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welcome to everyone for our call to worship you can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 116 Psalm 116 I'll begin reading in verse 1 I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications because he has inclined his ear to me therefore I will call upon him as long as I live the pains of death surrounded me and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me I found trouble in sorrow then I called upon the name of the Lord O Lord I implore you deliver my soul gracious is the Lord and righteous yes our God is merciful the Lord preserves the simple I was brought low and he saved me return to your rest O my soul for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you for you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living I believed therefore I spoke I am greatly afflicted I set in my haste all men are liars what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints o Lord truly I am your servant I am your servant the son of your maidservant you have loosed my bonds I will offer to you the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people in the courts of the Lord's house in the midst of you O Jerusalem praise the Lord amen will turn with me in your Trinity hymnal to him number 77 hymn number 77 will use the first tune and please stand [Music] excuse me well let us pray father in heaven we thank you for your graciousness and your mercy and your goodness we thank you that you are God Most High the one who is worthy to be praised and worshiped and glorified and we confess our sin to you and pray that you would forgive us so that we may be cleansed so that we may enter into the presence of the high king of heaven and that we may indeed worship you in spirit and in truth we're mindful of our inability we're mindful of our Lord's words when he set apart from me you can do nothing so we pray that we would know the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit as we gather together tonight to worship you are great and Living God we acknowledge Lord that you are the one who made the world the one who governs the world and the one who has redeemed as a lacked out of the world and in this we greatly rejoice we thank you that the Word of God encourages our hearts that we can call upon a God who hears our prayers and who answers the prayers of the upright we don't claim any uprightness in an are in and of ourselves but that righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to us how we praise you for that we would ask tonight that you would encourage and strengthen our hearts she would build us up in our most holy faith she would cause us to stand in awe and in wonder at the glorious God of heaven and earth we pray father that you would be pleased to look with favor upon all those in our local church who have needs we know there are many with physical trials and challenges and many with spiritual in fact all of us God struggle spiritually in terms of resisting temptation and pursuing holiness and righteousness and certainly we call upon you to enable us to press on in the good fight give us grace to resist the devil give us grace to resist our own remaining corruption give us grace to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts help us to to demonstrate and to manifest what a blood-bought community of believers looks like and our Father we pray she would indeed bless those with physical trials we pray for those who are suffering we pray for those who are in downcast state we pray that you'd encourage their hearts and always Lord God remind each and every one of us that though the outer man does decay the inner man is being renewed day by day we ask that you would be pleased to look with favor upon not only our church but other churches God we know that that there are the people of God throughout the earth men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation we thank you for those that we know and love and support in China and we ask that you would bless those brethren that are laboring in the word and in doctrine that are laboring in ministries of compassion and mercy father we pray that you would surround them and uphold them and and encourage them and use them for for good in that land we also pray our Father for believers in Turkey and in North Korea and in Iran and throughout the Middle East we know God it's so dangerous to be a blood-bought child of God in places like these and so we pray that you would strengthen your Saints she would grant them the grace to persevere give them opportunity to testify concerning the glory of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and in particular we pray for pastor Brunson we ask God that on the 7th of May when his trial resumes we pray that he would be acquitted we pray that he'd be able to return home to the United States to his family we ask Lord God that you would be his portion at this time she would encourage his heart and cause him not to lose heart cause him to be looking unto you and to your promises and to the realization that you cause all things to work work for good to those who love you to those who are the called according to your purpose bless him we pray and look with favor upon him we also thank you for the the Saints at the Surrey Reformed Baptist Church we pray for that flock that you would continue to uphold them and encourage them we pray that as they gather together their worship services would be marked by the presence of God the gospel would be preached that sinners would be saved that the Saints would be more and more conformed under the image the Lord Jesus be with Pastor Mike give him grace to be faithful help him to rightly handle the word of truth and give him the opportunity to continue to point sinners to that Lord Jesus Christ in whom alone there is salvation we ask that you would be pleased O Father to have mercy upon those in the governing authority authorities we know that this is a position that requires a great deal of wisdom we know the Apostle tells us that we are to pray for kings and all who are in authority and so we pray tonight first and foremost that men and women holding office would indeed bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ that they would confess him as Lord and Savior that they would show commitment to the Word of God that righteousness and that that justice that is the foundation of the throne of God may these things be marks of their own their own ministry but if they will not repent if they do not bend the knee we pray to you to restrain them from further acts of corruption and madness God our hearts ache when we see abortion and euthanasia and sodomy not only legal but subsidized encouraged and and and although all