Praying according to God’s will

A GOD WITH SKIN – John 14:7-14

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Many people throughout history have expressed the deep longing in their hearts for a God that could be seen and touched.  A little child was crying in the middle of the night, and when his parents came into his room, he said he was scared of the night and scared of being alone.  His parents assured him that they were just in the next room, and told him that God was everywhere.  He was right there in his room and would protect him.  As the little boy clung to his mother’s neck, he looked at them both very seriously and said, “I know God is here with me, but I want someone with skin on!”  Children aren’t the only ones who have this need for a God who can be seen and touched.  In our passage of Scripture for today, John 14:7-14, the apostle Philip tells Jesus what would satisfy his own needs, and we have Jesus’ response to him.

I.  JUSUS’ RESPONSE TO THOMAS (verse 7)

In verse 7, Jesus is still speaking to Thomas when He says, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.”  The word “know” is used 141 times in John’s Gospel, but it does not always have the same meaning.  In fact, there are four levels of meaning.  The lowest level of meaning is simply knowing a fact.  The next level is that of understanding the truth behind that fact.  However, we can know a fact and know the truth behind it and still be lost in our sins.  The third level.involves a relationship.  To “know” means to believe in a person and become related to him or her.  In fact, in Genesis 4:1 and other passages of Scripture, to “know” was used to refer to the most intimate relationship between a man and his wife.  The fourth use of the word “know” means to have an even deeper relationship with a person where your spirits and desires become as one.  Jesus will be describing this deeper relationship in my next sermon.  Here in verse 7,  Thomas’ problem was not that he did not know the Father, but that he didn’t realize that he already knew the Father.  Jesus is saying, “Thomas, you have had a face-to-face relationship with the God of the universe and you didn’t even know it!  Then Jesus says, “From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  He is talking about the near future.  When they see Jesus in His resurrected body, watch Him ascend into heaven, and are filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they will understand Him more clearly, and be empowered to proclaim Him to others.  Because that understanding of Him would clearly come to them in the future, Jesus spoke of it as if it was a present reality.

II.  PHILIP’S RESPONSE TO JESUS (verse 8)

The thought of knowing the Father interests Philip and, in verse 8,he proposes what he thinks is a solution to the problem.  “Lord,” he says, “show us the Father and it is enough for us.”  Philip wanted to see the Father as plainly as he could now see Jesus.  Like many of us, Philip was a very practical person and a logical thinker.  His thinking was:  “If only God could be made visible to me; if He could be here so that I could examine Him, then I would be satisfied.”  Philip and the other disciples had been with Jesus for three years, yet they still had a craving for something beyond Him.  They wanted a direct, face-to-face knowledge of God like they had of each other.

III.  JESUS’ ANSWER TO PHILIP (verses 9-10)

Jesus was disappointed with Philip’s reply, but not irritated or angry.  In verse 9, He says something like this:  “Philip, if you want to see the Father, take a good look at me.”  If we want to see what God is really like, we should take a good look at Jesus Christ.  What is implied here is that, not to see the Father in the Lord Jesus Christ, is not to know Jesus Christ.  Verse 10 makes it clear that the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate Persons yet one God.  No human being can fully understand this.  If we could understand God fully, we would be as great as God and wouldn’t be able to truly worship Him.

You may be familiar with the Gallup poll.  It’s a public opinion survey on various issues and topics.  In 2022, one of the survey questions that George Gallup and his associates gave to a cross-section of the American population was:  “Do you believe in God?”  81% responded by saying “yes.”  When asked further questions, most of them said they believed in a Supreme Being who listens to our prayers.  Beyond than, their answers were vague.  There was little understanding of who God is.  It goes to show that knowing a little about God is not the same as knowing God, is it?

