THE TESTIMONIES OF GOD
Alastair J McKay
Psalm 93: 1-5
Romans 8: 38-39
Titus 2: 11-13
Colossians 1: 26-27
Psalm 119: 57-59
The psalm that we have read speaks of a great God. I was confirmed for this occasion with what has become before us in the previous two readings; my exercise is to say a word as to the testimonies of God.
This psalm speaks of the fact that these testimonies are very sure. I seek the Spirit’s help to attract your hearts to something that is absolutely certain and absolutely sure. One of the things in the world around us - and indeed it is a saying amongst men - is that the one constant is change. We only need to think back over the last two or three weeks as to all that has taken place in the world around us to know that things change in the world in which we have to live. I do not want to speak only to my young brethren, but I say this, those of us of my generation and perhaps older, we understand only a little of some of the pressures that you are facing. The world in which you are growing up is a very different world from the one that I grew up in. I trust, brethren, that we seek to carry our young people, because we love them. One answer, young brethren, to some of the pressures you face is, I believe, to lay hold with an unshakeable and an immovable hand to what is absolutely sure.
There is a verse just a little earlier from where we read in Psalm 119, that says, “It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in nobles”, Ps 118: 9. The testimonies of Jehovah, beloved, are very sure. You might say surely it would have been enough in speaking of something to do with God just to say that they were sure. But the writer says they are “very sure”. They are absolutely certain! I feel burdened by this because things are changing so fast. Now, of course, we look for that soon coming moment when our Lord Jesus will come. We had a reminder in a recent gospel preaching in Witney that God might be waiting for just one person. Dear young person, is He waiting for you? If we are left here and the Lord does not come, we shall be under the sound of the gospel on Lord’s day, but do not leave it until Lord’s day. If you have not committed your heart to Jesus, if you have not found Him as your Saviour, dear friend, commit your way to Him today. And if He is waiting only for you the Lord will come; He will come and He will take us all in the Father’s own timing.
The Lord Himself will descend, with that great assembling shout and the trump of God. What a cry will come, and “in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor 15: 52), we shall be changed. What a prospect. But as we are left here, I want to encourage you and draw you in to what is absolutely sure and what is unchanging. Indeed I would go further than that: I would say it is unchangeable. It cannot change because what we speak about relates to God Himself. We spoke of that in the reading, the things relating to God - His testimonies relate to Him.
So it says here -
The floods lifted up, O Jehovah, the floods lifted up their voice; the floods lifted up their roaring waves.
Jehovah on high is mightier than the voices of many waters.
There is a scripture in Malachi where God says, “For I Jehovah change not”, chap 3: 6. “I Jehovah change not”. God never changes, can never change, and will never change. “I Jehovah change not”. And then this psalm says, “Thy testimonies are very sure”. What are those testimonies? That question is raised in Deuteronomy. There is a scripture there (chap 6 20): “When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying What are the testimonies … ?”. When they took the stones out of the Jordan and they put them on the bank, there is a similar question then raised. “What mean ye by these stones”, Josh 4: 6. Beloved, can we answer these questions?
There are young families here and in the normal course the children will grow and they will ask, ‘What do you mean by this? What is this?’. What are we to say? Can I exercise all of us; whether we are parents, whether we are not, we all have responsibilities in localities. Some of us are privileged to have younger ones in the locality. These questions are asked, and let us be clear as to our answer. What are these testimonies? What are the testimonies of Jehovah? Well, ministry helped me in answering that question. Mr Darby (Collected Writings vol 17 p154) makes reference to three things; he speaks of God’s nature, God’s character and God’s purpose. I would like to simply speak of those three things as testimonies of Jehovah.
A testimony suggests that there is something that is being said, and God is speaking. Hebrews tells us that; “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets”, chap 1: 1. Think of the great extent and the great breadth of God’s speaking. God has been speaking to man for something like six thousand years. The first reference in scripture to God speaking to man refers to the voice of Jehovah. They heard the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden, Gen 3: 8. The voice was there. From the very beginning God has desired to converse with man, and He is speaking to us today; He is speaking to us this weekend. And His testimonies have to do with Himself. God is speaking to us as to Himself. And “…at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son, whom he has established heir of all things”, Heb 1: 2.
