That was such a blessing, thank
you. It was a blessing, and that song was such a blessing. I'm
so thankful to be here with you. Find it, as Gabe said, an honor. I'm thankful for this congregation.
Would you turn to Genesis chapter 38? I've entitled this message, Judah,
Tamar, and the Gospel. Judah, Tamar, and the gospel. I'm going to read this whole
chapter, but let me make a couple of remarks I want you to think
about. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And the Lord said with regarding
the scriptures, they are they which testify of me, all of them,
all of them. And we know that every scripture
is given to cause us to understand the gospel. And all of these
Old Testament types are all given to enable us to understand the
gospel. Somebody once said Genesis is
the seed plot of the Bible. And every doctrine in the New
Testament is contained by way of illustration in the book of
Genesis. And we have this here, I don't know how many times,
In the past, I've looked at this passage of scripture and thought,
what in the world to do in there? You know, you could pull Genesis
38 out and read Genesis 37 and 39 about Joseph and it would
be seamless. And you wouldn't miss Genesis
38, so you think. And you think, why did the Lord
put this particular story here? I want to say this first as well,
God brings good out of evil because there's a lot of evil in this
chapter. There's disobedience, there is
hypocrisy to the nth, there is incest, there is sin. It's a distressing story in reading
it. Let's read it together. And one more statement before
we go on. The woman Tamar is the first
woman mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. Very first woman mentioned. She comes through this story.
And it came to pass at that time, after that Joseph had been sold,
that Judah went down from his brethren and turned into a certain
Adulamite whose name was Hira. And Judah saw there a daughter
of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shewa. The woman's name
is not mentioned, but her father is. And he took her, he went
in to her, and she conceived and bare a son. And he called
his name Air. And she conceived again and bare
a son. And she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived
and bare a son and called his name Shelah. And he, Judah, was
at Shezab when she buried. He wasn't there. And Judah took
a wife for Eir, his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Eir, 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 her seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should
not be his. And it came to pass, when he
went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground,
lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing
which he did displeased the Lord. Wherefore he slew him also. Then
said Judah to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, remain a widow in thy father's
house, till Shelah my son be grown. For he said, lest peradventure
he die also, as his brethren did. Tamar went and dwelt in
her father's house. I don't believe that he had any
intention of giving his third son, making her with this woman. My first two boys have been killed.
I don't want to see this happen again. Verse 12, and in the process
of time, the daughter of Shuah, Judah's wife, died. That's the
woman who bore the three sons. And Judah was comforted, the
time of mourning was over, and he went up into his sheep shears
to Timnath, he and his friend Hira the Adullamite. And 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, I don't know how long she'd had them on, and she
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. And Judah saw her, he
thought her to be a harlot because she'd 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 send thee
a kid from the flock. And she said, wilt thou give
me a pledge till thou send it? I need proof. 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 to 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 for widowhood.
And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend, the Adulamite,
to receive his pledge from the woman's hand. He wanted the stuff
he gave her back, 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 was no harlot in this place.
And he returned to Judah and said, I can't find her. And also
the men of this place said, there was no harlot in this place.
And Judah said, Let her take it to her, let her keep them,
lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this kid, now's
not found her. And it came to pass about three
months later that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law,
played the harlot. And also behold, she's with child
by hoarding. And Judah said, bring her forth
and let her be burnt. Let her be burnt alive. 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, sir, and I pray
thee, whose are these? The signet, bracelets, and staff.
And Jude acknowledged them and said, she hath been more righteous
than I, because I gave her not to Sheila, my son. And he knew
her again no more. And it came to pass in the time
of her travail 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. And it came to pass as he drew
back his hand that behold, his brother came out. And she said,
how hast thou broken forth? This breach be upon thee. Therefore
his name was called Perez. And afterward came out his brother.
And they had the scarlet thread upon his hand and his name was
called Zerah. Now this is a unusual story. And like I said, I can remember
reading this story and thinking, what's it doing here? It just
doesn't seem to have a reason. We know it does. And when we
make a thought like that, we're just demonstrating our own ignorance.
