1904 saw a great moving of God in the country of Wales and as a result of that move of God in Wales, revival broke out and there was a great time of blessing across that Welsh land. Renowned Bible scholar G. Campbell Morgan was an eyewitness of the effects of that revival and this is what he wrote. He said, the horses are terribly puzzled. A manager said to me, the haulers are some of the very lowest. They have driven their horses by obscenity and kicks. But now they can hardly persuade the horses to start working, because there is no obscenity and no kicks. So as a result of that revival, big change happened in the souls of men and women. And of course, that's the reality, that when someone gets saved, Their life and their lifestyle drastically changes. You see, it is the theme of so many of Paul's letters, and something that we have been focusing on quite a bit, that new behavior accompanies new belief. The little PowerPoint isn't going to work tonight, but don't worry about that. But new behavior accompanies new belief. We begin walking differently to the way that we once walked. That's exactly the subject that Paul's continued to deal with here in Ephesians chapter number five. If you're ready for the last, we're caught in chapter four. Paul had explained how we're to walk sincerely. If we look at verse one, he says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you were called. That's a sincerity of walk. And he's also, not only has he explained how to walk sincerely, but he's encouraged us to walk separately. Verse 17, he calls us not to walk as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds. But here, in chapter number five, Paul is exhorting us to walk saintly. He's encouraging us and he's exhorting us to walk in a different way, to walk in a way that's fitting to be called a Christian. On a Sunday night we were doing a series, what is a Christian today? That definition has been watered down, but here Paul tells us of what the walk of a Christian ought to be. We looked last week, first of all, of how you're to walk We're told that we're to be followers or imitators of God. We're to seek to imitate the way that God wants us to walk. And how do we do that? We do that by looking at the life of the Lord Jesus. We see how the Lord Jesus walked in love. He walked in selflessness. And he walked in a way that was pleasing to the Lord. Not only are we to walk Christly, but as we move on, Paul now calls us to walk rightly. We are called to walk rightly. You'll note the title in verse 3 opens with a but. And that but introduces not a new section, but it introduces a contrast. Paul has been speaking in positive in verses one and two, a way that we should walk, but Paul now switches to the negative, and he sets before us a way that we shouldn't walk. Verses one and two deal with selfless love, and the selfless love that we are to emulate the love of Christ. But verses three to seven deal with the selfish lusts that we are to evade. Verses one and two. The selfless lover, the ambulant. Verses three to seven, the lust that we are to reveal. Verse two is what's sweet to God. This selfless, loving life that we are to live as Christ, it rises a sweet-smelling savor into the nostrils of God. Verse two is what is sweet to God, but verse three brings before us what stinks to God. Bouldees here wish things that are difficult. They are neither pleasant or pretty, but sadly, they are prevalent in society, and sad to say, increasingly among Sienes. We don't say that judgmentally, but we see it as a matter of fact that a warning to all of our hearts that the things here, they're not pleasant, they're not pretty, But they're prevalent in the society in which we live, and increasingly among God's saints. But here, Paul calls these things not to be found. among us. Presenting these things negatively is Paul's call to walk rightly. Three things that Paul exhorts us not to do are three things that we are to have as we seek to walk rightly. First of all, Paul calls us to have morals that are chaste. We are to have morals that are chaste. Paul says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. The main focus of Paul's point here and the real thing that he hones in on in these verses is around sexual purity. He mentions three things connected to that here in this verse. He mentions fornication, he mentions Fornication is the first thing he mentions, and that really is to do with immorality. The word fornication is the Greek word pornia, and it really and literally means unrestrained or unchaste sexual sin. It's, of course, where we would get the English word pornography, which, of course, is a great vice in the society in which we live. And it's something which is an abuse of God's original design for this. The word porneia is the opposite of a Greek word, enkretiata, which literally means to hold yourself in. And that's used elsewhere in the New Testament in relation to self-control concerning sexual things. What Paul is speaking of here, according to Stephen Jay Cole, when he uses this word pornea for fornication, he tells us that it includes premarital sex, extramarital sex, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and the use of pornography, any sex outside of the lifelong commitment of marriage. He says it's not rooted in love, but in lust. Outside of marriage, sex devolves into using the other person for your own gratification. And that's what Paul is speaking of here when he speaks of this word fornication. You see the society in which these Ephesian Christians