Companionship (Part 1): With the Lord Jesus, With the Apostle Paul, & With All Them That
Stanley Bruce Anstey
Table of Contents
Companionship With the Lord Jesus, With the Apostle Paul, & With All Them That Fear God: Introduction
(Lassen Pines, CA – July 8, 2005)
I would like to speak tonight and tomorrow on the subject of companionship. Let’s turn to Proverbs 18:24. “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” And then turn to John 15:13-14, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends.” I’ve read these two opening Scriptures because they bring before us the Lord Jesus Christ who is the best companion that anybody could ever have. He is the Friend that every person in this world needs! He is the Friend of sinners, and He is the Friend of saints (believers). Whatever your situation is in life—whether you’re saved or not—one thing that’s true of every one of us is that we need Him. He said to His disciples, “Without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). The sooner we learn that lesson in life the better.
Think of it; the greatest Person who ever lived in this world would honour those who believe on Him by saying, “Ye are My friends.” Yes, He wants us as His friends and companions! The Lord wants us to walk through this world in fellowship with Himself. He wants to be our nearest and dearest Friend. That a divine Person would condescend to walk in this world as a Man, but more than that, choose to have friends of persons such as you and me! It boggles the mind! What an incredible privilege it is!
The friendship of the Lord Jesus is a wonderful thing. But you know, before we can know Him as our Friend, we first have to know Him as our Saviour. That is where we all must begin with God—by having a relationship with the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. So, I want to begin tonight by speaking of how you can come to know Him as your personal Saviour. It is hard for me to believe that if you’ve been sitting in this audience for the past three or four days listening to the gospel messages that have gone forth nightly, that you’re still not saved. I know that the devil plucks away the precious seed of the Word when it falls on the ears of careless souls (Mark 4:15), but if you’re not saved by now, it has to do with your will. So I want to address the question of your willingness first. The prodigal son did not come into blessing until he said, “I will ... ” (Luke 15:18). And neither will you!
Getting saved and entering into a relationship with the Lord Jesus is where we must begin. There is really no other place to start with God. If you get this foremost relationship right in your life, every other relationship that you’ll have on earth has a greater possibility of being right too. What I mean, is that if the Lord Jesus has His rightful place in your life, as your best companion, your other companionships will be right too. There is no time like right now to call upon Him in faith and to ask Him to save you. The Bible says, “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6). It also says, “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). Our burden for you tonight is that you would not only know Him as your Saviour, but that you would also make Him your nearest and dearest Friend.
Three Things That Mark the Lord's Friendship With Us
The Lord has surely proven the reality of His desire to be our Friend. In John 15, there are three things that mark, or characterize, the Lord’s friendship with us. In these verses there are also three things that should mark our friendship with Him. Let’s look first at what characterizes His friendship with us:
1) He laid down His life for His friends
Verse 13 says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Isn’t this incredible? He has sealed His desire for our friendship with the sacrifice of Himself. He gave Himself! (Matt. 20:28; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 5:2, 25; 1 Tim. 2:6) What more could a person do? It was a sacrifice of love that was totally His doing, for we did not love Him, but “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
He died in order to have us as His friends. When you think of the length to which He went and the cost He paid, could you ever doubt the reality of His desire to have us as His companions? He has taken enemies and made them into His friends! Such is the result of His great work on the cross. We, who were once “enemies” by nature and practise, have been “reconciled to God” by His death, and are now made His “friends!” (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:21-22)
What can we do to show our appreciation? It says in Psa. 116:12-13, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the LORD.” As the Psalmist says here, the only right thing to do is to receive this great salvation with thanksgiving! Calling upon the Name of the Lord here is a reference to returning thanks to Him for what He has done. If there should be any one here tonight who is still not saved, this clearly shows what you ought to do. Take the salvation God is offering you and thank Him for it. It couldn’t be more simple! When we think of the length to which He went to save us, it would be the biggest insult not to take “the cup of salvation” that He has secured at the cost of His life. Do not trifle with the longsuffering mercy of God. Remember the warning that says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” (Heb. 2:3). God is “longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Now it says that the Lord Jesus “died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14-15), but that doesn’t mean that all are saved! The message of salvation is “unto all,” but only “upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22). You have to believe the gospel message to be saved! It is only those who have by faith received Him as their Saviour that come into the blessing of the gospel, and thus, are delivered from the just penalty of their sins. It is those whom He calls, “My friends.” If you are not saved tonight you are still an enemy! The time to come to Him and establish this relationship of “friends” is now. The Bible says, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him” (Psa. 2:12). It also says, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). All that come to Him will be received. There should be no fear of being turned away! The Lord said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
Thousands have fled to His spear-pierced side,
Welcome they all have been, none are denied;
Weary and laden, they all have been blest,
Joyfully now in the Saviour they rest.
