What a Friend we have in Jesus!

http://www.believingstudy.com/articles/26/1/What-a-Friend-we-have-in-Jesus/Page1.html

Gary Hall

I was raised as a Roman Catholic and intended to become a priest after I left school, but the Lord had other plans for me. In 1973, at the age of 17, I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour at the headquarters of the Liverpool City Mission. This immediately caused problems regarding my family. My mother and father were against what they called my "change of religion". The situation came to a climax when I arrive home one evening from a Christian friend's house only to be met by my father on the doorstep with the words, "You don't live here anymore". So at the age of 18 I would have been homeless but for the kindness of friends. One cannot rely on the goodness of others for too long, so I decided to move into a local boarding house. What I saw and experienced there cannot be written here. Eventually, after spending time living rough and in the Salvation Army hostel, I found my own apartment. I had fallen away from the Lord for two years at this time. My thoughts went back to my childhood desire to become a Roman Catholic priest. I made enquiries and found that the only real option for me was to become a monk in the Franciscan Order. The Saturday before I was due to leave for the monastery in Guildford, Surrey, I pleaded with the Lord, asking, "Lord, is it your will that I should become a monk like St. Francis?" That evening I attended a tent meeting in a local park. A preacher from Northern Ireland, Derrick Bingham, was teaching from the book of Nehemiah. During the service the preacher turned to my direction (there were about 500 people present) and said, God does not want you to become a monk like St. Francis of Assisi." Here was my answer from the Lord. From that moment I made a complete break from the Catholic Church and have come to see it as the biggest cult that this world knows. In 1979 I joined a church, The Mission, in the neighbourhood where I was living. From the moment I walked through the door of that small building I knew that I was home. The godly lifestyle and inspired teaching of Pastor Charles Bolton (promoted to glory 12 December 2003) and his wife brought me back to my first love for Christ. The church had no young people, but I never once felt that I was out of place. These people obviously loved the Lord. In my desire to reach others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ I began to give leaflets out in Liverpool City Centre. Many a Saturday afternoon was spent witnessing to those willing to stop and listen. On one Saturday in late Autumn 1979 I was approached by a girl with an Irish accent. She asked if I was a Christian and where the church I attended was located. The next morning the same girl was found at The Mission. To cut a short story shorter, six months later on March 29 1980, we were married by Pastor Bolton at The Mission. Margaret, my wife, also comes from a Catholic background, but was soundly converted to Christ and from the errors of Rome whilst visiting relatives in New York in the summer of 1979. (You may find her personal testimony one day on these pages.) In 1986 Pastor Bolton retired from the ministry at The Mission. The leadership of the church was handed over to me. To be very honest I did not fully understand what this would entail, but the Lord has been good and has led me each step of the way. Through the Lord's power we have been used to reach many hundreds of people, though our fellowship is actually small in number. In 1988 we changed the name of the church to Living Word. I am convinced that God is about to pour out His Spirit in revival one last time before the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ (see my article on Revival on this site). This revival will not come via the charismatic movement, it will not come from Toronto or Pensacola, it will not come from the ecumenical movement or the so-called Churches Together - these movements are bankrupt of the truth and the Spirit of God. This final revival will come as a result of the true believers in Christ Jesus getting right with Him. The revival will include a return to the Authorised King James Bible. My great desire is to see people coming to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord, to see backsliders returning, and to see the church of Christ revived. Though I have many failings I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of my heart. I am willing to serve Him wherever and whenever He sees fit. The word of God is the delight of my life for I'm still amazed after all these years just how fresh and new The Holy Bible is each day!

By Gary Hall

Published on 10/10/2007

We are called to have a close personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples had the wonderful blessing of being with Jesus and learning from Him throughout His ministry, “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” (1 John 1:1). What use is it to follow Jesus’ teaching yet not have a real relationship with Him? How many Christians have lived a life of obedience to God’s word, but do not know Him as their closest Friend?

What a Friend we have in Jesus!

Introduction

We are called to have a close personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples had the wonderful blessing of being with Jesus and learning from Him throughout His ministry, “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” (1 John 1:1). What use is it to follow Jesus’ teaching yet not have a real relationship with Him? How many Christians have lived a life of obedience to God’s word, but do not know Him as their closest Friend?

Jesus’ friends

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:14-15). The plain teaching here is that a servant might be obedient to the letter of the word, but does not know the Lord in any intimate way. Though we are Christ’s servants, we actually serve Him as His friends. This calls for love and loyalty as well as obedience. This is the relationship that Jesus has called us to experience. Simply put, Jesus wants to be our Friend. “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

Jesus the Faithful Friend

“I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Joshua 1:5, see also Hebrews 13:5). His abiding presence is the foundation of our relationship with Christ. It is God who established this form of fellowship between Himself and man. All the false gods demand religious observance to rules and regulations. They are based upon fear, servitude and submission. The very word “Islam” means “submission” and you will never read in the Koran that there is a possibility of a loving relationship between the Muslim god and his followers. The cults find it hard to understand the idea that we can be the friends of God too. In all false religions their deity is a distant and unapproachable figure. Only the Bible reveals that man can enjoy a relationship with God through friendship rather than fear. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to set up a new religion, but instead to re-establish friendship between God and man. He was known by the religious leaders as the sinner’s friend (see Matthew 11:19). “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Ephesians 2:16) and “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

As our Faithful Friend we can be assured that Jesus will never deceive or disappoint us. He always keeps His promises. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18). The Lord is faithful, not because we believe Him to be, but because He is, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Almost the very last statement that Jesus made to His followers reveals that He, as their Friend, would be close to them always, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). We have a Friend that we can call upon when times get tough, or when we are troubled and discouraged. The knowledge that He is with us is the remedy for all life’s problems.

Are we His friends?

Servants, once they have done their duty, clock-off and go to do their own thing. Friends do not put a time limit on service. “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:14). Therefore our obedience is based on relationship rather than rules. A true friend of Christ is willing to lay down his life for the Gospel, just as He did for us, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). A friend always has the other’s best interests at heart. A friend is sacrificial, seeks no reward, and goes the extra mile. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Conclusion

The idea that there can be friendship between God and man is not just a New Testament teaching, but it finds its foundation in the Old. “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Exodus 33:11). “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend” (Isaiah 41:8). “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23).

More studies and articles at Living Word Bible Church: www.LWBC.co.uk