Phil is going to come and read to us from Genesis 38 and 39.
A long story.
Well, it's the two stories, but as we'll see,
two stories that speak of the same story of salvation.
It can be found on page 42 of the Church Bibles.
At that time, Judah left his brothers
and went down to stay with a man of Adalam named Hirah.
There, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua.
He married her and lay with her.
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son who was named Er.
She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.
She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah.
It was at Kazib that she gave birth to him.
Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight,
so the Lord put him to death.
Then Judah said to Onan,
Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her
as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother.
But Onan knew that his offspring would not be his.
So whenever he lay with his brother's wife,
he spilt his semen on the ground
to keep from producing offspring for his brother.
What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight,
so he put him to death also.
Judah then said to his daughter-in-law, Tamar,
Live as a widow in your father's house
until my son Shelah grows up,
for he thought he may die too, just like his brothers.
So Tamar went to live in her father's house.
After a long time, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died.
When Judah had recovered from his grief,
he went up to Timnah to the men who were shearing his sheep,
and his friend Hirah the Adalemite went with him.
When Tamar was told,
Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to his sheep,
she took off her widow's clothes,
covered herself with a veil to disguise herself,
and then sat down at the entrance to Anayim,
which is on the road to Timnah.
For she saw that though Shelah had now grown up,
she had not been given to him as his wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute,
for she had covered her face.
Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law,
he went over to her by the roadside and said,
Come now, let me sleep with you.
And what will you give me to sleep with you?
She asked.
I'll send you a young goat from my flock, he said.
Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?
She asked.
He said, What pledge should I give you?
Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand, she answered.
So he gave them to her and slept with her,
and she became pregnant by him.
After she left, she took off her veil
and put on her widow's clothes again.
Meanwhile, Judah sent the young goat by his friend,
the Adulamite, in order to get his pledge back from the woman,
but he did not find her.
When he asked the men who lived there,
Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Anayim?
They said, There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here, they said.
So he went back to Judah and said, I didn't find her.
Besides, the men who lived there said,
There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.
Then Judah said, Let her keep what she has,
or we will become a laughing stock.
After all, I did send her this young goat,
but you didn't find her.
About three months later, Judah was told,
Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, is guilty of prostitution,
and as a result, she is now pregnant.
Judah said, Bring her out and have her burned to death.
As she was being brought out,
she sent a message to her father-in-law.
I am pregnant by the man who owns these, she said.
And she added, See if you recognize
whose seal and cord and staff these are.
Judah recognized them and said,
She is more righteous than I,
since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah,
and he did not sleep with her again.
When the time came for her to give birth,
there were twin boys in her womb,
and as she was giving birth,
one of them put out his hand.
So the midwife took a scarlet thread
and tied it onto his wrist and said,
This one came out first.
But when he drew back his hand,
his brother came out, and she said,
So this is how you have broken out.
And he was named Perez.
Then his brother,
who had the scarlet thread on his wrist,
came out, and he was given the name Zerah.
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard,
bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered,
and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
When his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,
Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.
Potiphar put him in charge of his household
and entrusted to his care everything he owned.
From the time he put him in charge of his household
and of all that he owned,
the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian
because of Joseph.
The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had,
both in the house and in the field.
So he left in Joseph's care everything he had.
With Joseph in charge,
he did not concern himself with anything
except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well built and handsome,
and after a while,
his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,
come to bed with me.
But he refused.
With me in charge, he told her,
my master does not concern himself
with anything in the house.
Everything he owns, he is entrusted to my care.
No one is greater in this house than I am.
My master has withheld nothing from me except you
because you are his wife.
How then could I do such a wicked thing
and sin against God?
And though she spoke to Joseph day after day,
he refused to go to bed with her
or even to be with her.
One day, he went into the house to attend to his duties,
and none of the household servants was inside.
She caught him by his cloak and said,
come to bed with me.
But he left his cloak in her hand
and ran out of the house.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand
and had run out of the house,
she called out to her household servants,
look, she said to them,
this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us.
He came in here to sleep with me,
but I screamed.
When he heard me scream for help,
he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.
Then she told him this story.
That Hebrew slave you brought us
came to me to make sport of me.
But as soon as I screamed for help,
he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.
When his master heard the story,
his wife told him, saying,
this is how your slave treated me,
he burned with anger.
Joseph's master took him and put him in prison,
the place where the king's prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison,
the Lord was with him.
