Dr. Drew Sparks

I've been preaching through the book of Ephesians at my church for probably over two years now. We're at verse 21 of chapter 5, but I remember going through the first verse of Ephesians chapter 4 and thought it was an extremely helpful text, and thinking about how we are to live as Christians.

And so I hope it's helpful for you as well, and I'm sure it will be, for it is the Word of God. But Ephesians chapter 4 comes obviously after Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3. We should know that. It's something that's very simple, but easy to forget. And the reason it's easy to forget is because we're so tempted to just try to figure out what is it I need to do right now, how is it I need to act. Instead, we have to remember, Paul starts telling us how to live as Christians after he's described a lot about the Christian faith.

Christian faith is not just about doing, it's about believing, receiving, and trusting the truths that have been handed down. And in Ephesians chapters 1 through 3, Paul is putting forth these doctrines. He's talking about what happened from eternity, when God chose people from before the foundation of the world to be in Christ Jesus, that they would be able to be presented at the end of the world, blameless before God. And then he explains how all of that unfolds throughout redemptive history, and how Christ is going to come, and He's going to die, and redeem people with His blood.

And then the gospel about the Christ is going to be preached throughout the world. And as it's preached throughout the world, people believe. And when they believe, they're sealed by the Spirit of God. And then Paul begins to expand on this and talk about how the Christ that saves us is the Christ who has a name that is above every name that ever has been named in this age or in the age to come. And the power that we have in us as believers is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

Then he goes on in Ephesians chapter 2 to talk about how we were dead in our sin. And again, in all these chapters, there's not a whole lot of action that you're supposed to be partaking in at these points. You were dead. There's not a whole lot you do with that right now, but he's telling you about who you were. You were dead, but God saved you. God saved you, not because of what you had done, not on the basis of any of your works, but by grace through faith. And God is doing this marvelous work where He's building one new man in Christ, Jesus.

And then Paul goes on to talk about how this gospel has been spread, and he is preaching it to the Gentiles. And this is the reason why he has been imprisoned. And then he concludes, Ephesians chapter 3, with this glorious prayer where he writes these words. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, just meditate on that for a moment. Look at that verse.

To Him who is able, He's not just able to do a lot. He's not just able to do some things. He's able to do far more abundantly. Far more abundantly beyond, not just anything that you could possibly ask, but anything that you could ever possibly think, because sometimes we think things and don't ask things. Far beyond anything that you could ever ask or think, to Him be the glory and the church and Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever. And then Christian living starts in chapter 4. Sometimes we want to move too quickly to Christian living without realizing that doctrine precedes practice, shapes and informs practice.

So when you get to that therefore in verse 1 of chapter 4, the therefore, everything that comes before it, is all doctrine. Then Paul can't really help himself. He goes on to speak right again about doctrine in chapter 4, verse 4. There's one body, one spirit, just as you are also called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Look, Paul has this doctrinal sandwich, and right in the middle of this doctrinal sandwich, he's teaching us how to live as Christians.

So I want to look at this particular text this morning, verse 1 of chapter 4. And what we're going to do is we're going to divide the text into two different parts. Then we're going to draw a doctrine or a teaching from this text, and then we'll discern how we can use it in our lives. So dividing the text into two parts, the Apostle Paul gives us the exhortation to walk and the manner of walking. So the exhortation to walk is part 1, the manner of walking is part 2. Paul is the one doing the exhortation.

He's the one giving us an imperative. He's the one calling us to action. It's therefore I. And who's the I? The I is the Apostle. This one who was persecuting Christ's church, and in doing so, he was persecuting Christ himself. Think about Jesus' words to Paul on the road to Damascus. Why are you persecuting me? How is Paul persecuting Jesus? Where was Jesus? Jesus was in heaven. But to persecute Christ's body is to persecute Christ himself. To persecute Christ's bride, the one with whom he is one flesh, is just to persecute Christ himself.