IV.  JESUS’ ANSWER TO THE DISCIPLES (verses 11-14)

In verses 11-14, Jesus gives an answer to His disciples.  The word “believe” in verse 11 is plural in the Greek, so Jesus is again speaking to all of His disciples, not just Philip, because He knows that Philip is a spokesman for what all eleven of them desired.  Jesus again stresses the truth that they have seen the Father because they have seen Him.  His purpose is to comfort and strengthen them in preparation for His departure from them.  The basis for their belief in Him is His words and His works.  What an encouraging  promise He gives them in verse 12:  “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  Can you imagine the disciples’ surprise when Jesus told them that they would do greater works then He?  These miracles that the disciples would perform would not be greater in quality because Jesus said, in John 13:16, “A slave is not greater than his master.” but they would be greater in quantity.  His promise came true.  On the day of Pentecost alone, 3000 people were converted to Christ.  Jesus is saying, “my going away is the key to  your having real power in you, to do greater things than I have done, because it’s only when I return to the Father that I can send the Holy Spirit to be in you and empower you.  You are going to be better off when I’m gone physically.”  In this present age of electricity and rapid transportation, evangelism is reaching much larger audiences and conversions to Christ have increased dramatically.  Evangelist Luis Palau addressed a crowd of 700,000 in a stadium in Guatemala CIty.  Dr. Billy Graham once preached to over a million people gathered at a public square in Seoul, Korea.  Jesus’ promise in verse 12 keeps coming true

Jesus then gives a tremendous promise in verses 13-14.  He says, “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do.”  Does this verse mean that a Christian can get anything he or she wants from God?  Verse 14 is often misinterpreted and misused.  Some people believe that the use of Jesus’ name in their prayers becomes a kind of magical formula that guarantees that they will get what they ask for.  This is not true.  The key to understanding this promise is in the words, “in my name.”  To ask in Jesus’ name is not simply to say the words “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers.  It is to ask in accordance with Jesus’ mind and will.  It is to ask for those things which will bring glory and honor to God, and which will be for our spiritual good and for the good of others.  In order to ask “in Jesus’ name,” we must be in close fellowship with Christ in His word.  Otherwise we will not know His desires.  The closer we are in our fellowship with Christ, the more our desires will be the same as His.  Such prayers will be answered because they are pleasing to God and will bring glory to Him.  Jesus repeats the promise in verses 13 and 14 for emphasis and for encouragement.

Have you ever received a check with two signatures on it?  Have you ever signed a check that also had to be signed by someone else in order to be valid?  John 14:14 is like a check requiring two signatures, Jesus’ and the Father’s.  Any request in Jesus’ name needs to be aligned with the will of both Jesus and God the Father to be truly authorized or granted; it emphasizes that a prayer or request must not only be made through Jesus but also be in accordance with God’s purpose and glory.  In the case of prayer or physical healing, we must pray with a spirit of submission which says, “Lord, if it is not your will to grant my request, give me the grace to be victorious in this trial.”  Remember, nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except what lies outside the will of God.

Sometimes God answers prayer in very unusual and unexpected ways.  Here is one example.  A businessman picked up a hitchhiker and drove with him for several hours.  The hitchhiker was a Christian and he shared the gospel with the businessman.  Before he dropped him off, he put his faith in Christ as his Savior and Lord.  He left his business card with the hitchhiker and said, “If you ever come to Chicago, drop by and see me.”  Several years went by before the hitchhiker was in Chicago again.  He stopped by the man’s office and handed the card to a woman and asked if the man was in.  The woman’s face froze and she asked, “Where did you get this card?”  The man used the question to tell the woman the story of how the man had become a Christian that day.  The woman broke down in tears and said, “He was my husband.  I had prayed for years that he would come to Christ.  But he never made it home from that trip.  He was killed in an automobile accident after he dropped you off.  I’ve been bitter at God all these years because I thought that He didn’t answer my prayer.”  Not all stories end that way, but the point is, we don’t have all knowledge about how God may be working in response to our prayers.  So, pray that God will do far more through you than you can ask or think.  But if things don’t go exactly as you have prayed, trust Him that, if not in this life, at least in eternity you will understand how He answered and used you to do even greater works than He did.

There are other times when God answers prayers quicker than we expect, and He seems to delight in making it obvious that it is His doing.  Shortly after Dallas Seminary was founded in 1924, it came to the point of bankruptcy.  All the creditors were going to foreclose at noon on a particular day.  That morning, the founders of the school met in the president’s office to pray that God would provide.  In that prayer meeting was Dr. Harry Ironside.  When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristically refreshing manner:  :Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine.  Please sell some of them and give us the money.”

While they were praying, a tall Texan came into the business office and said, “I just sold two boxcar loads of cattle in Fort Worth.  I’ve been trying to make a business deal go through and it won’t work, and I feel that God wants me to give this money to the Seminary.  I don’t know if you need it or not, but here’s the check.”

