The second thing that separates an acquaintance from a true friend is found in these proverbs:

Proverbs 27:5-6,17 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. ⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses… ¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 28:23 He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.

Proverbs 29:5 Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet.

One major thing that separates a true friend from an acquaintance is that a true friend is not afraid to confront in love.

The couplet in Prov 27 is startling – hidden love is hiding the truth instead of openly rebuking, and it is paired with an enemy multiplying kisses. If you are afraid to confront, you are doing the work of an enemy. Proverbs calls you a flatterer – someone who compliments because you want the other person to like you – not a real friend, and says that you are only spreading a net for his feet. You are leading them right into ruin by not pointing out their sin.

Better to rebuke openly. As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. It’s painful, but sharpening, sanctifying, to have a friend who is not afraid to speak the truth in love, to say things with the motive of presenting them mature and Christlike.

That’s beautiful and all, but we are lucky if we have one friend like that. Many of you have had friends like that who have been taken away. We do not have the friends our hearts need, and we are often not a good friend.