Genesis (Chapter 38) - Pastor Bruce Mejia

Amen.

Okay, we're in Genesis chapter 38 here.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

This is a little interlude into the story of Joseph, of course, from chapter 37 and on.

We have essentially the chronology of Joseph's story going into Egypt.

But we have a little bit of a break here, kind of focusing on Judah and his sons.

And I think one of the reasons why that is is because of the fact that we know Judah

is essentially the one who's going to be producing the Messiah.

And it wasn't originally intended, I don't believe, for Joseph to be the one who pictures the Messiah.

It probably should have been Judah, right?

That's the tribe from which Jesus Christ comes from.

But of course, as we see here in the story, Judah's making a lot of mistakes.

He's sinning against the Lord and his sons and his descendants are doing wrong as well.

And so it's kind of like one of these things where, well, you know,

you can't really use him as a good illustration.

And so God ends up using Joseph instead to really picture Jesus Christ and throughout his life.

We see a lot of typology of Jesus, a lot of illustrations, a lot of spiritual truths

that point to the Lord Jesus Christ.

But let's look at chapter 38 here in this particular very bizarre story

of Ur, Onan and Sheila and Judah as well.

And here's some of the mistakes that Judah made.

First and foremost, look at verse 1.

It says it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren

and turned into a certain Adulamite whose name was Hyra.

Now, before we get into the other characters in this chapter,

I want to talk about Hyra for a second, okay?

Hyra is an Adulamite.

He lives in Canaan.

And the Bible seems to imply here that he's not necessarily an Israelite, of course.

He's an Adulamite that will eventually become property of those of Judah.

But, you know, in my opinion, Hyra isn't really a good friend, okay?

And you can't really point to anything that Hyra does that would essentially

state that he is provoking Judah to do evil, to do wrong, to sin against the Lord.

But the reason he's a bad friend, it's not because he is causing Judah to stumble,

causing him to sin.

He's a really bad friend because he's not keeping his friend from making bad decisions

and sinning against the Lord and against others, okay?

Now, you say, well, how do you know that?

Well, I feel like the Bible intentionally is naming Hyra the Adulamite in this passage

in relation to Judah taking a wife of Canaan, okay?

And we obviously know that, you know, God's people were not to intermingle with the Canaanites.

We could essentially look at this from a New Testament perspective

and say, you know, it would be wrong for a Christian to marry someone who's not a believer, right?

That's what it means to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

And in like manner, God didn't want his people to be marrying,

to taking wives or husbands of the heathen of the Canaanites especially,

because we obviously know that eventually God wants to wipe out the Canaanites.

They are a pagan people.

They worship false gods.

They have all types of perverse practices and so forth.

But we see that Judah takes a certain wife, she's a Canaanite,

and, you know, he ends up, you know, having children with her and so forth.

But I don't believe this is God's will.

But Hyra is there with him.

So obviously Hyra has not encouraged him to marry the Canaanite woman.

But he's also not stopping him from making that decision either, right?

Now, let's go a couple of verses ahead here.

Look at verse 12.

We'll come back to the beginning of the chapter in just a bit.

It says in the process of time, the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died.

And Judah was comforted and went up unto his sheep shears to Timnath.

He and his friend Hyra, the Adulamite, and it was told to him, our saying,

behold thy father-in-law, goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.

So it seems as though Hyra's just always there when Judah is about to do wrong.

He's up here with his sheep shears, but we obviously know because of the narrative here

that Judah is also seeking out a prostitute.

Yet we find here his friend Hyra not necessarily stopping him from looking for a prostitute.

He's not trying to stop him from making this decision.

Now, after he goes into Tamar, his daughter-in-law,

of course, he doesn't know that it's his daughter-in-law.

After he does that, he sends the pledges, right?

Or he sends the payment, excuse me, by the hand of who?

Hyra, okay?

Look down at verse number 20.

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.

What do we have here?

We find here a guy who's not a good friend at all.

Now, it's easy for us to kind of say, well, what constitutes a bad friend?

We would say someone who tries to tempt you to sin,

someone who gets you out of church,

someone who tries to get you to fornicate,

someone who is wronging you, who is wronging the Lord,

they're not spiritual people.

They are constantly trying to bring you down spiritually

and trying to cause you to douse your flame for the Lord.

These are bad friends, right?

A companion of fools shall be destroyed.

You hang around with people who try to cause you to sin.

You will eventually become a spiritual casualty, okay?

The Bible constantly warns us about these types of people

who try to entice you, right?

To do evil, to shed blood, to fornicate, to steal,

to do murder, and so forth.

But you know what?

That's not the only thing that constitutes a bad friend.

A bad friend is also those who don't stop you

or correct you when you're doing wrong.

It's not necessarily just the person

who's trying to provoke you to sin.

It's also the individual who keeps his mouth shut

when you're sinning and they just don't say anything about it.

That's a horrible friend.

You know what? Let me say this.

We need to stay away from people who provoke us to sin,

but we also need to stay away from people

who don't say nothing when we do.

Who are just content.

They're just happy with you sinning.

They don't want to correct you

because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

Oh, he's a nice guy.

Yeah, sometimes being nice is sinful, though.

Because a nice person is an individual

who's unwilling to tell you the truth

even though you need to hear it, right?

And they're like, oh, I don't want to say

that it's wrong that he's fornicating

because he's my friend and he's done my business.

Who am I to judge?

Am I my brother's keeper or something?

It's wicked.

Get friends that are willing to correct you.

The Bible tells us that open rebuke

is better than secret love,

that faithful are the wounds of a friend.

