Our Friendship With God

Well, thank you, Andy. Happy Sabbath, brethren! Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ from Cleveland, Ohio. BJ and I are very pleased to be here today. Mr. Miller and I like two ships in the night, past emails. He on his way to Cleveland, and of course, we were heading here, and he sends his love, and wanted to make sure that he and Susan both send their love to all of you. Of course, when I accepted this assignment, I didn't realize there would be a disagree of ministerial abuse, but... and torture. Again, happy Sabbath. I also notice there is no clock in here. There's no clock on the podium. There is no clock anywhere in the hall. Now I know why Mr. Miller reacted the way he did when I told him that services in Cleveland are only an hour and a half. But it is... all kidding aside, it's wonderful to be here with you today. As we approach Pentecost this year, I believe it would be very good for us to talk about what the holy days mean, particularly the days of Unleavened Bread and the Day of Pentecost, what they mean at their deepest level. We know, of course, that God is our Creator, He's our Sustainer, He's our provider, He's our Redeemer, and He's so much more. And we can have a relationship with God in which we look at God as the awesome Yahweh, and we look at ourselves as His servants, and that's a biblical relationship, and that's a good relationship. But I wonder if we realize that God offers us so much more.

We can also understand by looking at Scriptures that God is our Father, and that Jesus Christ is His Son, and that God is working with us to expand His family, and that He is making us part of His family. And we can have a father and child relationship with God, and that's good, and that's biblical.

But I wonder if we realize and appreciate that God offers us even more. God wants us to be close, personal friends with Him. We can be as close to God as we choose to be. And for this sermon today, what I would like to explore is our ability to have friendship with God, to go beyond a relationship as God as the great awesome Yahweh and we as His servants. And again, that's biblical, and that's a good relationship, but God has offered us more. And we can look at God as our Father, and that's a wonderful relationship, that's a biblical relationship, but God is offering us more.

So for the sermon today, I would like to explore our friendship with God and see how we can expand and enhance our friendship with our Father and with the Son. The concept of being God's friend is not a new one. It's actually been around for a long time, but because of what Jesus Christ did for us and because of what we are offered on the day of Pentecost, that is God's Spirit, God living within us, as Mitch mentioned in a beautiful scripture, God making His home in us. That changes everything because we can be as close to God as we choose to be. Let's take a look at Genesis chapter 5 and verse 21, and we'll look at some examples of individuals who were friends with God in the Old Testament, and then we'll see how much more powerfully we have that opportunity because of the life of Jesus Christ. Genesis chapter 5 and verse 21, if you will turn with me there, please. The scriptures are inspired to write, Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah. After he begat Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years and Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. The Hebrew word for walk here is the same Hebrew word that we would find if we were to turn to Genesis chapter 6 and verse 9 where it says, Noah walked with God. Enoch, Noah, had a personal relationship with God. When you walk with someone, you side by side share your friendship and your intimacy with each other. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word that's translated walk here is halak and it means to travel and be conversant. It means to be walking and talking to each other about how you're doing and what's on your mind and the events that are occurring throughout the walk, throughout the day. And we are in a walk with God and these were individuals where the scripture says they walked with God. They had a relationship with God that was special.

Let's see an example of another individual who had a friendship with God and who had lost his friendship temporarily. And you might say, well, why is this so important, Mr. Thomas? It's important because you can be a family member of someone. You can be related to someone, but you can be a distant relationship. You can be a distant relation. I have family members that are distant relations to me. I might see them once a year. I might see them once every four or five years at a funeral and they're related to me. But though we're family, you see, we have a distant relationship.

And God wants us more than to be members of his family, his children, and to be distant relationships. He wants us to be his friends. He's willing and able for us to become his friends.

The choice is with you and I. Let's go to Job chapter 29 beginning in verse 1. We'll see an example of a man who once had had a very close friendship with God and who lost it.

And he longed to have it back again. And as we meditate upon the upcoming day at Pentecost this year, I want you to ask yourself, am I a friend with God or am I a distant relation?

Job chapter 29 beginning in verse 1, Job looking back in his life, it says, Job further continued his discourse and he said, Oh, that I were as in months past as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkness, just as I was in the days of my prime, when friendly counsel of God was over my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were bathed with cream and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me. Job had had a friendship with God. It was close. It was intimate. And he had lost it. He referred to it as the prime of his life, as the good time in his life, when he had friendly counsel with God, when he conversed and had a relationship with God. And of course, these Hebrew expressions here, it says, When my steps were bathed with cream, he lived such an abundant life, so many cows producing fine milk, that cream, which was considered luxurious and which was considered something to be desired in a wonderful part of their culture, that it was everywhere. And when olive oil was in such abundance in his life that it seemed to come out of rocks in the poor rivers of olive oil. These are just Hebraisms talking about the good life, the kind of relationship that he had with God as his friend. The new international version says this about verse four. Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house. So again, Job longed for this time when once again he could be a friend of God. We see here that Job longed for this time again when they would be friends and when they would counsel together. Of course, the good news is that after the difficult trials written in this book were over, that God restored that relationship with Job. Let's take a look at and see another example of someone who wanted to be a friend with God. Exodus chapter 33 and verse 8. If you'll turn there with me, Exodus chapter 33 and verse 8. Moses was under a lot of burdens.

He had to care for the entire nation of Israel. There was a lot going on in his mind. He wanted God to talk to him. He wanted God to tell him what his intimate plans were for the nation. He wanted God to be his friend. And in essence, that's what we read here in verses 8 through 14. Exodus chapter 33. It says, So it was when Moses went out to the tabernacle, that is the tent of meeting, that all the people arose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, was Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.

Verse 10. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshipped each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nahn, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. And Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know, whom you will send with me.

You have said, I know you by name, and you have found favor, or found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you.

Moses is saying, God, I want to be your friend. I want to know what your plans are.

I want to know what you're thinking. I want to be part of having a relationship with you, God.

Continuing here, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, and that I may find grace in your sight, and consider that this nation is your people. And he said, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. God said, my very being, the essence of who and what I am from this point on, will go with you. You will no longer have a need to worry, or be anxious, or to feel the weight of the burdens of the responsibility that you have over these people, Moses. I understand your request. Moses was boldly asking God to communicate with him and be his close friend. Again, Moses was under tremendous stress and deep burdens shepherding God's people, and he needed to know more about God's plans and have a deeper relationship than just Yahweh, the God of Israel. Let's take a look at another example, and see a reference to another friend spoken of in Scripture. If you'll turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 5. 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 5. This is when another friend of God is spoken about, and it's a time when the armies of Moab and Ammon and others were coming to destroy Judah. And here's what Jehoshaphat said as he prayed in the temple. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, beginning in verse 5. It says, then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, and do not rule over the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you?

Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever? And they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, If disaster comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple, and in your presence, for your name is in this temple, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save. And Jehoshaphat was saying, God, remember your friend Abraham. We are the descendants of your friend Abraham. We are in your temple right now asking you for mercy, because an army of overwhelming force is coming to destroy this nation. And we repent, and we come before your throne, asking you to intervene and have mercy on us. That was the prayer that Jehoshaphat gave in the temple. And God heard that prayer, and the foreign armies turned on each other. And the slaughter was so great when they all turned on each other that it took three days to collect all the spoil and the booty from those armies that it turned on each other and destroyed themselves. Why? Because Jehoshaphat reminded God that they were the descendants of Abraham, his friend. Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 8 also refers to Israel as the descendants of Abraham, my friend. The apostle James also calls Abraham the friend of God in James chapter 2 and verse 23. So we see here the relationship, how a powerful relationship can literally change world history. And what was that relationship that Abraham had that made this possible? It was a deeper relationship than the almighty Yahweh and a servant.

It was a deeper relationship than a father and a child because a child can be a distant relation. It was a relationship of friendship. Turn with me now, if you would, to Acts chapter 13 and verse 21. I would like to take a look at another example, another man who is considered God's friend, even though the word friend is not used specifically to refer to him. Acts chapter 13 and verse 21. And I'm cutting into the middle of Stephen's sermon. I apologize for that, but I just want to pull out a scripture relating to what we're discussing today. Acts chapter 13 and verse 21, again cutting into the context of Stephen's sermon.

