Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Genesis chapter 38. Our Lord Jesus is described in
the book of Revelation as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Lord Jesus, according to
the flesh we're told, sprang from Judah. Judah was in Genesis
43 set before us as a type of Christ when he became surety
for Benjamin as Christ is our surety. You may be surprised if you've
not already considered this to learn that there's another spelling
for the name Judah. One that's more commonly known
is Judas. The names are the same, Judah
and Judas. Let's read about Judah in Genesis
chapter 38. It was Judah who in chapter 37
said to his brethren, it wouldn't do us anything profitable if
we kill Joseph. Let's sell him to these Midianites.
At least we can make some profit off of him. Then in chapter 38,
and it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his
brethren, he forsook the sons of Jacob, and turned into a certain
Adolamite whose name was Hira. And Judah saw there a daughter
of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shewa, and he took her
and went in unto her, and she conceived and bare a son, 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 called his name Shelah. And he was at Shezeb
when she bare him. And Judah took a wife of Ur,
his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And her, 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. 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 his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt
in her father's house. Verse 12. And in the process of time, the
daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died. And Judah was comforted
and went up unto his sheep shearers to Timnath, he and his friend
Hira, the Adolamites. 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 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 him to
wife. When Judah saw her, He thought
her to be in 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 will
send thee a kid from 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, and thy bracelets, and
the staff that is in thine hand. And he gave her the pledge, he
gave it to her. And it came, and came in unto
her, and she conceived by him. And she arose and went away,
and laid 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. 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 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 and thou has not found her. Verse 24. And it came to pass three months
after that, it was told Judah saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law
has played the harlot. And also behold, she is with
child by whoredom. That's the proper word. I've just got to pause and say
it. That's the proper word. I had a letter just this week
from someone asking for some help about how to handle her
son who's shacked up with this woman, bringing her into the
house and so forth. I said, love your son, but don't
let him bring the whore, his cheap whore, into your house.
That's the proper way to describe it. That's the proper way. That's
what fornication is. It is a cheap form of prostitution. And Judah says with regard to
his daughter-in-law who's with child by Horeb, bring her forth
and let her be burnt. That is branded as the law later
required, marked as a harlot. 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, the signet, and the bracelets, and the staff?
Oh. Can you imagine Judah when he
saw those things? And Judah acknowledge them and said, she hath been more
righteous than I because that I gave her 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 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 she 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 was called Fares. And afterward came out his brother.
that had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his name was called
Zerah. Now, how do you feel after reading
this story? Disgusted? Revolted? Shocked? Horrified? Embarrassed? Dismayed? What are your thoughts? Why was this written? Why is
it here? What's the purpose? We're right
at the climax of the book of Genesis, right in the middle
of the history of Joseph, the most important and beautiful
type of the Lord Jesus in all the Old Testament, and it's interrupted
with a story about Judah and this Adolamite and Tamar. Why is this put here? If you
read the scriptures carefully, paying attention as you read,
You will sometimes come across a passage like this that seems
to be out of place. It seems to have no real purpose,
no connection with the story. And if you look at this chapter
38, you could read chapter 37, go to chapter 39 and never miss
it. It seems to have no connection
whatsoever with the story that Moses is giving us, the history
he's giving us by inspiration. But when you run across such
a passage, don't just say, well, I don't know why that's there.
Scratch your head, ignore it and go on. That which seems to be
out of place in the word of God is never out of place. It is
put there for a purpose by divine direction, written by divine
inspiration. And it is put there, it's given
to us to teach us something obviously extraordinary. Without question,
anyone reading through this section of Genesis would look at this
38th chapter, these 30 verses that we've read and say, that
just doesn't seem to have any purpose. The fact is, the events
of this story while they have little to do, if anything, with
Joseph's history. Interrupt Joseph's history, because
God the Holy Spirit intends for us to learn something. These
verses, written by divine inspiration, inspired by God and written by
Moses, exactly word for word, letter for letter, as God himself
directed, are written for our learning and our admonition that
we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have
hope. Now understand that with regard
to all the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul tells us plainly, these
things are written, written by divine inspiration, that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. May God, the
Holy Spirit, whose word we had before us, now teach us what
he intends to teach by these words. My subject tonight is
Judah, Tamar, and the purpose of God. The chapter begins in
verse 1 by telling us that Judah went down. But before I'm finished,
I hope that Judah's degradation, shameful as it was, will be made
clear to you to be a bleak, dark backdrop upon which God Almighty
shows forth the wonders of His amazing grace by which we are
saved in Christ Jesus. Here, in every verse, sin abounds. In every verse, sin abounds. Everything we've read thus far
about Judah is evil. Everything we've read about it.
