God's thoughts and God's ways
are not our thoughts and they're not our ways. God's thoughts
and God's ways are higher than our thoughts and our ways. What
appears to us to be nothing more than sinners rebelling against
God is really God working His sovereign will, bringing to pass
His eternal purpose to glorify His name in the person of His
Son and to save His people from our sins. Christ came into this
world to save sinners. And nothing verifies that fact
like looking even at the genealogy of Christ and seeing the sinners
in His genealogy. Now, these are some of the things
we're going to see in the subject today, which is the story of
Judah and Tamar. Now you recall Genesis 37 ended
with Joseph's brothers selling him into Egypt. And then it appears
the story picks up again in Genesis 39. But this story in Genesis
38 that comes in between seems out of place. What's this story
about? But remember the Holy Spirit
moved Moses to put this story right here where he put it for
a reason. We put it here for a reason.
Genesis 37. Get this picture now. Genesis
37 ends with Joseph leaving his father's house on his way down
to Egypt to become a servant to save his brethren. And the
picture we have is of Christ from eternity on His way from
His father's house to come into this Egypt in which we live to
become a servant to save His people from our sins. How could He come into this world?
How would Christ come into this Egypt? Well, God purposed from
eternity that He would come through the lineage that God chose. He
would come through Judah, the tribe of Judah. The Scripture
says Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. God told Judah,
the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh come, until Christ come, and
unto him shall the gathering of the people be. This was God's
eternal purpose from the beginning. God chose who His Son would come
into this earth through. And then after Genesis 38, we
pick up with Genesis 37 and we have Joseph coming into Egypt.
Picture Christ coming into Egypt. So what we have here in Genesis
38, are you with me? Now listen carefully. What we
have here in Genesis 38 is a small glimpse of God overruling the
sins of Judah to bring His eternal purpose to pass, to have Christ
come through the lineage of Judah. And what it is, is a picture
of all the sin and all the rebellion that God has had to overrule
throughout all time to glorify His Son and save His people from
our sin. It shows the sovereign, superabounding
grace of God toward His Son and His people. That's what we're
going to see. Now, first of all, we see the sin in us that God
has always had to overrule. First thing we see is the sin
that's in every elect child of God as well as in all men in
this world that God has had to overrule to bring His purpose
to pass. We read in verse 1, it came to
pass at that time that Judah went down. When it says at that
time, it's speaking of the fact that Judah had just rejected
his father's will by rejecting the son that his father put over
him in authority. He rejected Joseph. And rejecting
Joseph, he rejected his father's will. Now, brethren, that's what
all men did in Adam in the garden. We rejected God. We rejected
His Son. We said, we will not have this
man reign over us. And when you do that, you go
down. And Judah went down. And we've
been going, since the fall in the garden, we've been going
down, down, down. This world and all men in it
are not getting closer to God. We're not getting more God-like.
By nature, we're going away from God. We're going down. Down,
down, down. He that believeth on the Son
of God is not condemned, Scripture says. He that believeth not is
condemned already. That's what we see in Judah.
Then look at this. When we sinned in the garden,
all sinners separated ourselves from God and from His brethren. Verse 1 says, Judah went down
from his brethren. Do you know the significance
of that statement? The house of Abraham, The house of Isaac,
the house of Jacob, was the only place in the whole earth where
God had set His name up and had His name declared in all the
earth. Imagine if there was just one
church in this whole world where God was declaring His name. One
local assembly where God was declaring His name. Just one.
Do you know how valuable that would be? That's what Jacob's
house was. It was the one place in all the
world God was declaring His name. Judah left it. Judah turned his
back on God, back on God's gospel, on his father and his brethren
and all God's people, and he left it. He left it. He left
it. That's what we have here. That's
the enmity of the natural heart. That's what you and I do this
moment we come into this world and what we do all the days of
our lives if left to ourselves. We forsake God, we forsake His
gospel, we forsake His brethren, and we will not have a part with
Him. And it's our sins that have separated us from God. And then
since the fall, here's what all sinners choose. We choose the
friendship of the world by nature rather than the friendship of
God. Verse 1, He says he turned into a certain Adolamite whose
name was Hira. This man was a Canaanite. This
man was an enemy of God. This man was a man of the world.
