How to Be Like Jesus
Category: Obedience to God’s Will
Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 3
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Second Corinthians chapter number three. The title for tonight would be, How to Be Like Jesus. I hope you have a desire for that. Every one of you can shine a different glitter, hue, glitter of Christ like nobody else can. And I hope you have a desire to be like Christ.
It ought to be, if you are born again and you are a Christian, that’s a desire in your heart: how to be like Christ, that’d be like Jesus. And that will be the title for tonight. Second Corinthians chapter three.
And the Bible says in verse number 13: “And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.”
Let me just take a quick note of that. Speaking of when Moses went on Mount Sinai, or some will call it Sinai, but went on Mount Sinai, and he got the law. Remember he spent those days with the Lord. And he came down, and remember that glow? And at one point he put a veil over, because just the brightness that had been with the Lord, and the Lord had rubbed off, if you will, on him. And he had to veil his face. But he was talking about the end which is abolished—the Law. We are not under the Law; we are under Christ. By the way, that doesn’t lead you to do less; it leads you to do more.
Well, that’s what he’s speaking of. Verse number 14: “But their minds were blinded.” The Jew as a whole, the Jewish nation, they did not receive Christ as their Messiah. But their minds were blinded. “For unto this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ.” They missed it.
That the Old Testament was just pointing to Christ, and he took the veil away, but they missed it. Okay.
Verse number 15: “But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.”
“Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” Now the Lord is that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Now there is a lot that could be said about that verse number 14. But the liberty—so many things—but specifically, the liberty to know Christ. You can draw close to Him. The Spirit says there is liberty to no veil. You can draw nigh; you can know Him.
Then verse number 18: And really, we are kind of narrowing it down, trying to get really to the last line of the chapter. But verse number 18: “But we all with open face, there is no veil anymore.” Christ rent the veil from top to bottom. “With open face beholding as in a glass”—a mirror, if you will. Often the Bible calls the Bible a mirror—“beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.”
And see, when you get saved, the Spirit of God moves inside. You are in Christ, and Christ is in you. And so when you look in the mirror, specifically the mirror of the Word of God, you can see Christ. That’s what he wants.
And then he says this: “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same image from glory to glory.” You grow. You get saved, and God moves inside of you, but as you grow from glory to glory, and the more time you spend looking into the perfect law of liberty and in the mirror, and you are seeking to see Christ, you are growing that from glory to glory. Okay, that’s what he is saying there.
And then notice this last phrase: “even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Of course, the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Grace, and others, but the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Christ, living inside of you.
How to be like Jesus.
Number one: Get saved. If you are not a born-again Christian, you will never be like Jesus unless you start off getting saved.
Now, when you are saved, what happens? Look over in 1st Corinthians. Look over 1 Corinthians chapter 3. You will know the truth, but we will just look at two verses to kind of show it from the Bible. 1 Corinthians 3, and look at verse number 16. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse number 16 of God’s word. And he says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” That is amazing.
Look over in chapter number 6. Chapter 6 of 1st Corinthians. Look at verse number 19. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse number 19: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” It is interesting; 2nd Corinthians 6 also talks about the Spirit dwelling in you and your body is His temple.
So if you want to be like Jesus, first thing, get saved. You will never be like Jesus. You can know a whole lot of facts, you can know the Bible, you can know statistics, you can know, oh, maybe even catechisms, if you will, and all these things, but you will not be like Jesus. You know, there are universities that have Bible professors that are not saved, and they might know a lot about Jesus, but they do not know Jesus, and they will not be like Jesus until they have Jesus living inside of them.
I had the privilege of leading a lady to the Lord Thursday. And her grandpa was there. And when it was all done, she said—she said, I feel different. Amen. She said, I am trying to remember her exact word. She said, she said this. I remember this exact word. She said, “I feel like a load’s been lifted.” She said, “Am I supposed to feel like this?” And I think she said something like this: She said, “I felt like I have life within me. Am I supposed to feel like this?” And me and her grandpa said, “Yep, you are supposed to feel exactly like that.” Why? Because the Holy Spirit of God had moved inside of her. And He lived. That is what the Bible said. Therefore, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.” It does not mean you cannot sin; you still sin, but it won’t be the same. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Why? God is living inside of you.
