We'll be looking at James chapter
5, verses 1 to 6. Now this is a little difficult
passage to preach from. And it's often misinterpreted
by people to think that it means all the rich in the world. But
remember, this epistle is written to God's people. It's written
to God's church. And remember, within the church,
there's possessors and professors, right? There's people who have
made false professions, and then there's people who are actually
born again and blood washed in the precious blood of Christ.
And today we'll begin this chapter and remember again that the holy
spirit is writing to the church he is the true author of these
words which james has been penning that's been constantly a reminder
for us that we have to keep in mind that when we read the scriptures
no matter what book we're reading that the true author of the scriptures
is god the holy spirit and remember the sole object of the holy spirit
of god is to point us to christ to bring us to christ uh... to
get us from not trusting in ourselves, to looking to Christ. And by
God-given faith, we look to Christ, but as we grow in grace and knowledge
and the truth, and as we wander through this world and journey
through this world, we are so distracted by the things of the
world, at least I am, that I have to constantly remind myself,
and I think it's so of you, I have to constantly remind myself to
keep my eyes on Christ, to keep looking to Him. And so the sole object of the
Holy Spirit is the instruction and comfort of the church. And
how are we comforted and how are we instructed? Well, by looking
to Christ, right? And by looking at the scriptures.
And James pens right after this portion, he pens about the second
coming of Christ. So we see here a portion about
rich man within the church, but I also want to preface this with
several commentators. Tim James actually brought out
a really good point that these are not saved people. And the
reason we're going to see that they're not saved people is we're
going to look back at chapter 1 and we will see that the things
that James brings out about believers, these people don't possess. They
don't possess it at all. And so the Holy Spirit keeps
our hearts and minds upon Christ. And that's what I hope the study
will do for us today, too. Keep our hearts and mind on Christ.
So let's read James chapter 5, verses 1 to 6. Go to now. Now, we looked in the last chapter.
Vicki and I were laughing about this this morning. It means,
come on. Come on. That's what it means. It's basically
like someone saying, come on. Get your attention. Come on. Go to now, ye rich men, weep
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches
are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and
silver is cankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against
you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped
treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire of the
laborers who have reaped down your fields. Which is of you
kept back by fraud, crieth it, and the cries of them which have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. That
there's Sabbath there means this portion here is the Lord of hosts.
We know also that Christ is our Sabbath, but the underlying word
is the Lord of hosts. He's in charge of everything.
You have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. You
have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter. You
have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist
you." Now, again, there's a natural tendency in this portion of scripture. Several people do it. I believe
it's an error to say this is generally speaking about all
the rich people in the world because, again, this letter's
penned to the church. God's book is not written to
the world of the vessels are fitted for destruction, it's
written to God's people. They reject what's in these.
They reject these words. They reject what's in this book.
But us, the only one that's made us to differ, Sister Carolyn
and I were talking about this this morning, the only one who's
made us to differ, the only one who's given us that desire to
come and hear the gospel preached and to be with the Lord's people,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one. So the only
one who's made us to differ is Him. So this cannot be applied
in general, saying that being rich is evil. That's just foolishness.
That's just foolishness. Such thinking plays in the hands
of social reformers, which we see nowadays abundantly, and
certain theories of economics. But to use this portion of scripture
in that way is error. So we can see very clearly here
in the context of the scriptures that the rich men who live in
the man described, who think and act in the man described,
are the only ones being addressed. Again, being rich is not to be
compared with criminality. It's not at all. Some people
use their wealth in a good way. Some people use their wealth
to support the gospel. That's wonderful. And remember, everything we have
is being given to us by God. Listen to these words in Deuteronomy. And this is why we should be
content no matter what station the Lord has us in. no matter
where we are. Paul said, I've been abased and
I've had plenty. I know what he means. I've been abased and
had plenty, too, and had nothing again. Right? It happens. It's life. Listen to this in
Deuteronomy. But thou shalt remember the Lord
thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that
he may establish his covenant, which is swear unto thy fathers,
as it is day and it shall be if thou do and if it shall if
and it shall be if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God and
walk after other gods and serve them and worship them I will
testify against you this day and you shall surely perish that's
Deuteronomy chapter 8 verses 18 and 19 but it says but thou
shall remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth the
power to get well So if a person is wealthy, it's the Lord that's
put him in that position. If a person is poor, it's the
Lord that's put them in that position. See, man likes to think,
well, I did it. I did this. No, it's God who's
giving you that. It's God who's giving you that.
