Let us turn again to the Word of God and I want
this morning to direct you to words that we find at the end
of the epistle of James. In James chapter 5 and reading
from the end of verse 16. James chapter 5, the end of verse
16. the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias 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. I was directed to these words
earlier in the week when speaking with a friend who had last Lord's
Day preached on Elijah from that chapter that we read and then
thinking about this man and what we are told here concerning him
in the New Testament Scriptures We see quite clearly that Elijah
was very much a man of prayer. In fact, the whole emphasis here
at the end of the epistle of James falls on the matter of
prayer. Look at what he said 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. And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he hath
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. We read there in
verse 14 of anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord,
but really the emphasis is falling upon what he said previously
concerning the sick, how the elders are to pray over him. And then in verse 15, I think
he said about the anointing, but the prayer, the prayer of
faith, we're told, shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise
him up. The whole emphasis then here very much falls on prayer
and how in the purpose of God in the outworking of his providences
there is a place for prayer. He says to the prophet Isaiah
concerning Israel that they are to command him concerning his
works. He says again through the prophet
Ezekiel that he will be inquired of by the House of Israel to
do it for them. And Elijah the prophet, who is
in many ways the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, he
was clearly a man of prayer. Elias is simply the Greek form
of the Hebrew name. Elijah that we have in verse
17, 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. Well, let us consider this portion
of Holy Scripture. And I want to divide what I say
into two parts. First of all, to look at the
man and the weakness of the man, the prophet Elijah. And then
in the second place, to consider something of the reality of his
prayer. Now, thinking of Elijah the man,
you might say to me, was this not a most remarkable prophet,
and that certainly is the case. He is introduced to us in the
opening verse of the 17th chapter in the first book of Kings, and
we're told nothing concerning his parentage, we are told nothing
really with regards to his origin, where he came from, and so forth.
We're simply introduced to Elijah the Tishbite. Suddenly, He breaks
upon the scene in the midst of Israel when the nation under
Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel was sunk into the most gross
idolatry, how they had sinned against the Lord. And suddenly
this man, this prophet appears, the most remarkable person and
in his life we see him as one who is able to perform great
works, miracles. At the end of that 17th chapter,
we read of him being cared for by the widow of Zarephath, and
when her son, her only son, dies, we're told how the Prophet comes
and raises the son to life again. What a miracle! He could raise
the son from the dead. And of course the miracles are
not insignificant because they are a confirmation that this
is one who is truly sent from God. As Nicodemus said to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the greatest of all the prophets,
Old Testament and New Testament, Christ is the greatest. And there
in John chapter 3, what does Nicodemus say? We know that thou
art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Now God was with Elijah. Elijah was able to perform mighty
miraculous works. And then at the end of his days,
he was caught up by a whirlwind into heaven. He did not see death. He was translated into heaven
and Elisha the prophet witnessed him going up in chariots of fire
into the glory. And then when we come to the
New Testament of course we are told out there on the Mount of
Transfiguration it was Moses and Elijah who appeared with
the glorified Christ as It's related there in the Gospels,
those favoured disciples, Peter and James and John. Oh, they
saw the Lord. They saw something of His glory.
They saw through the veil of His humiliation, the veil of
His human nature, the glories of His divine nature. And they
saw too with Him. Moses and Elijah and they spoke
of his decease, they spoke of his death that he was going to
accomplish at Jerusalem. He is a remarkable man, is Elijah. And yet, what are we told here
in the text? Elias was a man. Elias was a man. Just As we, this morning, as
we come together here, are but men and women, feeble, frail
creatures of a dying. The Prophet Jeremiah says, O
Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is
not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Now, as creatures
we are those who are ever dependent upon God, and he holds us in
the hollow of his hand our breath of course is in his hand and
he could snuff out our lives in a moment of time he is the
one in whom we live and move and have our being and Elijah
was such a man man that is born of woman is
a few days and full of trouble that was Elijah that was Elijah
Again in Job 5 and 7 we're told man is born unto trouble as the
sparks fly upwards. And now this man, when we read
of his history there in the first book of Kings from that 17th
chapter where he's first introduced to us in the following chapters,
all we see is that he knew much of trouble, born to trouble. In the years of that dreadful
famine, three and a half years we're told here, there was no
rain upon the earth, and he was provided for by God. He was hungry,
he was thirsty, he was fed by the ravens there at the brook
chariot. And now, when the rains came,
and we read, of course, that 18th chapter, and there at the
end we see the rains, and then he girts up his loins and he
runs all the way to Jezreel, but then Jezebel, all wicked
Jezebel, she's set upon his destruction. And we're told how he goes and
he sits under the juniper tree and he asks God to take his life.
