For Those in Need (Part A)

So the prayer of faith is what does it.

There's the answer there. Not the oil, the prayer of faith. What is the prayer of faith? The one that seeks God's will. That all the time wants God's will. That knows that God is fully aware of what is going on and is loving and merciful. But also at some point, sometimes beyond our understanding, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts as the heavens are above the earth.

We have a question about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of James chapter 5 as he begins his message for those in need. We are in James chapter 5 this morning. And if you have your Bibles, please turn there.

We'll take verses 13 through 20, beginning at verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

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 the prayer of faith will save the sick. The Lord will raise them up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Well, this section deals with or is for those in need. And we look right at now at verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Well, the world is the enemy's territory. It is enemy territory for us, and there is a lot of suffering. Thank God we can't see it all at one time, but he does. Jesus, speaking of the devil, referred to him as the ruler of this world. He is dealt with, and that sentence has been passed.

The execution of it we all wait for, but right now until that sentence is executed, we have work to do. And so he is covering now suffering in the body of Christ amongst believers. Suffering is trouble.

It is affliction, and he is directing those who are afflicted or in trouble to God to go to the Lord. He says, let him pray. Prayer is obedience to God.

That alone is victory. Now we, certainly when you're suffering, we want relief. Obedience is really not at the top of our list of thoughts.

Relief is. But the fact remains that we, the people of God, are to pray. When we pray, we are obeying the Lord, and we are exercising a defiance against those things that are against us. I try to avoid saying, well all I can do now is pray, because prayer is, as I mentioned, godly defiance against that which is unholy. Prayer is defiance against that which is unholy and unrighteous and not good and impure. It is battle.

It is war. It is against that which is wrong and harmful. And the devil's people won't do it according to God's way. There are many confused souls in this world that have not a clue about how prayer is to be offered up. And that's where we come in to expose as many people as God will allow us to proper prayer through Jesus Christ. Those outside of Christ have no prayer life really, not according to God.

This offends many, but the truth is offensive to those who are against it. God gives an answer to prayer, some things that he will not give apart from prayer. There are just some things you're not going to get unless you pray for them. James said that earlier in his letter.

You receive not because you ask not, and when you ask, you don't ask for the right things the right way. In Genesis 25, we have this illustrated in the life of Isaac. We read there in verse 21, Isaac pleaded with Yahweh for his wife because she was barren. And Yahweh granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Job, of course, we've been referencing Job quite a few times throughout our consideration in James.

My servant Job shall pray for you. God was speaking to those friends of Job that had come to really criticize him. They did not bring comfort. They brought attacks, waves of attacks.

They were so sure of themselves as they were bludgeoning him with criticisms. My servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him lest I deal with you according to your folly. Yahweh restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Well, what would have happened if he didn't pray? So there are, again, those things that God will give but not apart from prayer, and it is up to us to be attentive. We as Christians are supposed to be led by the Spirit in everything we do. I am so looking forward to when we can get back to the book of Acts. I was speaking to a pastor friend of mine that lives in Brooklyn. He was saying, well, I'm starting Acts soon, and I felt a wave of envy.

I want to start Acts. But I have my orders, and I'd rather carry those out than have to answer for disobedience. So prayer, an ever-present response to suffering in the lives of those who walk with Christ. In 2 Chronicles chapter 32, we read, In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh spoke to him and gave him a sign.

We talked about that this past Wednesday, how Hezekiah writes about how he poured out his heart. It was fervent prayer to God, and God listened to him. And so we, unfortunately, oftentimes have to fail before we learn how to pray. We have to feel the weight of failure, even shame sometimes, pain to teach us to pray. David, that great psalmist, in Psalm 109, speaking about those who were coming against him, he gives us what his response was going to be. In return for my love, they are my accusers, but I pray.

That's how it's said. The translators have inserted, but I give myself to prayer, and that is accurate, but in the Hebrew it is simply, but I pray. They're against me, the surrounding me, but I pray. And not, not, well, all I can do is pray. Is anyone cheerful?

James goes on to ask, rhetorically. A cheerful spirit. It sometimes has to be taken. Your moods have to be overruled. Sometimes it is good for Christians to force themselves to sing songs unto the Lord, to break through the barrier of the mood, whatever it may be. Overrule the mood. It is, it becomes an art.

It becomes something you develop and get good at the more you do it. He says, let him sing psalms. That Greek word there for psalms means psalms.

To sing with instrument. It is in the Bible. Some say, well, in the New Testament there's no singing with instruments.

They're wrong. It is here, it is in Colossians, a psalm is to sing with musical instruments. Not only, but essentially, to sing praises to God.

You can sing without instruments, of course. Paul and Silas, when they were in jail, beaten for the gospel, Acts chapter 16, verse 25. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, spiritual songs to the Lord.

Now we can switch this around. We can transpose what James gives us with these two precepts. We can say, as any among you suffering, let him sing psalms. As any in good spirits, let him pray.

It works either way. In verse 14, he says, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil and in the name of the Lord. James understands that Christians have their ups and downs like everyone else. And so he says, is anyone suffering? Is anyone cheerful? Is anyone sick? You see, it goes up, it goes down.

Well, first it goes down, then it goes up, then it goes down again. Is anyone suffering? Is anyone cheerful? Is anyone sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. The idea being, the person is too sick to come to church, to come up to the elders, the spiritual leaders, and ask for prayer. Notice that he doesn't say, if any of you are sick, call for the faith healers. I believe in divine healing. I do not believe in divine healers. I believe in faith healing. I do not believe in faith healers, professional faith healers.

And think about it. If someone had that power and they're not out emptying the hospitals, relieving human suffering, they would be guilty of a gross negligence. Do I believe that God gifts Christians with the ability to heal?

Yes, but I'm not so sure on a permanent basis. Even the apostles, after a while, we don't read of them healing. Paul left one of his beloved friends sick, could not heal him. So we're going to have to be very careful about these things before we just go extracting from scripture those things that are high and lifted up and wonderful and don't think them through. Nonetheless, you still have to think. Being emotionally impressed with something is no license to shut down.

I don't have to think now, I really like this. That's a trap. So when suffering, we must allow ourselves to be ministered to. Some are too proud to do that. Some, they don't mind praying for you, but they don't want you praying for them. As though it were some form of weakness, as though they would sort of tip their hand that they had needs. We all have needs. Some don't call for the pastors to come pray for them or let us know they're in the hospital and they get offended when we don't show up.

That does not happen often, but it does happen. Some illustrations from scripture about this request to be ministered to. Moses, of course, he benefited from the elders coming alongside of him, holding his hands up, without which they likely would have lost the battle. Exodus 17, but Moses' hands became heavy. Have your hands become heavy in prayer?

Can't hold it up anymore. So they took a stone and put it under him. Of course, that stone symbolizing the Lord. And he sat on it. And Aaron and a man named Hur supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun, until he finished the work. Our Lord himself, when facing the cross, he recruited support to be with him. Matthew 26, he said, that's the Lord Jesus, he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful.

That means it's off the chart. Even to death, stay here and watch with me. For my Lord can say that.

How about me? It is our duty to call the pastors of the church, beyond other Christians, to say, Well, I had so-and-so pray with me. That's fine. That's good. That's important. I'm glad you did that. But what does it also say?

Illustrated and flat out declared. Go to your pastors and ask them to pray when you are faced with some overwhelming need, when the sickness is upon you. We have many people who do come up and avail themselves because of what the Bible teaches about these things. He says, And let them pray over him. Let the pastors pray over that individual. Well, Elijah and Elisha and Peter, they were summoned. They were requested. Come pray. Come help us out, those who were in need. Of course, the Lord, you remember the centurion, sent his servants to get the Lord to come pray for his servant.

When Jerusalem faced destruction at the hands of the Assyrian armies, Hezekiah sent for Isaiah the prophet, calling as much spiritual artillery into the theater as he could possibly gain. He says here, anointing him with oil. Well, this is going to be controversial. Let's skip it. Well, you have the error, you have the fact, and you have the truth. The error is, and this is mostly when you have someone who comes to a verse like this, and they get emotional over it, and they've locked into it, and you're never going to pry them off of it. It should never be a divisive verse. You don't agree with it, fine. It's not that serious of an issue.

It's not an essential. But there is the error, and the error is a fact. Because if it were so simple where he says, Anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, and they'll be healed, then we would see this happening all the time. But we don't see that happening.

That's a fact. So the truth, that's what we're after. The incorrect interpretation springs from absence of the intended meaning at the time James wrote this. James did not say, this is sort of a Christian lucky charm. You put this on the person, boom, you get what you want from God.

That is not what he was thinking at all. There is no spiritual power in oil to heal. The power is in God alone, alone.

There's significance to this, especially for the people that he wrote to at this time. All healing is by God, Psalm 103 verse 3. Speaking of Yahweh who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, it is God. We have in this verse, coupled together, medicine and prayer.

