Victorious Moms

If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 1. We're looking at verses 1 through 6 this morning, the genealogy of Jesus. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac the father of Jacob. Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

And Perez the father of Hezron. Hezron the father of Ram. Ram the father of Amenadab. Amenadab the father of Nahshon. Nahshon the father of Salmon.

Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab. And Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth. And Obed the father of Jesse.

And Jesse the father of David the king. Bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we are gathered here this morning to worship you.

Our first priority and privilege is to express our love and adoration to you. This day is not about us, but we call today Mother's Day. We desire to honor our moms today by thanking you for them and by using your precious word to encourage them. So often this day is used to put moms on a pedestal and present them as a model that they will not and do not and cannot reach.

Today I want to do the opposite. I want to use four biblical moms who had not much going for them. They were not privileged moms who were trained and disciplined into perfect mother models. They were moms who became godly women who were greatly used by God and attained that through your glorious, powerful, amazing grace. I pray for our moms today that you would work your grace through their hearts and minds in such a way that their children would be drawn to the Jesus who you love and serve. Lord, we praise God for our moms. Help us to be deeply obedient to the fifth commandment and honor them as they glorify you. For it is in the holy and precious name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies? Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband praises her. Many women have done excellently, but she has surpassed them all. Those words came from King Solomon, and he wrote those particular words, I think, to one reason, to honor motherhood and to set an ideal.

Those words come from the passage that Eugene read just a moment ago, the passage from Proverbs chapter 31. If you will go on websites and if you will look at different ministries today, some of them even have that title, the Proverbs 31 lady. Folks, the Proverbs 31 lady is a dynamo. She gets up at 5 o'clock in the morning and doesn't go to bed at 12 o'clock at night. She is a great, great cook. She is a seamstress, and she makes beautiful clothes. She does merchant work and makes money to help the family.

She always pleases her husband and always has time for all the kids. That's the ideal, mom. Now why don't you buck up and be like that?

You know that that's not very helpful, is it? You know that you are not Joan of Arc, June Cleaver, the Virgin Mary, and Mother Teresa all rolled into one. That's just not who you are.

That's not reality for us. And that's okay. I'm here today not to put you on a guilt trip, but I'm here today to help you, not to leave this place displayed and dismayed and feeling rough about yourself. I want you to feel joy when you leave today as a mom. What I want to do today is to look at Genesis' genealogy.

I want to take a look at the long genealogy of Jesus. And when we do, we see four mothers there, not counting Mary. And those mothers have had a tough time in life. Life has not been easy for them. They've made some mistakes. They have faltered in life.

They are a lot of failures. They are not the perfect role models. They are not the perfect moms. They've had tough times, but yet through the grace of God, these mothers have prevailed, and they have overcome, and they've become victorious moms. You know, as you read through the genealogy of Jesus, you see a long list of husbands, a long list, and it's a complete list of husbands. But there are only five women that are mentioned. Who are they? Well, there's Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, and Mary.

Ladies, if you're discouraged, if you feel like you've lost hope, if you are in a situation where you feel like you just can't win as a mama, then stick with me today. Because here we are looking at four mothers who overcame pitfalls and problems in their life, and through the grace of God, became victorious moms. As I was studying out this passage, something interesting hit me. None of these ladies were Jewish except Mary. Tamar was a Canaanite, Rahab was an Amorite, Ruth was a Moabite, Bathsheba was probably a Hittite. Now that's debatable.

We can't be sure about that. Since she was married to Uriah the Hittite, there are many good Bible scholars who believe that she was a Hittite herself. And I think that's probably true. James Montgomery Boice is one that believes that that is true. And if that's so, then these were all Gentiles and not privileged Jews. They had the heritage and family background that could have led them into perpetual destruction. But instead, they became victorious moms. And they had the privilege of the Lord placing them in the genealogy of Jesus Christ himself. These women were not raised in godly homes. They did not know who Jehovah God was when they were younger ladies. They did not fear God as children and teenagers.

They did not even heard the word of God. They did not have the privilege of being raised in a covenant family. They missed out on the privileges and the benefits of being in a covenant family.

