We're preaching through the book of John on Sunday mornings in a series I've called Behold the Lamb. And we're going to be in chapter 15 again today. Jesus has led his disciples out of the upper room and they're standing either in a vineyard or in some kind of depiction of a vineyard, and he has been teaching them about the true vine. And so in our account this morning, though, we're gonna see that after Jesus teaches them about the true vine and the importance of fruit bearing, he's going to talk to them about the importance of friends. And so we're going to look at that here this morning as we get to John chapter 15, and I'm just gonna read verses 12 through 14. I know what you're thinking, three verses should be a short message. Probably right, okay, so do I ever keep you long? I didn't think so, I didn't think so. Very rarely do I keep you long, only when you need it, amen. John 15, verses 12 through 14. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Everybody said. Father, we thank you for this time today. I pray you'll just be with us as we look into this portion of your word, that your Holy Spirit will do his work in our midst. Father, that the believer will find areas in their life that can be edified. And Father, maybe there'll be some conviction that falls on our hearts that we'll need to respond to as your word is Proclaimed and and rightly divided this morning and Lord there might be somebody here today who has yet to trust you for salvation They don't know you as their own personal Lord and Savior pray for that soul that might be here this morning and father we do pray that when all is said and done here at Liberty Baptist Church that you will get all of the praise and all of the honor and all the glory We ask these things and pray them in Jesus name Amen Friends. I like the word friends. I like the word friendship. I like it when somebody considers me a friend or when I consider someone a friend. And I think that I don't care how old you are this morning, you can look back at some point in your life with fondness and remember good times with good friends. Probably the friends have changed over the years as geography divides things and interests divide things and family interests divide things, things of that nature. So you've had maybe some change of friends over your existence. But I do know a handful of you, you've told me that you have friends still today that you talk to from your childhood, which I think is quite remarkable. I really do. I know that Beth Bragg has her best friend. She met her in second grade, and Beth is just a little bit past second grade now. She's in her mid-80s and still has that best friend back east, and so that's really a remarkable thing. So we're not talking here this morning about Facebook friends, we're talking about real friends. Real, tangible friends. Friends that you depend on. Friends that you do things with. Friends that you trust and then confide in. Friends like that. Right? Right. You know, some friends were always there and are still always there for us. Some friends, let's just be honest, can be what we would call a fair weather friend. They're there when things are good, but not so much when things aren't so good. Some friends can totally betray us and can really knock the wind out of our sails. You know, we talk about friendship in such a way that you would be willing to Run through a wall for someone because your friendship is so strong. And then on the other side, can we laugh a little bit? There are some friends who wouldn't mind throwing through a wall at times, right? So we have those things that go in our lives often. But when Jesus calls himself a friend, He's showing himself to be a friend who was perfect in every way. There's never going to be any betrayal. He's not a fair-weather friend. He's an all-time friend. He's there in the good times and in the bad times and in all the in-between times. The Bible does have a lot to say about friends. A friend is basically simply a favored companion, somebody in your circle that you will just put maybe a little bit on a higher level of trust, a higher level of activity than other acquaintances in your life, a favored companion. But the Bible does say a few things about friends that I wanna bring out before I get into more of the meat of the thought this morning. All these verses are from Proverbs Proverbs 21 or 27 6 says this Faithful are the wounds of a friend. We're grateful We should be thankful for friends who will tell us what we need to hear to not the soft soap but not to try to Make it easier, but just tell us the truth because we should be old enough to handle the truth. Amen Saints Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful A friend loveth at all times. And a brother is born for what, saints? For adversity. And so when the times get tough, when the seas get rough, that's when that true friend will come along and be right beside you through thick and thin. And then Proverbs 18.24 says this, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Everybody say to that. Amen. Jesus calls himself a friend this morning in our text here in John chapter 15 verses 12 through 14. I'm going to read it again to you. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus wants you to know, he wants me to know this morning that he is perfect. His friendship is perfect. He would be the supreme example, the top of the top when it comes to what true friendship should look like. There are no flaws. There is nothing that we could that we could balk at there's nothing we could complain about Concerning our friendship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his example of friendship that supreme example of friendship far Exceeds and I say far exceeds. I mean it far Exceeds any earthly friendship you have ever had in your earthly existence. Amen Saints and So it far exceeds it. And we've heard stories, and maybe you even know people who've done some things that would be pretty much heroic when it came to friendship. We even know stories about people who were heroic, who weren't even friends at all, but did something where they sacrificed themselves for the good of another or for the cause to save many people alive. I was reading the different stories this week about people who gave great sacrifice during 9-11, who who ran into the Twin Towers while they were crumbling down to try to bring people out of that tragedy there in New York City alive. Many of the first responders lost their lives in that effort. And we should still be visibly moved and shaken by the fact that a complete stranger was trying to rescue others from danger. That is really heroism in its boldest degree. Somebody say amen to that too. sometimes with a friend, sometimes with a stranger, but nonetheless, these different examples pale in comparison to Jesus' sacrifice for the entire world population. There's great stories in the Bible of friendship. Jonathan and David had a great friendship and they were willing to sacrifice for one another, for the good of one another. And Jonathan would show you in his life was also willing to sacrifice for the good of the Lord's will in David's life. And those are important too. Whenever we sacrifice for someone, we are putting, at times, our life at risk. We're giving of time or money or energy or talent, whatever the case may be. But any human example of sacrifice cannot. It just pales in comparison to the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. Because of this truth right here, Jesus didn't have to die. He didn't have to die. He was, He was, He is, and will forever be God. And He did not have to die. He came to die. He chose to die for our sins. Now you and I, we're going to die one day. If the Lord terrors us coming and we're not taken out of here during that blessed event, we are going to die some way or another, whether it's through sacrificial death, tragic death, or natural causes, all of us are appointed one day to die. Hebrews 9.27 puts it like this, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Now, the one who Gives the appointment for our death is the lord god himself. Isn't that right? He's the one who uh, he's the one who holds our life in his hands and he's the one who will uh will bring us home when that time comes In our day or in our lifetime, whatever the case may be And so if we die sacrificially Then we're just dying sooner rather than later If you decide to run into a burning building to save someone you don't even know and end up perishing in that fire, all you're doing is expediting the process of death. You are expediting what we would call the inevitable. That make sense? because it's appointed unto you once to die. I've got a date with death, and you have a date with death. We don't know when that day may come, but we do know this, that once the death has occurred, there's going to be a judgment. And that judgment is simply based on this truth, this precept. What did you do with the gospel of Jesus Christ? What did you do with it? Did you accept it? If you accepted it, praise God. Your judgment is this, forever heaven. Not so bad, amen? If you have rejected it and are continuing to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and His manifold grace, then your judgment is going to be eternal torment in a godless hell. That's the two places you can do. That's the two places you can go. It's either heaven or it's hell. There is no in between. There is no limbo. Somebody help me. And so it's important that we make sure we take care of that eternal business before that date with death comes into our existence. And again, we do not know the day, nor do we know the hour. But on the other hand, the death of Jesus was a willing sacrifice. He didn't die in the heat of the moment where he saw something going on and he jumped in to save lives, jumped overboard to save a drowning victim. Things of that nature. It was not an act of passion. It was an act of the will of the Father in order to save the sinners who need to be reconciled to a thrice holy God. Jesus said himself that no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. And I just want to say right here, aren't you glad that Jesus made the decision to give His life willingly and also knew He had the power to take it back again? That is to say this, He knew that one day there would be a resurrection and that resurrection would be our key to unlocking eternal life in God's forever heaven. Amen. That's a great thing right there. So we know that he laid down his life willingly. It was a willing sacrifice. Didn't happen by accident. Didn't happen at the hands of sinful men. It happened because Jesus allowed it. God the Father allowed these things to come to pass. Another aspect about sacrifice, about dying for someone else. Can I just be real with you this morning? Another aspect of dying for someone else would be this. We wouldn't mind being able to select who we die for. Right. Like I may not want to die for that one person. Are you following me or not? But the other guy, yeah. Or your wife, yeah. Or your kids, yeah. But maybe not a complete stranger because We're not made of the same makeup that God is made of. We don't have the same ability to give grace. We don't have the same ability to muster up that kind of forgiveness. Sometimes things happen, again, in the heat of the moment or in the passion of saving other people. You've read stories, no doubt, about men who have leaped on grenades in order to save a few people alive. And you've seen other things like that happen in the the annals of human history, no doubt about that. But I'm just saying this, if we had our option, we would probably be selective as to who we would die for, and somebody might say amen to that. Romans 5, 7 says it like this, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. So we're seeing classifications here, categories on the human level of who we may or may not be willing to die for. And if you want to get real serious and real honest today, there may not be anybody right now in your