The title of the message this morning, Wisdom and Folly. These two contrasted for us here. In our study of the book of Ephesians, we have come this morning to follow the Apostle Paul as he turns to the topic of discernment. And we'll really see that that is what defines or what divides the wise from the foolish. So notice as we read our text that all believers are called to practice biblical discernment. As is our custom, I will read the text, at which point I will say, this is the word of the Lord, and ask you to repeat with me in prayer, may he who gave it be praised. And I will remind us that it was given for our admonition, and ask you to repeat with me, may we who hear it obey. Ephesians 5, beginning at verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of the Lord. May he who gave it be praised, and it was given for our admonition. So may we who hear it obey. Heavenly Father, as we come before your word this morning, I pray that it would have full reign in our hearts, that your spirit would direct us to the correct application, that we would be obedient Guide my lips now, help me not to add or detract from the message that you have for us in any way. But may we hear from you, from your word. And we ask these things in your name. Amen. Well, we are entering an exciting time in the Randolph household. Some of you probably have seen glimmers of this. In the past couple weeks, something has happened that is both exciting and a little bit frightening. It has become clear in just these last few days that our youngest, Olivia, is becoming mobile. Now, Rose and Joseph are already running around all over the place, of course, so the house is relatively safe for that. But babies are a different story. Unlike our older children, babies like to put everything in their mouth, so you kind of have to go the extra mile to baby-proof the whole house once they can roam it as they wish. That's been easy enough to deal with so far, because as you know, little babies, when you set them down somewhere, they stay there. They're not going to become an issue. If they're on their little play mat, then you can go somewhere for five or 10 minutes in the other room, and you come back, and they're still on the play mat. Now, however, she's starting to roll and she's trying to start crawling and it's always fun with hardwood floors when you start crawling that they go backwards before they can go forward. And in a few months, she'll be trying to stand and then she'll take those first few steps. And I remember with our other children that at first they're really cautious. They stand and they grab onto something and they try to take one step and then they maybe stumble a little bit. But eventually walking becomes second nature to them and they take off at greater and greater speeds. And this actually still happens with Joseph. Pretty frequently he'll get excited and he'll start running somewhere and he'll be so focused on what he's going after and have so little attention to what he's doing that if there's anything on the floor he's hopeless. But even sometimes there's nothing and he just trips over his own feet. Now he's getting better, but for a while it seemed like every day we would have this occurrence where he just takes off running and gets about two steps before face planting onto the ground. Of course, this would often lead to an eruption of tears. Like, Joey, what? Just slow down a little bit. You're super excited and you just then ruin the whole thing by falling flat on your face. But I think that's a good picture of much of modern Christianity. You know, when we get saved at first, we're very cautious and precise in taking steps of spiritual growth. But as time goes on, we often become comfortable and we stop being quite so focused and we become overconfident in our spiritual maturity as it were. We stop taking precise steps We just assume that as long as we're going in the right direction, everything's going to be fine. And we end up tripping over ourselves. We become careless and it isn't long before we face planted in sin. I trust that it will be clear from our text today that this is often caused by a lack of biblical discernment. We're not taking precision in choosing our steps. Paul encourages us in this text to be both intentional and careful in our actions and in our words. And I trust that you'll see from our text this morning that as believers, we must develop and practice wise discernment in everyday life. We see first here in this passage this morning is that we should carefully consider our steps. Carefully consider your steps. In verse 15, we read this, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Paul here tells us to pay careful attention to our walk, and he is continuing the word picture that he began in chapter 4, where we are admonished to walk worthy of our calling in Jesus Christ. This is, of course, a reference to the Christian life. The Christian walk is the Christian life. What we are talking about is not our way of getting somewhere on our feet. We are talking about how we live out our lives day by day. Christian life requires an intentional focus on how we conduct ourselves. That's because carelessness breeds foolishness. When we are careless in our actions, we inevitably fall into foolish decisions. We see this in verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly, but the opposite of that is walking as fools. The opposite of seeing or observing that we walk circumspectfully or carefully If you don't do that, you will not be wise, you will be foolish. Paul contrasts the fool with the wise person, pointing out the distinction of careful precision in discerning his actions. When we are careless, we cause problems. Careless words cause division. Carelessness in marriage often leads to divorce. Carelessness in parenting quickly produces laziness and entitlement in children. But it's not just folly at stake here. Carelessness also breeds wickedness. We see this in the next verse. In verse 16, he says, "...redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Not only does carelessness lead to poor decisions, but carelessness also leads us to make sinful choices. Paul references this in the aspect of our time. We live in a fallen world with an inward bent toward wickedness. When we relax, when we just leave life on autopilot, as it were, the natural tendency of our heart is going to put us into wickedness. We will serve frivolous pursuits, become selfish. We will naturally waste the day. This term circumspectly in verse 15 is the word akribos, which carries the idea of being accurate or precise. Translated here circumspectly, often translated carefully. because it entails the opposite of carelessness. How do you avoid sin? How do you avoid foolishness? How do you avoid wasting your life by taking careful consideration, by discerning how you are going to live? You know, growing up in a preacher's home, my parents were never very wealthy. I don't think we ever purchased a vehicle that wasn't at least 10 years old when we bought it. And I can only remember one car in all of growing up that was still in a decent enough condition when we were done with it that we sold it to somebody. Most of the time, by the time our family was finished with the car, it was headed to the junkyard. We usually had two cars by the time that I was a teenager. And as a young man, when I started driving places regularly, I was always assigned whatever was the worst of the vehicles that we owned at the time. Now my sister, and I'm not envious of this, all right? I'm just laying out the facts. My sister somehow was always supposed to drive the nicer car once she started driving. I was always supposed to drive the less nice vehicle. I think my parents worried in my sister's case that she would get in an accident and would get hurt. And in my case, they worried that I would get in the accident and the car would get hurt. I don't know. But that just seems to be the way that it worked. And I remember one vehicle in particular that naturally veered left. Most cars will drive straight for a little while, at least, if you take your hands off the wheel. This one, if you let go and you had to hold the wheel slightly like this to go straight. So if you let go, it would just naturally veer you into oncoming traffic. If you didn't get hit by oncoming traffic, then you'd find yourself in the opposite ditch in just a few seconds. It required careful precision and attention, and you had to physically hold the steering wheel in the right place. The Christian life is similar to this vehicle in the sense that if we are careless, we can make a big mess of things very quickly. If we become complacent and take our hands off the wheel as it were, we'll quickly find ourselves in the ditch. See, we must be intentional in the Christian life. If we do not plan to use our time wisely, it will be wasted in sin and folly. This is why Moses admonishes us in Psalm 90, verse 12, saying this, You know, each one of us is given a limited amount of time in this life, and only that which is done to serve our Lord is truly going to matter. And if we're honest, all of us would have to say, we are not as diligent as we should be with the time God has given us. So carefully consider your steps. Carelessness will lead to foolishness, and carelessness will lead to sin. What we see in verse 17 is that wisdom comes from God. Verse 17, wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. How can we avoid wasting our lives in foolishness? The only way to avoid wickedness and vanity is to follow the will of God. Now, where do you discover God's will? we discover God's will for us in his word given to us. I find that many people are very perplexed by this idea of finding God's will. When I was in college, I was helped tremendously by a series of messages by Dr. Greg Mazak on the topic of finding God's will. And he helpfully explained that in our minds, we divide God's will into three categories. We have God's secret will, which is God's decree from eternity past, which comes to pass through time without fail. That is, God's secret will is what, from before the foundations of the world, he decided to accomplish. And guess what happens? God's will gets accomplished. And you talk about this and it brings up all these questions of theodicy and all of these concerns about the nature of God. Those are wonderful sermons that we're going into today, but they're valid. But in the basic understanding of God's sovereignty, we have to realize that when we talk about God's secret will, yes, Adam and Eve's fall is part of His will. Yes, all of the evils that take place are in this sense part of His will. And you say, how can you say that? Because the cross, salvation in Jesus Christ, the end of eternity that has the many, proclaiming the judgment, the righteousness of God through judgment, and the few, by comparison, displaying His riches in mercy. The cross and your salvation, friend, are not God's plan B. This has been God's will from all eternity past, to send His Son into a sin-cursed world to be a Savior. And if you are offended by the fact that God's plan glorifies God more than God's plan glorifies you, you have a different gospel. But again, that's not the message that we're preaching this