WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.380 Now, if you will remember back to last week, the exchange between God and Israel in chapter 10, verses 6 through 16, it left us with a bit of a cliffhanger. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:19.719 God had seen through the false repentance of Israel, and he declared that he would deliver them no longer. 00:00:20.179 --> 00:00:29.300 But then the author states for us in his commentary in verse 16, at the end of it, he says that God was growing impatient with Israel's misery. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:36.280 Cluing us in, giving us a glimmer of hope that the Lord would still be gracious to his people. 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:48.679 Now, that section leads us to anticipate, as we move forward, that God will indeed save his people from their enemies, though it may be from a position of silence. 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:51.200 And that's precisely what happens here. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:01:04.540 Israel, particularly the Gileadites, they have to address the fact that the Ammonite army has a mast near Mizpah in their land, and they're forced to act. 00:01:04.600 --> 00:01:07.620 They can't just let that go, but God's been silent. 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:12.840 And they're forced to act in these moments in the midst of God's silence. 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:18.939 But there's an important thing for us to remember here, and we're going to have to recall this as we get into this story, and it's this. 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:25.219 Just because God is silent does not mean that God is absent. 00:01:26.520 --> 00:01:30.659 And we've just spent some time praying together and thinking of certain needs. 00:01:30.740 --> 00:01:34.700 There are times, just as a side note, this is for free for you to take with you today. 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:43.520 There are times where we go through our lives, and we deal with struggles in our lives, and we carry burdens in our lives, and it does feel as if God is silent. 00:01:44.659 --> 00:01:49.700 But we must trust that he is not absent, and he proves that to us in his word. 00:01:49.939 --> 00:01:51.560 He is not absent in this case. 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:57.920 He used the actions of the Gileadites to raise up Jephthah. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:06.219 And through the work of Jephthah, his empowerment of Jephthah, he will win victory for Israel. 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:08.000 They will subdue the Ammonites. 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:11.060 At the same time, he's going to expose their sins. 00:02:11.140 --> 00:02:12.539 He's going to continue to do that. 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:17.219 And he's going to allow their consequences to run their course in really quite a tragic way. 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:25.900 Verses 1 through 11 of chapter 11, they give us a little bit of Jephthah's story, a little bit of his origin story. 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:29.819 If you're into superhero stories and movies, there's always an origin story. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:36.560 There is an origin story with Jephthah as well, and it tells us a little bit how he became Israel's next deliverer. 00:02:37.480 --> 00:02:45.240 He was known as a mighty warrior, we're told in verse 1, making him the ideal candidate to lead the nation in battle. 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:49.640 The only problem was that he was an outcast. 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.860 He was the son of a prostitute, and his brothers didn't take kindly to that. 00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:58.120 So when it came time to divvy up the inheritance, they cast Jephthah out. 00:02:58.200 --> 00:02:58.880 He's an outcast. 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:05.700 He's living in the wilderness in the northern part of the territory, and he's collecting around him worthless fellows. 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:09.800 He becomes this leader of outcasts and outlaws. 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:16.500 He had been driven away by the very people who were now pleading for his help. 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:19.060 And there are some parallels here. 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:27.879 The way that the Gileadites interact with Jephthah is exactly how Israel as a nation interacted with God in a previous chapter. 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:35.420 They have abandoned God, and yet when they're in their moment of need, they try to run back to God to get some favor from him. 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:38.979 Now we see the Gileadites doing the same exact thing with Jephthah. 00:03:38.979 --> 00:03:40.239 They mistreat him. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:41.479 They sin against him. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:42.780 They cast him out. 00:03:42.859 --> 00:03:48.139 But now that they really need him, they go and find him, and they try to bring him back. 00:03:48.799 --> 00:03:57.899 But one of the things we find out is Jephthah is not only a mighty warrior, not only an outcast and an outlaw, he's also a shrewd negotiator. 00:03:57.900 --> 00:04:17.600 He's a schemer, and he agreed to lead in battle against the Ammonites, but only on the condition that he be welcomed back home, not as a citizen, but as their ruler, a pseudo-king, so to speak, over the people of Gilead in particular. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.740 And the Gileadites, they have no leverage in this negotiation. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.920 So on that condition, they make a covenant before God. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:37.480 Jephthah, the outcast of Gilead, becomes Jephthah, the ruler of Gilead, and it seems, at least for a little while, that the people willingly follow him in the process of that. 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:47.680 There's a particular type of genre or particular genre of drama or stage play that's known as a tragedy. 00:04:48.780 --> 00:04:52.300 Tragedy is a drama that does not have a happy ending. 00:04:52.300 --> 00:05:04.439 Instead, the plot, it builds up to some eventual catastrophe in which the main protagonist of the story died. 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:13.819 And all of the buildup, all of the anticipation of what you would expect to turn into a happy ending in a heroic moment actually does the opposite. 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:21.319 In Judges chapter 11 and 12, we read the record of a real-life tragedy. 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:31.879 And the weightiness of this story, really, it's only rivaled by the final story that we'll get to in the book of Judges. 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:36.120 This is a heavy text. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.959 It's a tragic text. 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:46.859 We're introduced to Jephthah as a mighty warrior, but that's not how we're going to remember him in the end. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:52.599 We're going to remember Jephthah for his sins as a father. 00:05:53.799 --> 00:05:57.679 Sins that lead to the death of his one and only daughter. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:04.979 And the immense slaughter of 42,000 Israelites. 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:12.879 Now, the general synopsis of the book of Judges, as we've come to understand, is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:18.840 Jephthah is another example that the judges themselves weren't excluded from that. 00:06:19.580 --> 00:06:26.300 As the stories continue to unfold, we actually see this progression where the judges themselves seem to get worse and worse. 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:34.200 As the nation spirals into deeper and deeper apostasy, it seems like the judges do the same thing. 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:40.040 They continue to show their propensity for acting apart from God's ways. 00:06:40.259 --> 00:06:44.460 And what we find is that the deliverers themselves need a deliverer. 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:46.980 That's the point of the book, isn't it? 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:51.560 That none of these people can actually do what truly needs to be done. 