Let us turn to God's Word and
our text is found in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6. The fourth chapter in the epistle
to the Colossians and verse 6. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. in the fourth chapter of Colossians
at verse 6. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. You will have observed in the
course of our reading something of the context there from verse
18 in chapter 3. The Apostle speaks of relative
duties, wives, husbands, children, fathers, servants, or more particularly
slaves, and masters. And then having spoken of these
various duties in the different relationships of life, he says
here in verse 2, continue in prayer and watched in the same
with thanksgiving. How necessary it is if we're
going to heed such exhortations and fulfill our duties in the
various relationships of life that we give ourselves to prayer. who is sufficient for these things. We cannot be the husbands or
the wives or the children or the parents or the masters or
servants that we should be but for that gracious help that comes
from God. We need then to be much in prayer
that we might know that gracious help that enabling whereby we
can not only heed but obey these practical parts of Paul's epistles
wherein he sets before us our various duties. But as he speaks
of the necessity of prayer here in the second verse, so he goes
on to speak of himself and his own responsibilities, his own
ministry. He desires prayer for himself
with all, praying also for us, he says, that God would open
unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ,
for which I am also in bonds, and I may make it manifest as
I ought to speak here. Then he desires that they pray
for him and for his ministry. And what was that ministry? Well,
he was called, of course, primarily to be the great apostle to the
Gentiles. That was his peculiar ministry. Strangely, this man who was such
a Jewish zealot and a persecutor of Christians, because he saw
Christianity as a terrible threat to his Pharisees, And yet this
is the very man who is chosen and appointed to be the apostle
to the Gentiles. That is the mystery, is it not? And this is his desire, you see,
a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which
I am also in bonds. Back in chapter 1 he speaks of
that mystery of the calling of the Gentiles. Verse 25, there
in chapter 1, whereof I am made a minister, he says, according
to the dispensation of God, which is given me for you to fulfill
the word of God, even the mystery, which hath been heard from ages
and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints,
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles. among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory." And it was of course because of his faithfulness to that calling
of God that he finds himself in Bonn. This is one of the prison
epistles, is it not, written from Rome. And so at the end
he says, the salutation by the hand of me, Paul, remember my
bonds. Remember my bonds, he's in prison.
Why? Because how the Jews hated and
persecuted him and at the end of Acts we see how they would
have killed him and he makes his appeal to the Caesar. And
he had that right of course as a Roman citizen but he's taken
to Rome and there he is under some form of house arrest, he's
no longer enjoying that liberty, and yet all, of course, in the
good providence of God, because he must be there in order that
he might write these epistles under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. All these things are ordered, are they not? But
here he desires prayer for his own ministry as the apostle to
the Gentiles, the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles. But more than that, more than
that there, in verse 27 of chapter 1, he speaks of the riches of
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ
in you. Oh, that's the great mystery,
is it not? Christ in you. And this man, Paul, he certainly
knew it himself. As he writes to the Galatians,
remember there in chapter 1, he speaks of it. And we please
God, he says, to reveal his Son in me. Oh, that inward revelation. This is where religion begins,
is it not? It comes into the soul of a man.
It is the life of God in man's soul, that soul that by nature
is dead. in trespasses and sins and yet
there the Spirit works and there the Lord Jesus Christ comes and
establishes His Kingdom that inward Kingdom the Kingdom of
God is within you says the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel but
then beside an inward experience of the grace of God and that
is so vital If we have any real religion, it is that that has
been implanted in our hearts. But where there is that inward
experience of the grace of God, there must also be that outward
practice. And so he goes on here, you see,
to speak of the manner of their living. Verse 5, he says, walk
in wisdom. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without redeeming the time. He's speaking of Christian behavior.