were living was rife with illicit sexual sin. as it was in many and most of the Gentile cities and pagan areas of Europe at this time. It was even used in the name of religion, and that goes way back even into the Old Testament. Bible commentator John Eadie says, Pornia was a sin which had eaten deep into the Gentile worlds. Before Christianity emerged, in the Greco-Roman world, chastity was a concept that was unheard of. You wouldn't have found someone who was particularly chaste in the Greco-Roman world. Sexual immorality was not only condoned, but it was shamelessly regarded as normal behavior. In fact, listen to how one commentator gives us an insight into the historical context. He says, in the Greek culture of that day, prostitution and fornication were considered permissible activities. A married man in Greece could engage in extramarital sexual intercourse as much as he wished, but this practice was forbidden for the wife. Athenius, a writer in the second century AD, quotes from a speech of Demotheus. He says, we keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for daily concubinage, but wise we have in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our domestic property. Just how perverted was this society into which Paul was writing? You know, wouldn't it be a blessing to be able to say this isn't relevant for us today? But sadly today, as E.D. says, Pornia is still a sin. Fornication has eaten deep into our world. It's no longer a taboo subject. It's no longer something done behind closed doors. It's not something that's hidden away in seedy side streets. Society today is not only rife with immorality, but it's being ruined by it too. Marriages are being ruined. Ministries are being ruined. Homes are being ruined. Childhoods are being ruined. And that's why it's vital as believers that we flee fornication, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6. and verse number 18. We can't as Christians bury our head and say these things don't go on. They do go on. They're happening in people's lives and this is a vice that the devil has been using and is increasingly using and we need to be so careful. Paul not only speaks of immorality when he uses the word fornication, but he also speaks of uncleanness. He speaks of uncleanness. I think that's gone off again. He speaks of uncleanness, which speaks of impurity. Because Paul goes on and he says, but fornication and all Uncleanness. This word uncleanness refers to anything that's unclean or impure. It's a more general term than the word porneia. It was used, for example, by the Lord Jesus. when describing the Pharisees in Matthew 23 and 27. He said, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto white and sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within, full of dead man's bones, and of all uncleanness. It's the idea of a body decaying. It's a picture of corruptness. It's a picture of things that are not alive, things that belong to the world of the dead. The main use, however, in the New Testament is also in connection to sexual sin. And the fact that Paul has mentioned this again just shows how difficult this society was to live in. John MacArthur, of this word uncleanness, tells us that it refers to immoral thoughts, passions, ideas, fantasy. and every other form of sexual corruption. He speaks of immorality. He speaks of impurity. But you know, he also speaks of covetousness. And that can refer to what I've called as the impetus or the catalyst for all of this. Because Paul goes on and he says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, that word or, could be and should be and the word means wantonness, greediness. It means never being satisfied, always wanting something you can't have. J.B. Phillips in his paraphrase puts this verse like this, but as for sexual immorality in all its forms and the itch to get your hands on what belongs to other people. That's what the covetousness describes here. It's an itch It's a desire to have something that's eating away at you. And you know, without doubt, covetousness is unquestionably the catalyst for immorality and impurity. We become dissatisfied with the wife or the husband that God has given us, and we want somebody else's wife or husband, or we want desires filled through other means. And at the root of it all is covetousness. But what does Paul say of all these things? You see, while these things were rife in society, look at what Paul says about the Christians' take on them. He says, let it not be once named among you. When it comes to immorality and impurity and covetousness, Paul isn't just saying these things should be unheard of as happening. He would be right to say that, but he goes one step further because the strength of this statement takes it to another level. He actually goes so far as to say that they should be absolutely unspoken of. When he says that, he doesn't mean a preacher not speaking of them in a pulpit. Maybe that's been a problem for so many years that they haven't been spoken on. What he means here is they shouldn't be talked about flippantly. That they shouldn't be done. They shouldn't be done without any conscience. He says, or seeing them as a bad thing, he says that they shouldn't, they should be unheard of as happening, but more than that, they shouldn't be even spoken of. What Paul is saying here is what is shamelessly so showcased in society shouldn't even be spoken of among saints. Apparently, the ancient Persians had a rule in society by which it was not even allowed to speak such