The Personal Testimony
Learning to Present a Winning Testimony
Testimony is Source of Power
All who receive the gospel message into the heart will long to proclaim it. The heaven-born love of Christ must find expression. Those who have put on Christ will relate their experience, tracing step by step the leadings of the Holy Spirit—their hungering and thirsting for the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, the results of their searching of the Scriptures, their prayers, their soul agony, and the words of Christ to them, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” It is unnatural for any to keep these things secret, and those who are filled with the love of Christ will not do so. In proportion as the Lord has made them the depositaries of sacred truth will be their desire that others shall receive the same blessing. And as they make known the rich treasures of God’s grace, more and still more of the grace of Christ will be imparted to them.
Testimony Defined
Among Seventh-day Adventists the word “testimony” is no doubt misunderstood. What we call “testimony meeting” usually has very little testimony in it. It would be more properly described as a meeting of thankfulness and prayer requests. (“I am thankful for … this … and that … and I want you all to remember me in your prayers, etc.”) Instead, testimony is really a statement of first-hand experiences, a witness given to personal knowledge.
SOP Endorsing Testimonies of Assurance
It is your privilege to trust in the love of Jesus for salvation, in the fullest, surest, noblest manner; to say, He loves me, He receives me; I will trust Him, for He gave His life for me. Nothing so dispels doubt as coming in contact with the character of Christ. He declares, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out;” that is, there is no possibility of My casting him out, for I have pledged My word to receive him. Take Christ at His word, and let your lips declare that you have gained the victory.
It is God that circumcises the heart. The whole work is the Lord’s from the beginning to the end. The perishing sinner may say: “I am a lost sinner; but Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. He says, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Mark 2:17). I am a sinner, and He died upon Calvary’s cross to save me. I need not remain a moment longer unsaved. He died and rose again for my justification, and He will save me now. I accept the forgiveness He has promised.”
It is essential to have faith in Jesus, and to believe you are saved through Him
but there is danger in taking the position that many do take in saying, “I am saved.” Many have said: “You must do good works, and you will live”; but apart from Christ no one can do good works. Many at the present day say, “Believe, only believe, and live.” Faith and works go together, believing and doing are blended.
However, anyone reading the context of these statements will recognize that they say that we are not to claim that we are saved in the sense that we can never be lost through rejection of Christ. In other words, Adventists do not accept the Calvanistic position of “once saved, always saved”. Neither do we believe that we are to sit back in false security feeling that there is no need to make progress and grow up into Christ. Such a life is a denial of our profession of Him. In one single sentence we read the essence of Ellen White’s teaching on this matter. “It is essential to have faith in Jesus and to believe that you are saved through Him; but there is danger in taking the position that many do take in saying, “I am saved’.” Obviously she is saying that a Christian without assurance of eternal life and salvation is a poor testimony. But on the other hand, the position that many do take in stating that they are saved and can never fall, etc. are not following the teachings of the Bible. We believe that a soul should know his present relationship to Christ. As someone said, “We ought to know this as well as we know if we are married!”
The Bible also likens our relationship with Christ to marriage, and using that analogy we should understand clearly that we do not believe that our marriage with Christ ends in divorce every time we fall in temptation, anymore than our human marriage ends in divorce every time we fail to demonstrate a perfect love.
When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man’s best service, and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit.
The character is revealed, not p 58 by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.
Communicating Love to the Prospect
The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. God desires that the receivers of His grace shall be witnesses to its power.
In Christ is the tenderness of the shepherd, the affection of the parent, and the matchless grace of the compassionate Saviour. His blessings He presents in the most alluring terms. He is not content merely to announce these blessings; He presents them in the most attractive way, to excite a desire to possess them. So His servants are to present the riches of the glory of the unspeakable Gift. The wonderful love of Christ will melt and subdue hearts, when the mere reiteration of doctrines would accomplish nothing.
Love and assurance have been considered at length because they are the foundation of valid testimony. Without love, testimony and assurance can appear to be arrogant, boasting. Without assurance there is nothing to testify about, and love expressed without assurance has no promise, no hope.
The two restored demoniacs were the first missionaries whom Christ sent to preach the gospel in the region of Decapolis. For a few moments only these men had been privileged to hear the teachings of Christ. Not one sermon from His lips had ever fallen upon their ears. They could not instruct the people as the disciples who had been daily with Christ were able to do. But they bore in their own persons the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. They could tell what they knew; what they themselves had seen, and heard, and felt of the power of Christ. This is what everyone can do whose heart has been touched by the grace of God.
As witnesses for Christ, we are to tell what we know, what we ourselves have seen and heard and felt. If we have been following Jesus step by step, we shall have something right to the point to tell concerning the way in which He has led us. We can tell how we have tested His promise, and found the promise true. We can bear witness to what we have known of the grace of Christ. This is the witness for which our Lord calls, and for want of which the world is perishing.
After healing the woman, Jesus desired her to acknowledge the blessing she had received. The gifts which the gospel offers are not to be secured by stealth or enjoyed in secret. So the Lord calls upon us for confession of His goodness. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:12.
After healing the woman, Jesus desired her to acknowledge the blessing she had received. The gifts which the gospel offers are not to be secured by stealth or enjoyed in secret. So the Lord calls upon us for confession of His goodness. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:12.
Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven’s chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. We are to acknowledge His grace as made known through the holy men of old; but that which will be most effectual is the testimony of our own experience. We are witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power that is divine. Every individual has a life distinct from all others, and an experience differing essentially from theirs. God desires that our praise shall ascend to Him, marked by our own individuality. These precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace, when supported by a Christ-like life, have an irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls.