Sin, Discipline and Restoration

Transcript

GRM 729
4/8/2001
Sin, Discipline, and Restoration
James 5:13-20
Gil Rugh

Turn in your bibles to Matthew 18. We are talking about the unfolding of the pattern Christ sets down in Matthew 18, for handling strange sheep, talked about how precious each sheep is to God in the first part of Matthew 18, and then He set forth the procedure that we follow as the church in seeking and restoring wandering sheep we call this matter often church discipline but we want to see it in the proper context it’s really church restoration, cause that’s the ultimate goal now there is discipline involved but discipline always has as it’s goal, righteousness, restoration to right relationship with God this also ties with what we were talking about this morning in our study in Revelation chapter 19 that the church is the bride of Christ and during this betrothal time in the picture of the marriage analogy one of the things that is happening is the purity of our devotion to Christ is being demonstrated or proved if you will. The comparison to the oriental wedding pattern that which was exemplified in Mary and Joseph that betrothal period of time where the purity of the bride is demonstrated, and so the purity of the church is of great importance. Jesus set down in Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 down through verse 20 a series of steps or the procedure to follow, if you become aware of sin in a fellow Christians life you are to go and speak to him about that matter to help him correct the situation but if there is a refusal to deal with the sin then you take two or three with you they will join together with you as witnesses against the sinning Christian that your behavior is wrong, unbiblical, sinful. They will also be witnesses before the church if it comes to that end, if he won’t listen to the witnesses then you tell it to the church as we noted in our local church that involves first telling it to the elders as representatives of the church so they can work through the details if there is still a persistence in the sin then it is told to the congregation. Now the purpose is not to humiliate the person, the purpose is to impress upon them what the seriousness of the matter that the whole church is joined together in speaking to you about the seriousness of your sin, the church does not speak because of a superior righteousness but out of a desire that this erring Christian be genuinely restored to right relationship with the Lord and with fellow believers. If in all of this the person persists in sin, then it becomes necessary to disassociate ourselves from that person, from the fellowship with that person yet we recognize that this person is not an enemy as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, but it is a brother a sister in Christ and so we want them to be restored to the fellowship. We don’t view them as the enemy we view them as a child of God under the discipline of God and the church is the instrument to this point God uses in His discipline. There was encouragement in this, reminder in verses 18, 19 and 20 that heaven joins with the people of God in this action, Jesus Christ is there in the midst, verse 20, “where two or three have gathered together there I am in their midst,” so when those two or three witnesses step to confront this believer and then is presented to the church, Jesus Christ is there, His authority is with them so it’s not to be taken lightly. We ended here but I did observe this is not the end of the procedure, this is what we can do to this point there may be contacts along the way as we may contact the person and want to continue to encourage them to consider the error of their ways and at any time the person is willing to recognize their sin and deal with it and put it behind them then there is to be a full and complete restoration to the fellowship of believers. I’ll have more to say about that at a future time. But as long as that persists then there is a disassociation that has taken place, but God doesn’t give up we still are God’s children, the discipline has come to the point that the fellowship with the church God’s people has been broken. Passages like I Corinthians chapter five, you deliver this one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in other words when he’s put out of the fellowship he’s really put into the realm of Satan’s operation. But God’s discipline continues in that realm, we ought not to think well then the process is over, the process has really moved to a even more serious step and that is God’s direct discipline in the sense that He has been working through the church to this point now with the disassociation of the church the discipline comes more direct and He even uses Satan in the chastening of this child. Why don’t you turn to I Corinthians chapter 5. Here was a sin of immorality that is being dealt with and in verse 5 we are told, “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” The scripture tells us if you are without discipline you are an illegitimate child, you do not really belong to the Lord because the Lord disciplines each and everyone of His children, now this part of belonging to God, it is an evidence of His love and care and concern so even the turning over to Satan is with a view to the ultimate salvation of this person but it may involve the destruction of the flesh. In other words, persistence in sin can result in physical death. As a disciplining act of God on a sinning