This is chapter 4, the book of James, the fourth chapter. Now, in our Sunday evening services, we have been preaching consecutively through the book of James, and we have come now to this fourth chapter in which James is reproving of the sins of his readers and then providing them with a remedy. for those sins that they have fallen into. And so follow along with me, if you would please, as I read James chapter 4 verses 1 through 12. James chapter 4 verses 1 through 12. From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? You lust and have not You kill in desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers and adulteresses know you not that friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he gives more grace. Wherefore, he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near unto God, and he will draw near unto you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judged the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judges another? Now, as I said, James has been reproving the sins of his readers in verses one through five. And among those sins that are listed in those verses are these wars and fighting and killings that are going on among these believers. Now, these are not literal wars and fighting and killings. Rather, they are social wars and fighting and killings. We enter into social war when we have a fixed disposition of hostility towards another person. We have declared war against them in our hearts. And then we engage in fighting with these people who we have declared war with when we strike at them and attempt to harm them with our words and with our actions. And then, finally, we engage in social killings, if this process does not have a stop put to it, in which we permanently separate our relationship with them, so that they are no longer a part of our lives. Now, in verses 6 through 12, he has been setting forth the remedy for these sins that existed among these people. And we have in our previous studies looked at these remedies. We have seen that they are to be in submission to God. They are to be resisting the devil. They are to be drawing near to God, and they are to be repenting of sin. And in successive Lord's Day evenings, we have looked at each of those in turn. Now, this evening, we come to the fifth remedy that James supplies for dealing with the sins that are listed in verses one through five, and that is the remedy of guarding our speech. What we say, of course, often is what provokes these wars and these fightings and these killings among Christians. And by controlling our speech, we can eliminate the wars and the fighting among us. Usually, an attitude of hostility is generated because somebody has said something that they hadn't ought to have said, or it has been taken in a way that it should not have been taken. And so, speech is a large area in which sin can be provoked, and therefore, speech needs to be carefully guarded and carefully controlled. This, of course, is not the first time that James has alluded to the subject of speech. We see back in chapter one, he says that if a man does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his own heart and his religion is vain. And then he tells us we are to be swift to hear and slow to speak. And then, of course, in chapter three, he spent a great deal of time talking about the offense that can be generated by the tongue and how great a matter a little fire can kindle. And now he comes again in chapter four and takes up this subject of our speech once again. Obviously, this is a very important issue because he dresses it again and again and again. And so what we want to do this evening, God willing, is to consider together his exhortations regarding the guarding of our speech in verses twelve, pardon me, verses eleven and twelve. and see how we might avoid falling into the sins of verses 1 and 2. In the first place, then, this evening, let us consider together the speech which is prohibited. The speech which is prohibited. In verse 11, he says, Speak not evil one of another, brethren. Now, it was precisely because these people were speaking evil of one another that they were having these wars and fightings and killings among themselves. And so we want to ask ourselves the question, what does it mean to speak evil one of another, and how might we avoid such speech? Well, specifically, we are told we are not to speak evil of others, and this encompasses many types of speech. The phrase in the original language means literally not to speak down or to speak against another person. There are several things that the Bible identifies as constituting evil speech. The first of them is what is called slander. Now, I'm going to be defining each of these terms for you, and it's important that you understand the biblical definition of these terms and use them accurately, because they're often thrown around interchangeably, and they are not interchangeable terms. And if we do not have an accurate conception of what they are, then it is very easy for us to fall into them. To speak evil, then, of another person can involve slander. Now, slander is the telling of an outright lie about another person that harms their reputation in the eyes of other people. If I slander someone, I am telling a lie about them, something that is untrue, that harms their reputation. in the eyes of other people. In Exodus 20 and verse 16, it says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor and bearing false witness against thy neighbor is to slander him. And so any exaggeration of the truth, any distortion of the truth, or the telling of only part of the truth with reference to someone in order to make them look bad falls into this category. Frequently, that which makes someone look bad is spoken of, but not the part that would balance or explain that