Turn back to James chapter 5. I've entitled this message, The
Disease of Sin. The Disease of Sin. In verse 14 of James chapter
5, we read, 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. And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick. And the Lord shall raise him
up. And if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Now if that is referring to physical
healing, that means every time you pray for somebody, they'll
be healed. And if they're not, either you
didn't have enough faith in your prayer, or they didn't have enough
faith to receive the blessing. If this is merely a reference
to physical healing. Physical sickness, to a believer
is all part of Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. So if the Lord gives you an illness, thank him for it. It's fine to ask to be healed.
When I get sick, I ask to be healed, but thank him for it. This is all a part of his good
providence. Now to a believer, sin is a disease
and sin is a sickness. How do you view sickness in your
children? With pity. with compassion, with
sympathy. When you see your children sick,
oh, how it troubles you. And I want to say this carefully
because I don't in any way want to divorce someone from their
sin. You're the one that committed
the sin. I'm the one that committed the sin. But I know this, when
the Lord looks upon sin in his children, he sees it as a disease
his children have. And he's moved with pity and
compassion. As a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth than that fear him. I think of when David
committed that horrible sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. You know
what the scripture says? The thing David did displeased
the Lord. Didn't say David displeased the
Lord, but the thing David did displeased the Lord. Now, how often In reading the
Psalms, does David describe sin in terms of a disease? Turn with
me to Psalm 38. David says, O Lord, rebuke me
not in Thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For
thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger, neither is there any rest in my bones
because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone
over mine head as in heavy burden, they're too heavy for me. My
wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I'm
troubled. I'm bowed down greatly. I go
mourning all the day long, for my loins are filled with a loathsome
disease, and there's no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and
sore broken. I have roared by reason of the
disquietness of my heart." Now, do you see how he terms his sin
as a disease he has? Now, he wouldn't look at it merely
as his misfortune. He would say my disease is all
my fault. The disease I have is all my
fault, but it's still true that with a believer, sin is a disease
and an unbeliever cannot possibly see sin this way because all
they have is an evil nature and they cannot possibly see sin
for what it is. You know, a natural man really
has no concept of sin. He has concept of behavioral
problems, and the problems that come when I do something wrong,
or if I break a law, or if I don't take care of myself, or if I
abuse something, and all the problems that come as a result
of that. He knows that, but he doesn't
have a holy nature, so he doesn't really see sin as an infinite
evil. And he doesn't see sin as a disease
the way the believer does. He knows nothing of my sin is
ever before me. But to a believer, sin is a disease. Now let me show you the symptoms
of this disease. When you have this disease, let
me show you the symptoms. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 7. Paul says in verse 14, for we
know that the law is spiritual, God's holy law, but I am carnal,
sold under sin, sold in captivity as a slave to sin. That's what Paul says about himself. For, verse 15, that which I do, I allow not. I don't approve
of it. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then, it's no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." It wasn't me, it wasn't
I that did it. It was that sin that dwells in
me. That disease that dwells in me. You see, a believer is a new
man. He's got a new nature. This is the holy seed of God
that does not commit sin. That's what he is. He's got this
new nature, born of God. The sin, he said, what? It was him. It was him. It was
that old, evil nature. The eye is the new man that does
not commit sin. Now, an unbeliever could never
say or think something like this. They just wouldn't understand
it. And you can't make this understandable. You can only understand this
by experience. Bring this out, an unbeliever,
someone who only has one nature, this is strange, this is foolishness,
but to a believer, someone that has a holy nature, a new nature,
that they're born of God, they'll know exactly what it means for
sin to be a disease. Let's go on reading, verse 18. For I know that in me, now there's
two different people, the I and the me. Two different people. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. It's only the eye that
knows that. It's only the holy nature that can see that. I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, my old man dwells no good thing. Now it takes a holy nature to
be able to see that. If you don't have a holy nature,
you cannot see the sinfulness of the old nature. It takes a
new man in Christ Jesus to be able to see this. Let's go on
reading. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, for to will is present with me. I wouldn't sin anymore. I would
be without sin. I would be perfectly obedient. I would love God with all my
heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength. I would
seek him with all my heart. I would be true to him. I would
be his only. To will is present with me. It is right now. To will is present
with me. But how to perform that which is
good, What's he say? I find not. He doesn't say I
mess up sometimes. He says, I find not. That's my disease. I can't cure
myself of it. Verse 19, and here's our experience
for the good that I would. I do not. but the evil which
I would not that I do. Now that is the experience of
the two men. That's the experience, that's
the symptoms of sin. Verse 20. Now, if I do that,
that I would not, it's no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth
in me." Now hear what Paul is saying. He's saying it's not
me. It's him. Now, somebody says,
that's making an excuse for your sin. No, it's not. But it's the
truth, isn't it? It's the truth. Would someone
with a holy nature use this as an excuse for sin? No, they wouldn't
use this as an excuse for sin. But they know it's so. They know
it's so right down the line. This is the symptoms of sin being
a disease. in the believer. He says in verse
21, I find in a law, a law that when I would do good, Evil is
present with me. This is the law, a desire to
do good with the awareness of the presence of evil. I know
this about my disease. Now look what he says in verse
22. For I, that's the new man, I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. And you know, I do too. I love
God's law. I love the 10 commandments. I
don't want to have any God before God, do you? I don't want to
make idols. I want to bow before him as he
is and adore him as he is. I want to reverence his holy
name and never speak it in any way but with the utmost respect,
fear, and love. I want to rest. I want to rest. I want to honor my parents. I
want to honor all authority. I don't want to kill anybody.
I don't want to kill their bodies. I don't want to kill their characters. I want to be pure. I don't want
to commit adultery, physically or spiritually. I don't want
to lie and not tell the truth. I want to tell the truth. I don't
want to steal, robbing God of glory or robbing somebody else.
I love the holy law of God. I don't want to covet. I want
to be completely content with the Lord Jesus Christ, content
with beholding His face, my all to His pleasure resigned. No
changes of season or place would make any change in my mind. When
blessed with a sense of His love, a palace, a toy would appear,
and prisons would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me
there. But, verse 23, I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, but I see another law of my members. Now, when you have a disease,
I've been diagnosed with cancer. It's a foreign monster invading
you. It's a foreign monster invading
you. And that's the way you feel about
a disease. And if you are a believer, to
you, sin is a foreign monster invading you. And look what he
says in verse 23, but I see another law in my members. I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but there's somebody else,
this disease. I see another law in my members,
this disease in my members, warring against the law of my mind, the
delights in the law of God, and bringing me into, what's that
next word? Captivity. Captivity. to the law of sin, which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me, and look
at the language, from the body of this death. This body that
is diseased by sin, that has sin bringing me into captivity.
Now Paul knows, I can't, I need a physician. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I need a physician. The whole
need not a physician, but they that are, what? Sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord, my physician. So then, with the mind, I myself,
the true me, serves the law of God. But with the flesh, the
law of sin. Now, I realize that an unbeliever
would look at that as a justification for continuing in sin. And that's
because he doesn't have a new nature. We long to be free from
sin and to never sin again. Now, if you're sick physically,
I'm going to pray for your healing. Kim DeVore's in Vanderbilt right
now. We pray the Lord's blessing on
her being there and that they would give the doctors wisdom.
And I pray for her recovery, whatever kind of surgery she's
going to have, we pray for her. We want the best for her. And
anytime somebody's ill in the church, oh, we love you. I hope you were praying for me.
I know you were. I don't hope, but I know you were. When I was
sick in the hospital recently, I know you were praying for me.
And we ought to pray for one another. There's no doubt about
that, but turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53 for a moment. Verse five, but he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. Now, is that talking about physical
healing? No. No. Absolutely not. Peter, when quoting
this passage in 1 Peter 2, verse 24, says, by whose stripes you
were healed. Now, what I need healing from
is the disease of sin. And Christ Jesus, my great physician,
heals me from sin through his stripes. I love it in Luke 4,
verse 18, when he says, I've come to heal the brokenhearted. Hearts that are no good. Hearts
that are broken to shivers and that are just no good. I've come
to heal the brokenhearted. He healed them that had need
of healing. Luke 9 verse 11 says. So with
that in mind, come back to James chapter five. James chapter five. 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.
Now, like we considered last week, that's talking about the
use of means. That's exactly what that's talking about. It's
talking about the use of means. Oil was used for medicinal purposes.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, not heal the sick,
save the sick. By grace are you saved. That's
the same word. The prayer of faith shall save
the sick. And the Lord shall raise him up. And if he has committed
sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults. One to another. And the word
fault is also translated offense. And trespass. Confess your faults
one to another. Does that mean that I'm the elder
here, and if you're having a moral problem in your life, you need
to come to me and confess it to me, and then things will be
straightened out, and that's the first step of restoration,
you coming and confessing your sin to me. Or if I'm having some
kind of problem, does that mean I'm supposed to come to you and
confess it and tell you what I'm guilty of doing, my sin against
God? Absolutely not. That is not what that's a reference
to in any way, and I think it disturbs me to think of people
wanting to confess their sins to each other. Don't do that.
Don't do that. All you're gonna do is bring
them down. Don't do that. This is not talking about confessing
our sins one to another. We're not to do that. Well, what's
he talking about then? Remember when it says regarding
John's baptism, they were baptized of him, confessing their sin?
Remember it says that? That doesn't mean before they
went through the act of baptism, they got up and started enumerating
their sins publicly to everybody. Baptism, the act of baptism is
the confession of sin. I'm so sinful that the only way
I can be saved is by being in Christ. His life, my life. His death, my sin payment. His
resurrection, my justification. I'm confessing sin in baptism. Let me show you how a believer
confesses sin one to another. Turn with me to 1 John 1. You know when you're around someone
that you feel like you don't measure up and you feel guilty
and you feel condemned and you feel threatened and you feel
judged? You ever been around anybody like that? You know why? They want you to feel that way.
They want to present themselves as morally superior. Now they're
not. They're not in any way. But whenever
you're around someone like that, this is what they want. This
is what they desire. So here's the way a believer
confesses their sins to one another. Verse 5, this then is the message
which we've heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. If I say I have fellowship with
God, I pray, I speak to him, he speaks to me, but yet I don't
walk in the light of the gospel of how he saves sinners by his
grace. All my claims are lies. I'm not being honest. I'm trying
to put on a religious show. It's phony piety is all it is. You've been around people like
that, perhaps you've treated people like that with kind of
trying to put on, I know I have, I shouldn't say perhaps, I know
I have. We've all been guilty of this, trying to present ourselves
in a phony piety. Yeah, I pray. I was listening to somebody and
they talked about this one fellow who prayed seven hours a day.
I thought, well, how does anybody know you pray seven hours a day?
I mean, what's going on there? That's a phony piety is what
that is. Now, If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light of
how God can be just and justify somebody like us, the gospel,
if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son cleanses us from all sin. It doesn't say we don't
sin, but it says the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. And we have this fellowship one
with another. Verse eight. If we say we have
no sin, I pointed this out before that there is a noun. It's a
noun. If we say we have no sin, if
there's any time I say I don't, I don't have a sinful nature.
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We're not
confessing our sins one to another if we say something like that.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If
we say we've not sinned, and they're the words of verb, at
no time can I say I've not sinned. While I'm preaching this message,
at no time can I say I've not sinned. If we say we've not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now that is confessing
your sins one to another. Being honest with what the scripture
says about your sin and not trying to promote yourself as some kind
of holier-than-thou, super-pious person trying to lord it over
other people. That's what that's a reference
to. If I don't do that, I'm failing
to confess my faults one to another. Now don't confess your sins against
God to one another. Don't do that. But you be real
with one another. That's what that's talking about.
You be real. Don't put on some kind of phony piety. Now, some
have said, well, if we confess our sins one to another, that'll
help us be accountable to each other. And that'll give us some
accountability and so on. And if we do that, we'll get
this. Now, wait a minute. If being
accountable to Christ isn't enough, something's wrong. You know what I think this means
more than anything else? This is what I know it means.
When it says confess your faults one to another, it means be quick
to say I'm sorry. I've trespassed you. I've treated
you wrong. Would you please forgive me?
Forgive me. Be quick to apologize. Be quick to humble yourself.
Be quick to say, I'm sorry. That's what that means more than
anything else. Be quick to say, I'm sorry. I confess. Forgive me. Forgive me. And he says in our text, turn
back to James chapter five. Confess your faults one to another
and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man avails much. Pray for one another. Now, who's
the first person you think of when you think of the righteous
man and his prayers prevailing for you? You think of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If He prays for you, you're in
good shape, aren't you? If He brings your name before
the Father, Oh, what a blessing that is. His intercession. I'm
thankful for that, aren't you? If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh, what an advocate
he is. I want him praying for me, don't
you? Oh, my. But he uses the example of a
man, Elijah. And look what it says. Verse 17, Elijah. was a man subject
to like passions as we are. Now, let me say this. Passions
are not good things. It's part of the fallen human nature. And Elijah dealt with the same
problems that you do and I do. That's what he said. He was a
man of like passions with us. And he prayed earnestly that
it might not rain. Now, that's kind of an odd thing
to pray for, isn't it? He prayed that it wouldn't rain
unless he willed it to rain. And he did this to Ahab because
Ahab had promoted Baal worship and it had come into Israel and
he was doing this for spiritual healing. Really, that's why he
prayed that it wouldn't rain because of what was going on
under the rule of Ahab and God caused it to not rain in answer
to his prayer for three years and six months. And it says the
whole earth didn't have any rain. Now can you imagine the devastation
that caused and the problems that caused? But he did that
so that He and Ahab would meet on Mount Carmel, and the false
prophets, and there would be that contest between the two
of them, and the God who answered by fire, he's God. That's what
that prayer was all about. As a matter of fact, I think
maybe we're gonna consider that next week. I got to thinking about
that, him praying, and praying that it'd stop raining. and the
Lord answered his prayer, but it was for spiritual healing. That's why he prayed that prayer
because of Ahab and what all he had brought on. Pray for one another that you
might be healed. Now, yes, pray for each other
physically, but pray for each other for spiritual healing,
the healing of the gospel. How many times Have you thought
of Isaiah 53, 5, by his stripes? You're healed. How many times
have you been healed simply hearing the gospel? What healing there
is in hearing the gospel. There's nothing like hearing
the gospel. And you find healing in hearing
the gospel. Now, how can I know if I've been
healed? I still have all these symptoms of this disease. I feel
them running through my veins. How can I know if I've been healed? How can I know if Christ has
healed me? Well, it begins with the word
of Christ. I think of what that Roman centurion said. He said,
speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. Healing comes. from hearing the
word of Christ. Speak the word only, and my servant
shall be healed. You see, there's no healing apart
from the word of Christ, and behind the word of Christ, there
is the will of Christ. If he speaks it, it's because
he wills it. Psalm 107.20, he sent his word
and healed them. And when I hear the gospel, in
the power of the Holy Spirit, how healing it is. Now let me
show you how this works. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
13. Now this passage we're getting
ready to look at, and we'll be very brief, but this is the most
often quoted passage in the New Testament out of the Old Testament.
This passage right here. It's from Isaiah chapter six, verse 10. And the disciples came and said
unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered
and said unto them, because it's given unto you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not given. For whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance,
but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even
that he hath. Therefore speak I unto them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing, they hear
not. Neither do they understand. And
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, by hearing,
you shall hear and shall not understand. And seeing, you shall
see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have
they closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted and I should heal them. Now there it is. You see. You see God is as he says he
is in this book. You see. And you see that you
are as this book says you are. That's what sight is. You see
what the Bible describes. and you believe it. You see,
and then you hear. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. You hear the gospel as gospel. Not as something you agree with,
or give assent to, but it's just exactly what you need. You hear
with hearing ears. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. you hear. But not only do you
hear, you understand. You understand. I understand
to some extent, I don't understand it fully, but I understand something
of my need of the Lord Jesus Christ. I understand that his
righteousness is the only righteousness. I wouldn't want to come to God
in any other way. I understand that. I understand
how my Only hope is if salvation is all of grace and that Christ
paid it all, all the debt I owe. I understand. Not only do I understand,
I'm converted. I like the way it says you're
converted. Not that you convert, but you're converted. You're
turned. You're turned to Christ. By God, you're turned to Christ.
And you know what happens when that happens? You're healed.
That's spiritual healing, and that's what James is speaking
of. I don't have any question about that. To a believer, sin
is a horrible disease that makes us miserable. We don't find that
as an excuse for our sin, but we certainly see it as a as why
we are the way we are. We have this horrible disease
and how we need the Great Physician to heal us. When we Hear him
say, the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I'm sick.
Heal me. That's the way we come to Christ. I'm sick. Heal me. He healed
them that had need of healing. I have need of healing. Heal
me. Pray for one another. Isn't that a sweet privilege,
one another? Pray for one another. I love
the way when the Lord teaches us to pray, he teaches us to
pray, our Father, who art in heaven. Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Pray for one another, that you
may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man, like Elijah, like Lot, like Lot. What does God the Holy Spirit
call him? A righteous man. Any believer is a righteous man. The effectual Fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. So pray for one another that
you might be healed. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the stripes of thy son. that
heals us of our disease and how we thank you for revealing to
us our disease and our need of the
great physician. Lord, we ask that you would truly
convince us of who you are and your glory and convince us of
who we are. and convince us to look only
to thy son for healing. Lord, we pray for our physical
infirmities too. We pray for those of our number
that are sick. We pray for your healing upon them. But oh Lord,
how we pray for our true healing from sin. I bless this message
for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray, amen.