Thank you, Mark, for leading us again. Good morning to everyone. Beautiful morning this morning, sunshine; we've had a lot of rain lately, so it's nice to see the sun this morning.

We are continuing our study in the book of Ephesians this morning, and we come to chapter five in our study. We're in the middle of a section on practical application on how we, as believers in Jesus Christ, as saints of God, should walk—how we should live. Paul spent a great deal of time in the first three chapters establishing who we are and what we have in Christ, and he made this the basis, the foundation, of how we should live, making application of these truths beginning in chapter four, verse one, and extending to the end of the letter.

He said, “I beseech you therefore, based on who you are, this is how you should walk,” that is, to walk worthy of your calling or in equal weight with who you are. And we have seen that this is based on the truth that is in Jesus. Back in chapter four, when we believed Jesus, God did a wonderful work in us. We were born again, we were regenerated, we were made new creations. God crucified our old man with Christ, buried us with him, and raised us to new life.

He put off that old man with his deeds, as it says in chapter four, and he caused us to die to sin and to law and to be released from the bondage to fear of death, and he put on the new man who is being renewed in the spirit of the mind, causing the fruit of righteousness in our lives. This is what God did in salvation, and this is who we are as a result. The admonition of the New Testament is this: you are new men; therefore, you must live like new men. God does not ask us to live contrary to who we are, nor is the command to walk in love irrational for the new man in Christ. It is consistent with who we are, with our deepest desire, the love of God that's been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given us.

It's God's will and his purpose for us in Christ to walk in love. He has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has fully equipped and prepared us, and in fact, God himself lives in us, empowering us to live this life by his grace through faith in Jesus alone. In Galatians 2:19, Paul gives testimony to this new life in Christ, how he now lives and walks, and he says with these profound words, explaining the Christian life: “For I through the law died to the law, in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness, if righteous, holy living comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

And so, in consistency with these truths, Paul is giving us practical commands, exhortations as to how we should now walk. He's highlighting those things which should and should not characterize our lives, and he is constantly tying these admonitions back to the truth of who we are in Christ. 

So let's look at our text again together in Ephesians 5. Chapter 5, verse 1: “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any 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. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.”

Well, I've given you five points on your outline. First, be imitators of God; second, walk in love; third, fitting for saints; fourth, such were some of you; and fifth, no fellowship with darkness.

First, we see in our text, “be imitators of God.” These words highlight again the fact of our birthright as children of God. In John 1:11 it says, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name.” He says, “who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” 

In Romans 8:16 it says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Notice the Spirit bears witness with our spirit; we are in agreement; we are not contrary to one another. In 1 John 3:2 it says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

We often hear in our world that we are all God's children or we are all children of God, but the fact is that all men born in Adam are born alienated from God, separated from God by sin. Jesus made this profound statement in John 8 to the religious leaders of His time when He said, “You are of your father, the devil.” A man must be born again; he must believe Jesus in order to become a child of God. But Paul says here in our text that God is our Father, that we are His dear children, by grace through faith, by regeneration. Therefore we should be imitators of our Father.

This is a most natural truth; a son is like his father. Jesus emphasized this very often in His relationship with the Father, and we see this in our relationship with our fathers as well. We have expressions like “a chip off the old block” or “the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.” A son is like his father, and a boy desires to imitate his father. In our life, in our world, this can be a good thing; this can be a bad thing. 

I remember an illustration that Pastor Krenz used to tell about a man who lived in northern Minnesota where he was from, and the man was a drunk. He struggled with drinking for years. He said one dark, cold night he walked out of his home, leaving his wife and child to head to the bar. As he took those first few steps toward his car in the deep snow, he heard the door open behind him, and there was his little boy taking large steps, placing his little feet in his father's footprints in the snow, following his dad. 

He said, “Get back inside, boy, what are you doing?” And the little boy said, “I’m just following in your footsteps, Dad.” A boy imitates his father. The appeal of Paul here is that we, knowing, reckoning who we are as dear children, as the children of God, seek to imitate Him; and this is done as we walk in love. 

