My text tonight is Ephesians
chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1
and 2. Let us never, never forget or
fail to apprehend this fact. Our only righteousness before
God is Jesus Christ, our Lord. By his blood, our sins are washed
away. By his obedience unto death,
we are justified and sanctified. By him alone, we have righteousness
and holiness. We are born again by the Spirit
of God who has created in us a new man, created in righteousness
and true holiness, made partakers of the divine nature. Christ
alone is our righteousness. And yet we recognize that the
scriptures teach us in the face of our depravity and corruption
and ungodliness, and unbelief and rebellion and sin. It is
our responsibility ever to follow after righteousness and holiness
and uprightness in conduct, in heart, in thought, in word, and
in deed. We understand, we who are born
of God, that we can never improve upon or add anything to the work
of Christ. We understand that. We understand,
we who are born of God and taught of God, that we can do nothing
to make ourselves more righteous, more acceptable before God. We are accepted in the beloved.
And we understand, we who are taught of God, that everything
we do in this world Every thought, every word, every deed, even
the very best, is utterly corrupted and marred by our sin. The new man in us can do nothing
but that which is right. The old man we are by nature
can never do that which is right. And the two are always at war
one with another. But children of God, my brothers
and sisters in Christ, let us never, never, never be content
with ungodliness in ourselves. Let us never be content with
the vileness of our own hearts and the corruption of our own
behavior. The title of my message tonight
is followers of God. This is something I've been working
on now for a good long while, because God's been working it
on me for a good long while. Followers of God. God, the Holy
Ghost, in our text, commands you and me, you who are born
of God, chosen by God's free grace and everlasting love, redeemed
by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, born again by His Spirit,
the Spirit of God here commands us to be followers of God. command. 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,
and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. The word therefore in verse one
connects our text with what Paul had been talking about in the
fourth chapter. There the apostle admonished
us as believers to be forgiving one of another. He tells us that
we should do so being motivated by the example of our Lord Jesus.
And here he shows us that our example and motive in Christ
relate to more than our responsibility to be kind and forgiving. These
things concern the entire scope of our lives as believers, as
men and women who are born of God. In every area of life, the
love of Christ constraineth us. of life if we are led by the
Spirit of God if we are taught of God in Every area of life
the love of Christ constraineth us turn back a few pages to 2nd
Corinthians chapter 5 Here is the object of our Savior in his
death We're told this numerous times in the New Testament. He
died for us that we might live to him That we might live in
Him, yes. That we might be saved by Him,
yes. But He died for us that we might
live to Him. That we might be His own peculiar
people, living in this ungodly world, denying ungodliness and
worldly lust. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, 14.
The love of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ constantly
hedges us about, pulls us in this direction, compels us, moves
us, forces us, because we thus judge that if one died for all,
then we're all dead. The all refers specifically to
all those for whom Christ died. All the host of God's elect.
We were all dead in trespasses and in sins. Dead under the sentence
of God's law. Dead and sentenced to everlasting
condemnation by God's just law. But Christ died for us. And he
died for us, verse 15. He died for us all. Every sinner,
redeemed by his precious blood, that we which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them
and rose again. That means, Lindsay Campbell,
Jesus Christ died for you. to give you life that you should
never again live for Lindsay Campbell, but just for him. He redeemed you with his precious
blood that you should never call anything your own, but his. That you should never take anything
to be your own, but only his. That you should live no more
for yourself, no more to yourself, but for him and to him. It is
our responsibility, it is our privilege, and it is our desire. I have no hesitancy in saying
that. It is our desire, as much as
it is our responsibility and privilege, it is our desire in
all things to pattern our lives after the Lord Jesus Christ,
exemplifying in all our relationships with others especially with God
and God's saints, the love of God our Savior. That's what it is to live for
God. That's what it is to live for
God. But this is totally contrary
to our nature, totally contrary to everything about us by nature.
