Does God Still Heal? - Spiritual Healing - Operation Restoration, Part 2

What do you do when someone you love is choosing to live in a way that ignores God? Or maybe worse, what do you do with someone that has turned away from God and done some things, and they don't believe that God could ever even love them again?

What's your role? How do you restore people who've drifted away from God? That's what we'll cover in our time together today. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, an international teaching and discipleship ministry that motivates Christians to live like Christians. And in just a minute, we'll conclude our series, Does God Still Heal?, with the second half of Chip's talk on spiritual healing. Last time, Chip emphasized prayer's crucial role in restoring Christians who have strayed from their faith.

And as he begins today's message, he'll highlight the next step of this delicate process. So get your Bible and notes ready as we dive into Chip's talk from James chapter 5. God says, I want you to intervene. If you see a brother or sister wandering, you draw them back. And when you do, you save them from separation from God, and it covers a multitude of sins.

The question I would say is, how do you do that? And James doesn't say, does he? He just says, do it. And so I'd like to suggest there's a two-part strategy that we get from the context of this passage, but I think even more from a very parallel passage that teaches us exactly how to do it. God's two-part strategy for restoration is, number one, pray for them. I mean, I know you hear you pray. I mean, really pray. Jot in your notes Proverbs 21 one. The fact of the matter is the reason I've drifted away from God, the reason anyone drifts away from God, is your heart gets hard. And so let me encourage you to pray. The second is care enough to, here's the big word, confront.

Confront. Galatians 6 one and two says, brothers, if someone is caught literally trapped in sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently, but watch yourself, for you also may be tempted. Carry or bear one another's burdens, and in this way you'll fulfill the law of Christ, which is what?

It's to love. I'd like you, if you were, to underline the word spiritual, underline the word restore, underline the word gently, and underline the phrase the law of Christ. Above spiritual, put a little number one, restore, put number two, gently, number three, and then law of Christ, number four. And out of that passage will be a very clear instructional manual about what ordinary people like you and me are to do when we know someone who's wandered from the truth. The first thing we do, the prerequisite, is that you're spiritual.

The idea is there's spiritual maturity. And for some cases it's like you have to be careful because, you know, here's the parallel that I can give you. I was a lifeguard one summer.

It's the only way I could get a job and make a little money. And you go through a bunch of training, but they tell you over and over and over, if someone is in the pool and something's happening, the first thing you do is, you know that circle thing on your chair? Throw it to them. People who dive in after them, not smart.

The second thing you do is the very, very long pole that they clean everything with, about 18 feet long, you grab it and you put it out there to get them to reach it, and then you pull them in with it. The third and last thing you ever do is you jump in and save them. Because if you've ever tried to save a drowning person, when you jump in, in fact they teach you, you get close to them and then you dive down deep, you have to come behind them, and you get them like this.

Because drowning people are losing air and they're fearful, and what they do is they grab you, and I cannot tell you how many times someone jumps in the water, especially if it's a lake or someplace, to save a drowning person, and what happens is two people drowned. This passage says you need to be really, really careful, and you need to be mature and be ready and mature and able to address this kind of issue, because sometimes we send someone to help a person who's wandered away, and about three weeks later we have two people who wandered away. You know, I know you're struggling with addiction, I've been through that, I've been clean for 18 months, you're back in it, I really want to help you, so you go hang out with them where they're at on their turf to try in, and the temptation's too great. So you need to ask yourself, first of all, am I the right person in this particular situation, in this environment, to help this person? Are you spiritual?

Are you spiritually mature? Second, what's the aim? Notice it's restore him. Restore her. It's not blast him. It's not condemn him.

This word is used in the New Testament in the Greek language for someone who's had a compound fracture, and you reset the bone so it can heal. The temptation, if someone has hurt you deeply, or hurt one of your kids, or hurt someone that one of your children is married to, or ripped you off in a business situation, and they've wandered, the anger, it can be, okay, they're wandering, hey! What do you think you're doing?

You're messing up this, you're ruining your life, you're squandering your life, you're killing your kids, you know, this is what's going to happen, and you know, I've got news, that doesn't work. The goal is to restore him. How many of you would have someone really get angry at you and nag you about something, and your response was, oh, thank you, I think I'll change now. Oh, thank you.

More, give me more. Proverbs 15, one says, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. And for some of us, that person, the issue is, one, they've wandered, but they may have hurt you or hurt someone you love, and you're going to have to really pray to where you have it in your heart to want to restore them, because there is anger. But he says the goal is, you know, brothers, you who are spiritual, restore them, and how gently. The attitude of gentleness. Jesus, he said, my yoke is easy, following me is easy, because I am gentle, same word. Gentleness is a quality of alertness, and it's a quality of a willingness to yield. It's a powerful quality.

