Thank you, Jerry. All right,
turn over with me to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, I hope most of us
took the time to read this in preparation for tonight as announced
in the bulletin. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
in parables quite often, most of the time. He spoke in parables,
that is, simple stories. He didn't use lofty language. Most of the time he spoke in
two and three, one, two and three syllable words. And he told very simple stories
which told of more profound things, spiritual stories. And the amazing thing about it
was, though, that the doctors and lawyers and learned people
of the day didn't understand what he was saying. He told these
parables and they couldn't figure them out. And even his disciples one time
asked him why he spoke in parables. Darnell, I believe they were
kind of, they kind of wanted him to impress everybody. use
some lofty language, you know, speak in a way that no one understands,
to impress them, to show these doctors and lawyers that you,
our teacher and master, are smarter than they are. I believe that's why they asked
him, why are you speaking in parables? You're offending these
Pharisees by speaking in these simple little stories. Well, the fact is, They didn't
understand those stories. Now that's wisdom. Wisdom is
to take something very profound and make it simple. Or as he
did, take something very simple and make it profound so that
they didn't understand. Do you know that the whole Old
Testament is like parables? The whole Old Testament is a
collection of stories. It's full of true stories. of
men, women, events, ceremonies, laws, and ordinances, and so
forth. And yet these things, the hidden
meaning, the real meaning behind these stories, are hidden from
us. They're hidden. That's the reason
most don't preach from. Well, these stories actually
happen, and our Lord, we read there in Luke 24, our Lord expounded
unto his disciples from the Old Testament. That's the only Bible
they had. The things concerning himself.
They were things concerning himself. He said the prophets bear witness
of me. They're not just stories of Jewish history. Look here
at Hebrews chapter 11. Look at verse 32 again. Paul
says, Hebrews 1132, what shall I more
say, the time would fail me to tell of Gibeon, of Barak, of
Samson, of Jephthah, of David, of Samuel, of the prophets, and
so on. He mentions several names, all
right? Right in the midst of that is a name that I'm sure very,
very few people have ever even heard, let alone understand what
it's about. Jephthah. Like I said, I'm glad our names
are Joe, Bill, Rick, Paul. Simple names, but Jephthah. It's
even hard to pronounce it. Jephthah is mentioned here. Now
turn back with me to Judges 11. That's where this story of this
man Jephthah is found. Judges 11. And if you were here last Wednesday
night, good. I'm going to rehearse these
things that we already saw. Now right in chapter 10, Judges
chapter 10. Now remember, all of this is
a parable, it's a type, it's a true story. Nevertheless, this
is all speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. speaks of man, God, Christ. Verse 7, chapter 10, verse 7,
the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And he sold them,
that is, they were in bondage to the Philistines. They were
under the rule of the Philistines and the children of Ammon, the
Ammonites. Verse 10, the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,
saying, We have sinned against you. And boy, they had. They were a sorry bunch of people.
All that the Lord did for them, if they continued right on. Well,
they cried unto the Lord. Verse 18. And the people got
together, princes, rulers, got together and said, what man is
he that will begin to fight against the children of Adam? We need
a man. They said, we need someone to help us. We need someone to
fight for us. Someone to be our head, it said. He'll be head over in heaven.
He'll be our captain. He'll be our head. He'll be our
ruler. If somebody could just come. The Lord would just send
a mighty man. If the Lord would just send us
a mighty man to help us out of this predicament we're in. Verse 1 of chapter 11. Now here's
the story. Jephthah the Gilead was a mighty
man of valor. A mighty man of valor. Jephthah was that man whom the
Lord sent. A mighty man. I was thinking about this as
I read this story and others like Gideon, Moses, Joshua, Samson. The men in scriptures who represent
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they're men. The Lord took the finest men
who ever walked this planet, I mean the boldest, most courageous,
strongest, the mightiest men, the best men, and they were,
they represented the Lord Jesus Christ. I was thinking about
this Jesus that's being preached today. How he's, you know, right
now they say he's crying and weeping and he's outside the
door wanting in and he can't get in and so forth. And I thought, what real man
could worship and have any respect for someone like, why would you
even need somebody like that, huh? I wouldn't have anything to do
with religion if that's the way Jesus really is. I think of myself
as being at least half a man. But any real man or real woman
for that matter shouldn't have any respect for this peanut,
pinhead Jesus they're talking about today, who's less powerful
than they are. But when God represents His Son
in the Old Testament, it's with men of might and valor, men who
slew whole armies single-handedly. Like Samson, with a jawbone in
the ass. How many splits did he slice?
