Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four. We will look at one verse for
our Bible study this morning. It'll be verse six, Colossians
four, verse six. It says, let your speech be always
with grace seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought
to answer every man. Let your speech, your conversation,
your manner of communicating, what you say and how you say
it, let what you say and how you say it, let your speech be
always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you
ought to answer every man. I want us to look this morning
at a believer's conduct in communication. The Apostle Paul said, let your
speech, that does mean both our communication and our manner
of communication. What we say and how we say it. He says, what a believer says
and a believer's manner in saying what he or she says ought to always be governed by
grace. It ought to always be governed
by grace. Number one, we ought to be gracious. I pray that the Lord would cause
us to be gracious. We ought to be gracious. Brother
Maurice Montgomery, a preacher from a few years ago, he made
the statement one time concerning our response to people and to
situations that are unfortunate. He said, you can always be gracious. If you just don't know how to
respond in a given moment, if you're ever put in a moment,
all right, if you're ever put in a moment, and you will be,
where you just don't know how to respond right now, he said,
you can always be gracious. You can always be gracious. When
Hannah was in middle school or high school, somewhere around
that time, her grandparents came to visit. And her grandfather,
Henry Mahan, was taking her to Walmart. And at some point, he
made a wrong turn. He, you know, he made some kind
of mistake and he cut somebody off and almost caused a wreck. And
both cars had to come to a stop. And the guy in the other car Started giving it to him. I mean, given it to him. Cussing
him, giving him obscene gestures and. Hannah said that Henry sat there
and took it with such grace. And he acknowledged to the man,
I know I was wrong. It was my fault. And Hannah said
at that moment in time, she was not feeling quite the graciousness
that he was feeling. And I agree with her. Hearing
something like, you better do him no harm. Makes me want to
lash out. That man was, that man was, his
anger was just lashing out at him, just lashing out at him.
And the natural response of the flesh is to lash back. That's
the natural response of the flesh, just to lash back. But here's
the thing about it, Hannah has never forgotten the Christ honoring
example that was shown to her through his graciousness. I use
him because he's now gone and he was a wonderful example of
graciousness. The story is told of a conference,
some kind of meeting years ago, the 70s or 80s. They all, after
the service, decided they wanted to go get ice cream. So they
went to a restaurant. They're all sitting around a
table and this young waitress comes up with a tray full of
milkshakes. And she stumbles and dumps all
those milkshakes on Henry's new suit. And that poor girl was mortified,
just mortified. And he was so gracious. That's
okay, honey. It's just a suit. It'll wash,
you know. Oh, that's all right. Believers
ought to be gracious. Believers ought to be gracious.
You and I both are thinking of moments in time right now when
we have not been so gracious. Believers ought to be gracious.
We ought to be gracious. You can always, we should always
be gracious considering all the grace that has been poured on
us. Just think about the grace, the
grace, the amazing grace. that has been poured on us in
spite of our wicked heart that naturally cries concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we hear about what
happened 2,000 years ago when our brethren cried, crucify him,
crucify him. And the flesh thinks, well, I
wouldn't have done that. You've heard people say, had
I been around back then, I would have stopped that. No, I would
have been in the front of the line, front of the crowd. I would
have been leading the crowd. And we all would have been. Because
that's what the flesh cries, crucify him. I will not have
that man reign over me. Crucify him. And in spite of
that, because the graciousness of his heart caused him to say,
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Oh,
you think about them ripping out his beard, spitting in his
face, cursing him, smiting him, mocking him. Father, it's okay. Forgive them. They know not what
they do. because of all the grace that
has been poured on the children of God, the chosen recipients
of grace. That's what children of God are
chosen hand selected recipients of grace. And because of all
that grace in every circumstance, may our Lord give us the ability
to be gracious. May he give us a heart and the
ability to be gracious. Turn with me to a few scriptures
here. Look with me at James chapter three. James chapter 3 verse 13 says, who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you, let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the
truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace." That's good, isn't
it? That's good. Look with me at Ephesians 4. Ephesians 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. And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor," that means lashing out, and evil speaking,
be put away from you with all malice. Malice is a desire to
see harm come to somebody else. It's a, you know, it's like you
want to see them fall. Verse 32 says, and be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. There's our motivation. That's
all the reason that a believer needs. That's all a believer
needs to hear. All a sinner has to do is dwell on the grace and
the mercy of God that forgave us because of everything that
Christ endured and suffered in order to forgive us. That's all the motivation we
need to desire graciousness for Christ's sake. Turn over to Luke
4 with me. Luke chapter 4, while you're
turning, let me quote a verse from Ecclesiastes chapter 10. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 12 says, the words of a wise man's mouth
are gracious. That's Christ. All of this is
Christ. Everything we're looking at is
Christ. But that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of a wise man's
mouth are gracious. That's Christ, the wise man.
