We read together from God's Word.
We're reading from the book of Ephesians.
We haven't forgotten the book of Thessalonians.
We'll come back to it, but this is our first Sunday and this is
our motto text Ephesians. We're going to read from chapter
4 and we're going to read from verse 24, Ephesians 424 right
down to Ephesians 51 and 2. Let's hear the Word of God
reading, of course, as we've said often from the King James
Bible, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 20, Ephesians 4, verse 24.
Let's hear the Word of God, and that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his
neighbour, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and said not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath,
neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no
more, but rather let him labour working with his hands, the
thing which is good, that they may have to give to him that
needeth. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of
edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.
For by your sealed unto the day of redemption, let all
bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
speaking be put away from you with all malice.
Be a kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in
love as Christ also have loved us and have given Himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
Amen. We know that God will stamp with
His own approval and blessing this reading of His own precious
and infallible word. Now for 2026, the theme before
us in the New Year, I've entitled Walking with God.
The Bible often depicts the whole of the Christian life as a
walk. A walk implies direction,
progress, one step at a time. It implies a relationship.
Can two walk together except to be agreed, he must ask.
See the Christian life is not something worthless nor it's a
life of learning to walk with God.
Now there's 390 references to walk or walking in the Bible.
The 1st is Genesis 3 and 8, the Lord God walking in the Garden
of Eden and the cool of the day with Adam and Eve and perfect
union and communion. The last reference to the word
walk in the Bible is found in Revelation 21 verse 24 and it's
about the Saints walking in the New Jerusalem.
And in between those we have 388 other references that all
proclaim A variety and different aspects of the same theme,
walking with God. Now one of those texts out of
the 388 is found in Ephesians chapter 5 verse one and two.
And I've chosen Ephesians 5 verse one and two as our motto
text for this year. Be there for followers of God as
dear children, and walk in love as Christ also have loved us and
have given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet smelling savour. Now the Apostle Paul was very
fond of using the analogy of the Christian life as a walk.
He referred to it 7 times, not once, not twice, but seven
times. Ephesians 2 and 2, Ephesians 2
and 10. Ephesians 4 and 1, Ephesians 4
and 17. Ephesians 5 and 2, Ephesians 5
and 8, and Ephesians 5 and fifteen. 7 * 7 is the number of
perfection and the 5th reference, and five in the
Bible's the number of grace. The 5th reference is our motto
text, Ephesians 51 and two. And here the apostle Paul is
teaching us how we're to walk with God.
We're to walk with God as dear children.
That's the first thing. We're to walk in love.
That's the second thing. We're to walk after the patron
of Christ himself. That's the third thing.
You see, true Bible believing Christianity is not merely
believing certain facts about God Himself and certain truths
about the person work of Jesus Christ that's concluded, but at
its heart, the Christian life is living as dear children of God
who live to resemble their heavenly Father.
Notice something the apostle Paul doesn't begin chapter 5 in
a vacuum. He doesn't throw at us some
random new thoughts like a a bowl of soup.
Look at the text be ye therefore look at the third word.
Therefore, it means in light off or in in view of the therefore
directly connects us to the closing chapters and verses of
chapter 4 and chapter 4 were commanded to put off the old man
with his evil deeds and put on the new man created after the
image of God and righteousness and through holiness.
The Christian's instruction is framed by focused on our
Christian identity in Christ. And if you look at verse 25 to
verse 32, notice the Apostle Paul, this very specific and
practical commands as Christians were to speak the truth, as
Christians were to control our anger, as Christians were to
labour honestly, as Christians were to edify one another with
words, as Christians were to put away bitterness, wrath and
malice, as Christians were to be kind one to another, tender
hearted, forgiving one another. And the very motive for doing so
is this, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
And verse 32 as it closes, leads directly on to chapter 5, verse
one and two. You see Paul, after showing us
specifically what we're to put off and what we're to put on in
Christ, Paul sums it all up. Here's one tremendous comprehend
this command. Here he is calling us to be
followers of God as dear children and walk in love just
as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.
Doctor Martyn Lloyd Jones in his book Light in Darkness in Page
291 states of Ephesians 51 and two the following we come to
what is perhaps Paul's supreme argument to the highest level of
all in doctrine and in practise to the ultimate ideal.
He points out that the apostle Paul is laying down a principle
that governs everything. The entire Christian life may be
summed up as a life of imitating God.
