Confession of Sin and Answered Prayer - James 5:13-20

[Music] we come now to our final study through the book of James we're gonna begin at James chapter 5 starting now at verse 13 he's continuing on the idea of suffering and patiently enduring under hardship and trust in God in such difficult times and that's where we begin now verse 13 where he says 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 again we see again the general context that the James is speaking about about how we should honor God and persevere and trust him in the midst of suffering and one way we demonstrate our honor to God one way we demonstrate our trust to God in the midst of suffering is to praise Him to pray unto Him is anyone among you suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let him sing psalms the suffering need to pray the cheerful should sing psalms of praise to God and the sick should call for the elders of the church asking them to pray for their need I think it's interesting that James has the same advice for the suffering as for the cheerful one take it to the Lord are you suffering take it to the Lord in prayer are you cheerful take it to the Lord in praise matter-of-fact couldn't you switch the commands as well I mean both are true the suffering should sing psalms the cheerful should pray I mean these are responsibilities that we have and I would even say opportunities that we have as believers one other thing that according to James Moffat the commentator he says that this phrase sing praises there or sing psalms there in verse 13 that actually it refers to public worship often with musical accompaniment so this is the idea praise prayer but then not only that in verse 14 he speaks of the idea is that if someone SiC they should call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him and I find this to be fascinating for several reasons number one it assumes that believers are in a church with elders spiritual leaders over them brothers sisters we need to understand something again and again yes the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ is an individual work but God doesn't save us according to group or class or race or ethnicity in that it's an individual work where the individual deals with God and repents and believes and receives the salvation that God has for them we get that but Christianity is a one another faith it's a faith in community so even though we are individually set right with God yet we are saved to be in community and this verses 13 and 14 of James chapter 5 assumes that the believer is in community and might I say this in a community with some kind of structure there is a church because it talks about the elders of the church and it talks about elders having some kind of structure some kind of leadership and so I think we can be flexible we don't have to necessarily be traditional in rigorous denominational systems but there needs to be some kind of structure there needs to be some kind of leadership and our faith is never meant to be merely individualistic so the person who is sick what does it say there let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him I want you notice that here James put the initiative on the one who is sick now I think it is good I think it is wonderful if the leaders the elders the pastors of the church if they take the initiative and go and ask the sick person can we pray for you that's good nothing wrong with that but we have to admit that here in James chapter 5 James puts the initiative on the person who's sick and in my more than 30 years of pastoral experience I can tell you that this all too rarely happens as a pastor as a leader in the church we are thrilled when somebody contacts the church they send an email they give a call to the church and they say I want the pastor some elders to come over and pray for me I'm sick this is a wonderful thing and so please remember believer don't wait for the church to come to you about your need if you have a need if you're sick you could I want the elders of the church to come and pray for me that's where James puts the initiative and what does he say he says verse 14 let him call for the elders of church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord now this is fascinating because here James not only speaks about the idea of prayer but also of the anointing with oil and what are we to make of this well I think there's two aspects of this and I believe that these two aspects are complimentary I don't think they're contradictory here's the two aspects number one oil in the Old Testament is a consistent emblem of the Holy Spirit and so the idea of somebody being anointed that is with oil placed upon them upon their head in some way sort of in a ceremonial way it demonstrates the presence the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon that person and so this is a way of saying Holy Spirit we invite you in here Holy Spirit we want you to mark and cover over an overflow in this person's life now many times pastors will carry with them or they'll have at their church anointing oil will they take now many times anointing in the Old Testament it was done by pouring a large quantity of oil upon somebody's head but but when we anoint with oil we're doing it sort of in the custom in the symbol what we'll take a dab of oil and we'll put it on the somebodies forehead and we'll we'll practice that anointed are inconsistent with the scriptures but really it's not about the oil or the amount of oil it's saying Holy Spirit we welcome you into this situation we ask that you would mark and cover an overflow in this that's one aspect of this but here's a second aspect according to many Bible commentators anointing with oil was also done as a medicinal practice in the ancient world apparently oil massages were considered medicinal Luke chapter 10 verse 34 mentions the application