The reading of the word of God is the ministry of Jesus Christ to us. And as we hear it read, we should receive it with no less authority or effect on our life than if Jesus was speaking to us out of heaven himself. I'm going to read Psalm 37. It's a longer psalm. And rather than zone out, let Jesus wash you with the word as it washes over you. Hear him now. Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell on the land and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him. and he shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret, it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. "'for yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more. "'Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, "'but it shall no more be. "'The meek shall inherit the earth, "'and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. "'The wicked plots against the just, "'and gnashes at him with his teeth. "'The Lord laughs at him, "'for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are upright of conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord, like a splendor of the meadows shall vanish, into smoke they shall vanish away. The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. For those blessed by him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed of him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends, and his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil and do good, and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cast off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. The law of God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord and keep his way. He shall exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away and behold, he was no more. Indeed, I sought him. but he could not be found. Mark the blameless man and observe the upright, for the future of that man is peace, but the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off, but the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him. And I'll ask you to stand for the New Testament reading, James chapter five. Verse one, I'm gonna read through verse 11. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborer who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out. And the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Sabaoth. You have lived on earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men who are not opposing you. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets. who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Amen. That you would turn us to faith and repentance and we would shine back to you the glory of Jesus Christ being formed in our lives. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Have you ever wanted to ask an Old Testament saint a question? Who would it be? I'm just gonna go ahead and assume there's a long line for Adam. And so who is your second choice? I'd like to ask a question to David. David, how confident were you that God was gonna deliver Goliath into your hands? What percentage was it? Or maybe to Joseph. Joseph, tell me about your fellowship with God while you were in prison. I wanna know about that. Or how about Job? Job, what was it like to come to the utter end of yourself and find God to be good? What if the tables were turned and instead of you getting the chance to ask an Old Testament Sata question, There was an Old Testament saint that had been sleeping and just woke up and now wants to ask you, Christian, what is the New Testament age like? What's it like to live between Christ's first coming and his second coming? What's it been like for the church? Not just your experience, but give me a sense of the whole church. And then we'd think about it a little bit and we'd have to start something like this. Well, I can tell you some good news. And I can tell you some very hard news. The good news is that the gospel of the kingdom has been spreading, and it's filling the whole earth. And the hard news is that we are led like sheep to the slaughter. There is tremendous growth. We see that the wheat and the tares are growing up together. Both are increasing in their power and reach. And while the gospel is in every continent, more believers have died in the last 100 years than all the previous centuries from the time of Christ. And the numbers are in the millions. Most Christian martyrs die in closed countries, buried in unmarked graves known only to Jesus Christ. And again, we would say, for your sake, we're led like lambs to the slaughter. And then the question is, why is life like this? What is God doing in this age? And we might need to direct this Old Testament saint to the book of Revelation and explain what is happening, that Jesus Christ is walking among the churches, that he's present, that his light is shining, and that the churches are growing. They're being blessed. And yet the darkness hates the light and wants to see it extinguished. And therefore the church and the world is sorely persecuted and even killed for their faith. But that's not the end of the story. You see the martyrs, they gather under the throne and their prayers mixed with the prayers of the church are poured out on the earth, bringing all kinds of judgments And through those judgments, the church again grows. I think it was Tertullian that coined the phrase, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And he said, that's the cycle, going forward through the ages. But that's not the only thing that's happening. There's something else behind the world of men. Behind