It has been said that the most sobering thought a person can have is that he must someday stand before God in judgment for his life. The idea of the judgment of mankind at the end of time is not the product of human imagination. It is an announcement by God made through selected spokesmen long ago. As early as the sixth century B.C. this proclamation was made: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt," (Dan. 12:2). Jesus declared that "when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats," (Mat. 25:31-32). And Paul informed the Athenians that "the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead," (Acts 17:30-31).
These are only three of a great many passages in the Bible where the judgment of all people at the end of earth's history is announced. When the Athenians heard Paul's statement, it is reported that "some mocked." It is the same today; if someone mentions the judgment as a literal event, there are many who will begin to mock. But whether infidelity discards the announcement or not, it does not change the truth expressed. Human opinions do not determine the future, but God's will does. Indeed, "Let God be true though every one were a liar," (Rom. 3:4). And everyone will be present in the judgment, including those who mock it as religious imagination.
Jesus' statement in the essay text above was made in view of that judgment. When we appear before God to give account for our lives, we shall either "be justified" or "be condemned" according to the words we have spoken during our time on earth. This revelation puts our speech in the category of what is serious. On that final day we each shall be held responsible for what we are now saying day by day.
Most people pay little attention to what they say and then promptly forget most of it. They sometimes pride themselves on being bold to say what they think on the spot. I have heard people boast, "Well, I'm always frank. I just say what I think and don't hold anything back." This statement is often made with a glint in the eye and a noticeable set to the jaw. But is this really the way the Lord wants us to be? We are rather told "let your speech always be gracious," (Col. 4:6). We are also instructed to "let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice," (Eph. 4:31). The angry reply, the bitter quip, and the sharp retort will be remembered at the judgment, and they will not be in our favor.
The speech that is current today contains a lot of filth and grows continually filthier. It becomes so common that Christians get used to it and gradually adopt it into their own speech. But if a hundred million people regularly use a smutty word or phrase, it does not make it acceptable for Christians to use. Our standard requires us to "put them all away --- anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth," (Col. 3:8). Furthermore, we are ordered to "let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths," (Eph. 4:29). The dirty, filthy, smutty words that people use from day to day will be recalled in the judgment, and they will add up to cause those who use them to "be condemned." The task of cleaning up one's speech begins with the cleansing of the heart, for Jesus said that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks," (Mat. 12:34). A dirty mind produces dirty speech, and the mind is soiled by what we allow to enter it and stay there. To rid the heart of impure, vulgar thoughts will also clean up one's speech.
