Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, good evening, man. I am just as excited as I get.
No, man, it's always just a blessing to be able to stand up here and teach.
And even if it's stressful throughout the week and weeks prior trying to hash out what the Word is saying and what the Lord leads me to, it's always enjoyable to sit and dwell on the word of God, knowing that he has brought this congregation together right now to hear whatever it is that he will lay on our hearts tonight.
So with that being said, I want to start we will be in Ephesians 5, but I want to start in First Corinthians 12, just as a look at what love is.
Tonight we're going to look at walking in love as Christ loved us. And we're going to see how Jesus how Jesus loved us, what it took for him to do it, and how that was so pleasing to the Father. And so we should be able to also please the Father in how we walk.
And so I'm going to read out of first Corinthians 12 and then give a little summary and read a little bit more of chapter 13.
So just, just to start out, this is First Corinthians 12, verse 27.
It's smaller than I expected it to be on the screen.
All right. It says, now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret but earnestly desire the higher gifts? So Paul has walked through church order.
In First Corinthians, he's addressed some specific things that need to be addressed. And he gets to this idea of spiritual gifts and how we should desire them to be in the church and how God has used them as gifts, as blessings for the church. And he walks through this, he says, but they're not. Not everybody's going to be able to do everything right. Spiritual gifts are given to individuals for specific tasks, for specific purposes. But he says at the very end here, and I will show you a still more excellent way. And so, yes, these spiritual gifts are beautiful and wonderful and excellent. But there's something more excellent.
There's something more excellent. So he walks through this, and he says in chapter 13, he says, if I speak in tongues or if I can prophesy or teach with excellence, if I have depth of understanding or secret knowledge, if I have the faith to perform miracles and healings if I'm generous and selfless, sacrificial. But I don't have love.
He says, all of those are pointless. They're worthless. You know, so what the Old Testament calls vanity.
He says, all of these things are going to pass away.
They're not going to last. They're for a season, and they're for a time. He says, but not love.
He says, even our faith in Christ is for a season, because one day it would be sight. Even our hope that Christ will return and restore creation is for a time, because one day it will be fulfilled, but our love will linger on. And so he says at the end of chapter 13, now faith, hope and love abide.
They dwell here. They're in us.
But the greatest of these is love.
You know, the first book I ever studied as a Christian was First Corinthians. And looking back, I didn't really do a good job.
You know, I was just picking things that I thought were interesting. Like, oh, man, they talk about hard things there. So I want to learn about those controversial passages and, you know, so really a poor spirit in doing it. But I was a young, young person as a child, and. And looking back, man, I completely missed this. I completely missed this. And it's so beautiful. Now, over the last several years to look back, my wife went through First Corinthians, and she would ask me questions. I'm like, I don't know. That's a great question. Next.
And we would talk about it and. And, you know, so it got me reading back through it and. And just this chapter on love, looking at it in the context of the rest of Scripture, man, we have to cling to it.
And so tonight we're going to look at the love of Christ for us and the delight of the Father in Christ, but we're also going to see the love of the Father for us in a pretty intense warning against the things that would corrupt and destroy, things that Paul says bring God's wrath onto the sons of disobedience.
Okay, so we're going to see a lot of love. And there's going to be a section where we're going to say, hmm, that doesn't sound very loving.
But if you'll bear with me, I think that we'll see that it is. I think we'll see that it is just like a parent will chastise their child or warn them of a consequence that's coming so that the child will learn and grow, so they'll be Safe so that they might not die. You know, I think God offers us these. These harsh realities, these. These deep truths of death and hell and separation from him so that we would know him and experience his love in a deeper way.
So if you would pray with me. And then we're going to jump right Into Ephesians, chapter 5.
Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather and the freedom to do so, Lord, and we praise you for your mercy in allowing us to come together in unity and in love, Lord, for granting us peace in our congregation, Lord, where there's so many churches that struggle, Lord, that struggle to fellowship together and struggle to be vulnerable with each other and struggle to love you well by loving others well.
