MONDAY –It is with some degree of melancholy that we turn to our final lesson in the Epistle of James. We finish up our study of this wonderful letter and take as our text the final two verses, James 5:19-20: “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” These verses are a fitting conclusion to a letter that James wrote to confront professing Christians in the church to examine themselves and see if what they claimed as faith, was living and genuine or if in fact it was false and dead. He was concerned that these brothers and sisters where not deceived about their salvation. This is a genuinely frightening reality and is seen all throughout Scripture. It was Jesus Himself who uttered some of the most horrifying of the warnings when in Matthew 7:21-23; He warned that not everyone that says “Lord, Lord” to Him in the final judgment will make it to heaven. These people called Jesus Lord and even had some “proofs” to show such as prophesying in His Name, casting our demons and even doing miracles in the name of Jesus. We know the horrifying end is that Jesus tells them to depart because in His words, “I never knew you…” The prophets warned about people who draw near to God with their lips but have their hearts far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). Jeremiah states “You are near in their mouth but far from their mind” (Jeremiah 12:2). We remember James warned us of being mere hearers of The Word and not Doers of it and deceiving ourselves thereby (James 1:22). This is a serious topic beloved because as we will see James is speaking inside the church not without. He has given us many tests wherewith to examine our profession of Salvation throughout His Epistle. He talked in chapter 1 about saving faith has a proper response to temptation and trials as well as The Word of God and it’s standard for Holy living. In chapter 2 he focused on how we treat people of various social classes as well as living righteously. In chapter 3 we saw the tongue of an individual uncovers the truth of his heart and we saw true Christians are not friends of the world. Humility and submission to the will of God mark the life of the true believer in chapter 4 and a proper view of money and riches as well as a patient embracing of The Lord’s purpose as we wait for Him and live lives of prayer mark out chapter 5. So in his letter he has given an invitation to salvation to the deceived and lost, summarized in James 4:7-10 but now as he closes the letter James calls on believers to evangelize within the very church itself and help the lost and unsaved in their midst to come to genuine repentance and faith.
(Meditate & Apply) Am I a genuine believer? Do I pass the tests that James has listed in his letter through the inspiration of The Holy Spirit? What do I desire to do with this information?
(Pray): Father, help me to live a life that is genuine in repentance and faith in Christ and His Gospel. May I love and live Your Word and protect me from this ultimate horror and deception.
TUESDAY – James 5:19a: “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth… ” This opening phrase addresses the problem in this local assembly; namely, that there were professing brethren, “wandering from the truth”. It is in a general sense that James use Brethren here. Because we see, that it is among this group that there where wanderers. Can genuine Christians struggle at times with a wandering from truth? Yes, they can but they will not wander away to the point of apostasy but will be disciplined and be brought back by the shepherd. But it is in this entire letter of challenges to examination of genuine faith that we must see this warning. It goes without saying that there are always tares among the wheat. Jesus had Judas and Paul had Demas. James tells us that these people planao in the Greek. They “go astray, wander from the truth, to lead into error, to deceive”. The word is used in Scripture to describe physical wandering but it is also often used to speak of straying from spiritual truth. Jesus chastised the Sadducees saying they were planao not understanding both “the Scripture or the power of God”. And Paul, in Titus 3 explains that we were once “disobedient, deceived (Planao)… explaining our state when unsaved. Unsaved people reject the truth of Scripture. The Apostles teach us that it is the spirit of antichrist that rejects the truth of Jesus and His Word while Christ Himself said that true believers continue and abide in His Word (John 8:31). Proverbs 23:23 says, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.” This should be our attitude towards The Word of truth.
(Meditate & Apply) What is my current position concerning truth? Do I embrace and obey it and strive to live in a way that honors God and His truth. Do I fight my sin?
(Pray): Father, It is ultimately Your truth that saves. Keep me and protect me from wandering away and being deceived in my own wisdom which is foolishness.
