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Bro. Bill Nichols
pardon me, we are going to hopefully finish chapter 5 and the book of James this morning.
There's two tests that remain and a final exam.
We always have a final exam to finish up any series of tests. It's the test of prayerfulness, and that will be
James 15 verses 13 through 18.
I don't remember what I said. James 5 verses 13 through 18 and then the test of true faith, which will be
James 5 verses 19 and 20. I'm going to first of all just read the entire passage.
Is there 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 hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven.
There's one thing I meant to say as I read through this. Look at the number of times the word prayer is mentioned in verses 13 through 5, 19.
Let him pray. Let them pray. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the
Lord shall raise him up, and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that you be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
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 for a 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, 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 ways shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Let us pray. Most gracious heavenly Father, we want to thank you once again for bringing us together as a group, face to face, where we can fellowship with one another, and we shall worship you with our study, and our prayers, and our praise.
Bless us and keep us. Go through this period today, and then go through the rest of the service today.
Keep us with you. Keep us doing the things that you want us to do. Bless us, if you will.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So, John MacArthur said this about that passage.
This passage raises a number of difficult interpretive questions. One, what kind of suffering does
James have in view in verse 13? What kind of suffering is he talking about? Two, what type of sickness is in view in verse 14?
Three, why are the prayers of the elders different from those of other believers?
That's verses 14 and 15. Does the prayer of the faith always restore the sick?
Verse 15. How does the sickness, how does sickness relate to sin?
Verse 15. What type of healing is in view in verse 16?
And this is strange. Why does James insert an illustration about rain in the middle of a discussion on healing?
And he goes on to say, the key to answering those questions and properly interpreting the passage lies in understanding it in its context.
The Bible, he says, is not a random collection of verses that may be interpreted in isolation.
How many times have you heard Brother David say that? Well, Dr. MacArthur agrees with him.
The Bible is not a random collection of verses that may be interpreted in isolation.
To properly understand any passage, one must interpret it in the light of the paragraphs immediately preceding and following it, the chapter or the section it is in, and the book containing it.
Context provides the flow of thought in which any given passage of Scripture exists.
To ignore context is to sacrifice a proper interpretation.
It has well been said that a text without a context is a pretext.
Therefore, before attempting to interpret this challenging passage, a review of the context in which it is written is essential.
Now, we're going to look at the context a minute, and this is still Dr. MacArthur talking.
James wrote his epistle to the Jewish believers who had been forced to flee from Palestine by the persecution.
Persecution that was recorded in Acts 8, verses 1 -4.
In fact, all of chapter 9 was a story of Stephen, who was one of the first martyrs, if not the first martyr of the church.
And this picks up just after his stoning. And Saul was consenting unto his death.
And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem.
So the church at Jerusalem was undergoing great persecution, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Now, these same guys who were so willing to run away just weeks before, there's great persecution in the church, and what do they do?
They stay on. But everyone else scatters. And devout men carried
Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hauling men and women, committing them to prison.
Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the
Word. So they scattered and trying to stop the preaching of the Word, and what they succeeded in doing is getting the preaching of the
Word preached all over Judea and Samaria. Back to Dr.
MacArthur. In James 1, he referred to them as the 12 tribes who were dispersed abroad.
Being both Jews and Christians, they faced hostility from the pagan culture in which they lived.
Knowing that, James opens his epistle with an exhortation to patiently endure trials.
That was James 1, the first 12 verses. In chapter 5, he returns to that theme.
The first six verses describe the persecution his poor readers were suffering at the hands of the wicked rich, and we talked about that last
Sunday, even to the point of death, verse 6. Then in verses 7 through 11, he calls for patient endurance of the trials and persecution.
James exhorted those that were about to collapse under the weight of their afflictions to prop up their hearts and resolutely, determinedly persist.
In view of the overall context of the epistle, particularly chapter 5, it is not surprising that James mentions suffering in James 5, 13.
What he says is this, is any among you afflicted?
Let him pray. He calls on those who were suffering the persecution that has been discussed in 5, 1 through 11 to pray, since prayer taps the source of spiritual endurance.
It would have been surprising if in a letter to struggling, persecuting believers,
James had neglected to mention prayer. A strong commitment to prayer is a prerequisite to enduring suffering and affliction.
Okay, this is still MacArthur, and then I'm going to finish with him for a while. The theme of verses 13 through 18, most of which we're, all of which we're going to cover today, then is prayer.
The theme of verses 13 through 18 is prayer. That's why I ask you to keep note of the number of times prayer was mentioned in those five verses.
James' exhortation to prayer embraces the prayer life of the entire church.
