And this morning we're going to be in verses 11:50 and then 19
to 20. We will look at verses 13 to 18
next week. This should be, Lord willing,
our second to last sermon on James.
Next week, hopefully will be our last sermon.
If I can get through the whole text, it's, it's a pretty packed
text next week on prayer. So I may end up doing 2 sermons
on it. We'll see how it how it goes,
but this morning we're going to look at verses 10 to 12 and 19
to 20. So let's read our text.
I'll open some word of prayer and then we'll jump into the
sermon this morning. James chapter 5, beginning in
verse 10. As an example of suffering and
patience. Brothers, take the prophets who
spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those
blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the
steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the
Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by
earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no
be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Then down to verse 19 and 20, 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.
He will pray with me. Father, as we look at a text
this morning that deals with the several different themes dealing
with patience and suffering and our word and our the things that
we speak as well as our need to go after the fellow brother
sister who is wandering from the truth and to bring them back.
But I pray that you would give us grace to to understand the
text this morning, to apply it to our lives, that it would bear
fruit and that you would be pleased by this fruit in our
life. Lord, I pray God that you would
help us to to to do the hard things, Lord, that that often
you call upon your children to do.
We recognize, Lord, that you so often have not made this life
easy. Help us to see Lord, your
purpose in it. Help us to see that your purpose
is not just suffering for suffering's sake.
It's not just waiting for waiting's sake.
It always has a purpose. You always have a purpose.
I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. This morning we we've been going
through the book of James. Last week we had a joint service
with our sister church next door, CSBC, and this morning we
returned to our study in the book of James.
We've been going through it for several months now and we're
getting close to finishing. We should be finished by next
week or possibly the week after. And we're going to be looking at
kind of a hodgepodge of text this morning that James often
will go from one section to another with their seeming to be
no connection in between sometimes.
But I what I wanted to do is to look at verses 13 to 18 next
week because it deals with the topic of prayer.
It's a pretty powerful passage, one of the most powerful
passages in the New Testament on prayer.
And so I wanted to conclude on that passage.
And so it may be two sermons or maybe one, but this morning
we're going to look at verses 11:50 and then 19 to 20.
Normally I segregate the exposition of the text and the
application of the text, but this morning I'm going to be
weaving them together. And so they'll be woven together
as I go through this text. So let's start with me giving
you context. If you were not here the past
few weeks, let me give the context because that's important
for us understanding what's going on here.
In the context of the book of James.
There are these rich land owners probably who are lost, who are
oppressing the poor, perhaps who are Christians.
So you have perhaps rich lost land owners who are oppressing
the poor, who are probably, perhaps Christians.
The rich are not paying the laborers their wages.
And in light of this, James exhorts the church, Be patient,
brothers, until the coming of the Lord.
And this morning James is going to continue this exhortation.
He's going to continue his his exhorting of the church to be
patient and light of this trial that they're going through.
So let's start with looking at verse 10, where James writes as
an example of suffering and patience.
Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Now, I want you to imagine that you are a Christian laborer in
the 1st century. All right, got to put yourself
in those shoes. You're a Christian laborer in
the 1st century, a landowner, A wealthy landowner comes to you
and says, I will pay you. I will hire you to go work in my
fields today. You think, Great, so you go.
When you work all day in the hot sun, 12 hours of manual labor
and sweltering heat at the end of the day, after a long day,
sweat dripping down your brow, you go to your employer,
expected to be paid. But he tells you, I'm sorry I
can't pay you today. When you know good and well that
he can. You know very well that he can't
pay you now. I want you to think of the
feelings of anger and injustice and perhaps even revenge that
would well up in you. And as you're feeling this anger
and this injustice and this maybe even getting back at him
or her. What would this be him, probably
him. Along comes this man named James
and James tells you, brothers, be patient until the coming of
the Lord. Establish your hearts, for the
coming of the Lord is at hand. Now, I don't know about you, but
I would be thinking how? How do you expect me to do that?
What does that even look like? What does it look like to be
patient when I'm not getting paid?
To which James responds. I'll give you an example.
I'll give you an example, an example of suffering and
patience. And here's the example.
He says, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Look at all the prophets in this book who spoke in the name of
the Lord. James wants these brothers to
know that they are not the first of God's people who were called
on to suffer and to be patient in their suffering.
