 James chapter five we're going to be looking at verses 16 through 20 and in fact this particular study could have been divided into three different studies and in the past I may very well have done that because what we have opportunity to look at in these verses is confession and prayer and then restoration and see these three all go together confession of sin prayer and restoration they all work together and you're going to see how that works in context as we go through this together so let's begin by reading verse 16 and we'll get into our study I'll move into verses 17 and 18 and then close with verses 19 and 20 so here in verse 16 James chapter 5 James writes confess your trespasses to one another pray for one another that you may be healed the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much and so as we've been going through the book of James last time we together James had written concerning suffering and singing sickness as well as sin and he had instructed the believers to when they're sick to call the elders of the church to pray for them now when he spoke of forgiveness of sins he was inferring that they had confessed these sins when the people were asking for prayer for healing that's what they would do they would actually come and they would confess notice verse 14 how it said is anyone among you sick let him call for the elders of the church let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up notice and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven so he's already been speaking concerning prayer he's been speaking concerning confession of sin and healing this is what he's been speaking of in verses 14 and 15 so verse 16 actually is continuing that thought now again when he was was speaking of forgiveness of sins he was inferring that these people who are coming and speaking to the elders he was inferring that they would be naturally speaking concerning any things that have been going on in their life that aren't proper because they want to be healed and so when they would come and speak I want you to get an idea of what would take place because sometimes when you read these things you may be thinking well there must must have been some formal way of doing this there must have been some system of doing this where they would come to the elders perhaps they would go and have certain certain things done to make this proper but it's more natural than that what it would have been like is what it is like today is they'll come up and they'll say you know I've been going through something I'm sick my stomach hurts I've got headaches I've got a bad back whatever and you know I'd like you to pray for me but before we ask for prayer I you know I'd like you to also be aware that I've been struggling with certain things and could you pray for that too that happens all the time in between services first and second actually before service on first service in between first and second I'm out here I'll be walking around talking to people very often they'll walk up and they'll say you know I need some prayer could you pray for me and I'll say how are you doing and they'll say well you know there've been things in my life I'm dealing with and they may share some personal thing that they want some victory over that's what that's what would happen and you have to see it that way it was very natural they'd speak and they'd say I've got these things going on I haven't been feeling good about this I've been angry about that they would speak like that and that's what would happen they would come and they would ask for prayer and they would open their hearts and as they would open up their hearts to these elders the elders would pray for them on their behalf that would have been part of their request for prayer because they wanted their prayers to be heard and they were aware of Psalm 66 verse 18 where it says if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me and so they would ask for prayer but they would also confess and say these are things that are in my life that I want doubt with and so they would humbly confess their their sin if you will to those elders not so that they could re receive any forgiveness or what might be referred to as absolution because the elders were not the one to forgive sins you know we don't I as an elder I'm not the forgiver of your sins the Bible tells us in Psalm 51 verse 4 against you you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge and so God is the one who forgives the sin so they're not asking the elders to be the ones who forgive because they know that sin is forgiven by God what they were doing is humbly requesting prayer for them and they were confessing their need because if they regarded iniquity in their heart they were afraid that it would close the channel between them and the Lord in their relationship so they wanted it to be something that was pure and so they were in need of healing and confession would be part of their prayer confession was made so the elders could pray what James called the prayer of faith and so the humility required for confession place a person in a position to be healed and so verse 16 continues with this thought by saying in verse 16 confess your trespasses notice to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much so not only was confession of sin made to the elders but it was also made to one another notice that and that that practice of confessing to one another reveals fellowship and humility as well as accountability now that idea of confessing your trespasses to one another the word trespass also has been translated your sin it is also translated by the word fault your faults to one another well that particular practice of doing that and actually being open to one another is a foreign thought to a lot of people who go to church today that's just not going to happen in their life if you're listening right now you might be thinking are you kidding me you're telling me that I had to go and tell a stranger or somebody in the church confess my faults to one another that ain't going to happen no I won't even tell those closest to me let alone a stranger and that kind of shows up that shows us the fragmentation of the body of