The Lord of Sabaoth Hears Their Cries

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:04

Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles to the epistle of James in chapter 5

00:13

I'm going to begin reading in verse 13 of chapter 4

00:21

We enter the last chapter in the study of James going to be sad to leave it, but we

00:28

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

00:40

Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such -and -such a city

00:48

Spend a year there buy and sell and make a profit Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow

00:59

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away

01:08

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

01:23

Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it To him it is sin

01:31

Come now you rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted

01:45

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

02:00

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

02:11

Cry out and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the

02:17

Lord of Sabaoth You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury

02:24

You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter

02:30

You have condemned You have murdered the just He does not resist you

02:39

This is God's holy and infallible word and may we be instructed

02:46

By it may the Holy Spirit provide illumination and unction. Please pray with me now.

02:53

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.

03:05

Oh Lord to help you. I hope you are blessed by our Engagement with your word.

03:11

I pray that you would have everyone be attentive to this your word and that they would be strengthened

03:17

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

03:44

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

03:56

Lord willing For those of you who have need of some direction for an outline

04:03

I'll give you two very simple words to Line up your own thoughts.

04:09

First is the peril of the wicked wealthy the peril of the wicked wealthy and Second would be the protection and vindication of the righteous the protection and vindication of the righteous

04:33

Well, let us begin James has Talked about the rich in many ways and you can follow along with this

04:42

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

04:56

In chapter 1 James has said let the lowly brother glory in his

05:03

Exaltation but the rich in his humiliation And why is he humiliated because as a flower of the field he will pass away

05:18

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

05:38

The wealthiest people in the world. We know them. They're famous to us. There's going to be a day

05:44

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

05:54

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

06:15

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

06:34

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.

06:44

Have you not shown? Partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts

06:52

One thing I should point out this Idea is not just archaic and from antiquity

07:00

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

07:13

In verse 5 says this of chapter 2 listen my beloved brethren has

07:19

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

07:27

And I believe this verse has a lot of bearing on our text, but you have dishonored the poor man

07:37

Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

07:48

Now I'm going to point out something to you here that it might be helpful I may not get to it later.

07:55

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

08:07

The wealthy have an unfair advantage in our legal process Justice is not blind and I'll give you one example

08:16

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

08:33

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

08:42

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

08:54

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

09:09

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

09:19

So this is something that we should strive for and move forward with James 2 continues and This is in relation to wealth

09:30

I believe because the attitude of James's hearers is not proper when it comes to those in need and we could say this is not necessarily a rich man or poor

09:42

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

09:50

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

10:00

But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body What does it profit?

10:06

This is the context of that famous statement from James thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead

10:16

Skipping over to chapter 4 Thank you for your patience again trying to set the context of James and his

10:25

Interaction with the idea of the rich and his epistle Begin at verse 1 chapter 4

10:36

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

10:47

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

10:57

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.

11:07

You do not have because you do not ask You ask and do not receive

11:14

Because you ask amiss and here it is children pay close attention That you may spend it on your pleasures

11:24

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

11:33

And I think there's a strong connection between friendship with the world and our view of wealth and possessions verse 4 says

11:42

Adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God and Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world

11:53

Makes himself an enemy of God Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously

12:04

But he gives more grace. Therefore. He says God resists the proud

12:10

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

12:23

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and finally, we read the text today a

12:34

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

12:46

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

12:55

To secure the future and God himself is the one who holds the future in his hands without turning there

13:05

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

13:14

It's gonna read a very brief portion of that chapter The rich young man came to Jesus in Matthew 19 and said good teacher

13:25

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

13:41

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

13:53

And the young man says to him all these things I have kept from my youth. What do

13:58

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

14:15

Those commandments I want you to think about this those commandments were in some measure easy for the rich young man

14:24

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 And Jesus So often as he did

14:38

He touches the most sensitive part of the situation and he finds the the weak spot

14:46

Sell everything that you have Give it to the poor And you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me

14:55

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

15:06

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

15:21

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

15:37

Great possessions and at the end of that section Jesus says in Matthew 19 assuredly

15:44

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

15:56

Than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God The eye of the needle in Jerusalem, you may or may not know.

