The sermon titled 'Making and Keeping Friends' by Peter Allison focuses on Proverbs 27 and the theme of friendship as depicted in the Bible. The speaker outlines various 'friendship killers,' such as pride, boasting, vexing behavior, and jealousy, which can destroy relationships. He emphasizes the importance of true love, which seeks the well-being of others, even if it means risking the friendship to provide necessary rebuke. The sermon contrasts tough love with the deceitful flattery of false friends and discusses how emotionally needy individuals may seek unhealthy friendships. The speaker advises against being a 'wanderer,' someone who constantly seeks change in search of something better, often to their detriment. Instead, stable friends who offer earnest counsel and encouragement are ideal. The sermon closes by highlighting Christ as the ultimate friend who never forsakes us, seeks us when we wander, and shares His plans with us, encouraging the congregation to pursue a deeper friendship with Him.

Please turn in your scriptures to Proverbs chapter 27. We are back this morning in our look through Proverbs as we move back and forth between these Luke and Proverbs so we'll be spending a couple weeks Lord willing looking in Proverbs Proverbs 27, beginning at verse 1. Tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips. A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than both of them.

Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, but who is able to stand before jealousy? Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place.

Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man's friend gives delight by hearty counsel. Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend, nor go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away. My son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him who reproaches me a prudent man Forsees evil and hides himself the simple pass on and are punished Take the garment of him who is surety for a stranger and hold it in pledge when he assured he for a seductress. He who blesses his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it will be counted a curse to him.

A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. Whoever restrains her restrains the wind and grasps oil with his right hand. As iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit so he who waits on his master will be honored. As water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man.

Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of man are never satisfied. The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is valued by what others say of him. Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him. May each of us say with David, I delight myself in your commandments which I love. Heavenly Father, Your Word is before us.

We ask that You would place it in us, that it might be mixed with faith, and that You would equip us for every good work this morning. That you would instruct us out of your word and cause us to see you the Lord Jesus Christ for every word speaks and testifies of you. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips that through a vessel of clay your wisdom and your riches may be brought to us this morning in Jesus name amen. In Jesus name, Amen. It's commonly said that you will be the same person five years from now that you are today except for the books you read and the people you meet.

Yes, I know that's very familiar. I see some of you saying that with me. Whether that's exactly true or not, I don't know. But it is true that the friends that we keep, it is a biblical truth that the friends that we keep and the books that we read are critically important. Specifically, the Bible, which is the book of books, and the friends that we have in Christ, in the body of Christ, are two very important books and friends that we have.

And the Bible has a lot to say about friends. And we've looked at some of the things the Bible has said about friendship and friends before, as we've looked through Proverbs, because many times, verses are repeated exactly in Proverbs. And they're repeated for a reason because as we've seen, those of you that have been with us along this, that's been a lengthy journey, hasn't it? Now, how many years we've been looking at this book, maybe five now going on six. We're almost done.

But we've seen how these proverbs are not just random pearls on a string of like a necklace that you can take them off and rearrange them in any different order and you basically have the same necklace. But rather so often these proverbs are put together around the theme and for a specific purpose and We've seen how the very structure of the book in places gives us clues as to what that purpose is. And so when Proverbs are repeated, it's often because they're being used in a little different context. They're used to make a different point, to speak about a different theme, and that same truth has relevance in that theme as well. And so that has guided a lot of our understanding of the book of Proverbs.

And I think this section here, verses 1 to 22, is a section that deals and speaks about friends. Now, not every word, not every verse has friend in it, but many of them do. Many of the verses in this chapter do. And I believe there is a structure here. There are some chiasms, but not ones that are...

I didn't find one exactly over the whole 22 verses. There are a couple internal ones, but this is a section dealing with friends. What does the Bible have to say about friends, about friendships? Christ is our friend. Christ said that he was our friend.

