Sermons to Me: Persistent Friend

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Persistent Friend

Luke 11:5-9

5 And He (Jesus) said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves.
6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him.
7 And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you.
8 But I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Asking, Seeking, Knocking. Continual prayer and continual communion with God I believe, are the exhortations here.

In Gen. 18 we see another example of persistence in Abraham, who, after being told by the Lord of Sodom's and Gomorrah's judgment, intercedes, asks...mediates for any possible righteous men, asking,
“Will You not spare the place for the sake of 50 righteous men? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” And the Lord said, “If I find 50 righteous within the city, I will spare it for their sakes.”
Abraham asked the Lord 5 more times... “Will You spare for 45?... 40? ...30? ...20? ...10?
I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. Then the Lord went His way after He was done COMMUNING with Abraham.
I always wonder... how about for one? Well, I believe the Lord told that ONE (Lot) to leave before He destroyed it all.

I think the world today to be as bad if not worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe God spares it for two reasons... the times of the Gentiles are not yet complete, and there are righteous in the world... SALT! Believers are to preserve truth and goodness in a fallen world, and to “enhance” the flavor of life in this world by making God’s work stand out from the corrupt way of doing things. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Now, I have a persistent friend, who kept asking me, seeking my restoration, and knocking on my heart; not 6 times, not even 10 times... but more than 50 times over 4 years. I know this friend loves me, and I love him. We should all love one another, as Jesus loves us.
John 15:12-17...
12 This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

This is not a request or a suggestion. We are commanded to love one another... as Jesus loves us... sincerely, without hypocrisy or guile, or favoritism.

We all know of Jesus’ voluntary sacrifice, or we wouldn’t be here. The Holy for the unholy, the Righteous for the unrighteous; the sinless for condemned sinners.
He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Because He LOVED us!
14 You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

In my past, I did not choose God. In fact, I was His enemy, I was ungodly. But He chose me... as a friend, He revealed Himself to me ...and I am now among His brethren. He chose all of us... WE ARE BRETHREN! And He wants us to be fruitful. And He wants us to be PERSISTENT in our relationship with Him, as brethren.

Father God and our Lord Jesus, we love You because You first loved us. From before the foundation of the world, You purposed in Your perfect counsel, to redeem fallen man and creation.
Praise be to You God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for You have blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For You chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in Your sight. In love You predestined us to be adopted as Your children and fellow heirs through Jesus Christ, in accordance with Your pleasure and will. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but has been revealed to us in these times for our sake.

“Christ was the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world" because God knew that I would need a Savior, and He loved me and all of us enough to provide that Savior... Himself !

I know that my preservation requires an omniscient eye, an omnipotent arm, and an ever-present friend! So we remember and worship Jesus today for what He accomplished for us on that cross.

And we thank You and praise You as we wait for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us and purify us for Himself, His own special people, zealous for good works. Amen

Shared June 25, 2023; Breaking of Bread service, Wellspring Bible Fellowship

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The GOSPEL

"...that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures..." 1 COR. 15:3-4.

As defined by Paul, THE Gospel declares the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ according to the Scriptures. But surely that declaration doesn't explain the full Gospel message of the entire Word of God, which reveals Who the biblical God is (the Father), Who the biblical Christ is (God the Son), what the biblical problem between God and man is (sin), the biblical and only means of man's forgiveness by God (the cross and repentance), and the eternal consequences for those who reject the biblical Gospel (eternal separation from God, i.e., Lake of Fire). None of these is a peripheral point of doctrine (to the Gospel) to be ignored or compromised. To do so would be a departure from the faith into apostasy to proclaim a false gospel.

As AWESOME as that is, even more awesome (to me) is that Jesus Christ should do that for me!

QUOTES

"If the Christian will not elevate his living to the heavenlies by walking in the Spirit, then he lives in an earthly, carnal religion." ~fb

"Can flesh and blood be pre-existent?" ~fb

"Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life should be lived in the light of eternity!" ~C.H. Spurgeon

"Ears listen but it's the heart that hears. Eyes look but it's the soul that sees." ~fb

"There are none more asleep than those who are woke." ~fb

"I am not concerned with preparing for death and judgement; I am concerned with living for Christ." ~fb

"Isms... the bane of reason and truth."~fb

"He who does not recognize that he stumbles will never walk uprightly."~fb

"There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way."~C.H. Spurgeon

"I ask not the favor given to Paul; I seek not the grace bestowed upon Peter, but I beg the mercy granted to the thief on the cross!"~Copernicus

"Love is the highest pinnacle of spiritual maturity."~fb

"Truth suffers in the hands of pride." ~fb

"When the truth is attacked, it is but the defense of a lie." ~fb

"It is incredibly foolish to consider that life would spring spontaneously from non-life, by chance." ~fb

"For some people, the difference between light and darkness is the flip of a wall switch." ~fb

