“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved,” - you will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9

With the mouth confession is made to being conformed to the image of Jesus, being just like Jesus.

The Scripture says, whoever believes on him shall be saved, that is, shall be made just like Jesus.

God has not left us in this life, in this world, to meander around, wandering how His word is going to be fulfilled in our lives, how we’re going to make it. God has a path; He has a clear way set for us to follow. There is a way from where we are right now to where God sees us to be in our finished state.

We read in the New Testament many commandments of God, commandments of the New Covenant. And we don’t know how we are going to fulfill them all. We are commanded to be just like God, over and over. The New Testament is filled with the “just as” verses. Be just like God. That is a commandment. How can we fulfill such a commandment? By performance, by obligation? Well, I have to do it because God said I have to do it and if I don’t do it, its obvious I don’t love Him. And so it goes.

So many dear believers get caught in a trap of performance, outward obedience to God – “All that the Lord says, we will do.”

Yes, God desires obedience, but 'obedience' does not come first. God has a way, He has a process.

First we must hear what He speaks. Now, we understand that when God speaks His word, much of it falls on soil that is not ready to receive it. And for many, the birds of the air come along and pick up that seed before it takes root, and it is not even noticed.

That is how many believers read the parts of the New Testament they don’t believe, they just read right over it. “That doesn’t belong to me, it’s for over in heaven somewhere, or it's for some other person, but it certainly isn’t talking about me.” And so they do not hear what God is saying.

But God does not speak His words for us to figure out, to fit into doctrine, to define. God speaks His words for us to hear and to believe. It begins with believing. For with the heart one believes what God speaks. But then the next step is that we confess the Lord Jesus. We confess the word God speaks. We speak what God speaks. When God speaks, He is always speaking out of His view of us in our finished state. God always sees us as we really are, just like Jesus. Because God does not live in time, our finished state - who we are from the very beginning, that state of being just like Jesus - is with God right now. To us it is future, to God it is right now. That is how God sees us.

And when God speaks to us, He is speaking out of who we are. He is talking to us about who we are. Here is the problem with obedience that is only performance.

There is the thought in the person who is performing obedience that “if I just try hard enough, I will become what God wants. I will get there; I will make it.” That very thought is what destroys that kind of obedience. The very thought that by obeying I will make it is the thought that separates that kind of obedience from God. It is itself separation from God. It is not a thought of faith.

Faith sees what God sees. Faith has its eyes on God, on the finished work. When I obey what God speaks, I do not obey so that I will make it, I obey because that is who I am. I am the person who loves with God’s love. The love of God IS overflowing within my heart. It doesn’t matter what I feel, or what my natural eye sees. We do not walk by sight, we walk by faith. We do not walk by what our natural eye sees, we walk by what God says about us, who I am.

It is normal for me to love, it doesn’t matter if I don’t feel like loving. I don’t enter into love by choosing to love, I love because I am love and a fountain of love flows out of my heart. Sometimes it feels as if we are choosing to love because we don’t “feel” like a loving person, but that feeling is just a figment of our imagination, that I don’t feel like loving. That is what is false. The idea that right at this moment I don’t feel very loving, that thought is what is imagination, what is false. I am one who loves; that is who I am.

“In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:9-10

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead [you have already died, the part of you that needed to die is dead], and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life appears, then you also will appear with you in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4

Christ is our life. What I feel at the present moment in this earthly state, in this womb of development is not who I am. When I want to know who I am, I look at Christ because Christ is my life. And as He appears, there I am as I am, just like Him.

And I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus; I confess with my mouth who I am. I am love, love is in me, and God loves others through me. That is who I am.

Then Paul goes on to talk about putting to death our members that are on the earth. And later in this series, I want to talk specifically about what that means – the role of the body in our transformation into the image of Jesus Christ.

Verse 9-11: “Do not lie to one another, since you have [already] put off the old man with his deeds, and have [already] put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created Him [we are transformed into His image by keeping our eyes on Him and seeing Him because He is who we are], where there is neither Greek nor Jew . . . but Christ is all and in all.”

Sometimes, to get at the heart of a sentence, we have to remove in between phrases. In verse 11 Paul makes this claim. “Christ is all in me.” Christ is all there is in me!

When I look in me I see Christ. Christ is all there is; there is nothing else. I see Christ in me.

Then we understand that Christ fulfilled all obedience, and Christ in me is the one who obeys the Father. And my obedience comes out of who I am. It begins by hearing what God says about me in my finished state. No matter how impossible it seems, nor how much what I see with my natural eyes seems to contradict it, I believe that it is so. And then I confess the Lord Jesus, my eyes are on the Lord Jesus. Because my life is hid with Christ in God. That is who I am. I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus. He is who I am. Therefore my obedience comes out of who I am, it is the obedience of faith. I do not obey in order to become, I obey because I am. I love because I am love. This is the difference. This is the obedience that is pleasing to the Father.

