The True Christian Life or How does the child of God live the Christian Life? Note - This article is a follow-up to our critique on the Purpose Driven Life. We will answer the question: “If Rick Warren does not provide Biblical instruction on how to live the Christian life, then what is the message of the Bible on this critical subject? The Christian life is not a new set of principles to be kept, but rather a new life to be lived by faith. Otherwise, the believer has simply swapped one set of laws for another. The child of God, the moment he believed, died to the law (Romans 7: 1-6) and became free from the law (Romans 6:14). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). The life that once demanded that he keep the law, which he found impossible to keep, has now become a life of faith in the only One who never failed to keep the law, Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:17). We call your attention to several scriptures that will make this truth abundantly clear. 1. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith’” (Romans 1: 17). The one who has been justified by faith in Christ (Romans 3: 20, 24; Galatians 3:24-26) has become a child of God and is now called to live by faith. 2. In Colossians 2: 6 we are told what type of faith this is: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him.” The type of faith that saved us is the same faith that we exercise daily, and our object of faith never changes—Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Having been saved, the child of God relies upon Christ to work in him that which he could never do as an unsaved person. 3. In Galatians 2: 20 we are told what Christ will do in response to that simple faith. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Once the sinner becomes a saint by faith in Christ alone, his old life is dead and the new life is in Christ. Christ now wants to live His life through the child of God. To do this, He must have free access to his body, soul, and mind. This is accomplished as the saint removes all claims to himself and yields fully to his Lord. 4. This yielding is a picture of Romans 12: 1-2. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” To live by faith in light of ones glorious salvation is only reasonable or the rational thing to do. Why would a believer do anything else and expect it to result in the life he was saved to live? Then in verse 2 we read, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (New King James) The Christian’s whole life should be a testimony of God’s perfect will for a child of His. It will be a life that is no longer conformed to the world. It will also be a life in which his mind is being more and more transformed on a daily basis by the truth found in God’s Word (Ephesians 4: 20-24). Therefore, we are not pointing you to some popular book written by man, some system by which one is to live, or some sure-fire formula for becoming a successful Christian. Rather, we are directing your attention to God’s unalterable Word that always presents Jesus Christ Who said, “I am the true vine; you are the branches. If a man remains (abides) in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15: 5).
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"The type of faith that saved us is the same faith that we exercise daily, and our object of faith never changes - Jesus Christ..." | ||||||
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