We're continuing in James. The passage this morning that I will be addressing is James chapter four, verses 11 and 12. James four, 11 and 12. The title of the sermon this morning is Watch What You Say. Watch What You Say. By way of introduction, I came across a story written by this late Christian writer. and pastor and teacher. He was such a marvelous writer, although, frankly, I have to admit I didn't care a lot for his work, but he was a very good writer. He taught writing and he taught literature at the university level. And maybe you know of him, maybe you don't, but his name, just to give him credit, is Walter Wangeren. I don't necessarily recommend his works. They're not bad, but they just weren't my cup of tea. So it's not like Pastor Ken is saying, you need to read Walter because... If you wanna check him out, that's fine. Nothing bad there. He's not Reformed Baptist, so I don't guarantee his theology. So anyway, he begins one of his short stories, he had a collection of them, with this disturbing fact about spiders, specifically female spiders, which, you know, spiders immediately creeps most of us out, right? Not very many people have affinity for But he took this illustration and he turned it into a powerful metaphor of a spiritual truth, which I find very applicable to what James is writing about in the verses we're looking at this morning. So the female spider is often a widow, and she's a widow for embarrassing reasons. because those who visit her, she ends up killing. Whether it's a lonely male spider looking for a mate, or a passing fly who drops in for a visit and is not allowed to leave. Her parlor becomes a morgue. If you look at one of these spider webs, sometimes you'll see a fly in the web, and the fly's not moving, it looks just to be resting. But the fly is actually an empty casket of itself because the female spider has drank his insides. See, the spiders don't have internal digestive systems. They don't have stomachs. So what she does is she makes two incisions into the fly and injects them with her digestive juices, which then dissolve the inside of the fly, and she swills him down. Turns him into a warm soup, as Wangeren says. This soup she swills, as he's making his point, even as most of us swill souls of one another after having cooked them in various enzymes of guilt, humiliations, subjugations, and cruel love. There are a number of fine acidic mixes and some among us who are so skilled with the hypodermic word that our dear ones continue to sit up and smile quite as though they were still alive like the fly in the widow's parlor. So this is a gruesome And I, metaphor, and I struggled with it. It's like, you know, I don't know if I wanna open my message with this. And I prayed about it, and the Lord is so good, he responds to me, and I ended up with more introductions than I could possibly use. I had to end up, I had to go back and cut it, because it's like, I'm halfway through my sermon, and all I'm given is introductions. So bear with me with this. I apologize if this is a bit gruesome, but, Walter's really making a good point here that backs up what James is saying, and that is that the world is populated by walking caskets because countless lives have been dissolved and sucked empty by another's words. And this is the evil which James, through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, addresses in chapter four, verses 11 through 12, where we find a command from God against such evil speech and the reasoning behind it. So now let's turn to the text in James chapter four, verses 11 through 12. Follow along with me, please, as I read. And I'm reading, as usual, from the ESV, the English Standard Version. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? So let's consider what James is telling us, along with, of course, the recipients of his letter in the first century. Think about this. Where is it that people should feel safest from harm? Of course, we desire that everyone should feel safe everywhere, no matter where they are. But not in this fallen world. That doesn't happen. I think most of us say the safest place should be the home. And when the home is safe, that is a blessing. But we know, we know, unfortunately, due to sin, that often the home is not safe for some people. We must recognize that. I think another place where people should feel safe, and I'm sure you all will agree with me, is in the church. And I pray that you all feel safe here at all times, because all are welcome. Even if you disagree with every word I say up here, you're still welcome to be amongst us. But the sad fact is that there are many people that have been wounded in the church, in churches. And this has even been given a name called church hurt. And the prevalence of this phenomenon in the broader evangelical churches in the last few years, of course, is rooted in many different things. And really, if we examine it, it brings into question what is a real hurt and what is a perceived hurt. But that's not my point this morning. I would not agree with everyone who says they've been hurt in church that it is the church's fault. Of course, we have a lot of pushback in this day and age against the very clear word of God in the Bible. And there are those who would, when they hear God's word, that unsettles them as it should for us in our sinful state unsettle us when we realize that we are sinners and that Christ is our only salvation, there are those who will consider that hurt. But of course we all know of other things that have gone on in churches which we would agree that rightly they are hurtful and people have been damaged by the church. The point here that James is addressing is real hurt in the church at large. So what was going on in the churches, in the diaspora, the churches out from Jerusalem in the Roman world that James was writing his letter to? Well, we don't know specifically. We don't know if James is referring to a specific problem, maybe that's occurred in several churches, or if he's addressing the common evil that affects all people. I lean towards the latter, but really when you think about it, it's of no real consequence which one it is because no matter what, it is profitable for us to listen to