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:53.920 They themselves need redemption. 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:56.080 They themselves need salvation. 00:06:56.080 --> 00:06:58.879 They themselves need to be delivered. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:07.159 Third, there's a, as I said, a real heaviness to this narrative that I want you to feel as we move along through the story. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:14.879 But I only want you to feel the heaviness so that we can understand the real gospel hope that also comes through this story, 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:19.540 at least particularly through Jephthah and what we come to know of him. 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:22.120 Three things I want to point out to you in the story. 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:23.720 The first thing is this. 00:07:24.340 --> 00:07:27.240 Faith leads to salvation. 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:32.040 Faith leads to salvation. 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:33.879 Back to our story. 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:43.579 Jephthah's first order of business here as Gilead's leader was to attempt to settle the dispute with Ammon through diplomacy. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:46.459 And we can't blame him for that. 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:48.519 This is actually the wise choice. 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:51.519 Israel is not prepared to fight this battle. 00:07:52.299 --> 00:07:57.500 Gilead is not capable in and of themselves to do what needs to be done to defeat the Ammonites, 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:01.899 who have now oppressed them, according to chapter 10, for 18 years. 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:08.019 And they've oppressed them so severely that they've even been allowed to cross the Jordan River in some cases 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:15.339 and begin these maybe perhaps guerrilla assaults against the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin and Judah. 00:08:15.339 --> 00:08:20.879 Well, little old Gilead is out here on the outside, on the east side of the land, 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:26.859 and they're facing this army that has a mast to come in and to take their land. 00:08:27.119 --> 00:08:33.919 And Jephthah knew that a diplomatic solution was the best option, at least in that immediate moment. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.019 They weren't prepared to fight. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:41.079 So he sends messengers to the king of Ammon before he initiates an attack. 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:42.899 Look with me at verses 12 and 13. 00:08:43.699 --> 00:08:47.159 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:52.679 What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land? 00:08:52.899 --> 00:08:56.659 And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, 00:08:57.079 --> 00:09:05.719 Because Israel, on coming up from Egypt, took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan, 00:09:06.319 --> 00:09:09.159 now therefore restore it peaceably. 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:14.360 So the first thing that Jephthah does is he sends some messengers and he says, 00:09:14.459 --> 00:09:16.179 What's your problem? 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:17.860 Like, what's going on here? 00:09:18.139 --> 00:09:19.819 Is there a solution that we can find? 00:09:19.899 --> 00:09:22.879 And what it comes down to is there's a dispute over the land. 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:27.639 This king of Ammon believes that Israel has unjustly taken this land, 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:30.779 and he has taken it upon himself to recover it. 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:33.419 Now, it's in response to that, 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:38.539 that we see Jephthah the negotiator at his finest. 00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:43.539 And that's what really follows all the way until we get to verse 28. 00:09:43.779 --> 00:09:50.199 In fact, this little section here is the only real clue that we have regarding Jephthah's true spiritual condition. 00:09:51.419 --> 00:09:55.419 Up to this point, he looks like nothing more than a mercenary. 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.500 And that's really the way that he's behaving for the most part. 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.439 But as we get through this, there is language that he's using. 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:08.559 There are actions that he is taking that reveals to us that he does seem to have a personal commitment. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:12.859 As a worshiper of God, a worshiper of Yahweh. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:17.419 And he argues Israel's right to the land in three ways. 00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:20.699 We're not going to read all of these verses, but I'll point them out to you, and you can read them later. 00:10:20.939 --> 00:10:22.619 The first way that he argues is this. 00:10:22.659 --> 00:10:24.059 He argues historically. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:25.579 He argues historically. 00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:28.299 That's verses 14 through 22. 00:10:28.719 --> 00:10:29.919 Let me just summarize it for you. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:39.319 The first thing that he says to the king of Ammon is this land was never Ammonite land or Moabite land to begin with. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:42.379 He gives them a bit of a history lesson here. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.019 He says this was never your land. 00:10:44.179 --> 00:10:46.759 This was Amorite land. 00:10:47.219 --> 00:10:49.959 So you're not recovering something that used to belong to you. 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:51.599 It never belonged to you. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:11:07.019 Second point historically, he says, is that the only reason that Israel possessed it was because Sion, the king of the Amorites, declared war on them. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:12.620 He made war with Israel when all they wanted to do was pass through the land. 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:16.740 Now, if you want to do some further reading on that, it's recorded for us in the book of Numbers. 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:18.279 Numbers chapter 21. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:19.539 You can read all about it. 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.580 And essentially what had happened is the Israelites coming out of Egypt, they're wandering in the wilderness. 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:26.480 They're trying to get to the land of promise. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:34.279 They tried two different times to go into, to cut through the Moabite land and some other land in order to get to Canaan. 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:36.139 They weren't trying to invade. 00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:38.200 They weren't trying to possess it. 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:40.560 They just wanted to walk through. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:42.799 And everybody was telling them no. 00:11:43.539 --> 00:11:49.919 So they send word to Sion, king of the Amorites, who at the time possessed the land that Gilead was now on. 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:52.679 And they said, can we cut through your land? 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:54.619 We're not going to turn to the right hand or the left. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:55.619 We're not going to take your water. 00:11:55.699 --> 00:11:56.419 We're not going to kill your life. 00:11:56.459 --> 00:11:58.139 We just want to walk through. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:08.439 And instead of just saying no, like the Moabites and others had done before, Sion gets all of his army together and goes and wants to destroy Israel instead. 00:12:09.319 --> 00:12:10.379 So what do they do? 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:12.000 They fight. 00:12:12.719 --> 00:12:13.000 Why? 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:14.479 Because this guy's come against them. 00:12:14.500 --> 00:12:16.000 They have no choice but to fight. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.959 So essentially, Jephthah says, look, you've got this all wrong. 