You need people that will correct you

when you're doing wrong.

Not just when you're doing wrong,

when you're thinking wrong,

when you are behaving in an ungodly manner,

or if you're just deviating from the path of God,

you need someone to come up to you and say,

hey, what are you doing?

Hey, step out of it.

What are you doing?

You're not sinning, but you're on the path, though.

Now, I'm just going to tell you right now,

the people you're hanging out with,

they're going to cause you to be destroyed.

You're making really stupid decisions right now.

And I'm just telling you as a friend,

eventually you're going to get out of church.

Eventually you're going to stop reading your Bible.

Eventually you're going to fill in the blank and so forth.

That's a good friend.

Iron sharpens iron, right?

And so we need friends who are willing to rebuke us,

they're willing to correct us,

and obviously don't overdo it either.

We don't want to just destroy our friends

just by purely correcting them and reproving them,

never exhorting them, never building them up.

But we do need people to tell us when we've done wrong

or when we are simply on the path to doing wrong.

We need people to tell us like,

hey, this guy is bad company for you.

Hey, what are you doing liking stupid posts on Instagram?

What are you doing liking Instagram thoughts?

Why are you liking whores on Instagram?

Why are you liking whatever?

Why are you liking clavicular stuff on Instagram?

I see you're liking, I see a little heart floating.

I see your profile picture floating a little bit.

What are you doing?

And it's just like, well, it's just what he does.

It's what she does.

That's a horrible attitude to have towards a friend.

Am I my brother's keeper? Yes, you are.

You are your brother's keeper.

What is a keeper a guard?

That's what it is, a keeper is a guard.

And we need to take it upon ourselves to be our friend's guard.

When he lets his guard down, when she lets her guard down,

when she doesn't keep her heart with all diligence,

when he doesn't keep his heart with all diligence,

if we see that as a brother,

it's our responsibility to be our brother's keeper, to be his guard,

to defend him when he's too ignorant and blind to defend himself.

When he can't see it, maybe he has a blind spot that he can't see something.

You need to go up to him and say, hey, brother,

with all due respect and love and kindness and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ

and grace be upon you, you're a retard.

You're acting retarded.

You're acting like an absolute idiot.

I'm just telling you right now.

Don't be offended.

Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Obviously, it's not something you want to do just to get on your friend, either.

You want to speak the truth and love.

We need to make sure we have a balance and not become a hyra, the adulamite.

This guy is hanging out with Judah and he's going into the canyon

and he's like, all right, if that's what you want, yeah, sure.

And then he's going down to the sheep shears.

I'm sure Judah, I'm sure hyra sees when Judah is hiring the prostitute.

He's like, oh, all right, I'll just turn a blind eye.

I'll just look over this way instead.

And then Judah's like, hey, I need you to pay the prostitute off if you could.

Send this little animal.

All right, sure.

It's none of my business, whatever.

Teach his own.

When in Rome.

Just making excuses.

And obviously, I'm inferring what he's saying into the passive.

But there's a reason, like, hyra keeps coming up in the chapter,

you know, associated with sin.

And you say, well, nothing's being said.

Yeah, that's the problem.

There's nothing said about hyra because he's not saying anything.

We just find him in these situations not saying anything at all.

And so obviously we know that as friends we need to make sure that we watch our mouths,

that we are kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,

let all bitterness and wrath and anger and evil speaking be put away from you.

Make sure that no corrupt communication proceeds out of your mouth,

that you sharpen your brother.

But it needs to be balanced with correction as well.

And not just correction, but just, you know,

helping people to avoid making horrible mistakes.

And I'll admit, there's been times when I've done this to church members.

I've done this to close friends before I was even a pastor.

Even to the point where I kind of risk, like, offending them indefinitely.

Because I felt like they were making such a bad decision.

It's just worth just letting them have it.

You know what I mean?

Because it's just like the possibility of them ruining their lives is too great.

I'd rather just tell them this and offend them than never wanting to talk to me ever again.

But at least I tried, though.

It's not always going to be the situation,

but we need to be willing to do that for our friends.

Out of a heart of love, by the way, right?

And so it's important not to be a hyra.

You tell your friends, you know, when they're doing wrong,

but also, you know, explain to them,

hey, this is a bad decision you're making.

This is not a good decision.

This is going to take you out of church.

What do you mean you're going to miss church on Sunday night?

What is that?

Why are you going to miss church on Sunday night?

You know, why are you starting to going to start missing church?

Why are you not going soloing?

Why not?

Give me a good reason why you're not.

Well, you know, I got to go do something.

What is it to something that you got to do?

Okay.

Well, that's none of your business.

Well, then I guess we're not really close friends then, right?

It's none of my business.

I'm here to kind of sharpen you.

I'm here to kind of be accountable to you and vice versa.

You know what I mean?

You know, you should let me know why is it?

You know, I'm dying.

All right, fine.

You know, I guess you get the day off or something.

But, you know, it's important for us to do that.

And, you know, I think it's important to ask people questions

and ask somewhat detailed questions.

Instead of asking 10 questions, just ask one really detailed question.

You know, explain to me why you're not doing that.

Just without all the fluff.

You know, you need friends like that.

Okay.

And so, Hyra is a horrible friend who's just not willing to tell Judah.

And I've had Hyra's as friends, even before salvation.

You know, I had Hyra's who just kind of looked the other way

if I was making a dumb decision, if I was sinning, whatever.

They didn't care.

And, you know, you're like, well, you know, it's the kind of friends you want.

You know what I mean?

