Be a friend of God

2nd Chronicles 20 verse 7 art not thou our God who did strive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gave us it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever Isaiah 41 please Isaiah 41 Isaiah 41 and again verse 8 but thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend James chapter 2 James chapter 2 and verse number 23 James 2 verse number 23 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 finally back the book of Exodus for a final reading Exodus in chapter 33 Exodus 33 Exodus 33 in verse number 11 and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend there may be certain fields of service in Christianity that are not open to any or all of us here this afternoon maybe some are thinking about a mission field but there's certain things that have come in that would hinder you from maybe an exercise in the mission field or even a full-time service for the Lord you may have that exercise that desire but for whatever reason that's not opening I want to speak on something this afternoon that is open to every believer that's here something we could leave this conference and go in for that would be most commendable and that is to be a friend of God a friend of God we don't just sing the hymn a beautiful hymn what a friend we have in Jesus and indeed we have a friend in Jesus we love this thing I found a friend oh such a friend he loved me and I knew him and we found that friend and he found us but I want to think of the reciprocal of that about not only me finding in him a friendship not only me finding in him a friend but he finding in me a friend come on some of us are getting older some of you up there that is really what it come to the end of the day and we have a Nelson monuments in our town where I live in Sussex New Brunswick and they're in there grinding different epitaphs into the tombstones and I think there are some lovely ones the believers have put on their headstone redeemed and a lot of lovely just maybe one word or so but wouldn't this be an epitaph would really be something if somebody could just have on the top of their stone friend of God that's all no great preacher no great worker wasn't really going that far but he was a friend of God now Abraham that we've read of in these passages was not exactly starting out what we call a paragon of virtue he was a man that would risk the chastity of his wife in front of a heathen king but he learned some things from God to the point where God is going to call him his friend three times maybe even an inference more than a particularly three times I would suggest to you that when we have James commentation on it in James chapter 2 it is linked with his belief link with his belief I cannot be a friend of God as long as I'm an enemy of God now I'm not sure that I could really prove to you that Moses was a enemy of God really at any time there's obviously a point of conversion in his life I cannot say to you that Abraham even though he came from a heathen land was in New Testament language like you and I an enemy of God but he became a friend of God what amazes me today is this that I you no question about it we were enemies of God doesn't matter what grandma said when she looked at you in the hospital after you were born or what the grandparents said months after you were born like I was born an enemy of God it's not wonderful that we can become friends it's open to all of us I'd love it I've been so enjoying this just in the last month or two reading these passages so it is linked with our belief because that's what James says Abraham believe God really that the summation of salvation the summation of conversions day isn't it brethren and sisters we believe God some not saved some here in the meeting today not save and you're struggling with the believing well I want to tell you my friend when you get to the end of the struggle you can't help but believe who God I love those words the Apostle Acts chapter 27 when that ship is being tossed like a cork on the waves and gonna be broken up and Luke says when neither star nor Sun appeared in him in many days and all hope that we should be saved was taken away and then Paul bounces on the deck and he says be a good cheer I think that Luke would have turned and said what ships he on we on the same boat they're looking at two different ways both were looking above but Paul was one that was looking beyond the stars beyond that pale of stellar universe and he said the Lord stood by me and so there was a belief he says I believe God there's different people they were believing on that ship but Paul just settles he said I believe God isn't it nice in a very failing society in a world that is losing its touch if I can call it that I was amazed to read I know I missed it in Ontario the other night just on a news clip of USA Today in the on the computer is their website nothing know the title of it was do we really need police pardon me do we really need police because of events that have happened in this country in our country you know what that is saying bring on the lawless society that's it brother I don't think we realize how quickly how overnight we can become a lawless society you say well we've got that today not quite not quite we wouldn't be safe to meet in this building so we need to pray as I appreciate I think our brethren inferred that one of their prayers about the powers that be in local authority so here's one it when it comes to James chapter 2 it is linked with his belief that he believed God it was imputed him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God he was called the friend of God then we read 2nd Chronicles chapter 20 I know first and we read these words are not