Christ today we don't trust one another we don't we don't love one another the church we need to understand is more than a place of entertainment and and the church members are more than an audience what we're supposed to be according to scripture at least is a loving supporting family because the Bible teaches us that that the church is to love one another to pray for one another to encourage one another to correct one another to fellowship with one another to support one another it's filled with with admonitions for us to have relationship and so this kind of ministry of praying for one another and sharing our hearts was was not restricted to simply the elders it was something that was practiced by them all that they would humbly confess to one another they would pray for one another to be healed they confess their sin they prayed for healing and they prayed for the healing of both soul as well as their body they wanted to be a complete person they wanted to be be whole and and they knew that sometimes our sin that we're involved in can actually lead us to a place of being sick or not well there are people that are going through things physically because they have been in sin and the guilt is so heavy on their heart that they don't have any joy they're they're depressed they're saddened all the time they have physical pain and a lot of times it's because they're they're guilty and they're going through something that is very deep and and they're and nobody they're not letting anybody know about it think about king david in the old testament king david committed a terrible sin he committed adultery with a woman by the name of bath sheba and if you remember the story david committed adultery with bath sheba and she became pregnant and she came to him and let him know that she was she was with child and so david knew her husband he was one of david's bodyguards one of his mighty men his name was uriah and so what he did is to try and cover up his sin he told uriah he said why don't you go uriah had come off the field and and david said to him why don't you go home and spend time with your wife he was hoping that he'd be intimate with her and she'd become pregnant or he thinks uriah would think she became pregnant by him and his sin would be covered but uriah wouldn't go and sleep with his wife and so david tried to get him to do it a second time and uriah refused to do it the second time and so finally what david did is he said you put uriah in the hottest part of the battle and then withdraw the troops and and allow him to be taken down which took place and so uriah went there and he was fighting on behalf of his king whom he loved and and honored and and they withdrew and then he was killed on the battlefield the word was brought to him when your mighty men uriah has died and david uh went through a time of of pretending to be mourning and all and ultimately uh he married basheba and the baby born to david and basheba well that baby didn't survive the baby died but david wrote about that incident and and he did so in the psalms because his his his sin and his guilt haunted him and he became weak until he confessed and he repented psalm 51 verse 3 david said i acknowledge my transgressions my sin is always before me my sin is always before me i wake up it's there i go to sleep at night it's the last thing i think of it's with me all the time it never leaves me my sin is ever before me it's the one thing that that i can't get rid of and and he's speaking about the guilt that he was living in in psalm 32 3 through 5 he said when i refused to confess my sin i was weak and miserable i groaned all day long day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me my strength evaporated like water in the summer heat finally i confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them i said to myself i will confess my rebellion to the lord and you forgave me all my guilt is gone so when you have gone through something the confession is it sets you free and and in the case that james is speaking of they would go to the elders but they also did it amongst themselves and they'd say you know i've been dealing with this and and i'm getting sick over it my body is just not reacting the way it should would you pray for me there would be confession because that's what the body of christ does and so he says in verse 16 he says confess your trespasses to one another pray for one another that you may be healed now notice he says that you may be healed there's no guarantee for healing for everybody what we do is is we entrust ourselves to god to do what is best on our behalf you see the prayer of faith is our responsibility but the healing is always the work of the lord and so we come to the lord and we pray and ask god and it just may be that he will heal us then he moves on to say the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much when he says the effective that word effective means intense unwavering it's faith filled prayer from the heart of a righteous person in other words this prayer comes from deep within it's prompted by the holy spirit and it's prayed out with passion fervent prayer is that intense sincere petitioning of the lord it's that open cry to god it's like like those two blind men on the side of the road there by jericho that when jesus was passing by they had asked uh who is this and they said jesus is passing by and the bible tells us in matthew chapter 20 verses 30 and 31 behold two blind men sitting by the road when they heard that jesus was passing by cried out saying have mercy on us oh lord son of david then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet but they cried out all the more saying have mercy on us oh lord son of david they weren't about to lose their opportunity who's that passing by it's jesus of nazareth and so now's my opportunity and they didn't whisper this and when people said you need to shut up they didn't get quiet they cried out all the more it's a fervent it's a passionate cry and that's what you do when when there's something going on in your life you're not necessarily going to be quiet about it when you pray to the lord you may do so with fervent agony you may do so with a passion you