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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/stuart-thompson/prayer/
Let's come back to the Gospel of John again, and I said that purposely that way. I was reprimanded for singing with a gain, like a good Canadian would, but we'll come back to the Gospel of John again.
I'm a real mix-match. Yesterday, it was a Z. Today, it's a gain. The Gospel of John, please, and we're starting in chapter 10, John chapter 10 and verse 37. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. Chapter 14, please. Chapter 14 and verse 6,. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Jesus said 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 dwells 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.
Verse 20,. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Chapter 16, please. Verse 22,. Chapter 16, verse 22,. And ye know therefore, now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing, verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, ask, and ye shall receive, and that your joy may be full.
These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs, but the time comes when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Chapter 17, Chapter 17, and verse 20,. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.
And I think we'll just leave it there at that point for the reading. The point that caught my attention recently as reading through the Gospel of John again was that we do not read a specific statement that says you, myself, the believer, is in the Father.
Now that is what I'm going to come to, but I want to come back then to Chapter 10 and Chapter 14 and see where the Lord Jesus brings this subject to our attention and hopefully see something that will be a fresh joy to our own hearts.
In Chapter 10, the Lord Jesus there is facing, as he did so many times, a crowd that is in opposition to him. They are opposing him. And it is evident that they are very much disturbed by the things that he does and the things that he says, so that at times he equates the words and the works.
But in each situation he attributes those things that he has been doing and the things that he has been saying to the Father, and that he is not acting independently. So as he speaks that way, the people of the day that are opposed to him, they are very much aware of what he is claiming.
So in Chapter 10 when we read those words, he said, If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him.
So what the Lord Jesus was saying that day, as he addressed that audience, he was speaking to persuade those who oppose him that his relationship with the Father was unique. Yes, it was the essential union of divine persons.
So what he said and what he did were testament to the fact that he was the Father's unique Son. And he says, If you do not want to believe what I am saying, look at the works that I am doing and then be persuaded.
Persuaded what? That I am in the Father and the Father is in me. This essential union of divine persons. The unique relationship of the Father and the Son. But then when we come over to Chapter 14, we find him now not in a company of those that are opposed to him, but he is with his own disciples.
He is very near to that time where he is going to depart. And Brother Bill has been reminding us of the manner in which the Lord Jesus was addressing the disciples at that juncture, that he was seeking to establish them and to comfort their hearts.
So in Chapter 14, where we read similar words, it is not a question of persuading them, those that are opposed to him, but rather he is assuring those who are troubled. Those that are troubled, and he is assuring them.
But the subject is so similar. You know, things that we preach in the Gospel, and I agree very much with Murray, though I can't begin to say I would measure to his experience or his exercise, the Gospel is so essential to our preservation and to our testimony.
But what he said to those that were opposed to him, it was really, it was essential to the Gospel to establish who the person is that is the subject of the Gospel, the Son of the Father, the Eternal One.
That same truth he took to his own disciples then in that upper room, near to his departure, because they were keenly and deeply troubled. And so he said to them, Philip then has asked, well, show us the Father and we'll be settled.
It will suffice us, just show us the Father. And the Lord says, well, you know, have I been with you so long, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how is it that you say, show us the Father?
Philip, are you missing the essential truth of who I am and why I am here? Of course, Philip, like the others, was troubled. At least he was open enough to speak his concern. And so the Lord Jesus said, believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?
Are you not, settled Philip, are you not persuaded as to who I am? This unique, this unique eternal relationship of Father and Son in full union, in harmony? He says, the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself.
I am not the source, he says, but the Father that dwells in me, he doeth the works. And there's what I was saying, you get this equating of what he said and what he did. And then verse 11, believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me.
Then we come down to verse 20. And it's as if to say, Philip, if I just can't comfort your heart right now, listen carefully, there's a coming a point where it'll be very, very evident. At that day, you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you.
He's no longer now just talking about this essential union and harmony of the Father and the Son of divine persons. But now he brings into the situation this tremendous reality of how wonderfully the believer, the disciple is going to be bonded to these divine persons.
And he says it's a particular day. He says in that day you shall know. It won't be a, I'm just, I'm troubled, I'm unsettled. You will be totally satisfied and persuaded. Now we didn't read the verses before and I did it somewhat on purpose, but just to introduce the fact that there was a point that they would be totally persuaded.
