Asking In Christ's Name; or, Prayer and Pentecost

Q: What does the Bible say about asking in Christ's name?

The Bible teaches that whatever we ask the Father in Jesus' name, He will give it to us, ensuring our joy is full (John 16:23-24). In John 16:23-24, Jesus emphasizes the importance of asking in His name, stating that whatever we request from the Father in His name, He will grant it. This promise is particularly significant after His resurrection and ascension, marking the dawn of the New Testament Gospel dispensation inaugurated by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Under the new covenant, believers are encouraged to approach God confidently, invoking the name of Christ, who serves as our Mediator and intercessor. This act of asking in His name not only reflects the authority of Christ but also the relationship believers have with the Father through the Son, aimed at achieving the fullness of joy promised by Jesus.

Q: How do we know prayer is effective in the Christian faith?

Prayer is effective because we are invited to ask the Father in Jesus' name, assuring us that He will respond to our needs (John 16:23). The efficacy of prayer in the Christian faith is grounded in the promise of Jesus found in John 16:23-24. He assures His followers that their petitions, made in His name, will be answered by God the Father. This dynamic is made possible through the finished work of Christ, who has ascended to intercede for us. In this new covenant, our prayers are not mere rituals but are directed through the mediation of Christ, who understands our needs and communicates them to the Father. The effectiveness of prayer is thus rooted in the believer's relationship with Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit, who guides and empowers our supplications.

Q: Why is Pentecost significant for Christians?

Pentecost represents the empowering of believers by the Holy Spirit, marking the birth of the New Testament Church (Acts 2). Pentecost is a vital event in Christian history, as it signifies the fulfillment of Jesus' promise regarding the Holy Spirit's coming to empower His followers. Recorded in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost marked the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, transforming them into bold witnesses for Christ. This event fulfills Old Testament prophecies, such as those found in Joel 2:28-32, highlighting God's commitment to His people. The coming of the Spirit established the New Testament Church and enabled believers to live empowered lives, equipped to carry out the Great Commission. Therefore, Pentecost is not only a historical moment but also a continual source of grace and empowerment for Christians today.

Well, let us turn to the Word of God in the portion of scripture we read in John 16 and turning to verses 23 and 24. John chapter 16 and verses 23 and 24. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. If the two of you ask nothing in my name, ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full and the theme I want to take up then is that of asking in Christ's name or to say something with regards to Pentecost and prayer the significance then of Pentecost And the Lord is referring to that auspicious day in the opening words of the text and in that day.

He's speaking clearly then of the gospel dispensation. and that's really what he is dealing with throughout these chapters from chapter 14 through 15 and 16 he is speaking continually of course of him going away but as he goes away so the Holy Spirit will come there will be that gracious gift of God the Holy Ghost and the coming of the Spirit is that that really marks the true beginning of the whole dispensation of the Gospel and the birth of the New Testament Church. Remember how it's recorded there in Acts chapter 2, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, the fulfillment of the day of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost, of course, is also referred to in the Old Testament as the Feast of Weeks. They were to keep a feast seven weeks after the Passover. That would be 49 days. On the 50th day was Pentecost.

And of course, seven is that number of perfection, the perfection of the works of God, and seven sevens then. is not without real significance. And when that day of Pentecost was fully come, when the Feast of Weeks was having its fulfillment in the gospel of the grace of God, so we must recognize the significance of what was taking place at that time. It was, we know, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

We see that in the ministry of Peter on the day he makes reference to the language that we find in Joel chapter 2 and there at verse 28 through to the end of that second chapter. in the sermon in Acts chapter 2 and verse 17 or verse 16 Peter mentions that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days, that 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, and so forth. all that's great and blessed die. It was, of course, when the Lord Jesus Christ himself had ascended into heaven. He'd accomplished his own work here upon the earth by his obedience to all the will of the Father, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And then his resurrection from the dead and his ascension on high and how Paul to the Hebrews speaks of him having entered heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us and there we're told how he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him he has entered into that blessed phase of his work now he is the interceding priest having been a sacrificing priest as he offered up himself as the great sin atoning sacrifice. Christ's session in heaven and it's from heaven of course that the Lord Jesus Christ sends forth the Holy Spirit.

And how he speaks of these things in these chapters, these remarkable chapters 14 and 15 and 16 of John's Gospel.

And the words that we have here in verse 7 of the 16th chapter, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. Isn't that the promise? of the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And then the Lord says at 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.

Of course there was during the days of the Lord's own ministry no New Testament Scriptures. The New Testament Scriptures come as the Old Testament Scriptures came, by and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, holy men spoke as they were moved by the Spirit, and so with the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we then have the New Testament, the Gospels, and all the account of the ministry of the apostles and the epistles and the book of the revelation of John the Divine.

And so we have the fulfillment, you see, of those things that are being spoken of here in verse 13. He will guide the Lord's disciples through the Spirit into all truth. And so we have the full record that bears testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But I say it's the theme really that runs through the whole of these three chapters.

If we go back, for example, to chapter 14, and what the Lord is saying there, verse 20, At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." What is that day? It's that day when he has finished his work, risen and ascended on high and gone to the Father. And so he says previously there at verse 16, I will pray the Father, 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."

