How can I be a good Christian?

Yes, the Christian is called to serve. Let us never forget this. He is privileged to "present his body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is his reasonable [his intelligent] service." This settles the whole question. It removes all difficulties; it silences all objections; it puts everything in its right place. It is not a question of what I am doing, but how I do it — not where I am, but how I conduct myself. Christianity as displayed in the New Testament is the outcome of the life of Christ in the believer; it is Christ reproduced in the Christian's daily life, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Everything the Christian touches, everything he does, everything he says, his whole practical life, from Lord's day morning till Saturday night, should bear the impress and breathe the spirit of that great practical clause on which we have been dwelling — "serving the living and true God." May it be so more and more! May all the Lord's beloved people, everywhere, be really stirred up to seek more earnest, out-and-out, whole-hearted devotedness to Christ and His precious service!

Reader, are you seeking to walk as a heavenly man through the world, and does your walk testify to the world that its deeds are evil? Does it point sinners to the glorified One at the right hand of God? The Christian has received the Spirit of God, he is responsible to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), listening to His teaching and guidance, letting the Spirit have full sway over his mind and heart, not grieving Him by independence and self-will, but through the Spirit mortifying the deeds of the body (Rom. 8:13); so that the Spirit may be free to take of the things of Christ and present them to him. The object of the Spirit is to unfold to us the beauties and glory of Christ, but directly we walk in self-will, He has to stop this work in order that we may judge ourselves for our self-will; for He cannot unfold the glories of Christ to a self-willed child. The Christian is a child of God, and he is responsible to show forth the character of his Father in the world. He is called upon to be as Christ was in the world, to do well and suffer for it, to bear reproach and scorn, and to love and bless those, who act wrongly towards him; indeed to be the exponent of the Father's love and grace in a Christ-hating and Christ-rejecting world. (Matt. 5:43-48; 1 Peter 2:19-25.) The Christian has eternal life, he is made a partaker of that life, which from eternity was with the Father and was manifested in the Son in the world. He is responsible to shew out that life, by abiding in the Son and walking as He walked (1 John 2:6), in dependence and obedience, in grace and in truth.

The Christian's rule of life is to be like Christ - the only rule he has, and we find the details of it in Scripture. We have to seek such power of Christ over the affections, that we are longing and striving to be like Him; and there is joy in that kind of activity - the heart growing naturally like Him in real spiritual diligence - occupied with Him. Not satisfied with merely avoiding evil, you must be occupied with it to avoid it; but when the heart is full of Christ, evil looks like evil - you see it in its true character; if not, it looks like a bauble.

The only way to attain to this truly happy Christian state is by daily seeking to please Christ, daily seeking to live the new life, always looking on myself as a Christian, never al­lowing such a thought as “Well, of course, I should like it, but now I am a Christian.” No , if I AM a Christian, what would like it, is not myself but sin that dwelleth in me. You must own that you still have evil thoughts and passions, but always look on these as intruders, not as yourself .

Our Lord turns to the disciples and puts before them that not merely is He going to the cross, but they must be prepared to follow Him there. If I am to be in the true path of Jesus, I must deny myself and take up the cross and follow — not the disciples — not this church or that church, but — Jesus Himself. I must turn from what is pleasing to my heart naturally. I must meet with shame and rejection in this present evil world. If not, depend upon it, I am not following Jesus; and remember, it is a dangerous thing to believe in Jesus without following Him. Following Jesus maybe like losing one's life. At the present time much confession of Christ is, comparatively, an easy matter. There is little opposition, or persecution. People imagine that the world is changed; they talk of progress and enlightenment. The truth is, Christians are changed. Let us ask ourselves whether we desire to be found taking up our cross and following Jesus. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it" (vers. 24, 25).

