The sermon 'Jehovah Tsidkenu: the Lord Our Righteousness' by Mike Davenport emphasizes the theme of righteousness through faith in Christ as opposed to self-righteousness derived from adherence to the law. Using Philippians 3 and the book of James, the speaker warns against relying on the flesh and highlights the dangers of overemphasizing sanctification at the expense of justification. The sermon underscores Jesus Christ's role as the ultimate example of righteousness, who, through His humility and obedience, offers salvation and righteousness to humanity. Emphasizing the need for believers to abide in Christ, the sermon encourages a life of faith characterized by humility, patience, and a commitment to embody the teachings of Jesus. It calls for reflection on one's faith, urging believers to rely on Christ's righteousness rather than their own works, and to live a life that reflects the love, mercy, and peace embodied by Jesus.

Philippians chapter 3 verses 1 through 9. Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things to you is not tedious but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoicing Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

Yet indeed I Also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. Speak to us, O Lord. May those ancient words be true today that, Lord, it's a righteousness that comes from you. Lord, those who are yours, may we not have confidence in the flesh. That's an abomination to you, Lord.

For you came and you died a sinless death, Lord. You didn't have to die, but yet you laid down your life. They didn't take away your life, but you laid it down for those whom you love. Lord may we leave here knowing something, knowing Lord, something of your love that you love us and may we be doers of your word and not put any confidence in the flesh. Speak to us as we prepare our hearts.

I pray that there would be ears that would hear today. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. I have a couple of questions that I would like for you to ponder. Can too much of a good thing ever be dangerous? Can something that is good for you ever be bad for you?

I would venture to say that Most of us in this room would be able to testify by experience at some point in our lives that the knowledge and the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs has been a blessing. But there are dangers involved with the taking of such prescribed medications. There is the possibility of overdose. There are possible side effects that might occur with the taking of the medication. And sometimes there are precautions that must be taken while on certain medications.

Well we've been working our way through the book of James for the last year. I was looking back, it was actually the 23rd of April, almost a week away, six days away or so from when we started. James is a practical book. It challenges us on so many levels. The author understands the human heart and as a true shepherd of souls he's been able to get to the hard to reach areas of our heart and expose our sins, our weaknesses, and our failures.

He has faithfully set before our eyes what a true life of faith looks like. As with the taking of medication, a good thing can become a dangerous thing. You see, coming out of the book of James, I have a fear of some overdosing of sanctification. And I mean by that an overemphasis on sanctification to the exclusion of our justification, an obsession with the works themselves. Our salvation rests on Christ and Christ alone.

We can come away from this study with the purpose to turn over a new leaf or to try harder, to buckle down and do the things James has brought to our attention. And the most needful thing is to abide in Christ, for abiding in Him, and that alone is the real pathway to a life of fruitfulness. I also fear the side effects that may appear. That is self-righteousness, an obsession with self, that that progress would be made in these exhortations of James, and that some here may rest their assurance in that progress or look down on others who have not quite progressed like they have. Carl Truman in his book about Luther that was published in conjunction with the Reformation, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, states the following, the task of the preacher, therefore, is to take the Bible and to do two things in every sermon, destroy self-righteousness and point hearers toward the alien external righteousness of Christ.

So my desire for us as a congregation is what was just read from Philippians 3, that we may be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. So it is my purpose this morning to walk us through the Epistle of James and to draw our attention to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is Jehovah-Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. So, look with me in James chapter 1. James, a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.

Greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. Jesus learned obedience through the sufferings that he underwent.

He suffered like no other man ever has or ever will. The days of his manhood here on earth were marked by the offering up of prayers and supplications, even with vehement cries and tears. He did not doubt His heavenly Father. He was not unstable. He was not double-minded.

It was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross, enduring such hostility at the hands of sinners, despising the shame that accompanied that suffering. But the greatest suffering he endured was the turning of his Father's face away from him as he became sin for his people. It was the bruising, the crushing he received from his Father's hand. Whatever you have suffered or may suffer, my Dear brother and sister, it is devoid of that. Your suffering comes with the smile of your Father's face, not His frown.

But God the Father did not despise nor abhor the affliction of the afflicted one. Though he turned away, he did not abandon his son. But when Jesus cried to his father, he heard him and he answered. Indeed, Jesus, in and through his suffering, was perfected, becoming the author of eternal salvation for all His people. James 1, 9 through 11, Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.

For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits." Consider Jesus. He was rich. He was rich. Yet he who was rich did not glory in his exaltation.

He did not consider it his equality with his father. He did not consider it as something to be held onto or grasped. But laying aside that place of exaltation, he became poor. Not for his own sake, but for our sakes he became poor, that we who are truly lowly might glory in the exaltation that comes to us through Him. He who was rich became like us, that we who are poor may partake of His glory and His riches.

