Many of James' Stark Instructions Are Misunderstood and, Hence, Controversial. But Solemn Consideration of These Familiar Passages Is Useful and Potent. He Wrote, Ask of God What You Need; Ask in Faith, Not Double Minded; Be a Doer of the Word and Not Just a Hearer; the Tongue--a Dangerous Little Member; Wars and Fighting Among You; Even Elias, a Man with Subject to Like Passions as We Are--His Prayers Were Still Heard.
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00:00It's just one sitting next to Him there.
00:02You better believe it.
00:04That sitting next to Him is worth more than all of the silver and gold and buildings and cars and lands in this earth, one soul.
00:16Father, thank You for Your Word, for the power of the Holy Spirit of God, for the wisdom that You offer to us.
00:22Simply call upon Your name and accept it.
00:25Bless Your Word as it goes forth, Father.
00:28Lord, You haven't told me who all is going to be listening. I don't need to know. I'm just the messenger.
00:33You'll put it where it belongs.
00:36Your Word will be sown by the power of the Holy Ghost, and it shall not return void,
00:42but it shall accomplish that which You please. It shall prosper in the thing whereto You've sent it.
00:47In Thy holy name, Amen.
00:51All right, Amen. If you have your Bibles, I hope you do, turn to the book of James.
00:55The book of James.
01:00A lot of folks try to find conflicts in the Bible, and there's a passage here in James they like to use to have an apparent conflict.
01:11There are no conflicts in the Bible. The conflicts are with me, not the Bible.
01:16In the book of James, chapter number 1 and verse number 1,
01:19the scripture says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, note carefully this is important,
01:25to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
01:30Father, bless this word now. Amen.
01:33You can be seated.
01:36If you'll remember that when the Lord gave Israel that second opportunity in the book of Acts, chapter number 2,
01:44to receive the Messiah, they had two opportunities.
01:47They rejected it, and it ends with Stephen being stoned to death and saying that he sees Christ standing at the right hand of the Father.
01:56It wasn't long after that until the Apostle Paul was saved.
01:59And the Apostle Paul was saved, and God told Ananias that he's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name to the Gentiles.
02:07And of course he did. He wrote half the New Testament. If he wrote fourteen books, he wrote over half.
02:13And he did bear his name. In bearing his name to the Gentiles, he was bearing it to the Church of God,
02:19because now the Church of God had come into full force.
02:22And the Church of God was made up mostly of Gentiles and Jews, mostly Gentiles as it spread out throughout the Roman Empire.
02:32And the Church of God had mysteries, many mysteries that had not been revealed until that time.
02:38And they were given to the Apostle Paul. The mystery of the body of Christ, the mystery of the rapture, all these mysteries.
02:44The mystery of the indwelling Christ. These are mysteries.
02:48Well, now you won't find the word mystery show up one time in the book of James.
02:53The fact of the matter is you'll find very little in here in the very structure of the Church of God.
02:59What you find in the book of James, it is addressed to the twelve tribes scattered abroad.
03:04Now listen, this is not talking about Old Testament Jewish theology.
03:08These are twelve tribes of Christian, Jewish Christian believers.
03:12They're brethren, because the doctrines that are named for us here in the book of James,
03:18there is nothing in here that contradicts the doctrine of grace or anything like that.
03:23It's not in here.
03:24But what you do find in the book of James is the understanding of the body of Christ in early, early development.
03:33This is important, because the New Testament is revealed progressively.
03:37And it's important to understand that, because this way you don't get conflicts in Scripture.
03:44And by understanding that it is a progressive revelation,
03:47then you can see how that God, once he had finished with one group,
03:51or had finished revealing something, moved on to the next one.
03:55You see, it's hard for us to look back in retrospect, since we have a completed canon of Scripture.
04:00The Bible is complete. Sixty-six books.
04:03Thirty-nine, twenty-seven. Thirty-nine Old Testament, twenty-seven New.
04:07The canon of Scripture is closed.
04:09Now, if you do any digging at all, you'll find out that the Orthodox churches,
04:14some of them have more books in it, Catholics have more books in theirs,
04:18and they accept these as canonical Scripture.
04:22But we, for the most part, we don't.
04:24Although we can go to them, and we can use them for research, and there is no question,
04:31there's a lot of truth in them.
04:33But it's not Scripture.
04:35You say, well, what's the difference?
04:36Scripture is word by word inspired of God.
04:39Every word that you have in this book is inspired, it's true, it's infallible, and you can believe it.
04:46That's Scripture, and that's what I believe about the Scripture.
04:49I don't believe Scripture means that it has the message, and the greater message of God,
04:53as it relates to whatever culture that it's speaking to at that age.
04:58No, no, no. Truth is absolute.
05:01Now, there may be an application of it in a different sense, in a different culture,
05:06but it's still the truth, and it's still going to speak to the heart,
05:09and it's still going to speak the will of God.
05:12So you have 12 tribes that are scattered abroad, and you have the message here.
