Strayers & Saviors

I. Introduction
A. Our final sermon in James
B. Preaching on Revelation
1. Intimidating
2. I need your help. If we are going to embark on this journey, we need to prepare.
3. Read Revelation, Zechariah, Daniel, Ezekiel
C. James 5:19–20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 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.
II. Explanation
A. “if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back”
1. James is not speaking of an unbeliever who is brought to Christ. He’s talking about a person who is a member of the church, who embraces the gospel, who then wanders away from it, and who then is won back to Christ. In that case, James wants us to know that the soul of the wanderer has been saved from death, and many sins will be covered.
B. “will save his soul from death”
1. If you bring a person back to Christ, you are saving his soul from death.
2. But isn’t it possible that the person was truly a believer before, and just stumbled temporarily?
3. Well, yes, that is possible. A person who is truly born again but then suffers a deep set-back in his faith often closely resembles a person who has professed Christ and joined the church – though he never truly knew Christ – and then falls away. The two look very much the same.
a. And the fact is, we can’t discern between these two because we can’t see into people’s hearts.
b. But when a person wanders from Christ, contrary to the way many people think, James says we should assume that his soul is headed for death. Why is this?
(1) Because we are to assume someone’s true spiritual state is reflected in his present life/testimony. (See Ezekiel 18:21-24)
(2) Also, we are more urgent about it if we think this way. We shouldn’t just relax and trust that they will come back, in the confidence that this is just a temporary slip-up.
C. “and will cover a multitude of sins”
1. Whose sins get covered?
2. It seems that the sins here refer to the sins of the wanderer, that is, the wandering of the wanderer, and all that went into that, is forgiven.
3. When people wander from the faith, it grieves the Spirit and hurts others too. But when they are brought back, when they return to the Lord, it covers all those sins. (Ps.32:1, Pr.10:12, 1Pt.4:8.)
III. Lessons of this passage
A. Some people wander from the truth.
1. There are many references in the Bible to this.
a. 1Timothy 4:1 “The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons...”
b. 2Peter 2:20-21 “If after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.” (Cf. 2Peter 2:14-15.)
c. This is why Jesus said that those who endure to the end will be saved (Matt.24:13). They are the ones Jesus refers to in Rev.2&3 as those who overcome (Rev.2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21) and therefore receive all the prizes of heaven.
2. How does this square with the notion that God finishes what He begins?
a. Just because people claim to believe in Christ, it doesn’t mean they actually do.
b. Just because people seem to believe in Christ, it doesn’t mean they actually do.
c. Just because people are part of the church doesn’t mean they truly know Christ.
d. When God actually gives a person true faith, then He does maintain it and protect it and sustain it.
e. When a person abandons Christ, he is either temporarily stumbling (and God will make sure he comes back), or he never truly knew Christ in the first place.
f. Remember that Jesus talked about those who thought they were saved, but in the end He said to them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” NOT, “I don’t know you anymore.” (Matt.7:21-23)
g. You see, there is no contradiction between what James says here and the truth that you can’t lose your salvation.
h. 1Jn.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.”
B. This verse helps us to see that shunning is not really Biblical.
1. You see, the Bible says some pretty strong things about how to handle those who turn away from Christ.
a. 1Cor.5:5 and 1Tim.1:20 tell us to “deliver such a one to Satan...”
b. 1Cor.5:13 says to “Remove the wicked man from among you.”
c. Titus 3:10 says to “Reject a factious man after a 1st & 2nd warning." (Cf. Mt.18:15-17, 2Tim.3:8)
d. 2Thess.3:6 says to “keep aloof from [them].”
e. Rom.16:17 says to “turn away from them.”
f. 2Thess.3:14 & 1Cor.5:9 say, “do not associate with” them. Cf. 2Tim.3:5.
2. And over the years some have turned these verses into the practice of shunning, which means avoiding, ignoring, turning your back on people who have wandered from Christ.
3. But these verses aren’t the whole story. As always they need to be interpreted in light of the rest of Scripture, in this case other verses like:
a. 2Thes.3:15 “Do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
b. And James 5:19-20, which talks about the great value of reclaiming wanderers.
4. ‘Not associating’ doesn’t mean ‘not loving.’ It doesn’t mean ‘giving up on.’
5. You see, it’s clear that all the guidance the NT gives us isn’t meant to punish people who fall away, but to win them back.
a. 1Cor.5:5 "...deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved..." (Cf. Prov. 22:15)
b. Titus 1:13 “...reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith...”
c. 1Tim.1:20 “...I have delivered [them] over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.”
6. You see, it’s all REDEMPTIVE in its intent, not punitive!
7. So, how can we work to try to bring wanderers back to Christ? Certainly not by acting like everything is fine and dandy. But also not by acting like they’re beyond hope, and not by acting like we don’t care about them anymore.
8. What CAN be done? We can pray – and assure them of our prayers. We can assure them of our love. We can tell them how much we miss them. We can humbly express concern for their eternal welfare. We can reason with them – to the extent they are willing to dialogue. We can lovingly and humbly plead with them to come back to Christ.
9. We can admonish them as a brother. (2Thes.3:15)
a. Occasionally over the years, I’ve gotten calls from former members of our church who are facing big decisions. One had become an elder in another church and was so fed up with the rest of the session that he was on the verge of leaving that church altogether. Another had had an affair and was contemplating leaving his wife and family. Another had joined a church which was meeting in a public school, and he was threatening to leave the church because he thought that this was capitulating to the anti-Christian school system.
b. In each one of these cases, I was able to exhort them, not as a pastor, but as a brother, to do what I thought was the wise and godly thing to do.
c. But there are many other cases where I was NOT the right person to exhort someone. It seemed inevitable that if I did so, it would just make things worse. Often, when someone already knows what you think and how you feel, it only hardens them more if you keep telling them.
d. So, it’s not easy. Sometimes it takes a lot wisdom, sometimes it takes a lot of courage/boldness, sometimes it takes a lot of self-control, sometimes it takes a lot of humility, sometimes it takes a lot of praying/waiting/trusting.
e. I think that if we seek the Lord, we will figure out something to do or say.
