We come to verses 16-18. This will be message number 21 in the series in the exposition of the book of James. It will be the eighth message relating to the test of prayerfulness. We have worked through verses 13-15 dealing with prayer for affliction and prayer for bodily healing. Now we come today to a summarizing of prayer. and its principles. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. 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. He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." We come today to the last of three categories of prayer mentioned in James 5, verses 13 through 18. The first was that of personal or private prayer in verse 13. There we saw that the problem addressed was that of afflictions or trials. If we are in afflictions or trials, it is our personal duty to be driven to prayer. The duty imposed upon the believer in such times is to pray to God for discernment and strength. The second category of prayer was pastoral or ministerial prayer in verses 14 and 15. And there the sickness was that of bodily illness. And the duty for the believer was to sin for the elders and confess to the elders the sin or sins they have been committing, and the duties of the elders were to pray over the sick man's condition. If it was the will of God to heal, then God would give an assurance of his will, enabling the elders to pray the prayer of faith, resulting in healing taking place. Upon such healing having occurred, the elders were to celebrate the restoration of God's favor to the sick person by anointing him with oil. Now today we come to the third and last category, and that is that of what we're calling corporate or congregational prayer in verses 16 through 18. I'd like for us to look first at the connection between verse 16 and verses 14 and 15, what we have just finished covering. The connection of this verse with the previous ones, I believe, is very closely related. This is evident even in our King James Version, but is even more evident in the revised versions which have restored the connecting word, therefore, in the text with good manuscript authority. So that what we ought to read, verse 16, as being, here is the conclusion, therefore, in light of what is being said In verses 14 and 15, here is what the duty is. Confess your faults or your sins one to another. James is now moving from the particular case of the sick person to the application of a general principle, that being the mutual confession of sin and the mutual prayer one for another. The word, therefore, shows that the exhortation to mutual confession and prayer in this verse is the conclusion that the readers are to draw from the discussion of prayer in verses 13 through 15. The conclusion is that both the confession of sin on the part of the patient and prayer on the part of others, now get this, are both necessary. so that the healing of physical illnesses in the community of believers can take place. Now, don't miss the summarization of that. If someone is sick and they call for the elders, two things must occur. There must be a full, open confession of sin on the part of the sick person, and there must be a mutual prayer on the part of others. before healing will take place. Now, some commentators and Bible teachers believe that verses 16 through 18, which we just read, comprise a separate thought from verses 14 and 15, and are not concerned with physical sickness but with miscellaneous quarrels and offenses among Christians. But I personally do not believe that James would have invited such a misunderstanding by using the word heal in the passage in any way but its medical or physical sense. It's confess your sins one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed. That's the way he's been using it is in a bodily, physical sense. So I disagree with those who view that verses 16 through 18 comprise a separate subject in and of itself. The well-documented association of sickness, sin, and confession in Jewish thought seems to confirm the unity of the entire passage. Confession and prayer were already implicit in Jewish thought relating to the sickbed and the elaborate statement of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, that statement on to the end of verse 18 relates not merely to the first ten or eleven words of verse 16, but to the entire passage starting back in verse 14. So we have a summarizing connecting here between these verses. I'd like for us to look now and consider the relationship that James gives us between mutual confession, prayer, and healing. The confession of sin and praying for one another are vital ingredients in the healing ministry in the Christian community. When sin is removed The power of prayer becomes effective in amazing ways. Don't let that sentence leave you today. When sin is removed through confession, the power of prayer is leased to become effective in amazing ways. Here the matter of sin, sickness and healing moves beyond the case where elders are called. The confession of sin is to be one to another. The word confess that James uses here conveys the idea of an open, honest and full confession. It means literally to say the same thing or to agree with. It is because God hears the prayers of penitent people and forgives sins that people, or Christians, should confess their sins one to another and pray one for another. If God did not hear and answer prayer and forgive sin, there would be no basis for praying The reference to healing at the conclusion of this verse makes it very likely that the sins which are being confessed here are those which have caused the illness. The healing which occurs manifests the purpose of the mutual confession of sin and prayer. When those two things come