Telling It Like It Is - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, November 22nd. As a believer, you have a story of God's grace, and that can be the very thing that sparks the interest of unbelievers.

Let's learn the importance of speaking up and telling it like it is. Your personal testimony is one of God's most powerful tools of leading other people to know Christ as their Savior, or getting them interested in the things of God. And so what I want to talk about in this message is your personal testimony. And I want you to turn to a very exciting chapter in the Gospel of John, the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John. There are forty-one verses, and we're going to just read the first eleven, but we're going to cover them all. So in this ninth chapter, beginning in verse one, speaking of Jesus, And as he passed by, he saw man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, as long as it is day.

Night is coming when no man can work. Now look at this next phrase, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. You remember what he said in the Sermon on the Mount, ye are the light of the world, knowing that he was going to ascend to the Father, and that Christ in us would make us that light.

That is, at least we would be the lanterns carrying the light. Verse six, When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated sin. And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing. The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, Is this not the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying, This is he.

Still others were saying, No, but he's like him. He kept saying, I am the one. Therefore they were saying to him, How then were your eyes opened? He answered, The man who is called Jesus made clay, anointing my eyes, and said to me, Go to Siloam, wash. So I went away, washed, and I received my sight. And they said to him, Where is he?

He said, I don't know. Now these are the first eleven verses that sort of get us started here, in a passage of scripture that deals with something that all of us who are believers need to deal with. And that is our personal testimony.

Now think about this. Many times when the unbeliever attacks your faith, it isn't really because they don't believe. It's because they have a curiosity about what's going on in your life. They're spiritually blind. They don't understand it. They hear what you say.

They can't understand what you mean by being born again any more than Nicodemus could explain it and understand it back when he talked with Jesus. And so when you talk about conversion or salvation or forgiveness, and you say, well, you know, they say, Well, what did you do? What did you have to do?

I didn't have to do anything. I just accepted Jesus as my Savior by faith. And so there's got to be more to it than that.

You know what they're still asking today? How? Well, now, how does this happen? You say trust in Him. No, no, wait a minute. How does it happen?

What did you do? The answer is still the same. It is trusting Jesus Christ as personal Savior. It is placing your trust in Jesus as the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins.

And the moment you're willing to accept Him as your personal Savior, the forgiveness of your sins, you will become a child of God. Now, first of all, our personal testimony is the expression of our conviction about what God has done in our life and what He is doing. And it's absolutely undeniable no matter what. No matter what they say to you, they cannot convince you otherwise. And secondly, your personal experience and your personal testimony is oftentimes going to be challenged. And the third thing I want to say, which is so evident here, is this, that our personal testimony will oftentimes require courage on our part. Now, look at this and watch the progression of what happens in this man's life.

And then let's talk about our own for a moment. First of all, he said to his neighbors, he said, look, it's me. I am the one.

You know, I can't explain it, but I'm the one. And so then they take him to the Pharisees and they say, tell us what happened. So this man gives his testimony several times in this passage. And finally, they say, well, now, what do you think about him? He says, well, he's a prophet.

What he said was going to happen, happened. Then if you'll notice on down in verse twenty-four. So a second time they called the man who'd been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. What they're saying is I adjure you to speak the truth to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Give glory to God.

That's what that means. Listen to verse twenty-five. He therefore answered, whether he's a sinner, I don't know that. One thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. In other words, he says, you can doubt it, you can deny it, but this is what I know. I know that I was a blind man and now I know that I see.

How are you going to deny that? They said therefore to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?

You see, they're still hung up on how. What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I told you already and you didn't listen. He said, why do you want to hear it again? You did not want to become one of his disciples also, do you?

I mean, he really threw it to them then. He had Pharisees and Sadducees. This man's healing the Sabbath. He's a sinner. God doesn't hear sinners.

I mean, you know, he can't be, he can't be from God. Now he's saying, hey, you know, I've already told you this over and over and over again. You know, I was blind.

Now I'm seeing, I'm looking at you. He says, hey, you want me to tell you again so you too can become one of his disciples? And what he was saying is, I'm a follower of this man.

Now watch this man's courage. First of all, he said to his neighbors, hey, I can see. Now he's saying to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he says, look. He says, this man is a prophet. Now he says, look, here's what this man's done. He said, I can't explain it, but I know this. I was blind, now I see, and nobody can deny it. I'm looking at you square in the face. They reviled him. And that means they very critically and harshly and caustically attacked him. You are his disciples, but we are the disciples of Moses.

