A Personal Experience of Christ—2

The knowledge of Christ that is obtained by personal experience is the only foundation for satisfying assurance and an unassailable conviction that the gospel is not only true, but that it applies to me and you.  When we experience the tangible rewards of obedience to the gospel, we have an argument that powerfully engages our hearts to press on in the Christian life.  When we believe, God gives us the Holy Spirit and “sweet foretastes of life eternal,” not only to assure us of the reality of our future hope, but also as the “first fruits,” to show us how good it will be.   Without experiential knowledge of Christ, there is no assurance of salvation.  No one can carry on the spiritual life of faith with any sincerity and delight, without genuinely knowing the Lord Jesus in a personal way.  The believer’s relationship with Him is not an empty pretence.  1 Corinthians 4:20 tells us that “the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power.”  Christianity doesn’t stand on empty discourses, pat phrases, or overused slogans.  We see its effect in the power it has to change the hearts of people.  The teaching that is from God changes, not just the outward actions, but the innermost desires of people who know in themselves they are helpless sinners.