God is Our Friend & King - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

If you have your Bibles, please meet me in the book of Isaiah. In the book of Isaiah chapter 44 beginning in verse six. Isaiah chapter 44 beginning in verse six. If there was a prophet who trumpeted the magnitude of the unmatched power and majesty that our God possesses, Surely, it is the prophet Isaiah. Text after text, we are confronted with the towering holiness and splendor of him who is high and lifted up.

So much so that through the prophet, we are given a chance to go through the veil of a vision and enter into the very throne room of God and to just get a sample of how majestic he really is. And it's no question that one of the themes of the book of Isaiah is the kingship of Yahweh, that he is the ruler of every realm, That he is the one who possesses authority over all nations. That he is the one who overpoweringly decrees future events and knowing future events. These are just some of the revelations that we receive when we scale through this precious book. And we hear it in different portions of the bible, and especially in Isaiah with verses like this, Isaiah 44 verse six.

Thus says the lord, the king of Israel, and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. Who is like me? Jeremiah said earlier, who is like you? And then God says, who is like me?

Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me. Since I appointed an ancient people, let them declare what is to come and what will happen. Who is like me? God says.

And this is a call to examine how he is exclusive and what makes him so unique. What gives him the right to say, who is like me? What gives us the right to say, there is none like you? Well, we hear by nature he's exclusive because though we reflect some of his traits created in the image of God, he is the perfection of all things that are good. He is the perfection none can compare with him because he is at a place and he is in a position where he is unmatched, unparalleled in the very qualities that you and I esteem as we are redeemed and that all men possess to some degree.

And this is what it says in this text: For one, he always was and he always will be king. That's what he says. I am the first and I am the last. Before anything was, God was. Before the formation of the earth, before he laid out the black canvas of the universe and placed the stars and gave them each a name, before the first second ever ticked in time, before he created the host of angels and placed them in heaven to serve certain roles, God was.

God was. He never came into existence. He was just always there before anything. Before anything that you can see, before anything that you can measure, God was. And like everything in this universe, including you and me, as time advances, we are what?

We are wearing out. We are becoming weaker, and we will reach a breaking point. But because God is the first and the last, even though we come to the place where, and we will, where everything will be succumbed to dust, he will be as he was from the beginning because he is immutable. He's unchanging over time. He remains the same.

What makes this king so unique? Well, we are told here that he can declare what is to come. As we know, God is outside of time. God is not bound to what you and I are bound to. And what what is so wonderful about the Lord is that everything about every person in this room's life, including this city, including this state, including this nation, including every nation, he knows what will happen in your life next week, next month, in the next twenty years?

He is fully informed of every detail, every second of your existence because they are all written in his book. If we had for a moment the right to ask the Lord what would happen on a certain date at a certain time, you can expect one reaction that he will not have, him shrugging his shoulders in uncertainty. He would declare it and define it with absolute detail without hesitation because he knows what is to come. These are just some of the things that we read of in Isaiah. He he knows the birth of nations.

He knows the fall of nations. He knows the invention of new technologies that you and I are being surprised by. He knows the natural disasters that will come and strike certain places. He knows. And over and over throughout this book, you know what we read of?

Things such as you who were formed from the womb, I formed you. And things such as I am the one who alone stretched out the heavens and the earth, and things such as I am the one who determines who inhabits a city and which city will be destroyed over and over and over. And if you read it with honest eyes and a hungry heart, you will be nothing short of overwhelmed as you just hear the words of this prophet declaring the majesty and the glory of God. And all for a sudden, as you're just spellbound by his power, you come to an interesting verse that I would argue is equal, if not more exhilarating, than all the things that display his splendor. It's found in Isaiah 40 one:eight.

We read a verse such as this. But you, oh, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend. My friend. Two simple words that should grip our hearts, my friend. It is not the fact that this king, who is obviously the king above all kings, has a friend.

What is so amazing is that this king declares the object of his friendship to be a mere man. And not just a mere man, a fallen man. A man who experienced the temptations that you and I do on a daily basis. A man who has been not just known for his faith, but even known for a failure. And when you read a verse like this, he is my friend.

