Day 41 What If Your Sin Finds You?

Good morning. Here we are. Are you in? It's good to have you. Early, early morning for a lot of you. Some of you are listening at nighttime. Some of you are listening at your lunchtime. I find it interesting to imagine what what sort of settings people are in when they're listening. You know, the question that this episode brings about. What happens when. What happens when the part of your life you you've tried to keep it hidden? You've tried to keep it hidden, but it finally steps into the light. You've been avoiding it. You've been dreading it, really. Let's be honest, you've been dreading it. But it finally steps into the light. What what what happens when the story you were managing, maybe the image that you were protecting. Maybe the lie that you carried and the sin you explained away. Well, I can't stay buried anymore. Most people aren't afraid of truth. Good morning, good morning. Most people aren't. Or is it? Think it through. Think it through. Most people aren't afraid of truth because truth is weak. Or is it most people aren't afraid of truth. They aren't afraid of truth because the truth is weak. You let me know which one applies to you. Good morning. They're afraid of truth because truth is strong. It's not because it's weak. Truth doesn't have some of the strength. It has all of it. Every bit of it. Truth is the strongest thing we have. Truth walks into the room and names what everybody else has been pretending not to see. You know, the elephant in the room. The emperor has no clothes. That's what truth does. Genesis 38. It's one of those chapters people often want to skip. Because it feels uncomfortable, it's messy. Feels like an interruption. Look, we just started Joseph's story in Genesis 37. Joseph said, you know, I'll remind you yesterday, you can watch the episode, it's free. True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean, YouTube channel. Click on the main channel. Sean is spelled S-H-A-W-N. Click on that, click on subscribe, the little uh bell, like, whatever. So we just started that yesterday, right? Joseph has been betrayed, he's been sold, and he's been taken down to Egypt. Yikes. Things are starting off good for Joseph. Then suddenly the Bible turns away from Joseph and shows us Judah. Not Judah at his best, by the way. Judah at his very worst. But as with everything in the Bible, the Bible, this is look, this is not an accident. Oh, you know, what happened to that book? Does anybody know what we did with that chapter? What did we do with this chapter? I don't know. I can't find it. I dropped it somewhere. Oh, there it is. Well, let's leave it there. No, it's not that. That didn't happen. It's not a random scandal. Like uh it was just like dropped into the middle of Genesis. You know, let's just throw a scandal in there.

No.

It's God showing us something we need to see. Hidden sin, hidden hurts, habits, and hang-ups. They don't stay hidden forever. Family dysfunction doesn't heal by being ignored. You know that. You've lived that. Some of you. Some of you, you know, I've gotten notes from people. I wish they would put them in comments on the YouTube page or on the Facebook page, but they send them to me, which is fine too. But, you know, the algorithm looks for engagement in whatever place you're watching. Like we're streaming to 10 locations right now, live. So if you're watching on playback. Now listen, if you're if you're listening to this on any of the audio podcasts that we're on, we're on a bazillion of them. Um we're on all of them, really. And I would encourage you, click on follow or whatever the whatever the vernacular is there, follow or subscribe or whatever. Add to list.

I don't know.