And we'll come back to that in the close, because as you remember, as you may remember, this section, this series on Proverbs, we've titled The Gospel in Proverbs, The Gospel in Proverbs. These Proverbs are quoted in many places throughout the Bible, in the Gospels, and even this very first verse. Do not boast about tomorrow, for You do not know what a day may bring forth. That is quoted in, as you probably remember, the book of James in the fourth chapter. And James elaborates on that.

Do not boast and talk about what you're going to do on the morrow. How You're going to go to a city, buy and sell, and make a profit. Because just like Proverbs says, you don't know what's going to happen. And so James applies this verse to how we live by saying, you should learn to say, if the Lord wills, we will do thus and so, and not boast about tomorrow. But I think this, I want to look at this section here with respect to friendship.

That does seem to be the theme that connects all of these this whole passage and so these first opening verses talk about friendship killers things that kill friendships things that destroy that unity between people, things that tend to separate people and to diminish their fellowship and diminish the intimacy that they have with each other as friends, as brothers and sisters in the Lord. One of those things is those who boast. Pride kills fellowship. Pride kills friendships. It's like a toxin on a plant.

It makes the plant wither. It makes it turn brown and shrivel up. It takes the life out of friendships. We have all been around, I'm sure, people who are always busy talking about what they're going to do tomorrow, boasting about what they're going to do. Doesn't it often seem like the people that talk the loudest about what they're going to do tomorrow are the ones who do it the least?

And the ones who seem to do it the most tomorrow are the ones who tell us after the fact, or maybe even not at all, and they simply let their work speak for itself. Diligent people are too busy preparing for their work tomorrow to spend too much time talking about it. Yes, you can not talk enough, especially where you have other people involved and there needs to be plans and so on. But that's a very different kind of conversation than boasting about tomorrow. We don't know.

We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. And to be around somebody who is always boasting about what they're going to do tomorrow can sometimes be a little wearying. Now hopefully as true friends and as brothers and sisters in the Lord we have a fervent love for one another that will cover a multitude of sins. But nevertheless, it remains that this kind of boasting, this kind of pride is toxic to friendships. A second kind of boasting in verse 2 is boasting about what we have done in the past.

Boasting about what we're going to do tomorrow, or boasting about what we've done in the past. Boasting, these are really exercises of pride. And both are focused on ourselves. Pride talks about itself. It loves to talk about itself directly or indirectly.

We don't want to be too obvious about our pride so we have many ways of drawing attention to what we have done indirectly. But the scripture has warned us to do nothing of vain glory or empty conceit. So we should always be asking ourselves, what is the purpose of my words? Why am I saying what I'm saying? Is it just because there's dead space and somebody has to be talking in the dead space?

Is it because this is going to be edifying to people? This is going to encourage them or edify them in some way? Or is it because we really want people to know what we've done and we want to draw attention to it and we want them to know that we know what we're talking about. See all these things are just subtle ways of boasting about what we have done. The Bible says, let another man praise you.

Let somebody else praise you. If people are going to praise you, let it come from some unexpected source, not some pump that you have primed, not some fishing for compliments that you have done, but rather let others. If there's anything praiseworthy, if there's anything that has been encouraging in what you've done, it will speak for itself and let others do that. And that is something that we as brothers and sisters are called to do. There's a whole chapter in the Bible that is dedicated to commending our various saints for their works that were commendable.

And so it is something that we should do of others to commend others not not so that they'll commend us but to commend others out of a genuine appreciation for how their works have been a blessing to us. The third kind of friend that is toxic to friendship is foolish or vexing behavior. A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but a fool's wrath is really a fool's foolish actions more than simply anger. Things that they do that are that are just not wise, they're they're troubling. Boasting about tomorrow, or praising ourselves is an example of foolish and vexing behavior.

When we're in the face of that, we often find other things that we would rather be doing than being around that. So a stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but vexatious behavior is worse than all of that. And I'm sure that we could multiply many examples of behavior that is vexing to us. This is in the area of just common courtesy, common decency, what we call politeness. And the rules of etiquette and politeness are what we do to make other people feel more comfortable.