around celebrated we pray that in your wrath you would remember mercy and that you would change the hearts of sinners in this land caused us to see the wickedness and the wretchedness of such things caused us to cry out to you God Most High to intervene in such a thing and we would pray that one day these things would be criminalized that these things would be seen for the evil acts in which they are that father you would be merciful to this land and throughout the earth Lord God we have the shoreward of the the psalmist in psalm 46 we are to be still we are to know that you are God that you will be exalted among the nations and you will be exalted in the earth and in this we greatly rejoice again forgive us for our sins and our transgressions fill us with your holy spirit and receive our worship now so we come through the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray in his most blessed name Amen well please turn with me now to your Trinity hymnal again to number 533 five 33 will stand as we sing together [Music] amen well you can turn in your Bibles to the Prophet Amos for our scripture reading this evening Amos chapter 8 remember the Prophet is upbraiding the northern kingdom for their sin against God the rejection of his law their violation of the Covenant stipulation that they had entered into and so Amos is prophesying judgment upon them and will pick up reading in Amos chapter 8 at verse 1 thus the Lord God showed me behold a basket of summer fruit and he said Amos what do you see so I said a basket of summer fruit then the Lord said to me the end has come upon my people Israel I will not pass by them any more and the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day says the Lord God many dead bodies everywhere they shall be thrown out in silence hear this you swallow up the needy and make the poor of the land fail saying when will the new moon be passed that we that we may sell grain and the Sabbath that we may trade wheat making the ephah small and the shekel large falsifying the scales by deceit that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals even sell the bad wheat the Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob surely I will never forget any of their works shall the land not tremble for this and every one morn who dwells in it all of it shall swell like the river he even subside like the river of Egypt and it shall come to pass and that day says the Lord God that I will make the Sun go down at noon and I will darken the earth in broad daylight I will turn your feasts in the morning and all your songs into lamentation I will bring sackcloth on every waste and baldness on every head I will make it like morning for an only Son and it's end like a bitter day behold the days are coming says the Lord God that I will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord they shall wander from sea to see and from north to east they shall run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord that shall not find it in that day the fair virgins and strong young men shall faint from thirst those who swear by the sin of Samaria who say as your God lives Oh Dan and as the way a Beersheba lives they shall never they shall fall and never rise again amen so as I said it's a prophecy concerning the judgment of the Northern Kingdom the fact that they had indeed violated God's covenant order God's law and they were now reaping the curses associated with that particular conduct and we see specifically God's threatened judgment in verses 11 and 12 behold the days are coming says the Lord God that I will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord that is the most severe threat that God could make to them because the people of Israel had always enjoyed the presence of prophets well as they enter into the judgment of God they will no longer hear from God they will be cut off from the revelatory Word and they will be left to wander from sea to sea north to east they shall run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord but shall not find it think we as God's people in the 21st century need to take heed the best thing that we have is the Word of God the most wonderful blessing that the Lord has given us is his revealed word we ought to treasure it we ought to prize it we ought to read it both as or in our families as individuals and in families and as well we ought to be in churches where that word of God is proclaimed it is a great blessing we ought not to take it lightly we ought to delight ourselves in that word well let us pray our Father we thank you for the written word we thank you for Genesis to Revelation we thank you that it is indeed a god-breathed book that it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness and may we prize it may we delight in it may we say with the psalmist that it's more more desirable than much fine gold may you give us the and the desire and the power of the Holy Spirit to be those who indeed love the word of truth to hear it read to read it for ourselves to read it to our children to take it up in preaching father give us grace to be a people of the book and we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well you can turn for our final hem to number 419 number 419 again we'll stand as we sing together [Music] well please turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 5 James chapter 5 mentioned last week that this section in verses 13 to 18 is an exhortation to pray we took up the first part verses 13 to 15 will take up 16 to 18 this evening so i'll read verses 13 to 18 is anyone among you suffering let him pray there's 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 in six months and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit amen let us ask God's help as we look to this section father we pray for the spirit now to guide us as we look at these verses help us to be a prayerful people the people not only of the book but a people who come to the Lord God in prayer we know it's a blessed privilege that we have the ear of the high king of heaven as the psalmist said I love the Lord because he heard the voice of my supplication God may we treasure these gifts that you've given us and may we utilize them for your glory and for our well-being so often we do falter and so often we do stumble and so often we do struggle because we are lazy and we fail to use those things that you have given you've blessed us with the written record of your word and you have blessed us with an avenue to come to you through the the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit certainly we would be fools to not utilize these great resources and I pray that you would encourage our hearts as we look at this passage encourage and strengthen us and conform