If you would, go ahead and turn
with me to Judges 12. I want to look at the first three
verses tonight. I had intended to try to cover
the first six, but it was just too much. And the more I looked
at these first three verses, I saw there's a needful lesson
here. So Judges 12, beginning in verse 1. And 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 did not call us to go with thee? We'll burn my
house upon thee with fire. Now this wasn't just a minor
dispute. They were at the height of pride
and envy. They were consumed with jealousy. They were ready to kill Jephthah
over it. You know, the Ammonites represent
sin. All the enemies of God in the
Old Testament scriptures represent our enemy of sin. That's our
greatest enemy. Sin, Satan, and self. Three S's. and the men of Ephraim who were
of the nation of Israel. They were upset that they didn't
receive any glory for the victory over the Ammonites. And when
you think about it, it's no different today. Men desire some recognition
for the removal of sin. By nature, mankind wants credit
for themselves. That's why we have all the denominations
that we have today. And everyone but the one that
preaches the true gospel is works-based. It's based upon something that
they do, some righteousness that they provide. And they are very, well, they get upset when you
disagree with them. It was and is nothing but wretched
ingratitude. Men get upset when they don't
get any credit or any glory. So much so that they were ready
to burn down Jephthah's house with him in it. They said, why
didn't you call us? And look what Jephthah says in
verse two. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were
at great strife with the children of Ammon, and we're at great
strife with our sin, aren't we? And he said, and when I called
you, you delivered me not out of their hands. Ephraim was,
as I said, jealous. They didn't get to participate
in the battle for one reason only, for the glory of the victory. Jephthah said, I called you.
You had an opportunity to help me. And friends, I was thinking
we once had an opportunity to be faithful to the law of God
and our father, Adam, but we failed in him. our federal head
who ignored the only one law that God gave him. You know,
men talk about keeping the law of God. You know, I've heard
silly things like, well, I've kept most of them or I've kept
eight of the 10 or whatever. God gave Adam, who was created
in the image of God himself, one commandment and he couldn't
keep it. Not one. And you and I have never kept
God's law. In order to be kept, it's got
to be kept perfectly. And we've got to keep every law
perfectly. And we can't do that. We know
we can't. So now they're fighting mad because they couldn't share
in the glory with those they felt to be inferior to them.
And they don't deny it. If you remember in Judges chapter
8, the men of Ephraim had done the same thing to Gideon. We're
close. Just turn back to chapter 8 for
a minute and look at verse 1. You remember this. And the men
of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that
thou callest us not? You didn't call us. When thou
wentest to fight with the Midianites, and they did chide with them
sharply, I was thinking, what a picture of false religion this
is. This seems to be, it's called
a modest operandi. It's abbreviated as M.O. That's their M.O. You've heard
people say that. It's their habitual way of operating. It seems to be the case with
Ephraim. It's man's natural M.O. too. Our Lord died centuries
ago, securing the salvation of His elect. However, almost immediately,
men begin to claim that they had a part in their salvation
according to their will, their decision, or their works. It's
their M.O. It's our M.O. by nature to want
to share in the glory of God. And it's nothing more than accusing
Christ of not allowing them to have a part in their salvation. The source of such is man's pride. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall. And look at what Jetha's response
is, verse three. And when I saw that you delivered
me not, you weren't willing to help, I put my life in my hands
and passed over against the children of Ammon and the Lord delivered
them into my hand. Wherefore then you are come up
unto me this day to fight against me." And friends, this is a telltale
sign of whether men and women know God or if they don't. In
the matter of salvation, does man get the credit or does God? In the matter of salvation, in
the matter of redemption, does God get the glory or does man?
Do professing believers exalt themselves and desire to be exalted,
or do they exalt God and acknowledge that the salvation of sinners
is God's glory and His alone? This isn't just a matter of difference
of opinions. Over and over again throughout
the Old Testament scriptures, God delivered Israel, and it
seems like every time He did, all they thought about was themselves.