morning. But that is God's secret will. All things that come to pass happen according to God's secret will. The good, the bad, the ugly, the glorious. All God's secret will. We call it a secret because we don't know what it is until it comes to pass. Now we have prophecy to give us hints of what's going to happen. We knew before Christ came that a Messiah would come, but we don't know in detail the fullness of God's secret will until it has come to pass. For example, who is God's will to be the next president of the United States? I don't know. Who is God's will to be the current president of the United States? Donald Trump. How do I know? Because he is. God's will comes to pass. When we look at the past we could say, that was God's will. When we look to the future we say, I don't know yet. It's God's secret will. We see this in scripture and passages like Job 42 verse 2. Job says, rather, I know that you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Psalms 135 verses five and six. For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all the deep places. Lamentations 2 verse 17, Yahweh has done what he purposed. He has completed his word, which he commanded from days of old. He has pulled down without sparing, and he has caused the enemy to be glad over you. He has exalted the might of your adversaries. We are learning here, even the raising up of Israel's adversaries was God's will. Then we have God's revealed will. So we have his secret will and we have his revealed will, which we see in places like our text this morning, where God instructs us on how we ought to live. The 10 commandments, those are God's revealed will. This is how you are to live. This is what you are to do. This is what you must believe to be saved. These are all God's revealed will. That's really clear. So what is God's secret will? for the next month? I don't know. What is God's revealed will for the next month? Obey his commandments. Follow his word. So we have God's secret will, which we can't know until it takes place. We have God's revealed will, which is clear But it's not particularly personal. And thirdly, we have God's personal will. God's personal will is what we typically mean when we say we want to find God's will. So we divide God's will into three categories. His secret will, his revealed will. Secret will, we can't know it. So trying to figure out God's secret will is kind of dumb. Try to figure out what you can't know. Okay, that's weird. Revealed will, that's pretty clear. Just read your Bible. But we want to know God's personal will. Young people want to know who they should marry, what career they should pursue. We come to changes in life in which God would show us which house to buy, what promotion to pursue, when and where we should invest our money for retirement. So you have God's secret will, which you can't know ahead of time. You have God's revealed will, which is clearly given in his word. And then we have God's personal will, which we're most interested in most of the time. And we strive to deduce that in various ways. And one of the key principles that Dr. Mazak brought out in this sermon series is that this personal will of God that so many of us strive to understand doesn't actually exist. It is a flawed category. You see, if God says do this, that's not his personal will, that's his revealed will. So if you're looking for a thus saith the Lord, you're gonna be looking for God's revealed will. And if God does it without instructing it, guess what? That's his secret will, which you can't know ahead of time. So what happens when we look for a personal will is we either arrogantly assume that we've ascertained God's providence ahead of time, or worse, we conflate a feeling or a thought of our own making with the eternal decree of God. In my own life, I remember this and it really sent me into a place of really searching the scriptures and God used it as he showed me this fact. Because I had begun to practice a very poor way of trying to discern God's personal will. in my life at the time, there were three things that I was praying fervently over. I believed that I was called to ministry. I believed that God wanted me to go to Bob Jones University. And I believed that God wanted me to pursue a dating relationship that I was in. And those were the three things for a number of months that really were the staples about what I was seeking the Lord's will in, though of course there were other things on a day-to-day basis. And my practice, which you can't find anywhere in the Bible, is that I would get up in the morning and I would do my devotions and I would pray about these things, and then I had a chart. And I would say, is God confirming this in my mind? Yes. And I said yes to all three. And when God saw fit to take one of those things away, it made me question the other three, the other two. Why? Because I was trying to discern God's secret will, which he will accomplish in his providence. And my confidence in that was leading me to doubt all the rest. You see, scripture is clear on certain things and scripture is very clear on the things that are most important. For example, husbands need to love their wives. Scripture is very clear about that. The scripture didn't tell me who I should marry. Yes, it presents categories. You should not be yoked to an unbeliever. You should pursue someone who is pursuing Christ. And there's a number of things along those lines. But scripture doesn't give you a name. I had a friend and she married a man named Mark. And she said, look, the Bible says Mark, the perfect man. But she knows that she's joking when she says that. I didn't