conduct, or in some way mitigate that conduct. And so it involves the exaggeration of the truth, the distortion of the truth, or telling only part of the truth. all of these things constitute a misrepresentation, a lie with reference to another that harms their reputation. Secondly, evil speaking can consist not only of slander, it can also consist of engaging in hearsay. When we pass along hearsay, This involves passing along an evil report we have heard about someone when we do not have first-hand knowledge of the facts and cannot know for certain if they are true. If you hear an evil report about someone and you don't have first-hand knowledge as to whether it's true or not, But you still pass it along anyway. That is engaging in the sin of hearsay. In Proverbs 18 and verse 17, it says he that is first in his own cause seemeth just, but his neighbor comes and searches him out. Oftentimes, someone will say to us, well, did you hear about so-and-so, where so-and-thus-and-so happened? And you go, oh, well, and you go tell somebody else, did you hear about so-and-so, and thus-and-so happened? And they go, oh, and they pass it along to someone else. Well, what happens is, if you do not have first-hand knowledge of the facts, You cannot know for certain that they are true, number one. But also, number two, you cannot check out the other side of the story, because oftentimes stories that are passed along are not the whole story. And therefore, to pass along half the truth and present it as though it is the whole truth is to engage in an untruth. So hearsay involves the passing along of an evil report that we have heard about someone when we do not have firsthand knowledge of the facts and cannot know for certain if they are true and have not heard the other side of the story. Then there is a third form of speaking evil of other people, and that is engaging in gossip. What is gossip? Gossip involves the passing along of an evil report about someone that we know is true, but for which there is no warrant for sharing it with the particular individual to whom we are speaking it. In other words, you know something negative about somebody and you know absolutely it's the truth. And you wind up sharing it with someone who has no need to know, no right to know and will obtain no benefit if they do know. And yet we go ahead and tell them anyway. The Bible calls this tail bearing or gossip. In Leviticus 19 and verse 16, it says thou shall not go up and down as a tale bearer among thy people. In Proverbs 11 and verse 13, it says a tale bearer reveals secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Now, is there never a time for telling secrets? And is it always appropriate to conceal a matter? Absolutely not. When someone has a right to know, when someone has a need to know, when there is a definite benefit to that person in terms of protecting them, and for that reason you tell them, then, in those circumstances, it is entirely appropriate to reveal secrets and to not conceal matters. But if you know something negative about someone, don't just pass it along to anybody and everybody. Only share it with those who have a need to know, who have a right to know, or who would receive a distinct benefit of protection if they did know. An example of someone who would have a need to know is someone who, if they were ignorant of it, might make a decision that otherwise they would not make that would lead to their harm. Or they would fail to carry out a duty that they would. Parents, for example, need to know about the behavior of their children, and it is not appropriate to conceal that behavior from them. Parents also have a right to know about the behavior of their children because they are charged with the responsibility of raising them properly. And so there are many other circumstances that we could bring out in which, for example, if we knew someone was a unjust businessman and someone we knew was about to enter into a transaction with them and was unaware of their unscrupulousness, that person has a need to know. They would receive a definite benefit from not entering into that transaction with that person if they knew their reputation. And so it is with marriage, so it is with many other situations. The fourth type of speaking evil involves not only slander, hearsay and gossip, but it can also involve hasty judgment. Hasty judgment involves the drawing of negative conclusions about someone and then sharing those conclusions with others when we do not have all the facts and have not made an adequate inquiry. When a little further investigation would have thrown a whole other light on the matter, but we didn't bother. Jumping to conclusions and judging a matter before we hear it in its entirety is the sin of passing hasty judgment on others. In Proverbs 18 and verse 13, it says, He that answers a matter before he hears it to him, it is a shame and a folly. And so it is imperative that before we draw a judgment about another believer, that we have all of the facts and that we make a complete inquiry From all of the witnesses, and then having gathered a complete representation of the data, we are then able to pass an accurate judgment. But how often times people jump to a conclusion, he meant this, he did that. When, if we knew all of the facts, we would draw a different conclusion. You walk around a corner and see someone hitting a kid with a board, an adult hitting a child with a board. What conclusion do you immediately jump to? Oh, child abuse. But if you knew all the facts, that that kid had just kicked another child viciously, and that this was a parent, and this parent was chastising this child for destructive behavior towards another child, what conclusion would you draw? Oh, there's a parent who loves their child. And you see, the difference in conclusion is based upon having all of the facts in relationship to the situation. There is a fifth type of evil speaking, and this is what the scriptures call evil surmising. Evil surmising. This involves assigning evil motives to a person's actions when we have no way of knowing what those motives are. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, in verse 5, it says, Love thinketh no evil. That is, it is the nature of love that we have towards other people that we do not project into them evil as to their motives or as to their attitudes when we have no sound reason to be certain that that, in fact, was the case. Now, if someone tells us what their motives are, then we can judge their motives. But if they do not tell us what their motives are, and we're just surmising about what their motives are, how easy it is to be an error with reference to that. In 1st Samuel 16 in verse 7, it says, Man looks upon the outward appearance, but God alone can look upon the heart. And therefore, we may not presume to declare what is in someone's heart. In 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 11, it says, For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? And so the only person who really knows what's going on inside me is me and God, of course, and only those to whom I reveal what is going on inside of me. And so we must not evil surmise that when someone does something, oh, this is why they did it. or, oh, that is why they did it, when the scriptures make it clear that that is an area of judgment which is forbidden to us. We may certainly judge people's actions, but we certainly may not judge their motives, because motives are impossible to discern apart from personal self-revelation. A sixth form of evil speaking is that of backbiting. Backbiting involves telling others about someone's sins when we have not first faced the person who we are telling about with those sins. In other words, you think that Mary or Joe or John has sinned. And so instead of going to them and saying, hey, you said we wind up telling everybody else about their sins, except them. It says in Proverbs 15 in verse one, Lord, who shall abide in my tabernacle and who shall dwell in my holy hill? And it gives a whole list of things, but one of the things it gives in verse three of Psalms 15. is he that backbites not with his tongue. Indeed, backbiting is listed with the worst of the works of the flesh in Romans chapter 1 and verse 30. Backbiting is something that we are to repudiate in Proverbs 25 in verse 23. It says the north wind drives away the rain. So does an angry countenance, a backbiting tongue. And so when someone starts to tell us about someone else's sins and complain to us about them, the very first thing we need to say to them is, well, have you talked with them about it? And if they say, well, no, then you need to say, well, there's no point in talking to me about it until you've talked to them about it. Now, there is a place if someone is sent against you to go to your pastor, if you don't know how to approach this or how you should assess this and say to him, you know, Pastor, I think that Joe or John or Jim or James has sinned against me, and here's what's happened, and I'm not sure what to do about it." Well, he'll give you instruction, he'll give you counsel, and then you can go and deal with it. But apart from seeking pastoral counsel with reference to these situations, the Scripture says if someone has sinned against you, you're to tell him his fault between you and him alone. And then and only then, if he does not respond, then you can go and tell two or three other people and take them and try and resolve the situation. And then if that doesn't resolve it, then it can be told to the church. And this is is something that the Bible is very adamant about that we avoid backbiting. And that is telling others about someone's sins when we have not first faced the person who we are talking about with that sin. Now, the reason why we engage in backbiting oftentimes is because we do not love that person enough to confront him with his sin, or sometimes because we know that the charges will not stand up against the scrutiny of the light of day, and we dare not face them with their supposed sin against us, because we know that This is something we have merely trumped up in our own minds, and it is not valid and is not going to stand up to impartial scrutiny. Or sometimes we do this simply because we want to strike out at someone and hurt them rather than help them. So backbiting is saying something behind their back that we will not say to their face. So to speak evil of another is to speak in a way that is intended to injure him rather than to do him good. Slander and hearsay and gossip and hasty judgment and evil surmising and backbiting are all designed to do what? They're all designed to hurt, to destroy, to tear down and to ruin the person whom we are talking about. Our purpose when we engage in these types of behavior is to make him look bad in the eyes of others rather than to restore and to heal him. And so these six sins that I have mentioned of slander and hearsay and gossip and hasty judgment, evil surmising and backbiting all fall into the category of speaking evil of one another. It is precisely this kind of judging that is forbidden to us by the Scriptures. Notice verse 11. Speak not evil one of another brethren. He that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother. Let's stop there for a moment. The speaking evil of the brother is the judging of the brother that is being spoken of here. He that speaks evil of his brother and thereby judges his brother is the sense. It goes on to say, speaks evil of the law and judges the law, and we'll talk about that momentarily. But the point is, is the judgment that is forbidden