So let's read verses 7 to 12
to see the context of our verses today and pray the Holy Spirit
would take the scriptures and illuminate them and teach us
the things of Christ. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh
to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners, and purify your hearts, you 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 will lift you up. Speak not
evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brethren judges his brethren, 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 lawgiver
who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that thou judgest
another? On verses 7 to 10, we were exhorted
as born-again, blood-washed people to submit ourselves to our great
God, to submit ourselves to the one who saved us, to submit ourselves
to the one who's regenerated us. And again, that submitting
is just believing and trusting in the Lord. We looked at that
last week. It's just believing and trusting in the Lord. Each
day, I read a really neat little devotional this week that Jacob,
young Jacob sent me from Colorado, and it talked about fencing off
today from tomorrow. Fencing off the day from any
worries of tomorrow. I thought that was marvelous.
And as we talked on the phone about it later on, we were both
rejoicing in the fact that if we do that, we're not worried
about tomorrow. We're not worried about what's
to come, because the Lord gives us manna for each day, right?
And the manna that he gives us each day is only sufficient for
this day. He'll give us new manna tomorrow, just like he did with
the Israelites. All right, more grace, grace
upon grace. So let's ask the Lord to fence
today from tomorrow for us, so we don't worry and stress about
what's coming. Trust him each day. We're also
to resist the devil, and we looked at how resisting the devil is
just trusting the Lord, believing what he says, trusting what he
says. See, I'm gonna trust in you,
Lord, today. I'm just gonna rest in you. I'm not gonna let the
things in my mind start to take me away from focusing upon you. And see, it's a constant battle
for us, isn't it? Because the flesh and the spirit, they war
against each other. Now, the rest of the chapter is going
to deal with the opposite of verse 10, which says we're to
humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift
you up. And what follows in our text are examples of self-exhaltation,
or lifting oneself up. And those who seek standing,
which we saw earlier in this book, those who seek standing,
what do they seek to do? Well, they seek to lift themselves
up, don't they? So we're gonna see some examples
of people who lift themselves up, and they do this lording
over God's people. And there's a natural tendency
for them to do that. But we're to mark those who cause
division. We know that from other scriptures. We're to mark those
who cause division. But the natural bend of these
people spoken of is self-exaltation. All about them. And they're very
subtle in how they do things. You would appear that they're
not not exalting themselves, but eventually the proof is in
the pudding. So the warnings and admonitions
here are for we who are the people of God, too. Not to fall into
this state, not to lord over God's people, not to seek standing. It's God who promotes. He is
preachers. We preachers always talk about
how we weren't looking to be preachers. God put us in the
ministry. He promotes us to that spot. But I'm no different than
you are, except I have the calling to preach the gospel. That's
all. Other than that, we're all the same. But you have gifts
that I don't have. Some can sing. I don't sing very
good. Some can read scripture and pray
and just continuously lift people up. Some have different gifts. Some
have the gift of hospitality. But we're all to love the brethren,
aren't we? That's one thing we all have in common, is love for
the brethren. So these warnings and admonitions
are for we who are the people of God, because our natural bent
is towards endeavoring to do what the flesh wants. And we've
got a battle of the flesh all the time. The only way one can satisfy
the law of God is by the Lord Jesus Christ. We could never satisfy the law
of God. Let's read verses 11 and 12 again. Speak not evil
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 lawgiver,
look at that, who is able to save and to destroy. Who art
thou that judgest another? Now these two verses relate back
to the words. Turn if you would to James chapter
three. These two verses actually relate
back to a portion that we've already went over. James chapter
three verses eight to 16. Let's go back and read those
verses. It says this. But the tongue can no man tame. Verse eight. What a statement.
Nobody can tame the tongue. 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 proceeded
blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought
not so to be." So there's an exhortation to us to bridle our
tongue, right? Does the fountain send forth
at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can you get fresh
water and salt water out of the same fountain? No. No. It'll either be fresh or it'll
be salt, right? The oceans we see are salt water.
