Do you need a friend? A real
friend? A faithful friend? A proven friend? I suspect some of you desperately
need such a friend. I have such a friend. And I want
to talk to you as plainly and simply as I possibly can. I wish I could speak to each
one of you personally. I hope you'll hear the message
just that way. I want you to know, trust, and love my friend. I want you to know that you are
loved of him. I want you to walk in his company,
in his presence, in his companionship, with the full focus of his care
and attention on you all the time. This is the only friend
in the world of whom there is no need for any envy or jealousy
because someone gets close to him. I want you to be as close
to him as you can be. I want you to have everything
of him, to know everything about him that you can possibly know,
to walk with him and his company incessantly. Song of Solomon
chapter 5 and verse 16. Here he is. His mouth is most
sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend. The friend, of course, I speak
of is the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, that one who is
described in scriptures by his enemies, and yet we cherish the
description as the friend of publicans and sinners. Someone
once said friendship is the only thing in the world concerning
the usefulness of which all men are agreed. A friend, a friend
is one of the greatest blessings in the world. The poorest man
in the world is that man who is friendless and alone. If you
would be happy in this world, the more friends you have, the
better. And if you desire happiness in eternity, you must find your
friend, your soul's friend, your everlasting friend in Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the only Savior of poor sinners such as we are.
This world is so full of sorrow because it's full of sin. Every
sorrow, every pain, Every heartache, every difficulty, everything
that causes your heart to ache and your eyes to weep is the
result of sin. This dark, dark world is a lonely,
disappointing place. And the brightest sunbeam in
this world is a friend. Oh, my. Sometimes you think to
yourself, I just had one real friend. One friend in whom I
could absolutely confide. One friend whom I could absolutely
trust. A friend will make your sorrows
half what they would otherwise be. A friend makes all your joys
to be doubled. There are many, however, who
pretend to be friends. They'll eat and drink and laugh
and walk with us in the sunshine of prosperity, but man, when
the chips are down, When trouble comes, you can't find them for
anything. I think of that prodigal son
as I was looking over these notes today. I can picture that old
boy when he had his father's money and was wasting his substance
in riotous living. He had lots of friends. But when
he caught over in that hog trough, he was helpless and alone. when
he had plenty of stuff by which his friends could use him. Lots
of friends were around him. In his reveling and in his rioting,
lots of friends around him. But when he was in desperate
need, not a friend to be found. There are many like that, but
a real friend is scarce, rare, a scarce, rare treasure. You
see, there are not many who will stand with you in the night of
weeping. Not many who walk with you when you're in trouble. Not
many who will welcome you when you're in need. Not many who
will comfort you when you desperately need comforting. Not many who
will bear your burdens and carry your sorrows. There are very
few above all who care for your soul. Not many. As a pastor, I fear this painful
thing. I fear it, but I know it's a
fact. There are not many who are closest to you who really
care for your soul. Not many moms and dads really
care for the souls of their sons and daughters. They begin to
get a little anxious when they get old and grow up and realize
they can really get into trouble. But all along the way, don't
really care for, not for the souls. They want the sons and
daughters to love them, approve of them, and cherish them, and
honor them, but they don't really care for the souls. Not many
of your closest companions really care for your soul. The friendship
of this world, no matter where you find it, is as bitter as
it is brittle. Trust it, and you have trusted
a robber. Lean upon it and you will lean
on a spear that will pierce your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a friend. A real friend. A real friend. He's the friend you need. May
God the Holy Spirit now give me special anointing and grace
as I try to commend this friend to you. First, let me say this. Jesus Christ the Lord is the
friend of sinners. He's the sinner's only friend. The only what? Turn to Matthew
9, Matthew the ninth chapter. Our Lord had just called Matthew
the publican. He had been converted by God's
free and sovereign grace, this publican whom everybody despised. This publican, nobody wanted
to see him around. This publican who abused and
stole from everybody. And in verse 10, we read, it
came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many
publicans and sinners. You find somebody that, We'll
have something to do with these fellows that nobody else has
anything to do with. They all gather around. Many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why eateth
your master with publicans and sinners? We wouldn't be caught
dead doing that. But when Jesus heard that, he said to them,
they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go
you and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Then he says, I am not come to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Did you hear that? Jesus Christ came specifically
on an errand of mercy for sinners. He came specifically in law of
mercy and grace to save sinners. He lived for sinners. He died
for sinners. He rose again for sinners. He
intercedes in heaven for sinners. He loves sinners. He saves sinners. He does. In Luke chapter 9, you
don't need to turn there, but in verse 11, there's just one
little sentence in the last part of that verse that strikes me
as being one of the most overlooked passages in all the gospel narratives.
