Would you please open your bibles to John 5:30? Jesus says “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
Now turn to Ephesians 5:1. Paul writes “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” The word “followers” means “imitators.” We are supposed to imitate our Father is what we say what be believe and in how we act.
These two verses tell us that, as Christians, we are supposed to be exact replicas of God here on earth. When we speak about an issue, the person hearing us should hear the exact same thing from God. But are we seeing this in the body of Christ today? Sadly no.
This is the second message in the series “Is God your co-pilot?” We’re going to do a quick review and then get into today’s topic.
Robert L. Scott was the fighter pilot in World War II who defeated Tokyo Joe, Japan’s most feared combat pilot. He later wrote the book, God is My Co-Pilot, which detailed the events of the confrontation because he wanted the world to know that God “sat next to him” in every single battle – that God was his co-pilot.
In the first message, we looked at the definitions of pilot and co-pilot and learned that the pilot usually has more knowledge, experience and expertise than the co-pilot when it comes to handling aircrafts. But most important, we learned that the pilot, not the co-pilot, is the person in charge. The co-pilot serves as a “second pair of hands” when needed.
For the body of Christ, if God is our co-pilot, that means we have more knowledge, experience and expertise to deal with the things in life than He does. And that is simply not true. It’s a lie. And this is where the analogy breaks down.
As we did in the first message, we are going to examine a statement that Christians (pilots) have made about an issue that has a direct bearing on scripture and compare it to what God (the co-pilot) says about the same issue in His “flight manual” – the Bible.
A successful flight that reaches its desired destination, needs both a flight plan and a detailed knowledge and understanding of the flight manual. In this series, the “flight” is the life of a Christian. And we will either have our own plan for our lives, or we will yield to the co-pilot’s plan for our lives which includes knowing, understanding and following what He has written in scripture.
Now let’s talk about flight plans for a moment. Flight plans are the required documents that must be filed by the pilot or flight dispatcher prior to departure. It outlines the aircraft’s planned flight path, but also includes departure and arrival points, the number of passengers, alternate airports in case of bad weather and estimated time of arrival.
Now, Did you notice that the co-pilot is not identified as being a participant in the planning or the filing of the flight plan?
The flight manual contains the aircrafts operating limitations in normal and abnormal weather conditions and in emergency situations, such as a forced landing. Each flight manual, now follow me with this analogy, is tailored for each specific aircraft.
Think of the flight plan as the map that shows the path the aircraft must take from point A in order to reach point B. Think of the flight manual as the book the pilot and co-pilot must know and thoroughly understand to operate the aircraft properly in order for it to arrive at point B safely.
With this in mind …
? If my pilot does not know the flight plan for my flight, my life, would I get on the plane?
? If my pilot rarely refers to the flight manual, would I trust him to know what to do if an emergency occurred on my flight, in my life?
? If my co-pilot had more knowledge, expertise and skill than my pilot, who would I want calling the shots on my flight, in my life?
? If my co-pilot wrote the flight manual, who would I trust with my life on my flight?
Now let’s dig into today’s message and don’t forget about these questions, okay?
What the Christian (pilot) says
“The loving God I believe in would not condemn two people
who love each other and decide to live together.”
What God (their co-pilot) says in the “flight manual”
Turn with me to Romans 13. We’re going to read verses 11 through 14.
(10) Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
(11) And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
(12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
(13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
(14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
This passage was written to Christians who were actively involved in immoral behavior. Do you see the words “no” and “ill” in verse 10? “No” means something that absolutely cannot happen. The word “ill” means to do something “harmful, evil, injurious or wicked” to someone else, whether it was intentional or not.
The words we have just defined are an apt description for the behaviors that follow them
Rioting. Drunkenness. Chambering. Wantonness. Strife. Envying. Lust. Christians who participate in these immoral behaviors don’t realize the harm, evil, injury and wickedness they are doing to themselves and to the other person.
We are going to focus our attention on chambering and wantonness, which are called “the works of darkness” in this passage. Why is this significant? The answer is found in Ephesians 5. Let’s pick it up with verse 1.
(1) Be ye therefore followers (imitators) of God, as dear children;
(2) And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savior.
Let’s pause here for a moment. We are told to imitate God and to “walk in love” in the exact same way that Christ has walked in love toward us. And one way He did that was by sacrificing His life for ours.
If we are following Christ’s example of walking in love, when necessary, we will sacrifice our wants and desires for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Apostle Paul gives us an excellent example of this in 1 Corinthians 8:13.
Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend (to stumble in his relationship with Christ).
Do you see the connection between this and what we read in Romans about “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor” and what this means when it identifies chambering and wantonness as “the works of darkness?”
Now here’s where I’m going with this:
Christians involved in chambering and wantonness are not following Christ’s example of walking in love. They are causing each other to commit sin and, if they never repent, both will burn in the lake of fire forever. Let’s continue in Ephesians 5.
(3) But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
(4) Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
(5) For this we know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolaters, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(6) Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
(7) Be ye not therefore partakers with them.
(8) For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.
Darkness is the sin nature – the place where we used to live spiritually. And we see this is in the phrase “were sometimes darkness.” It was the source of the works of darkness in our lives. But now we are light, which we received with our the new born again nature. This is where we now live spiritually and there is no darkness in the children of The Light, which is what First John 1:5 describes God.
Here’s a troubling question ladies and gentlemen: Do you remember 2 Peter 2:22’s reference to the dog and the sow? Whenever we make a deliberate decision to engage in the “works of darkness,” which is no longer a part of who we are, are we really any different from the dog who makes a deliberate decision to return to his own vomit or the sow who has been cleaned but makes a deliberate decision to wallow in the mire again?
Now, let’s address the immoral behaviors that chambering and wantonness identify?
