King's Business - 1919-10

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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