God is Light, Part 1

Hi, this is the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. The last several years has seen a bit of a falling away of churchgoers, hasn't it? The reasons are many, but, none the less, it's a real issue to pray about. The early church faced a similar issue.

Some of the folks were leaving the fellowship and would turn around and preach another gospel and spread doubt among those who stayed. It's at this point where we get the passage that talks about walking in the light as he's in the light. Here's John, with God is Light, Part 1. In 1 John chapter 1, we're looking at chapter 1, verses 5 through chapter 2, verse 2. John, as we have looked at, he has begun this letter with a proclamation of what he calls the proclamation of the gospel of the word of life.

So from the very outset of this letter, the very first thing that John does to give assurance to these churches, the people who remained faithful in these churches, was to give them the gospel. I think that's very important to understand that. If a group of churches are struggling with assurance, what do you give them to bolster their assurance and to build their faith? Do you give them the law or the gospel? Because what had happened was this: some of the members of these churches that John was in fellowship with had departed and they had adopted conflicting beliefs about the person and work of Christ.

Specifically, what had happened was those who had departed, who were members of the church, and they had departed, and they were denying that Jesus had come in the flesh, and they were denying the reality of the incarnation. And because of that, it led to deny was the. The need for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for their sins. That's quite a serious denial.

So they had adopted a false gospel. And so John John had to come and remind these believers. of the gospel that he had proclaimed to them because what had happened was These church members who hadn't left. And had adopted this different gospel, it had caused confusion. in those that remained.

Doubts set in, confusion set in. These believers, they were wondering this: well, don't we really know God? Because. We're not sure. Or do we have the truth?

We're not sure. Do we really have eternal life? Do we have salvation? Are we saved? Is this gospel that John and the Apostles proclaim to us?

Is this true? And John overcomes their doubts right at the beginning of this letter. And he overcomes their confusion by giving to them the foundation and purpose of the gospel. He says, Look, Jesus is real. He did come in the flesh.

His incarnation was real. And he says that we have heard him, we have seen him, we have touched him firsthand. And so, this is what he teaches us: the assurance of our salvation. How can we be sure that we have salvation? John says.

You can have assurance because your assurance is resting on this firm foundation that the gospel was manifest, and we heard the gospel, we saw the gospel, we looked at it, which I said meant to put him under a microscope and carefully examine him. And he says, we have touched the word of life. We have touched the gospel. And so, this is what the assurance of our foundation, the assurance of our faith, this is the foundation by which it rests today. This testimony, this eyewitness testimony of the apostles.

Then John says it's not enough just simply to proclaim the historical reality of this manifestation of Christ, but we have to understand the theological significance and purpose of it. And he says that purpose, chapter 1, verse 3: the purpose of this gospel is to bring us into fellowship with each other. And he says, fellowship with the triune God, which was, he says, What we have seen and what we have heard, we proclaim to you. Why? Here it is.

So that you might too have fellowship with us. And he says, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And so the proclamation of the gospel in the church creates a fellowship of believers. Who comes into fellowship with the triune God, and together, this is what the gospel is creating. This is the question that comes up.

What is the nature of this fellowship that results from the proclamation of the gospel? What is the nature of this fellowship? And so, John, he proceeds in chapter 1, verse 5, through chapter 2, and throughout the letter. He he proceeds to teach us what The nature of this fellowship is that the gospel actually creates. Look at chapter 1, verse 5, and John makes this fundamental theological statement about this fellowship.

This is what he says. He says, This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you. What is the message that John heard? The apostles heard from the incarnate Christ when they were with him? He says, This is the message that we heard from Christ and that we announced to you: that God is light.

And then he says it again, but in the negative way. And he says, and in him there's no darkness at all, God is light. This statement in chapter 1, verse 5 is the foundation for all that follows through chapter 2, verse 2. What follows in chapter 1, verse 6 to chapter 2, verse 2 is an explanation of this message. That God is light.

