Somebody Loves You
Walking In Love pt.2
Be what Christ has called us to be, and that is to possess God's love in our own hearts. One thing that the world needs today more than anything else is God's love. And He, God Himself, through Jesus Christ our Lord, wants to give the world this love freely. It doesn't cost you anything. I am falling, I am falling enough, I am falling enough, I am falling in love, I am falling in love. Welcome to Somebody Loves Your Radio, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Role, Race, and Diamond Bar, California. It's great to have you with us today for our continued focus on walking in close communion with the Lord. Today, Role will challenge us to be less self-serving and more self-sacrificial as we follow in Jesus' footsteps. Just as Christ poured God's love into others without thought of personal gain, we can represent the Lord to a watching world. We'll take a close look at why we need to obey God's word as a testament of His love. With the second part of the lesson Walking in Love, here's Role Race in Ephesians chapter 5. We want to come back to part 2 of the Walking in Love. And it's amazing because Paul the Apostle, as he now is writing in this next chapter, in chapter 5, I told you before, that the book of Ephesians is an amazing book. It's a very short epistle that Paul wrote in only six chapters and in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians because he is writing to believers. He writes and he tells the Christian, first of all, his position in Christ. That is, once you've come to Jesus Christ and you've accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior, and now you become a Christian, now Paul says, "This is what you are in Jesus Christ." And so he speaks of his position, our position in Christ. And then when you get to chapter 4, 5, 6, the next three chapters, the second half of the book, this is now how you're supposed to behave in Christ Jesus. But tonight Paul the Apostle is going to be sharing with us how much God loves you and how much God loves me. And so when I began to read the scriptures, I was just totally blown away by the Lord because Paul is so clear and so gentle and the way he begins to share his gospel with each one of us here tonight. Let me begin by reading chapter 5 verses 1 through 7. We'll come back and expound the scriptures. He says, "Be you imitators of God, therefore, as dear children, or dear love children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity or greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talking, or coarse joking which are out of place. But rather the giving of thanks. For of this you can be sure no immoral impure or greedy person such a man as an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. And then he says this, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient and therefore do not be partners or partakers with them." I use the NIV to read so it's a little bit more clear for you what Paul is trying to begin to share here. But tonight as we come back to the book of Ephesians and we deal with this great passage of Scripture, it is very important for us to understand that as we've been moving to the book of Ephesians, we talked about the believer, how the believer needs to walk in God's love. There's too much religion going on in the world today. And one of the things that we don't need any longer is more churches or more religious people than what we need is to become doers of the Word of God. Be what Christ has called us to be and that is to possess God's love in our own hearts. One thing that the world needs today more than anything else is God's love. And he, God himself through Jesus Christ our Lord, wants to give the world this love freely. It doesn't cost you anything. It's free for you to have. As a matter of fact, in John chapter 3 verse 16 when Jesus had come and he was speaking to his disciples, he said, "For God so loved the world that he gave he has only begotten Son that whosoever believe it in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Think of the great give that God has given to each one of us, his love. God desires that we would experience his love and his grace and his mercies. Listen to what Jesus Christ commands in Matthew 22 37 through 39. He said, "Jesus said unto him, to this rich man, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." So love God first and then love your neighbor as yourself. Did you know that that is the only two commandments that God requires which fulfill the whole law in the Scriptures? Not the 10 commandments, two commandments, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That's what Jesus commanded. That's why he came to fulfill the law which was a schoolmaster to point us to Jesus Christ and to point how sinful we were. And there was no possible way that we could ever be forgiven if it wasn't for Jesus Christ coming and becoming the rich builder between God and man. He came to die for you. He came to die for me. And as he died and gave his life for each one of us, God touches each one of our hearts because he loves us so much that he's not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. What did Paul say? Paul said therefore be imitators of God as their children and walk in his love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. Remember the Old Testament? It would actually be an Atonement is called Kofar in Hebrew and the word Kofar would be only a covering for your sin. That means if I put this Bible this way or take this piece of paper here and you see it now and then I put it in my pocket, you may not see it now, but it's in the back of my pocket, it's still there. The word Atonement in the New Testament is that Jesus Christ takes your sin and you don't find it anywhere else again. It's totally put away. Nobody can ever bring it up again. Ever. I don't care who it is. God forgives you once and for all for what you've done in your life. And that's why Paul said therefore if any man is in Christ Jesus, he or she becomes a new person, all things are passed away, behold all things become brand new. That's the key to salvation. Why? Because in the Old Testament on the day of Yankippur, which was the most holy day to the Jews and today it is, they would get a goat, two goats. And the priests would take one of the goats and they would lay their hands on top of the goat. And in typology, the sins of the people would be transferred by the priests, which was the mediator, into the goats head by praying, and then they would take the one goat and they would lead him out of the wilderness and they would have guys on top of the hills with his chafars and they would sit there. And as long as they were watching the ram moving into the wilderness, as long as they could see they could not blow