And this man Jephthah, he wasn't
waiting either. In our story here, Jephthah didn't
sit back and wait and say, well, let's see what the enemy's going
to do. He sent a letter to that enemy king. He said, I'm coming
after you. He had the enemy king shaking
his boots. The scriptures talk much about
the fear of the Lord, and that's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, a mighty man of valor. And when he stood on this earth,
nobody could stand before him, not a man or devil. He faced
them all. This is who this represents,
a mighty man of valor. And verse 2 says that Jephthah
was rejected by his brethren. You see this? Gilead's wife married
him sons, and his wife's sons grew up and they thrust out Jethro.
They said, you don't have any part with us. That's exactly
what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says he came
to his own, his own received him not. So that's for a reason. That's so that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. That this scripture might be fulfilled.
Verse 6, look down at verse 6. Well, They called after they
realized, all the people realized that they couldn't get out of
the mess they were in by themselves. It was hopeless. And they knew Jephthah was a
mighty man of valor. And they had rejected him, thumbs
down. Then they came crawling back to him this time. And they
said, we know we rejected you, but would you help us, please? And that's the way God does his
people. Everyone rejects God. I spent,
I don't know how many years, rejecting thumbs down. I remember
saying that everything my dad preached and believed was nonsense. I said that. And he brought me calling back,
asking if you'll please help me. And what Jephthah said, if
I do this, I'm going to be your head. From here on, you're going
to bow before me. You're going to worship me, in
other words. That's what Jephthah said. I'm no figurehead. I'm your head. And they all said, OK, fine.
And that's what Jephthah said, all right? And he sent a letter
to that king. Oh, I love this story. He sent
a letter to that king, and he said, now, you're not dealing
with a bunch of weak Israelites. You're dealing with me. I've undertaken for these people.
I'm their head, I'm their master, I'm their king, I'm their lord.
Now you're dealing with me and I'm coming to get you. And that's
what he did. It says in verse 12, or verse
11, the Lord, I'm sorry, chapter 11, verse
The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and He passed over
Gilead and Manasseh and passed over this place and that place.
He went wherever He wanted to go. He went through whatever
people He decided to go through. He conquered whoever He decided
to conquer. Now, this is the mighty man. And that's who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Well, you can't conquer Him. He's a hopeless man. If I decide to, I will. It's not up to him or her, it's
up to me. And he did, he went through and
conquered whoever he had decided to conquer. Well, Jephthah now,
he smoked the enemy and he became head over all the people. Now
in our story tonight, in the last part of chapter 11, Jephthah makes a vow. Jephthah makes a vow. Before
he goes to fight for the Israelites, he makes a vow. All right, let's
look at verses 32 and 33. Oh, I'm sorry, verse 30 and 31.
But Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord. And he said, if thou
shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,
if you'll make me victorious in this battle. Then shall it
be, it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of
my house, in other words, when I come back, who or whatever
comes through that door to meet me, bring on, when I return in
peace from the children of man, I'll offer it surely to the Lord,
and I'll offer it up for a burnt offering. So he made a vow. He said, Lord,
if you'll help me, You'll help me defeat these ammonites. Whatever,
when I come back, whatever walks through my door, it's yours. Doesn't matter who or whatever
it is. Now, this was a rash vow. Scriptures tell us not to make
vows. You don't bargain with God. And
this was a rash vow. There was nothing right in what
he said here. There wasn't. But why did this
happen? Why did he do this? Because this is the story. The
Lord wrote this down. The Lord had Jephthah do this
because this represents a vow which God himself made and which
his son undertook. It's a clear picture. It's a
beautiful picture. All right, let's look at it.
All right? A vow, it says in verse 30, he
made a vow. A vow is an agreement, right? An oath, a covenant. There's
the word we're looking for. A vow is a covenant, agreement. If you do this, I'll do this. We've all made agreements. We've
all made covenants. That's an old word, but we've
all made a covenant. Contract is a new word. But the
scripture word is covenant, all right? Testament is a word. We've all made these covenants.
If you do this, I'll do that. If I do this, will you agree
to pay me this? And so on. And that's what Jephthah
did. He vowed a vow. Well, Jephthah
represents God the Father right here. Jephthah represents God
the Father. who made a vow, who made a covenant.