may do so with the with the sense of god and unless you help me i think i'm going to die god i need your help and he's speaking about a fervent effective prayer here it's a it's a prayer that's filled with expectancy like Hebrews 11 6 says without faith it's impossible to please god because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him so it's not a half-hearted kind of well lord if you got time could you know it's a cry out to the lord god help me i need you and he says this is the kind of prayer that is prayed by a righteous man now he's not speaking of a perfect person he's speaking of the man or the woman who has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ we are made righteous by Jesus Christ that's something the church needs to wake up to and remember in 2nd Corinthians 521 it says God made him who had no sin which is Jesus to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God and so what we have is what is called imputed righteousness Jesus Christ had no sin Jesus is the only human being who could point to people and say which of you can convict me of sin and not a single person could because he was without sin tempted in every way such as we are but without sin the writer of Hebrews tells us and so when Jesus Christ died on the cross he didn't die because of his own sin he died on that cross on behalf of us because we're sinners he's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world so when Jesus took upon himself our sin he took upon himself that which he didn't have in order that he could give to us that which we don't have so he took my sin and gave me his righteousness it's called imputed righteousness he gave to me that which I don't have of my own it's not by works of righteousness which we have done but it's that he saved us by the washing of regeneration the renewing of the Holy Spirit it's by it's by grace that we're saved through faith and that not of ourselves it's a gift of God and not of works less any man should boast and so what you did what I did if you're a believer in Christ is you said God I'm giving to you my sin and God says and I'm giving to you my righteousness and so you are made righteous by Jesus Christ there's quite a number of people who are trying to make themselves righteous by trying to do something hard or or do something that requires much from them so they can somehow feel that they became righteous on their own efforts and God says that's not how it works what happens is you have nothing I have everything you ask me I give it to you I wash you I cleanse you I fill you with my presence you are righteous you are as without sin and that takes place through faith in Jesus Christ so Jesus died for us he's the one who knew no sin he's the perfect sin offering he took upon himself our sin he received our punishment but by faith we receive his forgiveness and we're made right with God through him Romans 4 5 says to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness and so you can pray as a righteous person because you've been made righteous by the blood of Christ that doesn't mean that you go off and just live a life that's unrighteous because a person who's a righteous person does evidence righteousness in the way that they live it's just not a self-generated righteousness it's a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ so as he's speaking concerning this he says the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much but he goes on to give us an example Elijah notice verse 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months he prayed again the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit Elijah notice how he says I'm going to look at Elijah for a few moments with you notice in verse 17 that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours Elijah the prophet Elijah one of the best-known prophets in the Old Testament and he's saying he was an ordinary man but he worshiped an extraordinary God Elijah ministered during the time of the reign of a man who was very wicked this man's name was Ahab and Ahab was an evil pagan man and he had an evil pagan wife and all of you know her even if you're not even a Christian even if you're a new Christian you all know who she is because we used to use the term to speak of women who were didn't have a good reputation they used to say she's a Jezebel well that was his wife's name Jezebel and so if you were brought someone home to your mama and your mama say would you bring in that Jezebel here for she was insane something nice because Jezebel was an evil woman and and he was a a man who did much evil much evil in the in the kingdom of Israel in 1st Kings 16 30 through 33 it says Ahab was the son of Omri did evil in the side of the Lord more than all who were before him it came to pass as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat that he took as his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbal king of the Sidonians and he went and served Baal and worshiped him then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria Ahab made a wooden image Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who are before him Elijah was a fearless reformer when you read your Bible and you see him he was a fearless reformer who spoke to authority one of the things that that I've seen in the history of my walk with the Lord and I've seen this in history in the churches anytime the church gets close to power there's a great danger there because we can be seduced by it but he wasn't he wasn't a man who was seduced by the power of a king he was a man who rebuked the king and when you read the Bible concerning him even as we're looking at him right now he's known for various things including being a man who is mighty in prayer when it says to us though that he was a man with the nature like ours we need to remember that and I'll show you this in a moment but we need to remember that he had a competition with some prophets some false prophets and and and God showed himself victorious in this particular competition and at the end of the of God demonstrating himself to be God and false prophets being demonstrated that they were false out in a place called Mount Carmel he left and he found