Outward obedience pleases no one. The obedience that pleases the Father comes out of faith.

Let’s look at several more of the “just as” verses in the New Testament that tell us how we are just like Jesus. We will not look at all of them, there are more.

In John 20, right after the resurrection of Jesus as He comes into the upper room to meet again with the disciples, Jesus says to them in verse 21, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

Just as the Father sent me, in exactly the same way, so I send you.

There is a whole lot inside that statement.

Jesus was sent by the Father to seek and to save that which was lost. We are sent by Jesus to seek and to save that which is lost. Jesus was sent by the Father to show us what the Father is like, we are sent by Jesus to show others what Jesus is like.

The Father sent Jesus to overcome, to defeat death and the evil one and sin in this world. Jesus is sending us to overcome, to defeat death, to defeat this world system that stands in opposition to God, to defeat the accuser, to cast his voice down. Jesus sends us that God might crush Satan under our feet.

These are the three things I talk about in the Goal of the Believer series. Jesus was sent by God to show us the Father. We contain all the fullness of God that God might move through us and be seen in us. God is invisible, He wants to be revealed. Just as Jesus was sent to seek and to save what was lost, so God flows out of us in a river of living water, the Holy Spirit healing and bringing life to everyone we touch. Just as Jesus came into this world to defeat the enemies of God, so He sent us to fulfill and bring to completion his purpose and His mission.

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be followers [imitators-KJV] of God as dear children. And walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us . . .” Ephesians 4:32-5:2

In that short passage, on either side of “be imitators of God” we have two of the “just as” verses. We are to forgive just as God forgave us, and we are to love just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. And this is the heart of God, right here. These words reverberate more deeply out of who God is more than any others in the Bible. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted. With these words, God is showing us who He is really like, what He really is.

Being like God is being kind to one another. Being like God in its centrality, in its essence, in its purity, is being tenderhearted. Forgiving one another, loving, giving ourselves for one another. There is no greater expression of the heart of God, of who God is than these words share. You are never more like God, you will never be more like God than when you are kind, when you are tenderhearted, especially when it is not deserved, especially when it is a response to those who have treated us unkindly. When we are kind back to that person, never could we possibly be more like God than in that demonstration of kindness.

“But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” 1 Peter 1:15

Here again, we could so easily fall into the Satanic definition of God: God is an outward performer, and He is interested in outward performance, what we do in an outer sort of way. That is how our enemy views God. Sadly, he tricks so many Christians into that same definition. Seeing God as a miser, seeing God as being on their case, out to trip them up, out to prove that they are, after all, selfish. That the bottom line in their hearts is selfishness. Even worse, Satan has taught foolish Christians to see God's expectations as an outward performance that they then force on other believers, causing them to live out of a mask of falseness, completely separate from God.

And so they try very heard to please God in outward performance. Being sure they go to church all the time, being sure they refrain from doing outward things that are objectionable. Controlling and manipulating other believers in this hideous dance of outward masks and untrue faces. Very zealous in an external means. That is NOT what the word 'holy' means.

The word 'holy' was used to speak of a vessel, a cup, maybe, that was dedicated to a particular god. This cup was for the service of this god and for its temple and was not to be used for any other purpose. It has that meaning throughout all pagan religions, and it is useful to God in the same sense. Holy is not talking about external performance. The word 'holy' is talking about devotion. It is speaking of the devotion of the heart.

Be holy for I am holy. Be devoted to me, for, Son, I am devoted to you.

If we believe in our heart that God does not like us. If we believe in our heart that God is out to prove that we are no good, that we are selfish and deceitful, then you will not come close to Him in the way that He desires. You cannot please Him; you cannot do it.

Only when we surrender to His devotion to us can we in turn devote our hearts utterly to Him. Why would I pull away from the things of this world? Because they are bad? No? I do not draw away from them, I run towards Him because He is good. And I leave the things of this world because the more I am devoted to His goodness, to His devotion to me, the more everything else means nothing to me.

We come into a communion with Him, with His devotion to us, and we pull away from the things of the world not because they are “bad” but because they are meaningless in the light of His goodness. He fills me and I love Him, and I live in His devotion to me, and He lives in my devotion to Him.

Christian life is a life of devotion, it is a life of love, of communion between a son and a Father. Should we mess up, should we make mistakes from time to time, it doesn't affect the liking of the Father and His devotion to His. We arise from such mistakes, knowing that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Knowing, knowing – we do not plead for the blood, pleading for the blood is unbelief. The only reason people plead is because they don't believe God's gonna give it to them.

