Hope for Hypocrites

bad company corrupts good morals.

If you surround yourself with the world, the world is gonna have a greater influence on you than you will ever have on it. And honestly, there may be times that you feel burned by the church. It may be like Judah here, you just wanna get away. I mean, it was probably hard for Judah to be around his inconsolably grieving father. He might have been sick of living this nomad life as a stranger and an alien in a foreign land, and he just wanted to settle down and have a family. But to separate yourself from the people of God is to separate yourself from God himself. And this story illustrates the destructiveness that that can bring. So let's now turn to scene two. where we begin to see the fruit of Judah's worldly choices. So scene two, wickedness, verses six through 10. Verse six continues,

and Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

So by this time, Ur's probably a teenager, and Tamar's another Canaanite woman. Verse seven,

but Ur was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord put him to death.

Now this is actually the first time the Bible speaks of God killing a specific individual. And we're not told anything about the nature of his wickedness or how God killed him. But it sounds like God took some sort of direct and immediate action that made it clear that this was an act of judgment. Perhaps somewhat like later when Nadab and Abihu offer profane fire before the Lord and fire comes out and consumes them. Or when Uzzah touches the ark and God strikes him. Or in the New Testament, when Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit and drop down dead. Or King Herod, when he accepts worship as if he were a god and he's struck and eaten by worms and dies. There's actually many examples in the Bible of God putting people to death as an immediate act of judgment for some particularly egregious sin. And I think these incidents sometimes shock us. Because how many times God chooses not to judge sin immediately? I mean, most of the time, God gives more and more time for repentance and time for just the natural course of one's life to continue on, no matter how sinful people are. I think the problem is we get used to that. We start to expect that and even demand it. And instead of appreciating just how patient and gracious God is, Some of us even get offended by God's judgment. But examples like this should remind us that God is holy, God is just, and God is the giver of life, and God has every right to take it away. And actually, every sin we commit is testing God's patience. It's goading him, provoking him, daring him to come and do something about it. An errs death should be a wake-up call that sometimes God will. I mean, just think of your life. How many times would God have been right to strike you down, to strike me down for our sin? And how grateful we should be for God's consistent patience and grace, and how that should inspire us to turn away from wickedness and fear the Lord. But unfortunately, even after Ur is struck down, Judah and Onan don't seem to get the message. So verse eight continues,

then Judah said to Onan, go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her and raise up offspring for your brother. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother.

Now to understand what's going on here, the first thing we need to understand is something called Leveret marriage. And Leveret has nothing to do with Levites. It comes from the Latin word levere, which means husband's brother. And this was a custom where if one son died without an heir, it became a brother's responsibility to marry the widow and raise up an heir for his brother. Now, of course, this is very weird to us, but in that culture, this was very important for the preservation of a family's lineage and their land, and also for the protection of widows. And that's why it later becomes part of the Mosaic law. In fact, listen to what Deuteronomy 25, verses five through 10 has to say about this. It says,

if brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, The wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he persists saying, I do not wish to take her, Then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, so shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, the house of him who had his sandal pulled off.

Okay, so Leverett marriage is expected under the Mosaic law. And while the brother sort of technically can refuse, he was to be publicly shamed for such a choice because he's selfishly refusing to build up his brother's house. Well, back to this story. Onan doesn't want to build up his brother's house. Maybe he had some sort of beef with Ur, and just out of spite he doesn't want to do it, or more likely it's because Onan, you know, somehow is going to gain more of the inheritance for himself if he doesn't give Eir an offspring. But it sounds like Onan doesn't want the public shame either. So he doesn't just openly refuse to marry Tamar. Instead, He sort of ostensibly does his duty. He goes into her repeatedly, but he wastes the semen on the ground to avoid getting her pregnant. So it's going to look to outsiders like he's being the good faithful brother, but Tamar's the problem because she's not getting pregnant. And this way he can also use her for the pleasure of sex while still depriving both she and his brother of an heir. Okay, so what Onan is doing is just pure selfishness and using Tamar for his own advantage. And that's why verse 10 says,

what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and God put him to death also.

