Our leaders, faithful and truthful,
arise. Under their stars we twirl, rest
for a moment and rise. Our new song is the battle, our
new spirit is the fight. Good singing. Good song. Thank you. Hebrews 11. Turn over to Hebrews
11 very quickly. And then we're going to look
in an Old Testament type. Do you like Old Testament type? I love them. I love them. And I'm certain
you have not seen this one before. I know you've read it, but I've
never heard anyone preach on it. In Hebrews 11, Paul says
in verse 32, What shall I more say? Time would fail me to tell
of Gideon and Barak. Samson, Jephthah, David also,
Samuel, prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promise, stopped the mouths of lions,
and so on. Now each of these persons he
mentioned, while their faith is spoken of, yet each of them
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beautiful types. Gideon, we looked
at Gideon before. Samson, we haven't looked at
Samson together, we may. David, Samuel, and so forth. Who subdued kingdoms? Our Lord
subdued kingdoms. Wrought righteousness, and so
on. Paul said time would fail me.
Well, tonight we're going to take the time to speak of Jephthah. Jephthah. It's found in the book
of Judges. Paul said, Gideon, Barrett, Jephthah. In the book of Judges, chapter
10. Judges, chapter 10. Now, I know it's Wednesday night. I know you're tired. But these types require a little
more than a casual hearing. These are in-depth studies. And so ask the Lord to give you
an attentive ear. It requires that you pay close
attention, all right? I believe you'll get a blessing.
I know you will. If it comes out half the way it went in, you'll get a blessing. Well,
now in chapter 10, Israel. Israel speaks of a sinful bunch
of people called Israelite. And though they were God's elect,
God's chosen people, yet they were a sorry lot, a sinful bunch
of rebellious people. In spite of the Lord's plain
words to them, words of promise for obedience, words of warning
for disobedience, they sinned against the Lord time and time
and time again. And look at verse 6 of chapter
10. Children of Israel did evil again
in the sight of the Lord. Again. Again, and again, and
again, and again. The Lord delivered them. Psalms
like Psalm 107 and 104 talk about this. How the Lord
delivered them, but they sinned again. And they cried unto the
Lord, and He delivered them, and they sinned again. Well,
that's us. Well, they did evil. In verses 8 and 9, that year
the Ammonites vexed and oppressed the children. All the children
of Israel were on the other side of Jordan, in the land of the
Amorites, in Gilead. That is, they were in a strange
land. They were vexed by these strangers. Verse 9 says, the
last line, Israel was tore to shreds. So they were vexed. They were in a strange land.
They were distressed. And look at verses 10 and following. Children of Israel cried unto
the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we
have forsaken our God and served Balaam. And the Lord said unto
the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians
and from the Amorites, the children of Ammon, Philistine, Sidonians,
Amalekites? It reminds him of all the times
he delivered them, time and time again. Those that did oppress
you and you cried to me and I delivered you out of their hand, verse
13. Yet you've forsaken me, served other gods, wherefore I will
deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods you've
chosen. They were all still religious. They were still religious, but
they weren't serving the living and true God. They'd just fallen
in, Ed, with everybody's God, any God that came along, they
were worshiping. And the Lord said, let your God
save you. Call on them. See if they'll
save you and deliver you. Well, look at verses 15 and following. The children of Israel said unto
the Lord, we have sinned. Now, here's true repentance. This is godly sorrow right here.
And before, they're asking for help. They're in trouble. This
is God's sorrow that needs not be repented of. This is true
repentance, because listen to what they say. They said in verse
15, we have sinned. You do unto us whatever seems
good to you. Whatever you do, we've got it
coming. Do it. But now, please. Verse 15, only deliver us, save
us, we pray. Whatever happens to us, whatever
you see fit, however you see fit to judge us, whatever trial,
whatever you put upon us, we deserve it. Give it to us. We'll
submit to it. But please have mercy on us. Save us. The Lord heard that. He heard that. And look at what
they did also. Look at it. Verse 16. They put
away the strange gods. They turned from their idols
to serve the living and true God. Now, there's true repentance.
They justified God and said, whatever you do is right. Everything
we've done was sinned against you. We sure would appreciate some
mercy. And they put away their strange gods. What have we to
do anymore with idols? We'll serve the living and true
God. And it says in verse 16, God's soul was grieved for the
misery of Israel. In other words, he felt compassion
for them. In verse 17 and 18, the children
of Ammon were camped together. The children of Ammon, their
enemy, encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled
themselves together. They had a meeting. They got
together. In verse 18, the people and the
princes said one to another, they were of one mind. They were
of one accord here. They were in unity here. They
all knew what they needed. Verse 18. We need a man. What man is he that will begin
to fight against the children of Ammon? Whoever he is, he'll
be the head. He'll be our head. We need a
man, they said. They got it together. We need
a man to fight for us. We need a Lord, we need a Savior,
we need a Captain. Chapter 11. Now Jephthah, the Gileadite,
was a mighty man of power. Well, they no sooner had said,
we need a man, until God provided one. His name was Jephthah. Now, Jephthah means, he shall
open. He shall open. Like Moses before
him, who opened the Red Sea. The children of Israel walked
through on dry land, like Joshua, who opened the way into the promised
land. God raised up Jephthah to deliver
his people. And Jephthah is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who came to open the way into
the holiest of all. A mighty man of valor. Jephthah
was a mighty man of valor. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
almighty and has all valor, strength, and courage. to the tab. Verse
1, read on, it says, He was a son of a harlot. This Jephthah was
a son of a harlot. A man named Gilead was his father. This man Jephthah was born of
a sinful parentage. Born among sinners. Humble parentage. Born of a harlot. How does that
apply to our Lord? Have you not read? In Matthew
1, in his very lineage, there are two harlots mentioned. Rahab
and Tapar. Bathsheba, she played the part. The son of humble parents, though
he had no father or mother really, yet he, in his lineage, he is
the son of humble parents and son of a harlot, if you will.
And our Lord, the Scripture says, was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. numbered with the transgressors,
chosen from among the people. Verse 2, And Gilead's wife bare
him son, and his wife's sons grew up. Now, these were Jephthah's
brethren. And they thrust out Jephthah.
They said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house
while you are the son of a strange woman. You are born of fornication. Get out of here. We don't want
you. And our Lord, the Scripture says, came to his own, and his
own received him not. Why, his very flesh and blood
brethren rejected him, didn't they? Huh? He was despised and
rejected of men. Verse 3, Then Jephthah fled from
his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob. He left his brethren
and dwelt in another place. And there were gathered, in other
words, his associates, his followers. were vain men, gathered vain
men to Jephthah and went out with him. That is, they followed
him everywhere. Now, this vain men doesn't mean they were no
good, bad men. Vain means of no worth, of no
value. In other words, Jephthah's followers,
the ones that he gathered to himself, were nobodies from nowhere.
They had nothing. Why, they were probably in distress,
in debt, but Jephthah became their captain. Does that sound
familiar? Our Lord's disciples were a vain
lot, a motley crew indeed, not many wise men. Do you see your
call? Not many wise men, not many mighty
or noble are called vain men, a worthless crew. The Lord's
own are a worthless lot. Nobody's from nowhere. Look at
verses 4 through 8. Let's read these verses. 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 made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to
fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tyre. They said unto Jephthah,
Come and be our captain, that we may fight with the children
of Ammon. And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not
you hate me and expel me out of my father's house? Why are
you coming to me now when you're now in distress?" And the elders
of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee
now, that thou mayest go with us and fight against the children
of Ammon. Be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. And
though the people rejected Jephthah, To a man, they rejected him.
All of them despised and rejected him. They needed him now, didn't
they? And they realized they were hopeless
without him. And they knew it now. Somehow
or another, someone had made them see their desperate care.
