What a privilege to be a friend of God, a friend of the maker of heaven and earth. To be in the love of Christ, secure and forever.
The longing to obey him, the obedience to him, is the authenticating sign that we are his friends, which is repeated through John’s Gospel. How do you know if you are his friend, if you are truly saved, if there has been a work of grace in your heart, if you are bound for heaven? Oh, ‘If ye do whatsoever I command you.’ If obedience is your desire, though not always what you achieve, not always what you do, but how you hate yourself and how you long and wish for it.
There is a form of evangelical Christianity about that does not answer to this. There is a form of evangelical Christianity which says how glad I am that Christ is my Saviour, but I make my own plans, thank you very much. I follow my own chosen career. I do not seek his will, I am not committed to him. I help myself to as much of the world as I like. I play the world’s music. I watch the world’s things. I decide how much of a Christian I am going to be or not. Of course, you would never put it like that, but you are a kind of pick-and-mix Christian. Well, you have not got the authenticating sign of somebody who is a friend of God. What you should say is, ‘I want to put him first. I want to know his will for my life. I want to serve him and him alone. I want to finish with this world and serve the Lord and count for him.’