The Slander God Hates

I had two discussions with members this week. One called and said, you know, when I'm looking at the Bible, I begin to see that what's written here really is exposing some shortcomings of mine. And when I look and read it, instead of pointing at other people and saying, oh yeah, that applies to this person and that applies to that person, I'm beginning to find and I'm focusing on the fact that I am not perfect.

And fasting certainly can help us in the process of God showing us where we're not perfect. If we get rid of some of our vanity and some of our haughtiness and begin to think about ourselves as we truly should. Another minister called me this week. He had just returned from Africa. And as we were talking, he says, you know, there's a passage over in Jeremiah that has just been bothering me. Because, you know, it's easy just to take a passage there and maybe assign that to an ancient group of people and say, oh, that's what's going to happen to them.

He says, but towards the end of the chapter, it talks about the return of Jesus Christ. Now, we know when that's going to happen and we know where we are on the time frame. And if you look just ahead of that, he says some things there about the leaders, about the ministry. And he says, I'm wondering there if he's talking about me and some of the warnings to those who might become overly confident, you know, in their spiritual standing. And yet Jesus said, you're about to be blinded. So these are good illustrations of what I hope you are finding when you read the Bible, that it's easy to assume that my mentality is very close to that of God's.

It's easy to assume that, yes, I'm in the church, I've got the truth, I know the commandments, and, you know, I'm in a church that has the name God on it and seem to be surrounded by some pretty godly peoples. And so we can sort of be lulled, as it were, into thinking, this book really is about everybody else. However, in Isaiah 55, verse 6, if we see what God says from his perspective, things are quite different. Isaiah 55, beginning in verse 6, says, Seek the Lord while he may be found, indicating that there's a window of opportunity. There's a time when God won't be able to be found, a time when he will not be available.

So right now, we can seek God while this window of opportunity is open. Going on, it says, Call upon him while he is near, near via the Holy Spirit, near to those who are trying to get close to him and break down that wall of sin, that partition which separates. Because you see, there's a time coming when everybody will want to be really close to God, Save me!

Save me! Save me! Save me from these problems! Save me from this end time! Jesus said there's a really, really bad time coming in Matthew 24. And everybody's going to be crying out then, of course, what will they really be saying? Well, I want to save my skin. It's not really about loving God and loving my neighbor as myself. So now we have the window of opportunity open to really show that we love God and neighbor. Not sometime when we're crying out because we're in trouble. Going on.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Now we are not classified as wicked or unrighteous if we are truly trying to repent. However, are we righteous? Are we really pure? Going on. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.

Going on. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So it's easy again for us to think, oh, we kind of think just like God. And yet God tells us, no, not in reality. Not in reality. We need to understand two things from this passage. First of all, that the unrepentant sinners are going to perish. Jesus gave many parables about the chaff being burnt up, about individuals who come along and they're part of the group and they think they're in good stead being surprised when he returns and when judgment is given.

So we have to be careful about that. Revelation 21.8 talks about those who are given to sin and don't repent of it, they will be burnt up. Second Peter chapter 3 talks about how the heavens, the physical heavens and earth are going to burn up with a fervent heat and everything and everyone on it. So what manner of persons ought we to be? This is the window of opportunity. And the second point is that the repentant are not classified as the wicked.

They are, as it says in 1 John 1 and verse 9, they are being forgiven. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So those individuals are not considered unrighteous and wicked because they are being forgiven and cleansed as they repent. And Jesus put that into the daily model prayer. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, our debts against one another as we forgive each other.

So we are being cleaned up, as it were, on a daily basis or repentance by repentant basis. There is only so much time that you and I have to seek the Lord while he may be found. That window is going to close. There are many prophecies that speak to that, but the basis is the bride now has some time to be being cleaned up. We find back in the 19th chapter of Revelation that those individuals who comprise of the bride will have cleaned themselves up with God's help. They will be cleansed by the blood of Christ, we find in Ephesians, the fifth chapter.

That's how we are cleaned, repenting and being forgiven. Jesus Christ is going to come at a time and you and I will have to stand. Now there are signs of the end time everywhere. There are things going on in the world out there that, you know, trigger being put on devices that can erase life off the planet. So you get the idea that this window of opportunity before the Great Tribulation isn't going to be open forever.

