Our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity before God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in God’s grace, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
— 2 Corinthians 1:12
And they overcame him—that is, the accuser—by reason of the blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
— Revelation 12:11
Dear Lord, as we gather in Thy presence, our hearts do bow low before Thee. Who are we, that Thou art mindful of us? We who are but dust and ashes, and yet Thou dost reveal Thyself through Thy Son to us and lead us.
Thou dost want to bring us into Thy full purpose, that we may be profitable to Thee. O dear Lord, we are here this morning, opening ourselves to Thee, and praying that Thou wilt open the heavens and reveal that beloved Son once again to us.
Take away anything and everything that hinders Thy work. Fill us, O Lord, with Thyself, that we may be wise and faithful servants of Thine. We want to give Thee all the praise and the glory, because Thou alone art worthy. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Yesterday morning, we ended our time together on the note of the testimony of Jesus. We know that there is a conflict, a spiritual warfare, going on in the universe, and it is centered upon this matter of the testimony of Jesus.
It is the will of God to sum up all things in His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. And to do that, He came into this world. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth.
While He was on earth, He conquered all the works of the enemy. He was tempted by the devil with all the temptations that we can even think of, and yet in every case, we find He overcame.
Finally, on Calvary’s cross, even though in human eyes it might seem that this was the sign of defeat, our Lord Jesus, before His death, shouted, “It is finished. It is done.”
Sin was removed. Adam, the sinful man, has been brought to death. The world is overcome, and Satan is driven out of the world. Here we see a Man, the God-man. He overcame.
Then He ascended up to the throne, sending His Holy Spirit into the world, into us, that we who believe in Him may also overcome.
How do we overcome the accuser? How do we overcome the world? How do we overcome sin? How do we overcome even ourselves, the sinful self? It is not by ourselves. We cannot overcome.
The devil is wiser than we are. The world is stronger than we are. Sin is more powerful. We cannot overcome ourselves. But thank God, we overcome because He has overcome.
So, dear brothers and sisters, who are the overcomers, especially the overcomers toward the end of this age, as we find symbolized by the man-child? They overcome by the blood of the Lamb. They overcome by the word of their testimony. And they love not their life even unto death.
In other words, the overcomers are those who have the testimony of Jesus, and they overcome because of the testimony of Jesus. That is where we ended yesterday morning. Now this morning, we would like to continue on.
We read in the Scripture that the apostle Paul told the Thessalonian believers that our testimony among them had been received. Here we find this term, “our testimony.”
Again, in 2 Corinthians 1, the apostle Paul mentioned to the Corinthian believers that the testimony of our conscience is this: by sincerity and simplicity we live, not by fleshly wisdom, but by God’s grace. Finally, in Revelation, we find, “by the word of their testimony.”
So here we find a term. It is not the testimony of Jesus; it is our testimony, the testimony of our conscience. It is by the word of our testimony that we overcome.
But brothers and sisters, if we know ourselves, do you think there is anything in us that can overcome? I think this is the natural human way. Before we were saved, we tried to overcome the sins, those habits that we knew were not right.
What did we do? We tried our best. We tried to control ourselves. We tried to educate ourselves. We tried to accumulate merit in order to be saved. But no matter how we tried, I think we all knew that we ended in failure.
Our will was so strong that we refused to give up. We tried, we failed; we tried and we failed; we failed, and we tried. As long as we tried to depend on ourselves to overcome, we never overcame.
But one day, by the grace of God, He showed us that we could not do it. We gave up, and we looked to our Lord Jesus, the Overcomer. He has borne our sins in His body.
You know, it is like the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness. They murmured, and God sent fiery serpents into their midst. Those who were bitten by the serpents died.
But God made a provision. He asked Moses to make a brazen serpent and lift up that brazen serpent. Whoever was bitten by the fiery serpent, when he looked at that brazen serpent, was healed.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we find that we were bitten by the fiery serpent. We were dying. But thank God, His only begotten Son took upon Himself the flesh of a man.