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:20.459 Number one, it was never your land. 00:12:20.739 --> 00:12:23.719 Number two, Israel didn't invade to possess it. 00:12:24.059 --> 00:12:25.519 Sion came against them. 00:12:25.599 --> 00:12:31.459 And upon his defeat, they took the land because there was no body left to live on it. 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:32.699 So they took it. 00:12:32.979 --> 00:12:33.119 Okay? 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:34.579 So he argues historically. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:37.719 Number two, he argues theologically. 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:39.560 Argues theologically. 00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:41.080 That's verses 23 and 24. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:42.240 Let's just read those together. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:50.700 So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel. 00:12:50.700 --> 00:12:53.660 And are you to take possession of them? 00:12:53.659 --> 00:12:59.299 Will you not possess what Chemosh, your God, gives you to possess? 00:12:59.939 --> 00:13:05.120 And all that the Lord, our God, has dispossessed before us, we will possess. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:07.259 This is a theological argument now. 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:13.899 So he credits Yahweh with Israel's victory over Sion and their subsequent possession of the land. 00:13:14.259 --> 00:13:16.399 They didn't take it, Jephthah says. 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:19.419 It was given to them by God. 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:24.659 And then he gives this little sarcastic response to the Ammonites. 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:28.840 And he tells them, basically, you should be content with what your God has given you. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:31.519 And we'll be content with what our God has given us. 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:33.500 Now, we don't need to be confused by that. 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:36.600 I don't think that he's putting Chemosh in the place of Yahweh. 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:38.419 I think he means this as an insult. 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:42.179 Because the Ammonites did not have the land that they wanted. 00:13:42.539 --> 00:13:44.799 He said, look, our God gave this to us. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:49.539 You be content with what your false God over there has for you. 00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:55.440 And his theological position here, it reveals a bit of his heart. 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:59.580 He seems to be a genuine worshiper of Yahweh, though a flawed one. 00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:06.960 And his theological position emphasizes God's place over all the gods of the land. 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:11.620 Which at this time in Israel's history was a minority view. 00:14:12.280 --> 00:14:13.660 So Jephthah sticks out to us now. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.820 He's not a very good man. 00:14:17.420 --> 00:14:20.780 But he does seem to be a worshiper of God. 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:27.639 So, historical argument, theological argument, and then the third thing is just simply an ethical argument. 00:14:27.959 --> 00:14:28.799 He argues ethically. 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:32.079 Look at verses 25 through 27. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:36.580 Now, are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:39.240 Did he ever contend against Israel? 00:14:39.400 --> 00:14:41.160 Or did he ever go to war with them? 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.639 While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages and the Aror, 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:49.320 and its villages and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 00:14:49.920 --> 00:14:51.540 300 years. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.379 Why did you not deliver them within that time? 00:14:55.379 --> 00:14:58.240 I, therefore, have not sinned against you. 00:14:58.379 --> 00:15:03.259 You have done me wrong by making war on me. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.139 Now we get a little bit of a clearer picture as to what's happening. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:12.539 This dispute that the king of Ammon is arguing over is 300 years old. 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:16.939 Israel has been in that land for 300 years. 00:15:18.059 --> 00:15:19.820 And Jephthah essentially says, 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:23.139 Where have you guys been for the last 300 years? 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:29.279 No Moabite or Ammonite leader has ever made this insinuation before. 00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:31.240 In other words, you made this up. 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:33.860 You're just trying to get more land for yourself. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:35.279 This is a power grab. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:38.340 So the negotiator, he's working his magic here. 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:40.120 He's giving a history lesson. 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:41.679 He's arguing theologically. 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:43.259 He's arguing ethically. 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:46.000 And it becomes clear to us that Israel isn't actually in the wrong here. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.439 This is an issue with the king of Ammon. 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:52.500 And anyone with common sense could have argued Jephthah's three points. 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:53.320 They're clear. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:55.120 They're not difficult to argue. 00:15:55.820 --> 00:16:02.139 But it's his final assertion in verse 27 that really shows his true heart. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:04.960 And that's where I want us to just park for just a moment. 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:06.720 Look again at verse 27. 00:16:07.299 --> 00:16:09.200 Notice what Jephthah says in the end. 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:19.899 The Lord, Yahweh, the judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon. 00:16:19.899 --> 00:16:21.879 So he makes his argument. 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:24.980 He says, listen, we've got a historical argument here. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:26.299 We've got a theological argument here. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:27.980 We've got an ethical argument here. 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:33.100 But none of that really matters because we're going to commit our cause to God. 00:16:33.959 --> 00:16:37.139 He will be the judge between us. 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:39.059 Now, this is a significant moment. 00:16:39.059 --> 00:16:44.479 In the end, he presented his evidence as if he's in a court of law. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:53.719 And he made his ultimate appeal not to the king of Ammon, but to God, the true and righteous judge of all the earth. 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:58.800 So it's not as if the king of Ammon is the judge presiding over the dispute. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:00.160 No. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:01.840 He's the plaintiff. 00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:03.879 Jephthah's the defendant. 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:06.460 The judge is Yahweh. 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:09.380 And Jephthah says, I don't care what you say. 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:11.700 We're going to commit our calls to God. 00:17:12.100 --> 00:17:13.120 He will judge. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:19.059 Which reminds me of what Peter says of Jesus in 1 Peter 2. 00:17:20.379 --> 00:17:24.159 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:26.979 When he suffered, he did not threaten. 00:17:27.979 --> 00:17:29.439 But continued doing what? 00:17:30.439 --> 00:17:34.919 Entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 00:17:35.919 --> 00:17:39.239 And how did he entrust himself to him who judges justly? 