We don't know how long it's going to be open, but there it is. And we need to be busy about our Father's business of repenting and overcoming and preparing to be with Jesus Christ and to serve with Him at His return. Now here's a question. Who is going to be spared from the Great Tribulation and assist Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus says in Luke 21, verses 35 and 36, Luke 21, verse 35, He actually defines here who will miss out on that because they will have already been prepared.

They will have already been cleaned. Talking about this Great Tribulation, He says in Luke 21, verse 35, it will come as a snare. I don't know if you know what a snare is. A snare is like a trap. It's something that's spring-loaded and ready to snap shut. I have a snare on my front porch right now underneath my office window to catch cats. Our storm drains out front have cats in them, and the cats breed other cats, and they're very wild.

I've fed them for some time and tried to make them friendly, and they'll have nothing to do with humans. They're just wild. They cause a problem whereby they're bringing in ticks and filling our yard with ticks, and now we've had ticks in the house, ticks crawling up the walls. My wife and I had the daily tick count, how many we pick off the walls of the house and slice with scissors. So the cats really needed to go somewhere else and move along and have a new neighborhood somewhere where there wouldn't be a problem. And so I have a cat trap.

Now the interesting thing about the cat trap is it has some nice food in there, and I feed them sometimes. Sometimes I'll set the trap. Now here comes a cat, and it just goes right in the trap, and yummy, yummy, yummy food. And this is going to be just like the last time. It's going to work out great, and my little belly's going to be nice and full. And the cat leans over and starts to eat a little bit, and this is really nice, and picks up its little paw and puts it on the trigger and BAM!

I mean BAM! Just that fast. The cat's world changes, and the window of opportunity is shut. And the cat's just dismayed by the fact that it no longer has the same freedom or opportunities that it did just a split second before.

And then it gets a new home and another area, and it's time for the next cat.

But it's amazing how fast and how permanent something changes. And so when Jesus says, for the great tribulation will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the earth, there might be some little signs and some ideas, and we get the sense that when there are green leaves on the tree, he said, you know that summer's nigh? Well, BAM! Verse 36, Therefore, you, he says, watch. The word there means be alert. He's talking about to your spiritual condition, to your opportunity to seek God while he may be found, to overcome, to repent, to be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

Be alert, therefore, and pray. Be a person of prayer. And when you are praying according to the prayer outline, you are focusing on God, on his kingdom, on righteousness, on finding sin, putting it out, being forgiven, resisting Satan, and giving all the credit and the glory and the honor and the power to God. And that person of prayer, he says, be that so that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. That's one thing. Avoid the tribulation. But the other is, and to stand before the summon of man, to be able to be there, to be part of the resurrection, to be counted as the bride of Christ. Now, let's ask each one of ourselves. Each of us ask a personal question.

What might God dislike about me? Why, nothing, of course. I have been in the church for many years. I have understanding. I have deeds. I have whatever. I have a lot of things. God certainly would have nothing he dislikes about me. In fact, I think he's one of my favorites.

See, we need to work on that attitude, don't we? While the window is open.

Well, God actually gives us seven examples. In Proverbs 6, verses 16-19, I'd like to focus today on examining something that we need to get rid of. And we find that God is really unhappy about certain things. And he gives us seven examples of what makes him really, really upset. Really upset. Proverbs 6, verse 16 says, These six things the Lord hates.

Now, you can take that Hebrew word that's translated hates, and you can try to stretch it and bend it. You can try to cover it up. But really what that word means is God hates these six things. And yes, seven are an abomination to him. Okay, now what's an abomination? How many of you have used the word abomination this week in your regular speech? So it's not a word we're real familiar with. So, look it up. Guess what abomination means from the Hebrew? Abomination means morally disgusting. Here are seven things that are disgusting to God.

Six things he hates. Seven are morally disgusting. Get the idea here that these are some things you and I need to take a look at and see if any of them are in us. And while we have this opportunity to be working on them. He says, verse 17, One is a proud look. An individual thinks pretty much of him or herself. The person could be vain or certainly conceited. It's about them not giving the credit, the power, the honor, the glory, the praise to God. But it's become about me. Second is a lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans.

What is wicked? Anyone use the term wicked this week? Wicked from the Hebrew means one who devises or causes trouble and sorrow to other people. Feet that are swift and running to evil. Evil, that's another one of those words I forgot to use this week.