Judah left God's people and went and befriended a man of the world.
God says through James, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be the
friend of the world is the enemy of God." That's what Judah did. That's what you and I do by nature. And then by nature, all sinners
choose to be married to the harlot of this world rather than to
Christ Himself, the husband. Look here in verse 2. And Judah
saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, He doesn't give her
name, but her father's name was Shewa. His name was Shewa. It means riches. Riches. And he took her and went in unto
her. This was a direct rebellion against
the will of God. Judah was to marry nobody but
a child of God. And he goes down to Canaan And
he took this bride, this Canaanite bride, to be his wife. In doing
so, he forsook Christ, the husband. That's who he forsook. And he
did it for seeking the riches of this world and forsaking the
unsearchable riches of Christ. That's what Judah did here. That's
what all of his people do by nature. And Paul said this, I'm
jealous over you. To believers, he said, I'm jealous
over you with a godly jealousy. Because I have espoused you to
one husband, that's Christ. One husband, Christ, that I might
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I'm fearful. lest
by any means the riches of this world, the friendships of this
world, the allurement of this world, lest by any means, as
the serpent beguiled Eve in the wilderness, even so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness of
Christ Himself in Christ alone. Since sin entered, we bring forth
by all this sin that we do by nature. The only thing you and
I have ever brought forth concerning fruit is just dead sinful fruit
from our flesh. Now look at verse 3. And she
conceived and bare a son. There's some fruit Judah brought
forth. And he called his name Ur, and
she conceived again and bare a son. And she called his name
Onan, and she yet again conceived and bare a son. And he called
his name Shelah, and he was at Shezeb when she bare him. And
Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
Now let's see something about this fruit Judah produced in
all his rebellion and all his sin. Verse 7 says, Er, Judah's
firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord
slew him. This is what we produce. Judah
chose a pagan wife, and through this pagan wife, by his own rebellious
flesh, by his own rebellious will, rebelling against God,
he brought forth a firstborn son who was wicked before God,
and God slew him. Scripture says to the believer,
what fruit had you then when you were in those things whereof
you are now ashamed? Because the end of all those
things is death. That's all you ever brought forth
was death, just like Judah did. And then we see Judah's second
son. And we see the sinful heart which
loves the pleasures of the world, but hates Christ. This is the
heart, the natural heart, loves the momentary pleasure of the
world, but will reject Christ and hate Christ all the while.
Take the gifts of God and abuse those and use those for the flesh
and for the belly, but reject Christ all the while. Now watch
this, verse 8. And Judah said unto Onan, Go
in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed
to thy brother. Now let me explain this very
carefully because the whole chapter hinges on what this means. So
listen very carefully, the whole chapter It has to do with what
this means. Now, if the firstborn son died
without children, then the next oldest son was required to marry
his wife and raise up a firstborn son. Now, that firstborn son
would not be his. It would be the son of that firstborn
son who had died. And all the inheritance that
passed from that firstborn son would pass to that son. But the
father that birthed that son, the second brother who birthed
that son, wouldn't get any of it. It would all go to his son.
Every bit of it. And there's a reason for this.
It's of utmost importance. You think, why would that be?
What's the reason behind that? Well, in the garden, God promised
that Christ, the Messiah, was coming as the seed of woman. He was coming as the seed of
woman. You remember Genesis 3.15? God said to the serpent after
the fall, He said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman. Between thy seed and her seed. Between the woman's seed. That's
Christ. And it shall bruise thy head.
