I have no doubt at all that most
of you want to live in this world for God. You want to live to
Christ and for Christ, serving Christ. You want your lives to
be meaningful, useful. But how can I live for God? How can I serve Jesus Christ
and serve my generation for Christ? Those are questions perplexing
to many. Obviously, if you would live
for Christ, you must live in Christ. You must be born again. You must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, washed in his blood and robed in his righteousness.
This is the only thing that makes us acceptable to God and being
washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, being one
with him, our lives and the totality of our being are accepted with
God. We are accepted in the beloved. But where can we find practical
instruction about life in this world for the glory of God? I have been urged all my life
as a preacher to preach practical sermons. Everybody wants to hear
practical sermons. That means for most folks, should
I drink coffee or should I just drink one or two cups of coffee
a day? And such foolishness, of course, is not worthy of any
kind of dignified response. What does the Word of God teach
us practically about living in this world for the glory of God? Turn to James chapter 5, and
let me show you at least a portion of an answer. In this portion
of Holy Scripture, God the Holy Ghost inspired his servant James
to give us needful instruction about how to live in this world
for God, how to live for the glory of God. And you will find
that the things he says have nothing to do with what most
people in the religious world think of when they talk about
godliness and living for God. I've been around a while, and
I know things change, and I don't really know much of what's going
on in the religious world around me today as far as the taboos
and what's permitted and what's not permitted in churches and
in religious circles. But I remember when I was just
a young man, when I started in Bible college, they had a rule
book, and it's fine to make rules. You're going to live by rules,
and don't do this, don't do that. Just don't make any for me. And
don't call it godliness. Don't call it godliness. But
the boys weren't allowed to wear sideburns below the middle of
the ear because that was considered worldly. And back in those days,
back in 1968, buckled shoes were real popular. Boys wore buckled
shoes. I had some. Couldn't wear them
anymore. That was worldly. That was ungodly.
And all kinds of stuff like that. You couldn't go to the movies.
And then they gave up a little bit on that. It's hard to go
to the movies, but just certain ones. Just certain ones as prescribed
by the rule books. All of those things are rules
made by men. and have nothing to do with godliness. Touch not, taste not, handle
not is not the teaching of Holy Scripture. It's the teaching
of religions and religious works. What does God have to say about
it? The title of my message tonight is self-righteousness, supplication,
service. self-righteousness, supplication,
service. Now, I want you to begin with
me again at James chapter 5 and verse 1, and let me talk to you
a little bit about self-righteousness. I'm going to be fairly quick
in looking at this because we've looked at James 5, 1 through
6 before, but in this passage, James is talking to rich men,
rich men. But these are rich men, all of
whom he condemns, all of whom he consigns to hell. all of whom
are judged by Him under inspiration of God to be lost men and women,
rich men. So obviously, he is not just
talking about material wealth. I recognize that there are conflicts
with regard to materialism and there are warnings in Scripture
given concerning love of the world and materialism and love
of earthly gain and all those things. But that is not what
James is talking about in this portion of Scripture. The fact
is some of God's saints in this world are very rich. Some have
been very rich. Faithful men and women who use
their wealth for the glory of God, for the furtherance of the
gospel, for the benefit of others. Abraham was a rich man. David was a rich man. Solomon was a rich man, a rich
man. Joseph of Arimathea, who came
to take the body of our Lord Jesus with Nicodemus and prepare
it for the burying, was a very rich man, a very rich man. You've
possibly heard of a woman in British history in the 1600s,
name of Lady Huntington, 1700, excuse me. She was a very wealthy
lady in England. and God saved him. And she used
her wealth, particularly as she got older, she used her wealth
to build chapels, to support preachers, to send preachers
literally all over the place, preaching the gospel, to entertain
preachers and take care of them. She was a very wealthy lady.
