As you find your seat, if you would open your Bibles to the
book of James chapter 5 this morning we're going to be in
verses 13 to 15. We've, we've been going through
James for several months now and we are almost finished.
We are. I had said last week that I was
hoping to finish this week, but the passage that we're looking
at on prayer is just so densely packed with theology and
application that I needed to break it up into two sermons.
So we'll, Lord willing, finish the book of James next week.
I do not know what I'll be preaching on next, but I will
update you as soon as the Lord directs me to the book.
We will be doing something in the Old Testament though.
But James, chapter 5, verses 13 to 15.
Let's read the text, open us in a word of prayer, and then we'll
jump into the sermon this morning, James 5, beginning at
verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering?
Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful?
Let him sing praise. 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 one who is sick, and
the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he
will be forgiven. Let's pray, Father, this morning
we pray that we come as we come to a text that deals with
suffering, sickness, singing things that all of us in some
measure have dealt with, that everybody in this room has had
some measure of suffering. Everybody in this room has been
sick at one time or another, and everybody in this room has a
voice in which to sing with. We pray God that you would teach
us this morning by the power of the Spirit how we should face
these situations, how we should face these trials, what you call
on us, what you direct us and guide us to do.
Help us Lord, to have a right theology, help us to have a
right mindset, to not lose hope, to not let despair overtake us,
but to be reminded that you are a God who not only invites his
people to pray, you are a God who answers our prayers.
We pray this Lord in Jesus name, Amen.
I have never been a fan of quarantining when you are sick.
You know the idea of when you're sick you stay away from people.
I completely understand if a person doesn't feel well enough
to be around others, but I have never understood staying away
from others because you don't want them to get sick.
I've always had the perspective. Let's just share.
Let's just, let's just increase each other's immunity.
I recognize I'm in the 1% minority in this perspective.
I recognize this is not what most people believe and think.
The reality is that when we are physically sick, we often avoid
people. The same is often true when we
are spiritually sick. We avoid the Lord and we avoid
the Lord's people. But James reminds us this
morning that when we are sick, even if God doesn't heal us
physically, he promises to heal us spiritually.
We should never quarantine from God because God has promised
that when we come to Him, He will forgive us.
This morning we're going to be looking at a text that deals
with suffering and singing and sickness.
So let's start by looking at exposition of the text.
The way that will be the sermon will be broken down this morning
is I'm going to start with an exposition of the text where I
break it down verse by verse, even section by section, and
then I'll give us application. I have 7 exhortations this
morning. Let's start looking at verses 13
to 14 where James writes. Is anyone among you suffering?
Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful?
Let him sing praise. 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.
So this morning we get to our second to last passage in the
book of James, and James is going to ask us three questions
this morning and he's going to give us 3 answers.
The first question he asked is this.
Is anyone among you suffering? Now this is not the normal Greek
word for suffering. The word that James uses here
means to suffer distress would stay in trouble, to endure
hardship. It can actually refer to any
kind of suffering, any kind of trial that you're facing.
So it's very broad, and James gives a very basic answer to
this problem of suffering. Here it is.
Let him pray. This is a command in the Greek.
This is why the NASB translates it.
Then he must pray. Now, I want you to notice that
James doesn't tell the church what to pray.
Did you notice that he doesn't tell them what to pray?
He just says let him pray. Now, one might assume that James
intends for the church to pray that their suffering would
cease. Given the other exhortations in
this letter, I think it is perhaps that James would rather
intend for them to pray that they would persevere through it.
Then James asked the second question, Is anyone cheerful?
The word cheerful means simply means a state of happiness,
right? Is any?
Is anyone suffering? And then he says, is anyone
happy? Is anyone feeling cheerful?
So what should they do if they are feeling cheerful?
What should you do when you're feeling happy and cheerful?
He says this, Let him sing praise that.
That is actually one word in the Greek solo.
It means where we get the word Psalm from.
It means to sing songs of praise with or without musical
accompaniment. This again is a command.
We are commanded to sing praises.
I want you to notice this is so important.
I want you to notice that whether we are experiencing
suffering or cheerfulness, our focus is to be towards the Lord.
The third question James asks is this.
Is anyone among you sick? The Greek word for sick can
refer to any sickness, any illness.
It can refer to a sickness like fever.
