Sermon(Gen 38): Overcoming the temptation of sin

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252125

 

 

>> ... 14 She put off her widow’s garments, and put on a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, for she had covered her face. .... About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; and moreover she is with child by harlotry.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Mark, I pray you, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” .... (Gen 38) <<

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There was a somewhat strange custom in the history of Israel. If an elder brother dies without son, his younger brother must marry the elder brother's wife; and, if he has a son by her, he must make the child his elder brother's son and get the child to inherit his elder brother's wealth so that his brother's lineage may not cease. After that he can have his own descendants by her. If a married woman's husband dies without son, she is in a very unstable status, so Israel had such a custom in order to allow such a woman a stable status and to make her and her wealth remain in the house. It is a great blessing to have a husband normally and to have and raise children normally. Not a few women can't enjoy such blessing. Women having such blessing should give deep thanks to God.

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In the biblical text today, Gen 38, Judah took a Canaanite woman as wife and had three sons Er, onan and Shelah. Judah took a wife named Tamar for Er his first-born. But El sinned before God, so God killed him. Judah gave his first daughter-in-law to his second son onan. However onan slept with her but spilled the semen on the ground because he didn't want his son to be his brother's son. So God killed onan, too. Now, Judah got worried, thinking, 'If I give her to my third son, what will happen? Death of my third ... Oh, no!' Judah commanded her to return to the house of her father and to remain a widow there for a while, and promised her that he would give her to his third son when he became an adult. So Tamar went to her parents' home, and meanwhile Judah's wife passed away. Judah was lonely because he was bereaved of his wife, so he looked for someone to satisfy his sexual desire. on the other hand, his daughter-in-law Tamar was angry with him for he didn't give her to his third son when the son grew up enough. Tamar heard that her father-in-law stayed near, so she put off her widow's garments, and put on garments like a prostitute, putting a veil on her face, and sat by a road where her father-in-law might pass. Judah thought her to be a harlot, and bargained about the price of intercourse and had sex with her. After the intercourse, he gave her his signet, cord and staff as the pledge for paying of the price. Later Judah sent a man to her to pay the price of intercourse and to get the pledges back, but the man couldn't find her because she had gone to her abode. After that, it was said to Judah that his daughter-in-law played the harlot and was pregnant. Judah intended to drag her out and burn her. However Tamar showed Judah the pledges he had given her, so he couldn't kill her. Tamar bore twins, and her first son Perez was the ancestor of David and Jesus.

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My beloved brethren, the sexual intercourse of father-in-law and daughter-in-law is the most immoral sin of the human beings. We can see from the Bible how such a terrible affair happened in the house of Judah. And we must be careful not to fall into such a sin.

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It is allowable for a man like Judah to take Canaanite women as his wife or his daughter-in-law. There must not be many people in the house of Jacob, Judah's father, so it might have been difficult for Judah to seek a wife or daughters-in-law there. Women around him were all too close kindred to him, therefore Judah couldn't seek his wife in his father's house though consanguineous marriage was tolerated at that time. It is not right to take a gentile woman as a wife or a daughter-in-law, and such a marriage can bring sins into the family, but it may not be a severe fault that Judah took Canaanite women as his wife or his daughter-in-law.

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The beginning of the sin of the house of Judah is his unbelief. After the death of his first and second son, Judah didn't give his daughter-in-law to his third son for fear that he, too, die. This is clearly illegal. From her point of view, until when should the daughter-in-law wait, wearing disgraceful widow's garments in her father's house? Until death? Judah didn't acknowledge that his two sons died because of sins they committed before God, but he thought they died because his daughter-in-law had brought misfortune into his house. It was his sin that he thought the innocent daughter-in-law to be a kind of sinner. If Judah had acknowledged the sins of his two sons, he would have had a greater pity on her and dealt with her with much sympathy. He need not have feared that his third might die without reason had he acknowledged that the death of his two sons was due to their sins. If the third son lived a righteous life before God, he could live long and well with her. Isn't that right? Ignoring this, Judah became superstitious and treated his daughter-in-law harshly. My brethren, do not fall into superstition even though there have been repeated miseries. Human life is in God's hand, and God punishes fairly him who has sinned. Sometimes Devil gives a man repeated misfortune or fortune, making him confused and making him fall into superstition. We Christians must not be deceived by such tricks. Even if there are repeated occasions of misfortune, you must not succumb to that misfortune; even if there are repeated occasions of fortune, you must not serve him who gives you that fortune as your lord. Of course, you must thank God if the fortune came from God, and you must immediately reflect on yourself if the punishment came from God. My brethren, it is a grave sin that you, falling in superstition, regard an innocent man as a sinner and treats him unjustly. This is what Judah was guilty of.

