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Scripture today is Genesis 
chapter 28 or I'm sorry chapter 

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38 verses 24 through 26. 
About three months later Judah 

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was told your daughter-in-law 
Tamar is guilty of prostitution 

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and as a result she is now 
pregnant. 

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Judah said bring her out and 
have her burned to death. 

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As she was being brought out she
sent a message to her 

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father-in-law. 
I am pregnant by the man who 

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owns these, she said and she 
added, see if you can recognize 

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whose seal and cord and staff 
these are. 

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Judah recognized them and said 
she is more righteous than I 

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since I wouldn't give her to my 
son Sheila and he did not sleep 

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with her again. 
May the Lord add His blessing to

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the reading and hearing of His 
word. 

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We are talking about goodness 
today in, in a, in a, in a. 

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I just forgot another 
announcement that I'm going to 

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interrupt the sermon as I saw 
the Amen corner back there. 

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Don't Amen yet, not not just 
yet. 

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You'll have opportunity. 
But we are having a meeting at 

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Chester at 6:00 PM today. 
That is. 

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And I think when I talked about 
this last week, I might have 

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said it was at 4:00 PM, but 
that's because I was wrong. 

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It's at 6:00 PM and it's the 
regular youth time at Chester, 

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but we're going to be discussing
potential events and activities 

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for teens and preteens over the 
next couple of years. 

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And everyone from, well, 
everyone, teens and preteens 

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from all three churches are 
invited and, and the adults that

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need to get them there are also 
invited. 

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So you all are invited for that.
There will be pizza and there 

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will be some games and then 
we're going to talk about 

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hopefully some exciting things 
to do like maybe rock climbing 

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and rappelling or horseback 
riding or whitewater rafting, 

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things like that. 
And we want to get your input on

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what you think would be good to 
do and what you think would be, 

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you know, not good to do. 
So, so you're invited. 6:00 PM 

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at Chester this afternoon. 
This evening, So, and not 4 PM, 

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6:00 PM. 
If I get there at 4:00, I'll 

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just be early. 
So now back to the sermon. 

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Back to the sermon being good in
a system stacked against us. 

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We live in a system stacked 
against us. 

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We live in a system that is 
designed to undermine our 

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Christian faith, that's designed
to separate us from God and 

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separate us from each other 
through all different 

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mechanisms. 
Whether it's anger, whether it's

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it's violence, whether it's 
jealousy, envy, greed, idolatry,

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hate, lust, all of these 
different kinds of things that 

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conspire to separate us from 
each other and separate us from 

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God. 
This is the system in which we 

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live. 
How can we be good in that 

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system? 
And, and to really talk about 

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how we can be good in that 
system, we need to talk about 

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what goodness is. 
And to see what goodness is, we 

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need to take a look at some 
examples of evil and that'll 

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help us to understand what 
goodness is. 

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But before we do all of that, I 
just want to say goodness is 

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important. 
Goodness is as important as 

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truth. 
On Good Friday, I'm going to 

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really focus on the question of 
truth and how truth brings us, 

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can bring us to repentance. 
Like when the centurion saw what

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happened at Jesus's death and 
just the reality of that, the 

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truth of that brought him to a 
confession of faith. 

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That's Good Friday. 
Today we're talking about 

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goodness, the church a lot of 
times, you know, we, we, we've 

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got a sense of the importance of
truth. 

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We need to have a sense and the 
equal important, or at least as 

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equal importance of goodness in 
our lives. 

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And our English language fails 
us here. 

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And so I'm going to make up some
words today. 

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I figure if Shakespeare can do 
it, why not me? 

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Make up a word here today 
because we talk about good, 

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better and best. 
And, and the problem is, is when

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we go from good to better in 
terms of our words, our, our 

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mental framework shifts and 
suddenly better means better 

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than, you know, we're in March 
Madness. 

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And, and the best team will win 
regardless of the goodness of 

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that team in the sense of are 
they good people? 

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Are they good human beings? 
Are they, they, you know, right.

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It's, it better becomes and best
become qualitative or 

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quantitative measures of skill 
or performance rather than the 

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quality of the person. 
And, and so rather than better 

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and best, I'm going to use 
gooder and goodest. 

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And my English teacher will just
have to restrain himself from 

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spinning in his grave because I,
I want us to keep that 

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qualitative sense. 
We're not. 

