R sbc
July 24, 2005
Sunday Morning
Series: “Christ The Sum & Substance of The Bible
Sermon # 51
Subject: “ Followers of The Lord”
Text: Eph 5:1-2
Intro: There are many ways that I could approach this subject this morning, because to follow the LORD is a broad subject. It is so broad that one could never exhaust it’s content or it’s application.
Paul is not suggesting this, he is commanding it. Much like last week’s message it is not an option, nor a choice, it is a duty and a command. It was said of Caleb & Joshua that they wholly followed the LORD... Numbers 32:12 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD.
The Great Prophet Elijah spoke to the people of Israel and said these words: 1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
I... “ FOLLOWING CHRIST AS CHILDREN”..VS 1
It is so easy for children to follow the parents good or bad example. It is a natural thing for them while they are children to set out right behind their parents or parent. There is plenty of reasons for it..
(1.) They trust them... Psalms 73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
(2.) They love them:
What is the greatest commandment a lawyer ask the Lord Jesus one day, and the LORD said to love the LORD thy GOD with all thine heart, mind, soul, and the second one is like it love thy neighbor as thyself... We need to really love the LORD and when we do we will trust him. Psalms 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
(3.) They aim to please them:
Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Just as children do not obey and follow their parents all the time we as God’s children do the same. It is the aim of a child to please his or her parents and it is our aim to please the LORD.
Solomon in his prayer to the LORD searching for wisdom to lead his people as King had it said of him...1 Kings 3:10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
Christ did that which pleased his heavenly Father, and the Father said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. You want to please the LORD this morning then follow him and that will please him.
(1.) A benefit:
Proverbs 16:7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
(2.) A clear statement:
2 Timothy 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
II... THE PRINCIPLES LAID OUT IN FOLLOWING CHRIST..VS 2
1ST. That it is a walk in love:
1 Corinthians 4:21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
There are two things about walking in love:
a. It is proof of our salvation:
1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
b. It removes fear:
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Heb 2- 14 ¶ Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
2nd. The Example...vs 2 “ As Christ also loved us...
Not one of us here this morning can question the reality of the love of Christ and that toward his people... Having loved his own he loved them unto the end...
A. His love for us is inseparable...Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
B. His love for us constrains us..2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
This word constraineth is illustrated in the following definitions: It means to be pressed on every side, it is like a city that is besieged, it is like a ship forced into a narrow channel to doc, it is like forcing beast into a position where it cannot move..
3rd. The demonstration of that great love: “ given himself for us”
The old saying is “you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving, so Christ loved us and gave himself for us..he became what we are in order that we may become what he is..he died...the death of a criminal being innocent...
(a.) In giving himself for us he satisfies the Father... “ sacrifice to GOD”
In that great garden seen, we here our savior three times pleading his cause with the Father, but climaxing he plea, not my will but thine be done...what a sacrifice. John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
John 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. He did not come blindfolded he came to die and give himself a sacrifice to the Father.
(b.) In giving himself he bought redemption for us: Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Hymn writer said:
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the Blood of the lamb, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child forever I am... redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of lamb redeemed, redeemed his child and forever I am...
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
(c.) In giving himself for us he is the eternal fragrance before God for us: “sweetsmelling”
That is the Father does not smell the odor of sin anymore, he does not smell stench of it
the rottenness of it, the awfulness of it. He know longer with regard to his people has wrath anymore, and never will it is a fabulous thing to say the least.
If you could think this morning of the greatest thing that you have ever smelled and how pleasing that was to you, magnify that with total pleasing, and you still could not touch this...likewise the hatred for sin and the damnation of it to those who know not the LORD in the forgiveness of it, should overwhelm us...
The great dignity of the person of the sacrifice pleased the Father: “My son in whom I am well pleased”.
The great purity of the purity of the sacrifice: Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
The great humility of Christ: Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
(d.) In giving of himself an acceptable offering to the LORD he forever mediates for his people...
Paul said it like this: 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Oh to have him at the bar of justice for us, is greater than anything that I can tell you this morning that you have on this earth... Christ before the eternal GOD for us... we are cleared, we are forgiven, we are sanctified, we are justified, we are his and he is ours.
1. It is his position because he earned it:
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
2. Three appearances of Christ made this possible:
a. He appeared on earth to take away our sins: Heb 9:26
b. He appears in heaven..Heb 9:24
c. He will appear in the heavens one day: Heb 9-28
Can you trust him this morning? If you can then do it now as we stand and sing!