How precious is the One we have been speaking about today. That speaking has come right down to us, and to today, the 20th October 2023. What is God saying today? God is speaking to us and He is speaking to the whole of mankind as to His own nature , and His nature is love. We had a reference to the scripture in Romans during the reading, which confirmed me in reading it again. Paul says that he is persuaded that none of these things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is where the love rests - that is where it is! God’s love has been made known in Christ. We were reading locally just recently of the time when the Lord came into the city of Nain. And what did He see? He saw a situation of utter hopelessness. He saw a funeral procession coming out of the city to bury the son of a widow. It says something very interesting there - it says that “the Lord … was moved with compassion for her”, Luke 7: 13. He was moved with compassion for her. Beloved, that is the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. And there was a display of the great nature of God Himself. It says that He reached out with the same hand that we were speaking about in the reading, and He touched the bier. The love of God has been seen perfectly and fully in Jesus in stopping what was proceeding there.
The Lord Jesus suffered for you, dear friend. Our brother challenged us in the reading this morning as to whether we have each laid hold of the fact that Christ has died for me. He has died for you, and He has done that dear friends in the full and mighty love of God. The love of God was made known there: there at the cross when He laid down His life. He died for me. Did He die for you? The love of God has cleared the way. It has removed the obstacle of death. It has removed what lay between us and a Creator God. That love of God manifest in Jesus has made known the nature of God Himself. What a tremendous testimony - everything that God is is there in the love of God; it is made known in Jesus; and nothing can separate us from that.
What a glorious thing that is. Distance can come in in the world, can it not? Separation can come in but nothing, nothing, dear brother, dear sister, dear young one, can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Why? Because it is not in a man such as you and me: it is in a Man who in Himself was a divine Person. It is in a Man who was none other than the Son of God Himself. Because that love is in Him nothing can separate us from Him. What a sure testimony - what a certainty! As we go out next week, if we are left here, what a certainty we can carry in our hearts, that whatever happens nothing can separate us from the love of God. Mr Coates says in his ministry, ‘If you had every power of the created universe against you, it is measurable, but you are linked up with the love of God in Christ and that is immeasurable’, vol 26 p42. If you have accepted Christ as your Saviour nothing can separate you from a resource, from a strength, from a power that is measureless. We have a hymn -
O the love of God is boundless,
Perfect, causeless, full and free! (Hymn 212)
Avail yourself of it, dear friend.
And then as to His grace, I want to turn to Titus. It says here that “the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared”. My impression is that this is the character of God. This is how He does things; He has done them in grace; He has shown grace to you. What is grace? As I understand it, for one thing, grace brings me into what I did not deserve. That is what the grace of God has done; it has brought me in. Think of the thief on the cross - he accepted that he received the just recompense of what he had done, but he knew that the Man that was hanging next to him was the One in whom the love of God was. “This man has done nothing amiss”, Luke 23: 41. And so the Lord extends the grace of God to him - “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”, v 43. That malefactor did not warrant that - he had done wrong; he had sinned. The Lord says, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”. Again, maybe it would seem enough to have said, ‘Thou shalt be with me’, but no, He adds, “in paradise”, a place, as I understand it, of no condemnation. Think of the grace that that man was shown. That grace, beloved, is the character of God Himself; it is how He operates. And He has saved you by grace. We are told that in scripture. Scripture does not say that we are saved by love; we are saved by grace. Scripture says that very clearly. We are saved; we are brought into what we did not deserve and that is the character of God.
If you have not committed your heart to Jesus, commit your heart to Him now. Find the great strength of the love of God in Christ, the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, and you will come into the area of His grace. You will come into God’s great operations for you, to bring you in to the mountain of His inheritance and to plant you there. This is what God has in mind and this is His character. And that testimony of God is absolutely sure; it is certain; you can rely on it; you can depend upon it. Nothing can come in the way of it.
