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Amen. Okay, so Mark chapter 15, and there's a lot going on, obviously, in a great chapter of the Bible there, but I want to just look at a passage starting in verse 29. So it's Mark chapter 15 and verse 29, which reads, And they that pass by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe, and they that were crucified with him reviled him. Now, keep a finger there, turn over to 1 Corinthians 5, as we're continuing our series on sins that get you kicked out of church. So far we've looked at fornication, covetousness and idolatry, and it doesn't stop there. 1 Corinthians 5-11, 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11 reads, But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one know not to eat. And the title of my sermon today is Sins that get you kicked out of church, Railing. Sins that get you kicked out of church, and the title today is Railing. I'd like to pray before we continue. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for just the way that the Bible will help teach us interpret words, which the world often gets wrong. Help me to just teach what railing is from your word. Help me to just preach this clearly and accurately today and boldly too. Fill with your spirit, please, Lord, help those here to just have attentive ears and on what's been a long Sunday as usual. And just help everyone to just stay wide awake and alert. And in Jesus' name, pray all of this. Amen. So what is railing? Well, like I said earlier this morning, if you've been at our church over the last few weeks or month and you don't know what railing is, then you obviously haven't been listening very much because it's been a bit of a topic. It's been a bit of a theme recently here. And if you're sitting here thinking, what's he on about? I don't think anyone here is sitting here thinking, what's he on about? But we've recently had to enact church discipline over railers. And we've had to kick out several railers out of this church. And with that, you know, I preached on railing then. You know, obviously between myself and our pastor, we've talked about this a bit. And this will probably kind of put it to bed in a way for a little while. I mean, it's not something that we'll never preach about again. It's not a topic that we're probably not going to cover again. And we're going to see what happens in the future with some of these people that have been kicked out of our church. You know, maybe that is the last anyone will hear of them. I don't know. But what I do know is that railing is a wicked sin. And the Bible is very clear about that. And we're going to cover that today and help to understand that a little bit more. Now, the thing with the thing with railing is that the dictionary definitions don't line up accurately with scripture. OK, they don't line up accurately with scripture. So, for example, dictionary.com says, to rail is to utter bitter complaint or vehement denunciation, which is basically to condemn or make formal accusation, often followed by at or against. Cambridge Dictionary says to rail is to complain angrily. Webster's 1828, which is often, I quite like it in many cases, a fairly good dictionary, but for railing it says clamoring, which is continued noise with insulting language, uttering reproachful words, as an adjective expressing reproach, which is to harshly blame, insulting as a railing accusation, or it says as a noun reproachful or insolent, which is basically rude language or insulting language. Now, if these were all true, we would have a pretty empty church if we followed through with the biblical discipline, which we should do, shouldn't we? And obviously, having an empty church or not isn't our measuring stick, is it? So if that was the case and we had to kick out pretty much the whole church, then we would do that, because the whole point in these sermons is it's not, oh, right now we can just really preach hard on these wicked sins. The whole point is to get people to understand why we kick people out of a church, OK? Because most churches don't kick people out any more. In fact, the church is left in this country that you could probably still call churches for those in the know and know what really it takes to be a church, which is having the right gospel and having the King James Bible, because if it's a pillar and ground of the truth, it's going to have to have the truth, isn't it? And if they have some form of outreach, some form of soul-winning, I mean, that pretty much narrows it down to a handful of churches in this nation, and those churches, probably the only church discipline offence is being a soul-winner or maybe listening to Pastor Anderson or someone else. I mean, there doesn't seem to be many other reasons to kick someone out of a church. But the Bible is clear about reasons to kick people out of a church, and I want to cover this because there are many people here that aren't very churched, yeah? You know, no-one here has been in churches for decades and let alone good churches for decades, so it's important to show what it is. Now, for the rest of the so-called churches, look, I mean, it doesn't really matter what they do. I mean, we don't go down the mosque or the synagogue and wonder what they do, do we? It's all a load of nonsense anyway. But the point with railing, though, is that that's not an accurate definition of railing, and the reason we know that, well, I'm going to show you a few reasons we know that, because, firstly, if that was true and God really wanted us to kick out anyone who insults, angrily complains or condemns anyone, then, like I said, we would have to start the evictions right now, and I don't think we'd be left with many people, and it would also make God both a railer and a hypocrite, OK? And God is an a railer or a hypocrite, God cannot sin. That's not our God, is it? Turn to Matthew 23, where Jesus, God in the flesh, does some insulting. He does some angry complaining and he does some condemning, all in the space of several verses. In fact, he does it all in probably the first verse that we're going to go to here, and then he continues to do it. And, no, Jesus Christ is an a railer. Now, this is a famous passage of scripture, where Jesus is letting the scribes and Pharisees have both barrels. It's a great passage of scripture, really, and we're going to start from verse 13 in Matthew 23. So, Matthew 23, 13, which reads, "'But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, "'for ye neither go in yourselves, "'neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.'" So that verse alone is insulting, isn't it? Calling someone a hypocrite. It seems like an angry complaint about them, too, really, and he's definitely condemning them to hell there, because if they neither go in there, then where's he saying they go? They go to hell. But let's continue. "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'For ye devour widows' houses "'and for a pretence make long prayer. "'Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.'" OK, I'm not going to keep pausing because we're just going to see it time and time again. "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'For ye come to sea and land to make one proselyte, "'and when he is made, you make him twofold more "'the child