Ephesians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul is speaking
to believers at Ephesus, being born of the Spirit of God, and
he says here in Ephesians 4.29, let no corrupt communication,
that is, no worthless No defiling, no profane, no irreligious, immodest,
no hypocritical, flattering, boasting, injurious communication. Communication means logos. It's
word or doctrine. No corrupt communication or corrupting
communication. Proceed out of your mouth. but
that which is good to the use of edifying, that which is going
to promote spiritual growth in the knowledge of Christ, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers. That word that God will
use to minister grace to His people. 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. Now,
speech is an invaluable gift. It's an invaluable gift to be
able to communicate. And it's an incredible tool to
be able to communicate. But with it comes an incredible
responsibility. If it's used correctly and blessed
by God, it can be a great blessing of inestimable value. ministering grace unto the hearers. But if used incorrectly, it can
do great harm. It can corrupt the hearers. Turn over to James chapter 3,
just a moment. James chapter 3. And let's begin
reading here in the beginning, about the middle part of verse
2 there. He says, If any man offend not
in word, the same is a perfect man. It means a mature believer. And he's able also to bridle
the whole body. You see, the tongue is connected
with the body. The person that has a loose tongue
has a loose body. Look here in verse 3. Behold,
we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we
turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which
though they be so great, are driven of fierce winds, Yet are
they turned about with a very small helm, Whithersoever the
governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little
member, And boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little
fire kindleth, And the tongue is a fire. It's a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
That it defileth the whole body. and setteth on fire the course
of nature, and is set on fire of hell. You know, a word spoken
that is a harmful word, an injuring word, or just an idle word, or
a filthy word, it works through the whole body of the person
that hears you speak. It does something to the whole
body. And it does something to your body. That's what he's saying
here. Now look at verse 7. For every kind of beast, and
of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed,
and has been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame. Only God can tame the tongue.
It's an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. And therewith
bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which
are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth
proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not so to be. Does a fountain send forth at
the same place sweet water and bitter? Does a fountain send
forth sweet water and bitter water? Can the fig tree, my brethren,
bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs, so can no
fountain both yield salt water and fresh water." Now, every
word we speak, according to this word that's in our text, the
strictness of this word corrupt and this word edifying means
every word we speak is going to be one or the other. It's
either going to be corrupting or it's going to be edifying.
One or the other. For a believer, it's either our
old man that's speaking, that's speaking the corrupt thing, or
it's the new man that's speaking that which is good, one or the
other. Now the Holy Spirit exhorts us
here to put off the old man with his corrupt speech and put on
the new man, speaking that which is good, that which is edifying,
the Word of God, that which God uses to minister grace to the
hearers. I've titled this, Speak the Edifying
Word. That's what he's saying. Speak
that which is edifying. Speak the edifying word. Now
turn to Matthew 12. Matthew 12. When we were dead
in sin, when we were dead in sin, our communication was only
corrupt because it came from the flesh. It came from the fountain
of corruption. Our heart, our flesh. Look at
Matthew 12. Look at verse 34. O generation of vipers, this
is Christ speaking and He's speaking to the Pharisees, religious men.
He says, 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. Now hold your place
right there just a minute. Now Christ said out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh. Out of the abundance. Whatever
the abundance of the heart is, that's what the man speaks. So
while dead in sins, Christ says the evil man out of the evil
treasure bringeth forth evil things. The psalmist said this
in Psalm 5, 9. He says, and this is a description
of every man by nature. He says, there is no faithfulness
in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. The man by nature is full of
guile, full of hypocrisy, full of flattery by nature, especially
in religion. Flattering man by exalting man's
worth, exalting man's will, exalting man's wisdom, exalting man's
works. And the wicked walk on every
side when the vilest of men are exalted. You preach and flatter
a man and men will flock to hear the message. That's what he says.
The vilest men walk on every side when the vilest men are
exalted. Now, that's all we were in our flesh. That's all the
natural man is and that's all you and I, believer, were in
our flesh. Listen to God's description.
