returning scripture to the epistle of James chapter 3. And then we go to Romans chapter 3, where the Apostle Paul, under the Spirit's inspiration, describes total depravity, and with special emphasis on the way that the depraved man, the natural man, will use his tongue. We'll read verses 9 through 18. And then just a very short part of a verse from Leviticus 19, verse 16, where God says in the Levitical law to Old Testament Israel, thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people. It's on the basis of those passages of scripture and many others in God's Word that we have the Heidelberg Catechism's teaching in Lord's Day 43 on the Ninth Commandment. What is required in the Ninth Commandment? And the Ninth Commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. What is required in the Ninth Commandment? 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 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 with many of the other commandments, beloved, the ninth commandment points to a specific situation. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Now, we saw that, for example, with the sixth commandment. It says, Thou shalt not kill or murder, That commandment covers a whole multitude of sins. Everything that tends towards murder, hatred and envy and all those things. The same with the seventh commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Adultery being the sin of a married person. Unfaithfulness. But we saw that there are a whole host of sins covered by that commandment. Everything that tended towards sexual immorality. And so it is here with this commandment. It's very specific. Thou shalt not bear false witness. It refers to a legal setting. A man is before a judge, he's under oath, and he may twist the truth or make up lies as he bears witness in that legal setting. But behind this commandment is a principle And the principle is this, that your neighbor has a name and a reputation that it's your calling to defend. Your neighbor has a reputation and you are to love your neighbor by promoting his name and his reputation as you would your own name and your own reputation. The commandment is broken then when In selfishness, and that's always the sin against the commandments. Selfishness. The commandment is broken when in selfishness, a man tears down, degrades the reputation of his neighbor in order to advance his own name and reputation. The requirement of this commandment is summed up in the very last phrase of the Heidelberg Catechism. This is the requirement that I defend and promote as much as I am able the honor and the good character of my neighbor. Now there are different forums or ways in which this commandment can be broken. It can be broken in the public forum, For example, in the law courts where a man is giving testimony concerning somebody else. It can be broken in the public forum, in the media, for example, in the press and places like that. But this sin is especially broken in the private forum behind the back of the neighbor. And that's referred to in the Heidelberg Catechism as the sin of backbiting and slander, that I be no backbiter nor slanderer." And this morning we're going to focus especially on that way of breaking this commandment, by backbiting and by slander. And we're going to do that because that is a sin that's oftentimes committed in the church and that destroys the unity of the congregation of believers. As it's put in Leviticus 19, verse 16, to the Israelites, thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer or slanderer among thy people. God was concerned about the unity of the nation of Israel, and so he told them, you mate, slander, and backbite. Do you love the church of Jesus Christ? That's really the question this morning. Do you love the unity of the congregation here? Then you will not slander and you will not backbite, but instead you will promote the name and reputation of the other members of the congregation as much as you are able. Ephesians chapter 4 connects The keeping of this commandment exactly with love for the church of Jesus Christ. Verse 25, Ephesians 4, the apostle says, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. And then you find out he's talking about the church when he says, for we are members one of another. It's a sin against Christ. It's a sin against the cross of Christ that unites the church as one to slander and to backbite. And so he says in 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 grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby he is sealed unto the day of redemption. It's a grief to the spirit who unites us to Christ and one another when members of the church backbite and slander. Now this sin, or these sins of backbiting and slander receive much attention in the scripture. There's a wealth of material in the scripture that deals with these and I think we aren't aware of it enough as we should be because the material that the scriptures give is so convicting. Think, for example, of the passages that we read, James chapter 3, verse 2. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is perfect and able to bridle the whole body. Well, what's it saying? It's saying nobody's perfect because nobody can bridle the tongue. Convicts every one of us. I think, for example, as well, of Romans chapter 3, those verses that we read. Are we any better, says the Apostle? We're not. And then he describes all of us. Under their tongue is the poison of asps. That's how he describes the tongue of every man. Ours by nature. This morning we're going to look at some of the scriptural passages that have to do with slander and backbiting. The commandment against slander and backbiting. We'll notice first the instrument that is used for slander and backbiting, the tongue. In the second place, the destructiveness of this sin. And then finally, the calling to avoid slander and backbiting. We have to know where the battle is, and how to fight it. In Psalm 139, the psalmist David says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. In Psalm 8, the psalmist says that we men are made a little higher than all the other creatures. There's something distinct about man in his creation. Something wonderful about him. And what's wonderful about man's creation isn't just his physical make-up. Though that certainly is wonderful that the human body continues to exist from moment to moment. If you study some science and some health science in particular, you find out that it's really amazing that our bodies can stay alive. The chemical balances, the way the digestive system works, the circulatory system and how the body all works together, it's amazing. That aspect of our creation, our physical creation, really is shared with the other creatures. There's something distinct about man, and it's this, that he was created in the knowledge of God, able to communicate with God. That's what makes man wonderfully distinct from all the other creatures. instruments of communication, the ears and the eyes and the mouth and the tongue and the words that they can express that come from the mind and the heart. Those make man so wonderfully distinct. That was what was different about Adam in the beginning from all the other creatures. God came in the cool of the day and he walked with Adam in the garden and he had fellowship with Adam there in the Garden of Eden. That was wonderful. A covenant creature created in this relationship with God. So man is able to communicate, to share his heart and his soul. And that wonder of creation doesn't isn't limited to man's relationship to God, but it extends to man's relationship between one another. And there, the instruments of communication, again, make man wonderfully different from all the other creatures. That man can have fellowship with other men. That was the way God created man. That's why He gave him a tongue. That's why He gave him to communicate so that This love and this fellowship, this sharing of soul and heart could go on. Now, that's the essence of life as we've seen before. Life isn't possible. Life isn't life if a man lives in solitude and isolation. Man is born and created unto relationships. And that's the whole law. Relationship to God. relationship to one another. Now bring fall into that picture. Bring the fall into that picture. And what we see is that these instruments of communication, which are the thing that makes man such a wonderful creature, these instruments of communication, which are so wonderful, become, as a result of the fall, the most vile parts of a man's being and makeup. That's Romans chapter 3. It describes the depravity of man. And it goes right to his lips and his mouth. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they've used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Sin destroyed the covenant relationship between man and God. Sin broke that communication. And that flows over into man's relationship to other men. So the tongue, you see, is a powerful instrument. It's a powerful instrument that can be used for good and that can be used for evil. James chapter 3, verse 9. James puts it this way, therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men which are after the similitude of God. Think of all the good things that have been done with the tongue and with words, all the praises and blessings of God, all the encouragement that has been given by word to others, all the instruction All the sermons that have been preached in the history of the world, the songs written and so on. But then think of all the evil that the tongue has caused. The powerful instrument for good and for evil. Now, the chief way in which the tongue is used for evil among men is by the sin of slander, and the sin of backbiting. This morning I hardly have to tell you what those sins are, and maybe I should just tell you this, that essentially those two sins, slander and backbiting, are the same sin. The sin of raising an evil report against the neighbor that would tear down his reputation. That's this sin. And when somebody slanders, he tells something that's false about the other person that harms his reputation. And when somebody backbites, then he tells something that is true, but still destructive to that other person. We're concerned about the attempts to malign the character of another, to expose the other, to ridicule and contempt in the eyes of others. It doesn't matter whether that's done by saying something true or false about that person. Now, this sin is a sin very easily committed. We justify our committing of this sin. We embellish the sin with concern for the other. Did you hear about so-and-so? We put our emotion into it. Poor person or his poor wife or so on. Or we mix it with truth. Somebody slanders or backbites and we hear it and we have to say, well, that's not quite right. This is the truth about the story. Or even this, we add to it by saying, yes, I've heard that, but this is what that person also did to me that I've heard about, or so on. And we justify this sin and commit it so easily. Now, sometimes truths about others that are harmful need to be told. And that's when those truths need to be told, for example, to one who is an authority over them. Children sin and the parents need to know about it so that they can correct those children. But what do we have there? We have a love and a concern for the neighbor. Not to tear him down, but to build him up and to edify him. What we want to see this morning is the destructiveness of this sin. James 3, James calls it a fire. A fire and a world of iniquity. I want to here be very biblical and very practical and show from the Bible the destructiveness of this sin. First, slander