#307 - The Judge Is at the Door - Part 2 - James 5.7-12

Unknown Speaker (0:03): This message was recorded live at Arvin Assembly of God. What you are about to hear is a sermon preached during one of our regular church services. We pray that as you listen, the word of God strengthens your faith, deepens your understanding, and draws you closer to Jesus. Let's tune in to today's broadcast.

Unknown Speaker (0:27): Alright. Well, we're in James chapter five, and today we are in part two of what we started last week. The judge is at the door. And I wanna invite you. Would you stand for the reading of God's word?

Unknown Speaker (0:45): We're gonna begin reading in verse seven and go all the way down into verse 12. The bible says, therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Unknown Speaker (1:10): Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You've heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Speaker 1 (1:36): But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment. Let's pray. Father, in the precious mighty name of Jesus Christ, Lord, I ask that you would open our hearts and our minds this morning that we can receive with meekness, with humility, with open hearts and open ears, your word. Lord, do what you intend for it to accomplish. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Speaker 1 (2:12): Amen. You may be seated. Last week, we saw that James is asking a question that hopefully not many of us have been able to shake all week long. And the question is this, how long can you wait for God before you start taking matters into your own hands? How long?

Speaker 1 (2:39): Yeah. Noah, why don't you swap out there? Now James gives us two answers. And we saw last week, he said, while we're waiting, while we're while we're wrestling with God, while we're struggling in the things of this world, he said that we need to wait with purpose. And we saw that that means we can't be passive.

Speaker 1 (3:02): We can't be idle. We have to put our hand to the plow. We can't fatten our hearts on disappointment or bitterness or cynicism. He told us to be like the farmer. The farmer is working.

Speaker 1 (3:16): The farmer is waiting. He's trusting God. He plants in faith, and he waits on God. And we saw that God has a track record of faithfulness that goes back further than any of us could even think or imagine or even remember. And James told us to establish our hearts.

Speaker 1 (3:36): In other words, to strengthen it, to root it in the promises of God's word that, yes, he is coming back. And then James gave us a second answer. He said, while we're waiting, that we need to be very, very careful. We've got to watch our words. Because what tends to happen is is that when the waiting gets long, when our prayers should be directed, our groans and our cries that should go up to God, sometimes they can spill out sideways on the people that are the closest to us.

Speaker 1 (4:11): And so James gave a warning. He says, stop it. Why does he say that? He says it because the judge is standing at the door. In other words, the return of Jesus Christ is imminent.

Speaker 1 (4:23): It can happen at any moment. And God hears every word, every idle word that is spoken against the people and the brothers and sisters in Christ. So don't grumble. Don't grumble. Don't complain.

Speaker 1 (4:38): Don't talk about other people. Instead, take it to God. You know, that'll solve a whole lot of problems instead of talking about folks if we started praying about folks. And so James gave us two answers, and today he's gonna give us two more answers. And so, again, this question is is what do you do when you're waiting?

Speaker 1 (5:00): Here's the third answer. James tells us to walk with the witnesses. Walk with the witnesses. Now because he's been telling us to wait like the farmer, he's been telling us to establish our hearts on the promises that are found in God's word, now James does something that every good pastor does when people are going through hard times. Read verse number 10 with me.

Speaker 1 (5:29): He says, my brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. So remember, our first illustration of patience, we unpacked that last week, was about the farmer, but now he shifts into the prophets. And what James is saying is, listen, you're not the first one who has walked down this road before. You're not the only one who has gone through some things. That doesn't diminish what you're going through.

Speaker 1 (6:05): It doesn't minimize what you're going through. But James wants to remind you there is nothing new under the sun. Suffering and patience and persecution, this has been happening since the curse entered into the world. There are those who have come before you. Now, I want you to notice what James pairs together in this phrase.

Speaker 1 (6:28): Look at it with me in verse number 10. He says suffering and patience. These are two words, but in reality, it is one concept. And the word that James uses here for suffering means hardship. It means difficulty.

