The following is a computer-generated transcript with only light editing.

Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 to 7:

Follow God’s example, 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, food,oolish 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 person is an idol, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such a things, God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partakers with them.

At first, when you read these verses, you might think that God is against everything that is sexual. Is the ideal life that God wants of us, one that is free of sex and any thought of it? After all, in heaven, we’re told there will be no marriage. Well, no, that is not what the Bible teaches. There are strong warnings in these verses, but it’s not against everything that is sexual. The warnings are against sexual, immorality, and sexual impurity as well as greed.

After all, God created us as sexual beings. He made us male and female, and everything that God made was very good. God also gave the right place for sex, that is, marriage. Genesis 2 and verse 24, God says, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joyed to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. They’re united in body, in heart, they’re united as close as two people ever can be. And it’s in the context of marriage and marriage alone that God has created sex to be enjoyed. Within marriage, which is between one man and one woman, sex is a beautiful gift. It’s for having children, it also helps to unite a husband and wife. But outside of man, marriage, sex is immoral, impure, and that is when it brings God wrath. So let’s be very clear. These verses are not against sex, but they’re against sexual immorality. And the Bible gives us the right balance for how we’re to understand our bodies and how we should behave.

Some, like in the Roman Catholic Church, give celibacy, that is, where you never marry, you never have sex. They give celibacy a place that the Bible never gives. So, priests in the Roman Catholic Church have to be unmarried. Now, singleness is good. The Bible tells us that very clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, but it’s never commanded by God. The Roman Catholic Church also goes wrong when it says that within marriage, sex is only for having children. And so they don’t allow contraception. But no, it’s also for husband and wife to be drawn closer together.

That’s at one extreme. On the other extreme, our culture goes the other way. It allows all kinds of sexual behaviour. As long as there are consenting adults, we’re told everything is okay.. While neither of these extremes works, because both of them depart from the pattern that God has given. So in the Roman Catholic Church, there’s a man who used to be a priest. He’s passed away now called Richard Sipe. He did a lot of research on this. He estimated that about 50% of priests at any one time, 50% of priests, monks, and bishops were no longer celibate. They’d have their secret families somewhere. And he said this bred a culture of deception that would hide all kinds of sexual immorality and led to the cover up of so much of the child abuse. It doesn’t work. But nor does a permissive society that we’re so familiar with in the West, nor does that work, it leads to broken families. It actually leads to sexual exploitation. It leads to so much hurt and damage in the lives of so many people. There is no way of life that is better than God’s way. His law alone gives the right balance the right way to live. Sexual immorality both damages people today, and puts people in danger for eternity. So let’s look at these words. Let’s take them seriously. They will start stand in stark contrast to our culture, but we do well to listen to what God has to say in his love and in his wisdom.

God’s standard for sexual behaviour

So firstly, let’s consider God standard for sexual behaviour. That’s our first heading, God’s standard for sexual behaviour. The word used in verse 3 for sexual immorality covers a range of wrong sexual behaviour, verse 3, but among you, there must not be even named a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or of greed. Sexual immorality includes sex before marriage, as well as adultery, homosexual practice, prostitution, whole range of sexual immorality. Do not be deceived, we’re told. Sexual immorality is never loving. It is self gratification. The sexually immoral person is not prepared to wait for marriage. and very often isn’t even prepared to make that commitment at any stage. They do not respect the covenant of marriage that God has given for our good, the good of society, and the glory of God.

Then there’s the word impurity. But among you there must not be even the hint of sexual immorality, of any kind of impurity. This also is a wide ranging word. It can involve thoughts as well as actions. It includes sexualual impurity, such as sinful sexual desires, lust, use of pornography, but it includes other forms of impurity, such as impure motives or corrupt dealings between people. It may be hidden for a time. Impurity is something of the heart, but like an apple that is rotting from inside, eventually that impure will show. You can’t hide a rotting apple. You know what it’s like? You pick an apple, you think that looks like a lovely apple, you look at a person, think they’re a fine person, but the rot inside eventually will show. That is what impurity does.

And then there is greed, or sometimes translated, covetousness in verse 3. All Always wanting war, never content with what you have. It might be money, possessions, power, pleasure. The greedy person takes whatever they can. They lack restraint. They don’t care how their selfishness affects other people. They’re always grabbing. And what links these three vices, sexual immorality, impurity, and greed or covetousness? What links them all is self indulgence. It’s gratifying the sinful nature. I want what makes me feel good, and I’m gonna have it. I’m gonna get it. It’s all about me. And we’re told in verse five that the greedy person is an idolater. They’ve put something else above God. Instead of trusting in God to keep them, and to give them joy, to give them security and meaning, they look elsewhere. They look to possessions, they look to pleasures, they look to sex, they look to food. And they lack that restraint that God wants of us.

