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[0:00] The average man speaks, some say 25,000 words a day, the average woman speaks 30,000 words a day.! I read actually a different measure of that which was quite even more telling.

[0:16] ! The husband was reading this article to his wife, how women, in what he was reading, women use 30,000 words a day.

[0:29] Men use only 15,000 words. And the wife replied, that's because we have to repeat everything to men.

[0:40] And the husband turned to his wife and said, what? So there's maybe some truth to that, I know.

[0:51] Some talk more than others, not necessarily men and women, but I suppose they've calculated that. So the point being that we all speak words and we can use tens of thousands of words a day.

[1:07] What are those words that we use is the question, isn't it? When we speak words that bless and build or words that hurt and damage. Our words can build up or our words can tear down.

[1:21] And we see this in James chapter 3, where it speaks of words of the tongue and of the power of the tongue. And James chapter 3 verse 3, it reads, See a picture there of the bit in the horse's mouth.

[1:47] Now, just a small instrument in their mouth is such that it will turn the whole body of that horse in the direction it must go.

[1:59] And it reads on verse 4, Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven off fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

[2:16] So, you can think of those huge vessels, they've got just a small rudder. That small rudder can make the vessel turn. This huge vessel can turn just from the very small rudder where the governor, the captain, chooses to turn it.

[2:33] He can turn the whole vessel with just the small rudder of the vessel. And then it reads on verse 5, Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.

[2:44] Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. He's comparing it further there to fire, as it reads on there also of the fire that it kindles.

[2:58] So your words are powerful, friends, your words are powerful. And could it be that the average person spends one fifth of his or her life talking? That's huge isn't it?

[3:10] A lot of our life is spent talking. There's a lot of words that we speak. And that's what the statistics say, one fifth of your life. If all of our words were put into print, the result would be in one single day, it would fill a 50 page book.

[3:26] In a year's time, the average person's words would fill 132 books of 200 pages each. It's amazing isn't it? If you could speak wise words, you could be in production of all these books.

[3:41] 132 books of 200 pages each. But, friends, sadly amongst all those words that we do speak, let's be honest, some of those words might be unworthy words.

[3:52] Words spoken in anger. Words that are careless or hasty words. In Joseph 3 verse 6, as we read here, it says, And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

[4:04] So there's sin there. It's a fire. It's like a bushfire. It's sin. And so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature.

[4:15] And it is set on fire of hell. Now these are telling words here, that the tongue is a defiling member. That it is set on fire of hell.

[4:28] James Likens, as we've read through the context here of the tongue, it's like a wild bucking bronco. You know that this horse that must be trained and brought into submission so that it can be a useful horse.

[4:43] It's like a storm-driven ship that needs the guiding and the steering. It's like a raging forest fire, a bushfire. It's also compared to a poisonous viper.

[4:56] A viper, a snake. And James also, in the context, speaks of the tongue as being like a bitter fountain. And so, as a fire, think, just a little fire, just a little flame, a little spark, can ignite a whole bushfire.

[5:16] When it's bushfire season, they're very guarded, aren't they? About just a little spark can have far-reaching consequences. And it's the same, friends, today with this little member.

[5:29] Just a little member. That little muscle in your mouth called the tongue. It can be a weapon of mass destruction. Tearing down individuals and tearing apart relationships.

[5:41] Even whole communities and churches. Just thoughtless remarks can do so much harm. And friends, our words can bring hurt or they can bring healing.

[5:53] The Bible tells about the tongue in many times. We're just going to touch on a few references to the tongue, to the words that we speak. And the Bible tells about the tongue of the wise and of the unwise.

[6:06] And we read that in Proverbs 12, verse 18, it reads, There is that, speaketh, like the piercings of a sword. But the tongue of the wise is health.

[6:18] It's saying that our tongue can be like the piercing of a sword. We can get provoked and pierced and cut like a knife.

[6:30] Our words can cut and hurt. And as we read before, your tongue can be hellish. As of set on fire of the course of hell.

