If you would, please turn once again to Ephesians chapter 5. Our specific text today will be verses 1 through 7. So I'll read once again. 1 through 7. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving thanks. For this ye 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, that 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. Amen. Holy Father, we thank you for this time that we can gather around your word. Lord, by your spirit, because of the work of our savior, your son, Jesus Christ, open our ears to receive your word. That we would, with faith, lay hold of Christ, that we would flee from sin. Father, give me boldness as I proclaim your word, that it would not come with the power of the rhetorician, but by the power of your Spirit, that you bring salvation to this gathering, that those who do not know the Savior would know him today, that the saints who have been long in the faith would grow stronger, that those who are discouraged would see Christ as an able savior. Lord, we confess that we need you now. In Christ's holy name, and for his glory. Amen. The text begins with, Be ye therefore. The word therefore implies something prior. There is a logical progression to this epistle. And this is very important. Whenever we are hearing the word preached, that we realize that the books of the Bible, whether it's the prophecies, or whether it's Deuteronomy, or whether it's the epistles, they come and they initially came in a context where you read the entirety of it. You wouldn't just read a verse here and a verse there as we often do, but you'd read the entirety. So whenever we are preaching through a passage, whether it's Isaiah or it's the Ephesians, we have to realize and refresh our minds where we came from. So He says, be ye therefore. And so we remember in Ephesians chapter 1, that Paul is expounding that great truth that from eternity past, God elected His church to be adopted in His Son. That He predestined, that He designed all of history to bring about the salvation of His people through the glory of His Son. That He put Christ as the head of His church. and that we were then adopted as children. Purpose for that. In Ephesians 2, we're reminded that our condition before our salvation, that we were sons of disobedience, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. And God out of his rich grace, because of the work of Christ, because of the love with which he has loved us, has dealt with our sins definitively in his son, and he has broken down the middle wall of partition that not only divided us between God and us, but also the division between us and one another, particularly in the context of Ephesians between the Jews and the Gentiles, that there is no longer two sets of people, as it were, as Jews and Gentiles, as Gentiles a lesser thing, but know that in Christ, those who are believing, there is one people of God. The idea of the dispensationalist is that there are two people of God. The church in Israel is absent in Ephesians and indeed throughout the scriptures. So that we are one family, one household, We are God's children. In Ephesians 3, Paul reminds the Ephesians of his work and that God called him specifically to bring that message of salvation, to bring the gospel of peace to the Gentiles, to the nations. And it is his prayer at the conclusion of chapter 3 that those of the church of Ephesus would come to a greater knowledge of Christ, a greater knowledge of their salvation, and indeed, a greater knowledge of their duty. And so the first three chapters, as it were, display and proclaim the doctrine of Ephesians. But doctrine is never to be separated from practice. And so in Ephesians 4, he moves as shifts to doctrine applied. What does it mean since we have been adopted? What does it mean that we have been given his spirit as a seal of our redemption? What does it mean that we are now one people of God? And so in Ephesians 4, he says that we have been made to have one faith, one spirit, one Lord, one God, that we are now one people and we have been given the spirit of unity and we are called to maintain that unity. And in maintaining that unity, we are to put off the deeds of the old man, to put off the works that we used to partake in when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and put on the new works, and that God has given teachers apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the edification of the body so that the church would be edified and built up in this truth of Christ. And now he brings us to Ephesians 5. He spells out our calling at this point. And out of all these benefits, he calls us, indeed the summation of all the exhortations in Ephesians, And indeed, in the Bible, is to walk as followers of God. Therefore, followers of God walk, sorry, be therefore followers of God as your children, and walk in love as Christ has loved us. He brings us to the point of what has been called the imitation of Christ, or the imitation of God. He spells out our calling at this point in three ways, and here will be my three points. The manner of children, in verses one through two. Then he moves to the conversation of children, And then finally, to the inheritance of children. So to begin, the manner of children. Verse 1, be ye followers of God. The word translated there as followers is a Greek word that we get the word to mimic, to be an imitator. It says, be an imitator. Imitate God. Look at Him and follow Him. Be like Him. The reason I say this is a summation of it is as we discussed in the Sunday school hour that our ethics, who we are, what we are to do is grounded on the character of God. And so we are to be followers of Him. The law of God is a display of God's character. How are we to walk? We are to walk as beloved children. Not the fact that we've been adopted in Christ, that Christ has been made our elder brother, Christ has been made our head. He has given us a spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father, we are to walk as children, beloved children. He doesn't say walk simply as a slave. Walk simply