In our sermon this morning, we are going to look at the ninth commandment, which is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. And in connection with that, we're going to read a couple of different passages from scripture. The first is James chapter three, James chapter three. James chapter 3, one of the outstanding chapters in the Bible on the use of the tongue, especially as we speak of one another. James chapter 3, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind, But the tongue can no man tame, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men who are made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter, Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. And then I want to read from Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3, and we're going to read from verse 9 through verse 18. You have in Romans chapter 3 a description of the depravity of man and one of the outstanding features or characteristics of that is what comes out of the mouth of man. Deuteronomy, Romans chapter 3, verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. So there's a total depravity of every human being. And then verse 13, the evidences of it. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Ephesians chapter 4. We want to read just two verses here. Ephesians 4, verse 25 and 29. Paul says this, Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, and then the reason, for we are members one of another. And verse 29, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." And then in the book of Leviticus chapter 19, you don't have to go here, it's just a short phrase. In Leviticus 19 and verse 16, thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people. And that's a command concerning behavior in the church of God. It's on the basis of those passages in Scripture and many others that we have the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lords Day 43 in the back of the Psalter on page 24. The back of the Psalter, page 24, we're treating here the ninth commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. And the catechism asks in question 112, page 24 in the back of the Psalter, what is required in the ninth commandment? And the answer that I bear false witness against no man, nor falsify any man's words, that I be no backbiter nor slanderer, that I do not judge nor join in condemning any man rashly or unheard, but that I avoid all sorts of lies and deceit as the proper works of the devil, unless I would bring down upon me the heavy wrath of God, Likewise, that in judgment and in all other dealings I love the truth, speak it uprightly and confess it. Also that I defend and promote as much as I am able the honor and good character of my neighbor. As we come to this commandment this morning, beloved, it's good for us to be reminded of the purpose, the lasting purpose of the law of God. And there are three main uses of the law of God. The first is for social morality. The law is the standard for human existence. When the law is obeyed, then humans can live together. Second, the law has this purpose that it's the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And it does that for us by showing to us our misery, our sin. In the light of the law of God, we see the impossibility of our obedience. We see our utter depravity. And then third, the law is given to us as a rule for thankful living, to give us direction in how we should love God, because the law is a summary of what it is to love God. Now, all three of those purposes you see here in the ninth commandment. The ninth commandment says, Thou shalt not bear false witness. And that refers to a legal setting when someone is on the witness stand before a magistrate in a social societal setting, and he's under oath, and he may not invent or twist the truth and give false testimony that would bring injury to another. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." There must be truth in society for there to be the possibility of humans existing together. But then you see also here the second use of the law that I referred to, and that is that the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ by showing to us our misery. And then you think of the two passages that we read together that reference the use of the tongue. James 3.2, a very indicting and condemning judgment of every one of us, especially in the church. In many things we offend all. James says, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body. The Christian life is a life of struggle and a fight against sin. And James says this is the greatest struggle if a man is able to control his words, his tongue. Then he's really achieved and attained in the struggle against sin. And the point is this, that none of us, none of us, are able to find complete victory in the struggle with sin in the use of our words. And so Romans 3, when it describes the evidence of the depravity of man, again and again refers to the tongue and what comes out of a man's mouth, the throat. It says, their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongue they've used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Destruction and misery are in their way, and the way of peace have they not known. And so when we understand our sinfulness, or if we would understand our sinfulness, we look at our words, we look at what we say. And there's an evidence, a very clear evidence of our depravity. And we need to recognize our sin with regard to this commandment if we are truly to be brought to repentance and to Jesus Christ. And then the third thing here is that the law is a rule or gives us direction in how we show our love to God because the law is not just that external thing. It doesn't just deal with external behaviors. It doesn't just say, well, be careful what you say. But it goes much deeper than that. Behind this law is the principle that every person has a reputation and that we have a calling with regard to the reputation of our