Big Idea: God’s grace still rescues shameful sinners.
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please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. We are in Genesis 38 and Genesis 38 is a really important story in the Joseph story, although the topic is all about Judah, it's going to put a contrast. How does Judah act after his sin? How does Joseph act after he's been sinned against? So they're going to be great pairings. Come this week, come next week, come back next week. If you're visiting to see that Joseph story unfold, there are some uncomfortable things in the passage. Giddy up. The Bible is real with real situations, and the Bible is a word of grace to the most real and difficult situations of life. 38 one, it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain adullamite whose name was hirah. There, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was shuah. He took her and went into her and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name ur. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son and called his name shallah. Judah was in jezeb when he when she bore him, then Judah or and Judah took a wife for ur, his first born, and her name was Tamar, but er Judah's first born was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. 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. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he went into her to his brother's wife, he would waste the seed on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter in law, remain a widow in your father's house till Shalom my son grows up, for he feared that he would die like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father's house. In the course of time, the wife of Judah, she was daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers, he and his friend, hirah, the adullamite. 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, covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance of enaim, which is on the road to Timnah, for she saw that shellah was grown up and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, Come, let me come in to you, for he did not know that she was his daughter in law. She said, What will you give me that you may come into me? He answered, I will send you a young goat from the flock. And she said, Well, if you give me a pledge, until you send it. He said, What pledge Should I give you? She replied, Your Signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand. So he gave them to her and went into her and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend, the adullamite, to take back the pledge from the woman's hand. He did not find her. He asked the men of the place, where is the cult prostitute who was at Ian at the roadside? And they said, No cult prostitute has been here. So he returned to Judah and said, I have not found her. Also. The men of the place said, No cult prostitute has been here. Judah replied, Let her keep the things as her own, and we shall be or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat and you did not find her. About three months later, Judah was told Tamar, your daughter in law, has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality. And Judah said to her, bring her out and let her be burned as she was being brought out, she sent word to her father in law, by the man whom these things belong, I am pregnant. And she said, Please identify whose these are the Signet and the cord and the staff. Then Judah identified them and said she is more righteous than I since I did not give her to my son, shalah, and he did not know her again. When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. 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, but as he drew back his hand, behold the brother came out. She said, What a breach you have made for yourself. Therefore His name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. This is the word of the Lord God. Week after week we hear Your word and we thank You, Father. You are the architect of this great, great plan of salvation, and we watch it unfold week by week in Genesis, Lord Jesus, you're the one who has carried it out, and you're the fulfillment, even of the promise that is here with Perez in that line, Holy Spirit, thank you for inspiring this word. Now we ask you spirit to help us see and understand what you have inspired. Help us apply it faithfully to our lives. And it is hard truth. It is real world truth about real world sinners, and it is still in this today that you do saving work. You do sanctifying work. Help us learn and grow. Because of it, we think of the work that you're doing around our city. We pray for Trinity Church of the valley Paul and the new man that they hired, Wagner fioriani to help Paul faithfully Shepherd and care for the people there continue to help the church grow and flourish with additional leadership to help we pray that You would help us as a church, maintain our focus on reaching the unreached, training, sending planting churches, Father, we pray for our our country. And there is a lot of turmoil in Minneapolis and closer to us in Portland, there is some uncertainty among immigrants and people we minister to as refugees. We pray that You would help. Help them be comforted in you. Help us be faithful with the gospel. Bring our government leaders wisdom. Bring the gospel and save sinners of all kinds, government sinners and just everyday people in our world. The Gospel will sort out so many things, and we pray for the new seminary classes that begin help the men as they study, raise up another generation of faithful men who can pastor, plant churches, raise up future leaders and elders. We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Lynn and I recently watched a video of first time sky divers jumping in Dubai. Now that immediately got on my bucket list. That looks so much fun. The diving company has years of experience, no failures. The main shoot, the backup shoot are meticulously packed. You're strapped to an expert so you don't go alone. And of course, the person riding down with you has a vested interest that this goes well. A cameraman dives out ahead of you and he captures the trip. And you land softly, both feet forward on this nice, soft, plush grass, definitely on my bucket list, that kind of leap is what every man and every woman who commits sexual immorality thinks they're doing, but they're deceived. They're deceived the few minutes of thrill will not be a soft landing. It's the kind of lie that the flesh and Satan want you to believe. Genesis, 38 Judah, his sons, his daughter in law, are in a free fall. They are descending into sexual immorality, shame, judgment, hypocrisy splatter all over the pages. It's kind of an uncomfortable passage to read. If your safety rope is still tied to a biblical ethic about sex and marriage, this passage is really uncomfortable, and that discomfort is good. I mean, you need to know, we probably had 10 minutes of dialog, 15 minutes of dialog about which word for seed we should use, the one that's in the ESV or not, because we're wondering, what do parents want to explain to four year olds who are sitting here, your discomfort is good. You know the joint safety of God's design for intimacy in marriage. You know the consequences for rejecting it. On the other hand, if your sexual ethic was shaped more like the ones advertised on Spokane. On billboards, then this passage is more like a cringy TV reality show that you just can't keep your eyes off of.
