Keep sharing good news without ads.
Bro. Bill Nichols
Okay, good morning. We're going to pretty soon finish up the book of James. We're now at the beginning of chapter 5 in what Dr. MacArthur calls The Test of Patient Endurance. I'm going to read the passage for today first.
James chapter 5 verse 1. You have lived in pleasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of labors who have reaped down your fields, which is kept of you, which is of you kept back by fraud crieth.
And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of the Sabaoth. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. You have nourished your heart as in the day of slaughter.
You have condemned and you have killed the just, and he doth not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain.
Be also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for allowing us to meet together in person, face to face, that we may come together and worship you by reading and studying your Holy Word under the guidance of your Holy Spirit.
Moreover, we thank you for the technology that you've given us that allows us to reach out and touch those of us who are not available here with us or can't meet for one reason or another, but that we can go out and minister with and study with and worship with.
Bless us and keep us, bring us ever closer to you. We thank you most of all, Lord, for our Lord Jesus Christ that you have given us in part so that we may be able to receive eternal life that he deserved rather than the punishment that we deserve.
Bless us and keep us and go with us as we go through the day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, Dr. MacArthur called this lesson the lesson of patient endurance. Actually, today's passage contains two lessons for believers.
Lesson number one, that wealth is only an illusion, not a guarantee of joy and peace. That's the part of this that I read, verses one through six. And lesson number two, that hardship is a certainty that all the children of God will face.
But when they have patiently endured the hardship, they will receive joy and peace. That's verses seven through eleven. So there's two lessons here. Wealth is an illusion, not a reality. It never brings joy and peace.
You can be wealthy and have joy and peace, but it's not the wealth that brings you joy and peace. And the second lesson, and this is the one that Dr. MacArthur focused on, is that hardship is a certainty for all the children of God.
All children of God will face hardship. But then, after they have patiently endured, they will receive the joy and the peace that the wealthy only strive for. So let's begin to break this down. Verse one, Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Now, the rich here are referred to as those with more than they need to live. And, you know, we might consider ourselves, how many of us have more than we need to live? Not more than we want, more than we need to live.
With that as the standard, how many of us could raise our hand and say, with this standard, I am wealthy. And so this passage is talking to me. Now, James is going to condemn some wealthy, but not all of them.
He condemns them not for being wealthy, but for misusing their resources. Now, I'm going to go first to 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, and look at an example of some wealthy people, some wealthy men, who use their wealth to honor God.
1 Timothy 6, verse 17, Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly in all things to enjoy. So if you have something to enjoy, you have it because God gave it to you.
That they do good, and they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Now, that group of men that Paul is talking about are wealthy, but they're using their wealth to honor God. And by honoring God and doing things to promote His kingdom, they're laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Now, unlike the believing rich in Timothy's congregation, these that James are referring to are wicked, wealthy men who only profess Christian faith. They have associated themselves with the church. But the real God is not the true God, but His money, and not God.
And so now we come to verse 2. And in verse 2, James will point out the foolishness of hoarding perishable goods. The things that we have here on the earth that we consider wealth, that they all perish.
Here's what James said. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.
You have heaped treasure together for the last days. But when these last days arrive, all that they thought they had set aside will have vanished. Hoarding one's possessions, whether it's food, clothing, money, or anything else, is foolish.
All earthly treasures are fleeting and transitory. Solomon, Solomon, Solomon. I don't know how that one came out. Solomon, cautions us in Proverbs 23, verse 4. Labor not to be rich. This is the world's richest man, probably the world's richest man ever speaking.
Labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom. Don't try to get rich by your own means. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, and they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Those who dedicate their lives to such a futile pursuit cannot and do not worship God. They are worshiping their money. And their money will take wings and fly away as the birds fly away into the heavens.
James goes on to declare that when the last days arrive and they face judgment, their hoarded, rotten, moth-eaten, corroded treasures will give graphic testimony to the unregenerate state of their hearts.
Their covetous, selfish, compassionless, earthbound approach to life will provoke their condemnation. And so James rebukes them. He rebukes them for hoarding their wealth without regard to God's timetable and the flow of redemptive history or the reality of eternity.
How utterly unthinkable to amass and hoard wealth as the day of judgment draws near. That, by the way, was John MacArthur. If it didn't sound like me, I suppose it wasn't. James sharply rebukes them for hoarding their wealth without regard to God's timetable and the flow of redemptive history or the reality of eternity.
