Can God Make Sense Out of Our Mess?

Thank you, Lord.

Such a beautiful spirit here this morning as we passed over, passed through our lives, spiritual wave that brought us into the secret place of the Most High God.

The best place to be.

I thank you for each person that's here this morning.

You've ordained those that are sitting before me as a pastor, and you've ordained those that perhaps are listening live or will listen or observe the sermon.

And most of all, Lord, I just ask for your love, your paternal spirit to flow through me as a dad, as a grandfather, not only as a pastor.

So I give you my life, give you this time, separate myself unto the Master's use.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

I want to preface this sermon by saying this.

I've been in the ministry for 53 years.

I have a lot of experience, and I'm not trying to be super spiritual this morning.

Believe me.

I'm a sinner saved by grace.

This is the most sensitive sermon that I believe I've ever preached in my entire ministry.

Please don't judge the sermon until you hear it in its entirety.

That's important.

I didn't come here to target anyone.

This sermon was given to me on Monday.

I have labored over it.

And I mean labored over it.

Got sick last night, my wife got sick this morning.

There's been great perseverance.

I have no idea why the Lord gave me this sermon on Monday morning.

It's not one that I would say, okay, God, here we go.

But I want to preface it again.

Don't judge until you hear it in its entirety.

Don't just hear what you want to hear.

Hear what the Lord has to say to you.

Because if that's why you're here this morning, you want truth.

You come back each week.

And I don't preach easy sermons.

I have to say that.

But you come back.

I don't ever want to have to say, like Paul the Apostle said to the church at Carnage, the more I loved you, the less you loved me.

Like anybody else, I want to be loved.

I don't want to be rejected.

I want to be loved.

By God most of all.

By His people.

So my sermon titled this morning is Can God Make Sense Out of a Mess?

You've heard the saying that we've said so many times to different people.

He or she is a hot mess.

How many have ever heard that?

What's a hot mess?

What does that mean?

In one sense, it could be a complimentary phrase and describing someone in a positive and joking manner.

But most times, but most times, it's describing someone in a difficult and seemingly impossible situation.

Such a person is described to be in an overwhelming and chaotic state that seems no way out of working out for their good.

It's chaos, confusion, emotional imbalance, intense agitation, and struggle within.

We've all have.

We've all been a hot mess in a negative way.

And we've all been in that spider web.

We've all been in that trap thinking there's no way out.

This is an impossible situation.

Humanly, yes.

Carnally thinking, yes.

But with God, all things are possible.

One of the main characters in this Bible study or sermon is in found in Genesis chapter 37.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

His name is Judah.

Judah was one of the sons of Jacob.

And the Bible describes him in Genesis 37, 26.

And Judah said unto his brethren, What prophet is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother in our flesh.

And his brethren were content.

Then there passed by the Midianites, merchant men, and they drew and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

So why do I mention him?

He was the one that said, Let's not kill Joseph.

In that sense, he was honorable.

He was the one that said to his brother when he finally met him 20 years later, I'll be your slave for the rest of my life for my brother Benjamin and for my dad.

So there were some honorable qualities about Judah.

So the Bible says in Genesis 38 and 1, and it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren.

Now he left them.

And some people speculate that he was on the Alps with them, that they didn't like what he did, that they saved Joseph, and now they have all this guilt and all this shame.

So he left them.

He went somewhere else.

He was displaced in a sense.

And he turned to a certain Dulamite, and his name was Hirah.

That's a friend.

He became, this man became his friend.

So Judah distanced himself from his brothers, and he was the one that suggested that that uh uh Joseph be sold into slavery and not killed.

Okay.

So where do we go from here?

We go to Genesis chapter 38 and verse 2.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

And the Bible says that Judah saw, and that's a very important word in our world today, he saw there a daughter, a certain Canaanite.

Listen carefully, a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua.

And he took her and went into her.

So here's Judah.

He goes away from his brethren, and you know, he wants to get a woman, he wants to get married.

He's a man, has biological needs, he has intimacy needs, he has emotional needs, psychological needs.

So he goes down and he finds this woman, but she's a Canaanite, and her name was Shua.

And the Bible says that he saw there, and and and and Judah saw there.

Now, Trapp's commentary, let me read this.

He saw her, he took her, he went in all in haste.

His father, neither willing nor witty.

His father didn't give approval, and I'll prove it to you in a minute.

Hence, for a punishment was so little mercy showed to his sons.

These hasty, headlong matches seldom succeed well.

It's not a miss to marry.

It's okay to marry, but good to be wary about who you marry.

Young men are blamed of folly for following the sight of their eyes and lust of their hearts.

Everybody find follow that?

Yeah.

Okay, so what happened here?

I want to go back to Genesis chapter 24 and verse 1.

Genesis 24 · chapter mention

Abraham is an old man.

He's very old.

He's rich, he's got silver, gold, cattle.

