I remember hearing Ralph Barnard
preach one time and he said, God or somebody gave me this
message. Many years ago, Peggy Hill asked
me, where do you get that from? And I had to tell her I have
no earthly ID. I believe the impetus for this
message that I'm going to bring this morning was a conversation
I had with Debbie's daddy as he was talking about a dear friend
of his who had passed and I got the feeling he might feel like
he was the last friend he'd ever had. His name was Phil and he
was very good to Junior and a very good friend of Junior. And after that conversation,
just the name, Phil. Phil. Stuck in my head. The reason it stuck in my head
because the Greek word for friend is phileo. Phil. Phil. Now I don't know whether
that's where it started, but that's certainly where it ended
up. I want to speak to you this morning. if I am able to deal
with a subject that is greater than I could ever imagine. That
is this wondrous true fact that Jesus Christ is the friend of sinners. The friend of sinners. Now these words that our Lord
spoke here are about the childish and trite religionists of His
day who had rejected both the messages of Him and of John the
Baptist, calling John's message mourning and the Lord's message piping. One makes you sad, or is designed
to make you sad supposedly, the other is designed to make you
happy. And religion rejected both of those messages. Now these
words, our Lord is repeating of what they said concerning
the message, and the manner of our Lord Jesus Christ as He lived
without sin among men. And these who despised him called
his preaching piping, because he did not come with the hard
words of John, but spoke of the hope and the peace wrought by
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now to these self-righteous men,
Christ's message was shallow. It was shallow. It was not theological. And it had little more substance
to them than a trite little ditty played on a flute. Piping. Now these religious tots refused
to dance to what they perceived as piping and chose instead to
defame the one who proclaimed liberty to the captives sight
to the blind, healing to the bruised, and who preach the gospel
to the poor. And as often is the case, the
things spoken by the enemies of Christ are the very things
that end up glorifying Him the most. Religion said of Him, He's
Joseph's son. He's Joseph's son. And they said
this to discount His claims to deity, to Godhood. They were saying, He's not God.
He's just one of us. He's just one of us. And that's
sweet music to a sinner's ear. Religion said that He hath Beelzebub,
charging that He was demon-possessed. That word spoken in hatred by
his enemies is good news to the sinner. Christ does have Beelzebub. He has him on a chain. He has
him bound and locked in the bottomless pit and allows him only to do
good for his elect. He does have Beelzebub. At the
foot of the cross, men stuck out their tongues. and wagged
them, and mocked him, and said of him, He saved others, himself
he cannot save. They sought to mock him, because
he claimed to be the Messiah, but was suffering the death of
a criminal. But these words are the resounding clarion of substitution. They are the trumpet of jubilee.
If He is to save sinners like me, He cannot save Himself from
the punishment due me, if He is to save me. He said to those
who came to capture Him after He had said to them, I am He,
and cast them back downward to the ground. And after they got
up and dusted themselves off, He said, Whom do you seek? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He says, I am He. If you take me, he pointed to
his disciples and said, these must go their way. You got to
let these go. You can't have me and have them
too. And he said this according to
John chapter 18, that the saying might be fulfilled of all that
thou has given me, I have lost nothing. If indeed Jesus Christ
died in your room instead. God's law can't have you. God's
justice can't have you because it's already been fulfilled by
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they sought to mock Him because
He claimed to be the Messiah. In our text, He would not sound
the horn and call men to watch Him fast as Many do in religion. That's what the Pharisees did.
They told people, after they had fasted, or before they had
fasted, but usually afterwards, they came out all haggard looking,
hair out of place, sweat on their brow, stooped shoulders, raggedy
clothes. They said, What have you been
doing? What's happening? I've been fasting. And people
were so impressed by that. Well, our Lord didn't do that.
