Good morning. If you would, open
your Bibles with me to the book of James. James chapter 2. As you're turning, a couple of
announcements. At the time of this recording
on Friday evening, Brother Dan Morgan's mother is very ill. She's under hospice care at this
time. Nurses from hospice tell us that
the time is probably near. Dan is able to be with his mom
and dad at this time, but we want to remember him and that
family in prayer. Also, our brother, Don Fortner,
has come home from the hospital. He's still struggling with breathing
and things, but he is able to be home and be with Shelby, and
he hopes, Lord willing, to be able to preach on Sunday, he
hopes. And our sister Jessica Clark is still waiting to see
the next oncologist to determine what will be the course of treatment
for her. So we're not any shortage of
things to go to our Lord in prayer as needy mercy beggars, are we?
Alright, James chapter 2. We'll begin our reading in verse
14. What doth it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works. Can faith
save him? Can that kind of faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, and be ye warmed
and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which
are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith,
if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say,
Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest
that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also
believe and tremble. You know, the devils believe
and tremble. Do you believe and tremble? The devils believe and
tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without
works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers,
had it sent them out another way? For as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, oh, how thankful
we are that you have given us another opportunity to meet together
and to hear your gospel preached, to worship you. Father, I beg
of you this morning that you would cause your word to go forth
in power. That you would make a clear demonstration
of your glory and your power to us this morning by demonstrating
to us that while we are restricted and bound right now, your word
is not restricted. Your power is not bound or restricted. But even in this means that you've
given us to hear the gospel electronically, to worship electronically, that
your word can still go forth in power to reach the hearts
of your people, to save, to call to repentance and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ, to edify, teach and comfort the hearts
of your people. Father, above all things, we
pray that we might see your glory in these dark and difficult days. Let us see your glory. Father,
we know that these days are not uncertain. Things seem uncertain
to us, but they're not uncertain. You're in control. All these
events are happening by your direct will and purpose. And
Father, we pray for the grace and the faith to rest in thee,
to rest in your sovereign rule over all things, knowing that
thou doest all things well. We do pray, Father, that you
would give some relief from this pandemic, that you would Allow
people to be able to go back to work, to be productive, that
you would allow some freedom of movement, that you'd give
some relief from the sickness. And Father, we do pray that your
people might be able to gather together as one again very soon
to lift up our voices in praise and worship and thanksgiving
of our God. And Father, we thank you for
how you've blessed us. We dare not forget to say thank
you for your blessings, even in these difficult times, how
you've blessed your people, and we're thankful. And we do not
need much evidence to be shown that we are but dust, that we
are poor and a needy people. And Father, we pray especially
for your people that are in times of trouble. We pray for our brother
Dan and his family at this time. Pray for our brother Don and
Shelby and that family and that congregation that you'd move
in power, Father. Pray for our sister Jessica Clark
that you would touch and heal her body, strengthen her and
be with her and comfort her heart and the hearts of her family
in these difficult times for them. We're thankful to know
that thou art able and we lay these things at thy feet. Father,
I pray for this congregation. We pray that you would bless
your people, that you would use this means to feed your sheep,
to bless your people. Pray for the children of this
congregation, Father, that you would watch over them and protect
them. Father, above all, that you'd
have mercy upon their souls. What a gift that you've given
to us of these little ones. And Father, I pray you'd be merciful. And all these things we ask in
that name, which is above every name, the name of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, now, if you
would open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. I preached from this chapter
the last week. And something that really caught
my attention that led me to preach this message this morning which
I've entitled, Are You a Friend of God? I hope that you'll know
the answer to that question by the time I finish this message
this morning. Are you a friend of God? We read this last week
in Exodus 33 where God talked to Moses face to face as a man
speaks to his friend. And I felt led to come back and
preach on that this week. In verse 11 of Exodus 33, And the Lord spake unto Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned
again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun,
a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." Now, we know
that Moses was the friend of God, Scripture tells us so. Scripture
also tells us Abraham was the friend of God. Several different
times, Scripture talks about Abraham being the friend of God. Well, that tells me that it is
possible for a son of Adam to be God's friend. And I want that. I want to be a friend of God,
don't you? Now, humanly speaking, it's good
for us to have friendship. I think a person has very few
close, true friends over the course of a lifetime. But a good
and faithful and true friend, that's a blessing to have. And
we should all want to be a good friend, more than just trying
to have friends. We should all try to be a good
friend. But I'll tell you what I'm really
interested in. I don't want to spend any time
talking about how to win friends and influence people and get
more friends. I'll tell you what I'm really
interested in. What I'm vitally interested in
for me and for you is to be the friend of God. Now how can I
know if I am the friend of God? That's a big statement. That
sounds like too much for any son of Adam, but we know from
scripture it's possible. How can I know if I'm a friend
of God? I want to give you six points
this morning on being a friend of God. And if you are a friend
of God, these six things will be true in your case. Number
one is this. If you are a friend of God, God
has talked to your heart and he has revealed himself to your
heart. Read Exodus 33 verse 11 again. And the Lord spake, he
talked to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Now this phrase, face to face,
as a friend talks to a friend, means in an intimate way. God
spoke to Moses as his friend. He didn't hold anything back.
