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[0:00] Now we have seen in the previous chapters of James how it's almost like you've used the illustration of the folds of a fabric rather than sort of chopped up, dissecting separate parts.

[0:13] The different chapters are almost like one continuous strand folded and reappearing again, sort of the same theme coming back and returning again and again. James is writing of a continuous theme of the need for the church to be self-controlled, to be focused, to make sure that they love one another and that they don't get either carried away by the ease with which sin may spill out of them, either from the tongue or from the actions or whatever, that they don't be flattered by the rich, as we saw there in chapter 2, don't give place specially to somebody just because they're rich as opposed to poor.

[0:52] And here we see in this final chapter, again this exhortation, to stand strong and firm under outward persecution and not to allow that persecution to cause them to turn on one another.

[1:10] And we'll see that danger as we go through the chapter here, the danger that external pressure may cause internal division. Now that is something he wants to guard against there and to recognise their need to believe afresh in the power of prayer and the readiness of the Lord to hear them.

[1:32] Because it will not be long now, is what he is saying. Now again, as we mentioned in prayer, I might be back in the year, but that was 2,000 years ago and the Lord still hasn't come back.

[1:42] No, but all those to whom James wrote in the first instance, and James himself, would have seen or stood before the Lord within a very few years of having written or read that material for the first time.

[1:57] And it is only a very few years from when we first read the word that the Lord has to us before suddenly we look back in the mirror and the years and the decades have passed and we contemplate eternity.

[2:09] It is not long that we have in which to receive and digest and apply God's word. But there are those, of course, who think that because perhaps money talks or because they are powerful in this world that they can do whatever they want.

[2:24] Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Now notice, first of all, that this is addressed not so much to believers, rich, affluent believers.

[2:37] It is rather to those who persecute the poor, the needy, and particularly perhaps Christian poor. Because there is a distinction here in chapter 5, verse 1.

[2:48] Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries. This is quite different from what we saw in chapter 4 and verse 9. Be afflicted and mourn and weep.

[2:59] Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Because that affliction and mourning was with a view to repentance. Because it goes on to say, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.

[3:13] This is sort of self-affliction, chastise, discipline, mourning in order to produce repentance and reconciliation to the Lord. Here what is being referred to is this weep and howl.

[3:26] It is the hopeless cry of eternal lostness. Those who have built, as it were, their empire here and forgotten that there is one to whom they must give an answer.

[3:38] Your miseries that shall come upon you. He is predicting, prophesying the end of all who would make riches in this world their strength.

[3:49] Your riches are corrupted. Your garments are moth-eaten. It is as if he is looking ahead to see that the day when the gold will corrode, it will begin to sort of decompose because of its, it's just metal at the end of the day.

[4:05] Your fine clothes, which might have seemed so impressive, you know, in chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Remember he says, don't rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats.

[4:15] Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called. But he says, if it comes into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, there comes also a poor man in vile ring, don't be dazzled by the good clothes.

[4:28] The day will come when those clothes, that material, that cloth, it will be moth-eaten. It will fade away. It won't stand you at any step in eternity. Your gold and your silver is cankered.

[4:40] It's eaten, as it were, by the worms. The rust of them shall be a witness. Corrosion against you and shall eat your flesh as it were of fire. Now, what does that mean, it'll be a witness against you?

[4:52] It's almost like riches in this world are not intended to be stacked up. So, let's say, look how much piles of gold or money I've got in my bank account or whatever. Rather, they are given us as something to use.

[5:05] You know, let's say, for example, if I have a braid down on the road and I blow a tyre and somebody stops to help and says, well, have you got a spare tyre in a boot?

[5:17] And we say, oh, yeah, there's a spare tyre. You've got a jack. Yep, there's a jack. Have you got all the stuff you need? Yeah, it's all there. I say, well, why haven't you done anything with it? Oh, well, you know, I didn't think it was there. I just thought it was there.

[5:28] But, you know, I didn't do anything with it. So, I'm still sitting at the side of the road, waiting, not doing anything. Because I've got everything I need. I just don't use it. The tools we are given, riches, wealth in this world, are meant to be used.

[5:43] They're meant to be deployed. They could be a blessing to so many. The rich man has the opportunity to do so much good. The opportunity to help so many people.

