Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our great God, please stand. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of Isles be glad.

Clouds and darkness surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. A fire goes before him and Burns up his enemies round about his lightnings light the world. The earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord. At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people's see his glory. But all be put to shame who serve carved images who boast of idols.

Worship him all you gods. Zion hears and is glad when the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. Oh Lord. For you Lord our most high above all the earth You are exalted far above all gods.

You who love the Lord Hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart rejoice in the Lord.

You righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name come now. And let us worship him. Please pray with me Father son and Holy Spirit. We joyfully come into your presence knowing that you have Secured our estate our place here that you have called us into your presence through the perfect mediation of your son.

And because of this we have bold access. We have the liberty and freedom of the children of God and oh Lord we give thanks for this. We pray that our worship would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight.

And we ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Please kneel for the corporate confession of sin. Let us join together.

Confessing our sins. Eternal Father.

You are good beyond all thought But we are vile our souls to be break them.

Please stand. We mourn over sin, but we joy over.

Redemption and salvation in Christ. Receive now this blessed assurance of pardon. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son Cleanses us from all sin.

Oh people of God take heart today if you be in Christ. Your sins are forgiven. Amen. Let us take up the hymnal and turn to number 529. Love divine all loves. Excelling what a great title. What a great hymn.

Love divine all loves.

Excelling. Let us begin. Please take up the bulletin insert and find Psalm 61 a.

This is to the tune of a worship the King which is very familiar to us. The tune is a worship the King.

Let us begin. Please remain standing for the reading of the word from Revelation chapter 14.

Revelation chapter 14. Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144 ,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven Like the voice of many waters and like the voice of loud thunder.

And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne before the four living creatures and the elders and no one can learn that song except the 144 ,000 who were redeemed from the earth.

These are the ones who were not defiled with women for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men being firstfruits to God and to the land.

And in their mouth was found no deceit for they are without fault before the throne of God. Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven Having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation tribe tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and Worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and springs of water.

And another angel followed saying Babylon is fallen is fallen that great city because she met has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Then a third angel followed them saying with a loud voice If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels. And in the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. They have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name.

Here is the patience of the Saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me right Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

Yes says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. Then I looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud sat one like the Son of Man. Having on his head a golden crown and in it and in his hand a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud. Thrust in your sickle and reap for the time has come for you to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

So he who sat on The cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven. He also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar who had power over fire and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle saying Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe.

So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and Threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside the city and blood came out of the winepress up to the horses bridles for 1 ,600 furlongs.

This is the word of the Lord.

Let us now confess our ancient Apostolic faith in the singing of the Apostles Creed.

Please turn your attention now to the hymnal and number.

261 what wondrous love is this? I think it's appropriate to read the scripture verse today. That is the tagline. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us? That we should be called children of God.

What a great verse of Scripture. What wondrous love is this number?

261 let us begin please prepare now for the prayers of the people you can kneel if you're able.

We have the Ten Commandments today. So Man, I'm asking you to maybe possibly pull double duty if there's a big pause. Please take up the next one for us. Let us now pray together in unison. Oh God from whom come all holy desires.

All.

Just words. Give to us your servants that peace which the world cannot give. That our hearts may be set to obey your commandments and also that we being Defended from the fear of our enemies may live in peace and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior And the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Lord says I am the Lord your God you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Our hearts remember the Sabbath day to keep it. Holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not kill you shall not commit adultery.

You.

Shall not steal.

You.

Shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul mind and strength. Please stand and take up the bulletin. Fine 56.

This is the last occasion that we sing. This is our song of the month. Let us sing it heartily.

Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles to the epistle of James in chapter.

5 I'm going to begin reading in verse 13 of chapter 4. We enter the last chapter in the study of James going to be sad to leave it, but we Can always turn back and read it again. It's so wonderful about the Word of God, isn't it?

James chapter 4. Beginning at verse 13. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city. Spend a year there buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills We shall live and do this or do that. But now you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil.

Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it. To him it is sin. Come now you rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted. And your garments are.

Moth-eaten.

Your gold and silver are corroded and Their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you had kept back by fraud.

Cry out and the cries of the Reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabia. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned.

You have murdered the just. He does not resist you. This is God's holy and infallible word and may we be instructed By may the Holy Spirit provide illumination and unction. Please pray with me now. Oh Lord we thank you for your word and we thank you for texts of scripture that are ordinary and familiar but Pack such a punch.

Oh Lord. I help you. I hope you are blessed by our Engagement with your word. I pray that you would have everyone be Attentive to this your word and that they would be strengthened thereby. We ask this in Jesus name.

Amen, please be seated today we come to chapter 5 in our study in James and The title of the message is the Lord of Sabaoth hears their cries and of course that's taken from verse 4 of our section we will consider verses 1 through 6 today we're willing.

For those of you who have need of some direction for an outline I will give you two very simple words to Line up your own thoughts. First is the peril of the wicked wealthy the peril of the wicked wealthy and Second would be the protection and vindication of the righteous.

The protection and vindication of the righteous. Well, let us begin. James has Talked about the rich in many ways and you can follow along with this. It'll be very brief but it'll be helpful to help us see that that James has already broached the subject of the idea of wealth and its proper use and the proper accumulation of it.

In Chapter 1 James has said let the lowly brother glory and his exaltation. But the rich in his humiliation. And why is he humiliated. Because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the Sun risen with a burning heat then it withers its grass.

Its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes. And verse 11 says so the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits. The wealthiest people in the world. We know them. They're famous to us. There's going to be a day.

Well, their pursuits of wealth will end and at their death There will be no carrying their wealth with them into the life to come. There is a very temporal nature to material wealth and James warns us against that.

In chapter 2 we are warned against. Another element of this in relation to wealth in chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 say this. My brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with partiality for if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and Fine apparel and there should also come in a man a poor man in filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one Wearing the fine clothes and say to him you sit here in a good place.

And to the poor man you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown? Partiality among yourselves and become judges With evil thoughts. Don't think I should point out this Idea is not just archaic and from antiquity.

We still fight this and battle this that we want to give men honor based on their wealth and this is contrary to our oneness and union with Christ as fellow believers. In verse 5 says this of chapter 2 listen my beloved brethren has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and Heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.

And I believe this verse has a lot of bearing on our text, but you have Dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

Now I'm going to point out something to you here that it might be helpful. I may not get to it later, so I'm going to say it now there is a Dysfunction in our legal system presently, and it's been this way throughout the world for a long time.

The wealthy have an unfair advantage in our legal process. Justice is not blind, and I'll give you one example. When a wealthy company wants to put out a small town business. What they do is they file lots of motions, and they do a lot of things legally in order to Tie up the small company and small guy in business in court.

They effectively put them out of business by litigating them. They're causing him to spend lots of money, and they end up having to sell maybe their business at a discount. This is a very common practice in the business world.

Rich men's children get away with crimes in a way that poor men's children don't. The statistics are obvious. Good Representation good lawyers good strategy good moves paid for with wealth get people off.

This is a reality of the world we live in and as Christians We should want a better form of justice. We should want a justice that's rooted in God's principles. And that is is equitable to all in the sense that it treats everyone equally in the sight of the law.

So this is something that we should strive for and move forward with. James 2 continues and This is in relation to wealth I believe because the attitude of James's hearers is not proper when it comes to those in need and we could say this is not Necessarily a rich man or poor man, but I think there's a connection and interrelation Conceptually within James and this is included look down at verse 15 of chapter 2.

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace. Be warmed and filled. But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit?

This is the Context of that famous statement from James thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead. Skipping over to chapter 4. Thank you for your patience again trying to set the context of James and his Interaction with the idea of the rich and his epistle begin at verse 1 chapter 4.

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have again. This particular part is not connected so much to rich or poor, but you'll see that there is a Connection to this idea of wealth and the proper accumulation and use of it.

