To Stray from the Way - The Letter of James - James 5:19-20

Structure:

Straying from the Truth

The consequences of the False way

The Responsibility for one another

Passages:

James 1:18, 3:14

Matt. 24:4-5

Eph. 4:14

Hebrews 3:12-13

Matt. 7:13

Matt. 7:22-23 

Matt. 18:10-15 (reference a few versus) 

Quotes: "This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ.—That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up." - Jonathan Edwards says in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Outline:

As if before he is a preacher to the church, but here he becomes a counselor and comforter.

And here in the last paragraph before he closes the letter, he speaks to us all about seeking out those who have strayed from the truth.

In a world of "individualism", people just look for their own benefit. As Paul says to Timothy that in the last days people in the church will be selfish. In the church we may mute the voices of the hurting and suffering people. We may close our eyes to the sins of our brothers and sisters that pull them to hell. We may be busy in our life and never stop and consider how to help my brother or sister.

We will make three important observation here:

Straying from the Truth

The consequences of the False way

The Responsibility for each other

______________________________

I. Straying from the Truth

"My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth" - v. 19a

To stray from the truth is to wonder away from God's revealed will, to live contrary to it. Either willfully or by a deception from others.

The truth in our Christian life is super important:

By truth we were saved

James pointed this out in 1:18 "By his own choice, he gave birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures"

The word of truth is by which we are born again, and enter the kingdom of God.

Also to deny the truth is to live for your own passions.

James said 3:14 "But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and deny the truth"

If we don't fight our sins, we begin to deny the truth.

The truth should be impacting your living!

The truth is not to philosophize, but to live.

In the Christian walk and fight with sin, we elevate the truth of God.

Because it is the only thing that set's us free.

What truth are we talking about? - The truth about God and his work and it's impact on me

The truth is not something we made up, but it is the reality of who God is, and who we are before this God and what he has done for us.

That is why to stray from the truth is so detrimental to us, because you are trying to live this life in ways it never was supposed to be lived!

Who are these people who strayed from the truth?

Here he says "from among you", meaning they are members of your church. They are confessing Jesus as their Lord.

Not general Christians, but Christians in your church community.

Are these true believers? Or where they false believers?

The answer is both! But their responses will be different (we will talk about it later)

This means this text is applicable to all of us.

SO what are some things that can stray a believer from the truth?

1. Lies, false teachings and false "christ's"

Jesus says: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. - Matt. 24:4-5

Paul says a similar things "Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the technique of deceit" - Eph. 4:14

The devil is our enemy, is called the father of lies for a reason! He wages war against the church.

Christians can be deceived by lies!

What destroys a lie? - The truth!

This is why we place ourselves under the word of the Lord. Reading our Bibles, studying, and applying it to our lives.

The pastors shepherd by the Word of God!

2. The deception of sin, corruption of the heart and the desires of the flesh are allures to our eyes.

The Author of Hebrews says: "Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. (Hebrew 3:12-13)

The reality is that we are in our sinful flesh with it's strong fleshly desires in a world of shiny things that we want. And the Devil is there who is the father of lies, deceiving whoever he can.

To be free from does not mean we don't fight sin anymore. In fact it the opposite. When you were in the dungeon of sin you had no will and so you didn't fight. But now God set you free through the blood of Jesus, and now you fight sin so it does not bring you back to slavery!

We all fall and sin. But the grace of God is strong enough to help us to get up and stand on our feet.

We should not excuse our sins!

It is wrong to convince yourself that you are trying but you are weak to fight it, so I guess that is the cross I bear. That is a lie!

________________________________________

II. The consequences of the False way

"let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" - v. 20

Notice this person who has strayed from the truth, is a sinner on the way to death and judgment!

The path of Sin is aways death and Judgement!

The path may promise joy and satisfaction, but not only does it enslave and leads to ruin, the end of it's journey is judgment.

It's like a sneaky snake that promises so much and you follow it, simply to realize that it is leading you to eternal ruin.

This death is not simply a physical death but rather it is an eternal death!

It's referring not to the flesh but the soul, the inner person.

This is the consequence of every person who lives apart from God!

As Romans 3:23 "for the wages of sin is death"

The Bible is very clear that we are sinners before a holy powerful God.

He created this world and gave it rules and laws. When it functions according to those rules this world becomes bliss and joy.

Yet, mankind sinned and brought on the world a curse and on itself the judgment of God.

Human's became enemies to God, because they said they will do whatever they feel right and not what is right!