05:16Now, James, there's some controversy as to who this is.
05:20Some say he's just simply someone that showed up and wrote Scripture.
05:24I say this to you tonight, no one has the right to write Scripture but an apostle.
05:29An apostle. Amen.
05:31And I don't want to make anybody mad today, but there are no apostles out there today.
05:36If you call yourself an apostle, I'll reject that.
05:39A disciple, sure, you're a disciple just like I am, the rest of us.
05:42But an apostle has a right to write Scripture, but then he just doesn't write it.
05:47Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
05:51Theos noustos, God breathed.
05:55That's how we get our Bible, and so God breathed.
05:58Now, I believe that this James is the one that more than likely
06:03Herod put a sword to in the book of Acts, died early, but he was the Lord's half-brother.
06:09And that would bring it home to say that he wrote this book.
06:13Now, you can't prove any of this.
06:14There are things in the Bible that you can't prove,
06:16and you don't break fellowship with each other over issues like that.
06:20But to just set it in a context like that, if this is the Lord's half-brother,
06:24then we have one who knew him while he was here on this earth,
06:28and of course knew him personally.
06:31Now, I want you to notice I've pulled a few things out of James,
06:33and I'll try to move through these quickly.
06:35But James is quite a remarkable book.
06:37If you'll notice in chapter number 1 and verse number 5, he said,
06:40if you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
06:41Verse 6, but let him ask in faith, not wavering.
06:46Not as a double-minded man, verse number 8, that is unstable in all of his ways.
06:52There's one thing about it.
06:53You may be unstable, and I may be unstable.
06:56And I may be, you know, I may one day be standing firm in the faith,
07:01the next day wavering, but God changes not.
07:04He's immutable.
07:06There's unchanging.
07:07Same yesterday, today, and forever.
07:09There's nothing about him that changes.
07:11He's the eternal I am.
07:13In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 and verse 6 says, but without faith,
07:17it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God.
07:21Now, we believe in him tonight.
07:23I'd say most of you folks in this house tonight are born-again Christians.
07:26You pray, you talk to the Lord, you read his word.
07:29But when it talks about coming to him, it's talking about a specific incident,
07:34something you have a reason for.
07:36You may want to get closer to God because you feel yourself drifting away from him.
07:41You may want to get closer to God because you want him to hear a prayer that's in your heart and in your soul.
07:46You may want to get closer to God because you need to be healed.
07:49For whatever the reason might be, draw night of God.
07:53And if you make the effort, he'll draw night of you.
07:56He will. He will. He will.
07:58He judges us as individuals.
08:00So, the scripture here that's talking about this says, don't be a double-minded man.
08:05You're not talking about a man.
08:06You're not talking about somebody that you could trust, hopefully, that may stab you in the back later.
08:12No, sir. No, sir. No, sir.
08:15God will forever be for you.
08:19If he is, who can be against you?
08:22The apostle James deals with rich people.
08:24Chapter number 2 and verse number 6, he said,
08:26But you have despised the poor.
08:29Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats?
08:34How would you paraphrase that today?
08:38How would you say that today?
08:41They drag you into a court of law.
08:43They sue you.
08:45And if they're rich enough, they can wire you out for the rest of your life, even if they lose.
08:50Yes, sir. With petty lawsuits.
08:52Yes, sir. They can do that to you.
08:55A rich man, a very, very rich man, folks, is a hard man to deal with.
09:02A lot of very, very rich men became rich over their victims.
09:09Not all.
09:11James deals with rich people.
09:13It's important to understand this tonight.
09:15God does not condemn rich people.
09:18For example, Job chapter 42, verse 10.
09:22The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends.
09:26Also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
09:30See that?
09:32Here's the problem, though.
09:34In my lifetime, I have met few people, a few people,
09:42that I feel like could handle multi-millions of dollars.
09:46You could handle it.
09:47It wouldn't go to your head.
09:48It wouldn't come between you and God.
09:50You'd seek the face of the Lord as to how to use it for the grace of God.
09:54That's something to think about.
09:56It may be tonight that you go from paycheck to paycheck because that's the only way you could ever live.
10:02Paycheck to paycheck. You'd have to trust God for the next meal.
10:06You say, well, what if he gave me a month or a year or what have you?
10:10Well, if you're mature enough, he might.
10:12People give offerings to the churches.
10:14Some folks, they don't have much to give.
10:16Some folks have a lot to give, and they give it.
10:19And God does that.
10:20He has his work.
10:21He finances his work, just like what happened in North Carolina and East Tennessee.
10:25It's taken money to do what needs to be done.
10:29And where's this money come from?
10:30It comes from people who have enough money to share, you know, to give someone else.
10:35So the money issue in James, he deals with it on a practical point.
10:40Look at chapter 5, verse 4.
10:42He said, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which of you kept back by fraud?
10:51How do you paraphrase that today?
10:53Which is of you kept back by fraud?
10:55How would you say that today?
10:59You hired a man to do a job, and you won't pay him.
11:03That's exactly what he said, you see.