He showed him kindness and granted him favour
in the eyes of the prison warden.
So the warder put Joseph in charge
of all those held in the prison
and he was made responsible for all that was done there.
The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care
because the Lord was with Joseph
and gave him success in whatever he did.
Now, can you turn back with me
to those chapters that Phil read for us?
Genesis 38 and 39.
I want us to think this morning from God's word
of the reality that God's people
are those who are saved by grace
in order to live holy lives,
to see how the stories of Judah and Joseph
help us to get to that truth.
Now, I guess some of us will have noticed
that it's Oscar season in Hollywood.
One of the movies that people are talking about
is the film 1917 because it was filmed
in a single take, something new,
both in terms of direction and cinematography.
I find Moses' storytelling is so interesting
and compelling as you get into the details of Genesis.
Here he is writing the story of salvation.
And what's Moses' cinematography?
How does he lay out the story?
Well, here in chapters 38 and 39,
we have these two brothers.
We have Judah and Joseph.
We have two journeys, both going down.
So in one sense, we can think about it
as a sort of split screen,
these two diverging stories,
but they also come together.
There are contrasts,
but they both help us to understand
the big idea of God's salvation
that Moses wants to share with the people then
and with us today.
So on one level, we can read them,
and we will in a sense read them
as negative and positive example stories,
but much more than that,
they're helping us to see the story of salvation,
to learn new things about God's grace
and about how God's people are to live.
So as always, when we come to God's Word
and to these stories,
we're going to see how they relate
to the wider story of salvation,
how we can draw applications to our own lives,
and principally, we want to see Jesus
as the great hero of this story of salvation always.
So two stories of similarity and contrast.
Maybe one question we should ask at the beginning,
we've seen that Moses is writing the story
of Jacob's family,
and he's focused from the beginning
on one of the sons called Joseph.
So then we need to ask ourselves,
well, why is Genesis 38 here?
Why does it seem like there's this page break
and into the story of Joseph comes Judah?
Well, one of the things as we see the whole story,
and we'll get there in a few weeks,
we'll understand that Judah too
is on a spiritual journey.
We're going to see that God is going to choose him
to be the line through which God's King Jesus will come,
and so we're going to see his spiritual transformation,
and we'll think about that in part today.
But I think that's why this story is here.
But it's also here because it helps to provide
a number of points of connection
and contrast with the Joseph story.
So we'll begin thinking about journeys.
Both of them, we're told,
at the beginning of each chapter, went down.
Look at chapter 38, verse 1.
At that time, Judah left his brothers
and went down to stay with a man of Adullam.
And then chapter 39 begins,
now Joseph had been taken down.
So we see Judah's journey is a free choice.
Here is Judah walking away from his family.
His father is mourning,
and Judah walks away,
and in so doing is also separating himself
from Jacob, his father,
who had received the promises of God.
There is something shocking in Judah
separating himself from the family.
The nation has dealt with a minor shock
of Harry and Meghan walking away
from the royal family.
Here is a much more significant departure.
And he's gone there,
and he will marry a Canaanite woman.
Abraham had said,
I don't want my son to marry a Canaanite.
Isaac had said,
I don't want my son to marry a Canaanite.
But Judah decides that's exactly
what he's going to do.
So that's the beginning of Judah's journey,
whereas Joseph, we see,
he has been sold into slavery.
We saw this last week.
So Judah came up with the idea
to sell Joseph into the hands of these traders,
and he will become a slave in Egypt.
So we have this contrast.
We have one son, disobedient son, Judah.
He's living in the promised land,
and we find Joseph, the obedient son,
he's living in the land of oppression
and slavery,
a land dominated by the anti-God of the Pharaohs.
But one is walking with God.
One is walking away.
The imagery of journey is important.
And I wonder today,
as we find ourselves in church,
would we describe our spiritual journey
as one of walking towards God
and walking with God?
Or like Judah,
are we walking away from God?
What are the measures that we use
to look at which direction
our spiritual journey is?
Perhaps you can think about
your connection to the Word of God.
Do you find yourself
reading the Bible regularly
and enjoying that time
to enjoy fellowship
with your Father in heaven?
Perhaps we can think about
your connection to church.
Are you glad to be able
to have the privilege
of worshiping your God?
Are we making the most of
fellowship with God's people?
What is our connection to Jesus,
the Son of God?
Is He someone we're intrigued by?
Or is He more than that?
Is He someone we are trusting in
as our Lord and our Savior?
