Jesus: A Friend for 2024

Matthew 11:16–19

Truly, Jesus IS a Friend of sinners.

I am a sinner and I need a friend.

Jesus has declared to me through the Word of God that HE is that friend.

He is that Friend who, according to Hebrews 13:5 never fails us and never abandons us.

He’s never sick, never goes on vacation, never has something else he or she HAS to do, never has a prior obligation, never just doesn’t want to be around us because we are obnoxious …

He is always there.

And, I don’t know about you, but I need a Friend like that.

A Friend who will be with me in the challenges of 2024.

How about you?

Do YOU need a Friend to be with you, encourage you, strengthen you, provide for you in 2024?

Anyone?

Last week I talked about a Steven Curtis Chapman song called The Great Adventure. The lyrics to the chorus say…

Saddle up your horses We've got a trail to blaze Through the yonder of God's Amazing grace Let's follow our leader into the Glorious unknown This is the life like no other … This is The Great Adventure

That song was released in 1992.

I definitely hear it as a song of naivete or a song of great faith.

We never know what lies ahead.

Was Chapman being naive about the future?

Those of us who have lived a while know that life can be incredibly hard.

BUT if we walk by faith, we can see life ahead as a great adventure - something to which we look forward.

We sang it this morning…

What lies ahead may be unknown

As I brave the unseen road

BUT…

No fear in the crashing waves

No fear when the cost is great

No fear in the midnight hour

WHY?

I am fearless!

When?

In Your Presence.

Are we walking by faith in the Presence of God?

16 years after releasing The Great Adventure, Chapman’s Great Adventure included the death of his 5 year old adopted daughter when his son accidently ran over her.

Like us, Chapman has had many struggles.

We just never know what our adventure may hold.

Can we dare believe for God’s Amazing Grace along the way?

Are we fearless in the midnight hour?

We can be if we hold onto our Leader, Our Friend, Our Jesus all along this adventure.

He is the Friend who will see us through to the end of the trail.

As you journey through life, you will make and lose friends.

It is just the way things are!

So, thank God for the friends you have and pray for those you don’t have any longer.

But, as you travel, remember that there is a Friend who outshines ALL the friends you will make, or lose, along life’s way.

In our text, He was called, “A friend of sinners” by His enemies.

I think in the entire Bible, there is no sweeter name given to the Lord Jesus Christ than this.

To think that those who were called “the enemies of God” have a Friend of such noble stature and quality as Jesus is an amazing thing.

He is the Friend of the friendless!

When we look into the Word of God, we are met with this word “friend” many times.

In several of these places, the Bible gives us a definition of just what a friend really is.

Therefore, over the next few weeks, I would like to apply the acid test of the Word of God to the Lord Jesus and show you that He is the sinner’s Friend!

He is a true Friend!

He is a Friend to the end and beyond.

Let’s take the Word of God and look at the traits of a true friend.

This morning, let’s look at just one trait.

One single trait that proves beyond all doubt, Jesus is our Friend

A REAL FRIEND SACRIFICES

Jesus said in: John 15:12–15 (LSB) “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

There is a lot in these 4 verses.

I just want to look at verse 13 … Greater love has no one than this …

Jesus loves US.

He laid down His life for us because He calls US His friends.

Perhaps you have had a friend for which you would do anything.

Or, perhaps you have been fortunate enough to have a friend that would do anything for you.

If so, then be glad, for a friend of that degree is a rare thing!

These verses teach us the truth that Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to die in our place on the cross.

Even when we were His enemies and lost in sin, He still willingly died for us, Rom. 8:7; Rom. 5:6–8.

Romans 5:8 (LSB) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

A lot of people think they need a friend with money, or power, or prestige, or influence, or a million other things the world places its hopes on.

In truth, the sinner needs a Friend who can save him from his sins and keep him out of Hell.

Jesus, and Jesus alone, is that Friend!

A thousand others could have died, but none other could have paid the sinner’s due!

