I want you to turn with me in
your Bibles to the book of Proverbs chapter 17. I've been considering for several
weeks speaking on the subject friendship. If I had to do away with all
of my books, Except one, of course, I would keep the Bible. There's
no doubt in my mind, this is the book that I would keep. If
I could only have one book in my possession, I would have a
Bible. If I had to do away with all
of my books but two, two books, I've thought about this and this
is what I believe. I would keep my concordance and
my Bible. I'd have those two books. That
is for a preacher. I don't know about you. I'm talking
about myself. If I could only have three books,
I would have my Bible, my concordance, and a dictionary. I think it's
very important to have a dictionary. Help us with the meaning of some
words. I mean just plain old dictionary. And if I could only
have four books, I would have my Bible, my concordance, the
dictionary, and Nave's topical Bible. That's what I'd have.
That'd be my books. Bill, I'd cast off on a desert
island somewhere, and I'd get along just fine with those four.
And then the rest of it's just gingerbread. But I've been studying
three words. The word friend, the word friends,
and the word friendly. And I read carefully every verse
of scripture in the Bible, and you can do that if you have a
good concordance. You don't have to... That's when
I told you Sunday the word love was not in the book of Acts in
28 chapters. That was no major discovery. I just looked in a concordance,
and it wasn't there. It wasn't there at all. They
preached the glory of God. They preached the holiness of
God. Now, God's love is holy. He has a holy love, but the apostles
and the early disciples didn't go up and down the country hollering
and smiling, God loves you. They went up and down the country
preaching God's holy. God hath exalted and made Lord
this Christ whom you crucified. You're in trouble. I've studied
the word friend, friends, and friendly, and I thought, well,
one of these days I'm going to preach on this. Well, a letter
I received in the mail this morning hurried it up. I received this letter in the
mail this morning. I wish, I wish that we could
take the time, I was sitting there thinking, I wish we could
take the time to share with you the letters that we received
from the television audience. Don't you, Ron? I wish that the
people could read them. I tell you what went through
my mind a while ago. Maybe setting aside some time
on Wednesday evening, have you read some of them ever Wednesday
night? Let you pick out the ones you think the people would enjoy.
I'm serious about it. One lady wrote today, Alice Crozier
from up in West Virginia sent a check for $500 for the Mexican
Preacher School. And the things she said about
that school, She's never been here to church, to my knowledge,
but she knows about our preacher school in Mexico and about Walter
Gruber. She gets the bulletin. A little
girl from up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, whom I've known since
she was a little girl. She's grown now about Paul Edwards'
age. And she wrote and sent a check
for $100 just to help in the mission work. And then so many
other letters, but here's one I received that that made me
so sad, so very, very sad, and just flooded my soul with compassion
and with a feeling that we need to say something on this subject.
We need to say something for my spiritual good and for your
spiritual good on this subject. Now, I want you to listen to
this letter. This person talked to me on the phone the other
morning, and this is the letter I received today. I'm sorry that
I could not talk to you for crying yesterday on the telephone. I
thought that I could hold up or I wouldn't have called you.
But I do appreciate you listening to me. I have no one in this
world to rely on. I have no one in this world to
talk to. I talk to the Lord about my problems
and my troubles. I talk to the Lord because he
can help me. And he doesn't tell someone else
what I told him like my friends and family do. And I read that
and I thought, is this the way it is? I have no one on this
earth to talk to. I have no one on this earth. to rely upon. Everyone I talk to repeats what
I tell them. Isn't that sad? But you know,
I got to thinking about that, got to reading some Scripture,
and if you'll turn to the book of Micah, you'll find, unfortunately,
that this is true. Micah chapter 7, because of our
great guilt, because of the depravity of our souls, Because of the
depravity of our flesh, unfortunately, this is just the way it is. Friendship
and love is the most difficult thing to find in all this world. Genuine, true friendship. It's the most difficult thing
to find. And it leads people to write letters like this. It
leads people to withdraw into their shells and into depression
and into hermitage. It leads them to withdraw because
they're afraid to reach out. They have no one to whom they
can reach. And Micah said this, listen to it, Micah chapter 7,
woe is me. You got it? I want you to look
at it. Micah 7 verse 1, woe is me. I am as when they have gathered
the summer fruits. As the great gleanings of the
vintage, there's no cluster to eat. My soul desired The first
ripe fruit, the good man, that is, the merciful or godly man,
is perished out of this earth. There's none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother
with a net. That they may do evil with both
hands earnestly, the prince asketh and the judge asketh for a rebate,
a reward, a kickback. And the great man, he uttereth
his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up. The best of them
is as a briar. The most upright is sharper than
a thorn hedge. The day of thy watchman and thy
visitation cometh. Now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend. You
can't trust them. Put ye not confidence in a guide,
in a leader. Keep the doors of your mouth
from her that lieth in your bosom. You can't trust your own wife.