So, Father, I thank you for.
I thank you for the opportunity and I thank you for the challenge to do that here at East Rock. Father, I thank you for your word.
I pray that tonight you would help us to be imitators of you, Lord, that you would let us see the love of Christ and how we can walk in it, God, that you would clarify for us what immorality and purity is, Lord, and what idolatry is, that you would root these things out of our hearts and our minds, Lord, that you would reveal the gospel to us in your word, Lord, more than anything, I ask that you'd be glorified tonight.
Pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: All right.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Ephesians, one of the best books in the Bible.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: All right.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: Paul says in Ephesians 5, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Now, when that's not. That's not the whole passage, but we're going to stop, okay?
So when we see therefore, of course, we have to look back and see what does it speak on? What's it building on? What's the foundation of that therefore? Or as Tim says, what's the therefore? Therefore and man? I think in Ephesians you can take any single therefore and take it all the way back to the first chapter, the very opening verses, and build an argument that it's all based on the riches that we have in Christ, these spiritual blessings that are given to us, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And so I did that and I wrote pages and pages of notes and I said, this is a book. This is not a sermon. Also, it's wrong.
You know, I think that very briefly, Paul says therefore. And we just have to look back one verse to chapter four. Verse 32. And he says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
So because God in Christ forgave you, therefore be imitators of God and forgive others, right? Because you are now a child of God, because God has forgiven you and brought you into his kingdom. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. Or as one commentator translated, loved children. And I love it because it just takes away this formality, right? This formality of being a beloved and man, just a loved child.
Just loved.
So already we see in chapter four that there is this call to imitate God, right? He says, be kind to one another, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. So we're already being called to. To be imitators of God. And then he reinforces it. He says, therefore be imitators of God.
But what does it mean to be a loved child? How can we imitate God as His loved children?
I mean, this also stems from God forgiving us.
This also stems from God forgiving us. Now, you might have to bear with Robert because I don't know what he can see. And I've given him like 35 slides of scripture, and I. So I don't know if you're going to get it or not, but we're going to fly through a lot because we've got pages and pages.
So be gracious to him.
If you miss something, it's probably my fault. All right, so what does it mean to be loved children of God? It stems out of God's forgiving us. It stems out of God's forgiveness. Ephesians, chapter one, it says he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.
In him, that is Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Do you see? He predestined us for adoption to Himself by forgiving us of our trespasses.
So even before we can be his loved children, or as the very base of. Of that identity, it means to be forgiven.
It means to be forgiven by Him. See, God has seen fit to make us his children.
He's done it through the powerful working of his mercy in Christ.
He's done it through the work of Christ on the cross.
And that's what provided redemption and forgiveness for our sin. So in God's forgiveness, He makes us his children.
And I would say there is no family of God without the forgiveness of God.
We can't separate those two things.
There's no family of God with the clinging to the shame and practice of sin.
And I say that now because we'll get to the fact later that Paul lays that out.
The love of God is a unique and powerful love, right? We know John 3:16.
We know John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
He gave up His Son.
He gave up His Son so that we would have eternal life, right? And this is not to take away from, to detract from God's love of the world, but man, he shows us this unique individual love in the miraculous work of salvation.
Listen to Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 4 through 6.
He says, But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you've been saved and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. In Christ, you see, it's not just that he would love the world and give up His Son. It's that he would love us and give up His Son.
Is that he would, in your sin, in your death, in your iniquity, make you alive.
That he wouldn't just give up His Son, but He would partner you with Christ that He would put Christ's identity on you.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Right?
[00:13:59] Speaker A: And then First John 3, man, it says, all right, See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.
We are God's children now.
And we know that when he appears, we shall be like Him.
You see, the love of the Father is unique. It's unique and it's distinct to the believer.
And it's transformative.
And it calls you out of death and into life.
