Believers Are Imitators - [Ephesians 5:1-5]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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January 30, 2011

00:00: I was thinking this afternoon, you know what word is really getting a bad reputation over the last many years?
00:08: I mean, I guess it was even bad when I was younger. Maybe it's better now. I don't know. But the word imitation.
00:17: I don't think I've ever said in my life, I don't want what's real, give me the imitation. I don't think I've done that.
00:22: Maybe, I don't know. We've even come up with fancy words for it.
00:29: What's a good word for imitation? But I mean, if they say, hey, would you like the imitation
00:37: Lexus or the fake Lexus? I think I'm saying no to both. But here's one.
00:43: Faux. Faux. Right? Faux. You dress it up with a little foreign accent, and it sounds pretty good.
00:49: I'll have the faux leather, you know. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Or of course, you've got pleather, you know.
00:59: What's that? Is it leather? No, it's pleather. But generally speaking, we don't really want imitation.
01:08: We want the real deal. However, there is a form of imitation that is good.
01:15: And no, I don't mean Frank Caliendo or Rich Little or whoever you listen to. I'm not talking about any kind of imitation other than this.
01:25: It's been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. And when it comes to imitating
01:31: God, it is the believer's highest end. It is that which we ought to seek to achieve.
01:38: Why? You know, I had a conversation this week with someone who indicated to me that they would like to become a
01:45: Christian. This person indicated that, you know, maybe if they could stop doing this or stop doing that, then they'd become a
01:55: Christian. That's when you know that things aren't quite getting through.
02:04: Believers want to imitate God. We want to be like our Father, not because we are more pleasing to Him, not because we are going to somehow be closer to Him in the sense that, you know, the more we act like Him, the more we are like Him, not in an outward sense, but an inward sense.
02:23: And it's not for God's benefit. He already knows those who are His. But when we don't live according to His standards, we are the ones who struggle.
02:35: We are the ones who are unsure of our salvation. I'd invite you to open your Bibles to Ephesians 5.
02:43: We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 5 this evening. And to just kind of set the tone for where we are, kind of catch us up to where we are in the book of Ephesians since we haven't been preaching through it.
02:58: The theme of Ephesians could be said several ways. Maybe live out what you believe.
03:04: The first three chapters are basically theology. The second three chapters are practicing that theology.
03:13: It's also been said that the theme of the book would be, be who you are in Christ. Practice your position.
03:21: All those things are true of Ephesians. Chapter 1. The theme of chapter 1 could easily be said to be chosen and sealed, referring to those who are called by God.
03:31: Second chapter, saved by grace. Third chapter, one of my favorites, mystery of the church.
03:39: Talking about how the enmity of the law has been set aside. Chapter 4, unity in the body.
03:46: And also referring to your former life, how you have changed. And so we come to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1.
03:57: Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
04:12: But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints.
04:22: Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place.
04:29: But instead, let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
04:48: It's pretty strong language. No inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
04:54: We want an inheritance there. First Peter talks about the believer's inheritance in the kingdom.
05:03: This evening, I want you to see one command. Just one. In our five verses.
05:10: And four applications of this command. You can call them subcommands, you can call them whatever you want. But these are identifying characteristics of God's beloved child.
05:21: And I want you to see them so that you might better reflect your Father. In other words, we're going to look at five aspects of these five verses.
05:30: One is a clear command and the other ones are commands that are subordinate to it. And that indicate that we are in fact, or you are in fact, imitators of God.
05:41: You are His beloved children. Command number one is pretty easy.
05:48: Imitate God. And this carries with it a vital sense of urgency. It is in fact an imperative.
05:55: Paul's not suggesting that somehow we kind of find our way to God, that we sort of wander our way into imitating
06:06: Him, but that we immediately cease from ungodly behavior and consistently display godly behavior.
06:13: This is, in essence, put off your old life, put on your new life in Christ.
06:20: In Christ is so vital in this entire book. We do these things because we are in Him.
06:26: Because we belong to the Father. The first word, therefore, in verse one, you know, anytime you hear that, you know, therefore, everybody says, what's there, therefore, therefore?
06:37: And that's what we're going to do. We're going to look at why it's there. That first word there in verse one demands that I give you a little bit of an explanation.
