Truth For Life

Alistair Begg: When Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do," was he guaranteeing that we can get anything we want if we just ask the right way?

Alistair Begg: Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg helps us think through this often misunderstood and misapplied passage. We're studying in John chapter 14.

Alistair Begg: Well, we broke off this morning by seeking at least to understand, or I sought to try and make clear, the fact that the greatest work that is ever done is the work of salvation. It's the work of regeneration.

Alistair Begg: And that when we understand that to be the case, then when we move from the 12th verse into the 13th and into the 14th verse, we have another control that is provided by the context.

Alistair Begg: So, the verses that are there for us, greater works than these will the person who believes in Jesus do. And the reason that this is going to be the case, and here's the controlling phrase, is because I am going to the Father.

Alistair Begg: That is, if you like, the trigger that is going to give the fullness of all that Jesus is referencing here.

Alistair Begg: And he then goes on to say, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.

Alistair Begg: And then in a categorical statement, he comes further and says, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."

Alistair Begg: Now again, there's a controlling sentence there, phrase there, isn't there? Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Alistair Begg: So that the promise of answered prayer is prayer that is expressed to God in order that God might be glorified as a result of answering that prayer.

Alistair Begg: And God is glorified, as Jesus has been explaining, in the cross of Christ, that the glory of God is established in that way.

Alistair Begg: And later on in the 15th chapter, when Jesus is speaking again directly to the things that his followers are going to be doing. He says to them, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide."

Alistair Begg: Here we go. So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Alistair Begg: Now, what I'm suggesting to you is that there is a direct correlation between this straightforward statement concerning the greater works, and then the answer of prayer. Not that it is entirely to be answered in relationship to salvation, but I'm suggesting that what Jesus has in mind when he speaks in this way is just that.

Alistair Begg: If we're going to ask in accord with the will of God, if we're going to ask in accord with the character of Jesus, if you like.

Alistair Begg: If we're going to ask in Jesus' name, then we're going to ask in relationship to all that his name stands for. And his name is Jesus, Yeshua. He is the Savior, he is the deliverer, he is the rescuer.

Alistair Begg: And the purpose of the prayers being answered is not our benefit, but is God's glory.

Alistair Begg: That you may ask whatever you would choose to ask in order that the Father might be glorified.

Alistair Begg: Now, before I cite a step and address the questions that are in your minds, let's say to one another, "Now, the people who were there to actually hear this firsthand, then became the apostles that took the message forward."

Alistair Begg: So, it would be a legitimate thing, I think, to say, "Now, let's see how those people who heard this directly from the lips of Jesus, then translated that into life as life unfolded after he had done what he said he was going to do, which is go to the Father."

Alistair Begg: You know the story in Acts chapter 16, they go to Philippi. The Gospel goes into Europe for the first time. And as a result of what they're doing, they end up in a quite dreadful spot.

Alistair Begg: And they were doing things that were not lawful as far as people were concerned. And they were attacked, and the magistrates tore their garments off and gave orders to beat them with rods.

Alistair Begg: And when they had inflicted many blows on them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Alistair Begg: This is Paul and Silas. And having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Alistair Begg: And about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Alistair Begg: And then of course, as you know, there is this amazing earthquake, shakes the whole place to bits. And eventually, we have this amazing encounter involving the jailer.

Alistair Begg: Who, apparently from nowhere, calls out, "What must I do to be saved?"

Alistair Begg: Now he says, "You can ask anything you want."

Alistair Begg: I imagine part of their prayer was, "Lord, we are here by your appointment. We are here as your servants. Our entire lives have been given over to the extension of your kingdom, so that men and women might come to know exactly who you are and what you've done and why it matters."

Alistair Begg: "Lord, fulfill your purposes. Lord, be glorified in the jail. Get glory to your name."

Alistair Begg: And suddenly, as if no correlation between the two. They have the opportunity of leading this man and his family to faith in Jesus Christ.