You murder and covet and cannot obtain you fight in war yet. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive. Because you ask amiss and here it is children pay close attention. That you may spend it on your pleasures.

God has not given you a billion dollars in part because you may be tempted To splendid to spend it on all of your pleasures. And I think there's a strong connection between friendship with the world and our view of wealth and possessions.

Verse 4 says adulterers and adulterous is do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God and Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world Makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?

But he gives more grace. Therefore. He says God resists the proud. It's a particular sin that that all men Struggle against fight against hopefully or warring against in Christ, but it is particularly hard for The rich man to be humble.

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and Finally we read the text today a lack of a view of Providence a lack of appreciation of God's superintendents in ordering of all things. We are going to go to such-and-such a city spend a year there.

Buy and sell and make a profit. There's a lot of presumption and what the future will hold and The rich man thinks that his wealth and his business savvy are going to secure The future and God himself is the one who holds the future in his hands without turning there.

There is an a parable. It's very important along these lines. I believe it's the parable of the rich fool and it's found in Luke chapter 12. It's gonna read a very brief portion this in Matthew 19 and said good teacher What good things shall I do that I may have eternal life.

And Jesus's response to him was to keep the commandments and He asked the questions which ones we prayed through them the second table of the law. You shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honor your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And The young man says to him all these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack? Jesus said if you want to be perfect go sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and Come follow me Those commandments.

I want you to think about this those commandments were in some measure easy for the rich young man. He believes and I don't know how well he did it. But he believes he is honored and kept the commandments of God in the second table and his duty to his fellow man and Jesus.

So often as he did He touches the most sensitive part of the situation and he finds the the weak spot. Sell everything that you have Give it to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me can you imagine the invitation that's given to the rich young man is Is one of absolute bliss and joy and delight to go and walk with the master.

And to spend time with him to be maybe part of the outer band of the next level of people close to him in the kingdom not an apostle, but Maybe like the Marys and Lazarus. But what does the young man do verse 22?

It says. But when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had Great possessions and at the end of that section Jesus says in Matthew 19 assuredly I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And.

Again, I say to you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle Than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The eye of the needle in Jerusalem you may or may not know this was a very narrow gate.

Very narrow and a camel could get through it but it had to shed all of its goods and its riders. And It had to duck down in this little crevice and turn and be kind of forced through. The eye of the needle as they called it there and this camel could not be heavy laden with its goods or its riders.

And so Jesus uses this illustration of a very common local thing that everyone would know about this narrow gate into Jerusalem through the wall. That the camel would have a hard time getting through it.

A lot would have to happen. The camel would have to squat down and be kind of pushed and work through to get it. And Jesus says makes this analogy. That's the difficulty that it would take For a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

I've made the case many times. And this has been proven to be true even more so than I originally thought. That James seems to have a strong connection to the Sermon on the Mount Matthew. Chapter 6. See if this sounds familiar to our text verses 19 and following.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Where moth and rust destroy. And where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is There your heart will be also.

Now let's look again at our text in chapter 1. Chapter 5. Verse 1 excuse me James calls.

The.

Unrighteous rich among them. To weep and to howl for the miseries that are coming upon them.

Now.

What's hard about this is it's hard to imagine Jesus writing to a group of believers and saying that but this is Something that could happen to them. We learned in Sunday school last week and the week prior.

I believe that the idea of wheat and tares coming up in the same place is very possible. There are rich men coming into the assembly. Apparently we've got it in our text. No doubt the Jewish people were the Jewish rich were oppressing the Righteous poor of the Jewish converts to Christianity.

They were kicking them out of the guilds. They were not able to have an occupation in many cases. They were starting over from scratch. But James says you who have put your count your your stock in your wealth You who have found all of your comfort in this Calamity is coming upon you.

You should weep and howl for your miseries. I don't know if you've ever gone to a.

A.

Black funeral where someone Unexpectedly has died. One of my friends in high school was a football player and he died a senior year. He had a scholarship to play. I can't remember where to play football.

