Joe: Hi, welcome back. In this segment we'll be continuing our discussion on "The Key to
Experiencing Christ—The Human Spirit" from Chapter 5 of Volume 1 of the "Basic Elements
of the Christian Life." Tom, in this chapter it goes on to talk about how God went through
a process so that we can contact Him and experience Him. Can you tell us about this process?
Tom: The process that the Lord went through so that we could experience Him began in the
Gospel of John, in John 1:1 and 14, where it points out that, "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then in verse 14, "And
the Word became flesh...". So, for God to be experienced by us in the Son, Jesus Christ,
this eternal God first became flesh to come to where we are. And we all know that the
Lord Jesus went through this marvelous living on this earth and that after thirty three
and a half years, He died on the cross for all mankind. And after His crucifixion and
burial, the Bible says that after three days He was raised from the dead. And another very
important verse is First Corinthians 15:45 and it says this, "So also it is written,
'The first man, Adam, became a living soul'; the last Adam," which is the Lord Jesus, "became
a life-giving Spirit." So for us to experience Christ, we need to see that not only did God
become a man, but this wonderful One went through death and resurrection and became
a life-giving Spirit, so that He could reach us.
Joe: Tom, this process is really marvelous; to see first that God became a man, He was
incarnated to be a man then He lived on the earth for thirty three and a half years. He
died, He resurrected, and He became a life-giving Spirit. But now at this point can you tell
us how this is related to the experience of Christ?
Tom: The experience of Christ that we're speaking of is that of believers after we have believed
into the Lord Jesus and we have received Him. And this is realized by us in the fact that
when we receive Christ, the Bible also tells us that we are joined to the Lord, and First
Corinthians 6:17 says this, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." So, our
faith in Christ brings us into a union, a life-union with the Lord Jesus. Even to the
extent that it says that we are "one spirit" with Him. So as those who are joined to the
Lord, who are one spirit with the Lord, we need to realize where the Lord is. This is
a marvelous thing: to see that now the Lord is with our spirit. And so we need to learn
to turn to Him, every time. And where does the Lord live? He lives in our spirit, so we need turn to our spirit.
Joe: This is so good to see that we need to turn to our spirit. So God has gone through
a process, and this process has made it so that now He can get inside of us. And even
as you showed in First Corinthians 6:17, we can be joined to the Lord. So it is so good
to see that now, today, we are joined to the Lord and we can experience Him and contact
Him by turning to our spirit. Thank you all for joining us again today,
and we will continue in the next segment with more about the human spirit as a way to experience Christ.