It's About Time:beware!caution! Series

Pastor Allan Kircher

Shell Point Baptist Church

May 26th, 2013

Ephesians 5:3-7

It’s about time Beware! Caution!

Intro: In our last study, we considered verses 1-2.

• We were told to be “followers of God, as dear children

• We are/imitate God---child imitates/parent.

• love as He loves---walk/He walks;

• Talk as He talks----live/He lives

• We are/mimic/Father in all things

Hard command/follow---we need/strive/this in our day/day lives.

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Well, we will consider today, another command.

• V 7 “therefore do not be partners with them.”

• Just as we are/imitate/Lord/every possible way

• We are to avoid imitating/actions/attitudes/ways/world.

This passage will speak to us about what we should not be doing as we live in this world.

Easy too:

• Fall into the same rut in which the world runs.

• go with flow of the world

• Do as/unconverted world around us does.

• Adopt the attitude of Ambrose of Milan when he said

• “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

• Many Christians do just that.

• We adopt the ways/world.

• We adopt their fashions/speech/standards/entertainment, and nearly everything else they do.

• All the while, the Lord tells us that we are to be different from them in every way.

2 Cor. 6:17: “Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."

• If we are going to emulate anyone, let it be the Lord.

• If we look/example to follow.

• Look no farther than the Lord God Almighty.

With that in mind, let’s spend some time in these verses today.

I want/preach command “Therefore do not be partners with them.” Notice the challenges laid out in this text.

I. V. 3-4 THERE ARE ACTIONS WE MUST AVOID

In these two verses, at least six sins are named.

• These sins be avoided/people/God.

• These sins marked/world that day/still mark/world today.

• Sin and sinners never change…

• They merely continue down the path of depravity.

• they are led by/spirits/world/flesh/the devil.

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First off…Ephesians 2:1-3 says this…..

• The world does what it does/it knows no other way

• It is incapable of changing itself even if it wanted to.

• World doesn’t want to change.

• love of God is selfless, v. 2

• Love/world is selfish/self-centered.

The sins mentioned here prove that/let’s consider these verses.

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Sexual immorality - refers to all type of sexual sin.

• includes sex before marriage/adultery

• Homosexuality/lesbianism/sexual lust/pornography

• They should not be part/life of/saint of God.

We/sexual beings/we all face temptations in this area of life.

We must be careful/temptations/not allowed to become a reality.

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Impurity - speaks of “corruption and rottenness.”

• Refers to impure motives/living.

• Speaks/moral corruption.

• An impure lifestyle that dishonors God

• disregards His Word/Disrespects His commandments.

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Covetousness - refers to “greed and lust.”

• Desire to possess what belongs to another.

• Anything/takes higher priority than obeying the Bible.

• V. 5 clearly says “Immoral/impure man…is an idolator.

One who covets/lusts after things they don’t possess is guilty of following after other gods.

In other words: that object of desire, whether person/thing is elevated in their life, elevated to a status of worship.

• Takes away their worship to the true God.

Obscenity - speaks of “filthiness, crudeness; that which is base and shameful.”

• Speaking/those things /dirty in nature.

• Listen to conversations, watch television

• View a movie/often see “filthiness” in action.

• Nothing appears to be sacred anymore.

Vulgarities considered pornographic a generation ago are used freely in our day.

• Dirty jokes, loose talk, sexual euphemisms abound.

• We have lost the ability to blush.

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Sometimes I hear/way church people talk/it embarrasses me!

There is no difference between church/world today, and that dishonors God.

• We should dictate the standard

• Not allow the world to press us into its mold, Rom. 12:2.

• We should/thermostat/regulates/temperature around us

• Not thermometer that records the temperature

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Most children today reach school with a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush. Why?

Because it’s everywhere, and most parents don’t have enough spiritual discernment to protect their children from the vile, pornographic world in which we live.

• Parents allow their children/watch what they want to

• Even/parents themselves/selfish/they watch what they want, with no regard to what their children see.

• If you are that of parent, how can you punish your child when they drop the F-bomb

• Or when they come out with crude humor.

• You should find someone to whip you

• Because it’s your fault!

• They learned it from you!

• We need a return to godly standards in the home.

• Society is not going to change.

You can’t trust Federal Government/FCC to set proper standards of decency for you and your family.