John Chapter 16:23-33

Jesus came for you. He came for you, and He came for me.

Not just the people who have a scope on life or are doing well. No, He came for us in our confusion and our pain and our lostness. He came for us. What an amazing thing. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee.

David is a senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Do you have a consistent joy in your life? Are you anxious about anything?

And how can you bridge the gulf between you and God? Because we've all done things that haven't been good. Our pasts are checkered. One of the pasts that have been very checkered is one of our associate pastors, D.A.

Brown. D.A., welcome to the program. Help us with this. Bob, it's true, but buddy, I have been forgiven. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to offer redemption to people like you, me, and everyone listening right now. And I know that no matter what we've done in our past, Jesus can forgive us. Today, Pastor David explains this amazing truth as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 16.

Now here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, I Will See You Again. John 16, verse 23. And in that day, you will ask me nothing, most assuredly, I say to you. Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now, you've asked nothing in my name.

Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be full. He says, pray in my name. Now, we understand, and that's why we pray. When we pray, we say, in the name of Jesus at the end of the prayer. But understand, in the Jewishness, Jesus was a Jew, in the Jewishness of what he's saying, name and nature were together. You were often named according to your nature. That's why some people were renamed, we see in scripture.

Why? Because of the nature change. So name and nature are synonymous.

They're the same thing. Why is that important? Because you can't just pray anything and put it to end in Jesus' name and expect God to honor that. See, if I go out in the parking lot and I notice you have a nice car, and I go, wow, that's a nice car. God, give me his car, right now, in the name of Jesus. I mean, there's certain people that have their theology built around this, and it almost turns into a, okay, well, I'm gonna hold my breath till my face turns blue if you don't give me that man's car, God. Man, that's so unbiblical. But if you change that to, God, give me that man's car in the nature of Jesus, well, that doesn't work anymore, does it? So ask yourself when you're praying, is this in the nature of Jesus? Is this in the nature of Jesus? Jesus is telling us how to have joy. What's the first thing you think about when you think about coming to fellowship and following the Lord?

Many of you now tell me and encourage me because you say, man, I've never looked forward to going to church, but I look forward to going to church here. Because you're getting it, and that joy is starting to work. But the world stands off to the side and says, oh, that's not the way you get joy. You don't get joy from Jesus. You get joy from doing this, that, and the other.

No, you don't. See, I've met people. I've met people who had a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. One guy knew that his trust fund paid him $150,000 a month. And him and his father owned 15,000 apartments and condos that they collected, millions of dollars every month.

And he was one of the most unhappy people I've ever met. And yet, so many believers have far less than that. And there's a joy and contentment that's there. That tells you the world right now is trying to lie to you, telling you where to get joy. Now, here's another thing that Jesus is tying in that's very interesting, prayer and joy. Now, let me ask you a question.

And this shows you how the world has crept into the church and the enemy, and we've started to believe a lot. When I say prayer, what do you think? Joy? I bet not. I say, prayer, you go, hmm, prayer. Oh, here we go. I'll get beat up. I'm going to get beat up. I don't want to beat you up about prayer. I want to encourage you.

I want to encourage you. Now, you know, pastors have this special way of beating people up about prayer. I don't know if you've ever noticed. Sometimes it goes like this.

They just kind of weave it in. I can play the role for a moment. I was in prayer this morning. It was the fourth hour of prayer. It was about 6 a.m. Now, as I said that, what's going on inside of you? See, you're going, well, that's it. I quit because he's praying four hours.

He's waking up at 2 o'clock to pray four hours. And see, now, what have I just done? Very suddenly I'm like patting myself on the back and I'm making you feel horrible. I'm making you feel like Christianity is almost unattainable. I don't want to do that. I want to encourage you.

I want to encourage you. And what's happened in Christianity a lot is, you know, somebody will whip everybody into a frenzy and, hey, I want you to write down how many hours a day you're going to pray. And if you write down less than two hours, you're a heathen dog and shouldn't come back. So then what happens?