It says, and afterward they asked for a king, so God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus. Verse 24, after John had first preached before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. So it doesn't use the word friend, but all you have to do is take a look in the book of Psalms and to read some of the Psalms of David to see how deep and how caring the friendship was between God and His servant David. The prophet said in 1 Samuel chapter 13, he said, the Lord has sought for Himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people, because you, he was talking to Saul, have not kept what the Lord commanded you. And the man that the prophet Samuel was talking about was none other than David. So, so far what we've seen are a number of individuals, Old Testament individuals in Scriptures, who had a relationship that was so close to God they could be called God's friend. But how about you and I? Brethren, I wish we could fully grasp and truly understand, comprehend, that you and I can have a deep, abiding friendship with God, a friendship that is even deeper and closer than the ones that we've just studied, because of what Jesus Christ did for us, by offering Himself as the ultimate Passover Lamb. And because of the promise that He made that was fulfilled in the day of Pentecost, when His believers would literally receive the presence of the Father and Jesus Christ in them, and they would make their home inside of us.

Let's go now to John chapter 15 and verse 11. And Jesus Christ gives us a glimpse of the kind of relationship that is possible, and realize even at this point in time, He hasn't died yet, He's talking to unconverted men, but He had spent three and a half years with them. He knew their destiny.

He knew their calling, and He knew the kind of relationship that He wanted to offer to them.

John chapter 15 and verse 11. Jesus said, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. You know what the difference is between happiness and joy?

Happiness is the result of things that happen to us in the outside. It's a sunny day.

My paycheck was deposited today. My spouse was nice to me today. I'm happy. But joy transcends what's going on in the outside world. Joy is an inner fulfillment and contentment that we have by having a friendship, a personal relationship with God. And joy resides and remains, even if the outside, even in our world of materialism on the outside, if everything is in chaos, if everything is disjointed, if our lives by all appearance seem to be falling apart, joy remains because it's on the inside.

And it's built on having a relationship with Jesus Christ and with the Father.

So He said, He prayed that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for His friends. You are my friends, Jesus Christ says, Greek word phileos. You were 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. Now, is it okay to have a relationship with Yahweh and you feel like you are just Yahweh's servant? That's wonderful. That's great. That is a biblical relationship.

But God offers us so much more. Continuing, the 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. Jesus said, I have talked with you. I've walked with you. I've communicated with you. I've shared my life with you. You are my friends. You're more than servants. You're more than brothers and sisters.

You are my friends. Verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. Meaning year after year after year that that fruit should remain in your life and grow, not simply for five years or ten years and again give up or twenty years and then quit and go back into the world. No, he said that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. Why? Because we can be God's friend. That's what Jesus Christ just told us. These things I command you that you love one another. Again, this word friend is from the Greek word philios and it's the same Greek word used in a statement by John the Baptist in John chapter 3 and verse 29. We won't turn there today, but you may recall John the Baptist said, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, in other words the best man who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So the same word is used when John the Baptist refers to himself as the best man at the wedding of Jesus Christ. We can all be the best friend of Christ. We can all be the best man that Jesus Christ has a relationship with. How is this possible? How did Jesus Christ make this possible that provided the occasion and the opportunity for such a deep personal level of friendship with God? Well, let's go back to Matthew chapter 29 verse 45. We'll review a few scriptures before we answer the question. Matthew chapter 27 and verse 45. This is the very afternoon of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which we certainly spoke about leading up to the spring holy days, but it's always a good review. Matthew chapter 27 verse 45.

It says, now from the sixth hour, that's about 12 noon by today's reckoning, until the ninth hour, this is about 3 p.m., there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So for a brief moment in time, because Jesus Christ had human sin.

