James 4, 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. There is one lawgiver
who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another? Now, this word judge means to
call into question or to condemn another. We're dealing with the
offense of usurping God's office and of passing sentence upon
brethren. We began over in James chapter
3, and James spoke of not desiring to be masters over men, to have
this superior authority over men. He spoke of the evil of
the tongue being unbridled. And then he moved into James
chapter 4, speaking of the lusts of the flesh, of wanting to have
and to obtain and asking, but asking amiss to consume it upon
our lusts. And now he comes to this word
about speaking evil of brethren. Now, the believers to whom James
is writing, you remember from the first verse, is to the twelve
tribes scattered abroad. He's writing to Jewish brethren,
to Jewish believers. And as I pointed out to you from
the very beginning of this study, they had been under the law of
Moses. They'd been taught the law of Moses. They had a zeal
for the law of Moses. And now they were learning that
the believer is no longer under the law, but he's under grace.
They were zealous for the law and wanting to continue obeying
the law, continue to observe days and feasts and seasons and
months and abstain from this meat and that meat and only drink
certain things. And so it was a very much a hindrance
within the various places where they were scattered. Now, this
is not something foreign to us because this is the problem with
all men by nature. We have to be taught We're legalists
by nature. We want to come to God with something
we've done, something we've accomplished, something that we've either done
ourselves or something we've done in addition to what Christ
has done to make ourselves presentable to God. And God won't have anything
but what His Son has accomplished. He won't receive anybody except
they come in His Son alone. And as God grows the believer,
where He's begun a work of grace, and as He grows the believer
in grace, He makes us to know more and more how fully we've
been delivered, redeemed from the curse of the law. That now
we're under grace, under the rule and dominion of Christ.
Now, this was a great trial for those who believed that they
should continue in the law of Moses. These weaker brethren
presented a trial to those that were stronger brethren who didn't
think they should have to continue in the law of Moses. So both
were conflicted in this thing, and so they were apt to speak
harshly of one another in one another's regard in their outward
conduct, how they conducted themselves. Now that's what we have to be
reminded of continually as brethren is that we no longer look on
the outward. We're not looking at the flesh. We're not judging
by the outward appearance of things. Now, Paul called this
doubtful disputing. Over in Romans chapter 14, if
you want to turn there with me, Romans chapter 14, in verse, well, at the end of
the 13th chapter, he says, he speaks in verse 13 of not continuing
in strife and envying, which is what James is dealing with
here, but he says in verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the
lusts thereof. That's what we're talking about,
the lust of the flesh. the lust of the flesh. That's
what James is dealing with. And he says here in chapter 14
verse 1, Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, not to
doubtful disputations, not doubtfully disputing with him. For one believeth
that he may eat all things, another whose weak eateth herbs. Let
not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not
him that eateth eateth not, judge him that eateth. For God hath
received him." And he says the same thing here that James says.
Who art thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master
he standeth, or to his own master he falleth. Yes, if he's Christ,
if Christ is ruling in his heart, has dominion of this sinner,
he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand. So
back in our text, James says in verse 11, speak not evil one
of another brethren. Now this applies to all matters. This particular matter was one
that we're addressing here, but this applies to all matters.
Whether it's true or it's false, whether it's behind a brother's
back or it's to their face, whether it's in private or it's in public,
don't speak evil of brethren. That's just simple. If God has
given us a true heart of wisdom, Solomon said, in her tongue is
the law of kindness. Now here's the first reason James
gives us wine. He says, brethren, Don't speak evil of one another,
brethren. That's the first thing. You're
brethren. You that are born of the Spirit
of God are brethren. James said in chapter 3, he said
that when we use the same mouth, it should never be so, that we
use the same tongue to bless God and curse men because they're
made after the image of God. But here it's even worse because
the Lord Jesus Christ said, as much as you've done it unto one
of these, the least of my brethren, you've done it to me. It's not
as if you have. He said you have. That's how
one the believer is with Christ. If my children belittle each
other, they belittle me and my name because they're me. They're
part of me. When Aaron and Miriam spoke evil
of Moses because he married an Ethiopian woman and they didn't
think he should have done that, the Lord said, were you not afraid
to speak against my servant, Moses? Did you not tremble to
speak a word against Him? Believers are one in Christ,
brethren. This is what Paul said to the
Ephesians. He said, I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And here
is his reason why. There's one body. There's one
Spirit. You're called in one hope of
your calling. There's one Lord. There's one
faith. There's one baptism. There's
one God and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. So that's the first reason why
you're brethren, one with Christ. We wouldn't speak evil of Christ.
