Join us now for Call to Worship, dedicated to presenting the truth of God's Word. Call to Worship is sponsored by Zion Chapel of Holland. Lord, like the publican, I stand and lift my heart to Thee. Thy pardoning grace, O Lord, command, be merciful to me. The last two lines of the third stanza but Jesus' blood and righteousness. No other hope but in that. And then again, be merciful to me. Listen as it's sung. For Thine's the publican I stand, and lift my heart to Thee. Thy pardoning grace, O God, command, be merciful to me. I smite upon my anxious breast, overwhelmed with agony. Both faith, my soul, my sin oppressed, be merciful to me. My guilt, my shame, I all confess. I have no hope nor plea. But Jesus' blood and righteousness be merciful to me. Here at my cross I still would wait, Nor from its shelter flee, Till thou, O God in mercy great, Art merciful to me. Reading today from Colossians chapter 4, Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. So far we read God's holy and blessed word, the only word of truth in all the world. Let's pray that we'll have understanding of it that will learn from it and be both hearers and doers of it. Our Father, we come to Thee through Christ Jesus, Thy Son, our Savior, our Lord. We give thanks for Him whom Thou hast named Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins. Father, we confess it is our only hope since paid for by his death and blood, since that were overcome also by his blood, as there are those described in thy word that overcame by the blood of the Lamb. We pray that we might have that faith in thee, Lord Jesus, in what thou hast done, and also what thou art now doing on the right hand of the Father. Seated there till thine enemies become thy footstool, and we pray that each one of us may be brought into that place to become thy footstool, to become servants, to become as little children, and ask, as Paul did, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And then to have ears to hear, and that we will then be both hearers and doers of the word, that once again we might give glory to thy name, the church being revived, and we pray that many also might be called out of the world, and once again added to the church, such as should be saved. Father, we are seeing the church lessen, many leaving it, young people leaving it, as we are told that older ones are leaving as well, and less and less confessing thy name in our nation. We pray, Father, that if it is true, that it may not continue, but there might be an awakening. Thou hast told us, awaken thou that sleepest, that thou, Lord Jesus, would give light, that we could arise from the dead. And we pray that we might be able to do so in faith, also in repentance, in a godly sorrow, that we have gone to sleep, that we have become lukewarm, that we have become sinful, that we have become blind to our sin. We give thanks for the Lord to awaken us to it and make us feel miserable in it. And then that we can hear thy voice, Lord Jesus, when the elders say, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We pray that we might do that. in the beginning, many for the first time, and others again and again and again, as David could say, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. We pray, Father, for an understanding of these words that we have read. We pray also for the temporal needs of those in sickness and injury, those in hunger, the homeless, the war-torn lands, the persecuted, especially we think of the woman taken captive, having their husbands often killed and their children made to supposedly learn the evil way. We pray, Father, it might be recognized as the lie that it is, both in denying the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and giving the evil way of injury, killing, hatred, pride. We pray that it might be recognized that thy spirit might come and cause the word to be preached to every creature throughout the world for thy glory and for the good of the world for time and eternity. In thy name alone we give thanks, Lord Jesus, amen. Let's look at this word once again. Paul writing to the Colossians, writing to them as God's children. He certainly could do that with this church. He described them as the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are in Colossae. They would be applicable as well for any saints and those that are in Christ wherever they are, whatever nation this reaches you today. And pray especially for our own nation that has had more of this in the past than we do, I fear, in the present. I don't know how we can describe ourself, but we are far from what the sixth verse here of this fourth chapter of Colossians states. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. We are hearing accusations in so many areas, especially in government, some just accusations of others and what they are doing, and many not even true accusations of things that they want to be true but are necessarily true, seeking what they can find to destroy one another in our nation. And we are in sad straits because it is hatred, and hatred can lead to worse things, can lead to open civil strife, as well as civil unrest in word and accusations. We have it in the news media, many lies, not really giving the news, but doing what they have done in other countries in years past. And as I've mentioned before, when I was a child, I asked my teacher why this could happen in nations like China and Russia. What did happen then? The answer was the news media. And something just as sad is the lack of the voice of the church. The church is the salt that hath lost its savor. Christ said, you are the salt of the earth. And he also says, but if the salt hath lost its savor, then it is good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot. And here we have the answer, what we should be in the church among ourselves. It is a word to husbands, wives, children, masters, servants. All of them have been addressed in these words. And it is true for all of us. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. The verse before that states, walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. We should do it for them also, But I don't think we can say that the sixth verse is limited to them that are mentioned in the fifth verse, those that are without. I believe we have to say that this is true for all of us in our home, in the workplace, in government, in every area of life. Let your speech be always with grace. Those of us who know the grace of God, should certainly have that, as we are told in the Word so plainly, that if God has done this to us in mercy, we should have mercy toward others. And if God has done it in grace, like John Newton wrote, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. If we really believe that, then we ought to be able to deal rightly with others that are righteous with us, and we should be able to have speech with grace toward them, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. If we would think of that in all that we say and do, what a different nation we would have. What a different world it would be. But it is given as direction. It is given as doing it so. And it fits with the Sermon on the Mount when Christ comes to an end. He talks about those that have heard and did not, building their house on the sand, a house that fell, and as he said, great was the fall of it. We might think we have a great house in religion, in church, in our confessions, but if it isn't bringing us to hearing and doing, and doing in this just as well, in our speech as well as what we do with our hands, our feet, thought, word, and deed. And we need to have that from the whole Word, all of the Word. First of all, when we think of Paul, a little later, talking about those who were his helpers, his brothers, his fellow ministers in the Lord. In the seventh verse, the eighth verse, the ninth verse, he mentions these by name, and he calls them his fellow laborers. It has to be both among them, but also from them, that there will be a right message to the world, given in the right way. Paul speaks of that to Timothy especially. He says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead that is appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto fables. And then, after Paul had charged Timothy in the beginning, described the sad state further, and then coming back to Timothy, stating, But watch thou in all things, Endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. That is what is to be done first. If we go back to the church of years past, sometimes called the Puritans, they had a very strong priority on preaching. God says through the pen of Paul that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And then he asked the question, when he says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? All of that is God's order. And when we think of faith cometh by hearing, we must have faith first. Before we will have speech always with grace, seasoned with salt, answering every man, we will have to be brought to that through the preaching of the Word. And how we should do what Paul said earlier here, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, praying also for us that God would open unto us the door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. This isn't something that we can just do each our own way. It has to be done God's way. It has to be done from the preaching that God sent to bring us in the right place of repentance, ridding ourselves of wrong speech, wrongdoings as well. Coming away from what we just read of Paul's word to Timothy, the day will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. I've heard through the years that, oh, people don't want doctrine. What is doctrine? Especially the doctrine of scripture. It's simply what God tells us of each and every subject or each and every thing, each and every happening. The doctrine of creation, denied today. We believe the foolish, wicked theory of evolution. That's not a doctrine. It's just man's guesses. Doctrine is, thus saith the Lord. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, denied, sadly, in the church. And when we deny such things and deny other things as well, if we deny God as creator, we do not believe that he created us and put us on this earth for his glory. We do not then believe rightly his holy law. And if we don't believe his law, we'll be like Paul said of himself, I had not known sin except the law had said thou shalt not covet. And we are today a coveting people. We're coveting so much. We're taking away from our children and grandchildren. We're selfish. We think the nation owes it to us. And it's terrible. We are so blessed in so many things in this nation, and yet we're so poor. We can't pay our way. We can't pay our debt. We're putting it on the bill of our children, and we need to come back rightly to hear God's Word and then to have the right speech one to another. Yes, one to another. Husbands, love your wives. Speak and love. How many hard things have we spoken? How many things are we guilty of? Even in that, some people will say, and I've heard people say, oh, I love my wife with all my heart. I told one man once, I says, I don't see it in your eyes when you look at her. I don't hear it from your lips when you talk to her. And it's not true. If any man says, I love my wife with all my heart, then he could also say, Christ didn't have to die for me. I didn't need the blood to wash away my sin. We all come short of the glory of God. We all come short of loving our neighbor as ourself, and our closest neighbor, one of which we are one flesh, as long as God gives us to each other. Husbands, love your wives, and this is applicable in it. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer every man, and we might say every woman as well. We need to think of it from wives. Submit yourselves to your husbands, not to talk back. What does Paul say to Timothy? He gives the place of the wife, a very good place in many ways, but he also says, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. For I shall for not a woman to teach nor usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. In our day and age, in our thinking, I'm afraid people would rebel at that and say, I don't want to do that. I don't want that kind of a life. Well, let me tell you, you want to be happy. Happiness is only found in God and God's way. True happiness for time and eternity. Maybe we should use the word joy. Christ said he came to give life and to give it more abundantly, and he also said to his apostles that your joy might be full. Here is just but one of the ways in which our joy can be full, afterward as well as during the time of our speech. We don't have to then regret it. And we might say of speech here, it has to be both ways. We have to say enough. Part of it should be confession. Part of it should be asking for forgiveness. And then many other things that we should not say. Both ways. We sometimes call it sins of omission and sins of commission. We have to tell each other when there is love. And we should tell each other more. Let your speech be with grace. Grace, we receive undeserved blessing from God. I can certainly say myself, undeserved blessing, God giving me a wife, as he did, and now he took her away. It's grace, God's grace. I didn't earn it, didn't deserve it, he gave it. It's God that gives, and we need to recognize that, and as Job could say, the Lord gave, the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. There is a time to sorrow. There is a time to weep. But never a time in which God should not be above all and in Christ all in all. We have to see these things rightly. In our sorrow, why? Something was taken away. We have to be thankful it was there in the first place. And that is just not between husbands and wives, wives and husbands. It has to be their masters and servants, parents and children as well. Especially in our nation, we have so much to be thankful for. Paul writes to Timothy, having food and raiment, there would they be content. We have so much more than we need. Sadly, so much is going to waste. So much is not used. It's there in abundance, and yet dissatisfaction. And our speech too often shows it, complaining. That isn't speech with grace, seasoned with salt. You ought to know how to answer every man. We need to be humble before the Lord. We need to be taught to come in the first place as Christ said, as little children to be converted. And these people at Colossae were, and now as children, growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. They needed to do these things in this exact way. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer every man. always give the right answer, especially the answer of salvation and grace. That should be on the forefront, thanking God for what He gave us. The Lord Jesus says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added. We should never forget that. If we have done that, that should be the one thing that we should be the most thankful for, and not only Thank God for saving our soul. Thank God for delivering us from the lies that we believed before that, the evil ways, evil in doctrine, evil in life, both. I was guilty of both. That's why it is amazing grace. And we should tell people that. We should speak that. We should tell others. This is my greatest blessing. This is my greatest gift. because others need it too. And many, we may have speech tore that don't know it. When we mingle in the world, we mingle with unbelievers. We need to give an answer to every man that they know what God has given us in Christ. That's God's way. It is true that he calls a particular group, as we have mentioned and we'll mention in other messages, that he calls some to be prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, but all of us are witnesses, especially in our families. And again, husbands to wives, wives to husbands, fathers to children, and sometimes even children to fathers, and then as well, masters and servants. This has to be done. I think of masters and servants. I think of a story about Ruth coming to Israel out of Moab, and then Boaz there as a rich man. We see the wonderful relationship there between master and servants. We can read in the book of Ruth, Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, The Lord bless thee. If that was true between all masters and servants, what a different world we would have. I have read of some that in the workplace it was almost a civil war. They were even guilty of destroying things in the place where they worked, almost coming some places to not being able to have a prosperous business because of the attitude, because of the way of employees. And often because of what we call unions and those in place. I remember one place closing up and moving to another country. And then the man said among themselves, do you think this would have happened if it hadn't been for the union? I've often talked to people that were servants, workers in places before elections, and the things they heard from their union masters and the way of politics, the way of those running for office was terrible. It was lies. If you vote for this one, then this will happen. Not even true. That's not what God is telling us here so plainly and what we should have and do, speech with grace. We are all under grace. Not the same kind of grace, the saving grace, but it's grace and mercy for every one of us. We all deserve hell. That's where, and justice, we would be right now, I would. And so, There's no reason not to speak in grace. There's no reason not to show thankfulness to God and say like the song in the beginning. My guilt, my shame, I all confess. I have no hope or plea. But Jesus' blood and righteousness be merciful to me. That's God's answer. That's God's gift. It's the new and living way. And our speech should show it. Those that hear us should know it through what we say, and also what we don't say. Have our speech in grace, our speech in love, our speech in truth, the truth of God's holy and blessed word, giving us the gospel of Christ. To God be the glory, great things he hath done, So loved he the world that he gave us his Son. Thanks for listening to Call to Worship. If you have questions or comments regarding today's program, you can write to Zion Chapel, 937 Royce Avenue, Holland, Michigan, 49423. Or their email address is worship at calltoworship.org. For more information on Call to Worship and its ministry, check out their website, www.calltoworship.org. Listen again next week at this time for Call to Worship. Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice!