Turn with me to Proverbs chapter
18 now. Proverbs chapter 18. As the song said, I need thee
every hour. We especially need him in this
hour. The forces of hell. Satan, who is a roaring lion. Principalities, rulers of the
darkness. Spiritual wickedness in high
places is against what we're doing right now. This is his
battleground. We certainly need the Holy Spirit,
the conqueror, to come to drive away everything that will hinder
us. Read with me here, Proverbs 18,
verse 24. Scripture says a man that hath
friends must show himself friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
speaking of the last days before his return, Over in Matthew 24
verse 12. He said in these last days. That
the love of many. Shall wax cold. That almost chills my blood just
to think about it. The love of many shall wax cold. You and I were talking about
this. And the Apostle Paul went further In describing these perilous
times that we're living in, these last days, perilous times, by
saying this, he said, men shall be lovers of their own selves. Not loving others, loving themselves. He said there'll be truce breakers.
That is, they'll break every covenant, every vow, every connection,
any tie that they have with anybody. These things are rampant in our
day. Divorce is rampant. Now, I want to talk to you tonight
a little bit about true friendship. Bible kind of friendship. Friendship that this text says
is closer than a brother, closer than blood relations. And this
friendship that is forever. That never ends. The Scripture
says, a friend loveth at all times. A true friend loveth at
all times. And a brother is born for adversity. Now, a real and lasting friendship
is hard to come by. A real friendship. Someone who's
a real friend in the truest sense of the word, a real friend. Let
me read this to you. That's what I was jotting down
the study while ago from the dictionary. Just Webster's dictionary
says this. A friend is one who entertains
for another. Such strong sentiments of esteem,
love, respect and affection. that he seeks his society, he
seeks his welfare, and he's an intimate associate. True friendship
is hard to come by, in our day especially. It's sad. It's sad
that in these days a true friend is a real rarity, even among
those who call themselves believers. It's so rare that if you find
one, if you can find one, buddy, you better do everything possible
to hold on to it. You better do all within your
own power to nurture that friendship, because they seem to be so fragile,
so rare. Now, he says here that a man
that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there is a friend,
though, that sticketh closer than a brother. I want to talk
to you tonight about three examples of friendship. Three main points
to this message. Three examples of friendship. First of all, and we would be
remiss, we would be wrong, we would greatly err if we did not
first talk about this friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Because all true friendships, all true love emanates from him. Number one, Christ, the friend
of sinners. Has a good ring to it. Number
two, sinners, the friends of Christ. And number three, friends
to Christ, friends. Christ, the friend of sinners,
now I want to do this, I want to talk to you about these things
by looking at an Old Testament story. First Samuel, chapter
18. Look back there with me. First Samuel, chapter 18. Nowhere
in the Bible can you go to find a more beautiful story of friendship
between two people than here in First Samuel 18. And nowhere
can you go to find a clearer picture of Christ and the believer. than right here, in the story
of David and Jonathan, this friendship between these two men. Now, we're going to look at these
types, David and Jonathan. We're going to interchange the
types, because at one time, Jonathan will remind us of Christ, and
another time, David will remind us of Christ. And that's the
way it should be, because we should remind others, one another,
of Christ. All right, let's read here in
1 Samuel 18, the first four verses. Now, it came to pass when David
had made an end of speaking unto Saul. This was when David came
back from slaying the Philistine. He was just a young man, but
such a faithful David. What a man, what a young man,
what a fine, fine Christlike, godly man David was. And Johnathan
heard him speaking, and it says, The soul of Johnathan was knit
with the soul of David, and Johnathan loved him as his own soul. And
Saul took David that day and would not let him go no more
home to his father's house, but he stayed there. He lived there
with Saul and Johnathan. Then Johnathan and David, in
the course of time, in living there in that same house on the
same roof, they made a covenant. because he loved him as his own
soul. Old David tabernacled with Jonathan
and made a covenant with him. And Jonathan, it says, stripped
himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David. Now, I want to talk to you, as
I said, first of all about Christ, a friend of sinners. Christ,
a friend of sinners. One day, the Lord Jesus Christ
was walking through the town of Jericho, a notorious place
full of sinners, wicked, ungodly, vile people. And as always, Christ
attracted a crowd. Everywhere he went, vast multitudes
of people followed him, pressed all around him to get a look
at him and to hear his voice. And he was walking through Jericho
one day and there was a little fella, a publican. He was an enemy of everyone. Nobody liked this man. He was
a publican. A publican was a turncoat, was
a traitor to his own people. He got rich off of his own people. He collected taxes for a tyrannical
government that the people hated. And he himself pocketed much
of the money he received from the people. And everybody hated
this man. His name was Zacchaeus. A little
feller. And he was interested in Christ
like everybody else. So it wasn't anybody going to
put him on their shoulders so he could get a good look. It
wasn't anybody going to let him have their seat to see Christ.
