Conflict Within the Church part 4 The Demonic Deeds of Defamation

James chapter 4 we're going to be in verse 11. Now we are continuing in our march through the book of James and the series title is called Good Works Flow from Good Faith. Now if you've noticed as we have transitioned into chapter 4, we're learning about some bad works, are we not? We've really been in this theme in chapter 4 of conflict within the church. And we're learning a lot of truth about what conflict is and what it looks like, what it acts like. We're almost getting some names and faces, are we not? But we're learning about this thing called conflict in the church.

Now this morning in introduction I want to give you a word and if you're taking notes I want you to write this word down. This is the word defamation. The word defamation. Webster's dictionary defines defamation as an act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication written or oral. The song of maliciously injuring the good name of another, slander or detraction. The word defamation. I want to give you another word and I'd like you to write this word down as well and this is the word slander. It's the word slander.

Now Webster defines slander as a false tale, a report maliciously uttered, tending to injure the reputation of another. The malicious utterance of defamatory reports, the dissemination of malicious tales or suggestions to the injury of another. You might say those two words sound very similar. They are. The word defamation and the word slander. Now if you know your Bible you know that defamation or slander, it's slithered into the garden in Genesis chapter 3. You do not have to turn there. I'm going to read you this account, just a couple of verses and show you this act of slander or defamation. Genesis chapter 3 starting in verse 1.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, now notice, "Indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" What do we have there? The creation is perfect. Man has been given the responsibility of governing and the responsibility of caring for the garden. The creation is perfect and yet Satan himself slithers into the garden and what does he do in that first verse, verse 1 of chapter 3? It is nothing more than slander and defamation. What does he do? Satan defames God's word. What does he do in verse 1?

He says, "Did God say?" Also he defamed God's character because in questioning what God said, he is questioning the very character of the one who said it. And not only did Satan defame God's character, but he defamed God himself. What do we see? We see slander. We see defamation. Because what Satan did in that one small verse was, he questioned the word of God, he questioned the character of God and he questioned God himself. That is slander and it was defamation. It was defamation or slander that dogged Christ Jesus throughout his earthly ministry.

What I mean by that is, all throughout his earthly ministry, the religious leaders and many people dogged Christ day after day after day. And what did they do? They uttered words of defamation and slander. You don't have to turn there. This is one example. In Matthew chapter 11 verse 19, notice what some of the religious leaders did. Jesus is saying these phrases or these words and this is what he says. "The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" What is Christ referring to?

As Jesus associated with sinners, associated with gluttons and drunkards, what the religious leaders did was, they accused Christ of being a glutton and being a drunkard and being such a friend of sinners that he was a sinner. What do we see? They attacked Christ's behavior, they attacked Christ's character and they attacked who Christ was. What is that? It is slander and it is defamation and it dogged Christ every day that he walked this earth. Defamation or slander had infiltrated the fellowships that James is writing to. Now we know the context.

The Jews were scattered from Jerusalem because of the great persecution and they scattered into the highways and byways. They scattered out of Jerusalem and they were associated, yes, and there were these different fellowships that the letter was written to. And within these fellowships, slander and defamation had infiltrated. This slanderous behavior was part of the problem. Now listen, of church conflict. Church conflict was introduced to us in chapter four, verse one. And all through these verses, what do we see? We see conflict and we see the behavior and the people that come out of this conflict that fuel this conflict.

Now last week we saw the lost people behind church conflict, did we not? But now we see the defamatory and slanderous speech. Now listen, that is tangled up all in these church conflicts. Now I will give you the title of the message. I'll put the information on the screen for us. We are still holding on to the title, conflict within the church, but this is part four and I call it the demonic deed of defamation. The demonic deed of defamation. We're going to be in verse 11, just one verse, and you will see that we have two main truths this morning, but yet there's so much that the Lord is going to teach us.

I will read verse 12 as well because they go together and they help us see what James is trying to teach us. Look at the scripture with me. James says, do not speak against one another brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. And he goes on to say, there's only one law giver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy, but who are you to judge your neighbor? What we see in this verse, verses 11 and verse 12 is the demonic deed of defamation.

But I want to show you, there's a little bit of a change from last week. Last week, it was obvious because of the wording in verse eight that the verses were addressed to the laws that were in the fellowships. But yet I want you to see that within this conflict, there are also Christians who are culprits because right here in verse 11, James uses the word brethren or brothers. Now listen three times. Make no mistake. There were Christians who were culprits within this conflict. But yet last week we saw that there were lost people masquerading as Christians within the fellowships as well.