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There's good news, if that's you. Man's descent into sin may be great God's grace descends lower still as part of the Joseph story, immoral Judah sets the contrast to chaste Joseph. We're going to see that next week. Make sure you come back here, the immoral scoundrel, Judah has his conscience jerked awake, and God keeps His promises. God is faithful to keep his promises. As Judah descends into immorality, God's grace descends further still. God keeps His promises. The big idea when you get to the end of this chapter is this extraordinary piece about the gospel. God's grace still rescues shameful sin. God's grace still rescues from shameful sin. Most of us can look back at some things that we've thought, said or done that we're ashamed of. Shame is the feeling of embarrassment of having our sins or weaknesses exposed. It's hard wired us in us to feel good about doing good. It's hardwired in us to feel guilt about things that we have done wrong, and when our guilt is exposed, it's hard wired to feel shame. Shame is not all bad. In the end, only God's grace can help us deal with shame. Only God's grace can help us deal with guilt. We're going to watch Judah's free fall into sin, the consequences for his family, the unfortunate situation with Tamar. And it's going to be a lot like following the average non Christian couple in Spokane, find a girl, have a few kids, maybe or maybe not, settle down, see how that goes. You might have some of your life where you say, I understand that I either have family members or I have been participating in something like this myself. What hope is there for you? The Word of God is a word of grace, even in the ugliest kinds of situations. So let's follow we're going to observe the free fall Judah's free fall into immorality. We're going to look at the family consequences with his sons. We're going to see how his sin brought about a sinful blow back from Tamar. We should expect that when we sin, that people might sin back against us. And then we're going to watch at the end the parachute pull the descent of God's grace to rescue Judah. So let's start with this first one. Observe the free fall into morality. Judah gives us the first instance of what happens when one of his people take the leap into immorality and idolatry. We've seen the story Shem Ham and Japheth Canaan was cursed. There was not a lot of detail. There's plenty of detail here, and Moses crafts the story for maximum punch. So we've just come off of Judah participating with his brothers, betraying and selling off Joseph into slavery. And about that time, 38 one, it says at that time, Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain adullamite whose name was hirah. Now just note that phrase went down because Moses has a key link to heighten the story. Back in chapter 37 verse 25 the Ishmael Ishmaelites, these trading band was going down to Egypt. The brothers send Joseph down to Egypt in verse 28 at the end of the chapter, you can just look up a couple of verses after the news is brought to Jacob that this is Joseph's Coat stained with blood, he comes to the conclusion that he's dead. Verse 34 Jacob tore his garments, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son. Many days, all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, No, I shall go down to Sheol, to my son, mourning. Mean, here's, here's what's happening in the story, Joseph's going down to Egypt. Jacob is going down in mourning, and Judah takes his two shekels. Remember, they sold them for 20 he takes his two shekels to go down to the Canaanites for a good time. That time, Judah went down from his brothers, turned aside to a certain adullamite. He left his brothers, he left his father. Judah going down to the Canaanites with a few bucks in his pocket, looking for a good time, shows this free fall he leaves after his sins. Now notice this, his brothers weren't really good, but his father had instructed him, his mothers, his brothers to turn aside from their idolatry. And what we find right away is that he turns and makes a good friend with a local Canaanite named hirah. From the time of Noah, Canaanites were known for their immorality and idolatry, and it's the first instance we have of Bad Company, further corrupting God's people. Next verse, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite woman whose name was Shua. He took her, went into her I mean, this is the classic formula that we've seen over and over. Now in the book of Genesis, Eve in the garden, saw the fruit, took it and ate it, went into sin. It's almost the same language of Shechem toward Dinah in chapter 35 he saw her, he took her, he lay with her, against her wishes or her will. Here, there's nothing about a process of marriage, no involvement of parents, although by the middle of the chapter you find out they have been married. There's