That hymn goes well with the
message. However, you know, The words
written by men are the words of men at best. The man meant well. He said things
like, Moses' sister aided him. Well, she did. She did, but not
always. She rose up against him once,
didn't she? But she did. was with him and led the people
in worship and singing. That is, he didn't pray. And
then trembling mourners. I'd like to see some, wouldn't
you? I'd like to be a trembling mourner. If I am, if we are, oh, blessed
is he that mourns. They that mourn, they'll be comforted.
Without mourning, there's no comfort. Without guilt, no pardon. Genesis 4. Go over to Genesis
chapter 4. I was preparing another message
and worked on it a few hours. It was a beautiful day. I looked out the window and I
decided to get up and go for a little jog. I do that for therapy. It clears my head too. I'm able
to think well. out in the woods or whatever,
and several times I've gotten messages that way. Not the Word
of God, that is, come to mind. This passage, this Word, this
line came to me almost like it was spoken out loud. It wasn't,
but it came so forcefully to me. and got my attention, and
other scriptures began to suggest themselves also, and thoughts,
and I got home and jotted some things down quickly. Look at
verse 9. Verse 8, Genesis 4, "...came
and talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they
were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and
slew him. And some time went by, and the
Lord came to Cain and said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And Cain said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? That is the word that came to
my mind and my heart. Am I my brother's keeper? Most everyone knows at least
the actual story of Cain and Abel. True story. This is not
some fable that modern men say it is. No, no. It's true. The
story of Adam and Eve is a true story. Cain and Abel were real
brothers. The story is that Cain, who was
angry at God, Cain because he didn't believe God. Cain because
he didn't worship God the way God said to worship Him. Cain
because he didn't believe Christ. There are two religions in the
world. If I'm not careful, I'll stay
right here. Two religions in the world, the
religion of Cain and the religion of Abel. All religions are found
under two religions. Only one is true. There's one
faith. It's the faith of Cain. I mean,
of Abel, excuse me. Of Abel. The faith of Abel. Abel brought that which God provided. That's the Lamb. Abel had nothing
to do with that lamb. God provided that lamb. He didn't
grow a lamb. God provides it. That lamb is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel knew that. By faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, he came to a holy God. Abel, who was a sinner
just like Cain, he came and said, Let the blood of thy Christ,
thy lamb, be propitiation for me on the mercy seat. Cover my
sins, for I am unrighteous. And God said, you come that way,
you'll be righteous, accepted in the beloved. Now there's the
gospel. I've just preached the gospel
to you. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way we may come
to God, approach God, worship God, accept Him, be accepted
by faith and Christ. Cain said, no, I don't think
God's that holy. I don't think it's that strict
and that narrow. I'll bring my works. I'll bring
what I've done. I like what I've done. I like
my religion. I'm zealous. I like what I've done. Look at
this. Isn't this beautiful? My basket of fruits. I raised
these things. I worked hard. I worked real
hard fixing these things up. And Cain brought the fruit of
the ground. What did God say about the ground
when man died? He cursed the ground. Cursed
the ground. There's only death in the ground.
Okay? But Cain said, no, I like this.
And he brought it and God rejected him and his offering. He accepted
Abel in his offering. He rejected Cain in his offering. God accepts people only through
and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone outside of Jesus Christ
is rejected. Isn't that too narrow? That's
the truth. And Cain didn't like that. Didn't
like what? God's truth. And he got mad. And he can't touch God. So he
took it out on his brother. His brother says they talked,
by the way. Cain talked with Abel. What did
they talk about? This. What had happened. Abel
told him. Abel told Cain. Cain, you know,
we've been taught. The Lord taught us. Our parents,
they told us about the fall. And how God slew the lamb and
covered them, you know that that's the only way that we can come
to this holy God. He barred the way with the angel
of fire, flaming fire. He said, come by blood and I'll
accept you. The blood of my son, the lamb.
And Cain said, I don't believe that. I don't like that. Abel
said, Hey, I'm not telling you what I think. I'm telling you
what our God said. I don't care. I don't like that.
