Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
once again to Judges. Now I want to begin by reading a few verses
in chapter 12, and we'll go back and look at a portion of chapter
11 that was read earlier, if the Lord permitting. Chapter
12. The men of Ephraim gathered themselves
together and went northward and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore
passest thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and if
thou callest to go with thee, we will burn thy house upon thee
with fire. And Jephthah said unto them,
I and my people were at great strife with the children of When
I called you, you delivered me not out of their hands. And when
I saw that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands and
passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered
them into my hands. Wherefore then are you come up
unto me this day to fight against me?' Then Jephthah gathered together
all the men of Gilead, and fought with Heathen for The men of Gilead
smoked Ephraim because they said the Gileadites were fugitives
of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassehites. And
the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites. And it was so that when those
Ephraimites, which were escaped, said, Let me go over. And the
men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? And if
he said, Nay, no, then they said unto him, Then said they unto
him, Say now, Shibboleth. And he said, Sibboleth. For he
could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him,
and slew him at the passages of Jordan. And there fell at
that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand, and Jephthah
judged Israel six years. died Jephthah the Gileadite and
was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. Now, we know that after Joshua led
Israel into the land of Canaan, that God gave Israel judges to
rule over the people for a period of about 450 years. We read of that in Acts. The people, once they came into
Canaan, they soon fell into sin and idolatry, and God would give
them over into the hands of their enemies. then they would repent of sorts
and God would give them a man, a judge, a leader, a captain,
a deliverer, a savior who would lead them in battle and deliver
them from their enemies. All of these men, all of these
men who were judges over Israel at that time were were typical
of our Lord Jesus Christ. They typified something about
the Deliverer, the Savior who was to come, that One who would
finally fully deliver His people from their enemies. Each one
of them pictured something, something of the gospel of the grace of
God in person of His Son towards His people. And these judges were men of
faith. They were men of faith. Jephthah was one of them. He's one of four of them that
are mentioned in Hebrews 11, where the apostle lists many
of those faithful people there. Brother David read that portion
of scripture back in the studies at the night where it mentions
Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and Jephthah. So he was a faithful man. He was a man of faith, and he
was a judge over Israel, and he was typical, typical of our
Lord, and a picture of the gospel. Now, there are several ways that
we can see right off in which Jephthah typifies Christ, in
which he pictures our Lord Jesus Christ. If we look at chapter
11, just in the first verses, we see that Jephthah was a Gileadite. He was of the house of Gilead
in a tribe of Manasseh. But it says he was a mighty man
of valor, and he was the son of a harlot. He was a mighty
man of valor. He was a courageous man, a very
courageous man. But he was the son of a harlot.
Well, even here we can see that he typifies our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord, he is the mighty conqueror. He's a mighty man of valor. And
it's interesting, you know that Even when Matthew gives the genealogy
of our Lord, in his genealogy he lists Rahab the harlot as
being in the genealogy of Christ. Don't you find that astounding?
It's just simply astounding that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who became incarnate, was pleased to become incarnate
in a wine that included a harlot. Just simply astounding. And we
read here in verse 11 that his brethren rejected him. They rejected
him. Evidently, when the father died,
they threw him out. They said, you're not going to
inherit with us. They rejected him and threw him
out. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ was rejected by his brethren.
John tells us very plainly, he came unto his own, and his home
received him not. They didn't want anything to
do with him. Mankind in general didn't want
anything to do with this Galilean, this man of Nazareth, this man
called Jesus. He was rejected by all. Somebody
said, everybody that was everybody turned thumbs down on Jesus Christ. They just didn't want anything
to do with Him. Well, He left. He fled from them. Went to another land, and it
says in verse 3, they were gathered unto Him vain men. Empty men. That word is empty. Empty. It's like David that followed
him when David was running from Saul. You remember all those
folks that went, about 400 men went out to him, but they were
people who were distressed, who didn't have anything, were in
debt. They were just empty folks, nothings and nobodies. Well,
our Lord, when he walked this earth in flesh, What kind of people were gathered
to Him? They were nothings and nobodies. They were fishermen
and tax collectors, were His closest disciples. And it was
publicans and harlots that flocked to Him for mercy. They were nothings. It's still so today. You see,
you're calling, brethren, out of not many wives, not many minds. Not many of those folks are gone. But God has chosen the weak things
in the world and the base things, the things that are not, to confound
the things that are. So those are the people that
were gathered unto Him. And then we see here that the
elders, the elders of Gilead, didn't want anything to do with
him. They had expelled him as well as his family. By nature, we don't want anything
to do, we don't have any need of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
don't have any need of a Savior, a Deliverer. It's just as true today as it
was when Isaiah, he's despised and rejected of men. a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from him. We didn't want anything to do
with him. Had no need of him. But bless God, there came a time
when he revealed unto us our need, and we came to be in distress. Then, by his grace, we saw him. And that's the way the men of
Gilead They were happy to see him go
when he was rejected by his brethren. But when they found themselves
in distress, they sought him out. They sought him out. They wanted him to be their captain
and their head. And it's even so that the people
of Christ seek him when they're in distress. And they willingly
submit to him as their captain, as their head, as their king. And Jephthah, we read in verse
32 and 33 that he passed over for the children of Ammon to
fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into
his hands. He smote all of them. the children
of Abel were subdued before the children of Israel. He conquered.