the world of men, then this outward manifestation of great conflict is the battle of the ages between Christ and Satan himself. You see, Satan was so eager to devour him while he was on earth, but he got away. And so his wrath and vengeance has turned upon the church to devour. Now, Satan is using, as we know, the beast from the sea and the beast of the earth and the false prophet and the whore of Babylon. And the meaning is this, that governments persecute the church, and that there's a lying false prophet to deceive the church, and when those two don't work, it goes after our flesh to destroy us. But again, we didn't get to the end of the story because Christ is victorious. He stands victorious on Mount Zion with his saints, and in final judgment, he will put an utter end to the devil and all of his helpers. Well, you might remember that before the Red Sea, there were 10 warning plagues, and there was time yet to repent. Some of the Egyptians went with the Israelites. And that's what we have in our age. We have the trumpets and the judgments pouring out as initial judgments. where men are to respond to God and to repent. We're so past connecting the spiritual and the physical world that we no longer see the storm of God's wrath as something to be afraid of and run to him. We've divorced ourselves from it. Well, after the final judgment, the saints will reign in the new heavens and the new earth with Christ. And as we think about our life in these last days, it's good to keep John 15 in mind. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you. A servant is not greater than his master, and if they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. And though this is a pretty difficult truth, the church is purged and purified through affliction, that believers might be brought closer to God. It's through our affliction and cross-bearing that most of our sanctification comes. See, Christ has set the bounds for what the devil is allowed to do, and he overrules everything for our good. The exalted Christ rules and governs the world in the interest of the church until he brings his final sword of justice and deliverance for us, and so we are those that grow in number, but we're also waiting for the return of Christ. and we're often weeping even while we rejoice. But we're not those in this age that weep without hope. You see, we're living the life of Christ. We're filling up his sufferings. And if we share in this, then we shall also share in his exaltation when he comes. Jesus' disciples must take their cross up and follow him because we're following his pattern. It was first the cross and then the crown. Well, in our text tonight, we're gonna enter into an age of history in the first century church, that first generation that had come to Christ. And it's just one of many instances where the church was sorely afflicted and where the jaws of the devil were trying to devour. And when you hear what wicked men were doing to your brothers and sisters, it should make your blood boil. and you'll understand the seething language that James uses in verses one through six. Now, James is the author of this book and he's the half-brother of Jesus. He wrote before the rise of the Gentile church. He wrote before Acts 15. The church he is preaching to is predominantly Jewish converts. He's writing before the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Now, It's just fascinating to think that he's ministering to men that still have fresh in their personal memories the works, words, and teaching of Jesus Christ. Typical Gentile sins are idolatry and impurity. Paul's gonna go after those in 1 Corinthians. But that's not what James is aiming at. James is gonna go after pharisaical sins in the life of Jewish believers. Here's just a review of what he's going after. Faith without works, words without deeds, harsh critical fault finding, ambition, inordinate love of teaching, flattery for self-serving purposes, contemptuous treatment of the poor, and covetousness under the cloak of religion. You see, our early church had Jesus Christ as their Messiah, but they still lived like disciples of the Pharisees. You understand, old sins die hard. Robert Murray McShane said, our sin patterns are like ancient rivers that have worn deep channels in our heart. And so what James is doing in the book of James is he is standing in that river, in the headwaters of the Jewish heart and mind, and he's turning them to God in holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. James isn't so much writing to correct doctrine, but to correct life and practice. He doesn't need to lay a foundation, we don't need a fifth gospel, but he's showing the church how to build on their foundation with the precious stones of gold and silver with honest Christian living. It's easy for us to see how the book of James is a transitional book from the Old Testament to the New Testament, because in chapter two, James is gonna pick up Levitical law and point people to live for Christ out of Leviticus. Like the Old Testament prophets, he's gonna focus on personal holiness, and he's not gonna hold back when it is time to speak the word of God unto the kings. But he also reminds us of Old Testament wisdom literature in that he preaches that wisdom is essential for us to live godly and to pass the trials. While James is timeless in his teaching on trials, there's an overshadowing trial that is on the hearts and minds of every man in his congregations. And that is of large landowners that are consolidating wealth. They