Evil, what does that mean? From the Hebrew, giving pain, unhappiness or misery to others. Verse 19, A false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren. That's another word. Discord, had to look it up, means strife and contention.

Arguably, six of the seven have to do with causing others pain. Definitely five of the seven do. Stirring up trouble, stirring up misery for other people. In other words, they're a pain to other people. People who are a pain, you kind of want to get rid of. That's kind of what God does when his kingdom comes up. Those who are a pain don't make it into the family of love and joy and harmony. They just don't. So today I'd like to examine something that we need to get rid of, we need to repent of. Being a pain to others could summarize it.

In particular, though, I'd like to give you a sermon entitled, The Slander God Hates. The slander God hates. Have you ever commented on something that a person allegedly did? Have you ever even mentioned to another person about something you saw somebody do? You know, they didn't do what was right, you heard it, it was explained in a way that obviously was true, or even what you saw with your own eyes was easy to surmise what was taking place.

And something that's just disgusting or wrong, it bears mentioning. Just so that somebody else can maybe pray about it, or be aware of it or something. I don't know, we just have to tell one person as humans.

There's a song that came out a number of years ago by James Taylor. It was entitled, Her Town, Too. And some of the lyrics go like this. Seems like her old girlfriends might be talking her down. She's got her name on the grapevine, running up and down the telephone line, talking about someone said, someone else said, something about, something else, that someone might have said about her. This is a human tendency that we have, and it's born out of our own self-confidence deficiencies.

And yet it is something that is a pain to other people, and it hurts. What is slander? I'll give you some definitions of slander. From the Old Testament, the word translated slander comes from the Hebrew word that means defaming, an evil report, or infamy.

From the New Testament, which doesn't use the word slander, but uses the word defamed, similar meaning, from the Greek means to vilify, to speak impiously, to defame, to rail on, revile, or speak evil of someone else. From Merriam-Webster dictionary, slander means to defame. From a legal standpoint, uslegal.com defines slander as this.

Slander is an act of communication that causes someone to be shamed, ridiculed, held in contempt, lowered in the estimation of the community, or to lose employment status or earnings, or otherwise suffer a damaged reputation with information that the speaker or the writer knew or should have known was false. Didn't mean they knew it was false. They might have assumed it was true, but they could have known it was false.

We've heard it. It sounds accurate. It sounds this way. It sounds that way. You know, there's stuff being circulated about me. It's just the way it goes. But it's interesting how the facts can be changed. You know, somebody takes a private communique and posts it on the Internet. I heard it was on the Internet. I said, what? Contacted some people who got it pulled off after a few minutes. It popped up somewhere else. Contacted the Web people and said, take that off. It doesn't do anybody any good. It doesn't help the individuals.

That's defaming. Get it off of there. I wrote a statement, put it on the Internet. If anybody sees that out there, on my behalf, take it off. So there's something circulating, even among our congregations being sent in, that says, I posted it out there. I put it on the Internet.

And it was so bad it had to be taken down. Come on! It's just ridiculous. But you see, people will speak evil of things they don't know or don't understand. We will chomp on something. React! A reaction is something done in self-preservation. We shouldn't be about preserving ourselves. Slander is an unsubstantiated accusation. It's not how God says to deal with offenses. If a person is at a disadvantage, Slander works to cripple those who have an advantage. Now think about that. In regards to righteous people, I am not labeling myself as a righteous person. God is righteous. We are all trying to be righteous and perform righteousness through God's help. But those who live by God's way of life tend to get respected, don't they?

People who serve and give, they have values and ethics, they try to help other people, tends to be a respectable situation. Now, other people on the planet don't necessarily live their lives, respectively, do they? You could go out into society and you could find people who people would kind of look at and say, I don't respect that person just from what I'm seeing.

And so what happens is Slander can be used for less advantageous positions to cripple those who have more advantageous positions, more respect. So what you do is you go out and cut the people off at the knees by bringing their own. Their reputation down. That's an old, old ploy. God's way brings admiration and honor, and that goes to God, not an individual. But sin brings dishonor. So others can elevate themselves by lowering the honor.

It doesn't really elevate anybody. It just tries to get somebody to sink lower than you or I are if we do that. I'll give you an example. In Matthew 27, verse 37, here's what happened to our Lord. The wonderful, outgoing, selfless one who gave himself, who did nothing, no sin, and no guile was found in his mouth. He didn't even go against any individual by name. In Matthew 27, verse 37, you know, they couldn't find anything wrong with him. Nothing. Pilate couldn't find anything wrong with him. Wherever he went, nobody could find anything wrong with him.