He conquered Israel's enemies. And our Lord Jesus Christ has
conquered our enemies. All of them. He once and for all, forever,
put sin away. Sin is a tall tale. He has reconciled us to God by
the blood of His cross. He has satisfied the law which
was against us. He satisfied justice which condemned
us. He's defeated our adversaries. He's defeated Satan. He's defeated
death and hell and the grave. He's conquered all of our enemies,
all of them. He's defeated them all. There is, therefore, now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. You see how Jephthah pictures
our Lord Jesus, how He's the top of Christ, our Deliverer,
our Savior. And then we come to our text
in chapter 12 that we read just a minute ago. And here we find
that Ephraim comes against Jephthah. And they threatened him, threatened
to burn his house down with him in it. What makes this perhaps even
more interesting is the fact that, and I'm sure you remember
that Ephraim and Manasseh were both, you remember they were
the sons of Joseph. They were both the sons of Joseph. And both of them became tribes
in Israel. So they were very closely related,
very closely related. And then also Ephraim refers to the ten tribes who
revolted later on against the house of Judah, against the kingdom
there. And Israel, those ten tribes
are often Ephraim and Israel are names that are often interchanged
when referring to. Now, remember Jephthah was of
Manasseh, and he had defeated the enemies
of Israel. And then Ephraim comes to Jephthah. with him. And they wound up getting
in a fight. And Jephthah defeated Ephraim.
Jephthah and his men of Gilead defeated the Ephraimites. And
when they defeated them and part of the army ran away, then Jephthah
and his men took the passages of Jordan. That is, the fords
of Jordan, the crossing points of the River Jordan. places where they crossed into
Canaan. And they held these places. And
then all those people who sought to cross Jordan, crossed into
Canaan again. When they came there, they were
asked if they were Ephraimites. Are you an Ephraimite? The significance of that was,
are you one who fought against Jephthah? Are you one who fought
against the Deliverer, the Savior, the Conqueror? Are you one of
those? Are you an infirmary? You see, they were closely related,
these two tribes, descended from Joseph. All of them members of the nation
Israel. They probably all had a family
resemblance. They looked alike. You couldn't
tell by looking at him whether he was a Manasseh or an Ephraim. But when they came to these crossings,
to the fords of Jordan, these crossings, these passages of
Jordan, held by Jephthah's men, and they wanted to go across,
they said, they asked him, are you an Ephraimite? Are you one
of those people who fought against our Savior? And if they denied if they denied,
if they said no. Then they were told this, well,
say now Shibboleth. And when they tried to say Shibboleth,
they couldn't say it. They said Sibboleth. They said Sibboleth. Now, once again, remember that our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation, our Deliverer,
our Savior, the Head of the Body, the Church, our Lord, and our
King, He has defeated all the enemies of His people. And he now controls the passages
of Jordan. That's the way you get into the
Promised Land. Jordan, the very name Jordan
means descending, and it's often used to typify death, but it's
the crossing place. It's the way to the promised
land. It's the way to the Father. It's
the way to eternal glory. Our Lord Himself told the disciples,
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. He controls the passageway. And
all who seek to cross, all who seek to cross Jordan, all who
seek to enter the Promised Land, has got to go to the passage
of Jordan. And there they're going to be
confronted, and there they're going to be tried. And there
they'll be asked, are you an Ephraimite? Are you one who fights
against God's appointed Savior and King? And you can deny, and you can
say, no, no I'm not. And then just like these folks,
you'll be told, well, say then, Shavuot. And by your words, you'll be justified. And by your words, You'd be judged. That's what our Lord told the Pharisees,
some of the Pharisees at that time, wasn't it? Matthew 12.
