Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter
5. I'll say this again to remind
all of us. Six chapters in the book of Ephesians.
First three chapters is the doctrinal foundation of what we believe. concerning God's sovereignty,
that Almighty God was pleased to show mercy to mankind. He was not willing that the order
of man should perish. And if left to man's self, we'd
all die. There'd have been no hope. Man's a rebel against God and
God is just. But according to God's everlasting
will, He chose in not allowing the order of man to perish eternally
in hell, He chose a people out of every nation and kindred and
tribe and tongue and said, I'm going to have mercy on you. And all that he was willing to
show mercy, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and He lived
for them. And He said, I lay down my life
paying their debt, honoring the law, He obeyed the law of God. And he satisfied justice. The wages of sin is death. Now,
we're sinners. We're born sinners. But God said,
I'm going to show mercy to you. And he came into this world and
was made sin for them. that the sheep, the elect of
God, might be made the righteousness of God in him. And he put away the debt that
was owed to his church, to the sheep, to the elect. And he cast
those sins as far as the east is from the west. And now, therefore,
no condemnation. to them which be in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, that is, trying to reconcile
themselves back to God, but they walk after the Spirit. Now the
problem is man. Man's the problem. Man's the
sinner. God delights to show mercy. So
the first three chapters that we dealt with was setting forth
what we believe according to God's Word concerning the doctrine
that we preach, what I just spoke of. This is God's sovereignty.
God has a right. And God is going to show mercy.
And I'm telling you, if God has shown mercy to anyone, and given
them a heart to believe this, and by faith to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ as their only hope, casting all their hope on Him,
and placing no confidence in themselves, I can't do anything
to please God. He is my substitute before God
and me in Him, God looked at Him and me in Him and dealt with
me totally on the basis of justice being satisfied in Christ and
mercy for Christ's sake. Now that's the truth. That's
the truth. Now the next three chapters of
which we're in now, chapter 5, 4, 5, 6, sets forth the evidence, the
evidence of all of those that God's called out of darkness.
What are they in this world? What is their walk? What is their
manner of life? How do they act? That's what
it is. Not for salvation. We know better
than that. These things, when it sets forth
the evidence of a believer, it's not in order to be saved, it's
because God has called them out of darkness and saved them by
grace, given them a new heart, and they walk differently. Now let's look at it this morning,
this evening. Ephesians 5, verse 1, followers of God. Imitators. Now, I know this and you know
this, that there is no way in the world that we're going to
walk imitating exactly. But what the Apostle Paul is
setting forth is resemble an axe following after him kindness
and graciousness and mercy before others. Listen to the words of
our Lord. Now, this is a follower of Christ. This is our Lord speaking, Matthew
5. He said, Love your enemies. Now, there's a high order. Bless
them that curse you. Now, this flight. just 180 degrees
from what we are as being born in Adam. I mean, look, I'm not
going to love my enemy. I'm not going to love him and
I'm not going to bless those that cuss me. I can tell you
that right now. Do good to them that hate you
and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you that
you may be or may be known to be the children of your Father
which is in heaven. Be ye therefore followers of
God. You know, Adam was created a
follower of God. He walked with God. But something
happened in the garden. Adam disobeyed God. You go back
and read that account. Eve ate of that fruit, Eve ate
of the fruit, and God told Adam, in the day you eat, you're going
to die. Eve ate of the fruit, gave it
to Adam, Adam ate of the fruit, and when Adam ate of the fruit,
both of their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were
naked. They knew that there's something wrong. They failed. God told them, in the day you
eat, you're going to die. And the result of now Adam's
rebellion against God, instead of being a follower, now he's
a hider. He's a hider from God. Adam,
where are you? Well, I was afraid. Who told
you? Who told you that you were naked?