are taking advantage in times of famine. They're squeezing everything and everyone for profit. They're callously trampling the poor for profit margins, and they're using the power of the courts to crush many of whom would be new Christians. Behind the ruthless business practices lurks the jaws of the dragon. Imagine being a pastor and having to pastor in that context, to give comfort and counsel as well as warnings not to fall into sin, Men are in dire straits, sheep to the slaughter. Unrighteous, wealthy men have turned the power of the world system against your congregants. This is a remarkable task before James, and that's exactly the context in which he writes. As we look to chapter five, there's no harsher language against the sins of the rich. There's nothing like it in the New Testament. Again, the language is seething as James picks up the mantle of an Old Testament prophet. and he announces the destiny in the courtroom of God. He is speaking against Jewish landowners who had already heard sermons like this before in the book of Amos. Some have called James the Amos of the New Testament. But the Holy Spirit's actually doing something remarkable here. He's giving us a case study through this situation, through James, to show us how all Christians should live between the times of the first and second comings of Christ. Rather than start an armed revolt or begin class warfare, or just passively accept that things are the way they are, James is leading the church into something more precious. not revolution, but reformation of the heart. He is preaching active holiness and a bold prophetic witness while leaving vengeance to the Lord. Tenacious patience is required, and God's answer to the problem of evil doesn't come until the day of judgment. To the weeping and those under the trial of the loss of all things, he announces the great mystery of the kingdom Consider it pure joy, for God is fitting you for heaven and making you whole. Through suffering, God is transferring the wealth of heaven into your account. The value of this stock is about to shoot to the moon. Hold on to it, don't sell it. The empty currency of the wicked is going to crash to zero when they stand before the Lord. You're on the king's highway. Ahead of you is the crown of life, which Jesus himself will give you, if you endure faithfully by the spirit. You see, the church, together with the heavenly hosts, all the mighty angels, are a part of the army of God. And we are those who, with God, ride the storm of his wrath, and yet we are waiting here, with patience and often with weeping, but we are engaged in the battle of the ages. We're participating. Ahead of us is the great reversal, the counterstrike of heaven, our deliverance, justice, our comfort, and our great reward in God himself. You've heard probably many people say this life is all the hell you'll ever taste. The inverse is also true. This life is all the heaven the wicked will ever have, and they shall soon lose everything in the whirlwind of God. And now as we narrow towards the text, here's what we should learn. Christians should not respond to oppression with personal vengeance. but with patience and strength, declaring the word of God to a wicked world. Christians should not respond to oppression with personal vengeance, but with patience and strength, declaring the word of God to a wicked world. Our eyes are to be fixed on the second coming, for only God can fully and fairly right all wrongs. And we're gonna look at the text under two headings. A warning to the rich in verses one through six, and then the command to patient endurance in verses seven through 11. Well, as we look over verses one to six, come now, you rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you, we realize that these verses, this set of verses, is designed to terrify the rich, the wicked rich, without giving hope of pardon. You'll notice that there's no redemptive note, no redemptive theme for those members who are revealing themselves as having true membership in the synagogue of Satan. It kind of reminds you of Luke 6, where Christ says, woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when people speak well of you, for so your fathers did of the false prophets. These verses, again, are a direct address to the unrighteous wealthy. Remember that wealth isn't a sin. Abraham was incredibly wealthy. Lydia in the New Testament church was incredibly wealthy. These verses are directed against the unrighteous wealthy who wallow in their wealth, abuse it to pride and luxury, oppression and cruelty. So here's the encouragement. It's an encouragement to the church in that because God is going to mete out justice, that we should leave it to him and persevere in our righteousness. Now we need that encouragement because when we're in these situations, we're so prone to being discouraged and being resentful and even vengeful. And the warning, beware of God's judgment. Flee from these sins as well. You know, we can be jealous of the prosperous, wicked, rich. We can want what they have and be tempted to sin in the ways that they sinned to get it. We're so easily prone to being corrupted and worshiping idols. The sins before us are the sins of hoarding, the sins of fraud, the sin of self-indulgence, which leads to the sin of murder. Notice that there's a progression. Judas wouldn't have betrayed Jesus to murder if he first hadn't dipped his hand into the money pouch. If he didn't collect finances from fraud, if he didn't spend it on his self-indulgence, those sins together brought him to the point of no return. It infected him like a poison. And now that same poison is working its way through unconverted Jews to go after the first century church. Now did they know exactly what they were doing? Maybe, but Satan knew what he was doing, as he was the same playbook. There was a tremendous profit in the shedding of the blood of the church. When we look at come now in verse one, it links us to the address that is in chapter four to the middle merchant class. Both groups are reminded that life is transient. And it's a restatement from chapter one where James reminds the rich that life is like a vapor and that they'll pass away even while they go about their business. But now their mild rebuke to the merchant class in chapter four has given way to the harshest rhetoric against the rich in the New Testament. In verse one, the wicked are commanded to weep by means of howling. Let out inarticulate shrieks of terror. Burst into weeping and howl with grief. Weep with recurrent shouts of excruciating pain and anguish. See, brothers and sisters, the church weeps, but we don't howl. This word is used in the context of divine judgment. It's a word used in the context of the day of the Lord. And here's the irony. Christians who now suffer are to rejoice for what is theirs in Christ. and the wicked rich who live a life of ease and luxury are to weep and howl for what will be theirs at the hand of Christ in judgment. This woe is aimed at all those who've lived above the law, been untouchable, almost as if Satan was protecting them. Verses two and three. Your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. See, the ancient world had three standard stores of wealth. There was the harvested grain, there was the clothing, and precious metals and jewels. These rich have food stored up to preserve their life, they've got fine clothes to let you know that their status is intact, and they're gold and silver to buy sinful pleasures. Each one is destroyed in its own way. James is pointing out the worthlessness of these possessions. There's no spiritual benefit to them on the day of judgment. There's no grounds of hope. There's no safety net to keep them from the hellfire of God. The rich gather and invest like they're going to live forever. But they're not watching God's clock. The end is already here. They should have put their treasure in heaven. and their excess is a witness to their inhumanity. What they stored up by fraud, others needed for survival. Their own gold and silver will both witness against them, and God's actually gonna use it as part of their punishment. It will eat their flesh like fire. What they stored away from themselves is a greater degree of the wrath of God. And there'll be a day when they will wish they weren't quite so rich. The word witness here is a term from the courts, which they use to their advantage. In the court of heaven, there is no bribing the judge. Their dreams and treasures will be destroyed forever. They'll have their guilt, the evidence of their crimes, and then the additional misery of that evidence being measured against them as a force multiplier of the wrath of God. It's a terrifying picture. Verse 3b, you have heaped up wealth, or heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, you kept back by fraud. They cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Sabaoth. Here we begin the first sin. James has told them their destiny, and now he's gonna level the charges. Charge one, fraud, charge one, hoarding. They're hoarding wealth in the last days. Before 70 AD, there was an increasing concentration of land in the hands of a very small group of wealthy landowners. Smaller farms were absorbed by the wealthy who used the courts to foreclose on the poor in times of famine. Farmers, desperate to feed their families, worked their own lands as day laborers. the daily wage was only enough to pay for their daily bread. They lived on the edge of starvation, their wages were small, credit was not readily available, and their life was in jeopardy. It's all the more heinous when the barn of the rich is filled by the sweat of their brow. You see, cruelty and covetousness go hand in hand. Proverbs 12 tells us that a just man regards the life of his beast But here, there are monsters with no pity, even for man. You're stuffed, and he's starving. The wages you kept back cry out, and the cries of the workers reach the Lord of the Sabaoth. The first instance of injustice crying out recorded in the Bible is the blood of Abel. And here we might wonder if James is charging them with the sins of Cain. In Jewish literature, Cain was that stock figure who oppressed the poor and the righteous. At first glance, you might think that we read the word Lord of the Sabbath, but that's not the word in the text. It's sabbaoth. It's a transliteration of the Hebrew word for army or hosts. The supreme commander of heavenly armies has heard. the cries of the poor. Your sins are provoking the omnipotent to powerfully act against you. And you might ask, why would you want to do that? Well, don't you know that is always the intention of Satan, to provoke God. Verse five, you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You feasted and indulged yourself in sinful pleasures while others starved. There is a disgusting selfishness and an extravagant wastefulness that goes beyond just seeking pure pleasure, but it crosses the boundary into vice, life without self-denial, life without saying no with zero resistance to the sin. Ezekiel 