 Looking today at Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 through 7 and so what I'll do is I'll begin reading here at verse 1 or read verses 1 and 2 give you a normally do a prolonged introduction, lay a groundwork for you and then we'll move into the verses before us and we're only going to cover up to verse 7 and the reason part of that reason is is because on the 25th of this month couple of weeks from now I have a surgery scheduled where they're going to be giving me a brain transplant I'm looking forward to very much it's about time actually I have to have a surgery on my left eye and so I have a cataract and it's gotten to the point where I'm not real comfortable driving at night because my right eye has glaucoma and so I'm kind of flying blind Marie's been having a great time with me it's you know by the time she gets home her hair is straight out like this you know she looks like Bride of Frankenstein so but we will uh I will be having to take a couple of days off and uh they had the the surgery the the closest surgery time that they could give to me is on a Wednesday and so we'll have a wonderful guest speaker and all of that but I will be planning on unless something happens between now and then having surgery on the 25th of this month just letting you know hopefully I'll be able to be back you know soon after that as a matter of fact I should be able to be back within a couple days but I can't that day so there I said it so let's begin reading together Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 Paul writes therefore be imitators of God as dear as beloved 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 so we're looking at since chapter 4 what has been called the walk of a believer I mentioned to you that when we began to look in chapter 4 at the believer's walk that the word walk speaks of a lifestyle when you see when you see the word walk in reference to the way uh in reference to Christians and it speaks concerning our walk obviously that speaks of our behavior in scripture the idea of ordering our steps or walking carefully is often spoken of and that's because believers are to live in a way that is aligned it's aligned with the will of God and because we are believers we understand that God is the one who guides us in our lives like it says in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 23 I know oh Lord that the way of man is not in himself that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps so the believer understands that his steps are directed of the Lord and by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the word of God he directs us he leads us well Paul has been writing he's been writing concerning what is called the walk of the believer and he's pointed out that who we are in Jesus informs us in the way that we should live he said that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places and because we are seated in heavenly places in Christ we're to live a life that reflects that it's got to be different you see before we were saved we walked according to the course of this world and that's because we were captives he is said of satan and disobedient to the things of God he had said in chapter 2 verse 2 of Ephesians he said you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedient disobedient so instead of living as sons of disobedience he's he's teaching us that believers are to walk in a way that pleases the Lord now when he was writing to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1 this is what he said to them he said finally then brothers we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God as you are doing do so even more so you've received instructions how you are to walk and to please God so the walk of the believer is intended to be pleasing to him now to please God refers to the idea of willing service to God not only willing service to God but also willing service others it pleases God when instead of serving ourselves the Bible teaches that we actually enjoy serving him as well as serving other people and because we desire to please God believers will have a different kind of life so Paul had gone on here in the book of Ephesians to give identifying marks of the one who is walking with God he had said in chapter 2 verse 10 that the believer because who they are in Christ will walk in good works in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 he said the believer because of who he is walks worthy of the calling now in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9 it says that he saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began so we're walking worthy of the calling which is a holy calling that produces a holy life when he spoke in chapter 4 verse 17 concerning this he said we are not to walk in the futility of our minds that's because we once were in spiritual darkness we were living in an imaginary reality but God had illuminated us and we no longer are walking in darkness like it says in 2 Samuel 22 29 where it says you are my lamp oh Lord and the Lord illumines my darkness so we no longer walk in the futility of our minds in an imaginary reality as we continue on in Ephesians 5 you'll see in verse 8 that believers are light in the Lord's and so he says so walk as children of light again we who once lived in darkness are now children of light and Philippians 2 15 says that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world so God's calling to us in our walk is actually illuminate to to walk in his light and to actually exposed by our lifestyles and we'll see this as we continue through chapter 5 we illumine we reveal we actually are able to expose the works of darkness by the life that we live when we get to verse 15 chapter 5 verse 15 of Ephesians tells us we walk and this is an interesting word I don't know if you use this word today I didn't I'll use it right now circumspectly most of us didn't walk a walk up to somebody this morning I'm gonna get a cup of coffee and by the way are you walking circumspectly that's not a word that we use very often but when you use that word and again when