So I I said hidden truth doesn't say hidden forever. It doesn't. At some point it comes out. And it's it's tricky. Because when it comes out, it's just a ball of destruction. And family dysfunction, you know. I mention that. And I don't mention it cavalierly, because I lived in a uh substantially dysfunctional family. I grew up in one. I wish I knew what I knew now. I wish I knew then what I know now. Yeah, I I do. I think it would make a difference. I don't know. But you can't unring a bell. Right? You can't unring a bell. So so family dysfunction, it it doesn't heal. Well, we think we need to ignore it. I just ignore it. Well, that that is a strategy, but it's it's not the smartest one. And it's certainly not effective. Truth is power, freedom when you release the shame. The enemy lost power over me, and the Lord set me free. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Look, I talk all the time about covenant. You know, and covenant mercy, it often moves through places we'd rather not talk about. Anybody out there? God's mercy moved through a place oh, we're not so eager to talk about. Your view may vary, your experience may vary. This one's a tricky one. It's tricky. It's something none of us want to talk about. Oh, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Dr. Sean, and this is True Word, Faith for Life. Before we go any further, True Word Faith for Life, the book, is available in the store, True Word Faith for Life.com. And why did I write it? I wrote it to help you stop surviving on religious fragments and start walking in the truth of God's word with courage, clarity, and faith for real life. So it's available on the website, TrueWordFaith for Life.com. So here's a question for your heart today. It's a real question. What are you still trying to keep hidden that God's calling you to bring into the light? And look, we think very often. We think very often, and uh Norse pagan Drew. Thank you. Very respectful. Very respectful. He's pagan. But he says, look, I don't hate Christians. Interesting. He says I just choose a different path. Well, some don't. I have good friends that are pagans. Uh there's a discussion going on in live chat. If if you're if you ever get a chance to listen live, I I mostly do lots. Um, and I would agree atheists uh imported baby 23 says so do atheists, uh, which is really atheist, and Satanists. Now, Satanists, absolutely. Um, but I I know many, many pagans. Uh, I know, I know one in particular I'm good friends with, and uh, they don't hate me. They don't hate me at all. In fact, I would say the opposite. Uh, but the fact of the matter of it is I treat them with respect. I don't, I don't, uh, they believe what they believe. You know, my my goal has always been to drip on them and to show them um, you know, what what the uh you know what this life is about, what this faith is about. So, I mean, this is a real question. And and I would I would love for you to answer it, you know, and come you don't have to, but nobody can compel you. But what are you still trying to keep hidden that God's calling you to bring into the light? And it's not to shame you, it's not to shame you because Genesis 38 isn't a clean story about clean people, it's a hard story about sin, exposure, injustice, hypocrisy, and ultimately mercy. Bottom line. So I would say, um, let me address this and I'll move on. Imported baby 23, not spreading hate, by the way. I appreciate that. Uh, just tired of wars and and hatred on people who want peace. I would I don't get the tether between war and war fighting and Christian or pagan. Um, I don't think necessarily that there's a tether there. True history shows us that to be the case. However, what I would also say is uh I you know, if you knew my story, um no one wants peace more than warfighter. The warfighter wants wants peace more than anybody else. So, anyway, but I appreciate that. So, Genesis 38 begins with a very important movement, and it's it's wild. And some people skip, I mean, seriously, they skip over this. I've read through the Bible, I added it up, the ones I that I know that I can remember. There are I have a severe brain injury and a and a uh spinal cord injury, lots of structural damage, but so I don't there's whole years that are missing from my life. Whole chunks of years. And um so I don't, you know, adding it up, and not that the number matters, it doesn't matter, but I can I can just say that I speak to this in in both of my books. Um the first book is not a great book. It the the material is great, but it's not formatted well. And I was, you know, post-crash. Um, yeah. It's called Excellence Killed the Church, How Mediocrity is Destroying America. Whew, that's a mouthful, right? So I did a book tour for uh five months all over the country and uh for for that book. I didn't do a book tour for this one. And I I will tell you that I remember thinking as I'm reading through the Bible again, because I just I keep reading it. Um I'm into it. I I think it's a fascinating library, 66 books in a library that is just extraordinary. And I do why you can believe the Bible. I in uh True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean, S-H-A-W-N. Um, it's there, uh, I think it's in anywhere where my podcasts are. So um and I go into depth on that, and I'm not gonna do it here, but uh I one of the things that just helps me so much to uh I I it just has helped me immensely is to force myself to read chapters that that I'm for whatever reason wanting to avoid. Genesis 38 is one of them. So I I think I've added up, I think I've added it up correctly. I don't know if I have or not, but um 39 times all read all the way through. I I think. Now there's years that are missing from my just I don't remember anything about them. So anyway, so Genesis 38 begins with a very important movement. Judah, who has proven himself already to be a awful person, goes down from his brothers and turns aside to a certain Adolemite. And that phrase matters. This is this is what it says. Judah goes down from his brothers and turns aside to a certain Adolemite. Well, that phrase matters a lot, and here's why. Judah's moving away from the covenant family. He's separating himself from his brothers after the betrayal of Joseph. He's not moving toward repentance or teshuvah, he's moving away. That's an interesting distinction. By the way, how's the sound? And uh, is the music too loud? Let me know because I can set it on the soundboard and just leave it. So this is this is often how. By the way, thank you to everybody who's listening. I appreciate that. Um share it. I mean, share this. If this is something that impacts you, you think there's value in it, share it. Share the link.

