WEBVTT 00:00:01.180 --> 00:00:03.399 Well, this week we're looking at Genesis 38, 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:04.780 so you can go ahead and turn back to Genesis 00:00:04.780 --> 00:00:07.339 38. But I wanted to start off by reading the 00:00:07.339 --> 00:00:10.939 genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1. Because 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:13.140 Genesis 38 is kind of a hard passage, if we're 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:14.460 honest. It's kind of the type of a passage that 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:16.539 we see come up in our Bible reading plan in January, 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:19.300 right around January 19th, January 20th. And 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:21.140 you kind of think, do I have to read that chapter? 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:24.300 What happens if I just skip over that chapter? 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.800 Or maybe we think, why is that chapter even in 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.320 the Bible? Like, why did we need to hear this? 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:32.100 But as hard as some of the events of Genesis 00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:34.079 38 can be, and we're just going to take those 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:36.619 head on today, as hard as that can be, I want 00:00:36.619 --> 00:00:39.100 us to remember where this is all pointing towards. 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:41.280 And it's all pointing towards Matthew chapter 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:44.600 1. It's all pointing towards what happens after 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.340 Genesis 38. Because Genesis 38 is a hard chapter. 00:00:48.460 --> 00:00:50.920 It's not a good chapter. It's not a chapter where 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:52.560 we're going to leave and be like, wow, what we 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:56.100 saw today was a lot of righteousness. But it 00:00:56.100 --> 00:00:59.579 does point us to our need for a Savior and then 00:00:59.579 --> 00:01:01.840 ultimately to the fulfillment of who our Savior 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:05.340 will be. And so as we look at Genesis chapter 00:01:05.340 --> 00:01:07.319 38, I want us to keep that in mind, that we need 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:08.879 to understand this passage. We need to study 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:10.900 this passage. We need to look at this passage 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:13.079 because, A, it is God's Word. And we know from 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:17.079 2 Timothy that all of God's Word is useful. All 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.659 of God's Word matters. All of it teaches us, 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:23.980 corrects us, rebukes us, and trains us. But secondly, 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.180 it matters because it shows us some really important 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:29.040 lessons about how God works in our own lives. 00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:30.959 One of the biggest things we're going to see 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.239 throughout this passage today is kind of a cycle 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:35.760 of shame. I want to start off by just addressing 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.060 shame head -on. See, shame is what happens when 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:39.760 we take guilt that the Holy Spirit gives us, 00:01:39.780 --> 00:01:41.700 and instead of going to God in repentance, we 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.400 let that guilt push us away from God. Because 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.359 what shame does is three things. Shame drives 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:49.219 us away from God. It drives us away from a Christian 00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:51.219 community that can care for us and support us. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.000 And most importantly, I'd argue, it drives us 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.099 away from the gospel or the truth that Jesus 00:01:56.099 --> 00:01:59.739 has paid the price. And all of shame starts with 00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:03.640 sin and us not handling sin well. And as shame 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:06.079 or sin starts to turn to shame, we lose sight 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.639 of the truth. We lose sight of what God is, who 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:12.300 God is, God's love for us, God's forgiveness 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:14.759 for us. We lose sight of the fact that we are 00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:17.240 not the only sinners in the world. I don't know 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:18.479 if you've ever felt that way, that you sit and 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:20.159 you're like, I am the only person to ever do 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:23.289 that. If you're a husband, you probably understand 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:25.789 this. When I first got married, I remember being 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:30.129 really upset about kind of a disagreement that 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:31.750 I'd started with my wife, and it was my fault, 00:02:31.810 --> 00:02:33.909 and I have no shame in saying that. I remember 00:02:33.909 --> 00:02:36.090 being really defeated, and I went in to one of 00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:38.069 the elders in my church. I was like, I'm the 00:02:38.069 --> 00:02:41.990 worst husband out there. He goes, well, he said 00:02:41.990 --> 00:02:43.370 last night was hard. He goes, Friday night, my 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:46.069 wife and I got in a huge fight. Oh. oh, I'm not 00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:48.270 the only one that does this. But see, what shame 00:02:48.270 --> 00:02:49.969 does is it tells us we are the only people who 00:02:49.969 --> 00:02:52.009 do this, so it drives us away from God, away 00:02:52.009 --> 00:02:54.590 from other people, away from community, and drives 00:02:54.590 --> 00:02:56.550 us away from the gospel, the fact that we are 00:02:56.550 --> 00:02:59.930 forgiven. And today what we see is the effects 00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:02.789 of shame when it's left unchecked, because all 00:03:02.789 --> 00:03:05.169 of the events of Genesis 38 all really start 00:03:05.169 --> 00:03:06.650 with the fact that Judah makes some terrible 00:03:06.650 --> 00:03:10.259 decisions in Genesis chapter 37. And we're going 00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:12.500 to see that in Genesis 38 .1 and why I say that 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.840 it all starts in Genesis 37. But it starts with 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:18.280 Judah's terrible decision that he makes. And 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:20.240 instead of it just stopping there, it continues 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.759 on with more and more terrible decisions he makes 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:27.039 that are far away from God. And so yeah, the 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:28.500 passage today, I'm just going to be honest, is 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:32.099 kind of a hard passage. It's not a passage that 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:33.439 in seminary you sit there and you're like, I 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:35.960 cannot wait until I get to preach Genesis 38 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:40.240 to my church. But it's an important passage. 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:43.319 It's a passage that we need to understand because 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:45.960 it shows us the greatness of God. And that's 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:47.240 really what our main point is today. Our main 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:49.180 point this morning is that God can use our greatest 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:52.939 mistakes for His glory. God can use our greatest 00:03:52.939 --> 00:03:59.000 mistakes for His glory. We've all made those 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.000 mistakes. We've all had those mistakes that might 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:02.360 be popping in our head right now where we think, 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:05.219 that is really a bad decision that I made. That 00:04:05.219 --> 00:04:07.240 was a bad choice that I made. I don't know if 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:09.099 maybe that put me a little too far away from 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:11.240 God. Let me encourage you, this passage is going 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.759 to show you that God can use our greatest mistakes 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:17.920 that we make for His glory. God doesn't abandon 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.060 us when we make those mistakes. God uses them 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:23.519 for His glory and for His kingdom. So as you 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.839 jump into Genesis 38, let me invite you to look 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:27.839 along as I read verses 1 through 5 for us. It 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:31.910 says this, There you go. That's why I think this 00:04:31.910 --> 00:04:33.769 all comes out of shame, because right after they 00:04:33.769 --> 00:04:35.649 sell his brother into slavery, he gets up and 00:04:35.649 --> 00:04:38.329 he leaves. At that time, Judah left his brothers, 00:04:38.389 --> 00:04:40.629 and he settled near an Adolamite named Hira. 00:04:40.850 --> 00:04:42.550 And there Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite 00:04:42.550 --> 00:04:44.949 named Shua, and he took her as his wife and slept 00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:46.850 with her. And she conceived and gave birth to 00:04:46.850 --> 00:04:48.850 a son, and he named him Ur. And she conceived 00:04:48.850 --> 00:04:51.250 again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 00:04:51.829 --> 00:04:53.550 And then some time passes, and she gave birth 00:04:53.550 --> 00:04:55.649 to another son and named him Shelah. And it was 00:04:55.649 --> 00:04:58.959 at Kezeb that she gave birth to him. So those 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.959 five verses kind of give us the context of today's 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.139 passage. In verse 1, we see that Judah leaves 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:05.439 his brothers behind. Now the timing can be a 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:07.360 little confusing. Some people want to turn this 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.399 into Judah leaves before the events of Genesis 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.779 37. Listen, the simple reading is the best reading. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.480 The simple reading is as this whole thing is 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:17.259 going on, right after they sell their brother, 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:21.300 Judah goes and leaves his family. Here's two 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:24.060 parts to this. One, he is an older brother. He's 00:05:24.060 --> 00:05:26.110 not the oldest brother. So he wants to go try 00:05:26.110 --> 00:05:27.850 and build a life for himself, build a reputation 00:05:27.850 --> 00:05:31.089 for himself, build his own wealth. Here's the 00:05:31.089 --> 00:05:34.029 second reason. If you think back to Genesis 37, 00:05:34.110 --> 00:05:36.170 what we saw last week, the brothers are going 00:05:36.170 --> 00:05:39.110 to throw Joseph into a pit, maybe kill him, maybe 00:05:39.110 --> 00:05:41.170 just leave him there for a while. And Judah's 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:43.029 the one who comes up with this idea to sell him 00:05:43.029 --> 00:05:45.730 into slavery. He says, hold on, there's some 00:05:45.730 --> 00:05:47.529 guys coming, let's sell them. And then they all 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:50.970 walk out of there about $27 richer. And I'm not 00:05:50.970 --> 00:05:53.459 making that number up. And I think there's a 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:56.199 certain level of guilt that Judah has, and we 00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:58.339 see that again in Genesis 45, that this comes 00:05:58.339 --> 00:06:00.839 up again, that Judah carries this event from 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:04.079 Genesis 37 with him. This event gives him shame. 00:06:04.100 --> 00:06:05.920 It makes him feel embarrassed. He regrets his 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:09.100 decision. So he moves off to Canaan, the land 00:06:09.100 --> 00:06:11.300 around where his family lives, and he starts 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:12.699 to live with the Canaanites, or in other words, 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:14.660 people who do not follow God. He finds a wife 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:17.060 named Shua. They have three sons. And understand 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:20.459 this, this really matters in Genesis 38, 1 through 00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:23.170 5. Even though the Mosaic or the Old Testament 00:06:23.170 --> 00:06:26.110 law has not been established yet, Abraham and 00:06:26.110 --> 00:06:29.470 his descendants did not intermarry with the Canaanites, 00:06:29.490 --> 00:06:32.209 because the Canaanite people worshipped a pantheon 00:06:32.209 --> 00:06:35.550 of idols rather than Yahweh. They did not worship 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:38.050 God, and so Abraham and his descendants did not 00:06:38.050 --> 00:06:40.589 intermarry with these people. It had terrible 00:06:40.589 --> 00:06:42.470 consequences when they tried, like Genesis 34, 00:06:42.670 --> 00:06:44.529 which we don't have time to look at today. But 00:06:44.529 --> 00:06:46.370 this decision to intermarry rather than going 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:49.290 back to his father's homeland and his grandparents' 00:06:49.490 --> 00:06:52.550 homeland, really shows us where Judah is. I'd 00:06:52.550 --> 00:06:54.089 say there's three things that we will learn about 00:06:54.089 --> 00:06:57.250 Judah today in this passage. First, at the time 00:06:57.250 --> 00:06:59.970 of the events of Genesis 38, Judah does not walk 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:02.889 with God. Judah does not know God. Judah does 00:07:02.889 --> 00:07:05.629 not care to follow God. Judah does not walk with 00:07:05.629 --> 00:07:09.470 God. Secondly, Judah, like his other brothers, 00:07:09.610 --> 00:07:12.290 falls short over and over. If you've been with 00:07:12.290 --> 00:07:13.810 us the last couple of weeks, we've used the phrase 00:07:13.810 --> 00:07:17.670 sin snowball. Sin snowballs. It grows and grows 00:07:17.670 --> 00:07:20.589 and grows. That happens again in this passage. 00:07:20.670 --> 00:07:22.550 Sin will continue to snowball in this passage. 00:07:23.730 --> 00:07:27.490 Here's the third thing I'll say. Judah has no 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:31.350 idea who he is. Judah has no idea of the identity 00:07:31.350 --> 00:07:34.389 that God has given to him. Judah sees himself 00:07:34.389 --> 00:07:35.629 as somebody who's just trying to figure out what 00:07:35.629 --> 00:07:38.470 comes next in life. You know, I just sold my 00:07:38.470 --> 00:07:41.230 brother into slavery. What comes next? Well, 00:07:41.250 --> 00:07:42.610 see, that's a pretty wild thing to say that out 00:07:42.610 --> 00:07:45.519 loud, but it's also what's just happened. And 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:47.379 Judah has no idea of what comes next. He has 00:07:47.379 --> 00:07:48.939 no idea what it means to be a follower of God 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:50.680 or to be made in God's image. That's not something 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:53.160 that he's grasped. So we're going to see those 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.060 three things all at work today. Essentially, 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:57.480 what it looks like when we live a life that does 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:00.319 not follow God. Secondly, what happens when we 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:02.660 sin and we let sin grow and grow and grow. And 00:08:02.660 --> 00:08:05.300 finally, what happens and what happens to us 00:08:05.300 --> 00:08:08.980 when our identity is not found rooted in God. 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:11.899 And so in those first five verses, we see that 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:14.019 Judah is left behind everything that points him 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:16.800 to God. Everything that would point him towards 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.720 God and help him to walk in a way that is honoring 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:24.399 to God has been left behind. But redemption can 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.060 only come after failure. And Judah is a great 00:08:28.060 --> 00:08:30.560 and powerful example of God's redemptive nature 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.019 that no one is ever too far gone for God to save. 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:37.620 Let's look at Genesis 38, 6 -10. We're going 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:40.159 to see the sins of Judah's son. So it says, Judah 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:42.559 got a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:44.990 was Tamar. So now we're a little bit in the future. 00:08:45.169 --> 00:08:46.429 Ur's grown up a little bit. He's probably 18 00:08:46.429 --> 00:08:49.149 to 20. It says, Now Ur, Judah's firstborn, was 00:08:49.149 --> 00:08:51.730 evil in the Lord's sight, and so the Lord put 00:08:51.730 --> 00:08:53.950 him to death. And then Judah said to Onan, Sleep 00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:55.769 with your brother's wife. This is cultural, okay? 00:08:56.190 --> 00:08:58.149 Perform your duty as her brother -in -law and 00:08:58.149 --> 00:09:00.649 produce offspring for your brother. But Onan 00:09:00.649 --> 00:09:01.970 knew that the offspring would not be his, so 00:09:01.970 --> 00:09:03.429 whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he 00:09:03.429 --> 00:09:05.389 released his semen on the ground so that he would 00:09:05.389 --> 00:09:07.990 not produce offspring for his brother. What he 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:10.450 did was evil in the Lord's sight, so he put him 00:09:10.450 --> 00:09:13.059 to death also. I told you, this is not the most 00:09:13.059 --> 00:09:15.639 comfortable passage out there. But it matters 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:17.120 that we just take it head on. We see the sin 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:19.139 that goes on in this chapter. So you see that 00:09:19.139 --> 00:09:21.899 Ur grows up to be old enough to marry. Judah 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:24.100 finds him a wife, a Canaanite, just like his 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:26.960 own wife. This Canaanite's named Tamar, and Tamar 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:30.220 marries Ur. But God sees Ur, and God declares 00:09:30.220 --> 00:09:34.320 that Ur is evil. The consequence for Ur's sin 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.059 is death. Now listen, let's be just very blunt 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:39.720 on this. We have no context for what Ur does. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.480 There's not like seven missing verses that lay 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.440 out a list of things he does wrong. Here's what 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:47.940 we need to understand. Ur is evil, and our perfect, 00:09:48.019 --> 00:09:52.100 holy, and just God kills him over his sin. That's 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:53.879 really enough of an explanation for us. That's 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:56.500 the consequence for his sin. But if we zoom out 00:09:56.500 --> 00:09:58.240 from that consequence for a second, we will continue 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.059 to see how sin has consequences on a much larger 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:04.059 scale. Let's put ourselves in Judah's shoes for 00:10:04.059 --> 00:10:07.179 a second. Judah, father of Ur, has just lost 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:10.419 his firstborn child. obviously he's going to 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:13.740 be mourning. That's hard. It's hard to lose a 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:15.919 child. I've never experienced that. And Lord, 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:17.399 I never will experience that, but I've heard 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:22.080 it's very hard. But at the same time, we also 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:24.179 see this snowball of sin from Judah's decisions. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:26.399 Because Judah has removed himself from everyone 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.100 around his family that could point them towards 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:30.740 God and could help be a good influence on her 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:32.679 and help him to grow up to honor God and follow 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:37.879 God. He sinned by not raising his family to follow 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:41.149 God. That's why God has Moses emphasize this 00:10:41.149 --> 00:10:44.309 Canaanite wife in Genesis 38. It shows how far 00:10:44.309 --> 00:10:47.029 Judah is slipping away from God. So Judah is 00:10:47.029 --> 00:10:48.549 absolutely justified to be sad. It's absolutely 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:50.309 a tragic situation, but we also cannot ignore 00:10:50.309 --> 00:10:52.909 what Proverbs 22, 6 says, where it says, Now, 00:10:56.029 --> 00:10:58.470 of course, at the end of the day, Ur bears his 00:10:58.470 --> 00:11:01.389 own responsibility for sin, but we also have 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:03.370 to admit that Judah does not train him up in 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:06.690 obedience. Sin snowballs, and sin has consequences. 00:11:07.789 --> 00:11:10.210 One of the consequences of Judah's sin is Ur 00:11:10.210 --> 00:11:12.429 not growing up knowing God. One of the consequences 00:11:12.429 --> 00:11:16.629 of Ur's sin is Judah losing his son. And after 00:11:16.629 --> 00:11:19.570 Ur dies, Judah sends Onan in to go have a child 00:11:19.570 --> 00:11:21.570 with Tamar. Now, this was a culturally normal 00:11:21.570 --> 00:11:24.509 thing to do, okay? This was a practice designed 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:27.029 to make sure that Tamar would receive the inheritance 00:11:27.029 --> 00:11:30.470 that Ur was supposed to have. Ur was the firstborn 00:11:30.470 --> 00:11:32.529 son. It was important that the line carried on. 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:35.649 It's weird to us. I know it sounds uncomfortable 00:11:35.649 --> 00:11:38.789 to us. That was cultural. It was normal for them. 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:44.389 But Onan doesn't do that. Instead, Onan does 00:11:44.389 --> 00:11:46.669 everything he can do to avoid giving Tamar a 00:11:46.669 --> 00:11:50.269 son. We could simplify it down like this. Onan 00:11:50.269 --> 00:11:52.330 uses her and leaves her in a vulnerable position. 00:11:53.049 --> 00:11:54.889 See, at the end of the day, the biggest issue 00:11:54.889 --> 00:11:57.370 going on here is that Onan is being very selfish. 00:11:57.850 --> 00:11:59.909 There's jealousy at play because the child that 00:11:59.909 --> 00:12:03.269 would be born by Tamar is not his own child in 00:12:03.269 --> 00:12:05.909 the view of the law. But if Tamar never has a 00:12:05.909 --> 00:12:08.570 son, Then Onan gets the entire inheritance of 00:12:08.570 --> 00:12:10.950 his father, who at this point is wealthy. Onan 00:12:10.950 --> 00:12:13.029 wants to keep his position as the oldest son, 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:16.649 while also getting to use Tamar selfishly. And 00:12:16.649 --> 00:12:18.769 God sees this going on, and it says that it is 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:20.929 evil in the Lord's sight, so God punishes Onan 00:12:20.929 --> 00:12:24.009 by killing him. Again, what do we see? We see 00:12:24.009 --> 00:12:27.429 sin start to snowball. Sin's spreading. It's 00:12:27.429 --> 00:12:30.690 contagious. It's like a disease. Now, at this 00:12:30.690 --> 00:12:32.750 point, we're left with a situation. It's a little 00:12:32.750 --> 00:12:34.470 unique. It's a little different. Tamar still 00:12:34.470 --> 00:12:36.929 needs to have a son, and Shelah should be responsible 00:12:36.929 --> 00:12:39.850 for this once he's old enough. And culturally, 00:12:40.029 --> 00:12:41.870 Judah should keep Tamar in his house and provide 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:46.149 for her until Shelah is ready for this role, 00:12:46.350 --> 00:12:48.230 the situation he's going to take on as a brother. 00:12:48.610 --> 00:12:50.970 But look at verses 11 through 13 with me, and 00:12:50.970 --> 00:12:53.889 we're going to see what Judah does instead. It 00:12:53.889 --> 00:12:55.309 says, then Judah said to his daughter -in -law 00:12:55.309 --> 00:12:58.870 Tamar, remain a widow in your father's house 00:12:58.870 --> 00:13:01.590 until my son Shelah grows up. For he thought, 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:05.779 he might die too, like his brothers. So Tamar 00:13:05.779 --> 00:13:09.100 went to live in her father's house. After a long 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:11.399 time, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.299 When Judah had finished mourning, he and his 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:17.000 friend Hira the Adolamite went up to Timnah to 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.159 his sheep shearers. And Tamar was told, your 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:20.799 father -in -law is going up to Timnah to shear 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.269 his sheep. Let's stop right there. So Judah, 00:13:23.389 --> 00:13:25.250 instead of providing for his daughter -in -law, 00:13:25.309 --> 00:13:27.690 as he should do, as he should do as supposedly 00:13:27.690 --> 00:13:30.250 a man of God, a man who loves God, at least grew 00:13:30.250 --> 00:13:32.830 up supposedly loving God, should provide for 00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:35.230 her. But he doesn't. Instead, he has no plans 00:13:35.230 --> 00:13:37.230 to provide for Tamar. He sends her back to her 00:13:37.230 --> 00:13:40.070 father's house, and he goes one step further 00:13:40.070 --> 00:13:44.769 there in verse 11. For he thought he, being Shelah, 00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:49.149 might die too like his brothers. He wants Tamar 00:13:49.149 --> 00:13:51.370 gone. He wants her out of the picture. He's publicly 00:13:51.370 --> 00:13:54.049 humiliating her and making it so that she will 00:13:54.049 --> 00:13:58.490 not be provided for. Friends, I want you to see 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:01.950 how deep of a sin this is. I know in culture 00:14:01.950 --> 00:14:04.210 that might sound a little bit strange. If something 00:14:04.210 --> 00:14:07.690 were to happen to me in American culture, my 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:09.750 father is not expected to provide for my wife. 00:14:10.230 --> 00:14:11.470 That's not how that works. That's why we have 00:14:11.470 --> 00:14:15.350 life insurance. But in this culture, that was 00:14:15.350 --> 00:14:18.629 the expectation. It wasn't a choice. It wasn't 00:14:18.629 --> 00:14:20.570 optional. It wasn't, if you're a really good 00:14:20.570 --> 00:14:23.009 guy, this is what you'll do. That was the expectation 00:14:23.009 --> 00:14:25.409 of everybody, whether you were a follower of 00:14:25.409 --> 00:14:28.250 God or if you were a Canaanite worshiping all 00:14:28.250 --> 00:14:30.570 the idols and sacrificing your children like 00:14:30.570 --> 00:14:33.809 they did. The expectation was you would provide 00:14:33.809 --> 00:14:35.350 for your daughter -in -law if she was a widow. 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:40.250 And Judah doesn't do it. He wants her gone. It's 00:14:40.250 --> 00:14:43.269 humiliating for everyone, really. So then in 00:14:43.269 --> 00:14:45.450 verse 12, we see the passage of time. Judah's 00:14:45.450 --> 00:14:47.809 wife dies. Judah mourns this, and then he goes 00:14:47.809 --> 00:14:50.610 up to take care of his sheep in Timnah. Now, 00:14:50.669 --> 00:14:52.610 he's hired people for this. Obviously, he's built 00:14:52.610 --> 00:14:54.409 wealth again. God's been with him and provided 00:14:54.409 --> 00:14:56.610 this wealth. But don't miss this part of verse 00:14:56.610 --> 00:15:00.950 12. A long time's gone on. Shelah's grown up 00:15:00.950 --> 00:15:04.009 at this point. But has Judah called Tamar back? 00:15:04.149 --> 00:15:08.669 No. No. It doesn't say, well, then Judah's wife 00:15:08.669 --> 00:15:11.769 died, but then Judah decided to have Tamar come 00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:14.990 back and marry Shelah and provide for her. No. 00:15:15.889 --> 00:15:17.909 No, instead Judah's actions in verse 12 show 00:15:17.909 --> 00:15:19.909 that he cares more about himself than anybody 00:15:19.909 --> 00:15:22.490 else in this entire passage. The fact that he's 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:24.070 hired sheep shearers means that he absolutely 00:15:24.070 --> 00:15:26.210 could have provided for her. If he can pay salary 00:15:26.210 --> 00:15:27.970 for other men, he can absolutely provide for 00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:29.950 his daughter -in -law. But he doesn't want to. 00:15:30.210 --> 00:15:33.029 He wants his wealth and his reputation to be 00:15:33.029 --> 00:15:35.429 big. And I want you to see that Judah's digging 00:15:35.429 --> 00:15:38.429 himself quite the problem through this series 00:15:38.429 --> 00:15:41.750 of poor decisions. But it's not just Judah that 00:15:41.750 --> 00:15:45.000 does this. We do this too. We tell that first 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.639 lie, and then that second lie, and the third 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:50.759 one. We get mad that one day, and we yell at 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:53.139 that person. And the next day comes out a little 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:55.879 bit easier, and a little easier. By the end of 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.100 the month, we've dug ourselves a pit of a broken 00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:02.059 relationship. Sin snowballs into more sin, and 00:16:02.059 --> 00:16:03.419 like we've seen over the last two weeks, sin 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:09.840 also becomes bigger and bigger over time. Friends, 00:16:09.899 --> 00:16:11.480 I can't help but with this passage think about 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:13.840 something like sexual sin that we do encounter 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:17.580 in our world. I won't go into graphic detail, 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:19.360 but so often when you talk to people who commit 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.980 truly heinous crimes in that area, and you ask 00:16:22.980 --> 00:16:25.559 them what was kind of the starting place for 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:27.600 this whole thing, it starts with something small. 