FAITH AND EXPERIENCE

By A. W. Tozer

0 taste and see that the Lord is good.  Psalm 34:8

    I insist that the effective preaching of Jesus Christ,
rightly understood, will produce Christian experience in
Christian believers.  Moreover, if preaching does not
produce  spiritual  experience  and  maturing  in  the
believer, that preaching is not being faithful to the Christ
revealed in the Scriptures.

    Let me say it again another way: the Christ of the Bible
is not rightly known until there is an experience of Him
within the believer, for our Savior and Lord offers Himself
to human experience.

    When Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are  heavy  laden,"  it  is  an  invitation  to  a  spiritual
experience. He is saying, "Will you consent to come?
Have you added determination to your consent? Then
come; come now!"

    Yes, our Lord gives Himself to us in experience. David
says in Psalm 34: "0 taste and see that the Lord is good." I
think David said exactly what he meant.

    Surely the Holy Spirit was saying through David: "You
have taste buds in your soul for tasting, for experiencing
spiritual things. Taste and experience that God is good!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.