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[0:00] We are going through the book of James. We've gotten now to James chapter 5.! I'll be going through James 5, 1-12. Before I start, I'd just love to pray for us.

[0:20] Father, we pray for your spirit to move, Lord. We pray that you would be glorified as I preach your word, Lord.

[0:33] Help us to revel more in who you are, Lord, and less of our situations, circumstances, and how we feel about ourselves, Lord.

[0:46] Help us to know how big and glorious and grandiose you are, Lord, and how small we are in comparison. Help us to treasure you, Father, above all things.

[1:02] Pray for clarity of words as I preach. Pray for conviction of the body, Lord. Conviction of sin and conviction to love you more than we love ourselves, than we love our lives, than we even love our own families.

[1:18] families, Lord. Lord, we pray that you would save us from our sins, from ourselves, Lord. And if there's any who's not saved that is here, Lord, you save them.

[1:32] In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Alright, I'm going to read James 5, 1-12. You guys can follow along in your Bible if you'd like as well.

[1:43] Come now, you rich people. Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.

[1:56] Your wealth has rotted, and your clothes 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.

[2:09] You have stored up treasure in the last days. Look, the pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out.

[2:21] And the outcry of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

[2:35] You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord's coming.

[2:47] See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and late rains. You also must be patient.

[2:59] Strengthen your hearts because the Lord's coming is near. Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door.

[3:12] Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke the Lord's name as an example of suffering and patience. See, we count as blessed those who have endured.

[3:24] You have heard of Job's endurance and you have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about. The Lord is compassionate and merciful. Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth with an oath, but let your yes mean yes and your no mean no so that you won't fall under judgment.

[3:49] Amen. Amen. What a lovely text. I felt so much fellowship with the Lord as I was studying it and I hope to bring you into that study as well.

[4:06] And to start, what I want us to consider is treasuring God. And a specific verse for this is Matthew 13, 44, which is, the kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.

[4:29] Then in his joy, he goes and sell all that he has to buy that field. And he buys that field because he knows that the treasure itself is worth even more than that field and worth even more than he has.

[4:44] Bonhoeffer says about this, talks about costly grace, grace, which is Christ crucified, right? Grace is not something that's cheap.

[4:55] We throw around the word grace often, but it's not, we cheapen it in so many ways, but the Son of God came and died for our sins. That's costly grace.

[5:08] Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field. For the sake of it, a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy, which the merchant will sell all his goods.

[5:24] It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble. It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follow him.

[5:39] And in that, well, what I really want us to consider is what is the cost of the treasure to us in following Christ, right?

[5:54] Bonhoeffer hits on a lot of different things there, which I'd love to explore more as we go through the text. This is a really long text, so keep your Bible open, keep your app open.

[6:06] I'm going to try to go verse by verse and then we'll hit some application points to conclude. So the first section to hit would be James 5, 1 through 6.

[6:21] And in this section, really first, I just want to go through a definition of rich, right? What does it mean to be rich? rich, and a dictionary definition of it is having a great deal of money, wealth, or assets, right?

[6:38] But in some eyes, like whenever I was really, really poor growing up, not that I'm rich, truly, but whenever I was growing up, I saw those who were rich as those who had more than they needed to live, right?

[6:54] So really, anyone who had any excess was rich to me. And that is the case for a lot of people in this world who are not as fortunate.

[7:07] And the Bible has a lot to say about the rich. It has a lot to say about wealth. It has a lot to say about our finances. And some questions that I want to put to the test and I want you guys to consider as we go through this is, is it a sin to be rich?

[7:24] Is it a sin to be wealthy? Right? There's condemnation here given to the rich. Weep and wail over the miseries.

[7:35] Talking of the rich. Is it a sin to be rich? And then of that, should our daily bread, right, our needs be of constant not knowing where it'll come from?

[7:45] So constant strain, constant striving, right? Is it wrong to save your excess when there's so many people who don't have?