It can also refer to much more serious ailments or diseases.
And James gives 3 responses to this situation here.
They are a first thing. Let him call for the elders of
the church. Now I want you to notice James
assumes the church has elders to call upon.
Now why the elders? We're going to see in just a few
minutes that he says the prayer of a righteous person.
Sorry, not just a few minutes. I wrote that and then when I
realized we had to do 2 sermons, I forgot to change that.
We're going to see next week that the prayer of a righteous
person has great power as it is working.
So hopefully all of these elders are righteous men and that James
calls them to come and to pray, which is B.
He says let them pray over him. Now that's interesting, right?
It says pray over him. Why does he word it that way?
This may mean that the person was confined to a bed and so the
elders would come to this person's house and actually pray
over them because they're confined to a bed.
It also though, could mean that's not the case, that they
are actually to lay their hands on this person, that when they
pray over them, they would gather around this sick person
and lay their hands on them. That's the second thing.
Third action is anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord. Now that last action raises a
lot of questions. I'm going to boil it down to two
questions. Number one, what is the purpose
of anointing with oil and #2 are we to practice this today?
Are we to practice this today? Let's look at the first
question. What is the purpose of anointing
with oil? This practice is mentioned only
one other time in the New Testament and Mark 613.
When Jesus sent out the disciples, they cast out many
demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed
them. Douglas Mood, who was a
commentator, has actually divided the possibilities into
two main categories with two subdivisions each, 2 main
categories with two subdivisions each.
Let's look at those very briefly.
The first main category is that it may have a practical purpose.
It may have a practical purpose. So under that main category
there are two possibilities. A It could be medicinal.
It could be medicinal. If you remember the Good
Samaritan, remember that a man was going down from Jericho.
He was beaten up by some robbers.
He was left for half dead on the side of the road.
A Samaritan came along and what did he do?
He bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, right?
They didn't have Neosporin in those days.
They poured on oil and wine. So it could be medicinal, B.
It could be pastoral. This could be they could have a
pastoral purpose. What does he mean by that?
He says that oil was perhaps used to stimulate the faith of
the sick, similar to how Jesus used props and some of his
healings. Ever notice how Jesus sometimes
would use props in his healings? Why did he do that?
The theory is, is that perhaps it was the prop, if you will,
was meant to stimulate this person's faith.
So that's two possibilities. The second main category is a
religious purpose. A religious purpose He gives two
options under here. A, it could be Sacramento.
In other words, what does that mean?
Oil would become a vehicle of divine power.
If you take a Sacramento view of this, that God works through the
oil, all right, that would be a Sacramento view.
And then B would be symbolic. It could have a symbolic
meaning. Oil symbolizes the consecrating
of this sick person, similar to how priests in the Old Testament
priests were anointed with oil when they took their office.
They would anoint them and it was it was a symbolize they were
consecrated to God. So those are 4 possibilities.
And the question that we all have is which of the four should
we adhere to? I can't tell you what it what
you should because there's maybe some merit to all of them.
I'm going to argue for the last though.
I'm going to argue for the last that the oil has a symbolic
purpose. That's what I'm going to argue
for, and I'll tell you why very quickly.
Medicinal doesn't make sense since the elders were
specifically called on to do this.
If it was simply medicinal, anybody could administer that.
Anybody could just administer the oil.
You don't need the elders to do that.
Pastoral Jesus did use props in his healings, but it that was
the exception. It wasn't the norm.
Those were very much the exception.
Sacramento. I don't think it's Sacramento in
the sense that James is about to say to us that the prayer of
faith will heal this person, not the oil.
The prayer of faith will heal this person.
So I think that symbolic is the best interpretation here.
I think the oil is being used to symbolize that this person is
being set apart to God in prayer.
That it was a symbolic way to say we are setting apart this
sick person to God in prayer. Now notice they are not just too
anoint with oil, they are too anoint with oil in the name of
the Lord. I think that's important.
Why? Because it reminds us the oil
does nothing. The name of the Lord does
everything. Similar to baptism, the water
does nothing. It symbolizes the work of Christ
who does everything. And I think oil is functioning
the same way in baptism. It's a powerful symbol to
symbolize this person is being set apart to God in prayer.
That's just the way I take it. It's there's room to disagree
here. Second question, That was the
first question. Second question, are we to
practice this today? In other words, if you call on
the elders, we we, we now have elders in the church.