Kind of want the friends who just are not going to judge you for who you are.

You know, just kind of, you know, ride or die or whatever.

Yeah, but these people are not people of integrity though.

They're not people of integrity.

They don't have character.

They have no legitimate, you know, loyalty

because they're willing to see you do something really bad,

super wicked and sinful and keep their mouth shut.

That's horrible.

Okay.

A biblical friend is someone who corrects you.

They sharpen you.

You know, and by the way, when the Bible says, you know,

as iron sharpeneth, iron soul friend sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

A man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

What does that refer to exactly?

Well, you know, a lot of times we stick to that first part of the verse

about iron sharpening iron and just kind of sharpening someone in the faith,

but it literally says to sharpen the countenance though.

Okay.

What is the countenance?

You know, the facial expression.

Okay.

In other words, you know, if your friend has a RBF,

you got to sharpen that thing, right?

Like wipe that look off your face.

Right?

Yeah.

If someone's just kind of, you know,

just kind of go up to him like, why are you looking like that?

Well, that's just the way I look.

Change it.

Exercise those facial muscles.

You look miserable.

You look unapproachable.

You look ugly.

You just look discontent and like, unless you need to go to the corner,

let's go talk about something if you're struggling or something.

But if you're not struggling, then stop looking like that.

You know, God is definitely concerned with our countenance, right?

He wants us to have a cheerful countenance.

He wants us to anoint our head, wash our face.

Okay.

And I'm not saying be a fake and a phony and just smile from ear to ear 24-7.

But you know, when you come to the house of God,

if you're in a social setting, you should have a pleasant countenance.

And the Bible says there, you know,

a friend will sharpen your countenance.

Basically tell them like, hey, yeah, go ahead and, you know,

put a smile right here and put another one right here

and get rid of these wrinkles right here.

Why are you looking all mad for?

And stop looking annoyed.

Stop looking like you're just a miserable Christian.

Yeah, this look right here does not work in.

Now countenance is falling.

Okay.

That's what it means, right?

And so, you know, you say, why are you mentioning that?

Because I'm trying to correct your countenance right now.

Fix your countenance.

Hey, we need to tell our friends,

you got an RBF face going on right now.

And, you know, you need to like fix that face.

Just nudge him and say,

you're doing that thing with your face again.

And so, don't be a hyra, amen.

We see here a bad friend,

but now we see that Judah, obviously,

regardless if he has a bad friend or not,

he, you know, he ultimately is the one responsible

for making these bad decisions.

What is the first bad decision that he makes?

Mary's a Canaanite.

It says in verse 2,

Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite

whose name was Shua,

and he took her and went in unto her.

He's obviously violating the principle

of separation between believers and non-believers.

Something that I believe God has instituted

from the very beginning,

when he separated light from the darkness

in Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

but just throughout the Bible.

You know, the Israelites are different,

separated from the Egyptians,

separated from the Canaanites.

And of course, in the New Testament,

it's a spiritual separation

that is more emphasized.

And so he marries this Canaanite,

but it's God's will.

Now it becomes God's will once they're married, right?

And they have children,

it says in verse 3,

and she conceived and bear a son,

and he called his name Ur.

She conceived again and bear a son,

and she called his name Oneth.

And she conceived,

she yet again conceived

and bear a son

and called his name Sheila,

and he was at Kezib

when she bear him.

And Judah took a wife for Ur,

his firstborn,

whose name was Tamar,

and Ur, Judah's firstborn,

was wicked in the sight of the Lord

and the Lord slew him.

So we obviously see that

between verses 2 and 7,

you know, many years have passed, okay?

They bear three children,

they grow up,

Judah helps Ur find a wife

who's a Canaanite as well.

And the Bible isn't really explicit

as to why this is,

but verse 7 just kind of sums it up.

Ur was wicked in the sight of God

and God killed him, okay?

Now, what are some things

that we can learn from this?

Well, first and foremost,

this demonstrates that God kills people, right?

And it also demonstrates

that God doesn't owe you

an explanation when he does.

Because, you know,

we're kind of wondering like,

man, I wonder what he did.

Does it matter?

If the Lord killed him,

if the Lord slew him,

if the Lord passed judgment on him

that he's wicked,

then we just got to trust

what the Lord says.

You know what I mean?

And, you know,

we're going to see this

various times in the Bible

where someone dies,

God judges someone,

and he doesn't give us

all the details as to why.

And you know what?

We don't need to be like these,

you know, people,

these so-called scholars,

these critics of the Bible

who want to criticize

the judgments of God

and make excuses to,

why did God kill the Canaanites?

Why did he genocide the Canaanites?

Why did he kill all the children?

You know what?

I don't know,

but he did it,

and I'm fine with it.

Because the Lord,

everything that the Lord

does is correct,

is right,

it's righteous.

And so,

when it says here

that he slew earth,

it was the right thing to do,

he was wicked

in the sight of God

and he slew him.

This is in the Old Testament,

and people often say,

well, yeah,

it's in the Old Testament,

that's why that happened.

You know, God

is a God of judgment

in the Old Testament,

but in the New Testament,

he's meek,

he's lowly,

he's very nice,

you know, Jesus.

Yeah, but you got to read Revelation, though.

And you don't even have to go that far.

We can just go back to the book of Acts

in chapter 5

and he's killing people.

He's killing couples.

Like mafia style,

he's just dragging them out, right?

Ananias and Sapphira.

A bunch of people,

he killed in the New Testament,

he kills a lot of them

in the book of Revelation as well,

during God's wrath.

