Adrian Rogers: True Friendship with Jesus

It is a privilege to call Jesus our friend—to know Him intimately as a close companion. In this message, Adrian Rogers highlights five things about our friendship with Jesus: what it means, and what it makes of us.

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Does Jesus have favorites? No. With him, there’s no respecter of persons.
But he does have intimates.
Now if if all we could be is just servants of Jesus, that would be wonderful.
What a privilege What a privilege just to serve the lord Jesus Christ if that were all, but can you imagine?
Jesus said, I I’m not calling you service. I’m not calling you slaves.
I’m calling you for him.
ProFound Truth simply stated. This is love worth finding with pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers.
Could you take god’s precious word and be finding John chapter 15, if you would, please?
John chapter 15 in a moment, I’m going to begin reading in verse 12.
I wanna talk to you today about friendship with Jesus.
Begin reading with me here in John chapter 15 verse 12.
Jesus says, this is my commandment that you love one another But now wait a moment.
Not just love one another. There’s a special kind of love that you love one another as I have loved you.
That is you love one another with the same love that I have given to you.
Greater love, have greater love, have no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends If you do whatsoever, I command you.
Hence 4th, I call you not servants for the servant, not what his lord doeth.
But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father.
I have made known under you.
You’ve not chosen me, but I have chosen you and attained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain and whatsoever you shall ask of the father.
In my name, He may give it you.
These things I command you, that she love one another.
If the world hate you, You know that it hated me before it hated you.
If he were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you’re not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, Therefore, the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you? The servant is not greater than his lord?
If they have persecuted me, they will also prosecute you. If they’ve kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
But all these things will they do unto you for my namesake because they know not him that sent me.
Again, what a privilege to have the lord Jesus Christ as our friend?
Does Jesus have favorites? No.
With him, there’s no respecter of persons, but he does have intimates you can become a friend of the lord Jesus Christ.
Now there’s several things I want you to think about today as we think about friendship with Jesus.
And I pray god, the Holy Spirit will write these upon your heart.
I pray that you will learn what a privilege. Yes.
A privilege to be able to say that I am a friend of Jesus and Jesus is a friend of mine.
There are basically five things that I see as I look in this passage scripture, and I pray god will write them upon your heart.
And the first is the elevating. The elevating consequence of friendship with Jesus.
Friendship with Jesus lifts you to a level that you could not be lifted to without that.
It in it enenables you. It elevates you.
It lifts you up to be called a friend of the lord Jesus Christ.
Now, folks, uh, all of us, if we could just simply be called a servant of the lord Jesus, That would be an honor.
I mean, if Jesus just simply said, you’re my servants.
What an honor that would be, how that would that would lift us? Just to serve him.
But to think that he wants us as his friend, how that lifts us, that doesn’t bring him down.
That brings us up because, you see, we didn’t choose him. He chose us.
He said, I want you to be, my friend, that is an elevating enobling thing that we’re lifted.
Uh, to be called a friend of Jesus. You know, a man is known by his friends.
If you’re a friend of Jesus, you’re somebody.
Now if if all we could be is just servants of Jesus. That would be wonderful.
What a privilege?
What a privilege just to serve the lord Jesus Christ if we’re all, but can you imagine?
Jesus said, I I’m not calling you service. I’m not calling you slaves.
I’m calling you friends, and you didn’t choose me. I chose you.
Folks with somebody, if we’re a friend of Jesus, a man is known by his friends.
In the Old Testament, Abraham was called what? The friend of god. Remember that?
He was known as the friend of god all of the disciples to whom Jesus was speaking right now.
They knew that Abraham was a friend of god.
Can you imagine what it must have gone through their heart when Jesus said now you are my friend.
Can you imagine the honor that was theirs and the honor my friend? The elevating honor to
be a friend of
the lord Jesus Christ, and he sought us out. He took the initiative. We sing it.
I found a friend. Oh, such a friend. He loved me. Eir, I knew him.
He drew me with the cords of love. And thus, he bound me to him.
