The unfolding of the gospel is
so very precious to the sons of God, and its sweetness cannot
be likened to anything which has its origins in this world. When its glories are made manifest
in the eyes of those who are given ears to hear it, they are
sometimes overcome with the joy which is revealed therein. Thus
we see John so blessed with what he heard that he wanted to worship
at the feet of the messenger who brought this news to him.
The messenger was quick to remind him that there was only one who
is worthy of such worship. One ready lesson that we can
learn from this incident is that those who are anointed to bring
forth the message of the gospel are not sent with a mandate to
promote their own name or to provoke men to esteem them in
some exalted position. The man who is sent with the
everlasting gospel has but one agenda, which is not to gain
a following or build a congregation, but rather to see the name and
honor of Jesus Christ alone magnified and exalted. God-called and Holy
Ghost-indicted preachers are not sent to bring attention to
themselves, but to the One who is the King and Redeemer. Those
who are sent with this message have no instruction to take unto
themselves any title, to seek any sort of fame, or to enrich
themselves from those to whom they are sent. The day and age
in which we presently dwell is crawling with a multitude of
leeches, freeloaders, and charlatans of every stripe claiming to be
the messengers of God. They go about strutting and preening
while they supposedly exercise their gifts in either a theatrical
manner or a learned and studious one, replete with their diplomas
and man-bestowed credentials. The main gift that most of them
have is the ability to deceive men. and to cause them to remember
and honor their own name rather than Christ alone. See thou do
it not. Flee from them, for they preach
another gospel, which is no gospel at all, but is that upon which
many have gone shipwrecked. In the religious order which
I grew up in, it was often a common occurrence to have time set aside
for those who were present at the meeting to give their testimony.
which invariably was a recounting of some experience which they
had had in times past. There is certainly nothing wrong
in recounting the joys which might surround one's memories
of those experiences, for even the Apostle Paul recounted his
own conversion experience on more than one occasion. Yet the
truth is that while such experiences may be held in our fond memories,
they are not that which the scripture describes as the testimony of
the saints, which is the testimony of Jesus Christ. A true testimony
is a recounting of that which the Lord has accomplished and
is the very basis upon which all of the hopes of God's people
are built. Not even the grandest conversion
experience can be a substitute for recounting what Christ has
done in His own work. A true testimony is a very present
hope for the sons of God, and is not some distant memory that
might fade with time. A true testimony is manifested
in the saints of God by that work which He is pleased to perform
in them. The work of the Spirit in the
sons of God is the evidence of their sonship. A true testimony
is that which sets the children of God apart from those who do
not have this evidence or witness. They are described in the Revelation,
and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto
death. The children of God are not born
into this world with knowledge of spiritual things. But in his
own time he is pleased to call them from darkness to light.
The beginning of this knowledge is brought to them in the new
birth, which is not of this fleshly realm, but that which has its
origins in the life of Christ. While the beginning of their
pilgrimage is of great importance, the beginning is only that. The
salvation of God's little children is not an experience which can
be recorded on a calendar. Rather, the salvation of the
sons of God is in the person of Jesus Christ.