Please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Ephesians 4, starting in verse 25. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Heavenly Father, we come before you, Father, as we open your word. We pray for the illumination of your Holy Spirit. Help us teach us, Father, how to control our communication. And Father, we pray that all that we say and do would be honoring and glorifying to You. We pray in Your Son, Christ Jesus' name, Amen. Well, we live in a day and age when corrupt speech is the norm. Even our own president has been criticized by oftentimes the foul mouth liberals for the type of speech that he uses publicly. You know, I can remember a time when we were shocked to hear how one of our late presidents spoke privately when the recordings were released. But this president just speaks openly in such a way with coarse language. Many of his supporters have been embarrassed by this. But it's not only within the secular circles that we see this trend of acceptance of coarse and corrupt language. In fact, the trend set by Mark Driscoll, who's sometimes referred to as the cussing preacher, set a course for those ministers who implement coarse language and vulgar talk on vulgar topics in their preaching in order to be relevant to the younger generation in order to reach them. What does this say about the younger generation? So what does God's word teach us about this kind of speech? We know that when we become new believers, we change the way we act, we change the way we think, and most importantly, we change the way we speak. It has an impact on us. When a person speaks, the content of their heart is revealed. You can tell if someone is a Christian by their speech. I can think of many occasions where I've been out, and after being around somebody for a few minutes, I like to ask a question. And sometimes I'll say, if I can tell they're a Christian, I'll say, what church do you attend? And they've sometimes looked back at me and said, how did you know I was a Christian? There should be something that marks us as being different from the world by our speech. And so there is a Christian way to speak. And in this text we're looking at today, we will see how a Christian should speak. So what does a person's speech reveal about their heart. One of the things we see from God's word is that their speech can reveal whether they're truly regenerate or not. So let's look at what Christian speech should look like. First, we must see that in the text that we have today, we're going to be dealing with verse 29. As it starts off with this whole concept that we've been going through with the putting off and the putting on, and he always starts with what we should put off but then he also teaches what we should put on. So for today's text, we will look at put off corrupt communication, put on edifying words that build up, and your ministry of grace to others. That's the point of the text of the sermon today. So put off corrupt communication. Now the word here used for corrupt Or other versions might use unprofitable speech. But the word used is the same word that's used to speak of rotten fruit. When Jesus spoke of the tree that gives forth bad fruit, it's the same word and it means rotten. And so think about a piece of rotten fruit. Let's get this image that Paul is trying to give us here. And think of this piece of rotten fruit What happens to that fruit if you leave it in the fruit basket with the good fruit? It actually causes the other fruit to go bad. And in fact, if you have fruit sitting in a fruit basket and you see a rotten piece of fruit, you take it out and you discard it in order to preserve the other fruit. And the last thing you have on your mind is to eat that piece of rotten fruit. And so the way that this language, the way the communication is being described here is as a piece of rotten fruit, this rotten language that proceeds from the mouth. We are told. In verse 29 says, let no rotten, corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. That should not be the characteristic of a Christian, that should be that should not be the characteristic of one who has a regenerate heart. These are distasteful, putrid words that should never depart from a Christian's mouth. Now, for us that are older and us that have been to public school, many of us might have heard the term sticks and stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me. Now, I can remember being on a playground, and oftentimes that would be something you would respond with when somebody had said some words that actually did hurt you, and you were just putting up a defense. Well, it's not long after you leave grammar school that you don't hear anybody saying this anymore, because we learn very quickly that words do hurt. And we learn the power and the destructive nature of words. So what does God's word say about the danger of words? There's a lot. I mean, I'm just going to cover a few scriptures here, but there's many, many scriptures about the tongue, about words. And about unprofitable language and the destruction that it brings. We see that rotten words, there is that speaketh like the piercing of a sword. It's speaking of a type of speaking to somebody that is like piercing them with a sword. In James, "...and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among its members, that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell." That's saying that the tongue and the words that come off of the tongue corrupt the whole person. And it displays the rottenness of their heart and shows that they are someone who is condemned to hell. And so what we see is there's a clear, distinct difference between somebody who has a dead