The first one is over in Ephesians. I want you to turn there in Ephesians
chapter 5, and I want you to hold that, and I want you to
turn to Philippians. We're going to look at the epistle
that we've been studying on that for a while in Ephesians 5, but
I want you to look also in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 16. I guess we could entitle this
lesson today, The Rule of Our Walk. The Rule of Our Walk. And I say that because this is
what the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 3 and
verse 16. Nevertheless, whereunto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind
the same thing. Let us walk, and we have a rule
to walk by. Let us walk by the same rule.
Now, here in Ephesians chapter 5, in verses 1 and verse 2, Be
ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in
love, as Christ also hath loved us, and have given himself an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. A believer's journey to heaven
is depicted by many, many ways. Sometimes he's said to walk.
Sometimes he's said to run. Sometimes he's said to stand
still. Sometimes it's said that he's
waiting. Sometimes he's looking. Sometimes
he is watching, sometimes he is listening, and sometimes he
is speaking. Many things depict the believer's
walk. Let me give you some of the things
that are said about the believer's walk. And this is his rule. Paul said we walk by faith, not
by sight. That's our walk, by faith. We
walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, the life I
live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me. The Lord Jesus said, have faith
in God. Have faith in God. Have faith
in God's glorious, eternal person. Believe in God. How faith in
God's decrees, how faith in God's promises, how faith in God's
Word, how faith in God's Son, how faith in God's Gospel, how
faith in God. We walk by faith. And Paul said in Galatians 5,
walk in the Spirit. That's a good rule to walk by,
isn't it? Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. Walk in the eternal Spirit. Walk in the Holy Spirit. Walk in the Spirit of God, in
the Spirit of God's Son. Walk in the Spirit and you'll
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. John tells us this, walk in the
light. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. You were children
of darkness, but now you're children of light. Walk as children of
light. Isn't this a dark world we live
in? I mean, it's not just this world, but this world is engulfed
in darkness. And John said, you walk in light. What a good room to walk by.
walk in the light of His Word. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my pathway." Children of light. We walk in the light. John said this, you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth. What a rule to walk by. Truth. God is the God of truth,
the Scripture says. Walk in Him. Christ said, I am
the truth. Walk in Him. Thy Word is truth. Walk in truth. When we come here this morning,
you know a good rule to walk by? Truth. As we gather here
this morning in public worship to worship God, walk in truth. When we leave this place and
go out into this world and we go on our jobs, what a good rule
to walk by. Walk in truth. When we're visiting
our neighbors or we're at home with our family, when you ladies
are in the kitchen, you men are in the garage, what a good rule
to walk by. Walk in truth. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Solomon said this, walk in wisdom. Paul said, walk in wisdom towards
them that are without. Walk in wisdom. Don't make unwise
decisions. Walk in wisdom. Solomon said,
by wisdom make your war. By wisdom make war. Don't run
off to make war. And boy, we're making war, aren't
we? We're in a warfare. And he said, sit down and reason
this thing out in wisdom. In wisdom, make your war. Happy is the man that find the
wisdom. Wisdom is better than rubies.
And all that can be desired is not to be compared to wisdom. You know why Solomon said, fools
die for lack of wisdom. Walk in wisdom. Walk in wisdom. And in Ephesians 2, verse 10,
this is what he tells us, that we are God's workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath ordained that
we should walk in them. Walk in good works. The Lord
Jesus said, ìLet your light shine before men, that they may behold
your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.î Walk
in good works. Let us walk by the same rule.
Let us mind the same thing. Walk or walk or walk. And here in my text in verse
2, He gives us this rule to walk by. He says, let us walk in love. What a rule to walk by. Walk
in love. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciple when you walk in love. And I'll tell you something
else. By this you and I know that we've
passed from death to life when we walk in love. Walk in love. And listen to this in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. We've all read this. Paul said
this, if I speak with the tongues of men and angels and I don't
walk in love, I'm like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. He
said I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all mysteries
and have all knowledge. I may be as smart as I can be. But if I don't have love, I'm
not walking in love, it don't profit me anything. He said,
I may have faith that I could remove mountains, and I may give
all my goods to feed the poor and my body to be burned, but
if I don't walk in love, I'm nothing. Walk in love. And listen to this, what he said.
When I'm long-suffering, I'm walking in love. When I'm kind,
I'm helpful, and I'm useful, I'm walking in love. When I'm
not jealous or boastful or full of myself, I'm walking in love.
Love is a good rule, isn't it? Love doesn't seek her own things,
her own glory, her own promotions. It's not easily provoked. are
angered, it doesn't seek revenge, love thanks no evil, love rejoices
in the truth and not in iniquity, love bears all things, believes
all things, and hopes all things, and love never, never, never
fails. Walk in love. dear old Horatius Bonar, and
I love the dear man to death. He's a better preacher than I'll
ever think about being. But he said love is a motive
but not a rule. But love is both a motive and
a rule. Paul said this is our rule to
walk by. What is it? Love. Love. I'll tell you one thing, I don't
think you can improve on love as a rule to walk by. I want
you to look here with me in Romans chapter 13. Hold Ephesians chapter
5. And look here in Romans chapter
13. This is why I say love is one
of the best rules to walk by. Not the only rule, but boy, I
tell you, it's one of the best ones. A man came to the Lord
Jesus one day. He said, Lord, what's the great
commandments in the law? The Lord said, there's two of
them. There's two of them. The first one is this. Love the
Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul. That's the first commandment.
Boy, that's the fulfilling of the law towards God. If you love
God, what are you going to do? You're going to love everything
about Him. If you love his person, you're going to love his word.
If you love his person, you're going to love his people. If
you love his person, you're going to love his ways. To love him
with all your heart, soul, and mind. And he said the second one is
likened to it. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. There's the rule towards God.
Love him. The Lord Jesus said, if you love
me, you'll keep my commandment. And love one another. And look
here at what the Apostle Paul said about that in Romans chapter
13. And look here in verse 8. Romans 13, 8. Oh, no man anything
but to love one another. For he that loves another hath
fulfilled the law. Now look at this. If you love
somebody, look at this, you won't commit adultery. Not if you love
somebody. Not if you're walking in line.
You won't kill. You won't steal. You won't bear false witness. You won't covet. And if there
be any other commandment in the law, it is briefly comprehended
in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law. Walk in love. Walk in love. This is our rule of walk. Walk in love. Walk in love. You don't have to be afraid of
a man that's walking in love. Because he won't hurt you. He
won't hurt you. If he does, he's made a mistake.
And boy, when he sees he's made a mistake, he'll humble himself
before you. He'll kiss you. He'll hug you.
He'll ask for your forgiveness. He'll make restitution what he
can if he hurts you. Love. Walk in love. Look back over now at my text.
We have a great example of this love. Look back here at it. We have someone else who walked
in love. And he left us an example that
we could follow his steps. Look in verse 2 of Ephesians
chapter 5. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us. Back in chapter 4 and verse 32,
we've already seen this, forgiving one another, even as God. There, God's our example of being
tender-hearted and forgiving us. And here, the Lord Jesus
Christ is our example of walking in love, as Christ has also loved
us. I tell you, you cannot improve
on the Lord Jesus Christ as an example in your life. You can't
improve on Him as a motivating force. You never want to hang
the threat of God's wrath upon a child of God to do anything,
because the wrath of God is never on a child of God. You can't
threaten Him with damnation because you'll never be damned. You cannot
improve on the Lord Jesus Christ as an example and motivating
force for God's people. I read where one man said, he
said, the Lord, you come to Christ and he saves us, but we go to
Moses to learn how to live. I prefer Christ, don't you? I
prefer, Christ is my example. I trust Christ. The Lord Jesus
said, Moses is accusing you. Well, now what he told the Jews,
you're looking at me like I'm going to accuse you. Like, I'm
hard. I'm not the one that's accusing
you. It's Moses that accuses you. Moses with that old, long,
gray-haired beard and stern look and cold eyes. He's the one that's
accusing you. You want a good example, brothers
and sisters? You can't improve on the Son
of God. Walk in love as Christ hath loved us. Here's what Paul
said, let this mind be in you that was in Christ. Let this
spirit, let this attitude be in you that was in Christ. What an example of humility that
He is for us and walking in love. Christ suffered for us, leaving
us an example that we should follow His steps. What was his
step? Love. When he was reviled, what
did he do? He didn't cuss. He didn't get
mad. When he suffered, he never threatened
anybody. He walked in love, didn't he?
He walked in love. Walked in love. In everything,
the Lord Jesus Christ is our example. In His sufferings, in
His faithfulness, in His truthfulness, in His humility, in His faith,
in His hope, in His praying, walk as Christ walked. Paul said,
Be followers of me because I am a follower of Jesus Christ. In everything, walk as Christ
walked. John said, He that saith he abideth
in Christ ought also to walk even as he walked. What an example
he is. What an example as Christ. You remember when Stephen was
being stoned. He was the first martyr in the
New Testament. And what a spirit that man had
about him. that stoned him, and he finally
got down on his knees, and the blood was dripping from his head.
