Please open your Bibles this morning again to the letter of James, the letter of James. We'll be looking at chapter 5 today, chapter 5. You'll find his letter after Hebrews and before 1 Peter toward the back of your Bible. It's on page 1291 in the Pew Bible, 1291 in the Pew Bible, the letter of James. We're coming near to the end of this letter. A letter in which James has pressed upon Christians the obligation, the purpose to be doers of God's word, not simply hearers of it. To not be complacent. In chapter 5, James moves from the here and the now of living the Christian life. And for a moment, he lifts our eyes to the horizon when eternity is going to come crashing into the world as we know it, when Jesus Christ is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. He wants us to look ahead, to get our bearings, to get oriented for this life in light of the life to come. And in this text, James calls Jesus Christ by a name that is spoken hundreds of times in the Old Testament and only once in the New. And that's here in chapter 5, verse 4. Children, I have a question for you. Do you know the name Lord Sabaoth? Lord Sabaoth. I hope that's ringing some bells because it's in one of your favorite hymns. A mighty fortress is our God. Verse 2, we sing that if we depend on our own strength to fight against sin and the devil, we would lose. We're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing. Children, what man did God choose to fight for us? Jesus? That's right, Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord, Sabaoth, His name. From age to age the same. He must win the battle. Christ Jesus is the man who fights for us. Lord, Sabaoth, His name. And that comes right out of James 5, verse 4. But you don't see that on your page there. It says Lord of hosts, so you might have missed that. But it's significant. James has brought in with that title a whole history of prophetic literature that lets us know what he's doing here. He is acting as a New Testament prophet, laying before us the ways of God to divide between men, the wicked to be cast away forever, and the righteous to be brought home to their Savior. And it will come through judgment. And that judgment will be final. And everyone needs to know that that day is coming. In the Bible, that word, that name, Lord Sabaoth, is translated Lord of hosts, sometimes God Almighty. But Lord of hosts is good because it refers to the Lord being the leader of a host, of an army, beyond measure, beyond count, an army of His angels and His saints who will come one day in glory to rid this creation of his enemies and to establish his people in a new kingdom, new heavens and a new earth. From the prophet Isaiah, who refers to Lord Sabaoth more than any other prophet, we know that he's also known as the Mighty One of Israel. He's Almighty. He's able to do what he's promised to do. He's the one of whom the seraphim cried, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And it's this God that Isaiah says, this Lord of hosts who is our Redeemer. The holy God, the mighty God, the Savior of His people, Lord Sabaoth. In verse 4, James identifies Lord Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts in your text, as the Lord who is coming, whose coming is at hand, verse 8, the Lord who is the judge. who is standing at the door, verse 9. This whole text, these verses we're going to read today are about His coming. And that's the message. If you get nothing else out of today, the Lord is coming. And He's coming soon. And James has a word for us today from this Lord in verses 1 through 11 that speaks to two audiences. This word cuts two ways. The first six verses are to you rich, he calls you. You rich are to be warned. And verses 7 to 11 are to the brothers. Brothers, be patient. Hear now the word of God from James chapter 5, beginning at verse 1 through verse 11. Come now, you rich. Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted. and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You've laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you. And the cries of the harvester have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence, You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains? You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Here ends the reading of God's Word today. James starts with very strong words. He opens by calling out, Come now, you rich. Come now, you rich. Who's he talking to? Is he speaking to everyone who has wealth? Is everyone who has riches to be charged here? Well, I don't think we can make that case from Scripture. the balance of scripture lets us know that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift and sometimes those gifts include riches and possessions and honor and wealth. Just think of the parable of the talents how the Lord gave, by illustration, gave money to his service to invest for his purpose. But James is not calling out to all who have wealth. He's calling out to you rich. He's singling some out. He says you, rich. You who trust in wealth instead of the God who gives it. You who serve money and do not serve the Lord. You whose love of money has made itself known through all manner of evil. You, rich, I have four counts against you to support this one singular charge. He says, you have laid up treasure in the last day. You have built your castle. You have stuffed your nest. And there are four counts that he brings to fortify that singular charge that you have laid up treasures in the last days. Count one is that you've hoarded wealth for yourself. In verses two and three, James points to three major types of wealth. Now we don't see these, we don't think of these as easily as James' hearers did, but it's true around the world. There's riches, which in his day was land and crops. Garments. When you read the Bible, sometimes you'll see, and you'll still see it around the world, that a gift, a