The Power of Prayer part 2 Sickness (continued)

Well, if you would take your Bible, go ahead and turn with me to the book of James, James chapter 5. Excuse me. That book of our, that book in our Bibles should be well-worn by now. We should be very familiar with the book of James, not just because we've been going there every year, but I trust in your personal time. Now, we are winding up our study in the book of James and we've called this series, "Good Works Flow from Good Faith." The purpose in going through James, my heart's desire, is that we would see these practical truths, we would learn, we would be corrected, we would grow, and the lost world would see good works that really flow from a good faith, not just a professed faith, but a true born again faith that we know Christ and Christ knows us.

Now, we are continuing our verses that are on prayer primarily. By now, you know that verses 13 through 18 there at the end of chapter 5 deal with the subject of prayer. Now, the first message that we had in these passages of scripture was out of verse 13. We looked at prayer as it related to suffering. Remember, it was interpersonal circumstances. It wasn't necessarily external trials, but it related to suffering, suffering related to trials with people, with individuals. But then last week, we got into verses 14 and 15 and we dealt with prayer as it involves sickness, as it involves a physical sicknesses.

Now, we are seeing in these verses, when I say verses, verses 13 through 18, we're dealing with the subject of prayer as it deals with many different circumstances in the Christian life. Now, when we get through these verses, you're going to see these are simple, basic issues that we all will face. You know, a lot of people think that when you come to Christ and God saves you, I mean, when God gives you a new heart and we become that new creation in Christ Jesus, a lot of people think that life's just easy. No, that's when it even sometimes gets tougher.

And that's what James is doing is he's teaching us about prayer through these different types of circumstances that we face and how we're going to flesh out this Christian life when we face these circumstances. Now, like I said, last week we started dealing with the subject of sickness and I share with you some statistical information from our culture and even worldwide about the money that we spend trying to stay healthy. Really just going through my information again last night, I was reminded, you know, in our culture we have, in our country now, we have, it's supposed to be affordable health care from the federal government.

It's called Obamacare. Now, I don't know if it's as politically correct to call it Obamacare now, but I did look on the website out of curiosity, it's still listed as Obamacare on the affordable health care website from our federal government. What's the point? The federal government is trying to legislate health care to make healthy living accessible to all of our citizens. What's the point? Trying to stay healthy, avoiding sickness.

Now, as a preacher, you know, preachers always have these little phrases, you know, some of them aren't as comical to you unless you're a preacher, but I always say as a minister, I always say I hate to see anyone in a funeral home and I hate to see anyone in the hospital. Unless, of course, maybe it's when someone's having a baby. But the point of the matter is, it's tragic to have to go to the funeral home and deal with death and it is a lot of times heartbreaking to have to go to the hospital and to deal with sickness, but you know, sickness is a part of this life. I don't care how we dress it up or how good our health care system is.

Sickness is a part of life and the older we get, we see that more and more and we accept it. And that's what James is dealing with. He is dealing with sickness. Now, the title of the message this morning is basically a continuation of last week's message and it is the power of prayer part two and I'm going to stick with part two because it's a continuation of sickness. Really this was a one whole message and I chose to divide it last week because of time. I wanted us to have adequate time in dealing with this and I also didn't want to take up too much time in trying to cover all of the information in one service last week.

So you see on the screen the title of the message and you see the two main truths that we looked at last week. Right out of verse 14 we looked at the sickness and we looked at the plan. Let me go back to the scripture. Verse 14 James says, "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing them or him with oil in the name of the Lord." We saw right out of verse 14 the obvious sickness and then the plan that James gives to those Christians and in those fellowships. Now we're going to continue and we're going to look at two main truths this morning.

We're going to look at intercession, the intercession out of verse 15, the intercession out of verse 15 and then the restoration out of verse 15. And this will wrap up the power of prayer, part two, dealing with sickness. Let's go back to the verses and I'm going to start with verse 13 because we're going to see this pattern of prayer all through these verses although there are different circumstances that he calls the readers to pray about. Verse 13, James says, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray." There's the first issue. Now he says, verse 14, "Is anyone among you sick?

Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." And then verse 15, "And the prayer offered in faith or by faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him." Now I'm going to pause there because that's where our message is coming from this morning. You see on the screen the truths that we're going to look at. So let's dive into the verse and let's look at main truth number three, the intercession. The intercession. Notice what the scripture says and the prayer.

That's one of the seven times that word is used. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. And I want you to notice in this verse, verse 15, and really this is a continuation of verse 14, this is what we call intercession. Now I refer to different translations at times, you know that. I like the old amplified translation how it grasps this it says, and the prayer and then there is parentheses there it says, "That is of faith." What is this talking about? This is intercession.

And we know and I think it needs to be repeated seven times from verse 13 to 18, prayer is mentioned, but each time along the way in the verses there are different circumstances that come up in life and James is teaching prayer in these different circumstances. But what do we see in verse 15? We see intercession. And I want to help us understand intercession as we get through the verse. First I want you to see with intercession prayer is offered. Prayer is offered. We have established from verse 14 that prayer is called for. The one who is sick calls the elders of the church. But also sickness is the context of the prayer.

Sickness is the issue. Verse 13, it wasn't sickness involved. What was it? It was crisis in life because of interpersonal conflict. But now we see that prayer is offered in the midst of sickness. Now I want you to notice who is involved in this prayer. First of all, the elders are involved. They are summons. They are called. Also the sick individual is involved. But also I think it's understood and definitely implied there is the congregation that is involved. Remember the context, remember the letters, the letter that this, the context who is receiving this letter.

These are the congregations, the individuals that scattered out of Jerusalem because of the great persecution. And there were multiple congregations that received this letter. They were very well aware of who James was. So these are the recipients. These are the ones who were involved. The elders are the leaders of the church, the ones who were sick and the congregation. But also I want you to notice the action. There is the practice of prayer. There is the call to prayer. And then there is the action of the prayer itself. You might say, well, preacher, you're being redundant. Let me, let me say that again. There's the practice of prayer.

That's obvious. There's the call to prayer. And then there is the action. It is carried out. It has taken place. And the reason I say that in such a way is because in our circles today, in a lot of Baptist circles, we are notorious for giving lip service to things like prayer. We talk about prayer. We mention prayer. We will describe prayer, but it seems like prayer is really never called for nor is it carried out. That's not the case here. There is action. There's the practice of prayer that they're familiar with. They needed some teaching on. There is the call to prayer. And then there is the practice of prayer.

They practiced what they talked about. I think a lot of our churches would come out of the muck and mire of being dead if they would just commit themselves to prayer and more prayer and lengthy prayer and put feet to the words of prayer. And that's what we see here. There is action from those who are involved. Second, I want you to see that prayer is offered in faith. Go back to the verse. And the prayer offered in faith. Now the English Standard Version and the King James, it reads prayer of faith. Now in the original, it reads prayer of faith.

Now remember as we got into these verses, I told you that there are a lot of people who misinterpret these scriptures. There's a lot of misunderstanding with some of these verses. This is one that is misinterpreted and it is abused. This is one that is definitely abused. Now what is this prayer of faith or prayer in faith? Okay, go back to the verse. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one that's sick. And some say, well, we've got the prayer of faith and they abuse that and they run with that. Now what is this? First of all, we've got to ask ourselves a question. What is faith? Faith is not a hope so.

A lot of people see faith as a hope so. It is blind and there is no substance. There's just a hope so attached to it. There's some that see faith as a blank check. Oh, I can come to God and all I've got to do is just fill out my request and I can just bring it to him. And if I have enough faith, I'll get what I ask. See, that's a blank check mentality and that's incorrect as well. Faith is not a hope so. It's not blind and faith isn't a blank check. Faith has substance and that substance is a living Lord that we know. This isn't in my notes but I think it will help communicate this. My children have faith in who? Me.

