Greater Works: John 14:12-14

So anybody want to guess what I'm preaching on this morning?

Same thing that I preach on every year for 34 years now, this time of year.

Why do we start every new year on prayer?

Because prayer is the foundation of this church.

We believe that.

We talk about that.

And every year we're gonna take next week, next Sunday night at 5 o'clock, we're gonna meet here to pray.

And I do hope that you'll come.

I do hope that you'll bring your children.

Let them learn, let them see, let them watch, let them pray.

Join us.

There'll be three prayer meetings next week: Sunday night, Wednesday night, and the following Saturday morning.

So we're going to talk about prayer this morning.

My text comes from John chapter 14, verse 12.

John 14:12

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

This is God's word.

Please pray with me.

Father, we would hardly know what to do with these words unless you sent your Spirit to teach us so that we can understand.

Thank you, Lord.

I thank you for the words of your Son that he spoke to his disciples the night before his death.

These are powerful words, but Lord, if we're honest, sometimes we scarcely know what to do with them.

Father, we don't want that to be the case.

Lord, we want to live by these words.

We want to pray these words.

We want to believe these words.

And only your Holy Spirit can make that happen.

So, Spirit, we invite you in this morning.

In the name of Jesus, amen.

Some of you may know, if you've been around here for a while, that this is like one of my favorite texts on prayers.

I've preached this text many times, but it's been quite a while since I have.

I thought it was time to come back to this text.

This text rocked my world 25 years ago.

And it's just a season of my life where I very much needed.

I needed faith.

Hard things I was going through in my life.

And the Lord just graciously brought these words to life into my own world.

And I haven't gotten over it yet.

I want to talk about these words this morning with you.

Prayer is the foundation of everything we do at this church.

We have witnessed our Lord do amazing things in our midst over the years.

As I mentioned in the prayer, we we've seen the Lord do a powerful work.

And I know many of you are praying for revival in this church.

I welcome your prayers.

I wonder how many churches do actually pray for revival or just feel like it's out of reach.

I think God wants us to pray for revival.

I think God wants us to prepare our hearts for revival.

You know, they go hand in hand.

We have to learn how to prepare our hearts as we pray for revival.

God always does a preparatory work when He brings revival.

And so this passage this morning has been a key text to our church for our growing understanding and experience of prayer, and I chose both of those words carefully.

I hope that you have a growing understanding of these words that Jesus spoke.

But I hope that you not only have a growing understanding of the words, but an experience of living by these words of Jesus.

You see, it's not enough.

It's just not enough to say, oh, now I think I understand this text.

That's not my question.

My question, are you living out this text?

Is your prayer life look, feel like this?

What Jesus is saying?

And I know.

I know this is challenging.

I'm a pastor, I have a lot of conversations.

How many times have I heard?

I don't know what that means, but I I know I've that's not how I pray.

How many times have I heard that?

Jesus would not put this in the Bible if he did not want you and me to understand and experience this kind of prayer life ourselves.

A short text in a context of Jesus' last night with his disciples, John chapter 13 through John chapter 17.

John 13 · chapter mention John 17 · chapter mention

This is a theology of the Holy Spirit, and it's a treatise on prayer.

John 14, 15, 16, and 17.

Jam-packed with these gospel truths that were intended to change our lives, to transform us.

I think how sad it must be when God looks at his church or God looks at his people and sees people just, I don't know what that means, and just kind of walk away from it.

No, that's not what he wants.

Jesus is getting ready to die.

You know, when you're when you know that you're about to die, those words, those last words and those last conversations are very poignant.

You don't waste your breath when you know that you're near the end of your life.

He had so much to say to his disciples, preparing them for his departure.

As I said, much to say about the Holy Spirit.

There's a theology.

This is the fullest theology of the Holy Spirit we have in the Bible.

John 14, 15, and 16.

But also much to say about prayer.

You can add chapter 17 of John.

Jesus gives us a promise, he gives us conditions, and he gives us a challenge.

Truly, truly, and you know what that means, right?

When you see that in your Bible, underline it, highlight it.

Whenever Jesus says Amen, Amen, is what it says.

Whenever Jesus says, truly, truly, what he's saying is, don't miss this.

If you miss what I'm saying, it's going to really affect your walk with Christ, not in a good way.

Don't miss it.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do.

Why?

Because I am going to the Father.

