WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.480 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:27.839 Father, we thank you so much for the life-changing freedom that we find in the good news of what Christ did for us in dying on the cross. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:41.840 And God, I also understand that in my own life, and that I know that in each of our lives here, God, we still experience that slavery to sin, and we still live in the darkness of this world. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:48.960 And God, at times our minds are filled with questions as we think about your goodness and your grace towards us. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:01:09.439 And so, God, I pray in every way as you speak to us this morning, God, as you speak from your word in the presence and power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, would you apply that freedom to our lives, that freedom that we have already won fully in Christ, despite our status, if our faith is in him, despite the way we come in here feeling this morning. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.680 Lord, would you help us to experience that freedom that we have fully in Him? 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.599 God, thank you for this time. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:17.359 We pray this all in the name of your Son. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.319 Amen. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:19.920 Amen. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:21.760 You can grab your seat. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:27.120 If you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, you can open it up to Genesis 38. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:36.400 And if you are new with us this morning, you have a privilege of walking through maybe one of the weirdest chapters in all of Scripture this morning. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:49.599 And I want to let you know we don't do this every morning, but as a church, we found ourselves doing it more and more frequently because we are a church that believes in what we call expositional preaching, which means that we preach God's word book by book, verse by verse. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:57.599 And we don't skip over anything because we believe that God has something profitable for us in every verse of Scripture. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:11.360 And in fact, one commentator that I have come to appreciate and adore looked at this chapter and he kind of writes a devotional commentary, and he closes this chapter with saying, There's nothing really devotional here. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.000 And I want to encourage I want to convince you this morning that that's not true. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:28.240 That from this chapter, as we mine deep into honestly, what are some awkward subjects, we will find the riches of God's word. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:33.280 And so I hope that your Bibles are open to Genesis 38. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:42.639 You know, as we think about our lives, isn't it true that I feel like now more than ever, the the list of things that worry us is long. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:44.000 Don't you feel like that? 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:52.159 Like if we were to go around and and maybe pull people's minds in here and say, you know, what's the thing that maybe you know really worries you? 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:56.319 I'm sure that we would have a long list of answers. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:02.719 There are many of us that look at this culture and are maybe worried about different political ideologies. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:12.479 Maybe we look at the housing market and the economy and inflation, and that's the thing that that worries us, and we wonder kind of kind of what end could this ever come from? 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:13.840 Could this ever come to? 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:24.400 We look at the global conflict that our world is experiencing, we look at the advance of technology and and how AI is chasing many of our jobs. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:29.680 By the way, you can go onto uh an AI website and you can make a whole sermon for yourself. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:31.280 And so am I afraid a little bit. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:32.719 Yeah, I'm a little bit afraid. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.000 Some of us have maybe personal concerns. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:41.439 Maybe it's our health, maybe it's our career. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:54.400 I feel like I'm talking to more and more people on a weekly basis that that because of the way that sh society is shifting, they feel like their careers are on the line if they don't believe a certain worldview. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:59.759 Maybe the worries that you hold are in your family and in the salvation of your children. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:11.439 Needless to say, we could go on with lists and lists and lifts of worries that we look at day to day and wonder how is this story going to come to an end? 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:17.600 What is it that is needed in order to redeem this worry that I have? 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:26.079 Many of us come to the church with sort of this expectation that the church will fix our specific worry. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:29.920 We have this worry and we're coming to church saying, God, I need you to do that. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.000 And my question is, how can the church do that? 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:45.199 How when there are so many different things, so many issues that are so much larger than redemption new market, how can the church be involved in the redemption of these things that we worry about? 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.920 Well, the place that we find ourselves in Genesis is really the same as we walk into Genesis 38. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:05:03.439 We have just started the life of Joseph, and you'll remember if you were with us last week that Genesis 37, it started or it ended in a very critical moment. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:18.480 Joseph had been sold into slavery, and we read in verse 36 of chapter 37, we read that meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:32.160 Now, if you've been with us from the beginning, you know that God's people, the family of Jacob, the twelve sons of Jacob, were to become the tribes of God's people, Israel, and they were to inherit the land of Canaan. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:38.639 But here you have Joseph, one of a critical one of the twelve sons, who is now enslaved in Egypt. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.879 We look at the story and we say, things are not good. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:55.680 And we're gonna read here in Genesis 38 that another one of Jacob's sons, Judah, while being in the right place in Canaan, is enslaved to sin. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:08.079 And so here we have a child of Jacob, Joseph, who is a righteous child in the wrong place, and here we have a child of Jacob who is Judah, who is an unrighteous person in the right place. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:15.680 And the question we look at as we see both of these stories is this what's going to solve these problems? 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.920 How is redemption gonna be brought to Joseph? 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.959 How is redemption gonna be brought to Judah? 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:24.240 What's the solution? 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:29.360 Now we're gonna read Genesis 38, and many of you have read Genesis 38 before. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:37.920 You know, you start a Bible reading program and you get to Genesis 37 and you get to the life of Joseph, and you're all excited because Joseph is one of the most exciting stories in all of Scripture. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.399 And so you're all excited to get one chapter in, and then all of a sudden it's no longer about Joseph. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:56.560 Now it's about Judah and Tamar, and it's an incredibly weird story, and it feels kind of like it's a random insertion into Genesis, like Moses was writing the story, and then he thought, oh, I forgot about Judah and Tamar, so let me just throw that in the middle. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.360 It feels a little bit like a bad movie where you're like, well, that scene was a waste of my time. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:05.920 And yet, what I want you to see is that God has a purpose here. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:23.839 God is hitting the brakes on Joseph's problem to insert us into Judah's problem to show us that as God solves Judah's problem, he is showing us the redemptive power that will bring all of our problems to an end. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:29.040 He's showing us the great need that every one of us has here. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:39.120 This is the beauty of the gospel, that what we find God provides for Judah is exactly what we discover Joseph needs in his situation. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:49.759 And as we look at God providing for Judah and Joseph, we look at that story 2,000 later and years later, and you and I are going to see the very thing that we need. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.560 It's the gospel of God's grace. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:00.240 It's the grace of God being lavished over us in our situation. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.639 This is what we need. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:08.000 It's the same thing Judah needed, and it's the same thing Joseph needs, and it's the same thing we need. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:14.399 To hear and believe the gospel of God's grace. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.720 Well, this is the story of God's grace, and so let's read it together in Genesis 38. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:19.839 You can follow along with me. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.079 Genesis 38, verse 1. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:30.160 It says this It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adulamite whose name was Hira. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:34.799 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:36.879 He took her and went into her. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:40.159 And she conceived and bore a son and called his name Ur. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.519 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:46.720 Yet again she bore a son and she called his name Sheila. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.000 Judah was in Shizeb when she bore him. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.240 And Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:59.440 But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:06.799 Then Judah said to Onan, Go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:16.159 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground, so as to not give offspring to his brother. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.480 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:30.240 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in your father's house till Sheila, my son, grows up, for he feared that he would die like his brothers. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.759 So Tamar went and remained in her father's house. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.879 In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shuah's daughter, died. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:44.159 When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah with his to his sheep shearers. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:47.200 He and his friend Hira the Adulamite. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:10:00.960 And when Tamar was told, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep, she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance of a nail, which is on the road to Timna. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:05.679 For she saw that Sheila was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:11.039 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she covered her face. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:17.360 He turned to her at the roadside and said, Come, let me come into you, for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.799 She said, What will you give me that you may come into me? 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.919 He answered, I will send you a young goat from the flock. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:29.759 And she said, If you give me a pledge, until you send it, he said, What pledge shall I give you? 