heart and somebody who has a regenerate heart. And it should be displayed in the way that we speak. But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things." Think of all of the damage and all of the suffering that came and started with the words of Hitler. And the rhetoric that he used, and he convinced people to some of his ideals that even 50% or more of the Christian church in Germany was in support of this man. Words can be very destructive. We're told that, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Another verse, it says, If any man among you seem to be religious, and broddleth not his tongue, but deceiveth not his own heart, this man's religion is vain. That's saying that one who is not able to control his tongue is a sure evidence that his religion is in vain. That his religion is just an outward show and that it has no worth. You know it's, I remember when Edward Snowden revealed to the world what our government was doing. Breaking privacy laws, finding out that they had the capabilities to listen in on our conversations on our phones and our electronic devices that are connected and to monitor all this communication and they're building these great big complexes and data centers where they can collect all this communication and they can quickly search it for certain key words in order to protect us. And we thought about this privacy violation and the fact that all these things are being recorded and kept. And then we think about would we want everything that we've ever said to be played for everyone else to hear. Can you imagine what that would be like? For every word that you have spoken to be played for everyone to hear. But God hears all that we speak. In fact, in Matthew 20 verse chapter 12, verses 36 and 37 says, but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account of in the day of judgment. For by the words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." So the importance of controlling our speech as a Christian is a very important matter. It's clearly stating here in Scripture that it reveals a true regenerate heart. It's a point in which we can examine ourselves and look for true fruit. But we also see that in our own culture, oftentimes God's standard is not the world standard. You know, growing up as a young man who participated in sports, I became familiar with what's considered locker room talk. This is that talk that was tolerated because there were no women present. Talk that was among men, vile talk, rotten talk, corrupt talk. But yet it was considered okay because there was no women present. In fact, I've also, everybody's heard the term, he talks like a sailor. referring to those in the military or those that were in the Navy who have a coarse language that's accepted. But even those men, there was one time in this nation that even those men who talked coarsely in the locker room or on the ship, when they came into the presence of women and young children, were able to control it. And in fact, I know of men that have gotten in fistfights to protect the honor of their wife because somebody refused to not use coarse language around their wife. Boy, how times have changed. Now, oftentimes the nod is the women that are talking like a sailor. And if you have the courage to ask somebody to not speak in such a way around your wife and children, you may be beaten or shot, as we have seen incidences of this happening, where young people have been asked to control their language, and instead, they turn on the people and beat them. That's the kind of environment that we live in now, where coarse language is the norm. But we have been called to be salt and light into the world, to speak differently, But there's another level that is speaking here of corrupt words, because we can all identify those things. And we normally see, normally when somebody comes to faith in Christ, even somebody who uses harsh language, corrupt language, when they become a believer, they usually turn from that. It takes a little longer than others. It's sanctification that takes place. And just as Paul is having to speak here to believers in Ephesus and to command them to let no corrupt communication proceed out of their mouth. But see, this is deeper than those coarse things we think about, those vile topics that people talk about in the locker room. This goes even to things that are in the church. sarcasm, ingesting. You know, I believe, I'm one that believes that there are those who can use sarcasm effectively as a teaching tool. But oftentimes, more than not, it's used to tear others down and is used inappropriately. In fact, I would, am one that would even believe that Paul, in some of his writings, used a form of sarcasm for teaching. And so I don't want to say all sarcasm is bad. Paul said, even if I say I speak in the tongues of angels but have not love, it profit me nothing. I personally believe that what Paul is teaching the Corinthians there is not that he speaks in the tongues of angels. And I'm not saying whether Paul spoke in the tongues of angels or not. But what he's saying is if you claim to speak in the tongues of angels, but you hate your brothers. It's of nothing, it's of no worth. And he's using it as a teaching tool to show them a contrast of how the two are not compatible. But when sarcasm is used to tear down others. It becomes biting and hurting and painful. And it destroys relationships. We also see jesting. Now we're warned very clearly in Scripture to not use coarse jesting. That is not a fruit of a Christian. But the word jesting means to joke around, to say something or act in a joking way. And in fact, even in the history of many kingdoms, a court oftentimes would add a court jester. And the idea was there was somebody that would just lighten things up. When things got serious, he was the guy who was allowed to say something to lighten things up. And we all enjoy laughing. We all enjoy good humor. But as anyone who uses this type of humor knows, it's very easy to cross the line. It's very easy to let that jesting turn into a joke that puts someone else down. And that's the kind of language that should not be a part of the Christian people. It should not. That's the kind of language that brings divisions in the church. It brings divisions in families. It brings divisions in marriage. I have seen many marriages where the wife is always the butt of the husband's joke. And so there's a way that you can speak that tears down. And so even though we need to have the types of people in the community that just know how to lighten things up and have some fun, and sometimes not to look at a serious matter so seriously, look at the brighter side of things. We have to be careful in how we use our language. In fact, I've had to speak to several children in this own congregation where they have taken their jesting a little too far. And they immediately recognize where they have. It doesn't, it just takes a matter of bringing it to their attention. We know when we've taken our jesting too far. We also have to worry about gossip and slander. You know, gossip is when we tell something about somebody else that might be true, it might not be true. If it's not true, it's definitely slander, but it might be true. But we're not telling it for any edification. We're telling it in order to tear that person down, in order to put them below ourselves, in order to harm. This is not sharing our burdens with one another. This is sharing somebody else's burden for the sake of putting them down. and slander is repeating those things that you have no proof of that slanders a person and tears them down. Those things are spoken clearly against in God's Word. It's great sins within the body of Christ. Sins that divide and destroy relationships. But God's Word doesn't just leave it at those things that are obvious to us. It also talks about idle words. And these are words without thought. Now, I'm gonna say that anybody who likes to talk has been guilty of this at any time. I mean, a lot of us like to talk. And sometimes we talk without thinking. And we have a phrase that we use, I put my foot in my mouth. And oftentimes, we put our foot in our mouth because we speak idle words. We're not thinking about what's coming out of our mouth. And it puts us in situations where we have to ask for forgiveness. And so what's being taught here, in fact, we're told be slow to speak and quick to listen. Now, this is not saying some people take this to say that just if you're a good Christian, mature Christian, you just don't talk that much. And I'm not saying that that is necessarily the goal here. The goal here is that you're talking is from words that you have thought about beforehand. For there's lots of verses that talk about words being used Righteously. See, an introvert may not speak corrupt words, but he probably isn't speaking edifying words either. And so with talking is a responsibility to make sure that those words aren't idle words. We also are told that a prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. A prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Now, what is this saying? This is saying that a prudent man might have knowledge about a topic, but he recognizes that it isn't always the right place to share that knowledge. but that a foolish man will oftentimes jump in the middle of a situation and proclaim knowledge where it's not helpful. These are those who share contrary opinion, advice, or correction where it's not asked. You know, sometimes And I've had to have this talk with my own children at times, especially when they're siblings growing up and siblings aren't always getting along with each other. I like to point out each other's weaknesses. I'll say, you know what? If you think they're wrong, what does it matter to you? Let them be wrong. Is it worth the conflict? And just as it's like that in a family, and I can think of lots of areas in other families where it's the same thing. It's like that in the body of Christ. Years ago I heard somebody talk about a story with John MacArthur where he was at a conference, it wasn't his home church, and a woman came up and she was talking with him and in the context of this talk she made a statement that was theologically wrong. But it wasn't really that big of a deal. And later he was asked, why didn't you correct her in this? And he said, you know, this isn't my church, she's not my congregant. And I just that wasn't the answer that she was looking for. She wasn't looking to be corrected. And I didn't think it was dependent upon her faith to be corrected. And he just let her stay in that era. And I think there's wisdom in that. Part of allowing us to all grow together. We're all at different levels of sanctification. Some of us are more mature in some areas and weak in some areas, but God puts us together as one unified body. And it's allowing God to work in each person where they're at. But there is a place for speaking truth. But a prudent man conceals knowledge. He knows when it's proper to speak. It also doesn't help if when you're standing there and you hear something you disagree with, if you show disagreement so strongly on your face that the person might have to stop and ask you, so you disagree with this. I've been guilty of that myself. Oftentimes we show our expressions so deeply on our face that we might as well say it out loud. And so oftentimes I'm