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We're talking about being better
than someone. 

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We're talking about how good can
we be and can we become gooder 

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and what does it mean to be 
gooder or the goodest that we 

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can be in this world. 
So we're going to talk about 

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that. 
We're going to talk about all of

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that. 
Tamar, I said this wrong at all 

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three services last week. 
Repeatedly I said that Judas 

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said that Tamar, what Tamar had 
done was not as bad as what he 

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had done, was not as evil as 
what he had done. 

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That's not what the Bible says. 
And I got to fix that this week.

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I realized it lasting as like 
I've been saying it wrong 

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because I did. 
What I think is a fairly common 

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thing for us to do is we take 
the words of the Bible and we 

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kind of filter them through all 
of our past experiences and 

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understanding. 
And then we repeat and say the 

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Bible says this when that's 
really not what the Bible said, 

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because the Bible does not say 
that Tamar was less evil than 

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Judah. 
I said that last week. 

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But that's not what the Bible 
says. 

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And I think it's incredibly 
important for us to be precise 

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and accurate about what the 
Bible says. 

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So when I get it wrong, I like 
to fix it, and I'm trying to fix

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it this week. 
The Bible, Tamar was not less 

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evil. 
Tamar was more righteous than 

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Judah. 
And that distinction I think is 

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important because if we simply 
say Tamar was less evil in what 

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she did, all of the emphasis 
gets put on the evil. 

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And and you can make a really 
strong argument that Tamar did 

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evil things in chapter 38. 
You can make a really strong 

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argument based on the law of 
scripture itself, really strong 

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argument that Tamar did evil. 
And and then we can say, well, 

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but the evil she did wasn't as 
evil as the evil that Judah did.

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But that's very it takes a very 
different feel when we say that 

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what, what Tamar did was not 
less evil, it was more good. 

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Tamar's goodness. 
Tamar displayed more goodness. 

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She was more good. 
She was gooder than Judah. 

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Which means that even though we 
can make a really strong 

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argument that what Tamar did was
wrong and bad, the scripture is 

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telling us to look at the 
goodness of what she did. 

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And that's a harder thing to do 
in chapter 38. 

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Not going to get into the 
details of all of that this 

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week. 
I got into the details of all of

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that last week. 
If you want to know, if you 

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don't know what I mean by the 
bad things Tamar did or the 

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things that Tamar did that we 
could call bad or we can call 

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good, read chapter 38. 
It's all there. 

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You can listen to last week's 
sermon online if you want to. 

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Not going to get into the 
details again today, but we got 

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to hit this part. 
The Tamar, it's not that she was

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less evil. 
It's she was more righteous. 

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She had more goodness in her 
acts, in her actions, than Judah

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had in his. 
And that goodness is what I want

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us to look at today, because it 
is important that we're good in 

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this world. 
People will not care one tiny 

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little bit about how much truth 
we speak if they don't 

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experience us as good people. 
We can have all the truth in the

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world, but if we don't display 
goodness, no one will care. 

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They won't. 
People need truth. 

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People respond to and are drawn 
to goodness, and without us 

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being good in the ways that 
Tamar was good, then the truth 

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we speak won't matter, or at 
least not very much, and most 

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likely won't be heard. 
Think about, think about 

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whatever mega church or or even 
not mega church I've known, you 

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know, small church pastor 
scandals, right? 

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And I don't care. 
I grew up in one of those many, 

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many years ago when I was a kid,
we had a pastor and there was a 

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scandal. 
I couldn't tell you now whether 

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a thing that that pastor ever 
said was true. 

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I can tell you that pastor was 
not good. 

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And and that's how he is 
remembered. 

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And that church, not as a 
speaker of truth, but as someone

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who was a doer of evil. 
All right, Goodness is 

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important. 
And Tamar was good. 

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She was more good than Judah, 
not just less evil, but to see 

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what it means to be more good, 
we got to, you know, learn it. 

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By contrast, one of my favorite 
ways to learn. 

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So we're going to look at some 
evil because again, it's 

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important. 
In Genesis chapter 38 

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specifically given what Tamar 
did that is described as being 

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more good than what Judah did, 
it could be tempting to say that

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Genesis chapter 38 opens the 
doors to if it feels good, do 

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it. 
If you feel like doing 

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everything is OK, it's no holds 
barred. 