[7:56] Right? What about your 401ks? Why are you saving up a 401k? Try to answer these to the best of my abilities based on what the Bible has to say, but start with verse 1.

[8:12] Come now, you rich people. Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. Right? There's a progression that James will talk about in those who are rich, right?

[8:28] But here, he's saying what those who are rich need to do is weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on them, meaning that there's judgment coming for them.

[8:39] but that is because of how they view wealth, how they view money, right? 1 Timothy 6, verse 17 through 19, Paul is talking about those who are wealthy, and he says to Timothy, instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.

[9:11] Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold what is truly life.

[9:28] Right? These people that James is talking of is the opposite of this. they are rich in this present age, but they're arrogant.

[9:39] They're arrogant in their wealth. Right? And that arrogance comes from not needing to depend on anyone, not needing to depend on anything, not having any uncertainty.

[9:53] Right? But that's not what Paul says. Paul says that the uncertainty of wealth, wealth is uncertain. it's here one minute and gone the next.

[10:07] God is the only one who is certain. He's the only one who is immovable. Right? And those who are rich, he instructs them are to do good works, be generous, be willing to share.

[10:22] Right? That is the instruction that is given to those who are rich. But in here, those who are arrogant and trusting in their wealth, there's a weep.

[10:33] It's a wail because there is a coming judgment. To continue, verse 2 and 3, your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth eaten.

[10:50] Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. Right? In this, we are living in a time of the last days.

[11:13] Right? where it says, in these last days, it is between Jesus' first coming and Jesus' second coming. And we are in these last days now.

[11:26] There's a theme in this text that James references often, which is Jesus is returning soon. Right? I think different people hold different conviction as to when Jesus will come back, what needs to take place before he comes back.

[11:44] But the theme that James gives here is that he is coming soon. Right? And I want us to consider that in this. That Jesus' return is imminent.

[11:58] He will come like a thief in the night. That is not just a verse that's out there. Oh, he'll come like a thief in the night, but all these need to happen first. No. That's true.

[12:08] And so Jesus' return is soon. And all these things in here that these people trust in, these wealthy trust in, will fail.

[12:24] Right? What? Your wealth has rotted. Right? Any food or abundance that you store up will rot. there's nothing that you can store up in food in abundance or anything like that that will not rot.

[12:39] Your silver and gold are corroded. Right? You trust in your silver and your gold, your Bitcoin, your Ethereum. It's corroded.

[12:52] Your dog go to the moon, Michael. And their corrosion, their corrosion will be a witness against you.

[13:04] There's this verse of God being able to raise up the sorry, different verse that if we didn't praise God, the stones would cry out.

[13:15] Right? And in worship of God. And in the same way, these gold and these silver will be a witness against these people. Why?

[13:26] Because this gold and this silver is truly the idol that they are worshiping. You don't have to go to a Hindu temple to see an idol. Just look at your bank account that you're worshiping.

[13:42] And that brings us to what Jesus says in Matthew 6, 19 to 21, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

[13:57] Right? Which is what they're doing. Storing up for themselves treasures on earth. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And that is working with what Paul said that the rich need to do, which is to be rich in good works.

[14:15] Be generous. Right? Willing to share. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves don't break in and steal.

[14:26] for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Right? Where is your heart? Right? Is it in your bank account?

[14:39] Is it in the abundance of food that you can have? Or even the delicacies of food that you can have? I love the imagery that James writes.

[14:52] he says not only that there will be a witness against them, but they will eat their flesh like fire. It's kind of gross.

[15:06] But that is just the wrath that is to come upon them. Right? The imagery that what you trust in will be turned against you.

[15:20] Not only will it be turned against you, it will consume you. As a judgment that what you needed to trust in was the all consuming fire of God.

[15:37] Onward we go. Verse 4. Look, the pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields, cry out. And the outcry of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of the hosts.

[15:51] Lord of hosts. The one James talks about, right? Those rich are greedy. They're selfish. They are withholding.

[16:05] And they do this so that they might be richer. They withhold what is due their workers, right? It says who mowed your fields, but really it's someone who's harvesting.