God's people in this world sometimes indeed are rich. And being wealthy
doesn't mean a person's wicked. Being wealthy doesn't mean a
person has somehow cheated somebody out of things. But in this portion
of scripture, James is using riches to denounce men. He denounces these rich men as
those Pharisees who trust in themselves that they are righteous
and despise others. The fact is those who trust in
themselves that they are righteous always despise others. He's talking
about self-righteous men, self-righteous women, folks who, though they
are utterly bankrupt spiritually, think themselves rich. People
who think they are righteous by what they have done. And that,
sadly, takes in almost everybody you know. That takes in almost everybody
you know. Almost everybody in your family,
almost all your neighbors, almost all the religious people you
know, almost all the irreligious people you know, sadly imagine
that they are righteous and shall meet God on the ground of their
own uprightness and be accepted of Him. Let's read and see if
this is not exactly what James is telling us. Go to now, ye
rich men. Weep and howl. What a strong
statement. Weep and howl. Howl like men
in utter torment. For your miseries shall come
upon you. Your riches are corrupted. The
word is your riches putrefy like a dead corpse. Your garments
are moth-eaten. Your righteousnesses, which are
just filthy rags, they're moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered,
rusted, corroded. But gold and silver don't rust. Gold and silver don't canker.
They tarnish, but they don't rust. They don't canker. They
don't corrupt. He's not talking about material
things. He's talking about something else. The rest of them shall
be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were
fire. The unquenchable fire of hell
forever gnawing upon you. Howl and weep. Your misery shall
come upon you for you have heaped treasure. You have heaped treasure. You just piled up good works
for yourself. together for the last days. Behold
the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
which is of you kept back by frog cryeth, and the cries of
them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of
Sabbath." Perhaps there's a reference to men, wealthy men, cheating
folks out of their just wages. I wouldn't object to that at
all. But what multitudes there are in hell. because they had been taught
by their lost moms and dads, by their lost preachers and Sunday
school teachers, that salvation is something to be earned by
them. They've been taught all their
lives that somehow if they're good enough, if they serve the
Lord well enough, if they behave well enough, they'll finally
at last be accepted of God because of their works. John Gill speaks
of the prodigal son when he had wasted all of his substance in
riotous living. He went and joined himself to
a man in the land and that man suggested to him that he should
go and feed the hogs and he could work his way back into his father's
good graces. Gill suggested that he found a Pharisaic preacher
who told him, said, you can get back in good favor with God.
You can just work your way back in your good favor. and he fain
would have filled his belly with the husk the swine did eat. But
all the husk of self-righteousness never give men satisfaction."
Read on, verse 5. You have lived in pleasure on
earth and been wanton. You've lived for your pleasure
and you've been wanton. You've nourished your hearts
as in the day of slaughter, as oxen prepared for the slaughter.
prepared for the slaughter, ye have condemned and killed the
just, and he doth not resist you. Turn back to Matthew 23.
Now let's see if I can make good on what I've said about this
referring to self-righteous religionists, Pharisees, oppressive, persecuting
religious people, people who use religion to advantage themselves. I recall years ago, I was sitting
in a room with Brother Mahan and some preachers were around
and Henry said, there are just two kinds of preachers in this
world. Those who are used and those who use. Let us settle in. And there are
just two kinds of religious people in this world. Those who are
used. and those who use. That's all. Self-righteous folks who use
others for their advantage and believers who are used of God
for the benefit of others. Look at Matthew 23, verse 13.