Covenant parents understand what Solomon was talking about in Proverbs 22 verse 6 when he said, Train up a child and the way should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. They did not have that privilege. They did not have that kind of training and teaching. These four mothers did not know the Lord. They did not know the Bible for a long, long time. But Almighty God, in His sovereign wisdom, in His sovereign grace, reached down from heaven and saved their souls and changed the direction of their life in so much of a way that they became victorious moms. So let's take a look at these four today, and I want us just to go through the list one by one. The first one was Tamar.

I call her the rejected one. Look at verse 3. And Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah, by Tamar. Now, I'm not going to whitewash over the sins of these biblical characters because the Bible doesn't do that. The Bible lets us know that God saves and God uses sinful people.

And so Tamar certainly fits that bill. Now, you'll find her story in Genesis chapter 38. Genesis chapter 38 is a parenthetical chapter. It's like it's out of place. It's like, what in the world is this doing right here?

It just doesn't seem to fit. As they're going in the book of Genesis through the life of David, right in the middle of the life of David, there's this crazy story about Tamar. Let me tell you, God knew exactly what He was doing to put it right here. For here we see about a man whose name was Judah, who was the son of the patriarch Jacob. And this man committed a terrible, horrible, moral sin that brought reproach upon him in the name of his family and also disgrace to God. We get over to the next chapter, chapter 39, and we see a comparison.

For there is the life of Joseph. And Joseph, in that situation, has been propositioned by the beautiful Potiphar's wife. And he's propositioned, and what does he do? He says no to her and refuses to get involved in this kind of immoral sin. The result is that he's sent to prison. The result of that prison sentence is that he is finally elevated out of that prison and into the second most high political position in all of Egypt.

He becomes the prime minister. And God uses that situation in order that he might save the entire Jewish race. So the message is this.

There is a huge price to be paid for immoral behavior. Back to Tamar. Judah had gone out looking for a wife for his oldest son Ur. And he went out and he found this young lady, whose name was Tamar, and he was absolutely captivated by her beauty. He thought, boy, this will be a great wife for my son. He took her home to Ur. It was a prearranged marriage. They were married, but Ur was such a wicked man that God took his life and left Tamar as a widow, a widow that was childless. Well, there was a Jewish law back at that time that if a man died and left a widow behind, that it was the responsibility of the next oldest brother to marry that woman.

And so that's what was supposed to happen. The next oldest brother was a young man named Onan. Onan didn't really want to do this, but he felt pressured into it. He did marry her, but he refused to father children. And the Lord took his life.

And so then there was a third son, and that third son's name was Sheila. The responsibility of marriage fell to him. He didn't want to get married. He went to his daddy and he talked about it, and finally his daddy Judah went to Tamar and said, you know, I think my son's probably, he's too young to get married right now. He's not ready. I don't think this would be good.

Let's hold off for a while, and then maybe later it'll work out. It was nothing but a lying cop-out. But Judah was acting as if God's commands did not mean anything. And in doing so, he lied to Tamar, he ignored her, he cheated her, and he treated her with great disrespect. So Tamar devised a plan. She dressed up as a cultic prostitute.

She went out by the gate and she put a veil on so that nobody would recognize her. She waited for Judah to come by. Judah came by and she propositioned him. And Judah fell into that and he said, okay, we'll do this. And he didn't have any money at the time, so he said, since I don't have any money, I will give you my signet ring and my staff.

These will be my pledge to you that I will pay you later. Well, three months later, Tamar is found to be with child. And the family starts talking about it. And they said, what are we going to do about this? Judah got very self-righteous.

He said, I know what I'm going to do about it. We'll have her put to death. We'll stone her to death.

That's what she deserves. They brought her before the town people. And when they brought her before the town people, she brought out the signet ring and she brought out the staff. And she said, the father is the one who this signet ring and this staff belong to.

Judah was totally humiliated, not just because of his immorality, but because he knew that he had done wrong to Tamar by not compelling his third son to marry her. The result was twin boys, Perez and Zerah. And the bloodline of Jesus goes right through the bloodline of Perez. You might say, well Doug, where is the good in all that family dysfunction? Here's the good. The good is in the hope.