And then simply I want to speak of His purpose. We have had some references already today as to Christ being in us. I read a comment in Mr Coates’ ministry that said ‘God’s purpose was to bring in Christ in the saints’ (vol 1 p160) - how simple that is. His purpose is that Christ might have His dwelling place in me and in you, and to bring into His presence Christ in the saints. So Paul speaks of it as a mystery, “which is Christ in you the hope of glory”. Not that there is any uncertainty, but rather it is a glory that this world will take account of; it is not yet displayed, but it will come. It will come in that great day of display when the whole world will take account of the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it will see Him in that great and vast company of the saints.
Does it apply to us in this room? Yes, it does. Does it apply to every saint? Yes, it does. It includes every believer on our Lord Jesus; He desires to bring in Christ in every saint. So here is a testimony of God that I suggest is now in you and me. What grace of God that He should do this and that He should work in this way to establish this great testimony as to His purpose in you and me. But it is still in the Man of His choice; it is still in Christ. And He will bring that glorious Man, and He will bring Him in every one of us in this room. This scripture is addressed to a locality, it is addressed to “the holy and faithful brethren in Christ which are in Colosse”. I do not know how many localities are represented in this room but is Christ being brought in your locality? Does He have His place; is there that that is for God’s pleasure in bringing Christ in us collectively that there might be a great collective answer and collective response to God, that God might be glorified by it? Because, although these testimonies are to help us and they are to strengthen us and settle us in a difficult and tough world, they are for God’s glory. And may it be proved in our localities, as we work together and as we find our place together, as we take up responsibility, every one of us in our localities; because there is a real need for taking up responsibility. How many of our older brethren are not here anymore? If the Lord leaves us here, who is going to step up? Who is going to step into the ranks? Who is going to take responsibility in their places to maintain what is of God and what is for God? I trust it is going to be you. I trust it is every one of us in this room, because in that there is glory to God. “Christ in you the hope of glory”. May we be just exercised about that and strengthened and stimulated in it.
Now I want to refer to Psalm 119. This is a psalm we have been reading at home; it has twenty-two references to the testimonies of Jehovah. I just suggest at the point I have read, that this is someone who has come into the good of the testimonies of Jehovah. He says, “I have sought thy favour with my whole heart”. There is what is answering in the heart of the writer to the testimony of God as to His nature. There is an answer in him. I trust there is an answer in you, dear friend. I trust there is something being worked out now in your heart that is for God. This man starts to see things how God sees them. I think that is the result of the testimonies of Jehovah finding their place and finding their home in our own hearts: we see things. We start to see things how God sees them.
And that does not wait for the rapture. That is something that we can enter into now. So he says, “be gracious unto me” - not according to my circumstances but, “according to thy word”. The writer is beginning to see how important things are to God. And, may it be that as we are exercised in these things we start to see things how God sees them. And then he says, “I have thought on my ways”. Well, I feel tested by this. I do not say any of these things as having felt that I have reached them. I feel exercised by them as much as all of us perhaps. It is a good thing you know to think on your ways. May it be that everyone of us does that.
If the Lord leaves us here and He tarries, what will Monday bring? How will we go? Will we think upon our ways? Will we consider our ways in relation to a holy and righteous God who has established His testimonies and set them in our heart? Will we do that, beloved? Will we be focused on what is absolutely for Him? The psalmist says, “I have thought on my ways”. We were reminded a little while ago of the need for contemplation, to contemplate the greatness of divine glory and divine love. Let us contemplate our ways, and contemplate them at the level that God would have us to be. And then he says, “and turned my feet unto thy testimonies”. We had a reference in the reading today to making a conscious decision, a conscious choice. Which way are you going to turn your feet? May we be sure, may we be convicted, may we have the certainty of the testimonies of Jehovah in our heart, that we are prepared to turn our feet unto His way, unto His testimonies.
And then just to go back very briefly to Psalm 93. It says, “Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thy house”. Beloved, you and I are suited then for the house of God. The testimonies of God work holiness in our heart. It is something that God places there, and holiness becomes the house of Jehovah. It becomes the house of God. We are dealing with things that are so important. And God has not changed. He has not changed His standard - His standard is Christ, and holiness is in Him. “I Jehovah change not”.
May we be encouraged, and may we be exercised and strengthened in all of our pathways for His Name’s sake.
Edinburgh
20th October 2023