Are You Your Brother’s Keeper

Thank you, Mr. Nance. Good afternoon, everyone. Now, I know Mr. Nance looks a lot older than I do, but we actually are about the same age. He's just a little older than I am, actually. A couple of months. I probably look a lot older than he does, but anyway, I have less hair. That's for sure.

But we did have a good opportunity to get to know each other back at college.

Mr. Nance, though, he'd been wrestling since he was five or six years old, and I didn't start wrestling until I was in college. I wrestle with my brothers a lot, but that doesn't count as much. He had the moves down. I was pretty strong, but he had a lot of the moves down, so I think he probably got the best of me back then. But we were friends back then and remain friends today, and I've really enjoyed traveling with them. I've enjoyed their hospitality. I spent a night with them last night, and we'll be there again tonight with a bunch of people from the Houston area that are going to camp tomorrow at Pine Crest. So it's really nice to spend some time with both Fred and Lydia and get to know them better. I enjoyed meeting the Jonesboro congregation, and we'll enjoy getting to know all of you after services today as well. I do pass to the Dallas-Fort Worth congregation, and we have one of the larger congregations in United. We have around 230 people if they all plan to show up on the same day, which doesn't normally happen, but it has a few times we've had actually that many.

But we normally have maybe 170, 175, but the beauty about Dallas-Fort Worth is we have 85 children in that congregation. So we have more children than most of the United's congregations have people. So we have a lot of young families, and most of the kids are pre-teenage. About 70 of them are under 12 years old. So we really are blessed with a lot of young people there, a lot of young families. My Lawton congregation is small. It's about 25, and it has a cross-section of people as well. It has some children, but it has a lot of stable, longtime members as well.

That's what I find wherever I go in United, we have a lot of stable, long-time members, people that have endured and hung in there. It's really wonderful to see some of you here as well today. I did pastor in Oklahoma for 19 years, so I think I met some of you during that time.

I've been in Dallas for about four years now, a regional pastor for a few years, and I really have enjoyed getting to know the ministers in the area. There's a little write-up in the e-news that you might want to check out. We've been writing up our different regions and putting them in the e-news, so if you're reading the e-news, you have a little bit better idea of some of the regions around the country. As I mentioned, I personally have three brothers. I also have three sisters.

My mother started getting the plain truth when I was three years old, so it goes back a long way for me. She would take us to church on Sunday to tell us we should really keep the Sabbath. The seventh day was the right day, but there was no church nearby, and so she would take us to a Methodist church, and she taught us not to eat pork or catfish. However, my dad wasn't in the church, and he would eat some pork and some catfish from time to time. So that's how I grew up. And actually, my mother started attending church after an older brother, a sister, and myself. Then she started attending United, and she died at age 85 in United. I also have a couple of brothers that are part of the United Church of God today up in Ohio. So we grew up in Ohio on a farm, and the closest town was about four miles away, and it only had 500 people. So I'm pretty much a country boy. There was a time when the brothers, at least three of us, would sleep together in the same bed, especially on cold, wintry nights, because we actually had snow that would blow into our windows. It was pretty drafty. It was a big old farmhouse. Pretty drafty. So we got pretty close as brothers, and for the most part we got along pretty well. But we would fight like brothers do, and it was kind of awesome having that kind of a relationship growing up.

We would look after each other, though. We didn't like anyone else beating up on our brothers. Only we could do that, not anyone else. Our sisters, as well, we would protect them, as well.

So we kind of grew up understanding what it meant to be our brother's keeper, and that's what I want to talk about today. You know, a keeper is someone who looks after something or someone, someone who keeps something safe, keeps it from harm. For example, a keeper of sheep keeps the sheep safe and from harm, away from wolves and anything else that might hurt the sheep. Oftentimes, a keeper will even risk his own life for whatever it is he's protecting.

We're all familiar with security guards that are supposed to guard the money at the bank.

They will even risk their lives at times, anyway, to keep the money safe. Also, body guards, if you're wealthy enough to have one. I've never been able to get one yet. I kind of doubt that I will.

