1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:04,080 Good morning Calvary Chapel. Good morning, please. 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:09,760 Good morning. Hey man, an exuberant brother 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,920 over there. Hey man, God bless you, man. 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,800 Please turn in your Bibles with us to James Chapter 4 and we 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,240 actually going to, I'm sorry, James Chapter 5. 6 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:23,360 Actually, we're going to start James chapter 5 today. 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,360 We're we're, we're cutting right through it. 8 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,840 I just want to thank everybody for coming this morning as my 9 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,080 sister is already so eloquently and graciously have already 10 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:37,080 given that that welcome. We thank God that you chose to 11 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:41,040 worship with us this morning. And we also thank God for those 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,440 who are watching on Facebook and those who are behind prison 13 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,240 walls who have chosen to listen to us this morning. 14 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,120 We thank you. We thank you. 15 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,880 It's always so good to see you guys to come in. 16 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,040 I look so forward to Wednesday nights and on Sundays when I get 17 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:57,880 a chance to just fellowship with you all. 18 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:04,239 It's such a blessing. You know, I, I, I thank God that 19 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:10,600 he calls me to be a part of a family, a, a family of believers 20 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,120 who truly, truly love one another. 21 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,360 And if there's one thing I can say, if you're here for the 22 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,920 first time, if there's one thing I can say, when you walk into 23 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,600 Calvary Chapel Westmoreland, the one thing you will experience 24 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,280 would be genuine love. You will experience that. 25 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,160 And I thank God for that. I thank God for that. 26 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:39,680 So we're going to go ahead and just pray and get into the Word 27 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:47,780 this morning. OK, Father, every day that we 28 00:01:47,780 --> 00:01:51,020 have an opportunity to wake up and to give you praise and 29 00:01:51,020 --> 00:01:58,360 worship, it's a blessing. David said that I will bless the 30 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:05,000 Lord at all times. That means we bless you when 31 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,919 we're suffering. We bless you when we're 32 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,840 abounding. We bless you in our mountaintop 33 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,160 experiences, Lord, and we bless you in our valleys. 34 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,320 We thank you for your faithfulness. 35 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,360 Great is your faithfulness to us. 36 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,200 And Father, as usual this morning as we come, we come and 37 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:36,680 gather, not just for fellowship, not just for the worship, but we 38 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,280 also come for the ultimate worship, which is to sit under 39 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:46,680 Your word and have an opportunity to obey you, to walk 40 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,720 in your truths. We thank You, Lord, that You 41 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:55,040 have given us of Your Word, and not only do you give us Your 42 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:59,240 Word, Lord, but through the power of Your Holy Spirit You 43 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:04,040 give us understanding of Your word, Cause us to be able to 44 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:09,040 rightly divide Your word, and we can only do that through the 45 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,600 power of Your Holy Spirit. So this morning we asked for a 46 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,920 manifestation of Your Holy Spirit upon each and every one 47 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:21,920 of us. To those of us who were 48 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:25,840 listening, I pray God that you would open our hearts and our 49 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,480 ears. Allow the Word to be a seed that 50 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:36,600 goes in to our hearts and that it takes up root there, and 51 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:40,200 cause it to bring forth fruit in our life that the world would be 52 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,880 able to see. And Father, for me, your 53 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:50,200 servant, I pray God that you would speak through me, that it 54 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:52,120 would be your voice that people hear. 55 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:53,920 It would be your words, your truth. 56 00:03:53,920 --> 00:04:00,280 Lord, it's not mine, it's yours. So be with us this morning, 57 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:05,760 Lord, be with us. May we feel your presence. 58 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,960 In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 59 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:18,279 Amen. I could come and sit over there 60 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:24,960 and you can come up and take care of this if you Amen. 61 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:26,280 Amen. What is a blessing? 62 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:29,160 It's a blessing. I I was just thinking Pastor 63 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,920 Clark and myself and Brother Ted, as we were sitting out in 64 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:37,600 the what we call our prayer owl back there and we're lifting up 65 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:42,200 prayers to the Lord. I was just thinking about a song 66 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:46,440 this morning that was just really heavy on my heart, and 67 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:51,240 the song is great. Is your faithfulness. 68 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:57,760 And I think there's times that I kind of take a. 69 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:00,880 For. Granted, God's faithfulness in 70 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:08,720 my life, I think there's times that I just kind of expect his 71 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:15,040 faithfulness in my life. But the truth is, is that He's 72 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:20,520 faithful even when we're not, as his word clearly says. 73 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:27,600 And every day, regardless of whether we are having things go 74 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:32,240 so easy in our life or whether we're having things go hard, we 75 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:38,040 experience God's faithfulness. The fact that we're here today 76 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:43,040 is an example of God's faithfulness, fact that we woke 77 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:47,480 up this morning, the things that He provides for us. 78 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,440 We all have roofs over our head and we have food on our table 79 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:57,560 and we have clothes on our back. It's an example of God's 80 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,080 faithfulness, especially when you find that there's others who 81 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:08,120 don't have those things. But God has blessed us and have 82 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:14,680 given us above all things, the salvation that he's given us, 83 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,240 which is more important than anything that we can wear, 84 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:22,160 spend, or eat is the salvation of the Lord. 85 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,400 And we have that. We have that. 86 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,280 So thank you for taking that little ride with me this 87 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:32,200 morning. So just thinking about his 88 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:38,760 faithfulness in our lives. So let's go into James chapter 5 89 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:40,960 and I'm going to read this and we're going to go back and we're 90 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,160 going to look at it and we'll see what the Lord has to say. 91 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,880 He says here in the in the first verse, he says, come now you 92 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:53,520 rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon 93 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,120 you. Your riches are corrupted and 94 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:01,080 your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and your silver are 95 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,040 corroded, and their their corrosion will be a witness 96 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:10,120 against you, and will eat your flesh like fire, if you have 97 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:16,040 heaped up treasure in the last days, indeed the wages of the 98 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:20,720 laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back. 99 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:26,160 By fraud, cry out. And the cries of the reapers 100 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,560 have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabeaf. 