Christ saves Paul, calls Paul into ministry, and makes him an instrument of his to preach the gospel throughout the whole world. And we don't have any access to Christ apart from his apostles. How are you going to get to Christ without Matthew? How are you going to get to Christ without John? How are you going to get to Christ without 1 and 2 Peter? How are you going to get to Christ without Paul? There's Romans and everything up to Hebrews. You're probably going to lose Luke and Acts along with that as well.

You lose Peter. You lose Mark, too. You have no access to Christ apart from his chosen instruments who are the apostles. And here is one of them. And so we ought to listen to him. But he's not merely an apostle. He's a prisoner. I don't know about you. I don't often take advice from prisoners. In Terre Haute, Indiana, we're known for three things. And not really. Most people don't even know us for one of these things. But I'll tell you the things that we're known for. One of the things that we're known for is the original Coke bottle.

Not the original Coke recipe or the original Coke. But the bottle that they put that in was designed and manufactured in Terre Haute, Indiana. Another thing that we're known for is Larry Bird who played basketball at Indiana State University. That's usually what people know us for. And then the thing that is maybe at the top of the list is the maximum security federal prison that we have in Terre Haute. Where Timothy McVeigh was executed and where the Boston Bomber was held for a time. And there's some other high-profile individuals in there.

You can imagine that at that maximum security prison, not only would they not allow a line, but there is not a line of people waiting to get in so they can seek wisdom from these people who are trapped within this maximum security prison. You don't go down to the local prisons and sit down and say, Mighty Sage, teach me your wisdom. Why? Well, because if you had it, you probably wouldn't be here. Right? If they do give us advice, we would be likely to take it and say, I'm going to do the exact opposite of what you said.

Because that's what got you in here. But that's not the kind of situation that we're coming to here, is it? In Ephesians chapter 4, when we talk about the Apostle Paul. The Apostle is not in prison because he's choosing to live an immoral and heinous lifestyle. The Apostle is not in prison because he's teaching abhorrent practices. He's in prison because he's a righteous sufferer proclaiming a holy gospel. So, no, we don't normally take advice from prisoners, but this one we should, because the reason he's in prison, and the fact that he's in prison, is the reason we're all here today.

It's the reason why, earlier this morning, in Terre Haute, Indiana, there was a group of saints that gathered to worship God. It's the reason why, in 2024, here in West Covina, California, there's a group of saints gathered to worship God. Why? Because the Apostle Paul preached the gospel and went to prison for doing so. And so we should listen to what he has to say, as he's appealing to us as a sufferer, and not merely a sufferer, because there are a lot of people who suffer, and maybe deservedly so.

There are people who suffer in jail, and deservedly so. But he's appealing to us as one who suffered reproach for the gospel. And he's telling us how to live. He's giving us an exhortation. He's giving us an imperative. I implore you to walk, telling you what you should do. God has commands. God tells us how we should live. Think of the command, you shall not murder. We ought to obey God's command, and not murder. That command has several uses. One of them is to restrain evil. Here's this clear command, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal.

These laws are put there to help restrain evil. Allegedly, that's supposed to happen on the California highways as well, where they post speed limits, and allegedly, that's supposed to restrain people. You know what it's like if it says 65, I'm going to drive just a little bit over that, right? If it's 75, I'm going to drive just a little bit over that, right? But the fact that that sign is there posted means it's going to kind of just pull me back, and keep me back a little bit. That's one of the ways that God's law functions, to pull us back and restrain us from evil.

Another thing it does is it reveals God's holy character. When God says, thou shalt not murder, it's not just because he made something up about not murdering, and that would just maybe not be the best of ideas.

It's because God is life itself, and God is love, which means God is a lover of life, because he loves himself, whose perfect fullness of life. So you can't murder, because God is life, and God loves life. But it's more than just that, because I highly doubt that anybody in here this morning murdered someone on their way in today. Sometimes we can look at the negative commands of Scripture, and we end up reading them just like the Pharisees do.

