May it please God to bless us
tonight as we've come together to worship. Let's turn to the
book of the Proverbs and the 18th chapter and the last verse,
verse 24. The book of the Proverbs chapter
18 and the 24th verse. A man that hath friends must
show himself friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. As we consider the book of the
Proverbs, there are so, so many Proverbs which are indeed recorded
and how very Simple and straightforward they are and succinct in their
wording. And so we have here tonight just
these simple and important statements. A man that has friends must show
himself friendly. I'm sure we understand what that
means. It's a very simple statement,
isn't it? And then, and there is a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. And of course that refers to
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And how wonderful it
is to think that we as unworthy sinners have a friend in Jesus. The hymn writer says, what a
friend we have in Jesus. And what a blessing it is if
you and I have the evidence that Jesus is our friend. Really, it falls into two categories. We are either the enemy of Jesus
or we are the friend of Jesus. And all of us fall into one of
those two categories. And if, of course, we are an
enemy of Jesus, We shall never be found in heaven. We shall
sink into the depths of hell. But if we are indeed a friend
of Jesus, we shall spend eternity with him in glory. So we can
see, can we not, that this clause is a very dividing clause, as
indeed much of the word of God is. sets before us the dead and
sets before us the living what a mercy it is then to be found
amongst those who are the living in spiritual Jerusalem well as
the proverb tells us here I want to really concentrate on the
second part the first part is Quite obvious, I'm sure, the
man that has friends must show himself friendly. If we are unfriendly
to people, how can we ever expect them to be friends with us? We
need to be friendly and we need to encourage friendliness and
not to turn away from people. And I say that because we may
be those whom God uses in the conversion of those who may perhaps
appear to be very unfriendly, may be unfriendly, but you see
the Lord can change hearts. And what a great blessing it
would be if we are used to this end, so that through the words
that we may speak, they may come to the glorious knowledge of
the way of salvation. It is a wonderful privilege that
we have and we must never forget the Bible describes the Church
of God, that we are indeed the light in this world and we are
salt in this world. And we should never think such
statements are irrelevant. They're very important. And what
a mercy then, if in the environment in which we operate, whether
it's at school, whether at university, whether at work, whether at home,
such truths may be evident in our life. And we do therefore
show a friendly concern for those we mix with. The Word of God
tells us Those who winneth souls are wise. We only have to ponder,
don't we, as I mentioned in prayer, the difference between those
who are saved and those who are lost. And it is good to realize,
to spend eternity in hell is beyond our comprehension. as to the terribleness of such
a position, a place where there is outer darkness, a place where
the worm dieth not, a place where there is no recovery. Once time
has ended for us, the lot is cast, and there is no coming
back. Well let's then be concerned
that a man that has friends must show himself friendly. But then
moving on to this second clause, and there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. It's wonderful to know that God
condescends to look upon us and deal with us in love to our souls. I think one of the wonderful
verses in the Word of God is in the Song of Solomon and the
fifth chapter. The fifth chapter describes to
us the bride of Christ and how she'd wandered away really And
her sleep was more important to her than her spiritual life. And we're told that the Heavenly
Bride came, Bridegroom Mother came. And we're told, I sleep
and 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. And her response is, I put off
my coat. How shall I put it on? I've washed
my feet, how shall I defile them? It's very easy to ignore the
movement of the Holy Spirit in our heart. When the Lord jogs
our mind to consider our position, consider where we stand, consider
the reality of our religion, And so we see the bride here
making excuses. Where have we made excuses in
our lives? God looks at the heart. You and
I can appear to be very noble and very righteous, and yet you
see in reality, we may be walking far off from God. contrary to
his way. Well, we read in those two verses
how she was unwilling to rise from the bed, to do anything. And then we're told, my beloved
put in his hand by the hole in the door and my bowels were moved
for him. We see then that she was moved. And then she thought, well, I
now get up. and opened to my beloved. And
she says, my hands dropped with myrrh and my fingers with sweet
smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. The reality is God has a time
to bless us, a time to call us, a time to direct us, And we should
not be amongst those who refuse to hear such calls, refuse to
hear such direction, because she opened to my beloved, but
my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. So we cannot dictate
to God Our spiritual timing. God calls us. God speaks to us. God called here this bride and
she turned her back upon God. We could say she was just too
comfortable in the things of the world. She didn't want to
stir herself. Well, the Lord withdrew himself
and she tells us, I sought him. But I could not find him. I called
him, but he gave me no answer. I know not. There may be someone
here tonight in that position who realize
the Lord has called them, and they turned their back. And now
they're seeking him, and there's no answer. the deathly silence. And as we go on we're told, the
