I would have you turn in your Bibles this morning to the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. We will be turning to chapter 5 today, beginning at verse 3. On the Pew Bibles, that's page 1136. Well, it seems a long time since we've last considered together this letter of Paul to the Ephesians. But you will remember, I trust, that we are in the second half of this letter, wherein Paul sets forth God's agenda for Christian living. In the first half, Paul declared with great clarity and power the mystery of the gospel of Christ. A gospel that should not only bolster our assurance of faith, but also serve to motivate and enable a life of gratitude to Him. And Paul introduced the implications of the gospel in chapter 4, verse 1, by urging me and by urging you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. We've already considered how this life demands our every effort to preserve the unity of the body of Christ, even as each one of us exercises the individual gifts Christ has given us in service to the members of that one body. We're to live like the children of God that we are in Christ, with immediate and vigorous obedience to His revealed will. Yes, we are saints, that much we know for sure, but we continue to be sinners. And therefore, Holy Spirit-enabled obedience to His Word requires that we continually put off those things that are not pleasing to Him and put on those things which God would have us put on. But our obedience is not to be a legalistic and burdensome conformity, nor is it to involve hypocritical play-acting. Rather, we are called to live a life of self-giving love to our brothers and sisters in Christ that mirrors Christ's self-giving love to us, His children. And when Paul reaches that point in chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, where he gets to the point of discussing the love of Christ and calling us to a life of love, it prompts him to take the turn that we see in the text here, beginning in verse 3, For just as in our day the concept of love is prone to being twisted into the service of self-serving sexuality, so it was in Ephesus. Their culture, like our own, was saturated with moral corruption and preoccupied with sex. Homosexuality was not only allowed, it was considered the noblest form of love. Prostitution was not simply tolerated, it was legalized. And while marriage was highly regarded by the common man and woman, the really important people in society winked at, if not openly endorsed, premarital and extramarital sexual relations of every kind. And Paul was not ignorant of this fact. So beginning in verse 3 of chapter 5, he turns his attention to instructing the saints on how to live within a culture preoccupied with perverse sexuality. Our text reveals that God's agenda for Christian living calls for us to live a life of purity. A life that is completely virtuous, properly motivated, and effectively illuminating. Let's read together, follow along, as I read from Ephesians chapter 5. I'll begin at verse 1 for continuity's sake so you can see the transition from love to sexual sin. But our text will begin in verse 3. Hear now the word of God. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 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. 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 partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said, Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Here ends the reading of God's Word this morning. The first thing we want to understand from our text today is that this life of purity is to be a life that is completely virtuous. Now, to be virtuous is to be morally excellent. living in obedience to the law of God and always in order to bring glory to His name. That is virtue. But only one man has ever lived a completely virtuous life and that's the God-man Jesus Christ. You and I will never live a completely virtuous life in this sense until glory. Yet all who trust in Christ alone for salvation have the Holy Spirit within us who motivates us and enables us to live a life of purity. His work in us involves our complete being, our body, and our spirit. And it is in this way that a life of purity is to be completely virtuous. All that we do with our material body and all that we think, feel, and desire in our immaterial spirit is to be pure, is to be virtuous. And Paul begins in verse 3 by warning against sin that defile the body. He refers to sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. Sexual immorality is a helpful translation of the Greek word porneia. The word that forms the root of our English word pornography. Now porneia refers to any and all sexual indulgences outside the permanent relationship of marriage between one man and one woman. as well as any within the marriage itself in which sexual desires are used merely for personal pleasure without any sense of responsibility or care for a lawful spouse. It's very broad, porneia. This includes, to be sure, all premarital sexual relationships, what the Bible calls fornication. It includes all extramarital sexual relationships, what the Bible calls adultery. It includes all sexual relations between family members other than husband and wife, which the Bible calls incest. It includes homosexuality and bestiality. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, these sins are clearly identified, especially in chapters 18 and 20. And in chapter 18, verses 29 and 30, the Lord Himself sums up the severity of such sins when He says, Everyone who does any of these detestable things, Such persons must be cut off from their people. They must be disinherited. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came into the land of Canaan and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God. Sexual sin defiles the body. And Paul echoes this command in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18, when he says, Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside of his body. But he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Then Paul continues in verse 3 to warn against not only impure sexual acts, porneia, but also any kind of impurity. And that's exactly as broad as it sounds. Any kind of impurity. Anything related to or that leads to sexual immorality. Paul applies Jesus' teaching recorded in Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus said, You've heard that it was said, do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Any kind of impurity. And then Paul then presses on to the root of impurity and sexual immorality when he identifies greed. And I prefer the King James here that preserves the word covetousness. It doesn't roll off the tongue quite so well. We don't use it very often, but it is a perfect word. Covetousness. What the Lord prohibits in the Tenth Commandment, as we read this morning. The sinful and insatiable desire to have what is not yours to have. It is the subtlest of sins. One commentator reports of a Catholic priest who said, of all the sins and crimes he'd heard confessed in his confessional, He'd never heard once a man confess to being covetous. And yet covetousness is what lies at the heart and the root of all sin. Paul says in verse 5 that the covetous person is an idolater. He loves a creature or a created thing rather than the creator. And as is true of every idolater, he worships himself. So that his covetousness, his impurity, his sexual immorality are services he renders to himself. And to serve himself in this way is to deny God whom he's called to serve. Jesus warns in Matthew 6, no one, no one can serve two masters. Either he'll hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. No one can serve two masters. Then Paul continues in verse 4 to warn against sins that reveal a defiled spirit. that which cannot be seen. He refers to obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking. Obscenity refers to shameful or disgraceful actions or words. It's a very broad and all-encompassing word, obscenity. But foolish talk suggests speech that is inappropriate and senseless, like the ramblings of a drunkard. And coarse joking suggests the witty use of words with double meaning. And in this context, words that involve sexual innuendo, we know that such sins reveal a wicked and an unbelieving heart and that they defile the entire person because Jesus says so in Matthew chapter 15. He says that the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man unclean. What kind of language is Paul talking about? The deeds are very easily categorized. What about the language? Well, it's the kind of language that in a sly and tantalizing manner draws an innocent conversation into the cesspool of perverse sexuality. And sometimes you can't even tell how you got there. It's the kind of language that if you have a conscience, makes you uneasy. It's the language that approves of sexual sin, that makes light of sexual sin, or that excites sinful desires in pursuit of sexual sin. In my unbelieving high school days, it was considered locker room language. Today it's so common that we're in danger of being callous to it and seduced into using it in order to be one of the boys, or in some cases, one of the girls. We might call it sitcom language. Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to put off all such things. As Paul says in verse 3, among you there must not even be a hint of such things. And in verse 7, we are commanded not to be partners with them who do such things. And again in verse 11, that we are to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness. Deeds that spring from a darkened heart and that seek the cover of darkness in this world. And why is this so? Why must these be put off? Because Paul says in these same verses, these things are improper for the people of God. Improper for God's holy people. out of place, not fitting for those who are in Christ, the completely virtuous one. They have no place. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Do you not know that your bodies are a member of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with the prostitute? Never. Shall I then take Christ and unite him with my eyes in front of the computer, surfing the net for pornography? Never. Shall I join him with my conversation with my buddies in the locker room? Never. You are members of the body of Christ. They are not fitting for you, Paul says. This is serious business, brothers and sisters. To put on such things not only brings shame to us who wear them, it brings shame to the name of Christ himself. For Paul continues in Corinthians, Do you not know that your body is a temple? the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own. You are bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. Well, Paul's very clear with what we're to put off. What are we to put on? As we've come to expect from chapter 4, in order to put off, we need to put on. What are we to put on? Paul summarizes this in one word in chapter 5 verse 4. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. With this one word, Paul strikes at the heart of the matter. For Thanksgiving flows from a heart that is content with all that the Lord God has given and all that the Lord God has prescribed. And it stands opposed to covetousness that springs from a heart that is ever discontent with everything. By this one word, we're led to see that in order to live a life of purity, we must be properly motivated. In order to live a life of purity that is completely virtuous, Christians must be motivated by thanksgiving from the inside out. And this thanksgiving flows from knowing two essential things about the character of God. First, that He is just and that He will punish all sin. And secondly, that He is merciful to those who call upon Him for mercy. And that's what Paul turns to now in chapter 5, verses 5 to 8. He begins in verse 5 by saying, For of this you can be sure, in fact, if you are a believer, you already know, that no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a man as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. You know this. If you've attended this church for any time, we read this as part of our forum for the Lord's Supper every time we partake and we will partake tonight, Lord willing. And we will hear this warning again that no immoral, impure, or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of God. As we've seen over and over again in this letter, only the adopted children of God in Christ have any inheritance in the kingdom of God. All others are His creatures to be sure, but they're not part of the family called by His name in heaven and on earth. no immoral, impure, or greedy person has any inheritance in this kingdom. And no matter how successfully they hide their dark words and deeds from the congregation, and especially the elders who would exercise discipline if they were discovered, anyone who practices such things shows himself to already be excluded from the kingdom by living in unrepentant defilement. They covet the temporary and imperishable pleasures of this life instead of the treasures that are eternal and imperishable that are stored up for them in heaven. They want it today, even though it's wrong. And Paul continues his warning in verse 6, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Don't be deceived. Not only are the unrepentant excluded from the kingdom, they stand under the wrath of God. And that's a fearsome thing. We don't contemplate it much in our day. Our view of wrath is very small. For we see it exercised by men who are imperfect, who are not successful in their attempts to bring their wrath upon others, whose wrath is evil and serves no good purpose. But God's wrath is different from the wrath that we experience in this life in degree and in kind. His wrath is unlimited as to the scope in which he can exercise it and the degree to which he can exercise it. It's unlimited. And his wrath inflicts just punishment on the wicked. His wrath is not evil like our wrath. But the wrath of God awaits those who are disobedient. And his wrath is worked out in time. As Paul makes clear in Romans chapter 1, if the unrepentant sinner persists in his sin, God will withdraw His Holy Spirit and give Him up to His reprobate mind. But more than this, His wrath will finally be exercised once and for all on the last day when, according to 2 Thessalonians 1, the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power. Finally. Eternally. Now we have to pause for a moment and ask the question why Paul writes such things to the saints. He writes this to the saints in Ephesus. He writes this to the saints today. Why? There's no suggestion in this letter that there are particularly grievous problems in that church. In fact, Paul prays them in chapter 1, verse 15 for their evident faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints. But we get a tip when he says in the warning in verse 6 that let no one deceive you with empty words. There were deceivers in their midst. Those who would undermine their life of purity. Those who would later come to be called the Gnostics who taught that man was a divided being, body and spirit. His body was evil and his flesh was defiled and it was a prison for the pure spirit that just longed to be with God. And that salvation was somehow getting them apart. And that error bred a lot of other errors in the life of the church, but one in particular, and that is that the body is not and cannot be purified. So why bother? It doesn't matter what one does with your body. It's never going to be in heaven. It's never going to be purified. It's never going to see the Lord. And this leads to what's called licentiousness, a $10 word that means to just cast off all restraint, especially when it comes to sex. Who cares? And this area is still with us today. We don't call it Gnosticism. But there are many in the Christian community who live lives of total disregard for God's law, all the time proclaiming, I am once saved, always saved. Don't be deceived, Paul says. Paul rebukes this error in Romans chapter 6. He says, shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. But Paul's warning has a purpose for the Ephesians and for us. And that is to call saints to repentance for toying with sin that is not fitting for them. For playing with defilement. As a father pleads with his children, Paul continues with a tender reminder to the saints about the mercy of God. He writes in verse 8, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Remember the mystery of the gospel of Christ. You were dead men walking and by nature objects of God's wrath. But now, God in His great love for us, through His rich mercy toward us, He has made us alive with Christ. God showed us mercy