Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240925 - How Can I Do Right when I’ve Been Wronged? - James 4 & 5

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#20240925 - How Can I Do Right when I’ve Been Wronged? - James 4 & 5 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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How can I do right when I've been wronged?
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Maybe you've asked that question once or twice in your life.
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How can I do right when I've been wronged?
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James is going to deal with that pretty much throughout these two
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chapters. Again, James is speaking to us
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about a picture of a mature Christian.
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So everything he's dealing with is moving us towards maturity
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and our walk with the Lord. Again, every Christian grows
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old, but not every Christian grows up.
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And that's James aim throughout this book.
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And because there are no chapter breaks between the end of
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chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 in the original
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writings, again, no, no chapters, no verses.
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That was something that was added later.
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Chapter 4 here is continuing with where we ended last week in
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chapter 3. If you remember, James spoke
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about the destructive nature of the tongue.
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Again, it's the greatest troublemaker in the church.
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He spoke about the conflicts that were happening among
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Christians. He spoke about wisdom from above
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and what that looks like versus the wisdom of self love.
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And he told us the wisdom of self love is earthly, sensual,
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demonic. And then he continues with this
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thought here in chapter 4, verse one by asking this question,
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where do wars and fights come from among you?
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Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war
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in your members? Now, we would expect the
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unbelieving world to be characterized by fighting and,
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and by this quarrelling amongst one another.
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They're the ones without the Spirit of God.
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They're the ones without the word of God.
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But sadly, we see in the church much fighting and and
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quarrelling among us. And if you've been in the church
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for any period of time, you know this could be true because the
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church is full of people. There are going to be problems,
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and the church should be the one place, of course, where we all
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get along. But that's not always the case.
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And so James is addressing that, but he's also likely addressing
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some specific issues that were raised among some of the Jewish
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believers that he's writing to in this letter.
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And the problem he says here is that wars and fights come from
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among you, from among you. There was an ongoing state of
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quarrelling among them. Again, one another with with one
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another. There was some open conflict
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that was taking place. What might have started here
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with one or two people. Now everybody knows at this
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point that there's a problem. And so James is addressing this.
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And the question is, where do these kinds of problems come
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from, this quarrelling among us, these fights that that we get
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into? Some might answer from Satan,
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because we know he is the enemy of the church.
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And that's true. Satan certainly does attack us.
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Some would say, well, maybe some of this is from false teaching
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in the church because unfortunately there is false
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teaching that finds its way into the church.
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Some would say maybe it's from the wolves that are in the
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church and the wolves are coming after the the sheep in the
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church. And so there's this fighting and
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this bickering among one another.
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But James answers that this infighting that comes he says
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it's from your desire for pleasure that wore in your
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members. Verse two he continues your you
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lust and do not have you murder and covet and cannot obtain you
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fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask.
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In other words, James is saying here instead of coveting, we
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should go to the Lord in prayer. But then he follows up here in
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verse three. You ask and you do not receive
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because you ask amiss and you spend it on your pleasures.
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Now, we know that all throughout Scripture the Lord repeatedly
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invites us to come and to ask. It's one of the great privileges
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of prayer that if there's something on your heart, if
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there's a need in your life, he says, bring all of your
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petitions, all of your requests, all of your supplications, bring
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them to me. But how we ask is what James is
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getting at, and that's important.
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John would tell us this in first John 514, that if we pray, we
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should pray according to his will.
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And we know that he hears us because he does desire to answer
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our prayers. He does desire to meet our
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needs. He's Jehovah Jireh, He's the God
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who provides. But James is trying to make the
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point here that when we pray, we shouldn't pray to spend it on
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our own pleasures. Using prayer, in other words, to
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get what I want. James says that when we do that,
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we ask a miss because it's possible as Christians, as
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immature Christians, that James is wanting to move us forward in
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that we can pray selfish prayers.
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And a selfish prayer is simply no thought as to what pleases
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God. And so that's a challenge for
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us, especially those of us that are maybe new to the faith.
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And most of our prayer consists of asking God for a bunch of
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stuff. And again, God wants to meet our
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needs. God does invite us to.
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But there's a challenge here that that James is saying when
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we pray not to pray, asking for things that we're going to be
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able to use for our own pleasure.
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And then he gets really pretty bold here because he says to
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them, verse 4, adulterers and adulteresses.
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And I'm sure as the readers or the hearers of this, this caught
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them by surprise. As he uses this, it's stark.
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He says, do you not know that friendship with the world is
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enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a
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friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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Now James is being direct here. James is probably being a bit
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harder here than he has through most of the book because he's
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wanting to make a point. Anyone whose attention and
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affection is not towards God and his people, but it's towards
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themselves to the point where we would pray that I may spend it
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on my own pleasure. James is saying it's kind of
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like they're cheating on God. It's kind of like they're
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cheating on them. They're putting pleasure, their
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pleasure above godliness, above their relationship with him.
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And James says here that this is called friendship with the
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world, the world system which is living against God.
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And he even says so much so that we're living as an enemy of God
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when that's the mindset that we have.
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And ultimately James's point here is that this is what causes
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wars and fights and quarrels among us.
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Verse five. He continues by saying or do you
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think that the Scripture says in vain?
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The Spirit who dwells in US yearns jealously and many
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places, particularly in the Old Testament, it speaks that of God
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as a husband. And he is jealous for the
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faithfulness of his people. The same way that any of us here
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that are married would be jealous for the faithfulness of
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our wife. Jealous in the right sense, in
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the, in the, in the pure sense of jealousy.