neighbor. to defend it and to promote it. The Catechism gives that real brief summary in the last phrase or the last line. It says, this is the requirement of this commandment that I defend and promote as much as I am able the honor and good character of my neighbor. That's how we show our love to God. The law is all about love for God. And we show our love to God by recognizing the neighbor's character, the neighbor's name, and we promote it. We don't tear it down for our own selfish reasons. And that's especially necessary in the church between believers. Ephesians 4, verse 25, we read that verse together. Paul says in Ephesians 4, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. And then Paul gives a reason. For, he says, we are members one of another. When we don't speak the truth, when we tear down the name of others in the church, we're sinning. not just against other people, but against the unity of the body of Jesus Christ. We are members one of another. This morning we want to look at this commandment by focusing on the two major sins that are involved in our communication with and about others. The sins of slander and backbiting. That is what this commandment really gets at. The Scriptures have a wealth of material on this subject. And we want to look at that this morning under the theme, the commandment against, or the commandment which forbids, slander and backbiting. Let's notice three things here. First, the instrument that we use for slander and backbiting, and that's the tongue. And then the second, the destruction of slander and backbiting, and we want to see how that's destructive, especially to the unity of the body of Jesus Christ and our place in the body. And then third, we want to see the calling that we have to avoid slander and backbiting, not just avoiding the sin itself, but also the situations that put us in a place where we're tempted to this sin. So, the commandment against slander and backbiting, the instrument, the destruction, and then the calling. The instrument that's used for slander and backbiting and that this commandment talks about is the tongue. Communication with language. Now we want to say some things to begin with about the tongue. It's a wonderful part of our makeup as human beings. Psalm 139, David says we're fearfully and wonderfully made. In the book of Psalms, Psalm 8, David says we're made higher than all the other creatures and just a little lower than the angels. And what is it that makes man such a wonderful creation? It's this, that as one created in the image of God, he was created as a creature to communicate. He was created for fellowship, for fellowship with God and for fellowship with others. The most amazing thing about the creation of a human and what a human being is, isn't his physical being. That is amazing! You study health sciences and human biology and you understand, you begin to understand how amazing the human body is. You look at the development of a child. You look at a newly born child and everything is functioning and it's the most amazing thing. But that physical aspect of our being really we share with the other creatures. What's amazing about man is that he's created as a creature to communicate. to communicate with God, and to communicate with others, to understand God's speech, and to talk back to God Himself. So, when Adam and Eve were created, God came in the cool of the day, and He walked with them in the garden, and He talked with them, and they had communion with God. And so, the most amazing aspects of the human being, of our creation as human beings, are the instruments that God has given us to communicate. Our ears, our mouth, our heart, and our mind. And the tongue is given not just for communion with God, but for communion between men. As an instrument in which we express not just our love and praise to God, the third commandment is all about that when it tells us we should not take God's name in vain, but also now in the ninth commandment for our communion with each other. God created us for relationships. He didn't create us to be individuals, separate hermits from the rest of humankind. But He created man to be a part of the human race and a part of the body now in the church of believers. And then the fall came. And the fall corrupted man's ability, man's creation to communicate. The man's entire... being, his entire makeup was brought under sin and under the power of sin by the fall. And the result was this, that the most glorious aspects of man's creation in the beginning became the most vile ways in which man would express his sinfulness. And the Bible describes the natural man this way, as one who has ears but cannot hear, and eyes but cannot see, hands that cannot do, mouths that cannot speak. This is the natural man. All the parts of him that God made for communication are corrupted so that he becomes a child of Satan who is a liar and himself a communicator of that which is false. And so you have that description in Romans 3 of the depravity of man which focuses on these gifts of communication. The Fall has turned us into the opposite, and so James talks about the tongue as an unruly evil, and under our tongue is the poison of asps, and every other animal and wild beast can be tamed, but the tongue can no man tame. And the tongue is referred to or compared to the smallest of things, a small spark, a little flame that starts a wildfire. or little rudder that turns a ship, and the tongue has that potential for evil. But the tongue, we understand, is created by God, not just for this potential for evil, but also for potential for good. And so James 3 verse 9, James acknowledges that with the tongue we bless God, and with the tongue we will curse man. And he says it shouldn't be that way, but there is that potential there in the tongue, as God has given it to us. Think of all the things that the tongues of man have said through the history of the world in the praise of God. Think of all the sermons