23 Christians in Need of Conversion
The Book of James
By Pastor Jim May
James 5:19-20, "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."
As we come to the final closing verses of the Book of James we find that James gives us a final exhortation, a final instruction, a final promise and a singular purpose for living.
Throughout this letter we have heard instructions on the prayer of faith, the kind of prayer that gets God’s attention and receives an answer, and how that we are to be faithfully committed to obedience to God’s Holy Word as we are directed and led by the Holy Spirit.
In these final two verses, all of the teachings of this entire book are summarized in just one sentence.
First of all, James is addressing the Brethren. That means you and I, and all those who are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. James isn’t giving his instructions to the heathens who lived around him. He’s not talking to the worldly crowd that if full of devilment. He is talking to the church, the Children of God and those who call themselves a Child of the King.
Now catch this second phrase, “…if any of you do err from the truth”. What I see here is that even though we are born again, full of the Holy Ghost and fire, and doing our very best to serve the Lord, there is still a very good chance that we can stray from the truth.
Satan’s greatest trick in the church today is to simply get people off center and get them to believing a lie and lying spirits are having a heyday in our churches.
A recent Gallup Poll seems to indicate that there are no clear behavioral patterns that distinguish Christians from non-Christians in our society. We all seem to be marching to the same drummer, looking to the shifting standards of contemporary culture for the basis of what is acceptable behavior.
There are no more absolutes. Everything is relative. Our permissive and compromising Christianity has left the church impotent, thereby guaranteeing that fewer and fewer people from each succeeding generation will be true believers. Traditions are cast aside in pursuit of individuality. When each of us is allowed to interpret the scriptures without the foundation of absolute truth, where does that leave the church?
What is the power behind the weakening of moral values? What force is always at work, behind the scenes, undermining the efforts of the church to reach the lost? That force has been alive and active ever since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. It is the spirit of the antichrist. Now we know that the Antichrist, that Man of Sin, has not yet been revealed in the earth, and won’t be revealed until the church is taken out of the way in the Rapture.
But the spirit, the attitude, the agenda if you will, of the antichrist is already at work and has been throughout human history.
2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Who can doubt that the church is in trouble today? In fact, except for the promise of God that he will have a church that is rapture ready, we would almost be forced to conclude that Christianity would cease to exist on the face of the earth and it wouldn’t take long to do it. Satan’s forces are working overtime to see to it that souls are lost and he is doing his worst right in the ranks of God’s own people.
Christians on every hand are being led away from the truth; duped into believing a lie; following after the teachings of men; and hearing only that which is pleasing to the ear. Many have gone so far from the truth that they no longer know what the real truth is. If you ask many Christians today just what it takes to make Heaven their home, what kind of answers will you get?
"If you do more good things than bad things, God will probably let you into heaven."
“Everyone becomes an angel and goes to heaven when they die, because a loving God won’t send anyone to Hell.”
”Whoever obeys the Ten Commandments will go to heaven.”
”Whoever goes to church will go to heaven.”
”Whoever believes in God will go to heaven.”
”Whoever has not done anything really bad will go to heaven.”
”Everyone in a Christian household will go to heaven.”
The lie that one part of the church has swallowed is that you can live any kind of way that you want to, just believe in Jesus and you will make it.
Another part of the church has determined that you can’t make it to Heaven just by believing, you have to have a lifetime of good works to your credit before you will be welcomed inside, and they form legalistic guidelines for “obeying” the Word of God.
Then there are those who know the truth, and I believe that these are in the minority. They know that both side have a valid point. Yes you must believe in Jesus, but it takes more than that. Yes you must have good works, but they aren’t the real determining factor either. The truth is that you must confess that not only is Jesus really the Son of God, but that you are a sinner in need of a Saviour. You must come to him confessing that he is more than just Lord, but that he is the Lord of your life and then allow him to live through you after being born again. Then, because you are a new creation in Christ, your life will exhibit the good works that are in agreement with the Word of God. It all fits together, but all the pieces have to be in the right perspective or order before you can enter Heaven’s gates.