So if you want to be like Jesus, first of all, get saved. Number one, just get saved.
Then number two, and this is just kind of an overview; we have to get some practical things. Number two, let the Spirit of Christ have full control of your life. And I use that—how the Bible uses that sometimes for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. You have His Spirit living inside of you.
At that last phrase in the verse we read, talking about as we grow more and more like Jesus, that is His ultimate thing He is trying to do: to conform us to the image of His Son. Romans 8:29 talks about that. And the Holy Spirit, He is working that. He is trying to bring that about in your life. And if I let Him have control, He is trying to—oh, picture yourself as a rock, and He is trying to chisel away and add a little bit here and there and form you into the image of His Son. The Holy Spirit is trying to do that. The good thing about that is He is trying to form a picture of Jesus in your life. You do not have to make it up. Man, I have to try to make myself like Jesus. You will never do that. But the Spirit of God can.
And a little bit, it takes the pressure off of you. You are going to try to do something; you will never do that. But the Spirit of God can do that. And as you yield and allow and you want His direction, you see, you are the canvas and He is the painter. And He is trying to paint on your life a picture of Jesus.
Now let me give you just three practical steps to allow the Holy Spirit of God to make you like Jesus. I hope that is your desire. You know the song, “Oh, to be like Him, oh, to be like Him. Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art. Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness, stamping Thine own image deep on my heart.” I hope that is your desire, to be like Jesus. Three practical steps. I am just going to try to be real practical, try to be brief tonight because we have a special thing coming up with deacon ordination.
Number one, three things, practical ways to allow the Holy Spirit of God to make you like Jesus. Number one, give yourself to the Holy Spirit every morning. We just read over there in 1 Corinthians chapter 6; we read verse number 19. Where it says, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” But you have a God, and you are not your own. That next verse says, “For ye are bought with a price.”
Jesus has purchased you with His own blood. He has redeemed you; He has paid for you, and you are not your own. We sometimes ask young people—it is graduation time—“What do you want to do with your life?” I am not saying that is necessarily sinful, but it is not a matter of what they want to do with their life. It is a matter of what Christ wants to do with their life. If they are born-again Christians, they are not their own. And you and I, we have a lot of desires and things we want to do. But friend, it is not about what you want to do; it is about what Christ wants to do. And every morning I ought to go and say, “Hey, I want to give myself to You.”
Your flesh will tell you you have the right to do what you want to do, and you have the right to answer back like you want to. You have the right to be maybe mean every once in a while. You have the right to—friend, you have no right because you are not your own. And every morning you say, “Hey, I am going to come and I am going to bring myself.”
And you might have to take your hands and say, “Hey, Holy Spirit, I am giving myself to You.” And every morning you go to Him, you get along with God somewhere in some prayer closet and away from the world, and leave your phone and everything outside there. And you close that door and you say, “Hey, I am giving myself to You today.” And if you want to be like Christ, that will start off with you: “Hey, I am going to give myself to You today.” Every morning, “Hey, here I am, Lord.”
You must give yourself. “Hey, Lord, my feet are Yours to go where You want them to go today. Hey, Lord, my eyes, I am giving them to You to see what You want them to see. My tongue is Yours, and I want it to say what You wanted to. I am giving my tongue to You.” Every morning give yourself to the Spirit of Christ.
You might have to go through your whole life: “My reputation is Yours. My finances are Yours. My house is Yours. My truck is Yours. My car is Yours. Yes, yes, Your children. That is what Psalm 127 says: They are an inheritance of the Lord. The children are Yours. He just gave them to us to raise for a lot. My children are Yours. My body is Yours.”
