Battle Ready:"Don't Be Content With Sin" Ephesians 5:5-6 Pastor Daniel Reese

Hi. Good morning.

Do you have your Bibles? They're going to be in Ephesians 5 this morning.

As many of you... Did I lose my mic?

It was on earlier, wasn't it? We're good.

Get a teenager back there. You never know what's going to happen.

As many of you know, I grew up in the church, and when I was growing up,

if the church was open, I was there for whatever was going on.

All of my friends were from the church. All of my parents' friends were from the church.

There was a lot of good things about the church that I grew up in,

but it wasn't a perfect church. I've yet to find one that is.

I even hear things like, we need to get back to the New Testament church,

because they did things right.

If that were the case, we wouldn't have a lot of our New Testament,

because Paul and the other writers are trying to correct the issues that the church had.

Now, there's a lot they did right, but obviously, they had some issues, just like we do.

One of the questions I had for a long time is, how do I really know that I'm a Christian?

I never really had a choice it felt like. I was brought to church my whole life.

I knew all the stories, and I knew how to behave, at least when adults were around, right?

Like many of us do, but there were many times growing up, and even as an adult,

I've struggled with the idea that if I didn't grow up that way,

would I still believe that Jesus is my Savior?

For instance, I read an article a couple weeks ago about Tiger Woods and his son Charlie,

who's 14 years old.

Now, Charlie, it turns out, is a pretty good golfer,

but I began to wonder that if Charlie didn't have Tiger as his dad,

would he still want to play golf, or does he just play golf because of who his dad is?

So I often wondered, and maybe you have as well,

is my salvation really my own, or is it just because my parents took me to church?

Essentially, what I was asking is, am I truly saved by God's grace,

or have I just learned a bunch of information?

And as I began to study the Bible on my own and take my faith more seriously

and really seek after the Lord, I learned the answer.

As a Christian, you cannot ever be content with your sins.

And if you are content with your sins, it's possible that you've just learned how to fit into a religion.

So I want us to keep in mind this morning as we read our passage together.

So if you'll join me as we stand together to read God's word,

I'm going to read the first six verses together just so we're reading it in context,

but we're really today focused on verses five through six.

So Paul wrote,

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.

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.

Let no one deceive you with empty words,

for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Let's pray together.

Father God, we pray that these words will seep into our hearts this morning.

We thank you for Paul, we thank you for how you inspired him through your spirit to write him.

I pray Father that they are just as challenging and encouraging to us as they were to the church in Ephesus.

God, I pray that we see the joy that it is to serve you and follow you all the days of our life through this text.

We ask all these things in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, this is one of those passages that you can either look upon verses 5 through 6 with fear or joy.

Now, at first glance this passage can certainly create some fear in our lives.

We look at our lives and we recognize just how vulnerable we are to immorality, to impurity, to covetousness.

And we see the serious consequences to those sins.

But as we examine this passage in more detail this morning and understand it more fully,

I think we'll find that it is indeed a source of great joy for those of us that are followers of Jesus Christ.

It all starts with understanding that there is a difference between a trip and a jump.

Adrian Rogers was a pastor in Tennessee, pastor of one of the largest churches in America.

He had books, his teachings are still featured on the radio.

He had a phrase that he was fond of using and I think it applies to this text.

He said, an unconverted sinner will jump into sin and love it.

Converted sinners trip into sin and loathe it.

Every single one of us in this room is a sinner.

And I think that I would be on safe ground if I were to presume that every one of us at one time or another in our lives

has been guilty of the sins that Paul just described in previous verses that we read last week.

But in this passage Paul is very clearly writing about those who live a lifestyle

that is consistently characterized by those sins and not those who occasionally fall into them.

In his letter to the Galatians Paul very clearly described the difference between these two groups.

In chapter 6 of verse 7 he writes, do not be deceived.

God is not mocked for whatever one sows that he will also reap.

For the one who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

For those of us who are sons of God and have the Holy Spirit living inside of them

that they will live their lives to please God.

And when they do trip into sin that they will be convicted of that sin and then they will begin to loathe it.

They will be sincerely sorry for their sin and not just sorry that they got caught.

On the other hand those of us who are sons of disobedience will jump into sin

because they live to please their sinful natures.

They will love their sin because they love self more than they love God.

That's why Paul calls the covetous man an idolater.

Someone who lives a lifestyle that is characterized by trying to please his own selfish desires

and has made themselves a God rather than God himself and therefore they become an idolater.