Okay, so he struck down in some immediate way, just like Er was. Now, before we move on, I just want to think for a moment about this practice of leveret marriage and what it means for us. I don't believe that we as Christians should practice this. We live in a completely different cultural context. We're under a new covenant. But I do think it should challenge the way we think about our lives and the kind of responsibilities we have toward others. I mean, because the very fact that the idea of leveret marriage seems so crazy to us, probably serves to illustrate something of just how individualistic and independent our mentality as Americans is. Of course, we think my life is my life. Of course, I should get to marry who I want. I should get to live where I want. I should get to do what I want. I mean, the idea of leverant marriage just feels like a fundamental infringement on our rights. So it's like uncomfortable to us that we would read that in the law of God under the old covenant. But I think it should bring us back to the fact that biblically speaking, our life isn't our life. It's not about our rights or our freedom. It's about God. It's about others. It's about love. It's supposed to be about laying down our interests, our rights, and our freedoms for the good of others in love. And while for us that may not mean marrying your brother's wife, it does mean things like caring for aging parents, remaining faithful in a hard marriage, serving your local church, maybe leaving everything behind and going on the mission field. You see, I think thinking about leverant marriage and owning selfishness should challenge us to consider what kind of limits are you placing on the kind of sacrifice and love that you're willing to show to those around you? And do those limits reflect American standards or biblical ones? At the end of the day, is your life yours or God's? Are we more like Onan, who's selfishly putting his own interests first? We're like Christ, who laid down his life for us and calls us to take up our cross daily and follow him. Well, we've seen worldliness, wickedness, and now let's turn to scene three, deception. This is verses 11 through 23, scene three, deception. And I've labeled it that because here we see Judah deceiving Tamar and then Tamar deceiving Judah. In verse 11, Judah says to Tamar,

remain a widow in your father's house till Shala, my son, grows up. For he feared that he would die like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father's house.

So Judah is obligated to give Sheolah to Tamar next, but he doesn't want to because from his perspective, look, two of my sons are dead. The common denominator is Tamar. He kind of misses the real common denominator of wickedness. So, but again, you know, kind of like Onan, he's not upfront about that. He doesn't just say what the problem is. Instead, he makes this promise to her that he really has no intention of fulfilling. And that leaves her in a position where she's stuck. She just has to wait indefinitely. Now, in the process of time, we find that Judah's wife dies, and by this point, I'm thinking, I mean, Judah's lost two sons and his wife. You would think that after all this tragedy, God would have his attention, but Judah just keeps on living as worldly as before, and meanwhile, Tamar figures out that she's been lied to, and that Judah is not going to fulfill this promise. So one day, Tamar hears that Judah's going to shear his sheep at Timnah, And she hatches a plan, which is elaborate, daring, and tenuous. Okay, she's gonna go pose as a prostitute along the way at Enayim, and wear a veil so that Judah won't recognize her. And she's hoping that Judah is gonna proposition her. And the fact that she can sort of bank on that is quite a condemnation of Judah's character. And then she's also anticipating that he's not gonna have payment handy. So she plans to ask for his staff, signet, and cord, which were all personal identifiers, kind of like asking for someone's driver's license or passport. And then she's completely banking on the fact that through this one-time sexual encounter, she's actually gonna get pregnant. And this is her way of having offspring and leveraging herself back into Judah's family. Okay, so that's why I say this plan is elaborate, it is daring, and it's tenuous. But why does she do this? I mean, does she think that this is somehow noble and right? Does she just want revenge on Judah and she's just trying to expose him? Or, you know, some have argued that she's a woman of faith, that she's heard the promises of Abraham having a seed and she's just desperate to be in the family in hopes that the seed will come through her. Well, I actually think the most likely motivation here is sheer desperation. Judah has placed her in a hopelessly desperate situation. I mean, in that culture, barrenness was worse than death. And as long as Judah continues to lie to her and deny her Sheolah, she is stuck with no possibility of a future or a heritage. So she really has nothing to lose. She is willing to stake everything on the chance that this might possibly gain her a child and leverage her way into a family. So with amazing shrewdness and guts, she puts this plan into motion. And as the story explains, in the sovereign providence of God, it actually works. So she conceives. She's got Judah's signet cord and staff to prove who the father is, and then she just goes home and waits. Now, meanwhile, Judah, of course, tries to make payment to the prostitute and fails, and what's comical about that is the way that Judah is so obviously trying to protect his own honor and save face, even while he's behaving so dishonorably. You know, for one, he, of course, sends his friend to deliver the payment. You get the sense that Hira is the kind of friend who's kind of willing to cover for Judah and spare him the embarrassment of trying to pay a prostitute. But of course here I can't find the prostitute, so Judah quickly calls it off in verse 23. He says,

lest we be laughed at,

right? So clearly that's his greatest fear, that's his concern, not whether he's righteous or not, but the perception of others. And of course, number one, he doesn't want others to know that he's trying to pay a prostitute. And number two, it probably would have been very embarrassing to him if people realized that he trusted a prostitute with his personal identifiers like this. So he just drops the matter. Well, that brings us to the fourth scene in the story. We've seen worldliness, wickedness, deception, and now fourthly, hypocrisy. Verses 24 through 26. Beginning with verse 24, we read,

about three months later, Judah was told, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral,

or more literally, played the prostitute.

Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality. And Judah said, Bring her out and let her be burned.

Okay, so Judah, who just three months earlier had paid a prostitute, now becomes outraged and wants his own daughter-in-law burned for playing the prostitute. The hypocrisy is despicable. And it's honestly terrifying how seared his conscience must be at this point. Also note that Judah makes no effort to investigate this further or even talk to Tamar. It's almost like he leaps at the opportunity to finally be rid of this woman that he made that problematic promise to. But of course, this is actually the moment Tamar's been waiting for all along. In fact, it seems like she even expected Judah to react this way, further showing just how gutsy her plan is because she's actually being brought out to be burned. and then she sends word to Judah. Verse 25 says, the messenger delivers,

by the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant. And she said, please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.

And so before this messenger, before anybody else who's there, Judah is exposed as the father. And this man who has done so much to try to keep up the facade of honor is now shamefully exposed for what he really is. I mean, his despicable hypocrisy is put on full display. It should remind us of when Nathan confronted David about Bathsheba, and he tells him the parable about the ewe lamb, and David is stirred up and cries out,

this man deserves to die.

And then Nathan says,

you are the man.

Judah here stands condemned by his own words. And yet, surprisingly, Judah actually responds to this in a very out-of-character way. Instead of trying to save face, instead of denial, instead of excuses, instead of anger, he confesses,

she is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son, Shelah.

Okay, so he admits it. It's my child in her womb. So if she's guilty of sexual immorality, so am I. And then more than that, Judah acknowledges that compared to him, she's righteous because he's the one who put her in this desperate situation. He lied to her about Shayla, so he got what he deserved by being tricked and exposed by her. And we see for the first time, Judah comes clean, he confesses his sin, he takes responsibility. And note the little clarification at the end of verse 26. It says,

and he did not know her again.

I think that's intended to vindicate Judah from the charge of incest. He didn't continue in an incestuous relationship with her. But the fact that that clarification was even needed probably does indicate that he took her in. that he began to provide for her, that he took responsibility for her like he ought. And it's a hint that Judah's beginning to do what's right. He's beginning to act in a decent, honorable way. And it shows us that his confession is a good example for us. And I want us to notice three things about it in particular. First, notice that Judah minimizes Tamar's sin and magnifies his own.

She is more righteous than I.

Second, notice that he brings the real crux of the issue to light.

Because I did not give to her my son, Shayla.

And third, notice that he makes no excuses. There's no, but she lied to me, but she tricked me. It's just, this is what I did and I have no excuse. And so when we confess our sin, it should be like that. We should not make excuses. There may be times that we need to clarify what we're apologizing for. You know, for example, maybe your intentions were good even if your actions were wrong, so you can't apologize for malice, but you can apologize for acting rashly. But the point is, whatever you're actually apologizing for, don't make excuses for that. Also, make sure in confession you bring the real crux of the issue to light. You know, how often our sin is really like an iceberg and it's only the tip that's actually been exposed. So how tempting it is to just sort of confess the part they already know about, because we know we can satisfy them with that confession. But when we confess, we confess in the sight of God. And while that may not mean going into all the exhaustive detail, it at least means bringing the real crux of the issue to light. Confessing the way that God would have us confess. And then finally, make sure in confession, you're talking about your sin and not someone else's. Confession is not the time to bring up all the ways that somebody else hurt you. It's the time to turn the magnifying glass on ourselves and our sin and what we did wrong. I think when God truly convicts us of sin, the sins of others are gonna get small and your sin is going to be big Because it no longer is about you versus this other person, it becomes about you before the holy God. And kind of like Isaiah in our call to worship, we cry out,

woe is me, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips.

