Pastor Ormiston is doing a great job of getting us ready for our transition. And so I want to take responsibility for what he didn't know tonight about what that meeting was about. I asked him that question, but normally I'd start to tell him something and he already knows. So I said, do you know about the meeting? And he seemed to think he did. And this, we're not really planning on cleaning this building. We're going to, we're expecting it to get real dirty in the next nine months. So we want to get out of this room. and the foyer and the kitchen, things that are going to get dirty. We want to secure them in a safe place, but we have the responsibility of leaving the elementary school as clean as when we found it every Sunday night. And that's what that organizational meeting is about. And we'd like to include those who are already in our cleaning crews. That's a rotating schedule. We'd like to have enough to have a rotating schedule for the elementary school as well. Although instead of coming on Friday or Saturday, we'll do it immediately after the evening service on Sunday evening. So school is ready on Monday morning. So if you are involved with a cleaning crew or Maybe not yet involved with the cleaning crew, but you could take a little time on Sunday evening. It doesn't have to be a long session if we have enough people helping, and that's our goal, and that's why we're having an organizational meeting. We have to take that responsibility of cleanliness seriously. It's part of our obligation in using this new building. Besides all the physical aspects of transition, we need to be alert as a church family to the spiritual aspects of this transition as well. In some ways we are open to Satan's attacks in ways that we have not been over the last few years, even the time that we've been occupying this building. By the way, speaking of this building, we have a couple visiting with us tonight that have not been in this building since they first were here when this was what we were always told was a dinner theater. There's a couple with us tonight that actually met here at this location back in the early 70s. And they say, you know, dinner theater is a little euphemistic. This was a nightclub. And I only know what I was told in the past. I've not been trying to cover the truth. But apparently there was a dance floor and it was more of a show rather than a play. That was what I was always told. It was a play and eat dinner. But they were thankful that in the meantime, not only were they converted to Christ, but the building has been transformed into more legitimate use. And they're also happy to hear that it's going to be transformed one step further in our building project. But we are vulnerable to Satan's attack when we're in a time of transition. This is not a comfortable time, a time where things are changing. Satan would love to find some unprotected crack where he can drive a wedge. He often does that while churches are in building programs. There are a number of fronts where we have to particularly be on guard. We're going to consider one of those areas tonight. And we're open to this problem no matter where we are meeting. But I think we need to be particularly careful during this time of transition. Some years ago, the television program 60 Minutes investigated the strange popularity of the supermarket tabloid newspapers, otherwise known as scandal sheets. The report included several interviews with people who were seen exiting a store with one of those newspapers in tow. And so the reporter would walk up to them and ask them, do you believe what's written in that paper? And one man was representative of the typical answer that that reporter heard. The answer was, no, no, I know it's not true, but I enjoy reading it anyway. Is there something peculiar about knowing or even suspecting that something's not true and yet enjoying listening to it or enjoying relating it to somebody else? That is a strange aspect of human nature. The reality is we all have a tendency to say unkind, negative things about other people. even if they've not been confirmed. But beyond that, even when something is confirmed, to share negative things with other people who are not part of the solution to whatever problem it represents. One factor that makes gossip sometimes very difficult for us to discern is that it sometimes masquerades under the guise of fellowship And in the midst of fellowship, the discussion can suddenly take a nosedive. And instead of talking about something that is edifying and encouraging, we can begin talking about things that are derogatory and help no one at all, in fact, can be very harmful. Gossip can also masquerade as a concern for other people or even as a prayer request. Let me tell you what so and so is doing, and we need to pray for him. Sometimes that's just an excuse to gossip. God always knows the truth. God always knows what a discussion really ought to be labeled. Sometimes we don't know, but he doesn't offer us any excuse there, any comfort. It can happen to us when we are unaware. but it's still our responsibility. According to the passages we're going to consider tonight, God accepts no excuses for gossip because He is clear enough in telling us its nature, its result, and what He thinks of it. What does God think of gossip? God thinks it's sin, and a particularly destructive sin. and advises us through these passages that the only right response to ever hearing or catching yourself speaking gossip, the only legitimate biblical response is to identify it for what it is. We have a biblical word for that, we call that confession, and then to ask forgiveness for it. Now, we're going to need God's grace to do both, to identify it, to recall a conversation. You know what? I think that was actually gossip. We need God's help for that. We also need God's help to take the steps necessary to correct it, to make it right, and ultimately, by God's grace, to avoid it in the future, to get sharp enough in this area that we can identify it earlier even identify it before we speak it or before the sentence is finished that we're listening to somebody else saying, there would be the ideal to stop it before it starts. But to stop it and correct it at whatever stage we find it, that's what God's Word expects of us tonight. We're going to start in the book of Leviticus. We have a few passages from the Old Testament. and a few from the New Testament that need our consideration tonight. From these Old Testament passages it becomes clear that gossip is a dangerous sin, dangerous in the damage that it can cause, but dangerous also as we see from Leviticus, verse 19, because to engage in gossip is to ignore a direct command from God's Word. He tells us don't do it. And it's always a dangerous thing to knowingly, even worse, deliberately, violate a command of God's Word. So, Leviticus 19.16, there are two parts to this verse. Only the first part has to do with our topic tonight. He says, You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. You shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. That last part is not about gossip in particular, but I wanted to read that as well to get to the reason why God says you need to obey this command. Ultimately, the reason that He states and the reason that is implied in every command that God gives is because He's the Lord and He has the right to tell you how to behave. He has the right to tell you what to say and what not to say. what is appropriate to listen to as a child of God and what is inappropriate to listen to. Now you notice the word gossip doesn't actually show up in this verse but the word has a number of synonyms. Verse 16, it's the word slanderer. You should not go around as a slanderer. And that's an expressive form of describing gossip, which is expressing negative opinions about other people as if they are facts. But even if it is a fact, God doesn't want you saying negative things about one person to somebody else. If there's something wrong in someone's life, there is someone you should talk to. It's that person. You become part of the solution if you go to an individual and say, looks to me like there's a problem in your life and I'd like to help you with that. That would be a godly response to something that is wrong. The ungodly response is to notice what somebody is doing and go tell somebody else about it. That's what this passage forbids. Stop telling gossip to other people. If you know something negative, you either keep that to yourself because there is virtue, and as Scripture says, overlooking a multitude of sins. There are faults enough among all of us. If God had assigned us the task of discerning and reporting the faults of other people, we'd all be very busy. But God's Word doesn't see any value in that. To cover other people's faults means to refuse to share them with others, refuse to let them be a barrier in fellowship between you and that individual. But if it's something that would be inappropriate to cover, then you expose it to the one person who needs to hear it, and that's the person who did it. Other than that, stop telling gossip. The opposite side of that occurs in Proverbs chapter 20. Turn to Proverbs, we actually have several verses to look at here. The first one is in chapter 20, corresponding to that passage in Leviticus. Proverbs 20, verse 19, This verse also uses the word slander. It says, "...whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets. Therefore, do not associate with a simple babbler." Do not associate with somebody that you know is prone to gossip. Why should you not associate with them? Because you have committed yourself under God's watchful eye not to listen. to gossip. So there are the two sides of it. Commit yourself, I'm not going to say it to other people and I am not going to hear it from other people. And you've got to guard yourself in both directions. Satan attacks in both ways. Your commitment must be not to say it and not to hear it. This verse also gives a further reason for that. He says whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets. Somebody that comes to you and they have secrets to reveal about somebody else, they've just exposed their own character. They are a secret revealer. You have no guarantee that they're not going to go to another person and tell the things they know about you. That's their character. Refuse to listen to such a person. Don't associate with them if they refuse to stop in the face of your rebuke. Make sure that you are not guilty of ignoring these clear commands from God's Word. There is no excuse for participating in gossip in either direction. Proverbs 16 has some more insight about the effect that gossip has. Proverbs 16, verse 28, It says that a dishonest man spreads strife and a whisperer separates close friends. Is there a connection between the two halves of this verse? In fact, there is. This is parallelism so that there's a connection between a whisperer and a dishonest man. Actually, that rendering dishonest translates a word that could be translated a little more strongly as perverse. It is a perverse individual who spreads strife, who whispers things about another individual. And why whisper? Because you need to be careful who else hears. That's one telltale sign that you might be about to hear some gossip. If when the individual begins to speak, he lowers his voice and maybe takes a quick glance around to make sure that nobody else is listening. To lower your voice, there must be some instinctive sense that other people