God is speaking to the rich of
the world, unbelievers, people who do not know God, who give
their lives to material things. And he talks about the wrath
and judgment of God against such foolish behavior and foolish
people. And then from verse 7 through
verse 12, and that's what we'll be looking at this evening
mainly because it's written to the brethren, to believers. And
we're exhorted to be patient under trial, patient at all times,
but especially under trial and affliction. And then the latter
part of the chapter from verse 13 through 20 deals with prayer
for the And we'll deal with that later. I just know we will not
have time to look at the entire chapter tonight. So we'll postpone
that last section from verse 13 through verse 20 for another
Wednesday evening. Now in verse 1, James says, Go
to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries. that shall come upon you. Now
believers are not addressed here, as I told you chapter four. The
early part of chapter four is not written to believers because
this is not a description of the people of grace. It's certainly
not a description of the people of grace. Talking about how they've
withheld the hire of laborers who worked for them, how they
were kept back their salaries, and the Lord has heard their
cries, and the Lord will deal with you in judgment and wrath.
This is talking to the rich people of the world who are nonbelievers.
Now, not all rich men are included here, because there are some
wealthy men in the Bible in the Old Testament days and in the
New Testament days. Philemon was one, and Cornelius
was one. There are some wealthy men in
the scriptures and there are wealthy men today who love Christ,
who make good use of their possessions for the glory of God, the relief
of human suffering and the preaching of the gospel. But these men
here are men who have accumulated wealth and use it only upon themselves
for their pleasures. And he says in verse 1, go to
now. Go to now, ye rich men, weep
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you in the day
of the Lord." And then some reasons are given for this condemnation.
In the next several verses, there are reasons for this judgment
of God upon these covetous people. Number one, he says that your
riches are corrupted, your garments are mouth-eaten. All material
things are temporary. They're corruptible things. The
things that James is addressing here are not eternal matters
and eternal things and eternal possessions, but they're temporary. All of these things he's talking
about here that men accumulate and work for and strive to attain
will one day rot and lie in ruins. Let's turn back to Matthew 6
and listen to our Lord here in Matthew chapter 6. He describes
it in the same way. James says, your riches are corrupted
and your garments, your beautiful garments, satin and lace and
gold and silver, are malty. In Matthew 6, beginning with
verse 19, our Lord says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break
through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, things
that are eternal, where thieves do not break through and steal.
But where your treasure is, there will your heart be. In 1 Corinthians
7, Paul says here in chapter 7 of
1 Corinthians verse 31, here is what we need to learn to do,
as they that use this world, they that use these temporary
things, make proper use of them and not abusing them, not becoming
absorbed, is the word, absorbed in them. Use them, but don't
become absorbed in them, and the reason is, the passion of
this world fadeth away. It passeth away. Back to our
text, James says, riches are corrupted. Your garments are
mouth-eaten. Everything material will one
day lie in ruins. And the rich, they have more
clothes than they can possibly wear. But they just keep buying
more and more and more, while the poor go without. He says
in verse 3, your gold and silver is resting on the shelf. Gold and silver is hoarded in
banks and savings and other places, and it's cankered. while people
around us live in need, in need of assistance, in need of hearing
the gospel. Yet these people accumulate this
gold and silver. And then he says in verse 3,
"...and the rust or the canker of this gold and silver will
be a witness against you." Instead of being a good steward, instead
of making use of their substance, the things God has given them
bless them with. Instead of making use of it in
business, in employing other people, in giving folks jobs,
in encouraging young people and giving them a boost along the
way, they keep their treasures and keep their gold and their
silver and all of these things they've accumulated and lavish
them on themselves and hoard them up. and the canker of them
and the rest of them cries out against that person in the judgment
of the wasted opportunity to be a blessing to someone and
to live for the glory of God. So he says in verse 3, your gold
and silver that you hoarded and saved and put on the kept in
the safety deposit box and kept in the bank, the rust of it,
the canker of it, not using it, not using it to be a blessing
to someone, he's a witness against you, you've been a bad steward. And one day will eat your flesh,
eat it with fire. And here's a charge, listen,
he says, talking to these rich people, and the world's full
You have heaped treasures together for the last days. You gather
together riches and gold and silver and valuables, antiques,
paintings, all of these things that you might in your old age
have a rich and prosperous old age. And when old age comes,
you don't find any joy in these things. Rather, they eat your
flesh with fire. You don't need these things.
These things won't give you peace. These things won't give you joy.
These things won't give you friends. You can't use them anymore. And
nobody pays any attention to your status symbols when you
get old. And instead of comfort, you've
accumulated the wrath of God. That's why I say you heap together
treasure for the last days, the last days of your lives, you're
rich, and behold, listen, verse 4, here's an interesting thing.
Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
which is of you, by you, kept back by fraud. You've abused him and misused
him. You've withheld the labor of his due. And the cries of
those people which have reaped your fields and mined your coal
and laid your railroad tracks are entered into the ears of
the Lord of the Sabaoth." That word Sabaoth means host, host,
armies. He's the Lord of the heavenly
host, of all the hosts of the universe, of the armies of the
universe. I never go to Fairmont, West
Virginia. I think this is a classic example
of what this is talking about here. I never go to Fairmont,
West Virginia and stay there where many of you have stayed
in the Fairmont Motor Lodge and then start for the meeting house
for the church over at Katie Baptist and drive by that mansion
on the left side of Route 250, that huge, huge mansion that
covers a city block nearly with all of its basements and first
floor and second floor and third floor and spires and It's horse
barns and it's half a dozen garages and the barns look better than
most of y'all's houses. It's just fabulous. That mansion
is standing there after all these years, built by mine owners, while the miners who earned the
money for that mansion lived in shacks. You ever notice, you
go by that place and you see there's where those people live. in all their riches and prosperity
and luxury and laziness, while these poor men down in the pits
of those mines stooped over with the cares of years of toiling
for nothing, lived in these little shacks with no running water,
no electricity. And that's coming into the ears
of the Lord as a sabbath. He hears that. A lot of people like to go and
visit that Biltmore Mansion down in Asheville, North Carolina,
but just one thing strikes my eyes when I see it, and that
is wrath in my heart against the people that built it. Because
the folks that earned the money for them didn't make livable
wages in those days. The Woolworths and the Carnegie's
and all the rest of them. He said, you rich men, weep and
howl. for the miseries is coming upon
you. That's who he's talking to, that same bunch. And it's
all over America, these castles and mansions of the wealthy who
paid starving wages. I remember as a boy, my daddy
didn't make enough to live on. And if they hadn't organized
a union, he'd have been fired half the time behind when things
got a little better. starving wages to people who
mined their coal and melted their steel and rolled their steel
and tin-plated and reaped their fields and laid their railroad
tracks. And what he's saying here is there's a payday coming.
There's a payday coming. And the hosts of heaven are going
to rejoice in the judgment of God against hard-hearted people
who've accumulated these things off the backs of hard-working
men and women. That's right. And that's who
he's talking to. He says, you weeping howl. There's
misery coming on you. You've lived, verse 5, in pleasure
on this earth. You've been wanton. You've nourished
your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You're like a pig that they're
fattening up to kill for a feast. You're like a turkey two months
before Thanksgiving. God's fattening you for the slaughter.
That's what he's talking about. Verse 6, you've laughed at the
believers. You've made light of the gospel.
You've condemned and persecuted the little children of God's
kingdom. They've done you no harm. They've not even resisted
you, they've not been able to resist you. You control the governments
and you control industry and you control all things. They
haven't resisted you. But he says when these men of
power and wealth meet God, he can resist them. The oppressed
can do nothing about injustices, but their father can. And God's
ears are open to their cries. The Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord
of hosts and the Lord of armies, one who is supreme over all the
innumerable hosts of heaven, will one day tread them unto
his feet. That's right. And that's what
those verses are talking about. The rich of this world who have
closed their ears and Harden their hearts against the cries
of people who are in need. All right, here are these next
verses addressed to believers. Notice the difference here, verse
7. Now you be patient, therefore
brethren. Notice, he didn't call that first
bunch brethren. He didn't say my rich brethren.