If He fasted, He fasted in private. And didn't honk a horn and tell
people that that's what He was doing. Now see, men did that
for public recognition. So instead of recognizing Him
for who He was, they said, He's a glutton. He don't fast. He's
a glutton. He's a glutton. Now He did not
Bend to the social taboos of drinking wine. When I was growing
up, there was a saying that went around, lips that touch wine
shall never touch mine. That sounds very religious, doesn't
it? Well, Christ's lips touched wine. He sat down in people's
houses and had a drink with them and ate with them. Religious
taboos set up by religion meant nothing to him. And when they
saw him sit down in people's houses and drink wine with them,
they called him a wine-bibber. We'd call him, in today's vernacular,
a wino. A wino. They called the Lord Jesus Christ
a wino. You're a wino. I expect that would offend most
of us, wouldn't it? Somebody would come up and say,
Ed, you old wino. Well, I'm not that way. Our Lord
didn't mind the title. He didn't mind the title. And
in our text, the enemies of Christ who are seeking to defame Him
speak some of the sweetest language ever to fall on the ears of ruined
and lost sinners. Behold a man. A friend of publicans
and sinners. A friend of publicans and sinners. It's important to remember that
these words spoken in hatred reflect the heartfelt ignorance
of religion. Religion has strong opinions
about sinners. Their opinion is that a sinner
is someone who hasn't straightened out his life yet. hadn't got
right with God and quit his sinning. Quit his sinning because most
religion believes that when you're saved, you'll quit your sinning.
You don't even know you are sinning until you're saved. Do you know
that? You don't even have any idea
how much a sinner you are and how black your old heart is until
the Lord redeems you and shows you what you are. Religion, you see, is for good
people. Salvation is for sinners. These words spoken in hatred
for Christ are honey from the rock for poor lost sinners. Every word of this pharisaical
slam is music to the sinner's ears. It's melody and lyric,
rhyme and reason. Tell me over and over again,
behold a man, a friend of publicans and sinners, and sinners. First our Lord says, behold a
man, behold a man. And that is the declaration of
hope for the sinner. Christ is God. He is Lord over all. He is the
Creator of this universe. You are made by Him. He holds the breath of your life
in His hands. He rules and reigns in absolute
sway over every dust particle that floats in this universe.
He causes the stars to shine and to go out. He makes the clouds
to bring forth rain on one place and not another. He's the Lord. That's what Lord means. That
means He runs things. And He is absolute Lord God,
God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Almighty, He's called
in the Revelation. And He's a human being. How can
that be? I have no idea. Don't ask me. Even the Bible, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, in addressing this thing that was too great
for the human comprehension, told Paul the apostle to write
these words. Great is the mystery of godliness,
and this is without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God manifests in the flesh. How can that be? Only in Jesus
Christ. But He is A substitute then,
a suitable substitute as a man for sinners. He can die as man. He can suffer as man. He can't do either one of those
as God. God can't suffer. God can't die. But the God-man
can redeem and suffer and die. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory, tasting death
for every man. He was made perfect and suitable
to be the substitute for sinners in this world. You see, man is
sinned. Man is not on probation. He's
in jail. He's in the hands of Satan. He's in the hands of false religion. He believes wrong things about
God. He's ruined, wretched, vile,
undone, unclean, leprous, a maggot on a dunghill. That's how he's
described in Scripture. Who drinks iniquity like water.
Who sins with every breath he takes. And a sinner is not somebody
who does a boo-boo. A sinner is somebody who hates
God, who's at enmity with God, who wants to jerk God off of
His throne and put Himself in His place. And a sinner ain't
this silly thing that people talk about. A sinner is a miserable
thing, an enemy of God. You see, man has sinned against
God. How? With the very first breath
that he took when he came forth from his mother's womb, he came
forth speaking lies. He was conceived in iniquity,
condemned in his birth, condemned in Adam as his representative
before he even existed. On death row. without any hope
or any possibility of recovery in his natural state. He cannot
do anything that will make himself better. He might clean up his
act, but it's just like a pig putting on a bow. That's all
it is. He's still a pig. A snake sheds its skin once every
year, but when the skin's gone, he's still a snake. That's what
man is. Before a holy God. He sinned
against God. What does that mean? He's got
to die. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin
is death. That's what it means. If you're
a sinner here this morning, you've got to die. Justly. It's right that you die. It's
right that God cast you out into eternal hell and darkness forever.
It's right for Him to do that because you're a sinner. You
say, I don't believe that. It doesn't matter what you believe.
