How to Live for Christ Moment by Moment

Topics Significance- This topic is significant because most Christians do not understand how to live for Christ after salvation. The result of this is that they end up not following the Lord and leaving the church. Therefore, this sermon is a basic biblical teaching on how to live for Christ after salvation. Faith in Christ and what He accomplished at calvary is not a faith that is to be abandoned after we get saved. It is an object to cling our faith to. which in turn will result in a deeper relationship with the Lord. Faith in Christ and Him crucified is Gods prescribed order of victory for salvation and for moment by moment living for Christ. According to the Public Religious Research Institute’s annual American Values Atlas, which features over 60,000 interviews a year, the number of Americans who have identified as Christian has declined from 54 percent in 2008 to 41 percent in 2018. That’s a 13% drop in 10 years which is significant when it comes to Christianity. People are getting saved and walking away from the Lord (or they are not responding to the salvation message at all). When a new believer is taught how to live for Christ the correct way, which is a moment by moment and day by day faith, then they are less likely to walk away from the Lord, leave the church and go back into the world. Why do they do this? Because they try to live for Christ by their own works (Law. ) When I say works, I mean Church attendance, reading the Bible, praying, tithing, etc. Even though these practices are good, they are not to be depended on for a relationship with the Lord. The Bible does not tell us to “read the Bible to get saved” We are to read the Bible BECAUSE we have a relationship with the Lord and because we are ALREADY saved. We are to pray and go to church and tithe and any other Christian work we practice BECAUSE we have a relationship with the Lord. If we try to live for God through good works it will make void the promises of God and the sin nature will begin again to rule and reign in our lives. Paul wrote about the deeds of the flesh “ Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” ( Gal 5:19-21). Paul wrote this to believers But we have hope when we place our faith in Christ and Him crucified that the Lord will keep us . “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1:9).

Biblical and Rational Position- The reason a believer must place their faith in Christ and Him crucified for everyday living is because the Holy Spirit will not work outside of the parameters of faith in Christ. The Bible states “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). This law of God was made possible by what Christ accomplished at calvary. The power of God is found in the crucifixion of Christ and is given to us by way of the Holy Spirit through faith in His accomplished work at calvary. The answer for the believer who is struggling to live this Christian life or the believer who has walked away from the Lord is faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I am not talking about faith in a wooden beam, I am talking about the sacrifice of Christ and our faith in that finished work. “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe”(Gal 3:22). Concerning this scripture Bruce stated: “The law does indeed produce transgressions, and by that very fact it demonstrates its inability to lead to justification and life. Those who use it as a way to justification and life are in fact misusing it; it is this misuse that nullifies the promise. What the law does is to bring to light the universal human plight: all are ‘under sin’. If, realizing this, men and women look round for a way of deliverance from their plight, they find it in the promise. Believing the promise, and the one who has made it, they are justified—justified by faith in Jesus Christ, in whom the promise and its fulfilment are embodied. Far from being against the promises, then, the law drives men and women to flee from its condemnation and seek refuge in the promises.

Eph 3:17 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love” Concerning this scripture Excell wrote: “Christianity differs from all other religions, not in the fact that it commands a worship-for all do; not simply in the superior view which it gives of God; but by demanding a peculiar condition of heart toward Christ.What is this peculiar position of the heart that he is referring to? This condition of the heart that is demanded by God can only be found by faith in Christ and Him crucified. Paul wrote “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).

F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1982), 180.

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Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator: Ephesians (New York; Chicago; Toronto; London; Edinburgh: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), 305.

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