us evermore unto the image of your son the Lord Jesus Christ we ask in his most blessed name amen last night or last time we saw where the Apollo gives this exhortation of Prayer and he says first of all the individual at prayer in verse 13 as anyone among you suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let him sing songs this pretty much encompasses all that the people of God will go through there is suffering to be had in the Christian life and there is cheerfulness to be had in the Christian life and the one thing that is consistent whatever our station our a lot we need to be faithful in prayer to God if we're suffering we ought to be praying if we are cheerful we ought to be singing Psalms not forgetting God but acknowledging the fact that he has blessed us with these good gifts and then he highlights the elders at prayer and the reference in verses 14 to 15 if anyone is sick among you let him call for the elders of the church and the elders prayer is what's on particularly noted there not the prayer of the sick man it's not the faith of the sick man rather it's the prayer and the faith of the man that are praying for the sick man and now he moves to the brothers at prayer in verse 16 he gives us encouragement he gives us exhortation on how we are to deal with one another and how we are to pray so there's the exhortation to pray verses 15 up to verse 16 and then the example of prayers where we'll end tonight on Elisha the prophet so let's look first at the brothers at prayer in verse 16 he says 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 now there is in some versions of the Bible sort of a connecting word might say in verse 16 therefore confess your trespasses to one another that connecting particle is left out of the New King James thus indicating not a lot of connection between the two sections if the therefore is so to be there it does show connection between the instructions in verses 14 and 15 with verse 16 I think the reference at the end of verse 16 are the first Clause of verse 16 in terms of being healed does connect us to what has preceded in verses 14 and 15 so in other words what James says concerning the prayer of faith for the sick man if he has committed sins he will be forgiven then leads naturally to this ethic that ought to prevail among the people of God in the church as a whole confess your sins or trespasses are therefore confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed so this confession of sin it's not the Roman Catholic practice of the confession of sin those of you who were brought up Catholic or those of you who have some understanding of Catholicism essentially their idea of this particular tax is to have a sort of box set up in the church somewhere where persons come in and they kneel down and they say to the priest bless me Father for I have sinned it has been two months since my last confession and then the father asks him what his sins are he then goes to confess his sins and then the punishment is rendered and the punishment of the penance is rendered he has to go pray that's the sort of thing that you meet with in Roman Catholicism that's the punishment you need to go out and pray it's a great lesson to teach your people that prayer is a form of punishment it's a great lesson and encouragement to try and get the people of God to pray I'm going to make you say these things as penance for your many sins that's what confession is in the Roman Catholic Church that's not what this text is specifying he says confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed I don't think this tax demands special accountability groups where we get together on a Thursday night and dump out our laundry list of sins that we have done in the previous days I don't think this tax demands special church services where one person comes up and dumps their laundry list of sins you know from the previous week the text does not necessitate any sort of a formal confession one with another but it speaks to the prevailing attitude that the people of God ought to have when they live with one another confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another the idea is is that we're going to sin against each other how do we deal with it when we sin against each other do we pretend that we didn't sin do we act like we never sinned do we get offended at the thought that we said no we confess our trespasses to one another we maintain short accounts with God and with men we try to do this in our families I hope that husbands and wives are confessing their trespasses to one another again not everything we don't need to say no every time we drop a sock or every time we we burn a meal we have to enter into this confession of a particular trespass but those sins that hurt our spouse we ought to confess it to that in the context of Christ Church we're going to sin against each other we see that in Matthew 18 if anyone sins or if your brother sins against you go to him if he hears you you have gained your brother brethren we need to deal faithfully and honestly and openly with one another and not pretend that we don't sin we most certainly do sin that the emphasis of the the pressure of this tax calls upon us to deal with that sin confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another if you sin against one another James says deal with it deal with it be faithful one with another and as I've often reminded you the two avenues that we have in Scripture actually three three ways to deal with one another when we sin against one another and they certainly have connection to what James says here confess your trespasses to one another if I am offering my sacrifice to the Lord and there at the altar I remember that my brother has a problem with me I'm supposed to first go and be reconciled with it other words I'm not supposed to go for vertical worship until I've cleaned up horizontal relationships if they're at the altar I remember my brother has a problem I go and I fix it secondly Matthew 18 if your brother sins against you disown him depart from him have nothing to do with them write him off of your you know Christmas card les have no interaction that's not what mady's a-- says if your brother sins against you go to him tell him his fault between you and him if he hears you you have gained your brother not publicize it not Facebook it not tweet it not tell the prayer meeting please pray for my relationship with brother so-and-so because he's really acting like a jerk don't do that brethren tell him his fault between him and you if he hears you you have gained your brother if he doesn't then take two or three witnesses if he refuses to hear the two or three witnesses then tell it to the church if he refuses to hear the church