tonight in our Bibles again to
John chapter 14. This evening we will be looking
at verses 12 through 17. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do
also. And greater works 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. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and
he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever,
even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But you know him, for he
dwelleth with you and shall be in you. Let us remember tonight
as we look at these verses that the Lord Jesus Christ is alone
with his 11 disciples the night before he was crucified. They
had troubled hearts. The chapter begins telling us
that, let not your hearts be troubled. And we know one of
the reasons that their hearts were troubled is because he had
told them that he was going away. And where he was going, they
could not come with him at that time. So he continues, he continues
to comfort and assure them. And as I quoted Matthew Poole
last Sunday, remember when he said, as a mother might do a
little child, crying after seeing her preparing herself to go abroad. The Lord Jesus Christ, he had
spoken to them just before this as little children, and he addresses
them, comforting them as little children, as a mother whose child
sees her preparing to go away might comfort her children. In these verses that we're looking
at tonight, and remember these are especially directed to these
11 disciples, the apostles of our Lord. Not exclusively, no,
but immediately they were to them. But I want us to see tonight
three great promises, three glorious promises that he gave them to
comfort them as he was leaving them. First, the promise of greater
works. Verse 12, the promise of greater
works. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also,
and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to
my Father. Now, we recognize this cannot
refer to works, that is to miracles, that they would do which would
be greater in degree than what he did. We do read in the book
of Acts that Peter was an instrument that God used in raising a woman
who had died, but she'd only been dead at the most for a few
hours. the Lord Jesus Christ, he raised
up Lazarus after he had been dead for four days. So it has
to be not greater in degrees. We don't read of any one of the
disciples ever walking on the water. That's quite a miracle,
isn't it? To walk on the water. But maybe
his greatest miracles, and we don't read of any of this taking
place after the Lord, Ascended back to the father when he fed
thousands of people When he took a few loaves of bread and a few
small fish and with that multiplying it creating food he fed On one
occasion, 5,000 men, not counting the women and children, and another
time on 4,000 men. And it's interesting that when
they gathered up what was left over after he fed them, there
was more left after he fed the 5,000, as far as the baskets
are concerned. You read it, you see. When he
fed the 4,000 men plus the women and children, there was more
baskets full gathered up than there were baskets after he fed
the 5,000. So the greater works cannot refer
to miracles which would be greater in degree, but greater in number,
greater in number. And even this, even this must
be qualified as to what works, what miracles did he mean. It has to have referred to the
miracle of salvation. The miracle of salvation. And
it is a miracle. And I don't know if you, if I,
if any of us fully appreciate just how great a work it is,
the new birth. We hear about it, we read about
it, we know the necessity of it, and thank God if we've experienced
it, but do we really understand the power of God that is put
forth in saving a sinner and regenerating someone who is dead
in trespasses and sins? Think of the Apostle Paul, for
instance. You cannot find, I don't believe,
anyone that was more antagonistic to Christ in the gospel than
Saul of Tarsus. And yet God put forth His power
in saving him, in turning him, and you don't find anyone, I
don't think, in the scriptures or in history. that ever gave
himself more fully to the work of the Lord than the Apostle
Paul. When he wrote to the Ephesians,
if you turn to the letter of Ephesians with me, and he's writing
of course to believers, and part of his prayer for them in chapter
one, Ephesians chapter one, and beginning with verse 15. Ephesians chapter 1 and beginning
with verse 15. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints.
Those two things always go together, don't they? Faith and love. If a man says that he loves God,
and he doesn't love his neighbor, he's a liar. Faith and love,
these are two, we call them cardinal graces. Of course, hope also
is included. Faith, hope, and love. Paul said,
since we've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and that's
where our faith must be. It must be in him. I remember
preaching a message several years ago on the subject of faith,
and my first point, the most important thing about faith is
the object of faith. That has to be the most important
thing about faith, that is, the object of our faith. People say,
well, they have great faith. And some people say that about
themselves. I don't think any believer would,
but some religious people may say that. But the most important
thing about our faith is the object of our faith. Suppose
you had faith to remove mountains even. If your faith was not in
Jesus Christ our Lord, what would it accomplish? It is faith in
Christ. And as a result of faith in Christ,
then love is born in the heart Paul said, since I've heard of
your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints,
I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of the inheritance
in the saints. That petition there, think about
that. That we might know, that you
might know the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints. And what is the, now here it
is, what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe? According to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places. So Paul prayed for these believers
that they might know what is exceeding greatness of His power
to usward who believe. It's often pointed out that in
the original creation, when God created the heavens and the earth
and all things therein, that there was nothing to resist.