WEDNESDAY – James 5:19: “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back ” As mentioned before, this call to rescue is meant to bring someone back from their wandering away. Again I will say by way of reminder that both Christians and Non-Christians have wandered away from truth. James now gives the instruction we need to hear and head when he says, and someone turns him back. Believers have a responsibility to those who stray. We are to head off the wanderer and turn him back. The word turn is translated convert in some versions and that has cemented for some that only an unbeliever is in view here. But the Lord Jesus himself used the word when he said to Simon Peter, ‘… when thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren’ (Luke 22:32, KJV). Peter was definitely a believer but he would deny the Lord Jesus three times in the space of a few hours. But he would be turned back. Someone needs to turn back wandering people. We often say, “It’s not my business” but we are guilty as Cain was in not recognizing the fact, that we are “my brother’s keeper”. James wants us also to confront the one who has strayed and call them back to the Lord in repentant faith. Jesus did not leave Peter in his condition but He pursued him and restored him (John 21). We also need to be the someone who turns him back.
(Meditate & Apply) Can I recognize when someone has wandered from the truth? Have I ever wandered from the truth and what would I say to describe my current situation?
(Pray): Lord, help me to be the concerned someone who turns back the wanderer.
THURSDAY – James 5:20: “…let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” Continuing with yesterday’s emphasis that it is someone who turns the sinner back is reinforced with the use of the words him and he in verse 20. God uses people to recover lost and wandering sinners. It was the Apostle Paul who spoke of believers having been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). It was Jesus Himself who said that He had come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). The lost wanderer is here further described as a sinner. We need not elaborate on this truth that sinners is used in Scripture often to point to those hardened in sin and unbelief who are not saved children of God. Often it is used to depict those outside the kingdom of God. James here describes the wanderer as a sinner who has strayed into the error of his way. This is somewhat reminiscent of Psalm 1 where the progression of a wandering sinner into the error of his way is depicted as walking, standing, and finally sitting. The word here in James for error is the word Plane which is the noun form of the verb Planao which we saw earlier in our study. Notice the initial wandering from the truth results in a lifestyle or pattern of living (error of his way). What often starts as a small “straying” from truth and sound doctrines from Scripture turns into a developed and disciplined lifestyle of disobedience and hardness toward God.
(Meditate & Apply) We are either one who is straying or one who is calling the straying back to the truth of God. What about me? Are my lifestyle patterns and habits those of a true genuine Christian or rather one who is hardened against the truth?
(Pray): Jesus, thank You for dying for me while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8).
FRIDAY– James 5:20: “…let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” We are told that if we are one who turns back a sinner we are to know something. The one who gets in the way of the wanderer to turn them back first, will save a soul from death. The stakes are a human soul here beloved and what awaits the sinning soul is death (Ezekiel 18:20, Romans 6:23). But God uses us as instruments to save. Turning to God in repentance and faith leads to salvation of the soul. The wanderer was on a path that would end them up in hell but someone turned him back and now he is on the path leading to eternal life in Christ. We find also that the beauty of salvation is that a man’s soul is saved and his sin is forgiven and covered by The Blood of Jesus. David said “Blessed is he who’s transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Psalm 32:1). God doesn’t merely cover a few sins, but instead a multitude of sins. God has given us as believers the ministry of reconciliation. So when we see an erring professing brother or sister who is wandering from truth, it is our responsibility to turn them back from his sin to saving faith in God. Remember in the beginning of our study of James, he talked about heavenly, versus demonic wisdom. Remember also I had mentioned James is often called the Proverbs of The New Testament. With that said, James closes with this beautiful recovery mission reminding us that true wisdom is displayed in the life of the individual who turns back the sinner. As Proverbs 11:30 states it, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”
(Meditate & Apply) Oh God, please help me to be a genuinely wise and caring believer who turns a sinner back from the wandering error of his way to find his soul saved and a multitude of sins covered by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
(Pray): Jesus, thank You for dying in my place and taking upon Yourself the punishment and curse that I deserved as the wandering sinner. Help me to understand the eternal consequences of sin and strive to turn back the one who would be straying from the truth into error.
