Title: A Brother Gained

Text: James 5:19-20

FCF: We often struggle confronting professing believers for lifestyles of sin or denial.

Prop: Because there is much at stake for the wandering, we must discipline one another.

Scripture Intro: NET

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to James chapter 5.

Well, here we are. The final sermon covering a specific text in the book of James. Because this has been such a lengthy series, I will do a finale sermon next week tying together all the various themes of the book of James. I’ll also have my new and revised outline for the book available next week if you are interested in having a copy for yourself.

James has covered 8 lacks in his readers. 8 lacks that God is at work through trial, temptation, and testings of all kinds to purify from them.

The last lack he addressed was their lack of discernment. They needed to know what to do and where to go. James basically says that in every situation seek the Lord. And in every situation, seek the Lord for one another.

Building on that last point, James will give to them one more lack at the close of his letter.

It is a lack intimately connected with the need for bringing others to God in order to heal them. It is the lack of communal discipline.

I am in James chapter 5. I’ll begin reading in verse 19. I am reading from the NET which you can follow in the pew bible on page 1363 or in whatever version you prefer.

Transition:

You’ve probably had the nightmare before. You walk into class casually, trying desperately to act a lot cooler than you are. You plop yourself down and ready yourself for another boring lecture. Only to discover that there was a test today. A test for which you have not studied. Then you wake up with that pit in your stomach. Well, I’ve had one that is similar but with a slight twist. I walk into class having been told that there was a quiz today. I didn’t study since it is only a quiz and not usually worth much toward my final grade. Only to find out it is a full-blown test. These are similar dreams with the same basic concept at its core. The fear of being surprised by a something, that if you had prepared for it, it would not be so devastating. Today, James doesn’t want you to live in that nightmare. He wants to let his readers know that their role of spiritually disciplining one another can have monumentally beneficial or catastrophically devastating outcomes. Let’s begin in verse 19.

I.) Because the wanderer’s soul is at stake, we must discipline one another. (19-20a)

a. [Slide 2] 19 - My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you

i. This may seem like an odd place to pause before we start dissecting what is being said.

ii. But it is important for us to define our terms in this passage, otherwise we may be led down some divergent doctrinal paths.

iii. James addresses his readers again – my brothers – or as the NET has inserted, my brothers and sisters.

iv. Students of scripture would be wise to approach such addresses with caution.

v. [Slide 3] We can error on two sides as we attempt to interpret this.

1. We might assume that James speaks to all humans everywhere.

a. Many times, in various contexts of the Word we find things that may be true of all humans or should be applied to all humans. A perfect example of this is back in chapter 4 verse 11.

b. When we talked about this, we noticed that James is commanding them not to maliciously speak against or be vengeful against brothers and sisters.

c. Question – is it ok then for Christians to maliciously speak against and be vengeful toward unbelievers?

d. Of course not.

e. So, James in chapter 4 must be speaking to all humans everywhere. Right?

f. Well… No.

g. Just because James is giving a command in reference to the household of faith, doesn’t mean that he is saying the opposite for another group of people, nor does it mean we MUST interpret it both ways.

h. We must simply let James say what he did. Which was to not speak maliciously against or be vengeful toward other Christians.

2. On the other hand, we might assume that James speaks only to true believers.

a. Another error we can make when we see this address and others like it, is to assume that James addresses only true and genuine believers with his letter.

b. This argument supposes that God has given James spiritual insight to conclude that everyone he writes to is a part of not only the visible church but also the invisible church.

i. For clarity – the visible church is all those who claim the name of Christ and assemble themselves with the entity known as the church on earth.

ii. The invisible church is all those who are actually united to Christ by God-given faith and will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and enter eternal life.

iii. We call it visible because it is something we can experience with our senses. We can look at church rolls and ask people if they are Christians.

iv. We call it invisible because God alone knows the heart of men. He knows their true nature. He knows His sheep.

v. Well if God alone knows the hearts of men – could he have revealed that to James? Certainly…

c. However, James clearly addresses a faith that is not saving in this very letter.

d. This and various other writings throughout the New Testament force us to conclude that James and the other New Testament writers did not write to a group they knew were all true believers. Instead, it seems that they assumed that not all members of the visible church are truly part of the invisible church.

e. Therefore, when a biblical author uses this kind of address, though inspired by the Spirit, he still does not know the true heart of the people to which he writes.