[16:18] So, someone who takes a sickle to the grain and brings it into the barn, right? They didn't have lawnmowers then. See, you know? But it's someone who's out in the heat of the day and working, working like a dog to take care of their family, and yet the rich would withhold their pay.

[16:39] But in their arrogance and pride, they had set themselves up against the Lord of hosts. An ancient name that James invokes, the Lord of hosts, also the Lord of armies, the commander, right?

[16:58] And this goes back to what James is saying in chapter four, which is God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God is in opposition to anyone.

[17:09] who would do this because they're arrogant. There's injustice there, and God is a God of vengeance. And so I come to the question when I was studying of wanting to ask yourself, are you a withholding person?

[17:28] Do you withhold what is due to other people? Right? I don't have any workers.

[17:39] awesome. Let's read the story of Ananias and Sapphira. But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property.

[17:52] However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife's knowledge and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. Ananias asked, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?

[18:09] Wasn't it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn't it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have lied not to people but to God.

[18:21] And when he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead and great fear came over all who heard. The young man got up, wrapped his body, carried him out and buried him.

[18:34] To continue, Peter asked his wife, did you sell the land for this price? And she said, yes, for that price. And Peter said to her, then why did you agree to test the Holy Spirit? Let the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out.

[18:50] And instantly she dropped dead at his feet. In this, not only of who works for you, but do you withhold what truly belongs to the Lord?

[19:04] Whether it be tithing, whether it be God calling you to give to a certain person, whether it be God saying to do such and such with such and such money, are you withholding?

[19:19] For you have set yourself up against the Lord. Do not be arrogant from this. Do not be like Ananias and Sapphira. And even, I think everyone can relate to this, waiters.

[19:36] There's a really bad stigma that Christians have with waiters that Christians are really bad tippers.

[19:50] I remember I was with my buddy, Sam, in New York, and I was like, yeah, I don't really tip.

[20:02] I don't really do that. He's like, oh, nice. Nice way to love your neighbor, right? That should not be the stigma that outsiders have with Christians.

[20:17] It should be that we are generous people. It should be that we are loving, not only in our money, but in talking to these waiters and loving them and preaching the gospel to them, dare I say it.

[20:33] That should not be how we act with anyone our attitudes towards our brothers and sisters, towards those on the outside, should not be one of withholding because our Father did not withhold his own Son from us.

[20:49] But he poured out his blood generously for you. Onwards to verse 5.

[21:01] You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. Pleasure and luxury are what these people are seeking.

[21:18] It's ultimately what these desires, any sinful desire, will lead you to, is being pleasurable, being luxurious. I mean, if you consider the story of the prodigal son, what does he run to?

[21:32] He runs to prostitutes, to spending all the money on fleeting things. That's what they desire. And some people, unlike the prodigal, will never get saved, will never hit rock bottom, but will continue living this way.

[21:50] There's a day of slaughter coming. there's the example of Jesus telling the story of when a nobleman goes off to a far country to receive a letter to become king, and his servants send a delegation after him saying, we don't want this man to be king.

[22:13] This is the parable of the ten talents, ten meneas. And when the nobleman returns with the letter to be a king, what does he do with those wicked servants?

[22:26] He slaughters them before him. There is a day of slaughter coming, when the king of kings will return and judge these types of people who are setting themselves up against the Lord, not trusting in him, but trusting in the world, in their own power, in their own wealth, God's God's And that's an encouragement to strengthen your hearts with Christ.

[23:03] Verse 6, you have condemned, you have murdered the righteous who does not resist you.

[23:14] I think the NIV has a better reading, which is, you have condemned and murdered the innocent one who is not opposing you. NIV for you, so.

[23:28] There's a progression in the love of money, right, that is being laid out here. They're withholding, right, they, okay, they've gotten this idol of money, right, they've desired it, I love it.

[23:44] And then it starts off with them hoarding, right, hoarding more and more silver, more and more grains, more and more stuff. And they're like, oh, I want even more.

