Would you turn back to Acts chapter
8? Tonight I'm going to preach on this subject, children of
light and Ephesians chapter 5. I've
entitled the message for this morning, Testify. I could have entitled this message
the Apostolic Message and the Apostolic Method, but I'm going
to title it Testifying. Peter and John have gone to Samaria. They laid their hands on the
disciples there. They received the gift of the
Holy Spirit, the ability to speak in tongues and heal and so on.
And now Peter and John are returning to Jerusalem. And here's what's
going on while they return. Look in verse 25. And they, when
they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned
to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the
Samaritans. Testifying, when I testify, I'm
giving something that I have seen. I'm not giving second hand
information, but in a true testimony, I'm
not really interested in hearing about somebody's personal experience.
I want the word of the Lord. Now, that's what's happening
in preaching. You have testifying going on, but it's not a testimony
of someone's personal subjective experience. It's a testimony
concerning the word of God. Now, preaching. The preaching
of the gospel is utterly unique in this sense. Every other profession or vocation
there is progress. There's a newer and a better
way to do things. Think of the progress that's
been made in medicine in the last 100 years. Think of the
progress that's been made in transportation in the last 100
years ago. 100 years ago, there were no
airplanes to fly on. Think of the progress that's
been made in technology in the last 100 years. 100 years ago,
there wasn't a computer. I could go on farming, construction,
you name anything, and progress is great. You have to have it. You have
to have improvement. You have to have new ways to
do things and improve ways to do things. You know that, but
not in preaching. In the preaching of the gospel,
progress is digress. We have the same message and
the same method as the apostles, the preaching of the gospel.
Now, we take advantage of the blessings of technology. I mean,
we're on two TV stations, a radio station. We have the computer,
live stream, all that kind of stuff. But what's going on? The preaching of the gospel. Now, in true preaching, that which Paul was speaking
of when he said, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe, there is testifying. going on. If I'm not testifying, I'm not
preaching the gospel. There's testifying. I'm giving
that which I've seen, that God has revealed to me that I'm an
eyewitness to. If I'm just giving secondhand information, I'm not
testifying. There's testifying going on,
but like I've already said, it's not me giving testimony of my
personal subjective experience. I'm giving personal testimony
to the word of God. And this word, testify, it's
not the word that's generally translated, testify. It means
to bear solemn witness and protest. I bear solemn witness to something
and I protest to anything that's contrary to what I'm bearing
solemn witness to that God has taught me from his word. Now
that's what's going on in preaching, there is this thing of testifying. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1. Verse 8. Paul says to Timothy, be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. And here's the testimony of our
Lord. He saved us. He called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and
hath brought life and immortality to life through the gospel, whereunto
I'm appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the
Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day, and
hold fast the form of sound words." That's the form of sound words,
and I'm to hold that fast, and I'm to protest to anything that
is contrary to this testimony of our Lord. Now, that's what's
going on in testifying. We're testifying not secondhand
information, but what the Lord has taught us. what the Lord
has revealed to us, but it's a testimony concerning his word.
You know, people say, here's my personal testimony. I'm really
not much interested in your personal testimony. I want to know what
God says. Here's what this scripture means
to me. I don't really care what it means
to you. I want to know what it means.
And I know you feel the same way. We want to know what God
says in his word. Now in this Book of Acts, we
find seven other places where the word testify is used. And I pray that's what goes on
this morning, that we might have a true testimony. What the Lord
has taught me, what the Lord has taught you in this book. Before we go into this, turn
with me for a moment to 2 Peter. Before I read this, do you remember
when that rich man was in hell and he said, send my brothers
Lazarus that he can give testimony about this horrible place? And
you know how Abraham answered? He said, well, they've got Moses
and the prophets. Let them hear them. They got the Bible. He
said, nay, Father Abraham, but if they have one give a testimony
that this place is real, they'll believe. He said, no, they won't.