no protest on her, on her part, and it says she conceived it, bore a son. She bore another. She bore another. I mean, this is, this is a common story in Spokane. I don't know how many, a dozen, 100 I don't know how many, but here's the story. A guy and a gal meet in a bar. They hook up. She gets pregnant. They move in together. They have three kids. Maybe they get married, maybe they don't. Judah names the first, ur the second, Onan, the third. She settle in a Canaanite village named chezib or kezib. You I what you have to notice. It's not great at home with the brothers, but Jacob, who's been called to leave aside idols, goes back to the idols. He indulges himself sexually, even though he knew what the brothers or what was done to Dinah was terrible, he still went ahead and took this wife fulfilled his lusts and his idolatry. It's a free fall. It's a descent into it. Do you know that in our culture, how long has the sexual freedom free fall been going 50 years? Do you know the consequences? Bet you do. Observe the free fall number two, look at the family consequences. Judah's free fall into immorality and his moral vacuum left a massive hole, a vacuum in his own home. It says, Judah took a wife for ur his first born and named her Tamar. But ur, Judah's first born was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. The parent in a free fall to sin is morally absent to instruct children in the fear of the Lord, what morals Judah had were at best, pragmatic. He wanted a wife for his son, firstborn son. We get to that in a second. But it had to do with more with keeping the inheritance in the family line than it had to do with a godly family.
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When you give yourself over to sin, especially sexual sin, it's really hard to train children in righteousness. And yes, you can be a godly dad, a godly mom, and your kids can turn their back on the Lord, but if you're not a godly mom or not a godly Dad, it's hard to have any integrity in the voice to call them back now to this issue of the First Born, because that's central in this section. He's the first born. And the word first born has two concepts. Obviously, it's oldest. Usually it's the oldest, and you're going to see it at the end of the chapter. Why this is going to matter. But it also respond. It also has an idea of responsibility and privilege. The first born is going to take the lead of the family. Is going to ensure that the family's property is managed and cared for. Privilege of leading, privilege of ownership, responsibility of care for everyone else. But the title first born is not absolute. If a son was unworthy, the first born title could be passed to someone else. So we have the first born er was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. We have to pause. God is holy, God is righteous, God is just, and he can choose to judge sin when he wishes. It's interesting when you look at this that the author says he's wicked. What's what's Judah, great, righteous. No, so he has to be exceptionally wicked. Has to be wicked in the lines of Sodom and Gomorrah, we updated our A to Z attributes of God. These are available in the coffee room. One of the things I put in here a long time ago to keep our bearings about who God is, is this fact a under a angry at sin. Yeah, that's an attribute. God has wrath. God is angry at sin. God displays righteous hatred towards sin sinners and his enemies. Now, for believers, God may show fatherly displeasure, but still hold them in relationship. For unbelievers, God may execute judgment. But in Exodus 414, talking about Moses refusing to take on the leadership role that God called him to. It says this, then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, is not, is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out. God was angry with Moses, Psalm two, verse 12 says this, Kiss the Son, talking about the Davidic King, lest he be angry and you perish on the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. God is righteous. He is holy. He is angry at sin. Even Jesus, in Mark 10 was angry with his disciples for failing to allow children to come. When Jesus saw it, he was indignant, it's a strong word for anger, and said to them, Let the children come to Me, do not hinder them, for such belongs to such belong the kingdom of God. So here we have set, in the middle of this chapter, a wickedness from Ur in a second we're going to see Onan and God displays His righteous judgment and anger against it.
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You know, we may talk and this the message is titled descending grace. But sending descending grace does not mean that God does not have the right to judge the wicked. If he has not judged your wickedness, it's either because you have trusted Christ, who has taken your judgment for you, or it's because God is very patient.
