All right, James chapter five.
I'll confess to you that I am very excited about this lesson
this morning. I've been greatly blessed looking
at it and learn some things. And I pray that the Lord will
bless it to you and enable you to learn some of these same things.
It's been such a great blessing to me this week. I titled the
lesson A Good Time to Pray. Now, when is a good time? for
us to pray. Well, Scripture tells us all
the time, doesn't it? It's always a good time to pray.
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray without ceasing.
Just don't ever stop. In everything, at all times,
Paul said, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. So it's a good time for us to
pray all the time, in every situation. And that's what verse 13 tells
us. James 5, is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any
merry? Let him sing psalms. It's a good
time to pray if you're afflicted and if you're merry. Well, that
about covers everything, doesn't it? Let's look first at the afflicted. If you suffer any hardship, and
that's what the word here, affliction, a hardship or trouble. If you
suffer any hardship, any kind of trouble, what are you to do?
Pray. I love the simplicity of scripture. James says here, prayer is our
only option. It's not one of your options.
It's your only option. Let him pray. It's not our last
resort. Well, try other things first.
See if you can fix the problem first and then pray. No. No,
no, no. Prayer is your only option. Let
him pray. Don't start doing more good works
and living a more moral life so God be pleased with you and
deliver you from this affliction. Don't do that. Pray. Let him pray. And I love what
this says, is any among you, if any of us are suffering any
affliction, let him pray. You think of all the troubles
that we have to deal with in this life. Sick bodies, sick
minds, physical sickness, mental illness. If you're suffering
those things, pray. Let him pray. Pray to the Lord. He's the only one who can heal
you. If you suffer financial troubles, if you suffer those
things, pray. Pray to the Lord. He's the only
one who can provide, isn't he? How about the worries and fears
and doubts that we have about the world around us that we see
what's going on in this world? What's going to happen to us?
Well, if you suffer that, pray. Pray to the Lord. He's the one
that's in control. Pray. There are troubles from sorrows,
broken hearts. If you suffer those things, pray. The Lord's the only one who can
comfort your heart. Go to Him in prayer. See, it's good for
us to pray. When we suffer any of these various
troubles and afflictions, it's good for us to pray. Prayer is
good for us. Number one, prayer is a confession
of how dependent we are upon God. We wouldn't pray unless
we're, you know, if I could solve the problem myself, I wouldn't
pray, would you? No, prayer is a confession of how dependent
I am on God. It's an accurate view of me,
prayer. And second, prayer is a confession
of how great God is. I go to Him in prayer because
of His greatness. He's able. He's able. That's
why I go to Him in prayer. And third, prayer is a confession
of the glory of Christ. How is it that we're taught to
pray? For Christ's sake. Well, we pray that because for
His glory, not my glory, not my goodness, but His glory, His
goodness, His righteousness. Prayer is good for us. It confesses
how dependent we are on God. It confesses His glory or His
might. And it confesses the glory of
Christ. Now, prayer. We are to pray. But now we know this. God's will
is sovereign. The only thing that's going to
happen is God's eternal will. God doesn't change His will or
His purpose, does He? God's will is eternal. Whatever
it is that God willed to do, purpose to do from all of eternity,
that's exactly what he's going to do today. Now we all know
that, don't we? But this is also true. God answers
prayer. Look at the end of verse 16.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Preacher, how do you reconcile
those two truths that God only does his eternal will, yet God
answers prayer, the prayers of his people? Well, I answer it
this way. God does what he does through
the prayers of his people. Every time God's getting ready
to do something, he puts it in the heart of his people to pray
for it first, and then he answers that prayer. That's how God works. So if there's something that's
on your heart, pray for it. If something's on your heart,
pray about it. If Lord brings somebody to your
mind and you don't know why, don't try to figure it out. I
wonder why the Lord put them in my heart. Just pray for them.
If Lord's put a certain matter on your heart, don't try to figure
out what. I wonder if this is God's will.
If he's put it in your heart, just pray for it. Just pray about
it. Now I know there are times that we pray. And to our shame,
we've got to admit this, don't we? There are times we pray just
for stuff that I just want. It's not God's will. It's my
will. It's my desire. It's my flesh. And there are
other times that we pray according to God's will. And I reckon the
only time we find out which is which is in hindsight. We see
if the Lord answers that prayer or not. But the point is this,
we're to pray. Whatever it is that God lays
on our heart, we're to pray. And look at Luke chapter 11.
Here is something that is so encouraging, so comforting to
God's people. You don't have to figure out,
well, should I pray about this? Should I keep praying about this?
