Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From a sermon at Grandma’s house by Preacher Clark, early 1969.
Old Meeting Reel 2, CD-5, Track 3
In his sermon, Preacher Clark told of a dream in which God had him deal with an overly-religious sister in the Lord who added the phrase “in Jesus’ name” to everything she said. If she asked you to come into her house, she said, “Please, come in, in Jesus’ name.” Or if she wanted something to drink, she would say, “May I have some water, in Jesus’ name?” If anyone greeted her, she would respond, “Hello, in Jesus’ name”, or “How are you, in Jesus’ name.”
In his dream, Preacher Clark stopped her and asked, “What are you trying to pull here?” He was not impressed with the use of Jesus’ name in every sentence, and neither is God.
Humans adding the phrase “in Jesus’ name” means nothing to God. Wicked men have been saying “in Jesus’ name” ever since they discovered that people were impressed with that phrase and they could make a lot of money if they used it carefully. Whether or not something is done in Jesus’ name has absolutely nothing to do with men muttering “in Jesus name” when they do it. To think so is superstition, and nothing more.
The holy Ghost was sent to us on the day of Pentecost “in Jesus’ name”; the dead are raised in Jesus’ name. The sick are healed and the afflicted are delivered in Jesus’ name. For a man to minister “in Jesus’ name” means that he has been sent by Jesus to minister. If Jesus has not sent a man, he cannot possibly minister to others in Jesus’ name. All that man can minister is what he thinks he should minister, or what he is hired to minister, or what he has heard from other men. His ministry is in his own name, and, remarkably, Jesus said that God’s children would prefer such a man to him. God’s children still prefer a man to minister in his own name (and claim that it is in Jesus’ name) than a man truly anointed and sent to minister in the name (the authority) of Jesus. Jesus told the leaders of the children of God in Israel that “if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” And then he added this warning for us all: “How can you believe, while receiving honor from one another and not seeking the honor that comes from God only?”
Jesus was anointed and sent by God the Father; therefore, the works that he did were done in his Father’s name (Jn. 10:25). “I am come in my Father’s name,” he said (Jn. 5:43); that means he came with his Father’s authority. His words were God’s words and carried eternal weight to those to whom he spoke.
Paul spoke in Jesus’ name. And he said, because he knew it to be true, that any minister or angel who taught any other doctrine but the one he received from Jesus was a cursed creature (Gal. 1:8-9). Any man on the planet who is teaching a doctrine other than the holy gospel Paul received by revelation from Christ Jesus is ministering in his own name, and men will receive him gladly, and they will pay him well to continue to lie to them “in Jesus’ name”.
It happens every day we live, in practically every place we see.
The point is this, my friends: For a work or a word to be “in Jesus’ name”, that word or work must come from Jesus himself. For something to be “in Jesus’ name” has nothing whatsoever to do with what men do, or say, or think, or feel about it. It has everything to do with whether Jesus has ordained it to be done. If you want to live “in Jesus’ name”, then live in the sweet holiness of the Spirit of God. Then, and only then, when you say the words, “in Jesus’ name”, it carries weight in heaven, and on earth.