together, full, open, frank confession, I've sinned, and then there is combined with that the ingredient of believing prayer, healing occurs. But if either of those elements is lacking, no healing is expected to follow. The confessor of sins is seeking healing by the act of admitting sins which he has committed. Now, since the word confess means to say the same thing, it suggests that in confessing we must identify the sin by its true nature and call it what it is. We must acknowledge and repent of specific sins, not merely acknowledging a general confession of our sinnerhood. That won't get the job done. We can't just say, well, I'm a sinner because I've sinned in Adam, and expect to be healed of bodily problems if that is the problem that we're facing. We must trace the very sin which we have been committing before God and for which God has sent illness upon us and confess it and agree with God. This is the reason why I'm sick. Confess that to the elders and when the elders join in with an agreement and pray with faith that God might be merciful, then healing occurs. But not until then. I ask you, those who have observed the so-called faith healers in action on TV, do they have the individuals that are sick confess their sins? No. Nothing about that brought into the picture. Unconfessed sin blocks the pathway of prayer to God. And at the same time, unconfessed sin presents an obstacle in our personal relationships with others. If two people have sinned against each other, they're not going to be on speaking terms, and there's going to be an obstacle. And reconciliation and their hearing each other's words are not going to take place until confession is made. Same in our vertical relationship with God. Not only must our confession seek God's forgiveness, but if our sins have injured other people, then we must seek their forgiveness as well. Numerous scriptures express how unconfessed sin hinders our prayers from being answered. Psalm 68, 18. Let me quote these to you so that you won't be lost in turning through the passages. Psalm 68, 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Proverbs 28.9, He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Those are sobering words. Proverbs 28.13, He that covers his sins shall not prosper. But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." After Jesus had healed the blind man, the man said, Now we know that God hears not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. John 9 verse 31. So whenever the sinner confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, he experiences freedom from the burden of guilt that is upon his conscience. And anybody who has ever become a Christian knows that. Because before God forgives us of our sins, He first convicts us that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. Now, James says that this confession is to be one to another. Confess your faults one to another. While this may refer to the individuals who have possibly been sinned against, it may also mean that the sick person is seeking a faithful prayer support of certain trusted spiritual friends. This statement here, is not to be pulled out of its context and taught that it may be but a careless confession made to anybody. Such a confession may cause more harm than good. Don't go around confessing your sins one to another. unless you have sinned against the other. Confession should go no further than the people to whom it has offended. But at the same time, if you are in need of prayer support Gather yourself not with a group of people in general, but with trusted, faithful prayer warriors whom you know are interested in interceding for you on God's behalf, that God might show mercy and restore you to His favor. Otherwise, you'll just get in a bunch of people and they'll take what you say and run and spread it through the woods and bring more harm than good. Seek out faithful prayer warriors and ask them to help you. Now looking at the word confess, let's now move to the word prayer. Confess your sins one to another and pray one for another. Christians are not only to confess their sins to others in a proper way, but Christians are to pray for those who confess their sins. Christians are to have an empathetic heart that when the brother falls into sin and wants and seeks after help, that they gather together and pray for the good of that brother. Now, James now connects the confession of the sins for which God has sent sickness with the prayers of others that healing may occur. I find something very important here, and that being that both the beauty and the benefits of Christian fellowship in a local church is here seen in the mutual need for prayer on the part of other brethren when you become ill and are under the chastening hand of God. woe, woe, woe to the sinning believer who has dropped out of church and encounters a disabling illness. You need your Christian brothers and sisters, and you need them continually, and if you neglect and drop out of the fellowship and God brings His chastening hand, you do not have exposure to a prayer support group. This is one of the critical reasons why God has ordained fellowship in the local church. Those who fall into sin need brethren to pray for them. It is most important to maintain open, sharing, praying relationships with others. Now, let's look at the result of confession and prayer, and that is restored healing or restored health. The words in verse 16, that you may be healed, states the purpose for which confession of sin and prayers for each other are to occur. Now, this is in our context here, my hearers. Understand that from this general context, there can be other applications of Christians getting together to pray for one another when there