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“If
you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and
it shall be done unto you.”
John 15:7
THE gifts of Divine
Grace are not enjoyed all at once by Believers. Coming unto Christ, we are
saved by a true union with Him. But it is by abiding in that union that we
further receive the purity, the joy, the power, the blessedness which are
stored up in Him for His people. See how our Lord states this when He speaks
to the believing Jews in the eighth chapter of this Gospel, at the
thirty-first and thirty-second verses— “Then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on Him, If you continue in My word, then are you My disciples,
indeed. And you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.” We
do not know all the Truth of God at once—we learn it by abiding in Jesus.
Perseverance in Divine Grace is an educational process by which we learn the
Truth of God fully. The emancipating power of that Truth is also gradually
perceived and enjoyed. “The Truth shall make you free.” One bond after
another snaps and we are free, indeed. You that are young beginners in the
Divine life may be cheered to know that there is some-thing better, still,
for you—you have not yet received the full recompense of your faith. As our
hymn puts it—“It is better than before.” You shall have happier views of
heavenly things as you climb the hill of spiritual experience. As you abide
in Christ you shall have firmer confidence, richer joy, greater stability,
more communion with Jesus and greater delight in the Lord your God.
Infancy is beset with many evils from which manhood is exempt—it is the same
in the spiritual as in the natural world. There are these degrees of
attainment among Believers and the Savior here incites us to reach a high
position by
mentioning a certain privilege which is not for all who say that they are in
Christ but for those only who are abiders in Him. Every Believer should be
an abider but many have hardly earned the name as yet. Jesus says, “If you
abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it
shall be done unto you.” You have to live with Christ to know Him and the
longer you live with Him the more will you admire and adore Him—yes, and the
more you will receive from Him, even grace for grace.
Truly He is a blessed Christ to one who is but a month old in Divine Grace.
But these babes can hardly tell what a precious Jesus He is to those whose
acquaintance with Him covers well-near half a century! Jesus, in the esteem
of abiding Believers, grows sweeter and dearer, fairer and more lovely each
day. Not that He improves in Himself, for He is perfect. But as we increase
in our knowledge of Him, we appreciate more thoroughly His matchless
excellences. How glowingly do His old acquaintances exclaim, “Yes, He is
altogether lovely!” Oh, that we may continue to grow up in Him in all things
who is our Head, that we thus may prize Him more and more!
I call your earnest attention to our text, begging you to consider with me
three questions. First, what is this special blessing? “You shall ask what
you will and it shall be done unto you.” Secondly, how is this special
blessing obtained?
“If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you.” Then,
thirdly, why is it obtained in this way? There must be a reason for the conditions laid down as
necessary to obtaining the promised power in prayer. Oh, that the anointing
of the Holy
Spirit which abides on us may now make this subject very profitable to us!
I. WHAT IS THIS SPECIAL BLESSING? Let us read the verse again. Jesus says,
“If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will
and it shall be done unto you.”
Observe that our Lord had been warning us that, severed from Him we can do
nothing, and therefore we might naturally have expected that He would now
show us how we can do all spiritual acts. But the text does not run as we
should have expected it to run. The Lord Jesus does not say, “Without Me you
can do nothing, but if you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall
do all spiritual and gracious things.” He does not now speak of what they
should,
themselves, be enabled to do but of what should be done unto them—“it shall
be done unto you.”
He says not, “Strength shall be given you sufficient for all those holy
doings of which you are incapable apart from Me.” That would have been true
enough, and it is the Truth of God which we looked for here. But our most
wise Lord
improves upon all parallelisms of speech and improves upon all expectancies
of heart and says something better, still. He does not say, “If you abide in
Me and My Words abide in you, you shall do spiritual things.” But, “you
shall ask.” By prayer you shall be enabled to do. But before all attempts to
do, “You shall ask.” The choice privilege here given is a mighty prevailing
prayerfulness.
Power in prayer is very much the gauge of our spiritual condition. And when
that is secured to us in a high degree, we are favored as to all other
matters.
One of the first results, then, of our abiding union with Christ will be the
certain exercise of prayer—“You shall ask.” If others neither seek, nor
knock, nor ask, you, at any rate, shall do so. Those who keep away from
Jesus do not
pray. Those in whom communion with Christ is suspended feel as if they could
not pray. But Jesus says, “If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you
shall ask.” Prayer comes spontaneously from those who abide in Jesus, even
as certain oriental trees, without pressure, shed their fragrant gums.
