Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2383
“And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” 1 John 4:14.
THERE are two things joined together in the text which must never be parted—“We have seen and testify.” In the first place, never let any man testify what he has not seen. If you are not personally aware of it, do not tell it—it is the personality of the testimony that is the power of the testimony. That Truth of God which you have never experienced, you had better leave to somebody else to preach. This is the cause of the failure of a great many ministers—there is no personal conversion at the back of their ministry and, consequently, no Christian life within them. Their preaching is the testimony of a man who says that he heard such and such a thing and you know how a judge will stop a witness when he begins to say what others have told him. “No, no,” he says, “what did you see, yourself, my good man? What do you know about this business on your own account? I do not want to know what others said to you about it.” So is it with the message delivered from the pulpit—what is needed is that the preacher should bear testimony of what he has seen, tasted, felt and handled. When you try to bring others to Christ, you must do it by bearing witness of what Christ has done for you. If He has never done anything for you—personally for you—you cannot testify for Him and must not pretend to do so.
In the next place, what you have seen you should testify. If you have seen those things for yourself, do what Mary did when she had seen the risen Christ—she ran to bring His disciples the news! What right have you to see for yourself, alone? No, no, tell the glad tidings! The Light of God is not put to your candle for the candle’s sake, alone—it is that men may be enlightened by its beams. If you have received Light from God, let your Light so shine before men that they may see it and glorify God for it! I am afraid that this observation ought to trouble a great many professing Christians. They say that they have seen the Lord. I have no reason to doubt the truth of what they say, but, having seen, why do they not testify? In our text, it is written, “We have seen and testify,” but in many cases, nowadays, it might be written, “We have seen and do not testify,” for some who profess to have seen Christ by faith do not even come forward to confess Him in Baptism, according to His Word—and many do not unite with the visible Church and do not occupy themselves in the Sunday school, or in any form of Christian usefulness! What will become of you who, having a talent, never put it out to interest? O slothful ones, who have wrapped your talent in a napkin, how will you answer for it in the day when the Master calls your servants to give in their reckoning? If we are what we ought to be, we shall first make sure of the seeing and then we shall make equally sure of the testifying! What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. “We have seen and testify.” There can be no divorce in this case, no breaking of the marriage bond—“We have seen and testify.”
I am going to dwell upon these two topics, seeing and testifying, and first, I shall speak to you about Apostolic seeing, for doubtless John may be understood as referring to himself and his brother-Apostles when he says, “We have seen and testify.” That will be our first theme—Apostolic seeing. And then, secondly, our seeing, or, how far Christian men and women can say, “We have seen.” And then, thirdly, Apostolic testifying and our testifying, for they ought to be alike in a great many particulars.
I. First, then, dear Friends, let me speak a little about APOSTLIC SEEING. John and his fellow-Apostles say, “We have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Note that this saying was, in their case, eminently clear. Let me read to you the beginning of this Epistle— “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.” These men, who were chosen to dwell with Christ, to see His miracles, and to hear His teaching, come forward with a very clear witness. They tell us that which they had seen, that which they had heard, that which they had looked upon and that which their hands had handled.
In the first place, they had heard Christ. This was a high privilege, for, “Never man spoke like this Man.” Never was there such hearing as when Christ preached! The Apostles had heard their Master’s voice in private as well as in public, when He expounded to them Truths of God which He did not fully explain to the multitude. What marvelous sweetness there must have been in the voice of Jesus! I have no doubt that the melody of it would ring out in the Apostles’ ears as long as they lived. They knew, from what they heard from His lips, that the Son of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, was really before them, for they heard Him say things which no mere man could have uttered. They heard Him declare wonderful Truths such as never fell from the lips of anyone but the long-promised Messiah, the Divine Messenger, who was sent of God. They had heard from Him that which made them know that He was sent by the Father to save men!