of hell than yourselves. "'Woe unto you, ye blind guides, "'which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, "'it is nothing, but whosoever shall swear "'by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. "'Ye fools and blind, for whether is greater, "'the gold of the temple that sanctified the gold, "'and whosoever shall swear by the altar, "'it is nothing, but whosoever swear by the gift "'that is upon the altar here is guilty. "'Ye fools and blind, for whether is greater the gift "'or the altar that sanctified the gift.'" Jump forward to verse 23, where he continues. "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, "'and have omitted the rightier matters of the law, "'judgment, mercy and faith, these ought ye to have done, "'and not to leave the other undone. "'Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat "'and swallow a camel. "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'For ye make clean the outside of the cup "'and of the platter, but within there, "'full of extortion and excess. "'Thou blind Pharisee cleansed first that "'which is within the cup and platter, "'but the outside of them may be clean also. "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, "'which indeed appear beautiful outward, "'but are within full of dead men's bones, "'and of all uncleanness, even so ye outwardly appear "'righteous unto men, but within ye are full "'of hypocrisy and iniquity. "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "'Cause ye build the tombs of the prophets "'and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. "'Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, "'how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Wasn't very Christ-like, was it? That's what they would say, wouldn't they? Well, you're not being very Christ-like. Well, that was Jesus Christ, wasn't it? Unless I got that wrong, no, that was Jesus Christ. Was Jesus Christ sinning? Of course not. Jesus Christ can't sin. He was rebuking wickedness, something that he commands preachers to do, by the way. Okay, so, oh, well, that's just, only Jesus Christ could do that, no. You don't have to turn it, but in 1 Timothy 5.20, Paul tells Timothy, them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. Okay, so sometimes rebuking involves insulting, complaining, and condemning, doesn't it? Okay, that's what happens. Well, that's not railing. Now, the thing with railing is, it always involves some sort of untruth. There's always an element of dishonesty in it. That's the difference. So, look, sometimes people need rebuking. Sometimes you need to angrily complain. Sometimes you need to insult. Okay, that's what happens, and Jesus Christ did that, and most of the prophets in the Bible do that at times. That's not railing. Railing involves some dishonesty. Now, with that in mind, though, all lying isn't railing. So, if I told you that on my next birthday, I'm turning 21, not 41, okay, I'm not railing. Okay, just to make that clear. It's not that just any sort of lying's railing, and even if it didn't include myself, yeah, say I was just constantly telling everyone how my wife gets up at 4 a.m. to study the Bible for two hours, because she's so godly. I wouldn't be railing, okay? That's not railing, okay? And you might understand what I'm talking about there. Okay, it's when the dishonesty is being used to insult. Okay, it's when it's being used to negatively affect someone, but it doesn't necessarily have to be an obvious he said, she said statement, okay, either. So, go back to Mark 15, because railing covers everything from a blatant false accusation to a subtle dishonest statement. Because it's all dishonest, and it all has the same desired intent. So, in Mark 15, where we started, Jesus has been crucified. He's got the two thieves, one on each side, okay? So, he's on the cross here, and it says in verse 29, and they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. So, what makes this railing, and not just mocking or belittling? Well, they're saying, you who's going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, therefore you would save yourself and come down from the cross. Now, turn to John chapter two, but keep a finger there. Did Jesus say that he was going to destroy the temple and then build it in three days? Is that what Jesus said? Well, in John chapter two, Jesus has just whipped out all of those making money in the house of God, yeah? He's just driven them out with the whip. Again, not very Christ-like, apparently. And in verse 16, John chapter and verse 16, it says this, and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house and house of merchandise. Which is, by the way, why you won't see us ever charging in this church for anything. You won't see us with a little collection box. This is a subtle way they do it in some churches, a collection box by the tea, coffee, and biscuits. Yeah, well, it's voluntary. Now they're charging for tea, coffee, and biscuits, right? Okay, we don't do that in a proper church because we make not our father's house and house of merchandise, do we? And that's what Jesus Christ said to them there. And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, what sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered, said unto them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. So first off, did Jesus say that he was going to destroy this temple? Did he say that he was going to destroy it? No. Did he say that he was going to destroy it and rebuild it? No, it's a false accusation. It's subtle, but it's not true, is it? Okay, it's not true. Then said the Jews, verse 20, 40 and six years resist temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. So in fact, he wasn't even speaking about the temple in Jerusalem, was he? Talking about the temple of his body. Verse 22 says, when therefore he's risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. So Jesus Christ is talking about the temple of his body. He said, if you destroy it, basically, he didn't say I will destroy it. So go back with that in mind to Mark chapter 15 and verse 29. So Mark 15, 29 says, and they that pass by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days. So insinuating basically that this is what he said he would do. It's not true, it's a lie. That's why we're told that they railed on him, okay? That's why it was railing because it was a lie. Now it's basically the same with the other times that the description of someone railing or having railed on someone is used in the Bible. Go to 1 Samuel 25. Now I appreciate for some we're going over some ground recently covered when I preached on the wickedness of railing, but I'm not gonna go into depth in 1 Samuel 25 like I did in that sermon. I will a little bit, but not so much. Now 1 Samuel 25 is the first use of the word. But just to make it clear with this, there are many, many instances of railing in the Bible. They're just not, we just don't see them described by the word railing or rail or railed, okay? But it's still railing as we're gonna see, okay? But here is where the word's used for the first time. 1 Samuel chapter 25. In 1 Samuel 25, basically David sends his men to this wealthy guy, Nabal, who's having this basically sheep shearing party time, okay? So when they sheared their sheeps, and I