Proverbs 18, 24, a man that hath
friends must show himself friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. I don't know that there's a greater
gift in this world from our Lord than a friend. This is a wonderful subject to
speak on. because friends are something
that we value so greatly, a precious gift from the Lord. And of course,
he himself being the greatest friend. But I use the word friend
to include a husband or a wife or children. I've heard people say and read at certain times about how that,
you know, if you're a parent, you're not your child's friend,
you're their parent. If those two things are mutually
exclusive to you, you're doing it wrong. Can I
say it bluntly? You're doing it wrong. Your children
need friends, and they need you to be their friend. They should have no better friend
than you. Our text reminds us, because it seems that we often
forget, much of the time we don't ourselves act like much of a
friend. even to those we call our friends. And so this is the reminder of
our text, to have a friend, you must be a friend. And so it causes
us to look to ourselves, to look inwardly. Friendship, like love itself,
is mostly action. Those who I have counted in my
life as my dearest and truest friends. Of which, when you think about
it, there are surprisingly few. But they're those who simply
would have done anything for me. Just about anything. And I expect
that All of us have had a friend like
that at one time or another. The Lord has blessed me to always have at least one. Isn't
that a beautiful thing? I don't remember ever in my life
having to say, I just don't have a friend in the world. I've always
had at least one. And that's a great blessing.
I know that's the Lord. I told you before that I've probably
had maybe two or three or four maybe in my whole life that if
I called them up at three o'clock
in the morning and said, I'm in trouble, that they would drive
all night to get to me. Thankfully, I've only had to
test that maybe once in my life. And I suspect that I have friends
that if I did test that, I might be surprised. I might be surprised
that I have more than I thought. But here's our text though. Our
text doesn't say you need friends like that, although you do. Our
text is this though, be a friend like that. And let's be clear about this.
Being a friend to someone is not because they would do anything
for you. It's because you love them. But
that's what love does. Even if they cannot do a thing
for you, they're still your friend. But you know that if they could,
they would. They'd do it if they could. And
that's love. And speaking of love, we need
to look at a couple of words in the verse. 18, 24, 20, yeah, 24. A man that hath friends,
that word friends there, is what you would imagine it
to be, a companion, a fellow, a friend. And the word friend,
though, in the last part of the verse, a man that hath friends
must show himself friendly, and there is a friend, that's a different
word altogether. The first definition of that
word is to love. To love. It's used synonymously
with friend here, and there's not a thing wrong with that. There are earthly friends that
stick closer than a brother. I can attest to that. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
ultimately who this refers to. And that's important that we
dwell mostly upon that, upon him, because there may be a time
in this life where the Lord leads us without an earthly friend.
We see many in the scriptures that were that way. But never without him. Though my father and my mother
forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Everything that a friend is,
is our savior in the ultimate perfect sense. Would the Lord Jesus Christ do
anything for you? And I'm talking about today,
right now. Would he do anything for you?
How do you know? Can you tell him anything? That's
a friend, isn't it? There are some things I just
can't say to just acquaintances that I can say to a friend. Can you tell the Lord Jesus anything? Can you bear your soul unto him?
and be confident that you won't regret it. Can you trust him? That's a friend. Someone you
can trust, tried and true, the only way that you can know whether
you can trust somebody is if you've trusted them before and
found them to be faithful. The Lord Jesus Christ shines. Does he care about you? I think about that, that's a
little different now than a friend that would do anything for you
is one thing if it came down to it, but do they always think
about what can I do for him? How can I be a help? Does the Lord Jesus Christ care
about you like that? I know we don't think about that
very often, There is never a time that he's
not thinking about you. I already asked, would he do anything
for you? Does he do anything for you?
It's one thing to think, well, you know, if the Lord spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? That's wonderful. That's a wonderful knowledge
and promise and truth. But it's another thing to realize
what he has done for us. To think about that. Call it
counting your blessings, call it whatever you want. But are we forced constantly
to thank him for the precious time that he's
given us, for the precious relationships that he's given us, for the precious
love that we experience in our lives. That's not even mentioning yet the unspeakable joy that it is
to know that he's on the throne. The one that loves me with an
everlasting love calls the shots. You know, they say that when
you're down is when you find out who your friends are. And
there's some truth to that. Is the Lord Jesus there when
you're down? Does he fill your heart with
joy, with the realization that he doeth all things well and
that nothing really bad can happen to you? Because he won't allow
it. He will not suffer it. There's a lot to learn about
friendship with one another. But what makes even our earthly
friendships what they are, the precious gift that they are,
it's that one friend that sticks closer than a brother. Because there's nothing more
friendly that any friend could ever do than point you to him. Here's the final thought on this,
at least for now. His love And remember that word
friend, there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. That means to love. There's somebody
that loves you more than anybody. Someone whose love transcends
that of all earthly relationships. And that love is transforming. If a man is to have a friend
like that, he must show himself friendly. He must, because he's
a new creature. He's changed. It's like Paul
said, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Necessity is
laid upon me. And as I said, that's the friendliest
thing you can do, is tell somebody the truth about Christ. The Savior did not and does not
love you because you can do anything for Him. His love is not selfish nor self-serving. He commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us and greater love
hath no man than this. Then he laid down his life for
who? His friends. He saved my soul when I was not a friend to him and I was without strength. And
his love for us has made it so that we must show ourselves freely. We must, not of constraint, or
at least not the way we normally think of that word, but the love
of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ shed abroad
in our hearts makes it so. And so may we be a friend. That's what our text is telling
us. If we have a friend like him,
we must be a friend. I've had people say to me, you should never get too friendly
with the congregation. Haven't I? I can't do that. For better or for worse, I can't
do that. And I believe it's of the Lord. I want to say this in the right
way, but I believe I can say it sincerely. My heart is yours to break. May God make us and give us true
friends. And may we never stop praising
Him for being our friend. Amen, let's pray.