I want us to turn for a while
this evening to words that we find at the end of the general
epistle of James. Turning then to the New Testament
Scriptures in James chapter 5 and I'll read from verse 14 through
18. In James chapter 5 verse 14 through
18. Is any sick among you? 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
shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and
if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye
may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Elias or Elijah we simply have
the Greek form of the name here Elijah was a man subject to like
passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain
and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and
six months and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and
the earth brought forth fruit and I really want to take for
our text those words that we have at the end of verse 16,
"...the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
I did make some reference to it last week. We were thinking
then of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man when
we consider that parable that the Lord tells in Luke 18 at
verse 9 following concerning the publican who had gone to
the temple together with the Pharisee, the self-righteous
Pharisee and the poor despised publican and it was that man
so hated by the Jews because he was in the service of the
Roman authorities he was the man who was the justified man,
the righteous man as the Lord said that was the man that went
down to his house justified, accounted righteous rather than
the other. And we consider something of
the prayer of that righteous man. Well here, in the portion
I've just read, certainly James is really dealing with the matter
of prayer. Even those words at the beginning
of the portion we read at verse 14 Is any sick among you? 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. 15 And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if they have
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. And in his commentary the Puritan
Thomas Manson makes observation, it does not mention the anointing
but the prayer of faith. The emphasis really falls on
prayer. Although there is the anointing
with oil, there is something tangible being done to the sick,
but the prayer of faith. saves the sick and the Lord is
pleased to raise him up and then he goes on to say confess your
faults one to another and pray for one another that she may
be healed prayer again and then that statement the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and then we
read of course those two verses concerning this remarkable character
in the Old Testament He's representative really of the whole of the prophetic
office it seems there in Old Testament scripture. Elijah was
a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the
space of three years and six months and he prayed again and
the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth fruit. So we read somewhat concerning
the history that's recorded there towards the end of the first
book of Kings. And to observe what he said here
with regards to the righteous man's prayer. His prayer prevails
as a justified sinner. Why? Well, it prevails not because
of anything about Elijah. It prevails through the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ just as was the case of course with
the poor despised publican of whom the Lord spoke in the parable.
To say something then with regards to this man and the weakness
of the man Elijah was a man it says and
he was like any other man really and yet when we read we might
say well no this isn't any ordinary man this is a remarkable man
this is one who was a prophet of the Lord and how strange a
character he is if we'd have read in the previous 17th chapter
there in 1st Kings it's there in the opening verse and it's
first brought to our attention but we're not told anything concerning
his parentage Suddenly, he burst on the sea. Elijah the Tishbite. That's all
we're told. Where he came from, we know not. As I say, nothing about his forebears. And we know how, in the course
of his life, he was able to perform remarkable miracles. Even when
we come toward the end of that 17th chapter. we see him able
to raise a young boy from the dead, to give life again to one
who had died. He could perform great miracles,
and did perform miracles. In that sense of course we see
the significance of his prophetic ministry. In Scripture, where
there is some new revelation from God, it's authenticated
by mighty works and wonders. That was the case with regards
to Moses, and all the wonders that he performed in Egypt, because
God was giving some fresh revelation of himself, the giving of the
law. And as I said, Elijah clearly represents the office of the
prophet. Because with Christ in the Mount
of Transfiguration, we see those two men, Moses and Elijah, one
representing law, the other representing prophecy. Well, Elijah and Elisha's
ministry after him, those ministries were very much marked by miracles. And so in the New Testament with
the Lord Jesus Christ and then with his apostles, God authenticates. the messages of these people
because these are mighty epochs in which God is giving some new,
some fresh revelation of himself. This is a remarkable man really,
Elijah. And he was one that didn't actually
die, he was translated really to heaven by
a whirlwind, remember, and Elisha, his successor, sees him taken
up from earth to heaven. What a remarkable man. Even when
we think of him, you see there in the Mount of Transfiguration,
what a favoured man he was. Those disciples, they saw the
Lord transfigured and they saw him speaking of his death that
he was going to accomplish at Jerusalem talking with Moses
and Elijah concerning himself and his great work Elijah then
was a great man but Elijah was a man and he was a man subject
to like passions it says he was subject to like passions
well let's consider something of his life and something of
his passions as it were we are told quite plainly that he was
a man, simple statement and what of man? well Job 10
verse 23 O LORD I know that the way of man is not in himself
it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps all men are
subject to the LORD He has made even the wicked for the day of
evil. All things serve the great purpose of God. And what of man? What of man since the transgression
of the first man, and the curse that has come upon the man? Cursed
is the ground for thy sake. In the sweat of thy brow shalt
thou eat bread, is what God pronounces to Adam there in the garden. and what troubles man that is
born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble says Job
14 and verse 1 and again in the book of Job we have that statement
man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward it's inevitable
all men have their troubles and here is a man and certainly he
had his troubles we see him you see and he's ministering God's
Word and he's ministering in days when there was a wicked
King Ahab and in many ways even a more wicked Queen Jezebel the
great enemy of the prophets of the Lord the great supporter
of the prophets of Baal and God's judgments were abroad and here
is the man and There's famine in the land, what is this man
to do? He's hungry, he's thirsty, he's
fed by ravens. It is not in man that walketh
to direct his steps, the Lord directs his steps, even directs
the ravens to go and to feed him there in 1 Kings chapter
17. And he's at the brook, isn't
he? And the brook dries up because
of the great drought that is upon the land.
