THE CONVERSION OF A SINNER
[p. 410] THE CONVERSION OF A SINNER
In view of this service these holy books and their writers, James and Daniel, came into mind. They are both marked by wisdom. James says, “But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not” (James 1: 5). Daniel is peculiarly identified with wisdom, one being challenged by God as to whether he was wiser than Daniel. Daniel also deals with wisdom in others. The idea is needed particularly in relation to the verses in James — the matter of turning or converting a sinner from the error of his way. The idea of converting a sinner is common, but it is associated here with the error of his way, and refers to a sinner among the brethren. James says, “My brethren, if any one among you err from the truth, ..”. so that it is one among the brethren. There are many sinners, of course, outside the brethren. Alas, that there should be inside! It has to be admitted that they have existed from the outset among those specially designated as God’s people, and their presence is intolerable; but the very intolerableness of being a sinner among the brethren suggests that every effort must be made to change the sinner. So it is said, “If any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him back ..”. or, convert him; that is, it is one man’s work from this point of view. So I am encouraged to proceed on this line, in order that there may be an awakening as to sin or sinners; that the sinner may be met; that there may be some provision of God to change him, for clearly it is the first business in hand.
James says, “My brethren, if any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him back, let him know that he that brings back a sinner from the [p. 411] error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins”. I gather that the one who is to be informed is the converter, and that he has an important position. There is something for him at his hand, and what his hand finds to do is to be done and done with all his power. It is no question of gift, involving special ability. It is a work that may be taken on, as James says here, “and one bring him back”. So that the converter is, in a way, made more of than the possible convert. The converter is to be skilled and one than can do exploits. It is a remarkable exploit that is held out to be accomplished; and it is very suitable that James should broach this subject amongst us. He would be, in his wisdom, at our elbow; and would aid any who would undertake the service. He says, If you have any mind in this way, I will tell you what to begin with: Ask of God — He would not discourage you in asking from Him. In this epistle God is a present Help in a peculiar way to make every service effective. He is presented, indeed, as the Father of lights, meaning that He would furnish the needed light. There are lights, and He would furnish the needed one for any particular service. He may delegate others to help, and He will select the suited ones, for we are all to be helpers of each other that the work should proceed. He is “the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning” (James 1: 17). Variableness marks most of us, if not all; but there is none with God, and James would direct you to God first. The great general impression will work out in details. The Father of lights is seen in the opening of Genesis in relation to the sun. How many millions have proved it since, what the sun has been all these centuries as adapted by God to the creation which He had formed! It affords a great general impression for us. On the fourth day He made great lights, we [p. 412] are told. There is the idea of the Father. We all know how Joseph in his dream saw the sun and the moon and the stars bow down to him. The sun, however great and glorious and essential to the whole system, is in subjection. The whole principle of the divine economy is subjection, from Christ downwards, the Spirit included. All insubject people in the house are simply wandering stars, out of hand. They are not truly in it, but the great general impression in the divine system is of the Father, without variation or shadow of turning. He is the Father of lights.
Therefore, as I said, James would advise me to consult God. He has come into His creation to operate, legislate, govern, and regulate; so James would say, Consult God. It is a difficult matter — one of you erring from the truth. We have to do with much of it, and each has to challenge his own heart as to it. Much has to be met in the way of erring from the truth among the brethren, because it is the brethren who are addressed here, not the sinners outside, not even a sinner in Zion, but a sinner among the brethren. Everyone who seeks to serve sinners in this sense needs great grace, and the word is, “But he gives more grace” (James 4: 6). John says, “For of all his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace” (John 1: 16); that is to say, in the economy grace is unlimited. It is in many respects the instrumentality of doing things, by which things are accomplished, and the sinner amongst us, with the converter of him amongst us, are in the arena, so to say, and the converter has got to consult God if he is to make any headway. There is a variety of lights with the Father of lights, so that you will be challenged as to the lights. So it is in my little service here: I am challenged as to the lights of the persons and the books I employ. The Father of lights will help in those matters. He knows what is designed for any certain service, but when [p. 413] it becomes a question of a sinner amongst us who errs from the truth, we have to follow the divine way, and He humbles Himself, we are told, to behold the things in the heavens and on the earth. That is what God does. David says in the Psalms, “Be gracious unto me, Jehovah”, as if he wished to see how grace acted in God. We should be gracious, and so we have to learn from God, from the Father of lights.