then let him be to you a heathen and a tax collector you see those are the ways we deal with sin we don't go on letter-writing campaigns we don't try to speak ill of others we simply deal we'd go to people that we don't have a problem with us we go to people that have sinned against us and then there's of course first Peter let love cover a multitude of sins that's always an option you're always free to do that you're always able to recognize man I've sinned you know a world against God and he's forgiven me this particular person my wife my husband a brother somebody that I love and I'm deeply invested in sins against me a little bit maybe I can just let love cover a multitude of sins you see those are the options and James highlights that within the context of the local church we ought to confess our trespasses to one another if we offend one another we need to confess that sin we need to ask for forgiveness John Gill not taking the Roman Catholic view in fact we're denouncing it he says with reference to this text which must be understood of sins committed against one another which should be acknowledged in repentance for them declared in order to mutual forgiveness and reconciliation and this is necessary at all times and especially on beds of affliction again working under the context of a 14 and 15 with a sick man is on this bed of affliction what better time to deal with your sin than when you're on a bed of affliction what better time to get well it's always a good time to deal with your sin but on your bed of affliction if you're about to exit this world you ought to by the grace of God try and clean up your relationships he goes on to say this is necessary at all times and especially on beds of affliction and when death and eternity seem near approaching wherefore this makes nothing for auricular confession used by the Papists auricular simply means the what I described before the the penitent coming to the priest confessing his sins and then being penalized by having to pray now notice the encouragement James gives us confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the idea being is that the church is encouraged to deal with their sin and to pray for one another so that a general overall health will pervade the body of Christ yes physical to be sure but as well spiritual spiritual health is something that the church should demonstrate spiritual health is something that we ought to manifest in the way to get that spiritual health is by dealing faithfully with one another and by praying for one another now James has treated the individual at prayer verse 13 and the elders at prayer verses 14 and 15 now he's calling upon all of us you see it's the responsibility of each of God's people to intercede for God's people that's not just a pastoral practice it's not just the elders that ought to be praying for the congregation it's the duty it's the responsibility and yeah I say it's the privilege of God's people to pray for God's people confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another intercessory prayer is a most blessed thing you know what one of the most blessed things about intercessory prayer is is it gets your mind and heart off of your self and puts it on somebody else that's always when when because we are far too selfish far too narcissistic far too self-centered and so when we actually think about the glory of God and the good of others and we direct our prayers toward the glory of God and the good of others at least for that brief compass of the day were not consumed with ourselves it's a blessed place to be not consumed with ourselves pray for one another emails go out prayer announcements are made we have a prayer meeting every other Sunday morning we have a prayer meeting every Wednesday night we pray for people by name we bring their petitions to the throne of grace we are to pray for one another it's amazing to me how often we denigrate the place of corporate prayer in the life of Christ Church the Apostle Paul when he deals with Timothy on conduct in the house of God in first Timothy chapter 2 he says for first of all I exhort that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and all who are in authority it's a beautiful thing when Paul writes on how we ought to conduct ourselves in the house of God and he's going to deal with the conduct of men at worship the conduct of women at worship the qualifications for elders the qualification for deacons he says all this in first Timothy chapter 3 these things I write to you so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God which is the Church of the Living God the pillar and ground of the truth in other words the church isn't a free-for-all we don't get to just come in and do whatever it is we want we don't get to come in and just lie down and come in and entertain but rather we must obey what God's Word says but beginning that list is first of all I exhort that prayer supplications intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men in other words the church ought to be a praying people the church ought to be dependent upon the word ought to be students of the word and ought to be a people that pray to God Most High pray for one other intercession is a wonderful thing certainly it gets your eyes off of you but it also helps the people here praying for to that's sort of the primary goal I was just giving that corollary because I think it's most important for us to try in a day to stop looking itself to stop being consumed with self I've said before that a man I read said that when they finally discover the center of the universe a lot of people are going to be surprised that they're not there and I agree with that so intercession for others is absolutely crucial confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed now note he says the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much we ought to identify this pray earth who is this righteous man we have this category of righteous man we think super Saint that's not what James is telling us not just a handful of dudes in the church that pray Oh take it to the righteous man because they can pray take it to the righteous man because they can intercede take it to the righteous man because they know what they're doing at the throne of grace who's a righteous man according to the New Testament well and the Old Testament as well those who are justified by faith alone abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become what the righteousness of God in him 2nd Corinthians 5:21 he has been made unto us righteousness from God James is not saying there's a class of righteous men in the church that do the heavy lifting with reference to prayer all of us are righteous man all of us who confess faith in