Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast.
We're so glad you chose to listen today.
In this week's message, we delve into the story of Judah and Tamar from Genesis 38,
uncovering how God's sovereignty and purpose prevail, even through human failure.
Through this lineage, God fulfilled his promises,
leading to Jesus Christ and showing us that we can always trust his word,
no matter how broken the path may seem.
Thanks for listening.
Well, good morning.
If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in Genesis chapter 38,
is where we will be.
For all of our first-time guests, I want to echo what Berger said.
Thank you so much for being here and for worshiping with us.
One thing that I will ask from you is at the end of the service,
my wife and I will be back here to my left at this back table back there.
Here's what we would love.
We would love for you to come by so that we can meet you.
We don't think that we're anything special, but we think you're pretty special,
and we're super grateful that you're here and that you're worshiping with us.
And so if you would just stop by there at the end of the service, we'd love to learn your name,
to thank you for being here.
And if there's any questions you have about Willow Ridge Church,
we would love to be able to answer those for you.
There's a lot that's going on in the life of our church,
especially as Christmas season is approaching, right?
Sooner than later, Thanksgiving, we're still fighting for you, right?
To be recognized within there, as we're already seeing, like, people decorating their houses.
Not sure why you're getting the Christmas trees up this early, but you're doing that,
and that's the thing that you do, all right?
But it's coming.
There's a lot of things that we're doing around here that we're excited about.
Doe Holy Night was, I think, last year was our first year.
We did that with our kids and our kids' ministry and their families,
and just a wonderful time, right?
Talking about Jesus, eating some cookies, man, that is a good night together.
And then for a few years now, we've been gathering together in different capacities
to do our Christmas music thing that Brent Hawkins orchestrates.
This is like Brent's season, you know?
He's leading our trip to New York.
He's doing our Christmas musical thing.
And we call it, if you're unfamiliar with us,
we call it a Kanda Christmas Cantata.
Because I was talking to someone a few years ago,
and they said, well, what, I don't forget what we called it at that point in time,
but they were like, well, what are we, what are we doing?
It's like, well, what we have, you know, we don't have a choir or anything like that.
We got a lot of people at our church, students, gifts and talents with different things.
And so it's an opportunity to gather together as a church,
to listen, to sing Christmas songs together.
And they said, so it's a Christmas cantata.
And I went, kind of.
And if you've been to it before, you know, it's kind of.
But it's a wonderful, wonderful night of fun together.
And you will definitely want to be here for that.
Also, so this past week, so not this past week, the week before that,
a group of men and I went to Black Mountain.
I talked a little bit about that last week,
but I want to kind of give some more details before we get into our message time today.
First off, I want to thank you as our congregation for allowing, enabling, empowering
all of the things that you do to allow us to go across the world to do missions.
And you were able, through your giving and through your participation,
to mobilize very quickly.
You ended up being 21 men that went up to Black Mountain to serve at Black Mountain Children's Home.
And here's what we did.
We got to go up there.
A lot of different guys got to use a lot of different skill sets that they have.
Some guys that use skill sets that they didn't know that they had.
Most of them use skill sets that I didn't know that they had
to be able to serve the families and the organization that's there.
So to kind of give some of the layout of what happened up there as a whole,
the Swannanoa River during Hurricane Helene flooded.
That was problem number one.
If you've ever seen the Swannanoa River, especially in the Swannanoa community,
which is where the children's home is,
I would say that the river itself is not as wide as our auditorium, okay?
So it's not wide at all.
And if during the summer when we were there,
if I said we're going to walk across the river,
we don't need like a Jesus moment helping us do this, all right?
Water is very, very shallow in most of the areas that are there.
And you can just, man, take off your shoes, roll up your pants,
and you can walk right across it and be fine.
But because of the amount of rain that was all there, number one,
that river, it overflowed.
And when it overflowed, we were riding past one area,
and I'm terrible with estimating,
but just very high up the hillside,
like you could see where the water came.
And it moved over hundreds of feet past the banks
and flooded some of the areas of the children's homes.
That's number one of what the organization had to walk through.
The second thing that happened that most of you are aware of as well
was there was the mudslide that happened coming down off the mountain, okay?
And it was so large of the mudslide of where we were.
Pictures would not do it justice,
but we were a couple of miles away at a church.
We were feeding us lunch one morning or one afternoon,
and we were there standing out in the parking lot,
and we kind of looked to our left,
and we could see the mountain where it's located,
and you could see from miles away the difference in topography
as where was trees, there was no longer anything that was there.
If you've ever been to, like, the mountains and been far away
and seen, like, a ski resort without snow on it, you know,
and you can see that something's been cleared out there intentionally,
that's what it looked like.
But obviously, no one intentionally kind of went through and did that,
and it brought massive amounts of devastation.
The homes where the kids stay in, it was positioned in an area
where the floodwaters did not reach and the mudslide did not happen.
