Making the Testimony of Jesus Our Testimony — Stephen Kaung

The Testimony of Conscience and Overcoming

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 towards you.

And finally, Revelation chapter 12, verse 11, And they have overcome him, that is, overcome the accuser, by reason of the blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony, and have not loved their life even unto death.

Let's have a little prayer. 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 in us.

Thou art to bring us into thy full purpose, that we may be profitable to thee. O dear Lord, we are here this morning, open ourselves to thee, and pray that thou will open the heavens and reveal thy 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 are worthy.

We ask in thy precious name. 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 tabernacle among man, full of grace and truth. And 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. And finally, on Calvary's cross, even though in human eyes it might seem that this was the sign of defeat, and yet when our Lord Jesus, before his death, he shouted, it is finished, it is done, sins have been removed, Adam, the sinful man, has been brought to death.

The world is overcome, and Satan is driven out of the world. We here see a man, the God-man. He overcame, and 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 towards the end of this age, as we find symbolized by the man-child.

They overcame by the blood of the Lamb. They overcame by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life, even unto death. So, in other words, the overcomers are those who have the testimony of Jesus, and they overcome because of the testimony of Jesus.

And that's where we ended last morning. Now, this morning, we would like to continue on. We read in the scripture, the Apostle Paul, he told the Thessalonian believers that our testimony among you has been received.

So, here we find this term, our testimony. And again, we find in 2 Corinthians 1, the Apostle Paul mentioned to the Corinthian believers that the testimony of our conscience is this. By the sincerity and simplicity, we live not by the flesh wisdom, but by God's grace.

And finally, you find in Revelation, 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. And it is by the word of our testimony that we overcome.

Human Failure and Victory Through Christ

But brothers and sisters, if we know ourselves, do you think there is anything in us that can overcome? I think it is the natural human way. Before we were saved, we tried to overcome the sins, those habits that we knew were not right.

And what did we do? We tried our best. We tried to control ourselves. We tried to educate ourselves. We tried to accumulate merits in order to be saved. But no matter how we tried, I think we all knew we ended with failures.

But our will was so strong. We refused to give up. We tried, we failed, we tried, and we failed, we failed, and we tried. And 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 we cannot 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 serpents, fiery serpents into their midst. And those who were bitten by the serpents, they died. But God made a provision. He asked Moses to build a brass serpent and lifted up that brass serpent.

And whoever was bitten by the fiery serpent, when you look at that brazen serpent, you are healed. So, dear brothers and sisters, we find that we were bitten by a fiery serpent. We were dying. But thank God, His only begotten Son took upon Himself the flesh of a man.

But remember, the brazen serpent looked like a serpent, but there was no poison in it. And 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. And thank God because of that, He who has no sin 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 believe in the Lord Jesus?

Now, after we are saved, there seems to be a change in our heart. Instead of living sin, we began to hate sin. By the grace of God, we began to know what is right, what is wrong in the sight of God. Just like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, how 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. And 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 and 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, he cried out, O wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death? Now, brothers and sisters, have you come to that point yet?

Now, if you haven't come to that point, I can predict 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'm a Christian.

I should live a Christian life. I should do the right thing. I shouldn't 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's useless.

Because the old man was under the law of sin and of death. So it is better that you give up quicker and earlier. Now, strangely, this seems never happened 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 can deliver me from this body of death? And immediately following in Romans 7, 25, thank God through Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus Christ that we overcame, overcome this body of death.

Brothers and sisters, this principle applies to every face of our life. The only reason why we can overcome, it 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 can sense the surprises.

Where is our testimony? If you consider yourselves, consider your lives, consider what has happened to you, if you know yourself in a small way, as a matter of fact, nobody knows himself or herself. But with the little knowledge we have of ourselves, is there anything that you can boast of?

The Apostle Paul said, even with all the spiritual experiences he had, all the revelations, all the sufferings he had, he said, there is only one thing I can boast of, my infirmity, my weakness, because 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. So, when you think of our testimony, so far as we ourselves are concerned, we have no testimony, and the testimony that we bear ourselves cannot be accepted.

You know, it is the general rule, if anyone should testify of himself, he will not be accepted. Even our Lord Jesus, you remember, in John chapter 5, he himself said, if I bear witness of myself, then my testimony is the truth.

But I have someone who is testifying for me. But strangely, in chapter 8 of John, he said, even though I testify of myself, my testimony is true. Why? Because it's different from all mankind. We do not know where we come from, we do not know where we will be going, but he knows he came from the Father, and he will be returning to the Father, because he is the all-knowledgeable, all-wise God.

