Take It Up a Notch! 2

Human nature is innately rebellious to the will of God.   Don't try to work for your Salvation.  You can't live a good life, because you are a sinner.  When an unregenerate sinner tries to find good within himself, it's like digging for diamonds in a coal mine; you're wasting your time and energy.   When Christ Jesus is in your heart, He can live a good life through you, but you cannot live a good life in your own strength.  God will never accept you based on your works.  God's Salvation is not based on what you can do; Bible Salvation is solely based on what God Incarnate (Christ Jesus) did on Calvary's Cross.  God is looking for absolute Righteousness, and no sinner on the Earth is righteous within himself.  Every person has sinned, and sinned and sinned against God. As long as you remain in your natural state, you are controlled by your Sin nature.

A sinner may boast about a few works he's done, but a sinner (a criminal that is due divine justice) can never boast of divine Righteousness.  At the Cross, God in Christ was taking care of your sin problem because you cannot.  By your very nature you came into this world as a sinner.  God will only accept you, if you will sincerely accept Christ into your heart as your personal Savior.  There is no Justification by works. *Galatians 2:16* No one has ever kept the Law perfectly except the Lord Jesus Christ.  Your need Righteousness in order to be reconciled to God here in time and meet Him safely in Eternity Christ Jesus was Righteousness Incarnate - you need Him.  The moment you receive Christ, your soul is made Righteous in God's sight for Jesus' sake.  Put first things first - trust your soul with the Lord Jesus Christ today, and then you will begin to be in conflict with your sins.  This is called fighting the good fight of Faith.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. He was not just a moral teacher.  Jesus was without sin; He humbled Himself as a Jewish peasant.  You need to bow your knees and heart to Christ Jesus, the Crucified Creator.  Jesus is the King of your life after you born again, and you are a subject in His Kingdom.  Will you let Jesus rule and reign your life?  Obey Jesus daily and practically.  When you trust Jesus' Blood, and follow and obey Jesus, you please and honor God.  "Well done" is always better than "well said".

Submit to Jesus' authority just like you submitted to your parents' authority when you were a child.  Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.  A sheep follows the Shepherd.  If you follow yourself, you will wreck and ruin your life.  God will help and enable you to trust and follow Jesus.  The Holy Spirit can give your life excellence.  Put your Salvation in shoe leather - live out Christ's life that is within you.  Christ liveth in me.

Your character, conduct, and conversation should magnify Christ in your life.  Live out the righteousness which God has placed within you.  God the Holy Spirit lives within us, and He wills and works within us to help us magnify Christ in our lives practically.  Each day ask the Holy Spirit for more of His power and purity.  Live so that the people around you notice that you are different (humble, pure, giving, thankful, selfless).  Salt is healing to some and agitating to others.  This world wants you to live a life of sin, because if you live pure, you make them uncomfortable, and you condemn them.  Sanctification is when God sets you apart for His purpose, honor and glory.  Let Jesus rule in your life privately and publicly.

Your belief will determine your behavior.  You can make your life count for the Lord Jesus Christ by trusting, following, obeying and pleasing Him.  A child of God has a responsibility to work out the Salvation that Jesus has given him.  Jesus gave us a goldmine of truth, hope, and power within; and now we have to dig the gold out of the mine He has given us.  Exercise thyself unto godliness.  We already own the goldmine, we don't work for it.  Follow Jesus leadership and guidance, and commune with the Holy Ghost.  You don't have to be a preacher, but you need to be a reacher.  Every day try to reach and influence some soul around you with the Gospel in a wise and practical way that will stick.  Live for Jesus at home and at work.  The more conscious you are of Jesus living within you, the more you will watch for evil, resist temptation and do right for Jesus' sake.

The good pleasure of God is what makes Him the happiest about your life - God wants you to yield to Him, follow His Son, be sensitive to His Spirit's prompting and leading, and become Christ-like in your daily thoughts and behavior - this is the good pleasure of God. What you become within your heart and mind in the sight of God is much more important that what you may do religiously outwardly.  Seek to have a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.

God's ultimate goal for you is to be Christ-like and to be conformed to the image of His Son in your thoughts, words and actions. Take seriously pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ every day, and consider how your thoughts, words and action may grieve the Holy Spirit or displease God.  What God wants you to do, He will give you direction and enable you to work it out.  Whatever God wills, He will work it out in us, but we must yield to His calling.  Faithful is God that calleth you, who also will do it.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the mind of Christ (purity, humility, selflessness), the heart of Christ (meekness, compassion), and the life of Christ (mercy, obedience to the Father's will).  It is a pleasurable thing to God when you walk in the Spirit and follow Jesus daily.