A Rebuke to the Unrighteous Rich part 2 How you earn it.

Let's take our Bibles and let's turn together to the book of James where we have been for quite a while. And those of you who are keeping up and studying and reading and I trust that you are, you realize that we are nearing the end of the book of James. It's been a refreshing journey for me. It's been a good journey for me. And I look forward to more that we're going to learn out of this last chapter that we're in. We're in James chapter 5 and we're going to be in verses 1 through 6, primarily verses 4 through 6. But we will be in verse 1 as well. Now last week James revealed to us another test.

You should know by now that the book of James is test after test. But James is revealing a test to the Christians here, the churches here, those within the churches that he is writing to. That is how they were dealing with their monies, how they're dealing with their possessions, their treasures, those many different words that describe their wealth. If you remember the title of the message last week was "A Rebuke to the Unrighteous Rich." Now we know that the primary audience were the unrighteous, those who were lost, because he spoke of the impending judgment that was before them.

I explain to you that there are always those who are lost within the life of the church. They are not the church. It is only the redeemed who are the church. But there are always those around us who are lost and without Christ. That is a good thing. It's a healthy thing because that means that God's bringing lost sinners around us as Christians. And there were people in the life of the church who were lost and they were the unrighteous rich within the fellowships. And this is a very strong rebuke from James. Now before we get into the rest of the verses, there's a few things I want to share with you in introduction.

First, I want to give you an explanation. I want to give you an explanation. Now last week when I was introducing the message, I told you that I was dealing with a subject that I don't like to speak about. Let me explain what I mean by that. This comes from two issues in my life and my experience in the life of the church. First, I have seen so many ministers abuse money. I think a lot of you could agree with that. You would say that you've seen the same thing. I've seen ministers pull people out of money. I've seen ministers abuse money. I've seen ministers literally rob money from God's people behind what we would call a holy desk.

I'll never forget I was in a church service one time and a very famous nationally recognized minister was preaching. And there was a cost assigned to the event that he was heading up. And everyone in leadership positions in the life of the church knew the cost. It was publicized. But yet then from the pulpit as they were taking up the offering, he made the comment that the amount was not taken up and he changed the amount right in front of everybody and asked to take up the offering again. And I'm telling you there were heads that were turning that day.

Matter of fact, I talked to some of the leaders of the church and I looked at them in the face and I said that man stole God's money from God's people. That's one of the reasons why I don't like talking about money because I've seen so many ministers abuse money. I've also seen ministers get in trouble in the area of money. Let me explain what I mean. Lots of times ministers will get in trouble in the life of the ministry. I have counseled young ministers before and I have told them now listen, there are two main ways ministers get in trouble in the ministry.

First it is in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex and second it is money. If you look at ministers who fall or get into trouble, usually it's one of these two areas. And see that second issue, seeing ministers fail in this area, sometimes has caused me to be apprehensive to talk about this issue of money. But money is biblical and the preacher dealing with money, it is biblical. It is part of the teaching of the Word of God and listen, it is part of my role in your life and in the life of the church. And sometimes I do have to get over my fears and my apprehensions and just deal with the truth.

The second thing that I want to share with you is I want to share with you three reasons why we must deal with this subject. Three reasons why we must deal with this subject. The first reason is that Jesus is our example. I went and I did some studying this week about how much Jesus dealt with the area of money. I was having a conversation last week with one of the men in our church and it really spurred my curiosity in this area. And in doing some research I found out some pretty intriguing information.

First of all, I don't know if you know it, but Jesus talked more about money right behind, Jesus talked about money right behind the kingdom of God. What I mean is, he talked about the kingdom of God the most and then right behind that he talked about money. Jesus talked about more about money than he did in heaven and hell. As a matter of fact, if you add up all of the references to heaven and hell, Jesus talked more about money than those two combined. Another piece of information that I had never heard of before that I ran across. There are, now there is some debate, there are about 39 or 40 parables that Jesus used to teach.

11 of them deal with money. As a matter of fact, Bible-wide there are about 800 specific scriptures that deal with money in the Bible. So that's number one reason. Jesus is our example. He was constantly dealing with this issue of money. The second reason that we must deal with this subject is that James is our example. Is he not? Now remember what we learned in verse 1 of last week, if you would look at verse 1. He says, "Come now, you rich, weep, and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you." Remember that I gave you the construction of the language. This word's "come now." It is a command. It is an imperative.

