Well, good morning. Go ahead. Open your bibles to James, chapter five. Like Jordan said, we're finishing up this morning. Finishing up in James. So we'll be looking at the last two verses. As you're turning there, I want you to think for a second, do you know someone who used to be really passionate about Jesus but no longer is? Do you know someone who used to be really passion about Jesus but no longer it is? Maybe that's someone even that you came to church here at Veritas with at some point. Maybe you were in a connection group with them at some point. Do you have a visual of that person in your mind right now? Maybe it's a family member. Maybe it's somebody they faithfully attended Veritas. They faithfully attended church at one point in their lives, but their life doesn't demonstrate a love for God at this point anymore. They know the gospel, but they're not living it. Maybe you even witnessed their baptism at one point, but it seems like they've lost a zeal for the Lord. They were really passionate about God at one point in their lives and now seem to be passionate about a lot of other things except God. Maybe they really had a deep hunger for the word to know the truth, but now they speak of a different gospel. Who is that person this morning? Who are those people that came to your mind when I was given those examples? I want you to do something. If you got a notebook, I want you to write the name of that person or a couple people on the top of your notebook right now. Just first name, whoever that may be. And as a brother or sister in Christ, what is your responsibility in that person's life at this point? They seem to be wandering away like, what is your responsibility at this point in their lives? And more importantly, what is your responsibility in their eternity? That's what we're going to look at this morning. Let's see how James addresses this as he concludes this letter. James, chapter five, verses 19 and 20. My brothers, if any one of you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. And what a finish to a great letter here. James has been writing to these suffering Christians. They've been persecuted, so they're dispersed in a lot of different areas. And as he hears about them, he's been addressing issues about their faith, and he's been trying over and over to, I really think, do what he just told his audience to do here at the end, there's a group of people wandering and he's saying, I don't want you to wander any longer. I want you to come back. That's what James intent has been this whole time. I want to show you what real faith looks like, because you can't just say that you believe. It actually impacts every area of your life, is what James is saying. He said, faith should impact how you go through trials. Faith should impact how you and where you get wisdom from. Faith should impact how you receive the word of God. Faith should impact your holiness. Faith should impact how you treat other people, how you treat other people that are different than you, how you treat other people in the church. Faith should impact how you talk, faith should impact your ambition, faith should impact how you plan. Faith should impact how you use your money. Faith should impact how you suffer, and faith should impact how you pray. Seems to be throughout this whole letter, what James is saying is that faith should impact every area of your life. You can't just say you believe and live how you want. Real faith impacts all of life. So why is he addressing this wandering at the end? Because it seems like people in this church were straying away from all those truths. And James is not okay letting these people, these believers, wander away from the Lord without him pursuing them with the truth. Now, we know that sometimes as we've listened to James, it's been like a punch in the gut. Like, ooh, wasn't expecting that. I didn't know my faith had to impact in that way. Sometimes it feels like he's been, like, right in our face, like he knows our business. He's never content with the family of faith wandering. He addresses them how at the end of the letter, the same way that he's done it so many times throughout. My brothers in the family of faith, James was not content with letting people wander away from God, wander away from the gospel. He says, my brothers, if anyone among you wanders, he's reflecting that someone in the church can wander from God. Someone in the church can wander from God. Who's that someone? All of us, we can all wander. Every single one of us in this room can wander away from the truth. So what does James have in mind when he talks about wandering? What does wandering in the church look like? This whole idea that people are straying, that they're wayward. But the word he used for wandering here is not inadvertent, it's not an accident. Like, you are intentionally kind of straying off. We know that's what our hearts do. Right. Many of you grew up in church. You may have sang the song come thou fount famous line in there is prone to wander. Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. That is what our hearts are prone to do. Like, oh, I want to pursue Jesus, but our hearts, like, they go this way or they go this way and like, no, that's not the direction we want to end up in because we stray and we become wayward. So as you think about that name at the top of your notes this morning, I want you to think about that person when you think about wandering. But I also want you to think about your own heart. How might you be wandering this morning away from the truth of the gospel? Now, there are clear ways that we wander. Like really explicit ways that we wander. If somebody says, like, oh, I hate the church, I hate Christians, oh, you're probably wandering, right? There's no probably. You are wandering, right? If you're having an affair, you're wandering. If you're fighting and quarreling, you're wandering. If you have a sharp tongue, you're wandering. If you're misusing your money, you're wandering. If you're grumbling in your suffering, you're wandering according to James. So those are clear things, right? But there's some subtle things that he's addressing here. First off, he says you have wandered, the one who wanders from the truth, somebody who wanders away from God's truth, the gospel truth. He's saying you can wander in your beliefs, no longer having sound doctrine. John would say it this way in one. John, three little children, let us not love in word or talk, but indeed and in truth, he's connecting love to truth. Like, if you're going to say, I love God, you got to be devoted to the truth. And now James is saying these people have wandered away from that. So he's going, do you really love God? Do you really love God? Now, Paul says it this way in two Timothy, two or four, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears. They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth. And what, wander off into myths? How are you going to wander off into the crazy stuff? Because you no longer endure sound teaching. You're impatient with sound teaching because you just want something new. Oh, I've heard that. I heard the gospel. Like, if we ever get sick and impatient hearing the gospel, we are wandering. I got to find something new. I got to have a new podcast, a new pastor that's going to tell me something new. Like, this is not new. God's word is not new. He's saying you're going to be around people and you're just going to have itching ears that tell you what you want to hear, that defend your lifestyle, whatever your lifestyle choices are, you can find a pastor. Somehow I don't know if I'd call him a pastor. You can find somebody who's going to tell you what you want to hear and you're wandering if you're doing that, you're wandering. You're hungry to hear what you want to hear. You kind of live in this own echo chamber where everybody's just telling you what you want to hear. You have no desire to listen to the truth. Like, if you feel like, I feel like that somebody might be wandering and you go to them like, hey, when's the last time you read your Bible? And they're like, I don't know, they're wandering. They've wandered away from the truth. But he uses this a second time in verse 20, it says, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering, and this time he doesn't attach it to biblical truth. He's just saying general wandering. It's not just wandering in your beliefs, but it's wandering in your behavior, in your morals and your ethics. This is the way that God has said for us to live, and we're veering off of that one. John one six says, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So you're walking in darkness. You're not walking in the light of the Lord. What does that look like? Ungodly. Priorities. Priorities that at first they just feel kind of initially harmless, maybe even a little exhilarating at times. Temporarily make you feel better, not necessarily sinful. And it's that slippery slope where, you know what? I'm going to have my kids and use sports and we're just going to be gone once, one weekend or miss church one weekend a season. And then your kid's really good, he makes a travel team, club team. And now you're like, oh, we just have to miss a couple of times, a few times during the season. And then after you travel a couple of weekends, you get sick the next weekend, your wife gets sick, then your kids get sick the next weekend. And before you know it, you haven't been to church in a month or two months or six months, and you've wandered? Youth sports bad? No, not necessarily. But it's that slippery slope of wandering. Let's go. Think back through James again. Listed this already a couple times. But what does behaviors look like that show that we're wandering? Well, there's no obedience. We hear the word. We love hearing the word, but we don't do anything about it. We're wandering. You're wandering if you show favoritism in your life, you show partiality. You treat certain people one way, but other people differently. You show no compassion. You're wandering. Your words never honor the Lord. You're wandering. You have friendship with the world. You're wandering. You're making plans, and none of your plans include the Lord. You're wandering if you felt conviction during this series of James, and you look back and like, oh, I was really convicted about that six weeks ago in James, and you haven't done anything about it. You're wandering. You're wandering. So check your own heart. This morning, church. Are you wandering now? Think back to that name at the top of your notes this morning. What's the church to do when they start to see somebody wander? Several years ago, we were living in Baton Rouge at the time. And we come home from church one Sunday afternoon. When we come home from church, there are cops all over our neighborhood. We're like, what in the world happened while we were at church and come to find out a girl two doors down who was probably, like, 8910, something like that, she had gone missing. And so the rest of the afternoon, the whole neighborhood is out. We're looking everywhere. Cops are coming in our house, looking, like, going through every house, looking through every closet. They're searching everywhere around to find this little girl. There's helicopters flying over. Like, everybody's doing everything they can to find her. By God's grace, they found her. She had just kind of wandered off to a business, and it was, like, 105 degrees that day, and she just got really hot and kind of passed out there, and they