[00:00:00] Welcome to Gracious Words. Gracious Words is taken from the Weekly Women's Bible Study
[00:00:14] taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:35] On today's program we'll look at two difficult situations concerning Joseph and Judah.
[00:00:41] We'll see how God used the consequences of these situations to work humility and sanctification in their lives.
[00:00:49] And now here is part 2 of Cheryl's message titled, The Process of Sanctification
[00:01:19] The brothers see Joseph coming toward them and they begin to conspire together to kill Joseph.
[00:01:26] And they throw him in a pit. There are other sins that must be revealed in Jacob's family besides just this murder in the hearts of Jacob's sons.
[00:01:36] Jacob does not fare much better. He prefers Joseph. His preference of Joseph over his other sons is obvious.
[00:01:45] It's unkind. It's divisive and it's emotionally unhealthy.
[00:01:50] Remember he dressed Joseph better than the others. Joseph wore a tunic of many colors, designating Joseph as the favored of Jacob, designating Joseph as the most loved.
[00:02:08] Commentators say this might have been to designate Joseph as the new patriarch.
[00:02:13] In other words, Joseph in that coat of many colors is reminding Reuben of his failure and of his sin. You're not the patriarch.
[00:02:22] Joseph who was second to the youngest is now the patriarch. He's Reuben's replacement.
[00:02:29] But Jacob might have done this to protect Joseph like don't touch Joseph. He's the one in charge. He's the patriarch.
[00:02:36] Jacob is unaware of the atmosphere in his own home. He is unaware of how he is setting up Joseph for rejection, unaware of just how dangerous his other sons are.
[00:02:49] This is seen in the fact that he sends Joseph out alone, unprotected to check on his brothers and livestock.
[00:02:57] But let me say this. Joseph at this point in his life is not the most likable character.
[00:03:05] He tattles on his half brothers. You know, I know because I was a tattletale.
[00:03:10] Being a tattletale does not make you popular.
[00:03:15] He tattled on the sons of the concubines, Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher. Don't you think that they already at some point felt like second class citizens?
[00:03:24] I mean, they were the sons of the concubines, not even of Leah or Rachel.
[00:03:31] Then Joseph shares his dreams with his brothers. In other words, Joseph is either unaware of his brother's feelings towards him or he's saying,
[00:03:41] Hey, you guys might hate me, but someday you're going to bow. God showed me in a dream.
[00:03:48] This is in verses seven through nine of chapter 37. My sheave is better than your sheave.
[00:03:55] Everyone, the stars, the moon, they're all going to bow down to me.
[00:04:01] Perhaps Joseph is just too sheltered. Maybe he's just naive and doesn't understand just how dangerous the atmosphere is.
[00:04:11] At this point, Joseph has much to learn about human nature. He is no more ready to lead or to be a patriarch or to be somebody in charge at this point.
[00:04:24] He's untried. He's untested. He's insensitive. He he's arrogant. He wears his coat in front of his brothers.
[00:04:33] This does not endear him to his brothers. In fact, it infuriates them.
[00:04:39] But perhaps the feelings of dislike are mutual. Perhaps the feelings that were between Leah and Rachel have transferred down to their sons.
[00:04:51] Joseph appears to have a sense of entitlement, even arrogance. God lets men have their way as we see in this story.
[00:05:05] We often ask why did God allow it? Why did God allow Joseph to go alone to see his brothers?
[00:05:13] Why did God allow Joseph's brothers to throw him into a pit? Why?
[00:05:19] If God never allowed evil to manifest itself, we would be in denial of its existence.
[00:05:28] It's hard for us to believe in what we have not seen and have not experienced.
[00:05:37] If God did not allow it, he would be in violation of our free will.
[00:05:42] God's righteousness requires that men be allowed to exercise their free will and in doing so, they prove what is in their heart and what is in their nature.
[00:05:56] So God allows the evil that is in the hearts of the sons of Jacob to reveal itself.
[00:06:06] The murder in the heart of Joseph's brother turns into a plan and the plan turns into action.
[00:06:17] When they see Joseph approaching, they conspire. They call him the dreamer.
[00:06:24] In this way, they demean and dehumanize him. He's not a person. He's a dreamer.
[00:06:30] It's like the rocker. It's like the youthful that this is all he does. He dreams. He toutles. He doesn't have substance.
[00:06:40] They plan to kill him. They throw him in a waterless pit. They strip him of his tunic of many colors.
[00:06:47] They are so callous that when they do this, while Joseph is in the pit, they sit down to eat.
[00:06:56] That is so callous. Who can eat in the presence of someone who is pleading and suffering?
[00:07:04] In Genesis 42 21 we learn that they heard him pleading.
[00:07:11] It says, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we refused to hear him.
