now, if you will, in our Bibles
to James chapter 5. James chapter 5. We'll be looking
at the first 12 verses in this chapter. Go to now, you 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, and the cries of them which have reaped are
entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts or the Lord of
Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on
the earth and been wanton. You have nourished your hearts
as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed
the just, and he doth not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth
for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience
for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be you also
patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh. Grudge not one against another,
brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before
the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets
who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering
affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which
endure, You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen
the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender
mercy. But above all things, my brethren,
swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither
by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay, nay,
lest you fall into condemnation. I'm going to divide these verses
into two equal parts, six verses in each part. First, in the first
six verses, how should we understand these six verses? How should
we understand them? We see that James is addressing
rich man in verse one. Rich man who misused their wealth. in verses two and three. Rich
man who defrauded their workers, verse four. Rich man who neglected
their soul's welfare, verse five. And rich man who practiced injustices,
verse six. Why, this seems to have given
the commentators at least a problem, why James would write these words. Who did he write them to? Well,
I have three ways I want us to consider them this morning. First,
James carefully, carefully qualified the rich man that he addressed. When he wrote, go to now, you
rich man, he doesn't mean all rich men. We have examples in
the New Testament, of course, in the Old Testament, many as
well. But in the New Testament, we
have examples of men of wealth who use their wealth for the
glory of God. I'm thinking of two men who took
charge of the burial of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you want to turn back with me to Matthew chapter 27, We read of one of these men, a rich man, Matthew chapter 27,
and beginning in verse 57. When the even was come, there
came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who also himself
was Jesus' disciple, He went to Pilate and begged the body
of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body
to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his
own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. And he rolled
a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. So when James addresses these
rich men in our text, he's not talking about all rich men. We see here was a rich man, Joseph
of Arimathea. And we are not told, but Nicodemus
also had part in the burial of the Lord's body. We're not told
that he was a rich man, but from what we read, we know that he
was a wealthy man. a rich man because of the amount
of perfume that he bought to perfume the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ for burial. And the weight of that perfume
tells us that he had some to help him, probably servants to
help him. And then we read about this man
by the name of Philemon. Paul wrote a letter to Philemon. And just looking at the letter,
we recognize that this man was a wealthy man. He was a rich
man. He had a church in his house. In other words, he had a house
large enough to have an assembly of people to come and worship. And he had servants. We know
that from the fact that Onesiphus was one of his servants. And then if you will look in
Romans chapter 16 with me. Romans chapter 16 and verses one and two. Paul writing to the church at
Rome, I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister. which is a servant
of the church which is at Centuria, that you receive her in the Lord
as becometh saints, and that you assist her in whatsoever
business she hath need of you. For she hath been a succorer
of many, and of myself also." Listen to what John Gill wrote
about this Christian lady by the name of Phoebe. And I quote,
as some think she was a deaconess appointed by the church to take
care of the poor sisters of the church, though as they were usually
poor and ancient women that were put into that service, and this
woman, according to the account of her, being neither poor nor
very ancient, it seems rather that being a rich and generous
woman, she served or ministered to the church by relieving the
poor, not out of the church's stock, as deaconesses did, but
out of her own substance and received the ministers of the
gospel and all strangers into her house, which was open to
all Christians and so was exceeding serviceable to that church and
to all the saints that came thither. So this woman by the name of
Phoebe, she was a wealthy woman. When James writes about these
rich men, he's very careful to define them, the men that he's
speaking about. You know, I love to read about
the great revivals, the second great awakening in the 18th century,
when men like George Whitfield preached in England to thousands
of people. And in the United States, he
visited here several times, and great, great crowds came to hear
him. Benjamin Franklin was one who
said you could hear this man's voice, I believe, for a mile.