shouldn't hear this. That should also be an indication that perhaps you shouldn't be hearing it either. But identifying a gossip as a perverse individual gives us some insight into the heart of this problem. There is, in fact, a heart problem. There is something wrong deep inside when an individual has committed himself or at least has not restrained himself from speaking evil against other people. There's something perverse about that. Perversity is at the root. This individual spreads strife and he is also a whisperer who separates close friends. Perversity at the root of the problem, enmity is the fruit that it bears. Two individuals could have been very close, effectively serving God alongside each other. But because someone has said something in gossip about one of them, and the story circulates around, now these two, who once were effective in serving God together, now are in conflict. And conflict rules now where brotherhood and peace used to be. The effect of gossip in our church family would be devastating. I didn't decide to bring this message, I think perhaps you need to know this, I didn't decide to bring this because I have been alerted to instances of gossip. There may be gossip going on, but that's not what prompted the choice of message tonight. It's the realization of how Satan could likely use this, and this is a call for both correction and warning of what gossip can actually provoke, what it can do. Further, let's go to chapter 26, Proverbs 26, our last Old Testament passage, but this chapter actually has two verses on this topic. Proverbs 26, verse 20, says, Proverbs 26, verse 20, Proverbs 26, verse 20, says, For lack of wood the fire goes out. And where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. Now that's a hopeful way of saying it, with the assumption that gossip could be going on, but if we can just deal with the problem of gossip, if every individual could commit themselves to stop doing it and be on guard against it, then all strife would cease. Where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. Of course, that also tells us that where there is gossip going on, that quarreling is present. Gossip provokes then fierce quarrels among people. Victory over gossip would end that strife, which means that individuals either need to change by God's grace or it will be God's grace to move them away and out of harm's way. away from where they can do damage. Now, just two verses later, verse 22, the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels, they go down into the inner parts of the body. Now, there's imagery there, and the imagery is something that is very tasty. We've just passed Valentine's Day, and Maybe your family eats candy a little bit faster than ours. We're still making progress, though. But we've got leftover candy, and it's tempting. Something that is attractive, something that we desire, when you eat that, fact is, it goes into the body. And if there's not moderation there, there could be consequences. Once it goes in, hard to pull it out. It says gossip is like that. But here the effect is not on other people. It's not the damage it causes in relationships with other people. But if you allow gossip into your heart, it does damage there as well. A call then to be on guard against gossip, it affects the soul. The analogy here to a dainty morsel, to something that really sounds good, I think should alert us to the reality that there is something attractive to us about gossip. Somebody starts to say something interesting about somebody else, we're all ears. And our instinct is, tell me, in fact, tell me more. Just as it takes some restraint to say, ìNo, no more candy right now.î It takes the restraint that Godís spirit can provide to say, ìNo more of that. I canít listen to that. That is going to do damage to me and it will do damage to others as well.î I donít want to be a part of the quarreling that such discussion can cause. When I was a young boy, I had the opportunity to visit in the home of one of my cousins. I have a lot of cousins. 45, I think, was my last count, and that's just on my mother's side. We were blessed with cousins, and a lot of them lived close enough to go to visit on occasion. There was one time I was in the home of a cousin that was about my age, but before we started playing that day, I took the opportunity to relate some news about another cousin, another cousin that lived closer to me, and so I had more first-hand information on how so-and-so doing, oh, not so well. This other cousin was going to be having some dental work done. And the thing that really caught my attention when I heard about it is that for the next six weeks, because of that dental work, she couldn't drink Coca-Cola. And so I was sharing that with them and, oh, they all thought that was interesting. And that was all true as far as I recall. But then a strange mixture of fact and opinion began to come out of my mouth as I recognized their interest and so I wanted to feed that a little bit. And I said, yeah, I said, that's going to be real tough on them because they drink a lot of Coke. Yeah, I'll tell more. Yeah, I've seen it stacked up by the case in their garage. Now, that part was also true. So what was I doing? I'm telling you this because I think it really helps us appreciate how gossip happens. I had a couple of pieces of truth. Which, in fact, in this case, it wasn't necessarily detrimental, except the point about my implication that they were overindulging in Coke. The fact is, I didn't know how much they drank, that they had a supply. How do I know somebody didn't give it to them? Maybe they don't even like this stuff. My guess is that they did. But my conclusion was they must drink this a lot. In fact, the next thing I said was, yeah, they