Because He humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death on the cross, God, His Father, has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above all other names. The glory that Christ is given by His Father because of His humiliation, that glory Christ shares with His people. So our elder brother is exalted and we with him. Verse 12, blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Consider Jesus. Having entered into priesthood by way of His baptism, Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Our Father by birth, the first Adam, did not endure temptation. Being drawn away by his own desires, he plunged all of his posterity into eternal damnation, the death that comes when sin reaches full growth. But now, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, arises to face the temptations of the one who tempted our first Father.

The temptations are strong, and they are many. And they come to a weak, tired, and hungry man, a man tempted at all the same points we have been or could be tempted. See this glorious second Adam as he returns from the wilderness, the blessed man who has endured temptation. Indeed, He is approved by His Father, and He obtains the crown of life. And He procures this blessing not just for Himself, but also for all those who truly love Him.

We, dear ones, partake of the blessing that rests upon His endurance. Yes, From the giver of every good gift came the greatest gift that could ever be given, his own Son. This good gift, this perfect gift came down from above. The very light of the world descended from the Father of lights. And by the will of God, we become those who are brought to birth by the word of truth, becoming the first fruits of all his saving purposes.

Verse 19, so then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." Consider Jesus. While tabernacling among men, Jesus had the heart and the ear of a true disciple. Morning by morning, His ear was awakened by His father to hear as the learned.

He did not turn away from the word received. He was not rebellious as had been that first son Israel. Swift was he to hear. See him sitting there among the scholars and the doctors of his day, asking questions in order to hear and to receive the implanted word with meekness. See him as he returns with Mary and Joseph, submitting himself to them and to their God-given authority.

See him as he grows in wisdom and in favor with his Father and with men. See him as he gazes into the perfect law of liberty and sees what manner of man he is. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God." Here we have pure religion.

Here we have undefiled religion. God Himself descending, the uncreated one coming to tabernacle with the ones whom he himself created, the holy and undefiled one entering into his world, a world marred by sin and uncleanness. Behold what condescension. Chapter 2. My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place and say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder.

Now, if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, You have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Consider Jesus.

See this condescension of Spirit found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. How impartial are his dealings. He causes the sun to rise each morning on sinners and on saints. He sends rain to fall upon the just and on the unjust, his mercies to all mankind. They're new every morning.

Consider Jesus. Did any man ever love his neighbor like this man? He, the giver of the royal law, condescending not to simply love his neighbor, but condescending to love his enemies. See him as he makes the greatest sacrifice love can make, for no greater demonstration of love can be made than this man laying down his life. His love is a love without partiality.

He is the friend of the despised and of sinners. He associates with the lowly. He has mercy upon the foolish and upon the weak, upon the base. He extends good tidings to the poor. He heals the brokenhearted.

He proclaims liberty to those in captivity. He loosens those who are bound. He comforts all who mourn. He doesn't come with love for a specific kind of man. He extends it to the lowly, no impartiality.

Consider Jesus who hushes the law's loud thunder, who quenches Mount Sinai's flame, who rebukes the accuser of their brethren, and who satisfies divine justice and causes mercy to triumph over judgment. Verse 14 of chapter 2. What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith or can this faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body.

What does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God?

You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, O foolish man, what faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." Consider Jesus. Him who said, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.

In Him was fullness of faith and from Him flowed every good work. In salvation He takes our sins and His faith becomes ours. His righteousness becomes ours. His obedience becomes ours. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Grasp what it means that He is our propitiation and do not let it go. Because of that truth, the following words become your words in your mouth through Him who truthfully spoke them. Jesus said, I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. The way he looked at his Father's will becomes yours. He said, I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I speak these things.

The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him." We've gone through the book of James. Who among us can say, I always do the things that please God? But he did, and his obedience becomes ours. He says, I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work you have given me to do.

Our faith, our works are simply the evidences of our continuing sanctification which flow from the justification obtained through Christ's faith and works. Nothing more. Because of Christ, we are now called friends of God, yay, even more children of God. Chapter 3. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits into horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles? And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue.

It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. With it we Bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. Consider our Savior. Here indeed we find a perfect man who never stumbled in word, Never. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth, nor was any deceit in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return, And when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to the one who judges righteously. Consider Jesus. The words he spoke were like Fresh water, cool, refreshing water from a good spring.

They were words of blessing and not words of cursing. He did not speak his own words, but always spoke the words that his heavenly Father had spoken. His tongue was the tongue of the learned, knowing how to speak a word in season to those who are weary. Consider Jesus. Even his enemies who came to take hold of him came back and they admitted, no man, no man ever spoke like that man.

Rich words, heavenly words, pure words, life-giving words. His words were a tree of life. They were like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. They were like apples of gold in settings of silver. Verse 13 of chapter 3, who is wise in understanding among you?

Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, Do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." Consider Jesus. Indeed, there came forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch did grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord did rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The testimony of Luke informs us that the God-man grew in wisdom, a wisdom marked with purity, peaceableness, gentleness, humility, mercy, and goodness, a wisdom without the taint of partiality, without the taint of hypocrisy. It was such a wisdom, sown in peace, that gave him growing favor both with God and with men.

He came not into the world to seek His own ends. He came seeking to make peace. Indeed, He Himself is our peace. He came preaching peace to those who were far off and to those who were near, reconciling them both to God. Indeed, the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

For the government of His kingdom rests upon the shoulders of the Prince of Peace, and the increase of the peace of this kingdom will not end. Righteousness has been sown in peace by our Savior. There will be a harvest. Chapter 4, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members?

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously? Consider Jesus. Consider Him who condescends. Consider His great humility. He came as a bond servant.

He came and put on flesh. Rather than warring against his enemies, he laid down his life for them. See Him in that upper room, twelve pairs of dirty feet, filthy from traveling, two of those feet belonging to the one who would betray Him. See Him as He takes up the towel in the basin and begins to wash the feet of His disciples. Consider Jesus the One who always prays and never asks amiss.

When our Savior prays, He prays not for His own pleasure. He prays for those whom the Father gave to Him. He prays for the will of His Father to be done. He even prays for those who crucify Him. Consider Him who kept Himself unspotted from the world, who was free from the leaven of the religious leaders of his day.

Oh, he was in the world, but he was not part of it. He came not as a friend of the world. He came as a Savior of it. Verse 6, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up." Consider Jesus. He committed Himself to the will of the Father in all things, even committing His Spirit at the time of His death. His submission to the will of God and His resistance of the devil has opened up the way for sinners to draw near to God and God to draw near to sinners. Those who were far off have been indeed brought near by the blood of this great Savior.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, humble and repentant sinners can experience this cleansing of the deeds and the purification of their hearts. The humility of Christ was necessary for the propitiation of the sins for His people. And those who humble themselves to receive a righteousness not of themselves will be lifted up to God Himself. It's because of Jesus that we can do these things. Verses 11 and 12.

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Consider Jesus, this lawgiver who delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. He the lawgiver is the full, in the fullness of time, is sent by the Father. And in taking up a body and coming to earth, He is born under the very law that He delivered, the lawgiver born under the law, when He came, He did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He came as a doer of the law because we were not. Consider the plight of the world if Jesus had come to the world to indeed judge the world rather than fulfill the law on our account.

As the doer of the law, he the lawgiver is able to save to the uttermost all those who come to God through him. Verse 13, come now you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." Consider our Lord. From the Scriptures, Jesus truly learned and discerned the purpose for His life on earth. He was born to die.

He embraced the will of His Father as it unfolded before Him. His life upon earth, His life was truly a vapor. He was here for just a short time. He grew up before his father as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He was despised and rejected by men.

Man of Sorrows is a fitting title for this one, for he was well acquainted with grief. He was cut off from the land of the living. Here this glorious one, as he cries out, Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Praise God. Christ knew what He was to do, and He did it. He did not shrink back. He did it.

Our Savior, even in the weakness of His humanity, as He prayed there in the garden, He did not shrink back from the good He came to accomplish. He did His Father's will. Chapter 5. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire You have heaped up treasure in the last days Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you kept back by fraud cry out and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter you have condemned you have murdered the just he does not resist you You who are here today without Jesus Christ, consider that the very righteousness of this sinless sacrifice, that very righteousness is the glorious dress of the saint before the thrice holy God. And it's that very same righteousness that will be the standard by which God measures your words, your thoughts, and your actions. The righteousness which he imputes to his people will become your standard for his judgment. You see, He who is the Lamb, who is the sacrifice, it is He who becomes the Judge. The things that prop you up here and now will vanish on that day.

They will be as the moth-eaten garment. It will be as the precious silver that's not able to corrode on earth, but it will be as corroded in that day. And you will stand before God naked in your sins. All your righteousness will be counted as dirty rags on that day. Jehovah, sin kin you, the Lord our righteousness, He's your only hope.

He's your only hope. Verse 7, therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

But above all, my brethren, Do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no no, lest you fall into judgment." Christian brother, Christian Sister, as you run the race that God has called you to, run with patience. Run with endurance. Lighten your load that you may run well. Lay aside the things that weigh you down, worldly amusements, pet sins, idols of the heart, lay them aside. But above all, above all, consider Jesus.

Look to Jesus. Because of Him, your heart can be established. Consider Him. Because of His imputed righteousness that comes to us through His sacrifice, He is by virtue of that imputation the author and the finisher of our faith. Our faith begins with Him.

And bless His name as He comes again, our faith finishes with Him. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He is the vine. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Consider Jesus.

