The Misery of the Greedy Rich: Part 1

Get this recorded for our brothers and sisters. I could not make it this morning. We've got some sickness

About us and of course for the Michaels in the still in the hospital, so continue to remember him in prayer and leave

Zack is under the weather as well My wife had to stay on with Felicity. She's got a fever this morning, so Please remember those that are sick was much is going to be said this morning as we continue

Our study through the book of James This morning we're going to look at the misery of the wicked rich The misery of the wicked rich almost want to say wicked wicked witch, but it's wicked rich, but Believe me

James has some very very strong words here this morning as I was studying this I could not help

But just go to God in prayer myself and say Lord you search my heart here very powerful words the

Apostle James speaks as a As a prophet an

Old Testament prophet and he Makes contact I believe by the

Spirit of the Living God in a powerful way as He speaks to his readers that will be reading this this letter.

Could you imagine? Being the ones to first read this the Jewish audience and they were very familiar with these words in which he spoke, so Building on the teaching of the

Lord Jesus Christ as James often does he presents another test?

which really about validates or invalidates one's claim as A Christian and this test of course is how one views money

And how one views money, this is very serious, and I think this is very applicable

To all of us today, especially in our contemporary age And that's that's why

I put it into a two -part series here There's no way I can even get it in a two -part series the scripture says so much about money

Jesus spoke much of it. It's all through the Old Testament so these first six verses of James chapter 5 really form a strong Very strong.

Let me say this Rebuke, and I can honestly say outside of the words of Jesus rebuking

Jerusalem at that time before he cried over Jerusalem. He he had woes to speak as well

James the Apostle gives one of the strongest In the entire

Epistle here and one of the strongest rebukes you can read in the New Testament Like I said outside of Jesus himself

But in essence James gives a scathing Denunciation and condemns those who profess to worship

God But in fact they worship money and this is nothing new is it nothing news under the

Sun as Solomon said so basically calls them to examine the true state of their hearts and light of how they feel about wealth and How they view wealth so in saying that and I give you fair warning and These words are great words of love.

Let us never forget that this this is always a strong rebuke is always in love

God's love And say we the way people view love today is

Just so erroneous compared to what God's love really is and Let me say this as well that What you're about to hear this morning as I read these six verses of James chapter 5 is so foreign to us

And not even to the the most spiritual churches Is It's any wonder you don't hear messages from James chapter 5

How often have you heard messages from James chapter 5 verses 1 through 6? It's very rare And it's because it's such a strong rebuke

It's so powerful. And as we've already seen in the closing of James chapter 4

Hey, it's some very strong words as well, but here he really pours on the fire

So again, I give you fair warning of the words about you about to hear they're very strong of rebuke

But lots of love and it's about and it's really to people who love money They had the love of money in their soul

Money in of itself is not evil It's a person's love toward it.

It becomes an idol as Brother Keith has already pointed out. I love that brother Keith as you gave the balance of what it means to walk circumspectly of Even people that's in poverty could be very

Idolatrous toward money you see people engrossed today

After Gambling and wanting to win the jackpot and that could be greed

Beloved you don't have to be rich to be greedy it is the attitude of the heart and This is what

James is actually talking about and it's very strong So we must always allow the

Word of God and I like what Tozer said to correct us in the same way

That encourages us So we need to hear this kind of truth, don't we

It's hard to swallow strong medicine, but we need it. We know it's in God's love and through the

Apostle Here he gives us a lot of truth and he gives us a good moral compass to live by Also to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith of the

Lord Jesus Christ. This is very sobering So in saying that please turn with me to the book of James chapter 5 chapter 5

And we're going to be looking this morning at verses 1 to 6 1 to 6 very very strong words of This Apostle by the power of the

Holy Spirit the inspiration of the Spirit of God breathing upon him to write this letter It's the last chapter in this epistle

It's been taking us a full year hasn't it to get here praise God, but here we are a year later

Chapter 5 verse 1 through 6 hear the word of the Living God Come now you rich Weep and how?

For your miseries which are coming upon you Your riches have rotted and your garments have become mothy your gold and your several silver have rusted and Their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire

It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure Behold the pay of the laborers 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

Lord of Sabbath You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wonton pleasure

You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter You have condemned and put to death the righteous man and he does not resist you

Let's stop right there. And let's ask God's blessing upon this hour is Only I can minister and Reach your ears only the

Holy Spirit can take it to our hearts. Let's pray our father how strong These words are but how loving they are to us

It's foreign to us to hear such words But Lord, this is shows you how holy your word is

Absolutely pure every word of God is pure absolutely, holy as You said in your word.

It's like a two -edged sword it cuts. Oh Does it cut it does deep surgery upon our hearts and our souls and how we need this?