Whatever.

Nobody's making you. There's no big prize. So that's often how sin works. After a major wrong, people either turn toward truth or they drift farther into darkness. Judah had suggested this was his big plan to sell Joseph. Why don't we sell this dude? Why don't we sell this dude? Amen, Randy. Randy, he is risen. Oh, what a cool name. John 8 24. I told you that you would die in your sins, and if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins. True. I mean, it's absolutely true. Thank you, Linda. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Linda reports she's a unpaid, no t-shirt. Uh, there's no t-shirt, there's there's not a hat or anything like that. Remember when mouse pads were the thing? I don't even know. Do people even use mouse pads anymore? Because, you know, mouse, mice, mouses. I mean, I know mice is right for mice, like the animal, but for for uh I look down like I have a mouse pad and I don't. Anyway, so you know, here's the thing. Here's the here's the thing. Um you suggest selling your brother, why don't we sell him? Well, the original plan, well, we'll kill him. Well, then, you know, got talked out of that. Put him in a pit. Well, why don't we sell him? Brutal. It's brutal. Absolutely brutal. So uh let me address this and then I'm gonna move on because I don't want to derail the live chat or or the episode. And it's an interesting discussion. I would say it's a better discussion for not here, uh given the fact that what we're doing here is is important. Not that that discussion isn't important, but you know, so I would say I would say this um regarding uh the discussion about idols versus gods and and um you know uh the the Exodus statement that you shall not worship other gods or false idols. And and um he says, Norse Begin Drew says, it didn't say false gods. The thing is, this is what my sp my masters and both doctorates are involved. And if you listen, if you listen to this, the show and and kind of the progression of things, you go back and listen to things, it'll become obvious. I focus on the ancient Near Eastern language culture and context, the actual ancient Near Eastern language culture and context of scripture. Um, of course, I bring tethers into uh this turned into a big commercial for true word, faithful life with Dr. Sean spelled S-H-A-W-N on YouTube and Rumble, whichever one you like. Click on subscribe, tell your friends, tell your millions of friends. So uh anyway, suffice it to say, you you will see that that's that's kind of a thing, you know, the ancient Near Eastern language culture and context. Um, and I'm I'm very moved by it uh because it brings such incredible clarity, and and at many points, it also brings conflict with it brings conflict with traditional teaching, you know, the teaching I grew up with. And uh so I faced a very difficult decision. You know, do I, now that I know this, do I teach this? Because as soon as you start teaching this, traditionalists they kind of push you away. And Miss Colleen can testify to this. This is this is something that you know, most traditional um Christians, now I'm a follower of the way. I'm not a Christian. Um Christian, if you go back, um, that was a pejorative term for people who were followers of the way, the way being the way, the truth, and life. No man comes to the father but by me, Yeshua. Uh so anyway, point is the point is this is that, you know, just to kind of settle or calm that debate here so we can move forward, because the people in China, you know, they want to focus. Um but I appreciate, I I very much appreciate the discussion. It's just probably here's not the time for it. Because this is through the Bible. I don't know if you know what you clicked on, but this is through the Bible. This is this is the series I'm doing. Um, episode 41, through the Bible in a year, walking the story of God. And uh I I think it's strong. I just about kill myself writing it, researching it, and all of that, but it's worth it. So, anyway, so you know, when you suggest, hey, maybe, maybe let's kill him. Well, let's throw him in a pit. Well, let's sell him. Things have gone south. This isn't just a story that you would tell on a Sunday morning flannel graph. They don't have those anymore. Big screen, you know, animation and all that. Back in the day, he used flannel graph. Well, this is this is not just a story, this really happened. So Judah watched his father collapse under grief. Jacob, of course. He collapsed, he adored this boy. And Judah watched that. He knew the truth, he knew what he did, he knew what they did, right? Because it wasn't just him, but he carried this secret. And instead of facing what he had done, he goes down, and that downward movement isn't just geography, it's spiritual direction. So Judah marries a a a Canaanite woman, and he has three sons Er, Onan, and Shela. His firstborn, Air, marries Tamar. I have a friend, the great Tamar Yona of Israel National Radio. I've been on that show. That's where I uh I met Benjamin Netanyahu. Cool dude, super brilliant guy. So Air is uh wicked in the sight of Adonai, and Adonai puts him to death. This is his firstborn. Terrible, terrible person. So Adonai puts him to death. He was wicked in the sight of Adonai. So Adonai puts him to death. God puts him to death. Then Judah tells