I want you to turn this morning
in your Bibles to John chapter 10. In Joe's prayer, he mentioned,
and asked the Lord that I might speak the words that He had laid
on my heart. And I'm so easily deceived, and
I'm among that people who has a heart desperately wicked, and
who can know it. that the only way I can know
what He has laid on my heart is for Him by His Spirit to impress
my mind and heart on His Word. I want to read you one verse
found in this 10th chapter of John wherein the Lord Jesus says
in verse 27, hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me." Now, there are many descriptive words that
are used in the Scriptures to identify and to describe the
Lord's people, true believers in Christ. And here in this verse,
is something that He uses to describe them, and He says that
they do this, and we know by what He says everywhere else,
they do this not to be saved, but because He has saved them. Christ says, they follow Me. They are described not only here,
but elsewhere in the Scriptures as followers. That's the title
of my message this morning, Followers. You see, they are followers of
the shepherd, that is, if they are sheep. They are followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back over in verse 4. He says, "...and when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him, for they know his voice." And I thought about it. Though
the Lord Jesus Christ is not here present bodily, And since
we cannot literally, in the flesh, walk behind Him, this obviously
means something else, means something much more. And if you read the
whole text, what you'll find out is that those to whom these
words were spoken, the greater part of them, They did not follow
Christ in any sense. But the sheep, they follow the
shepherd. And in a like manner, the disciples
follow the teaching of the teacher. Soldiers follow the general or
king. and servants follow their master. He says in John 12, if any man
serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. And if any man serve me, him
will my Father You see, these that Christ speaks
to of following, they also follow the teaching of His apostles. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says this,
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. He was not calling upon any to
follow Him as far as His person was concerned, or even as His
doctrine was concerned, if it was not the same as Christ. He says, His sheep hear His voice. And old Hawker said of that very
thing, His sheep hear His voice, and they know Him, and they follow
Him. They hear the voice of Jesus
in His Word, in His promises, in His providences. They discern
the truth because Jesus Himself is the way, the truth, and the
life. And they are enabled through
the Spirit to discern Christ's voice from strangers, from hirelings,
from false teachers and false preachers. And not only do they
follow the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, the teaching of
Christ, but they also, in their following Christ, they leave
all things. We have a picture of that with
Matthew the tax collector. Because when our Lord came to
where he was, he called upon Matthew to follow him, and Matthew
rose up and followed him. That's a picture of you and I,
if we're followers of Christ, we cannot follow Christ without
leaving something. When He calls us out of darkness
into light, He calls us out of the old professions of religion. He calls us and we leave their
hope in all those old religious experiences. We leave all our
natural hopes of salvation by works. And that's exactly what
we find the Apostle Paul speaking of in his own experience there
in Philippians 3. He describes all that he was
naturally, all that he was morally and religiously, all that he
was as a teacher of the Jews and those things. But he says,
I left all those things, I counted every one of them as nothing
but loss, that I might know Christ, that I might follow after Christ,
that I might be a possessor of His righteousness and not my
own, that I might win Him and be found in Him. In following Christ, he left
every hope and every association and every self-righteous work
that he might be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And they follow
the gospel. These sheep, they follow Christ's
gospel. And when the Spirit of God brings
it to their heart in power, they not only just simply change doctrines,
they not only move from one theological position to the other, they do
not simply come to the five points, but they come to Christ. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. He said, "'Knowing, brethren
beloved, your election of God.'" Well, Paul, how can you know
that? What evidence do you have that
these that you preach to truly are the elect of God? He says,
brethren beloved, knowing your election of God, for our gospel
came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake, and ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost." He knew that they were the Lord's sheep.
