Good morning, everyone.
Good morning, everyone that’s here—everyone that didn’t move to the back wall and get away from me. So, should we start? Hey, Matt.
Well, it’s a good thing to be together. I had the privilege yesterday of going to a housewarming with the brothers and sisters who have come from different places, starting in India. We had a wonderful time sharing the Lord with them and housewarming. That house is warm now. We warmed that house up.
I’m just doing small talk so all the stragglers can get in.
Lord, we thank You for sending Your Son, Father in heaven. We thank You that we belong to Him, and that He’s our hope and stay. We just give You this time together today and pray there will be something useful out of it. In Jesus’ name.
You know, we have a lot of words we use in our gathering together. It’s good every once in a while to think a little bit about what they mean, because they really have a history, and they mean something. The little thing I want to say today is the testimony of Jesus.
A word we use, a word we have learned, a phrase we have learned. But I’ve been thinking about this since conference, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the testimony of Jesus is Jesus.
It’s not a thing. It’s not a teaching. It’s a living, spiritual experience and testimony: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
We had this subject at conference this year, and the theme verse came from Nehemiah. He said, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” In type, it had many of the characteristics of the testimony of Jesus. So, what we said was, the great work he was doing was the recovery of the testimony of Jesus.
That testimony is a living thing. It is to be expressed in a redeemed, sanctified, and glorified people individually. Those people are to express it corporately. It is meant to be expressed as His body on earth, as a bride prepared for His return.
So, much to say about the testimony of Jesus. It started very early, right after the Lord ascended, in Acts 1:21. This is Peter—Peter full of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—
beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—
one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.
Judas betrayed the Lord, and he was dealt with and was no longer available to be a witness of the resurrection. But it was very much on Peter’s heart that there must be one who is a witness of the resurrection.
What do witnesses do? Right on it. You read my notes?
Witnesses testify. Do our lives testify? Do we witness Jesus Christ and His ascension? Witnesses testify to what they have seen and experienced.
Jesus is the testimony that we are called to express. We are to be living the testimony of Jesus—not a teaching.
And soon after Peter’s realization that they needed another one to be a witness, he spoke this sermon in Acts 2, which I think is one of the most powerful passages in the Bible. This poor, weak-kneed Peter was full of the Holy Spirit. I just want to read some of this in Acts 2.
Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.
The testimony of Jesus from day one in the church: this Jesus. It’s all about Jesus.
There’s another statement that Paul made, which I think is interesting, in 2 Timothy 2:8. Paul, at the end of his life, was trying to pass on to his son in the faith, Timothy, something of the burden of Christ. Right in the middle of this—what seems to me kind of right in the middle of things—he says:
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel.
Remember Jesus Christ. I hate to say it, but it’s possible to forget Jesus Christ. It’s possible to slip away from the simplicity and purity of the gospel we’ve received.
To me, the verb for us is be remembering—always remembering, being living. So, John, be always remembering. Maury, be always remembering. Bobby, be always remembering. Put your name in there. Be always remembering Jesus Christ.
The testimony of Jesus is our testimony.
We’re going to look a little bit at Ephesians today, but I want to tell you how much the testimony of Jesus was part of the very early ministry of the church. When Paul wrote Ephesians, does anyone have any idea how many times “Jesus Christ,” that term, was used in Ephesians?
A lot. It depends on your translation. I didn’t check the Phillips, Jerry, but in the New American Standard it’s at least twenty. The highest book, the highest-level epistle that we think was written—they mention Jesus twenty times. He was just obsessed with it: Jesus.
Let me read a couple of verses from Ephesians—Ephesians 1:9-10.
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him,
with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times,
that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him.
I think it’s interesting, Jerry—you quoted Phillips, so I want to quote that passage in Phillips. Phillips is a good reference book, you know. It’s good to have different translations.
It is through the Son, at the cost of His own blood, that we are redeemed, freely forgiven through that full and generous grace which has overflowed into our lives and opened our eyes to the truth.
For God has allowed us to know the secret of His plan, and it is this: He purposed in His sovereign will that all human history, summing up all things, shall be consummated in Christ; that everything that exists in heaven or earth shall find this perfection and fulfillment in Him.
History shall be consummated in Christ. Wow. The testimony of Jesus is Jesus Christ.
And you know what? The whole Bible is about Jesus.
It’s been some years ago that Brother Kong did a series of messages on each book of the Bible, and we have that now in a compilation in three volumes. Dana Congdon always says how that’s one of the best books; he recommends it to everyone.
But you know what was so unique about going through every book of the Bible? Why was that treatment unique? It’s called Seeing Jesus—seeing Christ in the Old Testament and seeing Christ in the New Testament. It’s not about just understanding these passages, but seeing Christ.
