The Misery of the Greedy Rich: Part 2

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The Power of a Praying Church: Part 3

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So turn with me to James, chapter 5. James, chapter 5, we're going to be looking at verse 1 through 6.
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James 5, 1 through 6, we're looking at the misery of the greedy rich, wicked rich people, loving riches.
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So hear the word of the living God this morning. Come now, you rich, weep and howl, for your miseries are coming upon you.
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Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth -eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
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It is in the last days that you have stored up the treasure, your treasure. Verse 4, behold, the pay of the laborers who have mowed your fields, and which have been withheld by you, cries out against you, and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the
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Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth, and led a life of wanton pleasure.
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You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man.
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He does not resist you. May God bless His words to our hearts, and may the
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Holy Spirit take these words this morning from our ears to our hearts, and forever change us.
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Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we would ask now,
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O Lord, to come and we humbly ask you, Father, to visit us through your holy word, for this is how you reveal yourself, such a strong warning to each and every one of us that are flesh this morning.
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All flesh is like grass of the field. It's here one day, and the next day it's cast into the oven.
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This is how, Lord, you speak to us is through your word, and we would ask, Lord, by your precious blessed
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Holy Spirit, Lord, that you would come and visit us, and meet with us this morning.
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We need anointing from on high, Lord, not only myself as I speak your words, but Lord, anoint each and every one here that's listening.
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Lord, as I was thinking as we were singing that first hymn, be thou my vision.
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Lord, we desire that you be our vision above all things. Above all everything on this earth, may we be careful not to hold tightly to it, because it's all going to pass right through our hands.
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It's so easy also to sing that one verse, that one stanza, Lord, that riches we heed not, nor man's empty praise.
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But Father, when the searchlight of your holy words is turned upon our own hearts, and Father, we must be aware that when you look into our very heart, the very reins of our hearts, the very motives of our hearts, and see that if there's any wicked way in us,
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Lord, most of the time there is, when we are honest, and when your word pierces like a living, quick, two -edged sword,
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Father, we thank you for that. These are strong words this morning. There's a lot of love behind this.
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So Father, I would pray that you would allow your word to correct us in the same way to encourage us.
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So in order for the disease, the sickness of sin that's deep within our heart, within the reins of our heart, be dealt with,
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Father, we must endure the sharp, pierced, razor -sharp, two -edged sword that's able to do surgery, and only your word can do it.
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Only your word can sanctify us pure and holy. Father, we thank you.
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So Lord, give us, humbly we ask, Father, give us the grace that we're so undeserving of, and the mercy and the compassion to show us our sins, and help us,
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Lord, to overcome these sins by your grace and your power. And we would ask this in Jesus' name this morning.
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Amen and Amen. Well, I could not help but think also that around a week ago, there was a horrific helicopter crash that took the lives of,
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I believe, eight victims, each soul, in eternity now.
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One was a very popular man, Kobe Bryant. And you cannot help but think of the brevity of life, as Ben mentioned this, and when we found this out, and everybody heard this horrific disaster, we need to lift up these families in prayer.
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But you cannot help but think of the status of whether a person was very popular on that helicopter, or someone that was not popular.
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Their soul mattered. Their soul perished. They perished. And I say that with great sadness.
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But also think about that Kobe Bryant was worth millions.
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And you think of all the money in the world did not help him in that sense.
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Whether rich or poor, you see. And all the riches that we have will not help us on the day of judgment.
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You know, a lot of people's idea of money is so warped, they think, well, go get all you can then.
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With all the gusto you can, so it will sure help us in this life today. And I'll worry about the judgment to come later on.
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Well, we get the right kind of perspective from God's Word, don't we? Let me first begin by giving an overview.
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It's easy to criticize the rich, isn't it? And always the popular to denounce men of great wealth.
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And as I mentioned Kobe Bryant, I also, as I was studying this, he's just an example of many, many others that make millions, right?
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But also I have to check my own heart. I never reach those kind of numbers, and I don't intend to.
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But also, I need to ask God to turn the searchlight of His Holy Word upon my own heart and say, do
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I have a great desire for that? It must be remembered, however, in the sense that no sin is involved in the possession of money.
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That's not the sin. God's going to be the final judge of all that at the judgment, isn't
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He? Because He knows the reins and the motives of our heart. But also there's no virtue of being poor.
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Wealth does have many temptations, doesn't it? And also it has many responsibilities.
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Too much is given, much will be required. Jesus said. And yet not all rich persons are to be condemned or under the woes of God's judgment.
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And if poverty is voluntarily assumed, it should be for good purpose. We need to look at that.
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Scripture says a lot about that. But as to riches, let me begin by saying this.
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There's really two questions that should be asked about riches. This is one question. How are they secured?
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How are they secured? Number two, how are they used? Those are two great questions.
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How are they secured? How are they used? The persons whom James condemns were guilty on both of these accounts.
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They wrongly secured it. And they abused it and wrongly used it.
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They hoarded it. They hoarded their wealth by fraud.
