Greater Works
PRAYER • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
12 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.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
As the Saviour opened His public ministry with His disciples through the Sermon on the Mount, he closed it with the Parting Address preserved by John. In both He speaks more than once of prayer. But with a difference. In the Sermon on the Mount, it is as to disciples who have only just entered His school, who scarcely know that God is their Father, and whose prayer chiefly references their personal needs. In His closing address, He speaks to disciples whose training time is now ending and who are ready as messengers to take His place and work. In the former, the chief lesson is:
Be childlike, pray believing, and trust the Father to give you all good gifts.
Here He points to something higher:
They are now His friends to whom He has made known all that He has heard of the Father;
His messengers, who have entered into His plans, and into whose hands the care of His work and kingdom on earth is to be entrusted.
They are now to go out and do His works, and in the power of His approaching exaltation, even greater works: prayer is now the channel through which that power is to be received for their work. With Christ's ascension to the Father, a new epoch commences for their working and praying.
See how this connection comes out in our text.
As His body here on earth, as those who are one with Him in heaven,
1. they are now to do greater works than He had done;
their success and victories are to be more significant. He mentions two reasons for this.
A. because He was to go to the Father, to receive all power;
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
B. because they might now ask and expect all in His Name.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Because I go to the Father, and-notice this and-and, whatsoever ye shall ask, I will do.' His going to the Father would thus bring the double blessing: they would ask and receive all in His Name and, consequently, would do the greater works. This first mention of prayer in our Saviour's parting words thus teaches us two most important lessons.
“He that would do the works of Jesus must pray in His Name, He that would pray in His Name must work in His Name.”
1. He who would work must pray:
it is in prayer that the power for work is obtained. He that in faith would do the works that Jesus did must pray in His Name. As long as Jesus was here on earth, He Himself did the greatest works; devils the disciples could not cast out, fled at His word.
When He went to the Father, He was no longer here in the body to work directly. The disciples were now His body: all His work from the throne in heaven here on earth must and could be done through them. One might have thought that now that He was leaving the scene Himself and could only work through commissioners, the work might be fewer and weaker. He assures us of the contrary:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and he shall do greater works.”
His approaching Crucifixion, shed blood, and resurrection and ascension were to be such a natural breaking down and making an end of the power of sin;
with the resurrection, the powers of the Eternal Life were so truly to take possession of the human body and to obtain supremacy over human life;
with His ascension He was to receive the power to gift the Holy Spirit so fully to His own; the union, the oneness between Himself on the throne and them on earth, was to be so intensely and divinely perfect, that He meant it as the literal truth:
Greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father'
And the issue proved how true it was.
While Jesus, during three years of personal labor on earth,
1Co 15:6 “After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”
most of them so feeble that they were but little credit to His cause, it was given to men like Peter and Paul manifestly to do greater things than He had done.
From the throne, he could do through them what he himself, in his humiliation, could not yet do.
Jhn 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
But there is one condition: he that believes on me, he shall do greater works, because I go to the father; and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.’
Jesus’ going to the Father would give him a new power to hear our prayer.
Two things were needed to do the greater works:
1. his going to the Father to receive power
2. And our prayer in his name to receive all power from Him to do His work.
As he asked, the father, he receives, and bestows on us the power of the new dispensation, for the greater works; as we believe, and ask in his name, the power comes and takes possession of us to do the greater works.
How much working there is in the work of God, in which there is little or nothing to be seen of the power to do anything like Christ's works, not to speak of greater works.
There can be but one reason: the believing in Him, the believing prayer in His Name; this is so much wanting.
O that every laborer and leader in church, school, philanthropy or foreign missions might learn the lesson: Prayer in the Name of Jesus is the way to share in the mighty power which Jesus has received of the Father for His people, and it is in this power alone that he that believeth can do the greater works.
To every complaint as to weakness
unfitness
difficulties
want of success
Jesus gives this one answer: He that believeth on me shall do greater works, because I go to the Father, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do.'
We must understand that the first and chief thing for everyone who would do the work of Jesus is to believe, to get linked to Him, the Almighty One, and then to pray the prayer of faith in His Name.
Without this, our work is but human and carnal; it may have some use in restraining sin or preparing the way for blessing through sowing and reaping, but the real power is lacking.
Effectual working needs first effectual prayer.
2. And now the second lesson: He who would pray must work.
It is for power to work that prayer has such great promises; it is in working that the power for the effectual prayer of faith will be gained. In these parting words of our blessed Lord, we find that He no less than six times
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
23 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.
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
repeats those unlimited prayer promises which have so often awakened our anxious questionings as to their real meaning: whatsoever,' anything, what ye will, ask and ye shall receive.'
How many a believer has read these over with joy and hope and in deep earnestness of soul, has sought to plead them for his own need? And he has come out disappointed.
The simple reason was this: he had taken the promise from its context.
The Lord promised the unrestricted use of His Name with the Father in connection with the doing of His works.
The disciple gives himself wholly to live for Jesus' work and kingdom, for His will and honor, to whom the power will come to appropriate the promise.
He who fails to grasp the promise when he wants something very special for himself will be disappointed because he would make Jesus the servant of his own comfort. But to him who seeks to pray the effectual prayer of faith, because he needs it for the work of the Master, to him it will be given to learn it; because he has made himself the servant of his Lord's interests. Prayer not only teaches and strengthens to work: work teaches and strengthens to pray.
This perfectly aligns with what holds good in the natural and spiritual worlds. Whosoever hath, to him shall be given; or, He that is faithful in a little, is faithful also in much. Let us, with the small measure of grace already received, give ourselves to the Master for His work: work will be to us a real school of prayer.
When Moses had to take full charge of a rebellious people, he felt the need, but also the courage, to speak boldly to God and ask His great things
12 And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
As you give yourself entirely to God for His work, you will feel that you need nothing less than these great promises and that nothing less is what you may most confidently expect.
Believer in Jesus! You are called, you are appointed, to do the works of Jesus, and even greater works, because He has gone to the Father to receive the power to do them in and through you.
Act 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Jhn 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Jhn 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do. Give yourself and live to do the works of Christ, and you will learn to pray to obtain precious answers to prayer. Give yourself, and live, to pray and you will learn to do the works He did, and greater works. With disciples full of faith in Himself and bold in prayer to ask great things, Christ can conquer the world.
O my Lord! I have this day again heard words from Thee which pass my comprehension. And yet I cannot do aught but in simple childlike faith take and keep them as Thy gift to me too.
Thou hast said that in virtue of Thy going to the Father, he that believeth on Thee will do the works which Thou hast done, and greater works. Lord!
I worship Thee as the Glorified One and look for the fulfillment of Thy promise. May my whole life just be one of continued believing in Thee. So purify and sanctify my heart, make it so tenderly susceptible of Thyself and Thy love, that believing on Thee may be the very life it breathes.
And Thou hast said that in virtue of Thy going to the Father, whatsoever we ask, Thou wilt do. From Thy throne of power, Thou wouldest make Thy people share the power given Thee, and work through them as the members of Thy body, in response to their believing prayers in Thy Name.
Power in prayer with Thee, and power in work with men, is what Thou has promised Thy people and me too!
Forgive us for all that we have so little believed the anti, promise, and so little proved by faithfulness and fulfilling it. Or forgive us that we have so little honored by all prevailing name in heaven or upon earth. Lord teach me to pray so I may prove that thy name is indeed, all prevailing with God and men and devils. Yay teach me so to work and pray that thou can’t glorify that self in me as the omnipotent one, and do the great work through me too. Amen .