You can look around this evening
and see that a good many of our folks are sick. I have a good many friends who
right now are in the hospital, and some are dying, some young,
some old, some dying in faith, and some not. I pray that God will give me
grace that I may learn to live for
Him and to die for Him. To live for His glory and to
die for His glory. Open your Bibles with me, if
you will, to the book of James. Multitudes there are. who delude
themselves into thinking that they are, to one degree or another,
saved by what they do. The vast majority of people you
know and I know, most of your family and friends and most of
mine, most of them religious and irreligious, vainly presume
that what a person does has something to do with his relationship with
God, with his salvation, something to do with whether or not he
is at last accepted in heaven. And of course, most everybody
presumes that when the scales are weighed, they'll tip in their
favor because they've done just enough to get in after all. Most everybody thinks that somehow
or another justification before God depends on their works. And
most people who would deny that and say, oh, no, no, no, no,
we're justified by grace through faith in Christ alone, would
tell you that we're sanctified by what we do. God justifies
us. God puts us in Christ. And then
we work and work and work and work and make ourselves holy.
Others will tell you that assurance, our assurance before God, is
based on our works and our measure of sanctification by our obedience
to the law that God has given at Mount Sinai or to the law
that some religious group has given. Others will tell you that
all these things are by grace, but surely, surely our standing
with God in heaven and our reward in heaven has got to be somehow
dependent upon what we do. After all, it just stands for
reason that our works count for something. Well, let me tell
you what your works count for. They do count for something.
They count for horse manure. your best religion, your best
righteousness, your best goodness, just done, nothing else. And if you value it that high,
you have valued it very highly. If you value it higher than that,
you value it too highly. Nothing can be further from the
truth than to imagine that works have something to do with grace.
My relationship with God, does in great measure determine what
I do. But what I do or do not do does
not in any measure to any degree determine my relationship with
God. Many vainly imagine they must do something to be saved.
But sadly, there are others who are deluded into the thinking
that faith in Christ really has no bearing on how we live in
this world. The Word of God thoroughly, universally repudiates both legalism
and lawlessness. The book of James shows us how
our relationship with God affects our lives and affects all that
we do. James teaches us how to live
by faith in a world of sin. He teaches us how to live in
this world for the glory of God. Tonight I'm going to begin, the
Lord willing, a series of messages preaching through these five
short chapters of this very instructive epistle, but an epistle confusing
to many simply because it is not understood. I want us tonight
to look at these five chapters together. We'll begin at James
1, 1 and go through chapter 5 and verse 20. My subject is faith
without works is dead. Faith without works is dead. The book of James is thought
to be the earliest of all the New Testament epistles. Now,
I'm not a scholar about those things. I won't say emphatically,
but that's what the scholars tell us. This is the earliest
of the New Testament epistles. After the gospel narratives,
this is the earliest of the epistles to be written. James 1 tells
us in verse 1 that this one who wrote it is James, the servant
of God. He's the half-brother of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the servant of God and of
Jesus Christ. Why is it stated that way? Are
God and Jesus Christ two separate people? No. Two separate beings? No. But God, the Father, even
the Lord Jesus Christ, the man Christ Jesus, and God are one. The Savior said, if you've seen
me, you've seen the Father. He is one with God, even in the
totality of his humanity. James, the servant of God and
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting. Now he's writing, obviously,
to Jews who had been converted. These Jews had been scattered
in God's good providence among the nations of the world, among
the Gentiles. Scattered as believers into the
world, carrying the gospel God had given them at Jerusalem through
the ministry of our Lord and of his servants. in these five
chapters, 15 times, James refers to those to whom he's writing
this epistle as brethren. So though he speaks here specifically
to those who are dispersed among the Jews, the 12 tribes, He's
talking to all God's elect, all the host of God's Israel, all
who are born of God, all who are taught of God, all who are
robed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, washed in his blood,
all who walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in this world.
And in these five short chapters, he gives us divinely inspired
instructions about how we are to live for the glory of God. These five short chapters, James
tells us how to behave as believers in this world. Now let me show
you three things. James shows us something first
about our trials, and then he shows us something about our
faith, and then he shows us something about how we're to live by faith.