11:06That's exactly what he said.
11:07He said, a rich man will hire you to do a job, and he'll find an out somewhere, and he won't pay you.
11:15Have you ever had that happen to you?
11:18A lot of you have.
11:19Yeah, sure you have.
11:21And you say, well, boy, things haven't changed much since 2,000 years ago.
11:25No, they haven't.
11:26People are the same today as they were then.
11:28That's one of the reasons I believe the Bible.
11:31Yes, sir.
11:32They're just like they are today.
11:35The Lord said in Matthew chapter number 19, verse number 24, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
11:45So if God has entrusted you with wealth tonight, thank the Lord, but make it humble you, let it humble you, and let him show you how he wants you to use it.
11:56Amen.
11:56Amen.
11:58And there's certainly nothing wrong with God blessing you with finances.
12:01There's certainly nothing at all wrong with it unless you can't handle it.
12:05And that happens.
12:06I've seen it happen.
12:08I know the case in point of a man who had started a business, and they were faithful church members, and the business prospered, and what happened?
12:15He got out of church.
12:17Yeah, some of you may know what I'm talking about.
12:19But anyway, got back in.
12:21Thank God for that, and he's serving the Lord now.
12:24If you look in the book of James chapter number 2 and verse number 19, now this gets into doctrine, and it gets into the heart.
12:32It gets in pretty deep.
12:34James chapter number 2 and verse number 19, this is the text.
12:38The apostle says, thou believest that there's one God, thou doest well.
12:41All right, you believe there's God.
12:43All right, you believe there is a God.
12:44That's good.
12:45You believe that.
12:47The devils also believe and tremble.
12:50All right.
12:51Now look at this.
12:52Look at it carefully.
12:53This is how he starts this argument.
12:55Now watch what continues.
12:57But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
13:04Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
13:09Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by his works was faith made perfect?
13:15And as the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God and was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.
13:21He also, ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
13:30Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way?
13:38For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
13:48So what's he saying?
13:48He's saying that intellectual assent to the truth is not saving faith.
13:55That's what he's saying.
13:56That's not saving faith.
13:57Well, you may, what is saving faith?
13:59Saving faith is the faith that puts your trust in the one that saves you.
14:05That's saving faith.
14:07You trust in the Lord.
14:09That's saving faith.
14:10And that's the work of the Holy Spirit.
14:13Because when he comes, he'll not convince the world of sins.
14:16He doesn't come to convict men of being sinners.
14:20If you got half a brain, you know you're a sinner.
14:24It's only someone who, you know, the worst of the worst, who tries to deny that he sins.
14:31He convicts the world of sin because they believe not on Christ.
14:35He's the remedy for sin.
14:37That's what's so important about it.
14:38That's the important part.
14:41You see, if you take this scripture that I just read and say,
14:44well, I'm going to work my way to heaven because it's obvious that I've got to work,
14:47or I'm not going to go to heaven.
14:49Nowhere does it tell you that works get you into heaven.
14:52What it tells you is that works is a physical manifestation of a saving faith that's happening inside the soul.
14:59That's what he's talking about.
15:01Faith, real faith, produces works.
15:03If you have saving faith, if you have trust in God, receiving Christ as your Savior, it's going to produce works.
15:10Now notice how he started it.
15:12This is what's important about this.
15:15Thou believest there's one God, thou doest well.
15:19The devils also believe and tremble.
15:22Think about this for a moment now.
15:23Can a devil be saved?
15:25Can a devil exercise saving faith in Christ?
15:28Can a devil do that?
15:29We're talking about, now we're not talking about some guy you know and he's a devil.
15:33We're talking about spirit beings here, okay?
15:37Diamanteon, for the most part in the New Testament.
15:41They know, certainly they know.
15:42They said, we know who thou art, the Holy One of God.
15:46They knew who he was, but they weren't saved.
15:49You see the point?
15:51They didn't, they could not put saving faith in him to trust him to save them and cleanse their sin and receive him into their heart.
16:00That's what James is arguing here.
16:02He's not telling you that you're saved by works.
16:05He's telling you that if you have saving faith, you're going to work.
16:09That's what he's saying.
16:11He's, you're going to work.
16:12You're going to show it.
16:13You're going to want to do something.
16:14And the first thing that a newborn babe in Christ would want to do is tell someone else about the Lord.
16:20Amen.
16:20I worked at Snyder Motors when I first got saved and they saw me coming, they'd start running.
16:28Now imagine why they were running.
16:31They were running because I got around and all I talked about was the Lord, boy.
16:35The Lord Jesus Christ.
16:36And that little boy over there, he's from California.
16:38He worked underneath me.
16:39He was a body man.
16:41And we'd go eat lunch today, every day.
16:45We'd go eat lunch together and it was about the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
16:48And nobody else wanted to go with us.
16:51Just the two of us.
16:52But I'll never forget him.
16:53He was a good body man.
16:55He was from California.
16:56And he worked in the body shop at Snyder Motors.