This section also reflects James' compassionate pastoral care for his suffering flock.
His main focus is on the casualties of the spiritual battle, the weak, persecuted, defeated believers are enduring.
As the context and the content of this section makes clear, the subject is not physical illness or healing.
Instead, it's concerned with healing spiritual weakness, healing spiritual weariness, healing spiritual exhaustion, and healing spiritual depression.
How? Through prayer, as well as dealing with the suffering and the sin that accompanies it.
He says to insert a discussion here on physical healing would be incongruous.
Nothing in the preceding or following context would prepare James' readers for that.
But a section on how to help the casualties of persecution through prayer fits perfectly into the flow of James' thought.
Specifically, James discusses the relationship of prayer to comfort, resurrection, fellowship, and power.
Okay. Now let's go to verse 13 and begin. Is any among you afflicted?
Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.
Afflicted means suffering in difficult circumstances.
It is from the Greek word kakopatheo, the
Greek form of the noun that in chapter in verse 10 was translated suffering.
The word refers to enduring evil treatment by people. It does not refer to physical illness.
So the afflicted talked about here is, we're enduring evil treatment by people.
Now when that happens to us, we should not grumble. We should not grumble when enduring evil treatment.
James 5 verse 9 is going to say, grudge not one against another. Or actually, as already said, grudge not one against another.
Brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. What he's saying there is, don't grumble and complain about yourself.
The Lord knows what's happening to you. He is the judge. So what should we do?
Count it all joy, but we also should pray. We should pray. Prayer can give us the grace we need to endure troubles and to use them to glorify
God. So our troubles can actually be ways to glorify God. And as you say,
Brother David, count it all joy because you're glorifying
God. Your troubles even will glorify God. But prayer will give us the strength to do that.
Prayer can give us the grace we need to endure troubles and to use them, our troubles, to glorify
God. God can transform troubles into triumphs.
He can turn weakness into strength. Paul said this in 2
Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12, starting in verse 7. Paul has just been revealed.
It's been revealed to him. He was able to look into heaven and he saw something that was mysterious and glorious.
And he was very excited. And he said, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations that were, okay.
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, all the things that were made but revealed to me.
There was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, three times, that it might depart from me.
And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities. I count them all joys.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul, though, knows, as do all mature
Christians, that not all prayers are answered in the way that we wish.
Paul knew that his prayers were not answered in the way he wished.
He prayed three times for it to go away. All mature
Christians know that not all prayers are answered in the way we wish. Jesus prayed three times in the
Garden of Gethsemane that the cup might be removed. Was it? No.
Even Jesus prayed three times for something that wasn't answered the way he asked that it be answered.
But now he did hedge the bet, didn't he? He said, but not my will, not what I want, but thy will be done.
He prayed, but in his prayer he said, answer it the way you know best. He was praying to his
Father. Three times in the Garden of Gethsemane that the cup might be removed, but it was not.
Prayer is essential to enduring affliction, and God is the ultimate source of comfort, leading
Paul to describe Him in 2 Corinthians 1, 3, Blessed be
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the
God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all of our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
Similarly, Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
Now, who's to pray, the happy or the sad, the suffering or the happy?
Okay, they're both to pray, and you're right. The suffering are to plead with God for comfort.
The happy are to sing praises to God for the comfort that they have been given.
Prayer and praise are closely related. In fact, praise to God is actually a form of prayer, and they're both essential for the spiritual strength of those undergoing persecution.
You pray when you're happy. You pray when you're sad. You pray when everything is going bad.
You pray when everything is going well. We're easy. It's easy for us to rush to God in prayer when everything is falling apart in front of us.
It's more difficult to pray when everything is going well. Maybe that's why the
Lord lets bad things happen to us, so we will turn to him. The mature
Christian also knows that God is able to give songs to those who want to pray even in times of distress.
Job said, and Job was severely afflicted at this time, in Job 35 verse 10,
God my maker who giveth songs in the night. Job was able to sing praises to God in the deepest despair of night, of his night, which was darker than any of our nights.
God did the same thing for Paul and Silas when they were thrown in jail. There was an old gospel song when
Paul and Silas were both thrown in jail. What did they do?
They sang. What happened when they sang praises? The chains that held them to the wall fell off.
Their doors were open. The jailer panicked and was about to kill himself, and they said, don't do it.
We're still here. We didn't run out when the door was open. We are where we need to be.
The Lord opened their chains, opened the door, broke their chains.
Back to verse 14, or now on to 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 the word translated sick here is astathineo, which can also be translated weak.
If it's translated that way, we can view James 5 .14 in a way more in keeping with the context of the entire book.
If you had read that, is any weak among you? Let him call for the elders in the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord. Had it been translated that way, the whole issue of what kind of sickness it is that we're talking about would never have come to the front.
And that would be more in keeping with the context of the entire book. We're not looking at physical illness.
We're looking at spiritual illness. With that in mind, the weak are those that have been defeated in spiritual battle.
Those who have lost the ability to endure suffering, they are fallen spiritual warriors.
They're exhausted. They're weary. They're depressed. They're defeated.
But they're still Christians. Have any of you ever felt defeated, depressed, weary, exhausted?
All of us, but not all of the time. How do you cure that?
How do you get over that? Prayer. Pray to God, and He will lead you to do the things that you need to do to take you through that, to bring you closer to Him.
You're still one of His, and He's told us, you're in my hand and God's hand, and nothing is strong enough to take you out of the grasp of God.
You belong to Him. So we shouldn't be defeated.
We shouldn't be weary. We shouldn't be exhausted. We shouldn't be depressed. We shouldn't be defeated, but sometimes we feel like we are, and at those times, the antidote is go to the
Lord in prayer. Well, they've tried to go to the Lord in prayer, but they've lost their motivation.
They may have even fallen into sinful attitudes. Having hit rock bottom, they're not able to pray effectively on their own.
So what are you to do when you're in that condition? When you know that you belong to God?
When you are suffering, and you're exhausted, and you're weary, and you're depressed, and you're defeated, and you try to pray, but in the midst of your prayer, you begin to feel weary, and tired, and defeated.
You go to the church. The spiritual weak at that time need help from the spiritually strong.
First Thessalonians 5 verse 14 says this, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble -minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
That help, James says, is to be found in the elders of the church and the church itself, as a matter of fact.
They are spiritually strong. They're spiritually mature. They're spiritually victorious, at least some of the time.
Weak, defeated believers are to go to them and draw on their strength.
The spiritual weak are to call, and that word is proskaleo.
That's the word Brother David used last week, to call alongside. They're to call on the elders, to call the elders to come alongside, to come and lift them up.
It is the same thought that the Apostle Paul expressed in Galatians when he said,
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
The wounded, exhausted, broken -sheathed are to go to the shepherds who will intercede for them and ask
God for renewed spiritual strength on their behalf. This is an important and largely neglected ministry of the church's pastors and elders.
The apostles acknowledged this priority when they said, we devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word in Acts 6 .4,
but in today's church, I don't think so much in this one, but in today's church, weak and struggling believers are often handed over to experts, or so -called experts, counselors, professional counselors, who often have little power in prayer.
And since that's the source, that's the antidote, you don't have one. Those who have been defeated in spiritual battle do not need to hear opinions of human wisdom.
They need to be strengthened by the prayer of God and through their leader's prayers.
Verse 15, And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the
I highlighted two things in that verse. The prayer of faith, remember this is still in the section where prayer occurs in every verse, and the word if.
I believe that that word if can be translated sometimes as sense, and I think this is one time it ought to have been translated as sense.
And if the prayer of faith shall save the sick, I'm sorry, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the
Lord shall raise him up, and since he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. The sins that you commit, if you're his, will be forgiven because you're his.
Now the idea here is the elder's prayers will be the channel through which the weak, defeated believers are delivered from their spiritual weakness and restored to spiritual wholeness.
Those prayers, of course, are only a channel for God's prayer, for God's power.
It is the Lord who will raise up the weak, and by the way the word weak, there you go, which is translated raise up, can also mean to awaken or to arouse.
Through the righteous prayer of godly men, God will restore his battered sheep's enthusiasm.
Verse 19, confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another that you may be healed.
The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Turning his attention from the sins of those believers who have been defeated in spiritual battle,
James addresses the congregation as a whole. And what does he do? He exhorts the congregation to continuously confess their sins one to another, and not wait until those sins have dragged them into the depth of spiritual defeat.
James was well aware that sin is most dangerous to an isolated believer. Sin seeks to remain private and secret, but God wants it exposed and dealt with in loving fellowship with other believers.
Therefore, James calls for the mutual honesty and mutual confession, as believers pray one for another.
Now this is the strangest verse in the whole thing. Verse 17, 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 for a space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven came to pass.
God gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. What in the world is
James doing, telling a story of rain in the midst of a story of healing?
It would have certainly been a strange illustration if James had physical illness and healing in view.
There are a number of clear biblical illustrations of healing that he could have drawn from which would have been much better.
But the picture of rain pouring down on parched, dry land perfectly illustrates
God's outpouring spiritual blessings on the dry and parched souls of the struggling believers.