showed you that I think before when we preached this sort of six or so weeks ago, whatever it was, okay? So it's a bit of a kind of celebration time. He's shearing his plenty of sheep here. And verse five says, And David sent out 10 young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I've heard that thou has shearers, now thy shepherds which are with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missing unto them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore, let the young men find favour in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand, and to thy servants, and to thy son David. And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all these words, in the name of David, and cease. So they basically come to him and said exactly what David wanted them to say. And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed from my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be? So David's young men turned their way and went again and came and told him all those sayings. And David said unto his men, Gerge on every man his sword, and they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and there went up after David about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, But oh, David sent messages out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on them. Now, what was the railing here then? What was the railing? Well, it was verse 10 and 11, where he says, And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed from my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be? So, first off, he's treating David as a nobler, okay? Now, David, who was famous in the kingdom for slaying his 10,000s, but it's a subtle lie in verse 10, where he says, There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Now, he's talking as if David is a rebellious servant. Now, it's subtle here, isn't it? But that's what he's saying. Now, he's actually as if he's just turned on King Saul. Is that true? Is David a rebellious servant? No. If you go back to chapter 24, and again, we'll try and do this quickly, where King Saul is trying to murder David for no good reason. David has a chance to kill him, but instead, he just purposely cuts off the bottom of his robe. Now, he still feels terrible, doesn't he, even about that. Now, when I say he has a chance, King Saul, he's basically gone into this cave to use the toilet, so to speak, and David, it happens to be in that cave. He could have killed this guy, he's been hunting him, he's been persecuting him, he's already tried to kill him on more than one occasion, and instead, he just ends up just cutting off the bottom of his robe. He feels bad, he calls out to Saul after this, saying that he wouldn't kill the Lord's anointed, okay? So, David's just saying, no, I wouldn't do that, even though everything that Saul's been doing. First Samuel 24, look at verse 16, it says, And it came to pass when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept, and he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me, for as much as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou killest me not. For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? Wherefore the Lord reward thee good, for that thou hast done unto me this day. And now behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house. And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home, but David and his men gapped them up into the hold. Right, did Nabal know this? Well, you know, this all happened right next to Carmel. Saul would have traveled through and returned with his 3,000 men. But regardless, Nabal's wife, Abigail, fully understands. She knows exactly who David is and what David is. If you go back to chapter 25 and look at verse 28, David's clearly not rebellious, we've just seen there, but she knows that as well. She says in verse 28, when she's trying to basically mediate, she's saying, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord, talking about David, fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul, but the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God, and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. So she understands what Saul's doing, didn't she? Verse 30, it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have done to my Lord, according to all the good that he have spoken concerning me, and shall have appointed the ruler over Israel, that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense filed unto my Lord, either that thou has shed blood causeless, or that my Lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord, then remember thine handmaid. So look, Nabal knew the truth, okay? His wife knew the truth. It's not exactly some hidden secret. It's common knowledge, at least in his household, but he railed on them. Now he railed on them, it said, because the men were being lumped in with David. Look back at verse 11 again. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not, whence they be? Whence is from where? So he's pretending to not know anything about them. Yet his servants will have clearly told him how they looked after him as well. Look at verse 14. It says, but one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, behold, David sent messages out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on them. But the men were good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we were conversant with them when we were in the fields. They were a wall unto us, both by night and day, all the while we were with them, keeping the sheep. Nabal was a wealthy businessman, very wealthy businessman. He clearly knew what had gone on, okay? He's over there with the sheep shearing party and everything else. You think he doesn't know what's been going on and how they've been looking after them. He's just lying, okay? He's lying, he's railing. It's dishonesty. Go back to Mark 15. So that was the first use of the word rail or railed there, but basically railing, this is what you've got to understand with it, is a broad term for dishonest insults or accusations, okay? Insults, accusations. It's a broad term for dishonest ones. And it can be anything from blatant slander, we see just railing accusations being used, to dishonest insinuation. But it's all dishonest. And that makes much more sense, doesn't it? Because in 1 Corinthians 5, you've got church discipline for fornication, covetousness, idolatry, drunkenness, extortion. But if you took the dictionary and let's be honest, the lame church definition of railing, it's based saying that you could make up all sorts of lies, bear false witness against people, and still just hang around in church as long as you don't use any insulting words. Yeah, as long as you don't condemn or complain whilst you're doing it. That's nonsense, okay? The point is it's a dishonesty, it's a lying. And like I said, that definition of the dictionaries and of the lame churches would make Jesus and most of the prophets railers, okay? Because they all use insults and everything else, okay? No, it's always some sort of falsehood. Every time you see it in the Bible, there's some sort of dishonesty, some sort of falsehood. And we see that straight away here in Mark 15, because it's a chief priests and scribes doing the same here, where it says then after that in verse 31, likewise, so likewise