Category: Sermons

Text: John 20

This morning, we’ll read verses 10-18.
“Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary
stood outside the tomb crying. And as she wept she bent
over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white
seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and
the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are
you crying?’ ‘They have taken away my Lord,’ she said,
‘and I don’t know where they have put Him.’ At this,
she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she
did not realize that it was Jesus. ‘Woman,’ He said, ‘why
are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking
He was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried Him
away, tell me where you have put Him and I will get Him.’
Then, Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward Him and
cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni,’ which means ‘teacher.’
Jesus said, ‘Do not hold onto Me, for I have yet to return
to the Father. Go and say to My brothers and tell them I
am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and
your God.’ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the
news, ‘I have seen the Lord.’ And she told them that He
had said these things to her.”

I remember some years ago I was in a church and I was doing noon services. I was speaking from Psalm 37. And after I finished one day, a man in the church came up to me…I was expecting a compliment, I guess. I wasn’t expecting what he said. He said, “You know, Preacher, you missed the whole point of that passage.” The pastor heard that and every once in awhile he writes me little note that says, “You missed the whole point.”

I guess it is easy sometimes for us to miss the whole point. As a matter of fact, that’s what Mary Magdalene did when she came to the tomb and saw the empty tomb that morning…she missed the whole point. And it’s interesting to realize that the first person who saw the risen Lord didn’t recognize Him. Now, she had known Jesus…had seen Him on other occasions, but this morning…on this first Easter Sunday morning, she did not recognize. She looked into the tomb, supposing to find the body of Jesus there, but all she saw was angels. Interesting how the angels didn’t seem to startle her, or scare her. Nor, did they cause her to stop weeping. The angels wouldn’t satisfy her. Seeing the angels was not enough…she was looking for the body of her Lord, and she failed to recognize Him when she saw Him.

I think we need to pretty much put ourselves beside Mary, because she is typical of a great many of us…how we fail to see Jesus. When sometimes we’re looking straight at Him we fail to see Him and we miss the whole point of that empty tomb. So, there needed to come to Mary that day as I think there needs to come to all of us a new recognition…a new revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ll notice it was only when He spoke her name…and there’s no way that you and I can reproduce that name… First of all, He said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” and that meant nothing to her, but then when He spoke her name… “Mary” immediately the scales fell from her eyes and she recognized that it was Jesus.

Now, how is it that she missed the whole point of that empty tomb? Instead of seeing the empty tomb and rejoicing and singing her hallelujahs, she wept! And her grief was so great…the Greek word when it says that she wept means it was a loud and long lament. She was terribly upset and she lamented long and loud as was the custom among those Jews of that day. And she said, “Lord, where have you laid the body of my Lord…tell me and I will go and get Him.” Of course, her enthusiasm got the better of her. I don’t know how that little woman could have carried the body of the Lord, especially with all the spices that were on that body, but anyway, in her enthusiasm she wasn’t thinking clearly. Why? Because she had missed the whole point!

I’d like to share with you this morning why sometimes we miss the whole point of the resurrection and why we fail to see Jesus as He really is. Now there are several reason. One that has been suggested is that she couldn’t see Jesus through her tears…she was so overcome with grief, so overcome with sadness that her eyes were filled with tears and she could not see Jesus through her tears. That is one suggestion. And I think it is a valid suggestion.

Sometimes it is hard for us to see Jesus when our eyes are filled with tears. Sometimes it is hard for us to see Jesus when our hearts are breaking. Sometimes when circumstances have turned against us and our life seems to be going down the tube, it’s hard for us to see Jesus in all of that. And so, actually Mary did some unnecessary weeping, because she was weeping over the fact that the body of the Lord was gone…that Jesus was absent…that He was still dead and she didn’t know where He was and her weeping was unnecessary.

I think there are times when our weeping, even it may be great and heavy and long, may be unnecessary. If we could see the truth through our tears we might understand that much of our grief is really unnecessary. But it is hard for people who have suddenly undergone some tragedy…it is hard for people whose life has not turned out the way they expected…it is difficult for people whose life seems to be a tangled mass of threads…it is difficult for them to see Jesus, because they become so absorbed with the tears of their life that the tears form a kind of veil through which we cannot see the Lord Jesus.

There’s another reason suggested why we cannot see Jesus when He’s standing right there in front of us, and that’s because oftentimes we’re looking in the wrong direction…we’re turned in the wrong way…the Bible says that she had to turn around to see Jesus. She couldn’t see Him because she was turned in the wrong direction.

And there is a sense in which many of us live our lives turned in the wrong direction…looking in some other direction to try to find peace and looking in some other direction to try to find solace…to try to find strength we look to the world and we look to the success of the world and we’re looking for friends or we’re looking for society or we’re looking for the politician or we’re looking for the sociologist or we’re looking for the experts of our age to somehow make sense out of our lives and we’re looking in the wrong direction. And for joy and happiness sometimes we’re looking in the direction of the world. We think somehow that the world has the answer to all of our problems and we think that if we could somehow lose ourselves in the world…

When I flew up here yesterday there were two young men sitting over close to us and they were already pretty “happy.” They had engaged the stewardess in conversation and I just happened to overhear it. You didn’t have to eavesdrop…they were letting everybody know that they were flying from Cincinnati up here to Grand Rapids just to go to a bar. I mean, that’s the only reason they were flying up here…just to go to a bar owned by their cousin, and they were going to party, you know. Well, they were expecting to have a good time and as a matter of fact they already were having a good time. I’d hate to be in their place this morning and feel their headache and all of that. But there are a lot of people who feel that if they can just somehow find their fill in the world and fill themselves with the booze of the world and the drugs of the world and all the pleasures of the world that they’ll find whatever they’re looking for, and most people can’t see Jesus because they’re looking in the wrong direction for Him! They’ll never see Him until they turn around and stop looking in that direction. They’ll never see Him until they realize they’re turned the wrong way and they must turn to Him before they can ever see Him!

But, there’s a third reason that I think Mary missed the whole point. A third reason why she failed to see Jesus is because she was looking for a corpse instead of a living Lord. And here again, many of us have to take our stand. She went to that tomb. If Jesus had been lying in that tomb, she would have been satisfied! Still grieving, still sad that He was dead, but she would have been satisfied! Her weeping here is not because Jesus is dead, her weeping here is because the body is missing! She has nothing tangible to hold onto! And so she’s looking for the body and she says to the gardener who was really Jesus, “If you’ve taken Him somewhere, tell me where and I’ll go get Him.” In other words, “If I can just possess the corpse.” “If I can just believe that there was a Jesus on this earth at one time, then I’ll be happy.”

Well, I want to tell you something this morning, I’m glad she didn’t find what she was looking for! If she’d found what she was looking for none of us would be here this morning. There would be no resurrection! There would be no Easter! Listen…it’s not always a bad thing when you don’t find what you’re looking for! Sometimes the best thing that could happen to you is when you fail to find what you’re looking for!

I think that many of us today don’t look for a living Lord. I wonder how many of you this morning came into this service and you expected to meet the living Lord. Did you come to celebrate a Jesus who used to be…a Jesus who once walked on this earth…a Jesus who once arose again, but is long gone now into heaven. I’m afraid that the trouble with much of our worship as we gather together on a Sunday morning is that we’re still worshiping a dead Jesus for all practical matters. Oh, we wouldn’t call Him dead, but we would say that He is far removed from us and uninvolved in the lives that we live. Actually, we’re looking for a corpse instead of the living Lord.

I noticed in the paper coming up yesterday…strange things like this are always happening…down in New Orleans they’re performing an investigation…I wonder if you read this in the paper…there was a Catholic church and the priest took an old wafer and he dropped it in the holy water to let kind of, you know, get soggy. He left it there for two or three days, and lo and behold, it turned to human flesh. It had turned into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ! Still looking for the wrong relationship to Jesus!

You know, there’s an interesting statement that the Lord makes in this that has a lot to say to us. He says in verse 17, “Do not hold onto Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” The Greek idea there is “Stop clinging to Me…” It was a prohibition to stop something that was already in progress. And of course, when Mary saw her Lord, I can just imagine her falling at His feet and wrapping her arms around His feet and Jesus said, “Don’t hang onto Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.”

What’s He saying here? What He’s saying is, “Mary, the old relationship of sense and smell and touch and sound and taste…those things no longer exist, but now there is a new relationship between us…the old relationship is gone and with this new revelation comes a new relationship.” That’s why Paul could say, “Henceforth, we know no man after the flesh. We know them after the Spirit.” Now, folks, our relationship with Jesus Christ is not based upon finding the bones of Peter or finding shards of the Cross or finding the shroud of Turim or worshiping some Jesus who used to be…who is still on some Cross somewhere…oh no, that’s the worship of Mary. No, we’re looking for a corpse instead of a living Lord…

I think sometimes when we pray if we really analyze our praying and were honest with our hearts, we’d be praying to a Lord who we don’t really believe is alive and active in the affairs of our hearts today! There’s a new relationship that we have with Jesus. It’s no more after the flesh. It doesn’t consist in things. It doesn’t consist in physical and material things. It consists in a spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn’t matter if you come here this morning and sit on this pew and listen to this music and worship in this physical building…if that’s as far…if that’s the extent to which your relationship with God goes this day, you have not worshipped! Not only do you come here in this physical place, but you come here to meet a spiritual Lord, and to meet a living Lord and I wonder this morning if you are seeing a living Lord…or if you’re still just looking for some historical Jesus who used to be.

I think there’s a final reason that we sometimes miss the point…and that is that we miss that God may be in the circumstances. Now, when she saw those two angels, that should have told her something. It’s amazing how we miss the obvious! I tell you, when you see those two angels, that ought to tell you that God’s around! I mean, wouldn’t you think that? I would! I’d think God’s around! Angels didn’t make a bit of an impression on her. They said, “Woman, who’re you looking for?” And she turned away from the angels…not fascinated with the angels…not satisfied by the angels…and then she turned to this Man whom she supposed to be the gardener, and she said, “Lord, they have taken my Lord and I know not where they’ve laid Him.”

See, she thought the whole dilemma was between her and other people. She thought there was somebody else who had taken the Lord…it was somebody else’s hand that had caused this mysterious disappearance to take place. She never considered that it was God! She never considered that it was God! The missing body of Jesus…the only explanation had to be somebody had taken Him away. It never occurred to her that Jesus Himself might have taken Himself away!

Sometimes the clouds grow dark in our life because we fail to see God in the midst of the circumstances. We fail to see God’s hand as He is working in the various circumstances of our life. You need to do something, friend, in your everyday life and that is to always look for the hidden hand of God! Always look for the hidden hand of God… All Mary could see is what she thought men had done! All she could see was an empty tomb! All she could see was a missing body! If she had looked beyond and could have seen and recognized the hand of God and taken God into account, there would have never needed to be any tears shed in her life.