There is a long line of God's prophets who were called on to
suffer for the Lord and to be patient in their suffering.
We all know of Isaiah. He preached for decades to the
people of Israel only to be rejected by them.
And at the end of his life, what was his reward for his faithful
preaching? Tradition holds that he was sawn
into. Or what about Jeremiah?
Jeremiah was commanded to preach repentance to the nation of
Israel for 40 years, and yet God told him, even though this is
your job, this is your calling, they're not going to repent.
He was beaten, he was imprisoned, he was thrown into a
cistern, he was accused of treason, and he was repeatedly
lied about. Or take Ezekiel, he was told to
lie on one side for 390 days, lie on the other side for 40
days. He had to cook his food over
animal dung and then God took his wife.
God one day said I'm taking your wife for no fault of his own and
then told him you may not mourn over it all because of the
people sin. Daniel was carried off into
exile for no sin of his own. Later, while in exile, he was
thrown into a lion's den. Or what about Hosea?
Hosea was told to marry an unfaithful woman.
Hosea would learn what it feels like to love someone who doesn't
love you back. Or what about Habakkuk?
Habakkuk had to wrestle with God.
He wrestled with the seeming and justice of God.
He looked down. He saw the Pagan nations.
They were all prospering while God's people were suffering.
How is that just? Which of God's prophets were not
called on to suffer and we're not called on to be patient in
their suffering? You see, I think sometimes when
God calls on us to suffer, calls on you and me to suffer, calls
on us to be patient in our suffering, we can ask questions
like why me, why me, Why now? This is like the worst possible
time for this God. Why now?
Why is this happening or how long?
How long is this going to go on? Lord?
When will this end? Nobody likes to wait, nobody
likes to suffer, but God has always been pleased to call on
His people to suffer and to be patient in their suffering.
If you are struggling to persevere and you're suffering,
If you are struggling to persevere and you're waiting,
let me encourage you to read about the prophets and to be
built up by their faith. Look at verse 11.
A Behold. We consider those blessed who
remain steadfast. Behold.
This is now the fourth time in this chapter James has invited
the church to see. That's what behold means.
It's an invitation to see. He says, behold, see, we
consider those blessed who remain steadfast.
You know, typically when we hear the word blessed, isn't it
usually used in the context of good things?
People say the word blessed, right?
You know, like I've been very healthy this year and how, how
you doing? I've been, hey, I've been very
healthy. I'm, I'm blessed.
My family is home for Christmas. I'm very blessed.
Our house has paid off. We are very blessed.
Yes, I got the promotion I was hoping for.
I feel very blessed. We have three wonderful
children. We are truly blessed.
We went on this wonderful vacation.
It it was such a blessing. I guess what I got into the
college that I was hoping to get into.
What a blessing. And listen not to take away
anything from all of those. All of those are blessings from
the Lord, not take anything away.
But James wants the church to see that blessing is not simply
when you receive your wages and you go buy your food and you go
home and cook it and eat it and you go to bed full.
James wants the church to see that it's also a blessing when
you go to bed hungry and can remain steadfast through it.
What a blessing it is if you can remain steadfast through that.
James said back in chapter 1, verse 12.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.
Now why is this a blessing? Think about it right?
If you ask me, Matt, would you rather be blessed with a
steadfast food or B steadfastness and your hunger?
I'll take the food. I'll take steadfast food.
Right? So why is this a blessing?
Well, think of it like this. Let me give a very kind of
elementary illustration. Why in video games do they have
difficulty modes? Video games they have easy,
normal and hard. Why do they have difficulty
modes? Why doesn't everybody just play
it on the easy level? Why?
Why is there a hard mode Or think about in sports, right?
In sports, why is there an A league and AB league or a gold
league and a silver league? Why?
Why is that? Why don't we just play it on the
easy mode all the time? Why don't we just all play in
the B league all the time, or the Silver league all the time?
Why? Why?
Why is that? Because there's more glory when
it's difficult. There's more glory when it's
difficult. If God just made our life easy,
how would that glorify Him? You ever think about that?
Like you ever wanted to look at God and say God, could you just
turn it on easy mode? Like my life right now, I know
you've got it on hard mode. Could you just turn it on easy
mode for like maybe 2026? I got a lot of things coming up
this year, a lot of projects, a lot of things going on.
Can I just have an easy mode this year?
You see, difficulty leads to God's glory.