Ah, as beloved children as we walk in love.
The entire Christian life may be summed up in a life of imitating
God as his beloved children as we walk in love.
Now what's Paul saying here? Very quickly, 4 things.
Three things. One, the people that are
addressed, look at our text. It says be there for followers
of God as dear children underline that we phrase as dear
children. The word followers here doesn't
just mean following something along a path that that's
included or to follow someone at a distance or following someone
in the sense of being guided. It includes that, but it means
so much more. You see, the word follower
literally means to imitate. We could take out the word
followers and put in this word, be there for imitators of God,
because that's exactly what it means.
The word imitate, the word copy. In fact, the Greek word is the
word from which we get the word mimic.
Mimic being someone now before you can be a true follower of
God, before you can begin to truly follow God, we must be one
of his dear children. So I have a question, are you a
true child of God? And how does 1 become a child of
God? He's not saying you become
children by following God, that that's how many of you Bible
believe in Christianity. But that's not what he's saying.
He is saying you follow God, you imitate God because you are one
of his dear children. And this is crucial to reform
theology. We don't walk with God to become
the sons or daughters of God as if it's a lifelong process.
No, we walk with God because we are his sons, because we are his
daughters. And how do we become sons and
daughters of God? Well here's the answer.
By the new birth over there in John chapter 3, remember the
Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, verily, verily I say unto thee,
except that man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of
God. He added in verse 5, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except that man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
And in verse 7, he added, Marvel not that I said unto thee, you
must be born again. And if we go back and John
chapter one, we read these words, he came unto his own and
his own received him not, but as many as received him to then
give you power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name, which were born not of blood.
So it's not hereditary, nor of the will of the flesh.
It's not of your own will or the will of someone else, nor of the
will of man. It's not Pope or priest or
preacher, but of God. The scripture is clear, church
attendance is good and we encourage you to attend church
as often as you can as God gives you health and strength.
We encourage good behaviour, family background, church rites
and ceremonies. But these things, church
attendance, good behaviour, family background, church rites
and ceremonies cannot and does not make you a child of God.
A true child of God is regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, a very religious,
respectable ruler of the synagogue.
Marvel not that they say unto thee, You must be born again.
And of course, contrary to much popular thought, God, while God
is creator and maker, God is not the Father of all men.
All people that live on the earth are not children of God.
God is indeed the Father of all men in a creative sense, in the
sense that he made us. Malachi 2 and 10 says, Have we
not all one father? Have not one God created us?
That is true. God is the Father of all men in
the creative sense, and that he made all men.
But God is not the Father of all men in the redemptive sense.
Even though it's true that in Him we move and live in a being.
God is not the Father of all men in the redemptive sense.
We can only become the children of God when we are born again
into God's family. So if I asked the question this
morning, what is a true Christian?
We hear this word Christian branded about a true Christian
is someone who's born again by the Holy Spirit, has Christ for
his Lord and Saviour and God for his heavenly Father.
Now is that true of you? Become a child of God not only
by new birth, but by adoption? Over there in Ephesians chapter
1 verses 4 and 5, the apostle Paul started his letter saying,
according as he had chosen us and him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him, and love having predestinated us.
That word means chosen unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
You see, birth and adoption bring out different aspects of
our relationship with God. The new birth pictures, the fact
that only God can impart new life.
When the Spirit of God imparts this new life, it's like a
spiritual resurrection from the dead.
Ephesians 2 and one. And you have they quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins.
And from that moment we are born again.
We enter into a relationship with God as heavenly Father
through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
And then this adoption picture, it pictures God's sovereign
choice of us as his own children.
See, see. Think of somebody who's adopting
a child, a parent who goes into the adoption centre to adopt A
child. They pick the child whom they
wish to adopt different from fostering.
And just as they pick the child, so God has chosen us in Christ,
never apart from Christ only, and always in Christ.
And he did so before the foundation of the world.
And there's a difference, of course, from adoption in human
terms. Human parents pick a child who
is cute, a child that they're attracted to, a child that has
got maybe special features or he's gifted in miles or he's
gifted in science. He's going to be a
mathematician, he's going to be a scientist, or we'll pick him.
We'll have her or or a child who's loving, certainly not want
someone who's maybe bad tempered and throwing a tantrum.
But God's choice is not like that.
God has chosen us when we were dead in trespasses and sins.
God has chosen us when we were full of rebellion towards him.
God has chosen us when we were behaving sinfully toward Him and
therefore we can't really understand.
And we ask the question why, Lord, why did you choose me out
of the masses of humanity? And these is answered
Deuteronomy 7 and seven. I have loved you because I have
loved you. And therefore, we can't really
understand that great love of God until we begin to understand
the terrible depths of sin from which we have been redeemed
from. We never fully understand the
love of God until we understand that we're lifted out of the
gutter of sin and lifted by sovereign free grace alone.
Not only did God redeem us, not only did God bring us into your
right relationship with Himself, but He brings us into His house.
He adopts us into His family, He gives us a place at His table.
He gives us all the privileges of being His child.
Maybe you're asking this morning, well, how can I know if
I'm born again? There?
There's an answer. You know, faith in Jesus Christ
is the main evidence for seeking all.
I trust him. Was there a time, a day in your
life, a moment when you put your faith and trust in Christ?
Trust in, adhere to and rely on that?
That's what believing in the Lord Jesus Christ means.
Remember the Philippian gaoler asked what must I do to be
saved? He was given the answer, Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy
house. And the word believe means to
trust and adhere to and rely on Christ.
Believing in Jesus Christ alone is the only real hope of real
forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.
And once you have faith in Christ, which is a gift of God,
then you begin to see the evidence of a change and
transform life. If any man be in Christ as you
creature, old things have passed away and all things have become
new and all things are of God. Not only have you got new life,
but you've got a new love. You love Christ, you love the
things of God, you love the Lord's Day.
Where you be in the Lord's day? Well, you'll get victory over
Blanket Cathedral. You'll get out, you'll get into
the House of God, you'll have a love for the word of God, You'll
have a love for the Son of God. You'll have a love for the
people of God. You'll you'll have a love for
the things of God. You'll desire to know God.
You'll read the scriptures, you'll be at the prayer meeting,
the Bible study, you'll get involved in the work of God.
All of these things are evidences.
They all flow from this new life.
Because when a baby has life, that life is seen and it's cry
for milk and it's wanting to be changed, it's wanting to be
cuddled, all of that part and parcel of the evidence of life
very quickly. Notice the people addressed
here. If you go back to our text, it
says as dear children. What does that mean?
It means beloved. Every father, of course, is a
special love for his own children.
If a father's got a newborn, he holds it in his arms for the
first time. There's a special love formed, a
special bond. The joy, the excitement, just to
sit and nurse the baby to, to talk to the baby, to to, to sing
to the baby there. There's a an unutterable
tenderness here, father, mother and child.
And yet, no matter how much a father or a mother loves his or
her children. The heavenly Father loves His
children so much more. Remember what we read in first
John. In First John chapter 3, and in
the verse one, We read this tremendous statement about the
love of God in first John 3 and 1.
Behold what manner of love the Father have bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew not Him.
Beloved. Now are we the sons of God, and
it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is. So to be a true follower of God,
you must be one of His dear children.
So I ask again, are you? Look again at our text and
you'll see something else. Not only the people that are
addressed, but notice the principle that is announced,
Ephesians 5 and one, be there for followers of God as dear
children. Now remember what I said about
the word followers. Not just following along a given
path, not just following at a distance, not just following in
a sense of being guided, but a follower means to imitate, to
copy, to mimic. It's profound.
Be there for imitators of God. In other words, be like God.
And here's the question, is that possible?
Is it even right? What does that mean?
Now when we begin to think about the doctrine of God and we look
at the doctrine of God and consider his nature and being,
if we're to imitate God, we must know certain things about God.
And the first thing I know about God is this, that there's a
certain way that we cannot imitate God.
We can't imitate God in every way.
Yes, God has revealed himself. But when you study the doctrine
of God as revealed in the Bible, you discover that God has
certain attributes. The attributes of God are
divided into two groups in communicable attributes and
communicable attributes. These incommunicable attributes
are not communicable to us. They belong to God alone.
They are only true of God. We cannot imitate them.
We can't copy them. We can't mimic them.
Let me explain His essential glory.
We can't imitate the glory of God.
That's unique to God, His eternality.
We cannot imitate the eternality of God because He is from
everlasting to everlasting God. He, He is eternal, He is
transcendent, He is eminent. His Majesty, His omnipotence,
He's all powerful, His omniscience, He's all knowing.