But there's more to it than that. And we know this because of what Jesus Christ said. What's the first and greatest commandment?

And he didn't say, all right guys, I have a whole new commandment for you here that's completely different than any other commandment that you've ever heard before. It has nothing to do with any of the commandments that ever come, and it has nothing to do with the Old Testament whatsoever. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. No, those are directly connected to the Old Testament. Jesus is just quoting what the Old Testament is. So when God gives the command, don't murder, it also means love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commands hang what? All the law and the prophets. So it's not just don't murder, it's actually love life, and it's love life perfectly. And so while we may not have murdered someone on our way in today, if we ask ourselves, have you loved life perfectly? The answer would be no. Which leads us to what we sang earlier this morning. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me Savior, or I die. God's law shows us you haven't obeyed God's law perfectly. And the solution is not trying harder. The solution is Jesus Christ who obeyed it perfectly, and you fly to him to be washed from your sins.

But another way that the law is used, or the commands of God are used, is to guide us in righteous living. To show us the way that we ought to live. There is a certain way that we ought to walk as Christians. And that's what the Apostle Paul is showing us here. He's not saying, hey, walk to restrain evil. He's not saying, hey, walk because you need to see your sin and fly to Christ. He's already explained all that earlier in Ephesians chapter 1. He's saying for those who have received Christ by faith, for those who do believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, this now is how you live.

Not to become a Christian, but because you are a Christian. Can you imagine if you got those confused? We'd lose the gospel. Let's look at a few other places where the Apostle Paul talks about walking.

And maybe this will become more explicit for us. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2. This is the way we used to walk. And by the way, this is just something that's characteristic of all of humanity. No one except our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is exempt from this. Adam was for a bit, but didn't last very long. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly, what? Walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

We used to walk in sin, and because we walked in sin, we deserved nothing but God's wrath. We were sons of wrath. We were children of wrath. We were sons of disobedience. But the very familiar verse that most of you maybe know is Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not out of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works. In other words, not as a result of your walking. Not because of how you walked were you given grace and faith. Rather, God graced you and gave you faith, not as a result of your works.

Why? So that you can't boast. You can't say, look how I was walking, and God saved me. For we are His workmanship created. That word for created is the idea that as God created everything from nothing, and then it started to bear fruit. That's what He's done in the lives of believers. Their spiritual death, and He creates life. And what happens when He creates life? Created in Christ Jesus for what? Good works. Which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them. God gives us grace, and in giving us grace, He grants us faith.

We believe in Jesus Christ, and as those who believe in Jesus Christ, they're created in Christ Jesus for good works that they then walk in. So they're saved for good works, they're not saved on account of their good works. It's the same thing that the Apostle Paul is saying in verse 1 of chapter 4. Walk in a manner worthy of your calling. You've already been called, now walk worthy of it. Look at verse 17 of the same chapter that we're in, chapter 4.

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord Jesus, or with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind. You used to walk in futility of your mind. You used to aim at vanity. But don't walk that way anymore. Instead, Ephesians 5, 2, you ought to walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. How is it we're acceptable to God? There's a fragrant aroma that ascended to heaven.

And it wasn't because of what you had done, and it wasn't because of your walking. The fragrant aroma is the sacrifice of Christ Himself. God smells that fragrant aroma and receives you. But that fragrant aroma is not from you, it's from Christ. We're received on account of what He has done. And this is why Paul, in the whole context of what he's doing in Ephesians 5, he's saying, forgive each other. Why? Because God loved you and forgave you. How did He forgive you? Through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

So, Ephesians 5, 8, For you were formerly in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Paul doesn't say, hey, find a way to get in the light, and once you're in the light, stay in the light. No, you've been made children of light. That's who you are. And because your children now live like them, and we're pregnant with our sixth child, it would be foolish for me to yell into my wife's womb, Live! There's nothing there! There is now, but a few months ago there wasn't.