06:45: In verses 24 to 32 in chapter 4, the immediately preceding context, the apostle has exhorted his readers to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
07:01: And if someone is a new creation in Christ, if they have been created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, then they put an end to, in verse 25, lying, being dishonest.
07:16: Verse 26, being angry in a sinful manner. Verse 28, stealing.
07:24: And verse 29, speaking unkindly to one another. I mean, those four things right there, that's a great sermon.
07:34: And instead, those are the things we are to put off as Christians. And to put on, he tells us, again, in verse 26, instead of fighting, resolve your differences in a timely manner.
07:48: Verse 28, instead of stealing, work to help those in need. Instead of using words that, of conflict or fighting with one another, we are to edify one another with words.
08:00: And we are also, verse 32, to be forgiving toward one another.
08:06: In other words, salvation, salvation brings about a change, a complete change.
08:15: It's a 180. Talked about it yesterday at the funeral. Repentance is not, I'm going to keep my life the same and just sort of add
08:26: Jesus on. Repentance is a complete change of our thinking, a complete change of direction.
08:33: And in the verses before us this evening, verses 1 to 5 in chapter 5, Paul is continuing this message on proper
08:40: Christian conduct. And he puts it in the starkest of terms. If you are saved, we could say, the
08:46: Paul is saying, act like it. Show me. In verses 24 to 32 of chapter 4, he gave us a list of changes that should already be true of every
08:57: Christian. And now he commands them and all of us, by extension, to imitate the God who adopted us into his family.
09:05: The verb to imitate, we are to be imitators of God, appears six times in the
09:12: New Testament, five times in the Pauline epistles, and in every single case, it is a positive reference.
09:20: We wouldn't think of going to New York City and buying something as imitation, because that would be negative.
09:27: Here it's always positive. It's always a good thing to be an imitator, because it really indicates to be a follower, to be, as it were, a spiritual descendant, and it's always used in a positive way.
09:41: Now, of course, believers are to imitate God, because they are his children. Look, verse 1 again.
09:46: Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. That believers are God's children, his beloved children, shows his special affection for us.
09:57: Back in chapter 1 of Ephesians, we are told that we're adopted by God. But think about this.
10:04: Just setting aside the God -believer relationship for a moment, what sort of child wants nothing to do with his or her parents?
10:12: I don't want to be anything like my parents. And you can say, well, I suppose it depends on the nature of your parents.
10:20: You don't know anything about my parents, or etc., etc. However, when we consider ourselves as children of the living, perfect, holy
10:29: God, and we recognize that we are placed into his family by him, how can we want to do anything other than imitate him?
10:39: Act as he does. Think as he does. Speak as he does. We should view life as God does.
10:47: We should hate sin as he does. Anything that is true of God as we are able to do it, we ought to want to do that.
10:58: If you're here tonight, if you're a Christian, you feel no obligation to imitate your father. May I suggest that you do not understand this verse at all, and you may not be a
11:07: Christian at all. It's not an option. It's not a suggestion. It is a command.
11:14: When we have sin in our lives, does that mean that we're not a Christian? If we fail to imitate him perfectly, does that mean we're not a
11:21: Christian? No. But as I said before, what sin does is it creates this gap. It makes us wonder, do
11:28: I really belong to God? Have I really been bought by Jesus Christ?
11:34: Because sin creates doubt in us because we realize that saved people,
11:40: God's children do not want to sin. That doesn't mean we won't. It means we ought to repent.
11:49: So the first point, the command is be imitators of God.
11:57: Our second command and really an application of this is to walk in love.
12:03: You should walk in love. Look at verse 2. And walk in love. We know from studying that that walk doesn't mean, you know, like walking down the street.
12:14: It is the manner and course of your life. It is the entire scope of your life. You should be marked by love constantly, daily, in everything that you do.
12:25: It is present tense. It is to be habitual, a characteristic, an indelible mark of your life.
12:33: Your attitudes and actions ought to be reflective of the same love that your father has bestowed upon you.
12:41: You are to imitate his love for you in the love that you show to others. Jesus told his disciples what?
12:49: That what would distinguish them from a world filled with self -centered people was the love that they had for one another.
12:57: John 13, 35 says, By this all people will know that you are my disciples.
13:02: If you have love for one another. So you are to be marked by love, abiding in love, living a life that is permeated with love.
13:14: So tonight I would ask you, is that you? Do people remark about how loving you are? Are you filled with compassion for others?
