[0:00] let's pray together heavenly father we we thank you that you are good we thank you father that as paul mentioned at the beginning that this is the day that you have made and we will rejoice and be glad in it father we are invited here as your people we're invited despite what we may be feeling we're invited in despite what our week has looked like but we trust father that as we meet with you here this morning that may you speak to us may you transform us may we leave here rejoicing rejoicing in the truth that we have been set free in jesus name amen good morning it's so good to be with you today i as you know my name is alan i am currently a pastor in paisley and i'm a pastor of a church called hope hall evangelical church so um so thank you for inviting me along this morning i had a good chance to drive with my family from paisley we were wrestling as to whether or not we we stay in livingston i i'm a livingston boy myself so um i have family there and we thought actually if we if we just stay at home we'll be able to just go for a tim hortons in the morning if for some of you that might not know that that's a canadian takeaway it's it's very tasty um it's very good so um and we drove over this morning um and there was no traffic which is great i can't say the same about this evening it might be different but i was asked to preach this morning and this evening and i was thinking and as i was praying i was thinking lord what would you like me to speak on how would it look help me and how i navigate your word and help me be obedient as well so today we're looking at god's providence how god provides and we're looking at god's providence and human brokenness i'm sure for many of us we can see in our lives how god has made a way amongst our and missed our brokenness god has broken through and met with us sometimes it's very hard in our situations to be thinking and crying out god where are you you're not here i don't hear you i don't feel you i don't see you i don't trust that you're working because i can't see the outworking of it just yet sometimes we we become so overwhelmed and overcome by our situations and it isn't until we look back where we can start to see how god has worked all things together so today we'll be looking at genesis chapter 50 verse 15 to 21 now i won't be reading the full seven like five or six chapters of the life of joseph which i'm sure many of you will be relieved so it says this i'll wait until the pages stop turning when joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead they said it may be that joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him so they sent a message to joseph saying your father
[4:04] gave this command before he died say to joseph please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you and now please forgive the transgressions of the servants of god of your father joseph wept when they spoke to him his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold we are your servants but joseph says to them do not fear for i am for am i in the place of god as for you you meant evil against me but god meant it for good to bring it to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today so do not fear i will provide for you and your little ones thus he comforted comforted them and spoke kindly to them now when you read the story of joseph you just think i wonder how many of us here when we read the story of joseph and we think that reminds me of me and my family like that reminds me of me and my sisters me and my siblings i wonder how many times we we read the story of joseph and i wonder how many of us are deeply conflicted at joseph's constant faithfulness to god i wonder how many of us in that situation would cry out my god my god why have you forsaken me i wonder how many of us would walk away how many of us would say god you're a god of love but you have allowed me to experience this as we can see in the story of joseph we see in so many different areas of joseph's story we see betrayal and brokenness we see joseph betrayed by his brothers whom he would have loved deeply now i'm not saying joseph would have been easy to lift with when you read it i can't imagine he was easy to lift with but he was blood he was blood to his brothers and his brothers was blood to him joseph had dreams of leadership and in his dreams of leadership he would provoke jealousy and envy amongst his brothers imagine imagine if one of your siblings was to come and say to you hey i had a dream i had i had a dream that you were going to clean my house i have a dream that you are going to provide you are going to provide a service for me and and instead of responding to me like i have five sisters i don't have any brothers so if i was to have a dream and say to my sisters hey sisters this is the task joseph are going to do for me but no longer will you call me your brother you'll call me your leader i wouldn't be here to preach today i wouldn't be his brothers betrayed him ruben convinces his brothers not to kill him but they sell him to slavery and they deceive their father by dipping his coat
[8:07] joseph's coat in blood as evidence of his death we see god's providence in the difficult situations we also see reconciliation in god's redemptive plan action we see a gospel message all the way at the beginning of scripture we see before israel was established before the law and the prophets we see god's redemptive plan we see the gospel or we see sorry we see a shadow of the gospel betrayal and brokenness many of us have experienced betrayal many of us i hope has experienced brokenness and when i say i hope we i hope there's not anyone here that would say i am sinless in our sin we are broken in our sin we fail and we fail for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god and because we have fallen short and because we are sinful we find ourselves time and time and time again elevating elevating a brokenness that christ has broken by his death and his resurrection but in genesis 37 chapter 37 we see that joseph who is favoured by his father jacob shares the dreams of future now joseph joseph joseph sharing his dream with his brothers provoked jealousy and envy but joseph was in no way shape or form the author of their jealousy and envy sin was it's easy to read this story and think well maybe maybe if joseph never shared his dream or maybe if joseph had a bit more humility and shared maybe the humility might have made make it go down a lot lightly or a lot lighter but it was the sin that was at work and in the life of the brothers that provoked envy and jealousy for us here today we may find ourselves struggling with the same envy and jealousy the same brokenness that we see within the brothers as well now the the dream that joseph had as matthew henry he's a commentator says the dream of joseph were a representation of future events which would deeply affect all parties concerned in them the dream that depicts joseph's exaltation elevation above his brothers was a dream that was given by god it wasn't a a random dream where joseph woke up told his dad and his dad says i told you not to eat cheese at night i told you to stop watching certain things but the dream was inspired by god and it was provided by god
