We'll turn back in your Bibles
to Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four, beginning at verse
17. The outworking of gospel doctrine,
the gospel doctrine that Paul has defined in the first three
chapters of Ephesians, the outworking of that doctrine of salvation
by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the outworking
of that is unity. the unity of Christ's body, which
is his church. We saw it at the start of chapter
four. It is so important. It is what the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed for. John 17, 22. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me the
unity of believers and the love for one another of believers
in this world is a witness to this world Jesus said by this
shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love one
another and in this world in which we live now We're in a
warfare, constantly. There is a warfare. The kingdom
of Satan is the world all around us. It's the kingdom of Antichrist,
of the beast and the false prophet. That's the world in which we
live. It's politics, it's philosophy, it's economics. Everything about
it is the world, the kingdom of Satan. But there's the kingdom
of God. that kingdom of perfect peace
and bliss and there's a battle between the two it's a military
battle but not with carnal weapons the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal but spiritual Satan's kingdom is a kingdom of lies
He was the father of lies. From the beginning, he was a
liar, said Jesus. He's the father of lies. But
God's kingdom is a kingdom of true righteousness, of peace,
and of glory. And so Jesus taught his disciples
to pray, thy kingdom come. and in the end when we die and
leave this life and go to be in glory we will hear if you're
in the Lord Jesus Christ those blessed words come ye blessed
of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world so Paul gives very practical application in Ephesians
4 verse 17 down to 521 the verses we read earlier and right to
the end of the epistle in fact about how we should work out
the doctrine of the gospel in the unity of faith together. Isn't that what he calls for?
You know, there's a great false religion move for religious unity,
the ecumenical movement, but it's utterly false because it's
based on an utterly false premise. The true unity of the gospel
is the unity that we have in the faith of Jesus Christ, which
he has declared in the scriptures and made known to us in the scriptures. Many, many years ago, 1970s I
think it was, there was an institute in Switzerland that was run by
Francis Schaeffer, and he produced a series of films, and I don't
know why, but one of them sticks in my mind, and it had the title,
In the Light of Christian Doctrine, this was its title. How should
we then live? And that's what these verses
are about. How should we then live? In the light of eternal
salvation accomplished, how should we then live? What should we
be like now? We're not in heaven. In heaven,
we will be supremely unified. There will be no disunity. There
will be no sin. There will be nothing to divide
us. We will be in heaven, in glory, in perfect, blissful fellowship. for eternity with our God and
our Savior and one another in perfect love. But on earth, we're
not there yet, we're in bodies of sin. How should we then live
now? Let me give you an illustration.
You know, we've got a queen who has reigned longer than any other
monarch of this country. What is it now? 64 years and
counting, I think, that she has been the Queen of England since
February 1952. So it's coming up for 65 years that she has
been the Queen. And I think everybody would say,
wouldn't they, everybody observing her, that she has behaved with
regal dignity throughout. She has sought and striven to
do everything properly so that the crown, the kingdom, the office
of sovereign of this country has not in any way been defaced
or discredited or called into question. I know there have been
issues at times but generally I think most people would say
she's done a good job. Now, her grandson William, Prince
William, the Duke of Cambridge, barring the end of this world
coming, barring accidents or disasters, barring whatever else
might arise that we know nothing of he's going to be king one
day he's third in line to the throne when the queen dies Charles
will become king and then his son William so let's think about
William for a moment he's going to be king one day how will he
behave when he's king I'm sure he's learning all the time from
his grandmother and I'm sure that if it comes to it when it
comes to it he will behave himself in a very regal manner, very
much conscious of the office to which he's called. But how
does he behave now? He's just Prince William. Not
king yet, is he? Hey, he's going to have a good time, he's going
to do what he wants. No, he's not. No, he's not. He's not there
yet. It might be many years before
he becomes king. But how is he behaving now as
a prince? He's doing his best to behave
in a regal manner, in a respectable manner. He's doing his best,
this is the best way I can put it, he's doing his best to bring
no disrespect at all on the office of king of this country. Isn't
that right? Do you see the parallels between
believers? You know, we're sinful, we're
not in heaven, How should we now live? How should we live?
