Mexico Missouri message., 1910-08-18

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%NE a hundred times in the Old
- and New Testaments with
reference to testimony to
God; and the thought that lies be-
meath the word is simply telling out
what we know" for which any child
Is competent and for which even the
greatest man is no more than CONNIE.
tent. To know something about God
and tell what we know-that is wit.
ness In the true Biblical sense.
There Is the relation Of the witness
to God himself, "Ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord" "Ye shall no wit.
nesses unto me-" God depends upon
human witnesses; the Lord Jesus
Christ is dependent upon his follow
ers for witnessing of him to a diving
world. If we do not testify for the
Lord by lip or pen, how is he going
to proclaim his gracious gospel? This
great work of witnessing is the mag
nit1cent and all-comprehensive work
OF Christians individually and collect.
lively. AS long as the church rests
upon the rock-foundation of Peters
confession, Thou are the Christ the
son OF the living God"-the founda-
ton upon which our Lord said he
would build his church-"the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it," but
1t shall stand unaffected by demoniacaI
rage and malice.
Dying Thief a Great Witness.
The greatest witness in the word of
God, next to the Lord Jesus Christ is
not Paul the apostle, but the dying
thief. We have long deprecated the
penitent thief. There was the dark
ness over all the earth, there was the
dying Christ, and even the disciples
themselves had given up their homes
that Christ was he who should have
redeemed Israel" Perhaps that peni-
tent thief had never seen Christ be-
fore, or, at best, only in the course Of
the trial, when the Christ said: 81 am
king; my kingdom is not of this
world" He had no opportunity, for
aught we know, Of any acquaintance
with the Lord Jesus Christ or with his
teaching. And yet, while the other
malefactor rallied on him, he gave his
witness, even before he had the Lords
assurance and blessing. He said:
Doth not thou fear God, seeing thou
art in the same condemnation" And
we indeed justly, for we receive the
due reward of our deeds; but this man
hath done nothing amiss. What a
melting testimony! A thief dying on
a cross and Jesus Christ dying beside
him, he not knowing the person of
Christ, or his character, never having
even sat under his teaching; and vet
that poor penitent thief saw a king in
the dying Jesus, and that death AMI
burial were the ushering of the king
into his kingdom. He says: Lord.
remember me when thou contest into
thy kingdom" There is hardly any
thing more pathetic and melting and
marvellous in the whole Of the New
Testament than that penitent thiers
testimony and prayer.
The next most marvellous witness
in the New Testament is the blind
man, John 81. Eight times he wit
messed to Christ. He witnessed to his
own identity-to the cure and the
manner of It; he repeated that wit.
ness before the Pharisees; he bore his
witness to Christ as a prophet; he
bore his witness to Christ as his mas
ter, The words: will ye also be his
disciples?" showed that he had viz
tually accepted him as his master:
he confessed him as the greatest mir
acle-woTker since the world began; he
confessed him as a righteous man; he
owned him probably as Messiah when
he said: IF this man were not from
God. he could do nothing" These
eight times he witnessed to Christ.
and when our Lord found him cast out.
he said "Dost thou believe on the son
of God?" and the man said. Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on
him." he was IN an attitude Of craving
new light and knowledge that he
might obey. The Lord Jesus said to
him: Thou hast both seen him. and
IT is he that now talketh with thee"
And he said, Lord, believe. And he
him"
Testimony Enrlches Experience.
Experiences enriches testimony, but
testimony enriches experience. Every
time he confessed something that he
found, the Lord revealed to him some
thing he had not previously known
Many people keep silence because they
think they do not know anything; but
they do not know more because they
keep silence.
Yet it is a dangerous thing to give
what is not a sincere expression OF ex-
perience. To talk about and pray for
while your neighbors
and family know that you are carnal
1T is a dangerous thing to yourself
and hurtful to other people. Lot was
twenty years in Sodom, and he never
saved a soul that we know Of, II he
had brought one soul to God in each
Of these twenty years, Sodom would
not have persisted. There was no man
in the Old Testament that compared
II