God's people saved by grace to live holy lives

Phil is going to come and read to us from Genesis 38 and 39.

A long story.

Well, it's the two stories, but as we'll see,

two stories that speak of the same story of salvation.

It can be found on page 42 of the Church Bibles.

At that time, Judah left his brothers

and went down to stay with a man of Adalam named Hirah.

There, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua.

He married her and lay with her.

She became pregnant and gave birth to a son who was named Er.

She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.

She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah.

It was at Kazib that she gave birth to him.

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight,

so the Lord put him to death.

Then Judah said to Onan,

Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her

as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother.

But Onan knew that his offspring would not be his.

So whenever he lay with his brother's wife,

he spilt his semen on the ground

to keep from producing offspring for his brother.

What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight,

so he put him to death also.

Judah then said to his daughter-in-law, Tamar,

Live as a widow in your father's house

until my son Shelah grows up,

for he thought he may die too, just like his brothers.

So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

After a long time, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died.

When Judah had recovered from his grief,

he went up to Timnah to the men who were shearing his sheep,

and his friend Hirah the Adalemite went with him.

When Tamar was told,

Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to his sheep,

she took off her widow's clothes,

covered herself with a veil to disguise herself,

and then sat down at the entrance to Anayim,

which is on the road to Timnah.

For she saw that though Shelah had now grown up,

she had not been given to him as his wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute,

for she had covered her face.

Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law,

he went over to her by the roadside and said,

Come now, let me sleep with you.

And what will you give me to sleep with you?

She asked.

I'll send you a young goat from my flock, he said.

Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?

She asked.

He said, What pledge should I give you?

Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand, she answered.

So he gave them to her and slept with her,

and she became pregnant by him.

After she left, she took off her veil

and put on her widow's clothes again.

Meanwhile, Judah sent the young goat by his friend,

the Adulamite, in order to get his pledge back from the woman,

but he did not find her.

When he asked the men who lived there,

Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Anayim?

They said, There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here, they said.

So he went back to Judah and said, I didn't find her.

Besides, the men who lived there said,

There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.

Then Judah said, Let her keep what she has,

or we will become a laughing stock.

After all, I did send her this young goat,

but you didn't find her.

About three months later, Judah was told,

Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, is guilty of prostitution,

and as a result, she is now pregnant.

Judah said, Bring her out and have her burned to death.

As she was being brought out,

she sent a message to her father-in-law.

I am pregnant by the man who owns these, she said.

And she added, See if you recognize

whose seal and cord and staff these are.

Judah recognized them and said,

She is more righteous than I,

since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah,

and he did not sleep with her again.

When the time came for her to give birth,

there were twin boys in her womb,

and as she was giving birth,

one of them put out his hand.

So the midwife took a scarlet thread

and tied it onto his wrist and said,

This one came out first.

But when he drew back his hand,

his brother came out, and she said,

So this is how you have broken out.

And he was named Perez.

Then his brother,

who had the scarlet thread on his wrist,

came out, and he was given the name Zerah.

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.

Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,

the captain of the guard,

bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered,

and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him

and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,

Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.

Potiphar put him in charge of his household

and entrusted to his care everything he owned.

From the time he put him in charge of his household

and of all that he owned,

the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian

because of Joseph.

The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had,

both in the house and in the field.

So he left in Joseph's care everything he had.

With Joseph in charge,

he did not concern himself with anything

except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well built and handsome,

and after a while,

his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,

come to bed with me.

But he refused.

With me in charge, he told her,

my master does not concern himself

with anything in the house.

Everything he owns, he is entrusted to my care.

No one is greater in this house than I am.

My master has withheld nothing from me except you

because you are his wife.

How then could I do such a wicked thing

and sin against God?

And though she spoke to Joseph day after day,

he refused to go to bed with her

or even to be with her.

One day, he went into the house to attend to his duties,

and none of the household servants was inside.

She caught him by his cloak and said,

come to bed with me.

But he left his cloak in her hand

and ran out of the house.

When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand

and had run out of the house,

she called out to her household servants,

look, she said to them,

this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us.

He came in here to sleep with me,

but I screamed.

When he heard me scream for help,

he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.

She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.

Then she told him this story.

That Hebrew slave you brought us

came to me to make sport of me.

But as soon as I screamed for help,

he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.

When his master heard the story,

his wife told him, saying,

this is how your slave treated me,

he burned with anger.

Joseph's master took him and put him in prison,

the place where the king's prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison,

the Lord was with him.