What's all that mean? Well, you know
what Shibboleth means? Say now, Shibboleth. That means,
the literal meaning of it is a river flowing. A flowing river. You know what it has reference
to? First, it has reference to the grace of God in the water
of life. The grace of God in the water
of life. If you would look at Psalm 46.
I won't have you look at a lot of scriptures, but I want you
to look at this. Psalm 46, verse 4. There is a river. streams whereof shall make glad
the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most
High." That is a river of grace, a river of grace. Go all the
way over to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22, verse 1, John says, "...he showed me a pure
river of water of life, water of clear as crystal proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the land, a river flowing, typical of the grace of God and
the water of life. It also typifies the blood of
Christ as Zechariah prophesied, in that day there will be a fountain
opened for sin and for uncleanness. And you know it's the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanses us from all sin. That's
that fountain. Well, what about the word that
Ezekiel might say? Simileth. You know what that
means? Well, literally, it means an
ear of corn. An ear of corn. It has reference to that which
is the fruit of the earth. The fruit of the earth. You find out what that means
if you go all the way back to the first offerings to God. Go
all the way back to Cain and Abel. When they came in the process
of time, they came before God. They made an offering to God.
And Cain brought of the fruit of the field, the fruit of the
ground. And Abel brought of the firstling
of the flock. He brought the lamb. He brought
the blood. typical of our Lord Jesus Christ. And God had respect
unto Abel and his offering, but to Cain and his offering he had
not respect. Why? One typifies Christ and
salvation by grace through his chipped blood. The other, the
works of man's hand. That's the significance of it. Say now, Sibylline. And they said, Sibylline. Now, beloved, listen. Listen. These people both claimed to
be children of Israel. They both claimed to be children
of God. They looked alike. In many ways,
they acted alike. At the Ephraim, when asked, he
even denied that he was an enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
came to be a child of the kingdom. He professed to believe in the
coming Redeemer. And he said, I believe that salvation
is by grace. But when the time of the passage
came, and they said to him, are you an Ephraimite? He said, no,
I didn't find no fight against Christ. Lord, I preached in your
name. We've cast out demons in your
name. We've done many wonderful works in your name. I don't fight against you. Well,
say it now, shivel up." Listen, go back to the text for
a minute. Look at verse 6. He could not frame to pronounce
it right. It almost sounded the same. Say shibboleth. Shibboleth. If you weren't paying attention,
you might think he said it. How do we know? What's the difference? What's the difference? Let me very briefly give you
five things here about which Ephraim might. It says Sibylleth, and reveals that he's trusting
in works, and not Sibylleth, grace. Now, this is important. All right, look at verse 1 of
chapter 20. The men of Ephraim gathered themselves together
and went northward and said to Jephthah, wherefore passest thou
over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call
us to go with thee? What's the problem here? I'll
tell you what the problem is. The very same problem that exists
today. What are they mad at Jephthah
about? What are they mad at him about? They're bad. They're bad because
he obtained deliverance from their enemies by himself. Their deliverance was by grace
through him. It was without their help. Not one single thing did they
contribute to their deliverance. That's what people get mad about
today. That's what people get mad about
today. We preach the gospel of Christ, of salvation and deliverance
by Him, of His righteousness, of His atonement. of His all in all. Everything
in salvation from beginning to end and everything in between
is all in Christ. It's all of God. It's all of
grace. And we do not contribute one
single thing to it, not one. And when we tell people of salvation
by grace, free grace, sovereign grace, They get mad because they
don't have a... Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you let me go help
fight the bat? Why didn't you consult my will?
Why didn't you take my words? And they get mad over that. I'll show you what I think of
your salvation. We'll just burn your house down with you in it." He trod the winepress of God's
wrath of the Lord. The apostle said in Hebrews 1-3,
when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down. unto the people there was none
with me, you see. My own arm got me into salvation. He did it all Himself. And men don't object to being
saved if you just let them have a little part in it. Let them
have a, let it be according to their will or something that
they do, and they'll be happy. They'll be happy, just like it,
just fine. They say it's all of Christ,
and it's all by grace, and it's all through faith, without works. By grace, or you say, through
faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any should boast. They refuse to acknowledge him
as to acknowledge him, this son, as Lord and King. He said, how come you didn't
call us? Well, Jephthah told him. He said, I called you. When
I was in distress, I called you. You didn't do anything to relieve
me. Our Lord gave the parable of
the king who made a marriage for his son, and he sent his
servants out to them that were a bit colder. And they all, with one consent,
made excuse. They had something else to do. They rejected him. They delivered him into the hands
of Pilate, and Pilate tried him, and Pilate brought him out and
said, And they said, away with him,
away with him. We will not have, we have no
king but Caesar. We will not have this man to
reign over us. I called, he said, but you refused. And Jephthah said, he said, he
said, when I saw that you delivered me, Lord, I put my life in my
hands and passed over against the children of Abraham. Our Lord, by the willing sacrifice
of himself, made atonement for sin and redeemed every single
one that the Father gave him." He said, I put my life in my
hands. I'm the Good Shepherd, he said.