For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against
her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A
man's enemies are the men of his own house. Therefore, I will
look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. He will hear me." That's exactly
what this lady said. Just exactly what she said. I'm
going to call on God. He's the only one I can trust.
I don't have anyone in the world to rely on. I don't have anyone
in the world to talk to. Oh, I turned to Jeremiah, and
I found Jeremiah said the same thing. And what I'm saying is
this, unfortunately, this is just the way it is. This is the
world in which we live. Jeremiah chapter 9. It's always
been so with men. God looked down from heaven and
said, there's none good, there's none righteous, there's none
that understand it. They've all gone out of the way.
They've all together become unprofitable. Every imagination of men's hearts,
evil continually. Listen to Jeremiah, chapter 9,
verse 1. See if he's not saying the same
thing. Oh, that my head were waters, mine eyes a fountain
of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the
daughter of my people. Oh, that I had in the wilderness
a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might lead my people
and go from them. For they be all adulterers, an
assembly of treacherous men. They bend their tongues like
their bow for lies, but they're not valiant for the truth upon
the earth. For they proceed from evil to
evil, they know not me, saith the Lord. Now take ye heed every
one of his neighbor, and that word is friend. Watch out for
your friend. Trust ye not in any brother,
for every brother will utterly supplant, cheat, deceive. Every neighbor will walk with
slanders, and they will deceive every one his neighbor and will
not speak the truth. They have taught their tongues
to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Their habitation
is in the dismissed of deceit. Through deceit they refuse to
know me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord
of hosts, behold, I'll melt them and try them. For how shall I
do for the daughter of my people? Their tongue is as an arrow shot
out, it speaketh deceit. One speaketh peaceably to his
neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth his way."
He waits on him like an ambush, waiting to trap him. Turn to
the book of Zechariah. This is what our Master said
in the book of Zechariah, chapter 13, verse 6. I'm just saying,
unfortunately, this is the way it is. This is human nature. in all of its corruption and
depravity and selfishness and hatred and malice and envy and
slander and all these things. This is what we live in. This
is the corruption of human flesh. In Zechariah 13, verse 6, our
Lord said, this is speaking of Christ, and one shall say unto
him, what are these wounds in your hands? Zechariah 13, verse
6. Then shall he answer, those with
which I was wounded. in the house of my friends. In
the house of my friends. Psalm 41. I want you to look
at another verse in Psalm chapter 41 and verse 9. It says here, talking about Judas,
this is the Master speaking again. Yea, in Psalm 41, 9, mine own
familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath
lifted up his heel against me." You ask this, when you say, well,
can you read that? And you say, that's the condition,
that's the world, that's the flesh, that's because of our
rottenness and depravity, this is just the way it is. All right,
preacher, I ask you this. Are there no friends among men?
Are there no friends among natural men? Is there no such thing as
friendship in this world among natural men? Oh, yes. Yes, sir.
Oh yes, I'll show you. I'll show you. They're friends
in this world. Number one, Matthew 26. Judas was the Lord Jesus
Christ's friend. That's right. Our Lord called
him friend. He was his friend. They were together three and
a half years. Judas was an officer. He was the only officer in the
group of disciples. He was the treasurer. He carried
the money. He took care of buying all the supplies and everything.