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as far as this man, we do not know where he's from. Now look at this. I love this phrase. This man's getting more educated as he goes along. And I want to show you something here.

Look at this. They said, we don't know where he's from. I love this verse. The man said to them, well, here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he's from, and yet he opened my eyes. I mean, now these were the leaders of the Jews. Pharisees, Sadducees, all the big time leaders.

They were there. He says, it's an amazing thing to me that this man has the power to heal me, to give sight to a blind person who had been blind all of my life, and you don't know where he came from. And so he said to them, they said, we know that God does not hear sinners. Verse thirty-one, he doesn't hear sinners. But if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he hears him. Since the beginning of time, it's never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

Listen to what he said. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. This young convert to this Jesus whom he is very, very unknowledgeable about, he says, one thing I know, this man has the power to heal me. This man is a prophet.

If this man weren't from God, he could not have done what he's done in my life. You see, he doesn't have to know a whole lot. He just knows what he's talking about. He's speaking with courage based on his conviction, which is based on what God has done in his life. He has no more than you and I have.

Listen to this. So, they answered and said to him, verse thirty-four, you were born entirely in sins and you are now teaching us. I mean, they were getting the point. And they put him out.

What did they do? They threw him out of the synagogue. He was out. That meant he couldn't get a job. His family may turn him away. He couldn't worship in the synagogue anymore, couldn't go to the temple. And besides that, nobody else would help him. But he had the courage to stand for what he knew was the absolute truth.

And no matter what they said to him and how many times they said it, he refused to yield. Now listen, you're going to find people who challenge what you believe and you'll always find that. But here's what I want you to remember. Now listen carefully.

Those challenges are some of the most profitable times in your life. You don't have to know a lot to share what God has done in your life and what he's doing. You don't have to have a lot of theological answers because your personal testimony is an expression of your conviction about what God has done in your life and what he's presently doing and he's going to keep on doing till Jesus comes. You don't have to know a lot. This man didn't know much. He said, well, his name was Jesus.

He told me to go wash. I believe he's a prophet. And maybe you ought to be one of his disciples because it's amazed me that you don't know where this man came from and he healed me. And then if you'll notice what happens here, that Jesus found him. Jesus looked him up.

Verse thirty-five, Jesus heard that they'd put him out in finding him. He said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, You've both seen him and he's the one who's talking to you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Now look at this.

Watch this carefully. God will never do anything that contradicts his word. But you can't say that he has to do it this way and has to do it that way.

God can do anything he chooses to do that is in keeping and in harmony with his nature and his person as God. And so what happens? That conflict when we share a testimony and the kind of rebuttals and the rejection we get and the criticism. You know what? God intends for you to go back and either share with someone else or get back in the world and find out why do I believe this?

How can I explain this better? Instead of curling up and and moving back and saying, Well, I guess I ought to keep my mouth shut and I shouldn't say anything. No, yes, you should. You should say, Hey, look, you know what?

I don't have all the answers, but I can tell you this. I was lost and in sin. I simply asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sins and told him that I accepted his death on the cross as payment from my sin. From that moment on, my life has been changed. Nobody can deny that. Nobody can take that away from you. And that that ought to strengthen your courage.

It is a courage based on your conviction of God's work in your life. And so therefore, all of the hostility and the anger and the bitterness and resentment and all the rejection, the criticism you get. Thank God. But listen, take advantage of their attacks. Take advantage of the conflict. Take advantage of their rejection. Take advantage of these things and do what?

Turn it into something good. That's what Romans eight twenty eight is all about, that he's engineering our circumstances. Listen, God says the wisest people are those who believe the truth of the word of God. So turn your conflict into something that is profitable to you and the kingdom of God. One last thing. That's simply this. Your personal testimony has far reaching eternal consequences.

Let's say positively. What is it? Well, for example, if you share your testimony of what Christ has done in your life, doesn't make any difference how old you are, how little or how much you know. When you share that, several things happen. Number one, you are sharing with someone else who may be curious, who may be doubtful, who may not quite understand.

You may be sharing with someone who. Deep down inside, when you talk about what God means in your life, it's going to stir up curiosity within them. And the next time things don't go so good in their life, they're going to think, well, you know, I wonder I wonder if I could talk to God.