here to the railing, to the raledonym, likewise, also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others himself, he cannot save. Likewise to verse 29, that is a note that passed by raledonym, what's the railing, himself he cannot save. Can Jesus Christ, the son of God save himself? Of course he can, okay? He chooses not to, he chooses to submit unto God the father's will there, doesn't he? But he can save himself, it's a lie, it's false. They're railers, they're railers like the passers by railed on him. So what is railing? Basically, it's a broad term that covers the various forms of lying negatively, is a short way of saying it about someone else, okay? That's what railing is. How bad is railing? Well, funny, we were doing our family Bible reading and talking about thieving the other day. So we were just looking at, you know, in the Old Testament and the different punishments, we were talking about different punishments for thieving, you know, restoring what you've taken plus maybe, you know, multiple times, depending on the type of theft it was, four times, five times, seven times, whatever it was. And we were talking amongst the family about how our society considers it so bad thieving, in general, okay? Yeah, maybe not amongst certain elements of society, but most people in society, they really abhor thieving, don't they? And I'm not trying to justify thieving. Thieving is bad, thieving is wicked, but we need to get in line with God's view, don't we? Because our society considers thieving terrible, okay? But thieving isn't sort of a death penalty thing. Thieving is just restore plus have many multiple times, but our society also considers insults and condemning someone as unforgivable, doesn't it? In many of them, how dare you insult? How dare you condemn someone to hell? How dare you say when you knock on my door that my religion is taking me to hell? How dare you? What sort of a scumbag are you, right? But a bit of slander, a bit of lying about someone across the news media, a bit of lying in parliament, a bit of lying in all these different areas of life is, to most people, a nothing. It's all railing, isn't it? To most people in our society nowadays, a little bit of lying about someone, well, you know, so be it. So be it, you've just completely defamed someone, you've just falsely accused someone, you've just thrown mud at someone across the news media, across whatever it is, across social media. Hey ho, as long as you don't use an insulting word, yeah? But it's wicked, isn't it? It's wicked. Turn to Proverbs chapter six, because God doesn't agree with them. God doesn't agree with our world, does he? And we want to make sure we agree with God. So look, look, don't get me wrong, yeah? If someone was in here thieving things, yeah, that'd be bad. A lot of the time it's going to come from covetousness and it would be a church discipline offense, yeah? Okay, but when it comes to thieving in the Bible, there are differing punishments depending on how the theft is done and whether it's daytime or nighttime, things like that. But Proverbs six, God makes it pretty clear what he thinks about dishonesty, what he thinks about lying. Proverbs chapter six and verse 16 says, these six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. And you could kind of, you could say some of those wicked imaginations could be dishonesty and lying and making things up about people, feet that be swift and run to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. So he hates them, yeah? They're an abomination to him. Those sort of things, people that do that sort of thing, God is not happy with, is he? Okay, it's serious. And just because our world thinks that it's not, just because our world thinks, well, a bit of dishonesty to just slander someone a little bit isn't a big deal. No, it's a big deal. And all of these things we just see in Proverbs six often go hand in hand because it does take a certain type of person to knowingly make up lies about someone, doesn't it? I mean, that's pretty wicked, isn't it? To just sit down, or whether you're agreeing with someone else or just agreeing with your own mind or the devil in you, that you're just gonna make up a lie about someone to get to, for whatever reason it is, for your own gain, for your own, whether that gain is just to discredit them to others. I mean, you've gotta be pretty messed up, haven't you, to do that. Now, we might see it all over the world. We might see people doing that, but it doesn't mean that it's okay. And here it's really like, there it's describing a classic division cause, isn't it? With all those things, the proud look, the lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, just wicked people there. But turn the tune. Now, when you turn here and look, just to make clear, I'm not saying that every railer is a reprobate, okay? I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that it goes hand in hand and railers think, well, reprobate, sorry, think nothing of railing, okay? For a reprobate, it's just, it's a nothing. It's water for ducks back. It's no big deal. Look at Jude in verse four. Jude in verse four, where it says, "'For there are certain men, crept in unawares, "'who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation, "'ungodly men, turning the grace of our God "'unto lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God "'in our Lord Jesus Christ. "'I will therefore put you in remembrance, "'though you once knew this, how that the Lord, "'having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, "'after it destroyed them that believed not. "'And the angels which kept not their first estate, "'but left their own habitation, "'he has reserved in everlasting chains "'under darkness unto the judgment of the great day, "'even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities "'about them in like manner, "'giving themselves over to fornication "'and going after strange flesh, "'as set forth for an example, "'suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. "'Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, "'despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.'" Now, these sorts of people hate leadership, okay? Now, speaking evil of dignities is railing, okay? It's railing. Now, look, if the evil's justified, it's not, but we see because it contrasts with verse nine, where it says, "'They speak evil of dignities.'" Then verse nine says, "'Yet Michael the archangel, "'when contending with the devil, "'he disputed about the body of Moses, "'dirst not bring against him a railing accusation, "'but said, the Lord, rebuke thee.'" Okay, so the contrast is that these people, they hate leadership so much that they will speak evil of dignities, yet Michael the archangel didn't even bring railing accusation against the devil. Okay, he was careful not to even make a dishonest accusation against the devil of all people. Look at verse 10, "'But these speak evil of those things which they know not, "'but what they know naturally as brute beasts, "'in those things they corrupt themselves. "'Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, "'and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, "'and perished in the game, saying of Korah.'" Three reprobates in the Bible. "'These are spots in your feasts of