Let's open to Ephesians chapter
5. Our text is going to be the first
two verses here because next week, Lord willing, we'll be
in verses 3 through 14. And to go through that, we're
going to bounce back to verse 1 and 2 a whole bunch. You've
got to see what's done. I hope I can do that. Paul reminded
us in the beginning of this epistle about the love of Christ for
his people. And then He told us how the Lord
did that. And then He reminded us of the
love of Christ for His people, the person and the work of Christ.
And then He told us about our guilt, what sin really is. And then He told us about the
love of Christ for His people and for His Father, honoring
the Father, honoring His holy law, doing it all for His people. And He starts getting into the
walk of the believer. This is how we're to walk. in light of the love of Christ
for His people, what He did, the blood that He shed for us. He tells us again here in chapter
5, the first two verses about this love of Christ for His people. There are so many things. It's
the imitators of God is the title of my message. Followers of God.
Imitators of God. We'll see that a little bit down
here in a second. So many things that people say just lose their
meaning so fast. Christians. Somebody says, are
you a Christian? I'm afraid to ask, well, what
do you mean by that? Years ago, a person that was
in Christ, that meant something. It meant you had some people
about to chop your head off, but that meant something. It meant
you was in Him and Him in you. That's not what that means nowadays.
There in the 90s, they had them old bracelets. WWJD, what would
Jesus do? That's a good thought to have
for a believer in a Holy Spirit and a nature of love and a spirit
of faith and obedience and love to the One that saved us. Well,
if it's something to do. If it's just something to do. Growing up, I heard a lot of
families say, is that where you want to be? Is that how you want
to be acting when Jesus comes? To the believer. We talk about
a strong rebuke, an admonishment to a young believer, a child,
a babe in Christ. It's just acting because they
don't know any better. Put that in perspective. Think
about that. Is that what you want to be doing? When our Lord,
the kingship of Christ comes, I want to be looking to Him.
But you have to know Him to look to Him. You have to know Him
to be put into Him. You have to know Him to know
how He lived. Anything else is just some type
of good idea. It's a plan. It's a checklist. We don't worship a checklist.
We worship a person. Now of those 10 lepers we saw
this morning, thank you, Bob. That was an absolute blessing.
That was as plain as it could be. Outwardly, there was something
that got cleaned up. They witnessed a miracle of God
working in them. They had an incurable disease
at that time, and it was gone, and they knew it. And they went
on about their way. They were a benefit of the Lord. But the rain comes on the evil
and the good, doesn't it? But one, he didn't say, well,
look at this, I'm clean. He left. Went off by himself,
went back doing what he's doing. He followed the Lord Jesus Christ.
He bowed at His feet, looked to Him alone. I pray we can see
that today there in Ephesians 5 verse 1. Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. It says there be therefore followers
of God. Now in our vain imaginations
we can make that mean anything we want it to mean. Committing evil is me waking
up in the morning and reading the scriptures and praying out
loud to who I thanks God and going to church and putting on
a nice tie and giving money to the poor I'm following God. I don't know. That word follow there is nimitas. That's the Greek word. That's
where we get the word imitate. Imitate. Be ye imitators of God
as dear children. How can my children imitate me
if they never knew me? If they don't know me. You can't
imitate somebody you don't know. You can't imitate somebody you
can't see. Believers are assorted to be
imitators of God. That's the purpose of God in
salvation, did you know that? To make us just like His Son. That's what His purpose was.
Before time, we see that in chapter 1. Before time was, before this
world was, God the Father purposed to save a people. purpose to save a people, to
put them in Christ his son and for Christ to be their sacrifice,
to be their lamb, their atonement, to reconcile us to himself. Romans 8, for whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Putting
us in Christ, what's that going to do for the believer? It's
going to make us like Christ. Conform us to His image for eternity. God created Adam in the garden
after His own image. He said, let us make man in our
image after our likeness. So God created man in His own
image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created
he them. We were created in his image.
Adam came into this world morally innocent. He wasn't holy. The
ability to sin wasn't beyond him. He was morally innocent.
It hadn't happened yet. The Lord sustained him. But he
was created in the image of God. And then something happened.
Something changed. He failed. We spiritually died
in our father Adam and we became guilty before God. That image
of God, it was corrupted within us. Carnal mind became enmity
against God. It was at war with God. If so,
I ain't really at war with God, I just don't care to hear about
Him. That's war with Him. So the image of God, the image
of His Son, it must be recreated within His people by God. We
must be born again. An incorruptible seed must be
put in us. It ain't gonna happen in this
flesh. This whole world, the purpose
of God creating this world, allowing Adam to sin, allowing him to
fall in that garden, allowing all mankind to fall in Him, is
so that God might show His glory in Christ in conforming us to
His image. I'm going to take the base things.