But I asked the question, how does that lead to my blessing?
How does that lead to my blessing?
Well, here's how. To be a Christian means to love
the glory of God more than anything else in your life.
That's what it means to be a Christian.
To be a Christian means that you love the glory of God more than
anything else in your life. And so if remaining steadfast
through my suffering, through my waiting, brings God glory, then
we are blessed. Why?
Because I have received what I want most.
If I am a Christian that I want God's glory most, and if this is
what will bring him glory most, then I have received what I want
most, which means I am blessed. See, blessing is not just
health, but remaining steadfast in sickness because God is
glorified. Blessing is not just marriage,
but remaining steadfast in singleness because God is
glorified. Blessing is not just children,
but remaining steadfast in barrenness because God is
glorified. Blessing is not just employment,
but also remaining steadfast and unemployment because God is
glorified. Look at 11 B.
You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you
have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is
compassionate and merciful, James says.
You have heard of the step back of Job now.
He says you have heard of it. I don't want to assume that all
of you have heard of it. He assumed that all of them had
heard of it. They had read their Torah.
They had read their old, well, not not the Torah, but they had
read their Old Testament. James says they had read it.
But I don't want to assume that you all know the story.
So let me give you the, the, the Cliff Notes version.
In the Old Testament, there was a man named Job.
Job was a righteous man. Job was a blameless man.
One day Satan with the sons of God come to present themselves
before God. And they say, and God says to
them, God initiates the conversation.
He says, have you considered my servant Job?
Have you noticed him? There is no one like him.
He is righteous. He is blameless.
He turns away from evil. There is no one like him.
And then Satan says to God, yeah, but isn't that because
you've made his life very good? Is that because you've blessed
him tremendously? Isn't that why he worships you?
Because you pay him? Stretch out your hand, take away
everything he has. He'll curse you to your face.
God says, very well, he's in your hand, you may take away
everything he has, just don't touch him.
So Satan does. He goes out, he takes away
everything, takes away all his possessions, all his animals,
all his servants, even his ten children.
Takes it all away. And what Job did next, nobody
could have predicted. If you read the story for the
first time, nobody could have predicted what Job did next
apart from the cross of Christ. To me, this is the most glorious
passage in the Bible. Then Job arose, tore his robe,
shaved his head, fell on the ground and worshipped.
And he said, naked, I came from my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return? The Lord gave, The Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Now if that wasn't enough, Satan comes back to God and says skin
for skin. All that a man has he will give
for his life. But stretch out your hand and he
will surely curse you to his face.
Touch his bones and he will curse you to his face.
And God says, very well, he's in your hand, you may touch him,
only spare his life. So Satan struck Job with sores
from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head, after which
even his own wife encouraged him to curse God and die.
She said, just get this over with, curse God and die.
And Job once again responds in a way that we could not have
expected. He says to her, Shall we receive
good from God and shall we not receive evil and all this Job
did not sin with his lips. And yet if we thought this was
enough suffering, they're like that's that's enough.
God has one more trial for him. His friends.
His friends come and sit with him in silence for seven days.
And their silence was the most consolation Job would receive
from them, because the moment they open their mouth, he
received nothing but condemnation.
They accuse him of sinning. They tell him that his suffering
is a result of his sin. And yet, if we thought that was
enough suffering, there is yet one more trial that God gives
Job. His silence.
You see, what Job wanted most
was for his friends to be silent and for God to speak.
And yet he was given the exact opposite.
He received his friend's slander and God's silence.
Most scholars agree that this suffering went on for months,
perhaps as long as a year. Job is my favorite book of the
Bible. There are many reasons why, but
one of them is this why I love the book of Job.
One of the reasons is this. It gives me hope.
It reminds me that remaining steadfast is possible.
Job was a Sinner just like you and me, and it's possible to
remain steadfast no matter what God gives you, no matter what He
gives me, it is possible by His grace to remain steadfast.
There is nothing that God can give you that you are not able
to remain steadfast through. By His grace it is possible.
Look at verse 11. See, you have seen the purpose
of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
He said you have heard of the steadfastness of Job.
You have seen the purpose of the Lord.
Now what this last phrase, the purpose of what does that mean?
It literally reads in the Greek the end of the Lord.
You have you have seen the the end of the Lord.