He showed him kindness and granted him favour

in the eyes of the prison warden.

So the warder put Joseph in charge

of all those held in the prison

and he was made responsible for all that was done there.

The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care

because the Lord was with Joseph

and gave him success in whatever he did.

Now, can you turn back with me

to those chapters that Phil read for us?

Genesis 38 and 39.

I want us to think this morning from God's word

of the reality that God's people

are those who are saved by grace

in order to live holy lives,

to see how the stories of Judah and Joseph

help us to get to that truth.

Now, I guess some of us will have noticed

that it's Oscar season in Hollywood.

One of the movies that people are talking about

is the film 1917 because it was filmed

in a single take, something new,

both in terms of direction and cinematography.

I find Moses' storytelling is so interesting

and compelling as you get into the details of Genesis.

Here he is writing the story of salvation.

And what's Moses' cinematography?

How does he lay out the story?

Well, here in chapters 38 and 39,

we have these two brothers.

We have Judah and Joseph.

We have two journeys, both going down.

So in one sense, we can think about it

as a sort of split screen,

these two diverging stories,

but they also come together.

There are contrasts,

but they both help us to understand

the big idea of God's salvation

that Moses wants to share with the people then

and with us today.

So on one level, we can read them,

and we will in a sense read them

as negative and positive example stories,

but much more than that,

they're helping us to see the story of salvation,

to learn new things about God's grace

and about how God's people are to live.

So as always, when we come to God's Word

and to these stories,

we're going to see how they relate

to the wider story of salvation,

how we can draw applications to our own lives,

and principally, we want to see Jesus

as the great hero of this story of salvation always.

So two stories of similarity and contrast.

Maybe one question we should ask at the beginning,

we've seen that Moses is writing the story

of Jacob's family,

and he's focused from the beginning

on one of the sons called Joseph.

So then we need to ask ourselves,

well, why is Genesis 38 here?

Why does it seem like there's this page break

and into the story of Joseph comes Judah?

Well, one of the things as we see the whole story,

and we'll get there in a few weeks,

we'll understand that Judah too

is on a spiritual journey.

We're going to see that God is going to choose him

to be the line through which God's King Jesus will come,

and so we're going to see his spiritual transformation,

and we'll think about that in part today.

But I think that's why this story is here.

But it's also here because it helps to provide

a number of points of connection

and contrast with the Joseph story.

So we'll begin thinking about journeys.

Both of them, we're told,

at the beginning of each chapter, went down.

Look at chapter 38, verse 1.

At that time, Judah left his brothers

and went down to stay with a man of Adullam.

And then chapter 39 begins,

now Joseph had been taken down.

So we see Judah's journey is a free choice.

Here is Judah walking away from his family.

His father is mourning,

and Judah walks away,

and in so doing is also separating himself

from Jacob, his father,

who had received the promises of God.

There is something shocking in Judah

separating himself from the family.

The nation has dealt with a minor shock

of Harry and Meghan walking away

from the royal family.

Here is a much more significant departure.

And he's gone there,

and he will marry a Canaanite woman.

Abraham had said,

I don't want my son to marry a Canaanite.

Isaac had said,

I don't want my son to marry a Canaanite.

But Judah decides that's exactly

what he's going to do.

So that's the beginning of Judah's journey,

whereas Joseph, we see,

he has been sold into slavery.

We saw this last week.

So Judah came up with the idea

to sell Joseph into the hands of these traders,

and he will become a slave in Egypt.

So we have this contrast.

We have one son, disobedient son, Judah.

He's living in the promised land,

and we find Joseph, the obedient son,

he's living in the land of oppression

and slavery,

a land dominated by the anti-God of the Pharaohs.

But one is walking with God.

One is walking away.

The imagery of journey is important.

And I wonder today,

as we find ourselves in church,

would we describe our spiritual journey

as one of walking towards God

and walking with God?

Or like Judah,

are we walking away from God?

What are the measures that we use

to look at which direction

our spiritual journey is?

Perhaps you can think about

your connection to the Word of God.

Do you find yourself

reading the Bible regularly

and enjoying that time

to enjoy fellowship

with your Father in heaven?

Perhaps we can think about

your connection to church.

Are you glad to be able

to have the privilege

of worshiping your God?

Are we making the most of

fellowship with God's people?

What is our connection to Jesus,

the Son of God?

Is He someone we're intrigued by?

Or is He more than that?