He's got he's got everything.

God's blessed him out of his socks.

But he calls his servant, and he says in Genesis 24 and 1, and Abraham was old and well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

And Abraham said to his eldest servant of his house that ruleth over all that he had, he says, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.

You're gonna make a promise.

You're gonna promise me.

You've been my servant for many, many years.

And you're gonna make me a promise.

And what was the promise?

And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell.

But thou shalt go into my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

Everybody understand that.

It's pretty plain.

Abraham is an old man.

He has one wish.

He's not concerning about his inheritance given to his sons.

He knows he's got money, he's got land, he knows that's gonna go all to them.

But the main concern of Abraham was who is my son Isaac gonna marry?

And he specifically tells his servant Eliezer, do not, and you're swearing, with your hand under my thigh, do not let my son marry a Canaanite, someone of a different religion.

Wow.

Why?

Why would Abraham make such a great, great statement and make this man promise?

Because religious beliefs and traditions will lead you and your children away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You could read that for yourself in Deuteronomy chapter 6, 1 through 4.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Well, that's pretty strict, Pastor.

I didn't make the rules.

I didn't write the book.

And I'm not trying to be smart here this morning.

I'm just trying to give truth.

And a lot of times people don't want to preach truth because they don't know the truth or study the truth and bring the truth to God's people.

My Bible says to warn.

My Bible says to watch and pray.

And my Bible prayed says to speak what God says.

You know, sometimes what we look upon gets us in trouble.

Sometimes what we look upon gets us in trouble.

You've heard men are visual.

Oh, yes, we are.

And being visual sometimes gets us into grave trouble and problems.

The Bible says in Genesis 3:6, and when the woman saw the tree that was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

Genesis 3:6

Why would a woman by the name of Eve in a perfect environment disobey the rules and regulations of a perfect environment and want to partake of their tree?

To ruin her marriage, to ruin the Garden of Eden, to be thrown out of the Garden of Eden, homeless, so to speak, and cause great sin to come upon all the world with every child that's born.

Judges chapter 14, verse 1.

Judges 14:1

Samson.

He went down to Timnath and he saw a woman.

He saw a woman.

Hey, she's a beauty, she's gorgeous.

No doubt.

One of the daughters of who?

The Philistines.

Wasn't his faith.

Wasn't his religion.

And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I have seen a woman in Tinmath of the daughters of the Philistines.

Now therefore, listen to the demand.

Now therefore, get her for me for my wife.

The parents were against it.

Demand.

Tyler.

I saw her, I want her, and I'm gonna sleep with her.

Okay.

When you read that story, man, a lot of problems happened.

A lot of people got killed.

1 John 2 16 says, For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the odds.

Eyes get us in trouble.

And the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

So people say, Oh, I can handle it.

No, you can't.

You can't handle it without the power of God and the spirit of the Lord.

You'll get yourself in trouble.

Hang on now, don't judge me.

And the Bible says in verse 3, she conceived and bare a son.

So Judah went down and found this woman, Shua, and she conceived and bare a son and called his name Aaron.

And she conceived again and bare a son and called his name Onan.

And yet she conceived again and bare a son and called his name Shelah.

And he was at Chezeb, Chezeb, Chezeb, when she bare him.

Now, here's three sons that's born to Judah and his wife from uh Sheel.

You have Ear, you have Onan, and you have Sheila.

The word Shabez, okay, and this is gonna come into play later, tack this into your spirit, it means false.

It means to tell a lie, it means to be a liar, it means to deceive, to disappoint, and to fail.

Tuck that into your spirit for later.

And verse number six, and Judah took a wife for heir his firstborn.

Okay, I gotta get my boy married here now.

Okay, and her name was Tamar.

Okay, Tamar.

And Ear Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord slew him.

You see, this husband here, many people say practiced idolatry.

And God said, You know what?

You're out of here.

Now, some people say, Well, God is very cruel.

No, no, no.

God is God is protective, especially of his daughters.

Now, hear what I'm saying?

God killed him.

Some people say, Well, hey, what kind of God is that?

He's the God of justice and the God of mercy.

He knew what he was doing.

So then what happened?

And the Bible says this in the Old Testament, it's called uh Leviite or Levite marriage, is the practice of marrying the widow of one's childish brother to maintain his line as required by ancient Hebrew law.

So when this boy died, the husband died, the next son in line, Onan, okay, was supposed to go into and marry this woman, Tamar, and have her conceive and pregnant her, so that the posterity and the inheritance from error would eventually go to her children.

It's a le it was a Hebrew Levite law.

And the Bible says, and Judah said unto Onan, his other second son, he says, Go into my into your brother's wife and marry her and raise up seed to thy brother.

Okay.

And Onan he agreed one part.

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his.

So he right here he said, This is not going to be my kid.

So I'm not doing this.

But I'm in it for sexual pleasure.

