FRIENDS
T. N. Pye
Luke 7: 34, 35; 10: 30–35; 11: 5, 6; 15: 5–10, 20–24
I want to say something about friends. I suppose we have all got a friend. No matter how young you are, I expect you have a friend; somebody you can confide in, somebody you can trust. It is good to have friends you can trust. I want to speak about a Friend who, the scripture says, “sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18: 24). One you can trust at all times. You could not have a better friend than Jesus. Do you know Jesus as your Friend? He is a Friend who will stand by you. When it is not easy, when things are difficult, He will stand by you.
When He came here persons did not recognise Him for what He was. He came here to be a Friend of persons. It says in the first verse we read “a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners”.
Jesus came to be the Friend of persons in need. You hardly require a friend if you have not a need. If you have no need you are self-sufficient, you become your own centre and your own object. But if you have a need you require a friend you can trust. Jesus came to be the Friend you can trust. Luke’s gospel presents Him like that. Jesus came in to be the Friend of every man, woman, boy and girl. He did not come in in pomp and splendour; no, He came in in lowly guise. To be a Friend He came near. That is how Jesus has approached us. He came to be near you. Luke’s gospel particularly brings out Jesus coming alongside the sinner, alongside the needy. If anybody had a need, if anybody had a want, if anybody was dissatisfied, Jesus came alongside. Oh what a Friend! Do you know a Friend like that—“A friend of tax-gatherers and sinners”? Are you a sinner? If you are, Jesus came to be your Friend. He came to take up your case. “Wisdom”, it says, “has been justified of all her children”. This is wisdom’s way.
Who would have devised things like this? made such an arrangement that there could be a Friend just there when you needed Him?
That is what the man found on the Jericho road. It says that a certain man descended from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now the downward road is a very easy road to tread. It is always more difficult to go uphill, to go against the stream. It is easy when things are downhill, and generally when things are easy we think they are good. I would judge that this man when he left Jerusalem thought that everything was going to be all right; but on the road down he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, wounded him, and left him half dead lying by the wayside—and he had no friend. He could not help himself; he was half dead. What this man needed was a friend, somebody who would come near. Our position in our sins is that we are without hope and without God in the world. That is just where we are. No hope! What could this man do? What could any one of us do to meet one of our sins—not to speak of the many we have? A hopeless case!
Jesus came alongside this man. That is what He does today in the gospel; Jesus comes alongside the sinner, “a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners”. It says, “a certain Samaritan”, that is Jesus! There is “a certain priest” and a Levite, but there is “a certain Samaritan”. Oh what a Friend is Jesus! It says he came up to him. I never tire of speaking of Jesus coming up to persons. We may talk down to people or look down on people. The Friend I want to speak about comes up to you. He has been lower, a Friend who has gone right to the bottom. The whole question of our sins, our guilt, our debt—Jesus has gone right to the bottom to meet it, and He comes up to the person in need.
Oh what a Saviour is Jesus! Do you know a friend like this—a Friend who will take you on when nobody else wants you? That is what this man found. The priest passed by, the Levite passed by. Men try all their ideas of reform to meet the problems. They have introduced a great deal of social reform to try to better man in his conditions, and what happens? The same old thing exists, and what do they do? They just have to leave it, pass by, try to cover it up.
But Jesus comes right to the needy. Have you known the touch of Jesus as He comes up to you? It says he bound up the man’s wounds. You know, sin inflicts wounds; it leaves marks. Jesus would bind them up, and not only that, but He pours in oil and wine. That is Jesus, the Friend with resource. What a Friend to have—One who has abundance of supply. He has all that you need and He carries it all with Him. All the resource and supply of heaven is available to the sinner who believes in Jesus. Is He not worth trusting? Have you a need that would make you want to trust Him? I think that is the difficulty often. We resist, we kick against things because we do not feel the need. This man was half dead. What could he do? He could do nothing for himself so he was entirely dependent on the friend who came near. ‘Who was neighbour?’ That is the word. Who was friend to the man on the wayside? The one that showed mercy.
Paul says, “but ... mercy was shewn me”, 1 Timothy 1: 16. Was he not the man on the wayside? The Lord arrested him from glory; He stopped him in his path; but He bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and He put him on his own beast, “Rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do”, Acts 9: 6. There he found the inn, did he not? The Lord directed Ananias to seek out Saul—“he is praying, and has seen in a vision a man by name Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him”, Acts 9: 12. Ananias goes in and that is just what he does. That is the inn; it is a place of safety and salvation. There is an Ananias there who will just put his hand on you.
He took him to the inn and took care of him. Saul of Tarsus was taken care of at Damascus. If we had had anything to do with Saul’s conversion I do not know whether we would have taken him to Damascus! God puts you in the most favoured circumstances. He took him right to that very place, and I suggest there are no more favoured circumstances than those you are in just where you are now. That is where Saul found himself, right in Damascus, and he found the most tender hearts there. When persecution arose they lowered him in a basket. The inn is the most wonderful place.