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Errs, wickedness grows in the vacuum of Judah, so does Onan, so does Onan. 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. Now, well, what's happening in this passage is what was called the Levirate marriage, and it predated the Mosaic Covenant by several centuries, lots of cultures had leverage marriage, and it just simply means brother marriage, or brother in law, marriage. When couples got married, then often they think, well, this way today, when couples got married, the father of the groom made an agreement with the father of the bride that the bride would be properly cared for in her old age. The son is young, so we don't know how well he's going to turn out. So the family puts some backing behind this. So if he dies, Ian. And there are boys available, or a cousin available, that next child or that cousin steps up to fulfill an obligation. The next available son takes his brother's wife as his wife, raises the first son up for him in his line, and it guaranteed that the land would stay in the clan, and it guaranteed that this widow would have a safety net in her old age. Wise and loving parents often weigh in on their kids marriages today because they take the long, long view. Is my daughter going to be cared for? Is my son going to be a faithful provider. What kind of son was Onan? What kind of son did Judah raise? Even worse, Onan went into Tamar many times, but refused to get her pregnant. He was probably jealous that his oldest son would pass him up in the role of first born that would have likely happened. Er, would have gotten first born status. He would be the patriarch. His oldest would be the next patriarch. And he would be, I don't know, Prince Andrew. Somebody left out and a lot like Prince Andrew, what happened is he took the pleasure without the responsibility, went into her many times, refused to let her get pregnant. He left his sister in law without a safety net. He left his brother without an heir, exceptionally wicked. What he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. The Lord was angry with this sin, punished it. Now, as an aside, there's a misguided teaching that emerges, and it's reemerged recently, I've heard it re emerging about birth control. The reasoning goes this, Onan practiced a kind of birth control and was killed. So that means God must be against birth control. That's not what this teaches. What this teaches is that he refused to raise up a child for his brother, an heir for his father, a loving husband for Tamar and a social security safety net for a family member. That's what the Lord was angry about, and God judged the wickedness. I mean, think of the consequences of Judah's descent. At least when Esau married Canaanite women, his parents eventually spoke their displeasure. He said, Well, I should find a wife that you approve of, Judah does nothing. Judah is now afraid. He's afraid because two of my sons have been killed in association with Tamar. It must be tamars fault. Totally missed it. Instead of turning to the Lord offering repentance, instead of turning to the Lord pleading for Shelah, he's afraid that he shallah is going to go through the same so he sends Tamar back to her father's household, which wouldn't have been unusual. He pretended that Shelah needed to grow up first. But very quickly, Tamar realizes Judah has lied part of the family trait, isn't it? So we could see the free fall, we could see the consequences. And number three, we should expect sinful blowback. If, if you fall free fall into sin, you should expect sinful blowback. What do I mean when you stand in a repeated pattern of sin? Don't be surprised if somebody in your life, sins in response. Now, yes, that person is responsible for their sin. They are, but the person who causes the situation or refuses to repent over time shouldn't be surprised. Tamar makes a plan. She dresses as a cult prostitute during sheep shearing season. Why sheep shearing season? Canaanite religion had fertility festivals, and fertility festivals were often immoral. They they had sexual practices that were supposed. Was to induce productivity from all of the crops and all of the animals. Wildly immoral. Judah's wife had died, and one thing Tamar knows about her father in law, that he would easily fall for a prostitute. She puts on the customary veil. That's how you keep anonymity. Jump to verse 16. He says he comes by the road, sheep sharing season. Everybody is involved in various immoral religious rituals. He says, I'd like, I would like to come into you. And she says, What will you give me? Now, here in the Bible, there's a negotiation of a prostitute's price. If you are ever wondering if the Bible depicts real life situations. This is real as it gets. What will you give me that you may come into me? He answered, well, I'll send you a young goat from the flock. And she said, Well, I'll take that if you give me a pledge until you send it. He said, What pledge Should I give you? She replied, Your signet ring, your cord and your staff that is in your hand. Now the signet ring hung on a cord, on a neck, and a signet ring is like a big ring, a cylinder, and it's what you used in the marketplace or what you used in the lawyer's office to seal or signify your commitments. It's akin to saying something like, Sure, I'll take it. If you give me your driver's license, your passport, it's the ID. Okay? So he gave them to her and went into her and she conceived by him. She knows she's pregnant right away. She puts on back on her Widow's garments, which would have been customary. Judah sends back his good friend, not good friend. I mean, you see Hira here as the guy who is willing to do immoral things. He's the frat guy who will buy all the underage guys drinks. He sends hirah back with the goat, but Tamar had already left. Hirah starts asking around. He goes back to Judah and says, there's been no cult prostitute. Nobody knows what you're talking about, and he's like, Okay, if you start asking more questions, we're going to be the laughing stock for the first time, Judah has some twinge of shame, but it's because he was going to look like a fool for having something taken from him.
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Tamar sinned out of desperation. What woman is looking to get pregnant by her father in law, a desperate one, a desperate one.