And so, verse 37, they put up over his head the accusation, they being the Jews, they put up over his head the accusation written against him. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews, which was a railing accusation in a sense that he was, I believe, trying to replace or overthrow the Caesar in Rome, because it was illegal for Roman leaders to use the term king.

They were very afraid of losing the democracy that they had created with the Senate. You know, Paul, in Acts 25, verses 24 and 25, suffered something similar. Acts 25, verse 24, they said everything they could, they slandered him, just like Jesus Christ. And so he's coming up to Rome, Acts 25, verse 24. He's not at Rome yet, but here up in Caesarea, I believe it was, Festus said, King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me. The entire assembly has said all these terrible things, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live anymore.

This is how bad this guy is. Talk about somebody whose character was assassinated. But he says, when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of it, oh, I actually looked for facts. I did an investigation. I checked on reality. And I found that these guys were slanderers. That's what the conclusion was. But you can see what people will typically do, people sometimes being you and sometimes me. And I'm not here today to sort of send out a message that, you know, I'm right and somebody's wrong. No, I'm wrong. I'm wrong and I'm wrong. That's the two messages for today. And I'm human like anybody else. But at the same time, I'm studying, I'm praying, I'm analyzing, I'm assessing, I want you to.

We have this window of opportunity open. We need to go in and see, even when we're doing right, and we're doing things for the good, that sometimes our motive is bad. I mean, how deceitful does this heart get? We have to always be on top of it and asking God for help, because it's desperately wicked. And if we go on thinking, oh, well, I'm right and I'm good and I'm in a good position, guess what? When Christ returns, we could be dead wrong. I'd like to give you a personal example that my wife and I have experienced. And I'm not saying it was a bad thing, it was a very good thing.

Just some experience from the perspective that you may not have had, probably didn't. There was a time in the church back in 1997 when a couple of things were happening. One was the president was being replaced, and he had a whole bunch of people that supported him, didn't want him replaced. Does that sound familiar? And there were some individuals who didn't like some people who were getting on the council. Does that sound familiar? And so some people started to defame some council members.

Now, I was a pastor in Cincinnati at the time, that was just an outpost of the church back in those days, just another pastor ship on the trail. And one thing that you began to hear was how evil some of the people on the council were. I mean, downright evil. And there were stories that went along with it. The interesting thing for my wife and I was we had three of those evil council members in our house. Because it was the days when the church was looking for a new home office location, and Cincinnati was one of the potential sites for it. And so I was asked to become involved with real estate people and with council members in finding and assessing potential sites for the home office in the Cincinnati area. And so the day came when things were getting pretty thick and hot among the council and among supporters of certain people of the council and one of the leaders. And you don't know really what's going on, but this whole thing moves into our house with council meetings on the telephone, speakerphone, executive sessions, a whole nine yards, council members riding in our van with us as we went around to show them places, work being done on the telephone. And I'm just the mouse in the room with two or three of the evil ones. Now, one of those men I didn't know before. And what happened was, as we and my wife and I, you know, just kind of overhearing things, it wasn't like we were really in on it, but you know, the doors would open and you hear certain things and certain issues were being discussed.

We were just impressed by the godliness, by the manner in which these individuals would take things said about themselves or deal with difficult issues in a very thoughtful, caring way, concerned way for others who might have to be corrected or dealt with or replaced.

Not because we were there, we were just kind of the fly on the wall. But I'll tell you, for one man who would eventually become chairman of the council, president, chairman again, interim president, to live with that individual, that man, for a number of days and to have worked around him in other areas that were interesting, stressful, you know, his example skyrocketed in our estimation, in my estimation.

Another individual who has worked with an international aid agency for poor people in the world and who has served on the council and currently serves the ministry, again, the same attitude, the same mentality of concern, of really godly, prayerful, thoughtful, beautiful speech that came out at one of the most difficult times we had seen was exemplary.

Wow, they were being labeled as evil!

Now, at that time, we had another friend who was a local elder in a distant part of the country.

And out in his part of the country, there weren't so many people, and he had a pastor and he had some local elders.

And that elder had been informed how evil these men were, these and others. Just real evil.