No, they won't. They won't repent, though one
comes back from the dead and warns them. It's not personal
testimony of experience that counts, but what God says in
his word. Now look here in 2 Peter 1, verse
16. Peter says, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables
when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He's talking
about the man of transfiguration. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, we heard. In our own personal subjective
experience, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount,
we have also a more sure word of prophecy. This is better. This is more real. I mean, you
have this. This is better than Peter and
James and John's experience on the Mount Transfiguration. It's
better. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, wherein to you do well that you take heed, as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place into the day dawn and the
day star rise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scriptures of any private interpretation for the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now in the preaching of
the gospel, there is testifying God never sent me to preach if
I'm not bearing witness to what he has taught me and revealed
to me. But it's not testimony concerning, well, here's what
I've experienced, but what God says in his word. And that's
all we're interested in hearing, isn't it? Now turn with me to
Acts chapter two. We're going to look at seven
different places where this word is used. Acts chapter two. Verse 40. Now this is the conclusion of
what could arguably be called the greatest sermon ever preached.
This is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, where after,
or through this message, 3,000 people were brought to a saving
knowledge of Christ. I love the way he began. Look
in verse 22. Ye men of Israel, Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. What a beginning to a message.
And look at the way he ends it, verse 40. And with many other
words did he testify. There's the word. Bear solemn
witness and protest to anything contrary. With many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. I suppose Every generation believes
themselves to be the most wicked generation to ever live. Every
time you hear somebody talk, well, this is the worst time
that's ever been. And when it comes right down to it, every
time is the worst time that's ever been. Whether it seems good or
whether it seems bad, men are involved in it. And that makes
it bad, doesn't it? No matter what it is. These are,
what's that, there's a proverb or Ecclesiastes or somewhere
that says, don't say these days are worse than others. No, they're not. But he does
say this. Save yourselves from this crooked
generation. If you believe the philosophy,
the religion, the maxims of this generation, If you believe and
follow along, if I believe and follow along, we'll go to hell.
I don't want to go to hell, do you? I don't want to go to hell. I want to save yourselves. Don't listen to the maxim of
this world. You listen to what God says in
his word. Save yourselves from this perverse
generation. Now turn to Acts chapter 10. This is Peter once again preaching. Verse 42. And he, the Lord Jesus, commanded
us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he,
the Lord Jesus Christ, which was ordained of God to be the
judge of living quick, that means living, and dead. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive the remission of sins. Now, testify this. He is the
one to judge the living and the dead. That means that the internal
destiny of all men the eternal destiny of me and your eternal
destiny is determined by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's up to
him, totally up to him, as to whether or not me or you will
be in heaven or in hell. He is the judge of the quick
and the dead. He can say to you, come, ye blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. He can say to you, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. Enter in. Or he can say to you,
depart from me. Ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. Now that's in his hand. There's
nothing you can do to change that. There's nothing you can
do to save yourself. Your eternal destiny is utterly
and completely in his sovereign hand. Now, somebody says, well,
I don't feel any safety there. In reality, that's the only place
there is safety. Because if he just leaves you to yourself and
me to myself, we'll all go to hell. But thank God, salvation
is in his sovereign hand. He's the one who's the judge
of the quick and dead. But I'm glad I'm not stopping
there. Look in verse 43. To him, give all the prophets
witness that through his name, Here's one of my favorite words
in the Bible, whosoever. Whosoever. I'm one of them. Whosoever. Whosoever believeth
on him shall receive the remission of sins. Now understand this,
faith is believing on him. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you believe about yourself. Hear this real carefully. Somebody
says, I think I'm saved. That doesn't mean you are. Somebody
says, well, I'm afraid I'm not saved. That doesn't mean you're
not. Faith has nothing to do with
what you believe about yourself. Do you understand that? Do you
believe that? It has nothing to do with what
you believe about yourself. It has wholly to do with what
you believe concerning Him. Whosoever believeth on Him. That's faith. Whosoever believeth
on him. You believe he is who he said.