00:17:40.639 --> 00:17:41.699 Verse 24. 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:49.840 Therefore, he bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. 00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:51.279 By his wounds we have been healed. 00:17:52.259 --> 00:17:54.400 We said this is a characteristic of godliness. 00:17:55.700 --> 00:18:04.080 That you make your peace, you say what you need to say, and then you commit your life, you commit your circumstances to the Lord. 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:06.559 And that's what Jephthah's doing here. 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:08.680 Barry Webb says this. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.940 It is effectively a declaration of war. 00:18:11.700 --> 00:18:17.640 But it's also an appeal to Yahweh to rule in Israel's favor and rescue them. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:24.559 Here at last, Jephthah's belief in Yahweh's unrivaled supremacy shines through. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.680 And his willingness to stake everything on him. 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:36.580 By faith, Jephthah committed his and Israel's calls to the Lord. 00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:40.139 He acknowledged God as the true judge. 00:18:40.139 --> 00:18:48.480 He cast himself on the mercy of God, leading to the subsequent salvation of God's people from the Ammonites. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.180 And it's just another example that we find here. 00:18:51.180 --> 00:19:04.360 This pattern in the Bible that teaches that salvation is a gift of God's grace that is received not on our best efforts, not on our moral appeals, not on our greatest negotiating tactics. 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:07.740 It rests solely on the grace of God. 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:15.159 And it comes by faith in the merciful God whose steadfast love endures forever. 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.340 It is faith alone that leads to salvation. 00:19:19.540 --> 00:19:25.180 Not only for us, faith in Christ, but for Jephthah and Israel as they go against the Ammonites. 00:19:25.340 --> 00:19:30.080 It is faith alone in the merciful God that leads to their salvation. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:37.379 And this faith of Jephthah, I'm emphasizing it so much right now, it needs to be acknowledged now and commended now. 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:40.439 Because here in just a moment, we're going to completely forget about it. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:43.699 And it's not going to seem like he's a man of faith anymore. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:49.399 And it's not going to seem like he has got any trace of godliness in him any longer. 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:54.179 So we have to at least make the point here, as the text does for us, that faith leads to salvation. 00:19:54.180 --> 00:20:01.700 Jephthah, at heart, had that faith that led to God's salvation for himself and for his people. 00:20:02.100 --> 00:20:02.200 Okay? 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.039 Faith leads to salvation. 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:13.019 Number two, sin's sorrows can overshadow salvation's joy. 00:20:14.420 --> 00:20:21.539 Sin's sorrow can overshadow salvation's joy. 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:24.559 Now, we have to be honest. 00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:29.899 Up to this point in the text, God has been totally silent. 00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:36.159 No action has been explicitly credited to him. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:39.659 Jephthah has spoken about God. 00:20:40.639 --> 00:20:42.899 Jephthah has spoken to God. 00:20:43.539 --> 00:20:48.279 But the Lord has not spoken to Jephthah, at least not in the text. 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:54.940 Neither has the author indicated whether or not God is pleased to use Jephthah. 00:20:55.399 --> 00:21:00.180 So up until this point, at verse 28, we know nothing of God's involvement here. 00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:10.399 All of that changes in verse 29, where it becomes clear that God was happy to use Jephthah as his chosen deliverer. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:16.040 That though silent, he was working behind the scenes to show his grace to his people. 00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:17.060 Look at verse 29. 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:21.100 Then the spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:24.800 And he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:27.460 And passed on to Mizpah of Gilead. 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:33.300 And from Mizpah of Gilead, he passed on to the Ammonites. 00:21:33.299 --> 00:21:45.539 So like with Gideon, the spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah and empowers him to gather an army that he will use to fight against the Ammonites. 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:48.599 And just follow that progression in verse 29. 00:21:49.180 --> 00:21:51.599 First, he's clothed by the spirit of God. 00:21:52.019 --> 00:21:57.119 Then he makes his moves, gathering his army, gathering his people together. 00:21:57.339 --> 00:22:02.000 He makes his move step by step, getting closer and closer to where the Ammonites are. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.039 It's very clear what the author intends for us to take from this. 00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:07.220 God chooses Jephthah. 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:08.799 He clothes Jephthah. 00:22:08.940 --> 00:22:11.859 And then God moves him towards Ammon. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:17.940 And the anticipation is that God is pleased to give victory to Jephthah over the Ammonites. 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:18.200 Okay? 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:20.700 It's clearly, that's what the author wants us to see there. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:22.519 That's what is intended for us to see. 00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:31.059 Now, what's clear to us in the text might not have been quite as apparent to Jephthah in the moment. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:43.079 But even still, all the signs point to God mercifully granting him victory, which makes his next action totally unnecessary. 00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:45.359 Verse 30. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:23:00.939 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever, or you'll notice there's probably a footnote here with this word. 00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:04.660 The translators make this a bit ambiguous. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.980 If we were to go strictly literal here, this is a whoever, not a whatever. 00:23:10.059 --> 00:23:17.220 Whatever, whoever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's. 00:23:17.220 --> 00:23:22.279 And I will offer it or offer him up for a burnt offering. 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:26.180 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.120 The Lord gave them into his hand. 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:35.980 And he struck them from the Aror to the neighborhood of Mineth, 20 cities, and as far as Abel, Karamim, with a great blow. 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:40.240 So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:45.460 Now, we've already seen Jephthah the negotiator at his best. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.579 This is where we see Jephthah the negotiator at his worst. 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:58.859 It's one thing to barter with the leaders of Gilead or engage diplomatically with the king of Ammon. 00:23:59.660 --> 00:24:03.839 But God is not one with whom man can negotiate. 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:07.460 We don't barter for his help. 00:24:07.460 --> 00:24:12.539 We trust him for it and ask him for it. 00:24:13.120 --> 00:24:15.860 Now, before we move on, let's just get this clear. 00:24:17.120 --> 00:24:27.160 It is never, ever, ever right to say, God, if you'll do this for me, I'll do this for you. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:29.140 It is never right. 00:24:29.819 --> 00:24:31.640 That is never commended in the scriptures. 00:24:32.059 --> 00:24:33.680 It is only condemned. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.920 We don't barter with God. 