However, both the flood and where the mudslide happened took out a lot of their areas
where they used for rest and for rejuvenation for their staff and largely for those kids,
and also equipping and training these kids that are coming through this foster care process
to equip them and train them in careers that they can do once they turn 18 years old,
as well as some of the housing that the men and women who work for the organization for where they live.
So we came in ready to do whatever was asked of us,
and we ran chainsaws, we cleared earth.
There's no other way to describe some of these areas where you would walk through
and you would see what appeared to be like a beaver dam,
but there was no river or no pond.
It was just where that massive amount of earth had been moved off of a mountain.
And as you cut through, as you dug through, you would find telephone poles,
you'd find parts of cars, you'd find signs.
I found a softball, just like pieces of life that you'd seen for evidence that people had lived there and done.
It was just there.
And so we did a lot of that.
We did some plumbing work to work to help the houses there.
If you're not familiar with what's going on specifically right now,
in lots of areas that are there and in that area,
there is no or limited power in some areas.
We are fortunate that we had power in the area that we were.
A lot of the area does have running water now,
but in very few areas is that water drinkable.
And even in most of the areas,
the water is so contaminated,
they say that you can't even bathe with the water.
So basically, you could flush a toilet with it is what that water would be good for.
And so we were able to do some plumbing for some filtration systems that were donated
where they were able to come in to where they will not have to be dependent on the system that's there,
that these kids in their homes could have that that's there.
Did some electrical work in some of those areas and all of those things.
This was, I counted, this was about the 10th time that I've been to Black Mountain.
Aaron's been with me eight times to go up there and to serve.
And so usually when we go up there,
we go up there with a group of our middle schoolers is how it started.
And then became our middle schoolers and high schoolers.
And so it is very commonly known amongst the staff there and their communication to us.
And Rodney's never lied to me.
Elodie's never lied to me.
So I don't know why they would.
But they always say every year,
they kind of talk about all the different groups that come through.
And they say every year that the Willow Ridge Youth Group
is the hardest working team that comes there.
They don't complain.
They don't quit.
They just get it done, whatever it is.
So I give your youth a round of applause.
So the day that we were leaving, I said to the men,
I said, hey, here's your challenge.
I don't think you can beat the youth.
I've been up there with them.
I've seen them.
They don't need to take breaks as much as you do.
They're out there in the heat and the humidity.
And they're getting it done.
They don't necessarily have chainsaws.
They have handsaws, right?
And they're cranking it through and getting it done.
So I want to set us with a real expectation that we can meet.
I said, I want us to be the second best team, right?
In true University of South Carolina format, I am a Gamecock.
We cannot be the best.
But if we can be closer to the best, then we'll take it.
Then we heard some interesting information.
We found out that a couple days before we were supposed to get there,
that some heavy equipment showed up.
The men and women at Black Mountain didn't know where the equipment came from,
but it just appeared.
Parked right there and left on their property a bunch of skid steers.
And then a group of Amish, 40 Amish showed up, unannounced.
And they said, we're ready to work.
That's our equipment.
Which was a little confusing for me at the time when I heard that Amish had skid steers.
But they did.
Now, I'll be honest with you.
I believe in the work ethic of these 21 men.
But I thought these 40 Amish, they're probably going to whoop us.
You know what I mean?
Like, they got heavy equipment and that.
I don't know about that.
So we got there.
We get there, and we go down, and we start moving,
trying to move some of the things they have for us.
And it's not budging.
So we talked to Rodney.
Rodney says, hey, we've got these skid steers.
They're supposed to pick them up either this afternoon or tomorrow.
But if you want to use them, use them.
You've got them as long as they're here.
And, man, that mobilized our guys, right?
Joe Schmidt and Michael Brewer jumped right on and instantly.
And, man, we're working, and we're working, and we're working, and we're cleaning.
And I'm watching the things move away.
And every day, I'm like, Lord, just one more day with these skid steers.
Lord, one more day with these skid steers.
And the next day, they're still out there.
And they're like, are they going to get them today?
And I was like, don't ask that question.
Just get on them and go.
And they got on, and we cleared, and we cleared, and we cleared, and we cleared.
And the next day, they're supposed to get them yesterday.
Or were they going to get them today?
Like, again, let's not ask those questions.
Let's just go.
And those skid steers were available for every single day that we were there.
We get a phone call the day after we left, early that morning.
The moving company showed up, picked up the skid steers just in time, right?
We were already back home and back good.
Rodney was talking to Joel.
And Joel said, how did we do?
Well, fellas, guess what?
We didn't beat the youth group.
But he said, we outworked the Amish, right?
So we'll take it.
We'll take it.
In all seriousness, a story that just impacted my heart.
I shared with you guys last week about the church that served us when we were there to serve them.
But on the last day, one of the big highlights for our youth group to come there, they got a thrift store that's a part of the children's home that serves the children and the people in that community.
It's where children learn skills of retail and work ethic and so many different things.
And they raise money for the organization.
And it's where so many people in that town can come and get items that they need.
And our youth always go there and shop.
And Brent Hawkins was there with us.
And we found out that the thrift store was going to open up the day after we left.
Well, Brent is persuasive with words, right?