I won't try to read this whole section, but you follow along
with me a portion of it. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
These are the... Our Lord is talking to the muckety-muck
of religious people. I mean, He's talking to folks
who attended the best seminaries, graduated from the best schools,
who were most highly respected. They'd be on all the television
programs, in all the newspapers, being interviewed about every
religious question. Our Savior says, you scribes and Pharisees,
forever let you be damned! You're hypocrites. Well, what
do you? Read on. Here's His reason. For
ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For ye neither go
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to
go in. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses,
and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive
the greater damnation, the hottest place in hell's reserve for you.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you encompass
sea and land to make one postulate, and when he is made, you make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and
anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done,
and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides would strain
a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of
the platter, but within they're full of extortion and excess. You clean everything up to look
good so Jonathan will brag on you. You clean everything up
to look good so, well, what Lindsay talks about you, he'll say, boy,
Don Fortner, he's a fine man. He's such a godly man. He's such
a man of prayer. He's such a devoted man. You
clean up the outside, but inside, nothing but extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside
of them may be clean also. Verse 27, Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. I can almost picture these fellows
when the Lord's blistering them, and they are just enraged. You religious men! that everybody
brags about, you think you're so hot. He said, inside I know
what you are. You're as corrupt as a grave
with rotting flesh in it. That's all you are. Read on,
verse 28. Even so, ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men. But within, you're full of hypocrisy
and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. On Memorial Day, you
go out and you whitewash the gravestones and put flowers on
the graves of God's servants, and you brag on God's servants.
But the reality is, if you get your hands on them, you'd kill
them. You can't only kill him. I've driven through places in
England and Scotland that have huge statues of John Bunyan and
statues of John Knox. Somebody has taken the time to
take Bunyan's tomb in Burnhill Fields in England and have renovated
it. Man, it's polished up and looks
so good. These are the fellows who put him in prison for 12
years. Same folks, same folks. They're just generations apart,
that's all. Same people, same religion, same
practices. Our Lord said, you go out and
garnish the sepulchers and say, if we had been in the days of
our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the
blood of the prophets. Wherefore be ye witnesses unto
yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Verse 32. Fill ye up then the measure of
your fathers, you serpents, you generation of vipers. How can
you escape the damnation of hell? Verse 34, wherefore behold, I
send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes. And some of
them you shall kill and crucify. And some of them you shall scourge
in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city. that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from
the blood of righteous Abel under the blood of Zacharias. I would rather stand before God
in the day of judgment guilty of any crime than stand before
God guilty of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness, our Lord
declares to be the religion of fools. What a fool he is who
imagines he's good. What a fool you are if you imagine
that you're righteous. What a fool you are if you think
that you, because you clean up the outside and impress men,
are clean in your heart and God will accept you. There's nothing
in the world so contemptible, so obnoxious, so hateful to God
as self-righteousness. Let us ever be aware of it. Who
maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou'st not received it? Self-righteousness
is obnoxious to God and yet there's nothing more natural to us. I said all of that to say this,
there is hope even for proud self-righteous sinners. God knows
how to break the proud. God knows how to empty the full. God knows how to impoverish the
rich. God knows how to strip the clothed. God knows how to lay you in the
dust before his feet. Behold, solitarsis, saved by
the grace of our God. He who saves the chief of sinners
even saves self-righteous sinners. When I was preparing this message,
I couldn't help but to think of Mark and Donna. I know the
background in which y'all were raised. I don't really know anything
at all about their past history, but my suspicions are you never
were folks to raise a whole lot of trouble. Real good folks. Raised good, been good all your
life. Went to be missionaries. What
could be better than that? In Africa, what could be better
than that? And didn't know God from a horse. Didn't know God from, God saves
self-righteous folks. Just like he saves harlots and
drunks and whore bongers. He saves self-righteous folks.
Brother Eric and the folks out in San Diego are gonna have a
memorial service for Bob Harmon Saturday. And Eric asked if I
would write something. And I sat down and spent some
time writing some things. My memory of a friend. As you
know, Brother Bob died last week. I met him in 1995. Shortly after I met him, we started
corresponding. He, from then on, started ordering,
I suppose he's listening to every sermon I've preached since I
met him in July of 1995, about every one of them. We had correspondence,
and he asked me if I'd come out and preach for him. He was a
pastor at First Baptist Church in Jocumbo, about 70 miles east
of San Diego. And I said, I'll be glad to.
