When I was a young man and a
very young believer, I began to be troubled much with a solitary
question. It weighed heavily on my heart
and mind relentlessly. I'm now 65 years old. It's been 48 years since God
saved me by his grace. And that same question troubles
me more now than ever. It weighs more heavily on my
heart than ever, every day through the day and every night. I wake
up every morning with this question pressing heavily upon me. How
can I live for God? Can I live for God and pray every
day, Lord God, give me grace this day to live for you? How can I live in this world
for Christ, for the glory of God my Savior? That's the question
by which I try to survey every day of my life, night by night. kiss my wife goodnight and turn
off the lights. I ask myself, how have I lived
this day for him who loved me and gave himself for me? And
the answer, needless to say, to that question is never satisfactory
at all. Rather, it puts me in the dust,
causes me to blush with shame before God forces me to confess
my sin, my failure, and my overmuch care for many things that have
kept me from honoring God and living for Him in that day. Still
the question keeps haunting me. How can I live for God? I hope you're interested in that. Oh God give me grace to live
for you. Not just live, but live for you
to my dying breath. I would like God's faithful dog
Caleb to do more for him today than I've ever done in my life. I'd like to end my days serving
him vigorously with faith and commitment. And I'd like for
you to. If you open your Bibles to James
chapter 5, James chapter 5, I'm going to show you some answers
to that question. Answers given in the book of
God by God the Holy Ghost. The title of my message tonight
is Instructions for Living. Instructions for Living. But before we look at this fifth
chapter of James, let me say this. You can't live for Christ
until you live in Christ. You can't live for Christ until
you live in Christ. People have the notion, it's
just the nature of fallen man I reckon, and aided by the assistance
of false religion, people have the notion that somehow you need
to start living for the Lord, you need to start serving the
Lord. Salvation is not a reformation of life. Salvation is not getting
a dose of religion. Salvation is Christ living in
you. Salvation is you living in Christ. It is life by faith in the Son
of God. So I urge you, believe on the
Son of God. Trust Jesus Christ, our Lord
and our Redeemer. These are the things that compel
me to seek to live for Him. I know that Jesus Christ, God's
darling Son, came into this world, as Celestia sang, to save me
from my sins. I know He lived for me. He bore my sin in his own body
on the cursed tree and died for me. He arose, ascended up into
heaven, and sits on the right hand of the majesty on high,
having obtained eternal redemption for me. Jesus Christ, God the
Son, is totally committed to me. Mm, mm, mm. Totally committed
to me. Oh, Spirit of God, give us grace
that we may totally commit our lives to him who loved us and
gave himself for us. I think I can say without reservation
that every believer, every heaven-born soul wants to live for God, for
the glory of God, by the will of God, for the benefit of the
people of God and the cause of God in this world. Father, I
long to live as one who knows your matchless love and one who
has been heaven born, who lives for things above. Savior, I want
to honor you. and do the will of God in thought
and word and deed to live as one redeemed by blood. Holy Spirit,
guide my steps and guard my heart and tongue. Subdue my sin. Grant grace to live as one that's
heaven born. Now, just keep your Bibles open
on your laps. James chapter 5 and I'm going to give you five words
of instruction about living for God. Five words of instruction
about living for God. I'll have more to say about each
of these later on but tonight I want us to look at this entire
chapter as one message from God our Savior. First, God the Holy
Spirit tells us that by his servant James in verses 1 through 6,
beware of worldliness. Beware of worldliness. I suppose that you would not
find a subject more commonly addressed when preachers or teachers
are speaking to young people especially in a religious environment,
young people who profess faith in Christ, beware of worldliness. I realize I'm talking to some
folks who are young, just beginning a life in this world. I'm talking to folks who are
just about to leave this world. And I would say to you all, beware
of worldliness. James chapter 5, verse 1. Go
to now, ye rich men. Weep and howl. What a strange
statement. What a strange statement. Oh
man, he won the lottery. Weep and howl. What a strange statement. Go
to now, ye rich men. Weep and howl for your miseries
that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and
your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered,
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall
eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together
for the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which have reaped are
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived
in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. Ye have nourished
your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed
the just, and he doth not resist you. I first must point this
out with emphasis. James is not telling us and he
is not suggesting that it's somehow evil for men and women to possess
great wealth. He's not telling us, he's not
suggesting that believers are never wealthy people. Some of
God's saints in this world are given the responsibility of very
great wealth. Now I chose my words deliberately.