2) He confides in His friends
John 15:15 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.” To add to His great sacrifice of laying down His life for us, the second way in which the Lord Jesus has proved His desire for our friendship is the opening of His heart to us. He confides in His friends. He has disclosed the innermost thoughts and counsels of His heart to those who are His friends! This is a special privilege.
This shows that He wants to be more than your Saviour! He wants to be your Confidant! He wants to do more than just save your soul from going into a lost eternity. He wants to be your Companion for your whole life in this world, and for eternity! This verse that I’ve read tells us that He has opened His heart to those who have received Him as Saviour with confidential things. He has told us of the Father’s heart being toward us, and of His own departure, the coming of the Spirit, His coming again, and His future Kingdom. But more than all those things—wonderful as they are—He wants to tell us of His love!
He wants to open the thoughts of His heart to us. This requires that we take time to be with Him. The more we take time to be with the Lord, the more we are going to learn of His love! Clarence Mayo used to say, “When was the last time that you went into the presence of the Lord, not to ask Him for something, but just to be with Him?” That’s a searching question. It really exposes what kind of a relationship we have with Him. If we only go to the Lord to ask Him for something it really is not much of a friendship.
It has been said that every human heart craves understanding and love. We have that and more in Him! He delights to confide in us, and He wants us to confide in Him. It should be reciprocal. That’s one of the marks of true friendship. He wants to be the One we turn to in every trial and difficulty in life. Whatever you may be going through, He wants you to know that He cares about it; and wants to hear about it, as a true Friend would. The Bible says, “Pour out your heart before Him” (Psa. 62:8). We can turn to Him at any time—24/7!
He wants us to make Him our nearest and our dearest Friend. What a privilege to be able to confide in a Person as great as the Lord Jesus Christ! To pour out our souls to Him is a blessed thing indeed. Proverbs 16:20 says, “Whoso confideth in the LORD, happy is He.” Psalm 84:10 says, “A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.” You say, “A thousand what?” A thousand days spent doing other things without Him!
My concern for you young people here is that you’d understand this, and that you would take full opportunity to be in His presence. It is vitally important. If you get a hold of this, and make the Lord your nearest Friend, a lot of other things in your life are going to be right. If you miss this—that is, learning to walk in the friendship of Jesus—you’ll miss everything! Mary took time to sit at Jesus’ feet. It was something that she had “chosen.” That means there were other things that she could have been doing, but she elected to put them aside to be with Jesus (Luke 10:38-42).
To walk in communion with the Lord Jesus as our Confidant and Friend is the most blessed privilege that a child of God can have! What do you and I know about that? Have you proved it to be true? Have you truly made the Lord your nearest and dearest Friend? Or are you the kind of Christian that basically leaves the Lord out of his or her life—except when you’re in trouble? What kind of a friend is that? There is a hymn we sometimes sing that says, “You treat no other friend so ill!”
Sad to say, like the Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon, we leave the Lord out of our lives—and it’s to our shame! She made excuses as to why she couldn’t be with her lover: “I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to Me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for My head is filled with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night.” She said, “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” (Song of Solomon 5:2-3) She was full of excuses as to why she couldn’t take time to be with him, and she was the loser! What is our excuse?
Now, as I’ve said earlier, there is a difference between having Jesus as your Saviour and having Jesus as your Friend. Some of the things that I see and hear young Christians doing, or proposing to do—as far as their plans and objectives in life are concerned—makes me wonder whether they really know the Lord as their Friend. I remember a brother, referring to a rather careless Christian, say, “I don’t know if he really knows the Lord.” He wasn’t talking about whether the young brother knew the Lord as his Saviour, but whether he knew Him as his Friend and Companion.
Anyway, all I can say is if the Lord were truly the One they walked in fellowship with on a daily basis—Who was helping and guiding them, they wouldn’t be planning or doing those things. From what I can see in the Scriptures, He just wouldn’t lead a person to do such things. An example might be a girl who is planning to spend a number of years in college to be a fashion designer; or the boy planning to make his career in professional football. All I can say is that I don’t think they know the Lord very well. If they lived close enough to Him, He would have showed them principles in His Word that would have guided them otherwise. It’s simple; if you don’t spend time with the Lord, you won’t know His mind on the various issues of life, and you’re liable to make some serious mistakes. To have the Lord as your Friend is one of the greatest privileges that you can have in life. But if you don’t take advantage of it, you’ll be the big loser.
3) He grants the prayer requests of His friends
John 15:16 says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you.” This is another mark of His friendship with us. He wants us to make known our petitions, and to ask Him for those things that we have need of in the path of faith. The Scripture says, “Let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6). Though it may not seem like it at times, it truly is the Lord’s desire to grant our prayer requests.
However, I suspect that if you’re like a lot of young people, you might wonder whether prayer really works. You may not want to say that out loud for fear of people thinking that you’re unspiritual, but you might have those thoughts. Perhaps you are discouraged with your prayer life, and don’t pray like you know you should. Maybe you’re saying, like Job, “What profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?” (Job 21:15) Job had gotten so discouraged with His crying out to God in prayer over all that had happened to Him, and God’s apparent silence, that He began to wonder what profit there was in praying at all! It’s a sad thing when we lose confidence in the Lord, and wonder whether we should even continue praying, but some of you might be at that point in your Christian lives.