in this passage is this judgment that consists of evil speaking. We are not forbidden to judge people in any way, under any circumstances, in any situation. Otherwise, civil authorities could never judge anyone for criminal behavior. And church authorities could never judge anyone with reference to the exercise of church discipline. And parents could never judge the behavior of their children with reference to the application of the rod. And you could never make judgments about whether someone was suitable to marry or not, because after all, you're not supposed to judge people, right? And so the folly of no judgment of anybody under any circumstances is something that we must conscientiously reject. The judgment that James speaks of here that he forbids is this judgment, this wrong judgment of evil speaking One must form a judgment in the mind before one can speak evil with the mouth. The speaking is just a way of expressing the judgment that is already made, and it is these kinds of judgments for these kinds of reasons and motives and to these kinds of ends that are strictly forbidden. Now, there are various reasons why such judging is done. Sometimes this kind of judging that consists of evil speaking is done because it arises out of a spirit of vindictiveness or of revenge. We do it because we want to hurt somebody. And this goes right back to these wars and fighting that he's talking about. We have declared war in our heart against someone, we have this attitude of fixed hostility towards them, and as a result, we strike out at them. And we generally do that with our words, by evil speaking about them. Sometimes, this kind of judging occurs out of envy. We cannot bear to see another succeed, and so we've got to tear them down in order to build ourselves up. Sometimes it arises out of self-seeking. An attempt to destroy another person would somehow benefit us. You see this sometimes when people are striving to get a promotion or to make a sale. They will take their competitors and they will slander them and tell lies about them in order to get the sale or in order to get the promotion. Sometimes it's done out of a desire for preeminence. People listen up to us when we talk about others. You just mention someone's name and start to tell a story about them, and boy, suddenly you are the center of attention. Everyone's paying attention, and you can seem oh so knowledgeable and oh so discerning as you set out the faults and failings, or the supposed faults and failings, of other people. Sometimes we simply do it out of a matter to fill the silence and keep the conversation going. There's all kinds of reasons why people engage in evil speaking. But whatever the reason, we aid the cause of Satan, who is the accuser of the brethren when we join him. and accusing them in this matter. And this passage is clearly talking about Christians speaking this way about fellow Christians. He speaks to them as brethren and of judging his brother. So these are things that go on, unfortunately, within the church among the people of God, and they ought not to be named among us. So this, then, is the speech that is prohibited In the second place, then, this evening, having considered together the speech which is prohibited, we want to consider together the reason why such speech is prohibited. We've identified what evil speaking is. Now we want to ask ourselves, why is it that this speech is so evil? Well, many reasons could be produced as to why such speech is forbidden, and we've already alluded to a number of them. We could say that, well, we shouldn't evil speak of one another because it's destructive to Christ's people. And it certainly is that. Or we could say we shouldn't do it because it causes a breakdown in Christian love and fellowship. Well, that's certainly true. Or we could say we shouldn't do it because it negates Christ's command for us to love one another. Certainly, we can't be loving other people and speaking evil of them at the same time. Or we could say, well, we shouldn't do it because it ruins our testimony before the world. And when we're tearing down other believers who were a believer, the world looks at that and goes, ha, why should I want to be part of a community that is self-devouring? Or we could say that we don't want to do it because it assists the work of Satan, which it certainly does, who is the accuser of the brethren. And all of these are compelling reasons in and of themselves as to why we shouldn't do it. But James provides us with two other reasons, in addition to all those I've just mentioned, as to why such speech is wrong and inappropriate. And the first reason why such judging is wrong is that when we engage in it, we are attacking God's law and condemning God's law. Notice verse 11. Do not speak evil one of another brother and he that speaks evil his brother and in this fashion judges his brother is the sense does what? Well, he speaks evil of the law and passes judgment upon the law. But if thou be a judge of the law, thou are not a doer of the law, but a judge. And so it is wrong to engage in evil speech, because when we engage in it, we are attacking God's law and we are condemning God's law. Now, how do we do this? Well, very simply, we have seen by various scripture passages already this slander and hearsay and gossip and tail bearing and drawing hasty conclusions and evil surmising and backbiting are all forbidden by God's law. God's law forbids every one of those that says don't do that. Well, when we go ahead and do them anyway, and thereby deliberately break God's law, and do not then repent of breaking God's law, then what we are saying by our actions is that God's law is bad. It is not worthy of my obedience, and it ought not to be a law. That's what we're saying when we persist in disobedience to God's