is not bodily healing involved. But we are staying with the context today. The subject is healing of the body. Now, James now shifts his focus. from the specific case back in verse 14, to make an application of the general need for the community of believers to be regularly involved in mutual confession and prayer as a way of treating sickness whenever it might occur. He now shifts from the elders in particular to believers in general to show us, now listen that the power to heal lies not in the elder but in the prayer itself. You don't have to be an elder to be able to pray effectively for your brothers and sisters in Christ. The power is not in the elder. It's in the prayer faith. While it is most appropriate for spiritual overseers to intercede and restore the sick, James makes it clear that all believers have both the privilege and the responsibility to pray for the healing of others. Did you hear that? All believers have not only the privilege to pray, but the responsibility to pray. for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ when there is a great need. Let's look now at the power of a godly person's prayer in verses 16 through 18. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Sometimes Christians ask, Does prayer really work? Does prayer really produce any effects? Does our praying move God to work on our behalf? Does it really work? What's the mystery between this thing in God's will and our will in praying? What is the relationship between our prayerful desires and God's sovereign purposes? If God be sovereign, why pray? Why bother God? He already knows what he's going to do. Why bother God? Does prayer really have any bearing on what happens in our lives? James here now asserts Read it, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth or prevails much with God. That's what he says. You say, I don't know how to get that fit into my system. Well, take your text here first. If it won't fit into your system, then you better start modifying your system. The word for prayer, which is translated here in James, refers to a petition, a request, or a supplication. It is used in Luke 1.13 there where we read, ìFear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard.î The request that you have presented to me, I've heard it. This word that James uses for prayer, meaning a petition, a request, means more than merely addressing God with words. It includes asking God for something definite, not praying around the world. God bless all the little children in India. God bless all the people in South America. No, this is asking God for something definite. And thus we read of its use in Acts 1.14, where it is said of those in the upper room, these all continued with one accord in prayer and what? Now, that's the word that's translated prayer here in James, supplication. It could have been translated, these all continued with one accord in prayer and prayer. But it's while they are praying, they're asking God for something. They're making a supplication, a request. Not all prayer contains request. We thus read in Philippians 1, 4 where Paul says of the Philippians, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy. There is a word that is translated prayer in James 5. Petition, request, supplication. You understand what we're saying? Is that a person may pray and never supplicate. James is using a specific word here describing an aspect of prayer. The words effectual, fervent in verse 16 come from one Greek word meaning to work or accomplish. It carries the idea of energy, or energetic. An example of its usage is seen in Ephesians 1.11. Speaking of the eternal purpose of God in redemption, we read, "...in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him." Now watch, "...who worketh," there's that word, effectual fervent, "...who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." There's energy in God carrying out His purpose. He's accomplishing something, and thus the effectual fervent prayer is designed to actively work to achieve an outcome. No passivity here. Look over in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20. Here's this word again. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly. above all that we think or ask or think, here it is, according to the power that worketh in us. This is prayer power, my people. There is an active energy that is to be addressed to God in the form of a supplication or a to where one pours out their heart unto God, seeking His mercy and His help. The idea that James is conveying is the prayer request of a righteous person works powerfully to prevail effectively with God. Isaac, how he wrestled with the angel and he prevailed. When James uses the expression, a righteous man, he's describing here a true believer. One who has become such by the mighty working power of God, as we've just read here in Now, there are two senses in the Bible in which a person is righteous before God. One, by the imputed righteousness of Christ being charged to their account. This righteousness is objective and passive in its nature. It's a once and for all thing. And this righteousness is the foundation upon which the second righteousness is brought about. But there is a second way in the Bible in which a person is righteous before God, and that is in their moral character. They are godly. and they desire to please God by serving his will. This righteousness is subjective and active. Now, since James has been describing the nature of Christian living in this book, he is probably referring to the second in which the term righteous is used in the Bible. In which case, then, he is saying the petition of a person who is desiring to please the will of God will work powerfully so as to avail one to being able to get their prayer request answered. Turn over to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 21. 