and you shall bruise his heel." He was speaking of Christ. Then
when God revealed the Gospel to Abraham, God narrowed it down
to one family. God promised Abraham in the Gospel
that this promised seed was coming through Abraham. It was coming
through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, and then through
Judah. On down the line until Christ
came into the world. God promised that. He promised
that. And so, everybody from that day
forward. You remember Eve, she thought,
I've had the man-child when she had Cain. She thought she had
had the Messiah. And then in Israel, and only
Israel did God promise this through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah,
on down the line, Jesse, David, on down the line. Every believing
husband and every believing wife who truly believed the Gospel,
they looked for that firstborn son to be Christ. They looked
for that firstborn son to be the Messiah. It was like you
and I right now on the tiptoe of faith looking for Christ to
come again. They were looking for Christ
to come the first time. They believed the Gospel. They
trusted the Gospel. And so when that firstborn son
died because of his wickedness, Judah, knowing this and the importance
of this, he went to his second son and he said, you go marry
your wife. Marry his wife, Tamar. and bring up a child that will
be the firstborn son. Go do this. Hoping that it would
be the Messiah that he would bring forth. So then, when we
look at Onan's actions and what Onan is about to do, Onan took
the momentary pleasure that would be involved, just like a man
will take the momentary pleasures of this world, his whole lifetime. Olan rejected the gospel, rejected
God's covenant, and rejected Christ by what he did. How did
he do that? Watch. Verse 9. And Olan knew
that the seed, the child, should not be his. And it came to pass,
when he went in unto his brother's wife, he married her, he went
in unto her, he took the momentary pleasures that were afforded
him, It says, but he spilled it on the ground, lest that he
should give seed to his brother. He rejected Christ. When he did
that, he rejected God's Gospel, he rejected Christ the firstborn
Son. That's what he was doing. And
the thing which he did displeased the Lord, just as wicked as that
other Son. And wherefore he slew him also. You see, Onan did what Esau did. Remember Esau sold his birthright?
The same message was declared in that birthright. And Esau
traded his birthright, he traded Christ, he traded the gospel,
he traded God's covenant of grace for a momentary gratification
of a bowl of beans. Onan traded God's gospel, God's
covenant for a momentary gratifying of his flesh. That's what he
did. And God killed him for it. Now that's a picture of us by
nature, brethren, who will take all God's bounty and all God's
gifts in this world for our belly, for our flesh, just for the momentary
time called this life, and yet all the while reject Christ and
God's gospel and God's covenant. That's what we see pictured there.
But I want you to notice something else. Judah. Son of Abraham. Son of Isaac. Son of Jacob. Judah. One of the twelve sons
of Jacob. One of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Judah did the exact same thing. He despised God, despised His
covenant, despised His Christ. Look, verse 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... Now this is what... He didn't
say this to Tamar. This is why he made this arrangement. You go dwell at your house. When
my son's born, I'll give him to you. Now here's what he was
saying in his heart. Lest peradventure my last son
die like my other two sons died. Judah looked at Tamar as a black
widow. Judah looked at Tamar and blamed
Tamar for his two sons dying. And Judah didn't have any intention
whatsoever of giving his third son, Shelah, to Tamar and Tamar
to Shelah to be married. He didn't have any intention
in that. And by that, He's despising the covenant of God. He's despising
Christ. He's despising that gospel of
the firstborn just like Onan did. Exactly like Onan did. But now, let me ask you a question.
God destroyed His first wicked son and God destroyed Onan for
this. So why didn't God destroy Judah
when He did the same thing? One reason. Who makes you to
differ, child of God, from any other sinner in this world? The
sovereign, electing, redeeming, keeping grace of God is the only
reason. The only reason. Judah was no
different from his sons. He was no different from Hiram
the Dolomite. He was no different from Shuah,
his father-in-law. He was no different from his
pagan wife. He sinned against God. The only reason God spared
him was because God put him in Christ before the foundation
of the world and God would not let him go. God was going to
save him. That's grace, brethren. That's all grace. And that's
how all God's children are saved. Now, we're going to see a lot
more sin in Judah. But here's my point on this first
point. You see all this sin I just pointed out. Well, this has been
mankind since the fall in Adam. This is what God's had to deal
with in me and you right up to today and what He'll still be
dealing with all the way to the end of this world. Sin and rebellion
in us. Even a believer has it in our
flesh still. Sin and rebellion. God's dealing
with this and yet all the while what we're going to see here
is God's bringing to pass what He determined before. He's going
to bring to pass His sovereign will and it's not going to be
frustrated at all. God overrules everything. His
grace abounds even over our sins, brethren, to bring to pass what
God will. Alright, that's the first thing.