watchmen, watchmen of course refer to the preachers of the
gospel, the watchmen went about the city, found me, they smoked
me, they wounded me, The keepers of the walls took away my veil
from me. See, we may be wounded by the
preaching of the gospel, but it may not really have a good
and a right effect upon us. Well, we're told then that the,
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
that she tell me that I am sick of love. And the daughters of
Jerusalem refer to the church of God. You see here is this
person, this bride, asking and saying, oh daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved, tell me that I, because I'm sick of
love. And then the church asks her
this leading question. And it's good sometimes to have
a question like this put to us. The question was, what is thy
beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest among women, what
is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge
us? Well, we won't go through what
this bride describes her beloved as, but You can go home and you
can meditate on it and it's a very wonderful and full description
that she gives of what her beloved is. And she comes down to the
last verse in this fifth chapter and she says, his mouth is most
sweet. That means the words that come
from the mouth of the Lord speaking to our hearts. What a blessing
if we know something of the sweetness of the Word of God. And she says,
yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. And then she says, and that's
why we really just thought on these verses, and this is my
friend. What a mercy. What a favour. to have Jesus as our friend. This is my beloved and this is
my friend, oh daughters of Jerusalem. She's telling the church of God
who her beloved was and what he meant to her and able to conclude
it with this wonderful statement, this is my beloved and this is
my friend. Well, tonight, We have this word,
there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Is Jesus
your friend? Is he my friend or is he our
enemy? Is he that one before we will
trembling stand on that great day of judgment and have nobody
to plead for us? because we've turned our back
upon the promises and the words of Almighty God. Well, what a
blessing if we're moved by the Holy Spirit and we're able to
look into our hearts and discern what Jesus means to us. And to be able to describe what
he means to us, the Bible is able to give a very adequate
description of what Jesus meant to her. Now Jesus does mean something
to the Church of God. It's not a void. He's not a person
that has no effect. If Jesus has come and touched
our hearts, if Jesus has come and drawn near to us and moved
us, What a blessing then if the Lord has directed us to himself,
to his great and wonderful work in our hearts. There's many references
really to the friendship of Almighty God and how wonderful it is to
think that Almighty God condescends to be called our friend. What
a great and wonderful blessing it is. In the prophecy of Zechariah,
and there's many references in the prophecy of Zechariah to
the Lord Jesus Christ, but just referring to one, and that's
in the 13th chapter and the sixth verse. And one shall say unto
you, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer,
those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. To think that it's through our
lives, through our sin, that caused the Lord to suffer to
cause the Lord's to bleed on our behalf and to give his life
in our place, to appease the anger of almighty God and to
pay the punishment due to us. Well, what a mercy it is. What
are these wounds in thine hands? He shall answer. those with which
I was wounded in the house of my friends. And I believe if
such a word is applied to our hearts, we will recognise the
wonder of it. I think that we wounded, we wounded,
we were the cause of the wounds of the Saviour. We were the reason
why His hands were pierced with those nails. And only now, of
course, we know his feet and his side and all the agony the
Lord Jesus passed through. Well, and here we have this one
spoken as a friend. There is a friend. Well, it would
be a great blessing for us tonight if we can claim the Lord Jesus
Christ as our friend, as the one who's not dealt with us as
our sins deserve. Yes, we could. He could have
turned his back upon us. But what a mercy if he's heard
your cry and he's given you a concern for your eternal soul. And what do we find then? There
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. What a mercy
that is, isn't it? To have such a glorious friend
who sticks by us. When we depart from God, when
we follow the inclinations that Satan puts in our hearts, and
what's the effect really? It's what we've operated on and
we've said really, I will not have this man to rule over me. I'm going to please myself. What a mercy when the Lord doesn't
allow that to actually come to fruition. And we find our friend. Our friend the Lord Jesus Christ
comes alongside us and shows his love. When the Lord Jesus
spoke to his disciples in that upper room, It's well worth reading
the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John. It's the only part where
there's a description of what the Lord spoke to those disciples,
those 11 disciples, on that wonderful occasion. And he tells us this. Verse 12, this is my commandment,
that ye love one another. as I have loved you. What a direction
for the Church of God. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What a mercy to think that We
are, if we are those who've received that great and glorious call
from God, we are his friends. And if we are his friends, the
Lord Almighty, the Lord God Almighty has condescended to lay down
his life for us to give his life a ransom for many. give his life
a ransom to pay the debt that we cannot pay. And every sin that we commit,
every thought, every wrong word, every wrong action builds up
a great stack of sin, which you and I will never be able to repay.