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A lot of that goes on today, doesn't it? A lot of fraud is going on. A lot of cruelty is going on.
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And they were spending it in a selfish luxury on themselves. And upon such people really was the audience in James in which he pronounces a solemn doom and a woe of judgment upon them.
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These are strong words. And as he warns, James assumes the role of an Old Testament prophet, doesn't he?
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We looked at that. He thunders against the ungodly rich who oppress the poor. The words of our text are really not an appeal to repentance.
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Did you see that? There's not one word of repentance in this text. Rather, it's a scathing denunciation of wrath to come.
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He says it's coming. And as he warns them in the light of the coming of Jesus Christ to be very near.
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And that is the sombering statement that he warns them. We see that in the light of that the coming of judgment is coming.
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He begins his message in verse 1. Come now you rich, weep and how for your miseries are coming upon you.
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And their folly appears in heaping together of unused wealth.
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It consists of materialistic goods of the earth, products of the earth, and it will corrupt.
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And he speaks about if it's on the garments, the clothing, they will also be eaten by moths. Sounds like familiar words, doesn't it?
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Jesus introduces that in the Sermon on the Mount. And if in precious metals, they will tarnish and rust.
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Rapid decay is a symbol of swift destruction of its owners. And let me say one word right here, and this is a strong word.
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We find this word in the Proverbs very much. It's called folly.
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Folly. No doubt, this is folly. What's folly? I looked it up.
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Webster says a lack of good sense. A lack of understanding. A lack of foresight.
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To the point, isn't it? A lack of it. Let me say that again.
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A lack of good sense. A lack of understanding. A lack of foresight. No wisdom.
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An act of instance of foolishness. A costly undertaking having observed and ruinous outcome.
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Evil, wicked, lewdness. Foolish. All this is seen further in the fact that their struggle for wealth is under the shadow of an approaching judgment and doom in which
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James Solomon warns. Basically, he says, you have laid up your treasures in these last days.
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The effect is saying the very possibility that the return of Jesus Christ just might be very near in your lifetime.
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Like the fact of the brevity of life or the uncertainty of life. That your life is just like a vapor.
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And that's exact context of everything what James is saying. You see the end of chapter 4.
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He says, what is your life? You don't know what your life is going to be like tomorrow. You're just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
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Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, you will live also and do this and do that.
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And he rebukes them in their arrogance. He says, but as it is, you boast in your arrogance.
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All such boasting is evil. So he rebukes them for their pride and their arrogance.
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And then he says in verse 17 of chapter 4, Therefore to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
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Then he comes to the rich. The rich oppressors that will be judged.
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And he gives sobering warnings to these two main purposes.
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One purpose first, that they should encourage, really encourage us to know
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God, to be faithful and just. As brother Keith is talking about justice is first.
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And then there's mercy. But God is a just and faithful God, isn't he?
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Justice. And he knows how to judge righteously.
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Where we don't. He actually is the one that has the right to judge because he is the judge and the holy one.
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So, you know, first what we're saying here is it should encourage us who know
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God to be faithful and just and to endure knowing that in due time, let me say this, that in due time that God would judge the wickedness and his righteousness.
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And no one would escape the judgment of God. Will we read that in scripture? I love the prayer that Abraham brought before the
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Lord and he gave it in a question, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And he will.
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Father Abraham said that before the Lord and that should be our ultimate consolation in prayer as well.
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Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? How many times have you said that in prayer before God? Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
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And he will. Second, it should exhort us in this message that and what
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James is saying that it should warn us not to fall into any of the sins that will bring judgment on the wicked.
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We need to be careful not to fall into these same sins. And here in the case of James is addressing it is very easy when you're poor or oppressed to think well if I'm in those shoes, if I can quote just get rich,
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I would no longer have to deal with these problems that I'm going through.
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Haven't we all thought that? I'm guilty. So we can be tempted to pursue wealth and justify it by mistakenly thinking that happiness lies in getting more money.
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Happiness lies in getting more riches that will help me come out from underneath this burden of oppression.
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So really to the church, the apostle James is saying in effect, according to verse 5, you have lived luxuriously.
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You know what that word luxurious means? In softness. Oh. Extravagance.
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Luxuriously. At the expense of others. Wow. Because of wealth.
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It could be a dangerous, a dangerous trap for all of us. We must guard our hearts beloved.
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We all should be careful not to use it in an ungodly manner. And that's the issue here that James is addressing.
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Let me say it again. It's not the evil that's the money itself. It's the heart.
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It's the attitude toward it. It's loving it. And that's what he's basically driving at.
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So we need to be faithful to what God gives us as stewards.
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James' point is basically three important points and I like to make this my outline.
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Number one, wealth can be a dangerous trap that leads to eternal destruction.
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Wealth can be a dangerous trap that leads to eternal destruction. Number two, we should be careful not to use wealth in an ungodly manner.
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And number three, our responsibility to be faithful to God in the realm of financial stewardship.
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That's a lot to cover there. Let's look at them. Number one. Number one, wealth can be a very dangerous trap that leads to eternal destruction.