What does that mean? There are two possibilities,
perhaps both apply. Number one, if we translate as
end you have you have seen the the end of the Lord, it probably
means it's referring to the end that the Lord brought about in
Job situation. If you read the end of the book
of Job. Sorry for spoilers if you have
never read the book of Job before, but I'm going to spoil
it for you. At the end of the book of Job,
the Lord restored the fortunes of Job.
Not only did he restore them, he gave them twice as much as he
had before. He had 14,000 sheep, 6000
camels, 1000 yoke of oxen, and 1000 female donkeys.
He was also given seven more sons and three more daughters.
And so perhaps James is saying, look, you have seen how it ended
for Job. That's one way you could apply
it. Here's the second one.
If we translate as purpose, if we translate this as purpose, it
refers to God's purpose and refining Job through these
trials. I mean, one of the questions
that Christians have asked for years is why did God do this to
Job? You ever wondered that?
Like if Job was blameless, if he was righteous, why did God do
this? Why did he allow Satan to run
this test case? Why did God do it?
I think the key to understanding that answer, the answer to that
question lies in the last statement that Job makes in the
book. I think that why did God do this
is answered in the very last statement that Job says in the
entire book of Job, and here it is.
Here's what he says. I had heard of you by the
hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
Therefore, I despise myself, and I repent and dust and ashes.
What does that mean? It means that even though Job
was a blameless and righteous man, there were still parts of
him that needed refining. Now, regardless of whether we
translate and interpret as end or purpose, both are expressions
of the Lord's mercy and compassion.
As James says, see how the Lord is compassionate and merciful?
How so? If we translate as and the Lord
was compassionate and merciful to restore everything to Job,
God even vindicated him before his friends.
If we translate as purpose, anytime the Lord refines us, it
is a mercy of God. Every time God is refining you,
it is His compassion, it is His mercy.
And so James wants these Christians to know that what Job
experienced will be experienced by all of them either in this
life or the next. Whatever wages they have been
defrauded, they will be rewarded 10 times over, either in this
life or the next. And whatever earthly blessings
that they missed out on, they will receive far greater eternal
blessings. Look at verse 12A.
But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by
earth or by any other oath. Now this is a hard shift, like
scholars debate as to whether verse 12 connects with the
previous section or whether it's just an independent saying that
James inserted here. I, I, I, I struggled to find a
connection here. I don't see how they're
connected. Maybe it is an independent
saying that James inserted here. This was the best answer I found
from a commentator. Baker suggests that James put
this verse where he does because the poor Christians might be
tempted to use oaths to fend off creditors or to obtain credit
for food and other necessities, even knowing that prompt payment
would be possible only with a miracle.
So Baker suggesting that perhaps, you know, if they
didn't have money and they would go borrow money to be able to
buy food and they would use an oath, in other words, to get
this loan, if you will. I don't that's speculation.
I don't know if that's true or not.
Verse 12 is very similar to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on
the Mount. If you remember Jesus said But I
say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it
is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool,
or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great King.
And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one
hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes
or no. Anything more than this comes
from evil or the evil. 1 Matthew 534 to 37.
Now let's first discuss what James is not prohibiting here.
Let's discuss what he's not prohibiting here. 3 items he is
not prohibiting a he is not prohibiting vows.
Make sure that we don't conflate oaths and our swearing and vows.
We don't have time to get into a theology of vows, but vows are
not the same thing as swearing. Vows are good expressions of our
faith, but they should be used with great caution.
B He's not forbidding all or prohibiting all oaths.
We know this because there are plenty of examples in the Old
Testament and the New Testament where God's people took an oath.
So he's not, or something similar to that.
And C when you see the word swear, just in case anybody
would misunderstand this, he's not prohibiting cussing here.
Now, certainly Paul prohibits cussing in Ephesians 4, but
that's not what James is referring to here.
All right, so the Bible prohibits cussing, but that's
not what swearing means here. That's not what he's referring
to here. So what is James prohibiting?
Douglas Moo writes this. He is prohibiting the invoking
of God's name to guarantee the reliability of what a person
says. Invoking God's name to guarantee
the reliability of what a person says.
In other words, a person may take an oath to reinforce the
truth of something he has said, to bind himself to it, or to get
to try to guarantee a future course of action.
What are some examples of this today?
Things like I swear to God, you heard somebody say that.
Did you do that? No, I didn't.
