Means of Salvation.
I. Let us see what character consists of, and then we may see where and in what way it may be changed. First of all, there is the character we bring with us into this world, which we call our nature; and then there is that second nature which education and habit impart. Christian divines in all times have taught that man comes into this world with a decided character, bent, or bias; they call it human depravity, and they account for it by original sin: and modern science is equally strong in maintaining that man comes into this world with the shaping influence of the past upon him and a depravity inherited from savage or animal ancestors. Anyhow here is the fact: a man comes into this world a positive and decided kind of being, with a nature of a fixed quality and texture, a nature which is a kind of concrete, a fusing together of all sorts of broken fragments and dust of the past, or, to take a more living illustration, a soul with all sorts of buried seeds in it.
II. Conduct in the long run modifies character, especially that product of habit which we call second nature. By not doing a thing for a certain time a man cares less about doing it, his health is better, his courage higher, his pleasure with others increased, his self-respect more ample. The old taste begins to decay. A joyful audacity fills the eye which once had a suspicious, hunted look. New habits and tastes are gradually formed. In other words, a new character arises from changed circumstances, from a changed condition of things. Leave men, in all which surrounds them and acts upon them, in precisely the same state, without the smallest change, and they must remain the same. They must be brought into contact with new powers, new saving forces, if they are to be renewed in the spirit of their minds. But since they cannot change themselves, but must be what they are, change must be thrust upon them; their salvation must be directly set up by a power outside themselves; they need a Saviour. This is the Divine law, and its great manifestation was the Son of God, who was Son of man, who is the perfect illustration of God's dealings with man, the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He came to men, who without Him must have remained dead in trespasses and sins, and started them from the grave into newness of life.
W. Page Roberts, Liberalism in Religion,p. 147.
Danger and Effort.
I. There is, first, individual danger: the danger of erring from the truth. The danger may be either intellectual or moral, either the darkening of the understanding, or the corrupting of the heart. The allusion evidently is to one who, having known the truth, had departed from its safe and pleasant paths, and had come under the entanglements either of erroneous notions or of vicious life. And the twofold danger is in existence still. Moral error is, I need scarcely re mind you, more imminent and more disastrous than the other. It is quite possible to hold erroneous opinions in connection with a large charity. Wood, hay, and stubble are sometimes built with as clumsy materials on the true foundation; but where the danger is not intellectual, but moral, there is of necessity present alienation from God and the prospect of perpetual exile from the glory of His power. Heresy is not a trifling thing; it is to be resisted and deplored: but the deadliest heresy is sin, and there is danger in a world where every influence is a temptation, and where every passion is a tempter.
II. Take, next, the thought of individual effort: "If oneconvert him." There is here a distinct recognition of the influence of mind over mind, that principle of dependence and of oversight which is involved in our mutual relationship as members of one family. Not the least of the endowments which make up our solemn stewardship is this mysterious and inseparable power of influence, one of the most important talents entrusted to us, and of which we shall have to give account at the judgment-seat of God. It is of universal bestowment; we are none of us without it. Your sphere is narrow, you say; your influence is small; you can do nothing for
Christ. One acorn is a very insignificant thing, but the majestic oak is its development of strength; one little rippling wavelet makes no account, but it is carried to the springtide, and the springtide were not perfect without it; one raindrop is hardly noticed as it falls, but it is enough for one rosebud's life to make it blow. There is not one of you, however small and scanty and narrow your influence, who may not, by patient and prayerful toil, become a wise winner of souls.
W. M. Punshon, Penny Pulpit,Nos. 3674, 3675.
References: James 5:19; James 5:20. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. i., No. 45; vol. xix., No. 1137; Homilist,vol. iv., p. 332; Homiletic Quarterly,vol i., p. 251.James 5:20. J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions,p. 156.