The book of Judges chapter 11,
book of Judges chapter 11. And we looked at some of this
last week, but there's so much packed into these verses of scripture,
we'd like to go over part of it just one more time a little
bit. It's interesting that we find phrases in the scriptures,
three or four or five words that catch our attention. We notice
in the New Testament how often we think of Jesus must needs
go through Canaan. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And that kind
of phraseology we find so much, and those are key words to us
to realize and to appreciate the many blessings the Lord has
for us. But on our study tonight, there are some words here that
just struck me. And I pray as we go through it,
that it will be a blessing that we'll be able to go back and
say, I'm glad we went that route tonight. Even here in the book
of Judges, we found a couple of the judges' names. Not much
was written about them, but we found out that their names were
very significant. And they tell us a lot about
them and a picture, a type, and a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here in verse three of this 11th chapter, it tells us about Jethfeh,
and he fled from his brethren. Now, we remember why he fled
from them. They told him to leave. And he
dwelled in the land of Todd, and there were gathered vain
men to Jethfeh and went out with him. And we looked last week
at these vain men gathered around him, not wicked men, I don't
believe they were wicked men. They were empty men, whose pockets
were empty. Men without money and had nothing
to live upon, no more than Jethro. And they got together. The Bible tells us he was a very
valiant man. And I think probably he had exercised
some of that valiantness while he was defending himself in the
land of Todd. And it got back to people, and
so they gathered themselves to him. And we read a passage of
Scripture over in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 22, and I'd
like to read those two verses again here in the book of 1 Samuel
chapter 22, because it tells us a lot. about David and those
that were gathered around him. First Samuel, chapter 22, the
Word of God leaves these blessed verses for us, because David
left and he left in tarrasque, kind of like Jephthah. And it
tells us in 1 Samuel chapter 22, verse 1 and 2, David therefore
departed thence and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when
his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down
thither to him. And everyone that was in distress,
and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented.
Now, when we read this, we find David once again is a wonderful
picture of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, because we read about
the group of people that gather at his feet. They are brethren,
yes. They are, as we read here, in
distress, in debt, and discontented with their own being, their own
person, their own life, their sin, and so forth. They're discontented
with it. So he gathered themselves unto
him and he became a captain over them. Now we're going to notice
that with regard to Jethro too, that they're going to come back
and ask him to be over them. Now with David, they became captain
over them. They did not recognize him as
an equal. They recognized him as a Lord.
They recognized him as a captain. He was in the line of things
much higher than them. And that's where the church recognizes
the Lord Jesus. I am so impressed by the first
words out of Saul of Tarsus' mouth on the road to Damascus,
his Lord. And that's who he recognizes, and that's by revelation, Lord. And we may not, when we're first
saved, understand all those words mean, but when someone brings
that subject up to us in the preaching of the gospel, we will
say, yes, that's what he is. And you know, Arthur W. Pink
wrote that book on the sovereignty of God, and we read through there
and it says, well, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It may turn
our world upside down or our apple cart upside down, but the
Word of God is so profound that decrees, declares, and puts it
into perspective that He is Lord. Now, if He's not Lord over one
thing, He's not Lord over anything. And this is just such a blessing. So these gathered around, they
made Him captain. Well, we find that going back,
if you would, to the book of Judges chapter 11, Judges chapter
11. We're going to see that the same
pattern is played out quite a number of years before David is made
king. And at that time, he was just
a captain over a group of people that nobody else wanted. Here
in the book of Judges chapter 11 again, Judges chapter 11,
and there in verse Judges 11, verse 4, it says,
and it came to pass in the process of time that the children of
Ammon made war against Israel. And it was so that when the children
of Ammon, verse 5, made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead
went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob. Now there is
a place in the scriptures, and we'll look that up in just a
minute, but there's a place in the scriptures that uses the
same word. And we look at that and say, what a wonderful thing
that David went and fetched Mephibosheth. You know, Mephibosheth, We can
say he didn't have any say in the matter. He did. He could say, I'm a dead dog. What do you want to do with a
dead dog like me? But he was fetched out of the place that
he was. And we're going to find out that
these men went to fetch Jephthah. And it goes on to tell us here,
It was so that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel,
the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jethva out of the land
of Tob, and they said unto Jethva, Come and be our captain. Now once again, they did not
say we're going to be equals. You are preeminent. You are the
captain. You're the one in charge. And
that certainly pays a lot towards what we have in Christ Jesus.