Is He someone we are trusting in

as our Lord and our Savior?

It's important for us to think about

our direction,

our spiritual journey.

In these chapters,

another similarity,

another contrast,

we find God's verdict

on their lives at this point.

One, we see judgment.

The other, Joseph,

we see receives blessing.

So we can perhaps remind ourselves

of Judah's story

and his family's story.

Chapter 38,

we can read it verse 7.

Ere, Judah's firstborn,

was wicked in the Lord's sight,

so the Lord put him to death.

Onan, verses 9 and 10,

is also wicked in his actions

in the Lord's sight,

so he put him to death also.

And Judah, too,

is guilty of unrighteousness.

His leaving,

his father leaving those promises behind

was unrighteous.

His marriage to a Canaanite woman

was unrighteous.

His failure to keep his promise

to his daughter-in-law,

Tamar,

was unrighteous.

His seeking out a prostitute

was unrighteous.

And one of the wonderful things

about the story of Judah

is we see that this unrighteous man

will receive mercy from God.

He'll receive a place

in the family of God.

He stands for us

as an object lesson

in the mercy

and the grace of God.

We see Ere and Onan,

these two sons,

are both unrighteous.

Ere is simply described

as wicked,

whereas Onan's actions,

as a lawbreaker,

failing to fulfill his duties,

he, too,

is wicked

and God judges them.

And that reminds us

that God's justice is real.

Something perhaps

we don't like to think about,

but it's something

the Bible never hides from us.

The justice

and the judgment of God

is intended to be

an alarm to us,

a wake-up call

to be right with our God.

In this story,

we see God's justice is real

and sometimes

that judgment comes immediately.

Here he is judging

Ere and Onan

for their wickedness.

Other times,

because of the patience of God,

that judgment comes

after death

on wickedness.

But we need to be clear

that the penalty

for God's broken law

always comes

because God is just.

What about the verdict

on Joseph's life?

We see repeating,

verse 2 as an example,

that the Lord

was with Joseph.

Verse 5,

we see from the time

he put him in charge

of his household

and of all that he owned,

the Lord blessed

the household

of the Egyptian

because of Joseph.

In Genesis 12,

a promise had been made

to Abraham.

God said to Abraham,

I will bless you

and those who bless you,

I will bless.

Others will be blessed

because of Abraham.

And here we see this

coming true

in the life

of another family member,

in the life of Joseph.

Even while he is a servant

in Egypt,

the Lord is with him

and the Lord is blessing him

and those around him.

Even when he finds himself

in the prison cell,

the Lord is with him

and the Lord shows

his favor to him

and provides blessing

to those around him.

And so we have

this wonderful comfort

that even when providence

and circumstance

are hard

and Joseph had a hard path

to walk,

yet for the people of God,

we know that God

is still with us

and he is still for us.

But again,

as we look on the different verdicts

that God makes

on these lives,

if we were to examine ourselves

in our standing

before God today,

what verdict would God issue

on my life,

on your life?

One of the wonderful things

that we find in the Bible

is the gospel.

And there we find

at the heart

of the message

of the gospel,

the good news

of what God has done

in Jesus

is that Jesus goes

to the cross

not because of any wrong

that he has done,

but he goes to the cross

taking on himself

the sins of his people.

Jesus will take

the curse of God

for covenant breaking

on behalf of

his people.

The just will die

for the unjust

so that

we might receive

the blessing of God.

that's not

what we deserve.

But by God's grace

in Jesus,

that's what

we might

receive.

As our stories

continue,

as Moses retells them,

another

similarity

and contrast,

we see it

in terms of

temptation

and sexual

ethics.

So look with me

at chapter 38

in verse 15

and 16.

Notice too

that the Bible

never hides

just how

mixed up

and sinful

people can be.

When Judah

saw her,

he thought

his daughter-in-law

was a prostitute

for she had

covered her face.

Not realizing

that she was

his daughter-in-law,

he went over

to her

by the roadside

and said,

come now,

let me

sleep with you.

So here

is Judah

looking for comfort

but deliberately

walking

into

adultery.

Here is Judah

with no thought

of God,

no thought

of God's

standards,

no thought

of consequences.

Here he is

walking

eyes wide

open

into

temptation.

Contrast

that with

Joseph

chapter 39

over our page

verse 7

end of verse 6

into verse 7.

Now Joseph

was well built

and handsome

and after a while

his master's wife

took notice

of Joseph

and said,

come to bed

with me.

