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The Sin of Evil Speaking

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• Chapter 4, James 4, verses 11 and 12. James 4, verses 11 and 12. The title of the message is "The Sin of Evil Speaking." The sin of evil speaking. Notice James 4, verse 11. The Scripture 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?" Originally I thought of titling this message "Christian Sins," but then I realized that I could not cover all the sins of Christians in a single message. I also thought of titling this message "The Primary Sin of Preachers," since preachers are often times guilty of the sin of evil speaking. But the truth of the matter is, the sin of evil speaking is a major sin, and it's not just preachers and teachers that commit this sin, but Christians in general as well.

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• Evil speaking is condemned not only as a violation of God's law, it is a form of blasphemously judging the law, and by implication the God who gave the law. None of us have really realized the gravity of this sin. It was some time ago I was preaching another sermon that I actually quoted James 4:11-12, and it struck me, preaching and just quoting this passage, that you know, there is more to this passage than meets the eye. When you stop and think about the sin of evil speaking, most of us have never really comprehended what that is.

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• As children, when we were called names by other people, we would often reply with something like this: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." However, that is untrue. The truth is, names do hurt, especially when those names are untrue or when others believe them, even when they are untrue. I don't know if you've ever stopped and thought about how quickly and how readily we label our brethren. Anytime someone disagrees with us, or believes something that we don't believe, or sees something that we don't see, we're very eager and ready to call them racist, bigots, heretics, stupid, dummy, ignoramus, and a host of other names as well. So, have you ever really considered the sin of evil speaking? Have you ever thought about its essence, that of which it really consists?

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• I really think that if we saw the seriousness of this sin, we would learn to pray with David in Psalm 141, verse 3, when he said, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." So he was actually praying for God to watch his mouth and watch his lips. Since you're in James 4, if you would look right across the page at 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 1, you're going to see another passage with evil speaking in it. The Bible says, "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings." Now, the Greek word for "evil speakings" in 1 Peter 2:1 and also in James 4:11 is the Greek word katalalia. The sin of evil speaking includes what you and I would call backbiting, defamation, derogatory remarks, snide and silly sentiments, and any form of speaking that is evil, wicked, and destructive. Now, in order to set this up, I want you to look back in James chapter 3.

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• Because when you begin with James chapter 3, it will bring you right into chapter 4. And in James chapter 3, beginning with verse 2, James is really laying out the sins of the tongue. He says this: "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 it is set on fire of hell."

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• "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, which are made after 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?"

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• And the answer is no. Either vine, figs? No. So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

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• Now, let me just pause just a moment and tell you that James is setting forth the fact that if anybody could control their tongue, they would really be a mature or a perfect individual. Because he says, in many things we offend all, but it is the tongue that is set on fire of hell.

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• Now, after he talks about the sins of the tongue, and how wicked it is for with the same member we bless God and with the same member we curse men who are made in the similitude of God, he then begins in verses 13 through 18 and he distinguishes and differentiates between what you and I would call hellish wisdom and heavenly wisdom.

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• Now watch it in verse 13. He asks, "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation," that is a good conduct, "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."

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• Now, let's just stop there momentarily. Notice if you would please, he talks about bitter envying and strife. He said, if this is in you, he says, "glory not, and lie not against the truth." Well, you have to ask yourself this question: Where does bitter envying, and strife, and heartache, and wrath, and anger, and all this come from? Well, he says in verse 15, "This wisdom descendeth not from above," does it come from God? "But it is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." Everything comes from this hellish wisdom. Now look at verses 17 and 18. He now talks about heavenly wisdom.

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• "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." So there is a vast difference between a hellish wisdom and a heavenly wisdom. And it is our tongue which will demonstrate from where we draw our wisdom, because it speaks either of strife and confusion, or it will speak of peace and purity and gentleness and the fruit of righteousness. Now, let me hasten to tell you, it is this hellish wisdom that produces the fightings and the strife among us. So if you look in James 4, beginning there with verse 1, the question is asked, "From whence come wars and fightings among you?" Note the answer. "Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?"

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• "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

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• "Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" So, he is talking about not only how we use our tongue, but the source of all hellish wisdom is usually manifest in our lives. And then that produces all kinds of fightings, and all kinds of strife as well. You know, I've said this before, and I will say it again.