They despised it. Get out of the way. So he climbed
up a little sycamore tree. Scripture says, for the Lord
he wanted to see. But he climbed up in this tree
to get a look at Christ and the Lord of glory. I'm talking about
the King of kings and Lord of lords. God Almighty in human
flesh was walking by. And I hear this vast throng of
people, thousands upon thousands, were following him. And the Scripture
says, He walked by this tree and stopped in his tracks. And looked up in that tree. And
said, Zacchaeus. You make haste now. You hurry
up now and you come on down here. Because this day I must abide
at your house. There wasn't anybody anywhere
that liked that man. Everybody hated him. He didn't
have a friend to his name, but he did now. He had the only friend
he was ever going to need for a lifetime. He was about to have,
Terry, a friend that was going to stick closer than a brother. And he went and abided in that
man's house and ate with him and changed him in a moment. Christ was teaching in the temple.
He was teaching, as always, on the Sabbath. He went in the temple,
and he was teaching a vast throng of people, as usual, a vast crowd
gathered in there to hear him speak. And as he was sitting
there teaching the people, it says that a loud, angry mob came
running in, a big commotion came running into that temple. And
this loud, angry mob had a hold of a woman. And it says they
grabbed that woman where Christ was sitting and threw her or
put her in the midst. They didn't do it lightly. They
did it roughly. Cast her at his feet where Christ was. Now, this woman, as you know,
was a notorious woman. She was an adulteress. I think
she was a street woman. She was a common prostitute,
perhaps. And nobody liked her either,
except for what they'd get out of her. But everybody, it was
anybody, turned thumbs down on her. And they brought her into
the temple, you know, and they cast her down at his feet, and
there they stood over top of her, looking down on her. Boy,
they couldn't have brought her to a better place, could they?
And they looked down at her. She didn't have a friend anywhere
to be found, but one. And the scripture said
that Jesus stooped down to where she was. He stooped down. While everyone else was looking
down on her, she, Christ, stooped down to where she was. And you
know the story, how he began writing in the sand and everybody
began filing out of that place, and he finally said, woman, where
are your accusers? Doth no man accuse you? She said,
I guess not, Lord. He said, neither do I. She'd
found a friend that was sticking close. A friend for life. The
only friend she's ever going to meet. A friend that was going
to stick closer to her than a brother. A friend. Not only a friend for
life. I'm talking a friend for eternal
life. The Pharisees, they said about
him later, when they saw him gathering around with a bunch
of lowlife people like these two that I just mentioned, they
said this about him, and no truer words could have been spoken
anywhere. They said, Behold, a gluttonous man, a winebibber,
and he's a friend of publicans and sinners. I tell you, if Zacchaeus
and this woman had been around, they'd have said, Amen! That's
right. Isn't it great? He's a friend
of publicans and sinners. We're sure glad about that, because
we sure needed a friend, and he became one to us. Friend of
sinners. Thank God for the friend of sinners. And the Scripture says, we just
read it, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. Must
show himself friendly. And Christ did this. This friend,
there he is a friend. Let's stick it closer to the
brother. I'll show you a few points here how that Christ showed
himself friendly. He showed himself friendly. Look
at the text here again in 1 Samuel 18. Look at verse 4. Jonathan
here is going to represent Christ. It says that Jonathan and David,
verse 3, made a covenant. Because Jonathan loved David
as his own soul. And it says here, he showed this
by verse 4, Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was
on him. And Jesus Christ stripped himself
of those royal and regal robes of his kingship, where he sat
before on the throne of glory in perfect happiness, In perfect
glory, in perfect bliss, the scripture says he left all that.
He left all that, thought it nothing. And he came down here
in the midst of squalor and sin and filth and corruption. The
king became a pauper in order that the pauper might become
a king. No greater love has any man shown
than this. And he proved his love not only
by coming down, by his condescension, by leaving his father's throne,
leaving eternal glory and bliss and happiness and all of the
splendor of his throne, but he showed it by living a life as
a man. No greater condescension can
be seen. Us becoming a dog. is nothing
compared to God becoming a man. Nothing. Nothing. Christ became
a man and he lived a life as a man and we're men and women
and we know something about what a wicked, what a vile, what a
wretched, filthy animal this thing called man is, right? Christ
came down and became, he took on himself, the scripture says,
the likeness of what? Sinful flesh. It'd be like you
and me putting on the dead carcass of an animal and walking around
with it for thirty-three years. It would be appalling. It would
be... You understand what I'm getting at here? Christ put on
this robe of flesh and dwelt in the midst of sinful flesh. The Scripture says, Behold and
see if there's any sorrow like unto my sorrow. He was called
a man of sorrow. acquainted with grief. The scripture
says he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities and
he did it willingly. You remember the time when he
was at Lazarus tomb? When he was at Lazarus tomb and
the scripture says he groaned within himself and was troubled.
