"HIS BLOOD AND MY TESTIMONY"
NOVEMBER 1, 1998 PM
MICHAEL F BLUME
1Joh 5-5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Reve 12:10-11 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
This morning we began speaking about absorbing Jesus into our experience. - I say "began" because we did not have time to say everything the Lord showed us.
As the Hebrews passed in through the blood surrounded doorway, and then were to eat the meat of the lamb, we must get into Christ by salvation and begin to absorb Jesus into our experience. - Jesus is our Passover.
- He is in us, but I did not say absorb Him into us, but absorb Him into our experience.
We left off saying that whatever is true of Christ is true for us, since we are united to Him by our faith that His death was accomplished as our deaths.
- We are baptized in His name because we believe that when Jesus was buried we were buried with Him.
God wants to change us into the type of people He created Adam to be.
- Jesus came as the type of person Adam was created to be.
- Adam sinned, so he fell from all that God had for him.
We absorb into our experience the things that are true about Jesus.
- They are already true about us, but we do not know all that we have.
- All we know is that whatever He enjoys, as a man, is for us (Eph. 1:19-23; 2:1).
- We just do not know what we have going for us.
- So we need to look at Jesus to see what is true about Him and thereby learn what is true about us.
We died with Jesus.
- We were buried with Jesus.
- And we were raised with Jesus.
- And now we need to walk the newness of life that Romans 6 talks about.
Roma 6:4-5 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:
What is true of Him is true of us. Roma 6:10-12 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
So we see that what is true for Him is true for us. - We are connected to Him.
- Reckon, or recognize, that what is true of Him is true of you.
- What an adventure it is to learn all the blessings God has for us right now.
We saw that only those circumcised could eat the lamb in the houses. - This showed that only those who had veil removed from their hearts could see the things that are true in Jesus and begin to receive that and claim that as their own.
Colo 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
This verse said that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom. This is repeated in:
Ephe 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
All that we need to know is in Him, but hidden in Him. - I need knowledge of Him.
- Why?
- Because what is true of Him is true for me.
- But this knowledge is hidden and must be revealed by the Spirit of God.
- So we need a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of HIM.
- We need a spirit of unveiling.
2Cor 3:15-16 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
This veil stops people from seeing what is true in Him is for us. 2Cor 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When the veil is removed, we can see the glory of the wisdom and knowledge that is in Jesus.
- And when we see it we can absorb it and be changed into His image.
- We take what is true of Him and realize that it is true of us.
- We did not know all that was true of us until we saw it in Him.
- I look into Him all the time to learn more of what is true for me.
- Why is it true for me?
- Because I am united with Him by the blood.
- And from the time I gave my life to Him I have all that He as a human had.
I am changed into His image.
- Jesus is the image of God.
- So I become what God created us to be and I begin to live and enjoy life the way God created us to live and enjoy it.
Back to Colossians.
- We read that these things we need to see about Jesus are hidden in Him.
- 2 Cor 3 said that the veiling, that must be unveiled so we can see these things, is removed when our hearts turn to Jesus.
- This is represented by the men who had to be circumcised before they could eat the lamb.
- That lamb is Jesus.
- Before we can see what is in Him and absorb it into our experience, we need this blinder removed.
- Now Look what Colossians said about removing the blinder.
- Here is how the veil is removed.
Colo 2:10-13 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
This is what Ephesians said! - We were dead in sins but He quickened, or resurrected, us.
- We experience our circumcision of heart when we are buried with Him in baptism and then raised with Him.
Moses said that nobody can eat the lamb unless they have a veil of flesh circumcised.
- Paul said that nobody can see the things of Jesus until the veil is circumcised off their hearts, so they can see Him and be changed into His image.
We need a good revelation of Jesus Christ.
- If you see what He has then you will know what you have.
We have an entire book dedicated to just that.
Reve 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his servant John:
This is not about the end of the world, although that is a part of it, but is a revelation of Jesus Christ.
- WE DO NOT READ, "THE REVELATION ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD."
- WE DO NOT READ, "THE REVELATION OF WHAT MISSILES WILL DESTROY WHAT NATIONS."
- WE DO NOT READ, "THE REVELATION OF COMPUTER CHIPS AND COMPUTERS CALLED 'BEAST'."
What is a Revelation of Jesus Christ? - It is an unveiling of what He has and who He really is.
- Why do we need a revelation of Him?
- Because we need to see what is true of Him since it is true of us.
- We just are not aware of what is true of us.
The first verses we read in this message tonight surrounded OVERCOMING.
- The reason people are struggling in their christian lives is that they are not overcomers.
- And the way we overcome is by faith. (1 John)
- Revelation 12:11 says that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
- 1 John tells us it is faith, and Revelation tells us what particular faith.
