Brothers and sisters, in the face of such solemn facts, we need to be careful about our speaking. We should repent before the Lord for many words that have gone out of our mouth. These words do not produce good fruit. In fact, they harm in definite ways. Many of the words we uttered in the past were "idle words," but they are no longer "idle"; they are spreading all over the earth. At the time we spoke them, they were idle words, but after a while they have become very busy and are working great havoc. We need to seek God's mercy to be cleansed of our past, and for the present we need to ask Him to deal radically with us and to burn us with a burning coal (Psa. 120:3-4). If He will deal with us and burn our tongues so that we will no longer open our mouth rashly, we will be spared many regrets in the future. Many mistakes are irreparable once they are done. Lot could repent and return to his former position, but Moab and Ammon are still with us today. Abraham could beget Isaac after he repented, but by then Isaac had an enemy. Abraham could send Hagar away, but the trouble he created goes on. Once our words go out, they will not stop, and the trouble they create will not stop. We have to pray for the Lord to burn our tongues with a burning fire so that they will not utter any idle words or lies and will be unbridled no longer. We should pray that our tongue would become the tongue of the instructed. Only when the Lord puts our mouth under strict control and it ceases to say things carelessly can we expect Him to use us as His mouthpiece. Otherwise, the one spring will never produce two kinds of waters. We cannot serve others with sweet water as well as bitter water. We may say that we are burdened to serve God and to share in His work, but we cannot speak God's word one moment and the devil's word the next. We have to look to the Lord to grant us the grace to terminate our history of having a "runaway" mouth. We should say to the Lord, "Let all my words be acceptable to You, just as my heart is acceptable to You." May the Lord have mercy on us!

The Lord Jesus said, "For their sake I sanctify Myself" (John 17:19). Every servant of God who desires to serve Him has to learn to sanctify himself, wherever he is. In order to serve others, we have to sanctify ourselves in our speaking. Speaking is a great temptation. When three, five, eight, or ten people are talking together, it is a great temptation to join in and be part of them. We have to learn to sanctify ourselves, to set ourselves apart from others, and to not mix with them. We should not speak lightly. We have to have the words of the instructed, the tongue of the instructed. Our tongues have to pass through the fire. We must never expose ourselves to temptation. When other brothers and sisters are engaged in improper conversation, the first thing we have to do is to separate ourselves from them. As soon as we mingle with them and become one of them, we become fallen. We have to separate ourselves from them and be set apart from their midst. Every time something like this happens, we must not give in to temptation and we must not associate ourselves with the others. We must always separate ourselves. I believe God will grant mercy to us and build us up with grace little by little.