Christian He concluded the chapter with the instruction remove the wicked man from among yourselves. His concern was the church was not doing its responsibility the result of that would be sin which spread in the church which we’ve already addressed. So, the purpose of this separating is two-fold, to maintain the purity of the church and to impress upon the sinning Christian to the absolute necessity of dealing with the sin and getting right with God, note here this is an action of the church to the extent that we do not do what God has said. We do harm to this sinning Christian as well as harm to the fellowship of the church. Well, they’re too close a friend, well I couldn’t do that. We’re at a serious matter when we tell God for whatever reason we won’t do what He says and so we need to see the seriousness of the matter here. While you’re in I Corinthians go over to chapter 11. Here we’re told there was sin, not moral sin; but coming to the communion service and the remembrance of the death of the Lord with an improper attitude, wrong motives, selfishness, desire to fill the stomach. On those days they had a regular meal in association with the Lord’s Supper as we would call it today, the communion service. They had a literal supper. There were abuses going on and because of those abuses God has intervened in discipline. Down at the end of chapter 11:29, “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” God had brought physical weakness physical sickness and even physical death to the church at Corinth for their wrong behavior here. We are talking about believers because verse 32, “But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.” Becomes a reminder if you’re without discipline you don’t belong to the Lord, so the positive emphasis even in this severe discipline you see this has moved beyond the churches action now that God has directly intervened given Satan the freedom to attack the physical body of His children. We get an idea of how Satan can operate in the book of Job with that can bring great physical distress to a person. Evidently in light of what he said in I Corinthians 5 about turning a sinning Christian over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. It gives some insight into how the physical bodily weakness and death occurs here. God gives Satan the freedom to attack the body even to the point of bringing about physical death in the lives of believers. Now you need to be careful many Christians have physical afflictions many Christians suffer ongoing bodily weakness some Christians die at what we would say an early age. Sometimes that is simply the plan of God as the suffering of Job was part of the plan of God for Job and his friends sinned greatly against God by insisting that he must be guilty of sin. So, we want to be careful here as setting ourselves up as judges, I don’t always know what is going on in a life, if God is disciplining you for sin you will know about it. Just as we discipline our children we don’t discipline, and they go away saying I don’t have any idea why I just got spanked. Part of the purpose of discipline is they understand it is associated with a certain action. Now you may have sin in your life that no one else knows about and since no one knows about it, it involves the direct intervention of God to bring discipline, but you know what it is no one else may know. Now when someone is open in their sins and certain things occur then it’s logical to put together physical affliction comes and you’ve been persisting in certain sin and others are aware of that sin as well someone’s under discipline and they persist in that. God intervenes and certain things occur physically well you’d say well there’s reason to connect them because clearly, they’re in the discipline process. You see how we don’t do a favor to anyone by overlooking their sin because what we’re really saying is we’re just gonna leave it to be handled with God in the most serious way, now we love our children our physical children don’t we? We would love them to be spared the pain, we want to correct the problem as early as possible for their good. God expects us to have a love for one another as His family reflecting His love. Say of course we deal in what would be called church discipline. What do we just want to ignore it so God Himself has to intervene and bring the most severe discipline to that life? No, the Lord uses us to restore an erring Christian before it becomes necessary for You to bring more painful things into the life. Before we look at another passage that I want to concentrate on, come over to Hebrews. Since I keep referring to this passage, Hebrews 12:4, and here you see even physical suffering is part of the ongoing general disciplining process of God so there is discipline which comes into our life for specific sins then there is the discipline of God that comes in because we are imperfect beings and He is refining us so here there were suffering Christians undergoing persecution, Hebrews 12:4 “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.” Don’t take it lightly and our children need to learn that don’t they? Because if they don’t what happens? It requires more severe discipline. What happens if you give your child a spanking he turns around and says ha ha that didn’t hurt? Well, we’ll correct that, well what happens when we don’t take seriously God’s chastening at the time may not be as severe, we’re not paying attention. So don’t take lightly the discipline of the