Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20000409.htm

GENESIS: THE SOURCES OF GOOD AND CALAMITY IN OUR ORIGINS
Part III - God's Ongoing Program Of Countering Man's Apostasy At Babel
CC. Round Twenty-Eight - Learning To Trust God's Sovereignty Over INTENTIONAL Human Resistance
(Genesis 37:18, 26-27, 36; 38:1-30)
  1. Introduction
    1. We may believe God is sovereign over man's general failure, but feel nervous when man intentionally tries to do that which obstructs God's plans! Can God's will fail when men intentionally counter them?
    2. Genesis 37-38 instructs us on overcoming such nervousness by exposing how completely sovereign was God's workings over Judah's intentional efforts to do just what opposed God's plans as follows:
  2. Learning To Trust God's Sovereignty Over INTENTIONAL Human Resistance, Genesis 37-38.
    1. Judah attempted to do those things that directly opposed God's will for his life:
      1. One of Jacob's sons, Judah suggested Joseph be sold into slavery, 37:26-27. He thus tried to resist the fulfillment of Joseph's dream that the younger would rule his older brothers, 37:7-8.
      2. After this, Judah's spiritual life seemed to bend toward countering God's plans entirely, 38:1-5.
        1. He moved from his kin and married a godless Canaanite, 38:1-2; B.K.C., O.T., p. 88.
        2. Then he produced three sons by her, Er, Onan and Shelah, Genesis 38:3-5.
        3. When his eldest son, Er was of age, Judah obtained the Canaanite woman, Tamar as a wife for him, further threatening the family line by godless intermarriage, Gen. 38:6.
    2. Yet, God's sovereign hand consistently moved to overcome this intentionally rebellious bent, 38:7-30:
      1. In the first place, Er was so evil that God took his life before he could produce sons, Gen. 38:7.
      2. Since this left Tamar, Er's widow childless, Judah rightfully suggested that his younger brother, Onan wed her to raise up seed to carry on his brother, Er's line, Genesis 38:8.
      3. Onan didn't want to produce a son for his brother's welfare, and thus tried to avoid producing offspring by Tamar for Er. The Lord accordingly slew Onan as well, Genesis 38:8-9, 10.
      4. Judah then promised Tamar his youngest son, Shelah when he was grown to wed Tamar to raise up seed for Er, 38:11. However, he stalled in fulfilling this promise, Genesis 38:14.
      5. Though this left Judah's line close to disappearing opposite God's will, God let Tamar trick Judah into having an affair with her so that she would bear seed unto Judah, Gen. 38:12-23; Ibid., p. 89.
      6. When Tamar became pregnant, Judah ordered her to be executed for prostitution, Gen. 38:24.
      7. However, Tamar presented Judah's signet ring, bracelets and staff as proof that he had fathered her child, and he had to acknowledge that she was more righteous than he in the matter, 38:25-26.
      8. Later, when Tamar gave birth to twins, there was a spiritual repeat of what had happened with the ancestors Jacob and Esau: the younger was born ahead of the older who had first put out his hand, showing that God's pattern of having the older subjected to the younger held fast, Gen. 38:27-30.
Lesson: Regardless of the willfully ungodly acts of Judah and his sons that countered God's plan that Judah serve Joseph, and that Judah produce a tribal line for Jacob, God's plan progressed to preserve their line and promote the patriarchal theme that the older serve the younger! Even though Joseph had been sold into Egypt, this event hinted that this action would not thwart the fulfillment of Joseph's divine dream that he, the younger, rule his brothers.

Application: (1) We can rest assured that God's will cannot be thwarted even though human beings seek to counter that purpose on their own. (2) Similarly, if WE OURSELVES are in a state of REBELLION against God's will, we must be forewarned that it is best to repent as God's will SHALL be done IN us, one way or another!