Well, let's turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew's gospel, chapter 11. I want to take the reading from the opening verse of the chapter and we'll read down to the verse 19. So Matthew's gospel, the chapter number 11, and let's hear the words that we have before us. Let's hear the word of God. Matthew 11, verse one, it says, and it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? I read, shaken with the wind. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily, I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered of violence and the violent taken by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling on to their fellows and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto you, And ye have not lamented, for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified of her children. We'll end our reading at the end of verse 19. We'll briefly engage in a word of prayer together and then bring God's word. Let's pray together. We thank Thee again for the reading of Thy word. We've been reading about our Saviour, and what a thrilling thing that is, Lord. We come to read of Him and His ministry, even in this world, through the Gospels, and we're glad of its record. And now, Lord, we pray, Lord, as the Saviour said on this occasion, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. O God, we pray for the opening of the ear and the opening of the understanding, and Thou wilt be pleased, Lord, to minister through the gospel and through the word as it's preached. Grand Lord, help and clarity of mind and thought and energy and more than that, dear God, give unction and power and then filling off the spirit of God, we offer prayer in and through the Savior's great high. and blessed name, amen and amen. I've taken really the words of the hymn, that last hymn that we have sung together this evening, as the title for tonight's gospel message, Jesus, the sinner's friend. Jesus, the sinner's friend. Such a title was ascribed to the Son of God on a number of occasions when he lived and he moved among the fallen sons and daughters. The Savior spoke of how others in Jewish society referred to Him as being the friend of publicans and of sinners. Here in Matthew 11 and the verse number 19, He said, on that occasion, the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. but wisdom is justified of her children. Undoubtedly these words were spoken in jest, but what's that saying? Many a true word is spoken ingest. And that is certainly the case whenever Jesus Christ was branded with the name or with the title a friend of publicans and sinners. What a slur was put upon the Son of God by his enemies and adversaries and yet what a truth Jesus is the friend of sinners. In Luke chapter 15 and the verse 2, the Pharisees and the scribes leveled this accusation against the Lord Jesus Christ. This man receiveth sinners and eateth That word literally translates to mean to receive into one's companionship or to receive into one's friendship. And so we have again this thought of the Savior being the sinner's friend, a friend. and I'm speaking about a good friend, is one of the greatest blessings that we can experience as a human being. Their wise and their unbiased counsel, their encouragement and their support, their example, their loyalty and their faithfulness are what we come to love about our friends. It was the godly bishop of Liverpool, J.C. Ryle, who said, a friend is one of the greatest blessings on earth. He said, tell me not of money, Love is better than gold. Sympathy is better than lions. He is a poor man who has no friends. A person who goes through this world with no friends is certainly an individual that is to be pitied. You know, maybe you're such an individual, you're maybe someone who has no friends. Well, there's a way in which you can acquire friends. The Bible tells you how you can acquire friends. We read there in the book of Proverbs 18, 24. to be friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh closer than any brother. You see, God places the onus on you if you want to have friends. You must show yourself to be friendly if you yourself are to have friends. Well, as I've said, friends are a most precious commodity that we have in our lives. And if we were honest, good friends are hard to find. And sometimes good friends, they're hard to keep with many acquaintances in our lives, but very few friends. George Whitefield, the great revivalist during the 18th century, this is what George Whitefield said. He says, a judicious friend, and to whose heart we may pour out our souls and tell our corruptions as well as our comforts, is a very great privilege. George Whitefield believed in having good friends, and he saw the value and the preciousness of having a friend. But it's not earthly friends that I want to speak about this evening. My subject matter that I want to address you upon is Jesus, the sinner's friend. This designation given to the Lord Jesus Christ by his adversaries in an attempt to tarnish and to damage his good name is one that every Christian can affirm Jesus Christ, the Son of God, truly is the sinner's friend. And all that I want to do this evening in this house tonight is to introduce you to my