Now turn to Proverbs 17. Two short verses we will use
as text tonight. Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17, verse
17. Proverbs 17, 17. Easy to remember.
A friend loveth at all times. And a brother is born for adversity. And then Proverbs 18 verse 24, a man that hath friends must
show himself friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. I heard this story of a young man
who pulled up to his friend's house in a bright, shiny, new,
red sports car. His friend came out and was just
marveling, admiring the car that he had. He said, where did you
get this? He said, my older brother gave me that. He said, wow. The man said, wow. He said, I'd
love to have a brother like that. And the man said, I'd like to
be a brother like that. So this message, I hope and pray,
will be to show us our blessed Lord and friend and brother,
and hopefully cause us to be such a friend and brother as
He. Nothing else will. Strive all
you will, but only by looking at Him, looking to Him. Are we
changed into that same image? Christ has all the preeminence,
doesn't He, in all things. So if we want to know what a
true friend and brother is, we start with Him. We must look
to Him. Now the word friend, the definition
of friend means an associate, one you associate with, one you
socialize with, you spend time with, a companion, one you keep
company with. A fellow, that's a word that's
usually used in educational circles, in a fellow. Fellow, it means
someone of the same rank or class or station or position, rank. Look at Mark chapter 3 with me. I love these verses. First time I ever read these
just thrilled me. They still thrill me when I read
them. Mark chapter 3 and then Luke 6. Look at these verses. It says in verse 13 of Mark 3,
you have it? Mark chapter 3. We'll not turn
to too many scriptures. Mark 3, 13. He goeth up into
a mountain. and calleth unto him whom he
would. And they came unto him. I like that, don't you? And he
ordained at twelve that they should be with him. That's why he chose them. You
read with me in John 15. He said, you didn't choose me,
I chose you to be with him. He chose them. I don't like to
use the word want. Our Lord wants. It seems to imply
that there's something He doesn't have and He longs for it. But
it was His will, it was His desire that they would be with Him.
And if you've been called and chosen, it's the same for you. He called you. And look at Luke
chapter 6. Now look at this. Luke chapter
6. This is the same instance, but
he adds something here. Luke 6, when he called his disciples. He went up into that mountain,
and Luke 6, you have it? Verse 17, it says, He came down. He came down from the mountain
with them. You have it? Luke 6, 17. He came
down with them and stood in the plain. He stood with them. We
looked at a whole message on this one time. He stood with
them in the plain and the company of His disciples. He kept company
with His disciples. He chose them, these fellows. Now, it was said of Him in derision,
a derogatory remark by His enemy. This is what it said. They said,
why, He's a friend of publicans and sinners. Well, if you're
a publican and a sinner, you think that's the most wonderful
thing you've ever heard. Levi, that's where that's found, Matthew
11. Matthew, oh, he thought that was wonderful, that Christ befriended
him. Remember, he was sitting at the
seat of customs. You remember that message? He
was sitting at the seat of customs, counting his money. He never
looked up, he was counting his money, and the Lord saw him and
came to him, spoke to him, said, follow me. The Lord chose him. Chose him. In our text, Proverbs
17 and 18, it begins with a friend before a brother. This is important. Each one says a friend before
a brother. It says a friend loveth at all
times, a brother is born for adversity. A man to have a friend
must show himself friendly, and there's a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. Okay? Friend before brother.
There's an old saying that you can choose your friends, but
you can't choose your family. Right? That's a fact. You can
choose your friend. We usually do. We need to choose
them wisely though. Proverbs speaks a great deal
about friends and foolish people and not young people. It advises
young people not to choose foolish friends because you'll become
just like them. But the old saying, you can choose
your friends but not your family. Family is your family by birth,
aren't it? You have nothing to do with it.
A friend is one by choice. Family, you're stuck with. You're
stuck with them. But friends, friends you choose
to stand by, to stand with. A true friend sticketh, never
leave, loveth at all times, never leave, never leave. Now, here's
the reason it gives friends before family. The Lord said, if you
love those that love you, what thank have you. Right? Everybody loves their family.
The mafia loves their family. Right? They're really family-oriented.
