We have now come to the close
of this epistle. James writes to the
twelve tribes of Israel that were scattered abroad because
of affliction. And I have found this to be an
instructive study, a blessing. I have found this to be a blessing
studying it. I don't know if I've brought it across. like it ought to be brought across,
but it's been a real blessing to me looking at it. James warns
us throughout this epistle of self-deception in the faith. You know, this epistle is written concerning our faith, the justification
of our faith, not our soul. Paul speaks of the justification
of our souls in the Lord Jesus Christ, but James has been speaking
of the justification of our faith. And that's evidenced by our conduct,
by our life, our walk, our talk. It's evidenced by that. And then
he closes here, and we're going to close here tonight in this
epistle, with some final instruction. It has to do with prayer and
praise, seeking the Lord, looking out after one another, bearing
one another's burdens, praying for one another. I titled this Fervent Prayer.
After Mike sang that song, I thought I probably should have titled
it Leave It There. Leave It There. The hardest thing to do is leave
it there. We take it there and then we
bring it back. It struck me while listening
up here, I thought our estimation of prayer reflects our estimation
of God to answer prayer, of His power, of His love and of his faithfulness. I think if we become weak in
prayer and slack in prayer, it's evident we've become slack in
our thoughts of God, our thoughts of Him. But that kind of struck
me as I was listening to you sing. James says in verse 13,
is any among you afflicted? Well, the answer to that is yes.
Always, yes. There is always someone in God's
family that is afflicted. I heard Frank pray for three
of them tonight. There's always someone afflicted.
I read to you in Psalm 34, many are the afflictions of the righteous,
of God's people. of those who are made righteous
in the Lord Jesus Christ, many are their afflictions. Paul said in one place, and our
Lord said this, we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom
of heaven. Our journey home, and that's
what it is. This is a journey home. And our journey home is filled
with afflictions, filled with heartaches, filled with sorrows,
filled with trials, filled with troubles. A man that's born of
a woman is a few days full of troubles. And a believer has
his afflictions. But I'll tell you this, the whole
world has afflictions. You know, everybody has afflictions.
But there's a special, special reason that God sends his children
And he does that, he sends his children afflictions. And I'll
say a little bit more about that here in a little bit. But a believer
should not be surprised when afflictions come upon him. Why me? Really, that should never
be a question. That should not be a question
that we should ever ask, why me? I want you to look over in
1 Thessalonians. Over here in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 3, Listen to the word of God. I'm
going to read the first four verses. In chapter 3 of 1 Thessalonians,
wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to
be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus our brother and
minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ
to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, that
no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know
that, listen, know that we are appointed thereunto." It really
gives me comfort as I get older, as I grow older. I understand
a little more of this now. But it really gives me comfort
to know that my afflictions are divinely appointed. That's a
comfort. That is a real comfort. Because
I know who sends them and I know who controls them. I know he
controls the power of them, the duration of them. He controls
them and he sends them. He says, For yourselves know
that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with
you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation,
even as it came to pass, and you know. Being a believer does
not keep us or exempt us from being afflicted. If it did, I
thought about this today. If it did, people would flock
to the faith just to keep from having afflictions. Just to keep
from having afflictions. Instead of being saved from sin,
people would flock just to keep from having afflictions. The
whole reason would be wrong. Now the Scriptures teach us that
afflictions are good for us. Do you believe that? It doesn't seem like it at the
time. We have God's Word on it that
afflictions are good for us. Turn over to Psalm 119. Let's
look at it in the Word of God. This is not something I came
up with. We would never have said this. Not naturally. Psalm 119, verse
71, it is good for me that I have
been afflicted. Writing under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, he says it's good for me that I've been
afflicted. Why? That I might learn thy statutes. That I might learn thy statutes.
I've learned this, afflictions run us to Christ, not away from
Christ. They run a believer. They run
a child of God to his father. That's what they do. And when
that happens, God instructs us out of his word. When we are
run to him, then we are instructed out of his word. He said, then
I learned thy statutes. When afflictions come our way,
and they will, they will, the ones that are appointed, and
no other ones, no other ones, the ones that are appointed,
how are we to handle them? How are we to handle these afflictions
when they come our way? James says this, he gives a very
simple statement here. Let him pray. Let him pray. That's something every child
of God can do. Pray. Let him pray. It is a season for prayer and
not complaint when they come our way. It is a special time
for prayer for it's a time in which God is glorified and we
are instructed We receive more instructions out of afflictions
and trials than at any other time. He says, let him pray. We have a blood-bought right
to enter into the presence of God Almighty through the throne
of grace and cast all our cares upon him who cares for us. We
have a blood-bought right to do that. You know, you have children. You want them to come and tell
you. You want them to tell you their troubles. You want them
to cast their cares upon you, don't you? You don't. How much
more our Heavenly Father tells us, cast your cares upon me. Call upon me in the day of trouble.