We have 3 elders, myself, Frank, and Daniel, right?
If you call on the elders to come to your house to pray,
should Frank bring his anointing oil with him?
I'm sure he's got some given the fact that many healings in the
New Testament were accomplished without oil.
I don't think this is binding us today.
I don't think it's binding us today.
Many of the healings, if not maybe most of the healings in
the Old Test and in the New Testament, we're not done with
oil. So I don't think it's buying us
today. However, however, I don't think
it's a bad idea. I wouldn't be opposed to it if,
if somebody said I would really like to be, you know, provided
you had a right understanding, you didn't think that like this
was some magical oil that was going to heal you.
Provided you have the right understanding, provided the
elders have the right understanding, I wouldn't be
opposed to it. But I don't think it's binding
us today. Let's look at verse 15 A.
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
Now verse 15 A raised 4 questions in my mind and let's
look at them individually #1 what is a prayer of faith?
He says the prayer of faith. What is a prayer of faith?
Remember what James had previously said about our
prayers. He said that when when we asked
the Lord for wisdom, how should we ask?
Let him ask in faith with no doubting.
Remember what Jesus said to us. He said whatever you ask in
prayer, you will receive if you have what faith?
A prayer of faith is praying with a firm foundation of belief
that God is able to heal and He is willing to heal.
Question two. What does James mean?
The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
The prayer of faith will save the one who's sick.
Does he mean save them from their sins?
That's how we normally use the word save.
Does he mean that the prayer of faith will save this person from
their sins? No, that's not what I think he
means. There is no indication in
Scripture that anybody is saved by prayer.
I do not believe that we can pray and save someone by our
prayer. God saves, so why does he use
the word save? Well, the Greek word for save
can also mean to heal or to make well.
I counted 16 times in the New Testament where it is translated
as the same Greek word for save. It's translated as heal or make
well 16 times. So this should probably be
translated as heel save as the normal translation.
I think that's why ESV goes with it.
But I think James means heel here.
Number three, What does it mean the Lord will raise him up?
The Lord does he mean raise him from the dead.
That's how it's normally used. We talk about raising someone
up, so I don't to be sure, it could mean that it could mean
that this person died. You pray that the Lord would
raise him up. I mean, Eudaikus was raised from
the dead by Paul, to be sure. It could mean that, but this
Greek word is often used in the context of raising up from
sickness, that the Lord will raise him up from the sick bed.
That's how it's often used in the New Testament.
And I think the the meanings, same meanings here as well.
And then we get to perhaps the most perplexing question of all,
the 4th question, which is the most perplexing of all #4 what
do we do with this word? Will what do we do with this
word will The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
The Lord will raise him up. That's the indicative mood, the
mood of reality. What do we do with that?
Those two usages of will we all know from experience of loved
ones who maybe were diagnosed with cancer or Alzheimer's or
had a stroke. I had a heart attack or maybe
diabetes. People have prayed for them,
maybe even elders prayed for them, and they weren't healed.
They weren't raised up from their sickness.
They may have even died but two times, James says will.
So how do we reconcile this? How do we reconcile this?
This is why we must read the whole council of God's Word.
We must read the whole council of God's Word, because in other
passages Jesus makes it clear that prayer must be asked in his
name, which is another way of saying it must be asked
according to his will. James earlier had said to us, if
the Lord wills so, the way that we have to read this statement
by James is this. The way we have to interpret it
is this. The prayer of faith will heal
the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up if the
Lord wills, if he wills it. What is sovereign is not our
prayer, but God's will. God's will is sovereign.
Look at verse 15-B and the Lord and and if he has committed
sins, he will be forgiven. If he has committed sins, he
will be forgiven. Now why does James introduce
sins here? Did you wonder that?
I don't know if you wondered that.
I wonder that. Why does he introduce sins here?
He hadn't talked about sin. All said, he introduced and says
if he's committed sins, what is the connection?
Is James suggesting that it's possible his sickness is a
result of his sins? I think so.
I think that's what he's getting at.
Now let's clarify 2 things. Let's clarify.
So important. Let's clarify 2 things #1 James
is not suggesting that all sickness is a result of sin.