precious gift to give someone is a set of clothes. Gold and silver, that one we understand. God gives these good gifts to people to be used in ways that are pleasing to him. Whether they're a believer or an unbeliever, that's why he gives good gifts. And when these are hoarded, when these are kept back for yourself, they are of no benefit to others, and they're of no benefit to you. He begins in verse 2 saying, You rich, you have stored up crops you'll never consume, instead of giving some to feed the hungry. Therefore, he observes, your riches, they've rotted. They're in the barn. They're rotted. They're no good. You've packed away garments you'll never wear instead of giving some to clothe the naked. Your garments are moth-eaten. They're no good. They're useless. You've stashed away money you will never spend instead of investing in the goods and services of others. Your gold and your silver have corroded. We know that silver tarnishes. We have a hard time with that gold image, but in our day, gold is pretty pure. It doesn't rust. But in that day, gold was not as pure. And when you buried it under a rock, it rusted. It's no good. It's useless. Count two. You have stolen. Not only have you kept back for yourself what you received from God, you've stolen what God would have others have from your hand. Verse four, you don't pay your workers on time. The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, you kept back by fraud. You made a contract you didn't pay. You bounced a check. This is hard for us. We're used to getting paid once a week, once, twice a month, something like that. We wait for the paycheck and it goes to the bank. We never handle it. But the day laborer then and now needs that money today. It's his life. It's the life of his family. and you've held it back. You want another day's interest before you spend it. Leviticus 19 commanded that you shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until morning. Don't hold back what belongs to another. That's what you've done. Count three. You spared no expense to satisfy your desires. In verse 5, we read, You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You've always had the latest and the greatest, the best and the brightest. You've spared no expense. He says, You've fattened your hearts. A picture of gluttony. You've fattened your hearts. Ezekiel describes the citizens of Sodom this way. You remember Sodom, judged by God. Sodom had pride, Ezekiel says. they had pride, excess food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and the needy. James is basically saying that. He says, you rich, you rich I have in mind, you fattened your hearts like Sodom. And count four. You've done whatever it takes to have your way. Verse six, you have condemned and murdered. You've bent the law to your will, you've used legal means, you've used illegal means, You've taken people out, whether that's directly or indirectly, by starving them. You've condemned and you've murdered. In the wisdom book of that day, it was said that to take away a neighbor's living is to commit murder. To deprive an employee of wages is to shed blood. You see the association. That's the weight of it. And James says you've done this to the righteous person who does not resist you. You pick on the easy targets. Well, the question is, who is the righteous person? Now, our theology comes to mind. We're going, well, there aren't any righteous people. Who's he talking about? We're all sinners. That's right. The righteous person in mind is not the sinless person. The righteous person is the sinner who knows he's a sinner and lives by faith, trusting that God will save him from himself, save him from his sin, save him from the wrath to come. That's the righteous. The righteous depends on God in Christ for this life and the next. The righteous learns from Jesus to not resist the evildoer. We read that today in Romans, did we not? Not to repay evil with evil, but to repay evil with good. The righteous person trusts, as Peter argues in his letter, it's interesting, Peter argues in his letter that if God rescued righteous Lot, yeah, that's right, Lot. You remember Lot? It doesn't come to mind for me as the righteous, sinless man. If God can rescue Lot, Peter says, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. James' case against you rich is an open and shut case. He's presented the charges, he's laid out the counts, and now he presents the evidence. He says there's forensic evidence to prove, And there's witnesses to speak. The forensic evidence is the corrosion that's in your well. Your rotted crops, your moth-eaten garments, your rusty metal. That's all evidence that you have not done with these riches what God would have you do. That stands against you. And two witnesses, the wages that you've kept back, these cry out against you. These speak against you. And the laborers in your field have cried out to God, to Lord Sabaoth. He's heard them. He's heard them, not that he just heard them. He's heard them and judged for them. The case is closed. Your guilt is clear. Your sentence is announced. And execution's on its way. And then mixed in these verses, James paints, gives us two quick pictures. of how hellish this sentence is. He doesn't use the word hell, but he gives us images that should bring to mind the gravity, the finality, the dreadfulness of judgment. He says that miseries are coming upon you. Miseries are coming upon you. He says that just as the corrosion devoured all your wealth, it's going to burn and eat your flesh like fire. A picture of hell. And he says all the while that you were fattening your hearts living the life of excess you were actually like a calf who was fattening itself for the slaughterhouse. These are graphic images. They're intended to be graphic. Your flesh will be eaten as with fire and you're headed for the slaughterhouse. King David pointed to you, Rich, in Psalm 52. He says, see the man who would not make God his refuge? He trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge, where? In his own destruction. He got what he wanted, but he got more than he bargained for. I don't know how to express the dread of that day. I don't know how to express the anguish of hell. Every statement in the Bible is so understated. If you've lived through the ravages of war and some of you have seen war and been through the aftermath and been in the combat, you've seen a glimpse of this dread. Weep and howl just doesn't seem to capture it. That's what James says to do. Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. I get the idea, but I don't feel it. How about wail at the top of your lungs? That gets us in the right direction. Maybe scream against the loss until you collapse from fatigue. And then scream against the loss until you collapse from fatigue. And you scream against the loss and you collapse against the fatigue. And that goes on like that forever. Now we're in the ballpark. This is a serious warning. And it's for any in this hearing that are caught up in this world's schizophrenic call for you to spend all your money now so you can have it all now and to save all your money for later so you can have a good retirement and you don't know what to do because you're worried about your money. It's for anyone here striving after or holding on to wealth with all that you have, with no regard for how God would have you use what He gives you. with no love for those who've been given less, for no trust in Christ to cover your failings and no concern for His church, even if you warm a pew. It's a serious call. Weep and howl over the miseries that are coming upon you. And I say to you today, weep and howl over your sin today. If you hear yourself in these words, this word is for you to weep and howl today to repent and know that you are headed the wrong way. Jesus has provided the escape. You can look to Him and be saved. You can be rescued from yourself and the miseries that are to come. If you don't know how to do that, ask one of the pastors, one of the elders after the service today. We're going to be reminded in a minute, the judge is at the door. He's as immediate as that back door. He can walk in any moment. That's the picture. But there's warnings also for you who are believing. For everyone trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation, for everyone who cries out with Jeremiah, why do the wicked prosper? Why do all the treacherous thrive? Why do the good guys lose and the bad guys win? How long, oh Lord? This warning is for you too. This warning is here to encourage you that the Lord is about His business. And what frustrates and troubles you today will not last forever. That's what the little word therefore is in verse 7. When we see that word, we say, what's it therefore? Well, it's therefore, as He moves in these next verses to speak to us in the church who are trusting in Christ, to remember that all He has to say to us is in light of what He's just said. The Lord's Sabbath is coming. And He's coming to bring miseries on His enemies, to bring miseries on the wicked. Therefore, brothers, James continues, be patient. Be patient. Now three times in these verses, 7 to 11, He reminds us that He's talking to us as brothers. He's talking to every man, woman, boy, and girl who trust Jesus as their Savior. He's speaking to everyone who, through faith in Jesus, is a child of God, an heir of eternal life, made right with God through grace and kept tight with God by His Spirit, counted among the righteous, sinners who know their sin, who trust their Savior, and who want to live in a way that shows that we belong. James writes this command to us in verses 7 and 8, saying, be patient. He says it twice, be patient. You think we need to hear it? Be patient until the Lord comes. Wait for His coming, James says, like the farmer. Like the farmer who waits for his crop. We don't have as many farmers among us today as we used to have. Some of us remember farming in our youth. Farmer does a lot of waiting. James writes, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. Early and the late rains. We can relate to that here in Escondido. Southern California has a weather pattern very much like Israel. We're in the season right now of the late rains. So in Israel, the farmer that he has in mind planted his wheat in the fall, waited for the rain in the winter, The early spring rains right now. Lord willing to have a crop next month in April. Wait for it. Be patient about it. The farmer knows, the believing farmer knows, that when he puts that seed in the ground, no matter what he does to it or doesn't do to it, the Lord is sovereign over the growth of that plant and the harvest is going to come. So he waits on the Lord to bring it. And James says, you also, in the same way, wait on the Lord to bring it. Wait on the Lord to come. At the end of verse 80, he adds a second commandment that helps flesh out what it means, what it looks like to wait. You know, we think of waiting as sitting in the lounge chair with a tall glass of something cool and just kind of chilling. That's not what he's got in mind. Paul, James says, establish your hearts. you also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Establish your hearts. What's that mean? I'm really glad that James is not the only one who used that expression in the Bible because I don't know in and of itself what it means to establish your heart. But Paul used it. He wrote to the Thessalonian church telling them that he was praying to God to establish their hearts. And what was he praying for? He was praying that He would establish their hearts in holiness. That they would be blameless in holiness. He prayed that the Lord would establish them in every good work and deed. That He would establish their hearts to be concerned