If you know that mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory, will
it not be evident in your life, by their fruits, ye shall know
them. And so here, in verse 17 of chapter
3, whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Real religion is not only inward,
it's practical. There is the outward working
of that that is in the heart of a man. It's out of the heart,
you see, that all these things are to proceed. But what does he say here in
verse 5? Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without. Now, that's a the strong expression
that he is using walking in wisdom toward them that are without
we see Paul using it also writing to the Thessalonians there in
1st Thessalonians 4 and verse 12 he says that he may walk honestly
toward them that are without we are to walk honestly toward
them that are without. And then again in 1st Timothy
chapter 3 and verse 7 he says moreover he must have a good
report of them which are without. He is speaking of the of the
elder here. He must have a good report of
them which are without. lest he fall into the reproach
and the snare of the devil. Them that are without, he is
speaking really of the unregenerate, those who are destitute of the
grace of God, those who are unbelieving. Live your lives, you see, before
the world. Let your conversation, he as
becomes those who are the saints of God, walking wisdom toward
them that are without redeeming the time. All our believers are
to be careful to redeem the time. Why? Because the days are evil. That's what we read, is it not,
in Ephesians 5 and verse 16, redeeming the time. Seizing the
opportunity not letting it pass. Why? The days are even, iniquity
abounds on every hand. The whole world lies in wickedness. And it's in this world, of course,
that God's children are to live their lives. When God, in His
great mercy, comes and enters the soul and visits us with His
salvation, He doesn't immediately take us into His own presence.
the normal pattern is that God leaves his children in this world
as witnesses and we are to live our lives in conformity to these
holy precepts of the gospel so that we are commending God our
Saviour in all that we do and not only the importance of what
we do but also the importance of what we say and so the words
of the text here in verse 6 let your speech Be always with grace,
seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every
man. Whatsoever ye do in word or in
deed is both word and deed, you see. Do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. And so, coming to the text, coming
to the words that we have here in Colossians chapter 3 and verse
6, we come to consider the subject matter of the Christian speech.
And now we need grace. What does James have to say concerning
the organ of speech? Remember what James says there
in the third chapter of his epistle concerning the tongue? He says,
the tongue can now maintain It is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison. 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 to be
so. O, we stand in need then of grace,
the grace of God. if we're going to attend to the
words of our text this evening. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. First of all then, we have speech
that is to be always with grace. What exactly is meant by this? What exactly is gracious speech. Now, in that ancient world, the
Greeks certainly had their idea with regards to gracious speech. There were schools, schools of
rhetoric, wherein the Greeks would teach how one was to speak,
sparking conversation, speech that was dotted with witty and
clever remarks how men, you see, were taught how to speak in those
schools of rhetoric and yet how the apostle when he comes to
the gospel disowns these things. Remember what he says when he
writes to the Corinthians concerning the manner of his ministry there
in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians, he says, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. He doesn't use any of
those techniques that would be taught in the scores of rhetoric. He disowns that. My speech and
my preaching, he says, was not with enticing. The word says persuadable. words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." All
this gracious speech, you see, it has nothing to do with clever
words. Often we might think it would
be good if we were very quick-witted, and could make clever recites,
be ready to answer, and yet you know often times those who are
gifted in that way aren't their words too often cutting words
offensive words we need to remember of course in all things that
we are going to be called to account for all our idle words
we're not to multiply vain words simply to make a display it's
not the ready talk of those who have a gift
with words that we are to desire. We're to remember in all these
things that we are ultimately to give a can. Those are very
solemn words, are they not? That we find the Lord Jesus Christ
declaring in the Gospel in Matthew chapter 12 Verse 36, it says, 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 they
shall be justified, and by thy words they shall be condemned. For no big word of ready talkers,
no dry doctrine will suffice. broken hearts and humble walk
as these are dear in Jesus' eyes. This gracious speech then that
is spoken of here, it has nothing to do with us being those who
are clever with our words. It is that speech that is edifying
speech. Let your speech be always, it
says, always with grace and we have a very similar exhortation
of course when Paul writes to the church at Ephesus there at the end of chapter 4
of the Ephesian epistle he says 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. That which is good, he says,