In all the book of God up to this point, everything about
Judah is evil. Nothing, nothing implies anything
good about Judah. But bless God, where sin abounds,
grace superabounds. Read your history. Read your biography. Everything
written about you as you know it. Every day of your life as you
know it. Every breath you take as you
know it. Sin abounds. Is there anyone
here who will dare lift his hand and say not me? Anyone? Sins your name, sins your nature,
sins your game. That's what you are. And me too. Nothing but sin. Oh, if God will
really make you to know that. Oh, if God will make you to know
that. I'm here to tell you that where
sin abounds, grace super abounds. Always, always. All right. First, let me spend a little
time talking to you about Judah's sin. The first thing, the most
obvious thing before us in this chapter is the utter depravity
of this man, Judah. And as we speak of the utter
depravity of this man, Judah, we're talking about the utter
depravity of our race. Your utter depravity. depravity. I know that politicians
and preachers like to talk to people and make them feel good
because they want to get in your wallet. And they'll talk to you
about the innate goodness of humanity. Bill Raleigh, there is nothing
good in you by nature. There is no goodness in man,
no innate goodness. You don't have any. You don't. Your mama doesn't. Your children
don't. Your grandparents don't. There
is no such thing as goodness in humanity, but only evil and
that continually so that every thought of every imagination,
of every man's heart, is only evil continually. Brother Don,
surely, surely the scriptures don't mean for us to understand
that every thought, of every imagination, of every man's heart,
is only evil. That's exactly what the scriptures
say. Read it for yourself in Genesis
chapter 6. I don't believe that. Well, throw the word of God in
the trash can on your way to hell. But that's what the book
says. Since the fall of our father
Adam, one thing characterizes humanity. One thing you can always
count on as a matter of certainty. One thing You can see in the
course and in the life, in the conduct, in the behavior of every
child of Adam. In the history of our human race,
this one black mark identifies every man. One odious characteristic
by which all men are clearly marked out. And that is corruption. sin, iniquity, transgression. All have sinned. All have sinned. Now, we tend
in our corrupt natures to speak of that and think those words
plainly written in Scripture almost glibly, God forgive me, as if to say, well, now, you
know that Mrs. Fortner put that there for Pastor
Fortner, that's his water, and you come and take a sip. And
that's, you see it. Yeah, that's true. That's not
what I'm talking about. Sin is the attempt of man to
rape God, rob him of his glory, take it to yourself, and leave
God in the grave. That's what humanity is all about. Humanity is all about enmity
against God. That's called sin. enmity against
God. The innate hatred of God. An innate hatred of God. All have sinned. All live and
breathe God's air, walking on God's earth, all the days of
our lives with a natural innate hatred of God. Wicked. are estranged from the womb and
they come forth from the womb speaking lies. David said, in
sin my mother conceived me. I was brought forth in iniquity. That's the nature of humanity. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Your heart and mine. This fact is verified on the
pages of history every day. Every day. It's verified in your
life every day. No exceptions. We're not told. How or why it
came to pass. But the first thing we're told
in this chapter in verse 1 is that Judah went down. He went down from his brethren. Went down from the sons of Jacob. Went down from the children of
Abraham. Went down from God's covenant
people. Went down from God's church on
the earth at that time. went down from God's family walking
on the earth at that time. Judah went down from his brethren
and turned into a certain Abdullamite, a pagan, heathen, idol-worshipping,
ungodly man named Hira, in direct violation to God's will. Judah
chose to abandon the family of God, the people of God, the sons
of Abraham, God's covenant people. for his choice companion to be
an Adelamite. Now, I don't have any question.
Judah felt fully justified. I'm sure he just if you if you
stop and say, Judah, what are you doing? He could explain it
in such a way that he was perfectly comfortable and saying this was
the right thing for me to do. And he might even convince you.