Men were mocking him and screaming at him, gnashing upon him with
their teeth. And he had the spirit of the
Master about him, the whole attitude that Christ had upon the cross.
When he looked out over the crowd, and they were jeering him, mocking
him, spitting up at him, remember what he said, They don't know what they're
doing. They're in their ignorance. Remember what Stephen said. Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge. Don't impute this guilt to them.
What a gracious, forgiving, humble attitude. Walk in love as Christ,
as Christ, as Christ. I can't recommend a better example
to us, brothers and sisters. I cannot. I cannot. And notice
this amazing statement here in our text. And walking love, even
as Christ hath loved us. Now I don't hesitate a minute
to say this is probably the most outstanding and amazing statement
in all of the Scriptures. Christ hath loved us. Now why do I say that? Well,
let me say it to you this way. Consider Jesus Christ as a man. Consider Him in His humility
just as a man. A holy man, but a man. Can you imagine being loved by
this man? There is nobody like this man.
There is nobody like him. He is the most unique man that
ever lived. Everything he did was good. He
had no sin about him. He helped everybody that was
around, never lifted his hand to hurt anybody. And sometimes heaven could not
contain itself. It just almost opened up. And God from heaven spoke of
this man. And here is what he said to us.
This is my man. This is my son. I'm well pleased
in him. Look at him. Look what a man
that he is. The greatest man that ever lived. He's the most popular man that
ever lived. Can you imagine being loved by
this man? Ain't that wonderful in and of
itself? Sometimes I think of Brother
Henry Mahan. And one day I was over preaching
for Paul, Brother Henry's son, where Henry goes now. And Henry
comes around and said, listen now. He said, I want you to keep
Sunday afternoon open, because I wouldn't mean you to drive
down the Blue Ridge Parkway, so expensive time to get. Just mean you, he said. Could
you imagine how I felt? This man, this man that God has
used to preach the gospel to the world, He loves me. He loves you two, too. He loves
this congregation. We were sitting there at Henry's
table. Doris had spread the table, and we were all sitting there
eating, and Henry pushed back in his chair. He said, Oh, man,
I'd love to be sitting at Gale Forrest's table. He used to talk
about sitting at the table, he said. Can you imagine being in
love with Henry Mahan? And who is Henry Mahan compared
to this man? Christ hath loved us. Are you amazed by that? I'm amazed,
Clarence, that you love me. I'm amazed, Glenn, that you love
me. That Barb loves me. Bob loves me. I'm amazed that
anybody could love me but to be loved of this man. But I tell
you, it's not just him as a man. Look over here. Holy Ephesians.
Look over here in Luke's Gospel. Look in Luke's Gospel, Chapter
2. Look at this. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 2. I'm sorry, it's Matthew's Gospel.
Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 2. Look at this, not just a man,
a great man, being loved as the greatest man that ever lived,
a man that heaven approved of, could work his way into the presence
of God. He was such a good man. But look
here about it. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he? that is
born King of the Jews." We've seen his star in the East and
come to worship it. And when Herod the King heard
these things, he was troubled, all Jerusalem with him. And when
he gathered the chief priests and scribes of the people together,
he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said
unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the
Thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among
the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor
that shall rule my people Israel." Who is this great man? He's the
king and he's the governor. Do you know any governors? Do you
have any governors that's calling you and letting them know how
much they love you? There are not many kings left in our day,
and you and I will never meet any of them, and they don't even
know who we are. But here is this king who is
king of nations. He is king of kings, and he loves
us. Christ loves us. Here is the
governor, the ruler of the nations, and he loves us. He just ain't
governor of the nations, he's governor of this universe. All
power is given to me in heaven and in earth. He's the man that
can stand out on the ship and command the waves to be still
and they'll bend. And he loves us. He loves us. The king loves us. The governor
loves us. Do you find that amazing? But
look here, he doesn't even stop there. Look here in Micah, over
to your left in the Old Testament, where they quoted this scripture
from. In Micah. I want you to find
it. You have to go to the front of
your Bible and find out where it's located at. If you go to
Daniel, you went too far. If you go to Daniel, start turning
back to your right. In Micah, chapter 5, in verses
1 and verse 2. This is where these scribes were
quoted from when they said, out of this tribe of Judah shall
come the governor. But look here at what this passage
says about it. They didn't believe this, the
Jews didn't, so they conveniently left this out. But look here
about Christ, what's said of it. In Micah chapter 5, and look
here in verses 1 and verse 2. Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops. He hath laid seeds against us. They shall smite the judge of
Israel with a rod upon his cheek. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me. that shall be ruler, governor
in Israel," look at this, "...whose going forth hath been of old
from everlasting." Who is Christ that loves us? He's the everlasting. Who is that? There ain't but
one that can claim that, isn't there? From everlasting to everlasting,
I'm God. God hath loved us. God in Christ
hath loved us. That's the most amazing statement,
the most astounding statement in all the Word of God. Christ
hath loved us. Christ hath loved us. And here's
one of the things that makes it so astounding and magnificent
is this. Christ hath loved us. If we don't find out who us is,
then we won't appreciate and we won't see the amazement of
Christ hath loved. Who is this us? He's been talking
about us. Look back over in Ephesians again.
