I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the 38th chapter of Genesis, Genesis
38. What I'd like to do is I want
to go through very quickly the chapter and make a few comments
on what is actually going on. And then I want us to consider
how this chapter sets forth the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. How God Almighty has been pleased
to have mercy and compassion on a people of his everlasting
love. We've been dealing the last few
weeks with the revelation of a man named Joseph and how Joseph,
as a type of Christ, is being shown to be the one in pictured
type of how God Almighty preserves His people. Last time we ended
with chapter 37, and we ended with Joseph being sold to a man
named Potiphar in Egypt. A revelation of that history,
of that man Joseph, that will, Lord willing, be picked up in
chapter 39. But according to the good pleasure
of God's Spirit, Moses was moved to reveal a part of the history
of one of Joseph's brothers named Judah. Judah, being a son of
Jacob, would be one of the pictures, types of the church. Jacob had 12 sons, of which Judah
was one of them. But we know that Judah is a picture
of the church, but turn to Revelation chapter five. Judah is also the
one through whom the Lord of glory, it was revealed, was going
to be the bloodline that the Lord Jesus would come. Revelation
chapter five, verses one to five. Revelation five, and I saw in
the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book. written
within and on the backside seal with seven seals. And I saw a
strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to
open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in
heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open
the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereof. And one of the elders said unto
me, weep not. Behold, the line of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof. When Jacob, the dad of all these
sons, blessed his sons, turn over to Genesis 49. whenever
he was blessing, before he died, he was blessing his boys. And this is what he said concerning
Judah. Genesis 49, verses eight to 10. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Judah is a lion's welt, From
the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he crouched
as a lion, as an old lion. Who shall rouse him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from being between
his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. So through the bloodline of Judah,
Now you know the Lord had declared that Christ would come through
Abraham. But then he narrowed it down
and he said, through Abraham, but actually through Isaac. But then he narrowed it down
and he said, well, through Isaac, but specifically through Jacob. And then specifically out of
Jacob's line, through Judah. So Judah, Judah was a man chosen
of God, through whom the Lord Jesus Christ would physically
come, through Judah. Now, our passage tonight is going
to be the unfolding of the marvelous grace of God to provide His Lamb,
the Lamb of God Himself, to the people of God's choosing and
how God rules and overrules even in the sins of His own people. He overrules and shows mercy
even to the shortcomings, the sins, the failings of His own,
His chosen people totally through the merit of the shed blood that
has been applied to the people of God's everlasting love. Now,
I want us to look at this passage. If you've not read Genesis chapter
38, believe me, when we read this, we're gonna look at this
chapter, and you're gonna read this chapter, and you're gonna
say, wow, how but for the grace of God, could God show mercy
to anybody? This is a man, Judah, through
whom the bloodline of Christ would come. Genesis 38 verses
one to two, it came to pass at that time that Judah went down
from his brethren and turned in to a certain Adulamite whose
name was Hira. And Judah saw there a daughter
of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. And he took her
and went in unto her. Now, as I said, I'm going to
kind of go through this chapter very quickly. Let's see what's
happening. And then we want to look and
see how do we see the gospel in this. Now, Judah, one of the
sons of Jacob, 12 sons of Jacob, those who are picture type of
church, immediately after he himself, if you look at Genesis
37, verse 26 and 27, Genesis 37, it says, in verse 26. Let me get 37 here. 26, and Judas
said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother
and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the
Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our
brother and our flesh, and his brethren were content. Now, here
was Joseph. They hated Joseph. They wanted
to kill Joseph. We're gonna kill him. They saw
him coming, we're gonna kill him. Inspired to kill him. Judah was one said, no, no, no,
no, no. We're not going to make any money
out of this. What's going to profit us if we kill him? Let's sell
him, let's sell him. Judah was the one that suggested
that. And the scripture says now back
in 38 here, it came to pass, Judah went down. Now, whenever
we see one going down, you can just about assume, if you look
at the context, but just about assume it's going to be talking
about not a good direction. Judah went down. What he did
was he was in the place where his dad lived, and that's where
his brethren were, and that's where God had raised up the gospel.
