As we get to prayer, oh, may we get the ear of God. We don't have the ear of government, Lord, we understand that. We don't have the ear of prime ministers. Lord, we don't have the ear of influential men or women, but we thank thee that we've got the ear of God. And Lord, that's enough to have thine ear, for thou hast said that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ear is open unto their cry. Bow down thine ear, we cry to thee. Hear our petitions, hear our supplications. Lord, grant, Lord, thy blessing upon our time and our season of prayer, we pray. And so shut us in with thee, and bless those who cannot be with us tonight, those who are laid aside in sickness. Lord, draw near to such, we pray. And grant, dear God, the lifting up of them once again. Answer prayer, we offer these petitions. in the Savior's name, amen. Returning to James chapter four, we're only reading two verses this evening. As you turn there, we welcome you. Thank you for joining with us. Lovely to have you in the house of God. And we pray that the Lord will bless as we meet around God's precious word. James chapter four, we're only reading the verse 11 and the verse 12 this evening. The word of God says, speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another? Amen and God will bless even this very brief reading of his holy and precious word. For the third time in his epistle, James returns to the issue of the tongue. James chapter 1 and the verse 26 is the first mention of this body member where James identifies that the unbridled tongue is evidence of a person's profession of faith. It is simply that a profession of faith and nothing more. Giving his readership a little respite and opportunity to amend their ways with regard to their tongues in chapter 2. James then returns to this message to the subject off the tongue in chapter 3 where he describes it as a fire, a world of iniquity and though small in size compared to all other bodily parts It is found to have the great potential of causing much damage and much harm if it is not brought into subjection to God by the Spirit of God. Tonight, in the two verses that we have read together, in James 4, verse 11 and 12, it's as if the bell rings for the third round as the inspired penman returns to speak about the tongue and how it can be misused. This evening we want to simply study these two verses together and see what other lessons we can learn about the tongue. In the broadest of strokes James deals with really two wrongs, two wrongs that our tongues are often guilty of and committing and cultivating, namely the wrongs of defamation and judgmentalism, defamation and judgmentalism. Sometimes when we read this epistle, we have to pinch ourselves to remind ourselves that James is really writing here to Christians, to brethren in this letter. And yet if we were not as sanctimonious as we were, we might come to understand that these wrongs that James deals with in this letter are often practiced in all of our lives. Tonight's message isn't going to be long in its extent, but I trust that it will be lasting in its effect. From the two verses, I want you to see firstly the directive that is stipulated. James in verse 11 says, speak not evil one of another brethren. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. The phrase speak evil means to slander. This practice of slandering another person leads to the defamation of a person's character or their good name. But how is that done? Defamation of character, the attack upon someone's reputation is accomplished by publishing false and malicious things that injure a person's character or a person's reputation. Behind such a practice is a desire of the person who speaks this evil against another person to put themselves in better light and also to damage the credibility of the other individual. Now as you know defamation of character is a matter that is dealt with even in British law. It's concerned with giving legal redress to an individual or organization that has suffered reputational harm as a direct result of something someone else has written or said about him. It's hard to imagine, as I've said, that James has to write about this, but he does. Among the saints of God to whom he was writing, there were people who were going about speaking evil of others within the family of God. I suppose a few examples of how this can be done might help to establish what is meant by this speaking evil of another. We speak evil of another individual when we practice the sin of slandering. Slandering another. Slandering is to report things of others unjustly. And really it is a violation of the ninth commandment that exhorts us not to bear false witness against our neighbor. Puritan Thomas Watson said, he who raises a slander carries the devil in his tongue. He who receives slander carries the devil in his ear. And so slander is one way in which we can speak evil of one another. Backbiting is another way in which we can speak evil of one another. Backbiting is that kind of speech that tears down a fellow believer or tears down a neighbor. Octavius Winslow wrote, the backbiter is a destroyer of the absent one. Of all evil speaking this is, perhaps, he said, the lowest. and the most cruel and dastardly, taking advantage of the defenseless position of his victim, asserting behind his back what he would not dare to utter before his face. By dark insinuations, by mysterious innuendos, by a tragic tone, the backbiter will give a fact of importance and authenticity So what all the while he knows to be an unfounded, to be unfounded in the truth, to be a backbiter. And then we have the matter of gossiping. Gossiping is a matter of speaking evil against one another. Admittedly, the term gossiping does not appear in the Bible. However, the term tailbearer does. And really it simply is the very same thing. In Leviticus 19 verse 16, we have a very clear command. Thou shalt not go up and down as a teal bearer among thy people. The spreading of tittle tattle in one way or another. is a way in which we can speak evil of one another. And how often and how rampant such gossiping is within the body of Jesus Christ. You know that we can try to cover up our gossiping. try and put maybe some statement before what we're about to divulge to someone else in order to try and cover up the