He knew they were the elect of God. Because when he preached
the gospel to them, the Spirit of God attended that preaching,
worked in their heart, gave them faith, so that even in much distress
all around them, they believed the truth and embraced the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they followed after that
gospel. And they identified with that
gospel. And they follow after Christ,
not only in identifying with that gospel, but with identifying
with those who truly preach and believe the gospel. You see,
it's not a light thing to believe the gospel. It is not a light
thing to follow the true doctrine of the grace of God in Jesus
Christ. It is not a little thing before
family and friends and co-workers, and especially in the midst of
this religious world, to follow after the Lord Jesus Christ. It's easy to be religious. It's
easy to be all these things that men think they are in themselves. But when we identify with Christ,
when we follow Christ in this sense, identifying with the truth
that is in Christ Jesus, Christ said, you will suffer persecution. He also said to these Thessalonians,
Paul said, for ye brethren, became followers of the churches of
God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered
like things of your countrymen, even as they have of the Jews."
Here was a church over here where there was believers who believed
the gospel that Paul preached. They suffered at the hands of
the Jews. Here were these over here that
believed the gospel that Paul preached, Gentiles. They likewise
suffered at the hands of the Gentiles. But no matter where
they are, no matter who they are, no matter what the persecution,
no matter what form it comes in, they follow Christ. I thought about this with regard
to following Christ. This world is so much and is
even in the Scriptures described as a journey. The Lord's people,
these followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're described like
wayfaring people, strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land. And that often brings to our
hearts and to our lives things in God's amazing providence that
we cannot understand. Things that break us, things
that crush us, things that make us wonder, things that come,
all these storms that we mentioned in the very beginning. All these
things that God in a wise providence brings in the lives of His people
so unexplainable, but the Lord's people, they follow Him. They follow Him. As a matter
of fact, that's what distinguishes these followers. Every one of
us will have people to die, Every one of us will have things that
come into our lives that bring us to that point where either
we follow the Lord Jesus Christ or we show ourselves right then
as those who don't follow Him. He said, in this world you'll
have tribulation. He brings these things of providence. He brings us to all these decisions
of life. We're confronted with this thing
wherein we have to decide something. We come to these intersections
of life wherein there's one way to go or another way to go. But
what did Christ say? He said, they follow Me. They follow Me. You see, these
things, they do not make us to either be the children of God
or the children of the devil. These decisions of life, they
don't make us to be either one. They simply, like the very trying
and proving of our faith, they show us to be what we are. And
if we follow Christ, if we are a follower of Christ, then we
follow that One who has all grace to give. We follow that One who
has all strength to give. We follow that One who works
all things after the counsel of His own will. We follow Him
who is the leader and the guide that leads all the way into God's
presence. Oftentimes we come down to all
these issues of life. It's really building up with
regard to all the political things. We'll come down in November,
we'll make a decision toward one candidate or the other candidate,
but we better stop and we better recognize at the very outset
that both are wrong. Do we understand that? And the
only way, the only way to make, as they say, an intelligent decision,
the only way the Lord's people can make an intelligent decision
with regard to any matter, whatever it is, is to make every decision
and every choice based on Christ's words. You say, but I didn't
think. that there was a choice between
two that are wrong. No, that's exactly right. But
like everything, not just a decision like that, but in our daily life,
everything that we are faced with wherein we have a decision
to make, we make it as best that we can with God's help based
on what we know that Christ says. Somebody wrote a book one time
And it was titled by name and people not long ago were making
little pens that said something like, what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? That's not
even the issue. That's not the issue. The issue
is simply what did Jesus do and what does Jesus say? That's what the followers of
Christ follow. You see, faith follows Christ. Faith follows the Lord Jesus
Christ, and though there's opposition within us and without of us,
although there's weakness in our flesh, God encourages His
sheep, instructs His sheep, commands His sheep, leads His sheep, keeps
His sheep. They follow me, He said. The
apostle writing in Hebrews 6 said, and we desire, that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end, that you be not slothful, but followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promise." You see,
if we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we follow that way of grace. We follow that way of truth. We follow those who also, as
his other sheep, they follow him. And when the Lord's people
are described in the Revelation, and John sees them, And he inquires
as to who they are. Here is this whole body of all
the Lord's people, all the shepherd's sheep, shown complete, 144,000,
which is simply a definite number of a definite people. John says,
who are they? He said, these are they that
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. Now, he didn't just
say, these are they that follow Jesus. He didn't say, led of
the Spirit, these are they that follow God. He brings the Lord
Jesus Christ into the picture of this figure wherein he's identified
in his character as the Redeemer. They didn't just follow some
kind of mystical Jesus, through some kind of fairytale world,
to some fairytale place, they followed the Lamb. That means that they followed.
They believed. They identified with this gospel
of Jesus Christ, which is the gospel of substitution, which
is the gospel of salvation by His blood redemption. They followed this gospel of
His righteousness, that righteousness of God that is made manifest
in Christ and imputed to a sinner. They followed Christ crucified. And they followed that truth,
that Word, that Gospel all the way. You know what characterizes
a follower of the Lamb? They follow Him all the way.
All the way. Because our Lord said this, He
said, if you continue in My Word, you're My disciples. They can't
follow Christ in their own strength. And they certainly, His people
fail and fall and miserably disappoint and disobey and do all these
things. But He keeps them because He
saves them by His grace. But you know what? He not only
says that His sheep follow Him, He also, as He did through many
of these apostles, He instructs them to follow Him. Now all His sheep are going to
follow Him. They'll everyone be in His presence. They will never ever, not one
of them, be saved because of their following, but He commands
them to follow. He commands them to follow. Turn over to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, and look down
in verse 23. And He said to them all, If any
man will come after Me, let him deny himself. You know what the most difficult
thing for us to do? That's to deny ourself. Why is that? Because we love
self better than anybody else, anything else. We don't want
to keep anything from ourself. He says, if any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me. Now there's always a long discussion. about what the Believer's Cross
is. The one thing I am sure of about
it is simply this, that it's not Christ's Cross. I'm sure that there is no curse
in the Believer's Cross, because Christ has already borne that
curse. No, it's got something to do
with living this life following Christ. Enduring what must be
endured to follow Christ. Giving up what must be given
up to follow Christ. Setting apart all that we would
do with regard to obeying Christ. Everything other than obeying
Christ. He said, let him take up his
cross and follow me. Alright? Look over in this same
chapter, Luke chapter 9 at verse 59. And he said unto another, follow
me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. And Jesus said unto him, let
the dead bury the dead. There are a whole lot of things
that are important in this world. There are things that can be
done that are, I guess in a sense, noble, could be called good,
benevolent, a lot of things. But there's one thing that nobody
in this world can do except the sheep, and that's follow Christ. And when anything we do, I don't
care how important we think it is. There may be somebody in
this world that can do it. But only the Lord's sheep can
worship Him, and serve Him, and praise Him, and glorify Him. You know that this was a commendable
thing in the eyes of this world. A man says, I've got to go first
and bury my father. Well, look on a little farther.
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go
thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord,
I'll follow you, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are
at home in my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man,
having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for
the kingdom of God." My friends, this is all or nothing. Follow
Him. They follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth. They follow His Gospel. They follow His Word. They follow
in this world with His people. They follow along with His faithful
preachers of the Gospel. They follow the Shepherd. But they're also described as
followers of that which is good. Followers of that which is good. And so when Paul writes to Timothy,
he says in chapter 6, For the love of money is the root of
all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
Love, patience, meekness. That's what the sheep are to
follow. Look at the verse on your bulletin this morning. First page. Now those who follow
Christ, follow the truth of His grace. And men say very wickedly,
very erroneously, that if we follow after Christ and His salvation
by His free and sovereign grace, it will absolutely lead to blatant
wickedness, outward ungodliness, all these things. But now, what
does Paul say to Titus in these verses? He says, for the grace
of God, it's just one grace of God, we know that, don't we?
They're just one kind of grace, Bible grace. For the grace of
God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men, by that
meaning all kinds of men, Jew, Gentile. He says, teaching us
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts We should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. That's what grace teaches. That's
what grace teaches. That those who follow Christ,
they don't follow Him to be saved. But they follow Him. They follow
His commands. They follow His truth. because
He has graciously saved them. But I want you to look at Ephesians
chapter 5. Ephesians 5. Look at what it
says in that first verse. Now, if you read this as a suggestion,
If you read this as maybe an elective of some sort, you have
missed it altogether. This is a command given by God,
God the Spirit, through His Apostle. He says, Be. Be. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children." Be ye followers of God as dear children. Now the word followers in that
verse has even a greater force of the sense of imitators. As a matter of fact, a lot of
the modern translations translate the word followers there as imitators. If we are followers of God, we
are imitators of God. Now what does that mean? Well,
I'm going to read you from another translation. The whole thought
here that Paul gives us surrounding that very thought, being a follower
or an imitator of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it doesn't begin at that
verse. He's already begun it in the
previous chapter, in chapter 4 at verse 17. Verse 17, and
I want you to listen to this, because this is what the grace
of God that brings us salvation in Christ teaches us, teaches
the Lord, teaches followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
17, Ephesians 4, Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that
you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do." Now, the Gentile
world in Paul's day was about the equivalent of the whole world
in this day in a great way. Our country as a whole, It was
outward, blatant, wickedness, ungodliness, immorality, everything
you can imagine, except in our day. Man has waxed worse and
worse. He says, you must no longer walk
as the Gentiles do. We're not walking as our natural
people anymore. We follow Christ. And evidently,
Were we not so prone to, even as believers, He wouldn't have
to give us this instruction, would He? I hear people saying
all the time, well, a real Christian wouldn't do this. A real Christian
wouldn't do that. A person who is born again, they
never do that. Well, why is He instructing us
like this then? Now listen. He says, "...walk
not no longer, as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their
minds. They are darkened in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them due to their hardness of heart. And they have become
callous and have given themselves up." They're callous, they're
hard, to anything that is good, or true, or right, or godly,
or whatever it is pertaining to God. They just are not simply
resistant to it, they become seasoned to it. They have become
callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice
every kind of impurity, But that is not the way you learned Christ. The way of this world. The generally
accepted practices and things of this world. He says, they
are natural, they are worldly, they are of the fallen race of
Adam. They're not of Christ. They're
not of Christ. He says, but that is not the
way you learn Christ, assuming that you have heard about Him
and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. He says, to put off your old
self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt
through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of
your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness
of God, in true righteousness and holiness." You see, we're
two selves, two persons, a believer is. We're what we are in ourselves. And that's what Paul's talking
about when he said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells
no good thing. No good thing. But if we, as
he says, are believers, if we're the Lord's sheep, then we're
also that person that we are in Christ. We didn't get there
by anything we do. We can't improve ourselves by
anything that we do. But he sets this standard for
us to follow after. He says, therefore, verse 25,
having put away falsehood. Let each one of you speak the
truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."
That is, in our dealings between each other. We are to speak the
truth, being members of the same body. He says, be angry, but
do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on
your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. None whatsoever. He'll take his own opportunities.
Paul said, we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. Sometimes
I wonder if we don't get a little ignorant on them. Because he
uses the same tricks over and over again. We fall time and
time and time again. He says, let the thief no longer
steal. A man told me one time, he said,
I don't care what I do. He said, what I do doesn't have
anything to do with my salvation. I want to say, man, have you
never read the Bible? You're supposed to be a believer.
Have you never read the Bible? There is a sense in which what
we do has no bearing whatsoever on the ground or the foundation
of our standing before God. But being on that standing, being
saved by grace, this grace that brings salvation, that grace
teaches the Lord's people, and they are to be obedient to what
we find in Scripture as plain commands. Doesn't make us better,
doesn't save us in any way, but they're still the commands of
the Lord Jesus. He says, "...let the thief no
longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work
with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with
anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out
of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as
fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."
Man alive. We ought to shut our mouths.
We roll on in this day in which we live. The day that approaches
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not His immediate
coming, the day coming of our going out in death to meet Him.
And yet we spend our hours and the voice of our mouths running
on the most foolish dribble, the most useless stuff. He said,
let your speech be seasoned with grace. Let your talk be about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let you be sharing one another's
burdens. Do all these things. He says that these things might
be of a benefit to those who hear you. and do not grieve the
Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
Sealed. Sealed, safe in Christ. Righteous
before God in Him. And yet He's still giving us
this instruction wherein we live in this world with men and before
men to the glory of God. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you." Now, the
reason I'm reading this from this translation is so that there
won't be any old, archaic words, lest we don't understand them.