Look at verse 1 again: “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Love here is the word agape, that self-sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated at the cross. This is the command of the New Covenant, to love one another. In 1 John 3:23 it says, “And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment.” This is most graphically illustrated by the Son of God, Jesus our Lord, and His giving of Himself as a sacrifice and atonement for sin on the cross. 

He is the example for us. Turn over to 1 Peter 2 with me, please, verse 21. 1 Peter 2:21. Peter says something really astounding here. He's been talking about employee-employer relationships, slave-master relationships, and he's talking about being beaten and taking it patiently, suffering abuse. In verse 21, he says, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps.” 

So what did Jesus do? How are we to imitate? How are we to follow Him? Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten. What did He do? He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. 

The key in the Christian life, no matter the circumstances, is in trusting ourselves to Him who judges righteously. Even as Jesus gave Himself on the cross as a sacrifice in our place, even to the point of death on the cross, He committed Himself to God. He trusted His Father and His will and His purpose. And so we are to follow His example. We are to walk in love, and this is possible because of what He has done in us and because He lives in us to empower us to live for Him.

Turn back to Romans 7 with me, verse 22. I want to show you what God has done in us through Jesus in salvation. Romans 7:22, it says, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” In this passage, Paul describes a man, verse 14, who is a slave to indwelling sin, who is in captivity to the law of sin in his members, as we just read in verse 23. 

But look down to chapter 8, verse 1, or verse 2; I’m sorry, 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh.” Why? “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” 

Something profound has happened to the man who believes Jesus. He has died; he has been crucified with Christ; he was buried, and he was raised to newness of life. He has been made free from the law of sin and death, and for an express purpose, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Here Paul is in our text; he's talking about our walk. He's talking about how we live. We walk according to the Spirit. We do not live by the letter; we live by the Spirit. And by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, by Christ's life in us, and because of the truth of our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus—our death to sin and law and the fear of death itself—we can now walk in love; we can now fulfill the righteous requirement of the law.

Turn to Romans 13 with me at verse 8. Paul says, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” 

Love is the fulfillment of the law, the righteous requirement of the law. Love is the command of the new covenant. And God demonstrates His own love toward us in Christ's death on the cross. Love is the fruit of the Spirit who lives in us as we walk by the Spirit. We now, as believers in Jesus, are children of God, with new life and the very power that raised Jesus from the dead working in us to produce the fruit of love, and in this love, this agape love, we are to walk; we are to live by His grace, by His power.

Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice, as a sweet-smelling aroma to God, a propitiatory sacrifice, fully accomplishing our salvation. And so we are, according to Romans 12, based on the mercies of God, the great doctrinal truths of those first 11 chapters, to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God, which He says is our reasonable—that's logizomai, the word logic in there—it is our reasonable service; it is our spiritual act of worship.

Be imitators of God. Walk in love. Next, we see in our text that it is this kind of life—the new life of the new man—that is fitting for saints. Verse 3: “But fornication, all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” 

The emphasis in verse 3 is, “let it not even be named among you, not even one.” Vincent comments, “Not to speak of doing such a thing; let it not even be so much as mentioned among you.” The reason is that it is not fitting. This is an interesting word and so consistent with the flow of the text and the reasoning behind our walk of love as believers. 

Vincent continues; he says, “The position of sainthood or separation to God in which the gospel places the Christian is so far apart from the license of the world as to make it utterly incongruous even to speak of the inveterate sins of the corrupt heathenism.” It’s not fitting for saints. It means it's not suitable; it’s not proper; it’s not right; it’s not consistent. 

Why is fornication, sexual sin, and hedonism, covetousness, something that should not even be considered by a Christian, entertained, talked about? Because it's not suitable. It does not fit with who you are. It is wholly irrational and inconsistent with who we are in our inner man, in Christ. And this is something that I really think believers fail to understand, largely because of errant teaching, but also a lack of understanding about what the Bible says about the new covenant believer in Christ, who he is and what he has in Christ.

Paul keeps saying it over and over: in Christ, and all that this means. So I wonder, what is your expectation for your daily life? I'm not asking about your experience. I'm not asking about your feelings, emotions, fears, and doubts. I'm asking you, do you know who you are? Do you understand God's intention and provision in saving you? Do you expect to live a holy life by God's grace and power? 