Now, says verse 3, “There must not be even a hint of these things. Don’t even name them. Literally, it’s, do not name these things. Now, obviously, Paul names them here, so he’s not saying we can have a talk about it in the sense of trying to avoid it, but we have to be careful how we talk about it. We’re not to talk about these sins as if they are normal, because that so easily leads to them becoming acceptable. You see, sexual immorality in our culture has been normalised, and it’s been normalised by the way people talk. When I was a boy, it was still somewhat shameful to be sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend. That’s not the case anymore in our culture. And it’s because of how people talk. Often, the shift in how those attitudes and that talking happens, often that shift starts in the media, television, radio, in universities. All sense of shame or wrongness is removed from the way it’s spoken of. And so people start to do it. They start to behave in those wrong ways, and it becomes the norm.

Nor are we to joke about sex or sexual immorality, verse 4. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Again, this is what the world does. From comedians and comedy shows to coffee time banter, so much of it is crude and full of sexual innuendo. That is not how we’re to talk. We’re not to join in with that sort of talking. Don’t laugh at the dirty joke. Switch off that programme. And when you can, walk away from that sort of talking, be it at school or in the workplace, or your college.

The sexual immorality of our age is perhaps no different to what it was in Paul’s day. He’s writing to a Gentile city, Christians living in Ephesus. Prostitution was common, and the Christians were to be different. They’re to see and live a different way. God has a better standard. God has a much better way of living.

God’s warning against sexual immorality

Secondly, God’s warning against sexual immorality. Sexual immorality and obscene talk are out of place and not proper, we are told, in verse 3, for God’s holy people.

Sexual temptations are strong. Let’s not pretend anything otherwise. And so often, they have been the way that Satan has got Christians. Maybe you know a Christian who has fallen in this way. There are pastors who have fallen in this way. So often, Satan has disrupted the work of God because of sexual immorality. Under pressure of work or just the boredom of life, the enticement of comfort and intimacy has been too great for far too many Christians. As they’ve left, their marriages, or before they’re married, have gone down that route. God has some severe warnings. We are vulnerable to deception here. We’re vulnerable to being deceived and ignoring the warnings, the consequences. We’re tempted to lower Gods standards. Look at verse 6: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. And false teachers are particularly successful when it comes to this sort of sin.

In the early church, there was a Gnostic teaching that allowed sexual immorality. If you want, you can change to, I’ll just read, from Revelation chapter 2. Two of the churches are particularly singled out for how they had tolerated this wrong teaching. They’d been deceived, Revelation 2, verse 14: “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you.” This is the church in Pergamum that the Lord is writing to. “There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balam, who taught Balak, to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrifice to idols and committed sexual immorality.” And then the church in Thiatara, chapter 2, verse 20 of Revelation: “Nevertheless, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching, she misleads my servants into immorality and eating of food sacrificed to idols.” It’s possible it was Gnostic teaching that said, the body didn’t really matter, said that the body was somehow evil, and what you did in the body didn’t all that mattered was what happened in your spirit, what you did spiritually. That is not a biblical teaching. It matters how you behave in the body.

I often mention the prosperity gospel. where false teachers say that God wants you to be rich. But, you know, churches that accept gay marriage, are teaching something that is just as false. So many people have been deceived into that. And so we need to take seriously God’s warnings. Let me read verse 5. For this, you can be sure, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a person is 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 wrath comes on those who are disobedient. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love. not lust. God’s character is one of faithfulness, not cheating. God is full of purity, not indulgence. And no one can be part of God’s kingdom who gives themselves over to self gratification, be it in greed or sexual sin. God’s wrath will come on those who are disobedient. Heaven is for God’s holy people. Those who have been washed clean by Christ, whose lives have been changed. Hell is for those who hold on to their filth and refuse to obey. This is taught so clearly. And so we’re told, let there not be even a hint of sexual immorality.