This is not a soft-handed, soft-voiced approach from James. James is telling the people in the life of the church, "You better listen up. You better pay attention. You better perk up, and you better get what I'm about to tell you." And as a matter of fact, verse 1 is part of a complete message which goes on down to verse 6. And it is a very strong rebuke, and a lot of Bible commentators that I read explain that they believe that this is the strongest rebuke within the other rebukes and teachings in the book of James. James is our example. The third reason we must deal with this subject is our timing. You know that we are growing.

You know that we are becoming the church that God is rebirthing, and I'm thankful for that. And we are getting our legs up under us, and we are learning verses like this verse, verses 1 through 6, that are calling us to be obedient in this area. And we must not violate the teachings that the Lord puts before us. Let me give you an example. We've learned so much in 1 and 2 Timothy. In 1 Timothy we understood and we learned, and when we go back to the series that we dealt with calling us back to the biblical church, we learn from the scripture how the church is supposed to be structured, and we are accountable to that teaching.

And in dealing with these verses, dealing with money, it is timely, and we must not violate the teaching and the principles here. We must be usable in God's hands, and usable with the resources that we have, the possessions that we have, the riches that we have, the monies that we have. We must be usable in this area. I don't think it's a coincidence that we are dealing with a possibility, or really the opportunity, I'll say it like that, to fund the building of a church for a brother in India.

You might say, "Well, pastor, you are asking us to give the fund to a church, and then also still give to that ministry there in India, in Monsey's ministry in the slums?" Yes, I am. Because I don't think any of you, nor have I, I don't think any of us have given sacrificially. But in still dealing with this third reason, our timing, I want to ask a couple of questions. What if more opportunities come along for us to give more? I mean, what if there is another brother in India who needs a church as well? What if there are more opportunities that come our way? What if there would be great needs come in the life of this church?

What if there would be a brother or a sister? What if one of you were to face great calamity, great tragedy in your life, and you needed other brothers and sisters to step up? Would we give sacrificially? Would we give those of the things that we do have? See, our timing is key. And it is very important for us to understand these things, because if we are going to progress and become the church that God wants us to be, we cannot be in violation of these scriptures.

We must adhere to these teachings, and we must be able to look at the Lord and say individually and collectively all that we have, all of the monies that we have, all of the possessions that we have, they are at the Lord's feet and listen at the Lord's disposal. Sometimes we will say, "Well, this item that I have is under the lordship of Christ, but I got it locked up and I got the key." Being under the lordship of Christ is one thing, but being at His disposal is another. So those three reasons make it very important for us to deal with this issue. Christ is our example.

James is our example in the timing of where we are in the life of the church. So let's move on to this message this morning. And again, the title of the message is "A Rebuke to the Unrighteous." But this morning, it is "A Rebuke to the Unrighteous, Part 2." A Rebuke to the Unrighteous, Part 2. And you will notice that the title is "How You Earn It." Last week was Part 1, and it was "How You Spend It." And this morning is Part 2, "How You Earn It." Let's go back to the verses, and I'm going to start with verse 1 and go all the way down to verse 6, although we will not cover all of those verses.

But they all go together, the one message that we have divided. So let's look at the verses together. He says, "Come now, you rich." He says, "Weep and howl for your miseries, which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure." Remember, they were hoarding all of their wealth. But notice in verse 4, James changes.

"Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you cries out against you. And the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of the Sabbath, or the Lord of hosts." Verse 5, "You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man.

He does not resist you." Now, again, I said this is one message, and it all goes together, but we divided it, and I divided it versus 1 to 3 being one message, and that is how you store it, how you spend it, how you spend it, because these people were hoarding their wealth. But now James transitions into how you earn it. So we're going to look at some truth this morning. You see the main truths. I've got them on the screen. And truth number one, we're going to see they gained unjustly. And then truth number two, we're going to see that they gained it for selfish living.

"Their riches were gained unjustly, and their riches were for selfish living." So let's look at the verse together, verse 4. "What does he say? Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you cries out against you, and the cry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." And then down to verse 6, "You have condemned, and you have put to death the righteous man, and he does not resist you." What we see here is, their riches, they were gained in an unjust manner. Now, notice the illustration. This is an agricultural illustration. Fields were being mowed.