What in the world does that mean?

How is that supposed to change my life?

How is that supposed to change the way I pray?

Let's look, first of all, the impact of our prayers.

Do you sometimes wonder what happens to your prayers?

Do you sometimes wonder if they ever make it past the ceiling?

Does God hear them?

Are they answered?

If I asked you today, or you asked me, please feel free, does your prayer life reflect the theology of this text?

What would you say?

If we take the words of Jesus seriously, we begin to understand that there may be far more going on when we talk to God than we know.

Whoever believes in me, I'm pretty sure that that whoever includes you.

Doesn't it?

Yeah.

This is not a prayer that's reserved for pastors or theologians.

This is a prayer for all of God's children.

Everyone.

No matter how old, from the youngest to the oldest among us.

It's not simply, he's not saying, not simply things that you believe about me, present tense.

Whoever believes in me, if you're putting your trust in me, you qualify.

If you're putting your trust and your faith in me, he's not saying, I want to, I'm going to give you a theological exam to see what you know about me.

That's not it.

He said, I want to know how that doctrine is really reaching your life.

I want to know how that doctrine is bringing more delight in your heart and faith in God.

He says, No, I'm talking about putting your faith in me, Jesus says, trusting me, that person will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do.

So we have to ask the question: what does that mean?

What does it not mean?

Well, it can't mean that we're going to do more spectacular things than Jesus.

When he says greater things than the things that I've done the last three years of my ministry, he can't mean, well, you all are going to just do things I could never dream of doing.

That's not what he's saying.

The greater things is not more spectacular things.

Commentators and reformed theologians all talk and pretty much agree with this.

He's probably focusing mostly on the mighty works of conversion.

We know that at the time that Jesus died, approximately 500 followers.

Not a real big group.

We had almost that Christmas Eve here.

After three years.

After three years?

Jesus, that's what you had to show?

Not very impressive to some people.

But he wasn't finished, was he?

In the book of Acts, we see the church explode after Jesus ascends and sends his Holy Spirit.

At the time of his death, relatively few.

In just a few weeks, over 5,000 believers.

In just a few weeks.

What accounts for that kind of radical, explosive growth in just a few weeks?

Jesus was out of his state of humiliation.

He ascended to heaven where he is right now, seated at the right hand of the Father.

And he's doing many things.

But one of the most important things he's doing is he's the perfect prayer warrior.

He's always praying.

He's always praying for his people.

He's always listening.

He's always interceding for his people.

Do we believe that?

Do we really believe that?

If we do, it's going to show up in our prayer life.

Whoever believes in me at the time of his death and just a few weeks later.

Why?

Why?

What changed?

Because I'm going to the Father, he said.

No longer in my state of humiliation, in my state of exaltation, King Jesus.

It's my power, it's my authority.

I'm just now going to work, not in this body, his human body on earth.

I'm going to now work through my body, the body of Christ.

This is how I'm going to work.

And I know that you can't get it done on your own.

So I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, who came down at Pentecost.

And the Holy Spirit is going to not only represent me, but the Holy Spirit is going to empower you from me.

You're going to be different.

You're going to be different.

Let me say this.

If you've never been different, you haven't been saved.

If you made a profession of faith in Christ, but your life has never changed, you're not saved.

You can't take this power in.

You can't receive the power of the Holy Spirit and not change.

It's impossible.

Are you experiencing this power?

Jesus wants you to.

What happened?

I love the way theologian D.A.

Carson put it.

What happened?

Kingdom power now mushrooms after the eschatological hinge swings open and the new day arrives.

The new day arrives as the new covenant is ushered in through King Jesus.

His power is now flowing.

When he was on earth, he could only be at one place at one time because he accepted the limitations of his humanity, his human nature.

But now he's not limited.

He's omnipresent.

And he's working.

And he's looking for people he can work with and he can work through.

With his ascension and the pouring out of the Spirit, He has assumed the work of intercessory prayer.

Jesus, our advocate in heaven, the Holy Spirit, our advocate on earth, working together for our good, building the kingdom of God.

Do you read the reports of what's going on around the world like I do?

I get emails every week.

I get at least two or three emails every week.

Maybe it's because I'm a pastor, I don't know.

But I get these emails and what God is doing around the world in Africa, in China, in Pakistan, and not just South Korea, but the beginnings of a new work in North Korea.

