The Lord of Sabaoth Hears Their Cries

Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles to the epistle of James in chapter 5. I'm going to begin reading in verse 13 of chapter 4. We enter the last chapter in the study of James going to be sad to leave it, but we Can always turn back and read it again.

It's so wonderful about the Word of God, isn't it? James chapter 4 beginning at verse 13. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a city. Spend a year there buy and sell and make a profit.

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills We shall live and do this or do that.

But now you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it To him it is sin. Come now you rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you your riches are.

Corrupted.

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

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

You have murdered the just. He does not resist you. This is God's holy and infallible word and may we be instructed By it may the Holy Spirit provide illumination and unction. Please pray with me now.

Oh Lord we thank you for your word and we thank you for texts of scripture that are ordinary and familiar but Pack such a punch. Oh Lord to help you. I hope you are blessed by our Engagement with your word.

I pray that you would have everyone be attentive to this your word and that they would be strengthened. Thereby we ask this in Jesus name Amen, please be seated. Today we come to chapter 5 in our study in James and The title of the message is the Lord of Sabaoth hears their cries and of course that's taken from Verse 4 of our section we will consider verses 1 through 6 today Lord willing.

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

Well, let us begin. James has Talked about the rich in many ways and you can follow along with this. It'll be very brief but it'll be helpful to help us see that that that James has already broached the subject of the idea of Wealth and its proper use and the proper accumulation of it in chapter 1 James has said let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation but the rich in his.

Humiliation.

And why is he humiliated because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the Sun risen with a burning heat than it withers its grass. Its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes.

And verse 11 says so the rich man Will also fade away in his pursuits. The wealthiest people in the world. We know them. They're famous to us. There's going to be a day. Well, their pursuits of wealth will end and at their death There will be no carrying their wealth with them into the life to come.

There is a very temporal nature to material wealth and James warns us against that. In chapter 2 we are warned against. Another element of this in relation to wealth in chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 say this.

My brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with partiality for if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and Fine apparel and there should also come in a merit and a poor man in filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one Wearing the fine clothes and say to him you sit here in a good place.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verse 1 chapter 4 where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have again this particular part is not connected so much to rich or poor, but you'll see that there is a Connection to this idea of wealth and the proper accumulation and use of it.

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

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

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

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

God resists the proud But gives grace to the humble. And finally we read the text today a Lack of a view of providence a lack of appreciation of God's Superintendents in ordering of all things we are going to go to such-and-such a city spend a year there.

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

There is an a parable. It's very important along these lines I believe and it's the parable of the rich fool and it's found in Luke chapter 12. It's going to read a very brief portion of that chapter.

The rich young man came to Jesus in Matthew 19 and said good teacher What good things shall I do that I may have eternal life. And Jesus's response to him was to keep the commandments and He asked the questions which ones we prayed through them.

The second table of the law. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness honor your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself and The young man says to him all these things I have kept from my youth.

What do I still lack? Jesus said if you want to be perfect go sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and Come follow me.

Those.

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

He touches the most sensitive part of the situation and he finds the the weak spot. Sell everything that you have. Give it to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Can you imagine the invitation that's given to the rich young man is.

Is one of absolute bliss and joy and delight to go and walk with the master to spend time with him to be maybe part of the outer band of the next level of people close to him In the kingdom. Not an apostle, but Maybe like the Marys and Lazarus.

But what does the young man do verse 22? It says. But when the young man heard that saying he Went away sorrowful for he had Great possessions. And at the end of that section Jesus says in Matthew 19.

Assuredly I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The.

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

Now.

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

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

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

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

A.

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

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

They howled and they wept and they Convulsed and as I think they grieve better than the European Originating people do but they let it out. And that spirit that language is here. This is terror and calamity.

Falling upon the rich and they've been so comfortable. They've had it so good, but Calamity and misery is coming upon them because they're idolatrous and they don't love their brother. They don't love their fellow man.

There are Some visible signs of wealth in the ancient world and some of those are given here. Look at it. What says your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. We know from and deducing from the language of scripture that many men only had one change of clothes.

And maybe another tunic and outer garment to wear when it was cold. Paul it seems even had that kind of wardrobe. So the rich man, he he has fine linen and he has more than one change of clothes. Can you imagine how many clothes are in your? closets.

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

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

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

Maybe I've gotten some gold with some dross in it. I Put my confidence in my gold in my silver and they find it to be corrupted and corroded. James says these are going to be a witness against you. It's going to eat your flesh like fire.

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

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

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

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

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

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

His wife and his little ones are at home. Their bellies are growling. He needs that coin or whatever it is so he can maybe get some food on the way home to feed his family. It's that precarious.

And.

The rich man he can withhold the money for a couple of days. The rich man can decide not to pay them at all. And these who have worked honorably have done what was required of them. They cry out to God.

What has to be for us terrifying words in scripture and the cries of the Reapers? Have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Now, I don't know if you have this in your Bible. There's a little Number or some kind of letter or something next to Sabaoth and it might say hosts and I think the best Translation is armies.

What's up cosmology brother? Cosmology here. The rich man can dispute the weight laborers. Wages in court, you know probably have curry with favor with the judge as he can bribe him. The the laborer has no recourse in the society of a poor man.

He has no recourse it would appear. The rich man has gotten richer on the back of not paying his workers daily bread for sustenance in his family and This has increased his wealth. But here the righteous laborers, I believe cry out to God and They have reached the ears of the Lord of armies.