All the ocean does is produce salt water. The Great Lakes here,
they're fresh water. All they do is produce fresh
water. You can't get one out of the other. Can a fig tree, my brethren,
bear olive berries? No, fig trees will only bear
fig trees. Olive trees will only bear olives. Either a vine, figs, so can no
fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man
that in endured with knowledge among you let him show out of
a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if
you have better envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and
lie not against the truth. This wisdom descended not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envy and
strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. So the words
of our text do not deal with consequence, but rather are a
revelation of a carnal attitude, which we just read of. So verse 11 brings forth some
examples of what James has been teaching us, examples that we're
to avoid. What's the first way that strife
and division comes? People just start talking about
somebody. Next thing you know, there's
somebody else talking about with them. The next thing you know,
there's a few more people talking. And it starts to get a little
bit bigger. Look what the scripture says
here. Speak not evil one of another. Don't speak evil of your brethren.
And again, this is directed to the church, right? Speak not
evil 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. Notice again, James
is still dealing with the tongue, isn't he? Speak not evil of your
brother, of one another. He's still dealing with the tongue.
He's still dealing with the hardest member for us to control. And
in verse 11, we're admonished to speak not evil of our brethren.
Turn, if you would, to Matthew. Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter
7. Look at this. Verses 1 to 5. Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 to
5. And keep in context what we're looking at today. Speak not evil
one of another, brethren. So we're not to speak evil of
one another. Look at this in Matthew 7, verses
1 to 5. Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye might,
it shall be measured to you again. 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 moat. Let me pull out the moat, just
a little sliver. Let me pull that little sliver
out. Meanwhile, this guy's walking around with a beam in his eye. I picture somebody walking around
and bouncing off the wall. That's just my picture of it.
And the other guy's got a little sliver in his eye. But consider
it's not the beam, plank in the Greek, a plank, like a two by
four. A plank, the beam that is in
thine own eye. Oh, 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. How can you pull a sliver out
of somebody's eye when you've got a beam sticking out of your
own eye? Do you see how plainly our Lord speaks? He speaks in ways we can understand. and then he says now hypocrite
first cast out the beam in nine oh nine and then now she'll see
clearly the cast at the motor the brothers i you can't you
can't help a brother when you got a long beam sticking out
your eye so what this verse eleven's is
dealing with judging our brethren what is truly about it's it's
lifting ourselves up actually itself exaltation When we're
judging other people, we're lifting ourselves up. And the Lord says, you got enough
sin in your own life, what are you doing trying to help your
brother with his? That's what that metaphor is
all about. Because of how we're wired, we're
incapable of not making judgments. We really are. We judge all the
time. We do. We make judgment calls
all the time, and we cannot shut our brains off not to judge certain
things. And we find ourselves making
judgment calls when we sometimes see our brother or sister doing
something that we know is wrong and will bring them sadness or
woe, but we don't want them to go through that, do we? But our natural tendency will
always be to judge and to condemn. In religion, that's what, I remember
that when I was in religion, judging and condemning, it was
horrible. And I was judging everybody else, and meanwhile, I was a
huge sinner myself. But if you had asked me, I would
have said, no, no, I read my Bible every day, which is a good
thing to do, right? Pray, and I go to church four
times a week, and I do all this stuff, but I was lost. I was religious but lost. But I was also the biggest judge
around. I asked my wife, she lived it
with me. I used to complain about everybody.
When the Lord showed me grace, that stopped. It slowed down. I can't say it stopped, it slowed
down. It slowed down. I'm being honest, right? Slows
down. Because you know why? Because
if we judge ourselves first, which is what we're supposed
to do, that's what the Lord's teaching us. Judge yourself first. If we judge ourselves first,
there's so much sin in us, we won't even look at our brothers
and sisters in Christ. Will we? We have so much in ourselves
to occupy ourselves with our own. Oh, Lord, forgive me. So if we
do that, we won't have occasion then to judge our brothers and
sisters. We won't. And we're see them as just like
us. Sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief. Paul was looking inward, wasn't
he? He said, I'm the chief of sinners. My, oh, my. And verse 12 here, verse 12 in
our text is where the rubber really hits the road. It really
is. Look at this. Look at this verse
12. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.
Who art thou that judges another? Who are we to judge our brothers
and sisters who are washed in the precious blood of Christ
and have all their sins forgiven. Who are we to judge them? Their
sin's been dealt with. We should rejoice for them, shouldn't
we? Because our sin, just like their sin, if we're true believers,
has been dealt with at Calvary's cross. in the holy spirit has this incredible
statement put here of the one law giver the only one who has
the right to judge and we know that all powers being given to
the lord jesus christ in our studies in the scriptures we've
seen that he has all power and he's going to be the one who
people are gonna face at the great white judgment cuz all
judgment is in his hands what a statement here though There's
only one who has the right to judge, and that one is the very
one who has the power of life and death, the power to save
or to destroy, the power to make one vessel a vessel of honor
and a vessel of dishonor for the other one, all because it
pleases him to do so. And we who are the vessel of
honor, we are in awe, going, Lord, you had mercy on me? Oh, my. And our lips are filled with
praise for him. Look at this verse. Look at this
verse. Again, there is one lawgiver
who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judges another?
