Be ye followers of me, Paul writes,
even as I also am of Christ. Now, the beginning of a new chapter,
but not the beginning of a new thought. Be ye followers of me in these
exhortations that he's been giving them. As we've said and talked about
adorning the doctrine by faith that works, by the fruit
of the spirit in us, adorning the doctrine, being doers of the word. And
so in that context, he says, be ye followers of me as even
as I also am of Christ. The end result of that is everybody's
following Christ. He doesn't say, be ye followers
of me, period. We're all followers of the Son
of God by his grace. So let's investigate what God
has revealed about that in the scriptures, to be a follower
of Christ. And I believe it's worth taking
a little time to establish something about these words follow and
followers in the scriptures in the New Testament. I think we
need to consider this for a minute. When the Lord said to his disciples,
follow me, he said to Simon, follow me and I will make you
fishers of men. He said to those who were mending
their nets and he came to Matthew at the receipt of custom and
said, follow me. The word there means to accompany
me. It's very simple and straightforward. It's clear what our Lord's command
is there. Come with me. Follow me, accompany
me. But this is a wonderful thing
now. It's very clear. Leave where you are now and come
with me. It's a glimpse of the Lord's
power in saving sinners because to follow him in salvation, to
follow him by faith in him, happens the same way. He comes and says,
follow me. And by his grace and power and
love that draws with loving kindness, he's drawn us. We do. He said, my sheep hear
my voice and what do they do? They follow me. They don't think
about it. They don't decide anything. They
obey because he's the son of God. So the Lord's command here is
clear, but this is such a wonderful thing. It's more than just physical
proximity. It's more than just being with
the Lord in physical proximity. Listen to Luke chapter 527 and
think about what this says about what it is to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. Luke 527, after these things,
the Lord went forth and saw a publican named Levi, that's Matthew, sitting
at the receipt of custom, and he said unto him, follow me. He didn't make a case for it.
He didn't rationalize it. He didn't talk about how much
better it's gonna be or any of that. Follow me. And listen to verse 28, and he
left all, rose up, and followed him. That's the power of the
call, to follow me. That's the, nature of the call,
because it's a call to utter commitment. He left all. Simon told the Lord
later, we've left everything and followed you. And the Lord
didn't say, no, you haven't, you haven't left anything. He didn't
say that. What he did say is you'll have
a hundred fold in this life and in the life to come. Houses and
lands and family. He left all and rose up and followed
him. That tells us something about
following the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when the scriptures speak
of pursuing a manner of life, pursuing an attribute, a certain
attribute, as in this verse, 1 Corinthians 14, one, follow
after love. and desire spiritual gifts, but
rather that you may prophesy. Follow after love. When it says
that, And in another verse where it speaks that same way, 1 Timothy
6, 11, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow
after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,
follow after. You see the sense in which the
word is used there. Follow an ideal. The word here, means to run after
in order to catch, to seek after eagerly, to earnestly
endeavor to acquire. All right? In our text, the word follower
is not either one of those words. And many Greek words in scripture
have more than one meaning. The context will always tell
you what the specific meaning of it is in the scripture. But
many Greek words have more than one meaning. This one does not.
The word followers in our text, it does not. It has a one word
definition and one word only. Imitate. You think that's important
that we understand that? When there's different ways that
this word follow and followers are used in the scripture, I think we need to understand
that this word means imitate. It is mimetes, which is a form
of the word mimos, from which we get the word mimic. Imitate,
mimic. Now I know that's a lot of Greek,
but I'd say that's important to our understanding of the text.
Imitate. It's about imitating the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul said, as I imitate Christ,
join me in that. Join with me in that. Other verses that have this word
imitate, we'll look at. And see if these don't shed a
lot of light on this now. The scripture's gonna shed light
on scripture and I'm gonna hopefully stay out of the way of it tonight. Let me say this first before
we look at these other places in the word where this same word
imitate or be an imitator of is used. Let me say this about
it, all of these go together. If you're an imitator of Christ,
you also are someone pursuing him in order to obtain. Paul said, I'm looking to apprehend
the one that apprehended me. And also, this thing of following
him as far as commitment, being with him, There's only one way
to be with him, and we'll see that a little bit later, but
it's to take up the cross and follow me. The significance of
a cross is that people die on them. That's what it said when it said
Matthew left all and rose up and followed him. He that findeth
his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake
shall find out what life is. So you're not going to accompany
the Lord Jesus Christ in the way that scriptures speak of
that as the commitment that it is without being an imitator
of him. without pursuing him urgently in order to acquire.
Paul said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God. What are you pressing toward?