He's running track and collapsed and died on the track and a large heart of genetical defect. And I went to the funeral and it's the first time I'd ever been to a funeral. It was largely occupied with black people and this man's mother and aunts and grandmothers and friends.

They howled and they wept and they Convulsed and is I think they grieve better than the European Originating people do but they let it out. And that spirit that language is here. This is terror and calamity falling upon the rich and they've been so comfortable they've had it so good, but Calamity and misery is coming upon them because they're idolatrous and they don't love their brother.

They don't love their fellow man. There are Some visible signs of wealth in the ancient world and some of those are given here look at it. What says your riches are? Corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

We know from and deducing from the language of scripture that many men only had one change of clothes. And maybe another tunic an outer garment to wear when it was cold. Paul it seems even had that kind of wardrobe.

So the rich man he he has fine linen and he has more than one change of clothes. Can you imagine how many clothes are in your?

Closet.

But they've got these wealthy garments it's probably interlaced with jewels and gems and gold and silver and this thing that they put their confidence in they have Got moth-eaten garments now. The fleeting nature of wealth.

You can buy an expensive garment, but the moth can come in and and eat it. Look at verse 3 your gold and silver are Corroded. Gold and silver are precious metals. Their value is in the fact that they are pure gold and pure silver.

James speaks of imagine a man putting confidence in his gold bars or coins. And then going and examining them and realizing these are imperfect. Maybe I've been swindled. I'm a swindler, but maybe I've been swindled.

Maybe I've gotten some gold with some dross in it. I Put my confidence in my gold in my silver and they find it to be corrupted and corroded. And James says these are going to be a Witness against you.

It's going to eat your flesh. Like fire. Now what I didn't say to you purposely is the rich people described in the passages that we read are Not described as having gotten their riches any other way, but honorably maybe there's that's not true.

But there's no discussion of their dishonorable practices. So those warnings are given against rich people are maybe going about it the right way. But in our text we have another element, it's very critical.

Let's look at it. It says you have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields. Which you kept back by fraud cry out. And the cries of the Reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

Wealthy garments gold and silver. The third element has to be connected to farming and animal husbandry. That's how people were wealthy in former times. Abraham had the wealth equivalent or surpassing the nation other nations himself cattle and herds and those kinds of things.

Nabal had 3 ,000 sheep and 1 ,000 goats. It's astounding how much wealth Some of these men had. But here's the picture. The wealthy who have wealth by definition they own fields and they produce crops.

They have silos full of grain. Let's imagine and they have sent the day laborers out to mow their fields to reap the harvest. And they haven't paid them. What you may not know is that the average laborer worked for daily pay his Belly was probably growling at the end of the day.

His wife and his little ones are at home. Their bellies are growling. He needs that coin or whatever it is so he can maybe get some food on the way home to feed his family. It's that precarious. And the rich man he can withhold the money for a couple of days.

The rich man can Decide not to pay them at all. And these who have worked honorably have done what was required of them. They cry out to God. What has to be for us terrifying words in scripture and the cries of the Reapers?

Have reached the ears of The Lord of Sabaoth. Now, I don't know if you have this in your Bible. There's a little Number or some kind of letter or something next to Sabaoth and it might say hosts and I think the best Translation is armies with some cosmology brother cosmology here.

The rich man can dispute the Weight laborers Wages in court, you know probably have curry with favor with the judge as he can bribe him. The the laborer has no recourse in the society of a poor man. He has no recourse it would appear.

The rich man has gotten richer on the back of not paying his workers daily bread for sustenance in his family and This has increased his wealth. But here the righteous laborers, I believe cry out to God and They have reached the ears of the Lord of armies.

Riches are connected to enmity with God the right Improper use of them the not they're not the right use of them. The improper accumulation of them and use of them is is connected in our book of the epistle of James To worldliness, which is hostility and enmity with God and now you have it.

They're crying out under the burden of this fraud and the Lord hears their prayers. He's the Lord of the armies. That's why the rich can weep and howl The miseries that are coming upon them. I Many righteous people in the Bible have great wealth.