Lord. “Nor faint when you are reproved by Him.” Now the two extremes you treat lightly or ooh it’s more than I can bear. “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Now that’s a serious discipline, scourging you note every son every child of God experiences the discipline of God in their life. All of our lives we can all at look difficult times in our lives, well I don’t know that there was any specific sin in my life but you know that process drew me closer to the Lord, it refined me in my walk with the Lord, it did purify my walk with the Lord cause the struggles and trials have a way of what? Cleaning up our lives, not that, well we have this major sin to deal with sometimes He just draws me what? To a more serious focus in my life which is generally maybe got caught up in things and lose the focus, it’s all part of the process. Verse 7, “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” You say look I sin, and nothing happens, I’ve had ongoing sin for a long time nothing’s happened. That ought to concern you greatly because scripture says that never happens to one who truly belongs to God. So, if your just involved in sin and it seem like boy, I get away with it nothing happens, and I can tell ya boy this goes on so I don’t know that I agree with this issue that God judges sin all the time and disciplines. Well maybe you fail to understand that He only disciplines children that belong to Him, and if you are without discipline that not what the verse says? Then you are illegitimate children meaning you are claiming to belong to God, but you don’t belong to God, the claim is not genuine. We respected our earthly fathers and as time passes, we appreciate the purpose of discipline that they brought. Verse 10, “For they discipline us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.” As human parents our discipline is fallible, we make mistakes in our discipline and sometimes we fail to discipline when we should, sometimes we’re overly severe in the discipline, it’s an imperfect discipline, but God’s discipline is always exactly what it needs to be for our good that we may share His holiness. Verse 11, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” You see the good intention, the world looks at discipline, oh yeah that’s the church that disciplines, they shun people and judge people and so on. They fail to appreciate the purpose and goal in discipline. Feel like much of the world that has written off what God has said regarding the discipline of our physical children. Are they acting in greater love toward their children because they don’t discipline? No, what a tragedy, children left to themselves, people can’t stand to have them around and they can’t stand themselves, and we do that for their good? No. So God disciplines us for our good and that means the churches involvement in discipline is for the purpose of holiness, it’s for the purpose of righteousness and that is the goal in it. Keep going back through Hebrews to James chapter 5, I want to talk a little bit about James chapter 5. You may write down Proverbs 13:24, “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” There it’s talking about physical discipline of our physical children; the principle is discipline is an evidence of love and when you don’t discipline you are evidencing a lack of love. People in our twisted day, the world always is opposed to what God says, God says discipline evidences love, what the world says, oh discipline evidences child abuse, those who love their children don’t discipline, well we ought to expect that from the world, world always wants to go the opposite of what God says, it’s opposed to God and we could just pile up illustration after illustration. The book of James closes with some material that I think relates to this matter of physical discipline of the Lord in a life. Pick up with verse 13 just for the context, “Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises.” The two responses, if your suffering go to the Lord talk it over with Him, and if your cheerful sing praises. I mean you know both cases you go to the Lord, one you go to him to seek His strength, His enablement the other you go to Him to praise Him. Whether things are bad or good as we would refer to them, whether you’re suffering or going through a time of blessing cheerfulness you go to the Lord, both suffering you need His strength and enablement and when things are going well don’t forget you go to Him and praise Him. Then he goes back, and he really wants to talk about the suffering and the sickness. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him.” verse 14. Now here the prayer if any of you is suffering let him pray; now we move it into a broader context that the prayer includes not only your own prayer, but you call for the spiritual leaders of the church and ask them to pray. “And let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Now when he talks about any among you sick, the word sick here can be used two ways here in the bible and we’re not going to chase this down and let me just remind you of it for example, Romans chapter 14 verses 1 and 2 we talk about the weaker brother, talking about somebody who is weaker spiritually, it’s the same word that’s translated sickness here that’s also true in I Corinthians 8: 11-12. Similar kind of context the weaker Christian, the weaker brother the word translated weak there is the word translated sickness here. It’s a word that can be used of spiritual weakness or physical