CHAPTER 11

The title of this message, and it's been a difficult one. I have studied this and studied this. You have no idea how much study I've put into this. You know, I want to rightly divide the Word of Truth. I want to do that. But the title, I make a good rabid dog. I'd chase them all over the place. The Gospel in a Vow. The Gospel in a Vow.

Now we know the story of Jephthah. This is a very difficult, very difficult story. We know that Jephthah's mother was a harlot, his brothers cast him out, but later they went and they asked him to be their captain and fight against the Ammonites. And in verse 29 it says, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM, like it did Samson. THIS IS WHY HE WAS ABLE TO OBTAIN VICTORY. WE CANNOT FIGHT OUR BATTLES AGAINST SATAN AND SIN AND THE WORLD IN OUR OWN STRENGTH. WE CAN'T DO THAT AT ALL.

So Jephthah, after he passes through these PORTIONS OF TERRITORY, GILLEAD AND MENASSI AND MISFI, AND HE GOES OVER TO FIGHT THE AMMONITES, AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON HIM, AND HE IS READY TO FIGHT, AND HE MAKES A VOW, A VOW I DON'T THINK HE NEEDED TO MAKE, FROM MY READINGS, I DON'T READ WHERE HE NEEDED TO MAKE THIS VOW. The Spirit of the Lord already came upon him, he knew it. He knew he had this one. He knew God was going to give him the victory, but he makes this vow, a vow he didn't have to make, but I also realize that no faith is perfect. Our faith is not perfect.

And I think what he's doing here, once he gets there, is he begins to bargain with God because he says, if you'll do this, I'll do, you know, I'll, if you do this, give me the battle, I'll do that. That's what the Canaanites did. That's how they bargained with their false gods. But he's a man of faith. He's in Hebrews 11, 32. Remember, this is where it's coming from, Hebrews 32. And God gives us these men and he put them in that hall of faith for us to learn from And they are examples to us, not only in their faith, but in their imperfection.

God saves sinners. God saves sinners. We believe God. How often can we say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief? How often can we say that? Every day, throughout the day. Every day, throughout the day.

Now this vow is a very serious vow because it involves, as we know now, a human life that is going to be taken and offered to God as a burnt offering. That's what it appears to be on the surface, and He may have. I called Tom Harding and talked to him about this, and Tom gave me a very good answer for this. He said, there's nothing wrong with saying, I don't know. He said, there's nothing wrong with a preacher saying, I don't know. I said, well, not trying to be like a smart aleck, but I don't know. I wasn't there. And if you, if you read as much as I have read, I mean, I've listened to five men preach on this, and they're split on this. Some are very strong that she was offered up as a burnt offering, and there's no way she was offered up as a burnt offering, and all these men are strong, solid gospel preachers. I'm going to say, I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to tell you that I don't know. But I'm going to give you a foundation for this message as I go along here.

So this vow is very serious and it involves taking up a human life, and not just taking the human life, but offering it up as a burnt offering, which was an ABOMINATION to God. It's an ABOMINATION to God for this to be done. Leviticus 18.21 and thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech. Deuteronomy 18.10 There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or daughter pass through the fire. Jeremiah 19 5 they have built also the high places of build to burn their sons with fire with fire for burnt offerings unto bail which i commanded not nor spake neither came it into my mind neither came it into my mind to offer up a burnt offering a human sacrifice other than his than his son

Now I know this, I know God told Abraham to go offer your only son, your beloved son, but God didn't let him do it, did He? Abraham drew the knife back and I'll show you here in a minute what had to happen for her to be offered up as a burnt offering. And but God said, Abraham, Abraham! Stop! and he took a ram and put it in his place. And we have the gospel of substitution out of that. But this is not substitution. What he's doing here is not substitution. It's not even redemption, he's not redeeming anybody.

So I'm going to give you scripture on this. Here's what we must remember And I know some that I've listened to were very dogmatic both ways. I mean, these were good men too, solid men. But here's what the scripture that came to me is this in 2 Peter 1 19 and verse 20. We have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts knowing this first that no prophecy no scripture no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation.