And the behavior of the lost and the behavior of the Christians have come together and it is all tangled up in this problem. And it is church conflict. But I really want you to see before we dive into the verse that three times James uses the word brethren or brothers, therefore indicating that these were Christians, tried and true, real Christians who had fallen into sin. So let's dive into the verse and I want us to see truth number one. Truth number one, I want us to see they sinned against their brothers. They sinned against their brothers. Go back to the verse. He says, do not speak against another or one another brethren.

He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother. Three times he uses this word brother. We've got to remember that this is between the saved because James is switching gears. Last week he addressed the lost, but now he's addressing the Christians and see it's the study of the language that helps us understand these truths. Last week in verse eight, that word sinner. Remember, it is only applied to the lost all throughout the New Testament when that specific word is used. Therefore, we know James's attitude. He is addressing the loss, but yet there's no mistaking what he's saying right here.

Brothers, brothers, brothers, brethren, brethren. So we see this sin. They sin against their brothers. Now let's break down this sin that we see right here. This sin against their brothers. First, I want us to see that this sin is against those who were in the family. First, this sin is a sin against those who are in the family. Now, every translation uses wording to indicate that this is with Christians. The English standard version uses the word brother two times. The King James uses the word another. They're sitting against another and the word brethren.

Now, what this tells us is that this is among people who are part of the body of Christ. They are part of the household of God. These are not people who proclaim the no Christ, but yet they live a hypocritical life. Remember, last week we learned that there were those in the fellowships who were double minded. They were double sold. Remember understanding that language? They were hypocritical. They put on the church mask, but yet when they left the church house, they took that mask off and they became the person they really were. That's not what this language tells us. These people are within the family of God.

Now, we always have to hold on the Bible language because this helps us understand our place. If you were born again, you were in the family of God. You are part of the body of Christ. And that's why James says you are sinning against one another. I guess if we can borrow some of Paul's language, the hand is sinning against the arm. The foot is sinning against the leg because we are all part of the body of Christ. This sin was against those, now listen, who were in the family. Second, I want you to see that this sin is a sin of defamation. Some of you might not know what this word defamation means. It's very similar to the word slander.

We're going to learn what this word defamation or slander means. Go back to the verse with me. He says, "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother." And he goes on down to say, "Speaks against the law." What I want you to see is there is a word, the word slander or the word defamation. It is used several times. Now the King James in the English Standard Version used the wording speaking evil. Now all through the verse, the New American uses the word speak against. Now this word speak against or speaking evil, it can be translated slander. And it simply means to speak against.

The New American is the most accurate here. And it simply means to speak evil, to speak slanderously, and to defame. That's what the word means. And this is the sin of defamation, the sin of slander, the sin of evil speaking against those who were in the family. I'll give you another example of the use of this word slander or defamation. You don't have to turn there. But 2 Peter, or excuse me, 1 Peter 2 verse 12. Listen to what Peter says.

He says, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God in the day of visitation." What is the context there in Peter? There were those who were outside of the body of Christ, those who were in the world speaking evil, speaking in a slanderous manner against Christians. And what Peter is saying is, you maintain your good behavior, although they speak evil against you. But the context is different here in James.

Because right here in James, this is the sin of defamation, and we've already seen, against one another. It's the hand sinning against the arm. It is the foot sinning against the leg, the body of Christ. Third, I want us to see that this is a sin of judgment. This is a sin of judgment. Go back down to the verse, verse 11. James says, "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother." Notice it goes a little deeper. This is the sin of judgment. It goes from the sin of slander. Now it's to the sin of judgment.

Now, all of the translations that I refer to on a regular basis use the word judgment. In this word, it means to speak a word of condemnation. One of the Bible commentators really gets the words correctly, gets our minds around it. And I want you to listen to this definition. Judging makes a presumptive statement about the destiny of a person's or their works as a whole that really only God can make. Do you understand that? Judging is an act that only the all-seeing, all-knowing God can perform. You get that? This was a sin within the family. This was the sin of slander.

But yet it went from just evil words to an attitude of judgment, to words of judgment. They were saying things about one another that only God could say because it is only God who sees all and knows all. They were doing to each other what only God could do. We see the seriousness of their sin. It was in the family. We see the depth of their sin because it was defamatory speech, slanderous, evil speech that went deeper and it went into utter judgment. They were issuing words of judgment that only God could do. I will give you an example, two examples that went on in my ministry in the past.

