Learned Knowing That Comes by the Experience of His Life

A Practical Primer as to How We Learn to Live By His Life

By Arthur J Licursi

 

The Great Need of All Believers

I have often written about the great need of all believers coming to know the Lord intimately, and living by the spontaneous innermost sense of His indwelling life. I realize that this thought that I present here is radical to many believers as they have generally placed God somewhat at arm’s length away – not knowing that Christ Himself literally indwells them, individually, and is as close as their own breath. They may say they received the Lord at salvation and He is their personal saviour but still they live as though He is outside them and away from them. Nevertheless, this matter of the literal indwelling of Spirit of Christ in the believer’s spirit (1Cor 6:17) is the very root of the truth of Paul’s mystery (heretofore hidden) Gospel of “…Christ in you…” ( Col 1:25-27).

 

I recently had some say to me “That’s fine; I now believe Christ lives in me, as the Scripture could not be more clear on the matter.” They note the truths of Col 1:27 …Christ in you, the hope of glory, and Rom 8:8-10 …If you have not the spirit of Christ you are none of His…” They then may say, “But, how do I know what He is saying? I don’t think I hear Him; how can I hear Him?”

 

All Children of God Hear Him

First, we must note that the fact is that all people who are “of God” do in fact “hear God.” Jesus made this clear. John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words…

 

Closer Than Sheep

I realize that we, in this dispensation are the members of the body of Christ, are not sheep. Yet, as His individual body members, Christ indwells us, individually, leading us. This is in contrast to sheep having a shepherd who is outside of them, leading them. Yet, we members of the body of Christ are somewhat “as sheep”, being led by Him who now is our very life. Jesus said, Jn 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  If sheep can hear their shepherd, then certainly we, who are members of His incarnate body of Christ on the earth today, can and do hear Him who is our head.

 

Yet, many Christians don’t recognize His speaking that is by His moving within them, or recognize the sense of His indwelling life. Still others hear the Lord within but choose over-ride the most commonly heard sense of God, which is their conscience. All Christians should have that primary first sense of His life that is in accord with this following Scripture. Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. All Christians ought to have this first sense knowing, that we are His and He is ours.

 

Going On To “Learn Christ”

Ephes. 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ

Note that this verse does not tell us “ye have not so learned ABOUT Christ.” Most people, even non-believers have learned about Jesus Christ. But this is far from what Paul is intimating in this verse. “Learned” here is a prolonged verb. It speaks of an ongoing learning and understanding of the indwelling Christ. Where is Christ? He is indwelling every believer’s spirit, and He is spontaneously active within them. This then is the Christ who is at hand and the Christ of whom we learn. Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

 

The only Christ we can learn from by experience of Him is the Christ who indwells us. This thought corresponds to the proper definition of “know” when it is derived from the Greek word “ginosko,” which means “a coming to know, a coming to learn, a coming to see…by experience.” This knowing may be seen when we consider that Adam came to “know Eve,” by experience of life. Adam had become intimately acquainted with Eve. This is the kind if “knowing” that is meant by “know” when it is derived from “ginosko.” This is a knowing that we gain when we have had a personal, intimate experience with the Christ who indwells us. We Christians inwardly hear or sense His restraining and know His will for us in a matter at hand. This kind of “knowing” is the normal function of His indwelling life, by which we learn Christ.

 

Such knowing and learning is not the knowing that is derived from Bible study alone. The very Bible that is the inspired word of God can kill if it is not anointed to our spiritual ears to become food and life to us. 2 Cor. 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. We have life by the indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a).

 

Gaining experiential knowledge by the experience of Christ in us comes upon our first knowing that He lives in us and is ever present. Note that in Ephes. 1:16-18 Paul is not praying that the Ephesians would memorize Bible verses or learn doctrine, rather, Paul prayed to God that the Ephesians would gain key revelation knowledge of the inheritance that is “in the saints.” Such revelation knowledge is the basis for our growing in subsequent experiential knowledge of Christ in us, and how trustworthy He is, such that we can yield to Him as our “all.”

Ephes. 1:16-18 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

 

The “experiential knowing” is a “learning” of this Christ in us and gained from our personal, subjective, experience of the indwelling life of “Christ, who is our life” Col 3:4b. Paul’s uttermost statement concerning Christ now as the believer’s all is seen here. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

Practical Hearing of Christ In You

I need to make a clarification. In the first sentence of this paper I mentioned “…coming to know the Lord intimately, and living by the innermost sense of His indwelling life.” Actually, this may mislead folks. The Lord actually lives in us in a normal way and we have no particular sense of Him or His indwelling when all is okay, as we are living in accord with His indwelling life. We simply sense a wellness, lightness, wholeness, etc. We are free to live as we feel free to live, until He inwardly restrains us by a manifested sense of His life.