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Wealth can be a very dangerous trap that leads people to eternal destruction.
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The Bible does not teach that money itself is evil as I mentioned, but rather it is extremely dangerous when it falls into the hands of those who are prone to sin with it and that has evil intentions.
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That's when it becomes the dangerous trap because it's our heart and we cannot trust our heart, can we?
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The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jesus calls it unrighteous mammon.
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Unrighteous mammon. Where do we see that at? We're going to be looking at a lot of verses from the gospel of Luke this morning.
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Go with me to Luke chapter 16 and we can see this. And I'm going to be closing my conclusion with this chapter, but I like to begin it with this chapter because I think it has a lot to say with it.
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I'm going to read the whole parable later on, but within this parable that Jesus gives, the parable of the unjust servant, verses 9 through 11, he speaks of this, and I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness so that when it fails, they will receive you into eternal dwellings.
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Isn't that a beautiful verse? Verse 10, he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
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And then he says this, therefore, if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the riches, the true riches to you?
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Now, here he speaks of verse 9,
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I say to you, make friends of yourselves by means of wealth of unrighteousness.
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It's interesting. Money. The unrighteous manager used his master's money to buy earthly friends.
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Believers. Or to use their master's money in a way to cure friends of eternity.
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So, that's basically what he's saying here. And you think of it, because those who get their hands on it often use it sinfully.
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Let me give some simple illustrations that kind of come to mind here. Money is like a loaded gun. I know
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Brother Ben loves guns. You know, I like guns. You say that to most people today.
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You say, oh, I hate guns. It's a terrible thing. Well, it's really the evil that's behind the gun. The gun in of itself is not evil.
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This is just an example. But it can be used for evil. Look how many lives have been taken because of a gun and a bullet.
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Well, it's because the evil that got behind the gun. And by no means I'm getting political here.
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This is just an example. But money is like a loaded gun. It can be extremely useful in certain situations.
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It could be for defense, for the good. But you've got to use it carefully and you've got to use it wisely.
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Or you may hurt others and even hurt yourself. I've had friends I've known that I knew years back in school.
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Some twin brothers. They were called the Ford brothers. One guy by the name of Jerry and Terry.
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They were twins. They were just out going hunting. And because of a careless mistake, one young man, and it was actually
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Jerry. I want to say he was in front or back of Terry.
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And I still remember this. He accidentally shot his brother in the head and killed him because he was careless.
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And that's the way it is here. We can carelessly use money in a wrong way.
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So it has to be used properly under control. Another example that leads that money is like fire in a sense.
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A fire could be used properly and a fire could be a good thing under control, right?
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It has to be controlled. So many people don't know how to control fire. But fire could be a helpful tool.
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But if it is used carelessly or with evil intent, it can become a very powerful force that destroys property and life.
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How many lives have been taken because people have carelessly used fire? You know scripture says a lot about money, doesn't it?
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There's no way I'm going to be able to touch on all these scriptures. I want to try to give you what has come to mind. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 10.
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And this is a very familiar one for all of us. For the love of money.
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That's it there. The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.
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And some, and they used to talk about those within the church. And actually I would be apt to say that Paul the apostle is pointing out to young Timothy as a mentor to an apprentice.
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As a young pastor he was saying, even ministers of the gospel have gone cast away.
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And actually he has, some by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith.
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And what does it say? And pierced themselves with many sorrows.
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Many griefs. Haven't we seen this? And the literal translation of that is affection for silver.
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Affection for silver. The love of it. Have an affection for it.
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Money itself is not evil since it is a gift from God. How do you know if it's a gift from God? It says it in scripture.
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Deuteronomy 8 .18. The word of God. I love the book of Deuteronomy. It's a great, wonderful part of the book.
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The first five books of the Pentateuch. The Torah. Deuteronomy 8 .18.
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Moses says this, by the Holy Spirit. By you, but you, I'm sorry, shall remember the
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Lord your God. For it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm
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His covenant, which He swore to your fathers as it is this day.
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Notice what it says. It is He who is giving you power to make wealth.
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He's the source. He's the giver. He's the taker. Job was one of the richest men on the face of the earth.
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But God allowed Job to be stripped of everything he had. To be tested. And Job found the test true, didn't he?
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That he didn't love riches, but he loved the true living God. Because he realized that all the riches he had, all the children, all the possessions, and back then it was camels and sheep and all these lands and all these things that he had, was stripped away from him.
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And yet, he proved to fear God more than anything.
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Above his family. Above all his riches. God. How do we know this?
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Because when he was stripped from everything, and he was tested, and God allowed it to happen.
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Satan was doing the stripping. God was saying, go ahead. Test him. Because he fears me.
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And as he was stripped of all that, he shaves his head, he falls down on his face, and he says, blessed be the name of the
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Lord. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of God. He worshipped.
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Wow. Such faith. Paul and James condemns only the love of money.
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So he doesn't condemn money in of itself. He condemns the love of it. And see, that's the problem.
