Amazing Grace by Watchman Nee Read Free Book Online Page A

you by saying to you that God has indeed
said you died, but where, adds Satan, did you die? For being thus tempted by
the enemy, you look at yourself and, alas, you see you have not died. What do you really believe? Do
you believe God’s word or believe your feeling? God says that I died in Christ.
But Satan says I have not died; and when I look at myself, I see myself as not
dead. After all is said and done, do I believe God’s word or believe my feeling?
    Such points up the difference between
living faith and dead faith. You know you have said that you died. Do
you believe the word of God or believe your feeling? Which is true—God’s word
or your experience? You should believe God’s word, for that is what faith is.
If you have living faith, you may look at yourself as alive but you are able to
declare that though you feel alive you do not believe you are.
    I trust in God’s word, not in my feeling. God has said I died,
hence I am dead. What therefore is living faith? It is taking hold of the word
of God. Only His word is true. My feeling and experience may change, but I
believe what God’s word has made clear—that all the works which God has done in
Christ have been accomplished.
    Today’s problem lies precisely here: we only see our
being alive and let the word of God slip away from us: we hold onto our feeling
within and cast away God’s word without. Whenever our feeling and God’s word
are opposed to each other, we should believe God’s word instead of believing
our feeling. Then we are delivered. Countless believers have heard the truth of
our co-death and co-resurrection with Christ, but most only know the truth without
exercising living faith; and thus all becomes vain for them.
    In this particular regard, how useless is our brain. For
when temptation comes, our brain will commence thinking what we should do in
order to die. Let me tell you that such action shows the lack of faith. The
issue here is whether we can believe that we have already died in Christ. It is
not a matter of us going to die;
rather, it is a matter of believing we have already died: not what we can do, but accepting and believing that all has already been done: not how we can resist temptation but
how we can believe God’s word.
    As was said earlier, if the store has earned money, the
ledger will naturally reckon it as an earning. How, then, should I reckon if
God has said I died? I should obviously reckon myself to be dead. Many believers
acknowledge that all would be fine if only they had truly died. Well, the fact
is that they have died, for in Christ
all problems have indeed been solved. God never says I am going to die; rather,
He declares that I have already died.
    Unless I am truly dead, how can God instruct me to reckon
myself as dead? On the other hand, if I have in fact not died, how, again, can
God instruct me to count myself dead? If the store has lost money, how can the
owner instruct the accountant to put it down in the ledger as an earning?
Because I have truly died, God can cause me to reckon myself dead. God will
never instruct me to make a false account. Thank God, I have truly died in
Christ. It does not matter whether I have experienced it or not, the fact is
that my old man has already died, for the work of Christ has been fully
accomplished.
    You must reckon yourself as dead, and with faith you
shall experience it, but without faith you will not have any experience of it. If
temptation comes and you are stirred to feel you are not dead, then at that
moment you will either believe your inward feeling or believe the word of God. Whether
you believe God or believe feeling will be demonstrated at that very moment. We
must have faith in God, not look for proof. If only we believe in what God has
said, there will be no need of proof.
    A trustworthy person need not provide any proof. Suppose
I lend money to the country’s president; do I need any guarantee? But if I lend
to a rickshaw driver, I will for sure need a