This is not the rocky soil. This is not the path. This is the good soil.
But this is the good soil upon which it's not rained for a while, and God is pouring out his blessing on that soil so they can be fruitful.
And he does this in response to the righteous prayers of godly people.
And now we come to the final test. Brethren, 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 ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Now these two verses form a fitting conclusion to the book of James. They express
James's primary objective in writing this letter, to confront those in the assembly of believers who possess a dry, parched faith.
The epistle does have evangel... I can't say the word now.
Say it. Ist. Evangelicalist. Does have evangelism in mind, but it's one that's mainly directed toward professing believers.
Now not all professing believers are believers that are being blessed right now.
Some are these dry, parched souls that need spiritual blessings.
But if they're in the church and professing to be believers, this is aimed toward them.
James called on those professing believers to examine their faith and make sure it's real. He was deeply concerned that no one be deceived by his salvation.
So what does that say to the church as a whole? Second Corinthians 518.
And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
The same us that God reconciled is the us that has the ministry of reconciliation.
Bringing wandering dry sinners to God is the task of every believer.
Now look at verse 19, and we'll be finished just in a couple of minutes. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him.
Now I want to look at just that one word, convert, and ask you a question. Brethren, if any one of you do err from the truth and one convert him, here's the question.
Do believers need to be converted from the error of the ways?
They do need that. That's right.
If you're afflicted, pray. Okay, that's good.
Now what I did is I looked in Luke chapter 22 verse 32, and this is
Jesus talking to Peter. Luke 22 verse 32.
Luke 22 verse 32. This is Jesus talking to Peter, and he says to Peter, But I have prayed for you that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Why was he put in the situation he was? He has just denied the Lord three times. Why is he put in that position?
So that he will understand the pain and the suffering of those that he can strengthen when it comes time for them to be comforted.
When you're converted, and that's what
James is talking about. Okay, so you've already answered the question, but I want to ask a series of,
I think it's 12 more questions. These are going to be rapid fire, and you don't have to answer this.
Think about them. A few more questions to consider. Okay, what
I said, do you and I as believers need to be converted? That's my question.
Now a few other questions to consider as we contemplate the areas in which we need to improve.
Your answer was yes, we do need to be converted, and here's some things to contemplate as we go through.
This whole thing in this book of James has been a series of tests one after another.
Tests, tests, tests. Now here is the final exam for the believer.
Here's questions to ask yourself, and I'm asking me as I go. So I'm going to each one of these, the pronoun is going to be
I. Am I becoming more and more patient when tested? Do I play with temptation, or do
I resist it from the start? Do I find joy in obeying
God's Word, or do I merely study it and learn it?
Are there any prejudices that shackle me? Am I able to control my tongue?
Well, this morning, we know I can't. I can't even say the word evangelistic. I could type it, and it doesn't show an error in my typing.
So obviously, if I type it, I should be able to say it. Am I a peacemaker or a troublemaker?
Do people come to me for spiritual wisdom?
Am I a friend of God or a friend of the world? Do I make plans without considering the will of God?
Am I selfish when it comes to money? Am I unfaithful in paying my bills?
Do I naturally depend on prayer when I find myself in some type of trouble?
Am I the kind of person that others seek for prayer support? What is my attitude toward the wandering brother?
Do I criticize and gossip, or do I seek to restore him in love?
Now those are some questions. I got those questions from Chuck Misner, and I changed some things about them so that they more fit what we're doing here, but I thought they were an excellent set of questions to ask yourself.
If you go through the book of James, every one of these items are laid out as tests for us, and you should ask yourself, how am
I right now dealing with each one of these questions? Well, you can't say.
I can't say that I actually am all the time correct in any one of them, but sometimes
I am in some of them, and at this point, I'm running over time, and any questions or comments?
If the answer to any one of those questions is no, you've got the antidote, don't you? That's what we should do, and so the answer to that one, do
I naturally depend on prayer when I find myself in some sort of trouble, or do I have to ask myself that question, consider the suffering a little bit, and then go there, but we will not get relief until we go back to prayer.
That's where the answers are. Anything else? If not, let us pray.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all of our many blessings. Thank you for helping us to understand that even hardships that we perceive as being insurmountable are not mountains in the eyes of the
Lord. They're not even molehills. It's level ground. They stand nothing in the way of the
Lord, so the greatest trouble we have always has a solution, and the solution is always found by prayer.
We know that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, and that prayer covers a multitude of sins.
Thank you for all that you've done for us. Thank you for the problems that you have put in our path that will make us stronger and grow closer to you.
Go with us through the service today. Bless us and keep us. In Jesus' name we pray.