by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to live the life of perfect purity in our place. And not only that, but he turned the wrath of God away from us and to himself so that we will not have to face it either now or on the last day. Because of Christ's work for you, Paul says in verse 8, you are light in the Lord. You have no light in yourself, but you've been joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world. In him you are light. Just as the moon is light only insofar as it's in the light of the sun, so only are we light as we are in the light of Christ. But we are light. And indeed, if we know these two things, that God is just and He will punish every sin, and that God is merciful to those who trust in Jesus Christ, who bore the judgment of God for His people, then indeed we will be properly motivated with thanksgiving to live a life of purity. as covetousness gives rise to all manner of impurity and defilement. Thanksgiving gives rise to all goodness, righteousness, and truth, as Paul mentions in passing in verse 9. That's why it's in a parenthesis there. But goodness is a very general term that shows itself in kindness and charity to all. It's not self-serving, it's other-serving, it's goodness. And goodness shows itself righteous by doing what is right in the eyes of God. And it shows itself true as it perseveres in the life of purity to which we're called. Thankfulness expresses itself in goodness, in righteousness, and in truth. True thankfulness to the God who created us will show itself in how we speak about sexual matters. And how we participate in sexual relations. For with body and soul we will speak and participate according to His law and only for His purpose and always to His glory. you see human sexuality was made for one thing and that is for the marriage bed and for that alone and even there it is to be enjoyed rightly as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 since there is so much immorality each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband the husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife and likewise the wife to her husband the wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband and in the same way the husband body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Goodness, righteousness, and truth. Paul closes out this section of our text today by reminding the saints that this life of purity is a life that is to be effectively illuminating. And it effectively illuminates in two ways. First of all, it illuminates our own Christian walk. And secondly, it is used of God to illuminate the darkness in which we live and should the Holy Spirit choose, it is used in the conversion of other sinners. We're to illuminate effectively. Look again at verses 8 through 10 and follow along as I read it and bypass the parenthesis of verse 9 so you get the flow. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light and find out what pleases the Lord. Find out what pleases the Lord. With this, Paul provides the glorious answer to the sometimes nagging question, how can I know whether I am really a child of God, one in whom God is well pleased, someone who is living in a manner that pleases God? How can I know? How can I find out? Well, there's no need to speculate and pry into the hidden will of God for you. We've covered that in Ephesians 1 and 2. You can only know what He's told you. rather you just get on with obeying what He's revealed to you in His Word. Indeed, the Word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And through it, God gives light to His people and it's applied by the Holy Spirit to our lives, but that does not free us from being responsible in thought and in choice to obey. We're called to obey. And by walking in the manner that He reveals to you in His Word, including this call to live a life of purity, you will find a verification in your own attitudes and in your own actions that God is at work in you. It will illumine your life. It will give you and foster assurance. As Solomon put it in chapter 4, verse 18 of Proverbs, he says, The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. The path of the righteous has small beginnings. It begins with obedience. And it learns from obedience. And it verifies what's pleasing to God through obedience. And it grows and it shines and it illumines. But Solomon continues in verse 19 of that same proverb. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. And God, in His sovereign plan, in order to continue to draw out from that darkness those who would make light in Christ, God has seen fit to have the church remain on earth until Christ returns for her. And even though we're no longer of the world, we're in the world. And it's not just to kill time, people. We've been called to do a task. We were commissioned by Christ Himself who said in Matthew 5, You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. And in our text today, Paul continues in verse 11 by saying, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Expose them. For it's shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. Expose them. We should not understand Paul in verse 12 as saying that we shouldn't speak of such things. He can't possibly mean that it's shameful in and of itself to speak of sexual sin. He does it himself. Certainly such things are shameful. But they ought not make us ashamed who do not practice them and who call them by what God has revealed them to be. Fornication, adultery, covetousness, and so on. We are called through our text today to put off these deeds of