Now we understand when we do go back into those previous verses, the great truth of the comforter of the Holy Spirit coming and dwelling in the believer and all question being settled as to where they stood.
And so now he's added into it as we suggested, I am in my Father, ye in me and I in you. Now as I suggested at the beginning what triggered my reconsideration of this, just to go back and look at this, that I didn't see him say that you are in the Father.
No, he just says I am in my Father, ye are in me and I in you. And we sometimes sarcastically in my household, I guess I'm known as Stu the Sarcastic One. We have that little expression we throw around, do the math.
The engineers here might be able to handle it, the others I don't know. The artsy types might trip over it. But the Lord Jesus basically gave them an equation. He says I'm in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you.
Now what are you going to say about that? Oh boys, I just might lose out in this situation. Brother Bill has gone to the words that the Savior had spoken to them about being in the hand and how essentially the believer, the disciple, the sheep of the flock have been secured.
So he says at that day ye shall know, you shall know where you stand, where the position is. Now I'm inclined then to just go and look at chapter 16 and then, or rather right straight to chapter 17 and come back to 16, but there's obviously sequence here.
The events are recorded chronologically in this gospel. So in chapter 16 we find the Lord Jesus talking about the matter of prayer. Brother Scott reminded us at the beginning yesterday morning of how because of his place in heaven how we have total liberty to go into heaven in prayer.
But the Lord Jesus speaks of a dimension of the prayer of the disciples that is about to become real to them that they would really have a lot of trouble with. Because in the years that they have been following with him in the world, he was at hand and he was their go-to source.
If there was something necessary, whether it was in the material goods, you remember they would inquire about the necessity of foodstuffs, or whether it was something that was troubling their heart, you go to the Lord Jesus and you would ask him.
So we picked up in chapter 16 verse 23, in that day you shall ask me nothing. Oh dear, who are we going to ask? Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
And what started to strike my heart afresh was this, was that the Lord Jesus was showing them that though he was going to depart, their relationship then was going to be so essentially bound to the Father that they could go straight to the Father and ask him.
That though he would be absent physically and not in their presence anymore, they were not going to find themselves in a deficient place or condition. You will ask the Father in my name. Verse 24, hitherto have you asked nothing in my name.
He said you haven't been in the habit of asking the Father in my name because I've been right here to deal with. You could come to me. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full. Verse 26, at that day you shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you.
Now this is not bringing into question the high priestly work of the Lord Jesus where John speaks of him interceding on our behalf or anything of that nature. What the Lord Jesus is saying, you're not going to have to come to me and ask me to speak on your behalf.
You will be able to speak to the Father but do so in my name. He says I'm not going to pray for you, you do the praying. Now I am going to hold that right there because it's part of my primary reason why I just want to look at this.
Chapter 17 is this prayer of the Lord that has been recorded exclusively by John. And here the Lord Jesus prayerfully expresses his confidence in the fulfillment of the promise. The promise that was made particularly then in chapter 14 to the disciples, in that day you shall know.
And in that day you will believe, you will know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. It will be settled. So chapter 17 he speaks to the Father in prayer these various things that are brought to our attention.
But he says there in verse 21 that you, that they all may be one as thou Father art in me. There it is again, this tremendous essential irrevocable union of divine persons. And he's praying then that at that time believers will be bound as one.
Now this is somewhat independent of the point that I'm trying to make but I want to say something about this just relative to our practical circumstances as believers today. This is not our responsibility to achieve.
Verse 22 that they may be one. This is not our job. This, it may not be quite so much emphasized now but several years ago there was a big push here in the United States with a conference series that went from stadium to stadium and this was their primary objective was to make unity among believers in this present day.
And John 17 was really their foundation for all that effort. This isn't our job. If I could just say pointedly and frankly the bulk of those that are one are already in heaven so we can't do anything relative to affecting a unity that is visible and recognizable with believers that aren't even here.
This unity that is spoken of here by the Lord Jesus was something that divine persons would achieve in them only. And if I can just say this to go to the point I believe it took place on the day of Pentecost.
In the coming of the Holy Spirit in that day there was a union of believers that was formed that human hands could never achieve. It's said and done. Leave it there. But what I want to draw from chapter 17 though is just this confidence that the Lord Jesus had that this union of believers not just them as one but the binding of them to themselves, divine persons.
