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Are you a Witness to the Truth?
During this year's Resurrection
Sunday, the Holy Spirit dropped a message in my spirit that I
think has far-reaching implications on our Christian life. In
this sermon I share with you this message as communicated to me.
In my mind I had a vision of Jesus hanging on the cross as one
of the thieves taunted Him to save Himself and then save them if
He were truly the Son of God. Then I was transported to a scene
three years before Jesus was crucified and I beheld the devil
taunting Jesus in the very same manner the thief hanging on the
cross taunted Him.
This was just before Jesus
launched His redemption ministry. He had been fasting for forty
days and forty nights in the wilderness when the devil - the
tempter - appeared from nowhere and charged him thus: 'If thou
be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread'.
Jesus in defense replied 'It is written, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God' (Matthew 4:4).
After failing on that score the
devil next tries another angle. 'If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge
concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee
up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.'
(Matthew 4:6). Later on as Jesus hang on the cross, the devil,
through one of the thugs will paraphrase these same words in a
desperate attempt to forestall God's redemption plan for
mankind.
What the devil was trying to do
was to get Jesus doubt, and ultimately, reject His Sonship. If
he had succeeded in doing this, hope for mankind would have been
eternally extinguished. You see, it is through Jesus that we
have been adopted or grafted into the Kingdom of God. Without
Jesus, we would be destined to hell with the devil for salvation
can only come through Jesus. In fact Jesus is reported in the
Bible as having said that He is '. . . the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me' (John 14:6).
If the devil had succeeded in his mission, he would have nipped
God's plan for mankind's redemption in the bud. The only way to
God would have been destroyed.
One would have thought that the
devil would have had enough commonsense - if he has any - to
realize that he was dealing with a power so awesome that he
could never ever hope to defeat Him. This bothers me somewhat
because I'm sure that the devil knew the power that was in Jesus
was from the Most High God. In fact, I'm in no doubt that it was
Lucifer himself who was tempting Jesus - he could not have
trusted a lesser demon to confront the kind of power that Jesus
had. All the same, did Lucifer honestly believe that he could
get anywhere with Jesus?
Though Lucifer knew very well the
odds against him, he was also very aware of the incarnate nature
of Jesus. Jesus was God in nature but clothed in a human body.
Human beings get tired and weak, especially when they go for a
long time without food. Jesus had gone without food for forty
days and forty nights. He was therefore not only famished, be He
was also very weak.
The devil craftily picked this
moment to launch his onslaught on Jesus. He knew the temptation
would be too big for Jesus the man to bear. The devil was
looking for one small opening to bring Jesus down. He was
therefore targeting the human side of Jesus. What He did not
realize was the fact that after fasting and praying for forty
days and nights, Jesus had already conquered his flesh. In
effect, he had closed the only opening that the devil thought he
had.
Let us now fast-forward three
years ahead and see Jesus hanging on the cross, sandwiched
between two thieves. What is most uncanny about this scene is
its resemblance to the wilderness scene we have just witnessed.
Though a few things seem to have changed somewhat, the
underlying undertones are exactly the same in both instances. In
this scene, the tempter comes in the form of a man. Listen to
one of the thieves and tell me whether that is not Lucifer
speaking: '. . . If thou be Christ, save thyself and us' (Luke
23:39). I'm fully persuaded that this ungrateful thug was
Lucifer incarnate. Just like he did in the wilderness scene, he
comes to tempt Jesus when he is at His weakest. As Jesus hang on
that ragged cross, hungry, thirsty, debased and in anguish,
Lucifer comes again, in a last ditch effort to make Him renounce
His Sonship. Again, if Jesus had given in to the devil's
temptations, you and I would be condemned to eternal death. What
the devil was after was to nip God's redemption plan in the bud.
The plan would not have been complete if Jesus did not die and
resurrect on the third day. If Jesus had decided to save
himself, He would have, in that very moment, declared eternal
death to all mankind. All hope of eternity, together with God's
redemption plan would have gone up in smoke.
When I was meditating on these
two scenes, a question was nudging at my spirit: 'why did Jesus
defend himself when He was tempted by the devil in the
wilderness and chose not to do so as he hang on the cross? Was
He too weak to defend himself? As I pondered these questions the
Holy Spirit dropped the answer into my spirit. You see, in the
wilderness, Jesus had not begun His Ministry. In fact, He had
gone to pray and fast in preparation for His Ministry. One can
therefore safely say that safe for John the Baptist, Jesus did
not have witnesses at this time. However, three years down the
line after he had healed incurable diseases and raised many
people from the dead, a lot of people had been converted to the
Truth. Many had now become witnesses to the Truth. After seeing
Him perform miraculous signs, they were left in no doubt as to
what His true identity was - the Son of God.
One such person who had witnessed
and heard about the miraculous works of Jesus was the other thug
hanging besides Jesus. After listening to the railings of his
fellow thug, he turned and rebuked him saying: '. . . [Don't
you] 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. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise (Luke 40-43).
