R.C. Sproul, Jr.

How Should We Understand the Promise Jesus Makes in John 14:14, “If You Ask Anything in My Name I Will Do It?”

                 R.C. Sproul Jr. Mar 22, 2014 

           

"My book, Believing God, was written with a single goal in mind, to help believers enter more fully into the promises of God. Even we who affirm that God’s Word is always true still struggle to believe that if we ask for wisdom He will give it to us (James 1:5), that children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127), that we will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is (I John 3:4). Having pushed for greater faith, greater confidence, what ought I to say about this promise, that honestly on its face looks to over-promise?

We have a number of caveats that at least seek to place limits on what Jesus must have meant. We affirm, for instance, that, “In My name” at least excludes our more crass requests. Janis Joplin was not standing on solid exegetical grounds when she prayed, “Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz.”

But what about when we are asking for things we know God would approve of? In my home I and the children pray nightly that God would be pleased to help us to grow in grace and wisdom. What we are seeking is that we would be made fully into the image of Christ, that our sanctification would be complete. That sounds like a good thing to ask in Jesus name. Second, every night we pray that God would be pleased to magnify His name by rising up and protecting all the unborn in Orlando, Florida, these United States, and around the world. How could that not be a prayer in His name? And yet, thus far our prayers have not been answered.

The reason the prayers haven’t been answered is not too complex. God has determined to glorify His name in the battles, in my pursuit of godliness, in my repentance for my failure. He has determined to glorify His name in the battle over the little babies. He certainly could end all of history whenever He wishes, making all things right. But such is clearly not His will.

The more difficult question then, given His will is not to complete history now, is what did Jesus mean when He said that what we ask in His name He would grant. My answer is this- He will so grant. My hearts desire is that I would be like Him. And He is busy making that happen. My hearts desire is that all the babies would be safe in their mothers’ wombs. And He is busy making that happen. A day will come when both of these desires will come to pass, and Jesus is moving history forward to that day.

These two principles come together when we remember the fullness of what it means to pray in Christ’s name—it is to seek, ultimately, the one thing He is seeking, the glory of God. My sanctification, even the rescue of the unborn, these are proximate goals, subservient to the greatest goal, that God would be glorified. Which is why, in the end, every time we pray in His name we pray with His humble submission—Nevertheless not My will but Thine be done."

Blood in the Streets

Blood in the Streets

by R.C. Sproul Jr.

"How prone we are to miss the drama. The tyranny of the urgent, the plainness of our patterns, and our propensity to look inward rather than outward all push us to regard our callings, our surroundings, and our souls as rather dull affairs. We read of the great upheavals of history, then find ourselves scraping the burnt remains of casseroles off dishes. We watch Hollywood make believe about terrifying invaders from outer space, then go home to balance our checkbooks. We, according to Jesus, construct foolish drama by worrying about what we will eat or what we will wear while missing the battle of eternity that is going on right before our eyes.

When Jesus calls us to cease worrying about those things the heathen worry about, He isn’t inviting us to heave a sigh of relief and flop down on our hammock with a glass of lemonade. No, we put down our petty concerns that we might take up the one vital concern, the kingdom of God.

Our Lord reigns. His kingdom knows no bounds, for all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. But there remains in His realm rebellion. There is work to do. In this country, we have once again denied the humanity of an entire class of people—the unborn. In so doing, we have shown forth our inhumanity. What may be worse is that this great evil demonstrates our lack of humanity. How twisted, how distorted, is a state that God ordained to punish evildoers, but that instead uses the sword God gave it to guard the grisly practitioners of this crime? How twisted, how distorted, are men who were made to protect and defend women and children, but who now drag their girlfriends, wives, or daughters to killing centers? How twisted, how distorted, are women who were made to nurture their babies, but who now hire assassins to kill them?

This, beloved, is the battle. Here is the drama. Souls of men and women are being twisted and slowly dragged into the very pit of hell. Babies are being burned alive, on purpose. And we, even though we have been made alive, even though we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, worry more about stock markets and football teams.

Right now, in our own neighborhoods, people’s lives are at stake. Every one of our neighbors, young or old, male or female, believer or not, will die. And when they die, they will become fully, finally, and forever one thing or another.

C.S. Lewis, in his classic work The Weight of Glory, reminds us what is at stake. He reminds us what is wood, hay, and stubble, and which jewels will shine evermore. In turn, he helps us see what this means for our todays—that forever counts right now.

It is a serious thing … to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no “ordinary” people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations— these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

We don’t seek the kingdom merely when we read our Bibles or sing our hymns. We seek the kingdom when we love our wives and cherish our children. We seek it when we weep and mourn for the murder of our neighbors, and when we weep and mourn for our neighbors’ murderers. We seek the kingdom when we call on men to be men and women to be women. We seek the kingdom when we welcome the least of these into our lives, into our homes, and into our families.

The righteousness we seek for our justification is ours by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness—the sole ground of our right standing before God. Yet righteousness is also becoming ours in our experience through sanctification. We in Christ, despite all for which we have to repent, are being made into everlasting splendors. Despite all for which we must repent, despite all over which we mourn, despite all the horror of what we as a nation have become, we rejoice to know that we are citizens of another kingdom. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We once were not a people, but now we are the people of God. We are those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. May we then keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against us as evildoers, they may see our good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."

R.C. Sproul Jr. is a Teaching Fellowship at Ligonier Ministries
and teaches at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida