Turning in the Word of God, we are coming to the epistle of Paul to the Colossian Church, Colossians chapter 4. And we're going to read from the middle part of chapter 3 on into the fourth chapter, down to verse 6. Verse 6 being our text for today. And I want to speak on the words of a Christian. I spoke to one of my colleagues coming in and I said what my title was going to be and he asked me was I going to speak upon grammar. Well, you'll be pleased to know that's not the subject. It's the general thought of the words of the Christian, how we ought to speak as God's people. I'm going to take the reading up because there's so much in it and so much to profit from it, even the reading of God's word at verse 12. Colossians chapter 3. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-services, men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. And there is no respect of persons. 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 all way with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." May the Lord be pleased to take His Word and bless it to every heart here in this house today. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for the grace of God in our lives, for the common grace of God that pervades the world, but that special grace of God that has led hold upon every believer in this house of God today. We thank Thee that we are saved by grace alone and we rejoice afresh in that moment when we were put into Christ and the old things passed away and the old things became new. As we meditate upon Thy Word for a little time, speak to our hearts, we pray. Grant wisdom and help in the preaching of the Word. And Lord, as always, give us the ministry of the Spirit. We are so dependent upon the work of God in our hearts and lives. Shut us in with thyself, therefore, and bring every thought into subjection that we might hear what God is saying. Above all, the cry and the clamor and the din of the world. Lord, give us that peace of heart just now to hear what our God is saying. for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Not being the text, our subject is the words of a Christian. I have been reading through Paul's letters to the various churches in recent times, And they have been so profitable. They have been bursting forth both with the doctrinal and the practical side of things. And of course, you can't have the one without the other. You should always keep that in mind. The foundation needs to be laid and we need to know the doctrine. We need to know what God is teaching. And as far as salvation is concerned, we need to know that we're justified freely in the sight of God. But there is a practical outworking of our justification that is called sanctification. And once we've laid the foundation and we know that we're in Christ and saved by His grace, then there is a way in which God requires us to live. And that is the practical side, how we ought to conduct ourselves as renewed creatures in the sight of God. As I read through these epistles, certain passages stood out. And as it were, let up and hit me. You know what I'm saying, you know what I mean. As we read the Word of God carefully and prayerfully, and we meditate upon the Scriptures, there are those passages, maybe a little phrase or a little text of Scripture, and it seems to jump up out of the Word of God, and it becomes a challenge to us in a very powerful way. And we say, well, that's been so applicable. That's been so personal to me. Now we have many examples. This letter, for example, to the Colossians, which I've been meditating upon just in the past week. There have been so many things that have challenged me and spoken to my heart. Let me mention just a few of them. In the opening chapter, I was reading verses 9 through to verse 11. And what we have there is the preacher's prayer for the people of God, for the congregation of the Lord's people. And I thought how appropriate and sometime soon, in the will of God, I want to pray about this and preach upon it. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience, and longsuffering with joyfulness." And I thought, how applicable, how appropriate for this preacher to make that his prayer for this congregation. And these certainly are desires of my heart for you. And then I was reading on in the chapter and we read about redemption. What a lovely text of scripture it is in verse 14. I love this verse. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And I've often thought about that verse. And as I read it again, it refreshed my heart to know that I have redemption. I have been bought today with the precious blood of Jesus. I am his. And I was able to rejoice afresh in what the Lord in His mercy has done for me personally. I went on to read in the same chapter about the preeminence of Jesus Christ, how there in verse 18 He's the head of all things and He ought to have the preeminence in all things. And I trust day by day as we live our Christian lives, we seek to give Him the glory. and uplift him so that he will indeed have the preeminence in all that we do for his own great name's sake. And then there was so much practical teaching that I came across in chapter 2, for example, verse 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Chapter 1, or chapter 3, verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth in the right hand of God. verse 8 of the same chapter, but now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, very much