First in chapter one, beginning of verse two, James tells us
that we are always to look upon our trials Those things that
test and prove the reality of our faith as tokens of God's
grace, those heartaches, those troubles
that God's saints experience in this world are not evidences
of God's anger, God's wrath, God's judgment, oh no. Rather
they are tokens of God's grace. In the eighth chapter of Acts,
we're told that at that time there was a great persecution
against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And then those
who were persecuted were scattered into the various parts of the
earth as God had purposed in his grace, as God had accomplished
in his providence. And being scattered, they carried
the gospel with them into all those places. Indeed, that has
been the record of the New Testament from the beginning. God's people
were scattered, and wherever they were scattered, they carried
the gospel of preaching Jesus Christ. They gathered other saints
to themselves, other believers to themselves, and the saints
of God being converted, raised up gospel churches. That's the
way it ought always to be. We who are gods, wherever God
puts us, let us carry the gospel with us, and carrying the gospel
with us, call others to the Redeemer. Our business as a local church
is to seek out the Lord's sheep, and to seek by God's grace to
establish other gospel churches for the cause of our Redeemer,
for the building up of his kingdom, to seek out his sheep in ages
to come, or in days to come. Now, having said that, I want
you to understand this clearly. Yes, let's do everything we can,
where God puts us, to build a local assembly. I see people jump here
and there, move here and there, and go here and there, and never
commit themselves to anything. Bill Raleigh, you need, and your
family needs, to know this is where God's put us and this we're
going to build God's kingdom. But if God's pleased to send
you elsewhere or to send sons and daughters elsewhere, carry
the gospel of God's grace with you and seek to build God's kingdom
for his glory. It is not right It is not right
that we should all attempt to gather in one place and here's
where we'll meet together. Now, gather as a bunch of believers
here, this cavate of believers here, but it is not right that
we should seek to live in a commune. Everybody gather in Danville. There are folks in Lexington
and in Louisville and in San Diego and in Sarasota, God may
call out his elect there. And it's our business to carry
the gospel wherever God gives us opportunity to do it. But
trials, trials come and scatter God's church. Those trials by
which our faith is tested. Look at verse 2. My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing
this, that the trying, the proving of your faith, worketh patience. Verse 12, blessed is the man
that endures temptation, endures proving. For when he is tried,
when he is proved, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord
hath promised to them that love him." None of us would choose any trial. None of us. But if we could see
things as God sees them, we would choose the trial. that we most despise in the experience of
it. You see, Cowper put it this way,
it is my happiness below not to live without the cross, but
my Savior's power to know, sanctifying every loss. Trials must and will
be fought, but with humble faith to see. love inscribed upon them
all, this is happiness to me. God in Israel sows the seeds
of affliction, pain, and toil. These spring up and choke the
weeds that would else or spread the soil. Trials make the promise
sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to his feet. Lay me low and keep me there. Did I meet no trials here, no
chastisement by the way? Might I not with reason fear
I should prove a castaway? Bastards may escape the rod,
sunk in earthly vain delight, but the true born child of God
must not, would not, if he might. Now, the word temptation, the
word trying, used in James 1, verse 2, and in verse 12, speaks
of proving. The very same word in chapter
1, verses 13 through 16, the very same word refers not to
being proved, but rather to being enticed to evil, enticed to evil. I've said this to you many, many
times. I wish I could make the world hear this. I wish I could
make preachers understand it. I hope I can make you understand
it. There is not a poorer way to interpret scripture than by
word studies. There is not a poorer way to
interpret scripture than by word studies. The very same word here
used within proximity of 12 verses. The very same word. Greek and
English means two different things. It doesn't always stand true
what a word means here, it must mean there. It depends on how
it's used. And here, James, in verses 13
through 16, uses the very same word not to speak of us being
tried or tested or proved by God in his kindness, mercy, and
love, but rather he speaks of temptation. Look at verse 13. No man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted
when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. God sends trials, he tells us
in verse three, to teach us patience. to cause us to grow in faith
and love. But he tells us in verse 13,
God never tempts anyone to sin. It appears that that would stand
without saying. It looks like folks will understand
that without saying it, but nobody does. Yes, God has ordained from
eternity all that comes to pass in time. No question about that.