Because he accepted the stink and the vileness of all human sin and became sin for us, even his father had the momentarily look away to a glance away because Jesus Christ had become sin for all humankind. Verse 47. Some of those who stood there when they heard that said, this man is calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink. Verse 49. The rest said, let him alone let us see if Elijah will come to save him. And when Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit, then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earthquake and the rocks were split and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. In the temple separating the priest from the holy of holies was a veil. And we understand what occurred on the day of atonement, don't we? Only one day out of the year could the high priest put on simple garments that symbolized his role as Jesus Christ and he would go through that curtain into the holy of holies and perform some ceremonies that included blood. But it says here at the time when Jesus Christ died that the veil of that temple that separated humankind from its god, that the veil of that temple was ripped asunder and no longer was there a barrier between God and the children whom he would call those disciples who would follow his son Jesus Christ and receive his spirit. That that barrier was now forever moved. The death of our Lord removed the barrier for our sins and this changed everything, including the kind of relationship that we can choose to have with God.

Let's now go to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 18. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 18.

And see a little bit more about what the tearing of this veil means for you and I and how it relates to friendship.

Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 18.

In context, talking about how Jesus Christ was the one true and complete sacrificial offering, it says now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh.

What's he saying here? He's saying that because of the broken body of Jesus Christ, we now can go directly to the Father and we don't have to be fearful. We can go to the Father on a relationship of great awesome Yahweh and I'm your servant and that's good and that's a biblical relationship. We can approach our God as our Father and I am your child and that's good and that is a biblical relationship. But what the author of the book of Hebrews is saying is that with boldness we can now go to the very throne of grace and make our needs known because of what Jesus Christ did for us. The barrier is removed. God wants to be a friend and the level of that friendship is what we choose it to be. Our commitment, our love, our effort to become a friend of God. Verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. Jesus made a promise. He said, if you do what I ask you to do, you are my friends.

For he who promised is faithful. You see, we have the ability to become a close and intimate friend with Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ, our wave sheaf, we can boldly go directly to the Father and make any request known. It was the torn body of Jesus Christ on the cross that made it possible for that kind of a relationship to exist. I'd like to read verses 19 through 22 from the translation God's word for today. This is a little different way of looking at these verses. It says, brothers and sisters, because of the blood of Jesus, we can now confidently go into the holy place. Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to go through the curtain. The curtain is his own body. We have a superior priest in charge of God's house. We have been sprinkled with his blood to free us from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So we must continue to come to him with a sincere heart and a strong faith.

And again, I know this may be hard to appreciate or understand, but because of what Jesus Christ did here, and because of what's represented on the day of Pentecost that we will soon be observing, we can have even a deeper friendship with God than Enoch or Noah or Abraham or Moses or David ever had with God. Because of what Christ did, we can be as close to the Father as we choose to be.

So how can we become a friend of God? What are some of the ways we can deepen our relationship with the Father and with his Son? I'd like to give a few things that I think would be very helpful in helping develop that kind of a friendship that I'm sure that we all desire. Here's the first one.

And that is desire friendship with God more than anything else. Desire friendship with God more than anything else. When you have a close friend, you can't wait to spend time with them. If you have a good buddy, you just can't wait to get together again to share some laughs, to share some good times, to talk to each other, to relate to one another.

You receive great joy and satisfaction communicating and sharing things together. That's the way it is when you have a friendship. Philippians 3 and verse 8. Let's see what Paul learned about the value of wanting to have a relationship with God as his friend more than anything else. Philippians 3 and verse 8. He's looking at his life in context. Paul was a rabbi. He would have been called rabbi. Before his conversion, he was in the upper crust of Jewish society. He was an up-and-comer. He had learned under the feet of Gamaliel, a respected Jewish teacher. He was a solid Pharisee in the faith. He was a rising star in Judaism. He had a good life. But he reminds us in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8, yet indeed I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.

He said everything that was important to me before rubbish. Being called rabbi, rubbish. Learning under the feet of a respected Jewish scholar, rubbish. All the accolades, the materialism, the things that I owned and possessed, rubbish. He says that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.

