In the sermon 'Miseries Made Certain', Mike Davenport discusses James 5:1-6, emphasizing the certainty of miseries that will befall the rich who store up earthly treasures without being rich toward God. He illustrates the inevitable destruction of wealth with an analogy of sandcastles washed away by the tide, paralleling the transient nature of material riches. Davenport outlines the certainty of these miseries, the corruption and corrosion of riches, and the charges against the rich, such as withholding wages and living in luxury without regard for others or God. He warns against trusting in uncertain riches and calls for storing up treasures in heaven, highlighting the irrationality of ignoring eternal consequences. The sermon concludes with a call to focus on eternal riches in Christ, who became poor for our sake, to offer true riches and salvation.

The sermon text for today is James 5, 1 to 6. Come now, you rich, whip and hold for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are not eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have hit up treasure in the last days.

Indeed the wages of the laborers who mauled your fields which you kept back by fraud cry out, and the cries of the rippers have reached the ears of the Lord of seven. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have found your heart as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you.

Lord God we pray Lord that you give us a humble heart to hear your word. And as we sing, Lord, help us to delight in your word, Lord. Open our ears to hear your word. We are a need of people that we need the instructions of your word. May you bless us today, Lord.

Amen. Quite a few years ago, my family, My immediate family, my parents and my sister and her family as well, we were at the beach on vacation. While we were there, as is typical when you have children, sandcastles began to be built. And obviously the best place to do that is nearest to the water where the sand is wet because it can form and pack and stay together. So the tide had moved out and all of the children were there building castles and it almost became a village.

It was very large. Well, I knew one thing was inevitable, and that was the tide was going to come back in. So my sister, thinking me to be the geek that I was, working for an engineering firm, I began to build erosion control measures, putting into practice the very things that I'd put on paper before. How can I create some ditches and some erosion control measures as the tide came back in to protect what all the children had spent so many hours doing? Well, the measures were quite successful for a time.

But with each wave that came in, it would circle around and got to the point it was almost on the backside of the castle. And with each wave that came in, sand began filling everything that I had done. And so crazily, I quickly would try, before the next wave came in, to get more sand out of the way. I knew what was inevitable. In the end, the ocean won.

Why? Because of the material that we were building with, coupled with the power and certainty of the returning tide. The misery of the coming destruction was certain. What James in our passage this morning is sounding an alarm regarding the certainty of the coming misery upon those who lay up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God. The title of my message is, Miseries Made Certain.

Miseries Made Certain. Here is the outline that we will seek to follow this morning as we study this passage together. First, the certainty of miseries for the rich, the certainty of miseries for the rich. Secondly, the corruption and corrosion of riches, the corruption and corrosion of riches. And then thirdly, the charges brought against the rich.

So first, the certainty of miseries for the rich. Verse 1, come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. James once again opens up a discussion with the words, come now. He had used this opening line in the previous chapter, chapter 4 verse 13. And for the benefit of those who may not have been with us as we looked at that passage, the root meaning of the Greek words used here for come now indicate to lead by laying hold of or to move or to impel.

In our present time we could substitute probably with a modern phrase, come on, or listen up. Well, who is it that James is now trying to grab the attention of? Well, he tells us, You rich, you rich, those who have an abundance of material goods, how much abundance is needed in order for one to be considered rich? Well, usually the answer to that question is to point to someone who has a greater abundance than ourselves. Now that, that is what being rich looks like.

And yet someone at the very same moment could look at us and say the same. In Revelation 3, the Laodicean Church considered herself rich and wealthy by reason of the fact that she felt that she had need of nothing. What do you need this very moment? What do you need? I'm not asking you, what do you want Or what do you desire?

What do you need? There are very few of us, if any, here this morning that really stand in need of something. Most of us here can testify that our needs are very well met, that our only pursuit would be for that which we want. In that sense, I would argue the fact that we are all really indeed rich. But note what James calls these rich persons to do, weep and howl.

Almost every commentator I read highlights what James calls them to as well as to what James does not call them to. Very striking is the absence of a call to repentance. Rather than a call to repentance, James calls on them to weep and howl. This leads the commentators to believe that James here is addressing, though not directly, the rich worldling and not those whom James calls brethren, the ones whom he's actually writing to. He is addressing the rich not for their benefit as if they would ever get this message, but he's writing for the benefit of his readers, as is evident in the verses that come after our passage of this morning.