It's important for us to think about
our direction,
our spiritual journey.
In these chapters,
another similarity,
another contrast,
we find God's verdict
on their lives at this point.
One, we see judgment.
The other, Joseph,
we see receives blessing.
So we can perhaps remind ourselves
of Judah's story
and his family's story.
Chapter 38,
we can read it verse 7.
Ere, Judah's firstborn,
was wicked in the Lord's sight,
so the Lord put him to death.
Onan, verses 9 and 10,
is also wicked in his actions
in the Lord's sight,
so he put him to death also.
And Judah, too,
is guilty of unrighteousness.
His leaving,
his father leaving those promises behind
was unrighteous.
His marriage to a Canaanite woman
was unrighteous.
His failure to keep his promise
to his daughter-in-law,
Tamar,
was unrighteous.
His seeking out a prostitute
was unrighteous.
And one of the wonderful things
about the story of Judah
is we see that this unrighteous man
will receive mercy from God.
He'll receive a place
in the family of God.
He stands for us
as an object lesson
in the mercy
and the grace of God.
We see Ere and Onan,
these two sons,
are both unrighteous.
Ere is simply described
as wicked,
whereas Onan's actions,
as a lawbreaker,
failing to fulfill his duties,
he, too,
is wicked
and God judges them.
And that reminds us
that God's justice is real.
Something perhaps
we don't like to think about,
but it's something
the Bible never hides from us.
The justice
and the judgment of God
is intended to be
an alarm to us,
a wake-up call
to be right with our God.
In this story,
we see God's justice is real
and sometimes
that judgment comes immediately.
Here he is judging
Ere and Onan
for their wickedness.
Other times,
because of the patience of God,
that judgment comes
after death
on wickedness.
But we need to be clear
that the penalty
for God's broken law
always comes
because God is just.
What about the verdict
on Joseph's life?
We see repeating,
verse 2 as an example,
that the Lord
was with Joseph.
Verse 5,
we see from the time
he put him in charge
of his household
and of all that he owned,
the Lord blessed
the household
of the Egyptian
because of Joseph.
In Genesis 12,
a promise had been made
to Abraham.
God said to Abraham,
I will bless you
and those who bless you,
I will bless.
Others will be blessed
because of Abraham.
And here we see this
coming true
in the life
of another family member,
in the life of Joseph.
Even while he is a servant
in Egypt,
the Lord is with him
and the Lord is blessing him
and those around him.
Even when he finds himself
in the prison cell,
the Lord is with him
and the Lord shows
his favor to him
and provides blessing
to those around him.
And so we have
this wonderful comfort
that even when providence
and circumstance
are hard
and Joseph had a hard path
to walk,
yet for the people of God,
we know that God
is still with us
and he is still for us.
But again,
as we look on the different verdicts
that God makes
on these lives,
if we were to examine ourselves
in our standing
before God today,
what verdict would God issue
on my life,
on your life?
One of the wonderful things
that we find in the Bible
is the gospel.
And there we find
at the heart
of the message
of the gospel,
the good news
of what God has done
in Jesus
is that Jesus goes
to the cross
not because of any wrong
that he has done,
but he goes to the cross
taking on himself
the sins of his people.
Jesus will take
the curse of God
for covenant breaking
on behalf of
his people.
The just will die
for the unjust
so that
we might receive
the blessing of God.
that's not
what we deserve.
But by God's grace
in Jesus,
that's what
we might
receive.
As our stories
continue,
as Moses retells them,
another
similarity
and contrast,
we see it
in terms of
temptation
and sexual
ethics.
So look with me
at chapter 38
in verse 15
and 16.
Notice too
that the Bible
never hides
just how
mixed up
and sinful
people can be.
When Judah
saw her,
he thought
his daughter-in-law
was a prostitute
for she had
covered her face.
Not realizing
that she was
his daughter-in-law,
he went over
to her
by the roadside
and said,
come now,
let me
sleep with you.
So here
is Judah
looking for comfort
but deliberately
walking
into
adultery.
Here is Judah
with no thought
of God,
no thought
of God's
standards,
no thought
of consequences.
Here he is
walking
eyes wide
open
into
temptation.
Contrast
that with
Joseph
chapter 39
over our page
verse 7
end of verse 6
into verse 7.
Now Joseph
was well built
and handsome
and after a while
his master's wife
took notice
of Joseph
and said,
come to bed
with me.