God made it, did a miraculous delivery, and they, within just
a short time, they'd be complaining about the food and the water
and, you know, you brought us out here in the wilderness for
us to die. And that's a picture of us. That's a picture of us. There's no, people, People are
entitled by nature. They just feel entitled. And
only God can make a sinner otherwise. There's no wonder that in the
day of judgment, people are gonna stand before God and say, haven't
we, haven't we done many wonderful works? You know, when you think about
that, what a thing to say when you consider what your true works
are. But when you listen to folks closely, they talk a great deal
about themselves. They talk about their faith.
They talk about their faithfulness. They talk about their giving.
They talk about their work. But they talk very little about
all that God has done. That's a telltale sign. They're jealous of God's glory,
not jealous for God's glory. There's a big difference. Two
opposite things, really. They talk about the great things
they themselves do, not about the great things that God hath
done. And I say again, it's a telltale sign. Is salvation something
we deserve? Most folks think so. Do we deserve some credit in
being saved? Or do we see that we deserve
nothing but death, wrath, eternal condemnation? Do we see the salvation
as a gift of mercy and love and grace given to us? Or do we desire
to share in the credit of redemption? All of us by nature want to receive
some recognition, some praise, some credit for the work we perform.
That's true in our everyday lives. When it comes to our jobs, everyone
wants to be acknowledged for a job well done. I used to have
a boss who was not quick. to give compliments or praise.
And he always said, if you do a good job, your paycheck will
be the recognition and the praise you get. And you know, really,
I appreciated that because men get paid to do a good job. But
recognition and credit, we also yearn for, we all do. A little
pat on the back doesn't hurt, but I sometimes wonder it may
hurt more than we think. And that's why this is a telltale
sign, because in the matter of salvation, we don't get any.
We don't get none. We get none. And that's why men
by nature hate the true gospel, because God gets all the glory
and recognition and all the credit, and we don't get any. Not a particle. As professing
believers, do our lives express more love and longing for recognition
and glory? Or do we love the fact that God
deserves all of it? God's people love the fact that
God gets all the glory. He accomplished it. We didn't
do anything. We've said this often, one of
the greatest battles of our sinful nature is the desire to be our
own God. Men by nature love the praise
of men, but we deserve nothing but the wrath of God. Anything
besides that is mercy and grace, the grace of God. Are the decisions
we make driven by what others think or by what God thinks?
In our Lord's day, many among the chief rulers believed on
Christ, but the Scripture says, but because of the Pharisees,
they didn't confess Him. Why? Because they didn't want
to be put out of the synagogue. Why did they fear being put out
of the synagogue? He tells us, for they loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God. They met together in
the synagogue, and oh, Rabbi Johnson and Rabbi Jones, oh,
you know, just, you're so spiritual, you're so holy. Men loved that.
Christ said, take heed that you do not your alms, your good works,
your charity before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have
no reward of your father, which is in heaven. The Lord added
in Matthew chapter six, verse five, and when thou prayest,
thou shall not be as the hypocrites are. Those who do things to be
seen of men are just that, they're hypocrites. For they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Speaking of the Pharisees, the
Lord said in Matthew chapter 23, beginning in verse five,
but all their works they do to be seen of men, they make broad
their phylacteries. Now phylacteries, in case you
don't know, in Jewish practice, it was a small black leather,
cube-shaped case that they put on their garments containing
text of the law written on parchment, which was to be reminders of
God and His law. And the Pharisees' phylacteries
would be stuffed so full that there's parchments hanging out
the cracks in the phylactery. And it was ordered for men to
be seen of men and make them seem more holy and spiritual.
They would even, Christ said, make broader their garments so
their phylacteries could be bigger and hold more. And it's the same
today with those in religion who wear religious robes and
collars. Does it make them more holy?
Of course not. Christ is our only holiness before
God. The Pharisees loved the uttermost
rooms at feasts. The chief seats in the synagogues,
they loved to be greeted in the marketplace and to be called
a man rabbi. But God's people, they don't
desire to be recognized or given spiritual titles. For one is their master, even
Christ, and they are his brethren. What higher title could we possess
than to be called Christ's brethren, to be called his children? There's no higher title. There's no greater garment than
the garment of Christ's perfect righteousness. And it's ours. We're not in need of impressing
anyone. We didn't do anything to impress
anyone. Our Lord did. We just proclaim
what He's done. And chosen sinners will be impressed
with Him. No greater honor or glory than
to be called the children of God. There's a passage in the
book of Job I want you to look at. Hold your place here in Judges
12. And turn there with me. Job chapter 19, verse 9. Job 19, verse nine, look at this. Very short verse, it says multitudes. Here in Job 19, nine, Job says
this, speaking of God, he says, he had stripped me of my glory
and taken the crown from my head. That's what the gospel does.