Fields were being harvested. Now, let's just take a little journey back in time, and let's look at what went on in the life of an agricultural illustration like this. In that day, there would have been individuals who would have owned properties, and they would have been farmers. But yet, they would have hired transient field workers or day workers. We would call them migrant workers. So you would have individuals who owned property. They would have been wealthy. And yet, they would have hired traveling itinerant field workers to do the work in the fields. That's a simplistic look at the picture and the illustration here.

So let's break these verses down, and let's see the truth that is found in verses 4 and 6. First, I want you to notice that it was gained at the expense of others. Their riches, they were gained at the expense of others. Look at verse 4. "Behold the pay of the laborers who mowed." That is a term for the harvest. "Who harvested in your fields, and which has been withheld by you." What we see here is their riches that they had, they were gained at the expense of others. Now, this term, the pay was withheld. That withheld is used in the New American Standard. The King James uses the phrase "kept back." It is in the perfect tense.

And what that means is, it wasn't just a one-time event. It was ongoing, and it was continual. It wasn't that their pay was delayed. It was that their pay was kept. The owner of the fields kept the pay of the hired workers, and it was a matter of stealing. It wasn't delayed. It was stolen. Go back to the verse. "The pay of the laborers who worked in your fields, which has been withheld, withheld by you." James could have easily have said, "You've kept it. You won't give it. You have stolen it." Their pay was withheld. But notice their pay was kept. It was kept. Now, think about it. If it was withheld, if it was kept, it was kept.

It was stolen. That needs to be reiterated. Go back to the verse. "Behold, the pay of the laborers who worked in your fields, which has been withheld from you, it cries out." What we see is, they gained a vast amount, but they gained it at the expense of those who worked for them. Second, I want you to see, it was kept in a ruthless manner. Go down to verse 6. He says, "You have condemned and you have put to death the righteous man." It wasn't enough that they gained at the expense of those who worked for them. Now we see that they kept what they gained, but they did it in a ruthless, ruthless manner.

The word "condemned" and "killed" or "murdered" is used in the King James and the English Standard Version. The word "condemned" it means to pass judgment, and the word "put to death" in the original, it means murder. It literally means that the workers who were in their fields, they were murdered so that they could keep what they had gained at their expense. You get the picture? They killed the righteous worker. And that shows us that what they had, the riches that they had, they had gained them unjustly. Now I want you to notice that there are two voices within the text. Go back to verse 4.

"Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld are stolen by you." Notice it cries out. You have the voice of the payment. And see what James is saying is, "On Judgment Day, that pay that you have kept, it will cry out in judgment against you." Then notice what it says, "And the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord." So you have the voice of the stolen pay, that alludes to the judgment, and then you have the voice of those who were being robbed, those who were being stolen from, those who were being actually put to death, coming up before the Lord of Hosts.

There is an awful cry about this crime of riches that are gained unjustly. I was reminded of a great, great illustration from a friend of mine recently. I have a friend back home that he is in the farming business. He's in the agricultural business, but he owns a blueberry farm. As a matter of fact, he owns a 17-acre blueberry farm. And that is row after row after row of blueberry bushes. And he's been in this business for quite a long time, and he's done well with it. It's been a very good opportunity for him in many different ways. But something recently took place, as a matter of fact, this summer when he was in the time of harvest.

For him, harvest is at the end of June and on into July, and harvest will last about four to five weeks. And I asked him some questions about this set of circumstances that have arisen. I asked him how many workers he has on average to pick those blueberries. He told me that he keeps as many as 50 migrant workers a day, sometimes up to 75 migrant workers a day, picking blueberries in the fields during harvest. But this particular year, this summer, he had a surprise. He looked up and he said coming through his gate was a black automobile, a black suburban.

And when that black suburban came into his gate, individuals got out who had guns on their side, and uniforms on, they got out and they closed his gates and they locked his gates. They were officers from the U.S. Department of Labor. And he said, "Chris, when they showed up, they meant business." They sat down with him and they went over his entire operation. They were checking to see if he was in compliance with all of the regulations. I mean, every T had to be crossed and every I had to be dotted. They looked at the treatment of the workers that were there. They looked at the payment of the workers.