But herein is love. Our Lord said, herein is love.
That a man lay down his life for whom? You ready with me? His friends. Right? Most people would lay down their
life for their family, their blood kin. Right? Parents, I know, you wouldn't
stop and think about it, would you? If it is you or them, you
don't even think about it. But a friend? You've got to really
love a friend to do that, don't you? To love a friend closer than
a brother? You see, you love your family,
that's natural. But to love a friend closer than
your blood brother, that's supernatural. That's of God. You see? That's the love of God. The love
of God. To leave your family for your
friends? Now that's unheard of. No, it's
not. That's what our Lord did. Greater
love hath no man than this. To choose your friends, now here's
what our Lord did. We weren't His friends when He
chose us. We were His enemies. Now you
and I would not choose to befriend an enemy, would we? He did. None of his friends that
he chose were his friends until he made them so. Isn't that amazing?
That's amazing. Romans 5, turn to Romans 5. I said we weren't going to turn
too much, but I've still got my placard for myself. Slow, calm, clear, brief. Romans 5. You need to know where
these scriptures are if you don't already. These are foundational
truths. But Romans chapter 5, it says
in verse 7, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die,
yet for a venture for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God committeth His love toward us, and that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. And you all love Ephesians, don't
you? Well, how does Ephesians 2 begin?
that walked according to the course of this world, prince
of the power of the air, children of disobedience, children of
wrath even as others, but God, rich in love where His great
love wherewith He loved us. So he goes on down to say, remember,
you were in time past aliens, strangers from the covenant of
promise, no hope without God in the world, enemies, but now,
but God. in Christ Jesus. He made you
nigh by the blood of Christ. He's our King. It goes on to
say He came and preached peace unto you. You were afar off.
Now you're strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens and saints
with the saints and of the household of God. He chose you to befriend
you, to love you as His family. The saying is you can't choose
your family. Well, our Lord did that too, didn't He? Chose His
friends as His family. Here's the fact of the matter.
We love those that love us, and our Lord loved His enemies. He had to,
because there's none to love Him by nature. We choose friends
with whom we have much in common, don't we? That's who we choose
to associate with, to keep company with, people that we have things
in common with. He's holy, harmless, separate
from sinners. Who did He have anything in common
with down here? This is the Holy One of Israel,
Son of God, came down here to earth. All of us were ungodly
when Christ came, didn't we? That's great love, isn't it?
Why did He do this? To save us. To save us. From wrath. You don't hear anybody
saying that today, do you? We sing that song, don't we?
It's a rock of ages. Saved from wrath. John 3, 36. Few people know that verse. Most
people think they know verse 16, but they completely forget
about verse 36. He believeth not the wrath of
God abideth on him. All God-haters, in the end, are
going to be destroyed under the wrath of God. Well, that was
us. God came, Christ came, save us
from wrath, save us from sin. The chief sin, and sin started
this way with enmity against God, didn't it? Romans 8, 7,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. Satan was God's enemy. What did he do? He sowed discord. And he turned man against God.
And so man is born against God. He's come forth from the womb
against God. And Christ came to save us from
that enmity, to break down that enmity. And that's the first
thing he shows us. That false prophet, what's his
name? Joel Osteen, who's the most watched
false prophet in the world, he said this, 99.9% of people are
good people. Well, I'm here to tell you from
the scripture, 100% of people are no good by nature. That's
what the scripture said. There's none good. Not one. Know what it said? But God. He didn't come down here to save
good people. There were none. He came down here to save them
from their sin. Save them from this enemy. Save
them from Him. To Him. Does that make sense? It does
if He saved you. He came to save us from sin,
from the power of sin, the punishment of sin, the penalty of sin, which
is death. Save us from the power of the
lust of the flesh. All that's in the world, John
says, is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of the lap. And it's not of God. It's not of God. He came to save a people, to
make us not lust, but long for, to be with God, love God, be
like Christ. How did he do this? Let me give
you a couple of big scriptural terms, okay? I know it's Wednesday
night, but you can learn something. Most of you know this. Propitiation. Propitiation and reconciliation. These are scriptural words, okay? Propitiation. That means atonement. It means covering. Love covereth. Love covereth. And we're covered,
God's people are covered in Christ's righteousness. Our sins are covered
by His blood atonement, like that ark and that mercy seat.
