WEBVTT 00:00:04.459 --> 00:00:07.080 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:10.140 Sermons. This week we're continuing our sermon 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:13.380 series called Broken Branches, where we dive 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:17.120 into Jesus' family tree and see some of the unlikely 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:20.120 characters who show up there. And today we're 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:22.800 diving into the story of a guy named Judah. Judah 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.579 was a liar. He sold his brother into slavery. 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:29.980 He's just an overall disaster. But why would 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:33.320 God pick him? to be the great, great, great, 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:35.979 great, great, great, great grandfather of Jesus. 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:38.960 That's what Rob's going to unpack for us in today's 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:46.740 sermon. Our reading today is from Genesis chapter 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:53.740 37, verses 1 to 4 and 12 to 28. Jacob lived in 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:56.359 the land where his father had stayed, the land 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:00.200 of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob's family 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.950 line. Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending 00:01:04.950 --> 00:01:07.829 the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:11.450 and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and 00:01:11.450 --> 00:01:13.870 he brought their father a bad report about them. 00:01:14.409 --> 00:01:17.510 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his 00:01:17.510 --> 00:01:20.329 other sons, because he had been born to him in 00:01:20.329 --> 00:01:23.849 his old age, and he made an ornate robe for him. 00:01:24.409 --> 00:01:26.909 When his brothers saw that their father loved 00:01:26.909 --> 00:01:30.060 him more than any of them, They hated him and 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:34.060 could not speak a kind word to him. Now his brothers 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:36.780 had gone to graze their father's flocks near 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:40.879 Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, As you know, 00:01:40.900 --> 00:01:43.379 your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. 00:01:43.579 --> 00:01:48.680 Come, I am going to send you to them. Very well, 00:01:48.819 --> 00:01:52.840 he replied. So he said to him, Go and see if 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:56.239 all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, 00:01:56.260 --> 00:02:00.150 and bring word back to me. Then he sent him off 00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:03.469 from the valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived 00:02:03.469 --> 00:02:06.390 at Shechem, a man found him wandering around 00:02:06.390 --> 00:02:08.810 in the fields and asked him, What are you looking 00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:12.409 for? He replied, I'm looking for my brothers. 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:15.110 Can you tell me where they are grazing their 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:18.189 flocks? They have moved on from here, the man 00:02:18.189 --> 00:02:21.090 answered. I heard them say, Let's go to Dothan. 00:02:21.949 --> 00:02:24.909 So Joseph went after his brothers and found them 00:02:24.909 --> 00:02:28.330 near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, 00:02:28.569 --> 00:02:31.689 and before he reached them, they plotted to kill 00:02:31.689 --> 00:02:35.210 him. Here comes the dreamer, they said to each 00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:38.569 other. Come now, let's kill him and throw him 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:41.650 into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious 00:02:41.650 --> 00:02:45.210 animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:48.849 of his dreams. When Reuben heard this, he tried 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:52.590 to rescue him from their hands. Let's not take 00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:56.400 his life, he said. Don't shed any blood. Throw 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:58.520 him into this cistern here in the wilderness, 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:02.840 but don't lay a hand on him. Reuben said this 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:05.900 to rescue him from them and take him back to 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:09.379 his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:12.419 they stripped him of his robe, the ornate robe 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:15.460 he was wearing, and they took him and threw him 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:19.039 into the cistern. The cistern was empty. There 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.500 was no water in it. As they sat down to their 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:25.719 meal, they looked up. and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:29.300 coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:32.740 with spices, balm, and myrrh, and they were on 00:03:32.740 --> 00:03:35.979 their way to take them down to Egypt. Judah said 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:38.939 to his brothers, What will we gain if we kill 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:42.580 our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's 00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:45.460 sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.280 on him. After all, he is our brother, our own 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.169 flesh and blood. His brothers agreed. So when 00:03:53.169 --> 00:03:56.229 the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers 00:03:56.229 --> 00:03:59.289 pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold 00:03:59.289 --> 00:04:03.009 him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites 00:04:03.009 --> 00:04:06.289 who took him to Egypt. The word of the Lord. 00:04:06.810 --> 00:04:11.449 Thanks be to God. Every fall. our family makes 00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:15.689 this trip up to the Big R Apple Farm up in Brampton, 00:04:15.849 --> 00:04:19.730 where we go to pick apples. It's lovely. We really 00:04:19.730 --> 00:04:23.350 enjoy it. And the thing about the Big R Apple 00:04:23.350 --> 00:04:25.889 Farm is it's a pick -your -own apple farm. So 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:28.069 what they do is you pay 20 bucks or something 00:04:28.069 --> 00:04:29.829 like that, and they give you a bag. And then 00:04:29.829 --> 00:04:33.290 you have to go through all the apple trees, and 00:04:33.290 --> 00:04:35.029 you fill the bag. And when the bag is full, you're 00:04:35.029 --> 00:04:38.490 done. Like, you can't sneak any more out than 00:04:38.490 --> 00:04:40.649 what you can fit in the bag. And so you don't 00:04:40.649 --> 00:04:43.529 actually just pick apples. You actually become 00:04:43.529 --> 00:04:46.610 like an apple inspector because you want to make 00:04:46.610 --> 00:04:49.269 sure you get the best apples in your bag, right? 