God is building his kingdom and he's using his people to do it, supplied by the power of his spirit.

We don't do this in our energy.

We don't do this on our own flesh.

We can't.

Oh, this is so exciting.

A new power is released.

It takes us back.

It takes us back to so many promises.

So many, so many promises throughout the Old Testament.

You know, this is not a surprise.

He said he was going to do this.

Joel chapter 2.

Joel 2 · chapter mention

Joel chapter 2.

Joel 2 · chapter mention

He talks about what he's going to do in verse 28.

And it will come to pass afterward, after Jesus comes, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your old men shall dream dreams.

Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

Has he poured out his spirit on you?

If you're a Christian, you were baptized in the Holy Spirit at the time of your conversion.

But that doesn't mean that you're filled with the Spirit.

We can resist the Spirit.

We absolutely can.

We can say no.

And that's sad.

Jesus wants us to learn to walk in the Spirit.

Jesus wants us to learn how to obey the Spirit, to yield to the Spirit.

Are you learning that?

This is exciting.

This is how He wants us to live as Christians.

He doesn't want us to walk away from this.

Right now there are mass conversions all over the world building up God's kingdom as the gospel goes to all nations.

This first point is simply the power, the impact of our prayers.

Our prayers ought to have impact.

Secondly, the power behind our prayers.

It's still Jesus working, as we said, but now from heaven through the Holy Spirit.

After his death, after his resurrection, after his ascension, the contrast is not between Jesus' works on earth and now his disciples' works.

You understand that?

It's still all Jesus.

It's still all his power.

It's all his authority.

He's just doing it from heaven.

His command center.

But he says, I want to do this work through you, so I'm going to send my spirit.

And my spirit is going to change your life.

My spirit is going to change your heart.

I want you to join me in building my kingdom.

It's not our power.

It never was, it never is.

Perhaps that's why we can so easily get discouraged if we forget that when we don't abide in the vine.

Same conversation that Jesus had with his disciples that night.

John chapter 15, verse 7.

John 15:7

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and that will be done for you.

So I come back to my question.

What do you do with that verse?

What do you do with that verse?

Do you just say, well, I'm not sure what that means?

Many, many have just gotten discouraged and said, you know, I tried that.

I tried that.

And it didn't work.

It just doesn't seem to work for me.

And I just kind of gave up.

Let's come back to it.

Let's come back to this.

Jesus said in verse 16 of John 15, you did not choose me, but I chose you that you should go and bear fruit, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

This sounds very familiar, doesn't it?

This is essentially what he said in John 14, verse 12.

John 14:12

Jesus is repeating this as if he knows we're going to have a hard time believing it.

One of the worst things you could do is just to walk away from this and say, I don't know what it means.

All I know is I can't understand it.

All I know is I could never pray like this.

That would be tragic for you to leave today with that takeaway.

I told you 25 years ago in my life, I needed Jesus in a new way.

I needed Jesus.

And Jesus met me.

And Jesus taught me.

And he gave me faith to believe in a different way.

And I've seen Jesus work in a new way in my life.

I've seen Jesus work in a new way in this church.

We shouldn't be surprised.

Isn't this what he's saying?

You're saying, okay, well, what's the secret, Tom?

If I haven't really experienced this, if I don't know that this is possible, what do we do with that?

The conditions for this kind of greater works, prayer.

Yes, there are conditions.

God is not some genie that you just rub the lamp and he all of a sudden he's your butler.

He does whatever you ask him to do.

This is Almighty God.

He's not going to stoop at that level for any of us.

He's God, we're not.

Three conditions.

Ready?

You ready to go?

What's the first condition?

He says right here in the text.

Anyone who has faith in me, whoever believes in me, we're back to the challenge.

Whoever, you, if you're a Christian, this is not a prayer for non-Christians.

You have to become a Christian before you can actually pray this prayer.

But if you're a if you're a follower of Christ, whoever believes in me, that's the first condition.

Now what did we say the tense was of this verb?

Present.

We're not always believing, are we?

We can take our eyes off of Jesus very quickly, can't we?

We can take our eyes off of Jesus, we can take our eyes off of his promises.

We can just shut the Bible and say, I'm not sure what that means, but I don't understand it.

And I'm moving on.

We can do all those things.

Jesus says, I don't want you to do that.

I don't want you to miss this.