A body guard is a keeper that will risk his life to keep his charge safe. Parents are certainly keepers. You know, all of you who are parents, you look after your children. You protect them, you keep them from harm, you want the best for them. So what does the Bible say about being your brother's keeper? What does it mean to be your brother's keeper? And also, who is your brother? It's important to understand that question, too, because you can't be your brother's keeper unless you know who your brother is. So we're going to talk about that today.

And we're going to start in Genesis 4, where this type of sermon often starts.

And we're all familiar with this story in Genesis 4. Early on in the Bible, I'm sure Mr. Nance covered this in his Bible studies. Let's start reading together in verse 1 of Genesis 4.

Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived, and she bore a son, Cain, and said, I've acquired a man from the Lord, from the Eternal. Then she bore again, this time, his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep. So Abel looked after the sheep, he protected the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now there's nothing wrong with being a tiller of the ground. Some of you may be tillers of the ground. We grew up on a farm, raised soybeans and corn and wheat and that sort of thing. So there's nothing wrong with being a tiller of the ground. But let's continue reading. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock. Now notice how this is worded. It's worded somewhat differently. Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and also of their fat. So he brought the finest of the livestock, it was the firstborn, and the Eternal respected Abel and his offering. But he did not respect Cain and his offering. There was something lacking with Cain's offering. Perhaps he didn't bring the very best, he didn't bring the first fruits, he didn't really show proper respect for God. And so he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry. So that tells us something about Cain. He became angry. God looked on the heart and God saw from the type of sacrifice that he brought or the type of offering that he brought that something wasn't right with Cain. You could tell that right away. And then Cain proved it by getting angry with God rather than owning up to the fact that his offering was lacking. He tried to justify himself. He became angry. And so the Eternal said to Cain, why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?

That's a good question that we should ask ourselves from time to time.

If you do well, will you not be accepted? God will always accept us if we're doing our best, if we're doing well, if we're striving to obey God and please him. God's going to be happy with us.

And we will be accepted. And if you do not do well, then sin lies at the door. If you're not doing well, it's because sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you. So sin would like to rule over you. Of course, Satan is the God of this world. Satan wants to rule over you. Satan wants to be your Lord and your master. So Satan will try to rule over you. Sin will try to rule over you. His desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

We know that we're told to overcome sin. We're told to put sin out of our lives. Every spring, we keep the days of the 11 bread, which picture putting sin out of our lives. God is serious about overcoming. The Scripture says, to he who overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne. And he says that eight or nine times in the book of Revelation, to he who overcomes will I grant to sit with me or he'll be given the tree of life. And on and on it goes. So it's very important that we take sin seriously, that we don't take it lightly, that we don't have some cavalier approach toward sin. We are to rule over it. Now Cain 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 he killed him. He murdered him. Then the eternal said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? He said, I do not know. Well, that's a flat-out lie, isn't it? He knew exactly where his brother was, and God knew where his brother was. He lied, and he tries to deflect things by asking a question.

Am I my brother's keeper? That's the question we're asking ourselves today.

Are you your brother's keeper? Am I my brother's keeper?

So here again we see that God is very unhappy with Cain now. He's wrought with Cain for what he's done, and he said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth. God pronounces a curse on Cain, and on the ground, which Cain was a tiller of the ground, so it was going to be more difficult than ever to produce fruit. He would not have rain in the season. There would be consequences for his sin.

So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you.

A fugitive and a vagabond, you shall be on the earth. So Cain was punished for rising up against his brother. You know, they were the very first brothers. They were blood brothers from the same parents. You would think that they would be pretty close, you know, having, you know, growing up with each other, having no one else to play with, no one else to interact with. You would think they were pretty close, and I would imagine they were pretty close in some ways for sure. I'm confident they were, but hatred, anger, jealousy, and envy are also powerful forces, aren't they? When a person becomes envious, when he becomes jealous, when he becomes resentful, angry, hatred, you don't know when hate builds up, you don't know what's going to happen. So Cain rose up and he killed his own brother. So there's no indication in the Bible that Cain was even all that remorseful about what he had done. You know, you would think he would be riddled with guilt for what he had done.