Look at the encouragement here in Luke chapter 11, that the
Lord gives his children to pray and to keep praying, to keep
praying, to keep praying. Luke chapter 11, verse one. And
it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, can
you imagine being there as the Lord was praying. He was praying
there in a certain place. And when he ceased, one of his
disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. I couldn't
see that. You, you, you heard the Lord
pray. You're going to teach me to pray like that. Teach us to
pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them,
when you pray, say our father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven. So in earth, Give us day by day
our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive
everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, now he's
taught them this is the manner by which we're to pray, but now
he's gonna give them an example here. He said unto them, which
of you shall have a friend? Which shall go unto him at midnight,
and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend
of mine and his journey has come to me and I have nothing to set
before him. And he from within shall answer and say, trouble
me not. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed.
I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will
not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because
of his importunity, because he keeps asking, he won't shut up.
He will rise and give him as many as he needed. And I say
unto you, ask and it shall be given you. and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. And everyone that asketh receiveth. For he that seeketh
findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son
shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will you give
him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
for a fish give him a serpent? Of course not. Or if he ask an
egg, will you offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more should
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him? See, our Lord told us He teaches
us to pray, and then He teaches us keep praying. Always pray. Just keep praying. Keep knocking. Keep crying out to God, and don't
stop. And that's not being dishonoring
to God. That's not being a pest to our
Father. That kind of importunity, that insistence to keep knocking,
to keep calling, to keep crying out to God, that honors God because
it shows a dependence upon him. Now we know this. We know this
from things that we read. We know this by our experience.
The Lord will not deliver us from every affliction, Willie.
Every time we pray, the Lord does not deliver us from those
afflictions. But I'll tell you what he will do. He'll give grace
to endure it. He'll give peace to the heart
while you go through it. Our God said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. He said that to him. That's not
just to Paul. That's to everyone who believes.
My grace is sufficient for thee. Now if you're under any affliction,
let him pray. If any of us is under any affliction,
let him pray. God's grace is sufficient. He's
able to deliver. But now people on the opposite
end of the spectrum who are married, well, they're there to pray too.
Now, James says, let them sing Psalms. And that's a good thing
to do. A married heart just naturally
sings, doesn't it? Let him sing Psalms. Well, you
know, many of the Psalms are prayers. Many of the Psalms are
prayers of David. It's almost like when we're married,
we can sing our prayers. You think of Hannah's prayer.
Lord gave her salmon. Think of her prayer. Well, that's
a prayer of praise, isn't it? That could be sung. You just
pick any of the songs. You can sing them. A lot of them
were meant to be sung, weren't they? Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. A married person can sing that
from the heart, can't we? Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. The Lord's
forgiven my sin. Does that make you merry? A merry
heart can sing that. The Lord's forgiven all my sin. He's healed all my sin sicknesses.
He sent his son to redeem me from my sin. He's covered me,
not just with mercy, but with his tender mercy. The Lord is
merciful. He's gracious. He's slow to anger.
He's plenteous in mercy. Oh, the merry heart can sing
those, can't they? And let me ask you this. Why wouldn't we
sing? Why wouldn't the merry heart sing? It's the Lord's the
one who blessed us and made us merry. We ought to sing to him.
We ought to praise. It's only right to thank him
for it. You know, nobody needs to teach us to, in prayer, make
our needs known. If we have needs, it's just,
that's going to come out naturally, isn't it? And there's nothing
wrong with that. It's right. We should make our
needs known to God in prayer. He's the only one who can help.
But our prayer should just as naturally contain thanksgiving
and praise. Because everything we have God
gave us, our prayers ought to contain thanksgiving. After everything God has done
for us, after he's shown us something of who he is, oh my soul, it's
only right that we would sing and praise him, isn't it? So
if any is married, this is the only option. Let him pray. Let
him sing these Psalms in prayer and praise unto God. But now
in verse 14 in our text, James gives us a third person who could
pray, the afflicted, the merry, and here he says the sick, the
sick. Now stay with me here in these
verses. I think we're going to learn something to be a blessing
to us. Verse 14, is any sick among you? Let him call for the
elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he hath
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Now, these verses
are very often misused and misunderstood in the world, and even by believers. Let me ask you something. We
read this. Does this mean that when a person
is sick, that they should call for the elders of the church?
They have any of the variety of sicknesses of body or mind
that we have. Should they call for the elders of the church,
and the elders of the church are supposed to go and anoint
that person with oil, olive oil or essential oils or whatever,
you know, and pray over them, and that person will be healed.