That is exactly why Jesus did not
have to defend Himself. He had a witness right there on the
cross. How pleased He must have felt when this man defended Him
saying: 'this man has nothing amiss'. He actually acknowledged
Jesus as God when he implored Him to remember him when ' thou
comest into thy kingdom'. As the devil tried to repudiate the
Sonship of Jesus on the cross, one man dealt the devil a
Jesus-is-the-Son-of-God knockout blow that completely caught the
devil off-guard, knocking him to the floor.
You and I are witnesses to the
Truth - that Jesus Christ died and rose on the third day.
Through His death, a Way that leads to eternal life was
constructed. Those who call upon the name of Jesus now have the
right to walk through that Way into eternity.
Having failed in making Jesus
renounce His Sonship, the devil now tries to make us renounce
His Sonship. Even though through Jesus we now have everlasting
life, there is a condition that one has to accept this
everlasting life. One must accept Jesus and allow Him to come
into their lives for them to lay claim to eternal life. The
devil has not given up yet. He is still tenaciously trying to
make us doubt the Truth - that through Jesus' death and
resurrection we may now have eternal life. It is of no gain to
know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and yet refuse take for
ourselves the salvation, which He so freely offers to us.
One of the biggest battles that
Christians are fighting today is having confidence that they are
saved. This is especially so when we go through trials and
temptations. There are times we go through such difficulties
that we find ourselves wondering whether, being born-again, we
should experience such trials. A leading Kenyan evangelist,
Teresia Wairimu, recounting the tough times she underwent before
God finally upheld her, testifies that she used to ask God to
save her on a daily basis when she was 'in the pit'. She could
not see how a born again Christian could undergo such suffering
as she experienced. So just to be sure that she was still
born-again, she would ask Jesus to save her every night before
she went to bed.
The Bible says that the
afflictions of the righteous are many, but the Lord delivers
them from all (Psalms 34:19). So whenever you are going through
tough times, and the devil comes rushing to take advantage of
your vulnerability, remember that you have been redeemed by the
Blood of Jesus, and nothing the devil may say or do can
repudiate that fact.
When you are feeling weak and
weary and the devil tries to make you doubt your faith, turn to
the Word of God and you will find strength. The Word of God is
your buttress. Jesus is the rock of your salvation. He is your
shield, your high tower, and your refuge (2 Sam 22:3). When you
trust in Him, no devil, not even Lucifer himself, will separate
you from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
(Rom. 8:39). The Bible says that heaven and earth will pass away
but God's Word will remain forever (Matthew 24: 35). When
you go through the storms of life Jesus will calm the storm.
When you are hungry and weak, Jesus comes to you saying 'I am
the bread of Life'. When you are sick, listen and hear Him say:
'I am the Lord God your healer'. When you are heavy laden with
all sorts of labors, see Him stretching His hands towards you
saying: 'come, I will give you rest'. Whatever you want Him to
become, He says 'I Am'. Anything that you want Him to be in your
life, that He will be. Whether you need healing, prosperity,
peace, love, joy, etc, He will come in and fill that need.
But you say your condition is
beyond repair because you are not born again. To your condition
Jesus says 'come now, and let us reason together . . . though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow . . .'
(Isaiah 1:18). Even though in your sins you are destined to die
- the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23a) - Jesus is ready
to take away your sins and lift your death sentence. He is ready
to swap the law of sin and death, which is hanging over you,
with His gift - eternal life (Rom 6:23b).
If you are that kind of person
and you want to escape the wages of sin, kindly say this prayer
in your heart - better still say it aloud: 'Lord Jesus, I come
to you. I repent of all of my sins. Forgive me my sins Lord and
give me eternal life. I now accept you as my Lord and my Savior.
Come into my life now.' Having said that prayer, you are now a
son of God. You are saved. The law of sin and death has now been
quashed. You have eternal life. Now look for a Pentecostal
church near you where you will be fed with the Word of God.
Testify to someone what Jesus has just done for you. Better
still, write to us or send us an email. We will do our best to
help you and point you in the right direction. If I don't see
you here in this world, kindly say hello to me when we meet in
heaven.
Finally brethren, I put it to you
that we are called to be witnesses of the Truth. Jesus is no
longer physically living here on earth. He is actually sitting
at the right hand side of our Father 'who art in heaven'
interceding for us. Jesus lives in us and we are the only
representatives that He has in this world. Like the 'good' thief
on the cross, we should defend His name with all our soul and
might. He has given us power and authority to trample on
scorpions, to cast out demons, and to declare liberty to the
captives. We are His voice and therefore He can only speak
through us. Let us not let Him down. When the devil comes
challenging us with his little ifs, let us hit him back
with the Word of God.
Innocent
Mwangi
May 11, 2002 |
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