as your duty. Those are parts of the Christian exhortation, the Christian motive. But he says, walk as beloved children. Walk as those who have been loved by God from eternity. Walk as those who have been adopted into God's family. We can see why he points out dear children. It's not simply as an affection. and point out the love of God, but it's also something that we see in our life. My young son, who's only a year old, he sees me reading books and so he'll go and grab one of my books and he doesn't tear the pages, he tries to imitate me and he opens a book and he turns the pages, though he may tear them by accident. But a child, a son, a daughter, They love their father. They love their mother. They love their parents. But in this context, a father. And they want to be like them. And so when he says, walk as beloved children, it's not simply reflection, but because you are children, there's a desire, there's a natural desire. I want to be like my father, my God. So we observe the character of God, the work of God, and we seek to follow Him. Now, it's important to understand that we cannot imitate God. in every way. We are creatures, we are finite. For example, God's attributes are often divided into what are called incommunicable attributes, which he does not share with man. There is no analogy in which man reflects those attributes, such as God's omnipresence, God's omniscience, that he knows all things, his omnipresence, that everything is present before him, his eternity, that all time is present before him. There is no past and before in perspective of God, that all things are before him. We can't imitate that. We can't imitate God's simplicity, that God is not composed of parts. So his incommunicable attributes we cannot imitate. However, his communicable attributes we can imitate as far as finite creatures can imitate, such as his love, his hatred of sin, his mercy, his grace, his long-suffering or his patience, his delight in the salvation of sinners. Those are the attributes that we are called to follow, called to imitate. So he says, walk in love. When we are following God, when we are following His character, the summation of His character is that God is love, and not the way the world defines love. but to walk in love, to have love the walk of your life, the whole scope of your life is to be loved. Not simply a feeling as this world points to it, not simply of what you like, not simply what makes you feel good. Love is primarily what we do rather than how we feel. It has to do with actions. Love in the Bible is Similarly defined in the Ten Commandments. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. What does that look like? It's having no other gods before us. That is love. It's to worship God. as He has called us to worship Him. It's the second commandment. It's to honor God's holy name, and it is to honor God's holy day. That is the way the Bible sums up how our love is to go before God, and how is our walk and our love to our neighbor. It's to give honor to whom honor is due. as Paul will point out in different roles in marriage and children and master and slave. It is to honor the life of others, to honor those things that promote the life of others. It's to honor the chastity of your neighbor, to honor the marriage bounds that you have with your spouse. It is to honor the property as Thou Shalt Not Steal's point is. It's to honor the reputation of your neighbor, of Thou Shalt Not Bear a False Witness, and it is to honor and be content with what you have, and be content with what you've given, to not covet what your neighbor has, to not wish them to lose something on your benefit. That is the summation that the Ten Commandments brings us to walk in love. But He, as the Bible often does, does not simply. It tells you to follow God, walk as God, be imitators of God. And then it gives us to walk in love. It gives us the Ten Commandments of what is love, specifically. But then, it says, as Christ has loved us. Christ, the God-man, the second person of the Trinity, who became incarnate, joined himself with our flesh, so that in the person of Christ, when we look at the life of Christ in the Gospels, when we look at the work of Christ as it's spelled out through all the Bible, it's summarized by love, and he says, imitate Christ. So when we are to imitate God, we are to imitate Christ. Christ who obeyed the commands perfectly. All those commands I brought forth, the Ten Commandments, He obeyed them perfectly. And the summation of His obedience, the summation of His love is displayed indeed in his love to us and his love to his father in the crucifixion, in his work, in his atonement, as Christ has loved us and given himself for us. Christ gave himself for those who did not deserve his love, for those who hated him as Paul pointed out in The second chapter, as those who were dead in their trespasses and sins, he loved and he gave himself for them. When we have been hurt by others, we tend to protect ourselves. We tend to draw back emotionally. Often people say they've left the church because they've been hurt by the church. But when Paul says to love, he points us to Christ. We have sinned against Christ far greater than anyone has ever sinned against us. And he says love like Christ. Love like Christ. True love that we are to imitate is not easy as this culture wants to paint it. True love hurts. True love is sacrificial. Indeed, that's the distinction between what we are to imitate and what we were. We were self-indulgent. Imitating Christ, we become self-sacrificial. We were given, absorbed, and our relationships to others were simply by what can I get out of this? In our imitation of Christ, it's what can I give to somebody else? Christ, who didn't need us, had no benefit that the eternal God did not need us. He was not lonely. Indeed, he could not be lonely. It's out of His great love that He has determined to benefit us, to benefit His people. And so, in imitating Christ, it is to be self-sacrificial. And in that self-sacrificial love, in that love that Christ has