f. James, when calling these people brothers – does not guarantee us that all of them are genuine Christians to which he writes. Nor would James assume this.

vi. [Slide 4] So, what can we know about how James has addressed his readers throughout this letter?

vii. Very simply, James addresses them as brothers and sisters because that is what they profess. They have expressed a credible faith in Christ and have joined in the local assembly of believers which are dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. They are part of the visible church. Therefore, they are addressed as brothers.

viii. But as James continues, he does not assume that profession always equals reality.

ix. [Slide 5] James brings a conditional clause to bear upon this final lack that God is perfecting in them.

x. The condition has a two-part protasis. Instead of saying if A is true then B. He is saying if A and B then C.

xi. The beginning of the A clause is “if anyone among you” What does this mean?

xii. Because of our previous discussion we can more easily deduce the answer.

xiii. James, although seeming to say “If any Christian”, is instead most certainly saying, “If any visible church member”

xiv. In other words, James sets his sights on someone in their assembly, who has a profession of faith.

xv. What is the second half of phrase A?

b. [Slide 6] Wanders from the truth

i. Wander is a Greek word from which we get our word for planets. Ancient astronomers and astrologers would observe that some stars would be constant while others would move or wander.

ii. These wanderers were imbued with godhood and given names of demonic entities to whom people worshipped.

iii. When New Testament writers use this term, they do not simply mean to wander or to be led astray. Instead, they mean to apostatize.

iv. What does that word mean?

v. Apostasy is to abandon in practice or renounce in confession a certain set of beliefs.

vi. Many today call this deconverting or deconstructing one’s faith.

vii. In my limited time on this earth, I have noticed that we often come up with replacement labels for things that make us uncomfortable or cause us guilt.

viii. Narcissism has replaced arrogance and selfishness. Depression can sometimes be a replacement for laziness or lack of faith. Cheating or having an affair has replaced adultery. Kleptomania has replaced thievery and so on.

ix. Likely a person who has “deconverted” doesn’t like the label that the scriptures assign to them. They are apostates. They have renounced or abandoned the faith.

x. And to wander from the truth, as James has pointed out in this very letter, could mean not simply to deny the truths of the gospel, but even to deny obedience to the gospel. To profess Christ and not do the word, or to indulge the flesh, or to not have works – would just as much fulfill the definition of wandering as to deny Christ would be to wander.

xi. So, if a person who has claimed to be of Christ is led astray or wanders from the truth of their profession…

c. [Slide 7] And someone brings him back,

i. This is the second part of the protasis. This must also be true for the conclusion to be true.

ii. If someone brings this person back.

iii. Now what does this mean?

iv. This word means to turn or to cause someone to direct his trust toward something.

v. This word is used often when speaking of spiritual conversion. When someone becomes a child of God.

vi. In other words, someone renounces their faith in Christ or lives as though they have - and another goes and causes them to turn back.

vii. Notice it is not that they attempt to bring the wandering one back – but rather that they succeed. This is an obvious but important point.

viii. So, we have our A and B protasis… so what is the apodosis – what is the conclusion?

d. [Slide 8] 20 – he should know

i. Now before we get to what he should know we need to make sure we understand what is happening here.

ii. First, who is he? There are two potential subjects for this verb. It could either be the one who was a former wanderer that has been brought back or it could be the one who turned him back.

iii. How would we determine this? Well unless context makes it very clear, the last subject would be the inheritor of the verb. That would be the one who turned back the wanderer.

iv. “Should know” is actually the command of this passage.

v. James says that the person who turns back apostates should or MUST know something.

vi. Two somethings actually.

vii. The first is…

e. [Slide 9] That the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death.

i. What should they know?

ii. That they have saved this person’s soul from death.

iii. Not simply the death of the body – but the death of the soul. And of course, as the scriptures teach, the death of the soul no more refers to annihilation as does the death of the body.

iv. God will raise up all men in the last day. All people – the living and the dead – will be resurrected. Some will be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death. And some will be taken into the kingdom of God which is eternal life.

v. A soul’s death then must refer to the second death. It refers to condemnation. It refers to eternal death. The wrath of God.

vi. This affirms and seals our understanding of wandering. It is not simply to sin or to slightly deviate. It is not to trespass on accident. It is to turn away intentionally. It is to renounce the faith either in profession or in lifestyle.