Blessed fact! Blessed relationship! But Israel had to be reminded of the conduct suited to such a relationship — conduct which could only flow from a loving heart. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Here lies the secret of all true practical religion. Without this all is valueless to God. "My son, give me thine heart." Where the heart is given, all will be right. The heart may be compared to the regulator of a watch which acts on the hair-spring, and the hair-spring acts on the main-spring, and the main-spring acts on the hands, as they move round the dial. If your watch goes wrong, it will not do merely to alter the hands, you must touch the regulator. God looks for real heart-work, blessed be His Name! His word to us is, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

So far from good works proving the existence of faith, they may be the fruit of unbelief itself, as when the Romanist, or Pharisee, rests on them as a ground of salvation, or a help towards it, instead of resting entirely upon the precious blood of Christ. Again, they may be the fruit of natural kindness of heart, though this is probably very rare, apart from the direct or indirect influences of Christianity. But let us remember that grace cannot exist in the heart and good works be absent. For instance, the very hour of the night in which the jailor is converted, and before he is baptized, he washes the stripes of Paul and Silas. What God looks for in the saints - that is, in justified sinners - is, that they should be good people. Of old He planted a vineyard to get fruit. That was Israel. We now are branches in the true vine in order to bear fruit. So in John 5, those who rise to life are those "that have done good." This of course shows that none can truly do good apart from faith and the new birth; but it makes manifest God's delight in those that do good. So again, in the judgment of Matt. 25 (where we know that the Church does not appear), only those are saved whose faith found practical expression in good works. "I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink," etc. See how the apostle presses good works on us in Titus 3: "Put them in mind … to be ready to every good work … I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men." And again, "Let our's also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful." Would it not be much for the health of our souls if, when we had a little time, or strength, or money that we could spare, we looked round to see what good we could do? This kind of a soul Dorcas was. Her death was such a loss that she was given back again. People of this kind also adorned the corrupt church of Thyatira. See, too, what is said of the widow in 1 Tim. 5, "Well reported of for good works;" and "if she have diligently followed every good work;" and this woman had brought up children as well. Now we happily see people around us bearing this character. Here is one sitting up a night with a sick person. Another running in in a spare hour to make a dying saint's bed. Another taking charge of the little children to let a mother get to the meeting. There are numbers of such things to be done that would relieve many an honest groan, but could we be enrolled among those who have diligently followed every good work?

Verse 21 shows that obedience to His commandments is the proof of loving Him. This is the true character of a believer. If one refuses to keep His commandments, he is not a true believer at all: he does not love Christ. One who loves Christ however is loved by the Father. This is the love of a Father toward His children, and to this is added the love of Christ and the precious fact that He would manifest Himself to the obedient one. Of course, in this He refers back to His word in verses 15 to 18: it is by the Spirit of God that today He manifests Himself to believers.

On the basis of this perfect work of the Lord Jesus, every true believer is saved and accepted "in Christ." The value of His sacrifice is put to the account of the believer. Thus Paul writes, "by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph.2:8‑9). Some people think that works must be added to grace and faith in order for one to be saved, but God says, "not of works." We must give the Lord Jesus credit for accomplishing a perfect salvation by His own work. If we add anything of self to it, we only spoil it.

Two great correlated truths relate to Christian living — (1) sin dwells in the believer, and (2) grace has overcome the power of sin and provided a way of escape from its tyranny. Many honest and true-hearted believers who desire to live according to God are most anxious to discover some means of avoiding the repeated failures which they deplore. They say: “I have to go again and again to seek pardon for sins, of which I am ashamed. How can I live more consistently?” Yes, by the supply of God's grace, you will be enabled to fashion your life according to the instructions of His word. Simply, the way of faithfulness is the obedience of faith. The same faith that clings to Christ for the forgiveness of sins, must cling to Him for power to obey God even as He obeyed. The secret of a victorious life is the renunciation of self and the determination to do everything by the faith of the Son of God. Looking in faith to Him, sin is suppressed, and holiness attained. The reign of grace in the new life of the believer is “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”