This is all.

And the Bible says, and it came to pass when he went into his brother's wife that he spilled it, his seed, 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.

Wow.

God is on the move.

What's going on here?

You see, here's what Onan did.

He pleased himself with her sexually, but refused to impregnate Tamar.

The second son of Judah, slain by God, was for not fulfilling the Levitical requirement to beget a child with the wife of a dead childish brother and continue the name and posterity of the dead son.

Also, Tamar would receive the inheritance of her deceased husband, providing financial security for her through marriage to Onan.

So that's off the table.

Now they changed that law, Hebrews.

And if a brother did not want to do this, he would appear at the gate of the city with the elders and the wife, whose husband was deceased.

He would take off his shoe, she would spit in his face, and that was it.

In other words, you're not worried.

Goodbye.

It's changed.

But at that time, the Levitical law was in place biblically.

And so he had an obligation.

What his dad said to him, You go marry her.

She needs a child, she needs a posterity, and that will be her economic and financial security.

Okay.

So what happens?

And verse 11.

Then said Judah to Tamor, his daughter-in-law, remain a widow at thy father's house till Sheila, my son, be grown.

Now that's the youngest boy.

He's not ready to get married.

For he said, lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did.

And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

In the NLT version, listen carefully.

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to your parents' home and remain a widow until my son Sheila is old enough to marry you.

But Judah didn't really intend to do this because he was afraid Sheila would also die like his two brothers.

So Tamar went back to live in her father's home.

Remember when I told you he found that woman at Shabiz?

False a law.

He's a liar.

Judah's a liar.

He's a flat-out deceiver.

Because he knows he's not going to give his third son to her.

He knows that.

And he's leading her on.

Oh, you just go there and stay with your dad.

Stay in his house.

Goodbye.

Wash my hands of the responsibility.

Okay.

So what happened?

Well, in verse number 12, and in the process of time, the daughter of Shuah's Judah's wife died.

And Judah was comforted and went up into the sheep shearers to Tinmath.

Tinmath, listen to what happens at Tinmath.

He and his friend Hira, the Adulamite.

So Judah's wife passes away.

So he's alone.

So there's a mourning period that takes place.

He's alone.

Obviously, he's looking for something.

You know what I'm talking about.

He's a lonely guy.

And the Bible says after a long time, in verse 12 in the HCSB version, the daughter of Shua died.

And when Judah had finished mourning, so there was a mourning period, he and his friend Hira, this is friend now, the Adulamite, went up to Tinmath, to the sheep shears.

So he says to his friend, he says, You know, I'm uh I'm mourning my wife.

My wife passed away, and I'm sure he was very sad about that.

And he and he took uh Hira with him and said, Let's go to uh Tinmath and let's see what's going on there.

But he had something in mind.

He he had an agenda.

Men have an agenda, women have an agenda.

We all have an agenda.

Listen carefully.

Tamar, in verse 13, and it was told to Tamar, see, she's getting word now, behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Tinmath to shear his sheep.

And so she put on her widow's garments off from her.

She took off the black, and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Tinmath, for she saw Sheila was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.

So this woman is not dumb.

She's sitting at the city gate, she takes off her widow clothes and she puts on these other clothes.

Maybe seductive.

Puts a veil on her face.

So Judah's not going to recognize who she is, because he thinks she's a woman of the world.

Sitting at the gate, ready for activity.

Pay her a little money and get what I want, and I'm out of here.

What happens?

When Judah saw her in verse 15, he thought her to be a harlot.

She wasn't.

She's a victim.

What she was gonna do is wrong.

But she's a victim.

Because she had covered her face, and he turned unto her by the way and said, Listen to this opening line.

You know.

Maybe when you were in a bar years ago, one of your pickup wines.

This is a bad one.

Go, I pray thee, let me come into thee.

Whoa.

What a pickup line that is.

What?

Oh, she has a plan.

She has an agenda.

Let me come into thee.

And he turned unto her by the way and said, Go, I pray, let me come into thee.

For he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law.

And she said, What wilt thou give me that thou mayest come into me?

Not a dumb woman.

Very small.

Very cunning.

Very wise.

Well, what are you gonna give me?

Well, he said, I will send you a kid, which is a female goat from the flock.

Who doesn't need a female goat in those days?

Wilt thou give me a pledge till thou send it?

In other words, I appreciate the female goat, but I need something a little bit more to solidify this deal.

See, he don't know who she is.

She's got a veil on her face.

And now he's in a sort of a conundrum.

Well, what do you want?

And he said, What pledge shall I give thee?

What do you want?

And she said, I want three things.

I want thy signet, I want thy bracelets, and I want thy staff that's in thine hand.

And he gave it to her and came into her and she conceived by him.

Well, what's happening here?

Well, listen, trying to be discreet.

He came into her.

It was an insensuous physical relationship of intimate proportion.