for, motivated for, making efforts toward doing that which God would have us do. To use Paul's language, he asked God to establish their hearts so that they might live in a manner worthy of the calling they have. That they would live like children that belong to the house. Remember the farmer? While he waits, again, he's not in the lazy boy lounger, he's in the field. He has chores to do. He has weeds to pull, plants to feed, bugs to exterminate, ground to cultivate, and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of, but he's a busy man while he waits. And it's that idea that gets at what James has been after from the very beginning of this letter. What has James been after? James has been after us to be doers of God's word, not hearers only. Establish your heart. The harvest is in sight. The end is in view. The Lord is coming soon. Don't stop now. Establish your hearts. Commit yourself to work in a way that pleases the Lord. Be doers of the word, not hearers only. Remember the promise from James 1, verse 25. It says, The one who looks into the law, the law of liberty, the law of love, the royal law, and perseveres in doing it, Being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. That's the promise. That's what James is after. That we as Christians in this life would not be complacent. You know, waiting for heaven, pie in the sky, by and by. There's nothing to do here and now. There's plenty to do here and now. We wait. We wait like the farmer. We wait at our post. We wait at our living. We wait in our service, but we wait. And then in verse 9, James, it seems out of sorts here. It took me a while to figure out what he's doing, but I think he is, in verse 9, using a concrete example of what this looks like in life. What it means to establish our hearts for something, for some doing. He's going to give us a picture. The principle applies throughout the Christian life, but he's got something in mind here in verse 9. And he has in mind what we read last time in chapter 4, verse 11. Now that seems a month ago to us, but for James it was probably two minutes. In chapter 4, verse 11, it says, Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. Remember that? Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. Do you remember why? You remember the case he made for why that was significant? Because to speak evil against your brother is to judge your brother. And to judge your brother is to judge God's law as if you are the lawgiver and the judge. And to judge God's law is to climb onto his throne, blaspheme his name, and pretend to be the God that you're not. It's serious business. Don't do it, he says. And here he picks up that commandment now and in verse 9 he's showing us how we need to establish our hearts toward that end and he gives us another reason. He says, until the coming of the Lord, establish your heart in resolving day by day, moment by moment if necessary, to not blaspheme God by judging your neighbor. Why does he say that? Because he says there's only one lawgiver and judge. You remember that last time? That judge is at the door. He's right here. He's coming sooner than you think. And so we put that together in verse 9, and this is what James says. He says, Do not grumble against one another, brothers. Why? Why is that a concern? So that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is at the door. This is not an empty principle that there are no consequences. This is real life. God's serious. The judge is serious. He wants you not to berate your brother. Not to grumble against your brother. To do so is to judge your brother and to stand under the judgment of God. You're living like one of you rich, is what he's saying. Don't do it. Now one more aspect of the farmer's waiting that we need to consider here that he gets to indirectly. To be patient like the farmer includes enduring hardships, circumstances over which you have no control. You can't control the weather, you can't control the rain, you can't control the cloud cover, the bugs, any of that. You have to endure through that and these will bring suffering into your existence as a farmer. Any farmer can tell you. But James wants you to know that you're not the first and you're not the only ones who have or ever will suffer as you wait for the Lord. It is the life of the believer. And he wants to encourage us in that life in verses 10 and 11 by having us look back. Look back at history. Look back at the record. Find your bearings there so that when you look to the future, you look to that day, you know what's in store. He says in verse 10, as an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Martyr Stephen said that every prophet in Israel was persecuted. Many were put to death because they proclaimed the Christ. That's the point. Everyone who spoke in the name of the Lord suffered. Everyone who lives in the name of the Lord is going to suffer. Jesus said, you ought not be surprised when you suffer for my name's sake. They hated me first. They're going to hate you. But he has us look back to the prophets. To be clear, he's not pointing to them to say, now, this is the kind of suffering you have to go through. He's not saying look to them for how to suffer. He's looking to them for how to be patient as you suffer. What it means to persevere. What it means to be steadfast, as it's translated in these verses. What it means to hold on through the trials. Look to the prophets. Read the scriptures. Read their stories. You can start with Hebrews chapter 11 and get the What's the notes? The crib notes. Get a survey of many. Go back and read the Old Testament. Read about the prophets, how they persevered. The point he wants to make is that as you consider their stories, he says, behold, take note, pay attention, that we consider those prophets blessed who remain steadfast. Those that stood the course, that stayed the course to the end, we consider them blessed. Blessed. Not necessarily happy. blessed, full, right with God, enjoying His good company, enjoying His pleasure, enjoying His goodness, blessed. In one way or another, each of these prophets was blessed with something like, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. At the end, he was blessed. And then James says, give particular attention to Job. Job doesn't come to the top of my list of prophets. That took me a while to get around. I think he is a prophet, but he's not a prominent prophet. He's known for one thing. What's Job known for? The patience of Job. Be patient. The patience of Job. The steadfastness of Job. The perseverance of Job. And if you know anything about the story of Job, he persevered through a lot. He lost everything in this life. Lost everything in this life. except for his life and except for the faith that God gave him to hold on to him. And what's the end of the story in Job? What's the end of the story? The end of the story of Job, the poster boy of perseverance through struggling, is chapter 42, verse 12. And there we read that the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning. That's the point. Now, when we read that chapter, we have to guard ourselves against getting distracted by all the numbers and calculating his worth. That's not the point. The point is, the Lord saw him through, brought him through, he persevered, he was steadfast, he established his heart, he was patient. He complained a lot, to be sure, but he was patient. And the Lord blessed him. He was blessed. And in that story, we see, James says, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. That's the takeaway. Look to the prophets. How they persevered through suffering. And how those who persevered in the end were blessed. And in that blessing, we see that the Lord is compassionate and He's merciful to those who wait on Him. That promise is for you. I don't know how to express the blessedness that's in store for you. I can't capture the dread. I can't capture the blessings. You and I are finite creatures. We can't get our mind around that. But the Bible gives us pictures. And Paul said that the Spirit has revealed through the Scriptures glimpses of things that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, the heart of man has not imagined. It's been revealed to us that we can have true knowledge about what's coming. James reminds us that Lord Sabaoth is coming, not only to judge the wicked, but He's coming soon also that His purpose for His people may be fulfilled, and that is to bless us. At His coming, all the good that we long for in this life but didn't have will pale. It will seem as nothing compared to all that we have in the inheritance with Christ. As Peter described it, an inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade. At His coming, all the sorrows and sufferings we endured will be no more. God Himself will be with us, and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. Can you imagine that? I can't imagine that. You can be certain of this because you have seen how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. You've seen it in the life of the prophets. Go read a few. You've seen it in the life of Job. Most importantly, you've seen it in the life of the one that they told would come. You've seen it in the life of Lord Sabaoth himself, Christ Jesus our Lord, who has already come once in the flesh. He came into this world. his glory veiled, his might restrained, his justice put off until the last day. And he came into this world, he took on our flesh to live the life of the righteous man. And he lived that for you and he lived that for me. In that life he was tempted by the devil in every way. He didn't sin. He was hated by the world that he loves. He was abused by evil men whom he never repaid with evil. What's the testimony? He entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. And through faith in him, we're called to entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly as we wait for Christ to come again. He came in the flesh to die, to die for the sins that we commit, to receive to himself the miseries that are due to us all. And He came to be raised from the dead to accomplish our justification, to make us right with God. And He ascended to glory to give us His Spirit that we might be conformed to His likeness, that we might be patient, that we might be established in heart, that we might be concerned to be doers of His Word and not just hearers only. He's done it all for us. He's doing it all for us. And He's coming again. Lord, Sabaoth is coming. He's coming soon. His glory to display. His might to unleash. His justice to render. And he stands at the door. So you rich, be warned. Brothers and sisters in Christ, be patient. Blessing is coming for you. And miseries are coming for the enemies of God. For that we rejoice, we give thanks, and we wait. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, you have revealed to us the course of this world, the goal of its existence. You pulled back the curtain and showed us the judgment day, and you showed us how it impacts our living today. We thank you, Father, that you don't candy coat what's coming against the wicked. that every sinner born into this world, each and every one of us needs to know what it is you have in store for those who refuse Christ. We thank you, Father, that in Christ we can know that those miseries have been satisfied in Him, that His life is our life, His inheritance is our inheritance, His blessing is our blessing, and so we wait. Help us, Lord, to be patient. Patient, active in our obedience, active in doing your word, persevering through the troubles of this life, knowing that you are carrying us through for the purpose to show us your compassion, to show us your mercy, and to bring us into blessing in Jesus. We pray these things in his name. Amen.