Faith or Experience?

. . . the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me —Galatians 2:20

We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.

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信心與經歷

……神的兒子……他是愛我，為我捨己。 （加二20）

我們要與自己的情緒搏鬥，完全歸向主耶穌；從自我的小圈子中出來，完全降服於他。試想想新約中的耶穌基督是誰，然後想想我們可憐的信心多麽渺小- [我沒有這種經歷，又沒有那種經歷！ ]試想想對主耶穌的資訊該存的指望- 他能把我們無可指摘地帶到神的寶座前，完全無瑕疵，完全改變稱義。我們要心存何等崇敬的信心。他成為我哦們的智慧、我們的義、我們的成聖與救贖。我們憑什麽說為神的兒子有所犧牲！從地獄和沈淪蒙救贖的人，竟膽敢說犧牲！

我們要經常保持對耶穌基督的信心；不是一個祈禱會裡的耶穌；不是一本書中的耶穌，乃是新約中的耶穌，是神成了肉身，把我們治死在他腳前的那一位。信心必須是對准給我們經歷的那一位。主耶穌要求我們毫無保留地歸他。我們實在無法經歷到主耶穌，也無法把他拘禁在我們心裡，可是信心卻對他有堅強不移的靠賴。在這一點上，我們看見聖靈對不信是多麽不耐煩。一切的恐懼都是可惡的，因為恐懼是源於我們不肯培育信心。人若與主合一，怎可能再落在恐懼疑惑裡？應該充滿無法抑制、得勝的信心凱歌。

祈禱◆主啊，願今天在我們眼前，展現你在我們當中那使人振奮和更新的臨在，為此我們只有欣喜，因為我們對永恆如何具體介入時間之中，有了新的盼望。