Walk in Love (Part 4 of 4)

In Ephesians chapter 5 we read that as believers we are to walk in holiness and purity.

Of course that's a pretty tall order and it's never felt more countercultural in our lifetime. So how do we do it? How can we measure up to God's standards?

Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg reminds us who we are, why we've been chosen and exactly what we need. First of all, by paying attention to Paul's audience. Who is Paul addressing here? Secondly, by considering how high God's standards actually are, and thirdly, by understanding, hopefully, that it is only through the gospel that any of us can ever live in this way. So, first of all, then, let's notice that Paul is not admonishing the culture, he is addressing the church.

Okay? He is not admonishing the culture, he is addressing the church. And so it brings us, secondly, to face the fact that God's standards are absolute and they're high. I don't think it's particularly helpful for me to unpack each of these phrases here. I did that in my study, but I think we can safely say we get it.

Right? He is not calling the church to accommodate itself to the thinking of the surrounding culture, but he is actually calling the believers in Ephesus to avoid not just the practice but even thinking about and talking about these things. Well, what will we put in its place? Sexual immorality, impurity, covetous must not 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. How is thanksgiving an antidote to all of this? Wouldn't you think it would have said, So there shouldn't be immorality, there should be morality.

There shouldn't be this, there should be purity. Well, of course. But he doesn't use that. He says, But thanksgiving.

Well, then I had to sit for a long time, chewing my pencil, thinking about this. And I'm not sure I've got it entirely, but it took me back to Romans chapter 1. And you remember in Romans 1, where Paul is laying out the way in which God has made himself known in the world. And he says in verse 19 of Romans 1, what can be known about God is plain to them, that is, to men and women.

Why? Because he has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes—and namely, his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse. Here we go. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

The missing element. Taking the good gifts from the Creator, denying their source, and degrading them by the way in which we abuse them. You read on in Romans chapter 1, and what does he say? God gave them over. As a result of this, to idolatry, to immorality… In other words, the judgment of God is expressed in an unraveling culture, showing itself in a very arena that was so prevalent in Ephesus, which made it so important that Paul would say to these Ephesian believers, You want to go out and tell people you love Jesus?

Let me tell you where you're gonna make the greatest impact. If you yourselves, when you gather, make sure that you have no desire to include this in your conversation and in your lifestyle. You see, what God wants us to do with the gifts that he has given us is thank him.

Victorian England was regarded as repressive in relationship to sexuality, and not least of all in terms of the church. So people say, you know, if you're a Christian, that's definitely out, and if it's in, you certainly can't enjoy it, right? So the Bible says, No, you're absolutely wrong. These are the good gifts of God, including this. Therefore, we don't degrade it by taking it at the wrong time with the wrong person. We thank him for it by taking it at the right time with the right person.

Because he, the Creator, knows how this thing works perfectly, and he has put it in that framework so that it may be enjoyed in its totality. Our culture, the Ephesian culture, says, No! Diana of the Ephesians is the way to go. That's why we have the activities all around the temple, and the availability of this all around the temple, in the same way that we have before us today. You see, Paul began his letter by reminding his readers of the purpose of God.

He chose us, verse 4 of 1, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be—notice this, listen to this—that we should be holy and blameless before him. What is God's purpose in saving you? Not so that your life is going to work out beautifully. Not so that you get answers to all your difficult questions.

Not so that you're going to be mishappy. God's purpose in saving us is to make us holy and blameless in his sight. Now, once we grasp that, it helps with a lot of things. Because if we determine that the reason that God has chosen to include us in his family is in order that it all may go well with us, what in the world do we do when it doesn't go well with us?

How do we handle the fact that our loved ones die? How do we face the challenges and changes of our everyday existence, that the jigsaw puzzle is all over the place, and we can't get it all to fit together? And this is my lot in life! And God's supposed to be making me happy. No, he's not. He's committed to making us holy. That explains C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. Remember, when he says about Jesus coming to live in our lives as a house, he says, God comes in to rebuild the house, and at first you can understand what he's doing—basic repairs—but then he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and doesn't make sense.

What's the explanation? You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it by himself. You see, when I sin, I don't sin in isolation from Jesus. It's not possible for me to say, I'm taking the Jesus thing off for fifteen minutes here, so I can go over here and then deal with this. No.

First Corinthians. What is he saying? If you do this, he says, you drag Jesus in there with you. You're not there on your own. You can't park him somewhere, go and engage, and then return. He comes. He indwells you. Because the reality of our Christian experience is not simply that Christ lives in me but that sin lives in me, and that the propensity of my heart is to go the broad road rather than the narrow road, to take the easy fix rather than the right fix, to do that which is immediately acceptable to me, pleasing to me, and I want no delayed gratification.

I want it all now. And after all, I'm supposed to be happy. No, I'm not. God is making you holy. Painful process.

Radical process. It concerns not only my conduct but also my conversation. It concerns not only my deeds but my desires. Oh, there we go. Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, I say to you, you know how it finishes. So, we need to be clear that this is not an admonishment for a culture. It is an address to a church, the saints and the beloved children, that the standards of God are absolute and they're incredibly high, and that when we find ourselves saying, I don't think anybody can possibly do this, we finally come to our third and closing point, and that is that living in this matter is only possible through the gospel.

Again, remember the balance of the letter. How has Paul begun? He has begun by saying, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has chosen you before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. And the logic of that doctrine, the logic of what that actually means, is not along the lines of, I have been chosen for salvation so I can live any way I please.

But I have been chosen for salvation, and therefore I will live in a way that pleases God. You see, it's really all about understanding our identity. You know, we gotta answer the question, Who am I?

And our culture addresses that all kinds of ways. The moment our culture says, I am my gender, or I am my nongender, I am my sexuality, or I am my intellect, or I am my looks, or I am my success—whatever it is. Who are you?

Tell me about yourself. What is the answer for the child of God? I am a new creation. No more in condemnation.

Here, in the grace of God, I stand. I'm not perfect. I'm a sinner.

I am trying to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling. But this is who I am. I don't always look like it.

I don't always act like it. But this is who I am. This is not something I did.

This is something he did. He chose me before the foundation of the world. I don't understand it. When I push back and back, why was I born here? Why did I have this teacher?

Why did the person tell me that? I finally get back to God. Let God be God. My identity. Do you know who you are? Are you able to say, I am a man in Christ? I am a lady in Christ? Are you able to say to yourself, Talk to yourself, Jesus came to die for sin? Sin that still lurks in my heart? The Holy Spirit has come to indwell my life, to deliver me from the sin for which Jesus died. So the way I handle it is not to try and make myself something I'm not, but to remind myself of something that I am, by grace through faith.

Christ bled and died for this sin. So I'm gonna have nothing to do with it. Oh, but I want to.

Caught that part. But it's your identity. You see—and I must finish—if you've lived any length of time, which apparently many of you have, it is clear that all the endeavors of various social and government agencies to fix stuff by education or by legislation—particularly, let's just stay in this moral realm—all of their endeavors, they are eventually futile, because they cannot change the heart of a man or a woman. Education can't do it. Otherwise, nobody would smoke. Legislation can't do it.

The courts are filled with litigation. Now, what do we need? We need a power outside of ourselves. We need somehow or another, somehow, somebody, somewhere who can do this. We need Jesus.

That's what we need. That's what the Bible says. As you think about these storms that are raging all around, and you read the Gospels, and there you've got these disciples, and they're on the boat, and they wake Jesus up to tell him, Jesus, I thought you should know we're all dead men.

We're all going to drown. So they tell the Creator of the universe that he's about to cop it. And he stands up, and he says, to the winds and the waves, peace be still.

That either is true or it isn't true. There's only one person I've heard of that can stand up and say, Stop this right now. Who is he? He's the same person who starts the storms and stops the storms. He's the same person who makes the ice form. He's the same person that brings the deluge upon the nations. He is that same Lord and God. And the identity of the believer is wrapped up in him. This is who I am.

I am a man in Christ. So, what am I to do? Well, this is where the NRA comes in. Up in the sound room, they're reaching for the edit button. Whoops! No, you heard it here. This is where the NRA comes in.

Not the National Rifle Association. Three words. Number one, necessity.

What am I to do? It is absolutely necessary that I do seek these things which are above Colossians 3, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and put to death this and do that. Necessity. Our responsibility. Whose responsibility is it? Mine. Do I now just sit on a couch and wait for it all to happen? No.

I have a responsibility to bomb the landing strip, to deal with it. A. Ability. Ability. Where does the ability come from? The enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

You go away and get home and read, for example, in Romans 6, for sin will not have dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. The grace of God has reached to me and has made me a new creation. But you know what I've discovered? I haven't learned much in the course of my life, but I've learned certain things.

And one is this. People do what they want. People do what they want. And you're gonna go out of here and do what you want as well. You'll do what you want. That's why, remember, when Jesus comes to the people at the Pool of Siloam, he says to the man, Do you want me to make you well? Do you want me to? What a strange question. But the man may have decided, I've been thirty-four years like this.

