God Wants to be Your Friend

God Wants to be Your Friend

Text: James 2:23 (KJV) 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. Introduction:

* God called Abraham out of the world because he loved him, and not only him, but all mankind.

1 John 4:19 (KJV)

19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV)

1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

* The devil was jealous that God had loved man and had given Him dominion over the earth.

* Satan had tricked Adam and Eve out of the inheritance that God have given them to rule the earth and have dominion over all that God had created.

Matthew 4:8-9 (KJV)

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (KJV)

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

* The sate of man’s relationship at the time of Abraham was that men had forgotten who God was. * There was no memory of how God loved man that he had created for his own fellowship and walked with them in the beginning.

* Men had become so wicked that God had destroyed them with a great flood. * Men again began to worship Nimrod and build cities and began to conquer the world in the name of Nimrod “the great builder.”

* God had confused the languages of the world and men now had no record or consistent witness of himself to mankind.

* Now God begins a plan to re-introduce Himself to mankind and He starts with Abraham- God approaches Abraham and becomes his friend.

I. How is it that a man should be called the friend of the Living God? Psalm 8:3-9 (KJV) 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Hebrews 2:5-8 (KJV)

5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. * Because God loved Adam and Eve, and gave them dominion over all the Earth, Satan was filled with jealousy and envy, and plotted to destroy man and take away the fellowship that God has with Mankind.

II. God created man in his own image so he could have fellowship with us.

* We were created in such a way that we are perfectly fit to have fellowship with God. * We are, purposely and specifically, designed to fellowship with God. It is our whole purpose for existence. Genesis 1:24-30 (KJV)

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Genesis 3:6-8 (KJV)

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

Genesis 5:21-24 (KJV)

21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. * Many believe that this mention of the taking away of Enoch is a “type”, or foreshadowing of what theologians call the “rapture”, or snatching away of the Church out of the world before the judgment of God is revealed from heaven at the end of the world.

III. Fellowship was broken with God because of sin.

Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV)

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 3:6-10 (KJV)

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Genesis 3:22-24 (KJV)

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Romans 5:12-14 (KJV)

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

IV. Jesus came to restore man’s fellowship with God.

Romans 5:15-21 (KJV)

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 15:13-16 (KJV)

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

1 John 5:1-5 (KJV)

1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

1 John 5:4-5 (KJV)

4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

V. The very God that created the universe wants to be your friend and live in fellowship with you.

* God desires to be your friend and live in fellowship with you today. It was your intended purpose for living. * There is a void within every man’s heat that can only be filled by fellowship with his creator.

* Those who commit suicide, have looked to try to satisfy that longing for a meaning for their existence, and have given up the search for God, and no longer have any hope for finding the “peace of God”

Revelation 3:19-21 (KJV)

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

* God has carried out all of the events of the Scriptures in order to bring us back to the place where we started with Him at the beginning of creation. Walking with Him in Paradise…

Revelation 2:7 (KJV)

7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Conclusion:

* God desires to be your friend today. * Because of this God has sent His Son to reveal himself to you and the Written Word of God to warn you of the results of sin and the coming judgment.

* For those who are already saved, God desires that you walk in fellowship with him.

* We sing a song that says “Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?... Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” Friend are you walking with God daily by prayer and reading his word?

* As I walked out of the house to return to my study this morning God gave me an illustration of walking with God and waiting on him by a dog lying under the dryer vent waiting on the heat from the dryer to return.