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

They're crying out under the burden of this fraud and the Lord hears their prayers. He's the Lord of the armies. That's why the rich can weep and howl. For the miseries that are coming upon them. I Have to pause here and give some clarification.

Many righteous people in the Bible have great wealth. The wealth is not the problem. It's how we go about it. Poor men can be very covetous as our brother prayed. Poor men can be very covetous. Poor men can be lazy.

But here we have wicked men mistreating God's people and Our God Hears their cries, isn't that comforting to us the church?

We may.

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

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

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

But we do have to think rightly and biblically about these things. Verse 5 says to the rich. You have lived on the earth and pleasure and in luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter you have condemned you have murdered the just.

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

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

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

I will give you a vineyard better.

Than it.

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

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

Naboth has a vineyard in a garden on ancestral lands. This has been handed down to him Generationally and we've lost a sense of that haven't we. My own family farm in Pennsylvania. How many times was that sold off those pieces to all those different people?

No one held on to it. Naboth treasured these covenant promises that God had given him a land and it was producing. It was valuable to him not only in the present economy. But it meant something from history and it would mean something into the future.

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

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

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

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

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

She wrote in the letter saying Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth with high honor among the people and seat two men.

Scoundrels.

Before him to bear witness against him saying you have blasphemed God and the king. Then take him out and stone him That he may die. See what happens for the rich man as he's not satisfied with his wealth.

He starts in this case his wife starts resorting to other tactics. The rich man in our text owns a field and he decides I'm gonna have more money if I don't pay the workers who harvest the crops. This is the danger that comes with wealth.

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

And they took him outside the city and stoned him with stone so that he died. And they sent to Jezebel saying Naboth has been stoned And is dead. And it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead that Jezebel said to Ahab arise take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite Which he refused to give you for money for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

So it was when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard. The cries of his blood. Reach heavenward. The Prophet of God comes to pay him a visit.

Listen what he says. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying arise go down to meet Ahab king of Israel Who lives in Samaria? There he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it.

You shall speak to him saying thus says the Lord have you murdered and also taken possession? You shall speak to him saying thus says the Lord in The place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth dogs shall lick your blood even yours.

So Ahab said to Elijah. This is a quite a greeting. Have you found me? Oh my enemy. And he answered I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold I will bring calamity on you.

I will take away your posterity and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel Both bond and free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam The son of Nebat and like the house of Basha the son of a hija.

Because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and made Israel sin concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke saying The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. The dog shall eat whatever Whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.

But there was no one like a bit Ahab who sold himself to do the wickedness in the sight of war because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably and following idols According to all that the Amorites had done whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

So it was when Ahab heard those words Surprising the story by the way he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about mourning and The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying see how Ahab has humbled himself before me.

Because he has humbled himself before me. I will not bring calamity in his days. This is even worse to me in the days of his son. I Will bring the calamity on his house. Ahab's gonna die in battle. His son's gonna die.

The dogs are gonna eat his blood and you know, his wife Is going to be treated very shamefully and she's going to die and the dogs are gonna lick up her blood. That goes into second Kings. We have to be mindful of the way we use Our possessions the way we accumulate wealth and we must not ever forget that the Lord Hears the cries of his righteous ones his people.

Now, let's go back to our text. And we'll reach a conclusion here that serves as an introduction into verse 6 you have condemned. You have murdered the just he does not Resist you the rich men defrauding the poor.

It's a death sentence in many cases and we know that people do treacherous thing like Ahab did in relation to Naboth's vineyard. But I find it interesting That this language I do not believe this is primarily about Christ.

I wish I was but I cannot help but think of how significant this connection is here. I think this really falls Contextually with our section but but look at the language of verse 6. You have condemned.

You have murdered the just. He does not resist you. It sounds like what happened to Jesus and Interestingly, I don't think it's prophetic if this James is James the just as he was known He would be martyred.

He would be condemned. He would be murdered by unjust men and not resist them.

The poor.

Going to court going to the gallows. They don't feel like there's a court of appeal. They humbly accept their fate. There's no one who pleads their cause but the people of God cry out and our cries reach the ears of the Lord of the armies and he hears their cries.

And it's gonna be some years, but Jezebel is going to Experience judgment. This son who was raised by these wicked parents. He's going to be dethroned and he's going to be killed. It seems that Unrighteous unjust men Would put someone like Jesus to death and God and his great wisdom Would exact perfect divine justice upon Christ.

And the irony is that our salvation comes through the sinful acts of men in some measure and. And maybe when we struggle with this problem of evil, maybe this world where all these bad things happen. Maybe we see in the end all of these things have turned out.

For the good of God's people in the glory of his name. A Lot of things I don't like about this world. Crimes against children all those things. Someday, maybe we'll learn and we'll figure out that all these things have Ultimately a purpose that's redeemed in Christ.

The wealthy are withholding their money. Leading to the starvation potentially of their workers they even may resort to the killing of their Adversaries. And we've learned a couple times in James what you have not done for the least of these.

You have not done to me. We've also learned that in the history of Israel the the unjust Unrighteous people of God and his covenant have been known for killing the prophets. Better take heart take warning of our own sinful tendencies.

And our own love of the world often is manifested in The love for money, which is a root of all kinds of evil. A couple words of application here. And we'll close. Very simply you cannot serve two masters.

Whether you be rich or poor you have to ask the question Who are you serving if you look at your life and cataloged and documented your life? I think you will find that your your biggest service is performed for yourself.

We'd repent of that. We treasure and cherish and take care of our flesh and a lot of our world is about taking care of ourselves. Money looks like the problem, but the idolatry is personal and internal.