And every morning, if you want to be like Jesus, you give yourself to the Spirit of God.
Now, what happens when you do that? It is a wonderful verse. Look over in Galatians 5, if you would, please. Galatians 5, and look at verse number 24. This is a wonderful thing that happens when you give yourself to the Spirit of Christ. Galatians 5, would you look at verse number 24, please, there? Galatians 5, verse number 24.
“And they that are Christ”—given yourself to Christ, to the Spirit of Christ—“have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Here is the thing: when you try to crucify yourself, it does not work. You realize you cannot crucify yourself? I mean, by the time you nail one hand down, how are you going to nail the other one down? You cannot crucify yourself. So what do you do? How do you do it? Man, I do not know about you, but I have a flesh that is about a mile long. You understand what I am saying? It seems like every morning it grew up; it is a monster. You know, I thought I killed it yesterday; it is a monster this morning. How do you get rid of it? You give yourself to Christ. Every morning, you go through it and you say, “Hey, here am I. I am presenting myself. I want to give myself to You.”
And the wonderful thing, when you give yourself to the Spirit of Christ, He crucifies your flesh. The more you give yourself, the more He crucifies your flesh. Now, if you are going to be like Jesus, that must happen. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ.” How does that happen? It starts off that I am crucified with Christ, and you give yourself to Him every morning. “I am giving myself to You.” If you have to, you say, “Jesus, I know positionally I was on the cross with You, but I want to hop on the cross with You this morning, and I want my flesh to be crucified.” You are going to be like Christ; you have to do that. You give yourself to Him.
And it is amazing; He will be the one. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, He will crucify your flesh. There was a little girl; she was staying at a guest home. She went to the bedroom and said, “This is going to be your bed.” And she noticed above the headboard there was a picture of Christ. And then at the footbed down there on the wall there, there was a mirror. And she went to bed that night, and she liked that picture. And so she wanted to see the picture of Christ in that mirror. And she lay there, but she could not get the right angle. And so she would have to sit up. But every time she sat up, she hid the view of Christ. Every time she sat up, she was in between the picture through the mirror, and she could not see Christ.
Until I crucify myself, or I allow—I give myself to the Spirit of God and allow Him to crucify my flesh—I will never, I will never, I will never have from glory to glory because of not crucifying my flesh. How do you do that? You give yourself every morning; give yourself to the Spirit of God. Present yourself to You. “Here am I.” It is our reasonable service, Romans says. Give ourselves.
Number one, if you want to be like Christ, every morning give yourself to the Spirit of Christ.
Number two, number two, obey His every wish. I am not there; I like to be there. You know, the Spirit of Christ, He does not always speak loud. Now, sometimes He can. Sometimes you will just be so convicted. But often it is just that still, small voice.
And so I must have my ears listening. I must get where I can understand and feel the impulses, the just little, oh, if you will, whims, the desires of the Spirit of God. I am not there like I like to be. But when you get there and you just obey His every wish.
You see, I mentioned at the beginning He is like an artist chiseling away and trying to make you look like Jesus. And here is sometimes the Spirit of Christ, He will put a chisel on something in your life. And He will say, “Hey, we need to get rid of that right there.” Maybe it is pride. Maybe it is lust. Maybe it is wrong kind of music. Maybe it is just a fleshly desire. And I have a choice. The Spirit of God will come and He will try to chisel away, and you can resist. You know, it is interesting. Acts chapter 7, Stephen, that deacon—that first deacon, deacon ordination out—that first deacon, he was full of the Holy Ghost, but they resisted. And anyone that is a Spirit-filled preacher or Spirit-filled—I got to get it right—amen, you know. That is all, folks, right, you know.