And that was with all the noise, all the preaching outside. He
had such a voice, such powerful voice, but the power of the Holy
Spirit was the main thing. George Whitfield, John Newton,
and John Berridge, and many others. But in reading about those men
and those revivals, there's a name that keeps coming up. And it's
not a name of a preacher, a name of a man, it's the name of a
woman. Her name was Lady Huntingdon. Lady Huntingdon. She was a very
wealthy woman, and she used her wealth for the spread of the
gospel. She opened her house, which must
have been like some of those places in England that we still
see, those large homes, and invited George Whitefield to preach to
the aristocracy. who would come to her house for
lunch, for dinner, whatever, you know. And I forget how many
chapels, over 70 chapels, she built throughout England and
helped to establish that college, Trevecca College, to train men
for the ministry. She was a very wealthy woman
and she used her wealth. In fact, I read that Now remember,
this was in the 1700s. She probably had given away over
100,000 pounds. What would that be worth today?
Several hundred millions, probably. She was a wealthy woman. And
she gave and supported the ministry and the gospel of the grace of
God. In my life, I have met several
men that I was told at least they were millionaires. I assume
it was true. I don't have any way of knowing.
But I remember one man that I met many years ago in western Pennsylvania. I don't remember his last name,
but his first name was Tom. Brother Tom. And evidently a very wealthy
man, owned lumber companies up there and involved in that type
of business. a gracious man, loved to support
the gospel, loved to support preachers who preach the gospel,
missionaries. So the first thing I point out
to us when James writes about these rich men, he's not talking
about all rich men. He's not speaking of all rich
men, that's for sure. The second thing I would point
out to us is James has given all of us important words that
we should consider. Though I'm sure most of us here
today, we don't consider ourselves to be rich. And the reason is
because we compare ourselves with very, very wealthy people. Men who have millions, if not
billions of dollars. And we see ourselves as just
average people, but you know, Probably to two-thirds of the
world's population, everyone in this room, we're rich. I'm talking about in things,
material things. We're wealthy people, all of
us are. And we shouldn't deny that. But even if we're not,
even if we're not, James gives us some very practical words
here. He speaks of having and hoarding
things which end up being of no use to anyone. Clothes. Clothes, for instance, that the
moth ate when those clothes could have been used by those who had
none. And he speaks about treasuring
up things for the last days. The last days. Now the Bible
teaches us, and when I think about the last days, I think
about our retirement, if you're planning on retiring, the end
of your life, whatever it's going to be if the Lord lets you live
that long. The Bible certainly teaches that
men should save for what we call a rainy day. There's nothing
wrong with that. In fact, there's many proverbs
in the Book of Proverbs, if you read, you find that it's wise
to plan for your old age and for the time comes when you're
no longer able to work and earn a living like you have. There's
nothing wrong with that. But it is hoarding up things
to the point of forgetting to help those who are poor when
we have it in our power. Just hoarding up things. and
for the last days, as though we were going to live here forever. You know, one of the Proverbs
tells us, he that hath pity upon the poor,
now listen, lendeth unto the Lord. Huh? He that hath pity on the poor,
lendeth unto the Lord. And that which he hath given,
will he pay him again? You know, there's verse four
here in our text, James chapter five and verse four. Behold,
the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
which is of you kept back by fraud, cry. and the cries of
them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of
hosts. That verse there makes me think
of this verse in the book of Micah, the Old Testament prophet
Micah. He, that is God, God hath showed
thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God. James sounds a warning in verses
five and six about self-indulgence and self-gratification. I read
Henry Mahan's commentary on these notes and I wanted to give you
what he wrote on those verses. Like beast, that are fattened
up by the farmer for the slaughter, like the turkey that is fed well
for weeks before being cooked. You are fattening yourselves
for God's wrath." That's the rich that he addressed here,
James did. And the third way that we should
look at them, James His whole purpose is to comfort those who
are afflicted, the poor, and those who are afflicted here.
