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CHRIST ENGAGES TO ANSWER PRAYER
THE Gospel is properly termed “glad tidings of great joy:” it finds men guilty; and reveals to them a way in which their iniquities may be pardoned: it finds them polluted; and provides means for their restoration to the Divine image: it finds them altogether destitute; and supplies them with every thing that their souls can desire. The words before us are fully decisive on this point: they were addressed, indeed, by our Lord, to his own immediate Disciples only: but they must not be confined to any individuals of any age: they were intended for the whole world. As referring to the persons to whom they were addressed, they may be considered as including a promise of miraculous powers: but, as extending to us, they unequivocally engage that we shall possess all that we pray for, provided we ask for it in Jesus’ name.
That we may more fully enter into the scope and meaning of them, we will shew,
I. To what extent Jesus will answer prayer—
Our blessed Lord is appointed of the Father to answer prayer—
[It was a part of the reward bestowed on him as Mediator, that he should have the whole universe subjected to his dominion [Note: Php_2:6-11.]. For this end, every thing, upon his ascension to heaven, was committed into his hands; that as “a Prince” he might subdue his enemies, and as “a Saviour” he might secure the happiness of his believing people [Note: Act_5:31.]. He was in a more especial manner constituted “Head over all things to his Church [Note: Eph_1:21.],” and furnished with an inexhaustible fulness of all good [Note: Col_1:19.], that he might communicate to all according to their respective necessities [Note: Joh_1:16. Eph_1:22.]. He received gifts himself, in order that he might communicate them unto men [Note: Comp. Psa_68:18. with the Apostle’s citation of it, Eph_4:8.]: and he will impart them to all who pray to the Father in his name.]
Nor is there any limit to his bounty in answering it—
[In our own name it is impossible to approach God: he is a holy God; and we are altogether filthy and abominable: and of this our unworthiness we ought to be deeply sensible: but at the same time we should have such a view of Christ’s worthiness, as emboldens us to expect the most favourable acceptance with God for his sake. We should come trusting in his sacrifice, and pleading the merit of his blood, This is indispensable in all our addresses at the throne of grace. We must not think of asking for any thing, but in His name [Note: This is twice mentioned in the text; and frequently elsewhere. See Joh_15:16; Joh_16:23-24; Joh_16:26.]. But if we have a becoming respect to him, we need not be straitened in our requests to God: we may “open our mouths wide, and he will fill them.” Of course, a person thus humbled with a sense of his own sinfulness, and thus exercising faith m the Lord Jesus, will desire nothing but what is agreeable to the Divine will: that limit to his prayers he himself will readily assign [Note: 1Jn_5:14.]: he will take the promises as the legitimate standard of his petitions: and, so doing, he needs not be afraid of asking too much: the repeated declarations of Christ shall be literally fulfilled: “Whatsoever he asks, he shall have [Note: Compare Joh_15:7 and Mat_21:22. with the text.]:” yea, he shall have “exceeding abundantly above all that he can ask or think [Note: Eph_3:20.]:” nothing can be so great, but it shall be granted to him; nothing so small, but he shall be heard concerning it. Of this we have repeated assurances from our Lord in the words before us: “Whatsoever ye shall ask, that will I do: if ye shall ask any thing, I will do it.”]
Of the accomplishment of these promises we have the strongest pledge, when he tells us,
II. For what end he will answer it—
The end for which Jesus left the bosom of the Father was to do his Father’s will [Note: Psa_40:7-8.]: and during the whole time of his sojourning on earth, he invariably sought, not his own glory, but the glory of Him that sent him [Note: Joh_5:30; Joh_8:50.]: and in the last prayer he offered with his Disciples, he desired only to be glorified himself, that he might thereby advance the Father’s glory [Note: Joh_17:1.]. This same end does he keep in view in answering the prayers that are offered in his name.
1. The effect of his answers is, that his Father is glorified—
[See what effects were produced by the miraculous powers which he bestowed on his Apostles: multitudes were converted by their ministry: the empire of sin and Satan was weakened: the authority of God was established over the hearts of men: and all the perfections of the Father were magnified and adored. Similar effects are produced by every communication of his grace to the souls of men; who are thereby “turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Only trace the change that is wrought in the heart and life of any individual, when the Spirit of God works effectually in his soul, and it will instantly appear how greatly the honour of God is advanced by the answers which our Saviour gives to the prayers of men — — —]
2. The circumstance of the prayers being answered by him tends also to the glory of God the Father—
[The power of God would appear equally if the prayers were answered by the Father: but not so his other perfections: they are more eminently displayed by that office being vested in the Lord Jesus. By that the justice and holiness of the Father are exalted; inasmuch as men are thereby taught, that God cannot accept a sinner, if coming in his own name, nor reject him, if coming in the name of Jesus: the holiness of God prohibiting all access to him, except through a Mediator; and the justice of God withholding from none the blessings which have been purchased for them by the Saviour’s blood. By that also the love and mercy of God are magnified; in that, when there was no possibility of salvation to our fallen race if left to themselves, God gave his only-begotten Son to obtain salvation for them, and to impart it to them. By that too are the truth and faithfulness of God displayed; because, the promises being given us only in Christ Jesus [Note: 2Co_1:20. Gal_3:17.], the accomplishment of them by Christ is an evidence that “with God there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” If it should be thought by any that the delegation of this power to Christ derogates from the honour of the Father, let him know, that God the Father accounts himself then alone honoured, when equal honour is given to his co-equal, co-eternal Son [Note: Php_1:11. Joh_5:22-23.].]
Hence then we may see,
1. Whence it is that so few persons receive answers to prayer—
[Many offer prayers, both in public and private; but they do not pray with that humility, or that faith, which are necessary to procure an answer from God. They do not feel that deep consciousness of their own vileness that makes a Mediator necessary: though they may notionally acknowledge Christ as their Saviour, they do not really feel the impossibility of coming to a holy God in their own name: and consequently they do not depend so entirely on the merits of Christ as the only ground of their hopes; nor do they plead those merits for the acceptance of their prayers, as they ought: hence it is that the Father does not hear their prayers; and that the Lord Jesus does not answer them. If then we would really experience the truth contained in our text, let us seek help from God, that we may be enabled to approach him in that way which alone will prevail for our eternal good — — — Let us also draw nigh to him with that frequency, and delight, which a firm belief in our Saviour’s veracity must produce.]
2. What they should attend to who have received answers to prayers—
[That which is Christ’s end in answering prayer, ought to be our end when an answer has been obtained; we should seek to glorify our heavenly Father. Do we ask, “How can we glorify him?” I answer, “In bringing forth much fruit [Note: Joh_15:8.].” Holy tempers, and a life devoted to the service of God, are the proper fruits of grace received. As a seal stamps its own image on the wax, so does the sealing of the Spirit impress the Divine image on the soul. By this we must judge of answers to prayer. It is not by vain conceits, or transient impressions, that we can judge, but by the practical results. “If we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, we must walk in him, rooted and built up in him;” or, in other words, “we must walk as he walked.” Where such fruits of prayer are wanting, God is grievously dishonoured: it is only by a conformity to Christ in all his dispositions and actions that we can approve ourselves his Disciples. Beware then how you substitute the reveries of enthusiasm for the holiness of the Gospel: “He that doeth righteousness, (as every Disciple of Christ must,) is righteous, even as he is righteous.”]