I want us to focus on this one lawgiver spoken of here in our
text. I want to speak of him and his
power. There's one lawgiver who's able to save and to destroy.
God is no one to be trifled with. No one. This verse is absolutely
incredible. God is the one lawgiver. God
gave the law at Sinai. As you heard me say, the Lord
Jesus Christ gave the law and is the fulfiller of the law. Think of this. It says there's
one lawgiver. That means that he is the maker
of it. He's the giver of it and he's also the executor. What's the scripture said? The
soul that sinneth it shall die. And we all die, don't we? And
there's only two destinations. There's not three or four. There's no such thing as purgatory.
There's no in-between thing. There's either heaven or hell.
And that's it. Two destinations. And the one who is able to save
and the one who is able to destroy is the same one. He's our great
God. And again, He is no one to be
trifled with. No one to be flippant with. People who pop off and say, well,
I don't believe in Him. Well, you sure will one day.
If God doesn't have mercy on you, it'd be too late then. And
even then, you still hate Him. People in hell still hate God. They still hate Him. People in
heaven love God more now than what they did on earth, because
now it's a pure love, a sinless love. But people in hell still
hate God. Still hate Him. but his wrath is ever upon them. So he's the maker, the giver,
and the executor of the law. And none of those three functions
has he left us. That's why we're not to judge
our brothers and sisters. We're not the executors of the
law. There's only one lawgiver. And that's God. He's not made angels or men to
partner with him in this. He's the one lawgiver, the text
says. In any attempt to usurp any of those functions as the
giver of the law, the maker of the law, and the executor of
the law, then we're interfering with the prerogatives of the
one lawgiver. We don't want to do that. And you know what? We make such
an attempt, the scriptures bring it out here, every time we speak
evil of our brother or our sister or one another. Because when we do that, we pronounce
the law unfit and inadequate for its intended purpose without our help. So we, in a
sense, sit in judgment upon the law as well as the lawgiver. See how serious it is? It's a solemn thing to interfere
with the lawgiver. He's one. There's not another
to whom we We can fly to if we provoke Him. There's only one
who we can fly to if we provoke the Almighty God, and that's
God Himself. It's not wise to provoke the
Lord. He's in heaven. We're on earth. He's infinite. We're finite. He's the Creator, and we're just
creatures. Who are we to shake our fist
at him. Who are we think of this think
of this man find fault men and women in this world find fault
with God. Who are we animated pieces of
dust to find fault with God. We were I was there in my natural
state I was. I admit it, it was awful. I used to think, why is God doing
this? That's none of my business, is
it? Really, it's none of my business. God can do whatever he wants
to do. It's his world. We're his creatures. We're his
creation. He can do whatever he pleases.
That's why that potter and clay the potter and the clay analogy
is so incredible, because the clay doesn't do nothing, it's
formed to however that potter wants to be formed. And think
of this, if you're a saved believer, if you're one of God's people,
he made you and I a vessel of honor. Isn't that incredible? Based upon nothingness. And he
did it in eternity, when he chose us in Christ. Oh, it's absolutely stunning. But the special thing in which
the apostle points out here is his omnipotence. He's all-powerful. Who are we? Who is man to do
battle with omnipotence? That's insane, isn't it? But
yet man shakes her fist at Him. Like it's bothering them. Like God's going to get
upset. He's already angry with the wicked. And their time shall come when
they will face the lawgiver in judgment if he does not save
them. What hope of success does one
have battling omnipotence? There's no success. Yeah, zero.