It strips man of his glory. It takes the crown from his head,
their head. And that's where we have to be
brought, friends. It was then that Job said this,
I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes
see it thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and
ashes. God's people who have been stripped
of their glory taking their imagined crown from their head, they're
not interested in talking about what they've done. They're not
interested in any of God's glory. They're interested in the glory
of God, and they're jealous for the glory of God, not of it. Has God stripped you of any glory? Has God removed the crown from
your head? If you belong to Him, He has,
or you will. There's still enough arrogance
in all of us to send us to hell a thousand times. But the child
of God knows that God is stripping us day in and day out. And the
only crown of glory we possess is the crown of King Jesus, our
King of kings and our Lord of lords. I'm not looking for crowns up
in heaven. I'd be looking for scars. God doesn't owe us anything.
It would cease to be grace if He did. A true believer proclaims
with David, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name
give glory, be glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. That's what we glory in, the
truth of God. Now back in Judges chapter 12
verse 3, again Jephthah said, when I saw that you delivered
me not, that you could not and you would not help me, he said,
I put my life in my hands and passed over against the children
of Ammon. I went against sin and the Lord
delivered them into my hand. Wherefore then are you come unto
me this day to fight against me? Now Jetha here, as a type
of Christ, says, I put my life in my hands. Not yours, but mine. And isn't that what Christ did
when he came into the world? He took on the responsibility
of his elect people. He took on the responsibility
to defeat our enemy, sin, Satan and even self. And he took on
the responsibility of delivering the people of God, and that's
just what he did. We couldn't do it. Only God could,
and only God can. Are you gonna fight against me
for proclaiming that it was the Lord that delivered the enemy
into my hands yet to see it? You gonna burn my house down
with me in it because I'm telling you the truth? That's what the
Lord said one time. Paul said, are you going to hate
me because I tell you the truth? Well, you tell folks the truth,
and the ones that don't believe the truth, and they'll burn your
house down with you in it, in their hearts. Are you so starved for recognition
and glory that you would desire to kill me? And the answer, sadly,
is an astounding yes. The Lord said, they'll put you
out of the synagogue, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth
you will think that he does God's service. They'll kick you out
of their denomination, desiring to kill you, burn you alive in
your own house, in their hearts. if they could. And some may say,
well, that seems a bit harsh, Brother David. Well, the Bible's
even harsher then, because that's what the Lord Himself said. The
natural heart is so desperately wicked and deceitful above all
things. If God let us go, we'd kill man
and God alike. And our Lord also said, if you
were of the world, the world, including the religious world,
would love his own, but because you're not of the world, but
I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
You can expect that, Adel. You can expect people to hate
you, even your own family, for your love of Christ. Our Lord was the only man that
was ever in control of his own destiny. He came to the world
to put His life in His own hands. And friends, He put our life
in His hands too. And I wouldn't have it any other
way. That's the best place for us to be because no man can pluck
us out of His hand. Aren't you glad you're in His
hands? And no room or reason for us
to glory May God be pleased to make us
jealous for the glory that's due Him. Who gets the glory? To God be the glory. Put all
your trust in His finished work. The psalmist said, put not your
trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is
no help. Now I have an interest in who
the next president is going to be. things that are important to
me, but listen, ultimately, I am in God's hand. And I wouldn't have it any other
way. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. We don't put our trust
in princes or presidents or in men of any kind in whom there's
no help. Jephthah said, the Lord delivered
me. The Lord said in Isaiah 42 verse
8, I'm the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give
to another. God is jealous for His glory
and we're jealous for Him to have it. God's people are. And that's why this thing of
man's free will and man's works of so-called righteousness are
just evil. Because it's an attempt for us
to contribute in our salvation and the glory
of it. And if I have to contribute to my salvation, that just takes
away any hope or assurance that I have because I can't do anything
to save myself. Don't you like the fact that
salvation is of the Lord? No, we love it, don't we? You
remember what Hannah said, we talked about it a little bit
Sunday. Talk no more exceedingly proudly. Let not your arrogancy come out
of your mouth. The bowels of the mighty men
are broken and they that stumbled and see that they have, speaking
of God's meek and broken people, are girded with strength. And
what is more arrogant than for man to glory in anything for
that matter? to require something for me to
be saved is to rob me of my salvation and to rob God of His glory.