Jesus died so that sinners might live in Him!

The righteous died for the unrighteous.

Through action, through His death on the Cross, Jesus proved that He was and is the sinner’s best Friend!

LOVE REQUIRES ACTION

Jack Lawler tells this story. He says:

“Near my office is a storage locker building.

A shabbily-dressed little man kept his tools and ran his yard maintenance business from one of them.

We spoke daily.

One day, he clasped my arm and asked if he could talk with me.

I was very busy, hesitated, and then said, “Yes.”

He told me his troubles, tearfully.

His wife had left him; his partner had stolen from him.

I tried to encourage him, urged him to turn his problems over to God, and told him I would pray for him.

“A few days later I was emptying a waste basket into a large dumpster in back of my office building.

As I leaned over, my glasses fell into the foul garbage.

Gazing down into the dumpster, I was mortified.

Suddenly, my little neighbor appeared.

I told him of my loss. Instantly, he vaulted into the dumpster, sorted through the garbage, found my glasses and held them up to me, smiling triumphantly.

I thanked him over and over.

“ ‘It’s nothing,’ he said. ‘You’re my friend.’

“The Scripture says we should love one another.

Sometimes love requires sudden, unselfish action.”

The true mark of friendship is action, not words, 1 John 3:18.

1 John 3:18 (LSB) Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Jesus acted to save us by dying for us

HAVE YOU ACTED?

Have we responded to His action?

To His sacrifice?

Have we embraced the love of Jesus that compelled Him to die on our behalf?

Jesus acted on our behalf — have WE acted on HIS behalf?

One translation of Proverbs 18:24 (NKJV) says: A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Jesus acted to show His friendship to us.

Have we acted to show OUR friendship to Him?

That He is our BEST friend?

If not, I would call on you to come to Him this morning.

Don’t delay.

We have no guarantees of tomorrow — or even the next minute.

Repent of your sins.

Surrender your life to God.

Pray with me right now:

God, I am a sinner.

I deserve hell.

But right now I ask you to forgive my sins.

Help me turn from them and stop doing them.

I surrender my life to You.

I believe you hear me God because Your Son Jesus died for me.

I believe You forgive me of my sins.

That I have eternal life.

Because I pray in the Name of Jesus — the One who died and rose again.

If you prayed that prayer, please let me know.

If you are here in this service, before you leave come tell me you prayed that prayer with me.

If you are viewing this online, please call, text or email me.

THE LORD’S SUPPER

For those who have acted to embrace the love of Jesus, I invite you to remember that death.

To remember His sacrifice.

This morning let us remember Jesus’ Friendship as we partake of the Lord’s Supper together.

Let us give Jesus thanks for the sacrifice He made to redeem us from the curse of death.

We have always used the bread of Passover for The Lord’s Supper.

This bread is called matzos.

It is the same kind of bread Jesus used to institute the His Supper.

This morning we will each break a piece off of one loaf.

Jesus used matzos because, as you see ...

It is a bread without leaven (yeast) — Jesus was sinless.

Hebrews 4:14–16 (NLT) So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

It is a bread that has stripes:

It is a bread that has holes:

Isaiah 53:5 (LSB) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our peace fell upon Him, And by His [stripes] we are healed.

Each of us will break off a piece without touching the rest of the loaf.

But, before we partake of the bread and the cup, let us prepare ourselves.

1 Corinthians 10:14–17 (LSB) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to prudent people. You judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one [loaf].

1 Corinthians 10:21 (LSB) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 11:27–31 (NLT) So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

Prayer of Preparation

Receive Emblems:

Bread

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 (LSB) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Prayer over Bread

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Cup:

1 Corinthians 11:25 (LSB) In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Prayer over cup

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Jesus IS coming back!

1 Corinthians 11:26 (LSB) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.

Carr, A. (2015). I’ve Never Had a Friend like Jesus (Matthew 11:16–19). In The Sermon Notebook: New Testament (p. 363). Alan Carr.