“Ask Me Anything, I Will Do It”
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[a] anything in my name, I will do it.
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Pastor Thom Rittichier:
Turn with me, in your Bible, to John 14 this morning. As you’re turning there, I want to bring up a question. Anyone experienced some winter weather this past week? Snow looking like diamonds, that’s an interesting way of looking at it. You don’t have to go too far to find winter. You can surely feel it. It’s definitely winter. When I came downstairs, my wife had stuffed a blanket across the bottom of the threshold of our door, don’t normally notice that. But in this kind of weather, we did that. That was the scene. And we have seen scenes like this all week long. As a matter of fact, one of fellowship familys have scampered off to Florida. Sounds inviting, doesn’t it? Yeah, to avoid some of this winter experience. Let’s just talk about some of this winter experience that we’ve had this past week. Let’s see. On Sunday, we weren’t able to come here because of the snow. And then after the snow, we had some rain that came and the plummeting temperatures with the rain, below freezing temperatures that brought some ice here. There was ice on the road Wednesday morning when I went out to run on it. My daughter had gotten me a gift called Yak Tracks, which are things you put over your shoes that have spikes in them so that you can run on something like that. And they did indeed work. So we had roads like that and frozen doors and the wind chill yesterday went down to -8*! So we definitely have experienced winter weather. I had a lot of opportunity this past week, to use this Christmas gifts also. It is this cool looking shovel. It helps you work smarter not harder. Derek stopped by the chapel as I was trying to get some of the snow off of the place. And I had this snow shovel out and I got a comment, like I normally do, when I’m in public using this shovel. A guy stopped and he made a comment about that being a monster shovel. This is a great shovel. And you know, I noticed something this past week while doing this shoveling business, I can have the sun work with me or I can do this shoveling business and completely not consider the impact of the sun on this. When I was at the chapel, removing the snow in such a way that you have those diamonds like we were talking about kind of left there and frozen, and then the sun comes out. And without putting any salt on the walkway, just the sun shining on it, it melted and dried it and it was so nice. Then I went out after 6pm and tried to take some snow off of that same walkway and it was frozen and resistant and difficult and almost impossible to move. Matter of fact, there’s still some there right now.
You know, if we change s-u-n to s-o-n, we have a great illustration of a promise Jesus made to us. It’s here in John chapter 14, look with me at verse 12. Jesus said this. “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. And greater works than these he will do. Because I’m going to the Father. Whatever you ask me in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” That promise has direction for us. These are amazing. There are several promises here in this John 14 passage. It has some amazing Over The Top Promises to us, you remember that’s the series we’re in. God has given us according to 2 Peter 1:4, exceedingly great and precious promises. These are over the top promises so that we can become partakers with him in the personality, the nature he has, to join him in the way he thinks, acts, moves, exceedingly great and precious promises. And Jesus made several of them right here, over the top promises, for us to be involved in. And it’s like this winter weather here. Here’s a picture of the sun coming up and look what it’s done to the road there. This change to the walkway, even though there was work in getting the snow shoveled, it melted. “The works that I do, and greater works than these.” And Jesus promise is, ask me anything and I’ll do it. That’s a great promise. The works that I do, you’ll do. Greater works than I do, you’ll do. And the promise, ask me anything and I’ll do it. That’s an amazing. promise. These are absolutely amazing promises. When we take into account this promise, according to the way Jesus spoke to us, we’re able to do exceedingly more than what we even ask or think. The New Testament talks to us about that. You look at that and say, What? Greater works than Jesus did? Yep, greater works than he did. Whoever believes in him. Why? And he explains that. He explains why. And then he clarifies it for us. This is an amazing promise. This is an amazing thing. It clarifies for us this working in accord with Jesus, like working in accord with the sun in shoveling snow. And as we take that into account like he said, What gets accomplished? This is amazing.