[23:56] Let me start withholding from my workers. I'll get even more that way. Aggression. Let's keep going. And with all that, I can live luxuriously.

[24:08] I can live such comfort. Oh, man, there's some people who are opposing me. They're opposing what I'm doing. They don't like it. I'm going to murder them.

[24:21] I hate that they oppose me. I hate that they come after me. I'm going to murder them and condemn them. That is what's happening. These are innocent ones.

[24:37] Sorry, it says, who is not even opposing. Right? It reminds me of John the Baptist and Herod.

[24:50] When John the Baptist goes and confronts Herod and says, you need to repent. I believe it was his brother sister that he was married to.

[25:03] Says, like this, like you need to be divorced from her. And what did she ask for at that dance? For John the Baptist's head.

[25:14] Because she wanted to continue in her sensuality. I would encourage you brothers and sisters to continue to oppose.

[25:28] Do not fear death. Do not fear opposition. Do not fear persecution. Your God is backing you.

[25:42] And he is the rock. And I consider in this verse even Lazarus and the rich man.

[25:55] Right? There is a rich man who is dressed in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.

[26:07] But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who is lying at his gate. He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man's table. But instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.

[26:20] One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off at Lazarus' side.

[26:34] Father Abraham, he cried, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony in these flames.

[26:44] son, Abraham said, remember that during your life you received your good things just as Lazarus received his bad things.

[26:56] But now he is comforted here while you are in agony. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot, neither can those from here cross over to there.

[27:13] father, he said, then I beg you, send him Lazarus to my father's house because I have five brothers and I want to warn them so that they won't come to this place of torment.

[27:28] But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets, they should listen to them. No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.

[27:39] But he told them, if you don't listen to Moses and the prophets, then you won't be persuaded if someone raised from the dead. There's revelation in this, truly, that only God can save someone.

[27:58] Right? If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, and they won't listen to someone who's raised from the dead, only God can save a truly dead person whom we all are.

[28:11] We are all dead in our trespasses and in our sins, and if you don't believe that, then you believe in a lie. Of this text right here, I've had great comfort in this text at one point in my life.

[28:32] I think I was about 15 when I watched this documentary called Hypernormalization. Great documentary. It's about four hours long. If you're committed to Lord of the Rings, you'd be committed to this.

[28:47] But it shares of the downfall of the Soviet Union, and from there progresses to how the banks came to take control of a lot of the world, and how a lot of the world was controlled by money and power the rich and the wealthy.

[29:11] And it shows all of the wars that are funded by so many rich people. And what the documentary really does is it presents to you all these things, but doesn't give a conclusion.

[29:26] It doesn't say what should happen, what you should do, what you should think. It just says, this is happening. And my heart was so fearful because I considered how rich these people are, how powerful they are, and how I have no control over any of these things that they could do.

[29:47] Yet this text was so comforting because yet these realities are still true to this day, that the rich do murder the innocent. Right?

[29:58] to stay rich and wealthy. But, God has the final say in all of these things.

[30:10] He is in control of all of these things. He's the one who ordains them, and He's the one who will bring judgment upon those who are wicked in the misuse of money, in the misuse of power, in the misuse of authority.

[30:27] And He will slaughter them. Note of a new section, moving on to verses 7 through 11.

[30:44] To me, as I was reading this, it seems like a culmination of multiple themes and things that have been represented throughout the book of James.

[30:54] that are now in kind of these verses, right? So, in my Bible, in CSB, I know a lot of you guys read ESV, in mine, one thing that I noted was it starts off each section almost with therefore brothers and sisters, in verse 7, then verse 9, brothers and sisters, do not complain, and then verse 10, brothers and sisters, take the prophet.

[31:20] And then verse 12, above all, my brothers and sisters. The CSB, NIV should have something, or KJV, something like brethren, or ESV, maybe even brothers and sisters.