I can't do anything to save myself. Only Christ can put my sin away.
Therefore, I don't deserve to receive any glory. Now the Ephraimites
only have one reason to be angry with Jetha. They didn't get to
share in the glory. Now you can whittle it down any
way you want to, but that's the bottom line. Why didn't you call
us? Jetha said, I did call you. You
wouldn't help me. And now that the battle is over,
now that the victory is won, now that the enemy has been defeated,
they're mad because they didn't get to share in the glory. Does
that sound familiar? Christ has put His people's sin
away. Christ defeated our enemy. And
people want to share in the glory. Men proclaim salvations of the
Lord, but God wants and needs me to participate in what He's
done in order for me to be saved, I hear them say. It's the same
as saying, you can't strip me of my glory. It's the same as
saying, you can't take the crown off my head. Oh, yes, He can. And for His people, He does.
And what an arrogant thing to think that we deserve glory.
You know, the gospel, what we're doing tonight, preaching the
gospel, is what keeps believers humble. Because we hear again
about the greatness of God and the wickedness of ourselves.
And we know what we deserve. In our hearts, we know what we
deserve. And we say, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name. You get all the glory. You did
all the work. Salvation's of the Lord. Ephraim,
no doubt, felt entitled. I'm certain that he always had.
As you know, he was the younger son that Jacob switched hands
on and gave him the birthright. And I suppose his descendants
here are no different. That's what they'd been taught.
That's why it's so important for us to teach our children
from an early age that Christ is all. Can't start too young.
What a picture we have here of all the religions of the world
that are set here to gather themselves together. They all have one thing
in common. They want to share in God's glory. And I intend to be redundant
because this is the focus of this study. And it's a tell-tale
sign that they're wrong. The message is wrong. Their gospel
is false. It's not just, as I said earlier,
not just a difference in opinion. It's a difference in gods. It's
a difference in gospels. The gospel takes away our glory
and it removes the crown from our head. And all the religions
of the world want some credit in the saving of themselves.
That was Ephraim's problem, and that's still the problem with
the religion of the world today. David said, why do the heathen
rage? What are they upset about? What are they raging about? Why
do people imagine a bang-bang? He said, the kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers take counsel together. What do
they take counsel together about? Against the Lord. Against the
Lord. To claim that I have a free will
is against the Lord. Against His anointing. They have
one thing in common. They want the glory for themselves.
And you might ask, well, is that really an important issue? Listen
to me. It's a matter of life and death. They say, let us break their
bands of sunders. Do you know that word bands means
restraint imposed by authority. They said, let us cast away their
cords from us. The word cords means interlaced
or twisted together. The believers interlaced and
twisted together with Christ is one. There's no righteousness
or glory apart from being one with Him. And when men endeavor
to take the glory of their salvation for themselves, they're casting
away Christ's cords. And they're breaking asunder
the bands of His authority. When men strive to take the credit
for salvation, they're breaking away from Christ. And what they're
saying is, I will not have that man to rule over me. Not gonna do it. Not gonna have
him to reign over me. And this, my friends, is serious
business. It's worthy of our time to look
at tonight. Those who desire glory will not
inherit eternal life. There's no salvation, no glory
other than the substitution, satisfaction, and sacrifice of
Christ who was sent by God to put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. It's an attempt to rob God of
the glory that rightly belongs to him alone. You know, when
men and women proclaim to participate in their salvation, what they're
saying is this, is I won't be bound by this union with Christ.