So this incident, I think, really should tell us something about human nature. And the scripture tells us that the human heart is deceitful above all things, and it's desperately wicked.

Who can know it? It's Jeremiah 17.9. That's the heart that you and I have naturally, human heart. And obviously, that heart needs to change. We must continually be on guard against hatred, against anger, against jealousy, against resentment, lest it overtake us and cloud our judgment. We really do need to learn to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh, because that's exactly what Cain was doing. He was walking in the flesh.

Now, we know that we're called out to walk in the spirit. We keep Pentecost every year. We have a countdown to Pentecost from the Days of Unleavened Bread, and we count 50 days. And hopefully, we're thinking about walking in the spirit during that time. Overcoming, growing, stirring up the spirit of God within us. Now, many of you have probably heard of Alex Haley. He was the author of a book called Roots, and also it became a mini-series, a TV series, that you probably remember. Chicken George was in that series. Also, Kunta Kinte was the one from Africa, who I think was first captured and taken to America. It was a series that dealt with the history of a black family that began when Kunta Kinte was enslaved. Alex Haley thought a lot about the subject of hatred. He said something very insightful about hatred in his own life. He said, hatred at its best will distort you. At its worst, it will destroy you. But it will always immobilize you. You'll never reach your potential if you allow hatred to govern you and to guide you.

Hatred and resentment is a deadly poison. It is something that we certainly must be on guard for and make sure that it's not making inroads in our lives. Certainly, it can poison a friendship. You've seen it happen. It may have happened in your life. It poisoned a friendship because someone got resentful or angry or hateful, envious, jealous. On the other hand, brotherly love is a gauge for the true Christian and agape love even more so. God's love is a gauge for the true Christian. Christ said His disciples should be known by their love for each other. So, we might ask ourselves, have you ever been immobilized to greater spiritual growth because you do bear some type of anger or resentment or hatred that you haven't dealt with yet? It's in the inner recesses of your mind and your heart. Perhaps some people have marriage problems because they haven't forgiven their mates. There's a root of bitterness there that they just can't seem to get past.

How many of us are holding a grudge, perhaps against another person? And actually, we refuse to forgive them, even though we may not understand that. We may not think that we've done that, but we are holding that grudge and that resentment there.

So, again, what does it mean to be your brother's keeper? Are you really expected to look out for the welfare of your brother and your sister? How are you to be your brother's keeper? And, again, who is your brother? I'd like to go through five principles in regard to this topic.

Are you your brother's keeper? Number one, yes, you are, in that you and I are all created in God's image. So, when we see each other, we see, in a sense, God's image, God's likeness. That's what it tells us in Genesis, that we're made in His image. We are His children, fashioned in His likeness, and we do have a responsibility toward one another. We're all part of that family that God has created. God does want, and He does expect us to learn to love each other and to look out for each other. We're supposed to look at the example of the Father and the Son. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and they were there forever, together, and they were at one. There was complete harmony, complete unity, and God wants us to learn that and how we treat one another. We are to become like God in that respect. God is a keeper. He looks out for His children. God is a deliverer. God promises that He's never going to leave us. He won't forsake us. He'll always be there for us. He'll be our refuge.

God wants us to learn to be that way as well. We are all created in God's image. Whenever we look at someone that looks somewhat similar to us, that's your brother. They are created in God's image. You have a kinship already. Cain should have been Abel's keeper, looking out for him, certainly not rising up against him and killing him. If everyone would take this approach, there would be no war. That's what's going to happen in God's kingdom. We're not going to learn war any longer. We're going to learn to make peace, to be true peacemakers.

