"The Grace of Prayer"

Order of Service

• Hymn — Safely Through Another Week (#152)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism — Lord's Day 51, Question 126 (Fifth Petition)
• Hymn — Holy Spirit of Messiah (#401)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Before the Throne of God Above (#277)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

Sermon Title: The Grace of Prayer

Scripture: John 16:22-24

I. Condition — The Grace of Prayer and Our New Condition

• A. Our old condition was spiritual death and enmity with God, as Paul describes in Ephesians 2:1-3: dead in trespasses and sins, children of wrath, at hostility with God.

• B. Christ came to change our condition — God made believers alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5), bringing us from enmity into peace and fellowship with God.

• C. In John 16:23, Jesus grounds his instruction on prayer in the monumental redemptive shift brought about by his resurrection and ascension — "in that day."

  1. The disciples had enjoyed direct access to Jesus for questions during his earthly ministry; that would change at his death and ascension.
  2. D. A. Carson notes that "in that day" refers to the post-resurrection period as the inauguration of the last days — a new epoch in redemptive history.

• D. In that new age, Jesus' people would no longer ask him questions face to face, but would instead have a new and better way to pray: asking the Father in Jesus' name.

  1. Old Testament believers prayed through the typological mediation of the priesthood and sacrifices (Calvin: the high priest entered the holy place in the name of the whole people).
  2. These types pointed forward to Christ, the antitype, who has now entered the Most Holy Place bearing his people's names on his heart (Isaiah 49:16).
  3. The veil is torn; Christ at the Father's right hand gives his people full access to the throne of grace in a new and better way (Hebrews 4:14-16).

• E. The grace of prayer: the believer gets to "name drop" Jesus — to ask the Father in Christ's name, through Christ, because of Christ. Archibald Alexander: prayer is a holy converse, a fellowship with God.

II. Conformity — The Grace of Prayer and Our Christlike Conformity

• A. Praying "in Jesus' name" is not a magical formula; D. A. Carson explains that prayers in Jesus' name are prayers offered in thorough accord with all that his name stands for.

• B. Union with Christ by faith means being brought deeper into conformity to Christ — his mind, his will, his loves, his longings (Philippians 2:5).

  1. The word of Christ dwelling richly in us shapes what we pray; our prayers serve the word and are meant to breathe it back to God.
  2. In sanctification, the Spirit trains our loves and desires to conform to Christ's will, so that praying in Jesus' name becomes an expression of genuine union with him.

• C. Even our best prayers are stained by sin — wrong motives, self-interest, creaturely ignorance about what is truly best.

• D. The Spirit helps us in this weakness (Romans 8:26): the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, repackaging and interpreting our prayers to the Father according to the will of God.

• E. This is connected to God's purpose to conform his people to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29): prayer both reflects the conformity to Christ already worked in us and further forms us into that conformity.

  1. Matthew Henry: "What more can we wish for than to have what we want — nay, to have what we will in conformity to God's will — for the asking?"

III. Confidence — The Grace of Prayer and Our Joyful Confidence

• A. Jesus promises that whatever is asked of the Father in his name will be given (John 16:23-24); the same promise appears in Luke 11:9-10: "Ask and it will be given to you… everyone who asks receives."

• B. Guy Richard (president of RTS Atlanta) notes that Jesus sometimes leaves such sweeping promises without qualification, because he wants us to feel the full weight of the promise: prayer works.

• C. What about unanswered or long-delayed prayer? Some have abandoned faith over this; others have wrestled for years.

  1. The answer begins with conformity to Christ: Christ himself prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
  2. God trains his people in the school of submitting their will to his — learning to find him good in all his answers.

• D. The parable of earthly fathers in Luke 11:11-13 illustrates God's fatherly goodness: earthly fathers do not give harmful things when good things are asked for; how much more the heavenly Father gives good things — supremely the Holy Spirit — to those who ask.

  1. God does not always give exactly what is asked, or in the way his children expect.
  2. His answer may be no, not yet, or yes but differently than imagined — yet he is always good and never unfaithful to his promises.
  3. God is working all things together for the good of his people (Romans 8:28).

• E. The goal of confident prayer is fullness of joy (John 16:24): "Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full."

  1. Calvin: Jesus means that nothing will be wanting which could contribute to a perfect abundance of all blessings, the accomplishment of our desires, and calm satisfaction.
  2. Matthew Henry: "God's gifts through Christ fill the treasures of the soul; they fill its joy."
  3. Prayer is a means of grace: fellowship with the Father in Christ, forming conformity to Christ in us, and filling us with joy from Christ.