A Jet Tour Through James (Part 4)

Living in the Last Days with Patience and Prayer

Congregation, what do you call these days? These days in between the first coming of Jesus and the second coming? What do we call those? The last days, or the last times. If you had to give somebody advice, a Christian advice, on how to live in the last days, what would you say?

Well, probably involved in some of those answers would be you should be patient, right, waiting for the Lord's return, and you should be prayerful. Patience, and a person full of prayer. Another question, if you had to describe Jesus's life on earth, how would you describe it?

Oh, he has compassion, he heals, he does miracles, but probably in the description of Jesus's life on earth, you talk about his patience, and you talk about what? His prayer life. Today, I'd like to talk about patience and prayer.

Take your Bibles and turn to what some have called the epistle of reality, James. I regularly come back to James in preaching, and in my personal life, because it is just, to use a verse, maybe out of context, it's living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

It leads me, it guides me, it tells me exactly how I should live in these last days. And today we're going to focus on chapter five, specifically about being patient and being prayerful. Super simple.

We've been working through the book of James the last several weeks. Can you imagine it was only a few weeks ago we had snow Sunday? We couldn't even drive to church because of the ice. And now we have what kind of Sunday?

I don't know, spring Sunday. James is really written to Christians so they know how to honor the Lord. So they can say to themselves, this is what God wants me to do. And of course, you don't become a Christian by doing these things, but when God saves you, He also does something more.

He sanctifies you, and He gives you His word, He gives you His law, He gives you His commands, so that you do the right thing. So it's good for you, and it's good for others, and it honors Him. And that's what the book of James is.

It's chock full of all kinds of commands, and it's given from the Lord so that we can just live an honorable life, a good life, a life that goes well with us. Sometimes in counseling, I learned this from Jay Adams, people will reject biblical counseling, and Jay then would then say, on the way out, I just want to put this little burr under your saddle.

The way of the transgressor is hard. If you're going to try to live that way, I just want you to know it's a hard life. Now on the positive side, if you'd like to live a good life, by the way, I'm from Nebraska, and that's our state motto, Nebraska, the good life.

If you want a good life, if you want an easy life, if you want a life that would honor God, the book of James is perfect for you. It's perfect for me. So we've been going through James the last several weeks, and now we come to chapter 5, which wraps up the book of James kind of at a high level.

Jesus has healed on earth. Jesus has perfectly obeyed God's law. Remember, our requirement to get into heaven is to be perfect as the heavenly Father is, and since we have sinned and fallen short, we need a representative to perfectly obey for us, and that's the Lord Jesus.

That's why He was born of a virgin. That's why He's truly man and perfectly man, but we also needed a substitute, and that substitute Jesus had to die for our sins. The wages of sin is death, and death is awful and eternal, and so Jesus dies on the cross, not for His sins.

He never sinned. He was perfect, but He dies for our sins, and to guarantee that truth, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had Jesus raised from the dead, and then He ascended into heaven, and that He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and of course we know that He prays for us.

So knowing that Jesus lived for you, died for your sins, confirmed that by the resurrection to show you that's true, that God's justice is vindicated and His righteousness is upheld with love still shown, and that Jesus is in heaven praying for you, how do you live?

And you say to yourself, out of gratitude and out of a desire to obey God, I'd like to live commensurate with the Word. And so James helps us when we're going through very difficult times how to live in light of a resurrected Savior.

If you're not a Christian, these words in James should make you say, I don't even do that. I stand condemned. I need a Savior. God, would you save me? But for us as Christians, this is a book of living in the last days, chapter 5, mainly about patience, and of course we're great at that, aren't we?

And prayer. And I think you'll be encouraged, especially on the prayer part, because sometimes we think prayer's something to do, and we fall short in doing that, versus thinking prayer's about the person we get to pray to and have the privilege to talk to, who is our friend and who is our advocate.