This message that this light creates this fellowship with God that John and the Apostles announce. This is the foundation. God is light, the character of God. He bases the whole thing on this. And listen, this is, I believe what John is saying here is powerful about the deity of Christ.

Because he says, listen, this is the message that we have heard from him. And he just talked about the message in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Who is the incarnate God in human flesh? Christ. He's saying, This is the message that we heard from God.

Who is Christ in human flesh? This is what he taught us about the nature of this fellowship that he is creating as we proclaim this gospel to you. What a powerful statement.

Now, let's not forget the broader context of what John is doing. John, the major burden of chapter 1, verse 5, to the end of chapter 2. That's the whole first cycle of teaching in this letter. And John's major burden in this whole first section of this letter that we're going to look at. Is to bring assurance to believers in his congregation after some of the former members of whom they knew had left the churches and they had lost their assurance because of that.

Listen, it is a very and we're going to see this as we go through the letter, especially as we get to like chapter 2, verse 19. It is a very serious matter to depart from the visible church. And part of what happens is when leavers depart from the visible church, those who remain become confused. Why did they leave? What have they perhaps found that might be better than what we're getting?

That is exactly what is taking place in these churches. And so these people stayed in John's church, the fellowship of John's churches, the apostles' churches that John had planted in this region. They're like, well. Do we know the truth? Do they have the truth?

Are we missing something here? Because you listen, what John's going to address here is that, listen, not only have these believers. Adopted a conflicting view about the person and work of Christ. But they had also, when they departed, adopted different views of human sin. What they had adopted was Now that we have come into this higher knowledge of God, We don't sin anymore.

And the people who were in John's churches who had embraced John's gospel were looking around at themselves going. Um Uh I kind of still blow it. Yeah. I still sin. And so, what John does, I'm going to come back to him in a minute to give you the context, but what John does is he formally introduces the topic of sin in chapter 1, verse 5, when he says, God, Christ, God is light, and in him, there's no darkness at all.

There's no sin in God, there's no sin in Christ who creates this fellowship. And John in chapter 1, verse 5 through chapter 2, verse 2, he's addressing those who departed. He's addressing their denial of human sinfulness and the need for Jesus' propitiation for sins. Listen carefully. Those who left John's churches claim to have entered into this higher fellowship with God than what the people had who remained.

But John says their profession is flawed. Because they claim to have this heightened fellowship with God now, but John says, these people who have departed. They're walking in darkness. Listen carefully, and because the so-called heightened fellowship with God, these are super spiritual Christians, right? They claim that they have now, because of this higher knowledge of God, they've claimed that they have ceased to sin.

And so these claims by those who departed from the churches created doubts in the minds of those who remained in the churches that John was in fellowship with. This is probably something like what they were thinking.

Well, we continue to sin, so do we really have fellowship with God? Because we keep sinning, and they're saying they don't sin anymore because they know God and they have this real fellowship, they have this real knowledge. We don't have that.

So they were probably thinking, well, gosh, do we really know God? Is Jesus' atoning sacrifice for our sin really necessary? Do we need Jesus' death on the cross for our sins? Do we really have eternal life, or have they entered into a higher type of life that we're missing?

So, should we depart and go with them, or should we stay in the church and keep listening to John and the Apostles? Do you see the lack of assurance here? This is what was going on in the churches that John is writing to.

So, to bring assurance to his readers who remained in the fellowship of the churches that he and the apostles had proclaimed this gospel to John in chapter 1, verses 5 through 10. This is what he does. He refutes three false claims to fellowship made by those who had left the churches. All right, look at verses 6 and 8 and 10. He's addressing those who have left the churches.

Verse 6, if we claim to have fellowship. Verse 8, if we claim to be without sin, Verse 10, if we claimed we have not sinned. This is These are the claims made by those who had left the churches, not the claim of those who remained in the churches. Do you understand the difference? And so, what John is doing is by refuting the claims of those who left the fellowship, John is assuring those who remained in the church that they're actually in fellowship with God, that they do have eternal life.

