Proverbs 27:10a Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not.
Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Luke 21:16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
MEMORY VERSE: Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. —John 13:1
CENTRAL THOUGHT: Christ, our heavenly friend, is a faithful and constant friend unto the end; we ought also to be true and faithful to Him and not forsake Him.
WORD DEFINITIONS
Matthew 10:32 “Confess”: to assent; agree to; covenant. To publicly declare to; to declare openly and speak out freely. “the habitual acknowledgment by lip and life, unwithdrawn to the end (MacLaren’s Expositions).
Matthew 10:33 “Deny”: refuse; disavow; repudiate; disown; to show estrangement to a thing. (Luke 9:26 says, “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words.”) “Used of those who by cherishing and disseminating pernicious opinions and immorality are adjudged to have apostatized from God and Christ” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).
Luke 21:16 “Friends”: someone dearly loved in a personal intimate way; a trusted confidante (HELPS Word Studies).
Luke 21:19 “Patience”: steadfastness; constancy; cheerful endurance.
John 13:1 “He loved them unto the end”: to the uttermost; absolutely, utterly; with a fulness of love; forever.
LESSON BACKGROUND
As a solemn parting admonition, we are again citing the words of Solomon, “Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not” in the final lesson of this series. We have endeavored to prove the unutterable love and awesome significance of Jesus’ call, “I have called you friends.” We have studied the examples of Abraham, Moses, and Job, and have taken their stories apart and applied them in a spiritual way to our present experience. We have used as benchmarks the devotion between David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, and the New Testament gospel workers. We have seen the intercession, self-sacrifice, and faithful covenants that are so vital to true friendship, and rejoiced in the revelation that Christ shares with us.
We cannot help but return to the constant, undying love of our Savior, our truest, and dearest, friend as the greatest example of all. In our scriptures today, after the admonition, we are reminded of the awesome majesty of the One who will someday stand before us all as Judge; who will sweep away the unworthy chaff and gather the wheat into his garner. He will read the hearts of all men—not just the words, but the lives—and rightly discern those who have truly owned and confessed Him as Lord in their lives and those who have denied him. “I have called you friends,” He said, but we must remember that His friends are those who obey Him. “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The end times will be, as our Lord predicted, times in which many deceivers will be going about, and many will be deceived, many will be offended, love will wax cold, and faith will be hard to find. The temptation for Jesus’ disciples will be to eat and drink with the drunken and smite their fellows (Matthew 24:48-51). This is the atmosphere about which Jesus admonishes, “In your patience possess ye your souls,” speaking about the warm, fervent devotion which suffers long, never fails, and endures to the end, even in an environment which is totally adverse to faithful love.
To those who love Him and obey Him, the end will be the final and most glorious of all the revelations our friend, Jesus, gives us, as we shall “see Him as he is” (I John 3:2), and know, even as also we are known (I Corinthians 13:12).
—Angela Gellenbeck
DISCUSSION:
- Apply “thine own friend, and thy father’s friend” in a spiritual way.
- The betrayal spoken of by Jesus will be by what close associates?
- Use that and other passages (such as Matthew 24) to describe the environment in which Jesus’ followers will live in the last days.
- What firm statement of Peter’s will need to be the testimony of every true believer?
- Share what it means to be loved by Jesus “unto the end.”
LIFE APPLICATION
“But suppose you do think of forsaking Christ, where are you going to get another friend to take his place? You must have a friend of some sort; who is going to sit in Christ’s chair? Whose portrait is to be hung up in the old familiar place when the old Friend is discarded? To whom are you going to tell your griefs, and from whom will you expect to receive help in time of need? Who will be with you in sickness? Who will be with you in the hour of death? Ah! there is no other who can ever fill the vacuum which the absence of Christ would make. Therefore, never forsake him.
“Let this be your resolve by his grace, instead of forsaking him you will cling to him more closely than ever; you will own him when it brings you dishonor to do so; you will trust him when he wounds you, for “faithful are the wounds of a friend;” you will serve him when it is costly to do it, when it involves self-denial; resolved that by the help of his ever-blessed Spirit without whom you can do nothing, you will never in any sort of company conceal the fact that you are a Christian. Never under any possible circumstances wish to be otherwise than a servant of such a Master, a friend of such a Lord.
“Come now dear young friends who are getting cool towards Christ, and elder friends to whom religion is becoming monotonous, come to your Lord once more and ask him to bind you with cords, even with cords to the horns of the altar. You have had time to count the cost of all Egypt’s treasure; forego it and forswear it once for all. But the riches of Christ you can never count; so come and take him again to be your All-in-all” (C. H. Spurgeon).
—Angela Gellenbeck
REFLECTIONS
As I read through this week’s lesson a line from a song I’ve sung numerous times kept coming back to me: “I have a Friend so precious, so very dear to me…” According to Hymnary.org, this hymn was written by a Mrs. Mary Ann Elizabeth Lancaster, née Shorey, born in London, England in 1851. Writing under the nom de plume “L. Shorey” she spoke of her inspiration for the lyrics in 1906. The hymn was “written one Sunday morning in the summer of 1890. While busy with household affairs some thoughts suggested by the sermon heard the previous evening (on Matthew 11:29) at Leytonstone, began to shape themselves in rhyme.” The complete hymn was first printed on December 26, 1890 in leaflet form, and was later published in sheet form as My Lord and I, set to a melody said to have been sung in France by the persecuted Huguenots [four] hundred years ago.
Is it any wonder that the author’s inspiration came from one of the great invitational sermons of Jesus? Matthew 11:29 states: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” A great many Christians down through history have been inspired by those very words to be bound to Christ, to learn of Him, to allow Him to be their “all-in-all,” and their dearest Friend, as the song describes so well!
I have a Friend so precious, so very dear to me.
He loves me with a tender love, He loves me faithfully;
I could not live apart from Him, I love to feel Him nigh;
And so we dwell together, my Lord and I.
Sometimes I’m faint and weary, He knows that I am weak;
And as He bids me lean on Him, His help I’ll gladly seek;
He leads me in the path of light, beneath a sunny sky;
And so we walk together, my Lord and I.
I tell Him all my sorrows, I tell Him all my joys,
I tell Him all that pleases me, I tell Him what annoys;
He tells me what I ought to do, He tells me what to try;
And so we talk together, my Lord and I.
—Fari Matthews
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