He knows every thought of every human being simultaneously at
the same time, His omnipresence. He is present everywhere in the
fullness of His being through the whole of the universe.
David said, if I make my bed in hell, they were there.
You see, these belong to God alone.
They make God, God. They are in God because He is
God. And we are never called upon
anywhere to imitate or copy these incommunicable attributes
of God. But listen to me carefully.
There are other attributes which are communicable.
These are moral in nature. They are the ones that we must
imitate. They are the ones that we must
understand if we are to truly follow through with our text.
Be therefore followers of God. Think of His Holiness.
There's a command in the Scripture, Be holy, for I am
holy. God is righteous, and all who
truly believe in God, they are to live a life of right living
before God and man. The righteousness of God is
imputed, but the righteousness of God is also imparted when
we're made partakers of the divine nature.
His justice, his goodness, His love, His mercy, His tenderness,
His long-suffering, His compassion, his loving kindness,
His faithfulness, His forgiveness.
All of these are communicable attributes of God and we are
expected to manifest them. We are to have them, we are to
show them. They are to be part and parcel
of the true Christians walk with God.
And the apostle Paul says be there for imitators of God in
respect of these communicable attributes.
You see, we're not just to be good people.
We're not just to be nice people, we're not just to be
kind, we are to be. But we're good and kind and nice
because we're imitators of God. This is his appeal.
Here's his great announcement. The principle that is announced,
it is only as we realise it's greatness and it's value and
it's staggering character will it have a profound impact upon
us. We're not just good people,
we're not just nice, we're not just kind.
We are God's dear children. And Paul is appealing here for
Christian conduct and behaviour. Why?
Not? Merely because as Christians we
believe certain doctrines as believers.
Now we cannot be a true Christian without believing.
But a true Christian is not just someone who believes a certain
body of doctrine and ticks the boxes.
And I believe that about God and I believe that about Christ.
It's more than mental ascent. It's even more in saying, well,
well, look, I, I literally believe this.
You see, once you're born again and you're adopted into God's
family and you're one of his dear children, and you're a
partaker of the divine nature, then you discover this Christian
life, this Bible, believe in Christianity.
This is not just a moral code to live by.
Here's the chief reason for living out the Christian life.
I'm a child of God and as a child of God, I'm to imitate
God. We are to be imitators of God
because we are the children of God and because we are the
children of God, we we imitate God.
We are as dear children, not just in a legal relationship but
in a loving relationship. Very quickly you see the Lord
loves us and cares for us. The Lord watches over us, even
the hairs of her head. He is numbered.
You think of a child that was watching a little programme
there in relation to Rosemary's Dear Family many, many years ago
when it was recorded of a child walking for the first time out
through the door, heading to school.
When the child walks for the first time or goes to school for
the first day, or joins the girls brigade to the Boys
Brigade for the first time and the parents standing watching,
or maybe it's the first football match, what is that watching for
the child? Is it not an expression of
loving interest? Is it not creating a precious
memory? Oh, I remember when you took
your first step. I was there.
You see, that's what's involved in this loving relationship.
God loves us and cares for us, but is watching over us and
providing for us and has a deep interest in US.
Now here's the question, do we have a desire to be imitators of
God? Do we want to be like God?
You see, let me tell you this very quickly.
You see, to be like God, we must want to know Him and know His
ways. We must aim to grasp in our mind
who He is and what He's like as revealed in His Word.
You see, to know God as he is revealed in the Holy Scriptures,
not as culture wants him, not as Hollywood portrays him.
I know he's a God of love, but he's also a God of wrath.
He's also a holy God. He's a God who hates sin.
And we must learn from the scriptures of God in his written
revelation. Not what the culture wants us to
believe about God. Not what Hollywood says God is
like. To know God, we must spend time
in His Word. Give attention to reading.
Could I encourage you this year to read your Bible?
If you have difficulty reading your Bible, listen to Alexander
Scorby on the Internet and YouTube.
He'd read Genesis through Revelation for you.
All you have to do is follow. It's the most Protestant thing
you could do to read your Bible. Although we could get the people
in this land to pick up a copy of God's Word and to start
reading, and not when he spend time reading the book, but spend
time in prayer before God. You think of a little child,
little child, growing up in a home, but that little child
never spends any time with his father because his father's not
there. And that little child who spends
little or no time with his father will not be greatly
influenced by his father. He'll not be able to pick up in
his father's ways. He'll not be able to watch how
his father treats his mother or how his father relates to
others. He'll not be able to see his
father's moral standard and to hear his speech, all of that.