what Pastor James has to say and consider it in our lives, in our ethical living as Christians day in and day out. As we've gone through the book of James so far, When we consider this passage this morning, it probably brings to mind what we've seen in chapter one when he spoke about the need to bridle the tongue, and in chapter three's warning subsequent to that about the uncontrollable tongue. But understand, James is not merely repeating the same point. He's not a broken loop. But there is a theme that's going on here that we should recognize that James is addressing. And it's a theme that involves relationship. Relationship in the church, relationships amongst believers, and a relationship that is brought about and based on a primary relationship in Christ and with Christ. It's clear as James begins this section that this problem he's talking about is not related to only a few people. We see this in how he addresses this to all these churches by the term brothers, which he starts with in verse 11. Now Paul expresses a similar concern to the church in Corinth in his second letter to him. And If you've picked up this pattern that I call on Paul a lot and compare him, what Paul has written to what James has written, then you're doing well because I'm intentionally doing that. Because there is that idea that never seems to go away that James and Paul are at loggerheads with one another. That they're expressing a different gospel. that their theology is completely different. And I want us to see how closely these two men align. They come from different perspectives, perhaps, but their theology is spot on. And you could track James, his instructions to the church very closely with what Paul says about the church. But anyway, in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 20, this is what Paul is writing in the second letter we have to the church in Corinth. And Paul says, for I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. Now notice slander in this. This is the same Greek term that we find in James 4, 11. So it's interesting what Paul is saying here. He says, you may find me not as you wish, And so we mustn't be mistaken that Paul is saying, well, I may show up quarreling and jealous and angry and hostile. No, what he's saying is that these sins that are going on amongst you need to be resolved. This is not how brothers and sisters act towards each other. And I want to visit you. I want to come again. And I want to come as a loving pastor coming to his sheep. I do not want to come as a teacher with a rod of correction that I must smack your hands with. So that's what Paul means by that. This brings me to my first point this morning. Point number one is that sinful pride leads to slander. Sinful pride leads to slander. So as I pointed out, we see also that Paul was concerned with slander in the church at Corinth. And as Paul writes, we can see that slander is not a solitary sin. It's a viper coiled in a pit with other venomous creatures. Quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, gossip. Conceit. These are sins of disorder, which can wreck havoc in a church. And we thank the Lord that we do not struggle with these things here. And perhaps some of you have been in churches where there is such a struggle. And it's not pleasant. And it does not honor Christ. And we pray that in those places where this is occurring, that the spirit of peace descend upon them and that that passes. So a pastor who finds these vipers in his church has his work cut out for him. So Paul's visit, whether it's as a snake wrangler or a loving shepherd will depend on what he finds upon his return. Does he find vipers or does he find sheep? Now we consider this, the thing to keep in mind is that both of these men, both of these apostles anointed by the Lord to deliver a message and delivering it through the Holy Spirit are talking about human responsibility, responsibility of Christians here. We must not think that we only act when God takes over our body, turns on an autopilot, and we become this saintly person. We have a responsibility in regards to the justification that we've been given. We participate in sanctification, and by that we bring about salvation. Now James, in the first part of verse 11, where he says, do not speak evil against one another, brothers. Those three words that we have in there, speak evil against, comes from a single Greek verb. And that verb means literally to talk down or speak against. So in the ESV, it says speak evil against. Like the NIV translates that as slander. But the Greek literally would mean do not talk down on one another, brothers. Now slander is, is a good translation, but I think it can mislead. And although I'm going to use the term slander frequently in my sermon this morning, because it's an easy term to use, and we get the idea quickly, I want to point out a marked difference between our usage in common American speech and writing in comparison to what James is talking about. So slander in American jurisprudence is a legal term. And it's malicious, untrue speech intended to inflame others against the person being criticized. So it involves talking against people, perhaps behind their backs, in a way intended to cause harm to their reputation. But here's where we must be careful. James' passage does not allow for disparaging criticism of a brother or sister when the criticism is factual. And that's the big difference between legal slander and slander as used in this passage. If you criticize a person in public and that person sues you and you have to appear in court, if what you said was factual and you can prove that, Well, chances are that case is gonna be dismissed. You have not committed slander because you've spoken the truth. So, is a person allowed as a Christian within the churches, allowed to speak ill of another if they are speaking the truth for an altruistic motive? But it's truthful. Well, obviously, we shouldn't be spreading lies about anybody. But is passing along damaging truth immoral? Well, it really depends on how it's done. I mean, there's errors in the church that need to be addressed, but we're talking about damaging speech. We're talking about talking down on someone. Some people