[31:32] It's kind of a crescendo, a drumbeat. Therefore, brothers and sisters, therefore, brothers and sisters, these are the things that I want you to do. Right? And just together, verse 7 and 8, therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord's coming.

[31:54] See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and late rains. You also must be patient.

[32:06] Strengthen your hearts because the Lord's coming is near. That theme that I mentioned of the Lord's coming and the Lord's coming being near is evident here. Right?

[32:17] We are in this waiting period, waiting for the Lord. Come, Lord Jesus, come. And what does this type of patience look like that James is writing about?

[32:30] And for this, I want to highlight Romans 8, 25, which says, now if we have hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

[32:41] Right? We eagerly wait for it with patience. Right? There's a lot of things that I eagerly wait for. such as my chicken nuggets in the toaster oven.

[32:54] I eagerly wait for it and I eagerly wait for it with patience because if I took it out, it would still be frozen. A new movie release.

[33:05] I'm forced to be patient for that, but I eagerly wait for it. I'll watch the trailer time and time again, eagerly waiting for it, but I have to be patient because it'll come.

[33:16] It'll come soon. Man, for that monster buck to come around before I could pop it. It's a nine-pointer. Hunting.

[33:29] You guys didn't get that? Whatever. But if 20 years from now, the Lord tarries, I wonder if based on the pattern of your life now, you would be eagerly waiting for the Lord.

[33:48] Would you be eager? Do you eagerly wait now? Do you consider daily the Lord's coming? God's coming? As Paul says, I have fought the good fight, right?

[34:07] Will you say 20 years from now, I have fought the good fight. I'm fighting the good fight. I have never stopped fighting. I have not ceased for a minute to stop doing good works.

[34:22] The Lord is my rock and my foundation, my joy, and daily I must come to him and plead for dependence and salvation. Is that you, 20 years from now, eagerly waiting?

[34:40] Are you eagerly waiting now? What does your waiting look like? Is it eager? Is it hungry? Is it come, Lord Jesus, come, I need you because I love you.

[34:55] And as James held that resolve that the Lord's coming was near, so must we, we must, we must, else we lie that we have joy in the Lord.

[35:16] It is hard sometimes, it's tough, but we must eagerly remember that his coming is near. And in this verse, it talks about the establishing of our hearts, right?

[35:33] Or strengthen your hearts, right? And this is a resolve within ourselves. This is a resolve to be strong. Isaiah 57, the Lord will help me, therefore I have not, I have not been humiliated, therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

[35:58] It's kind of weird putting, setting your face like flint. It means a hardening of the face, it means a resolve. And in this resolve of Christ and his coming, and eagerly waiting, we will not be put to shame, but the Lord will honor us.

[36:21] And there is a lot of trials and persecutions to come in our last days that we are in now. There's hard relationships, but come what may, persecutions, slander, being confronted, our own fallen and broken nature, your own sins, we still look to the Lord and we strengthen our hearts and we say, come Lord Jesus, come.

[36:54] Verse, verse 9, to continue this theme, brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another so that you will not be judged.

[37:06] Look, the judge stands at the door. Right? the answer in our flesh might be to grumble in hardship and all these sins and hard relationship to groan.

[37:24] but we must not lest we be judged. Judged by who? By the Lord Jesus.

[37:36] It says, look, the judge stands at the door. He is at the door. He's about to come in. The Lord's coming is near. This groaning is different or this do not complain is different than verse 4.

[37:56] Don't criticize anyone. That criticism there is more of trudence, which is to lie about someone or something like that.

[38:09] This is more of a grumbling, of a groaning against one another. It's not that you're lying about a person. It's that you have some hard relationships and you're like, ugh.

[38:23] There's an ugh attitude towards a person and that is what James is saying you must not have. How does James say that we are to act?

[38:39] James 1, 19 to 21, my dear brothers and sisters, understand this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

[38:51] For human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. Therefore, rid yourselves of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent. Humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

[39:06] And that's a groan. That groaning resolves in being quick to speak, quick to anger, quick to hate, quick to slander, quick to criticize.