And we arranged a Bible conference. Brother Norm Wells and Brother
Gene Harmon went out with me. On the last meeting of the conference,
going out Sunday morning, we had about a 70-mile drive out
to San Diego. Brother Bob said to me, I'm going
to preach this morning. That was at 10 o'clock hour.
He said, I want you to critique my sermon. And I begged out. I said, Bob,
I don't want to be put in that position. I just can't do that. But he preached at the 10 o'clock
hour. And I don't remember his text, but I remember very well
the title of his ceremony. steps to salvation. And he betrayed
what he believed. It was utter damning heresy. Just works. I mean works from
start to finish. A little grace fixed in here
and there. Just works from start to finish. Now if he had preached
that the moon is purple and that snow falls gray to the ground
and that dogs never have fleas, I could have held my tongue.
But that's not what he preached. He preached something damning
to the souls of all who believe it, salvation by the works of
men. And I turned around, Brother
Gene and Brother Norman were sitting right behind me on the next row.
I said, I'll give either one of you $100 to preach in my place.
And they weren't willing to do so. Because I knew I had to deal
with everything he said. It had to be dismantled, dismantled
publicly, and dismantled then. I was his guest, guest preaching
in his pulpit, but I could not in faithfulness to God, faithfulness
to the souls of men and faithfulness to the gospel of God's grace,
I could not, not speak concerning those things. And so I got up
behind him and God gave me grace and power by his spirit to meet
the occasion. And when I got up to preach,
I was just dead sure all hell was going to break loose. And
I thought the drive home was going to be tough. But things
didn't turn out that way. Bob got up behind me. Bob's a
big fella. He was a big fella. Bigger than
me. He made me look little. Back in the days when I was big.
He made me look little. He was a retired FBI agent. And
he'd been pastoring there for a while after retiring. And he
got up just broken hearted and weeping. and acknowledged his
sin and confessed God's grace, and God saved him by his grace.
Because God saves sinners. Pharisees, self-righteous folks,
and other folks too. Christ Jesus came into the world
even to save self-righteous sinners, and he does it by stripping them
of their righteousness. by breaking them of their pride,
by humbling them in the dust before Him. All right, second,
go down to verse 13. In verses 13 through 18, James
shows us how to live in this world through all the diverse
circumstances of life in this world, praying, making supplication
to God and worshiping Him. No matter where we find ourselves,
no matter what our circumstances in life may be, joyful or painful,
merry or miserable, healthy or sick, James says, worship God. Worship God. Worship God. This is the same thing Paul tells
us back in Philippians. If you want to come back there,
Philippians chapter four. Verse four, rejoice in the Lord
always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known to all men. What a wonderful word. Let your
ease of mind. Let your unruffled disposition. Let your moderation be known
to all men. Let your gentleness be known
to all men. The Lord's at hand. Now you tell me why I should
complain about something. You tell me why I should murmur
about something. You tell me why I should grumble
and gripe about something. The Lord's at hand. The Lord's
at hand. God at your elbow. God at hand
all the time. That means be careful for nothing.
But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. Now, back to James
5. It's the same thing James tells
us. Verse 13. Is any among you afflicted? Let
him pray. When you're afflicted in any
way, the very first thing we should do is pray. But our tendency
is to murmur, fret, complain, and try to fix the mess we're
in. That's our tendency. I can handle
this. I can handle this. And we start
figuring out a way to handle it. And we will continue to do
so until God graciously forces us. in the dust and forces us to
pray, forces us to come to the throne of grace and obtain mercy
and grace to help in time of need. The word pray here means
to supplicate God, but primarily it suggests the idea supplicate
God in worship, referring to public worship. I've observed this over 45 years
pastoring folks. When people have trouble, have
difficulty, unbelievable as it is, more often
than not, the thing they do is the last thing they ought to
do. They don't gather to worship God with his people in the house
of worship. This is the place where God meets
with the saints. This is the place where God gives
out his word. This is the place where God's
people meet together to help one another and help one another
they do. I recall many, many years ago,
Some of you knew Daryl and Joyce Hartman's daughter, Danette.