we finally get there next week hopefully the word circumspectly is an interesting word it's it it actually speaks of being on the alert walking carefully being aware of your surroundings you're walking aware of those things you're alert but you're also walking in an accurate fashion you're aware of dangers so you live properly and you live wisely we'll look at that next time we're together well here in chapter 5 verse 1 as we just read we are commanded to be imitators of God and we're to notice what he says we're to in verse 2 walk in love and so we'll be looking at that today in chapter 4 Paul described the life of a real Christian a genuine believer in chapter 4 he said we walk in humility he said we walk in gentleness we walk in long suffering he said Christians lovingly bear with one another Christians do our best to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace in chapter 4 he said remember you are united both you and Gentile in Christ and therefore you're one so exercise your spiritual gifts and through proper teaching you are being equipped for works of service he said avoid false teachings speak the truth but do so in love as we looked at that chapter he said we are part of the body of Christ and because we are equipped by the word of God and the spirit of God we're to do our share he said we've been taught the truth because the truth is in Jesus Christ and because we've been taught the truth it's changed the way that we live so we put off the old man we're renewed in the spirit we've been created in true righteousness created in true holiness that's changed our lives we no longer lie to one another we no longer give in to improper anger he said we no longer steal the way that we speak has also been transformed we don't use profanity we don't use improper speech we don't use sexual innuendo instead we speak words of edification we impart grace to one another and this grace it fills our lives makes it possible to share the gospel with others in Colossians 4 verse 6 he said it like this let your conversation speaking of your way of life be always full of grace seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone so instead of bitterness that leads to malice believers put on kindness we become tenderhearted we begin to forgive one another and that's because God in Christ has forgiven us all of this goes into the introduction of chapter 5 verse 1 because as he has been sharing all of these things he has now come to this point where he says in verse 1 of chapter 5 therefore because in light of all of these things therefore be imitators of God as dear children since God has forgiven us of all of our sins we are to imitate him when he says be imitators that word imitator in the original language actually speaks of someone who mimics it speaks of imitating his actions mimic his actions mirror his actions mirror his actions his speech and his motivations now sometimes our kids reveal the depth of their love for us when they say things to us that have a personal content I think that as a father any father in this room or perhaps as a mother any mother in this room would be blessed if if your father if your son approaches you one day and says to your dad I want to be just like you now if your son walks up to mom and says I want to be just like you you got a problem but it'd be if he comes and says daddy I want to be just like you that's a good thing right that's a good thing dad I want to be like you but I think most of us as fathers would probably respond with joy that that perhaps I've impacted my my son but I've always been the one who says I don't want you as good as me I want you better than me because that's what a father's heart for a child should be don't be like me be better and if the the little girl approaches mama and says mama I want to be just like you that's a compliment and that ought to also be something that inspires a mother to live a life that that little girl can mimic so that she can be a woman of God a woman of prayer a woman of virtue those kinds of things you see one of the saddest things that I ever have heard is when I was speaking to a young man this this happened just a few years ago and and he was sharing his heart with me and he was sharing with me about his dad and I'll never forget this I thought of this as I was putting together this this message I wrote it down and I'll never forget how when he was speaking to me he said to me I don't want to be anything like my father just to hear those words coming from that son and I had known that son since he was a baby and I'd known his family for all of his young life and then for him to say to me on the phone I want you to know that I don't want to be anything like my father that was one of the saddest things that I think I've ever heard because a son ought to want to be like the father the father ought to be the kind of father that makes a son want to be like him well Paul is saying to us God is your father and as his children imitate your father be like him he says be imitators of God mimics of God as dear children he's your father imitate him and what is the chief characteristic well in verse two he says walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma so he says as as those who are imitating their father walk in love and so he speaks concerning that that chief characteristic of God you know he who loves not knows not God John said in 1st John 4 for God is love so that's one of those statements concerning God that is very direct and very open be like God why God is love and so when he says walk in love he's simply saying be like your father who is love and what is the chief characteristic of love as he's speaking here notice he says as Christ has loved us and and has given himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma what is the chief element or characteristic of love as is described in this verse sacrifice sacrifice he says Jesus gave himself as an offering and sacrifice when he speaks of offering normally the word offering in the Old Testament would be speaking of the different offerings that were that were made in uh in in