And notice

as Joseph

speaks to

Potiphar's wife,

he makes clear

both that he wants

to honour

Potiphar,

his master,

but he wants

to honour God

as his

greater

master.

Look at the

end of verse 9.

How then

could I do

such a wicked

thing

sin and

sin

against God?

And we

find in

verse 12

as she

tries again

and again

in verse 12

she caught

Joseph by

his cloak

and said,

come to bed

with me,

but he left

his cloak

in her hand

and ran

out of

the house.

He runs

from temptation.

He maintains

his commitment

to God's

values

while in

hostile

Egypt.

And in

these two

stories

there would

be a

really

important

lesson

for the

nation

of

Israel.

And if

you know

the Old

Testament

you'll

know

this

reality

that one

of the

great

temptations

for them

was to

look at

the lifestyle,

the culture

of the

people around

them,

and especially

around the

subject of

worship,

other

religious

practices

connected

worship and

prostitution.

there was

this

temptation

to the

nation

of

Israel

to

follow

the

pagan

sexual

practices

of the

surrounding

nations.

And that

continues to

be a

challenge to

God's

church

today.

How will

we respond

to the

voices and

the temptations

of our

own culture?

Will we as

a church

resist

following the

sexual ethic

that our

culture

promotes?

Will we

lovingly

challenge the

culture with

God's

ideal?

Where sex

is recognized

as a gift

of God

reserved for

marriage?

And that

would be so

important to

the nation

of Israel

as part of

their witness

to the fact

that they

were a

different kind

of community.

As the

story continues

we see

another point

of similarity

and contrast

and it's

in the way

that there

is evidence

that is

produced at

critical moments

in the

story.

So again

let's begin

with Judah.

So if you

remember

Judah's

daughter-in-law

becomes pregnant

by him.

Word comes

that she has

been guilty

of adultery.

Judah announces

that she

should die.

And then in

verse 25

and 26

as she was

being brought

out she sent

a message to

her father-in-law

I am pregnant

by the man

who owns

these.

See if you

recognize whose

seal and cord

and staff

these are.

Judah recognized

them and said

she is more

righteous

than I.

In Judah's

case the

evidence presented

convicts him

and he is

honest enough

to say she's

more righteous

than I am.

But what about

in the story

of Joseph

chapter 39

verse 13

onwards

when Potiphar's

wife saw

that he had

left his cloak

in her hand

and had run

out of the house

she called

her household

servants

look this

Hebrew has

been brought

in to us

to make

sport of us.

He came in

here to sleep

with me but I

screamed when he

heard me scream

for help he

left his cloak

beside me and

ran out of the

house.

False evidence

is presented.

Joseph is

wrongly accused

and wrongly

convicted and

sent to prison

but he is

righteous and

God's continued

presence with

him is testimony

to that.

God's continued

favor on his

life is evidence

of that.

So Moses here

as the salvation

storyteller

has got these

two contrasting

stories.

There's these

key themes

that run

through both

but their

stories are

going along

different tracks

at the moment

but as we

take in mind

that the bigger

story of salvation

we'll see how

both of them

fit.

So we're going

to zoom out

a little

and we're going

to see how

chapters 38

and 39

fit into

God's big

picture.

First thing

we want to

see the emphasis

from the story

of Judah

as it continues

is that God

saves his

people by

grace

alone.

In a few

weeks we will

discover Judah

as someone who

is spiritually

transformed,

as someone who

will plead for

his brother,

one who is

willing to

sacrifice himself

for the sake

of his family.

He is a key

player in

restoring this

family of God

and as his

father reaches

his point

where he's

going to die

and he wants

to bless his

sons,

Judah is

identified as

the chosen

tribe.

He's described

as the lion

of Judah

and kings

would come

from him.

Jesus would

come from

Judah's family

but at this

point,

Judah is

guilty of sin

and Judah

needs the

grace of

forgiveness.

Moses,

in recording

salvation history

is so helpful

to us as

readers because

he never

attempts to

gloss over

the terrible

mistakes,

the wickedness

of Judah

and other

characters and

in so doing

he presents

hope for us

all.

What have we

learned of

Judah in the

last couple

of weeks?

He's somebody

who hated

his brother,

somebody who

sold his

brother into

slavery.

He is one

who abandoned

his family,

who walked

away from

God's promises

and walking

away from

his father

as someone

who walked

into sexual

sin.

I wonder

if as we

pause we

can identify

with Judah.

