I’ve Found a Friend
Sermon preached by the Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo at the Sunset Gospel Hour, Calvary Pandan BPC,
10 April 2011
Jesus said in John 15:12-15, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his 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.”
There is a well known proverb which says, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” I am sure you have friends. I have friends, but who is our best friend? Human friends come and go, but Jesus is a friend divine, a friend forever. He will never leave us. He promised to be with us all the way, until the end of the world.
There is no friend like Jesus because He is the only one who can meet our spiritual need. Our earthly friends may help us with our physical needs, but none can meet our spiritual need of salvation. We are in need of salvation, and only Jesus can save us from our sins.
How is Jesus a Friend to us? He is a Friend to us in these three ways:
He Is the Lover of Our Souls
William Chapman in his hymn, “Our Great Saviour” (RHC #55) wrote, “Jesus, what a Friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul.” Jesus says in v12, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” The word “love” here is significant. It is from the Greek word agape which is often used to speak of unconditional, self-sacrificing love. This love is not selfish but selfless. This love is all about giving and not about getting. This love moves one to act and not relax, it is active not passive. It is not just words but deeds, It is not “I love you and I do nothing about it,” but “I love you and I do something about it.” (eg, John 3:16, God loved and did something to show that love—He gave …).
The world today does not know this kind of love. Love today is so distorted by Hollywood that it is “luv” “love”. It is all about satisfying our carnal and sensual pleasures. It is all about distorted and disordered drives. Husbands and wives do not know how to love each other anymore. They think that love is all about getting from the other person, and once my wife cannot satisfy me any longer or my husband cannot provide for me any longer, I sue for a divorce, and call it irreconcilable differences. As Christians, the love that we show should not be earthy and fleshly “luv”, but holy and heavenly love or charity (1 Cor 13). Jesus commanded, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” Jesus is our Perfect Standard and Model, and we ought to always look to Him as our supreme Example and learn how to love from Him.
This leads us to our second point. How did He love us? He loved us by giving His life for us.
He Is Our Saviour Who Makes Us Whole
Chapman’s hymn again says, “Friends may fail me, foes assail me, He, my Saviour, makes me whole.” Jesus says in v13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Yes, a man may be prepared to lay down his life for his family, for his country, for his
friends. And Jesus says He is going to lay down his life for His friends to save them from eternal condemnation. But it ought to be noted that although He saw us as friends, we at the outset did not see Him that way. In fact we were His enemies, we hate His Law, we despise His Gospel, we mock His Name. That is why Romans 5:6-10 says, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” See how great the love of Christ is.
James Small’s hymn “I’ve Found a Friend” (RHC #108) is very meaningful when it says, “I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend! He loved me ere (before) I knew Him; He drew me with the cords of love, And thus He bound me to Him.” Jesus said in v16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
The Lord Jesus like His Father loves us so very much. When God loves, He gives. The Father out of love gave His Son, Jesus out of love gave His life. Will you not give your sin-sick life to Jesus so that He can cure and heal you and make you whole? Will you not right now find Jesus to be your Friend and say this, “I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend! He bled, He died to save me; And not alone the gift of life, but His own self He gave me, naught that I have my own I call, I hold it for the Giver: My heart, my strength, my life, my all are His, and His forever.”
He Is Our Wise Counselor and Guide
Verse 15 says, “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.” It is no wonder that James Small in the hymn, “I’ve Found a Friend”, wrote in his 4th stanza, “I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend! So kind and true and tender, so wise a Counsellor and Guide, so mighty a Defender.” Chapman in his hymn wrote similarly, “Jesus! What a Guide and Keeper! While the tempest still is high. Storms about me, night o’er take me, He, my Pilot, hears my cry.”
We are not children of darkness without any light of knowledge and wisdom. We are children of light, we know the truth, and we can see clearly in this dark and sinful world. That is because we have the Living Word as well as the Written Word. The words of Jesus in this Holy and Perfect Book—the Bible. Friends do not keep secrets from each other. Jesus kept no secrets from us but has given to us all of His good words that will help us to live a safe and secure and successful Christian life on earth. Do you live by this Book, or do you doubt it, question it, criticise it, deny it? If you are friend of Jesus, you will not do this. You will believe it, study it, and obey it—this Bible which is 100% perfect without any mistake.
“A friend in need is a friend indeed.” Do you have such a friend? Jesus wants to be your Friend and He calls you now, “When poor and needy and all alone, in love He said to me, ‘Come unto me and I’ll lead you home to live with me eternally.’” Will you go to Him and take His hand and be saved? If you will, then the chorus of Scholfield’s hymn (RHC #303) will ring true, “Saved by His pow’r divine, saved to new life sublime! Life now is sweet and my joy is complete, for I’m saved, saved, saved!” Amen.
Testimony by Dr Maurice Chew
The Lord gave me an opportunity to attend this year’s Church camp again. I was in the middle of a project to provide medical services to a dredging vessel. The project ended ahead of schedule. We took the evening flight out to KLIA on Monday evening arriving at Equatorial Bangi Hotel by nightfall.
We enjoyed the buffet breakfast spread every morning. The morning devotions consisted of lessons followed by hymns and more lessons from our Pastor Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo. The meals were substantial. I had a good rest being fed both physically and spiritually. We also had an interesting outing at the Mines one afternoon.
On the first day our Pastor spoke on the doctrine of biblical separation. It was not just a denominational distinctive like immersion as practised by the Baptists but was in effect an ecclesiastical command for us to put into practice. Yes there will be division, but the truth also unites when we are of the same mind.
Like the apostle Paul we must not preach in strife and vain glory but only for the faith and not for our own selfish agenda. Only then will there be joy in our walk with the Lord. As I watched Dr Jeffrey Khoo speak that day, I felt the spirit of God moving among us. I am thankful that he is now our pastor.
On the final day, Pastor stressed again on “holding forth the word of life” preserved throughout the ages. We must not be pretenders (eg, peddlers of counterfeit watches who proudly advertise their wares as genuine fake watches). Philippians 3:2 sums it up aptly—“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision”. It is for this reason that The Burning Bush needs to defend the preservation of Scripture.
As Christ has died for us, we have justification, but this must also lead to sanctification—an on-going process where God makes us more and more like Christ through trials and testings, just as the saints were tested before us. Likewise the Church must also gradually mature to the realisation that the Bible is inspired by divine inspiration which itself is verbal, for the Words themselves are inspired—hence the doctrine of the Verbal Plenary Preservation of Scripture.
We are to press on not only in our daily lives and conduct but also in our doctrine and reject that which is false and causes us to be proud (Phil 3:6).
Finally we are to fill our hearts and minds with things which are honest, true, sincere, upright and biblical (Phil 4:8) and not things that will defile our mind and make us unclean. Also Faith without works is dead (Jas 2:20), for even demons believe and tremble before God.
I learnt much from attending this Camp.
Praise the Lord.