Also noteworthy is the way James refers to the rich earlier in his epistle, as if they were not among his readers, and yet addressing the matter for any if the shoe fits, wear it scenario. In chapter 1 verse 11 he says the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. In James 2, 6, and 7, speaking to his readers, says, do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?" And so James is here calling the rich worldling to weep and to howl. Linsky describes this weeping and howling as audible sobbing that is to be pierced with agonized wailing.

It is a sobbing devoid of repentance, a sobbing born out of despair and therefore accompanied by shrieking. That's what he's calling them to. Such a call to action runs contrary to the American dream. Our culture would have you believe that If anyone should be weeping and howling, it should be the poor man. Why would James call on the rich to weep and to howl?

We are told why. Weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Note a few things about what James is saying. First, this weeping and howling is due to miseries. It's due to miseries.

The Greek word is derived from the root word meaning wretchedness. It has the idea of hardship, trouble, or calamity. He says that's what's coming upon you. Hardship, trouble, calamity. Second note that these miseries are personal.

These miseries are personal. Your miseries upon you. Your miseries upon you. This indicates that the miseries are meted out According to the actions of the person. It's not arbitrary.

These miseries are not just hit or miss. But it also indicates that they are due recompense. They are stored up as a means of payment, these miseries will find their mark. Thirdly, James says these miseries are coming. They are coming.

These miseries may not be felt or sensed today, but God is not mocked. The sense is that it is impending or imminent, and it also draws our attention to the fact that it is certain. It is imminent, impending, and yet it is certain. And yet, it is certain. Such weeping and howling on the account of miseries should remind you of Christ's description of eternal damnation.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And with the certainty of miseries established as the future prospect for these people, James exhorts them to do the very thing that is fitting. Weep and howl. But not only do we find in this passage the certainty of the miseries of the rich, but secondly we find the corruption and corrosion of riches. The corruption and corrosion of riches.

Verses 2 to 3. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days." James is not here describing so much what happens to the actual riches, but what they become to us. And we can know that by a simple fact, such as gold and silver. Gold and silver are precious metals.

They really don't corrode. They don't rust. So James is not really having our attention on what actually happens to them, but what they become to us. You see riches prove to be as corrupted. Garments prove to be as though moth-eaten.

Precious metals prove to be as though they were eaten away by rust. These things promise us so much. We seek our identification in these very things. They make us what we are in the eyes of the world. But James warns us of the corruption and the corrosion coming upon those riches.

Note first that the corruption and corrosion of riches, garments, and gold and silver, note first that this corruption and corrosion is inevitable. It's inevitable. It is sure to come. In fact, the verb tense used by James here indicates that these things are already so. And so it is not only James that makes this declaration, it's the entire Scriptures.

And So I want to read a number of texts in order to increase the impact of the message upon your conscience. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. Job 27, 13 to 19. This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors received from the Almighty. If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword.

And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those who Survive him shall be buried in death, and their widows shall not weep, though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay. He may pile it up, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. He builds his house like a moth, like a booth which a watchman makes. The rich man will lie down, but not be gathered up.

He opens his eyes and he is no more. Psalm 39 verse 6. Surely every man walks about like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up riches and does not know who will gather them.

Psalm 52, Psalm 52, 5 through 7. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you out of your dwelling place and uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear and shall laugh at him saying, here is the man who did not make God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. Proverbs 11 verses 4 and 28.

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage. Proverbs 23, 4, and 5. Do not overwork to be rich because of your own understanding. Cease!

Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away like an eagle toward heaven Ecclesiastes 5 13 through 15 There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun, riches kept for their owner to his hurt. But those riches perish through misfortune. Riches perish through misfortune.

As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came." Mark 10, 33 to 35. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. And picture this, children.

Jesus says it is easier for a camel Take one lumps or two It doesn't matter what he's got on his back. Take that camel. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Luke 6, 24 to 25, after the giving of the Beatitudes on the mount, Jesus says the following, but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep." Luke 12, 13 to 21. Then one from the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But Jesus said to him, Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? And then turning to the crowd, he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Then he spoke a parable to them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops?

So he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns, too small, but pull down my barns and build greater and there I will store all my crops and my goods and I will say to my soul. So, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God. First Timothy 6, 7, and 10 through 10. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we may carry nothing out and Having food and Clothing with these we shall be content but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which Some have strayed from the faith. Mark those words. Some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows many miseries in Revelation 18 15 to 17 the merchants of these things who became rich, here it's talking about that great city Babylon, that the world system as the world knows it, the merchants of these things who became rich by her will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, Alas, Alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one hour such great riches came to nothing. One hour came to nothing.