He talked about these folks being under the judgment of God. So
he's talking to the brethren now. When he addressed the rich
of the world who abused their wealth and robbed others of wages
and treasured up gold and silver instead of using it for God's
glory and the relief of the distressed and the good of his kingdom,
he didn't call them brethren, but he's calling these people
brethren. His brothers. And he says to
us who are brothers, be patient therefore brethren unto the coming
of the Lord, until our Lord returns, or until our Lord calls you home.
Be patient. Walk this road with patience. Be patient under affliction.
Be patient under trial until the Lord comes and sets all injustices
right, and sorrows will give way to happiness, and troubles
will give way to joy. Be patient to the coming of the
Lord. to that great day of His return. While you are on this earth,
remember that our lives are governed by the will of God. Our lives
are governed by the purpose of our loving Heavenly Father, all-wise
Heavenly Father who cannot make a mistake. So let us not murmur
against His good providence nor seek vengeance on men when we
are mistreated. Let's just be patient. Be patient. Be patient. And look at the next
illustration here, the farmer. Behold, he said the farmer. The
husbandman is the farmer. He sows his seed, and he waits. That's what patience is, it's
waiting on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord. Whatever
the circumstances. And the farmer sows his seed. He waits for the harvest. He
looks to the Lord. He looks to the Lord and he has
patience. Listen. He waits for the precious
fruit of the earth. He has patience for it until
he receives the early rain and the latter rain. Brother Walter
Gruber talks about down there in Mexico, they get a rain. a few rains and then they clear
the fields and burn them all off and then they get this rain
and then they begin planting and then it stops raining for
a little while and then it rains again and that's when the corn
begins to grow and so the farmer, they can't rush it up, nothing
they can do about it, nothing they can do about it, they prepare
the field, they plant the seed and they wait. For the early
and latter reign, they wait on the Lord. Now he says in verse
8, you and me, you also be patient. Be patient like the farmer. Let's
wait patiently for the means of divine grace which are necessary
to try our faith. Let's wait upon His Spirit. Wait
upon His grace to bring forth the fruit of His salvation. Wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage. He'll strengthen
your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. David
said, I would have fainted if I had not believed to be, to
see the goodness of God in the land of the living. So, wait.
Be ye also patient, like the farmer who plants the seed. It's dry. Then the early rain
comes. The rain doesn't come, and then
the rain does come, and then the sun shines, and in His time
the fruit is that. But it's of the Lord. It's of
the Lord. It's not our doings. It's His
fruit, not ours. And He'll give it in His time.
So what's this? And then he gives us another
instruction. Now watch this in verse 8. The first thing is be
patient. Secondly, establish your heart.
Establish your heart. Our hearts are prone to doubt.
Do you know that? Of course you do. Our hearts
are prone to fear, get upset. Our hearts are prone to question
God, question His love, question His providence. And so our hearts need to be
established. In order to have patience, it
comes from the heart. So the heart's got to be established.
Now, how is the heart established? Let me give you four things,
I believe, that are used of God to establish the heart. To establish
the heart. Let's see where this is used
again before I give you the fourth thing. Look at Hebrews 13, verse
9. Let the heart be established.
In verse 9 of Hebrews 13, be not carried about with different
and strange doctrines. Don't be looking for something
new or something unusual or something strange or different. It's a
good thing that the heart be established with grace. The heart
be established. Not with meats which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein, that is, the
form of religion and meats and holy days and Sabbaths and laws
and duties, but the heart established with the grace of God, the grace
of God, the gospel of Christ. Here is another verse, 1 Peter
chapter 5, 1 Peter 5, 10 and 11. 1 Peter 5, 10, but the God of all
grace. He's the source, the fountain
of all grace. Faith, grace, love, strength,
wisdom, sanctification, everything's in Christ. The God of all grace
who had called us, He called us unto His eternal glory by
Christ Jesus. That's the goal of His salvation. After you've suffered a while,
Make you perfect, establish you. Establish you, strengthen you,
settle you. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace. All right, let me give you four
things I believe that are the means of grace to
help in the establishing of the heart. Here's the first one.