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Whatever you want to do, if you 
feels good to you, you do it. 

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If everyone you know it's it's 
all good and that is not at all 

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what Genesis chapter 38 is 
saying. 

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Genesis chapter 38 takes evil 
very seriously and the Vadnais 

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of evil very seriously and God 
in Genesis chapter 38 is a mess 

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around and find out God fool 
with evil long enough and find 

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out how God responds to evil. 
And we see that first in ER, ER 

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was Judah's oldest son Tamar was
engaged to be married to ER. 

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They got married the by we don't
know anything about ER other 

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than that he was Judah's oldest 
son, that he was married to 

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Tamar. 
And the Bible said he did evil 

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in the eyes of the Lord, and the
Lord killed him directly, took 

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his life. 
We don't know what evil he did, 

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but God takes evil that 
seriously, that he took ER's 

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life for the evil that he was 
doing. 

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So then, according to custom and
tradition, Tamar was given in 

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marriage to Judah's second 
oldest son, Onan. 

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And we know the evil he did 
because the Bible tells us that 

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Onan indifferently used Tamar 
for his own pleasure. 

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He had a wife. 
He had covenant responsibilities

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to her that were emotional, 
relational, financial, all of 

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these different things. 
He had these covenant 

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obligations to her, to you know,
Paul tells us there's a command 

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in the Bible, love your wives 
husband to love your wives. 

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Onan did not love Tamar. 
Onan used Tamar for his own 

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pleasure, and he could not care 
less about her as a person. 

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And God looked at that and said 
that is evil. 

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And he killed Onan for that evil
for treating his wife with 

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contemptuous indifference and 
simply using another human being

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for his own pleasure without 
regard for her at all. 

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That was evil enough for God to 
strike him dead. 

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Now, I got a third person on 
this list, but I messed up and, 

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and, and, and I made the same 
mistake on the flip side this 

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week that I made last week when 
I said that Tamar was less evil 

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than Judah. 
But I didn't realize my mistake 

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till I'd done the slides for all
three churches. 

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I was like, I'm not going to go 
back and change all those 

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slides. 
I'll just leave the mistake and 

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talk about it. 
So I have Judah on this as being

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an example of evil, but we 
should recognize in this that 

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Judah was not identified as 
evil, certainly not in the way 

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uh and Onan were. 
He was identified as being less 

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good, less righteous in his 
relationships with Tamar, with 

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his family, with God. 
Not evil, but less good than 

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than than Tamar. 
And, and let's talk about 

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Judah's righteousness and what 
his righteousness was and how it

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was less good. 
And the one that's listed up 

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there failed to live up to 
covenant obligations, his 

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obligations. 
We'll get to that in a minute. 

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The the the clearest thing that 
we can see that Judah's clearest

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expression of righteousness up 
to this point is his acting as 

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the morality police. 
He was told your daughter-in-law

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is prostituting herself. 
Judah said that's wrong, 

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punishable by death. 
Bring her out, we're going to 

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burn her at the stake. 
The morality police, Judah was 

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right. 
We don't have the law of Moses 

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yet. 
God hasn't met with the 

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Israelites at Mount Sinai and 
given Moses the law, but when he

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does, the very thing that Tamar 
did is condemned by God in the 

226
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:52,360
law, condemned by God and 
Judah's acting as the morality 

227
00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,400
police. 
He's calling out the wrong that 

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00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,160
he sees in another person. 
And there is a level of 

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00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,960
righteousness in that, being 
able to look at what other 

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00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,080
people are doing and determining
whether it's wrong or right, 

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00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,920
good or bad, good or evil. 
There's a level of righteousness

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00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,320
in that. 
But what we see in Genesis 38 is

233
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,000
that's a low level, second tier 
kind of righteousness. 

234
00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,240
It's kind of the bottom floor of
righteousness. 

235
00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:28,560
And the Tamar had a higher level
of righteousness. 

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00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,520
Judas writes, It's easy. 
We do, I do, I, I don't know. 

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00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,000
I'm not sure I've ever met 
anybody. 

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00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,120
I, we don't, I don't have the 
conversation with everybody, 

239
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,440
but, but maybe I just like to 
generalize because I find myself

240
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,280
doing it so much and it makes me
feel better if I assume other 

241
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,640
people do it too. 
Because I hate to be lone in my 

242
00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,000
failures, but I, I slip into 
this. 