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:34.639 She replied, Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:38.320 So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.279 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:50.320 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adulamite to take back the pledge from her woman's hand, he did not find her. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:55.279 And when he asked the men of the place, Where is the cult prostitute who was at Anaham at the roadside? 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:58.720 And they said, No, that no cult prostitute has been here. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.919 So he returned to Judah and said, I've not found her. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.279 Also the men of the place said, No cult prostitute has been here. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:09.440 So Judah replied, Let her keep, let her keep the things as her own. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:10.879 We should be laughed at. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.080 You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:19.679 About three months later, Judah was told, Tamar, your daughter-in-law has been immoral. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:23.039 Moreover, she is pregnant by immoral immortality. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:27.039 And Judah said, Bring her out and let her be burned. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:34.080 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, by the man to whom you these belong, I am pregnant. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:39.039 And she said, Please identify who these are, the signet and the cord and the staff. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:46.080 And then Judah identified them and said, She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Sheila. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:48.320 And he did not know her again. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:51.759 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:58.879 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, This one came out first. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:04.960 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out and she said, What a breach you have made for yourself. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.279 Therefore his name was called Heret. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:13.039 Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:25.679 I want you to see God's grace is really dripping all over this story, and it's revealing to us the greatest need of our day, and the thing that will bring resolution to our greatest problems, God's grace. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:28.080 And the first thing I want you to see is grace for me. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:35.200 We're gonna see grace for me this morning, we're gonna see grace for others this morning, and we're gonna see that only grace can only come from God this morning. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:39.039 And the first thing I want you to see is grace that's needed for me. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:47.120 Now we come into Judah 38, and really you could summarize this chapter by by maybe this heading more people, more problems. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:13:05.679 We've been walking through Genesis for a while now, and we have met a whole host of different people, and one of the things that you come to expect is that whenever you meet a new person, the chances are, if you're a betting person, that they are going to be messed up, that they are going to have sin. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:18.799 In fact, the very the the very uh reason that we're at Judah is because of all of Jacob's sons, in the order that they had been born, all of them had already messed it up. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:24.320 The oldest, the one that God's spiritual blessing should have gone through, was Reuben. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:31.200 But you'll remember in Genesis 35, 22, that Reuben slept with Bilhah, who was Jacob's wife. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:37.200 Reuben slept with his mother-in-law and thereby disqualified himself for the spiritual blessing. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.759 And so next in line was actually Simeon and Levi. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:58.240 But you'll remember then in Genesis 36, that when their sister Dinah was given over to the Canaanites as a sex slave, it was Simeon and Levi who sought justice themselves and murdered all of those people. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:02.559 And so now we come to the fourth son to Judah. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:09.759 Now, some of you in here, maybe you have four siblings in all, and you're the youngest, you're the fourth, and so you're saying, Yeah, I know the first three are really messed up. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:14.879 This has been the same for all time, and I'm I'm you know, I'm the blessed one, I'm the righteous one. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.559 And I want you to know that Judah is a mess as well. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:23.840 And the question that we come to is that the the line is gonna stop at Judah. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:29.120 Judah will be the one through whom the spiritual blessings, covenant blessings of Abraham travel. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.960 And so the question for us is what was wrong with Reuben, Simeon, and Levi? 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:35.120 What's the difference between those three and Judah? 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:37.039 Because they all dropped the ball. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:41.600 And the only answer that we have is this that it's God's grace. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:43.440 It's God's grace. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:51.600 God in his electing, choosing grace, had chosen Judah to be the one through whom eventually the seed of Jesus would come. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:58.639 And so we see Judah's story, and especially in these first verses, we see Judah's need for grace. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:05.519 We see the gaping holes of his life in which God has to pour and lavish his grace on him. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:17.360 Notice in verse 1, it says that it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adulamite whose name was Hira. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:20.480 Now, this is trouble. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:28.080 And in fact, part of what Moses is doing here is comparing Judah as an unrighteous man to Joseph, who is a righteous man. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:35.200 In chapter 39, next week, as we do as we study Joseph and Potiphar, we're gonna find a number of striking similarities. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:58.159 And one of the similarities is that in 39, verse 1, it's Joseph, who after Judah has experienced moral failure with Tamar, it's Joseph who goes down to Egypt, just like Judah went down to Canaan and finds himself in the presence of Potiphar, and Potiphar's wife who attempts to attempt Joseph to sexual seduction, and Joseph stands strong. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.159 And so here we have in Judah a failure, we have in Joseph a success. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.559 Moses has put this story here for our comparison. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:22.559 Now, if you've been with us in Genesis and you've you've walked along God's people up until this point, you know that when it comes to the boxing match between God's people and Canaan, well Canaan is undefeated, isn't it? 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.519 Canaan keeps messing up God's people. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:30.879 God's people are supposed to inherit the land, but every time they come into Canaan, they mess it up. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:44.240 And so there should be this narrative suspense building in us as Judah, it says, went down away from his brothers, away from the people of God into the land of Canaan. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:52.000 Verse 2, we're told that Judah, he says he came here to find himself a Canaanite wife. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:59.679 Now, all of us who are familiar with Genesis should look at Judah and on that verse give a big wrong buzzer sound. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.559 Wrong idea, Judah. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:05.119 Look at your history for a moment. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:11.599 For Judah to go down to Canaan and look for a Canaanite wife is to disregard God's word. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:21.440 All throughout Genesis, God has been calling his people to marry within his covenant community. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:25.200 Judah disregards God's word when he knew better. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.440 You'll remember Genesis 6. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:30.799 Remember another pretty weird passage that we walked through as a church? 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:38.079 Where the sons of God, and there's different interpretations on that, but we landed on that being fallen angels. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.200 And whether you think that's fallen angels or Canaanites, the meaning is still the same. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:51.920 The sons of God came down and slept with the daughters of men, the people of God, so that they intermarried, and that was what prefaced the worldwide destruction of the flood. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:18:05.359 You'll remember Abraham and Hagar and the devastation that was invited into the family of God when Abraham chose to try to take a shortcut and married a wife from the Canaanites. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:15.039 You'll remember Esau, whose mother and longed so greatly for both Jacob and Esau to marry within the covenant community of God. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:21.759 But Esau, deranged from his family, chose to disobey and married a Canaanite woman and invited destruction into his life. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:42.000 Now, all of those are ridiculous, but you'll also remember that just two chapters ago, Jacob, wasn't Jacob one of the brothers who, when his sister Dinah, went to the Canaanites, and then in Canaan was raped by the Canaanites. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:49.440 It was Jacob who looked at them and said, It's not proper for God's people to intermarry with the Canaanites. 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:51.119 Judah was right there. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:56.559 Judah was one of the people pointing his fingers at the Canaanites, saying, Your people can't marry my people. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:02.319 And yet, here, two chapters later, we find Judah is doing the exact same thing. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:05.279 This is what God's people do. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:10.960 They fall into the same trap time and time and time again. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.839 And I wonder if you look at the story and like me, you you find there's a big similarity here. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:22.400 Don't you find that that uh in a lot of your Christian life, you know exactly what is wrong. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.680 You know exactly what you're not supposed to do. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:29.759 And yet you keep doing it again. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:34.799 You know that your anger will never fix the situation. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.680 It only estranges those that are nearer to you. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:45.200 You know that your worry and anxiety has not solved anything for you, but only added sleepless nights and sadness to your life. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:55.599 You know that going to that website in that dark room will never truly satisfy you, and yet God's people are sucked into the same sinful trap time and time again. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:06.640 And the question that we ask as we come to Genesis 38, and God's people have messed up so many times, the question we have is this how exhaustible is God's grace? 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:10.160 How much grace does God have for his people? 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:16.480 Listen, I know the answer for myself, because I have very young children. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:21.599 And I wake up with them in the morning and they get up around seven, and I, you know, I've just done my quiet time with the Lord. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:22.799 It's been so peaceful. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:27.680 The birds are squawking a little too loud right now and a little too early, but they're squawking and it's beautiful. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:34.079 And I've been with the Lord, and my kids wake up and I say, This is the day that the Lord has made, kids. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.480 What a wonderful day this is gonna be. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.440 And then it feels like an eternity, and my grace for them is exhausted. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:46.720 I've got no patience left, and they're getting on my nerves, and I say, Okay, well, we gotta be close to the end of the day. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:49.119 I look at the clock, it's 9:30 a.m. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:54.640 And I say, I got a whole lot of day left, and not a lot of grace left. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:21:03.759 My grace is very exhaustible, but what we're discovering as we walk through the book of Genesis is that God's grace is inexhaustible. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:15.839 There is not a single time in your life that after you have sinned, if you turn to the Lord in true repentance, you will not find a God whose arms are wide open for you. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:17.440 Think about the Lord's Supper. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:19.920 It was instituted by Jesus Himself. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.000 He said, Do this as often as you meet together. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:28.720 He didn't say, Hey, just do this until you got your life figured out together, because then you're gonna be good, okay? 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:32.240 It should only take like seven Lord's Suppers, and then you're good. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:44.160 Jesus had this understanding that the people that he was coming to redeem until he came to glorify him would need to come to this table again and again and again and again to say this, God, I messed it up again. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:45.680 I messed it up again. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.559 But praise God, there is a table for me. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:52.000 There is blood that cleanses me of my sin. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:54.960 There is flesh that has been pierced for my penalty. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:58.880 God's grace is inexhaustible. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.240 This is the glory of God's grace. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.599 You go back to it time and time and time again. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.079 And it's a fountain that never runs dry for you. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:12.240 The more you go, the more God is glorified in your forgiveness. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:15.599 And some of you need to hear that this morning because you're so discouraged by your own sin. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:16.880 You know the weight of your sin. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:18.000 You know the weight of your failure. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:20.240 You keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:25.759 And God is here to tell you this morning through his word that he is a God of inexhaustible grace. 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:31.599 His grace is for those who fail time and time again, who cannot get their act together, who cannot do it themselves. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:34.400 You need to run to him this morning. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:39.119 And in this moment, in the depths of your heart, turn to God and find his grace for you. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:45.519 Now, Judah, he's not just done wrong, Judah's motivated wrongly. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:48.640 Look what happens in verse 2. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:51.680 So fascinating if you think about the verbs in verse 2. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.920 It says, There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:58.400 He took her and he went in her. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:02.000 He saw, he took, he went in. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:09.680 And so this unnamed daughter, this unnamed Canaanite wife of Judah, it says she conceived and bore and called his name Ur. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.960 This relationship totally lacks the Jacob-like romance. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:16.720 Remember when Jacob found Rachel? 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:17.599 Remember the romance? 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.400 Jacob was filled with love for Rachel. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:21.839 You remember Abraham and Sarah? 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:27.039 As we've walked through Genesis, we have seen husbands' love, love for wives on display. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:28.240 You remember Adam and Eve? 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.759 This at last is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:38.400 But what we understand is that this unnamed woman to Judah is really just an object for his sexual pleasure. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:47.680 Jacob is motivated to go down to Canaan solely by sex and reputation. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:55.039 And this is instructive for us because it begs the question for us: what is it that causes you and I to do wrong? 00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:57.839 We have wrong actions in our life. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.000 We do wrong things in our life. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:01.759 What is it that causes it? 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:04.400 And the answer that we come to is that it's our motivations. 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.839 This is what James is talking about in chapter four of his epistle. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:12.960 He says, What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:21.759 If you're new with us and you think it's crazy that we're in Genesis 38 this morning, well, you should have gone to James's church that he was writing to because people were punching each other out in the morning. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:23.759 It was UFC, MMA morning. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:26.640 Every Sunday morning they'd put the circles in a big chair and start punching each other. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:29.839 And James writes to the church to say, What's causing this? 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:33.839 He says, This, is it not your passions? 