And all kinds of reasons why they were evil. And they were very convincing, and this friend of ours was very convinced.

And, well, I mean, you know, you only hear one thing and you've got all the details, that's it.

And he was about to just say, nuts, to this one group and band with the other group.

Until one day he said, you know what? What am I doing? I'm a German, we come from an engineering background, we come from facts.

So he poured out his sheet of paper, drew a line down the middle of it, he said.

Here are the allegations on the left side. And over here on the right side, proof.

And he began to call and contact every individual with every allegation, page after page.

And when he was finished, he told us, the column on the right remained blank.

He had personally met with some of these evil people and found out the truth.

And so, coming back to his home church area, he got together with the leaders and said, let's go to lunch.

I've got some exciting news. And they all went to lunch. And he said, looky, at the list.

I've been down through all of this stuff, and guess what? None of it's true. Isn't that good news?

And the man who was with him, one of the men who was with him said, well, that doesn't matter, they're still evil.

You know, sometimes you just, you've got it in for somebody. You're so entrenched.

And that's my personal story. Now, let me be clear about my goal for you.

My goal for you is for you to enter the kingdom of God. That is done by you being in a position when Christ comes back into the clouds, where you meet him and he says, well done, you good and faithful servant.

Enter into the rest of the world. Enter into that kingdom of God. Enter into my family. That's what I want for you.

That's what I want for everybody. That's what we hopefully all want when we pray, our Father in heaven, your kingdom come and your will be done in all of us, in all the earth, as it is in heaven.

How do we get there? Not by well wishes. We get there by using this window of opportunity to grow.

And my goal for you is this, teaching timeless biblical principles.

You need to know the timeless biblical principles. They will see you through any situation, whether you're in a group, like we are here, or out by yourself, or whether the beast power is trying to carve his initials on you or whatever it is, the mark.

Whether you're being sawn in two or in caves, destitute, naked, whatever, the faith will go through.

You don't need to be around somebody. You need the timeless principles that God is going to judge you by how you lived.

They will see you through anything. There's a statement in the Bible. I forget where it is, but it says, if you're having trouble running with the footmen, what are you going to do when the horses show up?

We've got a little problem from time to time among ourselves. What are you going to do when the beast power shows up?

If you obey God, you'll be killed. This is small, in a sense. Don't follow personalities. Don't get involved in issues. Don't take sides. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 3.

1 Corinthians chapter 3, beginning in verse 3. You can go all the way down through the rest of the verse.

He says, For where there are envy and strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like me or me?

What's with this? This isn't what it's about.

For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? You're not physically minded?

Aren't you thinking about people and issues? This calling isn't about people. It's not about issues.

Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you have believed as the Lord gave Jesus?

It's not about Paul, Apollos, about Herbert Armstrong, or John Elie, or anybody else. It's about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are ministers of Him. We do things in His name.

Even He Himself said as the example of and by myself, I can do nothing.

I consider myself, personally, as a stone. I like the analogy. It fits a stone.

God can make a stone speak. He can turn a stone into a descendant of Abraham.

I don't take credit because I can't do anything that's worth anything unless God does it through the stone.

You see? It's the end of that model prayer that I pray every day. Yours is the kingdom. Yours is the power, and yours is the glory.

I'm just happy to be here and be the stone.

As long as I'm a compliant stone, God can speak through me or work through me. Not that I do that very well, but I'm trying.

So when you look here, who are these? It's the Lord that gives each one these opportunities.

Verse 7, So then neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters, but God is everything. He is the one who gives the increase.

Now it talks about individuals there that work, and we should be busy. We should be working. We should...

I remember Mr. Armstrong said, I give God all the credit, but I work like it all depends on me. We have to do something.

It can't just be a stone sitting there.

But, verse 11, No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ.

Now, he goes on. Some can build on this foundation with gold. Some can speak and work and minister and help with God's inspiration.

Like gold, I guess that's pretty good. Others, like silver or precious stones. Others, like wood. Like hay. Like straw.

So, you know, you can't just say, well, I'm just going to sit here and wait for God to inspire me and do nothing.

Or you could end up doing about as much as straw would. And that wouldn't be very helpful to anybody, would it?

But each one's work will become clear.

Verse 16, Do you not know that you are the temple of God? This isn't about humans. When you look at a human being going, oh, that person, that person in the church, that person is this way or that way, they're really special.