The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sins. No man takes it
from me. I lay it down myself. I have
power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father. And beloved, I
tell you, by His one offering, He hath perfected forever them
that were set apart." And we read that God had delivered
all of Jephthah's enemies into His hand. Well, He delivered
all the enemies of Christ and His people into His hand. He
put all things under His feet. And in that He put all under
His feet, He left nothing that's not put under Him. that he's the victorious Lord
and King and Deliverer and Savior. They said to Jephthah and his
people in verse 4, they said, You're fugitives. You're fugitives. You're outcasts.
of both Ephraim and Manasseh. You're lawbreakers, is what you
are. Well, if you believe the gospel
of Christ, the gospel of his grace, the gospel of salvation You'll be called a fugitive,
a rebel, lawbreaker, antinomian. You'll be accused
of all sorts of things. Did you know that works religion can endorse Just about anything
that comes down the pike except salvation by the sovereign free
grace of God in Christ. Anything. A most outlandish cook. Did you
know that Mohammedanism is the fastest
growing religion in the world? It's easy. It's so easy. All you've got to do is say that
you believe Allah is God and Mohammed's his prophet, and then
you've got certain prayers to make each day. As long as you
do that, you're in fine shape, folks. But if you believe Christ, if
you believe the gospel, don't expect the world to receive you.
It will not do it. Actually, and this is pointed
out in this text, Those people who fight against Christ and
His gospel, His people, they are the real fugitives. They're
the real rebels. It says here in verse 5 that
when those Ephraimites which were escaped, that's the exact
same word as fugitives in verse 4, which were fugitives. things were turned around and
the real fugitives are identified there. All right, now remember
what we're talking about. The Nephirmites claim to be children
of Israel, people of God, from across the passages of Jordan
into the Promised Land, controlled by Jephthah and his people, the
Gileadites. Are you a Nephirmite? Are you
one that fights against the Deliverer, the Savior? Oh, no. No, no, no. Well, say then, Sibyleth. And
they said, Sibyleth. Sounds close. Sounds close. But it's different. It's a world
of difference. It's the difference between grace
and works. The difference between life and
death. It's different. Our Shambhala has five clear
points by which grace is defined. And you know what those points
are. Now, many people, many, many
people will profess to be the people of God children of Christ
because they say they believe these points of the gospel. Man's total depravity. Man's
total depravity. We believe, according to the
scriptures, that man is dead in trespasses and sins. that in Adam's fall, that by
one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men." He's not just wounded, he's not
just sick, he doesn't just have a headache, he's dead. Dead! It's a vital point. A vital point,
as I've told you often, if you're wrong on the Paul, you'll be
wrong on it all. And a lot of people say they
believe. they believe in the total depravity. But listen to
what they say. To say that I believe in total
depravity and then to preach the gospel as if man had something
in him by nature with which to respond to this gospel is to
deny the point of the gospel. It is, in fact, to say syphilis
instead of syphilis. And if you're not listening,
If you're not listening, you'll miss it. We believe in the unconditional
election of God of a people in the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation
and that before the foundation of the world. I've heard so many people say,
I believe in election. But you get to talking to them
and you find out what they really believe. Well, I believe that God looked
down through time and saw who was going to believe, and those
are the ones he elected to salvation. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. A thousand times no, beloved.