And I think this will help us understand about this sinning against their brothers. Years ago when I was in student ministry, I had a man come to me. He was a deacon in the church. He came by my office and he knocked on my door and came on in. I said, "Hello, how are you doing?" And we had a good relationship and we would always chitchat. But he was the kind of man, if he had something on his mind, I'm telling you brother, he was going to say it. He didn't sidestep it. He didn't sugarcoat it. He would look you right in the eye and he would say it. Whether it felt good or not. And I always appreciated him for that.

When we were in church leadership meetings or deacons meetings, he did not act in a pretentious manner. He just spoke it. A lot of people didn't like him for it. When he sat down in my office and he said, "I want to talk to you about something brother Chris." I said, "Sure." He said, "I was talking to somebody the other day and they told me that you played favorites within the ministry that you have." And I sat there for a minute and I said, "Well, sir, I really need some information to operate on. I really need some, I mean, tell me, what have I done?" I didn't get defensive. I said, "Give me some examples.

If I have done this, I want to know what person, when, where, how. Explain it to me. Tell me." And he said, "Well, this person that told me, they couldn't give me specifics but they just said that you had favorites and you spent a certain amount of time with some and you spent a certain amount of time with others and you ignored certain people and you did not give your time to certain people." And I looked at him and I said, "If I don't know situations, if I don't know names, if I don't know examples, I don't have anything to operate on." But I looked him in the eye and I said, "Would you please ask them to come to me?

Ask them to come sit down and tell me what I have done. If I have sinned, I will repent. If I have behavior that I don't know of, I will correct it. I am not without sin. I am not without fault. I can commit this sin. I could do this any day. Maybe I am in this sin. Would you please ask them to come to me?" He said, "They won't do it." And immediately because he said that, I knew what it was. It was slander. It was defamation. It was speaking evil against my character and against my ministry and against me because if it was legitimate, they would have come and they would have sat down and they would have given me date.

They would have given me the example. They would have given me the person. They would have sat down. I was transparent. I was honest. I did not get defensive. I said, "Would you please go to them and ask them? I want them to come sit down and talk to me." They never did. And because they would not come, I took it as a sin against me. They wanted to stand at a distance and they wanted to be slanderous. They wanted to defame my character. They wanted to defame my actions. And it was evil words because if they were a brother and I am a brother, they would have willingly come.

They would have sat down and in a nice, gentle way, they would have pointed out the error of my way. I never forget at one of the churches that I served, there was a man who was being called into the ministry. I did not have that much contact with this individual. He grew up in the church. I knew him at a distance. He and his wife attended the church. And I will never forget. I don't remember all of the circumstances, but the pastor had him speaking and sharing. And as he was sharing in the church, he began to share how he had held a grudge against me and how he had discussed certain things that I had preached with other people.

And I had no idea. I was sitting right over there and I mean, I turned white as a ghost. I broke out in a cold sweat because I was floored. I was blindsided. And he asked me to forgive him. And he said, I didn't like some of the things that you preached. And he said, but I began to study and you were right. And I've held on to this attitude. And I've said these things to my mother and I ask you to forgive me. What was the repenting of slanderous speech? See, you might say, well, those are real simple kind of harmless illustrations, maybe so.

But it helps you understand what James is saying is they had evil speech, slanderous speech, and it had moved on to actual judgment. As I was studying, I thought about, because this will help us. I thought about the environments where these things take place. A lot of times this type of behavior takes place in the car ride home away from church. I thought about another environment where this takes place. A lot of times it happens on the telephone when you have to leave the room and go get in a quiet place. A lot of times it happens between two church leaders out in the parking lot away from everybody else.

A lot of times this type of behavior, it happens in Deacon's meetings, maybe when the pastor's not there. Now, what am I trying to show you? I'm trying to show you that a lot of times this kind of behavior goes on and we just ignore it. It is slanderous, it is evil speech, and it can move on into literal judgment. You judge them for their action and you do what only God can do. I want to tell you, we need to be careful of this. Why? What does James say? James is saying, "You are sinning against the family." You are sinning against your brother, your sister. You are defaming the family. You are slandering the family.