through the use of edifying. And the word that he uses there,
to edify, means to build up. Words that will establish others,
build them up, encourage them. It is that speech, you see, that
is with grace. Literally, it's that speech that
is in grace. That's the literal meaning of
the preposition that we have here in this particular verse. Let your speech be all the way
in grace. In other words, grace should
be the very subject matter of our conversation. The subject
matter of the believer's speech. and where we are those who would
speak of the grace of God we're not speaking of ourselves maybe
we've met some very pious people in evangelical circles who can
speak and it's nauseous really so often we find that people
speak of themselves and the things that they are doing for the Lord
they're doing this, they're doing that, they're doing the other
It's all their doing, it's all their works. Well that's not
gracious speech. Surely gracious speech is to
tell of the Lord and what the Lord is doing for us. Come and
hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what the Lord
hath done for my soul, says the psalmist. Or are we those who
desire to speak to others of the good works of God, the gracious
works of God? how God has dealt with us and
not dealt with us after our sins but how God has dealt with us
so patiently that He's a long-suffering God, He bears with our disobedient
ways He's so patient with us this is how we should speak and
we should speak we are encouraged to it, are we not? we have those
words at the end of the Old Testament there in the third chapter of
the book of the Prophet Malachi. In fact, of course, our opening
praise is in many ways an exposition of the words that we have in
Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often once who were not And the Lord hearkened and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. Are we
those who are fearers of the Lord? If so, we will speak. We will seek to speak one to
another, to encourage one another. And observe the language here.
The Lord, it says, hearkened and heard it. There's a repetition.
He doesn't say the Lord hearkened. He doesn't say the Lord heard.
But we have both these words used. There's an emphasis. Now
the Lord is listening. Remember the words of Christ.
We have to give account for idle words. There's no idle words
in Scripture. Of course there's not. When God speaks thus, when
God repeats himself, we do well to take account. Now the Lord
listens so very intently. to our conversation the things
that we speak of he doesn't only hearken and hear but there's
a book of remembrance written and it's before him and it's
those you see that fear him and those that think upon his name
and what does he say they shall be mine For they shall be mine,
saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels,
and I will spare them as a man spared of his own son that serveth
him. The Lord delights in these characters. Are we those, friends, whose
speech is full of grace? is such our experience we experience
the grace of God and so we know full well we are those who are
utterly completely dependent upon that grace of God what are
we but for the grace of God if that is the case surely we must
speak of it we must speak of his goodness to us let your speech
be always with grace seasoned with salt. Here is a second point
then as our speech is to be always with grace so in the second place
it must be seasoned with salt and I just want to mention a
couple of the properties that we associate with salt and see
the significance with regards to our speech if it is thus seasoned. First of all Doesn't salt serve
as a preservative? When we think of the Earth, and how so much of this
planet is covered by the seas, and of course the seas are full
of water, full of sea salt. But imagine, you see, what the
sea would be if there were no salt. the oceans would become
a mass of putrid waters in no time spreading desolation on
every hand the wisdom of God you see in the work of creation
the waters that cover the face of the earth covered with sea
water, salt water and then think of our bodies, our necessary
salt is to the body. I've been reminded of this in
a personal way only this past week when my younger brother
is now in hospital, quite seriously ill with a severe sodium deficiency. And we did look up the significance
of that only the other day on the internet. Our bodies need
salt. And we know there's salt in our
bodies when we cry, when we weep, Do we not weep briny tears? When we sweat, is it not salty
sweat? We need salt in our bodies, just
as the waters of the seas need salt. Now what does this salt
represent to us in a spiritual sense? What does it not speak
to us of the grace of God. In a sense there's a certain
parallelism. Here in the text, let your speech
be always with grace, seasoned with salt. That's one and the
same thing. Seasoned with salt is the same as being seasoned
with the grace of God. But not only grace, doesn't the
salt also speak to us of peace? We have the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself in the gospel, in At the end of Mark chapter
9, Christ says, Every one shall
be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with
salt. Salt is good, but if the salt
have lost his saltness wherewith, will ye season it, have salt
in yourselves, and have peace one with another." Here we see
how that the salt in self is associated with peace. That peace
of God that passes all understanding. How we need the grace of God. How we need the peace of God. And how these things are a preservative. How these things are a preservative.