I'm going to break these bands. I'm going to cast away these
cores. I'm not going to be under authority. I'm going to do it
my way. I'm going to do it my way. Sorry,
Mr. Sinatra and sorry Elvis, but
we don't do it our way. We do it God's way or no way
at all. Jephthah said, I and my people
were at great strife with the children of Ammon, representing
sin. He said, you couldn't help, only
one can, the God-man, the one whom God sent to put away my
sin. And our Lord and Savior to substitute
for His people was in great strife for our sin. That's what Jethro
said. He said, me and my people were
in great strife against the Ammonites. We're in great strife against
sin. All of it was laid upon Him. All the sin of all God's people
throughout the generations of time were put on Him, God's people,
not the whole world. and so much strife that our Lord
said to His Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from
me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. And in that
same passage, Luke 22, verse 44, in being in agony, He prayed
more earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of
blood falling to the ground. Now, hear me on this, the agony
our Lord experienced came before the whip was ever applied to
His back. This agony came before the crown
of thorns were ever put upon His head. This agony was before
the nails were ever driven into his hands and his feet, before
the spear ever pierced his side. This agony and this strife came
when our sin was placed upon him. What strife? What agony? Where is there any glory for
us in that? All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath..."
Now listen, "...laid on him the iniquity of us all." That's the
most glorious thing a sinner could ever hear. All my sin,
the sin I could do nothing about, the sin that I could not put
away, was laid upon him and he put it away for me. And that's
our message. And we don't glory in it. And
Jephthah again as a type of Christ said in verse 2, I and my people,
that just stood out to me, were a great strife. Jephthah fought
the Ammonites for his people, but yet his union was such with
his people that he included himself. He said, I and my people. So it is with our great Jephthah.
Jetham means he will open. Only Christ could open the way
of eternal life for us. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
into the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Christ died the just for the
unjust to bring us to God. He's the just one, we're the
unjust. That's what God says. And God's
people have been made to see it. and they've been made to
agree with it, and they don't want any of the glory for it.
What glory do they deserve? Christ, the just one, died to
bring the unjust to God. Over 200 times in the Scriptures,
God refers to His children as My people. My people. Pharaoh, let My people go. You better let them go. God says, and my people shall
dwell in a peaceable habitation and ensure dwellings and in quiet
resting places. Isaiah 32, 18. Our Lord was taken
from prison. The word prison there means distress.
Our Lord was taken from distress and from judgment. And who shall
declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken? Isaiah 53a. Now do we have any
right to share in the glory of that? Why do folks get mad? Do these
glory seekers affect God in any way? No. He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
He will speak to them in His wrath and vex, trouble them in
His sore displeasure. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son, lest God be angry. In other words, bow to Christ.
If not, you'll perish from the way. Our only hope of redemption
is that Christ got the victory by himself. We add nothing but
leaven, that leavens the whole loaf, and we try to add something
to it. We add nothing to the wonder
of salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. And friends,
Jetha has come home. And all his people are gonna
go with him. After him, no one else is gonna
stand in his way, as we'll see in the next study. And it's important
for us to learn we're not victims, we're guilty. We're to blame. We can't blame anyone but ourselves
for our sin. We can't fix our condition. No
matter how we try. No matter what we do. We can't
fix it. That scene in Cain who offered
a work of his own hands. God accepts only a blood sacrifice. We're guilty and Christ has already
fixed it. He's defeated the Ammonites.
He's defeated our sin. And we rejoice and we give Him
all the glory. We don't want to share in His
glory. We're jealous for His glory, not jealous of it. God's
glory is this. He'll have mercy on whom He'll
have mercy. Isn't that what He told Moses?
Lord, show me Your glory. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And on whom He has mercy, He
saves. And thanks be to God that He
has mercy on some. And that son is going to bow
to His glory alone. They're not going to want any
for themselves. Christ said to those who won't, He said, I come
to you. You rejected me. So I took life
into my own hands. And when we saw that we could
not deliver ourselves from sin, we put our life in His hands.
That's what trusting in Christ is. And some will continue to
fight to no avail, like the men of Ephraim will perish. Deliverance
is the Lord's work alone, and He receives all the glory. Christ
is God's glory. He did for us what we couldn't
do for ourselves.