Upper Room No.5 The Father

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this privilege this morning to come into your immediate presence in the house of the Lord. Pray that you'll grant to us now a sense of reverence as we bow before you. We thank you for the joy that is in our hearts to worship you, but also we come before you with awe, as it were, because you are the great and mighty God of creation.

And we thank you again this morning for your Son, whom you sent into this world to be our Savior and our friend. And so we come with great expectation this morning. We thank you for your promise that you will be in the midst of those who meet in your name.

And we've come this morning to do that, come to learn of yourself and to worship you. We pray, our Father, that we shall really sense your presence amongst us here this morning. And as we come to your word, we pray again there that you will reveal it to you, through your servant, to each of us, that we may be blessed in our hearts and in our lives this day.

And again, our Father, we very especially commend this open-air witness this afternoon. We pray that everything there will be done and said will be to your honor and to your glory, and that people will gather around and hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, will you open blind eyes this afternoon.

We thank you for this beautiful day. We give you all the praise and all the glory. In Jesus' precious name, amen.

I return to our opening hymn in the hymns of faith, number 52. I'll praise my Maker while I breath, and when my voice is lost in death, praise shall employ my nobler powers. 52, we'll stand and sing.

His truth forever stands secure. His faithful friends keep peace above, and no one shall find his promised land. His eyes find to the looking blind.

His sense of every conscience is clear of the stranger in distress. The vigil of Christmas we release. We empty bread.

Christmas we make. Just before Mary starts, there is a missionary prayer meeting this week. It's not on the notes and news, but I'd like to emphasize that there is a missionary prayer meeting Thursday at 3 p.m. Thank you.

Thank you, Mary. Thank you. Good morning, boys and girls.

How are you all? All right? Oh, nobody here today. Good morning, boys and girls. Oh, that's a bit better.

Perhaps you'll wake up in a minute. Right, we have two prizes this morning for 42 weeks' attendance. Claire Smith, boys.

Right, well done. And Nicola Priest. Where's Nicola? Oh, there you are.

Right in front of me. All right, thank you. Right, we're going to start off with a chorus, and I'd like somebody to come and hold it up for me, please.

Who's going to volunteer? Come on then, Georgie. Can you get right up here? All right. When the road is rough and steep, fix your eyes upon Jesus.

He alone has power to give. Fix your eyes upon Him. Jesus is a gracious friend.

One on whom you can depend. He is faithful to thee. I think we can do better than that.

Come on, once more. Thank you. Well done.

Right, who can tell me, there's a special week next week. What's happening? Can anybody tell me what's happening next week? Anybody? Oh, only one person. Is only one person going to come? After all my hard work, only one person going to come? Yes, Louise, what is it? You've forgotten.

Holiday club, that's right, holiday club. We're going to be doing lots of nice things, painting, craft, music, games, quizzes, and I hope that lots and lots of you will be able to come, and it's for five-year-olds to eleven-year-olds. And if there are any little ones that are just about five, you'll be starting school in September, then you can come as well.

All right? Now, I've got another chorus, and I need another volunteer. Come on, Michelle, and you come and hold it up for me. Actually, I think I need a few volunteers to come and do the actions, because I'm hopeless at this one.

Anybody going to come and do the actions for me? Come on, somebody. Oh, you know it, do you? Come on, then. Come on, then, James.

Anybody else? Oh, right. Up we go, then. Don't knock each other off, will you? Right, are we ready? I hope you know how to do it.

I hope you know how to do it. Because I was getting a muddle. Right.

Sing, sing your heavens away, for Jesus has promised to carry them all. Sing, sing your heavens away. God, fly your heavens away.

God, fly your heavens away, for Jesus has promised to carry them all. God, fly your heavens away. Pray, pray your heavens away.

Pray, pray your heavens away, for Jesus has promised to carry them all. This is where it gets difficult. Well, I don't think we did too badly.

Perhaps we'll get better as the week goes on. Right, thank you very much. I'd like to get down now.

That's it. Very good. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Michelle. Right, can anybody tell me what they think a burden is? Can anybody tell me what they think? What is a burden? Does anybody know? Paul? Sin. Yes, it's a type of sin, isn't it? And it's something that really sort of weighs you down.

Now, I've got something in the corner here, if I can reach. Oh, and it's very heavy. And we're going to learn about somebody in the coming week who found that he had a burden and he found it was very difficult to get rid of.

In fact, he didn't really know how he was going to get rid of. And it made him very sad. And inside, oh yes, some not very nice things in here.

Who's going to help me hold them? Anybody? Nobody? It's not that drastic actually. Come on, Louise. Come and hold one of them up for me.