So as we have looked at James in the past, I gave you James chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, with kind of 14 main areas of law, 14 main commandments. Now there are 54 commandments in James, but we tried to get about 14 of them so we could manage the book of James, and we've looked at 10 so far.

To remind you of those 10, we started off with number 1, count it all joy in trials. Number 2, don't blame God when you're tempted. Number 3, be a doer of God's Word. Number 4 in James chapter 2, don't be partial, that is love other people.

5, there's an evidence that comes with faith, it's fruits. 6, guard your tongue. 7, employ godly wisdom. 8, avoid worldliness. 9, don't judge others. And 10, plan the future like God is in charge and you're not.

God's Warning to Rich Unbelievers

So we come today to James chapter 5, I'm going to do my best to finish the chapter, and we're going to look at 4 more ways to honor the Lord Jesus now that you're saved. 11, 12, 13, and 14. Alright, this is number 11, and it's a weird one, strange one, surprising one.

Be comforted, number 11, by God's warning to rich unbelievers. Take comfort that God is going to judge unbelievers one day, that's what He's after here. James chapter 5, verse 1 through 6, come now you rich.

I mean, He's been saying brothers, brothers, brothers, talking to believers, now He's letting believers eavesdrop on what God is saying, He, God is saying to unbelievers, who oppress, who persecute, who scatter the church, chapter 1.

Come now you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. There's judgment day, there's pay day. When I was a kid we'd go to Kmart all the time in Nebraska, and it was a layaway program that we had, remember layaway?

By now what? Pay later. There's a later. The fool thinks there's no later when it comes to sin, and the real fool says, you know what, there's no later on judgment day. And what James is doing here is he's going to say, I know you're persecuted dear believers, I know you're on the run, I know you're scattered, I know the rich people oppress you, but I want you, dear Christian, to realize that if the rich don't repent, the persecutors don't believe, they are going to get justice.

And so you can be patient in that. So he goes on, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded.

I mean the things that they trust in, I mean you can't even corrode gold and silver, but on that day of judgment, oh it'll be corroded. And their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

Language to comfort believers there's justice coming and language to scare the unbelievers under repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. Eating your flesh like fire, you've laid up treasure in the last days.

Behold, verse 4 of James 5, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, by the way, what you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you like evidence. And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts, our sabio, our armies.

He knows, he understands, he sees. Rich unbelievers that persecute the church, you've lived on earth in luxury and in self-indulgence and with language that's extreme but true, you've fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He, that righteous person, does not resist you. Very, very tough words. Very, very stark words. Very bleak words. But written to Christians who overhear and who eavesdrop almost on God, saying to the rich unbeliever, there's a payday one day.

And so for us, it's very, very simple. Psalm 37 could summarize the way we, Bethlehem Bible Church, should look at the first 6 verses. Fret not yourselves because of evildoers, be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

We don't have to fret that people seem to be getting off the hook with injustice, injustice and unrighteousness. They're going to get it one day. Did you know every sin that's ever been committed will be punished one day?

Either as a substitute, on the substitute Jesus, or on these persons. So we don't have to fret because of these evildoers. James is trying to encourage believers. Justice is coming. I know you suffer, James says.

I know it's difficult, James says. But justice is coming. I mean, you probably say to yourself, what kind of justice system is in America where you can commit 30 of the exact same crimes and get off the hook?

Don't you stand up and say, that's not just, that's not right. Somebody do something about it. The wrongs that Christians have suffered by unbelievers, including rich unbelievers, God will avenge. We don't have to avenge.

Vengeance is mine. I will repay. So God will take care of it. We can trust Him. It's good for us to hear. It's like God is saying this to the unbelievers who are persecuting Christians. He's saying it loud enough so that we can hear.

And we can say to ourselves, I'm so glad I'm not going to be judged like they are. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with riches. There's nothing wrong with rich Christians, rich believers, Job, Abraham.

But these are the ones that oppress. These are the ones that trust in their own riches. And they howl like wolves at night in the context of judgment. And it's going to be awful. And they've laid up treasures in the last day and it's going to be awful.