I wonder

if there is a

time or many

times perhaps

when we've

lost our

temper and

wished ill on

someone else.

Perhaps as we

look at our

own story we

see times where

we have failed

to honour

our parents,

where we

have fallen

into the

trap of

sibling rivalry

and jealousy.

Maybe we're

here today and

we've rejected

the path of

our parents

because we've

rejected their

faith.

We've said

no to God

to go our

own way.

Perhaps in

our story we

too have

satisfied sexual

desires in

harmful,

unbiblical

ways.

If our

conscience says

to us that

we are

guilty then

we need

repentance and

we need

faith in the

Lord Jesus

and we need

God's grace

that comes to

us through

Jesus just

as much as

Judah.

Grace,

God's loving

kindness to

those who

don't deserve

it and who

can never

earn it.

That grace

that comes to

us freely

in the

sending of

Jesus to

be our

substitute,

to be our

sacrifice,

to be our

savior.

And in

Jesus we

see one who

will live

perfectly.

We see one

who will at

all points

resist temptation.

We see one

who will

honor his

father.

One who

regardless of

circumstance

will walk in

obedience the

path that God

had set for

him and

Jesus will

die for

lawbreaker.

When we

look at the

cross we

recognize the

justice of

God.

That while

God's people

deserve

punishment,

deserve

death,

deserve

hell,

Jesus to

satisfy God's

justice takes

the penalty

there on the

cross.

And at the

same time as

justice is

served so we

see love is

extended and

we are invited

to receive that

love ourselves

in receiving

Jesus as

our savior.

We are

invited to

believe in

him and

to be

saved.

When we

think about

Judah's story

we see one

who is a

prodigal son,

one who needs

to be restored

by grace.

perhaps many

of us know

Jesus' famous

story of a

young son who

walked away from

his father who

said I want my

share of the

inheritance now and

then he goes away

to enjoy his

life, wild

living, making

sinful choices but

enjoying freedom as

he thought it.

But then he finds

himself penniless and

homeless.

He finds famine

comes to him and

it's that famine,

it's that desperation

that makes him

come to his

senses, makes him

return home.

That's the path

towards spiritual

restoration.

And we can see

and we will see

those features

in the story

of Judah.

And it's a

wonderful thing

that though Judah

has fallen far

away from God

at this stage,

that God will

welcome him

into his family.

And God gives

to Judah a key

place and part

in the story

of salvation

through his

family line.

Indeed, Judah's

family tree

highlights God's

grace.

Judah, this

sinner from whom

God's king will

come, we find

Tamar, who's

in the family

line of

Jesus.

We find

Perez, this

child born of

sexual sin, who

is in Jesus'

family tree.

There is grace

even in the

story of Judah

because of the

greatness of

our God.

And so there is

hope for us if

our lives have

followed a similar

track to that of

Judah.

If we have

made choices that

have taken us

to shameful

places perhaps,

if we have

lived a

wild life with

no thought of

God, if we

have deliberately

turned our back

on God in order

to go our own

way, the

message of the

Bible is that

grace is offered

to you in

Jesus.

There is

forgiveness for

sin in him,

that we can be

declared righteous

in God's sight

because of

Jesus.

We can have

new birth and

become new

creations in

Christ Jesus.

We can be

adopted into

the family of

God, not

because of who

we are but

because of who

God is and

the gift he has

given us in

Jesus.

This is also

hope for us if

we find ourselves

praying for

prodigal sons and

daughters in our

own lives.

if we carry on

our hearts that

burden of those

who have walked

away from the

faith, those who

we have sought to

teach and to

train and to

love and to

pray for.

The story of

Judah is one of

those stories that

reminds us to

keep trusting and

to keep praying and

to keep asking for

God's grace to

open people's

eyes.

So Judah teaches

us that God's

people are saved

by grace alone.

The story of

Joseph reminds us

that God's people

are saved by grace

in order to live

holy lives.

So Moses has

been recording

these stories and

it's that same

Moses who recorded

the Ten Commandments

at Mount Sinai.

And the Ten

Commandments begins

with a preface and

that preface says,

I am the Lord your

God who brought you

out of the land of

slavery.

The Ten Commandments

are introduced from

this standpoint that

God was their

redeemer, God was

their rescuer, God

had ended their

slavery so that they

might become his,

then that they

might obey.

In response, you

shall have no other

gods before me.

And on it goes.

And that's always the

truth.

God saves his

people.

God acts in power

so that slavery is

broken.