[5:56] This opportunity to improve the lot of so many lives. If he would use that which the Lord has placed in his hand. If it is hoarded to itself. It's almost like if you think of the child's game, pass the parcel.

[6:09] You know, when the music stops, you're left holding the parcel. Then, you know, you might either take off a wrapping paper. Or, in an old-fashioned way. That now he's probably thought not politically correct. If you're left holding the parcel, you're out.

[6:21] Now, the object of riches is not to be left holding it at the end of the day. It's to utilise it. It's to use it. For the Lord's cause. Or at the very least, to benefit others.

[6:33] You've heaped together treasure for the last day. This is against you. You're left holding it. The very fact that you've still got it in your hand counts against you. Here you are, still holding all the stuff the Lord's given you.

[6:46] It's like the guy who was given the towel or the pound. And he either hid it in the napkin, sort of back pocket. Or else he buried it in the air. And he said, look, here's what you have. And the master said, look, you've still got it.

[6:56] What have you done with it? Why haven't you traded? Why haven't you invested? Why haven't you increased it? Why haven't you used it? And this is the riches of the rich here.

[7:07] Witness against them. And they will eat into their very soul. You have heaped together treasure for the last days. Now maybe they think heaping up treasure is a defence.

[7:19] Wisdom is a defence. Money is a defence, Proverbs says. But the feet of the Lord is more important than that. And all that they have done by heaping together treasure for the last days is that at the last day, cancer gets done.

[7:33] Now this theme of the last days is kind of implied throughout this chapter. James is now concluding his letter with a sort of final signing off to remember where we shall stand at the last and to whom we shall answer.

[7:49] And whilst, yes, the wicked seem to flourish, rich men oppress them. The rich seem to get away with anything and everything by way of oppressing the poor. And this is happening to our brothers and sisters throughout the world in terms of persecution.

[8:03] In most countries of the world, the Christians are the poorest. In the country, they're the economically weakest. They are the most oppressed and despised and exploited. In that sense, this is a highly relevant chapter in terms of the poverty and need of our fellow brothers and sisters throughout the world.

[8:21] Now, gold and silver is canker. It shall eat your flesh. You have heaped together treasure for the last days. Behold the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud.

[8:34] Cry it. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Samuel. Now, what James is thinking here, remember he's writing to Jewish believers who will know the Scriptures, know the law.

[8:46] They would hear that, what he's writing, and it would click inward then, Deuteronomy 24 here, about the oppression of the poor. And it says, verse 14, Now, if he has done the work for you, he's entitled to be paid for it.

[9:23] If he's depending on getting his wage day by day, and that is usually how people were paid, he'd be paid at the end of the day's work, not at the end of the week, not at the end of the month, at the end of the day. So he is expecting his wage.

[9:35] He is depending on it to feed himself and his family, whatever you say. Oh, come back in three days. I'll give you it then. You know, that may be all very well for the rich guy, but for the one who is dependent on getting this wage for the work that he has done, to withhold it is effectively fraud.

[9:52] It's stealing. And it's all very well, stealing an equal from an equal. But a rich man oppressing a poor man is doubly heinous in the sight of the Lord.

[10:03] The rich ought to be giving freely to the poor if they have the opportunity. That's the first thing. So it's bad enough that they don't. Secondly, it's worse that the rich, who have the means to pay debts, don't pay debts.

[10:17] And bad debts have been the destruction of many of the business. We were just talking about briefly in conversation earlier, the end of the best, about businesses, you know, legitimate businesses that go down, not because there's anything wrong with their workmanship, but because of bad debts.

[10:34] People that just don't pay, or else may, oh, I was going to pay in six months' time. You know, never mind paying in six months' time. Pay now. Pay when you've had the work done. And if you couldn't afford to get the work done, don't take on the work.

[10:47] Pay your debts. And this is what the rich have no excuse not to do. So it's bad enough that they don't give freely to the poor. It's bad enough that they don't pay their debts that they owe.

[10:59] But to fail to pay a debt that you owe to the poor is the most curious of all. Because it is exploitation of those who have not the means, humanly speaking, to reply or to have any come back.