I'm going to take the worst thing there is. I'm going to make it
just like my son. I'm going to have a whole nation
of people like the sands of the sea just like him. Lord did it on purpose. He has
to conform us to the image of his son because of who we are.
We're not the image of him. We think we are. That's why we
think we're so good and so right. We're not. But we experience
this. This work begins when we're regenerated. And the Holy Spirit comes to
us. He abounds to us like He told us in chapter 1. And convicts
us of these things. Gives us a new nature to know
that that's what happened. God's purpose is to save a people.
It's the only hope we had. He puts that people in Christ.
That's the only hope we had. And He must reveal it to us because
I can't figure it out on my own. That's the only hope I had. God
must save His people. We are recreated after God's
image in that inward man. In God's grace, Paul said there
in chapter 4 verse 24, put on a new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness. He created it. He clothes us in it. How we dress
as believers has a whole lot to say about it. People want
to wear crosses all the time. as a reminder. Well, it reminds
me. It keeps my eyes... You know how we dress? That's
our gospel, isn't it? How we come to the Lord? Robed
in Christ's righteousness. I get in the morning and put
socks on and think, my feet must be shod with the gospel. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
3 real quick. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. God grows
His children in this new man. Our new man is continually transformed
into the image of His Son by the Holy Spirit. We've already
put on that new man. That new man is renewed in knowledge
after the image of Him that created him. Paul wrote to the church
at Colossae. That's what we're taught here
in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18. We all with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed. Just like we're
looking in a mirror. Just like we're looking at a
glass. We've got an open face. We're awake. We're paying attention. We're looking at this glass and
we see Him. Now we have eyes to see Christ
through that bifocal lens of Christ. into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Holy
Spirit does this work as we behold Christ more and more by faith
in the gospel that we preach, in the gospel that we hear. And
this isn't growing in holiness. So many people say, well, I've
got to get a little holier. I've got to get more sanctified. We're
holy if we're born of the Spirit of God. You can't get more holy. You're either holy or you're
not holy. But this is a growth in grace and in the knowledge
of the Son of God and that inward man. We start learning more of
Him, just as a child does. You have a baby. After a while,
it says, Mama and Daddy. Knows who its parents are. And
as they grow up, they learn more. Sometimes when they're 40 and
their parents have passed away, they learn more. Still learning.
Turn with 1 John chapter 3. And you can leave a marker there
in 1 John 3. We'll be back to it. The Lord saved a people on purpose.
He grows us. We follow Him after that regeneration
takes place in us. And when He takes us home, after
this race is finished, when we see Christ face to face, we see
Him as He is, we'll be perfectly conformed to His image. We'll
be no longer imitating. We'll be made just like Him,
within and without. So John says here in 1 John 3
verse 2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. You got to do something else.
Now we are the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be when this life is over. 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, we will see him as he is. That's not a hope of
going to heaven. That's not a hope of escaping
hell. This isn't some parachute that
keeps us out of the lakes of fire of damnation. You have a
hope of a person coming, a Redeemer coming. Every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. We follow
Christ. We're conformed to Christ. We
imitate Christ. How pure can you get? People
get mad. This is something the believers
to do. We get the precept here. This is something we can do.
Love like Christ loved. Somebody will hear that and they'll
get mad. That ain't enough. That ain't a Sabbath. That ain't
a head covering. That ain't something. It's what a child of God does.
Dear children, love like Christ loved. Purified as He's purified. We don't expect to make ourselves
perfectly pure in our lives. This is a hard work that the
Holy Spirit does. But a believer who has this sure
hope, we have a hope of Him coming, we imitate Christ, who walked
in holiness in His life and conduct, how He walked this earth. Christ
is a pattern that we study. We seek to walk as Christ walked,
putting off that old man. putting on the new man. Our motivation
is that now we are sons of God. That's our motivation. Now we
are as dear children. Look back there in our text,
Ephesians 5. Having been recreated after the image of God, having
been made the righteousness of Christ through faith. It says
there in verse 32 of chapter 4, Ephesians 4.32, Even as God
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you, be ye therefore, because
of that, followers of God as dear children. Hearing the gospel
is sitting at the table and eating. We come here Sunday morning,
Sunday evening, and Wednesday. We come and we eat. There's a
meal ready. We sit and eat. And it's a wonderful
thing to hear what God's freely done for us. That's a necessity.
We must hear it. to meditate on these things.