How? In Ephesians 5, 17, we read this
verse earlier. Paul says to his readers, wherefore,
be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Don't be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
What should we be wise about? We need to be wise about our
nature as the saints of God, believers, and we need to be
wise about the Lord's will for us here. Let's look at these
two things. Wise about our nature as saints. Now look at chapter four, verse
22. And we'll read down to verse
24. Paul's exhorting the believers
at Ephesus, and us, that ye put off concerning the former conversation
the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put
on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Did you see what there is there?
There is the old man and there is the new man the old man and
the new man are still with us here and now as believers in
this life we have those two natures each true believer is what the
Song of Solomon says in chapter six and verse thirteen what will
ye see in the Shulamite the Shulamite was the bride of Solomon in the
Song of Solomon and the Shulamite is a picture of Christ's church
That's what she is. She's a picture of the Church
of Christ. She says, what will you see in those who are believers
in the Shulamite? As it were, the company of two
armies. In every one of us that believe,
it is, as it were, a company of two armies. What are the two
armies? The old man and the new man.
the nature we were born with, when we were born of our mothers,
and the new nature of the new birth, when we were born from
above, by the Spirit of God. Now, you don't have to follow
with me if you can't keep up with turning the pages, but I'm
going to read to you now 1st John chapter 3 and verses 6 to
9. 1st John, John's first epistle,
chapter 3 and verses 6 to 9. Whosoever abideth in him, in
God, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth 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, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God. Now do you know that greatly
troubled me? Many, many years ago, and I remember saying to
the Baptist pastor that was teaching me at the time, I said, it says
here, whoever is born of God does not commit sin. But I do. I can't not. I do it all the
time. And he couldn't explain it to
me. But here's the explanation. John is talking about the new
man that is born of the Spirit of God. That new man cannot sin. That new man is born of God and
he doesn't commit sin. For the seed of God remaineth
in him. He cannot sin because he's born
of God. Now don't think that John for
one minute is saying that believers don't sin, because if you go
right back to the start, he says, if we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess
our sins, he, God, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we sin, we have an advocate
with, not if, when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
You see, he's talking about the new man there in those verses
in chapter 3. Look back again to what John
wrote in his gospel in chapter 3 and verses 3 to 8. This is
Nicodemus. Jesus came to Nicodemus. Nicodemus
was one of the Pharisees. But he wasn't hard-hearted like
the majority of the Pharisees, and he wanted to find out for
himself what was the truth. And so he came to see if he could
make some peace between Jesus and his teaching and the teaching
of his fellow Pharisees. He said, we know that you're
a teacher come from God. And he said, you must be from
God. And Jesus said to him in verse three, Jesus answered and
said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not, don't be surprised
that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit of God. So our flesh is the old
man. That's our flesh. It's the old
man. It's the nature with which we were born. That's the sinful
nature. Psalm 51, the Psalm of David,
after the sin with Bathsheba, that terrible sin in which he
basically arranged the murder of Bathsheba's husband so that
he might have her for himself. And when Nathan the prophet comes
to him and tells him an allegory of an evil man taking another
man's little lamb it's just one little lamb that he had and David
was furious show me that man and I'll hang him and Nathan
says to him you are that man David you are that man and David
wrote this psalm You know, my sin is ever before me. He says
in verse five, behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin
did my mother concede me. It doesn't mean his mother was
immoral. According to what he means is
that by nature, by the nature of what we are in the flesh,
he became a sinner. We all have that trait of Adam. We all have that descent from
Adam, the sin of Adam. Look at the old man's characteristics,
look back in Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
18. There, it talks about the old
man's characteristics. Understanding darkened, alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them
because of the blindness of their heart. who being past feeling,
they've got no feeling about the things of God, have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness, all kinds of immorality, to work
all uncleanness with greediness. That's the nature of the old
man. Ignorant, blind, darkened, past
feeling, working itself out in all sorts of sin. Working itself
out, look at chapter 5 and verse 3. This is what the old man would
do if it were not for the restraint of respectability and the threats
of the law of the land. Fornication, all uncleanness,
covetousness. You know what covetousness is?