the trumpet. But once that goat or ram would be lost in the wilderness, they would blow the trumpets one by one. They would give back to the people of God and then the other goat would be killed in the city and offer for the people and everybody would rejoice because at that time they would be forgiven by God. Think of that. All that work in the Old Testament and yet Christ came once and for all to forgive you and me because he loves you and because he cares for you. This is the pattern of God's love for you and me. First of all, it is a great love that he has for you and me. Listen to Ephesians 2-4 what it says, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love where he loved us. It's a great love that he has for you and for me. Secondly, it is this great everlasting love that has brought me to Christ. Jeremiah 31-3 says this. "The Lord has appeared of all to me saying, 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.'" Wow. God says it to Jeremiah. I have loved you. I have drawn you with this loving kindness. Thirdly, this love is a sacrificial love. Romans 5-8 says this, "But God demonstrated his own love toward us, and that while we were yet still sinners, what Christ died for us." Wow. Christ died for you. Christ died for me. How we need this love of Christ in our lives. We need to love as Christ loves. Listen, in Ephesians 5-2, he says, "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." Remember I told you the Old Testament? The meat sacrifices or what? Sweet aroma to the Lord, barbecue meat. Now he says this, that his love is like a sweet smelling aroma. The sacrifice of God's Son for you and me, because he loves us. That is a sign of true love. A sign of true love. Listen, Matthew 22-37, Jesus said unto him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind." Secondly, it is a sign of true faith. True faith. John 8-42 says this again. Listen, Jesus said unto them, "If God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forward and come from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me as he was speaking to the Pharisees." He says, "You don't accept me because you don't have God, but if you would have God, you would have received me." Why? Because my father sent me to you. That's why Jesus Christ came to give his life for you and me, and that's why he writes in verse 3 through verses 7, how we have taken the true love of God, and we need to be careful not to pervert the love of God for the love of the world. This is Somebody Loves Your Radio with Raul Reese. We're here to help you develop a strong witness as you nurture your relationship with the Lord. Visit SomebodyLovesYou.com for resources and join Raul for a straight talk on his YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10 a.m. West Coast Time. Here's Raul Reese now with the final part of our study, Walking in Love. Verse 3 and 4 of Ephesians chapter 5, "But for locators and uncleaness or covetous, let it not even name among you as is fitting to Christians, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse-gesting which are not fitting but rather giving of things." You see, the apostle here now thinks of the love of the world. Aeros love is the physical love that everyone possesses. That is the physical love of attraction. When people say, "Guys come up to grow, say, "Hey, man, I love you." It's that physical love that has no meaning is not self-sacrifice. It's a love that is always taking greedy love. That's the love of the world. And then you have the filleo where you love someone so much emotional love where you love at one moment and then the next moment you hate that person. And those two loves are used. But then the third love is the most important love and that is agape. And agape is the same love where I used for God so loved the world, for God so agape the world that he gave his only begotten son. What kind of love is that? That is a not selfish love. It is a love of sacrifice. A love that never ever retaliates. Never, never, never becomes unforgiving. Always forgives, always forgets, always is patient. First Corinthians 13, 4 through 8. That kind of love is the love that Jesus Christ wants you and myself to possess. But see, the world confuses it. Why? And then the fourth word is storkio, which is the family love. I love my wife. I love my children. You see, four loves. But the most important is agape. But what Paul is saying here is that even though we have the agape love of God, it can be very possible for us as believers in our whole life to come back now that we're believers. And to be careful that we don't get caught up in the sins of the past. And the sins of the past that he uses here is the perversion of sexual sins. That's what he talks about here. And he's saying, if you're a Christian, then you no longer should be living this way. No longer living this way. Your life should be a complete different life now. And so he begins to speak of the certain sins that cannot only hurt you and grieve the Holy Spirit of God. But eventually, if you don't repent as a Christian, you can lose what? The kingdom of God. You can be thrust out of the kingdom of God, he says. Because Christians are not to be practiced in sin like that any longer. Of course, we're human. We're going to be tempted. We're going to fall sometimes. But we don't make a practice or excuses for continuing sin. Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit. You see, a Christian, when before he ever sins, and before he even ever plans, the Holy Spirit is going to be to your side telling you what's right and what's wrong. It's like a little alarm. You'll tell you what's right and what's wrong. And what's incredible is that as we're sitting there and the Holy Spirit begins to speak to you, he will always warn you before you sin. And then because we're free agents of God, he's not a God that hosts puppets up, and you have a free will, he will let you decide and choose whether you want to be right, or you want to be wrong, or you want to obey, or you want to disobey. And he says, if you want to obey, then this is what happens. You get rewarded, but if you disobey, these are the consequences of your sin. Whatever amends to it, that's shall he reap, you see? And so this is what God declares. It's a matter of fact, it's interesting because I work for an occasion in the Greek, it's pornonia. We get our English word pornography. That's what we get our word. And this has to do literally with every kind of immorality and sexual perversion, from homosexuality, to left venism, to pornography, to child molestation, to adultery, and to fornication, which means people that are not married to living together and having sex with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, pretty heavy. And you know what's amazing to me? It's that fornication, first of all, comes from an evil heart. Listen to the scriptures. Matthew 59 says this, Jesus. "For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, and blasphemies." Secondly, fornication is an evil against the person's body. It is a sin against your body. Remember why? Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 16 and 17 said what? Now that you've come to Christ, your body is the, what? It's the body of God, it's the temple of God. I mean, as an athlete, me and the martial arts, what do I do? I take care of myself, physically, emotionally, and in every way. Why? Because I want to be the best. And the same way for God. If we're going to be the best for God, then we have to be careful of what we do. That this body, this temple, when I was in the world, I fornicated, I committed adultery, I drank, and I never took drugs, but I did everything possible. And this was the body of God, but I didn't know that at that time. But now that I've come to Christ, I have learned that this body belongs to God. And if I abuse it, I'm going to pay the consequences. Not only that. If I abuse this body, which is the temple of God, and God lives in me, what has happened? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is greed. You bring pain to the Holy Spirit of God. And he cannot do his effective work in your life unless you repent. And then what's the next verse for it? Nor should there be obscenity or foolish talking or coarse joking, which are out of what? Out of place, but rather giving no thanks. Why? Because what Paul is saying is not only that we have to watch ourselves sexually, but we have to watch ourselves the way we communicate and the things that we say in talking with dirty jokes. Why? Because it doesn't bring glory and honor to the Lord. We should not stick around to hear garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. We should get rid of it. And Paul says the reason I tell you these things is because these are the things that will hurt you as a believer. Watch this. Verse four again. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place. But rather giving no thanks. Verse five, for this you can be sure. Here it is. This is the king end. And speaking to Christians, no immoral, impure or greedy person such a man as an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. There it is again. They will not inherit the kingdom of Jesus Christ. To practice and to continue in sexual encounters, a continual practicing of those things and to lie and to cheat and to say coarse things or joking and dirty talk will not inherit the kingdom of God. This you used to be like, Paul says, but you have been changed. You are not Christians. You have a new walk and a new talk, you see, and new thinking as believers. This is important. And the reason I say that, watch what he says in the next verse. Verse six. Did no one deceive you with empty words? Why? Because there are those people that will tell you, oh brother, don't worry what you do. God forgives everything and he does. God forgives everything if there's true repentance. But we as believers are not to continue in sin any longer, Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter six says, how shall we that are dead to sin? How can we continue to live a life of sin when we have been saved? Sin and possibility. We would be lying to the world and we would become just like every religious bigot lying to people and keeping them out of the kingdom of God. Why? Because if people see me as a Christian and they know that I'm living with my girlfriend or I'm in an adulterous relationship or I'm partying here and drinking here and drugs over here, how can I bring him to the kingdom of God? No, I will keep them out of the kingdom of God. I will not be a good model for Jesus Christ when Paul said at the beginning, be you imitators of Jesus Christ, mimic me. That's the word in Greek there, to be an imitator, to mimic Jesus Christ. That's our goal as believers and so I pray tonight not to believe the lie but to believe the truth. Look what else he says, let no one deceive you with empty words for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient therefore do not be partakers with them. God's separate yourself. Remember in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, 14, be you not on equally yoked together for what fellowship has like with darkness, be not deceived. We need to separate. We need to look for people that are right on with God, people that love God why because they can help me, they're not going to tear me down, they're not going to bring me down but they're going to keep me focused on the cross of Jesus Christ and remind me of what Jesus Christ has done for you and what He's done for me. We hope you've been inspired by the assurance that every act of obedience and every act of service for God sends the message that His love has transformed you and has given you an eternal purpose. You're listening to somebody who loves your radio with Rolla Reese. To hear today's lesson again walking in love in its complete form, just call us at 800-634-9165 and for a donation of $5 or more we'll send one to you. We'd also like to tell you about Rolla's 16 part series titled How to Walk with God. As you get a challenge to spend more daily time with the Lord, you'll find out that when you submit to His will, you can be a living witness of His mercy and redemption. You'll also learn about the importance of getting rid of sinful habits with a firm commitment to obedience. To purchase Rolla's 16 lesson series titled How to Walk with God, just visit somebodylivesu.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD set for $30 or the thumb drive for just $20. The number once again is 800-634-9165. Or you can write us at Somebody Loves You Radio, post office box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. You'll find podcasts of all of these programs on iTunes and Spotify and our Somebody Loves You app will link you to Scripture with live-streamed teaching and digital Bible studies. Now, if you'd like Rolla to answer your Bible questions or respond to your personal prayer requests, he's happy to hear from you. You can email him at pastorroll@somebodylivesu.com. We are continually grateful for your partnership. Every tax-deductible gift enables us to keep sharing wisdom from God's Word. One as next time as we see how walking with God requires stepping out of sins' shadows into the light of Jesus Christ. You'll get encouragement to allow Jesus' love to illuminate your heart and fill your life as you leave the world's darkness behind. That's next time on Somebody Loves You Radio. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California. - Yeah. (upbeat music)
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