And what he did was he left the place where God's word was proclaimed. He left where God had been pleased
to bless his people. Here is his daddy Jacob, his
12 sons, his wife. And he left that place and he
went down, the scripture says, to a certain Adulamite whose
name was Hira. And Judah saw there a daughter
of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. Shua was the name
of the daddy. It doesn't even give the name
of his daughter that Judah saw. But what he did was he went down
into a forbidden place and there he went down to reside there. He went down to that place. And
he saw, and actually he married, it says he took her, he married
her, and he married a woman from a cursed nation, a nation that
God had given instruction that the children of Israel were to
avoid, don't have anything to do with the Canaanites. And what
he did, he did just exactly the essence of Adam's transgression.
He disobeyed God. That's what he did. God had told
him, don't go. And what he did, he went down. And then the scripture
says in verse 3 through 10, And she conceived and bare a son,
he called his name Ur. She conceived again, bare a son,
she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived and
bare a son, called his name Shelah. And he was at Shezeb when she
buried him. And Judah took a wife for Ur. Judah, the one that had left
his house, came down there, took a wife for the son that was born
to this woman, Canaanite woman. He took a wife for Ur, his firstborn,
whose name was Tamar. And this was the wife. She was
a Canaanite. She was from around there. And
so he chose this Canaanite for Tamar. And Ur, Judah's firstborn,
was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord slew him.
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and
marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew
that the seed should not be his, and it came to pass, when he
went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground,
lest he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which
he did displeased the Lord. Wherefore, he slew him also. Now here's what happens. We're
starting to see that the fruit of man's work, man's decision,
without the blessing of God, that which is always, if it's
man's work, man's decision, it's always without the blessing of
God. We see now, he had three sons. He married this woman. Her name was Tamar. And he married
this woman, and two of the three sons of Judah died. under the justice and judgment
of God. Now we're not told why Ur died. It just says that she conceived,
she had a son, and he took a wife, and Ur was the firstborn. He
was wicked, verse seven. He was wicked in the sight of
the Lord, and the Lord slew him. So we don't know why the Lord
slew him. But Ur, whose name means awake
or to arouse one's self, All we know about Ur is that he was
wicked in the sight of the Lord. Now he had done something that
displeased God. I don't know if it was like Nadab
and Abihu, sons of Aaron, that had taken some strange fire.
They were supposed to get fire off the brazen altar. That's
where you get the fire. I don't know where they got it. But wherever they got it, it
displeased God. And when they tried to put that
strange fire, on the altar, God killed him. He killed him. Remember
Uzzah? Transporting the ark, and the
ark was rocking, the cart was rocking. Uzzah thought it was
gonna tip over, so Uzzah just went out and put his hand on
it. He gonna help God out. God killed him. Put your hand
on it to help God. God doesn't need any help. So
here, we don't know what he did, but whatever he did, it was evil
in the sight of the Lord, and God killed him. Well, after God
killed him, it says in verse eight, Judah said unto Onan,
that's the next son down, go in unto thy brother's wife, and
marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. Now, God is going
to have Judah Tell his son, I want you to go and I want you to take
your elder brother's wife. You take her to wife and you
go into her and you raise up a seed for your elder brother. And the
thing that, verse nine says, Onan knew that the seed should
not be his. Now here's what the deal was. The Lord had promised Israel
that the Messiah would come. He had promised this in Genesis
chapter three in the garden. Whenever Adam had rebelled against
God and God called, got Adam, found him hiding, covered himself
with fig leaves along with Eve, and God Almighty had set forth
that the earth was gonna be cursed He said that the Messiah was
going to come. He was going to come through
the seed of the woman. He said now the Messiah was going
to have his heel bruised, but he was going to crush the head
of the serpent. It's setting forth how the Lord was going
to redeem his people. He would die on the cross. He'd
have his heel bruised, but he was going to crush Satan's head. And that was the God-ordained
way that the promised Messiah would come. It would be accomplished.