That's what he says. Call upon me. Listen to this. Listen to this. Psalm 50. I'm
just going to read a portion of it. I wrote it down today.
Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I'll see what I can do." Now, as you see, that's what
I would have to do. I'd have to see what I could do, because
I really don't know. The trouble may be bigger than I can handle.
But he says, call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will. Here's a promise. Here's a promise
now. Keep this promise. Put it away
somewhere, like a golden nugget. Put it away somewhere. Here's
a promise. I will deliver thee. You can just bank on it. It's
going to happen. It'll happen in His time. But
I will deliver thee. You call upon me in the day of
trouble, and I'll deliver thee. And listen, and thou shalt glorify
me. There's the whole reason for
our afflictions. Note how personal it is. He says,
I will. I will deliver thee. He's not
going to send an angel. It's not going to send somebody.
He said he may use means, but he says, I will. I'll be the
one to deliver you. I'll deliver thee. And listen
how positive it is. I will. And how sure I will deliver
thee. You will be delivered. And here's
the results. Here's the purpose. Thou shalt
glorify me. You'll give him the praise and
the glory and the honor that belongs to his name when he delivers
you. And that's when he'll deliver you, is when you are able to
glorify him. It says in Psalm 34, I read this
to you. That's the reason I read Psalm
34. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears
are open unto their cry, listening to them. Bow down and listen
to them. His ears are open to their cries. The righteous cry, and the Lord
heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. I wanted
to write a lot of these scriptures down tonight because that's where
our comfort comes from. This is the foundation here.
It's the Word of God. We can go to the Word of God,
and here's the promises. Here's what he says to us out
of his Word. He says, The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and
delivereth them out of all their troubles. And all that we have,
and ever shall have, is to be prayed for. Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened." He says, call on. That's what he's saying, call
on me. Call on me. Now, during these times of afflictions,
what do we need to pray for? What do we need to pray for?
We have an audience with God. Now think about it. We have an
audience with God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. We have
an audience with Him. Here are some things to pray
for. Grace. Grace to bear the affliction
graciously. Help me to be a good patient. I've seen bad patients. I've
been bad patients. What am I talking about? Give me grace to bear this in
such a manner that my Father's name is honored. And then pray this, Thy will
be done. Thy will be done. When our Lord
was in the Garden of Gethsemane, And the load and weight of our
sins was laid on Him. He said, Father, not My will,
but Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Can we pray
any less? And then pray for patience to
wait on the Lord to deliver. Lord, give me patience to wait
on Your delivery. He will deliver in His good time.
And He will deliver. For the Lord is gracious. Turn over to Exodus chapter 22.
Exodus chapter 22. In Exodus 20, let me see where this
is at. Exodus 22 verse 23. Let me see if I wrote that down
right. No, I don't think I wrote the
Scripture down right. Oh, well. It says this. For I am gracious. He said, I'll
deliver thee, for I am gracious. I am gracious. And then pray. This is important here. Pray
to be a comfort to others who are troubled over your affliction. You know, when your child is
sick, I'm telling you, you feel just as afflicted as
they. You don't feel the bodily pain
of it, but when that child is sick, you know this, you parents,
you know this, your heart just goes out. to be a comfort to others who
are troubled over your afflictions." And then he says here, he switches,
because we go through afflictions and then we go through times
when we're merry, happy. Things are going great. Couldn't
be any better. Is any merry? He says, let him
sing psalms. As sure as we will have our times
of afflictions, we will have our times of merry. God has set
one against the other. And this is the time to sing
his praises. I'm not talking about just here,
but I'm talking about at home, you know, in your private studies
and your devotions. Sing praises. Sing praises. Sometimes when I'm just at the
house by myself, I like to take the songbook down and just sing
songs out of the songbook when I'm by myself. I like to do that. Sing praises. Our times of Mary are times that
we are, listen now, there are times that we can easily forget
the benefits. It says in Psalms 103 too, forget
not all his benefits. And the most dangerous time of
that happening is when everything's going well, when we're married. He says, sing praises. Sing praises
to him. Believers generally pray under
affliction that danger comes when we are at ease in Zion.