You are judging the family. Listen, they sin against their brothers. I don't know about you, but you know that old saying, "Blood is thicker than water." That's the way it should be within God's family. They sin against their brothers. Let's move on. Let's look at point number two, or truth number two. I want us to see that they sinned against the law. They sin against the law, or the word. Look back down to verse 11. Let's read the verse together again. James says, "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother." Now, notice what he says. He changes.

"Speaks against the law." And he judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of the law. Now, remember, this is brother against brother. This is sister against sister. And I know I keep beating that drum, but we must remember this. "But now James moves from a sin against one another to a sin against the word of God." First, I want you to notice they spoke against the law. They spoke against the law. What does it say? "Do not speak against one another, brethren.

He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother." Notice, "Speaks against the law." We have already established that they slandered, or they defamed one another. James uses the same word in their behavior now towards the word of God. Simply put, they were defaming each other, and now we see that they are defaming the very word of God in their slander against one another. I want to ask you, I don't do this very often, I want to ask you to turn over to Romans chapter 12. Mark, James, we're going to come back.

I want us to see something with Paul's writings in Romans that will help us to see and to get our minds around what this means to sin against the word. Romans chapter 13, excuse me, not chapter 12. Romans chapter 13, verse 8 through 10 is what we're going to look at. Notice what Paul says, "Oh, nothing to anyone except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up by saying this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." What is Paul saying?

Paul is saying exactly what Christ said. The religious leaders came to Jesus and they said, "What is the greatest law? What is the most important law?" He said, "Through love, the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus said, "All of the law and the prophets can be summed up in this verse to love God and love your neighbor." But notice what he says in verse 10. Paul is just echoing Christ. "Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law." Now, what is Paul telling us here, right here?

I want you to notice that there is behavior, which is obedience. What he is saying is, "Be obedient to the Word. Oh, nothing to anyone except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." And he goes on to say, "Do not commit adultery, do not commit murder, do not steal, do not covet." What does he say? He's saying, "Be obedient to the law." So their behavior is obedience to the Word. But then also notice the motive behind that obedience. And the motive behind that obedience is what? It is love. Go back to the verse.

"Oh, nothing to anyone except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." And what is the motivation in obedience? It is to love. "We do not commit adultery." Why? Because we love God and we love the Word. We do not commit murder. Why? Because we love God and we do not love the Word and we love our neighbor as ourself. We do not steal. Why? Because we love God, we love our neighbor, we love the Word of God. And so on. We keep going down the list. But then in verse 10, what does he say?

"Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." That is the motivation behind obedience to the Word of God. But notice the end result. Now listen. "Is the fulfillment of the law." No man can keep the law perfectly. No man can obey the law without fault. But yet when we obey the law, because we love the law, that is a fulfillment of the law. You get that? When we obey the law, because we love the law, it is a fulfillment of the law. Not that we obey it perfectly, but we obey it because we love God, we love the Word of God. And listen. We love our neighbor as ourself.

So what James is showing, what James is saying, is that defaming or slandering each other is actually doing the same to the Word of God. Why? Because the Word of God says, "I'm supposed to love you just like I love myself." And see, if I slander you, I literally slander the Word because I am living a contrary life to the Word. I'm being disobedient to the Word. And that's what they were doing. They were defaming each other. They were slandering one another. And yet because of their actions against their brothers and sisters, they were literally attacking the Word of God. Second, I want you to notice they judge the law.

Not only do they speak against the law by their actions, they judge the law. Now, we have already established the meaning of the word judge, but go back to the verse. Let's look at it again. "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother." Now, notice, "speaks against the law and judges the law." They judge the law. Now, we've already established what the meaning of this word judge means. It means to speak in condemnation of, to take the place of God, the only one who can judge. John MacArthur helps us understand this behavior.

He says the unimaginable implication is that the one who disregards God's law, remember, that's what they're doing. They're disregarding the law of God. The unimaginable implication is that the one who disregards God's law, in effect, claims to be superior to the law of God, not to be bound by it or to be subject to its authority. But such fearful disrespect, the sinner, judges the law as unworthy of his attention, unworthy of his affection, unworthy of his obedience, and submission, all of which is blasphemy against who? God. So what does MacArthur help us to see? What is James trying to show us?

That in sinning against the brother, we sin against the word, and therefore we judge the word, because what we're doing is we're saying, "That doesn't apply to me. I know what's best." James shows the true depth of their sin. Their actions were not just against each other, but against the very word. This sin against the law was the sin against love they should have had for one another. James is saying, "How can you say you love the word when you do not love one another, and in so doing you are putting yourself as judge over the word?" Because you're saying you do not have to submit to it.