No? Come on, Claire. It's not as bad as it seems. Not really.

I wouldn't really do anything rubbishy to you. Oh, what's this? What's that say? Who can tell me what that says? Being unkind. Yes, that was one of the things that could have been weighing him down, wasn't it? What about this one? Can you pull this one out for me? Oh dear, it's upside down.

Who can tell me what that one says? Cheating. That's right. That's another not very nice thing, isn't it? Somebody else going to pull something out for me? Come on then, Paul.

You're very keen. Oh dear, I'm whistling here. Am I moving too much? What's that one say? Telling lies.

That's right. That's another not very nice thing, isn't it? I'm sure we all do it sometimes, unfortunately. I've got two more.

Come on then, Daniel, isn't it? I'm not very good at names. Can you move up and let little Daniel come up here? There we are. Dive in there.

Can you get one more out of there for me, do you think? That's it. What have we got there? Oh, that's not a very nice one either. Will you go forward and show them? What's that one say? Shout it out if you know.

Selfish. That's right. Being selfish.

Not sharing your toys with anybody. One more I've got. Come on then, Lisa.

Can you see that one in there? It's down in the corner. Look, pull it out. Oh, that's right.

Do you want to come up this side because there's not much room now? Lift you up there. Oh, that's it. Oh, we've got it upside down, I think.

Yes, up that way. That's right. Being dishonest.

That's right. Perhaps blaming somebody else for something that you in actual fact did. Well, we're going to learn something about this in the coming week.

This poor man had these things on his mind, and they were weighing him down, and he didn't know how he was going to get rid of them. But I can tell you that by the end of the week, you will find out how he got rid of them. So if you want to find out a little bit more, you're going to have to come along and see, aren't you? So I hope to see you all Monday, 10 o'clock, yes? Right through until Friday, and we'll have lots of fun, and we'll learn more about how this man got rid of his burden and how he became a changed person, a new creation.

And we're going to sing now a new chorus, fairly new. I'm afraid perhaps not all of you will know it, so I hope we'll get through it all right. It says, I am a new creation.

I think we'll sing it through twice. Thank you very much. It's number 179 if you need the books, or I think it should be coming on the overhead thing.

And while we're singing this, we'll have the offering taken up, please. I am a new creation, born in God's creation, in the grace of God I stand. My life is overflowing, my love just keeps on flowing, in the grace of God I stand.

And I will praise you, Lord, and I will sing of all that you have done. A joy that knows no limits, a likeness in my spirit, here in the grace of God I stand. Once more.

I am a new creation, born in God's creation, here in the grace of God I stand. My life is overflowing, my love just keeps on flowing, here in the grace of God I stand. And I will praise you, Lord, and I will sing of all that you have done.

A joy that knows no limits, a likeness in my spirit, here in the grace of God I stand. Now that really is a super one, but you can't really sing it sitting down, can you? Here in the grace of God I stand and 500 people all sitting down, it doesn't make sense to me. Let's stand and sing it, let's enjoy singing it.

There's a beat and there's a tempo, there's also meaning to these words. Let's worship the Lord as we sing it. I am a new creation, born in God's creation, here in the grace of God I stand.

Let's bow our heads in prayer, shall we? And let's say together, boys and girls and mums and dads, grown-ups, everyone, let's say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen. Lord, we've been singing about the gladness in our spirit, because the burden that we have has been rolled away, or it should have been. And we thank you for all the potential that there is of relaxing and enjoying this day and knowing your presence.

Now be with our boys and girls, bless them. Bless Mary and her helpers in this special holiday club. May it be a smashing time, we ask of you.

Be with the teachers, or those who are going to speak to the children right now, and some of our young people also. Bless us all during the remainder of this day. We thank you for it.

Thank you for the lovely sunshine. Thank you for all the opportunities of today. In the name of Jesus, our Lord.

Amen. Let's remain standing. And let's go to the second hymn on the board there, 38.

And as we sing the first verse, our boys and girls can leave us. Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices. Let's not drag this hymn.

The second verse we'll take unaccompanied. O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us. 38 hymns of faith.

O hear the spirits of today. O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us. With ever joyful hearts and blessed feet to cheer us.

And keep us in His grace. And guide us when we're blest. And free us from all ills in this world and the next.

O praise and thanks to God the Father now be given. The Son and Him who reigns with men in highest heaven. The one eternal God.

Lost is now and shall be evermore. Let's remain standing and let's just, in a moment of quietness, just bring our own hearts, thoughts, confessions, and praise to the Lord. Thank you Lord for saving my soul.

Thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me. Thy grace shall make them so rich and free.

