Forgiveness and Providence: Lessons from Joseph's Journey

if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us but if we confess our sins God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness let us then confess our sins to God our Father most merciful God we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed by what we have done and by what left undone we have not loved you with our whole heart we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves we justly deserve your present and eternal punishment for the sake of your son Jesus [00:15:44]

christ have mercy on us forgive us renew us and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name amen in the mercy of almighty god jesus christ was given to die for you and for his sake forgives you all your sins as a called and ordained servant of christ by his authority i therefore forgive your sins in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen [00:16:42]

Joseph said to his brothers, God bless you, the Lord of другой, the Lord of all his house, the Lord of all his house, the ruler of all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go to my father and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry, and you shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me you and your children, your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have there I will provide for you and there yet five years of famine to come so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty and now your eyes see the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you you must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt and of all that you have seen and hurry and bring my father down here then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept and Benjamin wept upon his neck and he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them and after his brothers talked with him after that his brothers talked with him this is the word of the Lord thanks be to God [00:22:36]

Jesus said, But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. To the one who strikes you in the cheek, offer the other also. From the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you. And from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. For as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. [00:28:47]

And if you lend to those whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to give back the same amount. But love your enemy. Do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, you will not be judged. Condemn not, you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give. It will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. We'll put it into your lap. For what the measure you use will be measured back to you. [00:29:19]

but Joseph doesn't do that Joseph recognizes that God's hand was in all this stuff from being in slavery to being in prison to where he is now that God used all that to bring him to this place that even though they sold him into slavery God put him there that even though he was thrown in prison illegally God put him there and God because God was going to save the nation of Israel through this what an amazing moment [00:37:55]

and his brothers are forgiven not only is he going to give him not only is he going to forgive him he says I'm going to bring you to the land of Goshen and if you know where that is that's the Nile Delta rich fertile incredibly great land of Egypt I know when you think of Egypt you can think of deserts and stuff but the Nile Delta is a beautiful place and that's where he's going to settle all of them but he wants one more thing he wants to see his father because he hasn't seen his father and he wants Jacob to come down and they bring him down and he falls on his father and loves him settles him in the land [00:38:49]

but his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold we are your servants but Joseph said to him do not fear for am I in the place of God for as you meant evil against me but God meant it for good to bring about the saving of many people should be kept alive as they you and your little ones he comforted them and spoke kindly to them so when he hears this of his brothers he wept he wept because even though he told them years earlier that they were free and forgiven they didn't believe it they thought it was a trick [00:42:57]

you see there's two parts to forgiveness there's the objective part where God says you're forgiven but there's the subjective part where it says I believe and I think the best way to explain that is to think about Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation Abraham Lincoln the president of the United States said all people are free that meant they were but those who didn't hear it and those who didn't believe it and were in places where it wasn't proclaimed weren't free they were free but they didn't hear that's the subjective part that they didn't hear [00:45:37]

joseph i've often thought and read is a type of jesus he foreshadows who jesus will be and that his suffering saved his brothers and the family and then he says those amazing words which i just read to you do not fear am i in the place of god for as you meant evil against me god meant it for good to bring about to bring it about the many should be kept alive as they are today can you hear jesus on the cross you meant this for evil but god meant it for good the cross was for our good it was done by us to him with our sin but god took it and made it good for our salvation [00:49:39]

like joseph god's mercy god's grace allows us to forgive others what oh yeah he forgives that we might forgive he loves that we might love he has mercy that we might be merciful you think of the greatest things that people have done to people the most evil children loved ones harmed irreparably this past week we watched on the news as babies came back after being strangled to death [00:52:40]

because God loved us when we were his enemies God loved us when we didn't deserve it it wasn't because you were going to be good church goers that Jesus went to the cross he loved you while you were still sinners he loves us when we don't trust him he loves us when we don't love back [00:53:38]