weakness and there also numerous uses of the word of physical sickness or weakness in the New Testament. Some understand sickness here we translate verse 14, is any among you spiritually weak? Let him call for the elders of the church. There is truth in that, but I don’t think it fits the context of what James is talking about here as well as the idea of physical sickness. Most commentators do recognize physical sickness is the view here and I think that best fits the context. “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church.” This is given as a command if you’re sick in this context you call for the elders of the church, “let him call” is an imperative a command, “call for the elders.” Then there’s a command given for the elders; they are to “pray over him.” So let them pray here is God’s direct instruction for those in this period of sickness. Call for the elders of the church and here again you see there are elders plural for the church, singular that’s why we have a plurality of elders in the church is consistent, in the New Testament there are a plurality of elders in the local church. I take it that the local church is the context here wherever this is taking place the elders of that church would be the ones being called, “they are to pray over him,” That’s the command given, and they are also then to be “anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Lots of discussion about the anointing with oil. In the seminary I studied at they practiced the anointing of oil on the sick and the pastors would go, and they carried a little vial of oil and they would place that on the forehead of the person that was sick, praying over them. Sometimes the oil is used to represent the Holy Spirit as the one who would bring healing. The word anointing, and I’m just mentioning it that your aware there are a couple of Greek words for anointing, one refers to more of a ceremonial anointing, one would be used more of a physical anointing it could be used to help the person physically it’s that second word that’s used here, but I don’t think that makes the difference in the context. Because the elders come, and they pray they also are anointing him with oil and the prayer of faith we are told shall raise up the sick. First part of verse 15, so it’s not uh I’ve reading a commentary, and he believes well what the elders are doing is doing the medicinal as well as the spiritual. They pray for him but they also do what medicine can do and in those days the applying of oil and rubbing in of the oil had medicinal qualities about it. But I don’t think you’re calling for the elders to give medicinal help here, there you would call for maybe Dr. Luke but not necessarily the elders, you don’t want to call me if you want some medical help. I think the oil here is probably representative of is often in scripture of joy and happiness so it seems to me what happens here is in the context calling for the elders in the context of being sick here I think is focusing more on the area sickness that is caused by the discipline of the Lord, that’s why you have to get the spiritual leaders involved I'm not opposed to calling the elders to pray, spiritual godly people to come and pray for you. Is a ministry elders have with sick as well. I think in the context of James, I wouldn’t exclude the elders coming and praying for people that are sick. Generally, there have been times when our elders have been asked to come and pray for someone who is sick and certainly that’s fitting, important for godly people to be praying for others as a ministry of elders, a prayer ministry. But in the context here the concern is with those who’s illness maybe caused by sin, because the prayer of the elder is no more efficacious generally speaking than anybody else, any believer because Hebrews makes clear that every believer has access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ. You don’t have to call the elders in this church because their prayers are more effective and more powerful and more influential with God as though we were a category of priests. It would seem that you would ask spiritual people to pray for you and again I’m not opposed to having the elders come and pray but their prayer will not necessarily be more powerful than a prayer of any godly person in the body. But where there is the discipline of the Lord you do need the involvement of the spiritual leaders here. So, the anointing with oil and the oil is often used as a symbol of joy and gladness, just jot down Psalm 45:7. Talk about the oil of joy in Isaiah 61:3 they talk about the oil of gladness. Oil representing, symbolizing God’s blessing the joy and happiness of the occasion there are passages we could look at in the gospels as well, but we won’t take the time to do that. I think that’s in the context of the events that are taking place here let’s move on and see how it develops. Verse 15, “The prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” The prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and that word translated to restore is the Greek word salvation sozo-- is a Greek word some of you are familiar with that word, it means to save, it’s used of spiritual salvation many times in the New Testament. It’s also used as it is here of physical salvation or healing from sickness. Often in the gospels of a restoration to physical health, remember the woman with the issue of blood who wanted to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. “And if I touch the