that have been written, all the songs that have been sung, all the praises of God that have been spoken, the adoring of Him as God, the adoring of His wondrous works in creation. The tongue is a great instrument for good. therewith bless we God. But then think of all the evil that the tongue has caused. It has the power to destroy, to tear down, to curse God, to curse man who is made in the image of God, to tear things apart in the human existence. And the chief way And this is what we want to focus on this morning. The chief way that the tongue brings destruction is through slander and backbiting. I hardly have to tell you this morning what those things are. Really, the two of them are the same thing. They are the use of the tongue to attempt to malign to drag in the dirt the character of another, to expose somebody else to ridicule and to contempt and hatred in the eyes of the other. And that can be done by lying about another person, which is slander, telling things that aren't true, or it can be done even by telling truths behind the back of another that injure their personality. That's backbiting. And this sin, this sin of maligning the character of another, by our words we so easily fall into and commit. We embellish our gossip with concern and we try to make our rumors sound like deep concern for another person. Did you hear about so and so? And then we have something to say about them. But we express it with sympathy, emotion. I feel so sorry for this person because of this. And we're talking about the sins of others and bringing their name down. Or we mix it with truth. Sometimes we'll hear something about someone else and we'll say, well, yeah, I've heard that too, but that's not quite true. And then we add something to what has been heard. Or someone is slandered and We say, well, yes, I expect that because this is what they've done to me, and we add to the snowball of slander against another person. That's what this is about. All unnecessary exposing of secrets and confidences and information about others that would malign their character and their name, that would injure them. Now, sometimes it is necessary to speak about others behind their back. I can give you an example. You have children who have misbehaved, and their parents need to know about it. And so you, who as an adult was in a position of responsibility where those children were, you need to talk to their parents. But that's out of love. That's so that they're helped and corrected for their sinful behavior. But very often, most often, We do this with nothing like that in mind, more often simply to put down others and exalt ourselves, to judge others by our own character and name that we think is so good and important. Now, we have to understand the destruction that this sin brings. And it's a destruction you understand that centers on the communion of the church, the unity of the body of Jesus Christ. Again, Ephesians 4, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Here's the reason that we ought not be involved in this sin of slander and backbiting. God has called us together in the church as one body in Jesus Christ, and whenever We take the name of another person and we bring it down. We're tearing apart the body of Jesus Christ for which He gave Himself. We're going against, we're grieving the Holy Spirit. Paul brings that out later in the chapter. In verse 29, he talks about communication again, and he says, "...let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying." So he says, if you're going to say anything about anyone, let it be only that which is going to build up, edify, build up the name and character of somebody else, that it may minister grace to the hearers. If it's not worth saying, don't say it. And here's the reason, another reason. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit by whom we are all brought into communion with Jesus Christ as one body. And when we tear the body of Jesus Christ apart by slander and backbiting, we are sinning against the Spirit. We're grieving the Holy Spirit. And so this is the destruction of the sin, first of all. It's a sin not just against other people, but it's a sin against the church, and it's a sin against the saving work of Jesus Christ in which He gathers the church into one body. It's a sin against the unity of the church. When we began, we said that this commandment tells us how we are to love God. And over and over in the scriptures, when we're told about love for God, we're told that that involves also love for the brother. And if a man says, I love God, but he doesn't love his brother, he's lying. So you see here the importance of this commandment. But then we can see how that works out from the scriptures in the relationships that we have with one another as fellow believers. And I want to just go through some biblical principles here that have to do with slander and backbiting and its destruction. First of all, slander and backbiting will ruin your ability to be a true friend. to be a true member of the body of Christ to other members in the church. Listen to what Solomon says in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 13. He says, A tale-bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. He's saying there's somebody who is a person that's known for slander and for backbiting, for telling stories, bearing tales about others. That person reveals secrets, and you can't have a person like that as a friend. The value of a true friend is this, that you can bear your heart to them. You can share your secrets. You can do that in confidence. You can let them know your weaknesses. They'll pray for you in your sins, but a tail-bearer will hear that, and he'll run and tell others. And it's impossible for that kind of a person to have friends. to live in communion in the body of Jesus Christ. He that is a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. He hides it. You can have confidence in somebody like that. And so, Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 19 says we should avoid friendships with people like this. He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets, therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips." Avoid him. Now, that's quite a statement. Maybe the best way to understand it is to turn it around and look at yourself. What's my place in the church? And is it true that I can't be trusted? Is that because I'm a tail bearer, and people can't be confident in me as a friend and member of the body of Jesus Christ. And so slander and backbiting will, first of all, ruin your ability to function in the body of Christ as a true friend to other believers. Then second, slander and backbiting will ruin friendships between others. It's not just your ability to be a friend that you ruin by slander and backbiting, but you'll tear apart other friendships. In Proverbs chapter 16, verse 27, an ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is as a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth very friends. And you get the idea of somebody here who is always digging into other people's affairs so that he can find some, what he would think is nugget of information to put out there to disseminate to others. And a person who does that destroys relationships. He separates chief friends. And so, Proverbs 17, verse 9, looks at the opposite to this and it says, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love. but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends." The opposite is covering a matter. And that's the way we promote unity in the body of Jesus Christ. These kinds of people are usually busy, busy looking for something that they can share that will destroy the relationships that others have, sometimes motivated by jealousy. You have a biblical example of that in the story of David and Mephibosheth. Children, you probably know this story. Remember, after the death of Saul and Jonathan, David became the king. And then David wanted to show kindness to the house of Saul. And he had made a vow to Jonathan that if he became king, he would preserve the family of Jonathan. And so Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, came into the house of David and he ate at the king's table and he became a very close friend of David. He lived in the palace with the king. And David gave him important responsibilities and possessions in the land. But then later on when David's son Absalom tried to take the throne and David was forced into exile to leave the city, a man came to David when he was in exile who was a servant both of David and this friend of David, Mephibosheth, and that man was Ziba. And this is what Ziba did. He came and he brought an evil report about Mephibosheth to David. He said that Mephibosheth had stayed behind in Jerusalem, saying this, that, Now shall the kingdom of Saul be restored to my hand. And it was an evil report, and it wasn't a true report. But this is what it did. It drove a wedge between David and Mephibosheth. So much so that David became bitter against the house of Saul and went after the descendants of Saul, even, because of this lie that Ziba brought to David. That's what tail-bearing does. It separates friends. You're building a relationship with somebody. You don't know them very well yet, but you're beginning to appreciate them as a fellow member in the church of Christ and a believer, and then somebody comes and tells you about some evil thing from their past. or something that they maybe have said about you, and it drives a wedge. So it not only destroys your ability to be friends, but it destroys other friendships in the church of Jesus Christ. And then third, slander and backbiting will create and will maintain quarrels and fights between believers. Proverbs 26 verse 20 puts it this way, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tailbearer, the strife ceaseth. Now very often, again, we think of these nuggets of information about other people as jewels, as treasures. I've got something on them. The Bible says they're firewood. And what they do is they promote fire, which is discord, fights between believers. The best thing to do is to get rid of the wood. Don't look for the wood. Where no wood is, the fire goes out. where believers refuse in the body of Christ to talk about others in a way that tears down their character. The strife ceases in the church, and there's a promotion of unity between believers. Again, this is probably something that you've seen and that you've experienced. Two people had a disagreement. Maybe one sinned against another, but they resolved it. They resolved it. There was repentance and there was forgiveness and the two came together again but then somebody else heard about it and so they start spreading it to everybody else. And soon mistrust builds between the two who had reconciled because wood was put on the fire and the fire kept burning. God hates that. Proverbs 16, verses 16 through 19 tell us that there are seven things that God hates. And it's very striking to look at those verses and see what those are. Because so many of them, again, come back to the tongue. The tongue. It's amazing. You look at the Ten Commandments. Two of them have to do with our speech. You look at the way the Bible describes depravity in Romans 3. has to do with speech. You look at the life of sanctification, James chapter 3, and if we are able to bridle the tongue, we're having victory in sanctification. We're able to keep every other member of the body in check. And now here in Proverbs chapter 6, verse 16, there are six things that the Lord hateth, yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. What are they? A proud look, and then a lying tongue, the tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." Three of the seven specifically have to do with the tongue. God hates it. It's an abomination because it goes against this, that we are members one of another. And then one more