And so we see here

that God has the right to do so.

Obviously,

Ur must have been

exceedingly wicked

for the Lord to want to slay him

in this supernatural manner.

I would surmise that it's possible

that Ur was just a reprobate.

Because anytime you find this phrase

that God wants to kill someone

or he would kill them,

it's often in context

and in relation to

some hater of God,

some reprobate

that God wants to destroy.

So we have here Ur,

he dies,

verse 8 says,

and Judah said into Onam,

going into thy brother's wife

and marry her

and raise up seed to thy brother.

Now, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 25.

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

If you will, Deuteronomy chapter 25.

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy chapter 25 here.

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

So what do we have here?

We have a situation

where

a brother's wife

passes away

and she's a widow

and of course, you know,

culturally, they don't want

his lineage to die off,

because obviously he didn't have any children.

So the custom

in the book of Genesis

is for the brother

to marry his brother's wife,

the widow,

and raise up a child

unto his brother's name.

Essentially meaning that

once he marries her and they have children

from a cultural perspective

in the book of Genesis,

that child is actually,

they would view that child

as being the son of the one who died.

And I do believe that this is more

of a cultural practice in Genesis,

but it became somewhat of a law

by the time we get to the book of Deuteronomy 25.

Look at verse number five, if you would.

It says,

if brethren dwell together

and one of them die and have no child,

the wife of the dead

shall not marry without unto a stranger.

Her husband's brother shall go in unto her

and take her to him to wife

and perform the duty of a husband's brother

unto her.

So this is the responsibility

of the brother.

Now you and I look at this

and I'm like, man, this is kind of weird.

I don't know if I'm cool with that, right?

Well, thankfully, you know,

we're not under this law, okay?

So this is, this went away,

I don't believe this is required

in the New Testament.

This is just, in my opinion,

it's more of a practical law, okay?

And so this kind of ensures

that the person who has died,

you know, the lineage just doesn't end with him.

He has descendants thereafter,

albeit by proxy.

It says in verse number six,

and it shall be that the firstborn,

which she beareth shall succeed

in the name of his brother,

which is dead that his name

be not put out of Israel.

And if the man like not to take

his brother's wife,

then let his brother's wife

go up to the gate unto the elders

and say, my husband's brother

refused it to raise up unto his brother

a name in Israel.

He will not perform the duty

of my husband's brother.

Then the elders of a city

shall call him and speak unto him.

And if he stand to it

and say, I like not to take her,

then shall his brother's wife

come unto him in the presence of the elders

and lose his shoe from office foot

and spit in his face

and shall answer and say,

so shall it be done unto that man

that will not build up his brother's house.

And his name shall be called in Israel,

the house of him

that hath his shoe loose.

We'll go back to Genesis.

So, you know, we see here

the protocol, right?

Someone dies.

If he has a brother,

don't let her go out to marry someone else.

Keep it in the family, okay?

The brother is supposed to raise up seed

unto his brother

if he doesn't want to, okay?

Let me explain something.

If he doesn't want to marry

his brother's wife, okay?

Or if he doesn't want to raise up seed

unto his brother's wife,

then you know,

it doesn't say to spill it on the ground.

It says, hey,

he goes to the people of the gate

and says, like,

I don't want to marry her.

I don't want to do this, okay?

And so, obviously,

it was viewed as a very dishonorable thing

in the eyes of Israel,

which is why they would go through this whole

entire rigmarole

where she would take off his shoe,

spit in his face,

and just shame him in front of everyone.

You know?

It's a horrible situation.

Let's just keep the guy alive.

You know what I mean?

So he can just marry off

and you don't have to go through this whole thing here.

But the point is,

the point that I'm trying to make is that

if the guy doesn't want to raise up seed to his brother,

then he just doesn't marry her.

So what does this tell us about Onan?

It tells us that all he wanted to do

was have the physical relationship

with his brother's wife, okay?

Look what it says in verse number nine.

It says,

Onan knew that the seed should not be his

and it came to pass

when he went into his brother's wife

that he spilled it on the ground

lest that he should give seed to his brother.

Now, he didn't follow

and I'm not expecting,

we're not expecting him to retroactively

practice what we see in Deuteronomy 25, right?

But if he didn't want to raise

up seed into his brother,

then he could have just said,

I'm not marrying you.

You need to find someone else.

You know, go talk to my dad,

but I don't want to have this

situation on my hands

and this is not really my son.

You know, but obviously,

he wanted that physical relationship, okay?

He just didn't want to have children

with this woman

and therefore he spilled it on the ground.

Now, this demonstrates

and it's the only passage of Scripture that we have

that this is wrong to do, okay?

There's no way around it, my friends.

It's right there in the text.

God does not like it

when people do this practice

of spilling it on the ground, okay?

So how do you know God doesn't like it?

Verse 10, and the thing which he did,

this pleased the Lord, oh, okay.

Okay, therefore he slew him also.

Now, you know, this verse right here

in verse 10 demonstrates

that God is not pleased when you do it,

but I can't necessarily say

that you're going to die if you do,

but it's possible.

You know, he did slay Onan for doing so, okay?

But this is basically giving us

what God's opinion is

on this action.

Why? Because God's will is for you

to be able to just bear children.

The physical act is meant, you know,

obviously for pleasure,

but it's also meant

so that you can have children.

And this guy, all he wanted

was the physical relationship.

Now, for whatever reason,

people are just obsessed

with this topic right now,

and it's probably because the world

is just perverse, okay?

It's extremely perverse.