16:58And I was upstairs.
16:59I was a mechanic on the line.
17:00They don't want to be around you.
17:02If you know the Lord and you're testifying about the Lord and the Holy Spirit's there, they're the most uncomfortable people in the world.
17:08Now look at James chapter number 3 and verse number 5.
17:12James 3, 5.
17:14Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things.
17:20Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.
17:24More people have been destroyed by a tongue than anything else.
17:28You can destroy a family with your tongue.
17:31You can ruin a man's reputation with your tongue.
17:34You can heap coals of fire upon him and hurt him or his wife or his family, his children, whatever, with your tongue.
17:41Here's what it says in Proverbs chapter 21 verse 23.
17:45Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
17:50That's good wisdom, don't you think?
17:53Proverbs 18, 21.
17:55Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
18:04Be careful with your tongue.
18:05Be careful.
18:06And listen, I take it very personally the responsibility I have.
18:11Be not many masters.
18:12Be not many teachers.
18:14Don't you know that we'll receive the greater condemnation?
18:17Talking to me.
18:18In plain words, when I'm up here, I'm accountable.
18:20I'm accountable for what I say.
18:22I try not to make a fool out of myself.
18:25I've done that more than once.
18:27I'm hoping that I've done it for the last time, but who knows?
18:30Try not to, because you can do it.
18:32With your tongue, you can tear down, you can destroy a ministry that has taken decades to build with your mouth, with your tongue.
18:42It's a small member in your body, but look what it can do.
18:47The German battleship, the Bismarck.
18:48How many of you have ever heard of the Bismarck?
18:50Johnny Horton wrote a song, sang it about sink the Bismarck.
18:54It was eventually destroyed in World War II because of a damaged rudder.
19:00Now think about that, a rudder.
19:02And this was a big, strong battleship, but it was just the rudder.
19:06So what's that mean, preacher?
19:07It meant that they couldn't guide it.
19:10That when they took off, here it went.
19:12And so that means that the dive bombers and they could come down upon it.
19:17They could find it.
19:18They could get to it.
19:20So for 20 years after the commissioning in 1920 of the Hood, it was the largest and heaviest battleship in the world.
19:31It was the most famous battleship of the British Empire, the HMS Hood.
19:37The Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded, and it sank with a loss of all but three of a crew of 1,418.
19:50Think about all those men and no doubt women that went down with that battleship.
19:57You can't help but when you read something like that have great respect for the sailors.
20:02I was around them for four years, folks.
20:04The Marine Corps is part of the Navy, and I was on ship around sailors all for four years.
20:10And you have to have great respect for them because when they go out, there's nowhere to run.
20:16You're in a battle.
20:17You're locked.
20:18But you see, that Hood was sunk by the Bismarck because the Bismarck had advanced technology.
20:26They could aim right in on that battleship.
20:29I think something like 15 miles away, they engaged and down it went.
20:36But as strong as that battleship, the Bismarck was, the rudder, the rudder got it.
20:45A little thing, the rudder.
20:46I know people intelligent.
20:48They have great gifts.
20:49They have great abilities, yet they ruin themselves with their tongue.
20:55You ever notice the thing that characterizes a serpent?
20:58You ever watch it?
21:00It shoots that tongue out there.
21:02It's tasting the air.
21:04Yeah.
21:06I don't know if y'all know it or not, yet I'm not a big fan of snakes.
21:13James chapter number 4 and verse number 1, it says,
21:18From whence come wars and fighting among you?
21:20Come they not hence, even of your lusts that warn your members?
21:23You lust, have not, you kill, desire to have, cannot obtain.
21:27You fight in war, yet you have not, because you ask not.
21:30Now, here we go.
21:31We're asking.
21:32We're talking to God.
21:34You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss.
21:38Now, look at these warnings.
21:40You get in the wrong state of mind, and the Bible says where there's strife, there's every evil work.
21:46That's all Satan has to do is create a spirit of strife.
21:50The spirit that permeates a church determines the life of that church and the direction it takes.
21:55It's that simple.
21:56You can be orthodox, but you can be dead in your orthodoxy.
22:00Yes, you can.
22:02You see, what happens is the Holy Spirit takes and puts life with orthodoxy.
22:05What's orthodoxy?
22:06You cross all the T's, dot all the I's.
22:08You believe in the virgin birth, blood atonement, death, burial, resurrection of Christ, inspiration of scriptures.
22:12You believe everything you're supposed to believe right down the line, but you're deader than a doornail.
22:18Why?
22:19There's no spirit life in that church.
22:22What happens?
22:23Well, you can sure grieve the Holy Ghost.
22:25You remember what I said the other day about grieving the Holy Spirit?
22:28I mean, he let me know right off the bat, boy, I had grieved the Holy Ghost,
22:33and it wasn't something he waited to let me know about either.
22:36So what'd you do?
22:37I got right with God.
22:40That's right.
22:40You don't run.
22:41You don't hide.
22:41You don't try to blame it on somebody else.