[11:16] But rather, it cries, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cry. It cries out, and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Savio.

[11:32] He hears. Now, what is this word? Savio, that's an old-fashioned odd word. It only appears one other time in the New Testament, in the authorised version. That's Romans 9, verse 29.

[11:43] And as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Savio that left us a seed, we have been a Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. And Romans 9, 29, there is quoting.

[11:54] Quoting Isaiah chapter 1, at verse 19, where it's not the word Savio that is used, it is the word hosts. But what has happened in Isaiah 1, at verse 19, is that the word hosts has been translated, not 99, Isaiah chapter 1, verse 9, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been a Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

[12:21] So why are you using the word Savio? Because that is the Hebrew word. It has been what is called transliterated. In other words, the Hebrew word has just been spelled out how it sounds into the Greek, and that's what we've got here now translated into the English.

[12:38] It's like if you think about most of the place names in the islands or throughout Gaeldom in the islands, there's, you know, on a signpost, they'll be written in English and they'll be written in Gaelic, perhaps, underneath.

[12:51] But even the English is really just, originally, a transliteration. It is how an English-speaking person wrote down what the Gaelic word that the locals were saying was.

[13:05] This is how it sounded to their ears, so this is how they wrote it down. It is a transliteration. It is the word essentially from a different language written down how it sounds in another language.

[13:19] So the Lord of Savioh is the Lord of hosts. Hosts, the Hebrew word spelled, Savioh, the Hebrew word for hosts. And part of the significance of this here is that it is entered into the ears of the Lord of Savioh, James, using a Hebrew word that his ears would understand, they would know.

[13:41] And the significance is that the poor seem to have no one to speak for them. They seem to have no strength. They seem to have no power. But the Lord of hosts, the holy and giant hosts of heaven, he hears, he knows.

[13:56] Jesus said, remember, to the apostles, don't you think that even now my father could send me twelve legions of angels. Now a legion in Roman army terms with six thousand men at its full complement.

[14:10] If he was sending twelve, six twelve, seventy-two thousand angels just at the drop of a hat. He could have said, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of Savioh, hears and knows the cry of the poor.

[14:24] And then as he goes on, you have lived in pleasure. The sense is of effeminate softness in the earth. Being wanted, prodigal, wasteful, gluttonous. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

[14:39] Now, there are three senses here in which we could understand this verse five. One is as in a day of slaughter, as in, as though you're glutting yourselves like in a day of sacrifice.

[14:52] When the beasts are sacrificed and the wee bit goes on the altar, the rest is kept for the feast. So, you're pigging out on all the meat that's been set before, all the, all the sacrifices, all the beasts, the oxen and the sheep and the goats and you're having a great old feast.

[15:07] And this is how you live normally. You've nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. The second thing is that, as in the day of slaughter, as in the, the sense of slaughter is the end time.

[15:21] That the beast itself is drawing near the end of its life. And so, you keep feeding up the beasts. You know, you keep the fatted calf or your turkeys being fattened up for Christmas or whatever it might be and you keep on feeding it right up until the day of slaughter and the day of slaughter is, that's the end.

[15:41] You don't say, well, we're going to be slapping it a week's time so we'll stop feeding it. No, you keep feeding it right up until the end. And this is the sense in which, you know, don't you see? You're keeping on doing this and the end is just around the corner.

[15:55] And this is, well, I suppose it's like, like two oblique, three, like the third senses that they themselves are become almost like the fatted beasts. It's as if they are glutting themselves, living in delicious luxury, the feminine luxury, and pigging out while every, the poor are going without their wages because they are fattening themselves up for the slaughter which will be their slaughter, their end.

[16:25] Their end is approaching. The sense in the day of slaughter is the sense of last days, the end coming. And they cannot see that their end is just around the corner.

[16:37] Like the turkey at the end of December thinking, this is great, I'm getting loads of food here. I wonder why I'm feeding so well. I'm not realizing that the end is just around the corner. And here they are glutting themselves, getting rich at the expense of the poor, making them reap their fields for nothing, not realizing this is a day of slaughter just around the corner.

[16:59] You have condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you. Now remember if we go back a couple of chapters, the previous chapter, it says that God resisted the proud, chapter 4, verse 6, God resisted the proud and giveth grace unto the humble.