Blood was poured over that mercy seat on that ark. Within it was
the law that God's people had broken, but that blood covered
it. That made atonement, propitiation,
like the ark of Noah was pitched. Same word, covered. There were
sinners in that ark. They were covered. Not one drop
of rain fell on them. All the wrath of God fell on
everybody outside the ark. They all died. They all perished.
Not one person in that ark perished. And what bore the wrath of God?
What bore the rain? What did the rain fall on for
those six, eight people? The ark. It was pitched. That's propitiation. Your dad loved that term, didn't
he, Sarah? Propitiation. Talking to Jacob
there. Got a good name, Jacob. He did
this for Jacob. The sons of Jacob. Israel, his
people. Not everybody. Not everybody.
Reconciliation. Reconciliation, what's that?
Make friendly. Unite enemies. That's what Christ
came to do. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5. You
know verse 21, which is one of the clearest gospel words in
all the Bible. A few people know it, but the
verses before it talks about if any man be in Christ, verse
17, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away.
Old things have become new. What's that? He's no longer an
enemy of God. He's friend. He no longer hates
God. He loves God. He no longer hates
the truth. He loves the truth. He no longer
loves himself. He hates himself. He loves himself. A new creature. Old things passed
away. All things are of God, verse
18, who hath reconciled us to himself. We didn't have anything
to do with it. We didn't send out, you know,
looking to be reconciled and ask it. No, no, no, no, no. Men
everywhere cried out for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
Kill Him. Kill Him. Crucify Him. Who did
that? God did that. He slew the Lamb
on our behalf. Had them like an accident. So it says God was in Christ
reconciling the world. Not every single person in the
world. You know that. It's like the love of God. If God loves everybody in the
world, everybody's safe. If God reconciled everybody in
the world, then everybody's God's friend. But that's just not so
with people out of every kindred, tongue, and nation. God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them. If our sins are not imputed,
we don't have any of it. If they were imputed to Christ
and laid on Christ and He took our sins in His body on a tree,
we don't have any, do we? So that's talking about His people.
That's why Christ came. That's why He came. Now, if you can go back, well,
no, we'll go somewhere else after this. Is the Lord your friend? How
do you know? Is the Lord your friend? How do you know if the Lord's
your friend? Okay. Everything that's been said thus
far, what do you think about it? What do you say about these
things? Do you know these things? Do
you understand something of these things? Do you believe these
things? Do you love these things? Kara's
smiling. She's trying to suppress a big
grin. There it is. Brothers and sisters, God's enemy
don't like these things. Saul of Tarsus didn't like these
things. Did he? Oh, he didn't like this. Imputation? Oh, no, no, no. He said, I kept
the law and I burned heaven. Oh, man, he was the enemy of
God. Saul, Paul, the apostle, was the enemy of God and he knew
it. He knew it. And that's the first thing that
God's going to show you. You know that? Let me give you a
couple of examples. Scripture mentions a few people
by name as actually the friends of God. Every one of God's people
are His friend. He's their friend and they're
His friend. Abraham is called the friend of God. And James
and 2 Chronicles and other men bring up Abraham, the friend
of God. Moses is called the friend of
God. I said God spoke to Moses face to face. That's a man who
speaks to his friend. Abraham and Moses, alright. Where
did Abraham come from? Huh? Was he a Jew by birth? Oh no. Ur of the Chaldeans. A Chaldean. Persian. Those people hate the Jews now.
They're fighting them right now. He was an enemy. He was 75 years
old. Scripture says he was an idolater. Seventy-five years old. What's
an idolater? Don't think of an idolater as simply someone who
bows before wooden or metal idols or whatever. An idol is anybody
or anything that you love and live for and give you time for
and your money for and you live for. People make idols out of
their family, out of their jobs, out of money, out of sports,
out of recreation, people, rock stars, sports. They're idols,
idols, idols. Covetousness is idolatry. To think about, to love, to live
for anything or anyone other than God makes you an idolater. And Abraham spent seventy-five
years without one thought of God. No thanks. Now, how many people
is this true of in the world? How long did you live without
giving God a thought? I mean, the God of the battle.
