WEBVTT 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.880 We study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:14.720 And uh we have extra copies. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:18.640 If you didn't bring one with you and you would like one to follow along, raise your hand up real high. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.559 Somebody will drop one off at your row. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:22.879 Uh otherwise, you can also look up on the screen. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.239 You'll see the network if you have a Bible online you'd like to use. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:28.000 There are many choices for you. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:30.719 I believe there's one on our phone app as well. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:49.359 And uh you are welcome to uh dial into that network there and uh be able to turn to Genesis, which we're studying our uh way through verse by verse, chapter chapter, through this book, the first book of the 66 books in the library that we call the Bible. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.799 And um it's it's called Genesis, which means beginning. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:04.000 And so we we uh we find here not only the story of the beginning, the original beginning, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and everything else flows from that. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:13.920 But we also find starting uh that that that the book of Genesis helps uh us to manage some of the really big questions that we've had since the beginning. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:15.680 Where did everything come from? 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.959 Why is this the something that exists? 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.239 Um what's gone wrong and what can be done about it? 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:27.920 And so we have turned to this ancient book, and it has been so helpful for us. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:31.439 Today, we're starting chapter 38. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:39.760 And uh I want you to know if you were looking for a nice religious experience this morning, I want to apologize in advance to you. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:57.920 Um if you were hoping I would tell you about how God is sweet and nice and just always wants you to be happy and uh uh and is the giant Santa in the sky, the doting deity, um, the kindly cosmic concierge whose primary goal is your happiness. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:01.359 Uh I'm really sorry, today is not your day. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:04.319 Um this is a tough chapter. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:12.080 But what I love about the Bible is that it doesn't sidestep the realities of the brokenness of our world. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:30.879 Um, it's not just uh uh sort of a Disney fight, nothing wrong with Disney if you love Disney, but it's not just a sort of a you know feel good book that's just designed to make sure we stroke the seekers and massage the tithers and try to get everything we can out of everybody else, you know, blah, blah, blah. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.080 It's not the Bible at all. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:43.360 The Bible is a it's like a mirror and and it and it it's held up to show us what we need to learn about ourselves as well as what God has revealed about himself. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.719 And uh this is a fascinating chapter uh when we start looking for those kinds of things. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:56.240 Um, the Bible is God saying there's a grand narrative. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:00.400 And it runs from Genesis all the way to the end, the book of Revelation. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:20.240 And we studied Revelation uh before we came to Genesis, and we made the point all along the way that if you if you pull a loose thread in one of those two ends, all of the pages between will crinkle because the loose thread is the historical or the the narrative, rather, the story of God's redeeming power. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.960 And that is good news. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:29.680 That that's actually great news, especially when you read a chapter like chapter 38 of Genesis. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:35.360 So, with all of that in mind, let me read the chapter and then we'll try to draw a couple of points from it. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:40.719 Uh, before we do, let me pray, Lord, uh, what we see not, I hope that you'll show us. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.199 What we know not, I hope that you'll teach us. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:55.039 What we have not, I pray that you would give to us, and what we are not, I pray that you would make us today. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:56.400 In Jesus' name. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:57.840 Amen and amen. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:27.199 Remember when we last left off, um, we have Jacob, we have his twelve sons, we have him showing favoritism to Joseph, Joseph telling his brothers and his father about the dreams that he's had, and those dreams seem to be stories of uh his uh having everyone else bowing down to him and worshiping him, and he's sort of uh, you know, to them anyway, it seems like he's having visions of grandeur. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:39.920 And uh he ends up getting uh the the brothers grab him, throw him in a pit, and literally sell him to some slave traders that are coming through on their way to Egypt. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:55.199 And it's Judah that we're gonna turn our attention to, and it's Judah that had the idea to sell Joseph as opposed to let him die in the pit, or as opposed to kill him before they threw him in the pit. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:58.160 It's Judah that said, we should profit off this guy. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:04:59.839 Let's make some money. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:05.199 And so he's the one that had that idea, and now we turn our attention to Judah. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:09.360 Came about at that time that Judah departed from his brothers. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:13.199 He visited a certain Adulamite, whose name was Hira. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.360 Adulum would be a cave, uh, especially. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.160 There's a cave of Adulum down in south, southwest of Jerusalem. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:26.800 If you were here for the women's stay treat, um, you studied Psalm 34. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:28.959 Kim walked you through that psalm a little bit. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.720 And that psalm was actually written in the cave of Adulum. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.639 So it's down in an area headed toward the Philistine cities. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:43.360 And there David uh really fearful for his life because he's being chased by King Saul, who wants to kill him. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.519 He's being chased by the Philistines. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:54.800 Uh, and he is having a real tough time, but yet still God inspires him in the middle of all of that horrible circumstance set of circumstances. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:06:09.040 God still inspired him to write Psalm 34, which promises things like the Lord draws near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:26.959 Your broken heart, your crushed spirit, these are magnets to the God of the Bible who's rich in mercy and grace, eager, no matter how far you've strayed from him, to the cave of Abdullah or whoever, wherever, and wherever Judah goes, God's still in pursuit. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.519 And watch how this is revealed to us. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.480 But he's down there visiting a certain Abdulamite whose name was Hira. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:37.439 Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shuah. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:39.279 Now, Shua is the name of the Canaanite. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:40.720 Let me clarify that for you. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:43.680 The daughter remains nameless throughout the story here. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.839 So he sees a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:50.639 He took her and he went into her. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.319 He literally took her and took her as his wife. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:07:07.120 And whether this is a rape or whether the father of this daughter, because back in these times, it was very traditional, very normal for a father to give his daughter away. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:15.360 It wasn't a thing where there was sort of like, you know, people are kind of going to different groups trying to see, see if they can find a spouse that they like or whatever. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:16.319 That wasn't happening. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:18.480 This was more arranged marriages. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:20.720 And whether that's happening here or not, I don't know. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:31.839 But it's what's clear here is that Judah saw, he took what he wanted, and he went into her, and she conceived, we're told here in verse 3, and bore a son. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:34.800 And he, Judah, named him Ur. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:35.279 Okay? 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:37.519 So a lot of time passes here. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.879 Remember, the birth of the child would take at least how many months? 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:42.800 Yeah, likely nine months. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:44.720 That's generally the way things would go. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:49.439 Well, verse 4 says she conceived again and bore a son and named him Onan. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.360 All right, so that's another nine. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:54.480 So we got a year and a half at least, probably more. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:57.920 And she bore still another son and named him Shela. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:02.240 And it was at Chezib that she bore him. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:15.600 And so there's a place called Chezeb, and now three children, three sons, have been born to Judah and the nameless uh woman that he has married and or taken for a wife. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:18.000 Judah took a wife for Ur. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.759 Remember, Ur is the firstborn of the son. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:22.560 And her name was Tamar. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:24.560 So now we're given the name. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:34.879 And this is interesting because the storyline is going to be more about what she and Judah, the way that they interact moving forward. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:44.000 However, verse 7 says that Ur, the firstborn son, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life, period. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.279 Okay, now I read that this week, and I've read this before. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:52.879 I've read it, I've taught through this book before, but it still kind of went like that, hit me right in the face. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:55.840 And maybe it hits you in the face that way as well. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:57.039 I don't know. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:06.639 But uh he evidently, uh, while we're not given much in the way of specifics, he was evil in the sight of the Lord. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:16.559 Not evil in the sight of the culture, not evil in the sight of the cancel culture, not evil in the sight of uh the flow of culture, but he was evil in the sight of the Lord. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:21.600 And so what happened is the Lord took his life. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:22.480 Wow. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:30.960 Judah said to Onan, go into your brother's wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, raise up offspring for your brother. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:36.799 And this is very, uh we read about this in Deuteronomy chapter 25, it's called the Leverite Law. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:57.200 Um, and Deuteronomy chapter 25 hasn't been written yet, the law hasn't been given yet, but sometimes the laws of God that are given, we find them woven into the culture and the traditions of life in ancient times, and that God's just affirming something that most people knew should happen in their particular time. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:10.159 Now, in their day and time, women were completely helpless in the sense of they needed protection, they needed provision, and so their family context, very, very important to them. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:14.399 We talked about that even with Genesis chapter 34 with Dinah. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:36.159 And here we find that the promise that uh that Tamar would have a child who would later be able to take care of her when she got older and that sort of thing, that that promise is actually uh it's on Judah's mind, and he's telling Onan, go into your brother's wife, perform your duty as a brother and raise up offspring for her. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:36.879 Verse 9. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:40.000 Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:48.639 So it came about that when he went into his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:51.120 So you note his motive there. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:51.759 Okay? 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:53.919 And I'm gonna talk about this in a little bit. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:58.399 I know some of you have some questions, I would think, about this particular chapter. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:06.480 Um, but he what he did, this is what's really important, verse 10, but what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.799 And here it is again. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:12.080 So he, meaning the Lord, took his life also. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:17.519 Again, you know, pretty sobering to think of, to hear that, right? 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:28.879 Verse 11, Judah said to his daughter, Tamar, remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up, for he thought, I'm afraid that he too might die, like his brothers. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:32.000 So Tamar went and lived in her father's house. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:37.600 This would have been socially uh quite a rebuke to her, a rebuff to her. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:39.200 She's rejected. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:45.919 She has a cultural right, in a sense, to have been protected by Judah. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:12:02.480 And in some cases, it would have been Judah who should have stepped up to provide uh uh a legacy or a progeny for Ur, his firstborn son, if his other son, Shelah, was indeed so young that he could not do that. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:04.799 But none of that happens. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:13.279 Judah doesn't do that, um, Onan doesn't do that, and the Lord is it finds that displeasing in his sight. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.000 And now Judah is basically saying, you know, you know, he sees Tamar as the problem. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:24.480 He wants to send her away, and he wants her to go back to her father's house and live as a widow. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.399 Well, after a considerable time, Shea's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:32.480 And this isn't, again, this isn't Tamar dying, this is Judah's wife. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:37.279 And when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheep shearers at Timna. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.000 He and his friend Hira the Adulamite. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:51.919 Timnah would have, the sheep shearing would have happened once or twice a year, would have been a great festive occasion, lots of adult beverages flowing, lots of festivities, all that sort of big party time. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:54.240 And his wife has just died. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:57.840 And who knows what he's, you know, what he's going through, that sort of thing. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.000 But he goes up to this big party time. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:07.120 And Timnah, by the way, will be mentioned later in the Old Testament as well, because Samson will go down to Timnah. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:10.000 All kinds of mischief happens in Timnah, evidently. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:15.759 And it was told to Tamar, though, that behold, your father-in-law Judah is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:25.120 So she removed her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat at the gateway of Enam, another village on the road to Timna. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:30.480 And she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:31.519 This would have shocked her. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.720 She would have felt betrayed. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:40.960 She should have been given to Shemnah, or to Shelah as a wife, so that she could be protected in her old age. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:45.519 When Judah saw her, remember, he won't recognize her, she's wrapped in these other clothes. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:49.519 He thought she was a harlot, for she was covered, she had covered her face. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.080 So he turned aside to her by the road and said, Here now, let me come into you. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.480 For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:59.519 And she said, What will you give me that you may come into me? 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.759 He said, Therefore, I will send you a kid from the flock, a young goat. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.440 She said, moreover, will you give me a pledge until you send it? 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.480 Give me something as a sort of earnest. 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:15.440 You know, against the fact that you're going to say, I, because you could have your way with me and leave, right? 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.120 And I'd have no recourse. 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:19.600 So give me something, some pledge. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.000 Verse 18, what pledge shall I give you? 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:22.480 He says. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:27.120 She says, Your seal, your cord, and your staff that is in your hand. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:34.080 Now, this is essentially the same thing as saying, your signet ring, the seal of your, you know, this is like your word. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.960 This is like your ID, if you will. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:39.200 Your staff, your signet ring. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.120 In other words, give me your driver's license and your American Express card. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:50.480 I want everything that would entitle me to the claim I have on you. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.279 And I want physical proof of it, right? 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:55.600 And so she says that's what she wants. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:03.679 He said, um uh uh he he then gave it to her, verse 18 tells us, and he went into her and she conceived by him. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:05.279 Now again, time is passing. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.039 She arose and departed and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:16.000 Judah sent the goat, the young goat, the kid, by his friend, the Edulamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.600 He wanted to get his pledge back, his ring, his staff, all that stuff. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:25.759 And from to so he sent this friend to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:32.000 He asked the men of her place, that little area, a name there, where's the temple prostitute who was by the road at a name? 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:35.759 And they said, There has been no prostitute here. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:39.919 And right about now, that little servant is going, ro. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:43.519 I mean, what am I gonna do now? 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:45.919 You know, this is there's been no temple prostitute here. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:46.799 Verse 23. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:52.000 And Judah then says, Well, let her keep them, lest we become the laughing stock after all. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:55.840 I sent this goat, but did not, you didn't find her. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.519 And essentially, he's just concerned about his image publicly. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:05.039 He's he, let's downplay it, let's keep this on the DL, and I'll just let that stuff go. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.879 I'll I'll make my a new ring and get a new staff and whatever. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.200 That that'll never come back to haunt me. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:11.759 Ha ha. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.279 And and so uh, because after all, we didn't find her, okay? 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:21.919 It was about three months later, verse 24 says that Judah was informed, hey, your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.559 Behold, she's also with child by harlotry. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:28.000 Then Judah said, Bring her out, let her be burned. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:37.600 It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, I am with child by the man to whom these things belong. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:44.000 And she said, Please examine and see whose signet ring and cords and staff are these. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:04.880 In other words, I didn't fulfill my familial responsibilities. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:12.720 It's interesting, though, that he doesn't say I took advantage of her, I treated her like property. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.079 I thought she was a commodity. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:21.359 That I could just be a consumer in this relationship. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:26.240 And he did not have relations with her again, and that's interesting. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.319 The narrator is telling us that. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:33.680 Something changes a little bit in the disposition of his heart toward her. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:38.640 Well, it came about at the time she was giving birth, and behold, there were twins in her womb. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.640 And we've seen twins born before, haven't we, already in Genesis? 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:44.880 Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:50.640 One put out a hand, midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, This one came out first. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:55.759 But it came about as he, that first one, drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:58.400 And then she said, What a breach you have made for yourself. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:01.599 And she named him Perez, and that means breaking out. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:02.880 That's what his name means. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:07.279 Afterward, his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread on his hand. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:11.119 And he was named Zara, which means scarlet. 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:18.880 It can also mean thread, an appropriate name given all that happens, the end of the chapter. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.039 Wow, what a chapter. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:27.200 All right, so um again, I don't know if you were raised in the church or not. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:29.440 I don't know if you grew up going to children's ministry. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:31.920 I don't know if you've been in youth group. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:38.799 I have no clue what the flannel graph or the youth's youth group skit would look like of this chapter. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:47.359 I mean, Bella, Bella and Jamie and Ryan are gonna have to work pretty hard to come up with those, I think, in our church. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.240 And we don't pay them enough to do that kind of work. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:54.720 Um, anyway, wow, there's stuff to learn though, isn't there, here? 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:57.599 Um, why is this chapter even in the Bible? 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:04.160 You know, I bet there aren't that many churches around the world today studying Genesis 38. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:12.559 I know, because I every time I'm getting ready to do a Bible study, you know, I read eight or nine commentaries on each passage. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:17.519 And I usually go online and see whose stuff I can steal, you know, whatever. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.319 You know, I listen to my favorite preachers. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:27.039 And usually I'll go to some of these sites that have like, you know, like 50 different preachers all at one website, you know. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:34.000 And for Genesis 38, you know, it's like if you can look at chapter 37, there might be like 20 messages on it. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:40.079 If you go to Genesis 38, look on some of those sites, you're lucky to find one or two messages on Genesis 38. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.920 People are like backing away from the car. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:42.640 Whoa. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:54.480 I don't know what the, you know, what they're doing with this, but I think there are some lessons, and I certainly uh don't want to dodge the realities that God wants us to face sometimes. 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:02.000 And I realize that we're a church that is regathering after a long, difficult couple of years. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:10.160 And you, as people who come to a church, may have been coming here hoping and starving for some something. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:17.920 And and uh I I can only say that God in his providence has brought us to Genesis 38 today. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:19.680 And what can we learn? 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.079 I think there's some really good lessons to learn here. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.759 I'll throw these up on the screen pretty quick and make just a few comments about each. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:32.880 First, the uh importance of establishing and maintaining a family context of commitment to the Lord. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:40.079 So, parents, the fact is you're passing down spiritual disposition, whether or not you intend to, uh, for good or for bad. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:49.759 If you're not married, but you have coworkers or roommates, uh, you are modeling or neighbors, you are modeling a spiritual disposition for those within your sphere of influence. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:57.359 I seek to persuade each of us today that we're still here on the planet for a reason that's bigger than just to get a paycheck. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.440 We're still here on the planet for a reason that's bigger than our hopes and dreams. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:12.960 You know, we're here on the planet for a telos, a purpose that is actually massive. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:14.319 It's huge. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:17.200 It's bigger than you might imagine. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:17.599 Why? 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:23.759 Because God's thoughts are not our thoughts, God's ways are not our ways, his are so much higher than ours. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:28.000 And he wants to use you, he wants to use me, he wants to use all of us. 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:37.920 Inconsistent though we might be broken, though we might be battered, though we might be victim, though we might be victimized that we might be. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:55.839 And the story of Tamar, the story of Ur and Onan and Shela, these are important stories. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:57.039 We don't want to miss them. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:01.279 The importance of establishing and maintaining a family context of Commitment to the Lord. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:10.640 What would have happened if Judah hadn't been so fascinated with Canaanite culture as to want to drift down that way? 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:17.519 Oh, and he so casually sees, wants, and takes. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:29.920 And um what would have happened if he had stayed closer to Yahweh and leaned into that relationship with God a little bit more? 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.720 Um, what would Ur have learned? 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:34.799 What would Onan have learned? 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.119 What would Sheila have learned? 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:42.480 What would Tamar have not had to go through? 00:22:42.720 --> 00:23:08.880 Lots of questions and lots of hypotheticals, I agree, but I think that at the very least we can learn that there is a bit of a lesson here for us about establishing and maintaining, maintenance, disciplining a family context of commitment to the Lord or a friend's context of commitment to the Lord or whatever that might be, okay, for whatever your sphere of influence is. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:12.480 Does anybody even know that you're a person of faith? 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:16.640 Or do they just think, yep, you're a really nice southerner, man? 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:17.839 Awesome. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:18.480 Yeah. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:19.839 I mean, what do people think? 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:27.359 You know, nowadays, what do people think when you go to that building up on the, you know, the old convent building up there and you sing these songs? 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:30.079 Are they just religious nuts up here? 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:35.279 Uh, or do they just think we're crazy because we believe something still? 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:42.319 And that we believe there is a God still, even though we get ridiculed publicly all the time. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:54.079 Uh people are attempting very much to move God out of the way in our culture and higher uh institutions of higher learning, so to speak. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:01.759 No longer in pursuit of truth, just in pursuit of all kinds of things that I think are kind of trivial, to be honest with you. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:13.119 Um, we need to be living this out in such a way that we are establishing and maintenanceing a context of commitment to the Lord because that is going to get passed along to those who are watching you. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:16.319 There are people watching you, there are people that are watching me. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:22.559 The second thing I learned here anyway is the divine prerogative to define evil and determine when God will put an end to it. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:27.680 And that's just, you know, unfortunately, those very sobering stories of Ur and Onan. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:30.799 It's God who gets to define what is evil. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:39.680 In our day and age, we've been, all of us have been programmed and influenced to believe that it's you as an individual that gets to determine what's right and wrong. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:41.680 Or it's me as an individual. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:53.200 And then, you know, the nice way that that's done is to tell you that the whole world is, and to make get all of us to be thinking that the whole world is about us and our story. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:25:01.039 And there's a lot of there's a lot of truth to the fact that we we need help, some of us, with with our self-understanding. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:05.279 I understand that that I'm not talking about the healthy version of that. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:12.559 Um, it's just that we've gotten to the point now where there's this cacophony of competing autobiographies. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:23.599 And now I want what I want, and I want it now, and you want what you want, and you want it now, and we're all walking over top of each other and treating one another as some kind of commodity. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:29.119 And that's actually not new, that's been going on for a long time. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:44.079 Judah treated Tamar as a commodity, as he casually engaged her in a transactional relationship when it came to sex, to the act of sex. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:51.200 Now, this uh particular passage has been uh abused in some ways. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:57.279 Some people, you know, who are preachers and the like will say it's about birth control. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:59.759 Others will say it's about masturbation. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:01.519 Yes, I just said the M word. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:05.839 Um, but it's really not about either one of those. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:25.599 Um it's very clearly told us there by the narrator that the reason God was upset with Onan was that he refused Tamar a familial right that she had to be protected, to have a child. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:35.839 And he refused that, and he was casual about his human sexuality, just as Judah was casual, trivialized human sexuality. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.000 So don't hear me saying God doesn't have anything to say about human sexuality. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:41.200 He does. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:46.640 Do hear me saying this isn't about birth control or self-gratification. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:47.200 Okay? 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:55.200 There are other passages where we can talk about things like lust and all that sort of thing, but this isn't about those two things. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:27:04.160 Umerogative to define what is evil and then to draw a line when God seems to think it's necessary. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.559 And ultimately, I do want to know that I do want to remind us of this because all the way in Revelation we studied this. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:17.759 There's coming a day when God intends to set everything that's broken and wrong right. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:21.440 And that's called justice. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:35.839 And if you and I were to ask for a show of hands, if if you want justice, if you believe in justice, most of us would put our hands up because we believe that there ought to be a thing called justice, but most of us want for ourselves, we want grace. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.720 For others, we want justice. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:46.400 But we do want justice, and that's we're joining God in the way he thinks about this too, by the way. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:58.000 God loves justice, God hates evil because it's destructive to his creation, which was created to bring him glory. 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:19.920 And so when we are trivial about our human sexuality, or we abuse others, or we're in some way uh embracing and relaying or reflecting racial prejudices or religious prejudices, we are dishonoring God. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:25.279 And one day, though, he intends to set it all right. 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.759 And that's what the book of Revelation tells us, see? 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:35.680 And so I'm I'm one of the crazy guys that says, I'm excited about God's justice. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:40.880 That one day he will put an end to evil once and for all. 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:46.319 I'm eager for his righteous judgment to come. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:51.920 Um, and some people don't understand that because they can't think about the divine prerogative. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.519 They can't put that into their heads. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:29:03.519 He created it, he knows how it works best, he knows what the context ought to be for the enjoyment of it, and he's the one that determines what's evil and what's not evil. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:13.359 It's not up to the individual, because then we just get the cacophony of competing autobiographies, and we step on each other and use each other. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:18.720 Number three, the grace of God in being interested in us, even when we've not been interested in him. 00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:21.839 Okay, so we get a lot of those chapters in the Bible, don't we? 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:24.160 People who aren't interested in God. 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:29.200 And guess what our world in our day and time is filled with? 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:31.279 People who aren't interested in God. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:32.079 And you know what? 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:37.920 Some of them might be in this room right now, some of them might be in buildings like this all over the world. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:44.720 They're interested in checking a cultural box by going to a thing called church, but they're not really interested in God. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:48.240 And that there's a huge difference. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:52.079 But look at the grace of God on display here in chapter 38. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:30:00.480 In spite of all the darkness of 38, we know that 38 is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle of redemption history. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:07.200 And so what we see is a God who, in spite of 38, is still working out his plan. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:09.599 And you say, Well, I don't see that in 38. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:11.119 And I say, I do. 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:13.440 It's at the very end of the chapter. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:15.519 The name is Perez. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:18.559 And guess who Perez is? 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:24.559 He's an ancestor to King David, who's an ancestor to a guy named Jesus. 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:36.799 And so through the line of Perez, the unlikely second one, without this scarlet cord around his wrist saying he was firstborn. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:50.000 The unlikely one, the son of an incestuous, immoral, illicit sexual relationship. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.559 That's the one through whom the line of Messiah is gonna come. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:55.599 Oh God. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:58.880 Oh, you blow our minds. 00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:04.079 Using people that no one else would use for your glory. 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:10.160 Using even abused people for your glory. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:17.039 Using the most unlikely people for your glory. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:20.720 Grace of God and being interested in us even when we're not even thinking about Him. 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:26.319 Fourth, how many double standards are, or how easy double standards are to adopt when we are judging others? 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:27.039 Has that ever happened? 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:29.759 Have you ever been caught in this double standard thing? 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:32.480 You know, and this is what happens here with Judah. 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:35.839 Let her bring her out here, let's burn her to death. 00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:39.039 Yeah, but look at these, look at the whose ring is this? 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:40.720 Whose staff is this? 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:48.240 I mean, that is total duplicity, that's duplicity on display, right? 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:56.000 And even Judah crumbles a little and says, she's more righteous than I am. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:57.759 And he needed to. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:31:59.920 I mean, we see he needed to. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:02.720 We we we recognize that as we read this whole thing. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:03.599 But what about me? 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:04.480 What about you? 00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:08.319 How easy double standards are to adopt when we're judging others. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:15.839 I can see the, you know, the speck in your eye, but I got a board in my eye, as Jesus would describe it later, right? 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:27.200 Um, this is just completely uh a sort of reality, I think, that we all have to struggle with. 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:38.400 Fifthly and finally, how God intends to accomplish his purposes, even if it means he chooses and uses people in events that seem undesirable and unlikely all along the way. 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:50.240 You know, reading through some of the stuff that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and now Judah have done or had done, doesn't it make you wonder at some point why does God keep putting up with them? 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:53.680 I mean, have you, I mean, I've I've I've thought that multiple times. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:59.839 Hey, well, if he can use them, you know, and I'm really kind of doing the self-righteous thing myself when I do that, right? 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.079 Because I'm better than them, right? 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:09.359 So if he can use them, maybe he can, surely he can use, you know, and I'm watching the little meter go up there like that. 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:15.200 And uh, and and this is again the the grace of God uh at work in our lives. 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:20.480 Because um, as as uh, and most of you have read the Chronicles of Narnia, I know that you have. 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:28.000 Most of you, if you got to the silver chair other, ever got to the silver chair, um, and we read this aloud uh over the summer. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:38.640 It's really funny to read through these things again as adults, but to hear Aslan say to Jill once, you would not have called to me unless I had already been calling to you. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:41.599 You know, it's just mind-blowing to me. 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:53.599 The grace of God at work in the life of broken people, abused people, unlikely people, people chronically addicted to their own stuff. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:55.759 Um, and he uses us. 00:33:55.920 --> 00:34:02.240 That's just so amazing to me how God would intend to accomplish his purposes that way. 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:06.240 And that, my friends, is because he is indeed sovereign. 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:18.320 And in spite of what you walk away with reading chapter 38 of Genesis, or some of you would be familiar with the book of Ecclesiastes, and some of you would go, yeah, I gotta back away from that car. 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:22.639 That's a that's a that's one of the things, all is vanity, all is vanity, all is vanity, all is vanity. 00:34:22.719 --> 00:34:29.679 And by the end of the book, some of you go, all is vanity, you know, and uh, and you just want to go out and you know end it all. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:32.719 But that's that's not the point of that book, by the way. 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:40.480 One of my favorite books to teach through uh in the entire Bible, and our our teachings on uh Ecclesiastes are online for you. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:48.239 But here's what God does, in spite of all of the way we may feel in life and all of the crazy going on around us. 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.800 Here's what God intends to do. 00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:57.679 The Bible's promise, all the way running from the beginning to the end, is that this is all headed somewhere. 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:03.119 And that one day indeed he intends to set things right. 00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:10.000 And he has the actual, he can back it up with it's not just wishful thinking. 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:12.719 He actually can bring it about. 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:14.480 How do I know that? 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:39.440 People like Perez continue to show me, people like Judah continue to show me, people that battered and bruised like Tamar continue to show me that God is moving and working through human history all the way to Jesus, they all point forward to and find their fulfillment in Jesus, and he's the one that one day intends to come back and set things right and has the power to do it. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:42.400 So let's trust in him. 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.920 Why wouldn't you do that? 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:51.039 What would keep you from doing that? 00:35:51.199 --> 00:36:00.480 Why would you think something else, something trivial, something temporal could be the answer or the solution, but it's not. 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:03.039 We need outside help. 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:08.880 God has come on the run with rescue and a redeemer. 00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:11.280 And his name is Jesus. 00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.599 Let me just close with a couple quotes. 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:16.559 Lewis, again, he's makes so much sense here. 00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:23.199 He says, uh, as regards my own sins, it's a safe bet, though not a certainty, that the excuses are not really so good as I think. 00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:31.679 As regards other men's sins against me, it's a safe bet, though not a certainty, that their excuses are better than I think. 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:32.719 Yeah. 00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:36.400 What if we all thought that way about it? 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:57.760 And instead of reacting when someone treats us wrong or is mean to us or forgets us or abuses us in some way, instead of that, what if we see our lives completely in the hands of a sovereign God who's working all of human history, even the even the chapter 38 stuff, he's working it all for his purposes. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:01.760 What if we all had that kind of perspective about everything? 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:08.639 It would change not only the way we view living, but the way we view suffering as well. 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:13.440 It would change even the way we view dying, wouldn't it? 00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:15.840 If we really believed that. 00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:22.000 John Stott, for the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God. 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:26.320 The essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. 00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:27.840 That's just brilliant. 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:34.079