But it's great love that the one that does the surgery to our soul How loving are you

Lord? To give us this truth Your word that pierces and searches the very reins of our motives of our hearts

And Lord we pray now within this hour that your blessed spirit Would do a life transforming work upon us today

Including myself Lord as I minister these words Father It's you that are to be glorified.

So father we pray That your word would purchase

Excuse me And the heat of your Holy Spirit would cleanse us and purify our souls And as well as the truth to give us the light to expose our sins

The fire is to be applied to purify it cleanse us

Father your words is our God is a consuming fire So father show us instruct us reprove us correct us

Teach us in the way of righteousness As we study your word within this hour Not only that we would just have the truth

Revealed to us and exposed but father that we would be dealing with our sin the sin of our hearts

Hidden sins That we do not know of Well father,

I'd pray by your spirit that you would tear away any idol that we would hold dear to our hearts Anything that would be displeasing to you

Lord. We'd ask this in Jesus name. Amen But the

Apostle James Has been like a physician I'd like to say and analyzing our symptoms hasn't he?

Once again, we go to the surgery room. I feel like I've been doctored on many a times as we've gone through the book of James and cut on many times, but the surgeon is a loving surgeon and Just as a good medical doctor may press

On And it's like he's asking the patient. Are you sore here?

Are you sore there? How about here? Are you sore? We realize that he sees the very cause of the problem and he knows the very source of our problems

Doesn't he because he knows our hearts better than we know ourselves We really don't know our hearts until God's Word takes a hold of us because our hearts so desperately wicked

We cannot trust our own hearts He says we only come before God and his word and then we're naked before him but I like you for you notice in chapter 4 he put his finger in such sins of like Sins of bitterness if you if you glance over chapter 4

Verses 1 through 3 he dealt with the sins of bitterness as a good surgeon and then he dealt with the sin of spiritual adultery in verses 4 through 6

Then he dealt with the sin of double -mindedness and slander in verses 7 through 12 Then he dealt with the sin of arrogance and pride

Verses 13 through 17 and Now he continues in chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 as he puts his finger upon another problem and It's really

I'll say another problem It's the same sinful problem that he was dealing with in chapter 4 and that's the that's the sin of worldliness

And that's really what it is greed worldliness self -centeredness

The charge he gives is very serious and we cannot fail to sense the righteous anger

Don't you sense it when I was we was reading through the text this morning these six verses almost like a holy righteous anger but it's holy and He doesn't sin because it's

God's Word. It's pure the anger With which James pins these words, it's the same holy anger that moved

Jesus to cleanse the temple James is pulling no punches is he he gives a strong rebuke

Now first, let's ask this question I think this is very at the offset of the introduction to understand this question because to whom exactly is he speaking to?

Now this is very important because I've read through commentators and different views here A lot is feeling that they sense that he speaks to those on the outside of the church that are wicked and lost that love money

Or is it in other words? Is he speaking to those heathens out there that just are so and grew gross to those idols?

They love these idols. They love money. But what about those within the church? Is he speaking to the true

Christians? Well, really that's a good question Because there are different opinions about whether or not

James is speaking to the rich people who are non -christians or to the or Is he speaking to the followers of Jesus Christ?

whether is he speaking to those of the part of the church in Jerusalem and Are in living as greedy people within the church

Well, James certainly has not been afraid to call out those who are part of the church for living as if they were not

Part of the church, you see what I'm saying? I'd like to put it like this it he's speaking and you see this the same as the writer of Hebrews as he go the

Writer of Hebrews does the same thing? He's speaking to the Hebrew Christians, but at the same time there's tears among the weeds.

I Really believe that so James is dealing with the tears among the wheat just the same but he's addressing it to the

Christians He's been doing that most of the letter to the

Jews that are dispersed abroad He's also had How also has not been afraid to speak strong and harshly to claim to those who claim to be

Christians. I Was reading Sinclair Ferguson and his commentary on this. I love what he said.

I had to write this down And I've heard the book of Mark has been really rich and blessing

As y 'all been going through that and My blessing and prayers are with you as well

But I read a lot of Ferguson myself He said this on his commentary in James Quote an entire encyclopedia of sins can be found in our hearts

Even after we have become Christians Indeed we are likely to be much more conscious of them than ever before For the

Spirit of God exposes sinful tendencies. We never believe that were present in us

How right he is? He goes on to say this it follows therefore that within the body of Christ to which we belong there may be serious dysfunctionals

Professing Christians may not always be practicing Christians We are never wholly consistent

A man who seems to be a saint in the fellowship may be engaging in a serious sin outside of it

One only needs to think of the New Testament correspond correspondence to find illustrations not least

Jesus correspondence with the churches in the opening chapters of Revelation chapter 2 Verse 1 all the way through chapter 3 to verse 22

And then he says this alas Sin continues to be present in the contemporary church as well

And his closing thoughts are this and listen to this you'll love this So perhaps we should not simply assume that James is addressing only those are outside of the church

He speaks as it were as a witness for the part for the prosecution

More than that. He seems to act also as the prosecuting counsel the jury and even as the judge and in the court case the charge is read the prosecutor makes his case based on the evidence of the jury and reaches its verdict and The sentence is pronounced by the judge

And then he says is here. However, James first words assume the verdict then he cites the evidence for it and finally indicates the consequences in quote that is very observant and How true that is?

