THE TESTIMONY
W. Dickson
Romans 6: 4; Ephesians 4: 20–24; Philippians 2: 14–16; Colossians 3: 9–11
I desire, beloved brethren, young and old, to speak about the testimony. It is not an expression that is too current amongst us in our conversations. The expressions ‘the assembly’ and ‘the fellowship’ are happily used in our conversations together, but we do not hear so much about the testimony, and yet there is nothing more important as far as believers are concerned than their part in the testimony. I would say to the younger brethren that the greatest privilege you can have in life is to have part in the testimony. Nothing could be greater, and we have to get the scriptural force of it rightly in our minds. I want to be simple and free—I trust the brethren will not mistake me. We hear brethren say in meetings that if the brethren are a testimony to anything, they are a testimony to the ruin. That statement, made by a beloved man of God, has to be soberly considered and, of course, is right; but it has to be understood. The testimony still remains here. The testimony is that the Man up there is expressed down here. That is the testimony, and nothing could be greater. There could be no greater privilege for any of us, young or old, than to have part in the testimony, that the Man up there is being expressed down here.
I read from Romans 6 to give a simple introduction to it for the sake of our younger brethren.
It says that “We have been buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, even as
Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”. That, beloved brethren, is one aspect of the testimony to walk here “in newness of life”. Once all of us had part in the sin system which Romans 6 speaks of.
Doctrinally, Romans 6 is the sin system, and we all had our active part in the sin system, but we have come under the touch of grace and power in the glad tidings and have been baptised, as it says—“baptised unto Christ Jesus”. It is a fine touch that, “baptised unto Christ Jesus”.
The force of that, the subjective force of the expression “Christ Jesus”, has to be grasped. Not that I want to give the impression of being learned, but there is a difference between “in Christ” and “in Christ Jesus”. “In Christ” involves status, but “in Christ Jesus” is a subjective thought and involves your affectionate link with the Man on high. Wonderful thought that,
“in Christ Jesus”! “Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus”, 2 Timothy 2: 1.
Subjectively, in your affections, you have a link with the glorious Man up there, and that is what holds you.
Beloved young brethren, what holds you? If the test was to come as to your allegiance to the testimony, what would hold you? Is it your family? Is it your companionships? Does your allegiance to the testimony rest on your link with Christ Jesus? I see no greater privilege than to be here in the representation of the blessed Man who died for you and set you up here in liberty and power in the strength of the glad tidings. So it says here, “We have been buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”.
How practical it is that a believer, once having had part in the sin system—his life, his language, his demeanour reflecting the sin system
of which Satan is the head—but now coming under the wonderful operations of grace, can
“walk in newness of life”. There is something very sweet, very choice, to see a young person—we speak of a young person in the light of Romans, trusting that the older ones have made a little progress—walk “in newness of life”, in the radiancy, the joy, the blessedness of a link with the Man Christ Jesus.
There is a lot of sorrow in this world—and I am not just talking about sorrow amongst the saints which some of us know, but the deep sorrow in this world at the present time is something that a believer ought to feel. Think of walking “in newness of life”, the fragrance, the vitality, the joy of our link with another Man. I commend that to you, young brethren.
You are in this world and you have to be jealous of the precious treasure which is yours. Can I say to the young brethren, Do not experiment with the world— do not! You may think you are strong enough for it. I think I can recall as a young man thinking I was strong enough for it, but you cannot afford to experiment with the sin system of which Satan is the head. If you
“walk in newness of life” with your affections linked with Christ Jesus, you radiate joy.
Young people, a testimony is in the happiness of your demeanour. I know a brother who recommended a young sister to a job in an office. A few months later the personnel officer came along to this brother and said, ‘If you have any more like that, send them along to me’.
That is fine, is it not?—“newness of life”. Not just that you go to the brethren’s meetings, but you love the Lord and have a link with the Man on high: that is the testimony. You might not be able to give a résumé of the truth of the assembly, but “newness of life”; what a testimony!
Nothing equals the quality of the testimony that comes from a link with the living Christ.
So in Colossians, the next scripture in mind, it speaks at the beginning of chapter 3 about being “raised with the Christ”, and “Christ ... sitting at the right hand of God” and then it proceeds into this matter of the new man. For the sake of the younger brethren I shall say something that the old brethren know. In this passage, and particularly in verse 11, “Christ everything and in all” is not Christ personally, it is Christ testimonially in the new man. That is the force of it. It says here, “Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds ...” Bear with me, beloved brethren, if I speak for a moment about this matter of truthfulness. It says “to one another”. You might say, Surely there would not be any lack of truthfulness in the circle of the saints. Beloved brethren, in matters of conversation, particularly involving the character of persons, we have to be very careful. If there is no bastion of truth in the assembly, there is none anywhere. If the standards of rectitude are not maintained in the assembly, they are not maintained anywhere, and a feature of the new man is the utmost integrity in regard to truthfulness. One contributing factor to the vitality of the fellowship in which, through grace, we walk is truthfulness in passing on reports, passing on information.