You believe he's God. You believe he's man. You believe
he's a God man. You believe that he must say
because of who he is. It's what you believe concerning
him. I love to think of Peter. The Lord prayed for Peter. He
said, Peter, I prayed for you that your faith fail not. Well,
Peter failed, didn't he? He felt miserably. He denied
any connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I know
not the man. And I don't have any doubt that after the resurrection,
he didn't think he was saved. I know that's the fact because
the Lord said, you go tell the disciples and Peter. You see,
Peter felt like he'd been cut off. He thought he denied the
Lord, and he thought about the Lord's words, whoso denieth me
before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven.
He thought, I'm cut off, there's no hope for me. But Peter didn't,
he didn't realize he hadn't actually denied Christ, he denied his
connection with him. Out of cowardice and fear, he
caved in. And if you would have asked Peter at that time, when
he'd lost all assurance, do you believe you're saved? I doubt
it, I doubt it. But if you would have said, Peter,
do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God with all my
heart? I believe that. You see, his
faith didn't fail. He lost his assurance, but he
never quit believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. His faith did not fail. Whosoever believeth on him, shall
receive the complete remission of sins. Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18, verse four. And he, speaking of the apostle
Paul, he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the
Jews and the Greeks And when Silas and Timotheus were come
from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to
the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Now, the Christ is the sent one.
He bore testimony that Jesus is the Christ. Now, what all
does that mean? Well, that's talking about Jesus
being prophet, Jesus being the priest, Jesus being the king. He testified, he bore personal
witness that this Jesus of Nazareth that you guys crucified, he's
nobody less than the Christ. Now what is the significance
of that? Well, first of all, He is God's
prophet. He is the Word of God. A prophet is someone who brings
the Word of God to men. He himself is the Word of God.
And he's like no other prophet. I've said this several times
in the last year. He's like no other prophet. Every other prophet
said, thus saith the Lord. He never said that once. He said,
I say unto you. And what authority is behind
that? You've heard it said by them
of old. I say it to you. What I say is the very word of
God. He's like no other prophet. He's
like no other priest. The priests of the Old Testament,
they bring in the blood of bulls and goats, which can never take
away sin. But this priest brings his own
blood into the very presence of God. Blood that made complete
satisfaction to where when Christ said it is finished, the sins
of all of God's elect were put away completely. He made complete
satisfaction and now God can look at every believer and say,
I'm satisfied. I'm not looking for anything
else. There's nothing that can be added. I'm satisfied. What a priest! He brings his
own blood and the perfection of his blood. He didn't use a
human altar. He himself is the altar. He's
the sacrifice. He's the priest that provides
the sacrifice. Turn to Hebrews 10 for just a
moment. Hebrews 10. I want you to look at this. Verse 11, and every priest standeth. The reason he's standing is because
there's no chairs. His work's never done. Every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. on the right hand of God from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. What a priest. What a priest
offering his own blood. And what a king. He's a prophet
like no other prophet. He's a priest like no other priest
and what a king. Now the king is the one whose
will's done. The king's the one who has power. The king's the
one who has control. Now, every human king, they don't
have any power except what God has given them. They have no
inherent power. But oh, what a king he is. His will always
done and this king can cause you to do his will. That's what I need. I need that. I need him as the king to rule
and to reign over me. Now, he bore witness. He testified
that this Jesus is the Christ. Now, listen to listen to this
scripture. First John chapter five verse one, whoso believeth
in that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe that
he is the prophet like no other prophet? Do you believe he's
the priest like no other priest? Do you believe he's the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords? You believe that? You know what
the Bible says? The Bible says you're born of
God. That's the only way you believe that, is you've been
born of God. You really believe he is who
he says he is in his word. Acts chapter 20. Verse 17, and from Miletus he
sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church, And when
they were come to him, he said unto them, you know, this is
Paul speaking, you know from the first day that I came into
Asia after what manner I've been with you at all seasons serving
the Lord. And the only way you can serve the Lord is with all
humility of mind. Knowing what you are, there's
no serving the Lord in pride and with many tears. and temptations
which befell me by the lying weight of the Jews, and how I
kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. But it showed you and
taught you publicly and from house to house, same thing in
public and private, testifying, there's the word, testifying,
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is what
I, testify of. Repentance toward God and faith
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance. Usually when preachers speak
of repentance, what do they say? Repent of your sins. What's that mean? Repent of your
sins. Well, if you'd ask the average
preacher what that means, they'd say, well, you need to turn from
your sins and don't return to them. You need to stop sinning. And if you return to your sins,
you haven't really repented of your sins. You're being insincere. I want to say to that individual,
are there any sins you still commit? If there are, you've never repented.
