Let's open our Bibles to Ephesians
chapter 5. I had Brother Richmond read that
passage out of 1 Corinthians 6 because it is kind of a parallel
passage to our text today. In Ephesians 5, and this is a
continued message from last week concerning the issue followers
of God. As sinners saved by grace, As
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as disciples, witnesses, stewards
of the grace of God, we are to strive in our minds and in our
hearts to be followers of God. Paul writes that in verse 1b,
therefore followers of God is dear children. And I spent the
whole message last week talking about what it means to be a follower
of God. It means to follow God's word. You can't be a follower of God
and ignore or deny or confuse his word. And this is his word,
what we have in the holy scriptures, the God-breathed scriptures.
And those who call themselves disciples of Christ, Christian,
who ignore and deny the word of God, they're not followers
of God, they're not disciples of Christ. And I know people
argue about what such and such scripture means and things like
that. I've often said you need to study
the scriptures using the rules of interpretation. But all in
all, when it's all over, it must be revealed by God. You cannot
see the kingdom of God until God, by his power, births you
again. You must be born again. We know
that, it's a revelation. And it's a revelation of Christ.
That's number one, be a follower of God's word. Number two, follow
Christ as God's only way of salvation, as the only Lord God almighty. Christ is what these scriptures
are about. He's the central theme of every
book of the Bible. And ultimately, every verse from
Genesis to Revelation, though it may not be speaking directly
of him, it must be interpreted and dealt with in light of him,
who he is in his person, God manifest in the flesh. There's
no scripture in this book, no verse in this book that denies
or confuses the fact that our Savior is both God and man in
one person. And if you think it does, you
don't see the truth of it. You're not interpreting it right.
And then the power of his finished work on the cross to save his
people from their sins. Christ did all that was required
to ensure the complete salvation of every sinner whom he stood
surety for, whom he died for, whom he redeemed. And that's
the gospel. It's the gospel of God's grace
in Christ. So to follow God is to follow
his word, it's to follow Christ. Follow him for salvation, follow
him for forgiveness, follow him for righteousness. He's my only
righteousness before God. I have no other. that's what
it is to follow God. And thirdly, to follow God is
to follow God as our Heavenly Father. Look back at verse 1.
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, children
of God. What does it take to be a child
of God? It takes God's grace in the power
of adoption and election before the foundation of the world.
It takes the power of God's grace and the power of redemption.
Christ dying for the sheep, redeeming them from their sins, paying
the debt, paying the price, establishing righteousness. And then it takes
the power of Christ in the Holy Spirit through the new birth.
Who has a right to claim to be a child of God, a true spiritual
child of God? Only those who have by God's
grace and power received the Lord Jesus Christ. in the new
birth. So it's to follow God as our
heavenly father. How can he be both our father
and our judge? How can he be both a just God
and a savior? It's only upon the ground of
Christ's blood. We're gonna be talking about
that, Christ's righteousness. That's the only way. And then
through the power of the new birth. And then fourthly, to
follow God is to follow righteousness and understand that righteousness
can only be found in Christ. And hold on to that thought.
Fifthly, to follow God is to follow holiness. That means that
which separates us from the world. That's the scripture that Brother
Richmond read. That's what that's talking about. We're not united
in fellowship with the world, with its evil ways, in morality
or in immorality or false religion. And that's where our minds need
to get there. We're gonna talk about that here
in Ephesians five. And then he speaks of verse two.
He says, 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. That's the love of God shown
towards his people. It's unconditional love towards
us because there's nothing lovely about us in God's eyes. There's nothing by which to earn
or to deserve God's love. That's the kind of love that
he shows to his people, his elect, his children, based upon the
death of Christ, giving an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet-smelling
savor. Now that sweet-smelling savor
means accepted with God. He receives it. It smells sweet
to Him and He receives it. And the only way that God can
receive us or anything we do or He does through us is through
Christ. And so that's the whole issue
here on the basis of Christ here in His love. Not that we loved
Him but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation,
the sin-bearing sacrifice that brought satisfaction for our
sins. And that's what it's all about.
Well, this is that godly love that God sheds abroad within
the hearts of his people in our salvation, showing us that we
don't deserve it, we don't earn it, but it's given freely, unconditionally. What a message we have. What
a message we have. And then the Bible speaks of
faith, which is God-given faith, that worketh by love. Now, anytime
we see the exhortations of scripture, the commands of scripture, what
we're to do and what we're not to do, it has to be given within
a gospel context. It has to be. Look at these next
verses. I'm just going to read up through
a few of these. He says, but fornication, all
uncleanness, verse 3, or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints. Now all of these sinful acts
and thoughts, fornication, sexual immorality, there's also spiritual
fornication, that's false religion, you know, the Bible calls false
Gospels, false Christ, false religion, spiritual fornication,
spiritual whoredom, Is that too strong? That's what God calls
it. All uncleanness, anything that
would defile. Covetousness, that's the unlawful
desire of things. Over in the book of Colossians,
it speaks of covetousness, which is idolatry. Now what does that
mean? To me, that's the unlawful desire
of things that takes us away from the things of God. Sets
our hearts and our minds on things of the world. instead of the
things of Christ and the worship of God. And he says these things
are never to be discussed or talked about among the saints.
And who are the saints? They're the sanctified ones.
They're sinners saved by grace. If you're a believer, you're
a saint. Now there's no halos over your head. None that I can
see anyway. But that's what a saint is, a
sanctified one. Set apart, that's what that means.
That's what the holiness, follow holiness, that which separates
us from the world. That's not talking about moral
purity because our morality, our moral purity does not separate
us from the world. It doesn't. Because there are
many, many, many unbelievers who in the eyes of human beings
are morally pure in their sight. Law keepers, good citizens, good
fathers, good mothers, But that's not what holiness is talking
about. Holiness is that which separates us. And what is that? The grace of God separates us.
The gospel separates us from the world. Our gospel is different
from the world because it's salvation, all of grace, conditioned on
Christ and not on sinners. But this covetousness which is
idolatry that Colossians speaks of, which I believe Paul's saying
the same thing here, is that which takes us, it's an unlawful
desire for the things of the world that moves us away from
the word of God, moves us away from the worship of God, moves
us away from love of the brethren, fellowship with the brethren.
That's idolatry, and so he says, Don't let that be discussed or
talked about among believers, sinners saved by God, as if that's
okay, as if that's appropriate, because it's not. That kind of
lifestyle is that which is indicative of an unregenerate person, that
kind of a lifestyle. Now, does that mean that we're
not sinners? No, we are sinners, and I'll
tell you what, you look at these things. fornication, uncleanness,
covetousness. We may be able to be successful
in stopping the act, but what about the thought? Somebody said, well, preacher,
that's not a sin. You better read God's word. Remember what
Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount? Not only is it wrong
to kill, it's wrong to desire someone to be killed. It's wrong
to be angry enough to kill somebody. You ever been that way? It's
not only wrong, sinful to commit adultery, it's sinful to think
about it. You see, there are people who
are successful in stopping the act, but not the thought. And the thought is enough to
condemn us if God were to impute our sins to us. Did you know
that? You say, well, how did I get
away from this? You don't. It's there. It's called the flesh. It's the
sinful thoughts, sinful desires that contaminate everything we
think, say, and do, even in our worship and in our prayers. Think
about that. You ever set yourself to just
think about nothing but good thoughts? And all of a sudden,
that old fleeting thought comes in, you see somebody you don't
like, or somebody you're at odds with. Huh? You know what I'm talking about.
And you can't stop it. You can't stop it. Look at verse
four, he says, neither filthiness nor foolish talking. He's talking
about making light of the things of the word. He's not telling
believers we can't tell a joke or something like that. He's
talking about in things that we are to be serious about. Now
this gospel is serious business. This thing of salvation is serious
business. We're not to be flippant about
it. He says, which are not convenient, it's not necessary, it's not
right, but rather giving of thanks. That ought to be our attitude.
Let's determine in our minds that we're going to do nothing
but giving thanks to God. And that means more than just
looking up in the sky and saying thank you. That means to follow
God. He says in this, verse five,
this is what parallels with the scripture over in 1 Corinthians
6. He says, 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. Now, again, we're all sinners. We all have sinful thoughts,
we've all committed sin. We'll never rise above that.