himself in a wilderness in a cave and he was moaning how he was the only one who was who was righteous and none left in the nation and all so even though he was a man who God used in tremendous ways he he's recorded as God giving him opportunities to see wonderful things then there were many miracles done at the hands of Elijah for example he multiplied flour and oil for a widow who was starving he he raised the widow's son as he was resurrected when he died through his hands he he defeated the prophets above all he called fire down from heaven to consume some soldiers he used his mantle dropped it on the Jordan in its split and he went across it and all he God used him in amazing ways that he was a man who yielded to discouragement he was a man like us he was a man with a nature like ours he was in a perfect man but he was a man who had a perfect God and and when you read about him this is what James is speaking about he's speaking about Elijah and again in verse 17 he was a man with a nature like ours he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain on the land for three years and six months so in first king 17 verse 1 it reads Elijah the tishbite from tishba and gilead said to Ahab as the lord the god of Israel lives whom I serve there will be neither do nor rain in the next few years except at my word and that's what James is pointing out he's pointing out it didn't rain for three and a half years at the word of Elijah and notice in verse 17 how it says that he he prayed earnestly when you look at that account in first kings 18 verses 41 through 46 those verses tell us that Elijah went up to mount carmel he crouched on the ground with his face on his knees and he prayed he did so seven times and at the end of his prayer the sky turned black with clouds and there was a heavy shower and so he's speaking about his fervency how he prayed and sought the lord and how that god moved he was a man with a sin nature but god heard his cry like Psalm 27 verse 7 here oh lord when I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me answer me he prayed verse 18 says and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit the drought and the famine ended at his prayer so the point he's making is god works miracles and it's reasonable to believe that he will bless us too so when you go before the lord and you say god in the name of Jesus Christ and you do so with the heart of righteousness because you've been made right with god when you confess your sin and say god be merciful to me as sinner but lord in Jesus name I ask that you would touch this person very often that person will be touched by the lord not every time but very often that person will remember if god worked miracles in the old testament and god worked miracles in the new there's no reason why he can't work miracles now I don't know a bible verse that tells me he doesn't I don't know a single scripture that says that he isn't able so what I do is I just entrust myself to him because there's this old show that I used to watch when I was a kid called father knows best well father does know best my father knows best so that's why I trust him and that's what he's speaking about so he begins by saying confess your trespasses that you may be healed he speaks of Elijah being a man with a nature like ours and then he goes on in verse 19 to say this brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins so we looked at confession we look at prayer and now we're going to look at restoration notice how he says in verse 19 if anyone among you wanders from the truth so James is concluding his letter by writing about people wandering what is he saying when he speaks of wandering from the truth well we need to believe or understand that for the Christian truth isn't theoretical and it's not simply philosophic it's moral Christians realize that there is such a thing as truth and that believing in truth has ramifications so to be grounded in scripture produces a solid foundation for living a good life to reject such a thing as truth produces a worldview that translates into an amoral life getting in the word of god is a very important discipline it's the beginning of the year guys start reading your bible through for this year my wife Marie and I I read on my own my wife has read on her own for all the years of our marriage and even in our dating I I've never been one who likes to sit down and read out loud to my wife I just have never been she reads I read and God speaks to my heart that's the way I've been for all of these years so this year I told Marie I'm going to be reading the bible through in the year and she says oh good you could read to me and I was going because I have to read and concentrate and read and concentrate and read I have to read several times you know I have a bit of a learning disability and so I have to spend time on the words I have to look at them I have to think them through and have that and that's how I read I have to do that you know it may seem I've never even admitted this in front of anybody here I'm admitting it to you I have a learning disability in that I have to read several times the same thing my son David's exactly like me he has to read through it and then read through it and then read through it that's me and so I I read better by myself so I always read by myself now my girl's saying no you can read to me and I'm going ah curses but you know so we've been doing that so at night we're reading there are a lot of programs we have them here at the church there are read through the Bible in a year Bibles that we have I encourage you to do that husbands and wives especially I encourage you to do that get in the word of God together you know and especially husbands find the scriptures that really slap her around no I'm just kidding why submit to your husband isn't that on every page of the Bible I seem to think of that every time I read it but no I'm saying that to you because that's what you want you want to know what the truth is how are you going to know what the truth is listen as parents it's been said and I agree with this if we don't teach the children our children to believe in God the world will teach them not to if we don't teach