Who told you? Did you eat of the fruit? The
woman. But here we're commanded to do
something that only by grace we can do. To follow after God. Follow God. Believers follow
after God. Now, be you therefore followers
of God? How? In what manner? Look what he has to say. As dear
children. Now do you know what it's going
to take for me to follow after God? The Lord's going to have
to do something for me that I cannot do for myself. He's going to
have to give me a new heart. He's going to have to give me
a new desire, a new spirit, You're going to have to give me one
now that doesn't want to hide and rebel against the God. You leave a man to himself, and
you preach the doctrine that I was setting forth this morning,
and he won't go with that. By nature, they're not going
to follow after the God of this Bible. Now, they'll follow after
a God of their imagination, one that they can help out and lend
a hand, and His only hand is their hand, and eyes is their
eyes. He'll follow after that God.
But to be a follower of the God of this Bible, God's going to
have to give me a new heart. And when we follow after Him,
then He reminds us or teaches us something concerning those
that desire to follow Him. They're dear children. Be you
therefore followers of God as dear children, beloved children. Listen to this, elect children. Children called to be saints.
His children. Predestinated unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. God Almighty determined
the destiny. That's what predestination means. To determine the destiny before. Well, from before the foundation
of the world. God Almighty determined the destiny
of His children. His dear children. And listen,
concerning their salvation, regeneration, and their destiny, that's a privilege. Now, let me show you that. John
1.12, the Gospel of John 1.12. There's a privilege. You know, you talk about people,
well, they were just born to privilege. You know, they were
born in the right family, but I'm going to tell you something.
You talk about, by the grace of God, being born to privilege,
but that's scriptural. That's scriptural language. Listen
to this. John 1, 11 and 12. He came unto
his own, and he's talking about the nation of Israel there, and
his own received him not, but as many as received him. To them
gave He power. Now if you have a marginal reading
there, that word power, it says the right or privilege to become
the sons of God even to them that believe on His name which
were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. So I'm going to tell you this
back in Ephesians 5. Be you therefore followers of
God as dear children It is by the grace of God and the privilege
given us by God's good pleasure that we're called dear children
because there was nothing in us that God looked upon and saw
that was worthy of being called children. He said, I'm going
to have mercy and compassion on whomsoever I will. Does the
potter have the right out of the same lump? And I'm telling
you, You talk about Doug out of a wicked lump. You're looking at one right here.
You know, God Almighty to show mercy to me. He says, verse 2,
and walk in love. Walk in love. Walk in love toward
Him. But let me tell you how it is
manifest that we exhibit our love for Almighty God. Now here's
the evidence right here. John 13, 35, By this shall all
men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. Now the evidence of a believer
is that they love the brethren. They love God's people. Well, one body, His body, He's
the head. Walk in love. What is love? Well, herein is love. Not that
we loved Him. I got to going over my notes
today and I got to thinking about this. There's everything to love
in Him. Herein is love. Not that we loved Him. Unless
He gives us a new heart, we wouldn't love Him. But just thinking this
through, there's everything to love in Him. Here in His love,
not that we loved Him, but that He loved us. There was nothing
in us that was lovely. There was nothing in us that
was lovable. I mean, from the crown of our
head to the sole of our foot, putrefying sores and rebel and
just anger and hatred and wrath against Him. What's lovely about
that? Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us. We, by the grace of God, was
the Father's gift to the Son. The Father chose us. The Father chose us. That's what
Ephesians 1-4, for He has chosen us in Christ, in Him. The Father chose us and gave
the bride, the church, to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ
loved His bride, betrothed Himself everlastingly to her. And we
being one together in Him are to walk as Christ, or because
Christ, also hath loved us and hath given Himself For us, now
I want to just read that last line I just read again. And I
want you to notice something that is very, very beautiful.
For He loved us. He hath loved us. Just turn back
to Ephesians 1.1 for just a second. Ephesians 1.1. To whom was the
apostle writing? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints, to the sanctified ones, set apart. That's what saints means. Holy. Holy. Set apart for God. That's what it means. The saints,
they're set apart. You take two people, one vessel
of honor, another vessel of dishonor. And Almighty God said, This one's
mine. This one's mine. Set apart by
God. No difference in them. No difference.