They even looked at years of his tax returns. And they examined everything. They shut everything down. They took one by one, those workers, into a different room and they interviewed them. He looked at me and he said, "I'll be honest with you. I was scared to death." He said, "Do you know how much some of the fines can be if you're in violation?" And those U.S. Department of Labor workers came to him and they looked at him and they said, "We're amazed." They looked at him and they said, "These workers absolutely love you. They say nothing but good about you." He said, "Listen, he didn't pay a minimum wage.

He paid them above minimum wage." Not only did he pay them above minimum wage, during the harvest he has the facilities, he would feed them daily. Not only did he feed them daily, after the harvest was over, he would tell them, "You can come back to my property. You can fish in my pond. You can enjoy the property that I have." As a matter of fact, he had met other needs in their lives as he had seen them arise.

Those government officials sat down and they said, "Sir, do you know you don't have to feed them?" He said, "Yeah, I know." "Do you know that you don't have to do some of these other things?" He said, "Yeah, I know." He said, "I do it out of the kindness of my heart." Because listen, this is a Christian. He does not look at it as an opportunity to take advantage. He looks at it as an opportunity to bless others. Sure, he makes money, yes. But it is an opportunity to share Christ and share the Gospel. And see, he doesn't look at it the way these people in the book of James looked at it. No. And you know what? Those U.S.

Department of Labor officers looked at them and said, "It has been a pleasure to come to your place. Other people need to come and look at this place." They said, "You need a sign and you need a light on that sign so people can stop by. And you need to be an example to other berry farmers as well." And he said, I looked at him and he said, "So this place is nice?" And they looked at him and they said, "You have no idea how certain people treat these migrant workers." What do we see in the book of James?

There were riches that were hoarded, we learned last week, but now we see that those riches that were hoarded, they were gained in an unjust manner. And the riches that were gained cry out to them in the judgment. And the unjustice done to those workers comes up before the Lord. And see, for you, for me, what we must learn is this. It does not matter if you're a boss or an employee. What you gain must be gain honestly. If you own a business, it must be gain honestly. If you are the boss, it must be gain honestly. And some of you might be saying, "Now, wait a minute now, I'm on the very bottom of the totem pole.

I'm not a boss, I'm not a farmer, I'm not an owner. I'm just a piddling old employee." If you're an employee, what you earn must be earn honestly. You know, you can work for $3 an hour and still be a thief. Because when you work for $3 an hour, that boss owns that hour. If you work eight hours, he owns that eight hours. He owns your time. And if you slack off and sluff off and you don't do your -- you're stealing that $3 an hour. And see, the lesson for you, the lesson for me is, no matter where we are, if we're the owner, if we're the boss, if we're the little old employee, what we gain, it must be gain to listen justly.

One of the Bible commentators in our read, the new American commentary says, "In the circle of the Christian community, a clear voice must constantly call the wealthy to greater responsibility for the well-being of the average laborer. The skills necessary to create wealth, power, as they are, must be guided by Christian wisdom." See, I was able to look at my friend and say, "You know why you do those things? It is no big deal. It is because you are born again. You approach the whole thing as a Christian." And I'm going to tell you, if you're an employee right on the bottom and you're a Christian, you'll work hard and you'll earn that $3.

You won't gain it unjustly. Let's move on to point number two. I want you to see that their riches were for selfish living. Their riches were for selfish living. Look at verse five. He says, "You have lived luxuriously on the earth, and you've led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." John MacArthur says, "Having increased their wealth by robbery and hoarding, the wicked rich added to their sin by using their wealth for their own selfish indulgence." Now, I want you to notice that now we're starting to see that it is a multilayered problem. What I mean is, last week we saw that there were hoarders.

They just amassed it for themselves. Now we see that they're thieves. They are gaining it in an unjust manner. Now we're starting to see that they use it for their own selfish living. Now, within this verse, I want us to see and identify there are three verbs that describe the way they live. Now, going back to a little English lesson, you should know that a verb is an action word. And this action word, these verbs, they describe how they were living. First, I want you to notice "luxurious living." Go back to the verse. "You have lived luxuriously on the earth." This is very, very simple in the original.

It means they were living in luxury, but they were living in luxury at the expense of others. Isn't that what he's saying? "You have lived luxuriously on earth." The second verb that I want you to notice is self-indulgence. Go back to the verse. "You have lived luxuriously on the earth, and you have led a life of wanton pleasure." Now, the New American and the King James uses the word "wonton." The English Standard uses the word "self-indulgence." This phrase is the same phrase that we see in 1 Timothy 5-6, where widows were commanded not to live life in self-indulgence or wanton pleasures.

This is just a picture of one who is in the steady pursuit of pleasure. One who is in a steady pursuit of pleasure. So what is he saying? "You have lived in a luxurious manner. It is ongoing on this earth, and you have lived a life of self-indulgence on a steady pursuit of pleasure." The third verb I want you to see is "fatting their hearts." "You have lived luxuriously on the earth, and you have led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts." The King James uses the word "nourished." This picture here is one who is fattening self. They are fattening themselves while those who are defrauded are starving. You get the picture?

It's nothing more than selfish, selfish living. Go back to the verse. "You have lived in a luxurious manner. You have led a life of pursuing nothing but pleasure, and you are fattening yourself." That's verb after verb describing selfish living. See how it's multilayered? Last week they were hoarding, but now we're seeing that they were hoarding that which they robbed, and now we see that that which they do have, when they do use it, they use it for self. I was reminded of an example of a time in my life when I was serving at another church. That was a particular individual in the life of the church who was extremely wealthy.

I did not know him, necessarily. He was always nice to me. But this particular individual was extremely wealthy. As a matter of fact, he was known all over the world. Well, as his career digressed, he ended up being convicted of crimes. Now, I am not here to say that he was guilty or innocent. There are some who would declare that he was innocent. There are some that would declare that he was guilty. But the court system declared that he was guilty. And in his guilt, he was declared or he was convicted of taking the investments of other people and squandering them and using them in an unworthy manner.

Him being the CEO of the company, he was responsible for taking the investments of other people, individuals just like you and me, and he was responsible for the proper care of those assets, but he was convicted in federal court of, listen, squandering that wealth. And if you followed the story in the news, they would reveal, now listen, a luxurious lifestyle. They would reveal a pursuit of pleasure. And according to the judicial system, in his conviction, he was convicted of, if I'm going to use biblical language, fattening himself on others' wealth. Now again, I'm not here to say he was innocent, and I'm not here to say he was guilty.

I'm here to declare what went on in the court system. And that individual is in jail today. Now what am I trying to show you? That is an example of what is taking place right here in the verse. And what James is saying is, it's not enough that you hoard, it's not enough that you've robbed, but you take what you have robbed and you squander it on yourself. Now as I begin to conclude, I want to remind you of last week's conclusion. Remember last week I asked you to evaluate. And last week I showed you that there were obvious uses of the monies and the properties and the wealth that God has given us. Remember, there were four things.

God gives us money to provide for our families. God gives us wealth to provide for kingdom work. God gives us properties and monies to provide for the poor. And God gives us monies to provide for those who are in Christian ministry. This is all from a Christian and Biblical perspective. And what I wanted us to do last week was to evaluate why we have what we have. And I want to tell you, revisiting that, if you are not providing for your family, you are not right with God. If you are not providing for kingdom work, you are not right with God.

If you are not providing for the poor when the opportunity comes and providing for those in Christian ministry, none of us are right with God. That's why we have what we have. It's not a sin to save. It's not a sin to own. It's at the Lord's feet and it's at His disposal. We learned at the New Testament church when there was a time of need in the life of the Jerusalem church in Acts chapter 2, they would literally sell possessions. There was a great need and they gave sacrificially. But as I conclude this morning, I want us to see two things. First, we must earn what we have honestly. Whatever we do, we must earn it honestly.

If it is much and if it is little, it is no sin to have. Isn't that what we learned that Paul tells Timothy to command those in the Ephesian church at the end of the book of 1 Timothy? He says, "Command those who are rich in this present world to be rich in good deeds." He does not condemn riches. He just says, "Tell them to use what they have for good deeds." I have known men in the life of the church that offering plate would come by, you would give 20, you would give 100, they would give hundreds. I have known men in the life of the church who had plenty.

And when the minister was going out of town, he would come up with money, he would come up with an envelope and he would say, "This is enough for your vacation and then some. Go have a good time." It's not having, it's what you do with it, but what we are learning now is listen how you earn it matters. And look, if you are making $3 an hour, if you are making $30 an hour, $30,000 a year, $300,000 a year, if you don't earn it honestly, God will never bless it. And I am here to tell you, if you are making $300,000 a year and you are not earning it right, it can go through your hands like water. And how you earn it, it does matter.

If you are the owner, if you are the boss, if you are the employee, you have got to earn it and you have got to earn it right. I learned this lesson when I worked on a construction crew. We had a man who was over the crew, voice being a Christian, proclaim being a Christian. When we started at 6.30, 9 out of 10 times, he started at 6.25. When we knocked off at 4 o'clock, 9 times out of 10, at 4 o'clock is when he put the tool down.

And he would look at the guys who would drive up right at beginning time, they'd knock off 30 minutes before knocking off time, and he would look at them and he would say, "You're stealing, you're stealing, you're stealing." When the subcontractors would be around and they weren't working and they were out there smoking and they were out there, he would say, "You're stealing, you're stealing." Why? Because he was honest. How you earn it matters. The second thing is we must not have it, whatever we have, for selfish reasons. According to what we are learning here, these people hoarded up what they had.

They had robbed and stolen and killed to get it. And look, it was all about themselves. And what we do have, it must be at his fingertips, under his lordship, and at his disposal. And you know what? I want to tell you, your motives do matter. If you want God to give you more for you, that's the wrong motive. But if you want God to give you more to provide for your family and to provide for the poor and to provide for kingdom work, that is a pure biblical motive. And I want to tell you as I begin to close, what we do have matters in kingdom work.

Every automobile you have matters, every nickel and dime you have, the home you have, the property that you have, everything that you have matters. I want to conclude by reading you a verse. I don't want you to turn there. You can write it down. But in Luke chapter 16, we have Jesus teaching a parable. This is a parable of the dishonest manager. The parable starts off like this. It says, "There was a rich man who had a manager." He says, "A boss man." There was a rich man who had a boss man or a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting the rich man's possession. See, here's a manager who's not being a good manager.

And he, that's the rich man, called him and he said, "What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be my manager." What did the manager do? Verse 3, "And the manager said to himself, 'What shall I do since my master is taking the management away from you?' Me, 'I am not strong enough to dig and I'm too ashamed to beg.

I have decided what to do so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.'" In other words, he's settling that account. Verse 7, "And then he said to another, 'How much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and write eighty.' The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light." And now notice what he says, "And I tell you," Jesus is speaking to the audience, "make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings." What does Jesus say? "Use what you have to influence others." Yes, if that means taking your lost neighbor out to eat, if that means blessing the lost, yes, use what you have for others. Use what you have to influence the lost. Use what you have to build up the saints. Use what you have in the life of the church.

Use what you have for others. And that is right in the same vein of what Paul tells Timothy in the life of the Ephesian church, tell those who are rich to be rich and good deeds. Use what you have to be rich and good deeds. And see, as we conclude, what we must learn about this morning's message is how we earn what we have, it matters, it must be earned honestly, and we are to use what we have not for selfish reasons, but for others. Jesus taught it, Paul preached it, Timothy believed it, and now James is rebuking those, now listen, who are the unrighteous rich. But you know, you've got to remember, many of these were lost.

You know what he's saying? Verse 1, he says, "You better howl, you better weep, because you're headed for the judgment, and all that you have done, you will give an account." But you know, there were also some saved, and they had to take notice. And as I conclude, I want to say to you, if you're here this morning, and you do not know Christ, you never will and you never can use what you have for the Kingdom. But if you were here this morning, those of us who are born again individuals, this is not just a reminder, a gigantic lesson, how we handle our wealth and our possessions, even how we earn it, it matters.

Because not only does God want us to use it, the whole world is watching. The whole world, our neighbors, our family, our friends, even people in the life of this church are watching how we handle this. So, how you spend it last week, and how you earn it, and it all comes together. Listen, it all comes together where the Lord is bringing us face to face with what we have. And I believe what he's saying is, he's saying to us church, he's saying to us as individuals, "I want my hand on it for my disposal." Let's pray together. Nobody looking around, please. We're not going to necessarily sing an invitation song this morning.

What I want to ask you to do is to...