The preaching of God's Word then is in Colossians 4, and now at verse 6. For the sake of some context, we'll read from verse 2-6. Colossians 4, reading verses 2-6, but focusing our attention on the last of those verses. Hear then the Word of God, Colossians 4, from verse 2-6. Continue in prayer. and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak, walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. It's that last verse, verse 6. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. So Paul concludes this section. You'll notice the next verse goes on to relate several matters that shall arise. Tychicus would declare unto them in Colossae various things regarding both Paul and his ministry and needs and so on, and then Onesimus and Aristarchus and others are mentioned, Epiphras and so on, throughout to the conclusion of this epistle. And so this concludes a large section of Paul's epistle. It's not that it strictly begins in chapter 3, verse 1, but you can see the relationship throughout, having started with this life that we have in Christ, risen with Christ, and our minds then to be set upon things above, which then enlivens us to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness, and all of these things we've considered, it's telling that he ends then this section with addressing our speech. There's some parallel, although a significant difference. When Paul says in verse 3, pray for us, the ministers, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, a word, speech, to speak the mystery of Christ, That is to preach it. And now he says, but let your speech also be always with grace. Not preaching, and yet nonetheless influenced by and promoting the cause of Christ. And so this most common of ways we communicate through our speech, simple, innocuous at times, weighty and full of significance at others, careless and many times sinful, is now addressed. Notice it says in the words, let your speech be always with grace, always with And the word with can be translated in. It's the idea that it's to be carried by and influenced by and ever addressed with grace. So the grace that God gives us is to govern, influence, and direct the words that proceed out of our mouths. When? Well, that's the significance of the word always. It's not that it's just for when we're with fellow Christians. It's not just when we're doing evangelism. It's not just when we're sort of on about religion or about Christ. It's that the Christian speech is always to be governed, always to be influenced, strengthened, nurtured by the grace of God. The Bible, of course, is not slow to criticize empty and mere words. We know, of course, and we have sayings in our own culture which the Bible would commend likewise, talk is cheap, it's easy to say words, it's easy to say the best words, and yet if they're just words, it's meaningless. Those words are not meaningless in God's eyes, because those words which pretend to something are the very words that will be judged by God who records them. You'll notice, for instance, just to get a picture of the Lord's understanding of such sinful speech, in Isaiah chapter 29, And you'll notice at Isaiah 29, verse 13, we have the Word of God, Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, and so on as he goes to speak of judgment against them. Notice that what is condemned is not right speech, but though right words, words that were insincere, words that outwardly were correct, outwardly were of course the right things. Notice the language, this people draw near me with their mouth, their lips honor me, And so they're saying the right things. Their words, outwardly considered, are correct. They're the things that we should be saying. But God looks through the words and sees the heart that's bringing them forth. And instead of seeing an agreement between word and heart, He sees a fundamental disagreement. The words are right, but they've been weighed in the balance and are wanting, because they do not contain the weight of that agreeing heart. And so, as we think about our words, our speech, being always with grace, we need to understand that this is not just meaning that outwardly our speech is formally correct. That it's not just saying things that are free of profanity, or free of licentious words, or lying and deception and so on. That's of course accurate, but it has to be seen that gracious speech includes speech that's not only right, but is sincerely conveying our own desires, thoughts, and so on. In other words, it's not gracious to be hypocritically involved in right speech. Notice that Paul adds, to help us gain some understanding, that your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. What an image that is. And of course, instantly hits any culture. Salt taking that which is unsavory, making it savory. But he's also borrowing from Jewish practice, where sacrifices would be salted before offered up. And so there's something there about consciously directing our speech in service to the Lord. And so it's easy, of course, for us to understand. Any of us can have, for instance, eggs and then you put salt on it and instantly the flavor is far superior. That's understandable, that's doubtlessly included in this, but there's something that Paul's getting at with this notion of seasoning with salt, that it's being offered unto the Lord. Not just in praise, of course that's the case, but even in our common discourse with others, we're intending, seeking, and pursuing the service of the Lord. Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt." And then notice the context that you may know how you ought to answer every man. This of course gives rise in our minds to perhaps issues of contentions that arise, debates that may come, challenges that are brought to us, but it doesn't merely or doesn't strictly necessitate that that's the only notion. The word here that you may answer can be translated response. Someone raises something and in conversation you're responding. The point is that the Christian speech is to be another scene wherein the Christian is serving God to every man. And so our speech is to be governed by God's word, it's to be enabled by God's grace, and it's to promote the interests of the Lord in all circumstances. So the believer's speech is to be in accordance with God's word and enlivened by God's grace. Well, let's look at three things to help us more fully. Firstly, the meaning of gracious speech. So let your speech be always with grace. What does it mean to have gracious speech? Secondly, the cause of gracious speech, how is it that we can cultivate this in our lives, and thirdly, the need for gracious speech. Why is there, in some sense, the final punctuation in this long line of Christian living, the focus on speech? So the meaning, the cause, and the need. Firstly then, the meaning of gracious speech. Well, we back up to consider speech itself. What is speech? Here Paul says, let your speech, in the Greek it's let your word, And this is a broad word that simply means any oral communication that's audible to the ear of another. It can certainly touch upon written discourse, because that's conveying our thoughts that we would speak to paper that then one reads. But the notion is that by which we communicate our ideas to others by means of words, that's our speech. A thought, in other words, and a feeling even, can then be shared with someone with a high degree of understanding and acceptance by means of our words. Now, sometimes our speech needs clarifying, and this is understandable. Of course, we say one thing to somebody and they say, can you help clarify? What do we do? We then either liken it to something or we use more specific words. So, for instance, we might say, well, today was a good day. And we think, well, good's pretty broad. How was it good? And then they go on to say, well, a student perhaps had a difficult test, and I'm thankful the Lord gave me help, and I was able to answer the questions and give evidence. That's how it was good. And instantly we start to understand the meaning of that. What's the point? There's an idea, and even a feeling, that then gets conveyed to others by means of speech. This is what's known as communication. We think of that word to communicate means that we have things in common and we talk about speech it's that the ideas and feelings of one are now conveyed to the other so that what's thought and understood and felt in the one mind and heart is now understood in the mind of the other. So you can think of this you're reading poem, and it's holding forth the beauty of creation. And by words, think of this, not seeing pictures, it's almost a fault when excellent poetry has illustrations in it, because it's the force of the word which is to capture our understanding. And so when you're reading excellent poetry and it hits you, it's the words that have made you now feel what the poet is trying to convey, right? words are doing that. Now song gets a little different because there's the added feature of musical accompaniment, but even lyrics of course. These are two higher forms, lyricism, lyrics and poetry, but common speech is able to do that. The best speeches of course are not flamboyant, but they're potent with words conveying these things. And what's astounding is that it's not just for men to use words, but God has chosen to use words. Of all the ways that God could have chosen to make things known to us, He's chosen the clearest way through His Word. Even His Son, the Incarnate Son of God, who makes manifest the Father, came and didn't silence His mouth, but ever spoke. And then He commissioned men to write and to preach. And even to this day, there are ministers whose full focus is to be given to the preaching of the Word. And so God puts, as it were, a premium upon speech as the way of communication. So you go to Romans 10, and the question is asked, how shall they hear without a preacher? Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Speech is significant in God's order, and that's because God made it so. God spoke the world into existence. God orders the world by his speech. He makes man, in his image, a communicative being who preeminently communicates through word, of course with all the gestures and every such thing that attends it. But fundamentally what's going on is a thought and a feeling, the mind and the heart, are then conveying its understanding to another by words spoken. Why make this point? Because Paul says, let that always be in grace. Which actually opens up a massive understanding of the human identity and the functioning between heart, mind, and speech. Because if our speech is to be always in grace, guess what that demands? that our thoughts and our hearts be always in grace, which necessarily flows us all the way back to the beginning of chapter 3. when Paul brought this up and says, if you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Notice v. 2 now. Set your affection, literally in the Greek, it's