They're what we do to make other people comfortable around us. And so we are careful, we want to be careful to avoid doing things that are impolite simply because of making other people uncomfortable. And so there's a lot of things sometimes that are even good to do privately that we wouldn't want to do publicly. There are many habits, you know, you know all the rules of etiquette there's a reason for them. That There's a reason for them.

They are handy ways to remember how not to make other people feel uncomfortable. Fourth principle of toxicity and friendship is jealousy. Jealousy. Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, but who is able to stand before jealousy or envy? If you have the King James it might be envy.

And that's the same argument, so a parallel kind of argument. Second about, you know, we all know stones are heavy and sand is weighty. We know wrath can be cruel and anger can be terrifying when it's uncontrolled to be around. But who can stand before jealousy or envy? It's worse.

It's worse than wrath. Wrath and anger can be fierce, and it can be overwhelming. But envy and jealousy is worse. Anger is stirred up by offenses or perceived offenses. Jealousy, on the other hand, is stirred by godliness, or by prosperity, or favor that is shown to someone else.

There's a difference there. Jealousy is stirred by godliness, where we see the fruit of the Spirit in people and We become jealous that they have something we don't have. Ananias and Sapphira kind of fell into that. They saw the people excelling in giving. They were jealous of that attention that they were getting.

So out of a sense of jealousy and envy that they wanted to participate in that, and that be recognized as having that spiritual gift of giving, they tried to give without giving. Envy led Joseph's brothers to kidnap him. In that case it was probably driven by favor. Remember godliness, prosperity, or favor that's shown to somebody else. Joseph had favor shown to him by his father.

Maybe we'd say it unwisely, but he did. He was treated differently. He had nicer clothes. He had the attention of his father. He was his father's special child.

Now, if you're a father, it's not wise to do that, but it happens. It happens. And Joseph's brothers were jealous of him. The fact that he had special favor doesn't end excuse for them. And so they kidnapped him and they sold him into slavery while they sent their father a blood stained garment suggesting that Joseph had been killed.

And of course it was a terrible grief to their father that one of his sons had been killed, but they didn't care in their envy over the favor that was shown to him. Ecclesiastes says, again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work, a man is envied by his neighbor. Somebody has a lot of skill and then people envy them and people begin to tear them down and that is toxic when that happens among friends that is toxic It destroys a friendship. One of the survivors of Auschwitz who wrote a book the year she got out Olga describes on about four occasions when she was when she had to break free escape to save her life I'm talking about within Auschwitz She would she ended up in a group that was destined to be executed And she would try to escape and the other people these are fellow inmates. They're in their destitute They're they're emaciated.

They're impoverished they're on their way to be killed, and yet they were envious of her trying to escape, and they would try to stop her from escaping. They would reveal her plans or give her away to the tyrants running that camp, because they were envious that she would dare to escape or to try to escape She wasn't a believer I don't believe but she did survive the Lord preserved her and allowed her to tell her story. And because of her and others like her, we have inside accounts of what went on in these death camps. But their envy caused her people to pull her back. James says, Or Mark says that the chief priests handed Jesus over to Pilate because of envy.

Jesus was a popular teacher. The crowds loved Him. They followed after Him. And the Jewish rulers were envious of that popularity. They wanted that honor for themselves.

They didn't like it going to somebody who spoke critically of them. So they handed him over to die. James says that envy and self-seeking, and that word self-seeking, erythea, is the word in the Greek. It's, the meaning of that is electioneering. Electioneering.

And what's electioneering? Electioneering is what our politicians do at the times of elections, which seems to be all the time. That's self-seeking. That word, literally, if you look it up in a Greek lexicon, means electioneering. And that's what politicians do in our system of government, is they seek for themselves an office.

