Knowing Your Testimony & The Gospel

Preliminary & Review:

Read: John 9:1-7

John 9:1–7 KJV 1900

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

John 9:25 KJV 1900

25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

Introduction:

Have you ever sat in a conversation about you? It is pretty awkward.

I can only imagine how this man felt.

He was blind not deaf - and to hear “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing to overhear?

This day had been like all of the rest. Somebody helped him get dressed, eat a crumb or two and then lead him off to the corner to beg for his daily bread.

He had given in to the idea that this is the way it would always be.

I have met many people who thought that life was as good as it was ever gonna get.

Now I don’t ever want to paint the picture that becoming a Christian is going to fix all of your problems - what I do want people to know is that becoming a Christian gives you someone to face your problems with and help you through them.

Blindness to this man was an insurmountable impossibility -

But to Jesus it was just as simple as making some clay of the spittle, anointing the mans eyes ans telling him to wash in the pool of Siloam.

And the ordinary day turned extraordinary. The normal became abnormal, the natural was intervened by the supernatural.

He went blind, washed, and returned seeing.

I love those miraculous stories in the Bible, but I am especially thankful that the story doesn’t end there.

Notice the neighbors (John 9:8) - they saw him running around looking at the flowers and the trees and the sky and thought he looked familiar - “he looks like the blind man - but it couldn’t be him could it?”

“Say, Mister” one of the more boisterous one hollered out, “Yes!”

“Are you the blind man they lead around here and begs for alms?”

One of those standing near by said, “I think you’ve got the wrong guy, it just looks like him”

But the man with an excited look on his face, slowly taking in all of their faces, said “Oh I am he!!! A man that is called Jesus came made clay, anointed mine eyes and said ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash’ I did and now I see!!!”

What just happened? A tremendous miracle yes - but also the giving of a testimony - a witness

Testimony (witness) - the verbal evidence of a witness by which something is affirmed to be true.

There is a verbal testimony - that we have to express in language and personality. There is also non-verbal testimony - expressed in a transformed (changed) life (John 9:9) These often can and should accompany one another - a non-verbal testimony is one that is heard loudest when someone knows about your problem or issue that is taken care of by Christ, and sees the change in you. In the instance of our text it was so transformative they didn’t even recognize him anymore.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7382 Teleperson System

Someone has said that the Gospel in the first century was carried by a good system. It was called the teleperson system, and it truly got results, better than we do today with our telephones, televisions, and so on. The woman of Samaria carried the Gospel after her meeting with Christ by the teleperson system. It is said that “many of the Samaritans … believed on Him for the saying of the woman” (John 4:39).

—Mrs. J. Shields

I doubt that many are faced with as dramatic experience as this blind man who testified to his neighbors and they went and got the religious police - the Pharisees

They were really riled up because Jesus did such a deed on the Sabbath day -

They went to his parents who corroborated his story -

This is our son

He was born blind

By what means he now seeth, or who opened his eyes we know not - but he is of age; ask him

So they call him in again and got pretty rough with him - but I love his response:

John 9:25 “25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

This blind man, whom as far as I know is never named in Scripture - wasn’t well educated, didn’t know all of the law, didn’t know the rules of logic and philosophy - but he understood one thing

A man named Jesus had come by when he was blind - and by the time Jesus was finished he could see.

“ONE THING I KNOW THAT WHEREAS I WAS BLIND NOW I SEE”

That one little statement of personal experience trumps all of the volumes of logic man can throw against the power and working of Jesus.

John Piper put it this way, “A personal testimony trumps arguments when they’re bad arguments — and they’re all bad when they’re against Jesus.”

I’m all for giving valid answers to valid questions, and being ready always to given an answer - but sometimes the only thing you can say is what God has done for me.

The Evidence Bible: Irrefutable Evidence for the Thinking Mind, Notes (Chapter 9)

This is the testimony of the newly saved. There are many questions for which they have no answers. But one thing they do know: “Whereas I was blind, now I see.” It has been well said that the man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man with an argument.

This beggar was testifying to those who would listen - the neighbors the church his parents.

I love D. T. Niles definition for evangelism: “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.—D. T. Niles”

An old elevator operator at a hospital in Nashville used to say, “ I’m just a nobody telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody.—

Some of my thoughts:

To testify is to participate in a centuries old practice of the Christian church - that began with God testifying to man and then commissioning him to take that testimony to the whole world.

The power of a testimony is more than helping others - it confirms (adds validity or validates) and affirms your personal experience and journey. (One has said, “if someone can be argued into their faith, they can be argued out of it.” - this is without proper nuance but it does show how important a personal testimony is. If all you know about God comes from what others have told you or led you to believe - that can easily be taken away - but if you have a personal transformative experience with God that brings a relationship - you have something to testify to.