find my wife's name in the Bible, at least not with a command to go marry her. And you know, scripture is very clear about what a pastor must be and what he must do. But I didn't find Watsika in the Bible. There's a whole lot that says, if you're going to pursue ministry, this is what you need to do. This is what you need to be. This is the character you need to develop. But there isn't a verse in the Bible that says, this is the town you're gonna go pastor in. So how do we figure this out? Well, the thing we need to understand is that God speaks most clearly about what is most important. God tells us how to treat our spouse, as Paul will tackle in the next paragraph, because how we act in marriage is far more important than the person you marry. Being a good husband is full of information here. Who you're supposed to go marry isn't here. because being a good husband is far more important than the person you actually end up marrying, to God. Now, if you're married, you don't have to wonder who you're supposed to be married to. But prior to that, you need to focus on being who you need to be, rather than this idea that, well, I just need to find that one person out there who's the perfect spouse for me. You know who the perfect spouse for you is? Whoever is a God-fearing and God-loving person that God brings into your life, you don't have to worry about making the wrong choice as long as they fit the categorical requirements. The same thing is true in finding a career. Are there careers you can't pursue as a Christian? Yes, there are. Are there a whole bunch that are perfectly fine morally? Yes. So which one should I pursue? Well, you know what? The same principle applies. God is far more concerned that you be a diligent and godly worker wherever you work than he is concerned with where you happen to draw your paycheck from. The way in which you live matters far more than the house in which you live. the circumstances of your life, these are the small things and the character that you portray is the big thing. And that's why as you go through scripture, there's very little to tell you what specifically you're supposed to do as far as the incidentals. And there's a whole lot that tells you what specifically you're supposed to be as far as character. When Paul says we need to understand what the will of the Lord is, he's not saying we need to figure out God's secret will. He's admonishing us to conform our lives to God's revealed will. If you look to Scripture and the principles there to develop a strong work ethic and become a good worker, you'll find a job. But if you go around and have this pious stupidity, Lord, send the right application into the mail and I'll fill it out. Guess how many people are going to send you a letter with a job application in it? Probably zero. Why? Because God wants you to stop thinking that's how his will works. Understand the will of the Lord. It is primarily about your character. But that's the opposite of what we look for, right? I'm a young person and I want to know God's will. I want him to give me a name of a future spouse. I want him to give me a company to apply for. I want him to send me the college that he wants me to go to. And you know what? Sometimes God uses our foolishness. I remember an evangelist. said three Bible colleges had reached out to him. Now, Bible colleges are not like jobs, right? Jobs are gonna give you money, Bible colleges are gonna take your money. So Bible colleges will send you letters in the mail, okay? So he had gotten letters from three colleges, he applied to all three and he says, God's will is gonna be whichever one replies back first. Now that is a great way to discern the will of God if I didn't have a Bible. Lord, whoever responds first, Now, let's apply that to dating. The same guy asked three girls out in the same week. Whichever one says yes first, way to go. No, take some time to study out. See, okay, what are the reasons that I would go here to study? Look at the reputation. Look at the fruit that it produces. Be wise about this. Be discerning about this. Carefully consider your decisions. We are not serving God well when we dress up carelessness and laziness in the so-called confidence in sovereignty. Can God make me make the right choice regardless of the discernment I put into it? Yes. Does that mean that I am not responsible to be discerning? No, it doesn't. So when I say, I'll just go wherever somebody responds first, Lord, it's in your hands. It's like, well, yes, thank you. It's always been in my hand. And also, what a dumb way to make decisions. Understand what the Lord, what the will of the Lord is. Be discerning. Hey, here's a good idea. Open your Bible. when you want to make a decision. We have so many people, and you know, it's young people, but it's not just young people, and we say, I want to know what God's will is, but they go anywhere and everywhere other than the text. Or they pull the text out of context, right? The wonderful example, I don't know where this is from initially, I think I remember Alistair Begg using it, Lord, Show me your text. Swing open the Bible, point at a verse. Judas went and hung himself. I didn't like that one. Let's try again. Go thou and do likewise. Well, clearly it's God's will for you to hang yourself. No, of course not. It's God's will for you to examine the scriptures, not be an idiot with them. Carefully consider your steps. Wisdom comes from God. The next thing that Paul points us to here in verse 18 is that vices inhibit discernment. He says, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Here, Paul mentions drunkenness specifically. You can't carefully consider your steps when a vice like alcohol clouds your judgment. Say, I just don't understand why my life keeps going so wrong. I don't understand why I keep ending up in these terrible decisions. Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're blackout drunk every Friday. You're not going to make good decisions when you are impaired. That's why you're not allowed to drive under the influence of alcohol. Mind-altering drugs obviously present the same problem. Drunkenness isn't my problem. I just get high. Same problem. If you're drunk or high, you are incapable of making intentional and precise decisions, which is exactly what he told us to do in verse 15. Walk circumspectly or walk carefully. Walk intentionally, precisely. You can't do that when your mind is being altered by all these things. But there are vices, though, that can cloud our judgment and inhibit proper discernment, other vices that do so. For example, I'm always a bit skeptical when people want to tell us what kind of music we need to sing in church when those same people fill their minds with all sorts of secular music. Simply put, if you are a Taylor Swift fan, you love her music, I don't really care what you think we ought to sing in church. Pastor, that's judgmental. No, that's discerning. You have already proven that you're willing to compromise for the sake of preference on music because her songs are filled with all sorts of filth. You're willing to overlook all wickedness just for the lyrics because you like the sound. That's a very dangerous thing when you're in charge of worship music on a Sunday morning. You're not even willing to jettison songs that are full of explicit sexual sin. And I'm supposed to trust you to choose what is holy and righteous and uplifts the name of God? Now, I think there is an argument to be made as stylistic representation of music that honors God. And that's a conversation we can have and there's disagreements there. But my point is, I don't even think we deserve a seat at the table of that discussion when our personal music preferences don't even rule out the clear examples of sin. Filling your mind with wickedness under the guise of, well, I just love the beat. I'm not going to make a law where there's no law, but I am going to say we need to be far from that when it comes to deciding what we're going to sing in church. And no, we don't redeem song lyrics by singing them in church. That's one of the dumbest arguments I've ever heard. Well, we're going to redeem this worldly thing by dressing it up in righteousness and using it to make a point in our church service. Yeah, we redeem sinners. God redeems sinners. We don't redeem sins, okay? You don't bring your sinful stuff in and, well, we're going to redeem it now by dressing it up in a sanctified context. That's just nonsense. You see, until you develop wise discernment in your own walk, we really don't want your decisions to lead the church. Each of us must begin by carefully considering our own lives. If we're not careful here, we will miss the entire point that Paul is making. As he turns secondly to carefully considering our speech. Carefully consider your steps. Carefully consider your speech. Paul begins this in verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. And two issues arise here that can cloud our understanding of here. First, here's James. It says, speaking to yourselves. This is not me speaking to myself and you speaking to yourself. This is the same phraseology that is often translated one another or one to another. This is me speaking to you and you speaking to me, us speaking to us. Secondly, here, we must be careful to note that this is not just talking about how we sing. It's easy to look at this verse and conclude Paul is talking primarily about how we should sing or what we should sing. After all, he mentioned psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and melody in your heart to the Lord. And so this is about singing. But the only way we can conclude that is if we ignore the very first word of this verse, the word speaking. And also it's true that this verse, along with Colossians 3.16, is the primary reason that we are intentional about singing from the Book of Psalms in our services. We sing a psalm every Sunday, in part because here and in Colossians 3 we are told to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, or here, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. But to apply this verse primarily, or especially exclusively, to singing We miss the point. Paul is talking about our speech. He's not just talking about singing. He's talking about all our speech. In verses 19 and 20. The first thing that we see here is that our words must be true. Our words must be true. What is so great about Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is that they are declaring the truth. Now the word Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are meant to convey an all-encompassing description of what we sing as believers in worship. Psalms is perhaps the easiest to define. This refers to the 150 divinely inspired songs preserved for us in the book of Psalms. You say, what does Psalms mean? Well, we have a book in our Bible called Psalms, so that's what it means. That's what we're talking about. Is there other things that could be included in there? Perhaps. But at the most obvious level, we are talking about the Psalms of Scripture. Hymns were songs of praise that perhaps specifically focused in content on praising the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Psalms, obviously, in the Old Testament. While there are