Let's look at this in Ephesians
chapter 5. I titled this message, Imitating
God. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? Imitating God. When Paul sets
the example for us to follow, he sets forth God. There's no
greater example, is there? There's no greater one to imitate
than God. Someone said the greatest form
of flattery that you can give to anyone is to imitate them. That's the greatest form of flattery,
is to imitate them. Now, the Word of God teaches
us that we are adopted sons and daughters of God. He's adopted
us. He chose us. When you're adopted, you don't
choose your parents, do you? Your parents choose you. And
in that sense, God has chosen us, chosen us in Christ, adopted
us in Christ before the world was. and that we are bought with
a price, we are a purchased people, we are adopted people, a purchased
people, a people born of God. We are His sons and daughters
by adoption, we are His sons and daughters by birth. We are
born of the Spirit of God. And we have His Spirit in us,
and it enables us to cry, Abba Father. That's why you cry in
prayer, Father, Father, you say Father. When you say Father,
you don't say that as an empty statement. You mean it. Heavenly Father. And when you
say that, meaning it, it's the Spirit of Christ in you. It's
His Spirit in us, crying Abba Father. And this being so, we
are to act and live as sons of God. You know, the church he's
writing here to is an infant church. This church is a baby
of Christ, and they have come out of paganism, idolatry, and
Paul is telling them here, now you have a new life and a new
walk. You have a new life and a new
life to live. And of course, as the other verses tell us,
The way that you don't walk is the way they used to walk. They
don't walk like that anymore. But we walk and imitate God. The Scriptures teach us, as we
have already looked in this epistle, that we are the body of Christ
and the body cannot walk independently of the head. The body walks as
the head dictates. The Word of God teaches us that
we are a new creation. in Jesus Christ, a new man, a
new man, a new heart, a new life, a new life. Now he says here in verse 1,
Be ye therefore followers, imitators of God. First, I want to look at it just
to say a few words about just being followers. as it's written
here, followers. How do we follow God? God is
Spirit. You can't see Him. You can't
see someone. I mean, how do you follow someone
you can't see? Well, we follow Him by faith. Paul says, Sirs, I believe God. It'll be just as he said it would,
but I believe God. We follow Him by faith. The just
shall live by faith day by day. We live by faith. We don't live
by human logic. We don't live by this is the
way I see it. We live by faith. And that being so, we live by
faith on the word of God. The word of God is the foundation
of faith, everything we believe. And this is one thing I said
in a conversation to someone after the service, when we were
home to my brothers and I said, everything I said, I established
it with the word of God. I didn't say this is what I believe,
this is this. I established it with the word
of God. It's the foundation for everything
you and I believe. You take the Bible and when I
stand here and preach or anybody stands and preach, you take the
Bible and you check out and see if what that person or what I'm
saying is so, because it's the foundation. for all that we believe. We follow Him by faith. We follow
Him in His Word. God is only known in His Word.
Apart from the Word of God, it is impossible to know God. He's revealed Himself in His
Word. We follow Him by His Spirit. We are led, the scripture says,
by the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God leads us
through the Word of God, revealing God to us. And we follow him
by the preaching of the gospel, by this every week. You know,
a person says that they want to follow God and they never
show up. They are lying. They're lying. You want to follow
God, you be where God's preached. You want to know about him, you
want to hear about him. If at all possible, I know there's
situations that stop us from time to time, but if at all possible,
we want to be where the Lord is preached and where his word
is read. Now this word, as I said, it
means imitators. Walk like God. Walk like God. This is our daily life. We're
to walk like that in our daily life. And how's that? How is
that? Well, we forgive as he's forgiven
you. That's walking. It's been an
imitator of God. Has God forgiven you? It says
in the last verse of chapter four, be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. And on that foundation and on
that basis, we forgive others as God's forgiven us. His mercy
is over all His works. He reigns on the just and the
unjust. He loved me when I was unlovable. He loved me when I
hated Him. Turn over to Matthew chapter
5. Here's what it is. Our Lord came into this world,
our Lord who is God, came into this world and gave this to us. In Matthew chapter 5, he says
in verse 43, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.