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Judah's sin is out of his well worn depravity. How often do we see a spouse act sinfully for a very long time, then the wife, out of exasperation or desperation, responds sinfully goes the other way too. That sin is indeed between her and God, it is true, but there is still a response responsibility of what he drove her to. The dissent is great, the shame for him, the shame for her. But story is not over. The rescue shoot is about to be pulled. Let's watch the insertion here. God is clearly providential, sovereign over all of this God's grace and God's promises survive. Remember that Abraham Isaac and Jacob are given promises that they don't deserve, and he is going to bring about his saving purposes for a people who need desperate salvation. Watch the descent of God's grace here. About three months later, Judah was told, Tamar, your daughter in law, has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality. Oh, the scandal. There was a double standard there. Like, there's often a double standard here. I. Since men are naturally more lustful forceful, women are supposed to be extra on guard. That double standard. She has to be careful how she dresses. She has to be careful all the things, because, you know, you can't trust a man. A man is just a brute. It's double standard. Those kind that kind of language is double standard. Double standard when a girl, Christian girl, gets pregnant. Well, boys are just like that. You should keep yourself from her so she is thought to be the one who is more responsible. There were certainly legal practices about adultery in the ancient Near East, and they're in the Bible. Later on, the death penalty for adultery was to be applied to both parties. I mean, here's the hypocrisy, here's Judah, bring her out and let her be burned.
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Judah had, I mean, what hypocrisy. Judah had not given Shalott to Tamar, but he was infuriated that Tamar was pregnant, and almost certainly there is a local tribunal, a local Seth of elders, because he called for a penalty. She is brought out. And while she is being brought out, she sends word to her father in law. So the legal process is coming in, and she sends word and brings the items by the man to whom these belong. I am pregnant. She's carrying Judah's ID. She sends Judah's ID. She said, Please identify whose these are, the Signet and the cord and the staff. And then Judah identified them and said she is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son, Shala, Judah's conscience finally awakens. This is the turn of the tide for Judah. Moses is doing something masterful here when she says, Please identify whose these are the sign that the court and the staff when she said that and Judah identified him. There's language that's the same language in chapter 37 look up a few verses, jump up to verse 32 remember what Judah was part of with the Joseph story? They sell the brother off to the Egyptian slave traders. They tear the robe. They kill a goat, they soak it in blood, they send it to their father. Notice the language. They sent the robe of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said this, we have found, please identify whether it is your son's robe or not, and he identified it and said, It is my son's robe. What irony by God that Moses notes Judah was exposed and convicted by the identification of his signet ring and staff. The same method Judah used to cover up his treachery with Joseph was the same means Tamar used to expose him. That's why these are connected stories, not disparate stories. The grace of God's conviction of sin is the turn of the tide for Judah. This is the first sign of repentance for Judah, something finally snapped in Judah, publicly. He is laid bare, he exposed, and the evidence is undeniable. It's undeniable because every businessman or lawyer in the villages would have known the signet ring he could not escape. He says she is more righteous than I. It's an admission that he has committed the far greater crime. It's not that she didn't sin. Why is his sin greater than hers? It might surprise you to think about this, but for God, there are many. Sins worse than immorality. And I didn't say immorality was okay. Oh, there's worse sins than immorality. I can do immorality. It's not what I'm saying. Leaving a widow destitute when it is in your power to provide for her is far worse. The baseline for justice in any government, according to the Bible, is to come to the aid of the widow, to the orphan, and to provide justice for the poor. It's the baseline of justice to take care of the poor. Deuteronomy, 1017, through 18. Talk about this from God's perspective. For the Lord, your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords. What is the one who is the Sovereign King over all nations, all governments? What is his baseline of ethics? He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. God has a special interest that God's people are equitable and generous. Psalm 72 I'm memorizing it this year, one of my resolutions. It's part of the study about contemporary Christian views on government. Psalm 72 one through two opens up this way, interesting way. This is of Solomon, either it's by Solomon or David's writing it for Solomon, but it's this, is this give the king your justice, that is, give the king a sense and ability to be just. Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son. Help him be upright. Help him exact justice. May he judge your people with righteousness? May he have fair level, even right judgment, and you're poor with justice. Judah is guilty, and he knows it. He forced his daughter in law into prostitution. She has her guilt, but his is greater. He knows it. Now. Watch this one more scene is crucial in the story, and it seems like just a little naming and birth story, but it's really significant. We're watching the grace of God descend, and in Judah's life, we are reminded the apostle Paul in Romans, chapter two, it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. And Joseph begins the process. Joseph Judah begins the process of repentance. Now, as the story unfolds, there's there's a key link. When the time of her labor came, this is Judah. There were twins in her womb. Midwife found out there were twins. It's time to give birth. When she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand. Remember, the whole issue of first born is important. This person is going to have rights and responsibilities placed on him. Ties a scarlet thread on his hand, but pulls it back as he drew back his hand, behold his brother came out, and she said, What a breach you have made for yourself. She's looking at what a like you are, a brute. What's it a picture of it's a picture of a little newborn muscling his way out to push aside the brother. Therefore His name is called Perez, which means breach. We might use words like Buster or bruiser. After words, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. Why do we have this? Perez, initially was the second in line breaks through to take first in line. And here is this pattern the older serving the younger, that is continued throughout Genesis, just like grandpa Jacob and Esau, like Joseph with the brothers, He is the younger and the olders are going to serve him. Why? Why does God keep doing this? I. Because God's grace consistently up ends what the world expects. God's grace displays power in human weakness. This time it is the weakness of Judah's moral character.