For us, it's not

political or

physical slavery,

but there is a

slavery to our

idols where there

are things that we

put in a more

important place than

God in our lives.

There are things that

we live for, even

good things that take

the place on the

throne of our hearts

that belongs to God.

And only God can

remove that slavery

so that we can have

things in their

proper place.

It's God who breaks

the slavery to our

sinful rebellion.

We are slaves to sin

and we are powerless

to do anything about

that, but God in his

grace and by his

spirit and through his

son can break that

power and can give us

freedom in Christ.

And God saves his

people so that we

might be adopted as

God's children.

So we might live

knowing that's our

new identity and

that we might gladly

respond in obedience

that as adopted

children we would take

on our father's family

values and live for

him.

One of the things

that's clear in the

way that Moses writes

the story of salvation

history in the early

books of the Bible is

that the people of God

are intended to be like

a light to the nations

that in their worship,

in their lifestyle, in

their pursuit of justice

and mercy, in their

sexual ethics, they were

to draw other people out

from their darkness

because there's this new

community and it's

attractive.

And Joseph, he's a

pattern of that kind of

life.

He lives with obedience

to God.

He lives with integrity.

He works hard and he

works well and he lives

for the glory of God

even in Egypt.

Surrounded by unbelief

and other gods, he

remains faithful.

When he's tempted into

sexual sin, he remains

obedient and he honors

God.

When he's facing hard

providence and it would

have been easy to be

bitter, to grumble, we

don't see anything of that

in Joseph.

I was reminded this week

of the early church.

I was reading an article

that was asking the

question, why did anyone

become a Christian in the

first three centuries of

the Roman Empire?

When the whole power of

the Roman Empire was

putting the squeeze on

the Christian church, when

it was throwing people in

prison, when people being

removed from their jobs

and were losing everything

and were being killed, why

did anyone become

Christians?

Why did anyone become

a Christian church?

Larry Hurtado, a New

Testament scholar, talks

about the Christian unique

social project as one of

those compelling factors

towards people becoming

Christian.

That here was a new

community and they put

others first.

They weren't self-centered.

There was care for the

poor, there was care for

the suffering and that was

attractive and it was good.

It was a community of

peace and welcome.

It was a community that

didn't put up barriers and

dividing lines in a very

divided society and that was

seen as good and attractive.

They were a people marked by

forgiveness and wanting

reconciliation rather than

seeking out revenge, attacking,

hating, killing.

And that was striking and that was

good.

And they saw sex as a gift of

God to be reserved for

marriage.

They didn't use it for power.

They didn't regard it as just

an appetite and that was seen as

attractive and good.

Like Joseph, the church has always

been called to live as strangers

in a land not our own.

We're citizens of heaven and we are

to represent God and to live for

the glory of God in a way that

attracts others towards the God who

we love and serve.

So as we close, let me ask, have you

seen how good God is?

And have you seen how good God's story

of salvation is?

Going back to films, my brother is

one of those who whenever he goes and

sees a movie and he likes it, he'll

always come back.

Have you seen the movie?

Well, you need to.

His natural response is to recommend.

That's something I think we all need to

learn when we see the goodness of God

and his story of salvation.

Though we don't stand on the side and

be like critics, perhaps.

Standing in judgment over God's word

and God's salvation story.

Standing in judgment over Jesus, his

savior.

Rather, let God's word stand in judgment

over us.

Don't remain impartial and unmoved by

this, the greatest story ever told.

Rather, enter into this story as we are

invited to.

First of all, to see the darkness in our

own hearts.

To see the needs in our own lives of

being reconciled to God.

Consider carefully the light and the

love that God extends into the world.

Especially in the sending of Jesus,

the savior.

That we would believe in him.

We would trust in him.

We'd turn from sin and turn towards God

through faith in Jesus.

To become part of this great story

ourselves.

And then, that we would live to share

this story with others.

It's one of the reasons as a church why

we're excited about Christianity Explored.

It gives us a chance to share the good

news of Jesus with others.

Let me encourage you to dig deep into

the wonderful story that we have in the

Bible.

To be gripped by God's love and his

grace extended to us.

So that we would then want to

recommend Jesus to others.

We would want to share him with others.

To do that, we need to always be

viewing that great story of God's love

and grace every day in our own lives.

Let's leave it there and let's pray

together.

Let's pray together.

Okay.

Let's pray together.

Let's pray together.

Okay.

Let's pray together.

Let's pray together.