 

We live in His “unspoken yes,” until we hear His “spoken no”, sensed within. Our default position is that we are in Christ. Seventy-six verses use the term “in Christ” pertaining to the Christian’s position.  Christ in you is the very crux of Paul’s mystery Gospel. Col. 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

 

The Normal Christian Life

This is much the same as when we are in our normal, healthy, unhurt, physical body; we have no sense of arms or legs as we walk and do. However, we soon become well aware when our body is hurting us – something is wrong. Likewise, our awareness or sense of His indwelling is most apparent, or loudest, when we have gone wrong or are about to go wrong. We then have the operation of our conscience by the Spirit of Christ attempting to signal an alarm, to stop us from making a mistake, or to correct us from within.  Then we may hear inward words, but rarely; most often, we’ll simply sense a knot in our gut, a sense of wrong or “don’t do it,” don’t say it, don’t go there, or don’t buy that.”

 

Religions Distraction

If we are distracted by dos and don’ts by religious law we can never “learn" the Christ who is within us. You might say living by religious law and doing the works that religion promotes as laws, but for which you did not hear from the Lord, will only serve to abort the sense of His life in us. Peter says “ought we to obey God or man.” Following the sheep herd led by religion is sometimes equal to not obeying the Lord. This kind of thing is a significant error. Paul tells us that such law-keeping makes Christ to become of no effect in our lives, and also living by the law causes us to loose the benefit of His indwelling life as the ever-present grace of God. Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you (who presume) you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

 

We Are Not Lawless.

At this point some may say “But we Christians still need God’s written laws to guide us – don’t we?”  No! Little children may need their parent’s rules (laws) to guide them, such as – “Don’t play in the traffic,” but not the grown up sons of God who have faith that Christ is alive in them – leading them. They know that Christ lives in them as their new inner life and Lord (kurious, governor). Paul tells us it is not children but the son’s of God who are led by the spirit. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 

As regenerated Christians, Paul tells us we have been delivered from the written outer law; we live under grace. Romans 6:14b … for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Some say, “But I we let go of the written law, how will God keep us and guide us as to what is righteous?” Again, it is by Christ alive in us that we will live righteously. There another law of operation called the “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” which is constantly operable within us, emanating from our spirit, where we have total union with Christ as the Spirit of life. This living law of operation is the only law of operation with power to overcome the other negative law of operation – “the law of sin and death”, which emanates from our flesh. Romans 8:2 For the law (operation) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law (operation) of sin and death.

 

Paul tells us the written law once had a function for us (Rom 7:7), but he also makes it clear that the outer law is powerless to make us genuinely righteous.

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh…

I consider it notable that the written, outer, law is upon dead, cold, stone, while the “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” functions by Christ alive in our regenerated spirit. Paul goes on to explain to the Galatians that the written law once had a function for them, but now it is no longer useful for the believer who has come to faith in Christ (according to Paul’s gospel), to trust and follow “the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” as their new indwelling and governing life. 

Galatians 3:23-25 But before faith came (past tense), we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are (presently) no longer under a schoolmaster.

Here in Gal 3:23-25 we see the past and the present in contrast. What was past was the written law, which is outside of us, and which God used to convict us and bring us to Christ…but now we are loosed from that law, since we have the law of “the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” operating within us.

 

Examples of the Inward Leading by the Spirit

Here we have examples of Paul being led by the spirit. Acts 18:5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Acts 16:7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia : but the Spirit suffered them not. Jesus Himself was led by the spirit. Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan , and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, The spirit led Philip. Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. Peter was led by the Spirit. Acts 11:12 And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting.

 

Victorious Living Only by the Indwelling Life of Christ

Paul also tells us that our walk not only should, but it must be governed by the indwelling spirit if we are to overcome our sinful “flesh.” Galatians 5:16 …Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Galatians 5:25 If (since) we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Note that here Paul does not say walk according to the law so as not to fulfill the lust of the flesh – rather walk according to the dictates of the indwelling spirit of life.

 

Actually, the inward law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is more thorough than any written law could be; it governs us even more closely. Christ alive in us is spontaneous. By example, I ask you to consider if any written law would spontaneously step in and tell me; “You need to apologize to your wife for what you just said.” Yet, this is an example of what actually occurs in my life; this is by the operation of “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” It is only by the sense of His indwelling life that we will live genuinely righteously; we will have the wisdom to know what to buy, where to go, and what to say – if anything is to be said, and at the time He may want it.