And Abel turned his back and Cain said, You think you're right
and I'm wrong? Oh, no. He didn't think that
at all. He thought God was true. He knew
God was true. And Cain smashed his brains out
with the rock. And that's what happened. Now, he was bitter at God, and
he took it out on Abel, didn't he? He took it out on Abel. All
right. Now, I was really going to deal with
all that after I said it, and I'm glad. That's the gospel. We come only by faith in Christ. But when the Lord confronted
Cain, He came to Cain, verse 9, he confronted him, the word
of the Lord. Who is this Lord? Who is speaking
here? This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the image of God. The Lord appeared
to him. It can only be one person. The
old man had seen God, the Spirit, the only begotten Son. who appeared,
whose delights were with the sons of men. He came. The Lord
Jesus Christ said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? Do you know where Abel is? He's
your brother. He's your father's son. He's
your mother's son whom she loves dearly. He's your flesh and blood. He's your constant companion,
has been since childhood. Do you know where he is? Have
you called him? Have you asked about him? Do you know of his
welfare? Do you know if he's all right? Where is Abel, your
brother?" And the first thing that came,
he was an evil man, a bad heart, a bad heart. He said, he lied. I don't know. I don't know. And then he denied any responsibility. I had nothing to do. It's not
my responsibility. Am I my brother's keeper? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. See, the Lord confronted him.
And we're confronted with this. I was confronted with it. It
just slew me. Am I my brother's keeper? Am
I my brother's keeper? We already said it's a sign of
a bad heart. The way of Cain and all evil men and women is
to hate the truth. Hate the truth. Hate the gospel
of Christ. Love themselves, love their own
works, love their own thought. Despise those who love the truth.
Reject those who bring the truth. Though they're lovely people,
kind people, Christ-like people. But they hate them for the truth's
sake. Our Lord said that to them. He said, you shall be hated.
We read it in 1 John 3, marvel not if the world hates you. He
said, Cain hated his own brother. Why? For the truth's sake. Don't
marvel if the world hates you. If you bring the gospel, that's
their only salvation. Yet they turn around and hate
you for it. And he slew him. He wanted him
gone. And then he lied. The Word of
the Lord pointed him out. You know the Word of the Lord
is written to whom? I was talking about this yesterday. Unto the churches. The Word of
the Lord is written to his people, to the churches. Let him that
hath ears hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. This is to God's people. This
is to us. The things that were written,
Paul wrote, were written for our learning. He lied, you know, when the word
of the Lord pointed him out, thou art the man. No, I'm not. And then he denied any responsibility
for his brother. He's in it for himself. That's
a bad heart. A bad heart. And God rejected
him. So, am I my brother's keeper? Throughout the Scriptures, men
have said things not knowing what they said, which was the
truth. Even bad men. Brother Marvin
and I were talking about this Scripture, and he brought up
something that Balaam said. Balaam was an evil man. Jude talks about Cain, Balaam,
and Coram. Balaam said, Let me die the death
of the righteous. He didn't. He didn't, though.
But that's a true statement. Men said this, said things like
this. Evil men said, He's a friend
of publicans and sinners. That's true. Aren't you glad? They said when He was hanging
on the cross, evil men said this in derision, said He saved others
that Himself He cannot save. That's true. Aren't you glad
He didn't save you and come down from that cross? And in staying
there, He saved us. They said, let His blood be on
us and our children. And it is, one way or another,
in guilt or in pardon. And so Cain said, am I my brother's
keeper? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Redeemer? No. Keeper? Yes. No man can by any means redeem
his brother. But this is our, and I ask myself
this, you know, am I? That's why it struck me so. Am
I my brother's keeper? I don't want to be like Cain,
do you? All right, I'm going to give you two points. There's
two points to this message. What does it mean to be my brother's
keeper? And then secondly, we're going
to look at our brother who keeps all his brethren. Okay? We're going to look at the keeper
of the brethren. Are you with me? All right. Am I my brother's
keeper? What does it mean to be my brother's
keeper? Not redeemer, but keeper. Am
I? Am I yours? Are you mine? My
brother's keeper. It means one who watches over,
not watches as in looking for some faults. Some of you have
been in religion, haven't you, where self-righteous people are watching
you. Don't you feel uncomfortable around self-righteous people?