Jesus Christ all of us who by God's grace are called out of darkness into marvelous light all of us who own him as Lord and Savior are righteous men and that's what we need to understand Thomas Manton says it is meant of a man righteous in Christ justified by faith John Gill but of the righteous man who is justified by the righteousness of Christ and how the truth of grace in him and live soberly and righteously it's not a category of super saint it's not a category of the extra special among us if you are in Christ you are a righteous man and your effective fervent prayer avails much again that's a great encouragement I mean it's like James's say I want you to pray and I'm gonna give you it like a thousand reasons why you should the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much what's the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man it means that man who's justified freely by grace has by grace the ear of God he takes his petitions to the throne of grace believing that God hears him and believing that God is going to answer that's what effective fervent prayer is it's not doubting it's not being tossed to and fro it's not being double-minded remember James condemns that mindset over and over again in his book in fact look at James 1 for just a moment James chapter 1 verse 5 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 you see we need to engage in effective fervent prayer that simply means that we believe who God is we believe what his promises stipulate and we believe that he hears us when we pray now in terms of this fervency or we might translate earnestness this sort of importunate nests i think there's a great illustration in Luke 18 this idea of you know coming to God frequently now we're not to be like the heathen who think that they'll be heard for their vain repetition their many words somehow secures the ear of Yahweh and gets what they want that that's not what we are taught but there is a sense brethren where we need to come to God in a manner that is consistent with faith we'll see as we look at the example of Elijah there times when God answers just like that other times when he doesn't Mount Carmel Elijah prays God sends fire then Elijah prays for rain and it takes like seven times until they see this small cloud like a man's fist and then it ultimately you know the Dex the sky and brings the rain that God had promised you see we don't know how and when God is going to answer prayer and this idea that you know I prayed and you know God just didn't answer so I gave up well the importunate widow in Luke 18 teaches us that we ought not to give up notice in Luke 18:1 that he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart saying there wasn't a certain City a judge who did not fear God nor regard man that's just Jesus telling us what kind of character we're dealing with he's just a red she's there's nothing good about this particular man he doesn't fear God he doesn't regard man so as we move through the narrative of the parable here the amazing thing is that this guy who just is terrible actually does the right thing he actually does the right thing how much more will God who's not a terrible miserable wretch do the right thing there wasn't a certain City a judge who did not fear God nor regard man now there was a widow in that city in that city and she came to him saying get justice for me from my adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though I do not fear God nor regard man will give him credit he's a self-conscious wretch he knows he's got an accurate assessment he knows I don't fear God he knows I don't regard man I mean at least he has some honesty they're not like a lot of us that tries to be other he says though I do not fear God nor regard man man yet because this Widow troubles me I will avenge her last by her continual coming she weary me then the Lord said hear what the unjust judge said and shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he bears long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the Son of Man comes will he really find faith on the earth so I think as we look here at James 5 the effective fer prayer of a righteous man avails much we have the righteousness of Christ we fulfill the obligation in terms of who can pray in terms of the effectiveness and fervency of our prayer it's effective because of who God is not ultimately because of us or how we pray this idea of earnestness or fervency let the importunate Widow speak to you let you or let your your mind focus upon what Jesus said to that woman shall not or what the unjust judge said in terms of rendering the verdict and shall not dot avenges own elect that's the kind of praying that the people of God ought to be about so that is the exhortation to pray verses 13 to 16 let's look at the example of prayer finally in verses 17 to 18 with reference to Elijah now notice in verse 17 at the very beginning says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours I would submit that there are two Elijah's in the Bible not the Old Testament New Testament 1 John the Baptist was the New Testament Elijah but the same man comes across as 2 men again not in some odd weird way but we learn about Elijah as a larger-than-life character and then we learn of Elijah as a man with like passions as us character notice that James is not encouraging us to focus on Elijah as larger-than-life he's telling us to focus on Elijah as a man with like passions that's the literal a same same nature does the job but it's literally like passions he's a like passioned man with us consider the larger-than-life Elijah he was sustained by Ravens at the brook cherith 1st Kings 17 he was instrumental in raising a widow's son he called down fire from heaven at mark Mount Carmel and defeated the prophets of bale in first Kings 18 you see larger-than-life Elijah he went 40 days in the strength of one meal in first Kings chapter 19 he brought down fire or rather called down fire to consume the soldiers of King Ziya on two separate occasions and when he was taken up into heaven it was via a whirlwind larger than life Elijah the Jain says I don't want you to think about that I want you to identify with Elijah who suffered I want you to identify with Elijah who struggled I want you to look at Elijah who ran from Jezebel after witnessing this great victory on Mount Carmel he actually runs flees from Jezebel and then in nineteen four of first kings he actually despondently under the broom tree asks God to take his life that's not suicide he doesn't actually take his life but he essentially says Lord I can't continue anymore would you please take me from the scene and then we see that Elijah is brokenhearted and agonizing over the the behavior the idolatry