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I wouldn't want my wife being unfaithful to me.
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And if I found that out, I would be jealous because she's my wife
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and we've committed to be faithful to one another.
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It's and it goes for me as well. And so God is saying that as a
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husband, he is jealous for his people.
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We are his people, the bride. And James reminds us here that
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the problems that he's addressing is met by the person
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of the Holy Spirit who dwells in US.
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The moment you said, Lord Jesus, I give my heart and my life to
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you, you didn't know this was happening, maybe, but the Holy
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Spirit came and lives inside of you.
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And he's the one that's brought us from spiritual death to
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spiritual life. Now, James has given a hard word
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here, but praise God for verse 6.
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But he gives more grace. That is the story of my life.
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I don't know about you. I am so thankful he gives more
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grace. It says here, therefore he says
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God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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And in the Greek there it's it's God continually gives grace to
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the humble. God gives more grace more than
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we deserve. God gives more grace more than
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our selfishness. God gives more grace more than
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our desire to be in control. If we humble ourselves and we're
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going to talk a little bit more about that here in verse 10.
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Therefore, verse 7, because he gives grace, submit to God,
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resist the devil and he will flee from you.
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It says here, note, and the order is important.
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Submit to God again because he gives more grace, then resist
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the devil. It's not resist the devil and
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then submit to God because we don't stand a chance of
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resisting the devil if we haven't first submitted our
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hearts to God. It's easy for us, a lot of us to
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be able to pray, I rebuke you devil.
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And we go to all these places sometimes.
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But the order here is first you submit your heart to God, then
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you resist the devil, and then it says of the devil he will
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flee from you because the devil can't do anything to a man or to
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a woman who has submitted their hearts and their lives to God.
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Because you're connected with God, you're connected with his
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strength, you're connected with his wisdom.
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And the devil knows he has no power over a blood bought son or
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daughter of God. And so he will flee, but like it
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says of Jesus, until an opportune time he will flee, but
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he will find his way back again. And this is something that we do
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over and over again. We submit to God every day and
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then we resist the devil every day.
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And it tells us here he will flee from us.
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Verse 8 continues, draw near to God and he will draw near to
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you. I don't know why it takes the
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whole Christian life, at least my whole Christian life to
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figure this out, that if I just simply spend more time alone
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with my Savior, if I seek the Lord daily in prayer and I draw
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close to Him, there's this beautiful promise here that he
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will draw near to me. He will draw near to you.
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I love the closeness of God. I love that He desires that with
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us. He continues here, cleanse your
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hands, you sinners. The idea here is you can't draw
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near to God if there is willful, unrepentant, continual sin in
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your life and you know it's wrong.
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So he's saying here it's important that we cleanse our
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hands. He says here and purify your
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hearts. You double minded.
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Notice this. A troubled heart means a
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troubled mind. Bible says all of the issues of
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life flow from our hearts. And so really what James is
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saying here is draw near to God because he does desire to draw
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near to you. But get your heart right with
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God. And that might be a word for
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some of us tonight. He'll go on here to say in verse
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9, lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
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mourning and your joy to gloom. What he's not saying here is
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that we should be in this perpetual state of mourning and
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lamenting and grieving because we also know Scripture says let
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your mourning be turned to dancing.
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Joy comes in the morning, but weeping endures for the night.
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The point James is making here is get your heart right with the
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Lord. Turn away from whatever sin is
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hindering your relationship with Him.
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Don't take it lightly. If we need to mourn over it,
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confess it. And practically speaking, James
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is saying it's because of that it's causing these wars and it's
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causing these fights among the blood bought sons and daughters
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that are gathering together. So in verse 10 here again, he
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says, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will
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lift you up. So if you're here tonight and
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you've blown it and you've made a mistake, you're living in sin.
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James would say, Holy Spirit tonight would say to us, get
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serious about your sin. Humble yourself.
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Make it right with the Lord, even if that means mourning it
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and weeping over it because again, it's causing wars and
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it's causing fights among us. Draw near to God because there
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is forgiveness offered for every single one of us again.
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He gives more grace. There's a way to come back to
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God tonight. There's a way to regain your
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spiritual health tonight. That's the invitation for us.
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It's available to anyone. Any one of us tonight with dirty
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hands. Any one of us tonight with an
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impure heart, if we humble ourselves in the sight of the
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Lord, He will lift you up. And I believe this is what he
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wants for you as a son. This is what He wants for you as
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a daughter to be lifted up. That's God's desire.
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James goes back again here in verse 11 to this idea of the
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tongue again from chapter 3. And our words when he says here
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don't speak evil of one another, brethren.
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He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks
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evil of the law. The point here is even the law
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never judged people. The law judged actions, not
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people. But he's saying if you're
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judging people, you're judging the law.
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But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but
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you are somehow now a judge is the point.
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So here's how this often works. You speak against a brother or a
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sister here in the church, and it's probably likely that most,
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if not all of us have been guilty of this, which means two
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things. You're speaking against somebody
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here in the church, and somebody else is listening to you
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speaking against somebody in the church.
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We don't want to be either of those people, by the way.
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And James says this, that when you do this, it's like thinking
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you're somehow above the law because you judge the law.
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And really the idea is you are playing the role of God by
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speaking evil or looking down on one of his sons or one of his
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daughters. And there is no place for that
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in the body of Christ. There shouldn't be.
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And God forgive all of us, all of us for being guilty of this.
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He makes the point here in verse 12.
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There is one law giver. So in other words, you ain't it,
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I ain't it. There's only one law giver.