He said, don't speak evil of one another then. Here's the
second thing. It's to speak evil of and to
judge the law. Look at verse 11. James 4.11. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law. Now that's the opposite effect
of what we might be intending. The intent is the glory and honor
of Christ Jesus. You see somebody that you think
is not walking in an honorable way, and for the glory of the
Lord, you wish they knew better, you wish they would turn from
that, you'd like to see them turn from that. But if you speak
evil of them, condemn them, pass sentence on them, hold them in
doubtful regard, Then he says the opposite effect is taking
place. Now you're deeming the law of God as being evil. You're
judging the law of God. How is that? Let me give you
two ways. In every act of disobedience,
in every act of disobedience, every thought of disobedience,
in our hearts we're saying that the law of God is not good. That's what we're saying. In
every thought and act of disobedience we're saying the law of God is
not good. Now here's the example right before us. The law forbids
rash judgment and speaking evil of brethren. What James is saying
here is the word of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord
Jesus Christ that he's told us on the Sermon on the Mount. Judge
not that you be not judged. That's His Word. We follow after
His Word, after what He's taught us and how we are to conduct
ourselves. But now, if we speak evil of
somebody because we don't think they're measuring up like they
ought to, you know what we've just done? We've disobeyed Him. We've spoken evil of the law.
He's told us not to do that. It's had a counter effect on
what we were intending. Judge not. If you speak evil,
we judge our Lord's Word to be not good. And Satan desires us
to feel that way about his Word. Satan desires for you to feel
like that God's keeping something from you if you are obedient
to him. If you have a desire to follow
after him and to walk after him. That's what he said in the garden.
God knows that in a day you eat that fruit, your eyes are going
to be open and you're going to know good and evil. He's keeping
something from you. But the Lord Jesus Christ said,
my yoke is easy and it's light. It's not a burden at all. And
it's not for the believer. This is not a burden. Loving
somebody? Loving someone? Is that a burden? To love someone? That's what
we're talking about here. But the real problem's not with
the law. The real problem's not with the
law of God. Paul said the law is holy. The
commandment is holy, it's just, and it's good. Where's the problem
lie? He said, I'm carnal. I'm soul
under sin. The problem's in me. The problem's
not in God's law. That's where the real problem
lies. That's how we call his judge his law to be evil. First
of all, is by considering what He's told us to do, to not obey
it, to not be good. Here's the second thing. If we
speak evil of the law, or we speak evil of someone, we judge
the law when we count that holy, which God never made holy, and
we condemn that which God never condemned. You've got this geographical law in this nation. If you're
down in the south with brethren down there, in some churches
down there, you can't smoke and you can't wear shorts or pants
to church or anything like that, but you can smoke and chew. You
move up here, you can wear pants to church, but they don't want
you to smoke and chew. These are adding things that
God never added. These are making things to be
holy God never said was holy and condemning things God never
said to be condemned. It's like saying that we have
to add something or subtract something from what God has said.
Here's the point. We don't come in our own name.
If we say something, we need to support it with this word.
We don't come in our own name. We discern the Word by the Word. We discern the Law of God by
the Law of God, the Word of God by the Word of God, or else we're
guilty of judging and speaking evil of what our Lord has spoken. It's that simple. Now here's
the third thing, the third reason James kills. There's one lawgiver. There's one lawgiver. Verse 12,
he says, there's one lawgiver who's able to save and to destroy.