That “mystery of iniquity” that is already at work in the world, and that spirit of the antichrist, that James speaks about are one in the same. The spirit of the antichrist is the plan of Satan at work in the earth to destroy mankind through iniquity, and man without Christ is at the beck and call of the devil’s spirit.
So as we look around we can see, on every hand, those of the Brethren who have been led away, or fallen into error, and strayed from the truth of the gospel.
Now, I want you see something else here. Notice the next phrase of James 5:19. "...and one convert him…"
What I see here is that there are two separate issues in this word “convert”. First of all, there is the conversion of the mind, and that is done by logically approaching the Word of God and using the Word of God to teach an errant brother what the Word is really saying so that their thinking can be straightened out.
Many of our errant brothers and sisters in Christ have not backslidden into sin, but have simply allowed themselves to be lulled into a false sense of eternal security through bad teaching. They still love the Lord, and they are still trying to be faithful, but they have been brainwashed by preachers who keep telling them a lie.
If we can get them to realize where they are going and get them to realize the error of what they have embraced, then we have converted their thinking and helped them to turn back to God.
Secondly, that word “convert” can also mean that some of those brethren have gone so far into error that they have completely lost their way and are no longer a part of the household of God. They have believed a lie and have forsaken the truth. In so doing they have brought condemnation upon themselves and have denied Jesus as their Lord, preferring to fit Jesus into their own little box instead of conforming to his will.
One of the hardest things you can ever do, as a Christian, is to reach into the head and heart of a backslidden Christian who still thinks that he is doing right. The scriptures bear out the fact that this can happen.
Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Proverbs 14:14, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself."
Proverbs 14:25, "A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies."
In that last verse of Proverbs, we see that both are witnesses. One is a witness of the truth and his witness is powerful and he is able to deliver a soul from death by pointing him to the True gospel. The other is also a witness, claiming to witness the same things as the first, but his witness is false, for he points men to a false Christ, one that does not fulfill the identity of Jesus Christ, but is instead, a cheap copy, filled with promises but no prerequisites to receive those promises other than to just be yourself and do your own thing.
If we then, as their brethren, can somehow through the grace of God, show them the error of their beliefs and reveal the path of truth, turning them back to that truth, then we can truly lead them to a conversion back to Christ.
Thus we can have two types of conversions.
James calls the errant brother a “sinner”, and it is nothing more than sin that brings a child of God into error. It is the sin of rebellion against the truth. It is the sin of taking our eyes off of Jesus and allowing him to be replaced by idols of our own making. Thus, a brother who is caught up in error is truly a sinner in every sense of the word and is desperate need of a savior.
James 5:20, "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."
If you by some miracle of grace can convince an errant brother to turn from his error and follow Jesus this is what you will accomplish in the process.
First of all you will save the backslider from certain eternal hell. Many who will not turn from their error will spend eternity in hell, all the while they believe that they are doing the right thing.
Jesus himself told us that this was a distinct possibility as a warning that we should make sure that we are in the right way.
Matthew 7:21-23, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
The second thing that we will accomplish is that by leading a soul back to Jesus we will be indirectly responsible for the “hiding” of a multitude of sins.
Before that errant brother can come to Christ he must repent of his error and turn to Jesus in truth. Through that process of repentance and forgiveness Jesus will simply wash away their sin and cast them away, never to be remembered again. Thus they are forever hidden away under the blood.
Psalms 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
Hebrews 8:12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
James’ basic theme has been faithfulness and commitment to the truth. Exercising your faith to obtain the promises of God and to fulfill the call of God upon your life is stressed all through this book.
What better way to end his letter than to tell us that if we will remain faithful to the truth, holding on the Word of God and keeping it pure in our hearts, then we can be used by God, not only to reach out to a lost and dying world, but we can be instrumental in turning errant brothers and sisters back to the true path of righteousness. What a great privilege! What an honor! Oh to be used to bring souls back from the brink of eternal hell and see them cleansed by the blood and on their way to Heaven.
Let us never forget what we have learned in these past 23 messages. May the words of James, the disciple, forever burn in our hearts and cause us to be more faithful and to follow Jesus all the days of our lives. AMEN