Nevertheless, the Lord delights to answer our prayer requests. Mr. Brown used to say that God has three ways of answering our prayers; yes, no, and wait awhile. Whatever the case may be, we mustn’t question the wisdom of His ways. He knows what is best in our situation. We must leave the answers to Him Who will always do the very best for us. Let us continue to pray, for the Lord said, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18,1; 1 Thess. 5:17).
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Looking over these three things that mark the Lord’s friendship with us, we can truly say, as the hymn writer does, “What a Friend we have in Jesus!” He laid down His life for us, He opens His heart to us confidentially, and He gives us the things that we ask for. What a Friend indeed!
Three Things That Mark Our Friendship With the Lord
Now let’s look at this same passage in John 15 and see three things that mark our friendship with the Lord Jesus. These three things that we are about to look at show that there are conditions connected with this relationship.
1) Obedience
In John 15:14 the Lord said, “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” This shows that we prove our friendship with the Lord Jesus by our obedience. True friendship is not shown by what we say, but by what we do! The “if,” in this verse, makes this friendship conditional; if we are truly His friend we’ll walk in obedience. And if our heart is right, we will be happy to do those things that are pleasing in His sight, because obedience works by love. The Lord said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The Lord’s commands are not the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel through Moses, but His loving instructions for us as His disciples. They are called “commands,” because when the Lord makes known His will to the heart that loves Him, it has the power of a command.
Furthermore, we prove that we love God when we obey the directions of Scripture. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). For the heart that loves Him, to do what He asks is not a burden; it’s a joy. It’s “the perfect law of liberty!” (Jas. 1:25) People sometimes ask, “What is the perfect law of liberty?” It is a contrast to the law of Moses which is occupied with restraining the old nature in man. The characteristic phrase in the Mosaic law is, “Thou shalt not ... ” It is very negative. “The perfect law of liberty” has to do with guiding the new nature. Our new nature loves and delights to do the will of God. When the Word of God sets out certain positive things that we are to do in our Christian lives, the new nature delights to do it. It’s called “the perfect law of liberty” because to be asked to do something that you want to do is not bondage; it’s liberty. A. Barry used to say that it’s when the Lord’s commands and the person’s desires are one. Let me illustrate it this way; to ask a dog to eat hay is bondage, but to ask a horse to eat hay is perfect liberty!
Conversely, if we are not walking in obedience, it calls into question whether we truly are a friend and companion of the Lord Jesus, because if a person were truly His friend, he wouldn’t habitually do things that grieve Him. A true friend keeps His commands and delights to do so! Obedience puts our profession of being His friend to the test. The Lord said, “Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) A person may say one thing, but their life says another! If a person says that he loves the Lord Jesus, and that He is his Friend and Companion, yet goes on with sin in his life, he makes a mockery out of the Christian life, and calls into question the reality of his profession. Scripture says, “Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). If a person names the Name of the Lord—in professing that he knows the Lord—but he doesn’t depart from sin, then we have reason to question whether he is truly saved; maybe it’s just an empty profession. This shows that there is such a thing as putting a person’s profession to the test. I trust that we all are true to our profession of being the Lord Jesus’ friend.
2) Fruit in our lives
John 15:16 says, “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.” The Lord wants us to be fruitful in our Christian life, and that will be the case if we are friends and companions of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s intention, even though the Lord has gone back to heaven, that there would be a continuation of His moral beauty seen in this world in His people. Fruit-bearing is not service, but the reproduction of the moral features of Christ in the saints! In the measure in which we abide in fellowship and communion with the Lord, the moral features that marked His life will be seen in us. The Lord said earlier in this chapter, “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” (vs. 5). In other words, we are going to become more and more like Him, and it’s going to come out in our lives. People will notice it, and they will see Christ in us! This is the result of living in nearness to the Lord Jesus and of having Him as our nearest and dearest Friend.
We prove the reality of our friendship with the Lord Jesus by being like Him. The more time we spend with Him, the more it will be so. Perhaps we could say that His character rubs off on us. This is what caught the eye of the Jews when they looked at the disciples of the Lord Jesus in the early chapters of the Acts. It says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). There was something about the way in which the disciples deported themselves that caused the Jews to identify them with the Lord Jesus as His friends. The apostle John said, “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6).
3) Love for our brethren
John 15:17 says, “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” A third way to prove our friendship with the Lord Jesus is that we love others who are His friends. The apostle John said, “Every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (1 John 5:1). Furthermore, we prove our love for our brethren by our obedience to God. John also said, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:2).
