Extravagant Grace for Ordinary People

It's a passage so sordid, some have said it has no place in the Holy Scriptures. Others have said you can't possibly preach this passage. But Israel's history and redemptive history don't make sense without the people and events of Genesis 38.

There is great encouragement in this chapter for those who know they've grievously sinned and wonder if God will ever use them again. The story reveals God's extravagant grace and shows some surprising ways it functions in the lives of those He has chosen.

In the end, God reveals that grace is as scandalous as sin. Many people don't like the thought that God would forgive sins as perverse as these, and use people like Judah and Tamar to carry forward His covenant line of promise. But for sinners who recognize their own similarities to Judah and Tamar, there is great hope that salvation will come by grace through faith - and that God will even use you to carry His salvation to the ends of the earth.