Do you remember that? If you have a margin, look that
up sometime in the margin. It says when it said that he
was troubled He says he troubled himself. He did all this willingly. He didn't have to do it. He troubled
himself. He took upon himself this robe
of flesh, the likeness of sinful flesh. He was touched with the
feeling of our infirmities willingly. Willingly. He groaned and troubled. He afflicted himself willingly. He was obedient to death, he
didn't have to die. But he was obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. The worst of all. Willingly. Willingly. Ah boy. But he did all of this, the scripture
says, not just so that he would know how we felt, although he
did. But the scripture says 2nd Corinthians
521 is as clear and concise a gospel verse as any. He was made sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He did this to impute to our
account his perfect righteousness. He stripped himself. He lived
this life. He lived this perfect life that
God would accept, and then took it and stripped himself. Men
didn't strip his clothes off of him. He did. He stripped himself
and wrapped us in that pristine, pure white robe of holiness.
And he stood naked with all the sins of all of God's people before
him, or on him, before God, naked like us, like we ought to be,
exposed. to God and bore the brunt of
God's wrath. And there's no greater proof
of friendship can be found in all the scriptures. He said it
himself, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down
his life for his friends. His life. And Christ proved his
friendship by his, not only his life, but I just mentioned it,
his death. His death. The Scripture says,
God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Sinners. It wasn't that Christ,
and you read this, it's not that Christ laid down his life for
a righteous man. Oh, some would do that, maybe. It's very doubtful. And it's
not that Christ laid down his life for a good man. Some would
even dare to do that. That is, just a nominally good
moral man. Some wouldn't. Not many. I don't
know of any. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet enemies, not friends, enemies, Christ
laid down his life. Now listen, when I say, when
he said, greater love hath no man than this, and he laid down
his life for his friends, we weren't his friends. That is,
we weren't friendly toward him. He called us friends. He declared
us friends. We were his friends, but he wasn't
ours, yet. Do you see that? He laid down
his love. Christ died for the ungodly.
Christ died for rebels. Christ died for God-haters, didn't
he? But he called them friends. They
were his friends because he called them friends, right? We're his
friends because he calls us friends. Not that we're friendly toward
him. That comes later. That comes after the fact. The
scripture says in that same passage over there in 2 Corinthians 5,
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Because
of God's love and friendship toward us, Christ came. And only
later, later on, does it say, now you be reconciled to God. Right? Now why did Christ die? I tell you, we've got to clearly
define this every time, I believe every time we preach, or at least
take recognition of who's here and define it. Why did Christ
die? Well, he died to pay for our
sins. He died to pay for our sins. He died to take our punishment.
He took my weapon, my licking. I deserved eternal wrath and
judgment and condemnation. And Jesus Christ said, I'll do
it for him. I'll take it for him. Father,
I'll lay down my life for him. The soul that's in it must surely
die. I haven't sinned, I've been righteous,
but I'll give that to him and I'll take his sin and I'll die
for him and he'll live for me. That's why he died. And I don't
believe anybody can preach the gospel or understand the gospel
unless they understand that. Why did Christ die? The gospel
won't mean anything to a man unless he understands why Christ
died, right? Not just the fact that he died,
right? You've got to understand why
Christ died. It's got to mean something to
you. And Christ proved his love for us, his friendship to us. Fourthly, by giving us his last
will and testament, by writing out, by drawing out his last
will and testament. Now, Henry, what if I die? What if I had $100,000 in the
bank? What if I did? And I died, and
you were around when the will was being read just to be a witness
to the fact and so forth. You were just sitting there in
the courtroom, and he read. All of a sudden, the court recorder
stood up and said, I, Paul Mahan, being of sound mind and sound
body, questionable, but being of sound mind and sound body
on this day, do hereby bequeath and will all of my earthly goods
and monies to my dear friend Henry Sword. Would that prove my love for
you? Why, you'd say, he must have loved me and I didn't even
know it. To will such a thing to me. Nobody
willed it to me. The scripture talks about the
unsearchable riches. It taught Vicki, join air with
Christ. When the will's being read, when
God's gospel's being read, you're included. I, Jesus Christ, being
of sound mind and sound body, do hereby this day, the day of
my coronation, Will all of my earthly and heavenly goods to
Vicki Patton. He must love me. What a friend. What a friend. And then the scripture
says over in Hebrews that he ever lives to make sure that
she gets what's coming to her. I can't do that, Henry. Mindy
and Hannah put up a fight. They'd try to see that somehow
or another I was out of my mind when that was written and they
ought to get some of that money. Christ lives to make sure and
nobody's going to dispute it, that she's going to get exactly
what's coming to her, exactly what he said. To make sure of
the safety, the provisions and the welfare of his children.