C. Behind the notion of being separated from God is the danger of eternal death.
1. James says that if we bring someone back to Christ we “save his soul from death.”
2. This verse isn’t referring to the death every person dies at the end of life. The only people who will be saved from THAT death are the few who will be alive when Jesus returns.
3. No, this death refers to the second death, the death which comes after death to those who don’t have Christ.
4. One day each of us will appear before the living God. And we will be judged.
5. And whether we have wandered away from Christ or never come to Him at all, if we die without Christ, at the end of our life we will be judged.
6. And the Bible does not paint a pretty picture of what this means.
a. Matt.13:49-50 “At the end of the age, the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
b. Matt.3:12 He will “gather His wheat into the barn, and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
c. Matt.8:11–12 They “will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
d. Matt.25:41 “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
e. Matt.25:46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
7. That’s just a handful of the things which Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew about it!
8. This doctrine of eternal punishment is inevitably very unpopular today.
9. But then again, so is the reality of physical death. But no matter how much people dislike the idea of death, no matter how much people ignore it, it doesn’t make death go away.
10. And the same is true about hell. That day is coming. And what fools we are if we think that by hoping it’s not true or by pretending it’s not true, we can make it go away!
11. There’s nothing wrong with being disturbed by the concept of hell. It ought to be disturbing.
12. The only question is whether that disturbance leads us to fear, repentance and faith, or whether that disturbance leads us to disgust, ridicule and a hardened heart.
D. For each one of us, eternal life is the most important thing in the world.
1. There are many things in life: our health, our family, our careers, our country, our intelligence, our relationships, our genes, our background, our education, our possessions, our experiences.
2. And it’s right that all of these mean a lot to us. But there is one thing which is more important than all the rest of these things combined. Is your soul wandering from Christ or is it clinging to Christ?
3. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – each one – to his own way.” (Is.53:6)
4. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.” (Robert Robinson, 1758, Trinity Hymnal #457)
5. Remember what the Lord said to Martha in Luke 10:41-42, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
6. He said this to Martha. But He also says it to each one of us: You are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Some have chosen the good portion, and it will never be taken away from them.
7. We care about our bodies. We care about our looks. We care about our success. We care about our reputation. We care about whether people like us.
a. But do we care about our souls? Do we care about our eternity?
8. Beyond all the “stuff” of our lives here on earth there is Something bigger, Something transcendent, Something supremely lovely and perfect and true, Something supremely loveable.
9. And cherishing Him, clinging to Him, remembering Him, worshiping Him, seeking Him, serving Him ought to be the first concern and dominating priority of every person.
10. And when a man looks at that One who is so supremely loveable and beautiful and worthy and instead of loving Him, turns away from Him as if He is disgusting or ignores Him as if He is irrelevant or curses Him as if He is evil, that is the greatest sin — and the essence of all sin.
11. The heart that is right sees this ultimate Beauty and loves it. Only when there is something very twisted in a man’s mind & heart can He look at that which is surpassingly beautiful and worthy and not love it.
12. And that’s what sin is. It is the distortion, the deception, the poison that sums up what is wrong with the human race.
13. In Jesus’ parable of the sower in Matt.13, he talked about two factors which often cause people to wander away from Christ.
a. One factor, the seed sown among the rocky soil, which typically happens early in a person’s walk with Christ, is persecution (peer pressure, human disapproval, compromising one’s popularity), as well as tribulation (the hardships and difficulties of life).
b. The other, the seed sown among the thorns, which usually happens later in a person’s Christian life, is the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.
(1) The burdens and sorrows of life can overcome us.
(2) And the deceitfulness of riches can distract us and intoxicate us. As Paul said in 1Tim.6:10 “The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.”
14. And false ideas and false doctrine are also mentioned a few times in the NT as leading people astray. 1Tim.6:20-21 “Avoid worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called 'knowledge' — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.”
15. Satan doesn’t care what gets us away from Christ – it can be child trafficking or church ministry – as long as it moves us away from the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
16. So, we must be watchful.
E. And if walking with Christ is the important thing for us, it’s also the important thing for others, whether they know it or not, whether they want to admit it or not.
1. The theme of James, as we’ve seen is that our lives ought to match our profession of faith.
2. And one of his main concerns about this has to do with caring for others, especially those who are in need.
a. In 1:27 he urged his readers to care for widows and orphans.
b. In 2:1-6 he urged his readers to care for poor people who visit their church.
c. In 2:15-16 he urged his readers to care for brothers/sisters in Christ who are poorly clothed or fed.
d. In 5:14-15 he urged the elders to pray for those who were sick and asked them to come
3. And here at the end of his epistle, he gives one more example of the needy who should be loved: those who have wandered from the truth.
4. You see, Jesus is the good shepherd, to the point that He lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). And so He has a heart for the wanderer. He leaves the 99 and goes after the straying sheep (Luke 15:3-7).
5. And He wants His people to do the same. Here, in his final remarks in his only epistle, James seeks to inspire us to be active in rescuing those who wander from the truth.
6. So, the question is not just, Do we care about our souls? but Do we care about the souls of others? Do we care about their eternity? Do we pray? Do we reach out? Or do we let our hearts grow hard?
7. If you wandered from the faith, wouldn’t you want someone to come after you and try to bring you back? I hope so.