Good to see you again. Very happy
to be here on behalf of Mindy and myself. It's just good to
see you. Thank you for asking me. I'm
glad to do it. That pew, though, is a whole
lot more comfortable than this pulpit. Isn't it, Eric? He looks so relaxed. I remember
Brother Gabe, when he first started preaching down in Wheelersburg,
one of the men, Chris Moody, Kingsport. Where did I say? Kingsport. One of the men, Chris Moody,
told Gabe, before the service, said, you look like you've been
sucking lemons. But I'm glad to do this. I remember working full time
and trying to prepare messages and especially on a Wednesday
night, it's just so hard. You've worked all day, been out
in the world and try to get your mind off all that and come in
here. God's grace is sufficient though, isn't it? But I'm glad
to do it. I'd rather be here in your pasture,
I really would, but I'm glad to help him out. Romans chapter
15. In the book of Romans chapter
15, this is a verse of Scripture that's always been a great blessing
to me and perhaps many of you. The words of our great God and
Father, words of great comfort to His people. Look at Romans
15 verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. Whatsoever
things were written aforetime, were written for our learning,
that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might
have hope. Now, who's he speaking to? He
says, our and we. This is to God's people, God's
people. All of his children, our Lord
says, shall be taught of the Lord. all of God's children,
they shall all be taught of God. God the Father teaches his children,
his elect people. They're all you have on your
sign out there, my sheep, here, my boys, and they follow me. And all of this is written for
God's people, for their comfort, for their hope, their hope, all
written. God spoke the word, but spoke
to prophets, Hebrews said, God in sundry time, in divers manner,
spake unto the fathers by the prophets. So God spoke, but these
men, they wrote it down, thankfully. In Revelation 1, our Lord said,
you're blessed to read the words of this book. Aren't we blessed
to have this book? Where would we be without this
book? God's Word. We'd be in darkness,
that's right. But God has written a book for his people and he
wrote it and gave it to prophets to write it and Peter said that.
Peter said no prophecy is of any private interpretation. Nobody,
these men, these prophets didn't just sit down and decide to write
a book like Isaiah. And Peter even said that, that
they didn't write these things for themselves but for others
to come. And they often, I'm quite sure,
weren't exactly sure what they were writing. But anyway, this
is God's Word. Do you believe that? Do you believe
this is God's Word, every word of it? Do you? You know how blessed
you are. If you really do, from the heart,
believe that this is God Almighty's Word, and He speaks to you through
this Word, you're a blessed person. That's a good evidence that you're
one of God's elect. You know how few people believe
this is the Word of God? Most people call this into question,
don't they? Most people do, they really do.
When I was a young smart aleck, In the 60s and 70s, I did, but
God. How do you know this is God's
Word? Look at 1 Thessalonians 1 with me. 1 Thessalonians 1.
How do you know this is God's Word? Well, it's a revelation. Isn't it, Eric? He has to reveal
it to you. He has to speak to you. This is not just a book. This is God's word. This is God's
voice. This is how God speaks to his
people. You're born again by the word
of God. When you first come to know God, know the truth, you
know it through this word. He speaks to you. It's not a
sermon. I've told you my story about
my pastor preached and preached and preached and preached. And
that was just my dad preaching. That was the preacher preaching.
But then one day it was the Lord speaking to me. And He does that
through His Word. And it's not something you figure
out. No man by searching can find out God, by reading the
Word and all that. God has to reveal Himself to you. He has
to speak to you powerfully. And then you know. You hear His
voice. And there's no doubt in your
mind. So, you need to listen to this. Don't argue with people
whether or not this is the Word of God. No, don't cast the bread
before swine. Don't argue with blind people.
Don't try to convince blind men of the truth. Deaf people, no,
no, no. Don't do it. It's bringing God's
Word down in them. You believe because God revealed
Himself to you. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1 verse
1. It says, this is Paul and Silas
and Timothy to the church at Thessalonica or Wheelerburg.
which is in God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, grace unto
you and peace from God our Father, the Father of his people, and
the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayer, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith, it's a gift of God, and
labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Why is that, Paul? How do you
know? Our gospel came not unto you in word only, printed word,
but in power. Heartbreaking, mind-convincing,
soul-saving power. That's when you hear from God.
And you know, this is my God speaking to me. This is God's
Word. And he says, I'm your God. He
didn't ask you anything. He tells you. Now from here on,
I'm going to reveal more and more of myself to you. So how
do you know? He reveals himself to you. Have
you ever met my brother, my earthly brother? Daniel, have you ever
met my brother? Have you, Isaac? Okay, Isaac
hadn't. What if Isaac said, I don't believe you have a brother. I
do. His name is Daniel. He's a living
person. I know him. I just spoke with
him. Isaac said, I don't believe that.
You think my brother cares? Should he, Isaac doesn't believe
me? Oh no, I'm gonna have to convince
you of that. Really? God? I don't believe God. There's a bunch of ants in your
yard. I don't believe shaking their
feet. So we don't try to prove God. God doesn't prove himself to
people. He reveals himself. To whom? To whom he will. And
if you know Him, if you've heard His voice, if you believe this
is His Word, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is there any doubt
in your mind that this is God's Word? Any doubt? Is there? Paul said, I know not what, but
whom I have believed. I'm persuaded. Who's persuaded
you, Paul? He was totally against it before,
wasn't he? How'd he find out? The Lord Jesus
Christ came to him. Now I know. So don't argue with
postures. Don't try to prove God to be...
Oh no, that's bringing him down. If God is pleased, He may reveal
Himself to them. Through you, yes, but don't argue.
This is all written by God for His people. The Word of God.
Alright, look at our text here. Romans 15.4. It says, Whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning.
Our learning. that we might, through patience
and comfort of scriptures, have hope. Written for our learning.
Our father is teaching us. What is he teaching us? Patience. Patience. Anybody need patience?
Anybody have any patience? Patience means to wait. Patience
means to believe confidently and calmly and not being disturbed
by anything and just completely at ease and comfort and you don't
have to worry about a thing, you're just going to wait. Patience. Anybody got any of that? We need
patience, don't we? Oh, how we need patience. It
means to wait. Wait. How many times does scripture
say wait on the Lord? How many times? Why? Because
we're creatures of time. The Lord knows that. We're bound
by time and sense, and it's hard for us to wait. So he tells us
to wait. He's teaching us patience. What
are we waiting on? Waiting on a word from our Lord.
You came here tonight. I hope you came here to get a
word from your Lord. We come here to worship. He's
worthy to be worshiped in. We come here to give thanks.
We come here to sing his praises. He's so worthy of that, isn't
it? But did you come here to hear from him? Your heavenly
father? You need to be spoken to. You
need to be taught of him. You need some peace. You need
some comfort. You need some instruction. You
need some wisdom. And it comes from one place.
From above. Patience. We wait on a word from
our Lord. There's a story, one of my favorite
stories in the Old Testament, you don't have to turn. But in
2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat is the king of Israel. And he's
a king on a throne, and yet he's completely dependent on his Lord
and his God. And they're surrounded by the
enemy. Surrounded. The whole world is out to get
them. And he's surrounded, and it says
in 2 Chronicles 20, and here's you a good place to preach from,
fellas. It says in 2 Chronicles 20 that they said, Our God, we
have no might against this great company that comes against us.
We don't know what to do. Our eyes are upon Thee. And it
says, All Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones,
their wives, and their children. Just like I'm looking around
right now. This is spiritual Israel, Judah. With our wives,
with our children, we come here. Why? We need a word from the
Lord. What did he do? He sent a young
man named Jehaziel, a preacher. As far as we know, you know this
passage. As far as we know, it's the only
message he ever preached. It's the best message I've ever
heard. He said this, and he just read it. You shall not need to
fight this battle. Set yourself. Just sit down.
Just sit down. Settle yourself. Stand still.
And see the salvation of the Lord. He sent a preacher. God sent a word to his people
that needed a word from him. They're waiting on a word from
the Lord. And they got one. Those who are truly seeking a
word from the Lord. He said, you open your mouth
wide. I'll fill it. You need to hear from the Lord,
you will. We're waiting on a word from
the Lord. Patience. We're waiting. And He said, where
two or three are gathered, I'll be there. And I'll speak to them. And they'll get comfort. They'll
get hope. We're waiting on His will. You
know, God has a revealed will, you know? It's right here. God
hadn't left His children in the dark about anything. We need
to know His will, how to marry, where to live, where to work,
and so on and so forth. Don't we? Don't you want to be
in His will? Marry well? It's all about His
Kingdom. If you're not in the Kingdom
of God, in His will, in His purpose, in His Kingdom, in Christ, you're
out of His will, aren't you? We want to know. We need to know.
Can you know? Oh, He's given an explicit instruction
for our learning. Yes, He has. He tells us His
will. Jacob, remember Jacob, he was 40 some years old and
he came and he found the woman of his dreams at the well, named
Rachel. Well, you know that story, he
ended up marrying the wrong woman. He waited 14 years. Now that's
patience in it. 14 years to marry Rachel. Was
it worth it? Was it worth it? Oh, it sure
was. In the meantime, he had illegitimate children. And they
caused him nothing but heartache the rest of his life. But God
gave him two sons through Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. And he waited
14 years. And they were the joy of his
life. And they were in God's... King Joseph. I'll tell you a
little bit more about him in a little bit. We need to know
his will, don't we? We're waiting on a word from
the Lord. We are waiting on his providence. We need patience. concerning the providence of
God. And things look bad? Turn to Psalm 27. I know most
of you know this psalm, and it's such a blessing every time we
read it. Psalm 27. Psalm 27. We need to wait on His providence.
Because everything Romans 8, 28 says, can you quote it? We know. Again, now this is to
God's people. to the call, Romans 1 says, to
those that are called, his people. We know that all things work
together. Who's working together? Our God,
according to what? His purpose, ordered in all things
ensured. David said, that's my salvation.
That's our comfort, that's our hope, all things. To those that
are called, those that love God. Who loves God? You love the God
of the Bible. You love his word, you love his
truth. Everybody does. Do you? Why? Because he's given
you this love, it's a gift. He's revealed himself to you.
He's put this love in you, this faith in you. Where am I? Oh, Psalm 27, look at this. David said in verse 13, I love
this. I had fainted lest I'd believe
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Man,
this morn of woman's a few days and full of trouble, and he said,
all I see around me is trouble, trouble, trouble. He said, I
want to see something good. Did he? He said, wait on the
Lord. Wait, be of good courage now.
He'll strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. That's so hard to do, isn't it?
Wait on his providence. Wait, you'll see. You'll see,
listen to this, this song, it may be in our book. Fear not,
you saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are filled with mercy and shall break with blessings on your
head. There are no dark clouds hanging
over God's people ever. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, Trust him for his grace. Behind the frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. The worst thing that you think
is happening to you, you're going to find out one of these days,
it's the best possible thing that could happen. In Psalm, I tell our people all
the time, keep reading Psalm 90 and Psalm 91. Read those two
Psalms. Read those two Psalms. But in Psalm 90, he said, Make
us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. Make us glad according to the
days wherein thou hast afflicted us. All things work together
for good. It's the best thing. He's too
wise to do wrong. He's too good to do evil. He's
too loving to hurt us. It's all good. We got to wait
on his problem. You're going to wait and you're
going to see. You're going to see it's good. Brother Scott
Richardson, who went through to a lesser degree, all that
Job went through with his children. He lost his first born daughter.
He lost his wife, he lost his health, had sons put in prison. He said in his latter days, he
said, if you knew what God knows, You'd order your life exactly
like he ordered it. He wouldn't change a thing. And
someday in Ephesians 2 says he's going to show us the exceeding
riches of his grace and his kindness toward us and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're all going to be so thankful that he did
it exactly like he did. We've got to wait, though. No.
Patience. We need patience. James begins
with patience. James begins with that, that
the trial of your faith worketh patience, and patience experience,
and experience what? Hope. Hope of eternal life, that
God, who cannot lie, has promised to his people that hope in his
mercy, hope in his son, believe him. All right, look at the next
thing. It says in Romans 15.4, These
things are written for our learning that we might, through patience,
might learn patience and comfort of the Scripture. Comfort of
the Scripture. Comfort. Where does comfort come
from? Scriptures. That's it. In 2 Corinthians 1, he's called
the God of all comfort. The only place we can get any
comfort from is our God. And how's that? Through His Word.
There's no comfort in man. There's no hope. No, no. This world looks like a hopeless
place. And there's comfort in our Lord,
in his word. Listen to David. He said, remember
the word, or that is remind me of your word, upon which thou
has caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction. Thy word hath quickened me and
comfort me. Isn't it your only source of
comfort? That's the reason he wrote this book. We get such
great comfort. We get a double portion. We come
here and hear men preach the gospel and the Lord speaks to
us that way. But you need to, you know, you,
God has written this book. So anytime you need comfort day
or night, he can go to his blessed word. You need a word. And I
tell our people all the time, just, just start in the Psalms,
Psalm 119. The whole Psalm is about God's word in it. And if
you start reading. You'll find some comfort. You'll
find something you need. God has promised. Comfort, comfort
of script. There's no comfort in man. There's
no hope in man. There's no hope in his words
and his wisdom. Oh, no, no, it's foolishness.
The only comfort is in our Lord's word. You need comfort. Paul
did. Paul said, who's weak and I'm
not weak? He said, I'm comforting you with
the same comfort wherewith I am comforting you. Are you getting
any comfort from this, brother? I am when I was studying it.
We didn't comfort no one. The comfort we seek to comfort
our people with is the comfort that comforts us. What? The Word of God. There is no
other comfort anywhere. All seems hopeless and vain.
You need comfort. All God's children do. All our
lives we need comfort from our Heavenly Father. He's called
the God of all comfort. Father of comfort. We need His
Word. As a boy, most of you knew my father. He was my pastor and
he was my father. He was such a comfort to me.
His fatherhood. He was there. He was rock solid. He was settled. He was always
there. And I remember especially we'd
go on vacations. And the four of us kids in the
back seat, and I'm the baby, you know, and y'all get tired,
and I either laid on the hump, there was a hump in the floor
in the back seat, I'd lay there on a hump, or in the back window,
there was a, you remember the shelf back there? Or if I was
awake, I'd stand, be standing in the middle of my mom and dad.
There were no seatbelts. My mother was my seatbelt. Anybody
remember that? Okay. But I remember in the back
seat, you know, and we'd go on these trips to Florida, it seemed
like it took three years to get there. But my comfort and what
settled me, and I could just go to sleep, I'd look and there
was the back of my dad's head. I thought, he never sleeps. He
never gets tired. It's snowing, you know, it's
just raining, and there he is, rock solid. I'm serious, I thought. I'm just gonna go to sleep. He
that keepeth Israel. Where does it say that? Psalm
121. Shall never slumber nor sleep.
Thy Lord is thy keeper. Rock. He's our rock, you know. He's there. He'll never leave
you, forsake you. He's absolutely, our God, our
Lord Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Seated on the throne, right hand
of the majesty on high, reigning and ruling over everything and
everyone. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Well, you know,
I'm a grown up now. Well, I didn't grow up, but I'm
older. I'm older, all right? One time,
a few years back, we were building the house we're living in now.
And we were living in a trailer. We put a trailer on the property
of the church while we were building this house. Well, it came the
most awful storm, thunderstorm, and I've been through storms,
but not in a trailer. And I'm telling you, it was,
you ever been in a trailer in a firestorm or a camper? Well,
Dad and Mom were with us at that time. You remember that minute?
Man, woke me up. And I was about 40, 50 years
old. And I was scared while my dad
was standing in the living room, just looking out the window.
He didn't seem too scared. I went to sleep. Even grown-ups
need comfort. Even grown-ups get scared, don't
they? Grown believers get scared. David said, what time I'm afraid.
Is David ever afraid? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. appeared for his life, ran for
his life. He said, what time I'm afraid, I'll trust in that.
Oh, we need hope. Hope thou in God. He said that
over and over again. He said, my soul's cast down.
He said, what? Hope in God. Hope thou in God. I'll get praising for the help
of his countenance. In all seems hopeless and perilous times,
in this valley of the shadow of death, hope. in your God,
in your Heavenly Father, His wisdom, His love, His mercy,
His grace, hope of eternal life. Where is that? I hope I'm in
the kingdom of God. I hope I'm one of His. I hope
I'm one of His. Where is hope to be found? In
Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ and
none other than God manifest in the flesh. I believe he is
the way, the truth, and the life. No other way into God's kingdom
but by Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Do you really?
Yeah, blessed you are. Who revealed that to you? No
man knows the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
but the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal, and vice versa.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. Oh, but the Father
and the... You really do all your hope for yourself, your
family and the future and everything is in this man that lived 2000
years ago and died on a Roman cross? Really? Really? That's a good hope. It's only called hope because
we're not there yet, but we're as good as there because Christ
is seated there and we're seated in him right now. Can you believe
that? You're a blessed people. Hope. All these things are written
that we might have patience and comfort and hope, hope in God,
hope in his word, hope in his son, hope of eternal life, which
God promised that he cannot lie. Where is your hope? We sing that
song and never will get tired of it. My hope is built. Or nothing
less. Can you sing the rest of it?
In Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. We're up and down, aren't we?
Feelings come, feelings go. But holy lean on his blessed
name. On Christ, the solid rock, I
stand. All other ground sinking sand.
This world is sinking. The sands of time are sinking.
But our rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, He's seated in the heavens,
and he's coming for his people, he promised. Hope, hope. Is that your hope? Is he your
hope? Okay. All right. It says now, now let's
look at this for a few minutes. It says, whatsoever things were
written aforetime, in Old Testament day. Things written in the past,
in the scripture. were written for our learning
that we, through patience, that we might go back and look at
these stories and remember people just like us, what they went
through, what God brought them through. It gave them patience
to wait on the Lord. It gave them comfort and gave
them hope in this seemingly hopeless world. Okay. Let's go back and
just look a few of them. I won't have you turn for the
sake of time, but you can just stay in the book of Genesis.
And you stay in the book of Genesis and see some of these things
that were written for our learning, for patience and comfort. Genesis
3. Let's start right there. The first man, first woman. You
don't have to turn. But the first man, the first
woman, the first marriage. They're living in paradise. Marriage
is wonderful. And the Lord, the Lord ordained
it. It's a good thing. Not good for
man to be alone. And God provided it. He said, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and
the two become one flesh. But Paul said, you're going to
have trouble. Didn't he? Yeah, he did. Why? You've got
two sinners. What happened to Adam and Eve? You know, the first
marriage would have ended in divorce, but for the grace of
God. I don't want to discourage anybody,
but it's a fact, and here's the fact. Both of them need to know the
Lord. If not, there's no hope. Ain't that right? Sin entered
in, and they've got two sinners now living together, and they
were at odds. Sin came in. Well, what happened? The Lord Jesus cried, the voice
of God, which is Christ, came walking in the cool of day, walking
in the garden, and what did He do? Adam? Woman? He convicted them of their sin.
Okay. They were at odds against each
other. How did he bring them together? How did he bring them
together? As far as we know, they stayed together for 900
years. My parents were married 72 years.
How'd they stay together? They didn't stay together. God
kept them together. The gospel kept them together.
The truth kept them together. This love of God shed abroad
in their heart, that gave them patience with each other. And
hope, the same hope, living together. Heirs of this hope, right? So Adam and Eve, here they are,
and the Lord comes in the garden, and He kills a lamb. I'm certain
it was a lamb. Aren't you, brother? Slays a
lamb. The first couple. Why? to pay for their sins and covered
them in that lamb's skin or clothing, that's the righteousness of Christ.
But this sacrifice, they both saw this substitute dying on
their behalf and it's what broke their hearts and kept them together. It really is. It's the only thing. Oh my. My pastor, Just from Scripture,
urged and urged and urged and urged. Us young people didn't
even care. Didn't even add them. Mary a believer now. Mary a believer. You're outside the will of God.
So, the first man, boy did they have trouble. Oh my, their son
died. The other son was nothing but
trouble. And God gave him another son, Seth, a son of God. Gave him some hope. They had
to live 900 and some years. Adam had to live. My mother,
she's 100 years old. She's a baby. Adam thought, I
can't, how can I live another 100, 200, 300 years? Hope. The only way. The hope that God gave them in
the coming cry, the woman's seed's coming. And it's all going to
be good. That's how they make it. Patience,
had to wait. My dad wanted to go when he got
in his 80s and then especially his 90s, he wanted to go and
he'd have up and down physical times. One time I came over and
he's lying on the bed, didn't get out of bed. And every time
I saw him, I thought, this is it. And I was hoping for his
sake, you know. But I went over there, and he
was weak and laying on the bed, and I came around there, and
he said, feel my pulse. It's weak, isn't it? I said, sure
is. It's about gone, isn't it? He
was so hopeful. And he had to live several more
years. You have to wait. You have to
wait. How do we endure? That's seeing
him that's invisible. Genesis 6, you know the story
of Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes
of his Lord, didn't he? In the midst of a godless, God-hating,
vile, filthy world, the whole world had corrupted his way and
full of violence, just like our Lord said, as in the days of
Noah, so my coming will be. Just, this fits it as never before. It was the whole earth, he said,
the whole earth that's corrupted my way. And that's the way it
is now, covered with That's the gospel. Noah found
grace in that. We have too, Edna. How do you
know? He feared God. They used to call
men and women God-fearing people. Not anymore. The most popular
slogan around, no fear. Do you fear God? I mean, do you
really? Oh, that's the gift of God. Noah
feared God. How do you know he feared God?
