115. John. 15:7  A CONDITIONAL PROMISE OF ANSWERED PRAYER

Introduction:

	In the Parable of The Vine the vine represents Jesus
Christ.  The husbandman represents those who profess to be
disciples of Jesus.  Dead fruitless branches represent those
who profess to be disciples of Jesus, but who are not really
saved.  The fruit-bearing branches represent those who are
really saved.  Fruit-bearing branches which are broken off
from the vine represent the saved who have backslidden and
have become fruitless.
	In our text Jesus makes a promise of answered prayer to
His disciples, but the promise is conditional.

I.  The promise that Jesus made

	V. 7, "...ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be
done unto you."  The promise is that the disciples would be
able to ask whatsoever they will and their request will be
granted.  I would say that is an amazing promise, wouldn't
you?  This promise is beyond our wildest dreams.  We could
have never even dreamed that such a thing could be possible
---- that we could ask what we will and that it would be
done.
	We can easily understand that we can ask what we will.
What is hard for us to understand is that what we ask that
it will be done.  Our request will be granted.  Jesus said,
"Ask what you will and it will be granted.  That is really
something.  Isn't it?
	But let us keep in mind that there are conditions which
must be met in order for this promise to be fulfilled.
There are two conditions that must be fulfilled in order for
the promise to be valid to us.

II.  The first condition that must be met
	
	(V. 7), "If ye abide in me..."  The first condition that
must be met for the promise to be fulfilled in our lives is
that the disciple must abide in Jesus.  That is, thedisciple
of Jesus must maintain a closeness with Jesus.  He must
maintain a close fellowship with Jesus.
	Jesus is not saying that the disciple has got to remain
saved.  If one is saved he will remain saved.  Jesus,
Himself, will take care of that.  In John 5:24 Jesus said
that the believer has everlasting life and will never be
condemned.  Once one is saved he will always be saved.  The
power of God that saved him is the power that will keep him
saved.
	What Jesus is talking about here is a close fellowship
with Jesus.  Just as a branch must remain attached to the
vine in order to be productive, even so a Christian must
remain close to Jesus in order for the promise made in this
text to apply to him.  A saved person cannot live in
rebellion to the will of God for his life and expect God to
grant him whatever his heart desires.
	For instance a child of God cannot ask God for great
wealth so that he may waste it on worldly pleasures and
expect God to grant that request.  James 4:3 says to those
who make such requests of God, "Ye ask and receive not
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts."
	God is well aware that saved people can become selfish
and greedy.  He also knows that some saved people do some
very ungodly things.  God has a lot better judgment than to
promise a selfish, greedy rebellious unyielding ungodly
child of God that He will give him anything his selfish
rebellious heartss desires.  That, indeed, is not what Jesus
promised in our text.
	He did promise that a Christian can ask whatsoever he
desires and that his request will be granted, but He made
that promise conditional upon the Christian maintaining a
closeness with Jesus Christ, the Vine.  Jesus said that the
branch must remain in the vine in order to draw strength
from the vine.  Even so the Christian must maintain a
closeness with Jesus who is the Vine if he would have the
promise that he can ask whatsoever he will and that God will
grant his request.
	The implication is that a Christian who is close to
Jesus is not going to ask for material things just in order
that he might consume them upon his fleshly desires.  If a
Christian is very close to Jesus his desires and his prayers
will be higher and more noble than to ask God for material
things just for the purpose of satisfying his own fleshly
desires.