Only a sinner saved by grace, only a sinner saved by grace.
This is our story. You want to write your biography,
your autobiography? This is our story. To God be
the glory. But who's he talking about here?
Well, he's talking about unbelievers. Look at verse six, let no man
deceive you with vain words for because of those things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. That word is
unbelief. What's he saying here? He's saying
we need to recognize that if God has saved us from sin that
we need to fight sin and seek to be obedient people Because
the very things that we're fighting, those are the things that God
puts the unbeliever under wrath for. They're sins. Children of disobedience. Do
we ever disobey? Yes. But if we're sinners saved
by grace, we're not children of disobedience. That's not our
lifestyle. And he says in verse seven, be
not ye therefore partakers with them. Well, let me give you these
things, and I hope it helps us to understand that. You see,
our fellowship is with the Father and the Son. Our fellowship is
with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And so our lifestyle
should reflect that in thanksgiving to the grace of God for what
he's accomplished and for what he's done for us. And if we're
gonna fight sin, if we're gonna engage ourselves in the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit, There are basically three things
that we need to have settled in our minds. Number one, if you're gonna fight
sin, you better know what sin is. You better have an understanding
of this matter of sin. Sin, there's many words in the
New Testament and the Old Testament for sin. The most common word
for sin means to fall short. It means not to measure up. You've
heard the verse Romans 3.23. For all have sinned, and what? Come short, fallen short of the
glory of God. That's the most common word for
sin. There are other words, transgression, trespasses, debt. There's a word for sin that means
debt. Because it's like running up a debt that you can't pay.
But all those were iniquity, it means it doesn't equal out.
And so in the sight of God, according to his judgment, anything that
falls short is sin. All right? Well, falls short
of what? Well, that's what it says there
in Romans 3.23. Comes short of the glory of God. Well, what
is the glory of God? Where is the glory of God? In
whom is the glory of God? That's Christ. So to have a real
understanding of the sin that we're to fight, the next thing,
number two, is we gotta have an understanding of this word
righteousness. Righteousness. And right away
in the Bible, if we know God's word, we come to an understanding
that you cannot measure sin and righteousness on a sliding scale. So in other words, it does you
no good to say, you look at a person who's a well-known, notorious
sinner in the eyes of men, and you say something like, well,
I'm a sinner, I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as him. Turn to Luke chapter 13. The gospel of Luke chapter 13. The Lord's speaking to some people
here in Luke 13. And look at verse one. As he was speaking, it says in
verse one, There were present at that season some that told
him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices." Now apparently this was an event where in Galilee
people were coming to worship the sacrifice and Pontius Pilate
brought down an army, probably the Roman army, and killed them
and mingled their blood with the sacrifices. What an awful
thing to do. Now, why did Christ bring that
up? Well, look at verse two. And
Jesus answering said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans
were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things.
In other words, do you suppose that these Galileans got what
they deserved when Pilate did that? Were they bigger sinners
than the rest of us? Well, look at his answer in verse
three. I tell you, nay, no, but except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. Huh? No, they weren't bigger
sinners than you. And in fact, if you don't repent,
you deserve no more than what they got. What is this repentance? It's a change of mind over sin.
God has to change the mind. You're not gonna change it on
your own. I'm not gonna change it. God has to change our minds
on this issue of sin. Did the Galileans get what they
deserved? Yes. Do I deserve better? No. I've often, when I go to this
verse, I talk about New Orleans when that hurricane come through
and some of these false preachers talk about how sinful a city
that New Orleans was. Well, is Albany any better? I
don't think so. Look at verse four. He says,
or those 18 upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell, now that was
a disaster. That's what we would call an
act of God, or what an insurance company would call an act of
God. Tower fell on them and slew them.
Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Verse five, I tell you nay, but
except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. See, that's this issue of sin
and righteousness. If I'm gonna fight sin and strive
after righteousness, I need to know the reality of those things.
