's just up for your own opinion in it. But if it's
all the Word of God, it's all to be believed. If these men
were come from God, then what they said was God speaking. Right? See how important this is? See
how important it is? But how did all this apply to
us? Look at it again there in John 14. Did you see the key
words And John says this over in his epistle too, if any man
shall ask anything. What would be the key words there?
I'm asking. That's it. In my name. In my name. People, if we could
ask in Christ's name, we'd have whatever
we asked for. He promised that, didn't he?
He said that. Now, he said this chiefly to
the apostles, and they did. Stan, they did. When they went
out preaching, what were they doing? They were just out preaching.
They weren't playing. They were on a mission sent by
God. And whatever they asked for,
they needed it in reference to what they were doing, the gospel.
In reference to the work of God. Right? Whatever they asked, God
gave it. God sent a spirit. He did. God
killed this man to strike fear. He did. God healed this woman
to give a hearing. He did. whatever they ask, in
his name. All right? What does it mean,
in his name? What does that mean, to ask in
his name? Well, it's not just this. In Jesus' name. And we, Father, forgive us in
Jesus' name. Amen. Most of the time, that's
a bland repetition. What we read there in Matthew
6. Everybody ends their prayer that way, in Jesus' name, don't
they? It's a vain repetition. It can
even be vain to say, for Christ's sake. It's not that. It's not merely a repetition
of those words, not at all. Let me give you these things
and I'll quit, all right? I haven't even been thirty minutes
yet. All right? To ask in his name,
number one. This is important. to ask in his name is, number
one, to be identified with him. If you're going to approach a holy
God, you better come by Christ. You know, people are praying
today in Mary's name. They're praying in Christopher's
name. Soon they'll be praying in or whatever his name, you
know. They'll be praying in somebody's
name, but there's one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. But that's not the point. The
point is identified with him. When we pray, Dear God, in Christ I come, in and through
your Son I come to you. I dare to approach your holy
throne through your Son whom you love. Through your Son, who's
my righteousness. Through your Son, who's my substitute. I'm not worthy, but He is, and
I'm coming through Him. The Father will hear you. It's like calling someone up,
someone who doesn't know you, and using a name that they know. Like calling someone up who does
not know you, someone of importance, someone of stature, and you use
a name of influence. Well, there's only one name that
has any influence with God. There's only one person that
God is impressed with. That's his son. You see what
that means? Identified with Christ. Do you
remember the sons of Siva? I love that story, Stan. It says
these fellas, these sons of Siva, tried to cast out some demons. And it said the demons took those
fellas and turned them inside out, stripped them naked, and
they went running out of there naked in the street. And the
demons, what the demons said to them was, Jesus we know. And they even said, We know. But who knew? And if the Lord allowed it today,
there'd be a lot of naked preachers running the streets. I wish he
would. I wish he would. But one who says, I come to you
through your Son, Christ. And that's not all. It takes
all of these things. All of these things are included
in his name. Secondly, it's pleading his merits. It's pleading God's Son, whom
alone he will accept. It's pleading his merits. Father,
because of Christ, I come to you. Because of Christ, you're
my Father. Because he's the elder son. Because Christ lived and
provided me his righteousness. Because Christ died and shed
his blood to forgive my sin. Because Christ now ever lives
to make intercession for me. And because Christ said I could.
Because Christ said, told me to come. Here I come. Here I
come. And the Father always hears for
Christ's sake. And thirdly, and this may be,
well, Nothing is more important than the other here, but listen
to this. To ask in Christ's name is to
ask for what is for Christ's glory. Now, this is where we ask amiss. Remember when James said over
in James chapter You have not because you ask not. When you
do, you ask amiss to give it to your own personal
lust, to consume it on your own lust, personal desires, personal
thoughts, without a thought really, without your first thought being
for God's glory, for Christ's glory. And most of the time, listen
to me, I'm almost through, most of the time we don't know what
we should pray for as we ought. That's what Romans 8 verse 26
says. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit maketh the intercession for us.
It's like little children, Deborah, who ask for all sorts of things
from the parent, and the parent knows that I'm not going to give
you all that. It'd be bad for you, right? And
no matter how sincere they are, no matter how they may cry, you
know, the parent knows best, and they withhold what's not
for their best, right? See, God's will is going to be
done. God's will will be done. God's purpose has already been
decreed. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. That's the reason prayer doesn't
change things. Things are unchangeable. Because
why? Because known unto God are his
works from the beginning. God's will and purpose has been
decreed, and God's will and purpose is primarily one thing. I'm telling you, he created this
whole ball of dirt for one reason—not for our happiness, but for his
Son's glory. And everything's going to redound
to the glory of his Son. Everything that Barnard used
to say writhes or wriggles. From a particle of dust in the
sun ray coming through the window, the destination where it will
land, somehow or another is going to redound to the glory of Jesus
Christ. Can you believe that? It's so. Because we can't figure
it out or don't understand or don't believe, it doesn't mean
it isn't. It is. He's God. And whatever he's purposed
to bring about, it's going to come to pass. And to that end,
Christ's glory. So if we knew, if we knew, we'd only ask for those things,
wouldn't we? Huh? Like I said, the apostles
did. They did. So they got everything they asked
for. See that saying? We don't. And so we don't. We don't know. And so we don't
get everything we ask for, right? I've seen and you've seen the
church pray earnestly for things, haven't you? I've known the whole
church, as I know it, to be praying earnestly that God would do something. And He didn't do it. Because we don't know God's will,
do we? I've seen the church pray for
healings and God not do it. I've seen the church pray for
God's hand and God's power to be displayed in the world, and
He hadn't. But make no mistake, God's will
has been done. It will be done. So, our prayer. What can our prayer be? What
did Christ teach us back there? What did we read? Huh? Oh, the scripture says, and I
love this passage, in everything, by prayer and supplication make
your request, with thanksgiving, by prayer and supplication make
your request known to God. But that doesn't mean he's going
to give you everything you ask for. He's going to give you whatever
is going to be for the glory of his son. That's right. So really, our prayer is going
to be this way. Father, not my will, but thy
will be done. If this can be for the glory
of your son and the glory of yourself, for the good of the church, if
this can be for your glory, according to your will, would you do it?
If not, I don't want it. Amen. Isn't that right? So don't let these
fools out there fool you. Just ask it. You don't have enough
faith. Ask it. What's faith? It's true, we don't have enough
faith. Our real faith now is believing Christ and seeking
His glory. That's it. Not to consume it
on our own personal desires, and we just don't know what's
best for us. The thing that we think is the
absolute worst thing that could possibly happen, And that we beg and beg and plead
God to do something about maybe the very best thing. It is. What do I mean maybe? It is. All things work together
for good. If we don't get it, thank God
we didn't. And we're going to see some day
and we're going to say, oh, am I glad you didn't answer my prayer. That's right. That's right. And since 2020, we're going to
see, we're going to see clear, we're going to know as we've
been known. That's really going to be thanking
him just forever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Let's stay. Our Heavenly Father. We thank
you. We thank you that you recorded
these things for our learning. Whatsoever was written of old
times was written for our learning, that we, through patience and
comfort of the scripture, might have hope. We thank you. We thank you for these men you
raised up to preach the gospel, to write your word, and we do
believe and are sure that this is the word of God. not the words
of men. And we believe all of it. Lord,
order our steps in it. Transform our minds according
to it. May we walk by faith and not
by sight, believing our God. All this we ask for the glory
of our God and his Son in his name. Amen.