So, whatever he says of himself is true, but that can apply only to him, not to you, not to me. So, brothers and sisters, what does that our testimony mean? We overcome the accuser by reason of the word of our testimony.

The Testimony of Jesus Becoming 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, it is applicable to every occasion, to everything.

He is the victor of cavalry. 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, just mentally, just as a doctrine, just as a teaching, will not work in your life.

Nothing wrong with the testimony of Jesus. It stands forever. When our Lord Jesus cried out, it is finished on Calvary's cross. It is finished. But what has been finished is still living and real as it was 2 ,000 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, it becomes yours, it becomes mine, then it will not operate in our lives.

So I think probably that is 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. And that is what is meant by they have the testimony of Jesus.

So dear brothers and sisters, the issue is here. Do we have the testimony of Jesus? By having it doesn't mean that you heard about it, you knew about it, you knew the teaching, the doctrine. But all these things are vain unless the testimony of Jesus becomes your testimony, my testimony, that 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 Lance last night has already mentioned it. The secret of transferring a truth to an experience, a teaching to a reality, is only done by the Holy Spirit.

You know when we were first saved, oftentimes our concept of being saved is to have our sins forgiven, to be delivered from hell and into heaven. That's 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'm 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.

In other words, 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's what glory is. To sing is shameful. To go to hell is shameful.

To go to heaven is glory. But that is just a little bit glory. God's desire is to glorify us. And by being glorified us is by transforming us and conforming to the image of our Lord Jesus. Then God is manifested.

Then his glory will shine forth. And he calls us by his virtue. That is to say, by his character. When we were saved, out of death into life, out of hell into heaven, it satisfies us. But it does not satisfy God's character.

His character is so noble, is so high, so heavenly, that according to his character, he calls us. He will not stop until his glory is manifested and his character is shown. So that's the reason why when we were saved, many things God has done in us.

Not only our sins were removed. Not only he has given his life to us. Our dead spirit was quickened into life. And the life of God, which is Christ, comes and dwells in our new spirit. And then you find the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in our new spirit too.

Now why did he do that? We have already been given life. It is the life of Christ. Isn't that enough? Thank God we have the life of Christ in us. But the life in us is to grow and to live. What is the meaning of life if it does not live?

Eternal Life and the Growth of Christ Within

You know, I remember many years ago I went to Peru and I visited a couple, missionary. And they lived in the jungles. Half a year they lived on a little boat traveling on the Amazon River, visiting different villages.

And half a year they slept in their truck going through the high mountains in Peru and visiting and helping, evangelizing the people. But even though they were missionaries and were faithfully serving the Lord in Peru, they did not know that eternal life begins now.

So 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. And you will be accepted into heaven.

That's their gospel to them. But thank God, a brother, a Chinese, was invited by the people in Peru to become an advisor and a director of a sugar company. And when this couple of missionaries heard about that there was a Christian family in the area, so they came and visited them.

And while in their fellowshipping, the brother from China discovered that this couple did not know that eternal life is to live for today. So in their fellowshipping 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. So they told... Our brother said, now I have to re-preach the gospel. And for this reason, our brother invited me to go and visit them.

So 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. And it is this life that alone can live a Christian life.

But this life in us must grow. From babyhood to young man. From young man to fathers. Now, how will this life of Christ in us grow? Who will be taking care of this life? This is where the Holy Spirit comes in.

You know, everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus not only has a new spirit, but in that 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.

But thank God, we do. Now, unfortunately, in Christianity, you know, among some people, they think that when you are saved, you don't have the Holy Spirit. You have to go through a second blessing in order to get 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 will bear witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And we cry out, Alpha Father.

Otherwise, how can we cry out, Alpha Father? It is the Holy Spirit within us who is in charge, as it were, in management of the life, new life in us. So, 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 be matured, 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 baptism, so-called baptism, of the Holy Spirit. They are seeking for power. They are seeking for gift. But unfortunately, they neglect the person of the Holy Spirit.

The person of the Holy Spirit, He is God. And 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. That the life of Christ is given the opportunity to live out.

The life of Christ in us 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 from what is objective truth into subjective experience.

He brings what Christ has done 2 ,000 years ago and makes it living and real and operated in us today. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. That's the reason why the Bible tells us we need to obey the Holy Spirit.

The Cross, Self-Denial, and the Inner Life

The instrument that the Holy Spirit will use in doing that transference, in doing that transformation, is the cross. So that's the reason why you'll find in the Word of God the call to us is deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

He who loves his soul life shall lose it. He who loses his soul life for the sake of Christ and for the gospel shall save it to 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 indwelled 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 the truth into reality.

