A Friend of God

“A Friend of God “

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It is a great thing to have a friend, Billy Graham once said, it you have one true friend in your life time, count yourself wealth.

Do you have a true friend? I hope you have several true friends. My best friend is my wife, I feel like the most blessed man on earth to have Tess as my best friend!

Do you have friends, that when you hear others talk about them you think to yourself, yeah that person you’re talking about is my friend? You feel so proud and grateful that you can call them your friend.

I have friends, that I think to myself, they want to be my friend? WOW, I feel so blessed to know them on a first name basis, I have there cell phone number, they are important people, but they are my friend!!

I don’t know if you have any friends that are rich and famous, or powerful.

But I am here to tell you this morning that you can be a friend to the richest, most powerful, most important person in this universe! I am talking about being a friend of God; let that soak in for a minute, that you…yes you…can be on a first name basis with the God of creation, that God of redemption.

To be a friend of God almighty is the greatest privilege you will ever!! Are you on a first name basis with God? Do you spend time with God?

Do you want to be a better friend to God, I do!! Abraham is called the friend of God three times in the bible.

-“Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God”.

We are told that Jesus called Lazarus His friend, -“Our friend Lazarus is sleeping; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Jesus called Lazarus His friend; wasn’t Lazarus one blessed man!!

Well pastor that was for Abraham and Lazarus, but that is not for us today, we can’t be friends of God like they were! Oh yes we can! God is not a respecter of person; He will be my friend, and your friend!

Who wants to be a friend of God? Every one of us!!

In this chapter we learn the characteristics of a friend of God. The first characteristic is a friend of God:

1. Eagerly Spends time with God!

V:1-15.

This to me is one of the most wonderful word pictures in the Bible. Abraham is sitting in the door way of his tent, in the heat of the day, trying to catch whatever breeze there was in the heat of the day, it was Siesta time.

He looks up and Lo, behold, three men are approaching, and he jumps up and runs to meet them. His eagerly runs to them, and bows down in respect and invites them to sit down under the shade tree wash their feet, take a break, and let him serve them.

He is 100 years old, but he is not going to sit still while the Lord is passing by!! He sensed from their appearance, and manner, they aren’t from around here. Abraham must have been thinking, I think I know Him; maybe he asked Him, do I know you, have we meet before.

Who was this who had come to Abraham tent that day? It was the LORD, and two angels. And Abraham is thrilled, and excited about have an opportunity to break bread with God! V:3-“My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.

You are my Lord, I am your servant, please, please sit with me, let me wash your feet, and let me serve you!! He is so eager to spend some time serving the God!!

Abraham didn’t have to beg them, they said yes and came and sat under the shade tree washed there feet, and rest. Abraham tell them,

V:5-“ I will fetch some bread, you sit here and rest”

Abraham goes into action, V:6-8-Read.

First of notice:

· Abraham served the Lord personally.

Remember, Abraham was 100 years old and a wealthy sheikh, and he could have delegated this task to his chief steward or one of his more than 300 servants. But instead, he decided to minister to his Lord personally V:5-“I will fetch,

V:7-“Abraham ran to the herd and picked out the best calf, tender and good for T-bone steaks.

V:8-“he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed and he served them and stood by them like a waiter at a restaurant.

· Abraham served the Lord immediately.

Abraham could have ignored them by pretending to be asleep, or he could have asked them to sit down and wait until he had finished his siesta. But Abraham was a man of faith, and faith does not delay when it comes to serving the Lord.

He ran to meet the visitors and hurried to tell Sarah to bake some bread. He ran to get a tender calf and saw to it that the young man hastened to dress the meat. Keep in mind that this is an old man running around in the heat of the day! Only after he had served his guests did Abraham stand still.

· Abraham's served the Lord Humbly

V:2-“bowed himself toward the ground”

He called himself a servant, V:3,5 and called the feast only V:5-"a morsel of bread." He served the three visitors and then stood near to be available if needed. He interrupted a comfortable afternoon nap to become a servant to three strangers; but because of that service, he received tremendous blessings for himself and his wife.

· Abraham served the Lord generously.

He gave best that he had. Sarah baked bread from V:6-"fine meal" and the meat was

V:7-"tender and good". No leftovers or second-rate fare for such important guests!

What a contrast to the priests in Malachi's day, who gave God the blind and lame animals as a sacrifice. ().

Abraham lead his wife and everybody in his camp to get involved in ministering to the Lord; Sarah is baking the bread, the young men are helping butcher, clean and cook the steak, other servants are churning the butter and milking the cows, it is a team effort.