But God knows. Christian, God knows the persecution. And if the persecution in America gets worse, God knows. And we can take comfort in that. So dear Christian, Psalm 37 goes on to say, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Fret not yourselves over the one who prospers in His way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Don't worry. Trust me. Judgment day is coming. Number 12. What I like about James is just like one after another, after another.

Ideas, concepts, way to live. And here's number 12, as I think about 14 large concepts of obedience. Number 12, be patient in suffering. It's tied to the last section. We're to be patient that God's judgment is often slow, but fine.

And now we're to be patient in the midst of it. It's almost like the rich persecute. How do we respond? Well, we're to be patient. We are to be patient. Verses 7 through 12. See how many times when I read these verses, the word patient, patience, or steadfastness or endurance is used.

How do we live knowing Jesus is going to come back? Be patient. Verse 7, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Now we're back to brother talk again, family talk. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains?

You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door.

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you've seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

But above all, brothers, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Patience. God instructs us to be patient.

And in this section, to be patient for the Lord's return. And in the meantime, to be patient with other people, other Christians. So the patience is going to be revolving around Jesus's return. We're to be patient.

And while we're being patient for that, we have to be patient with other people. And let's flesh this out a little bit and take a, take a look at it. Back to verse 7. Knowing God is going to right all wrongs in the first six verses of chapter 5, He says, be patient therefore until the coming of the Lord.

Now, one of the things that patience should lend itself to is an eager expectation. The Lord didn't come back yesterday. He didn't come back the day before. But I trust in the promises of God. And the promises of God will be fulfilled.

And one day He's going to come back. That's one of the reasons why I read Revelation chapter 1. It's true. God is faithful. He's going to keep His promises. And Jesus is going to return. So what do we do in the meantime?

We're to be waiting with expectation. We're to be long-suffering. We're to be forbearing. We are to have self-restraint. We're to be thinking, I'm persecuted, or I'm in a trial, or I have this disease.

But it's not going to last forever. I'll either die and go to glory, or the Lord could come back any moment. It's not going to be forever. If you look back at verse 7, Adrian Rogers, a Southern Baptist preacher of last generation, who's a great communicator, said, study the Bible's untils.

You see the until there? Be patient therefore, brothers, until. There's all kinds of untils to study. Until this happens, until that happens. And it's going to be encouraging to you. Did you know you're not going to have to be patient in heaven?

We'll finally be patient people. Every time I go to Hannaford, I know Market Basket is cheaper. Many of you have lectured me. People that go through the lines where it says 14 or less, I count those other people's things.

Two things of coffee counts as two things, not one. And then, of course, self-righteous me walks up, and I've got like 18. And it's like, we want it fast. We want it instantly. You go to a drive-thru of fast food, and you can see there's a little clock in there.

It's been one minute and 32 seconds since that person came up and said, I'd like a large coffee, extra, extra, extra, as you'd order in New England. Now, the context here was patience in suffering. Nobody likes to suffer.

It was persecution from the outside, but whatever trial you're in, as Pastor Steve prayed, whether it's sickness or you lose a father or mother, it's like, Lord, life is hard. I know the promises you have for me are good and you care for me.

There's wonderful things to enjoy in this life, but Lord, come back. Send your son back. I want Jesus to come back. In the meantime, we're just to be patient. He's going to come back as judge. He's going to come back to rescue us, and we just need to hang in there.

You say, well, what does James know about it? Well, he suffered, tradition says, under martyrdom for his faith. Then he gives a little illustration. I worked on a farm quite a bit in Nebraska, and farmers know this patience.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains? And what he's saying is, just get down really close. Take a look at this.

Behold. Watch this illustration. Look at it closely. The farmer has to be patient, but I want you to know the farmer's also confident that it's going to happen. He's seen this before. You plant the seed, you water the seed, you weed the ground, and plants grow, and so he knows it's going to happen.