Now in the first part of this message in part one of this today, I like for us to see and study

Three aspects. I like to set before you of what greed is as We look within these six verses in our text this morning first of all

We will see that greed leads to misery greed leads to misery in verses 1 through 3 greed leads to misery

Second we will see that greed is seen by God verse 4 greed is seen by God and third

We will see greed is self -deceiving Greed is self -deceiving in verses 5 and 6 and then we'll look at a couple applications at closing

So let's look at these points this morning as God would lead us by his spirit to study this text

Greed leads to misery greed leaves

Leads to misery notice what he says come now you rich Weep and howl for your miseries are coming upon you

At first you might be thinking wait a minute Now I see a lot of greedy people who get more and more wealth for themselves

Very prosperous people They push and shove their way to walk over other people and it seems like they get more and more

They don't look very miserable do they they look pretty happy They're living their best life now

They're living they're getting all the gusto that they like and what they want Well, can

I say this beloved That that's worldliness according to Scripture and that is the very reason for James is a rebuke

That's the very reason that the Spirit of God Led him to rebuke these people

James begins his denunciation with a forceful pronouncement of impending judgment upon these people and he does not pull any punches does he in the light of The inescapable doom

I'd like to put it that is coming against the wicked wealthy notice verse 1

He says this now come now you rich He gets right to the point weep and howl

Weep and howl for your miseries are coming upon you. He didn't say might they are coming

Misery is coming to the greedy to the wealthy rich to the wicked rich as noted before the phrase come now is the insistent call of attention in our

Contemporary vernacular today and it means listen up Pay attention

Give me ear once again he gets right to the point and What does he say?

Weep and how Now let's look at these words the word weep and the

Greek means sob out loud To sob out loud to lament

It was used to describe the wailing that took place when someone died

You know we have this Illustrated all through the New Testament. I just give you a few verses here mark chapter 5

Turn with me there very quickly. Let's look at this Mark chapter 5. I know Sinclair Ferguson probably pointed these things out as you studied it but chapter 5 verse

Let me let me begin in verse 35 This is Jairus's daughter and this is a funeral

It's a funeral procession and and while he was still speaking Speaking of Jesus they came from the house of the synagogue official

The synagogue official saying your daughter has died Why trouble the teacher anymore and Jesus over here and what was what was being spoken said to the synagogue official do not be afraid any longer only believe

And he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and John the brother of James and they came to the house of the synagogue official and notice what he says the scripture says and and he saw a commotion and notice the text and people loudly weeping and Wailing and entering in he said to them why make a commotion and weep

The child has not died, but is asleep now people are probably looking at Christ and Thinking you got to be crazy

What are you talking about? She's asleep. She's dead But that's the way Jesus looked at people when they died.

They really were not and It's in a sense Completely dead their soul lives, but Jesus knew he was a resurrection of life.

He's gonna raise him up But he does he chose To to do a miracle here and notice in verse 40 this shows you the way people thought of it

They began laughing at him Laughing at him But putting them all out

Now hold on that doesn't seem like Jesus Jesus wouldn't do something like that. Would he yes he did

They were faithless Full of unbelief and laughing he puts them all out He Took along the child's father and mother and his own

Companions and he entered the room where the child was and taking the child by the hand. He said to her

Tell her that I'm a come Which translates means little girl. I say to you get up All Jesus has to do is speak the word right and immediately the girl got up and began to walk and she was 12 years

Old and immediately they were completely astonished Astounded and he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and he said that Something should be given to her to eat but the point of what what

James is speaking of this is a living illustration of The way that James is saying weep as Someone had died

We've been out loud And Jesus did the miracle There's another one that you can see and Luke chapter 7 you can go to Luke chapter 7 since that's the next book over Look at Luke 7

This is an illustration of what James is saying in the Greek of weep notice chapter 7 verse

Verse 12. Let's look at verse 12 as he approached the gate of the city A dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow

And a sizable crowd from the city was with her again. There's a big crowd, right? Verse 13 when the

Lord saw her. He felt compassion for her and said to her do not weep Do not weep and he came up and touched the coffin and The bearers came to an halt and he said young man.