Prayer is the natural out-gushing of a soul in communion with Jesus. Just as
the leaf and the fruit will come out of the vine without any conscious
effort on the part of the branch but simply because of its living union with
the stem, so
prayer buds and blossoms and produces fruit out of souls abiding in Jesus.
As stars shine, so do abiders pray. It is their use and their second nature.
They do not say to themselves, “Now it is the time for us to get to our task
and pray.” No,
they pray as wise men eat, namely, when the desire for it is upon them. They
do not cry out as under bondage, “At this time I ought to be in prayer but I
do not feel like it. What a weariness it is!” No, they have a glad errand at
the Mercy
Seat and they are rejoiced to go upon it.
Hearts abiding in Christ send forth supplications as fires send out flames
and sparks. Souls abiding in Jesus open the day with prayer. Prayer
surrounds them as an atmosphere all day long. At night they fall asleep
praying. I have known them even dream a prayer and, at any rate, they are
able joyfully to say, “When I awake, I am still with You.” Habitual asking
comes out of abiding in Christ. You will not need urging to prayer when you
are abiding with Jesus—He says, “You shall ask.” And depend upon it, you
will!
You shall also feel most powerfully the necessity of prayer. Your great need
of prayer will be vividly seen. Do I hear you say—“What? When we abide in
Christ and His Words abide in us, have we not already attained?” Far are we,
then,
from being satisfied with ourselves. It is then that we feel more than ever
that we must ask for more Divine Grace. He that knows Christ best knows his
own necessities best. He that is most conscious of life in Christ is also
most convinced of his own death apart from Christ. He who most clearly
discerns the perfect character of Jesus will be most urgent in prayer for
Divine Grace to grow like He. The more I seem to be in my Lord, the more I
desire to obtain from Him since I know that all that is in Him is put there
on purpose that I may receive it.
“Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” It is just in
proportion as we are linked to Christ’s fullness that we feel the necessity
of drawing from it by constant prayer. Nobody needs to prove to an abider in
Christ the doctrine of prayer, for we enjoy the thing itself. Prayer is now
as much a necessity of our spiritual life as breath is of our natural
life—we cannot live without asking favors of the Lord! “If you abide in Me
and My Words abide in you, you shall ask”—and you shall not wish to cease
from asking. He has said, “Seek you My face,” and your heart will answer,
“Your face, Lord, will I seek.”
Note next, that the fruit of our abiding is not only the exercise of prayer
and a sense of the necessity of prayer, but it includes liberty in
prayer—“You shall ask what you will.” Have you not been on your knees at
times without power to
pray? Have you not felt that you could not plead as you desired? You wanted
to pray but the waters were frozen up and would not flow. You said
mournfully, “I am shut up and cannot come forth.” The will was present but
not the freedom
to present that will in prayer. Do you, then, desire liberty in prayer so
that you may speak with God as a man speaks with his friend? Here is the way
to it—“If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you
will.”
I do not mean that you will gain liberty as to mere fluency of utterance—for
that is a very inferior gift. Fluency is a questionable endowment,
especially when it is not attended with weight of thought and depth of
feeling. Some Brethren
pray by the yard. But true prayer is measured by weight and not by length. A
single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine
oration of great length. He that dwells with God in Christ Jesus—he is the
man whose steps are enlarged in intercession. He comes boldly because he
abides at the Throne. He sees the golden scepter stretched out and hears the
King saying, “Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.”
It is the man who abides in conscious union with his Lord who has freedom of
access in prayer. Well may he come to Christ readily, for he is in Christ,
and abides in Him. Attempt not to seize this holy liberty by excitement, or
presumption — there is but one way of really gaining it and here it is—“If
you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will.” By
this means alone shall you be enabled to open your mouth wide, that God may
fill it. Thus shall you become Israel’s and as princes, have power with God.
This is not all—the favored man has the privilege of successful prayer. “You
shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” You may not do it,
but it shall be done unto you. You long to bear fruit—ask and it shall be
done unto
you. Look at the vine branch. It simply remains in the vine and by remaining
in the vine the fruit comes from it. It is done unto it. Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, the purpose of your being, its one object and design, is
to bring forth fruit to the
glory of the Father—to gain this end you must abide in Christ, as the branch
abides in the vine. This is the method by which your prayer for fruitfulness
will become successful. “It shall be done unto you.”