showed to us in dying for our sins and living for our life, his perfect life and death. He says, it was a sweet-smelling savor unto God. He sacrificed to God, sacrificed himself for our sins to satisfy the wrath of God, and he said it was pleasing. The obedience that Christ offered to His Father in our place was pleasing to His Father, and so too the obedience that we offer in imitating Christ. Because of His Word, because He has forgiven us, because our work now is made acceptable in Him, if you be a believer, it is pleasing to the Father. He is pleased, not because of what we've done, but because our work, our obedience is accepted in His Son. Our work, as it is wrought in us by the Spirit, is accepted, and it is pleasing. And that is Paul's motive, saying, your dear children have been adopted into his family. Therefore, follow Christ as he was a pleasing sacrifice. Because of that pleasing sacrifice, your works and you are to be a pleasing sacrifice unto him. Our love for others will often not be regarded by men. Our love for God's people will often not be appreciated. But our ultimate goal is not to receive their appreciation and their acceptance, but it's to be pleasing unto the Father, to be like our God. That's the summation of it all. And then he brings it to the manner of children as imitators of the Father. And then he brings it to how that affects our conversation. So verses 3 through 4 is the conversation of children. But fornication, and all uncleanness, and all covetousness, let it not be named once among you, as becometh saints, near filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving thanks." So in these first two verses, Paul is now bringing the antithesis of what it is to walk in love. So what you are not to do, what is not to love, what is not to imitate Christ, but fornication and all uncleanness." Fornication and covetousness and uncleanness, these are the sins that so reflect the world, so reflect who we were. They both reflect our discontentment and our self-indulgence and lack of desire to obey and please God. And it also shows our great division where money and sex simply becomes a tool for our own pleasures and we will use others for it. And so Paul often The Bible often points to these two sins, not that he's excluding other sins, but these two sins as just exemplary of self-indulgence and of their disunity with humanity, the disunity that the world has with one another. And he says, such sins, let it not be named once among you. The intent, as he'll flesh out in the fourth verse is not simply to forbid the explicit participation in these sins. Of course we are to abstain from such things, but for it to not be named among you is so that if that charge is brought before you, it won't stick. It doesn't, it cannot stick because of the way that you walk. And so if, for example, in our context, if this, in this church, if such a scandal were to be brought an accusation, our character, our conversation should be of such, not prudish, but of such that such accusations would not be able to stick. If people know us, they would say that is not true of them. That is the high calling that we are called to have. This is done by watching the way we talk, which Paul is going to elaborate. This is why I said it's a conversation of children. How do we abstain from being above accusation, to be above reproach? He says, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, let it not be named among you. as becometh saints. As becometh saints, as is fitting to ones who have been made holy. That's all the word saints means. It's not the way the Roman Catholic says it is. It's the idea of someone who has been so obedient that they have an excess of merit. But rather, the way the Bible uses it is that we At salvation we become saints because we've been made holy by God. We have been set apart by God for His holy use and therefore don't live a life, don't have such conversations that would stain that name that you are saints. So he brings about how, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting, which are not convenient. We're reminded of of the passage in Matthew. Matthew chapter 12 verses 33-37. Either make a tree good and his fruit good or else make a tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his fruits. O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that a man shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by the words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." culture, American culture, we often think of freedom and liberty. Yet the Bible would say that you do not have liberty to how you speak. There are obviously areas that we have liberty. But God will judge you for the words that come out of your mouth. And so Paul, in encouraging us to imitate God, says we should abstain from such things. Filthiness, shameful talk. Many of us are in the workforce. I work in construction and there is shameful talk. And he's saying not only should we not participate in that and speaking it, but also do you laugh at those jokes? Do you show your agreement with the other strokes, even if they don't come out of your mouth? When we show our agreement with such filthiness, such shameful talk, we do lose our being above reproach, when we associate ourselves with that. Nor fool to talk, waste to talk. This is one thing our Lord points out in Matthew 12, that every idle word I mean, we can think about, there is liberty to talk about entertainment in areas, but often we err in saying, okay, since I have liberty to speak however, I can speak on sports, I can speak on entertainment, therefore, let me give myself some to that. And yet, the Bible would say, be careful what comes out of our mouth. Careful with the idle words, the foolish talk, the empty talk, the wasted conversations. We must be aware in our imitation of Christ. Be aware where it comes out of our mouth. Be conscientious about what we say. Man, it's often our wasted conversation, our foolish conversation that is so hurtful to other people. Nor jesting. The word jesting in the Greek was