You think your belief has anything to do with anything? It doesn't. You see signs on bumper stickers
that say, God said it, I believe it, and that makes it so. You
can take out that middle part. God says it, that makes it so,
whether you believe it or not. God says you're a sinner. All
have sinned. How many? All of them. Well,
what about it? I'm going to try to keep the
law and be a good person. Well, whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law, that every mouth might be stopped,
and the whole world become guilty before God. So by the works of
righteousness shall no flesh be justified in His sight. You
can't undo your situation. Scott Richardson said one time,
How far has man fallen from God? He's fallen so far he can't get
back. He can't find his way back. Man has sinned against God, so
he must die. Man has sinned against God, therefore
man must be punished for sin. And Christ as the man, the God-man,
suffered as the penal substitute for His elect, all of whom were
sinners against a holy God. He's the mediator between men
and God. You can't speak to God. He'll kill you. He'll kill you if you try to
speak to God. Well, how am I going to speak
to Him? I'm going to speak through a mediator. And that mediator
is Jesus Christ. How can He mediate between God
and man? Because He's a man and He's God. Job said, Oh, if there were a
day's man between us, that he could strike hands with God for
me and reach down and touch me also. Jesus Christ is that Mediator
between God and men, the only Mediator according to I Timothy
chapter 2 and verse 5. He is Mediator, He is the Daysman,
He is the single loving liaison between humanity and deity. He
is the Mediator of the new covenant and that is the eternal covenant
of grace. As such, wonder of wonders, this man, behold a man,
this man can lay his hand on God. because He's God. And reach down to the vilest,
wickedest, ruined sinner and lay hands on him. And by His
blood and righteousness reconcile man to his God. Behold a man. Behold a man. His condescension from the realms
of glory to the depths of humanity is at once a blinding mystery
and at the same time an ever-present comfort to everyone who is truly
a sinner. Behold a man, a friend. You are fortunate if you have
a friend on this earth. You have a friend in this world,
someone you can talk to, Someone who doesn't judge you. Someone
who's always there for you. You're blessed. I know people
who've gone through their life without a friend. My dad, I think,
had one friend in his life. I mean, really a good friend.
My dad's kind of a private man. He's quite happy with his little
brood around him and his family, and that's fine. But during World
War II in the Kwajalein Islands, the New Hebrides, he had a friend.
One friend. They went through it all together.
When I was six years old, my dad was going out to see his
friend out in Tennessee. The day before he got there,
he hadn't seen him since 1945. I was six, so it must have been
52. Hadn't seen him since 1945. The
day we got there, we pulled up to his house. There was a wreath
on the door. My dad's friend had been cutting trees. A chainsaw
had kicked back and almost completely decapitated him, killed him right
on the spot. As far as I know, my dad never
had another friend. That was his friend. If you have
a friend in this world, you have a wonderful thing. Cherish a
friend if you have one. Love them and appreciate them.
Jesus Christ is my friend. He is the friend of every sinner. Every sinner. And this is a title
that is not easily understood, save for those who have been
made alive to God by the Spirit through the Word. Religion will
never get this, but every lost and ruined son of Adam needs
and wants and has a friend. Jesus Christ is a friend of publicans
and sinners. Publicans were tax collectors
that took a bite out of their own people, that stole from their
own people. They were the most despised.
So when you find publicans and sinners listed in Scriptures,
publicans always come first. The Jews hated publicans. Hated
publicans. But our Lord was a friend of
publicans. In fact, one day he went by the
seat of custom where a publican was sitting named Matthew, Levi. And he said, put down that money
and follow me. And he did. He did. He was a friend to them. The word, the Greek word for
friend, as I said, is philos. And this word literally means
friend, to be friendly to one, an associate. He who associates
familiarly with one. A companion. A companion. And all these words are blessed
titles as they apply to our Lord Jesus Christ. They are blessed
because they are spoken in the context of who Christ is a friend
to. He's a friend to people who by
nature hate him, he's their friend. He's their friend. Now also the
context sets forth this truth in contrast to false religion.