sacrifices and all and normally offering is used speaking of a grain offering and and grain was given as a gift as in what is called a peace offering it represented reconciliation between a sinner and God and so he speaks concerning an offering that Jesus made a reconciliatory offering but he also speaks of sacrifice and the word sacrifice normally speaks of animal sacrifice and that would refer to his death for us in John 10 17 and 18 Jesus said it like this he said the reason my father loves me is that I laid down my life only to take it up again no one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again this command I receive from my father sacrifice give yourself in a way that's a reconciliatory give yourself in a way that's sacrificial so as imitators of God and we walk in love and Jesus is our example Christ loved us and gave himself for us well that would simply mean loving God and loving others contain sacrifice and service loving God and loving others is shown by carrying acts of sacrifice we're cleansed sinners God saved us and when we understand his sacrifice and this is a very important point when we understand his sacrifice for us then we're able to forgive and care for others a lot of times people will say and I said this recently people will say I forgive you I'm not going to forget which is another way of saying I really don't forgive you it's just another way of saying that now sometimes I think that it's wise for us to remember not in a in a mean way mean spirited way you know collecting things so we can point our finger there's a wisdom in remembering what was done but there's not a wisdom in still charging that person for offending us if that person said forgive me I was wrong then we're too forgiven right now Jesus shows us how to do that Jesus Jesus took upon himself our sin and he on that cross was saying father forgive them for they know not what they do and so when we come to understand his sacrifice for us then we learn how to sacrifice for others and we don't take grace and we don't take his salvation lightly we're we are cleansed sinners and our lives reveal that we understand what it cost him to save us and and when we do understand that it actually provokes us to care about other people especially being aware of the way that we live so that we don't stumble them one of the scriptures that says this is found in Galatians 5 13 it says brother and you have been called to liberty only do not use use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another so if we imitate God and walk in love our lives are to be a willing sacrifice that demonstrates that we are Christians so he's speaking about walking in love how is love demonstrated verse 3 interesting how this ties together with what he has just said because it verse 3 begins and says 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's 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 here we go this is very practical hopefully I can help us all to see it that way notice he begins in verse 3 fornication uncleanness covetousness let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints let's look at this a little bit at a time well if Christ love is our model if we're imitators of God and the model of Christ of sacrifice becomes part of the way we express ourselves serving and sacrifice then there are certain things we won't do we aren't going to take advantage of somebody else we're not going to use somebody else for our own pleasure we're not going to do things that God has forbidden us to do and we're not going to destroy fellowship and we're not going to destroy people's lives because we desire something with them that was forbidden by God fornication uncleanness and covetousness is not even to be named amongst us so if Christ love is our model we're not going to use a world's model of love remember that the world's kind of love is often expressed in a sexual way we're not to succumb to this kind of sin why is that because we now live in a family a community of believers and this community of believers has been called a holy community because the God that we worship is a holy God and he said therefore be holy even as I am holy live a separated life that means that we learn how to treat one another with respect courtesy and concern that means that we don't and I'll look at this with you in scripture in a moment that means we don't take advantage of somebody or defraud somebody else because we took advantage of somebody I'll show you that in scripture in just a minute you see verses three and four refer to sins all of which reveal a lack of sacrificial love for other people all of them do he speaks of fornication fornication is the word pornea it has various iterations but the root is pornea but pornea speaks concerning all sexual sin it speaks of a variety of sexual sins and and it's speaking of a sin that is actually stimulated by lustful passion and he's saying that you are to not have that you are to avoid that it shouldn't be named amongst you there shouldn't be anything called a christian fornicator that makes sense right the word and cleanness when he uses that word it's another word that reverse the sexual things it speaks of immoral thought it speaks of immoral passions it speaks of immoral fantasies and very often immoral fantasies are stimulated not just by your imagination but by pornography and if we think that pornography is a modern thing we haven't studied history pornography and and erotic statues and art has been part of humankind since the since the fall basically and so he's saying fornication is not to be named there should be no christians who are spending the night at the girl's house and speaking to her and saying to her you know i'm in love with you you know i love you i you know and if you loved me you'd you'd show me your love for me a dog i remember i said this in church many years ago i'll repeat it right now comes to mind i said um when a guy is telling a girl and i realized that today girls can tell guys this too it was a time when guys were the were the a salience if you will women today many do the same kind of thing that we used to say was all about men but the guy would be saying baby i love you you know i love you and i want you and i want to show you how much i love you and and i i told the guys in the church i said no no you're not in love you're in heat and you need to learn the difference and that's true you know because and i'll show you this in a minute because fornication has no part in the body of christ covetousness speaks of sexual parasites it speaking of those who are greedy for sexual gratification when he speaks of filthiness the word filthiness is general obscenity it speaks of any talk that is degrading it speaks of sexually inappropriate speech it's the guy who brings the innuendoes who likes to say the little dirty thing uh he said that's filthiness when he speaks of foolish talking foolish talking is another way of well it's literally empty headed speech but it's been referred to as someone with a gutter mouth i don't know if that word's ever used anymore but gutter mouths coarse jesting coarse jesting is turning somebody's words into trash it's it's suggestive speech you see that very often in in with comedians they they use their wit to say improper things well as this is being spoken and and ask yourself if this is something that perhaps the lord might be speaking to us as believers these kinds of things he gives to us the insight and the understanding that this is not verse three to be named among you as a spitting for saints he's saying that these sins these sexual sins these things that are of that nature these these sins that actually reveal not love but lust the these sins that that are degrading people and taking advantage of somebody's innocence and all these things should not even be named amongst you these are not to be the kinds of things that the body of christ is to be known for and romans chapter six verse 13 paul said it like this he said do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourselves to god as being alive from the dead and your members your bodies as instruments of righteousness to god that's what christians are called to do one of my favorite passages that deals with this kind of thing is found in 1st Thessalonians chapter four verses three through eight listen to what paul says so very often people are saying i wish i knew what the will of god is often when they say i wish i knew what the will of god is it's does he want me to go to school does he want me to get a new job does he want me to move out of state you know i wish i knew the will of god well here's the scripture that gives to us the will of god 1st Thessalonians 4 3 for this is the will of god your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel speaking of his body in sanctification and honor not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know god that no one should take advantage of or defraud his brother in this matter because the lord is the avenger of all such as we have forewarned you and testified god didn't call us to unclean us but in holiness therefore he who rejects this does not reject man but god who has also given us of his spirit so a young man is dating a young woman they both profess themselves to be Christians they both say they love the lord and perhaps they both serve god and and they're genuine in their faith and so they're dating and they make mistakes i'll be going through uh marriage in the family pretty soon and probably share a little bit more about this this is just a thought that comes to me as i'm i'm sharing with you and so he sees the young lady perhaps a church maybe they serve together they get to know each other he says to her i'd like to take you out would you go out for a cup of coffee after church and she looks at him she says well why not you know she goes out with them so out they go they begin to be friends as they become friends they begin to walk a little closer before you know what their their hearts seem to be intertwining and eventually what happens is he takes a step and and he kisses her good night well that one kiss may lead to other things later on now he's fighting passion and desire as he's fighting the passion and desire because he's a believer he begins to think of himself as being incapable of fighting off these desires and and i can't stop myself and before you know it he's convinced her that because they love one another and after all there is no no marriage license in scripture you know love is true love you don't need to have a pastor perform a ceremony we can say before god our vows and we can have relationship why can't we and she agrees with that thinking that that may be okay i'm not quite sure he's been a christian longer than me maybe he knows what he's talking about and then they enter into an improper relationship you know when these guys say you know i slipped and fell in i slipped and fell into sand right you were walking by the bed and tripped and fell in it right i i i believe that yeah no you didn't you made you made plans because your body began to let you know before the act that you were moving in that direction so don't try and convince me that you didn't know where you slipped and you fell you knew where you were going you just chose to continue then you blame her because you said well she didn't stop me see so that you know i'm an old man i've heard a lot of things and so with that said as they um have they ventured into that relationship she gave herself to the guy but they're convicted he was wrong we've got to get out of this they repent god forgives him he moves on goes to a different church she stays whatever then one day a young man comes to church he sees that young lady and he says would you like to go out for coffee and she says i'm not sure if i can do something like that because in her heart she's still hurting over what happened but he treats her like a lady he loves her he honors her he cherishes her he doesn't make him proper advances he doesn't use sexual innuendo he doesn't take her places that they ought not to go he walks her to the door gives her a kiss on the cheek or maybe not at all she goes into the house she's safe