Yes, God works all things together for good to them that love God,
to them are the called according to his purpose. No question about
that. And yes, God graciously, wisely
overrules all the evil that's in us and done by us for our
good and his glory. And there's no question about
that. But the Holy Lord God cannot be tempted with evil and he does
not and cannot tempt any with evil. James is telling us what
the Holy Spirit tells us throughout this book. We have no one to
blame but ourselves when we sin. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Let us never seek to excuse our
sin, attributing it to God's sovereign purpose. Let us never
find comfort in our sin, attributing it to God's providence. Let us
never find any ease with our sin, attributing it to that's
just the way things are. We are tempted to evil when we're
drawn away by our own wicked lust, by the evil of our hearts. People have the silly, silly,
silly, absurd notion that somehow if you can just isolate yourself,
just isolate yourself from other people, you won't have all these
evil things. I don't care how, matter of fact,
I dare say the time you spent most by yourself alone, you conjured
up more evil than you ever have in the company of other folks. The evil that's in you is the
evil produced by you, not the other way around. Do not err,
my beloved brethren, James said, It is our lust, nothing but our
lust, that is to be blamed for our sin. It's our fault, our
responsibility, no one else's. Second, 1st James tells us about
our being tried and proved by God, and then he speaks of our
temptations, making the distinction. And then in verses 17 through
25, James tells us that God's work is good. All that God does
is good. It tells us that every good thing
in this world comes down from our Father in heaven. Just as
all evil in this world erupts from the festering corruption
of our vile hearts, every good thing there is in the world comes
down from the throne of God and is the gift of his grace. Verse
17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and
cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. And then in verse 18, James tells
us that it is by the work and gift of God, the work and gift
of God's omnipotent grace, that chosen redeemed sinners are born
again. Born again by the good gift of
the gospel, of his own will. What a blessed good gift this
is. Of his own will begat he us. Of God's own will we are born
again. How did he do it? With the word
of truth. We're born again by the word
of God, which lives and abides forever. God, the Holy Spirit,
causing his word to be a seed of life in our souls, that we
should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. First fruits. Here we are, kind of first fruits
of God's creatures. What's that? First fruits are the best fruits. Now, when I wrote that down and
looked that over today, I thought to myself, how on earth can you
use those words with regard to such things as we are? But first fruits are the best
fruits. You who've raised a garden know
exactly what I'm talking about. First fruits are the best fruits. No beans better than the first
ones. No potatoes better than the first ones. No tomatoes better
than the first ones. First are the best. And we who
are gods in Christ, one with him who is the firstborn, are
the first fruits of his creatures. The best of his creation. Ah, firstfruits all belong to
God. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. You belong to God, lock, stock,
and barrel. And firstfruits are the pledge
of full harvest. This is just the beginning. My dear friend, whom I've seen
rarely and visited with rarely, Brother Ken Cotty, A man who
preached the gospel for years to little band of folks. Lives
right on the edge of Scotland and England. Very, very sick. Brother Peter Minion went to
visit him the other day and asked him, he said, what can I do for
you? He said, pray. He says, is there anything you need? He said, grace. Grace. Grace. Soon, the full harvest
shall be his. The first fruits are pledge of
the full harvest of grace. God having begotten us by his
own will with the word of truth, giving us life and faith in Christ
has just given us the taste, the taste of the heavenly gift. The life we now have is just
the taste of the fullness of that life. The word of God, the
word of truth, as is spoken of here by James, is that which
is given to us in the whole volume of Holy Scripture. This word
of God, the gospel of God's grace, is the power of God unto salvation
and the power of godliness. Paul speaks to those who have
a form of godliness. They go through the motions of
religion. They practice religion. But they denied the power of
godliness. Godliness is not an outward show. Godliness is an inward reality. And the power of godliness is
the Word of God. the gospel of God's grace revealed
in this book, by which we've been born again. If we would
live by faith in this world for the glory of God, in the exercise
of true religion, our lives must be ruled and guided by God's
word. Look at verse 19. Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to
speak, slow to wrath. that every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath. Sadly, most everybody is swift
to speak, swift to wrath, and slow to hear. If we were wise,
we would ask for grace to teach us to be swift to hear, slow
to offer an opinion, Slow to offer an opinion. Most people
offer an opinion, don't have a clue what they're talking about
anyway. Slow to wrath. That which causes much anger
and wrath is just the fact that we speak quickly and think little. We speak quickly and listen little. For the wrath of man, the anger,
the stirring of wrath in man, worketh not the righteousness
of God. This is not how we honor God.