Some of you were in false religion. You actually thought you did
God a favor by accepting His Son and so forth. False religion is the worst form
of idolatry. We've got another God, but Abraham
was 75 years old. He never gave God a thought.
Living over in a foreign country, far from God, far off, an enmity
against God. But God chose Abram, called Abraham,
came to Abram, and spoke to him face to face, like you speak
to your friend, Abram. Abram. He didn't ask him anything. He didn't plead with him to do
anything. He told him what he was going
to do for him. He befriended him. This is how
you know God is your friend. He calls you by the Gospel. He
chose you to hear the Gospel. He comes and He speaks to you
and makes known Himself, the true God. He makes known to you
the true and living God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. That's what
He said in John 15, didn't He say that? I call you friends
because I've made known unto you everything. He hid Himself
from the wise and prudent, but He made Himself known to His
friend. Is God your friend? Do you know these things? Do
you know Him? Love God as God? Abraham? Didn't? Oh, he did after
a while, and God changed his name. Like Jacob. Moses. What about Moses? How old was Moses when God came
to him? Forty years old. Where was he
living? Egypt. He was rich. I mean, he was going
to be the next Pharaoh. The Hebrews were slaves. He didn't know it, but he thought
he was an Egyptian. He was proud of it. He didn't
know it, Liz, but he was a Hebrew all along. But if you'd asked him, would
you like to be a Hebrew? No! I ain't no Hebrew. I don't believe in their God.
Look at those pitiful people. No, I'm way above them. I'm going
to be somebody in this world. But God? And you know, Sunday we looked
at God doing all things, good and evil and all that, and choosing
whom He would to do what He would. And God chose Pharaoh. God chose
Pharaoh to raise Moses up, the Deliverer. Raised him in His
own house. And Moses, 40 years old, God's
come up here on this mountain, and in a burning bush, which
is Christ and Him crucified. He chose Moses. He called Moses. He spoke to Moses face-to-face. Has God spoken to you face-to-face?
Has He, like God who caused the sun to shine out of darkness,
has He spoken unto you, revealed unto you the light of the glory
of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ? We love that verse,
don't we? Quote it all the time, don't
we? I believe God's your friend.
I believe He is. Ruth, turn to the little book
of Ruth, right before Samuel. You'll love this. There are many
scriptures that speak of friends, and this is one of the best.
Ruth, you know, you love the book of Ruth, don't you? I do.
It's my favorite. Right at this very moment, it's
my favorite. Ruth chapter 2. A friend. Here's the thing about
a friend. A friend is one you choose to associate with.
You keep company with. You call upon that person. You
visit that person. You want to see them and be with
them. Like he came down to be with
them. And it's one you talk to. You
commune with them. You tell them things. You confide
in them. You tell them things, you speak
your mind, your heart, you speak comfortably to them. And you
speak well of them to others. We're going to see in a minute.
And a real friend doesn't whisper about his friend. That's a source
of discord. And the Lord warns about that
all through the prophet. But a friend is someone, someone
you befriend is someone you speak to in a sweet and loving manner. Ruth chapter 2 verse 5, Boaz
said to his servants, who's that damsel over there? He knew who
it was. You have it, Ruth 2.5, whose
damsel is it? A servant said over the reaper's
answer, it's that heathen woman, the Moabitish damsel, came back
with Naomi out of the country of Moab. Verse 8, then Boaz spoke
to Ruth. He spotted her, and he called
her, and he spoke to her. Spoke to her. He said to Ruth,
listen to me my daughter, go not to glean in another field,
neither go from hence, abide here fast by my maid, you stay
right here. You remember that message? Anybody?