She was at our conference downstairs right before she and her husband
left to go home. She said, Brother Donald, I'll
tell you something. She said, we're going to have a baby. Kissed
me on the cheek and said, I knew you'd want to know. I said, well,
thank you. Thank you for telling me. And she went home and had
an aneurysm in her brain. What a sad, sad, sad situation. She had the baby and for a long
time couldn't attend services. Just seemed like she wasn't going
to make any improvement at all. And when she finally got where
they could get her out of the house, Joyce and Daryl brought
her back to the worship services. It's like she'd been shot in
the arm with some kind of drug just excited her. She was again
for the first time in a year, more than a year, in the place
where she most delighted to be with God's people, hearing God's
word. And though she could not with
her lips, seeing his praise in her heart, joining God's people
in worship. The very best help there is for
God's people in affliction is worship. The sooner you bow and
kiss the hand that brings the affliction, the easier you find
the affliction to be. Look at the next line. Is any
merry? Let him sing psalms. That which is good in affliction
is even better in merriment. The word sing here is more than
singing to yourself. It has the idea of singing praise
with God's saints in his house. The word actually even carries
the idea of sing with musical accompaniment. He's talking about
singing in the public worship of God's saints. Oh, how delightful
it is to sing with a merry heart, rejoicing in the Lord. as I was
preparing this message yesterday. And today, I couldn't help but
think of an experience I had after having a heart surgery
several years ago. As you know, I had some difficulties.
My habit is, in the mornings, I get up feeling pretty good.
And why not? I get up and Shelby's got everything
fixed up for me. But I get up feeling pretty good.
And I usually start to shave whistling. As soon as I get done
brushing my teeth, I'm whistling. But I went for a couple of years
and didn't ever whistle in the mornings. I didn't get up feeling
good. I got up feeling rotten. And
one morning, after about two years, I was shaving and I didn't
pay any attention to it. I was whistling. And my wife
came back with a big smile and tears running down her cheeks. I said, what's wrong with you?
She said, so good to hear you whistle again. Oh, when you're
troubled, worship God. When you're merry, sing his praise. This is how we supplicate. This is how we worship our God.
Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray for him, anointing him with oil
in the name of the Lord. I'm not going to speak decisively
about this 14th verse because I simply can't do so. But this
much I know. When you're sick, the first thing
you should do is seek God's help through his people. Seek God's
help through his people. I don't mean wine and all that
stuff, but don't live privately in the sense of keeping
back from God's people your pain. Don't do that. Don't do that.
The Old Testament, we have pictures typically of prophets and priests
and kings being anointed with holy oil. That was a picture,
that was a picture of the gift of God the Holy Ghost by which
Christ has anointed his church and we have an unction from the
Holy One. We had that anointing upon ourselves as God's prophets,
priests, and kings. But nowhere was oil used during
the apostolic era in connection with those special gifts the
apostles had, speaking in tongues and prophesying and laying on
of hands, healing the sick and so forth. Not one time do you
find anywhere in the New Testament where the apostles anointed with
oil and then miraculously performed a miracle to raise up someone
off the sickbed. So the anointing has nothing
to do with that. However, oil was used, you find it in Mark
chapter 6, and you find it in Luke chapter 10 with the Good
Samaritan, oil was used medicinally in the New Testament. And oil
is still used today medicinally. It has medicinal value. And the
word anoint has the idea, at least, of massaging with oil,
using in a medical way. And so the Apostle's instruction
to us, it appears to me, is this. Now, if you differ, that's all
right. We won't split up and start a new denomination over
it. When you're sick, James says, Use the best medicine available
and pray. Use the best medicine available
and pray. Well, you're so anxious to go
to heaven, why do you go to the doctor? I have a responsibility
to protect life, yours and my own. I have a responsibility
to do so. As God gives the ability, I have
a responsibility to do so. So when you're sick, use the
best medicine available and pray. Pray. Bow to God. Worship God. Supplicate God,
your Father, casting all your care on Him. And then in verse
15, God the Holy Ghost declares by His servant, and the prayer
of faith shall. That's a strong word. That's
a strong word. He didn't say the prayer of faith
might or probably will. He says 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. Obviously, obviously
the healing here promised is not the certain healing of the
body. I haven't talked to any of our doctor friends about this.
You can ask Paul about it tomorrow. But I'd rather doubt anybody
who suffers any real traumatic sickness is ever really healed
of that sickness medicinally. I doubt that's the case. They
don't ever quite recover. I've had little experience. get so low and you gain some
strength back and you're doing pretty good, but there's some
residual effects of the sickness you just don't overcome. It's called the process of dying. You just don't overcome it. Well,
what's James talking about then? Sickness or health have nothing
to do with forgiveness of sin. This is what God promises in
verse 15. He promises the fullness and
perfection of life in a resurrection glory. You're sick, you pray. You call for the elders of the
church and they pray. You use the medicine you have
and the prayer of faith, believing God. Believing God, life eternal
is yours. Fullness of days is yours. prayer of faith shall save the
sick. But there's something more there. The perfect, complete forgiveness
of all sin to those who believe, to those who trust Christ, even
if their sickness and death is the result of their sin. is here
assured. Oh, how good God is! How good God is! Those who trust Christ are accepted
of God forever. Read on, verse 16. Confess your
faults one to another. I did a lot of reading on this
and most of it was, it sounded real good and pious. You know,
you have services and folks come and confess their faults before
the church and confess them publicly. I don't think we'll start doing
that around here. I don't think so. Number one, I don't need
to hear your faults. Especially, especially, what's
going on inside you. I don't need to hear that. Don't
want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. And we're not priests.
Well, what does this mean? Confess your faults one to another.
Confess yourself sinners. Not just audibly. Not just, oh,
if you just knew how evil I am. In your deportment, in your conduct
with one another. Always remember what you are. Confess your faults one to another,
and when you've offended someone, wronged someone, confess it. Go to him. The rest of us don't
need to know anything about it, but confess it. Don't cover it
up. And pray one for another that
you may be healed. Now, look at the next line, the
effectual. That word effectual is inwrought. The effectual, the inwrought,
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. What's he
talking about? What's he talking about? If you
read the stories of revival, you'll read about folks who prayed
and they got together and ganged up on God. and got him in a hammer
lock, and they ripped their clothes, and they screamed, and they beat
on the floor, and they prayed, and they prayed, and they prayed,
until finally the heavens opened. No, no, no. That's not the perfect
prayer of a righteous man. He gives an example, we'll look
at it in a minute, of Elijah. What's this mean? God said, Elijah,
you pray. And shut the heavens up. And
Elijah said, Lord, shut the heavens up. If you go pray again, ask God
to open the heavens. Lord, open the heavens. That's
an effectual, fervent prayer. Fervent because it's wrought
in you by God. Effectual because God responds
to that which God inspires. You got that? David heard the
Lord speak, 1 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel 7, excuse me. And he said, when God got done
speaking, he said, Lord, since you said this, your servant found
it in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. Do what you
said you was going to do. Do what you said you was going
to do. Do as thou hast said. True prayer. True prayer. is prayer wrought
in the heart by God. What does that say about our
prayers? A lot. We haven't the ability to pray
on our own. We ask after our lust and have
not. Because we ask for things we
want for ourselves to consume upon our lust. But sometimes,
sometimes, sometimes God puts a prayer in your heart. And you pray. You pray with opportunity. Like that widow who brought her
daughter She said, Lord, have mercy on me. And the Lord said,
well, you're a Gentile dog. She said, yeah, but I still need
mercy. But what I've got's just for the children's bread. She
said, yeah, but even dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall on
the floor. And the Lord said, oh, I've never seen faith like
that. I've never seen faith like that. Be it unto you, even as
you will. When I will, now listen to me,
when I will, what God wills, I always have my will. When I will what God wills, I
always have my will. But prayer is not going to change
God. Prayer is not going to change God. God's purpose is fixed. God inspiring prayer in our hearts
changes us in our attitude toward Him. And then James gives us
this example of Elijah. Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are. That is, he was a sinner saved
by grace, just like you and just like me. And he prayed earnestly,
fervently, that it might not rain. And it rained not on the
earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed
again and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth her
fruit. And I don't know much about prayer. I don't know much
about what I'm talking about here. I acknowledge that. But
I do know this. Blessed be His name forever.