Biblical elections don't have electioneering in them. They let others promote them. And we had a whole, a few years back we had a whole conference on that, on the problem, these issues with our system and voting and how it's inimical to a godly system. In fact, there was a Greek city that got so disgusted with the electioneering going on in their elections that they did away entirely with elections. Because what happens when you have electioneering is you end up electing people that are the best at self-promotion.

And if you just think a minute, that's who we have as our leaders, is those who are the best at self-promotion. So they did away with that all, and they just chose their leaders by lot from among the registered voters. And they found that they had a lot better leaders, a lot more satisfied with them. That's self-seeking. That's erythia.

And this is what James says, that envy and self-seeking is demonic. It's demonic. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against this truth. This wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, Confusion and every evil thing are there.

And that includes killing friendships, destroying the unity between brothers and sisters in the Lord. Envy is irrational. It's irrational. Envy will do what is not in its own best interest simply to spite the one they envy. If it's going to hurt the one they envy Then they'll do it even if it even if it hurts them worse That's the irrationality of sin and especially of envy Wrath is cruel and anger of torment, but who is able to stand before envy or jealousy.

So those are four principles of toxicity to friendship. The proverb now, this section now turns to a contrast between the tough love of true friends and the fake love of false friends. How do you know who's your friend? Is the guy who is critical of you, who's telling you you're not doing something right, is that your friend or your enemy? And the person who is saying wonderful things about you, is that your friend or your enemy?

Well, Proverbs 27 teaches us how to distinguish. Verse 5, an open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. An open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. An open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. A lot of what passes for love is really selfishness.

It's loving someone because they benefit us in some way. And so we love to tell people how we love them when they are benefiting us. It's like a fornicator telling his partner that he loves her because she's with him. That's a lie, he doesn't love her. That's selfishness.

He just likes what she's doing for him. It's like inviting people over because they invited us over. Jesus said there's nothing special about that kind of love. Even the sinners love people like that. Everyone naturally loves those who benefit them in some way, those who give them some privilege or some standing or something.

True love, true love seeks the other person's well-being, even if it means sacrificing on our part. True love seeks the other person's well-being. A true friend has true love. That means they are seeking our well-being even if doing so hurts them. They seek our well-being spiritually, physically, emotionally, in every way, financially.

Even if that means that they need to risk that friendship to tell us something that we might not want to hear. When somebody is willing to risk their friendship because they love you enough to tell you something that you might not want to hear, that's a friend. That's a true friend. That's a friend that loves you. As parents, when you're willing to rebuke your children when they need to be rebuked, when you're willing to chasten them in the Lord because you love them.

Children, you have father and mother who love you. He who spares the rod, remember, hates his child. Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. You might say that you love your friend, but if you don't show it, that's concealed, that's really doubtful. Concealed love is really doubtful, right?

Husbands and wives, you probably tell each other that you love each other. You don't just assume it. It's not concealed. You demonstrate it by your words and by your actions. And if you don't demonstrate, we don't demonstrate love by our words and by our actions, then it's really questionable if we love people.

So you know what that's led to? Something I never imagined I'd do. But I find myself now when I hang up from conversations with brothers and sisters in the Lord, I say, I love you. That's not my nature to say that. But when the Lord gives you a concern for people, then you do.

You express it. And you're able to say hard things. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of it. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. That's out of Leviticus 19 verse 17.

You shall not hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely rebuke your brother and not bear sin because of him. Jesus said the same thing in Luke 17. He said if your brother's sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. When you forgive somebody, you are paying their debt for them.

That's what forgiveness is. Somebody has sinned against you, they have a debt against you. They've injured you in some way, financially, emotionally, spiritually, something. And when you forgive that, you are paying that debt for them. There's a real debt.

If somebody has sinned against you, there is a real debt. And to forgive people is to pay that debt for them. That's love. That's open love. We may say that we love somebody or think that we love somebody, but if we aren't willing to warn them of the danger in the road ahead, if we aren't willing to risk the friendship for the sake of their well-being, we aren't being a friend in the time of need.

And that should be, I hope, brothers and sisters, very obvious. If the bridge is out and you come across it and you just go on your way and Don't have any thought of warning the people on the road coming behind you You don't love them In fact, even the world would recognize how callous and unloving and selfish that is. In fact, even the law would recognize that we have a duty to warn people in a situation like that. And if we just go on and don't warn anybody, even the civil courts will find us liable. How much more, brothers and sisters in the Lord, being willing, being willing to bring a loving and gentle rebuke where that is needed.

When our motive is not selfish, a needed rebuke is a loving thing. And just a hidden love in that case is not love at all. Now this isn't carte blanche to feel free to have added on every little thing that we see anybody do, far from it. Far from it. This is not an opportunity or an excuse to simply vent every frustration with everybody at any time under the guise of loving them.

But it's just the opposite because fervent love, Fervent love, Peter tells us, covers a multitude of sins. It overlooks them as not worthy of being mentioned. But where there is significant issues, significant matter, A faithful friend will bring it up. Tough love groans inwardly, inwardly, at the thought of giving a rebuke. It takes no delight in doing so.

It's a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice. You'd rather not do it. You'd rather just go on your way and ignore it. But that's not a loving friend.

When a rebuke is needed, it's not love to withhold it. Now on the other hand, the kisses of the enemy are deceitful. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. So how do you know when people love you? It's because they are willing to gently inwardly groaning to mention something that's hard.

But the enemy delights in flattery, kisses. The opposite of tough love is the kisses of the enemy. They are given like Judas's kiss in order to bring about our downfall. They're not for our own good. They're not to edify their in some way to bring about our downfall.

Flattery is a form of a deceitful kiss. People who flatter you are not your friends. People who just say wonderful things about you in order to get something from you, are not your friends. Those are the kisses of an enemy. Now, verse 7 talks about another kind of friend, and that is a friend that is starved for friendship.

A friend that is starved for friendship. A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Now if you've ever been famished by a hard day of work, you know how good ordinary simple food can taste. When you're hungry, almost anything tastes good. But if we're stuffed, if we're satiated like you might be after a banquet or a feast, then we can lose interest in even the most scrumptious food.

And this principle applies as well to friendship a person who is famished For true friendship is an emotionally needy person they crave the attention that comes With a friendship a close friendship so much that they will look for it in all the wrong places. And hungry souls like this are easy prey for someone to take advantage of them, because they are willing to cling to people who may even be abusive or hard or cruel in exchange for just a little bit of attention, just a breadcrumb. It seems good to them. Even flattery may seem sweet to them. They may know at some level that they're being flattered.

They may know at some level that what they're being told about themselves might not be true. But to a hungry soul, that bitter relationship seems sweet. Proverbs says that the lips of an immoral woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil, But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. The same could be said about the lips of an immoral man who is seducing. Daughters that are starved for attention, the wholesome attention of a nurturing father will go looking for attention to satisfy her longing, even tolerating abusive treatment.

Because to a hungry soul, every bitter thing seems sweet. But a satisfied soul loathes the honey lips of flatterers. Young children even that are starved for affection, that are starved for attention. They will seek it from any stranger. Have you ever had a child that you don't even know run up to you and want to sit on your lap or want to be around you or want to be held by you?

That's a child that's often starved for attention. And they'll run to strangers even in order to get some attention. A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. You know how sometimes needy people like that, they can be hard to be around, can be hard to be a friend with them because they are so clinging, so emotionally dependent that it's wearying. It can kill a friendship.

And cause people to back away. Now, verse eight speaks about another kind of person, and that is a wanderer. A wanderer. What is a wanderer? It's someone who leaves his appointed place or his appointed calling.