Is that what this means? Well, I have to tell you the
truth here now. I don't know. I really don't know. I don't
think so, but I can't say definitively. I'm not going to fight anybody
about it. But let me tell you what I do know. Let me tell you
what I do know about this matter of anointing with oil and praying.
Now there are some that say this oil, if you're, if you are supposed
to go anoint someone with oil, that the oil of course represents
the Holy Spirit and oil often does represent the Holy Spirit
in scripture. So does this mean that applying
a physical earthly element like oil, putting that on someone's
body, will the Lord use that to heal
them? Well, I don't think so. I don't think so. Because that
seems to be contrary to the rest of scripture that the Lord uses
these physical things to accomplish these. I just don't think so.
I don't think so. Other people say that oil was
the medicine of the day when James wrote this. You remember
the story our Lord told of the Good Samaritan. What did the
good Samaritan do with that man who was beaten and half dead
down there in a ditch? He poured in oil and wine. He poured in
oil as medicine for his wounds. And these people who believe
that the oil is the medicine of the day, they say this means
that God has given us this oil as medicine. And the scriptures
are teaching us, be wise. Now, be wise enough to use the
means that God's given you to treat your sicknesses. You know,
these folks that say, oh, I won't have any medical intervention.
I wouldn't have surgery or I wouldn't allow my children to take medicine
and these kinds of things, because it gives glory to God if they're
not healed by a simple surgery or simple medicine or something.
Now, that's foolish. That's not being wise. That's
being a fool. Be wise enough to use the means that God has
given you to treat our sicknesses. If there's a medicine for your
disease, take it. Now, I'm not giving anybody medical
advice, because Jane and I were talking about this yesterday,
the side effects of, you know, use wisdom in that, I reckon,
too. But if there's a medicine that will cure you, take it. If there's a surgery that's required
to fix whatever is wrong with you, have it. And this is where
I tend to fall on these things. We use the means that God has
given us. And then we pray and we pray
and we pray. The key to this whole thing is
not the elders anointing anybody with oil. The key to this thing
is the prayer of faith. Don't ever lose sight of that.
Don't make an idol out of the oil now. The key to this thing
is the prayer of faith. Use the means that God's given
you and then pray that the Lord will bless those means. That's
good. Because God has revealed himself
to us as a God of means, hasn't he? Now we know it's God that
causes crops and plants and everything, grass, everything. He causes
those things to grow. God does that, doesn't he? By
sending sunshine and rain. Yet what does the Lord tell the
farmer to do? Lord tells the farmer, you go out and work hard.
You till that ground, you plant the seed, you go weed around
your crops, and at harvest time, you go out there and work hard.
You hire men, go out there, you work hard and harvest all that
food in. Now, I want to tell you something. The farmer's not
going to have a harvest if he just sits there in his house
and props his feet up. So what? The Lord's going to
cause crops to grow. I don't need to do anything. I just trust
the Lord. The Lord's going to cause crops to grow. If he does
that, he's going to go bankrupt because he's not going to have
a harvest. He's got to go out there and use the means God's
given him of planting and reaping and praying that the Lord send
the rain and sunshine. That's his only option. And here's
the other reason I'm certain that these verses are teaching
us to pray and use the means that God has given us. The anointing
of oil, or the anointing with oil, and the laying on of hands
and healing folks and things, those are part of the apostolic
gifts. Only 12 men had those gifts. You think of the apostles now.
They could heal the sick. Just by laying their hands on
them, they could heal the sick. They could lay their hands on
dead people and raise them from the dead. They could speak in
tongues. They could lay their hands on
someone and give them the Holy Spirit. Wow. I mean, wow. But today, nobody has those gifts
anymore. If somebody had those gifts and
could really do that, and they didn't go down and empty out
the two hospitals in this town, I mean, they're wicked, wicked,
wicked people. And they don't go down and empty
out the hospitals because they don't have those gifts. God doesn't
give those gifts to people anymore because they're not necessary.
Why did the apostles have those gifts? So that when they perform
those miracles, people would know that man sent from God. Nobody could do that unless God
was with him. And then they listened to him
preach. They know this man's got a message
from God. And at the time that they could
do those miracles, what were the apostles doing? They're writing
the New Testament. Well, now the word of God is
complete. Well, we don't need a man to
have those gifts anymore. You don't need me to be able to perform
some sort of miracle to know if I've got a message from God.