101 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,760 Verse 5 says you have. Lived on the earth and pleasure 102 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,480 and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as 103 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:47,240 in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have 104 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,920 murdered the just. He does not resist you. 105 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,360 What a sobering section of scripture. 106 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,200 What's really amazing about this is that after. 107 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,720 He gives us this section on we do not know. 108 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,520 When you look back at the end of chapter 4, he talks about we 109 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,400 don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next, 110 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:18,920 so we shouldn't do it presumptuously. 111 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:25,160 We should not live our lives absent from the dependence on 112 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:30,120 God and recognizing His will in our lives every day. 113 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:34,520 And then he comes down to Chapter 5. 114 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,720 Which is the first time in this scripture that he literally 115 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:43,799 speaks to the unbelievers. This is a message he's speaking 116 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:46,200 to the unbelievers throughout this entire. 117 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,200 Book So far it's been my brother and my brother and and it's been 118 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:56,000 about believers. But now he's taken a moment to 119 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,160 speak to the unbelievers. Now, these may be the 120 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:07,600 unbelievers who came and visited the church and he knew that 121 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:13,360 these unbelievers were abusing the poor, particularly those who 122 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,400 he's writing this book to, you know, the, the, the, the poor 123 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:21,160 believers, they're, they're abusing them. 124 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,920 And and he's going to talk about how they're abusing him. 125 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,960 And he takes this moment to not talk to the believers, but to 126 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,840 speak to these non believers. And he does it in the form of a 127 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:37,120 warning. And it's, I mean it, it, it's 128 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,680 almost, it almost cost chills when you think about this 129 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:43,600 warning that he's giving to these unbelievers. 130 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,400 I don't know if whether or not they, they, they truly heed this 131 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:54,400 warning, but this is indeed a very serious thing that he is 132 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,160 giving and saying to these unbelievers. 133 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:02,600 Now, one thing I do want to make clear, that the Bible doesn't 134 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,720 necessarily condemn being rich. It is not necessarily. 135 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,000 It's not condemning being rich. This is not an indictment 136 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:15,360 against people being rich, but it does warn, it warns US 137 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,160 against making wealth an idol in our lives. 138 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:23,960 It warns US against trusting in it or letting it corrupt our 139 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:30,480 hearts as it can so often. But instead, James, James is 140 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,320 urging us, and as we go through this, we're going to hear him in 141 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,160 many ways. Let us know that it is those 142 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:42,800 that to those who are rich, that you should have a posture of 143 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,480 generosity and a reliance on God. 144 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:53,680 Regardless of whether we're rich or poor, our reliance should be 145 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:59,920 on God, trusting in Him and not in anything that we have. 146 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,760 God has no problem with the rich in general because it's God who 147 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,480 made riches. He created riches, He created 148 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:15,280 wealth, and not only that, but He also gives us the power to 149 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:21,560 get wealth, but he is against trusting in those riches. 150 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,840 It almost goes right back to what's often been said, and 151 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:31,120 what's been said many times is that we should never, ever trust 152 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:39,320 love or or or or depend on the creation more than the Creator. 153 00:11:46,220 --> 00:11:50,020 In First Timothy 6 and 17, he says command those who were rich 154 00:11:50,020 --> 00:11:53,380 in this present age not to be haughty. 155 00:11:54,420 --> 00:11:59,860 Don't be prideful or trust in uncertain riches. 156 00:11:59,860 --> 00:12:01,660 There's nothing certain about riches. 157 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:04,320 You can have riches today, and tomorrow you don't have 158 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,320 anything. What's valuable today may not be 159 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:12,080 a value tomorrow. So he says don't trust in 160 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,080 uncertain riches. The only thing that's truly 161 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:21,280 certain is Jesus Christ, and it's only what we do for him 162 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:25,720 that will last, he says. So don't trust in uncertain 163 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:32,200 riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things 164 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,800 to enjoy. So he gives, he's not a, he's 165 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:38,400 not against riches. He gives us riches. 166 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:41,680 He gives us all things to enjoy. Now I know some of you may be 167 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:45,760 thinking, when women, I ain't rich, I'm not rich. 168 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,120 When do I get my riches to enjoy? 169 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,200 And when you really think about riches, it's really relative 170 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:01,400 because if you leave the United States and going to another 171 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,000 country, you will see poverty on a level that you've never seen 172 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,880 it here in the United States. The worst poverty I've ever seen 173 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:15,480 was in Compton, CA. There's some places there that 174 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:22,840 are really, really poverty stricken, but then you go to 175 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,440 other places, other countries and Compton looks like Beverly 176 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,040 Hills compared to some of these places. 177 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:34,160 So it really is relative. It really is relative and and 178 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,880 quite honestly, God, you know, Jesus said, look, if you have 179 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:43,240 food and you have clothing, you really have what you need. 180 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:43,880 We're. Rich. 181 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:49,920 That's rich. So in Proverbs 11/28, he says he 182 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,320 who trusts in his riches will fall. 183 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:57,840 It's a it's such a snare. It's such a trap to trust in 184 00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:59,720 riches. It gets you to feel like 185 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:02,560 everything's OK now because I can afford to get what I want. 186 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:06,920 But if you think about it, it's the rich who has more sorrows 187 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:12,960 than anybody, more sorrow than anybody. 188 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:18,960 If that's what they're trusting in, they have more sorrows than 189 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,280 anybody. But he says, but the righteous 190 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:28,200 will flourish like a foliage. Wealth with integrity allows us 191 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:33,360 to have peace. Bible says that he who walks in 192 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,760 integrity walks securely. Don't have to worry about the 193 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,720 don't have to worry about the results of walking in a way 194 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:49,680 that's not of integrity, which brings on consequences. 