And here's what I know, that my best efforts at obedience,
my most sincere efforts at obedience, the best prayer I've prayed,
the best sermon I've preached, within myself now. I'm not talking
about the words, because our gospel is perfect. But within
my own self, within my own thoughts. My friend, it all falls short
of the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. God's gonna judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, and that he
hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised
him from the dead. That's it. So when I'm striving after righteousness,
and I should, you should, When I'm striving to fight fornication
and the thoughts of fornication or anything, covetousness, any
sin within me, as I'm striving to do that, I need to realize
that none of my striving is gonna kill this thing of sin and none
of my striving is gonna make me righteous before God. Now somebody might say, well
then why do it? Because God has blessed me above anything I've
ever deserved or earned. God has given me freely the glory
of salvation. God does not impute, charge my
sins to me. Oh, have I committed any of these
sins? Oh, yes, I have. Have you? You
have too. And if you haven't done the act,
you've thought the thought. You see, we're sinful people.
We need a righteousness we cannot produce. God has given it to
us through Christ, by his obedience unto death, and he's given us
spiritual life to see and know these things. And so we know
better. This year, I want to be the best
person I've ever been in my life. If that happens at the end of
the year, I still am only a sinner saved by grace. I still am only
righteous in one person, Christ's righteousness imputed. That's
what I want. And so I strive to fight. But
here's the third thing we need to know. We need to know the
reality of acceptable obedience. Acceptable obedience. Think about
it. If nothing I do, if nothing I do equals the righteousness
that can only be found in Christ, and if everything I do is somehow
tainted or contaminated with sin, then how can God accept
it? How is that possible? Because
God cannot accept anything less than perfection. He's a purer
eyes than to behold evil, the scripture says. Well, he accepts me because I
quit doing this and I quit doing that. Well, even if you have
quit doing it, you haven't quit thinking it. And if you say you
did, you just told a big lie. That's the guile that God removes
from us. Well, what did he say? Look at
verse two again. Walk in love. That is in the
love of God for us. Now we're to love each other,
we're to love our neighbor, but we're to love brethren in Christ
especially. We're to be connected together
in fellowship. But we walk in love, that's the
love of God for us, realizing he is love for us, as Christ
also hath loved us and hath given himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. That's how our efforts,
our good works, as we say, which are works that God does through
us, that's how they're accepted. Look over at 1 Peter chapter
two. Let me show you a couple of verses and then I'll conclude. 1 Peter chapter two. And listen to what Peter says
here. Verse one. He says, wherefore laying aside
all malice. And you know what malice is,
that's an intent to do evil. That's a hatred that intends
to do evil. All guile, that's dishonesty.
Hypocrisies, that's wearing a mask. That's playing a part that's
really not you. All envies, somebody's blessed
in some way and we envy them. All evil speakings, talking bad
about somebody. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. growing in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. If so be you've tasted that the
Lord is gracious, has God been gracious to you? Has he been
gracious to me? Then what's stopping me from
being gracious to you? Are you being gracious to me?
What's stopping that? I'll tell you what stops it is
our own self-love, self-righteousness. We've even got to fight that.
And he says in verse four, to whom coming as unto a living
or lively stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious as Christ, you also as lively or living stones are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Now, what are the spiritual sacrifices?
That's our praise to God. That's our worship. That's our
thanksgiving. That's what spiritual sacrifices
are. They're not blood sacrifices.
Christ is the only blood sacrifice. He's the only atonement, the
only reconciliation. But we offer up to God our gifts,
our thanksgiving based upon his gift to us. And he says, acceptable
to God, look at, by Jesus Christ. If we don't have Christ, nothing
we are, nothing we do is acceptable to God. But if we have Him, whom
to know is life eternal, we have everything that God requires
and everything that we need to assure our acceptance with Him,
now and forever. Now with that in mind, the Bible
tells us to be diligent to fight sin, to try to kill it. Now you're
not gonna kill it. Mortify it. That's what it says. That's a goal. That's a goal
that we're to have. To fight these sinful thoughts
and all. It's a warfare within. And God keeps us looking to Christ
for our salvation, for our hope, for our righteousness. He doesn't
bring us to look to ourselves for any of that. It's faith that
works by love.