James 4:7-12 (Teaching)

[0:00] We'll begin in verse 7 of chapter 4. It says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

[0:11] Draw not to God, and he will draw not to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. We'll stop reading there. Back to verse 7, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. I know, like I said, we talked about this briefly last week, this particular verse, but there's still a lot of Christians, a lot of believers, a lot of people on their way to heaven that are not fully submitted to God. We hold things back from God, and I've been guilty of it, and if you're honest with yourself, you've been guilty of it, too, that we're not fully submitted. We might think that we are, we might say that we are, but if you look deep down in your heart, and you think on it real hard, you'll find something that you have not completely given over to God. Once again, everyone of us are or have been in that boat at some point, so submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. In submitting ourselves to God, that should make it two times, five times, ten times, a hundred times more easy to resist the devil, but because, because we are not fully submitted to God, it makes it harder for us to resist the devil. So resist the devil, and he will flee from you, and I can't remember who it was. I don't remember if it was a commentator or a preacher or what the case was, but I remember reading one time that, that fleeing temptation, there were, there were no land speed records that were ever set by Christians fleeing temptation or fleeing from the devil, and there's no real lines to read between there. You know, we, we don't flee. In fact, a lot of times we hang around, and sometimes we'll look at it as us suffering for the cause of Christ and doing so. We'll say, well, I'm going to hang around this person just a little while longer. I'm going to vex my righteous soul, such as the way that the Bible says that Lot did when he hung out there and, and saw him, says they vexed his righteous soul in doing so. Folks, I don't want to vex myself. I don't want to be vexed. I don't want to be tormented. I don't want to hang around sin. We need to flee from sin, and folks, this, and this is talking about the resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The problem is we want to hang around with the devil and the devil's crowd and the devil's deeds and the devil's doings instead of fleeing from the devil and those deeds and those deeds. And we think that if we hang around for just a little while longer, and we shine our light and we'd be the self that God's called us to be, sometimes the best way to resist the devil is to flee from the devil. There's nothing wrong with running from the devil. Ain't a thing of the world wrong with that. I mean, you read, you read in the scripture, Paul rubbed a flee youthful lust.

[3:33] That means don't hang around where those youthful lusts are. You run from them, run from those lusts, and it's not just that. We need to run from sin, run the other direction. If you think it could get you in trouble, if you think it could affect your remote with the Lord, if you think it could hinder your prayer life, you need to flee from it. Flee from it, get rid of it, toss it out of your life. And everyone of us though, this goes back to the whole submit yourself, therefore, under God. We're not fully submitted. We're not. And that's why we have such a hard time fleeing, because we latch on to those things. We like to have our little pet sins. We like to pick them up.

[4:14] We like to stroke them on the head. We like to pet them. We like to cuddle them. We like to keep them around. We say, well, it's not murder. Well, it's not adultery. Well, it's not this and it's not that. It's just a little sin. Oh, sin, sin is sin. And any sin in your life, unrepentant of, any sin that you keep hanging out in your life, any sin that you know is in some deep, dark crevice of your heart, it might be covered in cobwebs, it might be covered in dust, but it's still there.

[4:45] Any of those can hinder your walk with God. Once again, James is writing to Christians. He's writing to believers and I'm talking to Christians this morning. And same the same things that James was 2000 years ago. If we submit ourselves to God, it'll be a whole lot easier for us to resist the devil. And if we resist, what resistance? What is resistance? We think of resistance of standing firm, putting our hands on our hips, flexing our muscles. We think of that as resistance. We think of fighting back. No, we flee from sin. If we resist the devil, he will flee. You put on that whole armor of God that's talked about in the book of Ephesians, it'll be a whole lot easier to resist. And listen, you can run in that armor, it might be a little bit difficult to run in, but you can run in it. You run away from the devil, you run away from temptation, run away from sin. You run away from the devil, and he will run the other direction. There's nothing wrong with running. I ain't saying we shouldn't stand our ground as Christians. I'm not saying that at all. But too many times, as I've already said, we will sit around, we'll stand around, and thinking that we're doing the right thing, and we're not. We got to use discernment in resisting the devil. We got to use discernment and fleeing from the devil. Sometimes we have to stand. Sometimes we have to stand there. We have to take some of those fiery darts that come our way. The more often than not, we don't have to stand there. We can run the other direction, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Sometimes the best resistance that we can have, sometimes the best defense that we've got is running. Running. I'm not saying running like a coward. You run to God. You run to God in prayer. You run to God with your concerns. You run to God with everything. I'm not saying you're turning around like a coward with your tail tucked between your legs. You go and you bury yourself in your head in the sand like an ostrich. That's not what

[6:57] I'm saying at all. You run to God. You flee to God. These are only protection. Why else would the psalmist refer to him as this high tower? Why would he refer to him as his rock? Why would he refer to him as his fortress? Because God was his defense. Most we can't defend ourselves against the devil.