God created matter. He created all things out of
nothing. Matter is not eternal. Only God
is eternal, and only God is infinite. Even His creation is finite,
is limited to some degree. It's great, it's vast, and we
certainly cannot explore its width and depth and height and
all of that, but God knows. It's finite, only God is infinite. And Paul prayed here that we
might know, that believers might know the greatness of His power. In the original creation, there
was nothing to resist God's power. But in the new creation, in the
new birth, man has a nature that does resist, that does resist
God. There is the mind. that is blinded
by the God of this world, and God gives light. There are the
affections which are set upon a hundred things other than Christ,
and God, through His power, gives us affections which are now set
upon the pearl of great price, the Lamb of God. And there's
the will which is fully set against Christ, and yet it is brought
to bow humbly before him. Lord, have mercy upon me. Now, after three and a half years
of preaching the gospel, and that's the way the gospel begins,
isn't it? John came preaching repentance. And then the scripture says,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he came preaching the gospel. After three,
three and a half years of preaching the gospel, on the day that he
ascended to the father as the glorified God man, we read that
there were 120, 120 in the upper room. The greater works certainly has
to do with the number of conversions that these disciples witnessed,
that they were a part of. For instance, on the day of Pentecost,
on that day alone, there was 3,000 souls, 3,000 souls that
were saved. And just a few days after that,
There was another 4,000 men, 5,000 rather, men who were saved. And we know from church history
that thousands of people were converted in those early days during the life of the apostles
and those who followed them, thousands of people. Pagan temples
were emptied and many of those pagan temples were turned into
places where the gospel was preached and God's people gathered to
worship the Lord. I was speaking with a friend
of mine, pastor friend of mine, this past week and he told me
about baptizing five adults. And that was such a blessing
to hear that. One of those up in their 70s,
almost 80 years. And he told me the story about
some others. And I thought, five, that's tremendous
in our day. But can you imagine 3,000 souls
in one day? 5,000 in one day? During the Great Awakening here
in this country, there's no telling how many thousands of people
who were born of the Spirit of God. So that's the first promise
that we see in this passage of Scripture, the promise of greater
works. And we should pray. God hasn't
lost any of his power, the ability to save. He could save 3,000
today, 5,000. It could save more than that,
we know. God still has the same power. God's will is accomplished, but
we should pray that God would, in our day and in our time, send
a great awakening. Our country certainly needs that. And I don't know of any country
in this world that doesn't need that. A great awakening. The second promise, the promise
of answered prayer. In verses 13 through 15. And
whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my
name, I will do it. Let me mention from these verses
three things that I see about prayer. Three things. First of
all, two times, two times he told them to pray in his name. Two times, in just two or three
verses, he told them to pray in his name. Now this reminds
us of the importance of realizing when we pray, You know, George
Bueller, the man who had that orphanage in England, mightily
used of God in the 1800s, he said this, this was his first
rule about prayer. He said, first of all, realize
the presence of God. Until you, until you move, until
you realize the presence of God, you're not just talking up into
the air. Realize the presence of God,
and until you do realize the presence of God, don't go any
further. Realize the presence of God.
Our Lord here two times tells his disciples, whatsoever you
shall ask in my name. We must realize that when we
pray, it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ that we have
access unto the Father. so much of the Old Testament.
The law from Mount Sinai shows the holiness of the Lord, his
unapproachableness, except through a high priest. Now, in these
last days, in this new covenant day in which you and I live,
the veil has been opened. That veil that separated men
from the presence of God, the manifest presence of God in the
holiest place, that veil has been opened and we have access
to God through Jesus Christ. Whatsoever you shall ask the
Father in my name. In the letter of Hebrews, we
are told that it is with boldness. Boldness, not irreverence. Don't
understand boldness to be irreverence. No, but still we have boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and
living way. So that's the first thing I would
remind us of here concerning prayer. When we pray, and I know
we do, then let's remind ourselves always, I have access. I have access to God Almighty,
and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only through him,
through his blood, through his merit, through his intercession,
his mediation, that I have access unto the Father. The second thing
I noticed here, we're told to ask our Father. Ask our Father. Notice in verse 13. 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. We're told to ask our Father. And this reminds us of this relationship
into which the Lord Jesus Christ has brought us with God. We are his adopted children. We are his adopted sons and daughters. In the Lord's Sermon on the Mount,
when he was speaking of prayer, he tells us this wonderful truth
about our Father. What is it? Your father, your
father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. He knows all about us. He knows
everything about it. And he certainly knows every
need that we have. And thinking about prayer, I
thought of this paradox. As a child of God, all things
are ours. As a child of God, all things
are yours, and yet we're always needy. That's a paradox, isn't
it? All things are ours, and yet
we are always needy. You say, well, what do you mean
all things are ours? Well, listen to what Paul said. He said, therefore let no man
glory in man, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos,
or Cephas, or the world, Our life, our death, our things present,
our things to come, all are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ
is God. All things are yours. That's
a paradox. The Christian life is a paradox
in many ways, isn't it? You read those paradoxes that
Paul mentions in the letter of 1 Corinthians. As poor, yet making
many rich. And on and on he names them. Well, this is one. All things
are ours and yet there's never a day in which we're not needy. Never. There's never a day in
which we're not needy and we have access unto the Father.