The wealth is not the problem. It's how we go about it. Poor men can be very covetous as our brother prayed. Poor men can be very covetous. Poor men can be lazy. But here we have wicked men mistreating God's people and our God Hears their cries, isn't that comforting to us the church?

We may Get taken of advantage of in the culture. We may not do well in our court proceedings. But but our God who has the armies hears our cries and He acts He moves. What a terrifying thing to be a rich man defrauding poor people to increase his wealth.

It's important also to know that Social gospel and socialism and communism is Not the teaching of Scripture nor is it of this passage? This is getting paid for an honest day's work. And being defrauded.

It's not the redistribution of wealth stealing your wealth and giving it to another. That's not what this is. This could be used in that way if you go to a divinity school and learn about hermeneutics liberation theology will come in and they'll teach you that this is about all about the gospel is about oppression and The rich and the poor.

It's not true. But we do have to think rightly and biblically about these things. Verse 5 says to the rich. You have lived on the earth and pleasure in luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter you have condemned.

You have murdered the just. He does not resist you. I didn't find any support for this in my Study, but I feel that this text of Scripture really is helpful to this end. I'm going to ask you to turn really quickly to first Kings in chapter 21 this Popped into my head and I couldn't shake it when I was studying and thinking about this principally.

And it's going to tell us where the wrong view of wealth and power where it takes us. And how we can see how it even can lead to the death of someone when we covet their goods. And we seek to enlarge our wealth by fraud.

It's going to be helpful to that in first Kings In chapter 21. It came to pass after these things. That Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard. Which was in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria so Ahab spoke to Naboth saying give me your vineyard that I may have it for a vegetable garden because it is near next to my house and For it I will give you a vineyard better than it.

Or if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money. This is just this right now is above board. King Ahab wants to buy this property. That's very desirable to him. It's next to his palace and he's going about it to this point.

It seems in an honorable way. I'm gonna trade you another vineyard for it or I'm gonna pay you money for the value of it legitimate commerce. But takes a different turn here, but Naboth said to Ahab The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my father's to you.

Naboth has a vineyard in a garden on ancestral lands. This has been handed down to him Generationally and we've lost a sense of that. Haven't we my own family farm in Pennsylvania. How many times was that sold off those pieces all those different people no one held on to it.

Naboth.

Treasured these covenant promises that God had given him a land and it was producing. It was valuable to him not only in the present economy. But it meant something from history and it would mean something into the future.

We need to recover this. The idea that us giving an inheritance to our grandchildren is now lost on our culture because we want to consume it. And if we do it, well, our children will consume it before the grandchildren will get it.

We've lost this proper view of of wealth and inheritance. Things take a dark turn. So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased. Because the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said I will not give you the inheritance of my father's.

And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food. But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him. Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food? He said to her because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him Give me your vineyard for money or else if it pleases you I will give you another vineyard.

And he answered I will not give you my vineyard. Then Jezebel his wife said to him You now exercise authority over Israel. What's so haunting about this is we need righteous kings. We need righteous men and positions of power because if we don't have righteous men we have things like this.

Arise his wife says eat food. Let your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite and She wrote letters in Ahab's name. Treachery fraudulent lying conspiracy. Sealed them with his seal and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth.

She wrote in the letter saying Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth with high honor among the people and seat two men scoundrels. Before him to bear witness against him saying you have blasphemed God and the king.

Then take him out and stone him. That he may die. See what happens for the rich man is he's not satisfied with his wealth. He starts in this case his wife starts resorting to other tactics. The rich man in our text owns a field and he decides I'm gonna have more money if I don't pay the workers who harvest the crops.

This is the danger that comes with.

Wealth.

So the men of his city the elders and nobles who are the inhabitants of a city Did as Jezebel had sent to them and it was written in the letters What she had sent to them they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth with high honor among the people and two men scoundrels came and sat before him and The scoundrels witnessed against him against Naboth and the presence of his people saying Naboth has blasphemed God and the king.