00:16:29.139 --> 00:16:31.879 It starts with one sin. It starts with I went 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:34.860 to that website one time. I watched this one 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:36.639 thing that one time. I had this one conversation. 00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:39.190 I did this one thing. And then it begins to snowball 00:16:39.190 --> 00:16:41.929 over and over and over, and it becomes bigger 00:16:41.929 --> 00:16:44.889 and bigger and bigger. And that's what's going 00:16:44.889 --> 00:16:47.789 on in Judah's life right now. He sinned once, 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:50.990 he sins again, he sinned again, and it's becoming 00:16:50.990 --> 00:16:53.350 bigger and bigger and bigger. The stakes are 00:16:53.350 --> 00:16:55.909 getting higher and higher and higher. And in 00:16:55.909 --> 00:16:57.649 verses 14 through 19, we're going to see his 00:16:57.649 --> 00:17:01.019 sin build even more. So Tamar has been told her 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:02.480 father -in -law is going up to go shear his sheep. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:04.920 Listen to what Tamar decides to do. It says, 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.660 so she took off her widow's clothes, veiled her 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:09.460 face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:12.039 to Enim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:16.599 saw that though Sheila had grown up, she had 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:19.279 not been given to him as a wife. When Judah saw 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:21.720 her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:26.480 had covered her face. Let me give you a guess 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:29.329 as to what comes next. He went over to her and 00:17:29.329 --> 00:17:32.369 said, come, let me sleep with you. For he did 00:17:32.369 --> 00:17:33.990 not know that she was his daughter -in -law. 00:17:34.289 --> 00:17:36.170 And she said, what will you give me for sleeping 00:17:36.170 --> 00:17:38.730 with me? I'll send you a young goat for my flock, 00:17:38.789 --> 00:17:40.950 he replied. But she said, only if you leave something 00:17:40.950 --> 00:17:43.910 with me until you send it. What should I give 00:17:43.910 --> 00:17:45.930 you, he asked. And she answered, your signet 00:17:45.930 --> 00:17:47.829 ring. That's your way of identifying yourself 00:17:47.829 --> 00:17:50.470 if you're wealthy and influential. So give me 00:17:50.470 --> 00:17:52.470 your, essentially, driver's license and passport, 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:56.940 your cord, and your staff. Give me everything 00:17:56.940 --> 00:18:01.359 that defines you as Judah. Give it to me. So 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:03.279 he gave them to her and slept with her and she 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.700 became pregnant by him. And she got up and left 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:08.619 and then removed her veil and put her widow's 00:18:08.619 --> 00:18:15.279 clothes back on. Sexual morality rips people 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:21.299 apart. Please hear that in Genesis 38. Tamar 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:22.940 sees that she's been abandoned so she takes matters 00:18:22.940 --> 00:18:26.190 into her own hands. It's a pretty humiliating 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:28.410 thing for Judah, as we'll see later on in this 00:18:28.410 --> 00:18:30.750 passage. And if I'm honest with you, this is 00:18:30.750 --> 00:18:33.730 the hardest part of the chapter for me because 00:18:33.730 --> 00:18:39.049 Judah descends even further away from God. Judah, 00:18:39.190 --> 00:18:40.789 who would have been taught that marriage is between 00:18:40.789 --> 00:18:43.970 a man and a woman, but that sex should stay inside 00:18:43.970 --> 00:18:48.369 of marriage, goes to a pagan prostitute on the 00:18:48.369 --> 00:18:51.339 side of the road. and sleeps with, as it turns 00:18:51.339 --> 00:18:53.839 out, his daughter -in -law in exchange for one 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.500 single goat. Now there's something that's really 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:58.779 important to Tamar. See, Tamar wants to be paid 00:18:58.779 --> 00:19:00.559 with something that he doesn't have with him. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:02.819 Because she knows what the plan is with this. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.859 And so he gets the signet ring, cord, and staff 00:19:05.859 --> 00:19:09.420 in his hand to ensure payment. Like I said, a 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:11.319 signet ring was the most significant identifier 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:13.660 that someone could have. But the cord and the 00:19:13.660 --> 00:19:15.579 staff are really close behind. The cord goes 00:19:15.579 --> 00:19:17.779 around his garments and shows that he's Judah. 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:20.900 The staff is what he walks with. It's a sign 00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:24.079 of his wealth. And she's taken all of that in 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:27.839 this situation and gives these to her. They do 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:30.920 what they do. She leaves. She changes back into 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.519 her widow's clothes and goes back to her father's 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:37.579 house. But the situation isn't over yet. Remember, 00:19:37.579 --> 00:19:39.680 Judah still hasn't actually paid her with this 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:42.000 one young goat. So look at verses 20 through 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.319 23. It says, when Judah sent the young goat by 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.319 his friend the Adalamite, so Judah can't even 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:48.799 be troubled to go with this goat, mind you. Judah 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:51.400 sent somebody else's friend to go pay this prostitute. 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:53.619 In order to get back the items he had left with 00:19:53.619 --> 00:19:57.279 the woman, he could not find her. Why? Because 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:00.400 Tamar's not hanging out there. He asked the men 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.500 of the place, where is the cult prostitute who's 00:20:02.500 --> 00:20:05.089 beside the road at Enam? There has been no called 00:20:05.089 --> 00:20:06.769 prostitute here, they answered. So the Adalamite 00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:08.630 returned to Judah saying, I couldn't find her. 00:20:08.650 --> 00:20:10.029 And besides, the men of the place said, there 00:20:10.029 --> 00:20:13.849 has been no called prostitute here. Listen to 00:20:13.849 --> 00:20:18.410 Judah's response to this. Judah replied, let 00:20:18.410 --> 00:20:21.609 her keep the items for herself. Otherwise, we, 00:20:21.789 --> 00:20:24.369 now he's roping his friend into this whole situation, 00:20:24.730 --> 00:20:29.309 we will become a laughingstock. What's Judah's 00:20:29.309 --> 00:20:31.789 concern in this? It's not, am I following God? 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:35.759 Am I living a holy life? His concern is, I don't 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.460 want to become a laughingstock. He says this, 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.920 after all, I did send her this young goat. After 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:46.880 all, I tried to pay. You, the Adulamite, just 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:55.039 couldn't find her. Friends, this is another example 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:00.890 of sin snowballing. That now Judah has this mindset 00:21:00.890 --> 00:21:03.210 of trying to blame all of this on somebody else. 00:21:03.549 --> 00:21:06.190 It's not his fault that he can't find Tamar. 00:21:06.890 --> 00:21:08.970 No, no, it's the Adelamites' fault. It's not 00:21:08.970 --> 00:21:10.609 his fault that he can't pay what he owes. It's 00:21:10.609 --> 00:21:13.710 the Adelamites' fault. It's the men of the town's 00:21:13.710 --> 00:21:14.910 fault. They couldn't give him the instructions 00:21:14.910 --> 00:21:17.730 and the location. And he does all of this. He 00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:19.650 wants her to keep the ring, keep the identifiers, 00:21:19.750 --> 00:21:22.490 keep him, essentially, so that he doesn't become 00:21:22.490 --> 00:21:25.990 a laughingstock to the community. That's his 00:21:25.990 --> 00:21:27.809 only concern in this whole thing. It's self -preservation 00:21:27.809 --> 00:21:30.750 at its core. Sin has grown, sin's taken root, 00:21:30.809 --> 00:21:33.349 it's caused major issues, and there is a consequence 00:21:33.349 --> 00:21:34.970 to all of this sin, and we're about to see it 00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:38.190 in verses 24 through 26. So let's look at those 00:21:38.190 --> 00:21:40.650 together to see this consequence. About three 00:21:40.650 --> 00:21:44.089 months later, Judah was told, notice this, who 00:21:44.089 --> 00:21:46.390 we're about to talk about, Tamar, Judah was told, 00:21:46.430 --> 00:21:48.509 he hasn't seen Tamar ever, Judah was told, your 00:21:48.509 --> 00:21:50.549 daughter -in -law Tamar has been acting like 00:21:50.549 --> 00:21:54.089 a prostitute, and now she's pregnant. Bring her 00:21:54.089 --> 00:21:55.650 out, Judah said, and let her be burned to death. 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:57.940 And as she was being brought out, she sent her 00:21:57.940 --> 00:22:00.059 father -in -law this message. I am pregnant by 00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:02.380 the man to whom these items belong. And she had 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:05.180 to examine them. Whose signet ring, cord, and 00:22:05.180 --> 00:22:09.259 staff are these? So Judah recognized them and 00:22:09.259 --> 00:22:11.960 said, she is more in the right than I, since 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:14.960 I did not give her to my son, Shelah. I did not 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:18.000 know her intimately again. So Judah hears that 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.000 Tamar is pregnant. Notice that again. Hears it. 00:22:20.579 --> 00:22:22.759 Doesn't see it. He hears it because he's not 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:24.319 providing. He's not taking on the role he's supposed 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:27.710 to have. Okay, he's sinning in this point. So 00:22:27.710 --> 00:22:30.410 he hears this through the rumor mill, essentially. 00:22:32.670 --> 00:22:35.130 He hears that she's been acting like a prostitute, 00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:37.730 and he wants her burned to death. He wants her 00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:40.609 killed over this. And in his selfishness, he 00:22:40.609 --> 00:22:43.849 refuses to believe that he has any part to play 00:22:43.849 --> 00:22:45.849 in this, even though he knows full well that 00:22:45.849 --> 00:22:48.069 he did not give Sheila to her, nor did he choose 00:22:48.069 --> 00:22:51.789 to provide for her. In this culture, he has doomed 00:22:51.789 --> 00:22:54.470 her to a life of two choices, as a widow with 00:22:54.470 --> 00:22:57.329 no offspring. She can be a beggar or she can 00:22:57.329 --> 00:23:01.569 be a prostitute. So friends, understand how ridiculous 00:23:01.569 --> 00:23:03.609 this is that then Judah's immediate response 00:23:03.609 --> 00:23:06.890 is, bring her out, let's burn her. Not, hey, 00:23:06.930 --> 00:23:10.210 this is really bad. This is a really bad situation, 00:23:10.210 --> 00:23:12.470 but let me take a step back and see, hey, actually, 00:23:12.509 --> 00:23:14.609 I messed up too. You know, I fell short in this. 00:23:14.650 --> 00:23:18.029 I didn't provide for, okay, this is a messed 00:23:18.029 --> 00:23:22.900 up world we live in. No, no. So she's brought 00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:24.500 out to die. She's brought to be killed by her 00:23:24.500 --> 00:23:26.579 father -in -law, who's left her out to die quite 00:23:26.579 --> 00:23:29.059 literally before. She pulls out a signet ring, 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:31.579 cord, and the staff of Judah and says, listen, 00:23:31.660 --> 00:23:33.519 the man who owns these things, that's the father. 00:23:34.579 --> 00:23:36.380 Judah takes a look at them. He recognizes them. 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:39.819 They're his. And at that moment, at that exact 00:23:39.819 --> 00:23:42.539 moment, something starts to click in Judah. See, 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:44.859 for the first time in his life, the first time 00:23:44.859 --> 00:23:47.359 recorded in Scripture, Judah doesn't try to outrun 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:50.089 his sin. He doesn't try to cover this up. He 00:23:50.089 --> 00:23:51.710 doesn't get angry and say, well, somebody stole 00:23:51.710 --> 00:23:53.869 those from me. He doesn't try to sell her into 00:23:53.869 --> 00:23:55.490 slavery to the Egyptians like he did with his 00:23:55.490 --> 00:23:58.329 brother. For the first time in Scripture, Judah 00:23:58.329 --> 00:24:02.630 stops, and he owns it. He owns up. He says, she 00:24:02.630 --> 00:24:04.849 is more in the right, or literally, she is more 00:24:04.849 --> 00:24:08.990 righteous than I am. It's also the first time 00:24:08.990 --> 00:24:12.029 you ever see Judah use the word righteous. Something 00:24:12.029 --> 00:24:15.849 clicks in his head in that exact moment. Hey, 00:24:16.009 --> 00:24:20.970 this is on me. This is my fault. And Judah starts 00:24:20.970 --> 00:24:26.069 to take responsibility. I really hate the phrase 00:24:26.069 --> 00:24:29.150 man up, but that's what Judah starts to do here. 00:24:29.589 --> 00:24:33.569 He mans up. He owns it. His actions have consequences. 00:24:34.009 --> 00:24:38.210 He accepts the consequences. He owns that he 00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:41.089 withheld Sheila from her. And then Judah proceeds 00:24:41.089 --> 00:24:43.970 to make this as right as he can. Now, the Bible 00:24:43.970 --> 00:24:47.009 is not just giving us details. but for lack of 00:24:47.009 --> 00:24:49.170 a more delicate term, Judah's sex life in verse 00:24:49.170 --> 00:24:52.509 26. It's showing us that Judah provides for her 00:24:52.509 --> 00:24:54.630 and takes care of her. When it says, and he did 00:24:54.630 --> 00:24:57.930 not know her intimately again, it's also saying 00:24:57.930 --> 00:25:03.269 that Judah's providing for her and her son. Judah 00:25:03.269 --> 00:25:05.690 has, in essence, filled the role that his son 00:25:05.690 --> 00:25:11.130 Ur and then Onan should have provided for. Guys, 00:25:11.210 --> 00:25:15.099 this is a low point for Judah. You know, Judah 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:16.619 just a couple verses earlier said, I don't want 00:25:16.619 --> 00:25:19.559 to be a laughingstock in the town. That would 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:21.339 be bad if I was the laughingstock of our town. 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:25.000 I can promise you Judah is now the laughingstock 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:27.960 of his town because he's the guy who tried to 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:29.740 kill his daughter -in -law for being a prostitute 00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:32.059 just to find out that he was the guy that she 00:25:32.059 --> 00:25:36.779 slept with. But it's not over yet. We've seen 00:25:36.779 --> 00:25:39.880 a lot of the negative effects of sin today. And 00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:42.880 the first 26 verses of this chapter are heartbreaking. 00:25:43.660 --> 00:25:48.559 and they are hard. There's a reason that I made 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.220 that comment, January 19th being the day that 00:25:50.220 --> 00:25:51.640 you're like, can I just skip that and move on 00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:56.559 to chapter 39? But last week we talked about 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.019 how one thing, one thing in the entire world 00:25:59.019 --> 00:26:01.039 can stop the sin snowball and the negative effects 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:04.009 of sin. And that something is God. And in verses 00:26:04.009 --> 00:26:05.950 27 through 30, we're going to see how God's going 00:26:05.950 --> 00:26:08.589 to take all of this, all of this evil, all of 00:26:08.589 --> 00:26:11.450 this sin, and He's going to use it for His purposes, 00:26:11.529 --> 00:26:13.789 for His glory. We're going to see how God can 00:26:13.789 --> 00:26:17.430 take our greatest mistakes and use it for His 00:26:17.430 --> 00:26:19.990 glory. Let's look at verses 27 through 30. It 00:26:19.990 --> 00:26:21.910 says, When the time came for her to give birth, 00:26:22.029 --> 00:26:24.390 there were twins in her womb. And as she was 00:26:24.390 --> 00:26:26.069 giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and 00:26:26.069 --> 00:26:27.509 the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread 00:26:27.509 --> 00:26:29.650 around it, announcing, This one came out first. 00:26:30.320 --> 00:26:32.279 But then he pulled his hand back and out came 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:34.539 his brother. And she said, what a breakout you 00:26:34.539 --> 00:26:37.019 have made for yourself. So he was named Perez. 00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:39.799 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread 00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:42.180 tied to his hand, came out and was named Zerah. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:45.000 So in verses 27 through 30, we see that Tamar 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:47.140 gives birth to twins, Perez and Zerah, and we 00:26:47.140 --> 00:26:48.960 will not get into the weeds of how they're born. 00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:52.160 But that's because I want us to go right back 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:54.829 to where we started off. Right back to where 00:26:54.829 --> 00:26:56.109 we started. Because at the end of the day, verses 00:26:56.109 --> 00:26:58.509 27 and 30 are showing us how God takes all of 00:26:58.509 --> 00:27:00.829 this sin and is going to use it for his glory 00:27:00.829 --> 00:27:03.490 and for his purpose. And we see that in Matthew 00:27:03.490 --> 00:27:06.930 1, verse 3. It says, Judah fathered Perez and 00:27:06.930 --> 00:27:11.089 Zerah by Tamar. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron 00:27:11.089 --> 00:27:15.089 fathered Aram. And so on and so forth. And the 00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:18.529 genealogy of Jesus, the most important genealogy 00:27:18.529 --> 00:27:21.750 that we could ever have. We see that God uses 00:27:21.750 --> 00:27:23.769 Judah and Tamar despite everything that has gone 00:27:23.769 --> 00:27:27.809 on. Despite the depths of Judah's sin, despite 00:27:27.809 --> 00:27:31.490 his humiliation of his daughter -in -law, despite 00:27:31.490 --> 00:27:35.690 his sin over and over and over again, God still 00:27:35.690 --> 00:27:39.390 uses him. God doesn't abandon them. Instead, 00:27:39.490 --> 00:27:41.609 God overcomes the preconceived notions that this 00:27:41.609 --> 00:27:43.430 world would have put on both of them and includes 00:27:43.430 --> 00:27:46.210 both of them in the genealogy of Jesus. Because 00:27:46.210 --> 00:27:48.589 I don't know about you, but if it was me, I probably 00:27:48.589 --> 00:27:49.630 would have picked a different brother at this 00:27:49.630 --> 00:27:52.190 point. Ben, like Judah, you were going to be 00:27:52.190 --> 00:27:53.910 in the line of the Savior of the world. Not anymore, 00:27:54.069 --> 00:27:59.150 dude. Like, try being a little more normal. That's 00:27:59.150 --> 00:28:02.710 not what God does. God overcomes that preconceived 00:28:02.710 --> 00:28:07.910 notion that we have and includes both of them 00:28:07.910 --> 00:28:12.150 in the genealogy of Jesus. Listen, it is really 00:28:12.150 --> 00:28:15.930 easy for us to look at our lives. to look at 00:28:15.930 --> 00:28:17.490 the mistakes that we've made, at the sins we've 00:28:17.490 --> 00:28:20.309 committed, and to think, how could God ever use 00:28:20.309 --> 00:28:24.509 me? Why would God ever use me? Let this be a 00:28:24.509 --> 00:28:27.210 passage that reminds you that God can and still 00:28:27.210 --> 00:28:30.769 will use you. Or maybe on the other hand, you're 00:28:30.769 --> 00:28:32.849 not sitting here today struck by your own sin. 00:28:32.890 --> 00:28:35.549 Maybe you're thinking, I've been hurt so much. 00:28:36.710 --> 00:28:38.430 People have abandoned me. They've taken advantage 00:28:38.430 --> 00:28:41.250 of me. Life has been really hard and honestly 00:28:41.250 --> 00:28:43.470 pretty miserable. And I've been hurt really badly 00:28:43.470 --> 00:28:47.069 by other people's sin. then let me encourage 00:28:47.069 --> 00:28:49.430 you to let this passage be a passage that reminds 00:28:49.430 --> 00:28:53.170 you that Jesus is not finished yet. God is not 00:28:53.170 --> 00:28:57.710 done with you yet. The story is not over. For 00:28:57.710 --> 00:29:00.450 Tamar, when we leave her on that verse 10 part, 00:29:00.650 --> 00:29:03.069 when she gets sent over in verse 11 to live with 00:29:03.069 --> 00:29:06.750 her father, her life seems over. Sin has hurt 00:29:06.750 --> 00:29:10.170 her in serious ways. It's had a huge effect on 00:29:10.170 --> 00:29:15.779 her. God's not done yet. And if you're here today 00:29:15.779 --> 00:29:18.619 and you are hurting, if you feel like you've 00:29:18.619 --> 00:29:20.660 been abandoned in this world, then I want you 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:23.940 to hear that too. God's not finished with your 00:29:23.940 --> 00:29:27.400 story yet. I want us to transition and spend 00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:29.460 a few minutes on just some very practical ways 00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:31.279 that we can apply this passage to our lives. 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:34.279 Let's start off with our first one today. You 00:29:34.279 --> 00:29:37.559 are never too far gone. You are never too far 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:44.559 gone. If we just stopped our understanding of 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:47.599 Judah's life in Genesis 38, pretending the New 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:49.000 Testament didn't exist, we think, well, that's 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:50.299 cool that he had a couple sons and carried on 00:29:50.299 --> 00:29:51.940 the family line for his daughter -in -law. That's 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:59.480 great. But, you know, whatever. But God's not 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:02.799 done with Judah yet. There's a couple things, 00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:03.980 a little bit of foreshadowing that I'll give 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:08.180 us. In Genesis 45, Judah becomes one of the first 00:30:08.180 --> 00:30:10.119 people to just offer themselves as a sacrifice. 00:30:10.910 --> 00:30:14.109 to take the place of somebody else, to be a substitutionary 00:30:14.109 --> 00:30:17.029 lamb, so to speak, for somebody else's life, 00:30:17.250 --> 00:30:22.890 foreshadowing one of his later descendants. Then 00:30:22.890 --> 00:30:24.829 if you go to Genesis 49, I've referenced this 00:30:24.829 --> 00:30:27.809 passage before, but in Genesis 49, verses 10 00:30:27.809 --> 00:30:31.230 through 12, we read this promise made by God 00:30:31.230 --> 00:30:34.279 to Judah. It says, the scepter will not depart 00:30:34.279 --> 00:30:36.440 from Judah or the staff from between his feet 00:30:36.440 --> 00:30:39.480 until he whose right it is comes and the obedience 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:42.680 of the peoples belongs to him. He ties his donkey 00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:44.599 to a vine and the colt of his donkey to the choice 00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:47.599 vine. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:50.779 and the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker 00:30:50.779 --> 00:30:53.460 than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk. 00:30:54.099 --> 00:30:56.539 Friends, that is the promise of a Savior who 00:30:56.539 --> 00:30:59.940 will come. That is the promise from God to Judah. 00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:03.140 Judah, the same man who does all of this. That 00:31:03.140 --> 00:31:04.900 that promised Savior we all need is going to 00:31:04.900 --> 00:31:07.720 come through his family line. That despite all 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:09.579 of the failures of Judah, and there's been many. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:12.240 I mean, let's just even back up to Genesis 37 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:14.119 for a second. The failure of choosing to sell 00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:17.039 your own brother into slavery. It's a pretty 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:21.220 big one. Despite all of that, that God is still 00:31:21.220 --> 00:31:26.099 going to use Judah. Now, how is that Genesis 00:31:26.099 --> 00:31:29.720 49 passage fulfilled? You see that in 1 Peter 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:31.559 2. It says, For you are called to this because 00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:34.460 Christ also suffered for you, leaving you examples 00:31:34.460 --> 00:31:36.519 that you should follow in his footsteps. He did 00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:39.119 not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:41.160 mouth. And when he was insulted, he did not insult 00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:43.200 in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, 00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:46.299 but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.799 1 Peter 2 .24, he himself bore our sins in his 00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:53.720 body on the tree, so that having died to sins, 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:58.240 we might live for righteousness. Jesus took our 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:02.299 sin, bore our sin on himself when he was crucified, 00:32:02.380 --> 00:32:08.700 and he died to sin, paid the price. Why? So that 00:32:08.700 --> 00:32:12.900 we might live for righteousness. And I love this 00:32:12.900 --> 00:32:18.400 last part of verse 24. By his wounds, you have 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:25.619 been healed. Jesus had to pay that price. And 00:32:25.619 --> 00:32:28.440 verse 25 tells us why. For you were like sheep 00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:30.619 going astray, but you have now returned to the 00:32:30.619 --> 00:32:34.720 shepherd and the overseer of your souls. Let's 00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:37.019 start with this understanding. Just like Judah, 00:32:37.099 --> 00:32:39.200 we have all sinned. I am not saying that everyone 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:42.019 here has or will commit the same sins as Judah, 00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:44.910 but we have all sinned. Romans 3 .23 is very 00:32:44.910 --> 00:32:49.309 direct on this. And sin leads us to brokenness. 00:32:49.789 --> 00:32:52.250 We needed a Savior who can save us from brokenness, 00:32:52.250 --> 00:32:55.970 from the pain that the world has. You know, why 00:32:55.970 --> 00:32:57.410 does Judah leave in the first place? Because 00:32:57.410 --> 00:33:01.869 of sin and brokenness in his family. Why does 00:33:01.869 --> 00:33:03.430 Judah find himself in this situation? Because 00:33:03.430 --> 00:33:08.589 of brokenness. Because he's brokenhearted. And 00:33:08.589 --> 00:33:12.009 we needed a Savior to save us from that. And 00:33:12.009 --> 00:33:14.210 so Jesus, who we just read about in Genesis 49 00:33:14.210 --> 00:33:17.549 and 1 Peter 2, was fully God and fully man, came 00:33:17.549 --> 00:33:19.930 to earth, lived a perfect life, did not sin, 00:33:20.009 --> 00:33:22.809 did not fight back. Even his false accusations 00:33:22.809 --> 00:33:25.549 were made. Instead, he went to the cross, he 00:33:25.549 --> 00:33:28.289 bore our sins, he took our sins upon him. Every 00:33:28.289 --> 00:33:29.849 sin that we will ever commit, like just think 00:33:29.849 --> 00:33:31.529 about that for a second. Every sin that every 00:33:31.529 --> 00:33:33.789 person in the world would ever commit, he took 00:33:33.789 --> 00:33:37.029 on himself. And he hung on that cross and he 00:33:37.029 --> 00:33:41.059 died so that we can be saved. I love how Peter 00:33:41.059 --> 00:33:45.119 says that. By his wounds, by Jesus' wounds, by 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:51.140 his blood, we are healed. We're healed. We're 00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:54.339 brought back into a relationship with God. Like 00:33:54.339 --> 00:33:57.099 sheep who have gone astray, we're brought back 00:33:57.099 --> 00:34:01.960 from wandering totally lost. Friends, let me 00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:04.819 encourage you today, if you are here and you 00:34:04.819 --> 00:34:06.640 have never placed your faith in Jesus, if you 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:10.699 have not made a decision, Let me encourage you 00:34:10.699 --> 00:34:14.659 today to accept this gift from Jesus, to accept 00:34:14.659 --> 00:34:18.360 this gift that Jesus purchased for you by bearing 00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:20.159 the weight of your sin and everything wrong that 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:23.780 you've ever done on himself. Here's another part 00:34:23.780 --> 00:34:26.480 of it. If you're here and you already know Jesus, 00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:30.579 understand that you have been set free. You do 00:34:30.579 --> 00:34:33.159 not need to live in shame. Like I said at the 00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:34.599 beginning of our time together, the difference 00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:37.199 between guilt and shame is pretty simple. Guilt 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:38.920 points us to God and tells us that we need to 00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:41.940 repent and we need to change. Guilt says, hey, 00:34:41.980 --> 00:34:44.760 that was the wrong choice and the wrong thing 00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:51.440 to do. Do that differently next time. Shame tells 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:53.639 us that we're not worth it anymore. We're not 00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:56.019 good enough anymore. We're not good enough for 00:34:56.019 --> 00:34:58.340 God. We're not good enough to be in that community. 00:34:58.380 --> 00:35:00.760 We're not good enough for the gospel. We're too 00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:06.179 far gone. We're just not worth it anymore. If 00:35:06.179 --> 00:35:09.079 you are struggling with shame today, let me encourage 00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:12.079 you to go to God. Learn from this passage of 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:15.019 Genesis 38 that God can use you despite any mistakes 00:35:15.019 --> 00:35:16.360 you have ever made. We have all made mistakes. 00:35:17.340 --> 00:35:19.139 And then walk in the freedom that's talked about 00:35:19.139 --> 00:35:22.900 in Romans 8, 1 and 2. I spent a semester of seminary 00:35:22.900 --> 00:35:26.659 just wrestling through the end of Romans 7 and 00:35:26.659 --> 00:35:29.820 the start of Romans 8. And I don't know how many 00:35:29.820 --> 00:35:32.880 mornings I would wake up and read Romans 8, 1 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:35.659 and 2. But I will say this, I was teaching at 00:35:35.659 --> 00:35:37.360 the time, and I honestly can say this, that my 00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:39.059 students preferred it when I woke up and read 00:35:39.059 --> 00:35:41.360 Romans 8, 1 through 2 in the morning. Because 00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:45.079 it was such a powerful reminder. Remember what 00:35:45.079 --> 00:35:48.039 it is that Jesus has done for you. It says this 00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:50.920 in Romans 8, 1, Therefore there is now no condemnation 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:53.699 for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the 00:35:53.699 --> 00:35:57.260 law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has 00:35:57.260 --> 00:36:00.400 set you free from the law of sin and death. There 00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:03.349 is now no condemnation. Not some condemnation. 00:36:03.349 --> 00:36:05.949 There is no condemnation. There is absolutely 00:36:05.949 --> 00:36:10.789 zero condemnation. Why can God use Judah? Because 00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:13.050 there is no condemnation found in God's forgiveness. 00:36:16.269 --> 00:36:18.070 I mentioned being a teacher, and sometimes when 00:36:18.070 --> 00:36:20.190 I was teaching, a student would really act out 00:36:20.190 --> 00:36:21.610 on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, they'd be 00:36:21.610 --> 00:36:23.730 like, Mr. Good, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done 00:36:23.730 --> 00:36:25.289 that. I'm like, you're right. You shouldn't have. 00:36:26.190 --> 00:36:28.610 I would forgive them enough that, okay, you can 00:36:28.610 --> 00:36:30.010 go back to your normal seat. I won't make you 00:36:30.010 --> 00:36:32.119 sit in that other seat today. But then there'd 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:33.699 be that part of my heart that's like, I'm going 00:36:33.699 --> 00:36:35.820 to keep my eye on that kid today. He's trouble. 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:39.900 Friends, that is not how God approaches it. There 00:36:39.900 --> 00:36:43.539 is no condemnation. There is no judgment. Nothing 00:36:43.539 --> 00:36:47.179 is held against you. Hear that today. Second 00:36:47.179 --> 00:36:49.619 application point. Your decisions shape the life 00:36:49.619 --> 00:36:51.800 that you live. Your decisions shape the life 00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:54.760 you live. Let's be blunt about this. Judah made 00:36:54.760 --> 00:36:56.960 some very unwise and very sinful decisions about 00:36:56.960 --> 00:37:00.730 things such as abandoning God. Judah's life was 00:37:00.730 --> 00:37:02.510 absolutely not what we would call a holy life. 00:37:02.849 --> 00:37:05.090 The decisions that we make will shape the life 00:37:05.090 --> 00:37:06.989 that we live. The situations we put ourselves 00:37:06.989 --> 00:37:09.670 in will shape the decisions that we make, and 00:37:09.670 --> 00:37:11.789 then will shape the life that we look back on. 00:37:12.289 --> 00:37:13.869 So knowing that, we need to make sure that we 00:37:13.869 --> 00:37:15.510 are making good decisions. And so how do we do 00:37:15.510 --> 00:37:17.090 that? Well, it starts with what we value in the 00:37:17.090 --> 00:37:19.869 world. Off of Genesis 37 and 38, let me tell 00:37:19.869 --> 00:37:22.070 you a few things that Judah values. Some of his 00:37:22.070 --> 00:37:24.630 core values as a person in the world. First, 00:37:24.809 --> 00:37:27.769 he values comfort. What makes Judah comfortable? 00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:31.840 What makes Judah happiest? Secondly, he values 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:35.559 position. How do other people view Judah? Why 00:37:35.559 --> 00:37:36.820 is it so important to him that he gets rid of 00:37:36.820 --> 00:37:39.079 his brother? It's not just because he dislikes 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:40.860 Joseph, it's because Joseph is the favorite. 00:37:41.420 --> 00:37:44.679 Joseph hurts his position. Third, he values wealth. 00:37:45.559 --> 00:37:47.360 You know, his wife dies, he finishes mourning, 00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:48.599 what does he do? He goes right back to work. 00:37:49.239 --> 00:37:52.489 He goes right back to check on the flock. He 00:37:52.489 --> 00:37:53.750 doesn't take care of his daughter -in -law. He 00:37:53.750 --> 00:37:55.429 goes back to make sure that his wealth is preserved. 00:37:55.889 --> 00:37:57.590 And fourth, I think we see this when he makes 00:37:57.590 --> 00:37:59.650 this comment about being a laughingstock. Judah 00:37:59.650 --> 00:38:03.250 values his popularity. He wants to be popular. 00:38:03.309 --> 00:38:05.769 He wants everyone to think, Judah, that's a great 00:38:05.769 --> 00:38:09.250 guy. I love Judah. And those things bring him 00:38:09.250 --> 00:38:11.809 straight downhill to the point of dishonor, discomfort, 00:38:12.170 --> 00:38:14.809 losing his reputation, and losing his popularity. 00:38:15.289 --> 00:38:18.570 Those values will every single time fail him, 00:38:18.650 --> 00:38:21.519 and they will fail us. So what should we build 00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:23.380 our lives on? What value should we have instead? 00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:25.420 Let me give you something the Bible gives to 00:38:25.420 --> 00:38:27.960 us. First, we should build our life on a foundation 00:38:27.960 --> 00:38:31.619 of salvation, of knowing Jesus. Secondly, we 00:38:31.619 --> 00:38:33.579 should build our life on a value of sanctification 00:38:33.579 --> 00:38:36.639 or becoming more like Jesus, growing to be more 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:39.840 like our Savior. Third, we should build our life 00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.340 on the basis of reaching other people with the 00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:45.119 gospel, of bringing the Word of God to the world 00:38:45.119 --> 00:38:48.019 around us, of evangelism, to say it succinctly. 00:38:48.699 --> 00:38:50.880 Fourth, we should build our lives on a value 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:53.519 of discipleship or helping other people grow 00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:57.380 to be more like Jesus. It's Matthew 28, 18 through 00:38:57.380 --> 00:39:00.099 20 right there. I made you a fifth one here. 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:03.380 We should value kingdom living, which is what 00:39:03.380 --> 00:39:05.099 we see in the Sermon on the Mount. We're living 00:39:05.099 --> 00:39:07.659 differently than the world, living in a way that 00:39:07.659 --> 00:39:09.679 is honoring to God, making our choices through 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:14.199 a lens of following God and obeying God. So let 00:39:14.199 --> 00:39:16.579 me challenge you with this question today. I 00:39:16.579 --> 00:39:20.360 just gave you kind of five broad values, but 00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:22.780 let me encourage you to look internally today. 00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:26.119 What is a value in your life that needs to change 00:39:26.119 --> 00:39:29.000 to be more like Christ? What's something that 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:31.139 you're putting your hope in? What's something 00:39:31.139 --> 00:39:34.460 that you're putting your firm security in that 00:39:34.460 --> 00:39:36.960 needs to change, that needs to adjust to be more 00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:40.159 like God? Maybe you're more concerned about being 00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:42.340 popular with your friends, not seeing them in 00:39:42.340 --> 00:39:45.719 heaven. That's a value that needs to change. 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:50.460 I will never forget being a junior in college. 