As we come to the end of the book of James today and we think back through that book and the various passages, the different topics that we've dealt with, it's been perhaps the most challenging series that we've gone through in the past few years in this church, especially in regards to Christian living and to being corrected by God's Word. The first four and a half chapters of James perhaps all the way up to about chapter 5 verse 12, they've been something, spiritually speaking, like an exploratory surgery. Perhaps more often in the days before x-rays or MRIs or CAT scans, you would hear back then of when a doctor who was trying to determine a person's illness, they would do an exploratory surgery. A person would actually go under the knife, so to speak, to determine what was wrong with them. It used to be that doctors were known for prodding and for poking and for physically trying to find what was wrong with a person. And maybe as you go through the book of James it feels a little bit that way. It's prodding, it's poking, and you even feel at times like you're under the knife. That the Word of God is like that double-edged sword that's exposing some of the sins that are in your life. And James certainly seems to be in that role. This is what the Holy Spirit is using him for. To do that cutting, that paring away. To expose when things are not as they ought to be in the church and in our individual lives. And to teach us what we ought not to do, really. It's very much a paring away, a cutting away of certain sins. But then we've come to these final verses, this last part of chapter 5. And this conclusion of the book has really been about healing. These last verses. Now that these sins have been exposed, these problems that were throughout that church and really still are throughout every church. There's those hardships and there's those sins that so easily cling to us and those problems. Well now, chapter 5, in the closing verses, it's come with this theme of healing. And as we've looked at that, that healing, we've seen that it's really a gospel answer. It's a picture much like those sick people that came to the Lord Jesus Christ for healing. And now chapter 5 is focused on how the church really acts in shepherding one another, in healing, in praying for one another. And we've seen that the center of that has been a call to prayer. We need to pray for one another. Whether you're happy, whether you're suffering, whether you're sick, whether somebody's struggling with sin, the main answer James gives in his conclusion in this last half of chapter 5, the main answer has been a call to prayer. We looked at that the last couple of weeks. A call to prayer. But there's also more to that, and we'll see it today. You know, some people, they read through the book of James, and they come to verses 19 and 20, and they think, where does that come from? Why is that the conclusion of the matter? Is that just some random sort of proverb added at the end of the book? a helpful saying, and they wonder what it has to do with the rest of the book of James. Well, as we will see, this is really the truth that wraps this all up, that brings the book to a conclusion, and it shows us how to act in response to everything we've gone through in five chapters. We've gone through all of these things, and especially when you see one of those sins in somebody's life, Perhaps you have a brother or sister in the church and they're slipping into having a loose tongue, or in speaking in ways that they shouldn't, or any of those many other sins that James went through again and again. And you see someone, well now James is teaching, how do we deal with that? The first answer is prayer. And then as we looked at, confess your trespasses to one another, verse 16. But now also when somebody's still wandering, what's the answer? Well, this is really how James wraps it all together, how the church should come to one another and how those errors and those sins and those weaknesses can be worked out and how we are to shepherd one another through that process. And so we're looking at this conclusion under the theme accountability, a model of gospel hope. Accountability is a word that you often hear in the church these days and it's probably the word that comes closest to what's happening in these verses. This is Christians holding one another accountable. Well, verse 19 begins one last time by calling out to the brethren. Every few verses, James again and again, he uses this word, brethren, brethren, brethren. And again by this, it reminds us that even though this church, it has struggles, these churches that James is writing to, they have struggles with infighting, they have struggles with sins, with false teaching. James' purpose, it's not to write them all off. and to say, well, you're just a bunch of no good, worthless hypocrites. That's what this word brethren again and again reminds us of. Yes, James' rebukes, they're pointed, his language is strong, but each time he comes again and again, and here one last time in the conclusion with this address, brethren, and that means my dear siblings in Christ, my brothers and sisters, behind that is that picture we've seen, those that are adopted in the name of the Son, those that are in the holy family of God, that are different than the world around them. This is how you should act as a family. This is how you should treat one another as brothers. And the process that's outlined here, verses 19 and 20, that's really a family picture. This is a brother's keeper rule. Think way back to Genesis chapter 4. This is about how we should be a