Paul says we should not even mention, talk about, or entertain in our minds the kinds of sins that typify the man in Adam in our world because it's not suitable to who we are. It is not fitting for saints. What Paul is telling us here is who we were and who we are; and therefore, what was fitting for us is no longer fitting for us as saints. 

Like Peter said, “I have spent enough of my life living in that dissipation.” We could say amen to that, couldn't we? I mean, you look back on it; some of us that were saved a little later, we say, “Boy, it's enough of that, right? I did enough of that.” 

Go back to Ephesians 4:17. It’s the chapter back where Paul draws this contrast: “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness.” What a picture of our world today.

Look at verse 20: “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus.” What is that truth that is in Jesus? “That you have”—that’s aorist tense—“you have put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and your being”—present tense—“your being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, therefore, because of this truth, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.”

We have put off the old man; we have put on the new man; we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind of these truths. We do not belong to a religion where we are trying by right and ritual and law and works to earn our own righteousness in the favor of God. We do not walk by the letter; we do not live by the law engraved on stones. This is not how a righteous walk is achieved. Paul explains this so clearly in passages like 2 Corinthians 3 and Galatians 2 and 3.

Look at that passage in 2 Corinthians 3 with me, verse 2. 2 Corinthians 3:2. He's talking to the Corinthians, remember, and he says, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.” Those believers living in that vile, wicked city were the epistle being read by all men, by their walk, by their witness. 

“Surely you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?”

For if the ministry of condemnation—He calls it death, condemnation, engraved on stones—if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. We walk by the Spirit. Romans 7:4: “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead.” 

Why? Why did we have to die to the law and be married to Christ? “That we could bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh”—that’s in Adam, before—“when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, indwelling sin, which were aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” 

We walk in love. We walk by the Spirit. It is fitting for who we are in Christ as saints, as children of God. This is God's way—the new and better way, in the new and better covenant. 

Notice at the end of verse 5, we see the contrast to licentious living. Paul writes, “but rather, giving of thanks.” This is the response to the grace of God, to the new covenant, to life in Christ by the Spirit. Thank you. Give thanks. Pray without ceasing, and in all things, give thanks. We give thanks because our life, our salvation, is all by grace. It is a gift from God by His life and power and provision. 

Paul says we don’t think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. Give thanks because of who you are in Christ, because of what God’s doing in your life, because of His faithfulness, because of His promises, because you can trust Him and believe Him, and you can know that you have eternal life. Give thanks.

Paul continues in our text, as we see the principle here that we also see in 1 Corinthians 6: such were some of you. Verse 5: “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Now this is a familiar statement in the Scriptures, the idea that fornicators, adulterers, liars, idolaters will have their part in the lake of fire; they will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

So how does this fit in our context and flow in Paul's intent? What Paul is saying is, this is who you are; now live like it. Live it out in your walk. Do not even speak of the vile, wretched sins that are common among the worldly men of Adam. Don't even speak of these things, and remember that you are not a fornicator; you are not an unclean person or covetous man, and it is these very things that bring the wrath of God on the sons of disobedience.

So it's not so much that Paul is saying, this is right and this is wrong, follow this law, do this, don't do that—he could have easily said that—but what he says is, these are the types of things that the Gentiles do. They are not consistent, fitting with who you are as saints. You are not these things; therefore, you should not do these things or live in these things.

Think this through with me. If committing adultery makes a man an adulterer, then we have some issues with some Christians—born-again believers—who have fallen to this temptation, committed this vile sin. Are they adulterers? And therefore would they not inherit the kingdom of God? Or are they acting contrary to who they are? And I know this is a controversial statement, but this type of thinking that committing a sin like lying makes you a liar is a religious concept, not a biblical one.

Because the opposite is quite true, according to passages like Romans 5: a man lies because he is a liar. A man sins because he is a sinner. And sinners do not inherit the kingdom of God. Liars and fornicators and adulterers will not inherit the kingdom; do not have eternal life. That's why he says in our verse, “who is an idolater.” So Paul is saying here, “You are not a fornicator; therefore, the act of fornication is not consistent with who you are.” 