He'd be born through a woman. He'd be born just like kids are,
through the seed of a woman, not the seed of the man. He was
conceived of the Holy Ghost, but the seed of the woman is
the way he was going to come. So Israel is looking. They're looking for Christ. They're
looking for Christ to come through a child. Every woman that was
in Israel, she wanted children. I might be the one. I might have
the Messiah. They wanted children. And if
the firstborn son of a Jewish family died without having an
heir, then the next son in line was instructed in obedience to
the promise of Almighty God to raise up seed in the name of
his elder brother. That's the way it was. And if
God gave seed, if he gave a child, if he gave an heir, even through
that second son, through the wife of the first son that had
died, just like this one, her died, and Judah told his second
one, old man, he said, now you go and you take your brother's
wife and you raise up seed. But if there was an heir that
was born, That heir wouldn't be counted to the second boy,
it'd be counted to the first. That would be the firstborn child.
It wouldn't be the second boys. It wouldn't be counted, it'd
be the firstborns. The right of priesthood, the
right of double portion of all the brethren would all be credited
to the first one. It would have been credited to
her, had Onan taking Tamar like his daddy told him to do, and
Onan knew that. He knew that. If she has a son,
it's gonna be mine, it's gonna be hers. That's what he meant
when he said it. Verse nine, Onan knew that the
seed should not be his. And it came to pass when he went
into his brother's wife that he spilled it on the ground lest
he should give seed to his brother. What was the reason God killed
him? God killed him for that. He killed him. Because what happened
was Onam despised the way, the order, the word, the purpose. He despised the way that the
Messiah was come. He despised the way that God
had ordained that they were to be. He despised all the glory
given unto God's promised seed. The Lord Jesus Christ. Onan despised
God's word, God's wisdom. He despised God's mercy and therefore
God's coming. He despised Christ. It's what
he did. When he said, I'm not gonna do
that. It's not gonna be mine, I'm not gonna do it. And God
killed him. Oh, the danger of man and his
his will, deciding what he's gonna do. Only do we behold the
evil found in man by seeing what's going on right here. And the
bad thing was that Judah himself, the daddy that had told him,
okay, there was Ur, then there was Onan, then there was Shelah.
He was next. God's done killed two of his
boys. Now look at verses 11. Then said Judah to Tamar, his
daughter-in-law, remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah
my son be grown. For he said, lest peradventure
he die also, as the brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt
in her father's house. And he wasn't probably maybe
a year younger, year or so, not much, younger than his brother
Onan. But here's what Judah did. Judah
himself, dishonored God's covenant by not allowing the next son
to do just exactly that which was right and honoring to the
Lord. Judah put his own desire for
his son's well-being ahead of God's word, God's covenant, and
God's glory. And how evident that it is that
man at his best state, what did God say to do? God say that then
the next boy takes over. And Judah said, well, I just
don't think he's old enough. I just don't think this. I think it's,
I done lost two boys. And I think maybe Tamar's got
something to do with this. I don't know, there's something
about that woman. I don't know, there's something about her.
And so I tell you what you do. You go back to your daddy's house
and whenever I think that my son's old enough, that's what
he said. There's none righteous. Judah
disobeyed God. The boys disobeyed God. Judah
started off disobeying God when he went down from the sole of
our foot to the crown of our head. There's no soundness in
it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. After refusing
to give Tamar, Shelah, the boy, his husband to raise up seed,
they revealed that they failed to walk by faith concerning the
coming Christ. And then I want you to notice
what Judah did. Now this, remember who Judah
is. This is the one through whom the Lord's gonna come. This is
God's chosen means through which Judah's bloodline. Look at verses
12 to 19. And in process of time, the daughter
of Shulam, Judah's wife, died. See, still don't give her name,
just tells who her daddy was. See, she died. And Judah was
comforted and went up to his sheep shearers, to Timnath, he
and his friend, Hira the Adulamite. And it was told Tamar, now Tamar's
over to her daddy's house now, remaining in her widowhood, that's
what he said, just go over there and just stay there, I'll call
you when I think the time's right. It was told Tamar, saying, behold,
thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. And
she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her
with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which
is by the way to Timnath, for she saw that Shelah was grown,
and she was not given unto him to wife. When Judah saw her,
he thought she to be a harlot, because she had covered her face,
and he turned unto her by the way, and said, go to, I pray
thee, let me come in unto thee. For he knew not that she was
his daughter-in-law. And she said, what wilt thou
give me that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I'll
give thee a kid of the flock. And she said, wilt thou give
me a pledge till thou send it? And he said, what pledge shall
I give thee? And she said, thy signet. my bracelets, my staff
that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came
in unto her, and she conceived by him. And she arose and went
away, and laid by her veil from her, and put on the garments
of her widowhood." Now, Judah's wife is dying. And Judah goes
where his friend, Hiram, Hira, that friend that was of the forbidden
people. They were gonna have a sheep
shearing. And Judah thought to be with
some of the people that he thought would cover him, his wife, comfort
him, sorry, and he was gonna be with some of the people there.