I should probably make that a little more clear. There wasn't anything there to do anything. But now it's there. So now it needs to live like a human baby does. Why? Because that's what it is. Same thing here. You weren't in the light. Well, how did we get in the light? Not by walking in the light. We were walking in darkness. We were walking in death. We were walking according to the power of the world. God saved us, brings us into the light. Now, therefore, what? Walk in the light. Christian walk should be marked by carefulness.

Ephesians 5, 15, Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. You've been saved. Now live as a wise person who has been saved. So that's the exhortation to walk. I want to move now to the manner of walking. So Paul says, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk. How are we to walk, Paul? In a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. The idea of walking worthily means that there's a certain kind of fittingness and dignity and honor that matches your calling.

You can imagine maybe talking to someone who is in a marriage and they're not acting like it. They're not respecting their marriage vows that they made before God and man and others who were at their wedding. You may grab them and say something like, You're married. Live like it. You have a wife. Or you have a husband. Act accordingly. You're calling them to walk in a manner fitting of the vows that they made. That's like what Paul is saying here. You've been called. Walk in a manner that's dignified and fitting and honorable in accordance with your calling.

What does Paul mean by calling here? There's several different callings in Scripture so it's helpful to distinguish what he's talking about. There's the calling to the ministry which is for those that the Spirit of God has graced and called to serve as either as Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 4 prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. There's that calling in the ministry. But that's not what Paul is talking about here. This is the walk that every Christian has. They used to all walk in death and sin and now they're all walking in life.

So it's not just for those who are entering into an official ministry capacity. Then there's the way that Scripture talks about calling in terms of salvation. And Scripture will talk about an external call. So we can think of the words of Jesus Christ where He says, Many are called, but few are chosen. So the calling is broader than the choosing. There are many who are called, but there are few who are chosen. What's that calling? That calling is when someone is preaching the gospel and they're using the Scriptures and they're using their words and they're speaking words and they're making sounds with their mouth and that's falling in the ear of the person who's hearing, but it just stays in the ear and it doesn't go any deeper.

They've heard the gospel, but they have not believed it. We would call that the external calling. But then there is the internal calling. It's very similar to the external where there's someone preaching the gospel, there's words that are being said, there's sounds that's coming from someone's mouth and it lands in the ear of someone, but it's accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit blesses that work, takes out a heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh and grants faith so that person believes.

We call that the internal calling. You can see this in texts like 1 Corinthians 1, verses 22-24 where Paul writes, For indeed the Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness. So note there, there's the preaching and the audience that hears it, whether they be Greeks or Jews, responds accordingly. For the Jews it's a stumbling block, for the Gentiles it's foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

And then Paul goes on to say, For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And so there is a way in which the scripture speaks about calling that is the work of the Holy Spirit whereby He gives new birth and He gives life and He gives faith. We know this to be true from passages like 1 Corinthians but also the book of Romans.

In Romans chapter 8, again another verse that is familiar to many believers, verse 29, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. So there is a certain kind of calling that is the work of the Spirit that when that person is called, they are justified. Justification is a one-time act.

Justification is an act of God's free grace where He pardons, that is He forgives, all of your sins and accepts you as righteous, perfectly, wholly righteous. Accepts you as righteous in His sight not for any righteousness that's in you but on account of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus' perfect holiness is given to you and is received by faith such that it's not even our faith that is that which is valuable. It's the object of our faith that is valuable. God sees us in Christ and receives us because of His perfect righteousness.

And you know that to be true that it's not the object of faith that's valuable but the thing that we place our faith in because if you were to jump out of a plane with a backpack and have great faith in it and I were to jump out of a plane with a parachute and have a lot less faith than you have only one of us is going to make it. And it's not because of your great faith it's because I got the parachute and you used your backpack. It's not about just faith and trust it's about what you have your faith in and what you are trusting in.