And so the Lord is clearly here very much speaking of the significance of the day of Pentecost. And we're told, aren't we, in the course of Peter's preaching, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father, The promise of the Spirit. He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. The language of the Apostle there then in his preaching of the Word of God. And look at what the Lord is saying here in this 23rd verse, the words of our text.

He says, In that day ye shall ask me nothing. It's interesting, because the word that he uses there, at the beginning of verse 23, is really a different verb to what we have at the end of that same verse. We have the word ask, both at the beginning and at the end, but they are two different words. The word that we have here in the opening clause of verse 23 In that day you shall ask me nothing. Might better be rendered, you shall question me nothing. You shall question me nothing is what the Lord says. The word really has the force of asking, inquiring, interrogating even. In that day they won't be questioning him in any sense.

The same verb is used on other occasions here in the same chapter. Verse 5, for example, Now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, or questions me, or interrogates me, whither goest thou? And again, it's used at verse 19. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, to question him, and said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of that I said? In those three different verses, then, verse 5, verse 19, and again, here at the beginning of verse 23, He's really saying to them that in, ultimately in verse 23, he's saying, in that day, when the Spirit comes, you won't be questioning me anything then.

What is he indicating? Well, previously, of course, in the course of his own ministry, there was often a veiling in his teaching. We know that his habit really was to speak in parables. And in a parable there is a certain concealing of the truth, as well as a revealing of the truth. We see that, for example, in the 13th of Matthew, the 13th chapter of Matthew, which is a chapter that's full of parables.

And there the Lord speaks of the reason why his teaching is parabolic. Verse 13 The LORD is answering His disciples, Therefore speak I to them in parables, that is, to the multitudes, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, or Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, speaking to his disciples, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. for verily I have shown to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

The reason then why the Lord speaks in parables is that there might be a revealing to some and yet a concealing with regards to others. His teaching in that sense is somewhat veiled. And look at what he says here in verse 25, these things have I spoken unto you in proverbs. And the margin gives parables, it's a word really for parable.

These things have I spoken unto you in parables, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in parables, although we have proverbs in the text, but I shall show you plainly of the Father, he says. And then In verse 29 His disciples say to Him, No, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb, no parable.

Now we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God. So the Lord is beginning now, you see, to prepare them for that day when the The Holy Ghost will come and there will be the fullness and the finality of that revelation that God gives us in the New Testament, in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're familiar, aren't we, with the words that we have there to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2, in verse 10 following. God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.

For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, sayeth the Spirit of man which is in him. Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. No, 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. And so, we're to understand the Lord's teaching in these remarkable chapters, these three chapters in John, in terms of what they're to expect with the coming of the Holy Ghost.

It is a most auspicious event, really. The best of all the donations God could ever give to his people. And as I said at the beginning, here we see what it means to be asking in Christ's name. This is what we're to do in this day of the Spirit. He comes very much as that one who is the Spirit of Christ. He comes, as Christ says in verse 14, to glorify me. for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you." And what does he show unto us? He shows us how we are to be praying in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so at the end of this 23rd verse, we're reading the verse through, in that day, the day of Pentecost, ye shall question me nothing. You'll understand it then. And then we have the double verily, verily, verily. I say unto you whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. And we observe the statement begins with the double verily.

How significant is this? How significant it is? He's speaking of asking in his name. He is that one who, as I said, has fulfilled his priestly office on the earth by making the sacrifice, and now he has entered into that beyond the veil, where he ever lives to intercede. He's an interceding high priest.

And there is a certain comparison, we might say, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. in the words that follow in verse 24, "...Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Now, it's not that they never previously prayed and had no reference to Christ in His Mediatorial Office, because We know that there is only ever been one way whereby sinner in Old Testament or New Testament could ever approach God. It must be through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only mediator. He's the only High Priest. He's the only Savior of sinners. And of course, He's there in the Old Testament. He's there in type and in shadow.

We see Him very much in Exodus 25 where we read of the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant and the top of the Ark, the Mercy Seat. And that is a place where God will come and commune with his people. That's what God says there in Exodus 25-22 that there he will meet with his people, there he will commune with his people. And what is the Mercy Seat? It's a wonderful type. of communion with God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The language that we have in Romans 3.25, we're told of the Lord Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, remember, through faith in his blood.

And we've said previously, many a time, the word that we have there is the same word that's used by Paul in Hebrews 9.5, when he's describing the furnishings of the tabernacle, and he speaks of the mercy seat. Mercy seat, propitiation, it's one and the same word, really.

Although, interestingly, We have those two different renderings in Hebrews 9.5 and Romans 3.25. The mercy seat was where the propitiation was made on the great day of atonement when the high priest went in beyond the second veil, the only day in the year when he could venture into that holy of holies and he must go with the blood of sacrifice and sprink it before and upon the mercy seat, making atonement. for the sins of Israel.