I say to you arise now. There's the funeral possession there and Jesus basically breaks up the funeral

The dead man set up and began to speak Jesus gave him back to his mother

Fear gripped them all and they began glorifying God saying a great prophet has risen among us and God has visited his people

This report concerning him Went and him went out all over Judea and all of the surrounding district so there this is the widow's son is raised in the city of Nain and Again they were weeping and Jesus was moved and felt compassion for her the widow

How compassionate is our Lord Jesus Christ now? one of the greatest most memorial of The text is

John chapter 11 when Lazarus dies notice in John chapter 11

Jesus You know the story on purposely delayed And all of this was for the glory of God It was

God's timetable. God was never late. He was all he's always on time But I'd like you to notice something in verse 30 now

Jesus had not yet come into the village But was still in the place where Martha met him kind of outside of the village

And then the Jews who were with her in the house Counseling her consoling her.

I'm sorry Consoling her when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out And followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there

You know, here's a lot of weeping going on here at the death of Lazarus in verse 32

Therefore when Mary came where Jesus was she saw him and fell at his feet saying to him

Lord if you had been here, my brother would had not have died And when

Jesus therefore saw her weeping she was weeping as she said this and the

Jews came with her also weeping And he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled and said where have you laid him?

And they said to him Lord come and see Shortest verse in Scripture right here.

Jesus wept Jesus wept so the Jews were saying see how he loved him

But some of them said could not this man have opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man also from dying

Let me stop right there and say this The kind of weeping that James is calling for is a weeping

Against sin. We know that our Lord Jesus did not weep in a sense because of against sin in his life.

He was sinless. I really believe his weeping Was in a sense as he was moved the deeply moved in spirit and troubled

And that's just an anger and outrage of emotion toward death

That's why Jesus came was to destroy the works of the devil and death as an enemy so his weeping is a different kind of weeping in a sense that he's weeping because he

He is life in himself, he's the son of God the son of man He hates what sin has done to mankind in which

God has created man not not for eternal death, but for eternal life and man has fallen into that fallen prey to the works of the devil right and sin and the devastations of sin, which has brought physical and Eternal death

Jesus weeps But this you think of it, but but the setting is everybody was weeping there

And this is what James is telling us weep out loud

This is a deep intense weeping and someone dies You've been there if you've had a loved one that you really loved

Weep The sorrow there's deep intensity of sorrow but it also is depicted in the in the same

Greek word of weeping the outward reaction of sometimes a company of intense shame and guilt

It's it's that there's a connection here if you turn to Matthew 26 75 and You're familiar with the story as soon as the rooster crowed

What did what did the scripture say here in verse 75 in Matthew? Peter remembered the word of the

Lord of the word which Jesus had said before a rooster crows

You will deny me three times and what does it say the text says and he went out and he wept bitterly

Peter weeps bitterly So James is using this in a sense and and if you also look back at chapter 4 verse 9 be miserable

Mourn and weep let your laughter be turned in the morning and your joy to gloom is really the remedy of The the sins that is upon them

He's calling them This is the way you should What you should do it's a command.

It's a charge Describes the sorrow that accompanies repentance right godly sorrow

Where there's no lament of repentance. There's no grace of forgiveness. So the positive of Lamenting and mourning is grace and forgiveness

You know, everybody wants to the other way around they want all the benefits of God Without coming to God God's way

We must always come God's way If we desire if we want the benefit benefits and you know, isn't it?

That's the dilemma of today people want all the benefits of God, but they don't want

God himself And I guarantee that with that is the stark contrast between a true believer and a not and a non -believer a professing believer a

Professing believer that claims to be a believer. That's not a believer at all If you're with me once all the benefits, but they don't want

God himself himself But the real believer desires to have

God himself You know, this is a word and it's a rich word now

James adds another word We've been what how now there's a word you don't hear often

How you think of how we think of us a wolf bail bailing at the moon or something?

But it get this only here in the New Testament does this word appear right here the only time

This is a word that actually goes beyond lamenting and refers to shrieking and screaming

Wow Shrieking and screaming so taken together we and how

It's coupled in unity we've and how pictures an intense outburst of despairing violent uncontrollable grief the

Old Testament prophets frequently described such wailing over the effects of sin and In part two,

I'm going to try to bring more of these out But I won't just give you a few Isaiah 13 6 listen to the

Prophet Isaiah He says this well well For the day of the

Lord is near it will come as a destruction from the Almighty Isaiah 15 3 and the streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth, which is the way they brought about humility sackcloth and ashes

Something that would rip against the flesh to humble them on their housetops and on the squares.

Everyone is willing dissolved in tears You see this all through the

Old Testament from all the prophets Jeremiah Ezekiel Isaiah They call

Israel out to turn from their sins and they basically charged him and say weep well cry cry out

James then gives the reason the wicked rich or restart to respond with such an overwhelming grief

James says weep and how why should they weep and how he tells them notice the text back to James?