friend. All I want to do is introduce you to my friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the hope that if He is not your friend, that tonight He will become your friend. because Jesus Christ is the sinner's friend. As I do that, let me take the opportunity to say a few words, first of all, about the necessity of knowing the sinner's friend. The necessity of knowing the sinner's friend. Now, if we were honest, there are friends that we would be better off without in our lives. There are friends that we would be better off without in our lives. Bad friends. Friends who get us into trouble. Friends who entice us to sin and to ungodliness and to wickedness. And then there are friends that we couldn't do without in our lives. Good friends, loyal friends, trustworthy friends. But as good as earthly friends are, can I say that Jesus Christ is one friend that you cannot and I cannot do without in our lives. You see, sinful man needs a friend in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the fall, we enter this world as those who have fallen out of friendship with God. First man, Adam. walked and talked with God in his unfallen state. He communed and had fellowship with God as a friend had with and does with a friend. However, all that relationship changed. All of that relationship was altered when Adam disobeyed God by partaking of the forbidden fruit. And rather than being a friend of God, mankind had now become an enemy of God. And it is as enemies of God that we all enter this world. You and I know that whenever there are enemies or whenever there are parties at war with one another, a go-between, a mediator is required and needed to effect peace. And that is true. And such is the case when it comes to this, the sinner's friend, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a mediator. In fact, He is the only mediator between God and man. Only through what He did for man can man ever be saved. reconciled to God and reconciled with his fellow man. And therefore, we could say that Jesus Christ is an indispensable friend. In other words, He is a friend that you cannot do without. He is an indispensable friend. It is very apparent. As the gospel is preached in services like this and in this particular service, that there are individuals who do not view Jesus Christ in such a way. You do not view him as an indispensable friend. You do not view him as a friend that you can live or you cannot live without because you have not yet become his friend and he certainly has not become your friend. If you come to understand and you're brought to the appreciation that this one is indispensable, this one you cannot live without, then Jesus Christ would have become your friend a long, long time ago. But you see, you're of the opinion that you do not need the sinner's friend. You're of the opinion that you have lived long enough in your life without knowing him. You're of the settled opinion that the status quo between you and God does not need to change. Now while you may get through life without knowing Jesus Christ as your friend, although I'm at a loss in how you face life without Him, yet you'll never get through death or eternity without Him. If you desire to be in heaven, then a friendship must be forged between you and Him. And that is only possible, that is only possible when that which hinders friendship with God, your sin, is put away to the satisfaction of God, is dealt with by the cross and by the blood of Jesus Christ. Your sin inhibits friendship with God. You are separated from God. You are in enmity with God. You are an enemy of God. And until sin is dealt with to the satisfaction of God, then you will remain in that state. And therefore, tonight, we would encourage you to forsake and abandon your sin and receive Jesus Christ, the sinner's friend. Because as we have just sung, there's not a friend. like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus, the sinner's friend. You may say, well, preacher, how do you know that he's a sinner's friend? I know that he's a sinner's friend because of what I read in the scriptures concerning him. God has given us four gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke and John. And in those four Gospels, as you make your way through those particular passages of Scripture, those books in the New Testament, just at the entrance off the New Testament, you'll find that Jesus Christ lived among fallen humanity. And when he lived among fallen humanity, he went about preaching the Gospel. We're told that in verse number 5, The poor of the gospel preached unto them. And as Christ went about preaching the gospel, He found sinners that He redeemed, that He cleansed, that He forgave, and that He brought into His family. He proved during His earthly ministry that He was the sinner's friend. The wonderful thing is that He saved. Many, many sinners, great sinners, different kinds of sinners. I started to think about that and listed a number of them. Was the Savior not a friend to women who had committed great sins before God? Ah, we think of that unnamed Samaritan woman who met the Son of God at Sy Carr's Well. We read about her in John's Gospel in Chapter 4. If that lady had lived today, we would have called her a homewrecker. She would have been a homewrecker, and so she was. We find this woman had five different husbands, and the husband that she was now with was not her husband. Her sixth husband was not her husband, but the husband of another woman. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ became her friend. He conversed with her about her need, her need of living water. the water in the well would never satisfy, but he spoke about he, he was the well in whom there is living water, and if she drew from the well of salvation, if she drew from Christ, she would never thirst again. That day, that woman met Jesus Christ, and that day, that woman, that homewrecker became a Christian. And how do I know that? I know that because she went into the city, and the man that she had committed her sin with, She went and visited each man, and she told them these words, I think of Mary Magdalene, a lady in whom there were seven devils. A lady who was demon possessed and yet the Savior met her and we're told that the Savior had cast seven devils out of her and Mary Magdalene would become one of the Savior's most devoted and one of the Savior's most loyal friends. She was there at the cross. She was there at early morning whenever Christ rose again from the dead. She had made the appointment with others, a rendezvous to take place at the tomb on resurrection morning in order to emband the Lord Jesus Christ. What had happened this woman? She had become a friend of Christ and Christ had become her friend. I think about the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Again, she's not named. John chapter 8, you'll not read it in the NIV. NIV takes it out, that story, but you'll read it in the Scriptures of truth, in the Gospels. John chapter 8, this woman, she was caught in the act of adultery and thrown in before the Savior by the scribes and Pharisees. You can imagine the shame and the guilt that that woman must have felt as she appeared before now the holy and the sinless and the pure and the innocent Son of God. And there she is with her sin taken in the very act of adultery. I don't know how she appeared that day, maybe scantily clothed. She'd been dragged out of the bed in which she had been in, thrown in before the Savior, shame before Him, and the Savior dealt with that woman. And I can imagine the guilt and the shame and the disgrace that she must have felt, but then I can also imagine the relief and the joy that she must have experienced whenever the Master said unto her, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. He had become her friend. What about that woman who anointed the head of the Savior? She washed His feet with her tears. So copious were they, so many were they that she was able to wash His feet with her tears. And she would then take her hair and she would wipe his feet with her hair and she would repeatedly kiss the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was deemed by others to be a sinner, a notorious sinner, an infamous sinner in her neighborhood. They said it about her, she's a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ knowing that. He turned to that woman and seeing her contrition and seeing her repentance with regard to her sins, he said to her, "'Thy sins are forgiven thee.'" That resulted in her becoming a child of God and a friend of Christ, a notorious woman, a woman who committed great sins before God. He was a friend to them. He was also a friend to men who had committed great sins against God. I think of that swindling, scheming, dishonest tax collector from the city of Jericho, Zacchaeus, When Jesus Christ made his way to Zacchaeus' home, what did his enemies say? They murmured. It says they murmured, saying that he was going to be a guest with a man that is a what? A sinner. He's a sinner. You know, God did something radical in the life of Zacchaeus. Changed his whole nature. In such a dramatic way that instead of being a money grabber, he became a money giver as he reimbursed fourfold all those he had cheated out of their money. He had become Zacchaeus' friend. What about that dying thief who was put to death by the Romans for his crimes? Saved at the eleventh hour, promised a place in paradise by the Lord Jesus Christ. What a friend! What a friend to meet when you're about to go out into God's eternity! What a friend to meet Jesus Christ, the sinner's friend! To meet Him at the cross, just before you're about to go out into God's eternity, just before you're about to draw your last breath. What a man! What a friend to meet! A friend who could redeem, a friend who could cleanse, a friend who could guarantee you a place in God's heaven. And that's exactly what Christ the Savior did for that notorious criminal. He saved him, he redeemed him, and he rescued him and ransomed him. And that dying thief, he found a friend in Jesus Christ. I think of Saul of Tarsus who consented to the death of one of the finest men you could have ever read. And you can read about in the entire New Testament scripture, Stephen, that lovely deacon from Jerusalem, that spirit-filled man. And Saul of Tarsus consented and agreed to his very death. And Saul was certainly no lover of the gospel, but all that changed when God met him on the Damascus road and converted him, and he found a friend in Jesus. And if had it been written not to him at that time, he would have went on to say, and now he's everything to me. Because that's what Jesus Christ becomes to you. When you meet him in the gospel, he becomes everything to you. He becomes your greatest friend. You know, all of these people, they were great sinners, and they had come to put their faith and trust in the sinner's friend. They were brought to a place, a juncture, a moment in their lives when they realized the necessity of knowing the sinner's friend. I must know this friend savingly. And that's what we're praying for you. That's what we're praying for you, that you'll come to such a realization in your life, that you'll come to see that without Christ, there is no way that you'll be able to stand before God in the judgment. You see, you need the sinner's friend. You need the sinner's friend to be your savior and your advocate on that day. Do you know the sinner's friend? And so we think about this one, the necessity of knowing him. But as we think about the sinner's friend, I want to think, secondly, about the qualities of the sinner's friend. You know, we choose our friends on the basis of the qualities that they possess, or at least we should. Traits such as kindness. Honesty, generosity, trustworthiness, genuineness. These are some of the traits that we look for in potential friends. Here's an individual. I'm looking at him. I'm studying that individual. I'm wondering, are they trustworthy? Are they loyal? Are they generous? Are they genuine? Could that individual be a friend to me? With that in mind, What then are some of the qualities that the sinner's friend possesses that should endear you to him, that should win you to him? The list isn't exhaustive, but let me say in the first place that the sinner's friend, Jesus, the sinner's friend, is a truthful friend, a truthful friend. Rather than telling you what you want to hear, a real friend will tell you what you need to hear. Certainly, they are no friends who will tell you lies or sell you falsehoods. All solid, all lasting friendships are grounded on the virtue of truthfulness. There's an individual who is truthful, and they're my friend. Well, Jesus, a sinner's friend, will always be truthful when it comes to his dealings with us. He never shies away from the truth. He never shies away from the facts, the fact that we're sinners through and through. And unless sin is repented of and faith is exercised in Him, that the sinner will die in their sin and be eternally separated from God in hell. It is He who is the truth that deals with the sinner in truthfulness. It is not until you come to be truthful with your heart that God can make any headway with you as an individual. I wonder, will you be truthful tonight with your own heart? Take a look into your heart, sinner. Take a close look. See the mass of corruption that resides there. See your sin for what it is. You say, preacher, well, what is my sin? I say that your sin is soul damning. Did you get that? Your sin is soul-damning. Your sin is not only soul-damning, but it is Christ-crucifying. Your sin kneeled Christ to the cross. And your sin is misery-inducing. For sin brings only heartache and misery and sorrow into a person's life. See your sin for what it is, soul-damning, Christ-crucifying, and misery-inducing. And having seen that, see your utter helplessness and hopelessness, and in seeing it all, run to Christ. Run to Christ. Run. Run. Flee from wrath to come. Run. Run to Christ. Rally to Christ. He is a way to Christ, sinner, lest you die in your sin. without Him. Run to His Savior. Run to the cross. Run to the blood-filled fountain. Run to the sinner's friend. Not only is He a truthful friend, He's a powerful friend. We all need friends like that, friends who are powerful, friends who can help us to support us when we have no power of our own. I am a sinner's We are without power. The Bible speaks of us being without strength, without strengths. But the sinner's friend, Jesus Christ, he's not cumbered about with weakness or such limitation. No, he is power, divine power, almighty power, irresistible power. He has power to pardon and power to forgive the vilest offender who truly believes. He has power to convert the hardest and the most obstinate of sinners. He has power to keep you and to eventually bring all to glory, those whom He saves. Maybe tonight you doubt His power. On what grounds do you doubt? On what grounds do you doubt His power? Do you know of some sinner who came to Him? and he never received them? That he was turned away because his or her case was too complex, too difficult for the Savior to deal with? What sin do you know that was so ingrained into the life of some individual that you know that Jesus Christ couldn't deal with? I say, sinner, doubt not the sinner's friend. He is mighty to save. He has power on earth. to forgive sins. He's a powerful friend. He's a truthful friend. He's a loving friend. A loving friend. Proverbs 17, 17. A friend loveth at all times. And a brother is born for adversity. What's the point in having a friend who hits you? Wouldn't be much of a