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• If our enemies really understood how unbiblical, uncharitable, and unchristian that we really were to each other, they would never attack us. They would just leave us alone and we'd destroy ourselves. They wouldn't have to attack us. Okay.

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• Now what I want to do is this. Verses 11 and 12, of course, come right down, and of course in between the Bible is talking about how God resisteth the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble. And then of course He tells you in verse 10, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." And one of the ways we humble ourselves is by not speaking evil of each other. So actually there are three things I want you to see today. First of all, I want you to see the duty enjoined. Notice verse 11. He says, "Speak not evil one of another, brethren." So we're commanded in James 4:11 not to speak evil one of another. It is a command. It is a present active imperative in the Greek. Which means it is a command; therefore it is a sin to violate this biblical command. Speak not evil one of another. Now you have to ask yourself this question: Is this a new command? And the answer is no. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 34 and look at verse 13. Psalm 34, verse 13. You're going to see that this passage teaches basically the same truth that James 4:11 teaches.

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• In Psalm 34, verse 13, the Bible says this: "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

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• Now the Hebrew word for "evil" means that which is bad, evil, malignant, wicked, displeasing, grievous, and noisome. Then in verse 13 he says, "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." The Hebrew word for "guile" is mirmah, and it refers to that which is deceitful, crafty, feigned, subtle, and treacherous. And so basically what James is telling us and setting us up for is James chapter 3, that the tongue is a fatal evil and it's full of deadly poison and it kindles a great fire. If we restrain our tongues, we would save ourselves an awful lot of heartache and an awful lot of remorse. I can assure you that everyone in this room,

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• every Christian, if they were honest, would confess and say that they wished a thousand times that they had never said some things that they had said. And if they could take it back, they would take it back. But it's impossible. There are two proverbs that very clearly demonstrate this truth. The first one is Proverbs 13, verse 3. Listen to this one: "He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction." He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. And then Proverbs 21, verse 23, one of my favorite verses, the Bible says, "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." So God said if you can keep your mouth and keep your tongue, you can keep your soul from troubles. Now, I want you to look in James 4, verse 11. This is astounding. James 4, verse 11. He says, "Speak not evil one of another." What's the next word?

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• "Brethren." Brethren. Have you ever noticed how Christians attack each other and vilify each other, seek to ostracize, belittle, and destroy each other? And usually when they do so, it is for self-elevation or out of pure ignorance and arrogance. Now what I want to do today is this: I'm going to give you a number of quotes. And the reason I'm going to give you these quotes is for two reasons. Number one, I want you to see the historicity of the interpretation. In other words, the interpretation that I'm placing on James 4:11-12 is not something new. It's not something original. It is something that has been interpreted and understood for hundreds of years. Moreover, I want you to see the consistency of interpretations. So I'm going to begin by quoting Matthew Henry. Listen to what he says. He's talking about James 4, verse 11, "Speak not evil one of another, brethren." He says, "We are cautioned against the sin of evil speaking. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. The Greek word signifies speaking anything that may hurt or injure another.

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• We must not speak evil things of others, though they be true, unless we be called to it and there be some necessary occasion for it. Much less should we report evil things when they are false, or for aught we know they may be so. Our lips must be guided by the law of kindness as well as truth and justice. This, which Solomon makes a necessary part of the character of a virtuous woman, that she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness, must needs be a part of the character of every true Christian. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. Since Christians are brethren, they should not defile or defame one another. It is required of us that we be tender of the good name of our brethren. Where we cannot speak well, we had better say nothing than to 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.

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• What is this but to raise the hatred and encourage the persecution of the world against those who are engaged in the same interest with ourselves, and therefore with whom we ourselves must stand or fall?" So he is saying, obviously we have to stand or fall together, and if we report things that need not be reported... You know, I've thought about this any number of times, and I was going to say this later, but I'm going to say it now. Just because something is true does not mean that you have to repeat it. Stop and think about that. Just because something is true does not mean that you have to repeat it. Now I want to show you something, because you and I have not really grasped the seriousness of the sin of evil speaking. And I'll be honest with you, when I started