[7:18] We can resist the devil. The Bible says it tells us to plainly, right here in black, and black, to resist the devil. But sometimes our best resistance is to run from the devil. We run from the devil and run to God. I guarantee you, he will run to us. He will flee from us because he is no match for God. He is a match for you and I. Whether we're born again or not, we are no match for the devil.

[7:44] But God is. God absolutely is. Verse 8, draw not a God and he will draw not even. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts. Ye double-minded. This is a hard verse to swallow considering the fact that James is rotten to Christian people. It's a very hard verse to swallow.

[8:04] But that's exactly who he's writing to. He says, draw not a God. That goes back to verse 7, what we just read. As we're submitting ourselves unto God. If we're submitting ourselves unto God, it's going to be completely natural for us to draw not a God. But folks, listen, this is in a specific order here, and it's in that order for a reason. God will let us float around. God's let Lot hang around in Sodom.

[8:29] He let him hang around there. Even though the Bible says that Lot was just, and even though it says that his soul was righteous, God allowed him to hang out there in Sodom where he knew that he had no business.

[8:44] Where he knew that he shouldn't have been to begin with. People say, I've heard people preach and teach that Lot's in hell. The Bible says that his soul was righteous and that he was just. Listen, Lot was shining the light of some kind. The man had two virgin daughters in a city that was known for its sexual sin. The man had two virgin daughters. So don't tell me there wasn't a light in his house of some kind.

[9:11] It may have been dim. It may have just been a flicker. It may have just been a spark once in a while. But there was a light up there somehow. He wasn't drawing not a God. He wasn't drawing up close to God.

[9:24] Draw not a God. That's the first part of that. And he will draw not into you. We draw not into God. And then God draws not into us. And if God is here and we are here and we're drawing this way, and when he's drawing this way, it's going to happen a whole lot sooner rather than God having to get our attention at some point down the line like he did Lot. Like he did so many other examples we can use in Scripture. If we're drawing closer together at the same time, we're going to meet a whole lot sooner as opposed to one of us moving at a time. But it says draw not into God and he will draw not into you. It doesn't say he might. It doesn't say he may. It doesn't say it can feel as like it. You draw not into God and I promise you with the authority of God's word, he will draw not into you. And then it says, cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts. He double-minded. Why is this in the same verse of drawing out of God? Because that's how we do it.

[10:30] We repent. We cleanse our hands. We purify our hearts. And listen, once again, this is save folks. It is impossible for a lost sinner to cleanse their hands and to purify their hearts. Only God can do that in the process of regeneration by the work of the Holy Ghost and by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Only God can do that for a lost sinner. But several times over in Scripture we are told that James says it in James chapter one to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Harry's saying to cleanse our hands for us to cleanse our hands for us to purify our hearts.

[11:12] But yet we go to God. God, I need a fresh coating of the blood of Jesus Christ to wash away my sin. God, I need this and God, I need that. And we are told we must purify our own hearts. How do we do that? I've heard me say before, you read this. You read this. This is your labor. This is where you wash before you go into service for God. The labor was the place in the temple where the priest had to go after the sacrifice was made. They walk in the temple, the brazen altar was to their right.

[11:48] They make the sacrifice. They get blood on their hands. Then they went to the labor and they would have to wash their hands. They would have to wash their feet. Then they could go back to into the service of God. Then they could go burn their incense. Then they could go do these things in service to God. But only in that order. This is your labor. This is where you wash. This is where you are cleansed as a born again Christian. The only place we can be cleansed as a lost person is at the foot of the cross in the blood of Jesus Christ. But as a saved person, this word is what will cleanse you. This word is what will keep you clean. That's why we've got to keep our noses in the scripture. If we don't folks, we ain't got much defense against the devil. We don't know how to resist him. Three times when Jesus Christ was tempted, the three that are recorded in scripture, he was in the wilderness for 40 days. And I promise you, he was tempted more than three times. But the three times that we have in Jesus's temptation of the wilderness, every time he said, it is written.