 

No More Waiting to Hear the Lord – He is Ever-Present & Speaking

I know some tend to wait to hear from God as to what to do or not to do. This is not the normal operation of the Christian life for us if we have seen and believe that Christ is alive and ever-present within us, guiding us. (That guidance may be that we have an inward sense to wait for a time on some matter.) He is willful as our new person within us – as our new life (Gal 2:20).

 

Christians are not rudderless. Yet, in trusting faith, we can presume to consider ourselves okay, until we hear Him say “No!” or “Wait before you act on this.” This sense of “No or wait” is a function of His life and will for us in the very matter at hand. This is by a sense of His indwelling life. I have said before, I rarely hear Him tell what to do; rather, when I have an inward sense it is a sense of what not to do. This is because my “what to do” comes natural and is spontaneously of Him.

 

This is a glorious way to live. We know we are always okay in accord with Him – free to live and move and have our being in accord with Christ who is our new and normal life, trusting He will let us know, by a sense within, when we are about to go wrong.

 

I know these Biblical ideas presented here may sound like a fearful thing to many of us – to simply believe we are okay, blameless, right now (Eph 1:4), and live by the sense of indwelling Christ until we hear Him say “no.” Yet, we must know that Christ is alive and working in us all the time. Philip. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

 

Consider the facts of these questions I pose here.

Launching Out

Some may be willing to walk with the Lord by the sense of His life, but don’t know how begin to “learn Christ,” to trust the inward sense of His life? Realizing that we are all different, learning to trust His indwelling life may be different for each one of us. God knows us intimately and He will work with us according to His knowledge of our being. He will lead us to follow Christ.

 

For some, it is to learn obedience to His inward restraining, His No! which we have already discussed. It is one thing to hear Him and another to obey Him. Sometimes we know He is inwardly trying to restrain us and yet we proceed on our own, like a bull in a china shop. Such disobedience may prompt us to buy the wrong item, marry the wrong person, choose the wrong school, say the wrong thing, or do some stupid thing. We will then have to suffer the earthly consequences of our disobedience. Yet, even such failure is good in one way; it teaches us to listen next time. Thus, we learn Christ.

 

Some of us try to control every aspect of our lives by our wits and self-strength. We may also try to control the lives of our family members and others. This “old way” of living is past; it was part of our “Old Man” who was crucified with Christ. We now are a “trusting,” spontaneous, member of His body, who has the sense of Him who is our Head within. We may already know that we are a controlling person, but we don’t know how to change this. We may have become this way as a means to make ourselves feel secure – in ourselves. Again, we must come to listen to Him within. In His love He may bring situations and circumstances to our lives that expose our need to us; we may have to face situations we just cannot control, they are insurmountable – then we must learn to turn to Him to trust Him. In letting go of control and turning to Him we will find a rest to our souls that we never had experienced before. This is learning Christ. So long as we try to control and manage our situations on our own, apart from Christ’s leading, we are still dwelling in our soul and not living by the “spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”

 

For others it is a launching into a new, never experienced liberty. We may have lived with fears that have limited our lives, But now, having come to see that the eternal in the Lord is all that matters, the earthly does not have the hold on us it once had. I find that many of us have lived such a cautionary life that we dare not do anything unless it is long weighed by our careful consideration and logically figured out. Yet, all the great Biblical people of God have had to launch out in faith to find that God is able to sustain them from within. Circumstances that move us forward will lead us to learn Christ.

 

An example might be seen in the fact that Israel , who was given and called to the promised land of Canaan , had to cross a second river to enter that land. So long as they wandered in the wilderness they murmured and did not trust God – they ultimately died in unbelief. This wandering in the wilderness for 40 years is the parallel of wandering in our self-soul – getting no place. In Deut. 1:1 we find Israel exactly where they had crossed the Red Sea 40 years before – they got no place. Oh yes, Israel had come out of Egypt (The World) they now had lived 40 years in wilderness (their soul, with its mind, emotion and self will) with miracles; yet they died in unbelief. They had yet to enter Canaan (for Christians this is the Spirit of life in Christ). After the death of those who came out of Egypt and yet abided in unbelief, a new generation led by Joshua, crossed a second river, the Jordan , to enter Canaan .

 

I recite this Biblical history of Israel and interpret it for us only to show that in crossing into Canaan , Israel had to launch out in faith, trusting God and His designated leader; amazingly they then had to put aside their human reasoning and listen to God’s instruction. Though the direct miracles of the wilderness had stopped, they went on to see indirect miracles, by simply obeying God, by co-operating. They went on to do many “unreasonable things,” such as sounding a trumpet and shouting to bring down the walls of Jericho . Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. If they had long considered God’s instruction for taking Jericho , weighing it carefully, they would have never have had victory to conquer the land. If we are to enter and live our new life in Canaan (spirit), we must let go of our fears to trust our Joshua, the Lord who leads us from within.                                         

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