I hope you heard them just the way I said them. Some of God's
saints in this world are given the responsibility, the heavy,
heavy, heavy responsibility of very great wealth. Job was a
rich man like you and I cannot imagine. Abraham was a marvelously
wealthy man by the blessing of God. The king of Israel. Oh, what
a rich man he was. And his son Solomon, who could
compare to Solomon in wealth. Joseph of Arimathea, that rich
man who came with Nicodemus to take the body of our Savior and
prepare his body for the grave and put him in his own tomb.
These were rich men. Rich men given great responsibility
of wealth by the hand of God. God gives wealth and God gives
poverty to his elect for their good, for their usefulness in
their place at God's appointed time for them. God puts it in
the hands of some men to get wealth. and others work just
as hard, who are just as smart, who are just as diligent, but
they can never seem to accumulate anything. They live constantly
just paycheck to paycheck at best. This is by the order of
God. Repeatedly, our Lord warns us
with regard to this world, however, to beware of worldliness. He tells us the cares of this
world, the cares of raising a family, providing for a wife, taking
care of sons and daughters, feeding them and clothing them, giving
them a place to live. The cares of this world, those
are good cares. Those are legitimate cares. Those
are necessary cares. But the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things,
entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. Turn over just a couple of pages
to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. Love not the world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. Don't embrace with your heart
the people of this world or the things of this world. John is
not telling us, and the Word of God does not tell us to live
in a commune and isolate ourselves from people. Doesn't tell us
to be mean to people. I have some friends who live
right beside Sodomites, and they ask me about it. I say, treat
them just as nice as you can. Just don't invite them for dinner.
Don't spend your time with them. Be nice to them. Endeavor to
preach the gospel to them. Just don't embrace them. Just
don't embrace them. But that doesn't just go for
Sodomites. That goes for the whole world. Love not the people
of this world. Well, that's not what it says.
That's exactly what it says. Neither the things that are in
the world. Children of God, don't take for
your companions. Don't embrace as your day-by-day
friends. Don't take for your company folks
who don't know God. Don't do that. Don't do that.
They will corrupt you, you will not benefit them. That is always
the case. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passes away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. I deliberately chose my words
in summarizing James' statement in these opening verses, beware
of worldliness, because that's what he's talking about. Worldliness
is not what people imagine. To the Pharisee and to Pharisaic
religion, worldliness is a separation from the world in this sense.
You don't dress like the world, and you don't look like the world,
and you don't go places where the world goes. Touch not, taste
not, handle not. The Pharisaic religion would
tell you that if the world is wearing double-breasted suits,
you can't dare wear one. And if double-breasted suits
are out of style, then it's all right to wear one. all around us communes
of religious worksmongers who get together and they dress funny
and talk funny and they make good food and they provide lots
of good things, but their whole religion is separation from evil
in the world. Evil things like cars and electricity
and telephones. And they dress weird. Why? Because they imagine that those
things are evil. Listen to the Word of God. The
Kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, but in righteousness
and in peace and in joy in the Holy Ghost. Worldliness is not
going to the movies or having a glass of wine or smoking a
cigarette or a pipe or chewing tobacco or dipping snuff or wearing
shorts or Wearing a beard or not wearing a beard or wearing
long hair or not wearing long hair. That's not it. That's not it. Worldliness is
the overmuch love of this world. It is seeking after setting your
heart on this world. Worldliness The love of this world is the
thing that James warns us against. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on this earth. Worldliness is living
for the world. Living for the world. Solomon says, that God sets the
world in the heart of the reprobate. God set the world in their heart
so that they can't find Him. God set the world in their heart
so they can't find Him. Worldliness is attachment to
living for the world. Godliness is living for God. Nothing is more dangerous to
our souls than the love of this world. Nothing more dangerous. Nothing more. Nothing more effectually
chokes out the influence of the gospel and the things of God
than the cares of this world. This world, my friends, and all
that it offers is just a bubble. You remember when you're small
children, you got those little bottles of soapy water and little
wands and you make bubbles? I remember when Faith was a baby,
I got her some of those. She's just a little toddler.
And we were making bubbles. And she just had me running around
chasing the bubbles and I popped the bubble and she started to
cry. I picked her up Set her on my
lap, and I said, it's all right. It's just a bubble. We can make
a bunch more. And she got over it in a hurry. But I don't blame
a baby for crying over bursted bubbles. It's kind of silly,
Bobby, for you and I, too. Oh, sons and daughters of God
Almighty, don't set your heart on this bubble. It's about to
burst. And that's all it is. Nothing
else. Nothing else. All the property,
all the position, all the praise, all the power that people crave
from this world will soon vanish away. If any man loved the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. James says, weep and
howl, you rich man. Weep and howl. That word howl
is only used here in James chapter 5 in the New Testament. Don't
find it anywhere else. It's used three times consecutively
in Isaiah 13, 14, and 15. And every time it's used, it's
used in connection with the certain judgment of God. And here James
is addressing himself to folks among professed Christians who
lived for the world. James says, you're going to hell.
You're going to hell. Weep and howl. Love not the world. Now look at verses 7 through
11. Here's the second word of instruction. Be patient. Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth
for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience
for it. until he received the early and
latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish
your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge
not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold,
the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the
prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example
of suffering affliction. and of patience. Behold, we count
them happy which endure. We count them blessed which endure. Ye have heard of the patience
of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is
very pitiful and of tender mercy. How many times have you seen
or known some terribly painful, traumatic, almost devastating
thing and thought to yourself, what good can come from this?
How can this honor God? How can this be beneficial to
anybody? How can this be for the cause
of Christ in this world? We know that our Heavenly Father
is too wise to err, too good to do wrong, and too strong to
fail. And yet, when tragedies come
close to home. We can't help asking, why did
this happen? Sometimes in unbelief, sometimes
in anger against God, we murmur and say, God, what are you doing?
God, what are you doing? This is our God's gracious, merciful
answer to our astonishment confusion, and unbelief. Be ye patient,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Be ye patient. Establish your hearts, for the
coming of the Lord draweth nigh. The Lord is very pitiful and
of tender mercy." What a word. What a word. The Lord is very pitiful, very
much full of pity, and tender in mercy. Do you remember what our Lord
told us in John 13? What I do now, thou knowest not,
but thou shalt know hereafter. He tells us here to ever be mindful
of the patience of Job and remember that our Lord, our God, is very
pitiful and of tender mercy. How often we forget that, and
like Jacob, we cry, all these things are against me. How often
God's promise and our experience seem to butt heads. How often
we think God can't be doing good. Look what I experience. Look
what I feel. Look how painful this is. Joseph's
path of experience never seemed to match God's promise. Joseph
knew when he was a young man. He knew because God had revealed
it to him that there was a day coming when all his brothers
All his father and his father's house were going to bow down
to him. And he would be ruler over them
and provide everything for them. And his brothers were enraged.
His brothers were enraged. His daddy thought he was a foolish
boy. And Joseph was sold into slavery. He was betrayed one time after
another. He was in prison. And at last,
Joseph is sitting on the throne side by side with Pharaoh in
Egypt, and he has power and authority over everything in Egypt. And his father and his brothers
come and get corn from Joseph. And Joseph is in the place of
God according to the purpose of God. Let us never, never forget
our God truly moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
seas and rides upon the storm. To our thinking, to our thinking,
nothing could be more ridiculous, nothing could be more ridiculous
if you want some good Yellow sweet corn. Mmm. I got a cob of corn here. Man,
it's just right. Not quite ready to burst, but
just almost. Good corn. Oh, sweet, sweet yellow
corn. Oh, I love it. I love it. And
I want some more. How you gonna get that? Well,
I'll tell you. I believe the thing to do is
let this dry up. Shake the shell off all the kernels. In the spring,
I want to stick the corn down in the ground and cover it up
and wait for it to completely decay. I want to wait for that
corn to die and rot in the ground, as it were, to lose everything
that even looks like corn to the earth. And then, after God
sends the rain, just at the right time, just the right amount of
rainfall, just the right amount of sunshine, long about into
July. Oh, man, I'm going to have some
corn. Well, you fool. Why would you
do that? Because that's the way the corn
brings forth in abundance. That's the way the corn brings
forth in abundance. We learn that only because God
taught us that. God remind us of that every day
in your providence. Be patient. Be patient. Wait. Wait now. My wife, she,
when we used to plant corn, we'd plant several different kinds,
and we'd plant that Golden Cross badminton, little sunglow, you
know, and she'd go out, I'd have to almost tie her down to keep
her from picking blisters, pulling blisters off the stalks. No,
no, wait, wait, wait, wait till it gets full, wait till it gets
full. Wait, be patient, wait. What I do thou knowest not now. You and I cannot understand mysterious
ways of God's providence now. We cannot understand. We cannot
see the end of things now. Wait. Be patient. Wait. Be patient. God will do you good
just like he did Job. You know the patience of Job. You know what? If I hadn't read
that right here in James chapter 5, and I read the book of Job
this morning, I'd think, James, did you know Job? I can't find anything beyond
chapter 2 about Job that even looked like patience. Can you?
I can't find anything that even looks like patience. Well, how
does he speak here by divine inspiration of the patience of
Job? Job, in the midst of desperation,
and pain, and aggravation, and sin, and sorrow, and frustration,
and disappointment with his friends, and disappointment with his wife,
and disappointment with his neighbors, and disappointment with himself,
kept believing God. The patience, he's talking about
his endurance. Blessed are they that endure
to the end. Believe in God. And this is what
we do with this world, living for our God. We endure hardness,
and we endure hardship, and we endure difficulty, and we endure
pain, and we endure ourselves. Believe in God and wait, wait. Knowing this, He who is our God who sent the cancer and took my baby, who sent the
drunk driver down the road and took my husband. He who is our God who raised
up a crazed maniac who walked into the room and shot everybody
in there and killed them all. And I lost so many friends. Who
is God who rules the universe including the thoughts and deeds
of wicked men is very pitiful. His heart is always with you
and He is full of tender mercy. Here's the third thing. Beware of worldliness. Be patient. Look at verse 12. Be honest. Be honest. I find it interesting
that James uses these opening words in verse 12. But above
all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither
by earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea
and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation. Now James
is not telling us that it's wrong for you if you go to court to
swear that you'll tell the truth. That's not what he's talking
about. He's not telling us it's wrong for a man to affirm what
he says with an oath. He's not telling us that. He's
telling us not to swear rashly. He's telling us to live honestly. That you're yea be yea and you're
nay nay. So that if you live soberly,
truthfully, and honestly. Those who know you will not be
suspicious of you, and you won't have to swear that you're telling
the truth. Be honest. Be honest. She would be a little embarrassed
me to tell you this, but when Faith was a little girl, she
For he seemed to question something she'd say. She said, Daddy, I
didn't do it. I promise I didn't. I promise
I didn't. James said, don't do that. Don't
do that. Just live in such a way that
you don't have to say, I promise I didn't. Or I promise I will. Let your yea be yea and your
nay be nay. Be honest with God. Be honest
with yourself. Be honest with one another. Be
honest. Live and behave soberly, honestly,
and you won't have to affirm your word. All right, look at
verses 13 through 18. Beware of worldliness, be patient,
be honest, and learn to pray. Is any among you afflicted? Let
him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him
call for the elders of the church and let him pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith probably will save the sick. The prayer of faith will more
than likely save the sick. The prayer of faith possibly
will save the sick. The prayer of faith might save
the sick. That's not what it says. The prayer of faith shall
save the sick. Well, how can that be? I've prayed
for a lot of sick folks who died. I've prayed for a lot of sick
folks who died. and the Lord shall raise him
up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven
him. Go on, confess your faults one to another and pray one for
another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Those words, I think, would be
better translated, a little more awkwardly, but a better translation
if you read it this way. The inwrought prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. Do you remember when David prayed,
God told him what he was going to do for him, and then David
said, Lord, build me this house. Build me this house. Because
you said I'm going to build this house for you thy servant founded
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee You put a prayer in
me and when you put the prayer in me, I know this what it is
to pray According to the will of God It is proper. I know that sometimes they say
things and folks misunderstand what you said. I'm sorry for
that but praying according to the will of God is not simply
saying, Lord, if it be your will. It's not simply using the words.
To pray according to the will of God is to pray for what God
has put in your heart to pray. It is to pray by the working
of God, the Holy Ghost in you. God lays it on your heart to
pray. Your burden to pray. And you
pray by the will of God. And if you ask anything according
to his will, what'd he say? What'd he say? He didn't do it,
did he? Is that what the book says? If
you ask anything according to my will, it'll be done. Anything. That doesn't mean, Lord, I need
a new house according to your will. That's not what it's all
about. No, no, no, no. But the prayer
of faith. is the effectual in-wrought prayer. Prayer wrought in us by God the
Holy Spirit. The inner desire of the heart,
it's prayer found in the heart, rising from the heart, not just
seeking to consume our desires upon our lust, but rather bowing
to God's will seeking his will. True prayer is not trying to
get God to do what it appears he's not inclined to do. True
prayer is bowing to what God has revealed he will do and seeking
it. Prayer. The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now I know that's the right
interpretation of the passage Because the example he uses,
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed
earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months. Now, you read that
fervent prayer and Elijah prayed earnestly, and you'll hear fellows
say, oh, they'll tear their clothes and they'll scream and they'll
just, Excited feverish prayer just oh, I was demanding gonna
get God in a hammerlock and make him do something but if you read
1st Kings 17 and 18 Elijah prayed Lord shut the heavens for three
and a half years and Three and a half years later.
He said Lord open the heavens He didn't shout it He didn't
jump up and down. He wasn't feverish. He didn't
repeat himself. He asked one time, never mentioned
it again, and it was done. That's the effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man, wrought in him by the Spirit of God.
He prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought
forth her fruit. God, teach me to pray. To pray according to your will
that which you have purposed and the Lord God promises the
prayer of faith that's effectual. It shall save the sick. The righteous
man, spoken of here, whose effectual fervent prayer avails is Christ
Jesus, the righteous, who intercedes on high for you and me. He takes
the things of the Spirit, wrought in our hearts, and maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Beware of worldliness. Be patient. Be honest. Learn to pray. One more thing. Help the fallen. Help the fallen. If you would
live for God, help the fallen. If you would live for the Redeemer,
help the fallen. Help the fallen. Look at verse
19. 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. Apply this to the conversion
of the lost. Oh, what an honor. What an honor
if God would allow us to be instruments by which sinners are converted
from the error of their ways, by which their sins are covered
in the sweet experience of God's grace and forgiveness by the
blood of Christ Jesus. Oh, what an honor. What an honor. Over at the funeral home this
morning, Peggy Moore came in. Most of you know Peggy. Married
Chuck Moore over in Lexington. She used to attend services here
before she moved to Lexington. She was raised over in Lancaster.
She came in and told Shelby and me, she said, and talking to
somebody else standing beside her, she said, she said, my family
and I used to listen to Maury's preached on the radio here in
Lancaster every Sunday morning and did it for years. And he
said, we always thought it was remarkable. He lived down in
Madisonville, but he always preached here in Lancaster on radio, did
it for years. He said we used to listen to him, and then we'd
come home from church and discuss, we'd listen to him while we were
getting ready to go to church, and we'd come home from church and talk about
things we didn't agree with he said. And then God's pleased
to save us some years later. I said, hey, if you don't mind,
come up here and tell Maurice's wife and children that. Let them
know that. God graciously, graciously, uses
such things as we are to convert sinners from the error of their
ways. Give yourselves, children of
God, to this noble work. What an honor if God would use
you, use me for that purpose. And that which is done for our
God, God honors. Apply this to the restoration
of a fallen brother? What an honor. What an honor. Brother, it gets
messed up. It gets messed up. What do you
do? You, which is spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest you also fall into temptation
and snare the devil. Would you live for God? Would
I? Do we really want to live for
our Savior? In these 20 verses, James tells
us how to do so. Beware of worldliness. Be patient. Be honest. Learn to pray. Help the fallen. Savior, I live
to Thee, the loveliest and best. My life in thee, thy life in
me, in thy blessed love I rest. Savior, I'll die to thee whenever
death shall come. To die in thee is life to me
in my eternal home. Whether to live or die, I know
not which is best. To live in thee is bliss to me. To die is endless rest. Living or dying, Lord, I ask
but to be Thine. My life in Thee, Thy life in
me, make heaven forever mine. Amen.