[00:07:19] You know it's hard enough for me to eat when my dog Barnabas has his head on my lap, looks at me with those soulful eyes,
[00:07:28] and wants my food. In fact last night I shared most of my hamburger with Barnabas.
[00:07:35] But these men, they sit down and eat. They eat while their brother is hungry, stripped of his tunic, probably cold,
[00:07:44] and in a waterless pit with no ability to get out on his own.
[00:07:53] Rubin tells them do not shed his blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness,
[00:08:01] but do not lay a hand on him. Genesis 37 22. But Rubin has lost the authority over his brothers.
[00:08:09] Some say that he was pleading for Joseph because he wanted to save Joseph from the brothers
[00:08:17] and thereby get back into Jacob, his father's good graces.
[00:08:23] Because he could say, look I was able to stop these men from doing the evil that was in their heart.
[00:08:30] I saved Joseph so I should be the patriarch again.
[00:08:37] But Rubin was called away for something and in his absence it's Judah who suggests that they sell him for profit
[00:08:45] to the Midianite traders, the Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt.
[00:08:50] So they pull Joseph out of the pit, they sell him for 30 shekels.
[00:08:57] Their cruelty is not just against Joseph but against Jacob.
[00:09:02] They are in rebellion to their father's will. They know that Joseph is loved by Jacob.
[00:09:11] They know that Jacob has designated Joseph to be the patriarch over his brothers.
[00:09:19] So in selling Joseph they are in rebellion to their father's will.
[00:09:26] They don't care about what their father wants or their father's emotional state.
[00:09:32] They are callous. They kill a baby goat, they dip Joseph's tunic in it and they present it to their father.
[00:09:40] And they say, we found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not? How sadistic is that?
[00:09:49] They don't concoct a story to let Jacob down easy. Wouldn't it be better to say, oh we found this, we hope he's okay?
[00:09:56] No, they're leaving it to Jacob's imagination so that Jacob will blame himself for whatever happened to Joseph.
[00:10:09] They are spectators to Jacob's grief. He will not eat, he cannot be comforted, he spends his day in mourning and weeping.
[00:10:21] So this is the beginning of the sanctification. First they're separated, now they're beginning to see the consequences,
[00:10:29] what's really in their heart, their own callousness, their own hatred.
[00:10:33] Chapter 38, the sanctification continues as God begins to work on Judah.
[00:10:41] God is going to clean Judah's house. Judah had married a Canaanite much like his uncle Issa, following after his uncle Issa rather than after his father.
[00:10:55] Then he takes a wife for his eldest son. The wife's name is Tamar. But Judah's eldest son by his Canaanite wife is so wicked that God kills him and he dies.
[00:11:08] The manner in which he died unrecorded, the manner of his wickedness unrecorded.
[00:11:14] But think about this, we've seen some pretty bad wickedness in the book of Genesis but we have never seen a wickedness that is so evil that God says there's no redemption here.
[00:11:30] I cannot allow this to go on in my people.
[00:11:37] Judah's second son does not fare any better. He wants to have intimacy with Tamar but not produce children. He is using Tamar.
[00:11:48] And what he does, displeases God. Onan has no desire or attention to please God and he also dies.
[00:11:58] God has not allowed Judah to have children by these wicked sons.
[00:12:06] Now Tamar is a member of Judah's house and so Judah promises her that when his youngest son, Sheila, is old enough Tamar will be his wife.
[00:12:17] And he sends Tamar back to her father's house. She wears widow's garments. She's off limits to others and she remains in her father's house.
[00:12:26] And she holds to her pledge to Judah. In the meantime, Judah's youngest son comes of age but Judah does not want him to marry Tamar.
[00:12:38] Why? Because the other wicked sons died. Which says that Tamar has some type of righteousness that these men died.
[00:12:52] Perhaps Judah realizes that the whole line through his Canaanite wife is bent on evil but he doesn't want to lose this son as well.
[00:13:02] Tamar in the meantime hears that Sheila is of age and recognizes Judah's deceit.
[00:13:08] She realizes that Judah doesn't care about her and is willing to leave her in her father's house living as a widow for the rest of her life.
[00:13:17] So Tamar takes the situation into her own hands. Now remember, Tamar has only seen the worst in Jacob's family.
[00:13:26] She's only seen Ur and Onan, these wicked men who didn't care about pleasing God.
[00:13:34] She knows something about her father-in-law's nature. So she dresses as a cult prostitute.
[00:13:41] Now these cult prostitutes, that means women who belong to an idolatrous religion or an idolatrous place of worship.
[00:13:54] In that culture, in those days in the Canaanite culture prostitution was part of worship.
[00:14:02] I know that's strange but it was even going into New Testament times when Paul was in Corinth.
[00:14:10] And in some countries still today prostitution is considered a religious activity.
[00:14:16] So these religious prostitutes would often come to the sheep-sharing parties.