I mean, we should honor them, but what are we saying? We're saying God lives in that individual. God's spirit is in that individual.

If there's anything good, God gets the credit for that. And we should all rejoice and admire one another, even in our weaknesses.

There is no one among us, no matter how you think that should be despised or shamed or ridiculed. We all are at various places.

Sometimes we irritate each other. Sometimes we're a pain. But remember, the window's still open, and we can change. Verse 18, let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become as a fool that he may become wise.

It's God's wisdom. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For as written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness.

Now, here's where if we want to start, say, oh, I can do this, and I can wiggle there, and I can get some fan. You know, we can twist this, and we can do a little slander here, and it looks pretty good, and all this stuff.

God catches the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.

Therefore, let no one boast in men.

Verse 22, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, these are all yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God's.

All those things go to God.

You want to break my heart, just start following me. I don't want you to follow me.

I actually appreciate it when people say, I see something encouraging about you. Since you've been here, I've seen you grow.

I've seen your fault, and I've seen you grow. And I think, thank you! That is encouraging.

Number one, it's encouraging to think that I am making some progress.

And number two, it's encouraging that you are thinking that way.

That you don't see humans as something you want to sidle up to and support, but rather God.

I appreciate when you judge me by the fruits of God's Holy Spirit, and find me wanting because you should.

But you should also find me trying, which I hope you will.

But here's what I want you to follow. 1 Peter 2, 21.

1 Peter 2, verse 21. No, I'm not going to read where Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.

Now, I'm going to read you Peter. We'll let Paul what he said stand, but let's go over to what Peter says.

1 Peter 2, verse 21. Here's what I want you to focus on.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps.

This is about God. It's about godliness. It's about becoming a child in the family of God, the mentality of that.

It's not about humans. It's not about issues. It's not about what side you're on or what you support or trying to figure it out, or your guy versus somebody else's guy.

That's carnal, Paul says. This is spiritual.

You were called, because Christ gave everything. He suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.

When He was reviled, did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed, for you were like sheep going astray.

Now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your lives. That is what we are here for. That is what we are focusing on.

If we do that, we can be growing into the children, into the knowledge, into the wisdom, into the mentality of our Lord and Savior and our Father.

One thing that God particularly hates is private slander. He says, I'm going to destroy those who practice it.

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him, I will destroy. That's what David said in Psalm 101 verse 5.

So I need to repent. I need to find that. I need to analyze. That's not just going in and saying, okay, my lips will never say anything negative about anything.

The world is wonderful. Everything is wonderful. Everybody is wonderful. Nobody does anything wrong. Happy, happy, happy.

That's not exactly what God says, is it? It wasn't exactly what Christ said.

If we don't repent, then God is going to destroy us, He says. So I need to repent. I need to get out evil.

Does that mean we need to be silent about evil or what people do that is wrong?

Well, Jesus said as an example, if you go to Matthew chapter 23, just turn with me real quick of your Bible, Matthew chapter 23, and notice the entire chapter.

Here's an entire chapter. And it begins in verse 1.

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples. The multitudes and the disciples, and what does He say?

The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, and for an entire chapter He blows away, as it were, the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees and the others.

Wow!

Verse 3, notice, though, something that He's doing. He doesn't name their names, talk about their children.

He teaches us principles, godly principles.

In verse 3, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but don't do according to their works, because they say and don't do.

He's not trying to level them or reduce them. He's bringing a principle of hypocrisy, number one.

Verse 5, they do things to be seen by men.

Verse 6, they love the best places. They love to be called rabbi.

Verse 8, but you don't be called rabbi. Don't call anyone on earth this and that. Don't try to bring yourselves up.

Verse 11, but He who is greatest among you, let him be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humble.

These are principles, you see. Verse 13, but woe to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites.

Here's some principles, and He keeps going on and on.

Verse 23, woe to you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites.

Verse 27, woe to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites.

You know, principles. And there's a time to step up and say that certain groups or certain mentalities or certain principles are being violated, and it's not right. It's just not right.

And so there are situations where the apostles later would criticize individuals.

Now, when Christ was alive, no one had the Holy Spirit. No one was in the church, as it were.

And He said He didn't come at that point to condemn people, or He wasn't judging people. He didn't have God's Spirit.