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There's we can never take the place of God who is able to save
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and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
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So God has, just in case it's not clear, taking the business
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of judgement out of our hands. That's not our role, so it's a
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good thing to remember the next time we question someone's heart
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here in church or we want to question their motives here in
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church. There's only one judge 1
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Lawgiver. James then moves on to a
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different topic here in verse 13 about making plans for your
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future. Maybe some of you are here and
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you're trying to think about what tomorrow looks like, the
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next month looks like the five year plan.
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And he would say in verse 13, come now you who say today or
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tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there,
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buy and sell and make a profit. Now, of course, there's nothing
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wrong with planning ahead. That's not what James is saying.
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There's nothing wrong with scheduling and setting goals.
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And if you're in business, engaging in business to make a
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profit, that's part of the normal daily life.
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But that is exactly James's point here.
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Consider the will of God and all of the the daily normal parts of
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our lives. Not just giving God the 1st 10
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minutes of your day or the 1st 20 or 30 minutes of your day in
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your quiet time, but give Him all of it.
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It's all His, it's all His. James says this first.
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We have no idea what the future is going to bring anyway.
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Verse 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, we
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don't know what's going to happen in the next hour on our
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way home tonight, let alone the next day or the next week or the
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next month. Second, James says we have no
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assurance of a long life. Verse 14 continues for what is
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life? It is even a vapour that appears
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for a little time and then vanishes away.
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So it's like a cup of coffee that you get in the morning and
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you see the steam coming off of the cup of coffee.
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It appears quickly, but then it disappears quickly.
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That's kind of his point. He's saying life is like that,
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like your warm breath on a cold winter day.
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You can see it for a brief moment, it's here and then it's
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gone. And if you talk to any person
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that is elderly, older, they will all say, because I do like
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to do this, ask them about their life.
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They will all say how fast it's gone.
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It's at the blink of an eye. And so because we have no real
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control over our day, what James is not saying is again, he's not
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saying don't plan ahead. Instead, he's saying trust your
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plans to his greater control in your life.
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And remember, every breath that we have today is a gift and none
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of us are guaranteed tomorrow. So he'll continue in verse 15 to
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say instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live
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and do this or that. By the way, those words, if the
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Lord wills our life changing words, they will change
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everything. It changes our whole attitude.
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It changes our perspective and the posture of our heart towards
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all of life. And again, it speaks of
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surrendering our lives in humility to Him.
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In other words, there's no compartment in my life anymore
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the way I used to compartmentalize everything.
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It's not like I have my spiritual life here and my work
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life here and my social life over here and my alone time over
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here. James is trying to make the
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point. It's all his.
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All of it. Every area, every minute of
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every day, even the boring, mundane moments of the day when
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you're the counting the clock down and you can't wait for it
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to be over. He owns it all.
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He's the master of it all. Otherwise we act as the master
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of our own lives, as if we are somehow in control.
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And if that is our approach to life and to our schedules and to
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our futures, James says here in verse 16, But now you boast in
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your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
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Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him
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it is sin. So if we continue to live as if
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God's not involved in our lives, if we continue to act as if he's
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not interested in all of our areas of life, and James is
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saying here that's sin. And so then what we do is we try
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to call the shots in our lives. We make our own plans, we do our
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own thing. We begin to boast that somehow
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we're a self-made man, especially when we see success,
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especially when we see promotion.
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It's usually when we don't see those things that we cry out to
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God. Oh God, oh God, Oh God, I need
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your help. Right.
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But when a man, things are going well, I become a I'm.
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I'm the man of my own domain. James would say, here, don't
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take that posture. Your life is in the Lord's
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hands. It's quick, It's quick.
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Every breath is a gift. It's like a miss.
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It's here, it's gone. Every moment matters, yes, plan
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ahead, yes be prepared for the future, but trust it all into
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God's hands. He would say do good, trust Him
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with our futures and plan everything with these words in
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mind. If the Lord wills, If the Lord
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wills. Now moving into chapter 5, the
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1st 6 verses here were not addressed to the church.
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He he picks up again addressing the church in verse 7, but he
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seems to be addressing those who were wealthy in his day.
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It's likely that James could have even been Speaking of the
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Sadducees and they were defrauding many of the poorer
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people of the day and they were connected, of course, with the
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government of Rome. But the rich in any age here,
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even here in 2024, we can find ourselves in a place that James
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is Speaking of here And again, we we mentioned this back in
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chapter 2, but James isn't condemning rich people or
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wealth. We have both wealthy people and
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poor people in the church. We always have.
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We always will. But he's speaking here about the
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injustice of the wealthy and how that may dishearten the poor.
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And he's going to say this, that for those of us that are
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believers, those of us that are Christians, we're waiting for
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the coming of Jesus Christ. In other words, there are hope
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is placed elsewhere. It's not placed in riches.
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And so he's going to say because of that, because the Lord is
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coming back, be patient. Be patient when you're wronged.
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He begins here in chapter 5, verse one, come now.
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The idea is, hey, listen up, you rich weep and howl for your
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miseries that are coming upon you.
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James again, speaking not to the brethren here.
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He's speaking to the wealthy and he's going to give them a strong
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rebuke. And the reason he's going to
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rebuke them here is because they were oppressing the poor.
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And if you read throughout the the Old Testament, God is often
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saying, hey, you mess with the poor, you mess with the
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fatherless, you mess with the widows, you're messing with me.
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And that's why James takes such hard language here, this graphic
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language of weeping and howling, because you're the miseries are
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going to come upon you. This is language of judgment
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that is coming upon the ungodly in the last days.