thing, slander and backbiting will cause wounds that are deep and never healed. Maybe healed, but difficult, difficult to heal. Proverbs chapter 26 verse 22, the words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. It's like a knife in your back, and then it's turned, and there's a deep pain. Words are like that. Maybe you heard the expression, sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me. It's not true. Sticks and stones might break my bones, but my bones will get better. But names, the wounds of evil words, They never go away. They can be so deep. I think of the school environment and the school playground and two boys and they're going to fight it out during the lunch hour and then the bell rings and they're in the middle of their fight. Nobody won and they're going to go back to class. So they go back to class. Maybe there was some injury, maybe some hurt, pain, physical. But out of that fight, maybe even there comes this, a deeper respect for one another. But then, there's a child in school who's called names and is picked on and is bullied, and that's a pain that can last a lifetime. Twenty or thirty years later, that person might see the child who is so spiteful and mean, and those wounds are still there. Because words are like the piercing of a sword that go deep into the soul. They injure. They injure more than just the body. They sow a discord, a wound that's very hard to heal. And so the Bible calls us to avoid slander and backbiting. And God puts it very clearly in that verse we read from Leviticus 19, verse 16. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tail bearer among thy people. It's talking to Israel, the church and the people of God, and it's saying to one of them about his behavior towards the others in the body, don't go up and down bearing tails, telling stories about others in the church. Slander and backbiting are forbidden by the word of God. This is the principle. This is the standard for our conduct in the church of Jesus Christ. And we have to understand how to avoid this sin. We do that by recognizing the situations, the mindsets, the behaviors, that will tempt us to the sin of slander and backbiting. One of those is idleness. In Leviticus 19 verse 16, thou shalt not go up and down. And you have there the idea of a person who's really got nothing to do, so the best thing they can find to do is to go around to different people and dig up information. meddling in other people's affairs. The Bible in the New Testament gives us a very clear warning about this, especially to young women in the church of Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 5 verse 13, And withal, that they learned to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." And Paul is talking there about young women who are widows with no children and no responsibilities. And he's saying it's good for them to marry so that they can have children and have the normal responsibilities that God places on young women. Otherwise, in their idleness, this is what they're going to do. We need to recognize that, all of us, as believers. If there's too much time, too much leisure, This is what we'll be tempted to do. So there's one situation. Another, and it really follows on it, is this, being busy, too busy with the lives of others. Now, it's not wrong to be busy with the lives of others. It's good for us in the church to be aware of what's going on in the lives of others so that we can serve the other members of the church of Jesus Christ. But there's a wrong approach to that, and it's this. I want to know all about what's going on in the lives of the other members of the church so that I can get these tidbits of information and pass them on to others. Paul talks about going from house to house. Today, it's so easy to go from house to house. You get a little information here, and you take it to this house, and you spread it all around. We live in an age of communication. Now it's not just the telephone, but it's texting, and it's Facebook, and it's everything else. And you can get these little bits of information and disseminate them and cause injury and pain that's so difficult to heal. And the point is this, we can be too busy with the lives of others in our communication about the lives of others. too busy talking about others. And then another way, another thing that tends toward this sin is a sinful disposition towards negative and critical judgments and evaluations of others. We need to recognize that that is sinful When we're always critically evaluating others, what are we going to do? We're going to form our judgments and then we're going to talk about them. And very often the very reason that that's done is so that we can promote our own name and put down the name of others. We want to be in the middle of it. But it shouldn't be that way. Philippians 4, verse 8, I preached on this a couple of weeks ago. Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things, and think about this in regard to relationships and peace in the church and other people and their names and their reputations and what you're going to say about them, how you're going to think about them. Finally, Paul says, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise about others, think on these things rather than the negative and the critical. A regenerated child of God. As he thinks about other members of the body of Jesus Christ, desires to think this way, why would he want to think about the dirt? We see the beauty of Jesus Christ in the other members of the body of Jesus Christ. Then there's one more thing, and it's this, that we often want to be the first with the news. That's a good characteristic for a journalist, but it's not a good characteristic for a member of the body of Jesus Christ. The wise man, the Scriptures say, keeps it in until afterwards. The faithful friend conceals a matter. But we want to be first. We want to be the first to tell others about it. Did you hear what