Where?

Not in public.

They weren't at the city gate getting it on.

So what did they do?

It was a planned agenda, not in public, but an arrangement to go somewhere private as not to be seen.

So you see, some people think my secret will never get known.

My secret is my secret.

And no one's gonna know my secret.

So three things.

Let's go over the three things.

Number one, she said, I want your signet.

And what is a signet?

A signet was a ring that could make a seal in wax identifying the owner.

In other words, when you went to the store in those days or you bartered with someone, they had wax, or you had a signet ring with your some kind of identification on it, and you put that ring in the wax there, and it said, I will pay this bill.

It was like a charge account.

She said, I want the ring, okay?

Like a modern-day credit card.

It's like you giving someone your credit card and saying, You can use my credit card, okay?

It was personal identification equivalent to your license that's in your wallet.

So what is she doing?

What is she receiving?

She's receiving identification of this man who's gonna sleep with her, who did, impregnated her, and said, Listen, I want the ring, I want your license, so to speak, and I want the credit card.

First one.

And then she said, I want a bracelet.

And what was the bracelet?

It was a cord or a thread, okay?

And this was the cord by which the signal was suspended around his neck.

So he put that cord around his neck and the ring, you know, you know, kind of like when you were in college and you hadn't gotten engaged yet, but you wanted all your friends and everybody to know that that's my girl, and you gave her your college ring and she wore it around her neck.

I mean, I that's probably old-fashioned now.

People probably don't do that anymore.

It's kind of cool.

Because it was identifying who she's with.

So she said, I want the court, then I want their staff.

I want your walking stick.

Wow.

Now, this wasn't just a walking stick you find out on the woods across the street.

This was a nice walking stick.

This this guy, Judy, he's got some money too.

He's not a poor guy.

He's he's he's he's a dude, man.

He's got clothes, he's he's okay.

And he's got a nice walking stick.

So she has three things, which is going to be very important in the future.

So her mission was accomplished.

What was the omission?

She arose and went her way and laid her veil from her and put on the garments of widowhood again.

So she said, Okay, I'm a widow again.

I I did what I wanted to do.

Now, some people would really criticize her.

I really, I really thought a lot and prayed over this sermon a lot.

What she did was wrong.

What she did was very wrong because it was a sin in the eyes of God, because it was insensuous sexual behavior, and she wasn't married to this man.

And it was family.

But her situation, just like her situation today of women who are abused, economically, maybe they can't support themselves, maybe they don't have work experience, maybe they have a number of children, and the husband decides, I'm gonna go sow seeds somewhere else.

I'm gonna go find somebody excited.

Leaves behind children, a wife.

She becomes a victim.

And a lot of people criticize her because say, Well, what could you have done to keep your husband?

We always go back into that sexual realm.

Maybe you can address a little bit better.

No.

A knucklehead is a knucklehead.

Hear what I'm saying.

A knucklehead is a knucklehead.

One who doesn't want responsibility or commitment.

Doesn't want her.

Are you with me?

Quiet.

So Judah sent the uh in verse 20, sent the goat by the hand of his friend the Adulumite Hira, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he found her not.

So he's gonna deliver the goat to this harlot who's supposed to be at the city gate, and she's not there.

So Judah obviously confided in Hirak to tell him what he did.

Now let me stop here for a moment.

Hira was a trusted friend.

Listen very closely.

If you find a trusted friend, put a rope around that person and don't let them go.

Because if you can confide in someone of an act that you just did, that's only coming to God's word, and you can sit down with another man and say, you know what?

Here's what I did, Hired.

I want to keep my promise of giving her the female vote.

Oh, that we would all have a person in our life that can be trusted and confided in, especially with a humiliating story about what we've got.

You know what most people do?

Did you hear?

All we do is pass gossip.

We get the tidbit.

We get on face, people get on Facebook and it's like, oh, did you hear?

So-and-so is not together anymore.

Did you hear?

How about you pray?

How about your love?

How about you consider if you were in that situation?

Why don't you stop there and drive a snake in the ground?

Instead of right away judging.

I want to tell you something.

God is redemptive.

You don't hear nothing this morning wanting you to hear this.

He's redemptive.

Because he loves us, because he knows that we were born in sin.

He knows we were out there.

He knows we were on our way to hell.

He knows that.

And somehow he reached out and found us.

You didn't look for him.

You didn't choose him.

The Bible says he chose you.

Finding such a person as a confidant is a treasure.

Telling someone something you're not too proud of is hard to find.

Man, do you get bitten sometimes when you do that?

Wow.

Sure, you've all been there.

Don't you could trust someone?

And boy, did you get bitten in the end.

And you vowed to yourself and said, I will never confide in that person, especially, or in other people again.

Concerning something humiliating that I did in my life.

Judah had a big problem.

See, he wasn't thinking about the problem.

He got what he wanted.