[12:07] the means in which the dream plays out was also by god as well we see it in previous chapters where joseph says joseph brothers it wasn't you that sold me it wasn't you that brought me here it was god that took me so long i remember as a young christian to fathom why would a good god do this why would a good god do this of a god of a god of love of a god of justice a god of peace god of hope why would he do this but we only see half a picture when we read the story we only see or when we start reading the story we only see snippets and the more we read the more we start to see the story really coming alive we start to see god at work and not to say that in some point in the story that a plot twist god is now working god was working in and through it all joseph would have had every right to a degree anyway without without outside of knowing and trusting and loving god he would have had every right to turn to his brothers and say you know what you didn't want me when i was with you but now you need something how many of us have family that reach out to us when you need something many of us and how many times are we like fine fine mercy we see mercy at work we see forgiveness we see that god is working all things for the good of those that love him as i said many of us here may have experienced betrayal and broken this and as christians it's my my instruction my encouragement isn't to just hear what i'm saying in the sense of oh well you you may have experienced betrayal and broken this and still deal with it well just listen to this sermon and go off and just forget about it but speak to the elders here speak to the pastor speak to the pastoral care worker work it through with people work it through it's important for us as christians to recognize that god as a god has brought the body of christ together for the purposes of building up a bride and the body has many parts and therefore because the body has many parts the body is a weapon in which god is using in this world to combat the betrayals the brokenness that we see when the church goes out the broken have an opportunity of hearing the gospel western hills baptist church when i came in right in the middle of an estate they'll be brokenness all around here there'll be betrayals all around here there'll be hearts there'll be
[16:07] suffering in pain what does god have to say about it what does god have to say about it despite the injustices joseph faced god's providential hand is evident throughout his journey god has not left joseph alone he hasn't god didn't disappear for 10 minutes then show up again there was no empty even in the jail cells god was with him his hand god's hand was present and god's redemptive plan wasn't foiled joseph went from a slave to hold in a fairy high if not outside of pharaoh the highest position of office now this wasn't by chance this wasn't by fluke this wasn't because joseph had a good work ethic as a slave it was because of the dreams in which god had used joseph to interpret that joseph remained to be a voice for god god's providence is his constant care care for and guidance of his creation he orchestrates all offense according to his sovereign will r.c.
[18:11] spril in his book essential truths of the christian faith that god orchestrates for and sometimes it's very hard to fathom but why but why and this doesn't in any way alleviate human brokenness or sin it's not in any way to say well sin isn't really we're no longer accountable for it we absolutely are we are broken without christ we are sinful we if christ was a a bright white rug we are that glass of red wine poured right on it it doesn't go the holiness of god and the brokenness of humanity doesn't go it doesn't but we see god's provision we see god's provision in our circumstances i remember when i was 15 and i remember i was a very very young christian at the time actually i became a christian that year and i remember there was a situation in my family with my parents and my uncle and auntie and i i witnessed my uncle trying to try to kill my parents and i remember the pain and the anger and the fury that left me with i knew i murdered in my heart several times over the next several years i knew i did and i remember i was on the streets of edinburgh royal mail with a group of guys evangelizing and i remember i felt god tug at me and as i looked across at someone was my uncle absolutely not i will speak to anyone and i'll share the gospel with anyone serve it god haven't you not seen the emotional mental prison that he placed me in god provide him redemption i went over god held my own brokenness reminded of my own pride and i remember going over speaking me that several years prior that he gave his life to jesus and he passed as a child and the more he shared with me the more my heart started to melt i remember i remember that evening when i went home and pray i was like lord i am arrogant i am free to say who comes to you and who am i to say to you it seems as though joseph was full of god's faithfulness in his life he was fully aware now that doesn't mean didn't feel genuine pain and sorrow he would have done we see it we see him rush off in tears weeping in pain he had provided a way he provided a way god interfered not only did god have interfered in the human brokenness and he made a way today we we christ has made a way for us we come and worship because god has sin that there is no sin in our lives that are too dark or too wicked trails that we can't bring to god in which god cannot by his wounds heal us sometimes