You know, it's a society

that has been saturated by pornography

where podcasters,

that's all they want to talk about.

You know, they want to talk about this,

they want to talk about,

and I can't even say the other thing

that people want to talk about,

but you know what I'm talking about, okay?

Those of you who are of age

know exactly what I'm talking about.

And you know,

I don't like to talk about those things,

especially from the pulpit,

because of the fact that it's just,

you know, it's disgusting.

It's nasty, right?

And the Bible does say

it's a shame to speak of them,

speak of those things

which are done to them in secret.

And obviously we often apply that to

what people do in secret

that are evil,

but I do believe it just applies

all across the board

what anybody does behind closed doors.

I don't like to go into detail

what people do behind closed doors.

You say,

well what if someone wants to know?

Let them figure it out

when they get married.

I mean having people figure it out

for thousands of years,

I think people have done really well

for thousands of years

just figuring it out.

You're like,

but what if they're doing something wrong?

Just leave it up to them,

and the Lord.

If the Lord slays him,

then there you go.

If he doesn't slay him,

then there you go.

But you know what,

it's none of your business

what people do behind closed doors.

You know,

I'm responsible for what I do

with my wife behind closed doors,

whatever our preferences are,

whatever our convictions are,

and no, I'm not for

that stuff that that stupid movie

is claiming that I'm for.

That, you know,

I did that interview with the

Hodge twins

and they asked me that

an inappropriate question.

And I specifically said,

you know,

marriage is honorable in all things

and the bed undefiled, right?

And fornicators and hormongers,

God will judge.

And I get it.

You know,

it's not all things,

but it says all though.

Okay?

And quite frankly,

you could attach things to all

and it means the same exact thing.

Look at it in the original language,

it means the same exact thing.

You say,

well, isn't that a justification?

No, what I'm saying is that

when you're married,

what you do behind closed doors

is your business.

That's your business.

And you know what?

You say, well, how do we know

that what you're doing is right?

You won't know

because you're not supposed to know.

We're not supposed to be

putting people's dirty laundry

out there, you know,

of what people do behind closed doors.

It's wicked to do that.

And you know what?

You're like,

well, how are you going to explain

the birds and the bees to your kids?

You know,

I don't know yet.

And quite frankly,

I'm going to do it

as very rudimentary

as I possibly can.

But I'll tell you this.

If and when I explain

the birds and the bees to my kids,

which I don't necessarily

even think you have to,

I think you just marry them off

and they'll figure it out.

I think everyone in this world,

God has just instilled within them

these inhibitions,

these natural desires.

And when you get married,

it's just like God's like,

all right,

hit the switch.

And you know,

what am I,

how are we supposed to do this?

Figure it out.

Good thing the bed is undefiled.

You know,

can I kiss her elbow?

Sure.

You know,

if you want, I guess,

just don't tell me about it.

Because I don't want to know.

Okay.

And so, you know,

you're like,

well, what if someone

in the church has a question

about certain acts?

You know,

here's the thing is that

when people ask me about these things,

which people don't, by the way,

the only people who really ask me

about this are podcasters.

It's just it.

And let me explain to you

why people in the secular world

ask about these things

is because they watch

a lot of pornography.

And so they want to bring

that stuff into the bedroom.

Okay.

It's defile their mind.

It creates appetites

and desires

that are unnatural.

Okay.

And it's not right.

But, you know,

here's the thing is that

I don't want to know

what practices you believe

are right or wrong.

Now, here's one way.

Here's the time

that I would interfere

when someone believes

that it's right to do

those kinds of things

if they're teaching other people.

Because, again,

I go back to the principle

don't speak of those things

which are done in them in secret.

It's not appropriate

to talk about these things

in public, folks.

It's just not.

You know?

And don't be talking

with your buddies about it either.

You think it's okay.

You know, what do you think

about Onan, you know?

He died.

Okay?

Now, look,

I'm not trying to discourage you

from coming to me

and asking me questions

if you're just

super desperate to know

or something.

But let me just give you

my opinion right now

and that is figure it out.

You figure it out.

And quite frankly,

anytime someone's asking about it,

they ask me about it

already knowing the answer.

Already know the answer.

Why?

Because it just takes

a little bit of wisdom.

And quite frankly,

most people would even know

about these things

had it not been for pornography.

So think about that

for a second.

Right?

I was getting quiet here.

It's true.

It's a fact.

And if you're like,

I have no idea

what you're talking about.

Good.

It's good.

Look, here's the goal.

The goal is to get married

and fulfill your God-given

physical desires

with that person

till death do you part.

And you know what?

Keep it to yourself.

I don't care what you do.

I don't care what you did.

Keep it to yourself.

Live happily ever after.

Rejoice with the wife

of thy youth.

You know?

And look, folks,

the Bible gives us detail

without being explicit.

This is as explicit

as it gets right here.

And most people are like,

I still don't know what this

means.

Don't worry about it.

Just keep reading.

Let's just talk about Joseph.

Just keep reading

until the next chapter.

And so the point that I'm making

here is that obviously,

you know,

Onan is getting judged

because he wants

this physical relationship

and, you know,

but he doesn't want

to have children.

And so this is kind of

like an example

into us

where the seed

is supposed to go.

You understand?

Amen?

So you said

do you have a rule in church

about this stuff?

Yeah, the rule is this.

Don't speak of those things

which are done in them

in secret.

It's simple.

It's unsavory.

It's unnecessary.

It's inappropriate.

You know?

And especially don't talk

about what you

and your wife do

behind closed doors.

Okay?

No one has here, by the way.