Let me say this. Some of you mamas may be sitting here right now and your hope has been absolutely shattered. Maybe you were in a situation when you were young and you were sexually abused and because of that, your joy has just dissipated. Maybe you've had an abortion and the guilt of that just stays on your heart. Maybe you're in a situation when you had a time in your life when you were unfaithful to your husband and you've repented and that's behind you, but it still bugs you and it still just gets to your heart and just bothers you so bad that there's no joy in your life. Maybe you're in a situation, you've got a husband who lives with you physically, but spiritually and emotionally, he's just totally detached from you. You don't communicate.

You don't really talk. You kind of feel like he would be happier if you weren't around. Now, it hadn't always been that way. When we first started out, there were fireworks, but that's long gone. It's not that way anymore. And you now feel like Tamar.

You feel rejected. That Tamar story tells us that there is hope. Martin Luther said the following, The story challenges despair because in the midst of this great sin, we nevertheless see the great mercy of God. The church of God has great need of these examples. For what would become of us? What hope would be left for us if Peter had not denied Christ and all the apostles had not taken offense at him? And if Moses, Aaron, and David had not fallen? Therefore, God wanted to console sinners with these examples and say, If you have fallen, return, for the door of mercy is open to you.

Hallelujah. Folks, if God can take this kind of sin and this kind of family dysfunction that we see in the life of Tamar, and if He can use her and make her a victorious mom, He can do the same for any one of you. The second mother in Jesus' genealogy is Rahab. I call her the immoral, verse 5. And Salmon, the father of Boaz, by Rahab. Now, Rahab is given a title in Scripture. She is called Rahab the harlot. She lived in the old city of Jericho, and she had a profession that was shameful and very, very dangerous.

She was a prostitute. The Bible teaches us that her house was built in the wall of Jericho. I don't know about you, but when I used to, as a kid, hear about the Battle of Jericho, I always pictured it as kind of a thin stone wall that just kind of encircled the city and enclosed the city.

Boy, was I ever wrong. That wall was not just a little tiny wall. That wall was several stories high, and it was so wide they had chariot races on top of the wall. And inside the wall, there were built houses. Those houses were the most expensive houses in all of Jericho. They were kind of like expensive downtown condominiums. And that's where Rahab lived, in one of these places.

Her profession of prostitution was making her so much money she could live the high life, and she was living in a beautiful home there. Rahab was an Amorite. The Amorites were extremely wicked people. The archaeologists have dug up some of the ruins of the Amorites, and they have found some of their art, and they have found it to be very vile and perverted and pornographic.

When the Israelites marched around the city of Jericho, and they shouted, and they blew their trumpets, the Scripture tells us that the wall fell down flat. But yet God spared Rahab and her family. Rahab was an Amorite. Why would God show grace to her? God had a plan for this lady, a glorious plan. His grace would be applied to her life. And remember, she was not some shining light to her people. She was not some paragon of virtue.

She was a prostitute. When the two Israelite spies came into Jericho, they went to her house. Now, they didn't go for the purpose of immorality. They went for a hiding place. And what a great hiding place that was, for nobody would question that. They'd say, well, here are these travelers from out of town, and they have come, and we know what they're doing.

They're just looking for some feminine attention. That's what they're doing. The Amorites would have said, man, we understand that.

Been there, done that. That's what they would have thought. And so they didn't think a thing about these two spies coming in and being at Rahab's house.

Let me ask you this. Why would Rahab hide them? I think at this point in time, Rahab had already been converted.

Romans chapter 10, verse 17 says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Listen to Rahab's confession from Joshua 2, verse 8 through 11. Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof, said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sihon and Og whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted. There was no spirit left in any man because of you for the Lord your God.

He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Where did Rahab hear all this? She heard it as from the men who would frequent her brothel. They would come in, it was like a center of gossip. These men would come in, they'd start telling about what was going on in the world and about all these foreign wonders that were taking place.

I can imagine them coming in saying, man, you just wouldn't believe what's going on in Egypt. The God of Israel has sent plagues on Egypt and the Nile River was turned into blood and God sent flies and locusts and gnats and all these things and they came and then God destroyed the firstborn of Egypt. And then God as the children of Israel were trying to leave God opened up the Red Sea for them and they walked through on dry land and all of them went through safely and then the whole Egyptian army tried to follow after and God lifted up his hand of grace and mercy and the wall of the water came crushing down killing the entire Egyptian army.