16 tells us that the citizens of Sodom were overfed and unconcerned. They overlooked the needs of the poor and needy. And we might remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man. The day of slaughter. The Bible frequently uses this imagery of slaughter in battle to depict what the day of judgment will be like. the rich are having their fill on the day of slaughter. A whole lot of steaks come off a cow when you kill it. Fresh meat was soon dried, salted, or needed to be cooked, and it was customary to have a big party. So the rich would feast on the day of slaughter, but we can also say that they were slaughtering the poor. In one more turn, even still, we can understand that they themselves are to be slaughtered on the day of judgment. They're fat like the cow. who is dumb and totally unaware, the fatted calf brings the butcher's knife. Verse six, you have condemned, you have murdered the just, he does not resist you. Here the rich are charged with judicial murder of those not resisting them. There's a progression of sin to murder and a progression of suffering for the church. First, the land was stripped from the early Christians, and then they were hired back as sharecroppers. But with dirt-poor wages, if they couldn't pay their debts, they were thrown into debtor's prison and would rot for the rest of their lives. In the Jewish world, to deprive a man of the ability to sustain life was as the sin of murder, and that's exactly what was happening. And the courts went along with it. It's so clear to see the jaws of the dragon coming to crush the early church. What James is talking about is the generic just man who doesn't resist. But it's hard for us to not see that lone and wonderful figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, even here, the church is living out the life of Christ in his suffering and humiliation. Now, some applications from this section. We need to know that Christ will right all wrongs. And we need to heed the warning not to take part in the sins of the rich, the sins of the wicked rich particularly. If your family owns two cars, you're wealthier than 95% of the world. And so we need to see that this is coming to us. We can sin by the way that we gain wealth, the way that we use our wealth, or the way that we set our hearts on wealth. And we should be aware that wealth as an earthly cushion will dull our sense of spiritual urgency and coming divine judgment. We ought not to get rich off of companies that are unjust and unfair to the poor or slave classes. And we need to search the spirit of God to know the fine line between prudent saving and sinful hoarding. If our goods are rotting away and we can't even use them, Maybe there's a better place for them. And lastly, we should use our wealth to buy treasure in heaven. Now, turn to verses 7 through 11, and James is going to provide the positive antidote to the trials of oppression. James preaches radical patience in the light of a prophetic condemnation of the wicked. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Those situations that require patience are also those situations where we burn with impatience. When you think about it, the command of patience is almost unbelievable. James doesn't lose his moral perspective when he's dealing with a moral outrage. The violence and rage of men doesn't bring about the righteousness that God desires. The command to be patient is not unlimited. It's just bound by this phrase, until the Lord. It's patience until the Lord returns. Be patient. Because of confusion and disorder of the world, it won't last forever. The time is short. The only perfect comfort we can find in the midst of injustice is the realization that God will bring complete justice in his time. It's the same appearance of Christ that will bring judgment and comfort. Before him, the wicked will have no deals. They'll have no escape and they'll have no mercy. They shall have nothing to bargain with and will stand naked and poor before God, the Almighty. See, ultimately, we're not fighting against flesh and blood, but against spirituality and in high powers and high places. Social justice and political issues are at their core theological. And you can't solve social or political problems without addressing the theological core. So often, these movements have the seeds of their own destruction embedded in them. James understood how the world worked. Here's the reason why we are to be patient. We are to be patient because God uses trials to make us mature and complete so that we lack nothing. We remember James 1.12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. To a congregation full of farmers, James turns to the example of a farmer. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rains. You too be patient. The active farmer can do nothing to bring about the rain or the growth, but must wait for the harvest. So many things outside of his control. And we too must be patient and wait for the harvest of judgment where each one will reap what he sows. The farmer's manner of waiting is patiently, he's patiently waiting, but he's certainly not idle. Think of all the work of a farmer. Weeding, hoeing, fertilizing, all this while rationing food to his children who are crying out from hunger. See the picture of labor and weeping? The farmer waits for the early and latter rains. And here we learn that there is an order and a timing to everything. We are to learn that we're not to be disheartened by the slow progress, and we must bear patiently with the delay. We're like