brother's keeper. Not slaying one another with words, but rather shepherding one another, holding one another accountable, building each other up. And so now the Apostle James comes and he's come with these strong rebukes. But we should remember that this is all in a family picture. that we as a church, we need to be also family to one another. That's not just warm, fuzzy, sentimental speak. We should really think of one another as a loving family. And included in that should be these gentle rebukes for one another, and this love, and this, when we notice somebody wandering. You see, James has love and care for these Christian siblings. James is not a sniper. taking pot shots at an enemy. He's not just trying to wear people down. That's not the point of the book of James. Yes, there's trouble and there's problems, but this accountability between brothers also, it's not wearing each other down. That's not the point. It's not doing the devil's work and tearing each other apart. No, it's painful work at times. It's hard work at times. to come to each other when somebody's wandering, they have a certain sin in their life and we're holding them accountable, it's difficult. But it's not taking pot shots, and that's not the way James should be seen. And this word brethren, it lends a certain warmth to this picture and to this book again and again and again. You see, James is saying this process of accountability It needs to be practiced from a Christian foundation. It's not done vindictively. It's not done in revenge. It's not done self-righteously. It's not lording it over each other. No, this is brother to brother and sister to sister. Well, now we turn. If anyone wanders, if anyone among you wanders from the truth. So remember this is addressed to brethren. This is done in love. Now to begin with that word if, it's a little different if than the Bible often uses. We get a sense from that word if actually in the original that James expects somewhat that this is going to happen. It's pretty much assumed. Some among you will wander. You don't want to presume it about everybody, anyone, but it happens. It's more than likely to happen that someone will wander and someone will restore them. And James comes with this encouragement. You see, many times, many, many times, the New Testament warns that there are Christians who slip. and who are in danger of falling. Epistles like 1 Corinthians and Galatians or the messages to the seven churches in Revelation. There are many, many times that the Word of God warns that people wander. It happens. It's even to be expected. It's like a picture of a literal flock of sheep. There are always those sheep that are on the edges, they're on the fringes, they're at risk of wandering away. And so we should expect, it's pretty much assumed that this process, it does happen, and even that it does work. But this is how people are restored. that we should expect that that happens. And notice, James says, among you. This is about fellow Christians, this is about church members, who as far as we know, they're right with the Lord God, they profess faith in Jesus Christ, but then we look over and we see in a certain area of their life, or in what they're reading, or what they're saying, or how they're living, that they're starting to wander away. What is wandering? Well, it's not always at the beginning a U-turn from the faith. This is wandering. Usually, wandering, it doesn't begin with a dive off of a cliff. You don't wait for somebody in the church to get way over to the side and fall into a pit, as sheep did in those days. That's not the point. No, wandering, it usually begins fairly subtly. It begins when a young person, you could parallel it somewhat to that teenager that starts to run with the wrong crowd. They make the wrong friends, they start to spend time with the wrong people, but maybe they don't start trying all the things that that wrong crowd does. They haven't gotten into the addictions yet. They're just beginning to wander. Or you see an older person, maybe they start to read and to listen to false teaching. or they start to turn back to old sins, and like a strange sheep, the grass looks greener on the edge, and they just begin to go a little further, and a little further, and a little further. And soon, it's a serious, deadly situation. But we need to understand that James is calling us to watch out for one another when we wander. It's not, wait till they fall off a cliff, wait till they're completely down and out. No, these are people that are beginning to wander. And that often progresses. The important thing is when somebody's wandering, whether it's in your family or in your church, you don't wait until they fall right down flat on their face and they're done and they're down and out. No, wandering, notice it's pretty specific actually. It's wandering from the truth. That actually starts with good teaching. And often, when a Christian wanders into a sin, you start to notice that their vocabulary and the way that they're talking about things, they begin to wander first from the truth. It's not just, though, about the kind of books that they're reading and the kind of teaching that they're dealing with. No, remember that James, for James, truth, it's not just a matter of what's on our lips. James has called us again and again to be a doer and not just a hearer, to adorn our faith with works. And so this picture of wandering, it's broad. It may start with getting into falsehoods and false teaching and starting to drift away from reading the Bible. That's often the first sign. But it's also slipping into