Remember, the brazen serpent looked like a serpent, but there was no poison in it. This is what our Lord Jesus is. He came in the flesh like a man, and is a Man, and yet He was born of the Spirit. There was no sin in Him.
Thank God, because He has no sin, He was made sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God. Look at Him, and you are saved. Now, isn’t that what we have experienced when we believed in the Lord Jesus?
After we are saved, there seems to be a change in our heart. Instead of loving sin, we begin to hate it. By the grace of God, we begin to know what is right and what is wrong in the sight of God.
Just like the apostle Paul in Romans 7, he said, “I know what is right, and I want to do the right. But to will is in me, but to do it is not in me. I do what I do not want to do, but I cannot do what I want to do.”
I believe, brothers and sisters, this happens to every one of us. But we struggle. We still have trust in ourselves. We think that if we try and try, try hard and harder, we will overcome.
But strangely, the harder you try, the lower you fall. Not until one day, just like the apostle Paul, you cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
Now, brothers and sisters, have you come to that point yet? If you have not come to that point, I can predict that you will fail and fail and fail again.
But if you have already come to the point, you begin to see, “O wretched man, I cannot do it anymore. I am a Christian. I should live a Christian life. I should do the right thing. I should not do the wrong thing in the sight of God.”
God knows my heart. I want it very much, and I try and try and try. But, brothers and sisters, it is useless, because the old man was under the law of sin and of death. It is better that you give up quicker and earlier.
Strangely, this seems never to happen to anybody, because we have such confidence in ourselves. But thank God, by His grace, we cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
Immediately following, in Romans 7:25, is the answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.” It is through Jesus Christ that we overcome this body of death.
Brothers and sisters, this principle applies to every phase of our life. The only reason why we can overcome is because He has overcome. If we trust Him instead of ourselves, we will overcome.
So, brothers and sisters, when we hear the term “our testimony,” you may be surprised. Where is our testimony? If you consider yourselves, consider your lives, and consider what has happened to you, if you know yourself in a small way—though, as a matter of fact, nobody knows himself or herself—what is there that you can boast of?
The apostle Paul said that even with all the spiritual experiences he had, all the revelations, and all the sufferings, there was only one thing he could boast of: his infirmity, his weakness.
God’s grace is sufficient for me. His power is manifested in my weakness. So I boast of my weakness, that the power of God may be manifested in me.
When you think of our testimony, so far as we ourselves are concerned, we have no testimony. The testimony that we bear of ourselves cannot be accepted.
It is the general rule: if anyone should testify of himself, he will not be accepted. Even our Lord Jesus, you remember, in John 5, said that if He bore witness of Himself, His testimony would not be accepted; but there was Another Who testified of Him.
But strangely, in John 8, He said, “Even though I testify of Myself, My testimony is true.” Why? Because He is different from all mankind. We do not know where we come from, and we do not know where we are going. But He knows.
He came from the Father, and He would return to the Father. Because He is the all-knowing, all-wise God, whatever He says of Himself is true. But that can apply only to Him, not to you and not to me.
So, brothers and sisters, what does “our testimony” mean? We overcome the accuser by reason of the word of our testimony. It seems as if there is something more: the testimony of Jesus has to become our testimony.
Unless it becomes our testimony, it does not work. So far as the testimony of Jesus is concerned, it is eternal, it is victorious, and it is applicable to every occasion and to everything.
He is the Victor of Calvary. He is the Conqueror of all things. He has overcome the enemy. There is no doubt about it.
But to know the testimony of Jesus merely mentally, merely as a doctrine or as a teaching, will not work in your life. There is nothing wrong with the testimony of Jesus. It stands forever.
When our Lord Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” on Calvary’s cross, it was finished. What has been finished is still living and real as it was two thousand years ago. The truth is eternal.