And so he addresses the rich men first to strengthen them. And in doing so, he accomplished
these two things. The wrongs, he points out the
wrongs of these particular rich men that were afflicting these
believers. Now remember this. that in the
early church, in the New Testament church, well over 50% of believers
were slaves, according to everything I've read. The percentage is
actually higher than that. These believers were materially
poor for the most part. Not everyone, of course, as we
pointed out. But James, would comfort these
believers and show them the punishment that is going to come upon the
rich, the rich who misuse the poor, the rich who take advantage
of the poor. And this would cause them, first
of all, to be content with their situation, whatever it is. This
is God's providence. Remember in the letter of 1 Corinthians,
Paul said, Are you called being free? Then use your freedom.
Are you called being a slave? Then use your slave. Whatever
calling, if you're called being a slave, you're God's free man. If you're called being free,
you're God's servant. rank or position in life the
Lord has given you, placed you in. Be content in that place. Trust in God's providence and
knowing what is best for you. What God has for you is best. And the second thing that James
would accomplish here is to cause these people not to envy the
rich, not to envy the rich. You and I have heard that probably
all of our lives and yet we still have a temptation to think that
somehow if we won that lotto, if we won that billion dollar
jackpot, we could handle it. We could handle it. Well, if
you never buy a ticket, I was, I buy gasoline, fill up my truck
at the same place almost every time. And sometimes I go in there
and pay and people, I have to stand in line, people are buying
tickets to the different gambling, whatever it is, lottos. Last
time I was in there, I waited in line behind several people
and Finally, it came my time to go up there. And there was
no one else in there but me, so I wasn't holding up the line.
But I asked that man, have you ever sold a winning ticket? And he looked at these scratch-offs,
and he said, well, some of them. No, I'm not talking about those
scratch-offs. Have you ever sold a winning
lotto ticket? He said, no, no. just have the idea that they're
going to be the exception, they're going to win. And then most of
us believe if we were to win, that we we could handle being
a billionaire or millionaire. When most of us we know, from
experiences of others, at least we we would be no different. I read about one lady one lotto
and I tell you, just it was an awful experience for her. She
won, I think, about $25 million. And she had friends and relatives
and even churches billing her, dunning her for their part of
the winning. It was so amazing to me. And
one man showed up and said God had told him to come and she
was going to finance. his ministry or something like
that, and she lost a lot of money believing him. But rich men,
James Warrens, these men who were certainly lost men. As I said at the beginning, the
commentators seem to have a problem as to why James would include
this. But I want you to notice in verse
7 that he begins to address brethren. And that's not to say that there
have not been wealthy men who have been professing Christians
in churches over the years who do not fall into those categories. I'm not saying that. But God's
people, God's people do not act like those he describes in those
first six verses. Now, the second part, how should
we, or what should we learn from these last six verses? Well,
the first thing that we should learn is that believers need
patience. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Therefore, therefore, because
as God's children, we live in a hostile environment, we need
patience. If you look back to Hebrews chapter
10, just a moment. Be patient. Hebrews chapter 10
and verse 32. The writer says, but call to
remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated,
that is quickened, regenerated, made alive in Christ, you endured
a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst you were made a
gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while
she became companions of them that were so used. Arthur Pink,
in his commentary on those verses, made this observation. God has
not promised his people a smooth path through this world. Instead,
he has ordained that we must, through much tribulation, enter
into his kingdom. Why should it be otherwise, seeing
we are now in a territory which is under his curse? And what
has brought down that curse but sin? Seeing then that there still
is a world of sin both without and within each one of us, why
should it be thought strange if we are made to taste the bitterness
of its products? Suppose it was otherwise, what
would be the effect? Suppose this present life were
free from sorrows, sufferings, separations, ah, would we not
be content with our present portion? Wisely then has God ordered it
that we should be constantly reminded of the fact This is
not your rest because it is polluted. Micah 2, verse 10. Trials and
tribulations are needful if there is to be wrought in us a desire
to depart and to be with Christ. Amen. I know that's so. Now,
back in our text, James encourages suffering saints with this wonderful
