RADIO MESSAGE
Are you in trouble? Do you need help? Do you need comfort? I know what you are going through. I have been there. I have known what it is to be friendless and alone. It is a miserable feeling. I know what it is to be so overcome with sin that you feel totally helpless to change things. I know what it is to be an outcast of society, so despicable that you feel that even your own family is against you. I know what it is to sit hour after hour in a jail cell, thinking about taking your own life. I have been there. I know what it is to lay in a hospital bed with cancer eating away your life, not knowing whether you will live or die. I have been there. I know what it is to be in trouble, to need help, and to yearn for comfort. I have been there. And I want to help you, if you will let me.
In the midst of my trouble, in my desperate hour of need, when I thought all comfort and all hope was gone, a Friend came to me and made himself known to me. He loved me like I had never been loved. He treated me with more kindness than I had ever known. Though I am altogether unfit for his company, he took me and made me one of his friends. Yes, it is true, "There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother" (Pro. 18:24). My Friend's name is Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. He is the Lord of glory, the Friend of publicans and sinners. "This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend" (Song of Sol. 5:16). Let me tell you what he has done for me.
My Friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world to save me. He took my sin upon himself and died in my place at Calvary. Though I rejected him, despised him, and blasphemed his name from my youth up, yet he loved me. All my life long he watched over me, fed me, clothed me, and protected me, though I knew it not. He let me run the course of my rebellion with full speed, but all the while he was working to bring me to the place where he would be gracious to me. Then, in the fulness of time, he came to me. It was the time of love and grace for my soul which he had ordained before the world began. Nobody else would have me; but he wanted me. Nobody else cared for my soul; but he loved me. All others had given up hope for me, and I had lost all hope for myself; but he was determined to have me. He said, "I will be gracious unto thee", and he was! He forgave all my sins. He took the oppressive load of my guilt away. He made me a child of God. He put upon me the spotless robe of his righteousness. He gave me the hope of eternal glory.
Since that day, the Lord Jesus Christ has never ceased to lovingly care for my soul as a tender Friend. He bountifully provides for my every need. When I was sick, he healed me. When I was in trouble he comforted me. When I am weak, he strengthens me. When I am ignorant, he teaches me. When I am in darkness, he is my Light. When I fall, he lifts me up. When I sin, he forgives me. When I am tempted, he holds me. When Satan lays a snare for me, he prays for me. Truly, Jesus Christ has been a faithful Friend to me.
But that is not all. He will continue to be my faithful Friend. When my life's journey is over he has promised to bring me with him into eternal glory. Truly, "It is well with my soul", because "There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother". Do you need a Friend? Trust the Lord Jesus Christ.