Whoever believes in me, what's the second condition?

You have to pray.

We must ask, he says, we must pray.

He says, whatever you ask, and that's where we start getting in trouble sometimes, right?

Whatever I ask?

Well, I want a brand new car.

There.

How's that for asking?

Well, it's not that he can't.

And if you need a brand new car and you ask him for a brand new car, and it's what he wants you to have, yeah, he can do it.

When we stop praying, we stop receiving.

Doesn't the Bible say you have not because you ask not?

Has that verse ever challenged you?

You have not because you ask not.

You stop asking out of unbelief, out of doubt.

We're going to talk about that more.

Many would reason why we stop praying.

It doesn't work.

That's as simple as I can put it.

I think when God's people stop praying, like Jesus has commanded us to pray, it doesn't work.

You know what?

It feels almost foolish for me to set my expectations that high and get disappointed.

Have you ever felt that way?

I just, you know, I tried.

There was a time in my life where I tried, and I really did, and then I was just brokenhearted once again.

So I think it's just safer to not ask.

I think it's safer to live with low expectations.

He says, no, that's not what I have for you.

That's not what I have for you.

That kind of prayer is not what real prayer is.

Real prayer is a relationship with a real God.

It's not a business arrangement.

You know how many times maybe we fall into a business relationship with God and we don't even know it?

God, I'm going to ask.

God, I'm going to do these things.

I'm going to do what you want me to do, and then you're going to give me what I want, right?

How many have ever done that?

You don't have to raise your hand, but I have.

And I swear I'll do it, or I'll try to do it.

And then sometimes it feels like Christmas morning and there's no gifts under the tree.

God, I thought.

God, I thought if I did this, you would do that.

And you know what he says?

I'm not a vending machine.

I'm not a vending machine.

You don't just put in to pull out what you want.

He says, no.

This is a relationship I want with you, he says.

I want to build a deep, intimate relationship with you, and that cannot happen apart from our prayer life together.

That's what he's going for.

Let's go back to John 15.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, are you abiding in God's words?

Are you sitting down and eating and fellowshipping and eating at the table of God's word daily, just feeding, fellowshipping.

Say, God, I want to know you better.

Whether you answer this prayer or not, I will submit to you.

He needs something he can work with.

We can build on.

That's the second condition.

We must pray.

Have you stopped praying like this because you're just disappointed?

You don't want to get your hopes up.

And so now you just say your prayers.

You don't really pray from the heart.

You don't really pray by faith.

The Holy Spirit would say, get back up.

The Holy Spirit would say, come back to the Word of God and believe in the promises of God and bring your courage with you.

You can't pray without courage.

But you know you can't pray without humility either.

Which is it?

It's both.

I need humility to pray, to say, God, not my will, but your will be done.

But I also need courage to pray for big things that will build the kingdom of God, that will glorify his name.

This can't be about me, me, me.

It's got to be about him.

Lord, show me, impress on me.

I want you to impress on me the things that you want.

I want to want the things that you want.

Let's do it together.

And only the Holy Spirit can show us what that looks like.

You'll never do it on your own.

That's what I've learned.

Third condition, last condition.

In Jesus' name.

Three things that does not mean.

It doesn't mean thoughtlessly or carelessly.

It doesn't mean just tacking on at the end of your prayers in Jesus' name.

You can't pray a prayerless prayer without faith.

And then at the end you say, oh, in Jesus' name.

This is not like writing sincerely at the end of your letter.

This is not.

You're not just signing off when you say, in Jesus' name.

You're actually putting your confidence in the person of Jesus to fulfill his purposes for your life on this earth.

Secondly, it's not magically.

It's not like a rabbit's foot.

Oh, in Jesus' name.

That's all I have to say?

No.

Thirdly, not selfishly.

We're going to take a moment on this because this is hard.

Not in your name.

Not in my name.

I've used this illustration before.

It's such a good one.

Theologian R.

A.

Tory, traveling evangelist years ago, was in Melbourne, Australia.

After he spoke one night, a man came up to him with one question.

He says, You've spoken on prayer.

I want to know why does God not answer my prayers?

He said, Well, tell me about yourself.

He said, Well, I've been a member of this church for 30 years.

I've been a Sunday school teacher for 25 years.

I've been an elder for 20 years in this church.

Tory said, Oh, I know why God's not answering your prayer.