There's confidence there. Waiting patiently. And then he says it again. I mean, we need this. Once would have been enough. He says it in verse eight again. You also, like the farmer, be patient. And when I read the commands from God, I just say to myself, I hope you say it.

Lord, I wish I had more patience. Please help me, and would you please forgive me for my lack of patience? This world isn't heaven, and we need to be patient. And, verse eight, we need to be strong. Here's a command.

Establish your hearts. Strengthen your hearts. Have steely resolve in the backbone of your hearts, because this is a hard life, and Jesus isn't back yet. Be resolute. Be stable. Psalm 57. My heart is steadfast, O God.

That's what he's talking about. I need strength to bear up knowing that Jesus is coming back. I don't know when he's coming back. No one knows when he's coming back. But he's going to come back, and I want to strengthen myself.

To give you some of that strength in your backbone spiritually, just some words from Jesus. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the four winds and from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

Jesus is coming back. And in light of that, while we're patiently waiting for Jesus, here's the convicting one for me this week. Verse nine. To be patient with other Christians. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged.

Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Jesus is coming back. He's going to judge. And in the meantime, you mean to tell me I have to be patient with people that irritate me? Yes. The people that laugh know irritating people.

I am an irritating person talking to other people that are irritated. I didn't say you irritate me. Now, in the kiln of suffering, you can't really take it out on your rich oppressors and your persecutors.

You don't have enough power. The Lord Jesus hasn't come back yet, and so we tend to take it out on other people. So he says, I want you to be patient with other people, and I don't want you to grumble against one another.

The context is patience, and so here he says, I don't want you to grumble. Now, there's the word to complain that we've talked about for a long time, and it's a literal thing that you say, the Greek word gungusmus.

You actually say it. It's like, I can't believe that person did that. This word's different. This word has no words in its effects, but it's a sigh. Somebody does something that you don't like, or they irritate you, or with a muffled, muttering under your voice, you do this.

That's the word. You know you probably shouldn't say that loud, but there's just something in you because that person is irritating. And the Lord says, I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to do that.

I want you to be patient. Venting against other people, of course, is ultimately venting against God. So let's say in a marriage, you're sighing and groaning because of a spouse, and I want you to know that your spouse could be more holy if God so deemed him or her to be more holy.

It could be more mature in Christ. Could have got saved earlier in life, and could have had everything more together spiritually. So when we complain about other people, we're complaining ultimately about God and His providence.

It doesn't mean that people can't have problems and they need to repent, but our response to other Christians is not to sigh. In marriage, in a church, and maybe you have that in your marriage, or maybe there's somebody you see at the church, and you're like, you know what, I just as soon not see them, and when I have to run into them in the hall, I didn't even do it out loud this time, but in my heart I'm like, oh golly.

People that laugh are convicted. I know. I know you. Some of you I've never run into the hall in the last three months. I know who you are too. Satan's desire is to divide and conquer and to be destroying families, to be destroying churches.

Difficult times sometime reveal things in us, and we don't want to do those. We don't want to sigh and groan and grumble and complain, and he gives us two reasons. That you might not be judged. Let's say chastened.

It's an easy way to understand it. I mean all of our sins have been judged already on the cross. I don't want chastening. And the judge is right at the door. He's right there. Impatience towards others that leads to the sin of grumbling means we're impatient with God.

Jesus could have already come back. Why didn't he? I thought this was interesting, and we're going to be talking a lot about service and serving in the local church in weeks to come and in months to come, but listen what Spurgeon said.

Those complain first in our churches who have the least to do. The gift of grumbling is largely dispensed among those who have no other talents. Because when you're serving, we still shouldn't complain or grumble, but when you're serving, you realize how hard it is.

Because you're serving other Christians who are still struggling with sin, and you struggle with sin, and so it's very difficult. And so James doesn't want, the Holy Spirit doesn't want, God doesn't want you, he doesn't want me to be these kind of critical people who are always judging people and are always dealing with irritating people with just groaning and complaining.