I'm watching you. That's how you feel. Watching you. False
brethren creep in to spy out your liberty. Watching you. I
remember the story one time of somebody told me they were in
a one of these reform places that the elders would actually
go around people's houses and check them out and see what they
were doing. Whether or not they had a TV or what they were reading
and so forth. Seriously. And somebody finally, I think,
said to one of those elders, when do we get to come to your
house? Well, they didn't like that.
But that's not what this means, watches over. It means to guard,
to protect, to defend a person's honor and reputation. Not spy on, but to watch over,
to guard, to maintain. It means to maintain, provide
for, care for, keep up, keep, keeper, keep up. So he's an easy
keeper. That's the person that you help
and you provide and you serve you provide for and care for.
Am I my brother's keeper? Yes, yes. That's our purpose
on this earth. I mean, it really is. The Lord,
how many examples, how many examples has the Lord given us in His
Word about this? He said, I am among you as one
that what? Serveth. He said, I'm your Lord
and Master, do this. How much more? He said, if I,
your Lord and Master, wash your stinking feet. We looked at that
one time, John 13. You know, what a glorious picture
of the gospel that is. It's a real picture though. True
picture. They needed their feet washed.
It wasn't for show. They needed their stinking feet
washed. People go through this ceremony. That's an abomination
to God. A show. But there's some needs
of the brethren. And the Lord came to meet those
needs. And I'm going to get to that in a minute. But who are
my brethren? Am I my brother's keeper? The
Pharisees one time, when the Lord said, you know the law,
love your neighbor as yourself. And they said, well, who is my
neighbor? In other words, who do I have to love? It's not funny, because the Lord
was very angry with these men. And the Lord gave that wonderful
story of the good Samaritan himself. That's him. Who's his neighbor? Who are our brethren? Listen
to this. Peter said this in preaching
at Pentecost. Well, Paul said this at Acts
17, he said, brethren, he said, God hath made of us one blood
of all nations of men. One blood. Brothers in Adam. We're all brethren in Adam. Yes,
we are. Every single person. Different
men said this. Lot said this to those wicked
men that came to his door. He said, I pray you, brethren,
don't do so wickedly. Peter at Pentecost. Brethren,
men and brethren, let me freely speak to you. Paul said in Romans
9, I wish I could be accursed, wish myself accursed from Christ
for my brethren. Brother Scott Richardson, bless
his heart. One time he and a brother were
somewhere in a restaurant or somewhere. And Brother Scott,
a man walked by and Brother Scott said something to him like, hello
brother. And this fellow, a brother, said
to him real piously, you shouldn't call him brother. He said, well,
Scott said, well, he's either my brother in Adam or my brother
in Christ. He said, I got him one way or
another. Now brethren, the word brethren
is a precious term. It's not to be used too flippantly
or carelessly. Scripture calls us beloved brethren,
holy brethren. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one Father, that is. Everybody's not God's children
in Christ. Everybody's not our brother in
Christ. We're careful as to not... I never call Armenians my Armenian
brethren. I don't believe someone that
doesn't know the living and true God, doesn't know the truth,
someone that's not looking to Christ only is my brother in
the Lord. No, no, no, no. Don't do that
at all. Don't do that at all. Nevertheless,
in Adam, they're my brother. They're my brother. And yet we're
special keepers. He said this, live peaceably
with all men, didn't he? As much as life with him, yes.
The grace of God. He said, do good unto all men,
especially the household of faith, the brethren. We're special keepers.
Matthew 25. Go over there quickly. I don't
want to go too long this morning. Matthew 25. How many examples
our Lord gives us of service to the brethren? Am I my brother's
keeper? Yes, I am. Yes, I am. This is
our purpose on earth. We serve God by serving His people. We can't serve God. God is in
heaven. What are we going to give Him? If I were hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. God doesn't eat food. Money? God said this is the Lord's
money. The Lord doesn't need money. People do. We serve God by serving
His children. We serve the head, heads and
head, by washing His feet, by serving His body. Right? That's
right. This is what He said here in
Matthew 25, verse 31. He said, When the Son of Man
shall come in His glory, all the holy angels with him. Then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him
shall be gathered all nations. He shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. He
shall set the sheep on his right hand, and put the goats on his
left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry,
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.