just pointing out communication can be more than what we say. So we have to be careful in our communication. We also read in God's word, even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise. And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Now this speaks to someone who's talking and another man standing there who has no understanding. He's a fool. But yet, he stands there and ponders and thinks and keeps his mouth shut. And it's saying that he will be viewed as wise. And so, what we can learn from this is to think about your words. And if you jump in there quickly and speak something, you might be revealing yourself to be a fool, or at least foolishness. It says, with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men. who have been made in God's likeness, out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can salt spring produce fresh water. See, many a church has been split or even destroyed over corrupt communication. Communications is probably one of the most difficult things we do, but it's something that's unique about us. It's something that separates us from the animal kingdom. God gave us the gift of being able to reason and to speak. And when it's godly speech, God uses it for the advancement of His kingdom. So how do we put off this corrupt communication? on edifying words that build up. Our text says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying. But that which is good to the use of edifying. So whenever you take away, you throw out that rotten speech, you need to replace it with something. And this says, good words for the edification Good words for the use of edifying. See, our speech should reveal that we have been given a new heart. Just like we were commanded to put away lying and anger and stealing. We need to recognize that if we are truly regenerate, we should see our speech transformed to where we want to speak things that are edifying. We must allow God to change us in this area. For we are told that the tongue is hard to control, but yet God can change it. If the Holy Spirit is indwelling in you, the fruit of the Spirit is edifying words to the body of Christ. What we see here is that we are limited in our speech, not necessarily in the quantity of our words, even though if you speak many words, you're going to oftentimes find yourself saying things you shouldn't say, but in the quality of our words, meaning that we should examine the words that are coming out of our mouth and that our words should be full of grace. In Psalm 1914 it says, this is the Psalm, it says, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. There he is saying that everything he says is as if it is before God. He recognizes God is everywhere. God hears everything. And may his words be pleasing in the sight of God. Even the meditations of his heart. For we know that out of the heart comes the words in our mouth. And the condition of our heart. A man cannot change his language without first changing his heart. Psalm 3730 says, The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. See, the mouth of a righteous man utters wisdom and his tongue speaks what is just. We need people who speak edifying words, words of wisdom, and words of justice. We need people who are willing to speak up for justice when people are being oppressed. And so it's not just keeping these words to ourselves, it's saying the right words. See, this is not telling men what they want to hear, but words that are good for them. These are words that build up. Words that bring the Word of God to bear in someone's life. And so this doesn't say that these are always just flowery words that make somebody feel good about themselves. If you want those kind of words, there's a big church in Houston where you can get a lot of them. It's about saying the words that somebody needs to hear. And often, sometimes we need someone who loves us to come to us and confront sin in a loving way with God's word. Bring God's Word to bear in our life. To see the Holy Spirit use those words to transform us and sanctify us. Psalm 40, 10 says, I do not hide your righteousness in my heart. I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly. God uses us to reveal the righteousness of God and His love and truth with our speech. Not just men who stand in these pulpits, but you, every one of you, He uses your speech. See, we measure our words for the value of how they edify every situation. So basically, if we want it, you can speak the right thing at the wrong place. And so part of edifying words is, are they going to be used in such a way as to build up? To encourage or to transform. Imagine. How this would transform our homes if we only spoke words for the spiritual profit of our family. Imagine the difference between siblings if they only spoke edifying words to one another. We wouldn't have a lot to do as parents in discipline if that was the case. But it's a learning process. And those whom we're closest to are oftentimes the ones who we speak most harshly towards. We also see in this text that your ministry of grace to others is through the way that you speak. Now, I want to back up a little bit and remind us of a text that we looked at earlier on. And because I think it directly applies to what he means here when he says that it may minister grace unto the hearers. In verse 11 of chapter 4 says, And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the works of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ." What that's teaching us there is that as preachers and as the apostles and prophets which we have recorded in God's Word, that we are taught so that we might do the works of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. So