00:04:49.370 --> 00:04:52.730 None with scabs on them or none that have bruises 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:54.949 on them or none that have like, you know, a bumblebee 00:04:54.949 --> 00:04:57.769 that's like made their nest inside the apple. 00:04:57.850 --> 00:04:59.389 No, you want the perfect apple. And sometimes 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:00.889 you're like, you think you've got the perfect 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:02.769 apple, but then you turn it around, you realize 00:05:02.769 --> 00:05:05.610 you were betrayed because on the other side of 00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:08.250 the apple, there's some marks. And of course, 00:05:08.269 --> 00:05:10.759 underneath, all these apple trees there are there 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.040 are bushels and bushels and bushels of apples 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.139 that have fallen to the ground and in various 00:05:16.139 --> 00:05:19.860 states of decomposition now of course you would 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:22.199 never pick up one of the ones off the ground 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:23.980 and put them in your bag you only want the very 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:27.120 best apples our dog holly who comes with us when 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:30.029 we go She, for some reason, loves apples. And 00:05:30.029 --> 00:05:32.529 so she thinks she's gone to a five -star buffet 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:35.850 whenever we're walking around. She spends half 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:40.389 her time eating and eating the apples. Now, we, 00:05:40.569 --> 00:05:42.970 though, again, would never put anything but the 00:05:42.970 --> 00:05:48.519 very best in our bag. We're in week number two 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:50.579 of this teaching series we're calling Broken 00:05:50.579 --> 00:05:53.420 Branches. And we're looking at a tree. We're 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:54.819 not looking at an apple tree. We're actually 00:05:54.819 --> 00:05:57.000 looking at a family tree. We're looking at Jesus's 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.980 family tree as we get ready for Christmas. And 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:01.319 you might say, that's an interesting thing to 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:03.339 do. Why are we doing that? Well, here's the answer. 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:06.120 It's because the gospel writer Matthew, when 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:08.560 he goes ahead to write his story, the Christmas 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:11.259 story, he doesn't begin with the angels and he 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:12.800 doesn't begin with the shepherds or he doesn't 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:14.920 begin with a star in the sky. Instead, he begins 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:17.779 with a long list. list of names, a family tree, 00:06:17.899 --> 00:06:21.860 a genealogy that traces Jesus's lineage all the 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:25.639 way back through David, all the way back to Abraham. 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:29.040 Now, the thing is, though, that when you read 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:32.680 through this family tree, you see something quite 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:36.540 startling. What you see is that this family tree 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:42.899 of Jesus is full of broken branches and bad apples. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.079 In fact, as Matthew works his way through this 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.379 genealogy, it's almost like he intentionally 00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:51.660 wants to point out all the screw -ups in the 00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:54.399 family tree. So for example, well, one example, 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:57.000 I'm not saying that these are necessarily screw 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.360 -ups, but one thing he does that he doesn't need 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.939 to do is he includes the names of women. Now, 00:07:01.939 --> 00:07:03.889 ancient genealogies never included the names 00:07:03.889 --> 00:07:06.870 of women. So why is Matthew doing that? And then 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:08.709 actually some of the people that he includes 00:07:08.709 --> 00:07:11.050 in his family tree aren't even Jewish. And that's 00:07:11.050 --> 00:07:13.269 not helpful if you're trying to prove that Jesus 00:07:13.269 --> 00:07:16.170 is the Jewish Messiah. And many of the people 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:19.810 in Jesus family tree are kind of, you know, sketchy 00:07:19.810 --> 00:07:22.389 characters. And that's not helpful if your point 00:07:22.389 --> 00:07:25.509 is to prove that Jesus is the divine son of God, 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:29.310 the holy one from above. So why does he want 00:07:29.310 --> 00:07:31.509 us to see this? You know, in fact, there's time. 00:07:31.629 --> 00:07:34.670 You know, Matthew actually stops and pauses for 00:07:34.670 --> 00:07:36.790 a long time when he looks at the story of like 00:07:36.790 --> 00:07:40.709 David and Bathsheba as if we need to see that 00:07:40.709 --> 00:07:43.410 again, as if we needed to be reminded of that 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:47.649 again. But it turns out that Matthew's purpose 00:07:47.649 --> 00:07:51.930 is to show us all of the crazy characters and 00:07:51.930 --> 00:07:53.790 as we're going to see today, some of the creepy 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:58.870 characters that made up Jesus's lineage. The 00:07:58.870 --> 00:08:03.319 point being, That not everyone who was related 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.819 to Jesus was especially holy or especially righteous 00:08:06.819 --> 00:08:12.379 or even especially good at all. So why would 00:08:12.379 --> 00:08:18.100 Matthew do that? Because for Matthew, these people 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:22.540 are not just part of the story. They are the 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:27.329 point of the story. You see, most religions run 00:08:27.329 --> 00:08:30.089 on this simple premise that if you do good things, 00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:34.809 then God likes you. You do bad things, God smites 00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:38.269 you. But Matthew was a former tax collector. 00:08:38.470 --> 00:08:41.870 He himself was a bad apple. So he had come to 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:46.029 know firsthand that God does not accept you because 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:48.850 of who you are or because of what you've done, 00:08:49.090 --> 00:08:54.049 but because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:59.629 done. And Jesus came not just for sinners, we 00:08:59.629 --> 00:09:03.309 learned last week, but Jesus came from sinners. 00:09:03.549 --> 00:09:06.649 And so all those messy people that make up the 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:09.429 broken branches of Jesus' family tree, they aren't 00:09:09.429 --> 00:09:13.539 just sinners. The story, they are the point of 00:09:13.539 --> 00:09:17.179 the story. And today's text is going to prove 00:09:17.179 --> 00:09:20.720 that again and again. Here's how Matthew begins 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:23.200 the Christmas story. This is the genealogy of 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.840 Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, and the 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.830 son of Abraham. And again. Matthew is writing 00:09:28.830 --> 00:09:31.129 to a primarily Jewish audience, and so it's really 00:09:31.129 --> 00:09:33.190 important that he connects Jesus to David, the 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:36.070 king, and he connects Jesus to Abraham to prove 00:09:36.070 --> 00:09:38.490 that Jesus was, you know, really, really Jewish. 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:42.250 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the 00:09:42.250 --> 00:09:45.669 father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah, 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:49.149 and he could have and should have just kept on 00:09:49.149 --> 00:09:53.889 going down the line, but Matthew decides to add 00:09:53.889 --> 00:09:57.269 one little tidbit here to remind us of a deeper 00:09:57.269 --> 00:10:03.009 story. Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. 00:10:04.830 --> 00:10:06.690 Now, if I were to ask you to turn to the person 00:10:06.690 --> 00:10:08.549 beside you and tell them everything you know 00:10:08.549 --> 00:10:12.470 about the life of Judah, it would probably be 00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:16.860 a pretty short conversation. But... Matthew's 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:18.879 reminding us, oh yeah, Judah was one of a bunch 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:21.759 of brothers. In fact, Judah was one of 12 brothers. 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:25.080 And these 12 brothers, that's right, they became 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:29.659 the 12 patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel, 00:10:29.899 --> 00:10:32.480 right? And that raises an interesting question 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.649 because then if... Then God actually had a choice 00:10:35.649 --> 00:10:38.870 of which of those 12 brothers he was going to 00:10:38.870 --> 00:10:42.909 place in the lineage of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:46.929 I wonder how God made that choice. Because, you 00:10:46.929 --> 00:10:49.490 know, God could have chosen Reuben, as we heard 00:10:49.490 --> 00:10:51.850 in our reading. Reuben was the oldest of the 00:10:51.850 --> 00:10:53.970 brothers. And Reuben seemed to have, you know, 00:10:53.990 --> 00:10:56.009 maybe a good heart. You saw him trying to rescue 00:10:56.009 --> 00:10:58.929 his younger brother Joseph in the story. But 00:10:58.929 --> 00:11:02.710 no, he didn't choose Reuben. Or, actually, God 00:11:02.710 --> 00:11:06.789 could have chosen Judah's most famous brother 00:11:06.789 --> 00:11:10.429 of all. And, of course, who is Judah's most famous 00:11:10.429 --> 00:11:14.110 brother? Joseph. That's right. There's several 00:11:14.110 --> 00:11:17.269 chapters in the book of Genesis devoted to Joseph. 00:11:17.470 --> 00:11:21.570 And Joseph is an amazing person, an amazing guy. 00:11:21.750 --> 00:11:25.049 Because if you know the story of Joseph, and 00:11:25.049 --> 00:11:28.759 if you know the story of Judah, And if you were 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.980 God and you had to choose one of these two brothers 00:11:31.980 --> 00:11:35.720 to bring God's son into the world, it would be 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:38.659 like the choice between these two apples. It 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:42.399 is an easy, easy, easy choice. Ten times out 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:47.929 of ten, you would choose Joseph over Judah. Because 00:11:47.929 --> 00:11:51.330 Joseph was amazing. Joseph was a man of great 00:11:51.330 --> 00:11:55.710 faith. He was a man of great character. And he 00:11:55.710 --> 00:11:59.370 is actually a lot like Jesus. Joseph was persecuted 00:11:59.370 --> 00:12:02.129 and went through a whole lot of suffering. And 00:12:02.129 --> 00:12:05.970 get this, Joseph becomes a savior. That's right. 00:12:06.009 --> 00:12:09.129 He becomes a savior of his own family, becomes 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:11.850 a savior of Egypt and the surrounding world during 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:14.269 a famine that happens later in the story. That 00:12:14.269 --> 00:12:19.169 makes Joseph the perfect. person to be the descendant 00:12:19.169 --> 00:12:21.889 of Jesus. He's the perfect picture of Jesus. 