There's no water at all. And then he must go to the widow
of Zarathustra. And from her little, she will
feed him. And she'll obtain drink for him. Well, this man, you see, has
a hard and a difficult life to live. His circumstances are so
difficult, even after that chapter that we were reading from, chapter
18, and we see his great strength and boldness at the end when
he runs before Ahab's chariot to the gates of Jezreel. But
then in the very next chapter, We see his circumstances now
so changed, so very awful. And he flees. He flees before
Jezebel. And he wants God to take him. The beginning of the that 19th
chapter in 1st Kings, O Lord, take away my life, he says, for
I am not better than my fathers. He was just as they were. He's
no better than they. He feels himself to be nothing
but a man, a weak, feeble, frail man of the earth. And he's a
man of like passions, it says. He's like passions. It's an interesting
word that we have here in this 17th verse. He was subject to
like-passions. And like-passions is simply a
single word really. It's a compound word. It's the
word like, but it's joined to the verb to suffer, or to feel
in suffering. The word, the actual word is
pathos. And of course it's transliterated
into our English language in the word pathos. And what is pathos? Well, it's
that which excites pity and sadness. And this is this man, you see.
He sees things and he feels things. He witnesses things. He's just
like any other man, he doesn't like some of the things that
he has to behold and he's exercising his ministry in the face of great
opposition from wicked king and queen, Ahab and his
spouse Jezebel. And when the Lord directs him
to that poor widow woman And I've already said how he performs
the miracle, he raises her dead son to life again. But how hard
it was, when the child first died. You couldn't understand. He's
somewhat impatient with the Lord. He says there in verse 20 of
chapter 17, in 1 Kings, As thou brought evil upon the widow,
we do my sojourn by slaying her son. He accuses God of bringing
evil upon her, finds the Lord's way is strange and mysterious.
Thiel is like us really, a man of like passions as we are. And
as I've already intimated in chapter 19, we read of him so
afraid before Jezebel because she's sworn that she will obtain
a revenge upon him for the slaughter of the prophets of Baal. and he runs away and he desires
that his life should be taken. He's so much afraid of what's
going to come upon him. He's a fearful man and in many
ways he's a man who's at times beset by unbelief. He has his doubts as well as
his fears. We find him on two occasions
saying, I only am left. I am the only person left, there
is no one else in all Israel. And yet the Lord assures him,
I have left me 7,000 in Israel, God says. All the knees which
have not bowed to Baal and every mouth who hath not kissed him. But this man is He's despising
the day really. We're not to despise the day
of smorthing. Here is a man surely who in some
measure we can we can identify with. Great man that he was.