Have a relationship with Jesus Christ to be His friend, to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which comes from God by faith. Verse 10, that I may know Him. Paul said that's what's important to me now. It's not titles, materialism, it's not all this other stuff. I want to know Him. It's that relationship, Paul says, that has become the most important thing in my life. That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. He said I want to know Him so much that I even suffer like He suffered. That I fellowship with Him in the ways that He suffered, being conformed to His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.

So Paul says here that he believed that knowing Christ, gaining Christ was the most important thing in his life. Everything else, titles, material possessions, anything physical was simply garbage compared to his relationship with the Lord. That's how badly he wanted to be God's friend.

And we have to desire friendship with God more than anything else. It's not much different than what Jesus told us in Matthew 6, in verse 33. We won't turn there, but we know the Scripture. Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and then all the other things that you need and want, the material things and good clothes and good food, all of that will follow if you have the right priority. And what is the right priority? Seeking first the Kingdom of God in your life. Part of seeking that Kingdom is knowing and serving and fellowshipping with the King of that Kingdom as his friend. And that King is Jesus Christ.

As his friends, Christ wants us to be part of his Privy Council. You know, when you're a monarch, you bring your closest advisors together to share ideas with, and they tell you truly and honestly what's on their mind and where they think you're going wrong. And you have this intimate group of individuals that you meet privately, and it's called the Privy Council. And Jesus Christ wants you and I to be part of his Privy Council. He wants to have that kind of relationship where we walk with him daily, where we talk with him daily, that we share our ideas, we share our frustrations with him, we share the things that are on our minds.

Another thing that we can do to deepen our friendship with God is to obey and love our Father with a living faith. Obey and love our Father with a living faith. We know that Christ stated in John chapter 15 and verse 10, he said, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. But, brethren, obeying God means more than choosing to value what he values. Obedience has another important element, and that element is having a living, active faith that permeates our existence and permeates how we conduct our lives every day. Let's take a look at an unusual story in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 5, see where a Gentile, see where a centurion put the Jewish people to shame. He demonstrates an example of faith that even made Jesus Christ marvel. Now, Jesus Christ was the Son of God. There weren't too many things that would shock him. He had seen it all. He had been around a long time in his pre-existent state, but the faith of this Gentile was so remarkable that it even caused Jesus Christ to marvel. Matthew chapter 8 and verse 5 says, Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And Jesus said in him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak a word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes, and to my servant do this, and he does it.

Verse 10, and when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And then he gives a prophecy about the kingdom of God. He says, I say to you that many will come from the east and the west. Many Gentiles who were called and converted will come from the east and the west of the world from Gentile nations and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom, that is the Jewish leaders of his day who were within his earshot, the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion, Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And his servant was healed the same hour. What faith! What incredible faith from someone who wasn't even a friend of Jesus Christ! The truth is that this Gentile's demonstration of faith put the Jews to absolute shame. Whereas they, you were typically skeptical and always asking questions and looking for a proof, proved to us that you're the son of God, the Gentile's attitude was very simple.

He said, Lord, you are the great God. I accept authority. Just say it, and I believe it, and it's done. A very simple, childlike faith. The centurion, again, was not a friend of Jesus, but he demonstrated a quality that friends have. Close friends trust each other. When one makes a promise or a commitment, the others believe it'll be done. If I say to my friend, or you say to a close friend, I'll see you tomorrow at three o'clock at this restaurant. Do you worry about it between now and tomorrow at three o'clock that they'll show up at the restaurant?

No! You just assume they will be there because you have that level of trust and intimacy together. This is how our friendship with God should be. Another thing that we can do to have a friendship with God at the deepest level, and I know this is hard for us being human beings because we are very good at pretending. We males are very good at stuffing, but this is something that is so essential. And what a wonderful example was demonstrated by Jesus Christ. The point is to be open and honest with God, as if God can't read our hearts and minds anyway. Right? We stuff things. We try to hide things from God.

We don't get passionate and open in prayer to Him like we can because we can go boldly to that throne of grace because that veil, that is His flesh, was torn. Be open and honest with God. Matthew 26, verse 36. And we'll see the example to Jesus Christ set for all of us, an example of being willing to go to your friend. And if you're upset, that's okay. He's not going to be offended. If you're discouraged, if you're frustrated, go to your friend and let him know that you're discouraged and frustrated.

And Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. He's obviously anguishing over the kind of death that He's going to have. He knows prophecy. He knows all about crucifixion. He knows everything that's going to happen to Him in a very short period of time. And He's struggling with it because He was a human being. He was the Son of God, but He was also human. And He said to the disciples, sit here while I go pray over there. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

The more He thought about what He would have to go through, the mockings, the beatings, the humiliation, crucified, having nails literally hammered through His flesh onto a wooden pole, the jeering that would go on, a crown of thorns slammed on His head that would also draw blood, all the things that He would experience. He became sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. Leave it unto death.

Stay here and watch with Me. And He went a little farther, and He fell on His face, and He prayed, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but You will. So He went and He spoke with His Father as a friend, and He said, I am distressed. I am sorrowful if there is any loophole, if there is any way for Me to get around doing what I know I must do. Then He stopped. He said, No, there is only one way. Not My will, but Your will be done. Verse 14, He came to the disciples, and He found them asleep and said to Peter, What could you not watch with Me one hour?

Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Then in verse 42, a second time He went away and He prayed, O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done. And He came and He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them and went away and prayed a third time using the same words. Our Lord was open and honest with His Father about His doubts, about His fears, about the distress that He was feeling.

That's what friends do. I've had lunches and so on with male friends of mine whose wives had just left them and through some very terrible tragic events and lives of friends that I've had over the years. And they were very open and honest about the frustrations and the fears and the challenges that they were facing because that's the way good friends, close friends, talk to each other. That's how they relate to each other.

He let His friend, Jesus Christ, let the Father, His friend, know that He was struggling with fear about the kind of torture and death that awaited Him. But He set us a marvelous example, and that is if friends are open and honest with God, and they let Him know how they feel.

God is strong. God is big. We're not going to offend Him. He's not going to feel challenged if we say something strongly. Jesus Christ Himself said, Why have you forsaken Me? We worship a wonderful God who wants to have that kind of a relationship with us.

Another thing we can do to develop a deeper relationship is to enjoy conversation throughout the day. Enjoy conversation throughout the day. I know you were probably trained like I was many years ago in the early 70s when I came into the church. I was taught that you should have formal prayer time, and you should take a half hour and formally, like clockwork, mark it on your calendar, have a formal prayer with God every day. And that is absolutely a good thing, and that is a wonderful habit to establish in your life. But friends converse with each other throughout the day. They go beyond just some formal address to God, formal address to Yahweh, a formal prayer to Father. They are conversant throughout the day. Friends talk to each other to establish a friendship, and to maintain that friendship requires an investment of your time. And if you're unwilling to invest your time in any friendship, that friend eventually just becomes a mere acquaintance. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5. See what Paul said to the church in Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 16. If you'll turn there with me.

1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 16. Paul says to this congregation that he didn't have much time to spend with before he had to move on. He's writing them back from Corinth, and he says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things. Hold fast, which is good. Obstained from every form of evil. Now, the Greek word that's used here, ceasing, where it says, pray without ceasing, is adiaptitos, and it means uninterruptedly.

It's a Greek word that's sometimes used in secular Greek language to refer to a hacking cough.

And now, before we define what he means here, let's take a look in the same book, 1 Thessalonians, at two other places he uses the same word, and then we'll define what he's saying. Let's go to chapter 1 and verse 2. Chapter 1 and verse 2, same book, 1 Thessalonians. He's going to use the same word again. He says, We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father. Now, Paul isn't saying their faith was the only thing that he had on his mind 24-7. What he is saying is that throughout the day certain things would happen and it would recall to him their faithfulness. That wasn't some formal period of time. Now I'm going to schedule a half hour to think of faithfulness, to remember faithfulness. Now, throughout the day as events occurred and things happened, he was, ah, the faithfulness of those in Thessalonica, who I didn't have more than a few weeks of time to spend with when I established that congregation. They're still hanging in there. They're still holding themselves together. Let's go to chapter 2 in verse 13. See where he uses the same word. Chapter 2 in verse 13. He says, for this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, same Greek word, because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. So again, when Paul is saying that he would thank God without ceasing, he's not talking about a repetitive mantra in which he's just saying, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you 24-7. But throughout the day, he would stop. Something may remind him that he was doing. He might be doing so, but throughout the day, he would thank God for the blessings that he had. Something would bring to his remembrance to be thankful for all that he had been given and for the blessings that the brethren were in his life. So back in chapter five, where we started here in 1 Thessalonians, when Paul says, pray without ceasing, he means that we should have a prayerful dialogue and an attitude with God throughout the day.