thou our God who did strive out the inhabitants of the land before thy people Israel and put and gave us to Abra the seed of Abraham thy friend forever was linked with his behavior let me ask you is your behavior today in keeping with someone that would be really defined or described as a friend of God your behavior I mean a friend you know how a friend would behave would my behavior would it really be in keeping with someone that would be a friend of God I want to go in for this brethren sorry who would like to be a better preacher one brother said to me one time he said you know he said the flesh loves to preach well I said all will allow you that much of the fresh of the flesh so you can preach a little better but I would like to go in for being called a friend of God let me ask you are you a friendly individual today are you a friend of your fellow believers if I was to go over the overseers in your assembly was a yes yes she is a friendly person she is a friend of the believers little him oh boy if there's trouble he's into it that's not a friend you see there's a vertical with this and there's a horizontal as well the two go together no such thing as me being a friend of God I can't be a friend of my brethren possible so I want to go in for being a friend of God to have that commendation not only will it be a friend of God linked with my first of all with my belief but it'll be linked with my behavior but more than that Isaiah chapter 41 is linked with something else but thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend it was linked with his birth link with his birth but then I've come to Moses you know just go back to Abraham for a minute your God cuz could have easily said here's Abraham great patriarch who would argue with that had to be one of the greatest patriarchs I just think great patriarch or here he is a great prophet and he was a prophet he's called a prophet but he says he's my friend as far as I am concerned for the sake of the preaching at the moment that's superseded that rides over top of everything everything friend of God but those are lovely words that we have in Exodus chapter 33 Lord speak unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend just go back a couple chapters what's happened I want to say that the heart of God was broken there more than tables of stone broken on that on that mountain that day God from heaven looked down there was his people who had redeemed we brought over the land and here is Aaron and they make this calf and here they are done worshipping the calf it was not an easy day for God or for Moses you say what happened Abraham can I suggest taking nothing from Aaron sorry taking what happened with with the people taking nothing from Aaron but I think if they had Moses that wouldn't have happened you know what I'm afraid they had they knew who they had they knew who they had they would give him the ride Aaron was a great man whoever take from Aaron as a priest and so on but it is a Moses that is left with a son to strip Aaron in his last days so it wasn't an easy time it's not always an easy time today brothers and sisters we see sometimes what believers are turning to places they would go they wouldn't have gone to wouldn't have thought of going to ten years ago they go today and go to a rapper concert and get my picture taken beside one of these rappers and I'm not on Facebook okay but I want to tell you something I steal a peek at it now and then yeah that's what we're doing and that's accepted that was a great time the Lacraie crusade will a friend of God be found there really really would a friend of God be found in such a place so it was not an easy day for the Lord in Exodus chapter 31 32 but here he comes it's just like he comes to Moses and it's just like a breath of air I've got Moses Moses I'm gonna speak to Moses notice he's not speaking to Moses is just a little different than had been the speaking that had been heard there at the mountain there there is no thunder there's no lightning flash there's no ear spring trumpet blast he speaks as to a friend as to a friend now with the speak sometimes to our children when they are misbehaving you're hardly allowed to do that anymore but we still do it I don't know why do it yeah I do it if their parents aren't doing I do it yeah they go home and say you know what grandpa told me too bad your grandpa's house you abide by his laws I'll go home downstreet we love them don't get me wrong but there's something about a friend how do you speak to a friend you speak tenderly you speak kind words to a friend you're not brash with them not hard with them let me ask you brother do you want to go in for this or do you just want to let this message sail right over your head we didn't come this far to give you nothing we have brethren on this platform exercise before God have been giving you what's on their heart from last night the permitting to this moment and if the Lord didn't want you to hear this you wouldn't be here if you didn't want us to give it we wouldn't be here either a friend of God so he speaks to Moses as such even in spite of that dark background let me suggest to you that God has many children but possibly less friends you can be his child without being his friend I'm sorry to say many children few friends that's a friendship that we want to cover that's a friendship that we must keep he confides in a friend see there we learn three things here the value of a friendship I would have to tell you the value of a friendship that's just so what I can get from him so I'm his friend so I could get this that's who picked up our world somebody wants to become a certain person's friend because he can work this area for me and I