And Christ said this, I love this verse, we preach from this,
John 16, 7. He said, it's expedient that I should go, it's necessary.
That I should go, because if I don't, the Holy Spirit, the
Comforter, won't come. But Christ, he said, it's expedient,
it's necessary, John, that he should go. Why? He got to present
that blood sacrifice, right? He got to go, like he said this
morning, John 14, I go to prepare a place. How does he do that?
He's got to go and present the blood on the mercy seat before
the Lord for that perfect payment. Pay for my sins. And Christ said,
Now it's necessary I go, I got to go and do this. If I don't
go, you can't come. But I'll go so that you can come. And he went to present that sacrifice,
that blood on the mercy seat, and he went to intercede, to
sit down and mediate and make sure of his heirs and to preside
over the reading of the will. And to send His Holy Spirit,
His Comforter, His Teacher, His Guide, His Protector, His Provider,
here in His love, not that we loved Him, but that He first
loved us. And greater love hath no man
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends, and then
ever live to make sure they get what he left to them. He didn't
just die for them, He lives for us. He said, Because I live,
you live also. Now turn, if you're still there,
at 1 Samuel 18. Secondly, I want you to consider
with me how that we are friends to Christ. Christ is that friend
that sticketh closer than a brother, and he will stick by his people
forever. He said, yea, I'll never leave
you. Never, never leave you, nor forsake
you. Closer than a brother. than family,
when all else but my friends and acquaintances leave me."
Christ said, I won't do it. I won't do it. Now, let's change
the type around here in 1 Samuel 18. I want you to see how that
we are friends to Christ, how that Jonathan was a friend to
David, and how that David represents Christ here. All right? Jonathan
was a friend to David, and David was the rightful king. Jonathan
was a usurper. Are you with me? Come on. You
with me? I can read you like a book. Are
you with me? Jonathan was a friend and in
love with David, and David was a type of Christ and Jonathan
a type of the believer. Now, look at verse four again. It says, Jonathan. This is us. This is a sinner. Jonathan stripped
himself. of the robe that was upon him,
and gave it to David, and his garments, and even to his sword,
and to his bow, and to his girdle. Jonathan stripped himself. Now,
Christ, we read back, you read it with me in John 15, he called
his friends. Now, if we get a hold of this, Christ called us friends. Friends. I'm talking now, this
is the highest honor and calling that could possibly be bestowed
upon a human being. Abraham was called the friend
of God. God called him his friend. God spoke with him face to face
as a friend. There was a man named Mr. Brooke who had a friend named
Mr. Sidney. And Mr. Brooke, and the story says that
Mr. Brooke was so pleased that Mr. Sidney was his friend. Mr. Sidney was somebody special.
He was somebody high. Mr. Brooke was lowly. And Mr. Brooke was so pleased and so
happy that this great man called himself called him his friend,
that when he died, it's a true story, Mr. Brooke had engraved
on his tombstone, this is all he put on his tombstone, he didn't
put his name or anything, all he put on his tombstone was,
here lies the friend of Philip Sidney. God calls me his friend. Put
that on my tombstone, would you? Don't put my name. Who cares? Who cares who I was? Nobody will
in about five years after I'm gone. Five minutes, maybe. But
God called me a friend. Put that on my tomb, would you?
Here lies the friend of God. Friend of God. May you and I
be friends and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Best friends.
It says that old Jonathan stripped himself. Verse 1 says that when
it came to pass that David had made an end of speaking unto
Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David. Have you ever heard Christ speak? You're dead close now. You're
in love. Love at first sound. I told you that story about that
man and woman who fell in love through one another's letters
across the seas and never met one another. And one day the
man died of a heart attack and the woman never met him, but
she was in love with him. And she went over and grieved
over his grave one day. Whom having not seen you love,
the scripture says. You haven't seen him, have you?
