All right, James chapter 5. I
titled the lesson this morning, Recovering a Brother. Let's read
verses 19 and 20, 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm sorry, it's James chapter
5, right before 1 Peter. Brethren, if any of you do err
from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which
converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a
soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. Now, this
is what these verses are talking about. They're talking about
what we're to do when a brother or sister falls into doctrinal
error. This is talking about doctrinal
error. It's a brother who's erred from the truth, from the truth
of the gospel. That's what James is talking
about here. He's gone astray from the truth. This word error
that James uses is often translated deceived. He's made this error
because something has deceived him. He's been deceived by something
or someone. Look back at first Timothy chapter
six. Let's look at a couple examples
of this. First Timothy six, maybe it was
money, friends or fame, influence the things of this world. Maybe,
maybe that was what deceived him and caused him to fall into
this error. First Timothy six, verse nine. But they that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after,
they've erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. It was the love of money, the
desire of money that caused them to err, to be deceived from the
faith. Then it also could have been
human wisdom, human logic, science, something like that. Just, you
know, when, uh, oftentimes the word of God seems to cross human
logic, doesn't it? And someone follows human logic
instead of the word of God, they err. There in first Timothy six,
verse 20, Paul says, Oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed
to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions
of science. falsely so-called, which some,
professing, have erred concerning the faith. They erred because
they followed this science, falsely so-called, this human logic and
wisdom. Then look at 2 Timothy 2. It
could be a false prophet that deceived them and caused them
to err. Often when someone errs, the
fault's in the pulpit somewhere. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane
and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness,
and their word will eat as doth a canker, a cancer, of whom is
Hymenus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying
the resurrection is past already, and when they do that, that error
has overthrown the faith of some. So it could be many different
things that cause us to err. And every one of us is prone
to it. We're all prone to go astray
and to err. That's just our nature. Jonathan
mentioned it in our prayer, that the Lord keep us or we'll go
astray, we'll err. It's just our nature to go astray
from the shepherd and bishop of our souls. The flesh will
never go toward Christ. The flesh will always go away
from you. So it's very likely then, given that this is our
nature, it's very likely that we're going to run across this
situation sooner or later where a brother airs from the truth.
So how should we handle it when a brother or sister airs from
the truth this way? Now we need to remember this.
You know, James here talks about converting, turning one from
his heir. We need to remember this. Only
the Lord can turn anybody. I mean, the Lord's in control
of this thing. We can't have any influence over anybody unless
the Lord's using us as his method to turn somebody. Only the Lord
can turn somebody. It's the Lord who seeks and finds
that lost, erring sheep and puts it on his shoulder and brings
it home. So only the Lord can do this. But we also know this,
God uses means, doesn't he? How is it that God saves his
people? by the preaching of the words.
Please, God, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. How is it that God feeds his sheep? It's through preaching.
That's what the Lord told Peter. Do you go feed my sheep? By preaching
the word, by preaching Christ. How is it that God comforts the
hearts of his people and strengthens their heart when it looks like
what they're going through would utterly crush them? How is it
God comforts the hearts of his people? It's through the preaching
of the word. That's how he'll do it. So the
Lord may use you or me as an instrument to turn one of his
erring children. And if he does it, he's going
to do it through the word. So we think about an erring brother
or sister and we think, well, how can I have any influence
here? How can I convert them, turn
them from this error? And the real question is this.
It's not how can I turn them? This is the real question. What
should my attitude be? Our attitude is so important
in everything. What should my attitude be when
I come across a situation like this? Let me give you four ways. And these are not four different
ways. Like this is multiple choice. You can choose A, B, C, or D.
Choose one of these ways. All four of these things must
be done when we deal with an erring brother. And the first
one is this. Handle the situation. with much
prayer, much prayer. You know, scripture tells us
to pray all the time, doesn't it? Pray without ceasing, the
apostle said. Scripture tells us to pray about
everything, everything. There is no matter so small,
we don't need to pray about it. There really is. We're not sufficient
to handle anything by ourselves. And that's certainly true about
these bigger issues, an issue where we have a brother who's
erring from the truth. So when we're faced with a brother
who's erred from the gospel, don't do one thing until you've
prayed. Prayed and prayed and prayed
some more. Just wait until you pray. Until
the Lord answers that prayer, you receive some clear instruction
in the matter. Otherwise, don't do anything.