This is what it said. He healed them that had need
of healing. He still does. If there's anybody
here who has need of healing, I'm not talking about healing
a body. I'm not talking about healing of sickness. He'll take
care of that soon enough. I'm talking about the healing
of your soul. It is anybody here who has need of healing, healing
from a heart of sin and death and darkness, depravity and corruption. I'm telling you, if you have
need of healing, he's going to heal you. He came here to do
that. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
only true friend a sinner has. Look in Romans chapter five for
a second. Romans chapter five, verse six. This is what the Apostle
Paul says when he describes the work of Christ in redeeming and
justifying our souls. When we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Folks debate and argue about
limited atonement, and there's no reason for the debate. If
Jesus Christ died for you, he's going to save you. You've been
redeemed, justified, and you shall be glorified. But if you
want to know for whom did Christ die, here it is. Merle Hart,
he died for ungodly folk. Ungodly folk. That's just about
the lowest description I can think of of a human being. Ungodly. Ungodly. In due time, Jesus Christ
died for the ungodly. Do you write that? If you can
take that ground, if you can stand before God, well, you can't
stand before God. If you can fall before the Lord
God, His throne of grace and mercy on the ground of your ungodliness,
Jesus Christ died for you. He died for you. Read on. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But here's God's commendation
of his love toward us. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. What love is that? Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. And the Lord Jesus Christ laid
down his life for us who were his enemies by nature, because
he was the friend to our souls from eternity, and he is determined
by his blood to reconcile us to himself, make us his friends
forever. All right, now turn to Proverbs
18. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 24. First thing I want you to
understand is that Jesus Christ is the friend of sinners. Here's
the second thing. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Look at verse 24,
Proverbs 18. A man that hath friends must
show himself friendly. Now on a purely earthly carnal
level, Solomon tells us that if we would have friends, We
must ourselves be friendly. That's the sermon in itself.
I have never yet known an obviously warm, friendly person who did
not have an abundance of friends. I never have. I have never yet
known an outgoing person who just embraces people, who didn't
have lots of folks to embrace him. If you would have people
be thoughtful of you, Be thoughtful of others. If you'd have folks
be kind to you, be kind to others. If you want folks to speak well
of you, speak well of others. If you want folks to be generous
toward you, be generous toward others. I've observed that usually,
usually, not always, but usually, those who are most easily offended,
those folks who kind of walk around with a chip on their shoulder
waiting for you to look the wrong way, you know, He didn't say
that like I ought to. I'm upset with her. Those who
are easily offended are those people who think nothing of offending
others. They don't think anything of
it. Those people who take every word the wrong way are folks
who don't mind what on earth they say to you. Those who complain
most about doing things are folks who don't do anything to start
with. They grind and belly up, but they don't do anything to
start with. And those who... are most selfish, most self-centered,
most consumed with their pleasure and their honor and their name
and themselves, are the ones who are most quick to point out
and complain about the selfishness of others. Those who are most
unfriendly are the very ones who complain most about folks
being unfriendly. I've seen this so many times, you know, try
to look like I do. People will come, sit in church, come visit. You know, a congregation this
size, my soul, it'd take you maybe all of 30 seconds, maybe
90 seconds to speak to everybody here. And some folks walk in
the doors and walk out and don't speak to anybody. And if you
speak to them, you got to stop them on the run, dead out, because
they're just, you know, self-centered. And they go somewhere and sit
down. You know, nobody came and spoke to me. Not one person in
that church spoke to me, most unfriendly folks. That's cause