By two hours, I'll pray two hours. I'll wake up in the morning. And then what happens in the morning? You hit that snooze bar.

That's not just you. Boom, hit again. Boom, hit again.

Boom, hit again. I've been there. I've done that.

You know, you wake up and you go, how'd the alarm get over there? But here's the thing. If you set a realistic goal towards prayer, you're more likely to do it. Another thing, don't pray the last thing before you go to bed.

That doesn't work. That's not just you. I don't know if you're still in that phase where you think, well, last thing I'm going to do is pray. If you do that prayer real quick prayer, Lord, thank you for this day. Protect me in my sleep.

Protect my family. In Jesus' name, amen. You know why? And you may have thought it was just you, because when you do that, you're going to fall asleep on God. Because think about it, you're sitting there, you close your eyes and you're holding real still. What is your body thinking? It's time to crash. It's time to go to sleep.

That's not just you, that's everybody. I talked to a pastor and he was talking about prayer. He goes, I never pray at night anymore, he said, because I used to and I would pray for the goofiest things. Because I'd be like half in sleep, half out of sleep. And he said, you know, one night he said, you know, I was kind of listening to myself praying and I was asking that God would get saved. And I said, that's right. No more prayer at night, man.

It just is not working. But pray as you're able. What I would suggest is take something that you do on a regular basis, like maybe when you get your cup of coffee or when you sit down to enjoy a bagel or something that you do on a regular basis and spend a few minutes with God. If you got 30 minutes, great. If you got five, great.

I love Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon. And one of the things that I was interested to find out is somebody talking about him said he never prayed more than five minutes long. But he never went more than five minutes without praying. So in that constant communion with the Lord is what he's looking for. And granted, there's intercessors here that, you know what, they can sit and pray for two hours. That's not me, to be honest.

Let me be even more honest. I struggle with prayer time just like everybody else. Well, Pastor David, I mean, you're supposed to pray all day long.

Isn't that what we pay you for? I mean, you know, if it is, I'm blowing it because there's a lot of stuff going on and I have to be sure to take that time to spend with the Lord, just like you do. But I encourage you to do that because Jesus ties that with joy. As a matter of fact, Paul does, too, in Philippians 4, 6. It says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. You know what nothing means in the Greek? It means nothing. You know what everything means in the Greek? It means everything.

So you know what? If you get anxious about something, uh-oh, it's gonna sting for just a minute. If you get anxious for something, that reveals perhaps you've not prayed about it. Or if you did pray about it, you gave it to God and took it right back.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, pray. And Jesus is saying, you know what? Life with me is incredibly full and filled with joy and filled with adventure. And if somebody has sold you on a Christianity that's anything less than that, you've been duped. This is what Jesus is saying, that you would have life and have it more abundantly. Now, while that message has obviously been abused by some, I think it's been neglected by others. This is what God gave Jesus for, that we could live in him and know him and walk with him.

Do you have it? Are you walking in this? Or are you just getting by? Are you just kind of existing, kind of experiencing life?

Then you're being ripped off. Because with the blood of Jesus, God purchased, he has offered to you the God-given right, if you will, to live in this fullness of life he's describing here. And if you're here and you lack that joy, and then in love, let me tell you something loved one, friend, beloved, something might be wrong. See, that lack of joy sometimes can be like an instrument panel to a pilot.

Warning, warning, something's not right. Because Jesus tells us here how to get joy, how to live life. And part of it is prayer. Now, isn't it interesting that, I don't know how many people would admit it, but even as I was saying prayer, you're kind of like, oh. Isn't it interesting that the place and point of joy is a place of condemnation for so many? In all my times and hours and years of praying, I've never gone to pray to God and talk to God and God say, where have you been?

You're supposed to be here hours ago. I've gotten that from others, but I've never got it from God. He's always happy to see me.

