Good evening, James chapter five in your Bibles is where we are in our Bible study here on Thursday nights and continuing on. in our study of James. So James chapter 5, and I trust that you've had a good week. There are some good things that are taking place in these days of isolation. There's a group of men here in Scotland, and there's another group in Ireland that are getting together as ministers, and we're praying together. And one thing that we prayed about is if there's anybody out there that is following along online, maybe for the first time and not a part of our churches, that we hear from them. And so if you're out there, we'd love to hear from you. And let me invite you to do this, if you'd like, to just let us know that you're engaged and listening in, and give us your name, and we'd like to pray for you. And that's something that we're doing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and we'll do that. And so that'd be great. We'd love to hear from you. But for our church, we're thankful that you're here, and glad that You're joining us for this time in our continuation of our study of the book of James. All right. Some of you may get Martin's money tips to your email. I got that this morning. It's kind of interesting. Get on there. And he's got all these lists of things and money saving. ways, you know, with your investments and such and your banking and how to make some money with your money and how to save your money from paying too much interest on this or whatnot. You know, money is a big topic to our world, a very interesting topic to everybody. And in the Bible, money is a big topic as well. It's mentioned 140 times in the Word of God. The word gold is mentioned 417 times in our Bible. In fact, it's right at the very beginning of the Bible in the Genesis story. In Genesis chapter two, verse 11, the story of creation, it says, the name of the first is Pisan. That is that which compasseth the whole land of Havilah where there is gold. Genesis two, verse 12, and the gold of that land is good. There's Bedellium and the onyx stone. And so gold is mentioned often in the word of God. And of course, in heaven, there's going to be streets of gold in the New Jerusalem that comes down as you read about it there in the book of Revelation. Silver is mentioned 320 times in the word of God. And so money is a big thing. So that's just money, silver and gold. But there's other ways the Bible refers to wealth or to riches. Some of God's servants have been very, very wealthy. Abraham, Genesis 13 verse two says, and Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold. And so he was a God-blessed man. He was a very wealthy man. King Solomon, that he was given that opportunity by God just to ask God for anything. And he had the wisdom to ask God for wisdom. And in 1 Kings 3 11, God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast thou asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment, I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee, all thy days. And in 1 Kings 10 verse 23 says, so King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. And so it's clear in the Bible that at times God does bless his people in a financial way and really principles of wisdom are beneficial to finance. Proverbs 3.16 says about wisdom, length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand is riches and honor. And so there is a, you gotta hold on to wisdom. Wisdom does make a person use their resources wisely in a way that is enriching of itself. 1 Samuel 2 verse 7 says, the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. And it's Hannah's prayer that's recorded there. And she was child poor and God made her rich with children. But I mean, everything that we have is from God. And so Proverbs 10 verse 22, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich. and he added no sorrow with it. So we already talked about Abraham. Abraham was a wealthy man, but he was a man that was promised by God that his offspring would inherit the promised land. And as they entered into the promised land, there was to be a year, the year of Jubilee, every seven years where they would release people from debt. And that was to take place, except the Bible says in Deuteronomy 15, verse four, except when there shall be no poor among you, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it. And so there was the blessing of God was a financial blessing to Israel. And interestingly, God promises financial blessing to those that invest their money for God. Investing in God's work and others needs gives return in life and in eternity. Malachi 3 verse 10 says, bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And a tithe was the firstfruits, and it was the tenth of the profit that came in, and that was to be given to the Lord. And God said, bring that and prove me now herewith. saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And God says, give to me first and I will give to you. Luke 6, 38, give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure. pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you again. And so if you're going to be a good steward of what God has given to you and be a blessing to others with those riches that God will enrich you physically and there's blessings not just in eternity for those that give to God's work and for the sake of others but that God will bless However, as we come to James chapter 5, What we're going to look at tonight is that money, money wrongly pursued by the wicked leads to certain misery. All right. There is a, uh, there is an awfulness associated with money, uh, for those that would pursue that, uh, wickedly. And so our text in James chapter five, verse one, James says, go to now. That means listen here. It means come now. It means attention, uh, to these men go to now. He rich men, wicked, rich. Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. And they're going down a path, it's gonna be a path that is a path of heartache, a path of sorrow. You know, we don't normally travel down paths of misery. And actually misery isn't a word that we often use because it's so significant in the way it's speaking about a trial that is a very hurtful situation. And so we don't normally travel down a path of misery. Back in 1998, I did my internship with Dr. Ed Nelson out in Tucson, Arizona, Bethel Baptist Church West there in Tucson. And the youth pastor, Adam Roland, is a good guy. And I was over at he and Becky's house and having a meal with them. And we were having fajitas or something like that. And he got out some sauce, hot sauce, that was called insanity sauce. Now the name itself should have been a clue probably not to try it, especially when you read the warning on the label that said pregnant women and people with heart conditions do not uh take any of this and uh so uh adam took a toothpick and he he just put a drop on it handed it to me uh he did the same for himself and on the count of three uh we both took it as soon as he put it in his mouth he immediately uh got hiccups um me my mouth was on fire and i i mistakenly touched my lips On the way into my mouth and my lips literally burned for hours. It was just a little bit of Misery, you know, he encouraged me to try that not caring that he was taking me down a path of misery I would say to you do not go down that path if you see something that says insanity sauce turn away Alright, don't go down that path. James is saying that to the wealthy rich, do not, and wickedly wealthy rich, do not go down this path. This is a path of certain misery. I met a woman just before the lockdown that I still hope will visit our church here once this is passed. But you know, she had everything, she told me, and she had nothing. We were standing at her house and she said, you know, I had riches and it didn't satisfy. There was an emptiness that was in my life until I found Jesus. And she's just been saved in this past year and has a sweet testimony. I'm confident after hearing her testimony that she would tell somebody that is on that same path of emptiness, thinking that riches satisfy to get off that path of misery and to follow Christ. and so don't go down that path of misery. Are you living your life for money and things or are you living your life for God? I mean, we could all evaluate our life today. Is my life lived for God and for God's glory, dependent upon God? Or is it lived for the satisfaction of self and the gratification of self through the things that one can accumulate in life? That was a path of these men that James was speaking to and say, hey, don't go down that path of certain misery. So let's pray and let's ask God to help us as we come to this, our study of James. Father, we thank you for the grace that you give and the opportunity that we have to study the Word of God. And Father, I pray for those that listen. We don't often maybe hear back or know exactly who has tuned in to listen, but my prayer would be that there would be some other than just our church. Now, we're thankful for our church and we're thankful for believers, too, that tune in and listen to the Word of God. But Father, I do hope by the grace of God that there's some that maybe have never thought about God, never thought they would be somebody that would even tune in and listen to something taught from the Bible. But Father, I pray that you'd show them that you're real. I pray that you'd show them that you're the answer. They might be at this point in their life realizing what James is gonna warn us about this evening, that there is an emptiness to life outside of Christ. that it doesn't satisfy, that you could have everything and have nothing. Father, I pray for that person today that may have tuned in and that may be their heart. I pray, God, would you bring them to saving faith in the work of Christ and what Jesus did as the Son of God as he came, as he died innocent on the cross, die for our sin, paying the price for our sin, that he didn't stay in the grave, but that he rose from the dead. And that, Father, that this person, whoever they are, that they could invite Jesus Christ to come into their heart today, and that you would save them and give them your gift of everlasting life, and that you would fill that emptiness that's in their life with him who satisfies. And Father, as we look at this tonight, remind us of the emptiness of the many people that we see that look, they look happy. We think, well, they've got it all. But Father, in having it all again, they have nothing because they do not have Christ. And Father, I pray that as believers, we just thank God for what we have and realize the preciousness of what we have, that we could lose everything and still have everything if we possess Christ. Father, would you give me liberty to declare your word? I pray the Spirit of God would guide me. I can't speak without your enablement. I do ask for the filling and enabling and equipping of the Holy Spirit as I speak. And Father, that he would touch our hearts and open our ears to your truth today. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. And so what is there about these rich men? And really, James in these first six verses is going to introduce us to characteristics about these men that we can look at and see and identify them, those that are on the path of certain misery. And so first, they had a false security. They had a false security. It says in verse 1, And as we look at these people, we'll call them the filthy rich, not because they're so rich, but because the riches that they possess are the filthy lucre. that the Bible speaks about. If you do a search on that term, it is dishonest or wicked profiting that is not of God, but seeking to amass wealth to one's self. And so they're the filthy rich. And if you look at them, things are going pretty well for them as far as things go. They were living the dream, but they should scream and weep for the certain misery in their future. He says, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. You know, the Apostle Paul saw this and some lies that, you know, would have come to Christ, but for the sake of financial gain, they turned away from the Lord. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6, 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. What is this certain misery that James is speaking about or this piercing themselves through with many sorrows as the apostle Paul puts it? Well it could be speaking of hell. It could be speaking about the fact that these people that were so satisfied in life that someday they're going to wake up in the fires of hell and they have rejected Christ because of all the things that they possessed in life that kept them from coming to Christ. It could be speaking the point where man realizes that money does not satisfy. Where they thought if I just achieved this and I just got to this point that surely that will bring happiness if I could get this position in line. They could be speaking of financial reversals and the markets tumbling and things crashing and losing out that they're going to weep in hell because that which they worshipped and that which they adored is stripped from them. All of these situations would be true in life. whatever it is, will be a sudden calamity that is outside of the control of that person. You know, again, a rich person feels very secure in what they can buy and what they can do in life. And if this is you, you're not concerned. Everything looks good. But your world is going to be turned upside down with certain misery, which will bring weeping and screaming, as James puts it in our text. And so that security in life is a false security, and a false security isn't even secure in life. Proverbs 23 verse five says, with offset thine eyes upon that which is not, for riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. And I read a good quote in a commentary that said, if money talks, all it says to me is goodbye. You know, and money is like that. It's very transient and very quickly can disappear. Right now with COVID-19, we've got a lot of unemployment and significant, very significant unemployment. And President Trump has warned the American people that if we let this go too long and the damage to our economy is too great, that not only are we going to lose people through the virus, but also we're going to lose people through suicide. as happened in the Great Depression. Statistics from the Great Depression show that 40,000 people took their lives when the economy tanked. And not all, but some of them lived their life for money. And so when money is gone, there's nothing for them to live for. That was everything that allowed them to live at the level of life that they thought they needed to live at. And so life is no longer worth living. Even if that never happened, if somebody accumulated in great things to themselves, you can't take it with you. 1 Corinthians 7 29 verse 30 says that there's a day coming that they that buy are as those that possess not. It's not really going to matter in eternity if you had a mansion or if you had a very humble home. It's a false security that really isn't even secure in life. Life is fleeting, don't live your life for something so transient. And then a false security by trying to fill the place of God in man's life. It's a false security that seems to satisfy that what has been called a God-shaped hole that's in the heart of man and money seems to satisfy that at times and men seek to satisfy their life with that. So many fill the void that is in their life with things other than God. Luke 16, 13. It says, no man, no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And somebody that has a life that is all about financial gain cannot serve God. And so they have brought into their life another master, and that master is financed, and they're doing everything they can to live for that false God. Luke 12, 15. So as he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. The Word of God tells us that that's not where it's at. That's not where happiness is. A man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of these things. You know, in the United States, they have something called the American Dream, and everyone thinks, if I just lived the American Dream and had financial prosperity, that would be it. And yet the Word of God is true, that that is a false reality that Christ alone satisfies. Sometimes the happiest people are the people who have nothing, in life, but have Jesus. Sometimes you meet people that are postponing marriage because they want to get to that level of economic success before they get married. But you know what? Somebody could be very poor, be