Just keep praying. Because remember what James said
in verse 16 of the same chapter. Confess your faults one to another.
Pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You just keep
praying. That prayer will answer much.
And if you need any other encouragement, on this matter. If you've got
an erring brother, pray. Let me give you one. Luke chapter
22. The Lord himself ran across an erring brother and you know
what he did? He prayed. He prayed. Then we
should too. Here in Luke chapter 22, there
was error among the disciples. They were arguing about who would
be the greatest in the kingdom of God. In Luke 22 verse 31, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desire to have you that he may sift you
as wheat. But I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. I prayed for you. And when thou
art converted, when you're when you're turned from the same word
that James uses, when you're converted, strengthen my brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I'm
ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said,
I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not grow this day before
thou shall thrice, thrice deny that thou knowest me." Now here,
the Lord's got this one of his disciples, his close disciples,
who's erred from the truth. And Lord told him in this error,
you're going to stumble, Peter. You're going to stumble. Why
didn't Peter's faith fail? Why did he fall completely away
from the Lord? Why didn't he just keep going
that direction and never come back? Just one reason. The Lord
prayed for him. The Lord prayed for him. And
this is what the Lord's telling Peter. He, you know, even before
he, he stumbles and falls, Peter, the Lord tells Peter, your faith
is not going to fail. And Peter, when this is all over
and you're converted, Peter treats your brethren like I've treated
you. That's what he's telling you. Look, Peter, pray for your
brethren. Like I prayed for you, Peter,
go feed my sheep. by pointing them to me, by teaching
them to depend upon me like I'm teaching you to depend upon me.
Now that's our example on how this matter of handling an erring
brother. Don't do anything until you've
spent much time in prayer and you really, truly feel like the
Lord's given you the right thing to say with the right attitude.
Here's the second thing. If you've got a handling on an
erring brother, do it in much love. Do it in love. Now just,
you know, we have a situation like this. Take a breath and
think. How do you treat the people that
you love? Well, you treat them with kindness, don't you? You
treat them with respect. You treat them with sensitivity
to their feelings because you care about them. You love them.
Well, now remember this. Now that's true of our fleshly
families. You know, I mean, I see that
with one of my daughters, one of my sons. You know, I love
them. I would be so careful in how
I handled a situation with their feelings, you know. Well, remember
this. This is a brother we're dealing
with. This is not an enemy we're dealing
with. This is a brother. We'll show him you love him.
You know, we just use great caution with people that we love. We'll
be sure when you handle this situation with an erring brother,
that he knows by your actions that you love him. You know,
an erring brother is going to be a whole lot more likely to
listen to you. Anybody's going to be a whole lot more likely
to listen to you if you treat them with love. You treat them
with sympathy, and you don't treat them like an ignorant fool.
Isn't that right? I mean, if somebody treats you
like an ignorant fool, you're just not going to listen to them.
I mean, they've offended you. You're not going to listen to
them. So treat this erring brother with love, showing him that you
know this, you're no better than he is. Look at Hebrews chapter
five. Hebrews five, verse two. Again,
let, let our savior be the example here of how we're to, how we're
to treat one another. Verse two, this is speaking of
Christ, our great high priest. who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity. Now this is the way the Lord
has treated us. Well, then let's treat each other
the same way with compassion on them that are out, have compassion
on them because we ourselves are compassed about with the
exact same infirmity. Look back at Proverbs chapter
27. You know, the words, if you've
got an erring brother, what you're going to, what, what has, now
you say what has to be said, say what has to be said, but
say it in love. Those words will still hurt,
but if you say it in love, it won't cause a irreparable damage. Proverbs 27 verse four. Wrath
is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before
envy? Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the
wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. See,
the wounds of a friend are faithful. They're something that can be
healing because they're done in love. They're not done in
cruelty and anger. They're done in love. And when
we deal with one another in love, we got to remember, what's the
point of this whole thing? What is the point of us talking
to this erring brother about his error? Well, the point of
it is this. It's to recover them, isn't it?