[39:20] And no, we're to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. Or do you not love your brothers and sisters? Love covers a multitude of sin.

[39:32] sin. And the judge does stand near. He is wrathful.

[39:46] And he abhors any moral filth. So put that aside. We know how to act. We know it.

[39:57] It's in our minds. sins. And we must bear one another's burdens and not complain against one another. Where there's mistrust, right, where there's bitterness, where there's suspicion, it's when we see Satan at work.

[40:17] There's a lie that we're not against flesh and blood, but of the cosmic powers. Did we not just sing of Satan, our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe?

[40:31] His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal.

[40:46] Did we confess that about Satan just now? Yes. He is armed with cruel hate and on earth is not his equal because we are powerless against Satan except by the Lord.

[41:04] Where you walk in bitterness and unforgiveness and suspicions is Satan's playground and you need to repent. continue to verse 10 11.

[41:27] Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name as an example of suffering and patience. See, we count as blessed those who have endured.

[41:38] We have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome the Lord brought about. The Lord is compassionate and merciful. Why is James exhorting us to take the prophets examples?

[41:53] It's because they suffered greatly. But where did they suffer? Who did they suffer with? They suffered by the hands of people who they loved, who they wanted to be saved, yet rejected them.

[42:09] True brothers and sisters, who rejected them. Unlike the rich, right, who take lives for themselves, who murder to raise up their own wealth, to raise up their own position and status, who backstab, who slander, we are not to be like them.

[42:37] We are to lay down our lives for our government, as the prophets did. I love that he mentioned Job's endurance, or what Job endured.

[42:53] Let's remember what Job endured. He had seven sons and three daughters, and they were all killed. I've wept over my friend losing one son.

[43:07] How much more would I weep if I lost ten kids? Where Job lost all of his wealth and all of his possessions, that is Job's suffering.

[43:24] Consider Job's suffering. Yet at the end of it all, Job says, I have heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

[43:35] Therefore I reject my words, and I am sorry for them. I am dust and ashes. I have heard reports about God, heard the law of God, but now I have seen him.

[43:49] I have seen him in his glory. My kids are taken away. All my wealth is taken away. I have seen you Lord, and I repent my haughtiness.

[44:05] This is Job's endurance, as must ours be, that we stand upon the rock. And then there's a encouragement here in suffering that we all must remember that we all must remember.

[44:29] James says, the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Are you in suffering? Are you in trials? The Lord is compassionate and merciful.

[44:41] Do you believe that? Is he? He is. He is. He is because we are not in hell right now.

[44:55] First off, because that's what we deserve. If you think that you deserve less, that's a lie. onward to verse 12, coming to the end of the chapter or these verses.

[45:20] Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any oath, but let your yes mean yes and your no mean no, so that you won't fall under judgment.

[45:34] I think greater revelation of this verse is found in Matthew 5, 33 to 37, which says, Jesus is talking, says, again, you've heard that it was said to our ancestors, you must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord.

[45:52] But I tell you, don't take an oath either by heaven because it is God's throne or by the earth because it is his footstool or by Jerusalem because it is the city of the great king.

[46:03] Do not swear by your head because you cannot make a single hair white or black, but let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. Anything more than this is from the evil one.

[46:16] The revelation that Jesus gives here is that we swear, as the Jews did, by heaven instead of by God, right? It's an escape. Oh, it's not God, it's heaven.

[46:28] Like, my words mean a little less. I have some escape. Heaven is his throne. When you swear by heaven, you're really swearing to the Lord.

[46:39] Earth is his footstool. It is his still. You're still swearing to God. If you swear by your own head, like, I'm going to do this and I swear upon myself, you are his.

[46:53] He is the potter. You are the clay. If you swear by something fleeting, like the grass, still his. Anything that you swear by will always be his, and your words are still accountable.

[47:08] And so he's saying, don't let this be grandiose. Just be honest. Just be honest. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. And this is consistent with James' teaching, right?