And notice
as Joseph
speaks to
Potiphar's wife,
he makes clear
both that he wants
to honour
Potiphar,
his master,
but he wants
to honour God
as his
greater
master.
Look at the
end of verse 9.
How then
could I do
such a wicked
thing
sin and
sin
against God?
And we
find in
verse 12
as she
tries again
and again
in verse 12
she caught
Joseph by
his cloak
and said,
come to bed
with me,
but he left
his cloak
in her hand
and ran
out of
the house.
He runs
from temptation.
He maintains
his commitment
to God's
values
while in
hostile
Egypt.
And in
these two
stories
there would
be a
really
important
lesson
for the
nation
of
Israel.
And if
you know
the Old
Testament
you'll
know
this
reality
that one
of the
great
temptations
for them
was to
look at
the lifestyle,
the culture
of the
people around
them,
and especially
around the
subject of
worship,
other
religious
practices
connected
worship and
prostitution.
there was
this
temptation
to the
nation
of
Israel
to
follow
the
pagan
sexual
practices
of the
surrounding
nations.
And that
continues to
be a
challenge to
God's
church
today.
How will
we respond
to the
voices and
the temptations
of our
own culture?
Will we as
a church
resist
following the
sexual ethic
that our
culture
promotes?
Will we
lovingly
challenge the
culture with
God's
ideal?
Where sex
is recognized
as a gift
of God
reserved for
marriage?
And that
would be so
important to
the nation
of Israel
as part of
their witness
to the fact
that they
were a
different kind
of community.
As the
story continues
we see
another point
of similarity
and contrast
and it's
in the way
that there
is evidence
that is
produced at
critical moments
in the
story.
So again
let's begin
with Judah.
So if you
remember
Judah's
daughter-in-law
becomes pregnant
by him.
Word comes
that she has
been guilty
of adultery.
Judah announces
that she
should die.
And then in
verse 25
and 26
as she was
being brought
out she sent
a message to
her father-in-law
I am pregnant
by the man
who owns
these.
See if you
recognize whose
seal and cord
and staff
these are.
Judah recognized
them and said
she is more
righteous
than I.
In Judah's
case the
evidence presented
convicts him
and he is
honest enough
to say she's
more righteous
than I am.
But what about
in the story
of Joseph
chapter 39
verse 13
onwards
when Potiphar's
wife saw
that he had
left his cloak
in her hand
and had run
out of the house
she called
her household
servants
look this
Hebrew has
been brought
in to us
to make
sport of us.
He came in
here to sleep
with me but I
screamed when he
heard me scream
for help he
left his cloak
beside me and
ran out of the
house.
False evidence
is presented.
Joseph is
wrongly accused
and wrongly
convicted and
sent to prison
but he is
righteous and
God's continued
presence with
him is testimony
to that.
God's continued
favor on his
life is evidence
of that.
So Moses here
as the salvation
storyteller
has got these
two contrasting
stories.
There's these
key themes
that run
through both
but their
stories are
going along
different tracks
at the moment
but as we
take in mind
that the bigger
story of salvation
we'll see how
both of them
fit.
So we're going
to zoom out
a little
and we're going
to see how
chapters 38
and 39
fit into
God's big
picture.
First thing
we want to
see the emphasis
from the story
of Judah
as it continues
is that God
saves his
people by
grace
alone.
In a few
weeks we will
discover Judah
as someone who
is spiritually
transformed,
as someone who
will plead for
his brother,
one who is
willing to
sacrifice himself
for the sake
of his family.
He is a key
player in
restoring this
family of God
and as his
father reaches
his point
where he's
going to die
and he wants
to bless his
sons,
Judah is
identified as
the chosen
tribe.
He's described
as the lion
of Judah
and kings
would come
from him.
Jesus would
come from
Judah's family
but at this
point,
Judah is
guilty of sin
and Judah
needs the
grace of
forgiveness.
Moses,
in recording
salvation history
is so helpful
to us as
readers because
he never
attempts to
gloss over
the terrible
mistakes,
the wickedness
of Judah
and other
characters and
in so doing
he presents
hope for us
all.
What have we
learned of
Judah in the
last couple
of weeks?
He's somebody
who hated
his brother,
somebody who
sold his
brother into
slavery.
He is one
who abandoned
his family,
who walked
away from
God's promises
and walking
away from
his father
as someone
who walked
into sexual
sin.
I wonder
if as we
pause we
can identify
with Judah.