you're an iceberg. Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
wants to be around folks who have no warmth about them. A
man who has friends, he must show himself friendly. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, however, is that one of whom this text speaks
most specifically. He showed himself friendly. Oh,
he has shown himself friendly. And Solomon says there is a friend. Here's a real friend. He shows
himself friendly in that this friend, he is a friend who sticketh
closer than a brother. Solomon didn't find this friend
in his unbridled pursuit of his pleasures. He didn't find this
friend among the wanderings of his unlimited research. Oh no,
this wise man found this friend in the pavilion of the Most High
God. He found this friend in the secret
dwelling place of the Almighty, in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. Now I can tell you both from
the Word of God and from the experience of more than 32 years
that our all-glorious Christ, God the Son, our Redeemer, our
Savior, is indeed the greatest, best, wisest, most disinterested,
faithful friend there is. How happy is that family whose
family friend is the Son of God. How happy, how blessed is that
man whose best friend is Jesus Christ the Lord. There is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. I've never been much of a friend
to him. He deserves far better than I've ever given him. But
oh, what a friend he's been to me. Poor, weak, and worthless,
though I am, I have a rich, almighty friend. Jesus the Savior is his
name. He freely loves and without end. He ransomed me from hell with
blood, and by his power my foes controlled. He found me wandering
far from God, brought me to his chosen fold. He cheers my heart,
my wants supplies, and says that I shall shortly be enthroned
with him above the skies. Oh, what a friend is Christ to
me. But oh, my inmost spirit mourns. And well my eyes with tears may
swim to think of my perverse returns. I've been a faithless
friend to him. Sure were I not most vile and
base, I could not thus my friend requite. And were he not the
God of grace, he had frowned and spurned me from his sight.
But he is the God of grace, and he will never frown. Spurred
me from his side this brilliant. He sticks closer than a brother
Now let me deal with one last thing. I Want you to see that
Jesus Christ the Lord is the one friend you need He's the
one friend you need I Cherish you who are my friends my brothers
my sisters my aunts My companions in this pilgrimage, I cherish
you. I always hate to ever lose a friend. I've lost a few. Hate
to lose a friend. Don't have enough out in the
ford to lose one. See Larry, sitting there, we've been friends
long, long time. Longer than I've known anybody
here except my wife. Hate to lose that friend. But
I could get along without you. I wouldn't want to, but I could.
James, one of the newest friends. I'd hate to lose him, but I could
get along without you. I can't get along without Christ.
And I've got news for you. You can't either. You can't either. The son of God is a friend in
need. And there's no creature on God's
earth so needy as fallen, depraved man. There is no need so great
as that of sinners. We need righteousness. We cannot
stand before God Almighty accepted of Him. We cannot escape the
damnation of hell without perfect righteousness. And we can't do
one thing to get it. We need atonement. Somehow our
sins must be paid for. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And there's not any possibility
of any of us standing before God justified without complete
satisfaction and atonement for our sins. And we haven't one
thing with which to attain it. More than that, being dead in
trespasses and in sins. We need life. And there's not
anything we can do to give ourselves life. We need pardon. Pardon. There is forgiveness
with thee, O Lord, that thou mayest be feared. But if you
should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? We need deliverance
from the guilt of conscience and the fear of death and the
torments of the damned. But we have no power, no ability
to deliver ourselves. The Lord Jesus Christ His name
is deliverance. He said, I am thy redeemer. His
name is atonement. He has put away our sins by the
sacrifice of himself. His name is the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah said, can you? Oh, what
a friend he is. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to relieve us of our great need, the need caused by
our sin. to remove our guilt, to save
us from our sins, to deliver us from the curse of the law.
