What a Friend We Have in Jesus

you may be seated i'm going to start reading in the book of isaiah chapter 41. well you're turning to that it's good to see everybody in the house of the lord this evening you're wondering where everybody's at there is a pulpit conference going on at urshan college wednesday thursday and friday so several of our ministers are there and so that's where some of them are i don't know about the rest of them that's where some of them are isaiah chapter 41 and verse 8 it says but thou israel art my servant jacob whom i have chosen the seed of abraham my friend james chapter 2 and verse 23 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 he was called the friend of god and i'll draw my topic tonight from the title of an old hymn that probably most of all of us know and that is what a friend we have in jesus what a friend we have in jesus there is within every human a need that is commonly felt it is a need that is sought after and continually pursued and tonight i want to talk about that need and that necessity simply stated everyone needs a friend everyone needs a friend now if you're a loner and you don't think that you need a friend don't cross me off just yet just wait and listen for a little bit to live without a friend is to be like john the revelator when he was on the isle of patmos far from any human interaction one man said it like this without a friend one face is life without with loneliness as their companion and alienation as their comrade without a friend the only response we get to the questions of life and that life poses would be the result of our limited resources from me myself and i and as much as we like to be right and as much as we like to be accurate getting the answer to our questions from me myself and i is ridiculous and probably would get very very old

if i've got questions i want to share them with a friend i don't want to ask myself because i already know what i think and so i believe that we're on safe ground today to declare that everybody needs somebody everyone needs a friend and your life and in my life regardless of how independent you are self-reliant you may be we need somebody that is loving and somebody that is loyal to be our friend we need somebody who is trusted and true someone who is willing to be your confidant and counselor we need someone who will be devoted in the dark hours present in moments of pain and sympathetic in times of sickness everyone needs a friend clearly everybody that you have a social relationship with does not qualify uh for genuine friendship status because a good friend is hard to find you agree with that a good friend is hard to find that's why we've all been told at one time or another be careful how who you choose as your friends and it is true that man is known by the company that he keeps i know my mom always said this to me growing up i think she got this from your grandmother sister amber birds of a feather flock together so she always told me be careful how you choose your friends back in the 1980s sam rayburn speaker of the house of representatives learned that one of his friends had just lost his teenage daughter early the next morning rayburn knocked on his door he said i just came by to see what i could do to help the father replied that there is nothing here that you can do well rayburn said have you had your coffee this morning the man replied that he had not taken time for breakfast or for coffee so rayburn went into the kitchen and he began to work while making breakfast his friend came and said mr speaker i thought that you were supposed to have breakfast at the white house this morning and he said well i was but i called the president of the united states and

told him that i had a friend who was in trouble and i could not come today we all want and need that kind of friend one who's there when you need him or her the most and that's the kind of friend god wants to be in your life that's the kind of friend that a man named abraham had in god we read in the bible that several people had good relationships with god and did many mighty things with god on their side moses led the first protest march against slavery and was chosen by god to lead israel to the promised land solomon was endowed by god to be the wisest man that ever lived job is an example it's god's example of a man who persevered in spite of his pain and predicaments upright man who served god and shunned evil nehemiah was god's builder who when the walls of jerusalem had fallen down isaiah was god's prophet whose lips were touched by an angel amos was god's messenger for justice paul was god's evangelist to the gentiles and and david was a man after god's own heart but only abraham was known as the friend of god abraham was called the friend of god because he was so the title friend of of god declares a fact james says not that only was it abraham's name but that he was called by it it is quite certain that among jewish people abraham was frequently spoken as the friend of god at this present moment among the arabs and the muslims the name of abraham is not often mentioned but they speak of him as kahil allah or the friend of god or more briefly as al kahil the friend what does it take to be god's friend what was it that abraham and god had that made it such a unique friendship what was it about abraham that put him in line for such a distinctive title i believe that abraham and god had a solid relationship because god could see that abraham had his priorities in the right position you see a good friend isn't always looking to get something a good friend isn't always