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:37.359 Is it not your passions are at war within you? 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:40.000 You desire and you do not have, so you murder. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:44.160 You covet and you cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:51.519 The thing that causes our actions to be evil is that we are motivated by wrong. 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:55.359 I mean, it sounds simple to say, but it's so important that we say it. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.599 We do wrong because we're motivated by wrong. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:11.039 This is why the one of the foremost evidences of God's work in your life is that you actually begin to desire good things. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.440 You begin to desire to be in the presence of the Lord. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.720 You begin to desire to read God's word. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.279 It's at the heart level, your motives become God's glory. 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:25.119 You begin to desire to be with God's people. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.200 And so God's doing this work in your heart. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:28.880 He's changing your motives. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:30.400 Parents, this is really important. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:35.519 The thing that you need to be looking for in your children really practically practically is motives. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:37.599 Your kids can get all the actions right. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.480 At a young age, they can figure out the Christian ease. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.960 They can figure out what pleases you and what makes mom and dad so happy. 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:50.640 And the thing you need to see is that are they actually motivated to seek the Lord by themselves? 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:53.519 This is the problem. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.119 See, if our motive isn't for God, it can only invite destruction into our life. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:12.960 And it's so funny that time and time again, this threefold verb has come up of someone seeing something that they should, a forbidden fruit, taking it, and consuming it. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:16.400 It's the same thing that Eve did when she saw the forbidden fruit. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:19.279 She saw it, she desired it, and she ate it. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:25.680 And here, Judah sees this woman, takes her, and goes into her. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:40.799 This example right in front of us of the three sons that Judah has with this woman. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:44.799 In verse six, we're told that the first, his name is Ur. 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:47.519 And he takes a wife. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:53.599 But in verse seven, we're told that Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and so he was put to death. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.799 Now we're not told exactly what his sin was. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.599 We're not given the specifics, but we know that it was evil. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:09.440 Because of the other times that God has put people to death, you think of Noah and the destruction of the flood, the people's actions were evil, and so he sent a worldwide destructive flood. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:14.880 You think of Sodom and Gomorrah, he was he rained fire on them because their actions were evil. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:18.960 And so here Ur is put to death because his actions are evil. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:22.559 While we don't know what Ur did, we certainly know what Onan did. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:34.400 Onan was, after the death of Ur, was given to Tamar to fulfill the Alevrite marriage duty. 00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:43.920 Now, this was a common occurrence in a day where familial riches was not by material possession, it was by your offspring. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:49.599 And so for a woman to die without any offspring was essentially the worst of all curses. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:54.319 And so this is this provides the context for the book of Ruth, doesn't it? 00:27:54.960 --> 00:28:06.240 That if a woman were to be widowed to a deceased husband, it would be the brother of that husband that would come and give that woman offspring. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:22.640 And so Onan here is following a ritual that, as we read this passage, we come to know is very near to God's heart to provide this woman Tamar a line, and yet we discover that it's the wrong person. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:28.160 In verse 9, we're told that not only was Judah selfish, Onan was selfish too. 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.640 It says, Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:47.200 See, Onan looked at this opportunity and he said, If Tamar has a son, then when Jacob dies, all of that material possessions that had been passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob, it'll be split three ways. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:50.000 Onan was pretty good at math. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:55.759 He said, It's a lot better to split something two ways than it is to split three ways. 00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:01.839 And he looks at the possible material gain he might get if Tamar doesn't have a child. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:10.799 And so we're told in verse 9 that instead of fulfilling his obligation to Tamar, he would waste the semen on the ground. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:17.279 Now, this is an incredibly offensive thing to do to God if you think about the context of Genesis. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.440 Think about in Genesis 1 to 3. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:24.880 Do you remember the two creation mandates that God had given to humanity? 00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:30.160 Remember that Adam and Eve were to be fruitful and multiply. 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:36.480 This is what we're doing right now is building a worldview of sex. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:38.079 This is really important for us to talk about. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:39.680 I think often in a church, you know what we do? 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:41.279 We kind of just shy away from it. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:51.279 And it especially messes up our children and our teenagers because they get to a point where all of a sudden they're confronted with the secular worldview and they have no idea that the Bible speaks to these things. 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:58.319 That the reason that sex is given to uh married couples is because God created it as a good gift for them. 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:03.440 And here we are in the Bible discovering a biblical worldview of sex. 00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:12.480 It is given to humanity in order to fulfill the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:19.279 So fittingly, it was given between a man and a woman because this was the work to be done. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:26.720 And so here you see Onan really is spitting on that first creation mandate. 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:34.160 Instead of being fruitful and multiplying, he's wasting the very thing that God gave him to multiply, he's wasting his very seed on the ground. 00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:42.000 Now, that's significant too, because you remember the second creation mandate was for Adam and Eve to work and keep the ground. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:49.759 And one of the ways that you can interpret this passage, this verse in verse 9 is that Onan, he's ruining the ground. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:51.680 He's destroying the ground. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:31:00.240 Instead of using what God has given him to fulfill God's creation mandate, he is actually attacking God's kingdom, he's ruining the ground. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:03.759 And so you understand why God does what he does in verse 10. 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:07.200 What he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:10.960 And he put him to death also. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:21.519 Now listen, we look at what Onan has done, and I think on the surface level, many of us say, well, this isn't overly relevant to my situation right now. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.079 I hope at least that that's the case. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:37.599 And yet, as we look at the heart of Onan, who's building his own kingdom, who's more concerned about his own kingdom than he is about the kingdom of God, don't you and I find much that our heart is much like Onan's? 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:48.480 That you and I, you know, you and I have taken the things that God has given to us, the talents, the time, the treasures. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:32:01.839 We've taken those things that God has given us, and instead of building up God's kingdom and using those gifts for the very reason that He had given them to us, we've used them to build up our own kingdom. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:24.160 I was thinking about this this week, and this is I I hope it was very condemning to me as I thought about you know one of the ways that we build up our own kingdom, and I think that as I share it, it'll be condemning to you, but I want you to know that I share in the condemnation. 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:28.319 Have you ever had the opportunity to share the gospel with someone? 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:31.519 And you're there, it's like the the moment is right. 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:37.039 Sometimes it's like you're you know, it's like it's a T ball, you're set up. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:45.440 But in that moment, this you know, this fear kind of infiltrates you of what that person might think of you if you were to talk about Jesus in this moment. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:52.799 In that moment, this fear kind of fills up in you of the rejection that you might face talking about Jesus Christ. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:00.079 And and in that moment, if if we were to zoom in on your heart and my heart when that has happened, what's what's happening at a heart level? 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:08.880 Well, at a heart level, we are exalting the worth of our kingdom, of our reputation, over the worth of God's kingdom and of God's reputation. 00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:16.400 We are exalting our image over the worth of this person's soul in the belief that God might do something through our evangelism. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:20.000 And it's really condemning when you think about it at a heart level. 00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:25.599 And I I share that to say that I feel the condemned condemnation with you because I at times have done that as well. 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:40.079 See, each of us we've we we've at times have sought to build up our own kingdom, and then we look at what is deserved because of that, that Onan is put to death, and in this moment, you know what I'm hoping you feel? 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:42.160 Like we need a lot of grace. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:48.640 Because we've built up our own kingdom, we deserve the same thing that Onan received. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:54.160 Wasn't Adam and Eve told that if you eat of the fruit, the forbidden fruit, you know what's gonna come? 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:54.880 Death. 00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:56.799 That's all we're promised in our sinfulness. 00:33:56.880 --> 00:33:58.160 All we're promised is death. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:05.440 And you and I have sinned, and so all that we should receive from God, if life was fair and just, all we should receive is death. 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:08.400 You and I stand in the same position as Onan. 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:11.360 We have lived for the wrong kingdom. 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:19.119 And you and I, right now, in this moment, I'm praying that the Holy Spirit is kind of working this conviction of like, I need a lot of help. 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:24.159 The practical application right now, heart-level application, is like, I'm screwed. 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:25.519 I'm screwed. 