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There in James chapter five, we are up to the last chapter. We finally finished the book of James, or tonight we're gonna finish it. But please look at verse 11. It says, behold, we count them happy, which endure. The title for the sermon tonight, brethren, is we count them happy. We count them happy. Now I don't know about you, brethren, I like being happy. I'd rather be happy than sad. I'd rather be rejoicing than being in great sorrow. Now that there's a time, there are times to mourn, there are times to weep, there are times to have great sorrows. There are times where we're gonna have difficulties and challenges, but you know what? Even in the midst of challenges and difficulties and hardships, I still wanna be a happy person overall. You know, I think, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, you tell me if I'm wrong later on, brethren. But I think most people would look at me and say, hey, that's pretty happy, man. You know, even if there are some certain challenges, you know, I try to have a smile on my face, I try to be encouragement, I try to be a blessing. It doesn't mean I always am, but I always try to have a positive, happy outlook to life because that's how I wanna live my life. You know, I'd rather live a short life of happiness than to live a long life of misery and woe. And the Bible just gives us some instructions in this final chapter of how we can be happy. Now notice it says, we count them happy which endure. Endure what? Well, obviously endure challenges, endure difficulties. You know, I'm not saying that, you know, in order for you to be happy, you know, you gotta have no challenges, no problems, no. You know, even if we endure through the challenges, that will bring forth happiness in your life. All right, let's start there in verse number one, James 5, verse number one, it says, go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. So the first maybe half of James 5, maybe not quite half, is directed to rich men. Now, if someone is listening right now and you're, you know, quite wealthy, let's say, you do have riches, you do have material gain. You know, I don't want you to think that this, this is just about anybody that has wealth. Let's go back to chapter four very quickly. Let's just remind ourselves and, and build from chapter four, what is this about? These rich men are being referred to, who are they? Let's go back there to James 4, verse 13. James 4, verse 13, which says, go to now. Now remember, that's how James 5, verse one starts. Go to, go to now ye rich men. Well verse number, chapter four, James 4, 13 begins with go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. All right, so it's talking about those that make big decisions in life to move to another place for profitable reasons, all right? Now, you know, again, this is not saying that it's ever wrong to do that, but if you drop down to verse number 15, just a reminder of last week, it says, for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live or do this or do that. And so we've been reminded, you know, I'm not going to re-preach James 4, the thought was, you know, if we're gonna make big decisions in life, you know, where, yeah, you may very well profit from moving, I mean, that's why people generally move, because there's some profit to that move, okay? That, you know, as long as it's within God's will, you know, we're seeking God's will first, and all of James 4 was about overcoming the lusts that are in these members, the lusts that are in this flesh. You know, we don't want to desire to be rich because of our fleshly and earthly lusts, but hey, if we manage to make profit and it's all within God's will in our life, there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. And so when we go to Genesis 5, verse one, we're still on this issue of people that are rich, contrary to God's will, those that are just seeking to make a profit because they want to indulge upon their lusts, okay? This is contrary to God's will, all right? So let's continue there, Genesis 5, verse number one, go to now you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. You see, God promises that if someone seeks to be wealthy and rich and just consume the pleasures of this world upon their lusts, that God's gonna send you miseries. Now, we started with a title for the sermon tonight, which was, we count them happy. Isn't that the complete opposite? That if you seek after riches, brethren, and you as a childhood God, if you set your heart on this earth, you set your heart on finances, on money, how much can I make? That's where your heart is, brethren. You are guaranteed miseries. I don't want you to be miserable. You know, I don't want you to live a life of sorrow and hardship. I want you to be happy, chasing money, chasing wealth, chasing prosperity, just for your own lusts. You know, brethren, it sends you misery, will not give you happiness. Money cannot buy happiness. If you, actually, yeah, keep your finger there and please turn to 1 Timothy, chapter six. Please go to 1 Timothy, chapter six and verse number nine. 1 Timothy, chapter six and verse number nine. Now, one thing that I've observed as, you know, slowly, you know, as you live life and you work and you, you know, you'd be productive, you know, God allows you to, you know, profit, God allows you to prosper to some extent and you slowly accumulate a little more, a little more, you know, in life. And I found that the more you accumulate in life, the more material possessions you accumulate, that it does add sorrow because you start thinking about, you know, but what if this gets lost? What if that gets damaged? You know, one of the advantages that the person who rents a house, for example, has over someone who owns a house is, you know, the person that rents a house isn't so concerned, what happens if the house gets damaged or destroyed? Because that's on the landlord, isn't it? You know, if there's any structural issues with the house, that's on the landlord. But you know, when you own a house, you start thinking, okay, man, this is a, this is a large investment, this is a large expense. And all of a sudden you start thinking, man, what if it gets damaged? You know, we've had a lot of rain here. What if, what if there's damage with all the rain and the hail and what if there's a fire? What if my house burns down? You know, will I be able to afford the mortgage, et cetera, et cetera. You see, it's nice to have things, I guess, to some extent, but the more you have, the greater sorrows and concerns and worries that plagues your mind. And you know, we want to be people that are happy in life. We don't want to be people that are constantly in sorrow. Look at 1 Timothy chapter six, verse number nine. It says, but they that will be rich. Okay, this is talking about people that whose will, whose will is to be rich. They go about life seeking their own will, not God's will as we saw in James chapter four, okay. They're seeking their own will to be rich. It says, fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts. Look at this, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Man, the more you accumulate, your will is to be rich. Your will is to be prosper. Your will is to be a friend to this earth brethren. You're going to open yourself up to