So again, when we ask the question, who is your brother? I think in the broadest sense, we should realize that every human being is your brother and sister. Every human being you run across is, in a sense, your brother, your sister. The Bible does make a distinction, however, between blood family. It makes a distinction between a spiritual brother and also just a member of the human family. So let's take a look at a few scriptures in regard to some of the distinctions that God does set up in his Word. Let's go to 1 Timothy 5, verse 8. 1 Timothy 5, verse 8.

Here Paul writes, But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, and this is talking about from the same blood and the same family, brothers and sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, people of the same family, if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, he's worse than an unbeliever. So we do have a responsibility to help as much as we can. Everything within reason, and everyone obviously also has to be responsible. God doesn't expect us to just take care of someone who is totally irresponsible, who isn't doing their part at all. There is responsibility that should also take place on both sides of this, but we should look out for our family as best we can. Otherwise, God says we're worse than unbelievers, because oftentimes unbelievers will take care of their family, and they'll do a pretty good job of it. Now let's go to Mark, chapter 7, where we see the religious leaders of the day who rose up and actually had Christ crucified. Let's see what Christ says about their approach in regard to honoring their parents, taking care of their family. Mark, chapter 7, beginning in verse 5. Mark, chapter 7.

The first four or five verses talk about the Pharisees, the scribes, who were taking Christ to task because his disciples—let's read it in verse 5. Then the scribes and the Pharisees ask him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but they bred with unwashed hands, talking about ceremonial cleansing? Why aren't they going through all these rituals and motions that really aren't written in the Bible, but they were added and became burdensome? Verse 6, Christ answered and said to them, Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites?

Christ can be pretty blunt at times. He tells it like it is. He says, Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do. Christ said to them, All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, This is the fifth commandment, Honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. That is also in the Old Testament. So clearly we are to honor our father and our mother, which would mean to help them, take care of them if they have needs.

Verse 11, But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, whatever prophet you might have received from me is Corbin, that is a gift to God. So it was a gift that was set aside. Instead of being given to the parents who really needed the help, religious leaders were wanting that money to come into the coffers of the temple. Perhaps they were even benefiting personally from some of this, and that's one of the reasons why they told them to set this money aside and make it Corbin so that it wouldn't go to the parents who would go into the coffers of the temple. He says, Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother. So it could be that they were even wanting to help take care of their parents, but the religious leaders were extracting funds that should have gone toward the parents, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down, and many such things you do. So the scribes and the Pharisees were not Christ's favorite people. They just simply weren't because of their hearts because of their approach. So here again we see that we should take care of our parents. We should honor them. In Galatians chapter 6, it also shows the distinction between the household of faith. People in this room take a higher priority than people outside this room, frankly. We're supposed to take care of one another. So if there are needs in this room, we should consider helping out and taking care of our brothers and sisters in Christ and making sure that they're not wanting or lacking. So in Galatians chapter 6, and this is in the context of Paul talking about whatsoever a person sows, that he shall reap. It's also in the context of not becoming weary in well-doing, but to always continue to serve and do your part.

And then in verse 10, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all.

So that's talking about everyone. If you have a neighbor where you live and they're sick, they have cancer, and they need help maybe bringing over some food or something like that, just taking them some flowers to help encourage them, then certainly if you have opportunity to do that, you should strive to do that. As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. So you are all of the household of faith. Here in the Little Rock area, Memphis, Jonesboro, you're all of the household of faith. You should look out for each other. And of course, everyone is a part of the Church of God, is a part of the household of faith. Anyone whom God is calling, opening their minds to the truth and the ways of God, they are considered the household of faith. Now in Luke 10, there's a parable that Christ also gives to help us understand exactly who is our neighbor, who do we have a responsibility to help take care of? Luke chapter 10. It seems that this young ruler was trying to perhaps get out of some of the things that he should be doing, some of his responsibilities, wasn't quite ready to commit himself fully and completely to God's way of life. So in verse 25 of Luke chapter 10, Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

That's a great question. What shall I do? He said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? In other words, check out the law. It's given there what you should do. Keep the law, keep the commandments. So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all of your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered rightly, Do this, and you will live. So if we put God first and we love him with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and then we take care of one another, and treat our neighbor as we would ourselves, then we're going to be in pretty good shape. Verse 29, that the young ruler wanting to justify himself said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? So Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Likely a Jew that was coming down from Jerusalem on the road to Jericho. And he fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest. So this is a priest way up there on the on the scale, as far as supposed to be godly.