When I get in my truck and I go to work, they have faith that I will return home, that I will go and I will earn a living and I will pay the bills and I will provide a home and I will provide heat and I will provide food and I will provide clothing. They have faith in someone and it has substance. They have faith in me. They have faith in my wife. Their faith has substance. It's not a hope so. And see, this faith here has substance. There is a living Lord attached to this faith. Now in applying this, I'm going to help you understand this and I really want you to get it.

I want to share with you some key information that helps us understand this. Remember that there are some who have abused this and I think sometimes it's made us afraid to tackle some of these verses. But what we need to do is get into what the scripture means and dispel the error so that we can get what James wants us to see. Now get this. First we must deal with motive. James already dealt with motive earlier in chapter 4 verse 3. Listen to what James says. You ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. What does he say? So that you may spend it on your pleasures.

And he goes on to call them adulterous people, worldly people. What is James doing? He is attacking their motives. He's saying you pray but you pray and ask selfishly. They have their own motives. And what we see right here in this verse in chapter 5, the motive is not impure. I want you to see also that we must deal not only with the motive but we must deal with God's will. You don't have to turn there but I really want you to write down 1 John chapter 5. First John chapter 5 in verse 14 and 15. And notice what 1 John chapter 5 says verse 14 and 15. Listen to what the scripture says.

And this is the confidence which we have before him that if we ask anything, now notice, according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. Notice the confidence that John has here. But what is the key? What is the linchpin to that? It is the will of God. So what we learn here is, James says your prayer life is off because your motives are impure and John says your prayer life is on the money because you understand the will of God.

So what that does is that helps us understand this prayer, this prayer of faith, this prayer that is offered, this intercession. It must be according to the will of God and the elders of the church, the one that is sick, the congregation must come with what? The right motives. Motives can destroy everything. And that's all James is showing them earlier in chapter 4. And that's what John tells us. It is if it is according to the will of God. All that tells us is, is if this is according to the will of God, according to the purpose of God, it will be if our motives do not destroy it.

Now I want to give you some other scripture to help us understand. I don't want you to turn there, but I want you to write down Exodus chapter 32 and Exodus chapter 33. These are some chapters that God has used a great deal in my life and God's taught me many principles here that are timeless. I referred to this last week, but I want to go a little more in depth because I want you to see this, this story of intercession. Now this is not about physical healing, but the principles transfer. In Exodus chapter 32, we see the Israelites committing the sin of worshiping the golden calf. Moses is up on the mountains.

He's receiving the Ten Commandments and Aaron allowed the people to go into revelry and idolatry. And just that was an awful associate pastor to have, to be honest with you. Moses comes down and he finds them in horrific sin. And this was the seventh test. But what happens is God demonstrates a wonderful relationship to Moses and Moses demonstrates a wonderful relationship to God. But in Exodus 32 and 33, Moses goes before God, he intercedes before God in behalf of the people. He goes to the people, he says what God says, he goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

But I want you to notice in chapter 32 verse 11, verse 9, God says, "I have seen these people," the Lord said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them, that I may destroy them, then I will make you into a great nation." What is God saying? "I am going to punish them for their sin. I am just in doing so. They have rebelled. They have worshipped a false God. I am going to destroy them and be right and just.

But God says to Moses, 'I will fulfill my promise through you.'" God would have been right and just in doing so because he would have fulfilled the promise that he made to Abraham had he done it primarily through Moses. But notice what Moses does. Verse 11, "Moses sought the favor of the Lord." And what does it say? "Why should your anger burn against your people whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?" Why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent that you brought them out to kill them? And he goes on to say why, why, why?