with him for you know what she's in love with him because he treats her the way she wanted to be treated all along he treats her as a lady as a prized possession and then one day he says to her i'm in love with you and i want to marry you and she says to him i'm in love with you do you have anything you need to share with me that will help me to understand where we're at together now and the young lady says well i had another guy in my life this is what happened and the guy he loves her he you know he said you know it's under the blood you know i love you anyway you know and i want to be the man you should have and she is so touched because the guy cares for her like that but this other but this other christian the one who took advantage of her defrauded his brother because the one who took advantage of that young lady took from her husband that which belonged to him that was her purity that's what paul was talking about you should not defraud your brother what do you mean you're taking from him that which does not belong to you it belongs to him and when you have an improper relationship you're taking from the people who should be the one flesh and you're interfering in the work god wants to do in that relationship because the sin that was performed is forgiven but sometimes the scars they for a long time now some women don't have scars and some men don't either because they say praise god i've been watching lest the lord but others have a tender heart and a tender spirit it's one of the reasons why christians should not take advantage of other christians that's one of the reasons why the husband a young man should be very careful in his dating relationship as well as the young lady my sister-in-law patty marie's sister patty patty met a young man and brought him to this church he gave his heart to the lord i don't remember if he gave his heart here or had given his heart to christ and she brought him to church but patty's not just my sister-in-law patty's to me my sister i mean i love her like my own blood i love her she's very dear to me and patty was speaking to me and she she had grown to love this man and and uh she told me she wanted to marry him and he had asked her to get married and as we were talking she shared something that i was able to share on their wedding day and it was this and their entire dating relationship they never kissed the first kiss that she ever had from matthew was when he kissed her and i had pronounced them husband and wife you may kiss your bride and i said briefly that's a wonderful story she's not the only one who has it because she as a believer had remained pure and she was able to with him present to him that which belonged to him as a husband you see and there's a beauty to that again not everybody has a testimony like that and again many of us have entered into improper relationships and know the pain of that this is no condemnation but god's word teaches us purity matters and so let this kind of sin not be named amongst you let it not be even mentioned as an attribute of that christian community why because god has saved you so don't defraud your brother and god has given you his word and the power of the holy spirit notice what he says in verse uh verse five he says this you know that no fornicator unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater as any inheritance in the kingdom of christ and of god well somebody says that doesn't seem fair at all christian standards are unbelievable and they're rigid you've got to be kidding me i've had people say this but it's interesting you also find it in the scripture but i've heard people say that sex is natural it should be enjoyed as much as possible but that's something that the early church dealt with in first Corinthians chapter six verse 13 it reads foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods that was a sanger that time if you have a natural impulse if you're hungry you eat if you have a sexual desire you fulfill it food for the stomach the stomach for food it's natural they go together and so paul had to deal with that foods for the stomach stomach for foods but he goes on to say but god will destroy both it and them the body is not for sexual immorality but for the lord and the lord for the body so he says in verse six he says let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of god comes upon the sons of disobedience let no one deceive you don't let people ensnare you with empty words that are vain and devoid of truth you see there's always going to be friends arguing that this sin is not really that bad i can tell you again i've pastured this church pretty soon 41 years and i can tell you over the years i've had more than one conversation with with young people and usually it's the young not to say that the old don't do this but the young and uh and and they have all kinds of ideas as to why it's unreasonable not to not to be with this person and they say things like well we need to know if we're compatible as far as i know god created you to be compatible you don't need to experiment to find that out you are compatible no it isn't a it isn't a game it isn't something you play with it isn't something like that at all but they'll have friends and i've had them i still remember this young woman in our fellowship it's been 30 years so i can say it she said to me that uh that her friend had said um why aren't you sleeping with your boyfriend she said because i've been sleeping with mine the girl said and i am no different than before i'm the same woman now well that's because before she wasn't a safe person and she was still an unsafe person and she didn't have a conscience and she had no conscience as it pertains to this kind of behavior so of course you don't feel any different because you never had any morals related to that kind of thing whereas the young christian girl she did and for her she eventually entered into an improper relationship to my sorrow because she listened to her ungodly friend instead of the word of god let no one deceive you every one of us in this room i don't care if you're old like me or young