2019-12-01 James 5:19-20 FINAL ANSWER FOR FALSE FAITH

FINAL ANSWER FOR FALSE FAITH (James 5:19-20) December 1, 2019 Read James 5:19-20 – These two verses are a fitting end to this letter written primarily to confront professing believers who possessed a false faith – selfdeceived, in other words. Like movie director Garson Kanin who referred to himself as middle-aged. Actor David Niven asked, “How old are you?” Kanin replied, “57.” Niven said, “You call that middle age? How many people do you know who are 114?” Good question. Exposing self-deception as Jas does. Paul advises in II Cor 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see where you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” Ask occasionally, “Am I for real?” Throughout this book Jas has been contrasting false faith with the real thing. In chapter 1, true faith embraces trials and obeys the Word. In Chapter 2 true faith shows no partiality and is characterized by good works. In chapter 3, true faith controls the tongue. In chapter 4 true faith is not covetous but is submissive to God’s will. In chapter 5 it has a proper attitude toward money and is patient in suffering. These are benchmark tests against which to measure our faith. Now –Jas makes on last plea for all of us to help those wandering from these truths – whose practice does not match their profession. They claim new life in Christ, but their life says otherwise. It is one last appeal to those who think they are – but aren’t. The Condition: the Conversion: and the Conclusion. I. The Condition 19) “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth.” Note, this wanderer, is “among you.” They are not an outsider. They are part of the local fellowship – regular attenders. But they are wandering. The word is πλανάω, from which we get “planet.” Stars occupy a fixed position in the sky – same place every night – planets seem to wander. First here, then there. Good description of a person who is unstable -- wanders, goes astray, apostatizes. They are wandering “from the truth” -- the gospel – the Word of God. That is always the standard, the beacon, the benchmark against which all else must be measured. Just a couple of days before His crucifixion, the Sadducees tried to trip Jesus up with a trick question about marriage in heaven. Remember His response in Mt 22:29: “You are wrong [πλαναω, astray, wandering. Why?] bc you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” They were mistaken in their beliefs because they were contrary to Truth – the Word of God. So, the 1 person Jas targets had once been excited about the truth, seeking to find out more, but now they are drifting away from the objective truth of the Word. Truth also has a subjective side. They’re not just drifting from objective truth; they are astray in their lifestyle. Truth is not just intellectual assent, but heartfelt obedience. In the Bible, truth is not only something we believe; it was something we do! Truth must lead to action! From example Jn 3:21: “But whoever does what is true [not just believes, but does] comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” So truth is not just a matter of believing; it is a matter of obeying. So wandering people can be discerned in 2 ways – doctrinal aberration or moral deviation. One always affects the other. Belief and action go together like pizza and pepperoni, right? Thousands of people every day change what they believe to accommodate moral behavior that violates Scripture. They suddenly want this job, this deal, this test score, this relationship, this pleasure so much they change their mind about right and wrong. They go astray! And it works the other way, too. Misinterpret the Bible and wrong actions follow. John Humphrey Noyes was a theology student who taught that all Xn love was best expressed through a sexual relationship. So he devised a system of complex marriage, convinced a group of people that’s what the Bible teaches and established the Oneida community in 1846 based on free love. It was heresy, but what we believe governs how we act. So Jas targets people in the Xn community who were going astray – in doctrine, behavior, or both. So are these believers or unbelievers? Could true believers ever go astray? Absolutely. That’s why growing the Word with other believers is critical to Christian living. We must be vigilant not to stray as true believers. But Jas has in mind those who profess faith in Christ, but who go astray in belief and behavior – because they were never real. Their faith was false. They are self-deceived. His whole letter aims at awakening false professors! And when you see what they are saved from in v. 20: “will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins”, it must be unbelievers. Believers aren’t perfect, but when people begin to habitually stray from truth in belief or practice, it is very likely showing a heart that has never been redeemed. During the 19th century, the sun never set on the British empire – England’s golden age – and a major reason for her world domination was that her merchants were well-known their honesty. Historian R. C. K. Ensor says, “If 2 one asks how 19th-century English merchants earned the reputation of being the most honest in the world, the answer is: because hell and heaven seemed as certain to them as tomorrow sunrise, and the Last Judgment as real as the week’s balance-sheet. This keen sense of moral accountability had also much to do with the success of self-government and the political sphere.” In other words, good theology leads to righteous living – and righteous living leads to good theology. When someone begins to wander from the truth, it’s time to re-examine the reality of the profession. II. The Conversion How does this reclamation project happen? V. 19: “someone brings him back.” V. 20: “whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering.” Great pix. Someone sees another in the congregation fading away from the truth – and they love them enough to confront and urge them back – this time for real. The word “bring back” (ἐπιστρέφω) can be translated either turn or return. Both could apply here. It is “return” in that there has been a profession of faith and an interest in the Word. Now they are being urged to return to the fold with genuine commitment this time – inwardly, not just outwardly. Couldn’t this be believers who’ve gone astray? Yes. It happens. But not here. Jas calls them “sinners” -- a word never used in the NT of believers, except to speak of their old identity. Here it is someone who looked good for awhile, but was never truly saved. They’re like the 2nd soil in Jesus’ parable of the sower. Lu 8:6: “And some [seed] fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.” Who are those? Jesus explains: Lu 8:13: “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” They got a taste of what it means to belong to Christ, but their heart never engaged. They need genuine, heartfelt repentance. The core meaning of Jas’ word is to turn around and head in the opposite direction – a 180-degree reversal -- exactly what it means to repent. It is not just to admit one’s sin, but to turn away from it. For example, Jesus says concerning people who were following him in Mt 13:15d, if they would “understand from the heart and turn (our word), and I would heal them.” He’s describing saving faith. Peter tells a crowd in Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore, and turn back (our word), that your sins may be blotted out.” That’s what Jas is describing – someone turning from sin to Christ. 