He sent over the get the female goat that nobody could find who the harlot was, because there wasn't a harlot, really.

Tamar had three pieces of evidence that belonged to Judah.

Was he looking over his shoulder, wondering what happened to his belongings?

Was he looking out the blinds out the window and saying, you had your born in those months that went by?

This lady's got my ring, she's got my cord.

Wait a minute.

She's got my walking stick.

Every time he grabbed that new walking stick, it just did not fit right in his hand.

Something was odd.

Something was off.

He had to think.

There's evidence against me somewhere.

I'm looking over my shoulder.

It's like committing a crime and thinking the FBI is not going to find you.

Well, they'll find you.

Eventually.

Was she stealing his identity and piling up a big grocery and clothing bill using his signet ring?

Did she go on a shopping spree?

I mean, he's got to be thinking of these things.

What did that woman do with my license?

What did she do with my identity?

What did she do with my ring?

Will anybody find out?

It must be terrible to live a lie and wonder if and when you'll be found out.

Then he asked the men of that place, Sira did, he says, 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 this place said that there was no harlot in this place.

Judah saying, I can't give the animal to anybody because can't find her.

Got three pieces of evidence against me.

So Judah, you know how we can appease our conscience?

You know how we can justify our behaviors and deny the real facts in our heart and walk away from a situation and think, I'm good, man.

I'm okay.

And Judah said, Let her take it, let her take it to her, lest we be shamed.

Behold, I sent this female goat, and thou hast not found her.

In the NLT version, it says this then let her keep the things I gave her.

So now he's saying.

Alright.

I lost my ring.

I lost my cord.

I lost my walking stick.

Let her keep it.

I don't know who the woman is.

I sent the young goat as we agree, but couldn't find her.

We'd be the laughing stock of the village if we went back again to look for her.

Oh, imagine knocking on every door.

Has anybody found my ring?

Has anybody picked up my license off the floor?

Knocking on someone's door.

Can I look at your walking stick?

It might be mine.

He said, Uh-huh.

We'll be the laughing stock of the world.

He said, Because everybody thinks she's a woman of the world.

Here I'm knocking on somebody's door to tell them I stuck with the woman at the gate.

I mean, I'm gonna look like a dummy.

So he said, I'll forget it.

How many knows that you can try to forget stuff?

It's gonna creep back up.

Because God keeps a record.

Not realizing yet he was the father, Judah rushes to judgment.

Look at verse number 24.

It came to pass about three months after.

Three months.

Now she's shown.

She's gonna have a baby.

Okay.

That it was told to Judah, saying, Tamar, thy daughter in the law, has played the harlot.

Oh, that's not true.

And also, behold, she is with child by hurdom.

Oh, that's not true.

And Judah said, Bring her forth and let her be burnt.

Execute her.

Oh boy, are we so quick?

Let's get rid of her.

Spring her out to stay.

I can't have this in my family.

We're an honorable family.

You're an honorable man, really.

You're a part of selling your brother into slavery.

That's right.

You gotta be kidding me, man.

You're a deceiver, you're a manipulator.

You're a piece of work.

And it came to pass about three months in the YLT version that says this, that it decided it was declared to Judah saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law, has committed fornication.

And she did.

You can't get around that.

What's fornication?

Sex outside of marriage.

What's adultery?

Sex outside of marriage.

Simple.

You don't go need to go to Webster's dictionary to figure that out.

It's biblical.

Fornication.

And also she has conceived by fornication, and Judah said, bring her out that she might be burnt.

Wow, burnt.

Man, you you you really Yeah, we can't have this in our family.

Kind of reminds you of the girl that got pregnant.

She ran away from home and ended up at the bus stop.

Going out of town somewhere.

She called her mother.

She's crying at the bus stop.

Too smart.

Father in the background says, I never want her in my home again.

She's disgraced my name.

Mother looked at him and said, I'm going to get our daughter.

And I'm bringing her home, whether you like it or not, sir.

Are you with me?

Some of y'all looking at me like, am I gonna get out of here alive today?

That's our daughter! Yeah, she messed up.

So what are we gonna do?

Crucify her?

What should we do?

Burn her at the stake?

She's coming home.

And I'm going down to the bus stop to get her.

Listen though.

Your sin will find you out.

The Bible says in Numbers 32, 23, but if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and sure your sin will find you out.

Solomon, who had a thousand concubines, came to this at the end of his life and said, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God, keep his commandments.

This is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

Jesus came along in Luke chapter 12, verse 2, for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known.

Luke 12:2

Therefore, whatsoever you have spoken in darkness, be careful what you're saying in your conversations, shall be heard in the light, and that which you have spoken in the ear and closet shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

Hebrews 4 13, nothing in all creation is hidden from God.

Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

Job 40, 34, verse 21.

For God watches how his people live, he sees everything they do.

Jeremiah 16 and 17, for mine eyes are upon all their ways, they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from my eyes.