Okay?

No one's done that.

You know,

they're not just

chatting away with other

people regarding things like that.

If that's the case,

then I do have to step in

and just kind of stop that.

We want to have

a wholesome,

you know,

environment here

and not,

you know,

be comfortable talking

about those things,

you know,

just in public like that.

There should be

a level of shame.

You understand?

And so,

you're like,

yeah, but you know,

I just,

I really have questions though.

Well, let me just say this.

If you're unmarried,

I'm not answering

any of your questions.

I'm not answering any of it.

You know,

get married,

stay married,

you know,

for a couple years,

and then if you're still

wondering,

then come and talk to me.

Okay?

Do the married thing

for like

two to five years,

and then if you're still

wondering,

if you're still struggling,

if you still don't know

what to do,

then maybe I'll help you

out in that area.

But I don't think

that's the case.

Okay?

I don't think

you're going to need

to come to me.

I mean,

we're talking about

nomads here

and knowing what to do.

People did not have

a YouTube channel.

They didn't have

Instagram.

They didn't have

an instruction guide.

They didn't have

the written word of God.

They didn't know about,

you know,

Onan.

They didn't know

about anything.

But,

you know,

you got a lot of kids

being born here though.

You got a lot of children

being born here.

It sounds like

they knew what they were doing.

And so,

you know,

if you have a

preference between

you and your spouse,

great.

Don't tell me about it.

And don't tell

others about it either.

And look,

there is something bad

about people

just wanting

to just want to talk about it.

Okay?

Just wanting to be like,

well, you know,

what do you think about it?

I don't want to know.

Let's talk about

wholesome things.

Like Jews and stuff.

Let's talk about

who rules the world,

you know.

Things that really

edify the brethren.

Okay?

Let's talk about,

you know,

why a public execution

isn't being made public.

You know what I mean?

Those are the topics

we need to be talking about.

The important things.

Okay?

Talk about going,

taking your wife out

on a date,

and you know,

whatever.

But keep those things

behind closed doors

and things that you do.

And look, let me say this,

couples,

if someone comes to you

and starts probing,

first of all,

you should rebuke

that person.

Very loudly.

And then come

and tell me,

and I'll rebuke

that person.

Because it's inappropriate.

Okay?

People figured it out

for thousands of years.

And it's interesting

that God,

you know,

everything that we need,

the instructions are right here

as far as the basics are concerned.

He gives us the instructions.

And you know what he does?

He wants it.

He's like,

all right, I can figure this out.

All right, we got this verse.

All right.

And that's it.

Like, what if I'm doing it wrong?

Well, I guess we'll never know

because you're just going

to keep it to yourself.

You know what I'm saying here?

All right.

So,

onan,

bro's done.

Okay.

And so,

you know,

God did not like the fact

that he was avoiding,

trying to avoid having children.

And so,

he just wanted to have

this physical relationship

with his brother's wife

and so forth.

So, two down.

Okay?

These guys are bad, you know?

Verse 11,

then said Judah to Tamar,

his daughter-in-law,

remain a widow

at thy father's house

till she let my son be grown.

For he said,

lest per adventure

he die also,

as his brother did,

and Tamar went

and dwelt in her father's house.

So,

Bible seems to imply here

that Judah isn't necessarily

excited to allow

his third son

to marry,

you know,

his daughter-in-law

in order to raise up seed.

And he's like,

well, you know,

we gotta wait till he's a little more grown

and obviously we're not giving the specifics

as far as age is concerned.

But it could be

that he's just not really

wanting them to get married.

And obviously,

this is a messed up situation

and it kind of shows you

what happens

when you marry

an unsafe person.

Okay?

You're gonna have a home

that's mixed with,

you know,

godly ideologies

and

worldly philosophies.

And in this case,

Judah doesn't even have

godly ideologies.

Okay?

So you have all of this mixture

of bad practices,

sin,

people are dying,

the Lord has slain people.

Verse 12,

in the process of time,

the daughter of Shua,

Judah's wife died

and Judah was comforted

and went up

unto his sheep shears

to Timnath.

He and his friend,

Hyra,

the Adulamite.

And it was told to him,

our saying,

behold thy father-in-law,

goeth up to Timnath

to shear his sheep.

And she put her widows

garment 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 Sheila

was grown

and she was not

given unto him to wife.

When Judah saw her,

he thought her

to be a harlot

because she had covered

her face.

So what is this woman

doing?

She is pretending

to be a prostitute

so that she can lay

with her father-in-law

and basically have a child.

This is just weird stuff.

Now the first thing

I want to mention here

is that prostitutes

have come a long way.

Because back in the day

they'd cover themselves.

Now they don't.

And in fact,

you didn't have to be

a prostitute.

There's women who

aren't prostitutes

who don't cover themselves.

It's like the prostitutes

in the Bible

had more decency

than the women

who are not for sale today.

Think about that.

It's like, dude,

she's covering her face.

People are over here

taking off their clothes

on Instagram,

on social media,

TikTok,

out in the streets.

They just have no problem

taking off their clothes

and they're not even for sale.

And so, you know,

just a side note there.

Okay?

She wraps herself,

you know,

it says in verse 14,

she covers herself

with the veil.

She wraps herself

and she sits in an open place.

Back in the day,

I guess, you know,

this is the horse garment.

This is what she's wearing

in order to attract attention.

And so, you know,

she can potentially

get a buyer.

And she's actually

hoping that

that will be

Judah, her father-in-law.

It says in verse 16

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?

So she's like,

give me like a down payment first.