I am the sinner, I need grace. And so that's why true confession, it leaves us in such a vulnerable, helpless, and sometimes even hopeless feeling position. I mean, just think about Judah here. What reason for hope does Judah have in light of what he's done? He's got no excuse. He's totally exposed. All he can do is just admit it. Well, It brings us to the fifth and the final scene in our story, because this offers hope. So we've seen worldliness, wickedness, deception, hypocrisy, and now finally scene five, hope. Verses 27 through 30. It says,

when the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand saying, this one came out first. But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out, and she said, what a breach you have made for yourself. Therefore, his name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah,

which means scarlet. Now, the unusual circumstances of this birth should give us a clue. Because as I said at the beginning, the whole storyline of Genesis revolves around the promise of a seed who will one day crush the serpent's head. So whenever there's this unusual or surprising birth, that's a clue that God may be up to something. But then further, this should also remind us of another pair of twins, Jacob and Esau. where we've already seen God's surprising providence at play in who the line of Messiah is going to be given to. Because, of course, Jacob and Esau also had a struggle for firstborn status, and God chose the unexpected one instead. Well, here, Zerah sticks out his hand first, so it looks like he's the firstborn, and he's marked with a scarlet thread. And this also is a little bit reminiscent of Esau, who's called Edom, which means red, and he was the red, hairy one. But then Perez suddenly jumps in front and seizes the firstborn status from Zerah. And so he's named Perez or Breach, which is reminiscent of how Jacob outmaneuvers Esau to seize the birthright and the blessing for himself. Okay, so there's hints here. God is up to something. In fact, I think the details of this birth hint strongly that Perez is the one through whom the promised seed will come. And after a story that's just been full of worldliness, wickedness, deception, and hypocrisy, this ends on this ray of hope. It's a sign that God has not forgotten his promise. That in spite of all the sin, God is still going to be faithful to his promise. And even more amazingly, that God is actually going to use the scandalous union of a daughter-in-law with her father-in-law to bring to pass his promise. I mean, if anything could display God's willingness to use broken means to fulfill his promises, this is it. And if you have any doubt about all that, just from the text of Genesis 38, you can flip ahead in your Bibles to Matthew chapter one, and look at verses one through three. And here, of course, we read of the genealogy of Jesus himself. Matthew says,

the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron,

and so on. Okay, so first, Perez is there in the Messianic line. Right, I mean, God chose that through Judah and Tamar and Perez, Jesus would be born. But then also notice that even the way Matthew shares about this, he actually includes extra detail. Pretty much everybody else, it's just the father and the son. And then it's like Matthew slows down and he says,

and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

As if to remind us of the story, emphasize the story. And make the point that this is not just some embarrassing accident that the Messiah comes through this kind of means. But this was actually all part of the sovereign plan of God. And why would God choose to give the honor of being in the Messianic line to a couple like this? I mean, what does Judah do to deserve this? Nothing at all. And that's the point. This is not about Judah, this is about God's grace. This is to point us to the hope of a God who holds out hope for hypocrites, hope to prostitutes, hope to liars, hope to even the most despicable sinners who admit their sin. And that brings us back to what I said at the beginning, is the main idea I want you to take from this passage. Because of the gospel, We can be exposed for what we really are, yet receive salvation instead of judgment. I mean, apart from the gospel, to be exposed like Judah can only mean destruction. Because we live in a world where there is no true grace, and we're accountable to a God who is perfect in his justice. I mean, just think for a moment about how the world handles sin. You either try to hide it, to perpetuate the facade that you're something you're not? Or else you try to justify it. And I think that's part of why we hear so much like, things like abortion is a woman's right. Love is love. I can't help it that I was born this way. I'm a victim. So my actions are excusable. We either hide it or we justify it, but there's really nowhere in the world where you can come out and say, I'm wrong. I've done evil. And that can be okay. I mean, there is no solution for that. There's no real grace. And then think for a moment about sin before God. I mean, he is the God who is holy, holy, holy. He is a consuming fire. He's of pure eyes than to behold iniquity and cannot look upon sin. He's the judge of all the earth who always does right, and that means he by no means clears the guilty. So apart from the gospel, what hope do we have in our sin? There is none. To be exposed would only mean to be destroyed and to face eternal judgment. Well, friends, the wonderful message of Genesis 38 is that sinners like Judah, sinners like us can be exposed for what we really are and yet have hope. We can receive salvation instead of judgment by the grace of God. And it's all because God was faithful to his promise to send a seed. And it's because when that seed came, Jesus Christ not only came, but died on the cross for our sins.