Sin separates us from God.

It separates us.

So verse 25.

When she was brought forth, she went to sent into her father-in-law, saying, Oh man, I would have liked to have been there to see his face.

By the man whose these are I'm with child, and she said, Disern, I pray thee.

Disern?

In other words, gotcha.

Kind of like Lieutenant Columbo.

Have an idea who these belong to?

Okay?

A walking stick.

Anything come to your mind, Judah?

Hold on here.

Discern, I pray thee, whose these are the city, the braces, and the staff.

She names three things.

And Judah acknowledged them and said, She has been more righteous than I.

Because that I gave her not to Sheila, my son, and he knew her again no more.

No more sex.

You said you caught me.

You caught me in a lie.

You caught me in my manipulation.

You figured it out.

I wasn't gonna give you my third son.

I didn't want him to die, too.

Because I had no idea what his behavior was gonna be with you.

The NLT version it says, but as they were taking her out to kill her, they were walking her out to execute her to burn her.

Think about it.

Think about it.

You got this woman in your hand that you had relations with.

She's got the goods on you.

And before you realize that it was her with your stuff, you were ready to burn her.

But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law.

It sounds like they were now at a distance.

And maybe she wrote on a piece of paper.

Listen, the man who owns these things made me pregnant.

Look closely, Judah.

Whose seal in court and walking stick are these?

Judah recognized them immediately and said, She is more righteous than I am because I didn't arrange for her to marry my son Sheila, and Judah never slept with Tamar again.

What's going on here?

Recovery Bible commentary says, after being confronted, Judah admitted his failures and took responsibility for them.

Now, this is the point that I want to make this sermon.

A shallow walk with God can lead to trouble in family relationships.

I want to say it again, and I'm going to explain that a little bit.

Because God has changed my theology somewhat about marriage.

A shallow walk with God can lead to trouble in family relationships.

And I'll get to that in a moment.

What was Tamar's mistake?

Tamar failed to confront Judah directly, resorting to indirect manipulation.

Instead of going to him and saying, Where's my third husband?

Two died, you got one more son that you said, go live with your father, and when he's of age, you can marry.

She didn't confront him.

She used indirect manipulation by sitting at the city gate.

Tactful confrontation is needed when legitimate expectations have not been fulfilled.

She could have done something different.

Bible says in Matthew 10, 26, it says, For for fear them not, therefore, for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known.

Now David found himself in a great mess.

He's a great king.

He's supposed to go fighting a war with his men, but he decided to stay home and he sees this beautiful woman on the house top taking a bath.

Her name is Bathsheba, and he takes a look.

He sees those eyes get men in trouble.

He saw her.

She's destroyed as a beautiful woman.

David says, I want her.

It's not your woman.

She's married.

To Uriah the Hittite, one of your main soldiers that's fighting for you.

I want her.

You got it.

He laid with her, got her pregnant.

Then he decided I gotta set this up, man.

See how manipulative men could be?

I'm not trying to just pick on men.

He called Uriah and get die back from the battle.

Get him drunk.

Hopefully, he goes to his wife and think that's his kid.

But you know what Uriah did?

He said, I can't go into her and pleasure myself when my men are fighting.

I want to sit in the hallway here.

Or the cast.

I can't do that.

Who wouldn't be right?

An honorable man.

So Uriah calls his men and he says, Listen, I need a favor.

I want you to put him on the front lines and make sure he gets killed.

So now we're going to commit adultery with Bathsheba, and then we're going to kill her husband.

You see, in his mind, who's going to find this out?

I'm the king.

Who's going to know this?

I'm the greatest war general.

I'm going to go down as the greatest king in the Old Testament.

Who's going to believe who?

But you know what?

There was a prophet by the name of Nathan.

And after about a year, God sent him.

See, some people believe that David developed a venereal disease because of his judgment.

The baby died.

Judgment.

And the Bible says that the Lord told him that the sword will go throughout your family for the rest of your life.

One of his sons raped his daughter, the other son killed him.

The other son tried to take over his kingdom.

There was just chaos in his family.

Because of one act of adultery and one act of murder.

You see, he set the stage for God's judgment, which we don't think is going to happen.

We think I'm just going to go my merry way and everything's going to be okay.

But no.

See, David got what he wanted.

He wanted the woman.

He wanted to sleep with her and he got her.

But he paid a great price.

Family turbulence, and so on and so forth.

Nathan came, and Nathan said in 2 Samuel 12, 7, and Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

You know it, I know it, and God knows it, and God sent me to tell you, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and God was saying, How could you do this?

I gave you everything you wanted, David.

And you thought you were going to cover it up.

So what happened to Tamar?

Oh, she's pregnant.

And it came to pass at the time of her travail that, behold, two were in her womb.

Two.

She's going to have twins.

I'm going to close here a little bit.