set your mind on things above. Not on the things on the earth. So you see this connection throughout this epistle. and particularly this section where Paul is exhorting us to put to death the desires. Think of that. Put to death the desires, the affections of the old man. Put on bowels of mercy. Put on all of this love and charity, kindness, humbleness of mind. It's strange, isn't it, in one sense? He's addressing affections and thoughts. The heart and the mind. And it's now at the end that He comes to say, as it were, in light of all of this, now let your speech be always in grace." What's the point? Well, we've seen what speech itself is. We saw this as well. Christ makes it so simple in Matthew 12.34, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Right? The lips follow the heart, which of course, the heart is to be guided by the mind. Well, now we see as well, it's not just that we're considering speech itself, but when God renews a Christian, He takes a sinner, gives them life, He's renewing not just their inside, as it were, but all of their display outside. Their works are now transformed. So you see this broad principle in Ephesians 2, by grace are you saved. It's not of yourself, it's not of works, but rather it's unto good works. Grace comes, renews, cleanses, saves, and now issuing forth our good works. Well, a specific form of that outward display is our speech. And so, when we speak of speech, when we speak of the Christian, we're speaking of renewed speech. Speech which is now renewed by grace. Grace transforms the person. It transforms both the mind and the heart. The whole of the soul is transformed. And speech is the issuing forth and the conveying of the thoughts of the mind and the desires of the heart. When those become transformed, now the speech becomes transformed. Of course, hypocrites and legalists will actually ignore the change that's needed, and they'll simply force the outward display. Paul's not interested in that. And of course, someone could say, well, Paul's saying let your speech do this. But that's to rip the passage out of context and not see this intimate connection that Paul's been making. The display of our speech is to flow out of this union with Christ and the habitual meditating upon Christ, the thinking about sin as detestable, such that by His Spirit we're brought to put it to death by the cross of Christ, and such thinking upon righteousness that finds it lovely and attractive that by Christ we put on, and all of these other things that we've considered as well. It's intimately related, and is the issue of a renewed heart. Grace necessarily then transforms our speech. Words spring from our thoughts and desires, Grace changes the mind and the heart, and thus necessarily changes our thoughts and desires, which leads then for our speech to speak of that which is according to God's word. We mentioned Matthew 12.34. Notice how simply Christ puts it in the next verse. At verse 35, when He said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, He goes on, as we read earlier, in verse 35 to say, 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." Now notice the simplicity of what Christ is saying. When the heart is good, His mouth will display the goodness of His heart. When the heart is evil, well, His mouth will bring forth the evil things of His heart. And this is, of course, His reproof to the Pharisees who outwardly were good. That is, they displayed themselves as that. But inwardly, as Christ says elsewhere, they were as white as sepulchers, which looked beautiful outside, but on the inside were full of dead men's bones. And so, Christ is making sense of this constant harangue against Him from these evil men. So, when grace renews us, making us good in Christ, then our speech displays that. This is why Christ is able to say in verse 37, "...by the words thou shalt be justified." He's not saying your words are going to earn you anything. He's saying not just the formal words themselves, but the words as sincere testimonies of the heart and thought are displays of that grace, and will be the open display of those who have been renewed in Christ. Francis Schaeffer uses this, now dated perhaps, illustration, when he says, in one sense, every single individual could simply, as it were, have a tape recorder that was around their neck their whole life, played on the last day, and the whole world would instantly know who are believers and who are not. What's he getting at? Well, it's one thing to sort of base that merely on public speech, isn't it? Well, we don't know based on public speech. But what he's getting at is the Lord isn't interested merely in our public speech. The Lord knows our secret speech. He knows the speech to our wife or our husband when no one else is around. He knows our speech to ourselves that we feel, well, no one's here, I'll just let loose and say these things. He knows the secret counsels of the Pharisees who were seeking to destroy Christ, though that was behind closed doors. He knows all of those things. You know, it's the epitome of a fool who thinks, well, at least my parents, or my pastor, or my spouse, or my children, or somebody else didn't see this or hear it. I've got away with it. The answer is, you've gotten away with nothing. In fact, you're worse off, because if you had been caught, perhaps you would have been convicted. But now you've gotten away with it, so your heart is hardened, and you've neglected that God's heard everything. and God sees everything. This is what Christ is getting at, but let's not miss the good man, which of course necessitates grace. When grace is given, grace then transforms the man so that his heart desires what is good and leads forth to good speech. Notice in some sense what Paul says parallel to this in Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29. 