He's not suggesting that. He is not suggesting that all
sickness is a result of sin. And I don't mean like in the
curse version of sin. I mean all sickness is a result
of the curse. But he's not referring to all
sickness is a result of my personal sin.
I am sick right now because I sinned.
James says if he has committed sins, if he has committed sins,
you know, you're like, well, of course he's committed sins.
Everybody's committed sins. He's referring to a sin that led
to his sickness. If he has committed sins that
led to his sickness, Now we know that this isn't referred to
everything, right? How do we know this?
Job's sickness was not a result of a sin.
Job's sickness was not a result of sin.
The man in John 9, Jesus said, was not blind because his
parents had sinned or because he had sinned.
Paul's thorn in the flesh, as far as we know, was not a result
of his sin. Timothy had stomach ailments
that it does not appear were a result of his sin.
Apophoditis was not sick as a result of the sin.
Trophonis was ill and it doesn't appear he was sick as a result
of a sin. So I think we should conclude
that not all sickness is a result of sin.
That's number one. Number two, that needs to be
clarified. James is suggesting that some
sickness is a result of our sin. Some sickness is a result of our
sin. Miriam got leprosy because of
her sin. King Uzziah got leprosy because
of his sin. Remember in the Lord's Supper in
First Corinthians, some in the Corinthian church, Paul said
we're sick because they were not treating the Lord's Supper with
reverence. And somebody even died in the
Corinthian church because of their sin.
And remember the paralytic that Jesus healed.
His paralysis may have been a result of a sin member.
Jesus said to him, sin no more so that nothing worse may happen
to you. That may imply that his
paralysis was a result of his sin.
Both are true. But look what James says.
Even if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Even if his sickness is a result of his sin, he will be forgiven.
So I want you to consider what James is saying here.
Not only will he be physically healed, but they will also be
spiritually healed. James is reminding the church
that not only will this person rise from their sick bed, they
will also rise from their bed of sin.
The Lord will forgive him and we'll stop there.
With the exposition application of the text.
I have 7 exhortations. 7 exhortations #1 Prayer is a gift
to be used as a first resort, not a last resort.
Prayer is a gift to be used as a first resort, not a last resort.
I'm old enough to remember when the Internet first came out.
We didn't have it in our home, but I could use it at the
library, I could use it at the school.
And I was blown away by it. I, I, I was fascinated with how
much information was, was on this, even if it was at dial up
speed and it was a dial up speed.
I was fascinated with this. Years later, I remember when
Google first came out. I remember the day it did before
this. You know, I don't know if you
guys remember when you used to search online.
It was so tedious to search online.
It was so cumbersome, you know, like you were the search
categories and stuff. And it was just like, oh man, it
just took so long. But I, and I remember when
Google first came out, I was like, now here is this central
place where you can search the whole Internet like at once.
And I was fascinated with the capabilities.
And most recently, when ChatGPT came out, I initially was
suspect. I was like, I'm not using it.
I didn't understand or believe the hype.
But then I started using it because my son started using it.
And when I started using it, I couldn't believe how powerful it
was. I couldn't believe how efficient
it was. I now rarely Google anything.
I use ChatGPT in Gemini for everything for online searching.
I I don't like Google and I broke up recently I've been
having some medical problems and so I got on ChatGPT and what
else am I going to do? I'm going to the doctor ChatGPT,
you know, So if you're a doctor, if you're in the medical field,
sorry. I got I got on ChatGPT and I've
researched what could it be, how to treat it.
This is how I looked up almost everything now.
Is there anything wrong with all of this?
Are there any downsides? Are there any cautions I should
be aware of? Are there any cautions you
should be aware of? Yes, yes, the more technology we
have, the more comprehensive it becomes, The faster it gives
information, the more accurate the results.
My fear is that prayer will become a last resort instead of
a first resort. You see, the temptation is to
take all of our problems and bring them to either social
media or AI or whatever the next technological advancement is
rather than going to God in prayer.
James asked the question, Is anyone among you suffering?
Did you notice what he doesn't say?
Ask ChatGPT how to alleviate your suffering or vent about
your suffering on social media and look for consolation.
What does he say to do? Let him pray.
Now I want to be clear, church family, my intent is not to
knock AI or knock on Google or knock on social media.
They are all gifts. I am wonderfully thankful for
these gifts. I am.