of oil in a medicinal sense again in the parable of the of the Good Samaritan and so the idea that the application of oil could have a medical effectiveness was apparently at least according to the commentator de Edmond Hebert this was well known in the ancient world and according to another commentator named Burdick the word here for anoint is not the usual one used in the New Testament but this one has even more of a medicinal sense to it so I think both ideas are complementary it could very well be that what James is saying with this pray for the person anoint them with oil invite the marking and the presence in the overflow of the holy spirit and it also has the complimentary meaning of get this person the best medical attention they can find give them medicinal treatments because again apparently the application of oil according to biblical passages and what we know of ancient culture the application of oil was thought to be medicinal again I like that idea pray for the person invite the holy spirit in this situation but at the same time get them the best medical care that you can and now look at the result here in verses 15 and 16 where it says this 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 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 know there is a lot in James chapters 15 and James chapter 5 verses 15 and 16 there's a lot in these two verses for us to unpack let's begin with the first phrase carries on of course from verses 13 and 14 where it says and the prayer of faith will save the sick in other words in verses 13 and 14 he said if you're suffering give it to the Lord prayer praise if you're sick invite the elders of the church to come and pray for you anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord and we talked about the two senses of anointing of a marking and overflow of the Holy Spirit and medical treatment and then it says now in verse 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up now many people have wondered if James here is guaranteeing healing for the sick who are prayed for in faith in other words you pray in faith and the sick will be healed I mean look at what he says here in verse 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up some people wonder is James guaranteeing physical immediate bodily healing for those who are prayed for in true faith or or is the reference here to the idea of ultimate resurrection now I've got to say I think what James is speaking about here is ultimately having to do with resurrection why well notice the phrasing the prayer of faith will save the sick now that idea of saved there in verse 15 it certainly can have the idea of healing but it goes beyond it as well to what we would consider salvation and the Lord will raise him up can that mean to be raised up from a sick bed absolutely it can mean that but we also have the intimation of Resurrection there and it also has the idea of spiritual healing if he has committed sins he will forgiving you see the reference to sins being forgiven has the idea that James is considering this a spiritual work in a healing not necessarily a physical healing okay but look be careful with this the context of this statement demands that James does not exclude physical healing as an answer to prayer I think what James is saying is that I'm talking about something more than just physical healing I'm talking about what God does spiritually in a person's life especially their salvation and resurrection we can still pray for other people in faith expecting that God will heal them and then in faith leave the matter to God's hands I think there's two ways in which we can error in this way the one is to think well cut doesn't heal anybody no brother God's not going to heal you God doesn't really care that much about this you'll you'll be rescued at the resurrection that's it that's one way that people take this I'll tell you another big way that people take this they take it to mean that God will kill everybody instantly if they're prayed for in faith that's another wrong way to take this look brothers and sisters I got to say we pray for people in faith God sometimes heals them and it's glorious when he does and sometimes he does not heal them and it's rough it's suffering that needs to be endured when God does not heal and why is it that some are healed and others are not we can't give a definite answer to that question can we we just don't know sometimes now sometimes a person is not healed because the prayer is not made in faith they don't believe the person praying for them to not believe I believe that that's certainly true sometimes but other times a prayer of faith is made and gods as well I will heal my dear child but I will heal you in the resurrection I can say this that God promises absolute bodily perfect healing for every believer as part of our salvation but but here it is ultimately that happens in resurrection we live in what the Bible calls tense our physical bodies are like tents and along the way God may patch up this tent and sometimes he'll patch it up miraculously but ultimately God's answer for our problem of us living in these tents is to give us a mansion in heaven is to give us a resurrection body which will never perish I mean clearly God does not grant immediate healing for every prayer of faith why oftentimes these reasons are hidden in the heart and mind of God now it's true sometimes people are not healed because no prayer of faith is offered so we should pray we should pray with a humble confidence that people will be healed unless perhaps God makes it clear simply and powerfully that it's not his will at the moment to do it and then having prayed we leave the matter of God to God I should say so this idea is very important let's pray for one another believe that God wants to heal because God is a healing God but ultimately we leave the healing up