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• studying this, my eyes got opened as well. So, I want you to follow me in a number of passages right quickly. I'm going to give you five passages, and when I get through I'm going to tell you what these passages have in common. It may surprise you. So, I want you to look, if you would, at Ephesians 4, verse 31. Ephesians 4, verse 31. In this passage the Apostle Paul is talking to Christians. Ephesians 4, verse 31, and he makes this statement. Now look carefully because you are going to see the phrase "evil speaking." Watch Ephesians 4, verse 31. He says, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." He tells you what to put off; then verse 32 he tells you what to put on. But one of the things that we as Christians are to put off, put far away from ourselves, is the sin of evil speaking. Now I want you to turn over to 1 Peter chapter 4, and look if you would please at verse 4. 1 Peter chapter

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• 4, verse 4. Here it is, 1 Peter 4, verse 4. Now here is a statement that the unbelievers make concerning believers. He says, "Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you." In other words, if you don't join in with the wicked and what they think and what they do, they are going to speak evil of you. Wow! Notice 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 10. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 10. Again, he's talking now about the unconverted. He says, "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." Well, there's that phrase "speaking evil." Skip down to verse 12. "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." Every one of these passages so far has to do with speaking evil.

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• One last passage, if you look in Jude, right before the book of Revelation, Jude 1, verse 10. Here it is again. Jude 1, verse 10. The Scripture says, "But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves." But these speak evil.

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• Now, notice if you would please, Ephesians 4:31 dealt with Christians. The rest of these verses basically deal with unbelievers. So, what is important about these five passages? What do these five passages have in common? And here is the answer: Every time you read the word "evil speaking" or "speaking evil" in these five passages, it is from the Greek word blasphemia, where we get our word "blasphemy." This word is translated "blasphemy" 16 times in our Bible, 2 times is translated as "railing," and 19 times as "evil speaking." But in these 5 passages it is blasphemy. So the word not only refers to slander and detraction and snide remarks and speeches injurious to one's good name, but it also speaks of that which is impious, reproachful, and blasphemous, especially to God, to His divine majesty. So evil speaking then turns out to be blasphemous speaking. I want you to understand something. I'm going to show this to you in the next point. Evil speaking also involves what you and I would call a judicial spirit. It is when we set ourselves up as judge so that we may pronounce a sentence upon our brother. There's another question I want you to ask, think about this.

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• I will answer it for you. How does evil speaking become blasphemous? How does evil speaking become blasphemy? Well, we've seen the duty enjoined.

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• Secondly, I want you to see with me the duty explained. So, if you go back to James 4 and look at verse 11, we're going to come up with the second point, the duty explained. Here's the duty enjoined: "Speak not evil one of another, brethren." Now, he explains it. He says, "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." Now we have a duty, we have an obligation, we have a responsibility not to speak evil concerning our brethren. When we do speak evil concerning them, we sin against God. How do we sin against God? And the answer is we become judge, jury, and executioner. We usurp the authority of God and speak evil of the law. So the attitude then of the one who speaks evil is that the law is insufficient, and that it does not provide enough condemnation, and therefore we're going to remedy the situation in our own way.

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• We're going to heap condemnation upon condemnation. We're going to do what we think is best instead of that which the law of God says. So we become arrogant, demanding, domineering, tyrannical, totalitarian. We're going to say it's going to be our way or the highway. That's what he's talking about.

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• Now, let me give you quotes. Once again, I want to show you not only the historicity of this interpretation, but the consistency of it. John Calvin, listen carefully. He says, "For hypocrisy is always presumptuous, and we are by nature hypocrites, fondly exalting ourselves by culminating others. There is also another disease innate in human nature: everyone would have all others to live according to his own will and fancy."

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• Let me just stop there. Listen to what he said: "There is another disease innate in every human being, that is, we would have everybody else do what we think should be done, live the way we think they should live, and think the way we believe they should think." In other words, we want to be the one who settles everything. He goes on: "This presumption James suitably condemns in this passage, that is, because we dare to impose on our brethren our rule of life."

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• "He then takes detraction as including all the calumnies and suspicious works which flow from a malignant and perverted judgment. The evil of slandering takes a wide range. But here he properly refers to that kind of slandering which I have mentioned, that is, when we superciliously determine respecting the deeds and sayings of others, as though our own morosity were the law." Let me stop and talk about the word "morosity."