What our Lord Jesus has done is eternal. His victory is eternal and final. There is nothing wrong with it. But, dear brothers and sisters, unless the testimony of Jesus becomes our testimony—becomes yours and becomes mine—then it will not operate in our lives.
That is probably the reason why we find that it is so real in Christ Jesus, and yet it is not real in our life. To put it another way, the testimony of Jesus has to be our testimony. That is what is meant by having the testimony of Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the issue is this: Do we have the testimony of Jesus? By having it, it does not mean that you have heard about it, that you know about it, or that you know the teaching and the doctrine.
All these things are good, but unless the testimony of Jesus becomes your testimony and my testimony, it is not real in our lives. So I think our real question lies here: How can the testimony of Jesus become my testimony?
Our brother Linch last night already mentioned it. The secret of transferring a truth into an experience, a teaching into a reality, is only done by the Holy Spirit.
You know, when we were first saved, oftentimes our concept of being saved was to have our sins forgiven, or to be delivered from hell into heaven. That is all we think about salvation.
I remember a story. One brother said, “If only my two feet will be within the door of heaven, I am satisfied.” He seemed to be a very easily satisfied person.
But you may be satisfied; God is not satisfied. For when He has called us, He has called us according to His glory and virtue.
You know, our calling is not a small calling. Our calling is not just to satisfy our little desire. Our calling is according to what God is, because that is what glory is.
To sin is shameful. To go to hell is shameful. To go to heaven is glory, but that is only a little bit of glory. God’s desire is to glorify us, and He glorifies us by transforming us and conforming us to the image of our Lord Jesus.
Then God is manifested. Then there is glory. We shine forth. He calls us by His virtue—that is to say, by His character.
When we were saved out of death into life and out of hell into heaven, it satisfied us. But this does not satisfy God’s character. His character is so noble, so high, and so heavenly that, according to His character, He calls us.
He will not stop until His glory is manifested and His character is shown. That is the reason why, when we were saved, God did many things.
Not only were our sins removed, and not only did He give His life to us; our dead spirit was quickened into life. The life of God, which is Christ, came and dwelt in our new spirit.
Then you find the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in our new spirit too. Why did He do that? We have already received life. It is the life of Christ. Is that not enough?
Thank God, we have the life of Christ in us. But life is to grow and to live. What is the meaning of life if it does not live?
I remember many years ago, I went to Peru and visited a missionary couple. Half a year they lived on a little boat, traveling on the Amazon River and visiting different villages. The other half of the year, they slept in their truck, going through the high mountains in Peru, visiting, helping, and evangelizing the people.
Even though they were missionaries and were faithfully serving the Lord in Peru, they did not know that eternal life begins now. When they preached to the natives, they told them, “If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you will have eternal life. You will have the passport to heaven, and you can use it after you die. You will be accepted into heaven.”
That was their gospel. But thank God, a Chinese brother was invited by the people in Peru to become an adviser and a director of a sugar company.
When this missionary couple heard that there was a Christian family in the area, they came and visited them. While they were fellowshipping, the brother from China discovered that this couple did not know that eternal life is for living today.
So, in their fellowship together, God opened the eyes of the missionaries. They began to see that eternal life begins now. It is supposed to live in this world.
They told our brother, “Now I have to really preach the gospel.” For this reason, our brother invited me to go and visit them. I spent three weeks with them, on the boat and in the truck, visiting all these believers.
It was quite an experience. Brothers and sisters, why does God give us eternal life? It is to live. It is this life that alone can live a Christian life.
But this life must grow from babyhood to young men, and from young men to fathers. How will this life of Christ in us grow? Who will take care of this life? That is where the Holy Spirit comes in.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus not only has a new spirit, but in the new spirit, you have life; and with that life, you have the Holy Spirit in you.
If you do not have the Holy Spirit in you, you are not the Lord’s. But thank God, we do have Him. Unfortunately, in Christianity, some people think that when you are saved, you do not have the Holy Spirit. They think that you have to go through a second blessing in order to receive the Holy Spirit.