He's always happy to hear from me. Is that the picture you have? That's a biblical one. If that's not the picture you have, you need to let go of the picture you have and embrace the picture the Bible paints. And incidentally, if you're filled with joy at stuff the world has given you, you're cheaply satisfied. You're cheaply satisfied.

I hope I am never cheaply satisfied like that because joy comes from the Lord. There is a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have to pray for them. Here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. We want to take just a minute to pray for seven cities in our listening audience. Raymond and Waynesboro, Mississippi, Branson, Chillicothe, Festus, Joplin, and Nevada, Missouri. Lord, thank you for everyone listening in these cities. Lord, we know that you're at work in their hearts because they're tuning in now. Lord, I pray that you would remind them of that, that you're at work.

You have a good plan. You're going to protect them. Lord, give them wisdom and discernment. Help them to not fear during these tumultuous times that we live in. Lord, help them to constantly be in prayer for their family, for their loved ones, and for their coworkers, and use them as divine ambassadors in the cities that they live in. And Lord, anyone who doesn't yet know you in these cities, we pray that you would encourage them to put their trust in you. Use us, Father, to be a blessing to them with your good news. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 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. In that day, you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

Now, he starts talking about the Father, and we sing that song, He Knows My Name. Understand something, a lot of us came up with a misconception of God. Now, maybe you're sitting there going, no, no, no, no, I went to church. I grew up in church, but I grew up with a misconception of God. Many of us grew up with the notion that God was really mad in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, and then because of the satisfaction of Jesus is now okay with everybody, and that He's still really angry, but Jesus goes up there and calms Him down.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of you have shared that from the Thursday night studies as we go through the Hebrew Scriptures that it's occurred to you how merciful and how loving God was and is. In the Exodus, as the Israelites are wandering around and God puts up with so much, that's God the Father. He's merciful.

He loves you. One scripture that we glance past so quickly, John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but wait a minute, He gave His Son. What part of the Trinity is this verse talking about? It's talking about God the Father.

God so loved that He gave His Son. So if you've got in your mind that God the Father is angry at you, that's the wrong picture. Now understand for some of you, sin is in between you and God the Father.

There's a gulf there that you can't fix, you can't correct. There's only one solution for that. That's Jesus.

That's the Son. But God the Father stands offering you this morning that solution. The next life lesson is God loves you. God loves you. Some of you are going, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that.

No, I know that. God loves you. I don't think any of us have spent enough time with that simple truth. God loves you. All knowing perfect God is in love with us. What an amazing thing.

I don't think we think about that enough, because it's a miracle. Verse 28, I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. You understand in that one verse 28, that's the whole Bible. That is the whole Bible. Well, what do you mean, Pastor David? God created man, man rebelled against God. God won't stop until he wins him back.

Why? God desires fellowship with us. God desires fellowship with us.

You understand? What was the thing in the garden? God desired fellowship with us. What about the tabernacle? God desired fellowship with us. What about the temple? God desired fellowship with us.

What about the cross? God desired fellowship with us. What about the book of Revelation? God desired fellowship with us. What an amazing thing that that's part of his plan to dwell with us, to love us. That's why Jesus did what he did. Revelation 21, 3 says, And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And see, that leads into verse 4 that says, And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Jesus came for you. He came for you, and he came for me. The life lesson here, Jesus came to offer redemption to people like you and I. He came to offer redemption to people like you and I. Not just the people who have a scope on life or are doing well, no, he came for us. And our confusion and our pain and our lostness, he came for us.

What an amazing thing. Verse 29, His disciples said to him, See, now you are speaking plainly and using no figure of speech. Now we are sure that you know all things and have no need that anyone should question you.

By this we believe that you came forth from God. Verse 31, And Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? Understand, they're saying, We got it now. They don't have it. They say, Yeah, okay, we got it.

They don't have it. It's evident by the fact they were waiting in the upper room, and one of the ladies went to the tomb, saw it was empty, and came back and told them. They went, Ah. It's in the book.