these very sins that James has exposed. You see, this is a conclusion. And to really understand what this wandering is, we have to look back over the whole book of James. We have to think about all those different things he outlined. The loose tongue. The wrath of man. The faithlessness. Being a hearer and not a doer. The pride. The favoritism. The argumentative attitudes. Teaching when not called to teach. You see, in this conclusion, James is wrapping all of that together and he's saying, when you see people slipping into those sins, and those sins beginning to take them over, he says, restore them. And he encourages, actually. In this conclusion, it teaches us, though we can't be busybodies, getting into everybody's life and we shouldn't be policing one another in one sense. On the other hand, this is teaching us that we don't just apply what James has taught to our own heart. There are times and there are places to look around at our brothers and our sisters and in mutual accountability to carefully remind them of what the pastor is teaching. and what the Word of God is teaching and when they're slipping away from that. Now, how do we find this balance? That we don't go around being judgmental and being busybodies and being gossips. There's another chance that we could slip over the edge in this and everybody becomes a policeman and is constantly going around putting their nose, so to speak, in others' business. Well, first we need to realize that this is about wandering. This is when you Notice a person drifting away from the Lord and His people. This is not about stumbling. See, James doesn't use the word stumble. He could use the word stumble. We've seen that word. James 3 verse 2, we all stumble in many ways. We're not called here to have an intervention, so to speak, every time somebody stumbles. to go into some sort of crisis mode every time somebody stumbles and makes a mistake and falls into a sin. No, this is more about a pattern. It's not about every stumble that somebody does, every mistake they make. This is about when you see a Christian brother or sister and they're slipping into a pattern of wandering, and you notice that maybe they're at church a little less and a little less. You notice that the way they're talking and what they're doing in their life, it's starting to turn away. It's not every little stumble. We all stumble in every way. In fact, there's a time to overlook stumbles. Think of Proverbs 19 verse 11. The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression. So James is not calling us and saying you all become policemen who are pointing fingers at every little mistake, every little error, every little thing. No, he's saying when you see somebody wandering, somebody going off into other pastures. And so you can even be hurt by somebody's sin, you can be bothered. And there's times to overlook that. Proverbs 19, 11. Times to be simply loving and patient, to overlook that incident, to be gracious, to let it go. There are times to do that. But how do we know the difference? Well, the answer again is that picture of wandering. We want to make sure that when we see somebody slipping away and beginning especially to separate themselves, That's the ultimate picture of wandering, isn't it? Somebody separating from the truth. And usually that goes with separating themselves from their Christian family. Serious sin, it causes a distance. Maybe it starts with not talking to many people at church. And then they wander a little more and they're not at church as much anymore. And they begin to avoid contact and social situations. And you feel a distance, a separation. Well, often wandering will come with that. We shouldn't say always. But often. You imagine a sheep. They're hobbling along. They're stumbling. They're in some weakness. But they're staying close to the stronger ones. They're staying close to the shepherd. Well, that's not as much a wandering sheep. But then there's another sheep, and they're sort of given up, and they're defeated, or they're rebellious, and they begin to wander, and they begin to move away, and you can feel a certain coldness in your relationship. Well, that's the time to help others. Now, that's not to say that people can't wander and put up a really good appearance. Certainly that happens. There are those that stay socially in the church, they stay close to the church family it seems, but then all of a sudden we find out one day they're living a double life. They're a hypocrite. And if we see signs of that, we should hold them accountable. But then in another sense, there's the reality that sometimes we just don't know. They're a hypocrite. They've hidden it so well. But this is very much about somebody who's living in sin and who's slipping away more and more and how we are responsible to deal with them. And that accountability, that responsibility, it does happen in even an everyday sense. Look at Hebrews 3 verse 12. Beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily. Well, it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Notice, in Hebrews chapter 3, it's actually a daily pattern. There is a sense where this should be happening on a small level every day, reminding each other of the truth, exhorting each other, especially positively teaching each other about the gospel and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice, by the way, these Christians must have been close. Hebrews 3, daily. They weren't just Sunday Christians who got together on Sunday and never saw each other otherwise. They were separate from each other. No, there's a sense there daily. And