Are you a witness to the Truth

Are you a Witness to the Truth?

by Innocent Mwangi

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 defence 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.