I don't want to be that way. I know you don't either. And he says, you know, there's some examples, good examples to look at. Verse 10, prophets. You can study Hosea, you can study Ezekiel, you can study Isaiah, you can study Jeremiah, and the persecution that they went through, and while still not perfect men, they suffered well.

I've heard many people say, and it's been said to me, suffer well. And that's what James wants all of us to do. Back to James 1 .12, blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, because when he stood the test, he'll receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

So we wait for the Lord, and we wait with other people. And it says in verse 11, behold, we consider those blessed to remain steadfast. You've heard of the steadfastness of Job, you've seen the purpose of the Lord, and in the middle of the trial, in the middle of the waiting, in the middle of the being patient, haven't you seen God's goodness?

Haven't you seen His compassion? Haven't you seen His mercy as He undergirds and upholds, and how He conforms you to Christ, and how He's working? Even in the trial, haven't you seen God's hand in your life?

How good He is? And the answer is yes. God, I'm in a trial, don't you care? Yes, you've seen illustrations of His compassion and His mercy. Full of compassion, verse 11, is the way it should be translated.

Poly-compassionate. Just tons of compassion. It's one thing that God says He's compassionate in the Old Testament, but here it's poly-compassionate. Compassionate, gracious, kind. Jesus saw the great multitude and He had compassion for them and healed their sick.

The men that were blind, they said, Jesus, open our eyes and move with compassion. Jesus touched their eyes. A leper came to Jesus, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and said, I'm willing, be cleansed.

The woman who lost her boy, the Lord saw her and felt compassion for her. What's the opposite of full of compassion and mercy? Hard-hearted, who cares you're going through this trial? That's not the Lord.

Warren Wearsby said, when you find yourself in the fire, remember that God keeps His gracious hand on the thermostat. I like that. At least somebody from Nebraska can turn a phrase. And you know, if you're in a trial, sometimes you're going to say things to get out of things.

You're going to say something to get out of something. And Peter, hey, do you know that guy from Galilee? And you're like, I swear to God, I don't know the guy. And so this next verse, verse 12, seems almost separate, except it says, but above all, it's tied to this last section about being patient.

Because when you're going through suffering, just let your yes be yes. And don't try to wiggle your way out of the suffering by having false oaths. Above all, my brothers, don't swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you might not fall under condemnation.

Try to get out of persecution by some hasty oath, an irreverent oath. Just don't do that. Oaths are fine. These kind of oaths are not. Well, we move to number 13, prayer, found in verses 13 through 18.

Prayer as an Exercise of Faith

How do you live in light of a resurrected Savior? So far today, we've seen that we don't need to worry about the oppressors. They'll get their due. We've seen that we should be suffering well by patiently waiting for Jesus' return and being patient with other people.

And now the prayer aspect comes up. It doesn't take us long to look at Jesus' life and think about how patient He was on earth. There was no more patient man than Jesus. And of course now we see James probably saying, the way you get through life is just act like my brother, my older brother, the God-man Jesus, from counting it all joy to not blaming God for temptation, to being a doer of God's Word, to make sure you love other people and don't judge them on externals, the right use of the tongue, et cetera.

Same thing here. Prayer is key. Be prayerful. Knowing God hears your prayers. Now, this whole section's about prayer. Don't you see the word pray or prayer or praise? Verse 13, pray, praise. Verse 14, pray.

Verse 15, prayer of faith. Verse 16, pray and prayer. Verse 17, prayed. And verse 18, prayed. Any guesses what this section's about? Prayer. Now, there's a little book called Enjoying Your Prayer Life by Michael Reeves.

Who's read that? Okay. One elect person here. I've read a lot of books in my life. You ought to read that book. It's simple. You can read it within 20 minutes and it will change your prayer life. It really will change your prayer life.

I thought to myself, how many seminaries have I been at and I never have been given this book? And instead of thinking about prayer as something you have to do, and by the way, there are commands to pray.