So this priest came by, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side, completely ignored him, looked the other way, didn't want to take any responsibility, kept right on going. Likewise, a Levite. So also another important spiritual type person, right? A Levite comes along, and when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and he also passed by on the other side. Didn't so much as stop and call out to him even. Hey, are you still alive over there? He didn't even do that. He just went on. Maybe he was concerned that somebody would come out of the bushes and grab him too, but really there was no excuse for not trying to do something. And that's what that's what Christ is pointing out here. Then along comes a certain Samaritan. Now he's way down on the list when it comes to spiritual person, right? The Samaritan was considered a dog. You know, they looked down on the Samaritans. The Jews did. The Samaritans didn't think much better of the Jews. They didn't like him either, so the Samaritan came along as he journeyed, and when he saw him, the man that had been beaten and wounded, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds.

Pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, he brought him to an end and he took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So he obviously had a relationship with this innkeeper. This was a man of integrity. He had character. The innkeeper trusted him. He always paid his bills. You know, he had a good reputation.

But which of these three do you think was neighbor to him? Was it the priest?

Was it the Levite? Or was it the Samaritan? And he said, he who showed mercy on him, it was the Samaritan who showed mercy on him, then Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. Be merciful.

And anyone who needs mercy, extend that helping hand. So who is your neighbor? Okay. Everyone is your neighbor. Anyone who needs help, anyone that you can help, you should be a neighbor for them. You should consider them your neighbor. So Christ was showing that they were to learn to love each other and to go out of their way for each other. They are to be their brother's keeper.

So again, are you your brother's keeper? Remember, everyone is made in God's image. And so you should consider helping anyone who's in need. If you have opportunity, obviously, you know, we only have opportunity to do so much. But if there is opportunity, then we should take that opportunity to do something. So let's go on to a second principle.

Are you your brother's keeper? Yes, in that Christ's disciples, two Christians, are to be known by their love, one for another. So we talked about that some already. But let's go to John 13, where it's explicitly written down for us. John 13. And this was to be a sign that someone was God's person or God's people. We know the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. And it's a covenant between God and those who yield themselves and keep the Sabbath day.

That is also a sign that there's another sign that needs to go along with Sabbath keeping. And that's whether or not we have love for one another. That's a very, very important sign. A person who keeps the Sabbath but has no love for his brother is not a true Christian.

They may be warming a seat here on the Sabbath, but they're really not being Christian because Christ clearly laid down his life for his brothers and for his sisters.

Greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends or his brothers, his sisters. John 13, verse 35, Christ says, By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

We know Christ was Lord of the Sabbath and He observed the Sabbath. That was His custom. That we're to do the same thing at the same time. You need to be known by your love. Do you have love for one another? We know the Scriptures tell us that God is love, and we know that we are to become like God. That's the whole goal, isn't it? To become like God, become like Jesus Christ. Love is the very first fruit that's listed in Galatians chapter 5, where it gives us a list of the fruit of God's Spirit. It could be said that all of the other eight fruits of God's Spirit, in a sense, encapsulize love. You have to have all these things going for you to truly be loving. We should be producing all the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.

This is God cannot lie, of course. God doesn't murder. God has killed people. In His mercy, He's killed some people. We do reap what we sow, and the wages of sin is death. It told us that right from the very beginning. Murder, though, has to do with one's intent, and Cain intended to murder his brother. He had evil intent. For his brother, God loves everyone. He doesn't have evil intent. He's not evil at all. There is no evil in God at all.

God is perfect. He's righteous. You can always count on Him.