This is not a plastic love. The same kind of love that the Lord has for us is to be in us toward one another. It was a love that would go all the way to death for us! John said, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). The danger is that we tend to love only in word, and not in deed. John said, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). If we say that we love our brethren, but then go on holding a grudge or an unforgiving spirit toward them, our love is in word only. A tell-tale sign of love for our brethren is that we will want to be with them. It’s normal to want to be with those you love! If a person has no interest in being with the saints, it calls in question whether he or she is truly a friend of Jesus, because the friends of the Lord Jesus love one another, and they want to be together. We are glad that so many of you wanted to be here this week at Lassen. We trust that it is because you love the Lord Jesus.
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A quick summary of the three things that will be evident in the life of every true friend of the Lord Jesus is: obedience to His commands, fruit in our lives in the way of moral likeness to Him, and love for our brethren.
Companionship With the Apostle Paul
Now let’s look at some Scriptures that have to do with being a companion of the apostle Paul. Acts 19:29, “And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel ... ” Chapter 20:4, “And there accompanied him [the apostle Paul] into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.” And one more verse in the 27th chapter, verse 3, “And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.” Here is another kind of companionship that you need to have in your Christian life—to be a companion of the apostle Paul. Firstly, you want to have the Lord Jesus as your nearest and dearest Friend, but then you also want to make Paul your companion.
Now, you may wonder, “How we are supposed to make Paul our friend when he is not here anymore, but is gone on to heaven to be with the Lord?” Well, remember what I said earlier about what marks a true friendship. It is marked by those who have the same likes and dislikes—mutual interests and understanding. To be a friend of Paul, in that sense, is to have everything that Paul stood for and communicated to the Church precious to our own hearts. Then we would truly be like-minded! In other words, a true friend of Paul would value the truth for which he was raised up to bring to the Church. To love, to support, and to promote what Paul taught is to be his companion. In this way, we can all be companions of Paul, even though he is no longer here.
What a privilege it must have been for those men to travel with Paul. As they walked together, he would have brought forth those heavenly truths that he had been given. What an opportunity they had. It’s true that we can’t walk with Paul in a literal sense, as they did, but we can still learn those things, and support and promote them in this day in which we live. You know, there are only 21 epistles in our Bibles, and 14 of them (including Hebrews) are Paul’s. This is called “Paul’s Doctrine.” It’s not that many pages when we look at the Bible as a whole. But there is so much heavenly truth in them.
Have an Outline of Paul’s Doctrine
Let’s turn to 1 Timothy 4:6, “Laying these things before the brethren, thou wilt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which thou hast fully followed up” (J. N. Darby Trans.). Now in 2 Timothy 3:10, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience.” Those words, “fully known,” in the original language, are the same words as “fully followed up” in 1 Timothy 4:6. My point here, is that Paul had exhorted Timothy to follow up on his doctrine—to learn it, and to be well “acquainted” (J. N. Darby Trans. footnote) with it. Writing to Timothy three or four years later, Paul commends him for having done that very thing, saying, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine ... ”
The lesson here is great. Nothing could be more obvious. Paul wants us, like he wanted Timothy, to learn the truth of his doctrine, and be well acquainted with it. We learn from the verse that I read in Acts 20 that Timothy was a companion of Paul; and what marked him as being Paul’s companion is that he valued Paul’s doctrine, and took time to learn it, so that in a few years he knew it “fully.” This shows that he was diligent. By doing so, he became a useful man in the Christian testimony. And similarly if we fully acquaint ourselves with Paul’s doctrine then we are going to be useful in the Christian testimony today.
Now, let’s turn to 2 Timothy 1:13-14, “Have an outline of sound words, which words thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted.” Here we have something further to what Paul has said as to learning or being fully acquainted with his doctrine. Paul wanted Timothy to go a step further from learning his doctrine, to having it in “an outline.” J. N. Darby’s Translation footnote says that the word in the original Greek is, “a systematic exposé, in outline, of any system of doctrine ... . a delineation.” What this means is that he wanted Timothy not just to know the truth, but also to understanding it in an orderly way.
Someone may ask, “Why?” It was for two reasons. Firstly, so that he would be able to “keep” the truth, and thus, not to let any of it slip away, which is what happened in the early centuries of the Church’s history—and what is happening again today. Many today have taken up with the truth of Paul’s doctrine that has been recovered, but sadly, have let some of it go, and have departed from the path in which we walk. We are liable to let go of some part of the truth too, but if we have it down in an orderly way, we will be better able to “keep” “the good deposit” of truth. Notice, it says, “keep by the Holy Ghost;” not “keep by the energy of the flesh!” We are not to try to defend the truth by arguing, but by walking in it in the power of the Spirit.
Many people think that by telling Timothy to “have an outline,” Paul was telling him to learn the truth of his doctrine. But that is not really the point of the verse. Timothy had already “fully known” Paul’s doctrine, and Paul commended him for it (2 Tim. 3:10). What Paul was encouraging him to do here, was to take it a step further and to have the truth that he knew down in an orderly or “systematic” (if you will) way. I’m not suggesting that we go to a seminary, or anything like that—where one is likely to get “systematized error” (Eph. 4:14 – J. N. Darby Trans.)—but to have an understanding and appreciation of the truth in our souls in an organized way.