can kind of draw him so for that reason I'm his friend outside of that not his friend not not the value of the friendship I want to think of values in a friendship values in a friendship that's what we find with Moses Moses had his times to Moses Abraham we're not perfect men they're still called a friend of God and God would speak to Moses as he would speak to a friend but there's values by a friendship so three things value of a friendship values in a friendship values by a friendship that's what we want I want to think of three things this afternoon that mark a true friendship three things they have to be there three ingredients if you like that will either that will make and maintain a friendship I think you'd know what they are before I give them to you first of all there must be trust okay I'll give you the three of them case I don't get through them there has to be trust there has to be truth there has to be truth every man speaking truth is his neighbor you know something else there has to be transparency that's something we have difficulty with isn't it we preach to the unsaved and rightly so those are not saved and we tell them that before ever they'll know God's salvation they got to be transparently truthful why don't we preach that to believers I I don't find I know that lying is condemned in the Bible and by the law and so on but I don't find an exhortation to unconverted people not to lie I find it to believers lie not one to another says the Apostle speaking every man truth with his neighbor the value of being able to speak truthfully but let's go over these in order first of all trust nice to have people you can trust I would like to say today now hang under your chair I'll sit the best I can I would love to stand here today and tell you that every man I know commended to the work I can trust do you think I can every man I know commended to the work I can trust I would like to think that every overseer I've ever come to know I can trust that man saving a believer let's just work at the reverse isn't delightful to have overseers in the assembly and you can trust them with strict confidence that what you've gone to them with your problem your difficulty his wife is not going to know about that you've told them that an absolute trust and pretty soon that overseer has become to you what he's a friend he's a friend there has to be the element of trust you remember that David will say of a Thithophel my old familiar friend in whom I had trusted who did eat of my bread had lifted up his heel against me now I know when it comes to the Lord Jesus speaking of Judas he omits in whom I trusted he didn't have trust in Judas he knew Judas but there was a measure of trust that he wanted to put in those disciples and like us at times it was faltering trust are you the believer that God can trust can he trust you brother when other I sees you sister nobody is around you're miles away and you're thinking nobody's around here and can you trust you that's what you'll do as to where you'll go can he trust you in conversation that you will not be speaking evil unnecessarily of someone that's what that is what is essential to be a friend of God remember David's friends yes that's what David said in the 41st Psalm but David had a friend by name of Hosea and Hosea I came into the city and Absalom was in Jerusalem and it's a difficult day it's just when you need a friend and so that that's it who is it that said Winchell or one of those writers said up the friend is the man that walks in when everybody else is walked out he's with you when the chips are down there's your friend you can go to your friend that's what David had in Hosea I know David wanted a friendship and Joab never had it never had it he can't say that Joab didn't love the kingdom he just didn't love the king Joab was no lover of David Jonathan was not Joab Abiathar David would love to have trusted in that priest but when an Adonijah comes to take the throne he defects to Adonijah can't trust him anymore it's amazing what can happen when difficulties come when there is a test as we've been hearing of lordship just I was gonna say as the cards play out that's a wrong term to use up here but you know what I mean by that trust isn't nice to have those you can trust in I love working with brethren here and I've got them right here on each side of me today I can trust those men it doesn't matter whether it's in Nova Scotia New Brunswick they're preaching exactly the same thing and when they're questioned by one believer here they'll say the same thing you as they say it over here that's the friend now brethren let's wake up that doesn't always happen never mind the politics never mind out one side of my mouth and out the other side is somebody else that's no friend that's a breach in friendship that is a breach in trust do you realize what God has trusted us with brethren local men stand on a platform here preaching the gospel God has literally trusted you with the ultimate message of the universe let alone those of us that are in full time let's not betray that trust let's be his friend there's got to be trust there's got to be truth truth an absolute truth you have in this country a head a very popular anchorman on the TV and the news by the name of Brian Williams Walter Congrete some of those other big names when it comes to the news world or the newscast Peter Jennings Tom Brokaw didn't make half the money that Brian Williams did when Brian Williams spoke he had nine point seven million listeners at any moment why he spoke to them truthfully you know what happened to Brian Williams in a moment he just exaggerated what had happened while he's over in Iraq and he got caught in that exaggeration