Which you would certainly give also the Word. The Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Let everything be established
by the Word of God. What we believe, we believe because
He says so. Back here in Hebrews 13, it says in verse 5, let your conversation
be without covetousness. and be content with such things
as you have, for He has said, I'll never leave you, I'll never
forsake you. So, so, because He said that,
so we can say, the Lord is my helper. I'll not fear what man
shall do to me. This is our answer to ourselves
or anyone else. This is our foundation of faith
is the Word. Abraham believed he'd have a
son because God said so. Savior believed it should deliver
a child to old age because God said so. Peter threw the net
out into the water, though he didn't have any evidence there
was any fish out there, because Christ said so. He said, nevertheless,
I fished all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your
word, I let down the net. So the first way for the heart
to be established with grace is feeding on the Word. Feeding
on the Word. And not just when you're in the
services, but at home. Alone. Read the word of God. Then secondly, by prayer. Calling on God. Private prayer. Personal prayer. Closet prayer. Conversations with God. Let your request be made known
with thanksgiving. Continue instantly in prayer. Pray without ceasing. Pray about
everything. Everything. Let it be just second
nature for you to present your need to the Heavenly Father.
To ask Him for strength, for help, for wisdom. Let it just be like you turn
and say something to your wife. Hand me this or hand me that
or help me with this or help me with that. Father, help me.
Go through a whole rigmarole and just help me. Help me. Don't leave me. Don't
forsake me. Give me strength. Strengthen my heart. So, the
word, prayer, and thirdly, by gospel ordinances. What do I
mean by gospel ordinances? I mean attend, attend to the
preaching of the word. Now you notice I didn't say attend
church. I didn't say be faithful to the
services. I didn't say don't ever miss a meeting. Ritualism
won't help anybody. What will help us is attendance
to the gospel ordinances, to teaching. Where the Word is taught,
take advantage. Where the Word is preached, take
advantage. where prayer is wont to be made. That's what those women were
doing down by the river. That's the reason Lydia was down
there. That's the reason she heard the gospel. She had a need
to go where prayer was offered. Where people met to pray. Where
people met to teach and preach. Where people met to take the
Lord's table. Next Wednesday night, the Lord
willing, we're going to observe the Lord's table. Be here. Everybody
tells me that's just a special strengthening service. Well,
don't miss it. Don't miss it. Don't miss it. Whatever, but take advantage
of gospel ordinances. It's so important for sake not
the assembling of yourselves together, not just for the sake
of assembling, but for the sake of worship, for the sake of prayer,
for the sake of hearing, for the sake of Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. And then fourthly, how is the
heart established? By the word, by prayer, by gospel
ordinances, by fellowship and encouragement of other believers.
Now I tell you, believers need believers. Christians need Christian
fellowship. We need to exhort one another.
You all need to exhort one another. Be together. Contact one another. Not just during the services,
but other times. Have your fellowship with those
who have fellowship with Christ. Bad companions corrupt good manners. Bad associates have an influence
on you. Believers have an influence on
one another. And this will establish your
heart. Believe in that fellowship with
believers. And in these things, the study
of the word, prayer, the gospel ordinances, worship, and the
fellowship, don't be a spectator, be a participator. And that's one of the, this is
one of the You know, Chuck was giving thanks for a pastor who
is faithful to the Word. I give thanks to the Lord for
people who are faithful to hear the Word, who are participators. People tell me this is the easiest
place in the world to preach because the people just draw
the preaching out of you. So, in love with the Gospel,
in love with the Word, they can't get enough of it. They're not
just spectators who are sitting there listening to a man perform.