Look right here at Luke 4, verse 16. It says, speaking of Christ,
it says, And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.
And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath 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 and gave
it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all
them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And all bear him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
All the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. For Christ's
sake, we ought to be gracious. He is. We want to know something
of his character and what it's going to be like to be in his
presence and hear him speak, hear the words that come out
of his mouth. He is gracious. This man is gracious. That's
his character. That's not just what he says,
that's how he says it. Grace flows from his lips. And it's all because grace flowed
from his heart. For that reason, we ought to
always be gracious. And in our graciousness, Our speech ought to always be
grace. In our graciousness, may our
speech always be grace. Grace. Go with me back to Colossians
4. Colossians four, verse six, it
says, let your speech be always with grace. May we speak graciously and may we always speak of God's
grace. God's grace. Verse six says,
let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt. Salt is all through the scripture.
It speaks of salt all through the scripture. In the Old Testament,
it was commanded by God that the sacrifices had to be salted
with salt. He said, do not offer a sacrifice
without salting it with salt. It was called the salt of the
covenant of God. It continually mentions the salt
of the covenant. God said it's a covenant of salt
forever before the Lord. This salt is Christ. When you
see salt, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the savor of the
sacrifice. the covenant of the sacrifice.
Christ is what made the sacrifice savory to God. Let me repeat
that a hundred times back to back. Christ is what made the
sacrifice savory to God. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could satisfy God. It's not possible. Christ is what made it savory
to God. What that lamb pictured is what
made God accept that and say, that's well-pleasing to me. That's
a well-pleasing savor to me. This salt is Christ. Just think
about salt. Number one, it is the savor.
It is the savor to the meat. But salt is a healer. Elisha
healed the water of Jericho with salt. It was bitter water. He
said, bring me salt. He said, put salt in it. And
he was healed. Salt is a healer. Salt is a preserver. We know that salt is a preserver
from decay, from ruin. This is all Christ. The one who
heals and preserves his people. Mark chapter 9 verse 50 says,
salt is good. That's Christ. There is none
good, but God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So verse six says, let
your speech be always with grace, seasoned with Christ, seasoned
with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every
man. How should we answer every man? First Peter 3.15 says, sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear. If somebody asked you right now
to give them the reason for the hope that's in you and put you on the spot, you'd
start struggling to find your answer. He said, be ready because
somebody is going to ask you, what's your hope? What's your
hope of glory? He said, be ready always to give
an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that's
in you with meekness and fear. What is the reason for the hope
that's in us? What's the reason for the hope?