I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee, and hungered, and
fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when saw we thee
a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? When
saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?" And the
king shall answer and say unto them, Verily, truly I say unto
you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of these, the least
of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." See, here's the mark of God's
true people. They were doing these things,
but they weren't conscious of it. They didn't recognize it.
They dare not. They're not even mentioned, but
they were. Verse 41, Then shall he say also
unto them on the left hand, that's the goats, depart from me, he
cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. For I was an hungred, and you
gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in. Naked, and you clothed me not.
Sick, and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they
also answer him, saying, Lord, when shall we be an hungred,
or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of these,
the least of these, you did it not to me. These shall go away
into everlasting punishment for the righteous and to life eternal." Am I my brother's keeper? You
see why this pierced my heart? Pierced my heart. Listen to these passages. Listen.
Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love,
in honor, preferring one another. Listen to this. With unfeigned
love of the brethren. Unfeigned love of the brethren.
See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently. That means actively. Not in word,
we read, in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Listen to this.
Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love
as brethren. Be pitiful. Be courteous. Hebrews 13.1. Let brotherly love
continue. Our Lord, when He was leaving,
said, This is my commandment. If you love me, you do this.
Do this. My dad always used to do this.
Now I know why. I'm talking to you. Who? You. See that you love
one another. Love one another as I have loved
you. And I am happy and pleased to
say this right now. Like Paul said it to the Thessalonians.
He said, and indeed you do. Many of you do. He did say, though,
that I would, that all would show the same diligence. But
you do. You do. He said, indeed you do
it toward the brethren. There are two ladies in this
congregation. who out of love and genuine heartfelt
concern for Patrick and Jennifer are going to take upon themselves
the care of their children while Jennifer's gone. Now that just
astounds me. It's not going to be easy for
you or for them. Why would they do such a thing?
The grace of God. proving the sincerity of their
love. How could they do such a thing? That's just astounds me. Could I do
that? Would I do that? Am I my brother's
keeper? Who is my brother? Who is my
brother? What is it to keep my brother?
It's to keep him, his family, his children. It's to have their
welfare in mind. It's to have their good in mind.
It's to have their love. Paul one time said, all seek
their own, not the things of Christ. What are the things of
Christ? His people. Christ came. Now let's talk about
the brother. Let's talk about the brother
who keeps his brethren. Okay? Everybody beginning with this
fellow is guilty as charged, aren't we? Terribly, horribly
guilty. Now let's look, and this will
be the motive. This is the only motive. I can
preach this all day long to you and me, and do this, do this,
do this, and we won't do it until we see Him. That's the only thing. Proverbs 17. Go over to Proverbs
17. Oh, my. See, this is what gave
me some hope and some peace and some encouragement and some motive. and help. Proverbs 17, let's
talk about the brother that keeps us. If you're guilty, look to him. For forgiveness, for help, look
at him who gave such a wonderful example that we should follow.
Proverbs 17, verse 17, look at this. A friend loveth at all
times. And a brother is born for adversity. Oh my. I didn't used to know
what this verse meant. Who's this talking about? What's
this brother born for adversity? It's talking about our elder
brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. The firstborn among many brethren. Our elder brother who was born
Or adversity. Whose? Our. Came into this world. Oh, listen to Hebrews 2. We just
looked at these. We remember it? I haven't much. I'm going to read it again to
you. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, And we don't know what condescension this is for
the Lord of glory to lay aside His glory and come to this filthy
place called planet earth. Why? For the great love wherewith
He loved us. His brethren left glory to be
made a worm. For us to enter down into a cesspool
is still not to understand His condescension. Are you with me?
This is true. He said, for as much as there
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took
part of the same in the likeness of sinful flesh. Why did He do this? That through
death He might destroy them that had the power of death and deliver
them. He came to deliver them. Who?
His rotten brethren. We're going to look at that story
in a minute. Jacob, Joseph and his brethren. He didn't take
on the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, and in all
things it behooved him. This is just like him to do something
like this. It's behooving him. It just fits
him, a God that would do such a thing as this. He said, mercy
is my name, goodness is my name, grace is my name, I am love. He proved it. Then how did you
say it? He did it. Greater love hath
no man than this, that he lay down his life for what? His brethren,
his friends, unworthy though they be. Oh, that he might in all things,
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, to make reconciliation,
to make himself a bloody sacrifice. In everything he was tempted,
tried in all points without sin. He came, our brother came, the
Lord Jesus Christ came, born for adversity. Made of a
woman. Made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. Born for adversity. He is our
keeper. Psalm 121, verse 5. The Lord
is thy keeper. I said a keeper is one that guards
over and watches and maintains and protects. The Lord is thy
keeper. He came to keep his brethren.