13:23: You know, it really was striking yesterday. There were a lot of different comments made at the funeral.
13:30: And one of the young ladies who said something about Joan, she was leaving the funeral and I said,
13:38: Thank you for sharing today. You know, thank you for what you said about Joan. And you know, in a very loving way, she just lowered her head and walked right out.
13:48: She wanted nothing to do with me. I'm going, what did I say? It is, you know, is it true that people are going to love you back?
14:03: No. You know, people say, well, you know, is it loving to preach the gospel to people?
14:11: Is it loving to tell people that they need to change? Is it loving to tell people that they need to repent? Yes, it is loving.
14:18: And there are times in life where you have to do that no matter what. And a funeral is one of those times. But are you filled with compassion for others?
14:28: I mean, I don't think anybody can go to a funeral, especially of an unbeliever, or somebody that you think is an unbeliever, and not be moved with compassion.
14:37: It is a sad, sad event. And then to recognize that there are so many people there that are just as lost as anyone else, it's sad.
14:49: It ought to move you. I remember once even chastising myself. I was in Portland, and I walked into a shopping mall.
14:58: Portland is kind of a weird city, frankly. It's very weird. And I was just walking around going, what a bunch of weirdos.
15:06: And I thought, you know what? Totally wrong attitude. Every single person that I see that I'm kind of making some superficial judgment about is a soul that will one day answer to God for what they've done with Jesus Christ.
15:22: Am I ready to talk to those people? No matter how they may look, we need to have compassion for other people.
15:37: The standard for compassion is high. How high is it? It's the perfect love, the perfect compassion of the
15:43: Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 2. As Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
15:54: Now that little word in the ESV, as, I mean, I liked it better when it was in the Enumerator Center because it said just as, so at least it was two words.
16:02: But that little word as is pretty imposing. Because it means in the same way.
16:09: The same way that Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, that's how we're to love other people. So, that is imposing, that is intimidating.
16:23: We know how Jesus loved us. Scripture is filled with references to the sacrificial and voluntary death of our
16:30: Lord. He told us that he laid down his life, that no one had the power to take it away from him, but that he did it.
16:37: Philippians 2 tells us that he voluntarily descended to earth and took on a human nature, setting aside the full exercise of his power and authority and submitting himself to the
16:48: Father's will for our benefit. He laid down his life for his friends, but he did so much more.
16:58: Romans 5 .8 says, But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
17:04: He died for us when we didn't deserve anything, when we were enemies of God. And Christ's sacrificial love is not merely an example.
17:13: In other words, it's not just something where we go, you know, in fact, I'm just going to go this far.
17:19: The idea of Jesus Christ as an example, that his love, that his sacrifice is an example, that's an unbelieving idea.
17:28: It is not just an example. It is the example. It's not an example.
17:35: He wasn't just a good person. He was the good person, the perfect man. And there is never a case in Scripture where his love is simply referred to as an example for us to emulate.
17:49: It is always coupled with his sacrifice, with his death, just as it is here.
17:59: Verse 2, As Christ loved us, this isn't just emotion, this is action, and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
18:12: When we see that term, a fragrant offering, we ought to be thinking about the Old Testament offerings that were given in the temple where they would put an animal on the altar and they would burn the animal.
18:24: And that would be known as a fragrant offering. And if it were done rightly, it would please
18:30: God. He said it would be a fragrant aroma in his nostrils. Jesus Christ was such an offering and a sacrifice to God.
18:42: He is more than just an example of love. He is our substitute and the full embodiment of love, love incarnate.
18:53: Is your life marked consistently with this self -sacrificing, Christ -like love?
19:01: First, imitate God. Secondly, walk in love. Third, walk in purity. In addition to having a life or living a life marked by love,
19:09: God's beloved children are to live a life marked by holiness. Look at verse three.
19:15: But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints.
19:25: This is what Joel Beakey says. He says, holiness is the shining of all his perfections.
19:33: Holiness is the backdrop for all else the Bible declares about God. And we are to imitate that holiness.
19:42: And we cannot be holy in the sense that, in the full sense that God is. We can't be separate from sin entirely.
19:50: I mean, we can't just separate ourselves off, you know, fence ourselves off from the world and just be completely immune to sin.