How many people ever saw Oral Roberts give this testimony about the fourth man in the furnace? Anyway, he stood on stage and went through every book in the Bible from memory, declaring where Christ is in each book. Obviously, He was the fourth man in the furnace. But the Bible is full of Christ.
We have to lay hold of Jesus afresh. So, the good thing we can say about what I’ve said so far is: it’s not about us. Praise God, it’s not about us. It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s all about Jesus—Jesus crucified and buried, risen from the dead, ascended, reigning on high, and coming again. Jesus Christ.
Revelation 11:15-16—this is the summing up of all things in Christ, by the way:
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ;
and He will reign forever and ever.
And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God.
Who has ever listened to Handel’s Messiah? Who has ever sung it? Who has ever sung in it? The Hallelujah Chorus. You didn’t sing the whole thing, but it’s wonderful.
This man wrote this Hallelujah Chorus, and at the end of it, what does he say?
And the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
You want to sing it? No? Okay. Not now, not now. Meet after lunch. Anybody who wants to sing—how do you say “Hallelujah”? Hallelujah. Hallel, Hallelujah. Challah—that’s a bread. Holla.
Okay, but anyway, it’s all through the Bible. The whole Bible is a testimony of Jesus, and we’re called to be bearers of the testimony of Jesus.
There’s an outline here. Number one: introduction. I just finished that. I didn’t put my outline first; I put it here. But what we just heard was the introduction.
Take your paper and write out: Jesus is the testimony. That’s what it would be.
We have three ways to consider this testimony of Jesus: personally, corporately, and as the bride prepared for His return.
Personally, it is the life of Christ expressed in our individual lives that testifies of Jesus. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Christ, our life and our strength and our hope. We talked about that at the table today.
I was saved—Sharon and I were saved—through Campus Crusade for Christ. It might sound old-fashioned to some of you, but it’s still alive, and it’s a powerful work.
We always think of Bill Bright. Bill Bright was an insurance salesman, and he got saved, and he knew something had to be done. All the literature and teaching he got was from a lady—I wish I had her name—who was the head of the Sunday school movement in the United States. She was from California, from Los Angeles.
When we got saved, when we got born again, we were encouraged to give our testimony—our personal testimony. That was for the purpose of bringing others to Christ so they could relate to it. I think it was also for the benefactors, so they could see that their money was bearing fruit. But anyway, I shouldn’t have said that.
My testimony was John 14:6.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
As I was preparing this, I thought, that’s still my testimony. Isn’t that wonderful? To have the thing you began with be the thing you continue with and the thing you’ll end with.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. So, that’s our testimony.
I said we would talk about Ephesians. Let’s read Ephesians 1:1-3.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
In those first two verses, he used “Jesus Christ” three times: Jesus Christ, the will of God, faithful in Jesus Christ, God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He starts out in this book by saying that we have received every spiritual blessing—every spiritual blessing.
How often, in the fifty years we’ve been around, there has been something in Christianity saying, “God’s given you every blessing. You ought not to be poor. You ought not to be without a new car.” When we were younger, I would say, “a new Cadillac.” Now nobody knows what a Cadillac is.
You need a new Cadillac. You shouldn’t be sick. You should be healthy. Those aren’t the blessings He gave us. He gave us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
And you know why He gave us those blessings? Not for us. He gave them to us for His purpose. He blessed us with every spiritual blessing that we may live for Him and serve Him.
These blessings are actually inexhaustible. It seems like the clock’s going fast, but I think it’s because you all came back late.
Verse 4: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He chose us. Stop and think about it. He chose you. He chose me. What a wonderful thing.
We don’t belong to ourselves. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about yourself. You belong to Him. He’s got the whole world in His hands, and He chose us before the foundation of the world. He’s got it. Let it go. Trust Him.
In the second half of verse 4, it says that we would be holy and blameless before Him. We were lost and separated from God, but His desire is that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
Then verse 7 says:
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
We who were sinners, separated from God, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. In verse 13, it says we were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
We have the Holy Spirit. We’ve been born again. His life in us and His testimony in the world in Christ are our encouragement. We have the Spirit. So, we’ve been rescued, redeemed, and given new life to live and serve the Lord.
Let’s read verse 5:
Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
What do you think about adoption? Isn’t that great? We got adopted. So, if we didn’t get the spiritual blessings we want, we ought to get them later when we receive all the inheritance, right? Get a lot of riches. No, that’s not what it means.
This passage is closely related to “He has chosen us”—not for our benefit.
Sharon was watching television, and she said they were interviewing Shaq—Shaquille O’Neal, the basketball player. Some of his children were there, and they said, “We’re rich.” He said, “I’m rich. You’re not rich.”