drink that stuff all day long. And I must have gotten a good response at that. Wow, wow, man, that's amazing, that kind of thing. All right. So I was feeling, we went downstairs in their basement and all was well until the door at the top of the stairs flung open. And there at the top of the stairs as I looked up was the mother of the girl having dental work with her arms crossed, looking straight at me, and she was not happy. One of the problems with gossip, the people you tell also tell and can say who told them. And she looked down those stairs in a loud voice, an angry voice. She said, we do not drink Coke all day long. And furthermore, it's none of your business. Slam. She was right. It was none of my business. I didn't know how much they drank. It didn't matter how much they drank. It didn't matter how much was stacked up in the garage. Nothing of what I said was motivated by concern, compassion, interest in their needs. I have to tell and I derive some vain pleasure from telling it and embellishing it and inserting my own opinion without distinguishing to the recipient what was fact and what was fantasy in my own mind. That is how gossip works. There very well may be some facts that you can observe and then some conclusions you have added on to that. And after telling it a few times, you might start to lose track of what is fact and what is fiction. but the fact remains none of it's helpful and all of it is destructive. We can see how the only right response to that is confess it for what it is. Lord, I should never have said that. Please forgive me. And you know what? That's actually the easy part The easy part is to say that to God because He's always accessible. The hard part is going to the people you told, how easy it is to lose track of that, and then ask them, did you tell anybody else? How many tracks do I have to cover here? There's the real challenge. You see why the better course is cut it off at the start. Don't participate. Now we might suppose, this would be a vain hope, we might suppose that such a dangerous sin would be a relatively rare one. We have three verses to look at in the New Testament that tell us that in fact, no, gossip is a prevalent sin. Three different categories of life where we find it going on. Let's go to Romans chapter 1 where we get the clear indication that people gossip in the world. It takes place all over creation, but our real interest in these couple of verses is that gossip is a particular characteristic of individuals who have rejected God. This is in the midst of a long list of such characteristics. We'll start in verse 28 where the list begins. and we'll go to verse 30. It says, "...since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." See, it takes a debased mind to participate in these sins. And so having been given up by God to do that, verse 29 says, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, Paul says. Verse 30 goes on to call them slanderers. Haters of God, and on and on the list goes. This is the world. This is the world at its worst. And right here at the heart of what the world does, right next to hating God, is speaking evil of other people. There is its real color, its true characteristic. characteristic of those that reject God. But let's tie that together with what Paul said at the beginning of that list in verse 28. It is characteristic of those, it says, who did not see fit to acknowledge God, did not give God the appropriate place in their life that would then cause them to order their life in a way that would serve God and fulfill His purpose. That's the kind of people this passage is talking about. And how does God respond to that? When God sees that people do not want to allow Him His appropriate place in their life, it says God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. He gave them up. You know what it's actually describing? That's the punishment for gossip and all the other sins as well. For our purposes tonight, the punishment for gossip might very well be that God gives you up to do it, to both do damage to others and incur damage to your own soul. God says, if that's what you really want, then you just go ahead. See where that takes you. It's a horrible path to follow. This is the same path where Paul earlier said, who else is on this path? Those engaged in homosexuality. It's the same path as well as all the other sins that he lists. People in the world gossip. I know that we could just stop right there. So don't be involved in the things of the world. But we have to go on to 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul acknowledges that it has infiltrated the church as well. People gossip in the church. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 20. Paul writing to this particular church says, For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish. I may realize you have not gotten victory in some key areas of Christian living. And the prospect here of Paul discovering this is not very happy. I fear that when I come I may find you not as I wish. and that you may find me not as you wish." What does he have in mind? He says that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. An awful prospect. Can you just tell that this taste this would be to Paul? the horror should he arrive at Corinth and find there is actually gossip going on among God's people. Terrible prospect. Paul's not just here taking pot shots. Some people have arrived at Paul and they've been reporting what's going on Now Paul's not listening to rumors, and he's determined he's going to go and find out for himself, but he's afraid, he says, he might find out that the reports are true. Awful thing. That potential is frightening. Paul says, if that's what I find out, then you need to be aware of something. He