He's not our equal. He was man, but not our equal
man. He's without sin. He was tempted
in all ways we're tempted yet without sin. And that's the plague
that faces every person. And particularly it plagues the
believer that we have that continue on with us. Well, we may get
down to this point about being a captain, but I'd like to look
there in verse 5. There's a phrase that caught
my eye and I just have to spend some time on it. It came to pass
in the process of time. Now in the process of time, the
children of Ammon made war against Israel. Now, you know, in some
respects, we find out that the Lord is the one that stirred
them up to do this, just like he caused Egypt to be stirred
up and other kingdoms were stirred up in the process of time that
children of Ammon. Now, there's not going to be
a great deliverer unless there's the need for great deliverance.
And that's what we recognize in ourself. We have no need of
Christ when we can depend upon a little thread of our own righteousness. But once we have no thread of
righteousness, we have a great need. So there's going to be
a great need here, but look at this word here, it says, without
Ammon, about the children of Ammon, oh, and by the way, this
is lots, children through his youngest daughter. So that's
the Ammonites, that's who we're dealing with here. But the Lord
used them to get things going here in the book of Judges and
for Jephthah to be notified and fetched. But in the process of
time, God has never faced a train wreck. He never came upon a place
in the history of mankind and was surprised by the actions
of human beings or by the results of something they did. He has
never been surprised. He has never come upon a train
wreck. He has never been shocked by
the activities of natural man because we find out he's God. And the children of Ammon were
brought into this land on purpose. there's going to be a desperate
need for a deliverer, just as we find out that we are in a
desperate need of a deliverer, and we'd have never known that
if it hadn't been for sin and God revealing to us, that's a
mark against you. You have the mark against you,
you have sin. So in the process of time, nothing
in any time was unknown to God and all is purposed of God. These invaders were purposed
and on purpose and brought in purpose upon this country, this
place, during the judges. And then we, notice with me,
if you would, over in the book of Exodus chapter 12, we've looked
at this a number of times. in our past days, but in the
book of Exodus chapter 12, it's just amazing to me. This verse
of scripture is just amazing to me because it just shows us
how timely in the process of time, how timely the Lord is. It brings out in this verse of
scripture, and you know, it's just in passing kind of that this
verse of scripture is brought up, but the results of this,
the meaning of this is so significant. It says there in verse 41, it
came to pass at the end of 430 years. Now that's exactly how
long God said that the children of Israel would be there in Egypt.
30 years under Joseph, 400 years under a king that knew not Joseph,
and subsequently the different pharaohs that came along, and
they were put into servitude, because they multiplied, they
grew in number, and we cannot have them doing this. So in the
process of time, the end of 430 years, now notice the next few
words here. Even the self same day. it came to pass. The very day
that God said that it was going to take place 400 years later,
that's exactly the day. So 400 years prior to this, or
430 years, depending on if we want to look with Joseph there,
400 years prior to this, God had already determined to have
a Passover. 400 years prior to this, He'd already had in his
purpose that there would be a lamb slain, a lamb set aside, a lamb
observed, a lamb slain. So 400 years later, this is gonna
take place. 400 years later, the children
of Israel are gonna be set free out of Egypt. 400 years to the
very self same day. So in the process of time, the
very day, 400 years, it came to pass that all the hosts of
the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. What a statement. And you can take it to the bank
if you please. Because the Lord does not work as we work. The Lord does not do as we do.
I hope he has it on his own plan and purpose. It came to pass
at the end of the 430 years, even the selfsame day. Now turn
with me if you would to the book of Psalms, Psalm 102. As we think
about in the process of time, at the
exact right time. What was to happen? Jesper has
been born. Jesper has been grown up. Jesper
has been kicked out. Jesper has a group of men around
him that are just like he is. And they are taking, he's taking
care of them as a captain. But we're going to find out the
rest of the folks find out they need him as a captain. So it's
at exactly the right time that these folks are brought into
the land of Israel and the need develops. But here in the book
of Psalms, Psalm 102, Psalm 102, and there in verse 13, there
in verse 13, notice this with me. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy
upon Zion. For the time to favor her, yea,
the set time, is come. Well, that speaks volumes about
the purpose and coming of the Lord Jesus. How often we find
that that very principle has been brought out, the set time
has come. We're going to look over there
in the book of Galatians in just a moment and say, in the fullness
of time, in the process of time, at the right time. Now, time
was created by God for us. He doesn't go by time. We read
there in the book of, I believe it's 1st Peter, 1st or 2nd Peter,
that a day with the Lord is a thousand years. A thousand years is a
day. He's not directed by time. We are. We're directed by seasons. We're directed by time. It was
created for us. Morning, night, morning, night.