I wonder this morning as you look at your life and you see all the things that are happening in your life…and I’m talking about the unhappy things…the sad things…the disasters that you’re going through…the difficulties that you’re going through…I just wonder this morning if you’ve missed the whole point. Are you able to look beyond the immediate and see the hand of God? Do you not realize that the hand of God is always working? It’s unseen, invisible and so you give it no account. We take all the circumstances of our life and we calculate them, but we don’t put God into our calculations, and that’s why there comes the grief and the tears and the heartache and the lack of hope, because we do not put God into our calculations.

The next time you sit down and you figure up all the circumstances of your life, why not include God in your calculations. It’ll make the outcome a lot different!

Oh, there was a new recognition with Mary. And there was a new relationship with Jesus. And there was a new responsibility given to her. Notice what Jesus said to her, “Don’t hang onto Me. Don’t try to hang onto Me…but rather, go instead to My brethren and tell them I am returning to My Father and your Father and My God and your God…” and Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news – “I have seen the Lord” and she told them that He had said these things to her.

Now, here’s an interesting thing…here is Mary who is wanting to cling to Jesus! Naturally, she doesn’t want to leave Jesus’ presence and she’s clinging to Him, and Jesus said, “Let Me go…don’t cling to Me because I’ve not yet ascended to My Father…” There’s a new relationship that we have and it’s not based on the old relationship of physical touch and seeing a all of that. He said that there’s going to be a new spiritual relationship. “Now, that you know that…don’t cling to Me, but I want you to run and go and tell your brethren.” She has a new responsibility! And that is to go and to shout the good news that Jesus Christ is risen! And to say, “I have seen the Lord!”

And if you and I get the point of the resurrection at all, it will be that we are to share with others that the Lord is risen and that we have seen the Master… “I know He’s alive!” The old song says, “I know He lives because He lives in my heart.” But I tell you people who come to church and worship God on Easter and they talk about the resurrected Lord and they go out and they never mention it to anybody, they’ve missed the whole point!

I’ve always thought the resurrection had to be one of the saddest days of Jesus’ life. Why is that? Because not a single person was there to meet Him when He arose! I mean, He’d told them He was going to rise! Even Mary remembered the words after the angels had warned her. But they’d all forgotten! They didn’t believe! And it says in this chapter that Peter puzzled over these things…it never occurred to him that the Lord had risen…He puzzled over these things… “What’s happened? What’s happened?” Can you imagine the disappointment that must have come to the Lord when He comes out of that grave on Easter Sunday morning…the greatest act of human history and there’s not a single person to meet Him. WHY? Because nobody believed Him…they missed the whole point! They missed the whole point!

My prayer this morning is that we’ll not miss the point of the resurrection. The point of the resurrection is that we have a new recognition of Jesus…we see Him and we have a new relationship with Him…and we have a new responsibility and that’s to tell others that we have seen the Lord. Would you bow with me?
Father, we thank You for this day and we thank You
that our Lord is alive and I pray that we would do more than
just come to church and celebrate a day on the calendar. I
pray that we’d hear Jesus speak our name, and that we would
come to understand that with the risen Lord we have a new
relationship with Jesus and a new responsibility. Let us not
miss the whole point of the greatest thing that God ever did.
We pray in Jesus’ name,
Amen

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2005

Text: John 18:36

Open your Bibles to the Gospel of John once again. We are going to begin reading with verse 28 of chapter 18 and read through verse 40. We really need to read the entire chapter. I wish that you would read chapters 18 and 19 together. They are some of the most powerful words that have ever been written as they concern our Lord as he is arrested, brought to trial, and then to the cross. You see great conflict between individuals and a great conflict between their goals. It is a wonderful psychological study, seeing the interplay between all those characters in these chapters.

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. (I underlined that as I thought there was great hypocrisy. They didn’t have scruple one about crucifying an innocent man, but they were certainly not going to defile themselves ceremonially. The sad fact is that some people wouldn’t smoke a cigarette or take a drink of wine if you put a gun to their heads, but they do not mind murdering someone with gossip and innuendo. I have found in my own ministry that sometimes those who are the most particular and the most precise about maintaining the ritual cleanness they are the worst at the massacre of the reputations of others.) So Pilate went out to them, and said, what accusation do you bring against this Man? They answered, if this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you. Pilate said to him, take him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews replied, we are not permitted to put anyone to death. This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death He was to die. Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about Me? Pilate replied, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not from here. Pilate asked him, so you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that (ought to put a period there) I am a king. (In our vernacular, it would be something like, you said it; I am a king.) For this I was born, and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.

Pilate asked him, what is truth? (Not waiting for an answer because he really wasn’t serious; he was a practical man, a cynical man. He turned after he said this and went out.) He said, I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews. They shouted in reply, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a bandit, a thief, an anarchist.

If you hate someone, and you want to get rid of them, one excuse is as good as another. If you want to get rid of someone so badly, you don’t need to resort to the truth, especially if there is no truth that will help you in your case. So you pounce upon any part of a statement they have made and you bring up charges that cannot be enforced. Anything—it doesn’t matter. If somebody doesn’t like you, it doesn’t matter what you do; they are going to find some way to find fault with what you do.

The chief priests were this way. They were so absorbed by their hatred of Jesus that any old reason would do. They brought him to Pilate and Pilate asked what he was charged with. They didn’t really have a stand-up, legal charge or accusation, so, they said he was obviously a criminal or they would not have brought him to you in the first place. Somewhere along the line, someone had mentioned to Pilate that he claimed to be a king. This caught Pilate’s attention because if there was another king floating around, he was a threat to the empire, and a threat to Caesar. He brings Jesus into his headquarters and asks if he is king of the Jews. And Jesus said, are you asking for your own sake or do you perceive something in me, or has somebody else put this notion in your head. Pilot said, I’m not a Jew. I don’t know about that stuff. Your own people have brought you here. So there has to be something wrong. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If there is an accusation, then there has to be something to it. After all, we are guilty until we are proved innocent. Are you a king?

Jesus said, you said that I am a king. And then come what I believe are the key words in these chapters. In verse 36, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not from this world. Literally, it is not out of this world. Literally, it is not laid aside this world as for comparison. It is not like this world. If my kingdom were like this world, and from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom is not from here. Then Jesus defines his kingdom. He says, I am a king, and for this cause I was born, and for this I came into the world (and here it is) to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. Now, I want us to focus on those words as we think about the king and his kingdom. Let me just point out five things about the kingdom of our Lord.

1) This kingdom is not of this world.

This is not a worldly kingdom. If my kingdom was like this world, and of this world, then my followers would fight. In the garden, when they came to take Jesus, Peter did pull out a sword and fight. He went to Malchus and cut off his ear. Peter wasn’t afraid to fight, but he was a poor shot. He didn’t mean to cut off his ear; he meant to slice him down the middle—Mal on one side, and Chus on the other. Jesus said, put away your sword. And he restored the ear. You would think right then and there, that would be enough to say this man is a good man. This man must be a godly man, but that makes no difference. He said, if my kingdom were of this world, then my people would act like that and they would use worldly methods to obtain their goal.

One of the problems that Christianity has always had is that there has always been the temptation to make his kingdom a kingdom of this world. Even the Jews thought when the Messiah would come that he would establish an earthly kingdom right here and now, and throw off the Roman yoke of bondage. They did not accept him because he did not appear as they expected him to appea, and his goals were not their goals. Even the disciples didn’t understand. After the resurrection in Acts 1, they said, Lord, will you at this time now restore the kingdom to Israel? Pagan writers like Tacitus ?? and Setonia ?? said, there were legends and tales that out of Judah would come a deliverer. Everybody was thinking in terms of an earthly kingdom, an earthly power, an earthly reign. But Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world.

In about 320 A.D. Constantine did the worst harm that has ever been done to the Christian church. He made it a kingdom of this world. Jesus said, if my kingdom was of this world, I would use worldly methods to build it. Of course, the implication is to build my kingdom I do not use worldly methods. The church throughout the centuries has often forgotten those words. There is that constant temptation for us to revert to the methods of the world to build the kingdom.

You see, this is the kind of Messiah the disciples started to follow. When they started to follow Jesus, they had a different Jesus in mind. They had a Jesus who one day would overthrow that Roman yoke of bondage. That’s why the sons of Zebedee said they wanted to sit one on the right hand and one on the left hand. They were anticipating a worldly kingdom, and they were wanting to share in that power and authority. This Jesus of the cross—oh, no, this is not the Jesus they wanted to follow. If you notice as you study the gospels, every time Jesus brought up the cross, the disciples tried to change the subject. This is not the Christ they decided to follow. Not the kind who was going to be humble and humiliated and act as a servant and finally die on a Roman Cross. This is not the Jesus they chose to follow.

I am afraid today many of us are trying to follow the wrong Jesus. We are not interested in following the Jesus of lowliness and humility and service and suffering and sacrifice. We are wanting to follow the Jesus who will make us healthy and wealthy. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. The values of this world do not have any values in the kingdom that are mine. Each one of us needs to apply this to our own lives.

2) This kingdom is a kingdom of truth.

He says, for this cause I was born, and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. His kingdom is not of this world; his kingdom is of the truth. Jesus is saying, if my kingdom were of this world, my followers would use worldly methods as their weapons. But he said, the only weapon I have to gain candidates for the kingdom is the weapon of truth. I came to testify of this truth. My disciples will be commissioned to testify of the truth—to preach the gospel, to preach the Word. The thing that disturbs me so much today is that we have gotten to the place that we think you can’t build a church, or you can’t build the kingdom just with preaching. Oh, I heard a pastor ust a week or so ago bragging. That he didn’t preachdoctrine at his church. He just preached Jesus. Well, Jesus is doctrine, folks. They say doctrine divides. Well, doctrine is just another word for truth, and truth does divide. That is what it is intended to do. Paul believed that you can build a great church by just preaching Jesus. You read in Colossians 1 where he says, whom we preach, teaching and warning every man, that we may present every man perfect, full grown in the presence of Jesus Christ. Paul’s method was by preaching the truth. Yet, so much today we withhold the truth in order to make sinners feel comfortable. I don’t think the truth ever makes anybody feel comfortable. I don’t want to know the whole truth about myself, do you? We hide from that truth.

When I had reconstructive surgery done on my hand, and they took the bandages off my hand, I didn’t want to look at it. I can’t stand the sight of my own blood. I can’t stand the sight of your blood as a matter of fact. We are getting mighty personal when we talk about my blood. And I’m afraid if I saw the innermost of my being, down in the guts of my soul, I am afraid it would make it sick. Don’t want to know too much truth. But Jesus says, this is the only way to build the kingdom—by testifying of the truth. I want to re-emphasize this truth: the one weapon that the church has to conquer the world is truth.

3) This kingdom is based upon allegiance to Jesus Christ.

You’ll notice he says, everyone who believes the truth listens to my voice. In other words, in this kingdom, there is an allegiance to Jesus Christ. We believe that he is the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father except by him.