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And that's the problem with all of us is our hearts. Now this is soul searching, because after I got through with this,
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I said, I tell you what, I'm going to be doing some serious overhauling and cleaning up, not in my own heart, but in my house.
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When combined with a fallen, greedy, selfish human heart that's desperately wicked, money can be very quickly, it can be quickly corrupt.
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And that's why Jesus said in Matthew 19, 23 and 24, speaking to his disciples,
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He says, Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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And then again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, and he literally meant that, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
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What was the response? Verse 25, When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished.
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We would be astonished too, wouldn't we? Jesus knew how to get a point across.
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When he mentioned about the eye of the needle, they exactly knew what he was talking about. They were astonished, and what did they say?
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Then who could be saved? This is impossible! Actually what
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Jesus was saying is, it was meant to be impossible. With men, it's impossible, but then he says, with people, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
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That's why the new birth is supernatural. It is a miracle. No one can do it, with it on their own works.
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We're saved by grace. God intervenes. He brings them in. He brings us in. And there's a life transformation.
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Disciples asked the right question, didn't they? They asked the right question. Because it showed they got the message.
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Jesus was speaking. Salvation is possible only by the grace of God, and let me say, only by the divine, sovereign grace of God today.
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God must intervene in order for salvation to take place. And we see this, don't we? In other words, it takes nothing less than the sheer power of God Almighty to save us from our sins and the dangers of greed and selfishness that are all bound up in loving the riches that's all going to pass away.
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And our text in James 5, verses 1 -6, I'm going to kind of give a quick overview.
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But James shows three ways that wealth can become a trap that leads to spiritual destruction.
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This is under point one. And we all need to take heed of this, don't we? Because we're all inclined to fall into this terrible trap.
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The first would be this, to be rich without God is to be short -sighted in the light of eternity.
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And I'm here to tell you, if we're rich without God, then we truly are poor.
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A person on this earth can have millions, but if he doesn't have God, he's got nothing. But yet, if you're the poorest of the poor on this earth, and you have
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God, you've got everything. You're rich in faith. Verses 1 -3 says this,
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Come now, you rich, weep and howl, for your miseries are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted.
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Your garments have become moth -eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted. And their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
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It is in the last days that you have stored up treasure. James makes a very sobering warning that wealth is temporarily, doesn't he?
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It's in judgment and eternity is coming. As I was reading this, it keeps sobering me to the brevity of life and how foolish it is to just hoard up anything on this earth because it's all going to go.
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And by the way, let me say this, eternity and death is all before us. And can
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I say what the Word of God says? No one will escape it. No one. No one.
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Hebrews 9 -27. And as much as it is appointed.
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We need to get that word. Each and every one of us has an appointment day with death.
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It's coming. It is appointed. And you know what the literal means?
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It's laid up. It's ready. It's there. It's coming.
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It's coming for men to die once. And after this comes the judgment.
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That's Scripture. Believers, unbelievers, all will be judged. And who are we going to be judged by?
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This is sobering. It's not going to be Moses or Elijah, as great as those men were.
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Prophets? Jeremiah? Daniel? No. Scripture says it's going to be
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Jesus Christ. By the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And let me give you a description of Him from Revelation.
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When John the Apostle saw Him on the Isle of Patmos, he says, the one who is described as the
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Apostle John, he says, a clothe and a robe reaching to His feet, girded across His chest with a golden sash.
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His head and His hair were white like wool, white like snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
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His feet were like burnished bronze, and it has been made to glow in a furnace.
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And His voice was like the sound of many waters. You ever heard
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Niagara Falls? It's going to make Niagara Falls pale. In His right hand,
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He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two -edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
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I don't see any picture here of a weak Jesus. Actually, He's the
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Lion. John the Apostle, whom Jesus loved, and John the
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Apostle, He leaned on Jesus' bread, and then He went on to say this, and when I saw
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Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And then
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I love this, as He was shaking and trembling, as a dead man paralyzed before the
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King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it says, Jesus placed His right hand on me,
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He said. Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last.
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I'm the living one. I was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore.
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And I have the keys of death and of Hades. Only Jesus. He's going to be our judge.
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He has the keys of death and Hades. This is none other than the
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Lord Jesus Christ that's resurrected and glorified. He is going to be our judge, and He's going to be the righteous judge.
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It makes me tremble when I wrote that Scripture down. I thought, wow, I'm going to be paralyzed on that day.
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So we all need to take the sobering truth of this great judgment day to come, and who will judge us on that great day?
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I don't know about you, that motivates me more to live more circumspectly. To say,
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Lord, search my heart. Purify my heart. Cleanse my heart. Help me with my thoughts.
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May the Holy Spirit of God just cleanse us and purify us with His Word. James speaks of judgment to come.
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So we must use our wealth in light of the reality of eternity and everything that God gives us to us.
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Now, James, in the days of James, let me say it like that, in his times, there were three main indicators of wealth.
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And he brings it out here in the text. James uses three terms to point the temporary nature of each.