I can't think of a better example than from the Old Testament. You don't have to turn there. It's the story out of 1 Samuel chapter 15. I don't know if you know your Old Testament history, but the people of Israel, God's people, decided that they wanted a king, just like all the other nations. See, they had a man of God, Samuel, to govern them, but yet the people of God, they wanted a king, just like the pagan peoples. They came to Samuel. It broke Samuel's heart. He was a man after God's own heart, loved God and governed the people well. Samuel went before God and God said, "Listen Samuel, they haven't rejected you.

They've rejected me as king." And what did God tell Samuel? God said, "Samuel, give them what they want." And the first king was the king Saul. Now, Samuel came to Saul one day and Samuel came to Saul and he said, "Saul, I've got a job for you." And this is what Saul said or Samuel said. "Then Samuel said to Saul, 'The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel.' Now therefore, listen to the words of what? The Lord." And notice what he says.

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming out from Egypt.'" These peoples were the ones who pestered God's people coming out of Egyptian bondage. Now, notice verse 3. Samuel says, "Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." You know what God said?

"Go kill them all." They were against me when I was calling my people out of Egypt and he says, "Samuel, you go tell Saul to go kill every single one of them." Now, if you know the story, what did Saul do? He didn't kill every one of them. As a matter of fact, he had the king bound and he saved the choice animals. And when Samuel came along, what did Saul say? He said, "I have obeyed God. I have saved the best for God." And what did Samuel say? Samuel went into a holy rage and he said, "You have disobeyed God." And Samuel obeyed God and he chopped off the head of the king. He obeyed God. Now, what am I trying to show you with the example?

Saul, listen, he judged the Word of God. He put himself above the Word of God and he said, "The Word of God does not apply to me because he didn't obey it." And he said, "I have obeyed God." But he didn't obey God. He disobeyed God's Word. He ignored God's Word. Now, I want to ask you a question. Do we not do the same thing when we defame and slander one another? That's what James is saying to these brothers. He's saying, "You defame one another. You slander one another. You judge one another." And the logical step from that is, James says, "You judge the Word. You sin against the Word.

You sin against the Law of God." And listen, do we not simply tear out the pages of the Word of God when we do that? And what we are doing in essence is we're just tearing out the pages and saying, "That doesn't apply to me. That doesn't apply to me. I'll take this over here, but I'll ignore this over there." Isn't that what Saul did? Saul chose to obey God on his terms. And see, that's what these Christians were doing that James was writing to. He's saying, "You are literally judging the Word. You're putting yourself above it." It's like tearing up the pages of the Bible and throwing them in a fire.

As I was studying this this week, I was torn over two things. How to greatly illustrate this truth, and then also how much to share. I'm not going to continue into verse 12 because of time, but I want to take a little time and I want to share with you an example of how this works. You can close your Bible, but I want you to listen close. I have a friend who is in ministry. I was able to influence him and mentor him in some ways. He's introduced me as a mentor before. We've done ministry together through the years. But my friend ended up going to a particular church and I knew the pastor. I knew the people. I thought it was a good match.

I was happy. I prayed. I fasted. I sought the Lord in that set of circumstances. And I watched my friend go to this church and I watched my friend plug his life into the work of the church and get busy in the work of the church. And I stayed out of his way. It was none of my business. It was between him and that church and his ministry. I just let him do his job. But little did I know there was a church conflict brewing and see church conflict always brews behind closed doors in the secret. And then eventually it ends up not eventually. Sometimes it ends up on the floor. Little did I know that there was going to be quarrels and fights.

First one talks about little did I know that there was less because some had and they wanted and they did not have. Little did I know that there were in these and little did I know that there were jealousies and they would turn into fights and quarrels. Little did I know that there would be accusations to kind of speed the story up. The leadership within that church trumped up charges. And they took serious accusations of slander. When you accuse a man's wife of immorality that's pretty serious. And see what they did was they literally took the word of God and they tore one of the pages out of the word of God.

We've been through first Timothy together. We took our time through first Timothy. But you know when we look into first Timothy we learn what it's like to deal with church discipline with an elder and with a leader in the church. And in first Timothy chapter five it tells us how to do that. It tells us that you do not bring in a false accusation. You have two or more witnesses to protect the accused to protect the accuser. And it is a biblical way. It is the right way to approach someone who is supposed to be within sin. What those leaders did was they turned to the word of God and they yanked that page out of their Bible.