Here's the reason. Grace. The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not works, but grace. God's grace, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us. That's grace. He saved us. Salvation earned by Christ, not
by us. We don't earn salvation. We don't
earn our salvation. We don't turn over a new leaf
and change our ways and dedicate our life to God and then we mess
up and rededicate our life to God and mess up and rededicate
our life to God. Salvation is earned by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Salvation earned by him, fully
paid by Christ. freely given by Christ. That's
grace, free gift, the free gift. Look at chapter three, verse
16, Colossians three, verse 16. It says, 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. What does that mean? It means
not have I gotten, but what I received. That's what it means. I got saved
is not grace. How many times have you heard
that? How many times have you heard that? How many people say
that? You know, they have an experience
and they go around town or back. If it starts with I, be warned. Beware. I got saved is not grace. I gave my heart to Jesus. I was an organ donor and gave
my heart to Jesus. That's not grace. That's not
grace. If I did it, it's not grace. The more we grow in grace, the
more we will shrink in self. The more we increase in the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we will decrease in the
works of our own flesh. It will just get lower and lower
until it finally does not exist. Just does not exist. No man or woman will ever be
saved by his or her own sinful works. That's all a man or woman
can produce is sinful works. Salvation is by grace alone. Grace alone. Through faith alone. What does that mean? That means
through believing that it's grace alone. The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. That God-given ability to bow,
trust, believe. Salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. To the glory
of God alone. Grace, grace. If our speech is
seasoned with the grace of God, it's gonna sound like this. Not have I gotten, but what I
received. Grace hath bestowed it. And I've just been caused to
believe. Boasting excluded. Pride I abase. I am only a sinner saved by grace. Everybody wants to give their
testimony. Here's mine. This is Gabe Stoniker's testimony.
I am only a sinner saved by grace. I did not used to be a sinner.
I am a sinner Saved by grace, that's my hope. That's the reason
for the hope that's in me. It's because Christ said he came
to save sinners. He did not write in his word,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save good fine church people
of whom I'm the chief. He didn't say that. He said Christ
came to save sinners and I'm the chief and that's the reason
for the hope that's in me. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
This really is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. That is the speech of a child
of God because he or she knows beyond any shadow of a doubt
he or she was not saved by his own works. I wasn't saved by
my own decision. It was by grace before the foundation
of the world. God loved me. chose me in spite
of me, did a work of grace for me, called me. All of him, it's all of him.
Sometimes you'll hear speech like this. Sometimes you'll hear
communication and talking like this. Okay. Oh yeah. Now salvation's of the Lord.
Absolutely. Yes, sir. Salvation is of the
Lord. but you're going to have to accept
it from Him. Okay? It's ultimately on you. Yeah,
now He does the saving, but now it's ultimately going to come
down to you. If you don't believe on Him, He's not going to be
able to do anything for you. He wants to, but if you don't
believe on Him, then He can't do anything. If you don't now,
if you don't, if you don't, That's not grace. That's not grace. If I have to do something. If
I have to do a work in order to be saved, I'm not going to
be saved. By nature, this is what I am
dead in my trespasses and sins. And if it's up to a dead man,
then it's not going to be done. If it's up to a dead man, it's
not going to be done. Me adding any component to it,
that's not grace. That's trying to mix works and
grace, and it won't work. It does not work. Mixing works
and grace does not work. Salvation is by grace alone.
Look with me at Romans 11. I'm almost done here. Romans
11. Romans 11 verse five, it says, even so then at this present
time, also there is a remnant. That means a, a chosen people,
a remnant is a small leftover, usually good for nothing. That's
a remnant. Even so, at this present time
also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Now watch verse six. He said,
and if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace
is no more grace. He's saying if it's grace, then
it's not works. Otherwise grace is not grace.
And he said, if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise
work is no more work. What he's saying is it's one
or the other. It's one or the other. It cannot be both. If
it's grace, then it's grace and it's not works. And if it's works,
then it's works and not grace. And here's the thing about it.
It's not works. We're not saved by our own works. We're not saved by our own will.
We're not saved by our own anything. We are saved by the grace of
God Almighty and the work and the will of God Almighty. So
may that be the subject of our conversation. May that be the
foundation of our conversation. May our speech be always of grace. Grace. His grace. God's grace. Seasoned with Christ. That's
the savory part. He is the grace. He is the subject
of our conversation. And as long as He is, as long
as we're on Him, As long as His mercy and His
grace remains the subject of our conversation, we will know
how we ought to answer every man. We will know. It's Christ
and His grace alone. We'll be able to give a reason
for the hope that's in us. What's the reason? Here's the
reason. Christ and His grace alone. His grace, His mercy,
Christ alone. That's the reason. All right,
you're all dismissed.