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He's going to speak of the last days.
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Verse 2. Your riches are corrupted, your
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garments are moth eaten, your gold and silver are corroded.
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In other words, it's all temporary and their corrosion
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will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like
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fire. You have heaped up treasure, or
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the idea is you have hoarded up treasure for yourself or you've
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heaped up treasure against yourself.
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Notice in the last days. So James is saying here, it's
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unwise to make the pursuit of pleasure and the pursuit of rich
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is the aim of your life. Because food goes bad, because
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garments get eaten by moth, because precious metals like
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gold and silver are corroded and they're tarnished.
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It doesn't last. And then in verse 4, indeed, the
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wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back
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by fraud, their voices cry out, he says here.
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And the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the
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Lord of Saboeth, and that's literally they're the Lord of
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hosts or the Lord of armies. So instead of paying the workers
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of their fields a fair wage, they were cheating them.
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It reminds me almost of like what we would call a sweatshop
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today, right? Somebody is getting rich off of
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the backs of of treating people very poorly.
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And yet the point James is making here is the cries of the
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reapers have reached the ears of the Lord.
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So it's a reminder for those that are treated unjustly even
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in our day. They're not forgotten.
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And as they cry out, their voice is heard by the Lord God
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Almighty, the Lord saboeth, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of
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armies. And this is important for us to
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know that just because God doesn't deal immediately with
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injustice doesn't mean he won't deal with it eventually, because
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he will. Because he will.
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He will come and write every wrong.
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The second coming of the Lord Jesus.
25:49
He's coming as the lion of the tribe of Judah with vengeance
25:54
and pouring out his wrath because of oppression and sin
25:58
like this verse five he tells them you have lived on the earth
26:02
in pleasure and luxury, literally.
26:06
It's interesting in the Greek there you've lived with a soft
26:08
life is the idea. You have fattened your hearts as
26:12
in the day of slaughter their their hearts have looked to be
26:15
filled is the idea with all of this pleasure and sexual
26:18
immorality and riches, gambling and all sorts of things.
26:22
Verse 6 you have condemned, you have murdered the just He does
26:30
not resist you. Therefore, verse 7 James has
26:36
been and he's continuing the answer to the question here.
26:40
How can I do right when I've been wrong?
26:42
And now if you're taking notes, he's going to answer that with
26:45
four takeaways. When we are wronged, two of
26:49
these are positive to embrace tonight and two of these are
26:53
negatives to avoid. So our first take away, James is
26:57
gonna say here, if you've been wronged, be patient, be patient.
27:01
Look at what he says here in verse 7.
27:02
Therefore notice by the way here he changes his audience from you
27:07
rich in verse one to brethren here in verse 7.
27:12
Now James is speaking to the victims of these wealthy
27:16
oppressors that he just rebuked in the 1st 6 verses.
27:20
Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
27:26
In light of the fact that ultimate judgement on the wicked
27:29
is coming, there will be just balances again.
27:33
God will right what has been wronged in your life.
27:39
There's going to be one of two ways the people that have
27:41
wronged you and have hurt you that at this point you feel like
27:44
may have gotten away with it. If you've been abused or you've
27:49
been deeply wounded by somebody, God tells you it's going to be
27:53
dealt with in one of two ways. That person receives Christ as
27:58
their Savior, and the condemnation that they deserve
28:01
then falls upon Christ, and they're covered by his blood,
28:04
just as all of us have been. Or they will meet Jesus at what
28:10
Revelation 20 tells us is the great White Throne judgement.
28:14
No believer will be there that will be the unbeliever standing
28:18
before the Lord. Some of them will say, but Lord,
28:20
I went to church. Lord, Lord, I did all these
28:22
things in your name. And that's where the Lord will
28:24
say, depart from me. I never knew you.
28:27
And it says there that they're cast into the lake of fire.
28:31
So while persecutors should fear the second coming of the Lord
28:35
Jesus, James is making the point we can anticipate it through
28:40
patiently enduring the wrongdoing and the suffering
28:44
that some of us are feeling tonight.
28:45
Even he gives an example of verse 7 here.
28:49
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
28:53
waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and the
28:56
latter rain. Speaking of the early season of
28:58
rain and the later season of rain, he says you also be
29:03
patient. If you want to grow in patients,
29:08
a farmer would be a good job to have.
29:10
If you're not a patient person, then don't become a farmer.
29:12
The idea here is a farmer has to wait.
29:16
A farmer has to wait through the growing season.
29:18
You plant your seed, you till the ground and you have to wait
29:22
before you can reap the fruit of what you've sown.
29:26
And a farmer, his life is not measured by days in the way that
29:31
we are in our culture. We want things so quickly.
29:33
It's not even measured by months.
29:36
For the farmer, his life is measured by seasons.
29:39
And a lot of that, of course, depends on the weather, depends
29:43
on the crops. Is there rain?
29:46
Is there drought? Is there snow?
29:49
And so James is making the point, look, if you're if if
29:51
you've been wounded and you've been hurt, you also be patient.
29:57
And in the Greek here it says this patients is the ability to
30:01
wait in tranquility, the ability to wait in tranquility.
30:06
I am not good at waiting. I've said this so many times, if
30:10
I'm driving the speed limit and somebody pulls in front of me
30:13
and drives under the speed limit, oh, that is hard for me.
30:16
I'm ready to make a citizen's arrest right in that very
30:18
moment. I'm, I'm reading this going man,
30:21
I am not a patient person. This is hard for me.
