The Testimony of The Lord

Henry Allan Ironside

Sailing with Paul

To Paul, the testimony committed by the ascended Lord was dearer than life. Faithfulness to it involved a martyr’s death, and that he met with a Christlike resignation and calmness of soul that is blessed to contemplate. It was his desire that those associated with him in his special ministry should be men of like spirit. Hence his words to Timothy: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord ... but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). And again he says, “That good thing [or, deposit] which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us” (verse 14). The testimony of the Lord embraces the corollary of truths connected with Christ risen and glorified. Some of these precious themes we have been briefly examining in the foregoing chapters, and we are yet to speak of others, if God will. But what I would now press upon the conscience of  each  saint  who  may  read  these  lines  is  individual responsibility to make known this testimony and to hold it oneself, as a sacred deposit, in the power of the Holy Ghost.

There  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between holding particular “views” of justification, sanctification, acceptance, the one body, the Lord’s second coming, and kindred lines of truth, and maintaining the testimony of the Lord. One may hold the correct view of sanctification and yet not walk in subjection to the Word that cleanses. One may subscribe to scriptural prophetic teaching and not “love His appearing.” One may hold the doctrine of the one body and yet remain in human systems that by their very constitution deny it. One may have the right view of eternal life and yet live as though this world were all. But no one can maintain the testimony of the Lord who is not personally a self-judged, humble saint, walking in the truth, holding the Head, and laying hold on that which is really life. Yet to thus keep the good deposit every believer is called; and there will be eternal loss of reward for all who fail to do so. This cannot be done in the strength of nature. Only as one walks in the Spirit will the needed grace be given.

What  Paul  calls  “the  testimony”  in  2  Timothy,  he designates as “the faith” in his first letter to the same devoted young servant. Note his solemn words, and remember they are as truly applicable to you, if a child of God, as they were to Timothy when first written: “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a [or, the] good warfare; holding faith [literally, the  faith; i.e., the truth believed], and a good conscience; which some having
put  away  concerning  [the]  faith  have  made  shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:18,19). Now, carefully observe, you can only hold the faith of God’s elect in a godly way, as you maintain a good conscience. If you ever put away a good conscience— if you allow yourself to go on with anything of which your conscience does not approve when instructed by the Word of God—you will lose the faith and make shipwreck of the testimony.

Many  people  seem  to  think  of  doctrinal  error  as  a comparatively small and unimportant thing; but where people give up a line of truth once enjoyed in the Spirit’s power, or once controlling heart and life, close investigation will generally prove that moral evil of some character was behind it. When men get out of touch with holiness, they lose their grip of the truth; or, rather, the truth loses power over them. In the third chapter of 1 Timothy the deacons are described as “holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience” (verse 9). This emphasizes what we have just been noticing—there must be activity of conscience if the testimony of the Lord is to be maintained and the good deposit kept. Further  exhortation,  addressed  to  Timothy,  each believer may profitably take to himself. In chapter 4 of the first epistle, verses 6 and 12 to 16 we read, “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt  be  a  good  minister  [or,  servant]  of  Jesus  Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.... Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.... Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly
to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” All this is most salutary instruction and must not be overlooked. I sincerely hope that many young men who read these lines may some day be called of God to preach the Word and declare the testimony of the Lord publicly. If so, I trust the principle laid down in the passages we have been noticing will never be forgotten. “Thyself” first; then “the doctrine.”

God wants holy men to serve in holy things. It is to be feared that many a young man has been unwisely encouraged to preach, because of a glib tongue and pleasing address, who did not have the necessary godliness behind it that would ensure success as a winner of souls and a helper of saints. Gift, divorced from piety, may do untold mischief; but as James Caughey used to say, “A holy minister is an awful [powerful] weapon in the hands of God.” Where this personal fitness is lacking, there may be brilliant service for a time; easygoing Christians may applaud and admire; but the end of it all is likely to be a crash that may bring many others down with the poor fallen preacher, who was all the time “trafficking in unfelt truth” (to use an expression coined, I believe, by C. H. Mackintosh), and whose true condition has at last been exposed. The testimony of the Lord is like the ark of the covenant which was borne through the wilderness on the priests’ shoulders.  So  should  the  truth  of  God  be  proclaimed by priestly men who live in fellowship with Him whose testimony it is.