A wanderer is described in this verse as a bird leaving a nest. Somebody who leaves their appointed place, their home, a place of safety and security to go in search of something. A wanderer is someone who thinks that somewhere else is better than where they are. Another state would be better than their current one. Another job will be better than their current one.

Another house would be better than their current one. Another church would be better than their current one. Another friend, any other friend, would be better than the ones they already have. That's a wanderer. And they go from church to church, from home to home, from city to city, from job to job, always thinking that the next job will be better.

They're like a bird that leaves its nest. Leaves the place where they are loved and cared for and nurtured and secure. A wanderer is someone who often has trouble keeping friends. He may make them, he or she, may make them very easily, but problems always seem to get in the way and friendships fall apart. And then they move on And they have a different set of friends.

In a different church, in a different job, in a different community. Paul instructed Timothy to refuse to put younger widows on the list of support for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith. And besides, they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house. And not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies saying things that they ought not. A wanderer is somebody who can't receive a rebuke from a true friend or from the elders of the church.

They find a reason to leave, usually some problem or weakness with the church. Every church has problems and weaknesses, ours included. And so if you're looking for an excuse to leave, there are a lot of them. Just take one, anyone will do. A wanderer can't receive a rebuke.

A spiritual wanderer has no spiritual home. No church is quite good enough. No elders are sound enough. No one is friendly enough. And so on and so on and so on.

That's a spiritual wanderer leaving the nest. Wanderer leaving the nest. When we first moved here we met a family, they're a dear family and they're both gone to be with the Lord. And I don't think any of you know any of them, know them. They're not here anymore, but for 30 years this dear couple wandered from church to church.

None was ever quite good enough. None, well they finally moved to California in hope of finding a better church out there. That's a spiritual wanderer. You know, there are reasons why we need to leave homes and jobs and churches. But if we're leaving every six months or every two years on a continual basis, then there's probably something wrong.

There's probably something wrong. If we're having to change, you know, people get laid off of work, jobs end, things happen, we get into the wrong job, and so on. So I'm not saying that all of these kinds of things are wrong. They are certainly not. But if it becomes a pattern where we go from job to job to job, and there's always a problem at that last job.

There's always that boss that was a problem. There's always that worker, that co-worker that was a problem. And when we begin to see that pattern, if you see that pattern in yourself, then maybe you're a wanderer. And maybe the problem isn't the other people around you, but maybe it's in you. Order and steadfastness are the two staves of the Good Shepherd.

And Paul commended the Colossians for their good order and steadfastness. Some people wander because they want to use their gifts and they don't feel that the current field that they are in is using their gifts. And so they look for a bigger field of service, but often those people are doomed to wander from place to place. If you don't think your gifts are being used in the place where the Lord has planted you, then wait for the Lord to take you, to bring your gifts to a bigger place. If that's His calling for you, He will.

He will open the doors before you without you having to go hunting. There have been many very, very gifted pastors who could have had jobs at big churches, who could have had positions of academic prestige, who chose instead to stay and minister to little tiny congregations, some even smaller than ours. Because that's where God put them. And they were content to serve, use their gifts, which at times were prodigious, in the service of the people that God brought them to. Some people wander in doctrine.

A doctrinal wanderer is always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Every few months, every year, they have a new doctrine, a new teaching that they're following. For the wanderer, the world is not big enough, scarcely big enough. But for the steadfast Christian, who is steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. No labor, no labor done for the Lord is ever done in vain.

Now in contrast to this wanderer, in verse 9 And also in verse 17, is contrasted stable friends. The man who receives earnest counsel, counsel of the soul, and it is a delight to him as an ornament and a perfume, as an ointment and a perfume. It's the opposite of somebody who moves on when he hears the first word of rebuke. Friends are those who help each other. They help each other with their homes, they help each other with their problems, they confide in each other.