There, in the context that we have those words at the end of
Mark 9, we see how the Lord is speaking so seriously, so solemnly,
of hell. Where there were, dieth not,
and the fire is not quenched. Three times Christ utters those
awful words at the end of Mark 9. What preserves us? What preserves
us from that dreadful place? It is only the grace of God.
It is that peace that the Lord Jesus Christ has made by His
precious blood. Oh, how we need, you see, to
be preserved. How our tongues need to be preserved
that we don't speak sinful words and foolish words. Those words
that we've already made some reference to in Ephesians 4.29,
let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. What's
preserved from corruption? It's the soul, you see. It's
the grace of God, it's the peace of God that preserves us. speech seasoned with salt. Oh,
it's that that is preserved from sin and from the awful consequences
of sin. Have salt in yourselves and peace
one with another. And then back in the Old Testament
in Leviticus chapter 2 and verse 13 we have mention of the salt
of the covenant that was to be there in all the sacrifices It's
an interesting expression, the salt of the covenant. But again, does it not in a certain
way remind us of that which is preserved? The covenant is preserved. It's perpetual. It's an everlasting
covenant. Oh, this is our comfort, friends.
The God's covenant is there forever, permanent, everlasting, eternal. Salt, I say, is a wonderful preservative. But it's not only that, it also
gives savour, does it not? That's how it's used here in
the text. Seasoned. Savoured. Let your speech be always with
grace. Seasoned or savoured with salt. The question is asked back in
the book of Job in Job chapter 6 and verse 6. Can that which
is unsavoury be eaten without salt? And is there any taste
in the weight of an egg? Rhetorical questions and yet
the answer is implied there. There is no flavour in the weight
of an egg. And that which is unsavoury needs
to be seasoned with salt. Salt is used in for seasoning.
We use it in our food. It might be used in preparing
the food, in the cooking of the food. If not, it's there present
as a condiment on the table that we might add salt to bring out
the flavour in our food. It's not only a preservative,
you see. It's more than that. It gives savour. And I believe
us to be those who would savour of the things of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's as we savour of Christ.
It's as we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Christ is the
one who is the very subject matter of our conversation. As we speak
of Him and His person and His work, as we speak of Him and
His gracious dealings with us and what it is when the Lord
is pleased to come and visit us all and how grievous it is
when we feel that the Lord has in a sense hidden himself from
us and departed for a season oh but if we speak to others
you see of these things if our conversation savours of the Lord
Jesus then we do good to others we're useful to others The Lord
Jesus said himself, you are the salt of the earth. If the salt
has lost its savor, it is good for nothing but to be cast out
and trodden on the foot of man. Sometimes do we not feel that
that's what we are, we only deserve to be cast out. We look to ourselves,
we examine ourselves and we wonder sometimes, are we just encumbering
the very ground on which we stand. What use are we? What service
are we to others? We need to save the things of
Christ and in order to do that, of course, we come back to that,
it must be Christ in us. The riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. The hope of
glory. Oh, this is what we should desire.
if we would be those who would be useful to others, whose speech
is truly seasoned with thought. The guy we have the Word in Ephesians,
Ephesians 3 and verse 17, part of Paul's great prayer there
at the end of that chapter for the Ephesian church, that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye be enrooted and grounded
in love. Oh, how Paul, you see there,
he doesn't just address the Ephesians as he's speaking to them, he
cannot but help and begin praying for them. And that's very much
the burden of his prayer, his great desire for those that he
writes to is that Christ may dwell in their heart by faith.