It's idolatry, says Paul. It's idolatry. Wanting things,
making gods of things. Let it not be once maimed among
you as become of saints. And this, neither filthiness
nor foolish talking, nor jesting. Oh, you've got to be glum all
the time. That's not what it's saying. It's talking about coarse humor,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For
this ye know. Now listen. Now listen. This ye know. Does it matter
how we live? How shall we then live? No whoremonger
nor unclean person. But I'm a sinner so it doesn't
really matter. I know I'm a sinner. No. No whoremonger, no unclean
person, no covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you
with vain words. No. That's the truth. That's
the truth. That old nature never improves. There's an error around which
talks about progressive sanctification. And it's a grave error. It really
is. It leads to all sorts of other false doctrine. The idea
that we get more and more holy as we become more and more practiced,
that we get more and more of the old sharp edges knocked off
as we get closer to heaven. I have no argument with anybody
who says that the believer is to grow in grace and the knowledge
of our God and Savior. That's what Peter says, the very
last verse he wrote in the Bible. We are to grow in grace. But
the idea that we, by our works of law, become more and more
sanctified and conformed to the nature of God is wrong. It's
not anywhere in the Scriptures. It's a lie. How are we sanctified? We're sanctified from eternity.
in the electing grace of God. We're sanctified by the Holy
Spirit taking us out from the rest of mankind and regenerating
us. We're sanctified by the righteousness of God which is imputed to us
by the fact that Christ died in our place on the cross. And
we're sanctified by the righteous nature that is imparted to us
in that new man that cannot sin. Be in no doubt, as Jesus said
to Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and it
never gets any better it never ever does it never does what
did paul say he started out he was He was the least of all the
saints. And then he wasn't fit to be
called an apostle. And then he said, I am the chief
of sinners. Oh, sanctimonious piety. No,
he meant it. I am the chief of sinners. But
Paul, you're the great apostle, the one who's written so much
scripture. As Peter testifies, the words
of our brother Paul, like all the other scriptures, you're
the one that's done all, you're not, you're not, I'm the chief
of sinners, said Paul. We know that, that's because
that flesh is always sin. And do you know when we get rid
of it? The day we leave this body. The day we die, or the
day Christ comes again to transform us and to take us to be with
him. But there is a new man, put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. That which
is born of the spirit, that which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. What is this
thing that is born, this new man which is born of the spirit?
It discerns. It receives the word of God,
because the natural man cannot receive the things of God. They're
foolishness to him, neither can he know them. Why? They're spiritually
discerned. You must have spiritual discernment.
What is spiritual discernment? Faith. faith to see the things
of God. It discerns and receives the
word of God. It grasps hold of the truth of
the gospel. It receives it with gladness.
It receives all the blessings of Christ, who is made unto us. You need wisdom. Christ is made
unto us. Wisdom from God. And righteousness. And sanctification. And redemption. And faith grasps all of those
things. I need righteousness. Pursue
holiness without which no man shall see God. And I grasp it
by faith. That's how I apprehend it. That's
how I get hold of it. By that gift that he's given
me. By grace are you saved through faith. And that faith, not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. It desires the things of
Christ, this new man. It desires the kingdom of God.