married as a believer and be blessed of God. And I think back to my wife and I 20 years ago when we got married, the title poor isn't something that I really thought about, but in reality we were poor. My wife was a senior in university. I was a second year graduate student that was making $70 every two weeks plus my tuition and my education. There's many ways that God provided, but we didn't have a lot when we got married. My parents bought us our bedroom furniture. Our living room furniture was a $10 sofa that I picked up, and we had a storage barrel that we'd used in university that we covered with a cloth, and that was a little lamp stand that was in our living room. In front of us was a Coke stand from the snack shop where I worked as a graduate assistant, and it held two liter bottles of Coke there, but in our living room, that was our TV stand. Our telly was a black and white telly, and I'm not that old, and we're not that old, but somebody had gifted us a telly, and that was our TV. You know, we didn't have much, but we saw the goodness of God. That's one of the most exciting years of our marriage, of seeing God provide and God's goodness to us. And we graduated that year debt-free by the grace of God. It's a neat story that really went down to a matter of very few dollars, but we were happy and God was gracious in providing. Ecclesiastes 4.6 says, better is a handful with quietness, Think about it, what are rich people worried about? They're worried about the markets. They're worried about thieves. They're worried about the next purchase. They're worried about the corruption of everything that they possess and having to try to maintain all those things that they own. A believer, in contrast, just thanks God and trusts God to protect the things that he has, and when he needs more, that God is gonna come and bring those things. Matthew 6.32 says, You know, what has first place in your life today? Is it God? Or is it something else? It's been well said, if you show me a man's checkbook, I'll show you what that man loves. And back in the day, they had a ledger where they would record their purchases. And you could look there and see the things that they had purchased. And really, that's a good test today of our affection. Does our checkbook show a love for God, a love for others, or does it show a love for Things and the things money can buy are a false security that fills the void temporarily of God in a man's life. And then it gives a false security that allows a man to die having never found Christ. You know, in life, a rich man trusted in himself to meet his needs. He could get it done. His station in life did not encourage him to seek God. And so now he's passed into eternity without Christ. Mark 10, 23, Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus say, it's a tough thing and a rare thing for somebody that is wealthy to find Christ. Interestingly, when Jesus tells the story of a man in hell, the man's name is not given, but he's called the rich man, described as the rich man. Luke 16, 22 and 23 says, it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abram's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abram afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And the rich man died and in hell. He had everything, it seemed, again, in life, but he had nothing in reality. Don't trust in a false security. We're very wealthy in our day, in our age, and generally speaking, the average person in our society is somebody that can very easily depend upon the wealth that they have. But sadly, hell is full of people who loved and lived for things. Secondly, they were hoarders who lived to accumulate wealth. what they loved. They were just hoarders. Obviously hoarders have been much in the news with COVID-19 and not the ransacking, but the going into the grocery stores there at the beginning of the pandemic and people were in a panic and they were just panic buying and purchasing things, not that they needed, but things that they would just store up because of their fear of the future. And in this case, as we look at the rich man, he's storing up things, there's a bit of fear of the future, but there's also a wicked desire just to gratify his flesh with the accumulation of things. And so they hoarded riches, the Bible says, which are grains or things like that, and garments and gold and silver. And so verse two and three says, your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You notice the selfishness of the rich. Your riches, your garments, your gold, and there's that accumulation to themselves. Those piles of rotting goods would testify against them, it says, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you. That idea of even precious metals corrupting just shows the extent of their hoarding and wastefulness of the things that they had. Normally a garment wouldn't be moth-eaten if it was frequently taken out of the cupboard and worn, and yet these garments were just being eaten up by moths because they were just stockpiled. Those things would secure their damnation. It says, and shall eat your flesh, as it were, fire. And James has a very graphic picture that he puts in front of us. You might as well take all those things and amass them around you and light them on fire and let them consume your flesh because that is the reality of what their love of money is going to do in their life. Like the steward, who buried his talent, or a talent was money that was entrusted to him by his master before his master departed. And Jesus told this story about a steward