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00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,080
It's easy seeing someone on the 
News Online. 

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00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:52,920
Oh, that's awful. 
That evil, that's just, that's 

245
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,120
terrible. 
It's easy to be the morality 

246
00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:00,440
police. 
It's easy and there's a certain 

247
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,000
self-righteous satisfaction that
comes along with it. 

248
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,800
When we can confidently identify
the evil that someone else has 

249
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,320
done, and particularly if we 
have the authority and the 

250
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,520
opportunity to make them pay for
that evil, we're doing 

251
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:21,000
righteousness. 
Possible, but it's a low level 

252
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,920
of righteousness. 
It's a second tier of 

253
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,040
righteousness. 
The level of righteousness that 

254
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,560
Judah failed at was in living up
to his obligations. 

255
00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:36,560
He had an obligation to take 
Mark when when she married his 

256
00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,520
son. 
Judah was a patriarch of his 

257
00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:42,280
family. 
He was the head of the tribe of 

258
00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,880
the tribe of one of the 13 
tribes of Israel, the tribe of 

259
00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,640
Judah and Judah. 
He had a lot of influence over 

260
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,640
the course of human history. 
May not be aware of this. 

261
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,160
Just a little short biblical and
historical lesson here. 

262
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:58,840
Judah, the head of the tribe of 
Judah, the entire region in 

263
00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,200
which all this happened, 
eventually came to be called 

264
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,880
Judea after Judah and his 
descendants. 

265
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:09,080
That's how much influence Judah 
had. 

266
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:17,680
The term Jewish for all of the 
descendants of Abraham is based 

267
00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:22,520
on the name Judah because the 
tribe of Judah became, came to 

268
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,880
have so much influence and such 
dominance. 

269
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:33,280
And, and that region was called 
Judea for a very long time until

270
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,400
the Roman Empire invaded and 
eventually, you know, 

271
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,960
perpetrated some ethnic 
cleansing and killed as many 

272
00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,560
Jews as they could and drove as 
many out of Jerusalem as they 

273
00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:43,160
could. 
And then then the Roman Empire 

274
00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,960
changed the name of that region.
Until then it was called Judah. 

275
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:50,560
So that's how much influence 
that he had. 

276
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,160
He was a leader, he was 
influential, he had resources, 

277
00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,520
and Tamar had become part of his
family. 

278
00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,400
And when his son died, Tamar's 
husband died. 

279
00:17:04,599 --> 00:17:10,240
Judah had a responsibility to 
Tamar, a covenant responsibility

280
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,119
to make sure she was cared for 
and provided for, gave it to his

281
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,480
son Onan, so that she would 
still have a husband. 

282
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,800
She could have children so that 
she could, you know, participate

283
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,839
in the life of the community and
contribute to the community. 

284
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,680
And, and he died. 
And then Judah at that point 

285
00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:28,720
abandoned Tamar, Superstitious. 
She's bad luck. 

286
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:31,880
She's married two of my sons. 
Both of my sons have died. 

287
00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:33,640
What's wrong with her? 
Not going to give her to my 

288
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,560
third son. 
And he abandoned his covenant 

289
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:40,280
responsibilities to her, leaving
her vulnerable, insecure, and 

290
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,200
unable to fully participate in 
the life of their community. 

291
00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:50,480
And that's what he failed to do 
while he was being the morality 

292
00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,360
police. 
Let's take a look at Tamar's 

293
00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:56,560
goodness though, because I think
that's, I think I heard someone 

294
00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,200
say years ago that villains are 
more interesting in in movies 

295
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:01,840
because evil is more 
interesting. 

296
00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,440
I think evil is boring. 
There's just a few different 

297
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,360
ways it really manifests itself.
I think goodness is really, 

298
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:12,320
really interesting and and I 
think Tamar's goodness here is 

299
00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:19,120
extraordinarily interesting. 
Tamar had, I think there are 

300
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:22,440
three things that can be seen as
good as righteous, and Tamar's 

301
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:27,160
behavior throughout chapter 38. 
First, she rebuked Judah as 

302
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,280
gently as possible and only as 
forcefully as necessary. 