to him trusting that in the end he will heal every believer in this part of the resurrect a part of the salvation we have in Jesus Christ it's the legacy it's the inheritance of our resurrection now he also says here in verse 16 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 James is reminding us here that mutual confession and prayer brings healing it brings healing spiritually and it may also bring healing physically when we get unresolved sin out of the way it's a way of removing hindrances to the work of the Holy Spirit and we should look for God to do this work more and more so what does he say look at it here and I got to say sometimes I think that this is one of the most neglected principles among Christians today where he says simply in verse 16 confess your trespasses your sins one to another see I think that confession to one another in the body of Christ is important sin demands to have us all to itself it demands to isolate us from other people in the body of Christ confession of sin will break the power of secret sin now I don't think your confession of sin needs to be made to a priest it doesn't be need to be made to an imagined mediator between you have you have between I mean a human mediator but simply we confess our sins one to another as is appropriate if you are caught in the bondage of secret sin you need to confess that sin to another brother or sister in Christ now that confession needs to be made wisely there are sins of a certain nature that should only be confessed to someone we can trust someone that would not be an aspect of temptation in this particular sin no no these things need to be done with wisdom but it needs to be done and nothing in in this in this suggests or or or precludes the idea that sin should especially be confessed if physical healing is at risk listen I'll tell you how I practices practically when somebody comes to me and asks if I would pray for them because they're sick one of the questions that I often ask I won't say I do this every time but I often ask them is there something you need to get right between you and God before I pray for you for this now again I don't want to say for a moment not for a moment that every sick person has some kind of unconfessed sin but isn't it wise if we're gonna pray for healing for a person that at least we eliminate that possibility and just ask and just say hey is there something hindering your relationship with God that you need to make right before I pray for you for healing and so confession of sin should happen it's true that this was much more a practice in the early church a James Moffatt in his commentary writes this he says now in the primitive Church this was openly done as a rule before the congregation the earliest manual of the church practice tells us this you must confess your sins in church and not but take yourself to prayer with a bad conscience again that's from the commentator James Moffatt it was done in the early church confession of sin but it's also interesting to see and I say this is somebody who's done some study of the historic and biblical phenomenon of revival or spiritual awakening that there is this aspect of great conviction of sin and subsequent confession of sin that is common during times of spiritual awakening or revival there's really nothing unusual about confession of sin sometimes very open confession of sin during times of revival I remember reading the writing of a man named Jonathan Goforth he talks about during a revival season in Asian that confession was almost invariably the prelude to blessing he spoke about one aspect of a significant Korean revival associated with Jonathan go forth it was said this this is by a man named William Newton Blair he says this we may have I'm quoting here we may have our theories of the desirability or on desirability about public confession of sin I have had mine but I know that when the Spirit of God falls upon guilty souls there will be confession and no power on earth can stop it public confession of sin can be a powerful thing and an indication of a great outpouring of the Spirit of God now of course as I've said before confession needs to be wise it can be made public but it should be made discreetly oftentimes the confession needs to be no more than what is needed to ask people to pray you don't necessarily have to go into the details of your sin it can be enough to say publicly pray for me I need victory over my by setting sin sometimes it would be wrong to go into more detail than that and confession of sins sometimes also needs to be made directly to the people that we have sinned against if we have harbored a bitter or unforgiving spirit if we've spoken evilly behind people's backs then oftentimes the solution for us is to confess our sin to others and to do it directly and oftentimes I find something very interesting we as Christians are sometimes willing to confess our sins to God but not to people again I find this phenomenon fascinating in these seasons of revival or spiritual awakening we find in such seasons that confession is often made to people but it's made before God James says confess your trespasses to one another in other words I don't confess my sins what James talking about here is not the confession of my sins to God in the presence of other people but no it's my confession of my sin to others in the presence of God it isn't that we confess our sins to God and other people merely here but we confess our sins to other people we something like this brothers and sisters I have sinned I need the forgiveness of God and I need your forgiveness would you please pray for me that I would be forgiven so confession should be discreet it should be honest it should be filled with integrity it should be regarded as a sacred trust when other people confess their sins in our hearing it's a very important thing for us to do and