Concerning this matter, “you shall ask what you will and it shall be done
unto you.” You shall have wonderful prevalence with God in prayer, insomuch
that before you call He will answer and while you are yet speaking He will
hear. “The desire of the righteous shall be granted.” To the same effect is
the other text—“Delight yourself also in the Lord. And He shall give you the
desires of your heart.” There is a great breadth in this text, “You shall
ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” The Lord gives the abider
carte blanche. He puts into his hand a signed check and permits him to fill
it up as he wills.
Does the text mean what it says? I never knew my Lord to say anything He did
not mean. I am sure that He may sometimes mean more than we understand Him
to say, but He never means less. Mind you, He does not say to all men, “I
will give you whatever you ask.” Oh no, that would be an unkind kindness—but
He speaks to His disciples and says, “If you abide in Me and My Words abide
in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” It is to
a certain
class of men who have already received great Grace at His hands—it is to
them He commits this marvelous power of prayer.
O my dear Friends, if I may covet earnestly one thing above every other, it
is this—that I may be able to ask what I will of the Lord and have it! The
man who prevails in prayer is the man to preach successfully, for he may
well prevail
with man for God when he has already prevailed with God for men! This is the
man to face the difficulties of business life.
For what can baffle him when he can take all to God in prayer? One such man
as this, or one such woman as this in a Church is worth ten thousand of us
common people. In these we find the peerage of the skies. In these are the
men in whom is fulfilled God’s purpose concerning man, whom He made to have
dominion over all the works of His hands.
The stamp of sovereignty is on the brows of these men—they shape the history
of nations, they guide the current events through their power on high. We
see Jesus with all things put under Him by the Divine purpose and as we rise
into
that image. We also are clothed with dominion and are made kings and priests
unto God. Behold Elijah, with the keys of the rain swinging at his girdle—he
shuts or opens the windows of Heaven! There are such men still alive. Aspire
to be such men and women, I beseech you, that to you the text may be
fulfilled, “You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.”
The text seems to imply that if we reach this point of privilege, this gift
shall be a perpetuity—“You shall ask,” you shall always ask—you shall never
get beyond asking but you shall ask successfully. “You shall ask what you
will, and it
shall be done unto you.” Here we have the gift of continual prayer. Not for
the week of prayer, not during a month’s conference, nor upon a few special
occasions shall you pray prevailingly. But you shall possess this power with
God so long as you abide in Christ and His Words abide in you. God will put
His Omnipotence at your disposal—He will put forth His Godhead to fulfill
the desires which His own Spirit has worked in you.
I wish I could make this jewel glitter before the eyes of all the saints
till they cried out, “Oh that we had it!” This power in prayer is like the
sword of Goliath—wisely may every David say—“There is none like it; give it
to me.” This
weapon of all-prayer beats the enemy and at the same time enriches its
possessor with all the wealth of God. How can he lack anything to whom the
Lord has said, “Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you”? Oh, come,
let us seek this promise. Listen and learn the way. Follow me, while by the
light of the text I point out the path. May the Lord lead us in it by His
Holy Spirit!
II. How is this privilege of mighty prayerfulness TO BE OBTAINED? The answer
is, “If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you.” Here are the
two feet by
which we climb to power with God in prayer.
Beloved, the first line tells us that we are to abide in Christ Jesus our
Lord. It is taken for granted that we are already in Him. May it be taken
for granted in your case, dear Hearer? If so, you are to abide where you
are. As Believers we are
to remain tenaciously clinging to Jesus, lovingly knit to Jesus. We are to
abide in Him by always trusting Him, and Him only, with the same simple
faith which joined us to Him at the first. We must never admit any other
thing or person into
our heart’s confidence as our hope of salvation. We must rest alone in Jesus
as we received Him at the first. His Godhead, His Manhood, His life, His
death, His resurrection, His glory at the right hand of the Father—in a
word, Himself—must be our heart’s sole reliance. This is absolutely
essential. A temporary faith will not save—an abiding faith is necessary.
But abiding in the Lord Jesus does not only mean trusting in Him. It
includes our yielding ourselves up to Him to receive His life and to let
that life work out its results in us. We live in Him, by Him,
for Him, to
Him, when we abide in
Him. We feel that all our separate life has gone—for “you are dead and your
life is hid with Christ.” We are nothing if we get away from Jesus—we would
then be branches withered and fit only to be cast into the fire. We have no
reason for
existence except that which we find in Christ—and what a marvelous reason
that is! The vine needs the branch as truly as the branch needs the vine. No
vine ever bore any fruit except upon its branches. Truly it bears all the
branches and so bears all the fruit.
