We have seen so far this week that, at times, we must judge the fruit of others. We should be careful not to develop an overall judgmental attitude where we are hypercritical of everyone around us. Still, there will be times when someone is in sin and needs to be encouraged to do better. When we do that, we are acting in the best interest of that person.

James 5:19-20 (ESV)
¹⁹ My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰ 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.

How can we bring a sinner back to God without making a judgment that he is in sin? Because those caught up in sin are usually defensive, the person you are trying to help might attempt to scold you by saying, “Jesus tells us not to judge.” Regardless of that, you are doing what is right in your attempt to save the person from spiritual death.

Whenever we try to restore someone who is in sin, we are acknowledging that the person still has hope. What we must avoid in our view of others is concluding that he or she is beyond hope. To do that is to attempt to pass final judgment, and that job belongs to Christ alone.

You might think to yourself, “I am glad I never do that,” but are you sure? Have you ever failed to preach the gospel to someone because they do not have the right look? Maybe they have long hair and are covered with tattoos, or maybe their current lifestyle is carnal, involving drugs, alcohol, and other immoral vices. Are you thinking that a person like that would never obey the gospel? To conclude such is to be guilty of passing final judgment.

Never forget how powerful the gospel is. Who would have thought that the great persecutor of the church, Saul, would one day become its greatest defender? In his own words, Paul was the greatest of all sinners.

1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)
¹⁵ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Paul was probably a little too hard on himself. It is not true that Paul was the greatest sinner who ever lived. We have biblical accounts of men and women who were worse, but he did have rea-son to be ashamed of how he treated Christians (Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-2). After his conversion, however, he became one of the greatest of all Christians. He was changed by the gospel of Christ. The same gospel changed some who lived at Corinth from being fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, etc., into Christians.

Do not ever judge a person to be unchangeable and, therefore, destined for damnation before they die. Do not conclude that a child of God, who has struggled for years, regularly asking the church to pray for him or her, will never change and become a solid member of the body of Christ. The truth is, anyone can change, and instead of passing final judgment on a person, concluding that they will always be what they are right now, we need to be trying to help them in any way that we can. To conclude that a person has no hope of converting is to make a judgment that you and I are not qualified to make.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.