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:39.140 We trust God. 00:24:39.539 --> 00:24:40.960 We pray to God. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:45.039 We cling to his grace and his mercy and who he is and his love. 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:48.279 We do not try to barter with him. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:52.120 And what Jephthah did here was not technically a vow. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:54.259 It was a bribe. 00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:58.700 If you, then I. 00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:05.400 And worst of all, it was an offer requiring Jephthah to sin. 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:08.960 The language is unmistakable. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:17.000 Jephthah was prepared to make a human sacrifice in exchange for God's favor in battle. 00:25:17.700 --> 00:25:20.539 A foolish and ignorant notion. 00:25:20.539 --> 00:25:25.359 But again, God is silent. 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:28.579 How can God be silent? 00:25:30.399 --> 00:25:33.680 How can he not say, no, Jephthah, no? 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:36.340 He doesn't do that. 00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:43.180 But we must not mistake God's silence for his absence. 00:25:44.060 --> 00:25:48.220 Neither can we mistake God's silence for his approval. 00:25:49.600 --> 00:25:51.600 He did grant Israel victory. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:56.719 He did not grant Israel victory because Jephthah's vow. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:02.679 He granted Israel victory because he'd already planned to do it to begin with. 00:26:04.859 --> 00:26:09.139 Don't miss the order that the author puts these verses in. 00:26:09.919 --> 00:26:15.439 The clothing of the Spirit of the Lord, the guarantee of victory comes before this vow. 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:16.980 God's going to deliver his people. 00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:18.899 He's made his promise. 00:26:18.900 --> 00:26:20.400 He's going to do his work. 00:26:22.259 --> 00:26:25.320 He doesn't give them victory because of what Jephthah said. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:28.220 He gives them victory because he was going to give them victory. 00:26:28.340 --> 00:26:30.060 Because he's gracious and merciful. 00:26:34.320 --> 00:26:40.540 And what follows in the text is entirely focused now on Jephthah's foolish vow. 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:42.620 That's part of the tragedy here. 00:26:43.780 --> 00:26:46.480 God delivers his people through a great salvation. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:50.120 And the text tells us almost nothing about it. 00:26:50.700 --> 00:26:51.480 Almost nothing. 00:26:52.680 --> 00:27:02.860 It's as if the author is hurrying himself to dispose of the Ammonites in order that he might actually get to this thing that Jephthah has done. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.099 We should be rejoicing in salvation. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:11.759 Instead, we'll spend the remainder of our time mourning the tragedy of sin. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:25.379 And the structure reminds us that the sorrow of our ongoing sin can easily swallow up the joy of our salvation. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:28.980 That's what the story does. 00:27:29.700 --> 00:27:31.700 Sorrow swallows up victory. 00:27:32.180 --> 00:27:35.500 Sorrow, mourning, swallows up joy. 00:27:35.500 --> 00:27:48.200 And if you're going to persist in sin as a believer, the sorrow and the mourning from that sin is going to swallow up the joy of your salvation. 00:27:49.259 --> 00:27:52.980 God desires that we experience tremendous joy in his blessing. 00:27:54.519 --> 00:28:01.160 Often we ensnare ourselves in sin, producing a grief that quickly overshadows the joy. 00:28:01.980 --> 00:28:02.920 Let's look at what he did. 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:03.720 Verse 34. 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:07.839 Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. 00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:14.980 Behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:17.299 She's there to rejoice in the goodness of God. 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:20.000 She was his only child. 00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:23.960 Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:28.299 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:32.259 Elias, my daughter, you have brought me very low. 00:28:32.259 --> 00:28:38.000 You have become the cause of great trouble to me. 00:28:38.539 --> 00:28:44.640 For I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot take back my mouth. 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:47.580 So Jephthah arrives home. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:50.460 It wasn't a servant who greets them. 00:28:50.560 --> 00:28:52.180 It wasn't an animal who greets him. 00:28:53.180 --> 00:28:55.380 It was his one and only child. 00:28:55.380 --> 00:29:01.740 A daughter whom he seems to perhaps have loved more than any other individual. 00:29:03.020 --> 00:29:05.640 And immediately he remembers his foolish vow. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:07.680 And he's crushed. 00:29:08.520 --> 00:29:15.620 He's crushed by the thought of following through with his beloved little girl. 00:29:15.619 --> 00:29:18.239 Now here's the thing. 00:29:20.399 --> 00:29:23.239 Jephthah didn't have to follow through with the vow. 00:29:24.919 --> 00:29:26.099 It wasn't necessary. 00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:30.259 He didn't have to double down on the bribe. 00:29:30.659 --> 00:29:32.259 He could have reversed course. 00:29:33.379 --> 00:29:40.779 He could have borne on himself any potential curse from breaking the vow that he's made. 00:29:40.779 --> 00:29:44.759 And he could have simply pled for God to show him mercy. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:47.279 That's what he should have done. 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:49.519 That's what he could have done. 00:29:49.980 --> 00:29:51.180 But he didn't do that. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:56.879 In fact, God would have never been pleased for him to follow through with this anyways. 00:29:57.899 --> 00:29:59.500 Let me just give you three reasons why. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:04.000 Number one, human sacrifices were forbidden by God. 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:06.740 They were forbidden by God, clearly. 00:30:07.059 --> 00:30:09.500 And this is not an obscurity in the Old Testament text. 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:10.420 This is explicit. 00:30:10.980 --> 00:30:19.259 Time after time after time, God equates human sacrifice and the sacrifice of children to distinctly pagan practices. 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.380 And God warns Israel over and over and over, do not do this. 00:30:24.380 --> 00:30:26.980 He would not have been pleased by this to begin with. 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:28.980 This was a sin. 00:30:29.980 --> 00:30:32.220 God didn't expect him to follow through on this. 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:37.400 Number two, a human dedication in the Old Testament. 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:47.240 Always involved redeeming the individual with either a set amount of money or the sacrifice of an animal. 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:51.920 We can see this in Numbers 18, Exodus chapter 13. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:58.559 God tells his people, the first child that opens the womb shall be dedicated to the Lord. 00:30:59.559 --> 00:31:07.680 And what they would do is they would go to the temple or the tabernacle and they would take some money or they would take a sacrifice, a burnt offering, 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:14.900 and they would redeem the son or the child with this other form of atonement. 00:31:15.320 --> 00:31:16.400 That was God's method. 00:31:17.120 --> 00:31:23.019 No dedication of any children would have pleased God to have been sacrificed. 00:31:23.019 --> 00:31:43.279 God made many provisions in the law for escaping vows, particularly foolish ones, rash ones that are made in a moment. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:46.539 God gave us outs for those. 00:31:46.539 --> 00:31:48.659 God said, write down these references. 00:31:49.339 --> 00:31:53.539 Numbers chapter 30, Leviticus 27. 