[12:52] It is written. He went back to the Old Testament scriptures 80 times throughout the Bible. We see the words. It is written 63 of those times is in the New Testament talking about the Old Testament.

[13:05] And yet we don't want to read this book. And that's our greatest defense. This is our greatest defense against wickedness, against sin, against our own lust, against the lust of others. It's our greatest defense against the devils. It's our greatest defense against demons. It's our greatest defense.

[13:22] Is this word? This is how we cleanse our hearts. This is how we purify our hearts. And this is how we cleanse our hangings. James, call him the sinner. And double minded the church. Call him in that. How do we how do we do these things about reading the word, about prayer, by asking God to reveal things to us in his word, not for not for new revelation. So be no new revelation given.

[13:50] God will reveal things to you in his word that's already been revealed. Here, he'll show you things in his word, but there will be no new revelation. This is a closed canon of scripture.

[14:01] It's not to be added to. And that's a whole other subject. We ain't gonna get off on that. I'm teaching on that. But cleanse your hangi centers and purify your hearts. You double minded. Be afflicted in mourning. Weep. Let your laughter turn to mourning and your joy to heaviness. What's he saying in this verse here in verse number nine? He's saying, repent. He's saying, repent, be afflicted. Why would he why would he want us to be afflicted? What does it mean to be afflicted? You're hurt. I mean, that's what affliction is. You're hurt. You're sick. He says, be afflicted and mourn and weep.

[14:41] Why does James want me to be sad? Who's he talking about in the verse before this? He's talking to the church about them being double minded and about them being sinners. He's saying, be afflicted, mourn and weep over what? Over your double mindedness, over your sinning, over your sins.

[15:00] Folks, our sins should grieve us. If it grieves the holy ghost of God, it should grieve us. But too many times it doesn't. Why is that because we're callous to it? And because we like it?

[15:15] I mean, that's plain and simple. You don't know why a lot of people don't get saved because they're in love with their sins. That's why they're in love with their sins. You don't know why Christians can't pray to God the way that they would like to. You don't know why we don't have the prayer warriors that we had 100, 200, 300 and 500 years ago because we're more in love with our sin now than we were back then. That's why. Because we are sinners and because we're double minded and because we haven't fully submitted ourselves unto God. And that bigger point is me too. I'm not trying to make y'all feel bad. This book makes me feel bad and it humbles us. It should humble us.

[16:00] If James don't humble you, there's some serious checking up needs to be done in your Christian world. James will humble us. They said, be afflicted more and weep, let your left or be turned the morning your joy to heaviness. This is his call to repentance. He's saying you sinners and you double minded people. How can you sit around laughing? How can you sit around joyful knowing that you are the way that you are? You need to repent. That's what James is getting at here.

[16:29] He says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Once again, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. I would 10 times, 100 times rather humble myself as to have all mighty God humble me. It's a whole lot easier to humble ourselves as opposed to having God do it for us. I've been humbled by God. That's a that's a fortune that I don't wish on anybody.

[16:59] Y'all probably have too. If you walk with God any amount of time, God will humble us down. He'll humble us down. One of the very things in Proverbs chapter 6 that God hates is a proud look. This is a God hates that. These six things that the Lord hates. Seven are an abomination to and a proud look is one of those things. God hates pride and really in a Christian there's no place for pride. I'm not saying you can't be proud of your children or an accomplishment. I'm not saying you can't be proud of your husband or your wife or where this is. That's a whole different type of pride. But pride in thinking that I don't need to repent. Proud in thinking my hands are clean when they're filthy. Proud in thinking that I'm not double-minded when you are. That's the kind of pride that God hates. And every sin, regardless of how you look at it, every sin that you can think of, whether it's adultery, whether it's alcohol, whether it's pills, whether it's lime thieving, every sin, and one way or another you can stretch all the way back to pride. If you think pride ain't a problem, ask Lucifer what it got him from. You read the book of Isaiah, you're reading the book of Ezekiel, you read what pride, what him being lifted up, done to him that got him cast out of heaven and the third of the angels with him. It was pride that did that. People say, what's alcohol got to do with pride? Well, it's either too much pride or not enough pride.