things as it was not allowed to do. If you weren't allowed to do it, you just didn't speak about it. What does Paul say here? He says, with fornication, all uncleanness, or covetous, let it not be once named. Let me not hear of it being named as happening among you, or even you talking about it, as becometh the saints. That literally means because this is not fitting behavior for a believer. That's how we could render that. This is not fitting behavior for a believer. You know, how essential it is that Christians have a character of chastity and a mind that's moral. And yet how challenging it is. You know, folks, the reality is we're living in a sin, sick, sex, mad, self-indulgent world. However belonging now to Christ, we believers are to be different. Do you know it's a real challenge as you think about that. What does it mean? You know, if you think about this and Paul says, you know, it's not even to be named among you. Yet among the pagans and the other worshipers that were going to the temple of the goddesses, and you know, it was everywhere around them. And Paul says, you know, you're to be a contrast. He says, you know, you little band of believers, you're to bring virtue to society. You're to portray chastity as normal and not strange. In fact, if you were to read Romans 16 and 19, we get a lovely summary as to how the Christian is to live. I'm gonna quote it from the ESV, for it renders a little bit differently, and it says, I want you to be wise as to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil. That was Paul's desire. He said, I want you to be wise as to what is good, and I want you to be innocent as to what is evil. There's one concluding little statement for this section, and I think it's so important, keeping with what Paul has been talking about. As for sex, it is to be held in honor, spoken of as sacred, and viewed as a demonstration of love rather than a satisfaction of lust. That's a definition that we will not find in the world today. But that's the standard at which we're to hold this special thing that God has gifted to us in. We're to hold it in this way where it's prized and not perverted. Paul, as he calls us to walk rightly, he calls us, first of all, to have morals that are chiest. But secondly, he calls us to have mouths that are clean. We are to have mouths that are clean. Paul follows on here as he moves from our morals to our mouths, because in verse 40 says, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. You know, a lot can be told about a person's walk by their talk, said that talk is cheap. But you know, talk can be a lot more than that. As we think about that, and you don't need me to tell you this, and quite thankfully, I'm sort of confined a lot more to a study, and your homes, you're now, you're still in the workplace and in society where you know what talk is like. But I've lived on a building site for two years, and I know what talk is like. Talk can be crude, talk can be crass, talk can be coarse. or maybe in some parts of the country they say curse talking but curse and talking be contemptuous by contrast however paul says the talk of a christian is to be clean talk of a christian is to be clean look at what he says here he says first of all our talk shouldn't be filthy This word filthiness is related into talking because, as Paul deals with our speech, and when he says here, neither filthiness, what he's saying is that our talk shouldn't be indecent or inappropriate. If I doubt, Paul is linking back to verse number three, and what Paul is saying here, and this is a big one, He's saying Christians shouldn't be the ones who, for example, are telling dirty jokes or speaking in vulgar terms. Warren Wearsby puts it like this. He says, people who have bias appetites usually cultivate a bias kind of speech and humor, and often people who want to commit sexual sins or have committed them enjoy jesting about them. I'm not going to begin to get into that anymore, but you know the kind of thing I'm talking about. The people who come into work the next morning and speak about the things that have been involved in the day before, or they enjoy jesting about these things, or telling dirty jokes, or speaking wrong about the opposite sex in some kind of manner. And Paul says, listen, as Christians, our talk shouldn't be filthy. But not only that, he says, our talk shouldn't be foolish. He says, neither filthiness nor foolish talking. This is a reference to speaking in a lighthearted, joking manner about subjects that God presents as seriousness. You know, it's not here talking about telling jokes. You shouldn't be those who tell jokes or enjoy a laugh. But Paul is referring to those subjects or speaking in a lighthearted, joking manner about subjects that God presents as serious. Of course, we know and we have seen it. The world is quick to make light of God's morals. The world is quick to laugh at God's word. I have experienced it. You've experienced it to varying degrees. You know, we've been in the company of people who say silly things. They joke about serious issues and listen, anybody that knows me and you'll know me well enough. It's good to laugh and I enjoy a joke as anybody else and it's good to joke. It really is and you know, I don't believe that God ever intended Christians to be stern faced and solemn and couldn't enjoy a laugh. I just don't buy that at all that we're all to be That's not fine, and that's not what God desires. It's good to laugh, it's good to joke. But there is a territory to which we should