God talked, he was talking to his friend. In plain, clear words,
they were easy to understand. There's no need for God to hold
anything back. There's no need for Him to talk in code and try
to keep a secret from Moses because He's talking to His friend. You
don't have to keep secrets from your friend. That was the way
God talked to another one of His friends, to Abraham. Remember,
before God went down there to destroy Sodom, He appeared there
to Abraham. And He talked to Abraham as His
friend. In Genesis 18, verse 17, the Lord said, shall I hide
from Abraham that thing which I do. I'm not going to keep this
thing a secret from Abraham because he's my friend. And God talked
to Abraham as a friend. And he told Abraham plainly what
he was going to do in Sodom. And that was the time that Abraham
talked to God as a friend. And he interceded for Sodom with
God. So God talked. He revealed himself. He didn't hold anything back
from his friend. He talked plainly to him. Now, when God here talked
to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend, we don't
know what it is exactly that God said to Moses. But the context
of the scripture gives us some sort of an understanding of what
the topic of conversation could have been. God had just finished
giving the law to Moses. Moses had spent that time up
there on Mount Sinai, and God had given him the law. He'd given
him the Ten Commandments. He'd given him the ceremonial
law. All the instructions for the tabernacle and the priesthood.
And before Moses could even come down from the mountain, the children
of Israel had already broken that law. Moses hadn't even come
down and given it to him yet. He still had those two tables
of stones in his hand. He hadn't come down to deliver
it to him yet. And before Moses even got there to give him the
law, the children of Israel broke it. They made them a golden calf,
an idol, and they worshiped it. And you think about Moses, he
spent that time on the mountain with God. God giving him the
law, God giving him the tabernacle, the instructions for the tabernacle.
And he comes down and finds the people dancing around a golden
idol, a golden calf. Now there's a lesson for you
and me in that story. It is impossible for us to save ourselves by keeping
the law because we broke it before God ever gave it. We've already
broken it. It's too late. And you remember
the message I preached last week, that God told Moses, now you
take that people that you have led up out of Egypt, and you
take them to the land that I promised you. I'm going to send an angel
before you, drive out all the enemies. I'm going to give you
the land. I'm going to give the people the land, because that's what
I promised to do for Abraham. I promised him I'd give his seed,
the land. So I'm going to give him the
land, but Moses, I'm not going to go with you. My presence will
not be with you. And when Moses told the people
what God had said, they mourned. They knew this was an evil tiding
from God. They didn't want to go to the
land and not have God's presence. They'd rather stay there in the
desert and have God's presence. They didn't want to go anywhere
without the presence of God. That was the most vital thing.
And Moses at this time is so discouraged. As a leader of the
people, he had to be so discouraged. And when Moses was discouraged
like this, that is when God talked to Moses as a man talks to his
friend face to face. And God told Moses plainly and
clearly so that Moses understood exactly what God was saying.
The Lord had just given to Moses the law. Now the Lord reveals
to Moses his purpose of mercy and grace. God revealed to Moses
his purpose to forgive the sin of his people through the sacrifice
of Christ. God revealed to Moses His purpose,
to make His people righteous, not through their obedience to
the law that He'd given Moses, but through the obedience of
Christ, through the obedience of God's Son made flesh, who
would come and obey the law for His people. He would keep it
for them. He would do for themselves what
they could not, or for them what they cannot do for themselves.