Pardon the word of exhortation because the current state of the testimony is that if there is to be free way for the “power of the Christ” (2 Corinthians 12: 9), the moral surroundings of the saints must be intact. So it says here, “Having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him”. In other words, there is a divine representation down here of God, of Christ. How precious that is that there is a divine representation in this world, in testimony, by the people of God. You come back
to what Mr. Raven said when somebody raised the question with him about a notice-board for the gospel—(I am not saying anything about the notice-board)—that basically the saints are the notice-board. That is the truth. The representation of God and Christ here in the new man means that the saints walk as it says here, “not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman”. Everything that makes gradations and distinctions amongst men has gone. In the new man “Christ is everything, and in all”.
What a testimony in this scene, living in the light of the Man up there. I would commend that to the brethren, that our corporate relations bear on the representation of Christ here upon earth at the present time.
Ephesians 4 says, “But ye have not thus learnt the Christ, if ye have heard him and been instructed in him according as the truth is in Jesus”. It is an allusion, beloved brethren, to what we called attention to in the reading as to the upper chamber (1 Kings 17: 19). “As the truth is in Jesus” is an allusion to the upper chamber. Elijah was, typically, acquainted with the truth as it is in Jesus in his upper chamber and he brought the power of it to bear upon that child. Beloved, we feel the need for instructing the brethren in heavenly truth. There is a great need for instructing the brethren in the heavenly side of things, not in an academic way, but supported by the power of the Christ, the setting forth of heavenly things and heavenly truth before the brethren.
Then, “being renewed in the spirit of your mind; and your having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness. Wherefore, having put off falsehood, speak truth every one with his neighbour ...”. There again you come to it; one feature that stands related to the testimony is that in an evil world where men tell falsehoods without a tremor of conscience, the people of God are truthful. The fabric of society today is corrupt by falsehood, but the new man, Christ in testimony here, and the blessed level of truth as it is in Jesus, the heavenly truth, comes out in the saints. I commend it to you, beloved brethren.
There are many dear souls in Christendom, and we rightly give them the books, but if “the power of the Christ” in expression in testimony was there, the value of these books would be enhanced by the degree in which the beloved saints of God were the expression of the new man. That is what will attract people, attract believers in the condition of things surrounding us. In Philippians there is a beautiful touch of the testimony. It says, “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings, that ye may be harmless and simple ...”. Oh the simplicity of the testimony! “harmless and simple, irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation”. “Without murmurings and reasonings”; how good to be simple with one another! Think of Abram and Lot. Abram says, ‘You go your way, I will go the other way’ (Genesis 13: 9). Mephibosheth said as to Ziba, “Let him even take all”, 2 Samuel 19: 30. How important it is in the testimony to have a right sense of values, to be able to say, ‘Well, I can leave that with the Lord’; not in any self-confident way, but happily subject. It says, “harmless and simple, irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation; among whom ye appear as lights in the world”.
As I read this scripture I am reminded of when I was not much older than some of you young men here, and we were reading it in our local meeting and a visiting brother said that “appear as lights in the world” was like a little heavenly city on a Monday morning, a believer descending on his place of employment like a little heavenly city. Another visiting brother came along the next week. He said the believer is like a glow-worm. I never saw the connection between the heavenly city and the glow-worm, never to this day! but the idea is there, that you shine—
‘Jesus bids us shine
With a clear pure light;
Like a little candle,
Burning in the night’.
O, you young people, shine for Jesus! That is what to do. Shine for Jesus! How God loves to see a young believer shining for Jesus. The gospel should affect you that way. A little glow-worm, maybe, but nevertheless shining for Jesus “holding forth the word of life, so as to be a boast for me in Christ’s day, that I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain”. What a testimony! “Holding forth the word of life”! One generation goes and another comes. It is like the Olympics—they pass the torch on to the next runner. The testimony, the race of the testimony, is going on. For some of us it is inevitable, if the Lord does not come soon, what is ahead of us. We have to face it. We faced it in our city this week. Can we pass the torch of the “word of life” on to the coming generation to carry it through? O, beloved brethren, cherish the testimony! One of the early periodicals that was published after the revival in the early 1800’s was ‘The Present Testimony’. May we all have part in it, through grace, for His name’s sake.
Address at Buckhurst Hill
30 July 1988