Good evening, everyone. It's good to be out here tonight and studying for this passage of scripture tonight. I look upon faces here. Some 30 years I've been here. And I find myself in a multitude of friends And when the pastor asked me to kick this off, he asked me what I would be speaking on. And the subject tonight is this, the friends of Christ. And there's many ways I can title it. We discussed it briefly in his office this past Sunday. And I thought about this and the more I kept looking at it, this is one chapter. There's three great messages in here and it's kind of like a smorgasbord. What do you choose? But this is the one that Lord had directed my thoughts and my attentions to tonight. So if you would turn with me to John chapter 15, I want us to look at verses 12 through 17 particularly tonight. We'll look a little bit at verses 1 through 7 in just a few moments to bring this passage together. And follow if you would with me. Verse 12. This is my commandment that you love one another as I've loved you. Greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you. 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 and whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." In this passage, Jesus makes a remarkable statement to all of us who believe in him for salvation. He calls us his friends. And we'll see that as we develop this passage of scripture. And it makes me think about questions that I even ask myself as I was putting it together. Do you know what that means? Do you know the implications that it not only holds for us right now, but also what it holds for in eternity? You know, when we look at it today, we can look at people's perception of what friendship is based upon how the world looks at it in many ways. For example, many of us acquainted with Facebook, and a lot of times people, they almost want to garner friends' suggestions as some type of badge that they have. But if you've ever really thought about that, most of the time, the person that sends you a friend's suggestion is somebody that knows you, but you don't even know who they are. But what I did think about this, what would be some of the terminology or maybe the phrases that people would use to describe friendship? And I've found a few of them, of course, looking on Facebook and looking on the internet. And here were some things that I found. It says some examples of what people consider a friend. Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. And again, some of these things are very shallow, I think, when we're looking at what a true friend is. Another one says, a friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. Another one is, it's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. Well, there's a good friend of ours that is home with the Lord now, and the pastor remembers him, and he had even a better saying that I think typically hit that. He said, a friend in need is a pest. But you had to know this guy. He had such a dry sense of humor, but he's a godly man and a good friend. It says, truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget. That's hitting closer maybe to what I'm going to see tonight, but it's not there yet. Here's another one. Real friends are people that have proven they will show up for you in the past and will continue to do so because you are a priority to them. Well, that's hitting pretty close to it. But as I begin to look at this and begin to delve into the passage itself, as we find out about the inexhaustible nature of the word of God, you just keep finding more. It's like being in a gold mine and finding a nugget, and you just keep digging and keep digging. You keep finding more precious truth. And so in this text, Christ is in the process of turning the tables on conventional Christian thinking. Much of what I've just said about those examples of what people think that a friend is, is totally opposite of what Christ is gonna convey to us and what the passage is gonna convey to us tonight. To lead into our text, let's briefly examine verses one through eight because it's important that we understand, first of all, to have the friendship that it's talking about, there has to be life that is being given in order to understand that. So I won't take time to read it, and I think we are familiar with the passage, so I'll make some comments as we get into our text. We ultimately learn that we are considered branches, and Christ is divine in this passage. We would naturally think that since we belong to the body of Christ, that we are now going to be able to produce some marvelous things, some amazing things, like the fruit of the spirit. And this is where many times we go wrong, and where I go wrong. Like the fruit of the spirit, and so we want to give it our best shot, okay? And you don't have to, if you identify with this, just keep it to yourself, okay? But so we turn to a passage of scripture in Galatians chapter 5, 22, and it says this. But the fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace and gentleness and goodness and meekness and temperance. Against such there is no law. So our motive might be to pick one. Let's say you've done this. You pick one. Let's say, this week, I'm going to focus on joy. That's going to be what I'm really going to work