One who watches over. Nothing can come to him. Why
are our elder brothers watching over? I had two elder brothers
and an older sister. And I was always little. I still
am. And in school, though, my oldest
brother, eight years older than me, he's a lot older than me,
like Ron is. Like Dan is. A lot older than me. Eight years. Seemed like an eternity then.
But he was captain of the football team, Allstate, just, you know,
I just looked up, he was my hero. And boy, you know, when I got
to junior high, middle school is called now, junior high, I
had no fears because Robbie May has my brother. Oh, okay. That just held weight with everybody. It did. It did. High school. My older brother is my protector,
my keeper, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us. Why? Because of him. Because he won't
let it happen. The Lord is our keeper, our protector,
who guards over us, who protects, who defends our honor. Isn't
that honorable about us? Yet he defends us. Don't you say anything about
my brother. Don't you call it unpleasant. Am I my brother's keeper? Oh,
he sure is. He's the one who maintains, or
that is, provides and maintains. We're not easy keepers. We need
everything. The Lord is our keeper. Born
for adversity. Oh my, the only begotten of God,
our elder brother, born for the adversity of his people. So many
stories. Genesis 45. Go over there. I
preached this whole message to Marvin and got to this and he
said, don't read it, I'll cry. He said, I can't even read this
without crying. Well, I hope so. Genesis 45,
there's story after story that represent the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Old Testament. That's why they were written.
The story of brothers who came, born for the adversity of their
brethren. David. Remember David? Oh, he was just
a lad. Faithful he was, shepherd, keeper
of the sheep. Remember his brethren were out
there facing Goliath? All his older brethren. See,
the youngest was out there keeping sheep, and the elder was out
there facing the giant. No match for him. David came
down. The father sent the youngest
son. The father sent him down, it
says, to see about how they fare and to give them his pledge,
his token of love, to feed them, to care for them all. And David
came down, and they came to his own, and the old one received
him not. His oldest brother said, what are you doing down here,
you scrapping youth? You just come because you're
curious. David said, is there not a cause? And David single-handedly went
out there and faced that adversary of his brethren, who were a bunch
of sniveling cowards, who were not worth him risking his life. But David went out there in the
face of that giant and slew him. And is that not the Lord Jesus
Christ? who came to his own. They rejected him, despised and
rejected him, but he was born for adversity. And he came and
single-handedly met our adversary and slew him, crushed his head. He said, now is the God of this
world cast down. Now is judgment made. That's a glorious... I was going
to preach on that. But this one, Joseph. We're going to get to Genesis
real soon, y'all. As soon as we finish Hebrews, we're going
to be in Genesis. Joseph. You remember the story
of Joseph. He was a favorite of his father,
Jacob. Jacob had a bunch of boys, the
sons of Jacob. And John and they were a sorry
bunch, weren't they? Sorry bunch. When Jacob gave
his dying blessings, some of them had very little good to
say about him. Sorry sons of Jacob, though they
were. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. He had a coat of many colors
that distinguished him from his brethren, which represents the
multifaceted, infinite riches and insearchable riches and glories
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The favor of the Father. I, only begotten Son, in whom
I am well pleased. You know, Joseph was the first
legitimate son of Jacob. Rachel's firstborn. Christ is
the firstborn, the legitimate Son of God, the only begotten.
All right? But those sorry sons of Jacob
sold him, didn't they? Sold him, hated him, despised
him, that the Father loved him more than them. Well, he was
altogether loved. But they despised him and they
rejected him and they sold him for how many pieces of silver? Cast him into a pit and would
have killed him had not Judah. Was it Judah? I forget which
one. Simeon. Interposed. Anyway. Anyway, they would have
killed him, but God spared him. God wouldn't let him be killed,
wouldn't let him die. You know the story, how that
Joseph ended up finally, he went through prison, but God took
him out of the prison and set him on the throne equal to Pharaoh
himself and gave all the riches of the kingdom to Joseph. And if anyone was to get anything,
If anyone was to live, they had to go to Joseph, because all
the corn in Egypt is in the hands of Joseph. Salvation is in Joseph's
hand to give to whom he will. But if he comes... Well, here
came these sorry sons of Jacob needing corn. What did Joseph
do? I know you sorry bunch. Get them...