Verse 13, "Remember your servants Abraham and Isaac and Israel to whom you swore by yourself." What is Moses doing? Moses, now listen, he's revealing his motive. His motive was not selfish at all. If there was one fiber in his being that was selfish at that moment in time, he would have jumped up and said, "Yes, God, smoke them. They deserve it. Send them to the devil's hell right now because they did what you said don't do." But he didn't do it. What was his motive? He loved them. He loved God and he knew that God would get greater glory by demonstrating grace and mercy and fulfilling his covenant through these people.

It was about motive and what didn't God, what did Moses quote back to God? The Word. What does that reveal? The will of God. This only leverage was that he could quote God's Word back to God. Do you realize the audacity? Verse 11, "Moses sought favor of the Lord and he said, 'Why should your anger burn against these people?'" What is he saying? God, you can't do that. What audacity, what arrogance, but what leverage, what ground did he have to stand on? It was the Word of God which was the will of God.

Now I don't understand how God could say, "One minute I'm going to kill them," and then the next minute say, "No, I'm not going to do that." That's not the point of the message. The point is intercession. And what we see is Moses had the right motive and he had the will of God on his side. You get that? I'll give you another example. Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 through 9. Second Corinthians chapter 11. We know this story. We know that this is dealing with the Lord's Supper, chapter 11 starting in verse 23.

This issue of the Lord's Supper, Paul is writing and he's telling this Corinthian fellowship that there were some that were sick, some had died because of their sin. What did he do? I won't read the verse because of time. What did he do? He called them to repentance. What was his motive? His motive was the same as Moses. There was no personal motive. There was no personal selfish motive. What was he doing? He was calling them to repentance. How? By the will of God. Now what am I trying to show you? This is intercession and all James is teaching is intercession as it relates to sickness.

And there are other places in the scripture where this is used. How many people were healed by the living Lord? How many people were healed through the scriptures? Some would say all the times of miracles and signs and wonders are over. But what I see is this is addressed to the elders. I like what Warren Wiersby says, the Bible commentator, he says the prayer of faith is a prayer offered. Notice when you know the will of God, the elders would seek the mind of God in the matter and they pray according to his will. It is not always God's will that everyone be healed. There were some that did die and some that did not. This is not a blanket.

Let me just throw this over every situation. Oh and we know it's God's will. We don't know if it's God's will or not. What am I showing you? This is intercession in relation to sickness. Now we're going to come back at the end of the message and tie all of this together. So be patient with me. Let's move on to truth number two. I want you to see the restoration, the restoration. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. This is verse 14, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now here's the intercession and the prayer offered in faith. Now here's the restoration.

We'll restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And the Lord will raise him up. Now the English Standard Version reads, "And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick." The King James is very familiar or similar. Now the New International Version reads, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." That's very accurate. Now the word in the original can be translated "save" or "made well." And it is used in an interchangeable manner throughout the New Testament. It is used all through the New Testament. Now let me break this restoration down. First, there is restoration physically.

Go back to the verse. "And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick." This is a physical restoration. Now we know that there is a debate about what type of sickness this is. We dealt with this last week. From all the Bible commentators and resources that I look at, everyone except for a couple say that this is physical sickness. John McCarthy, who I look up to a lot, says that this is only spiritual sickness. Now I say this is primarily physical sickness because this word is used in relation to physical sickness 18 times in the New Testament.

But also this anointing with oil in verse 14, it is only used in the New Testament in dealing with physical sickness. It is only used in dealing with physical sickness. So context throughout the entire New Testament tells us this, in my opinion. So it's always used with physical sickness. Let me give you an example of where this word is used. Matthew 9, verse 22, there was a woman, we're familiar with this story, who had the issue of bleeding for 12 years. And what did Jesus say to her? Her faith has healed you. Same word that is used right here in verse 15 in the original. Dealing with physical healing.

Now I want you to notice a couple of things. Notice the progression through the text. There's the prayer. There is the faith in who? In the Lord. The faith in God. As they have determined it is the will of God. So that faith has substance, the living Lord, and they have determined that it is the will of God, and then there is healing. That's the progression. But notice what happens. Not only does the Lord heal, but the Lord will raise them up. In the original language, this raised them up. It means to awaken or to physically raise up. In Mark, chapter 5, verse 41, Jesus tells the little girl who he healed.