Jesus defined friendship as confiding in people. Jesus said, I treat you as friends, I confide in you. And verse 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so a friend brightens the countenance, brightens the countenance of their friends. They leave their friends better off, more encouraged, more hopeful. We often hear this verse is quoted a lot, but I think the sense in which it's quoted is somehow that there's friction and sparks, and somehow that improves people.

But that's not what it's saying here. It says as iron sharpens iron, yes that involves frictions and sparks, but as iron sharpens iron, friends brighten the countenance of other friends that means they're encouraging they're uplifting they're edifying to them This is the other side of the equation from verse 4 about, Or verse 5, Faithful are the wounds of a friend. This is the other side of that. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but it is the counsel of friends that heals the wound. The counsel of the soul.

This says, if you have a King James that says, Hardy Council, but that's literally Council of the Soul. Council of the Soul that is the Council that ministers to us. Council of the Soul is Council where the counselors understand our situation and they know how to bring that comfort. They are able to comfort us with the comfort with which they have been comforted. They are able to bring wisdom and guidance to us with the guidance with which they have been guided.

And they're able to do that in a gentle and understanding way. Moses' heart was glad at the council that Jethro, his father-in-law, brought him. Jethro, his father-in-law, in the land of Midian, you know, that's where Moses had gone over to Midian, which is in what today would be Saudi Arabia, not the Arabian Peninsula. Midian is over in Saudi Arabia. That's where Moses went.

And when he was out there, his father-in-law came over to visit him, you remember. And his father-in-law said he was critical of what Moses was doing. He said, it's not good for you, Moses. You've got this all wrong. You're not doing this right.

Here's what you need to do. And Moses listened to his father-in-law. It was of the Lord. And he made those changes. The real blessing of counsel of the soul is that it comes from a soul living in communion with the Lord.

Lastly, we're not going to finish this whole section today, so lastly, our friends maintain friends. Friends are those who maintain friendships. Friendships take investment. Investment of our time, investment of our treasure, investment of our talents, and true friends don't forsake friends. Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend.

Nor go to your brother's house in the day of calamity. In other words, when there's a need there and you have a friendship, that's what it's for, don't forsake it. Allow a brother or sister to minister to you in that need. Allow them the blessing of giving, because it's more blessed to give than to receive. Sometimes that's hard to do, sometimes it's hard to receive from people.

But A true friend will do that. A true friend will allow another to have the blessing of giving. A true friend will not forsake or abandon a friendship. That means we share our lives with friends. But Jesus defines friendships as those who share their plans with one another.

He says, I share, I tell of you what I am doing because you're my friends. And so as we close, I just want to bring us back to how I open, and that is that Christ is a friend to us. If you look at all these characteristics of friendships, they describe our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Christ understands our situation, and He's able then to minister to us. Christ never leaves us nor forsakes us.

He said, I am with you wherever you go. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Christ seeks us when we wander. That's love that can bring a rebuke. Christ is a shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who seeks us.

He doesn't just let us go. He comes to us, He chastens us. And it's not nice, but He does it for our good, because He loves us. Christ has communion with the Heavenly Father, intimate fellowship, and He ministers to us. He speaks peace to us.

These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I, I have overcome the world. Brothers and sisters, do you have friendship with Jesus Christ? Is He, is He your friend?

Do you have fellowship and communion with Him? Do you persevere in pursuing that friendship? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are our friend, that you love us, that you care for us, that we know you. Lord, we want to know you more, more deeply, more intimately.

We want to have more fellowship with you. We want to be led by your Holy Spirit in all that we do. We want to talk to you of all the plans of our heart and not have any any recess in even the deepest part of our heart that we do not share with you. For Lord, you see it anyways. There is nothing that we hide from you.

It is only in our blindness that we think we are hiding. Father, we thank you for your friendship of us. For you have said that greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And this is what you have done of us. And we are most grateful and we bless your name for your love of us as our Savior, as the captain of our salvation, as our God, as the eternal Father, and the mighty King of Kings, but also as our friend and brother.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.