As it is surrounded by so much glory, so much light, so much force, almost at the halfway point, a little over the halfway point of the book of Isaiah, we read, Abraham, yeah, he's my friend. And just staring at those two words, I thought to myself, you know, many people have different definitions of what a friend is. For some people, everybody's their friend. For others, they they really have a criteria before they call somebody a friend. So I wanted to know what did he mean when he said Abraham is my friend?

And when you look at the word, it actually means to love. To love. That is what it is in the original language. And it is not just a word, therefore, that just describes a contract that God had with Abraham so that he could find a human vessel to move forward with his program. Everything about those two words, specifically friend, has to do with deep affection that God feels about this person.

This is actually an emotional response that God has towards a man called Abraham. For someone to be your friend, I hope this is your standard, means that you are committed to them, that you are at a place where you determine to be careful and compassionate and even providing on some level. When somebody is your friend, it's not just a matter of duty and responsibility. You know this very well. It's a matter of even enjoying that person.

You're not friends with somebody that you don't enjoy. You have deemed somebody friend when you realize that throughout your journey, they add glee. They add lightness to your life. They add some kind of a joy. They add comfort.

And because of simply who they are as a friend, just because of who they are, you are naturally compelled to, as a response to your friend, give something of yourself to them when it is needed. You're drawn to sacrifice to them and for them. Everything about somebody being a friend, you cannot divorce the concept that you feel a certain way about them, and it is the same thing with God. When he says Abraham is my friend, he has an emotional attachment to this man. And what's amazing is the same word that God used for friend concerning Abraham, is the same word that is used to describe Abraham's love towards his own son Isaac.

In Genesis twenty two two, you don't have to turn there. Just listen to this. God says to Abraham in that famous scripture where he tests Abraham's love for him. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, same word, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. How much do you think Abraham loved his son Isaac?

Think about it. He received them at the ripe age of a 100, and you have to understand that this man had an ache in his heart for those twenty five years of waiting. And maybe even before that, we were introduced to him at 75. Surely, he had a desire for a son beforehand. And what you and I read of is glimpses of how this man truly desired to have a son as a holy desire, a wonderful desire.

He wanted to hold a baby in his arms. He wanted he wanted his own child so that he can invest in him. So that one day this child would grow up and carry the legacy of faith that he had. Can you imagine the dreams that Abraham had for his son? What was swirling in his mind in the middle of the night as he was hoping and waiting that God one day would bring the sun sooner than later?

Surely, he had a desire for him to understand something about the God that he walked with. Surely, he had dreams about his son being able to fulfill the call, what God had said over Abraham's descendants. Surely, there was something of discipleship concerning faithfulness to the Lord, that he is a calling, and that he will be a part in redeeming the earth as a vessel. Now, there's no doubt that Abraham had so many things in mind for his son. And there's no doubt that the build up of love throughout those years awaiting when this young man would come through his wife cascaded over Isaac until Abraham's final breath.

That build up all the way to a 100, and here's this little boy, surely he showered him day after day. With all the things that he wanted to do early on, he probably gave everything within himself to love him until he would go into glory himself. And here's what's amazing. As awesome as you might imagine Abraham's love towards his son Isaac would be, Abraham was a man, a fallen man, and even his love for his son was not a perfect love because he's an imperfect man. Now, if that is the case, if you can imagine the intensity of this father's love towards his son, how much more god?

What do you think God feels about Abraham? Because God's love is perfect. It is not tainted by false motives. It is not impatient as we heard a couple weeks ago. It is perfect.

It is consistent. You can imagine that when he says, Abraham, my friend, that in comparison to Abraham's love for Isaac, there is no comparison. We are told in John 15 verse 13, greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends. That's what Jesus said. Jesus set the standard of maximum expression of love, And when he did, he says, this is how you know.

This is the exclamation point of love when you die for your friends. And God didn't just say it. God didn't just declare it as a standard for us. He demonstrated it. He wrapped himself around flesh.

He came to this world for one sole purpose. You and I, we live to live. He came to live so that he can die. None of us in here, I hope, have the intention of just dying. No, he did though.