so there is something to the process of the accountability that should be daily. More on the positive side of exhorting one another and teaching one another, but there should be a back and forth relationship, an everyday relationship. But it's important the root also that's exposed, both in James and in Hebrews. See, James, he talks about the truth, and we've seen that that's broad. It's everything James that speaks about. But Hebrews highlights that the apostles and the church, they had a concern there. An evil heart of unbelief. You see, if you're wandering, if somebody in the church is wandering, and they're stumbling more and more, and they're departing from the flock, and they're on the edge of falling away completely, the problem that they have at its root, we need to remember, it's not lying, it's not gossip, it's not lust, it's not adultery, it's not addiction. The problem at the root, especially in Hebrews 3, it's more clear, it's that evil heart of unbelief. Their eyes are not on the truth. They're wandering from the truth. And so, even though it might come out, and all the things we've looked at in the book of James, in that broad level, all those different problems, the gossip, and the different things we've talked about in James, at the heart of that is a problem of unbelief. of losing their grasp on the truth. Their eyes are not fixed on the shepherd. And maybe this is happening to you sitting here today, even in church. Your eyes are not fixed on the shepherd, but on yourself. You're looking so much at your circumstances and you begin to get discouraged or angry or bitter and you begin to drift from trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as you perhaps thought you did. And you see, the Bible is calling us that underneath this problem of wandering, that there's a deeper reality. That people don't believe anymore, or they never did, perhaps, ultimately. They didn't trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the point is, unless you repent, unless you give up on sin and self and the world, you'll, in the end, you'll depart. And so this accountability, we need to give it some focus. It begins with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a matter of strengthening those sheep. We shouldn't think that as fellow Christians, when we're shepherding each other on a level of accountability, that we just come with a stick. And we just beat that person back into line and say, you're doing this, this, and this wrong, I see you wandering, and now I come with a stick and I bang you back onto the path. That's not the point. When Hebrews, he says, exhort one another daily, Hebrews chapter 3, and wandering from the truth. You could also think of the picture of offering a sheep or a cow that's wandering a handful of good and green grass. You can get a cow or a sheep or an animal to move more than one way. It's not just beating them with a stick and shoving them over. There's also the side of where you can call them over gently and you can offer them some grass. And actually, as we look at this process, there's that side to it. It's a picture of the need for hope. Of bringing each other over by exhorting each other daily, by pointing each other to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of grace in Him. And as fellow believers, we need to become instruments. in the Lord's hand. That's what we're called to do. To become perhaps at times, with a brother we know well, the one that has to use a little bit of a stick. But also, especially also the ones that call each other back and invite each other back and point to the promises of the Lord and the glory of being in His church and the privileges and the rewards of being in Jesus Christ. Now James actually doesn't go so much into that how, does he? It doesn't so much teach us how to call a sinner back. There's not really a practical manual here on accountability and how to shepherd each other. Actually, what James really focuses on It's just encouragement for why you should do this. He doesn't go into the how. You can go to Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Notice there again, it's a spirit of gentleness. It's not just beating with a stick. It's inviting. It's calling. It's encouraging. There's a caring, there's a gentle process there. Or you can also look at Matthew chapter 18, which is helpful. It gives us a level to follow and it gives us a procedure. James is not so much interested in that practical side. He's more encouraging us to do this. Actually, what James is speaking of is really even before Matthew 18. It's not yet on that Matthew 18 level. This is a whole practice of accountability that should be happening every day as we lovingly encourage each other, as we invite each other back to church, and as we care for one another, have each other in our homes, as we deal with each other, help each other, encourage each other. That should be the picture of James chapter 5. You see a turning a person back. It shouldn't as often be done with the witnesses and the elders and the church of Matthew 18, as it should be happening every day and every week. Hebrews 3, daily, should be happening constantly, this process, that we're patiently and lovingly correcting one another. There's a tone of encouragement here, actually. You see, James, he actually comes and he sells this process. Rather than giving a whole list of this is how you go about this and this is the practical examples, James actually, as it were, he sells this to us. He says, look at what happens when you hold each other accountable. Look at how wonderful this is. See, it's