Listen to the chief priests. Pilate didn’t want to have anything to do with Jesus. We’ll see why in a moment. In verse 10, he said, do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have the power to release you, and the power to crucify you? In your dreams, Pilate. Jesus answered him, you would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above. What a tremendous statement! The Jews cried out (because Pilate was wanting to release him), if you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against Caesar. Then the damning statement they make in verse 15: they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate asked, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.

Well, if you want to get rid of somebody, any excuse will do. They were lying. They knew God was their king. Besides, they hated Caesar, the emperor. What they were looking for was to be delivered from Rome. If Jesus had come promising that, they would not have hated him. But, you see, they will side with their own enemy in order to get rid of truth. We have no God but Caesar. This is a kingdom of truth. The way you gain members in this kingdom, the one weapon we have, is to preach and proclaim and testify of the truth. My dear friends, if the truth about Jesus will not bring men into the kingdom, you had better not bring them in any other way.

4) This kingdom depends upon the king dying.

In Yugosloslavia, as long as Tito lived, there was one kingdom. When he died, the kingdom fell apart. It is the way of the kingdoms of this world that the king must live.

In the ancient days in England they guarded the king’s life. Why? Because there were always those who were threatening to overthrow the king. Then all kinds of changes could come about and the political ramifications would be too much for them to take. There was always someone else waiting to take over. So, they guarded the king’s life. They had men who tested the food before the king ate of it. Why? They couldn’t afford for the king to die.

I hear the pope is sick. They are trying to keep it quiet, because that is a kingdom of this world, and the political ramifications if there is a new pope, are more than the establishment wants to bear. You see, worldly kingdoms depend upon their king surviving. But this kingdom, not of this world, depends upon the king dying. This kingdom will only survive, and only be brought forth into abundance, if the king himself dies.

Jesus is not trying to save his life. He doesn’t have any royal food testers around. He doesn’t have bodyguards around him. He doesn’t travel in a bullet-proof donkey. He is not trying to protect his life. Why? It is necessary that he die. So Jesus gave up his life. He said, I lay down my life. No man takes my life from me; I lay it down. In chapter 19, verse 28: After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said, in order to fulfill the Scripture, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, it is finished. Then he bowed his head (the idea is voluntarily he bowed his head) and he gave up the Ghost. It was a voluntary death.

There is a statement in the Gospel of Luke that I find quite remarkable. In Luke, chapter 23, verse 46, when Luke is talking about the death of Jesus on the cross, he says, then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Crying with a loud voice!

People don’t die that way. People don’t die with a loud voice. Oh, if they see they are going to be in a car crash, they may scream. If they see somebody is going to shoot them, they may scream. Here is a man who has been hanging on the cross for hours, dying, dying, dying. People don’t die with a loud voice. They die with a whisper. I learned this from doctors. I would be visiting in the hospital and, passing by a room, I would hear somebody in the room yell, Oh, I’m dying. I’m dying. I’m dying. I would expect all the doctors and nurses to run in there. They didn’t do it. I asked one why, and he said, ah, they are not dying. He said, nobody dies shouting. They go out in a whisper, even if they are able to do that. But Jesus cried with a loud voice. What was he saying? I’m in control. This death is of my choosing. You haven’t weakened me one bit. You haven’t taken one thing from me. With a loud voice, he cried, it is finished. You see, the only way this kingdom is going to be brought about is if the king himself dies.

I have a fifth thing I want to say about the Kingdom. Why was Pilate so interested? You cannot get away from the fact that Pilate didn’t want to crucify him. Pilate tried again and again and again to get away from the issue. He wanted to release him. Over and over again, he wanted to release him. He said, I find no fault in him. . I guess he thought to himself, I know these people are simple and good enough if they had a choice, they would choose the right man. He said, it is your custom at the Passover that one man be released to you. Surely you want Jesus, the king, released to you. They said, no, away with him. Give us Barabbas! I wondered why they singled out Barabbas when there were a thousand prisoners anyone of whom could have been released. You see, Barabbas was guilty of the crime with which they accused Jesus. He was an anarchist. He wanted to overthrow the government. So they will murder the innocent child of God and take a thief. Pilate is desperately trying to release him. Pilate’s only interest in Jesus was his threat as a king. In the final analysis, Pilate released Barabbas to keep his job. They caught his attention when they said, well, if you side with Jesus, you are no friend of Caesar’s. Pilate wanted to be the friend of Caesar. All Pilate was interested in was whether this man who claims to be a king is a threat to Rome. That was his only interest. Is he a threat to the overthrowing of the empire? Jesus said that his kingdom was not of this world, his followers do not fight, so Pilate was assured that this man and his kingdom were no threat to Rome.

5) This kingdom will bring down all the kingdoms of the earth.

So Pilate said, let him go. Why? He’s no threat. Look at him, this peasant, this Jew that his own nation rejects. He refuses to talk to me to save his life. He has no soldiers. This man is no threat to Rome, and yet it was this man who destroyed Rome. It was this kingdom who brought down the kingdom of Rome. The thing about Jesus’ kingdom is that it will bring down all the kingdoms of the earth.

The other day my wife asked me for a credit card, and I gave her one. She said, I want another one. I said, why two, Kaye? I worked hard to get that in! The millennium is bringing out all the nuts. Most of those preaching and talking about Y2K are also selling books and tapes. I was in the bookstore the other day, and they had a whole table full of books on Y2K. One book was entitled, Y2K, It’s Already Too Late. I thought that was a terrible title. If it’s too late, why buy the book? It is amazing. I’ve had people try to sell me thousands of dollars worth of food. There may be a few glitches when we turn 2000. I’m prepared for that. I have an extra carton of cream soda, and a couple of extra mud pies, and a little bit of extra money in my pocket. They are so worried. Friends, it’s just another date on the calendar. You say, well, the world’s going to end. Well, so what? I don’t care. I’m ready. Frankly, I’ve seen all of the world I want to see. If there’s going to be some madman push a button, and we are all going to be nuked to death, you’ll go out in a flash and won’t feel a thing.

I know this much. The kingdom to which I belong rules over every other kingdom. The king to whom I have given my allegiance rules over every other king. I have nothing to fear. So, there they are in that great coliseum, those Christians being torn and eaten by lions, slain by the gladiators. They were just a little group of people who prayed, and as the lions licked the blood of the saints, and Caesar seemed unconquerable, who would ever have imagined that the little group who prayed would win—and be victorious. This kingdom shall bring down all the kingdoms of the earth.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006

Text: John 15:1-8, 16

I want you to open your Bibles tonight to the Gospel of John, chapter 15. As I have read this chapter over and over again, I have decided that I will confine myself to the first 8 verses of this chapter.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. He removes every branch in Me that bears no fruit; every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; those who abide in Me, and I in them, bear much fruit; because apart from Me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch, and withers; such branches are gathered and thrown into a fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done to you. My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit, and show yourselves to be My disciples.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.

A few years ago, my wife and I attended the Southern Baptist Convention in Portland, Oregon, which is in the northwestern part of the States. Our convention, which is supposed to be the largest non-Protestant denomination in America, has an annual meeting, and 20,000-30,000 of us gather together. We go and listen to speakers and they have exhibits and specialists on different aspects of church work. My wife and I love to go to conventions.

When the Southern Baptist Convention was over, we really weren’t ready to go home. I happily noticed in the newspaper that the FPA was having their annual convention that year. You’ve heard of the FPA—Fruit Pickers of America. So we decided to attend the Fruit Pickers of America Convention. Surprisingly, it was a lot like our own convention. That had exhibits, a room full of stalls and exhibits where they were showing the latest shears for doing this, and the latest fruit picking instruments, and the latest baskets—different colors and sizes. They also had speakers, and we really enjoyed them. One I liked was “Fruit Picker Burn-out,” which evidently was common among the fruit pickers of that day. I think the message I enjoyed the most was the last one. This was the fellow who led the convention the year before in fruit picking. He was telling everybody how to do it. He was really dynamic. He just challenged and challenged those men and women to go out and pick more fruit than they had ever picked before—challenged beyond their ability.

When they dismissed, they all grabbed their baskets and went out for an afternoon of fruit picking. Kaye and I hung around to see the results. As the hours passed, the fruit pickers came dragging in without any joy, without any enthusiasm, and mostly without any fruit. So they couldn’t understand it. It stymied the convention. After they had all these exhibits, the latest techniques in fruit picking, and these motivational speakers, how could they go out and not pick a single fruit.

So they did what you usually do. They appointed a task committee to study the problem. Well, we couldn’t hang around for that; we went back home. But I read the results of it later. It seems they came to this conclusion: you can’t pick fruit unless, first of all, you bear fruit. They had concentrated all their efforts on the picking of fruit and none on the bearing of fruit.

You’ll notice how often in this passage of Scripture that Jesus speaks to us of bearing fruit. He says, unless you abide in Me, you cannot bear fruit. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. The sense I get from this passage of Scripture is that we are to be fruit bearers. The emphasis here is on bearing fruit. In verse 8 he says, herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. All of us want to glorify God. That ought to be the theme of every song, the theme of every sermon—that God be glorified. Well, how do we glorify Him? He says that God is glorified when we bear much fruit, and we become his disciples. The Greek literally has the idea of you show yourselves, prove yourselves to be disciples. So I want to talk to you tonight a bit about fruit bearing.

In these closing words as Jesus gives us what is normally called the Upper Room Discourse, he is speaking things of importance to these disciples. These are his last words. Notice the progression there: that we not just bear fruit, but that we bear more fruit, and much fruit. That is God glorified. So let me just mention three or four things about this.

1) Bearing fruit is proof that we are in Christ.

It is the proof of our union with Christ. You’ll notice that at the very beginning he says, I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser (or vine grower). He removes every branch in Me that bears no fruit. Later on in verse 6, he says, whoever does not abide in Me is thrown away like a branch, and withers. Such branches are gathered together and thrown into a fire and are burned. So the idea is that abiding in Jesus and bearing fruit are synonymous. If I am abiding in Jesus, if I have a vital union with the life of Jesus, the natural result will be fruit in my life.

He says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He removes it. Later on, he says, every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes it. Notice he doesn’t say that he prunes these non-bearing branches. He removes them. But the ones that do bear fruit, he prunes them. There is a big difference between pruning and removing. Now I don’t believe you can take this statement and say, oh, there’s proof there that a believer can be lost even after he is saved. I don’t think that is what he is talking about. The very fact that these branches bear no fruit proves that they have no vital union with Jesus.

I talked to a vineyard keeper about this sometime ago. I asked if he would help me throw some light on this. He said, oh yes, that’s very easy to understand. He said, in every vine there are branches who have only a superficial attachment to the vine—just a skin attachment. You can take a knife and cut that outer skin all around and the branch will fall off because the branch itself is not penetrating into the vine. And it has just enough of the life flowing through it to bear leaves and to stay there. But it has no vital union or connection. Therefore, it does not bear fruit. So he removes it. Why? Because if I am in Christ, and abiding in Christ, and he is abiding in me, then the evidence of that will be fruitfulness in my life.

