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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to James chapter 5. James chapter 5. I 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. We'll take up 16 to 18 
this evening. So I'll read verses 13 to 18. 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. 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, a people not only of the book, 
but of 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 
have blessed us with the written record of Your Word and You have 
blessed us with an avenue to come to You through 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. Well, last time we saw 
where James gives this exhortation to prayer, and he says, first 
of all, the individual at prayer in verse 13, "'As anyone among 
you suffering, let him pray. As anyone cheerful, let him sing 
psalms.'" 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 or our 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 in 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 particularly noted there. It's 
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 men 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 Elijah 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. It 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 supposed 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, or at the first clause of verse 16 in terms of 
being healed, does connect us to what has preceded in verses 
14 and 15. 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 
or 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 text 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 or 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 text 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 text demands special church services where one person 
comes up and dumps out 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 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 sin? Do we get offended at the 
thought that we sin? 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, you know, 
every time we drop a sock or every time 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 them. 
In the context of Christ's 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. The 
emphasis or the pressure of this text 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 him. In other words, I'm not supposed 
to go for vertical worship until I've cleaned up my 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 him. 
Write him off of your Christmas card list. Have no interaction. That's not what Jesus 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 go to people that we know 
have a problem with us. We go to people that have sinned 
against us. And then there's, of course, 1 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 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 denouncing 
it, he says with reference to this text, which must be understood 
of sins committed against one another. which should be acknowledged 
and 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 14 and 15, where the 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 deal, 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 what I described before, 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, and 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 yea, 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 yourself and puts it on somebody else. That's 
always win-win, 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, we're 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 1 Timothy 
2, he says, for first of all, I exhort that supplications, 
prayers, intercessions, and givings 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 1 Timothy 
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 or 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 prayers, 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 another. Intercession 
is a wonderful thing. Certainly it gets your eyes off 
of you, but it also helps the people you're praying for, too. 
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 at self. 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 prayer. 
Who is this righteous man? We have this category of righteous 
man. We think super saints. 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, 2 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 men. 
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 has the truth of 
grace in him and lives 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 is saying, I want you to pray, and I'm going 
to give you like 1,000 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 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 importunateness, I think there's a great illustration in Luke 
18, this idea of 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'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 are 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, 
bedecks 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 was in 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 wretch. 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 or 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 was in a certain city a 
judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now, there was a 
widow 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. We'll 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 there, not like 
a lot of us that tries to be other. He says, though I do not 
fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, 
I will avenge her, lest 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 fervent 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 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 God avenge his 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, it says, Elijah was a man with a nature like 
ours. I would submit that there are two Elijahs in the Bible, 
not the Old Testament and New Testament one. John the Baptist 
was the New Testament Elijah, but the same man comes across 
as two 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 is telling us to 
focus on Elijah as a man with like passions. That's the literal. 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 Bruck Caret, 1 Kings 17. He was instrumental in raising 
a widow's son. He called down fire from heaven 
at Mount Carmel and defeated the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 
18. You see, larger-than-life Elijah. He went 40 days in the strength 
of one meal in 1 Kings 19. He brought down fire, or rather 
called down fire, to consume the soldiers of King Ahaziah 
on two separate occasions. And when he was taken up into 
heaven, it was via a whirlwind. Larger than life, Elijah. James 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 flees from Jezebel. And then in 19.4 of 1 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 behavior, the idolatry rather, 
of the nation of Israel. This is what drives his despondency 
and his sorrow. It's covenant breaking Israel. 
You see, James says, I want you to consider that Elijah. Not 
super Elijah, but 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' point. He says, 
Elijah was a man with a 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. That's not what 
he's doing, brethren. And it occurs to me that so often 
in preaching and in conferences, that's exactly how the minister 
approaches it. 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 C.H. Spurgeon at the throne of grace. 
Can't I just pray my regular, normal, ordinary guy prayers? I think this keeps men silent 
in 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. 
Men, 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 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, and out 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. 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 know, supernatural Elijah. 