[17:20] Now, the Lord, when he was in his human form on the earth, Jesus, as a human being, did not resist evil. He submitted himself as a lamb before her sheers as dumb.

[17:33] So likewise, he didn't open his mouth. He didn't resist in his human capacity. But God resisted the proud and he waits and he bides his time and he lets them fill up the measure of their iniquity.

[17:49] In other words, he lets them enough rope to see, just what would you do if you had the freedom and the power to do it. You know, in a sense, as I've mentioned in the past, human nature really comes out when people think, I could actually get away with this.

[18:09] And part of the most horrendous abuses that occur with the institution of slavery were not simply one person working for another without wages. It was when the owner owned the person in a sense, body and soul.

[18:24] They could do anything to them and there'd be no comeback. They can whip them to death, they can torture them, they can mutilate them, they can do anything they like, starve them and there will be no comeback.

[18:35] What would people do if they were actually free to do it? How evil would they allow themselves to be? Well, I've mentioned this in the past in instances like, you know, when there's a disaster or when there's a natural disaster happens and the emergency services are stretched, what do you get there?

[18:53] You get looting. You get looting. Why? Not because people think, oh, I'm really desperate for a free, I've got to have that plasma TV, you know, I've just got to have it, so I'm going to smash a window and go and take it.

[19:05] No. Why are they doing it? Because they know the police are engaged elsewhere. They know that there won't be come back. They know they can get away with it for an hour.

[19:16] This is what people do when they think they can get away with it. they will be just as evil as can be. You have condemned and killed the just and he does not resist you.

[19:30] One reason why the Lord does not resist or he cancels his people not to resist is say, look, you are in my hand. Leave them to do even to you whatever they will do.

[19:44] I will look after you. I will care for you eternally. let them fill up the measure of their will. Let them show how evil they are. But when it comes to the last day their own life will testify against them.

[19:58] Your blood will testify against them. The fields that you reeked down and weren't paid for will testify against them. Their entire condemnation will be found written in their own hand.

[20:11] Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. And now the tack has switched. James is no longer addressing a prophecy to the unbelieving rich.

[20:23] But rather he is addressing now the suffering poor, the church itself. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husband and waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and have long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain.

[20:42] Now of course you think that the seed of the earth it takes time to go when you're planting and you're sowing and then before the harvest comes you know Psalm 1-6 He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with them.

[21:01] They that sow into yours shall reap in joy. The husband and waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth. He hath long patience until he receive the early and the latter rain.

[21:12] Now in agricultural terms in Palestine anyway the early rain would be served in November December the time of sowing when the ground would be softened up to receive the seed.

[21:25] But then all the time when it's dry all the way through to March April so that time the ground would get pretty hard there wouldn't be the opportunity for the crops to really fully ripen unless they get a second ground shape a second latter rain which brings on the final harvest and repair.

[21:44] But what you've got to remember is that for the farmer the rains are essential they're great but they're not the end in itself. He doesn't watch the sky oh thank goodness the rain that's it okay that's it all sorted now.

[21:57] The rains are just a means to an end. The objective is the harvest. And in spiritual terms we might say the former rain you could say is the pouring out of the spirit of Pentecost.

[22:09] when the church was drenched in God's spirit and yes it's been sort of sprinkled with it as the gospel work has expanded throughout the world but there are many and I would hope this to be true as well that I would hope and expect to see that before the Lord comes again there will be another final drenching outpouring of God's spirit as a latter rain.

[22:32] But this outpouring of his spirit this Pentecostal drenching we might say is not an end in itself. It is not just oh look the Lord's spirit isn't it wonderful we're all filled with it we're all so pouring out the spirit people have been converted in multitudes isn't it wonderful that's not an end in itself the end in itself is the Lord's kingdom the Lord's return the Lord coming to gather his people to himself of which the Pentecostal drenching or showers of blessing are just a means to an end as the rain is the means to the end of the harvest be ye also patient establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord gloweth nigh grudge not one against another brethren lest he be condemned you stand in judgment you know Matthew 7 verse 1 judge not that he be not judged don't condemn each other behold the judge standeth before the door now this is a uses the same