[18:40] There's a happy median there. There's a happy median. If you got too much, you'll think I deserve this. I deserve to get wasted tonight for this weekend where the case is. And I like a pride to be like, I'm not worth anything. Either way, it boils back to pride. Adultery's the same way. I deserve to be treated better. I deserve this and I deserve that. It's pride. Every sin that you can think of, you can point it straight back to pride. That was the original sin. And every sin there after can be linked directly to pride. It may take an off path some day. It may go to the left, it may go to the right, it may extend around, come in a back way. But either way, it can be linked directly to pride. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. And He shall lift you up. We must humble ourselves. And if we humble ourselves, now listen, this is true biblical repentance that we're talking about here. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. And He shall lift you up.

[19:51] Peter says, hum yourselves in the sight of God, He shall exalt you and do time. Basically the same principle just worded a little bit different. But we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord.

[20:06] And He will exalt us. He will lift us up. If we lift ourselves up, that's pride. That's not humbling ourselves. There are too many, too many folks, I'm talking about within the church and I'm also talking about born again believers that will lift themselves up. They'll think, why I done good.

[20:26] Boy, look what I've done. Look what I'm going to be doing. Look what I'm doing for the house of God. Look what I'm doing for the work of God. Look what I'm doing in the choir. Look what I'm doing in the pulpit. Look what I'm doing teaching. Hope that's pride. That is pride. It should be a humbling thing for a man to step in a pulpit or for a man to stand right here and teach or teach from the pulpit. It should be a humbling thing to sing the songs of Zion from the choir loft or from wherever you are at. It's a humbling thing. Why is that? Because once upon a time you weren't saved.

[21:05] Once upon a time you couldn't sing about how God redeemed you. But now you can stand up there and say the cause of the work of Jesus Christ. Because God came to where I was and because God showed me who I was and where I was headed and because He cleansed my soul because He made me whole. Now I can sing about the dead food. I can sing about the blood of the Lamb and I can praise God for these things. It's a humbling thing to do anything in the service of God. That was the Pharisee's problem was pride. They would say look what I'm doing. Look what I'm doing. They would make themselves look emaciated. They would throw powder and sand and everything else on their faces. Make themselves look thinner than what they were and say I've been fasting for weeks. And it was all to get the get the the look of man to say boy look what he's doing for God. He's really seeking God.

[22:02] And Jesus condemned them for those practices. Condemned them for wanting the high seats. Condemned them for wanting the the chief seats and wanting to be heard on the street corner saying their big long exotic prayers that they were making unto God. Jesus condemned them for doing that.

[22:23] Why did they do it? For pride. For pride. These are the same people Jesus said that if they were restraining them that they'd choke on the camel. That's that's something that'll really make a whole lot of sense to us unless unless you look into the history of what Jesus was saying that was a man made to and they never strained their water to make sure that it was pure before they before they drank it. And no no big thing that that's also the practice of buddhism and Sikhs and Sikhism.

[22:57] Sikhs will walk along which is an extension of buddhism. They'll walk along with a broom in front of them sweep the path making sure they don't step on them. Step on them. Ant or a roach or any other creed that might be in the past before them. I ain't saying they do it out of pride. They're the worst men are on God. The worst of nature in doing that. But the Pharisees when they would do these things it was all out of pride. They wanted the look of men. They wanted the honor of men. Of course I want the honor of God. I want God to look down and say he's done well.

[23:32] I don't care if anybody thinks that I teach well. I don't care if anybody thinks that I preach well. I don't care if anybody thinks that I sing well or look good for that matter. What matters to me is that I do what I feel like God has called me to do. And if I do that then I'll be well with me and God. I'll be well with Him. Home to yourselves and the side of the Lord and He shall lift you up.

[23:58] Speak not evil with one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and judges the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one law giver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judges the matter? Again, I can't emphasize enough, writing to Christians. This makes me think of the famous words of Jesus Christ, famous for the world, especially for law spoke, judge not lest you be judged. Judge not that you be not judged.

[24:42] That's what they want to throw at us folks. James isn't telling us here that we cannot be judges. No more than Jesus Christ was telling us in the Sermon on the Mount that we cannot be judges.

[24:55] You read the Sermon on the Mount sometimes when Jesus Christ said judge not lest I be judged. But just a few verses after that Jesus Christ said cast not your pearl before the swine, need to give back which is holy under the dogs. How are we to determine who the dog and who the swine were not casting judge when of some kind? What else did Jesus say? Judge is not according to the appearance of the Judge, not just judgment. We are to be judges. But we can't do it hypocritically.

