Walk in Love

Transcript

GR 2328
10/24/2021
Walk in Love
Ephesians 5:1-7; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8
Gil Rugh


We're going to be in Ephesians 5 together today, so if you would turn to Ephesians 5. But I want to read to you from Romans 13 before we get to Ephesians 5, so you might get to Ephesians 5 and then if you would desire you can turn to Romans 13. I want to just read for you the closing verses of this chapter. If fits with what we have been singing about, it fits with what we are studying in Ephesians, how we are to live in light of what God has done for us in providing salvation in Jesus Christ and identifying us with Christ through faith in that finished work He accomplished on the cross. And as we have divided Ephesians, the first three chapters deal with the doctrinal matters, and in chapters 4-6, the last three chapters, deal with the practical application of that doctrine. In the book of Romans the first eleven chapters deal with the doctrine, then chapters 12-16 deal with the application and how we are to live.

And in Romans 13:11 the Apostle Paul writes, “Do this, knowing the time,” and doing has to do with the practice and conduct we are to have as believers. “Knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

And that's basically what Paul is talking about as you come over to Ephesians 5, that we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not going to be strange people in one sense, like we dress differently, we talk differently in the general flow of events. But in the course of this world we do dress differently, we are more careful about what we talk about and how we talk about things. So that difference does mark us off. We are in the world, but we are not part of the world any longer. That's what a church is, it's a called-out group of people, called out from the world to belong to God. So we are living in this world and to that extent we are part of this world, but we don't belong here any longer. And we are looking forward to the day ultimately of our salvation. And if Paul could write now our salvation is nearer than when you first believed, it's much nearer 2,000 years later for us as we anticipate the coming of the Lord and the culmination of all things.

We are in Ephesians 5, and we're just beginning that chapter. Chapter 4 began the transition. The first three chapters, we noted there are forty-one commands, imperative verbs, given in the book of Ephesians; one of those is in the first three chapters, forty of those are in the last three chapters. Reminder, these are things we must do in light of what God has done for us, and that's the division. So chapter 4 marked the transition that we moved into. Verses 1-16, we are to walk worthy of our calling. Verse 1 said, “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called,” and those first 16 verses reminded us we have oneness now in Christ. We've been called out from the world and we are now joined together with other believers, Ephesians 4:1-16. We have diversity in this oneness. It's not we've just been made one blob, all alike. We are different and unique but we are together one in Christ and are functioning to help one another grow in that relationship in Christ. That was Ephesians 4:1-16.

Then verses 17-32 we are to walk not as the Gentiles. So verse 17, we affirm this “together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding.” The distinguishing characteristic of a believer from an unbeliever is remarkable. We are no longer the person we used to be, we have been made new in Christ. So we don't walk, we don't live our life the way that the unbelieving Gentile lives. A Gentile here, he's writing to a Gentile church in a Gentile part of the world. There are some Jews but primarily it's a Gentile church and he is reminding them of the change that has taken place—you no longer live like you used to live.

That's going to put us out of step in a lot of ways with the world around us, and that's not bad. The world will constantly be pointing it out, we ought to be more like the world. And over time it seems the church, if we're not careful, begins to think, we ought to be more like the world, that will make us more effective with the world. But that's not what God says. Well, then we ought to dress differently, we ought to talk differently, we ought to . . . No, not necessarily. We use the Amish, for example. There is no benefit in dressing like you dressed in the mid-1800s. That's not what he is talking about. But it does mean we won't be going to the excesses, the extremes, that the world does. We will be living differently, we will walk no longer… That word ‘walk’ means that constant, and we're going to pick it up in Ephesians 5:2, that constant pattern of our life is now different. And that's not bad, that's good, that's the way God intends. You walk no longer as the Gentiles walk, in the emptiness of their mind, they are darkened in their understanding. So there is now a whole group, the majority are living totally devoid of God. I didn't say they weren't religious, they may be very religious, but they are darkened in their understanding. They have created their own worship system, it doesn't come out of a relationship with God, established through faith in Christ, obedient to His Word. They use the Word often but they twist it to fit what they want it to say.

So verses 17-32, we walk, we're called a new man, a new self in verse 22. You lay aside the old self, the old man, the old person you were. You are being made new, that's a present tense, in the realm of your mind. Now you are thinking differently and that thinking differently is what makes the difference in your conduct. I don't think the way I used to think. You put on, verse 24, again now in aorist tense, this is something that is settled and done. You've gone from being an old person to a new person, you “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Righteousness, holiness and truth, three things that we are devoid and totally lacking until you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ. The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is amazing and remarkable. So we are not concerned to play that down, it is different—our life, our interest, our motivation is different than the world's. And the more we allow ourself to be conformed to the world, the less God's work is being evident and manifest in and through us.