How utterly unthinkable to amass and hoard wealth as the day of judgment draws near. Paul tells us that those who do so are storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to each person according to his deeds.
Okay, so wealth is to be enjoyed as a blessing from God and it's used to fulfill His will in meeting needs and advancing the gospel. Oh, we have things that we need to do of our own and for ourselves, but our wealth is to be enjoyed as a blessing of God and to be used in advancing His gospel.
And those who fail to do so will suffer judgment. Verse 4,. Behold, the hire of the labors who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of the Sabaoth.
Now, all of my life I have read that as the Lord of the Sabbath. And of course, the Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath, but He's also the Lord of everything else. That word has nothing at all to do with Sabbath.
That word is untranslated. Had it been translated, it would have read the Lord of hosts. So I'm going to read it translated. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth.
The cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. Now, the wicked rich were not only guilty of sinfully hoarding their wealth. They had also simply acquired it. It wasn't bad enough that they were hoarding the things that they had, but that they got them through sinful methods.
Far from being generous to the poor as the Scripture commands, they exploited them. Specifically, they had withheld the pay of the laborers who mowed their fields. The hire was the wages. And what happened, they held back their wages.
And that came to the attention of the Lord of hosts. That was a practice so shocking that James introduces the statement with the word, behold. Behold, the wages of the laborer are held back by fraud.
The verb withheld is in the perfect tense, meaning that it had been done, and it had been done continuously. That suggests that the wicked rich completely withheld at least a part of the laborer's wages.
They didn't just delay payment. They just didn't pay them at all. Verse 5, You have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. You have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter. Having increased their wealth by robbery and hoarding, the wicked rich added to their sin by using their wealth for their own selfish indulgence.
Paul describes their self-indulgence by using three verbs, one of them, tropho, which means lives luxuriously. The related word, tropho, has the basic meaning softness. James condemns the wicked rich for living a soft, extravagant, luxurious life at the expense of others.
They weren't first century Robin Hoods, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. They were like inverse Robin Hoods, robbing the poor and giving to the rich. They stole to line their own pockets.
Now, the phrase lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton comes from a single Greek word, and that is sapatero, and it has the connotation of giving oneself to the pursuit of pleasure or plunging headlong into wasteful living.
Those who pursue pleasure and luxury often descend into vice in a vain attempt to satisfy what are insatiable desires. A life without some self-denial soon goes out of control in every area. And finally, James accuses the wicked rich of having fattened their hearts, means to feed or fatten.
The striking picture that James paints is of oppressive, self-indulgent robbers who have satiated themselves on the plunder taken from their victims, and the desire for luxury led to vice, which led the unjust hoarders to seek to selfishly indulge every desire of their hearts.
Now, ironically, one of the wealthiest and wisest men who ever lived provides an illustration of the futility of such self-indulgence. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2 verses 4 -11 says this, I made me great works, I built me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits.
I made me pools of water to water therewith, with wood which brings forth tree. I got me servants and maidens, and I had servants born in my house. Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle, that's what we call cattle and sheep.
The small cattle and sheep, the great cattle were cattle. Above all that were in Jerusalem before me, and I can fairly say and after me, I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of provinces.
I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem.
Also, my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever my eyes desired, I kept not from me. And I withheld my heart from any joy. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor.
Now that's a bunch of verses, but look at the last one, verse 10. And then I looked, and then I looked on all of the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and a vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Everything that he built up, tried to build, all the things that he had and did were emptiness and a vexation of spirits, and there was no profit to be obtained under the sun. The only profit Solomon finally finds out in Ecclesiastes, the only profit to be found is not under the sun.
That's not on the earth. The profit is not on the earth. The profit is of the Lord. Verse 6, you have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. Now this is the final progression in the downward spiral, followed by rich people, followed by the rich people that James rebuked.
Hoarding led to fraud. Fraud led to self-indulgence. Self-indulgence led to over-indulgence, and that consumed the rich to the point that they would do anything to sustain their lifestyle. You have condemned.
The word condemned comes from a word meaning to sentence, and the implication is that the rich were using the court systems to commit judicial murder, to take the things that belonged to someone else.
They were using the court and offices of the court to do that. Now, that's the first six verses of chapter 5 of James, and it has all to do with James rebuking wicked rich people who abused the righteous poor.
Now in verses 7 -11, he shifts his focus from the persecutors to the persecuted, moving from condemning the faithless abusive rich to comforting the faithful abused poor. And James also uses this part of the passage to instruct the poor as to what attitude to have in the midst of all of this persecuting.
The theme of this section is to find how to be patient in trials. That's why Dr. MacArthur labeled this test the test of endurance. Trouble is an inevitable part of life, and everyone experiences it. And the fact that it is inevitable and universal reflects the reality that we live in a fallen, cursed world.
Job tells us early on, early in redemptive history, Job says this, Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward. Jesus said, In the world you will have tribulation. Paul warned the new Christians in Galatia, Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Paul also wrote to the Romans of the certainty of suffering in this world. He says, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
And Paul also told Timothy, Join with me in suffering for the gospel. Because all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And of course, Peter tells us about suffering. Beloved, this is 1 Peter 12, chapter 4.
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice insomuch as you are partakers in Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Now, Peter points out something that believers should keep in mind. In addition to normal, everyday trials of life that every man has, believers face a type of trouble not experienced by non-believers.
And what is that? Persecution for the cause of Christ. That the church faces rejection by the hostile world that rejects the gospel is a recurring theme in the New Testament. Now, James is going to give us six practical perspectives that enable believers to patiently endure trials.
We're going to look at them one by one, but I'm just going to list them first. One, anticipate the Lord's coming. That will help. Things that will help believers endure trials. Anticipate the Lord's coming.
Two, recognize the Lord's judgment, which is coming as well. Follow the Lord's servants and live like they did. Understand the Lord's blessings. Realize the Lord's purpose. And consider the Lord's character.
So those are the six things that James is going to work his way through as we go from here through 7 -11. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. That was number one. Anticipate the Lord's coming.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain.
Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Now, in that section, James refers to the believer's great hope, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, twice. Be patient unto the coming of the Lord, and establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
The realization that things won't always be as they are now provides great hope to those that are undergoing persecution. For that reason, the more persecuted a church, the more eagerly it anticipates the return of Jesus Christ.
Conversely, the affluent, indulgent, worldly church has little interest in the Lord's return. Has it been obvious to you that lately, almost everywhere, you have great anticipation of the Lord's second return, more than I have ever seen it in my life?
It seems like it's everywhere, popping up on TV, everywhere. People anticipating the return of Christ. That's because I believe we're going into a time of persecution of the church. Number two, second thing to keep in mind to have a perspective of everything.
Recognize the Lord's judgment. When the Lord comes, He's not just going to come. He's going to come to judge. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door.
James depicts Jesus as the judge about to enter the judgment hall. This is the flip side of his first point. His first point was the hope of the second coming, which will provide comfort in trials. And that certainly happens.
But the sobering reality that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead cautions those who are tempted to complain amid their trials. And we all do that. But remember, He's not just coming. He's coming to judge.
The third item to keep in mind, follow the Lord's servants. Verse 10, James says, Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
To further encourage believers to endure unjust suffering, James pointed out the example of the prophets who had endured suffering with patience. The prophets, these Old Testament prophets, and that includes John the Baptist, who was in fact beheaded, you know, as serving a fitting example of those who patiently endured evil treatment from people because they spoke in the name of the Lord.
To speak was their function. As the often repeated Old Testament phrase, thus saith the Lord, attests, the name of the Lord represents all that He is, all that He does, and all that He wills. And these prophets were God's spokesmen.
So live like they did and expect to be persecuted. Maybe not to the extent that they were, but at least expect hardships. Now he goes on to talk about what happens to those that do endure hardship. Verse 11, Behold, we count them happy which endure.
You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. And the fourth thing to keep in mind, understand God's blessing. Behold, we count them happy which endure.
Behold, we count them happy which endure. God's blessing does not come to people who do great things, but to people who endure. Those who receive the greatest blessings in life are those who have endured the greatest suffering in the present world.
I'm going to give you an example. Two men that did suffer and that did believe and that did great things, but not as great as their mother wished for them. Matthew 20, verses 20 through 23. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons.
Now that's James and John. Now they came to him, that's to Jesus, worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said to her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Grant that these my sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy kingdom.
So she's wanting a place of honor, great blessing for her sons. That's natural for a mother to want that for her sons, isn't it? But maybe it's not natural to ask the Lord to provide them. I don't know.