our children to believe the word of God the world will teach them not to that they get thank you Christian teachers I don't know how many Christian teachers I have in here but let me from the bottom of my heart and for all of us let me say to you we love you and we thank you for your influence on our children I thank you for that I really do because there are a lot of people who don't believe in truth they don't and sometimes they're teaching our children all the way to the university level they don't believe in truth for them it's a philosophic it's a theory but for us as believers it's a person Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life so truth is moral it is a person and we have a relationship with truth when you read your bible you'll see this you see we love the truth Psalm 119 97 the psalmist said oh how I love your law it's my meditation all the day we're to obey the truth in John 14 15 Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments we speak the truth Ephesians 4 15 says speak the truth in love we've been set free by truth John 832 you shall know the truth the truth shall make you free and so with this in mind truth can be wandered from the word wander means to stray you can stray away from truth you can wander away and that's what a backslider does they become lost as they wander away from the Lord but the fact is people who wander from the truth are not satisfied their lives are miserable they had tasted at one time the Lord's goodness and then they turn away in Proverbs 13 15 it says good understanding gives favor but the way of a transgressor is hard and James is making it clear that some people wander away from Jesus and and it happens very often through deception by false teachers who preach a false message James says again notice that they wander they stray from the truth the truth of Christian doctrine that reveals Christ to us they no longer walk in the manner that they ought to walk because bad teaching has corrupted them they're seduced from the truth they no longer follow the truth of the gospel so James is telling them that it's of great importance to care about other people one of the dangers of being in a group like this is that you can choose to sit in one place this week and if you come back the next you can sit somewhere else and you never get to know anybody you're just kind of there you're just a person in a group of people a lot of people look at the church like a like a bus we're all sitting down facing the same direction but we don't know the passengers around us and that's the way we do it we can go in the same direction and not know the people around us that's not what the church was designed to be the church was designed to be a family of God a community of believers that shared our lives together and false teachers come in and they begin to to bring false teaching to people and they begin to be seduced and they begin to wander away from the truth and because they don't have a brother that goes to turn them back they end up wandering alone they're being seduced they're being seduced away from the the truth of the gospel and so we're supposed to care about one another every genuine Christian has is to have concern for a fellow believer that that that brother may walk or that sister may walk properly and there's nothing that gives me more joy than than seeing believers living for Jesus Christ in third John verse four it says I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth and so truth is something you can wander away from but here's a question what are we to do when we see someone going in the wrong direction what do you do you know today's the first sunday of the new year maybe today was a resolution for some who came today to this church or other churches it's a you know it's the beginning of the year i'm going to start going to church and you're probably going to lose a hundred pounds too you know i mean we make that resolution you know and then how long do we actually go through and actually do it you know a lot of people's resolutions are are turned away from very quickly no we go to church not because we have to or we're making a resolution too you know and if we don't go bad things happen no we we go because we get fed and we have fellowship with God in his spirit we love to worship Jesus Christ and that's why we go and when you have that kind of relationship with God and people then you're going to have somebody who's going to interfere in your life you're going to have somebody who loves you enough to tell you the truth you're going to have somebody who cares about you because not everybody has somebody who loves them enough to tell them the truth so we need each other guys we need each other desperately we need to help one another we need to encourage one another i was sharing with first service today that i have a friend of mine and and he began to isolate himself uh from from people and and and and i've known him for many years and so i i contacted him and i said um we need to get together let's get together and we did we had some coffee and we're visiting and all and and as we're having coffee together i began to share with him and i and as friends do because again i've known him very very long time but i said you know um just want you to know i'm that you're isolating yourself and um it's not a good thing because the scripture says that a man who isolates himself uh rages against all wise counsel and and the first thing that that god ever declares to be not good is that the man should be alone and and and the body of Christ is a community of believers fellow believers who can lift one another up when one falls going to the man who has no friend to help him get up when he falls so we need each other uh men need other men and women need other women and all of that because we're a family and and guys if you don't have somebody in your life think about it for a moment please just for a moment who do you have in your life let me be pointed with you who do you have in your life who can say you're going the wrong direction that you don't get mad at that you will look at and you'll say busted you're right who do you have yeah i i have my wife every day i have my wife