You May Be Sure of This

[Christsfreeservant]

“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.” (Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV)​

To imitate someone is to copy, emulate, follow, and model yourself after that person. And as followers of Jesus Christ we are to be becoming like him in character, thinking, attitude, speech, and actions more and more each day. He is our example for how we are to conduct our lives. Yes, on this earth, we will never be perfect like he was, for we are all born with sin natures in the image of Adam, and we have all sinned. But Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.

And we are to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. And what did that mean for him? It meant death, for certain, but it meant being hated, rejected, hounded, persecuted, beaten, spat upon, mocked, called crazy, called of the devil, and falsely accused of wrongdoing, etc. And it meant that he told us the truth about ourselves and that we need to change, that we need to leave our lives of sin behind us, and we must now walk in holiness and in obedience to our Lord. Not a popular message!

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Ephesians 5:3-5 ESV)​

No one likes to hear about sexual immorality, which is specifically mentioned at least 30 times in the New Testament in at least 13 of the New Testament books. And the word sensuality appears in the New Testament at least 8 times in 8 NT books. But the topic appears even more times under other names or descriptions. But in today’s Christian culture here in America this topic is considered “negative” and thus to be avoided. So it is like the elephant in the room that most people do not want to acknowledge.

But we need to talk about it because sexual immorality is running rampant in today’s modern market-driven “churches” (businesses), while the truth of the gospel is being altered and diluted in order to appease human flesh and to not offend the ungodly. And so we have a lot of professers of faith in Jesus Christ whose lives are not really much different from those who make no profession of faith in Jesus. And marriages and families are being damaged and the church is on a massive spiritual and moral decline.

But contrary to what so many are teaching today, if sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, moral filth, crude joking, and the like, are what we practice (habitually) deliberately, we have no inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. It doesn’t matter what our lips have professed or we think we believe in our hearts. What matters is what we do and what we don’t do. For actions speak louder than words. So whatever we practice, whether it be sin or righteousness and obedience to God, it determines our final destiny.

“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 become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Ephesians 5:6-11 ESV)​

So, we are not to let anyone deceive us by telling us that we can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is guaranteed us when we die, and that no one can take it away from us, but regardless of how we live. For because of such things as sexual immorality being acted out habitually in the lives of those who profess faith in Jesus, the wrath of God is coming upon them. For disobedience to God = unbelief, and belief = obedience to our Lord.

So we are not to be partners with those who are living in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord. We are not to be in fellowship with them, and we are not to partake with them in their sins, thinking that our sins no longer matter to God. They do! For Jesus died to free us from our addiction to sin so that we will now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands. So we are to walk as children of light in moral purity, honesty, uprightness, faithfulness, kindness, and in obedience to our Lord.

And not only are we not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but we are to be those who are exposing these works of darkness for what they are and the consequences to us if we should decide to remain in our sins and to not follow our Lord in obedience. And we don’t expose these fruitless deeds of darkness because we are “negative” or “judgmental” or “legalistic,” but because we love God and we love our fellow humans with the love of Christ and so we are willing to be hated in order to tell people the truth.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior
And your testimony is separate from Him.
Your words not matching your actions today.
Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.
Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,
For you profess one thing, but other you do.
Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.
Not living in truth to what you confess.
Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.
Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.
Your heart is not given to your Lord God.
Because of how you live, you are a fraud.
Turn from your sin and give your life to God.