Who art thou that judges another? Antichrist. The true antichrist
is he who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God. It's trying to
take the seat of God. There's one lawgiver. There's
one. God the Father has committed
all judgment unto the Son. Christ Jesus is, he's the judge. The triune God is the lawgiver. Christ Jesus is the judge. Now,
those who opposed Christ, when He walked this earth, were always
coming to Him and saying, but Moses said, but Moses said. And yet before Moses, even before
Abraham, Christ said, I am. I was before Abraham. I was before
Moses. The believer has one lawgiver.
It's Christ, it's not Moses. Whenever those same descendants
of Abraham were in Moses' day, they rejected Moses. The problem is we want to set
up ourselves as righteous. We want to set up ourselves as
being just and able to judge and able to discern and able
to work and affect that which only God can do. This is what
John 5 says. Look there with me. John 5. There's one lawgiver. It's not
Moses. It's not you. It's not me. It's God. The Son of God. God the Father has given all
judgment to the Son. Now look at John 5, verse 22.
And let's see what the Son says about that. For the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. that all
should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that
honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which is sinning.
Now, this is what the righteous judge says about the believer.
He says he won't come into condemnation. This is what the judge, this
is what the lawgiver says that the believer will not come into
condemnation. Look at verse 24. Verily, verily,
When the master says, verily, verily, it means listen up, listen
good. I say unto you, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. He has it. He has everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. Now, who are you that's going
to judge, that's going to pass sentence and condemn one that
Christ said shall not come into condemnation? He has everlasting
life. And this is the lawgiver speaking.
Now, Christ is able. He's able to save and He's able
to destroy. He's the Lawgiver and He's able
to save and He's able to destroy. And when our Lord, the Master,
the Lawgiver converts a sinner by the power of His grace working
in their heart, He does both. He saves them and He destroys
at the same time. See now that I, even I, am He. There's no God with me. I kill
and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is
there any that can deliver out of my hand." That two-edged sword
of the gospel does these two things. It destroys all your
confidence, all your hope, all your false refuge, every false
way, and at the same time, it heals. That's what this gospel
does. That's what Christ Jesus the
Lawgiver does. And when He does this, He writes
His law on the inward parts. He purges the conscience with
His own blood through the Holy Spirit that you don't serve dead
works anymore. you turn and walk after Him.
He can do this in the heart. He can do this in the very inward
part of a sinner. I can't do that. You can't do
that. This is how He begins the work.
This is how He continues the work. This is His work. It's
not my work. It's not your work. From then
on, the believer is no longer under the law of Moses, but he's
under the power of Christ. He's no longer under the curse
If you're a Gentile, you never were under the law of Moses.
So don't try to be getting back under the law of Moses. You never
were under it in the beginning. But you were under the curse
from the garden. You were under the curse from
Adam's transgression. By that one transgression, sin
came upon all men, for that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. All men died in Adam, spiritually. You were
under that curse. But Christ was given a people
before the world began, and He came to this earth, and He went
to the cross, and He was made sin. He was made what those people
are. He was made sin. And the scripture
says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now,
Clay, why didn't you just say Christ died for everybody? Why
didn't you just say Christ died for the whole world? Because
the scripture that I just read to you in Galatians 3.13 says,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. That means
everyone that He died for is redeemed. They're bought. He
bought them. He purchased them. They're His
possession. They have to be brought to a
knowledge of the truth. They have to be kept by the Spirit
of God. They have to be brought into
final salvation with Him in glory or that word is false and our
God is false. Christ hath redeemed those He
died for. He accomplished their salvation.
He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now before faith came, before
Christ Jesus the faithful came into this earth, the Jews were
kept under the law and you and I as Gentiles were under the
curse and in spiritual blindness and spiritual death. But that
law was a schoolmaster until that time. That's what it was
given for. It was given to show shadows of what was to come,
of the substance that was to come. You get what a shadow is?