Amen, brother. Zero. There is no hope. And this is omnipotence is is
twofold here in our text. Look at this. This all this this
this all powerful lawgiver, his his power is twofold and in in
its its character for salvation and for destruction. Look at
this. He is able to save and to destroy. He's able to do that. Now, man can kill the body, right? But they can't touch the soul. God can save a soul or cast it
into hell. Therefore, we should be in awe
of this lawgiver, shouldn't we? Look at the first aspect I'd
like us to look at in this text is he's able to save. The lawgiver,
and notice the lawgiver, it's singular. There's only one. That means all those other gods
that the folks worshiped and are still worshiping today are
not true, they're false gods. And even the devils, remember
we looked at that? Even the devils know that there's
one God and they tremble. They know. They identified him. We looked at that as we were
studying earlier in this study when we looked at the devils
believe and tremble. It is as God the lawgiver that
he's able to save, beloved. Not merely as the Almighty One,
but as God the Lawgiver. He's mighty to save. He's able
to save to the uttermost all who come to Him. He's not cast
away any who's come to Him. That's why we say, flee to Christ.
He's the only hope for sinners. How then is He able to save and
why? In what lies His ability to save? Well, His great power. His almighty
power. His right hand is full of might. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's his right hand. And he's great. He's so powerful that he's able to save. And he's
able to destroy. He's the only one who's able
to do that. Again, man can kill the body, but they can't touch
the soul. Now, who is powerful enough for this great
work to save one and to destroy another? Only God. Only the eternal God. So he who can save must be all-powerful,
right? Because we lack the ability to
save ourselves. So the one who saves must have
the ability to save, and that's the one true lawgiver. And also, he must be righteous. He must be all-powerful and he
must be righteous. We must be made righteous to
be in God's presence. Mere power in the common sense
would be unavailing where law is concerned, for law makes little
count of power, but the law must be satisfied, right? The law
of God, the law that the lawgiver gives must be satisfied. It must
be fulfilled. One who is perfect must fulfill
it. And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you and
I as our substitute. The lawgiver himself came and
fulfilled his own law. Because in our natural state,
we're doomed, aren't we? There's no way for you and I
to fulfill even one jot of the law, not one. But Christ did
it all for us. And so the salvation provided
then must be righteous. The process must be righteous.
And he who saves the sinner must be the righteous one. Turn, if
you would, to 1 John 2. Who saved us but he who is called
the righteous one? The Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
this in 1 John. This is wonderful. 1 John 2. one and two my little children
John's right the believers my little children these things
right I am to you that you sin not and if any man sin we have
an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ look at this the righteous
and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only
but also for the sins of the whole world and then there must be love The
lawgiver must have love for the people who he is going to save. Do you know our salvation originated
in the lawgiver? It originated in God. Before there was ever angels,
before there was ever any creation, God loved us in Christ. God loved us in the word of God. Who is God? Because the scripture says the
word became flesh and dwelt among us. Right? Can we wrap our minds around
that? But it's true, isn't it? We can't grasp it with our finite
minds totally, can we? But it's true. Chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world what moved God to choose
us his Remember a few weeks back. We looked at we were loved freely
By God It's his love that motivated
Him to save us so in salvation the eternal love of God must
begin and finish our salvation and It was God's love for his
people that caused him to give a people to Christ. Think of
that. God loved us in eternity before
we ever were. Do you see how we're so separated
from the salvation in anything we do? I heard a guy this week. I turned
some guy on. I just wanted a local guy. I
thought, oh, let's see what, oh, it was awful. It was horrible.
I ended up turning it off. But I always go near the end.
Just before I turn it off, I go near the end of the message,
usually, and bow your head and repeat this prayer. If you prayed this, now you're
safe. You know what? No mention of
repentance. No mention of God's righteousness. No mention of
how we're sinners. No mention of regeneration. You
must be born again. You see how we pray in a prayer
has replaced regeneration. And because God's loved us from
eternity, he regenerates us. because Christ died for us. Christ
died for us because the fathers loved us from eternity. Do you
see how his love is a motivating factor for our salvation? I'm
out of time already, but let us focus on that. I'll have to
continue this next week, but let us focus on that this week.
Let us focus on the fact that the lawgiver, the one who's able
to save and destroy has loved we who are his people. And think
of this. When you get down this week, because we will, when we
get down this week, or when something happens, maybe something in the
world happens, just remember that the lawgiver has loved his
people from before the foundation of the world. And let that be
a fence that we put around the day. Right? Let that be a fence. My savior
is the sovereign God who's in control of everything. And I'm going to try just to
rest in him. All this stuff swirling around,
I'm just going to trust in him. Because he saved me. By his mercy
and by his grace. Because it pleased him to do
so. Praise his mighty name.