My Testimony

Maybe all of you have read this or maybe not, but I thought I would post it because it's my testimony I wrote for the fellowship here in Japan. Kyle did one also so I will encourage him to post his:

Rob’s Testimony

Like many Americans, I grew up in a Christian family and went to Church almost every time that the doors were open. At a very young age I can remember wanting to accept Jesus as my Savior and live for him. Obviously at the time I really had no idea what that entailed, but since then I have grown in my knowledge and desire for Christ. Before I came to college there was never really a time where I rebelled against God or my family. I always felt like a good kid and had some desire to grow spiritually. At the time I would say I felt pretty good about my spiritual walk.

When I came to college I knew I wanted to join a Christian club. There were many options, but my mom heard that the Navigators was a solid group so when I was a freshmen I joined them immediately, and have continued to be involved. My freshmen year I grew in my faith, it was the first time I saw students living for God because they wanted to. Growing up most people went to church and prayed and read the Bible just because everyone else did, but in college I saw people doing it when no one else was. It was different and seemed to be a lot more real. However, it was not until the summer after freshmen year that I really began to understand the Gospel and its radical call on my life.

From here on I will mainly talk about the sweet life transforming truths that I have learned that changed dramatically how I viewed Jesus, the Gospel, God and myself. It mainly has to do with the Gospel. The Gospel is everything. Unfortunately many Christians think that the Gospel is what you need to get saved and then after that you go on to bigger and better things that help you grow in your faith. I have learned that there is nothing farther from the truth. The Gospel is everything and is the source for all our growth, and all our motivation to evangelize and grow in holiness. We never stop learning about the Gospel. So what is the Gospel?

I could not even begin to touch the sweetness and glory of it but I will try to explain it and the ways it has been most important to me.  It starts with God. Who is God?, is the single most important question we can ask. If we have wrong thoughts and ideas about God we are no longer worshipping him, but merely a false image of him. According to Scripture God is the creator of the Earth. From nothing he created all things (Gen. 1). He is infinitely lovely and glorious and holy. We cannot even begin to comprehend how wonderful and terribly Holy he is. We see many times in scripture that whenever anyone gets a glimpse of His holy splendor they fall on their face in adoration and fear. (Isaiah 6, 2 Chronicles 7:1-3, etc). God is Sovereign, He is the king of the universe and nothing can happen outside of his plan. (Duet. 32:39, Psalm 92, Proverbs 16:4,6,9,33, etc). He is Just and righteous (Psalm 7:11, Psalm 5:4-5, etc). God is loving and merciful (Psalm 106:1, Psalm 103:8, etc). These are just a brief listing of the wonderful attributes of God that make up his wondrous glory and loveliness.

Man. Before any man was created God existed in the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Trinity was in perfect fellowship with each other in fullness of all joy and love, with out any need of anything else. Then, out of the overflow of joy in themselves, God (the Trinity) created Man. We all know the story of the fall of man in Genesis. Adam chose to eat the very thing God asked him not too. And now all of us are born in sin. This topic is a hard one that no one likes to hear.  Often we like to think that we are good, but sometimes we make the wrong decision. However, the Bible says something different. Romans 3:11-12 “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” And Isaiah 64:6 says that even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before God. I have heard it said before that God created the earth and said “Mountains rise up” and they obeyed, then he said “Valleys go low” and they did, “Stars shine” and they did, and then He said “Man obey me” and we said “NO!” By rebelling against our loving creator we have committed cosmic treason against the King of the Universe. I believe that the Bible teaches that we do not only sin, but we cannot do anything but sin outside of God’s mercy. We have continued to rebel against God, and put his Glory aside so we can exalt ourselves, the created over the Creator. (See Romans 1, Eph. 2:1-3) Because of this we are enemies of God according to Romans 5:10, and because He is Holy and Just his righteous anger rests on us, and we deserve it. At this point, God does not need us, we can add nothing to him, and it would be perfectly right and good for Him to punish us eternally for rebelling against Him, someone infinitely worthy of our worship.

This is what makes the Gospel good news. While we were enemies of God, deserving his wrath God the Father sent His only Son to come to earth and die in our place. As mentioned earlier in Heaven, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were in a perfect state of love, but God the Father decided to break this perfect communion and send Jesus from his Glory in heaven to live a humble life on earth. However God’s unending love and mercy does not stop there. God is perfectly righteous and He cannot accept anything unclean, he could not even accept a person who only sinned one time in their life. If he did he would be compromising his Holiness and would no longer be worthy of all Praise. Thus Jesus lived a perfect life and according to God’s plan was hung on a cross. But his physical death was not the worst part of it.  Talking of Jesus, Isaiah 53 says,  “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus did not just have physical pain on the cross he bore the righteous wrath of a Holy God, for my sin. Jesus, the spotless, worthy of all praise, Lord of the Universe humbled himself and bore God’s wrath for my small, rebellious soul. And now if I have faith in Christ as my righteousness, the Bible says, that not only did Christ take my place bearing God’s wrath, but now I receive his perfect righteousness from his sinless life. Theologically this is called substitutionary atonement and I cannot think of anything more wondrous and freeing.

Now my standing with God, and how he looks at me has nothing to do with my performance. Whether I am stuck in sin, or feeling the closest to God that I ever have felt, Christ’s righteousness is the only merit I have before God. I could not stand before God righteous by myself for even one second. Christ is my only hope, and He is always interceding on my behalf. My salvation has nothing to do with my performance, but everything to do with the loving kindness and grace of Christ and his Work.

But that really is not even the best news. The Gospel means Good News. But although what I have said so far is all very good news, I think there is one specific part of it that is the highest and most precious good news of the whole thing.  The best and greatest Gift of the Gospel is God Himself. The highest and best news of the Gospel is that I now can enjoy the Beauty and Splendor of the Almighty forever. Maybe this sounds anti-climatic, but it is because I (we all) know little of God and His loveliness. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” The reason Christ died for us is so we could glorify Him by enjoying his splendor forever. This same God who is infinitely Holy, infinitely Merciful, infinitely Lovely, infinitely Beautiful, is now through Christ accessible for me to enjoy, now dimly but soon face-to-face in fullness of joy and Glory forever.

That is just a tip of the wonderful news of the Gospel that I have learned the past 2 years. The more I see the Holiness and Loveliness of God, and the more I recognize the evilness of my own heart the more I can understand truly how great the Gospel is and what great thing it has brought me: God, himself. When I can understand and see this I cannot do anything except lay my life down for it, and tell as many people about it as possible. This is good news. Before I was told to tell people of Jesus, and I had some desire but I felt I was just obeying to obey, but now I have tasted and seen just a little of the goodness of it and I strongly desire to tell others because this is really Good News. And with any good news you must tell others. If God really did save me from the pit of Hell to the eternal joy of His presence despite my own rebellion against Him, how could I not lay down my life for him? The very message entails the response.

I have not made it. I do not desire God or the Gospel as I ought. I am not disciplined enough in Holiness or bold enough in witnessing. But these truths of the Gospel, that I am always and forever righteous only because of Christ is what helps me fight to see and savor Christ as Lord.

I will end with one quote and one Bible verse:

Jonathan Edwards said: "The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean."

Here is the Compassion of the Lord inviting us to know and experience his joy giving Glory.

Isaiah 55:1-3

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.”