You see, my brothers and sisters, we must understand that there is a logical basis for our holy living—a change in us at conversion. There is a sweet reasonableness for a holy life for the man who is in Christ. So we need to see sin as wholly inconsistent with who we are, as irrational for the believer. It does not mean that we will reach sinless perfection short of glory; sin still dwells in us, and we are often unwilling to believe what God says is true about us and live in light of it by His power. But sin is not fitting for the saint; it is not suitable, consistent, right for the one in Christ.

There were some believers in Corinth who did not understand this and were living in horrible sin right along with the world and false religion. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 6 with me at verse 9. Paul, having talked about how they’re living and participating in false worship and sexual immorality, in verse 9 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” 

Now they were doing these things. How would you counsel such a believer? And Paul says they were believers. It’s fascinating to me that he does not bring law onto them. He does not talk about how sin is bad, has horrible consequences, and offends a holy God. All those things are true and important, but what does Paul tell these believers living in sexual immorality of all kinds? Verse 11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 

He says, “This is who you were. This is not who you are. This kind of living is wholly inconsistent with the truth and reality of who you are in Christ and the greatest desire of your heart and the intention of God for your life in Christ. Such were some of you. But this is not who you are. So knock it off. Quit living like that.” It’s the same thing in Romans 12:2. Stop being conformed by the world. Don’t let this external force conform you into something that is wholly inconsistent with who you are inwardly; rather be being transformed, right? By the renewing of your mind so that your outward living would come into consistency with who you are inwardly.

Finally, in our text, we see “no fellowship with darkness.” Verse 7: “Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.” 

Paul here uses the metaphor of darkness and light for those who were in Adam and now are in Christ. “You were darkness, but through the gospel, through faith, by grace, you came out.” As Spurgeon said, “Keep clean out now. Don’t go back to who you were. Don’t dabble in the affairs of the world, the carnal and earthly and sensual and demonic. Rather, focus on the truth, on the Word of God, finding out what the will of the Lord is.” 

Light has no fellowship with darkness; righteousness with unrighteousness; Christ with Belial; and you are light. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, and if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, think on these things.” 

Roll them over in your mind. Meditate on them. We are to speak the truth in love. We are to shine light into the darkness, and the quickest way to undermine our preaching is by inconsistent living. Turn over to 1 Peter 2, please. Verse 9. One more passage to look at. 

1 Peter 2:9. Peter's saying something very similar to what Paul's teaching us in our text. He says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people.” Why? Why did God save us? Why did God set us apart? “That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” 

“Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” Peter's talking about walking in the light, about living as believers—our walk in this world. And he says that our witness and the salvation of the lost when God visits them is dependent on our words—the clear gospel preached—and our walk, how we conduct ourselves among the Gentiles in this world.

You see, we live right in the midst among the unbelievers in our world. That's what those words “sojourners and pilgrims” mean—living alongside. Israel was a city on a hill. It was a light to draw the nations to God. But we in the church are sent out into the world to live among the pagans—to work with them, to recreate with them, to live and walk in such a way that the words of the good news we preach are shown in the transformation of our lives. This is an effective witness.

Do not be partakers with them. Do not fellowship with evil, sinful things. Rather, live in consistency with who you are in Christ as a testimony to the power of the gospel in the life of the one who believes Jesus. Speak the truth in love. We have to speak the truth. In all situations, speak the truth in love; shine the light into the darkness; and be a witness by word and by deed. 

This is who we are. This is what we most want. And this is the very purpose for which God saves us. 

Closing prayer:

Father, we're so thankful for your grace, for your mercy. We're so thankful for Jesus, our salvation. Thank you that He died in our place for our sins, that His one-time death on the cross accomplished our salvation, and that through faith in Him alone, we can receive your righteousness. Our sins are imputed to Him, and He pays the full debt, and your righteousness is imputed to us. Thank you for that truth. But thank you also that when we believe Jesus, you did an actual work in us, that we died to sin, that we died to the law, that we were released from bondage to fear of death and we are new men, raised to a new life with a new purpose. 

Help us, Lord, to understand these things and to choose to believe them, to reckon them to be so, and to live in light of them for your glory and for your purpose. In Jesus' name, amen.