For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. If you love
them which love you, what reward have you? And I like to read
it like this, what grace have you? If you just love those who
love you, what grace have you? What's the difference? What's
different about you than anybody else? What grace have you? Do not even the publicans the
same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more
than others? Do not even the publicans the
so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father, which is
in heaven is perfect. That's what it is to imitate
God right there. Our Lord came into this world
and he gave us, he gave us the character of God. He let us see
God in action, in action because the Lord loved his neighbor as
himself. He loved his enemies, didn't he? I was an enemy. I was an enemy
in my mind by wicked works. Is not God long suffering to
us? Did he not suffer long with us before we were ever brought
to faith in Christ? Did he not put up with our rebellion?
Did he not put up with our ignorance? Did he not put up with our hatred?
Did he not do that? then do the same with others.
Do the same. Be long, long-suffering. Peter says there in 2 Peter 3,
9 that he was long-suffering to us. We're long. He put up
with my teenage years. That's hard. That's tough to
put up with. He put up with my teenage years. Those are some
of the most difficult years, I'm telling you. That's some
of the most rebellious years. I left home when I was a teenager.
I was so rebellious. I did. I left. I came back. My
dinner plate was still there. Yeah, I came back. I mean, my
dad was strict. He told me to cut my hair, and
I said no. And he said, well, you don't come back if you don't.
And I didn't. And he didn't. He didn't change
his mind either. I got my hair cut, and I came
back about a month or so, I don't know if it was a month or two
later. I got my hair cut. I was getting hungry. He had a curfew. He said, you
got to be in by 11 o'clock. I came in about midnight. I was
18 years old. He locked the door on me. I had
to sleep in the car. I had to sleep in the car. I remember,
I'm getting off subject here, but I'm going to tell you this. God has long suffering with us.
He put up with us, is what I'm saying. He unlocked the door
and let me back in the house. He unlocked the door. Parents
are long-suffering with your children, aren't you? You put
up with them, but you don't put up with out of others. You do. God's long-suffering. And we
ought to be long-suffering. We ought to be long-suffering
with others. They just like us. We ran with them at one time. They just like us. Be ye imitators
of God. Listen, be ye imitators of God
as dear children. This is not to the world. He's
not speaking to the world. He's speaking to dear children. Beloved, that word dear can be
changed to beloved. You're beloved of God. Beloved
children. You're dear to God. You're dear
to him. You know, children, he calls
them here children, because children usually imitate their parents
in those early years, don't they? Before they get to be teenagers
and older, they kind of come back around after you get older
and you have children of your own. You find out mom and dad
knew a whole lot more than I thought they did. They weren't nearly
as dumb as I thought. Right? Not nearly. They get wiser as I get older,
somehow. But dear children, and they usually
imitate their parents. And the reason he says dear children
is this, children are ready to learn. I told you this not too
long ago. Years ago, I taught a Bible class,
a summer Bible class, you know, at 13th Street when Henry was
there. And Henry asked me to teach them before they went back
to the classes. And one of the things that I
realized, and I told them this, that they'll believe everything
I say. If I told them to stand up and jump three times, you
know what? They would have stood up and
jumped three times. The people in the back, the older ones,
would have said, wonder why we're doing this. Sounds stupid. But they wouldn't have said that.
They would have jumped up with a smile on their face and jumped three
times. That's why he calls us dear children.
You're ready to learn. You're ready to follow. You're
ready to follow instructions. You're ready to obey. You're
ready to obey. That's why the Lord said, except
you become as what? Little children, you'll not enter
the kingdom of heaven. Unless you become as little children
before God, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. And little
children, you know, they want to please their parents, don't
they? They do. Little children, you know, they'll come home,
you know, just a little, just kindergarten. I'm not talking
about older ones. I'm talking about your little children before rebellion
really sets in. But they come home and they've
made a little card for mom, you know, Mother's Day, and it's
just a smile on her face and they want to give it to mom. Little children don't, It's not
in them yet to bring reproach on their parents. Walk as little children, love
as little children. And then he says in verse 2,
And walk in love, walk in love. Be ye therefore followers, imitators
of God as dear children, and walk in love. Now, that's not the love that
the world thinks of. I'm going to read it to you over
in 1 Corinthians 13. Listen, let me read it to you
in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and I'm going to change that
word charity to love because that's what it means. In 1 Corinthians
13 forward, love suffereth long. God suffered long with me, just
like my parents did. and is kind. It's not rude. It's kind. This love, see this
love I'm reading to you is the love of God. This is not human
love I'm reading to you. This is not love that's from
the flesh. This is of God. Love suffereth
long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love envieth not. Somebody gets
a gift. Somebody gets a gift. And you
say, boy, I wish I had that. I wish they'd give that to me.