We don't grieve the Holy Spirit, verse 30. So we walk in oneness but we have diversity; we walk in the new man, not the old man; we don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Verse 30, we “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” That means the old man, its characteristics, are gone because it would grieve the Spirit, who now indwells every true believer, to have us resisting and rebelling against what He would produce in us, to produce what the world admires or wants, so we can fit the world. And we want to be careful, we don't fit, we don't belong here, this is not our home. It's a temporary residence for us. So we don't “grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

That took us back to Ephesians 1:13, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” That's when the sealing took place, when you placed your faith in Jesus Christ as the One who paid in full the penalty for your sin. God identified you with Christ in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection so you have a new life that you are now living. It's a growth that will take place. We start out immature in that new life, but we are to grow to be more mature. The difference between us and the world and the world's thinking is growing and more evident. Sometimes it is just the reverse. Seems like we are all out when we are first saved, but now we have a better balance. And there is a balance, we have to live day by day—we have to eat, drink, go to work, take care of our family and so on. We do it with a new perspective, a new life, a new way of living.

The Spirit, while you are in Ephesians 1, verse 14, “is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.” We have the Holy Spirit now, molding and shaping us to become more like God. We are going to talk about being an imitator of God in Ephesians 5, that means we are becoming more like Him, that means we fit less in the world than we did. And that is a growing thing. The more I grow more like God, the less I fit the pattern of the world and its philosophy and thinking.

Come back to Ephesians 5:1, and we noted at the end of Ephesians 4, in verses 26-32 there are ten imperatives. That's just a form in Greek of giving a command, something we must do. There are ten of those imperatives, commands, in Ephesians 4:26-32. Now you begin Ephesians 5 and in the first six verses there are five imperatives. Remember we have forty of these commands given by God in Ephesians 4-6, we only had one in Ephesians 1-3. Not that they weren't important, but the focus in the first three chapters was on what God has done for us and how He has molded and shaped and made us in His image, now to stand out in the world. So in the first six verses we have five imperatives, five commands given. We'll look at those as we move through here.

“Therefore,” that particular word for therefore appears three times. We don't have it in our New American Standard English Bible. We have it in Ephesians 4:1, therefore; we have it in Ephesians 4:17, you probably have the word so there, it's really the word therefore, ‘oun’ we would carry it over into English, therefore. Ephesians 4:25, is not, it says therefore but it's a different word, ‘dio’. But the word we want to focus on is in Ephesians 4:1, 4:17 and 5:1, therefore. Therefore, in light of what we have said, the truths of Ephesians 1-3, the doctrine that you have to have fixed in your mind, is now the basis for how you are to walk, how you must now conduct yourself. You are no longer part of this world. You are living here, you have responsibilities here, we carry out our ministry here. But I don't belong as part of this world system any longer and I'm looking forward to the day we read about in Romans 13, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. So he is continuing to build in Ephesians 5, therefore. And it develops, it not only builds on the first three chapters but it builds as you work through. Ephesians 4:1 said “walk in a manner worthy of the calling” and it reiterated the calling we've received. Ephesians 4:17, “(So)Therefore this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer,” now your walk is changed, the way you live your life is different, what you live your life for is different, the controlling influence in your life is different.

“You walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.” They have all these ideas, all these thoughts, all these plans, and we want to be careful. We jump on and say we agree more with the conservatives than the liberals, and that's fine. But I don't want to allow that to draw me in and I begin to think as a conservative politically. I need to think conservatively as a Christian. Now in my vote, I have the right to vote, I might vote what I think is more consistent with the biblical pattern, even though they are not coming from Scripture they are adhering more to Scripture than the other view. But I don't want to get entangled in this world and think because the unbelieving conservative is like me in many ways, therefore I will identify with him. But then I find, I don't want to go there. So I just want to be careful about my connections.