Now secondly, We see an example of great faith. Of great faith. And guess where we see it? We
see it in Tamar. We see an example of great faith
in Tamar. Does that surprise you? Let's
see it now. Verse 12. In process of time,
the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died. And Judah was comforted. There's another sin of Judah.
He wasn't comforted in God. He wasn't comforted in the Gospel.
He was comforted in the world. Here's what he did. He went up
unto his sheep shearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hira the Dolomite. That was a time when there was
a great feast that would be thrown by the owners of the sheep. They'd
all have this big drunken feast and this big party because all
the sheep was sheared and all that. There's where he found
his comfort. There's where he found his comfort.
Alright, and it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father-in-law,
Judas, her father-in-law, goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
She's still considered, even though her first two husbands
had died, she's still considered to be married. Still considered,
even though they're dead, she's considered to be married at this
point. That's her father-in-law. That's her father-in-law. She's
loosed from it. She can marry again because her
husband's died. Until she marries again, she's
still under that first husband. That's why he's called her father-in-law.
Now watch this. She was told he's in Timnath
shearing his sheep. And she put her winter 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. That's so important. That's so
important. That's one of the several ways
in this text that it shows us that what she did, she did from
a heart of faith. See, she saw that Sheila was
grown. And she saw that she wasn't given
unto him to be a wife. This means that Tamar believed
the gospel of God. This means Tamar believed what
God had declared to Abraham, that the Messiah is coming through
the seed of woman. And she was determined, whatever
the cost, she's going to have Christ. She's got to have Christ. You see, faith is going to cost
you. You're going to have to give
up some things through faith. But it's all worth it because
of Christ. And that's what she's doing.
She's got to have Christ. That's what true faith does. It makes us willing to have Christ
no matter the cost. Now you say that so much sin
was mixed with what Tamar did. Oh, that's a good example for
us too. In the best, purest heart of faith that God's made, there
is still with us an old man of sin. So that, though our motive
is faithful and true for the sake of Christ, sin's in that
old man of flesh, and sin's going to be mixed with everything we
do. Now, we're not suggesting that you commit the sin that
Tamar committed. And we're not suggesting that
you excuse Tamar's sin. It was sin. It was incest. It
was adultery. That's what it was. But understand,
looking over that sin, look at this and see the purpose for
which she was doing it, the motive for which she was doing it was
she understood Christ, the promised seed, is coming through the seed
of woman. And she believed God. She believed God. And then here's
something else true faith does. And this is going to be required
of anybody God gives faith. You're going to have to give
up your so-called good reputation. And you're going to have to take
your place as a sinner, a well-known sinner. That's what you're going
to have to do. Faith requires it. Faith requires
it. Do we see that in Tamar? Look
what she did, verse 15. When Judah saw her, he thought
her to be a harlot. You see, she dressed up as a
harlot and went and stood by the road. And because she had
covered her face, he couldn't see her. But for the sake of
Christ, Tamar was willing to give up her good reputation.
She was willing to be counted a sinner, a harlot, because she's
going there hoping she's going to have Christ. And that's a
picture of faith. We give up any so-called good
reputation we have, any so-called righteousnesses we have, and
we have to take our place as a sinner before God. Now look,
and Judah 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. Now Judah's sinning again right
here in this. And she said, What wilt thou
give me that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I'll
send thee a kid from the flock. That was pretty cheap. He was
giving her just a goat. That's what he was giving her,
from the flock. Not even a sheep, just a goat. But now brethren,
believer, given faith by God, we're willing to lose our so-called
good reputation and take our place as a sinner because we
want that Lamb of God. We want that Lamb of God. That's what we're seeking. And
look, and she said, What wilt thou give me a pledge till thou
send it? And he said, What pledge shall
I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and
thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came
in unto her, and she conceived by him. Now sin was mixed with
what Tamar did, brethren. And we're not suggesting anybody
do this, but look at this spiritually now. She gave up her reputation. She became a sinner. And that's
what you have to do, confess your sins before God. You have
to repent from any good in you, confess your sins before God.