00:12:22.009 --> 00:12:25.389 If ever there was a boy that you should pick 00:12:25.389 --> 00:12:28.529 through whom the Messiah was going to come into 00:12:28.529 --> 00:12:33.509 the world, Joseph is perfect. Perfect. But when 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:37.750 God looks down, when God looks down and makes 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:40.610 his choice, he says, you know what? I think I'm 00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:44.549 going to pick Judah. Now, I would never have 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:47.240 picked Judah. And you would never have picked 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:51.840 Judah. Because Judah is a broken branch and a 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:56.779 bad apple in the family tree of Jesus. But God 00:12:56.779 --> 00:12:58.659 picked him. And so we got to look at this story. 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:00.360 And today, that's essentially what we're going 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:02.259 to do. We're going to look at two things. We're 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:04.580 going to look at first, the fall of Judah. How 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:07.200 this bad apple became so bad and literally fell 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:08.659 right out of the tree. And then we're going to 00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:12.240 look at God's choice of Judah. Why God picked 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:16.769 him up. and said, this is my guy, right? So I've 00:13:16.769 --> 00:13:18.429 given you some sermon notes so you can follow 00:13:18.429 --> 00:13:20.129 along. We're going to do a lot of storytelling 00:13:20.129 --> 00:13:23.570 today, so I hope we all learn a great deal. Let's 00:13:23.570 --> 00:13:25.690 start, first of all, with the fall of Judah. 00:13:25.769 --> 00:13:27.830 I mean, there were a lot of reasons why Judah 00:13:27.830 --> 00:13:31.070 was a bad choice and a bad apple, but the first 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:34.309 sign that we see that we're dealing with a ne 00:13:34.309 --> 00:13:37.590 'er -do -well is that, well, this, he sold his 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:43.460 own brother into slavery. So let's just back 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:46.559 up again. So Judah's story really begins in Genesis 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:49.960 37. And even in that story, the story is really 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:53.259 about Joseph. Judah is kind of just like a footnote 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:56.659 in that story. But you know the story that Joseph 00:13:56.659 --> 00:14:02.139 was Jacob's favored son. He was given this multicolored 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:07.000 coat. He looks like Donny Osmond. He's this golden 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:10.899 child. Everyone thinks he's the greatest. But 00:14:10.899 --> 00:14:14.879 Judah and his brothers, they can't stand the 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:17.340 guy. They can't stand him. And so one day, Joseph 00:14:17.340 --> 00:14:20.320 is going out to the fields to check on his brothers. 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.620 And the brothers grab him and they strip him 00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:26.620 of that ridiculous coat and they throw him in 00:14:26.620 --> 00:14:29.860 a cistern. They throw him in a well, a dry well. 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:32.899 And then it's weird. It says they sat down to 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:35.600 have lunch. I find that like so strange, you 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:38.139 know, like, hey, pass the hummus while Joseph 00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:42.559 is down there in the well screaming for his life, 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:45.600 right? But anyways, while they're eating there, 00:14:45.779 --> 00:14:49.059 this caravan of Ishmaelites comes by and they're 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:52.580 headed to Egypt. And this is where Judah speaks 00:14:52.580 --> 00:14:56.200 for the very first time. And this is what Judah 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:58.980 says. He says, guys, guys, listen, as he's chewing 00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:01.820 on a chicken bone, he says, guys, what do we 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:05.019 gain if we kill our brother? You know, after 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:07.940 all, there's no real profit in, you know, seeing 00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:12.220 him die. But, but rather than murder him, what 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:15.220 if we sell him? That way we can at least make 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:19.940 a few bucks. There you go. There he is. The great 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:26.480 Judah. let's not kill him. After all, he is our 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.299 brother, right? Let's just sell him, right? He's 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:31.240 so compassionate. Let's just sell him. And so 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:34.860 they do. They sell Joseph. They chain him wrist 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:36.700 to wrist with a bunch of these other slaves and 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:38.620 they watch him disappear over the horizon. As 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:40.419 far as they're concerned, they're never going 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:43.200 to see him again. And then they take that beautiful 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.360 Cody hat and they dip it in animal blood and 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:50.740 they go home to their father and they shatter 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:56.379 him. With the news, dad, so sorry, but this is 00:15:56.379 --> 00:15:58.419 all we found left of Joseph. He must have been 00:15:58.419 --> 00:16:03.799 eaten by a wild animal. This is all that's left 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:10.320 of him. And they keep that secret for 20 years. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.100 20 years of watching their father's grief. 20 00:16:15.100 --> 00:16:17.340 years of sitting at tables with an empty chair. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:21.559 20 years of birthdays going by remembering with 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:26.360 great grief the death of Joseph. But Judah knew 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:30.259 the truth. And Judah knew that actually he could 00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:32.019 have stopped the whole thing from happening because 00:16:32.019 --> 00:16:33.500 they seemed to listen to him. He seemed to have 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:37.320 some influence. But he put profit ahead of pity. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:41.600 So there you go. Meet Judah. The bad apple that 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.419 for some reason God said, here's my man. But 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:48.399 that's only the beginning. The next part of the 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:50.259 story, we see that Judah kind of falls right 00:16:50.259 --> 00:16:53.419 out of the tree and, you know, he kind of goes 00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:57.000 on to marry a foreign wife. Let me explain why 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:58.919 this is important. But in the next chapter, it 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:00.759 opens with this little line that says, at that 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.159 time, Judah went down from his brothers. Judah 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:06.119 met a daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:09.720 and he married her. Now, most commentators will 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:12.690 say that those words there went down. That is 00:17:12.690 --> 00:17:16.730 not just geography. That is theology. That is 00:17:16.730 --> 00:17:20.569 morality, right? This is Judah literally and 00:17:20.569 --> 00:17:24.750 spiritually. He is going down. He is distancing 00:17:24.750 --> 00:17:28.069 himself from God's family. And he ends up doing 00:17:28.069 --> 00:17:29.990 the very thing that the patriarch said that you 00:17:29.990 --> 00:17:33.529 should never ever do, boys. Don't marry into 00:17:33.529 --> 00:17:36.779 the local Canaanite population. Because when 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:38.579 you marry into those other cultures, you know 00:17:38.579 --> 00:17:40.200 what ends up happening. You start drifting into 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:42.619 their gods, their customs, their worldview. And 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:45.680 that's exactly what happens with Judah. He goes 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.839 down and he marries this Canaanite woman and 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:51.640 he starts a family with her that is shaped more 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:55.779 by Canaanite values and teachings than by God's 00:17:55.779 --> 00:17:59.920 promises. So this is a tale of decline, spiritual 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.099 decline. This bad apple's fallen out the tree, 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.099 and now it's even starting to roll downhill. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.119 But it's not over yet. No, we're just getting 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:11.599 started. Next, this bad apple starts to rot from 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.940 the inside out when we see how he neglects his 00:18:15.940 --> 00:18:18.099 own daughter -in -law. Now, I know I'm moving 00:18:18.099 --> 00:18:22.410 fast, but here's the story, okay? Judah goes 00:18:22.410 --> 00:18:25.730 on, he has three sons by this foreign wife. And 00:18:25.730 --> 00:18:28.349 when his oldest son, whose name is Ur, comes 00:18:28.349 --> 00:18:32.109 of age, Judah decides to marry him off to a local 00:18:32.109 --> 00:18:35.289 girl by the name of Tamar. But the text then 00:18:35.289 --> 00:18:39.009 says that Ur... the husband, did evil in the 00:18:39.009 --> 00:18:41.869 sight of the Lord, and so he died. And we don't 00:18:41.869 --> 00:18:43.829 know what he did, but he died. And that left 00:18:43.829 --> 00:18:47.369 Tamar in a very vulnerable position because she 00:18:47.369 --> 00:18:49.309 just lost her husband. But there were rules in 00:18:49.309 --> 00:18:51.789 Israel about how to deal with situations like 00:18:51.789 --> 00:18:54.829 this. And the idea was that Judah should give 00:18:54.829 --> 00:18:57.990 his second son, whose name was Onan, to Tamar 00:18:57.990 --> 00:19:00.049 to sleep with Tamar so that he could provide 00:19:00.049 --> 00:19:02.549 Tamar with a child, provide her with a family, 00:19:02.650 --> 00:19:04.470 thereby provide her with a future, and provide 00:19:04.470 --> 00:19:06.960 her with security. That was just kind of the 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:10.759 rule and the culture of that day. So Onan says, 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:15.000 okay, sure, I will sleep with her, but I'm not 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.119 going to give her a child. And if you want to 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:22.660 read all the gross and gory details of that story, 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:23.819 you're going to have to do that on your own. 00:19:23.859 --> 00:19:29.460 That's found in Genesis 38. So anyways, God looks 00:19:29.460 --> 00:19:34.470 down and sees what Onan is doing to Tamar. and 00:19:34.470 --> 00:19:37.769 it just says that God killed him too, right? 00:19:37.829 --> 00:19:40.650 That's the end of Onan, right? So suddenly you've 00:19:40.650 --> 00:19:44.289 got Tamar, a widow who's already endured two 00:19:44.289 --> 00:19:48.150 tragedies, and she's totally, totally vulnerable. 00:19:48.309 --> 00:19:51.849 And now again, Judah has a responsibility. He's 00:19:51.849 --> 00:19:55.589 got one more son. And so Judah... promises Tamar. 00:19:55.589 --> 00:19:57.230 He says, hey, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry, 00:19:57.309 --> 00:19:59.309 don't worry. See, my younger son here, when he 00:19:59.309 --> 00:20:03.069 grows of age, then I will give him to you and 00:20:03.069 --> 00:20:05.990 it'll all work out. You know, I'll make sure 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:08.470 he provides a family for you all in due course. 00:20:09.150 --> 00:20:11.890 But then the narrator drops this telling little 00:20:11.890 --> 00:20:14.589 line saying that, oh, you know, Judah thought, 00:20:14.750 --> 00:20:17.529 though, on the inside, Judah thought, oh, maybe 00:20:17.529 --> 00:20:20.700 my other son. He's going to die too. Maybe Tamar 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:22.539 is cursed or something like this. And just like 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:24.900 his brothers, he's going to die. In other words, 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:29.960 Judah decides to stall. And he actually will 00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:33.880 never give Tamar another husband. And so Tamar, 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.160 she waits and she waits and she waits. But... 00:20:37.889 --> 00:20:40.089 consistent with Judah's character. He has no 00:20:40.089 --> 00:20:43.930 intention. He forgets all about her. And I got 00:20:43.930 --> 00:20:45.910 to tell you, these were not big cities that they 00:20:45.910 --> 00:20:47.730 lived in those times. There would have been plenty 00:20:47.730 --> 00:20:51.190 of times over the years when Judah and Tamar 00:20:51.190 --> 00:20:54.289 would have crossed paths. But again, Judah does 00:20:54.289 --> 00:20:57.509 what many bad apples do, and that is he just 00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:00.809 avoids his responsibility. He moves on with his 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:06.660 life. And Tamar is... Abandoned. Left in limbo. 00:21:06.740 --> 00:21:11.519 This is a betrayal. It's not like as the kind 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.279 of betrayal that happened to Joseph. That was 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:15.680 really dramatic and sudden. But this is like 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:19.759 the slow rot. The slow rot of letting someone 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.940 suffer because you don't want to do the right 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:28.099 thing because it feels inconvenient to you. But 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:33.460 next, this bad apple. really hits rock bottom. 00:21:33.539 --> 00:21:36.799 And it is icky, I got to tell you. This is one 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:39.420 of the strangest, most awkward stories in the 00:21:39.420 --> 00:21:41.599 Bible. This is one of those, did the Bible really 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:45.420 say that moments in Scripture? Basically, here's 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:49.799 what happens. Judah, one day, years later, is 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:52.740 heading out of town with a friend to go and shear 00:21:52.740 --> 00:21:55.900 sheep. It's kind of like a middle -aged guy's 00:21:55.900 --> 00:21:57.650 road trip. kind of a thing. He's heading out 00:21:57.650 --> 00:22:00.490 to shear some sheep. And Tamar at this point 00:22:00.490 --> 00:22:03.609 has realized that he is not going to keep his 00:22:03.609 --> 00:22:06.369 promise to her. So she decides she's going to 00:22:06.369 --> 00:22:09.390 take matters into her own hands. She covers her 00:22:09.390 --> 00:22:14.670 face and she disguises herself as a prostitute, 00:22:14.750 --> 00:22:17.490 a temple prostitute, like a Canaanite temple 00:22:17.490 --> 00:22:20.589 prostitute. And she goes down and she sits at 00:22:20.589 --> 00:22:24.490 the town gate. Now, when Judah comes walking 00:22:24.490 --> 00:22:27.099 by, he doesn't recognize her. And just let that 00:22:27.099 --> 00:22:29.720 sink in for a little bit. This is your own daughter 00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:31.480 -in -law, the one who you are supposed to be 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:33.759 taking care of, and you don't recognize her, 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:36.220 right? This woman you're supposed to care for, 00:22:36.420 --> 00:22:38.180 you don't even know what she looks like anymore, 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:42.200 right? And then we read that when Judah saw her, 00:22:42.380 --> 00:22:44.880 he thought she was a prostitute, for she had 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:48.220 covered her face, not realizing that she was 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:50.859 his daughter -in -law. And he went over to her 00:22:50.859 --> 00:22:55.000 by the roadside and said, come now, let me sleep 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.710 with you. So Judah basically strikes up a conversation, 00:22:59.009 --> 00:23:01.890 quickly decides he'd like to hire her for her 00:23:01.890 --> 00:23:05.990 services. And yes, the ick factor is now rising 00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:09.970 rapidly in this story. And Tamar then says, well, 00:23:10.069 --> 00:23:15.049 what will you give me if I sleep with you? And 00:23:15.049 --> 00:23:18.990 so they negotiate the price. The fee is going 00:23:18.990 --> 00:23:21.750 to be a goat. I guess that was the going rate 00:23:21.750 --> 00:23:26.519 3 ,000 years ago. A goat. But you see, Judah 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:29.299 actually hasn't brought a goat with him. I mean, 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:32.200 who carries a spare goat for moments like this 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:34.240 when you want a proposition of prostitute, right? 00:23:34.700 --> 00:23:37.500 So Tamar says, okay, fine. If you don't have 00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:39.440 the goat, no problem. I just need some collateral. 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:43.019 She says, so until you send me the goat, I want 00:23:43.019 --> 00:23:45.920 your seal, I want your cord, and I want your 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.299 staff. Translation is, I want your signature, 00:23:49.539 --> 00:23:52.859 I want your ID. And I want your driver's license, 00:23:53.019 --> 00:23:55.720 right? Everything that proves who you are. And 00:23:55.720 --> 00:24:03.079 Judah hands them over. Why? I guess because sin 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:07.670 makes smart people do stupid things. And they 00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:10.750 sleep together and it's dark and apparently Judah 00:24:10.750 --> 00:24:14.549 can't see her. And then she leaves and then he 00:24:14.549 --> 00:24:17.329 goes home. When he gets home, he finds a servant 00:24:17.329 --> 00:24:21.410 and he says to the servant, hey, I met this temple 00:24:21.410 --> 00:24:23.769 prostitute down by the gate. I need you to go 00:24:23.769 --> 00:24:26.410 and take her a goat. I don't want to talk about 00:24:26.410 --> 00:24:28.690 it. You don't need the details. Just go and take 00:24:28.690 --> 00:24:31.910 her a goat. And so the servant does. He takes 00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:34.220 a goat down to the gate. He says, where's the 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:36.339 temple prostitute that hangs out down here? And 00:24:36.339 --> 00:24:37.660 the people there are like, what are you talking 00:24:37.660 --> 00:24:39.839 about? There is no temple prostitute here. Well, 00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:42.559 this is now kind of embarrassing because she's 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:45.819 got all of Judah's ID, but Judah, he kind of 00:24:45.819 --> 00:24:47.740 just shrugs it off and he says, well, let's just 00:24:47.740 --> 00:24:50.059 forget about it then. He moves on with his life. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:52.779 So this is Judah, everybody. This is the great, 00:24:52.900 --> 00:24:54.740 great, great, great grandfather of Jesus who 00:24:54.740 --> 00:24:57.740 propositioned his own daughter -in -law, mistook 00:24:57.740 --> 00:25:02.640 her for a prostitute, paid with his own ID. Like 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.839 this, This is not just a bad apple. This is one 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.740 of those worm -infested ones that's sitting there 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:12.240 half -baked in the sun, right? And that brings 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:13.839 us to the last part I want to tell you about, 00:25:13.900 --> 00:25:16.140 the fall of Judah. And this is the part where 00:25:16.140 --> 00:25:19.900 Judah burns with self -righteousness. This is 00:25:19.900 --> 00:25:23.359 where Judah, the bad apple, tries to hide all 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:26.019 of his own bruises by pretending to be so, so 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:28.319 perfect. Here's how it goes. Three months later. 00:25:29.099 --> 00:25:30.960 Three months later, someone comes running to 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.460 Judah and says, hey, Judah, Judah, Judah, guess 00:25:33.460 --> 00:25:37.900 what? Your daughter -in -law, Tamar, she's pregnant. 00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:42.539 And she's been sleeping around, I guess. She's 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:48.559 a sinner, Judah. And Judah, the guy who sold 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:54.180 his own brother, abandoned Tamar, hired a prostitute 00:25:54.180 --> 00:25:57.000 on the side of the road and is carrying... a 00:25:57.000 --> 00:25:59.920 secret darker than anything Tamar ever could. 00:26:00.660 --> 00:26:06.259 Judah explodes with moral outrage. Oh my gosh, 00:26:06.700 --> 00:26:11.339 she needs to be burned to death. Burn her alive. 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:14.940 Right? The hypocrisy meter now here like breaks 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:18.859 the scale because here you have a man who is 00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:23.509 hiding so many of his own sins. trying to be 00:26:23.509 --> 00:26:26.650 like the moral policeman here and by the way 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:29.089 that's actually not that unusual is it we we've 00:26:29.089 --> 00:26:31.490 seen that right people who make a whole lot of 00:26:31.490 --> 00:26:34.670 noise about certain moral issues turn out to 00:26:34.670 --> 00:26:37.309 be the very ones who are struggling with those 00:26:37.309 --> 00:26:40.549 issues themselves it's like this mask of self 00:26:40.549 --> 00:26:43.250 -righteousness we put that on to cover the shame 00:26:43.250 --> 00:26:47.740 that we don't want anyone else to see so Before 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:49.420 I tell you the rest of the story, let's just 00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:52.299 take a look at this summary for a moment. Let 00:26:52.299 --> 00:26:54.000 me introduce you again to the great, great, great 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.319 grandfather of Jesus. The guy who sold his own 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.660 brother, then kept it a secret, right? And then 00:26:59.660 --> 00:27:01.579 who married a foreign wife, who neglected his 00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:04.180 daughter -in -law, who then slept with Tamar, 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:07.019 thinking she was a temple prostitute, and then 00:27:07.019 --> 00:27:12.680 wanted to kill her because of her sin. Merry 00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:15.680 Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody. Isn't 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:19.539 this great? And now I would not have picked this 00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:22.400 guy. And you would not have picked this guy. 00:27:22.460 --> 00:27:25.380 But for some reason, God chose him to be the 00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:30.799 one in the family tree of Jesus. Why? Well, we 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.039 begin to see why just a few verses later. When 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:39.799 Judah finally experiences this moment, finally 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:43.980 this moment of realization, and confession and 00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:47.319 repentance. And let me tell you how it all happens. 00:27:47.990 --> 00:27:52.490 Tamar is dragged out to face her judgment. But 00:27:52.490 --> 00:27:54.750 as she comes out, she sends this little message 00:27:54.750 --> 00:27:57.630 ahead to Judah. This messenger goes and the messenger 00:27:57.630 --> 00:28:01.430 runs up to Judah. And he says, hey, look, Tamar 00:28:01.430 --> 00:28:03.670 gave me this seal. And she gave me this cord. 00:28:03.769 --> 00:28:07.190 And she gave me this staff. And she says, Judah, 00:28:07.470 --> 00:28:10.190 before you burn me to death, I wanted to show 00:28:10.190 --> 00:28:13.269 you these because I'm pregnant by the man who 00:28:13.269 --> 00:28:16.289 gave me these things. And the servant's like, 00:28:16.390 --> 00:28:18.309 does this make sense? any sense to you, Judah? 00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:22.170 And he holds up Judah's wallet and Judah's passport 00:28:22.170 --> 00:28:26.109 and Judah's driver's license. And of course, 00:28:26.109 --> 00:28:32.730 Judah suddenly, that self -righteous mask just 00:28:32.730 --> 00:28:36.670 falls right off his face. And his eyes finally 00:28:36.670 --> 00:28:41.690 open up. And he says what I think is the most 00:28:41.690 --> 00:28:43.670 important line that he ever says in the entire 00:28:43.670 --> 00:28:49.000 Bible. He says, She is more righteous than I. 