And that's the third thing I mentioned here about prayer. We're promised
that God will give us what we ask that he might be glorified
in the sun. All that we ask, which is according
to his will, which is for his glory and for our good, he will
give us. And I thought about this at this
point in the matter of answered prayer. I wonder if we're not
like those nine lepers. Look with me over in Luke chapter
17 just a moment. I wonder when it comes to answered
prayer, I'll speak for myself, if I'm not like these nine lepers
here. Chapter 17 of Luke and beginning
with verse 12, The scripture said, and as he
entered into a certain village, there met him 10 men that were
lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw,
he said unto them, go show yourselves unto the priest. And it came
to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice
glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving
him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, were
there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? There
are not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger? And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith
hath made thee whole. There were 10 lepers, and all
of them cried out for mercy. And God, the Lord Jesus told
them, go show yourself to the priest, as the law of the leper
told them in Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. And as they went to
the priest, They were healed. They were cleansed, rather. And
you would think that all 10 of them would return. Leprosy was
an awful illness, awful illness. But only one came back. And he
was a Gentile. He was a Samaritan. And I wonder,
in this matter of prayer, we pray, but how often do we thank
God for answering our prayer? We ask the Lord, lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And at
evening time, when the day is closing and the Lord has kept
us and we have not fallen into any grievous sin, do we remember
to thank Him? Thank Him. I'm afraid for myself. Many times I'm like these nine
lepers. I just accept the blessings the
answers to prayer, and do not return and give thanks. We need to learn from that, or
I do at least. Here's a third promise that the
Lord gave his disciples, the promise of the Holy Spirit. So
we have the promise of the greater works, the promise of answered
prayer, and the promise of the Holy Spirit in verses 16 and
17. And 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 you know Him, for He dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. In verse 16, we see each person
in the Godhead. We see the eternal Son of God
who was manifest in the flesh. He is pray. I will pray the Father. We see the Father and then we
also see God, the Holy Spirit, the comforter who would be given. Bishop J.C. Ryle said this about
the word which is translated comfort. It's also translated
advocate, advocate. In 1 John chapter two and verse
two, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. But Bishop Ryle said, the plain
truth about this Greek word is that there is no English word
which precisely and exactly conveys the meaning of the Greek word,
which is here rendered comforter. Some of the old writers, they
were of the opinion that it should have been translated advocate
here as well. Because we know from that text
in 1 John 2 and verse 2 that Jesus Christ is our advocate,
the same word, with the Father. And here our Lord says, I will
pray the Father that he shall give you another, another comforter. They say they believed it should
have been translated advocate here as well. But think about
what our Lord was doing here. He was comforting his disciples,
wasn't he? Let not your heart be troubled,
you believe in God, believe also in me. In Romans chapter 8 and verse
26, the Holy Spirit there, we are told, likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. But the word comforter,
that seems to me to be exactly what our Lord was doing at this
time. For the time that these disciples had been with him,
for three, three and a half years, every problem, every difficulty
that they had, and they had many of them, they always could go
to the Savior for comfort. Paul calls God in 1 Corinthians,
or 2 Corinthians rather, the God of all comfort. And isn't it the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of truth here, who comforts us? And how does the
Holy Spirit comfort his people? With the word of truth. Comfort. I will pray the Father and he
shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth. Thy word is truth. The Word of
God, this is what God the Holy Spirit uses in comforting His
children. And notice our Lord said, He
shall abide with you forever. The Holy Spirit Himself is the
seal, the seal of every believer. Every child of God here tonight
is sealed with the Holy Spirit. And that shows ownership. It
shows identification. Every child of God is sealed
with the Holy Spirit. He shall abide with you forever. People might say, well, wasn't
the Holy Spirit already here? Absolutely. No one had ever been
saved apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. No Old Testament
believer. The Holy Spirit, that's His office
work, to reveal Christ. But when our Lord said, and the
Scripture says He was not yet given, for Christ was not yet
glorified, it was not until He returned to the Father that the
promise of the Holy Spirit was given. Doesn't mean the Holy
Spirit wasn't here and in believers before that, but what I've Understand
it does mean, as we will see as we go on further in this chapter,
it's not just God the Holy Spirit, but it's God the Holy Spirit,
God the Father, and God the Son, who all come and dwell within
a child of God. They all take up dwelling in
every child of God, the fullness of the Spirit. Christ is in you. How is he in you? By the Holy
Spirit. The Father is in you. How is
he in you? By the Holy Spirit. Well, I pray
the Lord would bless these words tonight as we think about these
three wonderful promises that the Lord gave his disciples. Greater works, answer to prayer, and the promise
of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless each one of
us tonight.