It is the place where Jesus takes His friends. Do you know that place? Do you enjoy that area, an area of peace, of rest and relaxation? What is the occupation there? Jesus, the Son of God!
That is what Paul preached, “Jesus that he is the Son of God”, the centre of another world.
The whole world system was brought down in the death of Christ and Saul of Tarsus learned in Damascus that wonderful area of salvation.
When we come to Luke 11 it says, “Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight ...?”. Jesus is available all the time. When I call, He will answer. Jesus is available at any time. If you have a need, as we were saying, have you a friend who can supply just what is needed? I do not think we get things in bulk, if I can use that expression.
We get grace as we need it, it is “grace upon grace”. If we got too much we would become independent. But what I want to show you is that there is a Friend who is available to you as the need arises. Just when you are in need, and you do not see the way out, and do not see where to go, you can turn to Him and He will give you what you need. I know this scripture has other applications, but I just want to make this point that there is a Friend available.
“Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, let me have three loaves ...?”. I would like to ask you, Have you ever asked Jesus for anything? Have you ever felt you had to go to Him because you had a need which no other could satisfy? So often we try something else, but finally we have to come to Jesus. He has the wherewithal, He has the resource, He has the supply. He is dispensing from glory today all that is needed to meet your case.
In this well-known section in Luke 15 what is emphasized is that when the lost sheep is found, and when the lost piece of silver is found, the friends and the neighbours are called together. Have you ever been at one of those meetings where all the friends and the neighbours are together?
“Rejoice with me”; somebody who was lost has been found! Wonderful meetings, these! The Lord calls such meetings together. This sheep had got away but He went after it. It says that, having lost one of them, he leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness and goes after that which is lost, “until he find it”. Luke makes no provision for not finding it. Then he calls in all the friends and the neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me”. The work is all His, but He calls the friends together. Oh what a time of rejoicing it is when someone is found! Has He found you? Then He will call the friends together and He will say, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep”. The woman says, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost”. It was out of circulation, but now the friends and the neighbours are all called in.
There is an area where repentance is enjoyed, an atmosphere in which repentance deepens, and all the friends and all the neighbours delight to come in and rejoice because what was lost has been found. The scripture adds, “There shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner, more than for ninety and nine righteous who have no need of repentance”; and “There is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner”. A repenting sinner is one who has found a Friend. Have you found a Friend? As you are repenting you will find a Friend.
The younger son thought everything was going his way. He got what he wanted and off he went. Then he discovered that he was in want. Have you ever felt you had everything you wanted, and then discovered that it was not really what you wanted at
all? That is what this younger son found. He thought he had got all that he had set his heart upon, and then he found it was empty. But he came to himself. Have you ever sat down just to reason things out? God says, ‘I will reason with you’ (see Isaiah 1: 18). That is grace. God comes so close to us. He will reason with us; He will show us the truth. I think that is how this man came to himself. He says, ‘In my father’s house there is abundance, and here am I; I have nothing’. Immediately he made a move, the father ran. The activities of divine Persons are wonderful. Someone referred this morning to the Lord coming in, “Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills” (Song of Songs 2: 8), the agility of Christ as He comes in among His own. Think—we speak reverently—of the Father’s agility in relation to a repenting sinner. The father ran. God sees the first move on your part and He is right there!
You come to yourself and God is right there.
“Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it”, this is what God has always had in mind. You say, ‘I thought the younger son had had his share. What would be left?’ Divine love in purpose has things that “eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared”, 1 Corinthians 2: 9. They were there all the time.
“Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it”—a person who is repenting can be clothed in the worth of Christ, a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; God would dignify the sinner who believes in Jesus. He would put you in all the dignity of sonship, with the token of endless love, which I think the ring would represent, the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit given. “And bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and make merry: for this, my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found”. The friends are
joining in the merriment over one repenting sinner.
Now there is a warning I want to refer to. The chapter concludes with a man who wanted something to enjoy with his friends. I would just like to ask, ‘Who are your friends?’ This man said (Luke 15: 29)—“To me hast thou never given a kid that I might make merry with my, friends”— my friends. He wanted his own company, but I tell you this, if you want to choose your own company be sure you are on the wrong road. God does not let us choose our company, He chooses it for us. That is what this elder son missed. He missed the fact that God provides the best. You may say, ‘Well, if it was only somebody else who was local; if only so-and-so was not in our meeting’. God chose him to be there. God put him there. He is one of the friends. Get round about him and you might find another side to him. Perhaps you are missing something that God has put there; you have not seen it yet. He is one of the friends and neighbours. There is a great system of help, a system of power, a system of blessing. It is there on your behalf. Make sure you do not miss it.
Preaching at Grangemouth
11 June 1978