vii. But why must the restorer know this?

viii. If it were the person who wandered and it was for them to know this – we might assume it was for them to be grateful to the person who turned them back.

ix. But why must the person who turned them back know that they have saved the wanderer’s soul from death?

x. This passage could, at first glance, seem to confirm that people can lose their salvation. That they can be true believers and wander away from the truth.

xi. However, James’ point throughout the whole letter has been that there is a faith that is not able to save. That profession without obedience cannot save and obedience with denial or rejection of the real Jesus Christ cannot save either.

xii. James’ readers are very fuzzy on what true Christians look like. James has written at length to let them know that true Christians both hold fast to their profession AND are not only hearers but doers of the Word.

xiii. Why must this person know that the person they turned back was rescued from eternal death?

xiv. Because they must not ever say that a person who has renounced the faith or deliberately keeps on sinning, is still somehow a Christian. Because… quite simply… they never were.

xv. There is no such thing as an unbelieving believer. There is no such thing as a deconverted convert. There is no such thing as citizen of the kingdom of God who intentionally continues to violate God’s law.

xvi. James wants the restorer to know – that the stakes are high when someone wanders.

xvii. They cannot let them go thinking – well they made a profession of faith. They are probably fine.

xviii. James says – go after them… because if you restore them – you have won a brother. You have saved their very soul from death.

f. [Slide 10] Passage Truth: Even though the command in this passage is to know something, the knowledge of that thing is expected to produce an action by those to whom James writes. James very clearly teaches, that those who profess Christ but deliberately keep sinning or those who deny Christ – are in danger of eternal death. Not because they were once saved and have lost their salvation, but because they were never truly a believer even though it may have seemed to everyone else as though they were.

g. Passage Application: James’ audience must pursue the wayward. They must rebuke the sinning. They must correct the deniers. They must seek to turn back those who have gone astray. They must execute communal discipline.

h. [Slide 11] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to the rest of the scriptures we see this theme echoed over and over again. Israel was God’s chosen people as a nation – but among them were a remnant. The church is God’s creation founded on Christ – but among us also are those who seem very much like they are of us. But they are not. Literally every single New Testament author warns us of false conversions. People who profess Christ with their lips but are not actually His children. They have a faith but it is not able to save them. How do we know who these folks are? How do we know they aren’t us? Ongoing repentance, ongoing faith, and ongoing obedience. This is the mark of genuine Christians. And if we at any time cease to bear one of these marks – then we have lost the assurance of our soul’s eternal destiny .

i. Broader Biblical Application: So CBC, how then shall we live? My friends we often allow our culture to seep into what we do. We can, at times, allow the “you do you” philosophy to creep into the church. In one sense, we should afford one another a lot of mercy and a lot of grace. We can disagree on almost every single tertiary teaching and even on several secondary teachings. We can disagree on sign gifts, the age of the earth, Calvinism vs. Arminianism, the rapture of the church, modesty standards, dating approaches, or parental strategies. Yes, we can disagree on all these things and afford one another love and fellowship even if we think they are absolutely crazy for what they believe. Love covers these things. But my friends – we cannot apply this to a sinning Christian. When we see a brother living in sin, when we see a sister denying Christ – we cannot say – well I’ll just let love cover this. No! Hatred allows them to continue in sin. Love… pursues them. Love rebukes. Love corrects. Whether they are your child or an 87 year old new member of the church – if you see someone in sin or denying Christ – you are to meekly go and restore. Why? Because their very soul is at stake. And I am not overstating that. We can’t see one another’s hearts. Only God ALWAYS knows who are His and who are not. And so, we do our best to observe certain fruits in one another’s lives. There are some here who I am fairly convinced are believers. There are others who I am not quite sure. There are still others who I am fairly convinced are not believers though they think they are. But ultimately, I cannot see your heart… only your fruit. So, when I see you in sin or denying Christ – it is not awful of me to assume that you are not God’s child. In fact, it may be the best thing I could assume. Because maybe you aren’t.

Transition:

[Slide 12 (blank)] But there were two things that James wants the restorer to know. So what is the second thing?

II.) Because we are great sinners and God is a great Savior, we must discipline one another. (20b)

a. [Slide 13] 20 – he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path

i. I put this back up on the screen to remind us that the apodosis is not quite complete.

ii. If there is one who wanders from the truth. If they are led away and renounce the faith in confession or in practice – but…

iii. Someone brings them back…

iv. Then the one who brought them back must know something.

v. First – that you did not simply keep a brother from stumbling – but rather that you saved a soul from eternal death.

vi. That person was only pretending and you were used to bring them to eternal life.

vii. But that is not all a person who does this should know.

b. [Slide 14] [and] will cover a multitude of sins.

i. This is a quote from Proverbs 10:12.

ii. “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.”

iii. [Slide 15] There are a couple layers to this onion that we need to unpeel.

1. What does it mean to cover sin?

a. In Old Testament theology, the concept of covering sin is equivalent to forgiving sin.

b. Unfortunately, we often equate forgiveness of sin with sin being excused or the case being dismissed against us.

c. If this is our definition of forgiveness, then I’d challenge you – our sins are never truly forgiven. Our case is never actually thrown out.

d. Instead, we should see our sins as being removed from us – expiated and paid for us – propitiated. Our sins were removed and placed on Christ and He paid the penalty for them on the cross. We are forgiven in the sense that our sins are not held to our charge – but they were never excused. Our debt was purchased by Christ. His credit of righteousness was also given to us.

e. In this sense, the Old Testament concept of covering actually correlates quite well to the New Covenant concept of remission or forgiveness of sins.

f. The only difference is, that a covering is a temporary hiding of sin from God’s face while forgiveness is a permeant washing away of sin through Christ’s blood.

g. In this way, James is not saying that by turning someone back that we have stopped them from sinning more – rather that we have led to their sins being truly forgiven.

h. Meaning of course, that even though they professed Christ and perhaps they even led a relatively moral life – their sins were still held against their account. This was evidenced by their wandering.

i. In this sense their wandering could be the best thing that ever could have happened to them.

j. It took their nominal faith and exposed it for what it was. False. Fake. And ultimately unable to save them.

2. Multitude vs. all

a. James says that this act covers a multitude of sin, whereas Proverbs 10:12 states that it covers all sin.

b. Is there a contradiction here?

c. There isn’t.

d. There is a pithy phrase you’ve probably heard preachers use for a while now. “All means all that’s all, all means.”

e. As pithy as it is – it is categorically false.

f. All doesn’t always mean all or every in scripture. Often all means many. Often all means most. Often all means a lot.

g. Therefore, James’ quote or translation here is more accurately representing the proverb.

h. A great number of sins, beyond counting and fathoming, will be covered by this act of turning someone back to Christ.

3. Can we import love?

a. This is a tricky question.

b. While it is tempting to pull the love concept into this text, we simply cannot be certain.

c. Did James mean for his readers to connect the dots here? It is hard to know.

d. But is love the true motive behind turning a wandering apostate back to Christ? I can’t say no.

e. So, I’ll cautiously say – yes. Let’s import love as the motive behind this person turning someone back.

iv. And so, we must ask the same question we asked before. To the one who turned back the apostate, why must he know that in that turning he has covered a multitude of sins?

1. First, again emphasizing that the sins of the one who wandered were not previously forgiven. Even though their confession was believed and their lives seemed to show evidence, their sins remained against them. They were not truly in Christ.

2. Second, A professor of Christ who is morally upright is still a wicked and vile sinner with a whole host of abominable deeds to send him to eternal death.

c. [Slide 16] Passage Truth: So, the second thing James desires his potential restorers to know, is that by confronting and disciplining a wanderer– they are leading to God’s forgiveness of a plethora of sins. An abundance of sins are covered by this one act of rebuke. To preach the gospel is to preach Christ and Him crucified for sinners. Our duty is to be heralds of the truth. And when we turn someone back from being led astray – a great multitude of sins are washed away.

d. Passage Application: So, his audience must be rebukers. They must not, in the name of tolerance or love, allow for professing believers to continue living lifestyles of sin or to allow people to continue to call themselves Christians when they have rejected Christ.