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• It's actually from the word "morose," which means sulky, bad-tempered, surly, grouchy, sour. In other words, it's our assumption, our grouchiness. He said, let me repeat it: "When we superciliously determine respecting the deeds and sayings of others, as though our own sulky bad attitude were the law, when we confidently condemn whatever does not please us." Wow. In other words, I could look at Gary and say, "Don't do that, that doesn't please me." Wow. Gary is not obligated to please me. He's obligated to please God. But what are we saying? We usually speak evil of somebody

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• when they displease us, when they do that which we do not think should be done, or when they hold a position that we do not think they should hold. Wow. Matthew Henry... In fact, let me finish. Here is another paragraph by Calvin. He said, "That such presumption as he reproved is evident from the reason that is immediately added: 'He that speaketh evil of, or defames his brother, speaketh evil of, or defames the law.' He intimates that so much is taken away from the law as one claims of authority over his brethren. Detraction then against the law is opposed to that reverence with which it behooves us to regard it." So he says, when we speak evil, we are disregarding God's law. And there's a reason why: because we're elevating ourselves as a judge. Matthew Henry goes a little further. He says, "This is a heinous evil, because it is to forget our place, that we ought to be doers of the law. And it is to set up ourselves above it, as if we were to be judges of it.

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• He that is guilty of the sin here cautioned against is not a doer of the law, but a judge. He assumes an office and a place that do not belong to him, and he will be sure to suffer for his presumption in the end." Now listen: "Those who are most ready to set up for judges of the law generally fail most in their obedience to it." What does it say? Those who are ready to judge others according to their own interpretation, their own understanding, their own perception, are the ones who usually disobey the law the most. Wow.

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• Let me give you one more. John Gill, the great Baptist expositor, says this: "He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law. He that is a talebearer and backbites his brother, his fellow member, and detracts from his good name and character, and takes upon him to judge his heart and his state, as well as to condemn his actions, he speaks evil of the law, and judges and condemns that, if that forbids a thing that was lawful, even talebearing and detraction, or by speaking evil of him for a good thing he does, he blames and condemns the law, as though it commanded the thing which was evil. And by passing sentence upon his brother, he takes upon him the providence of the law, which is to accuse, charge, convict, pronounce guilty, and condemn." So he says once we do this, we are taking the position of that which the law itself does.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 7. Let me show you a passage that is very similar, and I think we will come back to this in the end. But look in Matthew chapter 7, and notice if you would beginning there with verse 1. We will read through verse 5. Look in Matthew chapter 7.

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• Now we are talking about judgment, and he says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Now, when God says here, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," He is referring to what you and I would call evil speaking or unjust judgment. Because John 7:24 tells us that we are to judge righteous judgment. Judging righteous judgment is judging according to the Scripture, judging according to the law of God. A censorious, harsh, unjust judgment is when we judge people based upon our own understanding and our own likes and dislikes. Now look what he says: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Now

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• you remember that quote I gave you a little earlier? Well, the author said, "He that sets himself up as a judge of the law is usually the one who disobeys the law the most." Well, look at what he says, verse 3: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

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• So actually what he's condemning here in verse 1 is that rash and censorious judgment that is unjust. It is a condemning, nitpicking, and unnecessary judgment. And here's what God is saying: If you take that kind of attitude, and if you do that, God is going to measure the same measure back to you. Look in verse 2: "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

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• So, the implication of this passage is that we should be dealing with ourselves first, judging and confessing our own sins first and foremost. And the truth is that most that speak evil of others and judge them unmercifully elevate themselves to Moses' seat. What do I mean by that? Look in Matthew 23. Matthew 23, this is where our Lord condemns the scribes and the Pharisees, and look what he says. Matthew 23, beginning there with verse 1: "Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat." What? How do we explain that?

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• "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings," etc., etc. But notice he said they love to sit in Moses' seat. What does that mean? It means they like to sit there and tell everybody else what to do, but they won't do it themselves. They are arrogant. They are domineering. They are tyrannical. They are demanding.

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• And if you don't submit to them, then they get very, very upset. Now, let me give you another quote here by John Calvin. Listen to this: "Thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. This sentence ought to be thus explained." So he's going to explain this sentence. "When thou claimest for thyself a power to censure above the law of God, thou exemptest thyself from the duty of obeying the law." So if I'm going to sit in Moses' seat, is what he's saying, and I'm claiming for myself a right and a power to judge, at the same time I'm exempting myself from obeying the law. He goes on: "He then, who rashly judges his brother, shakes off the yoke of God, for he submits not to the common rule of life, that is, the law.

