We would like to know even more
about the experimental aspect -
the felt Christ.
What are we talking about?
What should we be looking for?
Well, there are those seasons of
encounters of a pervasive sense
of the presence of Christ.
I know in this age in which we live
where deception runs rampant,
that the subjective oftentimes
is really frowned upon
by reformed people.
But it bothers me on the other hand
that people go to such an extent the other way.
It's all cerebral.
It's all intellectual.
There's nothing animated.
There are seasons, friend,
when quite honestly,
I sense Christ drawing feelingly near.
I struggled years ago,
and I asked Brother Paul Washer,
I said, Paul, what do you think my problem is?
I just don't really feel like I'm connecting with Christ.
There's just not that sense of God.
And Paul told me,
he said I think you've become too civilized.
You know, you're just so theologically astute,
there's no subjective whatsoever.
And when Paul and I talked about it,
I had had an encounter right after my conversion
of a felt Christ,
where I mean literally,
for ten days there was such a sense
of the presence of Christ
that I walked in,
and as Paul and I dialogued about this,
Paul told me, he said,
you know, brother, in our pursuit of Christ,
if we're willing to tarry,
if we're willing to persevere in our pursuit,
He always comes.
There is a dimension of the felt Christ.
But quite honestly,
we're just too busy.
We're victimized by the barrenness of busyness.
We're tired.
We're dull spiritually.
We don't take these things seriously.
But I tell you, friend, there are times
when you draw nigh to God,
God begins to draw near to you.
There's a sense of the felt Christ.
And he buoy's you up
and supernaturally sustains you,
and enables you to even triumph over fatigue.
Because God is in the midst.
I don't know if you know what I'm talking about or not,
but I'm telling you,
I really believe the Scripture teaches this,
and I want more of Christ.
I want to sense and feel more of His presence.
Now, when He comes,
I'll just say this,
there's not only joy unspeakable
and full of glory,
but there's a pervasive sense of the fear of God.
And what will accompany that is great trial,
great testing,
where there will be a spiritual warfare
that you'll begin to experience
like you never have before.
And so, this is what I mean,
maybe I'm just rambling,
but there is reality in what I'm saying here.
And I want balance in my Christian life,
but I've been way too cerebral
and too intellectual
and trying to be theologically precise,
and yet there's more to the Christian life than that.
There is the subjective side.
I'm not talking about something that
does not have any biblical basis.
I'm not talking about something that's
not biblically predicated.
I'm talking about something though
that's real, that's biblically warranted
as we look to the Lord.
And being strengthened with might by His Spirit
is the great need of the hour.
That's what we need to pray for in our churches
is that we be strengthened with might
corporately by His Spirit.
I echo the same concerns.
I'll just let the cat out of the bag,
I'm a cessationist.
So in my circle, in my camp,
we oftentimes will frown on
anything experiential.
I think that's wrong.
Because we're emotional beings.
God gave us emotions.
He gave us feelings.
He gave us very real presence of that.
But something that strikes me is
when you have weakness -
Paul says when I am weak, therefore I am strong.
It's the power of God that comes
through our weaknesses.
When your Christian life starts to dry up,
it's usually because you're relying
so much on yourself
and your ability to understand doctrine,
or your ability to be powerful,
or your ability to do whatever.
Pastors are terrible for it.
We do it all the time.
But when we're weakened,
when we sense our own sinfulness
and we sense a lack of strength and power,
and not knowing what to do...
you can try to pull yourself up
by your bootstraps,
but that's not going to do it.
That's not the way that you persevere
in the Christian life.
That's fleshly.
Paul says in Galatians 3,
what came by the Spirit,
is he going to perfect in the flesh?
The answer's no.
So, when we are weak,
and we actually cry out to God
and confess to the Lord,
I've been prideful;
I've been trying to do this on my own;
and you beg Him to draw near
like our brother said,
He will.
And I've been overwhelmed
with a very emotional,
a very real presence
that He's drawing me to Him.
Sometimes if I preach
and I feel like I've got nothing,
when I'm weak,
He does something.
He works in such a way.
So I don't want to say be weak,
but I'm saying use that weakness
and rely on the Lord.
Look to Him by faith,
and He will draw you close to Him.
But it's not going to be through pride.
One final comment on that,
Wasn't it Whitefield that used the phrase,
"Preach a felt Christ."
Whitefield.
Of course, that phrase is not in the Bible.
But in conveys something.
What he was talking about was
the experiential, present ministry
of the Holy Spirit.
That's what we're talking about.
There is so much across the board
from extreme fanaticism
and extremely false teaching
about the Holy Spirit,
all the way to the other extreme
of parts of the professing church
that says once the Holy Spirit
has regenerated someone,
all that He ever does is illuminate the Bible
and give your mind understanding of truth.
We aren't to experience anything more.
We shouldn't look for anything more.
Anything more that's experience is counterfeit.
And that's a wrong extreme too.
It really is.
Because the New Testament speaks about
the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit.
If you read most New Testament commentators
that are honest about that,
whether it's D.A. Carson,
or Iain Murray is really marvelous on this;
the very nature of the language is experiential.
The Holy Spirit doesn't stop His work
when He regenerates us and indwells us.
He is alive.
He is God within us.
And so, He's a Person Who communes with us,
encourages us,
strengthens us,
revives us,
and He is Christ in us.
We live in the dispensation of the Spirit.
As John Owen said,
the Old Testament was the dispensation of the Father,
the Gospel era was the dispensation of the Son,
and when the Son ascended on high
and gave the Holy Spirit to the church in Acts 2,
that began the era or the dispensation
of the Holy Spirit.
So, the Holy Spirit is Immanuel -
God with us now.
Right?
So we should cultivate our relationship
with the Holy Spirit.
And we should welcome His fullness more and more.
Luke 11:13
And we should cultivate our relationship with Him.
He can comfort us,
speak to us,
quicken us.
You've heard sermons that were just mediocre.
And they weren't really speaking to you.
All of a sudden,
the preacher becomes animated
and alive and there's power and authority;
and God is speaking in the moment
in a way that wasn't happening before.
That's the activity of the Holy Spirit.
And we should pray for that more and more
in our lives and in our churches.
And there are seasons for that.
Just because you don't see
the Spirit causing you to experience something,
doesn't necessarily mean that anything's wrong.
There are seasons where we just walk in obedience
and we're to do what we're supposed to do.
There are seasons when He will draw near
and make Christ precious to us.
Because that's His ministry.
So, we need to be open.
I was just reading on the life of Spurgeon
and he said that it was a very rare occasion
that He did not have a tangible sense
of the presence of Christ
right there beside him in the pulpit.
If you read the works of John Owen,
who in my opinion is Mr. Intellectual,
yet he speaks of this felt, manifested
presence of Christ.
Now, what's important is biblically,
where do we find this?
Do you remember in John 14?
"He that keepeth My commandments,
My Father and I will come
and make Our abode with him."
Remember Paul said, "Rejoice in the Lord alway,
and again I say rejoice!
Let your moderation
(the word means sweet reasonableness)
be known unto all men.
The Lord is at hand."
He's not speaking of the coming of Christ.
He's saying the Lord is right there.
So, there are times you see in church history
where this overwhelming sense
of the presence of Christ
comes on the scene.
And God manifests His glory and His presence
in just a very tangible way,
subjectively or feelingly.
One final thought:
Scripture says with Christ
is the residue of the Spirit.
He was crowned Lord and Christ
ultimately as the High Priest over the church
and the Head of the church.
He said I will send the Holy Spirit.
He said the Father will send Him in my name.
But He said I will send Him.
So Christ poured out the Holy Spirit
in His heavenly reign as the Head of the church,
but any time in history
there's ever been a revival,
an outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
Christ is pouring His Spirit out again on His people.
Iain Murray's book, "Pentecost Today,"
is probably the best book any Christian can read
on this subject.
If you haven't read it, get it and read it.
And it will help you immensely.