A Friend Closer than a Brother

Edward Griffin (1770—1837)
 

Proverbs 18:24
"There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."

It is a law of the physical world that a particle of matter which is not attracted to others, cannot attract others to itself. A similar law prevails in the social world. The Ishmael whose hand is against every man, will find every man's hand against him. One of the few things in which mankind are agreed, is to detest the wretch who loves none but himself. This indeed is no more than just: for who has a right to claim more than he is willing to render? "A man that has friends must show himself friendly." To such a one the willing tribute of love is paid. The man whose heart can melt at others' woes, whose hand is ready to relieve their wants, whose life is devoted to offices of kindness—though envy and hatred of the truth may create enemies for him, will always have friends.

Two virtuous minds of kindred tempers, are susceptible of a union more tender and indissoluble than that which is formed by nature. "There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother." Such a friendship subsisted between Jonathan and David. But turn your eyes to Calvary, and behold a greater than a Jonathan is here! Here more than any where else is seen the "friend that sticks closer than a brother." This is the friend to whom I would call your attention. And in doing this I shall,

I. Describe this friend.

II. Show that he is such a friend.

III. Prove that we must show ourselves friendly if we would enjoy his friendship.

IV. Consider our need of him.
 

I. I am to describe this friend.

But who is equal to this task? Happy is the man who, by the power of faith, can form even a faint conception of his glories. Millions of ages hence the highest seraph will not have completed the discovery of his glories.

To form any just conception of his character we must contemplate him as God, as man, and as Mediator. He was one of the eternal Persons of the Godhead, co-equal with the Father; and yet he became truly man by being personally united with a human body and soul. By forming this union, and by sustaining an agency wholly distinct from that of the Father, (as distinct as that of an appeasing Mediator from that of an offended Sovereign,) and by bringing out the distinct agency of the Spirit in the work of conviction and sanctification, and by frequently applying to the three, in the language and hearing of men, the three personal pronouns, he revealed the great mystery of the Trinity, which could not have been brought to light by any other conceivable means.

As a man he was marked by a supreme regard for:
his Father's glory,
unerring obedience to his commands,
perfect submission to his will,
self-denial,
patience,
fortitude that knew no bounds,
gentleness, meekness, and humility,
unconquerable love to men with a godlike faithfulness to reprove their vices,
unwearied labors for their instruction and reformation,
the most compassionate toils to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and to cast out devils,
sometimes weeping over Jerusalem,
full of devotion—spending whole nights in prayer upon the bleak mountains, and sometimes rejoicing in spirit and saying, "I thank you, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes."

There is not a human excellence that shone not perfect and unrivaled in him.

As Mediator he came to reveal God to the creation and to fill the universe with his glory. And "the glory of God" which shines "in the face of Jesus Christ," in other words, which is displayed in the person and work of the Savior, is the principal glory which God has ever set before the eyes of creatures. One part of this revelation consists in the instruction which Christ imparts as a Prophet, comprehending all that has come, from the beginning of the world, through patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and a Gospel ministry.

As a Priest he came to promote the cause of holiness among a universe of creatures throughout eternity. He came to "magnify the law and make it honorable," and to give energy to a moral government by supporting the empire of a moral law. This he did by obeying that law under circumstances the most trying—obeying it "unto death, even the death of the cross." When he says in reference to his death, "This commandment have I received of my Father," he alludes to no precept distinct from the moral law; for that law which requires us to "love the Lord our God with all the heart, and our neighbor as ourselves," binds us, when the providence of God renders it necessary, "to lay down our lives for the brethren."

This obedience, by which he earned, and received as his own reward, all the positive blessings intended for Adam's race, gave God an opportunity to bestow all positive good as the reward of a perfect obedience to his law, and to refuse to grant the least blessing on any other terms. This had been the rule of Eden and of Heaven; for in both cases the least transgression forfeited every blessing. And the adherence to this rule prevented "one jot or one tittle" of the law from being given up.

But the chief support yielded to the law was by his sufferings and death in our stead, by which he answered all the purposes of our punishment and rendered the infliction no longer necessary.

What is the design of punishment? It is to uphold the authority of the law by showing the unalterable determination of the lawgiver to execute its penalty on future offenders. And when the beloved Son of God took the place of sinners, and the Father would not spare him, but drained out his life to the very dregs—it showed the inflexible certainty of punishment, more than the eternal destruction of Adam's race would have done! It proclaimed in the ears of Heaven and earth, "If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" This was the atonement.

But the enemies of the atonement profanely say, that his death was designed merely to confirm his doctrines. What then is the meaning of texts like these, which cover the pages of the Old Testament and the New?