But we are rich. This adoption—the right translation is “to be placed as adult sons.” We’ve been adopted for His purpose, to serve Him, that He might have His way. So praise God, we’re adopted, but we’re adopted to be grown-up sons.
Think of it this way. I know some of us have grown up in families that had small businesses. Actually, Jesus was a carpenter and learned at His Father’s bench, you know. But what a great thing for the person who started a small business, gave their life to it, and got blessed, to have a grown-up son come in and take over the business.
The Lord is looking for sons to be placed in His business.
This whole first chapter of Ephesians is two sentences—well, not even two sentences; it’s a sentence and a half. The first paragraph is Ephesians 1:1-14, and then Ephesians 1:15-23. It’s such a great thing that Paul is trying to testify of, trying to explain to us. He couldn’t run-on sentences, and it’s grammatically a mess. Maybe Paul was an engineer—or an accountant.
These individual things just scratch the surface of the meaning of this first chapter. We have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. We’ve been washed by the blood, forgiven, and have a clean slate before God. We approach God through Jesus. Praise the Lord.
We’ve been born again and have a new life in the Spirit. Paul often prays that we might know the power in the inner man. We have a life to live by. And we’ve been adopted to become full-grown sons.
Sonship is a great topic: being placed as sons to serve in our Father’s business. It testifies of Him. We are part of the body of Christ, to live as a bride preparing for the Lord’s soon return.
A personal testimony is to be living a new life in the Spirit and to be an active, adopted son serving in the Father’s purpose of summing up all things in Christ. Praise the Lord. What a testimony of Jesus.
Let me read some of these verses from Wuest. That’s another translation, Jerry, kind of like Phillips, only it’s just a New Testament. Wuest was a Greek scholar, so he tried to sort these things out.
He selected us out for Himself in Him, in Christ, before the foundations of the universe were laid, to be holy ones and without blemish before His searching, penetrating gaze; in love having previously marked us out to be placed as adult sons through the intermediate agency of Jesus Christ for Himself, according to that which seemed good in His heart’s desire.
With respect to an administration of the completion of the epochs of time, to bring back again to the original state all things in the Christ—the things in the heavens and the things on earth.
Summing up all things in Christ. But Paul realized the whole thing he was speaking of was so much and so huge spiritually. He said:
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
That the eyes of your heart, being enlightened, you may know what is the hope of His calling. We need spiritual light and insight to catch all these things.
Then he sums up: all things He put in subjection under His feet and gave Him as Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. So, it’s quite a passage.
The corporate testimony—the corporate testimony of Jesus. The most common thought of salvation is what? People get saved to avoid going to hell. Wonderful. But God has a greater purpose for us. He has a greater testimony for us today.
Our getting saved is just a beginning. As the temple was built, it required much material. As the body of Christ is built, it requires much material. We are all material for the building up of the body of Christ.
Over the years, we have been quite blessed with having received this teaching: the body of Christ, a living, breathing body of Christ on earth today.
He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as Head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
So, our being saved is a great responsibility to be engaged in this body of Christ.
This is not apprehended by more and more teaching. It’s not a lack of teaching sometimes; it’s a lack of spiritual understanding and spiritual insight. So might the Lord bless us? That’s what Paul prayed: that He might give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
We understand there is such a thing as the testimony of Jesus in the local assembly. The body of Christ is a big part of the testimony of Jesus.
In Christianity today, we often talk about the Christian community. The Christian community is wonderful, but it’s not corporate. It’s not necessarily the expression of the body of Christ.
We learned over the years from Brother Fromke, one of the brothers we learned from, about Ai and Bethel. Ai is a heap of stones, and Bethel is the house of God.
So, you can have a heap of stones. We can have a heap of believers, and all the believers love to be together, but they’re not necessarily the house of God. We need to be built up into that testimony of the body of Christ.
Another thing I was thinking about: we often talk about the universal church, which is wonderful—to be related to other Christians. But God has called us to be living stones in a local expression of His body. We are called to be built up with one another.
We’ve all heard this over the years, but being built up as His body testifies as part of the testimony of Jesus.
I’m just going to move on to chapter 4: the practical expression of this body in a locality. There’s so much more in Ephesians 2 and 3.
The witness of Jesus Christ as Head, with His resurrection life lived out in a local church—the testimony of Jesus lived out through the local assembly. What a great blessing we have to be called ones and to be part of that.
Ephesians 4:1-6:
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
This great calling we’ve received is to be mature sons, to be part of the body today, to travail to the end of summing up all things in Christ. It’s through this local expression that we are able to participate in the summing up of all things in Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13 says:
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
We can be part of that summing up of all things in Christ in a local assembly. He’s chosen us to express Christ in the local assembly, and we need to hold fast the Head.