45:28
It has more significance. Judah will be named as the line of royalty by Jacob at the end of the book, David, the eighth child of Jesse will come from Judah through the line of Perez. He will be the king that receives the promise that leads to Jesus and to take it to its fullest God, the Son, Father, Son and Holy Spirit with eternal glory and imminence. Will give up his place at the right hand of the Father and be born of Mary, the Virgin Mary, who was considered by all relatives, what immoral, special visit by an angel convinced that Joseph to take her as a wife. This line Jesus comes through, comes from, is shame ridden and convoluted. I mean, think about who's in the line there is Tamar, daughter in law, prostitute Rahab, the prostitute Ruth, the Moabite, Bathsheba, the forced adulteress with David. They're all listed in Matthew chapter one in the line of Jesus. Jesus comes to us in a line of idolaters, adulterers, murderers, prostitutes and apostates. And what did he come to be? He didn't come in a glorious, glamorous line. He came in a despicable line, a shameful line. And what was he a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which was the euphemism in Luke for prostitutes. And wasn't it far enough? Just descended to humanity. But no, he descends into a family line marked by the worst and most shameful sins. God's grace goes lower still. See if you're a child of God, a believer in Jesus Christ, God is still saving and transforming. God's grace still saves shameful sinners, and if you have been saved and are transforming, there are some important things to learn here. Keep in your community, your growth group, your church, stay in fellowship with saints. I mean, think about Judah's descent. He leaves the bad righteousness of his brothers, the faith of his father, to fully indulge in his immorality. And don't think that Judah did not have to deal with the shame and guilt he had two sons killed by the Lord. Don't think that he didn't experience some shame or regret for his parenting. And don't think that he didn't have to live with some guilt and shame watching his daughter in law pregnant by him, and don't think you won't be the laughing stock when you are outed publicly for sin. God gives a grace of staying in community in the Word of God. That's why we're to stay in community with one another, speak to one another, as long as it is called today, that you might not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 213 says, Will your kids make bad choices? Sure, but you'll be the voice that God might use to draw them back. Don't think there aren't consequences here. Don't think Judah didn't get away with it. Don't think that he didn't have to live out the rest of his life with the compounding guilt of what he had done in his own family and as he is brought out and publicly exposed by Joseph you. Can see why he's a new man. If you're not a child of God, you're new to church. There's a lot of people new to church across the country. In the city, it's now being called a post secular age. We're in post secular people are interested in spiritual things. That's you. You're probably guilty of sexual sins or worse. Jesus Christ descended not to be defiled by David's line, but to purify it, you can be cleansed in your heart right now, you can cry out to God for the forgiveness he offers through Jesus Christ, then go tell someone you know who is a Christian and help them get you plugged into church. Help you toward baptism. You can experience the new life God intends for you that God offers you, and for now, all of us can marvel at the descent of God's grace in Jesus Christ.
51:19
If you think that jumping into sin is a free fall with no consequences. Judah proves us wrong. Watched another video of skydivers pulling the cord too early and getting caught on a wing. That was Judah. Let's pray, Father, thank you for what you have given us. This is a sobering word. We are in awe and silence, but we are amazed at Jesus, Christ, Lord Jesus, that you would choose that line as if it was my line, it would be any better any of our lines. We are part of the human family full of depravity and consequences and stories of guilt and shame, but we are gathered in this place because we rejoice in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and so now, help us learn by Judah's bad example, help us be ready for Joseph's good example, because we have been given grace. We ask this in your name.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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