But you heard his voice through the pages of this book. And after
his victory, says David, spoke after his victory over Goliath,
after we see Christ's victory over our sins, after returning
from the slaughter and the triumph, after displaying his courage
and his power, after we see Christ's lordship, his kingship, after
Christ made himself known as the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. After hearing his voice, it says
the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and he
loved him as his own soul. Jonathan was irresistibly drawn
to David, his friend, just like a believer. And all those who
have seen the Son of David, seen his power, his beauty, heard
who he is, heard his powerful voice, their souls were eternally
knit to the Son of God from that day forward. It says in verse 2 that Saul
took him that day and wouldn't let him go home, that he stayed
there in his own house. David stayed in Jonathan's house
a while. That's where he really got to know him. He really got
to love him. And Scripture says Christ tabernacled
among us. We wouldn't have known God, would
we? Unless Christ came down. Unless
God came down and tabernacled among us. Took a body and lived
among us. The Son of Man, the Son of God
came and lived with us, and that's when we got to know him. And
during David's stay there, there was a covenant struck between
these two men. A covenant struck. And that's
why Christ came, Terry. Because of a covenant that he
was going to strike with us. A covenant. And they became his
brothers. Jonathan and David became his
blood brothers. I don't know if they actually
went through that, you know, the old, when you were kids,
you wouldn't actually cut yourself. Too scared, you know. You might
scratch and a little bit drop there. Boy, you're so brave.
Blood brothers forever! Boy, Christ became our blood
brother, didn't he? I mean, poured out his soul unto
death, laid down his life, actually poured out his blood, his life
blood, for his brothers, for his friends. And it's said there
that Jonathan, who represents us, stripped himself of his robe. That's a symbol of us stripping
ourselves of our righteousness. Right? Daniel said that in Daniel
10, 8, didn't he? He said, My comeliness melted
into corruption when I saw him. Stripping. Oh, Lord. There's nothing beautiful. Sackcloth
and ashes. That's what repentance is. It's
spiritually putting on sackcloth and ashes. It's not putting on
our religious robes and trying to make ourselves beautiful before
the Lord. That comes later. adorning the doctrine of Christ,
but sackcloth and ashes. Oh, strip ourselves of our robe. It said he stripped himself of
his garments. That's a symbol of his own beauty,
his beauty. And he stripped himself of his
sword. He laid down his arms. Right? He was no longer an enemy of
the king. He was friendly, reconciled to the king. That's a symbol
of his strength and his protection. Now he says, David, you're going
to be my strength now. You're going to be my protector
now. You're going to be my Lord and King now. Right? And he stripped himself of his
bow. That was his weapon of war, too. He said, I'm not at war
anymore. The Lord's going to fight my
battles for me. And he stripped himself of his
girdle. But he took it all off, didn't he? That's what David
did. Do you recall David doing that
later on? Stripping himself and putting on that ephod and running
down the street. And Micah's wife said, didn't
you display yourself before the people, the maidens, today? And
he said, I'll yet be more vile, that God may be more glorified. And that's what a sinner does.
A sinner does that. Strips himself. Humbles himself. Yeah, I read an interesting passage
of Scripture a while ago. I'd never noticed it before,
but right before our text in Proverbs 18, verse 23, says this. It says, The poor, have you got
that? Did you turn to it? The poor
useth in treaties, but the rich answereth roughly. You almost
have to look at it to understand it. uses in treaties that is
the poor say Lord would you please you don't have to but I sure
would appreciate that would you have mercy on me please I don't
deserve it. You know poor man I sure would
like to have arms for the poor. But a rich man talks roughly. What's yours is mine I got it
coming to Oh, does that remind you of this, the difference between
the hypocritical, self-righteous generation that go up to God
and tell Him what you want. It's yours. Oh, you're rich and
increased with goods. Oh, the poor and the contrite,
humble sinner goes before the Lord. Now, Lord, you don't have
to, but would you? I'd be much obliged. be much
obliged that every sinner who comes before Christ comes to
him in that same way, that he becomes nothing that Christ may
become all. John said it, and there was no
greater man who lived on the planet than John. Christ said
it himself. And what did John say? He said,
he must increase, I must decrease, decrease. And even so, The one
who comes to Christ by faith will be stripped before God of
all of his or her beauty, their righteousness, their strength,
their rebellion, their false refuge, their self-security in
favor of all that Christ is and all that Christ does. The Lord
Jesus, this is one sure mark of when the Lord really works
on somebody, whether it be a young person or an older person. He
takes the starch out of them. When I see somebody who's proud, I say, boy, that person is yet
to be broken. They don't know the Lord. They're
yet to be broken. They're a rebel. And the believer,
though like Jonathan, the believer becomes a fast friend of Christ
and loves Christ as his own soul, preferring him to all others.