He was a natural man's friend. He was the type of friend that
natural men have. Here in Matthew 26, I believe
it's Matthew 26, when he came in the garden there, Matthew
26, I believe the verse is 47. Let's look, Matthew 26, verse
47. Here it is. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas,
one of the twelve, one of his friends, back in the inner circle,
one of the twelve came, and with him a great multitude with swords
and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now,
he that betrayed him, Judas gave them a sign. He said, Now, whomsoever
I shall kiss. Oh, they were good friends. He
even kissed the Lord. It wasn't any strange thing for
him to kiss the Lord. He said, I'm going to kiss him
right on the cheek. And when I kiss him, it'll be
something that I've done many times. I've kissed him, that's
an oriental custom, you know, greet one another with a holy
kiss and so forth. That is he, you hold him fast. Forthwith, he came to the Master,
to Jesus, and he said, Hey, old Master, and he kissed him, and
Jesus said, Friend, Friend, wherefore art thou come? And then came
they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. So, yeah, there's
a friend. There's a natural man's friend,
right there. And then here's another friend that natural men,
the wealthy man has lots of friends. Turn to Proverbs chapter 14. I had a friend one time that,
years ago, he had a, his father died and left him a lot of money.
The fellow lived down in West Kentucky. And he told me, after
his father left him all that money, he said, I didn't know
I had so many friends. He said, I have friends that
I didn't even know their names. They just coming up out of everywhere,
like ants, when you kick over an ant hill. I didn't know I
had so many friends. Oh, yeah. Yeah, if you got money,
Proverbs 14, 20, listen. The poor is hated even of his
own neighbor. Nobody's got time for poor folks.
Even his own neighbor's got no time for him. All those people
always worrying us. Don't pay attention to them.
They're just a nuisance. They're just a nuisance. That's
all they are. That's because they're poor. That fellow that's
rich ain't no nuisance. Listen, but the rich have many
friends. He's got friends to spare. He's
got them running out of his ears. Turn to Psalm 19, verse 4, and
see if that's not true. Proverbs, I'm sorry, I keep saying
Psalm, I mean Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19, verse 4. Listen
to what, wealth maketh many friends. Wealth maketh many friends. You
see that there? In Proverbs 19, 4, wealth maketh
many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbor.
Poors ain't got time for poor people. James had to warn us
about that. He said if a fellow comes in
church, And he's got on a gold ring and nice clothes and a $200
pair of alligator shoes. Now, you don't run up to him
and say, sit here in John's seat, you know. Some poor fellow comes
in ragged and all, you say, find you some place to sit the best
way you can. But that's, James had to warn us because that's
our nature. That's our nature. The poor are hated even by their
neighbors, but the rich man's got lots of friends. And then
look at Proverbs 19, verse 6. I'll tell you some other way
to get friends. Start giving out favors and gifts. Start helping folks. It says
in Proverbs 19, verse 6, many will entreat the favor of the
prince, and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. Everybody's
your friend. Everybody as long as you're given
and I'm not speaking against giving you know that I preach
giving I preach giving to those who don't deserve it I'm not
condemning the man who gives I'm simply saying that this is
human nature I'm saying what the Bible says this is human
nature You say there's no such thing as friendship among natural
men. Oh, yes natural men have friends
they have friends like Judas and They have friends if they're
wealthy. They have friends if they're
giving gifts. What have you done for me lately?
You've got lots of friends, as long as you're giving things
out. But when, like the prodigal son, when you've spent all you
have and knock on the door, they say, who are you, you know? Where'd
you come from? Well, I think I can give you
a job shucking a husk for the hogs. I believe I can put you
down there, you know. And then Job turned to Job 19.
Old Job had friends running out of his ears. As long as he was
famous, and Scott preached on this Sunday a week ago, as long
as he was famous and powerful and influential and sitting at
the gate, he said, the young men ran and hid and the old men
stood up when I walked up. But then old Job, old Job lost
everything. He lost his family and his wealth
and his influence and his power. lost his children, and he lost
all his friends, every one of them, every blessed one of them. Even his wife said, why don't
you, like Scott said, do me a favor and die. In Job 19, verse 13,
he had put, got it? He put my brethren far from me,
mine acquaintance severely estranged from me, my kinfolks have failed,
my familiar friends. have forgotten me." You say,
they're not friends. I know they're worldly friends.