[00:14:23] So when the sheep had enough wool that they could be shorn and the wool collected, there would be a party.
[00:14:32] And at this party there would be prostitutes, cult prostitutes.
[00:14:37] So Judah sees this woman on the side of the road, thinks she's a religious prostitute.
[00:14:43] He negotiates with her that he might have sex with her.
[00:14:49] And she says, okay what will you give me? And he says, we'll give you a young goat.
[00:14:53] I don't have it with me but I can give it to you later.
[00:14:56] She says, well I want a pledge from you to show that you will give me this young goat later.
[00:15:03] So he takes off his signet. Now the signet was probably either metal or a piece of clay
[00:15:11] that had like his signature or his emblem on it and it had a cord around it.
[00:15:17] So he takes this off. It would be like kind of having your credit card.
[00:15:22] So he takes this off and he gives her his staff also.
[00:15:26] Now his staff was very personal.
[00:15:28] It was something that somebody owned it not only you know was for their protection, helped them walk
[00:15:36] but usually it was carved, intimately carved by the owner designated as their own.
[00:15:43] It would be a one of a kind unique to each person who owned it.
[00:15:48] And so he gives these to Tamar and says, you know keep these until I return with the young kid.
[00:15:54] Then he sends his friend after having sex with Tamar who's disguised.
[00:16:04] He then goes back home and he sends his friend Hyrum and says, you know take this young goat to that cult prostitute.
[00:16:15] Hyrum goes and he looks for the cult prostitute, can't find her anywhere, has no idea what happened to her.
[00:16:23] And Judith's kind of like whoops kind of got ripped off.
[00:16:26] I guess my my signet and my staff are gone.
[00:16:33] These were definitely identifying elements for Judith.
[00:16:38] In time, Judith hears that Tamar is pregnant.
[00:16:44] And in verse 24 of chapter 38 we hear that he is so incensed that he says bring her out and let her be burned.
[00:16:53] Wow, that's quite a judgment to place on somebody else.
[00:16:57] Now we know Judith has not been upright. Let's think back.
[00:17:01] He's the one who wanted to murder his brother Joseph but instead sold him to the Ishmaelites,
[00:17:11] lied and deceived his father about Joseph's death, lied to Tamar about Sheila
[00:17:20] and giving his son in a pledge.
[00:17:23] Obviously the murderous nature is still in Judith.
[00:17:28] So Tamar presents Judith's signet cord and staff verse 25 and says,
[00:17:35] by the man to whom these belong I am with child.
[00:17:39] It is at this point that Judith finally comes face to face with Judith.
[00:17:45] He acknowledges them as his own and he admits that he has been dishonest.
[00:17:51] She has been more righteous than I.
[00:17:55] He did not keep his pledge.
[00:17:57] He was dishonest with her and sought to cheat her.
[00:18:01] He was willing to leave her barren and in her father's house.
[00:18:05] He thought he was committing adultery with a cult prostitute.
[00:18:09] He's the one who is adulterous.
[00:18:11] She was claiming her rights as a member of Judith's household.
[00:18:16] She was not at the house of Jacob.
[00:18:19] She was doing what was right in the Canaanite culture.
[00:18:22] He knew better.
[00:18:25] He was the one who knew better.
[00:18:27] Tamar has twin boys.
[00:18:29] Zara's hand comes out first and is marked with a scarlet thread
[00:18:33] and the nurse thinks that he will be the first born
[00:18:37] but Perez which means breakthrough comes out first
[00:18:41] and the nurse looking at this child says how did you break through
[00:18:45] and thus his name break through.
[00:18:48] This child breakthrough is the ancestor of David.
[00:18:53] Breakthrough, the unexpected patriarch of the lineage of the Messiah.
[00:18:59] Judith does not have intimacy with Tamar again
[00:19:03] but she is brought into the house of Israel as are her sons.
[00:19:08] Thus the sanctifying process begins
[00:19:12] by bringing Judith face to face with the consequences of his own nature.
[00:19:18] At the forefront of his vision is this, his own deceit
[00:19:23] the death of his sons because of their wickedness
[00:19:27] his adultery, his murderous rage, his culpability
[00:19:32] it is in acknowledging these sins that the nature of Judah begins to change
[00:19:37] and be transformed.
[00:19:40] It's the beginning, the beginning
[00:19:43] because as I said before sanctification is a process
[00:19:47] and this is where and how it often begins
[00:19:50] with the realization of what we have done
[00:19:55] and what is inside of us
[00:19:58] and the knowledge that without God's intervention
[00:20:01] the natural course, the natural trajectory of our life is death.
[00:20:07] Resident in all of our natures are the ways of men.
[00:20:14] There are natural tendencies that are in us
[00:20:19] that God wants to work out of us.
