If you will let us open our Bibles
today to James chapter 5. James chapter 5 and this morning
we are 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 rust of them shall be a witness against
you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You 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 Sabaoth. 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. Be patient, therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience
for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye
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 ye fall into condemnation. My message has two parts. The
first part, I want us to look at these two groups who are named
in this passage. And then second, I want us to
focus on four exhortations that are given to the last group.
So first, the two groups in this passage. The two groups are oppressors
and oppressed. Those are the two groups in the
passage. oppressors and the oppressed. The first group, the oppressors,
he calls rich men. Notice that in verse 1. Go to
now. Now that's a strange statement
or phrase. Go to now. We would never speak
to someone and say go to now. Go to now. This is the second
time James has used this in his letter. And Matthew Poole, one
of the English commentators, mentioned the fact that this
might be used to call their attention, to get their attention. These
to whom he addresses here, who were oppressors. Now the first
thing that we should see, the first thing that we should recognize
when we read this passage of scripture is that not all rich
men are included in James' exhortation. Not all rich men are included
here when he says go to now you rich man. I'm thinking of one
man in particular, there are many, but I'm thinking of one
man in particular in the gospel that we read of who was rich
and certainly he would not have been included in these words. This man, his history is found
in Matthew chapter 27. If you want to turn Matthew chapter
27 and verses 57 through 60, I'll read. Here's a rich man who was a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. A disciple. And he certainly
is not included in those words of James in our text today. as
an oppressor. When the even was come, that
is the day upon which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and
when the even was come, there came a rich man. Here's a rich
man. This rich man is not included
in this text in James chapter 5. cometh a rich man, named Joseph,
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. Here was a rich man who was a
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and we see that he used his wealth. He used his wealth to provide
a place for the Lord's body to be buried and in which his body
was to be wrapped. And we know down through history
there have been many rich men Rich men who have used their
wealth to help people and to preach the gospel, to send out
men preaching the Word of God. I've just recently been reading
the biography of William Wilberforce. And he certainly was a very,
very wealthy man. And he spent his life and a lot
of his wealth as a member of Parliament Fighting the British
slave trade so he used and not only that but he was a believer.
He was an evangelical even though he was always a member of the
Church of England and He supported men who preached the gospel and
did what he could to help others who were in need poor people
Can you imagine Can you imagine? the work laws of that time. During his time in Parliament,
they got the hours of work to be reduced down to 13 and a half
hours a day. And the age for children to work
was raised to five. Five years old. So there was
a rich man, and when you read during the days of George Whitefield,
his time in preaching the gospel, John Newton in England, there's
a name that appears quite often, and it is the name of a lady,
Lady Huntington. And you see her name in several
biographies and history. And she was a lady, that is,
she had a title and she had wealth, and she used her place, her castle,
wherever she lived, and she used her wealth to establish a college
and train men to preach the gospel. And she supported men like Whitefield
and others who proclaimed the gospel of the grace of God. Now
Job, he's mentioned in this passage also in verse 11. And we know
that he was a very wealthy man at the very beginning of the
book that has his name. And then at the end of the book,
God made him twice as wealthy. And God said concerning Job,
there was none like him, a perfect and an upright, a just man. So when James begins speaking
about these who were oppressors, and he mentions, oh, you rich
men, the first thing we must realize is not all rich men are
included, and I am thankful. Aren't you? You say, why are
you thankful? Because all of us in this building
here today Compared to the majority of the
people in this world, we are rich. We are the wealthy. I'm glad he's not talking about
all the rich. But these were rich men who were
oppressors. You know, a rich man, a rich
young man came to the Lord one time. Let's read about that,
if you will, in Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19 and beginning
with verse 16 we read and behold one came and said unto him now
in another gospel this man is mentioned to have wealth a rich
young ruler good master what good things shall I do that I
may have eternal life and he said unto him why callest thou
me good there's none good but one God But if thou wilt enter
into life, keep the commandments. Notice the man's question is,
what good things shall I do? How can I earn eternal life? That's his question. What must
I do to have eternal life? In other words, he would approach
unto God and have eternal life on the basis of his works. He
would come to God under a covenant of works. A covenant that says
do. He does not see that the only
way any man may approach unto God is to come to Him through
a covenant of grace. The covenant of works which Adam
broke in the garden It says, do and live. But the covenant
of grace is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt have
everlasting life. It is of faith, the Apostle Paul
said, that it might be by grace. This man, you've got to see this
at the very beginning to see what his question was. How may
I earn eternal life? How may I merit eternal life? And the Lord Jesus said, well,
thou knowest the commandments, keep the commandments. In other
words, do. He saith unto him which Jesus saith, thou shalt
do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not
steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and
thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. That
is part of the covenant of works. Do these things and live. That's the way he would seek
eternal life. Do these things and live. And
you notice he hasn't even mentioned at first the first five words
of that covenant of works. The last five, yes. And this
man, like most men, apart from the work of God the Holy Spirit,
he doesn't understand the covenant of works. He doesn't understand
the law. He thinks that the law just has
reference to outward actions. He doesn't realize that the law,
that God's Word, it speaks about the heart, the very desires of
the heart. And I'm sure this man had never
murdered anyone, maybe never committed adultery, maybe had
always honored his parents. Outwardly, yes. But what about
in his heart? The young man said unto him,
all these things have I kept for my youth up. What lack I
yet? Jesus said unto him well if you
would be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the
poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow
me but when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful
for he had great possession here's a rich man he comes to Christ
one gospel says he kneeled down he came running and kneeled down
before the Lord but his Desire, and his thought is that he could
earn eternal life. He could merit eternal life.