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Number one, the first, grain. Grain was a sense of wealth.
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It made me think about Joseph, when God gave Joseph the wisdom to store up the grain before the famine comes.
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Because God showed him through a vision that there was a great famine for seven years that's going to be coming upon Egypt before another wicked pharaoh came about, in which we're reading through Exodus now, but we're talking about back in Genesis.
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But God gave him that wisdom, Joseph, that wisdom, and Joseph feared God, and he stored up all that grain.
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And look, it basically spared all of Egypt and even those outside of Egypt because of this man's wisdom and his fear for God.
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So James uses the three terms, and one of them was grain, that you could store in it in bins.
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But James says, in verse 2, you notice, your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth -eaten.
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Notice the second was clothing. Clothing was a sign of richness in a world which most of the poor only had just the clothes on their back.
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It was a sign of wealth to have more than one change of clothes. How do we know that?
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If you look at Genesis 45, 22, Scripture says, and he gave sets of clothes to each one of them but to Benjamin.
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He gave 300 pieces of silver and five sets of clothes. Benjamin was lavished with many sets of clothes.
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You also can read it in Joshua 7 .2. Turn with me there very quickly.
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You can see that in Joshua chapter 7. I love these Scriptures that tie in, don't you, with James.
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But Joshua 7 .2. And now
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Joshua. I may not have the right verse.
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Sorry, I don't have the right verse there. I'm sorry, verse 21. My bad.
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Verse 21, when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold 50 shekels in weight, then
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I coveted them and took them, and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.
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There is another illustration there. There's also another verse of Scripture.
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If you look in Judges chapter 14 of Samson, when he laid a riddle before the
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Philistines and they were having a party, Samson said to them, I will give you a riddle.
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And by the way, let me insert this. Samson was kind of playing around with sin here. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts,
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I will give you 30 linen robes and 30 sets of clothes.
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Notice that. 30 linen robes and 30 sets of clothes.
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And basically he had to pay them, didn't he? There's other verses that you could see that speaks of this.
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2 Kings. These are just references to what James is speaking of here about clothing.
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2 Kings chapter 5. Look at chapter 5. Look at verse 2,
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I'm sorry, verse 5. I get these verses right eventually. Verse 5, then the king of Aram said,
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Go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. He departed and took with him 10 talents of silver and 6 ,000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothes.
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10 changes of clothes. Jump to verse 22. And he said,
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All is well, my master. He has sent me saying, Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim.
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Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes. So it was more than just one set of clothes.
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There was many clothes. And the apostle Paul could claim that he had not coveted no man's money or clothes.
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Don't you love Paul? This man learned to be content. And no matter what state he was in.
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If God blessed him with wealth, he knew not to put his heart on that wealth.
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If God allowed him to be poor, he took it with contentment and still gave thanks to God.
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Should not that be our attitude? James echoes Jesus who warned that clothes are subject to ruin of moths.
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You ever wonder why people... I always wondered about some people that would come smelling like moth balls.
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I thought, this is a horrible smell. And they're actually sparing their clothes from moths eating their clothes.
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I'm probably thinking in my mind, they got a lot of clothes in their closet, so they're just totally just pouring in the moth balls.
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But, oh! Strong smell to deter the moths.
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Don't you hate those moth balls? Clothes are subject to the ruin of moths.
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Moths love to eat clothing. Well, the third thing here, you have grain, you have clothing, but there was gold and silver.
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Gold and silver, verse 3. Your gold and silver have rusted. Their rust will be a witness against you and consume your flesh like fire.
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It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasures. Wow! We see this in Luke chapter 12.
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If you turn with me very quickly to there. I've referred to this before. I believe in part 1.
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But, this is a very powerful verse, chapter I should say, from our
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Lord once again. You know, the gospel according to Luke is just absolutely loaded up with so many truths.
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But you have chapter 12. Let's just look at verse 16 through 21. And he told them a parable saying the land of a rich man was very productive.
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He began to reasoning to himself. Notice this. Reasoning to himself saying,
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What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? And then he said, This is what
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I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And then I will store all my grain and my goods.
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And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come.
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In other words, Oh, I got it all figured out. I'm ready to go for the future. Take your ease.
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Eat, drink and be merry. But God said, But God said to him,
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What does God call him? A fool. You're a fool. He calls him, you fool.
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This very night your soul is required of you. And now who will own all what you have prepared?
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So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God?
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Well, the next thing I'd like for us to see very quickly is to be rich without God gives temporary comfort and ease, but will give long -term misery.
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That's what James is saying. To be rich without God gives temporary comfort and ease.
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It's temporary, but will give long -term misery in the end. The ungodly rich who mistakenly think in their deception, by the way, and they are deceived, that they are relieving themselves and their families of harshness through their wealth and possessions.
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They're living it up. They're taking, Oh, this is great. This is giving me comfort in my life.
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It's my best life now. They're putting their trust in uncertain riches. But James says that they're storing up misery and hardship for the final judgment to come.
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He basically takes them out of time and into eternity. And here, time is temporary.