Please be seated. Ted's got one or two things he wants to share with us and then bring a reading from the Word of God. Tony's just asked me to share a few thoughts concerning this afternoon's open air meeting.

Three o'clock on Sting Gardens. Certain things will be different from last year. For example, you won't all be sitting on chairs.

Those of you who are 60 and below, there's plenty of nice, green, dry grass to sit on. And what I want you to do, those of you who are, you know, in that nice young age group, would you please sort of sit near the stage, okay? And then there will be scattered chairs around for the older friends to sit on. But it's important that we have a rapport between the stage and the audience.

So please, those younger ones, those of you under 60s, please sit on the nice grass provided by the council. And can I encourage you please to listen? It's very important that Christian people who are there are listening. If the Christians are chattering amongst themselves, then there's not much encouragement for non-Christian people, those who are just passing by.

Not much encouragement for them to stop and listen if the vast majority of the crowd are disinterested. So would you please pay attention and really be engrossed in what's going on and be prayerful. We're going to need a lot of prayer for this afternoon.

Just about 55 minutes ago, I had a phone call from Leona Boardman saying she has a family crisis and she won't be with us. And Leona was going to do three spots in the program this afternoon. So we have to completely revise the program.

So please pray for us as we seek to revamp the afternoon's program that will be sensitive to the Lord. And can I just say, having said please listen, after the service, sorry, the meeting, please be ready to talk, to talk to people you don't know. Particularly if you sense people are not Christian people, they've just drifted in.

Go and show them that you're glad to see them. Try and show them that the Lord loves them and cares for them as an individual person. And let's be praying that we'll have some really good contacts.

As a result of last summer's open air, we know of at least four people who subsequently came to faith in Christ. So bearing that in mind, let's be open to talking with people, giving them a tract that will be available or a booklet and seeking to show them the love of the Lord in personal contact. Now would you turn in your Bibles please to John's Gospel.

And we're continuing in chapter 16, John chapter 16, and we're taking up this week from verse 23. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language, but will tell you plainly about my Father.

In that day you will ask in my name. I'm not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

I came from the Father and entered the world. Now I'm leaving the world and going back to the Father. And Jesus' disciples said, now you're speaking clearly and without figures of speech.

Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God. Now we're going to sing another hymn in a moment, but can I just give a supplementary notice, and that is to say that this evening at 6.30, although we're not meeting for the gospel service at 6.30, we're meeting at 7 o'clock, but at 6.30 we're taking that extra half hour to invite friends who are concerned about this holiday club if they'd meet for prayer.

Now I'm not too sure of the location, but let's say that we'll make it the coffee house, just so that that's quite clear to everyone. I'm not too sure where they've had the other prayer meetings, but they can meet in the coffee house at 6.30. So if you're not involved in the program next week, or even if you are, but you have an interest, then would you like to come along at 6.30 and help pray us through? We probably have quite a lot of boys and girls to look after for a couple of hours every morning, and that doesn't need praying over. So you could show your support and be an encouragement to us if you could just use that extra half hour that you've got in addition today.

And then at 7 o'clock, probably here downstairs in the sanctuary, maybe in the lounge, we're going to have an hour of worship and praise, and I want to bring a word that's growing on my heart from the Lord. So we will be meeting this evening, but the main focal point of attention is, of course, our 3 o'clock get-together, as has been outlined by Ian and Ted. Now before this 39th hymn in hymns of faith, let's just commit ourselves again to the Lord.

Father, we're so grateful for who you are. We think of the theme of our service this morning, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. We praise you for the way that you've revealed yourself in a very special fashion through the gospel.

Lord, it would have been sufficient in one sense just to have known of you through the natural world, but then though we would have gathered that you're a great being and you have creative power, there would have been so much left unknown, what your feelings were toward us, whether you have a concern for the variable experience through which we go in life, how we come to a knowledge, a personal knowledge of you. So we thank you that you've fleshed out your revelation, so to speak, in our Lord Jesus. He has revealed to us the character of God, and we're glad to know that our God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.

And we can say Abba, Father, and confess you from the depths of our hearts. And Lord, many of us here, to bring that message of salvation to our own loved ones, if it was a question just of doing, we'd walk to the North Pole to do it. We would go through any exacting test of stamina to be able to bring those whom we love to a knowledge of yourself.

But we appreciate that there's nothing that we can do apart from pray that within your grace you will soften their hearts and bring them to a point of decision. And we do ask, Lord, that you will grant to our church family here household salvation. Moms and dads who are concerned about their children, adult children who are concerned about their parents.

Lord, we long to see our loved ones, one for you. We long, Lord, for you to minister right now to any in the tab who, for whom these past few days have brought particular pressure, and with your Father heart, in compassion towards them, just move in and touch them. Bless us all, Lord, and make this day a very special day.

Bless the household of God in this town, in this county, in this country, around our world. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed, Lord, we pray that you will bless its broadcasting throughout our world for Jesus' sake. Amen.

39, lovely hymn, an ancient one from the 17th century. Let's again sing it in a lively fashion, all praise to God who reigns above the God of all creation. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ O this my thanks shall endless be, O thank Him and come out with me.

To God all praise and thanks give, O thank Him and come out with me. O this my thanks shall endless be, O thank Him and come out with me. To God all praise and thanks give, O thank Him and come out with me.

To God all praise and thanks give, O thank Him and come out with me. And I'd be glad if you'd have your Bibles open at the passage to which Brother Ted Davey has already referred as he brought the reading from the 16th chapter of the Gospel of John. Let me explain for those who are visitors that it's our custom in the tab to make our way through chunks of scripture and to let the scripture itself decide what the curriculum is and what the specific topic is each Sunday morning.

And we've been looking at one of the most famous and yet one of the least known addresses that our Saviour preached for these last three months, the Paschal Discourse. The occasion when our Lord with His disciples addresses them in the upper room and then leaves the room and moves down to the Garden of Gethsemane talking all the time, sometimes stopping in order to let the disciples ask questions or to digest what He has to say in a typical Hebraic fashion of instilling information. But the time is fast running out.

You see, He's only got an hour or so, if one can estimate, left with His disciples to teach them. And these are most important things that He has to say because, well, Gethsemane is in store and Calvary and that awful separation and then those days that are beyond before the Ascension and then, of course, His exaltation into heaven. So this is a very, very important time both in the life of our Lord Jesus and also, even more so, in the lives of the disciples who, in effect, are the church in embryo.

That means to say they represent you and me. I've on many an occasions felt disposed to tell you, to remind you that the last words that someone says, even at the human level, have perhaps a greater value and importance than what they said in earlier years. Well, here are the final words, if you please, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in this remarkable sermon in which He's touched on so many, many interesting and practical subjects and challenged the disciples in the area of what it really means to follow Him and teach them something about the gift of the Spirit and how they'll be empowered to fulfill the obligation of taking the gospel throughout the world. He now closes in on something that's pivotal to the whole of His teaching. He wants them to be more aware of who the Father is and what it really means to know the Lord God, the Creator of the world, as Heavenly Father.

So, really, we take up our study from the 23rd verse and onwards. There was a book written some years ago called The Forgotten Father. It was written by a colleague of mine, Thomas Smale, who once was principal, I believe, of the Anglican College at Nottingham.

And his concern, and rightly so, was to correct the fact that very often in evangelical churches, we take up reference to the Son and we sing our praises to the Son. And in the last two decades in particular, we've rediscovered the doctrine, the experimental doctrine of the Holy Spirit. But Thomas Smale was arguing that there is a tendency, having made these corrections, particularly the last correction in regard to the Holy Spirit, for the Father to be pushed into the background, the forgotten Father.

Now, it was a shame that the book ever had to be written, and yet it was a good thing because the problem was there and he was a very perceptive man in appreciating it. And our Lord Jesus, you see, in these verses, has this concern on his heart to underline the person of the Father. You get it throughout the discourse, don't you? In my Father's house are many mansions.

Without the Father, there would be no hope of eternal life. That's what our Lord Jesus is in effect saying, isn't it, in the 15th chapter. And then he tells us about the glory of the Father in the 8th verse.

Father is glorified, this is still chapter 15, as you engage in evangelistic enterprise and you gain much fruit as a result. He goes on to say that opposition to him is actually opposition to the Father. Verse 23 of the 15th chapter.

He who hates me hates my Father as well. Indeed, as we discovered in the 16th chapter, those who cruelly treat the early disciples, verse 3, do such things to them because they don't really know who the Father is. So you see how our Lord, throughout this discourse, is concerned to emphasize the doctrine of the Father.

The Father has shared everything with the Son. And as a result, the Son can pass blessings on to those who follow Him. Verse 15 of chapter 16.

All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. Do you remember my opening prayer, at least the longest prayer that I offered a few moments ago? I was talking in terms of thanking the Lord that He hasn't just revealed Himself as Creator.

There's an illustration that I'm fond of. Robinson Crusoe on the island where he'd been shipwrecked. Do you remember? Now, he comes across a footprint.

And that tells him one thing. The island is inhabited. There is somebody else there.

