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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip. Back in the day when Newspapers were Sort of the standard form of communication. People would take out ads in newspapers. One curious ad showed up in the Marshfield, Wisconsin. Newspaper And this was it.
I don't know if you can read that. It says for sale. Parachute. Used once. Never opened.
And then a phone number.
Now What's remarkable is who on earth would ever want to buy a parachute? That is a faulty one. More than that, who would ever want to sell one to anybody? For what purpose would that be? There are certain occupations that are meant to save Lives Paramedics EMT Doctor, firefighter, police.
All of these are Occupations that are meant to preserve to save to keep Life. I'll add to that list another one, ship captain. The captain of a ship is responsible for the souls Aboard. Do some of you remember back in 2012. when there was a cruise ship, the Costa Concordia it was called.
It was cruising off the coast in the Mediterranean, the coast of Italy, And it veered off course. Struck a reef. began to take on water, and the boat listed to one side. and began to sink. Four thousand two hundred souls aboard that ship.
It was a catastrophe. What's remarkable about that is the captain When He struck the wreath. did nothing to help save the lives of his crew or the people aboard. but rather he abandoned ship. He left the boat.
Thirty people lost their lives in that. The captain Should have known. He did know, but he shirked his duty. He knew that his main task was to preserve. Life.
to save Life From Deaf. I'm going to add to that list of firefighter, paramedic, and ship captain another. One. The Christian The Christian, we are surrounded. by people who need rescuing.
In our world. People are sinking. And they need somebody to lower the life raft. They are free falling and they need a parachute. That works that opens.
The title of this message is Saving a Soul from Death. Because it's lifted right out of the text in James chapter 5. that we're about to read, Saving a Soul from Death. That is one of our tasks. It is what we are called to do.
We exist on this earth for many purposes. One of them Is for those who are wandering. We're here to pick up strays, if you will. And bring them home. Let's read the text, and you'll get the gist of what James is saying.
Brethren. He concludes If any one 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 That's a very abrupt ending.
It is not a typical ending. It's certainly not an ending like Paul the Apostle would write. He would say at least something like, see you later. These people greet you. Uh you he would have some closing Benediction or salutation.
James gives no benediction, no salutation, no fluff. No nonsense. It's what we would expect. From James. Just kind of straightforward.
I want to end on this note. Period. In these two verses, these closing remarks of James, He is painting a picture. He is painting a picture of a wanderer, somebody who drifts away, walks away. strays away from truth.
But he also paints a picture of somebody who notices that. and cares enough to want to rescue that person. All the batters come confined in these two closing verses. The question we should ask ourselves as we are about to unpack these thoughts. Yeah.
Do we care? Do we really care? about such people. And if we say we do and we should say that. The next question is, how much do we care?
Somebody once said Hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is. Just being apathetic. Yeah, whatever. People make their own choices, do their own thing.
Well As we approach these last two verses, I'm going to give you four. Musts, M-U-S-T-S, musts. Four Necessary Ingredients. to spiritual restoration.
Now let's begin with the first and That is this. Restoration must. Be our plan. Restoration must be our plan. As we live in this world and see what we see and hear what we hear and are around the people we interact with, Restoration must be our plan.
I'm going to read these verses again with you, but I'm going to emphasize three words. You'll pick them out. Brethren. If anyone among you wanders from the truth, And someone Someone turns him back. Let him No.
That He who turns a sinner from the error of his way, will save a soul from death and cover a multitude. of sins. I'm emphasizing the word someone. Him. Heat.
Why? Because these words describe A person who who notices a need. Seize a need. And the need is somebody is wandering away from the truth. They have strayed from the path.
And this someone, this he, this him, Or we could say this her. This she, this person. Cares This someone that the text is mentioning becomes the agent of restoration, reclamation, revival. Evangelism. The Bible word is reconciliation.
Reconciliation, one of the great words of the New Testament. The Bible says in The book of 2 Corinthians 5: that we have been reconciled to God through his Son, and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. What does that mean? It means bringing people back, bringing people in. giving them the right parachute, The life raft.
Now let's pause for a moment. These verses that we just read Bring up an issue. A debate. You know that a lot of verses in the Bible are controversial. You know that.
These are also very controversial.
So there's an in-house debate as to. Who is James thinking about when he talks about somebody wandering away from the truth?