But you can't separate the dying with the motive, and the motive is, I wanna show the greatest expression of love that I can to my friends. And so what does he do? He takes on a flesh so that he can die. And he lays down his life as a sacrifice. Why is dying for your friends for the sake of their living, why is that the maximum expression of love?

Because there's nothing else to give after that. What do you give after you die? What words do you speak after that? You can't. What actions can you serve after that?

You can't. You have literally given everything of yourself in that expression of surrender and love. And Jesus established that. There's no more that can be said. There's no more that be that can be done after the cross.

He showed the greatest love. You know what's so incredible about God saying that Abraham is my friend? What's so wonderful about that is that he said it in the time of Isaiah. There's only three places of which I could find where you and I are told that Abraham was God's friend. Second Chronicles, James, and Isaiah.

None of those times are mentioned in Genesis where you actually read of Abraham. You don't understand that Abraham is necessarily God's friend. You see it played out, but you don't see the definite declaration of it until Isaiah or second Chronicles beforehand. And I find that amazing because it says something about God's friendship toward Abraham. It was after Abraham lived, it was after Abraham's existence that God says, Abraham is my friend.

He is informing us that that man that you read of in Genesis, he's my friend. You know why that's important? Because God wasn't his friend at a certain portion of his life necessarily. What I mean by that is that he wasn't his friend just when Abraham was behaving. He wasn't his friend just when Abraham was acting right.

You read through Abraham's life and you see failure, unfaithfulness, lack of patience, and yet through all of that God still says, Yeah, that man, he's my friend. I want you to think about that. Don't just don't just limit it to Abraham. Oh, yeah, he's a mere man. Look at the man's life.

Stare at the man's life. Consider Abraham's failures. Consider the fact that Abraham on two occasions lied to such a degree that it would cost probably his wife's own life for his own well-being. Consider the fact that Abraham, who represented the true and living God, who is the man who is first called a prophet in the bible, Talk about responsibility. Talk about reputation.

And yet he is rebuked by two pagan rulers. How embarrassing. That this prophet, this representative, was rebuked by two idol worshipers for his lack of righteous integrity. I feel embarrassed for him. And what about that big failure, the ultimate one, the one that we all know about, where he trusted in the voice of his wife, which was contradicting the plan of God, and because his his own lack of patience, wanting to get ahead, he he births Ishmael.

He brings in a mess. And we see what happens after that. We see the destruction from that place down generations. And yet, god still says, yeah, he's my friend. You know, there's a verse that says in Psalms one thirty verse three, if you, oh lord, should mark iniquities, oh lord, who could stand?

If God were to record every sin that you and I have committed in thought, word, and deed, never mind friendship, you and I would not even be able to stand. Not that God doesn't know them. What this psalm means is that if God should charge you, if God should judge you for every time that you and I have grieved them, never mind friendship. You and I would not breathe another day to live. But in verse four says, but with you there is forgiveness.

You know, it's amazing that you and I, on a human to human level, when it comes to people in our lives, there's only so many mistakes that they can make before we remove that title friendship over somebody. There's only so many things that you can do before you retract and pull away, and don't walk with that person the same way you did before. But God's friendship toward us is not so easily shaken off. His love is too heavy. It's too weighty.

Like an anchor that comes from a ship down into the bed of that sand, it goes deep into that thing. It cannot be easily moved. See, we are the ones that try to convince God of why he should not love us, and yet God by nature is compelled even through our failures. In fact, what you will find in the middle of your failure when you turn from it in repentance to God, what you will be faced with is friendship. The response that God has for us in our failures when we say, Lord, I didn't obey.

Lord, I misrepresented you. Lord, I I was unfaithful. His response to us always is, you have sinned against me but have repented. I will not hold this against you. Now, we might say that to to one another when we fail each other, but we pull back a little bit.

Right? No. Not God. He stays just as close than before you failed. His plan for you is just as faithful than it was before.

You can't shake his love so easily, and Abraham proves that. Don't just consider his failures. Consider the theme of Abraham's life. When you think Abraham, what comes to mind? What theme comes to your mind?

What describes his story? What are we faced with as we read of him? I'll tell you this. Here's one theme, waiting. The man waited.

The man waited for a long time. And again, it comes back down to his holy desire, a normal desire, godly desire for offspring. And God could have provided that in the snap of a finger because God was the reason for his waiting. It was in his body necessarily. It wasn't his wife's body.