195 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:54,720 Don't have to worry about that when you're blessing is in with 196 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,320 integrity. Proverbs 10 and 22 says the 197 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,360 blessing of the Lord makes 1 rich and he adds no sorrow with 198 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:04,800 it. Now I also want to take a look. 199 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,160 I'm going to go back to the Old Testament a little bit and take 200 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:11,400 a look as we talk about these riches and Deuteronomy 8 and 18. 201 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:14,840 God says this. He says, and you shall remember 202 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,240 the Lord your God. This is Moses speaking. 203 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:22,320 You should remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives 204 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:23,480 you the. Power. 205 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,880 To get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he 206 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:32,000 swore to your father's as it is this day. 207 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,760 And the Bible actually gives us both Old and New Testament 208 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:42,440 examples of people who trusted in him and he has blessed with 209 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,800 great wealth and we look at the Old Testament. 210 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:50,760 Abraham was a man of great wealth, but he was also a man 211 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,440 that followed closely with good effect. 212 00:15:53,600 --> 00:16:00,040 God said that he is his friend. Job. 213 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,520 Lord said, you know, the Bible says he was righteous above all 214 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:08,280 man in that at that particular time he had great wealth. 215 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:13,240 He also suffered more than most of them, more than probably any 216 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,440 of us will ever have. Hopefully it'll be more than any 217 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,840 of us ever have to, but yet he was a man that had great wealth. 218 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:24,360 And of course, Joseph, man of great wealth. 219 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,480 And there's others that we could mention as well. 220 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:31,720 Isaac, Jacob had wealth. And these are people who love 221 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,000 the Lord. And also in the New Testament 222 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:35,760 there are examples of those who have great wealth. 223 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:40,520 Joseph of Arimathea, by the way, who's a very tomb that Jesus was 224 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:45,760 laid in. And while I mention him, I might 225 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,720 as well go ahead and mention Nicodemus, because Nicodemus 226 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,320 also a man of great wealth and believed. 227 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:56,000 In fact, he helped Joseph of Arimathea to wrap. 228 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,120 Jesus for his. Burial. 229 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:06,000 Then there's Philemon who was a man of God who was also rich. 230 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:11,079 So money itself is neutral, honestly speaking and and and 231 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:15,359 and just having it is not a sin. But when we love it and pursue 232 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:20,040 it more than we love or pursue God, that's when it becomes an 233 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,640 issue. That's when it becomes an issue. 234 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,800 It corrupts the heart. And to be honest with you, there 235 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,960 is very few things that people who really love money, there's 236 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,720 very few things that they won't do to to get it. 237 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,320 It's just like that selfish ambition that we talked about. 238 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:42,960 This is what I want and I'll do anything I have to do to get it. 239 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,680 That's the love of money. So yes, it becomes a problem, 240 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,000 but money itself is neutral and it's not money that's the 241 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,560 problem, but it's the love of money that is the problem. 242 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:04,560 And unfortunately for those who have money, and Jesus made this 243 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:10,000 statement himself, that those who are rich if they're not 244 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,360 trusting in the Lord. And if they're not committing 245 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:18,280 what they have to the will of the Lord, it's very, very 246 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,080 difficult for them to get into the Kingdom of heaven. 247 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:30,720 How difficult If you look at a the eye of a pen need I'm and I 248 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,840 bring that up because when I was young, I mean it says in the 249 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,360 scripture too, but when I was young, my grandmother and when I 250 00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:38,480 would spend time with her and she would put her glasses on and 251 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:40,840 try to. You guys have any thoughts of 252 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:41,760 that? Your grandmother's, you know, 253 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,800 try to get that thread to get through that little eye, that 254 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,840 needle, and then eventually, eventually, she just looks at 255 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,080 you and say, look, your eyes is better than mine, you know, 256 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,080 here, come and do this. Now it's us who are saying to 257 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:55,560 younger people, your eyes are better than mine. 258 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,080 But yeah, I remember my grandmother doing that. 259 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,120 And then Jesus is saying it's easier. 260 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:09,440 For a camel to go through the eye of that needle than it is 261 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,000 for a rich man to get into heaven. 262 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,120 And again, this is not an indictment on people being rich. 263 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,720 This is talking about those who are trusting in their riches, 264 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:26,280 those who have decided that they were going to be selfish with 265 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,720 their riches. In First Timothy 6 and 10, James 266 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,120 says and and a lot of people quote this and they. 267 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,840 For some reason, they kind of misquote it. 268 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:37,880 They'll say, look, money is the root of all evil. 269 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,520 You hear that a lot. Money is the root of all evil. 270 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:42,600 But that is the misquote of that scripture. 271 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,600 It is not money that's the root of all evil. 272 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:53,040 Actually, what it says is that the love of money, and it's not 273 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,960 the root, but it is a root of all evil. 274 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,240 There are many, many roots of evil. 275 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,520 Money is one of them. Money is one of them. 276 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,800 So as we go through this now, James looks at two things in 277 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:15,440 this section concerning the wicked unsaved who are rich. 278 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:19,120 And the first thing he looks, he looks at how they acquired their 279 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:21,360 wealth. And then he's going to take a 280 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:23,400 look at how they use their wealth. 