Let your eyes be on the field, that they do reap, you stay right
here. I was instructed to young men concerning you, down in verse
10. Then she fell on her face and
bowed herself to the ground, You see, she doesn't know what
he's going to do with her. He does. But he's just spoken
to her. And she sees his greatness, and
she bows down before him on the ground and says, why have I found
grace in that eye that you should take knowledge of me? I'm just
a nobody from nowhere. Why would you even speak to me,
let alone do these things for me? Look down at verse 13, she
said, I have found grace in thy sight, my Lord, for thou hast
comforted me, thou hast spoken friendly to me. Your handmaid, though I be not
like these others, but you have spoken to me like a friend. He
is. She's about to find out. He's
a lot closer than a brother. He's going to marry her. All
right, listen to me. The fact of the matter is the
Lord does not first speak friendly to us. The Lord does not first speak
peaceably to His people, but roughly. That ring a bell? The story of Joseph and his friends,
you remember that? Edwin says he spoke roughly to
them through an interpreter. Joseph's brethren, they were
family. He loved them. But first, they're going to have
to fear him. First, they're going to have
to know what they've done to Him and repent. This is a word that's missing
today, not in grace pulpit, not where the truth is preached.
This is what our Lord first preached. This is what John first preached.
And this is where you start. This is what you hear before
you hear of Him being your friend or your brother or your Savior.
You hear that He's your Lord. And He can do with you as He
pleases. Savior damn you. And what you
think about yourself is like Ruth, and like Jacob's brethren,
Joseph's brethren, you think, He's going to kill us. Because
of what we've done. And we deserve it. And He speaks rapidly to you.
The law is rough. The Lord sends the law first.
You don't get to know the gospel without the law. A brother born for adversity,
and we'll get to that in a minute. Adversity. The law is against
us. The handwriting of ordinances
is against us, John, by nature. We're born enemies of God. Like Mephibosheth. All of Mephibosheth's brothers
were killed. Why wasn't Mephibosheth killed?
For Jonathan's sake. Do you know what that means?
Sure you do. That's Christ's saying. Anything you did, but a covenant
between the king and his beloved, between God and our Lord Jesus
Christ. that Joseph's brethren, the Lord,
he spake through an interpreter and spake roughly to them. And
they all, to a man, every one of Joseph's brethren repented,
didn't they? Didn't they, man? Every one of
them said, we're goners. It's because of what we did to
Joseph. And Joseph heard every word they
said. And then finally it says he could
not refrain himself. Now, he'd been speaking roughly
all that time. Now, how does he speak to them? I'm Joseph,
your brother. Come closer. Come up here. And they were scared. They feared
him. That's a good thing. Fear is good. It's the beginning
of wisdom. No fear, you don't know God.
Everyone that fears, he says, fear not. I'm your friend. I'm your brother. I've chosen
you. You might know me, fear me, believe me. Now come closer. And he kissed him. I love you. I'm your brother. And he revealed
everything to him, didn't he? He revealed everything. You did
this. You did all that. But God did this. Oh, my. A friend. Here's what I have
again. And I'm going to close. This
is it. A friend chooses, you choose
your friends. Our Lord chose to keep company
with sinners. He chose whom He would save,
whom He would call. He calls. A friend calls upon
the one that He has befriended. Come visit. A friend talks to
and confides in and tells things. And by the way, a believer should
never have a best friend. You understand me? Not even your
husband or your wife. We say that. Does our Lord have
any best friends? No. And the Scriptures even talks
about confiding in a friend. It warns us. That friend better be just like
Jesus Christ, because they may leave you. Husband, wife, right? Our husband is the one we confess
our sins, our innermost secrets to. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to leave us. He's
not. When our Lord went to the cross,
it says He opened not, He spoke not a word. He's taken our blame. Hear me out now. He's the one
we confess our sins to. He's the one we tell our innermost
secrets to. He's our best friend. He loves all of us the same.
But confiding in Him? You know, hopefully you can trust
your friend, but you can definitely trust your Lord. Your secrets
are safe with Him. He died with them. You understand? Scripture speaks about that many
times. But anyway, a friend like our
Lord confides in, He confides in us, tells us in our most is
mine. And a friend is one who has the
same interests and likes and conversation and so forth. Back
to Proverbs 17. Look at that. Proverbs 17, verse
17. A friend loveth at all times. See, here's a true friend. A friend won't leave you. A real
friend. Won't ever leave you. Is that what they're saying?
