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[00:00:00] A passage in the book of Revelation.
[00:00:04] Beginning at chapter four and verse one.
[00:00:11] Book of Revelation, chapter four, verse one.
[00:00:21] After these things I saw. And behold, a door opened in heaven. And the first voice that I heard, a voice is of a trumpet speaking with me. One saying, come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter straightway. I was in the spirit. And behold, there was a throne set in heaven. And one sitting upon the throne. And he that that was to look upon. Like a Jasper stone and a Sardius. And there was a rainbow round about the throne like an emerald to look upon.
[00:01:04] And round about the throne were four and 20 thrones.
[00:01:08] And upon the thrones I saw four and 20 elders. Sitting arrayed in white garments. And on their heads crowns of gold.
[00:01:18] And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders.
[00:01:24] And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, as it were a sea of glass, like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first creature was like a lion. And the second creature was like a calf. And the third creature had a face as of a man. And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within. And they have no rest, day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
[00:02:17] And when the living creature shall give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne. To him that liveth for ever and ever. The four and 20 elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne. And shall worship him that liveth forever and ever. And shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, worthy art thou, o our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power. For thou didst create all things. And because of thy will they were and were created.
[00:02:53] And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back close sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the thereof? And no one in the heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look thereon. And I wept much because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look thereon.
[00:03:27] And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof. And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb standing as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
[00:04:02] And he came, and he taketh it out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having each one a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying, worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests, and they reign upon the earth. And I saw and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a great voice, worthy is the lamb that hath been slain to receive the power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in the heaven and on the earth, and under the earth and on the sea, and all things that are in them. Heard I saying unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb be the blessing and the honour and the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.
[00:05:50] Now, this evening, rather than go over anything of what has been said, I want to go straight on to the next point, which I feel we ought to make, and one of which I am quite sure there is much need of instruction.
[00:06:15] It is all summed up in this phrase, the testimony of Jesus.
[00:06:21] The testimony of Jesus.
[00:06:26] I believe the Lord has spoken to us in the past year or two a number of times about the testimony of Jesus and about the golden lampstand.
[00:06:42] Now, I'm also quite sure that many of us use the phrase testimony of Jesus, if we use it at all, without really understanding its significance. It's a kind of phrase that once you get hold of, you can use without really understanding exactly what it means.
[00:07:03] It is this subject this evening I want, by the grace of God, to deal with. And everything depends I'm quite sure, upon the illumination that the Holy Spirit can give to us as we turn to his word.
[00:07:21] Now, all the seven points which you see here written upon this board are all bound up with the testimony of Jesus.
[00:07:36] It is a phrase which is used mostly in the book of Revelation and elsewhere only a few times in the New Testament.
[00:07:51] Unfortunately, in your modern colloquial versions, the phrase has been completely obliterated and is rendered giving testimony to Jesus or witnessing to Jesus.
[00:08:07] This is rather sad and I don't quite understand why it has been interpreted in this way, since it's a very simple genitive.
[00:08:22] It is the testimony of Jesus.
[00:08:29] The word testimony in the New Testament is the word also rendered witness.
[00:08:36] And in Greek there is no other word for martyr. Our english word martyr is the word word witness comes from the same word for testimony. A witness is a martyr. It's the same thing. You just have to understand by the context whether it's a witness who's lost his life for his testimony.
[00:09:00] There is no difference in the word.
[00:09:06] In spite of the fact that our modern colloquial versions have obscured the meaning of this phrase. It is a phrase, in my estimation, of very great importance and significance indeed. Now let's take our bibles and let's just look at the references we have, all the references we have to the testimony of Jesus. First of all, in revelation, chapter one and verse two.
[00:09:42] John, who bear witness of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he that is John saw the testimony of Jesus Christ. Verse nine.
[00:10:02] I, John, your brethren, partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom of patience, which are in Jesus was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
[00:10:21] Chapter twelve.
[00:10:22] Verse 17.
[00:10:25] Chapter twelve and verse 17.
[00:10:28] And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.
[00:10:45] Chapter 19, verse ten.
[00:10:50] Chapter 19, verse ten. And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, see that thou do it not. I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of peter prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Back again to one corinthians and chapter one and verse six.
[00:11:29] One corinthians, chapter one and verse six.
[00:11:37] I think we ought really perhaps to read verse four and five here. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything ye were enriched in him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:12:15] Then I want you to see on chapter two, same book, same letter, chapter two, verse one. Now, in the English revised version, you will find this is rendered mystery of God, but you will find in your authorized version, the American Standard Version and the revised standard version. It is rendered testimony of God and I. Brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, not of Christ, the standard of God.
[00:12:51] And I just compared that with what's gone before gain turned to Timothy two. Timothy, chapter one, verse eight.