A secretary took the check and, knowing something of the financial seriousness of the hour, went to the door of the prayer meeting and timidly tapped on the door.  When she finally got a response, Dr. Lewis Chafer took the check out of her hand, and it was for the exact amount of the debt.  When he looked at the signature, he recognized the name of the cattle rancher.  Turning to Dr. Ironside, he said, “Harry, God sold the cattle!”

God knows what is best for each of us.  As we pray to Him, let’s not try to tell Him what to do.  Any request that does not glorify God’s name should not be asked in His name.  For any request that does glorify God’s name, let’s continue to ask in faith without doubting.  Do you remember Jesus’ parable of the woman and the judge in Luke 18?  Luke begins by saying, “And He [Jesus] told them a parable that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  Completed        .

 

 

GLORIFY THY NAME – John 12:27-36

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INTRODUCTION:

When we are facing a difficult and dangerous assignment, what alternatives do we have?  One alternative would be to avoid it, refusing to go through it or running away from it.  The prophet Jonah comes to my mind.  When God told him to go to Nineveh, Jonah ran in the opposite direction.  Another alternative would be to do the parts of the assignment which were less threatening and disregard the rest.  A third alternative would be to do it, regardless of the danger or cost to ourselves.

The Lord Jesus Christ was faced with a dangerous situation.  He knew that very soon He would be arrested and crucified.  John 12:27-36 describes Jesus’ response and His motivation in the face of suffering and death.

I,  JESUS PRAYER CONCERNING HIS COMING CRUCIFIXION (verses 27-28)

Jesus didn’t wait until the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before His death, to begin to pray about it.  In verse 27, He expressed His inner feelings to the Father when He said, “My soul is troubled.”  There was a conflict of emotions.  Jesus asked Himself the question, “What shall I say?” [“What shall I pray?”].  Two alternatives came to His mind and He expressed the first one:  “Shall I say . . . Father, save Me from this hour?”  We see the reaction of Jesus’ human will to the possibility of death.  It was an instinctive reaction to danger, a reaction that we all have as human beings.  Jesus was no actor playing a role.  He was a real person possessing real emotions.  And this hour that He was facing would involve the desertion of His disciples, being bound and led away, being struck on the face, scourged with a whip, crowned with thorns and mocked, followed by crucifixion and death.  Try to imagine facing that situation yourself, knowing what was about to happen to you.

In verse 27, Jesus immediately realized that He could not pray this prayer, “Father, save Me from this hour” because His whole purpose for coming to this earth was to go to the cross.  Jesus was born so that He might die for our sins.  Without Christ’s death, His life would be fruitless.  It would accomplish nothing of eternal value.  So Jesus immediately dismissed that thought and expressed His real desire when He prayed the words:  “Father, glorify Thy name.”  Jesus knew what was in store for Him:  the physical pain, the emotional strain and shame, and the spiritual agony as He would become the object of the Father’s wrath for sin.  Yet His prayer was not for Himself but for the Father’s name to be glorified and His will accomplished.  Jesus was saying, “complete your perfect plan of salvation through Me, even at the cost of My own suffering and death.”  We will see this same attitude again in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39).  Then he immediately added, “yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”. 

The Bible doesn’t tell us when God the Father revealed to Jesus that He was going to die for the sins of the world.  We do find, in Luke 2:41-52, that at the age of 12, Jesus was found in the temple listening to the elders and asking them questions.  His response to Mary and Joseph was, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”  It’s clear from that passage of Scripture that Jesus already had some understanding of His mission.  We find that, early in His public ministry, Jesus talked about His death.

William Hunt painted a famous picture entitled The Shadow of Death.  The artist portrayed Jesus as a young man in Joseph’s carpenter shop.  It was in the late afternoon and the sun’s rays were coming through the open door.  Jesus had gotten up from His work and was stretching His aching arms.  As he did so, the setting sun casts a shadow on the wall behind Him, creating the appearance of a man on a cross.  That picture dramatizes the truth that Jesus lived with the consciousness that Calvary was God’s will for His life.

In verse 28, Jesus’ prayer was a demonstration of His perfect obedience to the will of the Father.  He also fulfilled, by His example, the prayer He taught His disciples in Matthew 6:9, where He said, “Pray, then, in this way:  ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ “   Exalting the name of the Father and doing the Father’s will were the chief concerns of His life.

II.  THE FATHER’S RESPONSE (verse 28)

After Jesus prayed those words, “Father, glorify Thy name”, verse 28 tells us there was a voice from heaven saying, “I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  When did the Father glorify Himself through His Son?  We find the Father’s voice echoing from heaven at Jesus’ baptism.  In Matthew 3:17, God spoke from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  The Father was testifying to His Son’s sinlessness and perfect obedience to Him during the silent years before Jesus began His public ministry.

Later the Father’s voice was heard again at the transfiguration of Jesus as Peter, James, and John watched and listened, and as Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus.  God the Father spoke these words from heaven:  “This is my beloved Son.  Listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5).  The Father was expressing His delight in the Son’s ministry –  a ministry that was superior to all the prophets and leaders who came before Him.  When God the Father said, “I will glorify it again”, He was also saying that still greater glory was yet to be brought to Him through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III.  THE CROWD’S REACTION (verse 29)

From the crowd’s reaction, we learn that there were basically two groups of people in that crowd.  The first group said, “It thundered”.  This group of people didn’t believe in anything miraculous.  They were saying, “There is no such thing as a miracle, so there must be a natural explanation for this.  Hmmm . . . It must have been thunder.  That’s the only sensible answer.”

The second group knew it wasn’t thunder.  They admitted that words were spoken, but they couldn’t be the words of God; so their conclusion was:  “An angel has spoken to Him.”  But how could an angel say those words?  The Scriptures tell us that angels don’t marry or have children (Mark 12:25).

I just read a true illustration about a person whose response to his own personal experience is the opposite of these two groups of people.  Near the end of World War 2, members of the allied forces were often found searching farms and houses for snipers.  At one abandoned house, which had been reduced to rubble, searchers found their way into the basement.  There, on a crumbling wall, a victim of the Holocaust had scratched a Star of David.  Beneath it was written the words, “I believe in the sun, even when it does not shine.  I believe in love even when it is not shown.  I believe in God even when He does not speak.”

There was a time when the Jews believed that God spoke audibly to men.  He spoke to Abraham, Samuel, Elijah, and several others. But during the silent years – the 400 or so years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, when God did not speak audibly or through the prophets, many of the Jews were drawn away from that sense of God’s presence and His closeness to them.  Now, when God does speak aloud to them, they act as if they are hard of hearing.  Would you agree that pride can sometimes cause us to be “selective listeners”?  As the saying goes, “In one ear and out the other.”  That seems to be the case in this situation, doesn’t it?

IV.  JESUS RESPONDS TO THE CROWD (verses 30-33)

In His response to the crowd, Jesus begins by saying, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.”  Let’s not misunderstand the meaning of His words.  Jesus was not saying that those words from heaven had everything to do with them and nothing to do with Him.   The Father said those words aloud in reply to Jesus and I’m sure they were an encouragement to Him.  What Jesus meant was:  “That voice came more for your sake than for Mine.”

Then Jesus made a startling statement when He said, “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.”  He’s beginning to describe to them how the Father is going to glorify Himself again through His Son.  Some may have been thinking, “What right does He have to make such a prophetic statement?  Who is this ‘ruler of this world’?”  Actually, many of the Jews of Jesus’ day may have had that understanding of Satan.  The apostle Paul was a Jew and he referred to Satan as “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).  There were also many demon-possessed people in Palestine during the lifetime of Christ, and the Jews had opportunities to observe the power and control that demons could wield in a person’s life.

When Jesus referred to Satan as “the ruler of this world”, He was asserting that Satan was powerful and that he exerted a lot of influence over the people of this world.  But even though Satan’s desire is to control this world, there is One who is more powerful than himself.

During the French Revolution in the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte, with his staff officers around him, once spread a large map of the world on a table before him, put his finger on a kingdom colored red, and said to them, “Messieurs, if it were not for that red spot I could conquer the world.”  That red spot was the British Isles.  In like manner, Satan might place a huge map of the universe before his cohorts, put his finger on a place red with the blood of the Savior, and say to them, “If it were not for that red spot, I could conquer the universe.”  That red spot is the Cross on Golgotha’s Hill where the Lord Jesus died to save sinners from Satan’s power.