20:00: But here Paul gives us three standards that are right, that are becoming, that are proper for Christians.
20:10: First standard, avoid sexual immorality. The word is pornea, a word that's frequently used in the
20:19: New Testament. And it simply means any sexual activity outside of the
20:24: God -ordained covenant of marriage. In verse five, Paul notes that those who practice such things, immorality, have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
20:37: In other words, they won't go to heaven. What a stark contrast when we just think about sexual immorality.
20:43: What a stark contrast in the world, and really even so many churches that permit sexual immorality in their midst.
20:54: I mean, just this week, that man who's on a sitcom, and all the things that are going on in his life, you just go, this is a man who gets paid millions of dollars a year, and this is the kind of lifestyle he lives.
21:08: Sexual immorality is celebrated. I don't know if you saw, but there was a flap,
21:16: I don't even know if the show's on TV or not, but there was a flap about a show that MTV was going to display, because it might even fall under the laws concerning child pornography.
21:28: This is the world in which we live in, where sexual immorality is considered nothing. We are to avoid it.
21:36: Secondly, we need to avoid all impurity. The word means, it's in a moral sense, and it talks about the impurity of lustful, luxurious, and profligate living.
21:48: It's often coupled with porneia, and it has to do with an overall lifestyle. It would be much like the profligate life of the prodigal son.
21:59: Thirdly, you must avoid covetousness, the state of desiring to have more than one's due, greediness, insatiableness, avarice.
22:09: Look at the list, sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. I think I've just described about 90 % of reality
22:15: TV. If you watch any of those reality shows, you can't tell me that this isn't what they're all about.
22:22: We live in a society, as I said, that's become enamored of such things. This is most of what we see, if it's not in Egypt these days, this is the news.
22:33: This describes our society. I was pretty shocked. I saw some little news blurb this week.
22:38: I have never seen, I don't have any reason to watch Jersey Shore or any MTV show, but it got like 8 million viewers on one week, and I guess the big moment of that was one of the characters was getting released on bail.
22:54: This is what passes for entertainment. This is what people sit around and watch.
23:02: And again, look at verse 5 for a moment. See how it deals with this list. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, that is to say, who practices these things that we were just talking about, or who is covetous, that is an idolater.
23:20: And let me just stop there for a moment. Impurity and covetousness. Those two words are frequently paired in the writings of the early church fathers.
23:30: So much so that greed or covetousness takes on the very nature of impurity. Both have at their root the seeking of satisfaction outside of God.
23:41: But what do you call seeking satisfaction outside of God? It's idolatry.
23:48: Is it surprising that our society has become increasingly focused on sexual immorality and greed, while becoming less interested in the things of God?
23:58: Over the years, if you watch polls, fewer people believe now in creation.
24:07: Fewer people believe in the Bible. I mean, they will say they go to church, but their lives don't reflect what they say they believe.
24:17: Acts of immorality, impurity, and greed have at their very heart the rejection of being satisfied by the riches of God.
24:28: And this, as Paul says in verse 3, must not even be named among you. As God's beloved children, you ought to seek your satisfaction only in Him.
24:38: And you must delight yourselves in Him alone. Again, I have to ask, is that the testimony of your hearts tonight?
24:47: Is there anything that you delight in more than you do your Father in heaven? Paul calls you to walk in purity so that you might live lives marked by holiness.
24:59: So first, imitate God. Secondly, walk in love. Thirdly, walk in purity. Also, please note that in verse 4, the apostle calls us to walk in thankfulness.
25:11: He calls us to put off language which he says is out of place. Look what he says in verse 4 there.
25:20: He says, Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking. Three negative types of language
25:29: Paul describes in verse 4, and none of those types of language appears anywhere else in the
25:35: New Testament. None of those Greek words there. Filthiness expresses that which is shameful or disgraceful.
25:43: He's talking about indecent speech. Here's how
25:48: I would describe it. Things that someone might say in private that they wouldn't want anybody to know about.
25:58: And the truth is, there is no privacy. We often learn, but ultimately there's no privacy because God hears everything.
26:07: Let me give you an example. Do you have some kind of words or language that you'll use in the workplace, but that you wouldn't say at church?
26:15: I don't. Do you talk one way around your friends, and then another around your family?
26:28: For the men, because I know what this is like. Do you engage in locker room chatter? What's amazing to me is how our language as a society has been degraded.