[00:13:01] To Timothy, chapter one, verse eight.
[00:13:08] Be not ashamed, therefore, of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God.
[00:13:22] Be not ashamed, therefore, of the testimony of our Lord.
[00:13:29] Then two other references in revelation.
[00:13:35] First, revelation, chapter one, verse five.
[00:13:42] Revelation, chapter one, verse five.
[00:13:48] And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness.
[00:13:55] The faithful witness. Very easy to just read this kind of thing again and again as a Christian and never think of what it means. What does it mean? The faithful witness. The word witness again is just the same. Martyr testifier, if you like. The faithful witness, chapter three, verse 14.
[00:14:20] These things saith y. Amen. The faithful and true witness.
[00:14:29] The faithful and true witness. Now, it seems to me reasonably clear from these passages that this phrase, the testimony of Jesus, does not refer merely to some general and ordinary witnessing on our part, to the Lord Jesus Christ, but to something far greater and of much deeper significance.
[00:15:03] That is, I believe it refers to that testimony which the Lord Jesus himself bore and indeed expressed in himself, in his very being.
[00:15:24] The testimony of Jesus was to God's true character.
[00:15:34] That is, in all the falsity of ideas about God, about the nature of God, about the existence of God.
[00:15:44] He bore testimony to the true nature of God's character.
[00:15:54] He bore testimony to God's will and to God's purpose from eternity to eternity, in a world which had lost in every way any idea of the aim or the objective for which it was created. He bore testimony to God's eternal and original purpose for man and for the whole creation. He bore testimony to God's ways and to God's heart, to God's redeeming love and salvation, by which God could and would restore and reconcile a fallen humanity which was degraded, perverted, corrupted, alienated, if you like, the way that God could restore and reconcile that fallen humanity to his original, glorious destiny.
[00:17:11] Now it is into this world, into this world, a world we know, blind, disobedient and sinful, which has long since forfeited the right to God's mercy, forgiveness. It is into this world that the Lord Jesus came.
[00:17:42] A world, mark you, that is founded upon a lie.
[00:17:49] Now we must get rid of all sentimental ideas about this world, its beautiful sunsets, its twittering birds, the magnificence of things here and there. Theyre all there. Theres no doubt about that. But the fact is that this whole system, this whole system of things into which you and I have been born is founded and built on a lie.
[00:18:15] Instead of finding its center and its meaning, its very existence, its very life in God, it now finds its life and its existence in selfhood.
[00:18:30] And this has crept into every sphere and every part of the creation. It is a world founded and built on a lie.
[00:18:42] And this lie has poisoned the very lifeblood of humanity. It is in us now. My dear child of God, whoever you are, however long you've been in the way, the nearer you get to God, the more you find this lie which is in our bloodstream. Oh, think of it.
[00:19:03] The moment the Lord takes action with us, what is our first reaction? To fall flat on our faces and worship him? Never. Our first reaction is, why did he do that to me?
[00:19:15] We distrust God. We always believe the worst about God. We rebel against God. We react against God. Why do we do this? It is our spontaneous reaction. Our spontaneous reaction is not always to believe the best about God, to believe that he's doing it for our best, that he's leading in the best way that he can undertake otherwise. I dare to say that as many issues as there are people in this room tonight, including myself, would be settled here tonight.
[00:19:45] All this holding onto ourselves, all this refusal to let go. Behind it all lies this poisoned blood stream, this lifeblood that's been poisoned, which is in us all. We do not trust God.
[00:20:04] We believe he's a grabber, a grasper, someone who wants to dictate to us, someone who doesn't really want our joy and our well being, but in fact actually wants to make us miserable and empty and negative, if it is at all possible.
[00:20:24] Well, some perhaps are not so deeply poisoned as others.
[00:20:31] But I am quite sure that when we begin to discover the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, this is one of the things that becomes very soon apparent to us. All our very lifeblood has been poisoned by a lie.
[00:20:50] The values of this world have been inverted. And we as christians, part of our education, lifelong education by the Holy Spirit, is to bring us to true values, to see things that are real values as against what we have thought to be values. This world's values are inverted values. It's a world in which the meaningfulness, its meaningfulness has been lost. When you think of this world, when you go to work in the morning, you look around the compartment or the bus or when you get to the office, around the office or wherever it is, all those people rushing here, rushing there, going through life, all through a routine of activity to drop dead at the end. Some not bothering to ask where they came from or where they're going to. Caught up in a great machinery called life, its meaningfulness lost.
[00:21:52] What is the point of it all in the end?
[00:21:56] Of course, if you accept these false values, then you can be slightly happier sometimes. Till death comes or illness comes or something else comes. And then suddenly your face to face with reality. It's a world that's lost to God, lost to eternal life and lost to the glory of God. It's a world that has been relegated to the iron like bondage of sin and death, a prison house of darkness and blindness.