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." Perhaps this helps us see one aspect, not all, but one aspect of what gracious speech is. It's good. It's wholesome. It's that which gives nourishment. but it also edifies and thus gives grace to the hearer. So it's a means of ministering to others, particularly within the household of faith, but even to strangers, contending for the faith, perhaps at times reproving the world of darkness, at other times directing the world to the Savior, or simply testifying of God's goodness, and thereby our speech, giving testimony and tribute to the Lord. So we can see different nuances to the meaning of gracious speech. Well, secondly, let's look at the cause of gracious speech. Well, as we've already noted, ultimately it is God's grace. And so you see this, what a beautiful passage worthy of our deep and continual meditation. Ezekiel chapter 36, as it talks about God's gracious renovation and regeneration As it is, He cleanses us and enlivens us. There in verse 25, if you're looking for a passage to memorize, here's one worthy of your consideration. In verses 25 and following, God says, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them." Notice it's God's work. This is regeneration. God takes one who is dead, here their heart likened unto stone. A stone has no life in it. And now they're given a heart of flesh." Now sometimes this can trip us up because sometimes in Scripture the word flesh is speaking of the sinful carnality of sinful desires. But here it's not speaking of that. It's contrasting flesh, which lives, with a stone which has no life. And he's saying your heart by nature is dead. It's what Paul says. You're dead in your sins and trespasses. But God, who's rich in mercy and so on, has quickened us, enlivened us together with Christ, so that now we're alive. This is what God does in regeneration. This is what Christ means when he says, you must be born again. If you're not born again, you're dead. You may be physically alive, You may be living as far as the world can tell, but spiritually your heart is dead in its sin. And so what you require, if ever you're to see, as Christ says, and enter into the kingdom of heaven, is the regenerating work of the Spirit of God. And this is what Ezekiel is taking up. Well, this is where gracious speech begins. But, of course, Paul's addressing primarily believers within Colossae and, of course, Laodicea and elsewhere, as the epistle would be circulated in us today. This doesn't mean that everyone to whom he wrote was regenerate, but certainly a grand number were. So, why is it then that he has to exhort them? Because he doesn't say, your speech always is with grace or in grace. but he's exhorting, let it be always in grace. Why is that? Well, regeneration, as it were, plants the seed of life, which then is nurtured by the Spirit through the use of the means to mature that work and to sanctify it. This is the work of sanctification. So, the work of progressively making us more like unto Christ is the outworking of that initial work of regeneration. So when we think of effectual calling and regeneration, the new birth, born again, that's the beginning of sanctification. It's that which has begun is now being worked out by God's grace. So what is the relationship here? Well, the cause of gracious speech in us is ultimately the Spirit's work begun at regeneration, where He now gives us, notice, a heart which now loves God. In Jeremiah 31, quoted as well in Hebrews, it's told to us that God will write His law upon the tables of our heart, which is indicating to us not some sort of stale and stagnant notion of holiness, but that our hearts will love God's law. which of course is what Paul goes on to say, and the psalmist does as well, and Christ himself. The new man loves God's law, so now if the heart loves God's law, guess what he's going to speak about increasingly, not perfectly, because there's still the remnant of sin within him. but he'll grow in his love to God. You can see this in, for instance, David's life, Psalm 51. So David was a renewed man. David was a believer. David was a type of Christ. And yet David in this life still sinned. And of course, one of his more, perhaps his most heinous sins is the background of Psalm 51. as is titled, Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Notice the order here in verses 10 and following. David says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. To be clear, he's not asking for conversion in the fundamental sense. He's a converted man. He's asking for the renewing of God's grace in his life. He's crying out that as Christ himself, of course, reproves the angel, the minister in Revelation chapter 2, and he says, thou hast left thy first love, right? He's not denying that there's love. He's saying you had it at a higher degree, But it's cool. This is what David has done. And it's cool to such an extent that he's involved in such wicked sins as adultery and murder and deception. And now he's saying, Lord, oh, look where I am. Forgive me, as we've seen when we dealt with Psalm 51. But he now says, change