Onan to perform the duty of a brother-in-law and raise up offspring for his dead brother. Woof. Now this is later formalized in Israel's law as leverate marriage from the Latin word levir, meaning uh husband's brother. But the idea is older than Moses or Moshe. So in the ancient world, this protected the dead brother's name, inheritance, and family line. It also protected the widow from being abandoned without security or future. So this is how it was. You cannot like it. Marry my brother's sister. You know, it's not always ugh, but you know, it could be, and then you have to do it, you know. So Onan takes the benefit. By the way, by the way, we we look at um when we look at this, when we look at that practice, we look at it through modern lenses, but that's anachronistic. When when we look through a modern lens and look and go, ooh, that's terrible. Having servants and things like that. Um, it's uh, you know, it's uh it's a tricky thing. It's a it's a tricky, tricky thing. Um, anyway, I will go way down deep on a rabbit hole. I'm trying to stick to stick to the story, but wolf. Today I just want to chat with y'all. So Anand takes the benefits of the arrangements, but he refuses the responsibility. And when I say benefits, eh? She might have been not, who knows? She might have been an ancient Near Eastern Hotel. Who knows? He just may have been a terrible, terrible human being, which he was. So Anand takes the benefits of the arrangements, but he refuses the responsibility, and that's key here. He uses Tamar, but refuses to honor her. He doesn't want offspring counted for his brother, so he acts selfishly and wickedly. The text says what he did was evil in the sight of Adonai, and Adonai puts him to death also. Somebody get a message here, man. This is this is um, this is really I think it would be a really clear message. I think I wouldn't mistake. I really, I really do. So Judah, he has one son left. Dude. Hello, hello. By the way, for the radio audience, I'm tapping on my head, which there's an echo, and then I I'm just saying, I what you lose both of your sons. God takes them. God takes them. You know what I'm saying? That's a thing. That's a thing. Adil Nai takes him. He's got one son left. Judah tells Tamar to remain a widow in her father's house until Shelah grows up. Oh. The other son. He's got one left. It's Shelah. But the text tells us what Judah is thinking. He fears Shelah will die like his brothers. In other words, Judah blames Tamar. Judah blames the poor widow. No wonder God's. He sees her as the danger. And the text has already told us the problem wasn't Tamar. The problem was Judah's sons. Judah's sons are a mess. They're messy and ugly and awful. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree most of the time. So this is one of the ugly patterns of sin. People who refuse to face the truth often blame the person who exposes the problem. Tamar has been wrong. He's been wrong. Look, she did nothing wrong. She just lost a husband who was a horrific person. God took him for a reason. God didn't translate him up to heaven, going, well, it's time for you. I don't think God talks like that, but it's time for you to come on up to heaven. You're such a blessing. I want the blessing to be all up around me, you know? No. No. Smote him because he was an awful human being. So she's been wronged. She she lived under this dude. She lost a husband. She lost security. She lost. She lost so much. She's been used by Onan. She's been sent away by Judah, by the way. Awful. Sent away. So she has been promised a future that Judah has no intention of giving her. She's stuck in widowhood, shame, uncertainty, and waiting. Because Memor says he used her, took advantage. So then time passes. Judah's wife dies. After his mourning, Judah goes up to Timnah to his sheep shears. Tamar hears that Judah is going there. She realizes Shelah has grown up, but she hasn't been given to him as a wife. Judah has broken his word. He gave her the word. He said, This is what's gonna happen. When Sheila grows up, you know, look after you. No. No. This is sad to me. Kind of breaks my heart for her. So Tamar takes off her widow's garments, covers herself with a veil, and since sits at the entrance to a name on the road to Timnah. Judah sees her and thinks she's a prostitute because her face is covered. So he propositions her. He promises to send a young goat from the flock. And she asks for a pledge until payment comes. His signet, his cord, his staff. Those items matter. They're identity markers. They're not random objects. She didn't select them just. Judah gives away symbols of who he is in order to satisfy what he wants. Because he's looking, you know, quite see her face, and he can't recognize her voice, which tells me, oh. So he gives away symbols of who he is in order to satisfy what he wants. This is how sin works. We give it away. I want that. We give it away. Things that matter, we give away in order to get the thing. Sin always asks you to trade identity for appetite. Sin says, hand me your witness for a moment of satisfaction. And it's like when we work on um when we work on, maybe we have a maybe we have a habit. I have some habits that I have to work on. Constantly, constantly have to work on. The language of a sailor. I was a sailor. You know what