Speaker 1 (6:46): It means the weight of something that is happening in your life. It's as if it is pressing down on you, and it just won't let up. Have you ever gone through something that has felt like that before? And then he pairs this word suffering with the exact same word as patience from last week. What is James trying to do here?

Speaker 1 (7:11): He's bringing us progressively further into what we do when we're waiting on God. Now remember that word patience means long tempered. It means a fire that does not go out. And James is saying, here's another example for you. This is what the prophets had, patience in the middle of suffering.

Speaker 1 (7:40): And these two things, if they can live in your heart simultaneously, will help establish your hearts.

Unknown Speaker (7:48): Now I want you

Speaker 1 (7:49): to look at what James says about the prophets. Notice the next phrase here. He says, my brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. And we wanna sit on that phrase here for just a moment because it tells us something important about what James is asking us to do. The prophets weren't silent.

Speaker 1 (8:13): They weren't idle. They didn't put their heads down in the sand. They they didn't endure quietly. In fact, if you know anything about Jeremiah, he wept over Jerusalem, and he preached against the corruption that he found in her city. Jeremiah was beaten.

Speaker 1 (8:32): He was thrown into a pit. He was thrown into stocks repeatedly, and he suffered greatly. And he even got to the point in his life where he thought about throwing in the towel. He began to ask himself, is this even worth it anymore? Is it worth speaking out against this injustice?

Speaker 1 (8:54): And he even thought about quitting. In fact, in Jeremiah 20 verse nine, he said, then I said, I will not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name. Can you imagine getting to the point where saying this isn't worth it? But he goes on. He says, but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones.

Speaker 1 (9:23): I was weary of holding it back and I could not. Do you hear what Jeremiah is trying to say? He's trying to say, I I I wanted to stop. I tried to stop. I wanted to keep quiet because the cost was too high.

Speaker 1 (9:40): But the word of the Lord, the precious promises of God were too much and I couldn't hold back anymore. This is exactly what James has in mind when he says that the prophets spoke in the name of the Lord. It's another prophet by the name of Amos. He stood in Bethel, the king's own sanctuary, and he told back in his day some wealthy landowners that God had seen what they were doing. He said, God has seen how you're treating the poor.

Speaker 1 (10:16): And I want you to listen how Amaziah the priest responded to Amos. Amos chapter seven. It says, then Amaziah said to Amos, go, you seer. Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread and there prophesy, but never again prophesy at Bethel for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.

Speaker 1 (10:48): What was he telling the man of God to do? He said, go home. Quit talking. Quit preaching. You aren't welcome here.

Speaker 1 (10:58): Guess what Amos did? He preached anyway. Why? Because it's the same thing as Jeremiah. I've got this word in my bones.

Speaker 1 (11:09): And injustice is injustice. Corruption is corruption. The prophet Isaiah walked into Jerusalem, and he told the kings and the rulers exactly what God saw when he looked at her city. Read it with me in Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah said, how the faithful city has become a harlot.

Speaker 1 (11:35): It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water, Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Think about this.

Speaker 1 (12:07): Corruption in the courts, bribes in the marketplace, the widow ignored, the fatherless undefended, and Isaiah kept on preaching. They spoke in the name of the Lord even when it cost them everything. And for some, it did cost them everything. Hebrews eleven thirty six through 38 says it like this, still others had trial of mockings and scourgings. Yes.

Speaker 1 (12:43): And of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were slain with a sword.

Speaker 1 (12:53): They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented,

Unknown Speaker (13:01): of whom the world was not worthy. Of whom

Speaker 1 (13:07): the world was not worthy. Think about that phrase for a moment. You see, the world said these people are nothing. The world says we're at the top. We control the system.

Speaker 1 (13:20): We control the courts. We can get away with it. And I said, these folks are nothing. But God said that the world was not worthy of them, and these people never picked up a sword. They never took vengeance into their own hands.