Give him all the glory. And then listen to Psalm 75,
verses 6 and 7, along the same vein. It says this, for promotion
cometh neither from east, nor from west, nor from south. But
God is the judge, and putteth one down, and setteth up another. It's God who does it. We often
think a certain leader gets elected, but you know what? We shouldn't
begrudge that, even if we don't agree with that leader, because
it's God who's put him there. We might not like it, but it's
God who's put him there, right? And he will carry us through
it all. He will. He is the one. Even within the
church, God put me here as a preacher. I was talking to Vicki, and I
said, you know, the last thing I, we were talking this week,
and I said, the last thing I would have ever thought as a teenager
and as a young man is that I'd be preaching the gospel. And
then I got thinking about what I've learned. You know, everything
I've learned, the Lord revealed it to me. I can't boast in it.
I sit here and I think sometimes, as I learn in the study, and
I know it's all the Lord's showing me, I can't take any credit.
People like to boast in their learning. We can't. We can't,
can we? Everything we know is from Him.
Think of that, too. Think of what you know about
Christ now, what you know about God. what you know about the
gospel. That all comes from our king.
He's given you all that knowledge. Isn't that wonderful? Well, let's
give him glory. Let's give him the glory. Let's
give him the honor. Let's give him all the praise
for what he's done. It's incredible. And the use of riches. Some people,
it's not the riches that are evil. It's how people use them. And think of this, too. Think
of this. Money will open up avenues that you didn't have before.
Some of them are bad, right? And some of them are good. So it's not the wealth that is
corrupting. It's our hearts, beloved. It's
who we are. It's man who misuses riches.
God gives them and man misuses them. We were listening to James
this morning and I was struck with the part where, in James,
where it says, you ask but you have not, because you ask and
miss. And I thought, oh, that's so true of us, isn't it? We ask, I'll tell you what, look
back on your walk as a believer and think of things that you
asked for that the Lord said no, and you'll be amazed. You
look back and go, oh my, that might have destroyed me. Oh my, it's true. It's absolutely
true. So riches do not corrupt. It
is men and women who corrupt the purpose of riches. Riches
do not make men sin, but again, they open up avenues that they
might not have had before, and they utilize those avenues. So James here is dealing with
these rich people in the church. And he's dealing, remember too,
all through this book he's been dealing with true professors
and false professors, right? So we gotta keep that in mind
as well, that he's been dealing with that all through this book.
He's been revealing a true believer and a false believer. Now again, it does not matter
if one's rich or poor, if one makes a false profession. It
doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, you're lost. You're lost. And we know that
our Lord has saved rich and poor, and everybody in between, hasn't
he? We all come from different stations of life, different walks
of life, different states, different countries. God's people are people made
up of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation on this earth, in
all different statuses. But the thing is, is that they're
truly born again. They're truly born again. They've
got God-given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to
rejoice in the great work that he's done. And again, this epistle
is written to the church, so the rich mentioned here are either
members of the church, perhaps through a false profession, or
their activities are a source of persecuting the church, as
we see that in the latter portion of the scripture that we read.
Turn, if you would, to James chapter 1. And we clearly see
that their attitude is negative compared to what James brings
forth in the first chapter about true religion, pure religion.