charity.'" Okay, so this is specifically talking about infiltrators, these are spots in your feasts of charity. "'When they feast with you, "'feeding themselves without fear.'" Okay, so they're there knowing what they are, knowing what they want to do, knowing how they, you know, how wicked they are, but they're feeding without fear. "'Clouds they are without water, "'carried about to winds, "'trees whose fruit wither with, "'without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, "'raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, "'wandering stars to whom is reserved "'the blackness of darkness forever.'" Now, these are reprobates, children of the devil, okay? Clear as day, twice dead. "'To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.'" And by the way, that's a bit of condemnation there, isn't there? Jump forward to verse 16. "'These are murmurers, complainers, "'walking after their own lusts, "'and their mouths speak of great, swelling words, "'having men's persons in admiration "'because of advantage.'" So often it's subtle railing, yet they get away with it because of the holier-than-thou exterior, okay? That's what gets away, because people get conned by that. And as much as we preach on the holier-than-thou, and as much as the Bible tells us about this fake spirituality, the holier-than-thou type, people just get sucked into it, don't they? And sadly, it's quite an effective weapon, because people hear the kind of 10, 12 salvations this afternoon, they're just such a godly person, you know? Or they hear the sort of, you know, my wife is so amazing, and they just think she's just so holy, so holy, you know? Or they hear the sort of posh sort of, oh, well, when you do this, praise God, they're just thinking, wow, like this guy's just such a spiritual guy, you know? He's just so well-read and learned, and it's all just great, swelling words, yeah? They speak great, swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. And that's something we have to learn as a church, is not to get conned by that stuff. Not to get conned by it, because this is what these people will do, and it will go on with time, and like I've said many times, I wanna make it clear again today, just with this, is we're not on a witch hunt in this church, we're not on a reprobate hunt, okay? Look, God manifests him, doesn't he? Okay, yeah, look, and just to make it clear, and I have moaned a bit of the church, just because a lot of stuff just came to light which would have had them kicked out, okay? It wasn't like, how could you not see it, you know? It was a little bit of that, because there was just such blatant stuff with certain people of this group, okay? And it was a bit frustrating, because I was just kind of waiting for people to come forward, and it was kind of like after the event, then the stuff was coming forward, and again, it's not to have a go at people, because it was a learning curve, right? Okay, and I'm much happy that people have come and said, look, actually, this happened, this happened, I heard this, I saw this, and you know, and my point with it is we will learn from that, okay? And we have all hopefully learned from that, but you know, they could have gone a lot earlier, okay? They could have gone a lot earlier, but ultimately, God did manifest them, didn't he? And God did make it clear, and that's what will happen, so we don't have to, I've gotta catch that, but I know that person's dodgy, you know? I'm gonna catch him, I'll just follow him around in the shadows, and one day, but we don't have to do that, just look, unless you know 100% sure, if you know 100% sure, that means that you got two witnesses on something, and then it's kind of time to come to me, or you know, and we'll be getting people out, but the rest of the time, love people, you know, treat them well, be loving to each other, but you know, if you see a red flag, you know, let me know if it's something serious, if it's something that you think is worth sharing, if it's something that's not just kind of, well, you know, they kind of, I noticed them looking a bit funny the other day, or something, yeah, okay, but, so we don't wanna kind of go too far the other way with this, but we should be, we should still be vigilant, shouldn't we, for this sort of thing, because it will happen again. So, go to 2 Peter 2, okay, which also shows that railing is a key tool of these infiltrator types, because this is what they do. Now, 2 Peter 2 is a parallel passage to Jude, and talking of these reprobates, Peter says in 2 Peter 2 and verse 10, but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignity. So again, this is contrasted with the next verse, which is, whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. So again, the contrast, they're not afraid to speak evil, which is basically a talking bad things of dignities, whereas angels, which are greater in power might bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. So the angels are careful not to be dishonest about them. And this makes me think about the position as a church leader, where often you see it, like that sort of, like I've said to you, I made it pretty clear, I saw a lot of this behaviour, you know, but you still can't be like, look, I know what they are, I might, you know, the temptation could be to just kind of pin something on them anyway. Now afterwards, yeah, look, the people came forward, I had like the two witnesses of stuff. And that list I gave you, there was only stuff with two witnesses, okay? It was only stuff where there was two witnesses. And that was either something that one person told me, something else told me, something of the same behaviour, that we count as two witnesses, okay? So it's not, look, if someone just, if everyone in the church just kept coming up and saying, you know, brother or sister, whoever has said this to me, someone else said they said this to me, someone else said they said this, look, that's three witnesses, okay, if it's the same behaviour, yeah? Okay, so there was a list like this long on all of them. But I only came out with the stuff that I had the two witnesses on. And some of it might have sounded petty, but the whole point is that the list all together just painted a very clear picture, didn't it? Okay, and that was hopefully, should have edified people and gone, wow, okay. But as a leader, you see all this stuff and you're seeing it and you're hearing it, and I think God reveals that. I'm not saying, oh, I'm just so wise. No, just God reveals stuff to you because you need to know this stuff, you need to preach it, you can't see there's preaching the next thing, you're seeing this little murmur, you preach it down, you see them start to just whisper, you preach it down. It's amazing sometimes how you see this stuff and you're trying to kind of combat it the whole time. But what you can't do is just bring a railing accusation yourself. You can't just go, well, someone's already said that, so I could kind of just turn that into two witnesses, you know, even though you know what they are, even though you know what they're doing. Still here, the angels, which are great in power, might bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. You have to wait, and you wait, and God gives them to you on a plate eventually, because, and