This is as close as I think we'll find where it will speak about us being in the Father but it doesn't say it verse 21 that they also may be one in us. One in us. So verse 21 of chapter 17 that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee.
The unity that will be fashioned of all believers will be as full and indivisible as the Father and the Son are bound together and nothing could ever change that. That they may be one that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
It doesn't mean the world is going to be evangelized but the world will recognize that something has been done by God. And it happened. It happened on the day of Pentecost and people wondered at things that happened from then on and the gospel had power and many were affected.
The whole world didn't believe. They just recognized that divine things had unfolded. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and thou in me.
So Christ in the believer, the Father in Christ and that they may be made perfect. That they'll be brought to the objective, to the intention that they might be made perfect in one. So am I splitting hairs?
Maybe I am. But it doesn't say that I am in the Father. Is my relationship to the Father deficient? Not for a moment. If I can use the term by the agent of Christ, Christ my representative and my, we talk, in the sports world these professional athletes, they have an agent and he does all the negotiating, he does all the planning, he does all the contract work and it's all taken care of.
Well the Lord Jesus is the agent whereby the believer is bound into an irrevocable, indivisible relationship. I in them, the Father in me, objective achieved, can't be affected. So my relationship with the Father isn't deficient because it doesn't say I am not necessarily in the Father but I am in Christ and Christ is in me, the Father is in him and he is in the Father.
You can't take the believer out of the equation. Set and secured. So when we come back to chapter 16, I hope you find something precious in this as it has struck me. It says, so at that day ye shall ask, verse 26, in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you.
You won't need me to pray for you. You go straight to the Father and pray just in my name and here, verse 27, for the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God.
In chapter 14, Philip had said, show us the Father, we'll be settled, we'll be satisfied. Now the Lord Jesus is saying in chapter 16, the Father loves you. Why? Because you have loved me and what is it that that love expressed?
You have believed that I came out from God. So the disciples that he spoke to were absolutely persuaded as to who he was. His words and works had demonstrated it and they are settled. He says, for the Father loves you.
We love John 3, 16. I hope I'm not embarrassing anybody here. I didn't look at all the text before I stood up here. But we love John 3, 16, for God so loved the world and we appreciate the term that is used there and as I suggested yesterday in ministry relative to an unseemly setting, it is a love that involves particularly the mind seeing the objective and choosing to express mercy and kindness or whatever to the object.
If you would, that agape love is attention given. There's someone that needs my attention. But that's not what this verse is saying. The Father doesn't love me because he sees I have a need and he's going to show attention to me.
This is that phileo love, that love of affection and isn't interesting, it's affection that's been prompted. I'm not saying the Father wouldn't have affection for the believer otherwise, but I love the way this is put.
If you allow me to use the term, the Father likes you, dear believer, because you like his son. I was looking at this recently and referring to it in the occasion. My three little granddaughters happened to be sitting among the numbers and I just said, well, it's like this.
If you show that you like my three little granddaughters, it's very likely I'll like you. But otherwise, there might be a little problem. Isn't this a marvel thing that the Father shows his affection to the believer because the believer has shown his affection to his son.
What the Father cherishes, and he sees the cherish of that same person in the heart of the believer because they are persuaded who he is and they were willing to trust him and receive him as such, then the Father likes, he loves, he has affection for every believer.
Now I'm not diminishing the tremendous truth that God loves me when I was unlovable and he chose to show mercy and to shower his grace upon me. That's a wonderful thing. But now to be living in a relationship in which I can be sure that he actually likes me, that he actually has a genuine affection for me, and it's because I had enough sense by repentance and grace to recognize who his son is and what he had done for me.
The Father loveth you because you have loved me. Presently, continually, the Father loves the believer because at a point in time, they express love for the son in believing who he is. I am in the Father.
The Father is in me. Consequently, I am in you, you are in me, and you are now essentially able to relate to the Father who loves you. The agent Christ, our agency is in one who the Father has loved for eternity.
Actually you go back to chapter 5 and that one time the expression, the term is used between the Father and the Son as well. The Father loveth the Son and he shows him all things. The Father had full confidence in the Son that he could dispense to him everything that needs to be done.
Tremendous then that the Lord Jesus would turn around and say the Father loves you, has a tremendous affection for you, and it's been prompted because of your love for the Lord Jesus, his Son.