You know,

essentially,

proving, confirming

that you're actually

gonna make this purchase

and that you're gonna pay this.

Verse 18.

And he said,

what pledge shall I give thee?

And she said,

thy signet,

thy bracelets,

thy staff that is in thine hand.

And he gave it her

and came in unto her

and she conceived by him.

And she arose

and went away

and laid by her veil from her

and put on the 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.

So, you know,

this essentially demonstrates also

that it's not good

for a man to be alone.

Right?

You know,

he lost his wife

and the Bible says

that he's comforted

after she passed,

but instead of actually seeking out

another wife,

he seeks out a prostitute.

You know,

we all have legitimate needs, folks,

but God wants us to fulfill those

legitimate needs

in righteous, legitimate ways.

There's nothing wrong with him

wanting to have

that physical relationship again,

but the avenue

by which he did so was wrong.

Okay?

And by doing so,

he ended up committing incest

with his daughter-in-law,

extremely wicked.

Now, you're like,

how can this woman

participate in this conspire

and be willing to lay

with her father-in-law?

It's because she's a Cain tonight!

Unsafe people do stupid stuff.

The natural man is just wicked.

And if they're not grounded,

they don't have the principles

of the Bible,

the principles of God's word

to direct them.

They don't really have

any true moral convictions.

So, we can't be surprised

when the wicked of this world

do stuff like this.

And look, folks,

things like this

still happen today.

In America and different cultures,

people do stuff like this,

and you're like,

how can someone do something like that?

It's because they're void

of the supernatural.

They don't have the new man.

They don't have the Bible directing them.

You're like,

well, I know someone

who doesn't have the Bible,

but they're a moral person.

Yeah, but in general, though,

people who are unsaved

do stupid stuff.

And I guarantee you,

even the person who's so-called moral,

that person is wicked

in other ways.

What is the common denominator?

The Bible.

Having the word of God

to direct you

to tell you what is right

and what is wrong.

And this is sick.

The fact that she was willing

to do this just to have a child,

it's weird, it's godless.

Verse 20, verse 21.

So, you know,

he sends his friend

to go make the payment.

You know, Hyra's like,

oh, you know,

you guys, you know,

looking for a prostitute here,

I gotta drop off this payment.

Doesn't find her.

Verse 21,

then he asks 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.

Now, I'm surprised

that Judah's heart

didn't just sink at that point.

I'm like,

really?

What happened, you know?

But he's just thinking,

oh, great,

I got away with it.

Look at verse 23.

And Judah said,

let her take it to her,

lest we be shamed.

Behold,

I sent the kid,

and thou hast 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 is with child by hordom.

And Judah said,

bring her forth

and let her be burned.

Okay.

So, man,

Tamar is just devious.

She's conspiring.

She did this act.

And she, you know,

obviously three months in,

she's showing.

So either she's

announcing to people

that she's with child,

or, you know,

people just see it

and they're like,

hey, you know,

your daughter played the whore.

And your daughter-in-law

played the whore

in your house.

And what does Judah do?

He just has this

excessive judgment.

Burn her with fire!

And it's just like,

bro,

you're the,

it's like the

whole David thing,

right?

When Nathan comes to him

with the parable

of the little you lamb,

he's like,

that person needs to be

put to death!

And it's just like,

thou art the man, though.

You're the one

who's responsible for this.

And you know what I've noticed

is that people

who are often

the strongest

in condemning someone

or being excessively

condemning,

okay?

Just excessive about it,

they're often

overcompensating

for certain personal

failures that they have.

Now don't let this

discourage you from

condemning someone,

by the way.

Because obviously

we need to judge people,

I'm talking about

this excessive condemnation,

it's often to kind of cover

for some shortcoming

that they have, okay?

The shortcoming,

they're overcompensating

because they have

some personal sin

in their life

or whatever it may be,

and they're trying to

deter attention

from their own sin

so they have to be

super hyper-spiritual,

holier than now,

and therefore

it's just like,

burn em, burn em!

All the while

they're the ones responsible

for sleeping

with the daughter-in-law.

It's crazy.

Now what can we learn

from this?

You know,

be sure your sin

will find you out

is what you can learn.

Okay?

And you may think to yourself,

well I sin

and I got away with it.

You know?

What's going to happen to me?

Well it really depends.

Okay?

If you sin in the past

and you feel like

you got away with it,

here is the determining factor

of what happens.

What is your attitude

about it right now?

That's the determining factor.

So why so?

Because you know,

if you're like,

yeah I sin,

but I'm like,

I feel horrible about it.

I've repented.

I fear the Lord.

And you know,

I know that God can judge me.

You know?

If you have a humble heart

it's very likely

that God will extend

his mercy

and his grace towards you

and he will not allow you

to suffer the consequences

of your actions.

Or if you do

suffer some consequences

it will not be

as severe

as if you're just

a prideful arrogant person

who didn't care

that they sinned.

You know, obviously sometimes

there's just consequences.

And you're like,

well I did suffer consequences

so maybe I'm not getting mercy.

But here's the thing though

maybe you're not getting

the full payment though.

You gotta think about that.

Okay?

So it really depends

on what your attitude is

right now.

So if your attitude is

like, yeah I messed up.

I've done things in the past

and I feel like

I feel like God hasn't

really punished me for it

and it makes me

thankful.

It humbles me.

It provokes me

unto love

and to good works.

It makes me want to do right.

It makes me want to stay

on the right path.

It's likely that God

will extend his mercy

towards you even more

and be merciful to you

because you've confessed

that sin.