references to the Messiah, to the Christ, it's not talking about Him afterward. And so, hymns probably is in reference specifically to songs created praising the name of Jesus Christ, praising the crucifixion, the resurrection, the power of Christ in the New Testament. Spiritual songs is perhaps a more general catch-all phrase, and it may refer to songs of personal testimony regarding God's work in the individual believer's life. So these would be, you know, hymns would be praising specifically Jesus Christ for who He is, what He's done, and spiritual songs would be kind of the broader, this is just everything, where we are singing about our own salvation testimony or things that God has done in our own lives. John MacArthur states of verse 19, in the church today we could classify renditions of Psalm 23 and Psalm 84 as psalms. He says, a mighty fortress is our God, and the old rugged cross we could classify as hymns. And oh, how he loves you and me, and I'd rather have Jesus perhaps as spiritual songs. The intent of the writer here, however, he continues, is simply to give latitude for all kinds of musical expression to exalt the Lord. Our speech, this is Paul's point, our speech should proclaim the truth as our psalms and hymns and spiritual songs proclaim God's truth. Next we see that our words must come from a joyful heart. Our words must come from a joyful heart. Again there in verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. What comes out of our mouths comes from the reality of our heart. Jesus acknowledged this fact in Matthew 12, speaking to his adversaries. Matthew 12 verses 34 through 37. Jesus says this, O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." If I can put it this way, Christian, You don't have freedom of speech. Not when it comes to God. God will judge us for every idle word. Our words will reflect whatever is true of our hearts. This is why your words are fair game. Now, I'm appreciative to live in a nation where you aren't thrown in jail because of your words. But the point here is what you say is an accurate representation of what you feel, what you think, who you are. And when we're so quick to say, well, no, no, no, I didn't mean that. What we actually mean is I wish I didn't mean that. I said it because that is what I meant. Now, there's times where we say things and we're confused, but we're talking about words in anger, words of frustration, words of sin. It's not that you didn't mean that, it's that you did mean that, and that was sinful. So really, we ought to say in confession, I'm sorry that I did mean that. That was sinful, it was wrong, and I need to change. because our words reflect what is true of our hearts. If we are living in the joy of God's salvation, this joy will be evident in our words. That's the point that Paul is making here. You should speak this way because this is what your heart is filled with. Even when we must declare hard truths, our joy in Christ should be seen from our words. The next thing we see in verse 20 is that our words must express gratitude to God. It says in verse 20, Paul is making the point that our speech should be as truthful, lovely, and God-focused as our corporate worship songs. As Christians, the majesty and glory of God honoring worship music should be seen in all of our words. How many of you have been in a place where there's a large congregation singing hymns boldly? It's almost become The thing to do, which I just naturally am not fond of trends, but you'll see people there when you're at some big conference or some big gathering and they'll take out their phone to record. Well, first of all, it's nothing compared to actually being there. Secondly, it's kind of like, why don't you participate instead of just recording it? But if you do that, that's fine. But the point is, there's something powerful about that. of God's people joining their voices together to proclaim God's truth. There is something about that that is just joyful and impactful, and it touches you in a spiritual way. And that's true as we gather on Sunday mornings and sing. That's one of the reasons that we sing. Paul is saying that power, that beauty, that glory, That should be true of all of your words. We're very intentional about the music that we sing in worship. We should be intentional about the words that we say to one another. For those who need it, I probably just need a mirror at this point. That also includes the stuff we type out on the internet or text with our phone. Well, that's not my speech. No, but it's our communication. It needs to be God-glorifying. How often do our words reflect our thankfulness to God? This should be our first articulation when we receive good news or experience some blessing, but too often we praise luck or chance or we chuck it up to mere coincidence. There is no coincidence in God's universe. Appearances of it to us, sure, but God is in heaven and he controls all things. How many of the good things that God does in your life go unnoticed and unthanked? As God's people, our words should continually be filled with His praise. Friends, as we draw to a close this morning, I trust this text has been an encouragement to you to be intentional in your walk with God and your words with his people. It is imperative for all believers to practice wise discernment. Perhaps this morning you realize that by not planning and scheduling your time wisely, you end up wasting much of it in laziness and foolishness. Proverbs 24, verses 30 through 34, Solomon notes this. He says, I passed by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man lacking a heart of