They balled it up and they threw it on the floor. They brought up all kinds of accusations. All kinds of charges. They charged them with immorality and a lot of other serious sin. What they said behind the pulpit and then what they said out in the eye. They were two different things. When people approached them they were lies and they were accusations and they were angers and there were a slow speech that was used. It was un-Christian. What am I trying to show you. It just went from bad to worse real quick. And I watched that young couple go through that meat grinder. And listen. It took a long, long, long time. Now listen.

Just to get their nose above water. A lot of pain. Almost losing a ministry. A lot of heartache. A lot of questions. Why? How? And see. I watched this behavior from a distance. I was close enough to it to get hurt but yet far enough away to be out of it. And I watched. Listen. Verse 11. Be flashed out in life and blood. I know names. I know faces. I know stories. I watched this happen. And look. It destroyed a church. Tons of people left. The reputation of Christ is the same old story that names and faces change. And I've been having a pray and love. Forgive. I don't really ask why anymore. I'm old enough in the faith.

I understand how these things happen. I don't ask the Lord why anymore. I just say, "Lord, what are you trying to teach me?" And see, it was a mess. Now why do I tell you that story? I tell you that story because listen. This is real. And it happens. And it hurts. And it destroys. And quote unquote, "Brothers and sisters in Christ." Now listen. Can do these things. I want to say three things to you and I want you to get them. I want you to get them. First of all, be sober. Be sober minded when approaching a verse like this. Why? Because listen. This stuff is real. This stuff happens. And look. This stuff is demonic.

It is energized and it is empowered by the forces of evil that want to destroy God's work. They want to destroy the church. They want to destroy God's people. The world is alive and well and it is energized by the devil himself. And it is demonic. Be sober. Be sober minded. Also, I want to say a warning to you. And it's twofold. If you are around someone who is slanderous towards God's work and God's people, you watch out. Now listen. I've said it like this. The devil does not come down the aisle of this church. He will not come up to you in a little red suit and a pitchfork and horns and say, "Boo." He doesn't work that way.

He is an angel of light. And if you have someone around you who is slanderous against the Word of God and the work of God and the people of God, you better watch out. Now, there is a place for discipline. There is a place for saying, "This is what the Word says." I'll never forget. Now listen close. I had a friend who was a slanderer. He was a slanderer. He was good at slandering other people. And he came up to me one day. He kept saying the same thing, "You better watch that guy over there. You better watch that guy over there." And I kept hearing that year after year.

"You better watch that guy." And I said, "Tell me what is wrong with this guy right over here. I want to know. Did he steal? Did he cheat on his wife? I mean, did he live a double life 25 years ago? Tell me what is wrong with this guy?" He said, "There's just something there." And I kept quizzing him and he never could answer. He never could give me concrete evidence where I should leave and quit associating with this man. And I finally did. I said, "You're a slanderer. You defame character." And I never put stock in what he said. You be careful.

If someone is around you who is a slanderer, I'm telling you, you better run for the hills because they will destroy. The second word of warning is this. When this breaks out or when you're around it, you be careful who you call lost. I'm going to let you in on how this preacher works. Usually when I run across behavior like this, if it persists in my mind and in my heart, I'm quick to say, "Yeah, that guy's just lost. That guy's lost or she's lost. They need to get saved. That's why they keep opening their mouth like that.

That's why they keep talking about God's people and God's work like that." But according to what James says, these were brothers. We must be careful how we speak. Because if it wasn't for James telling us who these people really are, we might lump them up in these previous verses. Why? But what about our reaction? Our reaction should be brokenness. Because listen, people, this destroys people. This destroys the work of God. This destroys the reputation of God. This destroys a church's reputation in the community. This destroys the ability to reach the lost. This destroys for any of us to be able to have a strong witness in the community.

This destroys and taints so much. Remember the story that I told you? Remember the ministers and the leaders who are guilty of this? Everywhere they go, this reeks and everybody knows it. When they ride by, when they go down the road, when people hear their names, they laugh, they scoff because it destroys. And it should break our hearts. And it broke James' heart. And that's why he spent so much time in addressing this issue. Not just quarrels within the church, but addressing their attitudes and their actions. And yes, the lost people, but even the sin of those who were brothers. One verse, but yet so much information. What do we see?

Conflict within the church, part four. The demonic is the might. Deeds of defamation. It destroys so much. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you will help us to learn, truly learn and understand how this works.