The sermon, based on Ephesians 5:1-2, focuses on the call for Christians to imitate God by walking in love, as Christ loved us. It begins with the speaker inviting the congregation to hear and reflect upon the word of God. The speaker uses personal anecdotes about his children imitating their parents to illustrate how Christians should imitate God. The sermon emphasizes two imperatives from the scripture: to imitate God and to walk in love, defining imitation as reflecting God's character through love. The speaker warns against the heretical belief of becoming God through imitation, stressing the importance of understanding our role as image-bearers—not as God but as reflections of His image. The sermon explains the theological concept of being 'beloved children,' highlighting our transformation from children of wrath to children of God through Christ's sacrifice. It uses the analogy of a father clothing a shivering child to describe how God clothes us in righteousness. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to demonstrate their identity as God's children by living out love in practical ways, such as kindness, forgiveness, and patience, reflecting God's love as a fragrant offering to God.

Ephesians chapter 5 beginning in verse 1 and it'll ask the congregation to now stand as we hear directly from God. This is his perfect and sufficient word beginning in verse 1. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and 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. May God bless the reading and the preaching of this perfect word. Amen.

You may be seated. There are very few things that I find less enjoying more more more enjoying than when I see one of my four girls wanting to be with my wife, be with Carissa and do what she does. So take for instance just the other night we finish our family devotion time and little Emmy gets up, grabs a broom, starts sweeping the floor. She has seen mommy and daddy do that countless times, especially mommy, and she wants to be like her mother. All four of my daughters, they watch the way Carissa takes care of them and so all four of my little girls do the exact Same thing with their dolls They imitate their mother And you know, we've never ever had a conversation about a burpa doll And yet I've got four little girls burping their dolls.

I'm headed out to the garage to work on a project. And all four girls shout out. This just happened a couple weeks ago. I want to go with you, daddy. I want to go.

I told them, hey, you guys can play with your toys. I'm just going to go out and do a quick project. No, no, no, daddy, we'd love to go with you. And next thing I know, they're out with me. And I've got girls acting like they're hammering nails into wood and screwing things in.

Pretty glorious. They want to be like their mother. They want to be like their father. Our passage this morning provides us with that same basic reality. In verses 1 and 2 of Ephesians chapter 5, Paul gives two clear simple imperatives.

Imperative number one, first one, imitate God because you are his child. And imperative number two, love. The way you imitate him is by walking in love. How? Well, as Christ loved you.

Just as a child beholds their earthly parent and admires what they see, and then that child imitates what they see, imitates what they admire, You and I in gloriously better ways are to behold our God, our Heavenly Father, and we're to walk with our Heavenly Father. We are to behold our Heavenly Father and as we behold Him, we are to imitate Him. And to imitate Him is to walk in love. So that's our sermon this morning. Imitate God how?

In love. And so we'll take each verse at a time and each verse is its own point. Two commands, imitate God and walk in love. And so our first imperative, imitate God as beloved children. That's verse one.

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children that Greek word there Translated imitate that's actually where we get our English word mimic copy the command here in Ephesians 5 one is to be like what you behold so behold God behold who he is behold what he's done to do that you need this his word as you study his word and as you know him, imitate him. Be imitators of God. And yet, something needs to be said there and said very clearly. There are certain cults and heresies that believe that an imitating God, in doing verse 1 of Ephesians 5, that an imitating God you can actually become God. You can actually become a little God.

I just want to be really clear, that's evil. That's idolatry. That's sin. There is only one true God who exists in three persons. Yahweh, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There is only one true God who exists in three persons. Yahweh, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is only one true God existing in three persons. And so to try and to become God is not what it means to imitate God. Just a few weeks ago one of my little girls walked up to another one of my little girls and she spanked her.

And she was so proud of righting the wrong with thinking that she came up to me and she told on herself. That was good. And I spanked my sister daddy with a smile on her face. Which was great that she came and told me. But why did she do that?