That's all that means. That's a complete falsification
of what repentance is. It's just another salvation way
of saying salvation by works. You need to repent of your sins. You need to get that taken care
of or you won't be saved. If you don't turn from your sins
and if you return to them, you're really, listen, we ought to turn
from our sins. and we are not returned to Him.
Don't think that I'm in any way lessing the evil of sin. But if that's what repentance
is, I've never repented and you've never repented. You believe that? Repentance is toward God. Repentance is toward God. The word repent means to change
your mind. Now there was a time when I didn't
like God's holiness. He's too strict. I didn't like God's sovereignty. That means I don't have any control.
He controls everything and everybody, and that just puts me out of
the picture. I didn't like his way of salvation. It didn't give
me any hope of being able to save myself. I didn't like it.
I didn't like God. Didn't love who He is. I do now. I love everything about Him.
And I wouldn't change anything about Him if I could. I love
Him just the way He is as He's revealed in His Word. He's altogether
glorious. I love His sovereignty now. I
love His way of saving sinners by Christ now. I've repented. My mind has been changed. Now
that's what repentance is, it's toward God. You need to repent
of your sins. Well, okay. Yeah, we all don't
have a, we all have a, I hate him. Don't want to commit him
anymore. But that's not what the repentance he's taught. It's
repentance toward God. And you know what the evidence
of repentance toward God is? Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The evidence of true repentance
is faith in Christ. You know, repentance and faith
go together as two sides of the same sheet of paper. The evidence
of the one is the other. Repentance towards God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is this thing of faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ? Second Timothy 1.12, Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. Somebody says, I know what I
believe. Well, I'm not, that's who you believe determines what
you believe. I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against
that day. Faith is realized in this word
commitment. I have committed the entire salvation
of my soul to Him. If my salvation is dependent
in any way upon my faith, or my repentance, or my holy living,
I have no hope. I have committed the entire salvation
of my soul to this. It is finished. Now, failure to do that is failure
to commit. won't put your entire salvation
in his hand because you feel no safety. But if you don't have
anywhere else to look, that is when you will do it. Repentance
toward God, testifying repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now in this same chapter, verse
24. But none of these things move
me, knowing that everywhere I go I'm gonna be beat up, whipped,
and thrown in jail. None of these things move me.
Neither count I my life dear unto myself. I wish the Lord would bring us
all to that place so that I might finish my course with joy. You know the only way me and
you are gonna have joy is if our life is not counted dear to ourself.
That's the only way. And the ministry which I've received
of the Lord Jesus to testify, there's the word, to bear solemn
witness to and to protest against anything that's contrary to the
gospel of the grace of God. Now that's what we bear witness
to. That's what we testify of, the
gospel. of the grace of God. And let me tell you exactly what
grace means. So simple. This is from the scripture.
By grace, are you saved? Grace is always saving grace.
It's not an offer up for your acceptance or rejection. By grace,
are you saved through faith? There's no salvation apart from
believing the gospel. And that, that faith, it's not
of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works. That's what grace means, not
of works. Lest any man should boast. Now here's what the grace
of God does. If it's the true grace of God
that Paul testified of, it's the grace that excludes all boasting. You know what you can't boast
in? Election. God choosing who would be saved
before the founding didn't have anything to do with your works.
You can't boast in justification because you're justified by his
righteousness, not your own. You can't boast in redemption.
Well, I had some hand in that. No, you didn't when he had by
himself purged our sins. I can't boast in regeneration.
I can't say, well, at least I have my free will accepting him as
my personal Savior. So I'm saying, no, no, not at
all. You can't boast. Not of works
lest any man should boast. Anything that gives any man any
ground of boasting is not the grace of God. Now, I love to
testify of grace. I love, first of all, my favorite
name in the Bible, or my favorite word in the Bible is one of the
names of the Lord, whatever they are. Jesus, Christ, the Lord, the Redeemer,
the Son of David, the Son of Man, I love all of his names.