We are by nature, every one of us, no exceptions, proud, self-centered,
self-serving, selfish, mean-spirited, hateful, and cruel. Anything
but loving, kind, gracious, and forgiving. Therefore, we are
taught again and again and again to heed this admonition. Be ye followers of God. As Paul wraps up this epistle,
and he concludes his arguments persuading us to keep the unity
of the Spirit and the bond of peace to walk together in the
blessed fellowship of the gospel, he says, be ye followers of God. As he concludes all his doctrine
in this blessed epistle, he says, now children of God, I've taught
you these things, that you may be followers of God. May God,
the Holy Spirit, inscribe on our hearts the message of this
text. The word followers, I remind
you, is a much stronger term than we commonly use it for in
these days. Paul does not mean that we simply
should follow the path of Christ our God that he walked and followed
upon this earth. He did not simply mean that we
should follow the direction of God's word and the things written
in this word, but rather the word means to mimic, to imitate. Paul is saying children of God
in every relationship of life, in everything about your life. Imitate God. Imitate God, our
Savior, the Lord Jesus. If we are the children of God,
we're to be imitators of him. Now, the only way we know God,
the only revelation we have of God, the only full, complete
revelation of God is in the person of Jesus Christ, who is himself
the image of God. He is that one, that one and
only man in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If we would know God, we know
Him only in Christ. If we would walk with God, we
walk with Him only in Christ. If we would follow God, we follow
Him by following the Lord Jesus Christ. If we're to be followers
of God, we must be imitators of Christ Jesus the Lord. That
means that God our Savior is himself the standard of our lives. That's a high standard. Let us never be satisfied with
anything less. Let us never be content with
anything less. Christ Jesus is our rule of life. The highest desire and ambition
of our hearts is to know Him and be transformed into His likeness,
to know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship
of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, conformed
to Him in the totality of our lives. If we would honor God
and do good to men, we must be followers of Christ, followers
of Christ. If we would honor God and do
good to men, we must be followers of Christ. Make that your heart's
desire, your constant prayer, your lofty goal, your soul's
ambition. This is the character by which
God's saints in heaven are known. They're described in Revelation
14 as they that follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. And that
is the character by which God's saints on this earth are known.
I must quickly and forcefully say, following Christ has nothing
to do with the clothes you wear, the length of your hair, whether
or not you dye your hair, whether you ladies wear makeup or don't
wear makeup, has nothing to do whether you have a television
or don't have a television, has nothing to do with whether you
eat pork or don't eat pork, Has nothing to do with whether you
drink a glass of wine or refuse to ever have any wine. Has nothing
to do with whether you smoke or chew tobacco. Got nothing
to do with any of those things. Oh, but I want to lead a godly
life. I'm gonna tell you what it's all about. It's following
Christ. It's following Christ. It's following
Christ. Followers of God as dear children. Just two things in the text.
First, the exhortation, and then the example. The first thing
we see in our text is an exhortation. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children and walk in love. This exhortation applies
to all God's children in all circumstances, all the time,
everywhere. over and over and over again
in the New Testament. Both Christ and his apostles
emphasize the necessity of believers striving to be like God, striving
to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. As believers, as sinners saved
by God's grace, chosen in everlasting love, washed in the blood of
Christ, born again by His Spirit, we should strive for a God-likeness
in the way we live. I don't know why, but for some
reason, sitting there, getting ready to preach, my mind went
back to a long time ago. I was 19 years old. A good friend
of mine, he later became a good friend of mine, Brother Elmer
Cates, pastor of the Gospel Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina,
was my literature professor. And he gave an assignment. He
required everyone in the class to write a paper on our idea
of utopia. That is the perfect life and
perfect way to live and perfect place to live. What would it
be like if we lived in utopia? And I recall well what I wrote. It befriended Brother Cates and
I pretty quickly. Utopia, that's to live with God
and live like God forever with no sin. It is to live with God and live
like God forever with no sin. I can't begin to imagine describing
to you what this exhortation, this command involves. Be you
followers of God. I can't fathom God, let alone
think about describing what it is to follow him. We're constrained
when we see him in his glory to cry, woe is me. I'm a man
of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. I understand that. God is infinitely
and altogether above us. His ways are not our ways. His
thoughts are not our thoughts in anything. When we're called
to imitate him, We shrink away like a leper crying unclean,
unclean. Can creatures of the dust imitate
the Almighty? Can sinners imitate God? I'm not talking about just putting
on a show and acting like we're imitating God. I'm talking about
imitating God. Can sinners mimic God, follow
God, act like God? were the command not given in
inspiration, Mark, and I made that suggestion to you, you would
rightly look upon that as being near akin to blasphemy. But here
it is in the book of God. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. This is what God requires of
us, and this is what we must seek for His glory. Turn back
to Matthew. I want to show you several places
in Scripture where we're taught this. Matthew chapter 5. Insufficient and incapable as
we are to do so, we're repeatedly admonished to be followers of
God, imitators of God. Matthew 5, verse 43. Ye have
heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thine enemy. That's the philosophy of everybody. You hit me, I'll hit you back.