16:06

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

16:32

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

16:49

The camel would have to squat down and be kind of pushed and work through to get it and Jesus says makes this analogy

16:56

That's the difficulty that it would take for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven

17:05

I've made the case many times and this has been proven to be true even more so than I originally thought

17:11

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

17:37

Where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal

17:43

For where your treasure is There your heart will be also

17:51

Now, let's look again at our text in chapter 1 chapter 5 verse 1, excuse me

18:01

James calls the unrighteous rich among them

18:08

To weep and to howl for the miseries that are coming upon them now

18:16

What's hard about this is it's hard to imagine Jesus writing to a group of believers and saying that but this is

18:25

Something that could happen to them. We learned in Sunday school last week and the week prior

18:30

I believe that the idea of wheat and tares coming up in the same place is very possible

18:37

There are rich men coming into the assembly. Apparently we've got it in our text No doubt the

18:44

Jewish people were the Jewish rich were oppressing the Righteous poor of the

18:50

Jewish converts to Christianity. They were kicking them out of the guilds They were not able to have an occupation in many cases.

18:58

They were starting over from scratch But James says you who have put your count your your stock in your wealth

19:09

You who have found all of your comfort in this Calamity is coming upon you

19:20

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

19:30

Black funeral where someone unexpectedly has died one of my friends in High school was a football player and he died a senior year

19:41

He had a scholarship to play. I can't remember where to play football. He's running track and collapsed and died on the track and a large heart a genetical defect and I went to the funeral and it's the first time

19:56

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

20:09

Convulsed and as I think they grieve better than the European Originating people do but they let it out

20:18

That spirit that language is here. This is terror and calamity

20:24

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

20:38

They don't love their fellow man there are

20:46

Some visible signs of wealth in the ancient world and some of those are given here. Look at it.

20:51

What says your riches are corrupted and Your garments are moth -eaten

21:00

We know from and deducing from the language of Scripture that many men only had one change of clothes

21:09

And maybe another tunic and outer garment to wear when it was cold. Paul it seems even had that kind of wardrobe

21:17

So the rich man, he he has fine linen and he has more than one change of clothes

21:23

Can you imagine how many clothes are in your? closet But they've got these wealthy garments

21:32

It's probably interlaced with jewels and gems and gold and silver

21:40

And this thing that they put their confidence in they have Got moth -eaten garments now

21:48

The fleeting nature of wealth you can buy an expensive garment, but the moth can come in and and eat it

21:57

Look at verse 3 Your gold and silver are corroded gold and silver are precious metals

22:04

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

22:19

These are imperfect Maybe I've been swindled. I'm a swindler, but maybe

22:24

I've been swindled Maybe I've gotten some gold with some dross in it. I put my confidence in my gold and my silver and they find it to be corrupted and corroded

22:37

James says these are going to be a witness against you. It's going to eat your flesh like fire

22:51

Now what I didn't say to you purposely is

22:56

The rich people described in the passages that we read Are not described as having gotten their riches any other way, but honorably.

23:06

Maybe that's that's not true But there's no discussion of their dishonorable practices So those warnings are given against rich people maybe going about it the right way

23:17

But in our text we have another element. It's very critical. Let's look at it. It says you have heaped up treasurer

23:25

In the last days Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields

23:34

Which you kept back by fraud cry out And the cries of the

23:40

Reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth wealthy garments gold and silver

23:52

The third element has to be connected to farming and animal husbandry

23:57

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

24:15

Nabal had 3 ,000 sheep and 1 ,000 goats. It's astounding how much wealth

24:23

Some of these men had But here's the picture The wealthy who have wealth by definition they own fields and they produce crops

24:35

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

24:50

What you may not know is that the average laborer worked for daily pay his

25:02

Belly was probably growling at the end of the day His wife and his little ones are at home

25:09

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

25:15

It's that precarious And the rich man he can withhold the money for a couple of days the rich man can

25:24

Decide not to pay them at all And these who have worked honorably have done what was required of them

25:35

They cry out to God What has to be for us terrifying words in scripture and the cries of the

25:47

Reapers? have reached the ears of The Lord of Sabaoth Now, I don't know if you have this in your

25:57

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

26:07

Translation is armies with some cosmology brother cosmology here

26:14

The rich man can dispute the Weight laborers

26:21

Wages in court, you know probably have curry with favor with the judges. He can bribe him

26:28

The the laborer has no recourse in the society of a poor man.