[00:22:39] Now that's the world you and I. No.
[00:22:43] A world whose vicious principle is self centeredness.
[00:22:55] A world which is inflated by pride.
[00:23:01] A world which is alienated from the life of God.
[00:23:08] Now it is into that world, this world that the Lord Jesus came, just that world.
[00:23:24] And he came bearing testimony to the genuine reality of all things, bearing testimony to the true character of it all. Now, I'm not just talking about God, but the Lord Jesus, by his very presence, suddenly made men and women realize they weren't meant for this. Suddenly, prostitutes, publicans, sinners began to wake up to the fact that this wasn't life, that they were lost, that there was something else. There was more than just an ideal. There was a possibility of something. He awakened something in people.
[00:24:06] It was the testimony that he bore.
[00:24:10] Do you understand what I mean? It was his very presence as well as his preaching that somehow or other brought another world to bear upon people, another kingdom to bear upon people, another life to bear upon people.
[00:24:27] It wasn't merely that he interpreted and defined for us something about God, about his true nature, about his character.
[00:24:39] It's not just that he revealed and proclaimed and declared God, but that he showed us what we were made of.
[00:24:50] He showed us the dark side of the coin as well.
[00:24:55] As the bright side.
[00:24:59] Now, if you take your bible, you will find it in many, many places.
[00:25:05] For instance, if you take John, the gospel of John. We'll just confine ourselves to the gospel of John. Chapter three.
[00:25:16] Chapter three, verse 31. Listen to this. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh.
[00:25:32] He that cometh from heaven is above all what he hath seen and heard of, that he of that he beareth testimony.
[00:25:48] And no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set his seal to this, that God is true.
[00:25:59] For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. For he giveth not the spirit by measure. The father loveth the son. And hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the son hath eternal life. But he that obeyeth not the son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth on him. Turn over the pages to chapter five, verse 30.
[00:26:30] Chapter five, verse 30. I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous. Because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. If I bear testimony of myself, my testimony is not true. It is another that beareth testimony of me. And I know that the testimony which he testified me is true. Ye have sent unto John, and he hath borne testimony unto the truth. But the testimony which I receive is not from man. Howbeit I say these things, that ye may be saved. He was the lamp that burneth and shineth. And ye were willing to rejoice for a season in his light. But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John. For the works which the father hath given me to accomplish the very works that I do bear witness of me. That the father hath sent me, and the father that sent me he hath borne testimony of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form.
[00:27:38] Turn over the page to chapter eight.
[00:27:42] Chapter eight, verse twelve.
[00:27:45] Again, therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, thou bearest testimony of thyself, thy testimony is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, even if I bear testimony of myself, my testimony is true. For I know whence I came and whither I go. But ye know not whence I come or whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh I judge no man. Yea, and if I judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am the father that sent me. Yea, and in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am he that beareth testimony of myself, and the father that sent me beareth testimony of me.
[00:28:40] And then in chapter 18, verse 30, 718 37, Pilate therefore said unto him, art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world that I should bear testimony unto the truth. Now, if you will just turn back to John, chapter three, there are just a few verses more I would like to read there, which act as a commentary on these others.
[00:29:17] John, chapter three, verse 19 to 21. And this is the judgment that the light is come into the world. And men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his work should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.
[00:29:53] Now, the testimony of Jesus is much more than merely a testimony by lip of words.
[00:30:08] It's much more than the truth he proclaimed.
[00:30:13] He not only bore testimony, he was that testimony himself. It was not only on his lips, but in his very being. He was himself, the very expression of what God was like and what God wanted, the kind of person God is and the kind of man God wants. That is, the moment we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, we see two things somehow together, inextricably together, and yet quite distinct. We see in the Lord Jesus the kind of person God is, the heart of God revealed, the mind of God revealed.
[00:31:08] And we see in the Lord Jesus the kind of man that you and I should be.
[00:31:15] Immediately we see the kind of person God is, and we see the kind of person God intended you and me originally to be.
[00:31:25] That is the testimony. Now you've got that again. In all kinds of scriptures, no man hath seen the father at any time. The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Or again, listen to this word.
[00:31:43] The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It wasn't just what he preached. It was that in him, in his very being, was the testimony he was full of grace and truth. We beheld the glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Or again you turn to chapter 14 and verse nine. And the Lord Jesus said, he that hath seen me hath seen the father. In chapter twelve and verse 45, he says, he that hath seen me hath seen him that sent me. Or Hebrews, chapter one, verse three, where we are told this, verse two hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world, who being the effulgence of his glory and the very image of his substance.
[00:33:04] Well, it's beyond us, isn't it, really? That's the kind of person God is. He is revealed in the Lord Jesus. How can any finite created being understand God? We can't. God is spirit, God is infinite. God is vast, God is infinite, wholly and incomprehensibly beyond us.
[00:33:28] No little created intelligence can ever fathom. God can ever even understand God. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has a human form.
[00:33:45] Suddenly God becomes focused. God becomes understandable, if you see what I mean. He has a colour to his eyes, a color to his hair, an actual shape to his face. He has hands that worked at a carpenter's bench. There were lines on his face that betrayed the years of labor that he went through and so on and so forth.
[00:34:17] He could weep, he could hunger, he could thirst.
[00:34:24] All these things.
[00:34:26] We see the kind of person God is, but we also see the kind of person God wants. If you read those terrifying chapters, Matthew, chapter five, chapter six and chapter seven, which we normally call the sermon on the Mount.
[00:34:43] If you read those chapters and start to measure yourself, or I measure myself by them, every one of us comes forward.
[00:34:53] There is only one person that that sermon on the Mount is a perfect example of, and thats the Lord Jesus in every single part of it.
[00:35:08] He perfectly and absolutely expressed the kind of man God intended us to be originally.
[00:35:17] No wonder the apostle Peter, later on writing a letter, says, christ left us an example that we should follow.
[00:35:30] That's what we call the testimony of Jesus. But I want to take it further this evening.
[00:35:39] To me it is even more clearly seen in the eight great claims that the Lord Jesus made and upon which John based his gospel. Those tremendous claims, eight of them I am.
[00:35:59] Now, it is not without significance that the one who saw the visions in the book of Revelation, and who uses this phrase more than anyone else, the testimony of Jesus, is the one who in his gospel, gathers everything around these eight great claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the notes you will find the references to the eight claims, but I think most of you know them. I am the bread of life.
[00:36:33] I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
[00:36:43] John 858. Before Abraham was I am the whole explanation of jewish history.
[00:36:53] Chapter ten, verse nine.
[00:36:57] I am the door. Chapter ten, verse eleven. I am the good shepherd. Chapter eleven, verse 25. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. John 14 six. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me and the last and surely the top stone. John 15 one, I am the true vine.
[00:37:36] Now, these eight great claims, John sets them down one by one, not haphazardly in his gospel, but with a great design. And into it he weaves eight great signs. I'm not going to go through the signs because that's not so important to our study this evening. But he weaves into eight great signs and a number of other incidents. And the whole thing John tries to do is to set before us the testimony of Jesus.
[00:38:10] Jesus did not say, I give the bread of life, or I produce the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life.
[00:38:20] Jesus didn't say, I am the culmination of the history of the Old Testament. He said, I am the history of the Old Testament before Abraham was I am.
[00:38:33] He didn't say, I point to the door. He said, I am the door.
[00:38:38] He didnt say, I give the life. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. Not merely that he will raise us one day, but he is the resurrection and the life, not just what he preaches, but what he is in himself. This is the testimony of Jesus.
[00:38:58] Now, id like to have given you just a few samples of what really the testimony of Jesus means in practice from this gospel of John. If you look at the gospel of John and you turn just to chapter two, what do you have? The very first sign. The very first sign in chapter two is the turning of water into wine. There are many, many christians, I've often thought, who should have a great problem about this. After all, if the Lord had followed the right thing, he should have turned wine into water. But he turned water into wine. And just so that no one can get away, away from it. It was the very best vintage wine.
[00:39:40] Those who knew quite a lot about wine said, you kept the best stuff to the last. It's a really good old vintage you bought out at the end. Now, what was the Lord Jesus doing? Well, now, of course, this is no excuse for us to go on the bottle at all.
[00:40:00] The whole point that the Lord Jesus was making was this. It was corruptible into incorruptible. It was the testimony of Jesus. You see, in the east, water is the most dangerous thing in this world. Leave it in a stone jar for more than a day or two and it stagnates and a whole village can be wiped out with cholera.
[00:40:26] It was corruptible. But my dear child of God, you can leave wine for year after year after year after year. And the more, the higher the percentage of alcohol, the safer it is.
[00:40:44] It's incorruptible.
[00:40:48] It says expressly in chapter two and verse eleven this beginning of his signs. Did Jesus not miracles, signs, sign is more than a miracle. It's a miracle with significance.
[00:41:02] Did Jesus in care and manifested his glory?
[00:41:06] Glory.
[00:41:08] Who can change corruptible into incorruptible? Oh, my poor old body.
[00:41:15] I'm not so old, but I've got an old, corruptible body and it's getting older all the time. And you have too. But one day the Lord Jesus, oh, the glory of it is going to turn it into something incorruptible.
[00:41:40] You turn on. Just to show you what I mean about this testament of Jesus, the last part of chapter two. And what have you got? You've got the Lord Jesus going into the temple and doing something which is upsetting some people. It seemingly he lost his temper. In the white fury of his anger, he deliberately made a scourge of knots. And then he turned over all the tables and caught pandemonium in the outer court of the temple. And he said, you shall not make my father's house a house of commerce.
[00:42:22] Would to God that many of us christians could hear the word of the Lord in this matter.
[00:42:32] You shall not make my father's house a house of commerce merchandise. And then what does he do? He says, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The testimony of Jesus.
[00:42:50] This that. You see all these bricks, these stones, this is nothing, says the Lord Jesus.
[00:42:57] This is the temple.
[00:43:00] Destroy it and in three days I will raise it up. An incorruptible, eternal temple, a habitation of God in the spirit in which all nations shall find their house of prayer.
[00:43:19] See? Testimony of Jesus.
[00:43:22] You go on and you come to chapter three and you've got another incident. You've got one of the greatest Bible teachers in Israel come to the Lord Jesus by night. And what does the he tries to discuss things with the Lord Jesus about his claims, his basis, the basis of his miracles and his signs and so on. The Lord Jesus brushes the whole lot aside and says, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born anew, born from above, born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Then he goes on, he must be born of water, born of the spirit.
[00:44:00] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit. Here is the testimony of Jesus. The Lord Jesus comes into a situation which is cultured, educated, religious, pious, decent. And suddenly the light of God shines into a darkened heart. Decent, upright, moral, pious, but a darkened, alienated heart. And suddenly, dear old Nicodemus, oh, he must have spun like a top.
[00:44:30] Now then he says, what do you mean? What do you mean? Born again? Born again. Must I enter my mother's womb? Of course not. Of course not. That was a very silly thing to say.
[00:44:41] In the end, Nicodemus understood it all. He was converted in the end.
[00:44:46] But do you see where the light first shone in to a cultured, religious, educated, pious man who thought that he was doing everything that was required of him.
[00:44:55] Suddenly it was the testimony of Jesus.
[00:45:01] That which is of the earth is earthy.
[00:45:06] That's what it says here in explanation of this very thing.
[00:45:11] O poor Nicodemus, how can it be? He says in the end. Ah, says the Lord Jesus. It can't be by human ingenuity or creativeness or cleverness. It will come just as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness. Even so must the son of man be lifted, that thing which has poisoned mankind, which has poisoned and destroyed even the best and the most decent of mankind. That thing I am going to take into myself on the cross and die for.
[00:45:42] And then the way will be opened up for the spirit of God to come into your heart when you are washed and cleansed from your sin and cause a new birthday so that you're no longer born of the earth early, but born of heaven, born from above. Oh, I could go on because it's just marvelous. Once you start on it, you go on to the next chapter, chapter four. And you've got the woman of Samaria. She was a girl, danced along to the well with her pot on her head, fetching her water.
[00:46:19] Had a bit of a life, I've no doubt about it. That she'd had a number of sorrows in her life. Most of those ladies have married five husbands without some sorrow. I should think she'd had her fair share of sorrow and trials and troubles and so on. And jauntily she goes along. The Lord Jesus says to her, could I have a cup of water? That was the first thing. Testimony of Jesus. Oh, our ideas of the testimony of Jesus are quite different. We would have thought he would have stood there and pierced her through with a holy look, so that she shrivelled. And suddenly all her five husbands flitted before her eyes. But no, not at all. The Lord Jesus says to her in a quite spontaneous way, could I have a cup of water?
[00:47:06] Why, she said, certainly, sir. But she said, aren't you a jew? Yes, I am. Then she said, but sir, Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. She didn't say who she was, but it was doubly so with her. Thirsty shouldn't only prostitutes or women that were outcasts ever went to the well at that time of the day?
[00:47:27] And secondly, they would never speak to a man.
[00:47:33] So she said, well, so then they had a marvellous religious, theological discussion.
[00:47:42] You should began about it old our fathers say you should worship in this mountain here. They were right next to it. Mount Gerizim, you say, they should worship at Jerusalem.
[00:47:54] And the Lord Jesus listened to it all. And then just suddenly he said to her, fetch your husband.
[00:48:03] Oh, she sort of flummoxed a bit and flustered a bit. And I hadn't got a husband.
[00:48:13] Yes, said the Lord Jesus, you've said true, you've had five, and the one you now have is not your husband. In a single moment, the whole facade fell down like a pack of cards.
[00:48:29] It wasn't done in the religious way, the pharisaical way. Hauling some woman into the presence of the Lord to be dealt with, taken in the very act. He said, what shall we do? Stone her? That's what the Lord Moses said to try him.