But you can't work out very much, can you, from a footprint? I mean, you don't know. Well, you would know whether they've got big feet or not, but you don't know whether it's a man or a woman. You don't know whether the person is black or white, whether educated or uneducated.

You can go on with all the options. But the day came when Robinson Crusoe was introduced to the owner of the footprint, Man Friday. He became Crusoe's servant, thus allowing the quip that Crusoe was the only person who always got his work done every Friday.

But leave that one alone. Fleshed out was the person of Man Friday. Now, our God and Father, the Creator of the universe is revealed to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And He tells us of His nature, of His person, and of the interest that He has in your life and my life. So let me bring to you three little hooks, if you like, that will help you to understand verses 23 to 28 in our Saviour's teaching. First of all, petitioning the Father.

Petitioning the Father. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth.

My Father will give you whatever you ask. And then, secondly, understanding the Father. Though I have been speaking figuratively, verse 25, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language, but will tell you plainly about my Father.

And then, pleasing the Father. In that day, verse 26, you will ask Him my name. I'm not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.

No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. Petitioning the Father, understanding the Father, pleasing the Father. All right, let's take that first hook, shall we? Petitioning the Father.

Back to verse 23. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Now, here's an occasion defined.

In that day, remember Jesus is speaking to the disciples, He's talking about an event when they will have great abilities in prayer. In that day. Now, when was that? What day does He have in mind? You see, the commentators have had a bit of a battle trying to work it through.

Is He referring to the second coming? Does He mean that day? Does He mean the day after His resurrection? Or does He mean the day when the Spirit was given at Pentecost? Does He mean that particular period? Well, it seems to me, as we try to define the occasion that He's referring to, by the very context, we must bring in the conclusion our Lord is speaking of the dispensation of the Spirit. In other words, just round the corner for the disciples will come this very special day, this very special period in which they can engage in prayer in a way that they've never known before. Petitioning the Father.

The occasion defined. In that day. But then there's an option denied, isn't there? In that day you will no longer ask Me anything.

And verse 24, until now you have not asked for anything in My name. An option denied. And that sounds strange, doesn't it? It almost sounds as though Jesus has made a mistake.

What do you mean, Lord? They've never asked you anything. I mean, they haven't really stopped asking questions, have they? In the whole of this discourse. You remember, our Lord is setting out earlier on the business of knowing the Father.

And one of them gets up, Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us. And another one gets up and says, Lord, we don't know the way. Will you give us more information? And here is our Lord saying, thus far you've asked Me for nothing.

It doesn't really make sense. Well, actually it does, of course. As you would imagine from our Lord Jesus.

If you concentrate very carefully on the way that He is actually responding to the disciples and teaching them at this point. You see, when He's referring to asking the Father in terms of prayer, He uses a completely different verb than when He is recapitulating on them asking Him questions in terms of information. Now, the latter they've been doing all the time.

Because they're very dull people. Now, I don't say that critically. We're very dull people, aren't we? I've been studying this book for years.

And yet there are still many things that I'm really wanting more light on. That's one of the reasons why, although I'm a preacher, I live by the tapes of other men's ministries. Because I get great insight in listening to men like Paul Tucker and the late Martin Lloyd-Jones.

As they come and they explain Scripture to me and I'm generally listening to it as I'm driving around in my car. Now, the disciples were asking the Lord questions all the time. And often they were very, very dull in grasping what He had to say.

Now, it's not that that the Lord is here referring to. He's referring to the fact of prayer. Asking for things in the area of petitionary prayer.

Verse 24, Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Verse 23, In that day you will no longer ask me. Why not? Well, you see, our Lord Jesus won't be physically there, will He? The day of Pentecost, you look around, you don't see the Saviour.

Not visibly. You see, this was a great problem for the disciples, wasn't it? It's the sort of problem that you and I have never had. We haven't known Him physically.

So our appreciation of spiritual experience is indeed that it's at the level of the spiritual. But for them it was very physical. When they had a problem, they ran to the Lord Jesus.

And He's been trying to unhook them, so to speak, from this practice or from this attitude during the whole of this discourse. Do you remember the problems they got into when He was saying, A little time and you won't see me, yet a little time and you will see me. As poor old disciples, it was worse than the telegraph crossword puzzle.

Trying to get onto what He was saying. Now you and I know, but we live after the event. For them they didn't.

They were linked into the historical Jesus. And they were bringing questions to the historical Jesus. But one thing they were not doing was praying to the historical Jesus.

Why not? Well, they didn't really appreciate that the Lord Jesus was a person in any case who could answer prayer. Did they? They'd followed Him as a teacher. They'd looked up to Him as a master.