hem of His garment I’ll be made well,” sozo that’s the same word ------ I will be saved, Jesus said your faith has made you well, your faith has saved you. The word is used of both physical salvation and of spiritual salvation. I think he’s talking here the prayer in faith will restore the one who is sick, he’s obviously talking about the salvation of the sick here, the restoration of the sick to physical health. “The Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” Now this is the first indication that sin may be involved in the process here. It doesn’t say that it is, if that is the case, sin has been involved then that will be forgiven here. God can bring healing to general sickness, doesn’t mean God only heals is the sickness is a result of physical discipline. He can heal where the sickness is not related to sin of some kind. Sometimes He does not, Job had to endure a long time ultimately God did restore him, sometimes there’ll be those who suffer physical death, just in the plan of God in the numbering of their days. Whatever, “if he has committed sin” he may have they may have not, but if he has, “they will be forgiven him.” Now the issue of sin is being dealt with, forgiveness takes place, and it takes place in the context of healing here. “Therefore” look at verse 16, “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed.” You see it goes on and the focus becomes more the issue of dealing with sin in the life and you’ll see that’s going to be where he builds to the end of his letter. He picks up, “confess your sins to one another” and in the context it would seem that first and foremost he is dealing with the issue of sin as it’s acknowledged to the spiritual leaders of the church. Why did he call the spiritual leaders of the church? Well he wanted them to pray and that would be fitting but there could be other believers that could come, but there’s sin that needs to be addressed if the person has come under the discipline of God then it’s fitting that the elders who represent the church are brought into this process, this person now acknowledges that they want to deal with their sin, they want the matter to be dealt with properly. I’m ready to deal with my sin, turn from my sin, I’m seeking the forgiveness of the Lord, I want things to be right with the Lord and with the Lord’s people. “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” You’ll see in this context this ministry, so you see restoration is the goal even where the sickness is caused by sin and we need to be careful in our attitude in this, particularly if we have been the offended person and I can say this has happened on more than one occasion where this process has started, an offended person has come and I address the ones I have been involved in and they say “oh you know I’m bringing this to you this person that’s sinned I’ve talked to them and we’ve dealt with this and you know it well you know we’ll see but the person has been willing to deal with their sin but the person that was offended is not willing to let it go it seems like their not getting satisfaction well you just going to write it off? Just gonna let it go? We have to be careful even in our heart we want vindication I want justice I was really hurt by that the damage done to me was greater than the punishment they’re receiving. I need to realize that that person is precious as a child of God and what I desire is their restoration our children may hurt us our physical children do thing that are very painful to us as believers what do we desire? We desire them to get their life right with the Lord and we're not saying oh no I don’t want to forgive them I want them to suffer let them know what it feels like, no we rejoice and no matter what they’ve done what do we want? We like them to be restored and things be dealt with, with the minimum pain to them. We need to be careful I don’t look at God’s children and they’re not precious to me like that, it’s more important that I get some satisfaction out of this and what really is important is that this child of God be restored to right relationship to God and to His people. All of us can acknowledge there have been times when we’ve been hoping that someone would experience the suffering and pain and our desire has not been because we really desire their holiness and righteousness, we really desire to see some vindication for us in this. Then I have to deal with my heart before the Lord, Lord it’s inconsequential that I be vindicated, Lord it’s important that this child of Yours be restored to right relationship with You and that’s all that I desire. So that’s true here, you confess your sins to one another and no foundation here for the Roman Catholic view of going and confessing to a priest. Here in the context, we have to make things right and where sin involves God’s people; God’s church you do involve the elders of the church and the church. The church needs to know that restoration has taken place and so on. Then there’s healing and the prayer of faith can bring about healing, not the faith healers’ prayer but the prayer of faith of godly people. “The effective prayer of a righteous can accomplish much.” The power of prayer for accomplishing the purposes of God, and the example is Elijah, he prayed three years of drought, he prayed again, and you have rain. A reminder to us, you know it’s not that Elijah was such a powerful man, Elijah was praying to a powerful God. You realize it wasn’t Elijah who closed the heavens, it wasn’t