found her, and she ended up being okay. Thank you, lord. Now, what if that little girl would have come back home that afternoon? And after she's found, she comes back home, and she opens the door, and mom and dad are sitting there watching TV. Oh, we're so glad you're home. She's like, wait, what? You're watching TV? Yeah. You should come watch this show. It's awesome. We've been binging it all afternoon. That's ridiculous, right? That doesn't make any sense. Like, your daughter was lost and you're just sitting, watching TV. But how often do we do that with spiritual wanderers that we know? Well, I found something better. Work was just really busy. I found some good entertainment choices. It was going to be inconvenient. Honey, we've been having some really tough circumstances. Like I couldn't go out there today and search for you. That makes no sense to us. Right, but how often do we do that in the church? What if she walked in and you're like, hey, I just wanted to be sensitive to your feelings. I didn't want to embarrass you. I know you're wandering, but I want to hurt you. I didn't want to bring you back and then the news, be there. I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to judge you for being gone. I mean, you're on your own journey. That is the culture that we live in. I can't get into your business because you're on your own journey. James is saying, that's crazy. Why would we let anybody, a brother or sister, do that and think that we shouldn't go after them? Are we more concerned with our comforts than having an awkward conversation with a wandering brother or sister? Let's go back to 19 and 20 again, my brothers. If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Someone, somebody in the christian community, a loving friend, if that person brings somebody back, turns them away from their sin and back to the Lord, it's like there is something active that the church should be doing. This is not a passive call to a rescue mission, to just sit back. Now we know the context of this passage that Jordan preached in last week, all about prayer, and we can say, oh, I'm praying for you. I know that person's wandering. I know they used to love being at church. I'm just going to pray for them because there's power in prayer and we should pray for them, right? You should say yes, like we should pray for them. Right? But it doesn't just stop at prayer. We don't do less than pray, but there's more that can be done. So how do you go after someone when they're wandering from the church? When they're wandering away from the gospel, how do you go after them? I want to practically just run through New Testament really quickly. Not the whole New Testament, but a lot of verses to show you what pursuing restoration looks like. First, John chapter five says this. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask. Let's talk about asking God in prayer. And God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. So where does this restoration search and rescue mission start? Just like James said last week, it starts with prayer. You start praying for those people, but it doesn't stop there. In fact, Galatians chapter six would say this, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, so you're wandering. You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. So you're not going after them, like condemning them. You're saying gently, like, hey, what are you doing? Come back. Keep watch on yourself, though, lest you too be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. So you got to watch out for your own heart first. Jesus would say it this way in Matthew chapter seven. Or, how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when there's the log in your own eye, you hypocrite? First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the spec out of your brother's eye. So do we ever take the spec out, address the speck in someone else's eye? Yes, absolutely. But there's a step before we take that spec out, right? Make sure you're taking the log out of your own eye. So he's saying, pray for these people. How do you restore people? You pray and then you look at your own wandering heart that's prone to wander. You look inwardly first. Once you've dealt with that, then you pursue and you address it, because there's not many people that stray and are wandering that just stray back onto the path. Right? That doesn't happen very often. So this is how Paul did it in second. Thessalonians do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Paul's saying, like, I'm going to warn you. Hey, you're going. You're about to jump off the cliff. You don't see it, but I see it. Come back, please come back. Like, don't go there. The trajectory of your life is headed in a terrible direction. I want you to come back to the gospel. Come back then. In acts, Paul is speaking to the ephesian elders, and he says, therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease. Three years did not cease, night or day to admonish everyone with tears. This is like Paul's passion I'm going to go after and admonish and encourage people, like warn them of where they're going to. I'm going to do it day and night and I'm going to weep for three years begging. This is what his ministry was about. So you pray, you inspect your own wandering heart, and then you go after those people and you pursue them. And proverbs ten says this, hatred stirs up strife. But love covers all offenses. The motivation to pursue the wanderer isn't hatred because you don't like what they're doing, it's because you love them and you know what it's leading to. Love covers all offenses. The motivation in this whole search and rescue mission is because you love God and you love people. But guys, this isn't an easy task. It's a frustrating