So when you have a scripture like this that's obscure it really it's really obscure here's what you do you interpret that scripture in the light of scripture no scripture stands alone so you interpret it in the light of the word of god is what is what we do you know our lord said this in Matthew 22 29 Jesus answered and said unto them you do err not knowing the scriptures you you study the scriptures but you don't know them you don't interpret scriptures in the light of scriptures I know someone can say but that's what it says but what does the whole word of God say because none of it stands alone

I cannot say with 100% conviction that He offered her up as a burnt offering. He may have, I don't know. John Gill says, I'm going to lean toward mercy on the Father and take the lesser of the two evils. That's how John Gill handled it.

But there's something else here I want you to notice. What is missing? What's missing? Because God's not in this. God's hand's not in this. Let me give this to you. When He makes this vow, there's no response from God. We don't hear from God through the rest of this, do we? And when He read it from 29 to 40, God doesn't speak. He doesn't speak.

Remember when Manoah and his wife, when they offered up the sacrifice, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame showing the acceptance of it? Gideon, when he offered the sacrifice on that rock, the angel of the Lord took a staff and touched that rock and it burned and it consumed the sacrifice and the angel vanished out of his sight. Solomon, when he dedicated the temple, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.

God's silent here. He's silent because to offer up a human sacrifice is an abomination to God. That's what He's saying. That's God's law. That's His Word. And here's something else that's absent. There's no high priest. There's no high priest involved in this offering. The priesthood was established by then. I checked all this out. I did a fact-check. All this has been fact-checked. But the priesthood was established by then. Jephthah fell somewhere in between Phinehas and Eli. Eli was at the end of Judges. And Phinehas was after Joshua, so he fell in here and I think it was probably the tabernacle, the altar, and the high priest, and Shiloh.

No priest, no high priest would have agreed to this. They would not have agreed to this. In fact, if it had gone to the high priest, if the high priest was involved in this, go over to Leviticus 27, this would have happened. I'm going to get to the gospel here in a minute, but I'm trying to lay a foundation.

speaking in verse 2 through 4 27 2 through 4 speaking to the children of israel saying to them when a man shall make a singular vow the person shall be for the lord by the estimation and the estimation shall be of the male from 20 years old even to unto 60 years old even that estimation shall be 50 shekels of silver after the shekels of sanctuary and if it be a female if he made a vow concerning the female then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels."

So if a priest had been involved, he would have no doubt directed him to this law. We have the absence of God's voice in this, we have the absence of the High Priest in this, and there's none involved. We don't read of any of them being involved.

And here's what he had to do with this burnt offering. When an animal was offered up as a burnt offering, it was to be skinned, it had to be skinned, and cut into pieces. And the inwards and legs were washed with water. This is what he had to do. And the entire animal then was burned on the altar. That's what had to be done.

Now if he did this, If he did this, how does that make you feel? How does that make you feel? I mean, when you first, if you read this at first sight, doesn't this feel, doesn't this kind of sound horrifying? Doesn't it? Does it make you feel? And boy, this hit me when I, because I've been reading this and I was like, oh man, Cutting her up, skinning her? And buddy, it hit me.

Why don't we feel this way when we hear God offering up His only begotten Son? We feel appalled, really. We kind of feel drawn back from this. But yet, this is what God did to His Son. Why don't we feel this when we hear of God offering up His only begotten Son? Why is it less horrifying for God to offer up His Son than Jephthah to offer up His daughter?

All right, now how is the gospel in this story? Let's get to the Let's get to the honey out of the eater. Let's get to that. In the story of Jephthah's vow here in Judges 11, we encounter a very troubling and yet a very sobering story here in Judges 11. Yet even in this dark and this difficult passage of Scripture which God had written, He didn't hide it, he had it written. The gospel, the gospel shines through in this difficult story. The gospel shines through and that's what matters.

I don't want to get so caught up in whether he did or whether he didn't, that I actually miss the story. I actually miss the message. Sometimes we can get caught up in a little point and completely, you know, a preacher be preaching, if he said a word wrong, we just like, you know, he said that wrong. He quoted the wrong scripture. And next thing you know, we miss the whole message. Be careful not to do that.

It first starts with a father who makes a vow, a father who makes a vow. Jephthah binds himself by a promise before the Lord, a vow that will require a costly, a costly offering. It will cost him his daughter. Scripture repeatedly teaches us that vows are not light matters before God. THEY DEMAND FULFILLMENT. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, Don't make a vow, if you make one, don't defer to do it. If you make one, DO IT! It's better NOT to make one than to make one and DON'T DO IT!

Jephthah did what he said. There was a vow promise, a covenant between the Father and the Son. The Father vowed victory through the burnt offering of His Son, through the offering of Christ the Father vowed Him victory. He shall see, Isaiah 53 11, He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. He'll have the victory Christ said one sheep will not be lost, not one. They'll all be saved, I'll bring them all home, all of them. Isaiah 42, My servant shall not fail, he shall not, he cannot, he will not fail, he can't. It is an impossibility.

But there was a promise, a vow between the Father and the Son before the world began, before the battle began. and you and I are recipients of that covenant. We are His victory.

Secondly, we see a FATHER WHO OFFERS HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN CHILD. You notice that? It was His only child. He didn't have a son. He had no other daughters. This was His only child.

WE READ WHEN SHE COMES OUT THE DOOR DANCING, HAPPY, HER FATHER HAS WON THE BATTLE, AND HE RINSES HIS CLOTHES. He rinses his clothes because he knows his vow. He remembers his vow now when she walked out the door, the vow hit him. Oh no! He just rinsed his clothes. Jeff the daughter was his only child, and the weight of this cannot be overstated. I can't imagine this. He knew what he was going to have to do if he offered her up as a burnt offering.

Now some believe, and it could be so, that she was assigned to celibacy, being a virgin, serving the temple, the built-in tabernacle, but being in service to the Lord for her whole life. She could never be married and never have children. I don't know because you'll see in that that she wanted to go up on the mountains and bewail her virginity and then she came back and he said he did his vow and she remained a virgin. He says she remained a virgin.

Here, let's get back to this. The Father gives what is most PRECIOUS to Him. God has given us His only begotten, well-beloved, PRECIOUS Son, no other like Him. No other like Him. In this we see a shadow of the Father who offered up His only begotten Son.

Now I made a note out beside of this, and I'm just a clay pot. I'm only human. And our thoughts of God so often are too human. You know, Jeff rents his clothes, and he said, Oh, my daughter, you know. And I don't know, I don't know. when the Father and the Son made that covenant and the Son came into the world and God Almighty took out His wrath on Him. Do we think God has no feelings? That's just my question. He who made feelings, does He not have any? He who made the heart, does He not have a heart? Let's be careful that we don't think of God as just cold and calculating We were made in His image. Sin has marred us. It has messed up everything about us, but we can think, we can reason, we can feel, we can laugh, we can cry. God gave it to us.

In John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God so loved. so loved now you know just as a human being and and when we really love something when we really love someone we give ourselves to them we feel for them we think upon them now put that on a divine level put that on the level of god god so loved the world not just the jews only but gentiles like us whom he has saved I'm over my head, I know it! But he who made the fillings, does he not feel?

Thirdly, the purity of the offering is emphasized in this. Jephthah's daughter is described as a virgin. You see, the text draws our attention to her purity, never having known a man. reminding us that offerings to God had to be without blemish. And what this does, it points us to Christ who was wholly undefiled and without sin. It says He knew no sin. He is the spotless Lamb of God. He is the spotless sacrifice. Our attention is drawn to His sinlessness. HE KNEW NO SIN.