And you're seeking that Lamb of God, that Lamb of the flock,
the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus. And when God gives you faith
and He gives His Spirit to you, He gives you a pledge. He gives
you an earnest of your inheritance. He gives you the signet, the
covenant of everlasting grace. That signet was used by Judah
to put his stamp on something and his seal on something that
this is ratified, it's done by my hand. That bracelet, never-ending,
a picture of the everlasting covenant of grace. Thy staff,
O Lord, that comforts me." God gives His child a pledge. And
that's what we see here. We see a picture of faith, coming
to God, confessing your sin, seeking Christ, the Lamb of God,
and receiving the inheritance, the pledge of the inheritance,
the earnest of the Spirit. Then we're going to see an example
of conversion and of being made the righteousness of God in Christ.
Look here. Now, let me state something here.
We might hide in our self-righteousness. We may hide in our hypocrisy.
That's what Judah's doing. But if we're a child of God,
God's going to expose our sins, bring us to be ashamed of our
sins, and He's going to draw us to Christ, which is what we
see in Tamar. And when He's done that, He's
going to make us the righteousness of Christ. He's going to impute
the righteousness of Christ to us. Now let's see this unfold,
and I'll try to explain it as we go. Verse 19, And she arose
and went away, and laid by her veil from her, and put on the
garments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the kid by the
hand of his friend, the Adolamite, to receive his pledge from the
woman's hand, but he found her not. He's just a sinner here
and he's hiding in his sin. He don't even go up there himself.
He sends his friend to go so he don't get caught. That's a
sinner. That's you and me by nature.
Hiding. hiding from the light. Verse
21, Then his friend the Adolamite asked the men of that place,
saying, Where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside? And
they said, There was no harlot in this place. And he returned
to Judah, and he said, I cannot find her. And also the men of
the place said that 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
shalt not find her. Judah said, It is worth it to
me to give up that signet, to give up that bracelet, to give
up that staff. Remember what we saw that picture?
That's a picture of the gospel. That's a picture of everything
we have in Christ. And he said, I'd rather give up all that than
to be ashamed because of my sin. Sinner, you won't come to Christ
for that reason. A sinner left in his sin is willing
to give up everything that the believer has in Christ Jesus. that covenant, that everlasting
covenant in that bracelet, that staff of protection and guidance
by Christ and all that He is. A sinner is willing to give up
all of that lest he be ashamed and his sins be found out. He
will not come to the light that his sins may be known. He will
not. And confess that all his works are in Christ alone. He
just won't do it. He just won't do it. Now think
about it. Isn't that what's in your heart,
sinner? You that don't know God, isn't that what's in your heart?
You're ashamed for your sins to be known. You're too proud
to say, I'm a sinner. You're too proud to. You won't
come and bow to Christ because you know you're going to have
to confess your sin and you will not confess your sin. And in
doing so, you're saying you're righteous and don't need Christ.
Oh, the sin of that. You're condemned. The wrath of
God abides on you. Now look at this. Verse 24, and
it came to pass about three months after. Now listen brethren, if
you're one of His, God's going to bring, He's going to expose
your sins to you, and He's going to bring you to confess them.
Now watch this. It came to pass about three months after that
it was told Judah, saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law, hath played
the harlot. And also, behold, she's with child by whoredom.
Now that's how men regarded it and that's what it would have
been if she had just done this strictly for her own personal,
fleshly reasons. It would have just been whoredom.
The same as Rahab would have simply lied. But God didn't regard
it that way because what the motive was. The motive was Christ. The motive was God's honor and
God's glory. Now watch this. It's what they
told Judah. She's pregnant by whoredom and
Judah said, Bring her forth and let her be burned. That harlot. Oh, that harlot. How dare she?