00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:55.860 We were at this conference and the speaker was 00:39:55.860 --> 00:39:59.019 talking about evangelism and he asked us at this 00:39:59.019 --> 00:40:01.780 breakout session, he said, so how many of you 00:40:01.780 --> 00:40:03.340 guys have friends? We're like, yeah, we got friends. 00:40:03.739 --> 00:40:06.500 Come on now, of course we got friends. He goes, 00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:07.619 how many of you guys really care about your friends? 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:09.699 Yeah, of course I care about my friends. I care 00:40:09.699 --> 00:40:12.889 about my friends a ton. He goes, so do you care 00:40:12.889 --> 00:40:14.190 about your friends enough to tell them that Jesus 00:40:14.190 --> 00:40:16.250 loves them? Like, do you care about your friends 00:40:16.250 --> 00:40:18.269 enough to make sure they go to heaven? To do 00:40:18.269 --> 00:40:20.309 what you can to help them go to heaven? And I 00:40:20.309 --> 00:40:21.809 remember sitting there being like, um, yeah, 00:40:21.869 --> 00:40:23.030 maybe I don't care about my friends that much, 00:40:23.070 --> 00:40:25.190 actually. Like, man, that's really convicting. 00:40:25.550 --> 00:40:27.489 You know, you think about that person from, for 00:40:27.489 --> 00:40:29.070 me as a history education major, we had a lot 00:40:29.070 --> 00:40:30.289 of our classes together, and I would think about 00:40:30.289 --> 00:40:33.889 my friend then from, say, U .S. history. Like, 00:40:33.949 --> 00:40:38.460 man, are they really my friend? Hmm. Friends, 00:40:38.500 --> 00:40:40.420 we all have values and we need to be constantly 00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:43.519 working to conform them to be more like what 00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:45.519 Christ wants. That's Romans 12, 1 and 2 right 00:40:45.519 --> 00:40:48.380 there. We need to be constantly conforming and 00:40:48.380 --> 00:40:50.519 transforming to be more like Christ. So let me 00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:52.980 challenge you, what is a value today that you 00:40:52.980 --> 00:40:56.380 need to change to be more like Christ? Use this 00:40:56.380 --> 00:40:58.179 passage as a reminder that our values direct 00:40:58.179 --> 00:41:01.860 our lives and change your value today. Here's 00:41:01.860 --> 00:41:05.639 the final point. Sometimes an application It 00:41:05.639 --> 00:41:07.440 kind of looks like, hey, listen, go do this because 00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:08.840 God said this. So for instance, in the Sermon 00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:10.039 on the Mount, when we talked about that, it would 00:41:10.039 --> 00:41:13.500 be like, Jesus says, I said, don't steal. The 00:41:13.500 --> 00:41:16.440 application is simple. Don't steal. That's great, 00:41:16.519 --> 00:41:17.940 right? That's a pretty practical thing. You're 00:41:17.940 --> 00:41:19.820 like, hey, go to lunch and pay for lunch today. 00:41:19.860 --> 00:41:21.340 Don't steal it from the restaurant. Good job. 00:41:22.179 --> 00:41:23.719 Sometimes an application is a little different. 00:41:23.780 --> 00:41:25.639 Sometimes it's more of a principle application. 00:41:26.679 --> 00:41:28.320 Sometimes it's like, here's something you need 00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:29.820 to hear and remember, something you're going 00:41:29.820 --> 00:41:31.360 to put into practice in your life, but maybe 00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:33.980 not today. That's this final point of application. 00:41:34.730 --> 00:41:38.289 you will never be abandoned by God. You will 00:41:38.289 --> 00:41:41.070 never be abandoned by God. That is a principle 00:41:41.070 --> 00:41:43.150 that you need to hear today, and you need to 00:41:43.150 --> 00:41:46.130 take away from Genesis chapter 38. It is all 00:41:46.130 --> 00:41:48.550 throughout the Bible, but you need to hear that 00:41:48.550 --> 00:41:50.929 today, that you will never be abandoned by God. 00:41:51.269 --> 00:41:53.349 God does not abandon Tamar when she's sent away 00:41:53.349 --> 00:41:55.429 from Judah's house. As hopeless as the situation 00:41:55.429 --> 00:41:57.309 looks to the entire world around them, and I'm 00:41:57.309 --> 00:41:59.670 sure, I'm sure Tamar had friends who are reaching 00:41:59.670 --> 00:42:01.610 out, like, are you going to be okay? What's going 00:42:01.610 --> 00:42:04.070 on? Why is Judah doing this? Like, did you do 00:42:04.070 --> 00:42:07.670 something wrong? Is this your fault? And all 00:42:07.670 --> 00:42:13.110 of that, God had never abandoned her. Think of 00:42:13.110 --> 00:42:16.269 it similarly in Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41, God talks 00:42:16.269 --> 00:42:19.369 about gathering his people together. He says 00:42:19.369 --> 00:42:23.849 this in Isaiah 41 10. Do not fear, for I am with 00:42:23.849 --> 00:42:26.829 you. I'm with you. I haven't abandoned you yet. 00:42:27.030 --> 00:42:29.670 Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I am sovereign 00:42:29.670 --> 00:42:32.769 over everything. I will strengthen you. I will 00:42:32.769 --> 00:42:35.369 help you. And here's my single favorite line 00:42:35.369 --> 00:42:37.849 in the entire book of Isaiah. I will hold on 00:42:37.849 --> 00:42:42.429 to you with my righteous right hand. Friends, 00:42:42.530 --> 00:42:47.650 when you are feeling really low, remember a passage 00:42:47.650 --> 00:42:49.590 like Genesis 38, when you feel like maybe God's 00:42:49.590 --> 00:42:52.139 not with you in the midst of that trial. Remember 00:42:52.139 --> 00:42:54.500 a passage like this, that God is with you even 00:42:54.500 --> 00:42:57.420 in that hard time. That God has not abandoned 00:42:57.420 --> 00:43:01.800 you just as God did not abandon Tamar. God's 00:43:01.800 --> 00:43:03.500 word never changes, so you can cling to the promises 00:43:03.500 --> 00:43:06.179 of Isaiah 41 .10. You can cling to Genesis 38. 00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:10.440 So I want to encourage you today. I want to encourage 00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:12.400 you that God is with you and that God has not 00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:15.380 left you behind. God has not abandoned you. God 00:43:15.380 --> 00:43:17.199 has not said, well, there was that one time this 00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:20.510 one person did this sin. God's not sitting there 00:43:20.510 --> 00:43:22.409 saying, well, Andrew did that thing, and so now 00:43:22.409 --> 00:43:23.889 he's too far gone for me, and I'm just going 00:43:23.889 --> 00:43:27.789 to leave him alone over there. God is not doing 00:43:27.789 --> 00:43:30.929 that. Friends, God has not and God will not abandon 00:43:30.929 --> 00:43:34.570 you. So let me ask you this. What is an area 00:43:34.570 --> 00:43:36.409 of your life where you need to remember that 00:43:36.409 --> 00:43:39.210 God is with you and that God has not abandoned 00:43:39.210 --> 00:43:44.389 you? Maybe it's an area of health. You know, 00:43:44.409 --> 00:43:46.030 if you know me over the last couple months, you've 00:43:46.030 --> 00:43:49.219 known, had some... really hard health stuff going 00:43:49.219 --> 00:43:53.320 on with my ribs, and it can be really hard on 00:43:53.320 --> 00:43:55.400 those nights where I can't sleep to remember 00:43:55.400 --> 00:43:58.639 that God has not abandoned me. So I have to remember 00:43:58.639 --> 00:44:01.059 this. Maybe you have to remember that God has 00:44:01.059 --> 00:44:02.920 not abandoned you with financials or your job 00:44:02.920 --> 00:44:04.360 situation. Maybe you have to remember that God 00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:07.179 has not abandoned you with your studying or something 00:44:07.179 --> 00:44:10.039 else. Whatever that place is, let me encourage 00:44:10.039 --> 00:44:13.869 you today to do three things. First, go to God 00:44:13.869 --> 00:44:15.510 in prayer with it. Whatever that situation is, 00:44:15.530 --> 00:44:17.670 bring it to God. Secondly, go to God's Word to 00:44:17.670 --> 00:44:19.730 hear from God. That's what we've just done. We've 00:44:19.730 --> 00:44:23.090 heard from God's Word. And third, rest in the 00:44:23.090 --> 00:44:25.530 assurance of God's provision that He will provide 00:44:25.530 --> 00:44:29.030 and He will never abandon you. Ever. He will 00:44:29.030 --> 00:44:31.690 never leave you. He will never abandon you. Hear 00:44:31.690 --> 00:44:34.530 that from Genesis 38. That when everything else 00:44:34.530 --> 00:44:37.929 seemed hopeless, God did not abandon Judah or 00:44:37.929 --> 00:44:40.530 Tamar for that matter. Let me pray for us. God, 00:44:40.570 --> 00:44:43.030 thank you so much. for today. Thank you for this 00:44:43.030 --> 00:44:45.550 passage and this reminder, God, that shame does 00:44:45.550 --> 00:44:49.610 not control us, that guilt does not have to run 00:44:49.610 --> 00:44:52.210 our lives, God. Thank you for this reminder that 00:44:52.210 --> 00:44:54.670 you will never abandon us, that even when the 00:44:54.670 --> 00:44:57.190 world around us seems hopeless, even when we're 00:44:57.190 --> 00:44:59.730 hurting, when we're struggling with the brokenness 00:44:59.730 --> 00:45:02.949 of this world, God, help us to remember and help 00:45:02.949 --> 00:45:06.829 us to cling, God. Help us to cling closely, God, 00:45:06.989 --> 00:45:10.480 to the fact that you will never abandon us. That 00:45:10.480 --> 00:45:17.320 we can rest in you completely, God. God, I just 00:45:17.320 --> 00:45:19.059 ask if anyone's here this morning and is hurting, 00:45:19.179 --> 00:45:23.420 is feeling abandoned, is struggling to know if 00:45:23.420 --> 00:45:26.800 you are there with them, God. Lord, right now 00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:28.900 as we reflect and sing together, God, would you 00:45:28.900 --> 00:45:32.800 move in their hearts, God? Would you bring comfort 00:45:32.800 --> 00:45:35.750 to them? Father, if anyone's here and is trapped 00:45:35.750 --> 00:45:38.510 in a cycle of shame and this feeling of not being 00:45:38.510 --> 00:45:41.250 good enough, of not being worthy of you, God, 00:45:41.409 --> 00:45:45.429 help them to remember now the words of Romans 00:45:45.429 --> 00:45:48.030 8 .1, God, there is no condemnation in you, God. 00:45:50.570 --> 00:45:54.190 Be with us now as we reflect and respond, as 00:45:54.190 --> 00:45:57.190 we lift our voices, as we continue worshiping 00:45:57.190 --> 00:46:01.230 you this morning, God. Lord, we just offer all 00:46:01.230 --> 00:46:04.070 of ourselves to you. In your name we pray. Amen.