Turn over to Hebrews 9 with me. The whole book of Hebrews. The whole book of Hebrews is,
well, most of it is talking about covenant. Covenants. Agreements. All right? And the
covenant that this is speaking of is the one that God Almighty
made before the world began. Before any human beings were
around, this was no covenant between God and men. Like Fulton
preachers say today, they say, well, if you do this, God will
do that. No. This covenant is something God
said, I'm determined to do this. And who this covenant was with,
was with His Son and the Holy Spirit. All right? No human beings were around yet.
But God made this purpose. God made this covenant. And here's
what it said. Now, there are many covenants
in Scripture. Many covenants that I love. Agreements
between two parties. If I'm not careful, I'll get
on with it. You remember the covenant between Judah and his
father Israel or Jacob on behalf of Benjamin? You remember that? When Judah Like I said, if I'm not careful,
Judah promised his father, he said, now I've got to take Benjamin
with me. The king in Egypt said, you've
got to bring your brother with you or I won't let you have any
corn. I won't see you. I won't see your face again.
You're going to die. You better bring Benjamin with
you. I want to see him. And Judah's dad, Jacob, didn't
want him to go. He was his youngest child. And
he said, I don't want you to take Benjamin. I've lost Joseph. I don't want to take Benjamin.
Do you remember what Judah said? Judah said, I'll be sure it's
for him. If I don't bring him back, you
require that my answer. You hold me personally responsible.
I'll bring him back. I promise. And that's a covenant
that the Lord Jesus Christ made when he said to God the Father,
I'll bring these people back. I'll save everyone you get. If
I don't, you hold me responsible. But then that covenant between
David and Jonathan. Oh, my. David and Jonathan and
many other such covenants. Well, this is just as glorious. I can't believe I've never seen
it before. Jephthah made this covenant, and Jephthah said to
the Lord, if the people are going to be saved, if the people are
going to be rescued, if the people are going to be delivered, somebody
is going to die. Somebody is going to have to
be sacrificed. That's what this covenant is about. Right? You understand? That's what it
was. He said to the Lord, if somebody, if the people are going
to be spared and saved, somebody's going to have to die. And that's
what he said, the first person that comes through my door will
be sacrificed to you. Well, here in Hebrews 9, now
look at this, Hebrews 9. It says at the beginning of verse
15, for this cause, he, that is Christ, is the mediator of
a new testament. That's the word covenant, a new
agreement. That by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions,
that is the sins of his people. Just like Jesus' people. It says, look at verse 28, look
down at verse 28. Christ, O Christ, was once offered
to bear the sins of many. Christ was offered. Verse 26,
it says, He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. All right? God said it then. Now, in the
world, this modern society we live in, it's just about done
away with the blood and all this old-fashioned religion that we're
looking at tonight. They're just too sophisticated.
They believe in God. They don't believe in heaven,
hell, judgment, things like that. Basically what they're saying
is this book is a bunch of nonsense. And when they dismiss things
such as judgment, punishment of sin, the need for a blood
sacrifice, for someone to die to pay for the sins of another,
they are calling the Lord Jesus Christ a liar. Because he said
that more than anybody. And that's why he came. That's
what he said. He said, I came to die. So what men are saying when they
dismiss this is they're saying he didn't mean to come. That
everything he said and did is a lie. And it's all useless. Old-fashioned, ridiculous, Jewish,
superstitious religion. That's what I thought. What's this all about? Death,
blood, necessary to redeem people, to put away sin. What's this
all about? Sounds kind of archaic, doesn't it? Sounds like a bloody
superstitious religion. Well, God is not love, first of all. God is not love. If God were
just love, there wouldn't need to be love at all. You understand? If God would just love, He'd
just say, I forgive you. Right? Why didn't He just do
that? God loves everybody, He says. Why didn't He just say,
well, come on all of you, come on up to heaven now? Isn't that a good question? God is holy. And it's like, That one preacher answered an
article by us one time and said, everybody knows God is morally
pure. But he didn't, evidently. When
we say that God is holy, what we mean is, you can't even talk about God.
And we've quoted these scriptures that God himself said he charges
his angels with poverty. They're impure at this time.
The sun doesn't even shine. But nothing's good enough for
God. And God is just. You've heard
me mention our justice system, what a farce it is. Man has no concept of
justice today. Someone committed a crime and
they'll sentence him, like we've noted, to two life sentences. Does he serve one life sentence?