And so for us to be. To be loved children, we must be forgiven and we must experience this unique calling and transformative love.
So all of that leads us to our first point.
My wife said, oh, it's not that long. And I was like, look again. There's 10 points.
Because God has forgiven us, and in Christ he's made us his loved children, man. Our only response ought to be full conformity to the person and work of Christ.
Full conformity to the person and work of Christ, man. I love that phrase. I don't remember where I first heard it, but the person and work of Christ, it just sums up the entirety of who Christ is.
His person is defined by his divinity, his deity. He's the Son of God, God incarnate.
He's righteous and eternal and a peacemaker.
But his work is that of a teaching prophet, an advocating priest, and the conquering king.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: The person and work of Christ is what we are called to conform to. So we know that the person of work, the person and the work of Christ is pleasing to the Father.
It says it right here.
He says, be imitators of God as beloved children walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Everywhere we see this phrase. Fragrant offering is always, always associated with a pleasing and acceptable thing.
It's always acceptable. And so we look at this and most often I think we think of the death of Christ and we think of God's wrath being poured out on him.
And we think about the separation that God had from himself for a time.
And we think of God's justice.
And I think it's easy to overlook how delighted the Father was in Christ's obedience, in Christ's sacrifice, in Christ's life and longing to serve.
Right. We looked through Ephesians 1 and we saw that God took counsel with Himself when He set this plan into motion, this plan of redemption, this plan to unite all things in Christ and God as a whole. Father, Son and Spirit saw it as good and right.
See, Christ, when he stood in that council and he said, I will.
I will take that burden.
I will take that cross.
So how did Christ love us in such a way that was so pleasing to the Father?
Let's look at it first. I think it was in a willing manner.
Christ loved us in a willing manner. John 10:17 says, for this reason the Father loves me, says Jesus, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. You see, Jesus says that the Father loves him, at least in part. We know it's not the entirety of God's love resting on the Son because He would lay down his life, right? We know that there is perfection in the Trinity before creation ever existed.
But we know that in part, God took so much joy and delight in his love for the Son. It might be rooted in this obedience that Jesus would lay down his life for us. See, the Father found Jesus sacrifice so pleasing and acceptable, not because it was some release of his wrath, not because it was some appeasement that was necessary, but because of the obedience of the Son.
You see, in the next verse, we see that it was perfect obedience and agreement with the Father that drew Christ into this. He says, no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.
But he says, this charge I've received from my Father. So he's making this decision. But man, it's out of obedience.
Who could have taken the life of Christ?
No one.
Christ laid down his life.
He laid down on his own accord because he saw fit, because he took joy in it, because he delighted in his own obedience in spite of the consequence.
See, Jesus was tasked with this, but he brought it to himself in alignment if he ever could have been out of alignment with the will of God, if he ever even could have.
But he saw it to be right and proper and appealing to do so, even though the third point it was with great suffering and death that Christ was obedient and that Christ loved us.
Mark 10:33 says, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem. This is Christ again speaking of his own coming days. We're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and they'll deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, and they will spit on him and flog him and kill him.
And after three days, he will rise.
See, Christ didn't neglect the truth of what his love included, of what his love required. He knew that there would be torment and torture from man. He knew that physically and emotionally he would be abused, and he knew that he would endure it. He knew that spiritually there would be the weight of sin that he had never encountered before.
And he knew that he would bear it.
He knew that it was the means to the end.
And that end was a great adoption of sons and daughters into his Father's kingdom.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Right?
[00:21:12] Speaker A: It wasn't just to live a good life. It wasn't just to be a sacrifice, man. It was for us.
It was for us Christ's death on the cross, his enduring suffering and death mocking and people spitting on him and flogging him and killing him.
He endured that for us, each one of us here today.
And he did it so that the church would grow. And so we see that it was a corporate care for the church.
Ephesians 5:25. And I don't know who's preaching it, and I'm not going to preach it right now, but here it is coming up. It says, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that he might present the Church to himself in splendor.
Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. And Christ died so the church might be presented as holy and without blemish, spotless and in splendor. In his glory, man, Christ died for the church.
And Paul goes on to say, this is the example.
This is the example. Husbands and wives. The love of a husband and a wife which culture has so distorted, but Scripture has called to be pure and righteous and the perfect example of Christ in the church for the world to see.
Man, it was a corporate care for the church. That's why Christ died. That's how Christ loved us. But more than that, even more than that, it was an individual call to the saint. We cannot, okay, we cannot speak of the love of Christ in a general sense.
We cannot speak of the love of Christ as if it applies to everybody else and not to us.
Listen to Galatians 2, verse 20. He says, I, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Man, that letter to the Galatians is so personal.
It's so personal.
It's such a hard calling for you to stand in the Gospel as an individual and become a part of the kingdom of God.
Christ died for the church at large, but the church is made up of saints.
The church is made up of individuals who are individually filled with the Spirit.
You cannot talk like that.
If you have to talk in some kind of general corporate terms about only love for the church, but not about you as an individual.
John Piper says, if you do so, you don't know the Bible and you don't know the love of Christ.
That's a hard word, but man, that's what the word says.
If you can't take up this identity, you don't know the love of Christ.
You might know of it, but is it dwelling in you?
I think the final point is that Christ loved us in a way to redeem us from our former master.
Ephesians 1:7 says, in him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.
Guys, the love of Christ is way more than just a simple sacrifice.
It's way more than just a simple sacrifice.
This is Brett's favorite word. It's the propitiation.
It's the covering of our sin.
It's the removal of our debt to the living God who is holy and righteous and just.
We deserve hell, we deserve separation. We deserve every consequence that our actions and our hearts bring about.
We deserve anxiety and fear and death. But Christ died so that you might be free from. From the sin and the consequences.
Colossians 2:13 through 15. Man, it is just as Tim says, the young people say. It is rent free in my head, man, he says, and you who were dead in your trespasses, you who were dead in your trespasses, all of us in an uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all of our trespasses. So we were dead in our trespasses. But God has now forgiven those trespasses.
He's forgiven them.
He's canceled the record of debt that stood against us with his legal demands. So he's forgiven us of our trespasses that were making us dead, and he's forgiven us the debt that made us legally obligated to him.
It says this. He set aside nailing it to the cross. Man. When I talk to somebody and they're just lingering in the shame of their sin, the question I ask them is funny. But like, man, does Jesus need to die some more?
Like, does Jesus need to die anymore to forgive you of what you've done?
He has nailed it to the cross, and then we can rest because he disarmed the rulers and authorities. And we know that that is Satan and his minions. And he's put them to open shame by triumphing. That's such a hard word, triumphing over them.
In Christ.
In Christ.
God has done this.
God has already accomplished this work.
We don't have to linger in the shame of our sin. He set us free from the consequences of sin and from sin itself.
If you're not a believer, would you hear that and repent?
Would you let God cancel the record of your debt?
Would you let Christ nail your sin to the cross and put it to death?
And believer?
Would you love like Christ?
Would you willingly give up your life to serve God and align yourself with his word and will?
Would you do it knowing that it's not going to be easy?
Would you do it knowing that it's not going to be comfortable? That you'll lose friends, you'll lose the enjoyment of being around your family, that they won't want to spend time with you, that you might lose your job for speaking truth?
Would you seek unity in the body, the church, so that Christ might be glorified in Himself and not in us?
Not in my works. But in his work in the body.
Would you speak truth to a dead and dying world?
Would you speak with boldness so that the kingdom of God might grow and flourish, so God might be glorified? And when Christ returns, the church might be large and welcoming to him.
Man we're called to be imitators of God and to do so. It starts with walking in the love of Christ, but it doesn't stop there.
It doesn't stop there.
Our second point says, as loved children of God, there are things that do not align in any way with the identity that we have inherited.
How do you know that a duck is a duck?
Quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck, looks like a duck, acts like a duck. You ever heard a duck? Man, they're loud. We had ducks for almost a year, I think, and we had one duck that was our last duck. And she would just sound like she was screaming.
And I just thought about that. How do you know it's a duck? She was in there with all of our chickens. And I was like, that's definitely not a chicken making that noise.
[00:30:00] Speaker B: Right?
[00:30:01] Speaker A: How do we know it's a duck? It looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck. I mean, how do we know Christians are Christians?
How do we know Christians are Christians?
They look like it, they sound like it, they act like it.
And in this text, we get a small look at a small portion of what we're called to be like.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: Right?
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Verses 3 and 3 and 4. We'll continue reading. In chapter 5 of Ephesians, he says, but he says, be imitators of God as beloved children, walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. But now there's a separation from do that. Not this, but sexual immorality. And all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place.
But instead, let there be thanksgiving.
And Paul lists six things here, but I think it's two groups.
We get the first three. Sexual immorality, impurity and covetousness. Man, those are very obvious practices.
Those are very obvious practices. And in fact, he mentioned them earlier and in various other texts, and he identifies them with the Gentiles.
Right, with the Gentiles, which several weeks ago we learned just means this. This group of people who are contrary to the will of God, those who are against God, Right. These are descriptors of the world.
So these are practices. And then we get filthiness and foolish talk and crude joking. And I think that those refer to the way that we handle or that we address or that we discuss those practices.
So how then do we do that?
I'll say that we should never be identified by them.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Paul says, don't let them even be named among you. And that doesn't mean that we don't talk about it.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Because Paul's bringing it up. He wrote letters about it to the churches.
Go read First Corinthians. That is pretty controversial. He gets into some deep things there.
He says, don't be identified by these.
So what are they?
I think we see these words and it's easy to say, oh, let's look up the definition, but it's hard to understand the scope.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: I think when you talk to a young couple who's looking to get married, these are things that they should have good understanding of, that they should have good definitions for. In fact, every young man that I have spoken to recently that is either moving in that direction or is engaging in the path of getting married, I say that, you know, how far do you think it's okay to go in your relationship?
What boundaries have you set? And I think it's a very practical question. It gets them thinking, if they have not set boundaries, why not and what should they be?
And they often say, I won't do anything that I wouldn't do with my mother. I'm like, okay, that's a weird place to jump.
That's not what the Bible says. Again, go read First Corinthians.
No, I think, man, the word we should use is sexual morality.
That should be. That should be the line. Draw it there and stay far back from it.
And so what is it?
A really simple definition.
When people act as if they are in a covenant marriage without entering into a covenant marriage, sexual morality, or when within that covenant they act other than how God intended, I think is sexual immorality.
[00:34:25] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: And you might think you're leaving out a lot of things there.
Well, that's where this idea of impurity comes into play.
Impurity is the practice of indulging in that immorality.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: And the conditional word that Paul uses all implies that everything associated with immorality is wrong.
Everything associated with it, the actions, the planning, the entertainment of thoughts or fantasies, various media that's identified exclusively by immorality, or every other bit of media that we consume that has tried to push it and make it seem acceptable.
Anything that tries to make immorality less detestable than how it really is endorsing it, promoting it, condoning it, entertaining it as acceptable. All of this is impurity. And so when Paul says all impurity, it means anything, any practice, any thought, any inkling of immorality, any inkling of impurity is wrong.
He says, don't let it be named among you.
And he says in covetousness, which is idolatry.
And you might think that kind of is an outlier, but really it's not.
Really, it's not. Because covetousness is really the craving to fulfill a desire, right? It's a greed or a desire, but not just for money or materials.
But it's your heart that's so desirous of anything that it reveals that good God is not the treasure, that God is not satisfying, and that God is not the king of your heart.
John didn't even text me about these songs that we sang.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Right?