She did that because she wanted to imitate her father and mother. Indiscipline. She'd seen father and mother do that a number of times. Well, I can do that too. She wanted to become, there's more than imitation though, she wanted to become mother and father.

In her imitation, she had gone too far, hadn't she? She had reached for something that wasn't hers. So that's what I told her. I got down on my knee and said, Sweetheart, thank you for telling me, but you just need to know that you are not your father. You are not your mother.

I'm the father. Mommy's the mother. You're not. And you're trying to take my place in that moment when you spanked your sister. You're trying to be me.

You're trying to be your mother. God has not given that to you. God has not made that for you. One day, perhaps, I hope, but not now. That's what I told you.

She tried to become daddy and she reached for things that were hers. Brothers and sisters, I share that brief illustration to say that you and I are to imitate our Father in heaven, but we are not to become our Father in heaven. We are not to reach for that which is not given to us, because to do so, to become God, would be evil. And that evil has its roots all the way back in the garden doesn't it Genesis chapters 1 through 3 God made man he made man and woman and what He made man and woman in what? He made man and woman in his image.

Men and women made in his image, meaning what? That they are to reflect who God was to all of creation. They were unique. Men and women uniquely made in the image of God to imitate him in unique ways over all of creation to reflect his image. But what happened in Genesis chapter 3?

Genesis chapter 3 Man reached for that which was not his literally Man strived to be the image himself rather than the reflector of the image of God as creator. Man desired to be the image himself instead of reflecting the image of God and that was sin. And as a result, in Adam, you and I, we all are accursed. The image bearer, Adam, what happened? He became a shattered mirror, a broken mirror.

And all the offspring from that first Adam since have come into the world in the same way, a ruined, shattered image bearer. An image bearer, but a broken one. A dead and depraved image bearer. Shattered mirrors that do not glorify God, that do not image God the way that they ought. Instead, in Adam, we all come into this world glorifying sin, glorifying self, glorifying vanity.

And so all that comes from Adam, every single one of you, are children, are children from Adam a curset. Children under the curse of sin, children of wrath headed to eternal hell fire on account of your sins, willingly inherited all of that from your first Father Adam. But what happened? We just read about it earlier in our worship service and the worship guy when we received our assurance of pardon. What happened?

Romans chapter 5, through the first Adam's transgression there resulted condemnation to all men so that all men from Adam are children of wrath. Death came from Adam. Death reigned in Adam, and Therefore death reigned in you. But something glorious happened. God the Father, God the Father sent His Son, the second Adam, into the world.

And this second Adam who lived the life of obedience that the first Adam should have lived but didn't. He did. God the Father sent his son the second Adam into the world to die the death that the first Adam should have died but didn't. God the Father sent his son the second Adam into the world so that just as death reign through Adam, much more will life and righteousness reign in the lives of those who believe upon Jesus, the Son of God the Father. God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, his Son into the world to secure the elect salvation so that all who believe upon the Son would no longer be accursed.

They would no longer be under the curse of the first Adam, but placed under the blessing of the second Adam who became a curse for them. God the Father sent His Son into the world to save sinners like you, like me. God the Father sent His Son into the world to redeem us as shattered image bearers, as depraved image bearers, so that he would renew the image of Christ in us. So that the Son of God would reconcile us to God the Father and cause his people now ransomed to bear his image rightly once more to restore us back to Eden. So all of that in a phrase, God made you his beloved child.

I'm going to unpack that. What do children do? If you haven't got it yet, if you haven't had kids, you don't need to have kids to answer that question. Children resemble their parents. Children resemble their father.

They have family resemblance. It doesn't matter whether it's biological or not, whether it's adopted children or not, children resemble their parents. I mean, look out here. Look at your children. I mean, if you don't have children, just look at the children around you, it's pretty easy to know who belongs to who.