It disarms people. It's the person that sits down, and you get coffee, or you meet them because they didn't want to meet you, and you know their habits, you know where they're at, and you meet them at work with two cups of coffee, I only take 15 minutes, and you lean forward, and with tears streaming down your face, look, I know you think what you're doing is right. I want to help. You can work this out in your marriage. You're going to wake up in 10 years, and your eight-year-old son's going to wonder what happened. The kind of lifestyle that you're leading, this is what's going to happen. You're going to be financially ruined. God loves you. You're on a path of destruction. I would beg you, turn around. I know it's hard.

There might be some consequences. I'll go through this with you. It's an attitude and a heart. Is there anyone here that hasn't blown it? I mean, is there anyone here that hasn't, at some point in your life, really messed up?

And what was it? How does God, when He restores us, what's His heart? What's His attitude? How does He woo us back? How did He treat Peter?

What was it like? I mean, there's all kind of sin, but I think betrayal is probably the worst sin in the world. I don't think there's anything that hurts as bad as when someone betrays you. And Peter, I don't even know the guy.

And the language is much more graphic than most of our translations. Peter said, blankety, blank, blank, I don't know the blank guy. And the shame, he wept bitterly. I'll never measure up.

My life is ruined. You remember what Jesus did? It's kind of a process. In fact, the Scripture says that when He was resurrected, one of the first people He went to see is Peter. Later on, after the multiple times we're in His resurrected body, He made appearances. And then in John 21, you have this amazing picture where, you know, He makes breakfast. And He calls the guys and kind of, hey, Peter, remember the old days when you first started following Me?

Yeah, you know, and hey, throw your net on the other side of the boat. Who is it? John, I think it's the Lord. I don't know. And so they do it, and oh, my. This is what happened when I first started following Him. The same thing's happening.

Now God's goodness would be showed to me now after I betrayed Him. And then they come in, what is it? It's in a ring. The text says what? There's a charcoal fire. Do you remember what the text says the night? What was Peter doing sitting around what kind of fire when he betrayed Jesus?

Charcoal fire. The same smell, the same remembrance. And he fixed some fish. And then he eyeball to eyeball.

It's a process. It's not something, try, Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know I love you in a very insufficient failure kind of way. Peter, I want to invite you to get back in the game, feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me?

Yeah, three times. And it's almost like the Lord in His gentleness is saying, I get where you've been, and I love you. And I don't want to just forgive you and say you're a second-class citizen forever. I want to love you and restore you, and I want to use you. Have you ever thought through your Bible and thought about who God has really used after He's restored? A Rahab, a David, a murderer like Paul? Some of the people that have wandered away from God that you know may be the instruments of God that He wants to use in this valley or somewhere else beyond your wildest dreams. And they are one intercessor away, one person who's courageous enough to confront, who's spiritual and wants to restore and will do it gently. And finally, who will never give up.

You just don't give up. Bear one another's burdens. And you fulfill the law of Christ. What's the law of Christ?

What is it? It's loving people, right? What's love?

Love isn't an ooey-gooey feeling. Love is giving another person what they don't deserve at great personal cost. It's what Jesus did on the cross for all of us. And so He calls us to be like Him and to extend. The need for this is personal and private, and the result is life and healing. Life and healing.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And we'll return you to Chip's message in just a minute. But let me quickly share with you God has called us to do incredible ministry work all around the world. And when you regularly give to Living on the Edge, you're a part of what we do. So consider becoming a monthly partner today. Then visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. We appreciate your generous support.

Well, with that, here's Chip. Literally, the New American Standard, a little bit more literal translation, says you'll save his soul from death. And death certainly is separation. But I would ask, jot down a worthy passage, one rarely quoted, is 1 Corinthians 11, verses 28 to 30. The debate in this passage, obviously, despite brothers among you, is this turning people back to God? Is this, were they ever really Christians or not?

And the text seems very clear that this is brothers. But it's so strong, turn a sinner. A sinner is just someone who misses the mark. We are saints in our position, but we are loving sons and daughters that still sin.

And that passage that I gave you in 1 Corinthians 11 is an application of Hebrews 12. And God, out of His great, great love, when I begin to stray and when you begin to wander and stray, God, out of His great, great love, will discipline us, like you do for your kids, right? I mean, you don't let your kids, like, get near the road or put their hand on the stove and you go, well, you know, you only burned off two fingers, do what you want. You know, your 14-year-old takes the car, you say, hey, here's the keys, here's my gas card, right? I mean, I really love you, means you can do whatever you want. Is that what you all do? Or do you have some of your pre-teens and teens saying, Dad, Mom, you don't really love me. I've been grounded ever since eighth grade. You're so unfair.