Do you see what's going on here? Let's look at the first claim to me in verses 6 and 7. Look what John says. This is the first false claim that he refutes. It's the claim to have fellowship with God, yet walk in the darkness.

John says this, he says, if we claim to have fellowship with him, so he's addressing the claim of those who have departed his churches. Listen again, he is not addressing the believers who remained in the fellowship of his churches and who professed the gospel that he preached to them. He is addressing those who have departed from the church and deny the gospel that he preached to them. Is everybody getting that?

So listen, if we claim to have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth, do not practice the truth. But now, listen, now he's addressing those who are. In his churches, receiving his gospel and being faithful to his gospel, that he proclaimed to them. Verse 7. He says, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And that goes back to verse 3, where you preach the gospel, it creates fellowship with each other, fellowship with triune God. He says, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. And so first John refutes the claim by those who departed that they're saying, well, we have fellowship with God. But John says, but they continue to walk in the darkness. They don't have fellowship with God.

John's message is about the character of God. He says, if God is light, Those who are in fellowship with God will walk in the light, not in the darkness. And so this is what we have to ask, and this is the $10 million question that most Lordship salvation teachers do not get correct and destroy your assurance. What does John mean by walking in the light? and walking in the darkness.

Most of us have heard that, well, if you walk in light, you're going to be submitted to the Lordship of Christ and be obeying and doing all this stuff, and your life is going to be on this trajectory of constant obedience. No, that's not at all what John's saying here. Probably the best explanation for what John is saying here in these phrases: walk in the darkness, walk in the light, is found in John chapter 3, verses 19 through 21. This is what Jesus says in John chapter 3, verses 19 and 21. He says, This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and he says.

And men love the darkness rather than the light. For their deeds were evil. Verse 24: Everyone who does evil hates light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

So, what is Jesus saying here? What is John saying in his gospel that Jesus said? Because John is saying the exact same thing here in 1 John that Jesus says in John chapter 3, right here. What is it saying? What does it mean to walk in the light?

It means this in this context. Walk in the light means to receive God's revelation of Himself through His Son. It means chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. You have to read this in context. Go back to chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.

Who has been manifested to us? What is a manifestation? That is light, that is disclosure, that is revelation. Who's revealed to us, the word of life, who is with the Father, the eternal life who is with the Father and has been manifested to us. What does it mean to walk in the light?

John says it means to live in light of receiving the. the the pure true gospel that the apostles have proclaimed. Then, secondly, it means to live in light of the truth of the gospel. And what does that look like? Fellowship.

What does this fellowship look like? That's what John's going to tell us from chapter 1, verse 5 to chapter 2, verse 2. For example, as we'll get to it in a couple of weeks, what does this look like to walk in the light? If you're in fellowship or you're receiving, you're walking in the light, you're receiving the light of the gospel proclaimed by the apostles. You confess your sins.

You don't do what those who departed from the church did. We don't have any sin. That's not walking in the light. Because if you're walking in the light, what does a light do? Jesus tells you.

The light exposes your sin. What does walking in the darkness mean? Walking in the darkness is simply the opposite of walking in light, is to reject God's revelation of Himself in Christ. It is to reject this apostolic gospel, chapter one, verses one through four. is to reject Christ Manifested in human flesh, dying on the cross for your sins.

It's to live your life in a way and behave that is antithetical to God's revealed will. It is, John says, to not practice the truth. What does that mean in this context? First, It is this. Listen, the church is what?

The church is where God's light is. What is that light? The gospel. It's where the apostolic gospel of chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, is proclaimed. There's no darkness there.

The church is where you come to receive light, where you come to receive Christ manifested for the salvation of your soul. Right? And your body. And the church is where God's light is because that's where the gospel is proclaimed, where there's no darkness. The fact that the secessionists, those who have seceded, those who have departed from the church, The fact that they have left the fellowship means they're walking in darkness.

The fact that they have denied that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, come in human flesh, they're walking in darkness. The fact that they deny the reality of sin means they are walking in darkness. The fact that they deny the need for Jesus to save them from their sins and be an atoning sacrifice, chapter 2, verse 2, means they're walking in darkness. They have rejected the gospel proclaimed by John and the Apostles. They have departed the fellowship of that apostolic church.

Which, listen, John says in chapter 1, verse 3 is the only proclamation message that can bring you into fellowship. with each other and with God.

So John says, if you are departing from that light, you are in the darkness. Look what John says. They're guilty of two offenses for those who walk in darkness. He says, Those who walk in darkness are guilty of lying about their relationship with God. Why?

Because he says in chapter 1, verse 3: what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you. Why do we proclaim this?

So that you may have faith. Fellowship with us. These people who rejected the light of the gospel and do not have Christ as their Savior and are rejecting the visible church's message. John says, they're walking in darkness. They're lying.

Why are they lying? Because the very purpose of this apostolic message is to bring you into fellowship with each other. It's the very purpose of the proclamation of the gospel. John says, the message that they heard from Christ, God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. Says there's no fellowship between light and darkness.

Therefore, the claim made by those who departed to have fellowship with God is false. The proclamation of the apostolic gospel, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, is for the very express purpose to put believers, sinners, into the fellowship of the body of Christ. Second, look what John says: this consequence. John says, and those who walk in darkness are guilty of not practicing the truth. They don't practice the truth.

Again, this phrase to practice or do the truth is the only time found here in 1 John. But it also occurs in John chapter 3, verse 21, which I read to you. Jesus says, he who practices the truth, he who... Does the truth Comes to light so that his deeds may be manifested as have been wrought in God in this context. What is practicing the truth?

In John's Gospel is the opposite of doing evil.

So, rejecting the light of the gospel, it is hiding so that your sinful deeds will not be exposed. It's the sin of unbelief. This suggests in 1 John chapter 1, verse 6, that practicing the truth means. Living in the light of the truth of the apostolic gospel. Is what?

What does it look like? Admitting that you're a sinner. Chapter 1 verse 9, confession of sin. Listen. Admitting that you stand in need of Christ's atoning death for the forgiveness of your ongoing daily sin.

John says, It's not enough for those who departed to claim to know God, to have entered into this higher knowledge and fellowship with God. He says they have to live in light of the truth of the gospel and admit their sin. Admit their need for the atoning sacrifice of Christ. This is not what they were doing, they were not practicing the truth. Looking at verse 7, John further explains what it means to practice the truth in verse 7.

He offers a counterargument to those who have departed from the church. Here it is: But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus. His son cleanses us from all sin.

So, again, walking in the light. Just mind you, what isn't walking in the light is to receive God's revelation of Himself through His Son. It's to receive eternal life. It's to receive the forgiveness of sins. In contrast to these two negative offenses in verse 6, for those who walk in darkness, John lists two positive consequences from those who walk in the light, those who are receiving this apostolic gospel and remaining faithful to what the apostles have handed down to them in these churches.

John says, Look at this. The first consequence from those who walk in the light is fellowship with one another. This is so important post-COVID. This is so fundamentally. Important post-COVID because Kathy's father shared with us an article that he's read recently, how church after church after church is now closing and people are not coming back to church at all.

They're not coming back. As people walk in the light, John says, they have. Fellowship with one another. This is what the gospel produces. Listen again to chapter 1, verse 3.

What we have seen and heard, that's the manifestation of Christ in human flesh. Listen. We have proclaimed to you so that the purpose of is to bring you into fellowship with us. And John says: if you depart from this fellowship, but yet claim to have fellowship with God, you're a liar. Because that is the exact opposite of the very purpose for which God has given the gospel to be proclaimed.

The proclamation of the gospel creates this fellowship that believers share with each other and with the triune God. And here, John emphasizes the horizontal fellowship that believers have with each other. And what John is doing is this, and I'm going to show you here in just a second. What John is doing is he's emphasizing that there's no real fellowship with God. You can claim to have fellowship with God, John says, but if you depart from the fellowship that God is creating through his gospel, You don't express that fellowship with other believers.

You're not walking in the light, you're in the darkness.

Now, listen carefully. John, again, his purpose to get the big picture here. Yeah. John's purpose And his desire is to assure his readers of their salvation. How does he do this?

How is he doing this here? He's refuting the claim of those who have departed, verse 6. Who claim to have fellowship with God, but they don't share fellowship with the believers in John's churches. They have departed. Look at chapter 1, or excuse me, look at 1 John chapter 2, verse 19.

Look what John says about those who have departed. He says, They went out from us. He says, but they were not Really, of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But he says, but they went out so that it would be shown that they.

All are not of us. John makes this similar statement in 1 John 4, verses 20 and 21. He says, If someone, and he's talking again about those who have departed the church. He's not talking now about those who are in the church. He says, if someone says, who's departed?

Oh, I love God. In other words, I'm in fellowship with God. and hates his brother. Those who remained in the fellowship of John's churches. He is a higher.

Exactly what he says here in chapter 1. Why? He says, Lord, those who have departed, who do not love his brother, whom he has seen. cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, from Christ.

Listen down. One who loves God should love his brother also, should love the fellowship of God's church. John says, loving fellow believers in the church, rather than departing from them and abandoning the fellowship, is what it looks like to live in the light of the truth of the gospel. It's what it looks like to walk in the light. John is teaching us, and this is how you get assurance: as you walk in the light, as you receive the gospel that is given to you.

You increasingly find that fellowship with God's people is more and more delightful, and listen, valuable to your. Gross. That message right there is just not, it is just the bullseye for post-COVID church. John's refuting. the claim of those who departed that they have fellowship with God.

Yet, walk in darkness. What is that? They don't share fellowship with fellow believers and they don't want to. The second consequence from those who walk in the light is this: that the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. What is John saying here?

Well, recall this: those who left the church denied human sinfulness. And they deny the need for Jesus' cleansing from sin. John says that the consequence of walking in the light of receiving the gospel is this, is that the blood of Jesus, and in the Greek, the tense is ongoing forever. The blood of Jesus is constantly, constantly cleansing believers from their sin. In contrast, those who remained in the churches received the apostolic gospel.

The positive consequence is they have forgiveness.

So, listen carefully. One important lesson, and this will help you have assurance right now. If you want assurance, if you want assurance right now this morning, listen right now. This important lesson that John is teaching us is this: that the second consequence of walking in the light means that those who walk in the light do not cease to sin. Isn't that ironic?

You can, it's so ironic, and this is not a license for you to sin, it's just the truth. If you're walking in the light, you're not going to cease sinning. And you can have assurance from that. You can find comfort in that because those who left the church said they have got this high knowledge of God that they've entered into and they see sinning.

So they don't need Jesus to forgive them and cleanse them. John says, no, no, no, no, you're walking in the darkness. John says walking in the light means what Jesus says in John chapter 3 verses 19 through 21. We don't seek to hide the fact from God that we sin. I sin all the time.

I had a conversation with Catherine this week. I blew it bad this past week. I just got to a boiling point about some things in my life. And I just had had it and I just blew it big time. And we had a long talk about it, and I just said, I am just so sick and tired of my sin.

And that's what it is to walk in the light. The secessionists and those who left, verses 8 through 10, is exactly the opposite of this. They claim to no longer sin. Such a claim, John says, is characteristic of those who walk in darkness, not the light.

So, this ironic thing is that acknowledging that one does sin is a source of assurance because this is a consequence of walking in the light. The confidence to acknowledge one's sin is grounded in the assurance that the blood of Jesus purifies the believer from all or his or her sin. You don't have to be afraid. It's great that you walk in the light, and that the light begins to reveal to you as you wake up: man, I am really bad. And it's not just that I'm bad, I do bad things, I sin, and I am a sinner, both.

And that's how you can have assurance. Because your confidence is found that Here, when you acknowledge that you have sinned, your confidence, your faith is grounded in the assuring promise that the blood of Jesus purifies the believer from all his or her sin. Purification from sin is virtually equivalent to the forgiveness of sins. Chapter 1, verse 9, this is what John says. Look what he says, really quick.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous. What? To forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is exactly found from Jeremiah 33, verse 8. Listen to what the Lord promises.