The word of God is complete. If you want to find out if me
or any other man, if you want to find out if a man's got a
message from God, all you've got to do is open up the Bible
and see does his message match the entire word of God, the message
of the word of God. That's why Paul told the Corinthians
tongues, the miracles speaking in tongues are for those that
believe not. Look at first Corinthians 14. Unbelievers are fascinated
with those things. They need those things. But believers
don't need those things because they have faith in Christ. All
they need is the preached word because God's given them faith
in Christ. First Corinthians 14 verse 22. Wherefore tongues are for a sign,
not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. But
prophesying, preaching, servant, not for them that believe not,
but for them that believe. All a believer needs is the preached
word of God. They don't need to see miracles
and signs and wonders to convince them that Christ saved sinners.
They just need to hear the word preached. And God gives them
faith and they believe it. Now the apostles, they had these
gifts of anointing with oil and laying on of hands and those
kinds of things. But those gifts all died with the apostles. They
all died with the apostles. And I believe I can make good
on that. Look at Acts chapter eight. In Acts chapter 8, Philip,
he who is not an apostle, was preaching in Samaria and there
was a great revival. Many people were saved and brought
to the Lord. You look here at Acts 8 verse
14. Now when the apostles, which
were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, two apostles. Who? when they were come down, prayed
for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet he
was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus. And they laid their hands on
them, and they received the Holy Ghost." Now, you notice the order
they prayed first, didn't they? See, it's the prayer of faith.
And then they laid their hands on these folks, and they received
the Holy Ghost. And again, I say, I mean, my
soul. But now listen, only the apostles
could do that. Philip couldn't do it, could
he? Because he wasn't an apostle. Only the apostles could do that.
So when all the apostles died, those gifts all died with them.
No man has those gifts anymore today. And you know what? That's
perfectly all right. That's all right. Because Peter,
who was an apostle, you know what Peter said about this matter?
We have something better. We have something better than
these miracles. We have something better than visions. We have
something better. Peter, who had those gifts, who
could do those miracles, who saw all those visions, who could
do all these things, saw them done, said, brethren, we have
something better. the Word of God. So don't be sorry that nobody
has those gifts anymore because we have something better, the
Word of God. Those gifts were all, the only
reason for those gifts were so that people, sinners, the unconverted
would listen to those men preach and be pointed to Christ. Well,
today we have the Word and we preach the Word to point men
to Christ. And that's the means that God
uses today to save his people. To point his people to Christ
is the preaching of the word. That's what God's word said,
isn't it? All right. Now our text. This cannot mean,
our text cannot mean this. That if we would anoint somebody
with oil and pray for them, they would be healed. Because we know
it doesn't always work. It doesn't always work. Now,
maybe it does sometimes, but I know this for a fact. It doesn't
always work. I know it for a fact. People
still get sick, they stay sick, and then they die. And if they
would be healed, they're going to get sick of something else
and die again later. And someone might say, well,
now, but you know, well, we anointed him with oil, and we prayed,
but wasn't the Lord's will to heal him. James doesn't say you anoint
him with oil in the prayer of faith, and if it's the Lord's
will, he's going to heal him, does he? What James is talking about here
is something that is certain to happen. He's not saying if
it's the Lord's will this is going to happen. This is not
talking about the physical healing of our body. Now, I want to show
you that I never, I don't know where on earth I have been, but
never seen this before until I started preparing this lesson.
These verses do not, they're not talking about the healing
of our body at all, at all. That falls under the afflicted.
If any is afflicted, let him pray. That's talking about sicknesses.
This is talking about something else. Because James doesn't say,
well, if a person is sick and anointed with oil, pray for them
and that person will be healed. That's always what's been in
my mind when I think of these verses, but that's not what he
says. He says, you anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord
and the prayer of faith shall save the sick. He's not talking about healing.
He's talking about the salvation of our souls. I can make good
on that. There are many places, I'll just give you three. There
are other places where this word, shall save the sick, is used
in scripture. And it's talking about the salvation
of our soul, not the healing of our body. Romans 10, 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. We're not talking about healing,
is it? We're talking about the salvation of our souls. Romans 11, 26. All Israel shall be saved. He's
talking about spiritual Israel. All spiritual Israel shall be
saved. Every one of them is going to
die unless the Lord returns first. Their bodies are going to die.
Their souls shall be saved. First Corinthians 121. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Not
to heal their bodies, but to save them. And this is the same
word James uses, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. So I'm convinced these verses,
let's read them. They're not talking about being physically
sick at all. Let's read them again. Verse 14. Is any sick? Is any sin sick among you? Let
him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the
prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise
him up. And if he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him. See, these verses are talking
about the sin sick. Now, Without question, if we're
physically sick, we ought to pray about it. We ought to pray,
and we'll find out if it's the Lord's will that we be physically
healed or not. We may or may not. And if we
are healed, I tell you this, we're going to get something
else. Eventually, something else is going to kill these bodies.