looking to get something out of you a lot of people that are so-called friends want to be friends to receive the perks of being your friend look at the prodigal son he had a lot of friends when he had something to offer but as soon as all of that dried up his friends were nowhere to be found abraham and god knew to have how to have a real conversation in order to have a good friend you don't need somebody that agrees with you all the time you don't need somebody that takes your side on every issue and always thinks your point of view is the best now i like when that happens good friends can argue and still be on the same side good friends can disagree and not be disagreeable good friends need not always see eye to eye but they must be willing to listen to what others have to say i would say that my wife is my best friend i don't know how she's not in here tonight so i'm not going to go too far down this rabbit hole she's doing nursery god bless her soul but she's my best friend and i'll say and i think everybody in this room that's married can agree that we don't always see eye to eye with our spouse i was waiting to see how many amens i got it out and there were a few there we don't always see eye to eye as friends and and we don't always agree about everything and and i can tell you this she doesn't always think that i'm right i wish she did but that's important to have and a friend somebody that that doesn't always agree with you and maybe that doesn't always see eye to eye with you but there's still that open communication there's still um that respect that i may not agree with everything you're saying but i still respect you i still agree with you i still love you not agree but love you it was a high honor that abraham reached to be known as the friend of god such a high honor that looking at our humanity we may think that we could never attain this honor god and

abraham these good friends had what i'm going to call maybe an argument or a disagreement one day they didn't see eye to eye let's put it that way god looked down and saw a city and decided the only thing that he could do was to destroy it remember that story but abraham disagreed he said now god have you really thought about this have you examined every alternative have you considered every option i know that your omniscient and i know that i can can't tell you anything that you don't already know but before you destroy the city i wanted to ask what you would do if you found just 50 righteous people you know god's reply and and abraham worked his way down and he said how about 40 righteous people how about 20 how about 10 righteous people if there are 10 righteous people men in the city would you spare it and you hear god say abraham you've got a point there if i find 10 righteous i'll spare the city i won't destroy the city what i'm getting at is that abraham and god were good friends because they were able to have a conversation even though god was god he was still willing to talk to abraham about the situation and abraham was willing to talk to him he was willing to spare the city because of abraham's word if there were just a few righteous people i think that's something to note and something to add that god was going to just destroy the city but this man who had a conversation with god was able to i don't want to say change his mind but but really say hey god if we can find this many starting here and and i guess abraham realized the odds weren't in his favor and work his way all the way down here if we can get all the way down here would you spare the city and god knowing more than likely oh well he did he knew that there weren't going to be that many he told abraham if i can find that many if you can find that many that i will spare the city you know instead of

abraham getting mad about the situation getting bitter because god told him what he was going to do he decided to talk to his friend about the situation when you and i are facing things in our lives rather than blaming god rather than getting bitter at god it would be a good thing for us to sit down are you with me and have a conversation with god let me tell you something god is not afraid of your questions he can take it many times i feel like we look at god as this this judge who who rules with an iron fist and we don't realize that we can express our feelings and we can express our frustrations and and we can express our disappointments and and we can ask him questions and what i have learned i've been in this predicament a time or two and what i have learned is that when i go to god and i tell him about these disappointments and i tell him how i don't agree with this and this and this and and i tell him that i don't understand all of these things and why all of this seems to be working against me and not for me hear me somebody it's all right to have those conversations with god what i've learned when when i've had that conversation or have those conversations that god speaks back to me and he's helped me see something in the middle of my frustration he showed me what was going on and working in the midst of my struggle because too often when we get upset and we're frustrated and it seems like all hell is breaking loose against us and and we're backed up into a corner and and nothing seems to be working out and it's easy for us to get frustrated and it's easy for us to get bitter it's easy for us to get mad whereas if we would just have a conversation with god i've learned that he will begin to speak to us now i'll say this many times the situation doesn't change but i change because of what god has spoken to me every friendship and every good relationship is built

upon communication one talking and the other listening vice versa it seems like a lot of people get caught up with the talking and not the listening we pour our heart out to god we tell god all of our problems and expect him to fix everything and sometimes we do that without even listening to what he has to say when you pour your heart out when you ask god questions and i'm going to call them hard questions when you ask god some hard questions when you tell him about your frustrations make sure that you are listening to what he has to say this thing called prayer is not for me to tell god all about my problems and get that all off my chest and go on with my day and make me feel better now you can do that you can tell god all about your problems and and i personally think it does help me get some of that frustration but when you do that prayer when you're talking to god prayer is so much more powerful than just getting rid of my frustration prayer is a two-way line of communication and while it may make us feel better doing the talking it changes us when god does the talking i said that whenever we're releasing our frustration and we're asking our questions and we're telling god about our disappointments it makes us feel better but if you want to be changed why don't you listen to what god has to say about the situation and what god has to say about your life and it will change you we've got to get to the point where it's not just a one-sided conversation i think if we had friends and we were the only one talking all the time we wouldn't have that friend very long because a friendship is built on communication if i just talk to my wife all the time and never listen to what she had to say well it wouldn't be much of a late relationship it wouldn't be much of a friendship yet many times we go to god in prayer and we talk we talk we talk and we get up and we get on with our