“Therefore be imitators of God.” Therefore be imitators of God. He, in Ephesians 4:22, has taken us from being the old man, the old person we were, and made us in verse 24, the new man, the new person. Now we are created in the image of God, we are to walk in that new image. We still may eat the same food, wear the same basic clothes, do a lot of the same basic things, but we are at heart driven and motivated by something totally new, totally different. We are being, and that word ‘be’ would be better translated ‘become’. It's not the normal word for ‘to be’, but it's the word ‘to become’. Then we read it “Therefore become imitators of God, as beloved children.” We are to be growing in Him, we are to be becoming more like Him. That's why the end of chapter 4 was “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” That's what we are looking for. Now this world, the good things we get to enjoy, that's fine. We live in a country that's been blessed by God even though it has not known our God. We enjoy those things, fine, but we are not tied here. Doesn't matter what kind of car I drive, what kind of house I live in, what kind of job I have. It soon will be passing away, it will be gone. There is something beyond this life. It's sort of like the child that is living there and everything they have is in the toys they have, but you don't want them to become too absorbed in that because they'll outgrow that. And we're outgrowing it. That's what happens when we become a new man versus the old man in verses 22-24. So that in reference to our former manner of life we are renewed, being made new in the spirit of the mind, that present tense in Ephesians 4:23.

So we are to “be imitators of God,” “become imitators of God, as beloved children.” What does that involve? Well, Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you.” We noted that word there translated ‘forgiveness’ is really the word ‘grace’. We manifest grace to each other even as God has manifested His grace toward us. Now I have a whole new motivation for my life, and even though in some conservative positions I may be the same, the motivation is different. I am motivated by a desire to be like the God who loved me and redeemed me for Himself, who made me new. I am His beloved child, as verse 1 says, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” It's amazing, I'm now a child of God. I have gone from being a child of the devil to being a child of God. That's why Ephesians 4:1 began this whole second half of the letter, “I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” I am new in Christ. Doesn't mean I have to live in poverty, if God has provided excess for me I can enjoy it, but I don't want to become entangled by it, I don't want it to become the motivation of my life. My life is to be pleasing to Him, the One who made me, in anticipation for what He has prepared for me in the future beyond this present form of existence. As beloved children.

Back up to Ephesians 2:1, talked about “you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” See, we're talking about that same kind of radical transformation—the old self, the new self; being an imitator of God, patterning my life after what God would have me be. So in Ephesians 2:1, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked,” there is our word ‘walk’, you formerly lived your life according to the desires of this world, trespasses and sins, “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” We're going to pick that up in the end of Ephesians 5:6, we're going to talk about the sons of disobedience. Same expression, we have it in the last of Ephesians 2:2, “the sons of disobedience.”

We are characterized by disobedience, even the most conservative political person who is not a believer in Jesus Christ is a son of disobedience, is motivated by disobedience to God. Certain things, he functions more conformed to God but basically it is coming from selfish, self-driven desires and objectives. “The spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.” We all lived there, we were all like that. So I'm stressing this, I realize, but I'm concerned we sort of blend to get to a point, well, they are not Christians but they are not really as bad as… The Bible only makes two kinds of people, the believer and the unbeliever. That's it. So we all formerly lived. Well, no, I was more… Well, you have the Jews who had the Old Testament but they have departed from the living God. We see in the opening chapters of Romans, particularly beginning in chapter 2 that the Jews are just like the Gentiles when you get to the root of what is motivating them, what is driving them. We all formerly lived, Ephesians 2:3 says, “in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” So there is no difference before salvation and after. Before salvation I was just like the rest. No, I was more conservative and we were more biblical, we just weren't believers. That's not the decision the Scripture makes. We were by nature, what we were in our very being, the sons of disobedience, “children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” That's the difference between the old man and the new man in Ephesians 4:22-24. That's the dramatic making new in Christ. You can attend this church until the day you die and be by nature a child of wrath because it's not whether you attend this church, it's whether you believe the message of the truth of the Word of God. “Even when we were dead in our transgressions,” verse 5, “He made us alive together with Christ,” and then we have that great statement, “by grace you have been saved.” Verse 8, “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,” as a result of works, “it is a gift of God. For we are His workmanship” and now we should walk in these new works.

Come back to Ephesians 5, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love.” Walk in love, we are beloved children, we are the objects of His love. We just read about that in Ephesians 2. He loved us, He had His Son die for us so that we could be made new on the inside by faith in Him, so that now we could live these new lives conforming to the character of the God who saved us. Not continue the old pattern, just we got heaven and hell settled, now we just get on with our life, that's not saving faith. Saving faith makes you new, you are not the same old person. Back to Ephesians 4:22, “you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted.” You've been made new, verse 24. And so you are to have that as your dress, your conformity.

Well, maybe I lost my job because of my faith in Christ. Well, you have to trust the Lord with your new life to give you something to put enough food on… Well, I can't keep my car, can't keep my house, and then it becomes part of the other believers' responsibility who do have more than they need to get by on to help. Now again this is not, well, then the communists have the right idea and we should have communal living. No, it doesn't go to that, but it does keep a balance that puts us out of the world. I realize some people may use their Christianity as a way and they lose their job because of their own foolishness. We ought to be better workers, not worse workers; we ought to be doing everything we can within the framework of being faithful to God. We'll get a little bit more into this as we move along. We walk in love. Ephesians 4:32 transitioned into this, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other,” and there is that word ‘grace’, being gracious to one another “just as God in Christ has been gracious (forgiven) to you.” Forgiveness is part of that grace, that grace encompasses everything. I live in the realm of God's grace, I entered into it, I was forgiven my sins, but every day is a day of His grace. That's the way it is with us. Forgiveness is included but it is broader than just the forgiveness of sin. It is living a life now of grace.

“Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” It was that which was pleasing to God. Walk in love. Well, I think I love, I compare, look at this person. No, no, walk in love as Christ loved you. We could go back to Ephesians 2, when “you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.” “But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive.” So now I'm not comparing myself with others, I am comparing myself with God, what He has done for me, how He has operated on my behalf. “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you.” And what did He do? “He gave Himself up for us, as an offering and a sacrifice to God.” That was pleasing to God.

What did He have? We don't find that it took a lot to divide up His possessions. And those who were His followers, we don't know what they had. They spoke as though they were happy to have nothing of this earth's possessions. Again, it's not the first thing I have to do is get rid of everything I have and get a very minimal rental and drive a clunker and take the bus. Well, it depends, if it is what God has provided for you, be happy with that, knowing I have all eternity to enjoy all He has prepared for me. And if He has given to me, I have to be careful I don't become attached to it. That's why we have this instruction of verse 1, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love.” What did He have to do? He had His Son die for me when I was walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. He intervened on my behalf, by grace through faith you have been saved. So walk in love just as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us. There is the standard. It's not I'm doing more than other people are. You have to have the standard that God sets. It is Christ, as Christ loved you, He gave Himself up.

So self-indulgence is what he is getting at here. It's not one believer has more than another believer so he ought to give away what he has. No, that communal is a distortion of what God has provided, but there are certain things that will not be entailed in this—immorality, impurity, greed. So there are three things he mentions—immorality, impurity, greed. They “must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints.” Immorality, ‘pornea’, all kinds of immorality. I know it's becoming more and more acceptable to have same sex weddings, and you watch TV and the programs that used to be rather bland, now they have two women or two men. That's all included in immorality. Sex outside of a marriage relationship is the word immorality, ‘pornea’ here, that is used. That's contrary. So people who call themselves Christians may indulge that way, but immorality does not characterize one who has been made new in Christ. Or any impurity. Again, it's mentioned up in Ephesians 4:19 when he said “they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” These last two words are already there, impurity with greediness. But impurity could be sexual impurity, it could be more broad along with greed. In other words they are selfish.

That's what we were, we were selfish before God intervened in our lives in grace. It was all about us, now it's all about Him, pleasing Him. So “immorality, or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you.” It's not an issue. We are the holy ones of God, we live as God… Well, nobody lives that way, let's be honest. That's what God says now is the standard for those that are new. We live now for others. “As is proper among saints.” That's our word that we get translated, said it's a holy one, it's one set apart by God for Himself. That's the standard now.

“There must,” verse 4, “be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” Again three things—silly talk, coarse jesting, filthiness. Those are things that are not fitting for a believer. They include sexual activity but they are broader than that. In other words, he is just saying… and it's like you can go through the New Testament and pick out different passages where He talks about the heart, in Mark 7, and then we come into Paul's writings and all the different times he talks about different sins. It is just sin in its entirety. So sin, characterized by sins, are not to be characteristic of us as believers, we are to live a new life, a new kind of life. We are to walk in love. Come back to Ephesians 5:2, we walk in love. So now we see what it means, we walk in love. “Just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for you (us), an offering and a sacrifice,” that which was fragrant to God. This is what pleases God, we walk in love.

