Open your Bibles now, please, again to James 4. Our text for this morning is verses 11 and 12, but I want to back up and just grab a little bit more of the context, like we've been doing for the last several weeks, because these sections in James 4 are so closely related to each other. And I want this in your mind as we go through. We'll be talking about it later in the first point. James chapter 4, we'll start in verse 7. James, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes this. Be subject therefore to God, this is verse 7, be subject therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. and He will exalt you. Do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother slanders the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy. but who are you who judge your neighbor? Father God, this morning we approach your word now, we thank you for it. It is clear, it is decisive, it instructs us, it draws us to your side, and it tells us clearly how we're to live a life that's pleasing to you. And so, Father, today, as we contemplate that, we pray, Lord, that you would open our hearts to hearing all that James has for us in your word today. It's in Christ's name we ask it. Amen. I want to start this morning with a confession, and that confession is this. I hate the devil. I do. There is not one quality of him that is good, not one thing within him that is worthy of emulation, not one thing in him that is God-honoring. He seeks to destroy the works of God, and if he could, he would murder every human being before they could ever hear the gospel. And he would do that so that he could secure their eternal condemnation. John chapter 6 verse 44, rather John 8 44, Jesus is speaking to a group of Jews, among which are some Pharisees. And he tells them this. He says, You are of your father, the devil, and you and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie. He speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar. and the father of lies." Satan's doctrine is that of a false gospel. He's never going to promote the true gospel. Rather, he will promote a false gospel that deceives, which is to say he's the father of demonic doctrine. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, Paul writes to Timothy, he says, but the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Murder, deception, demonic doctrine, lies. Those things are his playground. This is where he has fun. Satan has two primary names. The first I just mentioned is Satan. It literally means the adversary, which is to say he is the enemy. And by that we mean he is the enemy of God and all those who belong to God. And as the enemy, he is exceedingly bold. We don't have to go far in scripture to find this either. In the book of Job chapter 1 verse 9, he literally challenges the father to abandon Job to Satan's manipulation. In Matthew chapter 4 verse 9, he tries unsuccessfully to convince the Son of God to worship him. Talk about boldness. In Acts chapter 5 verse 3, he again tries unsuccessfully to lie to the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 2, verse 20, his operatives deceive Jesus' slaves to commit sexual immorality with them. He is evil. His motives are always evil. And he would never serve God intentionally. He's always on the wrong side of the equation. He is evil to the core. And so everything that there is to hate about him should be hated. The second primary name of Satan is the devil. The devil. It's the Greek word diabolos. That's the basis for which we get the English word diabolical. Diabolical. The word literally means slanderer. And it means one who speaks evil of another. He, Satan, is a slanderer. That's one of his defining characteristics. He speaks evil of others, whether he is speaking a lie about somebody or even using the truth in a deceptive way. Or to use the truth to paint an evil picture of somebody. Every one of those is a form of slander. And by the way, that's one of the biggest misconceptions about slander. You can actually use, or rather misuse the truth to slander someone. It doesn't have to be a lie. Satan loves slander. And he is really skilled at it. Now, in contrast to that, you don't want to be good at it. You don't want to be good at that. You don't want to slander, in fact, at all. And the devil is the last person that you ever want to be like. But if we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that there is a problem that we have here. And James puts his finger on the nerve, doesn't he? Because many Christians do slander. They speak evil of others, both in the form of truth and in the form of lies. Often they try to sanctify their slander by saying that they're only telling you so that you can, you know, pray about it. But it's still slander nonetheless. One of the things that's amazing about slander is that we are likely to never put it on par with other sins like murder, or adultery, or abuse, or name your horrendous sin. But Slander's right up there with him. And in James 4, verses 11 and 12, he calls it out directly with devastating clarity. James sets on display for us exactly how evil it is. That's what we're going to see this morning. And the thing that should shock us most is how easy it is for the genuine Christian to behave like the devil. In fact, our central idea for this morning is that slander does four things. Here it is. Slander degrades our fellow Christians, defames our righteous standard, demeans our God, and it destroys us. I'll give that to you again because it's important. Slander degrades our fellow Christians, it defames our righteous standard, it demeans our God, and it destroys us. Now, being as that's the central idea and there's four main points in it, you would guess that there are probably four main points to this sermon. You would be right. So here's number one. Slander degrades our brothers and sisters. Slander degrades our brothers and sisters. Chapter 