for us to consider how in an appropriate way God would spark a confession of sin among believers today again according to James Moffat the English prayer book before the communion service the minister is to give an invitation like this I love this quote from the English prayer book he says this quote come to me or to some other discreet and learn administer of God's Word and open his grief that by the Ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the benefit of absolution you know what I like that phrase that he may open his grief brother/sister if you are beset by sin if there is secret sin that is dominating and in some sense you know just just controlling your life in some way you need to confess it you need to find a trusted brother or sister you need to get together with that small group and do something that will be a big step of faith but you got to believe I'm gonna confess my sin before that trusted individual before that small group because I'll tell you this real deep genuine confession of sin has been a feature of every genuine awakening or revival in the past 250 years but it's nothing new I love reading what it says in the book of Acts chapter 19 verses 17 through 20 it says that of this great work of God what we would consider revival in the city of Ephesus it says that many who believed Kame confessing and telling their deeds that was Christians getting right with God an open confession of sin was part of it now at the end of it James says in verse 16 I told you if verses 15 and 16 are power-packed let me read to you these two verses again verse 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up if he has committed sins they 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 like that last phrase in verse 16 the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much you see in writing about the need to pray for the suffering for the sick and for the sinning James points to the effective nature of prayer prayer is effective when it is fervent and when it is offered by a righteous man now notice that much of our prayer is not effective simply because it is not fervent what's the idea of fervent here well one idea of the word fervent here and this was pointed out by FB Meier is that the idea is just strong it's a strong prayer and energized prayer it is a fervent prayer so often and maybe I'll just speak for myself here my prayers are not effective because they are so lukewarm and cold before God sometimes when I pray it's almost as if I would say these words now I would never say these words I'm too spiritual to say these words but this is where my heart's at God I don't really care about this but I'll talk to you about it why don't you care about it for me listen true prayer is a sharing of the heart of God where we enter into the things that he cares about and so our hearts burn with a fervor for the things that activate and energize the heart of God effective prayer must be fervent not because we have to emotionally persuade a reluctant God but because we have to gain God's heart by being fervent for the things that he is fervent for so effective prayer is fervent but then it is also offered by a righteous man or may it's a righteous woman as well now don't we take great relief and realizing that the grounds of our righteousness is what Jesus Christ has done for us thank you lord thank you that I don't have to earn my own righteousness but I can say God I stand before you as a righteous man not because I'm so wonderful but because I have received the righteousness of Jesus Christ as his gift he took my sin on the cross and I received his righteousness brothers and sisters that is a powerful and a glorious thing now I want you to notice something he says that effective prayer comes because someone is fervent because they are righteous which refers to their own manner of living but even moreso the righteousness they have in Jesus Christ fervent righteous you know what it doesn't say there it doesn't say that effective prayer happens because it's long I think that sometimes we as believers we put too much emphasis on the length of someone's prayer as if it is the length of prayer that makes it fervent not necessarily that it's the length of prayer that demonstrates to someone's righteous not necessarily no fervent righteous but not necessarily long that that isn't included here in this list now as an example of answered prayer look here at verse 17 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 here James presents Elijah as a model of earnest prayer he was so effective in prayer that it extended to the weather he prayed that it would not rain and it didn't rain for three years and six months and then he prayed again as he says in verse 18 and the rain came but what this shows is that Elijah's heart was in tune with God's hearts why did he pray that the rain would stop not because he just didn't want it to rain he prayed earnestly that way because he rightly sensed that this is what God wanted to do as a rebuke to the idol of the weather god bail that the they were worshipping in the Northern Kingdom of Israel God wanted to withhold the rain to show that their worship their honor their sacrifice to the weather God bail had no effectiveness so what did Elijah do verse 17 says that he prayed earnestly now I like that phrasing in the original language in the original language the phrasing works like this he prayed with prayer Adam Clarke says that prayed with prayer there is a Hebraic way of saying that he prayed fervently because in Hebrew you intensifies something by repeating it so to say that he prayed prayed he prayed with prayer is a way to say that he prayed earnestly he prayed fervently nevertheless verse 17 says he was a man with a like nature like ours now if Elijah had my same nature that means that I can have him same power in prayer as I draw near unhindered