Wherefore, lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.
What a word. All filthiness and superfluity
of naughtiness. And receive with meekness the
engrafted word which is able to save your souls. Oh, children of God, when you
come to the house of God, come seeking a word from God
and listen. Listen for God to speak. Listen
for God to speak. Most people, sadly, come to church
for any other reason, and many come only looking for something
to criticize, something to cock about. And the preacher says
just, he can say 5,000 good things and he says something just not
exactly stated right. They'll latch on to it and talk
about it and yak and write to him and fuss at him and fuss
about it. Come to the house of God to hear God for yourself. to hear God speak by his word
to you, and be anxious to hear what God has to say to you, and
be slow to offer an opinion about it, and be slow to wrath and
anger. Usually I find that when people
don't profit from the ministry of a faithful man, it's because
they practice exactly the opposite of what James just says here.
Thomas Machen rightly observed, if we were swift to hear, as
we are ready to speak, there will be less wrath and more profit
in our meetings. If we were swift to hear, as
we are ready to speak, there will be less wrath and more profit
in our meetings. All right, let's look at the
next thing. Here's the third thing. Beginning at verse 26
in chapter one. And going through the end of
chapter five, James tells us how we are to live in this world
for the glory of God. If any man among you seem to
be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his
own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled
before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted
from the world. Then beginning at chapter two,
he explains to us exactly what he means and gives us the details.
True religion involves caring for one another. particularly
caring for the needs of our brethren to visit the fatherless and the
widows in their affliction. Pure religion, true religion,
is always marked and identified by brotherly love. Where there is no love, there's
no faith. I don't stand here to tell you
God's saints ought to love each other. I stand here to tell you
what God says. God's saints do love each other.
They do love each other. They embrace one another. They
overlook one another's faults. They bridle their tongues about
one another. They use their tongues to encourage
and help and strengthen and comfort one another. And they spend their
lives to help one another. Pure religion, pure religion
is faith that works by love. Look at chapter two, verse 14.
What does it profit my brother? Though a man say he hath faith
and have not works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister
be naked and destitute of daily food, and one saying to them,
depart in peace and be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you
give them not those things which are needful to the body, what
doth it profit?" Somebody comes along and And you see they've
got a great deed out here on this cold, blustery night, and
you're wrapped up in your down-filled coat, and you're all fixed up,
and you can't feel a cold thing on you, and you got another outfit
just like that in the truck. And you say, boy, I hope you
can stay warm tonight. Then you drive off with your down-filled
outfit in the truck. What good did that do? That's
as empty and meaningless as it can be. So is professed faith
without works. That's what James says. Verse
17. Even so, faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou hast
faith and I have works. James says, all right, show me
your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by
my works. Verse 19. Thou believest that
there is one God, so what? Thou doest well, the devils also
believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O empty-minded
man, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" And James tells
us plainly what these works are. He's already spoken of brotherly
love, caring for one another. In the Scriptures, in the Scriptures,
whenever the Scripture talks about good things, good works. They're always spoken of as acts
of love and kindness. Isn't that amazing? Everywhere in the New Testament,
everywhere in the New Testament where the scripture speaks of
good works in a good way, it's talking about love and kindness,
forgiveness and mercy. Charity and generosity. Sacrifice. Every place without exception.