4, verse 11. James begins this verse by saying, Do not slander one another, brothers. Do not slander one another, brothers. Now, if you look at verses 11 and 12, at first blush, they appear to be just two verses that are disconnected here in the middle of chapter four, dealing with slander among a whole bunch of other stuff that's going on. But they're actually part of verses seven to 10. And you say, well, where's the connection? Well, verse seven commands us positively to submit to God and negatively to resist the devil. We submit to God, we resist the slanderer. Then in verse 11, we're commanded not to slander one another. So submit to God, you resist the slanderer. Oh, and by the way, in verse 11, part of that submission to God and resistance to the slanderer is, do not slander. So this is part of the path to humility that James has clearly given us in verse six, In verse 10, we saw last time that we're absolutely in the context of humility here, or seeking humility. And clearly, the people to whom James is writing had resorted to, or there had been some slander going on within these churches, or James would not have had to write about it. And if they continued to do it, they would ultimately destroy the church. They were, in fact, biting and devouring one another as Paul had commanded the Galatians not to do in Galatians 5, verse 15. As we've seen, slander is the work of the devil. It's one of his primary names, in fact. And if a slanderer is what he is, then to slander is to be like him and to do what he wants you to do. It is, in fact, not to do the will of your God, but it is to do the will of your enemy. And really slander, what it is, is a verbal extension of hating someone in your heart, and it is in fact a complete lack of love. So to slander is to act as Satan acts. It is to be like the devil. It's part of the verbal fights and quarrels that James talked about all the way back in verse two of chapter four. And it's still something that's driven by the lusts and pleasures that wage war within them and wage war, in fact, within you and me. And this is something you don't want to have any part of. You don't want to have any part of that kind of work, the work of the devil. Often we don't take it seriously or consider it a real threat. We don't realize the pain that slander causes. We don't realize the lives that it destroys. But to call it out point blank, slander is demonic. It is devilish. It has the smoky stench of hell about it. Over and over again, the Bible shows us the danger of slander and the damage it can do. That damage started in the Garden of Eden when Satan slandered God. In Genesis 3, Satan convinced Eve that God was holding out on her. He told her that God was keeping her from special knowledge. God is keeping her from the fulfillment of becoming like Him. The slanderer then, by implication, was saying that God is a liar. And Eve, if you eat this fruit, you won't die. Conversely, if she ate the fruit, if you disobey God, you'll be fulfilled. See, the idea is that God just didn't want her to become like him. God just didn't want her to become all that she could possibly be. And just as Satan did with God, so all slander defames people's character. Your character is important. Proverbs 22, verse one says, a good name is to be chosen over great wealth. Favor is better than silver or gold. Having a good reputation is more important than whatever you think the size of your bank account should be. Excuse me. And since that's true, some of the greatest damage you can do to someone is to slander them. Listen, you want to destroy anybody, I'll tell you how to do it right now. Just slander them. Just slander them. That utterly destroys other people. And God knows how devastating this can be, so He specifically made laws against it in the nation of Israel. This is written into the law of God. In Leviticus 19, verse 16, it says, You see how God puts those two things on the same par, slander and murder? You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand against the life of your neighbor. I am Yahweh. He adds that at the end just to make sure that you know he's serious about it. He reminds you who he is. Slander is, in fact, the defining part of the character of the ungodly. Psalm 50, verses 19 and 20, The psalmist writes, you let your mouth loose in evil and you harness your tongue for deceit. Interesting parallel there. In the book of James, he tells us that, look, you can't tame the tongue. What's the psalmist tell us? You can't harness it for deceit. Oh, the tongue's ready to do that. It gives up easily to that. It doesn't resist that at all, does it? You let your mouth loose in evil and you harness your tongue for deceit. Listen, you sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. Listen, slander is so pervasive and so easy and our sinful nature is so prone to it that we slander our own family. This is a wicked evil. This is obviously an offshoot of pride. By definition, what it does is it defames others so that you can raise people's perception of you in their eyes. And God is so opposed to this kind of pride that He promises destruction for the slanderer. Listen, Psalm 101, verse 5, whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart, I will not endure, God says. Further, slander obliterates friendships. You say, well, how does it do that? Well, once someone is slandered by another, it's almost impossible to earn that trust back, isn't it? It's very hard. Proverbs chapter 16 verses 27 and 28. It says, a vile man digs up evil. In other words, a vile person walks around trying to find something evil about you so they can dig it up and tell it to others. This is horrendous. A vile man digs up evil and the words on his lips are like scorching fire. A perverse man spreads strife and a whisperer separates close companions. Slander destroys friendships. Paul called it out to the churches of Colossian