Alistair Begg: The point I want to make is simply this, they weren't praying, "Oh God, get us out of here."

Alistair Begg: And even even when the church was praying, "Get them out of there," they weren't really on track themselves.

Alistair Begg: No, they weren't praying, "Get me out." They were praying, "Glorify your name." And they rejoiced, they rejoiced.

Alistair Begg: Then he brought them up, that's the jailer. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God, that he had believed in God.

Alistair Begg: So I'm suggesting that you have a pattern of prayer in the unfolding story of the Acts of the Apostles, the early church.

Alistair Begg: And that we have some indication of how these early believers, if you like, assimilated what Jesus is saying here: "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do."

Alistair Begg: The prayer proceeds from faith in Christ. The prayer unfolds in union with Christ, and the prayer is expressed for the glory of Christ.

Alistair Begg: So, Jesus is not here promising to answer any prayer that happens to rattle around in your head.

Alistair Begg: You say, "But he says that. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."

Alistair Begg: Well, he doesn't say, "I will answer, I will do anything that is rattling around in your head." He says, "No, if you ask anything in my name."

Alistair Begg: "In my name" is not an incantation.

Alistair Begg: You see, we have absolutely no right, no right to expect that whatever passes through our thinking processes, we can ask God about, and we can be guaranteed that it will be done.

Alistair Begg: No more than we have any warrant as believers for asking God to remove any difficulty, any disappointment, anything at all, and make sure that we never have to deal with anything like that again.

Alistair Begg: "Oh, but," says somebody, "you can't just deal with this and violate your own principles. What, for example, about Jesus, the things that he says in other places?"

Alistair Begg: "Let's take, for example, what he says in Mark chapter 11, after he has cursed the fig tree."

Alistair Begg: "And you know that when you turn to it, Mark chapter 11, verse 20 or so."

Alistair Begg: "And they had a conversation with him about the fig tree that had been cursed."

Alistair Begg: "Jesus, in responding to the question by Peter, says, 'Have faith in God.'"

Alistair Begg: "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him."

Alistair Begg: "Well, what are you going to make of that?"

Alistair Begg: Well, if you know your Bible, you know that that is an ongoing picture. It's a figurative picture that runs all the way through, especially the prophets.

Alistair Begg: "It's, for example, Isaiah, so you know I'm not making it up, Isaiah 54."

Alistair Begg: "And God says through the prophet, 'For my mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.'"

Alistair Begg: "See what he's saying?"

Alistair Begg: "There's more likelihood of this mountain range disappearing from sight than there is the possibility of my covenant love being removed from you."

Alistair Begg: "He doesn't anticipate that the mountains are about to be removed. He's using it as a picture by way of contrast."

Alistair Begg: "And I suggest that the same thing is actually here, that this is figurative, that it is a metaphor."

Alistair Begg: "That is not to devalue it, that is not to diminish it in any way, because in actual fact, what Jesus is saying is that by faith, we may be enabled to overcome difficulties and to deal with circumstances that are apparently insurmountable to us."

Alistair Begg: "That we have every right to come before God and address him in that way, provided we ask correctly. James chapter 4, 1st John chapter 5. And these these buffers are there, not as means of prevention, but these buffers are there in order to keep us on track, so that we don't ask incorrectly."

Alistair Begg: You see, God is God as God forever and ever.

Alistair Begg: God is not in any way diminished in his miracle conducting capacity at any point in all of human history.

Alistair Begg: That is that is unassailable. God is able to do what he chooses to do, and we acknowledge that.

Alistair Begg: But we also have to acknowledge, he chooses to work through actual events. He chooses to work medically through the gifts that he's given to physicians, not exclusively, not entirely, but nevertheless, routinely.

Alistair Begg: It is something out of the ordinary that takes us beyond that realm.

Alistair Begg: Now, the reason this is so important is because if we get this wrong, there's no saying where you'll end up.

Alistair Begg: When I was a young minister on my own for the very first time, within the first 24 months, so I was 25.