Paul was warning his readers, he's warning you and I today,

against those who are apparently trying to deceive themselves into thinking

that they could still pursue an immoral lifestyle that was totally acceptable to their culture

and still be followers of Jesus Christ.

He's making the point here that that kind of lifestyle is incompatible with being a follower of Jesus Christ.

Christianity and immorality are like oil and water.

They just don't mix.

And so Paul also makes it quite clear that there is a distinction between jumping into sin and enjoying it

and tripping into sin and loathing it.

There's a vast difference between those lifestyles.

There's a vast difference between those, the consequences of those differing lifestyles.

Paul tells us that those who trip do not lose their inheritance.

If you remember back in chapter one of Ephesians, Paul tells us that we are marked with a seal.

And that our own merit is promised Holy Spirit is our guarantee of the inheritance that we will receive.

For those of us who are sons of God who occasionally trip into sin,

we do not have to worry about losing our inheritance.

Since it is the blood of Jesus on the cross and not our own merit

that provides the inheritance in the first place.

There's nothing that we can do to forfeit that inheritance.

There's a moment that we become followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit permanently comes into our life

as a guarantee that we will one day receive the inheritance that he has to offer.

God doesn't write us out of his will because we are sinners.

It is a guarantee because we have surrendered our life to Jesus.

We will also as children of God not endure God's wrath.

Again in chapter two, he says that we are at one time dead and our trespasses and sins.

But those of us who have committed our lives to Jesus had that wrath removed

and it was replaced with the mercy and grace of God.

Now although God certainly disciplines his children when they sin,

he does not pour out his wrath upon them.

Those of us who are parents can certainly understand how God treats us in that way.

When our children do something that is wrong, that will ultimately bring harm to them,

we discipline them for their own good.

But we would never pour out our wrath upon them.

I'll give you an example.

Now my kids have been potty trained for a long time and it's been wonderful.

So for those of you that aren't quite there yet, it's wonderful.

Now when they were wearing diapers, I didn't get upset when they wet their pants.

It was just expected.

However, once they were trained, I expected them to use the bathroom for those types of things.

I don't think that's unusual for a parent to say,

hey, why don't you go in that room and do that instead of doing it in your pants?

So needless to say, when I find out that instead of going to the bathroom to do their thing,

they were just peeing in the trash can or a toy box, I wasn't real happy.

Now I know that four-year-olds have hard lives.

And I know that they are exhausted after a long day of work.

But I have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they are unwilling to walk

an additional 10 steps to the bathroom.

So there was some discipline involved, right?

But I didn't kick them out of the house.

Even while we were having to clean that up, I still in that moment love them more than anything on this earth.

But for those of us who live their lives characterized by sin,

the consequences are much more severe.

Those who jump into sin forfeit their inheritance, both now and in the future.

There's a couple interesting aspects of what Paul writes in verse 5.

First of all, he uses the present tense verb here.

The immoral person has no inheritance.

We would expect Paul to use a future tense verb here, right?

The immoral person will not have any inheritance.

But I'll just say it in my mind, I'll just say it here in a moment.

But not only do they lose their inheritance, but they will face the wrath of God both now and in the future.

And it's important to note verse 6 because Paul makes it clear that there's going to be times

when people try to deceive you to believe something other than that.

If you've not surrendered your life to Jesus,

if you've not called upon Him as your Savior, you will face the wrath of God.

It doesn't matter how good of a person you are.

It doesn't matter how many puppies and kittens you have rescued.

It doesn't matter how much money you give to worthy causes.

Without Jesus, without the seal of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, you will face God's wrath.

And you also need to be aware that there's going to be people out in this world

that are going to deceive you of that reality.

Be careful.

And I'm telling you that when we face, if you face the wrath of God, it's not going to be pleasant now or in the future.

Because Paul tells us in verse 5 that there are two kingdoms.

This is the only place in Paul's writings.

In fact, it's the only place in the entire Bible where the phrase,

the kingdom of Christ and of God is used.

Paul often refers to the kingdom of Christ, and he often refers to the kingdom of God, but never at the same time.

If we examine how Paul uses these two concepts in his writings, we can begin to understand the distinction.

The kingdom of Christ is generally, it refers to the present.

When Paul refers to the kingdom of Christ, he normally uses it to describe the present dominion of Jesus

as it contrasts to the dominion of Satan on this earth.

That concept is described in the first part of chapter 2 of Ephesians,

but he presents it more clearly in Colossians in chapter 1 verse 13.