It was God. God was the reason why he did not have a son until twenty five years later. And so, Abraham, what did he do? With this deep desire in his heart, he waited and waited and waited, And his body was getting weaker and weaker and weaker, and he watched his wife as she was decaying more and more and more. And we even see it at different parts of his story where he asked the Lord.

He wonders. You can imagine that beyond what's written as a human, how Lord, when Lord, you can do it. I'm waiting on your miraculous power to make it happen. And yet it's not until Genesis 18 where God comes, visits him, and tells him, this point until next year will you have a son. That's the only detailed declaration of when Isaac was to come.

You know what's amazing? God did not make Abraham wait because he had a cold heart or was indifferent toward him. God was not in heaven wanting to stir things up on the earth and and trying to just for the sake of seeing what he can wring out of the man, says, let me just make him wait and just see. Everything about those twenty five years, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, every year, God's heart was throbbing with love toward Abraham. In fact, that very spread out season of waiting was connected to compassion, was connected to a heart of perfect care toward Abraham.

You know why that's important? Because God doesn't just make people in the bible wait, including Abraham. God will make all his saints wait wait. You and I will experience those things. Unanswered prayer, wondering how, wondering why, trying to make sense of how this thing is going to play out.

And it is in those times of wondering, is it in those times of waiting, where what? The temptation to doubt the kindness of God arise. Because our idea of God's favor towards us, God's love towards us as a friend is that you answer all my prayers, and you do it the way I want it to be done. And here we see Abraham deemed as the friend of God, and God made him wait. So the lack of answers, the lack of clarity, the lack of direction is not proof that God gives favor to some of his saints.

And because you're going through this, he likes you a little bit less than them. No. In fact, we wanna know why God made him wait. Right? We can find answers for that, but this is something more important.

That when you connect Isaiah forty one eight, Abraham, my friend, you view that story with a new lens and you realize that what's more important than wondering why, and how, and when, is that you throughout that season believe God is my friend. That's what's gonna help you endure. That's what's gonna help you stay in that place of faithfulness. Lord, I don't understand. I don't get it.

I can't calculate. I can't make sense of it. In fact, I'm tempted to believe, Lord, that my timing for this or that is a lot better than your idea for it, but I believe you're my friend. And by definition, a friend is not one who intentionally plans to harm you or hurt you. You know what that is?

That's called an enemy. That's what defines an enemy, someone who is purposely harmful or hostile towards you. That's not God, because he's your friend and he's mine. And so everything about times of testing and trials is directly connected to his friendship toward you. And even a good friend, even a good friend will make mistakes that will require your forgiveness.

Right? But God is not just a good friend. God is a perfect friend. Perfect. You know what that means?

He will never make mistakes. You'll never make mistakes over your life and say, oops, I'm sorry. You know, I was so busy with the Christians in China. I didn't realize that you had this going on in your life and I missed it. I'm sorry.

Let let's get back on the program. Never. So there'll be never a reason for you to say, Lord, I think, you need to ask for my forgiveness because this didn't play out the way I thought it was. You said, you're my friend. Never blasphemy, actually.

His friendship is perfect. And as good as you might have a friendship with your spouse or your church friends, it pales in comparison. Imagine a friend who will never fail you. Imagine a friend who will only have good in mind for you. Now imagine this, that he's not just your friend, he's the king of the universe.

So you connect those two truths, he is sovereign, but he's also my friend. He has all the resources, he has all the power, he has all the ability to do what he wants to do, but because I know that he loves me more than Abraham loved his son Isaac, what would Abraham do for Isaac? I'm gonna trust you, Lord, and I'm gonna fellowship with you along the way. Consider Abraham and how he had to wait. Don't deem your circumstances as the definition of God's friendship toward you.

Consider how Abraham became a friend of God. How did he get to that place? There's a lot of honorable mentions, there's a lot of honorable roles in the bible. God has raised up mighty men and women throughout the scriptures to do many things. I it's very hard for me to be convinced of anything greater than God saying, you're my friend.