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And eternity is forever. Don't you love this? Don't you love about the Word of God? Every time you open it, you're opening up the mind of God, God's love letter to you,
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His covenant Word to you, and He takes you out of time right into eternity because He's the eternal
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God. James does this. The very thing that they trust in for their comfort will result in their final judgment in misery and ruin.
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And you see this in, again, the parable in chapter 16.
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Turn with me to Luke 16. We're just a few over. Keep your fingers in Luke. What does he talk about?
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16. Let me jump forward. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Let's read this.
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Verse 19. Now, there was a rich man. And by the way, this rich man did not go to hell because he was rich.
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He went to hell because he loved riches, folks. He had habitually dressed in purple.
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See, notice what he says. Fine linen. Joyously living and to splendor every day.
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And then Jesus speaks about the opposite here. And a poor man named Lazarus. And by the way, this is not the
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Lazarus Jesus rose from the dead. This is another Lazarus. Jesus gives an illustration here.
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Was laid at his gate. He was covered with sores. Longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table.
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Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. This is such a powerful parable.
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Listen to this. Now, the poor man died and was carried away by the angels of Abraham's bosom.
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In other words, the poor man had his comfort now. The rich man also died and was buried.
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And notice what he says in verse 23. And in Hades, in hell, he lifted up his eyes being in torment.
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He was in torment. He saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
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Now Lazarus, you see. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham. Notice, he's really praying to the wrong person at the wrong time.
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Have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue.
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For I'm in agony in this flame. Notice the prayer.
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He's asking for mercy but no mercy is given. Verse 25. But Abraham said,
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Child, remember. There's the word right there, remember. You will remember. People remembers in hell eternity.
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That during your life, you received your good things. And likewise, Lazarus bad things.
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But now he is being comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm fixed.
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So that those who wish to come over here to you will not be able. That none may cross over there to us.
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And he said, I beg of you, Father. That you send him to my father's house.
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For I have five brothers in order that they may warn them. So that they will not also come to this place of torment.
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Very, very clear that hell is a place of torment, right? Verse 29. But Abraham said,
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They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. But he said,
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No, Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to them,
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If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if one rises from the dead.
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Such a sobering parable, isn't it? But there is the rich man who loved riches, by the way.
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He basically habitually dressed in purple and fine linen. And he joyously lived in splendor every day.
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He was eating, drinking and being married. Not worrying about the day of judgment. But it came. It came.
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Next would be the rich. To be rich without God provides short -term advantages but long -term losses.
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Short -term advantages but long -term losses. Although James does not direct any exhortations to the readers, but his denunciations of the ungodly rich provides an obvious application for all of us to follow.
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The Lord. Well, my second point would be we should be all careful not to use wealth in an ungodly manner.
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We should be all very careful and wise not to use wealth in an ungodly manner. Although there are far more dangers than James is listed here, he hits four ungodly uses of wealth.
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Let me hit them real quick. In verses 2 and 3, he speaks against hoarding.
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Hoarding up treasures. 2, in verse 4, he speaks of fraud and cheating people out of money.
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I'm just making it very practical because we see these things today. And we need to all examine our own hearts.
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Verse 3, living in luxury while disregarding the needs of others, in verse 5.
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And fourth, hurting the innocent people for the sake of gain.
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In verse 6, basically, he mentions that in James. So these seem to bore in a progression, by the way, from the least to the worst.
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There's a progression. Isn't it wonderful how the Holy Spirit puts this right in order to warn us and it can go from bad to worse.
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So that's the way it is with sin. Yielding to what may seem like a small sin always exposes us to worse sins.
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It grows like leaven. Didn't Paul say that? A little leaven leavens the whole lot.
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A little sin will continue to grow and grow unless it's dealt with.
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Little foxes spoil the vine, Solomon said. Next, we should be careful not to hoard wealth, right?
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It's interesting that the Bible commands us to provide for our families. We all know the verse, 1
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Timothy 5, 8, and this is basically a very strong verse, but a very good verse. God commends hard work.
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Chapter 5, verse 8, that if anyone does not provide for his family, his own, and especially for those of the household of faith, he has denied the faith.
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Listen to that. He's denied the faith. And he's worse than an infidel. He's worse.
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He's worse than an unbeliever. Is that strong or what? So God definitely desires us to make a living, and to make money, and to provide for our family.
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But beloved, beloved, we need to make sure our priority is in line. We better make sure that we're not loving our job over the
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Lord. We better make sure that we're not loving the money over the Lord. We better make sure that we're not loving our family over the
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Lord. And everything that we do, we do for the Lord. Because God is the source.
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He gave us the family. That, our family, is a gift. Our wife and our children are gifts.
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The church is a gift. All this is gifts that God... And I like Corrie ten
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Boom, and I basically said this in my prayer. We're not to hold on tightly to these things.
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We better hold on very loosely. Because God gives it, God takes it away.
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It's on loan to us. And the perspective is we're to be stewards of what
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God has graciously given us. And we're to look at it, these are just gifts. These are gifts.