If children do that to earthly fathers, what then does the child of God do? The child of God reflects the image of His heavenly Father. He reflects the image of God, His Savior. That's what Paul says in Ephesians 5 verse 1. Imitate God.

Reflect His image as beloved children. So just get this. If Christ has saved you, then God has made you His child. He adopted you into His family, and He gave you His Spirit within, so that family resemblance comes out. Christian, God the Father has adopted you into his family.

He's made you into a new creation in Christ Jesus. The shattered mirror of your life has begun to be made whole again, so that you might reflect His image. You might declare His glory, proclaim His excellencies rightly to all of creation. Imitate God as beloved children. Now, I cannot go on to verse 2.

I cannot get to Paul's second imperative Until I make sure you understand just how radically wild the second part of verse 1 is. Alright? The second half of verse 1, you can't just glaze over that puppy. As beloved children. That phrase, as beloved children, should just take your breath away.

Why? Why should it take your breath away? Well, it's because of what I just quoted from Romans chapter 5, that apart from a work of Almighty God, you, if left alone and to your own devices, you have as your covenant head Adam. And from Adam, you have inherited death, depravity, condemnation, and we could keep going. And Romans 1 says that in your spiritual death and depravity, under the first Adam, you hate God.

Romans 8 says that you are an enemy of God. Earlier in this letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells you that you were dead in your trespasses and sins. And you were not just dead, but in your spiritual deadness, you were a child of disobedience, a child of wrath. And now all of a sudden, he's saying, child of God? That's a big, big shift.

Children of wrath. That's Ephesians chapter 2, 1-4. Deserving only the white, hot, holy, and righteous anger of God to fall upon you, children of wrath. Deserving only damnation and deserving only the inheritance of your first father, Adam. Everlasting death and misery in hell.

That's the inheritance that you deserve. A son of Adam, a daughter of Eve, A child of wrath. But what is this? You read in the Gospels that there is another man. There is another Adam, tempted and tried in a garden.

I read this earlier in Mark, not for any many weeks ago. Throughout the gospels, here's another man in the garden tempted and tried and that he does not fail. He's no mere man in the Garden of Gethsemane. Who is he? He is the God man.

This is the Son of God. And the Son of God does not fail in the garden where the first Adam failed in the garden. This Son of God triumphs. This son of God obeys. This son of God goes to a cross and suffers and is condemned and endures the wrath of God that children of wrath deserved.

For what reason? So that you, once a child of wrath, by grace through faith in this Son of God, crucified for you, so that in trusting in His name, that you would have Ephesians 5 verse 1 true for you. So that you would be named a beloved child of God. Your sin expiated to Jesus on the cross. Jesus satisfying the wrath of God that your sin merits in his body on that tree.

Jesus' righteousness, so your sin expiated to him. Jesus' righteousness imputed, credited to you. His righteousness given to you to put on you like a new robe. Kind of like a father who finds his child out in the cold, shivering and alone. And the father takes off his garments and wraps that little child, once lost, now found in his own garments, clothing his children, and he picks them up and he holds them close to his breast and brings them home.

That's the kind of idea, except that child was an enemy and now is a child of God. Christ's righteousness is given to you in exchange for your iniquity. God the Father clothes you in the garments of salvation, the garments of His Son. And to think that all the while you didn't deserve an ounce of any of it. To think, you need to get this, to think that God in His omniscience, in His all knowingness, He knew the rottenness of your heart better than even you do or probably ever will know about yourself.

Knowing all about your sin, past, present, future, to think that God, knowing about how Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 are true for you, that you were an enemy of God, a hater of God. You loved the darkness. You hated the light. God knew all about that better than you. He knew far better than you that you would insist upon your own self-righteousness.