But yet it is by the branch that the vine displays its fruitfulness. Thus
are abiding Believers necessary to the fulfillment of their Lord’s design.
Wonderful thing to say—that the saints are necessary to their Savior!
The
Church is His body—the fullness of Him that fills all in all. I want you to
recognize this, that you may see your blessed responsibility, your practical
obligation to bring forth fruit that the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.
Abide in Him. Never diminish your consecration to His honor and glory. Never
dream of being your own master. Be not the servant of men but abide in
Christ. Let Him be the Object, as well as the Source, of your existence.
Oh, if you get there and stop there in perpetual communion with your Lord,
you will soon realize a joy, a delight, a power in prayer such as you never
knew before! There are times when we are conscious that we are in Christ and
we know our fellowship with Him. And oh, the joy and the peace which we
drink from this cup! Let us abide there. “Abide in Me,” says Jesus.
You are
not to come and go but to abide. Let that blessed sinking of yourself into
His life, the spending of all your powers for Jesus and the firm faith of
your union with Him remain in you forever. Oh, that we might attain to this
by the Holy Spirit!
As if to help us to understand this, our gracious Lord has given us a
delightful parable. Let us look through this discourse of the vine and its
branches. Jesus says, “Every branch in Me that bears fruit, He purges it.”
Take care that you
abide in Christ when you are being purged. “Oh,” says one, “I thought I was
a Christian. But, alas! I have more troubles than ever—men ridicule me, the
devil tempts me and my business affairs go wrong.” Brother, if you are to
have power in prayer you must take care that you abide in Christ when the
sharp knife is cutting everything away. Endure trial and never dream of
giving up your faith because of it. Say, “Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him.”
Your Lord warned you when you first came into the vine that you would have
to be purged and cut closely. And if you are now feeling the purging process
you must not think that some strange thing has happened unto you. Rebel not
because of anything you may have to suffer from the dear hand of your
heavenly Father—who is the husbandman of the vineyard. No, but cling to
Jesus all the more closely. Say, “Cut, Lord, cut to the quick if You will!
But I will cling to
You. To whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Yes, cling
to Jesus when the purging knife is in His hand and so “shall you ask what
you will and it shall be done unto you.”
Take care, also, that when the purging operation has been carried out you
still cleave to your Lord. Notice the third verse—“Now you are clean through
the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me and I in you.”
Abide
after
cleansing where you were before cleansing. When you are sanctified, abide
where you were when first justified. When you see the work of the Spirit
increasing in you do not let the devil tempt. He will try to get you to
boast that now you are somebody, you need not come to Jesus as a poor sinner
and rest in His precious blood alone for salvation. Abide still in Jesus. As
you kept to Him when the knife cut you, keep to Him now that the tender
grapes begin to form.
Do not say to yourself, “What a fruitful branch I am! How greatly I adorn
the vine! Now I am full of vigor!” You are nothing and nobody. Only as you
abide in Christ are you one whit better than the waste wood which is burned
in the fire. “But do we not make progress?” Yes, we grow, but we abide—we
never go an inch further—we abide in Him. Or, if not, we are cast forth and
are withered. Our whole hope lies in Jesus at our best times as well as at
our worst. Jesus says,
“Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in
Me and I in you.” Abide in Him as to all your fruitfulness. “As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you,
except you abide
in Me.”
“Here, then, I have something to do,” cries one. Certainly you have,
but not
apart from Jesus. The branch has to bear fruit. But if the branch imagines
that it is going to produce a cluster, or even a grape out of itself alone,
it is utterly
mistaken. The fruit of the branch must come forth of the stem. Your work for
Christ must be Christ’s work in you or else it will be good for nothing. I
pray you, see to this. Your Sunday school teaching, your preaching or
whatever you do,
must be done in Christ Jesus. Not by your natural talent can you win souls,
nor by plans of your own inventing can you save men. Beware of homemade
schemes. Do for Jesus what Jesus bids you do. Remember that our work for
Christ, as we call it, must be Christ’s work first if it is to be accepted
of Him. Abide in Him as to your fruit-bearing.
Yes, abide in Him as to your very life. Do not say, “I have been a Christian
man now 20 or 30 years, I can do without continued dependence upon Christ.”
