Untitled Sermon

As we worship in your presence, there is healing in the Holy Spirit's gentle touch. His glory is gentle touch, Holy Spirit's gentle touch.

Take your Bibles and turn to James chapter 5, if you would. James chapter 5. So far we're still using the New International Version. I will update you as we get more information on Zondervan's printing of the gender-neutral NIV. They have been accosted now by several Calvary Chapel pastors who are confronting them about this. They're denying that there's any plan to do it, but several have in their possession the current NIV gender-neutral Bible that's been released in England.

And it's kind of a prototype of what they want to do here. And it removes all the... gender references to God being a him and he. It changes. It really distorts the meanings in a lot of passages. A lot of people have a problem with NIV and the current translations anyhow. And so I definitely don't discourage you from reading King James. Bring your own version.

But currently a few Bibles we have are NIV. Now as this progresses, we may change and go back to either King James or New American Standard. But currently we are in the NIV. And so I'll be reading from NIV the first six verses of chapter 5. James writes, Listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look, the wages you failed to pay, the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.

You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you. This is the third and final study in this series that we've been in. In chapter 5, the first six verses on dealing with riches. And I know in first service many went, well, praise God, you know, let's move on. This has been a heavy, heavy study.

And I know it's been convicting in my life. And I pray it's been enlightening. I pray it's something that the Lord is using to really open our own eyes as to the hold and the devices that the enemy uses in our lives. I want to share an article with you that is from Dave Berry's column. Dave Berry is a syndicated writer from the Globe in Boston, the Boston Globe.

And he's writing concerning barbecues. Because if it clears off a little this afternoon, the barbecues around the nation are going to fire up. With the frenzy that is part of Memorial Day weekend. And this, besides, this pertains to what we're studying. So how does the barbecue pertain to Jane? He writes, Everybody loves a backyard barbecue. For some reason, food just seems to taste better when it has been cooked outdoors where flies can lay eggs on it.

But there's nothing worse than trying to set fire to a pile of bulky charcoal. The average backyard chef wishing to cook hamburgers tries to ignite the charcoal. Via the squirt, light, and wait method. Wherein you squirt lighter fluid on a pile of briquettes, light the pile, and then wait until they've turned a uniform gray color. When I say, they have turned a uniform gray color, I am referring to the hamburgers.

The briquettes will remain as cold and lifeless as Leonard Nimoy. The backyard chef will keep this up, squirting, lighting, waiting, squirting, lighting, waiting. Until the bacterial level in the side dishes has reached the point where the potato salad rises up from its bowl, blob-like. And attempts to mate with the corn. This is the signal that it's time to order Chinese food.

The problem is that modern charcoal, manufactured under strict consumer safety guidelines, is one of the least flammable substances on earth. On more than one occasion, quick-thinking individuals have extinguished a raging house fire by throwing charcoal on it. Your backyard chef would be just as successful trying to ignite a pile of rocks. Is there a solution?

Yes, there happens to be a technique that is guaranteed to get your charcoal burning very quickly. Yes, there happens to be a technique that is guaranteed to get your charcoal burning very quickly. Yes, there happens to be a technique that is guaranteed to get your charcoal burning very quickly. Although you should not attempt this technique unless you meet the following criterion.

You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot.

You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. You are a complete idiot. photographs and a video of Goebel using a bucket attached to a 10-foot long wooden handle to dump three gallons of liquid oxygen, not sold in stores, onto a grill containing 60 pounds of charcoal and

a lit cigarette for ignition. He writes, what follows is the most impressive charcoal lighting I have ever seen, featuring a large fireball that, according to Goebel, reached 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The charcoal was ready for cooking in, and this has to be a world record, three seconds. There's also a photo of what happened to Goebel when he used the same technique on a flimsy $2.88 discount store grill. All that's left is a circle of charcoal with a few shreds of metal in it.

Basically, the grill vaporized, said Goebel. We were thinking of returning it to the store for a few days, but then I became, as an American, all choked up with gratitude at the fact that I do not live anywhere near the engineer's picnic site. But also, I was proud of my country for producing guys who can be ready to barbecue in less time than it takes for guys in less advanced nations such as France to spit. Will the three-second barrier ever be broken? Will engineers come up with a new,

more powerful charcoal lighting technology? It's something for all of us to ponder this summer as we sit outside chewing our hamburgers every now and then. Glancing in the direction of West Lafayette, Indiana, looking for a mushroom cloud.