30:25
So if you guys would please pray for me because I'm growing in
30:28
these areas. But God isn't just asking us to
30:32
be patient when we're troubled. He's saying be patient knowing
30:37
that Jesus is coming again soon. He's coming again soon.
30:42
And so he is now working out the purposes and plans in your life
30:47
today while you're waiting. He's working and he would say to
30:52
you today, it's OK, let me handle this, Let me handle the
30:57
situation. You just have to be patient and
31:00
trust me and I will take care of it.
31:03
I will take care of it. So again, our first take away,
31:07
be patient when wronged. Our second take away.
31:09
Here James would say strengthen your heart when wronged,
31:13
strengthen your heart when wronged.
31:16
He continues here in verse 8, establish your hearts for the
31:20
coming of the Lord is at hand. The Greek tense here is the
31:25
coming of the Lord has drawn near and is imminent.
31:29
In other words, He could come back at any moment, at any time.
31:33
He could come back tonight, and we should be busy about His work
31:37
until He comes. But establish your heart.
31:40
Strengthen your heart, knowing that whatever it is that you're
31:43
up against, He could take care of that in a moment.
31:46
He could be back before we even leave this building tonight.
31:50
He wants us to live in light of the return of Jesus Christ.
31:53
Now establish here again means to strengthen your heart, to
31:57
support your heart to fix something so firmly in place
32:02
that it's immovable. And when you're under the stress
32:07
and the struggle and the weight of it, the, the load sometimes
32:11
that you bear, you can feel like you're crushed sometimes
32:15
underneath that when others have wronged you, you can feel that
32:19
there's no ability or no way to stand underneath what life
32:23
sometimes brings our way. But he is saying, establish your
32:26
heart, strengthen your heart. Like the psalmist said, Oh my
32:31
soul, hope thou in the Lord you, you preach to yourself knowing
32:37
Jesus is coming soon, but he also desires to lighten your
32:42
load today. Today listen to what it says.
32:46
We read this tonight. This was our first prayer point
32:47
for our gift in Jesus says come to me if you're laboring and
32:54
you're heavy laden and he says I will give you rest.
32:58
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and
33:02
lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls today.
33:07
That's the invitation today. Psalm 55, verse 22 says it this
33:11
way. Cast your burdens on the Lord
33:15
and He will sustain you. He will never permit the
33:19
righteous to be moved. And then again, Peter, the one
33:25
who denied Jesus three times, the one who thought that his
33:30
calling was over and he went back to fishing and Jesus had to
33:34
have a conversation with them around breakfast at the
33:36
beachside. Peter would say, Therefore
33:38
humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt
33:43
you, lift you up, as James would say, in due time, casting all
33:48
your cares upon him because he cares for you.
33:53
Your shoulders aren't broad enough to carry what life throws
33:58
at you, but his are and he's inviting you tonight.
34:02
Again, in the Greek, that means to roll off of your shoulders,
34:06
onto his shoulders, your burden, and let him carry what you can.
34:10
You're never made to carry. He is inviting you to carry that
34:14
for you tonight. It's not so beautiful.
34:17
So be patient. Strengthen your heart.
34:19
Our third take away, James would say here, don't complain when
34:23
wrong. Don't complain when wrong.
34:26
Easier said than done, James. Holy Spirit, you're gonna have
34:29
to do a work in my heart on this one.
34:31
Verse 9. Do not grumble or do not
34:33
complain. And the idea here is against one
34:36
another, brethren. Again, he's speaking to
34:39
believers here, lest you be condemned.
34:43
And then he reminds us again, Jesus is coming back.
34:45
Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
34:48
He is the one that judges the right way, not us.
34:52
He is. So when you've been wrong, it's
34:54
easy to feel the pressure. And when you feel the pressure
34:58
by just because we're human, it's easy to begin to complain
35:01
about it. And we all do this to grumble,
35:04
to groan against one another. And James is saying don't do
35:08
this because Jesus is coming back soon and he's working out
35:11
this patience in you. And if we complain against a
35:14
fellow Christian, he told us back in chapter 2, we're going
35:18
to have to stand before the Lord on that.
35:20
If I am gossiping about you and slandering about you behind your
35:24
back or in front of your back, I'm going to stand before the
35:29
Lord. And when it says here, James
35:33
says lest you be condemned, we know it tells us in Romans 81
35:37
there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
35:40
So that's not what James means here.
35:42
He's not talking about that kind of eternal condemnation.
35:45
What he's Speaking of here is the discipline of God.
35:48
He won't let us be bitter and have a bad attitude against
35:51
other sons and daughters in the family of God here without
35:56
correcting that in US. He, he will discipline as a
36:00
loving father disciplines his kids.
36:02
God will do that gracious work in us as well.
36:07
So he says here in verse 10, my brethren, take the prophets as
36:10
an example who spoke in the name of the Lord.
36:14
Take them as an example of suffering and patience.
36:17
It's the call that he's sort of calling us to here.
36:20
Verse 11. Indeed, we count them blessed
36:23
who endure. You have heard of the
36:25
perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord.
36:30
How things ended for him is the idea that the Lord is very
36:33
compassionate and merciful. That's worth underlining.
36:37
That's worth circling. That's worth highlighting.
36:39
That's worth putting stars next to it.
36:40
That's worth memorizing. The Lord is very compassionate
36:45
and merciful. James is reminding us here that
36:48
the prophets endured suffering. They waited patiently on God's
36:51
deliverance. He reminds us of Job, who lost
36:54
everything but demonstrated that his faith was genuine because he
36:59
was patient and God rewarded that.