It came to pass when she travailed that one put his hand out, and the midwife took and bound his hand with a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

So one kid's coming out and wants to come out, and she puts a scarlet thread on him, but it came to pass that he drew back his hand.

See, this is God's doing.

This is God's infinite will.

He's a mastermind.

He can take a hot mess.

He can take the most terrible situation in our lives if we're willing to get down before God and say, God, I blew it.

I'm sorry.

I repent.

I don't want to be truthful with you.

He can take that hot mess of our lives, whoever you are, and turn it around for his good and for your good, and praise God, make us white as snow.

Stay with me.

And it came to pass as he drew his hand back that behold, his brother came out and said, How hast thou broken forth?

This is very important.

This breach be upon thee.

His name was Perez.

And afterward came out his brother that had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his name was Zara.

So we have two children, two boys that are born.

Okay, one is born whose name is Perez, and his name means breach.

I'm gonna explain this.

And the other boy's name is Zara.

This is the most one of the most important parts of this sermon.

Therefore, his name shall be called Perez.

Gil says this.

Judah called his name Perez agreeably to what the midwife had related.

From him, a line of succession sprang the Messiah, the Pharise or the breaker.

The breaker.

Put that in your brain, in your spirit.

Micah chapter 2, verse 13 says this the breaker, the breaker is come up before them.

Micah 2:13

They have broken up and have passed through the gate and are gone out by it, and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on and the Lord on the head of them.

Micah 2 13 in the NLT version says this your leader, Jesus Christ, your leader will break out.

You see, he was a type of shadow to come of the name that Jesus would be given to be the breaker.

Your leader will break out and lead you out of exile, out through the gates of the enemy's cities, back to your own land.

Your king will lead you.

The Lord himself will be your guide.

What does this mean?

Hebrews 7 14 says, What I mean is this our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

Jesus didn't come from the Levitical line, he came from the line of Judah because he's the high priest.

That's right.

Stay with me here.

Stay with me.

Genesis chapter 49, verse 10 says this.

Genesis 49:10

The scepter.

You see, this is prophecy.

The scepter will not depart from Judah.

Judah, praise God, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants until the coming of the one who belongs who it belongs to, the one whom all nations will honor.

Micah chapter 5, verse 2.

Micah 5:2

But you, O Bethlehem, are only a small village among all the people of Judah.

You see, we come from Judah, he would come from the land of Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you.

Who would think a little hole in the wall that the Christ would come from?

But then we have Zara.

And his name, for Pharise meant breaker.

Zara means shining, like the rising of the sun.

Isaiah chapter 16, verse 1 says, Arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Isaiah 16:1

Numbers chapter 6 and 24 says, The Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

Numbers 6 · chapter mention

What does the word shine mean?

It means to be illuminated.

You see, here's my prayer this morning, and I'm gonna preach for a few more moments.

Here's my prayer.

My prayer is this.

I pray that God give you a breakthrough through through every barrier that's preventing your hot mess to be turned around for your good.

Hear what I'm saying.

My prayer this morning is this that God would give you such a breakthrough, praise God, that every barrier that's preventing your hot mess from being turned around for your good will come to pass.

I pray that God shine upon you and give you wisdom and knowledge and cause you to rise up and above your hot mess and come out on the other side victorious.

God is redemptive.

I want to tell you what a mastermind God is, and I've been using that word this last week.

Jesus was a descendant, listen to this now, of a Canaanite woman by the name of Tamar, because she's in Islam, and also a descendant of a Moabite woman, a Moabite woman, Ruth.

He was the descendant of two nations that were enemies of Israel.

Only God could accomplish this.

And people will sit here this morning and think there's no way out of my hot mess.

If you want to do it the moral one, if you want to do it the scriptural way, there isn't a way out.

You want to play with fire, and when you bring it to your bosom, you will be able.

If you read the Bible, the Bible also says to Marriott like faith.

Not a Canaanite, not a Philistine, not someone from a pagan religion.

And here's where my theology has changed some.

In 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 12, if you look carefully.

1 Samuel 12:12

But when you saw Nahosh, which was the king of the Amorites, that's gonna attack Israel, preparing to attack you, you said to me, No more of this.

The Jewish people said, No more, we want a king to lead us.

And God said, I was already your king.

Verse 13.

Here's what God said to them.

So here's the king you wanted.

The king you asked for.

God has let you have your own way, giving you a king.

Now, let's go back to verse 12.

Verse 12.

Got it?

I'll read it.

Okay, listen.

Stay with me a few minutes.

It's important.

And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the children of Admin came against you, you said to me, Nay.

Okay.

Let me stretch this just for a moment.

When I became so happy with life, unhappy with life.

When I became so frustrated with life, looking for love in different places, I'm being attacked emotionally, physically, psychologically.

You sound to mean nay, but a king shall reign over us.

So here's what people do.

I want a boyfriend.

