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Phil. 2:12-16 Rom 8:9-11; 13, 26; Jer. 17:9; 13:23; John 3:3-6; 16:8; 1:12-13; 2 Cor. 15:17; 1 Cor. 6:17
I. What is the experience of life?
А. To experience God
B. To experience Christ
C. To experience the Spirit
II. The first experience of life — regeneration
А. Why regeneration is necessary?
B. What is regeneration?
C. How can we be regenerated?
D. The results of regeneration
Now that we have some basic knowledge of life, we need to go on to find out how to experience life. Everything in the Bible concerning life is for us to experience today. We must find out what life is and learn to experience it. If you lack experience according to the word, go back and study the word, then pray to experience life. The Lord will grant us every experience of life if we seek to experience it.
We need to ask ourselves first, what is the experience of life? [We have seen that life is God Himself. God Himself flowing into us, being received and experienced by us, is life. An experience which results from God passing through man and man passing through Him is considered an experience of life. For example: in our prayer we meet God, become enlightened, see our own fault, and deal with it before God. It is not that we detect our own fault, but rather, when we draw near to God, we are inwardly met by God, and thereby we see our own fault. God is light; hence when we meet Him, we see our fault in His light. We naturally confess to God and ask for the cleansing of the Lord’s blood. As a consequence, God passes through us, and we also pass through God. Such experience causes us to experience God; therefore, it is the experience of life.
All experiences of life are from God and are His working within us; therefore they can cause us to touch God and experience Him. Hence, any such experience of God will show forth life (Phil. 2:13-16).]
[Christ is God’s manifestation and embodiment; He is God becoming our experience. Therefore, all our experience of God is the experience of Christ and is in Christ.
To experience Christ is to let Christ live both within us and out from us; to take Christ as life and thus to live by Christ. To experience Christ means that all our living and actions are Christ Himself living out and acting out from us.]
[As Christ is the embodiment of God, so the Holy Spirit is the embodiment of Christ. God as life is in Christ, and Christ as life is the Holy Spirit. We experience God in Christ, and we experience Christ as the Holy Spirit. Thus, as the experience of life is the experience of God and Christ, so also is it the experience of the Holy Spirit.
It is this Holy Spirit of life who causes us to experience the indwelling of Christ, and it is this Holy Spirit of life who causes us to experience the resurrection power of God in Christ (Rom. 8:9-11). It is this Holy Spirit of life who leads us to put to death the evil deeds of the body, and it is this Holy Spirit of life who prays in us (Rom. 8:13, 26). All our experiences of life, whether deep or shallow, are produced by the Holy Spirit; therefore they are all experiences of this Holy Spirit of life.]
[We have seen what life is, and we have seen what the experience of life is. Now we come to see the first experience of life, which is regeneration. Regeneration is the first step of our experience of God’s life; therefore it is our first experience of God’s life. This experience is very fundamental and extremely important. We shall use several points to look into it. First let us see:]
[Why do we have to be regenerated? There are two reasons which make it necessary. First, speaking from the lower aspect, regeneration is necessary because our life has been corrupted and become evil (Jer. 17:9; Rom. 7:18), and it cannot be changed from evil to good (Jer. 13:23). This is the reason we usually give for regeneration. Because our life (1) is corrupt and wicked, and (2) cannot be improved, therefore we need to be regenerated. All the sages of the past and present have advocated the doctrine of self-improvement in order to improve man. But God’s salvation does not correct or improve man, but regenerates man, since our human life is already corrupted and cannot be made good by improvement. This is the first reason we must be regenerated.
Second, speaking from the higher aspect, there is another reason we need to be regenerated. When we were created, we obtained only created life; we did not obtain God’s uncreated life. God’s purpose for us human beings is that we may obtain His uncreated life and be transformed into His image to be like Him, as He is. Therefore, even if our human life had not been corrupted, we would still need to be regenerated.
God’s purpose in creating man is not only to obtain a good man, but even more to have a GOD-man, one who has God’s life and nature and is just like God. If God desired man to be only a good man, and man had not fallen and been corrupted, he would not need to be regenerated. But God’s desire is not that man should be only a good man, but, much more, a GOD-man, one who is the same as He is. Therefore, even a good man must be regenerated.
Do not take this second reason lightly. This is a very significant matter. Oh, the purpose of regeneration is that we may have God’s life and be like God! It is needless to say that we are corrupted and evil and cannot be improved; but even if we were absolutely good or could be improved to become perfect, we would still need to be regenerated in order to possess God’s life.]
[According to the Scripture, to be regenerated is to be born of the Spirit (John 3:3-6). Originally our spirit was dead, but at the time we believed, God’s Spirit came to touch our spirit; thus our spirit obtained God’s life and was made alive. It is in this way that God’s Spirit gave birth to us, apart from our first, natural birth. In brief, to be regenerated is to be born once again, to be born of God (John 1:13), or, apart from our original human life to obtain God’s life.
To be regenerated means to be born again. Why do we use the term “born again’’? Originally we were born of our parents; but now we are born once more, this time of God; hence, this experience is called being born again. Being born of our parents caused us to obtain human life, whereas being born of God causes us to have God’s life. Therefore, we who have been regenerated have God’s life in addition to the human life.] Thus, a Christian is not one who is born in a Christian family, nor one who lives in a so-called “Christian country,’’ but one who is regenerated by the life of God in his spirit.
[How can a man be regenerated? In brief, God’s Spirit enters into man’s spirit and puts God’s life into it; thus man becomes regenerated.
How can God’s Spirit enter into man’s spirit? When man hears the gospel or reads the word of the Scripture, God’s Spirit works in him and causes him to feel that he has sinned and is corrupted; hence, he is reproved for sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). When man sees himself as a sinner, recognizes his corruption, and is willing to repent, then God’s Spirit causes him to see that the Lord Jesus is his Savior, and that He died on the cross to shed His blood for the remission of sin. At this moment, he automatically believes in the Lord and receives Him as his Savior. Once he receives the Lord as his Savior, God’s Spirit enters into his spirit and puts God’s life in it, causing him to be regenerated.
So, speaking from the standpoint of the Spirit of God, it is God’s Spirit entering into our spirit to put God’s life in it which causes us to be regenerated. From our standpoint it is because of our repenting, believing and accepting the Lord Jesus as our Savior that we become regenerated, which means that in addition to our original life we obtain the life of God.]
[The results or accomplishments of regeneration may be briefly categorized into three items:
1) Regeneration causes men to become the children of God. Since regeneration means to be born of God, it automatically causes men to become the children of God (John 1:12, 13) and have the relationship of life with God.
2) Regeneration causes men to become a new creation. A new creation is that which has the elements of God within it. When something has God’s elements within it, it is a new creation. In the old creation, there is no element of God. We human beings originally do not have any of God’s elements; therefore we are the old creation. It is not until God’s element is added into us that we become the new creation. Regeneration causes us to have God’s life and His very element, thereby making us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). This new creation is the crystallization of God being mingled with man, and it is the most wonderful thing in the universe: it has both the human and divine elements, it is both man and God, and it is like both man and God.
3) Regeneration causes men to be united with God as one. It not only causes man to obtain God’s life and His elements, but also to be united with God as one. By regeneration, God the Spirit enters into man’s spirit, causing man to be joined with Him as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). This is God causing man to have the deepest relationship with Himself, to become one with Himself.
In conclusion, when the Holy Spirit, by our believing in the Lord Jesus, puts God’s life into our spirit and causes us to be born of God, to become God’s children, and in the new creation to be united with God as one, this is regeneration.]
Since we have been regenerated, we must go on to experience the life of God that came into us every day until we are fully matured in this life.