The key to all this is not the anointing with oil now. It's
the prayer of faith. But if any be sin sick, and I'm
I have no doubt that's what James is talking about here. If any
be sin sick, their disease has already killed them. Their disease
has already made them hopeless. Well, let that person call for
the elders of the church. What's the function of the elders
of the church? It's to preach. Let him call
for the elders of the church so they can preach Christ to
you. And let that person, let the elders and let that person,
let the church pray the prayer of faith. If this person who
sins sick will pray the prayer of faith, Lord, forgive me for
Christ's sake. See, that's praying in faith
for Christ's sake. Because of who Christ is, Lord,
forgive me. Lord, wash me in the blood of
Christ and I'll be whole. If you'll wash me in the blood
of Christ, I shall be saved. Now that's faith. I know I'll
be saved because you promised I would. I know I'll be saved
because I have faith in Christ. I have faith in His blood. If
you'll wash me in His blood, Lord, I'll be clean. And Lord,
bless me. Save me. Heal my sin sickness.
Not because of any good in me, but for Christ's sake. Not because
of what I've done, for Christ's sake. That's the prayer of faith.
Lord, You said You'd save sinners. That You'd save even the chief
of sinners. Well, Lord, I'm sin sick. I'm the chief of sinners. And I believe You. I believe
you can save me by your grace. That's the prayer of faith. And
that person who prayers that prayer of faith will be saved
100% of the time. It's not a doubt like maybe he'll
be healed, maybe he won't. That person will be saved every
time. James gives no doubt what will
happen here. The person who prayers that prayer
of faith shall be saved. And the Lord will raise him up.
The Lord will come and the spirit will come and anoint that person.
He'll dwell in the heart of that person, in the heart of that
sinner in the new birth. He'll raise him up. He'll give
him spiritual life. That's what this is talking about.
And I can make good on it. Matthew chapter 8. Salvation is the healing of our
sin sicknesses. And that is what Christ came
to do. Matthew chapter 8 verse 14. And when Jesus was coming to
Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever
and he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose
and administered unto them. When the evening was come, they
brought unto him many that were possessed with devils and he
cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were
sick. Now verse 17, here's the key,
that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken by Isaiah the prophet
saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. Now,
that's a quote from Isaiah 53. What is that talking about? You know Isaiah 53. What is Isaiah
53 talking about? It's talking about salvation
in the person and work of Christ, isn't it? Let's look at it. Look
at Isaiah 53. This is what Matthew's quoting
here. And this is why this was done,
that this scripture might be fulfilled. Isaiah 53, verse 4. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He is bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,
we are what? Healed. He's not talking about
physical healing there, is he? He's talking about the healing
of our sin sicknesses. With his stripes, with the suffering
of Christ, As our substitute, our souls are saved, are made
whole. Every sinner who prays this prayer
of faith, believing that all it takes is Christ, all it takes
to save my sinful soul is Christ, that person will be saved. James
says, if he had committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. They're
forgiven in Christ. That just doesn't apply to somebody
being sick and healed, does it? No, it's the salvation of their
soul. When God saves a sinner, all
of their sin is forgiven them because it's all washed away
in the blood of Christ. They're healed. Their souls are
healed. Now, these verses become a whole lot less of a mystery
to us when we look at them in that light, don't we? Oh, that's
so obvious to us? Now, let me close with this.
In no way, in absolutely no way, Am I denying God's power to save
physical sicknesses? When I'm sick, I want to be healed. And I pray about it. And I want
you all to pray about it. When you all are sick, I pray
for you that the Lord will heal you. I'm not denying the Lord's
power to do that at all. But I'm telling you the healing
that I must have, the healing that is sure and certain that
comes from this prayer of faith, this anointing of the Spirit,
the healing I must have is the healing of my sin sicknesses.
That's what I must have. I must be saved or else I'll
die. The second death. As I've said
before, if the Lord heals me of a physical sickness, something
else is going to eventually kill this body. Something will, something
will. But the Lord heals me of my sin
sicknesses. He saves me by his grace. I'll
never die. I'll never be sick. And I'll
tell you when we'll have the fulfillment of both of those
healings, both physical and of the soul. One day we're going to have both
of them, but on this earth, The one that we need, the one that
the Lord is going to give his people is the healing of our
souls. Salvation through the blood and
the obedience, the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
that is the healing we must have. Well, is any sin sick? Is any
sick among you? Let him pray. Let him pray to
the Lord who saves sinners. All right. Lord bless you.