It is something you do. But instead of that being the overriding thing, Michael Reeves will try to help us by saying, don't forget the one you're praying to. Instead of something to do, it's some person, three persons to be exact, one God.

And this God is for you. This God is an advocate for you. This God loves you so much He gave His Son for you. This God will do everything it takes to rescue you and to get you to Heaven and to glorify you.

This God has forgiven you, redeemed you, reconciled you, made propitiation for your sins. He's done everything. He's given you the Spirit. He's given you the Word. And the list could go on and on and on.

And since He's such a giving God, a generous God, such a good God, instead of saying prayer is something I have to do, I had a one-hour car ride yesterday and I went up to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary to hear some lectures on the Trinity.

And the whole time I was thinking to myself, first of all, radio off, and I just was thinking, it's not going to be to do. It's going to be just remembering who God is and inspiring thankfulness. And here's what Else Reeves said, quoting John Calvin, that prayer is an exercise of faith.

The greatest illustration of an exercise of faith is prayer. Why? If you can think about God and prayer, not as a to-do list, but as a God who said, come and ask me and I'll bless you, but also as an exercise of faith.

What did Calvin mean? Can you see God? How do you know about God? How do you know about His goodness and His compassion and His mercy? It's what? A faith exercise. If you really believe that God lives, the Son of God died for you and was raised for you, you think, wait a second, why would I not want to talk to Him?

Why would I not want to say thank you? Why would I not ask Him for things? As a father, a sinful father on earth, when my children need things, even adult children, I think they know that dad has a track record of trying to help, of helping.

Sometimes you just sit next to each other on the couch. You don't even have to say anything. You just realize who they are. This book will help you. This book, James, of course, but Reeve's book will help you understand, in summary, who you're praying to.

That'll help you. And then it's an exercise of faith. I really believe there's this Jesus who died and was raised and I'm going to talk to Him and praise Him and ask Him for things I need. So James says in verse 13, is any among you suffering?

What do you do when you suffer? And certainly not complain. It's let Him pray. There's a command. If you're going through any kind of personal, financial, religious, family issue and you're hurting, you pray.

Let Him pray. You have difficulty, you pray. Yeah, but what if things are going great in my life? Well, he goes on to say, if any is among you cheerful, let Him sing praises. Sing praises, that's where we get the word psalm.

It just means to pray. But it means to pray with praise. So you're suffering, pray. You're cheerful, pray. I think the second one's actually harder, don't you? You pray more when things are going well or do you pray more when you're really hurting?

The doctor calls. But either way, we're to be praying. And essentially it's, I'm praying to God and I realize I'm dependent on Him. When I don't pray, I realize I'm becoming more self-dependent. And how could I do that?

I mean, even my breath, the next heartbeat is from God. I want to be dependent on God and I, in good times and bad times, I want to pray. I know God is willing and able to assist me. You even think about Jesus is called a friend.

I don't want to be self-dependent. I want to pray. Now very, very fascinatingly, verse 14 is before our eyes. Is any among you sick? Now there are words for physical sickness. This word is tending itself toward spiritual sickness.

We'll talk about that in a second. If you're spiritually sick, 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 will save the one who is, different word in the original, exhausted is this word.

And the Lord will raise him up and if he's committed sins, he will be forgiven. Wow. That's interesting. So you mean to say, Mike, if you're going through a trial, you should pray. Pray to your heavenly Father for friendly assistance and deliverance.

And if you're really going through a good time, rejoicing always with the Lord, and again I say rejoice, I should just thank God and sing praises and praise God from whom all blessings flow. And then are you saying, if I'm so spiritually weak that I can't seem to do either of those, I should call for people who can do those for me?

That's exactly what James is saying. What's happening is we're to be praying when we suffer, we're to be praying when we're cheerful, and when you can't pray because you're spiritually a wreck, wouldn't it make sense to call on people who are walking by the Spirit?