When you trust in Jesus Christ all that is His becomes yours. So Paul says, walk in a manner worthy of this calling. In Ephesians chapter 1 the Apostle Paul talks about predestination, election. We read about those words in Romans chapter 8 and sometimes those can scare believers. Am I elect? Am I chosen? Is my name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life? None of that is for you. God has never given you access to the Lamb's Book of Life. None of you have seen it. None of you know the names that are on it.

How do I know that my name is in there? How do I know that I was chosen? Do you believe? Yeah. Then you know. All that God has chosen from eternity He will call in time and when He calls them in time they will believe. So do you have faith in Jesus Christ? Yes. And that's because you were called by God. And if I'm called by God in time it's because I was chosen by God from eternity. And so I don't have to worry about what God's eternal plan was. All I need to know is I believe. And I believe because He called me.

And He called me because He chose me. So Paul is saying here you've been called by God unto salvation. Live as one who has been called unto salvation. I want to pull a doctrine from this text and that is this. Christian conduct conforms to Christian calling. Christian conduct conforms to Christian calling. Here we're trying to make sure we clearly distinguish the relationship between justification which I just described a moment ago and sanctification where God makes believers holy. We do not walk a certain way and act a certain way in order to be justified and declared righteous before God.

We couldn't. So what we want to affirm is that Christian conduct conforms to Christian calling. We don't want to say that Christian conduct confers or grants Christian calling. In other words live a certain way and God will call you. Live a certain way and God will justify you. Live a certain way and God will accept you as righteous in His sight. No. That's not what Paul is saying. He's not saying that act like a Christian and God will then make you one. Rather he's saying you've been made a Christian so now live like one.

And we know this to be true because of the verses that we've already read. If our salvation was contingent upon how we walked we would never be saved. I mean do you really think you were going to get out from the Prince of the Power of the Air? Do you really think you had the strength to not walk according to the course of the world? Do you really think that you'd be able to live holy and righteous in God's sight? You couldn't walk aright. If we presented our walking to God it would be nothing but reasons for which God would bring punishment and wrath upon our souls.

We couldn't walk aright. And as Paul has already said salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. It's not by grace alone or grace plus your walking. It's by grace alone through faith alone. And that faith is in Christ's walking. How Christ lived. Believing in Him. All that He lived and all that He died. And the whole order of what Paul's doing here in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 is that calling precedes conduct. You have been called so now walk. Not act in a certain way and then you'll get called upon.

No. Because you've been called now walk. And this is because good works flow from salvation. Good works flow from the new creative act of God. God saved us not on account of our good works. God saves us and then makes us enables us to do good works. And this is the whole order of the book of Ephesians. Which is why I said it's very important to see how Ephesians 4 verse 1 is like a hinge. All this Christian doctrine with the gospel. We believe in that and then from that Christian living follows. So we don't want to say that Christian conduct confers Christian calling.

We also don't want to say that Christian calling cancels Christian conduct. I've been called. So now I can live however I want. I can walk whichever way I want to walk. I can go back and walk according to the course of the world and the prince of the power of the air. And I can walk in my trespasses and sin. And I can walk like I used to walk as a Gentile in futility of mind. Just because one has been called doesn't mean that their conduct has been cancelled. Listen to the words of Peter in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 15.

It uses similar language to what Paul says here. He writes, But like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. The one who called you is the holy God. And because he called you, be holy. Just because the holy God called you does not mean that you now can live in unholiness. Rather, because the holy God called us, we ought to pursue holiness. A helpful analogy to think of here is we want to make sure we walk a fine line and say Christian conduct conforms to Christian calling.

It doesn't confer Christian calling. Nor does Christian calling cancel Christian conduct and we can live however we want. A helpful analogy to explain this is like the relationship between the root of something and its fruit. An apple tree doesn't become an apple tree because it has apple fruit. It is an apple tree. That's why it has apple fruit. The fruit doesn't make it what it is. The fruit manifests what it is. The fruit reveals what it is. Christian conduct is a manifestation. It's a reflection of the fact that we have been called by God and we have been saved.