It's in Christ Jesus. It's Christ. But this is just the specific
meaning of our text. To imitate. Turn with me please to First
Thessalonians chapter one. Verse two. 1 Thessalonians 1, 2. Paul writes here, we give thanks
to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,
remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love,
and steadfastness of hope. That's what that says there,
steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. You haven't
turned aside. In the sight of God and our Father,
knowing, brethren, verse four, beloved, your election of God. How in the world does Paul know
that they're elect of God? Wouldn't you have to see the
Lamb's Book of Life to know that for sure? Well, I'll tell you
why Paul said he knew that, that you're the elect of God. It's
because of verse three. Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith, your labor of love, your patience of hope.
And it's because of verse six. Let's read verse five first.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power. How does he know? And in the Holy Ghost, can you
see a sinner's heart? No. And in much assurance, as
you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake,
and you became followers of us and of the Lord. Having received the word in much
affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. A great contrast there, in much
affliction, you were a troubled and tried people when you heard
the gospel, and yet you received the word with joy of the Holy
Ghost, so that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. Not only did Paul see in them
what God had done for them, but they were examples to others
too, to be followers of the Lord. Not only were these people followers
of Paul, but there were those that were followers of them in
this. But everybody's following the Lord, not one another. for from you sounded out the
word of the Lord. Not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad.
Didn't it say something about that in that verse that we just
read? Rather prophesy. If you know the Lord, you can tell about the Lord one
way or another now, one way or another. for they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we hand unto you and how you turn
to God from idols to serve the living and true God from. If you turn to, you've
got to turn from, don't you? And what are idols? It's just
worshiping yourself. You make an idol the way you
want it. You make an idol that'll do what you need it to do for
you. It's about worshiping you. Every idol, every false idol, especially
the ones that call themselves Jesus or somebody else has to
call them that because they have mouths and they can't speak. The blinded dead sinners will
speak for them and they call them Jesus, especially those
ones. Every one of them will reward
you for your works. That's why people like them. The Lord doesn't do that. When
you know him, you don't want him to do that. When you know
yourself, the last thing you want is to be rewarded for your
works. And to wait for his son from
heaven. That doesn't just mean Biden
time. That means that we look to him. In all things, we hold our hands
up to Him, our hearts up to Him. We're waiting for Him. Whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which saved us from the wrath
to come. He did that with His precious
blood. Turn with me also please to Ephesians 5. Became followers of us and of
the Lord now Ephesians 5 1 Be ye therefore followers of
God as Dear children What does it mean
to be a follower? of God It's to be as a child that follows
his father. Be you an imitator of God like
a little child. And walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us. Christ crucified is the reason
we follow. He's the cause why we follow. He's the goal. He's the prize of the high calling
of God that we pursue, that we run after with all of our hearts.
It's the one that loved us and gave himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. And I wanted to read verse
three for a reason, and then it goes on in verses four and
five and on and so on. But fornication and all uncleanness
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh
saints. You see, to be a follower is
to leave things, to not follow after certain things. First of
all, I wanna talk about this passage for a little while. Be
ye therefore followers of God as dear children. That's not
just a sweet sentiment that he's adding to this. He's saying follow
God, be an imitator of God, like a son might imitate his earthly
father, or a daughter, her mother. And they do. Why do they do that? Why do they do what their parents
do? Maybe they want to build something
with you, you know. If you're out in the shop and
you're building something, they want to get their little plastic
hammer and help out. Or they want to cook and, you
know, get flour all over the whole kitchen. But they're cooking
with mama, you know. And anybody that has children
understands how that goes, don't you? You don't let your children
help you because they're really helping you. That's the Lord
too. How are we gonna help him? He's
omnipotent. What are you gonna do for the
Lord, honestly? But the reason children imitate
their parents is because they love them. That's an expression
like no other of love. They look up to you, they respect
you. Because of who you are, what
you do is the thing to do. Is that how you follow the Lord? Because of who He is, whatever
He does, whatever He's shown us, whatever He's taught us,
whatever He's spoken, that's the thing. That's it. Ask your children. Has one of
your children ever helped you paint? Then you know what I'm
talking about. It doesn't happen because you
need them. Jesus needs a few good men. Y'all know how I love
that song. Good night. Are you kidding me? But how can we ridicule anybody
really seeing that The same black heart of foolishness resides
in every one of us. It's by the grace of God that
we don't sing that song from our hearts. Now, when they're not children
anymore, you know, it might pay off that you let them help you
and learn a few things when they were little. But you know, it
seems to always be the case when they're not children anymore,
they don't feel like doing what you do anymore. They kind of
lose that desire. So it doesn't usually pay off
that much. But no, what a beautiful thing it is. What a precious
expression of love. I want to be like mommy and daddy. Why? Because just simply because