That means we don't do things which are selfish, which all sins are ultimately. Why do people become immoral? It gives me pleasure. How do they justify it? I enjoy it. That's what the appeal of sin is for all of us, even as believers. That's what attracts us to sin, that's why he has to write about it. We've been made new but there is still the old person there that has not been totally done away with. I have to remind myself, I'm not what I used to be. There may be some desires that have come up, but verses 3-4 make clear there is no place for those in the life of one who is truly a believer. Now, we'll get to this, a believer can commit these things, but he can't live there. There is a difference. I'm not the person I used to be. I haven't lived a perfect life since God made me new in Christ many years ago, but I couldn't live where I was either. And progressively sin becomes more evident and I become more and more conformed. This is the difference between immaturity and maturity. We grow and become more like Christ.

Come to 1 Corinthians 13, for “if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love.” Remember walk in love? Well sin is selfish, self-fulfilling, it's what I want to do, it's what pleases me, it's what gives me pleasure. But “if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” And you could have the gift of prophecy, you know all mysteries, you have all faith, “but do not have love,” the end of verse 2, “I am nothing.” Doesn't go into how could you have these other gifts or abilities, he doesn't go into that. If you did and did it without love, they are nothing, they are fake, they are counterfeit. “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and I surrender my body to be burned, but not have love, it profits me nothing.”

So this is the distinction I talked about earlier with maybe some conservative views, some liberal views, as we divide them up. I want to be careful. You can have that but you don't have the love that only the love that God produces in a life. This is a self-sacrificing, self-giving love. “Give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all thing, endures all things. Love never fails.” Oh, I don't know if I could live that way. No, that's the thing, I can't. It takes the new life that God produces in me that conforms to His character and now I live like He would have me live. So verse 13 summarizes this, “now faith, hope and love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” That self-sacrificing, I do it because it is best for the other person, I do it because I want to be pleasing in His sight.

Come over to Galatians 5:13, “you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word… ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” Then verse 22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is,” and the first fruit is “love.” Then the other fruit that follow on. And verse 25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.” In other words we have our new life by the Spirit of God, now let's live that life. “Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” and so on. Christ is the pattern of this love, it is we love as Christ loved us. It might give me a certain pleasure to indulge in certain sins, and for a time it would, but I can't live there. The pleasure is nullified. The unbeliever lives there and wants more and it is self-destructive; the believer, he may indulge it, like David who did indulge the flesh, but he couldn't live there. It made him miserable. And he finally has to acknowledge to God the misery. We have that recorded in the Psalms. It's the distinction that is being drawn.

Come back to John 13, Jesus talking to His disciples on this last night with them. In verse 34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.” That self-sacrificing love. Over in John 15:12, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” Doesn't matter what the other person is doing. Many times over the years I have had people come, yes, but you know what… It doesn't matter, let's focus on me and each one of us has to focus there. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” Well, what do you compare Christ… I mean, God loved us, had His only begotten Son come and die to pay the penalty for our sin. Christ willingly took upon Himself our sin and the terrible agony that that brought. “Just as I have loved you,” so the individuality of this. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” And I'm going to exemplify that for you, I'm going to give my life for you so that you can have new life in Me and through faith in Me. That's it. So it becomes intensely personal and yet it involves everyone else who is a believer. That was what he talked about when he talked about spiritual gifts. We are individually each and every one of us solely accountable to God and yet we are joined with one another in such a way that we grow together.

Come back to Ephesians 5:4. Verse 4 ended, “which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” Again, it's the personal thing. I can't control what you do, but I can control what I do, and thank God for giving me the grace and the strength, as I draw upon what He provides, to be what He wants me to be, regardless of what you are doing. Now that doesn't mean there is not responsibility, and that's what we are reading about. And as we gather together as believers there is a mutuality involved, but it starts out with me individually realizing I want to be what God wants me to be. If no one else is, I want to be. But I realize He has put me together with other believers so I give thanks to God for what He has done for me in Christ and the body He has given me to grow with.

“For this you know with certainty,” this is something sure and fixed, “that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” This gets to what I talked about earlier I said we would get to. If this is the characteristic of your life—immoral, impure, covetous, which is just idolatry—you have no relationship with God, you have no future with Him. The future we have is an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. The only place that that particular form of expression is used—the inheritance of Christ and God, putting them together in that way. That's what the coming kingdom is, it's a kingdom ruled by God and we enter into it by faith and we will be part of it because of the faith we have in Christ. “No immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Period.