Now, I think we need to define fruitfulness. What does the Bible mean when it talks about fruitfulness. I know it is this way in the States when we talking about bearing fruit, our minds immediately go to winning people to Christ. That is a very important part of bearing fruit. But I think it goes much further than that. Let me give you a definition of fruit. I don’t think you’ll find this in any book. Actually, you will find it in mine. That’s where I got this definition—from reading my book.

Fruit is the outward expression of the inner nature. Don’t you think that will work? If I see an apple hanging from a tree, I assume that is an apple tree. I see an orange hanging from a tree, and I know that’s an orange tree. I see spaghetti hanging from a tree, and I say, that’s a spaghetti tree! Now some people can tell what kind of tree it is by looking at the leaf, or at the bark. I can’t. I have to see the outward manifestation. I have to see the fruit. So, fruit is the outward manifestation of the inner nature. What is our inward nature? It is Christ himself. If I am abiding in Jesus Christ, somehow or in some way his life or character is going to be manifested in my life in an outward way so that people can see.

Now, it may not be a bumper crop. I remember one house where we lived when I was a boy, the people before us had planted a big grapevine in the back. They had tended it, but we didn’t know what to do with it. So we did nothing. It bore grapes, but they looked more like raisins than grapes. They were tiny, shriveled and tasteless. But they were grapes. They were the outward manifestation of the inward nature. I have to tell you, I have seen some Christians that you have to look hard to know if they are saved or not. They look more like raisins than they do grapes. They have no taste to them. But at least there is some manifestation of the character of Jesus. I say to you, a person may profess to be a part of the vine, but if he is not bearing fruit, if there is not the outward manifestation of the inner nature of Christ, he does not belong to Jesus. Fruitfulness is proof of our union with Jesus.

The wood of the vine and the branch is of absolutely no use apart from bearing fruit. As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament when they were prescribing the different kinds of wood that could be brought to burn as a sacrifice, they definitely said “not the wood of the vine.” Why? Because it doesn’t burn well; you can’t use it for fuel. It’s too soft and unstable to use for building. The only thing a branch is good for is bearing fruit. I take that as Jesus saying, the only way I can justify my existence in the Lord is if I am bearing fruit. A branch is worthless if it doesn’t bear fruit. I must say to you—and to myself—that unless I am bearing fruit, I am absolutely worthless to the Kingdom of God—just taking up space. So the first thing is this: fruitfulness is proof of our union with Christ.

2) Fruitfulness is produced by our union with Christ.

Notice the branches don’t produce the fruit. They bear the fruit. It is the vine that produces the fruit. The branch is just a grape rack that God has there to hang his fruit on. The branch can do nothing of itself. Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. It is the Lord Jesus who produces the fruit. I simply bear it. Now, what this means is that if I am going to be a fruitful Christian, I need to live the life of a branch. That’s it. Live the life of a branch. Abide in Jesus. Just rest in him; trust him for the results—the fruit. I want to make clear that when I talk about abiding in Jesus, I am not talking about idling in Jesus. I am not talking about sitting around passivly, with your arms folded. Oh no, Jesus was one of the busiest men you ever saw. And so were his disciples. Every Christian is going to be busy. What I am talking about is this inner abiding, resting in Christ.

You see, all a branch is required to do is make itself available to the vine. You make yourself available to the vine, and that’s all God asks of us. In our labors, we need to labor remembering that we rest, abide in him. You remember in Isaiah, chapter 30, verse 15, that great statement where he says, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. You see, if you go back to chapter 30, verse 1, the people are running down to Egypt, trying to get horses and chariots from Egypt to save themselves. They are hustling and bustling back and forth, all this activity, and God says, no, that’s not the way. In returning and rest shall be your salvation. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But the very next words say, yet they would not do so.

I’m afraid this describes us so much today. We live such busy, busy lives thinking that our busyness is going to somehow produce fruit. But it is the Lord who does the producing. My responsibility isn’t to produce fruit; my responsibility is just to be available for God to hang it on me.

The other day I was passing through the kitchen. I glanced down at my water faucet, and it was looking downcast. I could tell it was discouraged. So I stopped and said, water faucet, you are looking low today. The water faucet said, I am feeling low. I said, why are you feeling low? He said, well, it’s because I haven’t done anything for you today. I’ve seen you pass by a dozen times, yet I’ve never once quenched your thirst. I’ve never once washed your hands. I tried to turn myself on two or three times, but I managed to squeak out a few drops, but they didn’t amount to anything. I am sorry, lord, I haven’t served you today. I said, oh, you dumb water faucet. I don’t want you turning yourself on; all you will do is to make a mess. I have passed by you a dozen times today, and I have always noticed you were there. You were there, and I knew if I wanted to use you, all I had to do was touch you and turn you on, and you would quench my thirst, and you would wash my hands. I said, water faucet, you have pleased me today because you have been what:? –abiding. You’ve been there available to me. If I had wanted to use you, I could have used you.

You see, I am to live the life of a branch. I make myself available to the Lord. Now, this should take a great deal of strain off of anybody who thinks that it’s up to you to produce No, Jesus does the producing.

In the States they have a bad habit of calling churches by the name of the pastor. I pastor MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, but they call it Bro. Dunn’s church. You’ve heard of Dr. W. A. Criswell? Oh, we went to Dr. Criswell’s church last Sunday. We know it’s not our church, but we begin to think maybe it is. Oh, Lord, it’s my church, and I’m responsible for all these people. I am responsible to see that the church grows, and that the budget grows. That’s why we have over a thousand men leave the ministry every year in the States, just in my own denomination. It is too much.

One day I was reading in Matthew 16 where Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church. I said, Lord, you mean to tell me this is your church? He said, yes. I said, man, it’s yours! I was never so happy to shed anything in all my life. Then I read a little further, and he said, I will build my church. I said, Lord, I thought I was supposed to build it. He said, no, that’s been one of the problems. You’ve been trying to build it. I will build my church. I want to say to you, friends, the responsibility for fruit, results, growth is not with us. That’s God’s responsibility. One man plants, another man waters, but it is God who gives the increase. My fruitfulness comes simply by being available to help—and resting in him, knowing that as he lives in me, and I keep up this vital communion and union with Jesus Christ, that will happen.

We used to have a farm in Arkansas, and we had a dirt road that led down to a lake. There were four magnificent trees that lined that road. It was a beautiful picture as you stood at the head of that road looking down towards the lake. As I was walking down that road, I noticed something peculiar about the last tree in line. It was as though somebody had taken a ruler and drawn a line right down the center of that tree. One side of that tree was alive with green leaves; the other side of that tree was as dead as a door nail. All the leaves on it were dead. That was an interesting phenomenon. We were back in November for Thanksgiving, and by that time all the leaves had changed and had fallen off the trees. I was walking down the road, and I came to that tree. Lo, and behold, on the side where it was alive and had the green leaves, the branches were bare. All the leaves had fallen off. But on the other side of the tree that was dead, the leaves were still there. I thought, that is strange. I noticed another thing. While I had been there that summer, we had done quite a bit of cutting, and I had cut quite a few branches off some trees. We didn’t have time to burn them all, so we just let them lay where they fell. I noticed that the leaves on those branches were dead, but they hadn’t fallen off. They were still attached to those branches. Now, I didn’t understand that.

I had a friend who is now in glory. He knew a little bit about everything. When I got back home, I said, Dr. McBeth, here is what I saw at the farm. I said, can you explain this to me? He said, oh, yes. He said first of all I must understand that dead leaves don’t fall off trees. They are pushed off by the sap as it begins to fall in the tree. The life pushes the dead leaves off. And where there is no life, the dead leaves remain.

I got to thinking about that. Isn’t God smart? What if every fall, I had to climb every tree on the farm and pull the dead leaves off those trees. Here I am. I’ve been up in this one tree all day long, just about got all the dead leaves off, but there are 150 more trees to go. I’ll never finish by spring. And the Lord said, son, what are you doing? I said, well, I’m pulling off these dead leaves, Lord, so that you can put on green ones come spring. God said, I don’t remember creating anybody that dumb. He said, son, that’s not necessary. All you have to do is to make certain that the life is flowing through the tree, and it will of itself push all the dead leaves off and produce the new leaves and fruit. Isn’t that great? All I have to do is to make certain that the life is flowing unhindered through that tree. That is the same way it is in the Christian life. All I have to do is to make certain that the life of Jesus, the Holy Spirit’s fullness, is flowing unhindered through my life. You know
what? He’ll push off the old dead leaves of hate, pride, jealousy; and he’ll push on the new fruit of love, joy, patience.

3) Our fruitfulness progresses by our union with Christ

I have already mentioned this progression, and I think we need to pay attention to it. First of all, there is that branch that bears no fruit. Then he says that every branch that bears fruit, he does what? He prunes it. Well, that’s a fine way to reward me, Lord. He prunes it so that it can bear more fruit. The one thing the Lord wants out of you is to bear more fruit, and eventually much fruit.

So, here I am, a branch in the vineyard. Suddenly, the word comes down through the grapevine. The vinedresser has entered the vineyard, and he has big shears with him. Oh, I’m nervous. Then he is standing before me. I say, you’re not. He says, I am. He starts, and I say, not that one Lord. That’s one of my prettiest branches. Lord, why are you doing this to me? Here is another one. Oh, no, Lord not that one. I really like that one. He unmercifully takes the pruning shears and cuts it off. After awhile I don’t have anything. I look down, and I say, Lord, look at all these you took off. He said, oh yes, I only have cut off that which was draining strength from you so that the good branches could bear more fruit.

I tell you there are many times in the life of the believer when we are going to go through trials and tribulations and pain. It’s a purging, a pruning. Why is the Lord doing this? He is cutting off my best work, some of my best activities. He’s taking away, removing. These are good things—nothing wrong with them. He says, yes, they are good, but your involvement in them is draining away your energy and strength so that it cannot be given over to the primary purpose of bearing fruit. So, he prunes us.

Remember, pruning is not punishment. You may feel that the Lord is punishing you at times. My dear friend, it’s for only one reason—so that you might bear more fruit–so that the inner Christ might be made more obvious in your outer life. Remember, it is the father who does the pruning, not you. He doesn’t trust your judgment.

If the Father left it up to me, I’d save everything. I’d say, oh, but these are good works. He would say, yes, but some of them are good, but not the best. The Father prunes. I don’t do the pruning. I know some people who walk around with their finger on their pulse all the time, wondering how they are doing–trying to be their own Holy Spirit, and convict themselves. You don’t need to worry about that, folks. Listen, if you need pruning, he will see to it that you are pruned.