Jonathan did. Johnson, Barbara Johnson, had
a daddy, and he loved his daddy. He took up for his daddy when
his daddy was all wrong at times. He stayed with his daddy through
thick and thin, didn't he? He did. He loved Saul. Do you
know David loved Saul? My, my. David loved Saul. David wept over Saul when he
heard of Saul's death, just like he did John. Do you know that?
He said, How beautiful were you in your life? Read that sometime. He did. But old Jonathan loved
his daddy. But I tell you, when it came
to choosing between Saul and David, who did he choose? David. He loved David more. And Christ said, he that loveth
father or mother more than me, you're not my friend. Son or daughter even. Boy, he
really got down where it really hurts. Son or daughter. Not worthy of me. Lord God, search
me and try me. And find out if there's any bee
in me in a wicked way or any idolatry. Don't let anybody or
anything on this earth be an idol to me. All right, now thirdly, and lastly,
I want you to consider with me, and I want you to gather yourselves
here and profit from what I'm about to say here. Friends to
Christ's friends. Friends to one another, that
is. Now, the story of David and Jonathan is a beautiful type
of Christ. Beautiful type of Christ and
the believer, yet it's a true story about two men. This wasn't
fiction here. This is not a novel by one of these novel writers. This
is a true story. God wrote it. God recorded it
for us to read. This was a true friendship between
two true blue friends, two men. Oh, that there were friendships
like this today. David and Jonathan. Now, when you read this story
of Jonathan and David, what do you think of? When you read about
Jonathan, all that he did for David, what do you think about? Does it just stir up in you thoughts
of like, you know, Jonathan He stripped himself, he humbled
himself, he looked up to, he highly esteemed and loved David
as his own soul. He went out of his way to help
David and protect him and hold up his honor and made a pact
with him, a covenant with him. Do you think, when you read this,
do you think, boy, I'd like to have a friend like Jonathan?
Do you think that? Somebody told me this story,
my pastor told me this story one time of a man who had a younger
brother, an older brother had this younger brother whom he
loved dearly and he looked out for his welfare and he protected
him, watched over him. He loved that brother. His daddy
and mama had died and he was taking care of that younger brother
who was not yet able to take care of himself. And the brother
went out and worked two jobs. and put food on the table for
him, bought him clothes to wear, made sure he got to school while
the brother laid aside all of his future for his brother's
sake so his younger brother could go to school and have all the
things that was necessary. He even saved up money and bought
him a car, bought his brother a car, taught him how to drive
it, put gas in it for him. What do you what do you think
does that make you say boy I'd like to have a brother like that. But I'll tell you what it ought
to make us say. It ought to make us say boy I'd like to be a brother
like that. In short you're my older brother. I didn't say that. to shame you
or make you do anything for my sake, but it's so that we're
brothers here. We're all brothers and sisters
here if we're in Christ, that is. And when we read this story
of David and Jonathan, instead of making us say, boy, I'd like
to have a friend like Jonathan, let's say to ourselves, boy,
I'd like to be a friend like Jonathan. Back to the text in Proverbs
18. Turn back there real quickly. This ought to make us desire
to be a friend. Christ said he said in the court
in a space of about thirty minutes or less fifteen minutes he said
three times. Now this is my commandment. We
read it this morning we read this evening we read it in John
fourteen we read it in John fifteen he said it three times. Now this
is my commandment. And John took it up later on
and repeated it over and over again, didn't he? This is my
commandment now. These are my parting words, Christ
said. Did that strike you? It did to me. Christ was about
to go to the cross. And his parting last words were,
the last thing he was going to leave with these fellows, and
for us, was he said, now this is my commandment, that you love
one another. Isn't it a shame he has to tell
us to love one another? But he said it, he said, by this
shall all men know you're my disciples. John said in another
place, he said, hereby we may know that the love of God is
in us. We have love for the brethren. It's pretty important, it's vital,
yes, eternally vital. There's no greater proof. And Peter said it, Peter said
it again. Peter reiterated it. See that
you love one another fervently, with a pure heart. That is sincerely,
not in card and letter and word only. With a pure heart, fervently
or actively, he said. Now, look at it here again. Let's look at it again. Verse
24. A man that hath friends. Now,
I'm not picking on anybody here. I'm just calling somebody indiscriminately
here. I call Terry because I really
believe he loves me, and he knows I'm not picking on him here,
but I'm going to use him as an example. If you call me your friend, buddy,
you're going to have to be friendly to me, aren't you? It says a
man that has friends, if you're going to have me as a friend,
you're going to have to be friendly to me, and vice versa, right?
going to have any friends, you're going to have to be the friend.