and backbiting will ruin your ability to be a true friend. Slander and backbiting will ruin your ability to be a true friend. Proverbs 11 verse 13. A tail-bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth a matter. And the point is this, you can't trust a tail-bearer. You can't trust somebody who slanders and backbites. Proverbs 20, verse 19. He that goeth about as a tail-bearer revealeth secrets, therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. And it says, you're better off avoiding the tail-bearer and the slanderer, then having him for your friend will be destructive to you. That's because slander and backbiting destroy the essence of true friendship. The value of a friend is that you can share your heart with that person, you can share your thoughts with that person, You can share your sins and your struggles with that person and be assured that that can be done in confidence and the person who is your friend will have your best interest in mind in the way that they use that information. The babbling tongue undoes all of that. You can't trust a slanderer and a backbiter and a babbling tongue, even if that's information is repeated without malice. Still, you can't trust that tongue. There are people who have no friends and it's simply because they talk too much. Somebody starts to get close to them and they see the dangers and they back off. Somebody shares their heart with them, their personal struggles, and soon it's out everywhere. And such people, tailbearers, don't have friends. And we have to, according to the wisdom of Proverbs 20, verse 19, be careful. in this regard about how we choose our friends. He that goeth about as a tailbearer, revealeth secrets and meddle not with him. Because you'll drag yourself into his or her sin. Maybe this, perhaps if you find yourself without friends, without enjoying the communion of the saints, you need to examine yourself in this regard. Maybe this is a good gauge of the friends you choose. What do they tell me about others? What harmful information have they given me about others? And then watch what you say about yourself. to them. So, slander and backbiting will ruin your ability to be a true friend. Slander and backbiting also are destructive in this way that they ruin friendships between others. Proverbs 16 verses 27 and 28, an ungodly man diggeth up evil. Don't you see him? He's busy. You see a little puppy digging in the dirt. And that's the ungodly man digging up evil. In his lips there is a burning fire, a froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth friends. Now, what's pictured to us there? A person who's very busy going about finding information about everybody else, digging, digging, digging, and then whispering it to cause dissension. Proverbs 17, verse 9. He that covereth the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends." You have people like that. They're after every tidbit of information on everybody else so that they can sow the seeds of discord. And what they say about somebody else may even be true, but regardless, if it ruins their reputation, it destroys friendship. You've probably seen that. Maybe you've experienced it yourself. A friendship was developing, and then you heard this bad thing about the person with whom the friendship was developing. And suddenly, the friendship grew cold because of what you heard. or because of what they heard about you. There are illustrations of this in Scripture. Think, for example, of David and Mephibosheth. David, in his kindness and love to Jonathan, wanted to show kindness to the house of Saul. And he found Mephibosheth, the only alive member of the house of Saul. And he took Mephibosheth into his own palace and fed him at his table and befriended him. And later on, when David is forced to flee Jerusalem by his son Absalom's taking the throne, Mephibosheth's servant Zeba comes to David with an evil report about Mephibosheth. He says, he stayed behind in Jerusalem saying that now the kingdom of Saul will be restored to him. And whether that's true or not, the Bible doesn't tell us. But what the Bible does tell us is that it destroyed the friendship of David and Mephibosheth. David took away some of those privileges that he had given to Mephibosheth because of that evil report that he heard. So, tail-bearing, true or false, destroys friendships and so does discord. The destruction of this sin is also that it will create and will maintain quarrels between people in the church. Proverbs 26, verse 20. Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tailbearer, the strife ceases. Where there's no wood, the fire goes out. We know that. But the second part of the verse, where no tailbearer is, the strife will cease. Stop the chatter. and the conflict will go away. Perhaps this has been your experience as well. Two-headed disagreement The disagreement was worked out between them in a proper biblical way of Matthew 18. But someone else caught wind of it and started talking about it. And soon the trust that had been established between the two in the way that they resolved the conflict is gone because one becomes suspicious of the other. What has the other been saying about me? Everybody else is talking about it. And the disagreement that was resolved is now greater and blown out of proportion than ever it was. And so what Proverbs 26 verse 20 is saying is this, don't listen to tail bearing. The tail, slander or backbiting, is like a piece of wood and when you listen to it, you're putting wood onto a fire and stirring up the fire that brings discord. There are seven things Proverbs chapter 6 tells us that God hates, and one of them is this, the tail-bearer. It's an abomination to God, and we ought not listen to the chatter of tail-bearers. Slender backbiting is destructive in the fourth place in that it causes wounds that are