The tongue diviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good,
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all
devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. He says in another place,
they are corrupt and speak wickedly, concerning oppression. He says
they speak loftily, they set their mouth against the heavens,
against God, and their tongue walks through the earth. You
remember Christ said, or Paul said in Romans 3, quoting the
Psalms, and he said, the poison of asps, the poison of snakes
is under their lips. And so that's why Christ says
here to the Pharisees, these are natural men. These aren't
men that's born of God. These aren't men that know Christ
or believe on Christ. They're religious men. They claim
to be worshiping God. They claim to be looking for
Christ, but they don't know Him. And he says to them, old generation
of vipers, snakes. And he says, how can you, being
evil, speak good things? Because he knew he hadn't given
them a new heart. And he knew where their speech
was coming from. He said, out of the evil man,
out of the abundance of the heart, out of the evil treasure brings
forth evil things. But, here's who made the difference. God made the difference. By speaking
that which is good, Christ put a new heart in us. A new man's
been created in us. And He did that. He said in Ezekiel
36, 26, A new heart will I give unto you, and a new spirit will
I put within you, and I'll take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh. I'll give you a new
heart. He said, I'll put my spirit within
you. and cause you to walk in my statutes
and keep my judgments. And that's why the Scriptures,
we saw here that there's an old man in the believer, which we
had, we're born with of Adam, and there's a new man, that new
man, and that's a necessity. Just like it was a necessity
for Christ to go to the cross and lay down His life for us
on the cross, it's a necessity that a man be born of God and
created anew inwardly. And this new man, this new heart,
this new spirit be put in him. Now that's why the psalmist said,
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. That's because of what Christ
did on the cross. He will not impute, He will not
charge His people with iniquity because Christ put it away. But
there's a second part to that verse. And in whose spirit there
is no God. That's that new man. That's that
new spirit. There's no guile there. There's
no hypocrisy there. Because it's created of God and
He speaks the truth. And God alone makes you to differ.
He's the only one who does this. So Christ says there, a good
man. Now Christ is the good man. He's
the good man. Christ is. And when Christ is
formed in the heart, when Christ puts His spirit within you, When
he does that, then he makes a new man, and he calls that new man
here a good man. And he says, a good man out of
the good treasure of the heart. Where's that treasure come from?
Where's that abundance come from? It comes from Christ. He gives
it. God gives it. And he says, and
he brings forth good things. He speaks that which is good.
the edifying word, the truth of the gospel. And here's the
effectual result when Christ puts that word in the heart,
puts that new heart in you and he puts his word in you. He says
this, listen to Paul, he says, I give you to understand that
no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed. And no man can say that Jesus
is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Whenever God puts a new heart
in you and teaches you the gospel, teaches you who God is and how
He saves sinners, that's when men stop calling Christ's blood
common. That's when men stop saying Christ's
blood was shed for everybody but accomplished nothing. That's
calling Him a curse. Men will stop saying that when
the Holy Spirit is speaking through the man. He puts away the corrupt
speech and He speaks that which is edifying, that which is true.
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. Psalm 10,
32. The lips of the righteous know
what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked speak frowardness. And this is having to do first
and foremost with the Gospel, with the Word of God. Now the
man that's born of God and taught of God, that man's been made
righteous by Christ, outwardly and inwardly. He's been made
righteous by Christ, robed in Christ's righteousness, sanctified
and created anew by the Spirit of God dwelling in him. And that
man speaks righteousness. He knows that which is pleasing
to God. He knows that that which God
uses to minister grace is the word that declares what 1 Corinthians
1.30 said. of God. Not of you, not of me. Of God are you in Christ. Who? Of God. Christ of God is
made unto us. Everything, everything we need
to come to glory. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. That, as it is written, he that
glories, let him glory in the Lord. That's what's well-pleasing
to God, is to glory in the Lord, in what He's done to speak of
His works. And so that's what the believer
does. So out of this new heart, believers speak, first of all,
to God. confessing to God our need of
Christ and our hope in Christ. That's what Romans 10 tells us,
that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. And then secondly,
we begin to speak to our needy brethren and we begin to speak
to lost sinners, that which is edifying, that which God uses
to minister grace to the hearers. And so Christ tells us now, and
I want you to get this. You still there Matthew 12? He
tells us how important our speech is. This is vital. This is how important our speech
is. Now listen to what Christ says to these men. He's speaking
first of all of our confession of faith in Christ, to Christ. And then He's speaking here too
of everyday talk, of our idle talk which is corrupting, or
of that speech which is edifying. Now listen to what he says, Matthew
12, 36. I say unto you that every idle
word that men shall speak, just frothy, everyday language. You know, I don't know why we
can't just be quiet. If we don't have something to
say, why can't we just keep our mouth shut? Instead, we've got
to open it and just flap about something. And God says, every
idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the day of judgment. Now first and foremost, He's
talking about what our heart is toward God. And He says, for
by thy words thou shalt be justified. Now listen, by your words you
shall be justified. And by your words thou shalt
be condemned. You see, our words, Whatever
is the abundance of our heart, that's what we're going to be
talking about. Whatever it is that's in the abundance of our
heart, that's what we're going to talk about most. That's what
our heart's going to be set on. And so that's what we're going
to talk about. And he's saying here, he's saying here that our
words are going to either justify us as being true believers, truly
having our hearts set on Christ, or they're going to condemn us
as having our hearts set on us and our work. and I will, and
I do it. Now, Proverbs 15 says this, The tongue of the wise useth
knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. Now, which are we? Are we the
wise or are we the foolish? The tongue of the wise useth
knowledge aright, the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
He says the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips.