not stray, Essenes. There's a line that as Christians we're not to cross. And again, you know what I'm talking about. Do you know, as we think about that, we must be careful what we joke about and what we laugh at. Finishing off a quote from Warren Wearsby that I've just quoted, the second part of the quote says this, and I find this really challenging. Two indications of a person's character, he says, are what makes him laugh and what makes him weep. The saint of God sees nothing humorous in obscene language or jests. You know, we all know what it's like to be sent a joke or to be sent something inappropriate. We can't control that, perhaps. But we can control if we forward it on. Paul says our talk shouldn't be filthy, it shouldn't be foolish. But you know, he goes on and he says our talk shouldn't be flippant. You might find this a strange word, but when you actually look up the meaning of flippant, flippant literally means frivolously, disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness, characterized by levity. And Paul says, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting. The word jesting, the word in the original, this probably isn't a great translation of the original word, but it refers to that which turns easily. And what Paul is actually speaking about, and it's a very hard word to actually translate and put down in English, but what Paul is speaking about is those who can quickly turn a conversation, an innocent conversation, maybe a serious conversation, and they have this knack of quickly turning it into a direction it was never intended to go. It's the idea of having a conversation, perhaps with a member of the opposite sex, and they can somehow start making suggestive statements or they can turn a serious conversation or something that's said and get out of it an inappropriate innuendo or begin to manipulate a conversation or drive a conversation into a place where they're taking advantage of the other person. One person puts it like this. He says, sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason. in shrewd intimidation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly resorting an objection. Sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or an acute nonsense, sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being, its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language. And as we think about these things, filthy speech, foolish speech, and flippant speech, again, what does Paul say? He nearly repeats himself. He says, these things are not convenient. We're convenient there means these things are not proper. He says, this is not the proper way for God's people to talk. He says, you know, rather than having speech that's foolish or filthy or flippant. He said our speech should be fragrant. It should be filled with grace. It should be filled with gratefulness. He says the giving of thanks, that's the opposite of being selfish. It's the opposite of being lustful. It's the opposite of being covetous. Rather, he says, give thanks. Have a speech that's thankful. Of course, Paul elsewhere says that our words are to be seasoned with grace. You know, we always do well to remember that our speech is one way in which we express ourselves as Christians. But you know, we're always told as parents, be careful that little ears are listening. That's not just something that applies to parents. It applies to all of us, all around us in our workplace, in our social settings, in our sports clubs, and wherever we are, ears are listening all around us. And you know, while other people may laugh with us, ultimately, words leave lasting impressions. And the people that have laughed with us as we have told a crude joke or we have said something inappropriate, maybe when they're away together, they'll say, you know, you know, flip he some cracker in that where he has said, I thought he was a Christian. I didn't think he would talk like that. Do you know, folks, what we say and what we don't say can tell others a lot about who and whose we are. What we say and what we don't say can tell others a lot about who and whose we are. You know, as Christians, we're not called to just go and sit in a corner quietly and totally remove ourselves. But you know, a wise man thinks not just before he speaks, but thinks about what he says. Proverbs 17 and 28, Solomon writes these words, even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Paul, as he calls us to walk rightly, says that we're to have morals that are chaste and we're to have mouths that are clean. But then in verses five to seven, he says we're to have minds that are circumspect. He says, for this you know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. You know, what we do and what we say are merely outward expressions of the inward state of our heart. The Lord dealt with that. Elsewhere we read of that, that, you know, that out of the mouth, the heart speaks. And you know, for example, keeping within this context, sexual sin is a thought before it's an action. It begins in our minds, it begins in our hearts before it ever manifests itself outwardly or physically. And therefore it's so vitally important that we seek to mind our minds. I don't have time tonight to read the verses but if you were to go to Proverbs 4 and verses 23 to 27 Solomon there writes about you know keeping our heart with all diligence for out of it proceeds the issues of life and then he goes on to talk about our eyes and our lips and our feet and all of these things and you know the verse that