deep and not easily healed. Proverbs 26 verse 22, the words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. When you've spoken ill of somebody, you've caused immense pain and hurt. Sometimes we say sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me. That's not true. Sticks and stones will break your bones, and the bones will heal. Names will wound a heart and a soul that may never heal. Two boys on the playground. And this shouldn't happen, but it does sometimes. Two boys on the playground fight each other with their fists, and the bell rings and it's time to finish fighting, and usually it's finished there. And maybe even they've earned a respect for one another out of the fight. But when children call each other names, it doesn't heal and go away so quickly. The wounds are deep. The things that we say about another injure the soul. And the healing of the soul takes much longer than the healing of bones. And so God says very clearly in Leviticus chapter 19, lays down a law for the church In all ages, thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people. We must avoid this sin. And the way to avoid this sin is to recognize the situations into which we put ourselves where we might be susceptible to this sin. There's enough evil in any one of us to commit this sin without putting ourselves into situations where we might especially fall into this sin. And so we have to recognize those situations. The first is this idleness. Leviticus chapter 19 verse 16 talks about someone going up and down among the people. He's busy going from one place to another, and the reason is that he doesn't have anything better to do. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 11, the Apostle Paul says, we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but are busybodies. They're not working, they don't have anything to do, and they become busybodies and tailbears who gossip and who slander. Busybody sticks his nose into everyone else's business and then reports on it to anyone and everyone. And he does that because he's got too much leisure time, Well, because he has work to do from God, a calling, but he's not content with that. He wants to get out and be somebody else and take on somebody else's role in the church. Now, in the New Testament, there's a warning especially to women and to younger women in this regard. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and Titus chapter 2 talk about this. In 1st Timothy 5 verse 13, Paul is talking about younger women who are widows, and he says that they ought especially to remarry so that they don't fall into this sin of slander and backbiting. He warns that If they stay single, they learn 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 says instead that the older women ought to be the ones who go from house to house, helping the younger women, and that the younger women should marry and be busy in their own homes with their own children. There's a warning to the church. It's simply this. God has given you a calling as women and mothers. God has given you a calling in the home with your own children. And be busy with that. And make that the focus of your life and calling and attention, so that you're not tempted into slander and backbiting. That leads us into the second situation in which one is especially susceptible to this sin, and that is being busy with too many others' lives. The point is not that it's wrong to be busy with the lives of others. It's good to be involved with the lives of others, to have a social consciousness in the congregation of the needs of others in the congregation. That's good. if that is used to serve others. But when it's used as an occasion to tear down the reputation of another and to slander and to backbite, then it's wrong to be busy in the lives of others. The Apostle Paul talks about going from house to house, tail bearing. modern way that we can go from house to house by staying right there in our kitchen or living room even while we do the work that we have to do in our own home and that modern way is the telephone. Within seconds you can be in one house hearing things and in a few seconds in another house telling things to somebody else. And it's exactly what the Apostle Paul is talking about. Not only idle, but going from house to house, tattling and telling tales. We have to watch it. We live in the day of instant communication, instant messaging, direct connect. Web blogs, whatever, and the information is out there immediately, a rumor, and everybody's got it right away. We have to watch how we use these modern forms of communication. They can be used exactly to tear apart the church and the body of Jesus Christ. The third thing that tends towards this sin of slander and backbiting is a sinful disposition toward the negative. Some people are especially negative, and we have to recognize that negativeness is a part of our sinful human nature. What is it that makes soap operas possible and even popular. This, that we think it's so important to be involved in the dirty things of other people's lives. That we think it's so important for us to get in there and find out the dirt on other people. We're attracted to the drama and the crisis. of other people's lives. And then we're not doing what Scripture says we should do in Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. 