every one of us in this room has had one or two people in our lives that try to influence us to do the wrong thing maybe you were the one who influenced other people we've all been in one form or another influenced or influencers right we have been but to influence somebody to sin i remember this young woman who had shared how that she had a friend who was saying go ahead and do it you'll be no different i've been doing it and it's no problem with me at all i don't feel any different and the young girl who was a virgin who didn't do anything said you know anytime i want i can become like you but you can never again become like me and i thought that was wise because it's true i can become like you but you never again can become like me and you enter into improper relationships god created us male and female to replenish the earth to populate the earth and he did so one of his intentions that he might have godly offspring his desire was proper relationships in marriage where the husband and the wife worship him and raise children to do the same and so that happens when you value who you are as a christian the temple of the spirit of god and the spirit of god dwells in you so when somebody speaks to you and says it's no big deal you christians come on now yeah i mean don't be so puritanic you're you're just you don't understand what life is all about well no that's that's not true we do understand and when god warns us not to do something we're very careful to to heed his his counsel my mama used to teach me to stay away from fire for a good reason fire burns and yet i've shared this before some of you haven't heard this so i might as well say it comes to mind my mom was a smoker until she got saved my mom smoked for over 40 years and then she got saved and never she gave it up the lord took the desire for cigarettes from her it was a real testimony of how the lord had changed her life but my mom used to like to smoke and because i i i like to my mom i thought my mom was cool especially when she put these long cigarettes in her mouth would turn on the fire the burner and she would put her mouth there and she my mama would you know just take a hit off that and and and it would turn bright red and then the smoke would waft into her eyes and she couldn't have these heavy lids and now mama's so cool at least that's what i thought i said my mom you are so cool and so so i i wore a pompadour and i used to spray my hair with with aquanet and that's a blast from the past and and so i had this 53 Hudson kind of hairdo right here it was all round and everything and i had this cigarette and i turned on that burner because i smoked and i i turned on the burner and and it caught my hair on fire i'll i'll never it just went up like that i had the first afro in norwalk it just it just went like that so i learned in an early age that my mom was not trying to to make my life hard she was trying to protect me from something stupid and so when god says to us don't do this it's not because he's making our life difficult it's because he's preserving us from pain it's because he wants us to be like him you know somebody once asked me they they said they said that well ashley said this to me i was on the phone with them they were speaking and and she said this she said my friends say that the blasphemy of the holy spirit is the unpardonable sin and because the blasphemy of the spirit is the unpardonable sin that means i can live this is an actual conversation that means i can live with my boyfriend and still go to heaven because i'm not blaspheming the holy spirit i'm only sleeping with him well someone who continues in sexual sin is revealing something about their spiritual state in first john three nine and ten john said it like this he said no one who is born of god will continue to sin because god's seed remains in them they cannot go on sinning because they've been born of god this is how we know who the children of god are and who the children of the delar anyone who does not do what is right is not god's child nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister so when somebody uses quote unquote the grace of god as a cover for their sin they're revealing they don't know what the grace of god is john says you cannot continue in sin that doesn't mean that you're going to be seamlessly perfect it means that that lifestyle is not your lifestyle you you will we all fail all of us do especially john we all fail but we don't live in that way that isn't the way we are we don't live that way we repent we sorrow we ask god for forgiveness he repairs us restores us moves us on but somebody who sins with no sense of it being wrong john says is revealing they don't know the lord and when someone continues in sin with no grief it often reveals they aren't saved you see the one who continues practicing sin doesn't understand the grace of god and in 1 Corinthians 6 9 and 10 this is what paul writes he says do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived there are plenty who will go out there and convince you that it's okay many years ago when we used to be on maple street in the earlier earlier you know over 30 years ago in ontario i was teaching 1 Corinthians and i had gotten to chapter 6 i gave the passage read it like i just did shared a few things moved on i got into a conversation a couple weeks later with a young woman who approached me and this is what she told me i'll never forget our conversation she said pastor david she said i was in the bible study for the very first time going to church and i came with my girlfriend she was lesbian she said i came with my girlfriend she said as you read that passage i sat there and i listened to what was read and and the explanation and so we went home we were living together she says we went home and and i said did you hear what the bible says concerning our relationship and her girlfriend said to her oh that's his opinion that's what he's thinking that's that's outdated that stuff that doesn't pertain to today but this young lady began to think and she read it again she said i read it i started thinking about it i read it i thought it seems pretty clear to me it says that they won't inherit the kingdom of god and we were practicing same sex relationship she said it seemed pretty she says i want you to know what i did i said what did you do she says she says i gave my heart to christ and i moved out of the house because i want to follow Jesus christ because i don't want to be deceived i want to be in the kingdom of god you see the truth does set you free so many times people say oh no once they're that way always that way that's simply not true god can make you into a new creation old things are passed away behold that's a wonder he says it behold all things become new you may have one time been but you are no longer you might have been an angry person but you're no longer why the spirit of the lord is upon you have the joy of god you were an alcoholic at one time but no longer why is that because you're not drunk with wine there's access in that but you're filled with the holy spirit and i don't need that anymore you must have been one time you were filled with hate you were a violent person but now you have peace and joy why because god made you into an entirely new person see that's what the gospel does and that's why we have to be careful not to be deceived god can change any life he can when you yield to him remember this your spiritual advisor is not always your pastor it may not even be your parent your spiritual advisor often is a podcast influencer or it's your best friend so be careful who you allow to influence you in your life and psalm one one and two it says blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law he meditates day and night now you can become compromised and you can become vulnerable to the draw of sin kind of like abraham's nephew lot in second peter chapter two verses seven and eight peter writes that god delivered righteous lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds he entered into a place of compromise and ended up in Sodom but he was delivered by god but his heart was grieved daily by what he saw you don't want to be a compromiser therefore verse seven do not be partakers with them do not fellowship with those who speak and live in this way do not be influenced why well the bible makes it clear first quinthians 1533 do not be misled bad company corrupts good character you become like the ones you fellowship with we'll close with one last thought remember many have discovered this sexual sin is bond is bondage and jesus said that whoever commits sin is a servant of sin so the servant abides not in the house forever but the son abides forever if the son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed like any other sin jesus can set you free from it you admit it like peter said in luke 58 peter said to jesus depart from me i'm a sinful man oh lord admit it confess it if we confess our sin he's faithful and just just to forgive us our sin cleans us from all unrighteousness repent from it revelation 319 as many as i love i rebuke and chase and therefore be zealous and repent seek god for power because god said he would give us of his powerful holy spirit and and and remember your spirit may be willing your flesh is weak so you need the power of god and then finally seek fellowship and accountability i discovered and i'll close with this last thought as a young believer how easy it is for me to live one way in front of people in church and another way when i'm by myself i discovered that i discovered that as a young believer how easy it was for me to appear in one way when in fact my heart was somewhere else and so for me what happened it was biblical as i came to realize i need accountability i need somebody in my life a friend or a brother who can i can be honest with that i can say i'm dealing with something i need your prayers one of the things that i think many people in churches like this one of the things that they deal with is the fact that they isolate themselves and when they isolate themselves they're more prone to fall and fail get involved get in a group become part of the woman's group become part of the men's group serve the lord have fellowship with men develop relationships i am telling you and i wish i could tell you more about it but i'll tell you this it was when i began to develop relationships with the fellas with the guys that i could be real with and honest with that i could say this is where i'm at please pray for me that my life took a turn for the better when i was alone i could hide things but when i had friends i was accountable to i couldn't and that helped me to develop the self-discipline that was necessary for me to be able to walk with the lord and have integrity because integrity is often measured not by the things one does in front of somebody but the things they do when they think no one's watching and so for me i have asked the lord to help me to act as if people are watching me at all times that my life is real so i can have a real integrity not just the facade or the appearance of it develop friendships develop prayer partners have somebody that you know in your life that you can call and say listen i don't want to go into details i'm struggling can you pray for me i am telling you god has used that in my life and all these years for so many i've been able to walk straight with him because i fear him but i have loving brothers too and the number one thing in my life is i want to be and this is the truth i'll close with this that's the truth i want to be the man this woman deserves my wife deserves she deserves the best man i want to be that that's the truth that's the truth i believe my wife deserves the best man i will be that best man because i don't want her to ever think she should have married somebody else i want her to be happy with the one she married so i live in such a way that i will be her her hero i will be that man because that's what really matters everything else flows from that i don't want to be a hypocrite i want to walk with integrity and i don't want to be guilty of the sins that we're to avoid father i asked that you would work in us