God, through Christ, said, Love your enemies, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That's the instruction that we're given, to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That's a much higher standard than anyone ever said before. Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount, told them to love their enemies and pray for all those who were spitefully using them. So, it is really difficult, I think, to hate someone if you are genuinely praying for them. If you do harbor some kind of hatred, start praying for the person. You'll find that your attitude will change. It can't stay the same if you're really trying to communicate with God and you're praying for someone, asking God to be merciful, to forgive the person, to also help bring him to repentance, which the person obviously needs.

But love your enemies. Pray for those who spitefully use you, because you are one of Christ's disciples, and you should be known by your love for each other.

So, again, are you your brother's keeper? Number three, yes, you are, in that you should help fulfill anyone's needs. Anyone. In fact, I'll go to a scripture in a minute that shows us that we're supposed to forgive anything that anyone does.

I'll get to that in a moment. But this third principle, the second great commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. That's the second great commandment. The first one is to love God with all of your heart, soul, and might. Then we are to love our neighbor as ourself, and obviously be there for them. So let's go to Matthew 22, verse 39. Matthew 22, verse 39 says it has to do with the first and the second great commandment. The first one, again, love God with all your heart.

Second one, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So it is very important that we learn to love each other and that we learn to love others as we love ourselves. Most people do think pretty highly of themselves. They're pretty fond of themselves. I mean, I guess I'm pretty fond of myself.

I'm not that great, but I'm not that bad either. So, you know, we should think well of ourselves. You know, we're made in God's image. God has given us life. We're striving to obey Him and serve Him. And so we should think well of ourselves and we should treat others as we would want to be treated.

So Matthew 22, again, verse 39, is you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So if everyone's your neighbor and you want to show that kind of love toward them, you know, we all want to be forgiven if we've done something wrong, especially if we're remorseful. If we are sorry that we've done it, we certainly want to be forgiven at that point. So we should treat others in the same way.

And then Mark 11 is the verse I was telling you about. This is a very powerful verse. Mark 11, I don't know if you focused on this verse very much or not, but it really is a powerful verse. Mark 11, verse 24. You know, we should back up and read this a little bit.

Verse 20, Now in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree that dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. Who Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. For surely I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. You know, believe that God will give you the things that you're asking for if you're asking rightly. If you're not asking a miss, then you should have faith that God will answer your prayers. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, that covers a lot of ground, doesn't it? If you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

Now, none of us can forgive sin in the way God does. You know, God is the judge, God is perfect, God has never sinned. God can wash away our sins. Jesus Christ, they can wash away our sins.

We can't wash away another person's sin in the sense that God can, but we are told to forgive others to the limited degree that we can. In other words, you need to stop harboring resentment and to avoid another person. If they wronged you, then you should pray for them and pray that God will restore them and help them, bless them. Because again, it says, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you. So if you want to be forgiven, then there's really no way around this. If you want to be forgiven, then you have to learn to be forgiving yourself. You have to forgive anything, whatever it is they've done. And that's not so easy, is it? Because some people do spitefully use us and persecute us and hurt us. But with God, all things are possible. If you really seek forgiveness and seek God's help, in being able to forgive others, then no doubt God will give you that help to forgive others.

It says, if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you.

So we should all work on that. If we're harboring any kind of hatred or resentment against another person who has wronged us, then we should repent of them and forgive them. And turn them over to God, because God says vengeance is mine. We need to let God take care of them.

All right, let's go to Matthew 25. I think most of us are very familiar with these verses that Christ shares with all of us here in Matthew 25.

So see the correlation here. They're going to be given the kingdom because of their behavior, because of the way they've treated others.

So I believe he's talking about everyone. God eventually wants to call all people to a knowledge of the truth.

He wants to allow everyone to have this precious truth that we've been given now.

God calls people at different times. He's calling us now. We are the firstfruits. Judgment has begun upon the house of God. We're being judged. This is our day of salvation.

It's not everyone's day of salvation. God is going to call others at a later time, but how we treat them now is what's really important for us. How do you treat your neighbor?