to Ephesus and commanded them to stop doing it. In Ephesians 4, verse 31, Paul writes, let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Further, slander utterly obliterates lives. Isaiah 32 verse 7 says, There's your slander. Even though the needy one speaks justly. We even saw when we preached through the book of Nehemiah some months ago that two men, Sanballat and another guy named Gashemu, tried to slander Israel to King Artaxerxes. The purpose was to stop the building of Jerusalem so that the Jews couldn't become a national presence again. Slander just doesn't work with personal relationships, it destroys nations. This is what it does. This is how the work of Satan and those who side with him function. You don't want any part of that. So if James knew that that was happening within this church as to which he was writing, you can understand why he didn't want those believers involved in it, can't you? And that's especially true because these people were fellow Christians. Listen, Satan is good enough at what he does. We can't afford you and me giving him any help in hindering the Lord's work by engaging in this. We don't need to give him a hand. Within the church, we are a family. And it's the responsibility of a family to be close. It is the responsibility of a family to care for each other, to love one another. to attack or to defame. We don't need so-called friendly fire to damage others in the church. When we meet, when we have our time together of worshiping the Lord, our responsibility is to build up each other, to encourage each other, to edify one another. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 4, v. 29-32. Paul writes, "...let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth." But only such a word as is good for building up what is needed so that it will give grace to those who hear. So ask yourself, does my speech give grace? Does my speech build up? Or is it an unwholesome word, a rotten word, unhealthy? Now let me read that over again. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting, and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Instead, instead of that, put those things off. Instead, do this. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you." Now in the middle of that text, did you notice something that the Apostle Paul said? Did you notice what grieved the Holy Spirit? I hear people talking about, oh, don't do that, it grieves the Holy Spirit. Well, all sin grieves Him to a certain degree, but what's specifically mentioned here is that it is when we do not build each other up, when we do not give grace to our hearers, when we have bitterness and anger and wrath and slander in our speech. That is specifically what Paul says grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Think about this, beloved. The Bible teaches that all of us will appear before God one day, and we will give an account for every careless word spoken. Do you not think that God will hold us accountable for how we've spoken about those for whom Christ died? You're brothers and sisters in Christ. You are the elect of God from eternity past. Christ came to earth to die for everyone that's in His church. You will spend an eternity in heaven with them. Why in the world would we defame or degrade or slander others here? The world under Satan's control does that every day. You don't need to have any part of that. You show them love. Because slander degrades our brothers and sisters. Second this morning, second, slander defames our righteous standard. What do I mean by that? We'll look at the second half of verse 11. The first part, Paul says, or rather James says, do not slander one another brothers. Here's the second half of the verse. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. So I'm talking about a righteous standard here. The title of this second point, slander defames our righteous standard. I'm talking about the law. Slander, in fact, defames the law of God. Jesus tells us that, or rather, James tells us that if you slander, if you judge your brother, then you slander, you judge the law of God. Now, you might be sitting there and asking, well, how does James make that leap? How does he logically get from slandering another person to slandering the law of God? How do those two equate with one another? Well, it's actually pretty simple. It's pretty clear and it's pretty obvious if you understand that the whole of the law is wrapped up in two commands. See, every command in the Ten Commandments, and even more so, all of the other detailed laws that are given all throughout the Old Testament, line up under one of two very specific commands. Give your finger here in James chapter 4 and turn over in your Bible to Matthew 22. Matthew 22. I'm going to read verses 36 to 40 here as soon as I get a drink. One of the lawyers comes up to Jesus and they ask him this question. He says, Teacher, this is Matthew 22, 36, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? What is it? What's the summary of the law? What is the substance of the law? What does it consist of? That's what he's asking him. And Jesus said to him, you shall love. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, if you were to just stop there, you could say, okay, the two most important commands, love God and love my neighbor. But then there's all these other commands and all these other purposes. No, no, no, no, Jesus finishes. And he says, on these two commands hang the whole law and the prophets. We could say then that the purpose of the law is to demonstrate love. Love for God and love to others. Now I think it's pretty obvious, I think we've seen, I think we've demonstrated this morning that slander is not love. It is to speak evil about another. These are harsh words, they are painful words. And it's almost always done when the other person is absent. Slander rarely, if ever, happens to the person's face. The motive is to drag the other person down, and that's almost always so you can build yourself up. And as we said, Satan is the master of slander. When he defamed and degraded God in the eyes of Eve, what was he doing? He was telling her God is not to be believed. God is withholding things from you. God doesn't want you to be like Him. God is not letting you be all that you can be, but I will reveal these things to you. I will get you to your full potential. I will tell you the truth. I will make you like God if you follow what I say. So you see, he's tearing God down so he can elevate himself. He did the same thing in Jesus' temptation, didn't he? He calls the Father's character into question while he's tempting Jesus. And then he told Jesus, listen, if you just worship me, I'm tearing the Father down, I'm replacing him with me, now you just worship me, you elevate me, and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. I'll give you your kingdom, King Jesus, and you won't even have to go to the cross to get it. Look how mean the Father's being to you, all that he's asking you to do. This is awful. Just worship me. I'll make you all that you can be. But first, you must fall down, worship, and exalt me. That is slander at its most skillful. Or perhaps we should say slander at its worst. See, there is no love in slander. Are you catching the drift here? What's going on? How slandering somebody slanders the law. There is no love in slander. There is no love for the person being slandered. No love for the person to which you're slandering them. There is only in slander love for self. And that's not really love, is it? That's just selfishness. And love, by definition, is selfless. See, this is just another expression, again, in James 4, verse 2, where James says, You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. What's the point of slander? You slander others so you can get the respect or whatever else they possess that you want. That's the goal. See, in the end, it's really not about the other person, is it? They're just a tool. Oh, that's so evil to even speak of other people that way. They're just a tool that you use to get what you want. So there's no love and slander. And this is seen in two very specific ways. I want to use the law, in fact, to show you this. First of all, if you love God, you love the child born of Him. In 1 John 5, verse 1, John says, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the one who gives new birth loves also the one who has been born of Him. If you love God, you will love all those who are His children. See, so if the purpose of the law is to call us to love God and to love our neighbor, then slander defames the other brother and it defames their God as well. If you love Him, you love His children. If you do not love His children, you do not love Him. Second, you need to understand the purpose of the law. Now, all the guys who are out there who are in my academy are going, ooh, ooh, ooh, we just went through this in Old Testament survey. And the question was, what does the law do? The academy guys are gonna go, the law points. Come on, academy guys, this means yes. This means no, right? The law points. That's what you heard in our lectures and what you saw in class from me. And it does. In fact, the Hebrew word for law is, I should ask them this, but I won't put them on the spot. The Hebrew word for law is Torah. And do you know what Torah means? To point. You say, well, how does it do that? Well, because we're not able to keep the law, it points us to the reality, the conclusion that you need a savior. The law is a standard that God has given. It reflects his moral character. You can't keep it. You break it all the time. And because you break it, the law is pointing you to the reality that you need a savior. It's pointing out your sin. That is true. It does all of that. It shows us that we are sinners and it shows us that we need a savior. But go a step deeper. You see, the sin that it reveals is sin that is either A, against God, or B, against my neighbor. So yes, God gave the law to show us our need for a Savior, because we can't keep the law to save ourselves. But in that, it reveals our lack of love for our neighbor and for God. We sin against God and we sin against our neighbors when we fail to show them love. That is what sin is. It is a lack of love. And so in addition to revealing our sin, the law also regulates our expressions of love. The law informs us what a right expression of love for God and what love for others looks like. So often today you get people who say, well, you know, the law, oof, that's Old Testament stuff. It's harsh. It's unloving. But God is love, John tells me. So I don't like the law, but I like God. Because God's love and the law is harsh. No. The law is actually an expression of love from God in its totality. And beyond that, it regulates your expressions of love for God and for others so that they actually are loving and in accord with the character of God. So when you slander a person, when you defame them, when you speak evil of them, you have also judged them. So you're telling the rest of the world how that person measures up in your eyes or how they don't, conversely. And for slander to take place, you must have judged them first. And by the way, what is the basis for that judgment? Is it love? Is it the law of love? Is it the royal laws, James calls it earlier in the book? No. The basis for judgment that you engage in before you slander somebody is your own standards. Your own standards. Your slander shows others that you have judged this person and they don't meet your standards. So you have judged them, and then you have slandered them, and in so doing, because you have not loved them, you have violated the law of God, and you have also judged the law as being inferior to your own judgment. And you might say, well, how have I judged the law? You judge the