kicks it off is about keeping our heart because Solomon as wise as he was he knew That the heart was the heart of the issue. And he said, you know, so for my feet to be right, and for my hands to be right, and for my eyes to be right, and for my lips to be right, he says my heart's got to be right because that's the thing that controls it all. And Paul here is going down the same line. You see, addressing their minds, Paul calls them to consider what they already know. He says, for this you know. He says, go back to the teaching you've heard, the things that we've shared with you. He says, I know that you're living in a society that's preaching a different message, preaching something completely different to what I'm telling you. But go back to the truth. Go back to the things we've told you. Why did he draw? their attention to the things that they knew. Well, because society around them was encouraging everything that God was discouraging. Society was encouraging all these things. It wasn't calling them out. You know, Ruth Paxson says this, which is really interesting and so right. She says, wherever there's a departure from God, There's a consequent deterioration in ethics and morals, and the breakdown in the former is always gauged by the depth and degree of that in the former. The further one goes from God, the nearer he comes to Satan. Where there's a departure from God, there's a consequent deterioration in ethics and morals. That's what was happening in Ephesus. That's what's happening today. And Paul says, listen, you know the truth. Paul says, all around you are those who seek and to deceive. All around you, there are those who are calling you to change your convictions, to slacken your standards, to, you know, as we have heard about it, you know, come into the 21st century. How many times have we heard that? You know, Christians, you guys gotta come into the 21st century. They were saying that in Ephesus. You know, you Ephesians, well, come into the 21st, come into the 1st century maybe is what they were saying. You see, they were seeking to convince the Christians that all these things, this sexual immorality and this impurity and just going after whatever your heart wants, you know, they were seeking to say, you know, these things are acceptable and they're enjoyable and they're inculpable. There's no consequences. And Paul says, listen, listen, my little children. He says, don't be deceived. He says, these things are acts of disobedience and they're done by children of disobedience. and reminds us that nobody can claim to be truly saved and yet habitually be living in such a life without any conviction. Some people will say, you know, well, I'm under grace, I can do what I like. That's not the attitude of a true believer. Paul warns them that while all this may look like fun now, he says, in verse number six, he says, you know, the wrath of God, is coming in these things. It's coming because of these things. Paul speaks about that in Romans 1 as well. Again, it was Solomon, and it's amazing that Solomon wrote these words when you think of how he finished his life, but in Proverbs 6 and 27 and 28, he says, can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? Today, we say, we've taken that proverb, actually, and we've sort of modernized it, and we say, you play with fire, you're gonna get burned. And that's what Paul was saying here. He says, these guys, these people in society, they're playing with fire and they're loving playing with fire, but the day of burning is coming. And how vital it was these believers kept this in mind. How important it was that as they were bombarded by a call to a different standard, they kept in mind God's standard. They weren't drawn in by the world's deception. They didn't give in to the world's temptation. They didn't fall into the world's transgression, but rather they lived a life of separation. Verse seven, Paul says, be not ye therefore partakers with them. Don't join in. He says, live by different standards and live out different morals to the world. It all relied on their minds being circumspect, and it takes a right mindset to walk in a right way. And a right mind comes from a renewed mind. So Paul writes in Romans 12, he says, be not conformed to this world, but be it transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so by setting out a set of very wrong things, Paul here, in these verses, is essentially calling the Ephesian Christians to walk rightly. Walk in contrast to the society in which they lived. You know, folks, as challenging and as difficult as the subject has been this evening, for the sake of the gospel and for the name of Christ, it's essential we do the same. that we, for as long as we're here until Christ comes, that we endeavor to walk rightly in this wrong world, so that in turn we might be contrasting Christians, known as Christ's, by our morals, our mouths, and our minds. Paul calls us to walk rightly in verses one and two, calls us to walk rightly in verses three to seven, Next week, we'll look at how he calls us to walk brightly in verses eight to 14. But I think that'll do us for this evening. And may the Lord bless his word to our hearts. Let's sing again before we come to pray together and how we need to do that. And it's lovely that we are able to pray. And here's some words that help us to do that. Here from the world we turn. Jesus to seek, hear me as loving voice, graciously speak. Jesus, our dearest friend, while at thy feet we bend, oh, let thy smile descend, tis thee we seek.