Speaker 1 (13:45): What they did do is what James is calling a person with an established heart to do. They spoke. They waited. They trusted in God who one day would be the judge. This is what James is asking us to do in the middle of our trials and in the middle of our tribulations.

Speaker 1 (14:12): He's not saying you've gotta be silent. He he's he's not saying either that you've gotta go out and be violent, but he's saying you don't have to keep your mouth closed. You can speak out in truth according to God's word. But when you do that, you've got to wait on God. This is what it means to walk with the witnesses, with those who have come before us in God's word.

Speaker 1 (14:45): I want you to notice verse 11. He says, indeed,

Speaker 2 (14:52): we count them blessed who endure. James

Speaker 1 (14:57): says, we count them blessed. What we say about other people, this is what he's after. We we look at folks that have gone through some some stuff, who have gone through some things that maybe you think that would have broken me, but you look at them and you say, God is faithful. He has brought them through. They endured.

Speaker 1 (15:22): They made it out on the other side. That's what he means when we look at someone and we say they are blessed. But here's the thing, James is wanting to ask you personally this morning whether or not you can be that person. Not just so you can look at someone else and say, man, they've got it good or man, God was faithful. But can you make it in the middle of your trial, in the middle of your tribulation, will you make it through?

Speaker 1 (15:54): We're talking about the long view here.

Unknown Speaker (16:00): The person who hasn't given up, the person who hasn't quit, the person that is still holding on. In your example, the witness of the

Speaker 1 (16:15): prophets, James then brings a second group or a person of witnesses. Notice it with me now in the rest

Speaker 2 (16:24): of verse 11. He says, you have heard of the perseverance of Job. Now I

Speaker 1 (16:34): know what some of you are already thinking. You're like, oh, boy, Job? Really? Why would he bring up Job? And then also in the reign of Aleda, it it uses the word patience.

Speaker 1 (16:49): And we might think, Job, was he patient? Have you have you really read the book of Job? I mean, think about it. Job complained. Job argued.

Speaker 1 (16:59): Job demanded answers from God. But here's what I want you to notice because James actually switches to a different word here, and it's brought out in the New King James version. In the Reina Valera, it just uses the word patience, but it's actually an entirely different word. The word is not the same word for patience that James has been using consistently. It is it is the word of perseverance.

Speaker 1 (17:25): It is the word of endurance. It's the biblical idea that it's the kind of strength that can stay under pressure and not collapse. In fact, James is connecting this from the beginning of his letter, and this is exactly the way to describe Job. He endured. He persevered.

Speaker 1 (17:50): His friends, I remind you, told him to curse God and die, and Job says no. Job couldn't explain his suffering. He didn't even understand it, and he didn't know why. For some of you, because you might need to know that is the purpose of Job. The purpose of Job is not that you would go and figure out and discover some kind of answers.

Speaker 1 (18:17): The purpose of Job is ultimately to put it into God's hands, to allow God to give the final verdict. And James is teaching us the exact same thing with this concept that the judge is at the door. Job, without answers, without explanations, he would not let go of God even when he couldn't explain it. Listen to what Job says in Job 16. Job says, surely, even now my witness is in heaven, and my evidence is on high.

Speaker 1 (18:59): My friends scorn me. My eyes pours out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleads for his neighbor. His friends had abandoned him. His body was broken.

Speaker 1 (19:18): He had no answers. But watch what Job said. He looked past all of that, and he said, my witness is in heaven. Now in Job chapter 19, he says, for I know that my redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another.

Speaker 1 (20:01): How my heart yearns within me. Church, this is not the speech of a man who has given up. This is a speech of a person whose flesh is failing, but their faith is strong. Job argued with God, but he never walked away from God. And in Job chapter 42, God turns to Job's three friends, the ones who accused him and tried to give him answers.

Speaker 1 (20:36): And he says in verse seven, you have not spoken of me what is right. This is God speaking to them. You haven't spoken of me what's right as my servant Job has. God commended Job, not because he was passive, not because he was timid or silent, but because Job was brutally honest. He was holding on to hope and faith.

Speaker 1 (21:08): He was like the farmer. He was like the prophets even if he didn't see the results here on earth, even if he couldn't make sense of it in his mind. He had a hope that James wants to establish on the inside of his people. This is exactly what James is pointing to. Now I want you to notice what James says.

Speaker 1 (21:36): He says, you have seen the end intended by the Lord. This is the outcome that the Lord brought about. Not answers, not reasons, not all the light bulbs and dots connected, but God restored Job. God vindicated Job. God did not forget the man who kept on keeping on.

Speaker 1 (22:03): And James says that the ending tells you everything that you need to know about God because he's pointing us to an ending that is similar to Job. Because when Jesus comes back, he will make everything right. There will be a restoration of everything. Now look at the last phrase of verse number 11. He says, The Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Speaker 1 (22:39): Now we wanna slow down here for a moment because that phrase really carries much, much more weight than what the English or even the Spanish vocabulary can carry with it. The word for compassionate is a compound word, and one part of it means many, and the other part means

Unknown Speaker (23:03): guts. Think about that.

Speaker 1 (23:07): Many guts. It's the deepest interior of a person, a place that you feel something so deeply intense that it is physical. What's he saying? That God's compassion is not just some kind of mild sentimental feeling from a distance. No.

Speaker 1 (23:34): It is personal. It is gut level. It is it is in the depths, in the core of who he is. Of course, we know that James isn't just pulling this out of thin air. Right?

Speaker 1 (23:50): He's not making this up because this phrase, this idea is one of the oldest, deepest self declarations of God in all of scripture. I want you to think back now with me to Exodus 34. Moses had just come down the mountain, and he finds Israel worshiping a golden calf. The covenant is shattered. The people have failed completely and miserably.

Speaker 2 (24:24): And so Moses heads back up to the mountain, and he asks God to show him his glory. And look what God says in Exodus thirty four six. Says the Lord,

Speaker 1 (24:37): the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth. This is God's own self description of who he is. And after the greatest failure of Israel, at the bottom of their worst moment in history, God doesn't say to them, you've used up your chances. You've blown it. That's enough.

Speaker 1 (25:07): He says, Moses, let me show you who I am. I am merciful. I am gracious. I am long suffering. I am abounding in goodness.

Speaker 1 (25:18): And so James is reaching all the way back to that mountain on that day, and he is reminding the people of God that this is who God still is. It is the same God that saw the prophets through. The same God that held Job together when everything was falling apart. And it is the same God that is standing at the door. He is very compassionate.

Speaker 1 (25:51): He is merciful, and he has not changed. And so he says, church, Arvin Assembly, walk with the witnesses. When the waiting feels long, when it feels like you wanna give up, let me remind you that you're not the first ones here. Go find Jeremiah. Go find Amos.

Speaker 1 (26:20): Go find Isaiah and Job. Find the people in God's word that have walked this path and the road that you very well might be on,

Speaker 2 (26:33): and let their stories remind you of the God that you serve, the God that saw them through because he will see you through. He's the same God today. So what else do we do while we wait? Here's the fourth thing. We weigh what we say.

Speaker 2 (26:59): We weigh what we say. Notice with me verse number 12.

Speaker 1 (27:06): He says, but but above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment. I've gotta tell you something before we really kinda dig into this verse because when you hear the first phrase above all, you might think that James is saying that this is the most important issue in his entire letter. More important than enduring trials or caring for the poor or taming the tongue. That's not what James means. This is actually a a literary phrase, and it and it means finally.

Speaker 1 (27:51): It means here's the last thing that I wanna leave you with before I close. I want you to think of it as as if I was up here, and I've been preaching for for forty minutes, fifty minutes, or an hour, and then I said, let me leave you with this.

Speaker 2 (28:09): That's what that phrase above all means. It means finally. But here's why he puts it here. Wanna let this sit in your mind for a second at the structure of what James has been doing with us since verse number seven. He gave us patience, and then he warned us about grumbling.

Speaker 2 (28:34): And then he gave us witnesses to look at, and now he warns us about oaths.

Speaker 1 (28:40): There are two positive commands, and then there are two warnings about our speech, what comes out of our mouths. And the speech and the warnings, they really go together. Grumbling was the pressure that was coming out of us that would spill over into the lives of the people around us and the people that we love. And oath taking right here is the pressure coming out and spilling over sideways in the promises that you make. And James has been watching, and he knows what it's like and what it's like for people that are under pressure.

Speaker 1 (29:21): He knows that when patience runs thin, when they're they're tired of of waiting, when the suffering gets heavy, we do more than just complain. We also start making promises that we can't keep. We say things that we don't mean to get out of situations that we can't control. We swear by heaven and earth to make people believe us because it feels like our plain word, our yes and our no just don't hold any weight anymore. What's James doing?

Speaker 1 (29:58): The same thing he said about grumbling. He says, stop it. Don't do that.

Unknown Speaker (30:04): Now I want you to know, of course, as everything in

Speaker 1 (30:07): the book of James, this isn't a new idea. This goes all the way back to the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Listen to what the preacher says in Ecclesiastes chapter five. He says, don't be rash with your mouth and let your heart let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you on earth, therefore, let your words be few.

Speaker 1 (30:39): When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. God has always required verbal

Speaker 2 (30:57): integrity from his people. He wants you to be people that mean what you say and say what

Speaker 1 (31:05): you mean. And, again, this isn't something new James is eventing. This is the standard of the covenant people of God. Now I want you to think about the the oaths that James is warning against. He's not talking about having to go into a courtroom and to swear an oath in in that kind of a setting.

Speaker 1 (31:25): He's not saying that you can't sign a contract or testify under oath in a court of law. He's talking about voluntary oaths and using God as your witness. It's a it's the kind of oath that a person wants to exaggerate, to try to add weight to their own word because they've lost confidence in the eyes of other people that their word is any

Unknown Speaker (31:51): good. James says there's

Speaker 1 (31:54): a problem with that. Because if you need to make an oath so that people can believe you, it means you are not a reliable person, that you don't do what you said you were gonna do. It means that somewhere along the way that the pressure got to you and that the words started pouring out of your mouth. James says this is no way for the people of God to act, not because it's just impolite or improper. It's because there's a judge, and he's standing at the door.

Speaker 1 (32:34): And I wanna remind you that that judge who also hears the groans of the oppressed harvesters is the same judge who also hears every oath that we take. He hears every promise you make. He hears that your yes doesn't really mean a yes. That your yes really means, ah, maybe. I'll think about it.

Speaker 1 (33:00): And that your no really doesn't mean no because you could turn around and say yes the next day. I want you to notice what James commands instead. I wanna go back to what Jesus said. Matthew five thirty four.

Unknown Speaker (33:25): Because this is what this

Speaker 1 (33:26): is how Jesus said it on the sermon on the mount in Matthew five. Jesus says, but I say to you, do not swear at all neither by heaven for it is God's throne, nor by earth for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king, nor shall you swear by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black. I wanna pause there for a second. What's Jesus saying? He's saying there are some things that are out of your control, so don't swear.

Speaker 1 (34:06): Don't take an oath. Just as the farmer can't control the rain and the sun, he trusts. Jesus is saying the same thing. There are some things that are out of your control. And then verse 37, Jesus said, but let your yes be yes and your no, no.

Speaker 1 (34:27): For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Now let's go back to James. Notice James says, but let your yes be yes and your no, no. James is passing on faithfully exactly what Jesus told him to do in the great commission. Go and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you to do.

Speaker 1 (34:56): And the same Jesus that preached on the Mount Of Beatitudes is the same Jesus that is writing this letter by the hand of James. And they're saying the exact same thing. Your word should be enough. You shouldn't have to have heaven and earth as your witnesses. Just yes or no.

Speaker 1 (35:21): And then here's the thing. The weight

Unknown Speaker (35:25): behind those words reveals

Speaker 1 (35:29): your character, your track record, the way that you have lived. And, church, I wanna tell you how this actually might play out in the real world. You know, we announced this morning that we're looking at having a 100 year anniversary here soon. And we went to go look at a venue, and we booked it for the celebration. And the owner, which I don't even know if he's a believer or not, he didn't ask for a deposit.

Speaker 1 (35:58): He didn't draw up a contract. He didn't need a notarized signature or a written agreement.

Unknown Speaker (36:04): He said yes, and we said yes,

Speaker 1 (36:09): and that was enough. Two people whose word means something. Two people who didn't need all the nuts and bolts of oaths or contracts to make their promise real. I understand. That's not the normal way to operate, but it's really a good illustration.

Speaker 1 (36:30): I also had to take care of Marcia's car. There was a head casket that was blown out, And Frankie had told me about a mechanic that's here in Arvin. And so he called this mechanic and said, hey. I've got a guy that's gonna come down and see you. I went down there, met him, shook his hand, looked him in the eye.

Speaker 1 (36:52): He said, I'll do it for this price. Give me two weeks. I said, alright. Here's the keys. I said, how much do you want?

Speaker 1 (36:58): He said, give me $800. I said, here. And then Marcia was beside herself because I don't have his phone number. I didn't get a receipt. There was none of that.

Speaker 1 (37:07): Right? And she's like, are you sure? I said, I looked the man in the eye, shook his hand, and he said, that's just the way that's not normal, but that's how Arvin works. Right? We would call it like, it's Hokanoskli contracts.

Speaker 1 (37:23): It's Juan Oahuatto stuff. I'm okay with that. But this is really the heart of what James is after. I don't recommend you conduct business that way, but your yes should be your yes. Your no should be your no.

Speaker 1 (37:43): So when people think of you, do they think, hey, He's gonna keep his word? Yeah. He talks a lot, but he never really comes through.

Speaker 2 (37:56): Or if he does comes come through, it's way, way later. This is exactly what James is describing here. Let your yes be yes and your no be your no. And here's why this matters so much,

Speaker 1 (38:12): especially if you are going through something. If you're going through a trial or tribulation or you are under pressure. Because the wealthy landowners in this passage, they had corrupted courts. They had bent the legal system. They had used contracts.

Speaker 1 (38:32): They had used, all all of these loopholes to their advantage, and they weaponized it against these poor farmers. And so James is saying to the church, he's saying, don't become what's been done to you. Don't let the pressures of life turn you into a person whose words can't be trusted? Because, you know, there's a real temptation there to say if you can't beat them, join them. Or to say, well, if they're getting away with it, and if they're doing it, then I will too.

Speaker 1 (39:11): James says, no. You're a person of God. You are to operate differently. It doesn't matter what they're doing at city hall. It doesn't matter what they're doing down the street.

Speaker 1 (39:28): You don't operate that way. Why? Because you are to be a representative of the very person that is standing at the door, a judge whose word created the heavens and the earth, God who told Abraham with his word. And guess what? It came to pass.

Speaker 1 (39:53): God told Moses, and it came to pass. God told the prophets, and it came to pass. And he said he is coming back, and he is coming back. And so the integrity of God's own word is what we are called to reflect.

Speaker 2 (40:19): So James says, weigh what you say. Let your yes be your yes, and let your no be your no. It's not because you're trying

Speaker 1 (40:31): to impress anybody. I don't think a single one of those prophets were out to impress a single person, but it's because the God that you are to image and reflect, the God that you are to represent, He's never needed anything more

Unknown Speaker (40:50): than his word, and neither should you. Would you stand to your feet with me this morning?