law because you decided that your judgment was better than his law, and you judged other people on the basis of that. Because had you judged them on the, looked at them on the basis of the law, you would have just said, you know what, what's right here is I'm a sinner just like they are, so I'm gonna demonstrate love to them. I'm gonna love my neighbor as myself, because that's the fullest expression of the law for them. It is to say that I esteem my judgment as better than God's. My opinion is greater than his law. So every time you slander, you speak against the law of God and you judge the law of God. This is an utter contempt for the law of God. And we should also point out that in court, a good judge is impartial in evaluating evidence. And he must be just in applying the law when he sentences someone. Listen, the slanderer does neither of those. He often ignores the facts so that he can present his view of reality and sway others to his perspective about a certain person. He tries to avoid speaking in the presence of the one he's accused. Why? Because if they're there, they can defend themselves, can't they? He sets aside the love of God revealed in the law. And then he lays down a selfishly motivated verdict of the other person while they're not there to even defend themselves. And by the way, we also need to remember something else about the law. It happens to be the word of God itself. And if we're guilty of slandering our brother and sister in Christ, then that also means we've disregarded the scripture as a whole. And when you do that, you've also disregarded something else. You've disregarded God himself, who gave the scripture. And that's why Peter tells us we've got to lay aside slander before we can even truly receive the word of God. Listen to this, 1 Peter 2, verse 1. Therefore, laying aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. How do you grow? How do you first put yourself in a position where you can receive the word? You've got to lay these other things aside. See, the Word of God is the means that God has appointed by which you grow to maturity in Christ. You can't even receive the Word and grow when you are slandering others because you are slandering and judging the Word itself. How are you going to grow when you're slandering the thing that will cause you to grow? And if you've disdained it and said that your opinion and your thoughts are better than it, how can you ever submit to it? You can't, you're too busy submitting to yourself. So what's James end verse 11 with? Look at it. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. You can't do the law, which is to say you can't even obey the scripture when you hold yourself aloof to it. that means you're actually doing the very thing you've accused somebody else of doing. Remember earlier that James had warned them about self-deception. He told them that just to hear and not do the law meant that they were self-deceived. Back in James 1, verse 22, James said, but become doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. And here he takes that a step further, doesn't he? You not only haven't heard it, but you hold yourself in judgment over it as if somehow you think your judgment is greater than God's. And you're showing by your actions that you think you're wiser than him. Dear friend, that is a very dangerous position to be in. So be careful. If you're slandering your brother or sister in Christ, it's time to repent. Slander defames our righteous standard. It defames the law of God. When you slander others, it reveals, first of all, what you think about them. Second, we've just seen it reveals what you think about God's law, but it also It also reveals what you think about God himself. So, third point, slander defames our God. Look at verse 12. James writes, there is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy. Now, this is a perfectly logical conclusion that James comes to. See, if you defame the law, if you defame the word of God, then you're also of necessity defaming the God who gave it. You can't do one without doing the other. Whatever your view is of the scripture is what your view is of God. And James says here, there is one lawgiver and judge. And by the way, that one lawgiver and judge is not you. It is God himself. See, if you slander and judge the law, then you've judged God. And if you do that, you've just reached blasphemy skill level expert. And by that, I mean you're on par with the work of Satan. That's just something you don't want. God alone is lawgiver. God alone is judge. So it is God alone, not you. This also draws attention to the fact that the same one who gave the law is the one who applies the law. Isaiah 33, 22, there it says, for Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver. The lawgiver, the one who gave the law, is also the one who judges, who applies the law. And only God is qualified to do that with His law. And that's true for two reasons, well, probably more, but at least two reasons. First, because the law reflects His own moral character. See, God does not judge on the basis of what you think is right or what I think is right. He doesn't judge on the basis of what other people think is right. He doesn't judge on the basis of what society says is right. He judges on the basis of His character, which is what the law reflects. And there is no one else who understands the character of God the way that he does or to the extent that he does. And only he can judge because only he fully understands his own character. Second, because only he can apply the law rightly, because only he actually sees the hearts of all people. See, in order to actually apply the law rightly, even if you assume, even if you could understand the law the way that he understands it, even if you could fully understand his character to a perfect degree, you still can't apply the law rightly to other people because you can't