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You can fall into sin when you try to retaliate. Tamar was very angry that she was driven out to her father's house and had to live wearing widow's garments. She decided to have a sexual relationship with her father-in-law. In old days, there was an unofficial custom in Canaan that, if a son dies, his father took the daughter-in-law as his wife. Of course, there was such a custom not in Israel but in neighboring barbarious countries. Tamar could think of such an immoral deed because she was a gentile woman. My brethren, if you think such a deed is not a sin because all people of the world do it, you're a man of unbelief. Some people intentionally avoid feeling guilty while committing the sins that others usually commit. But God's judgment is different. Christians are salt and light in the world. When people of the world sin, Christians must teach them truth and justice to change the world. Who are you that you, who should change the world, participate in the sins of the world and make the world worse? People in the world commit sins without knowing God's law, but aren't the Christians knowing God's law sure to be more punished when they deliberately commit sins? You must not have a concubine even if your rich friend has a pretty young concubine. You shouldn't join the robbery of land speculation even if your friends made tremendous money by it. Tamar put the bad gentile custom she had learned in her native land into practice and had sex with her father-in-law, an Israelite. She made up her mind to deceive him and really did immoral thing. But it is a great sin before God. Christians can do self-defence, but must not retaliate by committing sins. In general, you can keep yourself and your family by defending against the robbers acting criminally in front of you. However retaliation is unfamiliar to Christians. The punishment or the defensive attack on offenders, if it is not the scene of the offence, must be left to the judgment of God or the governmental authority. one thing we must know here is that it is a severe sin before God for Tamar who was angry with her father-in-law to deceive him and to have sex with him. To resort to sinful measures for settling a grievance is a sin. We must keep this in mind. We need patience and understanding. If you pray to God when you are suffering from unjust treatment and violence, God will answer your supplications in the right way and at the right time. Therefore those who retaliate at their own discretion can't keep their rights but only increase their sins, so they are foolish and have no faith.

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It is easy to sin if you forget your identity. Taking off widow's garments, Tamar acted as a whore in the garments of whore, because she couldn't play the whore in the garments of widow. My brethren, we are the children of the dignified God. We easily fall into sin if we forget this identity and conceal it from people. If we have the firm identity as the brides of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will abide in us, strengthening us and protecting us from all evil things. If we conceal our identity and behave like secular people, the Holy Spirit will depart us, and as a result, our heart will be like a reed shaking in the wind and easily succumb to the power of sin. My brethren, please always wear the name tag 'Christian'.