When you get a Spirit-filled person God is using in your life, you can still resist. They resist it. Yeah. And the Spirit of God will come along and say, “I want to chisel away. I want to take something out of your life,” and maybe a bad attitude. And it is our choice what we do with that. Maybe it is thoughts about someone. And it is our choice what we do. Can I say this? You will never regret letting Him chisel away. What He replaces for what He took away is 10,000 times better. That is what the Bible means when He says, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” When you allow Him to chisel away. It is all right. “All right, Holy Spirit, I will not say what I want to say. I will allow You to chisel these things away.” And it will hurt. It hurts when somebody chisels. It will hurt with His chiseling the way of your life.
Sometimes He wants to add. He will want to add some things to make you look like Jesus. He wants to add—let me just mention a couple things. It will always be some of the things He wants to have. Number one, He will add love for the brethren. If you are truly a born-again Christian, according to 1 John, you will have love for the brethren. The Holy Spirit will try to get rid of all your fleshly things, and He will add—the Spirit of God is always trying to add love for the brethren. It will not be so much about you anymore; it will be about the brethren. And the Spirit of God is always trying to add love for the brethren.
By the way, the world will know we are His disciples, not necessarily Christians, if you notice that. The world will know we are His disciples—that is one that is disciplined themselves to follow Jesus Christ. Being a born-again Christian and a disciple are two different things. It is very easy to become a born-again Christian; you just receive the gift. Oh, but to be a disciple, there are a lot of strict qualifications. You cannot love yourself. You have got to be willing to forsake others and follow Him and money and all that. You will follow Him. And the Bible says the world will know you are His disciple if you have love for the brethren. The Spirit is always trying to add that: love for the brethren.
He will add forgiveness. You know, God is ready to forgive, the Bible says. When we come to look more like Christ, we will be ready to forgive. Easy, the Bible calls it sometimes—ready to forgive.
He will add witnessing for Jesus. So the Bible says over in Acts 1:8, “And ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall speak in tongues”—no. And you shall roll down the house and run around and shout. I am not against some of that if it is not fake. But it does not say that if you have the power, the Holy Ghost—the Bible says you shall be witnesses for Christ. You say, “What is a good sign of someone being filled with the Holy Spirit?” Not all this crazy circus show stuff. No, it is been a soul-winner, trying to win some to the Lord. That is a good sign. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me.” That is what the Bible says. The Spirit is always trying to add witnessing for Jesus, have where you go, trying to add that.
So I want to be more like Christ. If you want to be more like Christ, what do you do? Give yourself to the Spirit of God every morning. Number two, obey. Obey as every just slightest breeze He blows. You see, I want to go that way. It is not about my will; it is about Your way. I want You to have Your way every time. And you obey His every whim.
Number three, number three, yield to Him throughout the day. Yield to Him throughout the day. My pastor for about seven years, Brother Howes, he had a lot of character. And his pattern would be to say this prayer, I believe, seven times a day. And I love the wording of it. He said, “Holy Spirit, I yield to You. And would You help me to do what Jesus would do if He is in my shoes?” I yield to You and help me to do what Jesus would do if He is in my shoes.
Throughout the day, it may be 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 12 a.m. and 3 a.m., 6, 7 a.m., 9 a.m., when you go to bed. Throughout the day. You might come up with wording differently, but you yield to Him. “I yield to You, Holy Spirit. I yield to You. I want to obey You. And would You help me to do what Jesus would do if He is in my shoes?” I understand the Bible, right? In some ways He is in your shoes because you are in Christ. He is in you. The Spirit of Christ dwelleth in you.
I am so thankful I do not have to muster up and try to make myself like Jesus. I never do that. But the Spirit of God can. Throughout the day, you yield to Him, and I yield to You. I would like to do what Jesus would do if He is in my shoes.
He yields throughout the day to the Holy Spirit. You let Him know that. He is capable. That same power that resurrected Christ—the Spirit of God did not have that power. You yield to Him. “Holy Spirit, I yield. I sure would like for You to have control of my life. And would You help me to do what Jesus would do if He is in my shoes?”