Not only would He defeat Satan by His own death on the cross, but Jesus adds in verse 32, “I will draw all men to Myself.”   When Jesus said the words “all men”, He did not mean every individual without exception, but all kinds of people without exclusion.  Jews and Gentiles, regardless of age, gender, color, nationality, or social status would be drawn to Christ and find deliverance from sin and peace with God through the “magnet” of the cross of Christ.  Earlier in His ministry, Jesus said, in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”  When you are drawn, you come.

The apostle John wants his readers to understand the reason why Jesus said the words, “When I am lifted up.”  It was to indicate the kind of death He was to die.  In contrast to Satan [“the ruler of this world”] who is going to be “cast out”, Jesus is going to be “lifted up”.

There is confusion in the minds of the multitude.  They heard Jesus call Himself “the Son of Man” in verse 23 and now He is talking about His death.  That didn’t fit their understanding of the Scriptures so they demand an explanation.  In verse 34, someone in the crowd must have spoken on behalf of the others saying, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever, and how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?  Who is this Son of Man?’ ”  Can you feel the tension?  Just a couple of days earlier, they were shouting, “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  Now they are questioning whether the Son of Man and the Messiah are the same person.

V.  WALK IN THE LIGHT (verses 35-36)

Jesus doesn’t answer their excuse and their question directly.  Instead, He gives them a warning, a choice, and a promise.  Farmers have a saying that goes like this:  “Make hay while the sun shines.”  It’s an encouragement to make the most of the opportunity.  The weather won’t be favorable for planting or harvesting for much longer.

As Jesus speaks to the multitude, He once again uses the theme of light and darkness.  In verse 35 He says, “For a little while longer the light is among you.”  Jesus” is referring to Himself.  You may have heard the saying, “Opportunity seldom knocks twice.”  In their case, “opportunity” has been knocking for three years and very few have opened the door.  It is now Passover week, and Jesus’ crucifixion and death are just a few days away.

When Jesus said, “The light is among you”, He was bringing to their minds the words of the prophet Isaiah who said, in Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine upon them.”  Jesus is, once again, proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah they are longing for.  He is also giving them a final warning and two final exhortations:  “Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you . . . believe in the light in order that you may become sons of light.”   Can you sense the urgency in His plea to the multitude?  This is His last call to them.  God’s patience with them has reached its limit.  To “walk in the light” and to “believe in the light” are two ways to say the same thing.  Both refer to a commitment to follow Him, the “light of the world” (John 8:12).

They have the privilege of having the light of the world [Jesus Christ] in their presence, and along with that privilege comes an obligation to believe in that light with the result that they will become children of the light.  The warning is that He won’t be around much longer, and they will be stumbling in the darkness.  This was the end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s Gospel.  Verse 36 tells us that after He said these things to them, Jesus “departed and hid Himself from them.” 

CONCLUSION:

Several principles can be drawn from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage of Scripture.  First, God’s glory, not our own comfort and safety, should be the basis for all our decision-making.  After Jesus told the multitude about His coming death, He said, “Father, glorify Thy name.”  Secondly, God is glorified when we are obedient to His Word and are doing His will.  And thirdly:  Now is the time to glorify God in our lives.  Is this a time of decision for you?  The Light of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only to be seen and admired but also to be followed and displayed.  He wants His light to shine in and through your life.  Don’t put off believing in Him and living for Him.  Before the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter the land of Canaan, Joshua said, “Chose for yourselves today whom you will serve.”  He was also quick to add his own personal application saying, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”  (Joshua 24:15)

When the French painter, Auguste Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life, Henri Matisse was nearly 28 years younger than him.  The two great artists were dear friends and frequent companions.  Matisse visited him daily.  Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities.  He had to hold his brush between his thumb and index finger.  As he painted, students often heard him crying out in pain.  One day, as Matisse watched the elder painter work in his studio, fighting tortuous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out, “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”  Renoir said, “The pain passes but the beauty remains.

The pain of Jesus Christ on the cross has passed but the beauty remains.  It’s the beauty of the resurrected Christ.  It’s the beauty of being a new creature in Christ because He suffered and died for us.  It’s the beauty of a new kingdom that has been established in the hearts and lives of His followers.  It’s the beauty of knowing Him and living for Him who died for us.  It’s the beauty of heaven.  Out of our pain and sorrow in this life will come a beauty that will last forever.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Welcome to this construction project:  John 12:27-36.  I hope you will enter into the emotions of Jesus and learn from His response, His Father’s response to Him, and the responses of those who were there, watching, listening, and coming to their own conclusions.