[00:20:21] Twice in the book of Proverbs it says that there is a way that seems right unto a man
[00:20:27] but the end is death.
[00:20:30] God wants to work this fleshly human fallen nature out of us
[00:20:37] that he might work his glorious good loving nature into us
[00:20:44] but first we have to recognize that sin
[00:20:48] that sin that has attached itself to us
[00:20:52] and we have to want to change
[00:20:54] we have to hate not others but the ungodly in us
[00:20:59] not others but the rebellion in us
[00:21:03] not what others have done but the deadly ways that are in us
[00:21:09] then we need to confess them to God
[00:21:12] God you are righteous
[00:21:14] you are more righteous than I am
[00:21:17] John 1 9, first John 1 9 and I'm sure you know this
[00:21:21] if we confess our sins
[00:21:24] he is faithful and just to forgive us
[00:21:27] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
[00:21:31] this is what happens when we confess
[00:21:35] God not only forgives it
[00:21:37] says the penalty is no longer there
[00:21:41] but he says I'm going to cleanse you
[00:21:43] I want to get rid of that propensity
[00:21:45] to go back to that place
[00:21:48] and then we need to bring that place
[00:21:52] that jealousy, that hatred
[00:21:55] that lust, that deceit
[00:21:59] whatever it is we need to bring it under the authority of Jesus
[00:22:04] and ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to be sanctified
[00:22:08] unused for God's glory
[00:22:10] Romans 6 19 says this
[00:22:12] for just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness
[00:22:16] and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness
[00:22:19] so now present your members as slaves of righteousness to holiness
[00:22:23] from this time forward in our study in Genesis
[00:22:27] you will see a marked change in Judah
[00:22:31] he will volunteer to be under his father's authority
[00:22:36] he will volunteer over and over again
[00:22:41] to be of use to his father
[00:22:46] he will seek to do what is best for his father, Jacob
[00:22:52] he will no longer insist on his own way
[00:22:56] or doing what pleases him
[00:22:59] but rather he will seek to carry out the will of his father
[00:23:04] you see that sanctification
[00:23:06] because the goal of sanctification
[00:23:08] is to be cleansed that we might be used for God's glory and purposes
[00:23:12] that these instruments, our hands, our mouth, our ears, our eyes
[00:23:17] might be used for the glory of God
[00:23:20] not to fulfill our own way
[00:23:22] not to indulge ourselves
[00:23:25] but to bless the Lord
[00:23:27] to be used for his purposes
[00:23:30] this is how God begins to sanctify us
[00:23:33] the way to that cleansing is often through self-realization
[00:23:38] of the ugliness of our own nature
[00:23:41] and our need of God's holy nature
[00:23:45] to overpower, overwhelm and override our hearts
[00:23:49] when you come face to face with something ugly in you
[00:23:53] that you do not like
[00:23:54] jealousy, hatred, unforgiveness, meanness
[00:23:58] pops out of your mouth
[00:24:00] do not get condemned
[00:24:02] do not fret
[00:24:03] do not become dismayed
[00:24:05] do not try to justify it
[00:24:07] do not try to excuse it
[00:24:08] do not try to deny it
[00:24:10] but learn a lesson from Judah
[00:24:15] own it
[00:24:16] acknowledge it
[00:24:18] repent from it
[00:24:19] and bring it under the authority of God
[00:24:22] that you might dedicate yourself in your life
[00:24:25] to the service of your heavenly life
[00:24:29] as Judah was confronted by Tamar
[00:24:31] he was faced with the consequences of his actions
[00:24:35] he acknowledged his sin
[00:24:37] and this set him on the road to sanctification
[00:24:39] which leads to true change and transformation
[00:24:43] the way to sanctification is often through realizing
[00:24:46] the ugliness of our own nature
[00:24:48] and desiring God to intervene
[00:24:50] overpower, overwhelm and override our hearts
[00:24:54] as we seek change
[00:24:56] and allow God to work in us
[00:24:58] and He will transform us
[00:25:00] so that He can use us for His glory and purposes
[00:25:04] we hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study
[00:25:07] for more information about the Gratius Words Radio program
[00:25:10] and the teaching ministry of Cheryl Brodersen
[00:25:12] please visit our website at graciouswords.com
[00:25:16] coming up next time on the Gratius Words program
[00:25:18] we'll look at cultivating the presence of God
[00:25:21] as we continue our series, Our Great Creator
[00:25:24] in the book of Genesis with Cheryl Brodersen
[00:25:27] we hope you make plans to join us
[00:25:29] again for more information please visit our website
[00:25:31] at graciouswords.com
[00:25:33] we will come for you Lord
[00:25:37] and wonder, wonder
[00:25:42] we will fall on our knees
[00:25:46] and surrender
[00:25:48] we surrender to you
[00:25:53] this program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel
[00:25:55] Coast Amesa, California
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