He knew far better than you that you would insist upon your own self-righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ. He knew far better than you how you would love falsehood and hate the truth. God knew all of it. And yet to think that this omniscient God, knowing all of it, an eternity past, before you were even born, but knowing all of your sin, that before the foundations of the world were laid, that omniscient God, that all-knowing God, knowing all of your filth in ways that you cannot even fathom currently, knowing every corruption within you, that that same omniscient God Almighty declared over you an eternity past. That is my son, That is my daughter, and they are my children, and I will secure for them as my children forever with the price of my son's life.

I will secure their sonship, I will secure their daughtership at the cost of my son's life. I will ransom them from bondage and I will pay the redemption price to make them my children with my son's body and blood." He did that knowing your depravity in ways you'll never know. He did that for you, Christian. He did that for you. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God.

Just so you know, what I just said is all from the Bible. In case you are wondering, did God really know all of that before the foundations of the world were laid? Well, Paul already said it. I'm just saying what he said. Turn a page back and look at Ephesians chapter one.

Ephesians chapter one verse three, in case you're skeptical of what I just said. And here's what Paul says in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved." That's an amazing, amazing passage. Brothers and sisters, We call each other that, don't we, brothers and sisters?

I mean, that's a miracle. This body, this church being able to call one another siblings in the Lord. It's a miracle. We are a living miracle right now. That we would be adopted as children into the household of God and every Lord's Day seated around His table, remembering here at this table, seated in his household at his table remembering the triumph of his grace every Lord's table as we eat from this Ephesians 5 verse 1, imitate God as beloved children.

Beloved, loved by God. Oh beloved, church, That word beloved, don't gloss over that one word. You are beloved if you belong to Christ. God the Father loves you with the love that sent His Son to die for you. God the Son loves you.

And He demonstrated that love by giving Himself for you freely at the cross to make you a child of the Father. And God the Holy Spirit loves you by making effectual that work of the Son in your heart. God the Holy Spirit loves you by making effectual that work of the Son in your heart. God the Holy Spirit loves you by saving you and making you a beloved child of God. The one true God, the thrice holy God, the trinitarian God loves you in His trinitarianness.

It's a trinitarian love that the trinitarian God declares over you his beloved child. That's what verse 1 is when you read as beloved children, beloved is trinitarian. The love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You need to connect this reality of being beloved to God, of being a beloved child of God, to Last Lord's Day. Remember what we did last Lord's Day?

We finished the wonderful gospel, the glorious gospel of Mark. Felt like I was saying goodbye to a friend. We thought about baptism. That was a huge part of last Lord's Day as we concluded that gospel. You need to connect what I just said to baptism.

If you've trusted in Jesus, the very words of God the Father at the baptism of Jesus' Son, those words are true for you. Have you connected that? Mark chapter 1 verse 11, you know I couldn't get rid of Mark yet. Mark chapter 1 verse 11, God the Father said from heaven to his beloved son, you remember what he says? So God the Father, God the Son, the Spirit descending, his Trinitarian, what happens?

In his baptism, God the Father says to his son, You are my beloved Son, and in you I am well pleased. And the wonder of all of that is that that statement in Mark 1-11 is true for you if you've been saved by grace through faith in this Christ, the Son of God. If that's true, if you've been saved by Jesus Christ, God the Father says to you Christian, you are my beloved son, you are my beloved daughter, with you in Christ I am well pleased. God the Father is well pleased with His Son. And if you are in Christ the Son, wrapped in His garments of salvation, God the Father looks at you, He sees you, and He says to you, Christian, at your baptism, you're mine.

You're my child. You're my son. You're my daughter. He declares to all the world at your baptism and at this table, every single Lord's Day, there's a declaration being made by God the Father. You are mine.

Every time you see a baptism in your mind, in your heart, you should say, this is way beyond just a mere symbol. It's that, yes. More than that, it is a public declaration of God the Father saying, mine! And at this table, every Lord's Day, we can't dunk you every Sunday. But we participate in this every Sunday, the continual sign of the covenant that God the Father declares to you, in Christ, I am well pleased with you.