Let’s start here with the with this What. That we can do greater works than Jesus? What? To whoever believes, Jesus said, they will do works that I do, you will do those also. Now, to to really get a good grasp on this, I want you to look at verse 12. And notice something there with me. Jesus said at verse 12. “Truly, truly, I say to you,” and we’ve heard that formula before. Right? Have you heard Jesus use that expression before? What is he going after? What do we know when he uses that expression? He’s emphasizing it. There are 23 different times, up to this point, that Jesus used that phrase to emphasize something. And it actually comes from the Hebrew the words that mean surely, this is firm. And he says it twice, emphasizing this, this is a sure thing, you can stake your life on this, this is a sure thing. And notice some of the things he said when he used this formula. “Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly I say to you, except one be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Truly, truly I say to you, except one be born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” “Truly, truly I say to you, he that hears my word and believes him that sent me has eternal life, and will not come into judgment but is passed from death to life.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming. And now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone that commits sin is the slave of sin.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” And that’s just a few of the 25 statements where he used that statement. Jesus is giving us a, truly, truly, I say to you , statement underscoring that you can stake your life on this, this is a statement, that is a for sure thing, take it to the bank. And these are such amazing promises that I didn’t want us to slide by them. I wanted to bring them home to us, we need to take these into account. And we need to live accordingly with what Jesus said here to bring the power of the Son to play on the path of life we have, to bring it into operation, that melting power of the Son. One guy speaking on this said, “Jesus in this next short section shows them the potential of faith to change their lives and the world around them.” That is Grant Osborne, who is a well known Bible teacher, especially on the New Testament. “Thus far Jesus has centered on the works of God through him, and now he applies these truths to the works of the disciples themselves. We move from illuminating faith to appropriating faith.” (taking it and using it.) “Those who finally comprehend the true nature of Jesus will now through the Spirit discover the incredible spiritual power available to them.” That’s the point that Jesus is driving at. Whoever believes in Me, whoever trusts me. You know, that’s the vision that’s very needed for us this year. It’s about trusting I AM. That’s what it’s about. It’s about transferring confidence from what you think and what you see to what the Lord says and what he’s doing. And here we have the amazing power of the Son that we work with in doing it.
Amazing power, much more than the physical sun. To those who believe in me, they will do the works that I do. What works did Jesus do? What works did Jesus do? Here’s an interesting summary. This is a summary of what Jesus did that was given in Acts 10:38. It says this, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and with power. And he went about doing good”, he went everywhere doing good, “healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him”. Jesus did supernatural things. He did supernatural things that were good. They were supernatural, raising people from the dead, healing the blind, healing the lame. He did amazing, supernatural things in the physical realm, would you agree with that? There are seven of them in the book of John that are pointers to the fact that he is the Christ. And the promise here is that you will do the works that I do. That’s amazing. Is it true? That we can enter into amazing supernatural things and works of God on earth? Jesus said he did these by the finger of God. It’s what he said. Can we enter into those? Well, if you believe, if you trust him, you will enter into those, you will be able to go around doing good. You will be able to deal with those who are oppressed by the devil, for God will be with you. This is a summary in the book of Acts of what Jesus did. You see folks, we function in a natural realm with supernatural capabilities. We function there. We live there. According to what Jesus said, He who believes in me, whoever believes in me, will do the works that I do. You know, we have prayed in this church, for people to be healed. Now, it’s not that you and I have in our hands this ability to command or direct to God who He’s going to heal. Because it’s by the finger of God that Jesus did this, but he did do this. And there are ways and means that he tells us for going about joining him in what he’s doing.
Not long ago, I was given a book called The Unseen Realm-Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. I have been spending some time with this. And the Bible talks about the supernatural taking place. And what Jesus is talking to us about here, is entering in with him to the supernatural and doing the works that he does. The power of the sun to melt ice, it can do it on its own, will do it on its own. But you and I can work with this, and see much more accomplished. If we work with the Son on this, this is the promise. I didn’t make this up. I didn’t concoct this. This isn’t some preacher going haywire. This is the Lord in the flesh, God, who tells us “truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.” He will do them. And, he adds here, and will do greater works than these. Now, what is this about, doing greater works than Jesus? Do you remember, Jesus raised the dead. He just did that. In the book of John, where he raised Lazarus from the dead, “Lazarus come forth.” And there he comes. After being dead for days. Jesus also raised the widow’s son, do you remember that story? And he raised the centurion’s daughter. What are we going to do, in doing greater works in Jesus? Are we going to raise more of them than he did? How do you do a greater miracle, a greater sign, in the supernatural realm coming into the physical realm, than raising somebody from the dead? You know, even the faith healers don’t accomplish that. I’ve heard faith healers challenged by saying, If you have this gift from God, go to the hospital, no, go to the funeral home and raise the dead! What are we going to do, raise more than three from the dead? We’d have to do more than that. Because Jesus tells us in John 5:25-29, he uses this formula, “Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he’s given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all” (notice it wasn’t three but all) “who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” So to do a greater miracle than Jesus, we’d have to be able to raise all of the dead because that’s who he’s going to raise. Some, 1 Thessalonians chapter four, “and they will go to be with the Lord.” And some, Revelation chapter 20, “And they will face a judgment for their sins, those who have trusted Christ, shown by the good that they brought forth to life.”