303
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,040
Going to talk about that in more
detail next week. 

304
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:37,960
I just want to hit on it today. 
Tamar could have humiliated 

305
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,400
Judah. 
She could have absolutely 

306
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,960
disgraced him publicly, but she 
did not. 

307
00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:50,440
She sent her message privately. 
She sent those items privately 

308
00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:56,920
to rebuke him and his zeal to be
the morality police. 

309
00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,240
She didn't roll over like a 
doormat. 

310
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,160
She could have been killed. 
She was taking a great risk when

311
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,400
she was doing this. 
She could have been executed for

312
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:09,680
what she did. 
She took the risk and she it it 

313
00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:12,360
trusted that Judah would do the 
right thing. 

314
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:16,360
And he did. 
He repented and he did right by 

315
00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:19,960
her and he welcomed for her and 
he provided for her in all of 

316
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,760
the ways he should have been 
doing before and more. 

317
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,240
She, she didn't roll over, She 
didn't play the victim. 

318
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,320
She didn't play a doormat. 
She was forceful, but only as 

319
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,760
forceful as necessary and as 
gentle as possible. 

320
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,800
We'll talk about that in more 
detail next week, but that's a 

321
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,960
level of goodness. 
Tamar exercised agency to take 

322
00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,560
care of herself and to 
contribute to society. 

323
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:45,640
That's what we talked about last
week and this is a good thing. 

324
00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:52,720
Working hard to take care of 
yourself and your family and to 

325
00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,440
contribute something positive to
society is a good thing. 

326
00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,720
It's not just a patriotic thing,
It's not just a financially 

327
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,080
smart thing. 
It's a good thing. 

328
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,040
It's a righteous thing. 
And, and I think our culture 

329
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,240
doesn't give enough time and 
attention to that reality. 

330
00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,760
That hard work to contribute 
something positive to society is

331
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,280
a good thing. 
Tamar what women can do now to 

332
00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:19,360
contribute positively to 
society, There's a lot more 

333
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:21,440
options than it was in Tamar's 
day. 

334
00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,200
And the primary way that a woman
contributed to society and 

335
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,000
Tamar, or at least one of the 
primary ways, was to bear 

336
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:33,640
children, to continue the 
family, to expand the legacy, to

337
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:39,160
provide more people to work and,
and for the family to grow and 

338
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:41,240
have a greater and greater 
impact and more and more 

339
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,800
likelihood of success. 
And Tamar was being denied that 

340
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,520
opportunity. 
She instead of again, instead of

341
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,640
playing the victim, instead of 
giving up, instead of going off 

342
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,880
and doing something and 
devoting, or she could have run 

343
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,560
off and become a prostitute. 
She could have run, done any 

344
00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:00,320
number of different things to 
take care of herself without 

345
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,520
productively contributing to 
society. 

346
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:08,200
But instead, she exercised her 
agency to take care of herself 

347
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:13,760
and to contribute to the 
society, the culture, the people

348
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,880
and community around her. 
And that's not just a again, 

349
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,720
it's a that's goodness. 
It's goodness. 

350
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,560
Finally, Tamar showed 
faithfulness to her family even 

351
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:26,760
when her family was not faithful
to her. 

352
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,760
Tamar's family abandoned her in 
every meaningful way. 

353
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,360
Judah did, left her hanging out 
to dry. 

354
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,960
She couldn't get married to 
someone else because she was 

355
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:47,240
technically engaged to Judah's 
youngest son Shayla. 

356
00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:50,840
So she couldn't get married to 
someone else. 

357
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,640
But Judah was never going to 
bring her in to actually marry 

358
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,680
his son. 
So she was going to be 

359
00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:04,520
dependent, non contributing in 
the terms of having children and

360
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,320
insecure for the future. 
They abandoned her. 

361
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,760
I don't know where if Tamar's 
father was on this but her 

362
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,880
father should have been going to
Judah and saying hey what about 

363
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,320
my daughter? 
She's supposed to be married to 

364
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,320
your son. 
Why isn't she married to your 

365
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,080
son? 
You're putting it to putting her

366
00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:25,400
a terrible risk here. 
You can't blame her for her and 

367
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:27,080
Onan. 
They were rotten kids. 

368
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:29,960
They deserve God took him out, 
not Tamar. 