Read it. They didn't get it, and Jesus knew they didn't get it. See, there was a testing coming to them, and that's what happens to our faith. When I was a young boy, my dad was both a mechanical and an aeronautical engineer, and I used to ask him a lot of questions, and you really, if you're going to ask Dad a question, you really needed to know the answer because he was going to answer fully in depth, you know? And I remember on the way to the beach one time we went across this bridge, and it said, you know, gross weight, 20,000 pounds. How do they know? You know, what do they do? Drop something that weighs 2,001 pounds, the bridge collapses, and they build it back just the way they did it, and then they know. Don't go over it.

It's 20,000 pounds. So I asked Dad how they know, and he started talking to me about the tensile strength of steel and all these things. I said, That's interesting. But see, they do test the bridges.

Why? Because weight will be driven over them, and our faith needs to be tested because weight will be driven over it. The life lesson here is a faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. A faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. If you think about what the disciples are getting ready to go through, it's a lot.

It's a lot. If you can imagine being Peter and sitting down with Jesus, and Jesus looks you in the eye, and he goes, Hey, you know what? Satan has desired you.

He wants to sift you like wheat. If I'd have been Peter, I'd have said, I mean, you told him no, right? I mean, come on. Help me out here, Jesus. Jesus allowed it.

Jesus allowed it, knowing that it would strengthen Peter. In that moment, he says to him, When you return, a beautiful few words. Not if you return, when you return. We'll get tested. And to be honest, we won't do so well in some of them. But even then, we can learn something. We can learn that we're really dependent upon God. And when the test does go well, it shows us that God is actually doing something in us. Now, when I was a young Christian, I used to think that God tested us to figure out what we would do in a given situation. Oh, it's a theological problem with that one, though. God knows everything. The reason we get tested, friend, is for our benefit and our knowledge.

See, because either way, it's a win-win. If we fail, we gain more dependence upon God. When we win, we understand God's at work in our lives. So as these tests come, and they will come, you can learn from them and know that the Lord is with you, just as the disciples were getting ready to go through a severe test. Verse 32, indeed the hour is coming, yes, is now coming, you will be scattered.

Each to his own and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. And verse 33, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. You're gonna have tribulation. Jesus said it here.

If you believe him about other things, you have to believe him about this. See because if you walk away and go, I'm never supposed to have a trial or tribulation, every time you hit one, it'll shock you. Oh, I'm having a trial.

What's going on here? Jesus told you that you were gonna have trials. Or you can believe and go, okay, I'm gonna have trials and tribulations.

But he promised he's never gonna leave me nor forsake me. Jesus said, you're gonna have trials. But be of good cheer. Cheer up because I have overcome the world. The last life lesson, Jesus won. And because of that, now you can win as well. You and your own strength, you can't beat sin, you can't beat death. But Jesus not only can, he did. And he offers you the victory if you take his hand and you walk with him in this life. Remember what Jesus said from the cross in the Greek, tetelestai. It is finished. It's done.

Paid in full. The question is, are you living the life that brings that joy? Or perhaps are there people in here this morning that have yet to experience this joy? Oh, you may have gotten a taste of it before, but somehow things have gotten in the way. And somehow as you sit here this morning, you're thinking, I don't have it. I hear you talking about it. I hear Jesus offering it to me. I don't have that joy.

Somehow it slipped away. Somehow distractions came in and this got in between me and the Lord and man, the warning lights are going off. Put him first and watch the joy return. Spend time with the Lord and watch the joy return. But some of you, now some of you may be sitting here this morning, you go, yeah, I thought Christianity was all about doing good and doing the best you can. That's not Christianity.

Biblical Christianity is that your best is not good enough because the standard's perfection. But the good news is God offers you perfection this morning in exchange for your sins if you'll come to him. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you, all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit CrossTheBridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Or you can write to Cross The Bridge at PO Box 12 515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life.

You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to CrossTheBridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross The Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at CrossTheBridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.