Genesis Week 43 • Can I Trust God's Word?

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,

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you.

But I did beat the guy in the cargo denim, right?

I beat him.

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?

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.

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.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

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,

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.

God's never been wrong.

Not one time has God

ever been wrong.

Here's our example, right?

Christmas is coming.

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

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

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.

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.

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

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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Thanks again for listening.

Bye.