Psalm 119: "Testimonies"
Channel: South Austin church of Christ
Date: 2023-05-08

"Testimony"
Psalm 119:2
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
    who seek him with their whole heart....

Probably most important is the use of "testimonies" in reference to God's signs in Egypt.

Psalm 78:41-58
They tested God again and again and
provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember his power
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
when he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
He gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.
He gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.
He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.


The Word As Testimony
John 5:31-40
If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.
There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.
You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,
and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

John 5:44-47
How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

John 18:37
Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You said it: I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."

Acts 10:40-43
[Peter said,] "God raised him on the third day and made him to appear,
not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Acts 14:3
So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

Hebrews 10:15-18
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"
then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

1 John 5:6
...And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

3 John 12
Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.