And then the Amorites tried to attack Israel and Israel defeated the Amorites and Israel not only defeated them but they killed two of their great kings Sihon and Og. James Montgomery Boice said the following about Rahab's hearing those words. She had heard about God not only with her ears but with her heart. Here was an immoral pagan woman who in the midst of her practice of her prostitution had heard about the true God of Israel and believed that the God she heard was the true God.

As long as that can happen and it does happen we can never despair about anybody and need not despair about ourselves. Rahab's faith led her to obedience. She hid the spies and allowed them to stay there so they wouldn't get caught and she did protection. She wanted protection for her family so then she asked the spies about it and said would God help us? Would God take care of us? Would God protect my family?

And they said yes Rahab this is what you do. Take a scarlet cord and place it in the window and when that happens we promise you God will protect you. Folks that scarlet cord is a picture of the blood of Jesus Christ. How is it that anybody is saved? How is it that anybody has eternal life? It is only through the shed blood of Christ. Well the Lord did spare her life and she went on to Mary Salmon who was a blood descendant of Perez who was the son of Judah and Tamar Rahab and Salmon had a son. That son's name was Boaz and Boaz went on to Mary Ruth.

Mommas if you get discouraged because you don't think you measure up to Proverbs 31 lady then remember Rahab. The Lord saved her. The Lord delivered her out of prostitution. The Lord took her whole life and changed it for her good and for God's glory.

Mothers don't be despondent as long as there is Jesus there is hope and Jesus is forever. The third mother is Ruth and I call her the abandoned. Look at the second part of Matthew 1-5. It says in Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth.

I think we're all familiar with the story of Ruth. She was a Moabite during a time of great famine that hit Israel. It was a Jewish man whose name was Elimelech married to a woman whose name was Naomi had two sons, Malon and Killian and they decided to leave Israel to leave Bethlehem and go down to Moab to try to find food.

So they went there. When they got there Malon and Killian found two beautiful Moabite girls Ruth and Orpah. They fell in love with them then they married them. Now the scripture tells us that that family was there in Moab during that decade Elimelech died and then Malon and Killian both died. And so they're left with three widows here. Three poor heartbroken widows. Finally Naomi got news that the famine had lifted in Israel and now she could go back to Bethlehem and so she decided to do that.

She brought together her two daughters Ruth and Orpah and they came and she said look I've got news for you. I'm getting ready to go back to Bethlehem. You guys just need to stay here. Your people are here. Your customs are here.

Everything's different in Israel. You just need to stay here. Orpah said yes I think that's the best thing for me to do. I'll just stay here. And she kissed her goodbye and walked away. But Ruth said no.

I'm going with you. I'm going with you back to Bethlehem. Why did she do that? Because Naomi and her husband had such an effect on her that she had come to trust in the Lord Jehovah as her Lord and as her Savior.

She had been raised in a pagan land with a pagan family around a plethora of false gods. But she saw hope in Naomi's family and she was moved in her heart to put her trust in Jehovah. So when Naomi said I'm going back to Bethlehem. She said I'm going with you. I'm not staying here.

I'm going with you. And then she made a statement that I absolutely love in every wedding service that I do. I read this passage and I realize that it's not just a passage from a mother-in-law or daughter-in-law to a mother-in-law but it's also great words for a wife to be sharing with her husband.

She said this Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go. Where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die will I die and there will I be buried.

May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her she said no more. Folks if you have a problem with the sovereignty of God then you explain that one to me. For the Lord brings this little pagan girl out of a country that was filled with idolatry and perversion and leads her to Bethlehem where she meets Boaz. Boaz falls in love with her pays the ransom for her takes her into his family he marries her they have a baby and that baby is named Obed. Obed has a baby his name is Jesse. Jesse has a baby son and that baby's son is named David.

And then a thousand years down history through that point is born none other than the Lord Jesus Christ King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Folks Ruth fell in love with Naomi's son but he died. He left her a widow.