sin confessed put out of the way walking right as I can and as the Holy Spirit gives me the Grace and the ability to do I share God's heart I pray fervently I pray earnestly and God does his work in and through my prayers and your prayers now the book of James ends with these last two verses verses 19 and 20 of James chapter 5 let's read those two verses he says 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 verse 19 if anyone among you wanders from the truth I love how James by the inspiration the Holy Spirit phrased that what do I mean you see wanders from the truth is a pretty good picture there isn't it most people don't wander deliberately a matter of fact the very word wander has the idea of something kind of casual something accidental something without a lot of intention behind it to wander means you just kind of drift away nevertheless the wandering person usually gets off track they often find themselves in danger so if that's us then what do we need well we need someone to turn us back I love that as well this shows verse 19 where it says and someone turns it back it shows that God uses human instruments in bringing sinners back from the error of their ways now God doesn't always use human instruments sometimes when somebody's off in air God just says look I'm gonna reach that person I'm gonna get them that's all there is to it sometimes that's how God works but there are many other times where God says I'm gonna use a human instrument now check this out one reason God uses human instruments is because it brings him more glory than if God were just to do the work by himself you see well let me speak for myself I'm not such a great tool or instrument in the hand of God if I were a knife in God's hand you know instrument or a tool maybe I wouldn't be the sharpest knife in the drawer maybe I'd be dull and nicked and not have such a great point now if God can do good work great work amazing work through a flawed tool it gives even more credit to the worker to the workman who's doing the job and what God uses flawed people like me flawed people like you it's not only me who's flawed it's you as well when God uses flawed instruments like us it can and it does bring him even more glory and so along this line can we not say that when we refuse to make ourselves available for God's service even though we're weak even though we are failing when we refuse to make ourselves available to God's service we are in some way robbing God of his glory if God can glorify himself through a weak vessel like me through a weak vessel like you you should let him do it it'll bring him more glory now there's a great reward for this look at verse 20 he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins there is blessing for the one who loves his brother enough to confront him and who turns that brother or sister from the error of his ways he has been used of God to save that soul from death and to cover a multitude of sins now you know what I like about this it speaks very powerfully of the restoration that is possible for those who have sins do you have the picture here in verses 19 and 20 let me read these two verses to you again 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 this shows that restoration is possible in Jesus Christ I'm wondering if there's not somebody listening to this or viewing this who feels that they've gone beyond they've sinned so badly so terribly they've been so mired in the depths of sins that maybe restoration isn't really possible listen know these two verses tells us that restoration is possible let me read to you a quote it's a little bit long but I think it's a good one a quote from Charles Spurgeon along these lines in a sermon he preached upon this text he said this quote I know of men of good standing in the gospel ministry who ten years ago fell into sin and that is thrown in our teeth to this very day do you speak of them you were once informed why ten years ago they did so and so brethren Christian men ought to be ashamed of themselves for taking notice of such things so long afterwards true we may use more caution in our dealings but to reproach a fallen brother for what he did so long ago is contrary to the spirit of John who went after Peter three days after he had denied his master with oaths and curses you see what he's saying restoration is possible God is a restoring God he can save us from a multitude of sins he can save the soul from death God loves doing this now we can say that James concluded his letter this way because this is exactly what he has attempted to do throughout the letter he wants to confront those who have erred from the truth and in the big theme of James's letter this is the heir the people who have wandered from a living faith and who are at least in danger of thinking they could be saved by a dead faith brothers and sisters if we take anything from this letter of James we need to come back to the idea that we cannot be ultimately rescued by a dead faith no only by a living faith whose life is demonstrated by the fact that it has an impact a work in our real practical lives you see we need to PP be people who not only hear the Word of God but also do it because a living faith will have its proof I want it to have its proof in my life I pray you want it to have its proof in your life may God pour out his grace upon you upon myself I don't mind saying that and upon each one of us as we endeavor to listen to the wisdom of God's Word and walk forward in a living faith better informed by the wisdom from the book of James [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: James, Book of James, Letter of James, Bible, New Testament, Confessing Sin, Confessional, Answered prayer, Elijah, healing, anointing, anointing oil, David Guzik, Guzik

Id: vlcnxyJ4Om0

Length: 39min 12sec (2352 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 13 2019