Is that the point? It's to recover. It's not to
make a public spectacle out of them. It's to recover them. Then
deal with them discreetly so that this thing is quickly and
quietly corrected and then covered up and forgotten and not brought
up anymore. It's the exact same way. We should
treat our erring brother the exact same way we want other
people to treat us when we make public blunders. And we want
this thing to be corrected and deal with each other in love,
because the point is not to publicly flog them. The point is to recover
them. Then do it in love. If you can't
do it in love, keep your mouth shut. All four of these things
must be done. We must have much prayer about
the matter. And we must treat them in love. Thirdly, we must
handle an erring brother in humility. Humility. Because we know that
we're prone to make the exact same error. Look at Matthew chapter
7. We have to go talk to an erring
brother. Don't go to them in a judgmental
and haughty manner like, Well, you know, you're the ignorant
brother here. You're the one that's been deceived and erring. And
I know this stuff. And you know, you got something
you got to learn from me. That'll never work. Look at Matthew chapter
seven, verse one. Judge not that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with
what measure ye meet, it should be measured to you again. Now,
our Lord here is not saying don't make a judgment about something
or God's going to judge you with the same way you judge others.
That's not what he's saying here at all. This is what it means. If you're judgmental towards
a brother and you pick him apart, do we have to look hard? I mean,
is it really difficult for us to find, you know, weaknesses
and faults in each other? Of course not. So if you're just
real judgmental towards him and you just Go find all these faults
and you just pick them apart. I tell you what that brother's
going to do. He's going to turn on you and he's going to pick
you apart. He can do the exact same thing right back to you.
He's going to say, who do you think you are? Why? He's going
to start picking you apart. You know, he's going to say,
well, you're worse than me. And he'd probably be right. Read
on verse three. And why beholdest thou the mote
that's in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam
that's in thine own eye? That's what the Lord's saying
here, you are worse off. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold a beam's
in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out
the beam that's in thine own eye, and then shalt thou see
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. So
don't be judgmental when you deal with this erring brother,
and don't look down your nose at him. We've got no right to
look down our nose at anybody. The only reason we're not in
the same boat is the Lord just hasn't allowed us to be tempted
in the same way. And if he does, we're prone to
make the very same error. So don't be harsh and judgmental. Deal with them in humility. And we ought to be able to deal
with each other in humility. knowing what it feels like to
be where he is. Because we have all erred. I
mean, this is not just something we're going to do in the future.
We've all erred about things in the past. We know just what
it feels like to be the erring brother. And we ought to be able
to treat them with humility and sympathy, not with a harsh, judgmental
attitude. All right, here's the fourth
thing in handling an erring brother. Do it in meekness. Galatians
chapter six, do it in meekness. Verse one. Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in a fall, ye which are spiritual, restore such a
one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burden
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Here's how you fulfill Christ's
royal law of love. Bear the faults of others with
meekness and seek to restore that erring brother in meekness.
The word meekness here means gentleness. Treat him with gentleness
and kindly. Don't treat him harshly. And
considering means take heed. You treat this erring brother
gently, taking heed. If you're tempted like he's tempted,
you're going to fall too. You're going to fall too. We
need to remember this about an erring brother. Even if it's
not someone erring, you know, according to the truth or just
they're in a bad mood, they're having a bad day. They, they
don't respond to you the way they typically do the way you'd
like for them to. We need to remember this. We
don't know what's gone on with him today. We just don't know. We don't know what's gone on
with them in their life. We don't know what's happened
in their heart and caused this brother to err from the truth.
We don't know the pressures he was under. We don't know the
things that came up that tempted him. We don't know those things.
But here's what we do know. If we're tempted just like he
was, if we're tempted with the same things as he was, the same
circumstances, we will surely fall too. honest with ourselves,
unless the Lord kept us from doing it, we know it would be
worse. We would do worse. That's right. Has there ever been a temptation
any of us has resisted? No. Not one. Every single time
we are tempted to sin, we sin. That's why our Lord taught us
to pray. Going back right where we started
prayer. Lord, leave us not into temptation. This don't even lead
me into temptation, but deliver me from evil, because if you
lead me into temptation, I'll fail. I have to fail. Our Lord also said, watch and
pray that you enter not into temptation, because, oh, the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And since
the flesh is weak, watch and pray that you enter not into
temptation, because if we're tempted, we're going to fail
every single time. And we've all seen this happen.
We've seen an erring brother just go off on a wild tangent. And we think, what is going on? Why would he do that? Well, you
know why we haven't gone off on that same wild tangent? The
Lord just wasn't had allowed us to be tempted. The Lord just
didn't let us go off on that direction. That's the only difference. Look at second Timothy chapter
two. Second Timothy two. Verse verse 23. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid knowing that they do gender strife. Just avoid these kinds
of questions that get you going off on this tangent in the first
place. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but he
must be gentle unto all men. apt to teach, patient, in meekness,
instructing those that oppose themselves, if God perventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth
and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil
who are taken captive by him at his will. Now here, this is
someone who's an erring brother. And if they're going to be recovered
out of the snare of the devil, they've been, they've been taken
captive at his will. If they're going to recover themselves,
if they're going to be converted and turned from this, God's going
to do, per venture, God will do it. How will God do it? Instructing
them through the word of God in meekness, in meekness. Now
this applies to preachers, but it applies to everybody. You
know this is so. We've all sat and listened to
preachers many, many, many times. And the only person, the only
preacher that we'll really listen to is a meek man. He's not like
up at the ivory tower and just, you know, down to the ignorant
masses, he's a meat man. We'll only listen to somebody
preach the offense of the cross in meatness. Don't let your bad
attitude, your haughty attitude, just be another excuse for them
to not listen to the gospel. Or in this case, don't let your
haughty attitude be another excuse for them to continue in their
error. Talk to him in meekness. The
Lord only uses meek people in his service. All right, now back
to our text. Now this is the manner, those
four things, that's the manner in which we're to, the attitude
in which we're to deal with this erring brother. And verse 20
says, now you've got this erring brother, let him know that he
which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save
a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. Now, if
we deal with this erring brother, with this attitude, with prayer
and love and humility and meekness, the Lord may convert that sinner. Now, this is not talking about
the salvation of his soul. It's talking about turning that
person from the error of his way. Now, if that happens, we
didn't convert him. No, the Lord did that. So here's
what James is saying. You've got an erring brother.
Now, don't sit there forever and let him go on in his error.
Something's got to be said, and it's got to be said in the right
attitude with these four things we discussed. Let him know his
error, because sometimes he doesn't even realize it. I mean, he doesn't
even realize maybe he's gone off on this tangent. And if the
erring brother turns from his error, this is what we know.
The Lord's already saved him from death. The Lord's already
covered the multitude of his sins, including this one in his
blood. See, every believer will err.
from time to time. I mean, don't think we're immune
from this. We'll all err from time to time. But the Lord will
not let his children abide in error forever. He's not going
to do it. And if we turn back from our error, if the Lord turns
us back from this error, it's just evidence the Lord's already
saved us. But if that person does not turn
from their error, all they reveal is they never knew the Lord in
the first place. We show you that in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews, the 10th chapter. Verse 26. For if we sin willfully after
that we've received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no
more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fire indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Now, this does not mean if we
sin willfully after we've heard the gospel, after we've heard
the gospel, after the Lord saved us, and then we set out and plan
to sin willfully, we plan to sin and then go commit that sin,
it doesn't mean we've lost our salvation. If that were true,
no son of Adam would ever be saved. I mean, what sin have
you ever committed accidentally? Every sin we commit, we mean
to commit. I mean, we mean to do it. This is what this means. If a person willfully denies
the gospel and they willfully turn away from the gospel after
having seen to embrace it, after having heard it, have some head
knowledge of it, and they willfully turn from Christ, they never
knew Christ in the first place. And as long as they remain turned
from Christ, there is no hope of salvation for their souls.
Because Christ is the only way of salvation. So let me close
here with verse 35 of Hebrews chapter 10. Now cast not away, therefore,
your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For you
have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God,
you might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and he'll not tarry. Now the just
shall live by faith. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But we're not of them who draw
back under perdition. We're not of them who turn from
Christ and never turn back. But we're of them by God's grace
that believe to the saving. If God saved one of his children,
he'll not let them go off on that earth forever. He'll turn
them. He'll turn them. It could be Lord use us as the
means to do it. I hope you've enjoyed this study,
James, as much as I have. I've just thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed it. And next week, the Lord willing,
I'm going to begin a series, four or five lessons on the family. And I hope you'll be in much
prayer about this, that the Lord will give me wisdom to do two
things. Number one, this is our goal
every time we preach the gospel, every time we open God's word,
is to preach Christ. But number two, to do it in such
a way that we can have something we can take home and affect our
everyday life. We're all part of a family. And
affect our everyday life with our family to God's glory and
some good instruction for us. I appreciate your prayer in that
matter. Lord bless you.