There is part and parcel of this child and father relationship.
We read in Philippians 3 verse eight.
Yeah, doubtless Paul says, and I count all things but loss for
the Excellency of the knowledge of Jesus my Lord, for whom I've
suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung, that
I may win Christ. And over there in the book of
Psalms, the psalmist said this in Psalm 25.
He made this marvellous statement in Psalm 25 in the
verses four and five. Let me just read it to you.
Psalm 25 and verses four and five, he says this.
Show me Thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy pass, lead me in Thy
truth, and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation.
On Thee do I wait all the day? The third thing, and I close
with this, the pattern that is appropriated.
If you go back to our text, notice what it says and walk in
love as Christ also have loved us and given himself for us an
offering and a sweet and a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savour. Here's a comprehensive call.
We're to imitate God. We're to speak the truth and
love because God is a God of truth.
God's a God of faithfulness. And in our dealings with others
we must be faithful. Because God is faithful, it
includes being holy in our behaviour.
Because He is holy, we're to walk in love.
Why? Because Christ is the supreme
example of love. What do you love?
Could I say? Well, I love pizza, I love
Maude's ice cream, I love my dog, I love my wife, I love my
car. But surely there's a difference.
We're not the view love as a warm fuzzy feeling, as something
magical when it hits home and then goes away and we can do
nothing to get it back. We must understand the biblical
definition of the supreme demonstration of love is this.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. We're called here in Ephesians 5
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it. Jesus said greater love was no
man than this, than a man that laid down his life for his
friends. He said in John 13 and 34, By
this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have
love one for another. We're to walk in love in our
daily conduct. We're to walk in love with this
comprehensive continual pattern before our eyes, the pattern of
Christ's supreme demonstration of love in his once and for all
sacrifice. What is love?
Love is a self sacrificing, caring commitment that prides
itself in seeking the highest good of the one loved.
Let me repeat that love is a self sacrificing, caring
commitment that shows itself in seeking the highest good of the
one loved very quickly. It's a costly love.
God gave his only begotten Son. Christ laid down his life for
the Church. Therefore, because of Christ's
sacrifice, we have to learn to lay aside selfishness, lay aside
pride, lay aside one thing, our rights, in order to practise
something of God's love in Christ.
It's a caring love. It's caring, considerate,
compassionate. True love loves deeply.
It's a committed love. Jesus Christ went to the cross
not because it felt good, but He was committed to do the will of
the Father. Commitment is the glue that
holds us together. Christ is committed to us, and
we're committed to Christ. And then these young people who
have got engaged, they learn the lesson that commitment is the
glue that will hold that relationship together.
And that will mean that we'll forgive when we're wronged.
That means that we will speak the truth in love.
That means we will serve even when we got no applause.
That means we will love when it's difficult to love
individual people, and we'll sacrifice comfort for the good
and well-being of others. It'll be a conspicuous love.
It'll show itself in kind deeds. It's not exactly what John said
in first John chapter 3 and in the verse 17.
Listen to the word of God first John 3 and 17.
He says, But whoso have this word's goods and see us as
brother have need and shut us up as bowels of compassion from
him. How dwelleth the love of God in
him. The Bible says do good to all
men, especially they who are the household of faith.
It's a consecrating love it we're we're committed to the
highest good and as I finish and our time is gone.
It's not only comprehensive and a continual pattern, but it's
Christ centred the word walk, which is his fifth reference.
Paul's reference means slow, steady progress.
It's a step by step, it's a lifelong process, it's governs
the entire manner of her life and it's characterised by the
love of Christ. He is our patron and we're to
strive to grow as we walk in this love.
Christ is both our atoning sacrifice and He is our sweet
savour unto God. We should study and think about
how much Christ has loved us to love others.
We've got to be like Christ. We've got to commit ourselves to
the glory of God. That's got to be our main
motive. Glorify God and to enjoy him
forever. To please God.
We're to love God and love the Saints and light of who Christ
is, light of a sacrifice. And our love as we walk in love
is to be a sweet saver to God. Let's discover who we are, the
children of God. Let's learn how to walk in love
and follow to imitate our heavenly Father.
And let's leave behind the spiritual fragrance, whether in
the home or in the university or in the school or the workplace.
May the Lord take this motto text, apply it to our hearts.