day and we don't spend any time listening to what god has to say god and abraham had a solid foundation for their friendship because they were both willing to sacrifice all god asked abraham to take his only son isaac up to mount moriah and there lay him down on the altar of sacrifice and you hear isaac as they're walking up the mountain saying dad where uh i see the fire and i see the wood and i know that this is the mountain of sacrifice but where is the lamb for the sacrifice 42 generations later god answers isaac question where is the lamb isaac lived in order to save the nation but jesus died to save the world jesus died and answered isaac's question of where is a lamb for he is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world john 15 and 13 says greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends and we've got the greatest example of love and friendship when jesus chose to die on the cross for his friends so that you and i might experience everlasting life if you're looking for a friend today proverbs says you can find one that sticks closer than a brother it was the final hours before the death of jesus jesus and his disciples are in the garden of gethsemane and judas one of his disciples one of the hand-picked one of the ones who walked with jesus one who was involved in miracle signs and wonders the one who heard his teachings he heard the teachings straight from the lips of jesus they ate together he was a chosen friend this one called judas came with the chief priest and he said whomever i kiss that will be jesus and as he leans over to kiss jesus jesus says friend why have you come knowing that he had betrayed him he still called him friend that's a friend that i want a friend the bible says loveth at all times a friend loves at all times jesus exampled that to us that as he's in the midst of being betrayed by one of his friends

he still calls him friend jesus said in john 15 15 henceforth i call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth he said but i have called you friends for all things that i have heard of my father i have made known unto you psalms 25 and 14 the lord as a friend to those who fear him he teaches them his covenant john 15 and 16 jesus said ye have not chosen me but i have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain you know human frailty disappoints us what i mean by that is friends come and go there are times that we close ourselves off to relationships because we have been hurt by a friend i'm not going to ask you to raise your hand but i assume that there's probably several in the building that that have experienced this some type of hurt from a friend and because of that you've closed yourself off to really any other relationship because of that the bible says that jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother closer than family itself you know how family goes i've got a brother and a sister and i don't care if they're halfway across the world if they're in a time of need if they need me i'm going to do whatever i can to get to them and to help them jesus is a friend that sticks closer than family even closer than a brother jesus is a friend that will never leave you nor forsake you when the trials of life come jesus is by your side when the blessings of life come he'll be by your side no matter what you go through good or bad you can always count on him in closing tonight i wanted to read you to you the lyrics of this song what a friend we have in jesus that was written in the mid-1800s says what a friend we have in jesus all our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege to carry look at that everything to god and prayer talking about communication jesus bears our griefs and our sins

and yet we have the privilege to tell him everything it says oh what peace we often forfeit forfeit oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to god and prayer he's talking about the importance of having that relationship and communication with god we forfeit peace and and accept pain because we're not talking to god and letting god talk back to us because when god begins to speak to us change happens peace and healing come when we have a little talk with jesus that's another song i didn't write those lyrics down can we sing that one too i'm just kidding have a little talk with jesus and tell them all about our troubles the next have we trials and temptations is there trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged take it to the lord in prayer can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share jesus knows our every weakness take it to the lord and prayer aren't you thankful that we can bring everything to him all our burdens all our pain all our sorrows our weakness we can take those to him in prayer and communication and a friend he is a friend that never leaves us nor forsakes us will be with us through it all and he begins to speak into our lives if we will just take it to him in prayer would you stand with me i don't know about you but i am thankful that we have this friend and jesus and as many friends may come and go in our lives we can be assured that he will always be by our side he will always be with us he will always hear us he will always listen to us no matter what we want to speak whether it's questions or whether it's worship and praise whatever it is that we want to speak to him he will hear it and he will listen to it and the wonderful thing about our god is not only does he listen and not only does he hear but he's a friend that talks to us he's a friend that communicates to us he's a friend that speaks to us

and into our situations in closing tonight i wonder would you just lift your hands and would you thank him for this friendship that we have lord we thank you today we thank you god for the opportunity that we have that you have called us friend and we thank you for the opportunity to be in relationship with you and to be able to have communication with you and god i pray that you would help us i pray god that you would help us in our relationship to talk to you every day not only talk god but help us to listen and to hear your voice let us be sensitive to the words that you're speaking to us god i pray that you would speak into our hearts i pray that you would talk to us today hallelujah thank you jesus thank you jesus are you thankful for that friend that we have and jesus why don't we just give him a hand clap of praise here this evening hallelujah thank god for afraid i'm thankful for all the friends that i have in this life i'm thankful for all my friends that help me but i'm so thankful that i know that i can depend on him i can depend on him amen amen