Remember David? Oh, this one man had many sheep
and this poor man only had one and this rich man took the poor
man's sheep. Let that man be killed. Who is
he? And here's Judah doing the same. Who is he? Bring that woman
forth and let her be burned. He's not saying bring her forth
and kill her. He's saying brand her. Let's
put a scarlet letter A on her so that everybody from now on
knows she's an adulteress. She'll live her life in shame
the rest of her days and then die and face the fires of hell. Before you blame Judah, look
at yourself. We do this every day. Every day. Well, I wouldn't do that. How
could they ever do that? Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. And unbeliever, I'm always pointing
this out to you too. I know you call us a bunch of
hypocrites. You're the biggest one of all. You won't even confess
it. Hiding in your self-righteousness
and calling yourself too good to come to Christ. Biggest hypocrite
of all. But we all, believers, know we're hypocrites. That's
what you see here. What's going to reveal to us
our hypocrisy? Christ. You know what's fixed and revealed
to Judah, his hypocrisy? All those items that we said
represented Christ. Watch this now. When she was
brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the
man whose these are, am I with child. And she said, Discern,
I pray thee, whose are these. Here's what revealed Judah's
sin to him. These things that pictured Christ.
The signet, and the bracelet, and the staff. When are you going
to see your sin? When are you going to acknowledge
your sin? When you see Christ. When God makes you to behold
Christ. The signet, the bracelet, and the staff. When you see Christ,
you're going to be brought to say, I have sinned against God. Now watch this. Judah's a child
of grace. And even though he's done all
this sin, God's going to expose his sin. And there's something
else here that you're going to see. When we come before the
justice of God, with Christ as our pledge, with Christ as our
pledge, with the signet and the staff and the ring, with Christ
only, we'll come before this law that demands we be burned.
We are going to be made the righteousness of Christ, and the law is not
going to say anything to us again. Now watch this, verse 26, And
Judah acknowledged, and he said, She hath been more righteous
than I. Watch this, why? Because that
I gave her not to Shelah my son. That's why she's been more righteous. And he knew her again, no more. You see, by having the pledge,
Tamar was declared righteous. She had the signet, the ring,
the bracelet. She did what she did in faith
to Christ. And here she's declared righteous
because she saw Sheila wasn't given to her. She saw that she
must have Christ no matter what it costs. And so she took her
place as a sinner to have Him. That's a picture of saving faith,
brethren. And she was declared righteous.
And you notice here, Judah, who stands there as the law saying,
let her be burnt, let her be burnt, she deserves to be burnt,
she's nothing but a whore. Now, when she's declared righteous,
the law says, it says Judah knew her no more. The law knows his
child no more. The law says, righteous. I know
you no more as a sinner. The law wasn't made for a righteous
man. It knows us no more. Alright,
now, so you see here, the reason He declared her righteous is
He saw then Judah. Now, we can't be certain of this,
but it appears that this is when Judah was converted. Right here. Because Judah was brought to
see Christ. that firstborn, the gospel that
God gave to Abraham, and that's what he states here when he says,
she's been righteous because I didn't give Sheila to her for
her to be a wife to. Are you with me? You with me? You got it, Mary? Alright. This is why, this is the gospel. And He appears now, He's seen
it. His sin's been revealed to Him. He's confessed His sin.
He confessed the righteousness of Christ. And that's what happens
when God calls a sinner. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. You see grace there. You see
how Judah was just as sinful as the rest and God saved him.
God saved him. God saved Tamar. Beautiful picture. Alright, now here's the third
thing. Thirdly, we see God's sovereignty to bring about His
eternal purpose. I'll be very brief here. It's
very simple and easy to see. The third thing we see is God's
sovereignty to rule in all this sin, over all generations, over
all mankind, even over His elect, to bring to pass what He determined
before the foundation of the world. Now, we have all this
sin and rebellion in Judah, and it's a glimpse of all the sin
and rebellion over all ages, in all mankind. And yet God's
showing His sovereign power, His power to bring to pass His
will. God determined before the foundation
of the world that according to the flesh Christ was coming through
Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, through Judah, and through
Phares who would be born of Tamar. Will God overrule the sins of
men? Will God overrule every little small detail? Now we know
He overrules the big things, but will He overrule every small
little detail to bring His will to pass? every detail. Now watch this. Verse 3, 27. It came to pass in the time of
her travail, time to give birth, that, behold, twins were in her
womb. And it came to pass when she
travailed that the one put out his hand, and the midwife took
and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out
first. But all that came out was his
hand. And it came to pass, as he drew
back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out." His brother
came out altogether. So this was the firstborn instead
of the other. He came out. Now, look. And she
said, How hast thou broken forth? This was amazing to this nurse.