They'd loved Him as a friend. They'd believed on Him as the Messiah. But they had not fully realized that He was the one mediator between God and man through whom alone God's mercy could come down to sinners and through whom sinful creatures could draw near to God.

So when our Lord speaks about petitioning the Father, there's an occasion defined. You'll do it on that day. And there's an option denied.

You'll not be asking me. But there is an action desired. And that is that the disciples come to a full realization of the potential that there is in prayer.

Look how He repeats this in the 24th verse. The end of the 24th verse. Ask and you will receive.

And your joy will be complete. But now our Lord was essentially a man of prayer. I don't really understand this.

I wonder why He needed to pray. But He did, didn't He? Time and time again you find Him in an attitude of prayer. Before the sun has risen, He's praying.

The end of the day, He's praying. He's in a holy contact with His Father. Now don't you see, my dear brother and sister, that's an illustration for you and for me.

We too, because we are sons of God, obviously on a lesser level than our Lord Jesus, can come to the Father and enjoy the intercourse of prayer. No, it's correct that you and I should have as a desire to handle prayer in an accurate fashion. You say, what do you mean? Well, very often we get the persons in prayer mixed up when we're addressing the Trinity, don't we? And sometimes people will say, Our Father, thank you for dying for me.

But the Father didn't die for us. It was the Lord Jesus who died for us. And in His death, He makes it possible for you and for me to enter into the benefits, the power of His name, and come to the Father.

If I gave you a checkbook from my account at the Royal Bank of Scotland with my name on, and it was made out in your favor, you could present it over the counter, and they would pay you the money, assuming I got the amount that was written out. They would pay it to you, wouldn't they? But really, you wouldn't be exercising the authority. It would be me, my signature.

So prayer, you see, will come in a petitionary fashion to the Father in the name of the authority through the person of our Lord Jesus. Now, the disciples couldn't do that before, could they? Because He hadn't died on the cross. There was still this obstacle between them and the Father.

But the day will come, and it's just around the corner. On that day, you'll not be asking me questions. In fact, you'll so have the gift of the Spirit that the questions that you might have been asking will have been... the answers will have been revealed through the Spirit.

That's why, incidentally, in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, you don't get the disciples asking questions, do you? The Spirit has come and continued the work of tuition that our Lord Jesus commenced. He didn't tell them everything because they couldn't understand everything. But during those days when the Spirit was very real in the minds and the hearts and the experiences of the disciples, the total revelation of the purposes of God is mapped out for these early men and women.

So here is our Lord Jesus, and He's encouraging that His early disciples should petition the Father. Petitioning the Father, the first hook, so to speak, that I give you in understanding these verses. And then verse 25.

Understanding the Father. Though I've been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language. Those of you who've got the authorized version, you'll find the word proverbs.

Though I've been using proverbs or parables. Solomon did that, didn't he? And there's a greater than Solomon here. It's none other than our Lord Jesus.

And there were parabolic sayings in this discourse. I mean, the whole business of the Father's house. Or the vine and the vineyard.

The woman in travail. Our Lord used parables quite frequently in His ministry. He did so for two reasons.

No time to give you the verses, but you can check them through on your own if you like later on. One is in Matthew, halfway through the Gospel. He was concerned that the truth that He conveyed should not be appreciated by those who would handle it in an improper fashion.

So He spoke in parables. That sometimes those who had ears would still not necessarily comprehend Him. And those who had eyes would not necessarily see what He was saying.

Because their hearts weren't right. He used parable expressions and stories. But for the disciples, those who were in on the inner secret increasingly, He began to preach in language that was plain.

Because they could grasp the salvation that He offered. They weren't like swine, before whom pearls were being scattered and they were wasted because the swine didn't appreciate the value. The disciples weren't like that.

I've met people like that, haven't you? You've told them about the Lord Jesus and they laugh. They're utterly insensitive. And there were people like that in the Lord Jesus' day.

But the disciples, they were in a different category. And so He starts to speak to them more plainly. In that day, He says, I won't speak in parables.

I'll speak plainly so that you will have an understanding, a greater understanding of my purposes in coming into this world and revealing the Father. And there are a couple of things that you can conclude, that you can draw, conclusions that you can make from these verses. The first is that the fullness of knowledge of the Father will bring fullness of joy.

Ask and you will receive, the latter part of verse 24, and your joy will be complete. Jesus Christ has a desire to teach men and women about God. Knowledge of the Father is one of the foundations of the Christian religion.

And yet there are few subjects so unexamined in the experience of most people than the subject of the Father. I mean, a lot of people know that the Father is the creator of the world. They're aware that the Father has something to do with the Christian religion.