I mean, you know, so you stir up curiosity questions. Secondly, oftentimes it is you sharing what Jesus Christ means to you that brings that person ultimately to a saving knowledge of Christ. It may be soon. It may be years later. But they remember you. They remember what you said. It's amazing how the Spirit of God will take a few words or phrase or two and just sink it into a person's heart. And maybe years later, he brings it to the surface and they trust Jesus as their personal savior. And so they'll hear what you have to say. And when you talk about how you trusted Jesus, they say, well, that's how you do it. And not even realizing it, you will lead them to a saving knowledge of Christ. They might not ever tell you or they may tell you weeks later or they may tell you the day it happens.

And they may say, you know, I watched you, I heard you. And somehow I got to this place in my life and I thought, if God can save him, if he can save her, then he can surely save me. Don't take that as an insult. Take it as a compliment. Well, if God could do it for them, then he can surely do it for me.

Yes, he can. You know why? Because everybody falls in the category of one who can be saved. That's the positive side.

Now I'm going to talk about the negative side and I want you to listen very, very carefully. Satan blinds the eyes of lost people. They're blinded to the truth.

He darkens their heart. They walk in darkness. That's what the Bible says.

They walk in darkness. They don't understand the ways of God. When, listen carefully, when you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, when you sit here week after week and you hear the clear presentation of the gospel and you say, I see it, but I don't believe that. No, no, I don't believe that. I see it, but I don't believe that. What you don't realize is you deepen the depth of the darkness into which you're walking. It is a very dangerous thing to hear the truth, to see the truth, and to say no to the truth. You say, no, that's not true. The new birth, that's not true.

I can see a change, but had nothing to do with God. You intensify the darkness in which you walk. Now, I'm going to tell you why that's dangerous, because the longer you walk in darkness and the deeper in darkness you go, the more difficult it is for you to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You say, well, do you mean to tell me that, haven't I heard you say that you can't out-send the grace of God?

Absolutely. You can't send so much that God won't forgive you. But, my friend, let me give you a very, very loving warning. You can say no to the gospel and say, no, it is not true. No, I don't believe it. No, I don't want to hear any more of it.

You can reject and reject and reject, and the darkness in your life can become deeper and stronger and more intense to the point that, listen carefully, your unbelief can bring you to the stage where you're not interested. You don't believe it. You don't want to hear it, not going to hear it. Turn your back upon it and say, no, I don't believe that stuff. I don't want to hear that stuff, and I'm not interested in that stuff anymore.

Forget it. You won't even want to be saved. And no matter how many people talk to you, you have no desire to be saved. At any moment, you change your mind.

You could be. But here's what I want you to remember. I don't know how old you are, my friend, but listen carefully. There's a pretty good while ago that I heard this survey that when a person hears the gospel, after they reach the age of 70, only one in a million will trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. You know what that means? 70 years of deliberate, willfully choosing darkness to truth will so solidify that heart, it is so very, very difficult. After 70 years of saying, no, no, no, no, no, to turn and say yes.

Is it possible? Indeed, it is. This is how your life can be changed this very moment. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, about whom we speak every Sunday, went to the cross and died for your sins and mine. And the Father placed all of your guilt, all of your penalty, all of your sin on him. When he died, he made it possible for you to ask him to forgive you of your sins. And he would forgive you and make you a child of God, wipe your slate clean, give you a new light. The Bible calls it the new birth, a new beginning.

And that he offers every single one. And my friend, the longer you wait, the more difficult it may become. And I want to plead with you right now to pray this simple prayer after me. And if you'll pray this prayer to the Father, he will radically change your life right now. Listen to this prayer. You don't have to close your eyes, but just talk, just say it to the Father with me, with all of your heart. Heavenly Father, I've sinned against you. I've rebelled against you. Would you forgive me of my sins? I do believe that you died on the cross in my behalf.

Would you accept me as your child? And the answer is yes. Out of heaven, yes.

How do I know that? Because he said, he that cometh to me, I will in the wise cast out. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I plead with you to pray that prayer. If you've not prayed it with me, when it's over, just get on your knees or sit in your chair or beside your bed or lie there in your bed, wherever you may be, and pray it in your own words and tell him you're not waiting any longer. You want the darkness turned to light in your life, and you want Christ in your life. You see, the reason we talk about Jesus is this man from Galilee, the Bible talks about him.

Here's what happens. He will calm the storms in your life. He'll open your blind eyes and help you see. He will change your life and set your spirit free. Thank you for listening to today's podcast titled, Telling It Like It Is. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.