There's a great reason for this. But where is the gospel in this
story? Judah is the man through whom
Christ, the promised seed, would come. And Tamar is the first
woman mentioned in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
Tamar, there's Rahab, There's Ruth, there's Bathsheba, and
then there's Mary. And this lets us know right off
the bat that it has some significance. And I would like to read, you
don't have to turn here, you can if you want, but in Ruth chapter
four, when they were wishing well with regard to Ruth having
children with Boaz, they said, let thy house be like the house
of Phares, whom Tamor bear unto Judah. of the seed which the
Lord shall give thee of this young woman. She's even commended
at this time in the book of Ruth. Now that gives us some idea of
the significance of this story. The Holy Spirit inspired Moses
to record this, Judah. The writer to the Hebrews said,
it's evident that our Lord sprang from Judah and Phares came through
this union and the Christ came through this. Now, it was Judah
who came up with the idea to sell his brother Joseph. Look
in chapter 37. Verse 26, and Judah said unto
his brethren, what profit is it that we slay our brother and
conceal his blood? We won't make any money out of
this. This is not going to benefit us any. Come and let us sell
him to the Ishmaelites. And let not our hand be upon
him, for he's our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were
content. They were satisfied. I guess we could feel better
about ourselves like this. Judah's name in the Greek is
Judas. Judas Iscariot had the same name,
Judah. Do you know that Judah was just
as bad as Judas? And so were me and you. We certainly conclude from the
reading of this chapter that Judah was a sinful man and he
wasn't chosen to be the one that Christ would come through because
of his innocence. He was chosen to be so because of the sovereign
will of God Almighty. Now, let's look at this chapter
again, chapter 38. I'll just read it again and make
some comments on it. And it came to pass that at that
time that Judah went down from his brethren, Now, I think, why
did he want to leave at this time? This is the time they sold
Joseph. And you can remember how Jacob
grieved. He said, I'll go down to my grave grieving. Maybe he
thought, I just can't stand to see my father grieve like this. Maybe he thought, I don't want
to be around this bunch. They wanted to murder him. And maybe
what he did was a good thing, coming up with the idea of selling
to keep him from being killed. Maybe he thought, I want to get
away from them. You can understand both those things, but he still
shouldn't have left these people. He came up with a reason to,
I'm sure we can always justify anything we do, we do. I'm sure
he had a good reason, but he left and went down to Canaan,
to the Adullamite, whose name was Harod, a heathen man. Verse two, and Judah saw there
a daughter of a certain Canaanite, her name isn't even mentioned.
just her dad's name, whose name was Shua. And he took her and went into
her, and she conceived. Now she became his wife. He saw
her, he took her, he went into her, and she conceived and bear
a son. And he, Judah, called his name Eir. I think it's interesting
she named the next two sons, but he named the first son. And
he called his name Er. And she conceived again and bare
a son, and she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived
and bare a son and called his name Shelah. And he, Judah, was
at Chezib when she bare him. He was an absentee father at
that time. And that word Chezib means lie, falsehood. That's interesting, isn't it?
That's where he was at this time. And Judah took, verse six, and
Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord,
and the Lord slew him. Now, we don't know what he did,
but we know what the Lord did. The Lord slew him. And generally,
when you find these judgments of God against men out of the
ordinary, it's generally in the scripture for a religious sin.
Now, I don't know if that's what's taking place here, but what about
Nadab and Abihu? They call for strange fire, not
from the altar. Fire comes down from heaven and
devours them. What about Uzzah? He touched
the ark. God kills him. What about Uzziah? He thinks he can become a priest.
God turns him into a leper. I think of Belteshazzar, the
king in Daniel chapter five. He's having a party. They're
all acting in immorality and drunkenness and God doesn't do
anything yet. But then he said, let's bring
out the vessels of the Lord and use them. You know what happened? That's when he saw the writing
on the wall, thou art laid in the balances of thou wanting. Now, was error committing some
kind of religious sin at this time? I don't know, but that's
generally what happened when God gave an instant judgment
above the course of the way things generally take place. And Judah
said unto Onan, go into thy brother's wife and marry her and raise
up seed to thy brother. That's the way they did it. And
Donan 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 that he should give seed to his brother, I guess.