again, I don't think anyone's here, I'm sure, but God gave them to us on a plate, okay? I mean, what happened the other month was just absolutely, I mean, it was mind-boggling that they were that stupid to stand up in our church and try and falsely accuse me of something. And it was funny, because I remember that moron Doreen was out in the toilet for a long time. He looked really stressed out. It was kind of like there was this battle where it's almost like God was just making him do something that kind of, probably like, you know, because he wasn't a complete, you know, you're thinking like, you can't be that stupid to not think that, why would I actually say, look, if you want to bring your witnesses forward, you can. Like, what on earth was gonna, like, I was obviously just setting myself up, but they, just whatever it was, maybe it was just that hatred of me, that wanting to bring me down, whatever it was driving him inside, meant that they still stupidly stood up in our church with just complete lies, complete lies. And even Alex, I mean, how quick did his arm go up? I mean, it was so stupid, wasn't it? But God gave them, didn't he? Then the thing is, now, whoever goes that way, and look, there will be, there have been, I believe, and there will be people that kind of go, I talked about someone earlier, kind of off camera that's kind of gone, and look, you know, I'm pretty sure that they've been contacted at least, and whatever they've decided, but I, you know, there are other issues with them, but they've decided that, oh yeah, you know, there must be, the truth will come out, some stupid thing, but what the truth came out? I mean, they're so bang to rights that it just worked amazingly, because now anyone that goes that way, it's like, good riddance. I mean, you've got to be a complete moron. Or you're wicked yourself, if you're going to just go and support that bunch of railing, just complete wrongings, because they were exposed just clear as day, and that was much better than if it had been a bit hazy. Well, someone said this, someone said that, there would have been a lot more, well, his brother Ian just doesn't like them, or whatever the lies would have come out afterwards, there it was just, God just gave it to us, didn't he? And, you know, our way to find that was for everyone as well, just to see that, and see that clearly, and hear that recording, and just hear just those people with at least their masks semi-off for that moment where they thought they were on their own with me in the office. Anyway, so like I said, that was contrasted with the next verse, and it says in verse 12, but these as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. That's basically in full view of everyone, yeah? And they did, they just counted it pleasure to just try and entice people into their sins, and everything else. Spots they are in blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. Now these people like get off on it, yeah? They get off on conning the church, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children. And I mean, when we went through that sermon on covetousness, and just some of the stuff, you know, that I preached when I preached about these people and that list and those people, I mean, pretty much all of them were covetous, weren't they? The vast majority of them, covetous practices, cursed children. Go back to Mark 15. Yes, not all railers are reprobates, but look, when it comes to just making up lies about leadership, it seems to be spelled out pretty clearly here, doesn't it? And again, you know, just to remind you as well with this, because look, you could be sitting there thinking, well, you're, you know, brother Ian, it's all right for you because it was against you, and somehow, you know, at least praise God, there was a recording and everything else. No wonder you're angry and everything else. But like our pastor preached the other day, it's a motivation, isn't it? Like to stand, like, and don't get me wrong, it'd be wicked against anyone else here, but to stand up and do that, I mean, that is unbelievable, isn't it? To stand up and try and take down the leadership of the church like that and just make up lies and try and do that in front of the whole church. I mean, how wicked do you have to be to do that? That's not just like an, oh, I just got, just got tempted by a bit of railing that day, just fell into a bit of sin that day, you know? I mean, that's something else, isn't it? Well, where are we going? So you're going back to Mark 15, and just a point with that. First Samuel 25, first mention of the word, Nabal, first person associated with the word rail, is described as such a son of Belial. He's not just a son of Belial, he's such a son of Belial, okay, to be not just railing on David, but his whole behaviour, such a son of Belial. And here in Mark 15, the railers in verse 31, by the way, are the chief priests. What are they? Reprobate false prophets, aren't they? Likewise, also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves, God describes he saved others, himself he cannot save. So what is railing? It's a broad term that covers the various forms of lying negatively about someone else. How bad is railing? It's wicked, okay? It's wicked. God hates it, it's an abomination to him. Lying about people to either slander, accuse, insult, is wicked, isn't it? To just make up lies about someone. I mean, you just gotta be some pretty wicked person to be doing that. Why is it a sin that gets you kicked out of church? Well, it causes untold trouble, doesn't it? Okay, it causes untold trouble, even when it's not against the leadership, even if the goal isn't destruction or takeover. So say that was brother, I don't know, let's just grab something. Let's say brother Dan here, okay? Say it was brother Dan, and you had no recording, brother Dan, yeah? No recording in your pocket. You had five people lying through their teeth in this church, accusing you of something that you hadn't done, however petty it was. Can you imagine how you'd feel? Imagine you couldn't defend yourself with it as well. So forget me, just say it was something, just say it was brother Dan, imagine how he'd feel if five people in this church basically stood up and just made up some lies about him, accused him of something, just said, no, we got this, and we all had to go, well, brother Dan, there's five witnesses there all saying something, and you're one man against five. You're banked to rights, you need to back down, you need to apologise, you need to, whatever it is, you need to admit that you're a liar, you need to admit that you've been railing about them. Like, could you imagine how you'd feel? Can you imagine how any of you here, any of you ladies, any of you men, any of you kids would feel with that? Like, you'd be absolutely just, I can't believe this. And could you imagine then trying to just, imagine then, if you did just go, well, I'm gonna have to back, can you imagine? What sort of unity do you think you'd have in a church after that? And forget it was even five, just say it was one. Okay, forget it was five. Just say one person in this church just accused one of you in here of something that you didn't do and was just swearing blind to everyone in the church that that's what happened, that's