my heart. Renew it. Strengthen it. And as he goes through, notice what follows. Cast me not away from Thy presence. Take not Thy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation. Uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Notice this work of God's Spirit emphasized. And then, verse 13, will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Verse 15, O Lord, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise. What's the point? David doesn't need to be made regenerate. David needs to be renewed and further sanctified, and he knows it. And so he's saying, I need Your grace to continue that work begun in me long ago, and to strengthen such in me, so that then my lips would teach others. Then my lips would show forth Your praise. If my lips are to change, I need you to change my heart." And this is as a Christian. So what's the point? Well, the cause of the Christian growing in godly speech is the Spirit continuing to work in his heart and mind. Renewing it, strengthening it, growing, maturing it, and so on. All which is the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit by grace. Well, this is ultimate regeneration, the work of sanctification, what the Spirit uses means. And so we can think of ultimately it's by regeneration and His gracious work of sanctification immediately, that is the means He uses to produce this are preeminently His Word. This makes perfect sense because think of this, in our communication to one another, we use our words so that the other understands our thoughts. What does God do? In God's communication to us, He fundamentally uses His Word. And so, He uses His Word to enlighten our minds, to teach us, to challenge, to change our hearts, and so on. So, when we think about how is it we're going to cultivate gracious speech, How am I going to come under Paul's exhortation, which is God's exhortation, that my speech would be always in grace and seasoned, as it were, with salt? Well, I know I need God's grace. If I'm not regenerate, I can only pretend. And that's not what God's wanting. So I need God to give me life. But as a Christian, I need God to continue His work in me, that the good work He's begun would be continued unto the end. But what is it going to take? What is He going to use? He's going to use His Word. This is why you see again and again this emphasis throughout the Scriptures not merely upon Bible reading, but upon Bible meditation. There's a significant difference between the two. We need Bible reading. We must be those who read the Scriptures. But there's a world of difference between reading the Bible and meditating upon the Bible. And so you think of just as one example among many, Psalm 1. The first of the Psalter. God's inspired book of praise. It speaks of this man that doesn't walk in the counts of the ungodly, doesn't stand in the way of sinners, doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful. That's significant. He's not one who's scorning with his mouth. But rather, his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. It's not just that he's reading the Bible. It's that his mind is feeding on the Bible. His soul is devouring the Bible. And so it's not measured by the chapters we read, but rather upon the depth of intake, the way in which we ruminate upon it, the way in which we, as it were, chew it with our minds and extract from the Word of God the riches therein. So, for instance, as you memorize scripture, you'll be doing a lot of things. You'll be reading it. You'll be saying it out loud. You'll be thinking it through. You'll be reciting it. You'll be writing it, perhaps. All those are helpful means to meditate. But along that line, if there's any grace in you or me at all, what happens is connections start to be seen that weren't fully understood when you just read it perhaps a hundred times. Because what's happening is you're starting to meditate upon it. And you're taking it in. It may be one verse. It may be a small psalm. It may be three verses. But as you're meditating upon it, and you're prayerfully asking God, teach me, instruct me, nurture my soul. It's not the quantity That's so important, though there's importance there. But rather, it's the quality by which we take this in, by the Spirit's blessing, which then is to spread across the whole scope of the Scriptures. And so this is no statement against reading plans. I, my family, are on a reading plan, and we commend reading plans. But it's to say, if our speech is going to be transformed, it's not by a reading plan. It's not by four chapters a day, five chapters, ten chapters a day. It's by meditating and the blessing of the Spirit attending that meditation that, as it were, gets it into the fabric of our desires and thoughts, which necessarily convicts us of our sins, which necessarily directs us to the promises of God and gives us that savor of Christ and our longing for Him, which then begins to transform our thoughts and our hearts. If it were just reading the Bible, every liberal seminary would be producing gracious speech. But they don't. They're reading the Bible. Some are far more adept at understanding the original languages than many conservatives and Bible-believing pastors today. But they aren't meditating with faith in the blessing of the Spirit upon the Scriptures. What we need, if we're to produce, as it were, faithfulness in these things, is the blessing of the Spirit as we both read and meditate upon this Word of God. Notice, this is the emphasis throughout Scripture. So, Deuteronomy 6. 