26:34

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

26:51

But here the righteous laborers, I believe cry out to God and They have reached the ears of the

27:02

Lord of armies Riches are connected to enmity with God the right

27:11

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

27:28

They're crying out under the burden of this fraud and the Lord hears their prayers.

27:34

He's the Lord of the armies That's why the rich can weep and howl

27:42

For the miseries that are coming upon them I Have to pause here and give some clarification

27:53

Many righteous people in the Bible have great wealth The wealth is not the problem

28:01

It's how we go about it. Poor men can be very covetous as our brother prayed.

28:06

Poor men can be very covetous Poor men can be lazy But here we have wicked men mistreating

28:16

God's people and our God Hears their cries, isn't that comforting to us the church?

28:27

we may Get taken of advantage of in the culture. We may not do well in our court proceedings

28:34

But but our God who has the armies hears our cries and He acts

28:43

He moves What a terrifying thing to be a rich man defrauding poor people to increase his wealth

28:53

It's important also to know that Social gospel and socialism and communism is

29:03

Not the teaching of Scripture nor is it of this passage? This is getting paid for an honest day's work

29:11

And being defrauded. It's not the redistribution of wealth stealing your wealth and giving it to another that's not what this is

29:17

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

29:34

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

29:50

You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter you have condemned

29:56

You have murdered the just He does not Resist you.

30:05

I didn't find any support for this in my Study, but I feel that this text of Scripture really is helpful to this

30:17

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

30:26

I was studying and thinking about this principally And it's gonna tell us where the wrong view of wealth and power where it takes us

30:36

And how we can see how it even can lead to the death of someone when we covet their goods

30:42

And we seek to enlarge our wealth by fraud It's gonna be helpful to that in first Kings In chapter 21

30:56

It came to pass after these things That Naboth the

31:02

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

31:30

I will give you a vineyard better than it Or if it seems good to you,

31:36

I will give you its worth in money This is just this right now is above board

31:44

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.

31:51

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

32:03

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

32:19

Naboth has a vineyard in a garden on ancestral lands This has been handed down to him

32:28

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

32:40

Naboth Treasured these covenant promises that God had given him a land and it was producing

32:46

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.

32:55

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

33:05

And if we do it, well, our children will consume it before the grandchildren will get it

33:10

We've lost this proper view of of wealth and inheritance The things take a dark turn

33:21

So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased Because of the word which

33:28

Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him For he had said

33:34

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

33:46

But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him. Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food?

33:54

He said to her because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him

34:00

Give me your vineyard for money or else if it pleases you I will give you another vineyard and he answered

34:06

I will not give you my vineyard Then Jezebel his wife said to him

34:14

You now exercise authority over Israel. What's so haunting about this is we need righteous kings

34:25

We need righteous men and positions of power because if we don't have righteous men we have things like this

34:35

Arise, his wife says, eat food Let your heart be cheerful.

34:41

I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite and She wrote letters in Ahab's name treachery fraudulent lying conspiracy

34:57

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

35:05

Saying proclaim a fast and seat Naboth with high honor among the people and seat two men scoundrels

35:16

Before him to bear witness against him saying you have blasphemed

35:22

God and the king Then take him out and stone him That he may die

35:28

See what happens for the rich man as he's not satisfied with his wealth

35:38

He starts in this case his wife starts resorting to other tactics The rich man in our text owns a field and he decides

35:48

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

35:59

So the men of his city the elders and nobles who are the inhabitants of a city

36:05

Did as Jezebel had sent to them and it was written in the letters

36:11

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

36:27

Naboth has blasphemed God and the king And they took him outside the city and stoned him with stone so that he died

36:37

And they sent to Jezebel saying Naboth has been stoned And is dead

36:45

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

36:55

Jezreelite Which he refused to give you for money for Naboth is not alive, but dead

37:02

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

37:18

Reach heavenward The Prophet of God comes to pay him a visit listen what he says

37:25

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying arise go down to meet

37:31

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

37:43

You shall speak to him saying thus says the Lord have you murdered and also taken possession?

37:50

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

38:02

So Ahab said to Elijah. This is a quite a greeting. Have you found me? Oh my enemy

38:10

And he answered I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the

38:16

Lord Behold I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your

38:21

Posterity and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel both bond and free

38:26

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

38:35

Because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and made Israel sin concerning Jezebel the

38:44

Lord also spoke saying The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel The dog shall eat whatever

38:54

Whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field

39:02

But there was no one like a bad 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

39:15

According to all that the Amorites had done whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel So it was when

39:23

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

39:36

Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying see how

39:41

Ahab has humbled himself before me Because he has humbled himself before me.