[23:38] Greek as Matthew 24 verse 33 which says likewise ye when ye shall see all these things know that it is near even at the doors notice it's plural there in Matthew but it's the same Greek here in James and correctly it should be doors plural what's the significance of that well if you think about it remember Psalm 24 you know be lifted up ye gates ye everlasting doors why are the doors everlasting why are they just there for a leaf while what's everlasting about them I would suggest to you that the doors the everlasting doors the gates at which the king of glory is about to enter in is in a sense the doors between time and eternity between that which is earthbound and that which is spiritual these doors are sometimes open a crack we are on the Mount of Transfiguration for example you see a little glimpse of heaven as though the curtain is drawn by but at the everlasting doors the threshold between time and eternity this is where the Lord stands we said behold I stand at the door and knock he is there as it were on the threshold it is an everlasting threshold as long as earth endures there will be a threshold between earth and time and heaven and eternity or hell and eternity as it might be and where is that threshold it is always there it is in a sense an invisible threshold but Christ is ever there as it were poised at the threshold ready to enter ready to come ready to gather souls to himself there the coming of the Lord draweth nigh the judge standeth at the door and this is one reason why we can't just say oh yeah it was 2000 years ago it's been ages now nothing's happened the threshold is still in place the threshold between time and eternity between earth and heaven is as near and as real and as ever present now as it was when James wrote these words

[25:43] Christ is still at that very door at that very threshold these everlasting doors are still there and these are the gates which are to be opened when the king of glory comes in I would suggest to you that this is an appropriate understanding of verse 9 the judge standeth before the door and by way of not grumbling one with a grudge not the senses of quiet moaning one to another not breaking out into complete and total anarchy or anger with each other but rather quiet sort of grumbling and having a moan at each other don't turn inward against each other is what he's saying here and sometimes the pressure of persecution or suffering might cause Christians to turn on each other might cause them to implode as it were you see how for example when there's a tragedy in a family let's say a child tragically dies or is seriously ill and then passes away often it may have a devastating effect on the marriage of the parents you know they worked through it together but then once the child is gone it's just it's not that they hate each other it's just that they have been so scarred and torn and wounded by what they've been through it's as if they almost have no other outlet for their anguish and it turns on each other and James is saying don't turn on each other grudge not one against another take the prophets as an example who've spoken in the name of the

[27:25] Lord an example of suffering affliction and patience and they go what are the prophets after supper when you think of any prophet that is any named at all in the Old Testament almost always those prophets encounter opposition they got persecution they got hassle they got resistance they got suffering because the message of the living God Jehovah is not popular with those who are content to have a little bit of religion but want everything earth banned and everything focused on this world and so when the living God pronounces his word through his servants it will be resisted and since they can't get at God they'll have a go at the servants instead take my brethren the prophets as who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and patience we count them happy which endure more properly it would be past tense which endured who did endure it would be more correctly so so we think for example in chapter 5 of Matthew verses 10 and 11 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven this is what they endure behold we come to have you have turned to the patience of job of seeing the end of the law the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy but above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay lest ye fall into condemnation now why is this such a problem well Jesus makes mention of it as well of course he makes mention of it in the sermon on the mount and he says that they shouldn't need to swear on an oath

[29:22] I say to you swear not at all Matthew 5 verse 34 neither by heaven for it is God's throne neither by the earth for it is his fruits too and of Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king neither shall thou swear by thy head because I canst not make one hair white or black but let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these come of evil now what does the Lord Jesus mean here what is James here they're both saying basically the same thing but that must also be said against the fact that in the Old Testament it says in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13 thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve them and shall swear by his name now I think how we should not reconcile but understand these two balanced positions is that the Christians themselves should have no needs to underscore or enhance or in any way guild what they say with calling down oaths or curses on what they say when you speak it should be the truth anyway you shouldn't have to embellish it when an oath or when a swear in the