I swear to God. I swear on my mother's grave, I
swear on my life, I swear on the Bible, I swear on my kids.
And these are not the only forms of this.
Now James says we are not to do that.
We are not to swear in that way. Now why?
Why? Look at verse 12.
B. Let your yes be yes and your no
be no. So that you may not fall under
condemnation, James writes, Let your yes be yes, let your no be
no. Now what does that mean?
Essentially, he's saying that your yes should be sufficient
and your no should be sufficient.
In other words, our plain words should be sufficient, right?
Did you pay the correct amount? Yes.
Did you lie about this? No, both James and Jesus teach
us that as Christians who speak the truth, we have no need to
reinforce the truth with swearing.
No Christian has a need to reinforce the truth with
swearing. Leon Morris writes this.
The conclusion of the matter is that it is never necessary for
God's people to swear an oath before they utter the truth.
Their word should always be so reliable that nothing more than
a statement is needed from them. God is in all of life, and every
statement is made before Him. And then James adds this last
statement here he says, so that you may not fall under
condemnation. Now what does that mean?
What? Why would this be so?
Well, condemnation here is literally judgment.
So you may not fall under judgment.
I think what James is saying is that when we swear by God's
name, or when we swear by God's creation, we are bringing God
into that oath. That's the idea, is that when we
swear, we're bringing God into this oath, but God is not
obligated to abide by our oath. And so if we break our oath, we
are bringing God's name into this lie.
For example, let's say that I owed you money and you came to
me and you said, when are you going to pay me?
And I'll say tomorrow. I was like, are you going to pay
me tomorrow? And I said, May God kill me if I
don't pay you tomorrow. But suppose I don't pay you
tomorrow and God doesn't kill me.
I have made God out to be a liar.
Not only am IA liar, I've made God out to be a liar.
God is not a liar. Now Peter did this when he
denied Christ. Remember when Peter denied
Christ Matthew 2672 again he denied it with an oath.
I do not know the man. Peter took an oath.
He sweared that he didn't know Christ.
He took an when he did. And James is saying, don't incur
this type of judgment upon yourself.
Just say yes or no and let that be sufficient.
Let the truth be sufficient. Verses 13 to 18, as I mentioned
earlier, we're going to skip over those.
I'll look at them next week. They deal with the topic of
prayer. But we're going to look at the
last two verses of James. And these two verses also do not
seem to go with the preceding section either.
There does not seem to be any connection between verses 13 to
18 and verses 19 and 20. I think perhaps they mainly
serve as a conclusion to the entire letter.
I think that's what these last two verses are.
They're a conclusion to the letter.
Let's look at them. Verse 19 My brothers, if anyone
among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
this is the 19th and final time that James calls them brothers.
From the beginning of this letter to the end of it, James
wants them to know they are brothers and sisters.
Now 2 questions are raised by this verse #1 what does it mean
to wander from the truth? And #2 what does it mean to
bring them back? Let's look at those #1 what does
it mean to wander from the truth?
Let's first be clear that this is a professing Christian.
That's important. This is a professing Christian.
We know that because James says, if anyone among you, meaning
anyone among you in the church. So this is not a professing lost
person. This is someone who has
professed to know the truth, who has professed to believe the
truth, but now they have wandered from it.
To wander from the truth means at one time you did believe it.
You did profess it. That this word for wander means
to lead astray, to cause the wander to mislead, to deceive.
And notice what they are wandering from.
They're wandering from the truth.
Truth here doesn't mean secondary or tertiary matters of
the gospel, but primary matters of the gospel, which would
include whether a person is living in step with the gospel.
Now one last point on this phrase.
Wandering from the truth can often be an intentional choice
on a person. Sometimes people intentionally
choose to just wander from the truth, but the majority of the
time that this word wander is used in the New Testament, it is
used in the context of being LED astray or being deceived the
majority of the time. Here's some examples.
And in these examples, they all use the same Greek word.
They all use the same Greek word.
Matthew 24. Four, see that no one leads you
astray. Matthew 2411 And many false
prophets will arise and lead many astray.
First Corinthians 69 Do not be deceived.
First Corinthians 1533 Do not be deceived.
Galatians 6-7 Do not be deceived.
First John 226 I write these things to you about those who
are trying to deceive you. First John 37 Little children,
let no one deceive you. Now why do I point all these
verses out? I point them out because most
people who wander from the truth, they get help.