I walk, knowing that His blood cleanses me.

Our hearts are devoted to Him. We run to Him because we know that He is devoted to us.

"Be holy for I am holy." It comes from the inside out. Always, always, always, if you find yourself trying to work on the outside, on your flesh, understand that is how Satan works. God always works from the inside out.

External force, external performance or obligation is never from God, it is always Satan's counterfeit. God works from the inside out. He works out from the devotion of the heart.

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself aslo to walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:5-6

We walk in this world and in this life, just as Jesus walked. How did Jesus walk? Jesus walked in fellowship with His Father; He walked in the full confidence of the power of the Holy Spirit inside of him. He knew He didn't have to produce miracles. All He had to do was speak and the river of life that was in Him would flow out of Him. The Holy Spirit would do the work, the Holy Spirit would bring healing and life. He walked in utter dependence upon the Father, He walked in one Spirit with the Father. He trusted in God. He trusted in God.

He was not a part of this world. He was not a part of the institutions of this world. He had no quarrel with the powers of this world, with the Roman Empire, per se. But He did have a quarrel with human manipulation and control. He had a quarrel with those who presented God in a false image, one who controls from the outside in, one who demands an outward performance. He had a real problem with that.

Jesus himself delighted in people. He loved people; He loved to be with people. He loved to see the joy light up in their eyes as a hope and a future that they had lost all hope in suddenly became real for them. Blind eyes open, “My God, I can see. I never hoped that I could ever see.”

We could write books about what it means to walk as Jesus walked. This is who I am. But we don't walk like Him by figuring out how He walked, and trying to do it. It begins with the love of God inside of me. It begins with seeing and confessing and believing myself as I really am, that I am just like Him. I walk as Jesus walked, not because I am trying to imitate Him in some external way, but because that is who I am. I am simply being who I am. Should I fall flat on my face in the mud, should I blow it, I get up. I get up, I look to Jesus, and I keep on walking.

“Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5

He who believes that the life that is inside of me is the very life of God. He who believes that my life is hid with Christ in God. When He who is my life appears, I shall be with Him and I shall be like Him. That is who I am. I believe it, I see it. When I look at myself I see myself as I really am and out of that faith I walk as Jesus walked; out of that faith, I overcome the world. Because I am born of God; I was conceived of God. The genes of God are inside me, they are part of my makeup, they are who I am. The other side of me, the seed of the woman is faith, this faith that receives the word God speaks with joy and believes it and believes it and believes that what God said MUST BE! I don't need to get rid of it by putting it off to heaven somewhere far away from me. I know that what God said, every word must be fulfilled in me and I believe it.

We used to think that we were supposed to think, “I'm not sure, maybe I won't make it.”

No, we are partakers of Christ if we keep the beginning of our confidence firm until the end. I believe it. And I will not hear any voice that says differently. I cast that voice down. I believe that what God said about me must be so. I hold to it. I hold to no other. I believe what He said. I believe in Jesus.

Let's look at one more 'just as' verse. Revelation 3:21 “To Him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my Throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

To him who overcomes just as I overcame, will sit down with me on My throne, just as I sit down with My Father on His throne.

This is beyond what we can comprehend, beyond what we can see. This word is a word to believe. That we will overcome just as Jesus overcame. That we will overcome death just as Jesus overcame death. That we will overcome the accuser, the liar, the deceiver, just as Jesus overcame him. That we will overcome the systems of this world, cast them down, see the kingdoms and the systems and the governments and the countries of this world fall into ruin.

We are not friends of this world system, we are not patriots of some kingdom of men. My God, we are part of a kingdom that God has placed in this world to bring that whole mess down! We do not use the instruments of this world, we do not fight with the weapons of this world. We are not against people. We are against the system that controls and manipulates people, the system that is animated by the spirit of Satan, that gets its power from the dragon.

Political government, the government of men upon this earth gets its power from the dragon. Government that manipulates and controls, that rules from the outside in, that gets people to do what it says by violence, by throwing them into prison. It's all an abomination to God. God has us in this earth to bring that whole thing down.

To Him who overcomes just as I overcame, I will grant to sit with me on My throne in the same way that I sat down with My Father on His throne.

Yes, there is a place of ruling, but we understand that it is a throne of love. It is a throne of love, of kindness, of tenderheartedness. It is the throne of God.

Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them.”

Rev. 21:7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be His God and he shall be My son.”

This is salvation. This is the goal of the believer. This is our destiny: to be this son, seated upon God's throne, the heir of all that God is.

This is our goal, this is our destiny. It's within our reach. It is very, very possible, and very, very real.

I believe in Jesus.

< Part 3: Be Just Like Your Father

Part 5: Victory in the Physical Body >