4, 5, and 6 comprise something of a unit in the book of Deuteronomy. So there's a hearkening to God's Word in chapter 4 and verse 5. You have the Ten Commandments and some others included. You get to Deuteronomy 6 and you have this exhortation that is quite important historically to the Jews and to the book of Deuteronomy, to the Pentateuch, and to the Scriptures. Notice Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And notice this exhortation. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart." Isn't that instructive? You're to take them in day by day. These words are to be so engrafted into you that they're in your heart. Then thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. and so on. All these things are different ways by which the Word is meditated upon frequently, constantly, daily, expressed, thought upon, shared, talked about. A dear brother who is tremendously gifted of the Lord and Scripture's recall. And it's like you can't have a conversation with him without him putting in Scripture passages and biblical ideas so clearly. was asked, you know, how is it that one can grow in this? He thought, and he gave some consideration to it, and he said, the fundamental need is, of course, love to God's Word, which is a blessing of God. But the way that we can grow in skillfulness is by sharing what we've read. Make it a practice. You read something in the morning, make it a point to share it with somebody later that morning, and again later that day. Hey, how was your reading? Well, I read this. Or maybe we don't want to be so passive in it, and we just come to someone and say, isn't it amazing that in John 3, Christ likens Himself to the serpent raised up by Moses, to which people look and they're saved. And what's happening? It's actually getting it into our souls while it's multiplying it to others. This is what's behind Deuteronomy 6. Think of it. But also, bring it into your heart. But also, speak of it to your children. But also, speak of it on the way there. But also, speak of it when you're lying down. But also, speak of it when you're rising up. And if that goes through our lives, what happens, but that our lives are now perfumed with the beautiful fragrance of God's Word, and our speech is now, as it were, in grace, and seasoned, as it were, with salt. So it's not just His Word read, but it's His Word reflected on, and shared, and talked about, out of a heart that loves His Word. Think of Psalm 45. The words, of course, which are precious to us because they reflect Christ Jesus, our beloved Savior. And it begins with my heart indicting a good matter. And then it's from a heart that is boiling over with this good matter, which is showing meditation. My heart is consumed with it. I've thought it, but I can't contain anymore. You know this, of course. a carbonated drink in a bottle and if you start shaking it up, right, hard enough, you know, you got issues. And so kids sometimes take two liter bottles and, you know, they put something in it and they shake it up and then they throw it and the carbonation goes so powerfully by the agent that's added to it that it explodes the bottle, right? Well, this is the picture of the heart that has been so overwhelmed with the beauty of Christ. I can't contain myself anymore. What happens? Well, I just have good feelings. And I smile a lot. No. My heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things that I have made touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer." And he launches into this beautiful tribute of the beauty of Christ. How do we get there? How can our speech at all mimic this? Well, of course, Paul's already given us a preeminent way The Word of Christ is to dwell in us richly in all wisdom. And what did he say? Think of this again. That we're to be speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And so we're taking in God's Word. We're sharing God's Word with others. The more that we meditate upon these truths, and our hearts, by the blessing, we can't ignore this, the necessary blessing of the Spirit transforms our hearts and our thoughts. It can't help but transform our tongues to speak more of Christ. So sometimes we get in funks. We're saying, I'm just not speaking like I should. I'm just not sharing like I should. Why am I not doing that? convicting us, I know I should be speaking differently, I know I should be doing... But really we should back up and say, well, how have I been spending my time? And don't satisfy yourself by saying, well, I've had my morning time, I've had my afternoon time, or whatever else other time you might have. That's necessary. If we don't have that, we've got a problem. But the next question is, what have I done with my time in God's Word? Did I just satisfy myself for a momentary sort of insight? Oh, that's neat. And then close the Bible and launch into our lives. We've skipped the key step of stopping, pausing, meditating upon this. We treat many times our reading of the Bible as if we're going into some five-star kitchen just to smell the smells, and look at the plates, and then tell everybody else we were there, and it looks and smells excellent. instead of sitting down at the meal and taking it in, and delighting in the tastes, and being strengthened by the food that nourishes our bodies. We cannot content ourselves, and we will not see the promotion of gracious speech by mere mechanical reading of the Bible. We can't do it without