We see this in many beautiful illustrations for us in Scripture. Remember the man that comes in. His friends bring him to Jesus. He's paralyzed. Because he's paralyzed he can't what? Walk. He comes to Christ and what does Christ say? Son, your sins are forgiven. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And what does Christ say? So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. I say to you, take up your pallet and walk. The forgiveness of sins precedes the walking. As we walk in the Christian life it's not to gain forgiveness of sins.

It's to show that we have been forgiven. So walking in Scripture is a sign of forgiveness. Walking in Scripture is a sign of vitality. When you see people walking you assume they're alive. You don't assume someone walking out there is dead. It's when they're laying there still, not moving and you're like, well, are they still alive? It's not when they're up and around and moving. Why? Because walking is a sign of vitality. It's a sign of life. Listen to Mark chapter 5 verse 42. Jesus heals the little girl.

Immediately. Or she was dead. I'm sorry. Raises her from the dead. Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. It's a sign that God has saved us from spiritual death. When we were walking in our transgressions, when we were walking in sin and God gives us new life and because God gives us new life we walk just as the little girl who was dead was raised to walk so too sinners are dead in sin raised to walk in newness of life. Walking is also a sign in Scripture of healing. Most people can walk.

There's three kinds of people who can't walk. Those who are really, really little and weak. Those who are really, really old and weak. Or those who've had some type of accident that prohibits them from walking. But for the most part, pretty much everybody walks. It's a sign that this is a normal functioning human being. The knees are working the ways they're supposed to work. The hips are working the ways that they're supposed to work however that happens. And they're able to walk. But when one is dead in sin they're lame spiritually.

And when God grants forgiveness and they walk it's a sign that they have been healed. Christian walking doesn't make us healed. It's a sign that we have been healed by God. So that's our doctrine. Christian conduct conforms to Christian calling. I want to draw some uses or some application from this doctrine. Which, by the way, is how the Apostle Paul orders all the Ephesians. Here's doctrine, now here's how you live. You don't do here's how you live, now here's doctrine. Here's the doctrine, now here's how you live.

And so we've done the doctrine. Now we're going to look at how to live. The first, and this is for those who don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior who have not placed their faith in Him, is to repent of self-righteousness.

Your walking is not going to be the fragrant aroma that God accepts. Isaiah describes all of our righteous deeds like filthy rags. Imagine if I came to you and I said, I have this and I want to give it to you. It's a rag covered in filth. It stinks. It's rotten. It's foul. And it is for you. And you said, I don't want that. And I said, but wait, hang on. Before you say you don't want it, what if I told you that outside I have a whole truckload more of rags just like this. If I had more of them, then would you accept them?

No, if you have more of them, that just means more foul and more stink. Why would I want to accept more filthy rags if I don't want one? If we think that we can bring our walking to God, all we're doing is bringing a heap of filthy rags. More of them doesn't make it better. If anything, it makes it worse. So we ought to know, and if you don't know Jesus Christ, you need to know that it's not your walking that's going to save you. It's Christ's walking that saves you. And trusting in Christ and all of His righteousness then becomes yours.

His walking is then given to your account such that God sees you walking in the perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus. We sang about that this morning. Dressed in His righteousness alone. Not His righteousness and your righteousness. His righteousness alone. Faultless to stand before the throne. Why are we faultless before the throne? Because of our righteousness that we walked in? Or are we faultless before the throne because of Christ's righteousness that He has? So repent of self-righteousness.

Second, consider your calling for saints, for children of God. This is the Apostle Paul's language in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. If we're to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, we've got to consider our calling. And in doing so, we need to consider the God of our calling. Who is the God who called us? The God who called us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Who Isaiah describes as Holy, Holy, Holy. Who Peter said, the Holy God who called you. Our God is Holy. So beloved, as we consider the fact that God has called us, well, how do I know God called me?