You say something bad about me, I'll say something bad about
you. That's the philosophy of man, fallen, depraved man. But
I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use
you and persecute you. that you may be children of your
father, which is in heaven. For he, he does that. He does that. He maketh his son
to rise on the evil and on the good. He sendeth rain on the
just and on the unjust. Verse 46. For if you love them
which love you, what reward have ye? 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 so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. Now there's a huge, huge, huge
volume in that last statement. But look at Luke chapter six,
Luke chapter six. Let me show you one aspect of
that perfection. Luke chapter six, verse 35. Luke is giving us the same account.
And he says, love ye your enemies and do good and lend, hoping
for nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall
be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil. Now watch this. Be ye therefore
merciful, as your Father also is merciful. be perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect. One thing that certainly means
is this, be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. Turn back to 1 John chapter 4,
1 John chapter 4, verse 10. Herein is love, not that we loved
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. Be ye followers of God. That's
the requirement God gives. If God gives the requirements,
we may be sure He makes it possible for us to do so. We must not
give this up as a hopeless command, for whatever God requires of
His elect, God gives to His elect. He will enable us to perform
that which He commands. This is the way of His grace.
His grace is sufficient. God requires you to repent, but
you can't repent. He works repentance in you. God
requires you to believe, but you can't believe. You have proved
it yourself, trying, trying, trying, trying. You could not
believe, except he give you faith and work faith in you. And the
Lord God requires us to be followers of him. That's more than Larry
Brown and Don Fortner and all the rest of us here together
combined can do. But that's not more than God
can do in us. Graciously, he lays the right
hand of his might upon us and says, fear not, I'll give you
the grace and the power to follow me. And let me show you how he
does. for certain, without question,
and this must be emphasized above all, Christ obeyed God for us. and we obey God in Him, our surety
and our representative, as our substitute. When He lived and
died on our behalf, we lived and died in Him. His obedience
is our obedience. His righteousness is our righteousness. But here, the Spirit of God commands
us today to do something. He says, be you followers of
God as dear children. How can I do that? He's given
us a nature that can't do anything else. He's made us partakers
of the divine nature. We are born of the Spirit and
that holy thing created in us cannot sin. Yes, we still live
in this body of flesh, but we are to be followers of God and
he's given us to be new creatures in Jesus Christ the Lord. He's
created in us a new man, created in righteousness and true holiness. He's given us His Word to show
us what He means about following Him. You don't have to read creeds
and confessions of faith. You don't have to read history
books. You don't have to listen to what some man says. I think you ought
to do this. I think you ought not do that.