37:02
And tonight, no matter what you are walking through, remember
37:06
this, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful to
37:11
you too, just as He was to Job, just as He was to these
37:15
prophets. So don't complain when you're
37:19
wronged. And finally, our 4th take away
37:21
here. Verse 12, don't make rash
37:23
decisions when wronged. Verse 12, don't make rash
37:28
decisions when wronged. Above all, my brethren, do not
37:33
swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath,
37:37
but let your yes be your yes and your no no, lest you fall into
37:43
judgement. Now we don't know exactly what
37:46
this swearing or taking oaths were in the early church
37:49
commentaries kind of don't really know where to land with
37:55
this. I'm sure that swearing was
37:57
different in their day than it is in our day.
38:01
But the point for us is don't make a rash decision when you've
38:04
been wronged not to try to make deals with God like God.
38:08
If you do this, then I'll do that or make deals with others
38:12
by swearing to God. I swear to God, if you do this,
38:15
I swear to God, if you give me 50 bucks, I'll pay you back next
38:17
week. He's saying don't do those
38:19
things. We can fall into this when we're
38:21
up against the corner. We can fall into this when we're
38:23
being wronged by somebody. But he's saying again, and trust
38:27
me and simply respond to your circumstance with a yes or a no
38:33
and then stay quiet, sit back and let God work out his purpose
38:38
in your life. Have patience.
38:40
Have patience. So be patient when wronged.
38:43
And now he's going to tell us here in verses 13 through 18.
38:46
Be patient through prayer. Be patient through prayer.
38:50
No one knew of prayer more than old camel knees himself, James,
38:55
who would spend 8/10/12 hours a day on his knees in prayer.
39:01
And James begins by referring to two ends of the spectrum in
39:04
life, suffering and cheerfulness.
39:08
He says in verse 13, is anyone among you suffering?
39:13
And this can refer this word suffering to physical suffering.
39:16
But here, this word more likely refers to those who are cast
39:20
down in their hearts, to those who are discouraged, to those
39:24
who are suffering mentally or emotionally.
39:27
Spiritually can include disease, but it can include
39:30
discouragement, doubt, anxiety, financial hardship, broken
39:36
relationships. And the response is, if that is
39:39
you tonight, let him pray. He says let him pray.
39:44
Don't let your prayer become your last resort.
39:48
Let it be your first response. Don't wait until things
39:52
completely unravel and fall apart.
39:54
Go right away to prayer if you are suffering.
39:58
This is the solution to our problems every single time, by
40:02
the way. Every single time it is to pray
40:05
now. God, when we pray, may not
40:07
immediately end the affliction. You may not immediately feel
40:12
better. He never promises that immediate
40:14
relief, but He does promise He will give you strength to endure
40:20
again. He's not promising to deliver us
40:22
from the trial, as we talked about in Chapter 1, but that He
40:26
will be with us through the trial, even through the valley
40:29
of the shadow of death. You can fear no evil because I
40:32
am with you. I am with you.
40:35
So prayer is an exercise. It is an act of your will.
40:39
And the flesh doesn't like prayer.
40:41
That's why it's so hard to pray. But it changes things.
40:45
It changes things. So tonight you're suffering,
40:49
you're distraught, you're discouraged.
40:52
The Holy Spirit would say to you tonight, let him pray.
40:55
This is in in the language here. It's an imperative, it's a
40:59
command. And look, prayer is not natural.
41:04
That's why we don't have a file for it to pray.
41:07
It is a supernatural enabling again, because we don't have a
41:12
file for it like it's, it's, it's not something that makes
41:15
sense in the natural. We just have to step out of the
41:17
boat and get into the water and, and do what Jesus has called us
41:21
to do. But we do it by faith, the
41:23
prayer of faith, he's going to talk about here in a moment.
41:26
So again, you're you're struggling emotionally tonight
41:29
or you're struggling mentally tonight.
41:33
Go home, get on your knees and pray.
41:38
Talk to the Lord about it and let him meet you in the place
41:42
and be everything that he's promised you would be to you
41:45
tonight. The other side of this is verse
41:48
13. Is anyone cheerful?
41:51
And if so, let him sing. Sing Psalms.
41:53
I love that. That's what we did tonight.
41:55
When you're cheerful, sing songs.
41:57
Don't just pray when there's trouble in your life.
41:59
Pray when things are great in your life.
42:01
If things are going well, then wake up in the morning and find
42:04
a place to sit alone and begin to thank God for all the
42:07
blessings that you have in your life.
42:10
Psalm 68, verse 19 says he daily loads us with benefits.
42:16
We don't ever want to forget all the good things that God has
42:18
given us. And again, no matter what we
42:20
walk through, good or bad, the response is always to pray.
42:26
Now he says here is anyone among you?
42:29
Verse 14, sick. The Greek has this idea here of
42:32
weak or feeble to be laid down is the idea.
42:38
And James prescribes three things here and we're going to
42:41
try to get to this in the next few minutes here.
42:44
Three things if you are sick. Number one, call for the leaders
42:48
of the church. Call for the leaders of the
42:51
church. He says in verse 14, let him
42:53
call a literally there is, let him call to himself.
42:57
So the onus or the action here is on the sick person.
43:02
It doesn't say to the elders, go on a sick hunt and look for all
43:05
the sick people. It says to the sick people, you
43:08
come to the elders of the church and let him call for the elders
43:13
of the church. So if you're sick, James is
43:17
saying you get to that place where you're laid down, perhaps
43:20
you're hospitalized, Go to the elders of the church.
