Well may the Lord continue to
be with us as we meditate once again in the Epistle of Paul
to the Ephesians and the fourth chapter and this evening we'll
read verses 29 and 30. That's the Epistle of Paul to
the Ephesians chapter 4 and reading verse 29 and 30. 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. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. The Apostle continues to give
good advice to us as we journey on through life. and how good
it is to have such clear words put before us. So he tells us,
let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. And
that of course again is a very comprehensive statement because
it really includes everything that is not pure. Everything that is sinful is
a corrupt communication. And this often needs a very careful
analysis in our own minds as we may speak things which may
not be good and it may be a corrupt communication. And we know that
such things proceed out of our mouth, which of course is not
something which is God honouring, something which indeed is God
dishonouring. We read together this fourth
chapter in the Colossians really because it speaks to us about
our speech as this does here. And in that fourth chapter and
the sixth verse we read, let your speech be always with grace,
seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer
every man. So again that's a very clear
admonition written to the Colossians what we have here was written
to the Ephesians but both cases written to the Church of God
and in both cases written for our benefit and instruction even
this evening. So to consider that our speech
that means again every word that we say with our mouth should
be always with grace, that means from the blessing of God, from
the unmerited favor that we've received, and seasoned with salt,
that means it should be a good flavor, and it should be beneficial,
and it should be pure. Salt has a purifying effect upon
those things which it is added to. And so here we have this
state, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to
answer every man. And that's a good word because
there are often times, sometimes, when we may find it difficult
to answer questions which are put to us. But how important
that we answer them rightly and not in any corrupt way. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. But the, the opposite is what
should come from our mouth and the Apostle tells us but so the
communication should be but that which is good to the use of edifying
that it may minister grace unto the hearers so whatever we say
how we communicate it should be good and it should be that
which is edifying. That means that which encourages
and that which speaks carefully and lovingly and directly. And of course that which is edifying
in a spiritual sense should really always have a gracious and wonderful
reference to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a good
thing if our concern is when we speak that it is to honour
and glorify our gracious God, our gracious Saviour. In all
that is done, this indeed will be edifying. It won't be corrupt,
it'll be for the benefit of souls. And how good it is if the Lord
gives us that grace to seek these things. You know, sometimes we
think we should be alright and we carry on and we'll be able
to answer adequately ourselves. Well, as I think I mentioned
on Lord's Day, don't forget, of course, the case of Nehemiah
when he came before the king and before he answered the king
to the question that was put to him, he prayed to the God
of heaven. And that may be so in our lives. To communicate, we may need to
pray to the God of heaven so that our communication may be
good to the use of edifying, and also that it may minister
grace unto the hearers." Those who we may speak to, those we
may address, there may be other people listening. We don't know,
do we? Sometimes you'd be surprised how many people hear what is
spoken. And therefore it's good that
in our conversation, there are those things which speak indeed,
of God's favour and of God's grace toward us, how we are unworthy
of any blessing, minister grace unto the hearers. It is a wonderful
privilege to the Church of God to be able to speak well of Him. It should indeed be that which
is our chief concern when we visit people, when we come across
people, when we talk to people, our concern should be, to be
found walking in this way, doing that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And then finally, in verse 30,
he says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption. Well, that really means, therefore,
that the things which we speak should not be against the things
of God. They should be favorable. They
should be God-honoring. They should be gracious. You
should not find that we are speaking those things that are grieving,
but those things which are indeed pleasing to our God. And again, we all need grace
to do that. because of our old nature, which
is often the opposite. And perhaps we may fear that
as we do speak, we do grieve the Holy Spirit of God. And this
is the God who we have to deal with, this God who we are then
told, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And that is to be sealed with
the evidence and the knowledge of God's salvation toward us. What a blessing that is. If we
are sealed, if we have the evidence of God's grace and favour toward
us, then we can look forward to that great and wonderful day
of redemption. Surely that directs us to the
end of our life and to the day when we shall indeed be redeemed
and find ourselves in glory. unto the day. What a day that
will be. A day that you and I can look
forward to. The day of our death. Not a day which the worldly looks
forward to. In actual fact it's the day they
hope will never come. And yet of course we all know
that it will come. The great and glorious day of
our redemption. Redeemed then from all the things
that try us, all the things that perplex us, all the things that
cast us down. And of course we know that the
redemption of God which brings us the day of redemption would
indeed be that redeeming blood of the Saviour. To think then
that we are sealed, that we are sealed through that great and
blessed sacrifice of the Saviour. whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption. Well, it is a good meditation
to think on these two verses. We're very instructive, really,
if you ponder them carefully, as you and I should live our
life and live our life quite clearly as though we're pilgrims. This is not our home. We're traveling
through this life and soon, the day of our redemption will come
when we shall, by the grace of God, find ourselves at home,
that eternal home, that heavenly home. We shan't then be found
leaving home, we shall then be found going home. Well, may God
bless us as we think on these words and give us grace and understanding
to carry them out for the Lord's honour and for his glory. 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. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Amen.