Imitating God is getting up from that table, using the strength
that food was given to us, that puts in us. And he says, go further
than just eat. We don't just come and eat. Use
the strength Christ gives to imitate Christ, to follow God,
to walk after the pattern that Christ has set before us. This
here is a classroom instruction. Out there is the practicum. That's
the practicum. That's where you actually apply
it and you learn. The Lord teaches you. He'll teach us here, but
then you'll be sitting by a poolside one day, or you'll be pulling
weeds in the garden, changing a flat tire. Now it goes from here to here.
The Lord applies that to us as we walk in this world. It's good
to listen to gospel messages. In this day and age, we can get
on the internet, sermon audio and stuff, and we can download,
we can pick and choose. Anything you want, you've sat
and listened to a whole bunch of them, but sitting at home
and listening to the gospel is not following. Agreeing with
the gospel is not imitating the Lord God. He said, be ye followers
of God as dear children. We follow God as dear children. That word dear, do you know what
that means? Well, it means, you know, you write that on a letter,
right? Dear Matt, dear Carrie, dear Deanne, we write that. Throw
that around too, just like we was talking in the beginning.
The word dear there means loved. Truly loved. And it actually
means favorite. That's a favorite child. That's
not up to par in the last 30, 40 years to have a favorite child,
but that's to be a favorite child. Who was the Lord God's favorite
child? His firstborn, His elect, Christ. and being joint heirs
with Him, each one of His children. You're His favorite child. That's
how I feel when you get a look at Him only. When we get to follow
Him, and when we're looking only to Christ, that's how it feels,
isn't it? That's one-on-one, like there ain't another one
left. It's just me. Dear children, dear children
are children beloved of God. What a privilege it is to say
that. What great love God had toward us to make us the children
of God. To make us His children. He says,
Be followers of God as children chosen of God the Father, adopted
by God the Father. Be followers of God as children
redeemed by Christ our everlasting Father. Forever the children
of that second Adam. This isn't a temporary thing.
It isn't getting started off on the right foot. It's eternal.
It's eternal to be His dear children. John told us, "...but as many
as received Him, to them gave He power." He gave the privilege
to become sons of God. "...even to them that believe
on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." We were dead
in sins. I was dead in my sin. I fell
in Adam. I fell in me. I was dead in my
sins. After that, not of blood, not
of the will of flesh, not of the will of man, not of me doing
something, not of some other man doing something. We've been
born of God. Born of Him. Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the children of God. What love? It says here, as dear
children, it teaches us the attitude we are to follow God with. It's
not spirit of law. It's not a spirit of do and don't,
it's a spirit of grace. Spirit of grace. The child who
most loves his father and his mother wants to honor his father
and his mother. The child adopted at great cost,
great cost, loves much, wants to imitate, it follows. Remember
that woman with that alabaster box of ointment we looked at,
Mary? Christ said, Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which
are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth much. All of a sudden that love don't
matter. Now we've got something better to do. We grew past that. That's higher
up on a fruit tree. We've got something else to do.
No. One that's been forgiven much
will love much. Turn back to 1 John 3 again. When you know
how great your guilt is, mercy makes you not only rejoice to
be a child of God, but mercy makes you want to obey as a dear
child. Not as slaves, not compelled
by the law, but as dear, beloved children. That'll be the nature
to the child born of God. to one of his true children.
That's their nature. That's what's put in them. It says in 1 John
3, verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. That new man in you is holy,
without blame, unreprovable, before him in love. For his seed
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
Verse 10. In this, the children of God
are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God. Those that do not believe Christ,
do not love Christ, They're not of God. Neither he that loveth
not his brother. We looked at that as we went
through 1 John. What's doing righteousness? That's believing
Christ and loving your brethren. If you love Him, you'll love
Christ in your brethren. And you'll want to be with them.
Fathers love to see their children imitating them. I saw my boys
grow up and I thought, they stand just like my dad. I wonder why
they stand like my dad, with their hands in their pockets.
They don't even know they're doing it. I said it must be something
in their DNA. Maybe it's the length of their arms or something. You
know, they stand just like him. And as I was looking at them,
I realized I'm standing just like him. I was imitating my father. They
were imitating me. In John's third epistle, he says,
I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth.
If I'm following Christ and He reveals Himself to me and I was
to be graced by His love to know who He was and I followed Him.
I wanted to imitate Him. Nothing would make me happier
than if you followed Him. Not follow me, follow Him. We'll
be walking the same way, won't we? If we're following Him, we're
on the same path. It's one man wide. Now we need
to have a form to copy, don't we? If we want to copy something,
remember in grade school, when you first start learning how
to write, you didn't know your ABCs, so they had great big ol'
ABCs, and you copied it. You had to draw that until you
got the pattern down, didn't you? Had to have something to
copy. Back in our text there, here's the copy that we follow.