That is amazing news for anyone in this room who knows their sin. Amazing news. God declares to you in your baptism, and God declares to you at this table, I love you. And you need to hear that. Reform Baptist people.

The sovereignty of God, yes. The depravity of man, yes. What bridges those two things together? The love, the almighty love of God for you. He declares to you, I love you.

You are precious to me. How precious are you to God the Father? He says to you, well, I sent my son, I bought you. I redeemed your life from the pit with the life of my own son. You died with my son, and you were raised up with my son and you are clothed in my son And so he says to you every Lord's Day He says to you every day you open the scriptures Oh son Oh daughter in Jesus Christ You oh you are no longer in Adam You no longer have his inheritance of condemnation and the curse.

You don't get that inheritance anymore. That inheritance was laid upon the Son. Instead, God the Father says that inheritance has been done away with and now as my beloved child made for my good pleasure, seated forever at my table, your inheritance is glory. If you need Bible verses to go along with that, Philippians 2.13, Ephesians 1, 18-21, and Romans 8.17. All the Christian can say to any of what I just said, you get the Gospel at all.

All that anyone who's been made born again, knowing any inkling about their sin, all the Christians can say when they think about all of this, is they can just, all they can say is how marvelous how wonderful and my song shall ever be how marvelous how wonderful is my Savior's love for me And so when you participate in the table this morning, we're actually going to sing that hymn. You should be thinking about the marvelous love of God in your life, in the life of your family, in the life of this church, from generation to generation. And so, as a child of God, as His beloved child, the first one is true and it is, you and I, this body as a church, we are to display Almighty God to the world. And so the question you must ask as a child who delights in imitating his Heavenly Father, the question that you should now be asking is simply, I want to do this, how? How do I imitate God?

And how do I bring Him glory? How? And the answer is found in verse 2. Ephesians 5 verse 2. And 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 do you imitate God? How do you glorify God? You do it the same way that any child would do it, but in gloriously better ways. As his child, you behold God, your heavenly Father. You meditate on this, his word.

You see what he's done in the work of his Son, and as you are brought low by the deep sin that you possess and yet his grace then raises you up. You love him and you obey him as you meditate upon him." That's what you do. And that's exactly what Spurgeon says. I was just paraphrasing Spurgeon. So let me read to you Spurgeon.

When in doubt, Spurgeon out. We, this is from Spurgeon, we are to meditate on God's word And meditation is a happy, holy, profitable engagement, and it will instruct us, strengthen us, comfort us, inspire our hearts, and make our souls steadfast. But we may not stop at meditation. You may not stop at Ephesians 5 verse 1. You must go on to verse 2.

He says we must go on to imitation of the character of God. We may not stop at meditation, but we must go on to imitation of the character of God. We may not stop at meditation, but we must go on to imitation of the character of God. We must not be satisfied with feeding the soul by meditation, but rise up from the banquet and use the strength we have gained. Sitting at the feet of Jesus must be succeeded by following in the footsteps of Jesus." Feeding the soul by meditation must result in rising up from the banquet in obedience.

Which by the way, I was just trying to set up a banquet for you in verse 1 of just the amazing, almighty love of God for you, a sinner. Him knowing everything evil about you and yet sent his son. One will scarcely die for a righteous man, perhaps for a good man, one would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His love towards you that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. That's the banquet.

Whoa! If you just sit there and just eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, and you never get up and imitate, I don't think you're really eaten. Feeding the soul by meditation must result in rising up from the banquet in obedience. Sitting at the feet of Jesus must be succeeded by following in the footsteps of Jesus in obedience. And that obedience is love.

That obedience is love. Paul says it this way, 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. So here's the question, it's very simple. This passage is a very simple passage.

You're probably saying, I know all this. Well, good. How did Christ love you? How did Christ love you? Paul uses the phrase, he gave himself up.

That's how he loved you. He loved you and gave himself for you. He went to a cross for you. He did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross. That's how he loved you.