He says, "I say to you, get up." That is the same word in the original. What do we see here? He's dealing with a physical restoration. A physical restoration. What does he say? "If anyone is sick, call the elders." The elders pray. They determine that it is the Lord's will. They call the congregation to pray. They anoint them with oil. It is a symbol of the work of the Holy Spirit. There's nothing mystical about the oil itself. It is a symbol of the work of God. They pray as they determine it is the will of God. Who is their faith in? It is in God, not a process. And then there is a physical restoration.

Second, I want you to see there is a restoration spiritually. There is a restoration spiritually. Verse 15, "And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if..." Now you need to circle this word "if." "If he is committed sins, they will be forgiven." This is important right here, this word "if," because there are mistakes made here. Is spiritual sickness right here? The sickness that is involved in verse 14 and 15. Is this as a result of sin? That's a question. Some scripture relates to sickness because of sin, and some scripture does not. Let me repeat that.

There are some places in the scripture that talk about sickness as it relates directly to sin, and some that does not. First Corinthians chapter 11, I referred to it earlier, the issue with the Lord's Supper. What was going on? They were abusing the Lord's Supper. They were abusing others in the fellowship. Paul says they were sinning literally against the blood and the body of Christ. They were sinning against God. And he said some of you are sick and some of you have died because of what? Your sin. They were sick because of sin. But then there is another example.

There is another example, and we see that in John chapter 9 verses 1 through 3. There was an individual who was sick, and the religious leader said, "Who sinned here?" The individual who was sick or their mother and their father. And what did Jesus say? No, neither one of them are sick. Neither one of them have sinned. There is no sin that has caused this sickness. And what did he go on to say? This is for my glory and my purpose. What am I showing you? Two examples that show us that sickness is not always directly related to sin. That's why the word "if" is important, because what? If the individual is sick because of sin, deal with it.

If the individual is not, then that's not an issue. But there is the offer and the opportunity of spiritual restoration. Now in application, like I did earlier, I want to help you understand what we're looking at this restoration. It is important to see the role of sin in this issue of sickness, the possibility of it. If there is sin in the life of the one who is sick, notice this. If sickness is there, it must be dealt with, confessed, repented of, then there is spiritual restoration. What is James saying?

In the middle of dealing with a physical sickness, if there is a sin there, it must be brought to the surface, it must be confessed, it must be repented of. Then what James is saying is when the process comes to fruition, then they're restored spiritually. They're restored spiritually. And this is key. Go back to, you don't have to turn there, but going back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, when we have the issue in the Corinthian church. What does he say there in verse 23? He talks about starting in verse 23, he's dealing with the Lord's supper, but then as you progress, as you get on over to verse 30, what does he say?

For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number are asleep. In other words, they've died, but if we judge ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. What is he saying? Judge that matter amongst yourselves. What is he calling them to? Repentance. Get it right. Take what I've written to you to heart. I've given you instruction as to how to deal with the Lord's supper. Quit sinning against the poor in the fellowship. Quit indulging yourself. Quit being gluttons there in the fellowship. He says, repent of these matters and you will be made well spiritually. So what do we see? This is the issue of spiritual restoration.

This is the issue of physical restoration. Now, as I begin to conclude the message, what I'm trying to do this morning is pull verse 14 and verse 15 together because really it is one message. It is the power of prayer in relating to sickness. Now as I conclude, I want you to listen close. Physical sickness versus spiritual sickness. At the beginning of the message last week, I talked about the fact that there are some that interpret this purely as spiritual sickness. There is such a thing as spiritual sickness.

