Eph 5:5-6, “For you can be confident [lit., “be knowing”] of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let nobody deceive~| you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.”
Some have the notion that God’s grace is so forgiving that they can treat sin as though it doesn’t make any difference. They say to themselves, “God loves me, so He will not harm me if I keep sinning.”
Paul wanted to be very clear that anyone who was “[sexually] immoral, impure [or promiscuous], or greedy [lustful or covetous]” was “an idolater” who had no place with Christ in heaven.
If the “fear of the Lord” means that God will do exactly as He says in His word, then we must “flee youthful lusts” (2 Tim 2:22), and “flee sexual immorality” (1 Cor 6:18). Even flippantly joking about such sins in conversations can encourage participation Paul had just said (Eph 5:4).
If we know God, our attitude toward sin has changed: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11–-12).
We are commanded to stop letting anybody “deceive [us] with empty words” (Eph 5:6). Some attempted to persuade the believers that there were no consequences to delving into sinful practices, since everything would be forgiven. “Empty words” are those without any biblical proof.
Why should anyone who knows God’s attitude toward sin ever want to join in the sinful, pornographic, and lustful practices of the “sons of disobedience”? These self–destructive and filthy practices attract God’s displeasure. The “sons of disobedience” are the “children of wrath” (Eph 2:2). Previously, believers may have practiced such “darkness,” but now they “are light in the Lord [and are to] Walk as children of the light” (5:8).
Evidence of God’s Spirit in a believer is that sin is not the same; it brings a sense of shame and guilt, but before it was a pleasure. The Spirit comes to “convict the world of sin” (Jn 16:8). Do not quench the Spirit’s conviction, but repent and take steps to avoid any behavior that dishonors our Savior.
“Sin is so prevalent around me that sometimes it loses its awfulness and offensiveness to me. Teach me to despise sin as You do.”