I said, How do you know?

It's in your name.

It's in your name.

You're telling me all that you do for God.

You're telling me all that you do.

I've done this and I've done that.

And surely, God, you ought to answer my prayer because of what I've done.

That's not the way prayer works.

It's not because of what you do or I do.

He's not a vending machine.

He's a holy, sovereign, loving God who wants to bless his children, but there are conditions and there's a context for how this works.

It's not a business relationship.

It's not us paying in and God pays out.

God wasn't keeping his part of the bargain, which sometimes we think.

This prayer is in the name of Jesus, putting my confidence in the finished work of Christ, his death, his resurrection, his ascension.

This prayer is focused on the power of and the glory of Jesus.

Will this glorify you, Lord?

Will this honor you?

Will this bring you joy?

Will this bring me joy, real joy?

Go for it.

What does the psalmist say in Psalm 81, verse 10?

Psalms 81:10

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it, the Lord said.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

But you have to open your mouth wide to take in the promises of God, the word of God.

So my last question this morning, whose account are you accessing?

Which really reveals whose name you're praying in.

Is it your name or is it his name?

This is a wonderful book.

I've read many, many books on prayer.

This is called The Power in Prayer by Charles Spurgeon.

You see, it's not too big.

You can read it.

I thought about just bringing the photo of it.

I said, no, I'm going to take a book.

You can do this.

The Power in Prayer by Charles Spurgeon.

Let me just tell you a little quote from what he talks about here.

Whose spiritual account do you access when you pray?

He says, Suppose you should say to me, sir, you who keep a warehouse in the city, sir, call my office, use my name, and say that you're going to go in my name.

I would go in and use your name, and I would obtain my request.

No doubt about it.

This is virtually what Jesus Christ says to us.

If you need anything from God, all that the Father has belongs to me.

Go and use my name.

Suppose you give a man your checkbook signed with your own name and left blank to be filled in as he chooses.

That would be very close to what Jesus is saying in these words.

If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

If I had a good name at the bottom of the check, I would be sure that it would be cash when I went to the bank with it.

So when you have Christ's name, to whom the very justice of God has become a debtor and whose merits have claims with the Most High, when you go in Christ's name, there is no need to speak with fear or trembling.

Do not waver, do not let your faith stagger.

When you plead the name of Christ, you plead the very thing that shakes the gates of hell and that which the host of heaven obey.

Friends, you would do better if you sometimes thought more in your prayers of his griefs and groans, our Lord's.

Bring before the Lord his wounds, tell the Lord of his cries, make the groans of Jesus cry again from Gethsemane, and make his blood speak again from Calvary.

Speak out and tell the Lord that you understand that this he did for the sake of his people.

This he did for the prayers of his people.

If the Holy Spirit will teach us how to order our cause and to how to fill our mouths with arguments from Scripture, the result will be that we will have our mouths filled with praises.

The man who has his mouth full of arguments and prayer will soon have his mouth full of benedictions and answer to prayer.

Dear friend, is your mouth full right now?

What is your mouth full of?

Complaining?

Murmuring?

Pray to the Lord to rinse that black stuff out of your mouth, for it will be of little help to you.

Oh, have your mouth full of prayer, full of the arguments and the promises of Scripture.

This is how he's calling us to pray.

He's calling you to pray.

He's calling me to pray.

He's calling us to pray together.

Mighty things happen when the people of God come together, asking whatever it is that the Lord puts on our hearts for the glory of his name, for the good of his kingdom.

And that includes your personal needs.

Don't hear me wrongly.

I'm not saying this is all just all under the category of church.

No.

This is very personal.

It encompasses all of our life.

It may be a new way to pray.

It just may be a new way to pray.

But I'm not going back.

I'm not going back.

I pray that you'll trust and believe these promises.

Father, would you help us?

Would you please give us faith?

This is hard, Lord, you know that.

We're just so quick at times to live with our disappointments.

We're quick at times to just think it doesn't work.

Forgive us.

Forgive us, Lord.

Change us.

Give us real faith in Jesus.

Not ourselves, not our efforts.

Oh God, don't let us bargain.

Try to bargain with you.

Lord, we want to be your people.

We want to be your sons and daughters on earth.

Lord, we want to be people that ask whatever we wish in the name of Christ for the glory of God.

We want to be those people.

Make us those people, we pray.

Amen.