not really actually all that complicated. I don't think you need a practical manual to do this. It's pray, speak, love. The problem is not that we need a whole book written on this and how to hold each other accountable. No, it's very simple. It's just simply going and speaking to your brothers, building strengthening relationships, encouraging them, calling them back. And James, he sells this accountability. Really, that's what he's doing it. To put it in our language. He's selling it. He's saying, look at what happens. Look at how wonderful it is when people go and be accountable because he knows people don't naturally want to do this. How often does this really happen in a church? That brothers and sisters come to each other and say, I'm concerned for you. I'm worried about the way that you're going or I see that you need some encouragement. It doesn't happen as it ought to. And so James comes and he comes with this encouraging picture and he says, look how God can use you as an instrument in his hands. Look at the wonderful, the amazing consequence of what happens when you do this. He sells it. He says, look at how wonderful this is. See, the problem is in our human nature, it's so much easier. We see somebody wandering from the church. So easy, isn't it, to gossip about them? To say to somebody else, did you hear that so-and-so slipping into this or falling into that? It's so easy to slander them. As we've gone through James, you see this is the exact opposite of what he's calling us to. It's so easy to have that poison on our tongues and to look down on others. And as we read in verse 9, it's so easy to grumble about somebody in the church and to gossip about them. That's all easy, isn't it? It comes so naturally. It takes no effort at all. And so James, he doesn't need to give us a practical bunch of steps to do this. No, he says, look what happens. Look how big this is. You know, our society, it loves stories of heroes, doesn't it? The children, they play with little models of firefighters and policemen, and they love these stories of heroes, of police and firefighters and soldiers who do great things. People love that kind of story. Think of those three young men in Belgium on that train this week. Just how excited and how grateful people were that they subdued a terrorist, that they ran right up to him while he held a gun and he held knives. And how excited, how grateful they became national heroes for what they had done. The horrible consequences they saved people from. And by the way, the media is not reporting this, but those three young men were Christians. It's coming out now more, not in the mainstream media, that they ran at a gun because they were willing to lay down their lives. And that's the picture here, you see. Holding somebody accountable, it's scary, isn't it, at times? It feels like you're running towards a gun. because it's hard to remind somebody that they're beginning to wander, and you'll often get some pushback because we're all proud, aren't we? We even push back at each other, and that's sad. That's not the kind of thing that should happen. But you see James, he's coming and he's saying basically, you can be a hero, so to speak. The Lord calls you to hold one another accountable, and look what happens. He doesn't say you need to do A, B, and C, and here's the process, and here's the manual you need to follow. It's assumed you know what to do. You know those men on that train in Belgium. Two of them were trained soldiers on leave. And I saw an interview where they were asked, did your training kick in? When you face this man, you're trained soldiers, your training must have helped you subdue him. And they, all three, what did they say? They said, no. It was pure instinct. We did what we knew was right. We saw, we knew there were innocent people, there were children on that train, and we just went without even thinking. And you see, James assumes you know, Christian, what to do. It's in your conscience. It's in your heart. You know what wandering looks like. We don't have to give you a whole manual and a whole book. But what you need is you need encouragement to do this because you're too scared to do it. It's easier just to stand by and to let things happen and to watch people wander away and maybe say a few things to a friend or to a spouse. But you see the real problem in our churches is that we're just plain too selfish and fearful and lazy so often to help a brother, aren't we? It's human nature. And so James, he encourages us, he says, look at this like a rescue operation, as a heroic process where God uses you as an instrument to save your own brother from death. 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. What better reward could there be? What more exciting consequence? James is saying, you're like a firefighter running into a burning building and yes, there's risk and it's hard, but what a wonderful outcome there is. The language is so strong it might even make you uncomfortable. You might look at this verse and you might ask questions like, I thought only Jesus saves sinners. I thought only His blood covers up sins, and indeed that's true, but it's James' very point. He's turning us to see that the Lord uses His church by His Holy Spirit. He uses you in the lives of other Christians as an instrument in His hands to apply the truth of the gospel, and through you as well as His Holy Spirit, and it's ultimately, we would say, the work of His Holy Spirit in us, but He uses you to lead others to the cross of Christ, the Apostle Paul. He tells Timothy that same basic thing, 1 Timothy 4, take