But we cannot deny where the language is used in other portions of the scripture and the issue of the anointing of oil, no matter how it might make us nervous. There is the real issue of both, but I believe James is dealing primarily with physical sickness. It is used 18 times in the manner of physical sickness in the New Testament and the issue of anointing with oil. I'll repeat myself. Now what is my conviction? Where do I stand? Do I think that there is a place for this in the church? Yes I do. Yes I do. But I want to tell you, there have been two abuses when it comes to this issue.

The first abuse is they take the casual approach, they grab this, they yank it out, and no matter what the circumstance, they parade someone who's sick and they just say, "Oh, if we have enough faith, and oh, we'll pray, and if we have enough faith, oh, they will be healed." They'll be healed every time. That is an abuse. And a lot of times those people, they never see the results. Why? Because of their motives. Because of them abusing the scripture. But yet there is another abuse, the other extreme. That is ignoring the text. We can't deny it. We can't ignore it.

See the tough thing is to preach and deal and study passages of scripture that we're not familiar with, but this issue is there. And I cannot deny it, and I cannot ignore it. But I want to ask you a question. Because you're probably asking yourself this question. How would this play out in the life of Nola Baptist Church? How would I address it? How would Brother Keith and I address it? Because we're the elders of the church. This is the role that God has called us to. So your question for me, your question for us is, how would we deal with this issue? And I'll tell you.

I can think about different circumstances, but I remember one time a few years back we were ministering to a particular lady. And you know as we ministered to this particular lady, you know you begin to see patterns of sin. You begin to see a sketchy spiritual background. You know I was always afraid of people like this. I've run across two or three different people like this. And a lot of times these are the kind of people that will read this passage and they'll jump up and they'll say, "Oh, I want to be anointed with oil. I want to pray that I be healed." Those kind of people I would run from. They've not demonstrated faith in the Lord.

They've not walked with God. They've not upheld the scriptures. They've gone out and they've sown wild oats and usually what they're doing is they are suffering the consequences of their own choices. But yet in my short journey in ministry, I have seen people who love the Lord be stricken with sickness. I remember at my home church, I did not know her very well. I know my wife did. She had a friend, her name was Susan. She had come to know the Lord, walk with God. Great evidence that she served and loved the Lord. But in her twenties, diagnosed with cancer, went to the doctors, they operated and it went from bad to worse so fast.

Getting back now, if I was in a position, if it was under my authority, excuse me, she would have been the one that I would have willingly and gladly with great honor. Followed what we see in this scripture through much prayer and much fasting. Hoping, now listen to, determine God's will on the front end. You see what I'm trying to show you? There is a terrible abuse with this. But then it's right here in the scripture. And you know there are certain people that they come, I have to exercise this reservation. People come to me and they want me to perform their marriage ceremony. Lots of times I have to say no by the way they've lived.

People come to me and they want my quote unquote services a lot of times and I have to say no because I discern the will of God. And Keith and I, if this situation were to come into our lap today, tomorrow, six months, six years from now, we would evaluate the person, evaluate them spiritually, evaluate where they've come from, what their motives are, what their intent is. Then we would take those circumstances surrounding their sickness and we would take it to the Lord and we would pray to determine the will of God and we would have to trust in the Lord how to lead us.

And then if the Lord led us to follow what we see in this scripture, we would do it believing by faith. And you know the tough thing is accepting the will of God. Because my wife's friend Susan, she didn't get healed. Sometimes we don't understand the will of God. My friend Ray is wife Amanda. She was not healed. But I do know this, I saw great glory through my friend Ray, his wife's death. God had a purpose that was bigger than we could imagine. And some of these things we don't understand, but we see them given to us in the scripture. So what is James saying? "If anyone among you is sick, let him call the elders, the leaders of the church.

Let them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up." And I've got to believe if the Lord ever chooses to raise one up, it will be for His glory. These are things that are difficult to understand. But by faith we receive it. Let's pray. Lord, I thank You for Your Word. Lord, I thank You for how this has challenged me. Not just today, not just this week, not just last week.