I just want to remind us that God has given us another gift
and this gift is His primary gift when we are suffering.
And it is the gift of prayer. Brothers and sisters, prayer is
a gift that is meant to be used as a first resort, not a last
resort. God does not attempt for us to
try to solve our suffering first and after everything else has
failed. We've tried this, we've tried
this, we tried this, we tried this.
Well, let me try prayer. Let me see if maybe God will fix
this for me. No, God has given us this gift
to be used as a first resort when I am suffering.
When you are suffering, my first inclination should not be to
open my laptop or to put in the pin on my phone, but to get on
my knees. Is anyone among you suffering?
Let him pray #2 Suffering is God's dinner bell.
Suffering is God's dinner bell. You ever heard of something
called a dinner bell? How many here have never heard
the phrase dinner bell before? Quite a few.
Many of us who grew up in the inner city.
If you grew up in the inner city your whole lives, you may have
no idea what a dinner bell is. Years ago, on farms or ranches
or maybe even large households where people would be spread out
over this large household, there would be a literal bell that
someone would ring. It would let people know that
dinner was ready. So you might be out in the
field. They would ring the bell, let
you know dinner is ready. When you heard this bell, you
knew. OK, now it's time to put my work
down, go wash up and get ready for supper.
The phrase has taken on an idiomatic meaning.
A dinner bell is any kind of call that summons people
together. Right?
Suffering is God's dinner bell. It's his means of summons.
One thing we have in common is that most of us, if not all of
us, are busy jobs. We work 8:00 to 5:00 or 6:50,
and because of technology, we bring our work home with us.
Marriages. Parenting, school assignments,
deadlines, chores, errands, church ministry, emails, text,
social media To Do List calendars.
I can't even look at my wife's calendar.
I get anxiety looking at it. There's so much in it.
I'm just I can't look at it. We have so much going on and we
all know that often one of the first things to go when you are
in a season of busyness, often one of the very first things to
go is prayer. How does God get our attention?
How does God get us to lay down the proverbial rake and shovel
and come inside to his table? He rings a bell.
A bell called suffering trials. Just as a dinner bell reminds us
it's time to eat, suffering reminds us it's time to pray.
I need to pray. 3.3 Sing in the shower, sing in the car, sing
your praises near and far. Sing in the shower, sing in the
car, sing your praises near and far.
Why does James give such a contrast here?
He asked, is anyone suffering? And then he asked, Is anyone
cheerful? That seems kind of odd, right?
It's such a contrast. If I ask, like, how many of you
here are suffering? You raise your hand.
And then I said, how many of you here are cheerful?
You'd be like my brother's suffering.
You know why? Why the contrast?
I think it's this. You see, I think suffering has a
way of redirecting us to God, but cheerfulness often has a way
of redirecting us away from God. We all know from experience that
when life is going well, it's all too easy to forget about
God, isn't it? Marriage is going well,
parenting is going well, church is going well, school is going
well, health is going well, my career is going well, the stock
market is going well, and the temptation is to forget about
God. Now James is not saying don't be
cheerful, but James is exhorting the church that when you are in
seasons of cheerfulness, when you're in those seasons when it
may be like man, life's going well, don't forget the Lord,
sing praises to the Lord, John Calvin writes.
James means that there is no time in which God does not
invite us to Himself. When we are suffering, God
invites us to Himself through prayer.
When we are cheerful, God invites us to himself through
praises, through sinking, the psalmist writes.
He puts a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God,
Psalm 43. God puts joy into our hearts so
that it would overflow into songs of praise.
So brothers and sisters, sing in the shower, sing in the car,
sing your praises near and far. 4 If you ever need prayer, ask
the elders of the church to not just pray for you, but over you.
If you ever need prayer, ask the elders of the church to not just
pray for you, but over you. Most of you know that recently
we became a new church and part of the process of becoming a new
church was thinking through all of our finances.
That was a huge piece of it. One of the decisions in that
process was we talked about this in our last members meeting is
how much do we need to keep in a contingency fund, right?
We have an operating fund and then we have a contingency fund.
Like how much do we need to keep in this contingency fund?
Part of the way that I was thinking through this is what
was the most we ever spent at any given time, right?
Like what was the biggest bill we ever had at one time where we
needed, you know, liquid assets to have access to, right?