obviously marie is able to tell me and she does if i'm going in the wrong direction she does and guess what do i like it no no are you kidding are you kidding woman submit thyself no do i like it do i like being corrected am i somebody who wakes up in the morning saying jesus please may i be corrected 50 times today no faithful are the wounds of a friend and when someone loves you enough to tell you the truth thank god every day that you have that person in your life thank god every day that you have someone who's willing to take the risk to say to you you're going in the wrong direction because like kane said am i my brother's keeper and god said indeed you are indeed you are that's what you are we are our brother's keepers we are to care about one another and not just on facebook or instagram or whatever we like to post a lot of stuff to strangers when we call friends we we need somebody in our life who who can actually put their arms around me somebody who can look me directly in the eye somebody who knows me not as just that person who stands up there but somebody who's got a real life and real feelings and real real victories and and real struggles that's what we need that's what we need and when you have somebody that you know that's not doing well a lot of people just ignore it well you know god will hunt them down but you know what sometimes he does god does through you through that phone call through that walking up and seeing them when they come in like some some of you today may not have been in in fellowship here for for a while you haven't been in church for whatever reason good or bad you haven't and and you may walk in and somebody may walk up and say oh go oh look the prodigal son has returned you know i'm gonna go kill the fatted calf and then the prodigal son's i want to kill you no you don't no you don't do that what you do is you look at him and you say how you've been i missed you i've been thinking of you how are you i didn't have any way to connect with you how are you what's going on and they don't get so personal don't get so personal you shouldn't get so personal sometimes the people who say and you're getting too personal other ones are posting stuff on facebook i'm at the doctor's office my two thirds really oh how sad who did you whine to before you had facebook anybody know what i mean by that you see a lot of that i felt done it hurt myself boohoo okay fine i'm sorry i wish i was there i could touch your little head i need i need truth incarnated i already have a savior who is but god touches me through human beings and when you see someone wandering from the truth there are things that you're supposed to do you seek them out sometimes you share with them remember luke 50 and four where jesus said what man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them doesn't leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it you see again sometimes it's difficult to share the truth with someone you know is an error because your own faults loom large you can feel unqualified to speak with them that's why it's important to guard your walk it puts you in a position of having character and character is necessary for correction when i was before i was saved i had people on occasion not often but on occasion there would be somebody who would say you shouldn't smoke pot shouldn't smoke pot it's bad but they're drinkers yes they're you shouldn't drink and i look at them i'd say and you should you shouldn't drink who are you to tell me that i shouldn't do this when you're doing the same thing yourself well this is legal but see you you say you can drink and not get drunk but i've never seen you drink and not get drunk so how do you do that i see so have you ever been lectured like that i have have you and if you if you're preaching to me put it into practice yourself that's how i felt if you're going to tell me not to do something show me how not to do that but don't tell me that it's bad to do that somebody's real overweight telling me you shouldn't eat that that's bad for you i'm looking at you come on santa claus you got to be kidding me don't lecture me that's human nature but listen when somebody really is living out what they're telling you you can get as mad as you want but you can't point a finger at them and say they're not doing it that's character and i can be corrected by truth because sometimes somebody without character is speaking the truth and i'll i'll just grab the truth but i don't think they're applying it most of the time i can be corrected by someone who lives out what they're giving out and that's very important it's very important to live what you give that's why in galatians chapter six verse one it says if a man is overtaken in in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself lest you also be tempted you who are spiritually mature restore such a one not just anybody running up correcting correcting correcting you who are spiritually mature correct such a one and consider yourself look your own life one finger at them and three fingers at you consider yourself lest you also be tempted be careful be careful and that's the whole point is that if you're going to bring correction to somebody live out what you give out live it out are you perfect no but at least you'll be known for your sincerity that you're wanting to live out what you're giving out to somebody else and that's very important and so restoration what we're looking at here is someone wandering and how to restore them because he says that let's listen again if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back we're talking about restoring was recovering and restoration let him know that he who turns the center from the herb his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins now the great example I want to use right now is found in John 21 would you turn your bibles with me to John chapter 21 I want to show you something here about one who had been restored by the name of the apostle Peter it's found in John 21 and we're going to be looking together in just a moment at verses 15 through 19 but let me lay a foundation for you and then I'll read those scriptures to you as I begin this on the night that