Formal prayer is fine. That's a wonderful habit to establish. But if we want to become the intimate friends with God, the best way to do that is to carry on an internal dialogue with God. Throughout each and every day. And as events occur, help me, Father, to get through this. I wasn't expecting this. As challenges arrive, Father, help me through this challenge. Give me strength.

As blessings occur throughout the day, something unexpectedly happens in your favor. Oh, thank you, Father. I'm so appreciative for your being a part of my life and intervening in my life and granting me this blessing. As these things are noticed, Paul communicated with his friend about what was going on in his life. He would ask for strength when he was challenged, when he was going through a difficulty throughout the day. He was thankful when he received good news that a congregation somewhere was doing well because he had that constant dialogue going on with his friend each and every day. The last point that I have today is to make the conscious choice and effort to be God's friend. Make the conscious choice and effort to be God's friend.

Because this is the one part in which there's a little bit of correction for all of us.

And that is, the truth is that we are either becoming friends with God or we're becoming friends with something else.

James 4 and verse 4. If you'll turn there with me, James 4 and verse 4.

Make the conscious choice and effort to be God's friend.

James starts out with some very strong words here. Spiritually speaking, being a friend of the world instead of a friend with God is spiritual adultery.

And he starts out very strongly. Adulters and adultresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is empty with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?

Now that's not a great translation, so I'm going to read this from the New Century version. It says, verse 5, do not think that the scripture means nothing that says, the spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone.

You see, God doesn't want to share us with the world.

He's kind of jealous in that way. He wants us to have a deep, abiding friendship with him.

But we cannot maintain that kind of friendship if, on the other hand, we're stealing from work, or we're lying to our mates, or we're looking at things in the internet we shouldn't be looking at. You see, we cannot be a friend of the world and also have the kind of friendship with God that we long for, the kind of friendship that we have been talking about today. God is not willing to share his friendship with us if we are still a friend of the world in its values and its vices. Verse 6, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. You see, God is waiting to be our friend. He's waiting for us to make the choice to first draw near to him as his friend. And then the scripture says, he will in turn draw near to us. Continuing, clean your hands, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. You double-minded lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. In other words, if we need to repent, if we've been accepting a lesser relationship with God than is possible, we can change that. Right now, we can make a difference in our lives.

We can choose to be God's friend. We cannot be friends with both God and friends with this world.

We have to choose. So, brethren, I ask you, as we close the sermon today, I ask you to consider the benefits of being a friend with God. What a blessing it is to have been born at a time that Jesus Christ gave his life for us at the ultimate Passover Lamb and through his broken flesh tore that curtain, separating us from the Holy of Holies, just tore it in two, and made it wide open so we can walk right in. What a blessing to live in time in human history when we could get out of that baptismal tank with our, initially, as we were baptized and our sins forgiven, as we came out of that water to be a new creature in Christ and to live a new life, that we could have hands laid on us, and we could literally receive part of Jesus Christ and the Father living in us.

And the Scripture, as Mitch read earlier so powerfully, making their homes in us. We have that opportunity. It's a privilege. It's a gift. Let's make the most of it.

Let's go beyond being just a relationship with Yahweh and his servant. That's fine, but let's go beyond that. Let's go beyond a relationship of being a family of God, but a distant relation. Let's change that, and let's become God's friend. God's friend. He's waiting. The choice is ours. Have a wonderful Sabbath.