He is the reason, the very fulfillment of the precious promise given to us to be patient. He's the fulfillment of that promise to be patient. Indeed, we can be patient on account of the fact that He is coming again for His people. Yes, All the promises given to us, even the promise of His coming again for His bride, all these promises are in Christ. Yes.

And amen. Our yes might not be yes, my brother and sister. Our no might always be no. But Christ said, I'm coming again. And His yes is yes.

Verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick?

Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick 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. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain, on the land for three years and six months.

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." Consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. Yes, this is the one of whom we said earlier that he extends good tidings to the poor. He heals the brokenhearted.

He proclaims liberty to those in captivity. He loosens those who are bound. He comforts all who mourn. What reason, what encouragement do Christians have to pray? The righteousness of Christ.

What reason, what encouragement do Christians have in the singing of praise to God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Why is sickness even curable at all? How is confession of our sins even possible? It is all due to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Consider Jesus.

His effectual, fervent prayers avail much. They avail much. God the Father cannot turn a deaf ear to the mediatorial work of His beloved Son. Consider again those wonderful things in John 17 that Christ prayed for. The righteousness of Christ procured all of those things he prayed for in John 17.

And lastly, consider Jesus. Consider Him. Is this not what Christ has done for you? Turning a sinner from the error of His way? You see, we like sheep had gone astray.

Each one of us had turned aside to our own way. My brother, my sister, you were wandering from the truth when Jesus found you. You were running a hell-bound race. Running. Running a hellbound race.

Running, not walking, running under your own effort. You were expending effort running a hellbound race. You were indifferent to the cost. Your very soul headed for eternal damnation. But praise God, Jesus turned you, the sinner, from the error of your way.

He saved your soul from death, and in doing so, he covered a multitude of sins. Dear Christian, as you walk away from James, May your motivation to obedience and sanctification be an ever-growing love for the Lord Jesus Christ and the standing that you have before God through His blood and through His righteousness. But maybe you're here today and still in your sins. Maybe you're even striving to do the things that James has called us to do. Maybe you're trying to keep a stiff upper lip in your suffering.

Maybe you're trying to pull away from temptation and desires in your heart as much as you can. Maybe you're seeking to do outwardly what you hear, and maybe you're not showing as much favoritism, and you're trying to reach out to other people and maybe you're...the faith that you claim, you're trying to add works to it and maybe you're trying to guard your tongue and maybe you're trying to seek for wisdom outside of yourself and to get along with your brethren and to not be so proud. Maybe you're trying to not be so confident about the future. Maybe you're doing all of these things, but still in your sins. If that is the case with you, my friend, you have heard much today of the Savior Jesus Christ.

Whether you acknowledge it or not, you stand in need of His righteousness, The only righteousness that will satisfy divine wrath and justice. My prayer, my prayer is that Christ will pursue you and turn you from the error of your way. May God make the words of Robert Murray McShane, your own experience today. Jehovah said, can you? I once was a stranger to grace and to God.

I knew not my danger. I felt not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah's in Kenu meant nothing to me. Christ on the tree. Jehovah-tsen-kenu meant nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure to soothe or engage Isaiah's wild measure in John's simple page. But even when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree, Jehovah-tsen-kenu seemed nothing to me. Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll, I wept when waters went over his soul, yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree Jehovah's in Kenu. T'was nothing to me. Nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me by light from on high, then legal fears shook me. I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self could I see. Jehovah, sin, Kenu, My Savior must be. My terrors all vanished before the sweet name.

My guilty fear banished. With boldness I came to drink at the fountain, life-giving and free. Jehovah, send Kenu, is all thanks to me. Jehovah, send Kenu, my treasure and all things to me. Jehovah, Tz'enkenu, my treasure and boast.

Jehovah, Tz'enkenu, I ne'er can be lost. In thee shall I conquer by flood and by field, my cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield, even treading the valley. The shadow of death, this watchword shall rally my faltering breath. For a while from life's fever, my God sets me free. Jehovah, send Kenu, my death song shall be." Let us pray.

Though, Father, we ask that You would give us eyes to look away from ourselves, to look away from ourselves, to take our failures that we've seen over and over and over and over again in the book of James. And not to bear that load ourselves, for we will sink in the slough of despot. But help us to be lifted up by this sweet evangelist James to go to the wicked gate and to go through and to make our way to the cross of Jesus Christ and there to be set free from our failures and our sins and to grasp afresh the righteousness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who lived the perfect life, the obedience that was demanded, who died the death had we dared not die, who became sin for us that we might be made His righteousness, and give us grace to cast our souls afresh upon Him, and for those who have never done it, O God, seek them out. Pursue them, oh, a hound of heaven. Draw back sinners from the error of their waste, that we together as a congregation might be saved from death and that our sins might have a covering before you.

In Christ's name we pray, Amen.