And Tamar was told that Judah, her father-in-law, was going
on this trip and where he was going. She knew where he was
going. And she purposed to be where Judah, her father-in-law,
was. She saw that Judah had not made
good on his promise to give her Shelah, his last son. So she disguised herself as a
harlot and set where Judah must pass. But while her tactics were
obviously not of themselves, God honoring her ways, as we're
going to see in just a little bit, were certainly overruled
by Almighty God, according to God's providential mercy and
purpose to accomplish that which the Lord had eternally purposed
to accomplish. Now, whether her intentions were
to actually play a harlot doesn't say, but she dressed up like
one. and she's gonna be where he is,
and she just wanna find out, she's gonna be there. Well, what
happens is Judah comes along, and he saw her, he saw this woman
sitting there, and he didn't know who she was, and he propositioned
her. But before she would allow him
to have her, she wanted to know, what are you gonna give me? How
you gonna pay me? And he told her, he said, I'll
give you a kid of the flock. I'm gonna give you a young male
goat. Well, that was good and fine,
as far as that was concerned. But she wanted to know, what
are you gonna give me as a pledge before the goat comes? You're telling me you're gonna
give me a goat if I allow you to have me. But what are you
gonna give me? as a pledge. Well, he asked her,
he said, well, what do you want? What do you want for a pledge?
And she said, she said in verse 18, what pledge shall I give
thee? She said, I want the signet. I want that ring that has the
symbol of your family. I want thy bracelets, which actually
it means a thread or a cord, and as closely as I could find
out, those bracelets, they were personalized, but they were like
cords that they would hang and tie stuff to themselves, whether
they wore it around their neck, where he had the ring, the signet
that he wore around his neck, but it was, it means the cord,
but it was a personalized thing. She said, I want your signet,
I want your bracelets, And I want the staff, and I found out the
staff, it was the shepherd staff. And it wasn't just a stick that
you'd run down and just buy one. These were custom. They were personalized too. They
had either the family crest upon it, it had their name on it,
but they knew what it was. I heard one said, it would be
like somebody asking you, said, now I want a pledge from you.
Well, what do you want? I'll take your passport, your
social security card, and your driver's license. You know what
she wanted? She wanted his identity. She
wanted to know that I have what you've pledged, that there would
be no doubt that this had been pledged by you. Well, scripture
said, after she arose, he laid The garments aside, in verse
19, it said afterwards, after she had had her time and Judah
had his time with her, she conceived, verse 18. In verse 20, Judah
sent the kid by the hand of his friend, the Adulamite, to receive
his pledge from the woman's hand, but he found her not. Then he
asked the men of that place, saying, where's the harlot that
was openly by the wayside? And they said, there was no harlot
in this place. And he returned to Judah and
said, I cannot find her. And also the men of the place
said, there was no harlot in this place. And Judah said, let
her take it to her, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this kid,
thou hast not found her. What happened was Judah made
good. He made good on his promise to send the kid, the goats, by
his friend, the kid of the goats, but the friend couldn't find
the harlot, couldn't find Tamar, had disguised herself. And he
asked around, have y'all seen the harlot that was here? And
they said, well, I don't know what you're talking about. There's
no harlot here. And Judah's friend came back
and told Judah. He said, I went and I brought
the goat and I couldn't find her. Judah basically said, there in
verse 23, he said, let her take it to her. He said, just, well,
let her have it. Just let her have the pledge.
All I want is to let this die. Let's just let this, you know.