so-and-so did? And we want to disseminate evil reports. James says, my brethren, it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be that way. Those things ought not so to be. Instead, the alternative, what should characterize the Christian in his communication about others are these things. First, that he follows the principle and the way of Matthew 18. Moreover, if thy brother, verse 15, shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. between thee and him alone. And if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." And that's the end of the matter. That's what Jesus is saying. If you're so shocked by what someone else has done that you feel like you've got to say something about it, then go to that person, Jesus is saying, and say something to him. about it. Don't go and seek the counsel of ten others who will go and seek the counsel of ten others, and supposedly you're all doing it at a good spirit. No. If you're so shocked, go between you and Him alone. Leviticus 19, verse 17. The next verse, verse 16 says, don't go up and down as a tail bearer. Verse 17 says this, "...thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." So, you can hate him in your heart and go around as a tail bearer, or you don't allow that sin to rest on him, and you go and you talk to him. That's not just Jesus' principle, but it's there in the life of the Old Testament saints. So you put your tongue then to a noble use, the use of edifying, building up and not tearing down. And then, as you do this, you pray. You open the scriptures, you pray. If you're going to talk to anybody about it, you talk to God. about it. You open the scriptures and you pray. And you pray the prayer of Psalm 141 verse 3 as well. Set, Lord, a watch before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. You pray that God will help you to check whatever you say with the Word of God, with truth, with love, with necessity. with, is this helpful? Is this edifying? And you go to your brother and you talk to him and you pray with him as well. And then, most important, as we fight against this sin, we discipline ourselves to be silent. we say nothing rather than open our mouths. Proverbs 10, verse 18, He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth slander is a fool. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. In the multitude of words about others there's no lack of sin. A fool utters all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards." James says, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. If you can discipline yourself to be silent in speaking about others, James is saying, you've progressed in sanctification to the highest point that any sinner here on this earth will progress. Here's where the real battle with sin is. How are we using our words as we talk about others? And that's important because we love not just the neighbor, but we love the church of Jesus Christ. We love Christ Himself. And because we love Him and His church, we're careful how we speak. You look at yourself in light of this Word of God this morning, and you see what the law does. It exposes our sin, and it shows us our need of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is repentance and forgiveness to be found in Jesus Christ. We seek Him not just for forgiveness, but for sanctification. In the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, it became very clear in the circumstances of His death that He died also for this sin, the sin of slander, the sin of backbiting. What was it that brought Jesus to the cross? It was false witnesses that came and testified against Him that brought false accusation. that bore a false witness against Him in an official courtroom setting. It was the reviling and the lies and the mockery of men that was a part of His suffering on the cross. But yet, when He's hanging on the cross and hearing these words, His word was, Father, forgive them. Who? Those who slandered and mocked and crucified Him. those of His sheep among them. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." In the cross there's forgiveness for this sin, and then not only that, but in the cross we have an example of the response that we ought to have to this sin when it's committed against us. Think of Christ in His suffering. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When they spoke false accusations and blasphemies against him, he opened not his mouth. He was willing to suffer." That's telling us that there's never an excuse for slander and backbiting, no matter how much you've been hurt by the injustices of others. Silence. It's not tit for tat. Too often, that's the way we look at it. He said this to hurt me, so I'm going to do this to hurt him. Now, repentance means we follow Christ. We're willing to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus Christ. And so, we need to pray. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit. We need to pray that we understand our place in the church of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. We need to pray with the psalmist in Psalm 51, created me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me, and then open my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praises. Because too often when we're talking about others, we're singing our own praises. May we truly glorify God so that the name and the way that we treat the name of the brother is an evidence of our love for him. Amen. Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee for the way in which we've been created and renewed by the Spirit and brought into the body of Jesus Christ and able to show love for Thee and one another in our communications. Lord, forgive us where we've sinned in this regard. Help us to recognize this sin and help us, Lord, to continue in the battle against this sin. For the glory of Thy name, for peace in the church, and for the promotion and good honor of others in Jesus Christ. We pray it for His sake. Amen.