And why do you do it? You love them enough. Why?

You see behaviors, or some of us have said to our kids, you can't date that person. You can't run around with that group. Why? Show me your friends, I'll show you your future.

That's a dead end, bad deal. No, and they scream and tell you to slam the door, I don't love you anymore, and I wish. I've heard it all. But mine are all grown now. And all mine have come back and have said thank you. Because, see, a father or a mother who really loves his kids always disciplines them. Because all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. Yet those who have been trained by it, training is a process, ultimately it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness.

So God does that. So a lot of health issues. Not all, again, but a lot of health issues. A lot of circumstances. A lot of money issues.

A lot of frustrations in relationships. When you're wandering away from God, here's the deal. He's saying, I want your attention, yo! I want your attention, and you say, no, okay. I want your attention, no, okay. I want your attention, I want your attention.

I love you, I'm for you. You're on a path. You're going down.

There's a waterfalls. You're going to get hurt. You're going to ruin your life. And if you read 1 Corinthians 11, 28 to 30, you will find there are some people who are genuine believers who stiff arm God and say to God, I'm going to keep doing my own thing. And it says that some of them are sick and some of them are asleep. And the word for asleep is a New Testament word that's a technical word for a believer who has died and gone to heaven. Sometimes God will discipline a person and take them home prematurely if they're genuine followers and they continually will not listen.

I don't know about you, that is sobering. And so he says, when you cause a fellow brother or sister to return, you save them from death. And in this passage I think it's a literal death, a separation from God, but just literally.

I think the application is very powerful for you and for me personally, but I want to suggest that there's a bigger and corporate application. Many of you in this room have kids who have wandered from the faith. In fact, as I've been talking, your mind has gone there probably more than any place else. What we know is that children who don't wander from the faith have three characteristics. And by the way, even though these three characteristics may be true, they can still wander from the faith.

This is not about fault or blame, this is about research and reality. The earlier a child takes responsibility for their faith and begins to have some kind of devotional life on their own, apart from their parents, the probability of them staying with the faith is very high. Second issue is they see their parents living out their faith, not simply by religious activities a la going to church or a class, but where those priorities and values are practiced at home, genuine prayer, tough decisions.

The Bible and God's word and communication where the Christ on weekends is the same Christ throughout the way in the family system. And the third is children who begin serving and getting involved where they actually serve in church ministry or outside church ministry where they're giving a life away to others, those are the three primary characteristics. Of that group, about 90% of them continue to walk with the Lord after their teen years. The essence is kids don't own a faith when you come to church, make that a little compartment of your life, drop them off at the greatest, coolest, best children or youth ministry, and what's happened is all their time in church there was a place and a person that gave substance to their faith. This is the place and there was a person, either a youth pastor, someone here, a network, when they go away, either to a trade school or to college, that person and place are removed and what you have is their faith is attacked, they don't know the Bible, they haven't owned their faith, the temptations morally are like never before in the history of our country, and so it's like, I'm done.

The biggest group that has wandered from the faith is our own children. We have to address that. The way to address that first and foremost is like asking ourselves, okay, is there a log, right?

Is there maybe a log in our eye? Do we need to own some stuff? Do we need to turn around?

Do we need to become people that they would emulate in terms of our commitment to Christ, our priorities, our values, how we spend our money, how we spend our time, get it? And then I think we have the very difficult job of reconnecting with our young adult children and beginning a journey and a dialogue of talking to them and where we've blown it, just own it and say, you know something, you're growing up yours, I wish I would have done this but I didn't. Now let's talk about what makes a living faith and what do you believe and why and let's just make this a topic of our conversation. I'm not going to pressure, I'm not going to push, but I just want you to know how much I love you, honey.

I want you, son, I want you to know how much I love you. And here's what I can tell you. Having been down this road, not all of my kids kind of just had this idyllic little, oh, my dad's a pastor, we all love God.

We didn't go down that path. I had one who went the opposite direction. And when he finally did his major U-turn, I said, what was it? You know, I was hoping like, dad, it was that 133rd sermon. That was the one that got me, you know, or some other big spiritual thing. He said, dad, I think the most powerful thing for me was Jesus is so real to you and I see you and mom living it out the same at home as you do at church. What's God want you to do with your kids? Where do you need to go? As you turn the back page, I want to summarize because there's a word to those who are wandering and there's three things that tend to be excuses. One is I'll come home later. And I would just say sin's tentacles are like an octopus.