I don't know if this is accurate, but to my knowledge,
it was the awning that we have outside.
The awning we have in a parking lot.
To my knowledge, that was the largest expensive.
The total cost of everything was $40,000.
We built it during COVID. Why?
So that we could continue to meet in person outdoors.
We built this awning so we could continue to meet in person
outdoors. Now, I've asked myself this
question many times. I ask it almost every time I see
the awning. Now.
Why did we spend that much money?
And I keep coming back to the same answer.
Because there is something unique and powerful about being
in person. There is something unique and
powerful about being in person. The awning allowed us to
continue to meet in person even when it was 28° outside.
There is something unique and powerful about being in person,
and I believe the same is true with prayer.
Now don't get me wrong, this is not to say that praying from a
distance is powerless. Paul prayed for the churches
while he was in chains. Frequently pray for the churches
while he was in chains. But what I find it is that James
asked, he says, is anyone sick? And he doesn't say tell the
elders to pray for you. He doesn't say that.
He says let him call for the elders of the church and let
them pray over him, not just for him, but over him.
Now this might means nothing more than this person was
confined to a bed, so they couldn't come to the assembly,
right? So the elders had to go to him
or her at their house and pray over him.
It could mean that. It also could mean that the
elders were called on to come and lay their hands on this sick
person, just as Jesus laid his hands on the children.
Remember when Jesus prayed for the children, He laid his hands
on the children and prayed for them.
In addition, they are to anoint this man with oil.
You cannot anoint with oil from a distance.
Oil requires a physical presence.
So I want to say to you, brothers and sisters, if you
ever need prayer, and not just for sickness but for anything,
don't hesitate to ask the elders of the church to come to your
house or if you don't want us knowing where you live, meet at
church and to pray over you. Acts 6 teaches us that one of
the primary jobs of an elder is to pray.
We should not neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer.
Our job is to pray. Please take advantage of that
five We are not promised physical healing, but we are in
this life. But we are promised that God is
able and willing to heal. We are not promised physical
healing in this life, but we are promised that God is able and
willing to heal. I grew up a denominational mutt.
We were Lutheran for a while, we were Baptist, we were Anglican,
we were non denominational, we were Pentecostal.
I think my my parents objective was to like sample every
denomination out there. While we were in charismatic
circles. I heard I have heard two wrong
teachings A. If God doesn't heal, it's
because the person didn't have enough faith.
If God doesn't heal, it's because the person didn't have
enough faith. And B, if you have enough faith,
we are promised healing. Both of those are wrong.
We don't have time to get into that.
But both of those are wrong. But here's the thing.
I can see how people get there, right?
Even if you believe something's wrong, it's so important that
you understand how did you get there?
And I can see how they got there because statements like verse 15
seem to reinforce this idea. Don't, doesn't it?
James says. And the prayer of faith will,
will save the one who was sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
So how do we deal with this? I think with the way I build
this, what I said in the exposition, Timothy,
apaphroditis and tropomas were all sick and Paul mentions
nothing about them being healed because of prayer.
In fact, he actually tells Timothy, Timothy use some wine
for your stomach ailments. Why does he need to use wine if
he can just pray and be healed? We are not promised physical
healing in this life. But then the question still
remains, what is verse 15 promising us then?
Because it's promising us something.
What is it promising us? It's promising us this, A that
God is able to heal and B that God is willing to heal.
Now let me unpack those very briefly.
A God is able to heal. God does not need any special
medicine. He doesn't need to consult the
the medical Academy. He doesn't need time to work its
magic. All God needs to heal is the
prayer of faith. That is sufficient.
God is able to take care of the rest.
God. God is powerful enough.
He's always able to heal. I don't care what the diagnosis
is, He is able to heal it. And B, God is willing to heal.
Now this one's trickier. Here's where it gets tricky.
When I say God is willing to heal, here's what we have to
remember. God's willingness does not mean
that He always wills it. God's willingness does not mean
that He always wills it. Sometimes God's will is to not
heal in this life for a greater purpose and a greater glory.
Verse 15 is teaching us that should God will healing?
Should God ordained that healing happen, the prayer of faith will
heal the one who was sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
If God wills it, he will do it. The prayer will be effective,
and they will be healed. Number 6.6.
Not all sickness is the Lord's discipline for sin, but some is
ask what He might be teaching us through it.