III.  The second condition that must be met

	(V. 7), "...and my words abide in you..."  The second
condition which Jesus placed upon the Christians for
fulfillment of this promise is that the words of Jesus must
abide in the Christian.  This means that he must know the
words of the Lord.  I do not mean that he memorize the words
of the Lord and be able to quote them, but he must be
familiar with them.  He must know what Jesus has said.  The
words of Jesus cannot abide in him until he becomes aware of
what Jesus has said.
	Furthermore, he must not only know that Jesus has said,
but he must know what Jesus meant by what He said.  He must
understand the word of God sufficiently well to know the
will of God in the matter under consideration.  He must know
the will of God for his life as revealed in the words of
God.
	The idea is that the disciple who is really close to
Jesus and who is well enough informed in what Jesus said and
what Jesus meant that he knows the will of God will be
careful what he prays for.  He will not ask God for things
that he knows to be against God;s will.  He will ask God
only for those things which he has reason to believe are in
the will of God.  He knows the will of God because he knows
the words of God and knows what the words of God mean.
	For example, those disciples who had walked with Jesus
through the three and a half years of His earthly ministry
really loved Jesus and they would most certainly desire that
Jesus not go to the cross.  They would most certainly desire
that Jesus stay with them rather than leave them and return
back to heaven.  Yet they were not at liberty to pray and
ask God not to send Jesus to the cross.  They had heard
Jesus tell that it was for this purpose that God had sent
Him into the world.  The could not pray and ask God to
leavea Jesus here on earth with them.  They knew by the
words of DJesus that it was the Father's will for Jesus to
return to heaven.  for such things and expect that God would
grant their requests.
	I am not inclined to think that any of the disciples did
pray and ask God to spare Jesus from the cross.  Neither am
I inclined to think that any of them ever prayed and asked
God to leave Him with them here on earth.  But if any of
them had prayed such prayer it would not have been granted
and they would not have expected it to be granted.  They
already knew that it was not the Father's will for Jesus to
remain here on earth.
	Neither were those disciples at liberty to ask God for
fabulous riches to heaps upon themselves because they had
heard Jesus instruct the rich young ruler to give his
possessions to the poor.  They had heard Jesus tell them all
to deny themselves and to take up their crosses daily and to
follow Him.  They were sufficiently close to Jesus and
sufficiently informed in His word that they knew that it was
not the will of God for them to ask for great riches to heap
upon their own lusts.
	They were not at liberty to pray for God to hurt their
enemies because they had heard the words of Jesus which
instructed them to pray for their enemies.  They knew that
it was not the will of God for them to ask God to clobber
their enemies and do them harm.  It was the will of God for
them to ask God to bless their enemies.
	Those disciples were not at liberty to ask God for high
positions of honor, prestige and power.  They were familiar
with the words of Jesus which had rebuked the scribes and
Pharisees for seeking high positions of honor and they knew
that it would not be the will of God for them to ask for
such positions for themselves.
	They were not at liberty to pray for worldly pleasures
because they had heard Jesus call upon them to take up their
crosses and make sacrifices for God.  Furthermore they had
heard Jesus instruct them to let their light so shine before
men that men could see their good works and glorify God in
heaven.
	In other words, their knowledge of the word of God and
their understanding of the will of God limited them in what
they could legitimately ask God to do for them.  They were
to ask God for things that they knew to be in will of God.
They were to ask for things which they knew to be pleasing
to God.  They were to ask for things which they knew to be
in harmony with the words of Jesus.
	It was in view of these two conditions that Jesus told
them that they could ask what they will and that God would
grant their requests.

IV.  The greatness of the promise which Jesus made

	Yet this does not at all mean that the promise which
Jesus made to them was small and insignificant.  It was
indeed a great promise to them and it is also a great
promise to us.
	For instance later the Apostle Peter was in prison and
the people of the church met to pray for him.  While they
were still praying for him, the Lord granted their request
for Peter and sent an angel to release him from prison.  In
James chapter 5 we are told that when there is sickness we
can pray and that our prayers for the sick can make the
difference in whether he dies or whether he gets well.
	Yet our knowledge of the word of God enters into the
picture in this matter of praying for the sick.  It does not
mean that anytime we pray for a sick person that person will
get well.  The Bible teaches that it is appointed unto all
men to die.  So somewhere along the line all will die even
if Christian people are praying that they will get well.  It
simply is not the will of God for every such person to get
well and if one is well informed in the word of God, he
knows that.
	Yet, the children of God pray many times and the sick do
get well as a result.  They pray for many things and have
their requests granted.  We are told in James chapter 5 that
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much.  We can pray for rain and the prayers of God's people
can have a lot more influence over the weather than El Nino
does.  The prayers of God's people can bring the needed
rain.  The prayers of God's people can also stop the flood.
James said that Elijah was a man of like passions as we and
yet he prayed for the rain to stop and God stopped the rain
for three and a half years.  Elijah then prayed for rain and
his prayer resulted in a great downpour of rain.
	We are instructed to pray and ask God for the things
that we need and we are informed in the word of God that
God, like a loving father, gives good gifts to His children
in fulfillment of their requests.  The Apostle Paul said
that God will even do more than we ask for.  He will do more
than we dream that He would or could.
	But it does help to say close to JLesus and not drift
away from Him and get out of His will.  It also helps to
know and understand God's word so as to learn what is God's
will and what is not God's will according to the teachings
of the word of God.  We still may not know the will of God
in some matters, but the word of God sheds much light on the
will of God and we should study it.