369
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,640
I don't know where Tamar's 
father was, but he apparently 

370
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:43,080
was not advocating for her. 
Tamar could have disgraced her 

371
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,240
family, disgraced Judah, done 
any number of things to do that,

372
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:52,160
to care for herself. 
Once she did what she did and 

373
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,600
was pregnant with Judah's 
children. 

374
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,760
Once that happened, she could 
have humiliated Judah. 

375
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:00,440
She could have confronted him 
publicly. 

376
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,880
She could have called him out in
front of the whole clan, said 

377
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,080
you're going to burn me at the 
stake for prostitution. 

378
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,880
Guess what bud, you better step 
in the fire with me. 

379
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,720
She could have done that, but 
she didn't. 

380
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,880
She was as forceful as 
necessary, but as gentle as 

381
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,720
possible and bringing Judah to 
repentance and and so doing. 

382
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,360
She showed a faithfulness to her
family when her family had not 

383
00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:31,880
been faithful to her. 
This reminds me of Jesus's words

384
00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:35,360
and the first part of the Sermon
on the Mount, early part of the 

385
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,760
Sermon on the Mount, and he 
said, you know what the law 

386
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:39,160
says? 
He was talking to the morality 

387
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:40,720
police. 
You know what the law says? 

388
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,600
You know what the law says, 
don't kill. 

389
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,520
I'm telling you this, anyone who
holds a grudge in their heart 

390
00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:53,040
against their brother or sister,
just as bad as killing. 

391
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:56,240
I don't even know what the law 
says. 

392
00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:02,880
What the law says is don't 
commit adultery, but if you're 

393
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,400
living in lust in your heart, 
viewing people as objects to be 

394
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:12,480
possessed for your own personal 
use and pleasure, it's just as 

395
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,440
bad as adultery. 
You know what the law says? 

396
00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:19,520
Law says an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. 

397
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:20,640
You know that's in the law, 
right? 

398
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,360
That's, that's part of the same 
law that was do not kill and do 

399
00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:25,040
not commit adultery. 
It all came from God. 

400
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,160
Eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth. 

401
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,040
Jesus said, But I'm telling you,
someone strikes you on one 

402
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:38,400
cheek, turn the other cheek. 
Also, Jesus was communicating to

403
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:43,760
his followers that that 
superficial work of the morality

404
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:48,280
police, while there is a level 
of righteousness into it, it's a

405
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,920
low level. 
The morality police can get only

406
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,760
one thing, and that is 
conformity. 

407
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,920
Conformity of behavior. 
We're going to enforce the law. 

408
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,360
We're going to make everybody do
things the way we think they 

409
00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:02,760
ought to be done, or we're going
to make everybody do things that

410
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,400
we the way we think God wants it
to be done. 

411
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,880
The most you can get being 
morality police is conformity. 

412
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,080
But God wants so much more than 
conformity. 

413
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:18,880
God wants our hearts. 
God wants us treating people out

414
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:25,680
of our hearts as God would treat
them, with compassion, with 

415
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,840
patience, with respect, with 
love, as his children created in

416
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:35,400
his image to have God's law not 
forced upon us by an out or 

417
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,920
enforced upon us by the morality
police, but God's law written on

418
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,360
our hearts so that we naturally 
do those things. 

419
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,920
And this is what Jesus did. 
Jesus hanging on the cross, 

420
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:51,480
publicly shamed and humiliated 
and tortured, hung naked on the 

421
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:59,120
cross in Jerusalem, is praying 
for forgiveness for the people 

422
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:01,640
that stripped him naked and 
nailed him to the cross, 

423
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:10,960
guarding their dignity as Tamar 
guarded Judah's dignity, seeking

424
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:17,480
relationship and reconciliation 
as Tamar was seeking 

425
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:20,880
relationship and reconciliation 
within her family. 

426
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:29,120
This is what God is after, not 
the enforcement of external 

427
00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:32,640
standards, but hearts that 
belong to God. 

428
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:39,160
And this is the righteousness 
that Tamar showed, not someone 

429
00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:44,720
trying to bend other people to 
her will, but treating those 

430
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:48,760
other people as children of God,
people of worth who deserved 

431
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:52,800
dignity and honor and respect. 
Even when they didn't show it to

432
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,920
her, she was going to show it to
them. 