22:44You don't need any wiggle room.
22:46You just say, Lord, forgive me.
22:49Forgive me.
22:50And do you know how many preachers are in the pulpit that are too proud to say that?
22:54They're too proud for it.
22:56Pride has killed our churches.
22:59Too proud.
23:00Too proud.
23:02They need to talk to the Apostle Paul who said, of all the sinners on this earth, I'm chief.
23:06He said, I'm not worthy, not worthy to be called an apostle.
23:10I persecuted the Church of God.
23:12Yet the Apostle Paul, my dear friend, had the Holy Ghost on him.
23:16Did he ever?
23:18He said, you ask amiss.
23:19Now, look at James chapter number 4 and verse number 6.
23:25The Scripture says, He giveth more grace.
23:27Wherefore, he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
23:31And what's the grace mean?
23:32Grace opens doors for you.
23:34All right?
23:35Pride closes them.
23:36Grace opens them.
23:38Yes, it does.
23:39Grace will open a door.
23:41It'll open a door of fellowship with the Lord and draw closer to him.
23:45And he wants fellowship of all things.
23:46He wants fellowship.
23:48He does.
23:49He does.
23:49He wants fellowship.
23:51But notice carefully.
23:51He resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
23:54Now, we're not talking about unsaved pagans here.
23:56We're talking about Christians.
23:58And these are Jewish Christians.
24:00These Jewish Christians should know the Bible.
24:02They should know it, the Tanakh, Genesis through Malachi.
24:05These are Jewish Christians.
24:07He said, Submit yourselves, therefore, to God.
24:09Resist the devil.
24:10Flee from you.
24:11Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
24:15Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
24:21So, the book of James is full of practical teaching.
24:26Very practical.
24:27No mysteries in here.
24:29You know, no revelations about the body of Christ.
24:31There's nothing in here about Jew and Gentile becoming one in Christ.
24:34If made of twain, one new man.
24:37None of that's in here.
24:38You see, nothing about the rapture in here.
24:41It's an early epistle written to believers.
24:44An early epistle before the Apostle Paul had the revelations of the mysteries and all given to him.
24:50Now, don't you notice what chapter number 5 says in verse 13 of James?
24:55Is any among you afflicted?
24:57Let him pray.
24:58Is any merry?
24:59Let him sing songs.
25:01Is any sick among you?
25:03Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
25:10The Apostle Paul said, Ordain elders in every church.
25:13It's that those things that are lacking, ordain the elders.
25:17Who are the elders?
25:18The elders are ordained ministers of the gospel of Christ.
25:22That's who the elder is.
25:24He's an ordained minister of the gospel of Christ.
25:27He said, Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him.
25:33Is any sick among you?
25:35Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
25:39I've always believed from day one that that meant what it said, and said what it meant.
25:42And that's what I do.
25:43I anoint him with oil.
25:45I've heard every kind of explanation for that given.
25:49Say, Well, you know, they anointed feet back then.
25:51It was dry, and they were in the desert.
25:53And this is simply a cultural thing, and you don't need to do it today, and this and that and this and that.
25:58Well, you can take whatever, if that's the way you believe, fine.
26:01But I believe in anointing with oil.
26:04And I have watched God heal.
26:07And I'll watch him heal more.
26:09God heals.
26:11Yes, he does.
26:12And he said plainly in verse number 16.
26:19Now, look at this.
26:20He said, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.
26:26The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
26:31All right.
26:31Now, we've come to this point talking about people who ask amiss.
26:35We've talked about people whose tongue needs to be tied a little bit and need to be chained up somewhat.
26:41We've talked about people here who have, you know, they've been hurt by rich people.
26:47And we're early on in the ministry of the New Testament Church.
26:52So, he wants to encourage them to pray.
26:57Because if you read up into this point in the book of James, you might get the impression,
27:01Well, good night, man, I'm not, you know, I'm not qualified.
27:04He's not going to hear me.
27:05Well, look what he does.
27:06Look who he uses.
27:08James could have used a lot of different people as illustrations from the Old Testament, but he chose Elijah.
27:15And here's what he said about him, verse 17.
27:19He said, Elias, which of course is the New Testament of Elijah.
27:23Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are.
27:26In plain words, he just like us.
27:29And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain.
27:31The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
27:35Remember that?
27:36And it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
27:40He prayed again.
27:42And the heaven gave rain.
27:43The earth brought forth her fruit.
27:45Let's look at some of the ways that Elijah was like us.
27:48A man of like passion.
27:49Now, remember this.
27:51He was a prophet.
27:54Elijah was a prophet.
27:56Who called him to be a prophet?
27:57God did.
27:59He didn't check in with anybody.
28:00He just showed up.
28:02He was a Tishbite.
28:03Elijah the Tishbite.
28:06And he just showed up one day and here's the prophet of God.
28:09You see, the prophet showed up in the Old Testament when the priesthood failed to teach.
28:13When the spiritual leaders failed to do what they were supposed to do.
28:17Do you remember the...