How do we do a greater miracle? Do you get more power in the miracle? How do you do that? Well, he is making a point here, he is telling us that we will do greater miracles and they’re greater in scope. In Matthew 15:24, Jesus is in the midst of a ministry. And there are some people who come to him, who he does end up helping, but he says to them, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The scope of what we do is greater. We are not sent only to the lost sheep of Israel as Jesus was Matthew. We’re greater in scope, and Jesus has this in mind because he talks about all men, John 12:32, all men being drawn to him, after his death, after being lifted up, he will draw all men to consider him.
You know, in this world of power politics and money plays, yet in some countries, even like these persecuted countries, where domination, power politics and money plays prevail, that this Jesus thing prevails, that it’s heard and that now, in nations like Israel, it is gaining ground among Jews. “I will draw all men to myself.” Our scope becomes greater than the scope that Jesus had, who was “sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That was the scope that he had in this and it becomes greater in the realm we have. What happened to Lazarus if Jesus raised him from the dead? Why isn’t he here? If Jesus raised him from the dead, why isn’t Lazarus around? Because he died. Jesus worked in these miracles in a physical realm. Let me give you an example. There was a time that Jesus was teaching. And suddenly, some folks opened the roof and let down a man on a pallet who couldn’t walk. And Jesus healed this man, so that he took up this palette and walked out of there, an amazing powerful miracle. And what he said was that this was done so that you will know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sin. That’s why when he said to this man, Your sins are forgiven you, they questioned him. Why did you say, your sins are forgiven you? Why didn’t you just say, stand up and walk? Because they needed to know, by this physical realm miracle, that the Son of Man has power on earth to do something that is far beyond this realm. And when he says that you will do greater miracles than me. He’s talking about the realm that we work in. We work in a physical realm. We fix things, we help folks, we give gifts, we counsel, in the physical realm.
But the work of that physical realm is into the spiritual supernatural realm. Here, let me give you an example. In James 5:14-15, Pastor James is talking about healing taking place. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” I’ve gotten in trouble for believing that. I believe that if someone is sick, and they call for the elders of the church, the elders of the church ought to pray for them. And that they can do this in faith that the Lord will save, raise up and if they’ve committed sin forgiven. Because there is some effect of sin on physical well being, we can do this. As a matter of fact, I carry with me a bottle of oil to anoint, olive oil, as requested following this procedure. Because we enter in doing physical work, a spiritual realm. Now he goes on here. He says how to do this, verse 19. And he wraps it up by saying this, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back…” So you’re going along as a believer, and there’s another person who’s kind of been around the Word of God, they’ve been exposed to it, but they wander off from it. And if you bring him back, verse 20, “…let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.” What Jesus is talking about is us, entering into this spiritual realm, going to a brother, and ministering to them, ministering encouragement, ministering the Word of God, ministering to the unsaved the Word of God, and we, in this physical realm, go into the spiritual realm, and we do greater works than Jesus. The scope is further, the extent is further because we’ve joined him.
And that Jesus had this in mind becomes very evident, because that very night in John 17:20 he prays to the Father, “I do not pray for these, my immediate followers, only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” Do you hear that? That’s us, entering in this physical realm into that spiritual realm. Which is far beyond us, which requires supernatural, for without him, we can do nothing. And we enter into that. And we do greater works than Jesus did, in scope and in realm. This is an amazing truth. This is an amazing truth of the power that is available for us to tap into. And it has the amazing power of the Son to do exceedingly more than what we could ever do with our own little shuffle. And he wants us in on this. He’s asking us to be in on this, we will do this. But we won’t be doing it on our own. We will be doing it because Jesus said, I’m going to the Father. That’s what he says is the reason why this amazing “What” takes place, works that he did and greater works. Because he says, I’m going to the Father. What’s Jesus doing since he’s gone to the Father? He’s interceding for us. Hebrews 5 says that he is our great high priest. We have a great high priest who’s ascended there, who can be touched, who has sympathy with our weaknesses, because he was tempted in all things like we are. But without sin. So we have him there, somebody who knows and who feels what we feel in our weakness. And we can come boldly to him and find grace and mercy to help. What does this have to do with doing what Jesus does, and greater things than Jesus did when he was here? It has to do with us having Jesus there, in Heaven, now. And him giving grace and mercy to help, for us individually, for us to pass along, grace and mercy to help help in a way that’s supernatural. Its like the power of the sun to do things more than we can do with our shovel. Folks, there’s a way to tap into this.