43:24
Please let us as your pastors know, there's been so many times
43:30
where we hear somebody in the hospital or somebody that's sick
43:33
and, and maybe they think pastors are too busy or maybe
43:36
it's they don't want anyone to know that they're sick.
43:38
But there are times I feel so bad when I when I see somebody
43:42
and they tell I was in the hospital the last two weeks.
43:44
That's why you haven't seen me. Like, man, I wish we would have
43:46
known. We would have, we would have
43:48
been praying for you. But the challenge here for us is
43:51
that James is saying that sickness is not meant to be a
43:56
private, personal matter. Now I get HIPAA and I get all of
43:59
those things, but he's trying to say here, yes, we have doctors.
44:04
Yes, we have medicine. That's one of the ways that God
44:06
brings healing into our lives. But we also have the church.
44:12
We also have the church to minister to us in our weakness
44:17
when we're sick and we can't miss the importance of this
44:20
here. James here says specifically
44:23
call for the elders, call for the pastors of the church.
44:27
If you're sick, if you're laid up, that's your part.
44:31
And then it says there's our part and our part number 2 here
44:35
is prayer and anointing. Prayer and anointing continues
44:39
here in verse 14. Let him pray over him that the
44:43
elder pray over the sick person again, because the picture here
44:46
is that he is laid down anointing him with oil in the
44:51
name of the Lord. The only other time by the way
44:55
we see prayer and anointing with oil for the sick is a Mark
44:59
chapter 6 verse 13 where Jesus sends the 12 out and he says to
45:03
them, pray for the sick and anoint them with oil.
45:06
Oil by the way was symbolic all throughout Scripture for the
45:09
presence of the Holy Spirit. The anointing of the Holy
45:12
Spirit. Oil would be used if you were
45:15
out and it was a long day and you were hot and tired and
45:17
sweaty and you would you would go in.
45:20
Oil would be used for refreshing.
45:22
It would be almost like a perfume.
45:24
It was also used medicinally. It was used for hygiene.
45:29
But I think when it says here to anoint with oil in the name of
45:34
the Lord, I think it's saying here that the oil is simply a
45:38
point of contact to release or to stir up faith in the sick
45:43
person. That's all it is.
45:46
So when a a person comes to church here, for example, and
45:49
they ask us to anoint them with oil and to pray for them, often
45:52
times they'll do that at the end of a service, they'll come
45:54
forward. We will always do that for them
45:57
every single time they ask of it because if their faith is there,
46:02
that's the whole point. If their faith is there, the oil
46:05
doesn't heal them. It's just a, it's a point of
46:07
contact for them. And if their faith is there, we
46:10
would never refuse that as pastors of the church because we
46:14
trust in the power of, of God. We trust that he heals.
46:18
We have seen people healed, which is so wonderful.
46:22
And then it's wonderful when they get to go home and they
46:24
tell their friends and their family about it.
46:26
And God gets all the glory when He heals.
46:29
And we as the elders of the church, we do it simply in
46:31
obedience to the Word of God. That's what he speaks of here.
46:34
We anoint them with oil. We pray for them in the name of
46:37
the Lord. So again, call for the church
46:40
leadership, the elders and the pastors.
46:42
Then we pray and anoint them with oil.
46:44
Then the the third prescription for the physically, I'll hear
46:47
from James #3 leave the results up to the Lord.
46:51
Leave the results up to the Lord.
46:52
So it says here in verse 14, the elders pray, they anoint with
46:56
oil in the name of the Lord, which which means there we are
47:02
praying according to his will because sometimes it is God's
47:08
will to heal. Sometimes he'll heal right there
47:11
in that moment. Sometimes we'll, we'll, we'll
47:14
anoint them and we'll pray. And then it's a couple months
47:17
before they're healed. We have seen God heal in this
47:20
church over and over again. The gift of healing is alive.
47:26
It's it's active. It is part of what God is doing.
47:30
And sometimes it's his will not to heal as well.
47:35
And I don't understand all of that.
47:38
And I wrestle through that, just as any of you guys who are sick
47:42
and He hasn't healed you, you wrestle through it.
47:45
But I will tell you this, as pastors, we will continue to
47:48
pray for your healing. When you come to us.
47:50
We will encourage you to keep praying for healing.
47:54
And we will do that until God makes it clear that He's
47:59
choosing something else than healing in your life.
48:03
And sometimes that's made clear when He decides to call a person
48:07
home to himself. And that's been His desire.
48:11
It says in verse 15, the prayer of faith will save the sick.
48:15
Now he's not talking about salvation here, but the Lord who
48:19
will get him up off his sick bed is the idea here because it says
48:23
the Lord will raise him up. So once again, it's not the oil
48:26
that does the healing, It's not the elders that do the healing.
48:30
It's not even the prayer that brings healing.
48:32
It is the Lord who heals. It says here the Lord raises up
48:36
the sick person that's healed. So what is this prayer of faith
48:40
then that it's talking about here?
48:43
Very simply, it seems that there are moments and times when we
48:47
pray. If there's a group of elders
48:48
here and we're praying for a sick person that's come forward,
48:51
there is just a knowledge or a sense that the Father is hearing
48:56
our prayer in that moment and that God is going to heal them.
49:00
And we pray with that kind of faith.
49:01
There are times when we as pastors have have been in a
49:03
place where we've prayed with someone and we have sensed
49:06
perhaps it's a gift of faith in that moment that the person that
49:10
we were praying for was going to be healed.
49:13
And we've seen this verse 15 continues.