No, he's out on so many years. So that's a farce, to say a life
sentence. That's a farce. But God's just.
You remember in the Old Testament, God said, an eye for an eye,
a tooth for a tooth. You pluck a man's eye out, your eye is
plucked out. Now there's justice. You kill a man, you die. And
God said, the soul that's sinning, shall surely die. Every human
being that's found guilty in his name, die. You say, that's
hard, isn't it? That's holy. That's what holiness means. And
I've used this illustration before. What if a surgeon has this spotlessly
sterile operating room, okay? What if somebody burst through
the door and they hadn't washed their hands or whatever, and
he said, oh, that's okay, one little germ won't hurt. That's all right, come
on, we'll get by something. One germ could kill the patient,
everybody in there for that matter. God is holy. In His presence
is holiness. And He won't allow anything but
perfect holiness. Alright? And so the Lord Jesus
Christ came down here and the life He lived for 33 years was
not just to show us a good example. But it was to establish a perfect
holiness as a man. See, it's not us keeping the
Ten Commandments. Because the scriptures over and
over and over again says no one can. Because God looks on the
heart. But I know who can, I know who
did. The Lord Jesus Christ did. As a man. Kept the law perfectly. And what he did was all the people
that God gave him to do this for. He came down here to do
this for some people, like Jephthah represented the people. Christ
came down to this earth to do this for some people. Call them
the elect. And he lived this perfect life
for them, and he gave it to them. Charged it to them. Didn't offer
it to them. No, no, no. He gave it to them. Scripture talks about him, impugned
it to them. Put it on them. Like that prodigal son, remember
that prodigal son came home. The father said, don't offer
him the robe. The father didn't say, ask him
if he wants a robe. The father said, put that robe
on him. He doesn't even know he's naked.
Put it on him. He needs a holiness or he can't
be in my presence. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. Put it on his people, whether
they knew they needed it or not. They'll know in time. But then
these sins have to be paid for. God is just. He will by no means
clear the guilt of scripture sin. An eye for an eye. Sin, death. So Jesus Christ went
to Calvary's trail. And the scripture says God laid
on Him the iniquity of His people. He was made sin for His people.
He was made a scapegoat. Men use that term a lot today,
don't they? You're just making me a scapegoat. Jesus Christ
was made a scapegoat. All the blame was put on Him
for His people. And God, this is what God thinks
of sin. This is how holy God is. He killed
His own Son. And all of these sacrifices,
and lambs, and so forth, all the way through the Old Testament,
that's what they did. And that's what this need for blood and
death is all about. All right, look at it here. It
says here, it said there in verse 28, that's what Christ did in
his covenant. God said, now if I'm going to
save these people, just like Jephthah, God said, if I'm going
to save these people, somebody's going to die. If I'm going to
redeem these people, if I'm going to have anything to do with these
worthless bunch of human beings, Creatures of flesh, who can't
seem to do anything but filth. If I'm going to have anything
to do with it, somebody's going to have to die. They're going
to have to die, or you're going to have to die, son. Christ said,
I'll do it. Look here at the story. And Judges
chapter 11, it says, verse 34, Jephthah came home.
All right, you see it? Jephthah came home. He just destroyed,
he's made a covenant. And he destroyed the people,
the enemy. And he came home. Verse 34. Came
to his house, and behold, came walking through his door, his
own daughter, came out to meet him. First thing that came through
Jephthah's door was his only child. Look at it. Read on. It says, She was his
only child. Beside her he had neither son
nor daughter. It makes it Very clear to us
that he had one begotten child. Now, if you've got one child, believe
me, that you love that child with every fiber of your being. If you've got one child, your
only begotten, well-beloved child. And it makes it plain to us that
Jephthah had one child when he came home, and out comes his
only child that he dearly loved. Do you see the story here? Now,
he made a vow. He said, well, if you deliver
this people, the first thing that comes through that door,
I'm going to offer it up. And out comes his only begotten child. Now, do you see why this happened?
What a picture this is. Of God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said from heaven itself, God
said, this is my only begotten well-beloved son. in whom I'm
well pleased. Well pleased, his only child.