God has a lot of servants in his in his word. He even raises up secular servants. Cyrus, the book of Isaiah, I don't see anything in there saying he's my friend. He's my anointed. He'll bring my people back to Jerusalem.

He'll open the gates. He'll decree. He'll declare nothing of my friend. And unfortunately, you have many people that are chasing position and titles from God more than his friendship. I could care less.

But how did Abraham get there? Because it's one thing to wonder at that, Abraham, my friend, it's one thing to wonder at it, but that's not where God wants us to be only. He wants us to long for it, to paint it. We have every right to do so. So then what brought him to that place?

Is it available for us? Abraham was a prophet. I'm telling you this, that's not available for us. Abraham would birth us a son at a 100. I'm sure God can do it today, but I doubt it.

But friend, friend, how do we get there? We're not left without answers. Turn your bibles to James chapter two, that other place where Abraham is called friend. James chapter two verse 23. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

Friendship with God begins at the place of faith in God. And notice that Abraham was called a friend of God when he trusted in God's word. And the trust that Abraham had toward God's word is the same trust that is demanded of you and I concerning Jesus Christ and his saving work that makes us righteous. And from that place, not only are we open to his forgiveness, now we have been open to his friendship. And everything about friendship is experiential, by the way.

We're gonna get to that in a moment. It's not just so that you and I can walk around and say, oh, I'm a friend of God. He's my friend, and and just have a a a kind of title over your life. No. It's deeply experiential.

It was faith that was the entry point. That was the very thing that allowed him to put his hand in the hand of God when he trusted. And what's amazing about that is it's not just a faith that so many unfortunately have a poor definition of. Let me tell you this, people who intellectually or even confessionally believe that Jesus is God or that he existed or that he died on the cross, that's not the faith that gives you friendship necessarily. Are you saying that that's not what faith is?

No. Because James in this chapter is speaking of a specific type of faith, and it's not the faith that defines Christians who come to church on Easter and Christmas. It's the faith that the verse before is what creates the friendship. Look at verse 22 of James two. You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.

And then he goes on to say, and he was called a friend of God. Genuine faith, authentic faith, a faith so powerful and true that it causes you to change in your priorities and in your passions. That's the faith that ultimately redeems, not that we work for salvation, but the salvation that works will create works. And it is in that place, that genuine sphere of trust that creates something new in the heart and the mind that invites the friendship of God in our lives. That was certainly true for Abraham.

That's not just James' idea, by the way. If you feel conflicted in your theology with what faith is, the simplicity of it, Jesus himself said in John fifteen fourteen, you are my friends if you do what I command you. You are my friends. Now listen. If we want friendship with God, we better understand this.

He sets the terms for it. Now we might read something like that and be taken back. Well, I love this idea of friendship, but now, lord, you're setting a standard on it. Don't we all? Don't we all?

Is everybody you meet become your friend instantly? I hope not. Or do you have convictions? Do you have criteria before you allow your heart to be open up to somebody, and before you invite them into your life? Because you understand that true friendship might even demand your life, as Jesus said.

God has some standards for friendship. You should too. And here's God's terms, obedience. That you look at my word, you look at what I have to say, and you are so excited about the concept of living for me. Yeah.

That is the circle of friends that I'm looking for. And this is what it is. He looks upon those people that have a perpetual posture of obedience. Though it is not perfect, it is their set passion throughout their lives. And God has now moved towards that person.

He says, this man, this woman, they're my friend. Now, someone might be hearing this and saying, listen, you gotta be careful of all this friendship talk. Because if you keep talking about friendship, this idea of being friends with God, surely it's gonna promote a casual nonchalant attitude toward him, and that's the last thing that we need, and I agree with you, especially in this generation. This idea that God is just like my buddy, and we look at his word, and we respond to him or we even communicate to him like we would our teenage friend from high school. And many people do frame their relationship with the Lord in such a way.

But if you're a person that worries that this idea of friendship with God would create such an attitude in the heart of a professing Christian, there is no need to fear. You know why? Because Psalm 25 verse 14 says this, the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. No need to worry, concerned Christian. As such a concept of being a friend of God or God being our friend would create this loose and overly relaxed way of framing your worship to God.