He gives us the one copy we're to follow. It says in Ephesians
5 verse 2, and walk in love. as Christ also hath loved us
and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling sake." If I come to you, somebody come
to me and they say, Kevin, imitate God. Follow God. So many people want to do that,
don't they? They want to be just like Jesus. It's nonsense, everybody
says. Imitate God. Well, can you imitate
God's power? I can't do that. Can you imitate
His omnipresence? Can you imitate His omniscience?
We can't imitate those, can we? What can we? We're called to
imitate His love. That's something we know about. Something's given to us, shed
abroad in our hearts. And He says, imitate the love of Christ. If you want something to do,
do that. You've just got to have something
to do. Love is Christ loved. Our master washed the feet of
his disciples. Talk about giving us an example.
He got down and he washed their feet. He says, I've given you
an example that you should do as I have done to you. Does that
mean we've got to go around and wash their people? Where I grew
up, you washed feet during services. I ain't doing that. I ain't doing
that here. Does that mean we've got to wash
the corset don't? God Almighty humbled himself
in love, in compassion, in humbleness, and washed his feet. The greatest
become the least. He that ruled all became servant
to those that he loved. Walk after that. Follow God. Imitate that. That's what I pray
I can do. So giving, so forgiving. Giving
and forgiving. He said there, He gave Himself,
first He loved us, and gave Himself. To give Himself meant He gave
His heart, His will, to do the will of the Father. Repeatedly
He said, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. He's the exact copy of His Father. He's of the same character, same
nature of His Father. And He says, He that seeth Me
hath seen the Father. It was because He was doing exactly
the will of His Father. Those who lay down their wills,
what I want, what I think, what I need to do the will of God,
as dear children, we give Him everything. As Barnard said,
we turn ourselves over, lock, stock and barrel to you. We give
ourselves. That's what God meant there in
Proverbs 23 when He says, My son, give Me thy heart. Give Me your heart. The whole
of me. Now notice there, Christ did
not merely say He loved us. He didn't say, well I love them.
Over there. He loved us and gave Himself
for us. To walk in love, that's not merely
to talk about walking in love. That's the action on it. And
it's to do it out of a heart of love. We should seek to advance,
to increase, and to abound more and more in love and in following
Him. That's the difference between
lip service and following God. I read His Word. I've got a bunch
of scripture memorized. I know all the doctrines. Hopefully
tonight we'll look at that thief on the cross that the Lord saved. He didn't come to total depravity.
He experienced it. He didn't say, well, I believe
in election. He was. He didn't say, I believe in irresistible
grace, but that grace was irresistible in him. He persevered to the
end looking to a person, looking to Christ our Savior. I hope
we can grow more and more in that. That's what Paul told the
church at Philippi. And this, I pray that your love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. It says
in Thessalonians, furthermore we beseech you brethren and extort
you by the Lord Jesus that ye have received of us how ye ought
to walk. We've told you what you ought
to be doing and to please God so you would abound more and
more. To walk after God is not just
to be innocent of wrongdoing, not living a godly life, not
washing the outside of the cup. We are to be blameless. harmless
as sons of God without rebuke. We shouldn't bring reproach on
our gospel or our Lord that saved us. But God is more than that.
He's more than just a clean outside of a cup, isn't He? Christ did
more than that. And to follow Him is to do more
than to be blameless. It's to give ourselves. Look
here at the next point. It says, He gave Himself for
us. Who's the us? Who'd Christ come
lay down His life for in love? People that hated Him. We shook
our fist in His face. Said, I won't have this man reign
over me. This just all seems too fake, doesn't it? This couldn't
be real. It's just an old book. It's an
old story book. Say, no, God. That's who He came
to die for. Those that were straight enemies
against Him. Vile enemies. And He gave Himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. Christ offered up Himself
as a sacrifice for the sins of His people, to atone the sins
of His people, to make reconciliation and satisfaction for our sins.
Propitiation. Boy, we looked at that in depth,
didn't we? Over and over again. What's that mean? Mercy seat.
Acceptable sacrifice. It wasn't what he got pigeonholed
into doing. He willingly made himself our
propitiation. He willingly laid his life down
and shed his blood. In order to do that, that meant
Christ had to come to where we are. He had to do for us what
we could not do for ourselves. He had to bear our sins. He had
to bear that judgment, that wrath of God, our shame. He had to
bear our death. He went to go meet those enemies
that come to lead Him to that cross. And He said, but the world
may know that I love the Father. And as the Father hath given
me commandment, so do I. Arise and let us go hence. They come to lead Him away to
that cross. And He said, just so the world will know I love
the Father. And I'll do exactly as He says. I'll follow His will.