of who they are, what they do, I want to do. I want to be like
them. That's the idea here now, as
dear children, as dear children. Imitators. Not because he needs us, but
because we need him and we love him by his grace. And look what
he says, and walk in love, walk in love. What does that mean
to walk in love? Well, that's not talking about
going around lovey-dovey all the time. You know some people
like that probably singing, all you need is love, you know, and
lovey-doveying up on everybody. What this tells us is that your
walk, your manner of life, the way you conduct yourself is motivated
by love, not law. I know that because scripture
teaches that many places. As Christ also loved us, love
him and his people. See that? As he also loved us
and gave himself. That kind of love. Committed
love. Fierce, unshakable love. Selfless
love. Are we capable of that at all? Kinda. The fruit of the Spirit
is love, isn't it? You think the fruit of his spirit
is some kind of inferior thing like what men call love? I reckon not. By his grace, walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us. Love him and his people and
walk by that rule, not by law. Faith worketh by love. Turn with me to Galatians 5,
please, and let's look at that. Galatians 5, 1. Should have passed out refreshments
tonight before we started. I'm getting thirsty. Galatians
5, 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, in other words, if you obey the
law in order to please God, in order
to establish a righteousness before God, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now you added something there,
Chris. Why'd you do that? You're assuming the motive. You're
assuming that the motive is to please God by what you do. I'm
not assuming that. We're gonna see that in a minute
in the same passage. But that's what it's saying,
and we need to know that right now, from the start. We need to take the whole passage,
the whole Bible, in our understanding of this part of it. If you be
circumcised in order because you feel that you're a debtor
to the law and you have to do what God says so you'll go to
heaven when you die. Then forget about what Christ
did on Calvary. That doesn't apply to you now. Christ will
profit you absolutely nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole
law. You can't look to Christ for
part of it. If your part in salvation is
obeying God, you know what our part in salvation
is? I hope that after I'm dead and gone 20 years, you'll remember
me saying this a thousand times. Our part in salvation is that
we need it. That's our part in salvation. Not our obedience,
not our faith. Our faith is God's part. That's
part of God's part. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, and you would. And we do anyway. Even though the Lord has eliminated
it, we still do it. Christ has become of no effect
unto you. Look at verse four. Why did I
add what I did earlier? Well, I was just looking forward
to this part. Whosoever you are justified by
the law. So we know what Paul was saying
there. If you'd be circumcised, it doesn't mean that everybody
that physically complies with that is going to hell. It means
you're doing that because God said do that and you're going
to obey that law in order to please God and establish your
righteousness, as Paul said in Romans 10. Being ignorant of
God's righteousness, they're going about to establish their
own righteousness by being circumcised and by saying they keep the law. My good outweighs my bad, whatever
you want to call it. I made a decision for Jesus,
whatever you want to call it. For we through the, let's see,
whosoever of you are justified by the law, you're fallen from
grace. Doesn't mean you were an object of grace and then you
became not an object of grace. It means that grace, you're out
of bounds. You're out of the framework of
grace. You're on another footing before
God besides grace. You're on the footing of works
and law and obedience. That's not a good place to be
before God. Before men, you might do all
right, but before God, that's not where you wanna be. Verse
five, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith, by our union with Christ in faith. As it says of Abraham,
he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Righteousness
was imputed to him because Christ was his righteousness. And he believed Christ, believed
on him, believed in him, believed him. For in Jesus Christ, and
I'm gonna read it a different way. But you think about this
whole passage now, he's talking about you being justified before
the law. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in the sight of God, Romans chapter
three. So look at what he's saying here.
For in Jesus Christ, neither obedience nor disobedience availeth
anything. If you believe that righteousness
comes by the law, and you say, all right, well,
the Lord told us now, gotta be circumcised the eighth day. We
gotta obey that as parents. We count that as part of our
righteousness when we're old enough to know what happened.
Oh, I was circumcised, like Paul said, the eighth day. Stock of
Israel. And have confidence, boldness
before God in that. that avails absolutely nothing
with God. And if maybe your doctrine's
smart, and you say, well, I'm not gonna be circumcised, Christ
fulfilled all of that, that's just a picture of the putting
away of the flesh of the heart, and looking to Christ and not
self, that's what that picture is, and we do that, that's fulfilled
in Christ, so I'm not gonna be circumcised, that doesn't avail
you anything either. before God. Nothing you do has anything to
do with your righteousness, if you have any. Christ is all of
our righteousness, or we have none. We have none. Those who believe on Christ follow
Him, love, and serve Him. They imitate Him. Not so that
they'll go to heaven when they die. Believers know that if we're
to be with Christ, it's all because of what He did for us. Not anything
we do for Him, but we do what we do because of love for Him
and out of love to Him, and that love is the fruit of His Spirit. Think about it this way, Christ
is love. Scripture says God is love. In all of his persons, he is
love. And what Christ did for us is
the definition of love. Herein is love. And so if we're gonna express
love, the only way to do that is to
imitate him. He is love. What he did is the
definition of love. How are you gonna express love?
