IN THE NAME OF CHRIST
(Joh 14:13-14 NKJ) (Joh 16:24-28 NKJ)
"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (Joh 14:13-14 NKJ)
"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.
26 "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you;
27 "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
28 "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." (Joh 16:24-28 NKJ)
The New Testament introduces a very distinctive element into prayer: the Name of Jesus. Of course, when we pray, we usually end our prayers with the words, “In the Name of Jesus, we pray…” However, when Jesus told us to pray in His Name, He didn’t just mean to repeat those words. To pray in Jesus’ Name means much more than just the repetition of a clause. It means to pray by virtue of the Person of Jesus. It means to petition not out of just who we are, but out of who we are in Jesus. It means to extend our hand to receive from God what He gives to us because of Jesus.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NAME OF JESUS IN PRAYER
1. THE NAME ASSERTS THE PRIORITY OF CHRIST. HE IS THE FIRST.
When I approach God in the Name of Jesus, I assert that Jesus has priority over my life.
Like John said, “He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" (Joh 1:15 NKJ)
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (Col 1:16-17 NKJ)
HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS
Christ Existed Before. He was with the Father..
Christ Went Before … He is the anchor of our hope.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
(Heb 6:19-20 NKJ)
2. THE NAME ASSERTS THE MEDIATORSHIP OF CHRIST. HE IS THE MIDDLE ONE.
Through Him are all things.
He Stands between Man and God and the Eternal Priest, the Lamb of Sacrifice, the Atonement of our Sins, and the Paraclete. Therefore, He declared “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn.14:6). This understanding is important since the statement is trans-temporal, it applies to both Pre-Fall and Post-Fall situations alike. There was never that Christ was not the way. He did not become the way. He eternally exists as the way, the truth, and the life – the eternal “I am”, immutable and absolute.
He is the Eternal Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psa.110:4). Not created but eternal.
He not only stands in between me and God. He also stands between me and anyone or anything else. He holds all things together.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
"But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship. He stands in the centre between my neighbour and myself. He divides, but He also unites. Thus although the direct way to our neighbour is barred, we now find the new and only real way to him—the way which passes through the Mediator." – Bonhoeffer
Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbours through Him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbours"
3. THE NAME ASSERTS THE FINALITY OF CHRIST. HE IS THE LAST.
IN HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.
that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-- in Him. (Eph 1:10 NKJ)
FOR HIM… All things were created through Him and for Him. (Col 1:16 NKJ)
NOTHING BEFORE HIM, NOTHING AFTER HIM
NOTHING THAT CAN BE REMOVED, NOTHING THAT CAN BE ADDED.
IN OTHER WORDS, YOU DO NOT NEED ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE NAME OF CHRIST.
THE NAME OF CHRIST IS ENOUGH, ESSENTIALLY SPEAKING.
ILLUS: SIGNATURE ON CHECK
But, the Name is again not just about repeating few words.
IS CHRIST THE PRIORITY OF YOUR LIFE
IS CHRIST THE MEDIATOR OF YOUR LIFE
IS CHRIST THE FINALITY OF YOUR LIFE
That alone will make the difference
(Joh 14:13-14 NKJ) (Joh 16:24-28 NKJ)
"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (Joh 14:13-14 NKJ)
"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.
26 "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you;
27 "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
28 "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." (Joh 16:24-28 NKJ)
The New Testament introduces a very distinctive element into prayer: the Name of Jesus. Of course, when we pray, we usually end our prayers with the words, “In the Name of Jesus, we pray…” However, when Jesus told us to pray in His Name, He didn’t just mean to repeat those words. To pray in Jesus’ Name means much more than just the repetition of a clause. It means to pray by virtue of the Person of Jesus. It means to petition not out of just who we are, but out of who we are in Jesus. It means to extend our hand to receive from God what He gives to us because of Jesus.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NAME OF JESUS IN PRAYER
1. THE NAME ASSERTS THE PRIORITY OF CHRIST. HE IS THE FIRST.
When I approach God in the Name of Jesus, I assert that Jesus has priority over my life.
Like John said, “He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" (Joh 1:15 NKJ)
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (Col 1:16-17 NKJ)
HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS
Christ Existed Before. He was with the Father..
Christ Went Before … He is the anchor of our hope.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
(Heb 6:19-20 NKJ)
2. THE NAME ASSERTS THE MEDIATORSHIP OF CHRIST. HE IS THE MIDDLE ONE.
Through Him are all things.
He Stands between Man and God and the Eternal Priest, the Lamb of Sacrifice, the Atonement of our Sins, and the Paraclete. Therefore, He declared “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn.14:6). This understanding is important since the statement is trans-temporal, it applies to both Pre-Fall and Post-Fall situations alike. There was never that Christ was not the way. He did not become the way. He eternally exists as the way, the truth, and the life – the eternal “I am”, immutable and absolute.
He is the Eternal Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psa.110:4). Not created but eternal.
He not only stands in between me and God. He also stands between me and anyone or anything else. He holds all things together.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
"But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship. He stands in the centre between my neighbour and myself. He divides, but He also unites. Thus although the direct way to our neighbour is barred, we now find the new and only real way to him—the way which passes through the Mediator." – Bonhoeffer
Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbours through Him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbours"
3. THE NAME ASSERTS THE FINALITY OF CHRIST. HE IS THE LAST.
IN HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.
that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-- in Him. (Eph 1:10 NKJ)
FOR HIM… All things were created through Him and for Him. (Col 1:16 NKJ)
NOTHING BEFORE HIM, NOTHING AFTER HIM
NOTHING THAT CAN BE REMOVED, NOTHING THAT CAN BE ADDED.
IN OTHER WORDS, YOU DO NOT NEED ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE NAME OF CHRIST.
THE NAME OF CHRIST IS ENOUGH, ESSENTIALLY SPEAKING.
ILLUS: SIGNATURE ON CHECK
But, the Name is again not just about repeating few words.
IS CHRIST THE PRIORITY OF YOUR LIFE
IS CHRIST THE MEDIATOR OF YOUR LIFE
IS CHRIST THE FINALITY OF YOUR LIFE
That alone will make the difference
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