She felt heartbroken, abandoned and terribly sorrowful. But by the grace of God she became a victorious mom. The fourth victorious mom was Bathsheba. I call her the adulterated.

Look at the middle of her six. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite.

The first time we see her she is out on the top of her roof taking a bath bathing herself. Now David's palace is very near the home where she lives. David's palace is taller than where she lives so David goes out one evening and walks out on the balcony. He looks down below and there's the beautiful Bathsheba, this gorgeous woman who is bathing herself and David sees it.

He immediately calls his servants and says you go and get that woman and bring her to me. She's married to Uriah the Hittite. Uriah the Hittite is one of David's mighty men of valor. He is extremely loyal to David. He loves David and would fight for David and he's a man of impeccable character. But lust is burning in David's heart and it's fogging up his mind and his thinking.

So what does he do? He pushes away his concern for his wife, his other wives and his family. He pushes away his concern about Uriah who is one of his most loyal servants and soldiers. He pushes away the reputation of Bathsheba. He pushes away all the commandments of God and just puts them on the back burner of his heart. I know that David was king.

I know that his power was enormous. I know that people didn't usually buck anything that David had to command. Some have said that Bathsheba had no recourse here. That if she didn't do what David wanted her to do, that David would have had her killed.

I don't believe that for a minute. I wonder what David would have done if Bathsheba had respectfully said to David, David I'm a married woman. I'm a happily married woman. David that's where I am. And I want you to know that my husband is Uriah the Hittite. He is one of your mighty men of valor. David he loves you so much. He is so loyal to you.

He would die for you at the drop of a hat. He said David I have watched you worship. I know that you are a man of God. I have read your psalms.

I have heard you pray. David you are asking me to do something that is a sin against God. That's unlike you David.

That's unlike you. I think she might have said to him I am very flattered that you look at me this way but that's not enough. And I would encourage you with all my heart to turn away from this wicked thing and not do it. Folks I think David's looks, David's body, David's position, David's wealth, David's prestige, David's interest in her was so tempting that she just gave in. Unlike Joseph and Joseph was presented with this same kind of situation this beautiful, beautiful wife of Potiphar. Joseph said to that woman how can I sin against God and sin against her husband?

I cannot do it and I will not do it. Joseph knew that when he made that decision it might mean death for him and it might mean being thrown in prison but he would not compromise and he did it anyway. Bathsheba could have quoted scripture to David. She could have wept and begged David. She could have said no I would rather die first than be unfaithful to my husband and to be disloyal to God.

She didn't do that. She committed adultery. Were there consequences?

Oh yeah. There were great consequences. Her husband was killed to keep it a secret. And David went through much chastisement. The baby died.

It was a lot of consequences. But yet God forgave Bathsheba and she received God's forgiveness and went on to become a victorious mom. Her son was King Solomon and King Solomon is the one who wrote Proverbs chapter 31 the Proverbs 31 lady. Who do you think he used for his example? He used his mama.

He used Bathsheba. Does that not give you hope? That's an amazing thing to me.

An amazing thing. Folks where sin abounds grace does much more abound. I want to close by sharing with you some of the words of James Boyce who preached a sermon on these women 40 years ago.

And he said this He said, That is the point. It is Jesus Christ the Savior who declares, I will never drive away. Let nothing keep you from Jesus. The devil will tell you that you're too sinful or too far off or too ignorant. Do not listen to the devil. Listen to Jesus. Believe his promise.

Become even closer to him as his special sister or brother than those who were in his family tree. You don't need to be a perfect mom but by the grace of God you can be a victorious mom. Let's pray. Heavenly Father my prayer today is that every mother here might leave this building with a heart filled with hope and joy. I pray that they will all realize that they are not called to perfection but to dependence on Christ. I thank you Lord for all the little children who go to this church. They're so powerfully influenced by godly moms. Father I preach often to the dads in this church. We have a nation where dads have abandoned their calling to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. There are certain things that dads don't do so well. Moms are there to hug us when we fall. They're there to pick us up when we stumble.

To understand our failures. Oh Lord give us moms that do what dads can't do well. Bless our moms and grandmoms at grace. May they love you and may their love for you spill into the lives of our children. For it is in the precious name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.