To evangelize is to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit that men shall come to Put their trust in God through Him, to accept Him as their Savior, and serve him Him as their King In the fellowship of His Church.

- Special committee appointed by the Archbishop of Cantebury (Anglican) 1918

Testimonies are witnessing to what has happened to you - “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”

Testimonies are useful only if given - It is only heard if you tell it. And only you can give yours.

Testimonies can be about conversion (which is the one I want to focus on tonight) But can also be transformational testimonies too - how Christ is conforming your life today.

Testimonies are not about logic and eloquence but about your personal experience and journey with Christ.

We are often enamored and in awe of the dramatic testimonies - but a less than dramatic testimony is effective and useful because only you can give it.

One put their testimony to lyric like this:

I Traded My Sin's for Salvation

Saturday, May 28, 2016

8:13 PM

1.

The Lord gave me beauty for ashes,

And for sorrow He gave to me joy;

I was sad and oppressed,

He exchanged it for rest,

And a peace that the world can't destroy.

Chorus

I traded my sins for salvation,

I traded my load for relief;

I got peace for my condemnation,

And the joy of my Lord for my grief.

I traded my life that was wasted,

A temple to dwell in God made;

I got so much more than I had before,

That I'm sure I got the best of the trade.

2.

I was poor and had nothing worth having,

Disappointment had saddened my life;

Now I'm rich as can be,

Since He traded with me,

Abundance of peace for my strife.

3.

I was restless, but God made me quiet,

When I fully surrendered my all,

He gave me comfort for my fear,

Gave me smiles for my tears,

As He lovingly heard when I called.

4.

Had He charged me the difference in trading,

Then His grace I could never afford;

But He cancelled my debt,

And I have no regret,

Tho it looks like I cheated my Lord.

5.

I had hate in my heart, and it exchanged it

For the wonderful peace of God's love

Where it went I don't know

But I sure felt it go

When my order was filled up above

THEO112 Evangelism Blended - Studies have shown that revitalization and church growth takes about

Personal evangelism takes about

7 - times of being loved on (acts, service, etc)

3 - times sharing the Gospel (with words)

(Great time to use your testimony (3 minutes - 1 min Before Christ, 1 min how you met Christ - 3 - 1 min what your life is like now.

I want to give you three simple steps to giving your testimony - now I want to encourage you to be open to the Holy Spirit - but I believe the internalizing of the message will assist you in being ready to share it.

One has given these helpful and encouraging insights about testimonies:

First, your conversion story is personal. You don’t have to memorize Bible verses or worry about repeating them correctly.

Second, it is conversational. It’s not a sermon. It can be shared over a cup of coffee or after a round of golf.

Third, no one can dispute it. If you have joy, peace, and love in your life as a result of knowing Christ, that will be evident.

Fourth, it is interesting. It’s natural for friends to want to know more about each other.

Even if your friend is antagonistic to the Gospel, he/she may still be interested in why you value your relationship with a man named Jesus.

Lets Plan Your Testimony.

You can use Paul’s testimony in Acts 26 as your outline.

(1) Tell about your life before Christ.

You don’t need to go into embarrassing detail, but you do need to be frank enough about your story so that those who hear it can compare the you back then with the you right now.

(2) Describe the conversion experience that you had.

Be honest and genuine and provide the relevant details. After all, this is when you receive the gift of eternal life.

(3) Explain what your life is like now.

What have you stopped doing, or started doing as a result of your new life?

If you need help developing your testimony, start with this Personal Evangelism Testimony Questionnaire

4. Point People to Jesus.

This is your story, but it has meaning only because Jesus is part of it. The purpose of your story is so that the other person will come to Christ.

The key question to keep in mind:

Where is Jesus in this story?  Where is the activity of God?

https://www.evangelismcoach.org/8-steps-to-use-your-personal-testimony/

2. Your Life Before Christ

Paint a picture of what your life was like before you came to Christ. Do not dwell too much on, or brag about, past sins. Share only the details that relate to your theme — just enough to show your need for Christ. Think through these questions:

What about my life before Christ will relate most to the non-Christians I know? What did my life revolve around? Where did I get my security, identity or happiness from? How did those things begin to let me down?

https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/share-the-gospel/what-is-a-christian-testimony.html

Now I know that I have taken a while to share this with you tonight - but I think it would be helpful if we took a few minutes to work on this.

I’m going to pass around a piece of paper that you can fill out and any who are brave enough can share it with us.

I want you to take them home and maybe God will inspire you with some part of your testimony he wants you to add - and I would like to hear some of these for sure come Sunday morning.

If you need to stand up and read it - I don’t have a problem with that and I don’t think the Lord has a problem with that either.