But Jesus answered and said, You know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? What is he saying there? If I grant them this great thing, it will be because they suffer greatly with me.
Are you ready for them to suffer greatly so that they may receive great blessings? Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they say unto him, and I want to say, they say unto him not truly understanding what he meant, but we are able.
And he saith unto them, You shall indeed drink of my cup, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. And he didn't say that you can sit on my right and one on the left. You'll be blessed with me.
You'll get blessings, and they were. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. The hope of blessing now and in the future, glory should motivate suffering Christians to patiently endure.
Now, verse 6, realize God's purpose. Going back up a little bit to James, you have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. The outcome or the purpose of the Lord's dealing with Job provides hope for all who patiently endure suffering.
There were at least four important divine purposes for Job's suffering. And I'm going to say this, not one of them is to answer this question. I have often heard, I've heard a lot of people say this about the book of Job.
It's a book that helps us to understand that bad things can happen to good people. That has nothing to do with the book of Job. That's not what the book of Job is all about. What is it? You can say there are no good people.
The only good people is Jesus Christ and he wasn't there with Job. That's not the question. The question is not why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Bad things happen to people that deserve it.
Who deserves bad things to happen to? All of us. Good things happen to some people. To some people that good things happen to? How is that determined? God determines that. Okay, so what are the four purposes for God's dealing with Job?
One, to test Job's faith and to prove to Job that it is genuine. To test Job's faith and to prove to Job that it is genuine. Second, to thwart the Satan's attempt to destroy that faith. God looked down at Job and God said, Behold my servant Job, how just he is.
And Satan sitting on the side said, He's only good because you're good to him. Take stuff away from him and see how he acts. Job is attempting to destroy Job's faith. And this part of this is to thwart Satan's attempt to destroy that faith.
The third thing is to strengthen Job's faith and to enable him to see God more clearly. Job had great faith, but he didn't have as much faith as he could have had and not as much faith as he's going to have when this test is all over.
And fourthly, to increase Job's blessedness. Remember, he got back twice everything that he had. All of these purposes were realized because despite all of his trials, Job remained loyal to God. This example encourages those suffering trials to patiently endure, realizing the Lord's purpose in letting them suffer trials is to strengthen them, to perfect them, and in the end, to bless them.
Paul said in Romans 8, verse 28,. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose. And the sixth, consider the Lord's character.
Consider that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Fittingly, James closes his exhortation to patiently endure trials with a reminder of the character of God. It is not uncommon for those in the midst of severe trials, like Job, to question whether God really cares about them.
It is a common thing. It is usual. It's not uncommon for a person in time of trial to question God, to ask questions of God, and to wonder if God really believes. Job wasn't punished for questioning God.
He was told to stand up like a man and answer, but he wasn't punished for it. In all the trials, believers can take comfort in the fact and the indisputable truth that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
So the last thing to take from this lesson is the Lord is full of compassion and He is merciful. If He weren't full of compassion and merciful, He would have been back long before now to render His judgment.
That He is still waiting is a mark of His compassion and His mercy. Any comments or questions? That's it for me. Yes, ma 'am. If you don't have the faith of Christ, there certainly is good reason to be concerned.
And did Job have the faith of Christ? Indeed, he did, but he still questioned it. But the Lord took him through trials to allow him to grow and to become stronger. And at the end of it all, he had more faith than he had going in.
He was a faithful man, so faithful that God pointed him out, but he didn't understand how much faith he had. God did. And so God told Satan, do what you want to do within certain things. But Job is faithful.
I know that Job is faithful. Job didn't know how faithful Job was. God did. So God knew that Job was going to do what he did. Satan didn't know. Job didn't know. Job's friends didn't know. Job's wife didn't know.
God knew. And at the end, I think Job knew. Or at least Job knew a lot more than he knew going in. Anything else? If not, most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all the many blessings that you have given us.
Thank you even for the trials that you bring into our life, because we understand that through trials, we are strengthened. Through trials, we grow. Not only grow, through trials, we grow closer to you.
If we belong to you and we have trials, we will grow closer to you. And that's the whole purpose of life. The whole purpose of life is to grow closer and closer to you until we come just as close to you as we can possibly come.
And that will not happen until the end of our life. Thank you for all that you've given us. Bless us and continue to bless us as we go through the day today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.