28:19He was a heavy man.
28:20He was a priest.
28:21He was heavy and his two sons were wicked.
28:24I mean, they'd bring their offerings to the Lord and they had a three-pronged fork that they would stick in there and say,
28:28We don't want sodden meat.
28:30We're going to take it out.
28:31We're going to cook it.
28:32Who was that man?
28:34That's right.
28:35Eli.
28:36But he gives you a good idea of what it can devolve into.
28:42So what happens?
28:43God calls the prophet.
28:45He's not part of them.
28:47And they don't put their approval on him because he doesn't ask them.
28:52You remember Samuel, don't you?
28:54All right.
28:55Samuel was a prophet, but he was a judge.
28:58And he was the greatest of all the judges.
29:01Everybody in Israel knew that the hand of God was on Samuel in a special way.
29:07He had long hair.
29:09He had the Nazarite vow upon him.
29:11When he walked into a village, the elders of the village would tremble.
29:15They would.
29:16They'd tremble.
29:17They'd say to themselves, Uh-oh.
29:19This old man doesn't play games.
29:21And whatever he says goes.
29:23Well, God used Samuel in a special way.
29:27He used him to choose the first king of Israel.
29:30And he was never questioned.
29:32They never questioned him.
29:33Samuel said, This is your man.
29:35See?
29:36They had no monarchy.
29:38And so, This is your man.
29:40They chose him.
29:41Well, this is the way Elijah showed up.
29:43Elijah showed up to confront the prophets of Baal on the top of that mountain.
29:49And he confronted them.
29:51He fulfilled a ministry that he was placed in to do.
29:55He fulfilled it exactly the way God wanted him to fulfill it.
29:59But he was a man of fault.
30:01He had problems.
30:03He had like passions as we do.
30:05And this is what the Apostle James is trying to tell you.
30:08Don't be discouraged.
30:11A man like Elijah, Elias, can have his prayers answered.
30:15You can have your prayers answered.
30:17Now, here's some of the things.
30:19For example, it says over here in 1 Kings 17 verse 20.
30:24Do you remember the widow of Zarephath?
30:27Do you remember how he performed a miracle?
30:29God brought food into that home.
30:31Well, the boy died.
30:33Now, watch what Elias says when he prays to God.
30:381 Kings 17 verse 20.
30:40He cried unto the Lord and said,
30:43Hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her son?
30:51See that?
30:52Here he is, confused.
30:54In a state of confusion.
30:56Yet God used him.
30:58See what I mean?
30:59He used him.
31:00And the Bible said,
31:01He stretched himself upon the child three times, cried to the Lord, and said,
31:04O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come again unto him.
31:08And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah.
31:11And remember that throughout the Bible.
31:13Anytime it says, And the Lord heard his voice.
31:16Or the Lord heard him.
31:17That means the answer is on its way.
31:19That's what that means.
31:21And the soul of the child came into him again.
31:23And he revived.
31:25Now, notice here in 1 Kings chapter 19.
31:27He was depressed.
31:29Have you ever been depressed?
31:30This is the man who prayed that it not rain.
31:33And it didn't rain.
31:34But look what it says in 1 Kings 19.
31:37He himself went a day's journey of the wilderness.
31:39Came and sat down under a juniper tree.
31:41And he requested for himself that he might die.
31:44And said, It is enough now, O Lord.
31:46Take away my life.
31:48For I am not better than my father's.
31:51He's depressed to death.
31:53He'd seen God perform miracles.
31:55He'd seen what he did.
31:56He'd watched the fire fall from heaven.
31:58And on top of that, he got depressed.
32:00I think depression works on all of us in one stage or another.
32:03In one depth or another.
32:05Some folks have a harder time with it than others.
32:08But we'll all have to deal with some stage of depression at one time or another.
32:12And depression's a tough thing.
32:14But Elijah got depressed.
32:16And Elijah prayed and God heard his prayer.
32:18See, that's what we're talking about.
32:20Here's what happened when Jezebel got mad.
32:231 Kings 19 verse 2.
32:26Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying,
32:29So let the gods do to me, and more also,
32:32if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
32:37And when he saw it.
32:39In other words, when Elijah saw it,
32:41he arose and went for his life.
32:44In plain words, Jezebel went this way.
32:47Elijah went that way.
32:49As hard as he could go.
32:51What's dread?
32:53Fear.
32:54From the prophet.
32:56That stood on top of Carmel.
32:58And called fire down from heaven.
33:00He's a man of like passion.
33:02Just as we are.
33:03Just like us.
33:05In 1 Kings chapter 19 verse number 9.
33:08This is quite remarkable.
33:11And he came thither to a cave and lodged there.
33:13And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said unto him,
33:16What are you doing here, Elijah?
33:18What doest thou here, Elijah?
33:19What are you doing here?
33:22And Elijah said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts.
33:26For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant,
33:29thrown down thine altars,
33:31and slain thy prophets with a sword.
33:34And I, even I only, am left.
33:39And they seek my life to take it away.