I wonder
if there is a
time or many
times perhaps
when we've
lost our
temper and
wished ill on
someone else.
Perhaps as we
look at our
own story we
see times where
we have failed
to honour
our parents,
where we
have fallen
into the
trap of
sibling rivalry
and jealousy.
Maybe we're
here today and
we've rejected
the path of
our parents
because we've
rejected their
faith.
We've said
no to God
to go our
own way.
Perhaps in
our story we
too have
satisfied sexual
desires in
harmful,
unbiblical
ways.
If our
conscience says
to us that
we are
guilty then
we need
repentance and
we need
faith in the
Lord Jesus
and we need
God's grace
that comes to
us through
Jesus just
as much as
Judah.
Grace,
God's loving
kindness to
those who
don't deserve
it and who
can never
earn it.
That grace
that comes to
us freely
in the
sending of
Jesus to
be our
substitute,
to be our
sacrifice,
to be our
savior.
And in
Jesus we
see one who
will live
perfectly.
We see one
who will at
all points
resist temptation.
We see one
who will
honor his
father.
One who
regardless of
circumstance
will walk in
obedience the
path that God
had set for
him and
Jesus will
die for
lawbreaker.
When we
look at the
cross we
recognize the
justice of
God.
That while
God's people
deserve
punishment,
deserve
death,
deserve
hell,
Jesus to
satisfy God's
justice takes
the penalty
there on the
cross.
And at the
same time as
justice is
served so we
see love is
extended and
we are invited
to receive that
love ourselves
in receiving
Jesus as
our savior.
We are
invited to
believe in
him and
to be
saved.
When we
think about
Judah's story
we see one
who is a
prodigal son,
one who needs
to be restored
by grace.
perhaps many
of us know
Jesus' famous
story of a
young son who
walked away from
his father who
said I want my
share of the
inheritance now and
then he goes away
to enjoy his
life, wild
living, making
sinful choices but
enjoying freedom as
he thought it.
But then he finds
himself penniless and
homeless.
He finds famine
comes to him and
it's that famine,
it's that desperation
that makes him
come to his
senses, makes him
return home.
That's the path
towards spiritual
restoration.
And we can see
and we will see
those features
in the story
of Judah.
And it's a
wonderful thing
that though Judah
has fallen far
away from God
at this stage,
that God will
welcome him
into his family.
And God gives
to Judah a key
place and part
in the story
of salvation
through his
family line.
Indeed, Judah's
family tree
highlights God's
grace.
Judah, this
sinner from whom
God's king will
come, we find
Tamar, who's
in the family
line of
Jesus.
We find
Perez, this
child born of
sexual sin, who
is in Jesus'
family tree.
There is grace
even in the
story of Judah
because of the
greatness of
our God.
And so there is
hope for us if
our lives have
followed a similar
track to that of
Judah.
If we have
made choices that
have taken us
to shameful
places perhaps,
if we have
lived a
wild life with
no thought of
God, if we
have deliberately
turned our back
on God in order
to go our own
way, the
message of the
Bible is that
grace is offered
to you in
Jesus.
There is
forgiveness for
sin in him,
that we can be
declared righteous
in God's sight
because of
Jesus.
We can have
new birth and
become new
creations in
Christ Jesus.
We can be
adopted into
the family of
God, not
because of who
we are but
because of who
God is and
the gift he has
given us in
Jesus.
This is also
hope for us if
we find ourselves
praying for
prodigal sons and
daughters in our
own lives.
if we carry on
our hearts that
burden of those
who have walked
away from the
faith, those who
we have sought to
teach and to
train and to
love and to
pray for.
The story of
Judah is one of
those stories that
reminds us to
keep trusting and
to keep praying and
to keep asking for
God's grace to
open people's
eyes.
So Judah teaches
us that God's
people are saved
by grace alone.
The story of
Joseph reminds us
that God's people
are saved by grace
in order to live
holy lives.
So Moses has
been recording
these stories and
it's that same
Moses who recorded
the Ten Commandments
at Mount Sinai.
And the Ten
Commandments begins
with a preface and
that preface says,
I am the Lord your
God who brought you
out of the land of
slavery.
The Ten Commandments
are introduced from
this standpoint that
God was their
redeemer, God was
their rescuer, God
had ended their
slavery so that they
might become his,
then that they
might obey.
In response, you
shall have no other
gods before me.
And on it goes.
And that's always the
truth.
God saves his
people.