says, if I find that you're not the way I would wish you to be, then you are going to find out that I am not the way you wish me to be. How might they want Paul to be when he arrived? Paul, so great to see you. Everything's great here. Hope things are well in your life. A nice, happy reunion. Everybody's fine. That's what we'd like. Paul says, it's not going to be like that if I find out that you are engaged in gossip and refuse to get it right. Paul elsewhere in this very letter says, can be stern when I need to be. You know why he's writing this to them? Because it'd be better for them to say, uh-oh, Paul's coming. We better clean up. Let's make sure that when he comes, all is right. We have that same prospect with Christ. Christ has described His second coming in such a way as to make it clear to us we have no idea when that might be. And should Christ come and find us not as He wishes, then we would find Christ is not as we would wish either. That's supposed to be a happy reunion. But if he's got problems like this to deal with, he's going to deal with them. We get the opportunity of taking care of this ahead of time. Paul is hoping that these people will say, I need to make this right. Seek God's forgiveness, seek forgiveness from each other. The reality is this happens in churches. I'm confident it happens in our church. But it has to stop. And you hold the key to that. If every individual committed themselves, I'm not going to say it anymore, I'm not going to listen to it anymore, it wouldn't happen anymore. First Timothy 5.13 gives us one last venue where gossip happens. And it's possible some might be saying, all right, I've got to be careful in the world, I've got to be careful in the church, but what goes on in my home, that's my own business. But God says, no, that's not true. What goes on in your home is His business. And He knows what goes on. He knows the conversations. And as Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5.13, He knows when gossip is going on in the home. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house. And not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not say. Now in our day, we don't even have to go from house to house. It can happen within a home. It can also happen between homes. We've got telephones galore. They are over-accessible. You can pick up a phone and the other person's busy, you can text a message to them. It'll get there as soon as they're off the phone. You can leave a message. We have all kinds of additional opportunities to sin. Now we can use those tools for good as well, of course, but that gossip can go on in the home and maybe nobody else knows, God does. Gossip between homes, God hears those conversations as well. It's bad enough that people are idle. That means they're not doing what they're supposed to do. There is no spare time in serving the Lord. There is something positive to do all day long. And if you're not finding something positive to do, that means you're not looking hard enough. It's bad enough just to be idle, unproductive in God's service. But even worse than that, to use idle time for destructive purposes. He says, not only idlers, but gossips and busybodies saying what they ought not. There was a professor at Princeton University who one time conducted a series of experiments to determine how quickly rumors spread. These are actual bonafide experiments. He didn't tell people about it ahead of time, but afterward, he admitted, this is what I was doing. I started the rumor, so forth. One of his experiments is he brought six students into his office and told them that he had news for them, that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were going to be visiting their campus. And he said, now, I'm only telling you this under strict confidence. Do not tell anybody else. And this was a particularly good experiment because a little far fetched, wouldn't you say? A surprise visit nobody else is going to know about, but the students apparently believed him. And his testimony after the fact as he's writing his report was that within one week, virtually every student on campus knew about this impending visit, although they didn't know when it was going to be. Town officials started calling the university complaining that they were not included in the preparations for this great privilege. News reporters called asking for the details. We need to know when this is going to be. Until the professor finally confessed. He says, there will be no visit. I started it. Here's what I found out. It took one week. And that's after telling people not to say it. In fact, ordinarily, gossip has that tag added on at the end. Oh, no, don't tell anybody. And definitely don't tell them that I'm the one that told you. Don't tell them, but when you do, don't tell them it was me. It doesn't work. And the professor made this further observation. He said, it took one week, and he says, and this was a pleasant rumor. Imagine if it had been a slanderous one. It would have gotten there a whole lot faster than that. That is the reality of gossip. But the further reality is that the key to victory is not self-control. It is not, I need to try harder. I need to guard my lips. I need to guard my ears. You do need to do that, but that's not going to get it. It's not self-control. It's Christ control. What he would like to hear from every one of us tonight is, Lord, I realize now how serious this is. I have not been guarding what I said. I have not been guarding what I listened to. And I acknowledge I've been wrong. And I further acknowledge I need your help, help me to get victory here. For the sake of Christ's kingdom, for the sake of God's people, for the sake of your own walk with God, turn to Christ for victory. Let's bow for prayer.