He thought, I don't want him to have a son, because that'll
take part of my inheritance. I don't have any power in this
thing. This isn't doing me any good. So that's what he did.
And the thing which he did displeased the Lord. Wherefore, he slew
him also. Then said Judah to Tamar, now you look. My first
son was killed with this woman. My second son was killed with
this woman. Do the math. This doesn't look
good. I don't want him to have hurt
a wife. I'm afraid the same thing will
happen, and that's what it says. Then said Judah to Tamar, his daughter-in-law,
remain a widow at thy father's house till Sheila, my son, be
grown. For he said, lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren
did. And Tamar went and dwelt in his father's house. And I
don't believe that Judah had any intention of giving his third
son to this woman. He saw what had taken place. And in process of time, the daughter
of Shuah, Judah's wife, died. And Judah was comforted. This
is the woman that bore these three boys of his. He was comforted. The timing
of mourning was over. And so he went up unto his sheep
shears to Timnath, he and his friend Hira of the Adullamite,
the Gentile heathen. And it was told Tamar, saying,
behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
And she comes up with an idea. She put her widow's garments
off from her. I don't know how long she'd been wearing them. But
she took them off. And she covered her with a veil
and wrapped herself and sat in an open place, which is by the
way to Timnath. She knew her father-in-law would
be going that way. For she saw that Shelah was grown
and she was not given unto him, to wife. When Judah saw her, he thought
she was a harlot. He didn't have any idea who she
was because she'd 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
applauded all 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. Well, I don't have it right now.
I might have to have a pledge. I'm gonna have to have proof that
you're gonna do this. What will thou give me as a pledge? And he said, what pledge shall
I give thee? And she said, thy signet, thy bracelets, and the
staff that's in thy hand. Now, what is a signet? It was
his identification. It was his seal. It was that
which identified him. The bracelet was that which held
it on his neck. His staff was what he walked
by. What if somebody said, I want your social security card. I
want your passport. I want your driver's license.
I want your identification. And that's what she was asking
for. She was asking for the identification of Judah. The staff is what he
walked by. She's wanting a complete identification. from Judah, that's what I want
from my pledge. Judah agreed to that. He gave it to her and came in
unto her and she conceived by him, verse 19, and she arose
and went away and laid by her veil from her and put on the
garment of her widowhood. And 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 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 said, I can't 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.
Let her have it. She can have my signet. She can
have my staff. She can have the bracelet. Behold,
I sent this kid, and thou has not found her. And 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. And Judah said, bring her forth
and let her be burnt. Now, what about the man that
participated in this? You've got to think of the woman
taking adultery, where was the man? He didn't know that he was
the man. and what hypocrisy he practices
at this time. Bring her forth, burn her to
death. I couldn't help but think of
the scripture in Romans chapter 2 verse 1 where Paul says, Wherefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest
another, for thou that judgest, doest. doest the same things. And that's God's testimony. Somebody
says, I'm not. God says you are. God says you
are. Better watch out. Thou that judgest,
doest the same things. Well, he was ready to burn her.