God said this one. This one. What was it in this
one that merited? Nothing. Nothing. To the saints which are at Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. How did they get there?
God chose them. So who's He talking to? He's
talking to the elect. That's who He's talking to. He's
talking to God's elect. Walk in love as Christ also has
loved us and has given Himself for us. Now I want you to notice something.
You can go back and read John 17, that high priestly prayer,
verse 9. John 17, 9. He's talking about those that
the Father had given Him. And this is what he said, I pray
for them. He said, I pray not for the world,
but I pray for those that you've given me out of the world. Now
you know that's just as plain as it can be to you that believe. You read this and you say, Lord,
thank You. Thank You that You'd show mercy
to a wretched sinner. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep
and told those Jews just, you know, at about 15 verses to that
same chapter. John 10. Go back and read John
10, 15. I lay down my life for the sheep.
The Jews told them around verse 25, 27. How long are you going
to make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, you tell
us. He said, I told you. I told you, but you don't believe
me. He said, you believe not because you're not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
You're not my sheep. God's going to give His sheep
a heart to believe this walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us, hath given Himself for us. Now listen, an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. That sweet smelling savor,
that was the burnt offering. It was that offering that was
offered to God Almighty concerning the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord was not only the priest
that offered, but He was the sacrifice that was offered. He had given Himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice. He brought it and it was Himself
that was brought. And He did it to God. And He did it for a sweet smelling
savor. Hold your finger right here.
I'm going to show you the first time that that sweet savor was
ever mentioned in the scriptures. Genesis chapter 8. God looked
and saw that every imagination of man back in Genesis, it was
evil continually. And God says that he was going
to destroy mankind. But he said, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And so God came to Noah and told
Noah, I want you to build an ark. It had never rained before. It just had a mist over the ground
and that was it. He said, I want you to build
an ark. It took him 120 years to build an ark. And he preached
for 120 years. Judgment is coming. Claim to
Christ. The Lord is going to pour out
wrath. He mocked him, laughed at him,
120 years. Well, at the end of that time,
God put Noah and his wife and his three boys and their wives
and those animals in the ark and God shut the door. God shut
the door. And it rained for 40 days and
40 nights. As the earth opened up, rain
came from heaven. It just flooded and it went,
you know, so far above the highest mountain. And everybody outside
of that ark perished. Now that ark, you know, was a
picture of Christ. It was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And being found in Him was safety. Safety. Judgment was poured out
on mankind. Judgment was poured out on all
mankind. But the ark, for those inside,
bore the wrath. It bore the wrath. And all inside
were safe because they were inside the ark. Outside the ark, death,
judgment, wrath. In the ark. That ark was a picture
of Christ. Now, the rain has now stopped,
the water has receded, the ark comes to rest, and Noah comes
out of the ark. And I'll take up right there.
Genesis chapter 8, verse 20 and 21. And Noah built an altar unto
the Lord. and took, now listen to this,
of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt
offerings on the altar. Now that altar, that altar was
a picture of Christ. The altar of His flesh. There's
the altar. Those clean animals, clean fowls,
you know, they were all pictures of Christ and His holiness. The ark was a picture of Christ
being found in him. And Noah built an altar unto
the Lord, and he took every clean beast, every clean fowl, offered
burnt offerings on the altar, and the Lord smelled a sweet
savor. In my margin right there, it
says, a savor of rest. God was satisfied. Judgment had
been poured out. But for all of those that He
was pleased to show mercy, He put them in the boat. And they
were secure in the ark, in that picture of His Son. And because
that ark was a picture of Christ, that altar a picture of Christ,
those animals a picture of Christ. And it says, And the Lord smelled
a sweet savor, and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again
curse the ground any more for man's sake, And here again in
the margin it says, though the imagination of man's heart is
evil from his youth, neither will I again smite any more everything
living as I have done. Man is a sinner, but for all
of those that he was pleased to show mercy, he put them in
the ark. And though man, his heart, he's got an evil, wicked
heart, Justice has been satisfied in the substitute. And God smelled
that savor and it smelled like rest to Him. And He said, I'm
satisfied. I'm satisfied for them. I'm satisfied
for them. That's the first time it was
ever mentioned. Sweet savor. We're back in Ephesians
5. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us, giving Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling Savior. God now is satisfied. Christ is our rest. Christ is our Sabbath. And having
finished the work, sat down on the right hand of the Father,
justice has been satisfied, wrath has been consumed, sin put away
for His people, victory has been wrought, over death held in the
grave, and that savor of that finished work for God's people
smells sweet to the Father. Therefore, be ye followers of
God as dear children and walk in love. He said in 3 and 4,
but fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness, let it not
be once named among you as becoming saints, Neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor jesting which are not convenient, but
rather giving of thanks." What do these things mean? They mean
exactly what they mean. They mean just exactly. 1 Corinthians
6.18. It says, let me just read this,
1 Corinthians 6.18. Flea fornication. Every sin that
a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication
sinneth against his own body." What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own? You are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. So Paul says fornication. Whenever Joseph, remember Joseph,
he was in Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife wanted to seduce
him and lie with me. And Joseph, she pressed herself
upon him and he started to run. She grabbed his coat and came
off and she later lied about him and stuff like this. You
know what he was doing? Fleeing, fleeing. Somebody said, well,
I'm just a sinner. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
What? Are we going to sin that grace
may abound? God forbid! God forbid! But he said, but fornication
and all uncleanness, unnatural lusts, incest, sodomy, adultery,
covetousness, greedy of gain, which is unfaithfulness, Filthiness,
foolish talking, jesting which are not convenient. That is,
that which is filthy, ungodly, unbecoming to a believer. You
know, he said, but rather give thanks. You know, our tongue
could just be a cesspool of just Iniquity and hurt. It's an instrument set up on
fire from hell. We're warned of that. The Apostle
Paul is saying, you that God has shown mercy, You know, look,
fornication and cleanness, covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, foolish talking,
jesting, which are not convenient, ungodly, just unbecoming of a
believer, that's not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God, let no man deceive you with vain words,
for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children
of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers
with them." Now, I'm going to tell you something. There's an
old man within, and it struggles with all of these temptations.
Now, anybody that says it doesn't, they're a liar. You're a liar.
I mean, we struggle. There's an old man, it has not
changed. It hadn't changed. Regeneration
does nothing to change the flesh. It's the same flesh. But listen
to this. 1 Corinthians 10.13. 10.13. There
hath no temptation taken you, but such is common to man. But
God's faithful who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above
that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way
of escape that you may be able to bear." Do you know what He
gives to make the way of escape? Faith. Faith. I believe God. I believe God. Believers don't just excuse rebellion
against God. People say, well, you don't know
what I was. Oh, I've got a pretty good idea. I know what I was. And such were
some of you. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, when we were yet
dead in trespasses, Christ died for the ungodly. The ungodly. Put it under the blood. But don't let it be named once
among you that are followers of Christ. Don't. With all of
our temptations and trials, the Lord has promised to keep His
people. 2 Thessalonians 3.3 says this, 2 Thessalonians 3.3,
that the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep
you from evil. God's people are strugglers.
Let me tell you something. They struggle with their flesh
and they know, they know, they know, but they don't sin that
grace may abound, they say. Well, if we're under the blood,
it doesn't make any difference. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. I'll
tell you, those that have no restraint about them, no conviction
about them, the Lord doesn't chasten them, this you know,
that no whoremonger nor unclean person, covetous man who is an
idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
of God. Let no man deceive you with vain
empty words telling you that it doesn't matter. For because
of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
A believer is a follower of Christ. He knows that He is the temple
of the living God. And He struggles with sin. I
know He does. We all do. We all do. But we
do not walk in a walk of rebellion and ungodliness. We do not do
that. No, we don't. Verse 8, For ye
were sometimes darkness, But now are you light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. You know, a believer loves to
hear what he was by nature. He loves to hear it. What he
is now in the Lord, and this is the reason he loves to hear
it, that the Lord might be praised. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. You go back and read over in
Philippians and read what he says he was. This is what I was.
I persecuted the church, you know, but God has shown mercy
to me. God's people know that by grace
they are what they are. They've been lifted out of the
dunghill of the slough of despawn. The Scripture says, ye were sometimes
darkness." And it didn't say we were in darkness, but we were. We were in darkness. But it says
this, you were darkness, but ye were sometimes darkness. Darkness itself. I read that again this afternoon
and I thought to myself, You know if you go somewhere and
you've walked into a room and you've come out of light and
you've walked into a dark room and shut the door, no lights
on. And I mean all of a sudden it's dark, you can't see anything. But just give it a second, just
give it just a second. And all of a sudden your eyes
will kind of start, you know, adjusting to it. And you'll start
to see something, you'll start to see something. I mean, you're
starting to make out a few things, you know, things that are around
you. Now, that's fine if you're in darkness. But if you are darkness
itself, and there is no light, the only reason you start to
get your eyes adjusted, there is some light there. No, no.
We were not in darkness. We were darkness. We were darkness. There was no light. He said,
but ye were sometime darkness. But now are ye light. in the Lord. In the Lord. Not only do we have enlightenment
from the Lord, we have light being in Him. The only reason
we understand anything of God's will and God's purpose and God's
goodness and mercy to us is being found in Christ. The Spirit of
God has taught us He is the Son of Righteousness. He's the light.
Now we're not darkness anymore. Not that new man. No, no, no. We see by faith. We see by faith. We see through a glass darkly.
But we see being found in Him. What these days? No more. No
more by faith. Perfect sight. Perfect sight.
We behold His grace and mercy toward us. His truths. Or our delight, His commandments,
they're not grievous. For the Lord said, fornication,
uncleanness, don't let it be named. That's not a grievous
thing. A believer doesn't say, oh, shoot. No, no, no. They say, I don't
want to walk like that. I don't want to be unfaithful.
Therefore, we're commanded, being one time darkness, but now your
light in the Lord. as children of light. Walk as children. I'm wrapping
this up. 1 John 3, 2 and 3. Beloved, now we are the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is. And every man that hath this
hope in him, What hope are you talking about? Well, we don't
know what we're going to be like, but we do know this when we see
him, we're going to be like him. Every man that has that hope
in him purifies himself even as he is pure. A regenerate wants
to walk a life that is consistent. with what he believes and knows
in Christ, that God has shown mercy to him, that God has been
kind and compassionate. Listen to 2 Corinthians 7.1. Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
There's an old man there, but there's a new man there too.
And that new man loves God. And I tell you this, there's
a walk that a believer has that's consistent. Last verse, back
in Ephesians 8. I turned it too quickly. I mean,
Ephesians 5. Verse 9, For the fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. The
fruit of the Spirit is in all righteousness as opposed to worldliness. Righteousness, truth as opposed
to lying. The fruit of God's Spirit produces
goodness in a believer as opposed to cruelty and greed and lust. Proving, I said verse 9 was the
last, this is the last. Proving what is acceptable unto
the Lord, or testing, or showing. When a believer walks with consistency
before God, struggling within, struggling within, Feeling those
strivings and those trials and those testings and those temptations
and that warring within. But the Lord has promised, sin's
not going to have dominion over you. The Lord will make a way. The Lord will help. The Lord
will sustain. He'll give faith to believe and to walk. Proving,
showing, exhibiting the truth of God's grace. And it's shown by a faithful
walk. And that is acceptable unto the
Lord. One of these days, this old flesh
is going to be put away. And we're not going to struggle
anymore. And there'll be no more tears, no more warrings, no more
strivings. But I'll tell you, while we're
in this world, we're going to walk through this world struggling,
struggling, and struggling. But God's grace is sufficient.
God's grace is sufficient. Be ye followers of God as dear
children. Walk in the light. Walk as children
of the light for Christ's sake.