law. We're saying that law ought not to be a law, and I'm going to ignore it. And it is not worthy of my obedience. And so, therefore, by our disobedience, we are denigrating and scoffing at God's law. Any disobedience to God's law is an attack upon that law, both as to its propriety, its authority, its reasonableness, and its very existence. We are saying it's not appropriate, or we are saying it's not authoritative, or we are saying it's not reasonable, or we're saying it shouldn't even exist. Therefore, one who unrepentantly breaks God's law, has judged that law to be unworthy of obedience. He has judged that law to be invalid. He has judged that law to be without any authority. And so instead of being subject to the law, he has made himself a lord over the law. Now, obviously, man's duty is to carry out God's law, not to decide for himself as to whether that law is proper or reasonable or set himself up to pick and choose what he will or will not obey. But the person who in fact does that speaks evil of God's law. That is, he attacks it and he condemns it and he sets himself up as being superior over it. You see, someone who breaks God's law and then repents is doing what? He's justifying the law and condemning himself. But someone who breaks God's law and justifies himself condemns the law. And so when you break God's law, you can either justify yourself or you can justify God's law. And if you justify God's law, then you are still saying that it's valid. I should be submitting to this. I failed to submit to it. I ought to submit. And by the grace of God, I'm going to repent and renew my submission. That person recognizes that God's law is over him. But the person who breaks God's law and then justifies himself and says, I didn't do anything wrong. There's nothing wrong with what I did is saying God's law is invalid, and it ought to be rejected, and it shouldn't even exist. And that brings us to the second reason why such judgment is wrong. It is wrong, not only because when we engage in it, we are attacking God's law and condemning it by willfully disobeying it. But secondly, those who engage in such judging of other people, such evil speaking, usurp to themselves the authority of God. They usurp to themselves the authority of God. Notice verse 12. It says there is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Therefore, who are you who judges another? Are you a lawgiver? Are you able to save and destroy? Then what are you doing sitting in judgment upon God's law? That's the idea. To claim by our actions of disregarding the law that we have authority over the law is to proclaim ourselves to be givers of the law and not subjects of it. It is to take to ourselves, in fact, the position of being God, because there's really only one lawgiver. And when we start passing out laws that are contrary to God's laws, then what we're really doing is taking to ourselves the position of being God. There is one and only one who has the right to determine what is proper law and what is not, what is to be obeyed and what is not, and it isn't us. It is God. He alone is able to save and to destroy, our text says. He alone is able to reward those who obey his law and punish those who disobey. God says of himself in Deuteronomy 32, 39, he says, I kill and I make alive. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. Now, can you say this of yourself? Can you say of yourself, I kill and I make a life. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. Can you say of yourself that you're able to save and you're able to destroy? Well, if you can't. Then you are in no position to be disregarding God's law and take to yourself the authority of God and the position of God by speaking evil of your brethren, contrary to God. Who gave the law forbidding it, that's the force of the argument. The last phrase of verse 12. Must be understood in its context. It says, who are thou that judges another? Literally, it says, but thou emphasis who are thou emphasis that judges another. And so he's saying, you're not a lawgiver. You're not able to save and destroy. You're not a judge of the law. So who are you? The emphasis here is on thou. Who are thou? Who do you think you are? He's saying the judge is another. Now, the judgment of another that is spoken of here is the evil speaking that is mentioned in verse 11. It is not speaking of all judgment in general. As I said previously, It is not that all judgment of every kind is forbidden. This is impossible. But rather, it is a certain kind of judging, a judging that results in evil speaking, which is a violation of God's law. He's saying, who are you to be doing that kind of judging? It is clearly not a prohibition of every kind of judging, but just a particular kind of judging, the kind of judging that constitutes evil speaking. He's saying, who are you to speak evil of another? Who are you to engage in slander and hearsay and gossip and tail bearing the drawing of hasty conclusions, the surmising of evil, the backbiting towards other people when God's law forbids such thing? Are you going to rise up against God's law and thereby rise up against God and declare yourself to be above God's law and to be above God's himself by breaking that law, by engaging in evil speaking? You see, that's what he's saying here. That's the force. And so we see, and when we see that this is what we are doing by evil speaking, it should motivate us to very quickly abandon it or any violation of God's law for that matter. For this argument could be applied to the breaking of any of God's laws. I have two conclusions and I am done. The first is this. Let us be exceptionally careful. that we never engage in evil speaking towards the brethren. Let us be exceptionally careful that we never engage in evil speaking towards the brethren. We need