And this is before God, the justice of God. A man can claim he believes
Christ, he can claim he believes grace, he can claim he's trusting
Christ for all his salvation. Listen to him talk. Who's getting
the glory? Him or God? Who did the calling? Was it God that did the calling?
Who gave life? Was it God that gave life? Who
did the justifying? Was it God that did the justifying?
Who was it that does the sanctifying? Is it God that does the sanctifying
in Christ through the Holy Spirit, through the hearing of faith,
the faithfulness of Christ? Who gets the glory? Listen to
Him talk. Who gets the glory? Because the
mouth, the wicked is snared by the transgression of His lips.
He begins to speak and He trips Himself up. He's talking about
Himself. He's glorying Himself. He's giving
Himself the glory for something. But the just shall come out of
trouble. The just, those justified by
God, they speak the truth. They speak the truth. So you
see, while we were dead in our sins, all we did was speak corrupt
things. That's all we had was a corrupt
heart. But now, because He put a new heart in us, now we can
speak that which is good, that which is edifying, that which
God uses to minister grace. So the Spirit's exhorting us,
put off that old man, put off that old man with his corrupt
speech and put on the new man which speaks, and speak that
which is edifying. Now here's our constraint. This
is the second thing I want you to see. What's our motivation? What's our constraint? What's
going to move us to do this? Well, here it is. The only way
You and I have been created anew. The only way we have a new heart
created in us is because Christ spoke that which is good to the
use of edifying and ministering grace to us. Now remember that. How would you have a new heart
if it wasn't for Christ speaking that which is good and edifying
and ministering grace to you? That's the only way we have this
new heart. Now, no corrupt word ever proceeded out of Christ's
mouth, because He is the eternal, essential Word of God. The Word
is script, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. And so, no corrupt communication
ever proceeded out of Christ's mouth, ever, ever, in eternity. Whenever He entered agreement
with God the Father, to come forth and to be made sin for
His people and give His people His righteousness. To do everything
necessary to declare God just and justify. You know what He
did when He entered into that covenant? He spoke that which
is good. Why? To the edification of all
His people. So He could minister grace to
all His people. When Christ entered covenant
with God, because He only speaks that which is good, because His
Word is faithful and true, that's who He is. When He entered covenant
with God, the Scripture says, the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. His people before God were justified
in Christ from eternity past. Because Christ would not go back
on His promise, He would not go back on His Word, He only
speaks that which is good. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad?
And then, when you think about prior to His coming, throughout
all the ages, who was it speaking in the Old Testament Scriptures
through the prophets? Who was it making the promises?
Who was it speaking to His people? All through the Scriptures. Who's
representing the Lord God in speaking? There's one mediator
between God and men. If a sinner is being spoken to,
it's Christ speaking to them. He's the rock that was in the
wilderness with the children of Israel. He's the one, the
angel of the Lord who spoke from heaven and spoke to Abraham and
called Abraham. He's the one who spoke to Moses
in the burning bush. When He spoke in Isaiah 43 and
He said, When thou passest through the waters, I'll be with thee,
and through the rivers they'll not overflow thee. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. Who was speaking that? Who was
speaking that? The same one who said, Fear not
thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee,
saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Thy Redeemer. The Holy One of
Israel. He's the One doing the talking.