destruction. Perdition, perdition is damnation, okay. On this earth, obviously, if you're saved, you can't lose your salvation, but you're going to have a hard life. You're going to go through difficulties that you wouldn't have otherwise if you hadn't sought these riches. Look at verse number 10. It says, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, look at this, they have erred from the faith. When you seek riches upon this earth, brethren, you will err from the faith. You will walk away from your faithfulness in the Lord God. You'll turn your hearts to this world and be far from God. It says, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Many sorrows. You know, please don't desire to have all the wealth and all the possessions and your hearts are set on how much can I have on this earth. Brethren, the more you have, the more sorrows you have. Okay, the more, look, it's the best thing to do is just to have and pray to the Lord that you just have enough to get through life. You know, that you would be able to be provided for that. You know, you wouldn't be in a place of poverty, but you don't want to be in a place where you're just excessively wealthy either, because that's what brings forth many sorrows. So as I said to you, the title of the sermon was we count them happy. I want you to be happy. I don't want you chasing this world. I don't want you chasing possessions and wealth and then how much can you make? And look, if God blesses you because you're seeking his will, you're seeking God's kingdom first and his righteousness, and the Lord blesses you through your work of your hands or some inheritance or, you know, you just made some wise decisions. You're a good steward with what God has given you and you prosper, praise God. You know, as long as you're putting God's will first, we know where your heart is, that truly your heart is upon the treasures that are laid up in heaven. Back to James chapter five, verse number two. Again, for these people that seek riches through their lusts, it says in verse number two, your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. This sounds a lot like a lesson that Jesus Christ taught us. It keeps going, verse number three, your gold and silver is cankered. The word cankered is similar to the word cancer. Anyway, it's got this sort of this sickly growth to it, okay? And it says in the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days. And so what's, I think something that's interesting, gold nor silver can actually rust, okay? But obviously the idea of the rust there is the corrosion of wealth as it were. You know, thinking that you can just rely on your riches, on your money, but slowly it's just gonna be corrupted. You know, inflation is part of that, isn't it? You know, you earn a certain amount by the time you spend it tomorrow, it's worth less than what it was worth when you earned it today. You know, because of inflation, because of those forces that work against it. You might eventually have a big bank account, but God's gonna make sure that it slowly corrodes away, that it's slowly the wealth that all starts to rust away. And then it keeps going, your silver and God is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Look at this, you have heaped treasure together for the last days. Now, when it says here the last days, it's not referring to the end times. It's just, you know, ever since Christ came to this earth, it's been the latter days. It's been the last days, okay? Since Christ has come, we are basically in these last days that God speaks about. But anyway, verses two and three are pretty much the same teaching that Christ taught in Matthew 6, verse 19. And Christ said, lay up not for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Reverend, where is your heart today? Is your heart on this earth? Is your heart in heaven? You know, on Sunday, I was able to, well, Sunday, yeah, preach for you guys on Sunday. Well, Sunday, I'm losing track of time now. Yeah, I did preach for you guys. About, you know, having a heavenly perspective, having heavenly lenses instead of earthly lens, the same thing. Where is your heart? You know, did you crave the treasure in heaven? Well, be patient, be patient. Well, you're eventually gonna have those treasures if you seek God's will first, you serve him, you work for God. But brethren, you seek the treasures of this earth. You're not going to, we saw last on Sunday. It's all gonna burn. It's all gonna burn, as it says there. It says, what did it say? It will eat your flesh as it were fire. God's just reminding us once again, it's all gonna burn. And if your heart is rested on the earthly things, it's gonna eat you up. Oh man, I can't believe God's destroying all this wealth. Yeah, well, your heart and your love shouldn't have been upon this earth in the first place. All right, let's keep going to verse number four. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which have reaped and entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. All right, so these rich men, they've got fields, they've got big lands, and they hire laborers to do a work, to reap their harvest. And the Bible's saying here that some of the brethren that have made themselves rich, have made themselves rich by fraud, meaning that they've hired laborers and they refuse to pay them what they agreed. Maybe they didn't pay them at all, or maybe they paid them less than what the agreed value was, okay? And this is what riches leads to. It leads to wrong judgment. It leads to stepping on the toes of other people. You know, if I can just have those extra dollars, I'll undercut that guy, I'll not pay this guy, I won't pay on time, so I can have for myself. It's wrong, brethren, it's wrong. You know, if you've made an agreement of payment, someone has come that'll work for you, you know, you pay them, you pay them straight away. All right, you don't wait for them to beg you to pay them. If the agreement is that they're coming to serve, you hire an electrician to install some new lights and some new PowerPoints in your house, you pay them, all right, you pay them. They look, obviously, if they do some shonky job, they're not up to their side of the agreement, then obviously you're gonna have that to negotiate that with them. But listen, if you get someone to do a job, you pay them. All right, you get your electricity bill, you get your water bill, they've given you the service that they promised, you pay. All right, you pay before it's overdue. Sort out these issues, all right? Don't be greedy for yourself and think, I'm just gonna undercut and underpay everybody so I can have more. This is, you know what, if you have this attitude, you know, if you owe money to somebody right now, Brethren, be afraid, like be afraid. Because what did it say there at the second half of verse number four? And the cries of them which have reaped and entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. So the people that you're undercutting, the people you've not paid, the people that have served you and you haven't fulfilled your side, then they've cried and the Lord has heard their cries. The Lord has heard their cries. What do you think God's gonna do to you when he hears the cries of those that you've committed fraud toward? All right, I mean, this is, I don't wanna fall in the hands of the Lord of Sabaoth. Say, what is Sabaoth there? Well, basically the word Sabaoth, it appears twice in our Bibles. The word Sabaoth means hosts or the Lord of hosts, okay? Keep your finger there and please go to Romans chapter nine. Let me just show you something here. Please turn to Romans chapter nine. The other time the Bible refers to as God as the Lord of Sabaoth. But yeah, so the word Sabaoth means the Lord of hosts, Lord of Sabaoth, Lord of hosts. But it's also, it's sort of like a military term. Like we think about the hosts, you know, what are the heavenly hosts? We think of obviously the angels, you know, and those that serve and worship the Lord God in heaven. He's the Lord of them. But the idea of being a Lord of hosts is more like a military term. It's kind of like he's the Lord of an army, as it were. And we know that God can use his angels and Jesus Christ himself said that if he wants to prevent himself from being arrested and crucified, the Lord God would have sent down legions of angels to fight for him, you know? And so God has this spiritual army if he needs to use it. And so when we think about the Lord of hosts, that's actually what it's referring to. God's ability to call that an army and bring forth judgment, you know? And if you look at Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine, verse number 29. Let me just show you this as well. Romans chapter nine, verse 29. It says, and as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, look at this, we had been as Sudoma and been made like unto Gomorrah. Okay, what's the Suddoma and Gomorrah? Sodom and Gomorrah. You know, Isaiah says about the nation of Israel, if God did not allow us to continue having a seed, you know, continue us having generations of people, we would have been wiped out the same way. Israel would have been wiped out the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah was wiped out. And he refers to him in this passage as the Lord of Sabaoth. You know why? Because God is a God of judgment, okay? And we saw the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, he destroyed them, all right? He saw the wickedness of Israel. He judged them, all right? He chastised them. And look, God, there were times where he, you know, sought to wipe out the nation completely, and it's because of people like Moses or Samuel that would turn around and seek God and for God's mercy upon the nation of Israel. When we think about that, and we go back to James 5, verse number four, you know, think about God's judgment on you, that you've made agreements to pay people for the work they've done, okay? And because of your greed and your lust for money you've not paid, well, they're cries, you know? And they may not necessarily be praying to God, but then just turn around and say, man, that guy, he promised to pay me, he's not paid me, why? Though God hears that, okay? And he's a Lord of hosts, you know? He's the Lord of Sabaoth. He's a God that judges. He's a God with a heavy hand of chastisement if you defraud people. Brevin, please do not defraud people financially. I don't wanna see the heavy hand of God fall upon you. I want you to be happy. We count them happy, was the title of the sermon tonight. And you know, if you're going through a heavy hand of chastisement from God, you're not gonna have a happy time. Let's put it that way, all right? Let's get going. James 5, verse number five. Again, continue this thought about the rich men. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. The word wanton that you have lived in pleasure, again, like a luxurious life, you've had plenty. And being wanton basically means, the word wanton means without restraint. You've had everything you wanted, all right? You've never really had to, you know, tighten the belt a little bit financially. You know, whatever you want, you've been able to have, right, just talking about the rich people. You have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter. The day of slaughter refers to obviously in the old, you know, we don't necessarily do this. Well, actually, there have been times that I've seen a day of slaughter. You know, cause my family in Chile, a lot of them have farms and they've got pigs and things like that. And there've been times, yeah, where they've literally slaughtered an animal so we can have a feast. We can have a big barbecue, right? A big meal, a lot of people around. And you know, obviously when you're feasting, you tend to eat a lot. You tend to really just gorge yourself, you know? But you know, feasting in itself is not wrong. You know, but the thing about these rich people is that they're basically feasting every single day of their lives. You know, they've got too much. They've got too much. And so they're just constantly feasting. I sometimes think about, you know, I often say how Australia is a rich nation. And you know, I know people that basically eat out every single day. Like, you know, myself and my wife and my children, like we could not afford to just eat out every day. Like if my wife turned around and said, you know, honey, I don't want to cook anymore. All right, you know, we'll just eat out. We just couldn't afford it. But there are some people that actually live like this, where they would eat out. You know, they would have, they'll eat out lunch. They'll eat out dinner. You know, almost this idea of just this constant feasting. You know, we've got to be careful because we are rich in Australia. We do have more than what we really need, you know? And be careful that our hearts do not turn to the hearts of the wicked rich that we read about here in James 5. Look at verse number six. You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. So these rich people, you know, they're stepping upon honest people, right? You've hired someone for a job. They've worked honestly for you. And you've just condemned them. You know, you've, you know, you've, you know, you've turned against them basically. And it says, and he doth not resist you. Meaning that, you know, he's just accepted it. He's accepted that you're just a wicked master and that they're not going to get paid. You know, sometimes, you know, maybe instead of dragging the case through a court system, you know, they just can't afford it. They just go, man, this is my loss then. It's just not worth, you know, drag making this a legal issue. You know, I'll just cop the loss. But this is what people, you know, you step on other people's toes, you know, those that are rich, those that are wealthy, they don't care who they step on, you know? And this is what they're being judged upon here in James to the five. Now, you might be on the other side of this though. I don't think, you know, you know, when I look thinking about people in my church, I don't think anyone's like, you know, like I said, we're all wealthy to some extent if you live in Australia, but I don't think you're this like excessively wealthy kind of person. We're just trying to step on the little man and that you just love this world and just trying to amass as much wealth and riches upon this earth. You know, I don't really believe that about anybody in our church, but you might be on the receiving end, right? You might be the person that got defrauded. You might be the person that got caught out to do a job and you didn't get paid. You might be the person that worked the job, right? And they've promised you to pay a certain amount and they've not done it. And you've been defrauded. And yeah, you might be on the receiving end. So when we get to verse number seven, we're now not addressing the rich, but we're receiving those that are on the receiving end on the wickedness of the rich, okay? Verse number seven, it says, "'Be patient, therefore, brethren, "'and to the coming of the Lord, "'behold the husbandman waiter "'for the precious fruit of the earth, "'and have long patience for it "'until he receive the early and latter rain. "'Be ye also patient, "'establish your hearts "'for the coming of the Lord, Joraph Nigh.'" So the Lord Jesus Christ, we're looking at here, referring to his coming, and Jesus Christ has been referred to as the husbandman here. And the husbandman, of course, is a man who owned, say, a vineyard or a piece of land, right, he's a farmer, he's a landowner. Husbandman would be someone that would hire servants. And so what we've been encouraged to do is not to be disheartened, not to become discouraged, right, if you're on the receiving end of fraud, because we actually have someone else that we work for, right, your employer or the person that you worked for may have defrauded you, but Jesus is not. And so we need to remain faithful to Jesus, knowing that he is coming back. And Jesus Christ, as it were, it says he is patient with his return. "'Behold, the husband waiter "'for the precious fruit of the earth.'" And brethren, if you're saved, you're part of that precious fruit. You are part of that harvest of Jesus Christ. When Christ comes back, he's going to reap his harvest of believers, and that's us. But it says here that Jesus is patient. Jesus is waiting for as many people to come to know him as Savior before he returns, and says, and have long patience for it until he received the early and latter rain. And so because Jesus has long patience or long suffering on his return, he's given us opportunities to come to know him as Savior, he's given people opportunities to hear the gospel and be saved, then says, verse number eight, "'Be ye also patient.'" Just like Jesus is patient, you be patient. "'Stablish your hearts "'for the coming of the Lord, draweth nigh.'" So brethren, when you're being defrauded by some rich, wicked person, just remind yourself, actually, I work for Jesus. Jesus is my husband. And he's not going to defraud me, right? When he comes back, he's promised to meet me in the clouds, he's promised me a new resurrected body, he's promised to take me home and I'll be with him for all eternity. Those are his promises, and he won't lie to me. He's not going to defraud me. And so the way we stay content and happy and faithful and not discouraged is just reminding us that we serve Jesus, that Jesus sees all. And one day he's gonna come back and reward us for the work that we do. Yes, man can shortchange us, but Jesus Christ will not shortchange us. Now, Jesus Christ says that if you leave father and mother and families and homes, that he's going to reward us 100 fold. Jesus Christ does not just pay double time or triple time, he pays 100 time for everything that we give up in order to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, all right? So don't worry about it, don't worry. You know, be patient, okay? Now, I'll quickly read to you, well, it says here, actually, yeah, I wanted to cover verse 8 very quickly, because it says, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. And the word nigh, of course, means near, okay? And so, you know, sometimes you'll have your pre-tribulation Christian say, well, see, the Lord's coming here, it's nigh. It could happen at any moment. You know, Jesus Christ could come back before Pastor Kevin finishes preaching his sermon. Jesus Christ could come back tomorrow morning, you know, he's drawing nigh. Is that what it says though? It doesn't say here, for the coming of the Lord is nigh? No, it says for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. In other words, it's getting nearer. Every day that we live is one day closer to the coming of the Lord, right? His coming is one day closer every single day that we live. And of course, for the people that lived in the time of James, you know, they were a little bit further off. We are much nearer, 2,000 years nearer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so don't be discouraged. You know, the Bible says in Revelation 22, verse 12, and behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. So don't forget, if you've been shortchanged, you've been defrauded, you know, you've lost money on the job, Jesus Christ says, I'm coming, I'm going to reward you for the work that you've done for me. This is why, you know, I always teach, when you go to work, just work for Jesus, right? Work for Jesus, you'll get paid by man, yes, but ultimately you're going to get paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. If you fear God when you serve in your workplace and you work to please the Lord Jesus Christ rather than just to please man. Look at verse number nine. It says, grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. And so again, not removing from the context where you might have somebody who has defrauded another man, hasn't paid them, well, you know what, don't hold grudges against each other. You know, if you want to live a happy life, you can't hold grudges. You hold grudges, brethren, you're going to just grow in bitterness. You're going to grow in disappointment. You're going to be cast down with sorrows and depression and anger and wrath and that bitterness will just burn you, brethren. You've got to get rid of it. Don't hold onto grudges. Grudge not one against another, brethren. You say, but Pastor Kevin, they've wronged me. Don't you know? They've wronged me. They probably have wronged you. You know what? And you know what? You've probably wronged other people as well because you're a sinner as well. I'm sure there are things that you've done where you've wronged others and you probably haven't even fixed it. And you've probably even forgotten some of the wrong that you've done to others that you can't even fix it because you don't even recall. You know, brethren, this world's not a fair playing ground necessarily, okay? You don't have to hold grudges. Just remind yourself, God sees all. God is the righteous judge, all right? And what gives me a lot of joy in life is just knowing that God sees it all. You know what? If I've wronged someone, I'm gonna cop God's chastisement. But if I cop God's chastisement, I know it's for my profit, okay? And if someone's wronged me, then I know that vengeance belongs to God and God will repay and God's gonna make sure that I'm not, you know, that if I've got taken advantage of or I've been defrauded or whatever, that God's gonna make sure that my needs have been met. I mean, you can't lose as a Christian, can you? You can't lose. That's what's beautiful about our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only is this about obviously not getting paid on the job, but also just any other disagreements that we may have. And it's just reminding us that, you know, God is the one that judges us. He's standing before the law. You know, be careful how you judge others because God is watching your judgment. You know, I hope you judge righteously. You know, we saw previously, if you just go back to James 4, verse 11, just to remind you, because it's again touching on the same point there, James 4, verse 11, speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy who art thou that judgeth another. Be careful of the kinds of judgments that you pass. Remind yourself that the judge standeth before the law. Christ sees it all, brethren. Once again, if you've defrauded somebody, Christ sees it, you're gonna cop it. And if you've been defrauded, Christ sees it, and he's going to take care of you. He's going to take vengeance for you. Verse number 10, please. James 5, verse number 10. It says, take my brethren, the prophets. Consider the prophets, brethren. Consider the stories of the Bible that you read about. Who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example, look at this, of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Reverend, the Bible gives us so many wonderful stories about the saints of old, our spiritual forefathers, who have been afflicted, who have been defrauded, yea, even have been killed for the name of the Lord God. And they went through it patiently. They suffered affliction and of patience. You know what, when you're going through difficulties, when you've been defrauded, when you've got bitterness in your heart, the Bible, God's reminding us that we've got the prophets of old, we've got the stories of old to encourage us. So we realize we're not the only ones that have been taken advantage of. We're not the only ones that have been wronged. These prophets have been wronged. These prophets have gone through even greater tribulations than what we've gone through. Some of these prophets have lost their life. We're still alive. And so when we feel this way, when we feel bitterness and anger, and we wanna take revenge for people that have wronged us, God's reminding us, get your head in the Bible, read about these stories, and see the patience, see the endurance that these people went through, and let that be an encouragement for you. Because if they can bear with this affliction in patience, then so can you, brethren. We serve the same God. You know, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. We can accomplish the same works that the saints of old have accomplished. We can have the same patience that the saints of old have, all right, brethren? We got the Bible here to encourage us. And this is where we get to verse number 11. Behold, we count them happy, which endure. Yes, these prophets of old who endured with patience. They were happy. They were joyful people. You know, sometimes we read about the apostle Paul and his imprisonment and his, you know, whippings that he had, his stoning that he's gone through. And yet when you read about Paul and how he writes his love to all the churches, he seems like a, just a positive, right, a man of zeal, a man who just keeps running the race. And yet he suffered so much affliction. You know, I'm sure there are so many men in the Bible. You know, if we just met them, we just see their joy of going through difficulties with patience, knowing that the Lord God is on their side, knowing that God is the one that judges their situation. And so brethren, if you're going through affliction today, please don't think that the answer is to run away from the affliction or run away from the problem. That is never the answer. The answer is to endure, okay? To endure the affliction, endure the hardship, endure the problem, and that's gonna give you joy. All right, you rest on the Lord God. You allow the Lord to empower you. You allow God to take vengeance for your sake. It says, behold, we count them happy which endure. Look at this, you have heard of the patience of Job. We've got the story of Job in the Bible. How much did he go through? The devil really took advantage of him, right? His friends turned against him. We've seen the patience of Job, look at this, and have seen the end of the Lord. We've seen how at the end of Job's story, how God blessed him immensely. You know, if you endure, God will bless you immensely, and that will give you great joy. You know, one of the advantages of going through afflictions and sorrows is to see God's hands of blessing upon you. So you can see God's, you know, experience God's judgment, experience God's leading. That's why we need affliction sometimes, all right? You know, next time you get defrauded, hey, next time you go do a job and someone doesn't pay you, you say, you know what? Maybe God's allowing me to go for this affliction so I can see the hand of God, so I can be blessed by God. Maybe I'm not so happy as I ought to be. You know what, if I endure with patience, this affliction, I'm gonna be happy, because that's what God promises me in his Word. It says that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. You wanna see God's pity and tender mercy on your life? Well, you've gotta go through affliction, all right? Experiencing these hardships opens the door to see God's hand on your life, to see God's blessings on your life. You know, God feels pity towards you when he sees you defrauded, when he sees you being taken advantage of, all right? He sees and feels when you're defrauded, and then he gives you those tender mercies. He comforts you with his love and his mercy. You know, I don't know if this is relevant to James I V, but I guess indirectly it is. You know, I talk to people sometimes, and you know, as we've gone through this COVID world, you know, there were certain people that have copped fines, right, for not wearing a mask or whatever it is, whatever, you know, health order they didn't follow. There were several people that copped fines, and you know, I talked to different people, and it's like, you know, I'm gonna, you know, say I'm gonna take, I'm gonna fight this fine, right? And even before the COVID world, I know certain people that have received different types of fines, even speeding fines, whatever, right, where they know they're wrong, and they'll say things, well, they can't prove that I sped. It's funny when they say they can't prove it. It means you did speed, you know? And it's sort of like, you know, I'm gonna fight it in courts. I can think of one friend, and I consider him a good friend, actually. He might be listening to, I don't know, that. He's been fighting some fines literally for years. You know, I remember speaking to him, maybe, I don't know, five years ago, he had all these fines, and he was fighting in court. And I caught up with him a couple years ago, you know, so this has gone for years. And he said to me, yeah, I'm still fighting these fines in court. And I'm just thinking, just pay it, just, you know, like all these years of like, of being at this mental strain, you know, I don't know what costs have been involved, or time has been involved to fight these fines. I just, you know, my wife knows me. She goes, she once said to me, I know you, if you cop the fine like that, you just pay it. I was like, yeah, I just pay it. You say, Kevin, you know, you just allow yourself to be walked all over. You know what? I just don't have the time for these things. You know, again, God watches all things. You know, God watches it all. Maybe I deserve the fine. Maybe I need that affliction. So I'll just pay the stupid thing, and get hurt a little bit. And maybe I can feel a bit of tender mercies from the Lord God. Hey, maybe, maybe I don't deserve it. Maybe sometimes there's been certain speeding fines of things, or red light fines that I received, you know, through my life, where I just feel I wasn't in the wrong. I'm not in the wrong year. You know, I'm just gonna pay it. I don't care. God sees it. Vengeance is mine. I will repay. Save the world. God, I'm gonna pay it. I'm just gonna leave it in your hands. I don't have time to muck around with this. Whatever, I don't care. I'll just pay it. If I've been defrauded, if I've been stepped all over, so be it, Lord. I don't care, right? I'm just looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ, who's not gonna step all over me. In fact, he laid down his life for me, and he's gonna give me great rewards. He's gonna give me a beautiful home in heaven. I can't wait to be with the Lord. Who cares about this earth? Who cares about a few hundred dollars here and there? I'd rather lose it. I'd rather feel the pain. I'd rather feel the affliction, because it allows me to see God's blessings in my life, the hand of his tender mercies, his pity. And maybe, just maybe, if you allow the wicked to walk all over you, then you leave him in the hands of God. You know what? I'd love to see God just judge and take his vengeance upon the most wicked. Well, in order for that to happen, I've gotta allow myself to get afflicted sometimes. Amen? Let's keep going there. It says there in verse number... Where am I up to? Verse number 12, verse number 12. James chapter five, verse number 12. It says, but above all things, my brethren, swear not neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yay be yay and your nay nay, lest you fall into condemnation. All right. Basically verse number 12 says, don't make promises that you can't keep. If you're not sure you're able to accomplish something, don't say that you will. And this is something that I really struggle with. I've shared it before. I feel like sometimes I over commit and then I can't accomplish what I sought to do. And it's just part of my life. It's one of my weaknesses. If you wanna pray for me, brethren, pray for this. I hate over committing. My heart is to do things and to accomplish things, but sometimes I just over commit and I can't do it. And I've gotta be careful with this. Bible's very clear. And I'll let your yay be yay. If you can, yes. If you can't, just no. If you don't know, just look, I don't know. I'll try, but I just don't know. Lest you fall into condemnation. The word condemnation is like damnation. It's like the idea that if you promise to do something and you don't, it can destroy your reputation. Now, I don't think my reputation has been destroyed, but I don't wanna destroy my reputation. So there's definitely an area that I wanna fix in my life. Amen. Now again, without removing it from the context of what we've been reading about, the rich and those that have been downtrodden by the rich. Obviously, if you hire someone to do a job, okay, let your yays be yay. All right, you're gonna do this job. How much is it gonna cost? It's gonna cost this much. All right, come and do the job, I'll pay you. Let your yay be yay. Don't call someone to do a job in your house and you don't know if you can pay them. Well, that can destroy your reputation, okay? If you keep it within the context of what's happening here. Let's keep going, verse number 13. Is any among you afflicted? Have you been afflicted by people? Have you been defrauded? Have the rich stepped all over you, brethren? Let him pray. Say, God, I've been afflicted. God, these people have been doing wickedly against me. God, you are the one that takes vengeance. I'm gonna leave it in your hands. Reverend, please don't take revenge. That is not an answer if you've been afflicted, if you've been downtrodden. Do not take revenge, pray. That's instruction. You wanna be happy, right? We're talking about being happy, all right? If we endure and say, God, this is a struggle. You know what, I just wanna be happy. I just wanna be joyful. I don't wanna grow in bitterness. I'm gonna hand this problem over to you because I can't sort it out, Lord. I've been wronged, and Lord, I'm gonna leave it in your hands and you do whatever you need to do, Lord. Amen, that's what we do. And then it says this. Is any merry? Hey, maybe you haven't got afflictions right now. Maybe you're just a very happy person. What do I do if I'm happy, Pastor Gavin? It says, let him sing psalms. Hey, sing some praises to the Lord, right? The point is this. Whether you're going through afflictions and sorrows or whether you're prospering and you're having a happy life right now, in either scenario, you need to invoke upon the Lord. All right, you're going through sorrows, pray. Take your burden to the Lord. Hey, you're having a great time. You haven't got any major issues right now. Hey, sing some praises to God. Thank the Lord. Thank you, Lord, that I've had some days of peace. Thank you, Lord, that I'm doing well in life. Thank you, Lord, that everything seems to be coming together right now, Lord. I'm just gonna praise you and give you thanks because I don't want my heart to turn against you. Sometimes when we turn our hearts against the Lord, then the Lord will allow the afflictions to come so that we can go back to him in prayer and worship. So whichever situation, whether you have been afflicted or whether you're married, whether you're happy, rely upon the Lord, call upon the Lord, seek the Lord. Verse number 14, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders, the elders here are pastors, of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. You know, the Bible gives us some instructions here for the church and the pastors of the church and the members of the church, that if you're going through illness, you're going through sickness, you know what? God wants you to recover. God wants you to be in health, okay? Sometimes the answer to prayer, you know, you might be praying, God, please help me in my illness. God, please help me in my sickness. But have you gone to your pastor? I'm your pastor, brethren, you know? Have you come to me and sought, not that I am miracle worker or anything like that, okay? But Bible says, call for the elders of the church, that I would pray over you, that I would anoint your head with oil, you know? And you know, I believe in this. I truly believe, James, I mean, I believe God's word, we're Bible believing Christians, aren't we? You know, there's no reason to make any excuses for what this says. This is what it says. If you're not doing well in health and you're just not recovering, you know, come to your pastor, happily come and pray over you, happily anoint you with oil. And I've done this several times. And you know, there's been mixed results. I'll just be honest with you, there's been mixed results. There's been multiple times where someone's recovered within 24 hours, okay? And completely recovered after going through this procedure. There are others that have gotten a little bit better over time, or maybe they did recover after some time. And there are other situations where someone hasn't really recovered. You know, there's just been different scenarios, right? But sometimes we look at this verse, let's just look at verse number 15 again. It says, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. Some people think that basically, once this happens, it's gonna be like this miracle, where someone like, as soon as his prayer is done, you know, he's gonna be fully recovered in full health immediately. You know, that's not actually what it says. It just says that he'll be healed. All right, he'll be healed. Now, obviously healing can take time, all right? Maybe, it could very well be that, you know, this process of praying over you, you know, opens the door to another doctor, another medical advice that actually gives you the answer to your problems, to your physical health. You know, this is not saying that necessarily this miracle is gonna take place. And you know, someone that can't walk, I'll just pray over them and anoint them, and all of a sudden they'll pick up the bed and walk. That's not what it's teaching. It's just saying that they will be healed, all right? They will be healed. It doesn't say how quickly they'll be healed. And as I said to you, there's been mixed results in what I've done here. And you know, the times that I have done this and there's been positive results, it's again, it just strengthened my faith in what this passage says. And also in verse number 15, it says, and the prayer of the faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. And so the Bible's basically saying that sometimes people can go through sickness and illness because of sin. Okay, as a consequence of sin. Obviously, if you're drinking alcohol, you're an alcoholic and it causes damage to your body, that's gonna be consequences to the sins that you've been partaking of. That can be that scenario. There's also the scenario that you just may have unconfessed sin. Like I said to you, there are times that we may go through life and never confess our sins, or we're too prideful and we don't wanna admit to the Lord that we've done wrong. Or sometimes we just forget. We've sinned against the Lord and we just forget. We just forget. And time goes on and we've never gone before the Lord and humbly sought his forgiveness. Just look at James chapter four again. Go back to one chapter there. James chapter four, verse number six. James chapter four, verse number six. It says, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. So just to remind that God wants us to come when we've sinned against the Lord, when we've sinned against him and to come humbly before him, to seek his face and he'll forgive us. And we can be once again in fellowship with the Lord. Sometimes sickness can be a result of being far from the Lord, unconfessed sin. And this process, this praying over them can help in the fact that God says, well, whatever sins that may have caused this issue have been forgiven him. All right, so there's this sort of double benefit there, not just the physical healing, but also the spiritual healing, the fellowship that will bring you back to the Lord. Now, I also find it interesting that these verses are here because there are those so-called miracle faith healers, like a Benny Hinn. They would walk around throwing their jackets all over people and people are falling down and so-called getting healed. But what we see here in Genesis five is a completely different process to what we've read about in the times of Jesus, where Jesus would come and yeah, he would do the miracles, he would heal the blind, he would make the lane to walk. And then in the book of Acts, you see some of the apostles going through healing people, doing great miracles. The fact that we have James chapter five and this process shows us that there has been a change in this spiritual gift, all right? Yes, the apostles had the power many times to heal the sick like a miracle, just like Jesus Christ did. But when we talk about the New Testament elder, the elders of the church, the pastors of the church, God instructs pastors to follow this process. Pastors are not apostles, okay? You had to see the resurrected Jesus Christ to be considered an apostle. The apostles do not exist today. We have New Testament pastors and this is the instruction that God gives to New Testament pastors. So again, it just shows you that there has been a change in this spiritual gift of healing. All right, let's keep going there, verse number 16. Verse number 16, it says, "'Confess your faults one to another.'" And before I keep reading, it does say confess your faults one to another. Now, some of the other most popular Bible English translations, which are corruptions of God's word, such as the English Standard Version, the New International Version, the New Living Translation, and the New American Standard Bible, they don't have confess your faults one to another. You know what they say? They say, confess your sins one to another. Confess your sins one to another. Now, one of the Catholic Church run with this, right? You gotta confess your sins to a man. Go to the priest and tell him all the wicked things that you've done. Brethren, we don't confess our sins one to another, okay? We confess our sins to the Lord God. You know, we go before God. I don't, you know, I do not wanna know your sins, Brethren. I really don't wanna know. You know, I wanna think of you as people that are holy. I know you're sinners. You don't have to tell me you're a sinner. I know you're a sinner. And I know you're a sinner because I know I'm a sinner as well. And Brethren, just remind yourself, even though I'm a pastor, I'm a sinner as well, okay? We're all sinners. So I don't even need to know about all your sins. I already know you're a sinner. Just take your sins to God. Confess your sins to God and he'll forgive you, Brethren, all right? What is he saying back here in verse number 16? Confess your faults one to another. Your faults are your struggles, your shortcomings. You know, the challenges that you're going through in life. Yeah, that's fine. In fact, we do that on a Wednesday night many times. We ask for prayer requests, don't we? Say, brother, is there anything we can pray for? Sometimes there are praise points where sometimes we thank God for answered prayer and some many times, most of the time, people going through certain challenges, okay? People having different types of faults in their life and we pray for one another. This is what it's saying here, verse number 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray for another that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You know, God promises us that if we come effectively, fervently in prayer before the Lord, that it's going to avail much. There will be profit, there will be answer to the prayers that we bring before God. And it's good to pray for one another because sometimes it's hard to pray ourselves. I like praying on the Wednesday nights with the church. I really do because it encourage us to pray. You know, prayer is not easy. It does require labor, spiritual labor to pray for other people. But when you're praying as a group, it's much easier. I find it much easier. I think you do it, I'm sure you do as well. You know, praying for each other, bringing requests before the Lord. It's something that we're commanded to do as brethren of the church. Now, this idea of praying, we look at verse number 17, it brings up Elias, who is Elijah. But it says in verse number 17, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. Let me stop there for a moment. Elias or Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. You know, sometimes we look at the stories of the saints of old, we look at an Elijah, for example, the great miracles that he did. And we think, man, that man, what a holy, what a godly man, I could never be like that, right? Sometimes we look at people, maybe even pastors or different people in the church or, you know, different Christians will think, wow, how spiritual, how holy, I wish I could be like that. But we're reminded a man like Elijah is a man that is subject to like passions as we are. Elijah was a sinner, just like us. Elijah struggled with the same temptations that we struggle with. Elijah had the same faults that we struggle with. He had the same afflictions that we go through, all right? So this idea of being the like passions that we are is to encourage us, not to think, oh yeah, God will answer the prayers of a man like Elijah, but not me, because I'm not up to that standard. Reverend, he's gone for the same things. Elijah's gone for the same issues that we go through. Verse number 17, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruits. And so we see that a man like Elias, a man like Elijah, the same like passions that we have was able to pray to the Lord and the Lord God closed up the rain, right? There was a drought in the land. And then when you pray it again, the Lord was able to open up the heavens. You know, prayer can bring forth miracles. And what this is telling us is to remind us. So just like before we saw the prophets of old who endured so that we would read stories like Elijah and not go, well, you know, God answered his prayers, but not mine, is that we would look at Elijah and say, man, you know, the same God that answered Elijah's prayer is the same God that I pray to. You know, God can answer my prayer just as much as he answered Elijah's prayers. It's to encourage us. It's to motivate us, right? You know, please never think that these men are above you to some, you know, that God somehow is a respected person. We know that God is not a respected person. We've seen this in the book of James. You know, people are great. You know, we read about great men in the Bible, not because man is great, but because they serve a great God. And the God that they serve is the same great God that we serve, the same God that can perform miracles, the same God that can heal sickness, the same God that can answer prayers, the same God that can help us in our afflictions and our faults. Verse number 19. Now we have the conclusion of the book of James here. It says, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. And this is how the book of James ends, okay? So what is this? If any of you do err from the truth, all right? So you know what? The church is the pillar and the ground of truth. God's word is truth. Jesus Christ is truth. The book of James is truth. Now, as we've gone through the book of James, chapter one to five, I'm sure there are elements in the book that you can look at and say, you know what? I'm not up to speed there. You know, the Bible says to not be a hero only, but a doer. You know, we saw so many practical things that were covered in the book of James. To pray without wavering, right? If a brethren is going, has needs and we can help that brethren, that we should step out and be a help to people, to pray for each other, right? Not to stand in judgment of one another, et cetera. There's so many great truths that we've gone through the book of James. And brethren, my challenge to you with the challenge of James really is to look at your beliefs, look at the doctrines that you hold. You know, we don't come to church. You know, I don't want church to be this place where we just tick the box. I was there Wednesday night, Pastor Kevin preached on sermon. You know, we were at church and so be it. No, the point of coming to church, the point of hearing the word of God being preached, the book of James being preached is that we would identify the truth, that we would look at our beliefs, that we would look at the doctrines. Maybe there are false things that we believed. Maybe there are things that we're not following through in accordance to the book of James. Maybe there is someone that you've defrauded financially. You need to go and fix it, all right? This is a point of preaching that you would consider, you know, your shortcomings compared to the word of God and fix it, that you would find at least one thing that you can change in life and do it, all right? And do it. We all have some error. We all have, you know, areas of our life that we need to fix and, you know, yeah, come to church, tick the box. Okay, great, but what did you learn? What did you apply? What did you apply? Did you fix an error in your life? And Brethren, this is the goal of the preacher, that we would convert those that are in error, that we would lead you in truth. And look, verse number 20 again, "'Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death.'" You know, many times when we disobey the Lord, when we don't walk in his will, when we just give in to the lust of our flesh, we go against the Lord, we know that sin brings forth death. We know that, right? We know that it brings forth destruction. You know what, if you just get on God's program, you walk in his way, you can live a much more happier, much more abundant life, a much longer life if you just put God's word first, if you put God's will first, and he says, and shall hide a multitude of sins. You see, when we're in error, doctrinally, or even just our faith, you know, or it just, you know, we're just openly rebellious against what we've learned in God's word, it will bring forth a multitude of sins. You know, many times people may view, you know, some differences in doctrine, which may sometimes not seem like a big deal, but many times that little crack of difference that I've observed, not always, but many times that crack becomes this great chasm as we continue to study and learn the Bible. And before you know it, somebody that believes some minor little heresy, all of a sudden they're starting to believe some, you know, downright possibly even downloadable heresies, which may reveal though to never have been our brother in the Lord in the first place that, you know, we need to be people that are not so full of pride. If we get corrected, if we get corrected by the preaching of God's word, then we need to change that ourselves. It's gonna hide a multitude of sins. It's gonna stop you from committing grave sins that can cause destruction and even death. And so brethren, you know, if there are, we have people in our church that are incorrect in doctrine, we're not trying to just destroy them. We're not trying to tear people apart. You know, we should lovingly come alongside people and help them to understand the truth of God's word. That is the purpose of preaching. That is the purpose of coming to church to learn some great truth. So brethren, I don't know. Do you have some wrong thoughts that you maybe you need to convert on? You know, maybe some doctrines that you misunderstood, maybe some understanding of the book of James that you didn't quite grasp, and now you do. Well, brethren, don't be a hero only of the word, but be a doer, okay? Fix your error and get into the truth of God's word. Okay, let's pray.