He says, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

In that passage, the kingdom of the Son, the kingdom of Christ, is contrasted by the kingdom of darkness,

which is obviously a description of the sphere of influence, the domain of Satan.

Since we know that Satan will have no place in the future kingdom of God,

Paul must be describing the current kingdom, which is the sphere of influence,

which is the dominion on this earth.

It would also be consistent with Paul's use as a present tense verb in verse 5.

So the person who lives an immoral lifestyle and jumps into sin and loves it,

forfeits his or her right to participate in the kingdom of Christ today.

They fail to receive the abundant life that Jesus has promised his followers.

That is very clearly demonstrated by the statistical data that I shared with you last week

that shows that those who are followers of God, who follow his blueprint for their sexual lives,

are much more fulfilled and satisfied than those who choose to live in the kingdom of darkness.

God's standard brings contentment and joy that nothing else will ever be able to.

You can have that here on this earth now.

The Bible isn't a rule book.

The Bible is a cheat code so that you can understand how to get the most out of life.

David says, your word is a lamp into my feet, a light into my path.

You want the best life? You want the abundant life?

Let God's word show you.

And if you don't know where to start, you don't know where to begin.

That's why we're here as a church.

That is why we want you in a discipleship relationship.

Don't wait until you are in a crisis before you ask for help, before you ask for prayer.

Let us walk with you and help you avoid the pitfalls that come with following the world.

Living a life of depression isn't an abundant life.

Living in fear isn't walking in an abundant life.

Wanting to end your marriage isn't an abundant life.

Jesus offers hope. His word offers guidance.

And His church is the means in which He wants you to experience it.

For those reasons, I'm so glad that you were here this morning.

The Kingdom of God, though, is in the future.

When Paul uses the phrase, Kingdom of God, he normally refers to the future, the eternal reign of God.

That passage from Galatians demonstrates how Paul uses that phrase in that manner.

He says, now the works of the flesh are evident.

Sexual immorality and purity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,

fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Notice that here Paul does use a future tense verb and he refers to the Kingdom of God.

It makes it clear once again that anyone who chooses to live an immoral lifestyle forfeits his right

or her right to participate in the eternal Kingdom of God.

By using the phrase, the Kingdom of Christ and of God, Paul is emphasizing the fact that we who live an immoral lifestyle

have absolutely no parts in the Kingdom of God, either on this earth right now or in the eternal Kingdom in the future.

The future Kingdom is something that's being offered to us.

There will be no more forces of evil trying to ruin your day.

There will be no more stressing over paying the bills or raising your kids.

There will be no more health issues, no more tears, no more frustrations, no more anger,

no more waking up sore from sleeping, no more insecurity or wondering if you were good enough,

no more awkward conversations, no more tense meetings.

The future Kingdom of God brings hope on the bad days and increased joy on the best days.

As a child of God, as one who has been sealed with his Holy Spirit, your future is going to be filled with peace and worship.

And if there's anyone in this room who has the same thoughts that I did years ago,

have I truly been redeemed?

Have I truly been rescued?

Or is this just what I do on Sundays?

I would encourage you with everything in me to come talk to me when we're done here.

Or if you haven't struggled with those thoughts and you just know that you don't understand what is being offered to you.

It's like I'm speaking a foreign language to you.

Then please come see me when I'm done here.

Eternal life is being offered to you.

Not by me, because I'd mess it up.

But by your Creator who loves you more than you will ever be able to comprehend.

Now you can look at yourself and you can see your flaws, right?

You might have even had your flaws pointed out to you by others.

But your Creator, he thinks you're perfect.

He thinks he did a good job.

Your past makes no difference to him.

Because what he is offering you is a future than anything you could ever accomplish on your own.

Which leads me to my last point.

Is Jesus your Savior or is he your Lord?

Here's the real heart of the issue this morning.

In every church, in every church, there is a person who has professed faith in Jesus Christ.

But whose lifestyle remains consistent with the world.

The kind of lifestyle that Paul describes in these verses.

Is it enough to just pray a prayer or walk down an aisle and then go on living the same way you did before?

Obviously only God knows what's in our hearts.

But there is a crucial aspect of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ that we tend to overlook.

We often talk about Jesus being our Savior and our Lord.

But I'm not sure we fully understand the full implications of what those terms mean.

There's a lot of people who don't mind having Jesus as their Savior.

But I'm not sure that most people understand what it means to make him your Lord.

I'm speaking from experience here.

This is who I was.

When I was growing up in the church, I understood what it meant for Jesus to be my Savior.

I was baptized at 11 and was happy to declare that truth.

But a week or so later, I was back to living the same way I did before.

There was no significant change in my life.

But at the time, it seemed like good fire insurance because I didn't want to go to hell.

And so because I didn't want to go to hell, I wanted, and I understood that Jesus was my Savior,

I wanted to walk in obedience and baptism, but I didn't want it to change my life.

I just wanted that insurance.

It wasn't until a couple of years later when I started college,

and some men came alongside me and really began to unpack the gospel in full

because when I realized that I had only proclaimed Jesus as my Savior,

I never had any intention of making Jesus my Lord.

I wasn't willing to give up the control of my life.

But fortunately, I began to understand the importance of making Jesus my Lord

as well as my Savior.

And over a period of time, I did come to the place where I was willing to place Him in charge of my life.

Even then, it certainly didn't mean I no longer sin,

but making Jesus the Lord of my life had a tremendous impact on how I viewed sin in my life.

And I'm going to be real honest with you.

Making Jesus Lord is hard at times

because I want to respond in certain situations from my flesh.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone is upset at you

and there's division

and all of it is based on assumptions and all of it is based on lies?

And you want to defend yourself.

You want to set the record straight.

You want to tell them to what for.

You want to yell and you want to scream and you want to fight and you want to do all those things.

But the Lord tells you, you need to swallow your pride.

You need to keep your mouth shut.

That's hard.

When you have to trust that He is going to be the one to fight your battles.

When you have to trust that He is going to be the one to bring things to light.

Making Jesus Lord over your life is not an easy task sometimes.

It's a daily battle.

God, how am I going to respond in this situation?

I want to honor you.

I want to submit to you.

But everything in me wants to fight that.

What determines whether my sin is a trip or a jump is who I make the Lord of my life.

That's exactly the point Paul is making here.

He's telling his readers.

He's telling you and I that they have to make a choice.

They can either make their self the Lord of their life and be an idolater who lives a life characterized by consistent immorality.

Or they can make Jesus the Lord of their life and live a life that is pleasing to Him.

But you can't have it both ways.

You can't live in two camps.

It's oil and water.

So this morning I want to challenge you.

I want to challenge you to take an honest look at your life.

Are you living a life characterized by jumping into sin and loving it?

No conviction of sin.

No shame.

It's just a sabitual thing that you just keep jumping in and in and in.

Then I'm going to challenge you because you really need to consider carefully whether you've ever made Jesus the Lord of your life.

And if you've never really done that, I invite you to make that decision today.

Or do you occasionally trip into sin and loathe it?

If that's the case, that is pretty good evidence that you are a child of God.

If you feel conviction over your sin, if you're not proud of it, if you try to stop it,

if you've sought help for it, then that's pretty good evidence that you are a child of God.

But maybe there's something in you.

There's some sin that you need to confess before God this morning and turn away in your life.

A true follower of Christ will never be content with the sin that's in their life.

And if you are content with who you are and the lifestyle that you're living,

I really, really, really hope that you will examine your life this morning.

And so we're done a little early, believe it or not.

We'll sing one more song like we always do.

But maybe we need to take a little bit of extra time this morning

and just really confess these things before the Lord.

If you're not walking in abundant life,

if your life is marked by fear or depression or anxiety, stress,

you're not walking in abundant life.

And there's so many people in this room that would love to show you the way.

And so I'm going to invite the worship team up as they lead us.

I'm going to ask Matthew to turn the lights off.

And I'm going to challenge you that as I pray, as we worship,

that maybe you just need to come confess some things before the Lord this morning,

I'm going to ask our prayer team to be available.

I'm going to sit right here in the front row that nobody ever likes to sit in, right?

I'm going to sit right there.

And if I can pray with you, if I can encourage you,

if I can do anything with you or any of our prayer team members,

will you take that step today?

Will you make it right with Him today?

So that you not only inherit the future kingdom,

but you can inherit abundant life today because of Jesus.

So let me pray for us.

God, I pray right now that as we worship,

that you will stir our hearts,

that we will know that you are speaking to us,

that we will find the sin in our lives appalling.

Let me confess that before you this morning.

God, I thank you for the Holy Spirit, the seal of my inheritance.

Thank you for not riding me out of your will.

So God, I pray that you bring conviction to this place.

I pray you bring salvation to this place.

And I pray God that we walk out of here rejoicing because you are good.

Rejoicing because we are forgiven.

Rejoicing because your way is better.

So I got a prayer.

What's your name?

Laneen.