in keeping with our text. And then in verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, and so on down those verses. The writer even has, as he did when he was writing to the church at Ephesus, a particular word of exhortation and counsel for the wives, their single doubt, for the husbands, they're also singled out for the children, for the fathers, for the servants, and in the chapter four, for the masters. Maybe verse one really belongs to the previous chapter, dealing with these categories of individuals. I came to this fourth chapter and I was greatly struck by the believers' speech. What our speech ought to be our words, our tongue, our conversations, how I ought to speak as a Christian. What a challenging subject this is, especially in the day in which we live. A subject for all periods of time, but I believe in the day in which we live. I can only speak for my time, how it is, what I hear, what's going on in the earth. And this is a day of tail-bearing and gossip, evil whisperings, backbiting and slander, false witness and lying. And when there is so much angry words, cruel, hurtful statements, hard speeches and careless talk, that's the day, beloved, in which we're living. But it's an old problem. Don't you think that God knew the heart of man? Don't you think that God knew what we're really like? The heart of man, the scripture tells us, is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And the speech is only an indication of the heart condition, what you are inside. What you are here in the heart is going to be expressed in different ways, and one of those ways is in our conversations, the way that we talk. And your speech, dear people in this meeting, is only a reflection of how you are in here, in the heart. The fact that God mentions the subject of speech so often in the Bible shows how needful it is to remind ourselves about this matter. Look at how Paul closes his remarks to the church at Colossae, here in this chapter 4. We have already said that verse 1 probably falls into the section of the previous chapter. From verse 7 onwards to the end of the chapter, we have general statements and various salutations to his friends, and different individuals are singled out by the apostle. But look at these final remarks in verses 2 to verse 6. We haven't time to look at them all, but Verse 2 certainly would remind us that there needs to be a watching. There's the watchfulness of the Christian. Continue in prayer, he says, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. In verse 3, thinking about this subject of prayer, we have the worship of the Christian, and prayer is part of that worship. Paul makes his appeal, with all praying also for us. that God would open unto us the door of utterance. And as you read that, together with the rest of the verse, there is the witness of the Christian, because Paul is asking them to pray for him, that he might be able to speak, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. And in verse 5, there's the walk of the Christian, walking wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. But our verse and what we want to think about is the words of the Christian. Let your speech, verse 6, be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. As we approach the subject, I want you to think about the importance of our words. Paul is writing here to this church at Colossae and he's telling them something about their speech, about their words. He says, Your speech, the words of the believer, are just as important as the walk of the believer. In fact, the words are part of the walk. We're not only to commend the gospel by our lives, but by our lips. what we say. And beloved, God is listening. We should always keep that in mind in every conversation that we have. Whether it's a conversation that we have among our friends, or in church circles, or right there in the community, or even a conversation that we have on the internet, because now on the internet there is the exchange of conversations as you type one to another. All those conversations are heard by the Lord. God is listening to my speech. And the world is listening to what I say. And that's so important for the Christian to keep in mind. All men around us, in our homes, in our places of education, in the work environment, in our neighborhood, in the church, all men are listening. And that's important. And I don't want you to miss the importance of what we say. This is so for us all, the preacher included. Whether I'm in the pulpit or out of the pulpit, it's important what I say. And the elders of the church and the deacons of the church and those that are involved in the witness of this place in a public way, representing the church, representing the testimony of Jesus Christ and the church, your words are important. Here in God's house and out of God's house. And it's so for every Christian present with us. Words are important. Listen to what the Scriptures teach. In Job chapter 6 and verse 25, the statement is made how forcible are right words. You speak right words, what an impact, what an influence you can have in a proper fashion, how forcible they are, Job says. Proverbs 16, verse 24, pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. In Proverbs 25, verse 11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. In Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 12, the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. And Paul spoke about sound speech. that cannot be condemned. And these are but a few of the examples that the Bible, Old Testament and New, brings to our attention to remind us about the importance of our words. But then I want you to notice, secondly, that the manner of our words. How are we to speak as the Lord's redeemed people? Well, our text tells us, all way with grace and seasoned with salt. There is a way to speak as a Christian, and the Bible emphasizes this. There is a way not to speak as a Christian. And it's good to remind ourselves of the negative side, those characteristics which do not belong to the regenerated man, the man that's in Christ. There is a harshness. A cruelness, an angry way of speaking that should never be found among the saints of God. Evil, malicious speaking. The Bible talks about it. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 31. Paul writing to God's people, writing to the Christian, he says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And you will know through White Paul's writings that there are things he talks about that need to be put away or to be cast off. And then there's things he speaks about that need to be put on as the Lord's people. And here he's telling us you've got to put away the bitterness, the wrath, the anger, the clamor, the evil speaking with all malice that might be in your heart. And he goes on to say, to be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving, using the example of God who, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. In James chapter 4, and we will come back to the book of James again, but in James chapter 4 and verse 11, he says, Speak not evil one of another. Brethren, he's talking to God's people. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law. But if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. And he goes on to say there's one lawgiver. Who is the lawgiver? It's God himself. God is the judge. And we are not to speak evil one of another. Another term that is used in the Bible is backbiting. In the Psalm 15, that's the psalm that deals with our fellowship with God and those who have a right to approach Him and come into His presence. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hell? Who's got a right to have fellowship with the Most High? And the answer is given immediately. He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. I thought it was very interesting that Paul, in Romans chapter 1, listed the word backbiting. Among that list that he gives, there's over 20 characteristics there that belongs to the reprobate mind. Romans chapter 1 there, the end of the chapter, deals with those who God has handed over. And the Word of God tells us in verse 30, that one of those characteristics is backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. The word backbiter comes from a Greek word, there's actually two words, one that means to speak and the other one that means against, to speak against. The scripture condemns it. Then we can think of slander. In Psalm 50, verse 20, this is just the negative side. The psalmist says, Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mother's son. Those that would stoop even to such levels that they would slander their own family. And you can apply that not only to our earthly families, but to the church family too. Proverbs 11 and verse 9, it says that a hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. You ever think about that? The slander that men can be guilty of with your mouth, destroying your neighbor, the things that you say. James speaks about the damage that the tongue can cause in the third chapter of his epistle. He says that the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defiled the whole body and set it on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell. That's what the tongue is and the destruction that it can cause. The story is told of a woman who was a gossip, known in her town as being a gossip, always defaming other people's characters. One day she got converted. Wonderful thing. Change that was wrought in her life came to Christ. The preacher knew her and he asked her to do something and not to ask any questions. He said, I want you to take a bag of feathers And I want you to go through the town and I want you to cast those feathers as you walk out." And so she did that and came back to the preacher and he said, now, I want you to go and gather them all up again. And she protested, well, you know, the feathers will have blown into other places. I'll never be able to gather them all. And then he says, you know, so has been your gossip in this time. Even though the woman had been converted and come to the Lord, still there was many a gossip that she'd been involved in that could never be retrieved, many an injury made, damage that was caused. It could never be picked up again. How careful we need to be. So how should we speak as Christians? How should we order our conversations privately and publicly? Paul says, all way with grace, seasoned with salt. Now think of that expression, all way with grace. The Christian is to speak all way with grace. In other words, in a gracious fashion. Even the world recognises the value of this. Those who deal with the public will often be trained how to speak to other people. And there's many aspects of life that you can think about, I'm sure. Consultants. We used to talk about bedside manners. And some used to mourn over the fact that some consultants in hospitals didn't