life that you're willing to lay down your life for. Maybe. That's a possibility. Infinite Saints. That's human nature. That's how we think. We are selfish at heart, and so we have those things that are working against us all of the time. We would like to be selective as to who we would die for, but when Jesus died, I want you to understand this, when Jesus died for you and when He died for me, we weren't exactly on a friendship level yet. We weren't even scarcely. Righteous or poor adventure good. We were on the outside Looking in he died for us while we were yet sinners Romans 5 8 but God commended that word command of being showed But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us aren't you glad that you didn't have to be a friend of Jesus to to have Christ die for your sins and There's no qualifiers here. He died for the sins of the entire world, past, present, and future. He is still in the soul-saving business in 2023. There's not a sinner rotten enough, or filthy enough, or fallen enough, or lost enough that He cannot reach with His amazing grace. Amen. We were at enmity with God. We were yet sinners. And I think it's important every once in a while on a Sunday morning to remind the blood-bought believer that we need to see ourselves as God sees us, not how we perceive ourselves. Amen. If you'll see yourself as somewhat good and someone that was worth dying for, you'll never appreciate how great God's love for you is. Your good stuff, the things that you think are good, really amount to nothing in the sight of God. Isaiah 64, six, but we are all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses, are as filthy rags. They add up to nothing. God's not impressed. Can I have some help, please? And we all do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. You've seen the leaves blow away in the fall of the year, and the wind's just moving them down the road or across your yard. And it's just like that with our sin. It's just moving us. We're moving endlessly. We're at the mercy of the wind, the speed of the wind, the direction of the wind, the duration of the wind. That's exactly what's like being a lost sinner not knowing God not knowing Christ as your Savior Ephesians talked about how when we were lost we were going we were moving according to the course of this world and the course is like a current of a river and we are completely again at the mercy at the direction and the endurance and of the timing of the course of this world, but God But God in His amazing grace, God in His magnificent mercy, God in His glory had a plan for you to be saved, to know Him as Savior. But it's good for you to recognize and to realize and to look at yourself every once in a while the way that God sees all of humanity as it is written. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. What their tongues have they used to seat. What the poison of asps, excuse me, the poison of asps is under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's exactly how God sees us before salvation. And we have to remember that we were not worth dying for, and there wasn't a spark of goodness in us. We were completely lost and undone, and our greatest need was for sinful man to be reconciled to a holy God. Amen. For all have sinned, the Bible says, and come short of the glory of God. I believe this. When the Bible says all, it means all. I don't have to define it. I don't have to look it up. I don't have to break it down. In the original language, all means all. That's all of usans. Amen. You and me together make up the all that we're concerned about here this morning. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that's what makes the the love of God greater than any other love the world has ever known. It makes it great because he didn't just die for friends, he died for us knowing our internal makeup, knowing our thoughts, knowing our propensity, knowing our positions on things, God died for us. There is no greater love than the love of God. Now, What we do then with this love is this. We go and demonstrate on a very small scale level. We go and demonstrate our friendship to God, our love of God, we go and do it by obeying Him. And the first command that we talked about here this morning is that we love one another. Now, love is probably one of the most confusing, contrived definitions that we're trying to deconstruct in the 21st century, because mankind has come up with his or her or its definition of what love is. and has convinced people that love is love and that love is simply a feeling or emotion. That is not the biblical definition of love. That might be what literature says. That might be what Hollywood says. It's not what God's Word says. And we're concerned this morning, very much so, about the opinion of God on the matter. Love is an act of the will. Love is a verb. Love does something. It doesn't just feel something. Amen? Sure. I don't know about you. Have you ever felt loved? Have you ever felt unloved? On the same day. Right? Not talking about the emotion. Not talking about the feeling. Talking about the reality that love is a verb. And for the blood-bought believer this morning, the verb of love says this, treat others the way God treats you. That went over real well. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Does that make sense now? Treat others as God has treated you. It's not just here in John chapter 15, it's also in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. We're learning to treat others as God has treated us. We're learning to see others as God has seen them. Especially when it comes to them who are of the household of faith, we understand there is equal footing at the cross of Calvary. Somebody help me. There is no respect of persons with God. There might be respect of persons with humankind. Somebody say amen. But there ought not to be that named among the people of God. And everybody said amen to that too. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. This is my commandment that ye love one another. The same commandment that He gave to the disciples in John chapter 13 is being reiterated here in John chapter 15. Greater love, Christ said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Christ said this, ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. So we're learning to treat others the way that God treats us and to see others how God sees them and to understand that they at least deserve one time in their life to hear a clear presentation of the gospel of Christ, don't they saints? You know, the very first step of obedience in what God expects from us is to respond to the gospel. I've already mentioned it a little bit, but you can either accept or you can reject the gospel. We don't put it on hold. We don't push pause on the tape recorder or the... What is it today? We don't have tape recorders anymore. What do we have today? The device. The screen. We don't push pause. It's a yes or a no. Do you believe that Christ died for you? Or do you believe that you are in need of Christ dying for you? Well, if yes, then you have to rightfully respond to the gospel of grace. It talks about how to respond to it in the book of Romans in chapter 10, verses 9 and 10. Very clear, but I want you to let it wash over you. Meditate on these words for a few moments this morning, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Somebody say amen. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. I'm not looking at anybody. Ask yourself right now. Do you remember a time in your life? I'm not asking for a specific date. I don't want to know all the details, but do you remember a time in your life when you did what the Bible said to do concerning the gospel of Jesus? If yes, you're in good shape. You're on your way to heaven. If no, you're in terrible shape. You're on your way to hell. And if undecided, still on your way to hell. Come on. It's a yes or no proposition. For whosoever, I love it, anybody, put your name in there. For if Mark Hoffer, for if Jeffrey Chambly, for if Virginia Dubroy shall call upon the name of the Lord, Mark, Jeff, Virginia shall be saved. That's wonderful. There's nobody eliminated here. There's nobody excluded. It's for all y'all. Amen. It's important that we have the right response to the gospel, that we respond to it when we hear it and we understand how important it is to make that respond to the holy God of heaven. Secondly, That second step of obedience after salvation is this. Have you been baptized scripturally since your salvation? Not talking about sprinkling? Not talking about infant baptism. I'm talking about sense your salvation. If we could go this morning, I could show you verses in the Bible where people got baptized after their salvation by immersion. Have you been baptized since your salvation? You say, well, I haven't. Well, we would like to show you in the Bible how you should take care of that obedient step with Christ. Amen, saints. Amen, church family. Number three, pastor, I've been saved. I've been baptized scripturally. Now, here's the next question. Now, are you then faithfully exercising your spiritual gifts in a local assembly? When I say a local assembly, I mean a local church like perhaps Liberty Baptist Church. I just threw one out of the air there. Are you faithfully exercising your spiritual gifts in a local assembly? Those are just the first steps of obedience in the Christian life. Respond to the gospel with a positive response. Get baptized in the scriptural way. Get yoked up with a local assembly. Unite with the fellowship of a local assembly and begin exercising your spiritual gifts in that local assembly. And then lastly, are you willing to be a friend to a lost and dying world, an unbeliever who deserves at least one time in their life to hear one clear gospel witness. Amen. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." And everybody did say. Father, we thank you for this time this morning. Father, thank you for this brief account about friendship. about true sacrifice, about no greater love than the love of God for sinful man. And Father, however you have hit the hearts this morning, I pray the hearts will come back to you, they'll respond to you in an affirming way. Father, maybe there is somebody here today who's never trusted Christ to be their Lord and Savior, and today they know they need to take care of that eternal business before it is eternally too late. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. And Father, maybe there's somebody here who they've been saved and never gotten baptized for whatever reason. Father, you want to help them with that next step of obedience. And Father, then those who maybe need to unite with the fellowship here and get involved in different ministries and in different manners here at Liberty Baptist Church. And Father, for all of us who would call ourselves a child of God, That we would be a vocal visible witness of your great love and we would not be afraid to share Our faith again with a lost and dying world father. I do pray that she would continue to move on our hearts this morning We pray these things and ask them in jesus name Amen I say it every sunday. I mean it every sunday if god has spoken to you, please speak back to him We're gonna sing 185, let's all stand. Jesus paid it all. If you don't know Christ as your Savior, come out on the first verse this morning and we'll take the Bible and show you more great truths about the wonderful gift of salvation. Brother Russ, come ahead. I hear the Savior say Thy strength in me is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus, fade it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find, Thy power and Thine alone Can change a leper's flocks. Jesus paid it all All to him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow For nothing good have I done Whereby thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I standed incomplete, Jesus died my soul to save. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. the words that you hear in our hearts.