How do you know he found grace? He prepared an ark. What's that
ark? Just tell me. Say it loudly,
Brady. Jesus Christ. How many people know that Noah's
ark is Jesus Christ? How many people? Have you run
into anybody out there that you work with? Are you a family that
doesn't believe him? Do they know that that ark is
Jesus Christ and not just an animal shelter? No, they don't. How do you know it? Because he
revealed it to you, didn't he? That ark is Christ's. Noah preached
righteousness for 100 years. Whose righteousness? God's righteousness. Christ's righteousness. 100 years
in a world that Didn't believe God was that holy and man was
that bad. And Noah kept saying, it's going
to rain. God's going to destroy this world. God doesn't love
this world. God's angry with the wicked every day. It's coming
down now. Oh, Noah, that's silly. God loves us all. Nobody believes
like you, Noah. Maybe not. But I believe in God. Do you? 100 years. 100 years he preached and built an
ark on dry land. And the hardest time was those
seven days when that boat, that ship was finished and the door
was open and they're all sitting in there in that ark on dry land
and not a drop of water fall. Waiting, waiting. And one day,
God's true. God promised it. Patience. Hope. What are they hoping in?
A new world. A new world. What are we hoping
in? A new world wherein dwelleth
righteousness. That sound good to you? I could
go on and on. You want one more? Hebrews 11. Paul said time would fail to
tell of Jephthah and Barak and Samson and all that, didn't it?
I'll give you one more. Two more. Jacob, Genesis 42. The Lord revealed
himself to Jacob. And you know the story of Jacob.
There's more about Jacob in Genesis than any other man. Jacob. He revealed himself to old Jacob.
Oh, happy is he that hath the God of Jacob. He said, I'm the God of Jacob,
therefore you sons of Jacob. I'm the Lord of that change now,
you sons of Jacob. Jacob, the Lord revealed himself
to him. He loved him, he chose him, he's elect, okay? He revealed
himself to him. But he went through trouble after
trouble after trouble, much of it his own making, wasn't it?
How about us? Would you like to undo some of
your past? Most of it. But Jacob, all right,
he's an old man. He thinks Joseph's dead. He thinks Joseph's dead. He sent
his sons into Egypt to get corn because they're in a drought,
all right? And they come back and they say
Simeon, is it Simeon that they put in prison? Joseph's a liar. But he put Simeon in, I think,
in jail. And they all came back and they
said, this king on the throne, He said, don't come back. You're
not going to see your face until we bring Benjamin with us. And Jacob said, old man, he said,
Joseph's dead. No, he's not. No, he's not. Wait, Jacob. Joseph's dead. And now Simeon's in jail. And
you want me to send Benjamin? My son, you want me to send Benjamin? I can't do it. He said, everything's
against me. You remember reading that? He
said, everything's against me. Nothing could be further from
the truth, Jacob. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Nothing is against you. If God be for you, nothing
can be against you. It's all working together. He's
working it together for your good and his glory. Just wait,
Jacob. And let me just fast forward.
Jacob's sitting in the land of Goshen, and all his sons around
him, Joseph's alive, sitting on the throne, and they're eating
the good of the land. And Jacob's thinking, why did
I doubt God? How could I have doubted my Lord?
And that Joseph, how many of you know that Joseph is Jesus
Christ? That that whole story, there's not a more clearer picture
of Christ than the story of Joseph. How many of you know? How many
people know that? You do? God's forbidden it to
you. He's given you hope, hope in
Christ. And I could go on and on about Naomi and Ruth, Rahab. Paul preached one time till midnight.
What did he preach? He started in Genesis and just
went all the way through there. Oh man, we're so blessed. These
things are written for God's people. to go back and read and
remind us for our remembrance, a book of remembrance. Read Malachi
3.16. You know John 3.16? Commit Malachi
3.16 to your memory. It's wonderful. A book of remembrance
was written for those that feared the Lord and thought on His name.
To remind us, God written all these things for our learning
that we through patience, waiting on the Lord, and comfort of the
scripture might have hope. Well, may the Lord bless his
work. Glad we came. Thank you.