You come to the place where you bear fruit. Then you bear more fruit. God prunes you even more. Listen to me carefully, folks. The reward for being fruitful is pruning. Does that strike you as a little strange? You say, oh, I want to be fruitful for my Lord. I want people to see Jesus in me. Well, you are inviting the vinedresser into your garden. You are inviting him to prune your life. I don’t see how you could come through a Keswick week without somehow praying and desiring in your heart to be more like Jesus. Lord, I want to bear more fruit. Remember, if you want more fruit, you don’t add more branches. That’s what Baptists do in the States. We are not reaching enough people; let’s start some more activities. I know you don’t do that over here, but that’s the way it is over there. You don’t make a vine more fruitful by adding more branches; you do it by making the branches that you have healthier. Then, when we bear much fruit, our Father is glorified.

Dr. J. P. McBeth, whom I mentioned a moment ago, knew a little bit about everything. He was an expert vinedresser. He would call me on the phone and say, Bro. Dunn, the grapes are ready. Come on over. We’d drive 15-20 minutes over to his house. I have never seen grapes like those. They must have been grapes like they had in Canaan. They were huge. You couldn’t keep Dr. McBeth from talking about his grapes. He talked about his grapes all the time. He would push so many grapes on us that we would have to let some of them rot. We couldn’t eat them all. But, you know, he was proud of those grapes. They glorified him as a great vine keeper. And Jesus says, my Father is proud and glorified when you bear much fruit.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006

Text: John 14

Our Heavenly Father, as we bow in this moment, enable us to worship.  Father, we find increasingly the most difficult thing we know how to do in the Christian life is to know how to worship, to know how just to be still in your presence and know that you are God.  Father, I pray that during these days together, in a very new and revolutionary way you would teach us how to worship, how to love thee, how to know thee.  Father, our prayer this morning is the prayer and the pursuit of the apostle Paul as he said I continue to count all things but loss that I may know Him.  Father, our heart’s desire, the heart’s desire of this one at least, is that I may know Him.  I thank thee that there is far more to Jesus this morning than any of us have ever experienced.  Regardless of our knowledge of him, we stand ankle-deep in a fathomless ocean.  We stand at the entrance of an inexhaustible mine.  Regardless of how many times we have explored it, we have never even yet begun to plumb its depths, and to realize the riches that lie hidden there in our blessed Lord.  So we look today, this morning, at this very moment, to the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts, to open our eyes, to unveil Jesus to us that we may see him, and as we see him, be able to worship and praise him as we ought.  This is our prayer in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Would you open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 14?  When I was a little boy, one year our family took a vacation up into Missouri.  I don’t remember the name of the place.  The thing I remember is that there was a cave at this particular resort.  Out of the cave there flowed a stream that formed what they called and claimed to be a bottomless lake, a bottomless pool.  It was crystal clear, and the guide as were standing around the lake, explained to us that they have never been able to find out how deep it is.  He said we’ve lowered rope after rope after rope and we have never yet touched bottom.  Nobody has ever yet made a rope long enough to touch bottom.  He said as far as they knew the lake was a bottomless lake.  That really impressed me, especially as an eight year old boy.  It impressed me then so much that I backed away from it.  I didn’t want to fall into any place where there wasn’t a rope long enough to get me out.

It has since impressed me as I’ve thought about that because I come to passages like this one in John 14 and realize that it is a bottomless passage.  I’ve lowered my rope and dipped my bucket into this chapter I don’t know how many times, and I’ve never touched bottom yet.  I suppose I could go on preaching out of it and studying it for the next twenty years and I would never touch bottom.  I don’t plan on touching bottom this morning.  But I do hope the Lord will lengthen our rope a little bit, and maybe we can get a little deeper into it every time so that we will bring up that water that is life.  This is one of my favorite passages.  John 14:8-20:

Philip saith unto him, LORD, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?  He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:  or else believe me for the very works’ sake.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.  If ye love me, keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:  but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless:  I will come to you.  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:  because I live, ye shall live also.  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, And ye in me, and I in you.

This past winter, I was living with the results of a mistake that a lot of preachers and other folks make.  I suppose you could say that I had overextended myself physically, mentally, and spiritually also.  I was in a meeting in a certain town, and just to be honest with you, I was just about burned out.  You go as far as you can go, and you go longer than you ought to go.  Mentally, I was tired.  Spiritually, I was exhausted.  Physically, I just didn’t really didn’t care if I got up the next day or not.  What I am trying to say is that my enthusiasm (bad spot in tape) ———– to go into the pastor’s study one night right before the service, and I noticed on his desk was an article that had been clipped out of a magazine published in 1969, and this was 1974.  What caught my eye was a picture in this article of a man that I knew.  The article was by this man, Dr. Alan Redpath.  I always try to read everything I can that this man writes because he is such a knowledgeable man when it comes to the Scriptures.  One thing that intrigued me was that this article was written by him after he had suffered a major stroke in 1964.  In this article he was simply relating some of the lessons that God had taught him during the two years of his convalescence.
The article was a tremendous blessing, but the last paragraph of that article was what God wanted to say to me.  I discovered where I had made my mistake in the last paragraph of that article and the reason I had overextended myself and was weary in spirit, and mind, and body.  It meant so much to me that I wrote it down in the back of my Bible.

You mean so much to me that I am going to share it with you.  God used it to relieve me from some tremendous problems during that time.  It really wasn’t anything that I didn’t already know.  It is amazing the things that I know that I don’t know that I know.  I think that must be the height of stupidity—to know some things and not know that you know them.  Most preaching is really reminding people of things they already know.

When you come to a railroad, you know that you should stop, look and listen, but there is a sign there anyway.  That sign isn’t telling you anything you don’t already know; it is reminding you of something you already know.  Again, you’ll find in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Peter, he is saying I put you in remembrance, I put you in remembrance, I put you in remembrance.  Jesus said when the Holy Spirit is come, he shall bring to your remembrance all things which I have spoken unto you.  I already knew this, but I guess I didn’t know I knew it.  Here is what he said, the last paragraph.

I believe the Lord has taught me this lesson above all:  never to undertake more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.  Each of us has to work out what this means in personal experience in relation to our own ministry, but I believe it is an abiding principle for us all.  To fail here is not to act in faith but in presumption.   –Dr. Alan Redpath

Now this is the statement:  never to undertake more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.  You say that is easy.  On the way to the pulpit last Sunday I said, Lord, bless me.  Folks, that is not covering it in believing prayer.

To cover something in believing prayer is to take the time and the energy and the effort to stay with God until you can leave that place of prayer knowing that it is settled.  Jesus never went to the cross until in Gethsemane he had first of all covered the cross in believing prayer.  When he walked out of Gethsemane, the victory was already won because Jesus had covered that next step in believing prayer.  As I read that statement and the Lord spotlighted it to my own heart, I began to think here is the way I schedule things.  Somebody says can you do such and such a thing.  I say let me check my calendar.  If I have an open date on the calendar, I say I can do it.  But I suddenly realized that I need two open dates on the calendar, not only the date for the time it is going to take to do the work but also a date for the time it is going to take to cover that work in believing prayer.  Normally in a church work somebody comes to you and says do you have time to do such and such.  You look at your calendar and think sure I have time to do that.  But do you not only have time to do that, but do you have time to first of all cover it in believing prayer?  I agree 100% with what this man has said.  To do anything in Christian work without first of all covering it in believing prayer is not to act in faith; it to act in presumption.  That means our service becomes sin.

We are going to relate this to the Scripture because this is exactly what Jesus is trying to say to his disciples in this passage.  You and I ought to never undertake than we can cover in believing prayer.  Can you imagine how that might change your work schedule?  I’m talking about your church work now.  The reason we don’t consider that is because we do not consider prayer as important as work.  Well, that statement itself betrays ignorance.

Prayer is not substitution for work, nor is prayer preparation for work, but prayer is work.  The hardest thing I do is pray.  You say don’t you just ever have an easy time in prayer and enjoy praying.  Oh yes, much of the time.  But I will tell you that my mind rarely wanders when I am preaching.  I don’t have any trouble keeping my mind on my message when I preach, but I can be on my knees one minute and I’m way out yonder in the back forty.  And I don’t even have a back forty to be in, but I am there.  My mind wanders over there, and runs out here, and it runs out there.

Dr. Stephen F. Olford said the most fierce temptations I ever receive I receive when I am on my knees in prayer.  Why?—because the enemy of our souls fights us in prayer more than anything else.  I am convinced he doesn’t mind at all my taking the time out to preach if I haven’t taken the time out to cover it in believing prayer.

How much work are you and I doing in the name of Jesus that has not been bathed and covered by believing prayer?  This is what Jesus is saying to his disciples.  Look at this passage for a moment.  I want you to see the sequence of what Jesus is saying.  Jesus has been speaking some strange and foreboding words to his disciples.  They have an idea something bad is about to happen. They just can’t get away from it.  Jesus is talking about leaving them.  I believe he can read the frustration and the fear on their faces.  I know what I would have thought if I had been one of those disciples.  I would have thought my soul, I’ve made such a mess of things while Jesus was here; what is going to happen when Jesus is gone?  What Jesus is endeavoring to do in this passage is to encourage his believers about his absence.

Notice what he says.  Philip says, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough.  Now for all the disciples did not know, give them credit; they knew that much.  A vision of the Lord is all you need.  Show us the Father and that will be sufficient.  Jesus said, don’t you know?  Have I been so long time with you?  Don’t you know if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father?  Jesus is saying I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.

Look what he said in verse 10:
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:  or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

Now, here is what Jesus is saying to his disciples.  He is saying you misunderstand.  You are cherishing my bodily presence.  You are clinging to my physical presence, and you are filled with fear and frustration because my physical presence is going to be taken from you.  He said, the secret of my life and the secret of my success and the source of my sufficiency has never been my physical presence.  Have I been so long time with you?  Do you still not understand that the words I’ve spoken have not been my words; they have been my Father’s words.  The works I’ve done; they have not been my works; they have been my Father’s works.  My physical body is the secret or the key.  You are learning about my leaving you and saying the works will finish and cease.  How are we going to carry on if the physical presence of Jesus is taken from us?  He said, fellows, the physical presence of Jesus never was the secret of the ministry.  Everything I said, it was the Father dwelling in me who said it.  Everything I did, it was the Father dwelling in me who did them.  What Jesus is saying is this.  My absence will in nowise diminish my work.  As a matter of fact, verily, verily, I say unto you that rather than my leaving ceasing and finishing my works, as a matter of fact if you will just go on believing in me and trusting me, the works I’ve done you will continue to do.  As a matter of fact, even greater works than these shall you do because I go to my Father.

He is saying there is no excuse, no reason, for this miraculous, marvelous ministry you have seen and witnessed in my life to cease.  My physical absence will not affect it all.  As a matter of fact, my physical absence will increase the works.
He is seeking to encourage them.  He said, whatever you ask, whatever you ask, whatever you ask in my Name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  Do you see what Jesus is saying?  He is saying, men, I want you to learn how to live a miraculous life.  You live it by prayer.  He said the way I did my works was this way.  My Father gave me everything I said.  My Father did through me everything I did.