Well And commentators are evenly divided on this. One would say it's the backslidden Christian who strays away from the truth once. Having known it, Others would say, no, it's the unsaved person who has yet to come to the truth. If we side with the first position that it's a backslidden Christian, we would do so because the text says. Brethren, that's brothers and sisters.
Implied Fellow Christians, brethren, if anyone among you Fellow believers wanders from the truth.
So we would then infer that he is talking about believers. Who are genuine believers, but they stray away from the truth. They backslide. Others would argue and say, no, that can't be because true believers. Are kept by God.
And don't wander. from the truth they might wander from a truth they might not have every Understanding of all the truth as they grow in their Christian walk, but they will never wander from the truth. Moreover, they would say, in verse 20, it describes those wanderers as a sinner. And that is a very Categorical term in the New Testament. Almost always referring to the unbeliever who has yet to be converted.
So If it's The first position that James is talking about, the backslider. Then, what about the death that happens in verse 20? It will save a soul from death.
Well, that could refer to physical death. That God would, in certain cases, intervene in a person's rebellion and in mercy. Kill them. Taking them to heaven. That's news to some of you, but it really shouldn't be because.
There are a few texts in the New Testament that point to that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, let me read it to you, verse 30. Paul writes, For this reason many are weak. and sick among you And many sleep. That's a very nice way of saying they've kicked the bucket.
They They breathed their last. They have died. They sleep. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world.
This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skiff's teaching, Do you ever feel stuck when it comes to studying the Bible? Pastor Skiff's book, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It. shows you how to go from feeling intimidated by scripture to engaging it with joy and confidence. This helpful book is yours when you give $50 or more to help keep this Bible teaching ministry going strong around the world.
Request your copy of How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It today at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Let's return now to today's message. Then there's that text in 1 John chapter 5. Where he writes, If anyone sees a brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, He will ask, and he will give him life for those who commit sin, not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death.
I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. The inference is that in the Corinthian case, God disciplined sinning members of the Corinthian church, taking those erring believers to heaven. In his mercy. before they could go too far.
However, If it's the second position that we hold to, that James is not talking about wandering believers, but rather unbelievers, then the death that he writes about in verse 20. would definitely be not physical death, but spiritual death. What is called the second death. Revelation 21, verse 8. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars.
shall have their part in the lake Which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
So we have a debate. We have a divide. We don't have a consensus.
Some say James is talking about backsliding Christians. Others say no, James is talking about unbelievers who have not yet become Christians. What are we to do about this debate? Very simply. In one hand ignore it.
What I mean is this. I'll put it better. We should care about both groups. We should care about both groups. Let's remove this from the theological debate.
and make it a practical mandate. Let's care about those who wander from the truth and backslide in their walk, but let's also care about those who have never come to faith. Both groups need love. Both groups need enlightenment. Both groups need forgiveness.
We should care about both. Restoration should be our plan. Yeah. Let's get back to this. Here's my best guess as to what he means.
I don't think James is just talking about a backsliding Christian, a wayward Christian. I think he's talking about. A fake Christian. In other words, somebody who thinks He is a Christian because he has come to church. He makes some kind of a profession of faith, but he is really an unbeliever.
He's in the congregation. He comes to church frequently. He has made a profession of faith. But it's a a faith that is short of genuine Saving. Faith.
You say, Skip, why do you think that? I think that because Jesus... gave a story illustrating the kingdom. Remember in Matthew chapter 13, he said, A man went out to sow some seed. And some seed fell on the walkway.
The pathway. The wayside, one translation calls it. That's the footpath. And then he described later on this. This is the heart.
Where the word of God is sown. It is thrown. in their direction. But he says immediately Satan comes and snatches it away so it doesn't penetrate. Then He described in that parable the shallow heart.
And uh the shallow heart is The seed that fell on the ground. And it was uh on rocky soil, so you have bedrock and a very thin shelf of dirt.
So, what happens is the seed will germinate very quickly. But because there's a rock shelf underneath it, the roots can't go down.
So, what happens, and Jesus said this in his story, is when the sun comes out and beats down upon that. It doesn't last. And our Lord explained that as these are people who receive the truth with great joy and emotion at first. But in a time of testing, he said, They fall away. And then he said there are those who receive The truth, but Their hearts are infested hearts.
They are the seed sown among the weeds. And as Jesus said, the cares of this world. The desire for riches and the desire for other things choke that seed, and it is unfruitful. But then he said, There's the good heart. The Fertile Heart The seed is sown in their heart and they produce fruit.