As I said, James would tell you to consult God. “But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God”. He is available. He came down Himself. We all know how He came down to Babel. He did not simply look down, but He came down. He came down to Sodom. He came down to Israel in Egypt. Therefore, if any of you, as James would say, will be used to help this erring one, this one who has erred from the truth, you have to learn grace in God. See how it acts in God. We all know how Luke enlarges on this in the prodigal, of course. How wonderfully God is pictured there! It is a question of a sinner and God acting toward a sinner. How many kisses did He give him? We cannot say. He covered him. We are told elsewhere what kind of kisses should be given in these cases — holy ones, not those resulting from personal friendship. That must be laid aside for the moment. If there is error from the way, we must leave aside personal friendships and family relationships too.
James probably thought of someone who would be used to convert an erring one; one who has erred, we are told, from the truth. It is a serious matter — not simply a question of personal differences, but truth; persons who err from the truth. Christendom as a whole has erred from the truth. Every denomination has erred from the truth; some of them, most of them, nearly all of them have some truth, but the Holy Spirit guides us into all the truth. Therefore,
[p. 414] any sectarian person has erred from the truth. However sincere he may be, he has erred from the truth, and so it is our position to convert those who have erred from the truth. James has in his mind that one man can do it. So he says, referring to the converter, “Let him know that he that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins”. You have a big matter on hand; a holy matter, but a big one. And so it is, as I say, that we learn from God how to approach the sinner. John helps us, joins in with James, of course, as all the holy writers join together, for it is all one matter. John says, “For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ” (John 1: 17). It does not say that grace and truth are given by Jesus Christ. They subsist. They have a permanent subsistence in that Person; grace and truth; grace first. So that you have to make truth number two if it is a matter of skill; not in the ultimate. It must be number one in the ultimate, but number two or more in the transaction, in the modus operandi. You have to deal with your man or your woman, the person you have to convert — to know how to approach him. John says, “Grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ”, and moreover, “For of his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace” — he and the other apostles, I take it to be. We are all witnesses of the profuseness with which God deals out grace to those who would serve, especially in recovery, to save sinners, sinners among the brethren. If you succeed, it is an exploit that is recorded in heaven. You are one of the class that has saved a sinner from the error of his way. Do not forget the error of his way. Whatever it may be, do not forget to bring it up in strong words so that his conscience might be affected. It is the error of his way. We may talk about it amongst ourselves, but it is for him to know,
[p. 415] and if that sinner is to be saved from the error of his way, he must know how serious it is. But all the time the converter is to have the sinner in mind and to have the great end in mind of converting him from the error of his way. Let the thing that he has sinned in be dealt with or there is no hope.
Then James says, “he ... shall cover a multitude of sins”. A man who can do that will be known in heaven, in the realm of divine operations. It is an unfading distinction, such as Peter alludes to, an “unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5: 4). Time never fades these distinctions of heaven. Paul speaks of a crown of righteousness. The crown of righteousness belongs to that person, that converter, that worker of God’s. There is a great need for them; a great dearth of them. There is no dearth of sinners, alas! sinners among the brethren; persons who err from the truth and are still unaltered. There is a great need of converters. “Let him know that he that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins”.
