The Unsaved Rich

James gets tough with the unsaved rich.
James 5:1-3 1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

There’s only one place where moths and rust won’t destroy.

Matthew 6:20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys

Not a good idea to store up treasure, especially in the “last days.” What are the “last days?”

1. The ends of the ages (1 Cor. 10:11) 2. The consummation of the ages (Heb. 9:26) 3. The days in which the nations will stream to the mountain of the house of the Lord – the church. (Isaiah 2:2) How then shall we live in the last days?

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 29 But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none;
Life is brief, a vapor. Marriage should not reduce one’s devotion to the Lord, and service to Him.

30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;
The believer should not get so swept up in the emotions of this life as to lose their hope, purpose, and endurance. Steadfastness is required in the last days.

31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.
The believer is not to be swept up in earthly affairs so that heavenly matters become secondary.

Here's a principle in the Kingdom of God. What we keep, we lose. What we give to God we keep...and He adds interest to it.