Because your miseries which are coming upon you. That's the reason you should weep and how

He tells the reason why the word miseries Here here's a word appears only here and in Romans chapter 3 and verse 16 in the

New Testament And basically it describes an overwhelming hardship trouble suffering and distress

Overwhelming trouble will be visited upon the wicked rich if when they stand before the

Lord in judgment And you see this in Luke chapter 6 Luke chapter 6 verse 24 25

Jesus warned them. What did he say? Woe to you who are rich For you are receiving your comfort in full

Woe to you who are well fed now For you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now for you shall mourn and weep

So these people are taking comfort Talking about James's audience and what they have now and what they are finding faults in In their own false comfort in their fault satisfaction and it's through greedy consolidation

Concealing of riches not realizing that one day one day beloved

They will be facing misery beyond what any of us can even imagine Keep in mind that James condemns them not for being wealthy, right?

Nor does Jesus necessarily just say for wealth for wealth sake but it's for misusing their resources

God gives us all things richly to to enjoy but it's the way we use it

We're stewards of what God has given us and one day we're going to give an account of How we used what

God has given us. That's sobering, isn't it? A W Tozer really believed this he said at the judgment

He feels that God we're going to give an account for every of every dime every penny Whether we've been good stewards of it or we've wasted it

That's that's very sobering beloved So really the sinful pursuit of riches and self -dependency and self -pleasure

Fails every one of us. That's what James is saying Don't put your trust in riches.

Don't put your trust in these things This should give us calls to turn to God in true humility.

That's really what he's saying And and he says that in James 4 10 humble yourself before God You know you and and really we should mourn and weep over our sin.

That's what he's saying in any sinful inclination that we would have within our hearts and Seek humility in God's way for so James warns his readers

Your miseries are coming upon you. What a strong language such strong words

Now these are the wicked wealthy who profess Christian faith and have associated themselves

With the church and we still have them among us today. Don't we look at the prosperity preachers?

They justify all this in the name of God They do it in the name of God.

They profane God's name. These are false teachers and That's a sure sign there's

I remember MacArthur talking about the signs of false teachers and one of them is the love of money Look at Balaam Balaam loved money.

He was bought King say okay, I Pay I pay you off if you curse

God's people. Well, he went along with that didn't he? He did He was bought off Thoughts teacher there's so many illustrations about this throughout the

New Testament And really what he's talking about that the love of money it's their

God and Really what he is charging them again, and he's blasting them is for prostituting the goodness and generosity of God And the only reason the only thing they can look forward to is and anticipate his divine punishment well, let's go back to the text and look at verse 2 and 3 2 and 3 of James and What does he say he goes on to say this?

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

It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure Wow Did you hear that?

Basically what James is telling them is all that they have will perish it's going to fade away

It's going to go You can't count on it If that's your

God your God's going to perish It's going down Notice the words rotted moth -eaten rusted

James points out the folly of hoarding food Hoarding expensive clothing hoarding money all which is subject to decay and pass away

All subject of theft all subject of fire All other forms of loss.

It's going to pass away And he says that here the very fact that these things are perishing and wasting away as a witness against those

That you have trusted these uncertain riches and material possessions. That's what he's saying It's like James is saying in effect look at all you've trusted in it's gone it's going to perish it's passing away you've banked on this and and you think it's bringing you happiness and security and yet all it's brought you is

Misery and miseries coming to you. That's what he's saying So even though they have stored up for the last days their treasures

Will nothing they would do nothing for them in the very end That's what he's saying.

You can't count on it. You can't trust in these riches You know you think of it some of the most wealthiest richest people on the face of this earth has found themselves the most miserable

Look at Howard Hughes He was one of the most richest man in the world and he was the most miserable old man you've ever seen in your life

J. Paul Getty is another one I think off right off the top of my head and he actually I remember saying the interviewed and he says money

I wish I never had it It's a curse. It's been a curse to my whole family and not brought nothing but misery

But they've loved it. And now where are they? Where's their soul?

Well, let's go to the next point Greed is seen by God greed is seen by God in verse 4 verse 4 very quickly

Behold the pay of the labors have mowed your fields 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

Lord of Savio's Wow, what a powerful word Now now what's the text saying here the

Basically the point James is making here is the wicked rich had gained some of their wealth by oppressing and defrauding

Their day laborers. They have taken advantage of day laborers those who work for them.

They were they were filthy rich By abusing their power and abusing those that work for them

They put them down and they got rich off their labor and working them to almost death

Now you think about this? This was a practice that was forbidden in the Old Testament Lord willing we'll look at more of this in part two but and the one and this is interesting and the one who hears the cries of The defrauded labors

James warns has reached the ears Now this is interesting.

He uses the word ears not necessarily eyes that God sees everything which

God does God is omni Present he's everywhere. He's all -knowing is omniscient.