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You will fall into sin if you fall prey to temptation. My brethren, was Eve not a sinner because she was tempted by a serpent? Of course, she was! My brethren, was Judah not a sinner because he had sex with his daughter-in-law thanks to her deception? Yes, he certainly was! Judah was a grave sinner who had sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law. Of course, the magnitude of her sin was 2 when that of Judah's sin was 1. Nevertheless, God never sees Judah's sin as light. Judah would not become a sinner if he tried not to be deceived by any tempter, but committed a sin absentmindedly. For example, Lot's two daughters gave a lot of alcohol to him; and, when Lot was heavily drunk, they slept with him. In this case we can't blame Lot for the sin too much. But Judah didn't get drunk, nevertheless he, after bargaining for the money for sex, had sex with his daughter-in-law (who disguised herself as a whore) in his sobriety. All extramarital intercourses are sin. You must pay for the sin. If you get AIDS while having that kind of illegal sex, you'll have to give up your life. If you have venereal disease, you must be treated at a hospital. If your sexual partner is another's wife, you must get strictly punished by the criminal law. Judah's unlawful sexual intercourse resulted in the sex with his daughter-in-law, so he ought to be punished for the incest of him and his daughter-in-law. Adam and Eve were seduced by the serpent and ate the fruits of the knowledge, so they were punished exactly as they had been warned that they would be die. Judah came to a whore (who was in fact his daughter-in-law) to satisfy his sexual desire as other secular men did and enjoyed obscenities in a easygoing mood for a while, but God made all his deeds written in the Bible, so that all people can know his fault wherever the gospel is preached. Is there any other punishment severer than this? David took other man's wife and enjoyed adultery for a while as other kings in the world did, but his misdeeds were recorded in detail in the Bible - a terrible punishment. My brethren, I say again. Do not do evil things even when others do.

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My brethren, there are many seducers in the world who, if possible, would tempt others to sin together like Tamar. Christians should be always alert and never be seduced to commit sin. You yourself must pay for any sins, whether they are grave or light. How many sexual seducers are there today? My brethren, do not do illegal sex because others do. Do not enjoy illegal sex by being somewhat intentionally deceived (or seduced) when the seducers entice you. (Make full use of your resistance!) You know already that what kind of seducers are going around in the world. If you, nevertheless, are seduced to commit sin by them when they entice you, you can't make any excuses.

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What is really ridiculous is that Judah, on hearing that his daughter-in-law committed adultery and was pregnant, ran to her to burn and kill her. Humans live with such double standard in the world. If he had slept with whores, he must not get mad with his daughter-in-law, the same human being as himself, who committed adultery. He can sleep with a whore, but his daughter-in-law as a widow can not sleep with another man? Have you, perhaps, slept with a woman who is not your wife? Nevertheless, your wife should not commit adultery. But if she should sleep with another man because she got angry at your adultery, don't be too disappointed in her. Be a cool guy and pardon her and do not desert her. You should be a man of conscience. However, if such tragedy happens, both of you will become unhappy. Therefore husband and wife should be faithful to each other, and must not commit adultery.

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Judah was stunned to learn that his daughter-in-law deceived him into incest with her and got pregnant. Judah acknowledged his mistake without any excuse and didn't kill his daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law gave birth to twins, and the first son, Perez, was the father of David and Jesus. However we must not justify the sin of them just because Tamar became the ancestress of David and Jesus. The lesson of Tamar's story is that the verification of qualification always precedes glory and honor. In Korea, some people refuse to hold high-ranking posts for fear of confirmation hearings. How disgraceful will it be if one's concubine and illegitimate children are known to the public in the confirmation hearing? There might be other people in the Bible who might have committed greater sins than Judah. Their names were not written in the Bible. But the Bible is impartial, so it recorded Judah's mistakes as well because he was the ancestor of David and Jesus the Savior of all mankind. The Bible would be a very unfair book if it, ignoring Judah's severe mistakes, only recorded the glorious fact that he is the father of David and Jesus. My brethren, you must, therefore, control your body and mind well always, from birth to death, lest you fall into sin. And you can become a great man without any hindrances. My brethren, if your are later appointed prime minister, do not refuse it. Do not hesitate to go to the confirmation hearing. If Christians sin when others seduce them, they will be punished for being foolishly seduced, in addition to the punishment for the sin itself. God will never allow such foolish Christians to make any excuses. So we all Christians should always be free from dirty and obscene thoughts, thank God for his blessings and be satisfied with them, not covet dirty profits, and must always pray to God and be filled with the Holy Spirit to resist all temptations and to live a clean life like Joseph.

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May you live a clean life, so that God loves you and people honor you.

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Chong Tack Kim

                                     - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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