I imagine most of us can relate to the idea of the long time that it takes to get charcoal ready and how we would like to have something quicker. And there are some other things. But I wanted to use this illustration to relate how often we feel the same thing about our Christian walk. How we'd like to have instant maturity, white-hot Christianity in our lives, instantaneously. We don't want a

half to squirt. We don't want to squirt. We don't want to squirt. We don't want to squirt. We don't want to squirt and light and white. We don't want a half to take the time that it takes for the Lord to develop us, to hone us and to mold us into the image of his son. We want it instantaneously. And thus we are susceptible to every deviation from scripture that promises to

bring us to that end. And when we hear of little pockets of so-called revival and moves of God's spirit that seem to be happening, that have all kinds of bizarre things that are contrary to scripture, contrary to everything that you've seen in the Bible, we don't want to have that scene in scripture. With revelations that decry the use of scripture, that say that these are new revelations from God. And you don't need the word of God. You just need to trust and believe that God

wouldn't give you a rock when you ask him for an egg. You can leave the scripture alone. But we promise you this white-hot experience of the Holy Spirit. It's because we want that quickly that people gravitate to that. And Paul warned Timothy that in the last days especially, the desire for that kind of thing would increase. And so we want to have that kind of thing. And so we want to have

that kind of thing. And so we want to have that kind of thing. And so we see it. And so we see it happening. But let me assure you that God's methodology hasn't changed. God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when God brings revival, he doesn't bring it with the intent to make you feel better. He doesn't bring it with the intent to give you this tremendous power that

takes you to the next level spiritually. He doesn't bring it with the intent that you're going to experience Holy Spirit glue that glues you to the floor for five or six, hours, which are some of the things that are happening in these revival. People flying backwards over three rows of chairs under the power of the Holy Spirit. People oinking like pigs, writhing on the floor, uncontrollable laughter. When God's Spirit falls, it always

brings conviction of sin. Always, always, always. As we go into the book of Acts, we find that as Peter proclaimed the gospel and the Spirit of God fell, the people cried out, what must we do to be saved? And that's always the case. True revival brings conviction of sin, repentance from sin, and a desire for holiness, for a holy lifestyle. But people want the liquid

oxygen experience. They want it now. But God will take the time to move us through the different experiences in life that are necessary for us to go through to mature, to bring us to that point of trusting him. I remember the time when I was eight years old and I had several friends. I didn't have any brothers or sisters, but I had several friends who had older siblings. And when I was, when my

friends and I were turning eight years old, their older siblings, several of them were turning 16 and getting driver's licenses. And back then, the big things that we're in were the getting the older 56, 57 Chevys, putting baby moons on them. And that wasn't too far from my actual age. You know, that's another story. But I wanted to drive. I wanted, I wanted that now. I didn't want to go

want to have to wait eight more years and so several of us took to put in putting the little playing cards plastic we didn't have plastic we had regular playing cards at that time the regular real old good ones that tore every time you used them and we'd clip them to our spokes clip them to the back and front parts of the bike frame and they'd dangle in the spokes and at least they'd sound more like a motorized something or other but if we could have we if i could have bought a car and just let it sit in the driveway for eight years back then i'd have done it you know because i wanted that experience now but i had to wait and go through the different processes of growth

before i could have the experience of driving a car and that's true in our christian walk god's taking you and i through different experiences to cause us to trust more fully in him and those are the only that's the only way that we'll end up doing that is by going through those different circumstances those different experiences several have already experienced the pain of broken relationships several haven't in the midst of that pain of broken relationships several haven't in the midst of that pain of broken relationships in the midst of those broken relationships it's been a point where it's come down to where you're at the end of your own abilities you're at the limits of your own feelings and and thought

processes and you just have to reach out by faith and hang on to god and trust him to bring you through that particular circumstance trust him for the results now many have experienced that already many haven't many have only read about it or heard testimonies about people who have and you you trust god and you believe god will do that in your life but you've not experienced that you've not gone through that you've not gone through that you've not gone through that you've not you've not gone through that you've not gone through that circumstance you haven't gone through a death in the family of a close loved one of a parent or a child or a sibling and watching god

bring you through that experience you've seen others do it and you pray that everybody in your family lives long healthy lives but there are still circumstances that god needs to bring us through to grow us up in him to cause us to trust him more completely and that's part of the growth process and that's what james is telling us about if indeed we've asked jesus to bring us to come into our lives then there will be certain workings of faith that are evident that are becoming evident in our lives as we're trusting him to draw us closer to him and as we come to chapter five we're in this area of releasing our hold on the things of the world if i am truly born

