How firm a foundation,

Ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word.

Welcome to Through the Bible.

To give us a bit of background and context to our study in James,

here's an introduction by Dr. J. Vernon McKee.

We have come to a very remarkable section of the Epistle of James.

A cursory reading might give the impression that James is teaching a socialistic doctrine

of Soap the Rich, or let's divide the wealth. But on the contrary, a careful reading

reveals that is not true. The Roman world of James Day is not like the modern world in which we live.

The lifestyles are entirely different.

There was no middle class in the days of James.

There were the very rich, the filthy rich, and the very poor, the filthy poor, if you please.

In James Day, the majority of Christians came from the very poor and slave class.

They had no great cathedrals on boulevards, and they weren't built in the kingdom

as many of these great churches spending millions today. Now, with this preliminary consideration

in mind, I'd like to read together with you this section of scripture.

I think it's very important.

And I may make a change or two in it, but you follow the King James, and you'll understand why.

James 5, verse 1, and I'm reading,

Come now, ye rich man, weep and how, for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver are rusted,

and the rust of them shall be a witness against you,

...