on. And so you pray, Lord, I'm going to develop the characteristic of joy this week in my life. So you maybe make out some good plans. You'll maybe take a sticky note, and you'll write on it joy, and maybe put a verse there to help remind it. And so you go out to your car. You have every intention. of trying to produce joy. And so you put it up on your dash, and you got your thermos of coffee, and you're headed out to work, and it seems like everything's going in the right direction. But during your drive to work, the car in front of you slams on its brakes, and you swerve out of the way, and you spill your coffee, not all over your little piece of paper that's got joy, but it's all over you as well. And so whatever joy or intention of joy you had in producing, it's gone. And so you lost it at that moment. I've done this. I'm not confessing, I've said, I've done this. And so I've sped up and go down the road trying to catch up to us so I can give this person an evil glare to let them know, hey, jerk, you should run me off the road. And we can see sometimes That's not what this passage is saying. And let's examine it just for a moment. You know this, that God's grace won't allow you to be able to do something by yourself that he said already that only he can do in you and through you. Man, I wish I could remember that constantly. It's him working in me and through me. And you and I can be available branches, but let's study about this. We're looking at an agricultural analogy here about the vine and the branches. And with that, if a branch is connected to the vine, let me ask this. Can a branch produce fruit? No, it can't produce fruit. It can bear fruit because the life that it gets to bear the fruit comes from the vine itself. It's gonna be no different from us as we look into this here tonight. And the reason I can say that, if you would look in chapter 15, verse five, I am the vine and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. And this is where it hits you at. What does the phrase say here, the next phrase? For without me, you can do nothing. That's where we're at. Our life comes from the vine. And every one of us as believers are not just slightly handicapped when it comes to this. Many times we're paralyzed because we're still yet within our own mode of thinking that it's us producing something. And here's my point. The life of Christ which flows through us and in us will produce fruit, which then clings from our lives just like a cluster of grapes would hang from a vine. Now, with that, we see here in this, as we progress into the chapter, we had the agricultural analogy. Now we're moving in almost into a home-type setting in verses 12 through 17. And in the vineyard, we discover the privilege of fruit bearing, but in the home, and I believe that this is a very familial-type setting when Christ is speaking to the disciples. In the home, we discover the prize of friendship or relationship. And so the remainder of this chapter, as we're looking at 17 through 27, we won't get into that tonight. But we can break this down into three categories. Verses one through eight is fruit bearing. Verses nine through 17 is friendship. And number 18 through 27 deals with being forsaken as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And in this life, you will be forsaken. There's people in my life that I thought would never ever leave that were what I thought were brothers or sisters in Christ and they're no longer around. And when I look at this passage and I begin to look again at friendship, that's our prize. That is such a tremendous privilege that the creator of the universe would call us his friend. Now consider a scenario with me if you would. I want you to really think about this internally. Think about this yourself. Suppose that you knew you were going to die at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Imagine that just for a moment with me. What would your thoughts be? What would your concerns be about? In some instances, I could think, well, it would be about my family, yes. But you know, if you know 10 a.m. is coming up and you've only got this amount of time to live, you know your thoughts, in all probability, are going to turn inward and you're going to begin thinking about yourself. You know, that spiral going down. But in studying this text and the surrounding chapters of John and getting the full context of what I'm talking about tonight, I find it fascinating that in just 24 hours away from the cross, Jesus is not concerned about himself. He's concerned about his disciples. His heart is turning toward those that he loves. Now, how could that be? And how do we know that? Well, I'm gonna let the scripture speak for itself. Turn it back to chapter 13 of John. And I want you to follow along with me. John chapter 13, verse one, it says, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world, and to the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Now we're beginning to see the heart, a little bit of the heart of Christ, a little bit of the heart of what a true friend is. Love, everlasting love, unchangeable love, agape love, unswayable love, And you know what, when we look at this humanly speaking, I'll ask this question. Do you have a friend like this