Now that’s the first thing, the elevating characteristic of this love or the elevating consequence.
Of this love, of this friendship. But here’s the second thing I want you to notice.
Not only does it elevate us, or does it lift us But I want you to see the enlarging company of this friendship because Uh, we are lifted by friendship with the lord Jesus, and we gain so many other friends when Jesus becomes our friend.
The enlarging company of this friendship.
You’re seeing this, when you make a new friend, do you know what you do?
You get to meet his friends or her friends.
And the strange thing is that when you make a new friend, then your friend’s friends become your friends.
And there’s an ever enlarging circle of friends when you receive a new friend.
Any friend of your friend becomes your friend. Now that’s what Jesus is talking about here.
That’s the theme of all of this.
He is saying you’re my friends, and therefore, my other friends must be your friends.
Go back and look at it again in verse 12.
This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
If I love you, then you have to love one another. My friends are your friends.
And because you have me as a friend, think of all of the other friends you’re gonna get to have.
You see, friendship with Jesus lifts us And then friendship with Jesus gives us so many other friends.
Very frankly, most of us in this building would not have known one another. Apart from Jesus.
You see, his friends become our friends. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?
The ever enlarging circle I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of god.
There’s one name that has brought us all together. Now, folks, there’s a big crowd here this morning.
5 or 6000 people in this building right now. How many of you know everybody’s name?
You don’t. You say that’s a joke. But I tell you there’s one name we all know. Jesus.
Jesus. His name. And because we love him, We love one another, and we know so many people, the enlarging circle of our friends.
That’s why I love the church of the lord Jesus Christ. Why do I love the church?
I love it because Jesus loves it. You know, we’re not much, folks. Look around.
We’re not much. But I tell you there’s somebody who loves us.
As somebody who loves us, and his name is Jesus. He loves us.
Why do I love the church? Because Jesus loves the church.
And don’t you ever criticize the church of the lord Jesus Christ Christ loves the church.
And he said, this is my commandment that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
What a circle of friends we have because we have the lord Jesus Christ is our personal savior and lord.
We are to love others as Jesus loved That’s what friendship means.
Now here’s the third thing I want you to see.
I want you to see not only the elevating consequences of friendship with Jesus.
And I want you to see not only the enlarging company of friendship with Jesus.
But thirdly, I want you to see as we look at this, the the enduring cost of friendship with Jesus.
Did you know that it it it costs to be a friend of Jesus?
Look, if you will, in verses 1314, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
There are no cheap friendships, not real friendships, true friendship costs, but it’s worth it.
You are my friends if you do whatsoever, I command you. No bargain friendships.
Now friendship with Jesus is not earned by obedience, but it is shown by obedience.
Now we’re to love one another because we love the lord Jesus Christ, and sometimes it costs to love.
One another. It there’s there’s no cheap way.
Again, there’s no easy way to be a good friend to anyone.
Friendships are censor, but they’re well worth it.
Now, Jesus said, I don’t call you servants, and the word there’s literally slaves, but he said I’d call you friends.
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But now let me talk to you about the compensation.
If you think that the cost is bad, think of if if you will about the enriching compensation of friendship with the lord Jesus Christ.
Look, if you will, in verse 15. What what what are some of the comp compensations? Verse 15.
Hits forth, I call you not servants, for the servant, know if not what his lord doeth, but I have called you friends For all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you.
Now, folks, that is a great verse that you might want underline in your Bible.
That’s what what is the first compensation of being a friend of the lord Jesus Christ?
Well, that we’ve not already mentioned. Well, it’ll make you spiritually perceptive.
It’ll make you spiritually perceptive when you become a friend of the lord Jesus.
To be a friend of the lord Jesus is to be brought into the inner circle.
To be a friend of the lord Jesus is to be given insights that other people don’t know.
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to know so much more about the word of god than others?
Have you ever wondered why some seem to be able to pray and get their prez answered.
It’s right here. They have learned the secret of fellowship and friendship with the lord Jesus.