A second reason why Paul wanted Timothy to “have an outline” was so that he would be able to pass it on to others more effectively. In chapter 2:2 Paul went on to say, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” There is an order here: first to learn the truth by “fully following up” on it by diligent study (1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 3:10), then to get it into “an outline” (2 Tim. 1:13) so that we can “keep” it (2 Tim. 1:14), and also, to “commit” it to faithful men who will teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2).
Have you ever tried to get help on some point of doctrine from someone whom you are quite sure knows the truth, but when you ask them, they kind of go all around the subject, and you’re not sure of the answer in the end? It’s probably because, while they know the truth, they don’t have an outline of it so as to be able to present it to others in a way that they can get hold of it. What I’m saying is that if you are going to be a useful workman in the kingdom of God, it’s important that you not only know Paul’s doctrine, but that you “have an outline” of it.
Now, you might be thinking that you’re not gifted to be able to teach others the truth. But notice, it doesn’t say that Timothy was to commit the truth to intellectual men, or to eloquent men, or to gifted men, but to “faithful men.” That’s something that we all can be! Furthermore, when it says, “who shall be able to teach others also,” it is not referring to the competency of gift, but rather, as it says of the elders who did not necessarily have the gift of teaching, “apt to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2). Your aptness to pass on the truth will increase by your regular use of the Word.
“What exactly is Paul’s doctrine?”
Now you’re probably asking, “What exactly is Paul’s doctrine?” Well, as we said, it is comprised of those things contained in the fourteen epistles that he wrote. But I realize that that is being rather vague. More precisely, it is the substance of four revelations given to him. (I don’t say that he had only four revelations, but that the sum of his doctrine is disclosed in these four.) They are as follows:
1) Galatians 1:11-12
“But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (See also 1 Corinthians 15:1.) This has to do with the believer’s position “in Christ” and all of the related blessings connected with being in that place of acceptance. It seems that he calls this, “My gospel” (Rom. 2:16, etc.).
2) Ephesians 3:2-7
“If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery: (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” (See also Colossians 1:24-27.) This revelation has to do with the truth of Christ and the Church. He calls this the “great mystery” (Eph. 5:32). It discloses the nature of the union that exists between Christ the Head of the body and the many members on earth indwelt with the Holy Spirit. It would also include the practical arrangements for assembly order and testimony.
3) 1 Cor. 11: 23-26
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken [given] for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” And then in chapter 10:16-17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not fellowship with the blood of Christ? The loaf which we break, is it not fellowship with the body of Christ? Because we, the many, are one loaf, one body: for we all partake of the one loaf.” This was a revelation that Paul received concerning the doctrinal significance of the Lord’s Supper—the loaf expressing the oneness of the (mystical) body of Christ, and the partaking of it being a confession that we are members of that body.
4) 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
“For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (See also 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.) This special revelation has to do with the filling out of the details concerning the coming of the Lord (the Rapture) and the resurrection of the saints.
It is interesting to note that the Lord Himself first gave the truth disclosed in each of these revelations in embryo. In His earthly ministry He taught the seed of these things, but He left it to Paul (when the Spirit of God would come and teach us “all things” – John 14:26) to give the full doctrinal significance of them. Before the Spirit had come to reside in the saints, they could never have taken it in (John 16:12-13).
In John 8:32, the Lord said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” And also in John 14:20, He said, “At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” This is Romans’ line of truth where the believer’s full deliverance (“freedom” Rom. 6:18 – J. N. Darby Trans.) is announced in the gospel of God, wherein the believer’s acceptance “in Christ” is also taught with all of its related blessings (Rom. 8:1, 10). And then in Matthew 16:18, the Lord was the first to announce the formation of the Church, saying, “Upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Then in Matthew 26:26-30, the Lord was the One who instituted the Supper. And then in John 14:3, He was also the first to speak of His coming again (the Rapture), saying, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” He was also the first to speak of the resurrection from among the dead, saying, “Relate to no one what they had seen, unless when the Son of Man should be risen from among the dead. And they kept that saying, questioning among themselves, what rising from among the dead was.” (Mark 9:9-10 – J. N. Darby Trans.) The Jews knew about resurrection as a general thing (Heb. 6:2; John 11:24), but until then, they hadn’t heard about the resurrection “from among” the dead.
We are thankful for the full revelation of these truths developed in Paul’s doctrine, which the Lord only touched upon in His ministry.
Now, the learning of these precious truths does not necessarily require great intellectual brainpower. Often we hear people say that they can’t learn the truth because they’re not smart enough, but it is usually an excuse for laziness. It will, however, take diligence and obedience. Diligence is important because the truth is for those who want it. Paul told Timothy to “fully follow up” on these things, which implies diligence (1 Tim. 4:6). God has given “gifts” to the Church to help us reach Christian maturity, and if you’ll avail yourself of them—be it in oral, written, or recorded ministry—you will be greatly helped (Eph. 4:11-16). Those who neglect them usually make slow progress. Obedience is important because as we walk in the truth that we have learned, God will give us more light, and thus, we will make progress. If we have Christ before us, and there are these two things with us, we will learn the truth.