Well, the scripture says in verse 24, it came to pass, about three
months later, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law
hath played the harlot, and also behold, she is with child by
whoredom. And Judah said, bring her forth,
and let her be burnt. Now, after three months, maybe
Judah thought, well, this is all swept under the rug, and
he founds out now that Tamar is with child. And it's assumed
because she's supposed to have been at her daddy's house, you
know, in her widowhood, She's supposed to be over there, and
obviously, she doesn't have a husband. And if she's with child, obviously,
she's played the part of a harlot, and Judah now wants justice.
She's gonna be burnt. This awful sin is gonna have
to be put away out of our family. We're not gonna have, we're not
gonna stand for this. I'm not gonna have a harlot in our family. You're gonna bring shame to this
family, humanly speaking, that's what he said. Well, the scripture
says in verse 25, 26, and when she was brought forth, she sent
to her father-in-law saying, by the man whose things are,
I am with child. And she said, discern, I pray
thee, whose are these, the signet and bracelets and staff? And
Judah acknowledged them and said, she hath been more righteous
than I, because that I gave her not to Shelah my son, and he
knew her again no more. Oh, how we behold, our sins are
gonna find us out. If you just looked at that as
just the history of a family. You'd say, that is so sad. Oh,
how things just deteriorated so badly. But I want us now to
behold the wonder, the miracle of God's grace. In that story,
that's absolutely true. It's historically correct. This is the word of God. This
happened. This is the way it was. Now,
humanly speaking, Judah was as guilty as Tamar, Judah. And when she was brought before
him, she's gonna have to give an account now. He wants to talk
to her. Now you're with the child, okay,
there's gonna be some penalties. You deserve, you deserve, you
deserve to die. That's what the law, the law,
harlot, stoned, this one right here is gonna be burnt. What she did was when she came
before her father-in-law, she presented the pledge that she
had. She said, now, I'm with child,
but the man that I was with, these are the pledges, this is
the pledge that he gave me when he came into me. And he had nothing
to say except he said she had been more righteous than he had,
because he had withheld Sheila, his son, whom he should have
given her, to raise up seed that the word of God might be obeyed
in the promise of the Messiah. But I want us to see how beautifully
we behold the gospel of God's grace in this. You said, how
can you see the gospel? Now, you know and I know all
these scriptures speak of Christ. We know that, don't we? And if
it's just history of a dysfunctional family, well, what is that? We're
just gonna shake our heads and say, oh, that's so bad, I hate
to hear that. But no, by the grace of God,
may the Lord give us understanding here. We realize, and first,
let me say this, that no picture or type in scripture is the perfect
setting forth of the totality of the reality, no picture of
Christ. Christ was set forth as the ark,
Noah's ark. He's not a boat, but he is safety
from wrath. He's not a physical rock, but
he's the rock that was smitten, the rock, the stream, through
which the water of life came. He is that brazen serpent we
see. So no picture or type is a perfect unfolding of the reality
any more than if I'm walking down outside and the sun's shining
outside and I see a shadow of myself. It's never a perfect
representation of me, but the shadow is still a reflection
of me. I've been looking, I've looked at my shadow before, and
I've looked, and I know it's my shadow, because I can see
it's connected to my foot, and so I know that's me, but when
I just look at it, though I know it's me, it's not a perfect,
you'd never know it was me. I know it's me, you'd never know
it was me, if that's all you see, but it's never a perfect,
but it's always a reflection, a setting forth of the truth
in scripture. Now, Tamar, for sure, did what she did because she
wanted to. And what she did is she took
her place as a sinner. She took her place as a sinner. What she did in verse 14, she
put her widow's garments off from her and covered her with
a veil and wrapped herself and sat in an open place by which
in the way of Timnath for she saw that Shelah was grown and
she had not been given to her and she's coming and she's going
to get even. She's gonna, we're gonna settle
this thing. I'm gonna question him, whatever I'm gonna do, I'm
gonna do something. So she took her place as a sinner. But here was a sinner that was
relief. She needed deliverance. She needed
some help. And so here we see her as a picture
of God's people in need. Her father-in-law is the one
that can help her. Her father-in-law can give her
the husband for the promised Messiah. And she was there, but
she was guilty. She was deceptive. And Judah,
Judah in himself. Here's Tamar, she's a sinner.
And Judah, he was guilty. Judah is a picture of Christ. I know what you're thinking.