This is what I'm talking about. There's no such thing as a friend
out of Christ. This is the world's friendship.
This is what Micah's talking about. This is what Jeremiah's
talking about. This is what Solomon's talking
about. Sure, the world has friends,
but this is the kind of friends there are. We call them fair-weather
friends. We call them friends for what
they can get out of you. He said, verse 16, I call them
a servant. And he gave me no answer. There
was a time when he answered him when he was paying his salary.
Verse 17, my breath is strange to my wife. Verse 18, young children
despise me. Verse 19, all my personal inward
and the middle line, middle reference mark there says, the men of my
secret, my closest friends." That's who he's talking about.
He said, my closest friends hate me, and they whom I love are
turned against me. Well, that's the friendship of
the world. That's it right there. That's
it summed up. You can have Judas friends. If
you've got money, you can have all the friends you want or need.
If you're passing out favors and gifts, Solomon said you have
all the friends you want as long as you've got influence and power
and prestige and wealth and you've got a little force behind your
voice and you can turn men hither and thither. You can have friends,
but that's not the kind of friends we're talking about. Over there,
Paul said, I'll show you something better than that. I'll show you
something better than that. He said, I'll show you something
that's more excellent than that. And I'm going to give it to you. If a man can be blessed of God
to find it. There is four things. There is
a friend. There is a friend. I'm talking
about a friend. There is a friend. You want a
friend? I know one. Secondly, there are
true friends. Yes, they are, regardless of
what the world says. They are true friends. Thirdly,
there's a way that you and I can be a friend. There is a way. It's nothing easy about it, but
there's a way. And then there is a friendship
and a fellowship to be coveted. Now, let me show you these four
things. Now, first of all, there is a friend. Turn to Exodus 33. There is a friend, and I mean
that Just like I said it, a friend. A friend. His name is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is my friend. He is my friend. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. He's the friend of sinners. Did
you know that? You ain't got to dress up for
Him to be your friend. You don't have to put on a pious
front for him to be your friend. You don't have to have a nickel
for him to be your friend. He's the friend of the lowly.
He's the friend of the outcast. He's the friend of the sinners. He's the friend of publicans. He's the friend of all our sins
and griefs. What a privilege to carry everything
to Christ in prayer. Oh, what peace We often forfeit,
oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble everywhere? We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord. Can you find a friend so faithful
who will all your sorrows share? Jesus, who knows your every weakness,
take it to Him in prayer. Are we weak, heavy laden, cumbered
with a load of care? Precious Savior, He's our refuge. Take it to Him in prayer. Do
your friends despise and forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In His arms He'll take and shield
you, and you'll find a solace there. Listen to Exodus 33, verse
11. Listen to this. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend."
There's our friend right there. Our Lord took Moses out there
in the tent of meeting, and it said he spake to him, to Moses,
the Lord God. The sons of Korah didn't like
Moses. The people didn't like Moses.
The Egyptians sure didn't like Moses. But I'll tell you one
who did, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes sir, he loved Moses. Spoke
to him face to face as a friend. I want to show you somebody else
in Isaiah 41. Somebody else who was a friend
to God and to whom God was a friend. In Isaiah 41 verse 8, listen
to this. Isaiah 41 verse 8. It says here,
Be thou Israel, but thou Israel. Isaiah 41 8 but thou Israel art
my servant Jacob whom I've chosen the seed of Abraham my friend
Don't you love that? Abraham God says is my friend
He's my friend He's my friend and over here in James 2 if you
don't want to turn all the way over there I'll flip over and
read it to you in James chapter 2 verse 3 Verse 23, listen to
this, "...and the scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and
he was called a friend of God." The friend of God. He's my friend. I have a friend. I have a friend. And that friendship and that
fellowship with God is in Christ. Now, I don't deserve it. I'm
not saying that at all. I'm not saying that, I'm looking
over here, turn to John 15, I'll show you what I'm talking about.