The king will say to them, Assuredly I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. So this is serious business. We're talking about entering into the kingdom of God or being cast into the lake of fire. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. I was naked and you did not clothe me. Doesn't sound very good for the priest or the Levite, does it?

I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. Naked, you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Then they will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. So it is extremely important how we treat our brother, how we treat our sister, and we have to realize that if God gives us opportunity, we need to reach out and help those who are in need. And if we don't do that, we're like the priest and we're like the Levite who doesn't want to get involved, who just passes by and thinks they have a free pass. God doesn't give us a free pass.

He expects certain behavior from us, and that is to be there and to be your brother's keeper.

So again, I ask, are you your brother's keeper? Number four, another principle, yes, we are in that Christ's disciples are called to judge righteous judgment.

We are all called to judge righteous judgment. We have a responsibility to judge righteously, to be able to discern good and evil, be able to make judgments.

So how does that come into play when it comes to your brother or your sister in the faith, who is sinning or going astray? Well, the Bible tells us what to do. Matthew 18.

And this is something that should be followed, and I've heard people say, well, it doesn't work. Well, it doesn't work if you don't follow it. But if you follow it, it does work, and it works beautifully. And I've seen it work beautifully if it's followed.

So in Matthew 18, verse 15, moreover, if your brother sins against you. So we're talking about a spiritual brother here, someone who should know better, someone who knows the truth. If your brother sins against you, and you go tell him his fault between you and him alone, if he hears you, you have gained your brother. So the first step is to go to your brother or your sister, whoever it is, whoever it is that has wronged you and sinned against you.

You're not to gossip to other people about the dirty scoundrel that did whatever it is he did. No, you're to go to him and say, you know, I really didn't appreciate what you said or what you did or the fact that, you know, I loaned you $500 and you knew you were supposed to pay me back and I haven't seen a dime of it. And you haven't you've been avoiding me, you've been ignoring me.

Okay, you need to go to someone who has wronged you in that way and just lay it out on the table. And hopefully, as it says here, if he hears you, you have gained your brother. If he admits that he's been wrong and that he did something against you, he sinned against you and he's wanting to make it right, then it says you have gained your brother.

You have a connection with your brother, you have a meeting at the mines and you can go forward and work things out. But if you will not hear, then take with you one or two more. So now you have to establish it with one or two more witnesses because there has to be at least two in order to establish a matter.

So you have to take one or two, or it says, yeah, one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. So you want to still isolate, you want to keep it as isolated as possible. You don't go gossiping around about it, you just take one or two other people who may know that person, who may even know the situation to some degree, and take them and then together present your case.

And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. Okay, that's the next step. That's when maybe you call in Mr. Nance to be a part of all this. Call in the church, you know, someone who has some authority in the church to deal in such matters, but only then. You know, people really resent going to the minister the first thing. They really do. They don't appreciate it. They would rather you come right to them. They don't want you to go to the minister first.

They want you to give them a chance to admit that they were wrong and set it straight before it becomes necessary to make it known. I'm sure Mr. Nance doesn't care. He doesn't want to know everything that goes on here. He's quite content not knowing everything. If you can solve your disputes among yourselves, so much the better. At least I can speak for myself. I don't want to know everything that goes on. I would prefer people just working some of these issues out. That way I don't have to know about it.

I don't have to get involved in it. I'm happy to do it if I need to, but frankly I would much rather see brothers and sisters work things out themselves. Everyone's much happier. It goes much more smoothly if people follow Matthew 18. First of all, if you go in love to your brother and you're humble and you approach them in a right way, there's a much better chance that they're going to accept you. If they truly are your brother and they love you as well, if both of you have God's Spirit and they're yielding to God's Spirit, then hopefully they will see that you have their best interest in mind and they will accept that.