A case in point of not necessarily needing to have a great education to learn the truth is in a story that I will now relate. Years ago, brother Wayne Coleman had a Bible study in his home, and a Christian couple from the neighbourhood were among those who attended with considerable interest. The brother was seriously thinking of going to a seminary so that he could “go into the ministry.” He listened intently for a few weeks and asked where Wayne and I had gotten our training. This couple was quite taken up with the good things that we were bringing out and wanted to know where we had learned them. He thought that perhaps it would be a good college for him to go to. We told him that we had only gone to high school, and hadn’t any special training, and that we had learned these things from going to the meeting where saints are gathered to the Lord’s Name (Matt. 18:20).
They had the hardest time believing that we had not gone to some college, so they made up their minds that they were going to go to this place and see what was going on. They came to a fellowship meeting where we had several meetings that day. They saw the old brethren we had in those days ministering the truth, and after one of the meetings they wanted to talk to brother Norman Clark who was one of the leading brothers. One of the first questions they asked was in regards to where he had gotten his training—which college. Brother Norman explained that he hadn’t gone to any college; that in fact, he had only a grade 5 education! This couple just wouldn’t believe it and were a little perturbed because they were not hearing what they wanted to hear. In fact, I learned later that they thought that Wayne and I had put Mr. Clark up to telling them that.
Anyway, they came back from talking to brother Clark and told us that he said that he only had a grade 5 education. After the next meeting they went to talk to him again, to see if he wasn’t just kidding, and to find out what seminary he had truly gone to. That is when he told them that he had learned the truth from Sam Denzin. And the brother said, “Which college is that?” (He hadn’t heard of that one!) Brother Norman told him that it wasn’t a college, but a brother from a little meeting hall in Craven, Saskatchewan. So they asked him where Sam Denzin had learned the truth. And brother Clark told them that brother Denzin hadn’t gone to college either—in fact, he had only a grade 2 education!! Well, that did it. They were somewhat offended. I remember the brother saying to me when he left the meeting room that day, “So, you mean to tell me that all this truth came from a man that has grade 2 education?” I tell you this story to show that it doesn’t take any great brains to learn the truth—just diligence and obedience.
Another thing that you’ll hear people say as an excuse for not learning the truth is that they don’t have a “gift” for it. But there is no truth in that either. Gift is for giving out what we have taken in; it’s not for taking in the truth. If we set aside some time in our lives, in an organized and steady way, then we will learn the truth. If we are diligent and obedient, and seek to walk in communion with the Lord, then He will help us learn the truth.
We live in a very privileged time when we can have all the truth of God—if there is an interest to have it. The truth of Paul’s doctrine has been recovered and made available to us in these days. But you know, there was a time when this was not so. There was a time in the history of the Church when the truth was virtually lost. There were many centuries when the Church did not know Paul’s doctrine. There might have been bits and pieces of it around in the hands of the Lord’s people, but by and large, through failure, it was lost. In the last 175 years or so, God has graciously effected a recovery of Paul’s doctrine and other New Testament truths. It has been brought back to the Church through diligent men so that we can know, enjoy, and practise the truth as it once had been given in the early days.
The sad thing about this is that while we live in a day when all of the truth of God has been recovered, and is readily available, most Christians don’t want to walk in it! Most Christians uphold some of Paul’s doctrine, but I’m talking about practising all the truth of God as Paul gave it. You know what I mean: the head-covering, the sister’s place in the assembly, the truth of the one place of gathering, etc. We are in Laodicean days. The Church today, at large, is saying, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17). There is a self-satisfied state of complacency, and it is obnoxious to the Lord. There has been much written ministry given to help us to know and to walk in the truth, but there has also been much opposition to it. We are living in days when much of what Paul taught is not popular. It wasn’t popular in his day. He said, “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). That means that if we are going to be a companion of Paul, we are not going to be popular in Christian circles. It is going to cost us something to uphold and walk in Paul’s doctrine. There will be reproach, as Onesiphorus experienced (2 Tim. 1:16-18). But it’s nice to see that it didn’t deter him. He was not ashamed of being identified with Paul. We can be encouraged by his example.
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We have spoken of the ways in which we can prove our friendship with the Lord Jesus, and also of how we can prove our friendship with the Apostle Paul. We do it by learning his doctrine (1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 3:10), then by having it in an outline form so that we are able to keep it and pass it on to others (2 Tim. 1:13-14; 2:2). In this way, we show ourselves to be one of “Paul’s companions.” A true companion of Paul is one who is uncompromising in these things.