wisdom. And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles. Nettles have covered its surface, and its stone wall has been torn down. And I beheld, I set my heart upon it. I saw, I received discipline, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. then your poverty will come as a robber and you're once like an armed man. Friends, if you don't plan to spend the day in service of Christ, you will waste the day in laziness and sin. Maybe you need to be more intentional and plan your time to ensure that God is honored in your day-to-day life. I encourage people, whether it's Bible study, prayer, even evangelism, whatever it is that you struggle with, that you struggle to do consistently, put it on your calendar. I'm going to read my Bible at this time and pray at this time. I'm going to call this person today or write them a letter. Get accountability. While we only touched on it briefly this morning, perhaps the spirit has revealed a vice in your life that is stunting your discernment. It might not be drunkenness or illicit drug use, but perhaps you realize this morning that there are things that you crave and consume in excess that are choking you spiritually. Perhaps you're addicted to binge watching TV programs. or worldly music? Is there some love in your heart, maybe even something that's not sinful in and of itself, but in excess, it is drawing your heart away from God, preventing you from being filled with the Holy Spirit? Maybe the Spirit has convicted you this morning about your words. Would others describe your words as truthful, joyful, and thankful? Or do pessimistic and complaining words flow from your embittered heart? 1 Peter 4, verses 8 and 9, Peter states this, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. In James 5, verses 8 and 9, be also patient Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh grudge not one against another brethren lest you be condemned Behold the judge standeth before the door Our words should reflect the majesty and glory of our God But too often they reflect the bitterness anger and pride of a wicked heart However the Lord has used this text in your life this morning, let me encourage you that even if this charge from the text is a far cry from your present reality, that can change today. You say, my actions have not been discerning, my words have not been well discerned. That can change. You can say, Lord, I'm gonna get diligent about using my time wisely. You can go home and mark up a calendar. And get some accountability. Get with a friend after church and ask them to help you with this. Say, I need a text every evening. What did you read in scripture today? Say, that's embarrassing. No, it's not. If that's what you need, that's what will help, do it. We're not going to get to heaven and stand there and say, well, Lord, I just didn't want to be embarrassed. That's why I never got a hold of this issue. No. If it's some vice. Dedicate yourself to prayer and get some help from fellow believers. I would rather get a phone call at 3 o'clock in the morning every night than have somebody in here who's a fake fighter with their sin. Well, I just don't want to bother. Bother? Bother me? If it's your words, take time to pray when a thought comes to mind before expressing it. Invite others around you. Your spouse will do this really well. Say, hey, correct me here. When you hear these unloving words, when you hear these critical complaints, call me out on it. Then don't get angry when they do. But get accountability with these things. Whatever the issue is, get serious about it and get help. Because that's what we are to do as a body of Christ. We're here to help one another pursue holiness, to be iron sharpening iron, drawing all of us closer to Christ. All believers must develop and practice wise discernment in our words and in our actions. By God's grace, we will. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for this text, for your word, for your grace in helping us individually accomplish these things, but in your provision of surrounding us with others who are able to strengthen us. Lord, there is nothing more difficult than walking the Christian life alone. We need companions. That is why you call us, even as our scripture reading was so clear about this morning, you call us into a body. And how foolish we are as an individual member saying that we have no need of the rest. Lord, we need your help. And some of us are better at discerning the dangers and the sins that are in our lives than we are ourselves. So help us to pursue accountability with those who can help us best. And Lord, I pray especially if there is one here this morning who does not know you as Savior. Lord, none of this is possible in our own strength. Without the Holy Spirit living within us, Without the salvation that you offer through Jesus Christ, serving you is impossible. So Lord, if there is one here who does not know you as Savior, might you draw them to yourself even today? Give them a recognition of the sin that keeps them from you that must be forsaken, repented of, because it will be completely forgiven at the cross. Lord, draw the lost to repentance and faith in you and help us to be your mouthpieces to take that gospel, the gospel that says, first of all, repent of sin. And secondly, because there is grace in Jesus Christ. Father, it is that grace that allows us to come before you in prayer. It is that grace that allows me to stand here. For this message may as well be preached into a mirror. My heart needs it. Give us grace, Lord, not to be hearers only, but to be doers of the word we have heard. And we ask these things in your name. Amen.