And we know that all these things happened unto him for our learning. That's what Paul says there in
Romans 15. All these things happened unto
these Old Testament believers for our learning. That we through
patience or that endurance and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope he's a man great man that he was but he's a poor mortal
man and he has like passions as we have there are scenes that
sadden him and he can't understand the ways of the Lord and he's
He's afraid and he's ready to run away and even to decide that
the Lord should just take away his life. The weakness then,
the weakness of a man. But really, I want to turn more
particularly to his prayer and the reality, the reality of the
prayer of this man. That's what we're told, isn't
it, concerning him. He prayed. the man subject to
like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might
not rain. And it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months, and he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain and
the earth brought forth her fruit. Two things with regards to this
man. The earnestness of his spirit
in prayer And the expectation also, he expects an answer. He
knows that he's not going to pray in vain. Oh yes, he's a
weak man. He's a mere man, but prayer's
a weapon for the feeble. Weakest souls can wield it best,
says Joseph Harter. Now true, Alir is a man, and
how earnest he is. There's a... No reference to prayer for rain in 1 Kings. There at the beginning of chapter 17 it's just a prediction
or that's how it appears. There shall not be dew or rain
three years but according to my word." That's what he says
to King Ahab. There's no reference, no direct
reference to any prayer. But of course, there is reference
here in the New Testament. Because we're told, he prayed
earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months. But the interesting
thing is when we look more closely at that opening verse in chapter
17 where we're introduced to him for the first time he speaks
of the Lord God of Israel before whom I stand. This is how he
addresses Ahab in the chapter previous to where we were reading
earlier. And Elijah the Tishbite, who
was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ayab, As the Lord God
of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be dune
or rain these years but according to my word. But it's that expression, the
Lord God of Israel before whom I stand. And I like the remark
that Dr. Gill makes here he says there's
no standing ever mentioned no standing before the Lord ever
mentioned but prayer is intended and that's a telling comment
of Dr. Gill no standing before the Lord
is ever mentioned but prayer is intended there we have him
coming so boldly before a wicked man like Ahab. But before he
came before Ahab in such boldness, he must have stood boldly before
the Lord. He'd come boldly to the throne
of grace in order that he might be bold before that wicked king. Well now that king did evil in
the sight of the Lord above all that were before him, it says.
He was the most wicked man I have, we know that. He was the one
who caused the dreadful drought to come upon the people. Had
not God said previously by his servant Moses in Deuteronomy
28, that chapter of all the curses that would come upon the children
of Israel if they were disobedient. and more contrary to the ways
of the Lord and the way of His commandments then there would come drought
upon the land that was amongst the curses spoken of there verses
23 and 24 in Deuteronomy 28. Now Elijah must have sighed and
cried when he saw all the wickedness and the abominations that were
being done in the land and he pleaded with God concerning these
things and the Lord heard him He prayed earnestly. In a sense,
he's praying the curse upon the people. You see, God will have
his people come to inquire of him. If he comes in judgment,
he will be in answer to the prayers of his people, even if he comes
in judgments. This is the privileged position
the Lord's people are in. They have the very ear of the
Lord God of hosts. He hears, he answers their prayer.
He prayed earnestly. The margin, the margin is interesting
because it tells us what the Hebrew literally says. He prayed
in his prayer. He prayed in his prayer. Again, the old Puritan Thomas
Manton says, the heart prayed and the tongue prayed. We must
not only say a prayer but we must pray a prayer we have to
lift up our heart with our hands when we come before the Lord
in our prayers and it's spoken of here in the
text as effectual and fervent the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
again Gil says that the word that's
used is one that suggests energy, power, and life. Energy, power,
and life in the prayer. It's really the word that lies
at the root of our word for energy. Oh, what a prayer was this! Excuse
me, quoting these various commentaries, but dear old John Trapp, another
of the Puritans, he says here, in his great way, that effectual
fervour means it sets the whole man of work to do it as it should
be done. To do it as it should be done.
A little anecdote, I remember many years ago, I don't know
how many years, probably 40 years ago almost now, There was an
occasion when David Fountain had been out in New Zealand with
his wife visiting family and they'd attended a Presbyterian
church and there was a young man there who was exercised about
the ministry, wanted to come to the UK, wanted to go to Scotland
and Northern Ireland and so forth. And he came over for a while
after the Fountains had returned and he was living in a house
that belonged to to the church there in Spring Roads, Andrew
Young his name was. But I remember him, we used to
see quite a bit of him and he went over to Northern Ireland
and when he was there, he's probably been in the, I suppose he must
have been in the 1980s, the early 80s, when he was over in Northern
Ireland he did worship with the Paisleyites, and he said he'd
never been in a prayer meeting like some of the prayer meetings
he attended there. He said, you know, there were
men in those prayer meetings, and when he came to prayer, well
they were working men I suppose, it was as if they were taking
off their jackets and rolling up their sleeves, and they were
so earnest. They were giving themselves to
this work with all their heart and soul. Just as John Trapp
says, it says the whole man of work to do it as it should be
done. It clearly made an impression upon that young man, Andrew Young.