As you read through the gospels, you’ll see Jesus again and again living his life by prayer.  Before every great decision Jesus prayed.  Before every great act Jesus prayed.  I see him standing before the tomb of Lazarus, and he prays to his Father.  I see him the night before he chooses his disciples spending the night in prayer.  I see him as the activity of the ministry begins to increase and intensify withdraw from the multitudes and goes out to a lonely place to be alone with his Father.  I see the disciples getting up in the morning looking for Jesus.  He is nowhere to be found, and they see coming back from the mountain where he has been all night in prayer.  I see Jesus even before he goes to the cross staying on his knees until he has every victory won that enables him to go to the cross.  I see Jesus as he says to Simon Peter, Satan hath desired you.  He is going to turn you inside out.  That’s all right.  I have prayed for you and you are going to be all right.  I hear the word of the Lord that says even now at this very moment Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father interceding for me.

The secret of the ministry and life of Jesus, both past and present, was the fact that he lived that life by prayer in dependence upon his Father.  He is saying to his disciples and to us, if you will live by the principle I live by, you’ll be able to experience the power I’ve experienced.  The principle I lived by was absolute dependence upon my Father in prayer.  If you will live by that same principle, absolute dependence upon me in prayer, the works that I do you shall do also, and even greater works than these shall you do because I go to my Father.  Greater works?  You say, what do you mean “greater works”?  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  What could be greater?  Lazarus died again one day, but when I preach the gospel and somebody is saved and there is performed in them a spiritual resurrection, they will never die again.  On the Day of Pentecost they equal and excel the works of Jesus—greater in quality, greater in quantity.  But he says the secret is learning to live by prayer.

I can’t help but think of what James says in that fourth chapter. (By the way, it is a good little sermon outline there if anybody is looking for one.)  There are three not’s, three “not’s” on a log.  He said:  (1) ye have not; (2) ye ask not; (3) ye receive not.  You have not because you ask not.

That is a pretty apt description of the normal church, or the abnormal church.  It is a pretty apt description of the normal Christian life as you and I know it today.  You have not.  We are a bunch of have-not’s, and our churches that have not.  The reason we have not is because we ask not.  It is just that simple.

I use the word secret a lot of times.   It’s just a title.  I don’t know how you could call anything that public a secret.  He said you have not because you ask not.  What is so secret about that?  Well, the secret of it is that you and I have never discovered it.  The simple explanation for any deficiency in your life or your ministry is this:  you have not because you ask not.  Isn’t that an oversimplification?  I don’t think so.   I can prove it because the one thing that you and I do less of than anything else is what?  Asking!  I am constantly having people pose this question to me:  what’s the reason for my unanswered prayer?  I usually say the reason for your unanswered prayer is your un-offered prayer—more than likely.  The greatest problem in the church of Jesus Christ today is not unanswered prayer; it is un-offered prayer.  Jesus is simply saying to his disciples that if you learn to live by the principle that I live by, you’ll be able to exercise the power that I have exercised; and the works that I have done you will do also—and even greater works than these shall ye do because I go to my Father.  Learning to live by prayer.  I want us to examine this teaching of the Lord Jesus:  living by prayer.

I.  This kind of praying is the result of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a little phrase that Jesus adds to verse 12 that is the key to the whole business.  Let’s look at verse 12 again:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; (Here it is.  Why?  Why, Lord?)  because I go unto my Father.

Because I go unto my Father.  I believe that one of the most underrated, un-taught and un-preached doctrines in the Bible is the doctrine of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But did you know that it is one of the most vital and important teachings in all the Word?  What he is saying is this.  The reason you are going to be able to do greater works, the reason you are going to be able to live by prayer (and anything you ask in my Name is going to be done), is why?  Because I go unto my Father.  Jesus is saying don’t worry about my physical absence.  It is expedient, it is necessary, it is profitable for you that I go away.  As a matter of fact, the very fact that I’m going away is going to enable you to do far more than you could ever have done had I remained with you.  He is simply saying this kind of praying, living by prayer, is the result of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus.

There is absolutely no way you and I can deal with the whole truth of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus.  It is a marvelous truth.  We are going to be able to touch on only one area of it.  There are a lot of things that are involved in our relationship to Ascension of the Lord Jesus.   Jesus meant a number of things, and there are a number of reasons why his Ascension enables us to do greater works.  I will mention only one this morning for the sake of time.

When he ascended to the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit.  You see, Jesus, at his Ascension, was no longer limited by the flesh.  When Jesus was here on earth, he was limited by time and space just as you and I are.  He could only be in one place at one time.  Mary and Martha could say to him in John 11, Master, if you had been here, this would not have happened.  You and I can’t say that today because Jesus can be everywhere at one time.  By his Holy Spirit he indwells every believer, and Jesus is able to do far more than ever before.  Why?—because he is no longer limited by the flesh, but also because you and I are no longer limited by the flesh.  He says, I will not leave you comfortless (the way the King James says it).  Literally, he is saying he is not going to leave us as helpless orphans.  I am not going to leave you helpless.  He says I am going to pray the Father, and he will send you another one just like me.  He will be in you.  Jesus is saying this:  you are going to be able to do far more than ever before.  You are going to be able to live by prayer because I go to my Father.  When I go to my Father, I am going to send you an Ascension gift, the Holy Spirit, and he is going to be indwelling you.  He is going to give you the power to pray and the power to do.

The secret I am convinced (here we are again—the word secret)—which makes prayer more than just meaningless words is this truth right here:  praying in the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus ascended to the Father, he into you heart and my heart the Holy Spirit.  One of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to enable us in our prayer life.

We naturally must go to Romans 8:26-27 to see what this involves.  I am going to read it out of the King James Version and then read it out of another translation that makes it much more clear.  Paul says:
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:  for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:  but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Now I am going to read William Sanday’s translation of these verses.  You can find this in his commentary on Romans out of the International Critical Commentary.  This one of the old standard commentaries, and Dr. Sanday was one of the foremost New Testament and Greek scholars of his day.  In his commentary on Romans, he translates Romans 8:26-27.  It is a tremendous translation.
Nor are we alone in our struggles.  The Holy Spirit supports our helplessness.  Left to ourselves we do not know what prayers to offer or how to offer them; but in those inarticulate groans which rise from the depths of our being, we recognize the voice of none other than the Holy Spirit.  He makes intercession, and his intercession is sure to be answered; for God, who searches the inmost recesses of the heart, can interpret his own Spirit’s meaning.  He knows that his own will regulates its petitions, and that they are offered for men dedicated to his service.

There are two things the Holy Spirit does in enabling us to pray:

He originates the petition.

We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Holy Spirit helps us in knowing what to pray for.  One of the grandest experiences in the prayer life is when Holy Spirit is so in control of your life, you are so walking in the Spirit that he can speak to you and lead you and you are so sensitive to his leading that he can give you the very petition that you are to pray.  He originates the petition.

There have been a lot of times when I have knelt, and I haven’t known what to pray for.  I have been in a church and haven’t known what to pray for in that church.  Somebody will ask me to pray for such and such.   Many a time I have been up against a decision or a problem, and I have not known what to pray for.  As I have waited before the Lord, quieted my heart and waited for the Spirit, he has gently and gradually and with great enlightenment brought to me the very petition I am supposed to ask.  He will originate the petition and show me exactly what I am to pray for.

There have been many times when I have perhaps been driving down the highway and, all of a sudden, there drops into my heart a petition.  Suddenly, there is put upon me a desire, a burden, a necessity to pray for somebody.  What is that?  That’s the Holy Spirit prompting you to pray, leading you to pray.  Ever once in awhile, when I am doing something else, not even thinking about praying, somebody will come to my mind—and perhaps a need they have, and it will be the Lord saying I need to pray for such and so right now.

Last September we were in Denver, Colorado in a conference, and a very dear friend of mine, a lady I feel is one of the greatest intercessors I’ve ever known, was there in Denver.  She came up to me and said I want to tell you something that happened to me about a month ago.  She had a little prayer diary.  When God leads her in prayer, and she prays about things, she writes it down.  She said she wanted to show me something in her prayer diary.  She said, on a certain Sunday morning (and she named the date), when I got up that morning, suddenly I felt a deep need and burden to pray for you.  I didn’t know the need, the problem, the burden, if there was any special difficulty.  I didn’t go out that day.  All day I prayed as the Holy Spirit gave me things to pray for.  She said I found out later that was the exact day that your Mother died.  It was on that Sunday morning when we received the phone call that my Mother had died.  We had to make all the preparations, get ready, and drive.  The Holy Spirit so had control of that dear saint of God that he was able to originate in her petition, after petition, after petition, and she was interceding for me without even knowing my need, my problem.

Jesus said that you can live by prayer.  Why?  Because I go to my Father, and when I go to my Father, I will send the Holy Spirit, and he will enable you to pray by originating the petitions in your heart.

The Holy Spirit articulates petitions.

Notice what he says:  with groanings which cannot be uttered.  But in those inarticulate groans which rise from the depths of our being we recognize the voice of none other than the Holy Spirit.  He makes intercession, and his intercession is sure to be answered for God who searches the inmost recesses of the heart can interpret his own Spirit’s meaning.

Let me tell you what that means.  I have a burden on my heart, and it may be for a particular person, or a particular church.  I may not even know what it is for, but there is such a burden on my heart.  Perhaps I am so burdened for this person, and yet I just can’t articulate.  I can’t put my burden into words.  Sure, you have.  Have you ever had such a burden and heaviness over a need, a decision, somebody away from the Lord, that your burden has been so great you’ve not even been able to vocalize what is in your heart?  I want to tell you what happens.  As you kneel there in the throne room of heaven, and you are not able to vocalize, articulate, put into words the burden that is on your heart, incapable of expressing the burden that’s on your heart, do you know what is going on at that moment?  The blessed Holy Spirit who indwells you knows that burden, takes that burden and articulates it to the Father, interprets it to the Father.  Sometimes I don’t even have any idea what the burden is, or how to say it, or just really what to pray for.  I trust the blessed Holy Spirit in those times and seasons of intercession and prayer is at that moment taking to the Heavenly Father my burden.  He is interpreting to the Father what I cannot interpret.  He is articulating to the Father what I cannot articulate.  That’s what this translation says.  That is what Romans 8:26-27 says.  The Holy Spirit enables us to pray beyond our ability to pray.

Then he says something else.  The God who searches the inmost recesses of the heart can interpret his own Spirit’s meaning.  He knows that his own will regulates his petitions, and that they are offered for men dedicated to his service.  Do you know what he is saying?  Do you know what I do around Christmas time?  I start searching the hearts of my children.  I hate to just come out and ask what they want for Christmas.  That sort of takes the surprise out of it.  I usually have to resort to that because I’m not too good a searcher.  We will start listening and watching.  What are we watching for?  We are searching their hearts for an indication of what they need and what they want.  As a father I search my child’s heart and listen, trying to get some idea of what he needs and wants.

Do you know what he is saying?  The Heavenly Father is constantly searching my heart saying what does he need or want.   Sometimes I don’t even know what I want. That’s right.  Most of the time I don’t even know what I need, but the Holy Spirit who indwells me knows exactly what I need.  Do you know what?  When the Father searches my heart, the Holy Spirit says, Father, he needs such and so.  The Father answers the Holy Spirit’s intercession on my behalf.  I am having needs met that I haven’t prayed for.  Do you know who’s praying for them?  The Holy Spirit is voicing those needs to the Father.  The Father is searching your heart this morning and wanting to know what it is that you need.  The Holy Spirit says, Father, he needs this.  That prayer is sure to be answered for the Father knows that the Holy Spirit is always regulated by the will of the Father.  So he is constantly meeting needs on your behalf that I haven’t prayed for, you haven’t prayed for, but the Holy Spirit indwelling you has prayed for.  So you can live by prayer.  That’s the only way you can live.  This praying is result of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus.

Prayer rests or relies on the authority of our Lord.

Jesus says, if you shall ask anything in my name.  The name of Jesus represents the authority of Jesus, if you shall ask anything as my representative.  In other words, he is saying when I pray, what right do I have to approach the Father?  What right do I have to ask the Father to meet this need, send revival, save this person?  By the authority of the Lord Jesus because when I go to the Father, I go to him in Jesus’ name.  What am I saying?  To go to the Father in Jesus’ name means a great many things I’ve covered in other messages.  I want to cover this one aspect briefly.  It means that I am acting on behalf of the Lord Jesus and in his place.  I am acting as his representative.  I am acting for his sake.  The ultimate, primary motive in prayer is not my sake, but it is Jesus’ sake.  When I am facing a prayer need, or praying for a person, or praying for a situation, the primary consideration is not what that person wants, or what I want, but it is what does Jesus want?  As I pray for this church as your pastor, there are a lot of things I want for this church.  But that is not to be the motive of my praying, what I’m to pray for, not what I want.  I am first of all to search out the mind of the Lord and to discover what does Jesus want?  What does Jesus want for this church?  He may want something different than I want.  I hope not.  I hope that he and I walk so much together, that I am so in tune with the Lord Jesus and so sensitive to his will that I know what he wants.  But the primary consideration is not what I want, even not what you want.  It is what does he want?  To pray in the name of Jesus means that my petition is in harmony with the will of Jesus and I act as his representative.  I ask for what he wants.

Let’s suppose that I go to Brazil, to help out Bro. Boswell, our missionary from Brazil.  We are glad to have him with us this morning.  Let’s suppose that he gets sick.  So, I am in a church there.  I stand up and say, folks, Bro. Ronnie has fallen ill and I am here in his name, as his representative.  We are going to have a dance, and we are going to serve champagne.  Somebody would say, friend, you are not here in Bro. Boswell’s name; you are not representing Bro. Boswell.  I don’t know who you are representing, but I know you are not representing Bro. Boswell because he would never approve of that.

The first thing I need to know is what Jesus wants.  What is his purpose?  When I know his purpose, I can go to the Father and say, I pray in Jesus’ name.  I’m doing this in the authority of Jesus.  I am asking as his representative.  It serves well not only in prayer but in every area of the Christian life.  We live in the authority of the Lord Jesus.  So in all that it means to pray in the name of Jesus, it also means I am to pray as his representative.  I am coming to the Father saying this is what Jesus wants.  I have never one time found it in the Scripture where the Father ever disappointed his Son.  He always gives what his Son wants.

This prayer releases the ability of Jesus.

Verse 13:  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.  (In verse 14, he repeats it.)  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

I will do it.  Notice that he doesn’t say I will help you do it.  He says I will do it.  In verse 12, he says you are going to do it.  In verse 13, he says I am going to do it.   Make up your mind.  Which is it?  It is just the way it was with Jesus.  I see Jesus. Following along seeing what he is going to do, I see him as he is approached by ten lepers.  He says a word, and those ten lepers are healed.  Jesus did it.  Well, yes, from your viewpoint Jesus did it.  But from Jesus’ viewpoint the Father did it.  It is one thing for the world to look at us and say see what they are doing.  But you and I must always understand that it is what the Father is doing through us.  As I said earlier, if I lived by the principle Jesus lived by (which is the Father dwells in me and I simply ask and receive from him), I experience the same power that Jesus experienced.  So he says in that day when the Holy Spirit descends upon you and indwells you, you will know that I am in the Father, the Father is in me, I’m in you, and we are all one, together.  Whatever you ask in my name, I will be doing it.  He says you do it, and I do it.  It doesn’t meant that I sit down and am absolutely passive.  God never dispenses with man’s effort energy.  He never does.  It is this:  he comes upon us with his power, with his presence, and what I do, he’s the one who is really doing it.

A number of years ago I heard about a little boy.   One day he had been out playing cowboys and Indians.  He had been riding a stick horse.  (Did you ever have a stick horse when you were a little boy?  I can see my stick horse now.  I really can.  It was a long stick and had a little leather strap tied around the head of that horse.  It’s just in the last few years that I have given up playing cowboys and Indians.  I loved to play cowboys and Indians when I was a little boy.)  He had been riding that stick horse down the alley, up the street, over the hill, around the block.  He came in that night, and he was plumb tuckered out.  His daddy said, son, why are you so tired?     What have you been doing?  The little boy said he had been playing cowboys all day.  He said real cowboys have real horses, but I have to do my own galloping.

Do you know what God said to me back in December in a motel room as I read that article by Dr. Redpath?  God said, son, you’ve been doing your own galloping.  Jesus said, if you ask anything in my name, I’ll do it.  I’ll do it.  I’ll do it.  The Christian life is to be lived by prayer.  Never undertake more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.  To do so is not to act in faith, but it is to act in presumption.

Let’s pray together.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2005

Text: John 12

I want you to open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 12. We will begin our reading with verse 20 and read through verse 29.

Now there were certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast: These therefore came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and they told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself: but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If any one serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant also be: if any one serves me, the Father will honor him. Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, who stood by, and heard it, were saying that it had thundered: others were saying, An angel has spoken to him.

I want to read again verse 27: Now my soul is troubled; and what shall I say? I want to talk to you tonight for a few minutes on what to say when you don’t know what to say.

I sat with a couple not long ago—a pastor and his wife. They had requested some time to talk some things out. They needed an objective third party, one that would be gone in a few days and couldn’t blackmail them with anything that was said. They just needed to unload like we all do at times. The only problem is sometimes after we have unloaded to people, we wish we hadn’t because we somehow get the idea that now they think less of us. If we really confess what we are and what we feel, we sometimes diminish ourselves in the eyes of others, and later on are filled with regret and say, I could kick myself for ever having admitted weakness. But there are times when we all need to sit down with somebody that we can rest with and say, listen this is the way it is; this is the way I feel. So I sat with this couple. They said it had been the worst year of their lives, one battle after another. The pastor said it had been harder on his wife than on him. I said, yes, I can imagine that. I’ve noticed through the years that always the first thing I look for when I go into a church is the pastor’s wife. I want to see her face, her countenance. It seems that everything that happens in the life of the church comes to rest in the countenance of the pastor’s wife. You can tell a great deal about what is going on in the church by whether or not the pastor’s wife is smiling, whether or not she is happy, whether or not there is a look of peace. She began to weep and said, I don’t know what to pray anymore. I’ve prayed, and prayed and prayed. She said, I am so confused. I’ll be honest with you. I am too weary to trust, too weary to pray. I don’t know what to say. I simply said to her, well, you are in good company. There has been someone else along the way who was in your same position. They were so deeply troubled, distraught, confused, so unsettled, and their heart was at such unrest, they didn’t know what to say. She asked who it was. I said, it was the Lord Jesus. I noticed the surprise on her face.

It’s interesting how we read some of these verses so many times, and yet they never really sink in. There is a verse that has given me a great deal of encouragement and comfort in the past. It is this statement that our Lord makes in verse 27 when he says, now is my soul troubled. I wouldn’t be surprised at that coming from anybody else, from some lesser mortal, from some person who had inherited Adam’s sin. But here is the Master of all worlds, here is the Supreme among the angels adored at the Father’s right hand, and yet he confesses, now is my soul troubled and I don’t know what to say. You mean Jesus himself is at a loss for words? Do you mean he who knew the Father’s will? Do you mean that same one who spoke the worlds into existence and holds them in their course tonight? Do you remember that one who knows from the beginning to the end, and everything inbetween? He comes to a point where he says, I don’t know what to say. I am in such deep distress. My soul is torn. The tenses of this verb indicate that this wasn’t a passing thing. Our translation reads now is my soul troubled as though all of a sudden Jesus became troubled. But the idea is that here is a continuing state and condition that our Lord was in. It is a revelation to us about Jesus because we see him in his early ministry as he moves along with such swiftness and with such success and smoothness, and there seems to be such a peace about him, and yet this verse reveals that all the while there is turbulence underneath the calm. He is not simply saying that all of a sudden my soul has become troubled. He is saying my soul has been troubled all along. For he says I know why I have come into this world. I have come into this world for one cause. It was the appearance of the Greeks that reminded him of it.

What is happening to our Lord is that there is a conflict of emotions. These Greeks, these Gentiles, come and say, we want to see Jesus. That’s the first indication that these Gentiles are going to be grafted in. That is the first indication that salvation is going to be world-wide. For the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a good sign–these Greeks wanting to see Jesus. Yet, when they come, mixed with the joy of these Greeks desiring to see Jesus, Jesus realizes that the only way they can ever come to see him is if he dies for them.

So there is a collision of differing emotions. There is the emotion of joy because here are men who want to see him. But there is the emotion of dread, and fear if you please, because Jesus knows that their fulfillment of that desire can only be accomplished if he is willing to die. So he says, now is my soul torn in different directions. And what shall I say?

Now, if we understand this as it applies to our Lord, then we can understand it as it applies to ourselves. The truth of the matter is that there is not one among us who has not sometime in our Christian experience, if we were honest enough, that has said, my soul is troubled, and I don’t know what to say. It may be because some child is out yonder in the wayfaring way, and you don’t know what has happened to them. You’ve prayed all the prayers you know to pray, and you say, I don’t know what to say. It may be that your wife or husband has announced that there is somebody else and wants to end your marriage. You’ve prayed all the prayers you know to pray, and you’ve done all the books say to do. You don’t know what else to say, or what to pray anymore. It may be that the doctor has told you that there is nothing more he can do for you, and you have done everything you know to do. You’ve read all the books, and you’ve listened to all the preachers, and you’ve gone through all the rituals, and yet the sickness has not abated. There is only one course; you are dying, and that’s all there is to it. You say, I don’t know what to say, nor what to pray. My soul is troubled . . .