what they did, they were, whatever it, they were shouting for 30 minutes at my pregnant wife. Yeah, just shouting at them because they were so angry about whatever it was, making a burst into tears, you didn't do it. You'd just be like, what on earth? How could you look at that person again? You'd find it so hard, wouldn't you? And that's why it's such a serious thing, isn't it? Because that's not the sort of thing you just get over. It's not, oh, well, it was just a bit of a, you wouldn't go, oh, well, it's just a sin that they have to deal with. That, you know, that right, it's just something, you know, hopefully they'll deal with that in time and get over their little railing outbursts, you know, their little plots to rail and bring me down. I'll just, you know, with a bit of time they go, well, hopefully they'll just say sorry in the future and then they'll probably stop railing in the future, you know, and they'll get a grip on that sin. It's not gonna, that's not how it works, is it? It's gonna be like, you scum, you filth, yeah? Still, you're still sticking by your story. You just, yeah, how's church gonna function? How, oh, by the way, you know, brother whoever, you know, brother so-and-so, you know, who's been railing about you, oh, we're just pairing you together for soul-winning today. Yeah, oh, you're with brother, he's gonna give you a lift as well. You imagine that? Yeah, he's sitting in the car with him. Yeah, how are you? Yeah, you lying scum. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't lend much for unity in the church, does it? Okay, like railing's a big deal, is it? Because someone like, because you know they purposely made up lies about you to defame you, to discredit you, whatever the reason, the motivation is. Forget it, I mean, against the leadership thing is like another level, isn't it? Because of the goal and the motivation and the repercussions of that. Because really, you would probably sit there or when, you know, your brother Ben rung you up and said, you know, are you happy to be false witnesses? Basically, I don't know how they, I'd love to have been a fly on the wall with the conversations. But when they rung up and agreed that, like, you would think, you know, this is gonna cause a lot of trouble at church. This is likely going to like cause massive, cause a massive split, probably destroy, I feel, you know, surely they didn't think I had any evidence or anything else. What did they think was gonna come from that? Oh, okay, yeah, sorry guys, yeah, can't prove it. Yeah, no, you're right. Sorry, Ben, you know, come on back here. Like, so that was something, that was something else. But like I said, even just anyone in the church, just railing about anyone, that is something hard to get over, isn't it? That's gonna be hard to forgive. That's gonna be hard to move on from. That's gonna cause a lot of trouble, isn't it? That's why it's a sin that gets you kicked out of the church and look, the goal though, the goal of railing is to sound convincing, isn't it? Okay, so it's not like with this, it kind of with navel, with here, they're using some element of truth and then they're kind of, it's the lies and dishonesty that go with it to discredit the person, but the idea is that it sounds convincing, yeah? So that's the other thing is it's not just, well, yeah, well, tough, you got no witnesses. Everyone in here is like, well, we know they're lying, but there's five of them. Now the whole idea and the whole point of it is to convince people in the church that actually that person, in our recent case, it was myself, was in fact guilty and was in fact therefore a complete liar and denied something that there were many witnesses to because really like Ben put in his sort of, one of his eight page essays, because I've always hated him and his family, that I've just wanted them out in the church, that I'm this, I'm that and everything else, that's why I'm daring to deny the fact that this happened, et cetera, et cetera. Now, the thing is with that is it would have swayed some and it already did sway. There are people that don't even go to our church who have said something along the lines of, well, I don't know who to believe. What are you talking about? Because that's the whole point, isn't it? It's to sound convincing, they've been getting their hooks into people forever long and then when the railing comes, the idea is that for people to go, well, split the church, some people take their side, some don't, the whole thing's a complete mess. How do you move on from that? That's the whole point in railing. And with ours, even after the evidence, even after the evidence came out, there are still people that went to that site. Like that is nuts, isn't it? I mean, they've made it clear what they are, right? But that's the whole point. So look at Mark 15 and verse 29, it says, and they that pass by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, oh, thou that destroys the temple and builders it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Now, who are these people? Where did they come up with this from? Well, go back to chapter 14 and verse 55, where the chief priests are looking for witnesses against Jesus. So look at verse 55, chapter 14, and the chief priests and all the council sought for witness, I think in Matthew's gospel, it says false witnesses, they sought for false witnesses against Jesus to put him to death and found none. For many bear false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. And there arose certain and bear false witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and within three days, I will build another made without hands, but neither so did their witness agree together. And so the false witnesses are proven to be false witnesses, yeah? Their witnesses don't agree together, but soon after the lie is getting repeated by passersby, because that's the goal. It's not just, well, I can just accuse you of something and make you look a bit bad. The whole point is to sway opinion, isn't it? It's to make people believe it. And ultimately to get people to join in with your railing, because that's what these people are now railing themselves. They don't even know what they're talking about. And that's what railing does. It pulls in other people. And like I said, next thing you've got unconnected people railing as well. And by the way, that goes on, that in the online world goes on across the board against men of God. Men of God, pastors preaching the word of God, soul winning, preaching from the pulpit, how many attack videos are just railing, railing. But the more and more they rail, it becomes like a mantra, doesn't it? Our pastors had that, just mantra, mantra, mantra, mantra. Then eventually people are like, well, there must be something in it. Well, there must be some form of truth in it, because so many people are repeating the same lie. That's the goal, isn't it? It's to sway people to get people to repeat the railing as well. Go back to Mark 15 then, and verse 29, where it says, and they that pass by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, oh, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. So they're now railing too. And by the way, that's why you have to be so careful with gossip, don't you? Okay, gossip, look, gossip so