But now listen to me people – remember this: preaching or teaching in the church is not designed to impart to you information, which you will retain for the rest of your life, and in accord with which you will live. I never cease to be amazed that it is inevitably the people who have the greatest sense of forgiveness in their lives who grant to others the greatest forgiveness. That just isn’t how it is. Our great desire as a church is to be a place of love and light! This is a letter to people who've already received the gift. When the world (meaning someone in the world ///someone who doesn’t know Christ) meets a Christian, they should get a picture of our Heavenly Father….but often times what they get is a case of mistaken Identity. “He that says he abide in him ought even to walk as he walked.”  First Corinthians 16:14 sums it up: “Let all your things be done in love.”. “Well, who’s the example of the pattern?”  It’s none other than Christ. Ask yourself, do you love? And it seems to me that no matter what passage we come to, it seems to be the heart of it, and in verse 6 again, there are some people who want to deceive. Verse 37, verse 36 sets it up: “One of the Pharisees” – by the name of Simon, not Peter, but another one, Simon – “desired Jesus to eat with him. Which way does that take us? Yeah, but you know that the fact of the matter is that guy’s sin is probably worse than prostitution, because religious super-“piousity” was the worst thing of all. That’s what happens on this side of the cross, folks. “As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”  Now listen, here is the pattern. If you’re fumbling around trying to get a handle on what God wants out of you, it’s that, which means that the more you know God, the more you know what you’re to be. The depth of your love is indicated by how much you forgive. Do you know how you start to be like God? Have you ever stopped to think about everything you have in Christ? And God looks down at me, and He says, “You keep sinning, but I can’t do a thing to you because Jesus already took the punishment.”  And then He says to us, “Now, that’s the way I want you to walk. My head with oil you did not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Hide little love notes in the car, a coat pocket, or desk. You start with a broken and a contrite spirit, you start mourning over your sin, you start in meekness, you start with such an overwhelming sense of sinfulness that you hunger and you thirst for righteousness. I think the Lord is saying something to us, and I’m really concerned about it, because a church our size can easily hide people who have really no living relationship with God. You say, “Well, you just can’t go on forgiving forever; the guy does it every day.”  Yeah, well, you can go on forgiving forever. What more could you want?”  And if blessed God, holy God, righteous God can forgive that person, and take that sin and put it on His dear Son, who are you to demand blood out of somebody? A beautiful story. And so there’s a fabulous paradox here. Who are religious, who are superficial, who maybe made – quote, unquote – a decision, who walked an aisle, who prayed a prayer, but who have no present living evidence to verify genuine salvation. Now, in 5:1-2, we discover that a worthy walk is to walk in love. Love is content. It draws aside for intimacy. And so what is the primary pursuit, then, of any believer, to know whom? God is saying, “You know, if you love Me you don’t just go live your life, you come apart to Me. This is who you are, this is how you live. Fourth – I love this – love is intimate – love is intimate. Sermon illustrations: Love. God is just saying, “Would you love Me enough not to leave Me for some other god?”  Your wife says, “Would you love me enough not to leave me for another woman?”  You see? Look at your life; how much do you forgive? In chapter 4, verse 1, this whole section of Ephesians, the whole second section, which is the practical section – the first is the doctrinal – this whole practical thing began, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation to which you are called.”. In Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1 through 7, we have one of the most wonderful and helpful passages in all of the book of Ephesians. To forgive others as an expression of God’s love in us is not optional! This is God’s standard. There are people who want to deceive by selling a counterfeit kind of love, and the world’s counterfeit love involves fornication, and adultery, and covetousness, and uncleanness, and all of that stuff. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. They tell us these things. It all began that way, didn’t it, in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 48, when our Lord said, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  That is essentially what Peter was saying in 1 Peter 1:15 and 16, and in that wonderful passage, Peter says this: “But as he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life; Because it is written, ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’”, Peter said, “You be like God.”  The apostle Paul said, “You be followers of me, as I am of God.”  The apostle Paul said, “Gaze into the glory of the Lord and allow the Spirit of God to change you into His image.”  The ultimate goal of the Christian life in 1 John is in chapter 3, that one day “we should be like him; for we should see him as he is.”  In other words, the whole of the Christian life is summed up in this: be imitators of God, be like God. That just brings it all down. Love acts for the benefit of others. Jesus teaches us that there is a direct relationship between our having been forgiven by God for our sins and our forgiveness of others! Toward men, it’s respectful, harmless, pure, unselfish, truthful, and content. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’”  Oh, what a terrible indictment. Illustration – As we live out our lives (this is what the Bible means by “walking…”)…we are name bearers of God. Buy favorite fruits that aren't in season, like a basket of strawberries or blueberries. If we take our world’s definition and we think God is a benign Santa Claus, maybe we have a shot at it. It’s a fantastic truth. Measure your love today by the thought of forgiveness, will you? Ten aspects of love verbalized; it’s a fabulous thing, first of all toward God, and secondly, toward others. 5.1 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. I read that letter this morning about a lady who wants to come here, from jail. Now, I want to show you four points out of these seven verses, and then a closing warning, and we’ll have the rest of it – for that part of it, anyway – next week. So we see the plea, walk in love. For this ye know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. You see, even the Ten Commandments, beloved, say the same thing: be like God, God loves. And that’s just the point. And if this is true, he says in chapter 5, you’d better walk in love, this ought to be characteristic. From the very first time God ever laid out a standard, it was love. God is All-powerful, all wise, all knowing, He is Omnipresent (everywhere all the time! Love is reverent. 16. You say, “Well, that’s easy for you to say, ‘be imitators of God,’ tough to do.”. sermon since it was locked up in my computer. And so as we study the Bible, we see unfolded God’s character. Reproduce in you everything that is true of God. Second thing I want to say about this – first is the depth of your love is indicated by how much you forgive, and secondly, the depth of your love is indicated by how much you know you’ve been forgiven. “Don’t make any graven image” –carved image – “of anything in heaven above, or in earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Love is faithful. ... Love. They’re arguing about who’s going to sit on His right and left hand in the Kingdom. Four points, the plea, the pattern, the perversion, and the punishment. 5:1-2! So first of all, the depth of your love is indicated by how much you forgive. To take you backwards. If you don’t love your brother, the love of God doesn’t dwell in you. “Falconer said something gentle to her, and then she said, ‘Will He ever come again?’ sobbing. Registered User I can remember playing with my Dad’s ties and cuff-links. He didn’t even talk to Jesus like that woman did. By the time Paul reaches this point in his letter to the Ephesians, he has already spoken of God graciously strengthening us with power through his Holy Spirit (Eph. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. “Thou shalt not steal.”  Love doesn’t steal, love what? The world’s love is a taking kind of love - it is a love that is full of personal pronouns = Me, Mine, I! You say, “Love like God loved, how does God love?”  Well, God loves in this way: He forgives sin. If you are a fornicator, or an unclean person, or a covetous person, you have no inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ.

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