He's overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by those things that
come upon him. He was but a man. He was but
a man. Dust thou art and unto dust shalt
thou return was the judgment that came upon man because of
sin. And this man Elijah I say was
a sinful man. Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are. Now the interesting thing here
is to consider what he said concerning how this man is said to be so
very much like any other man. That's a comparison that is being
made, is it not? We read of like passions. like passions as we are. The expression like passions,
it's the translation of one compound word in the original. In other
words, it's a particular word that's made up of two parts.
The beginning of the word literally means like, but it's the second
part of the word that's rendered as passions that is interesting
to us. like passions. Now, the second
part of this particular word is from a verb that means to
suffer or to feel. In fact, the second part of this
word is that from which we have our English word pathos. The
etymology, the root of that word pathos in our English language
comes from a particular Greek word. And what is pathos? It
is that which excites pity. that which excites sadness and
here is a man you see who is subject to like sadness as we
are just like us his experiences are so like the experiences of
any man or any woman he is not some super human person Elijah
the prophet he is but flesh and blood He is but a son of Adam. He inherited a sinful nature
from his parents. He knew much of sadness. There
is that in his life that would excite bitterly. He was a sinful
man. He was a sinful man. We see him
at times behaving in sinful ways. You see, he is subject to light
fashions. Now, we see that he becomes impatient with God. When the brook Cherith dries
up in chapter 17 of 1 Kings, he is then instructed to go to
the widow Serapha. And as I said, she kindly provides
for him. And then, alas, her son, her
only child, dies. and what does Elijah say? Well
he addresses God there in 1st Kings 17 and verse 20 and he
says this, hast thou brought evil upon the widow with whom
I sojourn by slaying her son. He accuses God you see. He accuses
God, hast thou brought evil. What is God doing? He can't understand
God. He can't understand the ways
of God. And he blames God. He becomes impatient with God. He is subject to like passions
as we are. He is no different to us in that
sense. And then later we see how he is afraid. At the end
of the chapter that we read, the 18th chapter, what remarkable
things we read concerning the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. And he girded up his loins and
ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Then we come into
the 19th chapter. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah
had done. And with all that he had slain,
all the prophets with the swords. Then Jezebel sent a messenger
unto Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow
about this time. and when he saw that he arose
and went for his life and came to Beersheba which belongeth
to Judah and left his servant there but he himself in today's
journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper
tree and he requested for himself that he might die and he said
it is enough now oh Lord take away my life for I am not better
than my father's he was afraid He was afraid. Afraid of Jezebel. Immanuously of like passions
as we are. Oh God, why not just wipe my
life away? Take it away from me. I'm no
better than others. He is Immanuously. And he is
a sinful man. And he doesn't always speak wise
words. We see something of the language
of unbelief at times in this man. He reckons that he only is left.
I only am left, he says. There's no one else. I'm all
alone. No one like me. I'm the only
one who is really following in the ways of Jehovah, the true
God. But what does God say to him?
I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which
have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. God had reserved himself a people.