No, you could not do without Him if you were as old as Methuselah! Your very
being
as a Christian depends upon your still clinging, still trusting,
still depending on your Master—and this He must give you—for it all comes
from Him
and Him alone. To sum it all up, if you want that splendid power in prayer
of which I
spoke just now, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious,
practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you get to that
by Divine Grace, then you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto
you.
But there is a second qualification mentioned in the text and you must not
forget it—“and My Words abide in you.” How important, then, are Christ’s
Words! He said in the fourth verse, “Abide in Me and I in you,” and now as a
parallel to this it is, “If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you.”
What, then? Are Christ’s Words and Himself identical?
Yes, practically so. Some talk about Christ being the Master, but as to
doctrine they do not care what His Word declares. So long as their hearts
are right towards His Person they claim liberty of thought. Yes, but this is
a mere subterfuge.
We cannot separate Christ from the Word. For, in the first place, He is the
Word. And, in the next place, how dare we call Him Master and Lord and do
not the things which He says and reject the Truth of God which He teaches?
We
must obey His precepts or He will not accept us as disciples. Especially
that precept of love which is the essence of all His Words. We must
love God
and our Brethren—yes, we must cherish love to all men and seek their good.
Anger and malice must be far from us. We must walk even as He walked. If
Christ’s Words abide not in you, both as to belief and practice, you are not
in Christ. Christ and His Gospel and His commands are one.
If you will not have Christ and His Words, neither will He have you nor your
words. And you shall ask in vain—you shall by-and-by give up asking—you
shall become as a withered branch. Beloved, I am persuaded better things of
you
and things that accompany salvation, though I thus speak. Oh for Divine
Grace to pass through these two-leaved gates, these two golden doors! “If
you abide in Me and My Words abide in you.” Push through the two and enter
into this large room—“You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto
you.”
III. It is my last work to try to show WHY THIS PRIVILEGE SHOULD BE SO
OBTAINED. This extraordinary power of prayer—why is it given to those who
abide in Christ? May what I have to say encourage you to make the glorious
attempt to win this pearl of great price! Why is it, that by abiding in
Christ and having His Words abide in us, we get to this liberty and
prevalence in prayer?
I answer, first, because of the fullness of Christ. You may very well ask
what you will when you abide in Christ, because whatever you may require is
already lodged in Him. Good Bishop Hall worked out this thought in a famous
pas-sage.
I will give you the substance of it—Do you desire the Grace of the Spirit?
Go to your Lord’s anointing. Do you seek holiness? Go to His
example. Do you
desire pardon of sin? Look to His blood. Do you need mortification of sin?
Look to His Crucifixion. Do you need to be buried to the world? Go to
His tomb. Do you want to feel the fullness of a
heavenly life? Behold His Resurrection. Would you rise above the world? Mark
His Ascension. Would you contemplate heavenly things? Remember
His sitting
at the right hand of God and know that He “has raised us up together and
made
us sit together in heavenly places.”
I see clearly enough why the branch gets all it wants while it abides in the
stem, since all it wants is already in the stem and is placed there for the
sake of the branch. What does the branch want more than the stem can give
it? If it did
want more it could not get it. For it has no other means of living but by
sucking its life out of the stem. O my precious Lord, if I want anything
which is not in You, I desire always to be without it. I desire to be denied
a wish which wanders
outside of Yourself. But if the supply of my desire is already in You for
me, why should I go elsewhere? You are my All—where else should I look?
Beloved, “it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell,” and
the good pleasure of the Father is our good pleasure, also—we are glad to
draw everything from Jesus. We feel sure that, ask what we will, we shall
have it, since He has it ready for us.
The next reason for this is the richness of the Word of God. Catch this
thought, “If My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall
be done unto you.” The best praying man is the man who is most believingly
familiar with
the promises of God. After all, prayer is nothing but taking God’s promises
to Him and saying to Him, “Do as You have said.” Prayer is the promise
utilized. A prayer which is not based on a promise has no true foundation.
If I go to the bank without a check I need not expect to get money. It is
the “order to pay” which is my power inside the bank and my warrant for
expecting to receive.
You that have Christ’s Words abiding in you are equipped with those things
which the Lord regards with attention.
