GOD'S EVERLASTING LOVE The saints of God must take care to avoid the tendency to base conclusions upon appearance, or even upon personal experience. It is quite true that salvation is the fountain from which numerous valid and refreshing experiences come, both in this world and the world to come. However, those experiences are never an end of themselves, and are not to be the objective of an endless quest. If one chooses to accent human experience – or experiences that are primarily in the body – they will be hard pressed to account for the difficulties mentioned in our text: i.e., tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. – Tomorrow:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39, NKJV)
All of this might appear irrelevant to the casual reader. However, it is precisely because of the high value religious men assign to fleshly experiences that they have great difficulty understanding the trials and vicissitudes of life. When the church, its doctrines, and its teachers accentuate bodily experiences, they are pushing the people into a dark place where confusion, discouragement, and failure are sure to erupt.
On one extreme side of experience, and in certain circles, an inordinate emphasis is placed on a certain view of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, or speaking in tongues, or laughing in the Spirit, or being slain in the Spirit. It could be having visions, remarkable dreams, or some other similar thing. On the other side of the spectrum of experience there is ideal family life, health, wealth, and the likes.
Whatever value may be assigned to these experiences, they cannot become a point of emphasis or focus. If they do – and there is no exception to this – the text we are considering (Rom 8:35-39) will at once recede into the background. It will not be viewed as priceless, or even an exceeding great and precious promise. When things that occur in the body are accentuated, whether pleasant or trying, the promises of God are displaced by human speculation and all manner of vain imagination.
The point here is not the validity of the experience, and that is not my reason for saying these things. God has not assigned us the responsibility of determining the validity of religious experiences, as noble a work as that may seem. Unusual and exhilarating occurrences, or the undergoing of great and extraordinary hardships, are not to become the FOCUS of our attention. As soon as this happens, the soul begins to drift upon the restless sea of temporality – for neither good nor bad bodily experiences will last. They are both temporary, and thus unworthy of protracted consideration. Should we choose to accentuate such things, we will come closer to the earth than to heaven – and that is fraught with danger.
You will note that Paul did not dwell on the time he was caught up into the third heaven, or when he spent a day and a night in the deep. His heart and mind were occupied with a quest to "know Christ" and obtain the prize to which he had been called (Phil 3:7-14).
From one perspective, the chief experience is the Lord Himself. That is why it is written, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh TO GOD must believe that HE is, and that HE is a rewarder of them that diligently seek HIM" (Heb 11:6). And what is the reward of those who perseveringly seek the Lord? It is the Lord Himself, who is our Inheritance. As it is written, "The LORD is the portion of MINE INHERITANCE and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot" (Psa 16:5).
Sound reasoning is ALWAYS based upon Divine affirmation. By that, I mean a "thus saith the Lord," as found in the Scriptures, as compared with attempting to decipher things occurring to us "in the body." When rationality, or reasoning, BEGINS with human experience, it ALWAYS leads us away from God. Man does NOT live, or maintain spiritual life, by personal views, exalted feelings and persuasions, or personal experiences – however lofty and exhilarating they may be. Rather, he lives "by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matt 4:4). That is a matter of revelation. Jesus did not say experiences were spirit and life, but rather, "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). This is so because there is a body of eternal verity that supports His word, and concerning which it primarily speaks.
From yet another vantage point, justified people live by their faith. As it is written, "the just shall live by HIS faith" (Hab 2:4). And again, "the just shall live by faith" (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38). Faith can, indeed, produce experiences – but it is not dependent upon them. Faith exists independently of our experiences, and therefore sustains us in them, particularly when they involve adversity, testing, and hardship.
When Jesus successfully repelled the attacks of the wicked one, He did it by quoting from the Scripture, even though He Himself was in constant communion with the Father. It is foolish indeed to assume that God would sustain us by some other means. Those who are persuaded of the truth of the Word can use it as a sword, and as a precious balm as well! This is particularly applicable in regard to the text we are considering. In order to sustain us in our trials, the Holy Spirit will give us a word.
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You for the blessed and refreshing experiences You have given to me. I also thank You for sustaining me in great trials and difficulties. In the name of Jesus, grant me grace to think more of You and what You do, than of what I experience.