281 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:29,440 So let's go here to verse one. And it says here, come now. 282 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,560 In other words, listen, take heed. 283 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,280 Listen to what I'm about to say. I'm about to say something that 284 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:40,040 you really need to hear. And again, remember, he's 285 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:46,720 talking to unsaved people who are wealthy and he knows that 286 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:51,920 these people have used their wealth to abuse the poor and 287 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:58,840 oppress the poor. He says, come you who you rich, 288 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,080 speaking directly to them. And then he says this, weep and 289 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:10,040 how for your miseries that are coming upon you now, when you 290 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:14,360 would listen to most rich people who are really trusting in their 291 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:18,800 wealth and thinking that because I'm I'm rich, I don't have to 292 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:23,480 depend on anybody but me. The last thing that they would 293 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,960 think that they would have to listen to is somebody say, 294 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,600 you're going to be miserable. How can I be miserable? 295 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:32,280 I got everything I want. Oh, miseries coming. 296 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:36,960 So this is almost written in in the in the flavor of an Old 297 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:45,920 Testament prophet who was saying judgment has been declared and 298 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,360 it's coming upon you. This is what you have to look 299 00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:52,000 forward to. You think you have to look 300 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,560 forward to enjoying the rest of your riches, But that's on this 301 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,000 side. When you are judged, when you 302 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,760 when judgment hits, you got another problem. 303 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,120 I was listening to Phil the the guy from Duck Dynasty. 304 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,960 He was speaking one time and he said something and, and, and I 305 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,600 remember who remembers Duck Dynasty by the way. 306 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:13,320 OK, OK. I just want to make sure. 307 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,560 He said something very injured. He said, you know, we have 3 308 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,480 problems. He caught my attention. 309 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,840 I'm listening. He said the one problem we have 310 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,040 is sin. All have sinned and come sure to 311 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,080 the glory of God. That's the one problem we have. 312 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:39,400 The second problem we have is death, because it's appointed to 313 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,800 every man wants to die and then after this the judgement. 314 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,520 But then he said the third problem is judgement. 315 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:49,680 That's the third problem we have. 316 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,520 And that's why it was important for Jesus Christ to come, 317 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,440 because He delivered us from the sin. 318 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,680 He took on our sin. He became sin for us. 319 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,080 Jesus is the answer to that problem. 320 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,160 But Jesus is also the answer to the problem of the second issue, 321 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,200 which is death. Because Jesus says that if you 322 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,560 believe on me, though you be dead, yet shall you live. 323 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,560 And those who believe in me that are that are alive, you shall 324 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,640 never die. So Jesus is the answer to that, 325 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,840 but he's also the answer to judgment because he took on the 326 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:30,760 death of the judgment the penalty for death for us. 327 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,600 He handled that. That's why it's important to be 328 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:38,840 in Jesus Christ because without him those are still going to be 329 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,280 a problem for everyone of us who don't trust in Him. 330 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,040 So this is about this unbelieving non Christian rich, 331 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,440 rich folks who was oppressing the poor believers, some of whom 332 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,320 James is writing to, like these people that James are writing 333 00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:59,880 to. These people are being oppressed 334 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,560 by the poor. This is a warning to the wicked 335 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,080 who trust in their riches. He said you better in 336 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,920 anticipation of what's coming. You can just start weeping and 337 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,040 howling now. Just start weeping and howling 338 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:20,440 now because judgment is coming. It's already been, it's already 339 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:28,200 been pronounced. And then in verses 2 and 3, he 340 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,560 says your riches are corrupted. So these are the things that 341 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,240 they trusted in. And here when he talks about 342 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,160 your riches, they're actually talking about their food, their 343 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,280 grain, their wheat. He says it's corrupted. 344 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,440 In other words, it's molded. It's as good as molded. 345 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,080 It's not going to do you any good. 346 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,200 And then he said in your garments are moth eating. 347 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:55,120 You walk around in these expensive clothes and you and 348 00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:58,680 you're thinking that hey, I'm looking good and you know I'm 349 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,360 going to always look good like this. 350 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:03,800 But but but but James said no, they are moth eating. 351 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,200 Those garments will be eaten with moth. 352 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:13,560 Who remembers the mothballs? All right, I got a lot of folk 353 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:18,080 about you generation here today, mothballs with you young folks 354 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:23,520 who wondering what are they talking about years ago, you 355 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,720 walk in your closet and you'll be overwhelmed with the smaller 356 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:28,280 mothballs. I'm going to go to my 357 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,640 grandmother's house. I knew exactly when I walked 358 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:36,040 past her closet because the mothball smell would just bounce 359 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,080 out of there like crazy. But the reason why they use 360 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:44,400 mothballs is because, yes, garments would be eaten by moth 361 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,880 that would get in your closet and they will start eating like 362 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:48,800 your sweaters and things of that nature. 363 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,920 So the older folks used to use the moth balls and put them in 364 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:54,520 there because it was like a pest. 365 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,160 It worked like a pesticide and would keep the moth away. 366 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,320 And I'm wondering if it really worked, but they used it. 367 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,200 I know it worked against me because I didn't want to go in 368 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:12,000 the closet that that smell was so that smell was so powerful, 369 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,840 you know, and even like, you know, when when they were, you 370 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,360 know, my grandmother would come over to the house sometimes I 371 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:20,760 could smell it on her clothes, you know, say, wow, grandma got 372 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,720 that sweater out of the closet, that muff. 373 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:29,920 But that's what they believe. But James is saying won't be no 374 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:34,800 mothballs here, bro. You know the the the moth is 375 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:39,360 going to eat. Your garments that you think you 376 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:44,440 are so great and you think you're looking so majestic, 377 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:49,000 what's going to be eaten up? And then he goes on in verse 378 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,720 three, he says in your gold and your silver is corroded. 379 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,480 Wow, gold and silver corroded. And we're always told that gold 380 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:00,040 don't corrode, but he's saying it's going to be corroded. 381 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,480 In other words, it's going to be rendered invaluable. 