When he told the tale, it certainly left a mark with me because I
often think of that. But what do we know of such earnestness? This is how this prophet, he
was a man, just like you and me, and he prayed, and he prayed
earnestly. And what was the outcome? It
rained out on the earth by the space of three years and six
months, and it prayed again. And then the Lord, as it were,
turns on the very tops of heaven. The heaven gave rain, and the
earth brought forth fruit. But there's not only that earnestness
of His Spirit intimated here in the language, but also surely
an expectation of an answer. And what is the point of praying
if there's not going to be an answer to our prayers? Or are we to pray, you know, for
a purpose? As Christ says, men ought always
to pray. And not to fight. We ought to
pray. God will hear prayer, answer
prayer. And what we read there in that
18th chapter in some ways as opening verse where God speaks of ending the droughts. It's a conditional promise isn't
it in some ways. It came to pass after many days
that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying
go show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth.
He must go and show himself unto Ahab before the Lord will send
the rains. So, in that sense, it seems to
be conditional. And what is he to do? Well, he's
to testify before him. Go, show thyself unto Ahab. That's
what he does. And we read, don't we? We read
the passage. Ahab went to meet Elijah, the
end of verse 16. And it came to pass, when Ahab
saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth
Israel? And how bold is this man! He
answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's
house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord,
and thou hast followed Baalim. He tells the king, Thou art the
man, thou art at fault. How bold he is! and then he's going to go on
and pray. And so we have the record of
the prayer at the end of the chapter where we have the prayer
that he prays initially over his sacrifice when he pleads
with God that he will send the fire and God vindicates his servants. All the prophets of Baal had
cried unto their God and how Elijah had mocked them. Maybe he's gone hunting. Shout louder. Maybe he's taking
a nap. Of course, they were praying
to idol gods. There was no God at all there.
But we have that lovely prayer that the faithful prophet himself
prayed. and how the fire fell and consumed
the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the
dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench, that
they drenched His sacrifice in water, because He knew that the
Lord would send such a fire as to consume everything. And when
all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said,
the Lord is the God, the Lord is the God. And then, they slay
the prophets of Baal and now we see Elijah doing business
with the Lord again as he prays concerning the rains in verses
41 through 43 he says to Ahab get thee up eat
and drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain and Ahab
went up to eat and to drink and Elijah went up to the top of
Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face
between his knees and said to his servant go up now and look
toward the sea and he went up and looked and said there is
nothing and he said go again seven times quite remarkable
isn't it but when he sends his servants he comes back he went
up and looked and said Nothing. There is, is in italics in that
43rd verse, all that the servant can say is nothing. There's no
answer. He tells him to go seven times,
and of course the significance of the number seven, a number
that suggests perfection. And so the Lord does does here,
but he has to go seven times. He's saying that hymn of Samuel
Medley. Trust thou in him, it is not
in vain, but wait and look, and look again, and look again, and
look again. This is what the servant must
do, he must look, and look, and look. We're to continue in prayer,
we're to watch in the same, with thanksgiving. And here is Elijah,
here is the young man he's looking for the answer, and there is
Elijah. He put his face between his knees. He's so earnest in his pleadings
and the Lord's hears and answers. What does he do? He's pleading
the promise of God. God had said he would do it.
There at the beginning of that 18th chapter, God had said He
would do it. He had the word of God to plead and He pleads
it. We have to surround the Almighty with His promises, don't we?
Take His words and hold Him fast by the things that He has promised.
Take with you words, says the Prophet. Turn to the Lord and
say, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. And then
the answer. or there's a little cloud like
a man's hand and then in no time the heavens are black and there's
a great rain as the Lord hears and answers why does the Lord
answer? the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much the man's a righteous man what does that mean? he's a justified
sinner All His righteousness is Christ's righteousness. Imputed
to Him, He has Christ's righteousness. He has Christ as His mediator.
And He cannot pray in vain. The Lord will hear and answer,
surely, for the sake of Him who is the only mediator, and Himself
the man, even the man Christ Jesus. And so that's the one
that we come now to plead with and through that the Lord will
yet appear for us and do wondrous and mighty works and surprise
us, always able to surprise us. God grant us that praying faith
and bless to us his word, the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.