If the Word of God abides in you, you are the man that can pray because
you meet the great God with His own Words and thus overcome omnipotence with
omnipotence. You put your finger down upon the very lines and say, “Do as
You
have said.” This is the best praying in all the world! O Beloved, be filled
with God’s Word. Study what Jesus has said, what the Holy Spirit has left on
record in this divinely-inspired Book and in proportion as you feed on the
Word and are filled with the Word and retain the Word in your faith and obey
the Word in your life—in that proportion you will be a master in the art of
prayer!
You will acquire skill as a wrestler with the Covenant angel in proportion
as you can plead the promises of your faithful God. Be well instructed in
the doctrines of Divine Grace and let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly, that you may know how to prevail at the Throne of Grace.
Abiding in
Christ, and His Words abiding in you are like the right hand and the left
hand of Moses, which were held up in prayer, so that Amalek was smitten,
Israel was delivered and God was glorified!
Let us go a little further—you still may say you do not quite see why a man
who abides in Christ and in whom Christ’s Words abide, should be allowed to
ask whatever he wills and it shall be done unto him. I answer you again—it
is
so because in such a man as that there is a predominance of Divine Grace
which causes him to have a renewed will which is according to the will of
God. Suppose a man of God is in prayer and he thinks that such-and-such a
thing is desirable, yet he remembers that he is nothing but a babe in the
presence of his all-wise Father and so he bows his will and asks as a favor
to be taught what to will.
Though God bids him ask what he wills, he shrinks and cries, “My Lord, here
is a request which I am not quite clear about. As far as I can judge, it is
a desirable thing and I will it. But, Lord, I am not fit to judge for myself
and therefore I pray You, give not as I will, but as You will.” Do you not
see that when we are in such a condition as this, our real will is God’s
will? Deep down in our hearts we will only that which the Lord Himself
wills. And what is this but to ask what we will and it is done to us? It
becomes safe for God to say to the sanctified soul, “Ask what you will and
it shall be done unto you.” The heavenly instincts of that man lead him
right. The Divine Grace that is within his soul thrusts down all covetous
lusting and foul desires and his will is the actual shadow of God’s will.
The spiritual life is master in him and so his aspirations are holy,
heavenly, God-like. He has been made a partaker of the Divine Nature—and as
a son is like his father, so now in desire and will he is one with his God.
As the echo answers to the voice, so does the renewed heart echo the mind of
the Lord. Our desires are reflected beams of the Divine will—you shall ask
what you will and it shall be even so.
You clearly see that the holy God cannot pick up a common man in the street
and say to him, “I will give you what-ever you will.” What would he ask for?
He would ask for a good drink, or permission to enjoy himself in evil lust.
It
would be very unsafe to trust the most of men with this permit. But when the
Lord has taken a man and has made him new—has quickened him into newness of
life and has formed him in the image of His dear Son—then He can trust him!
Behold, the great Father treats us in our measure as He treats His
First-Born. Jesus could say, “I know that You hear Me always,” and the Lord
is educating us to the same assurance. We can say with one of old, “My God
will hear me.” Do not your mouths water for this privilege of prevailing
prayer? Do not your hearts long to get at this? It is by the way of
holiness. It is by the way of union to Christ. It is by the way of a
permanent abiding in Him and an obedient holding fast of His Truths that you
are to come to this privilege!
Behold, the only safe and true
way—when once that way is really trod—it is a most sure and effectual way of
gaining substantial power in prayer.
I have not quite done. A man will succeed in prayer when his faith is
strong. And this is the case with those who abide in Jesus. It is faith that
prevails in prayer. The real eloquence of prayer is a believing desire. “All
things are possible to
him that believes.” A man abiding in Christ, with Christ’s Words abiding in
him, is eminently a Believer and consequently eminently successful in
prayer. He has strong faith, indeed, for his faith has brought him into
vital contact with
Christ and he is, therefore, at the source of every blessing and may drink
to his full at the well itself.
Such a man, once more, will also possess the indwelling of the Spirit of
God. If we abide in Christ and His Words abide in us, then the Holy Spirit
has come and taken up His residence in us. And what better help in prayer
can we have?
Is it not a wonderful thing that the Holy Spirit, Himself, makes
intercession in the saints according to the will of God?
He “makes intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered.” What man
knows the mind of a man save the spirit of a man? The Spirit of God knows
the mind of God and He works in us to will what God wills, so that a
believing man’s
prayer is God’s purpose reflected in the soul as in a mirror.