00:31:54.460 --> 00:31:57.159 Numbers 30, Leviticus 27. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:59.599 And you can read all about God's perspective on vows. 00:32:00.940 --> 00:32:05.940 But I actually want to read to you Leviticus chapter 5, verses 4 through 6. 00:32:06.019 --> 00:32:08.279 It's on the screen if you want to see it, at least a summary of it is. 00:32:09.399 --> 00:32:10.619 Here's what God says. 00:32:10.619 --> 00:32:18.739 If anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good. 00:32:19.539 --> 00:32:22.000 Can we put Jephthah's oath in that category? 00:32:22.399 --> 00:32:23.159 I think we can. 00:32:23.459 --> 00:32:24.879 This is rash and it's evil. 00:32:25.419 --> 00:32:33.519 If any person does this, when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:43.819 he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat for a sin offering. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:50.139 And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. 00:32:51.339 --> 00:32:53.099 Jephthah didn't have to go through with this. 00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:56.059 God wasn't pleased with it to begin with. 00:32:56.059 --> 00:33:05.859 So when he comes to his daughter and he says, you've made me, you've brought me low because I've opened my mouth to the Lord and I can't take my vow, it's not true. 00:33:06.500 --> 00:33:07.500 It's just not true. 00:33:07.879 --> 00:33:10.679 It wasn't right to begin with, but it wasn't true. 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:12.940 But then it gets worse. 00:33:12.940 --> 00:33:14.279 Verse 36. 00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:23.799 And she said to him, my father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord. 00:33:24.099 --> 00:33:33.480 Do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies and on the Ammonites. 00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:37.720 The daughter accepts her fate. 00:33:37.720 --> 00:33:47.079 Not because it was necessary according to God's law, but because she trusts her dad. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:50.100 Do you see that? 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:54.299 She literally repeats his language. 00:33:55.940 --> 00:34:00.019 Father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord. 00:34:00.100 --> 00:34:01.640 That's what he's just told her. 00:34:02.660 --> 00:34:04.339 She trusts her dad. 00:34:05.100 --> 00:34:06.259 She doesn't chide him. 00:34:06.259 --> 00:34:08.039 She repeats his language. 00:34:08.539 --> 00:34:13.300 But she only understood what her father had taught her. 00:34:14.420 --> 00:34:22.440 And believing that she was being faithful to God, she became a willing victim of her dad's sin. 00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:28.960 It's tragic enough for Jephthah to even consider going through with this. 00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:36.940 It's devastating to consider how his daughter goes along with it on the basis of her love for him. 00:34:37.699 --> 00:34:40.220 Her trust in him. 00:34:40.619 --> 00:34:41.360 She's innocent. 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:43.280 But she's deceived. 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:45.639 And she's not deceived by an enemy. 00:34:46.280 --> 00:34:47.960 She's deceived by her own dad. 00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:48.519 She's a bad dad. 00:34:48.519 --> 00:34:48.559 She's a bad dad. 00:34:51.000 --> 00:35:00.320 Which makes this an appropriate time for us to pause and consider the impact of our sins on our kids. 00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:06.420 They only know what we teach them. 00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:14.539 They only know to pattern themselves and their behaviors after our own and what we demonstrate to them. 00:35:14.539 --> 00:35:25.119 Their love of and their trust in us will lead our kids to believe what we believe. 00:35:25.460 --> 00:35:27.539 To say what we say. 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:31.259 To behave as we behave. 00:35:31.260 --> 00:35:36.220 And believing that they're doing something right before God. 00:35:37.160 --> 00:35:41.040 They could be following us on the path of tragic sin. 00:35:42.040 --> 00:35:44.540 Perhaps even eternal death. 00:35:46.620 --> 00:35:48.620 Because we are the first. 00:35:48.980 --> 00:35:52.680 We are the first line of teaching that they have. 00:35:54.020 --> 00:35:55.380 This is tragic. 00:35:55.380 --> 00:36:01.380 And it's playing out in families all around us. 00:36:02.180 --> 00:36:03.220 All around us. 00:36:03.460 --> 00:36:05.820 You see it every day in the people that you work with. 00:36:05.860 --> 00:36:08.180 And the people that you get to know in your communities. 00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:11.800 And sadly you're going to see it as you get to know people in our church. 00:36:12.780 --> 00:36:15.039 And as our church grows and it continues to grow. 00:36:15.099 --> 00:36:15.740 We're going to see it. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:16.420 It's going to happen. 00:36:16.420 --> 00:36:18.880 There's going to be parents who are careless. 00:36:19.300 --> 00:36:20.420 Who are foolish. 00:36:20.640 --> 00:36:21.539 Who are ignorant. 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:24.780 And their kids are going to follow that path of sin. 00:36:25.380 --> 00:36:26.360 They're going to trust them. 00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:27.160 They're going to be innocent. 00:36:27.260 --> 00:36:28.280 But they're going to be deceived. 00:36:28.460 --> 00:36:29.420 Not by the enemy. 00:36:29.680 --> 00:36:31.820 But by the very people that they love and trust. 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:36.900 What are your children learning from you? 00:36:37.740 --> 00:36:38.599 What are they learning? 00:36:39.980 --> 00:36:43.240 Do your children know God better because of you? 00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:49.099 Do they care to be faithful to God because of you? 00:36:49.539 --> 00:36:50.860 How do they view the word? 00:36:51.160 --> 00:36:54.519 Do they read their Bibles as much of it as they can manage? 00:36:54.519 --> 00:36:57.639 Because they see you reading your Bible as much as you can manage? 00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:01.840 Do they confess their sins because they see you confess your sins? 00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:07.300 Are they faithful to the Lord and to worship because you're faithful to the Lord and to worship? 00:37:07.639 --> 00:37:09.259 What are your kids learning from you? 00:37:09.559 --> 00:37:11.159 What are the patterns that you're setting? 00:37:11.539 --> 00:37:15.759 Will they be innocent victims of your foolish sin? 00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:19.640 God help us. 00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:21.840 God help us. 00:37:25.040 --> 00:37:25.980 Verse 37. 00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:28.400 So she said to her father. 00:37:30.180 --> 00:37:31.940 Let this thing be done for me. 00:37:33.180 --> 00:37:34.800 Leave me alone for two months. 00:37:35.500 --> 00:37:38.800 I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity. 00:37:39.060 --> 00:37:40.040 I and my companions. 00:37:40.039 --> 00:37:42.480 So he said go. 00:37:44.139 --> 00:37:45.820 And he sent her away for two months. 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:47.699 He doesn't go with her. 00:37:47.739 --> 00:37:49.639 He knows what he's planning to do and he doesn't even go with her. 00:37:50.340 --> 00:37:51.900 He sends her away with her friends. 00:37:54.460 --> 00:37:55.259 She departed. 00:37:55.460 --> 00:37:58.259 She and her companions and they wept for her virginity on the mountains. 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:01.139 And at the end of two months she returned to her father. 00:38:01.900 --> 00:38:02.619 She trusts him. 00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:03.619 She said go. 00:38:03.619 --> 00:38:04.619 She said go. 00:38:04.619 --> 00:38:08.519 Who did with her according to his vow that he had made. 00:38:10.219 --> 00:38:21.420 She had never known a man and it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year. 00:38:22.299 --> 00:38:24.599 Listen that kind of lament and mourning. 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:30.480 We don't mourn over people who dedicate themselves to a lifetime of service in the temple and in the church. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:31.599 We don't mourn that. 00:38:31.599 --> 00:38:32.860 We celebrate that. 00:38:33.619 --> 00:38:41.579 There is a pattern of mourning for the people of Israel that is related to Jephthah's daughter being offered as a burnt sacrifice supposedly to the Lord. 00:38:43.559 --> 00:38:46.219 He had two months to come to his senses and repent. 