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• It is then an argument from what is contrary, because the keeping of the law is wholly different from this arrogance which men ascribe to their conceit, the power and authority of the law. It hence follows that we then only keep the law when we wholly depend on its teachings alone and do not otherwise distinguish between good and evil. For all the deeds and words of men ought to be regulated by it." Now let me stop. He said, "It hence follows that we then only keep the law when we wholly depend on its teaching alone and do not otherwise distinguish between good and evil." What does that mean? Here's what it means: God is the one who determines what is good. God is the one that determines what is evil. It's not me.

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• And the Bible says in Romans chapter 3 that by the law is the knowledge of sin. Sin does not come by any other means but by the knowledge of the law. That's why it says in 1 John 3:4, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." Sin is the transgression of the law.

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• So, Steve does something that displeases me, and I do not like it at all, and it upsets me, and I jump on his case, and I tell him out of the carriage the cabbage, I cuss him out, turn him up one side down the other—you know all those expressions—and what he has done is not a violation of God's law. Then he hasn't sinned against God. He's just done something that displeased me, and when I begin to jump on him for that, then I'm putting myself in the place of a judge, and I'm speaking evil concerning him. Wow. In other words, it's the law that determines good and evil. It's the law that determines right and wrong. Let me give you one more quote before we go to the next point. Adam Clarke.

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• Boy, you're talking about laying this out. Here's what he says: "He that judges the brother speaketh evil of the law. The law condemns all evil speaking and detraction. He who is guilty of these and allows himself in these vices, in effect, judges and condemns the law. He considers it unworthy to be kept, and that it is no sin to break it. Thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. Thou rejectest the law of God, and settest up thine own mischievous conduct as a rule of life; or by allowing this evil speaking and detraction, do intimate that the law that condemns them is improper, imperfect, or unjust, and therefore you have to add to the law."

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• That's like me saying, if I jumped on Gary and Gary said, "Wait a minute, I haven't violated the law. I haven't broken God's commandments." And I said, "Well, there ought to be a commandment like that." Really? Who am I to say something like that? And in other words, I would be saying that God's law is insufficient, that God's law is not full and complete. So let me explain this very simply. When we speak evil of our brethren, we are elevating ourselves to the position of judges, and in elevating ourselves to the position of judges, we're denying that we have an obligation ourselves to obey the law. And in essence, we are condemning the law as being ineffectual or insufficient, and that what this person needs is our judgment and our censorious attitude. And at the same time, I'm going to show you, it's usurping the power and position of God. So let's go back to James chapter 4.

  #48 | 39:27 to 40:41 | cleaned

• I want you to see this. I want you to listen carefully, because this is to me a very powerful passage, and it exposes a lot. If you would just stop and think of all the controversies in Christendom and all the controversies between brethren—and they happen all the time. Look in verse 11: "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."

  #49 | 40:41 to 41:21 | cleaned

• Now note what he says: "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?" So we've seen the duty enjoined: speak not evil. We've seen the duty explained: because when we do speak evil, we become a judge and we condemn God's law. And now we should see the duty enlarged, because He teaches us in verse 12, "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy." So when we set up ourselves as judge, we are usurping the power, position, and prerogative of God. Just as vengeance belongs to God, so does judgment. God is our judge. He is our lawgiver. He is our King. I hope you remember that passage in Isaiah 33:22, where the Bible says, "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us." When you stop and contemplate that there is one lawgiver who is able to save and destroy, how solemn is this to the conscience? One lawgiver and one judge that is able to save and destroy.

  #50 | 41:21 to 42:51 | cleaned

• How grave a rebuke is this to those of us who offend? That's why he asks, "But who art thou that judgest another?" You're not God. You're not God. Grace and self-judgment can alone enable us to abhor this evil and cleave to that which is good. So there's only one lawgiver and judge, God Almighty, who is able to save all of those that obey Him, and He's also able to destroy all of those who trample His will, His word, and His law under their feet. Thus, when one takes it upon himself to straighten out his brethren, and judge them, and condemn them, and speak evil against them, he is not only censuring the law of God, but he is usurping the right of God alone. God alone has that right. Let me give you another quote from Romans chapter 14. Romans 14, verse 4, the Apostle Paul asks this question, listen carefully: "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?