Listen to this scripture, Deuteronomy 32.15. But Jeshurun waxed fat
and kicked. Thou art waxen fat, thou art
grown thick, thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook
God. which made him and lightly esteemed
the rock of his salvation. When he was blessed and when
things were going great, then he pursued God. That's the time,
listen, and if you're singing praises, if you're truly from
your heart giving him the thanks and the praise for it, you're
thinking upon him. Your mind is upon him. Your heart's upon
him. And he says, is any among you
sick? Yes. Yes. There's always someone that's
sick. And we'll always have our times
of sickness. Now, how are we going to handle
this? He says here, 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. He says, let the church know.
Don't hide it. Don't hide it. He's saying here, let the church
know. And I mean, he's talking about,
he says, call the elders. And I know he's talking about
here pastors and teachers, but but this also covers everyone
in the church. Men and women, I value the prayers
of the ladies here as much as any man I know. He said, let him call for the
elders of the church. Let the church know. We're not
to hide our troubles and our sicknesses. And this includes,
as I said, all believers. And we can pray when we do this. Let him call for the elders of
the church. And we can pray that the Lord give this person strength. Pray for him. Hold him up in
prayer. Give him strength to endure.
Give him patience to bear the sickness, him or her. Pray for
them. Anointing them in the name of
the Lord. Anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord. And I'm just going to say this
about this. Use the means. I've looked at this and listened
to others and read. Use the means. This was just this was, I mean,
there was nothing saving in that oil no more than there's anything
saving in baptism. But he says here, and I think
he's teaching you, use the means. Take the medicine. Go to the
doctor if you're sick, go to the doctor. Take the medicine
and pray. Pray, because all things are
of God. All things are of God. Men did not create medicine.
I know God gave men intelligence to put some of this together,
but it's of God. And healing, true healing, is always of God. It's of God. All healing is of
God. He said, I kill and I make alive.
I wound and I heal. I, the Lord, do all these things. So use the means. I was getting
my hair cut yesterday. And the barber was talking to
me and he asked me, he knows the situation, he asked me if
we'd found a place. And I told him we found this place out here,
the Jehovah's Witnesses. He started telling me, I didn't
think much of that, you know, of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He
was going on about that. He said, I have a friend whose
son had shot himself. And he went to the hospital.
And they need to give him a blood transfusion. Well, the father
wouldn't. He wasn't going to do it. He would not sign. And
the mother said, that's our only son. And so she signed for it. But he wasn't going to sign for
it. He was not going to sign for him to have a blood transfusion.
Well, he's alive today. He's still alive. And who knows? God may save that soul yet. Use the means. Don't be afraid
to use the means. All things are of God. And then
it says here, and the prayer of faith, the prayer of faith,
the one who prays and the one who's being prayed for, shall
save the sick. And the Lord shall raise him
up, and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven
him. Now, I had to think about this
because I know some who've been prayed for, and the Lord didn't
raise them up. He took them. Of course, that's
really being healed when you think about it. That's really
being healed. But here's what I think, and is probably the
more important point here. He may not save him from physical
sickness, but he will save him from spiritual
sickness, spiritual depression, a bad spirit. Asking why me? And sometimes
somebody does something and it does make, you know, the Lord
does send sickness. There's sin and He does send
sickness. It's not every time somebody gets sick, but sometimes
it does. He said He'll be forgiven. He'll raise him up spiritually.
He may raise him up physically, him or her, but He will raise
him up spiritually. He will heal him spiritually
and he will give God the glory. Which is better? Spiritual healing
or physical healing? And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick. Now, he's speaking here now to
believers. He will save the sick. He'll
save him from spiritual depression and spiritual sickness Attitude,
he'll save him. He may not physically do it,
but he will spiritually do it. And then he may do it physically,
but that's all right. That's all right if he does or
if he doesn't. And confess your faults one to another. And the
best thing that came to my mind on this is be quick to apologize. Be quick to say, I'm sorry. I
shouldn't have said that. He said, be quick to do that.
And pray. He keeps bringing this up again,
doesn't he? You notice how many times he
brings this up. And pray for one another that you may be healed. Healed, listen, healed of any
spiritual disorder in the body of Christ. Healed
of any spiritual disorder. And if it's the Lord's will,
maybe physical also. Then he says here, the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." I look at
the word fervent. It means ardent, intense. It means to boil. It means to
boil. Have you ever just been so intense
about something? So fervent about something? That's
what he's talking about here. The ardent, intense prayer of
a righteous man, a man made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said availeth much. Never underestimate prayer. If you do, it's just underestimating
God. Never underestimate it. We can't
live without it. Everything that comes our way.
I thought about this today. Everything that comes our way
has been prayed for. First, by our Lord Jesus Christ,
who makes intercession for us. Nothing comes our way, nothing
happens to us that our Lord has not interceded about. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I'm sure,
I'm sure that the saints have prayed for it at some time or
another. Who knows? Who knows what a believer has prayed for
you? Years ago, years ago. Everything that concerns a believer
has been prayed for, asked for, either by him or somebody else.