382 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,400 You see, when you die, regardless of how much money you 383 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:12,960 have, how much gold and silver you have, it means nothing Once 384 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,320 you die. You don't take it with you. 385 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:21,440 I said, you know, he said you, James, I mean Paul said you 386 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,960 bring nothing into this world and you will carry nothing out 387 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,280 of it. You will carry nothing out of 388 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,600 it. So your gold and your silver is 389 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,320 corroded and their corrosion. Now this is really interesting. 390 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,760 He's saying in your corrosion will be a witness against you 391 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,400 and will eat your flesh like fire. 392 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,360 It's almost a picture of being in a courtroom where you as the 393 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:51,400 person that may be the defendant and you want someone to come and 394 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,520 testify on your behalf. So you choose the person that 395 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,440 you trust in the most to come and testify on your behalf. 396 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,960 The to, you know, hopefully give a testimony that would get you 397 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,920 out of trouble. So you try to bring the most 398 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,120 reliable person that you can think of the the one that you 399 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,960 trust in the most. And you put them in front of the 400 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,040 courtroom and you and they give their testimony. 401 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:23,680 But the testimony that they give actually is the very one that 402 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,400 indicts you, the one that actually renders you guilty. 403 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:33,600 So instead of testifying for you, it's testifying against 404 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,400 you. They're trusting in all these 405 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:38,840 gold and the silver and the clothes and all these things, 406 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,040 but it's going to corrode, and that corrosion is going to be 407 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:49,720 like a witness against you. And in judgement your flesh will 408 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:54,520 be eaten like fire. Just like that gold and those 409 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,800 precious stones were going to corrode, so will you in 410 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:03,640 judgment. James is not being gentle here. 411 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,600 He is really being as direct as he possibly can with this 412 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,240 warning. And then he goes and he looks at 413 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,120 the next, the next portion of that same verse, right here in 414 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,360 verse three, he says you heaped up treasure in the last days. 415 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,680 You heaped up treasure. That means you stored up 416 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,600 treasure. You, you didn't use your 417 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,880 treasure to help anybody. You didn't use it to bless 418 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,120 anybody. You used it. 419 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,160 You stored it up. Just wanted to keep it for your 420 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,000 own selfishness. You knew what you wanted to do 421 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,960 with it. You want your easement to come 422 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:42,640 as a result of what you have heaped up. 423 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:55,040 And over in over in Luke, Jesus gives a, an example of this 424 00:29:55,680 --> 00:30:01,360 person who decides that they are going to heap up their treasures 425 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,600 and just hold on to it. They're not going to use it to 426 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,040 bless anybody with. They're just going to hoard it 427 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,960 for themselves. And it's over in Luke chapter 428 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:11,480 12. And I'm going to go there real 429 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,920 quick because I it speaks to this particular section of the 430 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:19,560 Scripture, Luke chapter 12. And he says this. 431 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:37,880 Let's look at verse 16. Actually, what I'm going to do, 432 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,160 I'm going to go back to 14 and then I'm going to read it 433 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,200 through to 21. He says this, he says, but he 434 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:49,200 said to him, man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? 435 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:53,280 This was someone who was crying out and wanted their brothers to 436 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,880 divide up the inheritance, the financial inheritance that they 437 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,000 received. And, and Jesus said, look who 438 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,800 made you know, who made me an arbitrator or a judge over you? 439 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,320 And then in 15 he said, he said to them, take heed and beware of 440 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,520 covetousness. Exactly covetousness that you 441 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,040 know that, that, that, that strong desire for something that 442 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:21,080 somebody else has for wealth or money or whatever it is that 443 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,360 someone else has. He says for one's life does not 444 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,080 consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. 445 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,320 One's life doesn't consist in the things that we possess. 446 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,120 It does not identify us. The things that we have, whether 447 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,040 it's money or whether it's it's food or clothing or whatever it 448 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,160 is, those things don't identify us. 449 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:45,120 Your car, regardless of how nice it is, doesn't identify who you 450 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,680 are. Your house does not just say who 451 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,320 you are. My life, your life does not 452 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:54,920 consist of the things you possess because those are 453 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,520 uncertain riches. They don't last, they don't 454 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,280 last. And then in verse 16 he says 455 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:08,440 then he spoke a parable saying the ground of a certain rich man 456 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,600 yielded plentiful. He had a bump in his in his 457 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,920 harvest. He had a bump and it yielded 458 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,880 much and overnight this man just became rich, became wealthy. 459 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,320 And you thought and he thought within himself saying what shall 460 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,080 I do since I have no room to store my crops? 461 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,320 Now listen to his question to himself, what should I do 462 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:33,920 because I don't have enough room to store my crops? 463 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,720 Well, how about giving some away? 464 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:44,840 I know some people here who have gardens and you get crops out of 465 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:46,960 your gardens rather it's zucchini. 466 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:54,400 It might be Peppers or I know for us sometimes we get cabbage 467 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:56,800 and things of that nature that you have. 468 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:01,200 And when you have an abundance of those things, you give them 469 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:06,000 out to your neighbors, you give them to people, you bless other 470 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,160 people. But this, but this guy is saying 471 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:13,440 what should I do with them? And I know that that happens 472 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:19,080 because even comes happens here. People give away eggs. 473 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,520 I've seen people give away zucchinis. 474 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,000 I mean, they've brought it to church and say here who who 475 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,040 needs it and other produce they say who needs it, who wants it. 476 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,280 But that's the heart of you here in at Calvary Chapel. 