Then when He came to this earth, all Christ spoke, the whole time
He walked this earth, was that which was good to the use of
edifying, ministering grace to His hearers. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And the psalmist said there,
he said, The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue
talketh of judgment. Who's the righteous? That's Christ. Christ is the righteous. And
you know what Christ speaks? The mouth of the righteous speaketh
wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. Psalm 45.2 says,
Speaking of Christ, it says, Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God hath blessed thee
forever. Turn over to Luke chapter 4.
You know, we praise God for doing this work in our hearts. If we
speak anything good, who's going to get the glory? God does. You
know who Christ praised for the word He spoke? He said in Isaiah
50 and verse 4, The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned.
The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned. That I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that's weary. Nobody preached
the word like our prophet, priest, and king. There have been some
mighty good preachers, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, but nobody ever
preached the gospel like Christ did. Christ Jesus, at the very
beginning of His ministry, He entered into the synagogue, and
they gave Him the Bible. They gave Him the scrolls that
they had. And you know what He did? You know how He began His
public ministry? He didn't get up and start talking.
He began by opening the book and reading the Word of God.
That's the first thing He did. The first thing Christ did. We
ought to learn from that. The first thing He did was open
the book and read it. Here's what He read. Turn to
Luke 4 and look at verse 18. He turned to Isaiah. This is
out of Isaiah. And this is what He read. This
is from Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.
He's anointed me to speak that which is good, that which is
edifying. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book. That
was just reading the Scriptures. That's all He did. And He closed
the book and He gave it again to the minister. There was a
preacher there that day. Thought he was. But the real
preacher was there that day. And he closed the book and he
gave it to the minister and he sat down. And the eyes of all
them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. Now here
was his sermon. This was his sermon. And he began
to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears. That was his message. This day,
what I just read to you, is fulfilled in your ears, this word. And
look here, and all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth. When they sent those
officers out there to arrest him, they said, never a man spake
like this man. You know why? It was because
of his message. What did he preach? What did
Christ preach when he walked this earth? Christ preached Christ
and Him crucified. That's what Christ preached when
He walked this earth. He preached that which is good.
He preached the good news. He preached the gospel to the
use of edifying that would minister grace to His hearers. He said,
come unto Me. That's the gospel. Come unto
me. He's the gospel. He's salvation. He's redemption. He's righteousness.
He's the keeping of the law. He's the holiness. Without no
witch, no man will see the Lord. He's everything you need to be
saved. He said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of Me, because I am meek and lowly in heart. And
He said, and you shall find rest unto your soul. Are you laboring
under the burden of the law? Some preacher has been whipping
you with the laws, he's been taking the law and taking you
back to it and binding you to the law and telling you, you've
got to do this and that, and he's got you feeling like, I
won't ever get this done. Christ says, come to Me, I'll
take that burden off of you. Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He says,
come to me, I'll give you rest. Are you heavy laden under the
heavy load of guilt from your sin? If you're having that first
burden, you're having this burden too. I guarantee it. That sin
just plagues you and you feel guilty and your conscience won't
let you have any rest. Christ says, come to me and I'll
take that burden off of you. Why? Because Christ purged the
sins of His people when He laid down His life at Calvary. And
God remembers them no more. He says, come to Me, I'll take
that burden off of you. Are you under the weight of your
old fleshly man? The old fleshly man of all God's
people was crucified when Christ died on the cross. We're crucified
with Him, Paul said. I'm crucified with Him. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I. But Christ lives in me and the
life I now live, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. I was crucified when
Christ died at Calvary. My old man. So he says, come
to me, I'll take that burden off of you. Are you loaded down with the
burden of this life, with the cares of this life? Troubles,
worries, got no peace, can't find any peace. Think you find
a little bit and it's a mirage and it's gone. Here today, gone
tomorrow. Everybody that comes to Christ, this is what He says
to them. He says, My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. In me you have peace. That's what He says. In me you
have peace. In this world, you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer. He said, I've overcome the world.