Fourth, we see the WILLINGNESS OF THE ONE OFFERED. THE DAUGHTER DOES NOT RESIST. Look what she says in verse 36, let me get back here. You know, let s go back to verse 35, And it came to pass, when he saw her, he ran his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low. Oh, thou art one of them that trouble me, for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said to him, My father? IF THOU HAST OPENED THY MOUTH UNTO THE LORD, DO TO ME ACCORDING TO THAT WHICH HATH PROCEEDED OUT OF THY MOUTH. FOR AS MUCH AS THE LORD HATH TAKEN VENGEANCE FOR THEE OF THINE ENEMIES, EVEN OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON, DO WHAT YOU SAID YOU WAS GOING TO DO, WHAT YOU VOWED TO DO, DO IT.

I HAVE TO SAY I SURE COMMEND HIM AS A FATHER HE TAUGHT HER WELL, DIDN'T HE? HE TAUGHT HER WELL. I HAVE NO DOUBT GOD SAVED THAT YOUNG GIRL. FOR HER TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THIS? DO TO ME ACCORDING TO WHAT HAS GONE OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. HER OBEDIENCE WAS VOLUNTARY. SHE DIDN'T TAKE OFF RUNNING. AND WE'RE GOING TO SEE HERE IN A MINUTE, SHE WENT AWAY FOR TWO MONTHS AND CAME BACK JUST LIKE SHE SAID SHE WOULD.

just like she said she would. Her obedience is voluntary. In this we see a powerful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who WILLINGLY gave Himself for our sins. Who WILLINGLY! She went to the mountains and then came back. Our Lord came down from heaven TO DO HIS FATHER'S WILL, NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL BE DONE. I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR THE SHEEP." He did that WILLINGLY, and she WILLINGLY said, FATHER, DO THAT WHICH YOU HAVE SAID.

And I have no doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary, what did He say in Gethsemane? IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET THIS PASS FROM ME, BUT NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL BE DONE. DO WHAT YOU PROMISED! DO WHAT YOU VOWED! DO IT! Oh, that's a willing sacrifice, that's a willing sacrifice for sure. Her willingness to be offered represents the willingness of the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

And she went up to those mountains and bewailed her virginity. And then she came back and it says he did his vows. He did according to his vows. So finally the vows connected to victory. The vows connected to victory. Jephthah performed the vow After the Lord granted him triumph over the enemy, the sacrifice comes at the end of the battle. Scripture tells us that Christ appeared once at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He was assured victory before God created the heavens and the earth, wasn't He? He was assured victory, it was done. It wasn't to see if it was going to happen, it was done. But after the battle was won, the sacrifice or the burnt offering was offered, or whatever he did. He performed his vow. And our Lord came into this world and offered up Himself for our sins. He got the victory. You see, His victory, His burnt offering sealed the victory it sealed the victory is what it did like his blood ratified the covenant didn't it that's what it says in hebrews his blood ratified the covenant his blood seals the victory my what a picture what a picture of the gospel

so while judges 11 here is a reminder that god's ultimate victory over sin started with a costly vow before the world began, a willing sacrifice, His Son, a pure offering, His Son, and a Father who gave what was most dear, His only begotten Son. And all these find their perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ who gave Himself once for all.

But I can't stop here. because I have to remember I'm coming out of Hebrews 11.32 where this HALL OF FAITH of all these people are mentioned, it's mentioned as EXAMPLES OF FAITH to the Hebrews. See, I gave you the GOSPEL out of it, and it is, but let's not forget the EXPERIENCE OF THE BELIEVER. Let's not forget that. Sometimes I think that gets sidelined too much.

So let me say a few things about JEPHTHAH because he's held up as a man of faith. Let's not forget that. This is my responsibility. My responsibility is to keep it in its context. And I'm trying to keep it in its context. And this is what I'm going to do.

So as we look at this, we must remember how Scripture itself portrays JEPHTHAH here. I'm having a hard time saying that name. might just start calling him Jeff. But the New Testament places him among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Whatever difficulties we may have with this story, and it is difficult, we're not really permitted to sit in judgment on Jephthah, are we? And we can't pass over it either. Believe me, it would have been a lot easier if I just went on to the next one and deal with this, but we can't do that. can't do it.