what are those works of ministry? Some of you might say, what work of ministry does God have for me? But oftentimes we have this idea that ministry is something like preaching. And we do have the office of minister. But yet we're all called to do works of ministry. And one of those works of ministry is God using us in the speech that we have. Think about this, God will use our words to administer grace to those who hear. Now think about that when you speak to someone. Is God going to use these words to administer grace to somebody else? You are a tool and instrument for administering grace to others. That's how we should look at our speech. We exist. God gave us this ability to reason and speak for His glory. And we should be thankful that He uses us that way and we should be mindful of what we speak to others. God uses our words in evangelism. We're told to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us. That's with our mouth. We can tell others about this hope that we have. And so God uses us as instruments of evangelism. And we have to be careful about how we speak. Spurgeon tells the story of a minister, a young minister, who had preached a message And there was a gentleman sitting there that day. And he was very compelled by this message. And he felt convicted of the sin. And he felt compelled to go to Christ. But then he was out on the street and he happened to walk by this young minister. And he heard him speaking with very coarse language. And it completely turned him off to the faith. And years later, on his deathbed, he called this minister in to his house, and he said, you know, I sat in your service one time many, many years ago, and you spoke a very compelling message, and it just drew me to the faith. And the minister started to celebrate, and he said, oh no, no, hold off, let me tell you the rest of the story. He said, but then I heard the way that you spoke on the street, and I realized that you're Faith, that hope that you told me about, didn't bear the same fruit out on the street. And I was turned away from the Gospel because of your actions. And the man died right there. Now this is a story Spurgeon tells, but we have to remember that when we're speaking no matter where we're at, and it doesn't matter if we're in the locker room or if we're a sailor, we are ambassadors for Christ Jesus. And every word that we speak, we will be held accountable for. But God uses our words also in a great way in the church for the discipleship. See, we are told to encourage one another, to lift up one another. We're to come alongside the weaker brother and encourage him with our words. And sometimes we're the weaker brother and others come along us and encourage us. And anybody who's had a difficulty in life knows how important it is to receive the encouraging words of a brother or sister in Christ. How much it helps us to know that there are those who are suffering with us. There are those who are standing with us, encouraging us, not judging us, not looking at us as a project that they fixed, but coming alongside us and loving us and encouraging us as the Holy Spirit works in our life. We are also called to bring about the correction, but it's in love and humility. Colossians 4, 5 says, let your speech be always with grace. Season with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man. See, our words can be a preservative. They can either be rottenness and bring about corruption of ourselves and everybody else around us, or they can be used like salt as a preservative, as one that pulls things together. You know, sometimes within families or within groups, somebody will be, oh, they're the glue that holds us all together. And what you'll find is that there's sometimes a person who's so loving and encouraging and they're a peacemaker and they're working through the differences. But we are all called, as one of the earlier passages and even Ephesians talked about, to adhere together. And that comes from the edifying speech that we speak one to another. Words that preserve and we also see that you may know how you ought to answer every man. That means words that are fit for the situation. So we learn from this that Christian speech should always be under control. Christian speech should be God focused and not me focused. Conversations shouldn't be about turning everything back on ourselves. If anything, it should be turning everything to God, giving him the glory. And all of our speech should be done as before the Lord, knowing that every word will be recorded and one day we will give an account. So examine yourself this morning. What is coming out of your mouth, not just here at church, but in your home and in your family. Out in your workplace, around other men, Does it reveal a new heart or a heart of deceit? See, if you're here today and you struggle with gossip or slander, repent and get your heart right with Jesus. If you struggle with coarse jesting among certain groups, repent, turn from that wickedness. If you struggle with idle words, repent and speak words of edification. And let us be able to say as the psalmist who said, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. Oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Let's go the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you. And Father, we pray that you would sanctify our speech, help us to be loving and encouraging to one another, edifying the body of Christ, building them up for the unity for all things, which is the head, even Christ, and that we would be those who the world looks upon and clearly says there is something different about us because we worship Christ Jesus. And we pray in the precious name of our Savior. Amen.