Those of you who know Brent.
And Brent was like, uh-uh.
I think we can get it open before we leave.
I was like, I don't know.
Brent is like, give me time.
Well, they opened it up the day that we were going to let.
They were going to let us come in and shop around and do some stuff.
And so we went in in typical thrift store fashion.
I walked away with a heater, a sander, two boat paddles, a sweatshirt, and a plastic crate, right?
And I come up, and the lady is there.
She lives in the community.
She works there.
She's not staff, but she works there at that thrift store.
And I said, thank you so much.
You know, I was viewing this as they called these men and women in on their day off to come and to serve.
To open this up for us so that we could.
And so I wanted her to know that I was grateful for her sacrifice.
I said, thank you for coming in when you didn't have to so that you can be in here with a bunch of men and serve us in this way.
And here's what she said to me, and this stuck with me, and this has changed my prayer for the people of Western North Carolina, of Eastern Tennessee.
She said, no, no, no, thank you.
She said, because this is normal.
And she said, this is the first piece of normal that I've had for a long, long time.
Thank you.
So just a reminder of all that's going on there in your prayers for that.
I spoke with Glenn Oob.
Glenn posted on Facebook.
Glenn's part of an organization.
Some of you have been asking, like, what are other things that we can do?
Glenn's part of an organization.
And I don't want to misspeak and give false details.
I'm going to give the best that I know that have been building these basically, like, tiny homes that can be taken up there
because there's so many people who lost everything, but they don't want to leave their property of what they have, okay?
Because that is their home, right?
And so they're living in tents right now.
And we know that cold is coming, we think, you know?
And so Glenn's part of an organization that's building some tiny homes to provide some shelter for them as this season approaches.
And I asked Glenn if he could be back in the back with us at the end of the service.
And so if you've got any questions, if you'd like to help, to assist, to be a part of that, Glenn will be back there
and be able to answer those questions for you as well, okay?
We are going to get into Genesis 38.
Before we do that, I want to read 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17, and then pray.
God's Word says,
Would you pray with me?
God, I thank you for our time when we could be together.
Lord, I thank you, Lord, for this passage of Scripture.
God, I thank you for the struggle for me battling through that this week.
Lord, I thank you that you spoke and you were speaking.
God, today may we hear you.
God, today may we trust you.
God, today may we celebrate you in all that we do and in all that we say.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Has someone ever told you something that you believed later in life to find out that it's not true?
They told you something.
You based actions.
You based character.
You based work ethic.
You based decisions off of this piece of advice.
And then later in life, you found out that it was not true.
That happened to me yesterday.
Yesterday.
I've heard a statement my whole life.
It's the story of the tortoise and the hare.
And that statement is this.
Slow and steady, what?
Wins the race.
Several months ago, Joel Van Ham came up to me and he said,
Hey, I'm running a half marathon.
Dawn and I are going to do it.
Would you like to run in it with us?
I don't know why y'all laughed.
That's not the punchline.
That is not encouraging.
I said, no, I would not.
He's like, well, there's a 5K and a 10K.
Would you like to do that?
And I was, man, I don't really know.
I don't think so.
Well, the next week, hey, man, why don't you run this with us?
The next week, why don't you run this with us?
We all know this.
Joel, like Brent, man, he's a persuasive guy.
So I thought I'll just say yes.
But then forget to register.
There's the confession.
There it is.
So about three weeks ago, Joel sends me a text message.
Hey, what's your shirt size?
I responded and then said, why?
And he said, because I just registered you for the 10K.
Well, at this point, it's like, well, I need to be proactive and start training.
But instead of being proactive, I thought, no, I'll just procrastinate and not do this.
So Saturday morning, I showed up for a 10K that I had not trained for, that I had not equipped myself for.
The previous night, I overloaded on Chinese food and sweet tea.
But I said to myself, slow and steady wins the race.
Got up to the start line.
One of the things that Grayson's cross-country coach has said to him to help motivate him during this difficult season.
It's Grayson, when you walk up to that line, I want you to identify one person on the other team.
Maybe that's got a faster time than you.
Maybe that beat you at the last race.
Grayson runs cross-country.
And he said to him, and I want you to go and beat him.
So I walk up to that start line, and I look around.
Standing beside me is a man wearing camouflage cargo denim.
And I thought, I'm going to beat him.
Right?
So I get up, slow and steady, slow and steady, slow and steady.
Boom, we take off.
And I will tell you this.
I was slow, and I was steady.
I did everything that I'd heard from that fable.
I endured.
I kept down.
I kept going.
I kept moving.
I was committed to this.
And I crossed the finish line.
I crossed the finish line in first place.
Why are y'all laughing, Leah?
Just because you ran track in college.
Jason, I came in first place.
I came in 200 in first place.
Which that is a kind of first place.
Right?
Yeah, my reality.
Thank you.
But I did beat the guy in the cargo denim, right?
I beat him.
Sometimes we find out that there's things that we've heard.
Truth that's been communicated to us.
And we just can't trust it.