But not only is the corruption and corrosion of these earthly treasures inevitable, but secondly it is also injurious. It is injurious. It injures you. James says that their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. The emptiness, the vanity of riches and the pursuit of them is clearly seen in the fact of their corrosion and the corrosion will stand and give witness against those who trusted in them.

My friend, are you heaping up treasure? Is that what you're doing? Are you heaping up treasure? I ask you, Will the mounds of your accumulation withstand the test of His trying fire? Or will it be consumed, burnt up?

The corrosion of these things will testify Against you they will point at you and condemn you And once it has condemned you by its witness against you, it will be the means of your torment. It, the corrosion of these things, it will eat your flesh like fire You see man becomes like the idols he trusted in and delighted in everything he loves burned up and like them he is burned up. The corruption and the corrosion of his riches will result in a thorough consuming and eternal corrupting and corroding of his flesh. The one who will do all to gain the world will ultimately lose his soul. Instead, instead of a pursuit of things that are not in your possession, take heed to the one thing that God placed into your possession when you entered the world.

That one and only thing that you will take out of this world when he calls you to stand before him. Your soul, your soul, are your eyes constantly upon this and upon that, And if I only had this and if I only had that, God said, I gave you the thing of the greatest price. It's your soul. Those things you see, they will be burned up. They won't last.

But your soul, your soul is eternal. Will you seek after things not in your possession while you possess an eternal thing that will stand before God and will be welcomed into heaven or banished from heaven into eternal torment forever and ever and ever and ever. Endeavor, endeavor, endeavor, endeavor. The Roman poet Juvenal wrote this about Alexander the Great, the world was not big enough for Alexander the Great, but a coffin was. And then third, James declares that because of this corruption and corrosion, the laying up of things on earth is irrational.

It is irrational. It doesn't make sense. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. It's irrational. This heaping up of treasure.

You see, it's the heaping up of earthly treasure, and in it there is heaping up of many strong witnesses that will appear on the day of judgment because he says the corrosion of them will be a witness against you. Well good, I'll just keep compounding the issue and have more and more and more to stand witness against me. Irrational. Irrational. Consider the people of Noah's day.

Consider the people of Noah's day. How irrational they acted. They heard Noah's faithful preaching. They saw the ark that was being prepared. They received the prophecy of the coming judgment and of the only safe and secure place from it.

But what was their response? Well, this is how Jesus described it in Luke 17 26 through 30. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until, until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of lot They ate They drank they bought they sold they planted they built But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. So will it be. So Will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed? How irrational would it have been on that day when the flooding began to be carrying on with life as normal. As the storm clouds gathered, they ate, they drank.

As the raindrops began falling from the sky, they gathered to watch a man marry the wife of his dreams. As the waters began gathering in the low places, they were toasting the bride and groom on the prosperous life that lay before them. How irrational would it have been on that day when fire fell from heaven upon Sodom to be going about business as usual. As the sun came over the horizon, they ate and they drank. As Lot and his family began fleeing Sodom, the people of the city busied themselves with buying and selling.

And as brimstone and fire began raining out of heaven, they were about their business of planting and building. Of planting and building. Certainly, certainly you see the devastating cost of refusing to heed the Word of God about what is to come. How inevitable the coming destruction, how injurious it would prove to be, how irrational to continue on with life as though no judgment were coming. What about you, my friend?

What about you? As you sit here this morning and you hear the Word of God telling you about the certainty of the miseries that are coming upon those who chase the pleasure of this world. Will you choose to be no different than the people of Noah's day and Lot's day Will the coming of the Son of Man Jesus Christ find you unprepared? Should you be already weeping and howling because there are miseries that are certainly coming upon you? Should you, should you be already weeping and howling because these miseries are coming upon you.

The Word of God this morning is being sown like seed. Behold, a sower went out to sow. The Word of God is being sown. Take heed this morning that you're not among the number who hear the Word and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in, choking the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Well, having seen the certainty of miseries for the rich and the corruption and corrosion of riches, we see in the remaining verses the charges brought against the rich, the charges brought against the rich.

Being rich is not sinful. It's often misquoted that money is the root of all evil. Money is not the root of all evil. The love, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So what was the sin of these whom James is addressing?

Why is it that miseries are certain to come upon them particularly. Well, there are three charges that are brought against them. The first charge is in verse 4, "'Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out. And the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabeoth, or the Lord of hosts." Now the verb tense here indicates that these riches had been gained through an act of fraud involving wages that not only had not been paid, but that were still being kept back with no delivery date in sight. You see, there is no intention to pay the workers their due wages.

