Question: Bob, I see all your writings on living a sin-free life. I am all for that, but where does Jesus come into your doctrine?
Answer: “When by grace with godly sorrow and repentance through faith a person believes in their heart (Rom 10:9) on the merits of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and asks God for forgiveness of sins, and believes by faith that God has forgiven them (1Joh 1:9; Act 4:12 1Pet 1:9), they are converted and have become a child of God.”
This is taken from my article on True Conversion.
Note that with salvation, one must believe in their heart on the merits of the death and resurrection of Jesus. So the starting point is believing on the merits of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
After we are saved, we are to abide in Christ the vine and receive the empowering sap of the Holy Spirit through Him that we may bring forth much fruit.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
“We increase in the fruit of the Spirit as we abide in Jesus the vine and He abides in us. Without the Lord Jesus we “can do nothing” (Joh 15:4). Christ must be the central theme of our life, and we must look to Him who is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2).”
This is taken from my article on How to Increase in the Fruit of the Spirit.
One of the marks of a victorious Christian is they are in love with Jesus.
“In Love With Jesus — Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, they are always talking about Jesus. They seem to have a one-track mind. Jesus helps with the simplest tasks from finding their keys to their deep spiritual needs. When something good happens, they seem to automatically blurt out “Thank you, Jesus!” Their whole aim in life is to love Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mar 12:30), and loving their neighbor as themselves – for as they do unto others, they have done unto Jesus (Mat 25:40). They do not have time for forwarding non-practical teachings, and their main theme is to become more like Christ. They do not make pet doctrines a test of fellowship, but only want to know that you love and obey Jesus.”
This is taken from my article on Marks of a Victorious Christian.
I have quoted from a number of articles on my site to show that indeed I hold and teach a Christ-centered life.
Even though the name of my site is More Christ Like, and in many posts on my site I clearly point people to Jesus and clearly note the only way to live a victorious life is to abide in Jesus the vine; for some reason, and I am not sure why, some have tried to say that I have little to say about Jesus and to much to say about forsaking sin.
We are in the midst of a great apostasy where on every hand we have people professing to have the life of Christ in their soul, but they are living a low, shabby, sinful, and carnal life.
Jesus himself told us that the greatest commandment is that we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Further, Jesus told us that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (Joh 14:21) and “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings” (Joh 14:24).
We love God to the degree that we hate sin. The Lord reproved those who had his name on the lips but their heart was far from him.
Part of the work that God has given us to do as saints is to call those to repentance that have been lulled to sleep by the unbiblical teaching that we will and must sin.
Many that have sin in their lives and have not been able to break the sinning and repenting cycle do not like the “free from sin” (Rom 6:18) teaching. I fully understand this, and they have my prayers. When it was first presented to me, I thought it was foolishness. At the time, I had a high profession, but smoked and did other sins regularly.
By God’s grace I am living a Christ-centered life. My main emphasis is to bring glory to Jesus by living a life of obedience to him. I walk around throughout my day talking to Jesus. Jesus is my lover, my best friend, and the One I turn to who always understands me when others do not.
I would rather die than disobey my Jesus. He has done so much for me, and it is my desire to be faithful to him and point others to him that they may become more like Him.
I am human, I have faults, I am learning, I do not get everything done right the first time; but it is truly my desire to glorify Jesus and point people to Christ.
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