Now, I might not agree with him, but Judah thought he was doing
right. You see, if God would leave you alone, David Peterson
or Don Fortner, there's nothing outside of hell we wouldn't do
and justify ourselves in doing it. That's called depravity. Depravity. But I assure you,
the path of rebellion is a path of sorrow. As I'll show you in a moment,
Judah was an object of God's grace. But whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. I try to urge our children, our
young people, we want to protect them, keep them from evil. urge
them to behave properly, to act with some kind of respectability,
with some kind of honor as honor goes among dishonorable human
beings. Because I know from bitter, lifelong,
painful experience that rebellion has its consequences in this
world, consequences with which you have to live. until God takes
you out of this world. Consequences with pain and scars that are
still there after God saves a sinner by his grace. Painful consequences. If you take fire to your bosom,
you're going to be burned. Sow to the wind, you'll reap
the whirlwind. Let's see if that's not verified
right here in this text. Judah chose a pagan for his friend,
and then he chose a pagan for his wife. His two oldest sons,
Ur and Odin, followed his example, and they were slain under the
wrath of God. Judah was marked for mercy. but his two boys were killed.
We're not told what Ur's wickedness was, but we're told plainly it
was something obviously, manifestly wicked about him for which he
was slain in verse 7. Odin's sin, however, is specifically
described. Judah told his second son, Odin,
to go into his brother's wife Tamar and raise up a son in the
name of the firstborn. And that son that would be born
by Tamar in Ur's name would be treated as the firstborn in whom
all the blessings of the family would be given. And Olan, knowing
that the son would not be his, went into Tamar and spilled his
seed on the ground and God killed him. God killed him. Now there have been many things
written about Olin's sin. Papist and others point to it
as a proof against birth control. But I'm going to tell you, I'm
just convinced God didn't send this man to hell because he spilled
a seed on the ground. He didn't send this man to hell
because he practiced birth control. That which was later written
in the law of God, you can read it in Deuteronomy 25, was already
established clearly among God's covenant people as his revealed
will. The children of Abraham. If a
brother died without children, by divine decree, the next boy
to him was to take his older brother's wife and raise up children
to the dead. God required that. He only required
it of the children of Israel. Nowhere else. It was given in
Deuteronomy 25 as a law established in Israel and it was already
clearly established at least by tradition from Abraham down
to this day. This law was given because God
promised Abraham a seed, singular, in whom all the nations of the
earth would be blessed. That seed encompassed all the
covenant blessings All the blessings God made to Abraham in a covenant
symbolized in circumcision and in the other things involved
in that covenant. God promised Abraham these things,
saying, In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed, and in blessing thou shalt be a blessing. What
a promise. What a promise. This is the same
thing that by birthright belonged to a fellow by the name of Esau. You remember Esau? And Esau came
in one day and he smelled his brother Jacob's pottage cooking. Now, I don't have any idea what
it was. I expect it smelled sort of like
brown beans with ham hock and onions in it. And he said, oh,
I'm going to die. I'm about to starve to death.
He said, give me some of your pottage, son. And Jacob said,
I'll give it to you for your birthright. And Esau said, well,
what good is that birthright going to do me if I'm dead? He said, you can have the birthright,
give me the beans. And he sold all that God promised
in Christ, all that God promised in the gospel for a mess of beans. He snubbed his nose at God. He snubbed his nose at God's
son. He snubbed his nose at redemption. He snubbed his nose at free grace
and took rather a mess of pottage that would satisfy his lust for
a moment. Later, Jacob deceived his father
and took the birthright Because God and his providence had arranged
it just that way. And Jacob, while he is to be,
his evil is to be recognized in his cunning and his conniving,
Jacob got the birthright and got it by God's decree. Because
God said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Here is
Judah and his son Odin, and Odin refusing to raise up a child
in the name of his brother, does exactly what Esau did. He despised
God's covenant, despised God's mercy, despised God's son, and
said, I will gratify myself. I won't have that. For that,
God killed him. Now listen to this preacher. God still sends folks to hell
for snubbing their nose at his son. He will send you to hell
if you snub your nose at his son. He will send you to hell
if you despise his son. What is that? If you refuse to
believe on the son of God, Hell shall be your portion forever,
justly, and you shall eat of the fruit of your own way. You haven't heard me, have you? God will send you to hell if
you despise his son. I urge you then, flee to Christ. Lay hold on eternal life. Believe
on the Son of God. After the death of his first
two sons, Judah promised Tamar that he would give her his youngest
son, Shelah, that he would have Shelah to marry her if she would
just wait until Shelah got to be old enough, got to be a man,
he'd marry her. But if you look at chapter 38, verse 11, you'll
see clearly Judah had no intention of fulfilling the promise. His
incest with Tamar stands as a warning to all. What could be more terrible
than the record given of Judah and his family? Here is a man
brought up in the midst of a favored people, blessed with godly influences,
surrounded by examples of faith and grace from his youth. And
yet Judah chose the rebel's path. The consequences of his actions
glaring. His sons were slain under the
wrath of God and he goes on walking blindly after his own lust. Nothing affects him. Nothing
affects him. Isn't that amazing? I'm sure that Brother Oscar and
many of you can speak to this better than I can, but I recall
back years ago as a young pastor in West Virginia, I used to go
help some of the farmers, came down to slaughter cattle. And I remember on one particular
occasion, there was a bull they were going to kill. They couldn't
do anything with him. And they had him pinned in, had a tractor
with a bucket on it and whatever they had on the back of it, stretching
out the gate. And they brought that bull out.