433
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,640
And that's what she did. 
What does all of this have to do

434
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:05,680
with us and our goodness? 
I think, I think Tamar's 

435
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:11,640
behavior and attitudes and heart
in Genesis chapter 38 are a very

436
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:18,360
simple, straightforward model 
for us. 1st, when rebuke is 

437
00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:23,520
necessary, be as gentle as 
possible and only as forceful as

438
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:28,840
necessary. 
I, I got to remind myself most 

439
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,000
of the time it's not my job to 
do the rebuking. 

440
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:36,160
I see a lot of people that I 
identify that I identify as 

441
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,160
knuckleheads. 
You know, I'm not sure how they 

442
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,840
identify, but I identify them as
knuckleheads. 

443
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:48,320
But 99 times out of 100, maybe 
990 times times out of 1000, it 

444
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:53,200
isn't my job to rebuke them. 
It's just not, they're not my, 

445
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:55,920
you know, I don't have the kind 
of relationship with them that 

446
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,280
would make that the right thing 
to do. 

447
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,520
But when I do have that 
responsibility, then I need to 

448
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,880
do it like Tamar did it, as 
gently as possible and only as 

449
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,280
forceful as necessary. 
There's there have been people 

450
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,800
throughout the centuries, 
throughout the millennia who 

451
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,280
have insisted that the God of 
the Old Testament is different 

452
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:16,520
than the God of the New 
Testament. 

453
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,960
Because the God of the Old 
Testament is filled with 

454
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,960
judgement and wrath and 
violence, and the God of the New

455
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,000
Testament is filled with mercy 
and compassion and grace and 

456
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:30,240
forgiveness. 
The folks that say that don't 

457
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,920
have a really thorough, 
meaningful understanding of the 

458
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,080
Old Testament. 
Because when you read the Old 

459
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,600
Testament carefully, you see 
there is judgment and wrath and 

460
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:41,880
anger in the Old Testament for 
sure. 

461
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,960
But you see hundreds of years 
and hundreds of generations of 

462
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:50,800
God calling His people and 
wooing his people and as gently 

463
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,080
as possible and as forcefully as
necessary, correcting His 

464
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,720
people. 
Until after hundreds of years 

465
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,480
and hundreds of generations, 
they reached the point where the

466
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,760
judgement and wrath were the 
force that was necessary to get 

467
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,480
their attention and bring them 
repent to repentance. 

468
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,600
And that's the same God that we 
see in the New Testament, the 

469
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,800
very same God. 
And that's how God invites us to

470
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:22,080
be as gentle as possible and 
only as forceful as necessary as

471
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:27,360
we're rebuking those who we have
a legitimate reason to rebuke. 

472
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,360
Second, labor for yourself and 
for society. 

473
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,040
Work hard. 
It's not just a matter of 

474
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,320
patriotic duty. 
It's not just a matter of 

475
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:39,960
personal welfare. 
It's, it's good. 

476
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,920
It's a right thing to do. 
God created us to work. 

477
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,000
God gave. 
Work was given to human beings 

478
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,480
before sin came into the world. 
Work was given from the very 

479
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,480
beginning. 
Be fruitful, multiply, fill the 

480
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:59,200
earth, subdue the earth, govern 
in my name over the earth. 

481
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,760
That's work. 
And work is a good part of life.

482
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:07,400
And doing work is a good thing, 
not just a smart thing. 

483
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,120
And doing it for ourselves and 
for society to make the world a 

484
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,280
better place. 
Whatever that work is, whether, 

485
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,760
whether it's teaching children, 
whether it's mopping floors, 

486
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,560
whether it's flipping 
hamburgers, whether it's serving

487
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:29,600
chicken, whether it's it's it's 
stitching wounds, driving a bus,

488
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:34,280
laying pipe, what are building 
buildings, all growing food, all

489
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,000
of these things that we do. 
I've had the mindset of doing 

490
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,000
this to serve the world, to make
the world better. 

491
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,560
It's possible to do those things
and not make the world better. 

492
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,800
I did. 
I know because I did. 

493
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,920
I have a great example of this. 
It's one of my favorite stories.

494
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,000
I can tell it now because the 
person who was really mad at me 

495
00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:00,400
is is passed on just working at 
the shake shop across from the 

496
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,640
clinic on Jackson Pike and 
Gallup police. 

497
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,400
When my when the owner was 
there, our boss, I was always 

498
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,200
very nervous and I was not 
allowed to be at the cash 

499
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:11,720
register. 
I was a fry cook. 

500
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,880
He was at the drive through 
window during the lunch rush. 

501
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,880
I was at the I was at the fryer 
making the burgers. 

502
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,360
Someone ordered a double SI. 
Remember this. 

503
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:28,080
It's been like 40 years ago. 
Double stuffed shirt and fries. 

504
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,600
Everything wrapped up, handed 
it, sent it out, handed out the 

505
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,080
window. 15 minutes later, the 
phone rings. 

506
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,640
They want to talk to my boss 
because their double stuffed 

507
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:44,520
shirt had no meat on it. 
Had all the lettuce, tomato, 

508
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,520
onions, Mayo, ketchup and 
mustard. 

509
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,440
Not a bit of meat. 
You can do things that that 

510
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:55,880
didn't make anybody's day better
that day, but even those little 

511
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:59,960
things that can bring a little 
bit of joy or a little bit of 

512
00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:03,000
frustration into other people's 
lives, we do that. 

513
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,080
We can do those things in the 
name of Jesus. 

514
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,320
And it doesn't, it's not been 
just work. 

515
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,040
It's good, it's righteous what 
we're doing. 

516
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,320
It's a way and a part and 
essential part of our 

517
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,680
faithfulness to God and to each 
other. 

518
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,960
And it's an essential part of 
being faithful to our covenant 

519
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:26,560
obligations, even when folks 
around us aren't, is that we 

520
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:28,840
stay faithful to those covenant 
obligations. 

521
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:30,880
This is the example Jesus gave 
us. 

522
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,240
This is the example God has 
given us in the Old and the New 

523
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,000
Testament. 
God says, though you might be 

524
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:43,400
unfaithful, I will be faithful. 
And he calls his followers to 

525
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,640
live in that same kind of way, 
that our love isn't dependent on

526
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:49,600
whether the other person is 
loving us. 

527
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,200
Our love is dependent on the 
love of God that flows out of 

528
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,240
us, that it's not how they treat
us that dictates how we treat 

529
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,720
them, but we treat them how 
Jesus would treat them if he 

530
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,240
were standing in there and with 
us. 

531
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:11,160
And this is the way Tamar live 
and the way God invites us to 

532
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:15,800
live, that we take serious our 
covenant obligations that the 

533
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,880
people that God has placed in 
our care, we care for them, 

534
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:25,160
whether it's our children or our
neighbors or our parents or our 

535
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:29,760
grandparents. 
The God has placed us in their 

536
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,600
lives to give care, to give 
love, to encouragement, to give 

537
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:38,240
support, at times, to give 
guidance and direction at times,

538
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,600
to give shelter and food and 
clothing and medical care. 

539
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,960
And we fulfill those covenant 
obligations, we're called to 

540
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,200
fulfill those covenant 
obligations, even when the that 

541
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,560
person might not have fulfilled 
those to us. 

542
00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,840
And sometimes it's not possible.
Sometimes relationships are 

543
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,400
broken and in such a way that 
there is so much distance that, 

544
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,600
that, that you can't. 
But we can still pray even in 

545
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:06,320
those situations. 
We can still pray. 

546
00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:15,639
I, I think, I think Tamar is 
maybe other than Jesus, the best

547
00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:19,639
picture in all of scripture of 
what it means to be good in a 

548
00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:23,280
system stack against you, 
because everything in that 

549
00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:24,880
system was stacked against 
Tamar. 

550
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,880
She took such a risk in doing 
what she did. 

551
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:34,960
It nearly cost her her life For 
Jesus. 

552
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:40,480
It did cost him his life, and he
did it anyway, nearly cost Tamar

553
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:44,360
her life. 
But she still she still rebuked 

554
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,480
as gently as possible and only 
as forcefully as necessary. 

555
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:55,520
She did what she could do to be 
a contributing part, meaningful 

556
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,680
part of the society in which she
lived. 

557
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,400
And she was faithful to her 
covenant obligations even when 

558
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:07,040
the people around her weren't. 
And that's the life Jesus 

559
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,040
invites us to as well. 
In Jesus name, Amen. 

560
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:10,840
Amen.