477 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,680 You guys give. Do you have a heart to give? 478 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,400 You love to give. And this is what this is and 479 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:40,560 what this is what this is saying. 480 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,640 This guy is saying, look, what am I going to do with it? 481 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:43,800 I'll tell you what I'll do with it. 482 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,120 Look at what he says here. So he said, I will do this, I 483 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:53,160 will pull down my small barns and I'll build greater barns, 484 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,920 and there I will store all my crops in my goods, and I will 485 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:01,920 say to my soul, so you have many goods. 486 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,720 He said it to himself, He's pumping himself up. 487 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:11,560 So you have many goods, you have a lot, you have an abundance, 488 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,760 you got it laid up for for a long time. 489 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,520 And I will say to myself, so you have many goods laid up for many 490 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,000 years. Take your ease, eat, drink and 491 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,400 be merry. But God said to him, you fool, 492 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,520 this night your soul will be required of you. 493 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:37,719 This man had no idea that he would not be able to enjoy any 494 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:43,280 of those things beyond that very night, that very night. 495 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,840 So he may have been blessed to receive the riches, but he 496 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,760 didn't have control over how long he would live to enjoy him. 497 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,320 Only God has that, only God has that. 498 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,600 Then whose will those things be which you have provided? 499 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,040 And this is the, and this is the whole moral to this story in 500 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:08,040 verse 21. So is he who lays up treasure 501 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:13,400 for himself or stores up treasure for himself and is not 502 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,920 rich toward God. That's what this guy was dealing 503 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,160 with. You know, they, they, they had, 504 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,640 James said. You guys have treasured up, you 505 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,440 have, you have heaped up treasures, you have stored up 506 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:30,440 treasure in the last days. And when the Lord's about to 507 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,400 come back and you're storing up treasure instead of using that 508 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:39,520 treasure to bless other people, verse 4, indeed, the wages of 509 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:44,040 the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by 510 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,080 fraud. Now we're going to get into 511 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,120 verse 4. Now we're going to get in to 512 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:56,200 what or how they acquired the wealth, how they acquired it. 513 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:58,560 You know, what did they do with it? 514 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:00,640 You know what? You know, how did they acquire? 515 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,080 How did they get this? Well, how did they accumulate 516 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,600 all this wealth? Listen, how they did it. 517 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:10,280 It was ungodly, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, 518 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:14,920 which you kept back by fraud. They cry out. 519 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,440 And also the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of 520 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:25,920 the Lord of Sabolas. Now James is saying here, you 521 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,120 didn't just get the money because you earned it. 522 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:33,120 You're not acknowledging what God did to give you this wealth. 523 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,200 You're not acknowledging the power of the Lord in your life, 524 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:40,160 the gift of Lord in your life, the blessing of the Lord in your 525 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:41,240 life. You're not acknowledging him at 526 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,200 all. All you're thinking about is 527 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:49,920 what you have and what you did. So he said they secured this 528 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:55,840 wealth by basically stealing because they defrauded the 529 00:36:55,840 --> 00:37:01,280 people who worked for them. That's a sad thing because the 530 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,920 Bible constantly talks about, particularly in the Old 531 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,840 Testament, the Bible constantly talks about in several places, 532 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:12,520 that when someone works for you, when someone goes in the field 533 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,200 for you, you don't wait to pay them the wage. 534 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,760 Now we work and you know, we might get paid every other every 535 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,560 other week, maybe twice a month. We have those kind of schedules. 536 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,840 But back in this particular time, they didn't. 537 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,720 At the end of the day, they were paid their wages because they 538 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:32,520 needed them. They needed them just like 539 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,160 today. A lot of people, they can't go. 540 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,960 I mean, they're going from paycheck to paycheck. 541 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,240 If they miss a paycheck, if somebody they went to go pick up 542 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:43,680 their check one day and someone said I'm sorry, you're not 543 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,720 getting paid today, that could mean them being homeless. 544 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:51,320 That could mean them not having wheat food again until the next 545 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,720 payday. It could mean a lot of things, 546 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,080 but back in the days when they were, when they were doing, 547 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,280 having people come in their fields and work, these people 548 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,240 could not wait for a week or two weeks to get paid. 549 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,120 They needed their wages right then and there. 550 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:09,440 And that was the law that God gave. 551 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:14,280 Listen to what it says here in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 13, 552 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:19,200 it said you shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him. 553 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:25,040 The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you until 554 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,160 morning. And then I want to look at 555 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:31,000 Deuteronomy. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 24, 556 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:36,840 verse 14, he says you shall not oppress A hired servant who is 557 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:41,200 poor and needy, rather one of your brethren or one of the 558 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,800 aliens who is in your land, within your gates. 559 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,720 Regardless of whether it's somebody that is a Jew or 560 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:52,360 somebody that you have acquired to be a servant of you in your 561 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:57,920 house, you should not deprive them of their wages each day. 562 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:02,800 Verse 15 Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the 563 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:07,640 sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on 564 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,520 it. They are depending on those 565 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,560 wages. He can't go home and tell his 566 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:15,320 wife he didn't get no money that day. 567 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,120 How the kids going to eat? How are we going to keep this 568 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:27,200 place up? So then it says, you know, lest 569 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:34,000 he cry, lest he cry out against you in the Lord and it be sin to 570 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,760 you. So I mean, so it was a law back 571 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,080 then that you paid. And they knew this because he 572 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,360 was writing to Jews and they knew this. 573 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,120 So that's how. So he was basically emphasizing 574 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:53,960 how corrupt and how selfish these unbelieving wealthy people 575 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,800 were. So you kept them back and and 576 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,440 and and and and the The sad thing is this. 577 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:07,640 It was the fraud. It was the the actual wages that 578 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:13,080 they didn't pay that cried out. The wages that didn't pay cried 579 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,400 out. The reapers who were in the 580 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,560 fields doing the work, they cried out. 581 00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:23,160 So how did they handle it? Did they go out and protest? 