That new man cannot sin, but the two natures, the old man
and the new, the flesh and the spirit, are the experience of
every true believer until the day we die. And there's a conflict,
there's an internal war. Paul says in Galatians chapter
5, he says, the spirit wars against the flesh, and the flesh against
the spirit, and they're contrary to one another. that you cannot
do the things that you would as Romans 7 says but if you be
led of the spirit you're not under the law and he goes on
to list all of the things that they do in verses 19 uh... to twenty to twenty-three uh...
the works of the flesh that the old man does adultery fornication
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like of the
which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they
which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God That's
one nature, that's the old nature. The spirit, the fruit of the
spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law,
that fruit that the spirit produces. We need to be wise about our
true nature as Christ's people. about the fact that there is
the old man of the flesh, but there is the new man of the spirit. And that how then should we live? We need to put off. Oh, I can't
do that because my flesh is weak. Well, why does Paul encourage
us to do it? Put off the old man, which is corrupt according
to deceitful lust, and put on, be conscious about it. So let
us look at what it is to be wise about the Lord's will for us
here. Those verses tell us to consciously, purposefully, willfully
even, put off the old man and put on the new. Like taking off. Imagine you're at work and I'm
thinking about, say for example, I've had jobs, when I was a student
in the holidays I used to have jobs that were very dirty jobs,
especially when it rained. I remember on big construction
sites doing concrete pile driving and being up to my knees, I mean
literally up to my knees in mud. I remember falling over one day
carrying a great big heavy iron bar and it just got so heavy
for me I fell over and I landed up to my waist in this sea of
mud, absolutely soaked from the water, unpleasant, it was horrible.
And I remember getting home at night and what did I want to
do as soon as I got in? Straight into the bathroom, take
off those dirty, filthy, sweaty, nasty old clothes and get bathed,
get a bath, get a shower, get cleaned, put on nice, you know
the feeling of nice clean clothes when you've been sticky and horrible
and sweaty and dirty. Well that's the ongoing scenario
for the believer in this life. Put off those dirty old clothes
with the fruit of them, the works of the flesh. Put them off. It's
an ongoing scenario. Remember, remember, what we are
now by nature, the new man that receives the things of the Spirit
of God. This call is from God's word
to the new man. you say I can't do it, no you
can't in the power of the flesh but this call is to the new man
this call is to the citizen of God's kingdom the soldier in
God's kingdom this is what Paul calls us writing to Timothy,
2 Timothy 2 and verse 3 he talks about believers being soldiers
of Christ in the warfare of the kingdoms to the final victory
in the battle of Armageddon as it's pictured in the book of
Revelation It's an exhortation to the new man to put on the
uniform of the army of Christ's kingdom. Put on that uniform
of the army of Christ's kingdom. How we live as professing believers
before this fallen world matters. And it's a lie and it's blatant
antinomianism to say that it does not matter. It does matter. I'm not appealing to you to constrain
the flesh with law, I'm appealing to the new man, or the word of
God, the spirit by the word of God is appealing to the new man.
Not appealing to constrain the flesh with the law as the legalists
do, because that's a lost cause. Not only is it a lost cause,
it's a pernicious error. Let me be clear and unambiguous,
because there's a lot of confusion about there is much legalism. In those that sound like they're
preaching the true gospel of God's grace in Christ, and we've
all come across them, there is much that is legalistic amongst
Reformed Baptists, amongst Presbyterians, in their confessions of faith.
I tell you, I can almost hear anybody coming across this message
online now, and hearing me say this, who is mixed up with Reformed
Baptists or Presbyterianism, and hear me say this, the intake
of breath will be shocking, but the Westminster Confession, the
Westminster Confession, oh bow down and worship before the Westminster
Confession, tells lies about the truth of God in respect.
of sanctification. It's legalistic. It's wrong.
It's not what the Word of God says. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, there is no light.
How dare you question the Westminster? I can just hear them now. I can,
because of the Word of God. Examine the scriptures, whether
these things be so. Oh, we're a 1689 Baptist confession
church. No, we're not. Not here, we're
not. because it put in the aspects of the law that that Westminster
confession did. They make the law of Moses to
be the New Testament Christian believer's rule of life. That's
what they say. They constrain practical behavior
in their churches with the law's threats. that the law will punish
you, because you all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
and you're going to get punished for these things that you're
doing. Oh, oh, Sunday's the Sabbath day in its Christian form, and
you haven't done this, that, or the other according to their
modern interpretation of it. So you're going to be called
to account on that day of judgment as a believer. for not keeping
Sunday as a Sabbath correctly. Threats and rewards, oh, oh,
oh, if you keep this, oh, your crown is going to have more jewels
in it than those of your mere lesser sanctified Christian neighbour
in heaven, and you're going to be strutting around there, showing
off, look at me now, look how good I am, look at all the crowns.