No telling how many children she delivered. And she'd never
seen this. Here's twins and there's a breach. And here's this one
child that stuck his hand out and it appears like he's going
to come out. And all of a sudden, the other child comes out instead.
And she said, How did this happen? You know how it happened? It's
what God purposed to be done. It's what God purposed to be
done. Just like this thing with Judah and Tamar. God purposed
it to be done. Now watch. And it says here,
And this breach be upon thee, she said. This break. This break. And therefore his
name was called Phares. It means breach or here's what's
more important. It means the breaker, the breaker,
the breaker. Let me read Micah to you. Micah
2.13 speaking about Christ. And it says this, the breaker,
the breaker is come up before them, before My people. They
have broken up and have passed through the gate and are going
out by it. And their King, the Breaker, Christ, shall pass before
them. And the Lord, the Breaker, My
Son, shall be at the head of them." Christ is called the Breaker. You see the picture here? The
firstborn, the Breaker, coming forth. Now, go over to Matthew
1.1. And let's look at the generation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and see if God brings His will to
pass in this earth. Rules over all the sins of His
people, sins of men that don't even know Him and what happens. Genesis Matthew 1.1, the book
of the generation of Jesus Christ. This is the genealogy of Christ
according to the flesh. He is called the Son of David,
the Son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob. Jacob begat
Judas and his brethren. Now here's Judas. And Judas begat
Phares and Zerah of Tamar. That's what we just saw happen.
And Phares, this is how we know he was the firstborn. And Phares
begat Ezram. Look down at verse 5. We go on
down. Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab the harlot. And Boaz begat Obed
of Ruth the Moabitess, that cursed Moabitess. And Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse begat David the king. And David the king begat Solomon
of her that had been the wife of Uriah. Bathsheba that harlot. You got four women mentioned
here. You've got Tamar, who took her place as a harlot. You've
got Rahab, who was a harlot. You've got Ruth, who was a cursed
Moabitess. And you've got Bathsheba, who
was an adulteress. Sinners. Sinners. And then look
here, verse 16. Go on down the line. Jacob begat
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is
called Christ. just like God said it would be.
Now, what does all that mean? Seeing all these sinners, even
in Christ's genealogy, what does it mean? Well, number one, it
means it was of necessity that Christ was not born after the
flesh, but was born of the Holy Spirit. Because if He'd have
been born of any of them, He'd have been what they are, sinners.
Christ is His own righteousness and His own holiness. He's God
in human flesh. And here's something else it
tells you. Seeing Christ identify Himself with sinners, even in
this genealogy, These women mentioned were all sinners. And all the
men were sinners. And seeing Christ being identified
with sinners tells you Christ came into this world to save
sinners. To save sinners. Not righteous men, sinners. And
then, can God's eternal purpose be frustrated? Is God powerful
enough to bring His will to pass? Are His thoughts and His ways
higher than our thoughts and our ways? Go back with me to
Genesis. Genesis 37 ended with Joseph
leaving his father's house on his way to Egypt. Joseph left
his father's house on his way to Egypt. Picture Christ from
eternity on His way into this Egypt, leaving His father's house
to come into this Egypt to be made a servant to save His people
from our sins. Then we have Genesis 38 that
appeared to just come out of nowhere and just not have anything
to do with all this. And we see in it, God overruling
all things throughout all time to bring Christ through the very
tribe that He promised He would. And while He did it, He saved
His people from their sins all the way through. And then can
He bring His will to pass? Genesis 39 opens, look there,
Genesis 39.1, and Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And so
it was, Christ came into this Egypt. Yes, look at Romans 8. We'll end with this. Romans 8.
Christ came into this Egypt. He redeemed all God's elect,
put away our sins. And we're going to see that next
time in Joseph. But you know where Christ is now? He's at
the right hand of the Father. And you know what He's doing
now? He's doing what God did in our text. He's overruling
my sin and your sin. to turn us from our sins, bring
us to faith in Christ, bring glory to His Son, and to His
name while saving His people from our sin. That's what He's
doing right now. Christ is doing that right now. And here's what
we know. Romans 8, 28. We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that His Son might be the firstborn among any brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Amen.