A Faithful and True Witness by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa

A Faithful and True Witness by Pastor Chuck Smith

In the Book of Revelation, it speaks of Jesus as the faithful and true witness. He was a faithful and true witness of the Father. So that if you want to know what God is all about, and if you want to know what God is like, you can look at Jesus and discover exactly how God thinks—how God feels and what God is like. He was a faithful and true witness of God. So much so that when Philip said to Him,

"Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Show us the Father?’" (John 14:8-9)

Jesus could declare that because He was a faithful and true witness. You can know what God is like by looking at Jesus.

The name Christian was coined in Antioch by the world. As they observed the lives of the believers in Jesus Christ, they called them Christians, which meant Christ-like. It is wonderful when the world gives you that title. It is not something that you have to go out and declare. Well, I am a Christian, are you? Are you Christ-like? It is glorious when that title is given to you by others after having observed your life. They say, “Oh, he is a real Christian. He is really like Christ.”

If a person would say to you, “Oh, but I would love to see Jesus Christ,” You should be able to say, “Well, if you have seen me…” You see, that would be a faithful and true witness. Jesus was able to say that of the Father. “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” He was a faithful and true witness of the Father.
Now He wants you to be a witness of Him. He wants your life to be so like His, that it is a witness of Him.

And people will know what He is like as they observe you. And if you want to take a test of self-examination, just read 1 Corinthians 13, removing the word charity and inserting your own name, and you will find out how true a witness you are. You see, you can take out the word charity and insert the name Jesus and you do no violence to the text at all. It flows. It fits. But unfortunately, when we insert our name it does a lot of violence to the text. But that is an indictment against us. It means that we have not yet yielded fully to the work of the Holy Spirit, who God has sent to help us, to give us the power to be witnesses.

Taken from "The Person and Gifts of the Holy Spirit – Chuck Smith", "The Holy Spirit in the Believer, Part 2", tape number SHS309.

A More Powerful Witness by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa

A More Powerful Witness by Pastor Chuck Smith

So, many people associate witnessing with just the verbalizing of your faith, or your testimony, to someone else—talking to them about the Bible, about Jesus Christ, about salvation, about God’s gift of eternal life.

And we think of witnessing only as verbalizing to others concerning their need of Jesus Christ. But witnessing is far more than just giving a person an invitation or telling someone about Jesus Christ. A more powerful witness than simply telling someone about Jesus Christ is a believer living the life of Jesus Christ before them.

When we talk about being a witness for Jesus Christ, we are talking about the life that bears witness for Jesus Christ. Often times, what we say is thoroughly discredited by what we are and by what we do. You see, you can be witnessing to someone verbally and you can be telling them how wonderful the work of Jesus Christ is in your life. “He gives you such glorious peace and you need to know this peace of Jesus Christ.”

But that witness can be discredited if, while you are working beside them, any time any little irritant comes along and you blow up, and you get mad, and yell at everything and everybody, and then you say, “but Jesus gives you such glorious peace.” Or if you are talking about the joy of the Lord and you are always going around grouchy and grumpy and snapping at everybody—what you say will be meaningless to them because of what you are.

So, it is extremely important that our life bear witness of the peace of Jesus Christ and the love of Jesus Christ. And then they will see, as it is worked out in our lives.


Taken from "The Person and Gifts of the Holy Spirit – Chuck Smith", "The Holy Spirit in the Believer, Part 2", tape number SHS309.