The question, and before we dive into this, and this will be a little bit of a marathon
sprint for us to cover this passage this morning.
But the question I want to ask you this morning is this.
Can I trust God's word?
When I look at and examine, and I think this is a question both for believers and non-believers.
That I think it is a question that people ask themselves often whether they want to admit it or not.
But can I trust God's word?
We're given a passage of scripture this morning that is complicated.
And I'll explain a little bit of that at the end.
We're going to read all the way through Genesis 38.
But as I battled through that passage this week with understanding the truth of 2 Timothy 3,
This is the question that God kept laying on my mind.
Bo, you can trust my word.
You can trust my word.
But is everybody who's guided in here, do they believe that?
They believe that and they hold on to it.
So let's read Genesis chapter 38.
We're going to read all the way through the entire chapter.
It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Ajumalite whose name was Hurah.
And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua.
And he married her and went into her.
So 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.
And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shua.
He was the Chezeb when she bore him.
He was at Chezeb when she bore him.
Then Judah took a wife for Ur, his first son, and her name was Tamar.
But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him.
And Judah said to Onan,
Go unto your brother's wife and marry her and raise up her heir to your brother.
But Onan knew that the heir would not be his.
And it came to pass, when he went into his brother's wife, that he admitted on the ground,
was he should give an heir to his brother.
And the thing which he did displeased the Lord.
Therefore, he killed him also.
Verse 11,
Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law,
Remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shalaz groan.
For he said,
Lest he also die like his brothers.
And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
Now in the process of the time, the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died.
And Judah was comforted.
And went up to his sheep shearers at Timnah.
He and his friend Hira, the Ajumalite.
And it was told Tamar, saying,
Look, your father-in-law was going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.
So she took off her widow's garments,
covered herself with a veil,
and wrapped herself and sat in an open place,
which was on the way to Timnah.
For she saw that Shalaz was grown,
and she was not given to him as a wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot,
because she had covered her face.
Then he turned to her by the way and said,
Please let me come into you.
For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.
So she said,
What will you give me that you may come into me?
And he said,
I will send a young goat from the flock.
So she said,
Will you give me a pledge till you send it?
And then he said,
Which pledge?
What pledge shall I give you?
So she said,
Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.
Then he gave them to her and went into her,
and she conceived by him.
So she arose and went away,
and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.
Then Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend,
the Junalite,
to receive his pledge from the woman's hand,
but he did not find her.
Then she asked the men of that place,
saying,
Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?
And they said,
There was no harlot in this place.
So she returned to Judah and said,
I cannot find her.
Also the men of the place said,
There was no harlot in this place.
Then Judah said,
Let her take them for herself,
lest we be shamed,
for I sent this young goat,
and you have not found her.
And it came to pass about three months after
that Judah was told,
saying,
Tamar, your daughter-in-law,
has played the harlot.
Furthermore,
she is with child by harlotry.
So Judah said,
Bring her out and let her be burned.
When she was brought out,
she sent to her father-in-law,
saying,
By the man whom these belong,
I am with child.
And she said,
Please determine whose these are,
the signet,
the cord,
and staff.
So Judah acknowledged them and said,
She has been more righteous than I,
because I did not give her to Shalah, my son.
And he never knew her again.
Now it came to pass at the time for giving birth
that behold,
twins were in her womb.
And so it was when she was giving birth
that the one put out his hand
and the midwife took the scarlet thread
and bound it on his hand,
saying,
This one came out first.
Then it happened as he drew back his hand
that his brother came out unexpectedly.
And she said,
How did you break through?
This breach be upon you.
Therefore, his name was Perez.
After his brother came out,
who had the scarlet thread on his hand,
and his name was Zerah.
So really quickly,
here's what's going on.
Judah, the fourthborn son of Jacob and Leah,
the brother that suggested that Joseph
be sold into slavery.
He breaks from the expectation of God
and of marriage amongst his people,
and he goes and he has babies.
He has, in a pagan, in a foreign land,
having babies with those
that he's not supposed to be with.
His firstborn son is named Ur.
Judah takes a bride for Ur.
Her name is Tamar.
She's also a Canaanite woman.
Ur dies,
and since he has not provided for his son,
it is the duty of the brother
to marry her,
the responsibility of Onan.
Onan was happy to use Tamar
for his selfishness,
but intentionally chose
not to provide her with any child.
And Ur and Onan,
in their disobedience to the Lord,
received judgment and died as well.
Judah says to Tamar,
well, then you're going to remain a widow
until my next son can marry you.
Not ideal for Tamar,
knowing,
as she finds out,
that Judah is not a man of his word
in this instance,
meaning that there's no hope
for her future,
no hope to be provided for.
So she decides to take matters
into her own hands.
She could not simply find
another man to marry
because she was a part of this family,
so she disguised herself
as a prostitute,
specifically to be with Judah.
Tamar and Judah
met together.
Judah,
not knowing who she is,
she conceived a child.
She put aside
the clothing
that would have been worn
by a prostitute,
went back to her stage in life.
Three months later,
she's pregnant,
word gets back to Judah.