Both of these aspects must be considered in order to get the
full important power of this title given to our Lord. He's
a friend. He's a friend. And concerning
false religion, these words express the self-righteous attitude they
possess concerning both Christ and those with whom He associates. Religion does not associate with
sinners on any friendly level. Religion is interested in social
image and reputation. over and over again. Like in
Matthew chapter 9, when our Lord sat down with Republicans and
sinners, the Pharisees came up to His disciples and said, Your
master is eaten with Republicans and sinners. What kind of fellow
is he to associate with Republicans and sinners? Our Lord could have
association without assimilation. He could be without sin and yet
be friends to sinners. Be friends to sinners. In Luke
chapter 7, when that woman came in, when the Lord was sitting
in a Pharisee's house for supper, that woman came in a whore, a
harlot, and she unbraided her hair and let it down and began
to weep at the feet of Christ. And she wept until his dirty
old dusty feet that he had walked on those dusty roads were washed
clean with the tears of her eyes and then she unbraided that hair
and began to dry his feet. She was a whore. And the Pharisee
who was sitting in the Moses seat looked down at Christ and
said, if he was really a prophet, he'd know what kind of person
is touching him. In Luke chapter 15, in those
great three parables about the lost sheep, the lost corn, and
the lost son, it begins with Christ sitting with publicans
and sinners, and the Pharisees, the ninety and nine, who needed
no repentance, look at Him and say, what in the world are you
doing? What do you have to do with sinners?
In religion, that's the way they think about it. They have a reputation
to uphold. They're not going to associate
with the wicked and the undone, the ruined. There's a little
bit of that in all of us. God help us, there is. There
is. We see a person of a really bad
reputation, we don't want our friends to see us associate with
them. Isn't that right? I mean, just
tell the truth. That's what we are. We're Pharisees
too, God help us. Religion is embarrassed to be
seen with sinners. Why do you suppose that is? It
is because religion does not believe itself to be sinful and
therefore deems any contact with sinners to be tantamount to being
tainted. Kind of like a lay down with
dogs, you're going to get up with fleas kind of concept. They
can't be friends with sinners and thus cannot process the fact
that our Lord, the Holy One, was friends with sinners. They
couldn't process it. They have no knowledge of what
sin is. What do you think sin is? Clearly, the context declares
that they believe that sin is about doing something. Isn't
it? Because they call Christ a sinner because of who He ate
with and what He drank. And what he ate. And also, by
association. They believed sin was by association.
Because they said he eats Republicans and sinners. Kind of like that, I don't smoke
and chew and mess around folks who do. Kind of religion. To religion, sin has nothing
to do with condition or state of being. It's not about what
a man is, it's about what he does. Is that what you think
about sin? I mean really, think about it
now, just roll it over in your head. What is sin? Sin is a spiritual
principle. It's a principle of darkness and vileness that makes you what
you are. makes you do what you do. It's
a principle within. Religion firmly ensconces sin
in a box or a bottle. And religion has a very precise
measure of what a sinner is and who would associate with the
likes of such. But they're all wrong. Let me
tell you who the worst sinners in the world are. The worst ones
now, the ones sitting right here this morning listening to the
gospel and believing Jesus Christ. If you don't understand that,
you ain't got it yet. You're still missing it. It's you and me. We're the sinners. We're the sinners. Religion preaches to sinners.
They say. They give long invitations for
sinners to come down the aisle. And once this simple plan of
salvation is accomplished, they hold that Christís association
with the aisle trotters is dependent upon their righteousness and
not their being sinners anymore. Isnít that what people say? Thatís
what religion says. Now once you come down this aisle, you
know, weíll give you a book on how to get started. It will get you all Christianized
up. You will be a real Christian.
You won't have problems with sins no more. And if you do something
wrong, you know Jesus won't like you. He will be upset with you.
If you do something right, He will like you. That's just a
lie. He loved you if you were one
of His, when you hated Him. And we don't become cleaner as
we get old, we become dirtier as we get old, because the longer
we're in this world, the dirtier we're going to get. The more
we're going to contract the stains of sin in this world. I hear religious people tell
their children when they misbehave that Jesus doesn't like you when
you do that. Anybody ever done any awful,
filthy thing like that? Told your children that? Well,
you ought to be smacked. You know what you're teaching
your children if you say something like that? You're teaching them
that Christ is not the friend of sinners, but only likes people who are
good people. And religion does the same thing to its adult,
infantile toddlers. It does so by making works the
determining factor of Christ's pleasure and displeasure with
them. I like to smoke. I admit it. So what? Get over
it. I have. What do you smoke? Anything legal. A dear friend of mine once told
me, he says, you know if you put down those cigarettes, Those
cigars, that pipe, if you put those things down, the Lord will
be more pleased with you. And I said, you have no idea
what you're talking about. You don't have any idea. If I
could do something to make Christ love me more, then Christ would
change. Isn't that right? And He don't change. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He don't love me because I do
or don't do stuff. He loves me because He loves
me. I'm a sinner. That's not going
to change. Don't try to talk me out of being
one. I'm like that old lady who said, the only doctrine in Scripture
I can truly live up to is total depravity. I can live up to that
one. The rest of them I have real difficulty with. I'm a sinner! A sinner! And I've got a friend. I've got
a friend who knows I'm that and loves me anyway. Christ is the friend of sinners. He's a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. The friend that loves his friend
so much that he laid down his life for him. For no greater
love hath a man than this, and he lay down his life for his
friend. There's no measure of what this means to a sinner.
We can't even begin to measure that if we ever get a hold of
what that means. Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, the creator
of this world, is my friend. What does that mean? He'll never judge me. He will never set in judgment
of me. Friends don't do that. They say,
well, I'll be your friend if you do this. That ain't your
friend. That's like a husband tell your wife, I'll love you
if you do this. That ain't love. So don't accept
that as love, because it ain't. He'll never be mad at you. When you find him, you will find
him smiling. rejoicing to have you in His
presence. I can't imagine. It almost seems
blasphemous to say such a thing, but it's so. He's a friend of
sinners. Christ is the friend, and He's
an unqualified friend, and He's an unconditional friend, and
He's an eternal friend, and He's a forgiving and a merciful friend. And the hateful words of religion
or a harmonious piping melody to poor publicans and sinners
who are rejected by kith and kin and society and Christianity
so-called. What does it mean to be a sinner? What does it mean to a sinner
that Christ is his free? What does that mean? First of all, it means that Christ
laid down His life for us. That's what it means. He laid
down His life for His friends. For His friends. He commendeth
His love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Secondly, it means that Christ has a close relationship
and fellowship and friendship with Him. A friendship. He's a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. It also means that Christ, now
here's the thing, associates with Him. Associates with Him. It means that Christ is not ashamed
of Him. He's not ashamed of you. What
if I foul up? What if? What's wrong with you?
It's just a matter of when. How many times today? Christ is not ashamed to call
them brethren. I'm not ashamed to call them
brethren. These are my brethren. Well, don't you know what these are? These are sinners! These are
publicans! These are the off-scouring of
the universe! These are the pariahs and the outcasts of society!
These are the poor and the rejected! These are the ones in jail! I'm not ashamed of them, he said.
They're my brothers. I'm their friend. He's not ashamed
to call them brothers. We're much more ashamed of ourselves
than He is of us. He's never ashamed of us. Never. One of the most intriguing and
engaging aspects of this title given to our Lord is that it
sets forth Christ as friendly to publicans and sinners. Proverbs
said, If a man is going to have friends, he must show himself
to be friendly. If you don't have no friends,
that might be why you don't have no friends. Because you ain't
friendly. Our Lord's friendly to publicans
and sinners. Friendly to them. What does that
mean? It means He's approachable. He is approachable. Folks think, well, I've got to
clean up my act, I've got to do this, I've got to do that
before I can come. Listen to me, if you're a sinner, and you
know you're a sinner, and you're lost and undone, and you know
that, you didn't gain that knowledge from anything other than the
Holy Spirit teaching you that if you really know it. And I
say to you, come. Christ is approachable. He's
approachable. You say, but He's holy. Oh, He
is, but He's a man. He was tempted at all points
like as we are, yet without seeing. He's gone through whatever you've
gone through, no matter what it is. He's seen it all. He's felt it all. You can't surprise
Him with nothing. Come. Believing that He is in
the reward of them that diligently seek Him. He's approachable. This means also that He can be
touched. That's what the Scripture says. He is touched with the
feelings of our impermanence. This intimates welcome, and not
just welcome, open public welcome. Wherever you are, you can come
to Him. You can come to Him. We say,
do I got to get down on my knees? No, you don't have to get down
on your knees. That's posture. That ain't prayer. That's where these These politicians have messed
up on this matter of prayer. They say we've got to institute
school prayer, we've got to get prayer back in school. Let me
tell you, if there's a child of God in school, prayer is going
on in school. And it ain't instituted by the state, and it ain't stopped
by the state. You can't stop prayer. You can't
start it either. They're talking about having
a time together where people put their hands together like this
and they say, God is great, God is good, let us thank you for
our food. Or now lay me down to sleep or some other nonsense
like that. You're welcome if you're a sinner in need. You're welcome into the presence
of Almighty God through Jesus Christ. This is one of the many wonderful
attributes of our Savior. He does not intimidate sinners.
Do you know that? He doesn't intimidate them. He
intimidates religion. Makes them madder than snakes.
They want to kill Him all the time. But to sinners He is imminently
approachable. Commends His love to them. This
is not only a blessing to us, it's also a lesson to us. One
I hope to learn before I die. If our understanding of grace
does not cause us to be approachable to those who know not Christ,
we're missing what grace means. You say, well, you know, that
person when he talks, he's just so profane. Well, you're profane,
too. You just don't let it out. You've thought it. You know you
have. How about that guy that pulled
out in front of you the other day? A caller. He had to hit your brain. You
say, oh, what a swell fellow he is. Is that what you're saying? You don't want to know. I don't
want to know what you're saying. You don't know what I want to say
in those situations. It's profane. You all use this
awful language. Get over it. Listen. It might just be that you're the
friend that tells him about the friend of sinners. Could be. Could be. A preacher friend of
mine, Used to be one of them Free Will Works preachers. Didn't
know God from a goose. Livin' in the mountains of West
Virginia. Walkin' around on those hills one day, thought he was
a gospel preacher. Run up on this old fella sittin' on the
porch. Old mountain man. Had a beard, pair of bib overhauls,
one strap fallin' down. Didn't even have a t-shirt on.
Had a beard and had a blood riser in his hand. He was sippin' on
beer. I know my friend was gonna straighten him out about that
drinkin' business. So he started talkin' to him. That old fellow
is listening for a while. My friend mentioned the word
gospel. That old fellow says, you wouldn't know the gospel
hit you upside the head. My friend had enough sense to
shut up and say, well, tell me what it is. And that man told
him what the gospel was. Told him about the sovereignty
of God and salvation. The full accomplishment of the
substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. that Christ died for
His people, that the Holy Spirit draws His people through the
preaching of the Word, and He preserves them and keeps them
forever. And He loves sinners. You get that, boy? He got it. Went back home and preached it
one time in his pulpit, and they threw him out the next day. Because
he told them the truth about who God was, and they didn't
have nothing to do with their salvation. I told them about
a Christ who was friends with sinners. Friends of sinners. Of all the people of the earth,
sinners who are saved by grace ought to be the kind of folks
who other sinners feel comfortable around. One of the greatest things they
ever said about this church and about me since I've been here,
lo these 29 or 30 years at Sequoia. There used to be a preacher on
the reservation up in the loop who said this about to a fellow
one day, who had some problem with his drink and profanity. He wanted to come to church. They didn't want him to come
unless he straightened up. He said, go on up there to Sequoia.
Tim James and that church will take anything. That's what he
told him. I won't tell you who he is. That's right. Tim James and this church would
take anything. If you were a sinner, then you'd come. I'll tell you
about a friend of sinners, who died for sinners, who saved sinners,
who came into this world to seek and to save sinners. Sinners
feel comfortable around our Lord, the perfectly righteous and holy
man. They certainly ought to feel
comfortable around us. True righteousness, you see,
true righteousness is a friend of sinners. Christ is our righteousness. A son of man came eating and
drinking, and they said, Behold, a gluttonous man, a wine-doer,
a friend. of publicans and sinners. You're
a sinner? I'm not going to give an invitation.
We don't do that here. Ain't no altar up here. Ain't
just a bunch of fake flowers. Pretty but fake. They ain't going
to do nothing for you. But if you're a sinner in need
of a Savior in your heart without moving a muscle, believe Christ. Trust Him. You know what you'll
find? You've gained a friend that even
when all your good friends are dead, He lives on. And He'll always be your friend.
Father, bless us to our understanding. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Today, God bless you.