I want a soulmate.

I want someone to love me.

I want someone to hold me.

I want to be affirmed, confirmed, identified.

I want to belong to somebody.

And God said, okay.

So he's saying, I want to be king in your life first, but you're not willing.

To submit to me first.

So you want some other substitute?

A job?

A bow?

A girl?

A career.

You want something in its place.

And that's what the people did when they asked for Saul.

And God said, you know what he's gonna do?

He's gonna take your kids.

He's gonna attack you with taxes.

He's gonna take everything from you.

Sounds like modern-day marriages, doesn't it?

We're gonna break up.

I'm gonna take the kids.

You'll have visitation rights.

I want the couch.

You can have the easy seat.

The spoils.

Because what?

People are refusing the leadership, listen closely, of the Lord and the Holy Spirit.

Oh, aren't they a cute couple?

Yeah, they're cute.

Tell me where they'll be five years from now.

Verse 13, Justin, please.

Now, therefore, behold the king you have chosen.

What have you chosen?

A job.

Get ahead.

A boyfriend, girlfriend.

My happiness.

I need this.

God says, okay.

That's the king you've chosen and whom you've desired.

Behold, the Lord has set king over you.

Here's what it says in the message version.

So here's the king you wanted.

The king you asked for, God has let you have your own way, giving you a king.

And that king represents your desires and what you want in life.

You see, when you don't put God first, listen, this is not an easy sermon.

I didn't find this in a book of sermons.

I have no clue who's gonna be here on a given Sunday.

Don't push something that's not of God.

Because here's the problem.

And the problem is this poor leadership, a shallow walk with God can lead to trouble in family relationships.

When a man listen, God told Adam, you listen to the rules, son.

And when I put you in that garden, you manage it the way I tell you to.

Channel of command.

We have forgotten that.

The channel of command is not respected anymore.

Because people want to do it their own way and do their own thing and justify in their mind, oh it's okay, I can bypass.

No, you can't.

And the reason why we're having failing marriages?

Oh, yeah, we got pornography, we got sexless marriages, we got fornication, we got all that stuff going on.

But you know what the real reason to me is right now?

Poor male leadership.

You see, if a woman would ever admit this to herself, she wants a man that's gonna lead her and guide her spiritually, a man that will stand, a man that will be strong, a man that will not look this way and this way and say, Well, what are you talking about, God?

A man who really knows the voice of God, a man who can love, a man who can be intimate, a man who can show emotions, a man who can respect a woman.

Because I want to put this out to you for a moment.

Thank you for being patient.

Just give me a moment.

Because I feel like if I don't When a woman allows a man to be intimate with her, and I'm talking about through marriage.

I'll say this as discreetly as I can.

That personal area is a woman's kingdom, it's a woman's castle.

It's her sacred space.

It's the most intimate place in her being.

Why would a woman allow someone to come into her physically in such a sacred place?

Why did Tamar do that?

She did it for basically two reasons.

To have a posterity and have financial security, though not a reason to sin, but justified in her mind, considering Judah lied to her and deceived her about giving him her his third son.

Surely it's a topic of discussion.

But that sacred place is sacred to a woman.

And Tamar was violated.

Yeah, she was fucking by Judah.

Sensitive area issues.

Shows a lack of respect that men have for women.

And women cannot respect a man truly in their heart that doesn't make a commitment and wants to be the spiritual leader through a born-again experience with Jesus Christ and the infilling of the Holy Spirit in their life.

Because you know why?

And I have seen too much of it.

It will eventually fail if it's not built on a spiritual foundation.

It may take five years or ten.

But two people will become enduring strangers and friendships, friends in their own home.

Until the kids leave.

And then there's nothing to talk about, the empty nest syndrome.

As I said in the beginning, don't judge me.

Judge the word of God.

God's redemptive, God forgives, and God loves.

But God wants us to learn from the hot mess that we get ourselves in and we all have.

And there's not a one here that could say, hey, I've never been in that situation.

Yes, you have.

The question is, will you get yourself in the hot mess again?

Let us pray.

Father, I did my best.

I love your word.

Not an easy word to preach this morning.

Very sensitive.

Forthright.

Biblical.

If someone could find something that's not biblical, let me know.

We have to do better, Lord.

Help us.

We have to do better.

We have to become better leaders.

We have to become men that can manage our homes and manage the garden that God has put us in.

And to show our wives our commitment, our righteousness before Christ, and to show our children that we are an example to follow.

Help us to be restored in our homes and in our marriages.

I pray God that anyone that would listen or see this sermon would be touched, that they would see it in its entirety and realize that God could take sinful lives like mine and turn it around, or anyone's sinful life, and get us out of the hot mess and put us on a road to glory that our Father would say, That's my son, and that's my daughter, never remembering the sins that we committed because they've been put under the blood of Jesus Christ.

Praise God, would you stand with us?