passage just described? Now I'm not talking about Jesus Christ. I'm talking, do you have a friend that's similar in context of what this is talking about? And you'll be quite surprised by this. I've read and I've heard some preachers echo this sentiment themselves, I've heard this on national TV before, that they could not name more than three people anywhere in the world whom they considered a close friend. And you know that to be true in many cases. But as I look at this, my motive tonight, my application is this, is not only what a friend that I have in Jesus, but what a privilege I have to be your friend in the body of Christ. Do you know how important that is? There's no one else that has things in common like we do with each other. And many times I forget that. The truth is, friends are hard to find. That is the kind of friend that comes in when everybody else walks out. You know what I'm talking about. Many of you do. One pastor wrote, listen to this. This had so intrigued me. My heart went out to this. I hope that I never turn into this type of individual. Listen to this. A pastor wrote, he said, loneliness doesn't exist only in the world, but it's found within the church as well. Consider the words of one older woman who wrote me. I sit in the pew next to a warm body every week, but I feel no heat. I'm in the faith, but I draw no active love. I sing the hymns with those next to me, but I hear only my own voice. When the service is finished, I leave as I come in, hungry for someone to touch me, to tell me that I'm a person, worth something to somebody, just a smile would do it, or perhaps a gesture, some sign that I'm not a stranger here. Has that ever happened to you? You don't have to be by yourself to be lonely. You can be in a group of people and be just as lonely. It can be so paralyzing sometimes. Folks, loneliness is no respecter of persons. And we're going somewhere with this. You know, it does not matter if you're poor or rich or sick or healthy, in the public eye or hidden from view. Another quote I have here, an American novelist said this, Thomas Wolfe, he said, the whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness is the central and inevitable fact of human existence. Now, that's a pretty bleak interpretation of what loneliness is, if we only consider it from a humanistic standpoint. But I don't want to leave us with that thought. And these comments paint a bleak existence, yet Christ has turned the tables on that fact, and this is where I rejoiced when I began to see this. So let's return to our text. As I said earlier, in 24 hours before the king of kings would die, He is intensely interested in his disciples, catching some truths that would carry them for life. He tells that small band of disciples, and he tells every believer today, you can consider me your closest friend. And I consider you my friend as well. Who in the darkest time of your life can meet a need? I've had those situations. I'm sure many of you have as well. I remember one in particular that it seemed like it was so dark it would never end. And no matter everything that I tried to do as far as following what I felt like the Lord would have me to do and submitting myself unto the authority of the local church, Things didn't turn out the way I wanted it to turn out. And there was no human voice that could meet my hurt, my need. And so what I did each night, I would take this blessed book and I'd begin to read and read and read and I'd read till I would be exhausted and fall asleep. And I fell asleep with it laying on my chest. And when I'd wake up, I'd pick it back up again and began to read and read. And what happened? In time, the Holy Spirit of God spoke to my heart and said, it's going to be okay. Because you know why? You know the Son. You know Jesus Christ. A friend that sticketh closer than a brother. a friend, as we're describing in this passage. And as I was looking at this, but you know what? You're always gonna have the naysayers, the doubters, aren't you, in any crowd. I don't care where you're at. But someone could go to verse 14 and say, yeah, but look at that condition. And look at verse 14 with me. It says, ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Now someone could say this, who could possibly keep all the commandments? That's just too much. Because, you know, we want to think of love as a feeling, don't we? In other words, the Western culture has so warped people's concept of what really love is. But you know what? One thing that I have learned by being around good godly men who love God and love the Word of God and have taught me how to study the Word of God is hermeneutics teaches us to interpret the word command in light of the context of the passage. And in light of the context of the passage, let's look at it. Look up, if you would, in verses number 12a. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I've loved you. Now, in other words, you can't hate each other and consider yourself my friend. That's like tonight. If you come to church tonight and you're harboring some type of ill about someone across the aisle from you or whatever like that, guess what? You don't have the love of Christ dwelling at that moment in you. You know, the second point of emphasis here is this. If you will obey my command to love one another, then you'll be able to experience the depth of my love. I don't care the most insignificant person in my mind that could be here tonight, and there is no one. But we do know this. There are some people by, I don't know, by our compatibility, I don't know how you would describe it, that there's some people that we tend to gravitate toward more than we do others. But that doesn't mean that the person who is any less significant is not my brother or my sister in Christ. The point here as I'm looking at this, the depth of that, we could see it reiterated again in 1 John, turn over there if you would, 1 John 4. 1 John 4, and look with me if you would in verse 19. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. We see that, isn't that exactly what John 15's saying? It's saying the very same thing. You know, you can't be my friend and hate each other, but if you love each other, we can be friends. So now here's another question that I run across that I ask myself. How can you be commanded to love someone? Again, we have to think the mind of Christ as we're looking at this passage. Did Christ say, folks, look, did he say this? And he said, look, he said, here's what I want y'all to do. While I'm gone back to the father, I just want y'all to be civil toward each other and don't kill each other till I get back. Did he say that? No, he didn't say that. But verse 12 is a command. I'm going to read it again. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I've loved you. Now, let that sink in. How did Christ love you? What did you have to offer? What did you have to bring? How did he love you? What conditions did he put upon you? Where did he find you? How can you command someone to love? And so we'll come up with alternatives, won't we? We'll come up with our own way to love that meets maybe our motive. Did he just say, do good works? And we might say, well, yeah, I could do that. Did he say, buy that homeless person some lunch or buy that kid a coat? Did he say that? No. You see that Christian brother or sister over there? Love them. Now, here's where it gets at. And one thing that I'm fortunate that I had the opportunity to do is go to biblical counseling and be able to learn some things in years past. Do you know why Jesus can command us to agape or to love? Do you know how he can command A husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Do you know how that a wife will reverence her husband and submit to his authority? Do you know how that fathers are to love their children, that children are given a command? And every one of these that I've just mentioned is a command. Husbands love your wives. That's a command. That's not a suggestion. And when we begin to look at this, because agape is an act of the will, it's not a feeling. And because it is an act of the will, it is a decision in the mind with which the body follows through. And the proof of our love is not feelings, but our actions. The good news is loving actions produce loving feelings. But we forget that, don't we? I know I do. Don't ask my wife, she knows that. I'm guilty. But you know what, I did run across something a little bit lighter here. You know, Pastor mentioned, I think it was last Wednesday night, Jimmy Campbell and Becky celebrated 65 years of marriage. And that is a remarkable milestone in our day and age. He already mentioned that. And I want to mention to you as well, Pastor and Edna, 50 years. Let that sink in. 50 years of marriage. You know, I run across a story that reminded me of my pastor. He knows I love him. He really does. And there's a story that I run across about an elderly couple who were 60-year-old, and both of them were hard of hearing. And so at this 60th wedding anniversary that they were having, Hundreds, family, relatives, friends, everyone come out to celebrate this momentous occasion. And so, you know, Henry, this man, he gets up, he said, you know what, I want to do something. I'm going to give my wife a speech. So he gets up, and he looks over at her, he said, Ethel, he said, after 60 years of marriage, he said, I found you tried and true. And she goes, eh? It changed. She had this disgruntled look on her face, and she went, well, Henry, after 60 years of marriage, I'm tired of you too. Marriage is hard work. Marriage is a commitment. You know what, these gentlemen and their wives, married as long as they've been married, that gives me something to look up to. That makes me want to love my wife like they love their wives. In Christ's day, here's another great truth that we get. If you would look at verse 15 with me. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Now, you know what, jumped out twice, there's a word there, servants and servant is mentioned in that passage. And I thought, why would he put friends and servants in the same category? And I began to ponder the thinking. You know, in Christ's days, disciples of a rabbi or teacher were considered their servant. And so whatever the rabbi needed, that servant would go along and meet his basic needs throughout the day, and he would gladly do so. Another example in Christ's day, it is estimated that in first century, that within the Roman Empire, there was over 60 million slaves that existed. And within that, conditions for these slaves were unbearable because what would happen was this. Roman law allowed slave owners to have absolute power over these slaves. Now think about this. To beat them, to sell them, to abuse them, to starve them, and to kill them without any recourse at all. And I said, that is, I can't, I'm trying to put this together here, but what about slaves to the king or emperor? Can you imagine this? Let's take it another notch. Do you know the slave of an emperor was not considered a person, but a thing, an object. He only lived if the emperor allowed it. Think about this, the slave had no right to enter the presence of the royal master. The slave might catch a glimpse as he passed by on some impressive occasion, but he never got to get anywhere near the royal master. He was never permitted to eat at the same table as the master. He had separate quarters. His life was in obscurity. He was not really known at all by the emperor. That's sad. That's sad. But here's where it should excite us. It should thrill, it thrills me to tell you this. Because of the foundation of love, Christ considers us his closest friends. And you know what, as I begin digging a little deeper and looking after other godly men who had comments about this, I shared a little bit of it with Charlie, but now I want to share it with everyone. Do you know, we know that the Greek word there for friend is philos. It's an affectionate term, brotherly love, that type of thing. But you know what, as I look further at some of the men that wrote some things, and I've seen a consistency of that, in this phraseology right here, it's considered a friend of the court, or a friend of the emperor. Now, I've got something I want to share with you. And I seen this, and it made me rejoice to think about this. I just wanna read, this is John MacArthur, but he is quoting William Barclay. And let me read this to you. And pay attention to this, please. I think this will rejoice your heart. Listen to this. Accustomed from biblical times, sheds light on the great honor believers have in being the friends of Jesus Christ. William Barclay writes, This phrase is lit up by custom practiced at the courts both of the Roman emperors and of kings in the Middle East. At these courts there were a very select group called the friends of the king or the friends of the emperor. Listen to this. At all times they had access to the king that even had the right to come into his bedchamber at the beginning of the day. He talked to them before he talked to his generals, his rulers, and his statesmen. The friends of the king were those who had the closest and the most intimate connection with him. And I went, wow. to think, think about that, folks. You serve the king of kings and the lord of lords, and conversely, think about this, as you're laying on your bed tonight, your pillow, on your pillow, he has the right, because you're a friend of a king, he could come right into your bedchamber tonight and speak to you. Think about this. In other words, you're part of the family. It is that kind of intimate access that Jesus grants to his friends. Is he your friend? Is he your friend? You know, David understood intimacy with God when he wrote in Psalm 25, 14, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show him his covenant. Psalm 103 verse seven said, he made known his way to Moses, his acts to the sons of men. In other words, listen to this. The children of Israel saw only the miraculous acts of God. Here's where we come in. You think about this now. Moses was able to know the plans of God. He didn't share that with everybody. What about this, a third point because of this, because of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, because of his intercession for us and our prize of friendship, do you know this? We stand near to God than Moses did. We got the full revelation right in front of us now. We have the mind of Christ, what he would have us to do. And I thought about it, we know more than what David knew. What a privilege we have that Jesus Christ is our friend. You know, I think about that. Many times I've taken that for granted. I don't think upon it enough. Because if I begin to think about friendship as Christ is presenting it here, in the context of love, do I love him like he loves me? I know that answer. To flesh this out even a little bit more, there's an article I run across as well. An atheist mocked God because of his close relationship with Old Testament saints. And this track correctly noted that although Abraham lied on several occasions, he was called the friend of God. I mean, think about that when the two angels had left to go to Sodom and Gomorrah. We just covered it in Sunday school. Just think about that, that God said about Abraham, shall I hide this thing from Abraham, seeing that he will command his family to walk in my ways? Wow, that's something. This also, although Jacob was a cheating scoundrel, he was called the Prince of God. Moses was given the Ten Commandments, and this one jumped out too. He was given the Ten Commandments, but the article stressed he was guilty of violent murder, and he was, if we believe an atheist. The track went on to ask this question, if there really were a God, what kind of God would associate with these type people? Well, who did Jesus Christ associate with? When the Pharisees made their bold statement, you know, we're not gonna hang around with that crowd. He said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but I've come to call sinners to repentance. That's who Jesus Christ hung around. The answer to that question to that atheist is this, the son of God will come and die for their sins, the Old Testament saints, our sins, so that if anyone would place their faith in him, their sins would be forgiven and they'd be considered his friend. God's doing it all in that regard. giving you the gift of faith to believe. And I don't know who's saved and who's not, it's not my job. My job is this, is to go out and proclaim the whosoever wills. If you'll come to Jesus Christ, if you'll come, he'll save you. It's one thing to consider us friends, but think about this, and this is really great here. Look at verse 16 if you would. Verse 16 said, you have not chosen me, But I've 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. And I thought about this. I thought about it in light of what I'm learning, what this church has taught, what the leadership of this church has tried to develop through the years. in developing men and things. Guess what it's been? It's not been by popularity, it's been by appointment. It's been by recognition of giftedness and things of that nature that individuals can stand up. I don't stand here on my laurels. I stand here because God has appointed that man back there to be the shepherd of this church. And it is his job as a shepherd to look out among the congregation and develop the giftedness as he sees it develop. And then, and only then, I stand here because I've been appointed to be in this position by the leadership of this church. Well, it's one thing in a local church, but think about this. It is one thing for Christ to consider us friends, but to let that person represent you, do you know you're a representative of Jesus Christ, an ambassador? To be entrusted with your reputation, that's serious business. Are you amazed that God would appoint us? I see appointment in the scriptures. I'm beginning to see these things now. Remember when Titus, in the book of Titus, when Paul was writing to young Titus, he said, therefore sent thou they decree, thou may set in order the things that are needed and appoint elders in every church. It's out there. But to think about this, by appointment, now, to look at everything as we're looking at our testimony, as we're examining ourselves. I tend to sometimes be a little bit proud, no, I'm a whole lot prideful thinking that sometimes I know just a little bit more than what other people know. You ever have that problem? Think about this. Let's contrast others and ourselves, okay? When someone else has said in his ways, he's obstinate. When we refuse to change, we're just firm. When your neighbor doesn't like your friend, he's prejudiced. When you don't like his friend, you're a judge of good character. When someone tries to treat someone especially well, they're patronizing. Why does he get that suit? Why does he get all this stuff? When you do it, you're trying to be thoughtful. When he takes time to do things well, he's lazy or slow. When you do it, you're insightful. I'm sorry, when you do it, you're deliberate and careful. When someone picks up flaws in people, they're critical. When you do it, you're insightful. When he says that he thinks he's cruel and tactless, when you say that, you think you're being transparent and open. Well, we can sure have a different opinion of ourselves, can't we? I catch myself so many times doing that, and I have to repent of it. Instead of praying, not only for that individual, but God forgive me for thinking such thoughts. I'm looking at my friends. You know, you folks are my family, closer than my blood family. Rarely do we like to be exposed to what we really are. In case we think God has been fooled and in case we carried away with herself, look at verse 16 again with me in the first part of it. You have not chosen me. But I've chosen you. Because I chose you. Because I pointed in Nasby, it's rendered, it's ordained into King James, but in Nasby, it's I appointed. I appointed you and you and I received an appointment, not because we deserve it, because he loves us. And he's chosen to appoint us. chosen, eklogomai, of persons by implication to choose out with the accessory idea of kindness, of favor, of love, to prefer. Yet the word appoint, as I just said, to place one into a position of privilege or ministry, to appoint for special service, to send for a special reason, I'd like for you to look at this. The more you look at this blessed book, the more it just thrills your heart. Look at John chapter 17 with me. Why don't you look at verse 18? As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. What a privilege. What a privilege that the creator of this universe calls me, calls you his friend. How do we do it? Man, don't you get tired? It seems like it comes along. There's programs of every sort of trying to build churches and trying to market the gospel in different ways. So how do we do it? Do we debate them into the kingdom? Do we scare