In his epistle, after a barbed warning in opposition to false lecturers amid the congregation, Jude all of the sudden takes a gentler tone: “Have mercy on those that doubt” (v. 22). This isn’t so completely different from the Pauline admonitions about sinners: that for the fallen, we should “restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1), and that “the Lord’s servant should not be quarrelsome however sort to everybody …, correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Tim. 2:24–25).
Jude understood that there’s a distinction between those that are satisfied and people who should not. There are satisfied sinners, and there are satisfied believers—and between them are those that are undecided, those that are doubting what’s proper, these taking part in with hearth, and people who have polluted themselves with sin. The place repentance is feasible, then, the godly chief is to hunt restoration with all attainable gentleness, at the same time as he stays cautious of the dual risks of temptation’s flame and sin’s corruption (Jude 23).
A Story of Hazard and Restoration
Jeremiah 38 doesn’t converse on to this query of restoring the sinner. However, because it portrays the restoration of a battered human physique, it suggests to us how we should always consider that essential religious activity.
As a prophet of doom who confronted sin and pronounced judgment, Jeremiah was understandably unpopular with the authorities in Jerusalem. Finally, issues obtained so dangerous that a number of the king’s officers got down to silence him: “They took Jeremiah and forged him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was within the court docket of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water within the cistern, however solely mud, and Jeremiah sank within the mud” (Jer. 38:6).
Within the court docket was an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech, who took up Jeremiah’s trigger. Convincing the king to indicate mercy, he took thirty males with him to elevate Jeremiah out:
Ebed-melech took the lads with him and went to the home of the king, to a wardrobe within the storehouse, and took from there outdated rags and worn-out garments, which he let right down to Jeremiah within the cistern by ropes. Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian mentioned to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and garments between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. (vv. 38:11–13)
Ebed-melech, seeing the bodily peril Jeremiah was in, had mercy on him and pulled him out of the effectively whereas displaying concern for the toll the process may need on the prophet’s physique.
A Image of Gentleness
One can think about the dialog as Ebed-melech led the social gathering to not the effectively however to the wardrobe. “Wait a minute!” somebody may need mentioned. “Jeremiah’s in a pit. Why are we going to the wardrobe?” And Ebed-melech maybe responded, “Belief me.”
We would equally think about Ebed-melech’s phrases to the prophet: “Jeremiah, we’re throwing you down a rope. However ensure that the rags are there to guard your armpits from the ropes—as a result of once we pull you out, we don’t wish to damage you. We wish to deliver you out firmly, however we wish to deliver you out safely.”
Many pastors and Christian leaders, of their zeal to see sinners restored, rush on to the effectively, because it had been, bypassing the wardrobe. “We now have to get the ropes down there!” they are saying to themselves. “We now have to get him out now, rapidly!” However such a way of urgency might find yourself doing extra hurt than good. We have to be cautious that in pulling individuals out of the mud, we don’t find yourself pulling their arms off!
After all, there’s the alternative hazard too. Some Christian leaders are tempted to easily throw some rags down the effectively: “Wipe your self down, Jeremiah. Clear your self up a bit, and benefit from it. We received’t throw you a rope. We wouldn’t wish to damage you!”
The correct reply takes each risks into depend: “Jeremiah can’t keep within the effectively, or he’ll die there. But when we’re not cautious, we are going to solely damage him additional as we take him out. We should take away him—but we should make each effort to take away him gently.”
Saving the Sinner
James tells us, “Whoever brings again a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from demise and can cowl a mess of sins” (5:20). Sin and repentance are a matter of life and demise. We can’t depart individuals of their sin.
However neither does the Bible give us leeway to deal with the sinner with contempt. Our coronary heart is to be the identical as our Savior’s: “A bruised reed he won’t break, and a smoldering wick he won’t quench” (Matt. 12:20). We restore sinners figuring out that eternity is at stake. It could be vital, even, to “[snatch] them out of the hearth” (Jude 23) or, as with a frantic drowning man, to maintain our distance till it’s secure to step in. But in mercy, we ought by no means to indicate contempt for the doubter and the sinner as we cause them to repentance. We restore them, and we achieve this gently, as a result of they’re treasured earlier than God.
This text was tailored from the sermon “Remembering and Preserving” by Alistair Begg.