In a sense, so far as our experience goes, I believe every one of us has some experience of the indwelled Holy Spirit. Because he is spirit, you cannot see him. You cannot touch him by physical means.

Nor can you touch him even with intellectual means. He is beyond that. Now, how do you know the Holy Spirit dwells in you? How do you know that the Holy Spirit is working in you? We know it from within.

So, 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 as soon as we are saved, we are led astray. We are led to the outward things.

We are led to commandments, to rules and regulations. We are told if we do this or do that, not do this, not do that, then we are a good Christian. Instead of 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 was used to lies, not black lies, but white lies. And when you exaggerated, when you told a white lie and people seemed to believe in you, you were happy.

But after you are saved, before someone even can tell you, you should not exaggerate. You should not lie, not even a white lie. You should be true. Yes is yes, no is no. Before anyone told you that, because of your former habit, when you are talking with people, then you begin to exaggerate again.

And maybe you will tell a white lie to cheat people. But while you were doing that, what happened? Those who are listening may not stop you, but there is one within you trying to stop you. The Holy Spirit put a check within you, as if you are driving very fast, too fast, and then a brake comes.

The Holy Spirit said, that's enough. Don't go on. If you go on, you sin. It's 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, elated, you feel downcast.

You feel being accused. You feel uncomfortable. And when you come to the Lord to pray, you cannot pray. Something was wrong. Until you confess, you repent, you claim the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, then the way is free for your communing with the Lord.

Now, do you have such experience? Or in another way, suppose you lost something. You do not know where you put them. And you try to find them here and there, you couldn't find them. Then you stop and pray.

And somehow the Holy Spirit will show you where the lost thing is. Do you have that experience? Or do you hear something, something of the truth? For instance, myself. After I believe in the Lord Jesus, I heard about baptism.

Now, I was baptized when I was an infant. So I always consider 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's the only way of baptism, and that alone can show what baptism means.

Also, when I was a babe, I did not believe in the faith of my parents. But it is belief and be baptized. So when I heard this thing, 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 to the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And I cannot idly use God's name. But it didn't satisfy me.

I feel within myself uneasy 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 is the beginning of the opening of heaven to me.

A small thing, as it were. But to me, it's a big thing. Do you have these kind of experiences? Or even in a matter of some habit? Or even in a matter of your dress? Or even in a matter of something that you treasure?

Nobody will tell you anything. But the Holy Spirit is so faithful. He will show you. And this is the inner way of life. It does not come from outside. It comes from within. And the reason for that is, it 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 the Christ in you and in me that 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 shine within us.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in communion with the Lord, then you will find the Christ life will grow in us and the self life will be replaced. And then the testimony of Jesus becomes your testimony.

The Power of a Lived Testimony

So they overcome us. They overcome the accuser. By reason of the word of their testimony. You know, in the book of Acts chapter 19, there was an incident. When Paul was in Ephesus, there were seven sons of the Jewish high priest.

They tried to do exorcism, exorcising to drive out demons. And because 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. And there was one possessed by demons and these seven sons of Scuva, they came and they said, In the name of Jesus Christ that Paul preached, I cast you out.

The formula seemed to be right, but it didn't work. Instead you find the demon, the one who are demon possessed, he came over them and he conquered, overcome two of them. And they have to fled, wounded, naked.

Why? Because the demons say, Christ I know, Paul I'm acquainted with, 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 doesn't 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 as a sitting on the chair and be carried into heaven, then you're 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.

But there is a narrow way. Few find it, but it leads to life eternal. Brothers and sisters, do not expect an easy life. We Christians 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, he suffered. Before he was glorified, he suffered. And we cannot go any other way. We cannot be chocolate soldiers, just like C .T. Stutz said, melted so quickly.

The Apostle Paul said, we must be like the soldier of the Lord to fight a good fight of faith. It is faith that gave us victory. And faith is not something in us. Faith casts its anchor 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 will encourage you, do not look for an easy way out. We are appointed to deny ourselves.

Take up our cross and follow. Wherever the Lamb goes, we go. And these are the overcomers. But don't be afraid. Why? Because God has already given us all provisions for such a way. If you remember 2 Peter, you will find in 2 Peter, we are told in verse 3 and 4, As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us by glory and virtue, through which he has given to us the greatest and precious promises, that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

So we find that God has made every provision for us. If he has provided, then all we need to do is to trust in him. Trust and obey. There is no other way. Let us pray. 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 your glory.

We ask thy precious name.