You've got to show yourself friendly. As I said, everybody wants somebody
else to be a friend to them, but it works two ways. Now listen
to these few points here, and I'll hurry. True friendship. True friendship, number one is,
true friendship is mostly giving. True friendship is mostly given. Proverbs 19, across the page,
verse 6. Look at verse 6 there. It says,
Many will entreat the favor of a prince. Every man is a friend
to him that gives gifts. Every man is a friend to him
that gives gifts. But the old saying goes, A friend
in need. Now, there is a friend indeed. Do you know where they got that?
I got that from Proverbs 18, 24. That's where they got that. Or does it not? Proverbs 17,
17. They got it. A friend loveth at all times
a brother born for adversity. True friendship truly delights
to do things for others more so than receive them. Isn't that
the way it is with your own family? Well, sure it is. Don't you get
more delight, Nancy, in doing things for your family than having
them do things for you? When they start to do something,
I don't need that. Don't do that for me. I'll do it. I'll get up and
I'll get the glass of tea. No, you sit down there. I'll
go get it. Get plumb silly about it. Sit
there. I'll wait on you. I'll do it
for you. That's the essence of true friendship, too. The scripture
says it's truly more blessed to give than to receive. Have
you proved this? I haven't done it like I should.
My soul, hang my head in shame. But I have proved this at times.
I do know that this is true. It is more blessed to give than
to receive. It's much more blessed to do
things for people than to receive things. And what we're to give
as friends, what we're to give to one another are time, our
talents, Our energy, our money, if need
be, our counsel, can we handle that? Ointment and perfume rejoice
the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. For to give our fellowship, our
fellowship, iron sharpeneth iron, and so
doth a man sharpeneth the counsel of his friend. Compassion and
pity were to give, compassion and pity. Job said this, the
scripture says over in Job, to him that is afflicted, pity should
be showed from his friends. And listen to this, true friendship
shows affection, shows affection. If I'm a friend to you, you ought
not to have to give me 20 hugs to get one in return. A friend doesn't have to. I mean,
if you're my friend, I don't have to run across the room and
run you down in order to get a kind word out of you. No, a
friend runs a friend down, right? A friend can't help himself but
to be friendly. And true love and friendship
seeks out somebody else to show affection. Well, there's William. Now, wait a minute. Just a minute. I've got to go say hi to William.
Haven't spoken to him. Put your arm around him. And
Gladys. William doesn't care. Put your arm around her. Gladys, pat on the back. Why
don't you love it? A touch. Barbara, can you show
love without touching? No way. I can't. I don't think anybody can. Christ
does. He touched me. I verily believe that he's going
to be the one to greet us in glory and put his loving arms
around us. Glad to see you, friend. But you better believe I'm going
to fart around him, too. And somebody I love, I put my
arms around him, pat him on the back. Glad to see you. Don't say it, just to be saying
it. And I like to give it in return,
don't you? Pat on the back would mean an
awful lot. True friendship. True friendship, secondly, disregards. Friendship is giving. Secondly,
true friendship disregards and covers the faults of his friend. True friendship disregards and
covers the faults of his friend. Isn't that what Christ does? Disregards it. Disregards our
sins. Oh, more than that, he covers
them. Covers our sins. And I tell you what, he told
us to pray this. He said, now you pray, forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Didn't he? Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us. In other words, there's
no forgiveness unless you show it. It disregards and covers the
fault of a friend. I love my daughter. I love my
wife. I'm not going out and spreading things about her. I'm just not
going to do that. I'm not going to tell you. She's
got some rotten points about her. But I love them all. And I'm not going around. I don't
run. Henry, you're not going to believe
what Mindy did last night, what she said to me. Would you listen
to this? She said to me and fill your
ears through full of. I'm just not going to do it.
The scripture says a tail bearer reveals secrets. But he that
is of a faithful spirit covereth the matter. What's a faithful
spirit? It's the spirit of Christ. Isn't
he the faithful one? He that is of the Christlike
spirit concealeth the matter. Love covereth a multitude of
sins. He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love, and love thinketh no evil." And fourthly here, love gives,
love is affectionate, love disregards and covers the faults of its
friend. Fourthly, or friendship, that is, does this. Friendship,
fourthly, is friendly. It's friendly. Friendship nurtures
and feeds and endeavors to promote friendship. It's mutual. Violet, we can't be friends unless
you're friendly to me and I'm friendly to you. It doesn't work
one way. That's impossible, isn't it? Friendship is like fellowship. You can't have fellows in the
same ship unless there's at least two. You can't have friendship
unless both of them are being friendly, right? Have you ever
reached a point with somebody, you love them, you're friends
with them, but you ever reach the point where you think, I'm
so tired of reaching out and reaching out and reaching out
and not getting anything in return? Have you ever reached that point? Friendship is friendly. That's
what we just read there. that have friends must show himself
friendly. It takes two to have friendship.