James chapter 1 verses 25 to 27, and remember what we read,
and note how opposite it is, those rich men were compared
to what's written here. Verse 25, but whosoever looketh
into the perfect law of liberty, and continue it therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to
be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, He deceiveth his
own heart. This man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless, the widows
in affliction, to keep himself unspotted from the world. So
in either case, in either case, their attitude is wrong. With
the use of negative attributes of these rich men, James in Opposition
teaches the proper use there in chapter one. Now, it would appear in our context
of these verses that these rich men mentioned here are false
professors, as I said earlier. They do not show the attributes
which we just looked at. They do not show the attributes
of a born-again, blood-washed believer. Now these words, again,
are not indicative of all who are rich believers. These words
are more like the words James uses in other parts of his epistle,
turning, if you would, to James chapter 4. And these rich men that he's
speaking of would generally fit into the category of religious
fools. Look at James chapter 4 verse
13, and remember we looked at this and we compared the man
who built one big giant barn, took all his stuff and put it
in there and he died that night. He thought, I'm good, I'm so
good, I'm set for life! No, tonight the Lord required
his soul. Look at this in James chapter
4 verse 13 and 14. Go to now, come on, ye that say,
today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you know
not what shall be on the moral, for what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes
away. Remember these folks we were
looking at? We're not considering the providence of God and what
they did. We don't have to go around saying
Lord will and all the time, but it's in our hearts, isn't it?
Right? You make plans and say, well,
if the Lord wills, that'll come to pass. If it doesn't, it wasn't
meant to be. So we submit ourselves to the
providence of God. These men weren't doing that.
They weren't doing that. And again, this is written to
people in the church, right? It's also convicting for we who
are believers, too, though, isn't it? Because we don't want to
be like that. Oh, my. And we can just as easily fall
into the sin of presumption, which is brought forth there
in James 4, verses 13 and 14. And the fact the born-again blood-washed
believer is susceptible to any sin an unbeliever commits. Just let that sink in for us.
Every born-again blood-washed believer is just as susceptible
to fall into any sin that an unbeliever commits. You know
the only one that makes us to differ? You know the only one
that keeps us from that? Is God. The grace of God. He giveth more grace, doesn't
he, the scripture says. But we're just susceptible to
anything that goes on out there. And we know that, don't we? We
know that. And we glorify God that he keeps
us from things. And anyone who thinks they do
not sin after the Lord has saved them has their head in the sand.
They just do. I'll tell you that. Because we're
sinners. We're sinners. And we will be
sinners until we go home to be with the Lord, and then we won't
sin no more. Now, that's something we're waiting
for, isn't it? Oh, it'll be wonderful. It makes one grateful that all
our sins are forgiven, doesn't it? When you start thinking about
that, that when we get the glory, we won't sin no more! Oh, it
makes you grateful for the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It makes you grateful that He redeemed our eternal souls at
Calvary's Cross, when He shed His own blood to purchase us.
And all we can say is praise His mighty name for that. Now
let's consider verse 1 of James chapter 5. We see the same phrase
used here again as in chapter 3 in verse 13. Go to now. Come on, you rich men. Weep and
howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Now again, the
statements in these verses are not admonitions. No, the statement's
a fact. These verses are statements of
fact about the false profession of a religious man. Statements
of fact. As we looked in chapter 4, these
rich men do not take into consideration the providence of God. They are
like the fool who stored down all his barns and built one great
big one. And again said, I'm good. But the Lord required his
soul that night. And what awaits false professors
is not a bed of ease. Some think, oh, I'm going to
just lay and rest and have a bed of ease. But what awaits them
is what Isaiah brought forth. For the bed is shorter than that
a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it. Short bed and short cover. You ever heard that? It's awful,
isn't it? It is. Your feet are hanging off the
end of the bed, and the cover won't cover you. My, half the
night you're freezing, and half the night you're warm. it's it's
not fun but that's what this is that's what these people are
trusting in their riches you know they're they're sleeping
on a short bed when the short cover and now look at first look at
first uh... or think of this to these these
folks spoken of in these verses though the rich man who's made
a false false profession they set up many riches they've set
up many riches can the coming year. And again, James brings
forth that the riches they possess will actually turn in against
them. They will be a great source of
misery, of great sorrows and calamity, hardship, trouble.