sin of gossiping. We often try to veal gossiping by saying something like this, have you heard or do you know or they tell me or keep this to yourself but Or, I don't believe it's true, but did you hear? Or someone else might say, I wouldn't tell you except I know that it's not going to go any further. Or I'm telling you, and this is the most sanctimonious way, I'm telling you so that you can pray about the particular situation. You know, let's call a spade a spade. It's gossiping, spreading, things about others within the body of Christ and further afield. It's gossiping. James is calling it out here. Speak not evil one of another brethren. Another way in which we can do that is by outright lying. The telling of lies is most certainly a way that we can speak evil of another person. To lie about another person places us in league but none other than the father of lies, the devil himself. Why is it that we speak evil of one another? It obviously was happening in the days of James. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. Why? Why were they speaking evil of others? Why do we speak evil of others? Well, the list is long. It may be down to envy, envious of another individual. And so lies are told. Gossip is spread about them. Maybe it's down to jealousy. Maybe it's down to pride or simple maliciousness. Maybe it's down to anger or hatred because of something that was said by them about you. Maybe it's about self-promotion, making yourself look better by downing another individual. Maybe it's revenge, getting an individual back. Maybe it's spite, maybe it's payback. It's often because of the flesh, the flesh. causes us to speak evil one of another. And yet James stipulates in clearest of terms that such a practice must stop. It must cease. No ifs, no buts. It has to stop. Speaking, this speaking evil of another individual. Let me ask you, when we speak evil of another person, does it glorify God? A shorter catechism reminds us that man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. So I ask again, does speaking evil regarding your brother or your sister in any of the four I've mentioned ways or any other way, does it glorify God? In Ephesians chapter four, verse 31, we're told, let all bitterness and wrath and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Let it be put away. Let it be done with. Let it stop. Let it cease. It must come to an end. And here's the second question. When you sit on the phone for hours gossiping about someone? Or you spend time ripping to shred another person's good name via an email or a text message or some social media post? Is such a good use of the time that God gave you? Is such a good use of the time that God has given you? Could your time not be better employed and carrying out such exercises as encouraging that individual or at least praying for that individual. James says, by inspiration, speak not evil one of another brethren. I trust you didn't do that this week. I trust that this is not your manner of living. But I trust that God by his spirit will so work in your soul that instead of speaking evil of others, that you'll pray for them and employ your tongue in a much better employment as in praying and in evangelizing and reaching the lost with the gospel. Because you see, brethren and sisters, if you're doing this, If you're doing this, you don't have time to do that which is right. You don't have time to do that which God has called us to do, to preach the gospel and to win the loss for Jesus Christ. If all of your time is taken up with slandering and gossiping and backbiting and murmuring and complaining, better to employ our tongues in God's service. But having identified the problem, James then presents a number of reasons why this practice of speaking evil one of another was to cease. And so we move to the reasons that are specified. The directive that is stipulated, the reasons that are specified. There is firstly a fraternal reason why speaking evil of one of another is to come to an end. Note how James ends this directive here in the verse 11. He does so by calling them brethren. Speak not evil one of another. And here's the first reason. Because you're brethren. Brethren. You're part of a family. God's family. In actual fact, he points them to the family relation three times within this particular verse. He uses the term brethren here in the verse 11, and then he speaks of brother, his brother, and then he speaks again, his brother. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law. Three times he speaks of this fraternal relationship, this family relationship that exists, the brotherhood, the sisterhood that exists within the family of God ought to lead to the cessation of this speaking evil of one another. When these things are ungrounded, This isn't to say that we do not call out sin. That's not what James is saying. He's speaking here of that which is ungrounded, unfounded, and untrue. And it's to stop, it's to cease. Why? Because there's a family bond that needs to be maintained. Now, if you can remember way back in the Old Testament, you'll find a case example where this argumentation was taken up by the father of the faithful, Abraham. Remember whenever Abraham or Abram and Lot came into the land of Canaan, they started, or their herdsmen, they started to fight over the pasture land as the flocks began to increase and their herds as well. And so what happens when the strife had erupted between Abram's herdmen and Lot's herdmen, there's the calling of a family meeting. Abraham calls the family together. What does Abram say to Lot in Genesis 13 in the verse eight? He says, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. He uses the argument, he uses the reason, of them being family, for the ceasing of strife that existed between these two family. He appeals to the obligations of brotherhood. And that is what James is appealing to here in James chapter four and the verse 11. Let me read Mr. Matthew Henry's commentary on this particular section. relating to us this fact that they were a brethren. He said this, since Christians are brethren, they should not defile nor defame one another. It is required of us that we be tender and of the good name of our, that we be tender of the good name of our brethren. We cannot speak well, sorry, where we cannot speak