Experience or Scripture--What Is Your Basis for Truth?

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, building yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 3, 17, 20-21). I am convinced we are living in a time of tremendous deception and apostasy and it scares me to death. If there was ever a time when the Biblical tools of discernment were desperately needed, it is now. We need to take these objective tools of discernment and apply them to whatever we hear being taught under the label of Christianity. In other words, we need to learn to question everything and to filter everything that comes our way through the grid-system of God’s Word. Jude wrote that although he had originally desired to write about “our common salvation,” he found it necessary to admonish his readers to “contend earnestly for the faith.” In other words, he wrote to defend the faith against false teachings that were arising in the churches of his day and our day as well.

It seems experience rather than God’s Word has become the basis for truth of many in Christian circles today. I guess to many, experience is much more exciting than God’s Word when it comes to truth. Therefore experience has become the basis for truth. This is very dangerous but very few seem to care. I suppose it is more exciting to go to a meeting and be “slain by the Spirit,” rather than read the truth of God’s Word about the only two people in Scripture who were slain by the Spirit and never got back up (see Acts 5:1-11, the account of Ananias and Sapphira). I guess it is more exciting to experience forty days of purpose with other seekers than it is to open the Bible and discover the rich truth of God’s holy Word. I guess it is a powerful experience meeting Christ in your subconscious mind through the new age practices of contemplative (centering) prayer and prayer labyrinths rather than appealing to Him in heaven where He cannot be seen, touched or heard (whatever happened to faith?). It seems that truth through the preaching of God’s Word has been removed from many pulpits because it offends “seekers.” It seems that prayer has been redefined to be mystical techniques in order to gain experiences which are much more relevant to postmodern society than simply praying to the Father, through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Experience is a dangerous thing and can be spiritually fatal. But the Word of God as the standard of truth tells us Who God is, our true need (to be forgiven) and how to have that need eternally met.

Jude tells us how to avoid being deceived. We are told to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down.” We are to stand (earnestly agonize) for the body of truth once for all given. This truth is not to be added to or subtracted from. What is this truth? Notice how Jude defines it in verses 17 and 20-21: “the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is done by (1) building on the truth of God’s Word, (2) praying while guided by the Spirit of God, and (3) waiting (faith with an eternal perspective). How important was the truth of God’s Word to the early church? It was first and primary according to Luke: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). The early church submitted to the teaching of the apostles who were the recipients of Christ’s authoritative teaching. Their teaching was God’s Word. The early church preached the Word. They did not preach felt-needs or experientially based messages. Their preaching could be described as “Thus says the Lord God.” Any church (or preacher) that has forsaken the pure preaching of the Word of God is robbing the people of God’s primary means of grace and is showing itself to not be a valid church. Since the early church preached the Word of God, they also preached the gospel. In Acts 2, we see Peter’s preaching was not at all like the watered down version of the gospel we see in many churches today. It definitely wasn’t “seeker friendly,” and it didn’t focus on felt-needs. But it did result in some 3000 souls being added to the church that day. As true followers of Christ, we share a “common salvation,” which was brought about through the finished work of Christ, as revealed in the Word of God. According to Paul, it became ours through listening to the “message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed” (Eph. 1:13). He didn’t mention experience. He talked about truth and believing that truth! Always make sure that Scripture, not experience, is your basis for truth. Otherwise, it is not a matter of “you might be,” but you will be deceived and led astray by “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). So get in the Word, study the Word, memorize the Word, apply the Word and question everything!