[6:41] Or it can be wholesome. The tongue of the wise is health. It can be hellish or it can be healthy. It's up to you how you use your tongue.

[6:53] And the Bible shows us how to tame our tongue. The best strategy at times can actually be to say nothing.

[7:06] We see that in Ecclesiastes 3, verse 7. Where it reads in the part, a time to keep silence and a time to speak.

[7:19] So there's a time to, don't say anything. And there's a time to speak. A famous man said this, I've never been hurt by anything I didn't say.

[7:37] Sometimes it's better not to say it, isn't it? We can blurt things and think, Oh, I shouldn't have said that. And we've got regret, haven't we? It's like, how do they say?

[7:49] Toothpaste out of the tube. You can't put it back in once it's out. Can you? Actually I was trying to fill a bean bag lately. Who's ever tried that exercise? And what a torment that is.

[8:00] Trying to get those little beans into the bean bag. And once they get dispersed, it's hard to get them back in, isn't it? I know someone opened a bean bag around here and there's been little beans flying around for the last few months.

[8:14] I don't know where it came from. But it's the same with our words, isn't it? The words, once they're blurted out, there's no taking them back in. You can't undo it.

[8:26] And so, as the man said, I've never been hurt by anything I did not say. And Proverbs 21, 23, it says, Who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles.

[8:39] And Proverbs 17, 28, it says, Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, when he doesn't say anything, he's counted wise. And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

[8:55] Sometimes it's better to say nothing. Sometimes it's better to say nothing. And people might think you're wise for that. Rather than say something and then they realise you don't really know what you're talking about.

[9:09] So it's good to learn when to be quiet. Now it's interesting, we know people take classes in public speaking. Maybe we need to study quietness.

[9:20] To study quietness. There's a scripture that says just that. In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11. Here's a course you can take. You won't be able to apply down at the TAFE to do this one.

[9:32] But we should study to be quiet. Study to be quiet. We should be slow to speak, shouldn't we, as the Bible says. Better to be measured in what we speak than to say it and think, Oh, I shouldn't have said that.

[9:47] Because your words are powerful. I can think back as a younger man. I think I was about eight years old. And I can remember something the principal of the school said to me when I was about seven or eight years old.

[9:58] And it stuck with me. It wasn't anything very intellectual. But it was something, he took the time to talk to me about what I was doing. And he showed an interest in me and the work that I was doing.

[10:11] And he gave me some guidance. And I can remember the words that he spoke to me, even now, 50 plus years later, I can remember what the man said to me. And it's the same for you and me, isn't it?

[10:22] We can think. And you might think those words that you speak, maybe they don't really, they're not really that substantial or that meaningful. But think of the words you can tell to a younger one. And they might remember those words for a lifetime, for the rest of their lives.

[10:37] So your words are powerful. Your words are powerful. And so that should make us think, well, should I speak those words or should I refrain from speaking? Because sometimes the words that we speak can be hurtful words.

[10:49] And people remember those words too, don't they? Words uttered in haste or anger or thoughtless words. So rather study to be quiet.

[11:00] Study to be quiet. Because our words can be hurtful. They can be lethal. They can be destructive. And some seem to speak words that are sarcastic or criticizing, quarreling, finding fault.

[11:15] James tells how tongue control is a mark of spirituality. Tongue control. See that in James 1, 26. Here's a picture of a man with a zip on his lip.

[11:28] Sometimes we've got to zip the lip, as it were, if it could be so easy just to zip it up, as it were. And James 1, 26 reads, If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

[11:49] He seems to be religious, but he's bridling not his tongue. So the sense of the horse's bridle, of the horse, the bit in the mouth, of containing, of restraining, of constraining his tongue.

[12:01] If you don't constrain your tongue, you just blurt out any old thing, then really it's a sad reflection, isn't it? Upon your faith, on your profession. As Peter puts it, 1 Peter 3, verse 10, it reads, For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips, that they speak no guile.