I say, how are you going to say that Judah can be a picture of
Christ? when you're saying that Judah
himself was guilty. The Lord Jesus Christ never knew
sin. He never knew sin. But the scripture
says he was made sin. He was made what we are. He bore the guilt of his people. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
If you wanna know exactly what the Lord, let me just read this
to you. Psalm chapter 40, verse 12. Now you listen to the Lord
as He prays, being made sin. Listen to what He said. This
is the Spirit of God quoting this. For innumerable evils,
compassed me about, mine iniquities." Whose iniquities were they? His. Not by personal transgression
though. He knew no sin, but when he bore
the iniquities of his people, he said under the inspiration
of God's spirit, mine iniquities, they're mine, they're mine. I
took them. I bore them, and they're mine,
not my people's. They're mine, and I'm gonna pay
for them. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I'm
not able to look up there more than the hairs of mine head.
Therefore, my heart faileth me. Was Judah personally guilty? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But as a
type of Christ, here was Tamar personally guilty, but she needed
a deliverer. She needed help. Here's Judah,
personally guilty, but as a picture of Christ. He was a picture of
our Lord who was made sin, made guilty. He was made guilty. Again,
not by not personal transgression, but by taking sins of his people. Tamar was guilty. And she deserved
to be killed for her sins. She deserved it. She was a sinner. But when Tamar came, she who
was personally guilty, she presented the pledge that had been given
her by Judah. That pledge that set forth Judah's
admittance of his association with her. He associated himself with her. And with her and in her guilt,
he was made responsible. He said, those are mine. Those
are mine. I gave that to her. I associated myself with her.
God's people are ever careful to never insinuate, as I said
a moment ago, any personal sin of our Lord any charge being
laid to his account by personal transgression. But we hold to
the fact concerning God's covenant mercy, according to the spiritual
blessing in Christ Jesus, blessings that was given us before the
foundation of the world, according to the pledge, the pledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ to stand as the savior and surety of his
people vessels of His mercy, we have been presented unto God
Almighty as predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself. And by gift, all these spiritual
blessings, by gift, according to God's covenant mercy, you
know what He's given us? We're heirs of God. When were
we made heirs of God before the foundation of the world? And
what did we possess? What do we possess in Christ?
His signet. We're heirs of God. We're heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ. His bracelets, His cord. That
cord binds us to Him according to that covenant mercy. And his
staff, his staff that sets forth by gift, by gift of the Father
and the willing submission of the Lord Jesus Christ to finish
the work of salvation. I am your shepherd. I'm your
shepherd. I'm your God. And I give you
my pledge. I give it to you. When that young
lady, Tamar, asked Judah before he'd come in to her, as a picture
of believer's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to his
instruction, when he said, what do you want me to give you? What
do you want from me? Scripture says, I want your signet,
I want your bracelet, I want your staff. I want everything. I want you. I want you. That's what I want. I want you. Psalm 8110, I'm the Lord thy
God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth
wide, and I will fill it. I'll fill it. Can you imagine
what she asked him? We bless and praise the Lord
when we ask great things of him, believing that he can and will
do according to his will and purpose. He said, ask. and it
shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. The scripture sets forth that
Judah's friend, associate, when he was going to go and bring
the kid of the flock, he said, I want you to take this kid.
I'll go back and bring this to her. And scripture says again,
Judah sent the kid, verse 20, by the hand of his friend, the
Dulemite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he
found her not. Then he asked the men of that
place, saying, where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside?
