A Faithful Friend

The farmer's dog had been very useful to him, but it was getting old. His master decided to get rid of him by drowning him. Taking the dog with him to a large river near his farm, he got into a boat and rowed out to the deepest part.

Around the dog's neck, he tied a cord attached to a heavy stone. Then he threw it into the water. The poor dog sank, but the cord broke and rising to the surface with a whine, he tried to get into the boat again.

Unmoved, his master pushed him off a number of times with an oar. Finally, the farmer stood up in the boat, intending to strike the dog a blow with the oar that would send it to the bottom. Raising the oar over his head, he came down with such a force, he lost his balance and fell into the water.

He could not swim and would have drowned. But when the dog saw his master struggling in the water, in spite of the cruel treatment it had just received from him, it swam up to him, caught hold of his clothes, and brought him safe to land. Cruel and heartless, we say, to treat such a faithful dog.

We may even feel that the farmer deserved to drown. Well, we hope he had a change of heart and repaid his faithful friend for saving his life by caring for it the rest of its days. Now consider this, friend.

Aren't you and I far more guilty than this farmer for our treatment of the kindness and love of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus came into this world doing good, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, giving sight to the blind, even raising the dead to life. Yet what happened? Men cried, away with him, and nailed him to a cross. You and I have hearts just like those who cried away with him.

For God says, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Like them, we take his blessings one moment, but want to get rid of him the next, if his will crosses our own. We read in Isaiah, look unto me, and be ye saved.

All the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. Look at that man on the cross, friend. Look at that blessed man on the cross.

Look, look, look, look at that bloodstained Savior for sins, with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him. The cross is the place where men sought to get rid of him, but by his death, it becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing they are sinners and own them as their Savior and Lord. The faithful dog saved his ungrateful master's life, but Jesus saves not for time, but for all eternity.

He gives eternal life to those who repent, believe on him. If you've not trusted this blessed Savior, receive him now before it's too late. Soon he will come in judgment on this world, when his anger shall burn as an oven.

Then you shall meet him as your judge. Listen, dear sinner friend, to the word of God. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Only Jesus saves, friends. Only Jesus saves. Listen to the very heartbeat of God, here in his love.

Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Look to Jesus, friend. Come to Jesus and believe on him.

Listen, friend. In John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Here, Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart. How can I be saved? Jesus says, I am the way. How can I be sure? Jesus says, I am the truth.

How can I be satisfied? Jesus says, I am the life. And in John 6, 35, Jesus declares, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Jesus is the bread of life. The gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Let me ask you, friend, are you hungry for God? Are you weary and sick and tired of your dirty, rotten sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? He invites poor sinners to come to him and believe on him.

But you have to feel your need of him. The duty required is to come to Christ and believe on him. And he has a pure gospel promise to all who come.

Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Listen, friend, there is safety in appearing in the righteousness of Christ.