Pay no attention to it. Pay no attention to it. God's
given us His Word to tell us how to follow Him. He's given
us His Spirit to govern us and He's given himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, God himself,
as an example to follow. Our Lord Jesus came into this
world for the purpose of revealing the very character of God in
the saving of his people. In Christ we see the express
image of God Almighty. and he gave us an example to
follow. In fact, when he got done washing
the disciples' feet, he said, I've given you an example. Now
you go do it. You go do it. You do what I've
done. What an example he gives. It's
an example of faith, of love, of submission, of obedience,
of self-denial, of service to God and men. example. Remember, our Lord Jesus on two
occasions took a few loaves and fishes and fed thousands of people,
thousands of people. I don't have any question. I
don't have any question, Brother Claus. Some of those folks He
fed were among the Jews who plotted for His crucifixion. He fed them. There's no indication
in scripture that they believed him. No indication in scripture
that they were God's children. They were just hungry folks and
he fed them, the followers of God. Folks were all around him
sick and we're told in the ninth chapter of Luke, that they brought
people to him, just kept bringing folks to him, just all day long
they kept bringing folks to him. And he healed as many as had
need of healing. What compassion, what compassion. Our Lord Jesus stooped before
his disciples and washed their feet. He took time out of his
busy schedule We sometimes think we're busy, we have a lot to
do. Read a day in the life of our Redeemer as he walked on
this earth and tell me about a busy schedule. And you know
what he did? That man, that great, great man,
that remarkable man, that man indescribably above all other
men, that man sat down and He said, bring your
little boy up here and set him on his lap and talk to him. He showed tenderness and care,
embracing little children. Our Lord Jesus stood at the tomb
of Lazarus and he wept with folks who wept. He wept with folks
who wept. Our Lord, voluntarily bowed to
his father's will as our substitute and submitted his will to his
father's will. Oh, what an example of walking
in love. Why did he do that? Two reasons. Because of his love for God and
his love for such things as we are. Now, what motive is it we need?
What direction is it we need? And our Lord Jesus in all these
things displayed an exemplary faithfulness. Just watch it. Just watch it. Just watch it. Watch His conduct. Watch where
He goes. Watch how He behaves. Watch how He deals with folks.
Watch it. In everything, faithful to God. Faithful to God. God has given us his spirit to
dwell in us and change us into the likeness of Christ. Turn
over to 2 Corinthians chapter three. 2 Corinthians three, I
want you to see this. I think it's great. Verse 18, we all with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
You take a mirror, here's the front side of the mirror. I'm
looking back here and I can't see anything. You turn it around. And what
are you looking at? Well, you're looking at yourself.
Well, Paul says here, by divine inspiration, we, by faith, looking
up to heaven, looking to Christ, it's like looking in a mirror.
And as we look to him, we're changed into the image of the
one we behold. Robert Hawker's comments were
just too good for me not to read to you. Listen to this. He said,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are changed
into the same image. When God the Spirit enables the
child of God to behold Christ, this begets an assimilation similar
to the effect of looking into a mirror. The one is formed by
the other. So by beholding Jesus in his
glory, admiring his person, having our souls ravished with his love,
we are led to imitate what we love. And through the spirit
of the Lord, we grow up into a desire to be like him, to resemble
what we love and to imitate what we admire. Precious Jesus, Hawker
said. Be it my portion to behold thy
face in righteousness, that when I awake up, I may be satisfied
in thy likeness. But how are we to be followers
of God? How can we be followers of God?
Obviously, we cannot perform the works God performs. We can't
create something. We can't govern providence, and
we ought to give up trying to. We can't give anyone life and
faith. Obviously, when we're called
upon to be followers of God, we're called upon to imitate
God's character set before us in the wonderful, blessed life
of our Savior as He walked on this earth. Specifically, in
our text, Paul is talking about one particular thing. one specific
aspect of life. He's telling us, as we are followers
of God, to pardon and forgive wrongs done by others. If we would be followers of God,
we must imitate him in his love. Walk in love. By our attitude and actions toward
others, We demonstrate the character of Christ our God and Savior. Beloved, let us love one another,
for God is love. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Here is the revelation of God's
perfection. He said, be ye perfect as your
father is perfect. That means be ye merciful as
your father is merciful. This is the revelation of God's
glory. When he came to Moses and said,
I'll show you my glory, I'll be merciful to him, I'll be merciful,
I'll be gracious to him, I'll be gracious. Forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin. If we would imitate the mercy
of God, We must use what we have to supply the needs of others,
particularly, yes, in the church and kingdom of God, our own brethren,
but not just in that regard. What is it that God has been
doing on the stage of this world all these thousands of years
except showing his goodness? Listen to this. You can read
it for yourself in Acts 14. He left not himself without a
witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. We've been having rain. Well, he's talking about back
in the office. News reports said that four-year drought we've
had in California is officially over now. Where Brother Eric
Rich is, where Charlotte and Teresa are fixing to go, they're
getting rain today. Do you know how much rain they
normally get? Two inches a year. They're getting rain. They're
getting rain, lots of rain. What a good thing. Well, man,
have you ever been to San Diego? You know the kind of folks who
live out there? They're kind of like folks who live next door
to you and me. What's God doing that for? Because God is good. And he sends sunshine and rain
even upon folks who hate him. Even upon folks who hate him.