That's just created for our benefit. We know when to go to bed, the
sun goes down. We know when to get up, the sun
arises. Oh, let's be a little later than that sometimes. So
he set time up, he set the seasons up, and time was created for
us. Now, that's the conflict that
we face in our mind when we hear someone say eternal. because
our frame of reference is in time, and eternal is God's frame
of reference. And we will not understand what
eternal is until we are in eternity. Now we have promises of eternity,
we have the promises that God's going to give all of his people.
We have the sanctification, we have the redemption, we have
knowledge, wisdom, and all those things given to us in time. But
then it will be eternal. And then we'll have some concept
of that. But here it says that Zion is
going to be delivered. There's going to be favor on
her, yet the set time has come. I like to hear things like that
about the church. That the set time. Now, along
that same line, we read over here in Psalm 110. Psalm 110. This subject is brought up here
again. Psalm 110 verse 3. This is a verse that we go back
so often to because it is in here that we find out how it
was that God worked out his great work of grace in us. It says,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. So there
is a set time marked out in eternity old eternity that God is going
to be with, He's going to surround, He's going to overcome, He's
going to hedge up, He's going to show His redemptive work to
a group of people. One by one, or 4,000 like it
was on the day there that Peter preached, or 3,000 on the day
of Pentecost. But He's still going to reveal
the same things to each individual, each person in that. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of
holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of
thy youth." From the beauties of holiness, from the womb of
the morning. So, the time of God is mentioned here, and they
shall be willing, God's people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. Now, the day before, or the day
after, is not the day of his power, it's the day. And that's
when God gives to us the precious truth of the gospel in revelation.
And that's what Peter's talking about there in Matthew chapter
16. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
responds by saying, flesh and blood did not reveal this unto
you, but my father, which is in heaven. So there is a set
time. There is a set time. There's
a time to be born, there's a time to die. That's what we read in
the book of Ecclesiastes. Well, if we look at that from
a spiritual context, we also find that that is true. We die,
and he gives us life. So, there is this truth about
the time, the set time, in the process of time. Now, Daniel
brings this up too. If you turn with me to the book
of Daniel. The book of Daniel. There's another set time here,
in the set time. The book of Daniel and the book
of Daniel chapter 9. Now, there's much said about
the book of Daniel. There's much written about the
book of Daniel. And most of it is written by people who don't
know anything about the book of Daniel. They'll jump ahead
and speculate about the time, but they don't realize, as we
find here, that this is what's going to happen in this time,
at the fulfillment of this time. Just as we're going to find out
in the process of time here in the book of Judges that the Ammonites
are going to come in and the children of Gilead are going
to say, we need help. Yesterday we didn't need it because
we didn't have anybody in our land. Today we need it and we're
going to go to the guy that we keep hearing is valiant, powerful. He's not standing still while
he's been there. He's defended his people and
he's also defended himself. So here in the book of Daniel,
these are the things, there's quite a number of things that
are going to be accomplished when 70 weeks are determined.
Now, I don't pretend to understand all I know about that, but this
I know. When they are determined, these things are going to happen,
and we can read about the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of
the cross and say, whoa, it has happened. All right. determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city. Now his holy city is not Jerusalem. His holy city is the church,
New Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem's coming down.
Daniel chapter nine, verse 24. 70 weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon the holy city. Now notice this. This is
the time to finish the transgression. to make an end of sins, to make
reconciliation for iniquity at the end of 70 weeks, Jesus Christ
is going to be crucified and fulfill every one of these things
at the right time, at the appointed time. Now he was born at the
appointed time, in the fullness of time, but he also died on
the cross at the appointed time. The fullness of time in the process
of time, and all the other words that we might use about it. And
it says, and bring in everlasting righteousness. So he's gonna
deal with sin, but he's gonna impute righteousness. Sin was
imputed to him, and as a result of him burying our sins, he's
gonna impute righteousness. and seal up the vision and the
prophecy and anoint the most holy. Who is anointed? Who is
the most holy? The Lord Jesus Christ. So Daniel, many years before
the fact, it was revealed to him that in the process of time,
in the fulfillment of time, In this time amount that was mentioned
here by the Holy Spirit to Daniel, the 70 weeks, this is what's
going to be accomplished. Now, the promise of that began
before the foundation of the world. Daniel brings it up again. He says, don't forget the work
of the Messiah. Don't forget the work that has
been promised to be on the behalf of the Holy City, the people.