I love this word grace, don't you? I love this word grace. And we bear testimony to the
grace of God. Acts 23, verse 11. And the night following the Lord
stood by him, speaking of Paul and said, be of good cheer, Paul. Now the Lord wouldn't have said
that unless Paul was of bad cheer. Paul was in prison at this time,
and I think he was depressed, and there was a reason for his
depression. Look in verse six of this same chapter. When Paul perceived that one
part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, these people who were
wanting him to be tried, he cried out in the council, men and brethren,
I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. of the hope and resurrection
of the dead, I'm called in question. Now you remember the Sadducees
denied the resurrection. The Pharisees believed in the
resurrection. And right here, he's using fleshly
policy. He's trying to set up one against
the other. He didn't say, I'm a Christian,
I'm a follower of Christ. He said, at this time, I'm the
son of a Pharisee. He's using fleshly policy trying to get
what he wants done. Because he knew the Pharisees
would say, hey, he can't be so bad if he believes in the resurrection.
He's not like these Sadducees. See, they were in competition
with each other. They despised each other. And
when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, and the multitudes were divided. And the Sadducees
say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but
the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry in
the strides that were of the Pharisees. Parker rose and strove,
saying, Why, we find no evil in this man. But if a spirit
or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
I mean, after all, he believes in the resurrection. And when
there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest
Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded
the soldiers to go down and to take him by force from among
them, and to bring him into the castle. And the night following,
the Lord stood by him. He'd been in there, I reckon,
24 hours, and he was thinking about what he did, and he was
feeling bad. You ever been there? You know
you use fleshly policy to try to get something to take place. And he was feeling bad. And the Lord said, be of good
cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified of me in Jerusalem,
so must thou bear witness also at Rome. We preach a person. Testify of me. Be of good cheer, Paul. You're
gonna continue to testify of me. True story. Adonai Judson, that great missionary
to Burma, has come back for the first time, and it's the first
time he preaches back in the States. And he got up and he
spoke about 15 minutes concerning the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he sat down, visibly affected
by what he said, overwhelmed by the greatness of the gospel.
And after the service, when they were going home, he was with
a young man, and the young man was quiet and seemed upset. And Judson said, what's wrong? He said, well, the people were
disappointed. He said, what for? I told them
the most glorious thing they could ever hear. He said, yeah,
but they wanted to hear about your time in India and they were
disappointed. He said, well, I'm glad, I'm
thankful that when I come home and the only time I speak, I
don't say a word about myself. I would not want to hear I gave
you an opportunity to speak of me and you spoke of yourself. we're to testify concerning him. He is the gospel. The last scripture we'll look
at is Acts 28, verse 23. And when they had appointed him
a day, he's in prison, but they've given him a day to preach. People
coming to hear him while he's in prison, the Jews there in
Rome. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to
him into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the
kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus. both out of
the law of Moses and out of the prophets, the Old Testament scriptures
from morning to evening. Now, what did he do first? He
expounded. He expounded. This is what the
scriptures say. But not only did he expound,
he testified. He bore witness to what God had
taught him from the scriptures. Not only did he expound, not
only did he testify, he persuaded. He persuaded. I want to persuade
everybody in this room to believe the gospel. That's our purpose. He persuaded. He expounded, he
testified, he bore solemn witness to and protested anything contrary
to that, and he persuaded. From mourning to leaving, and
this is the way it always ends up, verse 24, and some believe
the things which were spoken and some believe not. Which one are you? Some believed the things that
were spoken. Some believed not. I wanna be
one of those people who believe. I want that more than anything
else. I want to be somebody who really believes Him and His gospel. May God make every one of us
those who believe. Let's pray. Lord, our words are utterly vain
and powerless unless you're pleased by your spirit to cause them
to root into the heart that you
give. Lord, we ask that you would bless
these words for your glory and our good for Christ's sake. In
his name we pray.