This is what the book says of him. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. This
is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. Listen carefully. I want to make four or five statements. concerning the work of Christ
is our freedom. And your conscience, I guarantee
you, will echo every word I have to say. Your conscience will
say amen to everything I've got to say. It's according to the
book of God, and it's according to the law of God written on
your conscience. The Lord Jesus Christ came here
to take for his people all the guilt and condemnation, which
they have incurred by the sin and fall of their father Adam,
and by our own sin and fall, chosen willfully day by day. And he suffered the wrath of
God as our substitute, that he might deliver us from a disease
that he alone could cure. We are, all of us, described
in Isaiah chapter as a people laden with iniquity, a seed of
evildoers, children that are corruptors. We have forsaken
the Lord. We provoke the Holy One of Israel
to anger. We are, every one of us, going
away backward. The whole head is sick, the whole
heart faint from the sole of the foot, even to the head. There
is no soundness in us but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mullified with ointment. You see, the plague
of sin is in our hearts. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. The imaginations of man's heart,
the Lord God says, are only evil continually. The heart. So I
said, well, if the Lord knows my heart, you can bank on it.
He does, you don't. The heart's deceitful. Deceitful. Deceitful above anything in the
world. There's never been a con artist like your heart. Never
been a deceiver like your heart. For I think your heart's deceitful. For I feel your heart's deceitful. For this, your heart's deceitful. Don't let your heart rule you
be ruled by God's book. The heart's deceitful above all
things. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, tests, false witnesses,
blasphemies. These are the things that defile
a man. Our problem is that we have a heart disease. The root
of all sins in our heart. The heart must be changed. And
Christ alone can do it. Christ alone can give you a new
heart. I've been where some of you are. I want to change, but
I can't. I know. I know. I want to believe,
but I can't. I know. I know that. I want to
trust the Lord, but I can't. I know. I understand that. I've
been there. I've been there. The only one
who can give you a new heart is the Son of God. Only Christ. Only He can give you a new nature.
Only He can give you repentance. Only He can give you faith. Only
He can give you grace. Only He can bring you into union
with God Almighty in righteousness. More than that, the Lord Jesus
came to deliver us from a debt that only He could pay. Oh, what
a debt he paid. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owed. You remember the parable? Wasn't
really a parable. I think our Lord was referring
to an actual experience. Talking about what I know he
was in Luke 7. He asked Simon the Pharisee, he said, here's
a man who owes 10,000 talents. Here's a fellow who owes a couple
of pennies. And the Lord, to whom the dead soul comes and
freely forgives them both, which one loves most? And Simon said,
the one who was forgiven most. And the Lord said, you judged
right there. Oh, how I ought to love him. No sinner out of
hell ever owed so much. No sinner out of hell for whom
the Son of God paid such a debt. That's when he paid my debt to
God. Been bought with a price. The precious blood of Christ.
He alone could satisfy the justice of God for my sins. He alone
could put away my sins. He alone could write cancelled
against my bill, blot out my transgressions, and cast them
into the back of God himself, into the sea of forgetfulness.
The Lord Jesus Christ came here. to deliver us from a curse that
only He can remove. Do you know what it is to be
cursed? I mean under the curse of God's law. Under the curse
of divine justice. Christ has redeemed us. What a free end. What a free
end. And our Lord Jesus came here to accomplish a salvation
that only he could perform. We could never have been saved
without God the Son, assuming human flesh, living in perfect
obedience as a representative and surety for chosen sinners,
and going to Mount Calvary and taking on himself our iniquities,
our transgression, our sin. He was made to be sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God. This is my friend. I'll tell you one more thing
about him. Unlike any of us, he loves for his friends to use
him incessantly. I get bothered sometimes with
my dearest friends, not him. He says, cast all your care on
me. I care for you. He says, come
now boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy. Find grace
to help as often as you need. Come on, use this friend. God
make him your friend. Amen.