No. God's election of a people in
Christ unto salvation is not based on anything seen or foreseen
in the sinner. It all proceeds from God alone,
for reasons found only in himself. The children, being not yet born,
neither have they done any good or evil that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, none of the worse. But of him that cometh, it was
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved that he saw, have I hated. And the reasons found in God
alone, in God alone. And you be careful that one who
says that they believe in electing greats, be careful. You think they're trying to say
shibboleth, but when they go on to define it, they're saying
sybboleth. A particular and effectual redemption
of our Lord Jesus Christ, clearly taught in Scripture. to the gospel. Our Lord did not die to make
salvation possible for all men. He died to accomplish salvation
for His sheep, for His people. This is the will of the Father
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. His redemptive work, his obedience,
his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, accomplished
fully and satisfactorily, left nothing undone, nothing in question. It's done! It's finished! He
was delivered for our offenses, he was raised again for our justification. And all whom God chosen gave
to him out of the fallen grace of And all for whom he died,
all for whom he shed his blood, mark it down, they're going to
be saved. They are effectually redeemed.
Now, they'll be saved by the means that God has appointed,
but they will be saved. And not one of them is lost,
but the son of perdition that the scripture might be for him. He never was a sheep to begin
with. the irresistible, effectual call
of the Holy Spirit of God by the gospel. This is where God's eternal purpose
of grace, God who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world
began." That's where God's eternal purpose of grace in Christ, the
effectual, particular redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
where these things come to bear upon the objects of mercy, is
in this effectual, irresistible, particular call of the Spirit
of God. You must be born again. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Whatever man produces in this
thing is of the flesh, and nothing but flesh. It can't ever ascend
any higher than the flesh, because it is flesh. But oh, bless God. that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Do you believe that the Spirit
of God effectually calls the sheep of Christ, the elect, by
the gospel? And that he does so by regenerating by new birth, by work of creation
in them. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of us, Holy Spirit,
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Well, that sounds like shimmel
after me. It is. It is. And God has appointed means.
Now listen, listen to me. Please listen and don't misunderstand.
God has appointed means to accomplish the end. And He uses means whereby
the children of God are regenerated. He uses the means of the Gospel,
the Word of God. He uses the means of knowledge, teaching. They shall all be called
of God, every single one of them. He uses me. He turns the light
on. He turns the light on. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. In the face
of Jesus, He turns the light on. He reveals the things of God,
the things of Christ to us. Do not under any circumstances
allow someone to tell you to substitute the means, the appointed
means of God as the new birth and regeneration
instead of that new creation of the Holy Spirit. Be careful, Bill. You make sure that they say shibboleth
and not sibboleth. The new birth involves knowledge,
but knowledge is not the new birth. The new birth involves spiritual
life. But it's not fanning the spark
that's already in man. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all these new things are
of God. Every single one abandoned, but
everything. You see the difference between
shivelet and civilet. And then the perseverance and
preservation of the saints of God into eternal glory. We do persevere, don't we? The people of God do persevere.
You know why? Because they're preserved. Kept
by the power of God through faith until salvation. Ready to be
revealed at the last day. And before it was predestinated,
it was predestinated to be called, and it was called at just the
right time, and at just the right time, He glorified it. Bless God. Are you an Ephraimite? Are you one that fights against
the Savior, the Deliverer? No, no. No, no. Not me. Gosh, I wouldn't
do that. Well, say now, Sibyleth. an Ephraimite can not form himself
to say it. He says shibboleth. And I tell you what, a sheep of Christ, shibboleth. You hear me? Shibboleth. They shall graze, graze unto
them. Our Father, we thank you for
your Word. And Lord, we acknowledge that
by nature we don't see and we don't understand, and these things
don't enter into the heart, these things that you've prepared and prepared for your people
in the person of your dear Son. Lord, we thank you. How we thank
you that you pleased to reveal unto us by your Spirit. Lord,
we thank you that you came to us in our dead, dark condition
and gave us light and turned the light on and revealed the
glory of thy grace in the person of thy Son. Lord, we thank you
for him. for him who loved us and gave
himself for us. Father, we ask that you would
keep us, that you'd hedge us about, that you'd not allow us to be
led astray. And Lord, keep our ears tuned
to hear thy people who say now, give us the wisdom to discern
those who say similarly. The Lord teaches the difference. He teaches that Christ is the
difference, that grace is the difference. Father, we pray that you bless
each and every one of your people who are gathered here this evening.
Bless your people wherever they've met together to worship Thee.
Once again, we ask that you undertake on behalf of this loved one,
Brother Ralph and Charlotte. Lord, it could be pleasing unto
thee is the great position. Be pleased, O Lord, and mercy
to heal this dear young lady, restore her to her family. We thank you for all things that
value your Sovereign will and wisdom. In Christ's blessed name
we give thanks and ask these things. Amen.