Oh no, he fed them. Oh, the tender mercies of God
over all His works. He makes the rain to fall on
the just and the unjust. He feeds all the tender mercies.
Such is our God, merciful, gracious, kind. He is. He is. He feeds everything, even the
little birds. And He feeds us sorry sons of
Jacob all our lives. He said, I've girded you, though
you haven't known me. I've fed you, though you didn't give me
thanks. You deserve to die. I said, I fed you. Here they
got not just sacks, wagon loads. Wagon loads. Well, in the end,
he's going to make himself known to them. And here it is. All
right? And in various sovereign acts
of providence, he made them to realize their guilt. And every
one of those sons of Jacob realized their guilt. What guilt? They
killed their brother. They killed their brother. And they don't know it, but the
one that they killed is now on the throne, and the one before
whom they stand, that he's going to make himself known to them.
How? In judgment? In condemnation? No. In love. In mercy. In infinite grace. Here it is. Let's just read it. Then Joseph
could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him And
he cried. Jesus wept. He says, "'Cause
every man to go out from me, and there stood no man with him
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.' And he wept
aloud. Behold how he loved them,' they
said of our Lord. And the Egyptians in the house
of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Does my Father yet live? Do you
know the living God? I am He. Christ said, And his
brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his
presence. Fear of the Lord. This is what
they said at Pentecost, isn't it? Men and brethren, what shall
we do? Why? Why do they say this? We've
killed God. We haven't cared for God. We've
lived all our lives without any thoughts toward God. And His
Son came down here in the air and we killed Him. He ought to
kill us. What are we going to do? They were troubled at His presence.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Joseph said unto his
brethren, Come nearer to me, I pray you. Come here. And they
came near. And he said, I am Joseph. your
brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore, be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. God hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin." Why would he do that? That we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. God commended
this love toward us. Who's that? His brethren. And
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. My, my. Greater love hath no man. God
did this to preserve your life. For these two years hath the
famine been in the land, verse 6, and there are five years left.
Folks, I don't know how many years are left in our sojourn
here on earth, five, ten, I don't know, five days maybe, but we
still need this gospel now. We still need conviction of sin,
sin, righteousness. We need that. We need to hear
this gospel over and over again. Read on. They're going to be
neither eerie nor harvest, and we're in a famine, aren't we?
But God did send me before you, verse 7, to preserve you of posterity
in error and to save your lives. To save your lives. His brother. Everyone for whom Christ came
to live and die for, that's who this deliverance is for. To save
your lives by a great deliverance. What does it take to deliver
a sorry son of Jacob, a sinner? salvation, a great deliverer. So now, it was not you that sent
me hither. Oh, you with wicked hands have
taken and crucified the Lord of glory, but you did what God
determined before to be done. What a gracious God. He sent
me, but God, He made me a father to Pharaoh. Call his name Wonderful counsel
of the mighty God, the everlasting Father, Lord of all His house,
ruler throughout all the land of Egypt, God of cities, holy
King on His holy hill of Zion. Make haste now, haste. Go to
my Father. Go to Him in the name of the
Son. Go to the Father in the name of the Son. Go to Pharaoh.
Go to my Father in the name of the Son. Say, Joseph is Lord
over all. The Lord over all. And the last
chapter, chapter 50, says, What you meant for evil, God meant
for good. Oh, is he our keeper? Oh, my. Sorry, sons, that we be. What
a wonderful brother we have, huh? Our elder brother. Am I
my brother's keeper? I don't reckon I have been up
to this point. I'd sure like to start, wouldn't you? Seeing what he does for me, it's
the least I could do. My reasonable service in it. Reasonable service. All right,
Brother Gabe, you have a song picked out. Let's turn to hymn number 337
and stand together. Let's take the first and last verse, 337.