That doesn't mean that a believer can't commit a sin. One commentator who is very good puts it this way. A believer may be guilty of one or more of these sins, but he must not be characterized by them. I thought that was very helpful. David sinned, but he couldn't live there; Peter sinned, but he couldn't live there. When you can live with that sin and live in that sin, then you need to really say, God, I need the new life that you give. The believer cannot live there. He can spend some time there, David spent months there. He wasn't even sensitive to it when the prophet came and confronted him. Whoever did that ought to really be punished. And you are the man. Oh, I am the man. There is awareness, you just can't go on. There are people who have realized they have the terminology, they have the language down, they profess faith in Christ, but they are comfortable living as an immoral or an impure or a covetous person. It's not true, you have deluded yourself. That's one of the things that the devil, he used Scripture, remember, when he tempted Christ. He used Scripture, he is capable, he knows the Scripture, he can use the Scripture in an abusive way. None of them who practice these sins will have any part in the kingdom. You have no part in heaven, you have no part in the coming kingdom. And those two will come the same ultimately. In Revelation 21-22 when heaven comes to the new earth then they become one. You have not part in the kingdom of Christ or of God.

“Let no one deceive you with empty words.” Key, don't be deceived by empty words, just by talking. “For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them.” We'll stop there. But you can't live with them, you can't make that your pattern of life. Don't let anyone “deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” We're back to Ephesians 2:2, “You formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” Ephesians 5:6, “upon the sons of disobedience.” At root no matter what kind of, we would say in our day, conservative papering you put over it, at the root there is disobedience. Now that's not saying there are not some believers that are mixed in there and I realize Paul supported the governing authorities, we are instructed to and believers that are there. But they have to be very careful that they don't get entangled in a wrong way with the things of this world because at root the difference is have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone. Not like every Protestant and every Catholic. If you say, have you placed your… Of course, I've placed my faith in Christ, I'm a… I was a Methodist, my family was Methodist, my parents were Methodist but they weren't saved people. I'm a Catholic, I'm a Presbyterian. No, that's not what I'm asking, I'm asking have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you been made new on the inside? The bulk of those who claim to be Protestant, Catholic, variations, have no knowledge. They have been deceived with empty words and because of these kinds of activities you are not coming from a desire to please God, honor Him and obey Him whatever the cost in this life. Then I need to back up and say, am I truly a child of God? I cannot be partaker with them.

So he's writing to believers because we as believers adjust and there is always the pressure from the world to adjust and so we would like to adjust. And he warns them, “Therefore do not be partakers with them.” “The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” You have to decide, where am I? I know, I know, but I just don't agree with… Let's back up, do you agree with God or don't you? Well, it's a matter of interpretation. No, it's not, it's a matter of what God says, it's clear. There are differences of interpretation among believers but the basic foundational things are not up for disagreement. You cannot say I placed my faith in Christ plus I do all these other things. Then you are like the Jews, going back, because Paul is dealing with a Gentile church, but you can read Romans 2 and you see the Jews are no closer to God than the Gentile, even though they had the Word of God and prided themselves in having the Word of God. And we conform externally in a lot of ways with the Word of God. When it comes down to it, it was just a matter of their works, not of God changing them and then living out.

So our walk, we are to walk in love as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for you. That was pleasing to God. That means things that might be temporal and temporarily pleasing and self-satisfying I put those aside. I want to please God, I want to do what is best for you, I want to… and we keep adding to it. But don't let anyone deceive you with empty words. “Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” And if you can partake of them, be comfortable with them, what can I say, you are one of the sons of disobedience. Therefore, don't be partakers of them. I want to be careful here. I'm trying my best to be… First, have I really trusted Christ, have I really placed my faith in Him? He is the One who can cleanse me, save me, make me new on the inside. Lord, I want to be what You want me to be and that comes from within. Then I can fit with other believers and I can overlook shortcomings and failures and help them through those because none of us are perfected yet. But we are growing together. “Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light.”

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word, its simplicity, its clarity. Lord, it is a word of truth, it is a word to be understood, it is a word to be obeyed. We are to walk as those who have been made new, it becomes part of our inner being to conform to the character of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. And Lord, pray that we would be sensitive to one another, willing to help one another, encourage one another, lift one another up when we stumble, when we fall. And Lord, remember we cannot live in the fallen state, we cannot live and endure and enjoy these sins and be made new by You. Thank you for making us new in Christ, thank you for renewing our mind and the ongoing process that is. Thank you for the hope and the blessings that we have in the inheritance that You have promised to all those who are in Christ. In His name we pray, amen.