This is the basic tenet that they preach, and that they hold
to. They talk about growing in assurance. It's false assurance
because it's based on progressive sanctification. Look what Jesus
said in John chapter 8. John chapter 8 and verse 32. He said to his disciples, you
shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free, that's
verse 32. The truth shall make you free. Then in verse 36, if
the Son, who is the truth, I am the way, the truth and the life,
if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. But these legalists love to bring
their people under bondage, into the bondage of the law. They
love to do it. That's what the Judaizers of
the New Testament times all did. That's why Paul wrote his epistle
to the Galatians. He wrote, and look at the way
he regarded them. Oh, they're just Christian brethren
who are a bit legalistic. No, they're not, he said. their
anathema. Let them be accursed. Let them
be accursed. He says in chapter 5 in verse
1 to the Galatian believers, stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. That's the bondage of law works.
for righteousness or for sanctification. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised or if you subject yourself to any
other aspects of law keeping, listen, Christ shall profit you
nothing. Are they stark words? Are they
serious? Yes, they are. They are. They're
serious words. He said if you start by the example
being circumcision, because that was the issue in the early church,
he said you are then under obligation to perfectly keep before the
law and judgment of God every aspect of it. Christ shall profit
you nothing. Exercise discernment. Emulate
the noble Bereans. What did they do? They searched
the Scriptures daily to see whether what Paul preached was true.
But before we move on, I want to show you this issue of whether
we're under the law for righteousness, for sanctifying righteousness.
Romans chapter 6, verses 14 and 15. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace. What
then? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law but under grace? God forbid. Romans 7, verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.
You're dead to the law. It's like one that was your husband
and has died. You're dead to the law. That
relationship's completely broken. Who are we going to believe,
the legalists or the Word of God? Romans 10. and verse 4. I don't think clearer words could
have ever been written. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness for everyone, to everyone that believeth. Christ
is the end of it. You don't earn any righteousness,
whether justifying or sanctifying by the works of the law. Let's
believe what the Scriptures say. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
13. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
13, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. If
we were still under it, Christ wouldn't have redeemed us from
it. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Verse 24 of that same chapter
of Galatians 3, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, our
strict schoolmaster. The schoolmaster that came and
beat us, The law was our schoolmaster, what for? To bring us to Christ. That we might be justified by
faith. But after faith is come, has
faith come? Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you have the faith of God's Son? We are no longer
under the schoolmaster. We're no longer, and I don't
see how it could be any clearer. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
8. 1 Timothy chapter 1. We know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, now listen, believer,
believer, the one made righteous by God, the one made the righteousness
of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. If you have been made
the righteousness of God in Christ, knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind." That's what the
law is made for! To prohibit those things! The will of God is that those
things should not be done. That's what the law is for! As
Colossians chapter 2 says, I'll finish with this verse, Colossians
chapter 2, 16 and 17. Let no man therefore judge you.
Don't let them judge you in meat or drink, what you can eat and
what you can drink, or inspect of a holy day, or of a new moon,
or the Sabbath day. Don't let them judge you about
those things. They're a shadow of things to come, but the body,
the reality, is of Christ. That's what it is, the body is
of Christ. These legalists are not, brethren,
there to be regarded as Paul regarded the Judaizers troubling
the Gentile churches. But we should always make a difference
between the teachers of the law and their gullible sheep who
are confused in their legalistic bondage. Let's make a difference.
But it's the teachers, the teachers of legalism that we ought to
treat like Paul treated the Judaizers of his day. So then, what is
it to wear the uniform of Christ's kingdom? What is it in reality?