The word “chambering” means “a lying down for rest or sleep; spoken of the marriage bed, metaphorically for marriage itself; cohabitation, whether lawful or unlawful; seed, semen as necessary for conception.”
A Christian is not supposed to live a life of unlawful chambering – cohabitating with someone who is not his wife or someone who is not her husband. A Christian who lives a life of fornication or adultery – repeated sexual interactions outside of the marriage bed – is living in sin and will burn in the lake of fire forever unless he or she repents. Do you hear me? This is serious ladies and gentlemen.
When we understand that unlawful chambering is Satan’s counterfeit to God’s design for marriage, how can we not see how sinful it is and how far removed it is from God’s holy standard for living? How can we be silent in the presence of the ones we say we love who are engaged in this morally reprehensible behavior that will send them to the lake of fire?
And to drive home the unholy nature of unlawful cohabitation, chambering is paired with wantonness – lasciviousness, license, debauchery, sexual excess, absence of restraint, insatiable desire for pleasure, perversion in general. In a word, wantonness describes a lifestyle of blatant and unrepentant sexual perversion. And we’re talking about people who profess to be Christians, ladies and gentlemen. If this person doesn’t repent, he will miss heaven.
You see, both chambering and wantonness are paths to an eternity that does not include God.
I want you see how Romans 13:13 is rendered in three other translations.
We should live decently, as people who live in the light of day. Wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, rivalry, and jealously cannot be part of our lives. (God’s Word)
Let us walk becomingly, as in the day, not in carousings and drunkenness, not in co-habitation and lustful acts, not in fighting and envy. (Literal Translation of the Holy Bible)
Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see, Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. (New Living Translation)
Now let’s read Hebrews 13:4. another verse. “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
In the Old Testament, when Israel, who was “married” to God, followed after the pagan gods of other nations, they were said to be a whoring after their gods. And for those of you taking notes, you will find this reference in Exodus 34:15-16, Deuteronomy 31:16 and Judges 2:17, just to name three. And when Israel did that, the judgment was not pretty or pleasant.
Folks, the Bible says the single man and the single woman who are intimate outside of the marriage bed are whores (whoremongers). Yes, it’s a very harsh word, but it’s a true word. And, unless the person repents, the ultimate judgment will not be pretty or pleasant. The ultimate judgment will be an eternity in the lake of fire – burning without relief.
Unfortunately, so many in the Church today don’t see chambering as a serious moral issue or as behavior that angers God and will separate them from Him for all eternity. And this may describe some of you. I pray that it doesn’t.
And do you know what is even more spiritually devastating? There are men and women in the pulpit and leading the praise and worship every Sunday who are living in unlawful chambering. And it breaks my heart because many in their congregations know it.
I want you to hear the overall survey results that the Pew Research Center released last April. Half of all US Christians (Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals) say casual sex between consenting adults is sometimes or always acceptable. Yes, you heard me correctly.
The survey did not ask the respondents if they themselves would engage in this practice. Instead, the question asked if they found the practice acceptable regardless of whether you would do it yourself.
57 percent of the Christians in the survey say sex between unmarried adults in a committed relationship is sometimes or always acceptable. 57 percent of those surveyed see nothing wrong with having sex outside of marriage. Let me say that again: 57 percent of those who professed to be Christians don’t see a problem with sex outside of the marriage bed.
Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy of the soul has done a number on the Church.
Christians who know that sleeping with someone who is not their husband or their wife is sin, and are willing to say so, are seen as judgmental and wrong. And so, many remain silent. Living a life of unlawful chambering, or approving of the lifestyle by our silence, is one of the reasons many of our brothers and sisters are living on the edge of forfeiting their eternal salvation. It’s just that serious.
We just read in Hebrews 13:4 that marriage is highly esteemed, valued and precious to God and i it means the marriage bed is undefiled. The marriage bed is pure and not soiled when a husband and his wife or a wife and her husband are the occupants.
Earlier we talked about the Bible calling Israel a whoremonger. A whoremonger is a single person who unlawfully chambers with another single person, and an adulterer is a married person who unlawfully chambers with someone who is not his wife or who is not her husband.
Do you remember what Ephesians 5:5 said about whoremongers? “For this we know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolaters, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
A person who is living the unrepentant lifestyle of a whoremonger or an adulterer is not going to Heaven and will burn in the lake of fire forever. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible consistently condemns such behavior.
So, let’s finish this message.
Does the co-pilot agree with the pilot who files a “flight plan” that says “The loving God I believe in would not condemn two people who love each other and are living together?”
Based on what we have seen in scripture, what say ye?
The Bible, the flight manual, says the person who chooses to live in unlawful chambering and wantonness is ignoring what the flight manual clearly says and is choosing condemnation – judgment for rejecting what it says – and will burn in the lake of fire forever.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we are not willing to accept what Scripture says, then we are going to maintain control of the aircraft – our lives – while the Co-Pilot screams “You are crashing! You are crashing!” And if our lives crash and we have not relinquished control to the Co-Pilot, we could face an eternity that does not include the Co-Pilot.
The Co-Pilot says in Proverbs 21:2 that “Every way of man if right in his own eyes …” If the pilot doesn’t agree, her life is going to crash and she could possibly burn forever in the lake of fire.
The Co-Pilot says in Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:25 that “There is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” If the pilot doesn’t agree, his life is going to crash and he could possibly burn forever in the lake of fire.
Have you filed a flight plan for your life? Have you fully read the flight manual?
Your Co-Pilot has a flight plan for your life and He wrote the flight manual to help you navigate i!
So, could it be possible that the Co-Pilot really, really wants us to give up our seats now so that He can give us a flight plan that will enable us to sit with Him forever later?
Everyone please stand.