almost think this is a moral responsibility to take this upon themselves, and they think that this moral responsibility justifies them talking about someone behind their back. And there's also other people that think, well, I wouldn't talk behind their back, but it's okay if I talk to them face to face. So they feel driven, perhaps, by a moral compulsion to tell others what their faults are, in case they don't know. Well, most of us are pretty aware of our faults and don't really need them pointed out by another person. Some people, though, think this fault finding is a spiritual gift that the Lord has given us. I heard this story from a pastor who tells of a young man who, after reading Romans chapter 12 and sees the seven spiritual gifts there, decides he has the gift of prophecy. Because he'd read about the prophets, he'd read them in the Old Testament, and he noticed that they were confrontational. They were harsh, they were sharp-tongued, just as he was. So he must have a spiritual gift. So this was his rationale for his abusive, critical personality, that he was called to conduct spiritual search and destroy missions upon the church. Obviously, this young man was incorrect. It was pride and blindness to his own sin that led him to disparage others. It was not the anointing of the Holy Spirit that brought this about. So our second point that I want to address this morning, point number two, is the moral law is the believer's rule of duty. The moral law is the believer's rule of duty. Every word or action that dishonors God's law is rebellion, if not blasphemy, against our lawgiver and judge. These words were written by Thomas Scott. He was an early 19th century churchman in the Church of England in Great Britain. And interestingly, Pastor Scott was converted to evangelical Christianity when he was a pastor. Largely through the correspondence he had with another pastor by the name of John Newton. Now, we're all familiar with John Newton's wonderful hymns. We know his story about being a slave trader, captain of a slave ship, brought to Christ by the horrible sins that he was involved in. But not everybody knows, but they should, that he became a pastor of a church, Church in Oldney. England, where half of my family, the English half, comes from. They're the Olneys, so got a village named after them. And John Newton was the pastor there. So anyway, the interesting thing is that at this time, the clergy in the Church of England were not really, it was not expected that they'd be as we say, born-again believers. They had to adhere to the articles of the Church of England, but there was a big controversy over whether they needed to actually be professing born-again Christians. And this was a big element in the Great Awakening that took place, a big controversy that was involved there. But going on, Pastor Scott says this passage, the one we're dealing with this morning, and this is coming from his commentary, his commentary on the whole Bible. He writes, this passage illustrates the wickedness and presumptuous manner in which zealots and bigots condemn and anathematize, that means to curse, to curse to destruction, those who differ with them in any respect to the immense scandal of the gospel and disturbance of the church. So the terms he uses, zealots and bigots, those are loaded terms. And we must not assume the meaning that they've taken on today. Because when we hear zealots and bigots now in this first quarter ending of the 21st century, if we take our meaning and apply it to what's written in the 18th century, we've committed a logical error. We are reading back our time into an earlier time. And that often, if not always, gets us wrong. Today, of course, you know, zealots and bigots are epithets. They're negative, insulting terms for those who hold firmly to beliefs that run counter to the thought du jour or the talking points of the day. not necessarily that you are in fact an actual bigot, you just happen to disagree with whoever's calling you that and that makes you bigoted. Or you hold firmly to something, say our Christian beliefs, that would make you a zealot in today's thought. Well that's not what Pastor Scott is referring to. He's referring to not his time, of course, because as a good commentator, he's thinking about the time that James is writing in the first century. Now, after the first century and the second century, we start to see great heresies arise in the church. We know that because we start to see other writings that are found in archaeological digs and so forth that are heretical to Orthodox Christianity. Second through the fourth century seems to be the hot spot for these heresies. But we know that they had to start at some time. Even though we don't have writings from the first century, even though we don't have the apostles in their letters addressing them specifically, we can see evidence of heresies by what the apostles are writing. The false teachers in the church and the things that they are warning Christians about. There were, as far as these bigots and zealots that Scott is writing about, We find later, and it arose in the first century, we can see it in the Book of Acts, Judaizers. The Judaizers in the Book of Acts, they demanded that Gentiles becoming Christians, of course, be circumcised, the men. Well, later this developed into a sect of hyper-Judaizers that were much more stringent. than the Judaizers in the first century. So they were bigoted against Gentiles. Basically, if you were a Gentile, you were not allowed into their brand of Christianity. They broke off and formed their own church, their own denomination, if you will, which is extinct. Then on the other side, you had those that were Gentiles that were completely opposed to the Jewish God and the Jewish scriptures, and they broke off and formed their own church. So we had the anti-Jews and we had the anti-Gentiles. So we have bigotry going on, right, in the early church. We have evidences of it, even though we don't have the writings until a century or two later. We can tell it's there. And there's zealots in the church, zealots who are pointing the sheep of Christ in the wrong direction. They're leading them astray. They're preaching a false