  #51 | 42:52 to 44:01 | cleaned

• To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand." So if James was my slave, and as long as he satisfied me and pleased me, I'm happy. But if Gary comes along and says, "I don't like James. I don't like his attitude. I don't like the way he does things." Well, what difference does that make to me? I'm happy with him. You see what I'm saying? To his own master he stands or falls.

  #52 | 44:03 to 44:40 | cleaned

• He's not accountable or responsible to anyone else. He's accountable to God alone. And this is what the Bible is saying. So God is able to make even the weakest man to stand. He's able to make the most ineffective individual very effective.

  #53 | 44:40 to 44:56 | cleaned

• Now, he asks in James 4:12, "Who art thou that judgest another?" It's the same question that the Apostle Paul asked. Albert Barnes says this: "Who art thou that judgest another? Who art thou, a weak, frail, and erring mortal, thyself accountable to that judge, that thou shouldest interfere and pronounce judgment on another, especially when he is doing only that which the judge permits him to do? There is nothing more decidedly condemned in the Scriptures than the habit of pronouncing a judgment on the motives and conduct of others.

  #54 | 44:57 to 45:38 | cleaned

• There is nothing in which we are more liable to err or to indulge in wrong feelings, and there is nothing which God claims more for Himself as His peculiar prerogative, which I will show you before I close." And then Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown says it like this: "Implying God alone is the lawgiver and therefore judge, since it is He alone who can execute His judgments. Our inability in this respect shows our presumption in trying to act as judges as though we were God. Who art thou? Listen carefully. The order in the Greek is emphatic: 'But thou, who art thou that judgest another?' How rashly arrogant in judging thy fellows, and wresting from God the office which belongs to Him over thee and to them alike." Wow.

  #55 | 45:39 to 46:31 | cleaned

• I hope you're beginning to see how evil speaking can become blasphemous. Because it's not just that we're judging a brother, we're also judging the law, and we're usurping the prerogative that belongs to God alone. That is blasphemy. One more quote from John Trapp, the old Puritan. I love this. He said, "What doest thou then, peeking into his place, that is, slipping into God's place by censuring and defaming another? Is it not this to be a pope in thine own cause, exalting myself above God, or at least appealing from Him to thyself?" Is it not this to be a pope in thine own cause?

  #56 | 46:33 to 47:18 | cleaned

• And you've heard me say this because I read it years ago, and Arthur W. Pink said, "One reason we don't like the Pope is because we want to be the Pope ourselves." And that is exactly right. So evil speaking is blasphemy. Why is it blasphemy? Because it denigrates, denies, and denounces the law of God, and it steals the prerogative of God. Evil speaking makes us the judge and denies the right of God alone to judge His people.

  #57 | 47:19 to 47:49 | cleaned

• If you would turn to Hebrews, just back a few pages, Hebrews, James, look in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 30. Hebrews 10, verse 30. Look what the Scripture says: Hebrews 10, verse 30: "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people." The Lord shall judge His people. It is God who has the absolute right to judge us. We are not to judge each other.

  #58 | 47:49 to 48:35 | cleaned

• Now let me make some applications and try to tie it together. Here we go. First of all, simply because we know something to be true does not mean that we should repeat it. I've talked to people over the years. I know a lot of secrets. I've had people confide in me, and I've kept those secrets. I know some things that are true about a lot of people, but I don't go telling them around. I don't go spreading them. Years ago,

  #59 | 48:35 to 49:21 | cleaned

• I had a good friend who had a problem, and he came to me, and he explained his problem. And I gave him some biblical counsel. A few weeks later, he and his family were at our house for supper. I was outside. Alice was inside in the kitchen. And this man slipped up beside her and whispered, "I suppose your husband has told you all about my problem."

  #60 | 49:21 to 49:50 | cleaned

• Now, Alice looked at him and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. My husband never tells me anything that is involved in counseling."