Don't forget, our prophets and our priests and kings that know
anything about the gospel have been mentioning these very things.
Sin is going to be taken care of and righteousness is going
to be given. So just mark it down, day by day, the day will
appear and that will take care of it. So Daniel mentions this
in the process of time, in the fulfillment of time, and that
happened. Jesus Christ came. Now, some
of that about the 70 weeks, I don't pretend to understand, but I
am thankful for the conclusion of it. This is what Jesus Christ
fulfilled. This is what he did. So he is
the Savior that actually saves. Now, in the book of Habakkuk,
it's been some time since we went through the book of Habakkuk,
but I'd like to bring up chapter 2 and verse 3 again. Chapter
2 and verse 3. Look at this little book. of Habakkuk in chapter 2, verse
3. It says, for the vision is yet
for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not
lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come,
it will not tarry. So there is a appointed time. There's an appointed time. There
was an appointed time that Adam and Eve were placed in the garden.
There was an appointed time that Eve ate the forbidden fruit
and gave it to her husband. There was an appointed time that
those lambs were slain and coverings were made. There's an appointed
time when Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, and Cain did not. In the process of time, in the
fullness of time. All right, join me over in the
book of Galatians, if you would. The book of Galatians brings
out two or three of these wonderful truths about in the process of
time. That God's time is his time. What time will the Lord come
back? It's not for us to know. But we do know this, when the
last sheep has met his time, then he will come back, the last
sheep. All right, the book of Galatians
chapter four, Galatians chapter four, and in verse four, we read
this. But when the fullness of time
was come, exactly the right time, it was exactly the right time
that he impregnated Mary. It was exactly at the right time.
Joseph proposed to this lady and said, I'll marry you. It
was exactly the right time, exactly the right time. When the fullest
of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman under
the law, made under the law. So it was exactly the right time,
appointed time, the purpose time. before the foundation of the
world, all of this was drawn out. History was delineated. History was lineated and said,
this is what's going to happen at each one of these times. So in the fullness of time, Christ
came, born of a virgin, born of a woman, made under the law,
just as we read here, made of a woman and made under the law,
but The Father was God. All right, in this book of Galatians
also it tells us in chapter one, Galatians chapter one, we read
this about time. Galatians chapter one, verse
15. Paul reflecting on what the Lord did for him in his salvation,
but when it pleased God. Now, Saul of Tarsus, Paul the
apostle, realized that at the very appointed time, the gospel
was brought to his heart and he was saved. Now, there are
a whole bunch of people that probably said, I wish that had
happened before Stephen was killed. All of the other historical events
that took place, all the other persecutions that took place,
but Saul of Tarsus was there at the stoning of Stephen, as
we read in the book of Acts. And yet at the, when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace. So when it pleased God, that's
the time of our birth, when it pleased God. This just continues
on through the scriptures. At the right time, the children
of Ammon made war against Israel. They, They came in, they invaded. They did, as we read there, going
back to the book of Judges chapter four, excuse me, chapter 11,
verse four. As we look back here in the book
of Judges again, we notice it was at the appointed time, at
the right time, Judges chapter 11, verse four, came to pass in the process of
time. Now I'm sure that when this is
all over with, that some of those said, like we do at times, I'm
thankful that this part of God's predestination is over with. And the other said, amen. Warfare
is no easy task. It says there in verse five,
and it was so that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel. Now, it's just so interesting
here to find out that if the children of Ammon had not come,
there would have been no need for Jephthah. But since the children
of Ammon invaded Israel, They're created a great need for a captain,
someone to lead the army, a man of valor, great valor. And so
it is going to be Jethro. The same is true about us as
we mentioned earlier. If we didn't have a need, there
is no need for a savior. If we don't see a need, there's
no need for a savior. Why is it that people will not
just immediately bow down and call upon the name of the Lord
and be saved? Because they don't need him. They have a little
twinge, a little thread of their own righteousness, and they have
a little thread of our own righteousness, same thing we did. If we have
just a little thread of our own righteousness, we don't have
any need. We just have to get rid of that little piece that
we don't have, and then we'll be okay. My good works that way,
my bad works is nothing more than saying I have some righteousness
of my own. Now, when we come to the grips
of the word of God and the Holy Spirit revealing it to us and
sharing with us, you have no righteousness. I have a need. I have a desperate need. And we don't know that until
it's revealed unto us that we have a need. So the results of
the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jespa. What's the results
of this? This invasion. They need a deliverer. Now they recognize among themselves
that there's no one here that can do this task. Even all the
brothers of Jephthah can't do this. They hear of a great man
of valor. We've read about him in the book
of Judges there. It says about, in verse one,
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. We've already read
that. He has that characteristic about
him. He has that tradition about him.