If somebody leaves you and was your friend, were they your friend?
No. Somebody said, I don't love you anymore. Well, you never
did. Right? And love never failed. Isn't
that what they said? A friend loveth at all times.
Our Lord loved you while you were yet enemies. A sinner, lost, undone. That's when He set His love on
you. Alright? What are you now? A sinner. He still loves you. There's a
new creature there, but that old man's still there. All right? What are you going to be in the future? What are you going
to be? A sinner. A friend. And there's none like him. A
true friend. Loved with it all the time. Up,
down, in, out. All his friends left him. He sang that song, Do thy friends
despise, forsake thee? Every one of his friends did.
All those scriptures, brother, that talk about I stand aloof,
my sword stands aloof from my friends and my brethren and so
forth, that's Christ speaking. Did he forsake them? Not one
of them. Simon Peter was the worst, wasn't
he? boasting of what he'd do, yeah. Then our Lord said, without
me, you can do nothing. He had to learn a lesson. He
would forsake our Lord, and we have many times. And we may yet
do it again. But if you belong to Him, He
will not forsake you. Here's our hope, you know, if
we deny Him, if we're one with Him, what's the rest of it say
to you? He can't deny Himself. This is
that husband. He said, can a mother forsake
her offspring? They often do. He said, I'll
never forsake you. He said, I've got you engraved
on the palms of my hand. Husbands and wives claim to be
best friends. Fifty percent. It's going on
sixty percent divorces. He said, where's your bill of
divorce? Find it. You can't find it. And
he said in Hosea, he said, go love a woman like one is beloved
of her friend. Like the love of God for His
people. He said, I'll never leave you forsaken. A friend loveth
at all times. At all times. And a brother is
born for adversity. Oh, my. Man, you, me, women,
we're all born of woman and we're a few days and full of trouble,
adversity, aren't we? So our great Lord, our brother
and our friend came into this world of trouble to get us out
of trouble, to bring us out of trouble, adversity, to deal with
our adversary, deal with the law that was against us. had
nailed the handwriting of ordinances that were against him onto his
cross. Made of a woman. Made under the law. He's a fellow. He became one of us fellows in
our rank, in our station. Made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. Why? To deliver it. Born to deliver. Died to redeem. And lives to
raise us. And then over in Proverbs 18,
it says, there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Closer than a brother. Oh, my. Our Lord, our family may even
leave us. I said in the beginning that
you're stuck with it. Well, maybe not. even family,
in the last days, it gets so bad, it says, without natural
affection, doesn't it? You know, abortion, people giving
up their children left and right like they're nothing, more concerned
about whatever, drugs or pleasure and all that. Things are so bad.
There is just not even any natural affection in men. But our Lord
said, I'll never leave you. Thank you. For any reason. I
was no wise. Closer than a brother. All right. Now, why can't we be like him?
Well, the only way we will is keep these things in mind. You
know that? no matter what a friend does.
And listen to me, let me tell you this. I was going to show
you, in Proverbs 17 it says, a whisperer separates very friends.
And a forward man sews a stripe, a whisperer separates friends.
He that covereth the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth
the matter separates the friend. I've been through some painful
things in my life, physical pain and loss of loved ones and all
that, but the most painful thing, and I say this not for your pity, but to warn us all, that this
is the worst thing you can possibly go through, is have a brother
or a sister, a friend, leave you and forsake you without a
cause. It's the most painful thing you
can possibly endure. and turn someone else against
you that you were faithful to and a good friend to. It's the
most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life. You never
get over it. And our Lord is a greater friend
than that in what all we do to Him. So remember that. A true friend speaks well of
his friend to others. John the Baptist. was the friend
of the bridegroom. And our Lord said, what do you
think about John? I'll tell you about John. There's none greater
or more of one. He spoke well of his friend. Did John speak
well of him? Oh, my. So, that's a warning, okay? It's
a warning. If you're going to be a true
friend, like Christ, you cover. You cover. You speak well of.
You don't separate. Okay, stand with me.