e. [Slide 17] Broader Biblical Truth: But does all scripture teach us this? While there is some disagreement in Christendom about just how sinful we are from our birth – I find absolutely no evidence in scripture to suggest that mankind is simply sick or slightly marred by the fall. Instead, what I find is story after story, overt reference after overt reference – where the best of men are still wicked and sinful. There were two men in Scripture who claimed to be sinless. But there was only one who actually was sinless. And they met in the gospel accounts. A rich young man came to Christ, calling him good teacher, asking what he must do to be saved. Jesus asks the young man why he calls him good since only God is good. This is called foreshadowing. Jesus proceeds to answer by saying for him to keep the commands. That is still how we enter the kingdom of heaven my friends. By keeping His commands. The young man asks – which ones? Jesus quotes for him the second half of the decalogue which are perhaps more difficult to hide since they deal with the treatment of others. The young man says he has kept all of them since his youth. He has kept the whole law. What more do I lack? He asks. This is strike two. Jesus has already attempted to teach this man the same thing – twice. Jesus gives him one more chance to see. He tells him to sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and follow Him. At that – he balked. He understood that life in the kingdom was woven to following Jesus. Keeping God’s commands in total is still the entry fee for the Kingdom. But Christ has paid it for His people. Why? Because their sin was so great. As James said – to fail the law in one point is to fail it all. We all are guilty of the highest crime – treason against our God and we have earned the maximum sentence – eternal death. And we have earned that sentence a thousand times over and a thousand times again. But to turn back one who has wandered… is to lead to the forgiveness of the entire sum of them all.

f. Broader Biblical Application: So CBC, we must be a church that not only confesses sin to one another, that not only prays for one another, but that is willing to rebuke one another should the need arise. We must be willing to meekly go to those who profess Christ among us and challenge them with the gospel of Christ. A gospel that demands abandonment from former ways and obedience to the law. Christ did not fulfill the law on our behalf so we could forsake it! God forbid! He fulfilled it so that we would be free to keep it without fear of death for failure. He has taken all our failure and He provides the power and desire for our success. With this backdrop we must rebuke a believer in sin. We must also rebuke those who claim to be Christians even though they have rejected Christ. You cannot be an unbelieving believer. You cannot be a deconverted convert. As much as we’d like to think that because someone prayed a prayer or professed Christ at some point in their life – we do them no good, and we keep them from their sins being covered and sentence them to their soul’s death by pretending that their wandering is ok.

Conclusion:

So CBC, what have we learned today and how then shall we live?

We have learned that when a professing believer abandons the truth either by deliberately sinning or by denying the gospel, they have wandered from the truth. The state of their soul is immediately in question, and James seems to show us that it is appropriate for us to consider their soul still in danger of death, and their sins are still held against their account. If such a person continues without a turning – they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

My friends there is no such thing as a carnal Christian. There is exactly one mention of Christians being called carnal and it is in a context where Paul is clearly calling them carnal because they are immature. To assume that there were such things as carnal Christians would be to assume that there were such things as adult babies. Full grown saplings. Old puppies.

Carnal may be a stage in our Christianity but it is a stage that all true Christians graduate from - and from the context of I Corinthians 3 – Paul assumes that it will not be a long study.

My friends, the New Testament as a whole states overtly that God is at work in His people to grow them and press them into the mold of Christ. And His purpose will not fail Him. So what do we do when we see someone who is failing to be conformed into the image of Christ? We seek to restore them. We go after them. We don’t say – eh, well they prayed a prayer – they’ll be fine. We don’t say, well God will grow them eventually.

James raises the final lack of his readers. They lack communal discipline. Half the things he wrote about to them should have been solved by people rebuking sin and apostasy.

My friends – our church will crumble quickly if we do not discipline one another. When we talk about church discipline everyone always thinks of the final stage. Where we excommunicate someone. My friends, excommunication is what we do after several unsuccessful attempts to turn back a wanderer. We recognize publicly that they are not among us because they were not truly believers.

But discipline… discipline is what occurs throughout that process.

What are we to do with those in sin?

Last week James gave advice. Advice for every situation. Draw near to God. So what do you advise? What do you say? How do you rebuke someone? You point them to God. God is holy. He has given you His law. He demands perfection. Christ purchased you from this. Repent and believe the gospel in word and in deed.

This is the sum total of your rebuke. Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and follow Christ. Or as Jesus said to the rich young ruler - Sell your wealth and follow me.

What is at stake if you don’t rebuke? What is to be gained if you do?

The eternal destiny of the soul of the sinner and the balance of their all their sin is what is at stake.

Love one another brothers and sisters. Love one another enough to rebuke the one living in sin and the one denying Christ. For if they listen… behold… you have gained your brother.