I mean? And it's a constant thing for me. And so, you know, you hand your witness away. Sometimes, I mean, in some places the people are like, oh, that dude's real. But you never know which one that will be affected and which one won't. So it's a it's a thing, you know. Sin says, hand me your witness for a moment of satisfaction. That's just how it goes. Hey, Robbie, good to see you, man. Hand me your integrity for a secret pleasure. Hand me your calling for an impulse. So let's tell you this quick story. Hand me your peace for a promise, for a compromise, calm promise. So I'm not anymore, but I used to be a um sort of a key component of this secret, admittedly secret group, and secret for a reason, which uh, if a major ministry had some major problem, in other words, the pastor or somebody in the key to the ministry had a major problem that would affect the ministry and the people. Um, and we're talking about, you know, people that do hundreds of millions of dollars a year in TV and radio and all of that. And so I was the guy, kind of the first guy that would come in and I'd get the truth out of the guy, or the woman, because sometimes it would be the woman, the wife or a daughter or something of that sort. Uh, but mostly it was, you know, the pastor or the you know, the head guy. And uh, and you know, if you know my past, you know that government spent a lot of money training me to be able to get the truth out of people and to be able to see lies and work on that. Anyway, that was what I did. Uh and and I can tell you, some of the biggest ministries that are out there even now, and some that have passed. I I will say this. When you break it down to the final thing, you think, man, you gave you are giving this away. You're you're giving all of this away for that. I would actually say it. Come on, you you gotta be kidding me here. And they'd always go, I know. So this guy, none of these guys were like that. They weren't good people. You just weren't. But sin hurts habits and hangups. Hand me your integrity for a secret pleasure, hand me your calling for an impulse. How many of us had a calling on your life, and you did everything you could to try to destroy it so that you wouldn't have to do it? Hand me your peace for a compromise. Man, peace, shalom, is worth everything. So Judah goes into her. Do I have to explain that to anybody? And she conceives. Okay, that clarifies some things. So later she he later he sends the goat by his friend to retrieve the pledge, but she's gone. What? The men of the place where she was say that there's been no cult prostitute there. Judah says, Let her keep the things as her own, or we will be, or we shall be laughed at. Do you hear that? He's more concerned about embarrassment than righteousness. He's more worried about being mocked than being clean before God. That's painfully modern. How many people are more afraid of being found out than being wrong? How many people are more concerned with reputation than repentance? How many people will manage appearances, delete messages, hide receipts, clean browser history, rehearse explanations, and protect the image while the soul is bleeding? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? So Judah, he doesn't yet repent. He just wants the situation to disappear. Look, I want this, I want this to go away. He wants the evidence gone. He wants the story quiet. He wants to keep moving, but the truth has a way of arriving when the lies become too comfortable. About three months later, Judah is told, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality. Rot ro. And Judah says, Bring her out and let her be burned. He is such an evil guy. He's so evil. There it is. Hypocrisy with authority in its voice. Judah is ready to condemn Tamar for the very kind of sin she participated in. He participated in. She's trying to survive. Tamar is just trying to, she was just trying to survive because she has been messed over by these people. Good lord. Good morning, good morning, Sean spelled correctly. Good to see you. Good to see you. God bless you. You too, man. Have a blessed day. Or lady. Sean could be a girl name too. So he's willing to judge publicly what he has practiced privately. He wants to burn her alive. And silence for himself. That's not righteousness. That's self-protection dressed in moral language. And we gotta be honest here. We gotta be honest. Religious people do this all the time. Parents can do this, leaders can do it, spouses can do it, friends can do this. We can demand consequences for others while making excuses for ourselves. How many have been in that place? There's no point in not being honest. You know what I'm saying? Even if I can't see you raising your hand. There's no point in not being honest. Then Tamar sends the pledge to Judah and says, By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant. Huh? Remember that? Remember these things you gave me? Remember these little things you gave me that are only yours. So smart, this Tamar. So smart. By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant. In other words, this dude, the dude who owns these, which is obvious who it is, he's the one that, you know, got me in a family way. Then she says, by the way, radio audience, I did an air quotes. Then she