I know it has been by our Lord. I know it has been. Never underestimate it. And when
I read this scripture here, the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man, availeth much, I always think of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I always think of Him. How comforting
it is to know that we have a high priest who is passed into the
heavens, seated at the Father's right hand, interceding for us
now. When you sit alone at home and
it hurts, You're afflicted, trials, the heart's heavy. There's one
who intercedes. There's one. Well, actually,
there's another, the Holy Spirit. The scripture says that he prays
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He prays for us always fervently. Think about that. His prayers
are always, my prayers are not always fervent. That's sad, isn't
it? It's not. None of us. Our prayers
are not always perfect. His prayers are always perfect.
Always intense. Words that cannot be uttered. And we, being made kings and
priests unto God in Christ, can pray for one another and be heard. He said in Psalm 65, too, O thou
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." And then
it's commanded, prayer is commanded in Isaiah 45, 11. Thus saith
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and His Maker, ask me, pray to
me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work
of my hands. Listen, command ye me. That's strong language, isn't
it? He says, you ask me. You ask
me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work
of my hands. Command ye me. He commands us
to pray. And then he gives us examples
of prayer for encouragement. Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are. He was immortal as we are. He's
a man just like us. He has ups and downs. He sinned
just like us. He's a man of like passion, and
he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. God moved him to pray. Now God had purposed that it's
not going to rain. He was going to stop the rain,
bring judgment, but he purposed that it was going to come at
the prayer of Elijah, at the prayer of his servant, of one
of his children. And it rained not on the earth.
By the space of three years and six months, it didn't rain. And then after that, that's over
in 1 Kings Then in 1 Kings 8, team 1, he prayed again. When it was time for God to send
the rain to bring an end to the judgment, he fulfilled his purpose. He moved him to pray again. He
didn't do it without him praying. That's why I said everything
that's happened has been prayed for. And the heavens gave rain, and
the earth brought forth her fruit. of the efficacy of prayer is
recorded for our encouragement. It encourages us to be instant
in prayer. God never says, He said, I never
said to the seated Jacob, seek ye my face in vain. He said,
I never said that. He's never ever commanded us
to seek him in vain. Never. Here's another example
of a man, a man of like passion. Elijah was a man of like passion.
You say, that's a prophet of the Lord. That's a man who's
also scared to death of Jezebel. This is a man who prayed for
it to rain, then a man who ran from Jezebel. A man of like passions. Joshua. The Inspect Joshua in
Joshua chapter 10. Then spake Joshua to the Lord
in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children
of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, and he prayed
in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon,
and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon, and the sun, the whole I guess the whole universe
stopped. Suspended. The laws of nature
was totally suspended for a whole day. And the sun stood still. And we get concerned about praying
over some of these little things, what we call little things. Joshua
stood before Israel and he prayed and he said, stand still. And the moon stayed until the
people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this
written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day." Joshua, a man of like passions. Elijah, a man of like passions. He's telling us this to encourage
us to call upon our Father for whatever the need is. These men
were men of like passion. They were mortals who dared to
believe God. They dared to take God at His
word. And he says, brethren, if any of you do err from the
truth and one convert him, now this does not mean to convert
unto salvation because he's already, because he's writing to believers.
And he's talking about someone here who's already been saved.
But here's what he's saying. That you keep this one from falling
into such a grave error and sin, which may come from a bad temper
over affliction. Over affliction. We can get that
way. We can get out of sorts. We can
get that way. And he says, brethren, if any
of you do err from the truth and want to convert him, bring
him back to his senses. Let him know that he which converteth
the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from
death and hide a multitude of sins. Save a soul from death. He said God may have killed him
if he hadn't have turned. Remember Moses, when he didn't
circumcise his son, God made him in the way. And what was
he going to do? He was going to kill him. He was going to kill him. And
then Moses circumcised his son and his wife got upset about
it and called him a bloody man. But God made him in the way because
he didn't do what God said. God was going to kill him. Who knows, he says, you may have
just saved a soul from death and covered a multitude of sins. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows what a word in season
will do if God uses it? All right, let me close. What's our lesson? What is our
lesson? Pray for one another. Pray for
one another. And pray that the Lord will especially
speak in these services to our hearts. I want the Lord to speak. And then if any sick, afflicted,
ask the church to pray for you. Don't hide it. Don't hide it.
Ask the church to pray for you. And look after one another. Look
after one another. We are our brother's keeper. We are. Okay, Mike.