Look here in chapter 4. Here's us. He's already been
describing us before our conversion. And look what he says in chapter
4, and look here in verse 17. I say therefore, and testify
in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not, as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity, the emptiness and fruitlessness of their mind,
having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
hardness the blindness of their heart, who, being past filling,
have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness
with greediness." That's us! You say, Bruce, that's not us
anymore. No, but that's what we were. And look here how he describes us
over in chapter 2. Look at this. Look in chapter 2, verse 1. Here
is us. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin." Dead. You know one of the things
about a dead person? He stinks. Ain't that so? You wonder why we have to bury
our dead? You know why we have to embalm
them? I had a cousin that died that didn't want to be embalmed.
I think he was afraid that he'd wake up in the grave. They wouldn't
embalm him properly or something. So he said, no, I ain't going
to have any of that. I ain't going to have any of that. Don't
even mess with me. Just leave me alone. So they had to bury
him two hours after he died. He started turning black and
began to smell. So they said, we've got to bury
him. Nobody go to his funeral. Take him out and dig him over.
He smelled. That's the thing about us. In our unregenerate
state, we stink. We're loathsome. were vile. And Christ could love us, us,
dead us. And look, he doesn't stop. We're
in in time fast. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prance of the power of the air.
The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in time past. Look
at this, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh, but not just of the flesh, of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath. And look at this, but God. who
is rich in mercy for his great love." Where will he love? Who? Us. Us vile, disobedient, stinking
rebels. We'll never understand, brothers
and sisters, the love of Christ until we see ourselves for what
we are. The world goes bragging and boasting
that they know something of the love of Jesus, and they are not
even humbled over the boundless of their own natures and their
works. We cannot know it. We cannot
be amazed at it until we see it in this light. He, the glorious Christ of God,
loves us. That's a wonderful attitude.
When you consider us and our violence and our sinfulness,
then we'll go from the attitude, why wouldn't he love me? To the
attitude of, how can he love me? How can he love me? Amazing love, how can it be? That'll be our attitude, David,
when we see ourselves. And we see Him as He is. Oh,
what condescending love. What unconditional love. Christ
hath loved us. Something else we see here is
this. He proves His love. He manifests His love. He shows
us His love. How does He do it? By the cross.
See what He says back here in our text? And walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us, and look at this, hath given himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God. We make the statement sometimes,
and almost off the cuff, that Christ left His home in heaven
and came to this earth and died upon the cross for our sins.
But you know what's much more than that? That's a general statement,
and we need to stop sometime and decipher this. Because this
word here, given, He hath given Himself, this word means to surrender
up. To surrender, to give up, to
deliver up. When the Lord Jesus Christ left
heaven, what did He surrender? My goodness, somehow or another. Brother Larry taught on this.
You'll have to get his tape. I can't even enter into this.
And I bet you after Larry taught on this, he's still not able
to enter into it. Paul was talking about this in
Philippians 2, about Jesus Christ being in the form of God. Whatever form that is, however
we interpret that. When he was with a father, he
said, Father, I had this glory with you before the world was. But in some way or another, he
forsook that. He emptied himself of that glory
and that form. And the Scripture says he took
to himself instead the form of the servant. Ain't that amazing? It wouldn't have been robbery
for him to come to this world and set up on the ivory throne
and say, I'm God and I want you to come and bow and serve me. But he never did that. He never
claimed that for himself. He let it go. Emptied himself
in some strange way for a while of all that glory he had with
the Father. And came here. girded himself with a towel and
got down on his knees and washed the feet of his creatures. And he says, do you think this
is strange? Peter said, yes, it is strange
because you are the Lord. You are the Lord of glory. You
are my Master. And he said, yet I am among you
as one who serves. Ain't that amazing? When he left
heaven, he gave up what he had there, the rest of it all, the
glory and the worship of it all, and emptied himself and came
here and tucked himself out humanically to be despised and rejected,
to fast for forty days, to suffer temptation and hunger
and thirst with no place to lay his head. He gave up Himself
before He came here. And after He came here, He gave
up Himself upon the cross. And oh, what a giving up that
was. He says here that He gave Himself an offering to God. A gift. A gift to God. That's what that word offering
is. Under the ceremonial law, the priest often brought gifts.