A real friend is one who is friendly. Fifthly, real friendship confides
in one another. Real friendship is a scripture
that says, confess your faults to one another. Now, let me see. When did I start? Real friendship
confides in one another. Scripture says, confess your
faults one to another. Now, let me rebuke us all here. It doesn't say confess your sins.
Folks, it's wicked sometimes when we go to one another and
start pouring out our ungodly thoughts. And you know what I
said, and you know what I felt, and you know what I thought?
Don't say that. It doesn't say confess your sins.
Confess your sins to Christ. Confess your sins to God. Don't
confess them to me. That'll just bring you way down
in my estimation, right? Confess your faults. There's
a difference. Faults are, it's like saying,
I sure haven't been a very faithful friend. I'm sure sorry. I sure
haven't treated you like I ought to treat you. My faults are,
oh, I've not been I should have done this, I should have done
that, I'm sure sorry that I'm the way I am. Oh, you understand
what I'm saying? Not specific sins. Don't fill
my ears, don't fill one another's ears full of our ungodly and
wickedness. That doesn't need, that ought
to be, it's a shame to speak of those things which are done
by us in private. Confess those to God. But real
friendship, though, can confide in one another. Isn't it nice
to be able to have somebody talk to you? Isn't it? Or do you? Real friendship confides, somebody
you can go to and unburden yourself, pour out your heart to, without
fear of them turning and spilling their guts to somebody else.
Can you keep a confidence? That's friendship. Pour out your
heart, confess your faults, unburden yourself. And listen, we've got to do that. We've got
to communicate. We don't have a close friendship
unless we communicate. If we clam up, if we clam up,
you don't know what I'm thinking. I don't know what you're thinking.
Tell me you love me. Tell me if you're mad at me. use diplomacy, use wisdom and
prudence, but let's talk about it, all right? Don't clam up. Don't clam up. If we're brothers,
that is, confide in one another. Now, in closing, I want you to
turn to Proverbs 6 with me. Proverbs chapter 6. I want you
to look at this. This is my, my. What a verse
here. Proverbs chapter 6. This refers to this thing of
friendship. Listen to this. Now, here's the
wisest man who ever lived except our Lord. And the Spirit of the
Lord sure gave him wisdom here in these Proverbs. And he says
this in verse 3 of chapter 6. Now, you do this, my son. Do
this now. You say this, do this now, didn't
you? Do this now. And deliver yourself. When you're
coming to the hand of thy friend. Humble yourself. And make sure. Thy friend. You humble yourself. Humble yourself
to be a friend. A true friend requires humbling.
It requires, like the Scriptures talks about, looking on things
of others. It talks about, in other words,
putting aside your own welfare, your own good, your own benefit,
your own comfort, your own time, your own convenience, and going
and doing whatever it takes to help a friend out. And you don't
think, you don't do it because you're supposed to. And you don't
do it because you think they'll think better. You do it because
you want to. Let me say this now. If I could say it, if I could
put it in words, I want to say it. There's nothing that honors me
more when somebody asks me to do something for them. Nothing. Mary Parks asked my wife, to
go and be with her while she had that baby, to sit up with
her through all those hours of labor and pain and hold her hand
and help her with, you know, around the house and this and
that and the other. Mindy said she couldn't have bestowed a
higher honor on me than to ask me to put myself out for her
sake. You get the gist of that, what
it means? You do things true friendship
does because you want to and don't when I do something if
I do something for you or you do something for me. Henry if
you do something for me and you go out of your way to do something
for me. All I need to say is thank you. Right. Did you want to do it.
Would you not I tell this to somebody all the time to everybody
all the time when I do something for them. I say, well, you'd
do the same thing for me, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Would you
do the same thing for me? Well, yeah, I sure would. Well,
why don't you let me do it for you, huh? I mean, why do you
go on and on about it? You've got more grace than I
do? You'd do it for me, but you don't think I'd do it sincerely?
If I do it because I'm supposed to? You've got more grace than
I do? Probably do, but I truly delight
to do things. Not all the time. I'm not perfect. I'm not saying that. But from
the bottom of my heart, it truly is more blessed to give than
to receive. I enjoy it, and so should you. And it requires a humbling, a
looking on things of others. It requires esteeming others
better than yourself. Better than yourself. And it
says here, it says, do this now. Do this now. You go and make
sure you're free. And if it wasn't so silly and
if it wasn't so. Didn't take place.