And that the only one that could deliver them was Jephthah. And
so they went crying to him then, to deliver them. And it said
in the process of time, they came to him. Well, in the fullness
of time. Scripture said, God sent forth his Son, made a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
And though despised and rejected, though he came to his own and
they asked not for him, yet he said, I'll be sought of them
that sought me not. I'll be asked of them that asked me not. Yes,
all those that I call will call on me. God brings our sins You
know, there was a time when we didn't ask for them. We despised
and rejected this gospel of Christ and had nothing to do with it.
Not interested. Then we get in trouble. God brings
our sins to weigh heavy upon us and shows us our helpless
condition. And then we cry unto the Lord.
And he brings us to call upon him and to save us. Verse 8, they said, we turn to
you. We turn to you that you may go with us and be our head. Well, look at what Jephthah said
in verse 9. Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, if you
bring me home again, if I come down there to fight against the
children of Adam, if I do this thing, and the Lord deliver them
before me, shall I be your head? Am I going to be your Lord? Am I going to be your sovereign?
Am I going to be your head? If I do this thing, will I be
your head? Verse 10, the elders of Gilead
said unto Jephthah, The Lord be witness between us, if we
do not so according to thy words. If we own thee not as our Lord,
our head, and our sovereign, the Lord be witness against And
verse 11 says, Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead,
and the people made him head and captain over them. And Jephthah
uttered all his word before the Lord in Medina. That is, he took
this oath upon himself before the Lord to undertake for these
people. I'm going to be your head. We'll
own you as our head. So he did. And that's exactly
what the Scripture says of our Lord. It says in Philippians
2, that he was found in the fashion as a man, humbled himself, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore,
God hath also highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and every tongue should confess That Jesus Christ
is Lord, Head, Sovereign, King. Own Him. Own Him to the glory
of God the Father. And if we do not, the Lord is
witness against us. For in Psalm 2 it says they'll
perish. They'll perish when His wrath
is kindled but a little. Kiss the Son, He said. Blessed
are all those who put their trust in Him. Blessed are all they
that put their trust in Him. Now, everyone didn't own Jephthah.
There were some Ephraimites who did not own Jephthah. They did
not own Him as their Lord, and their end was doomed. But blessed
were the people whom God sent Jephthah to, and blessed are
the people whom God caused to own Jephthah as their Lord. They
didn't all do it. What made these to differ and
the others not to own Him? What made these to own Him as
Lord and Master and Head and call upon Him? And the others
didn't acknowledge Him at all, didn't seek Him at all. What
did it? Rather, who did it? The Spirit
of the Lord made these to differ. And so it is with us. Blessed
be God who sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Head and our
Captain. And blessed be those who own
Him as their Captain. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to them, but our Father which is in Heaven. Are you with
me? If that's you, bless the Lord, O my soul, when all is
within me, bless me his name. Blessed are the people whose
God is the Lord. Happy are the people who have the God of Jacob
for their help. Well, O Jephthah, in the verses
following, verses 12 and following, we're not going to read all the
way down through verses 12 through 27. Jephthah sent word to this
enemy king, this Amorite king. He sent word to this king who
was against the people, who was fighting against the people,
who had confronted the children of Israel, who they feared so
greatly, their adversary, this Amorite king. And Jephthah said,
now, are you with me? Jephthah said, now, if I do this,
I'm going to be your head. They said, be our head. Would you please? We'll own you
as our head, our captain, our boss. He said, I'll do it. And
he made this vow before the Lord. All right. Now, Jephthah, a mighty
man of power. He sent word to this king and
said, you're dealing with me now. Jephthah sent word to this enemy
king that he had now undertaken the cause to the children of
Israel. And he was dealing with Jephthah now. That you don't
speak to anybody but me. That he has to answer to me.
Where is that enemy king? And Jephthah kept, and Jephthah
said, now what is it that you have against these people? And
this enemy king began to level charges against him. Accusation
after accusation against him. What they had done. And Jephthah
answered them all. Every one of them, he answered.