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And we're to praise God for the gifts. But never worship the gift. Never to worship the money or the family.
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You've got people out there putting family before God, folks. That's sad.
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You know, and I love my family. I love my wife, I love my children. But I'm here to tell you, my first love is
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Jesus. No one comes before Him. I will guard that in my heart.
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Until I go to the grave. As God gives me breath and gives me grace.
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Because I can't do it within my own strength. But the Bible condemns hoarding, doesn't it? That's what
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He condemns. Hoarding. Hoarding money, hoarding possessions. When it can be put to use to further the
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Lord's work and help others. We must be... When also we need to use wisdom and how to bring the balance to that point.
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Living here in America, let me say this in a footnote. We most definitely do not live on the lean side of poverty.
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Just go downtown, go to a supermarket. And you still got people complaining and moaning and groaning.
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Because they're out of one little thing. I even approached a person one time, lovingly and graciously, a customer.
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I said, you know, you think of it. We're overseas. I mean, poor people coming here to see something like this.
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They'd just be so beside themselves. Just to see a loaf of bread. And you go into a grocery store, you got all these varieties.
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Oh my goodness, it makes me tremble to think. We're not on the lean side, that's for sure.
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You go to these stores and supermarkets, it's just loaded with variety. God's blessed us.
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And we're going to give an account for it. How we used it. And you know, often behind our hoarding is either a sin of greed or a lack of trust in God.
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It's one of the two. Or both. You know, we don't need to spend our time collecting junk, amen?
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I'll tell you what, after I was thinking about this text, I said, I'm going through my storage room right away.
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I'm going to clean it up. And I'm going to give to the Salvation Army. And I'm going to start going through my clothes. And I said, if I got too much and I don't use, it's going to be given away.
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So God help me. So let us not spend our time collecting junk that's going to pass away.
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And let us be careful in what's being given to us. And we need to make sure we give it away and put to use so somebody can use it.
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Next, we should be careful not to cheat people out of money, amen? We all need to be careful of this.
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Even though James was denouncing wealthy landowners that were cheating their laborers out of their hard -worked money.
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And by the way, this is the Old Testament principle here from the Word of God. Leviticus 19 .13
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says this, You shall not oppress your neighbor nor rob him. Right in line with what
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Brother Keith was talking about from Micah. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.
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Pay the man. If he worked for you, be honest and pay him. A laborer is worthy of his hire.
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Jeremiah 22 .13, Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages.
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You know, America needs to hear this. There's a lot of fraud going on out there today and cheating people.
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Brother Keith's seen a situation of a man he almost got in with and this man was not paying his laborers.
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And he claimed to be a Christian. Everybody in the South claims to be a Christian until it comes to really living this book right here.
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Wow. Here's another one. Malachi 3 .5.
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Turn with me to Malachi. Last Old Testament book. We got
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Micah. Let's get Malachi. Might as well get them both, right? Notice what he says in chapter 3, verse 5.
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Chapter 3, verse 5. And by the way, chapter 3 is a powerful chapter.
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He talks about the purifier. Judgment's coming. Who's going to endure the day of His coming?
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Who can stand when He appears? For when He's like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap,
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He will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver and will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the
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Lord offerings in righteousness. Wow. But look at verse 5.
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Then I will draw near to you for judgment. Listen to that. And I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers.
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Against sorcerers? Yes. Against the adulterers. Against those who swear falsely.
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And against those who oppress the wage earner and his wages.
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The widow and the orphan. And those who turn aside the alien and do not fear me, says the
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Lord of hosts. And then he says this in verse 6. For I, the Lord, do not change.
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Therefore, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Wow. That's so strong.
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Often in that economy, day laborers in James' time, laborers got only by on a day's pay, folks.
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But to withhold it on some false pretences would be literally robbing the worker and his family of daily bread and children.
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No wonder God comes to the rescue for those that are in need like this. And even though most of us are not in that position and paying wages to workers, but if we ever are, we should always be generous and fair and pay the laborer that's worthy of his wages.
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I got to come to a close here. Next, we should be careful not to live in luxury and self -indulgence.
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Amen? Amen. The rich man and Lazarus, again, the Bible is also very clear that they're godly rich, but they're also ungodly poor.
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Vice versa. It's a matter of the heart. Salvation is by grace alone, right?
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It's not of us. It's a matter of the heart. But here in James 5, the rich man's selfish indulgence, a lack of compassion, love for his neighbor.
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And by the way, if we really love God and love our neighbor, we're not going to be in this position. For the poor reflected his godless, selfish focus in life, love for his neighbor, and for the poor reflected his godless, selfish focus in life.
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James warns in verse 5, judgment, in other words, is coming to you like unreasoning cattle.
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They just go on fattening up themselves until the day of slaughter. We should be careful not to hurt innocent people for the sake of our profit.
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By the way, in verse 6, and back to James, when it speaks of condemned, the word condemned, points to the use of a legal system, as Brother Keith pointed out in Micah, to take advantage of the poor.