Elijah who opened the heavens, it was God. So, you have the power of the prayer of a righteous man and that example. Here in the context of praying for one another, praying for physical illness, praying in the context even where that physical illness is a result of sin. Note verse 19, “My brethren” so addressing believers, “if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back.” You see we have gone into this line of sickness and sin and he’s not saying that the sickness is always caused by sin, but he doesn’t let go of that theme. “My brethren if any among you strays from the truth.” He’s talking about any among the brethren, “strays from the truth.” Forward to I Peter 2:25, “For you were continually straying like sheep,” you see the picture wandering from the Lord is the picture that was used in Matthew 18:12. You have the sheep, ninety-nine sheep but one goes astray and there in Matthew 18 the context very similar to what we’re talking about in James 5, and we’ve moved what? Into the process of restoring that straying sheep. “So my brethren if any among you strays from the truth.” There are two ways you can stray from the truth; you can stray doctrinally, or you can stray by not living properly. Now look over in II Timothy 2:18, Paul, here refers to Hymenaeus and Philetus and he says these are “men who have gone astray from the truth by saying the resurrection has passed.” You see here the straying was a doctrinal error denying the literal bodily resurrection of believers, they strayed from the truth. The truth is something to be lived so we can also stray in our walk, but we won’t take time to go back to I Corinthians 5:11, talks about the sin in behavior of believers’ morality and covetousness and lying and so on. If “any among you strays from the truth.” Well, what do you mean doctrinal error? Yes. Moral error? Yes, it could be an error of doctrine or practice, straying from the Lord, wandering from His truth because the truth is something both believed, and something practiced. “And one who turns him back.” So you bring him back here’s a straying sheep in the picture of Matthew 18, you’ve brought him back to where he belongs, great word and you have to look at one passage, Luke chapter 22, you see the kind of context were talking about verse 31, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” Simon will sin but he will not cease to trust in the Lord, note this, “and when you have turned again” that’s our word translated in James “and one who turns him back” you have turned again, you have turned back, “strengthen your brothers.” See what happens? Simon Peter is going to go astray from the truth, but he is going to be turned back. Then he is to be an instrument in strengthening fellow believers and we know the account of Peter. Back in James chapter 5, that’s the kind of situation we’re talking about, “and one turns him back” indicates here that this restoration process is not limited to the elders and remember were this started, this restoration process or attempts at restoration, in Matthew 18, with one when you see your brother sinning you go to him that one so it doesn’t mean that the only restoration is that which occurs after the sin has become greater and the elders and the church are involved, this happens here when any one becomes involved and becomes an instrument that God uses to restore and turn back a straying sheep. “One turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” You know verses 19 and 20 something of a summary of what James has been talking about in this context, in that sense you can almost see these two verses that summarize it verses 19 and 20 fitting before verse 14, the overall view they summarize these verses so you could’ve had a summary leading into these verses as well as a summary concluding them. “Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way.” It’s something that we need to get in mind, and we need to grasp that we need to have knowledge of, “let him know.” This matter of restoring a wandering Christian is of tremendous importance, it’s worth the trouble, it’s worth the difficulty, the agony, you get involved what do you think? I don’t know weather I want to get involved in this. You do because there’s a great blessing in it. It’s something that is greatly pleasing to God. “Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way.” I take it in the context here, he’s talking about a sinning Christian, that’s the sin that has been talked about, back in the context verse 15 about the one who is sick called for the elders verse 16, “confessing your sins to one another” the one who strays from the truth in verse 19 this is the sinner who has turned from his way. That word translated error is the same basic word translated strays in verse 19, “if any among you strays,” “let him know that he who turns a sinner from the straying of his way.” If I could put it that way, error is not a mistranslation but to give you a flavor we’re talking about the same basic word, turning a sinner from the error the wandering of his way. Two things are accomplished, you save his soul from death, and you cover a multitude of sins. You’ll “save his soul from death” that word translated save is the same word translated restore back in verse 15, the prayer offered in faith will “save” the one who is sick, will restore the one who is sick. “The one who turns a sinner from the error of his way”, verse 20, “will restore his soul from death,” save gives you better flavor here. You