And God, by this great act, showing forth his glory, this attribute
of his being that we are to imitate, forgives sin. He freely, freely
forgives. He forgives when forgiveness
is not sought. He forgives requiring nothing
in return. He forgives absolutely. And so thoroughly forgives that
He never brings the matter up again. And then He gives us a
reason for doing so. You, you be followers of God. because you're God's dear children. You're God's dear children. Children of God act like God,
act like God. Remember whose you are and who
you are. You're God's dear children. You
and I are representatives of God and his family on this earth. Act like it. How is that? Walk
in love, forgive one another. Now I'm certain I'm not mistaken
in my understanding of this passage. Paul himself tells us what it
means to be following, imitating God. He says, walk in love. Walk in love for God. Walk in
love toward the Lord Jesus. Love it. Oh, love God your Savior
who loved you so that he gave himself for you. And he says
principally here, walk in love one toward another. This is Christ's
new commandment. The mark on all his children. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples, because you have love one for another. Someone has well said, to render
hate for love is like Satan. To render hate for hate is like
the brute beast. One dog growls at another one,
first thing you know you can't tear them apart. To render love
for love is to be like men. We like folks who like us, don't
we? But to render love for hate, that's what it is to be like
God. To render love for hate, that's
what it is to be like God. Pastor, that's just too much.
That's expecting too much. That's requiring too much. Do
you really think so? Do you really think so? Do you really think so? That's
what we've experienced, isn't it? Is that not what we've experienced?
No, that's not too much. That's not too much. How far do you carry that? To
love somebody is to do good for them. and not evil. It's to think well of them, not
evil. It's to speak well of them, not
evil. It's to surrender your rights
and your power and your will to the object of your love. If that's how homes were built,
there'd be no such thing as a divorce court. You wouldn't need one.
If that's how relationships were built, nobody'd ever sue somebody
at law. Wouldn't happen. Because that's how they built.
Wouldn't need them. Wouldn't need them. Render love
for every opposition. Surrender your will to the will
of the one you love. Your rights to the rights of
the one you love. Your power to the power of the
one you love. To love somebody is to forgive
his offenses, even before he realizes he's
offended. Overlook his weaknesses and failures. And when he falls,
be the first one to reach out a hand to pick him up. To love
someone is to walk before them in exemplary faithfulness to
God our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us. I am pained greatly when I see
men and women, men and women who know and worship
our God willingly absent themselves from the preaching of the gospel
and fellowship of God's saints for whatever excuse they give.
Well, I'm tired. I didn't feel like coming. This
came up, my grandchildren came in, my grandma came in. In other words, granddaddy, I'm more important
than worshiping God. you're more important than worshiping
God. Whatever the reason, whatever the reason, willingly absent
themselves, setting an example, showing the folks they most dearly
love the best way to go to Hell. We often talk, Bobby, about your
father-in-law, Brother Hubert Montgomery. Some of you folks
never knew him. I remember when he first started
having to take a good bit of medication. And he'd come in
and sit down right there, and we'd get done singing the last
verse of the hymn, and I'd get up and ask my text, and he'd
most of the time fall asleep. Most of the time he would. Doesn't
that aggravate you? No. Especially not now, I know
what it's like, I take a lot of medication. Why on earth would
he come? Why would he come? He got a whole
family of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren before
whom he's responsible to exemplify faithfulness to God. And he did
to his dying breath. That's what it is to imitate
God, to be followers of God as dear children. But we have a
better example than that. The example we have is God himself,
our savior, the Lord Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for
us a sweet smelling savor, a sacrifice, a sweet smelling savor to God. He gave up his time, his service
and his strength He gave up his throne in heaven and his name
and his reputation and his fame. He gave up his life for us. How come? Just one reason. Just one reason. He loved me. That's all. That's all. You mean he made that sacrifice
because of love? Yeah. Yeah. If God so loved us,
brethren, we ought also to love one another. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children. walk in love. God help us to
do so for Christ's sake. Amen.