Do we understand these words? Let all bitterness, wrath, anger,
clamor, slander, be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." And then
he starts these next verses. Therefore, be imitators of God,
followers of God, as beloved children. You know, I can honestly
say I believe that when I began to grow up as a teenager in young
manhood and would have done just about anything you can hardly
imagine were it not for God's grace. But one of the things
that always kind of hung in my mind and preserved me in a measure,
being used of God's grace, of course, was the fact of what
my conduct, if it was bad, what it would do to my parents. I
didn't want to break their heart. I didn't want to shame them.
I didn't want to do these things. And this is the illustration
that he's bringing here, that we're to walk as the children
of God. Is there any difference in the children of God and the
children of this world who are described as the children of
the devil? Well, nothing different about
them naturally, but great difference in that they've been made to
differ by the grace of God. They've had their eyes open to
some things. They've been given great instruction
from God, not only in how He has saved them, but also in how
they're to live in this world. All right? He says, "...and walk
in love, as Christ loved us, and gave for us a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God." Did you know we're to offer up sacrifices
to God? We're described as priests unto
God. What do we offer? Goats or sheep? No! The one they pictured, he's
already offered that one sacrifice for sins forever. What we're
to offer up to God is the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Our daily life is to be one of,
in our hearts, thanking God, showing our gratefulness to God. having our mind and our lips
full of the praise of God. He says, but sexual immorality,
and the word fornication there is kind of an all-inclusive word,
but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must
not even be named among you as is proper among saints, or those
separated under God in Christ. I have become almost a hater
of the most of what comes on television. I don't hardly ever
watch a movie. It's not because I'm some kind
of unique saint or something above everybody else, but I am
weary of sexual themes and explicit scenes and sights and sexual
innuendos so that it is spilled out into the common language
of our day. That's not the language of the
Lord's people. It just isn't. For you say, are
you ever guilty? I'm sure I am. That didn't change
one thing. That's not what we're to be talking
about. All these things are not what to be filling our minds
and therefore filling our conversations. Why? What do the sheep have in
common? They're different in so many
ways. What do they have one thing in common? And that's Christ.
Our God is holy. You know, we can say that in
a kind of a doctrinal sense, but He's holy. He's of purer
eyes than to behold iniquity. Hollywood doesn't set the standard
of morality. Not with God. And you know, we
ought to blush. that we can even sit down and
watch such and listen to some of the most godless people. God help us. God help us. He says, let there be no filthiness
or foolish talk or crude joking. Would it be like Job, put our
hand over our mouths. Say, well, I just don't, I'm
just having fun. Don't have fun at the expense
of God's holiness and at the expense of disobedience to His
Word. Don't we have something to say
about Him? Don't we have something to say
that's good? Paul said, whatsoever things
are good and pure, and think on these things. He says, which
are out of place. What does that mean? They're
out of place for one who's a child of God. to do. But instead, let
there be thanksgiving, for you may be sure of this, that everyone
who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, that is,
an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
God." Then he says this, "...let no one deceive you with empty
words." Don't ever let anybody deceive you and tell you that
these things don't matter or that these are not bad problems
and these are not things we ought to do." He said, because the
wrath of God for these very things, because of these things, the
wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do
not become partners with them." That's what he's talking about
when he says, be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers. What
have you got in common? He said, what fellowship does
light have with darkness? Or what agreement can there be
between Christ and Belial? Do not become partners with them. Friendship with the world is
enmity with God. He says, don't be partners with
them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for
the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and
true. And try to discern what is pleasing
to the Lord. Do you want to please the Lord?
You say, well, Christ has already pleased the Lord in my place.
Well, He has, exactly. But don't we want to please the
very One who has loved us and given Himself for us? The One
who has demonstrated that relentless love? Enduring love? Love that will not let us go? Take no part in the unfruitful
works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful
even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed
by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible
is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. You
say, well, the preacher is preaching works this morning. No. Look carefully then how you walk,
not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because
the days are evil. You can't see that. You're still
in darkness and dead and blind. The days are evil. Therefore,
do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is,
and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be
filled with the Spirit." You know, there's a desire in us
naturally for excess. There is. But that excess, that
desire for it, is only satisfied in Christ. He's the desire of
the nations. He's the one who said, let your
soul be delighted in fatness. Fatness. You can eat all of Christ,
drink all of Christ, you won't. But he says, "...do not get drunk
with wine, for that is debauchery. But be ye filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart." giving
thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence
for Christ." This is grace. Wives, submit to your own husbands
as to the Lord. You say, well, he's not too sharp. I love him, but he's not too
sharp. It's hard to submit to a man that's this way and that
way. My wife could write a book about
that. But this is as unto Christ. Our submission is to Christ.
We bow, we don't bow to our mate. We bow to Christ, because He
said for us to do this. He says, "...for the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church, His body, and in Himself its Savior. Now as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to
their husbands." But this is a two-way street. Husbands, Love
your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for
her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing
of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to
Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish." In the same way, husbands
should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his
wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but
nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because
we are members of His body. Therefore a man shall leave his
father and mother, and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall
become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and
I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However,
let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the
wife see that she respects her husband." True Christianity,
true believing, true following Christ, permeates every part
of our life and being. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother.
This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go
well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers,
do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in
the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Slaves, or really
workers. Obey your earthly masters with
fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not
by the way of our service, as people-pleasers, but as servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering
service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing
that whatsoever good anyone does, this he will receive back from
the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. But masters, bosses,
do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that
he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and that
there is no partiality with him." These are the followers of God. And then he says, finally, be
strong in the Lord. Well, I'm so weak, preacher.
He knows that, that's why He said, be strong in the Lord,
and in the strength of His might, and put on the whole armor of
God. that you may be able to stand against the schemes of
the devil. For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore
take up the whole armor of God." You remember whenever Ezekiel
preached to those dead bones. Bone came to bone, sinew to sinew. It says, and there stood up an
exceeding great army. We're soldiers in a fight. We're
to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ. We're to follow
our general who has already given us the victory. Therefore, take
up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand the
evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore,
having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, put
on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances,
take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all
the flaming darts of the evil one." He's going to be throwing
them. There's only one thing that will
extinguish them, and that's the truth. The truth as it is in
Christ. and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying
at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.
To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication
for all the saints. Pray for me. Pray for your brother,
your sister in Christ. make supplication, pleading before
God for all the family of God. He says, "...and also for me,
that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to
proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador
in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak."
Be ye followers, imitators. Why? Because Christ said that's
what His sheep do, what they do. I could take a lot of time. I could do a series on each and
every individual part of that group of instructions there in
Ephesians 4 and 5. But they're so plain, they're
so clear, and you know them already. But this is the reason why we're
to do them. We've been saved by His grace.
We've been saved by His doing. We've been saved forever. He
didn't look at us like He did those Pharisees. He said, you're
of your father the devil. No. He said, the reason you don't
believe is because you're not of my sheep. But I said, my sheep
hear my voice. And they don't hear these things
as if to say, oh, I don't want to hear that stuff. No, they
know they're true. And they fall on their faces
before God and say, have mercy on me. Help me. Help me. Close my mouth when it ought
to be closed. Open it to speak what it should
be seeking. Direct me in everything. Keep
me. Preserve me. The Lord loves His
children. He'll chasten His children. But
they're going to follow, every one of them, Christ into eternal
glory. He said they're followers. And
they're going to follow the Lamb. with us wherever He goes. Father, this morning we pray
for more grace. Help us. We are as sheep, wandering,
straying, weak, helpless sheep. Cause us to walk in the light
of Your truth. Cause us to receive all these
instructions, these commands. as coming from the lips of the
One who loves us and who has given Himself for us. Should
not, Lord, that love and that sacrifice stir our hearts to
love and to obedience? In our weakness manifest Your
strength. Embrace all Your people with
those everlasting arms. Keep us. until we're blessed
to follow you into the presence of the Father. We thank you and
pray in Christ Jesus. Amen.