[00:36:21] Speaker A: And so in that greed and in that desire, covetousness is actually the response in your heart to take up those cravings and attempt to satisfy them.
Scripture reveals to us that we often seek this satisfaction with immorality and impurity, right? Some references, Exodus 34, Numbers 25, and Romans 1, the book of Romans. But we'll just. We'll limit it to Romans 1:18 through the end of the chapter. Like write those down and go and look at them and draw that connection between idolatry and immorality, right? Paul is writing to the Ephesians who have this great temple to Artemis where they had cult prostitutes.
And that was acceptable and not even acceptable and encouraged. And you would be ostracized if you didn't participate.
That they had whole economies revolving around this temple worship.
But he says, don't let those things be named among you, as is proper among the saints.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Right?
[00:37:41] Speaker A: That doesn't mean we don't talk about them. In fact, I would say that you would do a disservice if you don't. If you have children in your home and you aren't addressing culture and the things of culture and how we should handle them, right? Because if you think your children are not being exposed to immorality and impurity, no matter what protection you're offering, you're deceived, you're deceived.
They're seeing it, they're hearing it, they're engaging in it. And I'll speak from here. I'm preaching to myself. We also do, because culture has made it so acceptable.
So acceptable. I mean, you can't look at a billboard without seeing that, you know, sex sells, man. The world loves immorality, and Satan has harnessed that and used it.
Why? Because for some reason it works.
For some reason, this sin of immorality and the pursuit of impurity is directly contrary to our sanctification, our identity in Christ, and yet it's so easy for us to slip into it.
So what does it mean for them to not be proper among the saints? How do we handle them?
[00:39:04] Speaker B: Right?
[00:39:04] Speaker A: If it means that we should openly discuss these things that like Colossians 2 says, man, the shame has been put on the person who deserves it, on Satan, on the rulers and authorities of the world. How do we discuss these things that are so shameful?
And look at verse four. He says, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
So how do we handle them? We do not speak of them casually.
We do not speak of them casually.
We do not speak of them as if they're silly or entertaining. That's really what this word for foolish talk means. It means it's almost like this person that Paul is describing can't help but make a joke.
They can't have a serious conversation. All they are is a fool.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: And.
[00:39:56] Speaker A: They'Re not silly or entertaining. These things separate people from God.
We do not speak of them in a way that be less shameful than they truly are.
And we may never speak of them with approval.
We never speak of them with approval.
In our own lives, we wouldn't consume these things in our entertainment.
We shouldn't. What we watch, what we listen to, what we read, the social media that we follow.
God would have it that the things that we look at would not be touched by immorality, impurity and covetousness.
The pursuit of purity in the life of a believer is directly connected to the work of God in sanctifying you. We see it in 1st Thessalonians 4, 3, 8. We see it in Romans 8. And that reveals to us that even though there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ, the elimination of sin in the life of a believer is paramount to your relationship with Christ, God.
And so what do we do instead?
Paul says, just be thankful.
Just be thankful instead. Let there be thanksgiving. And let that thanksgiving shove these things out of our heart.
Listen to Ephesians 5:18.
It says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit, right. So we have this identifying factor. We're filled with the Spirit. He says, address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.
I'll say that when my children address me with singing, I'm often upset by that.
But I also don't think they're making melly to the Lord with their hearts either.
I think it's their little brain, they can't shut it off.
But here, maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt.
So Paul says, be filled with the Spirit and address one another.
Address one another in the Lord, verse 20. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Man. He says this. I mean, that follows this passage.
Paul brings thanksgiving back up because he says, if you are in the Spirit, if you are filled with the Spirit, then your inclination should be to give thanks always and for everything.
Do you see? When we are filled with the Spirit, we are not then filled with immorality and impurity and covetousness. We're filled with the Spirit.
And these sinful, shameful things cannot be partnered with the Spirit.
And so why do we handle these things this way?
Because, sorry.
Because if we don't, if we mishandle, these men will experience the wrath of God.
