Let us turn again to James chapter
5. This will be the last time I'll
bring a message from James, at this time at least. James chapter
5, we're looking at the last few verses beginning with verse
13. 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 them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith
shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And
if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 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. Elias or Elijah 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. And he prayed again, and the
heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren,
if any of you do err from the truth and want to 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. To look at these verses today
as I prayed over them, I thought We would look at the word church,
first of all, in verse 14. And we will consider these verses
as they would be directed to a church. First, what is a church
of Jesus Christ? Well, this word that is translated
church is a Greek word made up of two words. The first word
means out and the second means called. And so we define the
church as a called out assembly. And it should go without saying
this morning that the church is not this building. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is not this building and it is not a
denomination. You know, we are stuck with a
lot of denominations today. But that's not the church. The
church, according to the Word, is a called-out assembly. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is called His body. His body. For instance, in Ephesians
chapter 1, verses 22 and 23, the Apostle said, And He, that
is God, put all things in subjection under His feet, that is the feet
of Christ, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, which is his body. Christ is both the foundation
of the church and the head of the church. Remember he said,
upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. And the foundation upon which
the church is built is not some mere man, No matter what his
name might be, but Jesus Christ himself, he is the foundation. Paul said, other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
He's the foundation of the church, and he's also the head of his
church, which is his body. Now, when we think of the church
in this way, we're thinking of what we call Christ mystical. The body of Christ. Christ mystical. The word mystical simply reminds
us that yes, there's a mystery involved here. There really is. There's a mystery involved in
the fact that every child of God, everyone who is born of
the Spirit of God, is baptized into the body of Jesus Christ. This is what the Apostle says
in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, For by one Spirit, that is the
Holy Spirit, this is the work of the Holy Spirit, It is the
work of the Holy Spirit to sanctify, to set apart God's people, to
quicken God's people, to regenerate God's people. This is the work
of the Holy Spirit. And for as by one Spirit, the
Spirit of God, we are all baptized, all, everyone, every child of
God. Not everyone in the world, of
course not. Everyone who is born of the Spirit of God is baptized
into the body of Christ of which He's the foundation and He's
also the head. Turn back just a few pages in
your Bible to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and let me
read to us and you look on as I read it beginning with verse
22 The Apostles writing to Believers
said for you are come unto Mount Zion And unto the city of the
Living God This is a church my friends. He's speaking about
the church and we'll see that The city of the living God. You remember in the book of Revelation
when John saw that city coming down out of heaven. The church
adorned, beautified with the beauty of Jesus Christ her Lord. Yes. We're not come. The contrast here, let me just
say this, not like those Israelites who came to Mount Sinai that
was all on a smoke and they were afraid, even Moses said he feared
and trembled. No, we haven't come there. We've
come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the General
Assembly and Church of the Firstborn. Now Christ, he's the firstborn,
the scripture says. Paul tells us that in Colossians,
the firstborn of every creature. We've come to the General Assembly
and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven.
Names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Written there from before
the foundation of the world. And to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant. And notice, and to the blood
of sprinkling. You see, everyone who is born
of the Spirit of God is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. I challenge you sometime, just
take your concordance and look up the words sprinkle and sprinkling
in the letter of Hebrews alone. And what a blessing it is to
see. But if you turn back to chapter
11 of Hebrews, just one of these places in verse 28, speaking
of Moses, the scripture says, Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood. lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. You remember there was one Savior. There was one Savior from the
destroying angel that passed through Egypt that night. And
that one Savior was the sprinkled blood. The sprinkled blood of
the Passover lamb. Now let me tell you something,
friends. You know, Pharaoh, he was a mighty monarch. I believe
that was probably the world power of that day. And don't you know
he had his bodyguards around him? And I'm sure they had their
swords or their spears, however it was that they fought in that
time. And they were there to keep out
all enemies from coming into the palace where Pharaoh lived. But there was nothing that could
keep out the destroying angel except the sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus, the blood that was pictured, the blood of the
Lamb. Christ is our Passover. That
was the blood of the Passover Lamb, yes, and it was sprinkled.
And everyone who comes to Christ, elect Peter said in 1st Peter,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God through the sanctification
of the Spirit unto the obedience to the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ. Has your conscience been sprinkled?
Has it? I tell you whose consciences
are sprinkled. Those who have a guilty conscience. If you've never had a guilty
conscience, your conscience has never been sprinkled with the
blood of Christ. But oh, if God the Holy Spirit
has convicted you of your sin, of your transgression, of your
rebellion against God, and the despair that you may be in, there's
only one thing that will pacify, that will give peace, to a guilty
conscience, and that is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,
seeing and knowing that Christ is my Passover. God passes over
me because His wrath, His anger for my sins was put out upon
His Son, Jesus Christ. That gives us peace. The conscience
has peace now. Assurance. Everyone who is a
member of the church mystical, we call it sometimes a universal
church, every believer, every child of God, doesn't matter
in what age or what country, what nationality, none of these
things that differentiate people on this earth, we're all one
in Christ, we're all believers and have one Father and one Savior,
one Lord, one Spirit, and we're members of the church of the
firstborn. Now that's Christ's mystical. But did you know the Bible also
uses the word church in the plural? You know this. We read of the
churches of Christ. We read of the churches of God.
We read of the churches of the saints. We read of the churches
of Galatia, the churches of Macedonia, and we read of messengers of
the churches. Now, when the word is plural,
we're talking about local churches. Local churches. Local assemblies,
which are made up, just like our congregation, made up of
those who give a profession of having been called out Delivered
from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of
God's dear son. Now most writers that I've read
after make the statement that the marks of a true church are
these. Here are two marks of a true
church. Where the true gospel is preached. There's only one gospel. There's
many so-called gospels, I realize that. I talked to a pastor recently
I hadn't spoken to in years. And he called me and I asked
him, I said, are you still pastoring? He's younger than I am. And the
reason I asked him that, he said, if you don't mind me asking,
how old are you? I said, I don't mind you asking. But I asked him, are you still
pastoring? He said, yes. And he said, David, I'm still
preaching the same gospel. that I've always preached. And
I said, well, there isn't another one. He said, you're right about
that. There's only one gospel. One mark of a true church is
an assembly where the true gospel is proclaimed. There's a lot
of assemblies. A lot of people called out and
joined together. But we wouldn't dare call them
a church of the Lord Jesus Christ because they preach a false gospel. It is a gospel. Well, Paul said
it's really not a gospel, but it is a message of works. A message
of do this and earn salvation. The gospel message is look to
Christ. Believe in Christ as your Lord
and Savior. It's done. The work is done. When he died upon the cross,
he cried, it's finished. It's finished. All that God will
ever require of any sinner in order to justify and sanctify
and glorify that sinner, it's finished. It's finished. That's one mark of a true church
where the true gospel is preached. The second mark is the administration
of the two ordinances and that is baptism and the Lord's Supper. So that was my first point. What is a church of Jesus Christ? It is an assembly of called out
men and women. by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, here's a second. What is typical of the members
of a local church? James mentions four general things
that may be true of members of a local church at any given time. At any given time in a local
church, some may be afflicted, some may be merry, some may be
sick, and some may be erring from the truth. Now, James, he
poses these in three questions, at least the first three. Is
any among you afflicted? Verse 13. Is any among you afflicted? Sometimes, and it seems like
especially recently, as we think about our congregation, so many
who have affliction. That's the first thing James
asks, is any afflicted among you? And I know that there are. Is any merry? And yes, there
are those who are merry. Is any sick? Yes, there are those
who are sick. And then this fourth statement,
if any of you do err from the truth. Now my thought is it would
be very unusual in a church of any size that there are not always
some who are afflicted, merry, sick, and erring from the truth. Now let's look at these four
conditions. First, is any among you afflicted? Other men have rightly pointed
out, God had one son without sin, but he has no sons without
afflictions. In fact, the psalmist said, many,
many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth
him out of them all. Is any among you afflicted? You
know the Lord Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, he was a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He certainly knew affliction. He made empathize and sympathize
with you in whatever affliction you may be in because he too
was a man in this world and he knew what it was to be afflicted. Is any among you merry? The Lord
Jesus Christ, he experienced merriness as well. He was merry
and joyful. Scripture said in that hour Jesus
rejoiced rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now that's
the only occasion that we read of when the Lord Jesus Christ
is said to have rejoiced. And think what it was that caused
him to rejoice. It was God's sovereign grace. It was God's sovereign grace. The very thing that makes so
many religious people angry. The very thing that just lights
up so many people who claim to be followers of Christ. That's
the one thing that the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned that caused
him to rejoice. He said, Father, I thank Thee I thank thee that thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes, even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight." Don't you rejoice in God's sovereign grace? I do. I do, my friends, because I know
if it were not for God's sovereign grace, not only would I not be
saved, but neither would anyone else. I don't look upon the so-called
fewness, I don't believe that to begin with. The fewness of
those who are saved I believe there is a number that cannot
be counted by men who are born of the Spirit of God and redeemed
by the blood of Jesus Christ. But I know this, if it were not
for God's sovereign grace, and what I mean by that is God choosing,
God electing, and God redeeming through the blood of His Son,
and God the Holy Spirit seeking out with the gospel of Jesus
Christ His people If it were not for God's sovereign grace,
no one would be saved. And if a person might be saved
without God's sovereign grace, he would soon lose it. He would
soon lose it. Oh, the Lord Jesus. Is any among
you married? I tell you, when a baby is born
in a home, that's a time to be married, isn't it? When a young
couple who love Christ and have kept themselves When they marry,
when they stand in marriage, that's a time of merriment, a
time of rejoicing. We enter into these things, right?
And when we come together and someone confesses Christ as their
Lord and Savior, not only is there joy in the presence of
the angels, but there's joy among ourselves, isn't there? When
we see someone follow the Lord in baptism. Is any among you
married? The third is, any among you sick?
Now the Lord Jesus Christ, I said He knew what it was to be afflicted,
He knew what it was to be married. He never personally was sick. And I know this because He had
no sin. And sickness is, in the world
after all, the cause of sin. You might say, well preacher,
what does that verse mean? In Matthew 8 and verse 17, which
says, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. What
does that mean if He was never sick? Well, the Lord Jesus bared
the sicknesses by His sympathy, by His sympathy with those who
were sick. And He took them away by His
power. And I know this, when that lady
who had been sick for 12 years with an issue of blood, When
she said within herself, if I can but touch the hem of his garment.
Now that's against all rational understanding. That I'm going
to be healed by touching the hem of his garment. And I'm sure
after she touched it and she was healed, she couldn't explain
to you how all of that took place. But it did. It did. And the Bible says, our Lord
stopped and he said, who touched me? Can you imagine that big crowd
around him? Hustling up, bustling up against
him, who touched me? Oh Lord, don't you see all these
people around you? Yes, but someone touched me because
virtue, virtue went out of me. Every time, and I believe this
is so, every time he healed someone, virtue, went out of him. The healing was not in that robe
he had on. The healing was in Christ. Virtue went out of him. Any among
you sick? Is any among you erring from
the truth? That's the fourth thing we see
here. The Lord Jesus is the truth. the life and the way. He never
heard from the truth. He confessed, I do always those
things that please Him, that is the Father. Let me ask you
this morning, is any among you going away from Christ, the truth? Are you as faithful as you once
were? Are you leaving your first love?
Is any among you? in affliction, merry, sick, or
erring from the truth. What I'm saying is in a local
church these questions almost always are applicable. Now the third, what actions are
prescribed for the church? We have three actions which are
prescribed and they of course depend upon the condition. First,
for both those who are in affliction and those who are sick, prayer
is prescribed. Prayer. In fact, prayer is a
dominant theme in these verses. If you read through them again
and just underline every time you see the word pray or prayer,
you will find five times it is mentioned. I want you to notice
with me, we have personal prayer in verse 13. Is any among you
afflicted? Let him pray. You pray. Let him personal prayer. Well,
I'm going to ask the preacher to pray for me. Well, that's
okay. But you pray. If you're a child,
you pray. Personal prayer. And then second,
we have group prayer. Let them pray over him in verse
14. Them. And then we have the prayer
of faith. Pray believing the prayer of
faith in verse 15. And then we have fervent prayer
in verse 16. You know, cold, heartless prayer
just begs not to be answered. It just begs not to be answered. No, fervent prayer, the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And then we
have persevering prayer in verse 18. So think of those types of
prayer. Personal prayer, group prayer,
prayer of faith, fervent prayer, persevering prayer. Now, turn
with me. Keep your place here. But let's
go back to the Old Testament a moment to 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 18. In verse 42, this is the day
that Elijah confronted all of those false prophets of Baal
and the God who answered by fire, let him be God. And you know
those prophets of Baal, they did everything they could, cutting
themselves, crying, hollering, running around the altar. You've
seen it all, haven't you? There was no answer. Elijah stepped
forward, repaired the altar of God, and prayed what has to be
one of the most simple prayers, and fire came down from heaven.
Why? Well, it's because he prayed
in the name of Christ. That's the only way anyone comes
to God. But notice here, after that was
over, it says in verse 42, So Ahab, there's the king, what
does he do? He does like most of the world,
he's not interested. He goes up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of
Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face
between his knees. You might say, is that you Elijah? Is that you I see there on the
ground? Your face between your... Is
that you? You who just shortly before this
stood before King Ahab and said, Thou art the troubler of Israel? Is that you? Who just a few hours
at the most stood before those 850 false prophets? Is that you? Yes, that's me. But I'm not now before. an earthly
king, and I'm not now before false prophets. I'm now before
the Lord God of heaven and earth, the King of kings and the Lord
of lords. Yes, I'm on my face. Yes, my
face is between my knees. I'm coming into the presence
of God. Notice that next verse. He said
to his servant. Now, James tells us he prayed. We don't read it here, but we
know he was praying. James said he prayed, and it
rang. Well, he prayed, and he had a
servant there, and he sent him, and he said, remember he's up
on the top of the mountain there in the Mediterranean seas out
there. you can see if rain is coming
and so he went and came back and not a thing well i knew it
wouldn't work i knew he wasn't going to answer just close up
shop and go home oh no He prayed, and he sends his servant a second
time, and a third time, and a fourth time, and a fifth time, and on
that seventh time, when he came back, he told his master, he
told Elijah, he said, you know what? I see a cloud out there
about the size of a man's hand. Elijah said, to the king, you
better make haste and get back to your palace. Rain's on its
way. And you're talking about a gully
washer. We've had some rain here in Houston recently. I tell you,
it rained that day. Did you know the Bible says the
hand of the Lord was on Elijah? And there goes Ahab and his chariot,
and I don't know how many horses were pulling it, maybe one, maybe
two, I'm not sure. But Elijah outran Ahab. the hand of the Lord was upon
him. What am I talking about? Is any afflicted? Is any sick
among you? Let him pray. Let him pray. Now
that doesn't do away with doctors and medicine. I understand that.
Let him pray. And I want to make these observations
at this time, at this point. All prayer is subject to God's
will. And it is not God's will to heal
everyone who is sick. Now, it's just not. The apostle
Paul even tells of one man, and Paul had the gift of healing.
But one man, he said, I had to leave sick at a certain point. No, it's not always God's will
to heal. And let me say this also from
this verse of scripture which says, confess your faults one
to another. This gives no support whatsoever
to the Roman Church's teaching on confession. Going to a priest
and confessing to him your sins gives no support to that false
teaching. Another thing I would point out,
it doesn't give any support, this anointing the sick with
oil gives no support to that so-called seventh sacrament of
the Church of Rome, extreme unction. Extreme unction according to
them is for the dying. This was for a man who was sick
or a woman who was sick to be healed. Now let's go on. For the merry, is any among you
merry? What's prescribed? Singing of
psalms and hymns. Listen to these three proverbs
about a merry heart. A merry heart makes a cheerful
countenance. He that is of a merry heart has
a continual feast. Everybody else is starving. Spiritually
speaking. Everybody around, the one who
has a merry heart, they're just starving to death and he has
a feast. He's feasting on the things of
God, rejoicing in the things of God. A merry heart makes a
cheerful countenance, it makes a continual feast. A merry heart
does good like a medicine. Does good like a medicine. Just
to praise the Lord. You get down in the dumps. You
get discouraged. Praise God. Start praising Him. Begin to doubt your salvation
and wonder if you're saved or not. Start praising the Lord.
Praise Him for that precious blood that was shed to put away
your sins. You'll be surprised. You'll be
surprised what good comes from praise. Praise. Is any among you married? Let
him sing psalms. And the last thing, for him erring
from the truth, let me just say this. When professors begin to
forsake the worship services, when they begin to miss the Lord's
Supper, when they begin to neglect the scriptures, prayer services,
don't immediately write them off. Pray for them. Encourage them. And if needful,
admonish them. Because you may well be the means
that God uses in their recovery. I trust it might be so. I pray that the Lord would bless
these thoughts to all of us here this morning. We're going to sing a hymn. you.