CHRIST’S TESTIMONY RECEIVED – Charles Spurgeon
CHRIST’S TESTIMONY RECEIVED
“He that has received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true.” John 3:33.
Introduction: The Discrepancy Between John and His Disciples
In opening this discourse, I would call your attention to the different statistics given by John’s disciples and by John himself. In the 26th verse, the disciples say, “All men come to Him”—that is their judgment of how the ministry of Jesus was succeeding. John, in the 32nd verse, said, “And no man receives His testimony.” If we view them as both correct, then the disciples looked at outward appearances, and in their view, the cause of Jesus seemed to be prospering to an overwhelming degree—“All men come to Him.” But John looked below the surface, at the true spiritual results, and his verdict was, “And no man receives His testimony.” Be very doubtful of statistics—they depend very much upon the person compiling them. Some, with sanguine spirit, say everything that is delightful and encouraging. Others, with more serious and, perhaps, more severe judgment, say much that is depressing. I am inclined to take both these opinions with a grain of salt. Each one was intended for truth, but neither of them was exact.
We often hear persons say that there are crowds attending such a ministry, the people block up the gangways, they fill every seat and the preacher is very useful for “all men come to him.” This may be true and yet there may be few conversions and little spiritual results so that another may as truly say, “No man receives his testimony.” Ah, dear Friends, we can never be satisfied with a numerous congregation—we want souls to receive the testimony of Christ! Even though we may thank God that all sorts and conditions of men lend willing ears to our teaching, yet only one note sounds the knell of our joy! If we hear it said, “No man receives His testimony,” we are sad at heart.
The Reality of the Testimony
Forgetting what the disciples reported, let us now look at what John said, “No man receives His testimony.” He did not mean, literally, that no one received the Truth of God, for his next word was, “He that has received His testimony.” He meant that comparatively none received it. Compared with the crowds who came to Him, compared with the nation of Israel, compared with the human race, those who received Christ’s testimony were so few that his sadness made him call them none. John, though he went a little below the mark, was not far from the truth when he said, “No man receives His testimony.” In these profound and wordy days, this is called the “pessimist” view of things. However, if it were not precisely the truth, it was mournfully near it. Today, Christ is preached and many will come to hear about Him, but alas, few receive the Gospel into their hearts! Go through these crowded streets and mark how few receive the sacred testimony! Go into our provincial towns and country villages and note how few receive the Truth as it is in Jesus. When you look at the denominational rolls at the end of the year, what small additions have been made! I think one section of the Church reports one addition for the year. If any community reports as high as three or four percent, people think wonders are accomplished! The world can never be converted at the rate at which we are now going, for the increase of population is greater than the increase of the Churches. We are relatively further back than we were. There are more Christians, but there are fewer Christians in proportion to the population! There is much reason for crying earnestly to God to work more mightily upon the hearts of men.
John’s Desire for More Receivers
How glad was John to think that some had received Christ’s testimony! How hungry he was that there should be more! In what earnest tones does he set forth his Lord’s claims in the verses around our text! He would have men go beyond himself and find Christ and receive His testimony. This is how the case stands. Men had wandered far from God. God desired that men should come back to Him, and therefore He sent a witness to men to tell them of His kindly feelings towards them and to show in His own Person, teaching, life, and death how really and truly God desired that men should be at peace with Him.
The only-begotten Son was born into our world and took our Nature, that He might be a witness to the people of the Character of God towards us, that we, knowing how God felt, might be led to cry, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord.” He would have us touched with tender relentings when we discover the greatness of the love and mercy of God towards us by seeing Him seeking and saving the lost in the Person of His only-begotten Son.
I. OBSERVE THE TESTIFIER
First, observe the Testifier carefully. Look at Him and see who it is that has come to reveal the Father unto us. Jesus, our Lord, as a Witness, is so wrapped up with the testimony which He bears, that you have to know Him before you can understand His witness—in fact, to receive Him is the same thing as to receive His testimony! If we have received Christ as what He is, we have received the testimony which He came to bear.