Thus, God who is righteous and just, he will judge for all of our sins.

The only way for someone to pay for sins is to be sent to hell and pay it for eternity.

Jonathan Edwards says in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

"This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ.—That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up."

SO this is a warning to all of us here. If you call yourself a believer but live a false life, beware because your are on your way to destruction!

Don't comfort yourself that you are confessing Jesus as Lord, and you have asked him into your heart. How is your life?

Are you fighting sin? Are you striving for righteousness? Are you on the true path, does your life testify to that?

As Jesus says: "Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it" - Matt. 7:13

You don't simply testify your faith but you live your faith from day to day.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:22-23 "On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!"

If you are here and grew up in a Christian home, but have never received new life, today is the day. Come to Jesus so that he will forgive you and live in you!

After church if you want to pray with any of the pastors we will be here for you.

Now having said that:

Is this saying that true believers may fall away from the faith and be judged to hell?

No it does not.

"A true believer can stray from the truth which leads to hell, but that reality will lead you back on the right path towards heaven."

These warning passages, we ready about them in the book of Hebrews a lot are pumper rails to the Christian soul.

A Christian can never be fine with sin.

He or she realizes that sin can really destroy your soul!

It is to look down the cliff of destruction and thanking God you are still standing.

The consequence of our sin and the wrong way, should lead us to hold fast to the right way and to the way of righteousness.

We need to realize that sin will drag us down to hell, and we need to fight it with the blood of Jesus.

This is serious, we are never careless about it.

Like Christian in Pilgrim's progress who hears and sees people going to destruction, it strengthens his feen on the right path.

Did he ever waver? - Yes, but he stood up by the grace of God and kept going further.

Our journey is not a stroll, it is a walk through pain, suffering, deception, evil and more.

This leads us to the third point.

________________________________________

III. The Responsibility for one another

"and someone turns him back, let that person know...." - v. 19b-20a

Sin or moral corruption should never be overlooked but should be exposed and rebuked!

When we see our brother or sister straying from the truth and lives a life of sin, we are to seek that person out and turn him back!

Just as James told us to confess our sins to one another, he is also elevating a seeking to restore a brother or sister who went astray.

As a church we seek to exercise spiritual care for one another!

Each member of the church is responsible for one another.

We should be ready to rescue our brother or sister who falls into the traps of Satan!

We are our brother's keeper!

The church is to seek out and turn a sinner - not condemn them to hell. 

There is a careful care for a member of the church that strays from the truth.

Not a cold indifference, but a loving gesture of rebuke and correction.

This text is to emphasize restorative work. Second chances!

The word "straying" has the same emphasis of as Jesus was speaking of a straying sheep (I would like you to open to that passage Matt. 18:12) "What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won't he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray"

The sheep is of Jesus's fold and it strayed from the Shepherd, Jesus says he cares so much that he leaves the 99 and goes and searches for that one.

But have you ever realized the context of this passage. It is interesting to see that the beginning of this context in v. 10 Jesus says "see to it that you don't despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven"

There are angels involved in this spiritual war to project the "little ones" - the believers.

This context of Jesus ends with Jesus saying v. 14 "In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish"

But even more surprising is that Jesus right away in v. 15 he talks about a brother that sins against you, and you go and rebuke him in private, and if he does not listen to you go through this process of inviting another person, and then the church.

This process points to the fact that not only God desire that not one of his sheep to perish but also he encourages the church to pursue these people.

So this inevitably leads us to ask "How should this turning back a brother or sister be done?"

1. First With a loving heart. A desire to help and restore.

- If the person has denied the truth and lived a sinful life, we don't simply give up on them. But call them to repentance and bring them back to the truth.

- It is done carefully with a loving heart. Not in a cold indifference, but a loving gesture of rebuke and correction.

2. Wisely with gentleness and firmness.

- The church is to look for ways to turn a sinner back to the ways of righteousness.

3. With Biblical Methods

- Jesus gave us a process of Church Discipline where we carefully rebuke, then bring in more people in the process, then tell it to the church.

Often times Tactfully reproving a person who is wandering from the truth is very difficult. It is easier for the church to simply place the erring member on the inactive list of the church roll. Rather then dealing with sin issues.

Because it is often messy.

But we need to realize that this is for their soul!

__________________________________

In conclusion: Let us ask these questions to ourselves

Do I elevate the truth of God in my spiritual walk?

Do I realize the seriousness of sin?

Do I exercise spiritual care for my brother or sister?