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, think on these things. Think on these things. If you're a regenerated child of God, why would you want to know the dirt on another person? Why would you want to know the evil report? Whatsoever things are of good report. Why would you want to know the ugliness? Whatsoever things are lovely. Why would you want to know about the deficiencies of another person's character? Whatsoever things are of praise and virtue. These are the things that we ought to be thinking about with regard to others in the church of Jesus Christ. The fourth situation or thing that tends toward this sin is a desire to be first with the new. Jesus condemns this again and again in the Pharisees. The Pharisees always wanted to be first. They knew more than the rest. They were in the know. They would be first in the kingdom of God. They were the best. They were promoting themselves at the expense of others. And Jesus says, the first will be last. Take the lower seat. And you'll be exalted. And so this desire to be first with the news, first with the information, promotes slander and backbiting. It makes for a good journalist, but not for a good Christian. And so there are certain things that ought to characterize a Christian's behavior with regard to his tongue and the use of it with his neighbor. And the first is that He uses his tongue in the way of Matthew 18 and verse 15. If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. And if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Leviticus chapter 19, right after God says, don't go up and down among the people as a tail bearer. He says in verse 17, thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, but thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him. Go to him. If what somebody else in the church has done shocks you, if you find it appalling, Don't go and tell everybody else. Don't confer with ten others. Who will confer with ten others and soon a hundred? No. But go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. And put your tongue to noble use, the proper use. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29. speak that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearer. So first, let your tongue be governed by the principle of Matthew chapter 18. In the second place, instead of tail-bearing and slandering and backbiting, open your Bible and pray and let God's Word and the principles of God's Word govern how you will use the information that you have about the other. Let God direct you. Pray the prayer of Psalm 141, which we sung. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Go to the brother who has sinned and pray with him about the sin. To help him. To show him. Rather than slandering and tearing down his reputation. And then the third way in which we should let our tongue be governed in our behavior toward one another in the church is that we discipline ourselves to silence. Proverbs 10 verses 18 and 19, He that hideth hatred with lying lips and he that uttereth a slander is a fool. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 29 verse 11, a fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. That's James' point in James chapter 3 and verse 2. He says if you can bridle your tongue, if you can control that member of the body, you've mastered the battle against sanctification, the battle of sanctification against sin. Many wild beasts can be tamed of every sort, but the tongue, no man has tamed, no man has mastered the battle against the tongue. It's a little thing that does great things, like a bridle, a bit in the horse's mouth. turns the horse, like a rudder, a small piece of wood at the rear of a ship that turns the ship even in the storm, like a match with a little flame on it that causes great fires. So is the tongue. A world of iniquity. Every sin that there is in the world has been uttered by the tongue. Refrain thy lips. Keep it in. Practice. Discipline yourself to silence. And do that because you love the neighbor, because you love his reputation. Do that because you love the Church of Jesus Christ. We are members one of another. Do that because you love the Holy Spirit that binds us to one another and you would not grieve the spirit of God and sin against that spirit. You find yourself guilty of this sin, beloved? Repentance, confession, the cross is the way of forgiveness and sanctification. Jesus died to pay for this sin too. That's very clear right at the crucifixion itself. What was it that brought Jesus to the cross? What did he have to endure while he hung there on the tree? It was false witnesses that brought him to the guilt that condemned him and took him to the cross. It was slander and mockery that he had to endure as he hung on the tree. And what does he pray? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Who? The slanderers, the backbiters, the false accusers. Forgive them. He bore the guilt of this sin. And then too, he showed, as he suffered, how we ought to control our tongue. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He didn't say, well, they committed evil against me, so now I have the right to slander them, to revile against them. But he held his peace, and he suffered the slander, the evil words of men, because he lived before God, and he would not destroy the reputation of another. So pray, beloved. Pray for the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit in your heart and in your mind, so that your mouth and your lips will sing the praises of God. Psalm 51, creating me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit in me. And then the psalmist says, so that I can speak to others, so that my lips can be opened, so that my mouth can show forth thy praises, so that my tongue can be used in a powerful way for good. Pray for that, and may God give it. Amen. Now, Father in heaven, we thank Thee for the gift of speech and communication. We understand, Lord, that we are prone to misuse it and to abuse the good gift of our tongue. Help us to see it in our lives, to repent, to turn, to become aware of it. as we fight against this sin, to learn more and more, to use our tongue in such a way that it builds others up, and that it's edifying to the body, and also gives praise and honor to thee. That's our prayer, Lord. We ask, hear it, for Jesus' sake. Amen.