Because I believe. Okay, if I believe, then I know I've been called. If I've been called, then I have to consider the one who called me. I didn't call myself. The minister can't call you. Yes, I can preach. The pastor here can preach, but all that is is our words moving from our mouths into your ears. But when the Holy Spirit takes that and blesses that and calls you by taking out that heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh, you know that the Holy God has called you. And then we ought to say, ah, if God has called me, I ought to live as if, or I have to live the way God has called me to live because He is a Holy God.

We also ought to think about the gospel of our calling. Paul talks about walking in a manner in Philippians 1.27 worthy of the gospel. The gospel is so pure. It's so holy. It's about how those who are sinners and cursed and condemned and Adam can be made right and enjoy eternal fellowship with the Holy God. There's not any heinous stories in here. There's nothing that we're ashamed of and we cover up. There's not something that, hey, we say this out here but in the back we really talk about all the crazy things we believe as Christians.

No. We just put it all out. Why? Because we believe it's pure and holy. The gospel is about righteousness. It's about the righteous one, Jesus Christ, and how those who are alienated from God because of their sin can be made right with this Holy God. So the message of the gospel is pure and the means by which the gospel is spread is pure. As those who have been saved, like the woman at the well, they come and she hears Jesus Christ preach to her and she goes and gets all the other people in the town.

Here's this woman who had five husbands and the one that she was with now was not her husband and what does she say? Come see the man who's told me all the things that I've done. Come and see. Come and see the righteous one. The means by which the gospel is spread are pure as well. And then the gospel has an end. It's not just that we preach the gospel and that's the end. We preach the gospel for a purpose. That people would receive it but not just that they would receive it but that they too would be presented before God as holy and blameless before God.

Listen to the words of Ephesians 1, 4. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be what? Holy and blameless before Him. God saved us so that He would be able to present us to Himself one day as perfectly holy when we die and when Christ returns we shall be like Him in perfect holiness for we shall see Him as He is. Third, plead the power of God as you walk.

Christian walking can be hard. We sin. We succumb to temptation. We endure trials and tribulations. But remember as you think about the fact that you need to walk in holiness remember the verses that we read in Ephesians 3, 20. To Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. Are you tempted? Are you struggling with sin? God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that you could ever ask or think. Plead the power of God as you walk.

Fourth and finally, pursue ordinary Christian living. Pursue ordinary Christian living. There is almost nothing more ordinary and basic to the Christian life than walking. We've already talked about it. Most people can do it unless they're really young, really old or something has happened to them. This is just what humans do. This is just what Christians do. He's not calling us to train like Navy SEALs. He's not saying we need to sprint. He's not saying run a marathon. He's saying just walk. Walk.

Sometimes we want to do a lot more than walk. Paul's saying, he's just walking. Well, what does walking look like? Humility, gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another and love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. How many Christians do you know that excel at that? That's what our priority should be. That's the Christian life, walking in this way. When we see those Christians, we rejoice. When we know that there is a Christian out there that was showing tolerance towards me and love, because often when we think about showing tolerance to one another and love, we all have that person in our mind that we need to be tolerant towards and love, forgetting that someone else has you in their mind, and they've actually been tolerant to you and loving to you.

Man, don't we say thank you for being so kind and gracious to me when I was acting like a fool. That's just ordinary Christian walking. That's the life that we ought to pursue. Walking in humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance for one another, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. May the God who has given us new life in Christ cause us to walk and leap and praise His holy name. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we are reminded as we come to a text like this of the great calling that we have in Christ Jesus.

If you had called us because of our walking, we would never be called. We always walked in sin. Whatever is not done from faith is not pleasing to God. The author of Hebrews writes, the mind that is set on the flesh cannot please God. As Paul says in Romans, we lived a life of sin, accruing filthy rags. We lived in darkness, not light. We acted like fools, not wise men. We pursued those things which were futile and empty. And yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He was that fragrant aroma that ascended to heaven for those who had filthy rags.

May we rejoice in His name, knowing that because we have faith in Him, we will stand faultless before the throne because of the way that He walked. May we adore our Savior more and more. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.