them, talking about hell, fire, brimstone? Do we threaten them? Do we bribe them? No. How do we do it? We are to attract them. And how? by our love for each other and by the fruit that we bear that resembles the character of God himself. I'll share this brief example with you. This morning I had to get up early to go get my blood drawn. And you know, Carmen, the power went out and we're trying to get ready. I fortunately got a shower before she did and then the power went out. So, you know, it's early, so I'm going over there, and the phlebotomist, the lady that took my blood, she was in her, and it's just this sweet black woman that was there. And you ever have that sense that your spirit bears witness with another person's spirit that they are the children of God? Well, that's what happened. And I just, after she drew my blood, I had to ask, I said, I said, ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, I said, are you a Christian? And she just lit up and said, oh, yes. And she said, and guess what? I didn't get to share it with you, honey, but we prayed together before I left. You can recognize fruit bearing on the branch, life given to it from the vine itself. As I look at this more, we are, you know, advertisements of an eternal king. an eternal purpose, with eternal power, with eternal results. In closing, I'll ask this question. Are you enjoying his friendship? I thoroughly enjoy studying to find out what kind of friend I have in Jesus. One author wrote this, he said, oh, the comfort of feeling safe within a person, having neither to weigh thoughts or measure words, but to pour them all out just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them. Keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away. Look at verse 16, if you would, at the end. Let's read the whole verse. 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. As we get ready to close, in other words, since you're my friend, And you can talk to any member of my family anytime you want. And I'm going to sum up the thoughts of this passage. You're no longer a slave, but you're his closest friend. You, the disciple, are his special representative. You are his special advertisement to a lost and dying world. And how are people going to come to Christ? What do they see in you? What do they see? Do they see fruit? Is God-like character within you? What do they see? I'll close with this. I think, Brother Mark, each time that I talk to you, you mentioned something just as Terry has done, too. We're always looking for maybe a song or something that fits, you know, the message. And I ran across this one. I think it fits perfectly. And I've got a book at home, and Carmen got it for me. And I looked in there, and I found this song. So I'm going to read the background of this. Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1820. After graduating from Trinity College, he had great expectations and plans. He would marry his lovely Irish sweetheart, and together they would begin a Christian home. He would use the fine training he had been getting at the college in starting his own business. Wedding plans were made, business ventures decided upon, but then tragedy struck. His bride-to-be accidentally drowned the day before the wedding. His world fell apart. In hope of forgetting which he never did, Scriven went to Canada and lived his life a missionary bachelor alone, yet driven to help the unfortunate as a missionary. Years later, when his mother became seriously ill, he was unable to be with her. Instead, he sat down and wrote her a poem. He made a copy for himself, scribbled on scratch paper. It was discovered by someone who had come to visit him. It was a poem set to music that would encourage the church more than 150 years. And it seems motivated by the truth we just discovered in John chapter 15. And you all know this song very, very well. Remember what we've just discussed. Jesus, on the night before he died, whispered into the ear of his frightened disciples, I consider you my closest friend. It is if, in the darkest hours of my life, I'm sure you could say too, in your life, and I know some of your lives, some of the things. I know what you and Marie went through with Andrew. Pastor, I know what happened with you and Ed, with Josh in Brevard. Dark times. But you found him true, didn't you? You found him true. This song, by the way, what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what pain we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry. everything to God in prayer. What a friend we have in Jesus. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful to God for your goodness, for the truth of your word. Lord, I just ask that you would help me and I'd ask you to help my friends here that we would be the type of friend that we would love one another as you have loved us. And dear God, as we do, we will bear fruit. We will be an advertisement to a lost and dying world. We will have something not only of significance, eternal significance, that they may ask the reason of the hope that lives within us. Lord, we love you and we thank you. And Lord, we ask now that you dismiss us as we go to our homes and bring us back at the next appointed time for it's in the name of our beloved friend and our savior.