the farmer, we can't control the time of Christ's coming. And we are to busy ourselves with kingdom work, contributing to all the outpouring of God's kingdom purposes in our world. The future return of Christ is the event that motivates us to perseverance and endurance through our sufferings. Verse eight, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Here we have an exhortation to strengthen ourselves and the basis of that is God is coming soon. Seek every way to strengthen your heart's trust in God. Strengthening has the idea of gaining courage for battle or physical strength for a long journey. Have firmness of intention. Trials lead to expectations of relief, and they cause us to claw after God, to draw near to him. We must strengthen our hearts when the delay seems unending, to trust God when we question his timing, and keep working for righteousness when our results seem so small. We're not to give up in despair and say this situation is hopeless. We're to strengthen ourselves against all doubt. We are to attend to our inner defenses. We're to resolve to put iron into our hearts. Waiting for the Lord's coming is not to be done in weakness. It's not to be done in defeat, but with strength and firmness and action. The Lord's coming puts steel into our spines. It's like a runner who turns that last corner. He's absolutely exhausted. And then out of nowhere, this burst of energy that compels him forward. Brothers and sisters, we fail to keep this command to strengthen ourselves and to be patient when we grumble. And here James puts a litmus test in, verse nine. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door." Grumbling, bickering, and criticizing each other is the opposite of patience. Patience is forbearing with one another. Righteous waiting requires righteous living in the body of Christ. It's easy to be at each other's throats when times are stressful. The church has had a hard year with COVID. Some of you may have a really hard time just getting out the church door, getting out of your house to get to church. That's a stressful time. It's enough to provoke you to wrath, to outbursts of anger, hurry up. Just so easy, so easy for us to slip into that. It's easy to be at each other's throats, but the bridle for our tongue ought to be that our knowledge that Christ is at the door. It's as if his hand is on the knob, it's already turning, he's ready to throw it open and walk to his judgment throne. If we've been at each other grumbling against the body of Christ, we won't be saved as by fire, but our works will be burned up. James is so concerned about preserving wholeness in the body. Can we stand up to the standard that we have used against others? Our failures to keep our own standards ought to prompt us to beg for God's mercy for ourselves and extend it to others and to show that we have a true understanding of being forgiven by Christ. The nearness of the last day is warning us to examine our behavior so that we may be ready for his coming. You know, Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD when James said, the Lord's coming is at hand. It was within a generation that he came in judgment. And each believer is one lifetime away from meeting the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always imminent. Jesus Christ is gonna banish the wicked, blowing them away like chaff, but he's also gonna sort out our sins. He's the judge coming to the door. And if he's gonna do business of sorting out our sins, then we ought to be about that business too. It shows a hard heart knowing that Jesus will sort sins and for us not to cooperate or participate in his labor before he comes. In verse 10 and 11, James is now gonna set before us three models to make up the portrait of patience. And here he's gonna lay out suffering, perseverance, and blessing. Let me read those. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as examples of suffering and patience. And indeed, we count them blessed who endured. The prophets are examples to us of men who suffered, men who persevered, and men who were blessed. They showcase for us brave endurance, righteous men who suffered while waiting patiently, They denounced the injustice of their day, they spoke to kings, and they were approved by God. They showcased for us exactly what James was instructing his church, holy defiance without violence. Pastor Zeki says suffering is inside the box of God's blessing for the church. We might understand that moral development is largely dependent on our sufferings. Trouble promotes trust and knocks out all of our secondary supports. It's then that we have God alone to rely on. It sharpens our focus and it strengthens our grip on God. Our comforts have distracted us and it's our trouble that has helped us to pray. What did the blessed get from God? they get learned trust, they get drawn near to God in a way that communion always should have been. Those who endure suffering receive a vast reward. Paul tells us that our present suffering is not worth the weight of glory which is in store for those that love Him. We are to have a gallant spirit which confronts the tides of doubt and sorrow and trouble and come out with faith stronger still on the other side. Under the fog of war, under the confusion of this life, God is using our suffering to transfer glory into our beings now. His work in our hearts and lives and the building of our faith is more precious than gold or silver. It cannot be compared. What God is doing in us cannot be compared to all that the rich have. This is the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. It's a transfer of wealth from heaven to earth, in you, and for you. The stock market's pretty volatile, and in a similar way, you don't know the value of the stocks that you're holding. Until you stand before Christ on the last day, you won't know what you have in Him fully. Be patient, be strong, and put sin away. Verse 11a, we count them blessed to endure. Here's the central idea. The end or aim of suffering and perseverance is to receive the blessing of God. You think that the examples of the prophets ought to have been enough for us, but here James goes to Job, the example of examples. He's expanding the connection that he has made between suffering, perseverance, and blessing by leading us to Job, verse 11b. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and you've seen what he's gotten. You've seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. You see, for Job, He struggled, but he surrendered himself to God. He was willing to be ruled and restrained by God. And for him, God seemed far away. And the flesh suggests that we are forsaken and lost to God. And again, we're in the fog of war. But hope directs us to this end, that God himself will be merciful, however rigid and severe he seemed to us. The end, the ultimate good purpose is for Job that he would know the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Job got the knowledge that God can do all things and no plan of his can be stopped. You see, men and devils, they think that God is cold. Job knew the mercy and the compassion of God. And he knew God as his reward. He expected to see Jesus, the Redeemer, with his very own eyes. And this should encourage us in our suffering. The design and intention of God in Job's life is the design and intention in your life. He's the pattern before we had the pattern of Christ. It's the mercy of God and his great care for me that fuels my patience, that strengthens me, It advances my sanctification. You can ask the question, where is Jesus in the text? He's right here. He's the one that's helping me by his spirit. He's teaching me compassion, trial after trial after trial. He is our strength. He's our joy, the joy of the Lord, Jesus is our strength. One day like Job, we're gonna see our Redeemer with our own eyes. Endurance that James is asking for and commanding by the Spirit looks like the prophets who kept speaking and Job who kept believing in suffering with this specific assurance, God will bless me. This is the message of grace. God will give me wonderfully good gifts even through suffering. If you don't believe this, brothers and sisters, you can't practice patience under your trials. Trials will make a shipwreck of your faith. The Lord will subject his servants to those trials which call for steadfastness because it's along these lines that he pours out his signal blessings of compassion and mercy. The object, the aim of God is that we could know God the Father and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And only in the Lord's coming will his great and eternal purposes be brought fully into the light. And there, brothers and sisters, on that day, you will see that it was always his love that brought everything into your life. He'll wipe away every tear from your eye. And then there'll be no more, ever. And nobody can imagine in their wildest dreams what he has prepared for those that he loves. Well, some lessons for the church. First, to the unbeliever. It's not too late. It's not too late to settle with Christ. It's the best investment you could ever make. Everything that you have is gonna net out to zero. It's gonna crash. And then what will you offer the one who demanded perfect obedience to his holy law? Tonight, Christ will pay your debts to God. He will give you his glory if you will bow to him and come to him in faith and repentance. To the church, be patient because Haman is going to be hung on his own gallows. The armies that were coming against the church will be crushed by God himself. The time before the second coming is not a time for us to be whining. It's not a time for us to fight among ourselves. It's not a time to grumble against each other. It's so easy to do in stressful situations. Brothers, it's so harmful for the church. The one who is gonna destroy the wicked is going to sort out our sins, and so we should pay attention to God's clock. Time is ticking on. It's time to get ready. It's time to strengthen our hand once again. It's time to pay attention. Lord's coming is at hand. As the king, he will defend and deliver us and will marvel at his unending love and faithfulness to us. As we stand on the shores of eternity, we'll look back over the course of our life and say, by your love, you led me down the best of all possible timelines. You were leading me down the road of affliction to bless me. And the road you led me down You were waiting at the end for me. Today, I'm one day closer to seeing you. And very soon, the door on the hinges of eternity will open, and we'll be standing before you. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen. Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, we pray that you would prepare us to see your face, forgive us for our sins, and strengthen us to fight Help us to be willing to be patient and to suffer. For the name of Jesus, we expect to live the life of your suffering, and we look forward to sitting on thrones with you in heaven. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. Let's turn and sing.