He's angry
because of her actions,
but she shows the evidence,
and he knows
what has taken place.
We see this peace within him
of the harsh reality
of what he's done.
Tamar will give birth to twins,
Perez and Zerah.
And for right now,
that's all.
It's kind of a strange question
to ask you
from the very beginning.
Can I trust God's word?
If you're a non-believer
and you're here,
it's a very important question
that I hope you're asking.
If you're a non-believer,
especially if you're someone
who's unfamiliar
with Christianity,
I hope you're asking yourself
this question,
can I believe
the things that God's word
tells me,
the things that this church
is proclaiming to be true?
And we'd love to walk
on that journey with you,
both in testimony of evidence
and testimony of life
and transformation
of the gospel.
If you are a believer,
while I'm sure you may not
want to admit it,
this is a question
that you have probably
asked yourself.
Can I really trust
what this book is saying?
Or maybe specifically,
can I really trust
all that this book is saying?
Maybe we want to cut
and paste the things we like
and exclude the things
that we don't.
As I journeyed into this passage
this week,
what we find
is a very complex story.
Here's typically what I do
in my study
as I prepare for a message.
Each week,
I listen or read
two sermons
by a trusted pastor
that has preached
the passage of Scripture
that I plan on preaching
that Sunday.
I read a minimum
of three academically
sourced commentaries,
not blogs,
not thoughts,
not ideas,
but I want to see
that people have looked
at this in an academic sense
on each passage of Scripture.
The third thing
that I look to do
within this
is extensive word study
on the original language
so that I can understand
the culture
and the context
in which this is given.
All of this happening
under the leadership
and the guidance
of the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't make me special
or better.
It just means
this is the process
that God has walked me through
and His faithful men
have discipled me
in pastoring
and in preaching
and communicating.
This is the process
that God has given to me
that I do.
Here's what we find,
though,
in this passage
of Scripture.
When we read through
Pastor Dave,
talked through Genesis 37
last week,
we saw that it was
Joseph's dreams
of greatness
and it's being sold
into slavery
and then if you jump
to Genesis 39,
we see that we finally
pick up with Joseph
as a slave in Egypt
and this passage
doesn't fit
very neat.
in all of the sermons
that I search for
under the pastors
that I know
and that I trust
and I say no,
no of.
Some of them
I know personally,
many of them
I do not.
I found that there was
a guy who's passed away,
his name's Tim Keller.
He preached on this passage
one time.
Nobody else.
I found less
academic writing
on this passage
of Scripture
than I've seen
in any other
passage of Scripture
so far in Genesis
which includes
our favorite,
the genealogies.
We get the joy
of battling
through all those
wonderful,
hard to pronounce
names for me.
So I asked myself
this question this week.
Why is it here?
Do I skip it?
One of the pastors
that I've been listening to
and reading a lot
of his stuff,
he was working
through Genesis.
He got to Genesis 37.
Him and his church
walked through that.
Next Sunday
without skipping a beat,
man,
they just jumped
right into Genesis 39.
And I want to be honest
with you,
Monday morning
about 10 o'clock
at my house,
that idea sounded
really good.
But,
2 Timothy
3, 16 and 17,
a verse that I hold dear
as a pastor,
as a preacher.
All scripture
is breathed out
by God
and profitable
for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
and for training
in righteousness,
that the man
of God,
that me,
that you,
that we may be
complete,
equipped for every
good work.
And I was like,
but let's work,
let's work,
let's work.
And here's what I began
to see in this passage
of scripture.
So if I can,
in the remaining
of this message,
I just want to take you
through the journey
with me this week.
So I began to pray,
God, why?
God, what?
God, how?
Within this.
One of the beautiful
things that God does
in scripture
that God drew me to
was God's attention
to detail.
My wife will sometimes
ask me,
she's like,
hey, I tried to get
in touch with you
and I couldn't.
What were you doing?
I was like,
oh, I was on the phone
with my parents,
I was on the phone
with somebody,
you know,
I'll give her,
she's like,
oh, what did y'all
talk about?
I was like,
you know,
well, we talked
about this.
And she's like,
well, you're on the phone
for like 30 minutes,
like more had to be said
than that.
I'm like,
no, no, no,
it's just that.
Like, I'm bad at details.
Some of you are bad
at details.
I mean,
God's not bad
at details.
And throughout
God's word,
his attention
to detail
is splendid
of what we see
in his word.
And we see
in Genesis.
So Genesis,
from creation
to all the way
through,
we're going to see
as we work
through the life
of Joseph
roughly covers
2,400 years
of all
of the detail
of what God
could show.
And God
places
Genesis 38
here.
And as I began
to whiteboard out
things in my office,
as I began
to journal things
at my home,
I began to see
there's some things
that we can draw
out,
truths
that we can do
as we walk
through this.
We can talk
about sexual
purity.
We can talk
about role
of men
and our need
for them.
We hit that
up a few weeks
ago, guys.
We can talk
about being
a person
of our word.
We can talk
about generational
sin.
