62. The Best Friend.

Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not. - Proverbs 27:10.

MAN may have many acquaintances, but he will have few friends; he may count himself happy if he has one who will be faithful to him in time of trouble. If that person has also been kind to his father before him, he should never be slighted, much less alienated. Real friends are to be retained with great care, and, if need be, with great sacrifice. The wisdom of the world teaches this, and inspiration confirms it.

If we rise into a higher sphere, it is much more so. There we have one Friend — the Friend of sinners, who in infinite condescension has called us friends, and has shown that greatest of all love-laying down his life for his friends. To him we must cleave in life and death. To forsake him would be horrible ingratitude.

I. DESCRIPTIVE TITLE. "Thine own friend and thy father's friend."

1. "Friend": this implies kindness, attachment, help.

2. "Father's friend:" one who has been faithful, unchanging, patient, wise, and tried, and this in the experience of our own father, on whose judgment we can depend. In many cases the best medical man you can have is the family physician, who knows your parents' constitutions as well as your own. The friend of the family should ever be a welcome guest.

3. "Thine own friend;" with whom you have enjoyed converse, in whom you can safely place confidence; with whom you have common objects, to whom you have made private revelations.

4. Do not forget the other side of friendship: thou must be a friend to him whom thou callest thy friend. "He that hath friends must shew himself friendly."

In all these points our Lord Jesus is the best example of a friend, and it is well for us to set him in the forefront, as a "Friend that sticketh closer than a brother." "This is my beloved, and this is my friend."

II. SUGGESTIVE ADVICE. "Forsake not."

1. What it does not suggest. It gives no kind of hint that he will ever forsake us. Hath he not said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"?

2. In what sense can we forsake him? Alas, some professed friends of Jesus become traitors, others follow afar off, grow cold, turn to the world, lose fellowship, do not defend his cause, etc.

3. What seasons tempt us to it? Both prosperity and adversity. Times of spreading heresy, worldliness, infidelity, etc.

4. What is the process of forsaking? Gradual cooling down leads on to utter turning away. By degrees we see his poor people despised, his doctrine doubted, his ways forgotten, his cause no longer aided, and at last, profession given up.

5. What are the signs of this forsaking? They can be seen in the heart, heard in the conversation, marked in the absence of zeal and liberality, and at length detected in actual sins.

6. What reasons cause forsaking? Pride, deadness of heart, neglect of prayer, love of the world, fear of man, etc.

7. What arguments should prevent it? Our obligations, his faithfulness, our vows, our danger apart from him, etc.

8. What in the end comes of such forsaking? All manner of evils follow, to ourselves, to his cause, to other friends, to the worldlings around us.

III. CONSEQUENT RESOLVE. I will cleave to him.

Let us cling to Jesus.

· In faith, resting alone in him.

· In creed, accepting his every teaching.

· In confession, declaring our loyalty to him.

· In practice, following his footsteps.

· In love, abiding in fellowship with him. Forsake not Christ when he is persecuted and blasphemed. Forsake him not when the world offers gain, honor, ease, as the price of your defection. Forsake him not when all men seem to desert him, and the church is decaying and ready to die.