Every place without exception. Never says a word about television
or theater or dice or cards or dancing or And on, and on, and
on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, I'd go. Never
said a word about it. I've told you this before. Back
1972, 73, I was over in Lexington with some preachers at a Bible
conference, and it was my first visit there. And I was walking
down the streets, and I got thirsty, and we'd walk down the street
downtown, and I just turned and went in a place and got me a
Coke. And my buddies, standing out there, Brother Brant Seacrest,
he's standing out there on the sidewalk with another fellow,
Brother Dave Collier, I believe it was. And I walked in, got
cooked, came back out. I wasn't real familiar with,
you know, all the things that you're not supposed to do. And
they looked at me like, boy, you're going to get in trouble.
And I said, what did I do? They said, that's a deer joint.
I said, I just got the Coke. I just went in to get a Coke.
I just went in to get a Coke. Oh, but folks don't approve of
that. That's not looked on good. Somehow
I got a feeling. I just got a hunch. God doesn't
care where you buy your Coke. I just don't think it matters
a bit in the world whether you buy from Kroger's down here that
doesn't sell liquor or buy from Kroger's down here that does.
I just don't think it matters one bit in the world. Those things
are utterly insignificant. Utterly insignificant. Can you
get a hold of that? Utterly insignificant. Faith
and hope and love, those things are significant. kindness, charity,
forgiveness, forbearance, biding your tongue, those things, those
matter. And faith shows itself by wholehearted
consecration to our God. We looked at this Sunday, so
I won't go over it again. Abraham was utterly devoted to
God. Offered his son as a sacrifice.
Jephthah. Oh, what a man Jephthah must
have been. He said, God, you give me this
victory, and the first thing comes out of my door, I'll sacrifice
it to you. And God gave him the victory,
and he came home, and his daughter came dancing, leaping. Oh, daddy,
I've heard what God did for you. And he said, oh, my soul, my
daughter. Let me tell you what I said to
God. And I've lifted my hand to God, and I can't go back.
It's called utter consecration to God. And faith shows itself,
like Rahab did, by obedience, by obedience, clinging to Christ
the Lord, obeying him in all things, obeying him even when
obedience to him appears to others to be disobedience. Paul said, when God called me,
when he separated me from my mother's womb, sent me out to
preach the gospel, immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood. I didn't go ask mama and daddy,
brother and sister, husband and wife, what I ought to do. No,
no, no, no, no, no. When God said to Abraham, Abraham,
You bring your son up to Mount Moriah and kill him there. Just
suppose he had gone and talked to Sarah about it. Just suppose,
Sarah, honey, let me tell you what God's told me ought to do.
Sarah would have hired the neighbors to come in and tie Abraham down.
Abraham lost his mind. This man's gone crazy. He's about
to kill our son. No. Faith obeys God. When God shows the path of obedience,
faith obeys God. When God reveals His will, faith
obeys God, even when obedience appears to others to be disobedience. That's what Rahab the harlot
did. True religion, true religion necessitates something else. The bridling of the tongue. Look
at verse 1, chapter 3. My brethren, be not many masters,
know it all, teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater
condemnation. For in many things we offend
all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man,
and they will also debridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits
in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their
whole body. Behold also the ships, which
though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are
they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the
governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little
member and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little
fire kindleth, and the tongue is a fire. a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course
of nature, and is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast,
and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed,
and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame. It's an unruly full of deadly
poison. Oh God, bridle my tog. Bridle my tog. I can't. You can. No man contain this
deadly poisonous thing. We need grace continually from
God to bridle our tongues. Therewith bless we God, even
the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made at the
similitude of God. Now, that's not a supposition,
Adam. He's telling us exactly what we do. We bless God, and
then, see, Adam and Kibbe do something, curse Adam and Kibbe.