But this is not scriptural. According to the Word of God, when we believe in the Lord, the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Otherwise, how can we cry out, “Abba, Father”? It is the Holy Spirit within us Who is in charge, as it were, of the management of the new life in us.
He is there not to speak of Himself. He is there to glorify Christ. He is there to see to it that the life of Christ in us may grow, may mature, and may overcome. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, people today do not appreciate the Holy Spirit. It is true that people seek for the so-called baptism of the Holy Spirit. They are seeking for power. They are seeking for gifts. But unfortunately, they neglect the Person of the Holy Spirit.
The Person of the Holy Spirit, He is God. He is in each and every one of us, and it is His responsibility—it is His errand—to see that the life of Christ lives.
The life of Christ must be given the opportunity to live out. The life of Christ may grow within us, so that by His working in us, the testimony of Jesus becomes our testimony.
In other words, He is the only One Who can transfer objective truth into subjective experience. He brings what Christ has done two thousand years ago and makes it living, real, and operative in us today.
That is the work of the Holy Spirit. That is the reason why the Bible tells us that we need to obey the Holy Spirit.
The instrument that the Holy Spirit uses in bringing about this transformation is the cross. That is the reason why you find in the Word of God the call to us:
Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.
He who loves his soul-life shall lose it; and he who loses his soul-life for the sake of Christ and for the gospel shall save it unto eternity.
Brothers and sisters, this is the only way we can see how the testimony of Jesus can become our testimony.
Unfortunately, today God’s people, on the one hand, are ignorant of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They do not know that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, is there in you.
They do not realize that it is His job, and He is the only One Who is able to do it: to make truth into reality.
Do you get this? So far as our experience goes, I believe every one of us has some experience of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Because He is Spirit, you cannot see Him. You cannot touch Him by physical means, nor can you touch Him even intellectually. He is beyond that.
How do you know that the Holy Spirit is working in you? We know it from within. Christian life is not an outward way of life. Christian life is an inner way of life.
I often feel that the problem with Christianity today is that as soon as we are saved, we are led astray. We are led to outward things. We are led to commandments, rules, and regulations.
We are told that if we do this or do that, if we do not do this or do not do that, then we are good Christians, instead of following what the Holy Spirit has already given and already started in our lives.
You know, after you are saved, what happens? Suppose you are someone who loves to exaggerate. Suppose you are someone who used to lie—not black lies, but white lies.
When you exaggerate, or when you tell a white lie, and people seem to believe you, you are happy. But after you are saved, before anyone can even tell you that you should not exaggerate or lie—not even a white lie—that you should be true, “Yes” being yes and “No” being no, something happens within you.
Because of your former habit, you may begin to exaggerate again while talking with people. Maybe you will tell a white lie to deceive people. But while you are doing that, what happens?
Those who are listening may not stop you, but there is One within you trying to stop you. The Holy Spirit puts a check within you.
It is as if you are driving very fast—too fast—and then the brakes come on. The Holy Spirit says, “That is enough. Do not go on. If you go on, you see, it is not Christ.”
What do you do? Well, you cannot stop. You may continue on for a while. But afterwards, what happens? Instead of feeling good and elated, you feel downcast. You feel accused. You feel uncomfortable.
When you come to the Lord to pray, you cannot pray. Something is wrong. Until you confess, repent, and claim the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, then the way is free for your communion with the Lord.
Now, do you have such experience?
Or, in another way, suppose you lose something. You do not know where you put it, and you try to find it here and there, but you cannot find it. Then you stop and pray, and somehow the Holy Spirit shows you where you had put the lost thing. Do you have that experience?
Or do you hear something of the truth? For instance, myself, after I believed in the Lord Jesus, I heard about baptism.
I was baptized when I was an infant, so I always considered myself as already baptized. But after I was saved, I was told that according to the Word of God, I should be baptized by immersion, because that is the way of baptism and that alone can show what baptism means.