[00:48:45] But it all began with a request on his part. Do you see the testimony of Jesus? Now, out of this extraordinary meeting came one of the most wonderful things in the gospel according to John.
[00:49:02] What? True worship is neither here nor there, but in the spirit.
[00:49:13] Well, you see, you can go on. You can go on. I mean, jumping over chapters and chapters. You come to John, chapter eleven, and there you have one of the greatest mysteries of all. The mystery of the death of Lazarus. And you know the whole story, I am quite sure how the Lord Jesus came into that situation and how they asked him to heal, do something. But he didn't come. First of all.
[00:49:54] Do come in and sit down quickly.
[00:50:13] You've got in this chapter the death of Lazarus and how they besought the Lord Jesus to come. And he deliberately stayed back. Now, the Lord Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.
[00:50:33] He knew that he was going to do it.
[00:50:36] He deliberately stayed back till it was absolutely certain.
[00:50:41] It was certified.
[00:50:44] His death was clear to everyone. It wasn't just a fainting fit.
[00:50:48] He was in the tomb. The stone was rolled over it. It was sealed. The whole thing was for certain. And then he came.
[00:50:57] And you know how Mary and Martha broke their hearts at his feet?
[00:51:02] And how the Lord Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. And then he went down. And then the most extraordinary thing. More now, my dear friends, this is the testimony of Jesus. Suddenly the Lord Jesus began to cry.
[00:51:20] It is, of course, the shortest verse in the Bible.
[00:51:24] John 1135. Jesus wept.
[00:51:30] I see. It is the shortest verse in the Bible. It is the most profound mystery in the whole Bible.
[00:51:38] Because the Lord Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus. Why then did he? I tell you why he went.
[00:51:44] Because the Lord Jesus, with his heart so sensitive, so compassionate, so sympathetic, he knew what he was going to do with Lazarus. But it was the whole thing that had happened to man that broke upon the Lord Jesus in an altogether new way. Man was never made for death.
[00:52:07] He was never made for all this corruption and death and misery and emptiness. And suddenly it just overwhelmed the Lord Jesus. The misery of it all, the unhappiness of it all.
[00:52:24] God never intended that.
[00:52:26] God never intended death in his scheme of things as we know it.
[00:52:33] Jesus wept and then he raised Lazarus.
[00:52:41] Now, in that incident you have been introduced into the holiest place of all and I defy anyone to understand it.
[00:52:56] There you are, face to face with the kind of person God is.
[00:53:04] I will put it in another word from another gospel.
[00:53:09] Perhaps it sounds sentimental, but if the Lord Jesus hadn't said it, perhaps it would be.
[00:53:16] But this is it.
[00:53:19] Not even a sparrow falleth to the ground without your father.
[00:53:28] Now you go away and think about that.
[00:53:32] That doesn't mean God is sentimental, but it means that everything that happens in this groaning, misery struck creation touches God. Every airplane crack, every train crack, every bereavement, every sickness, every cruelty to children, every time there is cruelty to an animal, whatever it is, animal to animal, human being to human beings in this sin struck world, the whole thing, somehow or other, God is sensitive to it.
[00:54:16] You've got it in these two words. Jesus wept.
[00:54:22] This was not what God intended. This is not what God purposed. This was not that for which mankind or this creation was.
[00:54:34] It was something all together different to this. Now, I have only taken a few examples from the Gospel of John. To show you a little of what I believe. The testimony of Jesus means it was not just something to do with what he proclaimed. The truth he proclaimed. It was not only the truth he proclaimed. And not only the action that he performed.
[00:55:09] It was his very presence that made the powerful and incisive impact upon this world.
[00:55:19] I do believe that the Lord Jesus sometimes did not have to say a single word. You've got it in John, chapter eight. Here they come, a great mob.
[00:55:30] Oh, very respectable religious leaders. Here they come hauling some miserable woman, flinging her at his feet. They say, we've got her in the very act now. They said, the lord of Moses says she should be stoned. What do you say?
[00:55:50] He never answered a word.
[00:55:53] No sermon on the mount. No great platitudes about turning the other cheek.
[00:56:00] Not a word.
[00:56:07] He just bent down and started to write in the ground. And we don't know what he wrote, but in the sand, he just doodled.
[00:56:22] And one by one they went out. From the elderly to the youngest. It was Doctor Campbell Morgan who said they went out from the eldest to the youngest. Because the eldest had the most sin. He had lived the longest.
[00:56:39] Out they went, one by one. Now, that's what I mean.
[00:56:45] Not when I said it's not just the truth he proclaimed, nor the actions that he performed. It was his very presence.
[00:56:55] When he stood before Pilate, he answered not a word.
