But look what the Bible says. Psalms 101, verse 3.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
I hate the work of them that turn aside.
It shall not cleave to me.
A thrower heart shall depart from me.
I will not know a wicked person.
How many wicked people does this guy know?
None.
He says, as soon as you're wicked, bye.
Now let's compare spiritual to spiritual.
Who did we find out was a wicked person?
Oh yeah, I remember 1 Corinthians, chapter number 5.
The railers mentioned in 1 Corinthians, chapter number 5.
So when I recognize that someone's a railer,
what should be my attitude?
I don't even want to know who you are anymore.
Fix it.
Or I won't tolerate your presence.
Notice this, verse 5.
Who so privily slandereth his neighbor?
Him will I cut off.
Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
So the psalmist is saying, when someone's a slanderer,
when someone's a railer, when someone's a liar,
you should have nothing to do with them.
You should never even look at them.
Just bye.
Now let's understand these words for a moment
before we finish this sermon, OK?
So I want to make everything manifest.
There's three words that I think people don't really
understand all the concepts of.
But you've got a tail bearer, you've got a gossip,
and then you've got a railer, OK?
Now railer is synonymous with the word slanderer.
A slanderer and a railer are the same person.
What's a tail bearer?
A tail bearer is the person who goes around and tells
things that are true but should not be shared.
So if Ben does something that is mean to me,
I shouldn't go and tell everybody else.
I shouldn't tell Brother Colin what Brother Ben said about me.
Now I'm a tail bearer, even though it's true,
even though it definitely happened.
Why does Colin need to know?
Why does other people need to know?
That's a tail bearer, and that's wicked, and that's a sin, OK?
Now escalating from that would be a gossip.
What's a gossip?
A gossip is a person who repeats information
they don't know if it's true or not.
So Ben comes to me and he says, did you
hear what so-and-so said to me, said about me?
And I'm like, no.
And the right response should be like, does it involve me?
No?
Then I don't want to hear.
But here's what most people, oh, tell me.
What happened?
What did they say?
And then Ben repeats something to me, OK?
If then I go and share that information with anybody else,
now I'm a gossip, because I don't even know if it's true.
I had one person come to me, tell me about something
that may or may not happen.
I have no idea if it's even true.
Now I'm a gossip.
Now I'm just going around spreading information
about people.
This is also a wicked sin and should never happen.
Should not be going around sharing information
about people, period, especially if it's gossip.
Why?
Because when it's gossip, it could be false.
And here's the thing.
If the gossip turns out to be true, you're a tail bearer.
If the gossip turns out to be false, now you're a railer.
What's a railer?
A railer is going around spreading false information.
A slanderer is going around spreading false information
about people.
They know it's false.
They know that it's wrong, and they're still going around
and spreading it.
So if I spread something that's false unknowingly,
I'm a gossip.
If I spread things false that I know, now I'm a railer.
And there's a strong rebuke to those that are railing.
The Bible says you shouldn't even know those people.
If someone goes around slandering his neighbor,
how many of those people are you going to hang out with?
Zero.
Never.
And they will vex you.
They will prick you.
And you know how many people we should have in our church
like that?
Zero.
We need to get rid of them.
And unfortunately, our society is
full of slanderers and gossips and railers.
And no one ever deals with those problems.
So then you go to a church that actually
cares what the Bible says.
And you start throwing people out for this.
And they're like, what in the world?
I can't believe you treated that person that way.
I don't know.
They just had a disagreement with the pastor.
I had a guy going around telling people that I'm wicked.
So I call him, one of the persons
thrown out of this church.
I call him, or he calls me, I guess.
And he's not going to apologize.
He says, look, Pastor Shelley, I'm not a railer
because you are wicked.
So it wasn't that I was railing.
I was just telling the truth.
So he said, you want me to admit that I'm wicked,
so then you're not railing.
That was basically his logic.
And I was like, that's not going to happen,
especially on the axis.
He said, because I said I wanted to move the church
in the future, that made me wicked.
And so I had to admit that I'm wicked, so then that way,
I'm now a railer.
Because I'm railing against him for calling him a railer.
Think about the logic.
It's just like, woo, woo, woo.
It's like, you're a cuckoo.
I'm going to have nothing to do with you.
But at the end of the day, when someone I recognize
is a railer or a slanderer, they need to be rebuked sharply
once that's been completely defined.
They know that what they're saying is false,
and they're still sticking with that.
They need to rebuke sharply at that point.
And if they won't repent after that,
then they shouldn't be allowed in the church.
They should be get rid of.
Why would I want to be in a church
where everybody's gossiping and railing against everybody?
That's going to ruin our church and destroy our church.
So you know, at our church,
we're going to deal with problems.
We're not going to just say,
well, let's just let them stick around.
They can be a tributary.
And look, how do churches do this?
They keep people on the rolls that should be thrown out,
but they can't be in leadership positions, can they?
Well, they just can't be an usher anymore.
Well, they just can't, you know, serve in this way.
But they can still come to the church and tithe,
because we don't want to get rid of the visual appearance
that we have a big church,
and we don't want to get rid of all the tithe money
that's coming in.
So they just want to keep all that stuff.
It's a dead church.
I kick them all out.
I don't even care if it appears,
oh, it looks like you have a small church, great.
But everyone here is great, though.
I'd rather have a church of 10 people that are great
than 100 people that are all realers.