Book of James - Ch. 5, Vs. 1-20 (09/23/2001) | NOTE: Incomplete recording

James 5: Riches, Fraud, and the Judgment of God

The last chapter of the book of James, chapter 5. Does a rich man consider himself rich? No, because he's always looking for more. Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. What miseries are we talking about, Bill?

All right. Now, can a rich man, being rich, not consider himself rich, yet be a Christian? All right. Can he put forth the word of God as a man should, Dennis? All right. Here's a rich man. He doesn't consider himself rich.

Can he put forth the ministries of God as he should? Yes. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. What's that talking about, David? All right. No matter how much or how little we have, it's all compared to someone else, and it, too, shall pass away.

God will judge the big companies, labor unions, also the churches, great and small, in the way that they make their money and the way they spend it. This verse does not impress the godless rich and very few Christians.

Your gold and silver is cankered. Bill, how can gold or silver be cankered? What's he mean, cankered? Well, I think that means.

That's right. That's right. All right. Peter, yes. It's possible to gain a rich by a dishonest way, though. I think that's what he's talking about. Say all that again. It's possible he's talking about the rich man getting gained by dishonesty and by faking it.

Yes. He goes into that. Wealth is to be used for good purposes, not hoarded. For behold, the hire of your labors, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of the Sabbath.

Now, those that work for you are due a day's wages at the end of the day, but you have shortchanged them. This is a person that is looking for every means to put money in his own pocket. He does not open face before God.

He is not open face before God. The Lord, who is more mighty than ye are, hath heard them. More to the point, I think he has seen what you have done. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton.

Is it wrong to have pleasure on this earth? Greg, what is your pleasure? All right, if we keep that in line, straight, then everything else falls into its proper place. Behold, the hire of your labors, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud.

You found some way that rationalized in your own mind that this is legal. But the cries of them are heard by the Lord. The Lord, who is mightier than ye are, hath heard them. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton.

You have nourished your hearts as a day of slaughter. The sensual delights are only employed here in this world. The things that we delight in other than the Lord are only in this life, only in this world, that their desires ran after these earthly pleasures only.

You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. A poor man, by depriving him of his bread, take away a neighbor's living, is to murder him. An employee of his wages is to shed blood.

So never think that you get by with anything. I think that, speaking of a fairly rich man that lived in a town east of here, we stopped by one day to look at his antiques. And he was so overjoyed because he had gotten a hold of a chair, a buffet, or something from a little old lady, a widow, that did not know the value of things.

And he bought it for little or nothing. And he was so proud of that. Of course, he sold it for a tremendous price and made lots of money. Now, that kind of a person fits here. He was a deacon in a Baptist church, but he had still robbed the widow.

You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist. They afterwards killed James because the writer of this epistle, he doth not resist you, and therefore you are secure, but the Lord cometh quickly.

All these people that think they have gotten by illegal means, even if they have not gotten by illegal means, but to put money in their pocket without anybody knowing it. Who is the one that does know it?

All right, the Lord. And there is no fooling Him. There's no hiding and slipping around with Him. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he receiveth the early and latter rain.

Again, referring to the orchard at home, I never saw my father try to hurry up a peach tree to rush up the fruit. It was fruitless. It was not the thing to do. He didn't even think about it, to go pick the food.

The peaches, before they were ripe, he waited patiently. Can the Christian change the world? Then what are we to do? We can't change the world. What are we to do? Go to Matthew 13, 24, and Bill, will you read from 24 through 30?

Be Patient Until the Coming of the Lord

All right. Gather the wheat in my barn. Only God can tell. The room may be full of people that have hidden sin in their life. They're not saved. They act like that they've learned the vocabulary, and they know everything to say and everything to do.

But God knows. He knows how to separate. He knows when to separate. Let them both grow together. Be also patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord. Draweth nigh. Now, this was written nearly 2 ,000 years ago.