says, please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff. That phrase should make your Bible memory wake up. In Genesis 37, the brothers sent Joseph's robe to Jacob and said, Please identify whether this is your son's robe or not. So now Temar says to Judah, please identify. The deceiver is confronted by recognition. He can't deny it. It's undeniable. People know who those things belong to. So Judah used this guy. Man, oh man, I I would just, I think I would punch him right in the face. I don't know. Probably be dead or better stay away from him, but I'd probably punch him in the face. You know, old me. So Judah, who used evidence to deceive his father, is now faced with evidence that exposes himself. How ironic. Air quotes again. For the radio audience. This is where the passage comes for us, chases us down. This passage chases us down. What do you do when your sin, your hurts, your habits, your hangups, what do you do when they find you? You have two choices. When that happens, you have two choices. You can harden or you can tell the truth. You can attack the person who exposed it. Look, as I said, because of my brain injury, look, I was I was in a horrific, horrific. I had 13 concussions, but the last one, uh, I had a TBI before, but the last TBI was just brutal. Just brutal. And it affected me massively. I was a polygon. I spoke five languages at agency level, proficiency level, five. It's extremely rare. But I'm not bragging. I was born with it. It's not like I, you know, oh all that.

No.

And when when I bump my head on a car going 92 miles per hour, um I I don't have any memory. I have a little bit of memory, and every now and then I'll come out with some Russian or um other languages, they'll just pop out, and I won't understand it. I I won't underst I'll understand what I'm saying, but I won't understand where it came from, if that makes any sense. So brain injuries are are wild, you know, they're wild. But literally, entire chunks of my life, years are gone. And, you know, I've been confronted by people who say, you know, you were an a-hole, literally. You're an a-hole. You you did me wrong. Which, you know, other people say, well, that's not in your character. That would be an odd thing, but you know, I don't know. But here's the thing: your your past will come get you. Yeah, of course, people will come and lie, especially when you gain some level of prominence. But for whatever reason, they like to destroy you. Look, you can harden when that happens, or you can tell the truth. You can attack the person who exposed it. Sure, that's a strategy, or you can humble yourself before God. That's the hard one. It's the best one, but it's the hardest one. You can protect the image, whatever your image is, or you can save your soul from more darkness, because believe me, if you keep perpetuating the lie, more darkness is coming for you. So, Judah, Judah, take a deep breath there. That's a lot to take in. Judah does something unexpected. He says, Sin is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah. Oof. Oof ta, as the people in Wisconsin say. That doesn't make Tamar's strategy morally simple. Genesis doesn't ask us to pretend this is somehow clean, but Judah's confession matters for the first time in the chapter. For the first time, we're reading that this dude finally tells the truth about himself. He doesn't blame Tamar, he doesn't deny the evidence, he doesn't say, you don't understand my stress, I'm under so much stress running this family. You know? He doesn't say, well, everybody makes mistakes, you know. She had a veil on. How was I to know? He doesn't say, well, this is a private matter. You know, please respect our privacy during this difficult time. He says she is more righteous than I. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been there where suddenly you are confronting you? You're confronting you. The real you. That's the beginning of a turn. Right here. It's not perfection. No, not full maturity yet, but a turn. A man who had sold his brother, deceived his father, abandoned his daughter in law, and practiced hypocrisy is finally made to face the truth. And the truth, as painful as it is, becomes mercy. Because exposure isn't always destruction. It isn't. Sometimes exposure is God stopping the rot. Sometimes exposure is God ending the lie before the lie ends you. Sometimes exposure is God saying you cannot be healed while protecting what is killing you. Ringing any bells for anybody. Anybody. So here is concrete obedience for today. Tell the truth before you're forced to tell it. Tell it voluntarily. Before something compels you, you have no choice in the matter. Confess the sin you keep managing, hiding, praying nobody knows. Stop blaming the person who's naming what is broken. Maybe there's somebody in your life. They know. And they're not trying to embarrass you or destroy you. They're trying to say, hey man. Hey lady. Hey girl. Hey girl, hey. They're trying to say, look, there's there's a cliff, and you're running toward it. You gotta stop running. Stop blaming that person just for calling out what's real. Return what doesn't belong to you. Make restitution where you can. Apologize without explaining it away. Well, I'm sorry, but as soon as you say the butt, don't put the B-U-T in there. Just I'm sorry. You don't have to make some big declaration. Just say I'm sorry. Maybe there's that hidden thread. Delete it. End the secret arrangement. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Stop using people while calling it loneliness. Oh, just lonely. Stop hiding behind religious language while avoiding repentance. We all know the language, even if you're, even if you're you're you know just new believer, you learn the language pretty quick, the lingo, right? And that's easy to hide behind the vernacular. Bring the thing into the light. You don't have to make some big announcement, just bring it into the light. Not because the light is cruel, but because darkness is cruel. Here's the thing, then Genesis 38 gives us something utterly stunning. Tamar gives birth to twins, Peres and Zerah. Peres and Zerah. Peres becomes part of the line that leads to King David. And from David's line comes Messiah Yeshua, Jesus Christ. Well, that doesn't mean that God approves of sin. It means God's mercy isn't fragile. Oh, get the lesson here. Get the lesson. Don't let modernity, don't let the postmodern Western evangelical world trip you into believing something that isn't the case. God does not approve of sin. But the lesson here is God's mercy isn't fragile. It means human failure. Well, he's not, he's not shy. Oh, you did that?

No.

Doesn't surprise him. Human failure doesn't surprise him. Our hurts habits and hangups. Don't surprise us. Our secrets. Don't surprise him. It means the line of redemption doesn't move through polished people pretending to be clean. It moves through real history.

Real sin, real exposure, real repentance.

Matthew's gospel will later name Tamar in the genealogy of Jesus. The genealogy of Yeshua. It's not some throwaway detail. Could have hidden it. Could have hidden it, but the Bible doesn't. The Bible doesn't hide the scandal. The Bible puts it in the family record of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Yeshua didn't come from some sanitized human story. He came from the real one. He came into the real one. He came into the bloodline of sinners to save sinners. Come on, somebody, come on, somebody. He came into this real situation. He came into the bloodline of sinners to save sinners. He came through Judah's line, not because Judah was impressive, but because God is faithful. And that means there's hope for people with chapters they wish they could erase. Oh, come on. Somebody, somebody out there, say amen. You've got chapters of your life you just you wish you could erase from existence. But I'm here to tell you there's hope for people who have sinned. There's hope for people who have been sinned against. There's hope for people trapped in family systems of hypocrisy, shame, and silence. Yeshua isn't afraid of the truth about your story. He already knows it. And he still calls you into the light. I have for you today a challenge and a choice. And it's something special. But it's not easy. Tell the truth before the truth has to drag you into the light. Stop managing the image. Stop protecting the lie. Stop blaming the person who exposed what was already broken. Bring the hidden thing before God while mercy is calling you, not after the consequences have surrounded you. There will be consequences. Stop trying to avoid the consequences. Consequences come, but so does mercy. So I said, challenge and a choice. Here are your choices. Will you protect the lie or will you receive mercy through the truth? Will you condemn in someone else what you excuse in yourself? Some of you know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about. Will you keep asking God to bless an image while refusing to surrender the hidden place? Come on, some of us know this. Some of us have lived this. Some of us are living it now. Judah's turning point begins when he says, She is more righteous than I. But I wonder, what is your sentence? What truth do you need to say before God? Look, I'm not saying to make some massive announcement before everybody you know. First, it has to be God. If you've wronged somebody, you've got to confront that. First to God and then them. What truth do you need to say before God? I lied. I used her. I used him. I abandoned him. I abandoned her. I blamed the wrong person. I protected my reputation more than righteousness. I judged others for what I practiced in secret. I've been managing sin, hurts, habits, and hangups instead of confessing it. Don't dress it up. Don't soften it until it loses the truth. Don't turn confession into an explanation, some big long explanation. I'm sorry. I did this. And I am sorry. Bring it to God plainly. Don't dress it up in religiosity or all kinds of other language. Don't do it. Bring it to God plainly, then take the next faithful step. Tell the truth. Ask for forgiveness. Make the call to the person you know you need to call. End the compromise. Bring the secret into wise accountability. Remember, I said don't, you're not making a big banner of it. You're just bringing it into wise accountability. Then let the light in. Because shalom doesn't grow in hidden rooms of denial. Shalom grows where truth and mercy meet under the authority of God. Prayer isn't asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. Pray with me. Father, we bring you the hidden places. We bring you the parts of our