it. We understand. We must have that. We can't evade this. We must have the habitual reading of God's Word in our lives. And one should say, it's far more than we tend to think. We content ourselves with a half a chapter, a chapter perhaps, and think, well, you know, I'm ahead of the curve. Well, the curve's not that high, and it doesn't represent much godliness. There's a lot of reading we should be taking, and there are seasons where we should read whole books of the Bible in one sitting. But we should at least be having a regular intake along the course of every day of the week. But if that's all we've done, You see, we've actually missed out on that transformative way that God transforms our minds and hearts by meditating upon this. Perhaps we write a verse on a note card, and we not only put it in our pocket, but along our day we pull it out and we say it out loud several times, and we take a time to pray about it. There are myriad numbers of ways that we can put this into practice. The point is, we're to take the Word of God with us in our minds and hearts, and in our speech, which then is helping us to be thereby transformed. Well, finally, the need for gracious speech. One simple reason is, of course, speech is unavoidable. Certainly, there are those who have taken vows of silence, which we would group with those things condemned by the Word of God when such false vows are put upon men and under some guise of piety. But most people, with sanity, realize that speech is necessary. Probably less speech than our culture thinks is necessary today, but nonetheless it's needed in how we communicate. we should think more than just necessary, because notice that Paul uses this language in Colossians when he says that it's to be seasoned with great salt. Speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. How ye ought to answer every man. And so there's something proper about how we bring this gracious speech into the lives of those around us. In some sense, Paul's saying it's not a one-size-fits-all moment, right? We don't just put in one phrase and then pull it out every moment and say, I've done my job. There's a permeation of God's grace in our minds and hearts that fit us with wisdom to understand circumstances and understand what's appropriate to share in those circumstances. So, of course, sometimes a word of reproof is needed, and that's gracious speech. Other times there's a word of sympathy that's needed, and that's gracious speech. Sometimes it's God's commandments that's needed, and that's gracious speech. Other times it's God's promises that are needed, and that's gracious speech. It's not that gracious speech is always up, and lively, and bright, and crisp, and easy, and, oh, it makes me feel all the warm fuzzies that the world wants to feel, or even the Christian wants to feel. Sometimes gracious speech is hard. Sometimes it's difficult. Sometimes it's Micaiah coming with cutting remarks to a godless and idolatrous king. That's gracious speech. Just as Christ used hard words against people, that's gracious speech. Other times, it's speech that is easy and simple and brings a smile across the face of one that is cast down, not with levity, but with substance of the things of Christ. So the point is, the circumstances around us require the ministry of God's Word in our day-to-day lives. This is true of husbands to wives, wives to husbands, parents to children, children to parents, friend to friend, classmates to classmates, co-workers to co-workers, and so on. Also you'll notice how you ought to answer every man, respond to every man. So someone comes perhaps with a challenge. What does gracious speech do with that challenge? Well, a heart renewed, a mind renewed and saturated with the Scriptures is equipped then to answer as is needed. So the need, of course, is before us because we live in a world that is broken. That's fundamental. There is, of course, the expression of gracious speech in heaven, but there's not the same, if we can think of it this way, need for it in heaven as there is in this world. We don't mean that there's any less demand for it in heaven. but rather in heaven it's the issuance of hearts fully conformed to God, only praising and exuding God's glory. But here in this life, there's brokenness around us. There's sin in us as well as in others. Circumstances requiring the light of God's Word ministered by our speech to others. So, we have need of the Lord to give us grace to this end. Well, brethren, scriptures put a premium upon our words. And the premium is because God has transformed us, that with our tongues and our lives, we would promote His cause. And a preeminent way that you and I do that is by our words. The Lord here teaches us this high calling, but let us not forget that this comes at the end of a thorough treatment. of the person renewed and being renewed by God's grace. And so the speech that flows from us is because of the grace through Christ that flows into us. If we don't have that, we can put on, as it were, the performance, but we'll never have in possession the words that here Paul and Paul's Lord would have us to speak. So if we're to fulfill this, well brethren, brings us back to where we began. It must be as we're risen with Christ, our minds are fixed upon him, and we treasure Christ as our life, which then leads us to put to death the members of our body in this world, and to put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him. Stand with me for prayer.