Alistair Begg: And we had a young missionary that went to Senegal, as it turns out. She went out to Senegal, and within a relatively short time, perhaps within a year, she had to come home for medical tests. When she had the medical tests, they found that she had a mass in her abdomen that they tried to radiate, they tried to do whatever they could with, but there was no possibility for her restoration. She was in her 20s.

Alistair Begg: So she was in bed at home with her mom and dad, believing parents.

Alistair Begg: I didn't know what to do when I was told that well-meaning people, well-meaning people, of a persuasion not along the lines of what I'm suggesting here, but a certain persuasion, they had gone to this house.

Alistair Begg: They had prayed over this girl, and then they had physically removed her from the bed and tried to walk her through the house, so as to prove to her parents that they had asked whatever they would like to ask of God, and it was answered, "Look, she's walking."

Alistair Begg: When she died, not long after that, these same well-meaning people, along the lines of the mountain being removed, put an unbelievable burden on her mom and dad by explaining to them that the reason their daughter was dead rather than alive, was because they did not possess sufficient faith to ask for this mountain to be removed.

Alistair Begg: Have you got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Yes.

Alistair Begg: Have you got any mountains you can't tunnel through? Yes.

Alistair Begg: Well, God specializes in things thought impossible.

Alistair Begg: He can do just what no other can do.

Alistair Begg: These verses demand our attention, and they should bring us to the place where we recognize that we have no right to circumscribe the providence of God.

Alistair Begg: Nor do we actually possess any right to prescribe to God what needs to take place.

Alistair Begg: We have every right to come to God and lay our lives before him and seek his blessing. My friend Bruce Milne has left us so much of a wonderful legacy in his writings.

Alistair Begg: And addressing this matter, he says, "When we seek to understand things in this way, it will appear that what we're saying is that we don't actually believe God, that we don't actually believe the Bible."

Alistair Begg: This is what he says, "This interpretation does not imply that the church ought not to anticipate tangible demonstrations of the presence of the risen Lord in its midst."

Alistair Begg: I'm there.

Alistair Begg: Show yourself strong, Father.

Alistair Begg: Save hundreds of people. Save thousands of people.

Alistair Begg: Save the least likely people. Do something.

Alistair Begg: We're not at liberty to stand back from that.

Alistair Begg: But at the same time, it does not encourage unhealthy sensationalism or unworthy arrogance on the part of the disciples.

Alistair Begg: In the final analysis, the one who works in the church is its head and Lord.

Alistair Begg: And hence the powers of the kingdom are available only through believing prayer in Jesus' name.

Alistair Begg: Within the framework of his purposes and in light of his promises.

Alistair Begg: It is also, I think, helpful. I find it helpful.

Alistair Begg: To ask of certain things as they come along the way.

Alistair Begg: Does this work for Jesus?

Alistair Begg: Because if it doesn't work for Jesus, then it's not going to work for me.

Alistair Begg: Or, how did Jesus handle this?

Alistair Begg: After all, he's the Son.

Alistair Begg: He's part of the Trinity. We don't have to guess at that, do we?

Alistair Begg: Because it's recorded for us. Yet.

Alistair Begg: Not what I will, but what you will.

Alistair Begg: Yes, we're going to pray for healing.

Alistair Begg: Yes, we're going to pray believing prayers for healing.

Alistair Begg: Because we believe that God can heal. He may heal with or without the medical facilities, because he's God.

Alistair Begg: But it's a far cry from that humble conviction in Jesus' name to march dying people around their house in a sensational display of a really poor understanding of the Bible.

Alistair Begg: If we think about this in relationship by and large to our to our prayers.

Alistair Begg: If we pray in this way, then we're only actually asking for that which is in accord with God and his purposes.

Alistair Begg: And we can't always know what is in accord with his purposes. We know that he loves to save people. We do know that he is far more willing to bless us than we are to ask him to bless us.