How can he say with assurance, David, that the Lord draweth nigh, the coming of the Lord? How can he say that 2 ,000 years ago? How old is the average man? 50, 60, 100? Average. All right. The coming of the Lord, if he tarries for that man's lifetime, is when he dies.

There is no input after he dies. There's no way to go back and change things after he dies. Fred, you and I are, what, 79? Close to it. 79 or 90, one or the other. If the Lord tarries until we die, our end comes when we die.

Now, do you know when you're going to die? Then it would behoove each one of us to be ready for the coming of the Lord. The word established in this means to be turned in one direction, fixed in one position only.

Grudge not one against the other, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Do not grumble. Never end the day without your life being in order, because the judge coming.

Do not judge. Our judging is based 99 upon circumstances. When we find fault with someone, we're actually finding fault with who? God, because he controls all circumstances. Is that right, Greg? Absolutely.

So let's not find fault with God. Take my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and patience. How many of the apostles died an unnatural death?

All but one. Who was the one? John's the only person. Now, he had been boiled in oil but escaped. All of the rest met their end premature as far as man's concerned. The word patience here means to endure consistently, steadfastness, preserve, forbearance, long-suffering, slowness in avenging wrongs.

Why should we be slow in avenging someone that has wronged us? Verge, all right. Now, David, here's one for you. Are hardships meaningless? All right, when do they become meaningless? All right, if we do not seek out the purpose for which they came.

It's meaningless. We can get so caught up and lose sight of that and just concentrate on the hardship that we bury ourself in the hardship. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation.

Did you ever offer an excuse? Excuse me. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Now, the endurer has never taken your eye from the goal. You have heard of the patience of Job? How many of you have heard of the patience of Job?

How many of you have read it recently and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy? What does pitiful mean? Here. All right, is that the Lord? All right. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation.

Now, did you ever offer an excuse? And it's strictly, what's the difference in excuse and reason? Greg, excuse does what? Verge, what's the difference between excuse and reason? John, that's the difference.

Excuses come within, reasons from without. Learn that. Now, did you ever offer as an excuse something like this? I would have been there, but so on and so forth. Don't tack but on the end of it. That would just make an excuse for the fact.

It makes someone else responsible when you put the but on the end of it. Always say yes, yes, or no, no. Never maybe. Maybe gives you an out. For this lies room for doubt. In other words, do not say yes when you mean no, but you had your fingers crossed, so it didn't count.

So don't ever cross your fingers. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is he merry? Let him sing. Now, by afflicted, we mean what, Clarence? All right. What do we mean by merry? That what? Oh, no.

Full of joy. I understand. I forget that every once in a while. I'll try not to ask you a question that requires that. Is any of you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you?

Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The doctors of that day were very few medical doctors. Luke happened to be one. So they were called elders to pray and anoint with oil.

What is the anointing with oil? What did they? What is it that they did, David? I think that here, I would take that to mean this. In this day, you're to get the very best medical help you can. Go to the best hospital you can if you have to go.

But follow the directions of the preacher, of the doctor. Don't ever follow the directions of the preacher. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Now, all of this takes place in the basis of what, Bill? All right. Does this mean that every person that is ill in this congregation, you call for the elder, he prays sincerely for him, he'll get well?

Then what does it mean? David? All right. Confess your sins. If you have wronged somebody, confess them to that person, not others. If you have wronged or been wronged by someone, talk to them about it.

If you were wronged, then admit it quickly. If wronged, give that person every opportunity to confess. But do not, and I underline that not, verbally forgive him until he asks for it. Our Lord did the same thing.

Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. The Lord will forgive your sins, but what has to take place first? Greg? Have to ask sincerely. The same way it is with individual, between two individuals.

One has wronged the other. He doesn't see it. You talk to him about it. Now, it would be wrong for you to out loud forgive him. Always forgive in your heart, but never out loud until he asks for forgiveness.