00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:47.679 But he doesn't. 00:38:48.779 --> 00:38:50.239 He carries out the vow. 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:53.639 Was it pride? 00:38:55.079 --> 00:39:00.900 Was it pride that just caused him to fear being seen as weak that maybe others knew what he said? 00:39:00.900 --> 00:39:08.320 And he thought it would be a sign of weakness as the new leader of Gilead if he didn't follow through with it even something so terrible as that? 00:39:08.900 --> 00:39:09.599 Is it pride? 00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:13.860 Was it just selfishness? 00:39:15.160 --> 00:39:17.619 Choosing for his daughter to die so that he could live? 00:39:17.619 --> 00:39:23.779 Because if he had spared his daughter's life, he would have died in his mind. 00:39:25.359 --> 00:39:26.739 So is it just selfishness? 00:39:26.739 --> 00:39:30.199 Is it blind ignorance? 00:39:31.819 --> 00:39:34.599 Not knowing enough of God's law to change course? 00:39:35.419 --> 00:39:36.500 Did he just not know his Bible? 00:39:36.500 --> 00:39:46.219 Either he was ignorant of God's word or just thought that his way was better than God's, more pious than God's. 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:51.579 In either case, Jephthah did what was right in his own eyes. 00:39:52.679 --> 00:39:54.280 Not what was right in God's eyes. 00:39:55.260 --> 00:39:59.239 And whatever is at the heart of Jephthah's actions, it was sinful. 00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:08.039 And it caused the sorrow of sin to overshadow the joy of God's salvation. 00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:13.939 Jephthah and his daughter and the people, they should have been rejoicing in God's victory. 00:40:14.819 --> 00:40:17.939 Instead, we're told that they mourned. 00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:21.579 They mourned the tragedy of Jephthah's sin. 00:40:21.579 --> 00:40:28.099 And so it goes with the sins in which we willingly continue after Jesus saves us. 00:40:29.719 --> 00:40:38.319 How foolish are we to rob ourselves of the joy of God's salvation by continuing in sin? 00:40:39.759 --> 00:40:40.860 Number three. 00:40:42.199 --> 00:40:44.440 Sin often begets more sin. 00:40:45.519 --> 00:40:48.920 Sin often begets more sin, unfortunately. 00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:51.639 Look at verse 1 of chapter 12. 00:40:53.900 --> 00:40:58.740 The men of Ephraim were called to arms and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, 00:40:59.139 --> 00:41:03.820 Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? 00:41:04.740 --> 00:41:07.159 We will burn your house over with fire. 00:41:08.900 --> 00:41:10.400 And Jephthah said to them, 00:41:10.599 --> 00:41:13.240 I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites. 00:41:13.480 --> 00:41:16.920 And when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 00:41:16.920 --> 00:41:23.639 And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites. 00:41:23.700 --> 00:41:25.680 And the Lord gave them into my hand. 00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:29.940 Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me? 00:41:30.539 --> 00:41:31.860 Number one, we don't know if that's true. 00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:36.920 Nothing in the text prior to this says that Jephthah actually went to the people of Ephraim. 00:41:37.260 --> 00:41:38.500 Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. 00:41:38.579 --> 00:41:40.079 It's his word against theirs at this point. 00:41:40.240 --> 00:41:41.240 We really don't know. 00:41:41.239 --> 00:41:43.119 Verse 4, 00:41:43.619 --> 00:41:47.459 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. 00:41:48.259 --> 00:41:49.459 This is civil war. 00:41:50.459 --> 00:41:53.939 And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim because they said, 00:41:54.099 --> 00:41:58.699 You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:41:59.339 --> 00:42:03.500 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. 00:42:03.500 --> 00:42:10.820 And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? 00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:12.940 And he said, No. 00:42:13.780 --> 00:42:16.440 And they said to him, Then say, Shibboleth. 00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:19.039 And he would say, Sibboleth. 00:42:19.699 --> 00:42:21.760 For he could not pronounce it the right way. 00:42:21.820 --> 00:42:23.860 So this is such a bizarre thing, isn't it? 00:42:23.860 --> 00:42:26.740 It's all varying dialects. 00:42:28.940 --> 00:42:33.579 This would be equivalent to somebody from the south going to Boston. 00:42:34.980 --> 00:42:37.539 And they're saying, Hey, we want to come into the city. 00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:38.640 And they say, Okay. 00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:42.280 Say, Where did you park the car? 00:42:43.019 --> 00:42:45.260 And you say, Well, I parked the car over here. 00:42:45.500 --> 00:42:47.099 And they say, Ha, you're not from Boston. 00:42:47.340 --> 00:42:48.519 That's essentially what this is. 00:42:48.519 --> 00:42:49.220 It's so bizarre. 00:42:50.640 --> 00:42:52.640 And what would they do when they didn't pronounce it right? 00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:53.740 They seized him. 00:42:53.860 --> 00:42:55.019 And slaughtered him. 00:42:57.220 --> 00:42:58.940 Mispronunciation led to death. 00:42:59.820 --> 00:43:06.099 And at that time, 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell. 00:43:08.079 --> 00:43:12.660 With the king of Ammon, we see Jephthah the negotiator at his best. 00:43:13.740 --> 00:43:17.480 With the vow, we see the negotiator at his worst. 00:43:18.579 --> 00:43:22.680 With Ephraim, he's neither shrewd nor diplomatic. 00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:26.739 He doesn't even attempt to negotiate anything anymore. 00:43:27.460 --> 00:43:29.419 He's completely lost it. 00:43:33.199 --> 00:43:35.579 And put yourself in his shoes for a moment. 00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:38.379 He's hurt. 00:43:38.380 --> 00:43:41.880 He's grieving. 00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:45.019 He's ashamed. 00:43:46.820 --> 00:43:47.579 He's angry. 00:43:50.059 --> 00:43:53.519 At himself, more than anything, probably. 00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:58.159 And all of that contributes to a short fuse. 00:43:59.179 --> 00:44:00.259 You know what that's like. 00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:04.940 You know what it's like to have the pressure of the world on you and the pressure of your own sin on you. 00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:07.659 And it only takes a little thing to set you off. 00:44:07.659 --> 00:44:11.179 That seems to be the picture that we get of Jephthah here. 00:44:12.739 --> 00:44:22.940 So when the men of Ephraim, as they always did, came to grind their axe and make their thread, Jephthah exploded in a rage. 00:44:22.940 --> 00:44:26.400 There's no negotiating here. 00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:27.659 There's no diplomacy here. 00:44:27.740 --> 00:44:29.220 There's no appeal to God here. 00:44:29.780 --> 00:44:31.099 Only more tragedy. 00:44:31.840 --> 00:44:32.659 Only more mourning. 00:44:34.240 --> 00:44:36.079 Jephthah leads Gilead in a civil war. 00:44:37.300 --> 00:44:44.099 Leading to the needless and ruthless slaughter of 42,000 Ephraimites. 00:44:44.099 --> 00:44:54.059 His victory over Ephraim, if we can even call it that, it wasn't given by God. 00:44:54.279 --> 00:44:59.039 In fact, as far as the text is concerned, God is not involved at all. 00:45:00.159 --> 00:45:01.699 And what do we find once again? 00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:05.159 Every man's just doing what's right in his own eyes. 00:45:06.599 --> 00:45:07.960 Sin begets more sin. 00:45:09.920 --> 00:45:10.679 Verse 7. 00:45:11.759 --> 00:45:13.559 Jephthah judged Israel six years. 00:45:15.099 --> 00:45:20.079 Then Jephthah the Gilead died and was buried in a city in Gilead. 00:45:22.019 --> 00:45:26.360 When we don't deal with our sins as God commands, they grow. 00:45:27.179 --> 00:45:27.619 They grow. 00:45:28.339 --> 00:45:30.119 They produce more sin. 00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:34.339 And sin eventually kills. 00:45:35.500 --> 00:45:36.319 That's James 1. 00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:41.639 And no man say when he's tempted that I'm tempted of God, for God does not tempt anyone. 00:45:41.639 --> 00:45:46.299 But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust. 00:45:46.659 --> 00:45:49.159 And lust, when it has conceived, brings forth sin. 00:45:49.460 --> 00:45:52.639 And sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. 