They'd already killed two or three cows that day, and they
brought that bull out. He smelled the blood, and he
was mad. And the fellow shot him quickly and missed. And that
bull went through the gate standing right beside me. I was looking
for a hole to get in. He was coming right at me. And
he went and hit that gate like he wasn't even there, and off
he went. Took us about 20 minutes to finally
chase him in another field and cattle all around him. Cattle. I was a little uncomfortable.
I was just, it was obvious those cattle were not happy. And finally,
they shot the bull two or three more times, he dropped. And the
cattle all kind of snorted a little bit. And you know what they did?
It wasn't two minutes, they went right back to grazing. They went right back, alarmed
for just a little bit, and then went right back to grazing. Now
preachers seize the alarm, and they chase ambulances, and they
try to get folks to make a profession of faith. I don't do that, because
alarm's not going to save you. Judah, I had no question, was
alarmed when Ur died. I had no question he was alarmed
when his next son died. But Judah never turned from his
ways, because man won't turn from his ways. until God turns
him. I call on you to repent. I plead
with you to repent. I call on you to believe on the
Son of God. I pray for you. I urge you. I raise alarms in
your mind, warn you of hell and judgment eternity, but nothing
will affect you, not in your soul, until God turns you inside
by omnipotent mercy. Judah goes right on in his ways. When he heard that Tamar was
pregnant, he was enraged. Oh, that wicked woman. Let her
be burnt, he said. In Leviticus 21.9, that's exactly
what the law required. That she be burnt. I differ with
some. I don't think that meant let
her be burned. to death, let it be branded. Let it be branded
so that from this day on, everybody will know that my former daughter-in-law
Tamar is just a harlot." And then Tamar brought the bracelets
and the signets and the staff and said, By the man who owns
these things, I am with child. And Judah acknowledged and confessed
his sin. This seems to me to be the time
of Judah's conversion. And I acknowledge I can't speak
to that with authority. I don't say that, however, because
he acknowledged his sin. He didn't have any choice. He
was caught red-handed. He was caught red-handed. But
he did more than that. He stated plainly that which
Tamar, though guilty of incest, knowing that she was guilty of
incest. Certainly that's more vile than
just being a prostitute. That's more vile than just fornication. That's more vile than just adultery. She knowingly commits incest. Judah went down and hired her
for a prostitute, but he didn't know he was committing incest.
She did. And he said, she hath been more
righteous than I. She hath been more righteous
than I. What's he talking about? What was there about this that
was righteous at all? Only one thing. Tamar understood
God's promise. The gospel as it was preached
to Abraham. And she said, I will have Christ
no matter what it costs me. No matter what it costs me. And
she, Judah said, hath been more righteous than I. And thus acknowledging
that, Judah acknowledges his sin and acknowledges that which
he had despised and God says if we confess our sin Before this Judah said he said
to her I'll forget it let her have the signet and the bracelets
and the staff we tried to We tried to pay her off, but we
don't want to be put to shame, but let's forget the matter.
And now God confronts him and he acknowledges not only the
evil he had done, but acknowledges the righteousness of faith. If
we confess our sin, if you will rip open your heart before God
and acknowledge what you are, he's faithful and just. to forgive us our sin and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Second, in this chapter, we have
a picture, blessed picture of divine election. Election is
a matter of pure free grace. Why did God choose Judah? We often hear folks saying, why
me? Why me? Why should it love me,
a sinner unclean? Why me? Why me? Why me? Why you? Why Judah? Judah was well named
in God's providence. As I told you before, his name
is Judas. Because you see, there's no difference
between Judas and me. And no difference between Judas
and you. Except the difference grace has
made. Can you get hold of that? I'm not that wicked. I'm not
talking to you. Brother Don, I know I've done
some bad things, but you can't identify me with a man like Judas.