search and rescue mission. Sometimes it's a risky mission and sometimes it's a painful mission. It's like many of you have heard this before, but if you go, somebody's drowning and you swim out to them, you always have to be careful because they're so worked up that they might pull you under the water at the same time. That's what Paul's saying in Galatians. Watch out lest you be tempted too. Or maybe you've tried to help out, rescue, like a wounded dog before. What happens? Sometimes in the process you might get bitten. Right? Is it worth rescuing the dog? Yeah, cat. I don't know. It's a joke. All right? It's a joke. All the cat people sending me emails this week. It's worth it, guys. It's absolutely worth it. Is it going to be painful when you approach somebody about their sinfulness and they get defensive and they critique you as a self righteous jerk? Is that painful? Yeah. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Is it a joyful ending sometimes if a sinner repents? Yeah. That's awesome. Like, you were wondering, you were lost and now you're found. That's amazing. How do we get to that? Why would somebody rejoice in that? Look back, my brothers. If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Says, let him know now who's the hymn that he's talking about, the one pursuing and restoring or the sinner? We're actually not sure here, but I don't think it actually matters because for both of them, it's great motivation. Who is the hymn? If it's the pursuer, the restorer. What great encouragement. Like, if you're going after the wanderer and you're pursuing them and they turn back to the Lord, he's saying, look what you've done. You've saved their soul from death. You've covered a multitude of their sins. That's a major shot in the arm to this rescue mission, right? But what if you're the one that is the sinner man, what great news. What great news that your soul was saved from death and a multitude of your sins was covered. So either way, James is saying like, this is a great thing. This is a great thing to happen. He says, let him know that there are two truths that you need to know when you're on this search and rescue mission. For wanderers in our congregation or family members that are wandering, here's the two truths you know. Number one, you will save somebody's soul from death. The wanderer's soul from death. When you are wandering, you are wandering and you are going through a death trap and you are risking your soul from eternal life and you are going to eternal death. And these are some of the ways that God describes eternal death in the scriptures. Number one, first and foremost, the ultimate thing is you're not with God for eternity. The prize, the treasure of life. You don't get to be with him. It's a place where the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched. It's a place for torment forever. When you save a wandering heart and you turn them around, that is what you're saving people from. This is a big rescue mission. He says you'll save a soul from death and you will cover a multitude of sins. That idea of covering there is hiding or veiling. Ultimately, forgiveness is what it's talking about. When you bring somebody back to the gospel, you bring them back to the only way that they can be forgiven of their sins, the only way. So you don't go pursue somebody and just like, hey, let's talk about your morality. You open up the Bible and you say, let's talk about the gospel. How is your life aligning up with the gospel? Because you're trying to bring them back to the gospel because that is the only way for them to experience forgiveness of sins. Now, I know we got good Bible people in this room this morning and you're hearing me say, like, oh, somebody, you're going to save somebody from their sins and you're going to cover a multitude of sins. Like, isn't that God's job? Let me just be clear. Philippians chapter one says it this way, and I'm sure of this, that he, God, who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So God started a work in you, and who's going to bring that work to completion? God. God's going to do that. Also in one Corinthians, it's talking about the Lord, and it says, he's the one who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. So who's going to sustain you to the end? God's going to sustain you to the end. You need to know that for your eternal security, God's going to be the one that's going to do that. Okay, but what James is saying here is like, God keeps salvation secure, but God uses people to keep salvation secure. Does God need us? Listen, hear me out. Does God need us? Absolutely not. Think about Paul himself. Paul's persecuting Christians. He's breathing out murderous threats against Christians. He's walking on the road to Damascus. And God, without anybody's help, shines a light from heaven and says he just puts Paul on his face right before him. Who was the one that saved Paul? God. He didn't need people to sustain Paul. But this is the amazing privilege of the mission of God for believers that God would choose you to be a part of keeping his people. And that's amazing. That's amazing. In fact, in Hebrews, chapter three says this, but exhort one another, challenge one another every day as long as it is called today. So challenge them. As people are wandering, you challenge them that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So you're going to exhort one another so that they aren't deceived. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Like you want things to last to the end. He's saying, well, don't be deceived and hardened. And how is that going to happen? You exhort one another to prevent people from getting that, getting to that point. So God is using people to save people's souls, to cover a multitude of their sin. Now, who plays that part in the church? Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering. Whoever. So is this church leadership's job to bring back the wanderer? Yes. Are they the only ones that do it? No. Whoever in the church that James is writing to whoever. Brothers, sisters, this is not just your connection group addresses somebody'sin. In your connection group, you have a responsibility to address the wandering heart, whether you're leading or not. It's not just an elder's job, it's not just a pastor's job. This is a community job that we have here. People given authority by the great shepherd to go after wandering sheep, every single one of us. The whole idea here is that people are instruments that God is using to save sinners. Can God act without us to save? Yeah, absolutely. Can God act with us to save? Sure. People aren't a necessity. God's fully capable, but he chooses to use us on this mission. Paul would say it this way, in two Corinthians five. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and he gave us a mission, the ministry of Reconciliation, that is, in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. How is God making his appeal through us? Because we're his ambassadors. You get to represent God Almighty. What a privilege. What a privilege. And you go out as an ambassador and a minister of reconciliation, that people far from God can be brought back to God through this message of the gospel. And you go out on this ministry of reconciliation with the message of reconciliation that in the midst of our sin, Jesus Christ died a death that we deserve to die and then rose to give us new life so that we might be reconciled to God. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so that we might be reconciled to God. Guys, we get to be a part of that kind of mission. That is a huge mission. That is amazing mission that we get to be a part of. He says, whoever gets to be a part of saving somebody's soul from death, covering a multitude of sins, God is using people to restore the wanderer. Some of you have heard this illustration before, but if you're a fisherman who catches the fish? What catches the fish? Does the hook catch the fish? Does the bait catch the fish? Does the line catch the fish? Does the pole catch the fish? Or does the fisherman catch the fish? Yes, all of the above, right? Can a fisherman catch a fish with his own bare hands? There's those crazy people. But that can happen, right? Like, yes. Can God save somebody by himself? Yeah, that's what he does. But, man, he goes, oh, I'm going to use some bait here and a hook here. And I need a line, and I don't need a line. I'm going to use a line and use a pole because I want you to be a part of this ministry of reconciliation. Guys, James is showing us the massive importance of christian community and saving somebody's soul from death. The importance of the local church to mutually care for each other's souls, to take responsible other people's souls. Guys, minding your own business isn't the way of christian community. If you're like, I want to be in a place where everybody minds their own business, don't come to a church, because that's not how it's designed. No, we get into each other's business because there's a deeper work going on, not because any of us think we're better than the other people. We get into each other's business because your heart is wandering to spiritual death and your life is ruled by a multitude of sins. And we take seriously this search and rescue mission because someone's eternity is on the line. Is it worth it? Yes. Is Jesus worth it? Absolutely. What's a more worthwhile legacy? To pursue and potentially restore a wanderer or to live in our own comfort? Come on, guys, let's be a part of this mission. It is a privilege, it's a humbling privilege for us to go before the Lord and say, man, my heart wanders, too, but it's a joyful privilege when we see somebody pursue the Lord, some of you might go, well, wouldn't God just get more honor if he just did it all himself and didn't use us? Not necessarily several. Or at our house, we have a bin of kids toy instruments, and it's a bin I try to hide. Often. It's four kids grabbing toy instruments. It doesn't sound good. Well, we either got the bright idea or somebody in our family got the bright idea that they should buy a toy accordion. Again, terrible idea, right? And so our kids play this accordion. It sounds awful. All right. You just try to run to the other side of the house when it's happening. Well, one day my friend David comes over. David is from. The friend from Baton Rouge. He flew up one time and he comes into our house and they're all playing with these instruments. Well, David played trumpet in the LSU Tiger marching band, so I knew he was, like, musically gifted. Within five minutes, he is playing the LSU fight song on this accordion. I'm like, how did you pull that off? This makes the worst sound ever. But now you've turned it into something beautiful. How do you take such a bad instrument and make it beautiful? Because you're an incredible musician. Isn't that what God does for us? An incredible God? Wait, you're going to use me and my wandering heart to restore somebody else? Wow, you're an amazing God. And we don't go, oh, look how awesome we are as instruments, because we know how terrible we are as instruments, but that's how great our God is. And he's called you into this mission, a mission that, I would say it this way, lasting faith is a community project. All throughout this book, James has talked about real faith, genuine faith, authentic faith, living faith, and now he's ending it, saying, lasting faith. It takes a whole church. It takes a whole church. Faith that lasts needs loving friends