How many who are here at Brother Bush’s funeral service memorial? How many is there for that memorial service? It was a sweet service. He did a wonderful job of preaching that service throughout his life. One of the most special things about that service, in my viewpoint, was when Ms. Susanna, his daughter, got up, and of course, he was very tough, but she did a good job of singing a song. And she sang a song about her dad. Those of you here, you heard her do it. It is called “I Saw Jesus in You.” Let me just read through the chorus: “I saw Jesus in You. I saw Jesus in You. I could hear His voice in the words You said. I saw Jesus in You. In Your eyes, I saw His care. I could see His love was there. You were faithful, and I saw Jesus in You.”
Hey, Jesus would like for others to see Him in you. In fact, He set His Spirit living inside of you. And He is trying to grow you into the image of Christ from glory to glory.
Would you just say, “Hey, I am going to give myself to You every morning. And I will obey any little bitty desire, anything You want. I want to obey it.” You are not going to be perfect at that. Can I just say He is the Spirit of Grace as one of His titles? Don’t get defeated when you do not obey many a time. “Lord, I missed a chance to witness to so-and-so. I am so sorry. Would You be merciful to me? Would You give me another opportunity? Maybe give me another opportunity to witness.” But He will forgive. But you want to grow in obeying His every little bitty wish, desire. Then you yield. “Holy Spirit, I yield to You. And would You help me to do what Jesus would do if He is in my shoes?”
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please?
You hear tonight and you say, “I want to give myself.” I am not saying it is going to be perfect at it, but I am going to seek to give myself to the Spirit of God every morning. I just want to bring myself to Him every morning and give myself to Him. God spoke to my heart about that. I am going to be working at that, giving myself to Him every day. God spoke to my heart about that. If that is you tonight, just lift your hand, that preacher, “I am going to work at it, giving myself to Him every day, every day.” Oh, that is awesome. Wonderful. Wonderful. Oh, He can do such a better job with our lives than we can with our own life.
You say, “Preacher, I’d like to grow. I’m with you in all these, but I’d like to grow in obeying the least little bitty, just the least little bitty whim He wants. I’d like to obey it. And I want to grow. I’m going to try to have my ears tuned in better to the Spirit, listening and obeying. I want to walk in the Spirit.” God spoke to my heart about obeying His every, every wish. I’d like to grow in that. If that is you tonight, just lift your hand up, preacher, “I’d like to grow in that.” Oh, me too, me too. I am so far from where it ought to be. I’d like to get there.
One more question for the saved: “I’m going to yield.” It may not be those exact words, but I’m going to come up with my own prayer, and I’m going to try to yield throughout the day. It may be those words, but it may be in other words, but “I yield to You, Holy Spirit, and would You let me and help me to do what Jesus would do if He’s in my shoes?” But I’m going to try to yield to Him throughout the day. God spoke to my heart about that. I’m going to work at that throughout the day, yielding to the Spirit of Christ. God spoke to your heart about that. You lift your hand up.
I’m so thankful I don’t have to make myself like Christ. I can never do that. But the Spirit of Christ can. He’d like to make you look like Jesus. And maybe here tonight or maybe online and you say, “I’m not a born-again Christian.” It all starts there. You will never be like Jesus, never, unless you have Christ, the Spirit of Christ, live inside of you. And maybe you are there and you say, “I’m not a born-again Christian.” Oh, He longs to save you. And He will slowly conform you. It won’t be complete until you get to heaven. But that will be the final leg, if you will, of the becoming like—when we see Him, we will be like Him. But it all starts: salvation. And maybe here tonight in the service or maybe you are online, you say, “I’m not a born-again Christian.” If that is you tonight, you lift your hand up, preacher, “I’m not a born-again Christian. You need to get saved.” And I like that. You’re not a born-again Christian. He longs to save you. Would you go to Him asking to be your Savior? He will save you. He longs to. And the Spirit of God will move inside of you.
Original File: Paul Chisgar Sunday PM - How to be Like Jesus - 53021