Section
Four: Witnesses who have a
Personal Relationship.
Lesson
Seven
Lesson
Title: The Argument from experience
Text: Psalm 34:8 'Taste and see
that the Lord is good'.
Introduction: A witness
must be able to speak from experience.
The disciples spoke from experience. They had a
personal relationship with the Lord.
When the Apostles chose
Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot it was required that he had been with them
all the time of the Lord's ministry, Acts 1:21-22.
We must never
underestimate the importance of experience.
1) Experience was essential for the
Apostles to be witnesses to the Lord's resurrection.
2) It was not theology that brought Paul to Christ. It was a personal encounter with the
Lord, Acts 9:6.
3) Salvation is an experience that can happen
instantaneously. But understanding
the theology behind our salvation may take many years of study.
Introductory Illustration: Witnessing to people who belong to a cult.
Arguing over doctrines is
not the most effective way of winning people for Christ.
Personal testimony will
have a much greater impact.
Personal Testimony: When I was a new Christian two Jehovah Witnesses spoke
to me. They wanted to argue
with me by using different verses from the Bible. I was a young Christian and did not know the scriptures as
well as I do now. I was not able
to answer all their questions but I knew what had happened in my life. So I testified to them about how I had
received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I told them what my life had been
like before and how I had become a new person in Christ. I could not quote scripture but I was
able to speak from personal experience about becoming a new creation in Christ. After they heard my testimony one of
them said ‘I don’t believe you’ and they went to the next house.
I have spoken to
Jehovah’s witnesses since then but never as effectively as I did when I first
came to Christ, and all I knew was that Jesus had changed my life.
The greatest evidence
that Jesus is the Son of God is the evidence of knowing Him through personal
experience.
Duncan Campbell who saw revival in Scotland said this:
"If you want to know whether the Bible is the word of
God then don't go to the theological colleges or the theologians." He said
"go and ask a sinner who has been saved by grace. He will tell you or she will tell you
because they have tasted of the goodness of the Lord".
A person knows the Bible is the word of God when he or she
has experienced the saving power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Main Points:
1. John writes
saying we know from experience.
1 John 1:1-4
'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the Word of life; (For the life
was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we
have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with
us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you,
that your joy may be full.'
a) The
senses.
They were certain of what
they are saying because they had experienced Him through the senses.
We heard Him; we saw Him;
we looked upon Him; we touched Him.
John was emphasising the
fact the he knew because he had experienced Him.
If Jesus is not God then
the disciples were lying.
b) Eternal
Life.
They testified from
experience that Jesus is the eternal One. He is eternal life.
Eternal life is an attribute of God. It is uncreated life. John knew from
experience that Jesus is the Life.
Knowing Jesus through experience is to know eternal
life. We can only know Him when we
come to him for salvation.
True repentance will draw us to Christ and faith in
Him will save us.
c)
Joy.
The purpose for
which John wrote about his experience of knowing Christ was to bring joy, ‘that
your joy may be full’.
The body of Christ should always testify about a
personal relationship with Jesus to draw the lost to Christ, and to bring joy
to the body and to glorify the Lord.
2.
The testimony
of Peter - Mount of transfiguration, Matthew 17:1ff
Peter
James and John were allowed to see a small glimpse of the glory that He left
behind when He 'made Himself of no reputation' (Philippians 2:7).
a)
They saw Him - Peter testified that they
saw His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration 2 Peter 1:16 'For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we
made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. They
could testify from experience that Jesus was the One of whom the prophets had
spoken.
They
heard the Father bear testimony of the Son on the Mount of Transfiguration. 2 Peter 1:17-18
'For he received from God the Father honour and
glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in
the holy mount.' Matthew
17:5 'While he yet spoke, behold,
a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which
said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.'
b)
The
glory of the cross. When they saw
the glory of Jesus they saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Him about His death,
which He soon accomplished in Jerusalem.
The central message of the Church is the cross. Luke 9:29-31
‘And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was
altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And,
behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spoke of his
decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.’
3. Knowing Him from personal experience.
a)
The
desire of Paul was experiential knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ –
‘that I might know Him’ (Philippians 3:10).
Paul had been lifted to the ‘third heaven’ and heard things
he was not allowed to tell, 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. Yet Paul still desired to ‘know Christ’. He desired a closer relationship. In Christ there is always more to
desire in ‘knowing Him’.
b)
The
glory of God will be seen in the body of Christ when we speak from the experience
of knowing Him.
The experience of knowing Him will be seen in us. 2 Corinthians 4:6 ‘For God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’
The glory of God will
shine through us. We must let this
light shine, Matthew 5:16.
The face of Moses shone when he saw the glory of the
Lord in Horeb, Exodus 34.
But this experience did not last the glory faded. We are being changed into the likeness
of the Son of God and the glory does not fade. 2 Corinthians 4:18 'But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the Lord.'
c)
The
glory of God in our witness.
If we speak only because it is written in
scripture then we will not know the glory of God even though the words we speak
are the Word of God.
The glory of God
is seen through the witness of the body of Christ in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Elijah saw the
glory of the Lord in the same area as Moses (Horeb),
1 Kings 19.
Elijah saw that
the glory of the Lord was not in the earthquake, wind or fire, but in the still
small voice (7000 who had not bowed to Baal.
When John the
Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, he began his ministry by
saying, 'I am a voice'.
The glory of God
was in the voice preparing the way of the LORD.
Summary:
1)
The Apostles wrote out of personal
experience. They knew He was the
eternal Son of God because they had experienced Him.
2)
Peter, James and John knew He was the
eternal Son of God because they saw His glory on the mount of transfiguration.
3)
The glory of God is seen when the body of
Christ witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit.