NONE BUT THE HUNGRY HEART

Sunday, March 04, 2018

3-4. Doctrinal—Experiential

“Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Rom. 6:17).

The only true, consistent, and Christ-honoring experience is that which emerges from clear-cut faith in the explicit facts of the Word. Sound doctrine is the one basis for a mature walk and effective service. “Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:6).

“We must remember that our death to sin was once for all accomplished at the Cross. There the believer shared the death of the Lord Jesus; for when he became a believer, the life he received was life in Christ, that is, life out of death, resurrection life, ‘newness of life’; and the relation to sin and the law which Christ had, became those of the believer! Our experience of it all is simply the entering by faith into what has already happened at the Cross.

“God now commands each of us to reckon ourselves as having died with Christ to sin—and therefore as now dead unto sin; and as having risen with Christ, and therefore now alive to God (Rom. 6:11). Now it is always on the basis of what God has done that He asks us to reckon, to appropriate. God makes the facts and tells us to take the attitude that befits these facts; and when we obey, He increasingly works our experiential victory in and through us.” -W.R.N.

“Give attendance . . . to doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:13).