gospel to them. These were dangerous because these people were dangerous because they did not break off and form their own churches. They remained in Christ's church preaching and teaching a different gospel. And undoubtedly, this created a great unsettling in the church. And we can see this in the letters that men such as James, Peter and Paul write that we have as our scriptures today. And we know the church in our age is not exempt from this. We see things very similar. As far as the ones that were prejudice against the Gentiles in the church, basically the idea of a new covenant, we have something very similar in Messianic or Hebrew roots movements, which attempt to impose old covenant regulations on new covenant believers. And then on the other side of that coin, we have popular evangelical pastors who urge Christians to unhitch from the Old Testament, that the Old Testament doesn't apply to us at all today, that we have a New Testament and a New Testament God. the same heresies coming up. And this is the thing about heresies, they never seem to go away. They're like the proverbial bad penny and new age practices we have introduced in some churches that are connected to the proto-Gnosticism that we can see the apostles writing about the false gospel, the different gospel and the different Christ. But when we consider this, We must realize sins by some do not permit sins by others. We are not justified in sinning because someone else is sinning or has even sinned against us. The Lord Jesus makes this very clear. In Matthew 18, verses 15 through 17, he says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. In other words, if this brother who has sinned or sister, of course, if they refuse to listen and repent, you are to avoid them. That's what the Lord is saying. Do not associate with them. Just as the faithful Jews of his days would not associate with a Gentile or a tax collector. They would not break bread with those people because they were unclean to the religious Jew of the first century. Don't be mistaken that Lord Jesus is condoning or saying this is the way it must be forevermore. But the Lord is ministering in a certain time at a certain place. And he works as God has always worked within the culture around him. Preaching and teaching in a way that these people will understand. Paul. It says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 5 verses four through five. Paul instructs the church, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. So they are to be removed from the assembly of the saints until they repent. Now repentance and a return to the faith is the goal in this, what we call church discipline. It's not punishment per se that is the point. The point is that the brother or sister see the error and return to true faith and thus be saved. The last point I wanna make this morning, point number three, troubles bring God's people together, not drive them apart. Troubles bring God's people together, not drive them apart. So this slanderous Christian faces two charges. His first charge is speaking against the law of God. We look at Leviticus 19.18. The Lord tells his people, you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So amongst God's people, the norm expressed here in this Old Testament passage is loving your neighbor. This is how things should be. But when that is not happening, it is because of sin. As Moses points out under the Lord's inspiration, if you're not loving your neighbor, it's caused by vengeance or grudge, that is, sins. Now, in the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ repeats the same thing. He repeats this law, when he's asked by a lawyer, teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord replies, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. So Jesus is telling this lawyer, who is not a practitioner of criminal law, he's a religious expert, he's a religious lawyer. He's repeating to this man the Shema of Israel. Hear, O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God. And that is linked inexorably with loving neighbor. This is what we need to see here. If you don't love your neighbor whom you have seen, how can you love your God whom you have not seen? And we should note, this is very important, the lawyer's question concerns what? Concerns eternal life, no small matter. And he correctly speaks of eternal life as something to be inherited, not something that is possessed as a right. and rebellious sons are not written into their father's will. The slanderous Christian speaks against the Lord when he speaks against his brother or sister, speaks down about them. If you're thinking, oh, this is tough, I'm gonna struggle with this, you're not alone. Because this goes completely against our human nature, doesn't it, our sin nature. But it's in the text, it's in the Bible, it's God's word. But we are in Christ and Christ is in us. So we are different people. We should not... Forget that. So the second charge here that James is making is the slanderous Christian judges the law. And by his fault-finding attitude, he sets himself up as a judge. And by disregarding Christ's command, he sets himself above the law and declares it unworthy law and essentially strikes it down by an act of judicial nullification. And that judicial nullification, that's a legal action in which a judge who cannot legislatively change a law or strike a law down, he can't remove it, he makes it null and void by pointedly ignoring it. We see in John's gospel in chapter 13, verses 34 and 35 at the Last Supper, After the betrayer had gone out to do his betraying, Jesus said to the remaining faithful 11, he says this, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Okay, think about this. Is this a new commandment? We just read Leviticus 19.18, right? And we've read, or we talked about the Shema, the loving God, loving neighbor. And yet Jesus is talking about a new commandment. When at first blushed, we think, well, he's just repeating what's already been said in the Hebrew scriptures. But think about this, it is a higher love of neighbor than oneself. It's higher than that. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the love of an image bearer towards another image bearer, which we should do. But Jesus is pointing out a higher love, the love of the creator who lays down his life for his people. This new love is more than a commandment to be obeyed. It's actually an identity that we assume, that we are to assume. It's something we put on. We put on this love through God, the triune God's transformative act of bringing us to faith. We are known by it. It's a mark of identity. That's what Christ is saying in this. Think about it. He's given us one identifier. One way that we are to be known. It's not a cross around the neck. It's not a bumper sticker or a decal on our car. It's not a secret handshake. It's not a secret password. It's our love for one another. And if we do not have that love, then it follows we are not a disciple of Christ. And note also, Lord Jesus makes this passage Well, the way he explains it to us, it's obvious, it should be obvious, that there's a witnessing aspect to this that he commands. Because he says, by this, all people will know. All people. That includes those outside the church. Not just other Christians, but all people will know you are my disciple. So when we verbally run down other Christians, we are bringing shame upon the name of Christ. For a Christian, a real Christian, that idea should be soul-shaking, to bring shame to our Lord. This next verse, verse 12, let's touch on that shortly. James says here, as a reminder, there's only one lawgiver and judge. He was able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? So he who judges his neighbor here in this verse is placed in contrast with God, who has complete and sovereign rule over all life. And the slanderous Christian is putting himself in that place. In fact, putting himself above it because he's nullifying the law of God. There's only one worthy and capable of perfect justice. And when we step in and try to place ourselves in God's place, as a slanderous Christian does, we then are not joining in ranks with God to help him out, we're joining in rank with Satan. When we read in our English Bibles in the New Testament, the word, the English word devil, the underlying Greek term is diabolos, And that word diabolos is also used in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament when the term adversary is used. So that's why we say Satan is the adversary. Diabolos can also be translated as slanderer. So those who slander are diabolos. And this term is even used in the pastoral epistles. Those are the three letters that Paul writes to the men he has mentored who are pastoring churches. It's mentioned in both 1 and 2 Timothy, and it's mentioned in Titus, where Paul is admonishing these pastors to make sure that the women do not become evil gossips. Because to do so, they become diablos, slanderers. And Jesus, when he's confronting his enemies in the gospel, especially in John's gospel, which shows us these conflicts quite clearly, how the religious Jewish establishment was opposed to Jesus, he describes those Jesus in a face-to-face conversation with them as sons of Diablos, who is a father and a father of lies. So the devil is a slanderer, a false accuser, as were Jesus' human adversaries. Think about it, they falsely accused him, did they not? They slandered him, and then they put him to death based on these slanders. As a way of application, think about the third commandment of the Decalogue. God's moral law that's still applicable to us, even though we are not under the law. And this is from Exodus 20, verse seven. And this commandment says, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. This means a lot more than refraining from verbal blasphemy. We're told not to take. So this Hebrew word for take means to carry, or lift up, or maintain. We are not to carry the name of the Lord our God, In vain, in vain in the Hebrew means make worthless or futile. So as people of God, we are carrying the name of the Lord. We carry it like a banner. That's the identity that Christ was talking about. By this all people will know that you are mine. So if we engage in slanderous conduct and do not love one another, then we are making that banner that we carry worthless and futile. We're bringing it to shame. So we are in violation, besides what Christ commands, we're in violation of the moral law also. There's no wiggle room here. You're not gonna get away with it. You cannot justify this sort of action. That's what James is driving at. And if we do that, nothing pleases Satan more than for us to be a junior slanderer to his great slanderer. In closing, I want to quote the Puritan pastor and writer Thomas Watson. He said, how can Christ be in the heart when the devil has taken possession of the tongue? That's the key, I would say, to what James is saying in these two verses. So may our tongues reveal the sweetness of Christ-filled hearts and not the sulfurous brimstone of the devil's pit. Join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the love that you have shown us. We give thanks for the salvation you have brought to us We give thanks for your word. Father, we especially give thanks for the spirit that you've set upon us that we may do these things. Because when we consider it on our own, by our own power, we know we might be able to do it for a while, but we know that we'll fail. Father, and if we do fail, we give thanks for your forgiveness, the fact that You're a God of second chances and third chances and even seven times 77 chances, Father. But Father, may we strive to be the people that you've set us apart to be, that we may be witnesses of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in our conduct, that we may love one another. as Christ has loved us, love one another in a world that seems bereft of love at most times, or a very phony, superficial love. Father, I ask that our love for one another be genuine. And start with me, Father. Bless my brothers and sisters and friends who are here today or listening to this, Father. that we may go out into the world, that we may please you, we may be obedient to you, and that we come back together, Lord willing, by your will, Lord, next Lord's Day, to worship you, and that we worship you all week. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.