The Greek word for misery there is defined as hardship, trouble,
and calamity. My oh my. Now let's read verses two and
three. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered and the rest of them shall be
witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.
You have heaped treasure together for the last days." Again we
see here in verses two and three that these rich men being addressed
are in fact fools. They're not truly trusting in
Christ, they're trusting in the riches. They're trusting in what
they have. And think of this, too. Whatever
we have and we value the most, other than Christ, has no eternal
value. None. Whatever is most precious to
us, outside of Christ, has no eternal value. Can't save us,
is what I mean. Can't save us. My. So these rich men, they're
trusting in their riches, and it's going to turn against them.
It's become, it's going to bring calamity upon them. And think
of this, when we die, we can't take nothing with us, eh? And
think of this, if we died and we rose again, this is hypothetical,
the people who got our stuff wouldn't probably want to give
it back to us. Right? They might be a little reluctant. Right? It's true. So these riches are actually
going to turn against them. Everything we have, everything
we value, I've got several hobbies, and I value the stuff. But it
has no eternal value. None at all. I like it though. Helps me to wind down. I love it. It's fun. Nothing
wrong with that either. It's good to have things that
keep our minds occupied. And sometimes just to give us
a little time just to, what do the people say, chill out. Just to clear your mind a little
bit. It's good. But they don't have any eternal
value. Not at all. And that's what's
being bought forth here, is that these riches these people are
trusting don't have any eternal value. Not at all. Not at all. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter six. This is a beautiful portion of scripture, and this
is from our master saying this here in Matthew chapter six,
in light of what we're looking at, that those riches are actually
gonna turn against those men that are mentioned in the text
here. Look at this. Look at this. Matthew chapter
6, verses 19 to 21. Lay not up for yourselves treasure
upon earth. There are a lot of people that
are laying up treasure upon earth. And they're trusting in those
things, right? They're trusting, oh, well, this
will take care of me for many years. It's the Lord who takes care
of us. as believers. He provides what we have, but
it's him ultimately who's taking care of us. Look at this. Lay
not up for yourself treasure upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But
lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven. Were all our blessings
in Christ? Who's our treasure? Christ. Right? Look at this. Where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
and steal. I heard a story one time, a rich man, he had all
this wealth, and this poor fellow was walking by the house, and
he was looking up at that house, and he goes, man, I wish I lived
in there. And the rich man was looking
out the window and went, man, I wish I didn't have the cares
that I have and was like that man right there in front. He's always thinking about how
people come steal his money. My oh my. Look at this. Where nor rot does corrupt, and
where thieves do not break, through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. That's a good thing for
us to examine ourselves. Where's our treasure? Well, it's
in heaven. It's Christ. I love the life we have here
on this earth, don't we? We love it. We enjoy being with
our loved ones. We love it. We enjoy being with
our church family, who we're actually, I'm closer to you than
I am to my own family. But that's a whole other thing.
But isn't it amazing how the Lord knits our hearts together,
right? Brings us together. But the thing is, when we come
here, We're gathering with God's people, who your treasure is
the same treasure as mine. We have the same treasure, don't
we? That's Christ. That's Christ. We're thankful
for what we have, but we don't trust in those for salvation.
We don't trust in those for anything of eternal value. Only Christ,
only Christ. Now, let's go back here to the verses there in James chapter
5. And remember this, too. When
we came into this world, we came in with nothing, right? Scripture
says, naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall
return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job said that. So we came into this world naked,
we're gonna go out naked. They might put some clothes on
us when we're in the casket, but when we face the Lord, we're
just facing Him as who we are. My. And look at this in James
chapter 5, verses 2 and 3. Your riches are corrupted, and
your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered,
and the rest of them shall be a witness against you, and shall
eat your flesh as it were a fire. Ye have heaped treasure together
for the last day. Notice the personal pronouns
that are used here. Your riches, your gold, your
garments. Now, those things do not corrupt
in themselves, do they? But they're corrupted by man.