Let's get it on. Let's go do it. Let's get it
over with. Rise and go hence. So it tells
us, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
That law of love says there in Galatians 6. It may mean we have
to go out of our way to follow God. To imitate Him. To reflect that love of Christ.
We may have to look over sins of people. Big ones. We may have to endorse some shame.
We may have to be loving to those that are just barking against
us. We may have to lay down our lives,
lose our comforts, lose our ease in this world to serve Him. Is
that unreasonable? That's what the Lord did for
us, didn't it? All of a sudden, that's not as
unreasonable, is it? That's our reasonable service. Parents,
they lay down their lives for their children. Everything we
do, we do it for our kids, don't we? Even the disobedient ones. A dear child, a beloved child
will honor their father and mother for doing so. And God teaches
us here that that is what he's done for us. He teaches us to
honor him by doing the same for one another. Even those who appear
to be our enemies, they just might be a child of God that
He hasn't called yet. Those that curse us, love them. It says there lastly, a sweet-smelling
savor. What Christ did for His people
was a sweet-smelling savor. He was the burnt offering, a
sweet-smelling savor to God. Christ was an offering, a sacrifice
that satisfied all the demands of God's justice for the sins
of His people. And by one offering, Christ put
away our sins forever. He perfected His people forever
by one offering, by Himself. What makes this a sweet-smelling
savor to us? Do you remember the first time
that you heard this good news? The first time. It wasn't something
wrote down. It wasn't some rules. It wasn't
a systematic theology. It was a person. The first time
you saw Christ. Do you remember how you felt
when you first met your brethren? I remember the first couple of
conferences I went to as a believer. Few of y'all have been to conferences. 250 people, 300 people in that
place. Here, this is a strange thing. We're a small group. in
a big county, a few people that know God. That's a remnant. And
all of a sudden, there's a whole bunch of remnants put together.
And I thought, what do I have to do to get back here? That's
where I want to be. I could say I love that woman.
But if one of y'all asks, how's Cameron doing? I don't know.
I ain't seen her in about two months. You think I love her? Lord, give us ears to hear. That's
what we pray, don't we? Give us eyes to see Christ. That's
what we pray. Give us a nose to smell how sweet
He is. What do we smell? Give us a nose
to smell peace, rest, His love for His people. That's a comforting
smell, isn't it? Off of this epistle, the Holy
Spirit moved Paul to speak of love. Turn over Revelation chapter
2. He just keeps going back to that. Love of God. And there's
no doubt in my mind, it's because God, He just knows the heart
of those of the church of Ephesus. And He knows our hearts. It says
there in Revelation 2, remember this was the letter He was writing
to the Ephesians. Revelation 2.2. I know thy works, and thy labor,
and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are
evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and
are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast
patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted."
He goes, I know you, and you can't tolerate a false gospel.
There is no other Christ. You know the true and living
God. And you've labored for that. You've had patience in doing
so, and you labored for it. And you haven't fainted. Verse
4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast
left thy first love. You've moved on to something
else. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
and do the first works. He says, never lose that first
love for Christ and for your brethren. First time you found
that you had brethren. You weren't an only child, and
you wanted to cling to Him. Don't lose that. Repent and go
back to it. The first time you saw Christ,
and boy, the birds chirped sweeter, the sun was a little brighter.
Go back to that. Go back to that first love. Remember,
from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works.
He said the same thing in our text. Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children. Go to that. Look to Him. Always
be that little child before your Heavenly Father, and walk in
love, as Christ also hath loved us and given Himself for us,
and offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling sake. Well, that's not a rigid, strict,
stern, stoic commandment to follow God, is it? you want to. That's
what we saw recently in Romans 12. Paul said, I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. Well, if I gave up all the comforts
in this world for my brethren to support them for the furtherance
of the gospel and to serve my God, is that reasonable? If I
lost everything? Knowing him it is. and be not
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God and the glory of Himself in the saving
of His people." That's a motive, isn't it? If we imitate the love
of Christ, that's what we're called to do. To be followers
of God. Imitate Christ's love in our
walk in this world. Whoever finds fault with us,
Are they have fought with me or do they have fought with the
one I'm copying? Ain't mad at me, are they? I pray the Lord
gives us the grace to do that. Amen. Let's pray.