33:42The man ought not to think so highly of himself.
33:45I'm the only one left preaching the gospel.
33:48It ends right here on Woodrow Drive.
33:50All the rest of them are apostates.
33:54That's quite a remarkable thing.
33:58But the Lord had an answer to that, didn't he?
34:01Yeah, he did.
34:02He said, I want you to go out here and anoint some people.
34:05He did.
34:06Yeah, he did.
34:07Yeah, he did.
34:08He let him know, I have reserved unto myself 7,000.
34:117 or 12.
34:137,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal nor kissed his image.
34:17Yes, sir.
34:19And he, of course, has.
34:24Don't ever get boxed in to your little crowd.
34:27The Church of the Living God is a whole lot bigger than Woodrow Drive.
34:31Amen.
34:32It is.
34:33It's a lot bigger.
34:35I think a lot about those, what was it, 12 Coptic Christians,
34:42those men that they took to the side of the Mediterranean Sea.
34:48They had orange jumpsuits on, and they murdered them right there.
34:53Yeah.
34:54And the next day or two, it wasn't, just a few days after that,
34:58there's a cave over there in Egypt, and these are Coptic Christians.
35:03And 10,000 of them were singing.
35:05You ought to hear that.
35:0710,000 singing the glory of God for those martyrs and their courage and what they did.
35:15Now, are all 10,000 or all these people saved?
35:18Well, my friend, I'm not God.
35:21But how many of you in this house believe a few of them were?
35:24I believe they were.
35:25Don't you?
35:26Well, of course they were.
35:28Of course they were.
35:30So be careful.
35:33Be awful careful.
35:34I'm just thankful that I'm one of them.
35:37I am.
35:38I'm thankful that I'm one of his.
35:40Glory to God, because I know where he found me.
35:44Amen.
35:45He didn't find me in the same hole he found you in.
35:48Your hole might have been deeper than my hole.
35:51Kind of hard to believe, but it could have been.
35:53You could have been in worse shape than I was, but I was in bad shape.
35:57And he came to me.
35:59And I'm thankful to him tonight.
36:01Yes, I am, until the day I draw my last breath of life.
36:04I'll praise his blessed name.
36:07Now, in James 5 and verse 19, he finishes with this.
36:12James 5 and verse 19, brethren.
36:16If any of you do err from the truth.
36:19Now, note the wording carefully.
36:22What does it mean to err from the truth?
36:25Now, we're talking about truth here.
36:26We're not talking about if you fall into fornication or drunkenness or this and that and this and that.
36:31He's talking about the revealed body of truth, doctrine.
36:35This is what we're talking about.
36:37If any of you do err from the truth.
36:40In other words, apostatize.
36:42That's what that means.
36:43When you've turned away from the truth, that's apostasy.
36:49All right.
36:50And one, convert him.
36:53Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way.
36:58Now, watch this carefully.
37:00Shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
37:07Remember I told you the other day that just because the word saved shows up in the New Testament,
37:12it doesn't always have to do with eternal salvation.
37:16Many times it does, but sometimes it has to do with temporal salvation.
37:20In other words, save from some event that's happening in your life somewhere on this earth.
37:26This is what I think you have here.
37:28This is not save a soul from eternal death.
37:32No, he's one of your brethren.
37:34He was with you.
37:36He walked with you, taught with you, but for some reason he got sidetracked off into apostasy.
37:43All right.
37:44And so what happens?
37:45Well, one of the wise of the group converted him, got a hold of him, began to witness to him,
37:51and brought him back into the truth, which is a good thing.
37:56It's a good thing.
37:57We should never let ourselves fall into the category where you hear them say this all the time out here in the world.
38:03Oh, yeah, the Christians killed their wounded.
38:05Anybody's ever heard that?
38:07You ever heard that?
38:08Well, you hear it all the time.
38:10Oh, yeah, you mess up in the church, buddy, you're finished.
38:13You're done for.
38:14Yeah, they'll destroy you.
38:19And that's why I say to you, it'd be a good thing to ask God to show you how should sinners deal with sinners.
38:25And folks, that goes a whole lot deeper than what you think I'm saying.
38:29Just think on it for a moment.
38:32How should sinners deal with sinners?
38:36All right.
38:37What do you say if you see a brother overtaken in a fault?
38:40You do what?
38:41See?
38:43What you have here is you get him back into the truth, but notice what's associated with it.
38:49You'll save his soul from what?
38:52Death.
38:55God's not out to kill you.
38:58He's going to chasten you.
39:00And chastening is instructive.
39:02He wants to teach us.
39:04Have you ever been chastened to the Lord?
39:07Well, believe it, boy.
39:09I could write a book on the times the Lord had to take a...
39:13I'm a mean devil.
39:16I'll tell you the truth, man.
39:17God's had to deal with me sometimes.
39:19I had to learn the hard way.
39:21Yeah.
39:22Hopefully I learned.
39:24Yeah.
39:25Learned.