But they don't want to know of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in terms of the one who has made an atonement for sin possible. They don't know of the Father who has a concern for the salvation of ordinary people like you and me. But it is most important, our Savior teaches us, that people do come to a knowledge of the Father.

And so he tells us more about who Father is and what Father has done. This is life eternal, that they might know you, that they might know me. I'm sorry.

Father, the time has come, chapter 17. The time has come, glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those who have given him.

Now this is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Our Lord Jesus has a concern that people might know the Father. The fullness of knowledge will bring to them the fullness of joy.

And you remember, during the period that our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, he taught the disciples more about himself, the two on the Emmaus road. For example, when they began to appreciate who Jesus was, what did he do? He opened the scriptures, didn't he? And he taught them about himself, beginning at Moses and going through all the prophets. He showed them truths about himself and the Father.

When Mary Magdalene had the experience of the Lord revealing himself to her in the resurrection garden, he tells her more of himself, and then he tells her to go back to the brethren, because he has an appointment to keep with them, and in that appointment in Jerusalem, and subsequent appointments, he tells them more and more about the Father. So, verse 25, here of chapter 16, Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language, but will tell you plainly about my Father. The fullness of knowledge brings with it the fullness of joy.

And what's more, the fullness of knowledge leads to the fullness of prayer. And so, our Lord tells us later on in this passage, in that day, verse 26, You will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.

No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. What does that, in effect, mean? Well, you see, in that day, the disciples will be able to pray in the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus in their own, or on their own. That doesn't mean to say that our Lord is never going to intercede anymore for them, but rather they're going to come alongside him in this holy ministry of intercession.

And they can do that. Why? Well, because they understand the Father. Who is the Father? Well, he's the Father of the Lord Jesus.

All that Jesus is, the Father is. He has a concern for them. He has such a concern that they can look at those vines that are burning that night as they're moving towards the Garden of Gethsemane and they can think of the gardener, the husbandman, the way that he cares for those vines and encourages fruit.

Now that's what Father is like. My Father is like that. And you've got an increasing understanding of Father because no longer are parables being employed that are only half understandable to you.

Then you can come to this Father and you can pray to him and you can bring to him the desires of your heart. So, what is our Savior teaching us? Well, he's teaching us about petitioning the Father and how basic to that is an understanding of the Father and then finally, pleasing the Father. Verse 26, In that day you will ask him my name.

I'm not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me. You see, already the disciples are pleasing the Father.

You say, how do you please God? Well, by believing who Jesus is. Now, the Pharisees haven't done that, have they? You see, even though the disciples' grasp of things is somewhat dull and just around the corner they're going to run away and leave the Lord Jesus, the Father nonetheless is pleased with the disciples because over against everybody else in the ministry of our Lord Jesus, or almost so, they stand out as the ones who believe that Jesus has come from the Father. Now, if they honor the Lord Jesus, in effect they honor Father.

You say to me, Preacher, am I in any way pleasing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus now? And my answer is yes. Yes, if you've confessed him as your Savior. Yes, if you recognize who he is because he has come as God's ambassador.

Jesus did not come to make God have a kindly heart disposed towards you and me. This is what he's arguing against, you see. You disciples, you can now come to him on your own merits.

You've no need just to wait for my prayers. Rather, you can come along yourself because Father is pleased in you. The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

They were pleasing the Father that they already were doing and that they would go on to do. You see, the interesting thing is when you look towards the end of the New Testament, you discover that the disciples have learned a lesson, haven't they? You see, theirs isn't just a Jesus theology. They don't just say, come to Jesus and be saved.

They don't just teach Jesus only. They do that, don't misunderstand me, but they put it in a larger case with a larger perspective. Behold what manner of love the Father hath declared upon us that we should be called the sons of God.

This is John, the very writer of this gospel who, with the rest of the disciples, were finding it so difficult to understand. But now the Lord's no longer spoken to them in parables. He's been ministering to them after the resurrection.

The power of the Spirit comes down and brings to their mind all that Jesus has taught and advances upon what the Lord has taught, giving them more and more information. And it becomes clear. This Father, he's not divorced from them.

He's not divorced from the Lord Jesus. This gospel of salvation, it's not being manufactured just by the Son. It's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit operating together to bring about the possibility, the grand possibility of salvation.

Now, are you beginning to grasp that? I'm not asking you if you fully comprehend the Trinity. I don't myself. There are things I have to humble my mind before the Word of God because I can't fully enter into all that God is saying.

That doesn't prove a problem to me because I'm not God. If I was God, I'd have his mind and I'd have his full understanding. But there are times when I submit my mind to the authority to the statement of Scripture.