3 We all need help to do that. We can’t repent for another, or change their heart. But we can be God’s instrument. How? By speaking the truth in love. By pointing them to truth, but with a tender heart – with the goal of helping them turn. We can be part of God’s plan in someone’s life by truthfully and lovingly confronting them with their wandering ways and the gospel solution. Paul told the Ephesians in 1:23 that believers are “his [Jesus’] body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” That verse is saying that believers are now the hands and feet and mouth and ears of Jesus on earth – filling out His plan for others. Salvation seldom happens in isolation from other believers. Take the prodigal son. He comes home and the Father (God) welcomes him with open arms. But then what happens? Lu 15:22) But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23) And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24) For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. The servants didn’t do the saving or the restoring. But they were the instruments that showed the way. Two youth sponsors were hosting an all-night lock-in of their teens. They got in a heated game of ping pong when 8th-grade Tracy grabbed the ball and wouldn’t return it. Clark’s first impulse was irritation. But then he thought of what they’d read that afternoon. I Cor 13:4: “Love is patient and kind.” It stopped his first impulse; he and Gavin joked with Tracy until she finally tossed the ball back. Later, after an evangelistic film, Tracy came to receive Christ. She said later, “I got attention in my family by making someone mad. But here I saw something different. When I stole the ball, Gavin and Clark didn’t get mad at me. They didn’t fight back. I decided right there I wanted whatever they have.” That’s loving a sinner back from his or her wandering, leading to a conversion – a change in direction from sin toward Christ. III. The Conclusion Now, 2 spectacular things happen when a sinner turns back. “Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” His sins are covered and his soul is saved. Priceless! A soul saved from death could never be said of a believer. A believer’s physical life might be in danger – as those who partook of Communion in a casual, prejudicial way in Corinth. But never the death of the soul. That issue has been settled once-for-all for a believer. James has in mind an unbeliever 4 who has enjoyed the fellowship of believers and the ministry of the Word, but who has wandered away unsaved. And now, thru the loving ministry of another they have turned to God in true repentance resulting in sins being covered and their soul being rescued from eternal separation from God. God is very specific about the fate of a soul that continues to stray and never turns: Ezek 18:4c: “the soul that sins shall die.” Rom 6:23: “The wages of sin is death.” Concerning the judgment at His second coming, Jesus says in Mt 13:41: “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42) and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is the fate at all who wander away from the Father and never turn. And what will save their soul? Not good works; not some ritual; but repentance. And why is that? Bc turning to God covers a multitude of sins. Every sin produces guilt. And guilt demands to be covered – some way, somehow. And repentance is the only way. It covers a multitude of sins. How many? All of them. Too many to be numbered. All 2,300,000 of mine with enough grace left for yours as well. All covered. All forgiven when we turn to God. What resulted from the first sin in Eden? Guilt. Adam and Eve immediately felt shame and guilt. So they covered themselves – guilt demands to be covered – some way, somehow. And they strayed from God. Avoided Him like the plague. Hid not only their nakedness, but themselves. But God sought them out when they would not seek Him – just like He is seeking you this morning if you are on the run from Him. And when God found Adam and Eve what did He do? He took their insufficient fig leaves – their effort to cover guilt – and replaced with the skins of animals. Covering thru substitutionary sacrifice. And what relief. There is nothing like sins forgiven and guilt out. One womanizer, adulterer and murderer wrote this: Psa 32:1: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” That was David after he repented his sin with Bathsheba. What relief forgiveness brings. That can be you, too. But you must cease your wandering ways – looking for answers in pleasure, ambition, psychiatrists, good works, addictions, or wherever else your own wandering ways have taken you. Don’t be selfdeceived. Jesus is the only answer. David went on, “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” He knew the danger of self-deceit. He’d been there. How good it was to finally admit his guilt, and be cleansed by the grace and mercy of God thru Christ. 5 Conc – So Jas closes his epistle by addressing the greatest danger of all – the danger of self-deception – of sitting in church week after week, but all the while wandering from the truth. Self-deceived and lost. Don’t be that person. Just as God sought out Adam and Eve, He is seeking you if you are on the run from Him. That’s why you are here today. You thought you brought yourself, but there are no accidents in God’s universe. He brought you to give you the opportunity to come back to the One who created you, gave you life, died that you might live and now is calling you out. The price is paid; the sins are covered the moment you turn to Him. Don’t be self-deceived thinking you’re okay, seeking salvation in anything other than Christ. Self-deception is deadly. For years prior to WWII, leaders in the Philippines, including some American military personnel, looked down on the Japanese laborers they hired for menial tasks. But when war came and the Philippines were a prime target, the invasion went like clockwork with the Japanese seeming to have all knowledge of the geography of the islands and the placement of military defenses – which they did, thanks to a decade long influx of Japanese soldiers disguised as immigrants who systematically mapped the 7000 islands and the coastal defenses. Filipino president Manuel Quezon said, “Only later did I discover that my gardener was a Japanese major and my masseur a Japanese colonel.” Your wandering ways represent a similar deception practiced on you by Satan to take your very soul. The solution. Return to the God who created you thru faith in Christ. Peter says in I Pet 2:24-25, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25) For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Today is the day. Return now. Let’s pray. 6