[30:32] Lord's name I promise such and such is the case you shouldn't need that when you speak something it should be the truth when you say something it should be the truth you don't need to add oaths or curses or anything like that but there may come an occasion when a legitimate authority put in place by God lays an oath upon you such as for example the civil magistrate or the crown might if you're called as a witness in a court of law might say take the Bible in your right hand and read these words I swear by almighty God if you're going to swear at all or accept an oath that is laid upon you by a legitimate authority then it must be only in the name of the true God that's what Deuteronomy means don't swear by this God or that God or by Jerusalem or by heaven or by earth only in the name of the true living God and it would only be justified for a believer if it was laid upon them by somebody of superior jurisdiction whose authority was ordained by God such as the civil magistrate or a crown or perhaps a church authority remember how at Jesus trial when he didn't say a word and then finally a high priest said to him

[31:55] I adjure thee by the living God thou tell us whether thou be the Christ he laid an oath upon him such that if Jesus did not speak he would then be dishonoring not the high priest in that court he would be dishonoring the holy name which had been laid upon him as an oath and for honor of his father not out of deference to Caius he then spoke and said I am and you'll see the heaven open and the son of man seated at the right hand of glory so Jesus speaks and responds to this we have these last few verses here which I don't want to hurry but on the other hand I realise that our time has gone about being sick and afflicted and confessing of our faults one to another the long and the short of these verses is that if you are oppressed if you are in trouble if you're feeling the pressure of the outside world there is a right way to use your tongue to use your mouth and it is not to call down oaths or to use excessive language if you need to speak in the midst of affliction pray if you're filled with joy praise the

[33:10] Lord sing psalms that's the right use of it have you fallen sick then our legitimate authorities call for them ask them to pray over you this is what you're doing it's not like the Romish priests in the extreme unction where they don't expect any recovery but rather let him call for the end of the church let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord now oil was used in the ancient world both as a symbol of that which was sacred but also a symbol of healing and it's not so much the anointing as some people say rubbing with oil like almost an ointment a salve on that which was ailing that which was sore but it is the prayer of faith that would save the sick not the oil that would save him it is the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up what about those occasions where the Lord doesn't raise somebody up well clearly that is not the Lord's will to do so but you're going to believe that he will if you're going to ask to be raised up you're going to accept and believe that he will do it the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the

[34:19] Lord shall raise him up if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him now this is a reference to some sicknesses or illnesses would be as a result of things that people had done and it doesn't mean that all the symptoms will go away but it does mean the sins will be forgiven if they have committed them they'll confess their sins they'll be prayed over and if they've committed sins they shall be forgiven now confess your faults faults different word in the Greek as in English from sins one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed now it's not just I'll pray for you and then you'll be healed you pray for me and then I'll be healed but also there is a sense in which I think we should understand and pray for one another that you may be healed remember what it says about Job at the end chapter 42 verse 10 the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends so it's almost like when we are prepared to give out for others the Lord will have mercy upon us the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man available much it's no use us saying

[35:32] I'm not a righteous man or I'm not a righteous woman it's not going to work for me our righteousness is not in ourselves our righteousness is in Christ the Lord our righteousness if we are plugged into that power supply that is our righteousness that is our power we pray in the name of Jesus we pray in the name of Christ that is the power that heals or that changes or that awakens Elijah was a man just like us he had the same failings the same weaknesses the same sins but he prayed and he didn't pray and then he prayed again that day why did he do that why was he praying these things because he was praying God's judgment on Israel for its sin such was the idolatry and the paganism of Israel he prayed God's judgment on it the barrenness of the ground the lack of water the drought the famine that was the fruit the bitter fruit of the idolatry and then when he turned to the Lord again after the contest he prayed again the earth gave way not an end in itself and the earth brought forth her fruit the real blessing the fruit of the repentance if any of you are from the truth and one convert him you know direct him into the right parts let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death shall hide a multitude of sins the greatest gift we can give to anyone is to direct them into the path of

[37:07]  Christ to direct them into the right path whereby they shall not only be healed but the multitude of their sins will be covered by the blood will be hidden through the righteousness of Christ it is the greatest work any of us can ever be used by the Lord and it is the greatest way of giving up that we turn not in one upon another in bitterness and rivalry friends the time is short these are as James wrote the last days not because history may not go on for many hundreds of years yet but because the threshold the everlasting doors between time and eternity are there in place and the Lord stands poised ready at them with us pray for the end anything