[00:57:01] And out of that, the heart of that hardened gentile governor.
[00:57:10] Came the words almost wistful.
[00:57:15] What is true?
[00:57:19] What is reality?
[00:57:25] It was torn out of him. Some people think it was sarcasm. I don't.
[00:57:30] It was the presence of Jesus. It was the testimony of Jesus.
[00:57:35] He was there.
[00:57:38] Have you ever found that? Surely every one of us who's known the Lord in some little pleasure. Whenever we've really touched him.
[00:57:45] Well, things have just been different.
[00:57:48] When he's come near to us, when he's spoken to us, when some new light has come to us from the word of God, the truth has set us free.
[00:57:56] You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
[00:58:00] Isn't that so?
[00:58:02] It's the testimony of Jesus.
[00:58:08] It was what he was. In the final analysis, he not only bore testimony to the life of God which God was giving to man. He was that life.
[00:58:27] And it was that life which was the light you see, the light the Lord Jesus gave is an altogether different kind of life. It's not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's the tree of life.
[00:58:41] It wasn't just up here. All we know this is wrong and that's right. But it was a kind of life that became light. Now you've got it. John, chapter one, verse four. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
[00:59:00] Again, you've got it. John 812. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Think of that. It's a most extraordinary phrase. Light of life.
[00:59:17] Not the light of intelligence, but the light of life.
[00:59:23] Now, it is just this that the Lord Jesus had.
[00:59:30] I think if you and I wanted to sum it all up, I think I would sum it up in the words of the apostle John. In the first letter of John, chapter five, verse eleven. Verse eleven. And this is the testimony.
[00:59:47] Now, we read it normally. And this is the witness that God hath given to us.
[00:59:52] Now, listen, I'll put it in the old way. And this is the testimony that God hath given unto us.
[01:00:02] God hath given unto us eternal life.
[01:00:08] And this life is in his son.
[01:00:13] He that hath the son hath the life.
[01:00:19] He that hath not the son of God hath not the life. And then I think in verse 20, which I can't quote from memory, it says something like this.
[01:00:35] And we know. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. That's verse 19, verse 20. And we know that the son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we know him that is true or real, and we are in him that is true, even in his son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal.
[01:01:04] Now, I think here tonight we shall end.
[01:01:10] But I want to end on this note in the few moments we've got.
[01:01:17] The testimony of Jesus in its ultimate analysis, in the final analysis, is that the life of God, eternal life, the very life of God himself, was in him.
[01:01:38] And that when you and I receive him, when we are born of God, that life comes into us and a union takes place.
[01:01:52] Now we have to take, and we will do next week, the testimony of Jesus much further because that's why it's bound up with the lampstand, and the lampstand is bound up with the church.
[01:02:03] But it all comes back to this.
[01:02:05] In its beginnings, that, first of all, life was in him.
[01:02:11] And then through his death it came to us. Through his death and resurrection it came to us. And then we have been joined to him and he to us.
[01:02:20] And if we're joined, if I'm joined to him and he to me and you're joined to him and he to you, then something has happened between us.
[01:02:29] We're all in the same Christ. And the same Christ is in all of us. We've all got the same life and the same life as in all of us. We're born of God into a new family.
[01:02:41] We've become members of Christ and one of another.
[01:02:47] Now, again, it was that life which was withheld for man when he fell.
[01:02:59] You've got it in the very simple words of Genesis, chapter three and verse 22. And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken.
[01:03:24] So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden a cherubim and the flame of a sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.
[01:03:41] From that time that man fell and life was withheld from him.
[01:03:49] From that time the cherubim became the symbol of the divine Veto.
[01:03:58] Now again, whether you know this or you don't, it is a fact that in every great civilization in the world some form of the cherubim has existed. From the great chinese winged dogs to the winged lions of Assyria to those of the great Incas to the sphinx of Egypt. This idea has spread throughout the whole world, permeated the whole of civilization. These fearsome creatures that guard the way, as it were, to the gods.
[01:04:32] Mythology.
[01:04:37] But we know that the Cherubimara symbol, the divine Veto, man, eternal life, is withheld by God from the likes of you and me.
[01:04:57] Later on, another symbol came even more dramatic in its content.
[01:05:03] The veil of the tabernacle. A great heavy veil that divided the holiest place of all from the holy place, the holy of holies from the holy place. And on that veil were woven an embroidered work, cherubim.
[01:05:20] It was the divine Veto.
[01:05:26] None of us can obtain the life of God.
[01:05:34] That veil was only removed when the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself his own sinless and incorruptible life, sacrificed himself on the cross for our sin and then, in his resurrection by the Holy Spirit offered himself to us as the very life of God as life eternal.
[01:06:06] That moment the Lord Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to God for our sins. His perfect life.