Sometimes men would bring them different offerings of gold,
other crops, or foods. Sometimes they'd offer these
things to God. That was one of the duties of
a high priest, that he could offer gifts to God. What did
Christ offer to God? Himself. He offered Himself a
gift to God. But He doesn't stop there. Look
at this. Not only an offering, but a sacrifice to God. What is this sacrifice? You know,
we wouldn't even know what this was if we didn't have the Old
Testament. If we just had the New Testament,
we wouldn't know what this sacrifice was. We often say that the New
Testament reveals the Old Testament. The Old Testament sometimes reveals
the New Testament, doesn't it? How they complement each other.
And you can't have one without the other. What is this sacrifice? You remember it. We remember
it, don't we? Remember the Day of Atonement? The high priest
was to take this animal that was without blemish, and he would
bring him there at the door of the tabernacle, and he would
take this bowl, and he would cut this animal's throat and
catch this blood in this animal. Wait, I missed something. Did
you notice I missed something? I missed something most important.
God forgive me. You know the first thing he did
when he checked this animal and made sure that it was without
blemish? And he brought it there to the
door? You know the first thing he did? He put his hands on its
head. Why did he do that? Transferring
the sins of all Israel to that animal. They weren't on the children
of Israel anymore. They were on this animal. And
then he cut his throat and caught the blood in a bowl, and he cut
this blood into the most holy place, and he sprinkled it on
that altar, that mercy seat. And he sprinkled it all around
in front of the mercy seat. When we go to the throne of mercy,
brothers and sisters, it's sprinkled with the blood of Christ. And
everywhere we stand, there's that blood. It's a holy place,
a sanctified place. And then He'd take that animal
and skin it, and He'd burn its body upon that altered brass,
and He'd take its hide outside and burn it in a fire. The Lord
Jesus Christ offered Himself a sacrifice to God. And the Father took our sins,
the sins of all His people, and He put them upon His Son. Don't the Scripture say that?
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and God has laid on him our iniquities. Ain't that amazing? Nobody can
do that but God. You can't transfer your sins
to me, nor I to you. But God can. If He leaves them
on us, we die. But He, being God, can take our
sins and put them on His Son. And lovingly He did. And Christ
owned them as His own. And then God required His blood.
And Christ gave His. How do you know that? The Bible
says He gave Himself. He gave up Himself upon the cross. Gave His blood to God. Gave His
body to the cross and to death. And brothers and sisters, listen
to this. This is the most wonderful news you'll ever hear. There's
nothing left but Christ Himself. Ain't that wonderful? There's
no sin. There's no condemnation. It's
all been put away. God saw the travail of his soul
and said, I'm satisfied. Throw those sins in the depths
of the sea, never to be found again. They're gone. If you don't
believe me, behold the Lamb of God. And when you see Him, do
you see any sins upon Him? No. What happened to Him? His
blood purged Him away. His blood put Him away. Ain't
that the best good news you'll ever hear? And why did He do
it? He loved us. He loved us. And you and I will never know
love, the love of God, except we see it in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll never know the love
of Christ, but as we see it at the cross. It's always at the
cross. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. He loved us and sent His Son
to be the perpetuation for our sins. And if He so loved us,
we ought to love one another. And if Christ walked in such
love, then let us walk in love, even as Christ did. Ain't that
a wonderful message? That's good preaching, ain't
it? That's good preaching. You may find a better looking
preacher, but you won't get no better preaching. And if I had
some her, if I just had some her. Oh, what a gospel. What a gospel. Don't that motivate
you to walk in love? See what I'm saying? It sends
you off to Moses to be accused and examined. If you send me
off to Moses, I'm taking Christ with me. I don't care to face
Moses, and I love Moses. But I love Moses when he comes
down from heaven and he speaks of Christ, of the decease that
he was to accomplish that day. God bless you. Let's pray.