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Perhaps bribing judges, hiring big -shot, silver -tongued lawyers, crooked lawyers, lands full of them.
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They were even fuller than that day. The rich were wrongfully taken for themselves, land houses from the poor to make themselves rich, even forcing them into a lifetime of slavery at some point.
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If you and I were to confront them, and let's just say if you and I were to live in that day and to confront these rich people that were doing this, the wicked, greedy would basically protest, and you know what they would say?
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Hey, it was all legal. Really? We didn't break the law.
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Really? What about God's law? When God says, thou shalt not covet.
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But what is technically legal is not always morally right. And this is why
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James warns about the judgment. Note also that the righteous man, let me note here, did not resist the evil.
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Scripture says, do not resist evil. Jesus said that, do not resist evil. And He's not talking about always in a passivity way.
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God gives us wisdom in how to deal with these wicked people. There are times that we are to be quiet and let
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God take the vengeance and take care of the wicked, and He will. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
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But also there's times that God would give us wisdom in how to deal with these people. It's not wrong to take legal actions to protest yourself or assets from greedy, unprincipled, wicked people.
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Wisdom is justified of our children. Well, our responsibility last is to be faithful to God.
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Let me see how much time I've got left. My time is gone. I've got to close this.
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But in the realm of the financial stewardship, and now let me bring this to application here.
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Beloved, this life is not final, and you well know this. The wicked may luxuriously live on earth, even oppress the righteous with no consequences.
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It may appear that they're getting by. But I like an old sermon
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W .A. Criswell preached years ago, payday someday. It may not be in this life, but God's not mocked.
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Jesus is coming, and He's coming to judge. As Schambach said, here comes the judge.
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I tell you, He's coming. And when Jesus Christ comes back, the second coming, as people think
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Him a weak and mild lamb, He's not going to a cross to be crucified. Folks, He's coming back as a lion of the tribe of Judah, and He's coming back in all power.
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I don't know about you, that goes all over me. And He's going to set it all straight.
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Praise God. We anticipate, and we hasten that day.
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The final test will be on the final day of judgment, beloved. No one will escape. Ecclesiastes, the wise preacher said this, chapter 12, verse 13 and 14, the conclusion, the conclusion, when all has been heard is, fear
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God, keep His commandments. Because this applies to every person.
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This is the Word of God. Listen to this, verse 14, for God will bring every act to judgment. Everything is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
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God will bring it to judgment. Jesus said, there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed.
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People think they can do this in the closet. No one sees them. They get by with it. Not what
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God says. God knows everything. Folks, if God, think about how many people are on the face of this earth, and God knows the number of each person's hair.
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Sometimes I wash my hair, and I think, I see hair coming out sometimes. It's gray, and I say, goodbye gray. I like to see it come out.
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But I'm thinking, God just saw that hair come out. In other words, we're talking about all -wise God that knows every motive, everything, in the sense, in the context that Jesus is talking about, actually,
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He's saying, by the hairs of your head be a number. He cares for you. He cares for His people.
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And isn't that a consolation? If we trust in the Lord, and not in certain riches and treasures and possessions, then we will be good stewards in that which
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He has entrusted us with. Let me end by a story.
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Heard a story. I read a story once, actually. There was a businessman that once had an angel visit him, promising to grant one last request to him.
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And this man asked for a copy of the stock market, page one, year in the future.
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As he was studying the numbers of the future exchange, and gloating over how much he would make because of his knowledge of the future, his eye glanced across the page, and his picture was in the obituary column.
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What if that was you? Suddenly, there was a change.
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His new wealth that he gloated over faded in insignificance in the light of his death and eternity.
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Folks, this is what James is telling us. Get your eyes on eternity. Get your eyes on judgment.
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We're going to all stand before the judge. Don't hoard up on earth. Don't love uncertain riches.
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Put your trust in the living God. Wealth can be useful, yes.
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It can be a good tool, yes. But we are to be good and faithful stewards for the
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Lord. And it can be a dangerous trap if we adopt the worldly mindset.
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And that's why we better be careful not to let the world press us into its mold. That's why we go by the
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Word of God and not by the world. May we all examine our own hearts to be stewards of the resources that God has given us that He's entrusted to each one of us.
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And let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4. It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
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Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time. Such strong words of warning to us.
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But Lord, we thank You. The words that are strong are words of love as well.
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Because You love us so much, You tell us the truth to prepare ourselves for the day of judgment that will come.
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And each and every one of us, we have an appointed day to stand before Your Son, Father, who
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You have given authority to judge the whole earth. So, Father, may we be prepared to give an account of the way we spend our riches in which
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You've blessed us with, whatever it may be, and be good stewards of that, Father. May we truly treasure up treasures in heaven and not on this earth.
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May we treasure, first of all, the pearl of great price, that is Your Son. Because, Father, there's no greater treasure than the
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Lord Jesus Christ. May He be our first love. And may we also remember Matthew 6 .33,
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but seek first the kingdom of God, Your righteousness. And all these other things will be added unto us.