He has that thought about him. And the children of Gideon here,
Gilead, they say, we need that man. We're in serious trouble
here. The children of Ammon have come
like insects upon us. We have that reference, that
kind of reference prior to this in the book of Judges, that they
were like fleas or flies or whatever. And here we have again the children
of Ammon invade and they come. The elders of Gilead went to
fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob. Now we mentioned earlier
that that's exactly the same word that we find over in 2 Samuel
chapter 9 verse 5 about Mephibosheth. David fetched Mephibosheth. David went and got him. Now in
David's case, He went there and fetched Mephibosheth because
Mephibosheth was a servant of his. He could do with him as
he pleased. In this passage of scripture,
isn't it interesting that they come to fetch the captain, the
one in charge? So he must be willing in the
day of this power. It goes on to tell us here in
the book of Judges chapter 11, They said unto Jephthah, they
came up to him in the land of Tob. I think it's interesting
they didn't send a letter or an ambassador or several people
up there and say, would you come down to visit with us? We need
to talk to you. They went to him. They went where he was. They went to where he had a ragtag
group of men that were following him because they were in desperate
straits just like he was. The Lord Jesus Christ came like
unto his brethren, yet without sin. He was tempted, yet without
sin. He knew all the frailties of
our flesh, yet without sin. It says in verse six, and they
said unto Jephthah, come and be our captain. Come and be our
captain. This captain means to be in charge,
to be the commander. This terrible condition of humanity,
we need help. We have Ammonites invading us. We need help. We cannot do it
ourselves. And so they sent up there and
it says, come and be our captor. We are not expecting you to be
our equal. We're not going to have You know,
in reading about the Lewis and Clark expedition, there was two,
Lewis and Clark, were both supposed to be leaders of that Corps of
Discovery. And yet, they found it was absolutely
necessary that one of them be in charge. Now, all said and
done, they both admitted that they were both in charge, but
one of them was more in charge than the rest of them. That's
just the way it is. You can't have two captains.
So they said, we're not going to take the captainship. We're
not going to be in the same league as you are. We're not going to... We'll take half the men, you
take half the men. It was, would you come to be our captain, our
leader, our prince, our Lord, if you please. Would you do this? Well, come and be our captain
that we may fight with the children of Ammon. We have a problem here
that's so exposed. You know, we often go over there
to Psalm 14 and God looked down from heaven We have a whole group
of people here that would have never come to Jethro, but they
are in that host of people found in Psalm 14. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that did seek after him, any that would
follow him, any that would come to him. He found none. There
was not one of them. And Paul spent a lot of time
over in the book of Romans chapter three, going through a long list
Quotes of the Old Testament. Much of it is out of the book
of the Psalms. You know, I've been thinking about this, how
wonderful it is at times that there wasn't a passage mentioned
where it came from. So sometimes we have the license
to say, oh, it says in the Old Testament. We can look it up. Well, they could too. But they
just brought those quotes from the Old Testament. Look with
me in the book of Romans. As we think about the group of
people that came up there, they would not have come if they didn't
have a need. The need is serious. We would not come to Christ if
we didn't have a need. And that's why people like that
are illustrated there. The rich man and Lazarus, the
rich man didn't have a need. And the Pharisee and the publican,
the Pharisee didn't have a need. And those 71 people that are
on that council that we've been reading about, they didn't have
a need. The religious leaders of the day didn't have a need.