You say, Have they not all to be told out to the brethren? Well, if everything had to be told out to the brethren, the brethren would have no time for anything else than to look out for these sins. The brethren do not want to be always handling sins. They are hardly capable of it. God handled sins at the cross. I would speak humbly and simply and reverently. When God took the matter up, He laid all the sins on Jesus. They were handled. God did that at once, at one stroke. All our sins were laid on Him. Well, there is this one other matter of handling sins, priests doing it and not defiling themselves. The Lord handled evil typically and never was touched by it Himself; never was defiled by it; nor will a true Christian and true priest of God who approaches sins in a fellow-Christian be defiled by it either. The Spirit of God enables him to be immune,
[p. 416] and yet deal with it authoritatively as God has dealt with it. The need is very, very great, dear brethren, to convert persons, who have sinned, from the error of their way. Of course, you say, God can do it, and He does it, but James is not speaking of what God does here. He is speaking of someone else. It is one person he is speaking about; probably someone singled out. There was Peter himself. He had to do with sins; he sinned. John had to do with Peter and he records how things were finally dealt with. It was John that said, “For of his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace”. His gospel is the working out of all that; how we can deal with a person who has sinned and turn him from the error of his way. He tells us about Thomas. He makes it plain that Thomas was restored. He bows in worship before the Lord and says, “My Lord and my God”. John records that. He records what Peter did too, how he was brought round and how the Lord says to him, “Follow me”, how He challenged him, how He searched him. The psalmist says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any grievous way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139: 23, 24). Peter could tell you about that; that way was in the following of Jesus. “Follow me”, says the Lord to him, but in following see that you look after the sheep. “Feed my lambs ... Shepherd my sheep ... Feed my sheep”. These are illustrations of these verses, and I just make these remarks in order to call attention to the Scriptures, to the truth, and how conversions may take place. Why should persons who have sinned remain in their sins unrepentant, unwashed, unrecovered? It is all put on us now at this very moment that they should not be; that such conditions should not be. There is a way of dealing with them, but the way is hard, and James knows it is hard, and he points out the [p. 417] great exploit that accrues from effort put forth. The epistle should be carefully read in order to join in this work of saving unrepentant sinners, who have been once amongst us, from the error of their way, so that their souls should be saved from death and a multitude of sins should be covered. You say, What multitude of sins? Every step of your way, of your unrepentant way, is sin; every step, every wink of your eye, every breath of your lungs, involve sin while you are unjudged, unrepentant, unrecovered. That multitude has to be dealt with, and it may be dealt with at a stroke; but it lies in the erring one being converted; the change-over; some real change taking place. It is the same person, but he is converted; he is changed from the error of his way. The converter will not gloat over it. If he is lowly, he would say to the person who is converted: I would be where you are if it were not for the grace of God. Paul says, “Be as I am, for I also am as ye” (Galatians 4: 12). No converter will make much of his exploits. He will make much of the people, of the converts.
Daniel brings this matter, not into a local incident amongst us, of which there are many, alas, but into eternity. It is a beautiful passage which we have often alluded to in chapter 12: 3. Daniel is very much signalised in the book. I have no doubt that John the prophet in the Revelation, as led by the Holy Spirit, took somewhat from Daniel, and also from Ezekiel. Why should he not do that? They are the handiwork of God. All these great servants are the handiwork of God, and no doubt John, in his young days, admired Daniel. So have I admired Daniel and I hope every brother and sister admires Daniel as the workmanship of God. He was a great man needed at a most important and critical time in the history of God’s testimony, and so Daniel says here, “I Daniel”, verse 5. John says, “I John;”
Paul says, “I Paul;” and the Lord Jesus Himself says, “I Jesus”. So I have no doubt as to who is who in those cases. Who is Daniel? Why should I not be like him? Why should I not be loyal to the truth as to my food, as to my associations, as to my ministry, as to my services in various ways? Daniel is to be admired. The Spirit of God sets him before us to be admired. He says, “I Daniel”. The word to him is, “Go thy way, Daniel”, verse 9. You say, Why did the Lord not say, My way? No; it is “thy way”. It is a very great honour paid to Daniel that it is his way; he is a reliable man, a trustworthy man; one of the most trustworthy — “Go thy way, Daniel”. God would say, It is all right with you. I have no doubt about what you will do. There are others to whom I will not say that. “Sin no more”, He would say to such. You are in danger of sinning; I can hardly trust you out of My sight. “Sin no more”. But not to Daniel; not to the woman of Luke 7; not to Lazarus. There is divine confidence. Heaven’s confidence is expressed in that and I want to be among them. “Go thy way, Daniel” — I am looking after things. That is the divine work in verse 9, so that the matter is kept secret divinely. The time will come for its disclosure. We have to wait for much in that respect. God will see that things are disclosed when necessary, so that we cannot make prophecy an academic matter at all. It is a question of God and what He will let loose and unfold at a given time to us. That is, He takes us into His secrets. How lovely it is to be amongst those who have the divine secrets! God makes His confidants of certain persons.