again one of the evidences of that in my life will be god working in my life and through my life to cause me to let go of this world to let go of the things in this world to reach out and to trust him now i'm still in the world i still have the things but they don't have a hold on me and as we come to chapter five that's what james is talking to us about as far as releasing our hold on the world is becoming freed from the bondage of riches freed from the bondage that riches causes in our lives and we need to be aware that riches are is are is a tool that the enemy can use to get us in bondage to riches so that we don't have time for the lord so that we're not dependent upon the lord so that we

we're not seeking him for every every step of our day and of our lives we're now too much given over to the development of these things to take care of all of these to to do this or that with this world and we just don't have time for god and it's a tool that the enemy will use to move you away from your fellowship with the lord and you're you're seeking to develop that intimate relationship with the lord it's a tool paul told the church at corinth that we're not to be ignorant we're not to be ignorant we're not to be ignorant we're not to be ignorant of satan's devices now he'd already written and admonished the church at corinth in the first epistle in first corinthians that they were allowing pride and self-indulgence and self-exaltation to

cause division in their fellowship and he admonished him for that he rebuked him for that and he was he got it across that satan was using that as a tool to divide and to pull people away from that intimate fellowship with the lord now the church had evidently repented because by the time we get paul's second epistle or what we have that's called second epistle we're not going to that's called second corinthians it's probably actually third corinthians paul has heard that they've repented and they're making changes in the church at corinth and and so he writes to encourage them to continue with that and tell them again affirm to them that they're not to be

ignorant of the devices that satan will use and and riches is one device that the enemy will use seeking gain from this world seeking a buzz from god in this world is something that the enemy will use to distort our relationship our intimate relationship with the lord and we need to be aware of that and so as we come to to james chapter 5 these first six verses we've seen a warning that james gives to us because we are the rich especially in this country we are the rich richer than two-thirds at least between two-thirds and three-quarters of all the people in the world even our people on welfare are rich compared to the world so this is not this is not an admonition to somebody else out there that we

think is rich this is an admonition to us who have a relationship with the lord and we need to be aware of this world's goods and he gives a warning he says that that those who are rich are to weep and wail because of the misery that's coming upon you and we've already looked at two of the three reasons for that but let me just highlight those first two again real briefly follow me don't turn me off don't lose me here now stay with me we're rolling the first reason that he gives this warning to the rich is because of the way that they obtained those riches verses four and six we saw that the first time we were in this section the way that they obtained their

riches verse four we saw that they were holding the riches of the world and they were holding the riches of the world and they were holding back wages they were they were not paying the laborers that they had contracted to do labor for them and in the same way today when we don't pay our bills we are in the same sense holding back payment from the laborers we are misusing our funds we're misrepresenting the name of god when we don't pay our bills we saw that and the second way that they obtained their wealth that was dishonoring to god is that they really were and i mentioned this in verse six they were controlling the legal systems they were getting judgments for themselves based on their wealth based on their finances and

and you may say well i haven't been to court i haven't done that you know i've not sought to control the legal system based on my wealth but you know anything that we do where we seek to use money to give us personal gain you go to a restaurant how long that's going to be 30 minutes how about i give you 10 bucks can you get me in in 10 where we seek to use finances where we seek to use our personal wealth to overturn the rules to have people kind of bend the rules to have people bend the rules on our behalf is a misuse of funds secondly verses three through five not only was james telling us about god's judgment because of the way they obtained their wealth but

verses three through five because of the way they used it because of the way they used their wealth verse three tells us they hoarded it they hoarded it in the last days they were holding it back for selfish gain they could always come up with an excuse as to why they couldn't help anybody out because they always needed it for this or that particular need they were hoarding verse four they didn't use it to bless others they didn't they didn't not only pay those that they'd contracted with they didn't they didn't see that as a blessing to be able to bless those that were in need and when we're not open to let the lord use what we have to bless others we're hoarding we're in effect

saying god you're not able to take care of me you're not able to take care of my needs i need to hold something back rather than just letting you be god over my over my finances they didn't use it to bless others verse five we saw that they lived in luxury he uses that you have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence he says and last time we saw that the word luxury there in the greek means a prodigal type lifestyle like the prodigal son who took his inherent inheritance and squandered it on himself squandered it on on things that he probably really didn't need but he just wanted to use to give him a buzz you know to give him a a feel-good kind of a lifestyle and many times that's what we do is we squander what god has given us rather than using

it as he would have us and we squander it as he would have us and we squander it as he would have us use it and so those were two of the three warnings that we'd already studied before we came to today and today i want to give you the third and final warning third and final reason for the warning that god has given to us through james and that's in the first four verses again and it's because of what happens to riches it's because of what happens to riches now as i go through this it's there are things you're you you know you know that and so it's almost like well why do we have to go through it again and it's because of the foolishness the foolishness of the foolishness

foolish decisions we make knowing better how many times have you found yourself in that particular situation where you did something and you knew better but you did it anyhow you in your teenage years had opportunity to and some of you are still in your teenage years but you know those of us who aren't anymore remember that time when you were in your teenage years and you had that opportunity to take the car and you were downtown just driving the car this it was neat and you wanted people to see you in the car that you were driving just like i mentioned earlier you'd waited those eight years you know to get there now you're there and you want people to see you in the car and you have

to pull up to this light and another car pulls up next to you also with people that you know your age and they start punching it racing the engine a little bit you know what they want to do you know they want just to run from this block to the next block and just see who can make it to the next light quicker and you resist and you know you shouldn't and you know better but if you have a manual transmission you put that clutch in and you throw that thing in the field and you know you know you're driving the car and you're driving the car and you're driving the car and you're revving your engine right back with them and kind of looking over to see whose engine's louder you've

got an automatic you either put your foot on the brake and start pumping or you put it up into neutral and you're going to neutral drop it down into drive and you're racing that engine and you know you shouldn't your dad's told you you shouldn't do that you know it's foolish you know it wear and tear on the car he's already been over that with you do that kind of stuff you're going to buy the tires to put back on the car you know you get stopped by the police don't expect me to help pay for your ticket you know those things but you're just sitting there revving that engine up and the light turns green and you put that thing in first or you drop it down into drive

and you punch that thing to the floor and you patch out and lay rubber and as you're going across the street out of the corner of your eye you see the police car that's sitting off to the left side of you and he pulls in behind you and his lights are on and you pull over to the side of the road and the officer walks up there and the first thing that you almost always comes out of your mouth is i know i shouldn't i shouldn't have done that yeah i just i know i should we know we shouldn't we know it's foolish but how many times do we do things knowing they're foolish knowing that we shouldn't do them because they're foolish but we do them anyhow the word of god has been given to us to remind us of those things so that

we hopefully avoid those things and so as we look at this about riches it's things you already know and yet how much are we in bondage to riches and riches dictate the direction of our life they have our time occupied where we feel like i just don't have time to spend with god and we know better he says verses two and three what happens to riches is they're going to disappear they're going to disappear your wealth verse two has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes verse three your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire you've hoarded your wealth in the last days the words that were there rotted moths will eat the moth eaten and corroded all three of those

are symbols of death and decay our riches the things that we have in this life are going to die and rot and corrode and decay and fall apart and he's tying that in with verse 14 of chapter 4 where he says well you do not even know what will happen tomorrow what is your life you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes we're only here for a short time and then we're gone and we put all of our lives into this stuff that corrodes and decays and is moth eaten let me tell you something if the lord tarrys all of you sitting here all of us will die and we will all die with stuff undone i mean i would love if i'm gonna die to know that well it's time to go and my house is paid off and

my car is paid for and all my bills are paid and i've got money back for my kids for college and all the debts are done and the lawn's been mowed and the house has been painted you know and now now i can die it won't happen you when you and i die we will leave things undone unfinished and yet we give our lives daily to the pursuit of maintaining and obtaining that stuff that's temporal that will die and corrode and be moth eaten and rust and little if any time to the things that are eternal to spending an intimate time with the lord that will nourish our soul there for eternity somehow we think well i'll do this stuff now and then when it's time to die i'll

go do the god stuff no oh foolish man jesus said this is the time for the god stuff but the enemy knows how to distract us with riches how to get us into bondage into the riches of this world and so pull us away from that that's eternal that we need to be giving our time to and so it's a struggle and we'll talk about that in just a little bit the struggle and the battle and the Flow came and over that got alot and what happened one damage but we need to do it are at the enemy we the love einmal time we can and only has spent time nurturing and developing the things that are eternal. The attitude that we have towards the things of God will be reflected in our attitude towards riches. If our joy goes up

and down based on the balance in our checkbook, we are out of balance. In your presence is fullness of joy, Lord. And will be that I forget that. And will be that I forsake that. Because then I will be being manipulated by the enemy to dance to his tune. And I'm in bondage. And so James warns us because of what will happen to riches. They're going to disappear. They're going to disappear.

Secondly, he says what's going to happen, what the tendency is to happen, verse 3, is that riches have a tendency to corrupt character. Riches have a tendency to corrupt character. He says their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. Now that's a current, present effect. Now that's a current, present effect. Now that's a current, present effect. Now that's a

that riches has on us as it decays, as it begins to die out, as well as a future judgment. So don't just see this as something future. This is something that's happening currently as our riches corrode, as they seem to start disappearing. And the best way that you can find yourself eaten up by riches is when you sit down to do bills or taxes. I don't know if you get paid weekly or by

monthly or monthly, but whenever it is, you get your check and you sit down and you have to go check on one side, bills on the other. And you go, ever know that the gentle attitude disappears when it's bill paying time? Just like in that deal we did for Mother's Day, leave me alone while I'm writing bills. Don't disturb your father or mom, whichever one takes care of them. Don't disturb them. Walk softly by the room because it's bill paying time and

they're sitting there trying to determine how much of the house they have to close off and we can sleep in the kitchen so we don't run up any more utilities here. You know, eaten up. It says you are eaten up. It eats your flesh like fire. We're in bondage to it. We're in bondage to finances. Ananias and Sapphira. In Acts chapter 5, there was a, well, it was a

time when the church was new. It had just been born on the day of Pentecost. Thousands of people in the church now, many had come to Jerusalem for the celebration of the feast of Pentecost, as they did for Passover. They would again in the fall for tabernacles. They came great distances. And when the Spirit of God moved among them and they came and gave their lives to Jesus Christ, they were automatically

now disowned by family who accused them of changing religions. They were ostracized from the buying and the selling in the marketplaces. They were no longer allowed to move in the temple areas. They were cut off from all previous activities that they had known in their Judaism. And so the people that lived in Jerusalem, now began to pool their stuff. They brought their things in and laid them at the apostles'

feet for the apostles to distribute among the people that were in need. And several people who owned homes and possessions in the area around Jerusalem sold those things and brought the finances that they'd received from that into the Jerusalem and laid them at the apostles' feet that the apostles might distribute that among the people. One such was named Barnabas. And the people so marveled at him as he brought those things to Jerusalem.

And Barnabas was the son of encouragement. And when things like that happen, when God lets the spotlight come on some, it's real easy for us, the others who the spotlight's not on, to become jealous of their blessing. When God blesses in such a way, and usually with riches, with a spotlight blessing, it's real easy for us. To want that blessing as well. When pastors see other ministries seemingly blessed and

growing and great things happening, it's a real struggle to fight against wanting that and thinking, well, what am I doing wrong? You that have children in sports, baseball, and you see, or softball or soccer, and you see one of the other children that's really held up and given blessings because of their supposed activity and their ability, and you know your kid could run circles around that kid. You know, it's just like all of a sudden a jealousy wells up in there because you want that blessing. You want it for your kid, of course, but you want that blessing. And so

it's real easy to want to gain that by whatever means is possible. And that's why you see pastors and churches running after all this malarkey to try and gain things to look successful. That's why you see parents do obnoxious things to get their kids in the spotlight. Ananias and Sapphira were there, I believe, and saw what happened with Barnabas' gift. And they had some property, and they sold it, and they agreed together to hold back a certain

portion of it, which was a mistake. Because in holding back, they were hoarding no different than this in James. In holding back, they were saying, well, we want to bless the people, but you know, we don't know if God can take care of us or not. We're not trusting God in this particular situation. We're going to hold back for our own blessing. Now, it wasn't so much that

they did that, it's that they lied about it. And they brought the offering in, and Ananias comes in and lays it down at Peter's feet, and Peter says, this is the money that you have obtained from the sale of your home. And Ananias goes, yeah, that's it, all of it. We bring it in, and Peter goes, how could you have lied against God in saying that this is all, when you've kept back some for yourself? And instantly, Ananias dropped

over dead. Talk about holiness in the church. Talk about a purging in the church, you know. You lie, you're snuffed. You do something wrong, you're snuffed. Man, talk about holiness. It says the people were afraid to join. Hey, come to Calvary Chapel, man. You better not lie, you better not cheat, you're going to die. So they toted him off to bury him, or his wife comes in, and Peter says to her, did you and your husband agree

that you would sell your house, and you sold it for this such a price? And she says, yeah, we did. And he said, how could you have conspired together to lie against the Holy Spirit? Behold, the feet of them that have just carried off your husband are coming back, and they're going to carry you off and bury you. And instantly, she fell over dead, and they carried her off.

Riches have a tendency to corrupt, and they cause us to trust in the riches and to seek to put our faith in the riches rather than our trust in the Lord. And God knows that, and he warns us about that. Psalm 62, verse 10, he tells us, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them, because that's the tendency. If God blesses us with stuff, the tendency is, number one, to think, now, let's see, what did I do for him to bless me with that stuff so I can do it again, so he'll bless me with more stuff? Or he's blessed me with

this stuff, and I need to hang on to it, or I need some more of this stuff over here that goes with that stuff. I mean, this matches that stuff over there, so I need to obtain this stuff or if I put this stuff over here in the bank, it'll make more stuff. But then if I don't move it around in banks, then part of this stuff won't be insured, and so I better put some of it in the stock market, which then I have to watch every day to see if it's going up or down, if I need to buy or sell, and if I need to sell at this price or that price and invest in this or that, and then all of a sudden, your heart is set on riches, and that's all you're doing throughout your day is maintaining your stuff. And so even in the Old Testament, God warns, and that's not

wrong to have stuff, but it is such a battle. It's a struggle, and God knows that. And God knows there's a tendency that it has to corrupt us. And so he says, set not your heart on these things if he increases us with them, because he knows the tendency that we have to do that. You and I are so blessed that God has not just dropped a bundle on us, even though you pray

for that. God let my rich aunt that I've never met somewhere, so it won't be a real loss to me personally, but let them die. And then I get a telegram in the mail. Hello, my name is Mark Anthony, and I represent a millionaire, and you get this. And it's like, we're kind of hoping that happens. And God has so blessed us with the fact that that has not happened, because it would

corrupt our character. Third reason is found in verses three and four. The thing that happens where riches are concerned is that God takes it personally. God takes it personally. Verse three says, their corrosion, the corrosion of the gold and all, will testify against you. Verse four, the wages you fail to pay, they are crying out against you. This seems like those inanimate

things have taken on a personality, and like they are crying out to God. You read in the Old Testament where, as Israel was oppressed, it says that their blood cried out to God. They were slain, and the blood cried out to God. He says in the law that when someone is murdered, their blood cried out. When Cain murdered Abel, God came and confronted Cain, and he said, your brother's blood

is crying out to me from the field. So all through scripture, we find this attributing of human-like characteristics to inanimate objects. It's called in grammatical terms, anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism. It's the attributing of human-like characteristics to inanimate, non-human objects. And I think it's done, you know, a lot of people say, well, it's just a

grammatical style that helps enhance our understanding of something that otherwise would be hard to comprehend. It's more than that. It's more than that. When you read verses like this, and verses that say that the trees of the field will clap their hands, or where Jesus is coming down into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, and the Pharisees come out, and they tell him, rebuke your disciples because they're all yelling Hosanna, which we know means that you're the Messiah, and you've come to set up your kingdom, and that's not true, and that's not nice, so tell your people to shut up. And Jesus says, verily I say unto you, if they were quiet, even

the very rocks would cry out. That was not just an anthropomorphic statement. That was not just a poetic use of language. Jesus was declaring a truth, and it's a truth, I believe, that characterizes the nature of God. It expresses the nature of God. It expresses the nature of God. It expresses the God's nature. Now, I don't know, and I shared with First Service that I think, you know, when we

stand before the Lord. Now, when we stand before the Lord, covered with the blood of Christ, okay, fine, no problem. We stand before him, 1 Corinthians 3 says, some of us will come and we'll smell like smoke. It'll just, you know, fire is going to test our works, whatever we've done in this life. And some of us are going to smell kind of smoky, because the stuff we've been doing since we came

to Christ is more us-centered than Christ-centered. But I think, you know, in Revelation chapter 20, when unbelievers stand before the Lord, and the books are opened, and the book of life is opened, and they stand before the Lord, and they will have nothing to say. I can still see God kind of going, though. It says here that you said thus or such, you know, that there was an opportunity for you to receive my son as your Savior, and you didn't do that on this and such a day. And, you know,

the person will be ready to go, I don't recall. You know, it seems to be the thing of the day today, when you're in court, or when you're the President of the United States, and you're asked a certain question, you say, I don't recall, you know. And so it'll be one of those tendencies when we stand before God, if we're unbelievers, to use that, I don't recall. And God will say, rock, and the rock will go, poof, he said this, you know, and just kind of God's recording system. I think there's some validity to that. Now, whether or not it'll

happen, I don't know. But these kind of things declare the nature of God. They declare the fact of God's omnipresence, that God is everywhere, that there isn't any place that God isn't. So that in those secret times that you're there, and you're doing those things that you know God doesn't want you to do, God's there, and he's watching it. He sees that. And it's being recorded

in the walls, and the rocks, and the ceilings, and the trees, and wherever you are, somehow it's being recorded. And God sees, it's declaring his omnipresence, that he's there. It's declaring his omniscience, the fact that he knows everything, the fact that he knew you were going to do what you were going to do before you ever did it, before the thought even came into your head, to do what God knew you'd have the tendency to do that, and would choose to do that, and he's already prepared for that. It declares his omnipresence, that he's all-powerful, that there isn't anything that he cannot do. And that's exciting, because if he knew at this time that

I would be in bondage to riches, or in bondage to this particular area, whether it's pornography or some other field, he knew that it would be something that would have me bound, and I would need strength outside of myself to overcome it, and he's already prepared for that. And we see that in the Bible. And we see that in the Bible. And we see that in the Bible. And we see that in

verses 11 through 17 of chapter 4, where he has empowered us now to be obedient to him. He's given us his Holy Spirit, not for a big zing, not to go get the three gallons of liquid oxygen so we can wow and rib on the floor, but so that we can be obedient to him in the face of such an oppressive bondage. We can say, yes, Lord, I trust you. I will walk after you by faith and power in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

It declares his omnipotence. Here's something I really want you to notice. Look at the last half of verse 4. God takes this stuff personally. It says that these cries, the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. Now, if you're reading another version, if you're reading King James specifically,

it says the Lord Sabaoth reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth. Now, Sabaoth is a powerful word, and it means the same as Lord Almighty, but we so take the name of the Lord Almighty. We take the name of God in vain. How many times have you heard that as a statement of disgust? Well, Lord Almighty, you know, I just declare. And we've been conditioned, you see, where the

names like that are used, and it just is now something that's really not as powerful as it means. Sabaoth. Sabaoth is a military term. It could be the Lord of hosts. It's Hebrew equivalent in the Old Testament is the one in charge of the masses of the army. It's one who is now the When we see the picture of the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament, when Joshua

leads the people across the Jordan, and he's going to spy out Jericho, and he runs into this tremendous being who it declares is the captain of the Lord's host. That's a pre-incarnate picture of Christ. That's Jesus before Bethlehem. He's the captain of the Lord's hosts. He is the Lord Sabaoth. He's a military man. He's ready for battle. He commands the angelic realm

of God, ready to do battle against the demonic realm. That's a powerful, a powerful term when you're looking at it in regard to the bondage of riches. The cries come out to the Lord Sabaoth. You see, Mammon is the God of money. It's the God of riches. And Jesus told us in the gospels that we can't serve both God and Mammon because Mammon is an idol. Mammon is the idolatrous God of riches. And it's not just some inanimate object. It,

behind it is the demonic realm. It's satanic. And it seeks to get us into bondage and to draw us away from that intimate fellowship with the Lord and get us wrapped up over here. So when the cries of that bondage come out, the Lord of Sabaoth responds and God comes with the military might of heaven. And around you and I, as believers in Jesus Christ, when you and I sit down to do bills, don't see it as just a boring

ho-hum time where it's one of those every week or every monthly kind of things. There's a battle going on around you that if you saw it, you'd die because the forces of the Lord Sabaoth and the forces of the angelic realm of Satan are battling over you at that time, seeking to, Satan's forces are seeking to keep you in bondage to riches and God is seeking to cause you to release that to him. It's a battle in the heavenly realms and God takes it seriously because God takes it personally and he wants us freed from the bondage of riches that we might be in that intimate relationship with him and supple and fresh and youthful. And that's what he wants us to do. And he wants us to

be usable and moldable in his hands. He also knows that the bondage to riches causes us to squander opportunities to serve him, causes us to squander opportunities to serve him. Balaam in the Old Testament had an opportunity to speak for God, to speak on God's behalf. You know the story. Balak sent for Balaam and Balaam said, I can't. God won't let me come. And Balaak sends tons of

riches and Balaam goes to God and says, huh? God says, huh? I can't go. And Balaam's kicking the ground. And they come back again with more. And Balaam's going, huh? And God says, okay, you can go, but you speak only what I tell you. And he goes, all right. And he goes and Balaak takes him up in the hills and shows him Israel spread out, the nation of people. And he wants Balaam to curse

him. And three different times takes him to three different places. Balaam builds an altar to God, sacrifices seven rams on the altar, comes back down and blesses Israel, just creates a blessing. And Balaak is upset. He's paid all this stuff. And he says, you can't have it unless you curse these guys. And Balaam goes, I want the money. I want the money. I want

the money. I want the money. Here's what you do. God has set these people apart unto himself. He's told them not to marry outside their group. So you send down all the women from your tribe and send them down. They'll intermingle with these guys and they'll pervert the race and you win. And the guy goes, great, here. Now he didn't speak. He thought what God didn't want him to say.

He connived to gain the riches. And as you read on, you find that Balaam is soon run through with a spear as God judges the results of his counsel among his people. Balaam says, I want the money. I want the money. I want the money. I want the money. I want the money. Bondage to riches causes us to sacrifice opportunity, to squander opportunity, to serve the Lord. The rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked him what he must do to be saved.

And Jesus told him, and he said, these things, if I kept since my youth, and Jesus said, one thing you lack, sell all the stuff that you have, give it away to the poor and come and follow me. And it says, the guy went away very unhappy because he had a lot of stuff. He was very rich, squandered opportunity to serve the Lord. How many times has God wanted to move in our lives, but because of our bondage to riches, we couldn't go where he wanted us to go. We didn't say what he wanted us

to say because we were afraid of those who controlled the riches over us. How many times have we squandered opportunities to serve the Lord based on a bondage to riches? And you see, what we do here determines what we're going to do there. The extent of our faithfulness here determines the extent of our opportunity in the kingdom. Let me leave you with three things as

we close. Jesus was tempted with the bondage to riches. When Satan took him to the high mountain, and laid before him all the kingdoms of this world, he told Jesus he could have these things if he but fell down and worshiped him. And they were Satan's to give. Satan was in control of all of this world's riches, all of this world's goods at that time. And Jesus was tempted with

that opportunity, but he refused it in the power of God, according to the word of God. He then tells us that the pupil is not greater than the teacher. The pupil, the student, is not greater or any better than the master. If they hated me, they'll hate you. If Satan hated me, they'll hate me. If Satan hated me, they'll hate me. If Satan hated me, they'll hate me. If Satan tempted him with those things, he'll tempt you with those things. And

unfortunately, most of the world and much of the church is in bondage to riches. Finances, the economy, dictates their lifestyle. It dictates their day. Few Christians are really open to be servants of God with the opportunities that God gives them to serve. But with the same power that Jesus overcame the enemy, you and I have that. Again, that's verses 11 through 17.

Actually, verses 1 through 10 of chapter 4 draw near to God. Use the power, Lord, that he's enabled us to have to overcome this bondage. It's a struggle. It's a battle. But we have the Lord Sabaoth battling for us. Jesus faced the same struggle and overcame. Secondly, a thought, is the Antichrist is going to use the economy to bring the world under his control. So all of the things that we're seeing in the world right now economically that appear

unstable, that are moving currencies and bringing together single currencies between countries that used to not get along with each other, that are moving currencies and bringing together single currencies between countries that used to not get along. All the developments now of the riches in China, there's more going on than just the passage of Hong Kong back to the mainland China. Watch what happens between China and Japan in the next several months. They will become the strongest nation in the world, the China-Japanese contingency. With China's resources and

Japan's technology, they will become the strongest, richest area in the world. They are the kings of the east that will move during the battle of Armageddon. Watch the development of this because this ties into the last days. The Antichrist will use the economy as a way to move into global authority. So be aware of these things. And finally, the third thing to be aware of

is the promise of riches, both spiritual and physical and primarily physical, are at the heart of the counterfeit revivals, are at the heart of this false doctrinal move that is being attributed to God that is really not. You will be richly blessed beyond your wildest dreams. Just don't think. You are told when you go into this, don't think. Don't let your mind ponder these things. Just flow with it. It's awesome to see

what's going on in the name of Jesus, in the name of Christ. And at the heart of it is a bondage to riches, just like in the world. Let go of the world. Draw near to the Lord. Let go of the world. Put your effort, put your effort into building that intimate relationship with Him, spending that time with Him, or seeing the refreshing that comes from the Lord. We're going to be blessed. We're

going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. We're going to be blessed. And it's a nice, restful, peaceful, slow growth process but it's beyond anything else that you'll experience in the abnormal. It takes time. It takes effort. It's a battle. It's a struggle,

but it's worth it. Heavenly Father, help us. You have warned us so completely and so explicitly in Your Word. You are a loving Heavenly Father who knows what's best for His children and you want to just start with Him. You just want to give Him peace. You want to give Him joy. And then you want to just prepare Him for His children and you want to just prepare Him for His children and you want to

Prepare us for the things to come so that we don't make foolish, stupid mistakes, so that we'll know these things in advance, so as we see them come to pass, we'll know what to do. Make us like the men of Issachar, who discerned the times and the seasons, and they knew what they had to do. We want to be that, Lord. We give you our riches, the things that you have so graciously bestowed upon us. We give

you these things, and Lord, if we're in bondage, I pray for your hand to be upon us now and free us from that, that we would make the decisions that would free us from our hold on these things, that we would be able to lay them at your feet, that you could use them in our lives to bless others, that we could release the hold that we have on them, that we could cultivate those things that are eternal instead of spending so much time cultivating the things that will rust and corrode and be moth-eaten. Lord, help us in this, we pray. In Jesus' precious name, amen.