note, it’s the same word, I take it his soul here refers to his physical life, again the word soul often does we don’t use it as much, it’s more of an old English way of speaking. But how many souls were present? We’re talking more, how many people were present? The word soul is used in the scriptures both of the immaterial part of a person it’s also used to refer to the person himself. “He who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save his soul from death,” and in the context we’re talking about physical deliverance from the consequences of his sin, if he wasn’t turned around the ultimate would be the finality of God’s discipline and destruction. “And you will cover a multitude of sins.” Same thing that was said at the end of verse 15, so we really have a summary here. His sins will be forgiven him, his sins will be covered, what we’re talking about is the forgiveness of his sins. The word to cover the sins means to cause them to be forgotten to secure forgiveness. In I Peter chapter 4, I Peter 4:8, and there’s a reference here to Proverbs chapter 10:12, “Keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” When you love someone what? You overlook their sins their sins are quickly forgiven is the picture and so, “turning a sinner from the error of his way” what? You bring forgiveness to him his sins are dealt with and so the occasion for the discipline is dealt with and so in the context where sickness is brought about by discipline that is handled. There are a number of examples in the Old Testament we don’t have time to turn to, but we see a man like Moses he suffered physical discipline to death. A child of God recognized his sin but not every time and we be sure oh well I’m gonna enjoy this sin if God disciplines me, I’ll repent, and God will deliver me. We don’t play games with God and quite frankly as I read what Moses had to endure and all I wouldn’t have expected that that particular sin would have that kind of dire irrevocable consequence. Even the prayer of a man of Moses stature before God could not change the discipline of God, you will not go into the Promise land you will die. There’s an example of that happening. Other examples can look consequences of sin are not really restricted to ourselves, David sinned with Bathsheba, there were consequences for David but the son that was conceived in that also died. Now we see the consequences of sin spreading out, the discipline of God is direct and indirect as we might say. David didn’t die but his son died and there were other consequences in his family. One other passage and we’re done, just to read it, the end of I John 5, and we would’ve spent more time with this passage if I hadn’t have spent as much time with the previous passage. But I think you’ll see the emphasis, verse 16 of 1 John 5, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not to death. There is sin to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.” In the context of John, we’re drawing a line between believers and unbelievers, I think we also ought to recognize that if God’s discipline is involved and there are two kinds of sin, Moses sinned a sin to death, God would not lift the discipline in Moses’ life. David sins and realizes he deserved to die, Nathan said, you will not die God has put your sin away. I don’t determine what the discipline will be, God does. We need to be very careful we’re not playing a game here God is very serious. These are matters of eternal importance, the purity of His people, the purity of His children, the purity of His church. So where it is clearly obvious that a person has persisted in sin and they are suffering physically for that and they maybe on the road to dying, their holding onto their sin then I would not pray for that person the sense that God would restore them, I would pray, God soften their hardened heart that they may recognize the awfulness of their sin is an offence against You. But I would not ask that God would restore them or preserve them, so we should not pray for that kind of sin in that context. There’s something more important at stake here than even a physical life and that is the holiness of God and the purity of God’s people. In all of this we are concerned for the well being of God’s people and that’s why we want to be obedient to Him, so that He is honored by our lives and the bride of Christ maintains it’s purity before the Lord. We don’t expect that the world will understand or find discipline acceptable, but then again, the world does not find the truth of God acceptable to them, they do not live in submission to it. We want to be careful that we are following the pattern that God has set down in His word for the well being and spiritual health of each individual and of the body of Christ together.

Let’s pray. Thank You, Lord, for your truth, thank You for its clarity and simplicity, Lord we acknowledge that discipline is always unpleasant, it’s unpleasant for those who experience it, Lord it’s unpleasant for us who have to be involved as instruments of administering it. Lord give us a great and deep love for one another that flows out of our love for You, that we find Your children precious to us because they are precious to You. May we have a love for You and a love for them and a love for holiness and righteousness will move us to be obedient to You, Lord, may we present this church before You as holy and pure a chaste virgin in anticipation of that glorious marriage of the Lamb. We pray in Christ name. Amen