he hasn't got a job today he said exaggeration you can call it what you like but it's the first cousin of a lie there are times I don't think of anybody particularly here but when certain things are said to me I almost have to cut it in half and just put it down a bit because I too many times have been caught because with that particular individual a set of times it's just a little embellished speaking absolute truth I save us a lot of difficulty save us a lot of problem wouldn't it and even when it comes to emails our communication our correspondents you know we can go back today and say here's what was said here's what wasn't said I know I could be guilty of it but when it comes into something difficult I have to say to you I filed him I gotta go back three years and say brother here's what you told me I gotta do it he's gotta go back to me and say here's what you told me Mr. McCandless so many years ago let's face it wanna be a friend of God there's gotta be trust there's got to be truth next there's got to be transparency that's just totally open and totally honest just just transparent just just being honest about it I love people that are transparent you know I was raised in a home with a mother that could look right through me so I was pretty easy transparent Wow I can she could you know I don't think I was even turning red and I don't know if she was saw it but she just guessed it I think she knew what's happening inside you know something she's right transparency this is nice to be transparent with believers hide nothing come on that's what will ruin these three things I'll ruin a marriage quicker in a flash a loss of trust you don't think we have wives that have to trust us husbands with a wife they trust nothing like it the result of that there'll be truth when there isn't the trust then come the lies but it's nice to have that truth that trust that transparency just openness I know they'll say they'll joke and say oh you know he wears on the sleeve he speaks his mind gets him in trouble yeah I'll be honest it does there's something about transparency I love it I love working with men I'll tell you if I don't find that kind of an individual I have two series of one first and last but give me a brother that's transparent give me somebody that's truthful give me somebody I can trust these were characteristics of the men that were looking at Giants Giants men that grace the stout platform years before I knew where this place where or men of the caliber the kind I'm speaking about right now do we have them today brother do you want to be that kind of a man really this is the Lord looking down for them and say god he's really developed nice to see development I see development so do you we sit here today at this conference I love to see development so do you I love to see younger men coming on we thank God for them raised up by God whom the Lord commended they're not banging on the overseers door wanting a letter to go preach the overseers come and see them and say give an exercise about the work brother big difference why there's somebody they can trust somebody that's marked by truth somebody that's transparent outside of that don't take the pocket brethren don't betray it you got to remember that these brethren here in stout have put trust and those of us that they've encouraged here today God so help me if I betray that value it not as a political game finance a certain question at this conference by anybody else I'm I gotta be truthful with you you know why I just kind of I just say it's nicer you don't have to have a good memory then yeah if you tell truth you don't have a good memory but if you're telling less of that you're saying one thing here one thing you gotta keep track all that those days are gone for me and I didn't have a tree follow me either okay they're gone but there's something something is to be said of any level of relationship whether it is that the workplace come on you a businessman you know I'm talking about or whether it's in the assembly so how God speak to you can God speak to you as a friend do you speak to him as a friend I'm gonna tell you something brethren if he's your friend you won't be calling him you you won't be using street language because he's your friend there's not there's not another title worthy of his honored name than the Holy One that we're linked with and to think that such majestic this such such one possessed of such power actually deems himself this is that boy they got saved their 11 years of age yeah they said some kid got saved after starting a conference or 11 year old kid I was 11 year old kid and you know I'm not worried when I get to heaven that the Lord's gonna do like I do at a conference and I think oh what's his name here he comes what's his name what's his name no no no no he's gonna look at me like I was only one there do you know why I'm his child I'm his son I'd love to be greeted as his friend these men are gone now these men don't know I don't think they know that I'm standing on the stove platform telling the people at this large conference here today good to see you you haven't lost the value of a conference good for you Christians keep coming God bless you I wish that was true in every quarter God preserve it to you I want to be greeted that coming day wouldn't be nice just to hear him say that's not to say to everybody my friend my friend that's what's worth going in for brethren and sisters that's what makes this conference worthwhile any conference worthwhile really to be better Christians yes to be better Bible students yes better readers of the Bible better praying in that but I want to go in for even at this age and stage of life just to be a friend of God