Usually they get help. They are often LED astray.
They are often deceived. They read something.
One day they get online and they read something and they're LED
astray, or they meet up with somebody.
They meet up with another Christian who tells them that
that's not true. You can believe that you can
make that choice. They often get help.
Satan will use them to veer them off, of course.
And James says just as they get help and they're wandering, we
also need to provide help and bringing them back.
They got help in their wandering.
We need to provide help in bringing them back #2 what does
it mean to bring him back? The word literally means to turn
around and go back. Same word used in Luke 117 where
he says that Jesus will go. I mean, John the Baptist will go
before him. And the power, the Spirit and
the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children. Or Luke 2232 when Jesus told
Simon Peter, he says you are going to fail, but I have prayed
for you, you're going to fall, but I pray for you that your
faith may not fail. And when you have here it is
turned again. Or Acts 319 Repent therefore,
and turn back, and one last one. Second Corinthians 316 But
whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
And so just as someone often turns away from the truth,
they're following the truth, and they turn away from the truth.
Our job is to turn them back to the truth.
This is what the older brother and the parable of the prodigal
son didn't do. He watched as his brother
wandered from the truth, and he didn't go after him.
But the Good Shepherd leaves the 99 on the hills, and he goes in
search of that one who went astray.
Now how does the Good Shepherd do this?
How does the Good Shepherd go after the one who has went
astray? You and me, you and me.
When we see a brother or sister wandering from the truth, we
don't sit idly by. We don't respect their desires,
we don't wish them the best. We don't pray for them, period.
We go after them. We go after them and attempt to
bring them back. And look at why James says to do
so. Look at what he says.
Look at verse 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.
Now I want you to notice what James calls this wandering from
the truth. What is it when you wander from
the truth? It's sin.
Whoever brings back a Sinner from his wandering, he doesn't
call it deconstruction. He doesn't call it spiritual
exploration. He doesn't call it doubt.
He doesn't call it a a spiritual crisis.
He doesn't call it D churching. He doesn't call it a faith
journey. He doesn't call it a
reassessment of values. He calls it sin.
Whoever brings back a Sinner
from his wandering will accomplish 2 things.
Number one will save his soul from death.
This is so important. This is so, so important.
Why? Because nobody wanders into
heaven. People wander into hell.
Nobody wanders into heaven, into heaven.
I cannot tell you how many parents I have spoken to through
the years who had a professing Christian son or daughter, or
sometimes it is a pastor or a disciple are, and somebody that
they, you know, their son or their daughter or their disciple
or somebody in their church wander from the truth.
And they said something along the lines up.
Yeah, you know, they're kind of exploring their faith right now.
They're, they're figuring things out.
They, they are on a journey. And listen, I get that.
I, I, I get that. I, I get that.
No parent wants to be like, yeah, my son's a Sinner.
I, I, I get that. I, I, I don't want to suggest
that that's the perspective you should take, but but here's
what's important is that it's so important.
We understand that if they keep wandering, they will wander
right into hell. If they keep wandering, they
will wander right into hell. They won't just find their way
into heaven. They won't figure it out.
Our job is to go after them, and we're not going after them to
get them back in church. That's not the goal.
Hey, what can I do to get you back in church?
We're not going after them to get them to start leading a life
of morality. We're not going after them in
the hope that we would turn a homosexual back into a
heterosexual. We're not going after them to
try to turn a liberal into a conservative.
We're going after them to save their soul from death, eternal
death. That's why we're going after
them. I'm not going to let you just
walk into hell. That's the first reason.
The second reason, we will cover a multitude of sins, Peter
writes in First Peter 48. Above all, keep loving one
another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
And when someone is wandering from from the truth, the most
loving thing we can do is to not respect their path, but to go
after them in an attempt to bring them back.
So often we want to say, I want to be respectful of their
choices. You know, I don't want to step
on their toes or I don't want to, you know, make them feel
like condemned or, or you know, it's not loving.
The most loving thing we can do is, is, is, is strive with
humility and grace and patience and love to bring them back.
It doesn't matter how far they have wandered from the truth.
I don't care how many sins they have committed and they're
wandering. If God gives us grace to bring
them back. James says all of it will be
covered, All of it will be forgiven.
Let's go after the one who wandered and bring them back.
Let's pray.