A tree's the substance. The shadow is that you can't
get acorns off the shadow. You can't get life off the shadow.
You can't climb the shadow. It's a shadow. The substance
is the tree. Well, the shadow was all of everything
he showed us in the law to show that you're guilty, you're dead,
you can't come to God any other way but in Christ. The ceremonies,
the lamb, you got to have the lamb, you got to have blood,
you got to come to the high priest. Christ is the high priest. You
got to come to his altar. Christ is the altar. You got
to come into the holiest of holies. absolutely justified, absolutely
righteous, absolutely holy, absolutely perfect to be accepted of God.
And when Christ came, He manifests in the heart. He is the very
substance of those things. And you're no longer under the
law. You're no longer under the curse. He says, follow Me. And you follow Him. We follow
Him. He's the Head. and we're the
members. Watch this. See that? I'm wiggling my fingers,
I'm moving my arms. You know how all that's happening?
You know why all that's taking place and doing just what I'm
commanding it to do? Because the head's commanding
it to do it, and the members are doing just what he tells
them to do. Christ is the head. And you who are believers are
members in particular of His body. And you move when He says
move. You stop when He says stop. You
jump when He says jump. You fall down when He says fall
down. That's how real it is. That's just how real it is. James
is dealing with that fleshly lust to take a fellow believer
to the law and condemn him thereby. I want you to remember this.
Look at Romans 6. Romans 6 verse 10. For in that Christ died, He died
unto sin once. But in that He liveth, He liveth
unto God. Now here's what He makes you
to know in your heart. Likewise reckon ye also yourself
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. through Jesus
Christ our Lord. But I see sin in me. All I see
in me is sin. All I see in me is my members.
He said, count yourself to be dead unto sin. And he says, not only count yourself
that way, James is saying, you count your brother to be that
way too. Dead unto sin. Dead unto sin, but alive unto
God. Look at the next verse. Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it
in the lust thereof. Now I read what I read to you
from Romans that Paul said that what James is dealing with is
the lust of the flesh. To want to come in that magisterial
air and authority and to usurp, climb up to God's throne and
to grab your fellow brother around the neck and start condemning
him and speaking evil of him. as if you're going to make Him
obedient from the heart? That's the lust of the flesh.
He says, reckon yourself dead unto sin, and reckon your brother
dead unto sin, and don't let that lust reign in your mortal
body anymore. Now verse 14, For sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but you're
under grace. Now I see two good things already.
I'm dead to sin. My Lord said for me to reckon
myself indeed dead unto sin. And He says to me here, the law
is not going to have dominion over me anymore. What does that
mean? What does it mean that the law won't have dominion over
me and I'm under grace? Look at Romans 8. 8 and 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. How did that happen? Verse 2.
For the law of the Spirit of life, you could call it the law
of the Spirit of faith. Romans 8.2. The law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. I'm dead unto sin. I'm dead to
the law. I died when Christ died. A woman,
Paul gave that illustration that a woman is, the law says that
if she's married and she leaves her husband and she marries another
man while her husband's alive, she's an adulteress. But if her
husband is dead, she's not an adulteress. And here's his point
he was making. The same, by the same token,
if you died in Christ, if you were in Christ when he died,
that law, you're dead to that law. That law's not your husband
anymore. And you're free to be married
to another. And the one that the believer's married to is
Christ Jesus the Lord. And you're not under the law,
you're under grace. You're led of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. Now to be carnally minded, Paul
said, that's death. That's looking with this eye,
and judging with this eye, and looking on the outward appearance,
and minding things of the flesh. It's death! And it'll bring forth
death. It'll bring forth death. To be
spiritually minded is to know that your brother is Christ's
servant. To know that to his own master,
he stands or he falls, but Christ is going to hold him up because
God's able. That's what it is to be spiritually
minded. Now, Galatians 5. Verse 13, Galatians 5, 13. For brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh. Keep bringing up this point over
and over in each case here. Don't look to the flesh. Don't
walk after the flesh. Don't use this liberty as to
serve the flesh, to serve the lust of the flesh. But by love,
serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love. It's love. But if you bite
and devour one another, If you speak evil of one another, if
you envy one another, if you condemn one another, take heed
that you be not consumed one of another. Walking after the
law of sin and death, the letter of the law, is to walk after
that lust within us. It's to bite and it's to devour.
Now, catch these next two verses. Galatians 5, 16. This I say then,
walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you walk in the spirit, you
won't fulfill that lust of the flesh. You won't fulfill the
lust to usurp authority, to condemn, to bite and devour when you walk
in the Spirit. Because here's what you know
about yourself and what you know about others. Verse 17, For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot
do the things you would. When you walk in the Spirit,
the Spirit of God makes us keenly aware that no believer can do
the things perfectly as we would like to do. And by reminding
us that, He keeps us from doing those things that the flesh would
lust to do, which is say, well, I don't think you ought to be
doing that. To be led of the Spirit is to
know this, verse 18, but if you be led of the Spirit, you're
not under the law. You know, a physician, you go
into a physician's operating room or whatever and you've broken
a bone. I was down in Wheelersburg. Cheryl, Charlie's wife, had broken
her, fell down the stairs and broke her leg right under the
knee there. And she had all kinds of pins
in there and all kinds of plates and stuff in her knee. And that
doctor took great care, great precision to put those pins and
everything in place to set that bone back in place so it could
heal. He took great care to do that.
That's what's being said here in Galatians 6.1. Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. You do it with the same care
a physician sets the bones. Tender, carefully. Bear ye one
another's burdens. What about the sin and the rebellion?
You just take that on yourself. Lord, charge it to my account.
Bear their burdens. Instead of trying to expose them,
Bear them. Bear them. And fulfill the law
of Christ. This is it. This is love. For
if a man thinks himself to be something when he's nothing,
he deceives himself. He deceives himself. Do you think
you can fulfill the law? Do you think you can walk perfectly
before the law? Do you think there's nothing
in you worthy to be condemned and judged if the one lawgiver
was to judge you? Who art thou that judges another? That's what James is saying.
You see, first thing we find out by grace is we're all on
the same level. Worms, maggots, putrefying worms
in ourselves. And what you see when you look
at a brother or a sister, who doesn't measure up as you think
they ought to measure up, you're looking at a worm. Go look in
the mirror. Go look in the mirror, and you'll
see the same thing staring back at you. Now, let's end with Romans 14.10.
Romans 14.10, and I'll just read this out. But why dost thou judge thy brother? He's talking to believers now.
But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy
brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God. So then every one of us shall
give account of his brother to God. No, you'll give account
of yourself. So don't be worried about your
brother. You restore him in the spirit of meekness and know that
you're going to give account of yourself to God. Where do
you stand? Lord, I stand in Christ alone.
I don't stand in anything I've done. I stand in Christ alone. That's what it is for the believer
to give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge
one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing
unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth anything
to be unclean, to him it's unclean. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Don't destroy
him with your meat for whom Christ died. Christ died for him. Let not then your good be evil
spoken of, for the kingdom of God's not meat and drink. Here's
what it is. It's righteousness. Whose? Christ our righteousness is peace
by whom Christ the peacemaker is joy where in the Holy Ghost
for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and
approved of men. Let us therefore follow after
the things which make for peace and things whereby we may edify
one another. That's what James is saying here.
Speak not evil of one another, brethren. Put off that old man. Restore one another in that spirit
of meekness. Speak peaceful things. Tell a
sinner about Christ. Light sheds light on the error
more than coming at them with the condemning spirit. And the
Lord's able to make them stand. He's able to make us stand. All
right.