But the Spirit came on Pentecost, and afterward, judgment began at the house of God.

And you and I are being judged today.

And so the apostles criticized individuals, normally not by name, but groups of people, various mentalities and Gnostics and various Jewish groups that were contrary to the religion that was being taught.

And in certain aspects of it, not the entire thing, but certain aspects of it, certain principles were brought out.

An individual had something going on in his life, and it was brought out as a principle, and then that individual learned, and he was restored.

So there can be a warning about threats to our salvation, threats to principles of godliness.

And yet, these are not to reduce people or defame people, but rather to bring to light godly principles to the hearers.

They're not intended to attack or tear down.

In Matthew 18, verses 15 and 16, Jesus dictated a process for dealing with members of the church who cause offense.

He didn't just say, well, if somebody sins, just look the other way.

Hear no evil, speak no evil, do no evil.

No, it's not exactly what he said.

He talks about offenses and those who cause offenses, verses 6 through 9.

Don't despise one of these little ones, verse 10.

Don't be slandering or defaming anyone.

Verse 15, here's a process he gave.

And moreover, if your brother sins against you, he's a real pain.

Go tell him his fault between you and him alone.

That doesn't defame anyone, does it? Maybe personally, we don't like to hear that, but...

If he hears you, you've gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established.

Okay? So there's a process. It's kind of like when a group goes into an executive session, because they have to talk about something. They don't want to bring out allegations or whatever. They need to talk to somebody. And if you can do it at that level, that's a good thing.

Verse 17, And if he refuses to hear them, then tell it to the church.

And now, you see, he didn't say, just bury it, did he? Like you would for a Christian who's really trying but makes a mistake, love covers, the one who has made a mistake but repenting and trying to go on. Jesus Christ covers by washing our sins clean. Here's an individual that's just, you know, blazing on a hedge. And if he refuses to hear, tell it to the church.

But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. In other words, a non-attendee, a non, you know, a disfellowshipped person that somebody's marked as a heathen and a tax collector. It does come out in the open, you see. At some point in time, it can, if that's required. But the purpose wasn't to reduce the individual. The purpose was to try to get the individual to repent.

Now we have situations where sometimes people will write up a bunch of stuff, put it out on the Internet, and then, you know, the church will look at that and say, well, wait a minute, you know, you said this and you said that, and by your own words you've shown that, you know, you're doing something here that's disastrous for the people you're supposed to serve, and yet you're promoting yourself just by what you wrote.

Oh, no, I didn't say that! Somebody lied about me! Well, you know, sorry, but this seems to be everywhere, and so sometimes those things get addressed because the sheep get disturbed and they want, they get unsettled, and so, you know, the church sometimes has to tell that there are individuals who are acting out, as he said, if you refuse to hear them tell it to the church so that the sheep will understand the principle, not the individual, not defaming.

We don't have some sort of a struggle here that we want to win or we want somebody else to lose or something, but sometimes these principles come out. It's different than sort of the piranha, you know, response where somebody says something, you know, or writes something, and somebody that is of a different mentality jumps all over it, you know, just mindless, wow! That shouldn't be. It's not based on truth or facts or anything. It's a reaction, and a reaction is done for self-preservation, preservation of one's state, oneself, one's position.

That's not the way we should respond. Paul urged the membership to note and avoid specific individuals who were divisive and offensive. Obviously that wouldn't be slander if every word in the Bible is by inspiration of God. He said, now I urge you brethren, note those who caused a vision and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. Note them. Another place called says mark them. In other words, take notice and avoid them.

So exposing ungodly deeds of unrepentant members is not condemned in Scripture. Rather, what is condemned is arbitrary defamation. Kind of a mindless, well, I don't think that way or I don't feel that way, or I heard different, therefore I can say whatever I heard. And that's an arbitrary defamation of what I would call it, of someone's character.

A person should never be slandered by public gossip and opinion. Rather, the offender, Christ said, should be approached privately, then with witnesses to substantiate the offense, then taken privately before church leaders. And in the absence of repentance, then, an offender sometimes needs to be marked and avoided. Jesus is coming soon with judgment for the saints, and he says something very powerful. He has to judge us, you know, he has to judge each individual and make a determination.

Concerning his judging of us, he says over in Matthew 12, verses 36 and 37, But I say to you that for every idle word men speak, an idle word, according to Adam Clark commentary, is an injurious word, something that causes injury to another.