Alistair Begg: But we don't know the details. We don't know whether our lives will be long or whether they'll be short.

Alistair Begg: William Carey, the founder of modern missions, goes to India and he leaves us with a great line, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God."

Alistair Begg: That's what he did. You know how long he was there before he saw a single convert? It wasn't weeks, it wasn't months, it was years.

Alistair Begg: He was there expecting great things from God. God, in his sovereignty, was doing what he said he was out to do.

Alistair Begg: How many of my prayers are actually big prayers like this?

Alistair Begg: Prayers for the extension of God's kingdom.

Alistair Begg: Prayers for the most unlikely people to be converted.

Alistair Begg: Prayers that God would be glorified in everything.

Alistair Begg: As opposed to, "Could you please help me with this? Could you please fix that?"

Alistair Begg: Now, we can bring everything to God in prayer. Don't misunderstand this.

Alistair Begg: But I think if the apostles came back and heard us pray, they might say, "Why don't you ask him for something that he really wants to give?"

Alistair Begg: "For you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him?" What are these good things?

Alistair Begg: Well, the other translation is that he will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

Alistair Begg: Do we need the Holy Spirit? Yes. Why?

Alistair Begg: So that we might be closer to Jesus, so that we might then be the servants of Jesus, so that we might proclaim the word of Jesus, so that people will come to Jesus, so that God will be glorified.

Alistair Begg: And when we go all the way to the to the end of the Bible, I think I think this this whole notion is borne out. There's a reason why in the Lord's Prayer, you know, we pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." You know.

Alistair Begg: "Your kingdom come."

Alistair Begg: We don't know what's happening to this kingdom. I mean, it looks like it's on very shaky foundations at the moment.

Alistair Begg: We're concerned about that, we know that we're supposed to pray for those in authority, for princes and for governors, and we're doing that as well, but, "Lord, we want your kingdom to come."

Alistair Begg: You see, the greatest work is the work of redemption, is the work of regeneration.

Alistair Begg: And if that is the focus, and Jesus encourages prayer, then it seems to me that that ought to be our priority, at least that.

Alistair Begg: I just got a horrible feeling that God will see me and say, "Why did you never ask me for things I wanted to give you?"

Alistair Begg: "Did you really think you needed a motorbike? I mean, did you really think that you needed this?"

Alistair Begg: "Did you really think you needed to live forever?"

Alistair Begg: "Why did you ask for that?"

Alistair Begg: "Jesus did not ask for that."

Alistair Begg: We can ask for everything. We can ask for anything in Jesus' name, within the framework of his purposes and in light of his promises.

Alistair Begg: You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.

Bob Lapeen: We're always looking for more ways to help you tell others about who Jesus is and what he's done and what his promises really mean.

Bob Lapeen: And Alistair is here. I wanted to ask you a question about your book, The Man on the Middle Cross, and how it's being used around the world. Over the last year, we've seen how a clip pulled from the message you were giving in Texas reached millions of people. That Man on the Middle Cross clip that I'm sure many of our listeners have seen circulating.

Bob Lapeen: And I just heard that the book that you wrote that shares that story along with a couple other Bible stories is an evangelistic tool that has now reached more than a million people in its first year of publication.

Alistair Begg: It is remarkable. The other thing mentioning that, Bob, is that the translation of this has been again because of what folks do, but has been fantastic.

Alistair Begg: I just received the copies from Italy and from France, and a whole bunch of places, and they are also saying that this has proved very, very helpful.

Bob Lapeen: And we're grateful to our Truth Partners whose monthly giving makes it possible for us to partner with publishers around the world to translate The Man on the Middle Cross and distribute these non-English language versions globally.

Bob Lapeen: So, if you're passionate about sharing the Gospel, join our Truth Partner team today by visiting truthforlife.org/truthpartner or call us at 888-588-7884.

Bob Lapeen: I'm Bob Lapeen. Tomorrow we're going to learn how we turn sorrow into joy.

Alistair Begg: where the learning is for living.