If not, you have to bring someone else in and still you have to follow. You don't want to skip any steps. You want to do it just as the Scripture tells you to. Hopefully you'll be able to resolve many of your issues. Go to your brother in love and also accept your brother in love. If both parties are truly wanting to obey and serve God and be loving toward each other, hopefully they'll be able to work all these things out.

So that's another important principle. Judge righteous judgment. You know, if someone has sinned, they've sinned. And if they've done it against you, then you probably don't like it that much. And for their own good, you should bring it up to them because maybe they don't even see it.

There are times when people don't see themselves and they need someone to point it out.

And you might say, well, I don't think you probably realize how much that hurt me. What you said or I heard that you gossiped about me, someone else. And you go to them and say, you know, I thought we were friends. You know, I try my best not to say anything that you and I have talked about in confidence. You know, and just try to work those things out. So we are our brother's keeper in that sense. And we do have a responsibility to judge righteous judgment. And then the last principle I'd like to talk about, are you your brother's keeper? Yes, you are, but not in the sense that you have to bring up every little thing your brother does that might irritate you, that you might not like, or maybe they fail to do something that might be minor.

You know, if someone's avoiding you, and really doesn't want anything to do with you, it might be because you have been too condemning or too critical. And maybe it's you that needs to repent and back off and be more sensitive. Remember, treat others as you want to be treated.

And nobody wants, you know, sometimes we know we've said something we shouldn't have said.

And you can tell it right away, and maybe we're still too prideful to mention it right away. But you know, as brothers, we know that, yeah, he realizes he shouldn't have said that, so I'm just going to let it drop. I'm not going to bring that up again. I'm not going to keep bringing it up every time we see each other. And I'll forgive him. We'll go on.

So, one final scripture. Let's go to 1 John 2. 1 John 2.

1 John 2, verse 9.

He who says he is in the light, in other words, he who believes he's converted, that he's in the light, that God has brought him out of darkness into his marvelous light. 2 John 2, verse 9. If you say you're in the light, that you hate your brother, you are in darkness. 2 John 2, verse 9. Okay, any of you that believe that you're in the light, that you harbor hatred and resentment, and you can't get over it, and it's been gnawing away at you for years, it says here that you are in darkness. So, you really have to go to God and pray about these things, and ask God for help, to forgive your brother, and to move on, and turn it over to God, and let him deal with it. So, again, it says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. You know, if you're walking in the light, you'll be able to see clearly, and you won't stumble. But he who hates his brother is in darkness. And someone that's continually picking away at someone else, in a sense, they hate their brother. You know, if you're constantly bringing things up, and continually picking away at someone, and making them feel inferior, lowering their esteem, all of that, you know, if you're contributing to that, then in a sense, you are hating them.

Your behavior is a behavior of hate, rather than love. So, he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So, we need to be careful. Satan is the prince of darkness. He wants to blind us. He wants to keep us in darkness. So, we do need to come out of the darkness, into God's marvelous light. Then we can see clearly, you know, the scripture says, get the plank out of your own eye. Matthew 7, get the plank out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly to help someone who may have a speck in their eye. You might be going after all these specks in some person who's less than perfect, because we all are. So, you might be going after all these specks that you see when you have a big plank in your own eye, and you can't see that. So, it is important, certainly, to beseech God and ask Him to help you see yourself. Ask God to help you see your weaknesses, your frailties, your blindnesses, where you are in darkness.

So, I think it ought to be clear that we should be our brother's keeper. That's the answer. Are you? Yes, you should be. We should love and take care of one another. It does begin with our own families, our brothers, our sisters, our moms, our dads, our relatives, our children. Take care of your own, but it extends to our spiritual brothers and sisters. It extends to people in this room. People that may be in need. We should be there to supply their need.

And also, as we have opportunity, people who are not of the faith yet, but they are people whom God loves. For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son to die for all of us.

But we do need to learn to extend our love toward others. We do need to learn to love them as we love ourselves. And as we want to be treated, we should treat them. So yes, indeed, you are your brother's keeper. It's been good to be here today. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you, Mr.

Nance, for letting me speak today.