So we read, “There shall be a time of distress, such as never was since there was a nation until that time”, verse 1. What we are experiencing now is not anything like this, although it is bad enough in some places. “And at that time thy people shall be [p. 419] delivered, every one that is found written in the book”. That is like a rift in the cloud and is sure to come. “Every one that is found written in the book”. A great element in the divine economy is a book, with names especially written into it. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, to everlasting contempt. And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse”. What a word, confirmatory of what I have been saying, or rather, adding to what I have been saying, consolidating it, and adding the thought of wisdom again! “And they that are wise”. Daniel is an illustration, a leader of it. God says to the prince of Tyre, “Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel!” (Ezekiel 28: 3). What a tribute to the wisdom of Daniel, and what authority he has thus about the wise! So the word here is, “They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse”. We want to cultivate divine wisdom. “But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God”. You become one of these wise people, wiser than Daniel even. For a Christian is constituted that. Even a little one in the kingdom of God is greater than John the baptist, greater than Daniel. Pardon me, but these are true words, because of what Christianity is. Still Daniel is a great person and John the baptist and all the prophets are great persons. I love to think of a time coming when we shall merge with them. We shall see them all. What a time it will be! What glory is ahead of us! But then, we want to be able to mingle with them, to shine with them; and the wise are classified in that way here. “They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse”. I have been already alluding to the firmament in which the sun and moon are, but it is the starry heavens here, inclusive rather of the stars than of great distinguished luminaries; but a peculiar shining. Stars are much [p. 420] fewer in the south, in the southern regions of the heavens, than they are up here in the north. We are in richer surroundings here in that sense. The starry regions are more dense. How many beautiful names there are! Job speaks of them; the Spirit of God speaks of them in Job. Here it is the firmament, and it shines, a great density of shining, and the wise are to be included in that in a spiritual way. How great it is to be ready for that! “And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and they that turn the many to righteousness as the stars, for ever and ever”. That is open to us this very night. Let us go in for this, fitting ourselves for coming glories; not simply that God is going to bring many sons to heaven. He is doing it. He is bringing many sons to glory, and they are not to tarnish the glory, surely, that is there. They are to add to it. It would never do that the glory that is there already should be tarnished by our presence. It is not to be. God has seen to that. He has gone to great pains to make us fit for that place, but it is for us too, and He has called us to it and intends that we should shine in it for ever and ever.
But then there is this matter of turning many to righteousness. It is not ‘he that turns many to righteousness’, but “they that turn the many to righteousness as the stars, for ever and ever”. I do not know how many are engaged in it now. May we all be engaged in it! I have been saying how few converters there are; plenty of sinners, alas! who have erred from the way. Surely God would call us into the thing to get people converted. It should be regarded as intolerable that one should be unconverted from the error of his way; not in the sense that an infidel is unconverted, but from the error of his way. Why should it be? Can we not bring them back from the error of their way, so that they may join the righteous? Matthew is full of righteousness.
[p. 421] I believe it is because it is the assembly gospel; we need righteousness so much in assembly matters. Assembly service in Matthew is very full of the idea; even a cup of cold water given in the name of a righteous man — how important a righteous man is! — will not lose its reward.
I trust this scripture will be used to help us to look around and see how intolerable it is that there should be persons who have erred from the way, unrestored, unconverted, and how great a premium, as it were, is offered those persons who succeed in the conversion of such as that. It is a big matter in Daniel: “they that turn the many to righteousness”. It is not simply one person, but many. The converters are big too, and there are a good many of them. The point is to get aroused to what we are. I hope that God may use us for the restoration of our brethren.