Who is this Testifier? This Witness? We answer that, according to the context, it is “He that comes from above.” To save us, there has not come to us a man whose origin was at his birth, but One who existed long before and descended from above! It is true that Jesus was born at Bethlehem, but it is equally true that He had a preexistence from before all worlds! The Word was from the beginning with God—“without Him was not anything made that was made.” He was God as truly before He became Man as ever He was afterwards. He that has come to save us has, in the highest sense, come from above. Let this kindle hope in the sinner’s mind and let it draw forth faith in the Divine Ambassador. One has come from the highest heavens to lift those up, who, apart from Him, must have sunk into the lowest Hell.
The Supremacy of Christ
Nearly 1,900 years have passed since He came and trod the roughest ways of this world and lived, sorrowed, and suffered here below. From the hills of Heaven, He came to this land of sin that He might lift us up and give us a Divine inheritance. He was one of the very highest Character. Observe—“He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth: He that comes from Heaven is above all.” All other messengers that God has sent have had much earthliness about them and, assuredly, we who are now His messengers have much of it. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” but there was nothing in our Lord Jesus that could debase the Messenger. He was pure, perfect, heavenly—and though He bore our Nature, yet He shared not our sinfulness. And though He spoke in our tongue and brought down the mysteries of Heaven to our comprehension, yet still He spoke them in a heavenly style—a style to which a mere man could never have reached!
Moses wrote as a man and the Spirit of God only revealed Truth measurably by him. But our Lord Jesus Christ was full of Grace and Truth and He spoke with a Manhood united to Godhead, having the Spirit without measure. In all Jesus said, there was a fullness, a power, a reality which mere men were not capable of containing. He was above all and others derived their authority from Him, “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Will you not listen to one so supreme? “God, who at sundry times and in different manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” Surely it shall go ill with him that refuses such a Messenger!
II. HEARKEN TO HIS TESTIMONY
What is the testimony of Jesus? What has the Christ to tell us concerning God? I will only use the three chapters which precede my text and I shall gather enough from them to give a fair outline of what Jesus tells us of the Father and His willingness to forgive and save. First, He tells us God has provided an Atonement. Look at the 29th verse of the first chapter, where John says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” The very fact that the Son of God came here as Man to suffer for our sin proves that God has provided a great and all-sufficient Sacrifice. God could not deal with a sinful world—it was too defiled with sin for Him to look upon it—but that sin of the world which prevented a holy God from dealing with a condemned race has been taken away by Jesus, so that now the Lord can visit man and favor him with the Gospel of peace and the work of salvation.
This was necessary before a single individual could be saved. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” The death of Jesus has enabled God to commune with men. Oh, hear this! There is a Sacrifice for sin! My Hearers, believe it and make much of it. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin! Jesus has died and in that death He has finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness. All Believers are forgiven through His death. God is willing that you, believing in His dear Son, should be so forgiven as to be washed whiter than snow. That is Christ’s testimony to you and he that receives it has set to his seal that God is true.
Conclusion: Rejecting Christ’s Testimony
The next testimony of Jesus is that the Lord has made a way of access between man and God. Look at the 51st verse of the first chapter. He said to Nathanael, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jacob’s ladder is not now before you as a dream, but as a reality. The Son of Man, the Incarnate God, God in Christ Jesus, is the way by which there can be commerce between man and God. We can go up to God and the angels of God, loaded with blessings, can come down to men. The gulf is bridged—a glorious stairway has been made across the dread abyss which separated guilty man from his offended God. Jesus Christ Himself, in His own Person, is that ladder and He bears witness thereof to you. Sin is put away and distance is removed.
As for the rest of His testimony, we find that it is not just an account of religious truths, but a proclamation of life, salvation, and eternal connection with God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, my Hearers, the essential message remains: those who receive Christ’s testimony are indeed receiving eternal life, and through their belief, they confirm God’s truth to the world.