that took that and rather than invest it for his master's work, he hoarded it and held onto it. In Matthew 25 verse 26, His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawed. Thou outest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him that hath ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But for him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath, and cast thee the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And this person that was consumed with things, those things testified against him as the master came back. They weren't used for God. They weren't invested in God's work. They weren't invested in others' lives and benefiting others. And that servant was taken and cast into a Christless eternity. You know, are you good steward of your finances? Are you using it for God? Luke 16, 10 says, He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, and unrighteous mammon is money. And the Bible is saying, if you haven't been faithful with your finances, which is according to the word of God, the least stewardship, then you won't be faithful in that which is the greater stewardships that God has given to us as men. And God says, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you haven't used the finances that you have for God, is God gonna give you the greater gifts and things that make an even greater impact for God's glory? You know, this evening, are you a hoarder of money? Are you an accumulator of things because you have a love for those things instead of using those things for God? You can't love money and love God. And so they were hoarders who loved to accumulate what they loved. And then they have faith, but not in God. It says, ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. They're thinking ahead, but not about eternity. They're thinking about retirement. They're thinking about their sunset years. They've got that nest egg that they're putting away that they are trusting in for their future. You know, our faith should always be in God for His provision and not in what we possess. Our faith should always be in dependence upon God. Just like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, verse 11, as He said, It's just that, you know, that should be our heart before God every day, getting up and being in that place of dependence upon God and saying, God, we've got needs that we need to see you mean, and we're trusting you today to provide for us. It's like Edgar's prayer in Proverbs 30, verse eight, where he says, remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. And so in either case, whether he had riches or poverty, Edgar wanted to be in a place of dependence upon God. So he asked God, God, put me in the middle of that. Don't give me riches because I don't wanna forget about who you are. Don't give me poverty because I don't wanna be tempted to steal and to blaspheme the name of God. God, I wanna stay right here in a place of dependence upon you. It's very easy to trust in things. Even as believers, it's easy for us to trust in things. There's a church that I know that had a trust fund. It was given to them through somebody's estate. They passed away. And the church had several hundred thousand dollars many years ago that they had in the bank. And yet the church had the need for modernization to the property and that the property would be properly maintained. and be nice and a welcome place for people to come in to worship God, and it wasn't happening. And sadly, the market stumbled and $100,000 was wasted out of that before it later became available for the church to use and to invest in that project. And then it was a blessing as it did something for God. You know, it's wasteful. to stockpile God's money and not to invest it for God. all because our faith is anchored in it instead of God. You know, we're wise to have savings. There's principles of wisdom that you foresee the evil and you hide yourself. You prepare for those expenses and that you're ready for the uncertainties of life. And yet there's a point that we pass where instead of depending upon God, we're depending upon the things that we possess. Like that rich man that decided he was gonna just build bigger barns. Luke 12, verse 16 through 21 says, he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And again, I mean, we saw this already in our text, your things, your goods, your gold, your silver. And here he says, my fruits. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. and there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul that has much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou has provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And so that, I mean, that is the heart of what we've been looking at this evening is that it is all about me and accumulation of my things and for my gratification and for my plans, et cetera. Instead of thinking about is not rich towards God, how can I use what I have to further God's work and for God's glory, for the blessing of others. And so again, this person has it all and they've got nothing. They think their future is secured by their faith in their money and yet it is very insecure. Again, this evening, are you dependent upon your finances? Are you depending upon God? Give us this thing, our daily bread is a great place to be because it's a place of faith in God. And then we see fourthly about these rich, that they were unscrupulous in their accumulation of wealth. 4 Behold, the hire of the laborers, their employees, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, dishonesty, crieth. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. The Lord of Sabaoth is the Lord of hosts that we talked about in our study of angels this past Sunday night. And so James has a reminder of For these rich oppressors, they think that they're messing with the little man and he can't do anything, so it doesn't matter. They can take advantage of those that they've employed and there's nothing anybody can do about that, they think. But those little guys have a big God who is listening to every complaint against them. 1 Thessalonians 4, 6 says that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we have also forewarned you and testifying. And it's a very sad reality that these men were filthy rich and they had gotten rich off of the hardship of their employees and they're taking advantage of them. They could have been a blessing to them. I mean, they had great wealth. They could have treated them well. They could have encouraged and helped and been a philanthropist. Instead, as a miser, they're hurting those that were under them. Philanthropy is good, whether somebody is a believer or not. I mean, it's a good thing to be a generous person. I don't know that Dale Carnegie was a believer, and he grew up in Dunfermline, just about 15 miles north of Edinburgh, and he became a philanthropist but he had a poor beginning and in Dunfermline there was a park that his family was forbidden to go into. It's a lovely park where we've been and walked through a glen that's there and a river running through it down below the castle and the cathedral. It's a gorgeous property that he was not allowed into and when he became wealthy he bought that property and he gifted it to the community so that anybody can walk in and enjoy it. You know, that's a good thing. That is an honorable thing. But God at times has gifted his men with wealth to be invested in God's work. And there's a couple men, there's many men that come to my mind, but a couple of those men, Paul Patz, Paul Pats started Northland Baptist Bible College in Northern Wisconsin. Paul Pats didn't even have, if I remember correctly, a college education himself. But he invented a machine for mucking out barns and getting the waste out of the barns. And he became a millionaire. And as a millionaire, he took what he had and he invested it in the Lord's work. Argyle Eternal, very interesting read. If you wanna read a good book, read about his book, Movers of Mountains and Men. He got into inventing earth moving equipment and in World War II, 70% of the machinery that was so important to clearing these runways and making things happen as far as roadways, so much of that equipment was invented by this man who became a multi, multi-millionaire that started Laternal University, another Christian college, and at the end of his life he was giving 90% of his income to the Lord. He was living off of what would have been a tithe given to the Lord. God blessed these men and they were a blessing to others. And God does that. I mean, there's times where God gives the increase for the sake of meeting a very specific need. In contrast, these wicked men, rather than be a blessing, they use their power to rob the poor. And then the fifth thing that we see about them after looking there, they were inscrupulous in their accumulation of wealth. They lived luxuriously and wastefully. They lived luxuriously and wastefully and it didn't satisfy. It says in verse 5, you have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. You have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter. like an animal being fattened to the point where, I mean, it's not a healthy animal, but it's ready for the slaughter. It's ripe for that knife to go in and to be butchered. These rich men were just amassing a fatness to themselves. And James was telling them they are ripe for God's judgment. Psalm 73 verse seven says, their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. I mean, there are some people that just have incredible wealth and it's just stockpiled and it's just wasted. It's just fatness and it doesn't satisfy. There's a lady that died, I think back in 2012. Her name was Eva Rousing and Hans and Eva Rousing were very wealthy. Eva, at her death, was one of the wealthiest women in the UK. Sadly, she was a UK patron of international drug prevention, sadly because her life involved drugs. In 2008, Rousing was arrested after trying to enter the United States Embassy in central London while carrying wraps of cocaine and heroin. She was held outside the embassy in Mayfair, leading to a police raid on the couple's Chelsea home, where more than 1,500 pounds of drugs were found. Her husband, Hans Christian Rausing, the heir of the five billion Tetra Pak drink packaging empire, was then also arrested. On 10th of July, 2012, she was found dead at her home in Belgravia, London. Her 49-year-old husband was arrested in connection with her death and on suspicion of drugs charges. On 14th of December, 2012, a coroner said Rausing died as a result of her dependent abuse of drugs. And it's sad because you would think, I mean, they've got billions that they would be so happy and he's going to inherit billions, you know, and that that would just satisfy. But their life was dissatisfied, proven by the fact that they had to amass these drugs to themselves and lived in drug dependency. You know, you read about people winning the lottery and you think, well, you know, if I won the lottery, that would be great. But you read about the sadness that those finances bring to the people's life. Maybe the lottery person committing suicide or getting a divorce and it hits the news and people are shocked and yet somebody that understands the Bible isn't surprised because where people think money will satisfy, it never does. Not only did not, but it brought heartache to their homes. And so don't believe Satan's lie. that something you don't have will satisfy. Trust what God says is true, that he's the living water, that Jesus Christ, once drunk of and taken into a man's life, that that Christ alone satisfies a man. And then we see about these as well, that they didn't care if their sin hurt others. It says in verse six, you have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. And so they, again, are taking advantage of those that were righteous. And it's unclear in the text whether this is specifically referring to them persecuting believers, whether it's about them participating in putting Jesus to death. It's unclear if it's just speaking about the good men that suffered at their hands. But in all cases, their sin and their lust for money hurt others. recently went on a pretty strenuous hike and you know you can I guess just walk from your home and so we walked from here to the top of the Pentlands near us and it was about a six to seven mile hike that we did and while we were doing that you know it got kind of windy got kind of cold not very in comparison with a lot of places and even to here but just cold enough and strenuous enough that I I said to my kids, I said, can you believe people climb Mount Everest just because they want to? I mean, it's amazing to think about, but on the way, they're going through incredible temperatures, and as they got to the top this past year, they were even stepping over dead bodies of others that had died trying to reach the top, and they were going over these and past these dead bodies to get themselves up to the top. A rich person, in this case that James is speaking about, didn't care who he stepped on, didn't care who he hurt, didn't care about his employees, didn't care about robbing them, all he cared about was getting to himself up to the top. So is the legacy of the wicked rich. And again, we have a warning. If we have a business, or if we have employees, or if God's given us a blessing, we ought to look around and think, how can I rightly treat those that work for me? How can I rightly be a blessing with the resources that God has given? Sadly, these people didn't care who it hurt. They were just gonna get ahead financially. You know, Martin's Money Tips, I recommend it. It's good, you know, to look and to see how to use your finances wisely. Better than that. is the word of God, which is a rich resource with much to say about our finances. And riches can be a great asset that God has given to us that we can turn around and invest in God's work and invest in being a blessing to others. But James, as he comes to chapter five, he's gonna stand and let the rich men who are oppressing the righteous know where they stood. They have a false security, they're trusting that they're okay, they can make it, they've got their plans ahead of them, and yet they're not looking at the end of the story at the weeping and howling. They were hoarders. living to accumulate what they love, just seeking to amass these things. And I mean, it would be like us having, just buying things for the sake of buying things and having boxes and boxes of things that were unopened that are just going to waste and not being used for any purpose. They trusted in money rather than God, heaping treasure together for the last days. They were unscrupulous in their accumulation of wealth. If it was dishonest, it didn't matter. As long as they got ahead, it'd be like somebody in our day fiddling their taxes or cutting corners financially, not being honest just for the sake of money. They lived luxuriously and wastefully, just getting it to have it. And they didn't care if their profit hurt others. You know, God help us not to live like the filthy rich. You know, praise God. If we've got any resources that God's given to us, it's a trust that God has given. We ought to look at it as a believer and say, if I got his grace, I want to use this for the Lord. I want to be faithful in that which is least. I want God to give me a greater enablement, greater blessings that I can invest in God's work because I've been faithful with money. God can trust me with other things. Sadly, if somebody is living their life for these things, James' warning stands. You got to weep in hell now for the judgment that's coming. Don't go there. I mean, our heart and prayer would be as a church, if anybody heard this and had a life that was affluent, that you'd realize the emptiness of it. and that you'd realize that Christ satisfies. And that God's given you the wealth that you have to be used for him and for God's glory. And that there's so many ways that we can invest the things that we possess for God. May God help us to do that. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the grace that you have. Thank you for the opportunity to share the word of God this evening. And Father, we thank you for James chapter five. May the spirit of God anchor this truth in our hearts. Lord, as you read the text, James uses strong language. And Father, I just pray that the Spirit of God would help us to heed that warning, that there's a great danger to live our life for things instead of living our life for God. God, help us not to do that. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.