You repented of it.

You got it right.

But let me say this

if you're the person

who's just completely delusional

and you think you've pulled

a fast one on God

and you're just like

nothing happened to me.

Yeah, it's very likely

God will judge you.

If you're just prideful

and arrogant

and look folks

I've literally heard

people online

say stuff like this

where people have warned

other individuals

and be like,

hey, you know,

aren't you afraid

that you're doing this?

Don't you fear God?

Don't you think God's

gonna do it?

People keep telling me

nothing's happened to me yet.

Nothing's really happened

to me yet, you know.

Nothing's really

I'm fine, you know.

It's like, okay,

you think like God's

just gonna like

drive through your judgment

or something like that?

He's gonna give you

a microwave judgment?

He's gonna streamline

your judgment?

No, he's probably allowing

you to treasure up

against the wrath

against the day of wrath.

And if you just remain

an arrogant,

prideful,

just a holier than now

unrepentant person

your judgment

is gonna be harsh

and swift.

Like, whoa,

it's been years

nothing's ever happened to me.

Yeah, God might not

do it for 10 years.

And at the 10th year

just take your legs.

You might just

get amputated.

You might get

a lobotomy or something.

We just don't know.

He's creative.

And so don't think like,

you know,

and look folks,

there's literally

serial killers

who committed,

you know,

murder

decades ago.

And they stopped.

They moved on.

They had families.

They had children.

They're living into

their 70s and 80s.

And they're probably

thinking in their mind,

I got away with it,

but they didn't

because forensics

or whatever caught up

and then they ended up

getting caught.

And that's just like

the world system.

Just imagine God.

Do you think God

forgets these things?

Be sure your sin will

find you out.

And you know what?

I hope you fear

in your heart right now

if that's the case.

I hope to invoke

the fear of God

in your heart

that you would repent,

that you would get right,

that you would humble

yourself before the Lord.

And you know what?

None of us are perfect.

We've all made mistakes.

But here's the important

thing is the posture

of the heart.

Just like,

is your heart arrogant?

Is it prideful

towards this?

Or is it just like, man,

I fear God in my heart.

I'm scared of God.

I'm scared God

can just strike me down

right now.

Good.

Keep that up.

That's what you got to think

because he can.

Am I supposed to

live like this

for the rest of my life?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fear God

your entire life.

And you know what?

When you fear God

your entire life,

you'll depart from evil.

Right.

You'll obtain mercy

of the Lord.

But if you're like Judah,

like,

well, hey,

I try to pay her.

Try to pay the horse

who wasn't there.

Got away with it.

What were you doing in

Timnath?

Shearing my sheep.

Like codeword

for like

going with prostitutes.

But then,

you know,

it's catching up to him

because now he's being

called out.

Look at verse 25

and when she was brought

forth,

she sent her father

in law saying

by the man

whose these are

am I with child

and she said to Cern

I pray the

whose are these

the signet

bracelet and staff.

You know,

I'm not for

Tamar,

but that must have felt

good.

You know what I mean?

Like, you know,

it's by this man's

stuff, you know.

And then

Judas is like,

that's my bracelet.

That's mine, bro.

That's mine.

That's mine.

Be sure you're seeing

and find you out.

You know,

and this is a good

principle here

that when you send

you are putting a down payment

and the full price

comes later.

You are putting

down your signet,

your bracelet,

and your staff.

And you know what?

Yeah,

sin is pleasurable

for a season.

For sure.

That's what the Bible

teaches us.

It is pleasurable

for a season.

It's pleasurable

for that brief period

of time.

And you know what?

All sin requires

of you

is your bracelet,

your signet,

and your staff.

Not much.

Not very costly at all.

Just those three

things.

Just give it up there.

Yeah, but in the

long run

thy mouth

shall be filled

with gravel though.

And Judah

acknowledged them

verse 26

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.

Now Judah,

obviously,

you know,

his judgment is skewed.

No,

she's not more righteous

than you probably

mean.

That is not a

righteous thing

that she did.

It's just

her unrighteousness

expose your

unrighteousness

is what it is.

Okay.

Now,

what can we learn

from this whole

debacle here?

You know,

this is what we can learn.

Stay away from

conspiring to sin,

being in the dark

corners,

putting yourself

in a situation

to be tempted,

to commit fornication,

to commit adultery,

to do that

which is not pleasing

in the eyes of the Lord.

And you know what?

You may think

that you can

get away with it,

but you're not,

especially as a

child of God.

God's not going to

let you get away with it.

He'll always expose

you.

And look, folks,

you're like,

well, you know,

what if no one knows

what I'm conspiring to do

and therefore,

no one is investigating?

I'm just telling you right now,

God will make it

known no matter what.

And look,

I don't try to

investigate people

or members

like trying to

try to figure out

who's sinning and who's not.

You know,

that's, I don't,

I'm not God.

So I'm not like,

hmm,

what's hike up to

this week?

Let me see if I could

just catch him at home.

What are you doing?

he's like with this cat,

you know,

I'm not like

looking to try to,

I'm not trying to

catch people in the

act of sinning,

but I'm going to tell

you right now,

these last 10 years

of pastoring this church,

it just comes to me.

Like I just

hear about it

or someone slips up,

they say something,

or I'm just

having a conversation

and then one word

and I feel like

just the Lord

directing me

to confront people

about things and then,

boom, it's just,

that's the situation

that happens.

And it's not

because I'm looking for it,

it's just the Lord

is just directing me

to keep sin out of the

church.

That's how it always is.

All,

you know,

all that God