[47:21] verse chapter 3, 3 to 12, just talking about the tongue, right? Now, if we put bits in the mouths of our horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies and consider ships.

[47:40] Though very large and driven by fierce wind, they are guided by a very small rudder, whatever the will of the pirate directs. So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, boasts great things.

[47:56] Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large force. And the tongue is a fire, the tongue, a word from, sorry, and the tongue is the fire, the tongue, a world of unrighteousness, a place among our members.

[48:14] It stains the whole body, sets, sets, sorry, I'm losing my place, sets the course of life on fire, and it sets itself on fire by hell.

[48:29] Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

[48:43] With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God's likeness. in this, James is telling us to just remember the tongue.

[48:56] Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Control of the tongue is super important. We will be judged by our words. If God's law is so important that not a dot or tittle will be taken away, then I will judge us by our words.

[49:14] For out of the mouth, the heart speaks. I tell this to my wife all the time whenever I'm joking. Whenever she's joking actually. And she's like, babe.

[49:28] And so with all that, I have three application points for us to consider. The first is your treasure.

[49:42] Where is your treasure? Right? There's a constant desire for us to have the bigger, the better, and the new. The bigger house, right?

[49:54] The bigger car, right? The bigger whatever. The better phone, better laptop, better work situation, a newer car, insert it, right?

[50:11] The bigger, the better, the newer. But it's not bad to desire those things. But where's your treasure? Is that where you're treasuring?

[50:23] Like, are you keeping up with the Jones? Is that what you're doing? Instead, it should be monumental. God is monumental.

[50:37] God is the bigger, the best, the most monumental thing that there ever could be. That is who we are to treasure. God is marvelous.

[50:48] He is far better than anything we could think of or imagine. Oh, how marvelous. Oh, how wonderful. And my song shall ever be.

[51:00] Oh, how marvelous. Oh, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. He is monolithic, meaning that he will never change.

[51:14] You want the newer, but he never changes. He's consistent. He is monumental, he is marvelous, and he is monolithic.

[51:28] That is where your treasure needs to be. Where is yours? is it in a new work situation?

[51:39] Not bad again. What is that? Is God truly who you're treasuring? Truly who you're desiring? As I've talked about the return of the Lord Jesus, is he so precious to you?

[52:00] And then the second application point is patiently waiting. instead of complaining. And I just have a question here which I've hinted at multiple times, which is, do you know what you deserve?

[52:18] Truly, have you considered? Maybe you have, but consider again. Do you know what you deserve? It is God's kindness and patience that we are saved.

[52:34] it is his loving kindness that we are here, that we are not crushed as we should be, that we are not in agony.

[52:49] Do you know what you deserve? so in patiently waiting instead of complaining and grumbling, I mean this with our church members, right?

[53:06] We are to be patient with them, right? Because what we deserve is impatience. What we deserve is a quick, swift vengeance because we have broken God's law.

[53:21] We are to be patient and compassionate because we are striving to be like our Savior. Are you patient? Are you patient in your situation of life?

[53:35] Waiting and depending on God? Are you patient with your spouse? Are you patient with your kids? Are you patient with your spiritual kids?

[53:47] I have a great example from Sarah of us. I was confessing last night a lot of sins that I had and one of it being not truly giving her time that she deserves and giving more time and more affection to the body and to the brothers than I was given to her.

[54:17] and she responded and said, I've been praying for that for you and it's a great example of being patient in prayer.

[54:35] prayer. Be patient. If you've confronted, has not been received well, patiently pray because only God can open their eyes.

[54:53] And then the last one is endure to the end. are you in trial now? Are you suffering? Is there hardship in your life?

[55:07] Endure to the end. Consider Job. He endured to the end and his trust was in God. Are you in trial now because of a sin?

[55:20] Are you being disciplined because of a sin? Repent and endure to the end. Finish the race.

[55:31] Truly. I hate running with a passion. Finish the race. Runners have such endurance and we must run in the spiritual race with endurance.

[55:51]  And our feet are weak but Christ quickens us. Do you trust in him?