have very good bedside manners. But consultants are being trained today how to talk to the patient so that the patient can be put at ease and feel more relaxed. Or you can think about shop assistants. The old saying, the customer is always right. and how the shop assistant is to be careful in their treatment of the customer and how they ought to speak. And those in management positions and police officers and teachers and sales representatives, they get training. They go on courses for this, you know. But for the believer, we don't need courses and we don't need training. Or maybe some do. But we don't really, because we already have a built-in principle of grace that teaches us how we ought to conduct ourselves in our walk and in our words. The word grace, as it is used here, means that which bestows pleasure, delight, or causes favourable regard. It is sometimes applied to beauty or gracefulness of a person or of their speech. And we're not talking here about a physical beauty, we're talking about a beauty that is beyond the physical character. We're talking about someone who, in their very countenance, has a beauty of grace. And also by those who can speak in such a fashion. And of course the challenge is, in what we say, do we bestow pleasure and delight when we come into contact with others? When Christ began his preaching ministry in Luke's Gospel chapter 4, going to his home village of Nazareth, going into the place of worship and standing up, reading the Word of God and preaching the Word of God, the Bible tells us that all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Jesus Christ, in His walk and words, was gracious in every sense of the word. In fact, all true grace proceeds from Him. It is Him that giveth more grace. And if we need grace in our conversations, if we need grace in the words that we say, it is only going to come from one source, and that's from the Lord. I have the capacity as a Christian to conduct myself in a gracious fashion and to speak with grace because of the transforming power of Jesus Christ in my soul that has changed me completely. And it's all of grace. One of the ways that we reach the unconverted is by our words. We are to be an example to the ungodly, so that they see and hear in us all that properly reflects the gospel. We are to live the gospel. We are to speak the gospel. And I don't merely mean our preaching and witnessing, and that's important, to tell others about the Savior and how they can have their sins dealt with through the merits of the blood of Christ and to preach this message to a dying world. That's not what I'm necessarily referring to. Rather, our daily words, our daily conversations that we have. There must be a difference in the Christian, in the way that they speak, than there is in the world. There must be a winsomeness in our speech. You and I are the only Bible that some people have. Do you know that? Yes, here in Northern Ireland, where we have Bibles in abundance. There's men who don't read their Bibles, they don't know their Bibles, but the only Bible that they do see and read is the life of the Christian. And part of it is what we say, and the ungodly are listening to us. Matthew Henry said, Though your speech be not always of grace, it must be always with grace. And I think he put it so well. We may not always be speaking about the grace of God, but when we speak, we must always speak with the grace of God. There is no excuse for a Christian to be rude or offensive or abusive in their conversation to any person. And then there's times when we need to speak plainly and boldly in the defense of the gospel and for the sake of the gospel. But even then, there's a way of doing it graciously. And that ought to characterize the Christian. And then we have this little phrase, seasoned with salt. Salt in the New Testament is the opposite of corruption. There should never be corrupt conversation leaving the Christian's mouth, because as we speak, our words are to be seasoned with the salt, the preservative. I read a little sentence as I studied for this message that went like this, idle gossip, slander, falsehood should never fall from lips circumcised by the grace of God. Beware of falsehood. Beware of dirty talk. Beware of double-meaning phrases. We're speaking here to God's people? We mentioned James, and James tells us concerning this that it ought not to be as far as the Lord's people are concerned. This is what he says. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Blessing and cursing. Blessings speaking in terms that are glorifying to God and yet at the same time language that ought not to cross the believer's tongue. Doth a fountain send forth of the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, either of vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt, water, and fresh. Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, and then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intrigued, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." James in this chapter is discussing the subject of the tongue. And corruption should never fall from the lips of the redeemed. A conversation that is seasoned with salt will be pure, agreeable, pointed and free from all corruption. Paul says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. I am amazed at times when I listen to the speech of some professing Christians And I hear how one can speak to another. Brethren, I say in the words of James, these things ought not so to be. How should we speak? As the Word of God tells us, your speech, always with grace, seasoned with salt. And just in closing, there is the appropriateness of our words. Because it finishes that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Our words need to be appropriate and practical as regards each person that we come into contact with. We need wisdom, therefore. We need to be taught of the Lord. We need care. We're not to merely rattle off a kind of stereotype testimony to everyone that we meet with. People have individual needs. We need words that are adapted to each person. Thinking of what Paul says, that he was made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I need to know how to answer the religious man. I need to know how to answer those that are totally irreligious. We will meet with people from all backgrounds, with all personalities and temperaments. Some of them will be easy to talk to. Others will be difficult to talk to. Some will receive us politely. Others will receive us harshly. I need to know how to talk to them all. And there is a way to speak to all men. Sometimes the guard is let down whenever you're in the family. And that's sad. And that's what we're best known. If you really want to know what a man is like, or a woman is like, or a young person, go and ask their family. How do they live at home? How do they speak at home? Because that's the real person. And so often, even for the Christian, that the guard is let down in the family circle. And the conversation is not always what it ought to be. And there is a way, dear parent, there is a way to speak to your children in the home. And children, there's a way to speak to your parents that is right and glorifying to God. And there is a way to speak to your friends and to your neighbors and even to the stranger that you have never met. There is a way to speak to that neighbor that does you wrong. Anybody ever done you wrong? Maybe the person next door, as a neighbour, there's a way to speak to them, beloved. Or maybe to that work colleague that tries your patience. And I'm sure there's many a trial that you meet with at work, those that are in employment. But there's a way to speak to them. Or to that school friend that treats you unkindly. There's a way as a Christian to speak. And this is true for all men. Whether they're saved or not saved, they'll be come into contact with. There is a way to answer our fellow Christians, even those that rub us up the wrong way, even those that would demean and despise us and speak aggressively to us. We are not to bite and devour, the Scripture tells us. No, that's animal behaviour. The growling and the snarling belongs to the dog, not to the Christian. But especially we must be on our guard to the ungodly. Remember what we said, we are the only Bible that some of them have. And Paul is speaking about the unconverted in verse five, as he says, walk in wisdom towards those that are without, those that are without the church. That's the ungodly world. Walk in wisdom. And then immediately he speaks about our conversations. Let your speech be always with grace. I wonder, are you winning the lost by your words? Do they see in you and hear from you all that would point them to the Saviour? But I wonder today, are you a hypocrite, a stumbling block to those that you're trying to win, a hindrance? No one is a harsh-speaking, criticising, unkind gossip who has no testimony at all before the world. Peter speaks about those wives who may have unconverted husbands, that those men might be won by the conversation of the wives. You speak well of the home, dear wife. It might be the means of winning your husband, and vice versa. Many a godly influence of sweet and wholesome speech has been the means of winning homage to the Saviour. And we've all heard about those godly neighbours who for years have lived the life, and it has spoken to those around them. We don't want to live with regrets. We certainly don't want to die with regrets. The great and the godly preacher, Mr. George Whitfield, when someone remarked, I should like to hear your dying testimony. He said this. No, I shall in all probability bear no dying testimony. Why not? asked the person who made the inquiry. Because I am bearing testimony every day while I live, and there will be less need of it when I die. The godly minister preached up to the last afternoon of his life. And then he went up to bed and died. There was no need for anyone to ask, what did he say when he was dying? No, they knew what he said when he was living. And that was a great deal better. Dear child of God, as you live, as you live, make your testimony count. All men are listening. To the testimony we bear before them now, it will be a little bit late to wait until we are dying. Therefore, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. May God bless his Word for Jesus' sake. Heavenly Father, we pray that your take of these words today and challenge all of our hearts as I was challenged reading through this epistle, and so many things stood out in my mind and heart. Lord, help us to guard our conversations. Help us, Lord, to take care in what we say, that we might speak graciously at all times, in all company, no matter where we are, that we might know how to answer every man. We pray that this grace of Christ will be found in us. and that that would help us to have a good testimony before God and man for Jesus' sake. Amen.