Did you know we're all born believing that? I tell you, we just come
out of the womb believing that we can do something, whatever
God requires, we can do. As though we had not fallen.
in our father Adam, as though we were still when we are born
into this world like Adam was when he was created in the image
of God. No, my friends, there's a truth
taught in the Word of God that tells us we all fell in our father
Adam. And so there's what men call
original sin. We all inherit sin. from our
parents. When the young man heard that
saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a
rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again
I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
of God. When his disciples heard it,
they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? Who can be saved? If it's more
difficult for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to be saved, who then can be saved? And Jesus
beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. In other words, for man to earn
his salvation doesn't matter if he's rich or poor, if he's
learned or unlearned, if he's old or young, it is an impossibility. If it were possible for a man
to merit salvation, to earn salvation, then God never would have sent
his only begotten son into this world to suffer, bleed, and die
to save sinners. Our Lord himself prayed, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. It isn't possible. There's only one way, that a
holy God may justify a sinful man or woman. And that is through
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In our Lord's parable concerning
the sower, he spoke about the deceitfulness of riches. What makes riches deceitful? What makes riches deceitful? Well, I thought of these few
things. First of all, riches tend to
make a person haughty and proud and self-sufficient and to look
down on others. To be like that Pharisee who
prayed, I thank Thee, O Lord, that I am not as others. Rich
people, riches tend, the deceitfulness of riches, they tend to cause
those who are wealthy, those who possess riches, to be proud
and haughty and self-sufficient. I don't need anyone, I can take
care of myself. Remember our Lord said, blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. the
deceitfulness of riches. Look down on other people, not
realizing that we are all cut from the same cloth. For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Riches promise
what they cannot give. That's another thing that I thought
of. The deceitfulness of riches. Riches promise what they cannot
give. They promise happiness. They
promise eternal life even. They promise what they cannot
give. And another thing I thought of
is this. Riches tend to make the person
who desires after them, and once he gets them, to keep them, to
maintain them, causes a person to be anxious, to live in anxiety
all of his life over wealth. over riches. And yet the Apostle
Paul said in 1st Timothy 6 and verse 9, now listen, but they
that will be rich, not just they that are rich, but they that
will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish
hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. In our text back here in James
this morning, the wealth of these men that
James is addressing allowed them and caused them to live in pleasure,
in wantonness, and in slaughter or in feasting. Like the man
in our Lord's words in Luke chapter 16, the rich man who died and
left up his eyes in hell. You remember what our Lord said
about him before he died. He was clothed in purple and
fine raiment and fared sumptuously every day. Every day was a banquet
in his house because of his wealth. And the same is true of these
that James is addressing in this passage today. Now James addresses
men who professed Christ. There's no doubt about that.
They profess to be children of God. It's easy to make a professionist. I thank the Lord for our country,
for the liberty that we have here. I heard a pastor many years
ago make this statement. He said the Reformation was concluded
at the founding of the United States of America. Freedom of
religion. In almost every other country
there's a state church and if you're born in that country and
your parents are not dissenters or something like that most likely
you're going to be sprinkled as a baby and you're going to
be understood to be now a Christian. Christian, because you're a member
of that state church. Our founders, and I thank God
for them, don't you? They declared freedom of religion. Now, in the last several years
we've had a number of leaders, I believe they think that means
freedom from religion. And the more irreligious a person
may be, the more they seem to like it. But no, the founders
recognized freedom of religion, and they also recognized that
for a people to govern themselves, and that's what we do, basically,
democracy, for a people to govern themselves, those people must
have some morals, they must have some religion, good religion. I'm using that word in the sense
that the Bible uses it. Rich man, these men that James
speaks of, were they Christians? Well of course not. They confessed
to be Christians, no doubt. But notice the second group.
The second group he calls brethren. There's a difference, isn't there?