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors."

"Seventy weeks are determined upon your people—to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself."

"He has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die; but God commends his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

Indeed if the death of Christ had no other use than to confirm his doctrines, then what can be the meaning of that whole system of typical, vicarious, and atoning sacrifices which are set forth in the Old Testament, and constantly displayed in every part of the worship of the Hebrew Church for near fifteen hundred years? When a man had sinned, he brought his victim to the altar, whose life was accepted in the place of his life, and the sinner lived. This was expressly called an atonement. The word is everywhere applied to the sacrifices of the ancient Church. And what could be meant when the high priest brought the scape-goat, and laid both his hands upon his head, and confessed "over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and" sending "him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness;" the goat, as it is expressly said, bearing "upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited?"

Having thus fulfilled the office of a Priest in the outer tabernacle, Christ entered into the inner sanctuary "to appear in the presence of God for us;" and there "he ever lives to make intercession for" us.

He ascended also to reign as a King over the Church and over the universe—to take the charge of the sanctification and protection of his people, to employ angels to minister to them, to curb and counteract the rage of devils, to manage the whole world in reference to their interests, and to bring them safely home to glory. Thus he administers the divine government in a Person that can be seen and apprehended by creatures.

That same Person will judge the world. And "when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power," he then will deliver "up the kingdom to God, even the Father—that God may be all in all."

In his whole mediatorial character he is "the chief among ten thousand" and "altogether lovely." In him the lost and helpless children of Adam have precisely what they need. Not a need can be named but he has enough to supply it.

Are you dead in trespasses and sins? He who called Lazarus from the sepulcher can reanimate you.

Are you fast bound in the snares of Satan? He who could expel seven devils from one and a legion from another, can deliver you.

Are you mourning under guilt? He who bore your sins in his own body on the tree, can make your scarlet stains as snow and your crimson spots like wool.

Do you complain of a heart of stone? He who could subdue a Saul of Tarsus, can soften you.

Are you blind to spiritual glory? He who restored sight to the blind men of Jericho, can make you see.

Do you groan under ignorance and confusion of thought respecting the way of salvation? He who composed the madness of the men among the tombs—who brought so many bewildered Jews to clear conceptions of Gospel truth—who has sent forth all the light which for six thousand years has cheered the abodes of Zion, can dispel your confusion and change your darkness into day.

Are you falling before your spiritual enemies? He nailed them all to his cross and triumphed over them when he arose.

Poor, helpless, diseased mortals, come and hear the joyful tidings, that an all-sufficient Savior is provided, at whose word guilt and demons fly; who restores the whole man:
eyes to the blind,
ears to the deaf,
light to the bewildered,
and life to the dead!

There is balm in Gilead and an able physician there! O that you would go to him and be healed.

II. I am to show that he is a friend which sticks closer than a brother.

But where shall I begin, or where shall I end? His whole Gospel is one unequaled expression of kindness for a dying world. The tenderest assurances of his love are enstamped on every page. Nor has he stopped at mere professions.

His conduct has uniformly proved him sincere.

His descent from infinite glory to the manger, proved him sincere.

His incessant toil for the instruction of his enemies, proved him sincere.

His agony and bloody sweat in the garden, proved him sincere.

His sufferings upon the cross,
the effusion from his bleeding heart,
every crimson nail print,
his dying prayer for his enemies—
all proved him to be a friend that sticks closer than a brother!

Where is the brother who would lose his own life, to save a brother's life? Where is the brother who, from a self-existent God, ever descended into the fetters of death, that his unfriendly brother might live forever?

Do you ask for further proof? Follow him then to the empyreal heavens: see him interceding for a world that had rejected him and chased him back to glory. See him showing the prints of his wounds and pleading: "Father spare them, I have died!"

Do you wish for more? Listen then to the tones of entreaty with which he follows a world stained with his blood. "O my people, what have I done unto you and wherein have I wearied you? Testify against me." "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?" "If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace." "As I live—I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn! turn!—for why will you die?" "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end." "What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?" Not the vilest sinners are excepted in his invitations and entreaties. Methinks I hear him say, "Ho! You my abusers and murderers who spit in my face and nailed me to the cross—come and taste the fruits of the sufferings your own hands inflicted! Come, you who pierced my side, and let the very sin which forced the blood to flow, find in that blood its purification and pardon!"

Nor does he give over his suit when all the calls of his word are rejected. He comes again to earth in the person of his Spirit, and renews his entreaties at the sinner's door. "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me." "Open to me—for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."

