True Wisdom: James 5:19-20

Introduction

This morning we conclude our study in James. We will be studying James 5:19-20. A few weeks ago I mentioned to Bill Morley that there has not been a sermon series so convicting to me as James has been. When I preach, I always end up preaching to myself, but while going through James, I have been confronted with many areas that I fall short in, and have been forced to do something about it. I pray that God has illuminated areas in your life as well.

I also pray that we continue to be confronted with our sins and transformed into the image of Christ and live fully unto God.

Last week, Charles preached on the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is powerful and effective. God hears the prayer of the faithful and is sure to save and forgive and restore the sinner and the sick. James urges his readers, his brothers and sisters in Christ, to confess their sins to each other and to pray for each other. The brotherhood of believers is meant to be one strengthened by unity over our fight with sin and to hold each other up and push each other on towards Christ.

But what happens when a brother or sister turns away and begins down the wrong way? What happens when he begins wandering away from the light and loses it? What happens when like Christian in the Pilgrim’s Progress loses his way and sinks into the slough of despond?

James writes in our passage: James 5:19-20

James 5:19–20 ESV

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James’ last statement in his letter is to encourage his brothers to go after the one that wanders away. After all the corrections and tough love he gives them, he ends with the encouragement and push to chase down the backslidden brother and to lead him back to the truth.

1. Wandering From the Truth

There is nothing worse than to have a friend and a brother or sister that you love dearly, served along side, worshipped with, and prayed for and with, fall into sin or seemingly walk away from the faith. It is heart breaking, excruciatingly painful and confusing.

To see someone who was once fully set on following Christ and pursuing Him turn away and pursue godless passions is horrible. But probably all of us knows someone who has done this.

How does this happen? How can someone who was so faithful wander away from the truth that they confessed? How can people backslide?

I believe there are two types of wanderers or backsliders.

a. Some people who backslide were never genuine believers. John writes in 1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” According to John it is very possible that they were never part of us. Those who belong to Christ will not abandon Him and deny Him. Paul compares the walk of a Christian to that of a race. You cannot finish a race that you never started.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus shows us that there are those that respond to the gospel but whether it is trials or temptations that come their way, there is no true faith. They are like the one who looks in the mirror and forgets what he looks like. They are hearers of the word but not doers and have not submitted to it.

b. The other type of wanderer is the genuine believer who stumbles off the lighted way and falls into the dark. They lose their way, forget who they belong to, and begins to dwell in sin. This can happen to any of us.

Last Wednesday I taught on Isaiah 39. In that chapter, we see that Hezekiah is blinded by pride and selfish ambition, forgets the promises and deliverance from God and foolishly seeks an alliance with Babylon. Because of this, God judges Hezekiah and proclaims that one day Babylon will come and destroy and steal everything from Judah.

As a song by the Gray Havens says, “He lowered his gaze and he listened to the face of low desires.” Hezekiah forgot God, strayed from the path of faithfulness, and walked on the path of destruction.

The Wanderer James writes of has done the same thing. Whether they turned their eyes towards money, fame, pleasure, or whatever else it could be, they all end up on the same road, the path of destruction.

In the case of the first type of wanderer, it is clear that they were never part of the family of God, but in the case of the second type, there may come a time when they actually wander away from the gathering of the saints.

If you accept your sins long enough, you’ll stop confessing them, fighting them, and desiring the Gospel and fellowship with fellow believers.

Regardless of whether the wanderer was a genuine believer or not, the response of the Church should be the same: Chase after them.

2. Chasing the Wanderer

I’m pretty sure Lizzy thinks she’s shopping with a child when I go to Walmart with her. She basically has our specific Walmart mapped out in her head and has a specific plan on how we’re going to walk the store.

I like to shop on the wild side and have no plan. So often times I will end up going down one isle and up another. It’s especially bad when I notice something random.

When we’re shopping together, I still do my thing of just wandering away from her. The problem is, I get distracted and end up spending a little too long and looking at the different colors of band aids or trying to figure out whether kinetic sand used to be called moon sand. By the time I realize I got distracted, Lizzy is walking right back to where I lost her and pulling me back to her. If Lizzy would not come back for me I would never accomplish the goal of the shopping trip.

Here’s another example:

If you are walking with someone and they decide to pivot and try to run through traffic, would you not try to grab them and hold them back?

Would you not hold onto someone if they were trying to jump off a cliff or a bridge?

How many of us would hang up the phone if a friend would call and say they want to end everything? I’m sure we’d be jumping in our cars and rush to them to be with them and rescue them from themselves.

How much more then, should we chase after those who wander from the truth? James says that the wanderer is on their way to death and destruction. But he also says that those who bring the wanderer back saves them from that death and covers a multitude of sins. To restore the wanderer back into the fellowship of the church is to restore them back into grace and mercy. Now I’m not saying the church is what brings grace and mercy, but James makes it clear, there is confidence to be found in the gathering of believers that ensures healing, security and forgiveness.

But what does chasing the wanderer, and restoration look like? In other words, how is it done?

By preaching the Gospel and calling them to repentance. Paul writes in Romans 10:14-15

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

There can not be any restoration of the wanderer unless the Gospel is preached and they believe it and repent. But we all must go to them and proclaim the Gospel. Paul says that it is a beautiful thing when the Gospel is preached. It is through the Gospel that Jesus saves, deliverers, and restores the wayward person.

Part of preaching the Gospel to the wanderer is calling out their sins. Not in condemnation, but to push them towards repentance. Jesus says in Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” He goes on and explains the process of discipline in the church with the last step being the treating of the person as someone who is unsaved.

What does that mean? You continue to preach the Gospel, calling them to repentance and a genuine faith in Jesus.

Paul so desires for his people, the Israelites, to believe in Jesus that he wishes he could take their place and be judged instead of them, He says in Romans 9:1-3

Romans 9:1–3 ESV

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

We must have a love for our wayward brothers and sisters that is as fierce and loyal as Paul’s. A love so fierce that we would take their place if it meant that they could stand in the presence of God and drink deeply from the stream of living water.

Our duty as Christians is not only to evangelize those who are lost. Our duty as Christians is also to protect, defend, and chase after each other if one of us begins wandering from the Gospel and the truth that we confess.

Restoration is a hard, daunting task. But it is nonnegotiable. To stand back and let people walk away is not an option. We must chase after them, cling to their shirts. Hold onto their feet and make them drag us if they persist.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “If Sinners be damned, at least let them leap to over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

Some will continue on the path of destruction but others will hear the Gospel, their eyes will once again be opened, and they will be restored.

When restoration takes place, it is a beautiful and glorious event.

3. The Glory of Restoration

James writes that the soul of the one restored is saved from death and their sins are covered. How glorious is that? There will always be another chance. There will always be grace and mercy to be found for those who repent and come to Jesus. Romans 5:20 says, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” There is no such thing as too far gone or too dirty.

There is grace to be found in every circumstance. There is no place too dark that the light of Christ cannot illuminate and no one’s scales on their eyes are too thick to be removed by the power of Christ.

That is true for the moment we first believed, and it is true for every time we are restored after we wandered away.

That is glorious.

Our hope is not in whether we can walk the narrow way perfectly. Our hope is in something so much more sure: The finished work of Jesus. When Jesus gave his last breath he said that what he set out to do was finished. Our sins were paid for. Captives were set free. And there was grace and mercy to be found.

Righteousness was credited to us by Christ and because of that we can have confidence that we will be sustained until we see Jesus face to face. Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 8:39 says that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What this means for those of us who are in Christ, is that even when we stray and wander from the truth, God will not abandon us. Instead, He will remain faithful and lead us back to the place we belong.

And James makes it clear, our brothers and sisters in Christ play a pivotal role in that restoration.

Restoration is glorious because we see the faithfulness and love of God at work.

Application

Repent and believe in Jesus Christ

Pray for the people you know who have walked away from the faith

Have intentional conversations

Get close to a brother or sister in Christ

Benediction

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 ESV

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.