And when I do that, as I believe that God the Father sent the Son into the world to die for my sins, so I'm pleasing the Father. And you see, not only am I pleasing the Father, but then I have a greater ability to petition the Father. You see, I don't say, Heavenly Father, bless those people at the tabernacle because I really do sweat in that pulpit.

Neither do I say, Lord, bless the people at the tabernacle because, well, I put an awful amount of time into this address. Lord, bless those dear friends at Worthing Tabernacle because I come to you in the name of your Son. You see, I can plead his name.

On a couple of occasions in those verses, he refers to his name. It's his name that I dare to drop in my prayers before the Holy Father and know as a result I have an audience with him. Because the wonder of it is, he accepts me as he accepts his Son.

Because I become a Son of God as a result of what the Son of God has done for me. How do you please the Father? Well, by believing. Believing in the Son.

And coming to a deeper and fuller and greater understanding of who Father is. I know some of you have not had the privilege that I had of a good father who would have given me and my brother anything. But take your concept of fatherhood, the best you can envisage it, multiply it by a million and then put another million.

And you're beginning to understand in just a flickering fashion what the God and Father of our Lord Jesus is like. And he's not removed from you, my friend. He draws near to you in the person of his Son.

That's why Jesus came, to show the Father. And so in your feeble understanding of him, let your heart now be warmed. And your prayer life that's perhaps been in tatters, let it be remade.

As you begin to appreciate that as you petition the Father in the name of the Son. So you have a very powerful vehicle by which to pray. And as a result of doing all that, you please the Father.

Listen to this final quote on prayer. The prayer that Jesus is encouraging you and me who are his followers to offer. Prayer is the dove which when sent out returns again bringing with it the olive leaf, namely peace of heart.

Prayer is the golden chain which God holds fast and lets not go until he blesses. Prayer is Moses' rod which brings forth water of consolation from the rock of salvation. Prayer is Samson's jawbone which smites down our enemies.

Prayer is David's heart before which the evil spirit flies. Prayer is the key to heaven's treasure. Until now, you have not asked anything, for anything in my name.

Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete. I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

I came from the Father and entered the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father. Let's stand and sing Abba Father, let me be.

Let's just pause a moment. I wonder if you felt like I did. Does it shock you to hear a preacher say this? The last thing I wanted to do this morning was to come to church.

My mind so stretched, my nerves so taut. So silly to come to church when you feel like that, isn't it? But not so silly if you can come into the sanctuary and discover that the Father does love you. And that nerves can be eased and tensions lifted.

Because it's Father's concern, not that you're whipped into religious subservience by some Egyptian taskmaster. But rather that you might discover the depths and the dimensions of his love. And know that love just sweeping over your heart and soul.

I had to get a grips with myself just before I came here. Now maybe some of you are like that. String over a violin bridge.

So tense. I'm not speaking to you psychologically. I'm not using scripture and perverting it.

But I do believe that the children of God are to know the peace of God. That we shouldn't be wrapped up in a package that the world knows. Sometimes so strained.

The Lord wants us to relax and to know his presence and to know his love and to know his healing. And his forgiveness, a sense of well-being. Let's just ask him for that.

Father your love is precious beyond all loss. Father your love overwhelms me. And may his love just meet you.

Whether you're an old person or a young person. Whatever you are at this moment. Whatever your position is.

Whatever your state is spiritually. May God just meet you as we sing this song. 101 if you can't see the overheads.

Father your love is precious beyond all loss. Father your love overwhelms me. Father your love is precious beyond all loss.

Father your love overwhelms me. So I lift up my hands as an expression of my love. And I give you my heart with my whole being.

Father your love is precious beyond all loss. Father your love overwhelms me. So I lift up my hands as an expression of my love.

And I give you my heart with my whole being. Father your love is precious beyond all loss. Father your love overwhelms me.

Now Father with that love as an option for us through our Lord Jesus to enter into more fully. We come to the end of this part of our worship. But carry us through.

Many of us here around the table. And help us to envision more. Something of the magnitude of the love of our God displayed through the Savior.

Help us in understanding you more to appreciate more of the way that we can please you. And in pleasing you we ask that we might be more bold in our petitionary prayer on behalf of ourselves and for others. And help us all, help the preacher to realize that you're not a God who whips into submission.

Not a God who wants life to be lived with nervous energy dissipated and so much tautness within the human frame. You want us to relax and to enjoy you because we're sons and daughters of the living God. Amen.

I'm suggesting Evelyn if you continue to play a little whatever is on your mind and we'll come around the communion table as soon as we can.