They're people who are, tell me what this means. I want to
know what, don't you find it that way when you preach here?
This is the people here, and that's what, that'll establish
your heart. To be a participator in worship,
in singing, in praying, in reading, in rejoicing. And then verse
9, let me move on quick. Grudge not one against another,
brethren. Don't complain of my lot or your
lot, or envy other people. That's what that's talking about
there. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be
condemned. In other words, don't envy someone
else's state, or happiness, or success, or etc. or complain about your own lot,
my lot, God knows what's good for each of us. Brother Charlie
Pennington was over at the house yesterday and we were talking
and we were talking about different things that have come our way
and Charlie experiences great pain. He has arthritis that most
people don't know about this but he goes through some real
suffering. And he said one day I was just,
I was in such a state that I said, I just don't need this. And he said I caught myself.
And he thought, he said evidently I do need it or God wouldn't
have sent it my way. So that's, that's a good lesson. Evidently I do need it. So don't,
just don't grudge against someone who doesn't hurt. or doesn't
do without, or doesn't suffer, or doesn't... Don't grudge against
the prosperity of one and complain about our adversity. But be careful
not to let you be condemned. God, He doesn't put up with that.
Behold, He said the judge standeth before the door. God's the only
judge. He is the judge. He's the just
judge. Everything He does is right.
And He's at the door. Anytime that we have anything
to say, let's remember he's at the door. And he's there to set
things right for us and for all others. He's there. He's there
as the only judge. We're not the judge. I believe
that's what that's saying. Grudge not. Envy not. Don't be jealous. Don't complain
against another brother. Lest you be condemned. Because
what I have, what comes our way, we need or it wouldn't come our
way. And he's the judge. He's the judge. Alright, verse
10. Take my brethren, he's talking
to us now, the prophets. Look to the Old Testament believers
who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering,
affliction, and patience. These Old Testament believers,
take them for an example. They knew God. They were highly
favored of God. They had the mysteries of God
revealed to them. Abraham looked for a city. Noah
was warned of God. These men knew God, were highly
favored of God, had the mysteries of God revealed, yet still they
suffered so much that Elijah said, Lord,
why don't you kill me? Why don't you just kill me?" They suffered affliction and
yet endured it with patience. They were not believed. They
were despised. They were killed. Which of the
prophets, our Lord said, did not your fathers persecute and
shed their blood? Folks wouldn't receive their
messages. And yet they're examples of suffering, affliction with
patience. William Cooper wrote an old hymn
I love so much. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and will break with blessings on your head in
His good time. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, the wise and the wherefores, but trust him for his grace.
Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. Behold, you know who the happy
people are. Behold, I tell you. Do you know
who the happy persons are? Of course you do. Behold, we
count them happy who endure." Those are the happy ones. Those
are the happy ones who keep the faith, endure the trials, take
whatever God sends their way, and they say, I finished my course. I've kept the faith. It has laid
up for me a crown of righteousness. Whatever God has sent my way,
it hasn't Turn me away from the gospel, away from him. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. And Job! You've heard of the
patience of Job? You've heard of the patience
of Job? Sure you have. And have you seen the end of
the Lord? Have you seen what God did for
Job? Turn over there and let's look
at it just a moment. Job 42. Remember, God took away all these
material things that he had, everything, and after he'd endured
patiently the affliction and the suffering, God restored everything
twofold. Twice as much. That doesn't mean that God's
going to, during this lifetime, prosper us. two-fold and so forth
against what he has been pleased to remove, but eternally he will,
many-fold. And these Old Testament examples
were people who dealt in these earthly and material things which
we can understand, and their pictures, their figures and pictures
of spiritual Israel God afflicting and suffering and then restoring
in happiness and glory that which he was pleased to take away.