He's all -powerful. He's Omnipotent but here James uses the word ears

It's reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth and that word Sabaoth is used frequently in the

Old Testament. You know what it means Luther used it in the hymn The Lord of Sabaoth it means it's it is the commander -in -chief of all the armies of heaven

Of all the angels of heaven. This is the commander -in -chief This is

God on his throne the man of war in the Old Testament that God is the

God Who's God and he's Lord of the armies of all the armies of heaven

James is saying God sees what is happening But God hears the cry that's come up to him

He sees the greed And he's gonna do something about it. God is gonna bring justice

You see this all the way through the Psalms David relied upon God to bring Vindication God is the one to bring justice

James here is saying this text God hears the greed of those who selfishly and foolishly pursues the riches

He says, okay, they cry of those who harvest the fields owned by the rich and reached

God's ears God's ears, you know this text also reminded me of Genesis chapter 4 about Cain Then didn't that come to you?

Cain when he murdered Abel and You notice it says in chapter 4 and you could read the whole story in verses 3 through 10

But verse 10 says this God says to Cain after He he killed

Abel He said what have you done? You know, God already knew everything

He knew it beforehand heat but he comes as a loving parent and it gives the question

What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground

Notice that word crying to me from the ground In other words

Abel's death was well known to God What very well known? God keeps an account a perfect record of everything

James is saying the same figure of speech basically So I said the wicked riches the wicked riches greed is well known to God God sees it

And they're not getting by with it Because justice will be served by the one who is the just one

The Lord of Sabaoth the Lord of the armies will deal with them And you don't want

God to deal with you See many of the workers would have been living paycheck to paycheck in that time and hadn't you been there?

Would have been depended upon their payment and this is what happened as a result they were crying out because of Their need and in the injustice of those that was abusing their power over them and These wicked wealthy rich people abused their power and authority and took advantage of the poor and the laborers

Because of their greediness to get rich God hears the cries

And God knows the poor And he hears the cries of those of suffering of injustice today

May we never be among those who contribute to injustice that they suffer may

God forbid us Because God the Lord of Sabaoth hears their cry. He knows who contributed to the distress and he is not pleased with it

You get God angry We're in trouble.

I Don't want to be on that side of God You see the Lord will repay justice because God is a just God.

He's a righteous God Vengeance is the Lord's he will repay John at the judge of all the earth do right?

We leave these matters in the hands of God, right and that's tough at times, but we know that God knows better And he knows how to handle it and what

I love about God He would do it in fairness. I remember Raven He was talking about the judgment seat of Christ and he was talking about all those in hell and those people that it has did such horrible acts and Some people would say and this is

Raven Hill Raven Hill in his preaching He said well Lord turn up the temperature against these people and he said oh brother

You don't have to worry about that. God is a fair God. He knows exactly what to do and how to handle

Even those there in hell and there are degrees of sin

Those that committed worse sins will be beaten with many stripes Hell's horrible place

So just as God sees all of sin and hears everything as well Let us not think we can get away with greedy pursuit of pursuing riches over of our own

Last point God greed is a self deceiving self deceiving look at verse 5 from verse 6

It's a strong You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure.

You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter Good night. What a powerful word

It just sobers me so much when I read that Now what's he talking about?

They live luxuriously On the earth led a life of wanton pleasure listen to that these wealthy rich Wealthy the people are living their best life now.

That's what's being preached by the false teachers Riches and pleasures are their gods and idols and they were living a life of ease and pleasure and self indulgence but in reality however

What they are doing what according to the Word of God is a fattening up their hearts to receive the judgment of God Now this is an illustration

James gives and what is he referring to? He's talking about the day of slaughter What do you think about when you think of a day of slaughter?

Just like a fattened cattle getting ready to be slaughtered for steak

The rich that James condemns had indulged themselves to the limit to the max and he says it's coming to you

So as animals were eating and fattening themselves and indulge in themselves They had no idea that their destination was to be slaughtered.

That's what he's saying. You're deceived You can't see it, but judgments coming on you You know,

I drive my milk truck out out in the middle of nowhere's and there's farmland. I see all the time and for the longest

I saw and There's there's regular cows That they they raise and these farmers separate these cows

From the bulls and all the bulls over here and I never went I just saw this recently by the way, and it kind of made me think of this in this text well, these bulls

I saw for a Year out there and again bigger and bigger and bigger Eating and they're out there

Just in their own pleasures and eating up The grass

And that's saying I knew every one of them's gone Now granted some of might have been taken somewhere else for purposes

But I can assure you the day of slaughter came for some of them bulls They had no idea that they were their destination was to be steak and hamburger meat

But you know think of this this is what James is saying to the rich You had no idea

You think that this these riches are giving you peace and security You are fattening yourself up for the day of slaughter that the

Lord of Sabbath is going to bring judgment and that's what he's saying God will judge them and more than they indulge in the greed the more judgment will come look at verse 6