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:54.039 Judah finally speaks the truth. He finally recognizes 00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:57.039 his sin. He finally stops pretending. It's like 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:01.039 this bad apple finally cracks open just enough 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.380 for the light of God to get in, for the grace 00:29:04.380 --> 00:29:10.599 of God to get inside. She is more righteous than 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:14.490 I. This is called confession. By the way, and 00:29:14.490 --> 00:29:17.529 Judah is the first person in the entire Bible, 00:29:17.589 --> 00:29:21.250 as far as I can see, who actually admits he was 00:29:21.250 --> 00:29:25.430 wrong. But that's where every redemption story 00:29:25.430 --> 00:29:30.650 begins. In a moment when a person sees their 00:29:30.650 --> 00:29:35.869 own sin clearly and they come clean. And this 00:29:35.869 --> 00:29:39.289 is Judah's turning point. And it seems that this 00:29:39.289 --> 00:29:42.589 was the moment. When Judah would acquire the 00:29:42.589 --> 00:29:46.609 strength to do what I think was probably the 00:29:46.609 --> 00:29:49.349 hardest thing he ever had to do in his life. 00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:53.769 And that was the moment when Judah finally moved 00:29:53.769 --> 00:29:56.710 from self -righteousness to self -sacrifice. 00:29:56.750 --> 00:30:00.390 One more story. One more story. Fast forward 00:30:00.390 --> 00:30:04.710 20 years. Joseph, oh, he's not dead. Guess what? 00:30:04.789 --> 00:30:08.119 He's the prime minister of Egypt. And now there 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:11.440 is a great famine in the land, and the brothers 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:15.519 have to go to Egypt begging for food, begging 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:19.460 Joseph for food. Now, Joseph tests them. He tests 00:30:19.460 --> 00:30:23.259 Judah especially. He wants to see what these 00:30:23.259 --> 00:30:27.650 brothers of his have become. Then Joseph decides 00:30:27.650 --> 00:30:30.589 to send them on their way back home, but he announces 00:30:30.589 --> 00:30:32.849 that Benjamin, the youngest of the brothers, 00:30:32.970 --> 00:30:36.910 no, no, he has to stay behind as a slave. Now, 00:30:36.910 --> 00:30:39.710 at one time, what would Judah have done in this 00:30:39.710 --> 00:30:41.890 situation? The old Judah would have said, oh, 00:30:41.970 --> 00:30:45.069 great, you know, one less brat to worry about, 00:30:45.130 --> 00:30:47.950 one less mouth to feed in a famine. But this 00:30:47.950 --> 00:30:51.250 new Judah is transformed, and he does something 00:30:51.250 --> 00:30:56.180 astonishing. He steps forward. And he says, please, 00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:05.039 let the boy go. Take me instead. This man who 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:08.880 once sold his own brother as a slave is now willing 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:14.200 to become a slave to save another brother. And 00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:17.220 you can almost hear heaven whispering at this 00:31:17.220 --> 00:31:23.950 moment, this is the Judah that I can use. This 00:31:23.950 --> 00:31:28.150 is not the Judah of Genesis 37. This is not the 00:31:28.150 --> 00:31:31.910 Judah of Genesis 38. This is a man who has been 00:31:31.910 --> 00:31:37.049 softened and changed by God's grace. And this 00:31:37.049 --> 00:31:43.569 is why God chose Judah. Not because he's the 00:31:43.569 --> 00:31:47.650 best apple on the tree. But because Judah represents 00:31:47.650 --> 00:31:52.589 the whole point of the gospel, that even bad 00:31:52.589 --> 00:31:57.630 apples can bear good fruit, that God brings salvation 00:31:57.630 --> 00:32:02.769 through broken people. to broken people because 00:32:02.769 --> 00:32:07.369 broken people are the ones who know best that 00:32:07.369 --> 00:32:11.750 they need God's grace. And yes, God could have 00:32:11.750 --> 00:32:14.670 chosen Joseph. He was a savior and he saved his 00:32:14.670 --> 00:32:17.069 family's life and he saved Pharaoh and he saved 00:32:17.069 --> 00:32:18.789 the Egyptians. He's the picture of a savior. 00:32:18.890 --> 00:32:21.349 But God looks down and says, you know what? You 00:32:21.349 --> 00:32:23.309 know what? I think I'm going to skip over the 00:32:23.309 --> 00:32:26.130 savior and I'm going to choose the liar and the 00:32:26.130 --> 00:32:30.549 cheat instead. I'm going to skip right past that 00:32:30.549 --> 00:32:32.990 shiny apple and I'm going to choose the bruised 00:32:32.990 --> 00:32:35.170 one and the battered one. I'm going to bring 00:32:35.170 --> 00:32:38.089 my son into the world through a Judah, not a 00:32:38.089 --> 00:32:41.549 Joseph. And do you know why Matthew felt that 00:32:41.549 --> 00:32:44.930 it was so necessary to include just this little 00:32:44.930 --> 00:32:48.009 snippet in the story? It's because on that day, 00:32:48.130 --> 00:32:52.930 Judah was like a picture of you. He was a picture 00:32:52.930 --> 00:32:57.700 of me. picture of a person who deserved one thing, 00:32:57.819 --> 00:33:02.980 but he got another thing. It's a picture of God's 00:33:02.980 --> 00:33:07.599 grace. And that's the point of Christmas. Judah's 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:10.680 only hope, your only hope, my only hope is not 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:13.180 in what we do, but it's in what that has been 00:33:13.180 --> 00:33:18.240 done for us. Judah's story reminds us that no 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:22.000 apple falls so far from the tree that God cannot 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:26.420 reach it and use it. And that's why Matthew starts 00:33:26.420 --> 00:33:30.380 the Christmas story with a messy family tree. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:34.880 Before he even gets to the baby Jesus, he wants 00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:38.420 us to see how it's always worked. God chooses 00:33:38.420 --> 00:33:43.579 the broken. He chooses the flawed. He chooses 00:33:43.579 --> 00:33:46.259 people who have secrets. He chooses people with 00:33:46.259 --> 00:33:50.539 a past. That's maybe your story. It's my story. 00:33:51.500 --> 00:33:54.539 You're the point of Christmas. I am the point 00:33:54.539 --> 00:34:00.220 of Christmas. Jesus brings grace to people who 00:34:00.220 --> 00:34:04.779 don't deserve it. I would say that is both the 00:34:04.779 --> 00:34:07.319 miracle of Christmas and that is the true message 00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:12.340 of Christmas. That Jesus came from a family of 00:34:12.340 --> 00:34:16.440 sinners in order to save a world full of sinners. 00:34:17.059 --> 00:34:19.760 And there's no branch so broken. There's no apple 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:25.030 so bruised. That God cannot use them in his story 00:34:25.030 --> 00:34:33.829 of redemption. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks 00:34:33.829 --> 00:34:35.949 for listening to this week's episode of Trinity 00:34:35.949 --> 00:34:39.949 Sermons. This week's sermon was recorded at Trinity 00:34:39.949 --> 00:34:42.869 Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on 00:34:42.869 --> 00:34:44.889 December 7th, 2025.