Then, that being the case, you have to imitate him. Not meritoriously. Everything
we do is mixed with sin and we'd go to hell for it if it was all
we did, the best thing we ever did. You see what he means by walk
in love? Not by law, not out of obligation. Ephesians 4, 32. Let's look at
that in the scriptures and we'll be through. Listen to the premise
here. To express love at all. is to imitate the Lord Jesus
Christ, is to be a follower of him. Ephesians 4.32, and be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Do we
even know what that means? Do we even know what tenderheartedness
is? If you do, this is how. Even
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. How kind for God
to forgive a wretch like you. In Christ Jesus, how tenderhearted Remember what we read a while
ago from this point of view of how are we going to express love?
How are we going to walk in love? If he is love and what he did
defines love, how are we going to walk in love? Ephesians 5,
2, we saw this a while ago. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved. and hath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Luke 11.1, you can turn to these,
but we have several. We've only got 10 or 11 minutes
left. If you want to turn to them,
Luke 11.1, because I do want us to see this. I believe the more, the longer amount of time the
Lord doesn't let me go, and I go completely off the deep end,
and he enables and allows me to study his word such as it
is, the more by his grace I see that what sheds light on scripture
is scripture. Not me thinking real hard about
it, Thank God it doesn't. Thank God that even though he
chose the weak and the base and foolish, his word shines. Luke 11, one, and it came to
pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased,
one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us. We wanna be like you. He heard the Lord praying. When the Lord was praying in
a certain place, he ceased and one of his disciples said unto
him, Lord, teach us to do that. Like a little child would desire to imitate his father. Teach us. John 13, 34, lest we forget this
one. Let me read this one to you.
A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. Now think about that for a second. A new commandment? Didn't the
Old Testament law say love your neighbor as yourself? That was
part of when the Lord said these two. or the spirit of the whole
law, to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself. But the Lord was about to leave
them, and he particularly called this
to their attention, a new commandment I give unto you,
that you love one another. What does that even mean? As I've loved you. Why did he say that, you reckon?
Do we not know what love is? No, we don't. Unless we see him and know him
and believe on him. The only way that we can express
love, if he's love, And what he did defines love. The only
way you and I are going to express it is to imitate him. That you also love one another. Look at 1 Peter 2 with me, 1
Peter 2. Verse 21, 1 Peter 2, 21. For even here unto
where you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example that you should, there's our word, that you should follow his steps. Salvation is looking to Christ The gospel is look to Christ and Living in this world as believers
is looking to Christ Who did no sin Neither was Gal found in his
mouth who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. We spend most of our lives trying
to set the world straight, don't we? There's only one that can do
that. and he actually judges righteously, we don't. We judge
everything based on how it affects us. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live
unto righteousness. by whose stripes you were healed.
You see all that was accomplished by his precious blood. Our souls were healed. And we're
not the same, we're new creatures, we're a new creation in him. For you who are a sheep going
astray but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your
souls. Consider this final aspect Of following the Lord Jesus and
we'll close Matthew 16 24 I can it's just one verse If you want
to just listen Matthew 16 24 then said Jesus unto his disciples
If any man will come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. Denying yourself. Religion has
a lot of ideas about that, don't they? They think it's about giving
up TV. You know, don't do things that
you enjoy doing. Give up something for the Lord.
No. It's a lot tougher than that. It's something only the Lord can cause in your heart to happen.
Denying yourself is to count all of your goodness as dumb, that you might win Christ. It's
to acknowledge that without Christ, you can do nothing, you are nothing,
you have nothing. It's to confess that salvation
is by grace through faith, and that's not of myself. It's the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Deny your works, your imagined
goodness. Well, my good outweighs my bad.
You don't have any. Your imagined ability, just as
important. Not only are we horrible in the
sight of God, but we can't do anything about it. That's just
as important. If you think you can improve,
why did Christ come? Why isn't Reformation the great
effort? Rather than the Lord Jesus Christ.
given his soul in offering for sin. Deny our works, deny our imagined
goodness, deny our imagined ability. It's to take our place vile before
God and helpless to do anything about it. It's to cast ourselves
holy upon God's mercy in Christ and his precious blood. God,
give us grace. Do you want to be with him? That's the precious promise of
when we gather in His name, He's there in the midst of us. I want to follow Him in that
sense. Wherever He is, that's where we want to be. To pursue the Lord Jesus in order
to obtain the way He did us. David said, surely the goodness
of God and His mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life. Do we desire and ask Him to give
us grace to do that and to imitate Him for His glory out of a heart of love that He
gives? Let's pray.