39:47

I will not bring calamity in his days This is even worse to me in the days of his son.

39:55

I Will bring the calamity on his house Ahab's gonna die in battle

40:04

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

40:16

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

40:31

Lord hears the cries of his righteous ones his people now, let's go back to our text

40:36

We'll reach a conclusion here That serves as an introduction into verse 6 you have condemned

40:48

You have murdered the just he does not Resist you the rich men defrauding the poor

40:59

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

41:12

But I find it interesting That this language I do not believe this is primarily about Christ I wish

41:20

I was but I cannot help but think of how significant this connection is here

41:27

I think this really falls contextually with our section But but look at the language of verse 6

41:38

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

41:59

If this James is James the just as he was known He would be martyred

42:08

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

42:16

Going to court going to the gallows. They don't feel like there's a court of appeal.

42:22

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

42:38

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

42:53

He's going to be dethroned and he's going to be killed. It seems that Unrighteous unjust men

43:08

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 Maybe when we struggle with this problem of evil, maybe this world where all these bad things happen

43:41

Maybe we see in the end all of these things have turned out

43:47

For the good of God's people and the glory of his name a Lot of things

43:52

I don't like about this world crimes against children all those things Someday, maybe we'll learn and we'll figure out

43:59

That all these things have ultimately a purpose that's redeemed in Christ The wealthy are withholding their money

44:18

Leading to the starvation potentially of their workers They even may resort to the killing of their

44:29

Adversaries and we've learned a couple times in James what you have not done for the least of these

44:36

You have not done to me We've also learned that in the history of Israel the the unjust

44:44

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

45:13

Very simply you cannot serve two masters Whether you be rich or poor you have to ask the question

45:21

Who are you serving if you look at your life and cataloged and documented your life?

45:27

I think you will find that your your biggest service is performed for yourself

45:35

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

45:47

Money looks like the problem, but the idolatry is personal and internal You cannot love

45:55

God and money to do it is to be idolatrous to violate the first table of God's law as we pray through and to To continue to love it is to violate the second table to be unloving at best of our neighbor and to be treacherous at worse

46:16

Our text is a pronouncement of judgment upon the wicked rich who do not repent both within the church and without It's also isn't it a comfort to the faithful?

46:33

Do not envy the wicked rich Rejoice and delight in your possession of the true riches in Christ It seems like Abraham in Genesis 15.

46:50

God is both our shield and Our exceedingly great reward. It's here in our text the

46:56

Lord of the armies He's their God. They're his people. He loves them people of God The great treasure trove of the glory of heaven is yours in Christ The Lord of the armies

47:11

Here's your cry. Oh that should boost our joy and our Thanksgiving and our contentment with this life fourth genuine

47:23

Christian faith is Incompatible with the accumulation of wealth through ill -gotten gain

47:37

James has already noted in our text that we have not because we ask not and we don't receive because we ask amiss

47:44

That we might spend it on our pleasures That's why we have a wrong view of wealth and and maybe even more importantly

47:57

We're unwilling to use our wealth to help our brother in need

48:03

Or to visit the widows and orphans in their affliction So being wealthy is not the issue

48:10

It's how do you view money and your duty to serve God and to serve him alone?

48:17

Let us rejoice today the Lord of the armies hears our cries and the just man has been murdered and Condemned made to be sin in our place.

48:34

He has become the poorest of the poor that we might be rich I'll come now.

48:40

Let us feast in the bounty of his table. Let's pray together. Oh Lord we thank you for Ordinary Sundays and ordinary sermons

48:53

We thank you for your provision for us your people. I Pray Oh Lord that we take great comfort

49:01

Knowing that you hear The cries of your people Oh Lord I pray that the rich would no longer defraud the poor and that we would be people who would seek after true justice

49:14

Oh Lord, I pray that we would be those who would not be tempted to to chase after riches that we see the peril and the folly of pursuing that kind of wealth

49:27

And Oh Lord, I pray that your people would be encouraged and strengthened today because They have you

49:34

Lord Jesus as their Savior and their friend. Oh Lord. Thank you for this great gift