Jephthah was a man of faith, a child of God, whose life began in shame, in rejection, and ended in victory through the power of the Lord. And this is crucial here, what I'm giving you, because Hebrews 11 is written in a specific context. Some among the Hebrews were drifting back toward the Law. others were attempting to mix law and grace, works and faith, ceremony and promise. That's why the writer of Hebrews in response does not point them back to Moses, he doesn't point them back to the sacrifices, he doesn't point them back to the commandments.

Here's what he does instead, he holds forth LIVES lives, men and women who lived, endured, suffered, and overcame by faith. He holds that up before us and let us not forget that. Let us not lose the context of this. When Jephthah is named in that list, it's not to commend every decision he made as being right, but to testify that his victory over Ammon came through FAITH. That's what it's doing. It wasn't through the LAW. No law is ever mentioned in connection with the triumphs of Hebrews 11. No law is ever mentioned. The emphasis is always the SAME, by FAITH, by FAITH,

by FAITH. So when we read Judges 11, we are not reading the account of a legalist trying to earn God s favor, we are not reading that. We are reading the real, painful, costly experience of a believer who trusted God for deliverance and won the victory. That is what we are reading. His story reminds us of that faith in the Old Testament. Though it wasn't perfect, listen, listen, I've thought about this. Their faith like our faith is not perfect, but it was expressed in their lives. The just shall live by faith, not by law, not by commandment, but by faith, by faith. Hebrews was written to tell us that the substance has now come that they look for by faith. What Jephthah experienced in part, Jesus Christ fully perfected. What was costly and seemingly a tragedy in judges becomes glorious when we turn to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that burnt offering.

Oh, we look at that burnt offering there that Jephthah supposedly offered And we think, Oh my, but then we look at it at Calvary and we're like, Oh my, that's a different, Oh my, isn't it? Oh my, the Lord has saved us. He's died for us. He's put away our sins. Jephthah's daughter, if he offered her up, didn't put anybody's sins away. And if he did offer her up, his heart was broke. I guarantee his heart was broken.

TRUE FAITH IS ANCHORED IN JESUS CHRIST, WHO ONCE AND FOR ALL PUT AWAY OUR SINS BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF, THE TRUE BORN OFFERING.

Now Judges closes in verse 40. says that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament over in your margin that word mean to talk to to talk to her it sounds like they went to talk to her and tell her what was going on you make up your mind you make up your mind i'm just saying i don't know i wasn't there and i'm not being a smart aleck for once I wasn't there, I don't know. If he did, the sin is not on God's part. God does no wrong, God can do no wrong, but God is totally silent on this. And I read you the scriptures where He said it's an abomination to Him.

But whatever Jephthah did, whether he offered her up as a burnt offering Or whether she remained a virgin, which I lean more to that. I do, I lean more to her remaining a virgin for the rest of her life. Because if you understood Jewish women back then, they all had a hope that they were going to have the Messiah. And it was like a death blow to them not to have a child, especially the man child. Like Eve said, I got the man when she had Cain.

Listen, in verse 40, THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL WENT YEARLY TO LAMENT, and that also means to commemorate. It has the meaning of commemorate. The daughters of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in a year, every time I preach the gospel, every time I stand here, I am commemorating. I am remembering. the burnt offering that happened at Calvary. I am remembering Christ and Him crucified. I am remembering the vow between the Father and the Son in that eternal covenant of grace. Every time I preach, I am commemorating. Once again, I'm remembering. They did it four days a year. We do it every week, every week.

So my thoughts on that as far as what happened the scriptures leaves it obscure. I mean I did an in-depth search, now this may not mean anything but it's just what I do, I did an in-depth search of the Hebrew grammar word by word by word by word and in that search It came out that she was offered up as a burnt offering. And I did that word by word in their language, in their grammar. It was written back in that time. They said it was nothing else but a burnt offering. That's all it could mean. But I don't know. I don't know. All right.