A Life History of Knowing Christ

Suppose a pastor is unregenerated, but he has already graduated from a theological seminary. He knows the teachings covering everything from sinner to salvation. What he has is a theology of salvation, though he has never once definitely received Christ into his heart as Savior. Thereafter a certain church invites him to speak. He preaches a lengthy sermon on the doctrine of salvation. How would you feel if you were one of those sitting there listening? I believe you would hope he would soon be regenerated. Although the sermon is well delivered, he could not say, "Jesus is my Savior." Can we say we have no such danger of this in our midst? It is useless just to preach the word of the cross; we need to know the cross of Christ in our life experience, for thus do we come to the true knowledge of the risen Christ. We must not merely know the doctrine of salvation, we must have our own personal history of salvation. We must not just know the teaching of victory, we must have a history of victory. We must not simply preach about gentleness, resurrection, ascension, the filling of the Holy Spirit, self-denial, self-control and other teachings, we must also have these life experiences in our own spiritual history. Only this will make us truly witnesses of Christ. There is not much use of having mere theologians in the Church.

In one of the local churches it is quite possible that some brother or sister hails from the country place. He has little knowledge, and his thought is not too clear; yet he knows how to commit all things to the Lord and how the Lord is his victory and life. In your conversation with him, you may quote Scriptures, explain the contexts, and interpret many types in the Old Testament. You may also talk with him about law, grace, dispensations, and so forth. What more of life experience or spiritual history are you able to share with him? You may tell him how the Lord has heard your prayers a few times. But the results of your prayers in a whole year may not be equal to the results of his prayers in just one day. Do you think you are more qualified to be the Lord’s witness? For, you may say, "What he cannot, I can. I have certain insight which he does not have." I do not mean to say that we have no need of Biblical teaching, clear thinking, or flowing eloquence. What I want to insist upon here is that knowing Christ must be the goal as well as the foundation. It is not as essential to know the teaching of the blood in the Scriptures as to experience the cleansing of the conscience by the precious blood of Christ. The emphasis lies not in whether you are able to preach the word of the cross but in whether you have the experience of delivering self and all that is natural to death on that cross. Do you have the experience of being crucified with Christ?

Someone once asked George Muller the secret of his spiritual life. His answer was: "One day Muller became dead to sin, flesh, self, natural life, and the fame, position and pleasure of the world." As he spoke, he bent himself down till his whole body fell prostrate to the ground. If you say you know Christ, you cannot but have a personal history of knowing Him and the experience of the power of His resurrection. If you speak to people about the message of the cross, are you able to testify that in your daily life, in large and small things, you know how to apply this message of the cross? When you talk to others about the power of the resurrection of Christ, have you yourself experienced this power before? Are you able to testify to that which you naturally do not have but which now is gained through the power of resurrection? When your natural temper is tested beyond endurance, do you experience Christ as your patience? Without such life experience, you are not qualified to be a witness of Christ.