We can talk
about confession
and repentance.
We can talk
about our sin
finding us out.
All of these
things that we
have.
But here's what
began to burden
my heart with
this.
Here's where God
took my heart.
Can I trust
God?
Can I trust
God?
And I can.
I can trust
God because God
tells the story
of God,
which oftentimes
includes stories
that I would
leave out.
And so would
you.
So would you.
How do I know
this?
For all the married
people in the room.
Remember that first
date you had with
your future spouse?
You didn't know
their future spouse,
but you thought
they were good
looking.
You were like,
yep, yep,
I like them.
And then you go
on your first
date.
And that first
date, if you're
really starting to
get to know each
other, there would
be a question or
something like this.
So tell me about
yourself.
And let's just say
this.
The Genesis 38
stories of your
life is not what
you're leading out
with.
Right?
You're not like,
I'm a horrible
human being till
about 9 a.m.
Right?
I can be really
grumpy and really
selfish sometimes.
Like, you know,
you're not walking
through, you're
painting the
positive picture of
you that you
want.
Or maybe,
maybe, do you
remember this
question?
So tell me about
your family.
Huh.
And you begin to
go through.
And you know
that, uncle.
You left him out
of the narrative a
little bit,
all right?
You paint the
picture.
You told some of
the truth.
you didn't tell
all of the
truth.
Why?
Because you
wanted them to
like you.
You wanted to
paint yourself in
the truth as you
saw it.
You wanted to
paint yourself in
these brushstrokes
that didn't deal
with the dirty,
that didn't deal
with the difficult.
But here's what
God does.
God tells the
truth from
Genesis to
Revelation.
every single
word of it
is true.
As we see
evidence in
this story
and as we'll
see evidence
throughout.
And there's
three, three
aspects of
biblical truth
that we see
from this
that we'll see
through all
throughout Scripture
that I want to
draw your attention
to.
To prove to
you whether
you're a
non-believer
or you're
a believer
that you can
trust God's
word.
That you can
trust every
word of
God's word.
The first one
is this.
Biblical
history.
Biblical
history.
And by
biblical history
let me just
say this.
Not biblical
history that
people on the
History Channel
make up.
But biblical
history that we
find in the
Bible.
And in
this, what's
amazing about
biblical history
is this.
That God
gives real
details about
real people
in real time
even when those
details are not
really great.
God gives real
details about
real people in
real time even
when those
details are not
really great.
Let's look at
some of those.
First family,
Adam and Eve,
right?
Right?
Here's sin,
thank you.
Their sons,
one murdered the
other.
Let's keep
going.
Noah, drunk.
Abraham lied
and was a coward
who didn't
protect his
wife.
Isaac, liar and
deceiver.
Jacob, followed
in family
footsteps.
We're really
hoping it gets
better, right?
Nope.
Moses, murderer.
Rahab, prostitute.
King David, too
many to list.
New Testament.
Paul, former
terrorist, orchestrated
the murder of many
Christians.
Peter, hothead who
struggled with racism
but at a very least
struggled with
favoritism.
Not cleaning it up,
allowing it to be in
there so that God
tells their stories
so that he can tell
his story.
Because the story
that we see in
Genesis 38 is God
not trying to tell a
neat story of him
but God telling a
dirty story of them
so that we can see
how God is going to
work, how God is
going to move, how
God is going to take
the story of Tamar
and Judah and use it
for his name and his
glory.
And I promise it's
going to happen.
I promise it's going
to happen.
The second thing that
we see from biblical
history is this, that
God tells the story of
the past so that he
can tell the story of
the future.
God tells the story of
the past so that God
can tell the story of
the future.
I want to tell you
this, nothing, nothing
in the Bible that has
ever been challenged
in an academic setting
or any other setting
has been defeated.
Nothing.
Now there are people
with thoughts and
opinions.
There are people who
can type things online
who can make videos
and post them on
YouTube.
There are people who
can create TV shows
and movements and
fill it with opinions.
But even those who
approach God's word at
an academic sense, who
are honest about
academic integrity of
what's there, have to
admit that every
challenge, the
challenge that is met
historically speaking for
them as they study that
in the Bible, is
defeated.
And so if the Bible
said it happened, here's
the beauty about history,
it points to the fact
that it actually did.
History in an academic
sense says that the
people in the Bible who
were real, they lived in
real places, they lived
in real time.
And in Scripture, God does
something that no other
text does.
He tells them not only
what the past was, so
that we look back and
that we can understand
and that we can know and
that we can see, and so
much of the Bible is that.
But God does something
else in His Scripture.
He tells them in the past
what's going to happen in
the future.
And we call that prophecy.
And here's the beauty of
God's prophecy.
God's never been wrong.
Not one time has God
ever been wrong.
Here's our example, right?
Christmas is coming.
If you don't believe me,
going to Lowe's, Walmart,
Dollar General, Christmas
is coming, right?
And then like January 3rd,
they'll have Easter stuff
out, all right?
In the Old Testament,
specifically the prophets,
just shrinking this down,
prove my point.