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:34.559 If God will not do something, I in this moment, I have such need for grace, I have fallen so short of who God has called me to be. 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:37.119 I'm screwed. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:43.840 Well, it's not only a grace for ourselves that we need, we also need a grace for the way that we have treated others. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:48.159 So the second thing I want you to see is that the world's need is a grace for others. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:56.079 See, it's not just that we have sinned with God, it's that we've also sinned against other people. 00:34:56.159 --> 00:35:00.639 That's why the great commandment Jesus says is to love God and to love other people. 00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:08.480 And what I want you to understand as we work through these next verses is that apart from God, you really cannot love people. 00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:16.960 Apart from a relationship with God, this vertical relationship with God, you cannot really horizontally love people. 00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:23.599 All you can really do, and we see this in this passage, is use other people to build up your kingdom. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:27.840 You can only really use other people to provide a service for you. 00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:29.920 And I want you to see this. 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:32.960 Look at one of the ways that sin causes us to use other people. 00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:35.679 It causes us to use other people for our satisfaction. 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:37.199 And so this is what Judah does. 00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:43.519 Judah goes up to Timnah, and we're told by Moses that he's going to see his sheep shearers. 00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:49.280 Well, we look at that, and knowing where the story goes, we say, Yeah, right, Judah. 00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:52.159 Your wife has just died. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:36:05.679 Two of your sons died, and you didn't even mourn them, and you got over the death of your wife pretty quickly, and now you're going to Timnah, and there he finds a prostitute, and we're not told for sure, but I I assume here that this is what he's going to look for. 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:16.960 Judah's desire with Tamar, as Tamar dresses herself to be a prostitute, Judah's desire is pure physical satisfaction. 00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:21.519 And you see how great the desire is and what he's willing to give for it. 00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:28.880 First, he offers a goat, which in that day is a great amount of currency, but then he's willing to even give his own personal possessions. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:33.760 He's willing to give his signet, his cord, and the staff that is in his hand. 00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:43.199 Now, for him to give those things, it's like the cultural equivalent of you giving away like your passport, your credit card, and your phone. 00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:48.000 Some of you guys are like, I'm okay with the passport and the credit card, but I would never give anyone my phone. 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:48.800 That's everything. 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:50.559 And that's what I want you to feel right now. 00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:58.480 Jacob is willing to give everything away in order to use Tamar for sexual satisfaction. 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.039 It's a purely physical desire. 00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:09.840 Now, because of that, it's really interesting that Tamar's identity here switches a few times in the passage. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:10.719 Did you notice that? 00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:13.920 First, Tamar is a daughter-in-law to Judah. 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:17.760 And then Tamar puts on the garments of a widow. 00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:26.880 And now in these verses, in verses 12 to 19, or really 18, Tamar bears the identity of a prostitute. 00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:37.039 No longer is Tamar viewed by Judah as an image-bearing daughter-in-law. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:43.840 No longer is Tamar viewed as a woman who deserves to be filled with worth and significance. 00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:48.000 Now she is nothing but an object. 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:49.519 She's a prostitute. 00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:54.079 And her role is to fulfill for Judah a physical desire. 00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:59.039 And I want you to understand that this is what our sin does. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:07.840 Our sin turns human, image-bearing humans into objects for our pleasure. 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:10.079 And so understand then how this works. 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:14.559 How does our sin turn other humans into kind of objects for our satisfaction and pleasure? 00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:16.880 Well, we understand this in the hookup culture, don't we? 00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:18.239 That's kind of what we live in today. 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:25.519 If you could define our culture and especially our secular culture's view on sex, we would define it as this it's a hookup culture. 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:39.440 Well, that means that it that it is a culture that believes that the greatest kind of sex, the most fulfilling and satisfying sex, is casual without any sort of emotional or relational commitment. 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:42.079 That's what hookup culture is. 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:51.360 That's why marriage is so devalued in our day, because it takes away the very joy of what the hookup culture believes can satisfy. 00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:12.320 And what it does is it turns two human beings who are created in the image of God and therefore have worth and significance, it turns those human beings into objects merely for the pleasure and satisfaction of another person. 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:14.320