- "Word of our testimony" does not mean stand and give a testimony in a church service.
- It means that Jesus died and shed His blood.
- This was special.
- He may have shed His blood, but it is my testimony.
What is your testimony?
- It is what is true about you.
- Since He died as me, then what is true about me (what is my testimony), is that I died.
- I need to recognize that as my testimony.
- It needs to become the word of my testimony.
- That all is true because of the blood.
- He died in my place.
- He died as me.
So I was buried with Him in water baptism.
I overcome because of the fact that His death allowed me to unite to Him, since He died as me, and have a new testimony.
- I could not say I was dead to sin until I got saved.
- I could not say that what was true of me was that I was buried and left this old sinful humanity until I was saved.
- I could not say that I have power over the problems in my life until I got saved.
- But all these things became my testimony.
- They were true for Jesus for the last 2,000 years.
- But they became true for me when I was united to Jesus Christ by believing He died as me, and then I did something about it.
- I was buried with Him by being baptized in His name.
- And the veil was removed.
- So now I can see the things that are of Him are true for me.
This is how we overcome.
- What is wrong with us is corrected by learning what is true of Him.
- Because what is true of Him, though I may not have known it, is true of me.
A little boy looks at his older brother and sees how he can walk into a certain company and ask anyone there to do anything he needs, as he walks inside the best office in the company.
- "Why?" the little boy asks.
- "Because dad owns this company, pal."
- "Can I do that?"
- "You can come on in this office, like me, any time you wish, because the owner is your dad, too. It is our NAME that gave us this. Not anything we did."
- That is why we need to be baptized into Jesus' name.
[1]
Here is a problem in the Ephesian church.
- (What is this book about?)
- (The revelation of Jesus Christ.)
- (Keep that in mind.)
Reve 2:4-6 Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
They left their first love. - Reminds me of Adam, he left his first love and his desire to know God more than anything else.
- How is this problem solved?
Reve 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Adam was thrown out of Garden when he lost his first love for the things of God. - The one who overcomes can eat of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise.
- Get back in the Garden again.
- How do we overcome?
- Blood of the lamb and word of our testimony.
- We are connected to Jesus by the blood, therefore whatever is true of Him becomes our testimony!
- Notice what the overcomers have and compare that wit what Jesus is described as:
Rev 2:1... he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:7...To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
He is in the midst of the candlesticks - where all the LIGHT comes from.
- So we can apply that to us, overcome by seeing what is true of Him is true of us, and eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John said the LIGHT is the LIFE of men. - Candlestick shaped like an almond tree.
- The Lord is in the midst of a tree that has fruit of LIGHT.
- John said the LIGHT is the LIFE of men.
- He is in the midst of tree, so we can get into the midst where tree of life is.
- What is true of Him is true of us.
[2]
Reve 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Problem there was: Reve 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast [some] of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
You will suffer persecution. - Some will die.
- You must be faithful even to the death.
- And Jesus give them a crown of life.
- Now what was Jesus described as?
- These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
- He was dead and is alive, so they could overcome this problem and face actual death and rise again later!
- What was wrong with them is solved by what is true of Him.
- So that is the reason this is a revelation of Jesus Christ.
- We need to see what is true of Him so that we can solve what is wrong with us.
And if we overcome by applying what is true of Him to ourselves,
Reve 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
The first death is physical death.
- We will experience that.
- Our bodies die.
- But that is nothing so long as we do not get hurt by the second death.
- The second death is being lost forever.
- We will not be hurt of the second death any more than Jesus was hurt of the second death when He died and rose again.
- If you die and stay dead, you will be hurt of the second death.
- Christians will resurrect when the trumpet sounds.
- And if you do not resurrect then you are hurt by the second death.
Reve 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Reve 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
If we are in the first resurrection, then we will have no need to fear the second death.
- The second death is lake of fire.
- Because Jesus introduced Himself to this church as He who was was dead and is alive forever more!
These are two examples of how Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and not so much a future prediction of what will happen to the world.
But Jesus Himself said that only He who has ears will hear what the Spirit is saying through this book.
And when we read in Rev 12 that we overcome by HIS BLOOD and the word of OUR TESTIMONY.
- This is talking about a revelation of Jesus Christ.
- We see have revealed to us about Him tells us what is true for us.
And it all begins for us at the blood.
- When we first accept Him as having died as us.
- That is the doorway into this world of having as ours what is His.
- When we tap into Him, as branches in a vine, all the sap in Him comes into us.
- He is the vine and we are the branches.
- It is what Jesus meant when He said that we must eat His flesh.
- It is what communion and the Lord's supper is all about.
- Taking what is true of Him and putting it into our practice, for what is true of Him is true of us.