I've grown accustomed to it. You remember what Augustine said? Lord, make me pure, but not yet. Maybe start me Monday.

We got a big weekend coming up. Make me pure, but not yet. Two quotes and we're done—one from Oscar Wilde and one from J. C. Ryle. Oscar Wilde, before the end of his life, said, I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud on the housetops. See, Wilde finally faced up to that fact, but what Wilde did not know is the wonder of God's Word that with you there is forgiveness, that with you there is the eradication of the record, there is the rewriting of the story, there is the fresh start and the new beginning. This is the wonder of the gospel, that God in Christ reconciles us to the Father. And the quote from J. C. Ryle. Thinking along these lines this week, I went to his book on thoughts for young men, and he talks about the fact that God is no respecter of persons, and that God is not measuring us in relationship to the things that we're tempted to use to measure ourselves—intellect, finance, status in society, and so on. Ryle says to the young men who are his readers, he says, you see, God is only measuring in relationship to our souls. And he says, Do not forget, let's keep in view, morning, noon, and night, the interests of your soul. Rise up each day, desiring that it may prosper. That is your soul. You see—well, that it may prosper.

Lie down each evening, inquiring of yourself whether it has really got on. Remember Zuchus, the great painter of old. Never heard of him, as part from here. Remember Zuchus, the great painter of old. When men asked him why he labored so intensely and took such extreme pains with every picture, his simple answer was, I paint for eternity.

I paint for eternity. Do not be ashamed to be like him. Set your immortal soul before your mind's eye. And when people ask you why you live as you do, answer them in his spirit, I live for my soul. Believe me, the day is fast coming when the soul will be the one thing men will think of. And the only question of importance will be this, is my soul lost or is my soul saved? And it is because in Jesus the answer is provided, and because in Jesus by the Holy Spirit the ability is conveyed, that those of us who know ourselves to be sinful people are encouraged again and again to look away from ourselves to all that Christ has done for us and is to us in the gospel, thereby enabling us to take seriously not only verses 1 and 2 but also verses 3 and 4.

It is only as we are in Christ that we're able to both walk in love and live lives that are pleasing to God. You've been listening to Alistair Begg. This is Truth for Life. Alistair returns in just a minute to close today's program with prayer. But first I want to say a word of thanks to a group of very important people. We refer to them as Truth Partners. Truth Partners support this daily program by praying for us faithfully and giving generously each month. Your gifts as a Truth Partner help cover the cost of producing and distributing these daily programs.

And because of those gifts, all of Alistair's online teaching can be heard and watched and read free of charge. We often hear from listeners who share their stories of how God has used these messages to bring them from unbelief to saving faith, or they tell us how they've been strengthened and more firmly established in God's truth. If you are one of our Truth Partners, thank you for your faithfulness.

And if you're a regular listener but not yet part of this essential team, would you join us today? When you do, you'll be invited to request both of the featured books we offer each month for no additional donation. Today's book selection is titled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. This book is based on a simple command found in 1 Timothy chapter 4 which says, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. The author makes it clear that these disciplines don't save us, but instead they exist for the purpose of godliness. They exist to help make us more like Jesus and bring us into a closer relationship with him. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life is an excellent guide if you're new to the faith. It will also encourage you, if you've been a Christian for years, it'll help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Request your copy when you sign up to become a Truth Partner at truthforlife.org slash truth partner. Or you can request the book when you give a one-time donation at truthforlife.org slash donate.

And if you'd rather call us, our number is 888-588-7884. Now here's Alistair with the closing prayer. Father, help us then, we pray, to guard our hearts, to fill our minds, and help us not to try and go it on our own, but to find in the family of God the people in the places with whom we're able to be honest and those who will pray with us and for us and help us. We thank you that in the Lord Jesus Christ we have one who is our Redeemer, that he redeems our life from the pit, that he crowns us with love and with tender mercies, that the good work that he begins in us he brings to completion one day.

Lord, some of us just are living out there on our own, and we're not engaged. Help us to understand why it matters that we belong. Some of us, Lord, are confronted by the fact that our behavior is just a double standard. And we come to you and ask for forgiveness and for a fresh start. Some of us have never believed. May today be that day. For Jesus' sake, we ask it. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. Many people claim to be Christians, but is it enough to simply say we believe, or does faith require something more? We'll find out tomorrow in a message titled, Let No One Deceive You. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.