49:16
And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
49:21
Now some people will use this verse to say that if you are
49:23
sick it's somehow because of your sin, but that's not the
49:28
case. Job was sick but we knew it
49:30
wasn't the result of his sin. The blind man who Jesus healed
49:35
there, he was even asked was it him who sinned or his parents
49:37
who sinned and Jesus said neither.
49:39
He was healed so that the glory of God would be revealed.
49:42
Jesus goes to the pool of Bethesda.
49:44
It says that there were a multitude of sick and disabled
49:46
people that were there. But he heals one man.
49:49
He heals one man there. Paul left a Co laborer trophy.
49:55
Let me say that again, Trophymus, trophymus.
49:59
And and he left him sick. It says second Timothy 420 in my
50:03
leaders. And it's not because Paul didn't
50:06
know how to pray the prayer of faith there because if everyone
50:10
was always supposed to be healed, if we had faith and none
50:12
of us would die and there'd be a bunch of 400 year olds walking
50:15
around here. So that's not what he's saying.
50:17
This prayer of faith is something that God grants.
50:20
It's not something that we can drum up on our own.
50:24
And again, verse 15, the prayer of faith will save the sick and
50:27
the Lord will raise him up and if notice, not always, but if he
50:32
has committed sins. The tense here is that he's
50:36
continually been committing sins.
50:38
He will be forgiven. So I believe what he's Speaking
50:42
of here. It is true.
50:43
The scripture does talk about there are some sins that lead to
50:46
death. That's another conversation we
50:48
don't have time for tonight. The early church believe that.
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But what I believe James is Speaking of here is that a part
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of the process is when we as pastors go to the bedside of
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somebody that's sick and we pray for their healing or they're up
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here and we're praying for their healing.
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And then they feel I, I need to confess some sin that's just
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been weighing on me here. And God grants that prayer of
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faith and the Lord raises that person up at the same time if
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he's confessing this ongoing sin, not that the sin was
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directly connected to a sickness, but simply the point
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that his sins will be forgiven of him.
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And then James says there are also appropriate times to
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confess our sin to one another as well.
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Verse 16, Confess your trespasses, your faults to one
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another, and pray for one another that you may be healed.
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Confessing your trespasses to one one another is not a priest
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in a in a small dark booth. That's not what he's talking
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about. It's making amends with those
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that you have wronged and forgiving those that have
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wronged you. And some of you here tonight are
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plagued with a gnawing sense of bitterness and guilt.
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And if you allow those things to fester in your life tonight,
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they will consume you. And so confess them.
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That's that is what Jesus has invited us into first, John 19.
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Unconfessed sin will eventually find its way out in our lives.
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It will find its way out in unhealthy habits, chronic
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depression, unmanageable sin, underlying anger.
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And this can also lead. And we know this even from
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science to physical illness as well.
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But if you confess your sin to those that you've wronged, your
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guilt is healed, and that may affect healing in other parts of
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your life as well. And when you pray for those and
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forgive those who've harmed you, your bitterness will be cured.
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It's amazing how God does this. And the wonderful blessing of
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living a life with a cleanse conscience and a pure heart is
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that we will be able to now pray more effectively.
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So as James wraps up here, the effective fervent prayer of a
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righteous man avails much only righteous because we've been
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made righteous in Jesus Christ. It's been imputed to us.
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So this effective the idea is on target fervent prayer.
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It accomplishes much. Again, we should be praying.
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These are imperatives. We should be a praying people.
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Verse 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he had
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weaknesses and struggles. The idea.
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And he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not
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rain on the land for three years and six months.
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And he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain, and
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the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you
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wanders from the truth, it's possible for a Christian to to
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get off course and someone turns him back.
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Let him know that he who turns a Sinner from the error of his way
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will save a soul from death, or literally hear from the ways of
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death and cover a multitude of sin.
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So if you're helping a fellow believer turn from his ways,
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this death like existence that he's been walking towards, you
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are then turning him back to life, back to mercy, back to the
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one who has open arms, back to the Father who runs towards the
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prodigal. And what a joy it is to be a
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part of that restoration process.
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And it says here that that forgiveness will cover a
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multitude of sins. And I am so thankful that my
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sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
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And I'm so thankful that I can be a part of turning someone
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else back to Jesus. Think about that.
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Think about the damage that they'll be saved from from
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turning back to Jesus. Think about the continued
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destruction now that they'll no longer be walking in.
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So James closes beautiful with this idea of love covering a
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multitude of sin. So as the worship team comes
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back up here again, James has much to say about the mature
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Christian, that it is his goal that we would keep growing, that
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we would be made more like Jesus, his Big Brother, who I'm
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sure he thought of often when he was writing these words.
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And because we talked about healing tonight and anointing
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with oil, that prescription that James gives us, I just want to
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say to you, if you're here tonight and you're sick
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physically, maybe you're sick mentally, and you would like
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prayer, this would be a great night.
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And we invite you, pastors will be upfront at the end here to
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come forward. And we will do what it says
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here. You come forward, We will pray
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for you. We'll anoint you with oil and
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we'll trust that God is going to do a work in you.
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He always does. And perhaps he will heal you.
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And wouldn't that be wonderful to see?
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And we will pray that he does. And we'll pray again that he
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does, and we'll pray again that he does.
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And, and, and for sure, whether God heals or not, there's a
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deeper work that he's doing in you, drawing you closer to his
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love, his presence. He'll meet you.
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So if that's something you'd like to do at the end of the
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service, we're going to be up here.
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We'd love to be able to pray for you.
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We did it just catching my breath.
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But we did this, James, I hope it was a blessing to you.
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God bless you guys. Let's close with worship here.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
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877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.