[25:26] We can't be a hypocritical judge. We can't judge someone for lying when we blot ourselves. Now that being said, within the assembly of God, within the church, if someone is just talking both face to lie, hey there's entire chapters written in this book right here that discusses what's to be done with a Christian in a local assembly that is sinning and that it is known that they are sinning. Entire chapters but we ignore them. We ignore those chapters. We want to go straight to the excommunication. We want to go straight to casting them out, to have his way with them. We want to skip the other parts of it. That's not how Jesus wanted it done. That's not how God wants it done. That's not how Scripture says is to be done. James says speak not evil one of another brethren. He doesn't speak of the evil of his brother and judges his brother speak of the evil of the law and judges the law but if the but if thou judge the law that are not a doer of the law but a judge. In other words, he says if you're the one that judges the law you're putting yourself in the place of God and he goes on into that in the very next verse.

[26:39] There is one law giver who is able to save and destroy who are thou that judges another. Now once again, James isn't saying because it would go contrary to the rest of Scripture, James isn't saying that we cannot judge period. We have to judge. We have to judge. If I got up here and said there's five different ways that you can get to heaven, you all should be making a judgment saying there is one way into heaven. You just told a lie. You told something that's contrary to your description and that is you being a judge. I've never been up here and tell you all that. I'm using that as a very dramatic example.

[27:19] But if I were to say that I've got to use discernment and I've got to use or you have got to use discernment and you have got to use judgment in that. That's judging. I get up here and tell you anything that's contrary to what this book says.

[27:35] And you all don't say anything about it. You're getting just as much trouble for that as you would judge me for it.

[27:47] You're getting it. And don't take my word for it. I've got Scripture back in it. We're going to read it right here in just a minute. The church is encouraged to the church is commanded to the church is charged to judge people according to their lives.

[28:05] I'm talking about it. Judge people according to judge Christians judge people within the assembly according to their lives. They're charged to do that. Paul. You all want to go ahead and flip over their first Corinthians chapter five.

[28:21] Paul charges the Corinthians. It's this very thing. First Corinthians chapter five. It's not a very long chapter.

[28:37] First few verses anyway. First Corinthians chapter five verse one says, Paul writes, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you.

[28:51] And such fornication as it is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and he are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he had done this deed.

[29:05] Might be taken away from among you. For I bear for I barely as that's an in the body but present in the spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that have done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one and the Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

[29:33] In short, there was fornication going on in the Corinthian church and it was quite disgusting. Paul says it ain't even like the Gentiles would do it. It ain't even like the young believers would do it.

[29:45] But there's fornication among you and you're puffed up. You're proud. And you haven't removed him from your assembly yet. And Paul says, even though I'm not there, I'm not present yet. I've passed judgment on this man.

[29:58] And he is condemning the Corinthian church for not passing judgment on this person that was within the assembly of the believers of Jesus Christ. We have got to pass judgment sometimes. Folks, when church discipline takes place and it don't take place often, but my personal opinion, I don't think it takes place often enough.

[30:22] If we're going by scripture, when church discipline takes place, that is judgment that is going on. And God expects his people to judge one another.

[30:35] Trust me, trust me. If you come in here sometime, or if I came in here, I'll use me as an example instead. If I came in here and I was loud and out and I was boisterous and I was prideful and I mean about scripture or about God or about my works for God.

[30:58] Or if I came in here and I was loud and out and I was boisterous about what I had done but not before, say I went out to the bar the night before. And I come in here and I was bragging about the good time that I had at the bar. And you all did nothing about it. You would be in just as much condemnation as I would be because you're not judging that.

[31:19] Keep on reading 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that in little eleven, eleven at the whole lump. Paul here saying, little eleven, eleven at the whole lump, he said, one little bit of that leaven is going to get in your assembly and it's going to corrupt the entire thing.

[31:36] It's going to corrupt the entire church. Purge out there for the old leaven that he may be a new lump. As ye are unleavened for even crossed our paths over his sacrifice for us, therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

[31:56] I wrote unto you an epistle not to accompany with fornicators, yet not altogether with fornicators of this world, or with covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world.

[32:12] But now I've written unto you to keep company of any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator, a codus, or an idolater, or a rawer, or a drunkard, or extortioner, or such and one know not to eat.

[32:28] For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? Read that again. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? Do not ye judge them that are within the church, that are within the body, that are within the local assembly of the Corinthian church he's talking about?

[32:53] He says, but them that are without God, judge them, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person, says those that are without the church, those that are outside, those that are not part of the assembly of God, that are not a believer in Jesus Christ, God will deal with them, but those that are within the church's body, those that are part of the body of Christ, those that are supposedly sanctified and consecrated, those that have been saved, we are to judge them.

[33:22] That's not my words, that's Paul's words. I'll take Paul's words over my thoughts on the matter any day. Paul says we are to judge those that are within the congregation. God's word says that we are to judge those that are within the congregation.

[33:42] Back to James. Once again, James not saying double judge is the first thing the world will throw at you. I'm sure it's been thrown at Burns, Street Preaching, I know it's been thrown at me. The first thing they'll say, well you're being awfully judgy.

[34:05] I tell them all the same thing, you're already judged. I'm not judging you. I'm not condemning you. The word of God condemns them. All I'm doing is warning them. I'm warning them of the wrath to come. I'm warning them of the same wrath that I was under at one time.

[34:23] I want them to be saved just as I am now. I want them to be consecrated for God's use just as I am. I'm not being judgmental and getting out there and preaching about sin. That's the first thing a lot of people want to throw at the preacher that gets up and condemns sin, especially if he spits out specific sins from the pulpit.

[34:44] Hey folks, if it's sin, it's sin and it needs to be called out. I don't care if it's one of your pet sins or not. Now if a man gets in the pulpit and he preaches on one specific sin because he knows that there's one person in that congregation that's committing that one specific sin, that is striking.

[35:01] And that's condemned to the word of God, but he's preaching to get sin and a specific sin comes out. And that preacher may not have any idea that somebody in the congregation is guilty of that specific sin. You ain't striking.

[35:16] Ain't no preacher striking and doing that, but I've seen men do that. I've seen men who don't know that someone in particular is within the congregation that's wanted. And they'll preach an entire sermon, an entire sermon against gambling or against drinking or sometimes against things that ain't even sin.

[35:40] Folks, that's striking. That's condemned in the word of God. James says, speak not evil with one another, brother. Shame on James for having to tell the church that, shame on me for having to be in there and to the church.

[35:55] Or not shame on James or me, but shame on the church. Shame on me for being who James was talking to. Speak not evil with one another. This is gossip that changes more or less getting at and other things.

[36:13] But it's gossip. This is one of the most prevalent sins within the church in 2022. And that was pretty prevalent in James's day too. Speak not evil of one another.

[36:26] This goes all the way back to the Old Testament. God says, but look at the little bit, not to go up and down the street, not to go to your neighbor's house, telling everything else about another neighbor. Don't be a tell-bearer. Don't be one of these people.

[36:42] You remember where gossip comes from? It actually comes from an Anglo-Saxon word called Godson. Godson was the person, that was the sponsor basically, of the baby's baptism. As that baby grew up, that Godson would know everything about that baby's life.

[37:00] It all went into adolescence, all into toddler, and all into early childhood, all the way through teenage years. But it became that the Godson would not only know everything about it, about that child or about that adult that they got up, they would tell everything about that child.

[37:21] And that's where the word gossip comes from. God will tell you. Even if it's true, sometimes it's best to just keep your mouth shut. We've got so many problems within churches now.

[37:38] One church right now is very dear to me, and they've got their share of problems. And they won't let church to continue on, and they won't let church to prosper. I talk about monetary, I talk about spiritually. They'll keep their mouth shut about the going zone that's going right now.

[37:56] If anything like that happens here, it's best to just keep your mouth shut. Why? Because you can gossip to one person. When that one person goes to somebody else, I promise you the tell is going to change.

[38:14] There'll be something that will change. There'll be something bad, or there'll be something taken away. Either way, it'll be a bad deal. And it'll go from person to person. One person will tell one, that person will tell two, those two will tell three apiece.

[38:29] Before you know it, the entire community knows about it, and nobody wants anything to do with the level of sin that will destroy a church. It will absolutely destroy a church. Brethren, speak not evil one of another. Brethren, once again, let's just emphasize that he's talking to believers in Christ. Speak not evil of one another.

[38:52] He doesn't speak of evil of his brother and judge of his brothers because evil of the law and judges the law. How will he speak of his law? God wrote that law.

[39:03] If thou judge the law, there are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one law giver who is able to save and destroy. Who are thou that judges another? Who are we to judge another? Once again, I can't really emphasize enough.

[39:22] I can read you some other scriptures I'm not going to. I've shown you in the scripture, we are to judge within the church. We're commanded to, we're charged to. It's not judge, not period. We judge, or I just judge according to the words of Jesus Christ.

[39:39] Right. I can continue to go on, but I shall not. Anybody got any questions or comments? You can take it off. It's not judge, but appreciate it.