The eternal decrees of God project their shadows over the hearts of godly
men in the form of prayer. What God intends to do He tells unto His servants
by inclining them to ask Him to do what He Himself is resolved to do. God
says, “I
will do this and that.” But then He adds, “For this will I be enquired of by
the house of Israel to do it for them.” How clear it is that if we
abide in
Christ and His Words abide in us we may ask what we will! For we shall only
ask what the
Spirit of God moves us to ask. And it were impossible that God the Holy
Spirit and God the Father should be at cross-purposes with one another. What
the one prompts us to ask, the other has assuredly determined to bestow.
I struck out a line just now to which I must return for a single moment.
Beloved, do you not know that when we abide in Christ and His Words abide in
us, the Father looks upon us with the same eye with which He looks upon His
dear Son? Christ is the vine and the vine includes the branches. The
branches are a part of the vine. God, therefore, looks upon us as part of
Christ—members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. Such is the
Father’s love to Jesus that He denies Him nothing. He was obedient to death,
even the death of the Cross. Therefore does His Father love Him as the
God-Man Mediator and He will grant Him all His petitions. And is it so that
when you and I are in real union to Christ, the Lord God looks upon us in
the same way as He looks on Jesus and says to us, “I will deny you nothing.
You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you”? So do I
understand the text.
I call your attention to the fact that in that 15th chapter, the ninth
verse, which I did not read this morning, runs thus—“As the Father has loved
Me, so have I loved you.” The same love which God gives to His Son, the Son
gives to us!
And therefore we are dwellers in the love of the Father and of the Son. How
can our prayers be rejected? Will not infinite love have respect unto our
petitions? O dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if your prayers speed not
to the Throne, suspect that there is some sin that hinders them—your
Father’s love sees a necessity for chastening you this way.
If you do not abide in Christ, how can you hope to pray successfully? If you
pick and choose His Words and doubt this and doubt that, how can you hope to
speed to the Throne? If you are willfully disobedient to any of His Words,
will
not this account for failure in prayer? But abide in Christ and take fast
hold upon His Words and be altogether His disciple—then shall you be heard
of Him. Sitting at Jesus’ feet, hearing His Words, you may lift up your eyes
to His dear face and say, “My Lord, hear me now.” And He will answer you
graciously—He will say unto you, “I have heard you in a time accepted and in
the day of salvation have I succored you. Ask what you will and it shall be
done unto you.”
Oh for power at the Mercy Seat!
Beloved Friends, do not hear this sermon and then go away and forget it. Try
to reach this place of boundless influence. What a Church we could be if you
were all mighty in prayer! Dear children of God, do you want to be half
starved?
Beloved Brethren, do you desire to be poor, little, puny, driveling children
who will never grow into men? I pray you, aspire to be strong in the Lord
and to enjoy this exceedingly high privilege. What an army would you be if
you all had
this power with God in prayer! It is within your reach, you children of God!
Only abide in Christ and let His Words abide in you and then this special
privilege will be yours! These are not irksome duties but they are in
themselves a joy.
Go in for them with your whole heart and then you shall get this added to
you—that you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.
Unhappily, to a portion of this congregation my text says nothing at all.
For some of you are not even in Christ, and therefore you cannot abide in
Him. O Sirs, what shall I say to you? You seem to me to miss a very Heaven
even now! If there were no Hell hereafter, it is Hell enough not to know
Christ now—not to know what it is to prevail with God in prayer—not to know
the choice privilege of abiding in Him and His Words abiding in you. Your
first matter is that you
believe in Jesus Christ to the saving of your souls, yielding your souls to
His cleansing, your lives to His government.
God has sent Him forth as a Savior, accept Him. Receive Him as your Teacher.
Yield yourself up to Him as your Master.
May His gracious Spirit come and do this work upon you now. And then, after
this, but not before, you may aspire to
this honor.
First of all—“You must be born again.” I cannot say to you as you are now,
“Grow,” because you will only grow a bigger sinner. However much you may be
developed, you will only develop what is in you—and that is the heir of
wrath
will become more and more the child of evil. You must be made anew in
Christ—there must be an absolute change, a reversal of all the currents of
nature, a making of you a new creature in Christ Jesus. And then you may
aspire to abide in Christ and let His Words abide in you and the consequent
prevalence with God in prayer shall be yours.
Gracious Lord, help us this morning. Poor creatures as we are, we can only
lie at Your feet. Come Yourself and up-lift us to Yourself for Your mercy’s
sake! Amen.
Adapted
from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages Software,
1.800.297.4307
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