You know why? Because in order for you to be his friend, you have to see him as king. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. Now you're thinking, Abraham's life? Faith?

Sure. Failure? I see it. Prayer? A man of prayer?

Yeah. But we have to be consistent. If it's the fear of God, prove it with Abraham's life. Anybody familiar with Abraham's life? Did God not say over Abraham's life in Genesis 22 verse 12?

Now I know what? That you fear God, after he tested him to sacrifice Isaac. And so friendship of the Lord as we learn in James, oh, it starts in the place of faith. It starts in trusting God. Now this is how we grow in friendship.

Like any relationship, you can grow, you can get deeper, you can go further, you can be more familiar than your other brother or sister. And what is the fertilizer that makes that possible? The fear of God. The fear of the Lord. And Abraham had it.

Oh, Abraham, the man who had dinner with the Lord and two angels. The man who after dinner, when the angels went to Sodom, stayed with the Lord, or rather the Lord stayed with him, and they were conversing. And Abraham, like a friend, was talking to the Lord and telling him, Lord, are you gonna destroy the righteous among the wicked? Lord, you are the judge of the earth. Will you not do right?

That sounds like a friend. That sounds like conversation. Yes. That man feared God. And you better believe that it was the fear of the Lord in part that brought God to the place to say, he's my friend.

It is that reverence in hearing God's word. It is that sense of honor that you feel at the mention of his name. It is the conviction that causes grief at the thought of you grieving God. Yeah, that fear. Those things that are found in a man's heart, those things draw the friendship of God into your life.

And what's amazing is friendship with God is not just a title. Look at the verses prior to Psalm 25 verse 14 and get an idea of what it means to be a friend with God. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. What does friendship look like? Well, here's a snippet of it.

We are told here in verse 12, who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose? You know what's beautiful about friendship? Especially if your friends are wise, they give counsel. They give comfort through counsel.

They give a sense of direction when you need it. Don't you call your friends when you need that? I'm sure you do. And here's what friendship with the Lord grants you, a direct line to his throne room. And he's the king, and he knows all.

And that is the access that you have. Being a friend of the king, he directs your life, and he protects your life. And he shows you the way you should go, and circumstantially, he closes the doors where you don't need to go. Friendship with the Lord is an inheritance of his divine favor over your life. Listen, if you're a friend of God, I can guarantee you this, you'll never or you won't so easily feel like you're wandering in life aimlessly, walking around confused.

You have this sense in your heart as a God fearing man, a God fearing woman, God is in control, and you'll feel it. You'll know it as an anchor, and you will sense the presence of God guiding you providentially day after day after day, and you will see the fingerprints of his friendship on the things in your life. He him will instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being. What makes you call up your friend to hang out with them on the weekends?

What makes you invite them over? What makes you casually, almost just without even thinking, walk with them throughout this journey of the Christian faith? There's something about your soul that is blessed by them. You are more full in your life because of their friendship. You're more content.

You are less lonely. You feel loved. Now, the man who fears God and gets his friendship, his soul, can you imagine? In theory? No.

In experience. In knowing that when you come before him in prayer, knowing that as you walk through your day, you have a friend walking with you all the time. There is something of satisfaction as we're saying about. There's something of sustenance. There's something of I'm the richest man in the world, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

There's blessing on the next generation with a man who has a friendship with God. Now when we hear this, we think, how do we reconcile these two truths? I mean, we've just been talking about friendship with God and here's our understanding of friendship, that the closer you are to somebody, the more you are yourself. Right? I can tell you this, when you're a friend with somebody, you you kind of put your guard down and you're more you.

You're not as stiff in their presence. Your language is different. Your posture is different. You're not in I'm gonna impress you mode all the time. You let loose.

That is true with those that grow more and more in your life in friendship. And we try to say, well, okay, friendship with God, that's how I understand friendship, but you're telling me he's the king of all kings. How does this make sense? How do I walk as a friend with God knowing that he's the ruler of the universe? Here's the wonderful truth.

Becoming a friend of God has nothing to do with losing your personality or losing your sense of honesty before him. Becoming a friend of God simply means that we esteem his decrees and his word and his command above everything. That's how you reconcile it. That as your friend, he is king. And when the king speaks, because of your love for him and because of his friendship toward you, no matter what that command demands of you, you're willing to say yes to it with total joy.