rather of the nation of Israel this is what drives his despondency in his sorrow its covenant breaking Israel you see James says I want you to consider that Elijah not super Elijah the regular guy Elijah you need that encouragement when it comes to prayer because prayer isn't undertaken by a class of super Saints but it's undertaken by regular ordinary normal god-fearing people this is James's point he says Elijah was a man with the nature like ours Calvin says lest anyone should object and say that we are far distant from the dignity of Elijah he places him in our own rank by saying that he was a mortal man and subject to the same passions with ourselves you all see that right he's not saying be like Elijah who called down fire on Mount Carmel be like Elijah who raised the widow's son be that's not what he's doing brethren and it occurs to me that so often preaching and in conferences that's exactly how the the minister approaches a you need to be like an elijah supernatural in power at the throne of grace you need to be a John Knox prevailing mightily at the throne of grace you need to pray the prayers of Ch Spurgeon at the throne of grace can't I just pray my regular normal ordinary guy prayers I think this keeps men silent our prayer meetings because they think well I don't have the flowery language I don't have the facility and the ability I don't pray like so and so so I'm just not going to pray man I invite you to pray open your mouths unto God and pray you don't have to have flowery language you don't have to have had to have gone to seminary you don't need a Bible degree you simply need to open your mouth it's a beautiful thing you just open it now it comes words and you direct them to the Lord God Most High that's effective fervent prayer of a righteous man that does avail much the the James does not tell us to identify with Elijah the supernatural man of God at the throne of grace no he's a man of like passions back to Calvin he says for we profit less by the examples of saints because we imagine them to have been half gods or heroes who had peculiar intercourse with God so that because they were heard we receive no confidence there's no confidence concerning you no supernatural idea that doesn't help us yeah I mean he was Elijah he was the tishbite he was sent by God to answer to the wickedness of Ahab king of Israel how does that help me that is precisely why James says he's a man of like passions there's nothing a lot Elisha narratives to convince you of that and to show you that he says in order to shake off this heathen and profane superstition this idea that we need to pray like the super saying we need to be like the super Saint we need to adopt their mindset their mentalities their prayers and we need to go to the throne of grace like that no Calvin's absolutely right in order to shake off this heathen and profane superstition reminds us that the Saints ought to be considered as having the infirmity of the flesh you see when God answers Elijah's prayers it's not because of Elijah this is the point this is what James wants you to get it's not because he was the tishbite it's not because he occupied a specific role in redemptive history it wasn't because he was the enemy of all things bail and would labor to root it out of Israel because God is most high god hears the prayers of the upright and God answers those prayers you see we are in league with a whole host of men and women that have prevailed at the throne of grace that are beset with the infirmity of the flesh he says so that we may learn to ascribe what they obtained from the Lord not to the merits not to their merits but to the efficacy of prayer I mean James couldn't have used a better example here not that he needs me to say good job James but good job James it is fantastic Elijah was a man with a nature like ours now notice he highlights the specific prayer he prayed earnestly that it would not rain we should probably set first Kings before us you can turn back there to first Kings 17 first Kings chapter 17 so James is conspicuous he says anyone and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months now when we meet Elijah in 17 1 and Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall not be dune or rain these years except at my word now remember from those or for those who were there on the Wednesday night Bible study this was God's divine response to a group of wicked kings the wickedest of them all had just occupied the throne remember what Ahab does a hab marries that in a woman of the air Jezebel and he coops the the bail ism of the the pagans and he actually brings it he brings it right into the confines of Israel a hab is a wretch he's a bad bad man and yet first King 17:1 herein is Elijah and notice there's no well I want to introduce to you now this man called Elijah the Tishbite he hails from Tishbite and he has a wife and he has four that's not the author's desire he wants to show that when wickedness prevails God has his man and Elijah is that man and Elijah comes and he stands before a hab and he tells to Eddie tells him the way he describes us the middle of verse one as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand is that a great way to characterize your life as a believer before whom I stand he's conscious of the fact that he stands before Yahweh of Israel then he says there shall not be dune or rain these years except that my word now doesn't say that he prayed thus but we can infer that he did in fact pray thus as he pronounces this judgment which was in fact a judgment according to Deuteronomy 11 and Deuteronomy 28 God would send drought if the people broke their covenant responsibilities so Elijah is functioning as God's prosecuting attorney Elijah prays that God will bring this drought to bear upon the people it has a peculiar reference to BHEL BHEL if you'll remember was the storm three and a half years doesn't look like bales doing his job if you are living in drought one might wonder where is bail if bales job is to send rain and we haven't had rain for three and a half years bail must be away now there were a class of bail apologists defenders of bail and they would define it this way they would say that during the dry season bail submitted to Mott he was the god of death and that eventually a gnat the sister of bail would bring back bail and defeat Maude presumably when it started raining again that's when you would explain it that way in proven comments it is Yahweh and not bail who brings fertility it is the Lord's presence in judgment that leads to infertility rather than his absence in death so you see that's the setting that's the stage and that is why the Prophet Cobbs and brings this judgment to bear the people of God had gone a whoring