to exercise a great deal of care for the reputation of our brethren. And so before you ask or pardon me, or before you speak about other people, you need to ask yourself several questions. First of all, ask yourself, Is what I am saying completely true? Is it the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth that I am saying? Have I exaggerated anything, distorted anything or left out something that might reshape someone's view about what I'm going to say? Secondly, do I know this information firsthand? Did I personally see or hear? Or is it something that I just heard from someone else, who perhaps heard from someone else, who perhaps heard from someone else? Thirdly, is it necessary to repeat this, even though it's true? Do I have a duty to this person, to tell this person this information? That's a whole other sermon as we can develop, who has a right to know and who doesn't have a right to know. But it's a question you need to ask yourself, and it's an issue that you need to resolve. Is it necessary to repeat this? Do I have a duty to do so? Fourthly, have I gotten all the facts? And have I heard the other side of the story? Fifthly, Am I putting the best possible construction on the actions and motives of other people? Or am I, in fact, assigning the worst possible motives to their actions and words? Sixthly, have I spoken to the guilty party first? The failure to meet these tests is what causes unrighteous and unjust judgments. It is what causes evil speaking of other Christians. And we furthermore must also ask, is saying this going to help the person I am saying it about? In other words, am I trying to help this person or am I trying to injure them? Will it result in his sanctification or in his destruction? You see, to speak of the sins of another in order to restore him or in order to protect others is necessary and good. This kind of judgment and speech is required of us. But to speak of his sins in order to ruin him in the eyes of others and to destroy him is evil. And this kind of judgment is forbidden to us. We've got to ask ourselves, why am I saying this? Am I saying it because I really want to heal and restore, or am I really saying it because I'm fighting and warring with this person and I want to see them torn down? To judge in a manner God forbids is just as evil as to fail to judge in a manner that God requires. And so we must discern between godly judgment and ungodly judgment. And it is not judgment in general that is condemned, but a certain kind of judgment, that which involves these six things that constitute evil speaking. That is what is condemned. The slander and the hearsay and the rest. The second application is this. Let us remember that every disobedience to God's law is really an attack upon God himself. When we disobey God's law, it's really an effort to push God himself off the throne of sovereign rulership and to place ourselves there. And we have to remember that we are not sovereigns. We are creatures. And more than that, we are sinful creatures. And we were made to obey and not to rule. And so we need to be content with God and his law. We need to submit ourselves to it. And with reference to other people, we need to follow the principles of that law. Not the least of them is do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And if you wouldn't have someone else talk about you in the way that you're talking about them, then don't talk about them that way. Don't pass any harsher judgment on others than you are willing to have passed on yourself in relationship to these six things that we have been talking about this evening. May the Lord help us to be a people who abandon evil speaking and replace that with good speaking, which is good to the use of edifying. Isn't that what Ephesians 4 says? Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. What is corrupt communication? The six things I just got done talking about. But that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearer. So is this edifying? Is it gracious? Or is it corrupt and destructive? Would I have someone speak about me on the basis of this degree of information and evidence and on these grounds? If not, then I have no business speaking about them in this way. Just put yourself in someone else's shoes. And when you do, you will find yourself bridling your tongue and thus showing that your religion is not vain, but that it is true religion. Well, let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the deliverance we have had In these past months from wars and fightings and killings among ourselves. And we pray that that peace and unity might continue. Father, we see how it has been provoked by such things as we have spoken of tonight, such evil speakings. And father, we pray that it would not be named among us. Lord, deliver us from an attitude of hostility towards our brethren, from a striking out at them to injure them. with our words. And father, I pray that you might help us to be in the ministry of healing, restoring, building up and blessing others with our words. The tongue of the wise is health, the scripture says. Father, I pray that we would not speak like the piercings of the sword. But rather, we would speak with the tongue of the physician to heal and to bless and to bind up. Lord, may we judge righteous judgment and pass judgment where we must and speak the truth when we have to. And be honest and clear about the faults of others. But father, may it only and ever be for the purpose of their restoration and their blessing. and not their destruction and the ruin of their reputation. Father, give us the grace of bridal tongues. Help us to think before we speak. Set a watch before our lips, we pray, O Lord, that nothing dishonorable may go out of them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.