00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:54.759 Sin kills. 00:45:55.480 --> 00:45:55.920 It kills. 00:45:55.920 --> 00:46:03.559 Is it any wonder that Jephthah only lived for six years after this? 00:46:06.200 --> 00:46:07.599 We all know how he died. 00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:10.180 And speculation is unhelpful. 00:46:10.179 --> 00:46:14.879 But it's unlikely that he was very advanced in his age. 00:46:16.299 --> 00:46:19.239 There's no indication that he was harmed in battle. 00:46:20.239 --> 00:46:23.559 His battle only seems to have brought him victory and triumph. 00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:34.059 I imagine that the sacrifice of his daughter and the slaughter of Ephraim cost him his happiness and his health. 00:46:35.480 --> 00:46:39.920 Which in some case may ironically be a sign of his initial faith. 00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:52.360 A believer in sin is almost certainly to be more miserable than an unbeliever who's in bondage to him. 00:46:54.460 --> 00:46:57.800 Before we come to Christ, we don't even understand our sin. 00:46:58.760 --> 00:47:01.300 We can live in the misery of its consequences. 00:47:02.780 --> 00:47:08.400 But we can't quite process and comprehend the sin itself and the fact of its sin. 00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:10.900 It doesn't bother us to sin. 00:47:11.820 --> 00:47:14.360 All that changes after we come to Christ, doesn't it? 00:47:15.740 --> 00:47:17.119 Sin's not easy anymore. 00:47:18.300 --> 00:47:20.139 We may still commit a lot of it. 00:47:21.039 --> 00:47:26.660 But if you know Christ, if you're in Christ, if you know God, sin is an easy thing. 00:47:27.320 --> 00:47:29.519 In fact, it's a miserable thing. 00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:37.400 And when sin goes unconfessed and undealt with, the misery, it only deepens. 00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:43.440 And I think we might have some clues that show that that perhaps was the case with Jephthah. 00:47:44.119 --> 00:47:48.079 What we do know for sure is that sin is like a snowball. 00:47:48.280 --> 00:47:52.760 It just grows and it grows and grows until somebody stops it. 00:47:54.400 --> 00:47:55.760 I want to conclude this way. 00:47:55.760 --> 00:48:05.980 I want to try to understand how to process the fact that Jephthah is included in Hebrews chapter 11. 00:48:05.980 --> 00:48:11.679 If you've studied the New Testament, you probably are familiar with this chapter. 00:48:11.900 --> 00:48:13.119 You can read it later if you'd like. 00:48:13.460 --> 00:48:15.719 Hebrews chapter 11 is this entire chapter. 00:48:16.119 --> 00:48:18.059 Some people call it the hall of faith. 00:48:18.679 --> 00:48:20.159 Not the hall of fame, but the hall of faith. 00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:29.539 And everything that the writer of Hebrews says there, he lists that they are a cloud of witnesses 00:48:29.539 --> 00:48:35.339 that by their faith spur us along in our faith. 00:48:35.819 --> 00:48:40.779 And clearly the author of Hebrews intends for us to view them as being safe in Christ. 00:48:40.780 --> 00:48:52.080 So how do we square Jephthah's inclusion in Hebrews chapter 11 with the extreme nature of his sin in Judges 11 and 12? 00:48:54.580 --> 00:48:56.080 How do we square with that? 00:48:57.680 --> 00:48:59.560 And there's two things we need to note. 00:49:00.019 --> 00:49:00.880 First is this. 00:49:01.680 --> 00:49:06.200 At some point, we're going to have to come to terms with the fact that there's going to be people in heaven 00:49:06.200 --> 00:49:07.500 that we think shouldn't be there. 00:49:07.500 --> 00:49:11.340 We just have to come to terms with that. 00:49:11.920 --> 00:49:16.800 We talked about that a little bit last week in relation to Israel's false repentance. 00:49:18.539 --> 00:49:22.920 There's going to be people in heaven that we would have never expected or never even wanted to be there. 00:49:23.099 --> 00:49:26.480 And there's going to be people absent that we'd have thought for sure they made it. 00:49:28.400 --> 00:49:30.960 And I think Jephthah is just another example of that. 00:49:32.460 --> 00:49:34.420 But there's a gospel implication here. 00:49:34.420 --> 00:49:40.900 Jephthah isn't included in Hebrews chapter 11 because he deserved it. 00:49:42.059 --> 00:49:43.920 Of course he didn't deserve it. 00:49:45.300 --> 00:49:48.980 But neither was his sin enough to exclude him from it. 00:49:49.760 --> 00:49:50.480 Why? 00:49:51.619 --> 00:49:57.460 He's there because like Abraham, God counted his faith as righteousness. 00:49:57.460 --> 00:50:05.220 He was a vastly flawed, tragically sinful deliverer for Israel. 00:50:05.420 --> 00:50:15.720 But his hope, like our hope, does not rest in something or someone better perhaps, greater than him. 00:50:16.139 --> 00:50:18.320 That's where the hope rests. 00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:23.639 A perfect salvation requires a perfect savior. 00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:25.420 And there's only one of those. 00:50:25.579 --> 00:50:26.599 And that's Jesus. 00:50:26.859 --> 00:50:27.779 It's not us. 00:50:28.420 --> 00:50:35.179 And it's not Jephthah or Gideon or Samson or Barak or any of the other judges that we've been studying. 00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:36.599 It's not Saul. 00:50:36.839 --> 00:50:37.799 It's not David. 00:50:38.119 --> 00:50:39.279 It's not any of the prophets. 00:50:39.659 --> 00:50:40.519 None of them. 00:50:41.539 --> 00:50:44.980 Our hope doesn't rest in what we do or do not do. 00:50:44.980 --> 00:50:49.860 Our hope rests in someone greater than us, in Jesus. 00:50:50.940 --> 00:50:55.760 And the salvation that Jesus brings is so perfect. 00:50:56.539 --> 00:51:03.820 It's so complete that it covers even sins as terrible as Jephthah's. 00:51:05.179 --> 00:51:08.960 Murder has been one of the themes of our service today, interestingly enough. 00:51:08.960 --> 00:51:13.539 And we take strong stands against it. 00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:16.300 And let's take something like abortion. 00:51:16.960 --> 00:51:19.280 We take a strong stand against that. 00:51:19.579 --> 00:51:20.579 We condemn it. 00:51:21.059 --> 00:51:23.199 But it's not a sin that God can't forgive. 00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:28.880 There will be people in heaven who have followed through with abortions. 00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:35.680 Because it's not what we do or do not do that grants us salvation. 00:51:36.480 --> 00:51:43.860 Christ's salvation, his sacrifice is so perfect, so complete that it covers the worst of sins imaginable. 00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:51.599 And to be sure, the sorrow of our sin, it can swallow up the joy of our salvation. 00:51:51.599 --> 00:52:00.239 But in Jesus, if that's where our salvation is, if it's in Christ, the hope of that salvation cannot be shaken. 00:52:00.759 --> 00:52:06.880 The joy of it may be diminished in this life, but the hope of it cannot be removed. 00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:10.159 Because it's not ultimately on us. 00:52:11.000 --> 00:52:12.819 It is by his grace. 00:52:12.820 --> 00:52:25.460 His work on the cross is a finished work, which is undone for no one who comes to him in faith. 00:52:26.280 --> 00:52:31.039 Even those who commit tragic sin. 00:52:32.500 --> 00:52:34.760 Christ's death is enough. 00:52:35.900 --> 00:52:40.760 When he said it was finished, he meant it's finished. 00:52:41.420 --> 00:52:42.320 All of it. 00:52:42.820 --> 00:52:45.519 And he reverses that for no one. 00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:52.539 Which means, as we've said every week, Jesus is the real hero of the Bible. 00:52:55.500 --> 00:52:58.140 Jephthahs will come and go and they will disappoint. 00:52:58.600 --> 00:53:00.000 Jesus will never disappoint. 00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:05.860 Jesus is the only one who has power over life and death. 00:53:06.240 --> 00:53:09.920 He alone has divine grace and mercy to cover our sins. 00:53:10.220 --> 00:53:12.760 On the cross, he paid it all. 00:53:12.820 --> 00:53:20.140 And in his resurrection, he has granted us the power of life if we come to him in faith. 00:53:22.039 --> 00:53:23.180 He's the hero. 00:53:23.179 --> 00:53:27.919 But that grace is only received through faith. 00:53:29.159 --> 00:53:33.879 And Jephthah's inclusion in Hebrews 11 is just another proof of that. 00:53:33.880 --> 00:53:41.099 By faith, Jephthah did these things just like the rest of them. 00:53:42.840 --> 00:53:45.420 And I believe that he's safe in Christ because of it. 00:53:45.420 --> 00:53:45.920 You can be too. 00:53:45.920 --> 00:53:47.659 You can be too. 00:53:47.659 --> 00:53:50.119 You can be too.