God's not my friend because of something I am, or something
I did, or something I said, or something I gave. There's nothing
in me to woo the love of God, or to gain the favor of God,
but He loves me in Christ. Paul said that in Romans chapter
8, he said, nothing can separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ. But I'll tell you, if you're in Christ by faith,
you're in the love of God. He's your friend. It doesn't
matter what men do to you or say to you. David said, my mother
and father can forsake me and the Lord will take me up. He's
my friend. And here in John 15, verse 14,
our Lord said, you're my friends. You're my friends. You're my
friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. Henceforth I call you not servants.
The servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. I call you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you. You didn't choose me
to be your friend. I chose you, and I chose to be
your friend." That's the kind of friend to have, isn't it? He chose to be my friend. I didn't
love him. He loved me. I didn't seek him. He sought me. I didn't call on
him. He called on me. You're going to be my friend.
Yes, you are. I ordained you that your fruit
should remain, and whatsoever you ask the Father in my name,
he'll give it to you. These things I command you that
you love one another. The world hates you. You know
it hated me, for it hated you. And if you were of the world,
the world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore the world
hateth you, but I love you." That's what the Lord says, I
love you. You're my friend. You're my friend. So there is
a friend. There is a friend. There is a friend who loves you,
who loves you with an eternal love, who loves you with an infinite
love, who loves you with a persevering love, who loves you with a love
that'll never fade. Christ loves his own. He said,
I love my own. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. He said, I love my sheep. I lay
down my life for my sheep. I love them. All right, not only that, turn
to Psalm 17, and we'll read my text now. There is a friend. There is a friend. And that's
the main part of the message. That's it. That's the heart of
it. There is a friend. What a friend we have in Jesus
Christ. He's my friend. He's my friend. But not only that, there are
some true friends in this world. That's right, in Christ. There
are some people in Christ who are true friends. In Proverbs
17, verse 17, here's the way it's described. Number one, a
friend loveth at all times. What's this say? People who are
friends love each other. They love each other. They, a
friend, loveth. See, that's where we want to
stop. We read all of it sometimes. Just stop right there. A friend
loveth. A friend loveth. I have a few definitions of friendship
that I've picked up through the years. Here's one. A friend never
has to apologize. A friend never has to apologize.
Never does. You don't have to apologize to
a friend. It doesn't do any good to apologize
to anybody else. You better do it, but it doesn't
do any good. Secondly is this, a friend is one who knows all
about you, knows all about you, and still loves you. That's a
friend. A friend loves you. He knows
all about you, but he loves you. And then thirdly, a friend is
one with whom you can feel completely comfortable having neither to
weigh your words or your thoughts, because he loves you. You say
there are folks like that? That's what it says here, a friend-lover. How long? At all times. He loves
in the morning, he loves in the evening. He loves in the good
times and the bad times. He loves on Easter, he loves
on Christmas, and he loves on Halloween. He loves you when
you're young, he loves you when you're old. He loves you when
you're pretty, and he loves you when you're ugly. He loves you
when you're nice, and he loves you when you're not. He just
flat loves you. Like he loves God. He loves God for himself.
I just love God when he's blessing me. Oh no, I love God when he's
whipping me. I love God when I'm on the mountain.
I love God when I'm in the valley. Because I love God for himself.
Then if you have a friend and you love him, you love him when
he's on the mountain. You love him when he's in the
valley. You love him when he's good and when he's bad. You love
him. Friend love it at all times. You see, love is like repentance
and faith. True spiritual faith continues. True spiritual repentance continues. True spiritual love continues.
It's not changed by adversity. If a man ever loved you, he loves
you now. If he doesn't love you now, he
never did. I know husbands and wives who say they loved each
other when they got married. Now they hate each other. They
never did love each other. John said if they had been of
us, they'd still be with us. You know what he said? If a man
ever believed on Christ, he's still believing on Christ. If
a person ever loved somebody, they still love them. The fact
that you don't love them now just proves you never did love
them. You loved yourself. You always loved yourself, and
no doubt about that, that's not the issue. We're born loving
ourselves. We love ourselves when we're
dead in trespasses and sin. The friend loveth at all times. A friend does. Now Judas didn't. And the fellow that loved the
rich man didn't. And the fellow that loved the
fellow giving the gifts didn't. But that's not friends, you see.