Point number three says the world would claim that you may have both righteousness and impurity, but the Word declares that it shall not be so, it shall not be so.
Picking up in verse five, he says, for you may be sure of this, you may have every confidence, you may take it to the bank.
Everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ. And God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Man. There's no qualifiers here.
There is absolutes.
He says. You can be sure of this.
Everyone, they have no inheritance.
And so now Paul brings. Brings two groups of people to play here.
Those who are in Christ and have been forgiven by God, who are putting off the old and putting on the new, who are becoming imitators of God, who are walking in the love of Christ and then those who have no inheritance in the kingdom.
I mean, why would Paul write such threatening words to a congregation, to a church, to a body of believers? And if we look at the. The history of. Of Ephesus, man. Paul loved the city.
He stops and he prays with the elders. In Acts, before he goes to Jerusalem for the last time. And he says to them, like, be vigilant, watch out, take care.
And then he writes them this letter, and he's like, guys, here's a weighty word.
Be sure of this. If you're not sure of anything else, right? A better translation would say, a sexually immoral one, or an impure one, or a covetous one. Somebody who is identified by these things, they have no inheritance.
Why would he write about the wrath of God being poured out on the sons of disobedience? Surely it's because he loves us.
Surely it's because he would see us in his kingdom.
Because he would want to hear our voices cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
Because he wants us to worship him for eternity.
Because he doesn't want us to be immoral or impure or idolaters, but he wants us to be his loved children.
And you might say that Ephesians 1:13 and 14 says that we've been sealed by the spirit.
In Romans 8 at the end says, who can condemn us and who can separate us? And then Paul answers the questions, nothing and no one.
And I would say, yes and amen.
If you are in Christ, you are in Christ, now and forever.
[00:46:43] Speaker B: If you.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: If you have taken up the cross of Christ, if you have died the death of Christ and now live in the life of Christ, what can separate you from that? Nothing.
Second Timothy 4:18 says, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.
But Hebrews 3 says, Take care, brothers.
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God.
And as the author saying that you can lose your salvation, he's saying, no, you never had it.
He says, but exhort one another, encourage one another, as the day is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Do you see? Paul says, let no one deceive you.
And first John 2:19 says, they went out from us, they being this person described in Hebrews 3, they went out from us, but they were not of us.
If they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
If you are in Christ, you will remain in Christ.
But they went out that it might become plain that they are not of us.
And brothers and sisters, the world would say to you, do what makes you feel good.
Consume what you desire, or what you think will satisfy you.
But the word of God says, you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral one or an impure one or a covetous one, has no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words.
And the world is seeking our destruction.
The world would say, you can have impurity and you can have Christ.
But the Word says, confess your sin. And God is faithful and just to forgive us.
He says that Christ is the propitiation. That Christ has taken our sin to the cross and nailed it to the cross and died once and for all.
Folks, the Word calls us to be imitators of God as loved children and to take up that identity. And we cannot cling to the lies of the world.
That these things, that immorality and impurity and covetousness are good and acceptable, but rather that we see them for what they are, that they're lies and that they'll never satisfy, that they're a poison and that they will seek to deceive us.
So if you're in Christ, I beg you to lay these things down.
If you're not, I'd ask you to lay them down and become an imitator of God as his loved child.
Would you pray with me?
Father, we love you and we thank you for your word.
As hard as it might be to hear threats from the eternal God from the Rock of Ages, Father, I ask that you would help us to see the love that you have for us in giving them to us.
That we would reflect on our hearts and see where is it that we've hardened them against you.
Lord, what idols have we built up? In what ways are we covetous? In what ways are we immoral and impure? Lord, in what ways, as first Thessalonians says, do we think fight against your will, which is our sanctification?
Lord, reveal it to us.
Holy Spirit, move in us and pour conviction into our hearts that we might repent and turn away from the world and turn to you, God. Show us your love and your mercy.
Amen.