He was angry. He was ready to burn her at the
stake. When she was brought forth, verse
25, He sent to her father-in-law saying, 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, the signet and the
bracelets and the staff? And Jude acknowledged. What else
could he do? He acknowledged and said, she
hath been more righteous than I. She was wrong, but I was wronger. Because that I gave her not Sheila,
my son, and he knew her again, no more. What is the one reason? The one
reason she wasn't burned. She had Judah's identity. That's the only reason. She was
not burnt. She had Judah's identity. Now, you look at this story and
the conduct cannot possibly be justified. The sin cannot possibly
be justified. The hypocrisy cannot possibly
be justified. There's one bad, feel bad thing
after another that takes place in this story. One of the things
I want us to remember, God brings good out of evil. Only God brings
good out of evil. And God always brings good out
of evil. And what's the most evil thing
to ever take place? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the most glorious thing
to ever take place? the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God brings good out of evil and
in this evil event we're given one point. The only way a sinner
can be saved is if that sinner bears the identity of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. No other Now, how can that be? How can
that be? How can I have his identity? Turn with me to the 69th Psalm. Psalm 69. Look in verse 21, they gave me
also gall from my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink. Who's speaking? That's the Lord
Jesus Christ from the cross. This is exactly what took place
with Him. In His thirst, when He said,
I thirst, what did they do? They gave Him gall, vinegar to
drink in mocking hatred of Him. Look in verse nine, for the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen upon me. That's quoted as with
regard to the Lord Jesus Christ himself in John chapter two and
in Romans chapter 11. As a matter of fact, Psalm 69
is quoted 10 times in the New Testament. Now keep that in mind
as we read what's getting ready to be said. This is Christ speaking,
and he says in verse one, save me, O God, for the waters are
come into my soul. I think this has to do with that
cup he drank, the sins of his people. And those waters came
into his soul. I sink in deep mire where there's
no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat
is dried, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They hate
me without a cause. Remember, that is said with regard
to the Lord Jesus. In John chapter 15, he said it
himself. They hated me without a cause. They hate me without
a cause, or more than the hairs of mine head. They that would
destroy me, being mine enemies, wrongfully are mighty. Then I
restored that which I took not away. The Lord's the only one
who would say that. He restored that which he never took away. Now listen to his language. Oh
God, thou knowest my foolishness. and my sins are not hid from
thee. He didn't say Todd's foolishness
imputed to me. He didn't say Todd's sins imputed
to me. He said my foolishness is not
hid from thee, my sins. Christ took my identity. That's painful to think about,
but it's true. Christ took my identity. Second Corinthians chapter five,
verse 21 says, for he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Just as truly as he took my identity,
I'm given his identity. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
is my identity. My fingerprints aren't on there,
and I don't want them on there. The righteousness of Jesus Christ,
His person, His work, is my only identity. His staff, His walk,
that's my walk. That's the only walk I want to
be judged by. Every believer has this in common. Christ took their identity on
Calvary's tree and he gives them his identity, his signet, his
bracelet, his staff. You know the birth, there's a
whole sermon There, but that first, the twins, the first one
puts his hand out. That's the first one, let's put
a red thread around, a scarlet thread. He put his arm back in
and out came somebody else. There was a breach. The Lord
came first. And afterwards, that one with
the blood mark on him, the red thread that goes throughout the
scripture. But here's the point. Here's the only point I really
want to make. What kept Tamar from being burnt? She had the identity of Jesus
Christ. I want to ask you a question. Are you satisfied to have his
identity only? Are you satisfied with that? Or would you like a little bit
of you in it? Your fingerprints. Your growth. Your knowledge. Your faithfulness. Your progress. You doing something
that makes you different from somebody else. Do you want anything
like that? Or do you simply want to have
His identity only, without your fingerprints on it anywhere. Turn to Philippians chapter three.
Philippians chapter three. Now in this chapter, Paul was
speaking of his identity. He says in verse four, though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. He's speaking of his identity. circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. I only know two men that ever
make that claim, the rich young ruler and Paul right here. That's
quite an identity, isn't it? I don't think any of us could
make a claim like that. But what things were gained to
me, I counted them as positives, I put them in the plus column.
Those I counted loss, garbage, refuse for Christ. Yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things and do count them, but dumb, that I may win Christ. and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness.
I don't have anything to do with that. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. I don't want
my fingerprint on it. Now I love what Paul says. When
God comes looking for me, there's one place I want to be
found. In Christ. So that all He sees is Jesus
Christ. And He does not see anything
else. Do you want to only have The
identity of Christ, yes! Yes. I don't want anything else. And neither does any other believer.
Oh, that we may win Christ when God comes looking for me. Somebody
says, well, I'd like for him to find me reading the Bible
or praying or witnessing or preaching or performing some good work. Oh, I'd love, not me, Paul says. I simply want to be found in
Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God, by faith. Amen. God bless you. What a wonderful night. Oh, so good. Thank you.