Not all sickness is the Lord's discipline for sin, but some is
ask what he might be teaching us through it.
The worst sickness I've ever experienced was norovirus.
I I recognize some of you have had much worse sickness or much
worst ailments, so I'm not trying to, you know, complain
about in the grand scheme of things it's not that bad.
But that was the worst sickness for me was norovirus.
It was the only time I missed church in the past 15 years.
For sickness. I usually get sick around 2 * a
year, on average 2 * a year. I've been here for 15 years, so
that's been 30 times on average. I've been sick 30 times over the
past 15 years, give or take 29 out of the 30.
I have pushed through it and come to church and I shared with
all of you but the one time I couldn't do it is when I got
norovirus and the reason is is I couldn't leave the bathroom.
I had to not exaggerating when I say this, my wife can can can
vouch for this. I had to use the bathroom some
60 to for a 48 hour period that's how bad it was.
I remember thinking when I was right in the middle of it like
or did I do something wrong? I was so discouraged, I was in
so much pain that I genuinely wondered is this punishment for
some sin of mine? Like what did I do wrong?
I'm sorry, this is not uncommon thought when sickness hits US,
is it? Isn't it?
Especially if we get sick in an unusual way or if it's severe
sickness? You get cancer at a young age,
or worse if your child gets cancer.
One thing we know from Scripture is that not all sickness is the
Lord's discipline for sin. We know that.
But we do know that some of it is Job, the blind man and John,
9 Paul Thorne, Opaphroditis, Timothy Trophonis, they were all
sick for no sin of their own, as far as we know.
But Miriam, Uzziah, some of the Corinthian church, and perhaps
the paralytic man were sick or disabled for their sin.
So where does that leave us the next time we're sick?
Or if you are experiencing sickness right now, where does
that leave us? Something I have always
considered in my sickness and I want to recommend to you for
your consideration. Ask the Lord what He might be
teaching us in this trial. Ask what He might be teaching #7
Last point. Just as there is no physical
illness, the Lord can't heal. There is no spiritual illness
the Lord can't heal. Just as there is no physical
illness the Lord can't heal. There is no spiritual illness
the Lord can't heal. Remember when the four friends
brought the their paralyzed friend to Jesus?
Brought paralytic to Jesus. And where they, they, they, they
carry them on this like cot, this makeshift cot, if you will.
And they, they try to go through the door, but they can't get
into the door because all the religious leaders are taking up
all the space and, and, and they could just go home and be like,
well, sorry, we tried, you know, my friend, we tried, we couldn't
get in. But rather than give up and go
home, what do they do? They improvised, they
improvised, they climb on this man's roof and they start taking
this homeowner's roof apart. I don't know if that invalidated
his homeowner's insurance or not, but they started taking his
roof apart. They then lowered their friend
down through the roof, right in the front of Jesus.
And what did Jesus do? Did he heal him?
He didn't. He didn't.
He said to him, Son, your sins are forgiven.
Now we are given every indication that perhaps that may
have been left at that. We assume that Jesus healed
everybody that came to him. Maybe he did and maybe he
didn't. But Jesus just says, Son, your
sins are forgiven. That's it.
Can you imagine the look on the man's face?
Can you imagine the look on the friend's face?
We brought our friend to you to heal him of his paralysis, and
all you can say to him is your sins are forgiven.
You see, Jesus took care of his true sickness, his spiritual
paralysis. Jesus took care of his true
sickness, his spiritual paralysis.
It was only after the Pharisees challenged him that he decided
to heal him to prove he had authority to forgive sins.
What the miracles and the gospel show us is that there is no
physical illness the Lord can't heal, and there is no spiritual
illness the Lord can't heal. You can be as spiritually dead
as Lazarus dead body in a tomb for four days, and the Lord can
raise you from the dead. You can have a leprous heart and
one touched by the Savior, and you will be made clean.
You can be blind to the beauty of Jesus Christ, crucified and
risen from the dead, but one washing of the mud away from
your eyes and you will see the beauty of the gospel.
Our one true problem in this life is not that we have
sickness that we need to be healed from.
It is that we have sins that we need to be forgiven from.
And God promises to forgive all of them.
Brothers and sisters, we are promised healing, it's just a
matter of time. We are promised healing, it's
just a matter of time. Let's pray.