And here it says, look in Job 42 verse 10, and the Lord turned
the captivity of Job. When he prayed for his friends,
also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. And then came there unto him
all his brethren. You know, that all turned against
him. And all his sisters, all his family, his wife had cursed
him, his handmaidens, all his sisters and all that had been
of his acquaintance before, they did eat bread with him in his
house. And they bemoaned him and comforted him over all the
evil the Lord brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece
of money and every one an earring of gold. And so the Lord blessed
the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And then it tells
all the things that God gave him. So we'll look at verse 12. And
the Lord, verse 11, Behold, we count them happy which endure.
That's the exhortation there. Just be faithful. Be faithful. Whatever, having done all, stand. You've heard of the patience
of Job. You've seen the end of the Lord. That the Lord is very
pitiful and of tender mercies. These things that we have here
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
ours. They're not even, they're just light afflictions, but for
a moment, are not worthy to be compared. And Job's latter end,
compared to what he has now, is nothing. Not great. God blessed him. Now, verse 12,
Above all things, my brethren, Listen, swear not. And this is what I get out of
this. Swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither
by any other oath. Just let your yea be yea, and
your nay nay, and lest you fall into condemnation. Now here's
what I get out of that. We're talking about patience.
But now this is impatience. This is murmuring against the
hand of God. Murmuring against the providence
of God. And don't let it be manifested, it will be, but keep it down. Don't let it be manifested in
secret sighs, or in secret groans, or in personal secret complaints
against Him. Whatever comes our way, whatever,
it doesn't matter, just don't entertain, don't let your heart
entertain secret, complaints and sighs and groans
and finding fault even in your heart with God's good providence.
Don't do it. But, verse 12 says, above all
things, above all things, don't let your mouth speak against
him. Isn't that what he's saying?
Above all things. You're going to have enough struggle
inwardly, but watch your mouth. Swear not at all. Let us not
in anger, frustration, conflict, swear by heaven or earth. And in any ill use or handling
of the name of God, or the works of God, or the will of God, or
the providence of God, it's a serious offense. And his name is to be
loved and revered One of our men read it a few moments ago.
Holy and Reverend is his name. And it's to be revered. And anyway,
he says in verse 12, when a man tells the truth, he doesn't need
to confirm it with an oath. He doesn't need to swear by heaven
or swear by earth or swear by anything else. He can just say
yes and no. Let your yes be yes and your
no, no. Anything more than that is dangerous. We studied that some time ago
about the tongue. I wrote something one time, I'll
give it to you again, you may remember it. But those who, people
who curse and swear, people who use the name of God in an irreverent
manner, or speak against his name and curse and swear. I wrote five things about them.
Number one, usually people who do that are people of limited
wisdom, who cannot express themselves,
and so they must fill in the blanks with curse words in the
name of God. So when you hear a man curse
and swear and use the name of God, he's a man of limited wisdom
and limited vocabulary. And he can't express himself
without using those offensive words. Secondly, people who curse
and swear are people who are not truthful usually. So when
they tell something, they have to confirm it with an oath. A
man of his word can just say yes. Or no. He doesn't have to add anything
to it. Because when he says yes, he means yes. When he says no,
he means no. So secondly, those who curse and swear usually don't
tell the truth anyway, so they have to add something to confirm
their words. Thirdly, people who curse and
swear and use bad language are usually very weak people and
insecure people. They're trying to appear strong
by using obscene and offensive words. They're weak and insecure
and so they have to talk daringly and give the appearance of being
a daring person, a courageous person. When in reality they're
not. A courageous person doesn't depend on his mouth, he depends
on his deeds. And fourthly, people who curse
and swear are people like folks who litter the highways with
trash. Sometimes you can go up in some
places and see where people have thrown just trash all along the
road. Just even some of you, your property
folks. Every once in a while I have
to go out in my yard and clean up the beer bottles and that's
just people who have no concern for others and litter, well people
who talk nasty have no regard for other people. They dump the
garbage of their hearts into other people's ears. They have no regard for other
people. And so they talk offensively.
Good language and good grammar goes anywhere. Bad language and
bad grammar ought not be tolerated. So there are people who have
no regard for others when they do this.