The work has been completed. The reaping is finished, indicating the ability of the rich man to make a profit from the labor spent. Injustice is occurring. The reapers are crying out, but the owners are ignoring their cries. But there is one who does Hear the cries of desperation, one who is to be feared, one who is a consuming fire.

Listen to the instruction of the Lord of Sabaoth to His servant Moses in regard to his law. "'You shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind but shall fear your God I am the Lord You see just holding back payment for just one night was considered by our holy lawgiver as unjust. God will not hold such a man guiltless.

Maybe you have been following the recent story in the news of the wicked atrocities of the former U.S. Olympic Gymnastics team doctor, the testimony of one of his victims, a brave young lady who sacrificed much in the revealing of her own personal story and in the exposing of the wickedness of this so-called doctor. This testimony at the end of the trial unveiled the alarming reality of the many cries of the young victims that came into the ears of adults in position of authority. And these cries were ignored. They were ignored.

They fell upon deaf ears. There was no intent whatsoever to relieve those being wronged, no intent to protect and defend. But that very day that the testimony was given in that courtroom, the cries of these victims reached the ears of the judge presiding over that case, into the ears of one who not only could do something about it, but did do something about it. These cries are heard by the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of host. They've entered His ears.

The second charge is found in verse 5. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your heart as in the day of slaughter. This particular charge may seem frivolous to some, if not outright ridiculous. Certainly the culture around us would not understand the reason for such a charge.

You've lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. But I believe James is first of all implying a failure of responsibility due unto God. There's a responsibility due unto God. Such an implication is wrapped up in the words of Christ in the parable of the rich fool. So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

He didn't say just him who lays up treasure for himself, but and is not rich toward God. There's a responsibility that we have to our Maker and to our Lord. But second of all, I believe James is implying a failure of responsibility toward a neighbor as well. Note the description that Christ gives of the rich man and that he gives of Lazarus in Luke 16. This is what Christ focuses on as he tells us about this rich man and about Lazarus.

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores." These distinctions that Jesus draws attention to highlight the fact that this rich man lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. He made his heart fat and the day of slaughter came. Jesus drew attention to the vast disparity between what the man had in this life and what he received in eternity.

He says Abraham in whose bosom Lazarus was The rich man lifting up his eyes from hell Abraham said to the rich man son Remember that in your lifetime You received your good things and likewise Lazarus' evil things. But now, but now he is comforted and you are tormented. The corruption of those good things and the corrosion of those good things were now witnesses against that man, adding to the torments that were already upon him. Do you see that? Abraham said, remember, remember, you had your good things in your lifetime.

Abraham's calling them to witness against the torments that this man was now under. My dear young people, Dear young people, listen to me. Listen. Let those words sink deep into your thoughts. In your lifetime you received your good things.

Stop selling your soul for the good things that belong to a lifetime that James just described to us is passing by like a vapor. You want your good things to last as quick as that little puff of steam coming from the pot vanishes? You want to lay up good things for that amount of time? Don't sell yourself for these kind of riches. An eternity of torment waits.

It's real. The devil, young person, would convince you to say to your soul soul Be at ease take your ease eat drink and be merry do not be as ignorant as the beast who eats and eats and eats fattening his heart for the day of slaughter. And third and final charge is brought in verse 6. You have condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you.

The wealth of the rich had granted them power and prestige and position, and abuse of this power, prestige, and position had made way for the attaining of further wealth. And these further acquisitions were done so at the expense of others. They were guilty of condemning men and even murdering men. The Bible provides us examples of such atrocities. Think of Ahab and Naboth.

Naboth was a good man, a just man, wanting to be faithful to God's law concerning inheritance. The lust of the king for that which he had no right to, coupled with the power that resided in the palace to make it happen, led to the unrighteous condemnation of and murder of a righteous man. Another example is that of John the Baptist. The wealth and the power of that palace led to John's condemnation and murder. And then we have both Christ and Stephen, both condemned and murdered at the hands of the wealthy religious leaders of their day.

And these did not resist. That is, they did not withstand what we are called to do in regards to the devil, chapter 4 verse 7, to resist the devil and he will flee from you. That's to go to war against the devil. This sort of response was not going on in any of these examples. There was no fighting back.

There was no resistance like that. Hebrews 10, 32 to 34 describes the similar plight of Christians who had been oppressed. The writer to the Hebrews says, but recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Matthew Henry sums up this thought well, when such do suffer and yield without resistance to the unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God to the honor of the sufferers and to the infamy of their oppressors.

Well, by way of application, I'd like to ask you to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. Having stated my belief that there really are no poor among us, I want to draw out some applications from a different text. See, Christians can fall into many traps, for a love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So, there are all kinds of traps.

Therefore, we need to guard our hearts. First Timothy 6, 17 through 19. Paul writing to Timothy says, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life. So first, don't be haughty.

Don't be haughty. What do you have that you did not receive from the generous hand of God?" James already said in his book that every good gift and every perfect Gift comes down from the father of lights That's where it comes from God gives and God can take away We have been called Already to humble ourselves in the sight of God Don't be haughty second Don't trust in uncertain riches But rather trust in the living God Don't trust in uncertain riches, but rather trust in the living God. Riches, as we've seen, are uncertain. They're uncertain. But our God is immutable.

He's immutable. And I think maybe that's what James was talking about when he said that every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of life with whom there is no variation or even a shadow of turning. Our riches, they can grow wings and fly away like an eagle to heaven, but our God, With Him there is no variation. There is no shadow of turning. He is the immutable, unchanging one.

Remember the words of Proverbs 11, 28, He who trusts in his riches will fall. But the righteous, and why are they righteous? They trust in Christ. But the righteous will flourish like foliage. Number three, be a good and wise steward of the things God has placed in your hands.

Be a good and wise steward of the things God has placed in your hands. Paul here says, do good. Do good. What does that good look like? A pursuit of wealth.

That's what it looks like. A pursuit of wealth in good works. Okay? A pursuit of wealth in good works. That's what we're to pursue.

If wealth comes to us as it did to Job, bless God, but pursue a wealth in good works. What else does this do good look like? A readiness to give, a readiness to give. That is, that readiness gives an idea of looking for opportunities, looking for opportunities. But not just a readiness but a willingness that accompanies that readiness.

It says a willingness to share. Because we can have a readiness without a willingness. Or we can say, oh, I'm willing to share, but the time just never comes. We need the readiness and we need the willingness of doing good. And then fourthly and finally, store up for the future and not the present.

Store up for the future and not the present. You see, your joy is wrapped up and affected by your anticipation of eternity. Are you anticipating eternity? Are you thinking about it? If you're thinking about it, I guarantee you it's having an effect on your joy.

Are you storing up for yourself a good foundation for the time to come. Those who fail to do this will not lay hold of eternal life. That's what Paul's saying here in 1 Timothy 6. Store up for yourself a good foundation so that you may lay hold of eternal life. That eternal life will slip right through your fingers if you're not storing up a good foundation.

Well, here are some penetrating words from Randy Alcorn. When you leave this world, will you be known as one who accumulated treasures on Earth that you couldn't keep? Or will you be recognized as one who invested treasures in heaven that you couldn't lose? Think back a moment to my story of what happened to that castle that my children and I built on the beach. You see, at the end of the day, it was just a castle.

It was a castle. That's all we were doing, just a bucket of sand one after the other. It didn't matter that much. The building of that castle had involved the undivided attention of a few for only a few brief hours. But what if, what if it had been my entire life spent building that castle?

What if it had been years? A labor of mine before I had children and as they were born joined dad were building a castle. What if my entire life had been spent on that and not just simply a few hours of an afternoon. What if that building had been the fruit of all my labors? This was all I had at the end of the day.

Look at this. This is my life. This is what I've spent my life doing. What if that had been the case? You would say, you fool, you fool, The tide is coming in.

The tide of God's wrath, followed by the next wave of an eternity, an eternity. Just like the tide of the ocean, the tide of the return of Jesus Christ is certain, and it is imminent. All the means of seeking to prevent the destruction of all that we have labored for will fail under the power of that great tide. That day is nearer today than it was yesterday. Are you ready?

As we close, like John the Baptist, I want to set before you the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 says this, for you know, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you, that you, my friend, through his poverty might become rich. If we were truly gripped by the outpouring of this abundant grace, we would desire nothing more. All the little trinkets of the world would not hold our attention. Oh, the grace of God, the grace of God, that he who was rich became poor for my sake, that through his poverty I might have the riches of His Son and of an eternity with Him.

Do you know something of these eternal riches? Do you know? Or riches, do you know? Have you become truly rich through his poverty? Rather than miseries made certain, in Christ there are riches made certain.

Go to Him. Go to Him. Oh Father, we thank You for these riches that come to us through Jesus Christ. Oh, to lay hold of these things, not the things that will bring misery. Oh, help us to gain a heart for Christ and for eternity.

Amen.