heed to yourselves in the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you, not meaning Timothy is literally the one who dies on a cross for their sins and who atones for their sins, but that Timothy in his faithfulness will be used by the Lord God as an instrument to save sinners and to bring people to Christ. You see, when we faithfully follow this instruction, we become as it were a rope and a hook in the hands of the Lord that he uses to pluck people from sin and from danger and to bring them back. The Lord uses mutual accountability in this process of encouraging and challenging and sharpening each other. And it becomes a picture of the gospel. You see, James' encouragement is needed because it's difficult, it's not easy to take a brother aside. And so he gives really the pinnacle, the peak, the greatest encouragement. It's a cross to bear, actually, if you do this. There's a certain fear, isn't there, in holding others accountable and reminding them. Some will not like you. They'll be convicted of their sin and they'll get angry. It'll bother them. They might even turn on you. It takes some time and some effort and it takes thought and it takes prayer, but when we love people in the church in this way, when we love them enough to speak to them and even question them and challenge them, what will unfold, if they're turned back, is this beautiful gospel picture again. It's parallel to that picture of the elders praying with somebody who's sick or dealing with somebody who's falling into sin. You see, when Christians wander, And then they're turned back. When they're turned back, it covers up sin, because they're brought to the Lord Jesus Christ, but also the reputation of the church and of Christians is preserved. And that's why, by the way, this should happen directly to people's faces, person to person, in confidence, in privacy. Church should not be going around broadcasting sins of others. through gossip, exposing them to the world. And it's so very sad, by the way, that on the Internet these days, Christian websites and blogs, supposedly Christian, they seem to be no better than the tabloids that are on the supermarket newsstand. Don't assume that every Christian website or one with the name Christian on it is doing good. No, it seems that half of those websites that call themselves Christian are really about exposing sin and putting it all over their front pages. You see, when the church is healthy in accountability, when we're gathering each other in, when we're reminding each other, sin is covered up. It's hidden from the view of the world. It's not broadcasted, it's not gossiped about, it's not sent all over the internet. No, we're gathering each other in. We're holding each other accountable. And so, the reputation of the world, can you imagine what the reputation of the church, sorry, to the world would be if we took these verses seriously? If the church of Jesus Christ in North America would do this, if they would love each other, Proverbs 10 verse 12, love covers all sins. If we would just remind each other before people wander all the way away, what a covering up there would be in that accountability. In conclusion again, we see that the Lord's purpose in using James and inspiring him, it wasn't first to point the church to that lost doctrine of justification by grace through faith. James assumes these Christians that they know that, and we've seen that in chapter 2. He assumes that they have that foundation of doctrine, that they have understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. But James' whole book, as we've gone through it, it addresses another need in the church. And that is the doctrine that the doctrine of being saved by grace through faith, that it must be lived out. Along with that faith, or on top of that faith, there must be those works, that fruit. Faith is lived out in the church, it's alive, it's visible. And the rest of the world and the church can see that. And in that, the Lord is using His church and His people as instruments. You see, good doctrine must be lived out every day. It's about the gospel applied to our charity, our words, our works as we've gone through James. It's about the church really being Christian. If we would take to heart the calls of the book of James, the effect on our family and on our church would be that through mutual accountability, correcting one another, and applying the truth, we would become more and more Christ-like, demonstrating that we are the people that are willing to lay down their lives for each other, willing to go the extra mile, that yes, we know that it's the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood pays for all of our sins. That we're forgiven in Him alone, and through faith alone, but now we have life. So you see, this conclusion of James, it really wraps it all up, doesn't it? The whole book. And it teaches us what we're called to. Ultimately, into really a tight package of what a church should look like. It should be a church where we're not tearing each other apart, we're not speaking behind each other's backs. It should be a church where we're not looking down and letting our mouths run loose. But it should be a church where we're building up, strengthening, praying for one another, ultimately sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with each other. And as we think back on a book like James, may it be a reminder of the joy of being shepherded. of being ruled over by the word of God and by the Holy Spirit and kept in line the joy of being kept from straying also by the way of our brothers and sisters. Amen.