Only when Christ showed them the need did they have a need,
and that's what we read about Saul of Tarsus. I wonder sometimes
if he wasn't in that Sanhedrin court. He had all the
qualifications. He had all the buttons, all the
degrees. It doesn't say who was there
except for the leadership. I'm sometimes thinking he was
there. He heard them preach the gospel, just like he heard the
gospel from Stephen just a short time later. But here in the book
of Romans, the Apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus,
Apostle Paul, Romans chapter three, verse nine, there is a
need, a desperate need. Can you think of these people
as they came up there? What are we going to say to this
guy? We'd run him off. We didn't want him. He came,
Christ came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Now
we can say He came unto the Jews and they didn't receive Him.
He came unto His own elect. They had nothing to do with Him.
There's nothing about Him that we should be interested in Him.
We have nothing in common. As we read over there, He came
unto His own, His own received Him not. The elect never had
any use for Him. Isaiah 53, there's no form nor
comeliness that we should desire Him. Well, thank God He gives
us an interest and we can say as in the song of Solomon, He
is altogether lovely. Every aspect. Well, they're gonna
find out that Jephthah is pretty good looking. He's got a lot
of good qualities about him. Qualities that we find in the
person, the Lord Jesus. All right, here in the book of
Romans, chapter three. Romans, chapter three. It says,
what then? Are we better than they? No,
in no wise. For we have before proved both
Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. Doesn't matter,
Jews are under sin. They had all the righteousness
they could handle. The Jews and the Gentiles, no difference. They may not have had a word
to say about the Lord Jesus Christ as a Gentile, but they still
are under sin. And when they are shown that,
they bow. They that gladly receive the
word. And Acts 13, 48. Those ordained to eternal life
believed? All right. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. The qualifications that we have
are nil. In fact, we're on the negative
side. And then he shows us a need. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one." And then he talks about the throat
and the tongue. In verse 14, whose mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness, fief are swift to shed blood, destruction
and misery are in their ways. Their feet hate. Everything in here is so contrary
to the holiness of God. And we read about this over in
Galatians chapter five, the works of the flesh and the fruit of
the spirit. Their feet are swept shed blood,
destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace
have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. I have in my mind's eye that
when these men from Gilead came up to Tob and came into the presence
of Jephthah, they were broken men. They had a need. They had a need. And when they
came to Jephthah, they poured out their need. We want you to
not be equal. We're not dividing the army between
yours and us. We want you as captain. And you know that's what the
church does. We want Him as captain, the one in charge, the sovereign. Judges chapter 11, if you turn
back there with me, and there's much more said there about the
problem, the need, but in the book of Judges chapter 11, verse
six, it says, and they said unto Jephthah, come and be our captain,
that we may fight with the children of Ammon. We have a need. And
Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me,
and expel me out of my father's house? And why are ye come unto
me now, when ye are in distress? And the elders of Gilead said
unto Jethro, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou
mayest go with us and fight against the children of Ammon, and be
our head, be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. And
Jethro said unto the elders, If you bring me home again to
fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them
before thee, shall I be your head? Lord Jesus Christ. He is a type, a shadow, and a
picture. When he does this, he is promoted
to Lord. He has promoted himself. And that's the only one we can
say, I saw this sign out here the other day on the church,
receive Jesus. That's not what Jeff was saying.
I will be your Lord. I will be your Lord. Jephthah
said unto the elders of Israel, if you bring me home again to
fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them
from them before me, shall I be your head? And the elders of
Israel said unto Jephthah, the Lord be our witness between us,
if we do not sow according to thy words. What a statement,
what a revelation, what a change. has been wrought in these folks. They were broken. They needed
help. They took an envoy up to Jethfe
and just pleaded with him, come and rule over us. Come and be
our prince, our captain. Take over the leadership of this
army. We're failures. your success. And so it is, we look at the
success of the Lord Jesus Christ and our failureship, no comparison,
but he has imputed his righteousness to everyone that he gives the
new birth to, and that's where we walk. Sin has been put away
by the sacrifice of himself. So as we come to the stop tonight,
may we just be thankful that there are justices. There is
the Lord, a Lord to deliver. He is captain. Now, if I come,
will I be your Lord? And they said, yes, Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, we'll stop there for
tonight and we'll