Will the master whom you serve reward you as I would do? Has he done for you what I have done? Did he ever for you become "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"? From the tenderest love to you I left the honors of my Father's house to suffer and die on Calvary! And now my affections of mercy have brought me to your door to plead with you to be happy. I have no unfriendly designs against you; I only seek your peace. And will you spurn me away, only to admit another who only seeks your hurt? Have I deserved such treatment at your hands? O sinner, have I thus treated you?

And is he not "a friend that sticks closer than a brother"?

III. If we would enjoy his friendship, we must show ourselves friendly.

In the nature of things it is impossible for us to enjoy the good which he came to purchase, while we are his enemies. How can we have communion with him and his Father while in such a state? How in such a state can we love and obey that law which he came to support, and enjoy that holy order which he came to establish? How can one relish the religious society of Heaven, while disgusted with religious society on earth? or the sacredness of an eternal Sabbath, to whom every Sabbath is a burden? or the holy employments of the upper sanctuary, when prayer and all religious exercises are irksome?

And if it were otherwise, is it reasonable that the Son of God should exercise love for us while we refuse to make him any returns? Is it reasonable that he should lay down his life for us, while we refuse to lay aside even our sins for him? What are we that we should expect so much more from him than we are willing to render? Can he discover more beauty in us, than we can in him? Has he more need of our friendship, than we have of his? Can we reward his attention, as he can ours?

At any rate the explicit terms of the Gospel exclude all who are not from the heart the friends of Christ and of God:

"Follow after holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."

"Unless you repent you shall all likewise perish."

"He who believes not shall be damned."

"Unless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

"If any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."

"It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those who trouble you—when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power!"

"The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

"Then shall he say also unto them on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment!" "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every man, according to their works. And death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire!"

Universalists, especially those who deny any punishment after death, would make out that Christ came to take the part of men while trampling under foot the law of God, and to shield them while rioting in that rebellion. But upon this principle, he came not to magnify the law, but to ruin it; not to sustain a moral government, but to destroy it; not to glorify God, but to tarnish the divine glory forever. But it is not so. He who would have this Friend must "show himself friendly." This is settled, and it leads us to consider,

IV. Our absolute need of him.

We need him as a Prophet to prevent us, by his instructions, from falling into fatal errors of doctrine, and from embracing that delusive hope which, instead of being "an anchor" to keep us from the tossings of the tempest—is an anchor which, grasped by the drowning man, holds him down to death!

We need him as an atoning and interceding Priest. Could a perishing world have been saved without that propitiatory sacrifice—then he who made the heavens would not have consented to die the death of a Roman malefactor. He was not so lavish of his blood as to spend it without necessity. Do you doubt the need of his atonement? How then are you to be saved? Millions of transgressions, each of which is loaded with the curse of the law, stand charged against you. The measure of your guilt cannot be calculated by angels. By what means then can you hope to make atonement?

Should you henceforth yield perfect obedience, you would only do your duty for the time to come. There would be no surplus of merit to make up for past deficiencies. What then can be hoped from that imperfect obedience which is the utmost that is rendered by the best of men? This instead of atoning for what is past, needs an atonement for itself! And even this imperfect obedience will not be rendered without help from Christ. Unless he, by his Spirit, works "in you both to will and to do," you will retain that "carnal mind" which is "enmity against God"—that "heart" which "is fully set" in you "to do evil." Talk not of your selfish reformations and prayers. For even these are not likely to be produced without the convicting Spirit; and if produced, are only "the sacrifice of the wicked." Thus every hope of making atonement is withered; and nothing remains for you but to lie down in everlasting sorrows, or depend entirely on the atonement of Christ.

You also need Jesus as a King, to sanctify and subdue you. You need him, first, to interpose by his awakening influence, to prevent you from sleeping life away. And when reflection is awakened, you need him to slay the enmity of your heart and to impress his image there. And after all this is effected, you will daily need his sanctifying grace to keep you from apostasy. You need the Lord Almighty to protect you against your spiritual enemies.

You have the world with all its frowns, and what is more, with all its seductive blandishments, to encounter.

You have the flesh with all its importunate lusts.

And you have to contend with evil principalities and powers.

Hosts of infuriated enemies stand crowded in all the way to Heaven. The ascent is arduous. Your own nature is of the earth, earthy, and strongly gravitates downwards. These enemies have long been entrenching themselves in the way, and some of their spies are lodged in your very bosom, waiting for a favorable opportunity to betray you into their hands! Thus beset from without and from within, you may well say with the good Jehoshaphat, "We have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon you!"