But here is Elijah, you see, in a fit of unbelief. He cannot
believe it. He feels himself to be so very
much alone. Oh, Elijah is a man. Elias was
a man subject to like passions as we are. No different. Much
favoured by God, as we've said. And yet, when we look at what
he is in and of himself, he's no better than others. All that
he is, as a prophet, is by the grace of God. It's God who raises
him up. It is God who strengthens him
at any stage to fulfill that ministry that the Lord has given
to him. But of himself, of himself he's all weakness. And yes, we see him quite clearly
here as a man of prayer. As the hymn writer says, prayer's
a weapon for the feeble. Weakest souls can wield it best. Oh friends, is that how we feel
at times? We're so weak. In fact, so weak
we can hardly begin to pray or cry or call upon God. And yet
this is that weapon that God himself has provided. And we
see it here in the life and the experience of this man. Elias
was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed. 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. Let
us consider then in the second place something of the reality
of the prayers of this man Elijah. Two things I want us to observe
concerning the reality of prayer here. First of all, the earnestness
of his spirit. And then secondly, this is the
expectation. All he prays with hope, with
expectation. He expects an answer from God. But first of all, let us consider
something of his spirit and how earnest he is in his prayers
to God. Now, there is no reference to
prayer for no rain. when we read the accounts back
in the first book of Kings. We don't read in Kings of him
praying that there might not be rain. In the opening verse
of that 17th chapter where we're introduced to him, as I say,
all he does is come and he makes a prediction. There shall not
be due or reign three years but according to my word." That's
what he says. But we're not told there in the
Old Testament that he had been praying over this matter. All
that we read, and it's interesting in that opening verse of chapter
17, he speaks of the Lord God of Israel before whom I stand. That's what he says concerning
himself And this prediction that he is making, you see, is associated
with the one before whom he stands. Now, Dr. Gill remarks there that
there is no standing ever mentioned but prayer is intended. When
he is saying there, you see, the Lord God before whom I stand,
that is really the reference to prayer. And we came before
God. He did pray. He did pray. We have the authority of the
New Testament here in verse 17. He prayed earnestly that it might
not rain. We're not told that in the Old
Testament, we're only told that he is a prophet who stands before
the Lords. Before ever he came before Ahab,
and made that bold prediction concerning a famine and a death,
before he came before Ahab, Elijah had come boldly before God. Oh, what a privilege it is, friends,
to come there. We have the exhortation, do we
not, of the Apostle? Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need or are we those who would seek
to do that to come and to come boldly again it's interesting
is it not that word that we have as boldly there in Hebrews 4.16
it's another one of those compound words really it's two
words that have been wedded and welded together It's rendered
boldly in our Authorized Version. It literally means that we're
to come with all words. If we break the word down, that's
what it literally means. To come boldly is to come with
all words. Hosea says, take with you words
and turn to the Lord and say, take away all iniquity and receive
us graciously. And this is the way in which
the Prophet came. He came with prayer. He came
boldly before his God. And as he was enabled thus to
draw near to God, so God strengthened him to go and stand before a
wicked king, even King Ahab. All we're told concerning that
man that Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that
were before him. Ahab, one of the most wicked
kings that ever reigned in Israel and married to a wife who was
as evil, if not more so, than himself, Jezebel. It was Ahab who was really the
cause of the trouble. Ahab's wickedness and his departure
from the ways of the Lord was the cause of all the troubles
that came upon the nation. He did evil in the sight of the
Lord and the Lord visited a terrible judgment upon the people because
of his sin. He was the cause, then I say,
of that drought. Just as we are told back in the
Old Testament in Deuteronomy 28 that chapter that speaks of
the curses that will come upon the children of Israel if they
are disobedient fearful chapter that we have there in Deuteronomy 28 blessings for
obedience and curses for disobedience and look at what we're told In verse 15 of Deuteronomy 28,
it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice
of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all his commandments and
his statutes which I commanded this day, that all these curses
shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in
the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall
be thy basket and thy store, there would be dearth and famine. Verse 23, Thy heaven that is
over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee
shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain
of thy land powder and dust. From heaven shall it come down
upon thee until thou be destroyed. That's the threatenings of God.
Those are the curses that God pronounces upon disobedience. And we see that word of God verified. In the days of that wicked man
Ahab, there was a terrible dearth upon the lands. And how Elijah
sighed and he cried for all of those abominations. how he pleaded
with God concerning these things. He was witnessing, you see, the
great evil. And when God sends that curse,
He sends it as a consequence of the prayers of the Prophet. The Prophet prayed, and the rains were withheld. That's what it says here in our
text this morning. He prayed earnestly that it might
not rain. And it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months. Oh yes, it was God's
word. It was what God had threatened
back in Deuteronomy 28. But you see, how God works in
answer to the prayers of his children. That's the amazing
thing. As I said in Isaiah, we have that verse concerning the
works of my hand. He says to Israel, command ye
me. Oh, that's boldness in prayer. That's not presumption, it's
what God Himself has appointed and ordained. He will work in
answer to the prayers of His people. His people can never
pray in vain. And how this man pleaded with
God when he saw the sad state of affairs the wickedness abounding,
the land filled with the prophets of Baal. It's a dreadful forsaking
of God, the most gross idolatry. And is it not in many ways the
situation that pertains even now in our own nation? Men might not make idols of silver
and gold, they might not make images of Baal, but they've forsaken
the Lord. and there are those idols that
they set up in their own hearts how they only desire to satisfy
their lusts they want their pleasures or they make an idol of their
sports and all sorts and manner of things and God's children
sigh and cry just like Elijah because of the abominations look
at what we are told concerning this man's prayer he prayed earnestly. He prayed earnestly. Now the margin tells us what
it literally says in the original. And what it says there is he
prayed in his prayer. He prayed in his prayer. In other
words, the heart prayed and the tongue prayed. He didn't just
come with words. He didn't just speak words to
God. No, his heart was praying. His heart was in those words
that he was speaking to God. The Puritan Thomas Manchin says
we must not only say a prayer, but we must pray a prayer. Maybe
as little children some of us remember how we were taught by
our parents as we went to bed at night to say our prayers.