In Christ we have peace. Nowhere else. In Christ we have
peace. And now He says, come to me,
I'll give you that rest. He's the only one that can give
it. He spoke this when He walked this earth. Now right now, from
heaven's glory, He's still speaking that which is good to the youths
of Ediphi. He's still speaking the Word. Paul said this, turn to 1 Thessalonians
2.13. Christ is the one preaching.
He's the one ministering grace to his hearers. Look at 1 Thessalonians
2.13. I got to hurry. 1 Thessalonians
2.13. Listen to this. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of
God which you heard of us, You received it not as the Word of
men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. Christ sends His preacher, commanding
us what to preach. And you know what He tells His
preacher to preach? Isaiah 40, verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. I don't know who your people
are, Lord. You just preach the message. I'll make it known who
my people are. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Tell them their warfare is accomplished. Tell them I've rewarded them
double for all their sin. And Christ declares, your flesh
profits you nothing. He says, the voice said cry. Christ is the voice. He said
this to his preacher. The voice said cry. Try this. All flesh is grass, and the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field, which is vanishing away.
But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. Christ commands His
preacher to preach this. He says, Lift up thy voice with
strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. And
He's our strength to speak as we ought. And He says, Say unto
the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Tell them all flesh is grass. Tell them their flesh is worthless,
it's no good. That's why I spent the whole
first point saying, this is what you are in your flesh. This is
all that comes from your flesh is corruption. Because he says,
you tell them their flesh is grass. And he says, and then
you turn around and you tell them, behold your God. And this
is what I've been doing in the second point. He's saying, behold
your God. He's the reason we got a new
heart because He spoke that which is good to the edifying and ministering
of grace to our heart. Here's what we learn about Him.
What's He doing? He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
His arm and carry them in His bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. So brethren, what I'm saying
to you is, He blessed that word affectionately to our heart.
And that's the only reason we have this new heart. It's because
Christ spoke that which was good to us to the use of edifying. And He ministered grace into
our heart. That's what Ephesians 4 is all about. Remember? Remember,
look there, Ephesians 4.15. He rose on high and He gave His
preachers so that by speaking the truth in love we may grow
up into Him in all things which is the head, even Christ. From
whom? From Christ. The whole body.
Fiddly joined together and compacted according to His effectual working
in the measure of every part. So, be thankful for pastors.
Be thankful for pastors. The scripture says give honor
to whom honors due. But know this, brethren, Christ
is the only preacher. He's the only preacher. He's
the only preacher. Everybody else that he uses are
pipes that he speaks through. But if the word's made effectual,
he speaks the word in the heart. He gives it. And he did it because
no corrupt communication proceeds out of his mouth. He speaks that
which is good, that which edifies. Now, let's heed the exhortation. Back in our text, Ephesians 4.29.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but
that which is good to the use of edifying that may minister
grace unto the hearing. First of all, I'm going to give
you three, four things here and I'll be done. Nothing good comes
from corrupt doctrine or vain idle talk. Nothing. Be not deceived,
evil communications corrupt good manners. And corrupt, evil communications,
evil word, evil doctrine corrupt good manners. His word is that
which is good and edifying. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly. in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And His Word is the
Word that will minister grace to the hearers. He said, walk
in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that
you may know how you ought to answer every man. His Word is
the only thing that is going to do that. And we need God to
give us grace to speak this. Because we don't have grace in
us and power and strength in us to do it. We need God to give
us grace to speak this. So we need to pray for one another
like Paul did. He said, pray for me that utterance
may be given unto me. That I may open my mouth boldly
as I ought to speak. That's what we need. And then
remember this too. Look at Malachi 3.16. Malachi
3.16. This is not to frighten you.
This is to encourage you. Malachi 3.16. God hears what
we speak. He hears what we speak. And he says in Malachi 3.16,
he says, They that feared the Lord spake often one to another,
and the Lord hearkened, and He heard it. And a book of remembrance
was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that
thought upon His name. He likes to hear those that honor
Him in our speech. Now that right there, brethren,
that's our constraint. We were flesh. He gave us a new
heart. He did it by speaking that which
is good and edifying to us. Why then would we want to speak
anything else but that which is His Word? Good and edifying
to our ears. And if we don't have anything
else to say, just don't talk. What's wrong with being quiet?
Just don't talk. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren,
and we'll be dismissed. Father, thank You for Your Word.
Thank You for preaching the Gospel to us and giving us new hearts.
Thank You for teaching us this. This is Your Word that we hear
and we read this. It comes directly from you. Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which
is good. Lord, teach us to watch our tongue. Teach us to speak that which
will help and not be harmful. We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.