Companionship With All Them That Fear God & Keep His Precepts
Let’s look now at another kind of companionship that we need in our Christian lives. Turn to Psalm 119:63, “I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts.” This is definitely the kind of companionship we need to have in this world through which we pass. The first two companions that we are to have (the Lord and the Apostle Paul) are no longer here in this world, though our companionship with them can be very real—but in different ways. But now I want to talk about companions that we can have among God’s people that are here in this world. What kind of companions do we have? Are they those that will help us to go on? Or are they more of a hindrance?
There are two things that qualify the kind of companionships that we are to make among the Lord’s people. Firstly, there is to be a fear of God, and then secondly, a keeping of His precepts—which are the smallest details of His Word. That’s the kind of companions we are to have! It should be with those that fear God with a reverential fear and have a fastidious desire to keep even the smallest details of His Word.
One of the marks of one who truly fears God is that they depart from evil. Proverbs 14:16 says, “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil.” That means that you’ll know those who fear God by the fact that they keep themselves separate from evil. Paul said, “Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity.” If we are true to our confession as Christians, we will depart from evil. If you know of young people that are going on with wrong things, it’s a telltale sign that they don’t have a fear of God in their lives. And Scripture is clear about what you are to do; you’re not to make them your companions. And don’t think that you have to go out into the world to find evil. Last week the verse was read to us at the Walla Walla conference, “I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly” (Prov. 5:14). This means that you might find such things among the Lord’s people!
Now, we might wonder why the Lord is concerned about the kind of companions we have, but there are some very good reasons; and I would like to look at some of them.
The Benefits of Good Companions
1) Encouragement
Turn to 1 Samuel 14:6-7. “And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.”
Here we have an example of how a friend can be a positive encouragement to us. Jonathan desired to do a work for the Lord and for the deliverance of His people. He went out with his armourbearer to stop the Philistines from entering their land. But when he was about to put the plan into action, he apparently had second thoughts, and considered turning back. That is when his armourbearer stepped up and said what he did to encourage him to go forward in his exercise. In other words, he encouraged him to go on! That’s what good companions will do for you. The Lord knows how much we need encouragement in these days of discouragement. There seems to be so much to discourage the young people from going on. Occasions like this get-together can give a person a lift when they see other young people trying to press on. It encourages them to do the same.
2) Preservation
Let’s turn now to 1 Samuel 25:14-16. “One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: they were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.”
This is part of a story of the exploits of David and his men. David is a type of Christ. The young men who lived and walked with him are a picture of faithful believers today who walk in company with the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the kind of companions we want to have. Nabal’s young men found that as long as they kept company with David’s young men they were safe from the dangers in the wilderness. They reported to Abigail that David’s young men were like “a wall” to them. A wall, in Scripture, speaks of separation and protection. The lesson here is that if we surround ourselves with good companions—those who walk with the Lord—we will be insulated from the dangers of the world. There is a certain protection for us by walking in company with faithful and godly Christians.
Having friends like the men of David will definitely help you in your spiritual life. For instance, you might be tempted to do something wrong, in a so-called “weak moment,” but you’ll find that these good companions will help you to go in the right direction. Or, if we are drifting and getting off track, godly companions can have a preserving effect on us. And if we have made false steps and need correction, godly companions will rebuke us because they genuinely love us. Scripture says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Prov. 27:6). One who is truly your friend will not let you go off without a warning. This is a protection that you would not get if you were not walking with good companions.
3) Spiritual Help and Instruction
Turn now to Joshua 14:12-13. This is Caleb speaking: “Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.” Then turn to chapter 21:12-13, “The fields of the city [Hebron], and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs.”
Now isn’t this interesting. They gave Caleb the opportunity to have whatever part of the inheritance that he wanted; and he chose Hebron. Hebron means communion. Isn’t that lovely. He valued fellowship and communion with the Lord and wanted to live in what speaks of it. But notice, the city that Caleb chose to live in was also the city of the priests! The priests were those, as you know, who lived and worked in the presence of the Lord in the sanctuary. When they were off from their duties at the tabernacle, they lived in that city. That means that he was literally surrounded by priests. Now that’s good company to be in, if I don’t say so myself! It should encourage us to want to walk in the company of priestly companions.
We are told elsewhere, “The priests lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:7). Under normal conditions a person could get spiritual help and instruction from the priests. What a privilege it must have been for Caleb to have that ready help around him on a daily basis!
You know, we all need companions of this sort—ones that can be a spiritual help to us. The Bible says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Prov. 27:17). That means that through the interchange of thoughts and exercises among friends who want to go on for the Lord, we become sharper in our spirituality, and also more balanced in our life. If we don’t walk with friends of “like precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1), we tend to get one-sided. A recluse is usually a one-sided person. On the other hand, we will be balanced by being with other people who have godly exercises.
4) Sympathy and Support in Times of Trial
Turn to Job 6:14, “To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend.” This is another great benefit we have in having good companions—there will be sympathy and support in times of trial! Job was complaining that his friends were not giving him that; and by the end of the book (chapter 42:7-9) we learn that they were in the wrong. It sure is a positive help to have godly companions that can understand the trials of faith, and what you are going through. The danger in trial is to get so down that you want to give up. But how good it is to have companions that can pick you up.