So we could say, but I say to you that for every injurious word that men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. He tells us that out of the heart the mouth speaks, so if our words are condemning us, we need to do something about the mind, don't we? About our mentality. The window of opportunity is open, we should be using it with fasting and prayer to change the heart, take out the stony heart.

Create in me a clean heart, David said. The day of atonement is coming. It reminds us that Satan has a small amount of time left, and that he is the epitome of slander, says in Revelation 12, verse 10, I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of God and the power of his Christ have come.

Jesus Christ's second return is now taking place. And what's going to happen? What's the first thing he says takes place? I shouldn't say in that order the first thing, but what's the first thing he says after now has come the kingdom of our Lord and the power of his Christ? For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before God day and night has been cast out. You know, Satan has an interesting view of you in me. He can see us, he can watch us. I don't believe there's any indication he knows what you're thinking. And he can't read your thoughts, he can't know the prayers that you're praying, because God says, I, the Lord, know the heart, I know the mind.

He doesn't say that angels of the angelic realm know that. So that's what I personally base that on. So Satan is accusing you and me day and night. Is he getting it right? What do you think? Is he accurate? Is he bringing up truth? Or is he bringing slander?

Is he, I saw this happen with my own eyes and therefore I know that what that person was doing was sin?

Well, maybe he's right. But is he accurate? You can be right and not accurate. You can see a person's sin. But you may not be accurate that the person is a sinner, because they may have repented. They may have gotten on their knees. They may have apologized. They may have asked for forgiveness, and the blood of Jesus Christ took that away. And Jesus now bears that sin. And the person is not a sinner, though they did sin.

So this accuser is a slanderer. Wherever there is strife, we find that there is a harder mentality of us humans, all of us, that is self-focused. It's a bit of a pain to others. Sometimes our own self-esteem is a little bit waning. And so we try to bring the towering ones down to our level, maybe a little below, cutting them off at the knees, making them a little shorter. And what does that do? It causes pain. It causes harm. And God is going to have a kingdom in which there is no pain, no sorrow, nor crying. For the former things will have been burned up. For those who are removing slander from their lives, their part in the church will be just fine. Romans 12, verse 18, says, If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably or harmoniously with all men, if you and I are repenting of self-centeredness, which includes slander, harming others, causing others pain, then we can have peace as much as it depends on us. But notice the context of that statement. We can start back in verse 9. Let love be without hypocrisy. It's not love that promotes me. It's real love. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering, the margin says, in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another and do not set your mind on high things for yourself, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Well, today we've seen that slander causes confusion, it causes pain, God despises slander, and in contrast, he welcomes love.

He welcomes humility, he welcomes concern for others, he welcomes love and respect for himself.

He welcomes humble, caring people into his family.

You and I have opportunity to continue developing into the type of individual that he will welcome into his family.

We need to put defamation of others out of our hearts. Then it won't come out of our mouths.

Notice Psalm 15, verse 1, in closing, asks a question.

Psalm 15, verse 1, Proverbs. Psalm 15, verse 1, Psalm 15, Psalm 15, Psalm 15 Needless to Understand God who may dwell in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill, he who walks uprightly and works righteousness, which is the law of love, living that law, The righteous should choose his friends carefully.

The way of the wicked leads them astray, Proverbs 12, 26 says. Taking up a reproach against his friend. Jesus said his friends are those who do God's commandments. You don't need to take up a reproach against a faithful, obedient, loving person. Jesus said, you are my friends if you do what I command you. If you and I are busy growing and doing godly love, then God will be your friend because you're doing his commandments. Jesus said in John 15 and verse 14, you are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you, which is love God with your heart, soul, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. God will be your helper as you are led by the Holy Spirit. In John 14 it speaks of the Holy Spirit being there for us as a helper, as long as we don't slander the Holy Spirit, as long as we don't speak against it. God will never leave you or forsake you. Paul says in Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6, If we do those things, he might consider you worthy to escape the great tribulation. Luke 21, 36. If you do those things, you will be victorious and enter eternal life. As it says in 1 John 5 and the first five verses. We can have confidence. These are principles. There are godly principles that you can stand on. In any situation you ever come to, you can run with horses. Yes, when those times come as well. But only based on the truth of God's word that you can trust. So, brethren, don't believe me. Believe your Bible.