Eating a meal together in the bible conveys intimate fellowship, and agreement. One of the first things we’re going to do in heaven is have a meal with Jesus, the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Tess and I love to have company, and fix everything up, and cook and serve our guest; we enjoy spending time with and serving our family and friends. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive; there is no greater blessing than serving the Lord.

Abraham is a friend of God; he spends time with God, by bowing before the Lord in worship, by serving the Lord, by being available to the Lord.

One of the best ways to spend time with the Lord is by serving the Lord, and one of the greatest times of fellowship with other believers, is when you are serving God together.

Make time in your life to worship the Lord, to serve the Lord.

Today God wants you to spend time with Him, he is passing by your tent on a daily bases. He wants to be you friend, He wants to spend time with you, He desire fellowship with you. But you have to invite Him into your life; you have to take time to worship Him and serve Him, and draw near him!

Thing about it; you have the opportunity to spend with the best friend you will ever have every day. Get up from your lazy boy, in your tent and run to the Lord and talk to Him, and serve Him!!

· When you work in the nursery, you are serving the Lord.

· When you drive a van, you are serving the Lord.

· When you help park cars, you are serving he Lord.

· When you fix the meal for Grow, you are serving the Lord.

· When you sing in the choir, you are serving the Lord.

· When you teach that lesson, you are serving the Lord.

Friend love to spend time together and friends love to do things for each other! Has the Lord every done anything for you? He has for me, and I want to worship him, serve Him and talk with Him, and listen as He talks to me.

It is will Abraham is close to the Lord, serving the Lord that the Lord talks to Abraham about his future plans for him and Sarah. V:9-“Where is Sarah your wife? As if he didn’t know!! She is right inside the tent with her ear up again the tent wall. The Lord says, V:10, this time next year Sarah will have a baby”V:11-“She heard the promise herself.

V:12-“She laughed within herself, and said, I am old, and Abraham is old, this is a joke.

But the Lord knew she laughed in her heart and called her on it, why did Sarah laugh, she will have a baby,

V:14-“Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Let me tell you the answer to that question in case you are wondering; ten thousand times NO!! There is nothing too hard for God!!

Listen friend you need to know that today!!

· There is no Person God cannot save!

· There is no Pray that God cannot answer!

· There is no Problem that God cannot solve.

· There is no Promise that God cannot keep.

And God will keep His promise to Abraham and Sarah, they will have baby Isaac.

What a beautiful picture of friendship; the Lord and Abraham sharing a meal together.

Abraham enjoying the Lord’s presence as he served Him, and talked with Him and listened to Him!

A friend of God:

2. Clearly Understands the Plan of God!

V:16-21. The meal is over, the Lord and the two angels get up and start toward Sodom, and Abraham walks with them.

As they were walking, the Lord says,

V:17-“And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do”? Abraham is a friend of God, and friends share with one another. God is going to share with Abraham what He is about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. God is going to reveal His plan clearly to Abraham. God reveals His plan to Abraham; for two reasons:

· Abraham was to become a channel of blessing to the world.

V:18-“Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him”

God let Abraham in on His plan, because Abraham was going to be a blessing to the nations, but Sodom’s sin was going to remove them from the opportunity to receive the blessing.

· Abraham was going to teach his family to keep the way to the Lord.

V:19-“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Abraham would have a firsthand knowledge of the Judgement and justice of a Holy God.

He could tell his children, God is Holy and will judge sin, He did at Sodom, and He will do it today, when we plunge into immorality and filthy and refuse to repent!!

Fathers it is our responsibility to command, to give orders to, to lead our children to keep the way of the Lord.

V:19-“For I know him…”

I love that phrase, God knew Abraham as a friend, and friends don’t keep things from one another.

You can become a friend, if you want to become a friend of God; God shows His friends things that he doesn’t show anyone else.

-“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

-“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him; And He will show them His covenant”.

Abraham was known by God, He worshipped God, served God, he had eaten with God, he walked and talked with God; he was a friend of God. Servants may not know their master’s purposes, but friends do.

So as God’s friend and conduit of blessing to the whole world, it was essential that Abraham know what was going down in Sodom, and what was about to happen to Lot.

The simplest saint of God who knows the Bible and is walking with the Lord knows more about what's going on in this world than the richest, most famous person who doesn’t know God! God lets them in on what's going on in the world.

In V:20-21-Read. God tells Abraham want He is about to do.

