1 John 5:14,15

DISCOURSE: 2469
ANSWERS TO PRAYER

1 John 5:14. This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

PRAYER is universally acknowledged to be a service proper for sinful men to perform; yet few have any just idea of its efficacy. If a man were to speak of having received an answer to his prayers, he would be considered as an enthusiast, who was deceiving his own soul. Yet it is clear that we are taught to expect answers from Almighty God, and that too even in relation to the specific petitions which we have presented before him. The words which we have just read abundantly attest this, and naturally lead me to shew,

I. The confidence which a believer may enjoy in drawing nigh to God—

He may possess a confidence,

1. Respecting the acceptance of his prayers in general—

[God has been pleased to make himself known to us under this very character, “A God that heareth prayer [Note: Psalms 65:2.].” And in the most explicit terms has he assured us, that “no man shall seek his face in vain [Note: Isaiah 45:19.]:” Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened [Note: Matthew 7:7.].” In truth, if this hope were not held out to us, it would be in vain to approach our God at all. Thus far, therefore, the world at large will admit the efficacy of prayer: they will acknowledge that some good will proceed from it; though their idea is, that the benefit will accrue rather from the meritoriousness of the act of prayer, than from any attention paid to the prayer itself. But we must go further, and assert, that the believer is warranted to enjoy a confidence also,]

2. Respecting specific answers to each particular petition—

[This is plainly declared in the passage before us, and therefore it may certainly be expected. But here it will be proper to mark the different limitations with which the subject must be understood. If these be not carefully noted, I grant that much error may prevail in relation to it; but if these be kept in view, we may take to ourselves all the comfort which this subject is calculated to convey.
First, then, the text itself limits our petitions, and supposes them to be in accordance with the will of God: “If we ask any thing according to his will.” It were absurd to imagine that we could, by any request of ours, prevail on the Deity to do any thing which was contrary to his will. This limit, therefore, must be admitted of course. Besides, our prayers must be offered in the name of Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator; nor is there any access to God for us, except through him. Hence he himself, in order to the acceptance of our prayers, requires that they be offered in his name [Note: John 14:13; John 16:23; John 16:26.]. They must also be offered up in faith. A man that doubts and “wavers in his petitions must not expect to receive any thing from the Lord [Note: James 1:5.].” Our Lord therefore declares this to be essential; “Whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive [Note: Matthew 21:22.].” And peculiarly strong is his declaration in another place, where he says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them [Note: Mark 11:24.].” Our prayers, too, must be presented with a pure and holy end; not for the gratification of any unhallowed feeling of our own, but with a view to the honour of our God [Note: James 4:3.].

Moreover as proper limits must be assigned to our prayers, so a proper latitude must be conceded to God for his answers to them. He is not bound in relation to the time when he shall answer them, or the manner in which he shall answer them. He may suffer us to wait long before he answers us; that so we may feel the deeper need of his mercy, and be better prepared to receive it, and be led more devoutly to praise him when he has answered. In answering us, too, it must be left to him to grant what, in his infinite wisdom, he may judge most conducive to our welfare. “He heard his dear Son always;” yet he did not take the bitter cup out of his hands; but enabled him to drink it [Note: Matthew 26:39.], and for his sake took it out of the hands of a dying world. He did not extract the thorn from the flesh of his servant Paul; but he made use of it, to prevent the risings of pride, which would have been an infinitely sorer plague; and enabled him to rejoice and glory in it, as the means of honouring more abundantly his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:9.]. Even to an angel he refused the specific request; but “answered him with good and comfortable words,” which were eventually a more suitable and substantial blessing [Note: Zechariah 1:12.].

Take these limitations, then, with respect to our prayers, and these exceptions respecting God’s answers to them; and then we need not fear to entertain the confidence described in our text: we may not only be “sure that God hears us, but we either have, or shall have, the petitions that we desired of him.”

And now you will readily see,

II.

The encouragement which this affords him to abound in that duty—

What is there that man can need at the hands of God? Whatever it may be, he is at liberty to ask it: and may be confident, that, in answer to his petitions, it shall be granted to him. Needest thou, believer,

1. The forgiveness of thy sins?

[Call them to remembrance from thine earliest infancy, and spread them all before him: fear not, either on account of their number or malignity; but go with confidence to thy God, in the name of Jesus; and “he will blot them out as a morning cloud,” and “cast them all behind him, into the very depths of the sea [Note: Isaiah 44:22.Micah 7:19.].”]

2. A supply of grace, to sanctify thy soul?

[Look not at the inveteracy of thy lusts, as though they were too great to be subdued; but look rather at the extent of God’s gracious promises; and expect that he will enable you to “cleanse yourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2 Corinthians 7:1.].” Restrain not prayer before him; and he will transform you into “his perfect image, even from glory to glory,” “by the mighty working of his Spirit, who raised Christ himself from the dead [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 1:19.]” — — —]

3. All the glory and blessedness of heaven?

[“Be not straitened in yourselves, my brethren; for ye are not straitened in God.” He himself says to you, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it [Note: Psalms 81:10.]:” and therefore spread before him your every want, assured that, as he is able, so also is he willing, to “give you exceeding abundantly above all that ye can ask, or even think [Note: Ephesians 3:20.]” — — —

If it be said, that such confidence is not warranted at this day, I ask, Are our privileges diminished under the Christian dispensation? or, Are we less entitled to expect these blessings, than the Jews were, under their less perfect economy? I grant, that we are not authorized to expect such visible interpositions as they enjoyed: but ours shall not be a whit less real, or less certain. We have not the Urim and Thummim, whereby to consult God, and obtain an answer that shall be legible by acknowledged marks upon the breast-plate; but God will nevertheless hear us when we call upon him; and cause us also, in doubtful circumstances, to hear a voice behind us, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” Though therefore I acknowledge, that, as being under a theocracy, the Jews enjoyed privileges peculiar to themselves, I affirm that, so far as those privileges will conduce to our spiritual welfare, we possess them in as high a degree as ever they did; and it is our own fault if we avail not ourselves of them, for the advancement of our souls in peace, in holiness, and in glory. Did the Prophet Elijah shut and open the windows of heaven? it is recorded to shew the efficacy of prayer, for whatever it be made, and by whomsoever it be offered [Note: James 5:16.]

I would not however conclude without suggesting a caution, in reference to your exercise of this confidence—

[Take care to exercise it with modesty and holy fear. It is possible enough to mistake our own feelings for an answer to prayer; and to persuade ourselves that God is directing us, when we are following only the imaginations of our own hearts. Let us, on all occasions, take the written word for our guide; and, in all doubtful circumstancess, wait the issue, before we presume to refer them to God as expressions of his will in answer to our prayers. The truth in our text is to be improved rather for our encouragement to commit our ways to God, than for the purpose of determining positively what God has done, or will do. Let us take it with this limitation, that God will fulfil our requests, if they will really conduce to our welfare and to his glory; and then we cannot err, nor can our confidence ever be misplaced.]