He gave himself up for you. I can't say it better than the wonderful old Baptist pastor John Gill. Some of you know that man, Pastor John Gill. He said this about 300 years ago. And I quote, Christ gave himself up.

Christ did not give up the world and the things of it which are His. He did not give up men, nor angels, nor animals. Jesus Christ did not give up the world, it is His. No not the world, but rather Jesus gave up Himself. He gave away His time, service, and strength, His name, fame, and reputation, all the comforts of life and life itself in his humanity.

And he did this, he did that not for angels, but for his chosen ones, the church, his sheep, his people. And he gave himself up for them when they were sinners." End quote. While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. Brothers and sisters, the command from God is simple. Imitate God by walking in love as Christ loved you.

And so how does this love of Christ flesh itself out in your life? That's a good question. To answer that, we need to ask why or what word began our passage this morning. Our passage this morning started out with what word? Can you look there in Ephesians 5, verse 1, first word?

What's the first word of our passage? Therefore, let's all say it. Therefore, what is the therefore? Therefore, that's what you all should always be asking. And it's there to answer the question that I had just asked.

How does this love of Christ flesh itself out in this church, in your home, in your workplace? Look at verse 32 of chapter 4, that's what connects. Verse 1 of chapter 5 with the previous chapter. Verse 32 of chapter 4, look there. Here's how the love of Christ that we imitate is to flesh itself out in your life in part.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. That's a huge part of what it means to love. God forgave you, friend, when you were His enemy.

He was and still is kind to you when you don't deserve it. He hung an cross for you with just a word. God Almighty the Son could have summoned legions of angels to His aid and obliterated everybody. But he didn't. That's being kind.

That's being tender-hearted. God didn't call a legion of angels to His aid at the cross. The God-man instead hung on a cross for you. And in a very real sense, you put Him there. You are part of the mocking, part of the flogging, and you are part of the reason that Christ had to bear the wrath of God.

He did that for you. To make you once an enemy, His child. And so if you're beholding Christ, and you see how He loved you, and how He gave Himself for you, if you see that, how then can a husband look at his wife and not be more lovingly patient and caring and kind and forgiving towards her? How then can wives not look at their husbands and be more lovingly supportive and patient and kind and submissive to their husbands. How then can children, children, how then can you who know the love of Christ not look at your parents and even when you don't understand why you have to go mow the lawn?

Amen. Why you have to make the bed in the morning? When looking at Jesus your Savior, who gave Himself for you children. Amen. He gave himself for you freely.

Children, how can you not lovingly obey your parents? For this is right. Friends, children do not be like that evil servant in Matthew 18 who was forgiven a great debt by his master and yet that same servant on the same day went home to a fellow slave, a fellow servant, and that fellow servant owed him a significantly smaller debt. And yet that fellow slave, that wicked servant, Put that fellow slave in prison and would not forgive his death. Oh, be not like that wicked servant.

For the master upon hearing of the way the wicked servant treated his fellow slave, took that wicked servant, imprisoned him, and tortured him forever. Because he did not behold the love of Christ and walk in that same love. It's Matthew 18. Behold the love of Christ. And if you really are beholding it, it's impossible for you not to bend that which is vertical horizontally towards one another.

I've got lots of quotes this morning, so listen to this quote from Benjamin Merkel. Love is the most important of all virtues because when it is consistently displayed all of the other virtues will naturally be embraced. When Christians love each other, they will be careful to speak kindly to each other. When Christians love one another, they will not be bitter, they will not be angry, wrathful, or malicious towards one another, but instead they will be willing to work hard so that they can share with those in need. And he's really getting that from Mr.

Hugh, verses prior in Ephesians 4. If you read there, lay aside, in verse 25, lay aside falsehood. Speak truth to one another with your neighbor. We are members of one another. Be angry and yet do not sin.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Verse 27 of Ephesians 4. Do not give the devil any opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer. Rather, he must labor, performing with his own hands that which is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

What does love look like? Verse 29, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. What does love look like? Verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.