That is part of the idea. Not necessarily healing medicine, but soothing also. The use of oil was used when folks were hurting the good Samaritan. What did he do to the man he found on the side of the road who was badly beaten? He poured oil and wine on the wounds of that man. Isaiah chapter 6, from the sole of the foot even to the head.

There is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with oil. See, the idea is that in those days, they used oil on wounds.

Not every single wound, but many of them. Mark, when he mentions that Jesus sent the disciples out to heal, one occasion they go out with oil and the other occasion they do not. This Greek word here, for anointing him with oil, alipo, it means to rub in. As opposed to the word translated anointing, which we find in, for instance, Luke's gospel, creole, from where we get the word Christ, that's a separate kind of anointing. That's a spiritual anointing. That has to do with the spirit, whereas alipo has to do with just rubbing in natural things, physical things. When Jesus said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach that word translated anointed in the Greek is creo. It is only given to the Lord in the New Testament, and that has to do with spiritual properties.

So there's a distinction found in the very language. Peter and Paul healed throughout the book of Acts without oil. And I mentioned the use of medicine and faith together. Well, when Paul said to Timothy, listen, that water you're drinking in that city is bad for you. You need to mix it. Put some wine in the water and cut that stuff, the bad guys, out of the water that you're drinking in.

So I'll read it to you. First Timothy 5, 23. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and frequent infirmities. And so God, through prayer of faith, not oil, brings the healing. The dead have been raised, the sick have been healed, the lepers have been cleansed, the blind have been given their sight throughout scripture without oil. Sorry I have to spend so much time on this, but it's poor Bible study back exegesis.

It's poor extraction of the meaning from the scripture to say, no, this is what we do. Now, years ago, there was a child that was very sick in the hospital, and the mother was just at her end. And she asked me to come up and anoint the child with oil and pray.

Well, I wasn't going to say, well, theologically, you're not right. I went up to the hospital with oil because of that poor woman's heart, and I rubbed it on the child's head and I prayed, and the child got better. The child got better because of the medical assistance that was available given by God. The child was healed by God. All healings come from Him. Whether you are a believer or not, all He has to do is turn the spigot off and nobody gets well. I just pinched the airline to earth, and that's it.

Take away gravity. Every good gift comes from the Father. He holds the controls. And if I were oppressed again in another situation like that, I would do it the same way because I understand what's going on. I don't want to spend any more time on this than I have already, but the conclusion of the matter is that the sick are to be prayed for and cared for, or should I say it this way, they are to be prayed for with care. Who wants someone that's insensitive praying for you?

Sure, God bless you, my son. Next, you want the person to be part of what is going on in the presence of the Lord. And so He says, in the name of the Lord. There's no other unseen authority that we recognize as authority of righteousness and good. We understand there are principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. We understand that, but that's not our authority.

That's wicked authority. When Jesus offended the congregation, many of them said, that's it, we're out finding another church. Jesus looked at his disciples and said, you're going to? Simon Peter said, where are we going to go? John 6 verse 68, Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. James is saying, if you're going to heal, heal with care. Minister to the body and the spirit in the name of Christ.

The Jews would have understood that when he wrote this to them. They would have understood that the oil was part of the healing process. To this day we use oil. You know you have maybe an inner wax buildup?

Who thought we'd be talking about that Sunday morning? You go to the pharmacist, you say, hey. And you ask for sweet oil. Don't drink it. You can, it's olive oil. And you put it in your ear and you can hear me better when I'm preaching on Sunday mornings. That's the whole purpose behind it, of course, I'm sure of it.

Verse 15, now let me stop there. Now, if there's anyone here that you insist that the oil is to be put up on, OK, fine. Don't argue with me about it.

It's not an essential. All I'll do is I disagree with you. OK, you disagree with me. And then, you know, bink and you do that.

Just fine. Verse 15, and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So the prayer of faith is what does it. There's the answer there, not the oil, the prayer of faith. What is the prayer of faith? The one that seeks God's will. That all the time wants God's will. That knows that God is fully aware of what is going on and is loving and merciful.

But also, at some point, sometimes beyond our understanding, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts as the heavens are above the earth. I have a quote here from Dave Hunt I'd like to share. Dave Hunt was a great man of God.

And if you can read as many of his books as you can get, you do yourself a good thing. But he's dealing with those who name it and claim it and insist on their will be done, not God's will. Because there are actually those in some churches that go out and say, it's weak to say thy will be done.

Are they insane? Jesus himself said not my will be done. Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. When you visit the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James, right here on Cross Reference Radio.