Some 30, some 60, some 100fold. Not everybody's the same, some grow faster than others, but all. True believers bear some kind of fruit.
So looking at that story, you have four groups of people. Three of them are not genuine, one of them is. And in that one group that is, they're bearing fruit 30, 60, and 100.
Okay, so what are we to do about all these people? Here it is, pretty simple. Here it is. Ready? care about them.
Just care about them. Look enough long enough. To see the plight that they are in, where they are going, and care about them. Don't debate where they're at theologically, care about them practically. Be the someone in the text.
Be the he, be the him. Even as Jesus described his own mission, he said, The Son of Man has come. Remember what he said, to seek and to save those who are lost. Whatever degree of lostness that is. We need more people like that who see and desire and love people who.
are lost. Evangelism always begins with caring. With caring. I love that verse where it says, Jesus saw the multitude, and when he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them. It's hard for me to be compassionate in a crowd.
I hate long lines. Put me on a freeway with lots of cars, I get annoyed with people. If you've ever watched me drive, you're going to say amen. I come from the land of Disneyland, and I hate those long lines you have to wait in. But when Jesus saw the multitude, rather than being annoyed, he had compassion for them because they were like sheep having no shepherd.
We need to take our cues from him. Or From Paul. Paul said, I have great heaviness and continued sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren. who are Israelites according to the flesh.
So just care. Ask God to help you care. It was J. C. Ryle, the Bishop of Liverpool, who said, the highest.
Form of selfishness is a man who's content to go to heaven alone.
Well, at least I'm saved. Don't know about all those other jokers. Care. That's where it begins, leading a person to Christ. or back to Christ begins with loving that person.
in Christ. And one of the dangers for any church. Ever. is that it begins to turn inward. The church becomes the Local Bless Me Club.
The What About Me Association, the Meet My Need Institution. Rather than learning and developing enough to learn how to care. For the lost.
So restoration must be our plan. Second, Must Admonition must be our call. Admonition must be our call.
Now, as I read through these verses, if I'm reading them correctly, These verses imply that once somebody notices.
Someone else wandering away from the truth, believer or unbeliever. That A caution is issued. That this someone gets involved and says something to the other person. An admonition is given. And that admonition, the caution.
The involvement in that wandering life. Results in spiritual awakening, repentance. In the words of the prodigal, don't you love that story of the prodigal son? As Jesus told it, it said, And when he came to himself, I love that. He woke up.
He came to himself. and he said, I'm going to return to my father. Obviously, James, the author of this book, has seen his share of spiritual wanderers. He's watched people wander off from the faith. Defect from the truth.
He has seen he has known those who As described in 1 John chapter 2, they went out from us. But they were not really of us. Because had they really been of us, they never would have left us.
So he has those in his mind as he's writing this, as he's closing this letter. He's thinking in his mind: I know those people, I remember those people. And I will just say, so do I. My mind's eye is filled with people I have loved, known. A walked with and even worked with.
Who? No longer, or they say they no longer believe in the God of the Bible, they no longer believe in the Bible as the Word of God, they no longer hold to Jesus Christ as their Savior.
So If you see something. Say something. If you are noticing that trend. Do something about it. Say something.
Admonish. Give them a caution. What you are doing is lowering the lifeboat because the cruise ship is sinking. What you are doing is giving out a parachute that works. If you see something, say something.
Paul put it this way, 2 Corinthians 5. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. I see something, I'm going to say something. I'm going to get involved.
I'm going to say it. You may not like what you hear. But this is what I'm going to say.
So Let me give you a couple practical things to do at this point. A first practical thing to do is evaluate your own faith. It's always good to do that from time to time. Take personal inventory. Get really honest with yourself and just ask yourself this question, am I a follower of Christ?
Really? A follower of Christ? Honestly. I follow Christ. Ask yourself that question.
Why? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13, examine yourselves. as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves, he writes. We're so glad you joined us today for Connect with Skip Heidzig.
Before we go, don't miss this chance to request how to study the Bible and enjoy it, Pastor Skip's practical guide to getting more out of every page of scripture. It's our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's Word through Connect with Skip. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And don't forget to grab your free download of how to approach studying the Bible when you sign up for Skip's weekly devotionals. Tune in next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word.
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