Ephesians 4:1-2 again says that we are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. We are to hold fast the Head and to love one another as Christ loved His church, as we have fellowship together.
This is a point I want to make. Ephesians 4:14-16:
That we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ;
from whom all the body, fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth,
according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
It talks about how we are held together by what every joint supplies. Let me read the Amplified on that:
For because of Him the whole body, the church, in all its various parts, closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part, with power adapted to its need, is working properly in all its functions, grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.
So, we are to be joints and ligaments, building up the body in love.
Why do you think he chose joints and ligaments? I was just thinking of that. They’re parts of the body, for sure—but they are connections. They hold things together.
Think if we didn’t have any joints and ligaments. Wouldn’t it be a mess? All the people who are over fifty or sixty know what it means about joints and ligaments. I’m going to have to get you to help me stretch out when we get done here.
Joints and ligaments and bones—what a mess if we didn’t have joints and ligaments. We would fall in a heap of mess, a heap of stones. You need new ones, he says. All these joint-replacement people. Anyway, it’s very important.
I just got to tell you something: did you ever think you’re a joint ligament? You’re a joint ligament. You’re supposed to be related to the part next to you, and you’re supposed to hold it together in love.
The body can’t build itself up if we don’t hold together. So, I’ve got to ask everybody—this is a question I want each of us to ask ourselves. I’ll ask myself: Am I a joint of supply in the body of Christ? Am I a joint and ligament?
It’s an important question, and we need to know what our role is in the testimony of Jesus. Am I a joint ligament? What are we doing to build up the body? Are we actively involved with the saints, related to them, and holding it together?
That includes the older people here—which is most of us—who have problems with joints and ligaments. Getting old, you can’t quit. Kenny had problems with joints and ligaments. What’s that called? Rotator cuff. Some of those—was it tendon? That’s terrible, but he got them fixed. He had been no use without good joints and ligaments. His testimony isn’t going to be very good without joints and ligaments.
The other thing I want to say about joints and ligaments is that it’s a wonderful encouragement to me when I see joints and ligaments holding things together—being involved, being joints of supply in the local testimony.
The last thing I want to say about joints and ligaments: we have a choice to be a joint or ligament. All I want to say is, don’t hold back. The days are evil. Don’t sit on the sidelines.
Give yourself unreservedly to being a joint and ligament. You ain’t got enough time. Don’t look back someday and say, “I should have been a joint ligament, but I didn’t.” Be a joint and ligament. Give yourself unreservedly.
This testimony of Jesus is expressed in His local church, and we all have a part.
Paul takes another analogy in 1 Corinthians 12:12-25 about every part of the body having a function. God has given us to be part of His body.
For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.
And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.
If you think you aren’t, that’s your problem. You are a part of the body, and you’re a foot. Let’s talk about feet. Feet can be a real problem too. Take care of your feet.
We’re all parts of the body. God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body. If they were all one member, where would the body be? Praise the Lord—full expression.
This is number four: the bride. The final thing I want to discuss is the bride of Christ.
I remember when it might have been somebody who grew up in our midst said, “What is this bride-of-Christ stuff? That’s crazy. Who made that up?” It’s in the Book.
The Lord is after a bride who has made herself ready. He wants to return, and He’s waiting for the bride to make herself ready.
The one point about the bride I want to make—though there could be numerous ministries—is Revelation 19:7:
Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
What I want to say is that the Lord is returning. He’s returning for a bride who has made herself ready. This fact of the bride making herself ready for the Lord’s return—the Lord is returning.
We’ve had family members tell us, “I never heard of that. I never heard that the Lord’s coming back.” We’ve heard it.
The testimony of the early church was that they were looking for the Lord to come any day, as we should be—looking for the Lord’s return. That should be a part of our testimony of Jesus. The Lord is coming back.
These are things that spoke to me about the testimony of Jesus. It’s a living, real, spiritual expression. It’s meant to be expressed in our lives. It’s meant to be expressed in our gathering together in the local assembly, and there to be expressed as longing for the Lord to return.
All the testimony of Jesus: personally, corporately, and in the bride awaiting the imminent return of the Lord.
Lord, we thank You for Your mercies. We thank You for this reminder that it is all about Jesus, risen from the dead, whom we are witnesses with of the resurrection.
Lord, You are the way, the truth, and the life. Whether we’re young or old, just starting out as a believer, or have been a believer for fifty years, You are the way, the truth, and the life.
We look to You to have Your full testimony in us individually and in us as an assembly. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.