He would keep the law for them. And He would put away the sin
of His people by the sacrifice of Christ. And Moses heard that,
and Moses, was glad. God didn't hold anything back
from him. That's what gave Moses the heart to intercede for the
people. God told Moses how he would save his people through
his sovereign grace, and that's what gave Moses the heart to
ask the Lord, show me your glory. Give me a display. Give your
people a display of your grace. Now, if you're a friend of God,
God has spoken to your heart. He's made you to know He's revealed
himself to you through his word. He's revealed to you his love
of his people. He's revealed to you God's purpose
of salvation, your salvation, through the obedience of Christ
for you. Not through your obedience to the law, but through Christ's
obedience. And he's given you a heart that loves it. You love
it that way. If you're the friend of God,
you wouldn't have salvation. You wouldn't have righteousness
any other way. Even if it was possible for you
to keep the law, you'd choose to be made righteous through
Christ's obedience rather than your own. That's what you would
choose if you're a friend of God, because He's revealed His
purpose to you in that way. If you are a friend of God, God
has spoken to your heart, and He's revealed to you His purpose
of mercy, His purpose of grace in Christ Jesus. And that will
give you the confidence to ask the Lord for more mercy and for
more grace. Let me show you an example of
that in the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 2. Joshua judges in Ruth chapter
2. Boaz, the great type of Christ
in scripture, has revealed Himself to Ruth. He's talked to Ruth
and told her how He's going to take care of her, how He's going
to provide for her. In Ruth 2, and this is going
to give her the confidence to ask for more grace. Ruth 2, verse
13. Then she said, let me find favor
in Thy sight, my Lord, for that Thou hast comforted me, for that
Thou hast spoken friendly. unto thine handmaid. You've spoken
friendly. You've spoken to my heart. Though I be not like one
of thine handmaids, you've spoken friendly to me. You've revealed
to me you're going to be merciful and gracious to me. So let me
find favor in thy sight." You'll say the same thing. If God has
revealed himself to your heart, you'll say, God's spoken friendly
to me. He's spoken to my heart. He's revealed to me his purpose
of mercy and grace. Now, Lord, I'm begging you, give
me mercy. Give me grace. That's the reaction
when God speaks to the heart. He speaks friendly to his people.
All right, number two, if you're a friend of God, number one,
God has spoken to your heart, revealed himself to you. Number
two, look at the book of Proverbs chapter 17. Proverbs 17. If you're a friend
of God, God has eternally loved you and he gave himself a sacrifice
for your sins. Proverbs 17, verse 17. A friend loveth at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the friend of His people. He is the friend of a bunch of
sinful people. And He has loved those people
at all times, eternally. He has always loved those people.
There's never been a time God has not loved His people. There's
never been a time that Lord Jesus Christ did not love his people. If you are a friend of God, this
is what you know. God was my friend first. Just
like I know if I love God, it's because he first loved me. If
I'm a friend of God, it's because he was my friend first. He chose
you to be his friend long before you came on the scene. That's
what you know if you're the friend of God. You know that there's
never been a time the Savior has not loved you if you're his
friend. and love acts. The love of God
means something. He puts His love into action
by the Son of God being born as the brother to His people. God is spirit, so He can't be
our brother. He can't be related to us. So the Son of God became
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, yet without sin. That's
how He became our brother. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
big brother, was born for a time of adversity. He was born for
a time of adversity, whereas a man, he lived under the law,
hated of men. But he did it. He went through
that time of adversity, kept the law, obeyed it perfectly
so he'd make his people righteous. And chiefly, he was born for
a time of adversity. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, was born to die. He was born so that he could
die. so that he could be made sin
for his people and that he could willingly offer himself a sacrifice
for the sin of his people to the father. Now that's a true
friend. You'll never find a better friend
than that. And I can show you that Proverbs chapter 18, look
over a page here. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 24. 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 proved himself to
be a true friend to his people. He loved his people when they
did not love him. He acted like a friend to them
when they did not act like a friend to him. He stuck close to them. He did not abandon them in spite
of their sin. And in the hour of greatest need,
In that hour of hours, he did not abandon his people, but he
willingly went to the cross to suffer and die as a true friend
of his people. He was a true friend. He is the
only one that could pay the sin debt of his people. So he went
and paid it. He didn't abandon them. He went
and paid it. When the time to pay that debt
came, the Lord Jesus Christ, our friend, did not shrink from
the battle, but he set his face like a flint to Jerusalem to
go there. to pay the sin debt of His people,
His friends. And the Lord told His disciples
exactly what He was doing. In John 15, verse 13, He told
them, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends. And He said, you're my friends.