[12:25] Refrain your tongue from that which is evil, from that which is harmful, from that which is hurtful, and not to speak guile, which means deceit. Rather than speak guile, speak truth.

[12:38] Rather than speak that which is doubtful, speak that which is truthful and right and true. Our tongue can bless and heal, or it can do harm and hurt. Sometimes we don't realise it.

[12:50] There's things that I might have said as a younger man, maybe to my wife, or to my children, the loved ones in my life, and maybe I shouldn't have said those words.

[13:01] There's no taking them back, is there? The words that we've said, that we're ashamed of, words that we regret, there's no taking them back. Rather, zip the lip.

[13:13] Refrain your tongue. Refrain your tongue from speaking evil. Rather, let your decision be, that your tongue, that your speech, that your words be words that bless, words of healing, of encouragement, not words that harm or hurt, but rather words that encourage, not discourage.

[13:33] So, I urge you tonight, I know this is really a simple truth, but it's an important truth. It's a practical truth. It's a truth that we can live in our shoe leather, day by day, in our everyday lives, isn't it?

[13:47] Our tongue can give hope to the hopeless, or it can shatter hope. So, let's take a look at what the Bible says about our words. Firstly, we're going to look at the words to avoid, and then we're going to look at the words that we ought to speak.

[14:02] So, first consider the words to avoid. The Bible talks about, you could say, sins of the tongue. We could think of words that are uttered when we've, when we're in a sinful attitude, when there's pride, when there's envy, when there's jealousy, when we've got bitterness or hatred or vindictiveness.

[14:22] We can be spiteful, and we could think back, I know, we could think of our siblings, of our brothers or sisters, things we've said to them, or things they've said to us, and it sticks in here, doesn't it?

[14:35] It sticks in here. So, we ought to be mindful of that. Younger ones, older ones, all of us, we all need to consider such things.

[14:47] When the Bible gives us a list of the seven worst sins, in Proverbs chapter six, three of the seven are sins of the tongue.

[15:00] Interesting thought, isn't it? You can read that list. We won't go there, but Proverbs six, verses 16 to 19, the seven worst sins. Three of them are the sins of the tongue.

[15:13] So, the Lord shows us what to avoid. We read that in Ephesians 4, verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.

[15:26] Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor is that, you know, just yelling, screaming, shouting, evil speaking, speaking evil of people, speaking harmful things about others.

[15:39] He says, put it all away from you. Get rid of that. All of that malice, that anger, that festering anger that is malice, that is, you know, I want to get even, I want to do harm because I'm so angry.

[15:54] Paul says, let it all go. Let it all be put away from you. And Peter echoes these thoughts in 1 Peter 2, verse 1. He says, wherefore laying aside all malice, there's that anger again, that raging anger, that guile, that deceit, the hypocrisies, the falseness, the envies, the jealousies, and all evil speakings.

[16:17] The Bible says about, speak evil of no man. It's an interesting thought, isn't it? Not to even speak evil of anyone. Now, I suppose there's still a place to speak against an error, if there's a false teacher, to say, this man teaches a false teaching.

[16:36] I think there's a place for that. There's a place for needful warning. Don't go near that false teacher because this is what they teach and it's not scriptural. There's a place to warn people about such things.

[16:47] But spreading gossip or rumours or, you know, whispering about people, tail-bearing, backbiting, evil speaking, the Bible says not to do it.

[17:00] Not to speak evil. And that could mean, for example, criticism, gossip, slander. What else should we avoid? The Bible says avoid profanity.

[17:11] It's one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

[17:23] Taking the name of the Lord in vain. Nowadays, it seems commonplace. You know, the atheists say, oh my God, even though they deny he exists, they still say his name as a throwaway line, as a dragging his name as if it were a swear word or some curse or profanity.

[17:48] And of course, we know the name of our precious Saviour. People just utter it unthinkingly, without regard, without any regard to the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:01] They would use his name as something to disdain, to use as a blurting out of anger or whatever they feel.