darkness and to be separate from those who practice such things, but our separateness is not a withdrawal to hide. It is a confrontation. And this confrontation comes both by word and by deed with the focus of this text on how we live a life of purity. And as we do, it serves as a bright light that shines into this dark world and exposes the shamefulness of those who don't know what they're stumbling over. We're to function like a light switched on in the middle of the night that causes the roaches to run for cover. As one commentator rightly notes, men are not ashamed before God who sees in secret. Sadly, that is true. But they are ashamed before men when their deeds are exposed to the sight of men. Especially when it comes to sexual sin. God, understanding the deceitful hearts of men, uses our own fear of men which is greater than our fear of God and uses us to expose the darkness in the lives of men and women around us. He continues in verse 13. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible for it is light that makes everything visible. As we live this life this life that we're called to this life of purity this life as light in the world we must remember that it's not anything in us that illuminates rather it's the light of God's word that we speak and that shines through the life that we live that God uses to expose the darkness we are to obey God's command to live a life of purity in this world that much is certain what saving effect may result through our obedience lies entirely with God we never know whether or not that exposure will be used of the Holy Spirit to bring repentance and conversion in someone who's been lost in darkness. We don't know. But we can know that apart from His work, we can expect only scorn and indignation for living in a way that stands apart from this world. It is the light of the Word that is used of the Holy Spirit to raise the dead to life. This is why it is said, Paul continues in verse 14, Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. And we must not let the poetic language of this short little hymn lead us to conclude that it's up to the sleeper to wake himself up, that it's up for the dead man to rise on his own, in order that Christ might shine on him. That would deny the entire gospel that Paul has laid out so clearly for us in the first half of this book. Rather, we should understand these verses as three parallel pictures, speaking of the saving work that belongs to God alone. For it is He alone who awakens the sleepers. He alone who raises the dead. It's He alone who determines whom Christ will shine upon. And they all speak of the same thing. Salvation granted by God, by grace. But this hymn is grounded on the promise to the Israel of God, found in Isaiah chapter 60, verse 1. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears to you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are the Israel of God. You are the light in the Lord. Light intended to be used of God to draw people to Himself. God will use the purity of your life to expose the deeds of darkness of those with whom you come in contact in your everyday lives. You must not be content to see them exposed and ashamed. You must point them to Jesus Christ and His work. You must point them to Him to whom they must cling after to escape the judgment and to know mercy. Let them know how you yourself were set free from all your sins and misery through faith in Jesus Christ. Bring them to hear the preaching of God's Word through which the Holy Spirit promises to work faith in His people. And through the light of the Gospel, God may be pleased to wake them from out of their sleep, to raise them from death, to shine upon them with the light of Christ. And the strength of the Holy Spirit leave here this day recommitted to living a life of purity. A life that's completely virtuous in body and in spirit. A life that's properly motivated because you're grateful that God has saved you from His wrath and shown you His mercy and is effectively illuminating in your own walk and in the sinful world, all to the glory of God. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful today for Your Word. We are humbled that You would call creatures such as us fallen and sinful and bent in so many ways, Lord, as you would call us to a life of purity. And we thank you, Father, that in calling us to do so, you have granted us the grace through your Holy Spirit to be willing and to be able to pursue that walk. That we would start down the path of the righteous, Lord, that it begins as a dawn that the return of Christ will be shown to be the full light of the day. We thank you, Father, for the warning to us as saints to be careful not to be deceived about how we can defile ourselves as your people how we can defile the name of Christ as your people keep us Lord pure keep us mindful of our duty keep us thankful for the work you have done and do do through us help us Lord to know that we are instruments in the plan of redemption that we're not here on earth just for ourselves that we are to grow in grace to be sure as we walk in obedience to you but Lord we are to be used to shed the light of the gospel in this dark place in this dark world we are to show people through our own lives that which they are stumbling over and offer them Christ in the world we trust that you will accomplish your will your perfect will for each and every one those whom you've called and those whom you've passed over we praise you for your wisdom and your purposes that are accomplished in Christ our Lord in whose name we pray. Amen.