I'm laying down my life for you, a brother born for adversity. And if you are a friend of God,
you see God loved you first. God chose you first and the Lord
Jesus Christ came and put away all of your sin by His sacrifice
without any help from you. He did that because He's your
friend. Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend
He is. He has eternally loved His people
and given Himself a sacrifice for His friends. All right, now
look over at the book of Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon,
chapter 5. Here's the third thing. If you
are a friend of God, you love Christ, you need Christ, and
you seek Christ. You seek for Him. You must have
Him if He is your friend. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, beginning
in verse 6. I opened to my beloved, but my
beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed
when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me.
They smoked me. They wounded me. The keepers
of the wall took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him, I
am sick of love. I am sick with love. I'm heart
sick because I cannot see him, because I cannot be with him.
And then the daughters of Jerusalem ask, 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? Why do you have to have this beloved? Oh, she says, verse
10, my beloved is white and ruddy. He's the chiefest among 10,000.
His head is as the most fine gold. His locks are bushy and
black as a raven. His eyes, or as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His
cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold
rings set with beryl. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphire. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. And this
is my friend. This is my friend. Oh, daughters
of Jerusalem. Now, the bride of Christ, she's
sick with love. She longs to see her savior.
She longs to be with her bridegroom, but she can't find him. She's
gone out looking for him. And the other women ask her,
why is this bridegroom so special? Why is it that you have to have
this one? Why can't you just take another man of the city?
And she said, oh, none can compare to him. I must have him. And
she describes her savior, her bridegroom. She describes him
as white and ruddy. He's white. He's holy. And he's
a man. He's ruddy. Made from the red
earth. He's white. He's holy. And he's
red. covered with blood, the blood
of His sacrifice by which He put away the sin of His people.
That's how He makes His people righteous. This one who's white
and ruddy, he's Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, my righteousness. And
there's none like Him. He's the chiefest among 10,000.
His hair is thick and black. He's eternally young. He never
gets old. He never becomes unable to save
His people because He's lost His power to save. He's always
able to save and to keep His bride. His eyes are the eyes
of love and tenderness for sinful people. I'm so sinful. I'm so
shameful. He came and knocked. I wouldn't
get out of my bed. I wouldn't come to Him. And now
I can't find Him. Oh, she says, by now I find His eyes. Despite
my sinfulness, despite my weak faith, despite my inability,
His eyes are going to look at me with eyes of tenderness. I
long to look in His eyes. You talk about getting lost in
somebody's deep blue eyes. Oh, His eyes. Their eyes of love
and tenderness. He's got an eye for His people. His people are the apple of that
eye. Oh, His mouth. Drop words of
sweet-smelling, sweet-tasting grace. His hands are full of
the riches of God's grace and mercy. His legs are like pillars
of marble. He is a firm foundation. He shall
not be moved. This is my beloved. This is my
Savior. This is my bridegroom. This is
my Lord. And this is my friend, my friend. Let me step off to the side here
for a minute, give you something that you get for free. I say
to our young unmarried people, Remember this verse. Is she the
bridegroom? The bride of Christ is describing
her bridegroom. She describes her beloved as
her friend. She calls him my friend. The
best married couples are friends. They're best friends. They're
beloved. But they're friends. And their
friendship just deepens the bond of love. The best marriages have
a base of friendship between husband and wife. I can truly
say that Janet is my best friend. And I like it that way. It makes
the best marriage. There's nobody I'd rather be
with than her. That's exactly what the bride
is saying about the Savior. He's my friend. There's nobody
I want to be with like I want to be with Him. And if you're
the friend of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is your beloved. You love
Him like no other. You worship Him. You bow to Him. He's the Sovereign. He's the
King. He's God. And there's none to be compared
with Him. You're smitten with Him. You are head over heels
in love with Christ. You seek Him. You love Him. You have to be with Him. You
have to hear from Him. You have to worship Him. You
seek Him and you won't let anything stand in your way. of being with
Him, being where He is preached, being with His people and worshiping
Him. He's the Sovereign. I'm not talking about an unholy
familiarity here. He's your God. He's your Savior. He's your Sovereign. He's your
Lord and Master. But He's also your friend. He's
your friend. You can talk to Him about anything. You can tell Him the secrets
of your heart. He's your friend. And being with
Him is your heart's desire. One of our dear widows told me
recently, I called her, and you know, at this time of pandemic
and being alone, she said, oh, I'm not alone. I haven't been
alone. She said, my best friend's right here with me. My best friend.