God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

He paid the price so that there might be real grace, not just for people who make little mistakes, but people like Judah, who are fundamentally despicable and hypocritical to the core. And now, Because of the gospel, whoever admits their sin and calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

For if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

How sweet is the grace of the gospel. Friend, if you're here and you're not a believer, I want you to understand, I mean, this is the message that we cling to as Christians. This is what we all confess together. We are not Christians because we think we are good, non-hypocritical, righteous people. We're Christians because, like Judah, we admit we need a savior, we need grace. And we rejoice in a God who freely bestows grace on all who call upon him. Now before we close, I just wanna point out a few final points of application, and I've worded each of these in the form of a question. So three questions for you to consider. Number one, do you show gospel grace to others? In order to ask this a little more pointedly, if Judah came to our church, would you welcome him? Would his confession and repentance be enough? or with knowing that he sold his brother, that he went into a prostitute, and that he treated his daughter-in-law like a dirt bag, would that just forever color your view of him? Would that make you distance yourself from him? Because if the holy God welcomes Judas into fellowship with himself on the basis of confession, how much more should sinners like you and me? And you see, if in the name of being holy, We become unwelcoming to sinners who've done despicable things. It's because we're actually more like the world than unlike it. It should be the grace of the gospel that makes the church unique. Now that brings us to a second question. What do you do when someone else won't forgive you? What about when you or I are in Judah's position? I mean, it's certainly an uncomfortable feeling. There's certainly practical steps we can take to pursue reconciliation. We can try to offer a better confession and a sincere apology. We can try to involve others to help work things out, but sometimes we've done what we can and others just aren't forgiving us like they ought. And here's the real crux of my concern that I wanna address today. Does that ever make you bitter? I mean, do you ever find yourself in the situation where someone is just not forgiving you like they should and you are becoming kind of resentful, that kind of bitter toward them? And I just wanna challenge us as we think about the uniqueness of the grace of the gospel and the way that Judah is exposed here. And all he can do is confess it. There's nothing that he can do to sort of earn forgiveness. I want us to be reminded that forgiveness is never deserved. I mean, if you deserved it, it wouldn't be forgiveness. It wouldn't be grace. And when you and I are asking someone to forgive us, we don't have excuses. We're like Judah here. And so paradoxically, while yes, if a fellow Christian is withholding forgiveness from you, They're sinning before God. They have every responsibility to forgive, but that doesn't mean you and I are just entitled to forgiveness. And I think what can happen is we can lose sight of just how serious sin really is. And we start to view our sin as too light, and therefore we get bitter at those who aren't forgiving us because we feel this entitlement to us. And I think this passage should remind us that at the end of the day, forgiveness is something we should always give, but never demand. And forgiveness is something that we should be eternally grateful. In a certain sense, almost surprised and amazed that God so freely and consistently gives to us. We don't deserve it. We're not entitled to it. And yet God by his sheer grace and mercy has provided the means of our forgiveness through Christ. And how that should transform the way that we confess our sin and think about the reality that we wrong others. And then third and finally, I want you to just ask the question, what do you fear having exposed? Now, where in your life might you be in Judah's position before Tamar sort of brought his sin to light? First of all, we need to understand that it's actually the grace of God for that to come to light now before it's too late. And it was God's kindness that he allowed all of that situation to happen so that Judah had his back against the wall and had to confront his sin. Because at the end of the day, if we die in our sins, we will stand, we will all be exposed before the judgment seat of Christ when it's too late. But in whatever things we are sort of hiding, whatever ways that we are being hypocrites now, may this passage spur us on to take the mask off, to step into the light, to be honest about what we have done and what is wrong and to strive to make that right. I wanna close by just hearing the words of Christ from John chapter three. Jesus says,

for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

And so friends, will you come to the light? A light that is coming to the world not to bring condemnation, but that we might be saved through him. Will we trust in Christ and step into his light and allow what we do to be carried out in God? Amen, let's pray. Our Father, how we thank you and praise you that because of this good news of the gospel, we can be exposed to what we really are and yet receive salvation instead of judgment. Oh God, thank you that we can look to the example of a man like Judah and see your surprising and amazing grace. How I pray that that would fill us with joy and hope. How I pray that that would transform the way we treat one another. Lord, I pray it would build in us, stir in us greater love for you and a desire to honor you with our lives. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.