26:40: I watched a basketball game, a college basketball game, and I was shocked to see players saying things, not yelling at the referee, but just saying things to the referee, and I thought,
26:50: Man, if I'd said that when I played basketball, I would have got two tees,
26:57: I would have been suspended for a month. The things that people can say in public are now just incredible.
27:06: There are no lines anymore. What's most shocking to me, and maybe I'm just really totally old -fashioned, I don't know,
27:12: I guess I'm feeling pretty old, but I listen to women talk now. And I am stunned by what they will say.
27:20: And it's not like there is no shame. Shame is absent. And what
27:25: Paul is saying is we can't talk like that. We cannot do it.
27:37: Our society is gone when it comes to this. There is absolutely no, there are no lines, there's no restraint.
27:45: You say whatever you want. The second type of language here is silly talk. It really is the kind of language one would expect from,
27:54: I'll just say it, a moron. And that's why we have the word here, the Greek word, morologia, which literally means the words of a moron.
28:04: Silly talk. That's why I like it so much. Morologia. That's morologia. I think I'm just going to start saying that around the church.
28:11: That sounds like morologia to me. Paul's message is don't speak like a moron.
28:17: The picture here is really of an unbeliever, of a fool, saying the things that an unbeliever would say.
28:23: And not just in the sense of coarseness, but in the ideas, even in the way we think of things. Now I'm going to exaggerate something just to kind of give you an idea.
28:33: Mike always talks about if you say that sure was lucky or good luck, he goes, what, huh, what?
28:41: I think he kind of is exaggerating there a little bit, but I think it's that idea. We shouldn't just think, we shouldn't even think these things because they're really kind of unbelieving thoughts.
28:55: The third one is coarse jesting, which is most likely kind of double entendres, words which have a meaning, a hidden meaning, and are meant to appeal to the flesh.
29:08: Jokes. You know what my rule of thumb is, someone who says I have a joke, I used to say this all the time when
29:15: I was in the sheriff's department, somebody because people would like to impress me with their wits,
29:21: I don't know why. And so they would say, hey, senior, I have a joke for you. And I'd go, okay, before you tell me, is it racial or sexual in nature?
29:32: What do you think they said? Almost, they rarely even answer. They just look at me like I was crazy, like, what else is there?
29:41: What other kind of joke would I know? Sometimes they just say yes, and I'd say, okay, well, then
29:46: I really am not interested. But this is, again, this is just how our society has degraded itself.
29:59: If you watch sitcoms, I really don't know of any particular sitcom that I would watch.
30:07: I've had the misfortune of sitting in places where a few have been watched, and I get very uncomfortable because they don't know how to be funny anymore.
30:16: All they know is how to do exactly this. It's coarse jesting. And if they're not insulting one another, they are basically using sexual innuendo.
30:29: And some of you are probably sitting there saying, well, you just don't know what my workplace is like. You don't know what this is like.
30:35: You don't know what it's like to go to school. You don't know, you don't know, and all I can say is really. I spent three years in the
30:41: Army, 21 years on the Sheriff's Department, many, many years in the jail. You think I don't know what worldly language is like.
30:50: I think I do. In fact, people used to come to me, especially when they found out I was seminary, and they'd say something untoward.
30:59: And then they'd look at me like I had a black and white collar on, and they'd say, you know, forgive me.
31:07: So what would you do? What do you do when somebody does something like that? I just look at them and go, it's not me you have the problem with.
31:14: I'm not the person, you know, it's ultimately not me you're going to have to answer to for your language. But it's so easy to just hear it, hear it repeated, and just fall into that trap.
31:31: You're surrounded by it. But Paul stresses that our language is to separate us from the world.
31:38: It's not just our language, but it's one of those ways. Look, I think it should be an absolute comment or a compliment to you.
31:45: If someone comes up to you and says, you know what, you don't swear. Why is that? I think it would be great.
31:54: But instead of those three sinful uses of your ability to speak, you're to be in the habit of giving thanks.
32:02: Even as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5 .18, in everything give thanks, for this is
32:09: God's will for you in Christ Jesus. In our text tonight, he says, let there be, in verse 4, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place.
32:21: But instead, again, he doesn't just say don't do this.
32:27: He says be in the habit of doing that. You know, people say, well, why do you say, how are you doing?
32:34: And I always say, you know, better than I deserve. Why? I used to say that at work and people looked at me like I was absolutely insane.
32:42: Because what was I supposed to say? Another day, another dollar. You know, I'm just living the dream.
32:48: All the things that everybody else said, right? When you say better than I deserve, people just kind of go, they don't know how to respond to that.
32:58: And that's how you want them. They should go, I don't even understand that. Good. Let's talk about it.
33:06: I can tell you how you can be better than you deserve. This is
33:13: God's will for his children, that they use his gift of language. Do you think about that? God gave us the capacity to speak.
33:20: He didn't have to do that. We are to use that language for our own entertainment or for his glory.
33:29: James writes that a man who cannot control his tongue has a worthless religion. What does he mean by that?
33:37: Simply that control of the tongue is one of the hallmarks of a believer and a telltale sign of unbelief.
33:45: Again, does that mean you can never slip up? No, that's not what it means. But it is the pattern of your life.
33:54: It's the pattern of what you find funny, the jokes that you tell, the jokes that you listen to, the language that you use.
34:01: MacArthur wrote this, Purity of heart is often revealed by controlled and proper speech.
34:08: Why would he say that? I think it's because the Lord did. Turn over to Mark chapter 7.
34:16: Mark chapter 7. And again, James didn't make it up when he said that. He was just repeating what his half -brother
34:24: Jesus said. Mark chapter 7 verses 18 through 23.
34:32: And he, Jesus, said to them, Then are you also without understanding?
34:40: Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled?
34:50: Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
34:58: For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
35:10: All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. And how are they revealed?
35:17: By what we say. You look at that list, and so many of them are exactly the same as what we're talking about tonight.
35:27: As believers, our words are to be those that praise our God and Savior, that express thankfulness to Him, not those that would bring a reproach upon Him.
35:40: I used this illustration before. I had a Marine who worked for me and was a zealous Christian, had been spending some time evangelizing his co -workers.
35:50: And you know what? In the middle of the night when there's really nothing else going on, I didn't really mind that so much. Even as his boss, all the inmates weren't supposed to be sleeping anyway.
36:01: And then one night, he just let go on one of the inmates, just told them, as we used to say, how the cow eats the cabbage.
36:09: And it wasn't really very godly. So I pulled him aside later, and I just said, I said,
36:15: You know, you can't talk like that. And he goes, Oh, I'm sorry. I said, Now, I know you've been evangelizing so -and -so. I go,
36:21: She heard everything that you said. How do you think that's going to go now? You should have seen him. Ashen, knowing that he had brought reproach upon Christ and really discredited himself.
36:33: But in living a life marked by holiness, we are to show we are God's children by fit actions and by fit language.
36:41: We are to avoid immorality, impurity, and greed, which have as their root idolatry.
36:48: We're also to avoid filth in a silly talk or coarse jesting and instead to express thanksgiving to our
36:54: Father. Now, this is not about legalism. As I said when I started, it's not about stopping doing something and therefore gaining favor with God or, you know, ascending to some higher level of heaven.
37:10: Spurgeon said this, This is the holy reasoning of love. It draws no license from grace, but rather feels the strong constraints of gratitude leading it to holiness.
37:23: When we recognize what we've been rescued from, our attitude is not like,
37:28: Well, I guess I have to give this up and I can't tell any more of those jokes and, you know, all that locker room talk is going to have to stop.
37:39: We think, I can't believe God would save me. And because of that, and because I want Entree to just give the gospel to as many people as possible,
37:47: I want to control my tongue. I'm going to think about what I say before I say it.
37:53: I'm going to think about the ramifications of what I say before I open my mouth. And again, please note in verse 5 that those who are marked by the opposite of good conduct, those whose lives are not marked by love and holiness, will not have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
38:17: You are God's beloved children. You are those commanded to imitate him.
38:24: And you are to walk as one with an inheritance. That is our fourth application. Make no mistake about it, this is not a reference to rewards in heaven, that inheritance.
38:36: I mean, it's very distinct. You either have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, or you don't. And if you don't, you're not going there.
38:45: This is not a call to living a good Christian life versus living a carnal Christian life.
38:51: There's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Well, have you ever heard of carnal Christians? Yes, and they need to repent.