The Danger of Bad Companions
SEPARATION FROM EVIL
Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 15:33. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” And in Haggai 2:11-13. “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food—shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. And Haggai said, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, is it become unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.” (J. N. Darby Translation).
Haggai was sent of the Lord to test the priests as to certain principles of holiness. He asked them two questions. First, if one of them were carrying something that was holy and he came into contact with that which was common, would it make the common thing holy? The priests answered, “no.” And they were right. Then he asks a second question: If one who was unclean touched one of the holy things of the Lord, would those holy things be made unclean by contacting what is unclean? Again, the priests were correct in saying those things would be “unclean.” The lessons we are to learn from this are vitally important to our spiritual health and progress. So listen closely.
The lesson in the first question is, that which is holy cannot cleanse that which is unclean by associating with it. What an important principle to get a hold of! The lesson in the second question is, that which is unclean will defile what is clean by association with it! This is another very important principle.
Many a young person has thought otherwise, and thus, has sought to associate with some person in an attempt to be a help to them—and it hasn’t worked. Many think that they can associate with people who are walking in paths of unrighteousness, and that their contact with them will be a positive influence to lift them out of their path. But it’s not true. Learn this lesson well—we cannot transmit our holiness to someone who is walking unrighteously by associating with them!
Furthermore, some think that even if they can’t be a positive help to such persons, they can still associate with them and not be affected personally. But again, this is not true. The second question teaches us that we are only going to compromise our holiness and become defiled by such an association. We will be dragged down into those paths of unrighteousness.
The conclusion of the two questions is this: people who are walking in a path of unrighteousness cannot be brought up out of that path by our association with them; the only thing that happens is that we are brought down to their level. It is a sobering thought. It means that we have to be careful where we walk, and with whom we walk. The truth is, that association with evil defiles. There may be some here who don’t like to hear these things because they want to walk with people who are not going on with the Lord, but it doesn’t change the fact. If any think otherwise, I would just remind them that we’re not wiser than the Word of God.
The Example of Joash
There are many illustrations of this truth in the Word of God. I will draw your attention to one of them. Turn to 2 Chronicles 24:1-2. “Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” I don’t have time to read the rest of the story, but you’ll find that all the while that Joash was under the guidance and guardianship of the high priest, he went on for the Lord. He did many things that were commendable. But when old Jehoiada passed away, the princes of the kingdom came around Joash and influenced him for the worse. They introduced idolatry into his life. Then, when one of the priests (Zechariah) rose up and spoke against it, he had his friends stone him to death! It brought the wrath of God down upon Joash and his kingdom; and judgment was executed against him. It shows us how “evil communications corrupt good manners.” His contact with those ungodly princes dragged him down. And it will happen to us too if we walk with careless people. Let us be warned by it.
H. P. Barker has an illustration of this very point in one of his books. He tells the story of a farmer who, after sowing seeds in his field, saw crows coming in and eating the seeds. Every farmer knows how frustrating that is. So he went and got his gun. He took a few shots, and they all flew away, except one—his pet parrot! He shot his own pet parrot by accident. So he went out to where it was, and found it was alive. It had a broken wing; that was all. When he picked her up, he said, “Aw, Polly, this is what keeping bad company gets you!” So he took the bird under his arm and brought it to the house. When he got there his daughter wanted to know what had happened. Before he could answer, the parrot lifted up its head and said, “Bad company, bad company!” The parrot answered even though it didn’t know what it was really saying. But how true it was!
Proverbs 28:19 says: “He that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.” This has a literal meaning, but it also has a spiritual application. It means that if you associate with bad companions, you’ll come to spiritual poverty in your soul. It teaches us that we want to be careful with whom we associate.
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We’ve looked at the benefits of good companions and the dangers of bad companions. I hope that you can see that the main thing connected with each one of these is the influence that we have on one another—either for bad or for good. I know that I’ve said this before, but your friends are like the buttons on an elevator—they can take you up, or they can take you down. Which direction are your friends encouraging you?
If you really want to go on for the Lord, it will be evident to all around by simply looking at the kind of companions you have. Choose good companions that will be a help to you.
In closing, I would say that if you have these three kinds of companions that we have looked at in your life—friendship with the Lord Jesus, friendship with the Apostle Paul, and friendship with all them that fear God—then you’ll have good success, and your life will be a blessing.
B. Anstey
(Adapted)
COMPANIONSHIP—With the Lord Jesus, With the Apostle Paul, & With all Them That Fear God
B. Anstey
First Printed Edition – July 2005
Printed Version – 1.1
Printed in Canada
First eBook Edition—May 2021
eBook Version – 1.2
Note: all Scriptures quoted are from either the King James Version (KJV)
or the J. N. Darby Translation, unless otherwise noted.
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