There is one righteous man whose prayers are always effectual. His name is Jesus Christ the
righteous. He who is the propitiation for
our sins, who intercedes for us at the right hand of God.
Now, the last thing James speaks of. He brings his epistle to
an abrupt conclusion. I was talking to a young preacher
just today. He was asking me about yesterday.
He was asking me about preaching. I said, the most important things
you say are the first thing you say and the last thing you say. And when I write a letter, I
always look for the right way to finish it. I just, I take
time trying to look for the right way to finish it. And usually,
my normal way of citing a letter is, I am yours in Christ by God's
free and sovereign grace, God. And I'll have a scripture quotation,
scripture reference. Usually, but I look for something
to conclude the letter. Because that which is last is
the most important. And James here concludes his
letter abruptly. Without even saying, I wrote
this to you. He doesn't even sign his name. He just concludes
abruptly. Look at verse 19. Brethren if any of you do err
from the truth and one convert him Let him know that he which
converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a
soul from death And shall hide a multitude of sins That's exactly
the same thing Paul said in Galatians 6 He said men be overtaken with
the fault you which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness The fact is our brethren do often err from the truth. It is our responsibility and
privilege to restore them, to help them. Whether their error
is an error of doctrine or of conduct, our business is to help
them. James says, and one convert him.
That is, turn him again. Turn him again. Well, Brother
Don, don't you know you can't convert a man? Don't you know
nobody can convert a man but God? You know, I'm suspicious
maybe James understood that. I just got a hunch James knew
that pretty well. But he says, if you convert your
brother who's heard from the truth, what's he talking about?
God condescends. to use sinners to help sinners. Oh my God, I want to be used
of you to help your people. He promised Abraham, I'll bless
you and I'll make you a blessing. He says, you convert him. You
convert your brother who's heard from the truth. Then let that
man know, let him know that he which converteth a sinner from
the error of his way shall save a soul from death and hide a
multitude of sins. Oh, what a magnificent thing. Tell your people, tell the folks
in the church, tell God's saints, that when your brother is overtaken
with a fault, you go after him. You go after him. You pray for
him. And bring him back into the fold. And when you do, you save him
from his ways of death. You convert him from the error
of his way. And you cover up his sin. Cover up his sin. Cover it up. Cover it up? What? Cover it up? Christ's blood and righteousness
covers it from the eye of God forever. And when you bring your
brother the good news of grace and he again embraces it, his
sin is covered fresh from his own eyes, blotted out like a
thick cloud by the blood of Christ. Oh, thank you, my God, for putting
away my sin. And God's people covered it. You remember what Joe did about
six months ago? I don't want to talk about that.
Do you remember what Joe did 10 years ago? I don't want to
talk about that. I'm not going to. How come? We need to get these things aired
out. No, they don't. They need to be covered up. Covered
up. Cover. Love covers. Love covers evil. It doesn't
expose it. It doesn't expose it. My God,
my God, my God, will you make of me Will you make of these your people,
instruments in your hands to serve your glory, to serve one
another, to serve the souls of men in this generation for the
glory of Christ. Amen. God bless you. You're dismissed. Gentleman right here is Brother
Ted Meyer. He is from that place where we used to say when I was
a boy, Detroit City. So y'all be sure to do it.