In verse 1 he said, go to now rich men. But notice in verse
7, be patient therefore, brethren. Now, he's speaking to believers,
not those who profess faith in Christ only, but those who possess
the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He addresses
them as brethren, as believers, as of the same household of God,
the family of God. And they were oppressed. Now what does this tell us? Well,
it illustrates, here's several things this tells me. It illustrates
the truth of Acts 14 and verse 22. That we must, through much
tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. God never promised any
believer an easy road, but what he has promised is his presence
with us. And it also illustrates to us
that things which are seen are temporal and things which are
not seen are eternal. Now these who were being oppressed
in this passage of scripture, what was it that they saw? Well,
they saw their poverty and the oppression under which they were
living, but that's temporal. That's what they saw. But the
things which are eternal are things which are unseen. And
when we think about what was unseen but true of these people,
first of all, God's love. God's love is eternal. Those
whom God loves, He didn't just begin to love when they made
some profession of faith or anything like that. God has loved His
people, His chosen people, from before the foundation of the
world. The Scripture says, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Now you can't see that. That's
not something tangible. The love, we see it in Christ,
that's true. But these things are eternal
things that could not be seen. The things that they saw were
temporal. Another thing, not only God's
love, but God's choice. They were chosen of God. Chosen
in Christ, the scripture says, from before the foundation of
the world. You can't see that. You've never
looked into the Lamb's Book of Life, and neither has anyone
else. That's something that's unseen.
But it's eternal. His election is eternal. And
God's salvation. They were saved with an eternal
salvation. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 9
says, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey Him. And God's promise. You can see
the promise on paper, but He makes all things, even oppression,
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. In God's house, in my Father's
house, you've never seen that house, have you? It's eternal,
things which you're not seeing. But now let's notice for a few
minutes, four exhortations to the oppressed. Now I mentioned
a few minutes ago, I've been reading the biography of William
Wilberforce. I encourage you to read that
if you have the opportunity. But I read it just last evening,
in fact. In the early 1800s, the British
islands in the Caribbean were slave islands. and on one of
those islands there was an uprising and the slaves took the masters
the overseers and those who managed the slaves they overpowered them
took control and put them all in prison but they did not hurt
they didn't do any hurt to these people and the reason they didn't
they said our religion teaches us not to do them any harm. Well, somehow the masters and
the overseers, they overcome the slaves. And so what did they
do? They put the man in prison who
had preached the gospel to the slaves first of all, a missionary,
and then they killed 50 of the slaves. Now, I'm sure they were
all Christians. They were all probably part of
the Church of England. That's what I'm talking about,
a church where you automatically, just because you're born in a
certain country and sprinkled as a baby, you become a Christian. I remember in Mexico years ago
when we were there, if you asked someone, are you a Christian,
they would say, well of course, I'm not an animal. In other words,
everyone had been sprinkled, making them Christians. What a sad day it is when we
see so much of our country even, which was a Protestant nation,
but more and more we see Catholicism enlarging, And more and more
of those people in places of prominence and high positions
of power. Make no mistake about it, my
friends. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of the heart. A man must be born again. He must receive a new heart. It's not enough just to be born
in a country and be sprinkled as a baby. A person has to be
saved, regenerated, given a new heart, new nature, new life,
to serve Christ, to love Christ. And I fear for our country, I
really do, as I see so much If you study church history at all,
I mean, people are willfully ignorant, my friends, of what
is taking place. And it behooves all of us to
pray and to witness and testify the truth. There's no salvation
in the Mass. There's no salvation in the waters
of baptism. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior, the only Savior, and you must know Him. Well, I pray
the Lord would bless these words, and I'll just mention these four
exhortations. First of all, be patient. Be
patient. Be patient unto the coming of
the Lord. He's coming. Be patient. Number two, Establish your hearts. Establish
your hearts. The coming of the Lord draweth
nigh. In Hebrews 13 in verse 9 it says, Be not carried about
with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace. Establish your heart in the word
of God. Let your faith be firm in the
gospel of the grace of God. And number three, do not grudge
against another. If you see someone prospering,
either in temporal things or spiritual things, don't begrudge
him, but rejoice with him. As Paul said, rejoice with them
that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. And the last
thing, he said, above all things, don't swear. Don't swear. Now, he's not giving a prohibition
against all oaths, because we know God Himself and other men
of God in the Scripture, we find, took oaths. But he is saying
this, that our conversation as God's children, we don't need
to say, well, I swear on a stack of Bibles, or I swear on my mother's
grave. No, you don't have to. Don't
take any of those oaths. Just tell the truth. Just let
your yea be yea and your nay be nay. When you tell someone
you will do something, do it. When you tell someone you will
not do it, don't do it. That's all he's saying, isn't
it? In serious matters, if you're called to witness in a court
and you have to take an oath, take the oath and tell the truth.
But what James here is speaking against is this continual taking
oaths over trivial and insignificant things. No, if you just tell
the truth, people will believe you, or they should. Well, I
pray that the Lord would bless this message. Now, my wife told me to be sure and