There's nobody like Him. Nobody like being with your friend.
There's no one that makes you more comfortable than the Savior. He's your friend in every meaning. of the word. What a friend he
is. I fourthly look in the book of Matthew chapter 11. Fourthly, if you are a friend
of God, you're a sinner. Matthew chapter 11 verse 19. The son of man came eating and
drinking and they say behold a man gluttonous and a winebibber,
a friend. A friend of who? Publicans and
sinners. But wisdom is justified of her
children. Now, if you're a friend of God,
you are a sinner. The Pharisees could see that. They could see that. And the
worst insult that they could think of to throw at the Savior
was, he's the friend of sinners. But really, I mean, they're trying
to insult him. They're trying to tear him down.
But really, they gave him the best compliment they could have
given him. His mission was to come and to save sinners. They
tried to tear him down, but really they revealed to people, anybody
who's listening, his greatest glory. He's the friend of sinners. He came to save sinners. And if you are a friend of God,
you see yourself as a sinner. And I mean a sinner. I mean all
you can do is sin. There's nothing that you can
do that God will accept because everything that you do is sin.
I mean that you see yourself as a sinner. I mean you see yourself
as a real-life, bonafide, guilty, wretched, vile, hell-deserving
sinner. You're a sinner. I wear the title
of sinner because that's who I am. There's no point denying
it. I am a sinner. Now, I hate my sin. I hate my
sin. But in this sense, I'm glad to wear the title of sinners.
because Christ is the friend of sinners. And I want Him to
be my friend. Now look, I want you to look,
what a friend the Lord Jesus Christ was to sinners during
His earthly ministry. And He's not here on earth bodily
right now, but nothing's changed. He's still the friend of sinners.
Look how He showed Himself to be the friend of sinners during
His earthly ministry. One day He was walking, And he
stopped by a well, sent his disciples on to get them some bread. And
while he was there at that well at noon, a time when nobody in
their right mind would come to the well, the hottest part of
the day, a Samaritan woman came to that well. Nobody be her friend. I mean, this woman was a notorious
sinner. Nobody be her friend. There sat
a man on the well. She thought, oh. She had the idea, the concept
of social distancing down long before we did. She was trying
to stay away from everybody. There's such a man that well. But she
needed water, so she went up anyway. And that man befriended
her. He gave her living water. He
befriended her. One day, he's walking out of
town. Up a tree, there's a little short
man sitting up there. Zacky is. He's a notorious sinner. He's a publican. Been cheating
people for years. Got rich off cheating poor people.
Charging them more taxes than they owed. And the Lord of Glory
stopped. Told that little short fellow
up that tree, come on down. And he befriended that man. That
notorious sinner, he befriended him. Gave him the same faith
his friend Abraham had. This is the son of Abraham, he
said. One day the Lord is there with His people teaching, and
a bunch of these Pharisees, these strict religious fellows came
up. They had a woman, probably just partially dressed, and they
threw her down in the dust in front of His feet, taken in the
very act of adultery. Notorious, notorious sinners.