582 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:25,520 Did they loot this man's property? 583 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,800 Did they try to avenge themselves with it? 584 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:33,640 No, they prayed. They cried out to God, they 585 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,640 cried out to God. And God is going to be the 586 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,920 avenger. He's going to be the one to take 587 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:45,400 care of it says avenge not yourself, but give room to 588 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,200 wrath. Give room to godly wrath. 589 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:52,080 Let him take care of it. They didn't. 590 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,440 They didn't. They didn't decide to go out and 591 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:58,880 and COO and loot and all these illegal things against them 592 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,360 because they didn't get paid. They feel like they have a right 593 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:05,840 to do it, but they didn't do it. But instead they trusted in the 594 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,880 Lord. They trusted in the Lord. 595 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:17,080 That's also an example of Jesus Christ in the way that he deals 596 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:20,040 with being threatened, the way that he deals with being 597 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,240 reviled. He said over in first Peter, he 598 00:41:22,240 --> 00:41:26,520 says, you know, when he was reviled, he did not revile 599 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:30,200 again. And when he was persecuted, he 600 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:35,880 didn't threaten, but he committed himself to the one who 601 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,840 judges righteously. The Lord will take care of it 602 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,720 and that's who he trusted in. So this guy, so he, he is James 603 00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:48,640 is saying basically. You know the the wages cried out 604 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,040 to the Lord, and so did the reapers. 605 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,200 Who did they cry out to? Now, when you first read through 606 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,640 this, it looks like it said the Lord of Sabbath, but it doesn't. 607 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:04,280 It's the Lord of Sabeath. Sabeath Sabeath means the Lord 608 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:09,480 of armies. It means the Lord of hosts. 609 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,480 He cried out to the one who is the captain of the host. 610 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,160 That means God can make an army out of anything. 611 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:21,160 This is a, this is a, this is the God of the host of heaven, 612 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:29,280 the host of heaven. Remember the plagues back in 613 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:35,160 Egypt and the host that he was in charge, that he cried out, 614 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:39,760 that he sent as an attack. He didn't send people. 615 00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:47,200 What did he send? He sent frogs. 616 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,240 He said, you know, he said locusts. 617 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:55,680 He is the God of hosts. He's in charge of. 618 00:42:55,760 --> 00:43:00,440 He is command over everything. And this is the person. 619 00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,800 This is the one who their cries came out to. 620 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:08,560 And then this is what they did with it. 621 00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:16,240 And we're coming in for clothes. You have lived on the earth in 622 00:43:16,240 --> 00:43:21,160 pleasure and in luxury. You have fattened your hearts as 623 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:23,240 in a day of slaughter. Think about that. 624 00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:27,080 Picture what he's saying The whole time you lived here with 625 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:33,080 all your money, not trusting in the Lord, not allowing, not not 626 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:37,600 doing the will of the Lord with it, not serving the Lord with 627 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,920 it. But instead, you lived in luxury 628 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:44,600 the whole time you were here on the earth, you lived in luxury. 629 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:48,160 It's almost like the the story of the rich man and Lazarus. 630 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,240 Lazarus and the rich man, right? You know, it was the rich man 631 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:54,160 that lived in, in, in, in luxury. 632 00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:57,720 He lived in luxury all the time. The Bible said he, you know, he 633 00:43:57,720 --> 00:44:01,520 fared sumptuously. He had the best of everything 634 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,360 every day. But meanwhile, right at his 635 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:10,520 gate, there was a poor man who was ill, and he did nothing to 636 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:15,320 help, nothing to aid this person, nothing. 637 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:21,280 And when he passed, when he died, he woke up in he woke up 638 00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:24,240 in a place that wasn't the same place that Lazarus woke up in. 639 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,840 Lazarus woke up in the in the bosom of Abraham. 640 00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:34,040 But this other person woke up in Hades tortured. 641 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:37,240 And this is what? And this is the picture that 642 00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:39,040 James is drawing here. Yeah. 643 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:40,360 While you're here on Earth. Yeah. 644 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:44,400 You lived in luxury. In fact, you you even fatten 645 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,000 your hearts in the day of slaughter. 646 00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:51,600 And that's a picture of the, that's a picture of the, the 647 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:55,400 calf, the, the, you know, the, the fatty calf, you know who 648 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,960 they prepared for the day of slaughter. 649 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:01,320 That's a picture of him. So they go out and they, and 650 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:03,800 they slaughter this calf. Praise and worship team can come 651 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,920 forward. They, they, they, they slaughter 652 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:09,600 this calf, you know, after they fatten him up, treat him good. 653 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,480 And you can imagine the other calf, say, how come he gets all 654 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:15,520 the extra food? You know, no. 655 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:17,120 Why is he getting all the good stuff? 656 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:22,240 Meanwhile, he doesn't realize that he's being fattened up for 657 00:45:22,240 --> 00:45:25,600 a day of slaughter. And this is the picture that 658 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,440 he's painting with this guy, you know? 659 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,240 Yeah. While you're here, you're 660 00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:32,920 looking like you're, you know, you're, you're you're you're 661 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:35,600 you're you're doing good. You know, everything is better 662 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,240 than everybody else. You have the best of everything, 663 00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:41,800 luxury. But meanwhile, you're just 664 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:43,960 fattening yourself up for the day of slaughter. 665 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:48,120 When the day of judgement comes, that's what you're preparing 666 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:51,880 for. And then in verse 6, and we 667 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,960 close here, he says you have condemned, you have murdered the 668 00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,400 just, and he does not resist you. 669 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,600 You have redeemed, you have murdered the just and he does 670 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:06,600 not resist you. There's so many loves that we 671 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:08,960 have that can cause us to want to do those things. 