James lays out two more charges against these people and he says they have condemned and murdered the righteous as A result lack of payment harsh treatment some of them apparently died didn't he because he mentions murder here

So it must have been pretty tough on the only these righteous people That will be in work to death for their pleasures and their riches and then he does not resist you

The scripture says in other words you are responsible for the death of these people and God sees it

Just as God told Cain and Will be judged greed is self -deceiving beloved greed will make us all think and let's look at our own heart here that everything is, okay

When it's not, okay, we think we're secure, but we're not secure People think money can make you say and brings happiness, but it brings misery and loneliness and unhappiness

It's the opposite And it could be obtained by gaining more and more material possessions the more you get the more you want and you never are satisfied

Look at Solomon Read through the Proverbs He read read

Ecclesiastes all is vanity all is vanity However, James here says that our greed leads to injustice and even sometimes murder

God sees it all. Well, let me give you two applications in my closing I barely got enough time for this, but we're right on time.

Praise God The first one is a critical application. I'd like to say this and it's a heart issue

Turn with me very quickly to the gospel of Matthew. You know where I'm going sermon on the

Mount This is actually where James got this This is the source

All MacArthur nailed it and all the epistles is commentary of the teachings of Jesus every bit of them so James is actually just Giving commentary on what

Jesus taught now to deal with To deal with this it has to be a heart motive, right?

Because that's the problem It's a heart motive That's why

Jesus said this and notice in Matthew chapter 5 What's the very first beatitude he brings blessed are the poor in spirit?

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In other words, if you're poor in spirit, you are extremely rich Because guess what's yours the kingdom of heaven?

you have the kingdom of heaven because You're gonna be poor in spirit What's poor in spirit?

That's the opposite of being self -sufficient Do you see that? It is deep humility.

It's to humble ourselves and recognize that we're utterly spiritually bankrupt apart from God It describes

MacArthur says it describes those who are acutely conscience of their own lostness and hopelessness apart from divine grace

That's what it means to be poor in spirit But notice the next one that's verse 3

Jesus put this in perfect order Blessed are those who?

Mourn didn't James talk about mourning? Yes for they shall be

Comforted it's not the other way around To those who live in the flesh.

That's the way they look at it Oh, I'm gonna bring my comfort the way I want to bring comfort, but it brings them in the end mourn and Hell and misery, but Jesus says if you mourn first You'll be comforted

Speaks of mourning over sin. That's what you born over mourn over your sin The godly sorrow that produces repentance as Paul talks about leading the salvation without regret

So the comfort what's the comfort the forgiveness of sin? in that great comfort

I Don't know about you you you and I get peace from the Lord Jesus Christ by what he is accomplished at the cross

But it's the forgiveness of sin. He releases us of all the sin that we have

Against him. That's why David said restore and to me the joy of our salvation and and that is a prayer of penance

Well, that's the back. That's the beginning so the first critical part of the application

I give you is it must be dealt with greed must be dealt with in a Heart motive and Jesus gives us how to deal with it

Mourn over your sin be poor in spirit then notice it knows he moves on Later on and he and by the way the whole

Sermon of the Mount Jesus aimed at the heart He didn't he didn't aim at the head he didn't aim at the emotions he did he aimed at the heart the motive

He gets down to who we really are and why we tick and to why we think the way we do and what we and why?

We do the things we do Now, what did he say? Look at this in chapter 6 Look at verse 19

This is some of the greatest words. Do not store up for yourselves Yourselves Treasures on earth

That's the warning Why because moths wear moth and rust

Destroy and we're thieves break in and steal. It's not going to be safe First 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven

We're neither moth nor rust destroys. It's safe. In other words, Jesus said it's safe.

Your treasures are safe in heaven and we're thieves do not break in and steal a thief cannot break in in heaven and steal it and Then he says this and boy he gets slams right into right to a person's motives

But where your treasure is there where your heart will be also Where's your treasure?

Where's your treasure? Jesus says that I Is the lamp of the body?

So if the eye is clear though your whole body is full of light and if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness

If then light The light that is in you is darkness. How great is that darkness?

In other words easy to you say he's basically saying this is deception Verse 24 for no one

Can serve see listen this two masters Jesus talks about love and hate listen to this for either.

He will hate the one or love the other It's black and white.

There's a line of demarcation You can't love both. You can't hate both He says if you love one, you're going to hate the other you serve it.

Yeah, which one's your master? He's saying which one do you serve? you will hate the one or love the other or he will be

Devoted to the one or despise the other and then he says it like this you cannot serve

God and wealth mammon He's talking about money. He's talking about riches

You read the rest of that all the way to the end of the chapter He gets right down to it in verse 33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you and what's he talking?

Necessary things food and clothing God will make provision and take care of you Don't you put your heart and these things on this earth and these treasures on earth?