They're corrupted by man. They're corrupted through lust,
and I don't mean sexual lust. I mean lust to gain or covetousness. And notice the end of the false
professor. And remember, this is true of all rich or poor.
This is true of all false professors, of all of them, all people who
put their trust in other things other than Christ. This is true
of every one of them. Shall eat your flesh, and as
it were, fire. They have heaped wrath upon wrath
for the last days. That's true of all outside Christ.
They're just heaping condemnation upon themselves. We would have
been there too, wouldn't we? If God hadn't made us to differ. Oh my. Turn if you would to Romans
chapter 2. And then we'll go back to James
chapter 5 verse 4. Romans chapter 2. Look at this. Verses 4 to 6. What they thought was gain
was actually loss for them. as they're trusting in riches
rather than trusting in Christ. Trusting that they could take
care of themselves through the years rather than trusting that
Christ could take care of them. My life is all His. He can do with it, as a believer,
right? We say our life is yours, the
Lord. You can do with me whatever you will. Whatever you will. Look at this. Oh, despisest thou
the riches of his goodness. Oh, how good is our God. Romans
2, verse 4. And forbearance and longsuffering.
Oh, think of how longsuffering the Lord is with us. Think of
before we were saved, how longsuffering he was with us. We sinned against him. We still
sin against him. And he's still longsuffering
towards us, isn't he? Oh, he's so amazing. Not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. See, people
think, oh, it's hellfire and brimstone. No, it's the goodness
of God that leads man to repentance. It's looking at Christ and going,
you died for my sins? You died for me? A poor, wretched
sinner? You died for me, Lord? Now, should we warn people about
hell? Yes, of course. It's real. But it's the goodness
of God that leads a man or a woman to repentance. It's the goodness,
it's the wonderful news of the gospel, of salvation complete
by the Lord Jesus Christ, of our Savior who loves his people
so much that he left heaven to come to this sin-cursed world
and to die on Calvary's cross for us as our substitute. and into rise again from the
grave, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding
for you and I as believers. My, that's wonderful news. That's
good news. So it's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. But after thy hardness and penitent
heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath.
See, the believer has an inheritance that is incorruptible. But the
unbeliever is treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. See, these are false professors.
They think they're doing, they think, oh, I'm doing all this
for the Lord. Remember those fellows in Romans or Matthew
chapter seven? Lord, Lord, have we not done
all these things for you? All these wondrous works? Cast out
demons, done all this stuff? Depart from me, he says, you
workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. They've just treasured
up wrath against themselves. They trust in their own works,
right? Their own profession, something they've done. Keeping
the law, supposedly, which they could never keep. Doing this.
We heard someone this week, oh, they're a Sabbatarian. Oh, my.
Now, I would never go against someone's conscience. If you
want to go to church on Sundays, that's wonderful. That's what
we should do, right? But don't make the day your rest. It's Christ who is our rest.
It's Christ who is our rest. I love coming to church on Sundays
and being with y'all, because we're all looking to the same
one who's our rest, and that's Christ. Christ is our Sabbath
now. And he's not just our Sabbath
for Sunday, is he? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday, right? Seven days a week, he's our Sabbath.