That's exactly what he's saying. We bless God and then curse men
with the same thing. Read on. Read on. Out of the
same mouth, Proceeded blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not so to be. Doth the fountain send forth
at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree,
my brethren, bear olive berries, either the vine figs? So can
no fountain, both yield salt water and fresh. There's in us
two constantly warring natures, flesh and spirit. and we use
these tongues and bless God. And then Adam raises his ugly
head and we use these tongues and curse men. Look at verse
13. True religion demands grace,
grace that only God our Savior can supply. We must drink from
the right fountain, Christ the fountain. If we would be wise,
Christ must be our wisdom. Who is wise and imbued with knowledge
among you? Let him show out of a good conversation,
a good way of life, his works with meekness of wisdom. But
if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory
not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, deathless. all the wisdom of
the earth, earthly, sensual, devilish, all of it, all of it. For where envying and strife
is, there's confusion and envy, confusion in every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
and easy to be entreated. Isn't that a sweet word? Easy
to be entreated. You don't have to plead with
it. It wants peace. Easy to be entreated. Full of
mercy and good fruits. Without partiality, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. We must recognize,
surely we must recognize, that our greatest evil is ourselves. Our greatest foe is ourselves. Our greatest enemy is ourselves. If we ever recognize that, really,
really, oh, Don Fortner, if you ever recognize that, that'll
put an end to all warring among ourselves. Resist the devil. Submit to God. guard against gossip and slander,
protect one another's name, and honor God. Look at verse one,
chapter four. For whence come wars and fightings
among you? I'll tell you where they come
from. I'll tell you where they come from. It doesn't matter
whether you're talking about wars and fighting between Frank
Carl and Cody Henson, or talking about wars and fighting between
Cody and his mama. Wars and fightings. All of them,
all of them, they come from you, from you. Even of your lust, that war in
your members, your lust desiring to have, your lust seeking things
to consume upon your lust, whether it's talking about material,
physical things, or talking about events, seeking things to gratify
your flesh. Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
the envy, tells us in verse five. Oh, but what a blessed word this
is, verse six. But he giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. More grace,
more grace, more grace. God, that's what I need. More
grace. Wherefore, he sayeth, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Who's that? Those who submit themselves.
Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Bow to God. Bow to God. I'll tell you what. If I learn to bow to God, I won't
have any trouble putting up with David. Bow to God. Bow to God. Resist the devil. He'll flee from you. Draw an
eye to God, He'll draw an eye to you. These are not suppositions,
these are statements of fact. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Now remember, He's talking out
in us, brethren. He's talking, my brethren, my
brethren. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your
hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning. and your joy in the
heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of
another. Brethren, he that speaketh evil
of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaks evil of the law,
and judgeth the law. What on earth can that mean?
What can that mean? Esteem each the other better
than himself. esteem one another in Christ
Jesus as Christ himself. God, by his law, declares we're
just and righteous and holy. Don't you judge your brother
then, for you then judge the law. Thou art not a doer of the
law, but a judge. Now, if we would honor God, if
we would do all things for the glory of God, We must seek by
his grace to be patient. Verse eight, chapter five, be
patient. Establish your hearts. Establish
your hearts. Establish your hearts. And we
must learn to pray for one another. James speaks of those who are
afflicted and says, if you're afflicted, pray. If you're married,
sing psalms. If you're sick, call for the
elders of the church and let them pray for you. And the prayer
of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him
up. And seek, seek children of God to restore
one another. We need some help here, Lindsay.
Seek to restore one another, to help one another up, to restore
one another's souls, to restore drooping spirits, to restore
sagging hearts, to restore weak hands, to restore feeble knees. Brethren, if any of you do err
from the truth and one convert him, Oh, we can't say that, we're
sovereign gracious. Well, let's see what God says,
and one convert here. One convert here. Oh, Brother
Don Fortin, a man, he made a mess of things. Would you look what
he did? Would you look how he behaved?
Oh, man, everybody always is thinking he's gonna wind up like
that. And Don's beating himself to death, but he deserves to.
He ought to. And then Lindsay comes along,
and he says, brother, let's talk. And he helps. And Don's turned
from his evil way. And Don's picked up by the hand
of another. If any of you do err from the
truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth
the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death
and shall hide a multitude of sins. Oh, my God, will you teach me
to live in this world for your glory, believing God, trusting
Christ the Lord, loving my brethren, living for God and living for
my brethren. Amen. Amen. in your Psalms of Grace book
number 124.