see their heart. Only he can. So the only right judge is God. Why? Because only He truly understands the standards by which He judges, and only He can actually understand the hearts of those being judged. In either case, the point is that you are not the judge. You cannot judge others. You cannot judge the law or God Himself. You don't understand the standard. You don't understand fully the one who gave the law, nor the hearts of those being judged. So you have no right to slander anyone. It is an evil, wicked, blasphemous sin. And this perfect lawgiver and judge is the one who saves and the one who destroys. At this point, if you're the slanderer, you're going, uh-oh. He's the one who brings salvation. and he is the one who damns. He is able to save because he's the one who provided salvation. The Bible tells us that there is none righteous who understands. There is none who earns salvation on their own. That's Romans chapter three, verses 10 to 18. In fact, the scripture tells us there is none who keeps the law. No one will ever be justified or saved by keeping God's law on their own. Romans chapter three, verse 20 says, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. So God is the judge who has condemned everyone. Rightly, I might add, but that same judge is also a savior. And as we celebrated just a moment ago, he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. He lived a life of sinless perfection that none of us could. He had no penalty for which he owed God at all. And Jesus Christ went to the cross and there offered himself as a sacrifice in our place. And there God poured all of his wrath upon Christ. And he died there as that substitute. God punished him as if he were us. And because he did that, the debt of our sin is now paid in full. And if you trust in Christ alone to save you from the penalty of your sin, you will be saved. You can't trust in you, you can't trust in your own good works. You must trust in the Savior that the judge himself has provided. That's Jesus Christ. And if you trust in Christ to save you, then God has applied the penalty of His law already to Christ instead of you. But if you reject Jesus Christ as your saving Lord, then God must still apply the penalty of the law fully. And since you have rejected Christ, you have no substitute who took the penalty in your place. Therefore, he will apply the full penalty of the law to you. That is an awful penalty. It is an eternal penalty. And it is an eternity of separation from God in hell. And you can't out-escape once you're there. But this same judge offers you mercy today. So turn from your sin and trust in Christ alone to save you. And you will have salvation. Slander demeans our God. Fourth and finally, slander destroys us. This goes quickly. Verse 12, there's one lawgiver, only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy. Then James turns his attention to the reader, to us. He says, but who are you who judge your neighbor? If you reword James' question just slightly so it meets the vernacular of our day, it would read like this. Who do you think you are? That's what James is asking. Who do you think you are to judge and to slander your neighbor, to say that you have supernatural knowledge of them, that you understand the law of God perfectly, and to claim superiority over both them and God and His law? is to set yourself as superior to everything. So James rightly asks, who do you think you are? Thus it is the height of arrogance and self-centered pride. See, James gets very personal here in this last sentence of these two verses. It's a question of contrast. First in verse 12 he says, listen, there is one lawgiver and judge. But who are you? You're not the judge, you're not the law giver. And so what this tells us about the slander is that their focus is on themselves only. And their willingness to destroy others to promote self is disgusting. And in the end, what it reveals is their pride and their twisted delight in attacking others. Beloved, one of the greatest ways we can defang the devil, as it were, is to not be like him. We don't need to do his work for him. He doesn't need to attack a church that is already slandering itself. And rather than slandering and tearing others down, there is a better way to live. We read about it earlier in Ephesians 4. Again, Ephesians 4.29, let no unwholesome word, let no unhealthy word, let no, we can put it this way, no sick word proceed from your mouth. but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed so that it will give grace to those who hear." Listen to this, Luke 4, verse 22. It says of Jesus, and all were speaking well of Him and marveling. at the gracious words which are coming forth from his lips." 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 11. Paul writes, therefore, comfort one another, build up one another, just as also you are doing. What are all those telling us if we take them together? Treat others with love through your speech, that flows out of a heart of compassion and love. Do not slander. Father God, you've shown us in your Word the utter height of arrogance and pride that it is to slander one another. that it is the work of Satan himself. It is, in fact, what the devil was named for. Because this is what he did to you. Father, we don't want to be like that. We don't want to be like him. We want to do Your work, not his. We want to love our neighbor as ourself. We want to love you above everything. So Father, to whatever degree each one of us has slandered or is involved in this, remove it from our hearts. Remove it from our speech. Remove it from our lives. Remove it from our church. fully that we might with one unified accord and heart worship you, the judge and the lawgiver who gave a law of love so that we would know how to love you and to love one another. And may our lives be the fullest expression of that. It's in Christ's name we ask it. Amen.