If you ask a number of believers who have entered into a 'Born again' experience in Christ, how did they come by that experience, some will say in this way and some will say in that way. Each stresses his own particular mode of entering into the Christian life and produces Scripture to support his personal experience. But unhappily, many Christians are using their special experiences and special Scriptures, to justify themselves and fight other Christians! The fact of the matter is this: while Christians may enter into this new, fantastic life by different ways, provided Christ is their centre and the source cause, we need not regard their experiences or doctrines as mutually exclusive, but rather as complementary.
For one thing is certain: any truthful experience of value in the sight of God that we claim, must have been reached by way of a new discovery of the meaning of the personal work of the Lord Jesus at the cross on our behalf. Other than by the work of the cross, there is no alternate legitimate way of becoming a Christian. This is a safe test and a crucial one for all so-called personal experiences of God. Faith always looks back to the cross of Christ and knows what the Lord Jesus has achieved for us there! We do not achieve anything, but we most certainly do obtain everything that is of Jesus by acceptance. A free gift is never ever achievable by us or by our efforts; if it was then it would not be free! Faith knows God! Faith knows whom we have believed.