But you know what love says? Love says, I wish I could give
a gift like that. I wish I could do that. I wish I had a heart to give
like that. That's what love says. Love vaunteth not. It brags not
on itself. It's not braggadocious. Where'd
that word come from? but is not braggadocious, vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up. True love, the love of God shed
abroad in the heart, causes true humility. God loved me, really. God loved me. That's amazing. That's what makes grace amazing.
It does not behave itself unseemly. in an unkind way and it doesn't
behave itself like that. Not the love of God that she
had brought in her heart. It seeketh not her own. It doesn't
look after its own first and if you got enough left, I'll
help you. Love is sacrificial. It's not
easily provoked. You know how some people are
easily provoked? You can say something, they think everything
you're saying is about them. He's talking about me. Love's not
easily provoked. It thinketh no evil. It thinks
the best of one another. It really tries to put the best
light on every situation. It does. And this is what I pray
for. This is what I pray for more
than anything. Lord, let me have this. Make this to grow in me. Let this love flourish in my
heart. Because only you can do it. It
rejoices not in iniquity. It doesn't rejoice in another
person's fall, even your enemy's. Don't rejoice when your enemies
fall. Because you are an enemy at one time. But rejoices in the truth. In
the truth. It rejoices when the truth is
preached. It rejoices in Christ who is the truth. It rejoices
in the truth. It beareth all things. It believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things. Love never fails. You know that?
Love where love is, where there's real genuine love, it never fails. It fails when love is not there.
When love is not there and hate takes over. Envy takes over,
it all crumbles down. The house comes down. Whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. But we
know in part, but I tell you this, that's love, that's love. You can read the rest of it.
That's love. That's love. And the whole journey home is
to be a walk in love. It's to be a walk in love. Love
to God, love to Christ, love to one another, love to all men.
I say this, what a walk, what a life to be able to walk in
love. I thank God I'm not walking a life in hate, in bigotry. Good
night. That's not life. But to walk
in love, to walk in love. If I had to make a choice, I'm
just giving you this as an example. If I had to make a choice between
right in the spirit of love or wrong in doctrine, I would choose the right spirit
of love. I would. I would choose love,
and here's why. Because love is of God. You can
believe the right doctrine in Paris. You can't love God in
Paris. You can't love God and love your neighbor as yourself
and perish because that's of God. And I know this, I know
if God has saved you and saved me, we're gonna believe the right
doctrine when we hear it. When my sheep hear my voice,
I know that. But I tell you, I don't want
a bad, I don't want a bad, ugly spirit. I wanna grow old, I wanna
grow old, and I said this to my mother as we was traveling
over to the graveyard. The leaves are turning there.
And I said, you know, mom, I said, I said, spring represents our
youth. Summer, I said, represents our
adult, our maturity, our adulthood. Fall represents, fall represents
our age, our old years, I said, and winter, death. I said, but
age, the fall, the year, I said, you look at all this beauty,
I said, this is the way our old life should be. She said, I don't
feel beautiful. I said, but you are. You are. I said, our old years should
be marked with wisdom and beauty. It should. That's the way it should be marked
is with the grace of God, the beauty of grace on our A life well lived is a life lived. It's a life lived in the grace
of God. Without this love, I would be
a sounding brass and a tinkly cymbal, wouldn't I? That's all
I'd be. Just a sounding brass and a tinkly
cymbal. You know, love is the distinguishing
mark of God's children. Turn over to 1 John chapter 4.
1 John chapter 4. Verse 10. Herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
We ought also to love one another. It is the distinguishing mark
of God's children. And then love is the bond that
holds the family together. Look over in Colossians chapter
3. In Colossians chapter 3, look
in verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things, put on love. Dress yourself in love." Isn't
that something? Dress yourself in love, which
is the bond of perfectness, the bond of maturity. It's the bond
that holds us together. It's the bond that holds us together.
Spurgeon said this, love keeps every other virtue in place. It keeps it in place. To walk
in love is to be like your Heavenly Father. And this, and last of
all, let me get to this. He uses Christ as our example.
You see, he talks about being imitators of God, then he uses
Christ as our example because Jesus Christ is God. As Christ
also hath loved us and hath given himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor, we have a perfect example
of God's love in Christ and Him crucified for us to follow. Christ
loved us when we were unlovable. In Romans 5, God commended His
love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, while we
were yet a bunch of God-haters, Christ died for us. He died for
us. It says, having loved His own,
He loved them to the end. He never stopped loving us. His
love has never varied. It's never flickered. It is hot. and burning as it
ever was, even when I'm at my worst, even as a believer and
I'm at my worst, even when David was committing adultery with
Bathsheba and had her husband killed and God's love never diminished
one iota for David. And aren't you glad of that?
Oh my, what love, what love. And it says here, he hath given
himself for us. Jesus Christ did not die. And
I told the crowd this Thursday. I said, Jesus Christ did not
die on a cross and leave the end result up to a bunch of God-hating
rebels. He didn't. He didn't. I never got an amen out of that.
I was getting a few of them up until I got to, up until I started
getting on the truth. This one particular person came
up to me, very religious, I've known him for years, and very
religious, and just like, he had to have some things to say
to me right before the service started. And as soon as I got
started, it was, amen. Said another word or two, amen.
I got to God's sovereignty and salvation. He bowed his head
and never looked up at me again, and I passed him going out, and
he never said a word to me. It's all right, God's sovereign
in creation. God can be sovereign, he can make a cow however he
wants to make a cow. But when God's sovereignty reaches
into my house, that's when humanity hates it. And God did not, he
did not put his son on a cross and crucify him and have him
suffer under the penalty of his own law and leave it to a bunch
of God-hating rebels. God did not do that. God did
not do that. He gave himself for us. Our names, now listen, this is
good. Our names were written on His
breastplate. Remember when the high priest
took on the Day of Atonement, and he went into the Holy of
Holies with the blood of Atonement? You know what was written on
His breastplate? The names of Israel, the names
of the tribes of Israel. They were written on His breastplate,
you know, whose names were written on the heart of Jesus Christ,
hanging on that cross, and when He arose, and when He went into
glory, and He went into the Holy of Holies, and He presented His
blood before the throne of God, You know whose names are written
on his heart? My name and your name. It wasn't just left for chance
or God give you. And I said, I told him, I said,
Jesus Christ is not an offer. He's a gift. He's the gift of
life. It's not an offer. God, listen,
I'll get to here in a minute. But the Lord did not just die
on that cross to make salvation a possibility. It was not a rescue
attempt on the human race. It was an absolute surety of
God saving the people. Sinners. Sinners. If you're a sinner, I have good
news for you. Christ died for you. I don't
have any good news for anybody else. Christ didn't die for anybody
else. He died for sinners. If there's
a sinner in the house, Christ died for you. He didn't die for
the rest of you, but he died for the ungodly. That's who Jesus
Christ died for, and they're going to be saved. It wasn't
shed in vain. Listen, he gave himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God. He offered himself to God,
not me. Jesus Christ was not offered
to me. He's offered to God. God needed Him as much as I need
Him. You know that? God needs Jesus Christ. God the
Father needs Jesus Christ in order for Him to be a just God
and a Savior. He needs Him as much as I need
Him. God needs Him. And He provided
what He needed. And it says here, he offered
himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. The sacrifice of Christ is a
sweet smell to God. You know the cross to most people
is offensive. They say it's bloody. It's a bloody religion. You got
it right, it is. That's what Moses' wife called
him when he had to circumcise his son. She didn't want him
to do that, but he did it. She said, you're a bloody husband.
That's what she called him. Jesus Christ is a bloody husband.
He's our bloody husband. He bled and died on that cross
for us as a sacrifice for sin. And it's a sweet, smelly savor
to God. It is to you too, isn't it? This has to do with the satisfaction
and the reconciliation that he made to God's justice. A burnt sacrifice, that's what
he is. You know what? And I'm gonna
close. You ever smell a burnt animal?
You ever smell an animal burning flesh? You ever smell flesh burning?
It stinks. There's nothing stinks more than
that. But yet to God, it's a sweet smell. It's a sweet, savory smell. Because justice is satisfied.
God can now be a just God and save a wretch like me. God can
be God. I can be a sinner. And we both
can meet. We both can meet. And because
of that, God is going to bring a multitude of sinners into heaven. He's going to create a new earth,
and they're going to be on that new earth. I can't imagine that.
I was thinking that this morning as I was walking over here. I'm
going to walk on a new earth in a little while. All who believe
are. That's very real. It's as real
as this one. Oh, to God it's a sweet smell
of victory. It's a sweet smell of satisfaction.
It's a sweet smell because it's the smell of His Son. It's the
smell of His Son. Let's be imitators of God as
dear children. Let's get up every morning with
the attitude of walking and imitating our Father. I want to be just
like Him. just like him.