Four or five years ago, there was a boy, 16 years old, on a scout trip in North Wales, and he and the other scouts had to take a different way for some reason, and this boy, wanted to take a shortcut. His friend said, no, that’s too close to the cliff edge. and they wouldn’t go with him, but he insisted, and he walked along this cliff edge and it was slippery. And he slipped, and he fell to his death. And what this passage is saying is, don’t walk. along that cliff edge. Don’t think that somehow you are going to be okay. Let there not be a hint, not even ahead hint of sexual immorality. Don’t flirt with that colleague at work or that student. Be careful what you think. Don’t imagine things that are sexually impure. Be careful what you are watch. The screen is a huge source of sexual impurity in our culture. Be careful. Don’t walk along the edge of the cliff. Such behaviour is wrong and it will drag you into its addictive clutches. If your boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t respect the boundaries that you agree on, then frankly, he or she is not for you. If you have friends who are pulling you in the wrong direction, look at what verse 7 says. Do not be partners with them. Far better for you to leave that group of friends than to keep walking along the cliff edge. We have to take these these things seriously, because God’s word warns against sexual immorality.

God’s grace to repentant sinners

I’m not going to stop there. It’s very heavy. It’s not easy. It’s a big burden for us in our culture. But thankfully, there is something more in these verses. My third heading, “God’s grace to repentant sinners. Because you may be sitting there thinking, well, well, can I actually live a life of sexual purity, not just indeed, but also in thought? Can I live a life of love rather than lust? Can I live a life of obedience to God rather than giving in to my desires? Can I live a life of contentment rather than one of greed? Thank God, you can. You can. Look at verses one and two. Follow God’s example, 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.

Have you noticed, as Paul gives instructions for us in how we should live as Christians, that he is never far away from the cross? It’s not that he stops talking about theology and what Christ has done and what the church is. He doesn’t stop that entirely at the end of chapter 3, and then from chapter 4 to 6, just tell us how to live live. Throughout these last three chapters, he’s constantly bringing us back to the gospel, to Jesus Christ, to his love for us, to his death for us. And that is how we are to live. That’s the only way that we can live as God’s people. Christ loved us. He He gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering, verse 2, and sacrifice to God. Let’s contemplate that. Let’s think about it. that. He offered himself up. That’s why we’ve been thinking for the first part of the service, about the death of Jesus and what he did. All we like sheep have gone as astray, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. As he offered himself up as a sacrifice to God, a fragrant offering, he was doing it to pay for our sins. He has paid that penalty, He has offered his perfect life on our behalf. And the first thing that means is we can be forgiven. Where we have failed, and which of us hasn’t. Or maybe not indeed. But which of us hasn’t failed in thought. We can be forgiven. We do not need to come here this morning as those weighed down by guilt, because we have a Saviour who has paid for our sin. Whatever that sin might be. Chris in his prayer mentioned the thief from the cross. He had been a murderer. And yet Jesus said, “Today you’ll be with me in paradise. There is forgiveness, full forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

There is no sin that you could do that is too great for the love and the majesty of Christ. He offered himself as a fragrant offering. It was pleasing to God. It was more pleasing to God than your sin was unpleasing, if I can put it like that. His sacrifice was greater than your sin and my sin. He has paid the penalty. If you put your faith in him, there is complete forgiveness. And not just that, Look at what it tells us. It tells us to follow God’s example. It tells us to live a life of love. That doesn’t tell us to do that if it’s impossible. But because of Christ, it is possible. That addiction to pornography, that living in immorality, whatever it might be, can stop. God’s word is powerful. He tells us us to follow God’s example. He tells us to live a life of love, just as Christ loved us, and Christ’s love for us will empower us to live for him, to follow his example. We can change, but it is not simply through our dogged determination. That’s what the religions of the world will tell you to do. Just try harder. And they will beat you around, try harder, try this, try that. No, no, no, no. How do we benefit from Christ’s death for us? It’s through repentance and faith.

What is repentance? Repentance is that heartfelt grief for our sin. in the light of God’s purity. It is turning away from that to God. Have you noticed that it’s not just those outward sexual sins that are talked about here, but sins of the heart, the impurity, the self indulgence. And that’s where it starts. Out of the heart, said Jesus, comes sexual immorality. Repentance is not about our outward behaviour so much as our inward heart. Tear those sins from your heart. The impure desires, the longing for what is forbidden. To want to sin is sin. And when we recognise that, we see that that the problem really is here. Why do I want to be self indulgent? It’s because I’m a sinner. It’s not someone else’s fault. It’s because of who I am. I am a sinner. And those sins, we need to tear from our hearts. But we cannot do that. Only Christ can rescue us. In faith, we look to Him. We cry to Him. We say, Lord, I can’t change myself. You can. Lord, take away these sins of my heart. I reject them, I hate them. And we look at God, follow God’s example. And that means, look at him. How can you follow someone’s example if you never think about them, if you never look to them? When it says, followollow God’s example, it means, look at him. Look at what Jesus has done. Look at what God is like. Look at his purity, look at his faithfulness. Look at Jesus willing to suffer, look at that. and you see how wonderful it is. And as you look at him, how filthy your lusts will seem, how wrong your behaviour will seem. and by his grace, you turn away from the sins of your heart to the purity and the love love of God. Hate those sins. Do not be partners with those who sin in this way. And really, unless this hard work is done, the self indulgence will just continue. You may patch it over for a while, but it’ll be back. The psychological techniques of the world may do a little good for a time, but it’s it’s the heart. and only the gospel will change our hearts. Only the power of Christ, only His love can set us free. Turn to God. That is what repentance is. I sometimes say, ” repentance is one of my favourite words. It’s not easy, but it’s wonderful. It’s the turning of the heart to hate my sin and to want God’s way. And then in faith, you start to walk His way. You do trust Him for forgiveness. You trust Him for strength. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly love 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. Have you repented? There’s probably very few people who don’t experience sexual temptation of one kind or another. Where is your heart? In your heart, do you repent? Do you go on repenting? Do you go on hating those sins? Do you go on looking to the Saviour, seeing the beauty of his life, crying to him for strength to live that way? But there’s a bit more. I’ve missed out one word, and I want to finish with this one. I’ll finishing just yet, because it’s a great word. So, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Thanksgiving

You see, remember we’ve seen so often, the instruction of God’s word is, stop doing this, instead do that. Last week, I said, “Stop, start, and there’s lots of help. Something to stop., something to start, something to help. We have it here as well. We’re to stop the sexual immorality and that sexual impurity and that greed. And we’re to start something. Anyone said see what it is? Thanksgiving. You got it? It’s the thing we’re to start. Thanksgiving. We’re to overcome evil with good. We’re to be filled with Thanksgiving. Now, let’s just let’s just pause and expand a little bit on this. You see, if you have a thankful heart, you will not have a grabbing heart, a thankful heart that that truly recognises that it’s been blessed, does not want to grab more. The greedy person is not thankful. They still want more.. And they go out and buy more. They go out and take more. They go out and look more. They’re not thankful. They want to indulge their every lust. Imagine two Christians. Think of two examples. Christian young man. He’s single. He feels hard done by that God has not given him a wife yet. And every weekend, he turns to pornography. Or think of a married person. They want comfort and intimacy, and for whatever reason, their husband or wife doesn’t really provide that.. And someone else starts to show them care, and they’re drawn into an affair. Their temptations is to blame someone else. That married person blaming their husband or wife. for not giving them comfort and inimacy. That young man blaming God for not giving him a wife. And they feel justified in their sexual immorality. The real problem is in their heart. They’re blaming others. They feel they deserve more. You see, they’re not thankful. They’re not grateful. They don’t have a heart that bursts with thankfulness to God. They have forgotten verses one and two, that Christ offered him himself as a fragrant sacrifice for them. They’ve lost sight of all that God has done for them. Sure, they should be thankful for the things that they have, the material blessings, the social blessings, the many blessings that they have in this life, but most of all, it’s thankfulness for Jesus Christ. That is the problem. We come to worship God. We come to thank Him and praise Him. Someday by Sunday, I hope each day our hearts come with thankfulness to God, but that is so key, because I a thankful heart is not a grabbing heart. A thankful heart does not blame other people, doesn’t expect others to give so much, no more than they can give so much to others. A thankful heart acknowledges God and sees the blessings that God has given. Speak thankful words. Thank God for His grace. Spend time contemplating, looking to God. Follow God’s example. Think of Christ as he offered that fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. There’ll be a grumbling, Christian, because a grumbling Christian. becomes a sinful Christian. Well, the grumbling is sinful. Isn’t this what happened to the children of Israel? They kept grumbling at what God gave them. They wanted meat, not just manner. They wanted this, not just that. And instead of focussing with gratitude on the blessings God had given, they were grumbling. And so when they were enticed by Balaam, by the Moabites, they quickly run after the sexual immorality that was on offer.