And here's an example as we close in a moment. I want you to think about David, King David. In many instances, a picture of Jesus Christ as Christ is the seed of David. And now I want you to think of David and his relationship with another man named Jonathan. David and Jonathan, they weren't just friends.

They were soulmates, because the Bible describes Jonathan's love for David as a love that he would have for his own soul. And you read of David's love for Jonathan, especially when we read of his lament of Jonathan's death in second Samuel one. And I'm paraphrasing, but words such as, your love was so pleasant to me. You you you brought so much to me. And you read of their life, and what do you see?

You see two men who celebrated the victories of God together. You see two men who wept together. You see two men who planned together. You see a man comforting the other in the most trying time of his life. You see friendship at one of the highest level in the human to human framework.

You would not be able to deny that these two men loved each other. You would not be able to deny that these two men were open with each other. Oh, they went through life together, and they experienced the greaves of life and the joys of life, heart to heart. And yet, with that kind of an intense friendship that included so much real, raw emotion, Jonathan, at one point, looks at David when David needed to find answers about Jonathan's father, Saul, if he really wanted to kill David. And look what Jonathan says in first Samuel 20 verse four.

Then Jonathan said to David, whatever you say, I will do for you. Whatever you say, I will do for you. You wanna know how you can become a friend to the King of Kings? You wanna know how you reconcile the fear of the Lord with friendship with the Lord? With that statement.

Oh, I can weep in your presence. I can throw myself at your feet. I can celebrate with you. I can celebrate you as Jonathan did with David. But let me tell you something.

Lord, whatever you say, I will do for you. That eliminates this frivolous idea of being buddies with God. People who are so casual with God, and they they talk about him how he's the friend, and they they live how they want, and they think God just winks at them and says, we all do mistakes, don't we? That eliminates that mindset. That's how you become a friend to a king.

I'll do anything you say. Do you think Jonathan did that reluctantly? Do you think Jonathan did that with friendship with the king is so legalistic? Absolutely not. Because he did whatever David asked of him.

And you and I do what the king asked of us if we are his friend. That's as simple as it is. You and I are invited into what Abraham had. You and I are called to have that. Jesus wants us to experience that.

And a prayer, though you can argue about the semantics of it, a prayer that should be in all of our hearts is, Lord, thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for forgiving me. But Lord, I wanna go beyond just being legally right with you. I want your friendship, not just your forgiveness. And you will know a man and you will know a woman that has friendship with God.

You'll know it by how they fear God, and you'll know it by the holy freedom that they have in God as well. Because like Esther, who was a bride to the king, who had no right, in fact, even as the bride, if she stepped before the king without his scepter being stretched out, she was at risk of dying. But when she did approach, he did pull out that scepter, and he even said of her, if you ask for half of my kingdom, I'll give it to you. Now that's a pagan king. Here's the truth about our king.

His scepter is always extended to us. It is never held back. You and I continually have access to him. And to some degree, though he is the king of his own kingdom and he will rule and reign, this king will say, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened. There will be this holy mixture of reverence towards God, but a freedom to know that I have access to my king who is my friend. This is our God. This is your God. Let's pray.

Lord, we have one goal in life. Friendship with you is our desire. The freedom that comes with that friendship, sustenance to the soul, the satisfaction found in life to know that the God who says who is like me can also say Abraham, my friend. Lord, we want that. And thank you that faith is the entry point.

Thank you that the fear of the lord is the growing fertilizer to blossoming such a wonderful and beautiful reality. We pray, God, we pray that that would be our goal for the rest of our lives, to cultivate that kind of relationship with you. And, Lord, today in your presence, we just celebrate that you've even made it possible to be a friend. What a friend we have in Jesus. Lord, help us really believe, like Abraham, you deeply feel something about us, that even on an emotional level, you love us, you cherish us, you delight in us, you you take pleasure in us.

And, lord, because of such a love and because, lord, you are not partial, you you don't choose your friends based on gifts or resources or personalities, The only thing you look for is faith and fear, and anybody can become your friend through that. We give it to you today in Jesus' name. Amen.