often will be started by railers, won't it? You have to be very careful with that, because next thing you know, you're repeating something, and what are you now? A railer, they railed on him. What should be the punishment if they were in a church? Kicked out, kicked out, they're railers. They might just be, well, I just believe what I heard. Well, why are you repeating it? Why are you repeating what you heard as if it's true? Unless you know for sure, yeah? That's why the Bible says two or three witnesses with things and obviously, you know, you don't need two or three witnesses for scripture and the word of God or something. But things like this, when you're basically saying someone said that they would do this, look, you need to be careful with that, yeah? Okay, so, well, we verse 31. Likewise, also the chief priests mocking said among themselves as the scribes, he saved others himself he cannot save. Let Christ the king of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe, and they that were crucified with him reviled him. What's the result? The two thieves revile, or basically treat him with contempt. Now, how does this line up with the famous last minute salvation of one of these thieves? Well, notice verse 33 here where it says, and when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, okay? So this has happened before that point, hasn't it, yeah? Now look at Luke 23, Luke chapter 23, where the thief on the cross gets saved. Luke 23, and look at from verse 39. So Luke 23, 39 reads this. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Now we've just seen, and we're gonna see in a second, this is earlier on, that they've heard the railing, we've just seen in Mark's gospel, they've heard the railing, they've reviled him, which like I said, is basically treat him with contempt. Then one of them ends up railing on him as well. And he's saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. What's the lie saying that basically he's not the Christ if he's not saving them all, okay? That's a lie because there's nothing in, the qualification for Jesus Christ is it to start taking people off the cross and everything else. Okay, it's a lie. Now, that is a result by the way, I believe of the other railing. Well, let's see what happens here, look at verse 40. But the other answering rebuked him saying, does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we received the true reward of our deeds, but this man had done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Now look at this, and it was about the sixth hour. And there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. So for me, when Mark 15, 32 said, and they that were crucified within reviled him, they sure did that, but this was slightly earlier, verse 33, and when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land. So it wasn't at the sixth hour. So somewhere in between that point, they've reviled him, the other thief has railed in him and then this one thief, fortunately, has ended up getting saved, yeah? At the, real at like the last minute, isn't he? I mean, wow. Now, so the one thief though continued the railing, the other thief rebukes and gets saved, yeah? Now, have you ever thought, or have you thought, look at this, perhaps the other thief didn't get saved because of the railers? Perhaps, maybe not, I don't know. I don't know what would have happened, what could have happened. But that is a result a lot of the time when people rail against Christ, isn't it? Now, it's not always their conscious goal, but the goal is when people are discrediting, lying about, you know, slandering Jesus Christ, or the result often is people end up not getting saved or at least maybe they were seeking, maybe you're out soul winning and then someone just starts slandering, so-called Christian, you know, and all this sort of, you know, with your Bible bashing and all that sort of stuff. And then someone suddenly goes cold, don't they sometimes? Suddenly, oh yeah, anyway, I've got to go, or something else. It happens a lot, doesn't it? Okay, and what's it, it's railing. It's railing against the Lord Jesus Christ, railing against God. People don't get saved because of that. And that is often the result when people rail against Christ. And that's also the result when people rail against God's people. Okay, no, I'm not saying I'm Jesus Christ, but that could have caused, that could have resulted in this church being just a mess, destroyed. Maybe it would have been taken over as sort of, I don't know, like Ben's Biffa Baptist trashcan church or something, or I don't know, Doreen's church. I don't know who would have stepped up there, or I don't know what would have happened. But what I do know is that there would have been a lack of salvation because of that, okay? What I do know is that take away, just take me out of it, and someone in this church starts railing on someone else's church, and the division starts, and we have problems in the church, and people don't want to be here, and the atmosphere's bad, and all of that. What ultimately is a result? Less people get saved. That's why it gets people kicked out of the church because we cannot have that in the house of God, okay? In a proper church, look. Let them get on with it in the false church, whatever. It doesn't make any difference anyway. No one's getting saved, but in a church where we're working for the Lord, aren't we? We're going out, we're preaching the gospel. We cannot have railing in here because it will affect the work that's being done. So it causes division in the church and hinders the work being done. That's why it's a sin that gets you kicked out of church. So what is railing? It's wicked, okay? It's a broad term that covers the various forms of lying negatively about someone else. How bad is it? God hates it, okay? He hates it. It's an abomination to him. Lying about people to either slander, accuse, or insult is wicked, okay? That's wicked. You ever have that come into your mind? Well, if I just say this and people will kind of agree or people will then stop liking it, you need to cut that out straight away. There is no room for it in this church. Why is it a sin that gets you kicked out of church? Because it causes division in the church and hinders the work of God, okay? That's a sin that gets you kicked out of church. Railing, and on that, let's pray. Father, thank you for the just clear teachings from the word of God, the clear teaching about what railing is and what it isn't. Lord, and thank you that with some study, and not a great deal of study, just by looking up where railing is mentioned in the Bible, that we can just see clearly that it's always dishonesty. It's always some sort of lie to slander, to discredit, to insult someone. Help us not to be railers, Lord, and help us also to please defend us against those that will rail and try and cause division in our church through railing. Lord, and we'll discredit people of God here. The men, women, and children of God here through railing. Lord, please help us to be vigilant to this sort of thing. Help us not to be partakers, Lord, and help us to just go on to just be the sort of church you want us to be with the correct biblical discipline, but also with that love for each other as well. In Jesus' name we pray all of this, amen.