39:28Remember I told you the other day he won't let me get away with anything.
39:33Are you getting away with something tonight?
39:36Think that through before you answer that.
39:39Do you feel like you're getting away with something tonight?
39:42If you get away with it, you don't know him.
39:48You don't know him.
39:50You don't know him.
39:53It makes me wonder about what's going on with some of the big names that have fallen.
39:58And the only reason that they admit what they've done is because they've been confronted with it publicly.
40:04What's that called?
40:05That's called damage control.
40:08That's what I mean.
40:10If it comes from conviction of the Holy Spirit of God, it'll produce repentance.
40:16It'll produce getting right with God.
40:19There's an awful lot of damage control that goes on today.
40:22Exactly.
40:23And when you're confronted, that's what happens.
40:27Hopefully, my prayer is that the grace of God will bring conviction.
40:33You see, just because you're trying to do damage control for something you've done doesn't mean you're convicted.
40:39Conviction is a spiritual thing.
40:42Damage control is where you're trying to straighten up with the mess you've made.
40:45You don't want to make it any worse.
40:46You're trying to get through this thing.
40:48You may be bothered by those that are hurt from it and this and that and this and that.
40:51But the truth of the matter is, the only way you'll ever get right with God is when you are truly convicted by the Holy Ghost that what you've done is wrong.
41:01And that conviction will produce repentance, faith, conversion.
41:06Now, are you forgiven?
41:10Are you saved because you repent?
41:12No, you're saved because you believe and accept Christ.
41:16But if you believe and accept Christ, you will repent.
41:22That's the fruit of saving faith.
41:25You see what I mean?
41:26Don't put the cart before the horse.
41:28You know, you have a lot of talk about lordship, salvation, and this and that and this and that and this and that and this and that.
41:34Folks, I repented for a month after I got saved.
41:36I did some heavy-duty repenting.
41:38You wouldn't believe the repenting that I did.
41:40I started repenting about stuff that I didn't even think about when I got saved.
41:44I've heard a man say one time, he said, when God calls you, when God convicts you, you need to get down there and you need to repent of everything you've done.
41:52Lord, have mercy, have mercy on me then.
41:55I can't remember what I did yesterday.
41:59No, I repented because I hadn't believed in Christ, and I received him as my savior, and the Holy Ghost came into my soul.
42:05He moved upon my heart.
42:07And then over a period of time, it's called sanctification.
42:11Sanctification is a progressive thing.
42:14Sanctification is being set apart unto the Lord, and the sanctification has to do with cleansing.
42:20That's one of the aspects of it.
42:22And so, this man here, save a soul from death?
42:25Well, obviously, he's saved because if he hadn't been brought back, he'd be dying.
42:30And the apostle John talks about it in 1 John chapter 5.
42:34He says, there is a sin unto death.
42:39And I say you shouldn't pray for it.
42:41Why doesn't he tell us what that sin unto death is, preacher?
42:43Because your sin unto death may be different from your sin unto death.
42:48The sin unto death is not the act.
42:50The sin unto death is the state of mind and soul and spirit of that individual.
42:55The deed is usually not that important.
42:58It's what produces the deed.
43:00It's where it comes from the heart.
43:02See, from the heart is murder, deceit, lust, lying, thieving.
43:07All of these things come from the heart.
43:10And this is why God gets the heart right.
43:12He doesn't whitewash sepulchers.
43:15God doesn't clean up lives.
43:18God changes the individual from the inside.
43:21And he makes a new creature in Christ out of them.
43:23That's what he does for us.
43:26And once the cleansing takes place, the outward appearance will change.
43:31Oh yeah.
43:33Father, thank you, Lord.
43:35For your word, a little bit that we know about it.
43:38Blessed Father, to our heart.
43:41May I receive it, Lord, as you told us in the scripture.
43:44To receive the engrafted word which is able to save our souls.
43:48Let me receive it.
43:51And when you speak to me from the Bible, give me ears to hear.
43:55Lord, give me ears to hear.
43:58God in a heart that's willing to receive.
44:01In the holy righteous name I pray.
44:05Anybody raise your hand tonight and say, Preacher Lawson, I want you to pray for me too.
44:08That God will give me ears to hear and a heart that will receive when he speaks to me.
44:13God bless you now.
44:15Got hands all over the place. That's good.
44:17That's the right attitude and the right spirit to have.
44:20Let God show us. Let him lead us.
44:22Let him convict us.
44:24I'm not a man. It's not my place to look down into your heart and be your judge.
44:27Good night.
44:28That's God's work. That's the work of the Holy Ghost.
44:31That's what he does.
44:33And let him do it. Let him do his perfect work.
44:36James is a very good book and very practical teachings.
44:40And I don't find one word in the book of James that contradicts the doctrine of salvation by grace.
44:46I don't find it. It's not in there.
44:48The book of James just breaks it down to the way we understand things.
44:52The way we see it in someone else.
44:55Father, bless your word now. In thy name I pray. Amen.
44:58All right, folks. God bless you.