24 hours a day, even when we're sleeping, he's our Sabbath, right? He is. He is. Oh, my. So look at these. But
after thy hardness and independent heart, treasure it up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath in revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his
deeds. Don't worry about folks thinking they're getting away
with stuff. They're not getting away with nothing. The Lord will render to them
their deeds. Now look at verse 4 of chapter
5 in the book of James. Behold, the hire of the laborers
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth. And the cries of them which have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. I'll
tell you what. It is a dangerous thing to defraud the Lord's people. Oh, my. Dangerous thing. And looks like some of these
rich men were defrauding the brethren who had been in their
employment. And look who hears the cries
of the brethren. The Lord of Sabbath, the Lord of Hosts. That's
who hears our cries, beloved. That's the one who heard the
cries of the Israelites when they were in Egypt. Isn't that
wonderful? The title Sabbath there means
hosts. It's a reference to the Lord
of hosts. Again, who's also the believer's Sabbath. He's also
our rest. Now these men have arrayed themselves
against our sovereign God. That's what they've done. They've
arrayed themselves against the sovereign God. How do you think
that's going to turn out? Not very good, eh? Not very good. They're messing with the wrong
people. Messing with the wrong people. They're messing with
those who've been purchased by the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we don't render, like we
were talking about sister this morning, we don't render evil
for evil. The scripture tells us not to do that. We're to be
forgiven. Even people are using us. We're to pray for them who
are despitefully using us. We're to pray for those who are
persecuting us. You know why? The Lord says, vengeance is mine,
I will repay. They're not getting away with
nothing. No, they're not getting away
with nothing. Then look at verse five here. You have lived in
pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. You have nourished
your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Again, another statement of fact.
These five verses, six verses are statements of facts about
these rich false professors. They're actually being fattened
up like a calf to the slaughter. My, that's a scary place to be,
isn't it? And think about these and those in false religion,
or a mere professor in Christ, not trusting Christ, and then
coming to the end of their life thinking, oh, I'm going to go
to glory. Because it's something they've
done. And they find out all they were
doing was heaping condemnation upon themselves. My oh my. Think about Romans. Or think
about Catholics. Think about Mormons. Think about
Jehovah Witnesses. Think about Seventh-day Adventists.
Think about Church of Christ who believe you have to be baptized
to be saved. Think of the rude awakening if the Lord doesn't
take them out of that. Think about the multitude of people
who prayed a prayer and the preacher said, you're good now. Now you're
a child of God. And there's no regeneration,
no mention of regeneration. Think about them. This is why
the gospel must be preached, right? This is why we must preach
salvation in Christ alone. And look what it says here. It says, you have condemned and
killed the just, and he doth not resist you. They've killed
the Lord's people, and the Lord's people don't resist, because
we believe in God's providence, right? My, oh, my. We don't know how this came about,
but somehow they were using their riches to bring them before judges
who condemned them and sentenced them to death, or by withholding.
They might have even had them in their employment and withhold
their pay, causing them to become destitute. We don't know. But they were doing something. You condemn the just, and the
just there is only those who are made just in Christ. because
there's not one of us who are just in our natural state, is
there? But we're just in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? We're just
in the just one. Oh, in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here, I want to read you this. But blessed are your eyes, for
they see. And your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto
you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see these
things which you see. and have not seen them, and to
hear these things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Oh,
the Lord's so good to us. So we see in these texts, those
who persecute the church have a great day of reckoning coming.
A great day of reckoning. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 12, and we're closed with this. Romans chapter 12. Only God has made us to differ,
beloved. Only God's made us to differ. Only He's given us a
new heart. Only He's regenerated us. We're
born again now by His almighty power and by His absolute sovereignty.
And remember what Paul wrote here. When the enemies of the
gospel and the enemies of God come upon you, remember this.
Remember this when we're persecuted. Remember this. Look at this.
Romans chapter 12, verses 18 to 21. If it be possible, as
much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. So we're to live
peaceably with all people. Dearly beloved, I love that,
divinely loved ones. Avenge not yourselves, but rather
give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine,
I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in doing so, thou
shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome evil with good. and you can only do that by the
power of God and if you're born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
Something man can't do naturally, because naturally we want to
just give it right back, don't we? But the Lord's changed us, hasn't
he? Glory to his