Now Jesus said, I I am called you slaves. That’s what the word servant means, but I’ve called you friends.
Now in this day, there were many slaves And, uh, they were rarely friends.
The slave was told what to do. He wasn’t told why to do it.
It was none of his business. Uh, he he he didn’t know his master’s plans necessarily.
He didn’t know his master’s heart. He didn’t know his master’s feelings. He just said, do this.
And he, uh, he was told to do this, and he would do it.
Uh, go here or come or or do whatever. But Jesus said, I’m not calling you slaves.
I am calling you friends because the servant doesn’t know what his master is doing, but he said, I’ve I’ve made known unto you everything that the father has made known unto me.
Now put these verses in your margin because they’re wonderful verses that impinge upon this verse.
In John chapter 17, just a few, versus later, verses 67, he says, to his disciples, I have manifested my name unto the men which thou gave us me out of the world, thine they were, thou gave us them me, and they have kept thy word, Now they have known.
All things whatsoever thou has given me are of thee. What is that saying?
Jesus is saying in these verses in John 17 verses 67, father, I am revealing sacred secrets.
To my friends. What Jesus is saying is that that I make known to you certain sacred secrets because you are mine.
There are the privileges, uh, friendship with the lord Jesus.
It makes you spiritually perceptive and it makes you spiritually productive.
Continue to read, look, if you will, in this passage of scripture.
Verse 15, it makes you spiritually perceptive verse 16, it makes you spiritually productive.
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain and whatsoever you shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you.
Now did you know that many of us who have friends in high places, and we have friends in high places, folks.
I’m talking about heaven. Those have friends in high places, uh, they just get a head start.
One man was very successful, and he was giving election.
Somebody asked him, what is the secret of your success? He said, I have friend.
Now he was talking about an earthly plane. I had a friend.
You see, our lord, our lord is the one who makes us not only spiritually perceptive, but he makes us spiritually productive, and the productivity comes along with being perceptive.
Because when we are perceptive, then we become productive, and we become fruitful.
Real friendship with anybody who is a good person will make you a better person. You will become enriched.
You will become enlarged by that friendship. That’s true on an earthly plane.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27 in verse 17, iron sharpener. Iron.
So a man sharpenerth, the countenance of his friend. Now what does that mean?
It means friendship with a good person will put a keen edge on your life.
As iron sharpens iron, a man’s countenance will sharpen the countenance of his friend.
Conversely, if you have friends that are unworthy friends, they will blunt your influence. They will dull you.
They will drag you down. Down an earthly plane, the best friend I have is my wife.
That’s a good arrangement. If you can arrange that to have your best friend as your wife.
My best friend is my wife, Joyce.
And I say this without stutter, stammer, equivocation, I don’t have to think about it.
Joyce has had an enobbling, elevating enriching, enlarging influence on my life.
I am a better person because of my association with her. Because friends lift you.
Friends enrich you. Friends cause your life to be productive.
If you wanna be successful, Get successful friends. If you wanna be godly, get godly friends.
If you wanna be wise, get wise friends.
Now it’s just true folks in the normal plane, how much more true it is when you become a friend of the lord Jesus Christ.
I have earthly friends on on this plane who are friends of Jesus, very dear friends, very close to me.
And I can tell you when I get with those friends, we’re not together 3 or 4 minutes.
Before they began to talk about the things of god. Think of it.
Think of the perceptivity and the productivity
that comes when Jesus says, I’m going to let you in on these things.
I’m going to speak to you as a friend to a friend.
And then he says, you didn’t choose me. I chose you.
I ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit.
And then he he makes this wonderful statement.
And he says, and whatsoever you shall ask the father in my name, I’ll do it.
Do you see it there? Whatever you ask the father in my name, I will do it.
Who is he talking to?
He’s not talking to the Hoye Palloy, to everybody in general, He’s talking to friends.
He’s talking to intimates. He is talking to those and to whose ears he has whispered sacred secrets.
Now because these people know the mind and the will of god, they can pray in Jesus name.
They can sign Jesus name to their prayers.