lives we've tried to manage away, excuse, protect, and keep in the dark. Please give us courage to tell the truth. Please save us from hypocrisy, from condemning others while excusing ourselves. Teach us to repent without performance. Teach us to confess without hiding behind explanations and where we have been wronged. Please give us wisdom, protection, and healing. Bring our lives into your light, not to destroy us, but to make us whole. In Yeshua's name. Amen. If today you know the truth, that the truth is that you need mercy, not just improvement. This is where you come home. This is where you come home. You don't need to clean up your story before you come to Yeshua. He knows your story. He knows your story. Come just as you are. Believe me, you won't stay like that. You won't. You're not going to stay like that. You come to him because you can't make yourself clean. You can't. You've tried. God knows the truth. He knows the sin. He knows the shame. He knows the hurt habit and hang up. He knows the places you've hidden. And he came to save sinners, not impress religious performers. So if you're finally ready, if you're finally ready to turn from sin and trust him, I want you to pray this from your heart. Father, I know I've sinned and I need your mercy. I believe Jesus died for me, was buried, and rose again. Today I turn from my sin and I place my trust in him as my Lord and my King. Forgive me. Make me new and fill me with your Spirit. From this day forward, I want to follow you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Welcome on.

Welcome to the family of God. Look, we're dysfunctional here, but we're going to be totally functional there. Welcome. This is the most important decision you'll ever make in your entire existence. It's complicated. I know that. For some of you, this is going to mean ending of family relationships, friendships. It's going to, it's going to mean ridicule. It ain't easy. This is not easy. There's nothing easy about this. The easy part was just then. The hard part is living it out. Because people you would never think are going to come after you are going to come after you. But there's going to be people that surround you with love and acceptance, support, encouragement, accountability through it all. Those are the real ones. Those are the real ones. I know it's difficult. I know it's challenging. Just contact me through TrueWord Faith for Life, TrueWordFaithforLife.com slash contact. I promise you, I will personally connect with you. As soon as I receive your message, as soon as it comes to me, it goes through a bunch of filters and all that. And if you don't hear from me within a day, reach back out to me. Reach back out to me. Keep doing it. I promise. As soon as I know that you've reached out, I will contact you. We'll work through it. Maybe, maybe you don't have a Bible. Maybe you have a Bible. Is this the right Bible? I'll help you. Hey, where do I go to go to an actual place where people, imperfect people like me, where do I go to hear good teaching and preaching and be around people who are sinners, just like me, by the way? You go to a church. I don't care what church it is. It's filled with imperfect people. Stop going there thinking that everything's perfect. The church hurt me because they were, you know, they were they were inconsistent or or um I don't know. People who were hypocrites. The church, the church is full of that. Yeshua came for sinners, not for perfect people. I can help connect you. Maybe it's just growing in your faith day by day. I'm here for you. I'll help you. You aren't alone. All you need to do is ask. And this group here, awesome people. So I want to end with this. A secret was kept. By the way, tomorrow's episode at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Bur Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, and playback, usually available immediately after podcast uh audio only, wherever you listen to podcasts. That's usually available maybe two hours after. Usually. And by the way, I have a repository of incredible stuff. And I know it's incredible because I work on it constantly at TruewordfaithforLife.com. So there's all kinds of stuff there. Go there, save it in your little deal. Look, obviously, a secret was kept. A woman was wronged. She was absolutely wronged, but a man was exposed. A line was preserved, and mercy moved through a chapter. Nobody would have written that way. Listen, if the Bible was fake, if the Bible was fake, they would have never written it that way. That's the strange holy power of God. He doesn't bless the darkness. He brings light into it. He doesn't pretend sin is small. He proves mercy is greater. Somebody's out there saying amen. Look, if this helped you, send it to, I don't know, I'm not asking you to send it to a million people. Send it to one person. The right word at the right time can help someone keep walking when they're about to fall down. Until tomorrow at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. May Adonai make his face to shine upon you and show you his grace. May Adonai lift up his face toward you and give you shalom. Shalom Bashem Yeshua. This has been True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. For more teachings, go to True Word FaithforLife.com. Till tomorrow, shalom, shalom.