WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? TRY JESUS.

Text: Jn 15:9-17

Introduction: How do you rate your friends? Some friends we know only as acquaintances. Others we consider to be closer than that. I have about 958 people on facebook that I call friends but in reality I do not have much contact with them yet their called my friends. There are those whom we may work with that are considered more than an acquaintance, yet our inner circle of friends I would say would probably not number more than 100. Still with those friends we are not as close to as say our wife or husband or best man in our wedding or maid of honor or our siblings or parents and grandparents. Friends are one of God’s best gifts that He has blessed each of us with. Do you have a friend whom you would consider to be your closest? Hopefully if your married you would say your spouse. Yet many times we can go through life living isolated lives because of the risk involved in having a close friend whom you can trust and can talk about the closest things to your heart. Some friends will let you down and even become your worst enemy. Us humans are sometimes like that. This evening let me introduce you to someone who will be the very best friend that you have ever known or met. His name is Jesus. You will find him to be the best friend who will never let you down. In fact He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. As our best friend, Jesus will do the following things for us and in us.

1. He Reasons With Us.

Close friends can reason with us about the intimate things in life. Isaiah 1:18 18  “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. “

The Lord will reason with us about all things that concern our life here and hereafter. He already knows all about you this evening.

A. As Your Friend He will talk with you throughout the day.

Does God really talk to his children? Yes He does.

He spoke to the Old Testament patriarchs like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He spoke to all of the Old Testament Prophets like

Elijah and the still small voice of the Lord in 1 Kings 19:9-19

Elisha - the great miracles that he was able to do because God spoke to him.

and Samuel who cried out after Eli told him that it was the Lord that was calling his name - “Speak Lord for Thy servant heareth”

King David, Jeremiah, Isaiah and all the other prophets of the Bible.

I love that song In The Garden by Charles Miles:

I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses, And the voice I hear falling on my ear The Son of God discloses.

Refrain: And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing, And the melody that He gave to me Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him, Though the night around me be falling, But He bids me go; through the voice of woe His voice to me is calling.

This is more than a song we sing on Sundays. This should be the normal life of the Christian.

2. He Resides In Us.

The apostle Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). Christ will live in us by faith and we can live: by Faith of the Son of God.” Is Christ in you? Are you having fellowship with Him?

Colossians 1:24–27 (KJV 1900)

24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

A. Close Friends Like Being Together and spending time with each other.

Do you like your devotion time with the Lord? Do you anticipate it with a sense of longing and deep desire? I think there are Christians who are having their devotions out of a sense of duty or obligation and not out of a sense of deep desire. I believe part of the reason for this is because the don’t have the right understanding of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in the shed blood of Jesus. They have a sense of needing to add their good works, devotions, to Christ’s Atonement.

What is it that amazes you in life? What is it that excites you the most? Our children and those closest to us know what that is in our lives. We can’t fool them. What is it that we talk about the most in our conversations with others? Is about Jesus the closest friend you’ll ever have?

3. He Reveals To Us.

vr. 15 “All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” He reveals to us the very character of God, and the love, the mercy, the will, the way, the life, the holiness, and the compassion of God the Father. He reveals all things of the Father unto his friends.

A. The Cross of Christ Speaks Wondrous Things of The Love of God to my soul.

Has the Lord ever given you your own personal song to your soul as you think upon His deep deep love that He has for you?

Some months ago the Holy Spirit did that as I was spending time in His Presence.

There is Power In the Cross of Christ - sing as testimony.

4. He Reaches Through Us.

The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus that He gave to us all is to go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples. Jesus wants to reach people through you. He said “If you love me keep my commandments”. It is the will of God the Father and Christ the Son to make known through us the plan of salvation unto all men. We are messengers of the Lord. “We are ambassadors for Christ”. If you are a friend of Jesus you are part of His body the church. You are His hands, His feet, His heart, His mouth, and his eyes to see the harvest field all around us to bring them to your greatest friend in this Life who can do for them what He has done for you.

By the way what has Jesus done for you? Do you have the joy of the Lord and a sense of abundant peace and joy in you soul that you can share with those who are desperately in need of a Savior.

5. He Reserves For Us.

Paul says in:

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

John 14:1–6 (KJV 1900)

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The Lord Jesus reserves the best of Life for His friends, and He desires that all men, women, boys and girls should be His friend.

Conclusion: Sing

Song: What A Friend We Have In Jesus #