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 enough in the Elijah 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 saint, we need to be like the super saint, we 
need to adopt their mindset, their mentality, 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, James 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 Baal 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 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 1 Kings 
before us. You can turn back there to 1 
Kings 17. 1 Kings chapter 17. So James is conspicuous, he says, 
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, Before whom I stand, there shall 
not be dew nor rain these years except at my word." Now remember, 
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? Ahab marries that woman of the 
year, Jezebel, and he co-ops the Baalism of the pagans, and 
he actually brings it. He brings it right into the confines 
of Israel. Ahab is a wretch. He's a bad, 
bad man. And yet, 1 Kings 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 Ahab, and he tells him, the way he 
describes this, the middle of verse one, as the Lord God of 
Israel lives, before whom I stand, Isn't 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 dew nor rain these years except at my word. 
Now it 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 
Baal. Baal, if you'll remember, was 
the storm god. Three and a half years doesn't 
look like Baal's doing his job. If you are living in drought, 
one might wonder, where is Baal? If Baal's job is to send rain, 
and we haven't had rain for three and a half years, Baal must be 
away. Now, there were a class of Baal 
apologists, defenders of Baal, and they would define it this 
way. They would say that during the dry season, Baal submitted 
to Maat. He was the god of death. And 
that eventually, Anath, the sister of Baal, would bring back Baal 
and defeat Maat. Presumably when it started raining 
again. That's when you would explain it that way. Ian Proven 
comments, it is Yahweh, and not Baal, 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 comes and brings 
this judgment to bear. The people of God had gone a-whoring 
from God, and they had entertained Baalism. 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 1 Kings 18, the end of the chapter. 1 Kings 
18, notice in verse 41. This is after the contest at 
Carmel. It was literally a God contest. 
Remember the particular scene. The prophets of Baal were to 
pony up. They were to present their sacrifice, 
call upon Baal, have him consumed. Baal obviously failed, because 
there ain't no such thing as Baal. 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 he? You see, we 
need faith at the throne of grace. We need faith at the throne of 
grace. There's a general sort of overarching statement concerning 
God giving rain in 1 Kings chapter 8. 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 them. But there's a 
specific word in 1 Kings 18 where God told Elijah 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 a truth that God has promised 
rain. He has told Ahab 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 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. We're a 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 
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 help me get through this day takes on sort of new 
shape 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. And 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 hand rising 
out of the sea. So he said, go up, say to Ahab, 
prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Now, 
it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds 
and wind, 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 Motier 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 its sorrows to him in prayer. The contrasting states of 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 an essay by Ryle, and 
it says, do you pray? And in the space of that essay, 
it's probably, I don't know, in 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 hitting, I'm not coming down on you. I'm thankful that you 
are praying. Brethren, maybe expand it a little 
bit. Pray for your spouse, pray for your kids, pray for your 
pastor, pray for the brothers in the church, pray for Mike 
in Surrey, 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 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 papist saying, go into 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 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 doubting, it's 
going to be wavering, you're going to 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 Baal. He mocked them. When he comes 
before Yahweh in verse 42, what does he do? He bows before God. 
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, and we ought to imitate him. And when he bashed the prophets 
of Baal, 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 is your God? Is he in the 
bathroom? Is he on a holiday? Is he sleeping? I mean, I just have this picture 
of Elijah 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 
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 than his prayer on Carmel. I mentioned that earlier. 
In 1836 and 1837, when he's on Carmel, combating the prophets 
of Baal, 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 thing missing in our 
formula. Well, you know, that time I prayed I was wearing my 
lucky shirt, God heard and He answered right away. I'll duplicate 
that every time I go to the throne of grace so that it'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, and apparently after extended 
pleading in another. In another case, he will refuse 
Elijah's request altogether, 19.4. We can praise God that 
he said no to that particular prayer when he asked that God 
take him. Notice God's answer there was, 
no, I'm not going to take you. You've got work to do. There's 
7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. 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, he 
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 prayers? Why aren't we prepared for the 
sovereignty of God when it comes to prayer? Why do we become bailists 
at the throne of grace? Why do we think that if we pop 
in the prayers, God's going to spit out the blessing? Why do 
we treat the Lord as if He's a vending machine? We put in 
75 cents, well, you know, 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 reigns 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 so dull. 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 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 1 Kings 
18 that He's not only the true and living God, which He shows 
in the refutation of the prophets of Baal, but He also shows that 
He is a good and giving God at the end of 1 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, 
with 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 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. We'll close with a brief time 
of meditation and then be dismissed.