well, we had better say nothing than speak evil. We must not take pleasure in making known the faults of others, divulging things that are secret merely to expose them, nor in making more of their known faults than they really deserve, and least of all in making false stories and spreading things concerning them of which they are altogether innocent. What is this? but to raise the hatred and encourage the persecutions of the world against those who are engaged in the same interests with ourselves. And therefore, with whom we ourselves must stand or fall, consider ye be brethren. And so it was to stop this evil speaking, these untruths that were being spread in the congregations. It was to stop because of a fraternal reason. It was to stop secondly because of a lawful reason. Verse 11 again, he that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. Now you know that the law of God was condensed by the Lord Jesus Christ into two great commandments. These two great commandments are a summary of the entire law. The first and greatest commandment is that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and with all of our strength. And the second commandment is that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. And whenever we speak evil of another, then we violate both of those commandments. both of those commandments. Because how can we say that we love the Lord? Well, when we speak evil of those whom he has brought into union with his son, while at the same time, how can we say that love is evident in our lives with regard to our neighbor when we defame them before others? So if we speak evil of someone, if our tongues wag with gossip, slander, backbiting, saying things about individuals that are not true, then we violate the law that has at its heart the principle of love. The principle of love. Love to God, love to our neighbor. And where is love? Whenever there is the spreading of lies about others within the family of God, love does not exist. where that is happening and where that practice is taking place. And thus it must stop because it violates the law, God's law, the law of God in the summary of these two great commandments. And so the next time... you're tempted to pass on some juicy piece of gossip that has no ground of truth or no ounce of truth in it, remember that if you do, you violate the law. For there is no love to God and there is no love to your neighbor. And then the third reason why we should not speak evil of one another is a positional reason. Involve yourself speaking evil of another sees you taking a position that is not rightfully yours to take. Look there at what James says at the end of the verse 11 and then into verse 12. But if I judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy, who art thou that thou judgest. another. James simply reminds these individuals that there is only one lawgiver and that is God. Therefore to place yourself above the law as a judge and not under the law, the proper position that we are to take is really an attempt on our part to dispossess God of his rightful place as the lawgiver. What James is simply saying here is, know your place. Know your place. You're not the judge. You're the one who is to obey the law. You're the one who is to be under the law. I am the arbiter of the law. I am the judge of all men. And I will do right. To make unqualified statements about others when we do not have the full facts before us is to take on a role that only God is eminently qualified for. He knows the facts. He knows the truth. He is the lawgiver. He alone. When we pass judgment on others, We really set up ourselves as a substitute for the law itself, but worse than that, we set ourselves up as a substitute for God. We set ourselves up as a substitute for God. But there is one lawgiver who is able to save and who is able to destroy. J.R. Miller said, one reason why judging is wrong is because it is putting oneself in God's place. He is the only judge with whom every human soul has to do. Judgment is not ours, but God's. In condemning and censoring others, we are thrusting ourselves into God's place, taking His scepter into our hands and pursuing to exercise one of His soul prerogatives. May God help us when it comes to this matter of judgment and passing judgment on others. Let us not be the source of evil speaking of another individual. And so when the next time you or I are tempted to run down another individual, to pass judgment on them, to speak evil of them without having all of the facts to hand. We need to remember James's pointed question at the end of the verse 12. Who art thou? Thou judgest another. Judge yourself. But to judge another, What a serious exercise to involve oneself in. James gives us good counsel here. Speak not evil one of another. Maybe we find doing that in the days and in the weeks ahead. And may God help us. May God help us with our tongues. And may God help us to live a life that is above reproach, a life that is above scandal, a life that is above sin, a life that is pleasing to the Lord in every aspect. May God enable us in the days ahead to do that very thing for the glory of Christ Jesus. Amen and amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. As I said, we're going to be long this evening. We do try to take the verses in as they come and the topics as they come. And so some are longer, some are shorter than others. And may God help us and may he search out our hearts. Have we spoken ill? Have we spoken evil of another believer this week? Someone in the family? A brother, a sister? And Lord, it has been untrue. And Lord, we cry therefore that thou will forgive us and cleanse us and wash us in the blood of Christ. Come now, Lord, search our hearts. May we be better Christians. as a result of being under thy word. And grant, dear God, these tongues of ours to be employed in the praising of thy name, in the speaking of the gospel, the declaring of truth, the calling out of that which is wrong and evil and sinful. And Lord, the presentation of the good news of the gospel. Answer prayer, help us with our tongues, O God, in this week as it continues, and may these words be a check on things that we are about to speak, that Father falls into this category. Lord, answer prayer and speak on. We offer our petitions in Jesus' precious name. Amen.