And instead be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. That's how you imitate God. That's how you love, because that's how Christ has loved you. Walk this way, friends. Behold Christ, imitate Christ, walk in love.

Our passage ends this morning with a wonderful phrase. It ends with a description of Christ offering up himself as an offering, you see it there in the end of verse 2, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. You see that verse? His offering up himself was an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma, a pleasing aroma. God smelled it using anthropomorphic language here, but it was pleasing to him.

Alright children, I just talked to you and I need to talk to you again. You with me? Everybody's eyes right here. Okay listen to me. I want you to picture something for me in your minds.

Adults you should do this too. Can you picture in your minds, can you remember a time when your mother or your father cooked something really, really, really tasty? Got something in your brain? Cinnamon rolls, cookies, something that's downstairs right now maybe? We can all hope.

It smelled So good in the kitchen. Can you picture that in your mind? What does that smell like? A batch of fresh cookies, a batch of fresh cinnamon rolls. What does that smell like to you?

Go ahead and say it. It rhymes with good. Good. It smells amazing. What happens in your mouth?

What happens in your mouth? You let your lips start quivering? Your nose starts to tingling? I know what happens to me. When my girls, my wife makes something really delicious, I start mouth-watering, just drooling down.

It's embarrassing. Barely, just dripping. Does it ever happen to you children? Well if you're like me children I start saying yes! Wow!

That's what I start saying in my house. I just did it the other day. Do you know why you get excited? Why do you get excited, children? You know the answer.

Why do you get excited? When you smell it, why do you get excited? Because you know how good it's going to taste. You know based on the smell how satisfying that cookie, that brownie, that cake, that treat you're going to eat, you know how satisfying it's going to be to that tongue of yours. And it's slapping your brains out at so good.

How do you know that all of those treats are going to taste so good? It all begins with a wonderful smell. And it makes you happy. I can have a really bad day at work, children, at my office. It could be a really hard day.

And I walk into my house and it smells like baking bread or it smells like fresh cookies. I just like, hoo! The smell is so good. It's pleasing. Children, that's what Jesus did when he died on the cross and rose again.

His life and his death for you, his sacrifice was so good, it was so sweet, it was so right to God the Father that on the day Jesus died God was so pleased that three days later God was so pleased that he rose Jesus up from the grave. That's how pleased he was. Children, when Jesus switches places with you at the cross, when you believe in Jesus, when you confess Jesus is Lord, that pleases God even more than the way it pleases you when you smell those cookies. God is pleased with you because He is pleased with His perfect Son. God is pleased with you because he is pleased with his perfect son.

God is pleased with you because he was pleased with his perfect son who loved you and gave himself for you a sacrifice, a fragrant aroma pleasing to himself. So next time, children, you smell something really, really yummy in the kitchen and your mouth starts watering and you know that whatever's coming out of that oven is going to satisfy you. Next time you think about that, you should. Next time that happens, I need you to ask your mother or ask your father about the way Jesus Christ was even more satisfying to God than even that chocolate chip cookie is satisfying to you. You got that?

Your little kitchen's mothers worship factories To God. Christ satisfied God the Father, and in Him, children, God the Father calls you his beloved child. And so I ask this day, every age, repent and believe in his gospel. And he will be your father, and you will be his son forever and ever. Let's pray.

Oh, father, it really is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word, just to rest upon his promise, just to know thus saith the Lord. Oh Lord, we have now heard what you've said and how we thank you that we are children and that you are our father. That You gave us Your Son and You gave us Your Spirit. You've adopted us into Your household. And now here we are about to eat of this family meal together.

Oh Father, You are a good Father. We love You. But cause us to love You more. And cause that love to characterize our lives in our homes and in this church all the more into the day of Christ Jesus. That in His name we pray and for His name's sake.

Amen.