If we're those friends who would truly savour of the Gospel, it
must be the Lord Jesus Christ who comes and makes his dwelling
place in our hearts. And what are we? Or what are
we apart from that gracious presence of the Savior. To know His visitations
to us as we come under the Word, is that the one thing that we're
looking for? We look beyond the minister,
the preacher who stands in the pulpit. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ that we want to meet with. We desire that the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself might draw near and come and commune with us
and reveal Himself to us. and that we might be those who
bear that blessed mark of the sheep of Christ. They know His
voice, they follow Him. He gives unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish. We want to do business with the
Lord. because we want to be those who
are more and more saving of Christ we want to understand something
more of the person or the great mystery of his person isn't this
such an important part of that mystery of the gospel the mystery
of godliness how the God was manifest in the flesh that it was God who was there
in the very womb of the Virgin Mary. That holy thing, you see, that
human nature that was conceived by the Holy Ghost in her womb
is in the mystery of godliness joined to the eternal Son of
God and she brings forth a son and
that son is none other than God God manifest in the flesh we
can't begin to understand these things it is a mystery to us
all but thank God for that mystery here is one you see who is so
suited to stand between heaven and earth one so suited to come
between God and man All is our blessed day's man. He can lay
his hand upon us both. He can lay his hand upon God.
He can lay his hand upon man. Why? He's the God man. And this
is his great work, is it not, to come and to reconcile sinners
to God. This is the great mystery of
that work that he accomplished here upon the earth. When he
comes as the servant of the Father to fulfill all righteousness,
and to render that obedience and that obedience that culminates
in his death he is obedient unto death even the death of the cross
all these are the things friends that we need to think upon and
dwell upon that out of the fullness of our hearts as they are filled
with Christ our tongues might speak and speak of him ought
to have that speech then, always with grace, seasoned with thought. Paul knew it. He's no theorist
when he comes to the oratory part of his epistles. He's not
a man who is saying things and exhorting to things that he knows
nothing of. What was his ministry? See how
he speaks of it there in 2 Corinthians, and at the end of the 2nd chapter. He says at verse 14, Now thanks
be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge. by us in every
place. For he so knows Christ, he so
meditates upon Christ. For we are unto God, he says,
a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish. To the one we are the savour
of death unto death, to the other the savour of life unto life.
Do we sufficient for these things? Though He speaks of Christ, there
would be those who would be the rejecters of His ministry. There
were others, of course, wrought upon by the Holy Ghost, who embraced
this message, who believed in this Saviour. We are not as many,
He says, which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity,
but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. language, our conversation then
might savour of the things of Christ. Here we have that speech
then. It is so necessary, always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. The answering of every man. The
answering of every man. What does Peter say? He says,
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready, be ready
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Or do we take account
of such words as that? Are we ready? Are we ready to
give an answer? Now, it's interesting, we're
not to go around, you see, and lay hold of people and buttonhole
people. He doesn't say that. You're to
give an answer to the man who asks. Every man that asks of
you, the reason of the hope that is in you. And we might say,
why is it? Why is it that people do not
come and ask us a reason of that hope that is within us. What
is it? Because we're not living the
lives that we should be living. We're not the godly men and women. Our conversation doesn't savour
of Christ, because our lives are not really being lived to
the glory of Christ. Remember, whatsoever you do in
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by Him. We have to live our lives in
such a way, you see, that men take account of the sort of people
that we are. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without, it says. To those who are unbelieving,
those who are in the world, walk in wisdom, redeeming the time,
and then, oh, will they not ask will they not ask? and then we
are to be ready to give an answer and how are we to answer them?
with meekness with our gentleness with fear the fear of God in
our hearts and so we come to the text again you see let your
speech be always with grace seasoned with salt that ye may know how
ye ought to answer every All friends, now we need to take
heed of the practical, to use the old-fashioned word, the practical
part of these epistles. Colossians is a tremendous epistle. What sublime doctrine we have
in the earlier part of it. He speaks so much of the glories
that belong unto the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Read the first two chapters. and then here we're in of course
the last chapter but the last two chapters three and four are
dealing with this practical part if ye then be risen with Christ
seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God set your affection on things above not on things
on the earth for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ if we know the doctrine and not
just know it in a notion or an intellectual way, but know it
by real soul experience, Christ in us, the hope of glory, then
will we not be those who desire only to bear testimony to him
and to speak of him and his great worth. to speak of Him and that
grace that He has demonstrated in His kind, compassionate dealings
with us. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. The Lord bless His words to us,
to preacher and to hearer alike. Amen.