Your enemies not only assault you openly, but lurk in secret ambushes, whence they shoot their silent arrows, which, without alarming, destroy. Their shafts are barbed and hard to be extracted. They are tipped with poison, and give those deadly wounds which nothing can heal but the balm of Gilead and the great Physician of souls!

You will greatly need this friend in the gloomy shades of adversity. None can hope to see many days on earth without being conversant with scenes of affliction. "Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward."

Disappointments and crosses will come;
infirmities and pains will assail;
the friends of our heart will close their dying eyes on our tears, and, deaf to all our lamentations, will hide themselves under the clods of the valley.

At such times we shall greatly need "a friend that sticks closer than a brother;" a friend who, when "father and mother forsake" us, will kindly "take" us "up." If such a friend is not secured, we are poorly fitted to traverse the mazes of this thorny wilderness.

And when these mazes are past, we shall greatly need this friend in a dying hour. O unbeliever, when you lie gasping on that edge of time which divides the two worlds, looking back with remorse and forward with terror, about to take the fearful plunge from whence there is no return; when you shall cry to your wicked companions, and in answer only see their faces pale with terror—and extend your hands to a weeping parent and brother, and read in their tears, "Dear, dying friend, we cannot help you!" then how greatly will you need that friend which sticks closer than a brother. How sweet would it be in that hour to see him standing by your side, supporting your weary head, and ready to bear you in his arms to the heavenly rest. But in that extremity, to find no friend in Heaven or earth to speak a healing word; to go unbefriended and alone through the gloomy valley, without one ray of light to point the way to glory—this indeed would be distress unspeakable.

How would it then seem to hear Jesus say, "I would have been your friend, but you would not receive me. And now, though you call, I will not answer. Go to your idols for help. Cry to your own chosen master, whom you did prefer to me; and see whether he will do better by you than I would have done." O it cannot, must not be endured!

Another day will come when you will equally need his friendship; a day when "the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll," the earth shall be on fire, the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall rise, the Son of man, with his angels, shall descend, and the worlds shall be assembled at his bar! No longer a weeping infant in the manger, or a bleeding sufferer on the cross; no longer a humble suitor at the door of your hearts—he appears the sovereign Judge, arrayed in all the glories of the Godhead! No longer is his blood to be slighted, his Spirit resisted, and his sacred person insulted by an ungrateful world. For different purposes has he made his second appearance: to judge the world, to call sinners to a strict account, to scrutinize every action and thought from Adam to his youngest son, and to execute the long delayed sentence of his righteous law.

Then, when all your sins shall be displayed before assembled worlds, and the curse fastened to each shall be ready to fall upon your defenseless head, and nothing to arrest the rushing war but the mediatorial shield, and your earthly friends unable to help either you or themselves; then will you in the fullest sense, though alas too late, feel your need of that friend which sticks closer than a brother. You would then give ten thousand worlds for that saving interest in him which you now refuse.

And will your need of him end here? No, it will continue to all eternity. When friends and riches and honors and pleasures shall be no more; when former comforts shall be substituted the torments of the never dying worm—a conscience lashing you with torturing reproaches, a memory furnishing the most poignant stings, and your passions, let loose, shall rend you with the fury of whirlwinds; when you shall look up and behold some of your former friends in Heaven, regaling themselves at the immortal banquet, while you pine in eternal pain; then will you "mourn at the last, when" your "flesh and" your "body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof!"

O sinners, I adjure you in the name of God, not to treat this warning as you have treated all that are past. Retire to your closets and let these solemn realities pass in review before you. Place yourselves before the bar of God, and anticipate the solemn scenes of the final judgment. Ponder upon your guilt: look at the readiness of Christ to save you, and let the charming echo of his invitations still sound in your ears. And at the conclusion solemnly ask yourselves: Why will I die?

O wretched men, are not the glories of Heaven worth a few serious thoughts? If you could continue blind forever, I would not be so importunate. But light will break in upon your anguished sight; and those lids which were obstinately closed, will be forced and held open to gaze at the tormenting glare of light while God and truth remain. O reflect before reflection shall come too late. Why should you exchange:
your souls for toys,
your God for mammon,
and your glory for eternal despair?

Why should the great enemy of man be served for the recompense of damnation, rather than this divine friend for the reward of Heaven? Should you, after so long a time, resolve this day to take the counsel now offered, do you think you would repent of it in a dying hour? Would you repent of it at the judgment day, or in any one moment of your immortal existence? I can say no more. "If you be wise you shall be wise for yourself; but if you scorn you alone shall bear it." Amen.