For you to forgive him and him not ask for it, fosters what, Burge? Life in pity. That's right. It's forgiving him just to satisfy yourself. Don't do that. I know it's hard, but don't do that until they ask for it.

Now, give them every opportunity to ask for. Prod them along a little if you have to. But never forgive unless you're asked. That's right. Absolutely right. But in that process, you don't verbally forgive them.

You've forgiven. That's not what I mean, Clarence. I mean that if in your heart you've forgiven them, you'll certainly act like it. And just don't say the words to the person because that's giving them an out.

You know when you have a contradiction with somebody. You know whether they're looking for the truth, whether they're being obstinate, whether they're just bowing their neck and going on. Don't forgive them in that situation.

We're talking about two different kinds of forgiveness. The forgiveness The divine realm. What? The divine realm. Yes. Yes. It's only the Lord that can forgive sins. But if we find the person, he's just as adamant as he can be, I forgive him in my heart.

I cannot say to him, that's all right, just forget it. Because you've set up a situation for him to do it again, and again, and again, and again. But the time was there. That's right. So why wouldn't you do that?

That's right. But at the same time, he did not ask you to forgive him, that I was wrong. No, it takes the place of pride. If a person has wronged you, you can forgive him in his heart. You can conduct yourself as though it never happened.

You can go on and give him whatever he needs. But just don't say the words, I forgive you, Debbie. Well, we each are in a different set of circumstances. We each have to answer to God. We each have to react the way we're supposed to.

I could not forgive a person verbally just to forgive him, unless he was seeking the forgiveness between men. Now, he'll have to confess to God. That goes without saying. Maybe I will, too. That goes without saying.

But for me to tell Fred it's all right, you hit me upside the head, just forget it. I can't do that. That's what I'm talking about. We can't jump ahead of God. That's right. We can ask somebody for forgiveness and them not give it.

That's right. We can't just let people manipulate and mold other people to bring them around to a better person. I think that's a good nature. I think that's a terrible nature. Parents have to mold their children into being what they're told to be.

That's all I know about what I'm told to be. That's what I'm told to do. We're told to do that? We can't hold our children to be what we're told to be. We can't hold our families to be what we're told to be.

We can't do it all ourselves. So I think that the whole discussion is that what we look at is do we want unbearable forgiveness? If we want unbearable forgiveness, maybe we ought to offer it. Well, that's all true, absolutely.

And it will happen if you go at it like that. All I'm saying is what Jesse reinforced is that if you verbally forgive this person, regardless of what he's done, you verbally forgive him, you have set him up to do it again.

That's true. That's my presentation.

But do not verbally give him an out. Let them receive their committed sin and apologize to you for flagging this place or something. His days will go on and on and on and on. He's paying it actively to you.

So don't give him an out.

I do. I don't think you'll get that. Well, let's, yes, I didn't get all of that. All right, let me tell you what that means. To turn the other cheek, if someone has slapped you, hit you, done something to you, turn the other cheek.

You can't do that and run away. It means you have to expose yourself to the problem until you come to the end. Wrestle it down until you have come to the end. By not turning the other cheek means you run away.

This means you stay there and you find out what it is. Now, all of this boils down. We forgive to God. We don't forgive each other except on a human basis. I forgive people in my heart if they've wronged me.

Try to go on as though it never happened. But I will not, to that person, verbally tell him I forgive you. Now, I act like I have. I do things that foster I have and all of this. But I will not utter that phrase, I forgive you, because it will give them an out to do it again.

All I'm trying to do is if we do not forgive verbally, we are teaching. We're setting up the Christ example. He will not forgive us unless we ask for it. Same way to other people.

I've got a dear commerce in the cross. Didn't God forgive, or Jesus forgive?

That's true, but why did he later say, or why did he say, I've lost it? That's what it boils down to. That's it. Well, let's confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed.

The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to passion, as we are. In other words, he was just a human. And he prayed earnestly that it might not.