Remember that I told you that I got in trouble, as a pastor with some deacons. Because I did that ministry to a person who asked, I got in trouble with some deacons because I did that ministry of praying, like James told us, for some people who asked. A husband whos wife had Lou Gehrig’s disease, came with that request. And it so saddens me because it’s so ministered to her and her husband. She was lifted up, she was renewed in confidence. But because it had this supernatural tone to it. Those deacons didn’t like that I did it. It saddens me that as a church, we don’t realize that we work in the supernatural. And it’s not my idea. It’s what Jesus told us, to encourage us to get with him. In this, to minister good everywhere. To minister grace and mercy to help in time of need, that’s supernatural. And I want you to know, I’m not backing down. I’m not backing down on that. I still will anoint with olive oil. And I still will anticipate God to do what he said. And it’s not my hand. It’s was living in accord with him on this, taking into account what he said. But I know there are excesses where people think it’s their hand that does it. I get that. But because of excessive, shall we back away from what the Lord said? What do you think? No way!
Why will we be able to do this? Why will we be able to do greater things? Why will we’ll be in the spiritual realm with a broader scope and extended realm with people? Jesus tells us why. Verse 13, “Whatever you ask in my name”, we go there, we’re able to do this, because you ask in Jesus name. Now this is not saying a prayer and ending it by saying in Jesus name, amen. Do you know that is never in the New Testament anywhere? There is never a prayer that said, in Jesus name. Never, never. But many of them are said in Jesus name. Without the formula, because it’s not about that phrase being added. By the way, I don’t oppose to that phrase, I say that phrase, I say that phrase, because it’s a good reminder of how this really happens. It’s in Jesus name. But the New Testament never gives us that, because that’s not the issue. That we attach this, therefore, we’re good. It’s because it’s really done in Jesus name.
Now, I want you to know, this praying in Jesus name, is a blank check. Charles Spurgeon, who was a preacher from a while ago, he has a book called Faith’s Checkbook. What this is, is that there is some big deposits, there is a lot of resources in heaven. And by the way, just to give us a picture of this, the Bible tells us the Lord owns the cattle on 1000 Hills. That’s kind of picture of the resources he has. How many cattle are on 1000 Hills? I don’t know. And by the way, this is true story, some folks in the heritage of faith, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Harry Ironside, Donald Barnhouse, those guys were together. They were trying to do a work for the Lord. It was to start a seminary down in Dallas, Texas, they were working on trying to promote this for the teaching of God’s Word in people’s lives. But they were at a place where they just didn’t have the resources. So those guys, maybe some others, they realized they didn’t have the resources. And so they quoted that verse, You know, Lord, you say, you have the cattle on 1000 hills. Could you sell some of those cattle and bring us the resources. And you know what happened? That day, a cattle rancher shows up and says, I’ve been selling these cattle and I’ve got it laid on my heart that I need to bring this to you, and he delivered the money. You see, it’s a supernatural realm. And we’re subject to dismiss that. But those guys glorified the name of the Lord. And they did it out publicly. Because they prayed in accord with Jesus name. This is a blank check. This is a blank check with a power of attorney, Jesus name. You know what the power of an attorney is? If somebody signs off the power of attorney, that means you control all their resources. You control them all. I remember a guy who was a Bible teacher that I knew. And he was going overseas, and had to sign a power of attorney over to his father and he did it with trepidation because suddenly his father controlled everything. This is a blank check, with a power of attorney. There’s a checkbook in heaven with resources that are amazing. And you get the blank check with the power of attorney. Jesus says, Whatever you ask, condition, in my name.
Now Jesus gave this, he said, for the purpose of joy, that your joy is there, your happiness of heart, and it’s full. That’s what he said in John 16:23-24, “…truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” But when we ask in Jesus name, with the promise, that I will do it, we need to do it specifically. His promise says, I will do it, is a specific promise. So if you leave your prayers in general requests, such as, God bless all the missionaries, make them happy and healthy and successful. Then guess what you have? This unseen, undiscernible thing that you just prayed for. We have a specific prayer requests, we have a building here that we may not be able to use in the future. And we need a building, we need to ask the Lord to make some arrangement for this building to go on for us. That would be a good group request, to ask the Lord to make us an arrangement. Now we have a particular arrangement in mind that we’d like to see, if Lord would do this. But we ask specifically. I want you to know that to buy this building is way beyond our resources. And to run this building is way beyond but we ask, I’m daring to ask. Are you daring to ask? Let’s be daring to ask.
He’s going to tell us what it means to pray, in his name. It’s in his name, when it’s aligned with his aim, when his aim, which was that the Father be glorified, is in our heart, that the impression of God be made bigger, not bigger than it really is. But that it be recognized for what it is, that the opinion of God and His power, His Majesty, His ability, be brought out, be given into people’s minds and hearts, that they carry that opinion. That’s what it is for the Father to be glorified. Sometimes this is said to be magnified. And it’s not magnified like a microscope, something that’s really little that you make big. It’s magnified like a telescope, something that is far away from people, brought close. The glory of God, His brilliance, His ability, what He can do in your life, that it be brought close, when you align with what the aim was, that Jesus had. He says, John 14:13, “whatever you ask in my name”, aligned with me, my direction, this will I do. It’s a promise, I will do it. For this reason, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” That’s what he says to us. Listen to what John Calvin said on this. He’s talking about the Lord adding this clause. “If he had not added this clause, the consolation”… the help that he was giving, don’t let your heart be troubled in what you’re going through, believe in God, believe in me, I’m departing, don’t let your heart be troubled… “the constellation could not have been complete. Particularly since our memory is so short. When we are called to consider the gifts of God. On this subject it is unnecessary to go to others for examples, for when God has loaded us with every kind of blessing, if he pauses for 14 days, we fancy that he is no longer alive. This is the reason why Christ not only mentioned his present power, with the apostles, at that time, beheld with his eyes, but promises an interrupted, conviction of it for the future.” You ask anything, I will do it. Jesus says this again. Because our memories are so short, we are so prone to forget that when you’re born again, you’re born of the Spirit. You’re born into the spiritual realm. You’re granted by Jesus, a blank check, with power of attorney, that involves anything that aligns with his will. So he repeats, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. I will do it. It is promise.
Let me close this morning with this. When I was a kid growing up, I grew up on a farm. There was this family in our area that had a farm. And the parents had done well with the farm. So they went to Europe. And when they went to Europe, on this extended trip, they signed the power of attorney over to their son. Thier son, as the power of attorney, sold the farm while they were gone. And he bought an airplane. He wasn’t a pilot. But he bought an airplane with it. And he flew the airplane. I remember hearing the story that he flew under a bridge with the airplane. I don’t know. I know I’ve seen movies people doing that. I don’t know. But I want you to know that this power of attorney and blank check isn’t so we can just use it for whatever we want. James says that. It looks at our motive. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. Your ask and you don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives. That you may consume it on your own desire. The guy sold the farm and use it for the plane he wanted and he wasn’t even a pilot. That is amazing. That’s not what God has given to us here. He’s giving us this blank check, with a power of attorney as it aligns with what Jesus name is. Then ask me anything, about a building… anything, about the life of this person that I’m interacting with …anything, about people you have opportunity to minister to that God would specifically bring them to Christ, that God would help them to see how to find purpose and meaning in their life…anything, anything in my name and I will do it. Your experience should be notably marked by this. Your and my experience of shoveling the stuff that we have in our life should be marked by the power of the Son.
Father in heaven, this is true. Don’t let us be so nonchalant in our physical realm that we dismiss this powerful spiritual realm that you’ve given us, this blank check and power of attorney to use in our requests. This is an over the top promise and God, there are greater things. There are greater things that are yet to be accomplished. In Jesus name, amen.
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