Also, when I was a babe, I did not believe; it was the faith of my parents. But the Word says, “Believe and be baptized.”
When I heard this saying, I rebelled against it. For years I fought against it. I tried to reason about it. I said, “I cannot be baptized again, because when I was sprinkled as a little baby, I was sprinkled in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I cannot lightly use God’s name.”
But it did not satisfy me. I felt uneasy within myself all the time. Not until, by the grace of God, He conquered me, and I was baptized.
But I can tell you what happened after I was baptized. It was the beginning of the opening of heaven to me. A small thing, as it were, but to me it was a big thing.
Do you have these kinds of experiences? Or even in a matter of some habit, or in a matter of your dress, or in a matter of something that you treasure, nobody may tell you anything, but the Holy Spirit is so faithful. He will show you.
This is the inner way of life. It does not come from outside; it comes from within. The reason for that is to displace self in your soul and to replace Christ in your soul.
This is the salvation of the soul, as we find in the Word of God. Christ is the only One Who overcomes—nobody else. It is Christ in you and in me Who overcomes. We do not overcome.
If we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our conscience, if we allow the Holy Spirit to touch our intuition—that is, direct knowledge, enlightenment, revelation within us, light shining within us—if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in communion with the Lord, then you find the Christ-life will grow in us and the self-life will be replaced.
Then the testimony of Jesus becomes your testimony.
So the overcomers overcome the accuser by reason of the word of their testimony. You know, in Acts 19, there was an incident when Paul was in Ephesus.
There were seven sons of the Jewish high priest. They tried to do exorcism, to drive out demons. They saw how Paul, in the name of the Lord Jesus, cast out demons, and it worked. So they tried to adopt what Paul did.
There was one possessed by demons, and these seven sons of Sceva came and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, whom Paul preaches, I cast you out.”
The formula seemed to be right, but it did not work. You find that the demon-possessed man came upon them and overcame them, and they had to flee wounded and naked.
Why? Because the demon said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
Now, brothers and sisters, do you see that the testimony of Jesus is all-powerful? He will make you overcome. But if it is only a formula, it does not work. The demon knows better. It has to be your testimony.
We have to confess that in the process of transferring from the testimony of Jesus to the testimony of you and me, it is a long process. It is not an easy one.
If you expect your Christian life to be sitting on a chair and being carried into heaven, then you are wrong. The Word of God warns us again and again that this is a narrow way.
Many find the broad way, but it leads to destruction. There is a narrow way; few find it, but it leads to eternal life.
Brothers and sisters, do not expect an easy life. We Christians are on this foreign earth, under the dominion of the enemy of God. Can you expect an easy life? No.
We should have the mind to suffer. As our Lord Jesus, while He was on earth, suffered much before He was glorified, we cannot go any other way.
We cannot be chocolate soldiers, like soldiers that melt so quickly. The apostle Paul said that we must be like soldiers of the Lord, to fight the good fight of faith.
It is faith that gives us victory, and faith is not something in us. Faith is anchored upon Christ, because He has done it all. Therefore, we can trust Him.
He leads the way, and we follow. So, brothers and sisters, especially young people, I encourage you: Do not look for an easy way out.
We are appointed to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord. Wherever the Lamb goes, we go. These are the overcomers.
But do not be afraid. Why? Because God has already given us all provision for such a way.
If you remember 2 Peter, you find in 2 Peter 1:3-4:
Seeing that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue;
whereby He hath granted unto us His precious and exceeding great promises;
that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
So we find that God has made every provision for us. If He has provided, then all we need to do is trust Him. Trust and obey; there is no other way.
Dear Lord, we do realize that there is no other way but the way that Thou hast opened for us. O dear Lord, we pray that we may be those who have the courage to go Thy way, the way of the cross, the way of the Lamb, and to follow Thee.
Lord, this is not only for our salvation. This is more for Thy glory. We ask in Thy precious name. Do it now.