[18:12] They use his precious name. And our Lord says not to take his name in vain. So we need to be mindful of that ourselves. Not to use the Lord's name carelessly or as a throwaway line.

[18:24] Avoid profanity. Another thing to avoid is the danger of gossip. It says in Proverbs 18, verse 8, the words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

[18:38] There are some people that spread rumours or make statements that are not founded. I know where I used to work, I was an interviewer and we had to record things factually.

[18:52] And it was very much the requirement of government that you had to be very specific what person stated, what they factually said or did.

[19:03] Not to make assumptions or suppositions or add to what they said. Not just to embellish what they say but to keep it factual. As the police interrogators would say, just the facts, just the facts.

[19:18] It's important that we just are clear what the facts are. Because some people might think, oh, so-and-so is doing such and such. And then they start talking about that. And then people think that's actually, that's actual factual when it's really just a supposition.

[19:33] It's evil surmisings, the Bible says, isn't it? We can say, oh, this person is committing this sin or that sin, when it's really just their thinking that they are committing that sin.

[19:44] It's very, very important not to spread such talk because we can embellish it and it becomes, as the phrase goes, Chinese whispers. It gets changed over time, person to person, until, oh, it's actually, this is what they've done.

[19:59] When it's just what someone thought they had done. That's really important to be very careful about such things. Even the world knows that, that it's not something you ought to do.

[20:10] And we see the Bible speaks about the danger of gossip, of troublemakers, of troublemakers. They're always characterised by sins of the tongue. We see that, I know, reading through some of the wilderness wanderings at the moment.

[20:24] And we see where it seems like this recurring theme. They murmured. They murmured against Moses. They murmured against the Lord. They disputed. And they were constantly whinging and moaning.

[20:37] The children of Israel, taken out of Egypt by the miraculous, wonderful works of God. Saved by His grace through the crossing of the Nile. And then His miraculous provision of manna and quail.

[20:50] And of the provision of the tabernacle. And God's grace giving them water and drink and sustenance. And yet, they continually whinged and complained and moaned and murmured.

[21:05] And it seems like, and when they murmured against Moses, really, as it puts it, they were murmuring really against God. They were murmuring against God. And we see this verse here.

[21:16] When the people complained, it displeased the Lord. We must not murmur or complain. We see, likewise, Philippians 2.14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings.

[21:27] The Bible warns us over and over again not to be a complaining person. Not to be a troublemaker. Not to be a murmurer. And there's very strong words about such things. Those who cause divisions and offences.

[21:39] Romans 16.17. It says, mark them. Avoid them. They're trouble. You know, we've had occasion in our church, we've had some come and bring some questionable doctrine and start to distribute materials that are contrary to our standards of church or try to propagate some false doctrine.

[22:00] And I've had to stand against them. Because that is trouble. It's trouble. We've got to be of one mind, of one spirit. We must be of one accord. And causing divisions and offences, spreading false doctrines, it's not allowed.

[22:15] It's not to the benefit of the body. And we must guard against it. So think carefully for yourself. If you're on the receiving end. Oh, so and so told me this.

[22:28] Be guarded. Rather not hear it. Or, I know there's an acronym, isn't it? T-H-I-N-K. Is it true?

[22:39] Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind? These things that they're saying, question it. And if it's about another party, go to that third party and make it clear so that you can sort it out.

[22:52] First person to first person. Rather than carrying on listening to gossip. And think carefully too. If you're on the receiving end, when someone comes to you with hateful or angry words, the Bible says that a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.

[23:10] I can think back to my secular work as well. At times when there was a problem, they called for me to go and intervene. And it could be someone that's...

[23:22] I was responsible for the registration centre in Adelaide, the Motor Edge office in Adelaide. And there was this guy going ballistic. He started throwing things around in this office and yelling and screaming.

[23:35] He wanted his certain registration that he was not able to do. And so they called for me and had to go into this room with this raging man. And we just talked calmly and quietly to him.

[23:47] That's what we're trained to do. You try to listen and hear them out. You try to understand what's going on for them. You try to give them a soft answer. You try to give them a hearing, some respect.