Jesus was betrayed he told his disciples that they were going to scatter from him Matthew 2631 says Jesus said to them all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered well the apostle Peter was there and he was upset when he heard that and he even argued about it in mark 1429 Peter declared even if all fall away I will not in mark 1431 he insisted emphatically even if I have to die with you I will never deny you well later on that evening Jesus is taken to the home of a man by the name of anise to be interrogated and it was there that Peter denied knowing Jesus and he did so like Jesus said three times what's going to happen to him he failed christ is at the end of the road for him is at the end of his story he failed the Lord he denied him you see right now as I speak there are some believers who are laboring under self condemnation right here right now you live in regret you live in failure and loneliness the bondage of a burdened heart you need to remember that Jesus is the bondage breaker you need to remember that he can heal you and he will Psalm 3418 says the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart save such as have a contrite spirit we need to understand that God works to restore those who fall he delights in healing broken lives he delights in mending broken hearts in Psalm 23 1 through 3 the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me beside the still waters he restores my soul the word restoring the ancient language of Hebrew means to repair or refresh he repairs me he refreshes my soul he's the good shepherd we know that Peter had had contact with Jesus on two occasions within eight days you see that in chapter 20 but chapter 21 of John's gospel is his record of a third encounter with with Peter prior to his ascension you see during all of this time Peter has been living with the knowledge that he denied Jesus Christ his wound hasn't been healed and if it's not healed he can't be fully used he had thought himself to be strong Peter thought that he was unable to fall and we can believe ourselves strong and yet we stumble and we fall and we condemn ourselves here's a news flash that none of us need God is aware of our weaknesses and he's not surprised by them you think that you've ever failed and God up in heaven has said I didn't think they'd do that ever you know God knew what a mess we were and he still saved us you ever thank him for that he knew what a mess you are and I am he knew what I would do with his message and he saved me anyway that's because God is a restoring God he's a loving God and so we're going to see that here with with the apostle Peter his denial had occurred three weeks before he hadn't forgotten his own words he his words I'm I'm sure haunted him like we read in Psalm 51 3 I know my transgressions my sin is always before me I can't escape its presence it haunts me sin can't be swept into a carpet it can't be forgotten as if it never happened it isn't something you ignore because sin will haunt you it'll torment you you can't deny its existence you can't excuse it as a mistake you can't say it was an error you can't say it was a mental lapse a culturally acceptable behavior you can't explain it away to receive healing and to have peace and restoration it has to be brutally dealt with that's how sin has it has to be dealt with brutally it has to be recognized it has to be acknowledged it needs to be confessed it needs to be repented of it needs to be completely forsaken I've seen recently more than one invitation we call them altercalls where the the individual who's giving people the invitation is failing to say you need to repent because without repentance there's no turning around it isn't just oh I'm just going to come to Jesus as just as I am no wait a minute you come to Jesus in need of a savior but you repent from your sin you say God be merciful to me I'm a sinner forgive me Lord I turned from it the word repent means just do 180 Lord I've been going in this direction I repent I turn around the first message that John the Baptist gave was repent the first message Jesus gave in the gospel of Matthew is repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent is the first word of the gospel you don't enter into heaven with all your sins you repent from them and that's what confession comes in and that's where the purging of the blood of Christ's washiness and cleansing is that's how that all works but I've seen too many people who've prayed prayers but never repented from their sin do you hate your sin do you hate it David said my sin is ever before me he said my body is drying up from within I hate this and I have to be rid of it that's how I got saved that's how I got saved I was sorry and sorry so many times and I regretted it a lot I regretted things a lot I did it wasn't that I didn't have a conscience it said I didn't repent I felt bad that I hurt that person I felt bad that I did this I felt bad that I hurt them that's how I felt I felt bad but I did it again until one day I said God I don't want to do this anymore I still remember the prayer I prayed God I'm sick and I need your help God I'm sick and I need your help help me God help me God I need to be different I need to be different I hate what I am I need to be new that's how I got saved weeks later that's how I heard the gospel and that was the promise if you turn from your sin and repent and confess you can be forgiven and healed and that's what happens and see Jesus is here to heal Jesus is here to restore those broken lives and and that's what he's doing in this particular instance here as we look at in a moment Jesus has made a meal for his disciples he gave them fish and bread that he prepared for them and the meal more than likely had been eaten in a tense silence and we need to remember in chapter 21 that Peter had had led the disciples back into their former lives they'd been out fishing but now there they are on the on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and and they're having a meal that Jesus prepared for them and the tension must have grown steadily the city with Jesus they're alone on the shore and so when this they've finished breakfast Jesus begins to speak notice