Ye Are Friends If— A Sermon Preached at the Church of The Open Door, Los Angeles by the Bible Institute Evangelist REV. WM. P. NICHOLSON
therefo re they grumbled and rebelled a t everything God did. When we say, “T h at’s his way” abou t anyone, it im plies close friendship and clear under standing. Moses lived in close friend ship w ith God, so he wasn’t offended a t God’s actions. He knew Him too well. The children of Israel were servants, slaves, and only knew God by His ac tions and therefo re m isunderstood Him and rebelled ag ain st Him continually. Isn ’t it tru e today? Because of loss of money, friends, family, they growl at God and rebel again st Him. They’re only living as servants instead of friends. You cannot evade th e conse quences. Live a t a distance from God or on. th e servan t level and you cannot escape th e consequences. You’ll mis understand God and rebel against Him continually. A serv an t hasn ’t free and easy access into the Lord’s presence, nor is he com fortable or free when he is there. He is either obsequious or presumptuous. When he begins to pray, publicly es pecially, as you listen you can tell he is only a servant. He lacks th e holy, free, easy fam iliarity of th e friend. He lives proudly, independent of God and condescending in his relation s w ith God, as if he were doing God a favor by tak ing any notice of Him a t all. This is always tru e of th e servan t and the menial. Oh, th e shame of it th a t we should tre a t Jesu s Christ like this. How condescending on H is p a rt to call us friends, not servants. How insulting on our p a rt no t to gladly live in such re lationship to Him. It seems to me, the significance of these words has been te rrib ly h u r t by many of our modern
“Ye are my friend s if ye do whatso ever I command yon.” (Jo h n 15:14, 15) H OW many th ere are today, tru ly friends of th e Lord Jesus and yet living below th e ir privileges! They are living like servants, instead of friends. You can easily tell one who is living on friendly and in tim ate relations w ith th e Lord from one w ho is merely a servant. A servan t serves for wages. There may be a m easure of affection, b u t they serve because they are paid for it. You may have th e most skillful doctor or nurse when you are sick and they may be very kind, b u t they are w orking for wages and are no t offended when offered rem uneration. How dif feren t w ith your m o th er.o r wife! W hat an in su lt it would be if you were to ask them how much money you had to pay them . There are many friends of the Lord Jesu s who live and act like ser vants. If th e Lord doesn’t answer th e ir prayers ju st in th e way and tim e they w ant or give them all they w ant and give them nice, happy feelings, then they are offended and become servile and d istan t in th e ir dealings w ith Him. Christ has to pay for everything He gets them to do or say; if He doesn’t, , they won’t be friends of His. Then, “a serv an t knoweth no t w hat his Lord doeth.” We would never th ink of consulting a serv an t about every th ing we do. We gladly do so w ith our friends. Are we surprised we don’t know the Lord’s will when we live and ac t like servants instead of friends? How can th e Lord make known H is will if we won’t live on in tim ate, friendly term s w ith Him? Moses knew God’s ways, th e people only knew God’s acts,
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