[23:59] And you try to communicate as man to man. And not to get angry back at them, because that just is fighting fire with fire, which doesn't work.

[24:10] But it's biblical to... A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. So even in the secular world, they know this is true.

[24:23] You communicate calmly and intelligently. You keep calm and you keep dispassionate. And you listen to people, what they're saying. Rather than getting provoked and angry yourself.

[24:35] These are things the world knows to do. But sometimes we can be stirred up and fighting back and getting aggro. And it just causes more and more argument and difference.

[24:47] As it turned out, we were able to resolve the matter. And so our words can do damage or they can do good. How much better to speak words that are wholesome and wise? A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.

[25:02] Learn to be calm when you're faced with an angry person. Proverbs 15, 4, it says, A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. It's saying that a wholesome tongue is a tree of life.

[25:15] It's a fruitful, blessed, abundant thing. It's a joyful thing. But it's saying that perverseness in your tongue is a breach in the spirit. It's a hard heartache.

[25:27] So avoid speaking of sinful things. Rather speak life and hope. Better to be silent than to speak shameful words. Have that determination that my tongue is going to be a wholesome tongue.

[25:39] I'm going to speak what is wholesome and rightful. Certainly we'd do well to determine to listen. And we've seen here some words to avoid. For example, evil speaking, profanity, using the Lord's name in vain.

[25:54] We've seen gossip, complaining. These are words that we ought to avoid. Because your words can have impact. They can be weapons of mass destruction. On the other side, your words can have an impact for the better.

[26:07] Here's how someone put it. A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck a life. A bitter word may hate instill. A brutal word may smite and kill.

[26:19] A gracious word. So the opposite now. A gracious word may smooth the way. A joyous word may light the day. A timely word may lessen stress.

[26:30] A loving word may heal and bless. What are the words we're going to use? Cruel, careless, bitter, brutal, gracious, joyous, loving. Words that heal and bless.

[26:42] So what are these good words that we are to use? We've talked about the words to avoid. Let's look at these wise words now. We see that, for example, in Colossians 4 verse 6. It tells, Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.

[27:01] Let your speech always be seasoned with salt, always with grace. Determine that your words will be gracious words.

[27:12] Words of grace. Another truth is to dedicate your heart and your tongue to the Lord daily. As the psalmist cried in Psalm 19 verse 14.

[27:25] Here's a good prayer for you to pray. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Pray.

[27:37] Ask the Lord that your words, the words of your mouth, that the meditation of your heart will be acceptable unto him. Dedicate your heart and your tongue to the Lord daily.

[27:49] Another truth, another good word that you can speak is praise. Praise God with your tongue. As it reads Psalm 34 verse 1.

[28:00] I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Continually praise. You don't have to wait to come to church to sing.

[28:14] You can sing in your car on the way to work. You can sing as you're walking along. You can hum and sing. You can whistle and sing. Well, you probably can't do that at the same time. But you can have that joyful heart, can't you?

[28:27] You can have that melody in your heart. And you can praise God continually. Another thing as well as praise is you can pray. It says, hear my prayer, O God.

[28:38] Give ear to the words of my mouth. Let the words of your mouth be prayerful words. Speak words of prayer. Speak in communion with your Lord. Have that one-to-one communication with your Saviour.

[28:51] With your words, ask the Lord, does my words edify? Do my words edify? In Ephesians 4.29 it says, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good.

[29:07] So the use of edifying. That which will build up, in other words. Words that are good will be words that will edify. In other words, they'll build up other people. They'll be words that will minister grace unto the hearers.

[29:19] So ask yourself, before you speak it, is what I'm going to say corrupt or is it going to be edifying? Of course, the word corrupt, we can think something that's smelly, going off.

[29:30] Poor, that's corrupt. Don't use those words. Rather words that are edifying. Amen. Words that will bless. Words that will minister grace. Another kind of words we should use is pleasant words.