39:01: Because here's the thing about being a carnal Christian, or one whose life is marked by sin, what assurance could you possibly have that you are actually a
39:09: Christian? If there's no difference between how you live your life and how the world lives their lives, then what makes you certain that you're a
39:16: Christian? How is the fruit of the Spirit evident in your life? God's beloved children are to be imitators of him.
39:26: And those who are not imitators of him will not inherit his eternal kingdom. They will not enter heaven.
39:34: Top Lady said this, that opinion that personal holiness is unnecessary to final glorification is in direct opposition to every dictative reason, to every declaration of scripture.
39:47: No holiness, no heaven. If these characteristics, love, reflective of Christ himself, holiness, exhibited by fit language and fit actions are not your spiritual heartbeat and the identifying marks of your life such that your life can be described by love and holiness, maybe you're not saved.
40:16: Well, does that mean that you have to be perfect? Yes, it means that you have to be perfect. Perfection is the target.
40:26: Be therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Does that mean you're going to be perfect? No. It is the direction of our lives, not the perfection of our lives.
40:36: We all sin and stumble in many ways. But every sin, every stumble, every fault, every flaw ought to be a wound.
40:48: It ought to hurt because we fail to live up to the standard that we ought to live up to.
41:02: I pray that you would strive to be those who can be called, could be called imitators of God in the best sense of the word.
41:10: So the closest scrutiny of your life would indicate to you and to anyone who is looking that you are his beloved children.
41:26: Now for some here, maybe this evening, these are areas that we need to grow in. A matter of putting off and putting on, and that's fine.
41:35: But we need to have a change of mind about these things. We need to reflect our Father who saved us.
41:44: Alexander McLaren said this, The world takes its notions of God most of all from the people who say that they belong to God's family.
41:52: They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. In fact, they see us, or when they see us, they see us and they only hear about Jesus.
42:02: I just think about my own life and about the point in my life where I came to think
42:07: I knew that there was a God, I didn't know who he was, and I wanted to know. So who did
42:14: I go to? Did I go to someone whose life was inconsistent? I went to the best
42:20: Christian that I knew and I asked him. I didn't get the best answer, but it didn't matter.
42:31: You want to be known as the Christian guy. The guy who follows
42:36: Christ to the best of your ability. The one who best imitates
42:41: God. Wherever you are, at school, at work, wherever it is.
42:50: Why? Is it about outward conformity? No. But it's often true that our actions are reflective of what is going on inside of us.
43:03: The gospel is never about be good, live right, stop doing X, Y, and Z, and it might have sounded like that tonight, but the gospel is this.
43:12: That God's standard is perfection. That we fall short of that. And that God, recognizing that we are sinners, sent his son,
43:23: Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life that we could not live. To die a sacrificial, substitutionary death on our place.
43:32: A death that he did not deserve. And then he raised him on the third day. And that by believing in him, by repenting, by having a change of mind about who we are and how we can get to heaven, by acknowledging that it's only through Christ's finished work that we can go to heaven.
43:55: That's how we get there. That's the gospel. Our response then is out of joy and out of a sense of hating what we used to love, out of having the mind of Christ as it were, and we're choosing, because we've now been set free from sin, to obey.
44:13: We seek to conform to God's word. And to be conformed by his spirit.
44:19: Therefore, we want to imitate God, our Father. So we walk in love. We walk in purity.
44:26: We walk in thankfulness. And we walk as though we have an inheritance. Let's pray.
44:40: Our Father, we do live in a difficult world. A world that is becoming not just increasingly evil, but a world that is consumed with pursuing it.
44:56: With proclaiming it. And in finding new ways to spread it as it were.
45:05: Whether it be the internet, Facebook, texting.
45:12: On and on it goes. New ways for old sins. But Father, you've called us to live as a people called to yourself.
45:25: Set aside for your use wholly. Lord, we are to be in this world, but not changed by it.
45:35: We need to purify our minds and our thoughts. Let those be reflected by our actions.
45:44: Father, would you give us the strength by your spirit to live in a way that glorifies you.
45:56: That we might indeed even claim to be imitators of you. That we might be thankful.
46:03: That we might glorify you in what we do, in what we say, no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in.
46:11: Father, would you make us willing vessels of your truth. Those who are willing to be persecuted, who are willing to be chided, who are willing to be joked about.
46:21: That you might be glorified. That your son might be glorified.