[01:06:15] That moment. The veil in the temple with those embroidered cherubim was torn in two from top to bottom by the hand of God.
[01:06:24] The way was opened.
[01:06:27] God was offering this life again to men and women by his son.
[01:06:37] The divine veto had been lifted. Has been lifted.
[01:06:45] I say that that is wonderful.
[01:06:51] He that believeth on the son of God, listen to the simplicity of the words. But, o, the experience of agony behind them, the years of preparation from eternity.
[01:07:07] He that believeth on the son of God hath it eternal life.
[01:07:16] Or again, listen to the words of Lord Jesus. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life in himself.
[01:07:36] When we next see a picture of heaven in revelation, chapter four and five, which we read, which is for some a very involved passage, but when understood, is one of the most glorious passages in the whole Bible.
[01:07:53] When we next see a picture of heaven, a glorious and dramatic change has taken place.
[01:08:02] Now, instead of the cherubim acting as guards to the way of life and withholding it from man and barring the way to man, suddenly they become worshipping ushers to redeemed men and women. A whole innumerable multitude of the redeemed, 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands upon thousands pouring in. And the cherubim no longer barring the way but ushering them in. First they begin with the elders, the song, and finally they say, amen.
[01:08:45] That is the testimony of Jesus.
[01:08:51] That is it.
[01:08:54] That God in Christ has finally and forever triumphed.
[01:09:03] Now here we are, you and I. We're in the history of it. But, my dear friend, think of it. If you'd lived in Abraham's time, you would have been much farther back, but there was no difference. He saw that Christ's day and rejoiced.
[01:09:22] Here you and I are toward the end of this age, this glorious age, this age of the grace of God.
[01:09:34] Now then, we still know something of a world that's up to died down. We still know something of inverted values. We still know something of a world that's founded on a lie. We still know something of a lifeblood that's poison. We still know something of a meaningfulness that's lost all around us on every side. We're in the world, but we're no longer part of it.
[01:10:03] We have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God's love were still here.
[01:10:19] And in the wisdom of God unless he comes, we must all die.
[01:10:30] We have all got to still experience something of that which was never intended to be part of this creation and which the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ is abolished.
[01:10:46] But that's why the glorious promises to us changed in the twinkling of an eye.
[01:10:54] The dead in Christ rising first, we which are alive and remain caught up to be with them.
[01:11:05] But you see, it's all what? It's all so wonderful. It's the testimony of Jesus.
[01:11:12] Sometimes it's very hard for us to believe that God has got the final word in this thing, that the ultimate triumph is Christ.
[01:11:20] But it is.
[01:11:22] And that's why we've got the book of revelation as we shall see next week. We've got martyrs under the altar. Think of it. And the sort of lid is lifted up and a cry comes out, how long?
[01:11:40] And the voice comes back with absolute calmness from heaven till the number of the martyrs is fulfilled and the lid is put down.
[01:11:55] Now for us, it seems. Oh, dear, dear, dear.
[01:12:00] But, you know, it's comforting in another way. It's all, all wholly according to the sovereign plan of God, all in hand. The triumph is his, absolutely his. So you get that book with its great conflict, its satanic antagonism, its world system of evil, antichrist here, a worldwide counterfeit church there, everything seeming to go wrong in one way.
[01:12:35] And finally, the last picture is of the city coming down out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband.
[01:12:49] The ultimate triumph is with God.
[01:12:55] Now this is the testimony of Jesus.
[01:12:59] And as we shall see next week, this is the testimony that you and I hold.
[01:13:08] We hold it.
[01:13:11] The testimony of Jesus. They that hold the testimony of Jesus. Thank God. The Lord Jesus, our glorified and triumphant head has gone into the heavens and is seated at the right hand of God the father. Beyond the reach of Satan, beyond the reach of all the powers of darkness and evil. He is there. He's triumphed. And now it is our place to hold the testimony of Jesus without compromising, whatever the cost and whatever the price, until finally we see the day of God's ultimate triumph dawn.
[01:14:02] And we shall.
[01:14:04] Well, I do hope that the Lord has helped you to understand a little bit involved. Difficult subject. I hope the Lord will help you to understand a little of what this phrase, the testimony Jesus means.
[01:14:21] Shall we pray now? Beloved Lord, we do lift up our hearts to thee and we praise thee for that testimony of thine Lord. There would be none of us here this evening were it not for the way that thou didst come into this world and the way that thou didst give thyself for us. Now, Lord, we pray that we may be given divine illumination by thy spirit upon these things that as we search thy word and as we seek thee, Lord, so it may dawn upon us something of the meaning of this phrase.
[01:15:07] Illuminate us, Lord, by thy spirit we pray and we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:15:15] Amen.