I wasn't talking to you. I wasn't sitting here to preach
to you. I promise you, nothing I've said was intended for you.
I'm just talking to you who have the heart of Judas. Just to you. I hope, Frank, that means I'm
talking to you. Just to you. Why did God choose
Judah? Just cause he would. That's all. is the one who urged his brethren
to sell Joseph. Judas. Judah went down from his
brethren. Judah abandoned his brethren. Judah abandoned the gospel. But God chose Judah. Not only did he choose Judah,
he chose Judah to be the distinct tribe from which Christ must
come into this world. Our Lord Jesus is called the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. You see, that which distinguishes
God's elect from the rest of the world is God's distinguishing
grace alone. Two weeks ago, I sat down with
my grandchildren and tried to explain to them as best I could
this statement in scripture. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? The only
difference between you and me and any human being walking on
this earth between you and me and the damned in hell today
is God's free grace. That's all. Here's the third
thing. This text shows us clearly the
immutability, the absolute immutability of God's purpose. God had purposed from eternity
that his son come into this world through the line of the tribe
as the line of the tribe of Judah come here through Judah's line.
And God arranged it. You see, our Lord Jesus. According
to God's purpose of grace. And in his life, as he was identified
as the friend of publicans and sinners, the Pharisees said he
eats and drinks with publicans and sinners. Look at him. Why? I know that woman. She's a harlot.
I know her. If he were a prophet, he wouldn't
let her touch him. I know that man. That man's a publican. If he were a prophet, he wouldn't
have anything to do with him. Our Lord Jesus identified himself
as the friend of sinners. even in his lineage, in his progeny
from the Old Testament. Not only does he identify himself
as the friend of sinners, not only does he eat and drink with
publicans and sinners, but if you read the book of Revelation
in the 21st chapter, you'll find that there are 12 gates to the
New Jerusalem. One of them's name is Judas.
One of them's name is Judah. He takes
the names of the 12 sinful sons of Jacob and makes their names
to hang upon the gates of the New Jerusalem, so that he tells
us that heaven is the place to which the Son of God brings sinners,
by almighty grace. Here again, we're given a marvelous
display of God's providence. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. I look at you and the checkered lives that
God's given you, every one of you. And I look in the mirror
and I try with great care to remember every day the checkered
life that I've had. And that which lies before me. And here's the sweetest, softest
pillow I know of for my soul. My God rules the universe for
me. For me. For me. For my everlasting good. I just
read a little while ago the 105th Psalm. I was getting ready to
preach here tonight. And I read a remarkable statement.
The psalmist said God would allow the heathen to do Israel no wrong. You mean it for yourself? He
wouldn't allow them to, he said he suffered them to do his people
no wrong. What? No wrong? They took up arms against them
everywhere they went. They tried to destroy them everywhere they
went. The pharaohs who knew not Joseph tried to destroy them
in Egypt. All their days they tried to
destroy them, till at last they came into the land of Canaan,
and even in Canaan they had their enemies. But God suffered them
to do his people no wrong. You see, what God brings to pass
in Bobby Astor's life Before ever you were born, what God
brings to pass, all the days you've been on this earth, what
God brings to pass does you no wrong, but only good. Only good. Only good. It's often painful. It's often difficult. It's often
a heavy burden, but it's only good. Our God rules the universe
and overrules all evil for our good, and even overrules the
evil of our own nature, the evil of our own behavior, the evil
of our own rebellion, and makes it good for us. Thank you, blessed God, for your
good providence. Here again, we see something
of the wonder of God's amazing grace. As God dealt with Judah, so he
deals with all his chosen. By grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. Nothing else, just free grace. Tamar, this woman who commits
incest. She's named as one of the four
women in the genealogy of the Son of God. Matthew chapter 1,
verse 3, Matthew's giving us the lineage of the Lord Jesus.
And he names this gal Tabar. Tabar. Lift your eyes to heaven, sinners
who need mercy. Lift your eyes to heaven and
behold Christ on his throne. And look yonder. I see Sister
Tamar, robed in white, washed in blood. And John says to the angel before
him, Who's that? Who's that? Why? John, that's the virgin Tamar. That's what he calls her. These are
virgins. Came out of great tribulation.
They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
lamb. Would you go home tonight as
a chaste Virgin in Christ. Wash your robes and make them
whites in the blood of the Lamb, believing on the Son of God. Amen.