God's just is satisfied. The wonderful, wonderful type, of course, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come to the book of the Revelation, there in Revelation 5, 6, John says, I beheld, and low in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb. as it had been slain. The Lamb there in the midst of the throne of God is repeated later in Revelation 7, 17. The Lord Jesus is the mercy... He fills the throne of God. He fills the throne of grace. He fills the mercy seat. And I like the remark of one of the old Scots divines, George Hutcheson. He says here, under the gospel especially after the pouring out of the Spirit, veils are taken away, and the Mediator exhibited in person, to be distinctly and clearly made use of in prayer."

And this is what the Lord is saying to His disciples. At that day, ye shall ask in My Name, He says, Verily, verily whatsoever, whatsoever rather, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." We are to pray always in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not invoke that name, our prayers are not real prayers. And what is it then? Well, we receive in His name. We receive in His name.

This word that we have at the end of verse 3, ask, as I said, it's a different word to that that we have at the beginning of verse 23, and it's the same word that's then repeated in verse 24. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. If the two of you ask nothing in my name, ask and you shall receive. This word doesn't so much have the idea of questioning, but rather the idea of seeking. As we call upon God, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Everyone that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh findeth. and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. When we come in this name we receive because we're coming in the way that God himself has appointed and we're coming in that way that the Spirit himself directs us to.

We know that blessed ministry of God the Holy Ghost the promise that we also have of course in the book of Zechariah remember the language that we have there in Zechariah 12.10 God says I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn for him as one mourner for an only son, and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Or where there is that spirit of grace and supplication, there's the pleading of Christ, the one pierced, the one who poured out his soul unto death, the pleading of that precious blood. And God hears and God answers the prayers of those who come in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it not interesting and significant, we must say, that by the Spirit, by the ministry of the Spirit, we have that spiritual sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had the Lord Jesus Christ with them. They could see Him with their physical eyes. They were accustomed to being with him but he's going to depart from them and yet they're going to receive something far greater when he's gone to the Father.

I used to often stumble at those words of Paul in 2nd Corinthians 5.16 Henceforth Paul says, Know we no man after the flesh? Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. And I couldn't understand. I thought, well, what does that mean? Well, of course, what he's saying there, they knew Christ after the flesh. They saw him as a real man upon the earth.

But now we see him no more upon the earth. And yet, what we have is greater than what these apostles had, because we have the the fullness of the day of Pentecost and we have the the completion of the New Testament Scriptures and we are favored then to to know Christ.

Look at the language that we have in verse 22 He says, You now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. Now, again, the commentators tell us the strength of what's being said here in the middle of that 22nd verse. Christ says, I will see you again. is going to depart and they're going to know sorrow is going to be crucified but I will see you again he says and the emphasis is on resolution necessity John Gill's comments is it's such a seeing of them that he's promised there in verse 22 that as they see him, it will be as he sees them. Commenting on the words that we have in the middle of the verse, I will see you again.

Such a seeing of them as they see him as well as he sees them. That's how Gil comments. It's a spiritual sight. It's a spiritual sight. It's not seeing Christ after the flesh, but it's seeing Christ by and through that blessed ministry of God, the Holy Spirit.

And what are the consequences? Well, the consequences are joy. That's what we have at the end of our text. those final words in verse 24. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full. But there's really a threefold consequence when we look at the context. There's the reminder of what the source of that joy is. And of course the source is what's declared there in verse 20.

Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." There is the promise. And the promise is prefixed with the double verily again. He's speaking of they're weeping and lamenting over his dying whilst the world is rejoicing but your sorrow, he says, shall be turned into joy and what was their joy?

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and then the ascension of Christ and then the glorious coming of the Spirit and as we have the source of it in God and the fulfillment of all his promises so we also see the sureness of it at the end of verse 22 your joy no man taketh from you it is sure and it is certain no man can take it from the child of God because a child of God of course is one born again of the Spirit of God, has come into the possession of new life, eternal life, a life that can never die. He lives in a different realm, really, to the worldling and the ungodly. And so there's sureness. He cannot be destroyed.

No man taketh that joy from you we read there at the end of verse 22 and then in the words of our text it's a it's a superabounding joy it's the fullness of joy isn't it that your joy may be full all that comes by and through the gift of the Spirit then on that blessed day, that glorious day of Pentecost And in that day ye shall ask Me, question Me, nothing. Oh, they'll understand then.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you. Either two of you ask nothing in My Name, They didn't have the fullness of understanding with regards to Christ as the only mediator. Ask and you shall receive, he says, that your joy may be full. Oh the Lord, help us then to come in that way that the Lord Jesus Christ is directing his disciples to. here in the words of our text.

It's brought out in what we're going to sing in our second praise, the hymn 383. We're going to sing to the tune St. Peter 227. And so The question is asked in the opening words of the hymn, wherewith shall we approach the Lord, and bow before his throne, by trusting in his faithful works, and pleading Christ alone. 383, June 227.

Asking In Christ's Name; or, Prayer and Pentecost

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about asking in Christ's name?

How do we know prayer is effective in the Christian faith?

Why is Pentecost significant for Christians?

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Asking In Christ's Name; or, Prayer and Pentecost

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about asking in Christ's name?

How do we know prayer is effective in the Christian faith?

Why is Pentecost significant for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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