But what a wonderful blessing if we have this friend. What a wonderful blessing, greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. And what does he go on to say? Ye are my friends. If ye do whatsoever,
I command you, Well, do we have the evidence in our hearts that
we are a friend of Jesus? He are my friends. If you do
whatsoever, I command you. So the Lord knows and only God knows whether we
have the evidence of that great truth. that we are His friends
if we're obeying His commands, if we are walking in His precepts,
if we are doing His great and glorious will. And so He then moves on, 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." It's wonderful, isn't it? To think that we have such a
kind and gracious heavenly friend who's willing to make all those
things needful, known to us, so we don't carry on aimlessly
through this world, but we find, through the grace of God, that
this friend sticks close to us. Well, it really means that the
Lord Jesus is attached to us. You know, when you're very close
to somebody, you hear what they say. If you're far off, you don't
hear. What a wonderful evidence, therefore,
if you and I are walking closely with our God, there is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. I think that God sticks to us. He doesn't cast us off. He doesn't
come and say, you're of no value. I've wasted my time. No, once
he's loved, he always loved. And just go back. Go back in
eternity to realize that God loved his own back in eternity. Not something that was dreamt
up, but something that was wonderfully planned back in eternity. And he tells us, continuing those
verses in the 15th of John, you have not chosen me. We never
would in and of ourselves. We never would. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. That whatsoever
you should ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to
you. It's a wonderful promise. And
it's the Lord Jesus himself speaking here. And we should be really
encouraged by such grand and glorious truths, to know that
these words are written for our encouragement and to prove to
us that this friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, sticketh closer
than a brother. It's very humbling, isn't it?
when we try and recognize that almighty God, the one who we've
offended, the one who we've disobeyed, the one who we walk contrary
to, graciously comes and sticks closer to us and speaks to our
very heart and our very soul and speaks those words of peace
My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. What a wonderful blessing God
has given to you and me. The evidence that he is our friend. Because if we have the evidence
that he is our friend, we can rejoice in the peace of God. and that peace which passeth
all understanding. It's not something which is trivial,
it's eternal. See, God's love doesn't vary. Ours can be very fickle, can't
it? But God's love is the same, doesn't change. To think he loved
us before we were born. He loved us through our life. The time when we walked contrary
to God. The time when we walked our own
path. And yet, you see, this great
and glorious Saviour was determined to save. The wonderful thing
is, with God, there are no failures. There are failures with us and
in our life, but with God there are no failures. There is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. Well, what a wonderful mercy
it is. And God's servant James speaks
in the second chapter of that little book of James. And this is what he tells us
towards the end. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? And let us just remember that
faith without works is dead. You see, God enables us to do
that which is God-honoring and take up our cross and follow
him. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar. That was a tremendous deed, wasn't
it? And if you just think about that,
because in Isaac resided the promises of God. And to think
that, naturally speaking, he was going to be destroyed. And
yet, you see, Abraham was blessed with that faith. Sayest thou
how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, Abraham believed God. Do you and I believe God? Abraham Believed God. It's a great blessing,
isn't it? And it was imputed, given to
him, placed upon him for righteousness and he was called the friend
of God. See the wonderful sequence and
the wonderful blessing because we all want and all need to be
called the friend of God, not the enemy. Well, then as the
James goes on to say, you see then how that by works a man
is justified and not by faith only. And then he gives an example. It's very helpful sometimes to
have examples in the word of God. And he tells us likewise
also was not Rahab I'm sure we're familiar with Rahab in Jericho,
the one who took the spies in and then was delivered when Israel
invaded Jericho, the walls fell down and they were all destroyed
apart from Rahab and her family. Likewise also, was not Rahab
the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers
and had sent them out another way? For as the body without
the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Won't it be a great blessing
if God enables us to take up our cross, take up our cross
daily and follow Him, the great and glorious Saviour. And so
we have, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. It's a very great mercy if you
and I can understand what this means, that we found the Savior
near a hand, not far off. You see, when we find the Savior
near a hand, we're kept from many evils. You know, the Apostle
Peter, what did he do? He followed afar off. He followed
afar off. Now what happened when he followed
afar off? He denied his Lord and Master. Three times. He said he would
never do that. He would never deny the Lord
Jesus. He said he would die for him.