672 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,320 The love of self, the love of money, and the love lovers of 673 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:16,640 pleasure, other than the lovers of God, which we read about back 674 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:19,920 in the perilous times of Second Timothy chapter 3. 675 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,440 And he's saying that you know you've murdered, even to the 676 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:28,800 point when he means murder, that means that you have abused this 677 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:31,840 person so much. You've even dragged him into 678 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:35,280 court and have taken their land and taken things because you 679 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:40,440 rigged it because of your money to be able to pay for bribes and 680 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:43,280 things like that. You can bribe all the officials 681 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,600 and all the judges because of the money you have and your 682 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,600 reputation. So you drag these poor people 683 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:54,240 who have nothing into court and you take what little bit that 684 00:46:54,240 --> 00:46:58,120 they have and eventually they either die of starvation, they 685 00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:02,640 die of starvation, or they're executed for a crime they didn't 686 00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:06,200 even commit just so. You could get. 687 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:10,320 Their land. It almost brings back the story 688 00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:15,440 of of of Ahab and Jezebel and Nabeth, how they took neighbors 689 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,360 land because oh, Ahab just had to have his land. 690 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:23,120 Like he didn't have enough king of Israel. 691 00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:28,120 But no, I want that land. So his wife being Jezebel, don't 692 00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:31,000 name your kids Jezebel. It's not a good name. 693 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:32,600 Don't name your daughters Jezebel. 694 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,520 So Jezebel said I'll go get that land for you. 695 00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:41,080 Had this guy killed so he can take his land. 696 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:45,320 It's almost in that same vein. We take advantage of somebody 697 00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:48,080 because we can. So he murdered. 698 00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:54,320 They murdered him and the and the biggest thing here is that 699 00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:57,240 it cries out to the Lord when that happens because he does not 700 00:47:57,240 --> 00:48:00,760 resist, just like Jesus did not resist. 701 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:05,720 Jesus didn't resist when he was threatened, when he was reviled, 702 00:48:06,240 --> 00:48:10,280 he didn't resist. He was like a lamb led to the 703 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,520 slaughter, never opened his mouth. 704 00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:17,240 When he was being persecuted for our sins, when he was being 705 00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:21,080 judged for our sins, when he was being executed for our sins, He 706 00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:24,480 never opened his mouth. He didn't resist. 707 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:26,880 And this is what James is saying. 708 00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:31,360 They don't resist you. They don't come against you. 709 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:34,960 They don't put up any kind of fight against you, but instead 710 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:40,240 they cry out to the Lord. The big question here is this, 711 00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:46,200 that I want to leave you with. David says that I are, that I 712 00:48:46,240 --> 00:48:51,920 put always. I put the Lord before me always, 713 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:55,800 even though because he's on my right hand, I shall not be 714 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:57,400 moved. The question is, what are we 715 00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:01,640 putting before us? What is our love that we're 716 00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:05,760 putting before us today? Is it the love of money? 717 00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:09,080 Is it the love of worldly pleasures? 718 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:12,760 Is it the love of our own personal desires? 719 00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:17,360 What am I putting before us that's a head of God? 720 00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:22,920 Is he on our right hand? Or is it something worldly that 721 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,800 we want that we're putting before us? 722 00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:32,680 So as we pray and as we think on that, let that come through our 723 00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:38,520 hearts so as we can prepare for communion now we, we go to the 724 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:44,960 Father. Lord, I, I thank you so much for 725 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:49,200 your word. It, it does several things as it 726 00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,400 goes forth. It's like a fire and it 727 00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:57,400 cleanses. It's like a purifying fire. 728 00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:06,120 It exhorts us, it warns us, as it did with these wealthy 729 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:08,440 unbelievers. What a warning. 730 00:50:10,240 --> 00:50:16,160 Because Lord, even in this time, those who woke up the next day 731 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,880 can come before you. Repent. 732 00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:28,280 Turn from their wicked ways, Turn from their wicked ways and 733 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:32,760 walk after you. Let their hearts be transformed 734 00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:39,760 to become givers instead of defrauding people, to care about 735 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:44,200 people and to truly love others and to use their wealth for good 736 00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:49,160 and not for selfish reasons. They can repent, ask for 737 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:54,440 forgiveness. But Father, we thank You for 738 00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:59,360 Your example of how we are to walk even if we are being 739 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:05,080 oppressed, if we are being abused, how should we respond? 740 00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:07,400 You give us an example in Your word. 741 00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:12,000 We cry out to You. We put it before you, Lord, 742 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:16,680 because you are the one who judge righteously. 743 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:21,840 So thank you for your example in Jesus Christ. 744 00:51:24,840 --> 00:51:28,960 I pray, Father, that there's someone here and that word, the 745 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:33,280 message has touched their hearts, Lord, and we want to 746 00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:36,360 come to a point of surrender where we give our lives to you, 747 00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:40,040 Trust in you. I pray that today that they'll 748 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:45,360 do that, Lord. And the day in which Jesus was 749 00:51:45,360 --> 00:51:48,880 betrayed, the night in which Jesus was betrayed, rather he 750 00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:53,440 took the bread and after he gave thanks, he broke it. 751 00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:58,720 And he said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken 752 00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:02,040 for you. Eat this in remembrance of me. 753 00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:11,920 Same manner he also took the cup and after supper he said this 754 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:18,720 cup is a new covenant in my blood, the blood that was shed 755 00:52:18,720 --> 00:52:21,000 for the forgiveness of sins for many. 756 00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:30,760 Jesus shed blood for everybody, those who are righteous, and he 757 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:36,800 shed it for those who are not righteous, because he said that 758 00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:40,840 it's not His will that any should perish, but that all will 759 00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:45,320 come to repentance. Thank you, Lord, for the 760 00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:49,000 opportunity of repentance through your grace. 761 00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,920 Drink this, and as often as you drink it, drink it in 762 00:52:55,920 --> 00:53:02,720 remembrance of me. As often as you eat this bread 763 00:53:02,720 --> 00:53:06,320 and drink this cup, we show the Lord's death till he come. 764 00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:09,040 Amen. Anybody who would like to come 765 00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:13,800 off to the altar for that spiritual cleansing to go before 766 00:53:13,800 --> 00:53:15,880 the Lord. Authors open.