verse 15 they had eaten breakfast and Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonah do you love me more than these he said to him yes lord you know that I love you he said to him feed my lambs he said to him again a second time Simon son of Jonah do you love me he said to him yes lord do you know that I love you he said to him tend my sheep he said to him the third time Simon son of Jonah do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me? And he said to him Lord you know all things you know that I love you? And Jesus said to him feed my sheep. Restoration. Let's look at that for a moment. They've been sitting there in silence it would seem the silence is now broken and a question is asked Peter do you love me more than these? Peter do you love me more than these other men? Love me? That's what you said recently and those words were spoken with gentleness but they must have torn Simon's heart. He's confronting Peter but exposing him that he might heal the pain so he might restore him. Do you love me? Loving Jesus is where healing and ministry begins. In verses 15 and 16 you have a word play here the word love. The word love is there are two different words that are translated here by the English word love. The Greek word is agape and the other word is phileo and it's an interplay. Jesus is saying Simon do you love do you agape me? But Simon is saying yes Lord you know that I phileo you. Agape is a God kind of self-sacrifice and phileo is friendship love. It's where you get the name philadelphia, city of brotherly love. Phileo. It's a brotherly love. Do you agape me? I phileo you. Do you agape me? I phileo you. Then he says do you phileo me. Jesus actually uses the third time the word phileo. Do you phileo me? I'm willing to accept you on the level that you're able to give. What is this reveal to us? Well one Peter no longer is proud of his love. He's in need of love. He discovered that though his denial was great Jesus his love and grace is greater still. Though they all forsake you yet I never will I will die for you. Will you really you're gonna forsake me? No I won't. Yes you will. And yes he did. I said I would die for you but I denied you. I was in love with you but now I realize my love is weak. What's it reveal? Well Peter was no longer proud of his love. Second he discovered that God knew everything about him but would use him anyway. God isn't looking for perfection. He looks for repentance and humility. In 1st Corinthians 10 verse 12 it says let him who thinks he stands take heed lest you fall. He's not looking for perfection. He's aware of us. He knows that we're human beings and we fail. He's not surprised by that. But as he's doing this Jesus commissions him for ministry and that ministry is gonna come from a place of brokenness. In Psalm 51 verse 17 the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These oh God you will not despise. See Peter you're the tenderly nourishing care for my lands and my sheep. And your pride and your arrogance and your self self confidence needed to be broken in order that you might become confident in me. God will use you after he's broken you. He will use you because you're able to listen to somebody who's going through something without thinking in the back of your mind. I can't imagine how you do that. How do you do that? How'd you get? No I know how you could have done that. I've done that in worse. I know. I know the place of brokenness and many of you do too. I know the place of failure. I know that place where I've said God I can't even be used by you look at me look what I've done with your mercy and your grace. Look what I've done with your message. Look what I am and I'm such a failure. I don't live the way that I preach and the Lord has broken me and broken me and broke and he's done the same for you because he works out of the place of our brokenness. Not that it's an excuse to go back and sin. No. It's that you might learn lessons that keep you from being arrogant and prideful. The third thing is he learns that God will deepen him as he heals him. Peter needed to know he was loved and he needed to hear that from Jesus. Psalm 51 verse 8 says make me hear joy and gladness that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Jesus's word of love to him was a simple command to go back and minister not fish and this is how we're to be with those who have failed but have returned to church returned to the Lord. We encourage them. We love them and we welcome them back. It's good to see you. We've missed you. It's a blessing to have you with us. You may think you're just an invisible face in a sea of other faces but you matter and it's good to have you with us because we're a family and we're not a complete family when one of the members is not there and when you're here with us we're grateful that you are because you're going to walk in the truth and that ministers to us. We need to encourage people. We need to love them and we need to be their welcoming committee. What do you do when someone wanders from the truth? Well James in chapter 5 verse 20 and I'll close says let him know that he who turns the center from the air of his way saves the soul from death. It's going to cover them. It puts them in the place of repentance. It puts them in a place of restoration. The Bible in 1 Peter 4 8 says above all things have fervent love among yourselves. Love shall cover the multitude of sins. In Psalm 32 verse 1, blessed is he, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. The word blessed can speak of being happy or overwhelmingly rejoicing. Blessed is the one happy is that one whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered. Jesus restored the Apostle Peter. Peter didn't deny him again. Peter went on to serve him to feed the lambs to tend and care for the sheep and lambs and ended up laying his life down for Jesus his master. Never again to betray him. Restoration. Some of you in this room need restoration. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. You need to be restored. Let me close by saying Jesus is here to restore you. He will wash you. He will cleanse you. He will restore you because he loves you. Don't forget that. He loves you.