"It is not our doctrines the world laughs at; it is not our faith the world mocks; it is not our religion the world despises; it is our hypocrisy that provokes their scorn." ~fb

"We must always have in our minds a reverence of God's majesty, a dread of his displeasure, and an obedient regard to his sovereign authority over us: this fear will quicken us to our duty and make us circumspect in our walking. Thus stand in awe, and sin not, Ps. 4:4" ~Matthew Henry

"There must come with decision for truth a corresponding protest against error." ~C.H. Spurgeon

"There is an inherent idolatry in celebrating, or worshiping a 'baby' Jesus." ~fb

"Gospel integrity is the best security against wickedness." ~fb

"You either understand God’s Word as you read it, or you study God’s Word to understand it." ~fb

“It is better to be divided by truth than united with error." ~Adrian Rogers

"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." ~George Orwell

"With a sincere commitment to the faith, there comes a sudden spiritual awakening that immediately validates itself." ~fb

“Truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just need to figure out who is worth the pain.” ~Adrian Rogers

“There can be no civility when confronting lies.” ~fb

"The greatest, and perhaps ultimately the only expression in Creation, is to love." ~fb

"It isn’t that LIBERALS are IGNORANT, it’s just that they know so much that ISN’T SO!" ~Ronald Reagan

"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." ~Prov. 26:4

"Work as if you were to live 100 Years; Pray as if you were to die tomorrow." ~Benjamin Franklin

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?... Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin... Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." ~Rom. 6:2 and 6 and 12

"Archaic = a term which the 'contemporary' man (from whatever era) introduces in order to do away with that which he will not or can not deal with." ~fb

"Without saving faith, all moral virtues are but splendid sins!" ~Charles Spurgeon

“The reading of good sermons is the most underrated kind of Christian literature on the market today.” ~Joel Beeke

"We look upon the enemy of our souls as a conquered foe, so he is, but only to God, not to us." ~Oswald Chambers

"There is an arrogance within Christianity that would walk away from the faith and presume to call it 'another' denomination." ~fb

"A false doctrine is in conflict with the whole Word of God, while the Truth is in harmony with every part of it." ~W.J. McClure

“What is morally wrong can never be politically right.” ~Lord Shaftesbury

"Error is always in excess." ~fb

"Shall I use the fire God gave me to burn incense all day long? No thank you!" ~Jose Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac

“A sacred regard to the authority of God ought to lead us to reject an error, however old, sanctioned by whatever authority, or however generally practiced.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon

"There is more Bible-buying and Bible-selling, more Bible-printing and Bible-distributing, than there ever was! But all this time, I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to have the Bible is one thing; and to read it privately ourselves (with appetite and pleasure) is quite another!" ~J.C. Ryle, 1895

"Naiveté is not a characteristic of Christ-likeness." ~fb

"The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers." ~Matthew Henry

"True repentance is not that which humbles us on any given Sunday, but for the rest of our life." ~fb

"Impress the young convert from the very beginning with the conviction that God has called him into His kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart." ~William B. Sprague

"The will, engaged in evil, feeds on sinful desires, and wastes itself without fruit." ~J.N. Darby

"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." ~Psalm 90:12

"I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount." ~Martin Luther

"The fool will not listen... The wise already know." ~fb

"It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read." ~Newt Gingrich

"God does not expect us to do our best, He expects us to manifest His best." ~fb

"Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!" ~Remedies Against Satan's Devices

"I declare I know of no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, because we have picked up a few religious feelings." ~J.C. Ryle

"So remember, you who profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus, that to you indifference is impossible! You must bless the church and the world by your holiness, or you will curse them both by your hypocrisy and inconsistency. In the visible church it is most true that (no man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself)." ~Charles Spurgeon

"The conflict is with a heart that loves the thing against which we strive; we do not separate ourselves from it in thought." ~J.N. Darby

"Any one who can think of their god as an 'exalted man' has nothing better than himself as a savior." ~fb

"Knowing that blank page will always remain empty, I do lament what might have been written upon it" ~LSM

“You should always make sure to go to your friends' funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.” ~Yogi Berra

"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them." ~E.V. Lucas

“I am in the prime of senility.” ~Benjamin Franklin

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.” ~Yogi Berra

"It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." ~Yogi Berra

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” ~Winston Churchill

“I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.” ~Emerson

“Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.” ~R.L. Stevenson

“Now the average citizen can't relate to a billion or a trillion. A million dollars in thousand-dollar bills is a stack of bills, four inches high. A billion dollars in thousand-dollar bills is 300 feet high. A trillion dollars in thousand-dollar bills extends from the top of this [table] to 63 miles out in space.” ~Ross Perot

“I am a verb.” ~Ulysses S. Grant

“My anger protected me only for a short time; anger wearies itself out and truth comes in.” ~C.S. Lewis

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Persistent Friend

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