“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and My servants whom I have chosen.” (Ida. 43:10)
“Honey, you won’t believe it!” said a man in a highly excited manner.
“Believe what?” his wife asked.
“I’ve been subpoenaed! I have to appear in court next month as a witness to that accident I saw on Bruce B. Downs the other day! Aaaah!”
Have you ever been subpoenaed? Perhaps your answer should be yes and no. You may not have been served a government notice compelling you to give witness in a court of law, but, if you are a Christian, you have been subpoenaed by Jesus! The day you looked to Him as your Savior and Lord, He served you (see, Acts 1:8). “To what has the Lord called me to bear witness?” you might ask. Very simple. To the truth of the Gospel.
Did you know 7:10 American adults have no clue what John 3:16 means? And they’re not running to their Bibles to find out. So how can they be persuaded about it? Hear the answer from Paul the apostle, “You are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Cor. 3:3). The only Bible most are reading is us.
Unsaved people, like jurors, can be persuaded about the truth of a matter only in relation to the evidence in support of it. A lawyer may be the greatest ever to grace a court, but if those called to bring forth testimony don’t come through on the stand, the case will be lost.
In just the same way, God, to reach and save the lost, aims to persuade them by evidence of the truth of the gospel. He subpoenaed us to produce that evidence. It’s a huge matter because the souls of our fellow man hang in the balance. If there is little compelling evidence that repenting and trusting Jesus results in gaining a new heart and a new spirit and receiving the very Holy Spirit into our lives, the jurors will not believe it true.
Still more, if salvation through Christ results in peace, joy, and hope in the human heart, the witness the world will weigh to the truth of this is us. Is the love of God really shed abroad into people’s hearts by the Holy Spirit when they get saved like the Bible teaches (Rom. 5:5)? Then what proof will a jury of our peers look for to believe it so? Won’t it be that they will need to see whether professing Christians love our neighbor, or the needy, or the hurting, or our enemies, or even one another (John 13:35)?
Part of the great news of the gospel is that God goes to work in us when we are saved. Remember Philippians 2:12? “God is at work within us to will and to do His good pleasure!” Is there evidence to that plain enough to persuade the public mind? Is it crystal clear that the hearts of the redeemed are moved by a strong desire to please God and to avoid that which grieves His loving, holy heart? If not, it will be well nigh impossible to persuade the world the Gospel is true!
Dear friends, can you see now why revival right now is the greatest need of our time and of our nation? An old prophet once queried, “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The answer today is clear—to nowhere near enough. In spite of the fact that so many of us profess to be saved, so few who don’t are believing the report. Why? Lack of evidence. Evidence demands a verdict.
Some things to think about. Could it be that you’ve lost that “first love” that once filled your heart for Jesus? Can you yet remember how your heart once longed to bring God glory and to spread His love all around? If you can, you are definitely saved. But if it’s only a memory, and a fading one at that, you need to be revived and get that first love back. Do you know how? Stay tuned. That will be our focus next time.
‘Til we finish the race,
Pastor Mike
cctampa.org