They're going to pass away, but Jesus saying you trust in the Living God now this leads me to my next point

My next application and it's connected with this one. You've got we must in order

To have our heart in the right place We must see

That we are not to trust in uncertain riches Turn with me to first Timothy chapter 6 you know this chapter here as a

Young man as I was converted to Christ and I was first called to the ministry and you know something

I didn't read I didn't even know of John MacArthur at this time. I didn't read John MacArthur's commentary I was actually the only thing

I devoured was the Word of God and My uncle at the time got into the prosperity gospel, and I saw it so so clearly and I And the scripture basically says from withdrawal from such withdraw yourself of those that teach certain things and I saw this so clearly and I said this is going to be tough and I actually

I can honestly say before this little congregation today. I wept before my uncle This was not a pleasant job for me to do

Because I looked up to him as my spiritual mentor my spiritual father, which he was And I loved him dearly and I still love him dearly even though he's gone

But he went right headlong into the prosperity gospel the Word of Faith Gospel the movement

Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin and all these guys teaching prosperity in the name of Jesus Profaning the name of God and all

I did was read the book and they thought I got brainwashed From coming back from Bible school said yeah the

Jimmy Swagger Bible College brainwashed you I said no that this is the Word of God and and God showed me clearly that if you're teaching this you an error and It says right here if anyone advocates in verse 3 a

Different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words the sound doctrine those of the Lord Jesus Christ this is

Paul now keep in mind speaking to Timothy as He's mentoring this this young pastor and he says and with the doctrine conforming to godliness.

He's conceited He understands nothing But he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words

Out of which arise envy and strife and abuse of language and able suspicions constant friction between men and of depraved mind

Deprived of the truth and listen to this who suppose that godliness is a means of gain

And everything in other words everything material Lee That that's all they look upon but then

Paul says this but godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment

Contentment beloved is the essence of godliness if you you show me a godly man,

I'll show you a content man a Content man is a godly man And then he says this for we brought nothing into the world.

We cannot take anything out either right to the point If we have food and covering clothing with these we shall be content

But those who want to get rich fall in temptation listen is he's talking to the church

You don't actually if you won't be specific he's talking to Pastors he's talking to bishops.

He's talking to leaders in the church But those who want to get rich fall into what?

temptation and a snare and Many foolish harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction and then he says it for the love of money is a root of all of the root of all sorts of evil and Some by longing for it have wandered away and of the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs

Gonna cast away Now, what do you do about it? verse 17

And struck those who are rich in this present world do not be conceded and here's his answer right here or to fix their

Hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God Who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy

God gives us all things Yes. Yes, he does But he says this but instruct them to do good to be rich in good works

And to be generous And ready to share Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that Which is life indeed.

See he tells us exactly how to Steer our resources in which

God has blessed us not to love it not to fall before as an idol But know that we are nothing but stewards of what

God has given us You're rich in faith. You're rich in good works

Thank God spares To never trust in an uncertain riches.

Let me close with the proverb Proverbs, I think that fits perfectly for the

Keith open up with Proverbs. I'm closing with the proverb praise God Proverbs 23 look at chapter 23

Here's wisdom Here's wisdom from above Look at verse 4.

Hey, let me back up. Look at verse 3. Do not desire his delicacies for it is deceptive food

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth Cease from your consideration of it

Your understanding of it In verse 5 and when you set your eyes on it, it's gone for wealth certainly makes itself wings

And like an eagle that flies toward the heavens You know that tells us look look at the world

Look look at people in the church pursuing these things that's going to pass away and perish. Oh Look at the charge that James gives

And what does he say he say repent that's what he's saying repent repent repent repent

May God help us May we guard our hearts from such wickedness.

Let's pray Father we thank you for this word today There's such great love behind these words

And Lord may we treasure you above all things if we have you in Jesus Christ and have

Christ your son we have everything Everything in this world pales in comparison to the life eternal in which

Jesus himself is and gives the great salvation father help us to remember that we just We're just a passing through this world

This world's not my home. We're storing up our treasures among the blue Just a passing through May Jesus Christ and him alone be our greatest treasures

Our greatest treasure because he is everything if we have Christ we got it all we're rich in faith

So father guard us from all these things that will flee and fly away and perish

And help us to be good stewards of the things you've blessed us with and share it with others

Because we would give an account one day before you how we used our resources in which you blessed us with That all really father that everything you've given us is on loan to us

It's it's just on loan. It doesn't really belong to us. It's yours This is a this is our father's world and we're so thankful father that we

Are rich in you and as George Beverly Shea said

I'd rather have Jesus than Rich silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold.

I Rather be his I'd rather be led by his nailed scarred hands

Father we thank you for this time We thank you father that we are rich in you and help us Lord to always guard our hearts against these idols

And if it is an idol of our heart may we slam it and take it and dash it against the stones and tear it to pieces and Repent help us

Lord Give us grace to trust you more in Jesus name. I pray