That's the world. This is love. This is Christ's
love. This is God's love. This is the
love that's shared abroad in the heart of the people by the
Holy Ghost. Now watch this next line. A friend
loveth. A friend loveth. He flat loves
you. And he loves you at all times.
At all times, and watch this, and a brother, that friend that
loves you, is born for adversity. What's that saying? That's saying
this is when his true love is revealed in adversity. A true friend was created by
God and brought to cross your path by God for that time of
adversity, for that time of need. And the man that quit you in
time of need wasn't brought into your life by God. That's right,
Charlie. He wasn't brought into your life
by God. He walked in of his own and walked out of his own. He
never was in there. He never was a part of it. He
was a part of himself. He never was a part of you. You
see, true love is like the trial of faith. The trial of love is
like the trial of faith. Here's a man who says he has
faith. How you gonna know when he gets in trouble? And his trouble
reveals his faith. And his trial reveals his faith.
If he fails under the trial, if he fails under the gun, if
he fails in the darkness, he didn't have faith. Here's a man
who says he loves you. He's a brother. How you gonna
find out? Ain't but one way. Trouble. That's
right, that's the only way. That's when you find out. And
when trouble strikes and when darkness rolls and the clouds
gather and he's not there, he never loved you. A brother is
born for adversity. That's exactly right. Our Lord
said in, see that verse? A friend loveth at all times,
and a brother is born, he's created, he's begotten for adversity. That's when he's needed, and
that's when he's there. That's when he's needed. When
you need me, I'll be there. You will if you're a friend,
in Luke chapter 6. But if you're not a friend, you
won't be there, because you may get hurt. You may cost you something. You may get wounded. But I'm
glad he's not ashamed to call us his brothers." Huh? He's not ashamed. He said he's
not ashamed to call us his brothers. Now, when old Peter was sitting
down there by the fire, cussing and swearing, the Lord wasn't
ashamed to call him brother. That's right. He wasn't ashamed. Here in Luke
chapter 6 verse 32 our Lord said if you if you love them that
love you what thank have you Most anybody can do that Sinners
also love them that love them Hmm Boy, are you a friend? I Asked myself and I got to the
middle of this message. I said you are you a friend?
Are you somebody's friend? Do you have a friend? That's
a good question. Do you have a friend? Yeah, I
believe so. Well, thirdly, there's a way
to be a friend. Let me say this first of all
before I get in. There's a way to be a... I want
to be a friend. I want to be a friend. I want
to be like Christ. I want to be like Christ. I want
to be a friend. I don't want to be a doctrinalist,
straight as a gun barrel just as empty. I don't want to be
a disciplinarian. I don't want to be a whipcracker.
I don't want to be a deserter of the ship in time of storm.
I just don't want to be that at all. I want to be a friend.
That's what I'd like to be. Under God, I'd like to be somebody's
friend. Well, there's a way, but it's
not in you or me to do it. It's not in us. This type of
friendship, now that old friendship for the rich, that's in us by
nature. That old friendship for those that can help us scratch
our backs and we scratch theirs, that's all in us. But this friendship
is not in us. It's impossible, it's as impossible
as salvation. It's impossible with men, but
it's possible with God. There is a love that's shed abroad
in the heart by the Holy Ghost. And that's where it comes from.
Now let's look at some scriptures. Proverbs 18. I'll tell you, there's
a way to be a friend, but this is where it starts right here.
This friendship, this friendship is closer than blood can. Now
listen to this, Proverbs 18, verse 24. A man that hath friends
must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother." Now, I know a lot of people use that
in reference to Christ, and no reason why you can't, but that's
not what he's talking about right here. He's talking about there's
a friendship that's closer than blood kin. That's exactly right. It's closer than blood kin, and
this is the friendship of the family of God. It's closer than
blood kin. It's closer than blood ties.
It's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And it's a, back
there in the, just before I read that in verse 24 of Proverbs
8, 18, you see that? A friend that, a man that hath
friends must show himself friendly. It's an affectionate display.