One, another, another, it's like a spider web. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. If you're wandering, come back this moment, this day. You have a Heavenly Father, Luke 15, who's been looking and waiting and searching and whose arms are open.

Second, I'm too far gone. Romans 5-20 says where sin abounds, grace super abounds. And what that scripture means is that if you have dropped yourself in a 20-foot hole and you're looking up and going, this is impossible. God says I'll drop a 21-foot rope. And if you've dropped in a hole, you have no idea, man. You have no idea what I've done.

In fact, I can go to jail and on and on and on. I'm in a 150-foot hole. And God says, I get it, here's a 151-foot rope.

Hang on and I'll pull you up. You have never, ever, ever gone too far unless you're willing to turn, ask for forgiveness, and let him help you. And third, God could never accept me now.

Somehow this shame that's, and he says, though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool. You never were good enough. I was never good enough. No one will be ever good enough. Christ has made us good enough. His death on the cross paid for your sin, and he wants to wash and forgive you in vain.

I wanted to talk with you as we close today's program very privately before we do anything else. The two-step approach in God's Word that restores people is, number one, to pray. And we talked about that. And then it's confronting them. It's confronting them honestly, gently, persistently. And remembering the goal isn't to fix them, to make them feel guilty, it's to restore them.

And so you're honest. You are God's agent of life and love, and they ought to see a tear sort of running down your face as you talk about some very, very hard things. Who's that person? Who's that person that you are being called by God to intersect their life?

How they respond is not your responsibility. That you actually take the step is your responsibility. And now I want to pause for a moment because some of you listening to me are thinking, I don't need to talk to someone else. You and the Lord right now are talking to me. I've drifted. I've messed up.

I don't know even why or how I happen to listen to this right now. I need to turn. I need to repent. I'm that wayward son or daughter, and I need to know today that my Heavenly Father's arms are open, that He's been looking for me every day, that He's not down on me, that He loves me, that yes, I'll face some things, but there's no place to go.

There's no life apart from Him. And so, Lord, I want to pray now for courage for those that even as they are listening to my voice, they know there's a hard but loving conversation that needs to occur. Will you give them supernatural courage and put a date on the calendar to do it?

And, Father, I pray in like manner for those that realize this is for me. I need to turn around. I'm living with this person. I'm addicted to this substance. I'm logging onto the Internet. I've got issues in my life that I know are wrong.

I'm living a double life. I need to repent. I've got to tell someone, and I've got to run back to the Lord Jesus.

Lord, would you cause them to know and believe that there is hope and there is life and that you love them? In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Thanks, Chip.

Well, this is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And today you heard the remainder of Chip's message, Spiritual Healing, Operation Restoration, which is from his series, Does God Still Heal? And before we move on, I want to quickly highlight an incredible resource that will empower you to talk about your faith in a relatable, effective way. It's our friend John Dickerson's book, Jesus Loves Me. This resource will equip you with the tools to encourage others to embrace the Savior who loves them while also deepening your faith.

Grab your copy of John's book under special offers on the Chip Ingram map or at livingonthedge.org. And, hey, Chip, before we go, I can see you're wanting to jump in here one last time to share something with our listeners. Thanks so much, Dave. As we wrap up today's program, I have to tell you that one of the greatest things that happens through Living on the Edge is people make Jesus the Lord of their life.

And I've read literally thousands of emails, and the change that happens is just absolutely amazing, and it's a chain reaction. And so I just want to thank all of you that support the ministry financially because when someone makes Jesus Lord, their marriage changes, their parenting changes, who shows up at work changes. Thank you very, very much for your financial support. And, you know, if you have not supported us or haven't supported us in a while or would just kind of like to make it a habit and maybe do it monthly, today would be a great day to say, you know something? Christians need to live like Christians, and I'd like to help Living on the Edge. Thanks so much for whatever God leads you to do.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you're already a financial partner, thank you. With your help, Living on the Edge is ministering to more people than ever.

But if you're benefiting from Chip's teaching and haven't yet taken that step, now would be a great time to join the team. To send a gift or to become a monthly partner, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap Donate. As we close, if you're looking for good Bible content, check out the Chip Ingram app. You can listen to our most recent series or sign up for Daily Discipleship with Chip, a great resource to help you study God's Word at a deeper level. We want you to grow in your walk with Jesus, and the Chip Ingram app will help you do just that. Well, from all of us here, I'm Dave Druey, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge, and I hope you'll join us next time.