[29:42] Pleasant words, says the Proverbs writes at 16 verse 24. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. So think of those words that you utter.

[29:55] Are they going to be pleasant words? Are these words that are going to be pleasant? They're going to be edifying. They're going to be blessing. They're going to be encouraging. They're going to be uplifting. They're going to be comforting. Positive words.

[30:06] Now, of course, on the other side of the coin, there is still a time to rebuke. We want to speak pleasant words, but sometimes we've got to speak really honest words to those that need it. It says, Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee.

[30:21] Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. There's time to rebuke people. As Paul tells Timothy, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

[30:33] There's a time to rebuke. As I said earlier, of a situation where someone's spreading false doctrine, I had to talk honestly and directly and firmly to that one.

[30:45] Sadly, they didn't listen. But sometimes people do listen. When we exhort people, hey, this is a bit so-so, don't touch it. It's not good for you.

[30:56] Some people will listen to you. And that's a necessary thing to do, isn't it? To rebuke, in love, to chasten, to encourage, to be direct, to be truthful.

[31:08] Of course, the Bible says, speak the truth in love. We speak the truth in love. We do it lovingly. We don't do it as some kind of, I'm better than you or I know more than you, kind of putting another person down.

[31:21] But it's loving rebuke, isn't it? It's gentle rebuke. And the wise man will listen to you and love you for it. And then we see Deuteronomy 6 verse 7, words that you can speak to your children.

[31:33] For example, parents here tonight, or parents to be. This is a lovely scripture, isn't it? And they shall teach them the words of God. They shall teach the word of God diligently unto thy children.

[31:44] And shall talk of them whilst thou sittest in thine house. When thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest thou. In other words, all the time is basically how you could, I suppose, put it there, isn't it?

[31:57] Teach the word of God to your children. Teach the younger ones. Teach them diligently. Talk of the word of God. What should we speak of?

[32:10] There's many verses, I've just touched on a few. You can look through your concordance, the word tongue, words, speaking. Here's a few that I've just picked up in a brief look at that.

[32:25] Psalm 26 talks about thanksgiving. It talks about the wondrous works of God. Psalm 35 talks about, My tongue shall speak of thy righteousness, and of thy praise all the day long.

[32:38] Psalm 119, 172 says, My tongue shall speak of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteousness. So, those three things, the wondrous works, his righteousness, his praise, his word.

[32:51] Speak of thy word. The best thing we can speak is the word of God, isn't it? So, put it in your heart. Put it into your mind. Make deliberate effort to memorise the word of God.

[33:02] Hide it in your heart. Put it in your memory. God helping you. And you've got to make a determined effort to do this. It's something you've got to make an application to do.

[33:14] An application of your time, of your mental commitment to do this, is to put the word of God in your heart. And the Bible says that you'll be blessed for that.

[33:25] You keep his word in your heart. My tongue shall speak of thy word, he says. Psalm 119. We see Proverbs 8, verse 7, it reads, My mouth shall speak thy truth.

[33:37] And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. Let that be your determination, to speak truth, not wickedness. Proverbs 8, verse 6, it says, Herefore I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

[33:55] Speak excellent things. Speak right things. So I hope that you've got a sense here tonight of some practical pointers you can determine to do.

[34:09] Because your words are powerful. Your words are powerful. And the words that you speak to loved ones, to your spouse, to your siblings, to your parents, to your children, to your mates, your colleagues at work, words are powerful.

[34:25] They can bless, or they can curse. And Proverbs 18, verse 21 really puts it very strongly here, that death and life are in the power of the tongue.

[34:39] So we ought to assume responsibility for every word that we speak. Your words can make an impact, a life-giving impact. Or your words can bring death and harm and hurt.

[34:53] So choose wise words tonight. Determine that for your life ahead. We see Matthew 12, it reads, Our Lord says that every man is going to give an account.

[35:04] Every idle word, men shall speak, they shall give account thereof. Let's choose our words wisely. Let our speech be seasoned with grace.