In the Old Testament,
specifically the prophets,
God says that there will
be a child that is born
to a virgin, and his name
should be called Emmanuel.
This child will be born
in Bethlehem.
This child will be carried
away into Egypt.
This child will be in
Nazarene.
The Old Testament, the
prophecy also talks about
his life.
Some of the details that
it points to in his life
is that he'll be rejected
by his own, that he'll
enter in Jerusalem onto a
donkey, that he'll be
betrayed by a
friend for 30 pieces
of silver, that he'll
die between criminals,
and that he would rise
from the dead.
All right?
That wasn't written a week
before those things
happened.
That was written
depending on who the
prophet was that wrote
it, 400 to 700 years
before it came to be.
And you're like,
well, Beau, that's just,
I mean, that's just
what the Bible says,
and you believe the
Bible.
Well, friend, if that's
where your heart is
right now, let me just
tell you that's a weak
argument.
Because the Bible tells
us that all of these
things came true, and
historical readings tell
us that as well.
Early historical writings
that are non-Christian
both speak to the life,
the death, and the
resurrection of Jesus.
The writings affirm
everything that we see
and that we have heard in the
Old Testament pointing to
that as Christ.
So you see, the past of
what he said would
happen, we also see
later on in the past
continue to be true.
This is so important for
us because the Bible also
speaks to other prophecy
that has not been
fulfilled yet.
The Bible spoke to
prophecy of things that
have happened, but now we
live in a gap of time that
those same prophets spoke
to things that would
come, and that we look
forward in Revelation to
another writer in John
that talks about the
events that would come.
One that says that Jesus
will return.
One that says that Jesus,
when he does, will bring
for himself his church to
reclaim what is his.
And here's what logic tells
me within this.
Here's what the diving into
Scripture tells me, that if
God has done all the
things that he said he
would do, and history
tells me that, why would
he not continue to do all
of the things that he
said he's going to do?
God does not break his
word.
Scripture points repeatedly
over and over and over
again.
So the first way that you
can know God's word is
true is biblical history.
The second is this,
biblical authority.
Biblical authority.
I'll be very honest with
you.
God's word gives very
specific demands.
We as Christians should
hold to and believe that
God's word is the truth.
That what God teaches us is
the truth of God about who
he is, about who we are,
about this world, about how
we relate to him, about how
we love others, about how we
care for our family, about
how we share with others of
his name, of how we live
our life, of what we do.
This is God's word.
This is truth.
And it's why it's different
than religion.
God's word is not about
your truth or my truth or
everyone else's truth.
God's word is about God's
truth.
And that's the authority of
what we see.
Back at this passage of
scripture, in the authority
of God.
God said, don't leave your
people.
Don't leave your people.
Don't do this.
Judah did.
God said, don't disobey me.
Don't step out of what I've
commanded.
Don't step out of the
expectation.
But Judah did.
Tamar did.
Onan did.
Ur did.
I think the difficult part
for us when we dive into
God's word, when we teach
God's word, when we live
with every moment of truth
in what we find in God's
word, is that God's word is
not a feel-good piece of
literature that's full of
advice.
God speaks in truth.
And friends, his truth is
authoritative.
And I think this is the part
that is the hardest for those
who call themselves
Christians.
Because if God's word is
true, and if God's word is
authority, then by the
definition of the authority,
by the expectation of the
Lord, you and I are called to
surrender to it.
We want to cling to passages,
and we do, that God wants to
bless us.
That God wants to, that God
will never leave us.
That God will provide, that God
will comfort all truths of God's
word.
But God also calls us in his
word to be a people of
sacrifice.
God calls us in his word to be
people of investment.
God calls us in his word to be
people of vulnerability.
God calls us in his word to be
people of faith.
God calls us in his word to be
people of obedience.
You see, friends, the truth is
God does not hold back, and he
says to us clearly, I'm on my
throne, and you've got to step
off yours, and you've got to
surrender yourself to me, for
this is who I am, and what I
desire to do in you.
So we see in Genesis 38, these
are real people.
We know from the pages of
history of the genealogy that we
speak to.
We know of the 12 tribes that
come from the 12 sons.
We know Jude was a man.
We know about Tamar.
We know that she bore a child.
She bore two children.
We see the history of the
Bible play out.
We understand, and what we've
seen, is that God's word is
authoritative, that God calls us
to be a people who respond to
him, that God calls us to be a
people who obey him, that God's
word demands from us, that God
saves us, God does the work, but
within this, there's a submission
of self, of who I am, and
surrender before him.
God's word is authoritative, and
God doesn't back down from
that.
And the last thing that we can
see in this, so that we can
appeal that I can trust God's
word, not with some, but with
all, is we see biblical
sovereignty.
We see biblical sovereignty.
Here's what we mean by
sovereign.
That God is all-powerful, and
that God works, and that God
moves in his power and in his
pleasure to accomplish what God
has said he will do.
That's why we cling to passages
when we walk through difficult
times of God saying, hey, hey,
trust me, like I'm at work.
Trust me, I'm moving.
And I think in those moments when
we're walking through those
levels of difficulty, when we're
walking through those levels of
suffering, when we're walking
through those levels of pain,
when we're walking through those
levels of hurt, we begin to
listen to the lie of Satan in our
mind and go, hey, God, where are
you now?
And God says, oh, I'm here, and I'm
working, and I'm moving, and I'm
doing things, and you can trust me
because I'm sovereign.
And that's kind of, for me, been a
lot of the journey of what we've
been on in Genesis, of looking and
seeing back from the very beginning
that God created, and that God gave
order, and that God will have for
himself a people.
We look back to where this started
with great-grandpa in Genesis
chapter 12, and God says that I'm
going to create for myself a
people.
God is.
Abraham's not.
Isaac's not.
Jacob's not.
God is.
In all of those instances, in all of
those pieces, in all of that
dysfunction, God's like, I'm
working, I'm working, you can't
override me, you can't hijack me,
you can't mess it up, I'm
working, I'm working, I'm
working.
And then we read passages like
Genesis 38.
And like, if Genesis 38 were a
short story found in a textbook
somewhere, I think we would all
walk away, like, scratching our
heads.
Like, what's the point?
I don't see, I don't understand it.
It's hard to draw a connection to it.
But it's not.
And that Genesis 38 is placed
exactly in the midst of the truth
of God.
And God's, I haven't forgotten about
this.
This isn't out of my hand.
This dysfunction is not too great.
I've got a purpose.
And I've got a reason.
I kind of joke, right, about our
genealogies, and it's been
fantastic seeing what God's done as
we study genealogies.
So I always recommend when you're
going through your daily reading
plan and a genealogy pops up,
like, just spend some time there
in the dependence of the Holy
Spirit, see what God's going to
do and see what God's going to
teach.
In Matthew.
And so we're into the New Testament.
It begins with a genealogy.
So I'm going to read Matthew 1,
2 through 3.
Abraham begot Isaac.
Isaac begot Jacob.
Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
And Judah begot Perez and Zerah
by Tamar.
And Perez begot Hezron.
And Hezron begot Ram.
You're like, well, that doesn't do
anything.
Okay.
Let's save a few verses and a little
bit of time for our kids' ministry.
Jump down to verse 16.
Continuation of the genealogy.
And Jacob begot Joseph.
The husband of Mary.
Of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
You think God can't work in your dysfunction?
You think God can't work in your mess up?
You think God can't work in your life?
The beauty, the beauty of God's word
is in the messiness of history, it's true.
In every difficult detail, God's laying out there for us.
The beauty of God's word is God's not trying to bait and switch.
God's word is authoritative.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
We are called to surrender ourselves to Him.
We were slaves to sin, and the Bible tells us now
that in Christ, we're slaves to righteousness.
It's authoritative.
It demands.
It uses phrases like counting the cost.
We can trust God's word.
And we can trust God's word
because of the sovereignty of God,
that God's always working.
And in your life,
for those reasons as well,
you can trust God.
God has wrote
the story of your life.
God's written
who you are,
your favorite.
God knows you.
God wants to be your king
and your savior.
And in the goodness,
in the sweetness of life,
you can surrender to Him.
And in His authority,
what Scripture tells us,
is guess what you'll find?
Rest.
And our surrender to Him.
And in every moment of your life,
in the difficult,
and in the dark,
and oftentimes,
in our limitations,
we can't see how.
But friends,
God is working
and God is moving.
All right.
Would you pray with me?
God, I thank you,
Lord, for the work
that you are doing.
God,
I pray that resoundingly,
resoundingly,
Lord,
that we can trust
your word,
Lord,
the truth of who you are,
and Lord,
the desire that you have
for our life.
God,
that we can look
at our best day
and our worst
and know that you're still God.
Lord,
that we can look
at the inconsistency
that is us
and know that you
are still good.
Lord,
we can look
at the sin
and the destruction
and the pain
that we bring
and know
that you're a loving God
who's working
and who's moving.
God,
when we trust your word,
that means we trust you.
We trust you
with our life,
our physical being itself.
We trust you
with our family.
We trust you
with our finances.
We trust you
with what brings us joy.
We trust you
for our comfort.
We trust you
with our relationships.
We trust you
with our careers.
We trust you
with our today.
We trust you
with our tomorrow.
because Lord,
we trust who you are.
That Jesus,
you came
not to get
a bunch of
holy people
who have figured it all out,
but to die,
to die for the sins
of the world
so that there's a hope.
and your word
tells us
or to believe
and to confess
that we are sinners,
but Jesus,
that you are our savior.
And that in you,
in you,
there is life
and hope
not just for today,
not just for tomorrow,
but for an eternity.
God, thank you
for your love for us.
May our
sacrifice
of praise
be pleasing
to you.
It's in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.
That's it
for this week's message.
Be sure to check back
next week
for another episode.
In the meantime,
you can stay up to date
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at Willow Ridge
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and online
at willowridgechurch.org.
Thanks again for listening.
Bye.