He would never deny him. Well, Peter didn't realize how
weak he was. And very often we don't realize
how weak we are. Left to ourselves, we're no better. Never rely on your strength,
and may I never rely upon my strength. But always rely upon
the strength of a blessed Saviour. The Apostle Paul knew that. And
he tells us, I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth
me. It's a very comprehensive statement,
isn't it? But the Apostle had proved it in his life. He had
walked so contrary to God for all those years. And he thought
he was doing God's service. In actual fact, he was walking
contrary to God. But God had mercy upon him. Sometimes we may perhaps think
we're doing that which is right, but in reality, we're walking
contrary to God. What a mercy when God comes and
shows us where we are and what we're doing. and directs us then
to Himself. Really what it means is we're
turned around. We're turned around. You know,
true repentance means turning around and going in an opposite
direction. And you can recognize, I'm sure,
that that is the gift of God. Because left to ourselves, we
would carry on in the wrong direction. But what a blessing when the
Holy Spirit turns us around in the opposite direction. So instead
of following our way, we follow God's way. And that's a good
place. And that's a place of comfort
to our soul. And that's a place of encouragement
And that's a great blessing. The Word of God tells us, if
you walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. Sometimes we may find that things
are not working out as we anticipated. Things aren't occurring that
we thought would do. Perhaps sometimes we need to
question our life as to whether we are walking contrary to God's
way, contrary to God's will and doing our way and our will. And that word is being fulfilled
in our life. And I will walk contrary to you. It's a fearful thing to walk
in the opposite direction to the way that God will have us
go. It's a very sad position. We don't want to find ourselves
there. The devil is very content. The devil would encourage us.
The devil may bless us in this way and that way. Or with perhaps
some temporal blessings. But the reality is temporal blessings
come and temporal blessings go. But you and I need spiritual
blessings, the answer of a good conscience, and to have the blessed
saviour revealed to us as that one who has given his life upon
the cross at Calvary so that you and I might possess the wonderful
gift of eternal life. There's no greater gift that
you and I can receive and the gift of eternal life. And that gift is only given as
we receive the wonderful favor of God and to realize that the
Lord Jesus Christ gave his life as a complete sacrifice to pay
the price of our sin. Every sin has to be paid for. The hymn writer tells us there
was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could
unlock the gate of heaven to let us in. This friend that stick
is closer than a brother. How wonderful it is. to have this friend with us,
going with us, helping us, speaking to us, encouraging us, perhaps
correcting us. We're very foolish. We often
take wrong steps. We follow our own natural incarnation. The Word of God tells us there
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but in the end thereof
is a way of destruction." My friends, don't follow the way
that seems right to you. Follow the way that is right. That is right. Because the Word
of God again encourages us, those that honour me, I will honour.
And those that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed. Perhaps
we have despised the Saviour. Perhaps we have turned our back
upon Him. Well, how humbling to realise,
nonetheless, this great and glorious God sticks by us, doesn't cast
us off as something of no value. And the reason He doesn't cast
us off is because He's loved us with everlasting love. Bad as we may realize we are,
to think that He's loved us with everlasting love. You see, God's
love doesn't vary. God's love is the same yesterday,
and today, and forever. God does not change. You and
I change. We're very fickle. What a blessing
it is to have this wonderful stability centered in our God. Well, here says the proverb,
and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So surely
we want to examine ourselves. We're encouraged to. The Word
of God tells us to examine ourselves. as to whether we are in the faith
or not, and to examine ourselves to observe whether this great
and glorious Saviour is with us, going with us and not leaving
us. It's wonderful you and I are
able to trace it out and find there have been situations when
perhaps we were going our own way. And what happened? hedged
up our way. We wanted to do a certain thing. Our way was hedged up. What a mercy it is to have a
God who loves us and therefore does hedge up our way and doesn't
allow us to just wander on into this poor old sinful world. We
have to perhaps concur with the Apostle Peter who tells us he
knew the value of it, kept by the power of God, through grace,
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Yes, it's this
friend who sticks closer than a brother. What a mercy, what
a favour, what a blessing. Well, let's just ponder these
thoughts tonight and may we be able to find the evidence of
our God with us, going with us, helping us, strengthening us,
turning us, away from the things of time to the things of eternity. And surely we have then great
cause to thank and to praise God, to truly praise God from
whom all blessings flow. Amen. Let us conclude the worship of
the Lord's House today by singing together hymn number 133, Christ
a Friend. One there is above all others
well deserves the name of friend. His is love beyond a brother's,
costly, free, and knows no end. They who once his kindness prove,
find it everlasting love. Hymn number 133. For all this earth shall in Him
obey. This is how we all have vowed
thus far, as in prayer. Oh say does that star spangled
banner yet wave O'er the wilderness and its wild. Love that is love, twice in love. ? This was boundless from beginning
? ? This is the season ending here ? ? The grace of God to suffer ?
? Day does not attempt to love ? ? We have asked for help too
often ? ? Watch and weep ? ? And in the sons of old praise
you be. ? Now may the grace of our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and
the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, rest and
abide with us each, now and for evermore. Amen.