V.  The need in our own lives

	But we must remember that in order for the promise which
Jesus made in this text to apply to us we must remain close
to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must not drift out of
fellowship with Jesus.
	Let me put it another way.  When we do drift away from
the Lord and His will for our lives, let us be quick to come
back to Him and seek to be close to Him once again.  We all
are subject do drifting somewhat.  We all allow the cares of
life and the things of this world at times to absorb all of
our attention, our time and our energies.  We all drift to
some measure out of the will of God.  But we must not allow
our lives to continue out of fellowship with God.  We must
bring out attention back to God and to the will of God for
our lives.  We must learn to put God first and to put other
things second.  We must maintain a closeness to Jesus in
order for the promise which Jesus makes in our text to be
fulfilled.  It is only when we are close to the Lord that we
will pray prayers that are within the bounds of His will.
We need to know that even though we are saved, when we ask
amiss our requests will not be granted.
	Also, we must continue to hear and read and study God's
word.  While we can read and study His word at home, yet we
can learn more by sitting in a Sunday school class and
sitting under the preaching of His word than we will learn
at home.  Most of us are like the Ethiopian eunuch.  He was
riding in a chariot reading the word of God when Philip
joined him.  Philip asked, "Understandest thou what thou
readest?"  The eunuch answered, "How can I except some man
explain it to me?"  We need somebody to explain it to us.
	But we do need that understanding of God's word if we
are going to have a more effective prayer life.  We need to
know what God's word says, we need to know that God's word
means and we need to know what the will of God is as
revealed in His word.  When we know the will of God as
revealed in the word of God we can more effectively pray.
We will be better able to ask andreceive what we ask for
because we are asking for things that are within the will of
God.  We are not asking amiss.
	Let me speak for a few moments to those who are lost.  I
want to point out to you the most important things for you
to ask for.  Just as all men are sinners even so you are a
sinner in the sight of God and you need to ask God to
forgive you of your sin.  I strongly suspect that there is
one special sin that you have committed that stands out in
your mind and you know that you need to be forgiven of that
sin.But I am not talking about forgiveness of just that one
special sin.  I am talking about forgiveness of that special
sin plus all of your other sins.  I am talking about
forgiveness of every sin that you ever commit.  You ever be saved.
	If you never get saved, you must know that there is no
hope for you.  Even if you could ask God and receive a world
of wealth and pleasure you would still be doomed.  If you
never repent of your sin and you never trust in Jesus Christ
to save you from sin you will spend eternity without God.
You will spend eternity suffering for your sin.  Your
eternal destiny is at stake.  Only Jesus can save your soul
and only you can make the decision to trust in Jesus Christ
for salvation.

Conclusion:

	I am now going to call for the musicians to come forward
to lead in a congregational hymn.  I am going to ask that if
you are saved and yet you need to get your life back in
close harmony with Jesus Christ that you make that
commitment to Jesus while the congregation sings the hymn.
I am going to ask that all of you make that commitment right
where you are.  Just talk to Jesus in your heart and commit
yourself to a closer walk with Him.
	I am going to ask that some of you do more than make a
silent commitment to a closer walk with the Lord.  I am
going ask that some of you walk the aisle to make it public
that you are committing yourself anew to living for Jesus.
I do not need to tell you that you are the one who needs to
walk the aisle and make your commitment public.  If you need
to come down the aisle you know it down in your heart.  If
you know that you need to come, then I am going to ask you
to do it.  Come.  Come now.
	If there is some Christian here who is in need of moving
your membership here to Pleasant Hill, then I am going to
ask you to come and let your desire be known to us.
	If there is some unsaved person here this morning I am
going to ask you to do what you know you ought to do.  I am
going to ask you to repent of your sin and call upon Jesus
to save your soul.  I am going to ask you also to come
forward to commit yourself to the Lord to serve Him.