God purposed in a covenant to save a bunch of rebels and upstepped
his son. Out walked his son and said,
I'll be your shepherd. I'll be their sacrifice. I'll
sacrifice myself for them. Verse 35, it came to pass when
he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, Oh, my daughter, you've
brought me very low. I heard one of them that troubled
me. I've opened my mouth unto the
Lord. I cannot go back. I cannot take my word back. I've
spoken it. I have to do it. I've purposed it, and it must
be done. That's exactly, I'm quoting what
the Lord Himself said. I've spoken it. In Isaiah 53 verse 10 where it
says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him Talking of God bruising his son,
putting his son, making his son a sacrifice. Don't think for
a minute that God took pleasure in killing his own son. But the
pleasure that God had was in saving us. In doing this for
us. So he wouldn't have to do it
to us. But doing it to him. Because no other God or all his
works from the beginning. Knowing he would raise his son
from the grave. Death had no power. But he did
this. Nevertheless, it was still a
painful issue. It was still a grievous thing.
It was still a grievous thing. Huh? But that's what he did. And look
at this. This is great. Now I'm going
to close. Verse 36. He said, I've opened
my mouth to the Lord and I can't go back. And she said, this daughter
of him, verse 36. She said unto him, My father,
if you open your mouth unto the Lord, you do to me according
to that which proceeds out of your mouth. You do whatever is
necessary. You do it to me. Whatever is
necessary, that you vow, that you purpose in order to save
these people, you do it to me. What a willing and obedient child
is he, huh? What a willing sacrifice this
daughter was. Father, I know whatever you do
is right, and if you said you have to do this to me, then do
it. I'll go through it. And that's
exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did. A willing, obedient sacrifice. He was made a son through the
things he suffered, Hebrews said. And she read on and said, but
wait a minute. She said, verse 37. Let this
thing be done for me. Let this be done. Let me alone
two months. Give me two months. I'm going
to go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity. The
fact that I've never been married or had children. I and my fellows. Let me and my companions go up
on the mountain before we go through with this thing. Are you with me? She said let
me and my fellows, my buddies, go up on the mountain. For a
little while, before we go through this, let us go up there and
consider this thing. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. He took three of his disciples
up on the mountain. He said, you watch with me now.
I'm getting ready to go and such. Watch with me. And that's when
he swept great drops of blood in the garden. Remember, he swept
blood and he cried to the Father to make possible. But I know
it's not. He's purposed it and it has to
happen. And then he came back down, and
she said, verse 37, and we'll go up, verse 38. He said, go. So he sent her away two months,
and she went with her companion, bewailed her virginity upon the
mountains. It came to pass at the end of two months, she returned
to her father. She came back down and said,
it's time to go home. Let's go. Go back to my father. And she did, and that's what
Christ said to his disciples. I've got to go to Calvary, but
I will return. I've got to go to the Father,
but I will return. Verse 39, and he did with her according
to his vow, which he had vowed. Now, people, he did not kill
her. He did not kill her, because
look at this. He says, he did with her according
to his vow, which he had vowed, and she knew no man. In other words, she was dedicated
to the Lord as a virgin, an unmarried woman from that day forward,
and I don't know what all that involved, but she did not the
Lord. That would go against everything the Lord commanded her to do,
wouldn't it not? The Lord would not have allowed Yep. He did. He did. Never, never. Did Abraham kill Isaac? Remember when God told Abraham
to take his son Isaac up on the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice?
Did he kill him? No. Maybe, just maybe, they found
the ram too. Maybe they found a lamb or a
ram in the thicket too and offered it in Jephthah's daughter's place.
At any rate, he did not kill her. And so it says in verse
39 and 40, it was a custom in Israel, verse 40, that the daughters
of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah and
Gilead four days in a year. In other words, from that day
forward, everybody did what they did in remembrance of Jephthah's
daughter. That's what this is about. See
that? This stood in remembrance of
me. It's a custom. The Lord said
that you do this. But now our Lord did die at the
hands of His Father. So we don't have to. What a beautiful
picture that is. All right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, thank You
for Your Word. It's so marvelous and so mysterious
and wonderful and complex that no mere man could have written
it. It speaks so clearly of You, Your Son, the Gospel. You've made it known unto us.
You broke it, broke this bread unto us and revealed Yourself.
from it, how we thank you. These things that remain obscure
and hidden to the wise and the prudent, you've revealed them
unto me. How we thank you. Even so, Father,
it seemed good in thy sight. We thank you. Thank you for Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.