I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me. Aren't you grateful for that? I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. The cleansing and forgiveness of sins is possible, John says, because of the blood of Jesus. What is the blood of Jesus?

It is his substitutionary death on the cross. This is what the author of Hebrews says. In Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22, he says, Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Because Christ shed his blood for us on the cross, our sins can be forgiven and he can be just because his justice was satisfied with his son on the cross, so he can forgive us and be faithful to us in his promise. The scriptures tell us that when God forgives our sin, He remembers them no more.

What does that mean? It doesn't mean he forgets, because he's omniscient. But to remember our sins no more is God's way of expressing absolute, total forgiveness. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 12, quoting Jeremiah 31, verse 34. Listen to what God promises: I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Hebrews chapter 10 verses 17 and 18. God says their sin, their sins in lawless acts. I will Remember, no More. The blood of Jesus purifies us. From all our sin.

Look what it says. The blood of his son Jesus cleanses us from some sin. I hope all of you correct me right now. The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from. All sin.

Every sin you've committed till you came here today, when you came here today, is not holding that against you. Jeremy Bridges, he says, to remember is to choose not to bring something to one's mind ever again. And God has promised never to remember our sins, never to bring them to his mind again. What an overwhelming thought. What joy this should bring to our hearts.

Think of some of your more recent sins. Sins of which you are now ashamed. It may have been an unkind word. A resentful attitude. or a lustful thought.

Whatever it might be, God says He has put it out of His mind, He remembers it no more. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sin. As we walk in the light, what is that? Receiving this gospel. We walk in the light.

He cleanses from all our sin. This is assurance, folks. That's rest. These are the two positive consequences. Let me say it like this.

These two positive consequences are John's way. of a shiny nose. who have received Christ as proclaimed by the apostles and remained in the fellowship of his churches. Do you see? That's why I tell you, coming to church every Sunday is like Christmas time.

It's like Christmas morning. What greater gifts can you have than that? Right? John says to the believers who remained in the churches and received the gospel that he and the apostles proclaimed to them, he says, folks. You're in the light.

Your claim to fellowship isn't a lie. You haven't missed the boat. You are practicing the truth because you are in fellowship with me and the other apostles. You are receiving the gospel that we proclaim to you about the manifestation of Christ incarnate, come in human flesh, for the atoning sacrifice for your sins. Therefore, you can with great confidence, even though you are weighed down with the knowledge of your sin as you walk in the light, you can with great confidence confess your sins because the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all your sins right now.

That's assurance. Just really quick, what are we seeing? John refutes the claim that to have fellowship with God. Yet walk in darkness. What is walking in darkness?

It is to lead the fellowship of the apostolic church where the apostolic gospel is proclaimed. It's to deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, coming to you in flesh. It's to deny the reality of your sin. It's to deny the need. Of Jesus' propitiation for your sins.

It is to deny the need of having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus for your sins. And John tells us that the church is where God's light is known. Where his gospel is proclaimed, there's no darkness there, and this dark, this, this light creates life. John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus says, Then, Jesus, Jesus says, I, listen, am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness.

But we'll have a light of life. Where the light of the apostolic gospel is preached, there's fellowship with believers and there's fellowship with God. Where the apostolic gospel is preached, there is assurance of the cleansing and the forgiveness of all sin. And that's the promise that John gives. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful gospel that you've given to us. That creates this fellowship of believers, and it creates this fellowship with the triune God of all the believers. That it gives to us the guaranteed promise of the assurance of the cleansing of our sin, which we commit nonstop. That we have the confidence that our sins are not held against us for Christ's sake. You don't hold them against us.

This is our confidence and this is our hope, and ground every single Believer here today in this comforting truth, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks again for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. Please subscribe if you haven't already for all our new episodes. And if this message was just what you needed to hear, please let us know in the comments and share it with a friend.