Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 16:24

"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full." — John 16:24 (ASV)

Until now you have asked nothing in my name:

You have not yet learned how to use my name in prayer. Our Lord had not yet taught them so to pray; but now we know what it is to ask in the name of Christ: it is to pray with the authority of the risen and glorified Son of God.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name:

You have not been bold enough. You have asked a few petty things, but you have never fully made use of Christ's name. How many Christians have never learned to pray in the name of Christ!

They say at the end of their petition, "For Christ's sake." That is good as far as it goes. I may ask a man to give me such and such a thing for the sake of another; that is good pleading so far as it goes.

But if I dare to use the authority that my friend gives me to put his name at the bottom of my request, that is another and a higher thing.

To ask in the name of Christ, to plead under his authority, this is to pray indeed.

Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

You have got some joy, but there is room for more. Brothers, has your joy ever been full yet? Full? Could you not be more joyous?

Oh! there have been times with some of us when we could not be more joyous than we were. We have asked, and we have received, and we have been so glad that we hardly knew how to live under the blessed delirium of gladness.

We have seemed to be carried away with an intense delight because God has heard our prayers. That your joy may be full.

Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

See how our Lord continues to drive at that point, for he would have his people happy. He wants you, beloved, to be joy-full — full of joy; not merely to have a little joy hidden away in a corner somewhere, but that your joy may be full.

Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

That your joy may be full, a ripe joy, a joy that fills your being, that sparkles in your eye, dances in your feet, leaps in your heart, an unutterable, inexpressible joy: That your joy may be full.