“The Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great”

This speaks of the evil, sin, oppression, rape, murder, sexual immorality that God was fully aware of.

He says I am on my way there now to see what I already know; the point is God always judges sin with a full and accurate judgment!!

Friends of God clearly understand that God is Holy and Judges Sin, that sin in our lives is an affront to God, and the sin in our world is seen by God and will be judged by God.

If you’re not brought by sin in your life and the sin in our culture, you are not walking very close to God!! Because sin is an outcry to the ears of a Holy God!!

God had heard the cry of the injustices and sin in Sodom; and He hears the cries of people in Springfield.

Have you heard the cry of Springfield?

Have you heard the cry of the abused women in this city? Have you heard the cry of the abused children in this city?

Do you hear the cry of the young people in this city who do not know Christ?

There is a cry going up from Springfield to the very throne of God. Do we care? Are you interested in the problems of our city? Do they burden you? God heard the cry of Sodom. He is going down. Judgment is on the way. It is a city under judgment.

A Friend of God clearly understands the mind and heart of God do you?

A friend of God:

3. Boldly Intercedes for the People of God!

V:22-26-“Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, “Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

Abraham boldly intercedes for the people of God, he is praying for Lot and his family and anybody else that might be righteous in that city to be spared from the judgement that is about to fall.

Picture Abraham as he, V:22-“stood before the Lord”

He stands between Sodom and the Lord’s judgment to intercede for the city.

Intercessory prayer is prayer that stands before God on behave of others; the intercessor cries out to God to have mercy on sinners. Abraham stood before the Lord on behave of Lot and the people in Sodom under the judgement of God, and they didn’t even know it; but Abraham did!

. And God says I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found none.

If there had been a man to stand in the gap, and make up the hedge, I would not have destroyed the land. But I could not find anybody to intercede, and I destroy the land. Intercessors are those who stand in the gap.

-“He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor”.

He demonstrated a God-like compassion for others. Abraham, the friend of God, has become a true friend of men.

Do you know what's wrong with us? We think we can do it without intercession. We have tried to substitute intellect for intercession, and organizing for agonizing. Unless we have some intercessors, this generation is headed for the judgement of God just like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abraham is boldly interceding for Lot, and lot’s wife, kids, he loved them, and he had already laid his life on the line to rescue them. He loved them, he was interested in them. Are you interested in your children? Are you interested like I am in your grandchildren? Do you want to see them saved before judgment comes? Then you must learn to intercede, to stand before God on their behalf!

Abraham belonged to that select number of God's people known as intercessors, individuals like Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Jeremiah, the apostles, and our Lord Himself.

On the Cross Jesus prayed for others, and His ministry in heaven is a ministry of intercession; so we are never more like our Lord than when we are interceding for others. Abraham boldly prayed, he humbly prayed, V:27, he said he was but dust and ashes.

Abraham prayed precisely, he started out asking God if he would destroy the righteous with the wicked, and would He spare the city if there were 50 righteous people in the city.

V:25-“Shall not the judge of all the earth do right”?

Abraham’s intercession rested on this awesome understanding of God; God is a righteous judge, you can always count on God to do what is right, whether you understand it or not!

God says to Abraham if there are 50 righteous people I will spare the city. Abraham keeps on interceding for the people and he says, if there are 45, what if there are 40, what if there are 30, what if there are 20, what if there are 10?

He was interceding for that city, he would not take no for an answer, he was praying hard for others who were under the judgment of God!! This doesn’t take long to read, but if may have taken hours, as he goes back to the Lord, over and over!

Reminds me of the guy in the N.T. who had some company show up to his house and he didn’t have any bread to make his company a sandwich. So he goes to his next door neighbor and asked to borrow some bread, and his neighbor says, bro, I am already in bed, the kids are asleep and I am not getting up and getting you bread.

But the guy would not take no for an answer, so the bible says, -“Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."

Just keep on knocking on heaven’s door, don’t quit, don’t stop praying, we must not let up, we cannot give up, eternal souls are hanging in the balance! Jesus said, -“Men should always pray and not faint”

The only reason Lot was saved was because of Abraham’s prayers for him,

- God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out.”

In this world it is God’s people who are called to mediate his hope, like Abraham did in his day. As God’s people we reach out to the needy, we love the sinner, we give of our resources, we sacrifice ourselves for the lost, and we intercede for lost souls. Are you a friend of God? Have you experience the forgiveness of sin, and a changed life?

If not I am praying for you to come and met the best friend you will ever have, Jesus Christ!!