I think we become more vulnerable than ever at those points because we are liable to say something later on we wish we hadn’t said. Sometimes in the ministry we say, my soul is troubled; and I don’t know what to say. I know what I’ll say. I’ll say, I quit. That’s what I’ll say. Sometimes at those moments, if we aren’t careful, we’ll say the wrong thing.

I want to talk to you tonight about what to say when you don’t know what to say. Jesus said, now my soul has become troubled and what shall I say. Shall I say, Father, save me from this hour: but for this purpose I came to this hour. There is always–whatever the situation, whatever the turmoil, whatever the confusion in your heart and life–something that you can rest assured is proper and fitting to say. This is it: Father, glorify thy name. That’s what to say when you don’t know what to say. When no other prayer seems to work, and you have tried all the other prayers, and you’ve read all the how-to books, and you’ve gone through all the steps, and nothing seems to be changed, and you are facing an uncertain future, and there is nothing but darkness in your heart, you don’t know what to ask God. If God were to say, I’ll give you anything you ask for, you’d say, I don’t know what to ask. I don’t know what is right, what is fitting and proper to say. What can I honestly say that I’ll never regret. This is always right; this is always fitting; this is always proper: Father, glorify thy name. Now let me just point out three things about this kind of prayer.

1. It immediately brings to us a sense of security.

It is a prayer that offers security. Notice that Jesus says, what shall I say? Father, glorify thy name. Notice the first word, Father. This prayer has in it security and reassurance. He doesn’t say God. He doesn’t say impersonal faith. He doesn’t say the stars. He says, Father, glorify thy name.

I am afraid in our day that we have forgotten a very important person. We say so much about Jesus, and well we should. And we say so much about the Holy Spirit. But I am afraid we have forgotten the Father. Yet, it is for this purpose that Jesus came into the world: to reveal to us that God is a father. That was the unique revelation that God brought–to reveal to us that this God who created all things, this God who is a God of such terrible judgment that he will destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet is a father. That is the great revelation. It is a revelation that means that we put our destiny into the hands of one who cares.

I have never gotten into horoscopes. I was on a plane some years ago, and a lady sat down next to me. After we had been traveling for awhile, she turned to me and said, what are you? Well, I didn’t figure she meant animal, mineral or vegetable. It was pretty obvious what I was. I said, well, I’m a minister and I’m on my way to Denver to preach. She said, no, what are you? What sign were you born under? Well, as far as I knew, I wasn’t born under any sign, unless it was emergency room or something like that. She said, no, when is your birthday? I said, it’s October 24. She said, oh, you’re a Scorpio. She said, I’m Pisces. I thought maybe I should applaud or something—like that was some great thing. I run into people who won’t go outside the door until they read their horoscope every morning. That seems to me a terrible bondage.

I know there are forces in this universe, and forces in this world. But I know that my life is not in the hands of some impersonal fate, or the position of the stars and the planets but it is in the hands of a heavenly Father who knows me and loves me. I shouldn’t be afraid to say, Father, glorify thy name. I am not afraid of my Father.

I have two children. God being my witness, I wouldn’t do anything in the world to hurt them. I would lay down my life for them. I trust my father with my life. My father is still alive. I trust him with my life. I don’t need to be afraid of my father.

When I don’t know which way to turn, and I don’t know what to say, I can always say, Father, glorify thy name. There is a sense of security in that prayer because it is a Father who cares, but it is also a Father who is in control. The trouble with we earthly fathers is that we may want to care for our children, but sometimes they get out of our control, and there is nothing we can do for them. But we have a heavenly Father who not only cares but is also in control. What we are to say is: Father, glorify thy name. There is security in that statement.

Secondly, there is submission in this statement: Father, glorify thy name. Go back to verse 27, and notice what Jesus says, now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say? Well, I could say, Father, save me from this hour. That’s what I’d say. Jesus is tempted at that moment because the thing that is troubling him, causing the turmoil and unrest in his heart, is that he knows he has to face Gethsemane. What we have here before us is really the Gethsemane before Gethsemane. So, he says, what shall I say? The first thing that comes to his mind, and I think here you see the humanness of our Lord as perhaps no other place, as it would come to my mind. This is one thing I could say, Father, deliver me from this hour. That’s what I’d really like.

I can remember a time a few years ago when we were going through some terrific struggles and battles in our life. I do believe in spiritual warfare because we were engaged in it. It is as real to me tonight as you are real to me. It is as if the devil came to me one day and said, I’ll tell you what, preacher, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll leave you alone if you’ll leave me alone. You know something? I was tempted to take him up on it. I believe the devil is in the bargaining business; he is always ready for a deal if I’ll compromise, if I’ll lower the standard, if I’ll fudge just a little bit here and say, it doesn’t really matter if the Father’s will is done. He can get somebody else to do it. I’ll make you a deal, devil. I’ll give up this part if you’ll leave me alone. I am tempted at times to say, Father, deliver me from this hour.

When I say, Father, glorify thy name, there is submission in it because it means there is a conflict, a struggle that has been waged, and I have come to the end of it and submitted myself. Rather than ask God to deliver me from this hour, I will say, no, for this very purpose came I into the world. May I say to you that it is the same with us? For this very purpose we came into the world. The purpose for which God has saved us is that we might glorify his name.

I talked with a pastor about this the other day. He said, you go around a lot of places. What do you think is happening? I said, I think what is happening is that the devil is very successfully detracting us from the purpose for which we have all been saved. This is just my opinion, which I greatly respect, but I’ve got news for you. I don’t think the devil cares one whit whether we are charismatic, or whether we are a Baptist, or whether a liberal, or a modernist as long as we do not glorify the name of the Father. I think he couldn’t care less what we are or what we do as long as we don’t do the main thing. Sometimes we need to be reminded that for this purpose came I into the world.

Listen, I didn’t come into the world to escape. I did not come into the world so that God could give me with all sorts of comfort. I ran across an old hymn in England sometime ago, and it has never made it over here. I can understand why. It is a little one-sided in its theology. It asks a question and answers it. It says, and what if I find Him, and what if I follow Him, what reward awaits me here? The answer comes back: many a labor, many a sorrow, many a tear. No wonder that’s never made it over to our side of the sea. I know that is one-sided, and I wouldn’t by any stretch of the imagination have you to think that the only thing that awaits a follower of Jesus is many a labor, many a sorrow, many a tear. I do know this: we at times need to be reminded that the purpose for which we came into the world is to glorify the name of the Father—whatever that involves.

I was in England this past September and heard a pastor who had come out of Romania. . He was telling about the time when he was under house arrest, and they were threatening his life. This Communist officer said, don’t you know that I can kill you? And this pastor said, oh, yes, I know that you can. Your greatest weapon is killing; my greatest weapon is dying. You think about that for a minute. He said, you are trying to stamp out my message, but if you kill me and force me to die for my message, and it will be multiplied a thousand times over. Everyone will know then that I wasn’t just preaching; I meant it.

For this cause came we into the world. The reason God saved you, my dear friend, is not so that you can escape; it is so that you can exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a prayer of submission. Father, glorify thy name. God has to keep bringing us back to this because there are so many other things of interest, so many other things that wear spiritual and religious tags that entangle me. The devil is sitting off to one side, filled with glee because he has sidetracked us onto secondary issues.

Father, glorify thy name. The interesting thing is that when Jesus said that, he knew what it meant. When you and I say it, we don’t know what it means. When I come to the Father and say, the desire of my heart in this situation in my church, in my family, in this problem right now is that your name be glorified. I just want your name to come out looking good, grand, and glorious. I don’t know what that involves, what that means, what path God is going to lead me down. The difference is that Jesus knew exactly what that meant—that meant the cross, suffering, death. Yet, he said it. So he stands tonight to us as an example as a prayer of submission. Whatever it takes, whatever course is required, whatever path I must travel, this is my prayer: Father, glorify thy name. For Jesus, it meant passion, suffering and death.

I read something I just have to throw in. A fellow was writing about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. You remember this at the beginning of Passion Week. There you have the grand setting for the Passion of our Lord and the redemption of the world. Do you know what this fellow came up with? He came up with the doctrine of prosperity. He said, right there when Jesus rode that donkey into Jerusalem, he was enunciating the doctrine of prosperity. He said riding a donkey was the same as today driving a luxurious limousine. Of course, he failed to mention that the donkey was borrowed. I think if our Lord was enunciating any doctrine, it was the doctrine of rent a car.

Not only is there security in this, and not only is there submission in this. There is also significance in it. It adds significance to my life, to every detail of my life. There are two words that are not there, but they are implied. Jesus says, Father, glorify thy name in me. Now, they are not recorded, but that is what he means. Father, glorify thy name in me. When you and I pray that same prayer, that is what we mean: Father, glorify thy name in me. That somehow adds meaning to what is happening to me. If I happen to be flat on my back in a hospital bed, and somehow out of that I say, Father, glorify thy name, suddenly there is significance to that. If the stock market crashes, and my investments go sour, I can say, Father, glorify thy name. I don’t have to relegate what happened to a miscalculation by my broker or a miscalculation on my part. There is significance to that. Father, glorify thy name.

It takes my life out of the everyday, out of the ordinary. It means there is nothing that is either incidental nor accidental in my life. Every fabric of my daily life is being woven into a beautiful tapestry of the glory of the Father’s name. It gives significance to the lowliest —–

Now, I want you to notice two things in closing. First of all, notice the misunderstanding of the people. In verse 28, the Father answered, and there came therefore a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, who stood by, and heard it, were saying that it had thundered: others were saying, an angel has spoken to him. Anytime you put your life on the line and say that all you want is for the Father to be glorified, you rest assured that there are times God will take you down certain paths that will cause others to misunderstand–even when the Father does glorify.

You see, the problem is with definition. God doesn’t use the same dictionary we use. And God doesn’t always define glory the way we define it. There are some who when they see the Father glorifying or attesting to us, they will misunderstand. They are the materialists who say, well, that’s just thunder. Then you even have the more spiritually inclined who say, well, that’s an angel. That’s close–but not close enough.

Notice the assurance when Jesus prays this. He says, Father, glorify thy name, and there came therefore a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. You say, I have never had a prayer answered. Friend, this one prayer I promise you that God will answer. I can guarantee that you can walk out of here knowing that one prayer you offer is going to be answered.

I was thinking about this this afternoon, and I thought what better theme for the year, for the life: Father, glorify thy name. I don’t know what paths what God will take me down this year. I hope there are some better paths than he took me down last year. But I want to say tonight that this is my prayer: Father, glorify thy name. Whatever it involves, whatever it takes. We ought to say that to one another and encourage one another. In the darkness of the night that we move through, we should call out one to another, Father, glorify your name. Reach out and touch one another in the darkness and sorrow, Father, glorify thy name. And when the morning comes, and we find ourselves standing on the shores of the sea of glass, we will sing with the host of all the redeemed, worthy and honor and blessings and power and glory to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Father, glorify thy name. That’s what to say when you don’t know what to say.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2006