1 John chapter 3 and verses 21 and 22. There is, as we have already touched upon, a relationship between us getting our prayers answered and the moral character which we are demonstrating before God. 1 John 3, 21, 22. If our heart condemns us not, then we have confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. It couldn't be stated any clearer. For you to have an effective prayer life, there must be an obedient walk with God. You must be seeking to please Him, obey His commandments. Then when that characteristic of your manifesting a moral character before God, of desiring to please Him, is there, then our heart will not condemn us. That is, our conscience will not condemn us that while we're asking God for something, we know we're indulging in known sin before Him. Might as well stop you praying. Moody it was that said sin will keep you from the Bible, or the Bible will keep you from sin. I'll put it another way. Sin will keep you from praying, or praying will keep you from sin. 1 John 5, 14 and 15. Turn there if you're already there in 1 John. This is the confidence that we have in Him if we ask anything according to His will. he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him. Connect 1 John 3, 21 and 22 with 1 John 5, 14 and 15, and you will see that for a prayer to be effectual before It must come forth from a person whose moral character is pleasing in the sight of God. And beloved, do you see then that why your moral character and that sense of your righteousness must rest first upon the foundation of the imputed righteousness of Christ and not vice versa? You must have a legal standing in the courtroom of God before you can pray to God. You must be justified. You must be accounted righteous before you can become righteous in your moral character. Albert Barnes comments on this verse with these words, ìThe quality on which the success of the prayer depends is not the talent, learning, rank, wealth, or office of the man who prays. But the fact that he is a righteous man, that is a good man, and this may be found in the ranks of the poor as certainly as the rich, among laymen as well as among the ministers of religion, among slaves as well as among their It has been said that prayer moves the arm that moves the world. And if there is anything that can prevail with God, it is prayer, humble, fervent, earnest petitioning. We have no power to control him. We cannot dictate or prescribe to him. We cannot resist him. in the execution of his purposes, but we can ask him for what we desire. And he has graciously said that such asking may affect much for our own good and the good of our fellow men. Nothing has been more clearly demonstrated in the history of the world than that prayer is effectual in obtaining blessings from God and in accomplishing great and valuable purposes. It has indeed no intrinsic power, but God has graciously purposed that His favor shall be granted to those who call upon him, and that what no mere human power can effect should be produced by his power in answer to prayer." That is a profound summary of the sovereignty of God and prayer. And so while we may have room to find fault with our Arminian friends in the way they viewed prayer as somehow controlling God's decrees. We in the reform camp have much correction that we need to have been made upon us, that if we so believe in the sovereignty of God it has produced a dead and lifeless prayer life, then you do not understand the sovereignty of God. If you are not praying effectually before God and you are saying, oh well, it's in the sovereign will of God, you are not manifesting a righteous moral character before God, thereby you are not pleasing God, therefore your prayers are shut up and God will not hear an answer. Now, here are some stated principles. If we desire to have an effective prayer ministry, I've given them to you in your bulletin so you don't have to write them down. Here are some principles drawn from James' statements here. Number one, the prayers of a person who's right with God can accomplish much. There we ask ourselves, what are our prayers accomplishing? and that they're not accomplishing much, what's the conclusion? There are some people who are not right with God. The second thing involved in an effective prayer ministry, the righteous person is the one who practices right living. Look over in I John 3, in case you still might be there. James, I believe, is using the same sense of righteousness in which John uses it here. Look now, I John chapter 3 and verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is what? Righteous. He who is doing righteousness is the righteous person, even as he, Christ, is righteous. Now, let no man deceive you. Now, what would somebody come along and deceive you in believing? Just as long as you have imputed righteousness, why, then, that's all you need in the Christian life. As James has shown, faith without works is dead. If there be no acts of righteousness, one is a stranger to the possession of imputed righteousness, no matter how strong they may uphold the principle of imputed righteousness. You say you have imputed righteousness. Show me your imputed righteousness by your doing righteousness. And it's that person whose prayers are open to the ears of God. Should we challenge ourselves this morning as a church that if we had a brother or sister that was bedridden today and that they had confessed that they are under the chastening hand of God, would we as a body be able to pray effectively for such a person? I tell you, before it would ever be effective, there would have to be getting some beams out of our eyes, because that kind comes not out but by prayer and fasting. A casual prayer life will never get the job done in a crisis. Third principle for an effective prayer ministry. Effective prayer comes from the heart of a believer whose passion is to see the will of God worked out in his life. Passion about this. You want to see God glorified. You want to see God honored. You want to please God. It is that type of a person that God hears and answers prayer. Fourthly, believers who tolerate sin in their lives cannot pray effectively. Again, Psalm 68, verses 18 through 20. Let me quote it for you. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath heard me. He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me." There it is very, very clearly. If there is sin being tolerated in the life of a believer, that believer cannot pray effectively. That's why it must be confessed. It must be agreed with. And when we confess our sins, we're not just confessing our sinnerhood, our general sinfulness. We're confessing the specific sins of which we are guilty of. Now, James moves from the power of prayer stated to the power of prayer illustrated. We read, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. It rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. James now turns to the example of Elijah to illustrate effective prayer. This is James' fourth reference to an Old Testament character. He is referred to Abraham in chapter 2, verses 21-24, to Rahab in chapter 2, verse 25, to Job in chapter 5, verse 11, and now to Abraham. He now deals with the Old Testament character named Elijah. Elijah's name occurs 30 times in the New Testament. He held a place of prominence in the later life of Judaism. Numerous traditions grew up around the character of Elijah. Some were superstitious. Some held he was some type of a superhuman. But great interest was stimulated in Elijah by the prophetic announcement in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5 of his reappearance at the beginning of the Messianic age. That is, he would come just before the Messiah. The reason why the King James Version spells his name with an S, Elias, rather than an H, Elijah, is given to us by the Edmund Ebert. Listen carefully. The King James Version, E-L-I-A-S, Elias, transliterates the Greek spelling of the name, for the Greek can have an H only at the beginning of a word. Elijah goes back to the Hebrew form. Now, other translations today then follow, not the Greek text here, which the New Testament is given, but go back and use the Old Testament Hebrew form, and thus they normally have Elijah. for this. Now, lest some should believe that common mortals could never expect to achieve great prayer results, James tells his hearers now that Elijah was a man, an ordinary man of like passions, as we That is, he had the same nature, was subject to the same feelings and experiences of other men. Oh, I'm glad that James told me that. Otherwise, I would have thought that the only person who could get their prayers answered was a supernatural hero. Only they can move mountains. But man, I can't. I'm just an ordinary fellow. James says, wait a minute, Elijah did this, and he was made out of the same mud that the rest of us are. Now, he's encouraging us here. At times, Elijah acted under the sway of his feelings. The same person who seemed to be so in control on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal, you remember 450, he wasn't afraid of them. And after he won the conflict there over which sacrifice God would accept, then he rounded up the prophets of Baal and had them all killed. Man, if that's not a man in control, I don't know who is. That's the fellow I want at my bedside to be sick, if I'm sick. Man, he's in control. This was the same man who fled from Jezebel's threats and later asked God to take his own life. Same man, just a few days later. Jezebel says, I'll get him for doing this, and Elijah takes off. He's a man of like passions. Folks, my wife lives with a man of like passions, of like feelings. One day she sees me ready to charge hell with a water gun. The next day, why, she sees me wanting to crawl into a cave, get out of the ministry. How in the world could I ever expect to get anything from God in prayer? Because I'm related to Elijah. Now then, here's the beauty of all of this. If God answered his prayers, Why should he not answer ours? What does this teach us? It teaches us that the power of prayer lies not in the person of the prophet, nor his gifts, nor his office, but in prayer itself. Get it? It's not in some person. It's not in the office that he holds. It's not in the gifts that he possesses. The power is in the prayer. That brings me into the picture, because I'm made up just like Elijah, and I'm just a common mortal. I've never moved a mountain. I've never shut up heaven so it didn't ring. But I want you to know I have the same ability to do so as Elijah if it be the will of God that heaven be shut up and there not rain. Have you not known or have perhaps you not yourselves prayed for rain in times of drought? Or your crops and the fields? Well, was that appropriate? Elijah did. When one knows the will of God, they can pray earnestly. The word earnestly here in verse 17 interprets a Hebrew idiom or a way of expressing, which means he, quote, prayed with prayer. Interesting statement. This is a Hebrew expression designed to indicate intensity. Elijah did not just say words, but while praying, he prayed. He prayed intensely. This means his thoughts were fixed, his desires were firm, and his faculties were energized. While the words which Elijah spoke are not recorded in the Old Testament record in the book of Kings, his posture