used by Aristotle as an idea of a virtue, of wit and cleverness. And Paul is using here, not saying that wit and cleverness is wrong, but it's the idea of mixed with jesting, innuendos, double entendres, such language that is filthy, it is lewd, but it's made clever. through words. And so, He would forbid us even from that. Even the clever jokes. Whatever that is in your context. To abstain from that. He says, which are not convenient. It's not fitting as becomes saints. We are made new creatures in Christ. We have been forgiven by God. We have been made holy by Him. We should endeavor to grow in this area that our speech would be seasoned with grace, recognizing that there is a judgment day and that every idle word will be brought into account. So how should our conversations be? He says, rather giving thanks. Our conversations, obviously it's not this written out, lazy, I'm just saying, I'm thankful, I'm thankful, as some often do, but it's honestly, it's a spirit of thanksgiving, a spirit of thankfulness, a spirit of thankfulness for what God has done for you, that God has loved you and has forgiven you, if you be a Christian. the thankfulness that Christ has died for your sins, the thankfulness that He has sealed you with the Spirit unto the day of redemption, thankfulness that He has provided for you financially, provided for you spiritually, He has saved you out of that darkness. When that becomes the thrust of our life, when we become enthralled and amazed with the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus, our conversation will exude with thanksgiving and not the things that do not please our Father. And finally, he moves to the inheritance of children by the contrast of the disinheritance of the sons of disobedience. It says, For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, nor who is an idolater, hath any inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and of God. For this ye know. There are many who today deny the final judgment. There are many who deny that Christ will come again and to judge the living and the dead. But Paul says, this you know. You know it in your conscience and you know it to those who are believers. We know and we believe the word of God. And so Paul doesn't even argue here about defending the idea of a final judgment. He says, you know this. You know this in your heart. You know that those who live such lives have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Those who are whoremongers nor unclean persons. Again, Paul classifies the two kinds of people. Whoremongers, unclean people, and then covetous people. It's not to say that every people are only one of the other. It's not to say that these sins are, as some say, that being rich is the greatest and worst sin. But he's saying that those sins, covetousness and lust, are so exemplary of the world. That's what the world is about. It's about having the most toys and having the most pleasure. And you say, such that live that way, such that the conversation that Paul has just forbid, that that's their conversation, that's the way they live. Such people have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Covetous is not simply you being rich and you desire more money. It can also be you being poor and envious of others' money. Being a whoremonger, an unclean person, it's not simply that you visit places that provide those things, but rather that even your mind is pure. That's what he's calling us to. It's those who have given themselves over to lust. And so he says, such people, such people have given themselves over to greed and covetousness and lust, have no inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and of God. No partaking of heavenly glory. No promise of heaven. No promise of having on that judgment day, your sins being declared as a, if you are a believer, your sins are, you're made innocent and made righteous in Christ today. But on that judgment day, because of the work of Christ, all the world will know that you have been acquitted of your guilt. such unbelievers, such people who live their lives that way, who have given themselves over to that, and they have no participation in that glory. The greatest inheritance is that you have fellowship with God, and an unbeliever has no fellowship with God in the end. And notice, as a quick aside, that it says the Kingdom of Christ and of God That is the idea, it's Trinitarian language, that Christ, the kingdom of Christ, is the same as the kingdom of God. Christ pointing to as the mediator of the new covenant, but it also puts it right alongside Paul does of God. So the same kingdom that is Christ is God's. Let no man deceive you. He just told us that we know, and yet he says that there are people who will try to deceive you. That will seek to tell you otherwise. Otherwise in what the scriptures say. Otherwise in what your conscience says. But he says they are empty words. They have no grounding in reality. They are vain words. Let no man deceive you with vain words. Why? It's because of these things wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. That's their inheritance. The inheritance of those who live their life that way demonstrate that their inheritance is only wrath. that the wrath of God is coming. He doesn't say will come, he says it is currently upon them. The wrath of God is upon them. Romans says that the wrath of God is made manifest to the world. Upon the children of disobedience. They're not children of the Father. They're not Fellow heirs with Christ, their life is marked as children of disobedience. It is a disobedient child as it were. That's the idea. He said, don't be that way. Don't live that way. And neither, he says, be ye not therefore partakers with them. Partakers in their sin, why? Because that is what is destined for them, is destruction, is the wrath of God. So now, what have we learned of this text? Some concluding applications. To begin, the love of God in Christ is a model of our Christian life, as he said in the first two verses. To properly live the Christian life, we must know the love of God in Christ. We must know that love, that God, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We must know the love that God has displayed in sending His Son as a sacrifice for sinners. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and trying harder is not the motivation. It's not simply try harder. It's in being a follower of God. Look to your Father. Follow Christ. You must behold the love of God. for you by Christ giving Himself for your salvation. And then by the power of the Spirit, the power that is given to those who have been forgiven, imitate God. Imitate that love to others. Behold Christ as the perfect imitation, because indeed He is God. and follow Him. Look at His life in the Gospel. It's not simply being nice to everybody. It's being zealous for the worship of God. It's bringing the message of salvation to sinners. It's telling people the hard truth. It's sacrificing. It's washing the feet of others. That is what we are called to do. And Paul will bring that forth Later in this chapter, in the conclusion of this epistle, what does that look like? It looks like husbands sacrificing for their wives. It looks like fathers being patient with their children and not provoking them to wrath. It's being masters, in our context it would be an employer or anybody who is in any sort of authority to be generous and patient with those under him. It's wearing the armor of God, because as Isaiah points out in Isaiah 59, it's Christ who first wears that armor, the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. And so it's imitating God as in Christ, as he is displayed throughout the whole of scriptures. Second application is drawing from that no man deceive you is one of Satan's tactics to tell you that your conduct, that your speech does not matter. There are many today who say that the way that you live doesn't matter. Some deny the afterlife and they deny the final judgment through mere materialism. They say that there is no God, there is no eternal glory. It's all just a pipe dream. It's just pie in the sky. It's not reality. There's simply this material world and when it goes away, when you die, it's just nothingness. Others deny the judgment through books that say love wins, that universalism, that Christ died for every man and so therefore there is no hell, there is no judgment, it doesn't matter how you live, you will inherit heaven. And others still, who believe that there's a heaven and a hell, say that you can be a carnal Christian, you can pray a prayer when you're eight, and you can go and live as an atheist, as a fornicator, and it doesn't matter how you live. And yet the Bible, through the Apostle Paul, says, let no man deceive you. that there are liars in this world. There are liars who wear suit and tie, who have crosses on their buildings, and who are sending people, comforting people on their way to hell. And Paul would say, let no man deceive you. Do not buy into that lie. Do not buy into that lie that it doesn't matter how I live, I'm okay. They tell you your words don't matter, your friend who you become closest friends to doesn't matter. You must recognize, we are called to recognize these things as lies and flee from them. And then finally, your character and your conversation reveal to what you can expect in the final day, in the final judgment. whether wrath or the kingdom. He says that such such whoremongers and covetous people will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God but rather that they are children of obedience upon whom the wrath of God comes. Paul is not saying that clean up your conversation so that you go to heaven. He's not saying deny coarse joking, and you'll go to heaven. He's saying if that is what characterizes your life, he's saying the wrath of God is still upon you. And maybe you are a backsliding Christian who has given in to that. Or maybe you profess the name of Christ And you have never forsaken such conversation. The answer is the same. It's not to try harder and simply clean up your conversation. It's to flee to Christ, because He's a ready Savior. He says that Christ loved His people. He has loved His church and has given Himself for it. And all who believe on Him can have forgiveness. And in knowing that love, Knowing the love of Christ, they then can imitate the Father in Him by the power of His Spirit. So I'll call you, for us who are believers, that we would be conscientious of our conversation, conscientious of living a life that is above reproach. It's not just for those who are called to be elders or deacons. All believers are called to live a life that is above reproach. And if you are an unbeliever or a backsliding, someone who is living in sin, and maybe you are a Christian, but you have been so backslidden, flee to Christ. Flee to Christ for forgiveness. Flee to Christ for grace by His Spirit to walk in obedience. Amen. Holy Father, We confess we fall woefully short of our calling in Christ. And so often we give ourselves to worldly conversation. Or we laugh at jokes that you hate. Or watch and indulge in movies or music that you hate. Oh Lord, give us grace to live a life that is above reproach, that should, as so often in this culture, accusations come against your people, that should accusations come from this world of sin, of scandal, that our lives would be a testament that they are false. Lord, give us grace. to walk like our elder brother, to walk as our savior. Give those who do not know you, Grace, for the first time today, to trust in you as a savior. as a God who hates sin, a God who abhors the sinner and yet has provided a way of escape, has provided a city of refuge in his Son. Lord, we thank you for the provisions of the food. We ask that you would bless this food to our bodies. that our conversations, as we learn one another, learn to love one another better, that Christ would be exalted in all of our conversations. That whether we eat or drink, whether we talk or think, that it'll be all done for your glory. In Christ's holy name, and for his glory, amen.