simple prayers, they tell us to pray to God, ask God to bless,
God bless mummy, God bless daughter, never a bad thing to teach children
to pray, but praying is more than saying words isn't it, we
have to pray our prayers, and this is what we see here, what
does it say at the end of verse 16, the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much." And then we're introduced to
the prayer, the reality of the prayer of this man, Elijah. He
is that righteous man. He's not righteous in himself,
as we said at the outset, he's a man of like passions as well,
he's a sinful man. How is this man righteous? He
is only righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is righteous in Christ, in
other words he is a justified man. He is a man of real faith. And that faith centers in God
and centers in God's provision. We know that there is none righteous,
no not one. The only righteousness is to
be found in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here is a man then who is trusting in Christ, in Christ that was
to come? When he is there in the mount,
the transfiguration with the Lord Jesus and Moses, what is
the subject matter of their conversation? Well, we're told in Luke's account,
I think it's Luke, is it Luke chapter 8? They speak of his
decease, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. That's what they
spoke of. They spoke of Christ and His
dying, that Christ would be obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Oh, this is what Elijah delighted
in, you see. Just like the Apostle Paul, although
Paul, of course, in the New Testament can look back upon that that
Christ has accomplished. We know Elijah is clearly looking
forward to what would come to pass. How we could witness these
things in all the types and shadows of the Old Testament. In that
chapter we read we had mentioned there of the time of the evening
sacrifice. How there was all the ceremonies
associated with the tabernacle and with the temple. all types
of the Lord Jesus Christ and so this man is righteous as his
faith is in Christ just as was the case with Paul is the case
with all who are ever accounted righteous before God to be found
in Christ says Paul not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ
that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man. Oh, this man comes and he pleads
Christ. Here is the basis of all his
confidence before God. It's all in Christ. But what
a prayer, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. Here is a prayer with energy.
In fact, the word that is used here, the particular word, is
that from which we derive the English word energy. Oh, there
was energy in this man's prayer. There was power in this man's
prayer. There's life here. There's life in prayer, you see.
The prayer of this man, Elijah. such an energetic prayer, calling,
crying and we see it in what we're told at the end of that
18th chapter, how he prostrates and his head between his knees,
he's in earnest, he's in agonist as he's pleading with God now
that the that the death might cease and that the rains might
come The old Puritan John Trapp is
very quaint he says of this fervent praying, this effectual fervent
prayer. He says he sets the whole man
of work to do it as it should be done. All of the man is in
this prayer, it's wholeheartedness. Is this how we seek God friends
or do we have a half-hearted religion? Are we satisfied with
half-hearted prayers? Do we know anything of that reality?
The earnestness of this man's spirit as he's coming before
God in prayer. Yes, he's a man of like passions,
just like you, just like me. Oh, but this man knows what prayer
is. And as there is this earnestness of spirit, so also here we observe
there is a blessed expectation. He expects an answer. Now what is the point of praying?
if there is never any answer. You ever ask yourself that question,
what is the point of us praying if God doesn't answer prayers?
God had given a promise to the Prophet concerning Rai. There at the beginning of the
chapter that we read, we have the promise. It came to pass after many days
that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year.
God's word comes. And what does God say? Go show
thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. Here
is the promise. I will. I will send rain upon
the earth says God. But, the promise is conditional,
is it not? He must go and show himself to
Ahab. He must see Ahab and he must
testify before him. That's what he must do. That
was no easy thing, but that was what God commanded him to do. And so he comes in verse 17,
He came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him,
Art thou he the troubler of Israel? Or that was what they thought
of him, you see, the troubler of Israel. And the answer, I
have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house,
in that ye have forsaken the commandment of the Lord, and
thou hast followed Baal. He told him quite plainly, you
see, he is the cause. As we said, the dreadful curse
is pronounced back in Deuteronomy 28. You are the cause of the trouble.
And so he goes, you see, and he is faithful. he is faithful
even speaking to the king just like Nathan the prophet remember
when Nathan goes before King David after his adultery with
Bathsheba after his conspiracy in the death of her husband Uriah
the Hittite and how Nathan faithfully points the finger and says to
David thou art the man Thou art the man. It's the same spirit
we see in the prophet Elijah. Ahab, Thou art the man. Thou art the man. So he has done
what God requires and now surely the rains, the rains will come. But what did we read there at
the end of that chapter? verse 41 in chapter 18 of 1 Kings,
Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink, for there
is a sound of abundance of rain. So 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. Here's the earnestness of the
man, you see. And he said to his servant, Go up now, look
toward the sea, and he went up and looked and said there is
nothing here is the answer to his prayer he sends his servant
to look and to look out towards the West where the Rhines will
come from and he goes and he looks and it says there is nothing
now look at what he said here in verse 43 you'll see that the
two words there is are in italics and you know the significance
of that they've been introduced by the translators their English
words added to bring out the sense but how stark is the language
as we have it in the original Hebrew he went up and looked
and said nothing that was the answer to his prayer nothing
Oh friends, how hard it is when we pray and cry and call that
effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man and we look
and there's nothing. There's nothing. Have we ever been in that position?
We pray about a matter, no answer. No answer. We wait upon God,
no answer. What does the Prophet do? He
sends the servant seven more times. That's what it says. Sends him another seven times.
Now, seven, of course, is a significant number. It's the number of perfection.
You know that. It's the number of perfection
here in Holy Scripture. And that's significant then,
that he sends him seven times. And what happens the seventh
time? We sang just now in Samuel Medley's lovely hymn, try to
say it in hymn, it is not in vain. But wait, and look, and
look again. And this is what happens, is
it not? His servant watched, his servant looks, and what is
Elijah doing? Elijah is praying. He prayed
again, and the heaven gave rain. and the earth brought forth her
fruit. Oh, how we are to be like this,
you see. What do we learn there in Elijah and his servant? We are to pray and we are to
watch. Colossians 4 verse 2, continue
in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. That's what
we are to do. When there's nothing, we don't
give over. We're to persevere in prayers,
are we not? Isn't that one of the marks of
the election of grace? They cry day and night unto God. Shall not God avenge his own
elect which cry day and night unto him? Now we're to plead
and to pray. And what does Elijah do here?
Why, he is pleading the promise really. God had given that word
back in the opening verse of chapter 18 of 1 Kings that he
would send rain and that was enough the word of the Lord came
to him or when God's word comes to us I know we have the word
of God before us but when we read it sometimes and the word
speaks to us does it not? God speaks to us so mightily
and we feel it and what are we to do when God does that? We
are to plead what God is impressing upon us, we are to surround the
Almighty with those promises We're to hold him fast to his
own words. We're to take with us words and
turn to the Lord and we're to say take away all iniquity and
receive us graciously. And then what do we see at the
end of that chapter that we read? He looks at seventh time and
there's a little cloud. A little cloud like a man's hand. Tiny little cloud. that's the beginning of the answer
you see sometimes it's a small answer though thy beginning was
small yet thy latter end shall greatly increase before long
all that little cloud the size of a man's hand why the heavens
are full of clouds God answers prayer and doesn't God in answer
to prayer pour down blessings pour down blessings upon the
heads of his children. Oh God, help us. God himself
teach us to pray that we might be like this man. Why are these
things written? All these things that we have
in the Old Testament, you know why they're written. It's not
just Old Testament history, it is that. It's real events, real
people. But they're written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope, all God grants to us, that blessed hope that we
might know Him who is the God of Elijah, the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias 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 pried again, and the heaven gave rain,
and the earth brought forth her fruit." May the Lord bless his
words to us today. Amen.