Claims against his people. Accusations against them. Look
at verse 27 down there. Wherefore, and finally, that
king said, You're the one. You're the one. And verse 27,
Jephthah said, I have not sinned against thee. You doest me wrong
to war against me. The Lord the judge be judged
this day between the children of Israel and the children of
Ammon. I've not sinned against you.
You can't find anything wrong in me. And now you're going to
have to deal with the Lord himself. And so it was when our Lord Jesus
Christ turned 30 years old, the captain of our salvation. He
sent word to the adversary. I undertake the cause of my people
now. I am the covenant head now. I
am the captain of their salvation now. I am the representative
of my people now. You deal with me. You seek these,
you deal with me. You found any accusation against
them, I'll answer it. And the Lord met him head on.
The scripture says he was tempted in all points, like as we are,
yet without sin. Forty days and forty nights.
You remember that? When our Lord was assaulted by Satan, yet Satan
found nothing in him, the scripture says, because in him is no sin.
And what Satan found in that time was that he was not fighting
against a man, but fighting against God. Deal with that. And he had, oh, this was a little
crew of Israelites and the mighty Amorites and all the other kings
were fighting against, but now Jephthah was on their side. A
mighty man of valor. Oh, we're not the right man on
their side. They're striving to be losing.
But Jephthah. God sent Jephthah. Look at verses
32 and 33. So Jephthah passed over unto
the children of Ammon, that is. He got right in the midst of
the Ammon. He took the fight to them. The fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into
His hand. And He smote them. Every one
of them. until thou came to Minneth, that
is from east to west, twenty cities while he just scoured
the land looking for these fellows. Now he didn't wait on them, he
went after them and slew them all, even twenty cities under
the plain of the vineyards with a very great slaughter. Thus
the children of Ammon that is were subdued before the children
of Israel. So he passed over fought against
them, the Lord delivered them, smoked them, and they were subdued. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Captain of our salvation, fought for His people. But He didn't
do it in exactly this way. Our Lord did it by being made
sin for us. Yes, He met our enemy head on,
He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. He was delivered up for us. It says He delivered them into
His hands, but the Lord delivers Him up for us all. You see, we're
the enemy. We're the enemy whom our Lord
had to subdue. Our sin. And the Lord delivered
him up for us all, and took all the sins of all of God's people
on Himself, and was smitten, wounded, bruised, smitten for
us. And therefore, our sins are subdued
by Him, and we are subdued by Him. And we are under His feet,
and all things under His feet, by the person and work of our
mighty Jephthah. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord
and Captain. Next week, I want you to read
the rest of this chapter. Start up in verse 29 and read
down to the end of it. We're going to look at Jephthah's
battle. Jephthah's battle. Jephthah made a battle. We thought
it was skipped, didn't we, John? Next Wednesday night, we're going
to look at Jephthah's battle. A glorious picture of God's covenants. and the willing sacrifice. Our Lord, we thank You for sending
our glorious Captain to be smitten, wounded, and bruised for our
sake, and delivered up for us all. He made sin for us. Captain
of our salvation. Lord, our righteousness, our
Redeemer, our covenant head, our Lord, our head, our Savior, our
Redeemer. O happy, blessed are the people
who made Him king over us. The one whom God made king over
us. We are blessed people indeed.
How we thank you for revealing Christ to us. And these obscure
passages that are hidden to the world. You've made them plain
to us, and we thank you for them. And we glory in our captain,
the one who made a way into the holiest of all, where we can
come boldly to the very throne of God for help in time of need. We're a sinful lot, a vain lot,
a worthless people, and yet you sent Christ for us to redeem
us, and we thank you. Thank you for that vow you made
and the one who is willing to undertake it. It's in Christ's
name we are met here tonight and gathered together. Amen.
You're dismissed. What did you have to say? Thank you. you. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and get
started. I'm going to go ahead and do
that. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye.