Sermon Tone Analysis

CONVERTING SAINTS AND SINNERS

James 5:19-20

Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Icard.

January 29, 2000

Please take your bible and open to the book of James, I think you will agree with me that James is the most practical book in all of the Bible.

This brother of our Lord who saw the Lord Jesus live out His life before him has given to us in the pages of this book a message about daily, down-to-earth, practical Christian living.

You might say that we have religion in shoe leather.

Or you might say that James talks about where the rubber hits the road.

James' emphasis is that it doesn't matter what you say you believe if what you believe does not translate into consistent, daily behavior.

While Paul writes on the believing side of faith, James writes on the behaving side of faith.

He has said in this book: "Behave yourself."

A man this practical, getting ready to conclude his book, what do you think James would be talking about?

What subject would James leave on our minds and our hearts as he concludes this letter to us?

I think it is most interesting to notice that when James concludes this practical, down-to-earth book he is talking about the matter of winning other people -- the soul needs of individuals.

Physical needs are very important.

In this 5th chapter James has already talked about the healing of the body.

He has said there is a ministry that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ can have in the healing of the body.

Now, in conclusion, he places the emphasis on the healing of the soul.

Sometimes we have a tendency to get things out of balance.

If we aren't very careful we'll put more emphasis on the physical than the spiritual.

Yet, the Bible says that the things that are real and the things that are lasting are spiritual things.

The Bible says the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal.

If we aren't very careful we will become so interested in meeting the needs of the physical that we will neglect to meet the needs of the spiritual.

So, James is talking about meeting the needs of the soul - the ministry of reaching out to those who need the Lord.

You will notice in verses 19 and 20 that twice he uses the word, convert.

It is the word for conversion.

All of us are familiar with that word.

When you study this word, it basically means to turn around.

If someone is converted that means they are turned around - turned back.

I found that really conversion is used in two different ways.

Sometimes the Bible talks about conversion in the salvation of a lost soul.

When Simon Peter in Acts 3 was preaching he said in verse 19: "Repent, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out."

He is talking to lost people.

When the apostle Paul was returning to Jerusalem after his first missionary journey, in the 15th chapter of Acts the Bible says that along the way he was declaring the conversion of the Gentiles.

He was telling people about folks who were getting saved - about Gentiles who were turning from their sins to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes the word is used to describe the salvation experience of a lost soul.

In other places this same word is used to describe the coming back of a Christian who has wandered from the Lord.

The night before our Lord was crucified, Simon Peter had loudly boasted that he would be true to the Lord even unto death.

In Luke 22 the Lord said to him, "Simon, Simon, satan has desire you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.

And when thou are converted strengthen the brethren-"

He is not talking here about Simon Peter getting saved.

Simon was already saved.

But he is simply saying, "Simon, you are going to wander away from me tonight, but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not and that you will be converted - turn around and come back."

I don't think I will do any violence if I look at these verses in both of these ways.

I believe that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is involved in a two-fold rescue ministry.

I believe God has given us a ministry of restoration for those who are believers who have wandered away and need to come back to the Lord and a ministry of reconciliation for those who are out on the mountains of sin who need to come to Jesus Christ for soul salvation.

Let's talk about it in those two ways.

First of all, let's talk about - Restoring Believers -- that is those who know the Lord, those who have been saved and yet wandered away from God and not living for the Lord on a daily basis.

That's probably the primary emphasis of this passage.

I believe that because in verse 19 he says: "Brethren, if any of YOU (talking to believers) do err from the truth."

So you see a possibility that a person who knows Christ as personal Savior can wander away from the Lord.

The word that is translated here - err - is the word that means to wander away.

We get our word, planet from that word.

It is the picture of a getting off course - going in the wrong direction.

The Lord Jesus used that word when he told the parable about the sheep that had gone astray.

Jesus talked about the fact that a man had a hundred sheep and then he said one of them went astray.

Same word.

It is the tendency of sheep to wander away - to stray.

The picture is not of a sudden departure, but rather a gradual departure.

That's the way sheep are.

They have a tendency not to just suddenly get away, but gradually get away.

They move off the path just a little, nibble some grass.

Then they wander a little further and nibble some more grass over here.

Then something looks attractive over there and they wander over there.

Little by little, gradually they wander away from the fold and they look up and they have gone astray.

The bible teaches that it is possible for a Christian to have that same experience.

We don't mean to do it.

We don't mean to get away from the lord, but we are human, we are frail.

The Bible says God remembers our frame, that we are dust.

How very easy it is for us to get away from Jesus.

It is not the intention of a Christian to wander away from the Lord, but if you don't watch out you will find you have gone away from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes people wander away just because of neglect.

That's why in Hebrews 10:25 the Bible says "not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is."

That verse is teaching that we ought to be faithful to the services of God's house.

That's why we put a lot of emphasis on you being present.

You can come to all the services and still wander away from the Lord, but it makes it easier to stay close to the Lord if you are in His house.

One of the first ways people wander away from the Lord is when they begin to neglect God's house.

Another way God's people wander away - Jesus told the parable about the different kinds of soil - the soil that was choked with thorns and became unfruitful.

Jesus interpreted the thorns by saying that's those believers who allow the cares of this life to choke things out.

They allow just the daily activities of life, the routine of life, getting caught up in the business of making a living -- if you aren't very, very careful you will allow those things to just pull you away from the Lord.

That's why it's really important to have a daily Bible reading time.

IF you will begin your day reading some of God's word, praying and talking to the Lord, you will find it will go a long way toward keeping you close to Jesus during that day.

Believers can wander away in two different ways.

In verse 19 he says "If any of you do wander from the truth."

We can wander away in belief.

We can wander away from the teachings of Scripture.

God deals with us on the basis of truth.

The devil deals with us on the basis of error.

The Bible talks about the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

God has revealed himself to us in the truth of God's Word.

There is a danger that sometimes Christians will wander away from the Lord in what they believe about scripture.

I have seen in my years of the ministry many people who have started off sound and scriptural in their teaching and then get off base in later years and pull a whole flock of followers after them.

Then, of course, you can wander in behavior.

That's what he means in verse 20.

"Convert the sinner from the error of his way..." In verse 19 he errs from the truth -- that's belief.

Now the error of his way -- that's behavior.

They always go together.

What you believe will ultimately determine how you behave.

All around us have known those believers who have wandered from the truth.

They have wandered from the right path.