God acts in power
so that slavery is
broken.
For us, it's not
political or
physical slavery,
but there is a
slavery to our
idols where there
are things that we
put in a more
important place than
God in our lives.
There are things that
we live for, even
good things that take
the place on the
throne of our hearts
that belongs to God.
And only God can
remove that slavery
so that we can have
things in their
proper place.
It's God who breaks
the slavery to our
sinful rebellion.
We are slaves to sin
and we are powerless
to do anything about
that, but God in his
grace and by his
spirit and through his
son can break that
power and can give us
freedom in Christ.
And God saves his
people so that we
might be adopted as
God's children.
So we might live
knowing that's our
new identity and
that we might gladly
respond in obedience
that as adopted
children we would take
on our father's family
values and live for
him.
One of the things
that's clear in the
way that Moses writes
the story of salvation
history in the early
books of the Bible is
that the people of God
are intended to be like
a light to the nations
that in their worship,
in their lifestyle, in
their pursuit of justice
and mercy, in their
sexual ethics, they were
to draw other people out
from their darkness
because there's this new
community and it's
attractive.
And Joseph, he's a
pattern of that kind of
life.
He lives with obedience
to God.
He lives with integrity.
He works hard and he
works well and he lives
for the glory of God
even in Egypt.
Surrounded by unbelief
and other gods, he
remains faithful.
When he's tempted into
sexual sin, he remains
obedient and he honors
God.
When he's facing hard
providence and it would
have been easy to be
bitter, to grumble, we
don't see anything of that
in Joseph.
I was reminded this week
of the early church.
I was reading an article
that was asking the
question, why did anyone
become a Christian in the
first three centuries of
the Roman Empire?
When the whole power of
the Roman Empire was
putting the squeeze on
the Christian church, when
it was throwing people in
prison, when people being
removed from their jobs
and were losing everything
and were being killed, why
did anyone become
Christians?
Why did anyone become
a Christian church?
Larry Hurtado, a New
Testament scholar, talks
about the Christian unique
social project as one of
those compelling factors
towards people becoming
Christian.
That here was a new
community and they put
others first.
They weren't self-centered.
There was care for the
poor, there was care for
the suffering and that was
attractive and it was good.
It was a community of
peace and welcome.
It was a community that
didn't put up barriers and
dividing lines in a very
divided society and that was
seen as good and attractive.
They were a people marked by
forgiveness and wanting
reconciliation rather than
seeking out revenge, attacking,
hating, killing.
And that was striking and that was
good.
And they saw sex as a gift of
God to be reserved for
marriage.
They didn't use it for power.
They didn't regard it as just
an appetite and that was seen as
attractive and good.
Like Joseph, the church has always
been called to live as strangers
in a land not our own.
We're citizens of heaven and we are
to represent God and to live for
the glory of God in a way that
attracts others towards the God who
we love and serve.
So as we close, let me ask, have you
seen how good God is?
And have you seen how good God's story
of salvation is?
Going back to films, my brother is
one of those who whenever he goes and
sees a movie and he likes it, he'll
always come back.
Have you seen the movie?
Well, you need to.
His natural response is to recommend.
That's something I think we all need to
learn when we see the goodness of God
and his story of salvation.
Though we don't stand on the side and
be like critics, perhaps.
Standing in judgment over God's word
and God's salvation story.
Standing in judgment over Jesus, his
savior.
Rather, let God's word stand in judgment
over us.
Don't remain impartial and unmoved by
this, the greatest story ever told.
Rather, enter into this story as we are
invited to.
First of all, to see the darkness in our
own hearts.
To see the needs in our own lives of
being reconciled to God.
Consider carefully the light and the
love that God extends into the world.
Especially in the sending of Jesus,
the savior.
That we would believe in him.
We would trust in him.
We'd turn from sin and turn towards God
through faith in Jesus.
To become part of this great story
ourselves.
And then, that we would live to share
this story with others.
It's one of the reasons as a church why
we're excited about Christianity Explored.
It gives us a chance to share the good
news of Jesus with others.
Let me encourage you to dig deep into
the wonderful story that we have in the
Bible.
To be gripped by God's love and his
grace extended to us.
So that we would then want to
recommend Jesus to others.
We would want to share him with others.
To do that, we need to always be
viewing that great story of God's love
and grace every day in our own lives.
Let's leave it there and let's pray
together.
Let's pray together.
Okay.
Let's pray together.
Okay.
Let's pray together.