You're never going to live this down. Taken in the very act of
adultery. Moses said, we ought to stone
her. What do you say? Trying to trap Him, trying to trick
Him. There sat that woman. Everybody staying as far away
from her as they could. She's going to get stoned. They don't
want to get stoned. Nobody's her friend. And the
Savior, He just stooped down and rubbed His finger on the
ground. They kept pressing Him, and He
finally stood up and said, well, you, without sin, cast the first
stone at her. One by one, beginning at the
oldest, down to the youngest, they all went away. The Savior
befriended that poor, guilty woman. He said, woman, where
are those non-accusers? Who's accusing you? She said,
no man, Lord. The friend of sinners told her, neither do I condemn
you. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. I don't condemn
you. Because in a short while, I'll
be condemned for you. Go and sin no more. He's a friend
of sinners. As he suffered and died, nailed
to the tree in untold agony, the Savior befriended a dying
thief. Nobody wanted to be that man's
friend. If you knew him before, you weren't claiming any knowledge
of knowing him, they're going to kill that whole gang. I don't
want anybody to think I'm his friend. I don't want anybody
to think I was in his gang. And the Lord of glory befriended that guilty, vile,
wretched sinner and told him Today shall thou be with me in
paradise." Oh, what a friend. He even prayed for those sinners
who were sinning against Him, who hated Him, who spit in His
face, who plucked the beard out of His face, who smote Him, who
hit Him in the face with their fist, who nailed Him to a tree
and mocked Him as He suffered. He said, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. That's the friend I need. How
about you? He is the friend of sinners. And if you are a sinner, you
know exactly what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he
said, this is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation.
It's worthy of everybody believing this. Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. And if God is
your friend, you say, move over, Paul. You can't be worse than
me. Impossible. I'm the chief of
sinners. Christ came to save sinners. And by God's grace, I freely
admit I'm a sinner, because I desire to be saved. Christ is the friend
of sinners. By God's grace, I freely acknowledge
my sin, because I want Him to be my friend. But if you're not
a sinner, if you're not helpless, you're not hopeless, you're not
a guilty, vile, hell-deserving sinner, then God's not your friend. And Christ is not your Savior.
Look back at Matthew chapter 9. If you're a sinner in every
sense of the word, God's your friend. Christ came to save you.
But if you're not a sinner, Christ's not your Savior. God's not your
friend. Matthew chapter 9 verse 10. And it came to pass as Jesus
sat at meeting in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, They say unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? Why would he be seen with publicans
and sinners? They're gonna damage his reputation.
He's supposed to be some sort of religious leader. But when
Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not
a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what
that meaneth. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Those who think that they're
righteous in themselves and not sinners, I didn't come to call
them. I didn't come to save them. But sinners, I came to be their
friend. I came to call them to repentance. To give them mercy
and grace. If you are a sinner in every
sense of the word, Almighty God is your friend. Alright, now
look at John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Here's the fifth
thing. If you're a sinner, if you're,
excuse me, if you're a friend of God, you want Christ to increase
and you want to fade away into the background. John 3, verse 29, this John the
Baptist speaking, he says, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease." Now, if you're a friend of God, you want to decrease
in every possible way. And you want Christ to increase
in every possible way. You want Him to increase so much
that all anybody can see is Him that they can't see you at all.
If you're a friend of God, you want your works your obedience,
your glory, your credit to fade away to nothing. And you want
Christ's work, Christ's obedience, Christ's sacrifice, Christ's
love, Christ's glory to be exalted as high as God can lift it so
that people will see Him and not you. If you are a friend
of God, you want to become nothing. You want to become so nothing
that the only way the Father can see you is in Christ. You
want to decrease so much, you want Christ to increase so much,
that all of your salvation, all of your righteousness, all of
your hope, all of your life is nothing but Christ. If you are
a friend of God, you don't want to be seen, you don't want to
be noticed, you don't want to be given any applause, you want
all of the attention and all of the glory to go to Christ. If you're the friend of God,
You don't say, look at me, look at me. No. You do the same thing
John the Baptist did. Look to Christ. Behold, the Lamb
of God was taken away the sin of the world. Look at Him. Look
at Him. I tell you why you want that.
Because you know somebody knowing you, somebody noticing you, somebody
seeing something good about you won't do their soul any good
at all. But it will save their soul to know Christ. So you say,
look at him, he must increase, but I must decrease so nobody
can see me. And all they can see is the Savior. That'll save their soul. Right
now, here's the sixth thing. Look back in the book of James
that we read, open the service, James chapter two. If you are
a friend of God, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you're a friend of God, you have faith in Christ. Now I say almost
anybody knows that Abraham was the friend of God. Scripture
says so several times, Abraham's the friend of God. But why? Why was Abraham the friend of
God? Because God had given him faith
in Christ. James 2 verse 21. Was not Abraham
our father justified by works? He wasn't justified before God.