[35:15] And if you've uttered some unthinking words, you've said some hurtful thing to a loved one, you've uttered something in anger and spite and rage and thoughtlessness, apologize.

[35:27] Say, look, I'm sorry I said those words. I take it back. I'm sorry that I said that and that would have hurt you. I'm sorry that I did that.

[35:38] Determine that. It's a good thing to do to write things like that. And let's choose our words wisely. Let's speak words of love, of kindness, of truth.

[35:49] And always seek to bring life, not death. Healing, not harm, with the words that we speak. A couple more scriptures. Psalm 141 verse 3.

[36:07] It's good to think prayerfully about these things we've been talking about tonight. And here's a good prayer you can pray. It says, set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth.

[36:20] Keep the door of my lips. It's got the sense of setting a watch, a watchman, a sentry, a guard, that the Lord would keep a watch, that he would mount guard over our mouth.

[36:36] Actually, he'll guard what we say, the words that we say. He's going to guard the door of our lips. So we won't utter those words that we'll think, oh, I shouldn't have said that.

[36:48] Oh, what a fool I am to have said that. Those hurtful words to the one that I love. And we feel ashamed of that. But if we have that prayer, Lord, set a watch over my mouth.

[37:02] Keep the door of my lips. We won't say those words. God will help us not to say those words. And again, as we referred to earlier, another great prayer. Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

[37:19] Now, the world says certain words are acceptable. They think it's acceptable to use our Lord's name as a gutter word, to utter profanities and all kinds of vile obscenities.

[37:32] That's kind of common now, isn't it? It's like there's no regard for what was common decency. People would have got locked up for some of the words they're routinely saying, even on our television sets now, aren't they?

[37:45] On movie sets and such. Filthy curse words and crudities and blasphemies. Years ago, that would have been a crime, wouldn't it, Peter?

[37:56] Wouldn't it? That would have locked people up for that? You'd have been disciplined, you'd have been fined for it at least, wouldn't you? But now, it's commonplace. It's disregarded. There's no comeback.

[38:07] It's like you can say whatever you like. You can wear t-shirts with these words emblazoned on them. But then if you wear a t-shirt that says Jesus or something, they throw you out of the shopping malls. I've seen that in a recent story lately where someone wore a Jesus t-shirt and he got thrown out of the shopping mall because that was seen as, oh, you're going to offend somebody.

[38:27] But someone can walk into a shopping centre with all kinds of curse words on them and they're just allowed to do that. That's the kind of world we're living in, people, isn't it? What's acceptable to the world is not acceptable to the Most High.

[38:41] And that's what matters, isn't it? Are the words of our mouth, are they acceptable? Well, his dictates. And so, friends, tonight, our words have power.

[38:52] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that one of the best things that we can say with our mouth is we can confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus. We can believe in our heart that you died on the cross for our sins, that you rose again from the dead.

[39:09] And the best thing that we can say with our mouth is, Lord Jesus, I believe. I believe you. We confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus.

[39:20] We pray each one might have that confession of faith that makes eternity happen as we trust the living God. We pray each one might have that heart's trust tonight.

[39:32] By faith, even at this very moment by faith, they'll receive that, that gift of salvation as they trust your entire work on their entire part for their entire salvation.

[39:44] And they'll receive that eternal life that is forever. They'll receive it by faith, even now. Lord, we thank you that we, by your grace, can be saved.

[39:56] We can be saved people. And as saved people, we should speak different. We should speak with new tongues, as it were. We should speak the language of heaven. We should speak rightful words, godly words, righteous words.

[40:09] We're not talking about speaking in tongues, as the false cults would say. But our words would be gracious words. We'd speak with the language of Canaan. We'd speak words that are right and true.

[40:20] We'd speak scripture. We'd speak truth. We'd speak words that uplift and encourage and edify and bless. And, Lord, you'd guard our lips. You'd keep a watch over our mouth that we won't utter words that we're ashamed of, words that hurt and harm, words that dishonor your name.

[40:41]  Lord, give us grace that we might be such a people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.