them, and the grace of Christ kept it from
getting back in again.

We can not get away from the mud and defilement of sin in this world. Sin
will ever be all about us. Its stench will be in our nostrils from day to
day. Our eyes will be offended by it, and our ears will be shocked. But so
long as we keep it all on the outside, we can be saints and faithful in
Christ Jesus. We are told that one of the chief things for us to do is to
keep ourselves "unspotted from the world." Phil. 2: 15 says, "That ye may
be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the
world." Again Paul says, "Neither be partakers of other men's sins: keep
thyself pure" (1 Tim. 5: 22). We are not only to keep free from committing
any sins of our own, but also to avoid partaking of the sins of others.
That is very important.

Now, we are, as it were, in Ephesus. There is sin abounding all about us.
God wants us so to abhor the sins of others that we shall not follow them,
nor find pleasure in those who do sinful things. There are two ways in
which we can partake of other people's sins. One way is to approve of
their evil works. It may be that we ourselves would not do those things,
but if we approve of some one else's doing them, it is just about as bad.

Never allow yourself to approve of another's sins. You can not keep clean
and do it. Again, we may be partakers of other men's sins by partaking of
the results of them. If a man cheats another in business, and then I share
in his ill-gotten gain, I am partaking of his sin. It may be that I would
not steal my neighbor's melons; but if another steals them, and I, knowing
his theft, eat of them with him, do I not partake of his sins? And so it
is with all the affairs of life.

We must keep ourselves separate from sin. We can not help being in
Ephesus. We must live in this corrupt and sinful world. So the important
thing is that we attend to keeping ourselves in Christ--unspotted from the
world. If the Ephesians could do this, so can we. But to do it, we must
walk uprightly. We must not stoop down into the mire of sin, but keep
ourselves erect, and keep our spiritual nostrils above the poisonous gases
of sin.

Lot was a man of God. He dwelt in Sodom, and we are told that his
righteous soul was vexed from day to day because of the wicked conduct of
the Sodomites. But he kept himself clear; he had no part with