truth. the coming, the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I noticed he mentions it three
times. Look in verse seven, the coming
of the Lord. In verse eight, the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh. And verse nine, the judge, now
who's the judge? The Lord Jesus Christ. The judge
standeth before the door. James emphasizes the coming of
the Lord. He's coming. His coming draws
nigh. Actually, he's at the door. He emphasizes the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ to comfort these afflicted people, to help
us to have patience, patience. Look back to Hebrews chapter
nine, just a moment. The coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26. We read about halfway through
that verse, but now once in the end of the world, hath he appeared
that is Christ. You say, well, the world hasn't
ended. The Jewish world, once in the
end of the world, that is that whole Jewish economy has come
to an end. Once in the end of the world,
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. When you think about the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you think about him dying on
the cross, recognize, know, that he died as a sacrifice. And he died as a sacrifice for
the sins of his people. And he has put away the sins
of his people by that one sacrifice. But notice, and as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look
for him, now here it is, his second coming, shall he appear
the second time without sin unto salvation. The second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's our blessed hope that he's coming
again and his coming is going to be soon. Now, if you look
back and let me just go through these five things that I see
here in these verses. First of all, James says, learn
from the farmer, the farmer, the husband. He goes out and
he plants his seed, but he waits. He knows the harvest will come,
but it's going to take a while. He's not all anxious and, Thinking
and worrying about the process, he knows it's just going to take
some time for that seed to come up and bloom and then produce
the fruit. And he's patient, patient, waiting
for the fruit. And the second thing James says,
establish your hearts in verse eight. In Hebrews, we read, it
is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. the heart, your heart, if you
are a child of God, that your heart be established with grace
to recognize that salvation is by grace. And remember this grace
merited is not grace. Salvation is by grace. And when
we think about salvation, I think sometimes we're guilty of thinking
about our first experience, that is regeneration and conversion. We call that salvation. Well,
that's just the beginning. Salvation is an umbrella word,
isn't it? It includes a whole lot. And
it includes our glorification. One day we will be with Christ,
glorified in heaven with him. And from the beginning, to glorification. I started to say the end, but
there is no end, because salvation is eternal. But from the beginning
to glorification, it's all of grace. From the very beginning,
through our lives, and seeing Christ, it's all by grace are
you saved. The apostle says, establish your
hearts, be convinced of this, recognize this, rejoice in this. And then third, grudge not one
another. You know, someone said that word
literally means grumbling. Don't be guilty of grumbling. A person who said that went on
to say that there are some persons that seem to feel that it becomes
them to complain if everything is not done precisely as in their
estimation it should be. So they grumble. It will make
any man live a wretched life. And equally, needless to say,
that is wholly contrary to the spirit of the gospel. God's people,
God's children should not be guilty of grumbling. And then he calls us to look
at the example of the prophets. And don't forget Job. Look at
the prophets. You read about many of them who
suffered immensely. Persecution. I think about Jeremiah. How do you think he felt when
they let him down in that well and he just sank down in the
mire? No water, no food, just sank
down in the mud. Consider the prophets. Did they
have an easy life? Is it true that Isaiah was sawed
in two? Many believe that was his end. Consider the prophets. And don't
forget Job. Don't forget Job. Yes, God allowed
everything to be taken from him, all of his wealth, all of his
family, all of his health. But then God restored him twofold,
twofold. He had twice as much as he had
in the end. And don't you love the way James
writes that? You've heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is
very pitiful and of tender mercy. And then lastly, he says, above
all things, don't be guilty of swearing. Swear not. Some have
taken that to mean that a believer, a child of God, should never
take an oath. That's not what he's saying at
all. But you don't have to swear on trivial matters. If it's a matter of importance,
God took an oath. We know it cannot be sinful to
take an oath. God swore by himself. But you don't have to take an
oath when you say, when you're speaking. Just let your yea be
yea and your nay be nay. And you will be recognized as
a person who is truthful, who speaks the truth. Well, I trust the Lord will bless
this message for His glory, for our good.