His faith was justified before men. His faith was seen to be
the real thing. His faith was proven to be the
real thing, justified. His faith was justified by works. He offered Isaac his son upon
the altar. See, it's now how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was his faith made perfect. And
the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed
God. He was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was
called the friend of God. Now this is talking about when
Abraham took his son Isaac to offer him up as a burnt offering,
just like God commanded him to. And Abraham was willing to do
that. He was willing to sacrifice his
only son. He was willing to kill his son,
slit his throat, drain his life blood from his body. He was willing
to draw and quarter the body of his son, and burn the body
of his son to ash, because Abraham believed God. Abraham believed
somehow, someway, God was going to keep his promise and bring
the Messiah through Isaac. The writer to the book of Hebrews
tells us that Abraham was willing to offer his son because he believed
God would raise Isaac from the dead, just so that God would
keep his promise to bring the Messiah through Isaac's seed.
Now people who are friends with one another have things in common. Well, you and I don't have anything
in common with God. Nothing. So if God's going to
be our friend, God has to put something in us so that he will
have something in common with us and enable us to be his friend.
So God gives his people two things. So they'll have something in
common with God that will make him, thus, his friends. First,
God gives His people faith. Faith is the gift of God. Look
back in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. If we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe Him to be the Savior,
that He is our Savior, that all it takes to save me is Christ.
If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to save us, we have something
in common with the Father. Ephesians 1 verse 11. in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed You're sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. Now, you who believe Christ,
you believed. You believed Christ after you heard the Gospel. But
who is this that Paul talks about in verse 12, who first trusted
in Christ? Who's that? It's the Father. God the Father is the one who
first, He's the first one who ever trusted in Christ. The Father
trusted His Son to fulfill His end of the covenant of grace.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit entered into a covenant. Whereby
the Father said, I will choose a people out of Adam's fallen
race. I will choose a people to be
saved. I'll give them to my son to make them righteous, to redeem
them. By his obedience to the law, he's going to have to become
a man. He's going to have to suffer the humiliation of being
a man. He's going to have to be born
of a woman, made under the law. He's going to have to keep that
law for these people that I've chosen to save. And after he's
kept the law for them, he's going to have to suffer the most shameful,
most painful death any man's ever suffered, ever died. And
the son said, Father, I'll do it. I'll do it. And the father
trusted him. The father trusted him. He saw
his people as saved. He saw his people as righteous.
He saw his people as washed in the blood of the Lamb, slain
from the foundation of the world. Long before Christ ever came,
in eternity, Christ said, I'll do it. I'll redeem my people.
the people that you've given me, and the Father first trusted
in Christ. And when God gives His people
faith in Christ, He gives us the blessed opportunity to hear
the gospel preached. We may hear it preached many,
many times. And one day, we hear. One day, we believe. What happened? God's given us faith in Christ. Now we have something in common
with God. Now we trust Christ too. Now we can be God's friends. First, God gives His people faith,
so they have something in common with Him. Second, God gives His
people the new birth, whereby we are given a new nature. We're
given the nature of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. In the new birth, we're made
partakers of the divine nature. Now, if Christ is in us, now
we've got something in common with God, and God can be our
friend. It's by faith, God-given faith,
and the new birth which God the Holy Spirit gives. And if you
are a friend of God, you believe with all of your heart, you believe
all you need to be saved is Christ. You believe, if you're the friend
of God, you believe with all of your heart all you need to
be accepted of the Father is Christ. That's being the friend
of God, believing God. Oh may God give us this faith
to believe Him and be the friend of God. What a friend. Oh, there's
not one like Him, is there? What a friend. What a blessed,
glorious promise of God's Word. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
friend of sinners. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We thank You for this glorious
truth, this glorious revelation of Your Word. that your son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is the friend of sinners. What a friend. Father, I pray that you would
make us who listen here this morning, that you would make
us the friend of God, that you'd give us this faith to believe
Christ, to look to Him, to rest in Him, that He might be our
all and in all. Father, I pray you'd take your
word, cause it to go forth in power, Comfort the hearts of
your people by giving us your presence, giving us the presence
of our best friend to comfort and stir the hearts of your people.
Father, bless your word to your glory. Take this and reveal to
the hearts of your people the glory of Christ our Savior. For
it is in his blessed name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Well, until next time, may the
Lord bless you.