To pray in the name of Jesus doesn’t mean to ask for a pink Cadillac and then say in Jesus name, amen.
To pray in Jesus’ name means with his authority, with his approval, for his glory in his name.
Well, how are you gonna know his will.
Unless he’s been whispering into your year, those sacred secrets.
So, folks, there is the there is the enrichment this this this compensation of this this enriching compensation, uh, friendship with the lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me just bring the last thing here.
As we look at these five things, there is the inevitable conflicts of his friendship.
The inevitable conflicts is not all honey and no bees.
Did you know that when you become a friend of Jesus, you enter into conflict with this world.
Did you know that? But look, continue to read verse 17.
These things I command you that you love one another, if the world hate you, You know that it hated me before it hated you.
You see, the world is not a friend of Jesus.
If you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you’re not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, Therefore, the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord?
If they have persecuted me, they will also prosecute you.
If they’ve kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
But all these things will they do unto you for my namesake because they know not him that sent me.
Now, folks look up here, let me tell you something.
I said had it not been for Jesus, most of us would not have known one another.
We would not have met You see, why do we know one another?
Because his friends become our friends, but I’m gonna tell you something else.
It is just as true that his enemies become our enemies.
That coin has 2 sides to it. He said, we’d love one another.
And he says, if the world hates you, you know, that the world will hate you because it hates me.
The servant is not better than his master. Now you cannot be a friend of Jesus without having enemies.
If you tell me today, Pastor Rogers, I don’t have any enemies.
I’ll tell you, well, then I know one friend you don’t have, and his name is Jesus.
There’s no way that you can say I have no enemies and have Jesus for a friend.
The Bible says that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
It is very clear. It is very plain.
You are not better than the lord Jesus Christ, and his enemies will be your enemies.
And that’s the reason why Josh Billing said a man is poor indeed who doesn’t have any enemies.
You’re a poor man that doesn’t have any enemies. A man is known by his friends.
He’s also known by his enemies.
When you stand up for the lord, Jesus Christ, uh, it’s going to cost you, but don’t worry about it.
Don’t worry about it. Uh, uh, you would just simply be closer to Jesus because you’ve suffered with the lord Jesus Christ.
We’re singing that gospel song. I quoted a little bit of it just a little while ago.
I found a friend. Oh, such a friend. He loved me. Here I knew him.
He drew me with the bonds of love, the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him.
And around my heart, still closely twine those ties which not can sever.
I’m his and his mind. Forever and forever.
Do you know why they crucified the lord Jesus?
Do you know why They said, this man is a friend of sinners.
That’s why they crucified him. They said, he is a friend of sinners.
Do you know I’m so glad he is?
Cause where would I be if he were not?
Where would you be if Jesus were not a friend of sinners?
Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sentenced to repentance.
He doesn’t love us because we’re good. He loves us by his grace.
He doesn’t, uh, he doesn’t make us good so he can love us.
He loves us so he can make us good. Isn’t that wonderful?
God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died.
For us. Have you received that love today?
Do you know the deepest need of every heart is intimacy? Did you know that?
The deepest need is not for physical intimacy, but for emotional and spiritual intimacy.
The deepest need is to have somebody who understands us, who understands our fears, our hurts, Our aspirations, our disappointments.
The human heart yearns for such a friend. Folks, his name is Jesus.
It’s Jesus you need. What a friend we have in Jesus.
Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bow, and eyes are closed.
Would you like to receive the lord Jesus as your savior and lord so he can also be your friend?
Would you pray a prayer like this? Pray it from your heart.
Lord Jesus, I need you in my life.
I need my sins cleansed and forgiven. I need fellowship with you.
Come into my life, lord Jesus. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin.
Save me, lord Jesus. Would you pray that? Save me, lord Jesus. Pray it in me.
And I promise you on the authority of the word of god. He’ll save you.
Save me Lord Jesus. Save me. Lord Jesus. Pray it in me.
Lord, I pray that many today will say yes to Christ.
In his wonderful name, Amen.