He shows himself to be a friend. He shows himself to be a friend.
no matter where he is or with whomever he finds him, he shows
himself. That friendship in defense of
you, in the strengthening of you, that friend will stand up. He's not just your friend to
your face, he's a friendly person who shows himself to be a friend
in an affectionate display all the time. Now turn to John 15,
and I'll tell you how deep this friendship goes in John chapter
15. John 15, verse 12, listen to
this. John 15, 12, it says, this is
my commandment, that you love one another as I've loved you. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Now that doesn't just mean you
get shot, that means you lay down your reputation, you lay
down your your edge or influence. You stand for that friend. You
give your life. You give your life for that.
This man is my friend. I love this person. This woman
is my friend. I love this person. I will not
suffer them to be abused. I will not suffer them to be
misused. I will stand for them. I will
stand with them against all comers. I'll give my life for that person.
And that's not just dying for them. That's standing for them
when the cost sometimes greater than bloodshed. Maybe, Joe, you'll
lose some other friends standing for that friend. But the ones
you lose were not your friends, because you don't lose friends.
That's right. You don't lose friends. And then
Luke chapter 6. Friendship seeks no return. This
is where we've got this thing all messed up. Do you want to
be a friend? Do you want to have a friend?
Ask God to work a work of grace in my heart and in your heart.
Make us a friend. Make us a friend of God and being
a friend of God, a friend of others. But it's a friendship
that seeks no return. Verse 33, if you do good to them
which do good to you, what thank have you? Sinners do the same.
Verse 34, and you lend to them of whom you hope to receive,
what thank have you? Any banker will do that. to receive
as much again, but love your enemies, do good, lend, hoping
for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you
shall be called the children of the highest. For he's kind,
he's kind to the unthankful, he's kind to the evil. Be ye
therefore merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful." I heard
a story one time. There were two little boys sitting
on the doorsteps of an apartment in a kind of a ghetto area. They were real poor little boys,
one of them about 13 or 14, one about 9 or 10. They were sitting
there on the steps, didn't have nothing, raised by the hair of
their head, you know. They're sitting there doing something.
This man drove up in a big, long Oldsmobile 98 Regency. And he got out of it, and he
walked around and kind of rubbed it a little bit, you know, and
he walked around that car, and these little boys, their eyes
got big like that, you know, and they ran down there and touched
that car, that shiny, beautiful, black automobile. Boy, that thing's
pretty. And the fellow said, you like
my car? One of the little boys said, I sure do. Said, could
you take us for a ride? Boy, he said, yeah, I'll take
you for a ride. So he opened the door and let him get in,
you know, and shut the door. And he got in on the wheel and
started up and pulled out in the traffic, and he was riding
along. One of the little boys, he's rubbing up, holstered, looking
around, turning on the lights. He said, mister, he said, where'd
you get this car? And that man said, well, son,
he said, I'll tell you. He said, I've got a good friend.
And he gave me this car. And one of the little boys said,
boy, I wish, and you know what the man thought he was going
to say? I wish, I wish I had a friend like, no he didn't.
He said, boy, I wish I could be a friend like that. Isn't that different? I wish
I could be a friend like that. That's what I'm talking about.
I wish I could be a friend like that. A friend loveth at all
times. A brother's born for adversity.
I wish I could be a friend like that. Well, there's no reason
why I can't. By the grace of God, it's my
own fault if I'm not. It's the flesh in me and the
rottenness and the lack of knowledge of Christ and the lack of grace,
the grace of God. That's the only reason why I
can't, because it's available to those who believe. Here's
the last thing. Turn to 1 John chapter 1. Now,
this friendship, this fellowship does not consist of denominations
and doctrines and traditions and customs and doing things
the way I think you ought to do them. But this friendship
consists in the very life of Christ in the soul. Those who
love Christ love each other. And those who do not love each
other do not know Christ. Now, that's where it is. It's
all in a person. And here in 1 John 3, let's look
at it. 1 John 3, verse 10. In this,
the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. This is the message we've heard
from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain,
who was of that wicked one and killed his brother. Wherefore
slew he him? Because his works were evil and
his brother's works were righteous. Now marvel not, my brethren,
that the world hate you. We know we pass from death unto
life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Whoso hateth his brother is a
murderer, and no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his
life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.