[22:14] i come into church miserable and although i don't it's because i'm a scot maybe maybe it's because like most of us here the weather maybe maybe that a wretch like us all here that were once blind we now see we we have we have a hundred a hundred vision we have perfect vision from our spiritual blindness we have heard the gospel there's reconciliation in god's redemptive plan timothy geller says that the redemptive love of christ who reconciles us to god to joseph's response to his brother's showcases his profound understanding of god's sovereign providence how many of us have this fear and guilt here would fall on our knees before any of our family member say i'm sorry i have committed a crime against you forgive me i wonder how many will fall on our knees we know we will revelation says it every knee every tongue every knee and every tongue we'll fall holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy we see god's providence all throughout scripture and leave his creation behind god hasn't separated his hands we see it time and time again we see how god had made a way to get into the promised land now the journey from a journey but god had provided their every need the red sea how many of us would be terrified how many of us would be like run the other way they walked through but it's easy to become distant and angry towards god it's easy for us to become like some of the slavery it's it's very easy for us as
[25:25] Christians living the I'd rather be a non-Christian again I'd rather be back sometimes we need a biblical perception of our suffering sometimes we need I saw a great quote a couple of days ago on social media it tickled me and it said do I know one thing your feelings are opinions and that really conflicted me because I was like of course not my feelings and my opinions shouldn't doesn't determine what this is what opinions say it's god's word that transforms me it's god's word that changes it's always god's word and god's word reconciliation reconciliation requires humility through broken relationships through confession and forgiveness that's one
[26:26] I found challenging when I was reading this because it's easy to just say okay I'll just get over it forgive that's not confession or forgiveness that's for me anyway I find that more of just brushing it under the rug he didn't confess he didn't repent to me now I could have been like god I'm not going to speak to him until he confesses and repents lord I think all things are in your control I pray and the more I pray in very difficult situations lord help me lord help me help me forgive help me to forgive the crimes we commit against the holy god is significantly greater than against each other the worst we have sinned against the holy god a holy god and blameless there is nothing in god's nature his character there's nothing within god's presence that is sin this is what makes justice an important concept for us to really live by is that it's because of him not us it's because of christ it's because of christ it's because of christ so as and as we as we reflect in god's providence and we are reminded of the profound truth that god is sovereign over all through joseph's story we witness the transformative power of god's providence and in the face of betrayal adversity and reconciliation three quick points one in our brokenness he is near to the broken hearted and offers comfort and healing him trust in god's providence recognizing that his soft aspects of our life and his ability to guide us through difficult circumstances may we pursue reconciliation and forgiveness of extending grace and mercy to those who have wronged us and seeking within the right to repair broken relationships through humility and honesty god is the same yesterday today and forever i hear some people that would say in the old testament oh yeah but that was like that was in the old testament now we have like the new testament now we have jesus that is a bit more to be around which is quite that a broken understanding of how the old and the new but the god of abraham isaac is our god isn't that good news isn't that god has never let his people down he won't start in your life he hasn't started in mine i as at times when i preach it's i can't think of a single moment where god has failed me i really can't i could write a book with the mountain times i failed him faithful
[30:27] let's pray heavenly father we we thank you for this day we thank you we thank you for your word we thank you father for your word that transform hearts in your word it says that we have trust in the lord with all our hearts not to be anxious but to pray with thanksgiving we are people who are loving and compassionate merciful and forgiven to help us recognize areas in our life where where we have we have cried of leaving us we have accused you of not being present we have accused you of not knowing what you're doing affect us and may you remind us that before all this was in jesus name amen i'm going to invite the band to come up and lead us in our great is like faithfulness praying their 하게 fraku faithfulness.
[32:02] Morning by morning new mercies I see. Needed thy hand hath provided praises thy faith.
[32:16] Summer and winter sandwood and stars in their courses above shall in man give forth witness to thy great faithfulness.
[32:33] Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithful Lord in your mercies I see. All I have needed.
[32:46] Great is thy faithfulness. Lord, I'll do pardon our sin and help keep an endurance to cheer and to guide strength for today for all.
[33:05] Letting combine the ten thousand beside us. Great is thy faithfulness morning my glory be.
[33:17] All I have needed thy hand hath provided great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness heavenly father as we conclude our time together of your enduring presence and your promise of peace.
[33:48] We thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ our saviour who conquered death and rose again as we leave this place may we carry with us the assurance of your profession with everything good for doing your will.
[34:06] Strengthen our hearts and minds to us reflecting the love and mercy of our saviour. Lord work it transforming us from within and moulding us into vessels of your grace.
[34:21] And a shining light in a world filled with darkness. Now may the peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus with everything good for doing his will.
[34:38] And may he work in us what is pleasing to him to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[35:16] Amen. Amen. Thank you.
[35:47] Thank you.