  #61 | 49:52 to 50:02 | cleaned

• Now, probably he was just really checking me out. Had I told her something, he'd have probably never confided in me again. But just because you know something does not mean that you have to repeat it. So let me put it to you like this: If you can't be part of the solution, don't be part of the problem. Don't be repeating things just to be repeating things. You see, the Bible says in Leviticus chapter 19, verse 16, "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people." You're not to be spreading rumors. You're not to be gossiping. You're not to be telling things that are true that you have no business telling. Why would I tell something that I have no business telling? God says don't do that. Evil speaking and spreading these things is like when you hit a skunk in the road with your car.

  #62 | 50:04 to 51:05 | cleaned

• That's pretty bad in and of itself. But you wait till 10 or 15 other cars hit that skunk and spread it all around, then it really gets bad. And see, that's what talebearing is. That's what evil speaking is. And the more it's done, the more it stinks. So if you can't be part of the solution, don't be part of the problem. Here's a second application. Yes, there is such a thing as biblical confrontation. Yes, there is such a thing as biblical admonishment and warning, and yes, we're commanded to confront each other nouthetically. We're commanded to admonish each other and warn each other. But our admonition and our warning and our confrontation has to be accomplished in biblical

  #63 | 51:07 to 51:55 | cleaned

• parameters. God tells us how to do that and when to do that. Evil speaking is something totally different from biblical confrontation. And we cannot take to ourselves the right and the prerogative of judging our brethren just simply because they might hold a different position than we do, think differently than we do, or act differently than we do. Here's the third one. If others disobey and speak evil of you, do not retaliate in kind. In other words, just because someone else violates the law of God and usurps the prerogative of God does not give you the right to do so. I've had a lot of people speak evil of me.

  #64 | 51:55 to 52:50 | cleaned

• My attitude is my defense is of the Lord. I'm going to live just to disprove them and to expose their lies. And God in time will vindicate me. That's no problem. But let me point something out. Just because someone disobeys God does not give you the right to do so. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 15, verse 1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger."

  #65 | 52:54 to 53:21 | cleaned

• Years ago, I was at a Christian school. I was a chaplain there. And I had an office, and right next to me was a woman named Barbara who had her office. Her sole job was to take care of irate parents. I had a lot of respect for that woman. And I have been in my office there and I've heard people, men and women, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, come in screaming and hollering, and I mean so upset. I mean, to me as a man, I'd want to jerk a knot in him. I would want to say, "Get out of here until you can come back and act like a decent individual." That's what I'd want to do. That's the flesh. But you know what Barbara would do?

  #66 | 53:23 to 54:12 | cleaned

• The louder they got, the quieter she got. And pretty soon she was speaking so low, they could hardly hear her. And then they realized the great gap: they were screaming and hollering, and this woman was whispering. And then they became so embarrassed. And then she was able to say in a normal tone of voice, "I'm so sorry that you're upset, but if you'll have a seat, I'll be glad to work it out for you."

  #67 | 54:14 to 54:42 | cleaned

• A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. That's what he's saying. So just because someone else does something wrong doesn't mean you have the right to do that. Okay, here's the last one. We cannot forget our Lord's warning in Matthew 7, verses 1 and 2, when He said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." In other words, sooner or later, inevitably, invariably, if you judge rashly and unjustly and censoriously, God said, "I'm going to measure that right back to you."

  #68 | 54:44 to 55:25 | cleaned

• The law of sowing and reaping has not been canceled. We still reap that which we sow. And when we speak evil of our brethren, mark her down, sooner or later, someone will speak evil of us. We'll understand the hurt that we inflicted upon them by being hurt ourselves. So James tells us, "Speak not evil one of another." Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to you this night.

  #69 | 55:26 to 56:01 | cleaned

• We thank you for your love, your grace, your mercy, your goodness, and kindness. And Father, we do confess and do acknowledge, Lord, that we have spoken evil of each other in times past. We ask forgiveness. We ask, Lord, that you would help us and keep, Lord, our mouths and the door of our lips. Help us not to commit this sin. Help us, Lord, to honor thy law, obey thy law, and never steal your divine prerogative, for thou art the judge of thy people.

  #70 | 56:01 to 56:30 | cleaned

• We give ourselves unto thee. Help us to love thee and live for thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

  #71 | 56:31 to 56:38 | cleaned

• so so

  #72 | 57:00 to 57:01 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T18:50:22Z