And they said, there's no harlot here. There's no harlot here. He returned in Judah. He said,
I can't find her. And also the men of the place
said, there's no harlot in this place. Oh, having the possession of
God's blessings. We, as sinners against God, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of us,
all of us come short. But having the possession of
God's pledge to this sinner and to sinners like all that have
come into this world, vessels of God's mercy. We know what
we are. But possessing by faith the pledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I didn't make myself an heir of God, He
did. I didn't put me in His family,
He did. I didn't tie myself to His covenant
of mercy, He did. I didn't make him my shepherd,
he made me his shepherd. But when this sinner stands before
God, in myself, I know what I am. Tamar knew what she was. She
was guilty. She was guilty. But she had his
pledge. And having his pledge, Judah stood for her. With the pledge of Almighty God,
pledge of God's mercy, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which be in Christ Jesus. Here, bring this, go bring this
to the harlot. There ain't no harlot here. You know the only
thing that's here is a chaste virgin, washed white in the blood
of Christ. And how blessed we are, Romans
11, 29, the gifts calling of God are without repentance. Lord, this is all I've got. I
got your word of promise. I got your pledge to show mercy
to this sinner. I know what I am. I know what
I am. And Lord, I don't have any hope
outside of you and your word. Very quickly, I'll finish. It
came to pass, verse 27, in time for travail, The whole twins
were in her womb. It came to pass when she travailed
that the one put out his hand and the midwife took and bound
up his hand, a scarlet thread saying this came out first. And
it came to pass as he drew back his hand that behold his brother
came out. And she said, how has thou broken
forth? This breach be upon thee. Therefore his name is called
Fares, the breach. and afterwards came out his brother
that had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his name was called
Zarah. Now, there's no doubt, in closing,
Zarah, one stuck his hand out, got his scarlet thread tied on
his hand. He initially came partially out
of the womb. Phares, the son which came out
second, was God's choice. I'll show you that in just a
second. We'll be done. Just like Jacob was second, second
to come out. He didn't come out ahead of Esau.
Esau came out first. Esau was technically the firstborn,
but God loved Jacob and he hated Esau. Phares wasn't the one who
stuck his hand out. That was Zerah. Woman there took it, she tied
that scarf, she said, this one came out first. Pulled his hand
back in, then Phares came out. He was God's choice. He was the
one. Spirit of God moved on Matthew. Turn over to Matthew chapter
one. Matthew chapter one, verses one to three. The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ. Son of David, son of Abraham. Abraham beget Isaac, Isaac beget
Jacob. Jacob begat Judas. Judas is Judah. Judah and Judas, same name, same
name. And his brethren, Judas begat
Phares, Zerah of Tamar. And Phares begat Esrum, and Esrum
begat Arab. Now, I read this concerning in
the lineage. It said that Phares and Zerah
were both mentioned. They were twins. Spirit of God,
I got this from Matthew Henry. He said, but only Phares was
listed in the lineage of Christ, the actual bloodline. Zerah,
his brother, had stuck his hand out, but God chose Phares. Last passage of scripture, Ruth. If you find, if you're flipping
back and you start finding Joshua, I mean, yeah, Joshua Judges,
you're gonna find, right after the book of Judges, the book
of Ruth, Book of Ruth, Ruth chapter four. Boaz took Ruth to wife. Boaz, as a type of Christ, declared
to all those that were there concerning him redeeming Ruth,
the type of the bride. In Ruth, in the book of Ruth,
chapter four, verses nine to 12, this is what Boaz said, unto
the elders and unto the people, your witness is this day that
I've bought all that Elimelech's, that was Elimelech's, and all
that was Chelion's and Maulon's, Maulon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess,
the wife of Maulon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place,
your witnesses this day and all the people that were in the gate,
and the elders said, we're witnesses. The Lord make the woman that
has come into thine house like Rachel, like Leah, which did
build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephratah,
and be famous in Bethlehem, and let thy house be like the house
of Pharaoh, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of thy seed which the
Lord hath given thee of this young woman. Oh, the miracle
of God's grace. If you look, At that whole family
situation, here was Judah. He went down, left the place
of God's blessing, found him a Canaanite wife that's not even
named, had three sons. God killed two of them right
off the bat. One of them for a reason not given, the other
one because he wouldn't raise up seed to his brother. And then
he forbid his daughter-in-law to even marry the third one because
of his fear of his son dying. And here comes the daughter-in-law,
and she disguises herself, plays the harlot. She did play a harlot.
She did. And here's her father-in-law
that was guilty. He went into it. Poor children. But she had his pledge. The pledge,
she had his identity. the one that had associated himself,
I'm the one, I'm the one, I'm the one, that I bear her guilt. Oh God Almighty save sinners,
Paul said, of whom I'm chief. I pray that the Lord bless this
passage to our heart, for God's glory, Christ's glory, and our
good and encouragement, amen.