friend. What's the point in having a friend who despises you? No, no, a true friend. A true friend will love you. They'll love you. And Jesus Christ is found to be a loving friend. To all who embrace him in the gospel, in love he receives us. In love he never casts any away. All who come to him by faith, and having come to him, he continues to exhibit his love. In love he chastens us. In love he corrects us. In love he directs us. In love he withholds from us. And in love he gives to us. The Lord Jesus Christ loves sinners in whom there is no good thing. Never was there so loving a friend as Jesus Christ. I wonder, has he in love delivered your soul from the pit of corruption? Has he in love cast your sins behind his back? God does that in love. God commendeth his love toward you. And while you are yet a sinner, Christ died for you. He's a loving friend. And then can I say that he is an unfailing friend. No matter who our friends are, there are times that they do fail us. But that can never be said of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner's friend. He never changes and therefore his friendship never changes to those who are his friends. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. Little Children's Hymn, it puts it like this, unlike our friends by nature, who change with changing years, where Jesus Christ is the friend who never changes and whose love will never die. I ask you tonight, I use the simplest language that I can find in my vocabulary, are you or are you not a friend of Christ? Are you one of Christ's friends? You may be saying, well, preacher, I don't really know if I'm a friend of Christ or not. Well, can I say that there's a way in which you can know? Jesus Christ gave it to you. You'll find it in John's gospel, chapter 15, verse 14. Let me read the verse to you. That's how you know if you're a friend of Christ. Are you obeying Him? Are you obeying what He has commanded you to do? He commanded you to repent and believe the gospel. That's the first command. Have you obeyed that command? If you have obeyed that command, then you are a friend of Christ. And if you continue to obey Him in all things that He commands you, Then ye are my friends. Is it your desire to obey the Lord in all things? You know, I could speak about him as being a sympathizing friend. It's not what friends do. When sorrow rends the heart, friends come to the door. Someone once said, a friend is someone that goes in whenever the world goes out. A sympathizing friend, the sympathizing Savior, No Savior like Him, no friend like Him. He comes whenever everyone goes. He empathizes and He sympathizes with us because He was a man like we were, without sin. And He bore and He endured all the miseries of this life. He knew what it was to be forsaken. He knew what it was to have His name blackened by society. He knew it all. And he can sympathize with us because he's a sympathizing friend. He's a faithful friend. He's a wise friend. He's a tried and tested friend. You know, I could ask tonight every believer to stand to their feet tonight and ask the question, if Christ has ever failed you, take your seat. I would believe that every child of God would remain standing. He has never failed me once, and he never will. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. He is these things, but I'll leave it there. And tonight, Jesus Christ bids you to come to be his friend. Will you come? Will you come? Let me close. I want to say a few words very briefly about the ministry of the sinner's friend. Let me give you this quote. It says, Now let's think about what the sinner's friend has done. Let's think about what he is doing, and yet what he is to do, because it makes him a friend whose equal cannot be found. Can I say that he came down for me? This friend came down from heaven for me, down from glory. To this world of sin and woe did my Savior come. For our sake, He took our nature upon Him. He was born of a woman. He who was truly and fully God. He who was equal with the Father. Veiled His glory for a season. And took upon Him flesh and blood like our own. The Almighty Creator becomes the infant. experiences our bodily weakness and infirmities sin only accepted though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich i know of no earthly friend that ever did that for me and then he lived for me For my sake, the Son of God lived 33 years in this evil, sinful world, a perfectly righteous life. He would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Though he was the king of kings, he had nowhere to lay his head. Though he was the Lord of lords, he was weak and hungry and weary and thirsty and purred. But in his life, he honored the law, and on my behalf, he secured a perfect righteousness for me. I know of no earthly friend that ever did that for me. And then he died for me. He died for me, for my sake. He suffered the most painful of all deaths, the death of the cross. Though innocent and without fault, he allowed himself to be condemned found guilty. He who was the prince of life was led as a lamb to the slaughter, poured out his soul on to death. He died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. I know of no earthly friend that ever did that for me. And then he rose again for me, having destroyed by his death he that had the power of death. Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, with death unable to hold its prey, and rising again, it is the guarantee that all that have trusted in him will rise again to the resurrection of eternal life. I know of no earthly friend that ever rose again from the dead, or rose again from the dead for me. He ascended back to heaven for me. And there he lives to intercede and to plead for me in glory. There in glory he continues to present the worth of the sacrifice that he offered on my behalf. I know of no earthly friend in the glory who's ever living to make intercession for me. And he's coming back again for me. Someday the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout The voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet in the Lord in the air and so and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I know of no earthly friend who will do that for me who will come from heaven and take this body and this soul of mine to glory. Do you know of any earthly friend that would do those things for you? But tonight I'm speaking about the sinner's friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I say that tonight if Jesus Christ, and if you meet him in the gospel, and if tonight he becomes your friend, I can assure you that he'll stand by you to the last. Like earthly friends who come and go, he'll stay with you until the moment your soul flies beyond the starry skies and takes up its residency among the spirits of just men made perfect. He'll be with you to the end. What a friend. Someone prayed it tonight in our prayer meeting. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear, What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. How does this one become your friend? All He asks you to do is turn from sin. All He asks you to do is to confess your sin to Him and trust alone in His finished work on the cross. This friend of sinners will welcome you with open arms. He will. He welcomed me in that way, and He'll welcome you. He doesn't change. He'll welcome you with open arms. He's a friend of sinners, you see. He's a friend of sinners. You're a sinner, are you not? Are you not a sinner? You surely don't need to be convinced of that. And so tonight, He can become your friend, your friend in the gospel. Will you come to Him? Will you come to Him now, tonight? Tonight, will you come to Him, where you are, and say, Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, and I'm deserving of hell, but I believe that you're the sinner's friend, and I believe that as the sinner's friend, you have done all that is necessary to reconcile me to God, and now I trust in your work, and by faith I receive you as my Savior, and tonight, tonight, I yield my life to thee, and tonight I cry to thee, save me. Save me, I perish. Become my friend and help me to be your friend. Can I say from personal experience that I have found the Lord Jesus Christ to be the best friend. I don't care about any of my earthly friends. I don't have too many of them. But in comparison to them, I find that Jesus Christ is the best friend. Is He your friend? I trust that you'll find that to be the same. I trust that you'll find Him to be the best of friends. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. Maybe the Lord has spoken to you. Maybe you're watching in, you're listening in. Maybe there's someone else and you're in the meeting and God has dealt with you in the gospel. We'd like to speak about these things. Why not stay behind, stay in your pew? Or maybe you want to go out and come back in again. We'll be here. May God deal with you just now, even as the meeting is closed in a word of prayer. Let's pray together. Loving Father and gracious God, we come to thee in Jesus' name. How glad, Lord, we are that we have found a friend in Jesus, and he's everything to us. Lord, we rejoice in a friend like no other. O God, we recognize that many times we speak about our earthly friends, and what are they compared to thee? We thank thee for one who is a truthful friend, a faithful friend, Lord, a loving friend, Lord, a friend who's got power, a powerful friend. and one who's able to save, and that to the uttermost. Oh, may there be those, oh God, in this meeting, others listening in, who find themselves out of friendship with God. Oh, may tonight they be reconciled to him. And may tonight they come and say, yes, preacher, you're right, having trusted in Christ, I have found a friend in Christ. And certainly he is the truest and the dearest friend that I now have. Lord, help us, we pray, and may thy people remember who they have in their Savior. O God, may they remember that there is a friend in Christ to whom they can go to, unburden themselves to, have confidence in, knowing that he will never break confidence. He will never, as it were, rehearse that which we speak into his ear, but he'll keep it to himself. What a faithful and a loyal and trustworthy friend thou art. O may thou in thy mercy become someone's friend in the gospel. May reconciliation take place and may God in his mercy deal with hearts. We offer prayer now in and through the Savior's presence.