that are going to go after people, reclaim hearts and address sin. It's not a passive search and rescue mission, it's an active one. So the challenge for us is to take our own sin seriously, to take our own wandering hearts seriously. But don't stop there. We take the rest of our church's heart and soul seriously as well. So look back to the top of your notes. Think about that name or those names again. If you're the pursuer or the restorer this morning, number one, search for the log in your own eye. Before you go on this rescue mission, make sure you search your own wandering heart. And then secondly, I want to encourage you this week, reach out to that person. Reach out to that person. Make a phone call, invite them to lunch, write them a letter. Do not send them a text. This is bigger than that, guys. We're not just sending them a text. Hey, I think you're wandering from the Lord. Come back to the gospel. No, this is bigger because their eternity is on the line. You are not responsible to save them, but God may use you to save them. Now, this is where it could get awkward. It could get awkward this week if you're on the other end of receiving a phone call, or maybe you get a letter in the next couple of weeks because you're the wanderer. My encouragement to you would be first and foremost, listen to somebody who loves you and cares about your eternity. Listen, don't get defensive, don't write it off, don't start pointing fingers at them. Listen. Because God, in his kindness, might be using that person to lead you to repentance. So you humble yourself, you listen to what they have to say. And if it's legitimate, my hope is that you would repent and turn back to the Lord. But why in the world would Christians be a part of a mission so risky a mission that when you send that letter or you make that phone call, somebody might point their finger in your face and say, you self righteous jerk, I can't believe you would call me out. Do you know all your sins? Why would we do something where we might offend somebody? Why might we pursue this wanderer? Because it might mean we lose a friendship. Isaiah 53 would say this. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity, him being Jesus, the iniquity of us all. Why in the world would we participate in this kind of risky search and rescue mission for the wanderer? Because we were all the wanderer. We were all wandering far from the Lord, like sheep led astray. And what did God do for us? He went on a search and rescue mission for our own souls. And how risky was it? It led to the death of his own son. That's amazing news. Why would we do something so dangerous that risk us losing friends? Because that's exactly what God did for us. That is exactly what God did for us. May grace cause us to reach out to other people that are wandering. The same grace that saved our souls. Will we not reach out with the same grace to other people so that their soul may be saved? The same grace that covered a multitude of our sins? Wouldn't we want to reach out with that same grace to others? The same grace that when we had wandered so far, we were so lost? The same grace that found us, amazing grace. Isn't that the kind of grace that we would want to extend to others and have them experience, too? Guys, I want you to picture the day. Picture the day when that name that you wrote down at the beginning of this turns back to the Lord, when they repent from all their wandering, when they repent from their lostness and they experience the grace of God. What a day. What a day. Can you imagine the joy that would happen in our church and the praise that would result unto our God if we got to see those days over and over and over? Guys, let's beg God to do that today. Let's beg God to do that this week. Let's constantly beg God to take the wandering heart and bring it back to him by his grace alone. And may he use us in that process. Would God be so gracious and so merciful to allow us to see that day? Because, guys, I know that a room in this size that there are people in this room you have prayed for. You have prayed for somebody else that's been wandering for years. You have painfully confronted them about their wandering. You have seen the harm that their sinfulness has brought upon them and others. You've shared the gospel over and over and over. May there be a day when those people return to the Lord. Amen. Let's beg God for those days. And then this is what happens when a sinner turns back to the Lord. And this is how we're going to finish. God tells. Jesus tells three parables. I'm not going to go through all parables. Hang on. Jesus tells three parables in Luke chapter 15 about a lost coin, a lost sheep and a lost son. And this is how all those parables end. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Just so I tell you, there's joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. For this brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. May we experience that kind of joy that results in the praise of her God. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for pursuing my own wandering heart. Lord, I pray that we would recognize, that we would recognize your grace and the love that you have extended to us and God. May that motivate us to pursue wandering hearts. God, we know that this is a hard mission, but God, you are worthy of that mission. You are worthy of our lives. Do something amazing through the preaching of your word this morning. May people's hearts be turned back to you. Even the wanderers in this room, may they repent and turn back to you this morning. And Father, we pray for those that we wrote down that this week, today would be a day where they repent and turn back to you as well. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.