from God and they had entertained bail ISM now notice James continues and tells us that he then prayed for rain he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit you can turn over to first Kings 18 the end of the chapter first Kings chapter 18 notice in verse 41 this is after the contest at Carmel was literally a god contest remember the particular scene the prophets of bale were to pony up they were to present their sacrifice call upon bail have him consume bail obviously failed because there ain't no such thing as bail and then Elijah ponies up his sacrifice offers a simple prayer to Yahweh and Yahweh sends fire down not only to consume the sacrifice but everything in the surrounding vicinity and now Elijah comes to pray for rain notice in verse 41 Elijah said to ahab go up eat and drink for there is the sound of abundance of rain this evidence is something that I just brought out a little while ago with reference to prayer now he was a like passion man with us he's not super Elijah here but he does exhibit faith here doesn't see we need faith that faith at the throne of grace we need faith at the throne of grace there's a general sort of or sort of overarching statement concerning God giving reign in first Kings eight first Kings chapter eight it's when Solomon is dedicating the temple and he says if your people humble themselves if they pray then you will send rain upon that but there's a specific word in first Kings 18 where God told Elisha that he was going to send rain so verse 41 is an expression not simply of an instruction to Ahab but it's an expression of Elijah's faith go make ready go get your feast ready why because there's going to be an abundance of rain he enters into the closet in the state of faith he doesn't enter in doubting he doesn't enter in wavering he doesn't enter in with a lack of confidence but he knows of the truth that God has promised trained he has told a hab to go and prepare the feast and now verse 42 it says Ahab went up to eat and drink and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees and said to his servant go up now look toward the sea the text does not mention that he prayed but I think it's obvious his posture his conduct he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees John Gill says this is expressive as of his humility and of his earnestness and vehement desire and continued importunity that rain might fall for this was a posture of Prayer he put himself into and continued in and it is certain that it was through his prayer that rain came James 5:18 Manton says when God meaneth to bestow blessings he stirreth up the hearts of the people to pray for them you see this is the place where the like us man Elijah goes to the God of heaven and earth with a very big request mind you now for most of us our prayers are going to fall short of actually praying for rain now I realize that we could pray that we're farmers or farming community it's not wrong to pray for rain it's not wrong to pray for a sunny day it's not wrong to do that I'm not condemning anybody to pray for a sunny day or to pray for rain but brethren it's a little bit different I think you'll see us saying God please send rain to help the farmers in Chilliwack that's definitely a good thing we ought to remember that but you know the the livelihood of an entire nation is on the line after a three and a half year drought and so the bigness of his petition and the fact that God answers really ought to encourage us you know God helped me get through this day takes on sort of new shape and in light of this petition here we need to pray and understand that God is indeed for us and he instructs his servant he tells the servant go up now look toward the sea verse 43 he went up and looked and said there is nothing in seven times he said go again then it came to pass the seventh time that he said there is a cloud as small as a man's and rising out of the sea so he said go up Ceyda a up preparing a chariot and go down before the rain stops you now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and when and there was a heavy rain so ahab rode away and went to Jezreel then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel you see that's what James encourages us with in terms of our prayer effective fervent praying looks like what Elijah does here not supernatural Elijah but rather man like us Elijah we are righteous in Christ we therefore have the ear of God and we therefore ought to be a people of Prayer as individuals as elders and as brethren in the context of the church to quote moti r again from last week in a word James urges that all of life should be lived with immediate reference to God bringing its joys to him in praise and it sorrows to him in prayer the contrasting states a physical ill and spiritual ill are undoubtedly meant to embrace every distress which may come our way so in conclusion of the whole we have this exhortation there's a sa bi rile and it says do you pray and in the space of that si it's probably I don't know and print like that he hammers the reader do you pray I mean do you pray I'm not asking you to raise your hand right now and say yes pastor I pray but ask yourself do you pray if prayer is so important as we see from the beginning to the end of the written revelation of God are we a prayerful people are we prayerful in our corporate meetings are we prayerful in our closets are we prayerful at the family altar are we a people who in every circumstance in every condition in every situation pray when we're suffering do we pray when we're cheerful do we pray when we're sick do we call for people to pray as elders are we praying as the people of God are we praying for one another do you ever intercede for one another are your prayers continually and only concerned with your own needs I'm not bashing I'm not you know hitting or not you know coming down on you I'm thankful that you are praying the brother made me expand it a little bit pray for your spouse pray for your kids pray for your pastor pray for the you know brothers in the church pray for Mike and Sri pray for Andrew Brunson in Turkey pray get your mind focused on the bigger picture it's a beautiful thing to get some perspective and prayer is a great means by which we are able to do that secondly there is the the statement concerning the efficacy of prayer in the passage the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much I think I've shared with you before the times when we as God's people say well all we can do now is pray all we can do now is pray that's almost as bad as the paper saying go onto the pew and pray as your punishment for all that list of sins all we can do is pray it says the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much sounds like some degree of power that we possess not in some weird Word of Faith mindset but with reference to we have access to God we get to call upon Yahweh he hears us and we can be assured that he answers us consistent with his will we have the exhortation we have the efficacy stated we have the example you know in Elijah the prophet prayer when we look at Elijah the Prophet was the lifeblood of his ministry he was in fact a man of prayer it was grounded in his confidence in God again that's where we need to be brethren prayer without faith is just you know doubting it's gonna be wavering you're gonna be tossed to and fro we need to believe not only that God is Hebrews 11:6 but that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him we need to have faith at the throne of grace as well with reference to Elijah it is marked by humility you know the man on carmel who mocked the prophets of bale he mocked them when he comes before Yahweh in verse 42 what does he do he bow before God he he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God you mean it's actually possible for somebody to both be humble and bash false prophets yeah you can do it Elijah did it we ought to imitate him and when he bashed the prophets of Bale it wasn't physical I always feel like I need to qualify that now in light of you know extremism but it was pointed and it was dare I say funny just funny where he's sure God had see in the bathroom is he on a holiday is he sleeping I mean I just had this picture of Elijah's slapping his knee while he's saying this to them he didn't speak it in Shakespearean prose he wasn't polished orator he was mocking false prophets he was saying your God isn't real your God is a fake your God is a fraud your God is not going to answer it by fire Elijah however was a humble man and then it is an expression of his faith prayer and then finally it is answered differently differently than his prayer on Carmel that earlier in 1836 and 37 when he's on Carmel combating the profits of bail he prays to Yahweh God sends this fire the fact that he sends his servant seven times to see the clouds indicates that it took a little bit longer Davis makes the observation and this I think is most helpful because as we pray as we're God's people and we pray there are times when God answers right away there's other times where God does not answer right away and we think that there's some sort of some sort of thing missing in our formula well you know that time I prayed I was wearing my lucky shirt God heard he answered right away I'll duplicate that every time I go to the throne of grace so that he'll hear right away that's not our sovereign God he's free to answer immediately he's free to answer in 20 years Davis makes this observation he answered Elijah immediately in one case verses 36 and 38 38 and apparently after extended pleading in another in another case he will refuse Elijah's request altogether 19 for we can praise God that he said no to that particular prayer when he asks that God take him notice God's answer there was no I'm not gonna take you you've got work to do there's 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to bail you need to be faithful and you need to preach and you need to prophesy and you need to be the man I made you to be in another case you will refuse Elijah's request altogether so you see that sometimes it's lengthy sometimes it's immediate sometimes it's not the answer we want why is this so surprising to us as prayer's why aren't we prepared for the sovereignty of God when it comes to prayer why do we become bail lists at the throne of grace why do we think that if we pop in the prayers God's gonna spit out the blessing why do we treat the Lord as if he's a vending machine we put in 75 cents well well get a buck and a half now and out comes the coke why do we think that why are we not better taught that God's will reign supreme that he is sovereign sometimes he immediately answers sometimes he might make you wait and other times he might give you a big fat no when your desire is yes there's a hymn hymn number 94 whatever my god ordains is right and we need to embrace that as the people of God so back to Davis he says we must simply live with the mystery and allow it to teach us caution I think especially of those Saints who are so keen to write God's script for him and seem to assume that he provides a one-size-fits-all conversion experience or that he has a uniform way of answering prayer if only one has enough faith or that he follows one pattern in giving guidance in circumstantial matters but Yahweh is not sudol sometimes prayer is relatively effortless and sometimes extremely agonizing and who really knows why it's God's business ours is to pray and the means by which we learn or are able or or are equipped to be effective fervent prayers is to first come to the cross because the righteous man is not righteous in and of himself he is righteous in the Lord Jesus and the way to go or the place to go for that righteousness is at the cross to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and when by God's grace we do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we are forgiven of our sins and we are given the righteousness of Christ it's imputed to us and it's received by faith alone having been clothed with his righteousness we have boldness at the throne of grace we have access to go before our Father we can pray for rain we can pray for not rain we can pray for brethren we can pray for whoever it is that we want because our God cares our God is merciful and our God shows in first Kings 18 that he's not only the true and living God which he shows in the the refutation of the prophets of bale but he also shows that he is a good and giving God at the end of first Kings 18 when he sends rain on Israel that is our God beloved and we ought to make it a frequent thing wherein we commune with him in prayer well let us pray father thank you for your word thank you for this clarity of instruction concerning prayer with reference to us as individuals reference to the elders of the church in the case of the sick and with reference to one another in the context of the local church help us to deal faithfully with you and to deal faithfully with one another and may a climate of health prevail in terms of spiritual things in terms of physical things and grant us grace to see that Elijah was a man like us and he prayed that it wouldn't rain and it didn't he prayed that it would rain and it did not because of Elijah but because of our great and glorious God we go ask now that you would go with us grant us grace in this coming week to glorify to honor and to praise you and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen [Music] you