The Christian Life Is Not An Imitation Of Christ

Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) truthfully writes:

You don't get better to get saved; you get saved to get better. You can't get better until you do get saved. In reality, one can begin living better only after he is saved. When the individual trusts Christ as Saviour, he receives a new nature. Second Peter 1:4 says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” With this new nature come new desires and new power to make the desires a reality.

We read in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” It is the presence of God in the believer that gives him both the desire and power to live a better life. And no man has the indwelling Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit until after he is saved.

The Christian life is not an imitation of the Christ life; it is Christ living His life over again in us as we yield ourselves to Him. That is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

SOURCE: 'Repentance: What Does The Bible Teach?'

God saves a man by faith alone in Christ alone; and then the indwelling Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) begins to change that man after he is saved. Those changes may or may not be outwardly visible. We must never become fruit inspectors, trying to determine if someone is saved or not by examining their works. The only way to know if someone is truly saved is by a direct testimony from their mouth (or their writings) concerning Jesus Christ.

“If you have to look at your life to prove that you are saved, it proves that you're not!” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Why Lordship Salvation is Wrong”

The new birth is strictly a matter of one's faith, not works. In Jonah 3:10a we read, “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way...” The Ninevites didn't get saved, they turned from their evil ways and God in His mercy spared them judgment for a time. The Bible plainly teaches that turning from one's evil ways is a WORK. A century later, God sent the prophet Nahum to pronounce judgment upon Assyria (Nineveh was their capital city) because of their return to wickedness, and destruction came at the hands of Babylon.

The Christian life is not an imitation of Christ, it is Christ Himself living the Christian life through us as God's redeemed child. It is common for a baby believer to attempt to live the Christian life in their own strength, and fail again and again. But when a believer learns that we ought not try to live the impossible Christian life in our own strength; but rather, yield to the inspired Holy Scriptures, and in so doing allow Christ's Holy Spirit to live through us (Romans 8:9), we will succeed. Put another way, if there is any good thing in me, it is the Lord Jesus Christ!

By God's grace alone, I have been saved now for 45 years, since age 13 in 1980. I was saved by simply coming to God as a needy sinner and I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior—receiving His sacrifice on the cross as full payment for my sins, believing that He was buried but then bodily resurrected from the dead the third day. That's it! That's all you need to do to be saved. Remember, the Gospel is not 'GOOD NEWS' to be lived, but to be BELIEVED. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Your behavior and lifestyle have absolutely nothing to do with the new birth.

Salvation is received, not achieved.

Salvation is a take proposition, not a give proposition.

Salvation is not an exchange or trade of sorts (as Pastor John MacArthur wickedly teaches), it is a totally free gift with no strings attached (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).

“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN”

The Christian life is not something that we live as believers, it is Jesus Himself living through us. This is what is called the “fruit of the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22-25, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” To “live” in the Spirit simply means to be alive in the Holy Spirit, which you automatically are if you are saved, because He lives inside your body, soul and spirit. But we must choose moment by moment, day by day, to walk in that same indwelling Holy Spirit of God, if we are to obey and please our dear Savior. The Christian life is a deliberate life, it won't just happen by happenstance.

By default we walk in the flesh, fulfilling the sinful desires of the flesh. I truly love this next passage of Scripture and think about it often, because it is God's recipe how to live right...

2nd Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”

That is not mind control; but rather, living the Spirit-filled life. We cannot stop sinful thoughts from entering into our mind throughout each day, but we can seize those wrong thoughts and bring them into submission to Christ, that is, to God's inspired Word. Remember, Jesus is the Living Word (John 1:1-3, 14; Revelation 19:13), and the Holy Bible is the Written Word (1st Timothy 3:16-17; John 17:17). The key to the Christian life is to abide in the Scriptures day and night (Psalms 1:1-3). The inspired King James Bible is our source of spiritual food (1st Peter 2:2; Matthew 4:4). The Christian whose Bible is falling apart is not.