It is to aim to live before others with the works of the flesh subdued
and the fruit of the Spirit in their place, constrained not
by law but by the love of Christ. Ask a man who is a legalist who
is a married man, why he doesn't commit adultery. And what he'll
come back with is this, the seventh commandment tells me, thou shalt
not commit adultery. Therefore I do not, ask him why
he doesn't kill. Ah, I don't kill because the
law says thou shalt not kill. Ask a believer, ask a believer
constrained by the love of Christ who is married, why don't you
commit adultery? Law's got nothing to do with
it. It's for love of his wife, that's why. For love of his wife,
that's why he does it. Not because of constraint of
law, but because of constraint of love. In verse 18 of Ephesians
chapter four, they're in darkness, they're in ignorance, they're
in blindness. It's lasciviousness and uncleanness and greediness,
but not the new man who has learned differently from Christ. This is what we need to beware
of being. as some say, who claim to be
believers. It says it in Titus, chapter
1, verse 16. Paul talking about those who
are hypocritical. They profess that they know God,
they say that they know God, but in what they do, in their
works, they deny him. This is it, believer. I'm speaking
to myself. Let's seek not to do anything
before those who observe us, like William preparing to be
king. Let's do nothing. Let's seek to do nothing. I know
the flesh is fallen, but there's a new man. Let's seek to do nothing
that brings dishonor on the cause of Christ and the gospel of his
grace. In verse 25, it's lying. Put away lying, and put truth
in its place. Put away wrath, and put peace
in its place. Steal no more, him that stole,
him that was a thief, don't do it anymore. Be honest, be upright
in all of your dealings. Don't talk corruptly, but speak
gracious speech, intending good. That's all in these verses, read
them for yourself. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. What's the idea
there? You know, it's easy. Those of
us that are parents, we know how easy it is to be grieved
at our children's behavior at certain times of life. This is
what he's talking about. As children of God, don't grieve
the Holy Spirit. Put away those things, bitterness,
wrath, anger, malice, and put in their place kindness, tender-heartedness,
a forgiving nature. Be followers of God as his children,
walking in love, in the example of Christ. Don't drift along
with it. For example, you know at Corinth,
in the church at Corinth, Paul is very, very clear about sin
that was there in the church. And it wasn't a case of, oh,
do you know, but this is all spiritual, this isn't real, so
therefore it doesn't really matter. There was an incestuous relationship
going on in the church at Corinth. And Paul said, you've got to
stop it. You, the church, have got to
stop it. You've got to tell them, either stop it or you're putting
them out of fellowship with you and you're having nothing to
do with them until they've ended that incestuous relationship.
And so it went on. And then you see in the second
epistle, forgiveness is there because he repented. You cannot
just let it drift along. It defiles, it discredits, it
brings scorn on the uniform of God's kingdom. To let that carry
on, the world around would have said they claim to be believers,
they claim to be the people of God, but look at them. We don't
even go having relationships like that man is having in that
church and yet they're letting it go. Now that's what it's about.
Above all, this fleshly old man nature, it festers disunity. Go back to Ephesians 4 and verses
3 to 6. Endeavouring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, one
Spirit, as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above
all and through all and in you all. Why is unity so important? Because there will be no disunity
in God's kingdom in eternity. In a troop of soldiers, you know,
there can be some pretty rough characters in a troop of soldiers,
but there's camaraderie. There's mutual support. Whether
it's on the battlefield, where they cover one another's backs
and they support each other because they know their safety depends
on the safety of all, or whether it's on the parade ground, trooping
the colour, there's mutual effort to be well turned out on parade.
As soldiers of Christ, That's what Paul said to Timothy, as
soldiers of Christ, mutual support, fellowship, prayer, encouragement,
love for one another. As I said earlier, John 13, 35,
by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have
love one to another. So I'll ask the question again. How shall we then as believers
live? As those who seek the honor of
Christ, who purposefully aim to avoid that which dishonours
him in mutual support and love until we finally put off this
old man of sinful flesh and arrive in eternal glory.