Before we go to the book of Judges
tonight, I would like to read a verse over in the book of Luke
chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. It's one of
those verses that we have referred to so often in our studies of
the Old Testament. And I referred to it again today
to a young man. He said he's going through the
book of Proverbs and all he's looking at is how that is beneficial
for daily wisdom, and I just happen to mention this passage
of scripture, but it opens up or shares so much with us with
regard to the book of Judges. And in the book of Luke 24, verse
27, Jesus mentions this, and beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them and all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. And I remember, and I've mentioned
that a number of times, that I read that in one of our studies
here many years ago, and I made the comment, I wish I could have
heard that. I wish I could have heard that.
That would have been such an interesting, and that night I
woke up in bed and said, we have it. And that's the Old Testament. And so as we go, let's look for
Christ. And as we go back over here to
the book of Judges chapter 11, now keep that in mind that there's
going to be type shadows and pictures throughout the Old Testament
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And here in the book of Judges,
there is no exception. It's just full with those rich
blessings. And usually it's through a judge
that these things are revealed to us. It's usually through someone
that has been put into a position by the Lord. And we have a judge
here. His name is Jephthah. He's one
of the few that are mentioned in the book of Hebrews chapter
11. And so I know this about him. He was a believer in Christ Jesus.
Now he may have known him as the Messiah at that time. He
may not have known him as Jesus like we do, but he knew the Messiah,
and that's Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So he came, fulfilled all the
blessings, and was born of a virgin, and so forth and so on as we
understand. So in the book of Judges chapter
11, and there in verse six, Last week we kind of left off
at this point and we wanted to pick it up for just a moment
and that is to begin with Jesper has been kicked out. He has been
told to get out of here. He's been told that by his half-brothers
and you know the the men of Gilead could have countermanded that
But it appears that they agreed with him being kicked out. It
appears that they had no use for him and they had no need
for him. So they removed him from their
presence and he went off to the land of Todd. And there we find
out that there were many people that gathered around him who
had the same kind of issues that he did. Now he is called a mighty
man of valor, and he has that testimony about himself. The
people knew that, and I'm convinced that those men that gathered
around him knew that. He is a mighty man of valor.
And now, when the people of Gilead are in trouble, the children
of Israel are in trouble, they are caused to remember that there
is someone that was a mighty man of valor, and they're going
to send an ambassador over there to see if he won't come help
them with this condition. And, you know, it's such a statement
that if they had not felt the need, they would have never sent
for help. And that's so true of natural
man. If we are never given the need,
if it's never brought to us, and in looking at the Pharisee
and the publican in just a little different light, the publican
had no need. That's why he's bragging about
himself. Excuse me. The Pharisee had no need. That's
why he's bragging on himself. The publican had great need,
and he calls himself a sinner. God be merciful to me, a sinner. So he had a great need. He knew
where to go with that need, and that was to the Lord. It's been
shown that, it's been revealed that, but how great it is to
see that happen in the lives of people, that God gives them
a great need, and in that great need, he also supplies the one
that can fulfill that need. So here we're going to find that
these people, in verse six, and they said unto Jephthah, they
come up there, come and be our captain. Now it's very important
to notice that they said, we don't want you just to come and
be a soldier. We want you to become a captain. We see in you that there is something
so great. You know, if we feel that we
have even the smallest part, as children of men, the smallest
part of having the ability to understand or the ability to
to think on our own, we're going to find out that we never, by
nature, think about how God could get us out of the problem we're
in. We're always doing it ourselves. And we've read a number of times
in the past, there in the book of the Psalms, Psalm 14, God
looked down from heaven to see if there were any And I've just
mentioned a number of times, that's one of the greatest commentaries
on the state of natural man, and that's from God's perspective.
Now we can go over to the book of Isaiah chapter one, and we
can get Isaiah, but those words were God's. God gave Isaiah those
issues about man from the top of the head to the bottom of
the feet. There is nothing that is positive about it. So we have
a terrible position, place, just as these sons of, Inhabitants
of, let me see here, Gilead. The inhabitants of Gilead, if
they had not had a need, they would have not went up there
and asked for help. But it's important to notice
that they're not just asking for help, they're asking for
a captain. They're asking for someone to take over, someone
to lead them, and that's exactly what happens when God saves us. We don't just ask for a helper. Lord, help me out of the problem."
We have someone who gets us out of the problem that we're in.
There is a great need. Jethro is identified as the one
that would fulfill that. The elders of Gilead apparently
have been shown that that is going to be the answer to the
problem. They come with their problem. They're not sufficient
on their own to deal with the problem, and they arrive, and
the issue is brought up, will you come and be our captain? You know, as we find in the scriptures,
that there is only one true captain, the captain of our salvation.
And there is probably, in my mind, I just wrote this down,
there's probably no more succinct passage of scripture in the entire
Bible that shares so much about the captainage of the Lord as
in Daniel chapter four, in the words of the king, Nebuchadnezzar,
after he came out of that stupor. Those words are so powerful.
So I'd like to just go over there to the book of Daniel chapter
four for a moment. in the book of Daniel chapter
four and reread that because it is just so to the point. It is so to the point about God
and the position that he holds. And God is going to bring that
kind of position to our mind when he saves us. We don't have
a little J, Jesus, that saves us, and we don't have a little
G, God, that saves us, and we don't have a little M, Master,
that saves us. They're all capital. In fact,
all the letters in all of those titles are truly capital because
He is the only Savior. Here in the book of Daniel chapter
four, verse 34 and 35, we have Nebuchadnezzar mentioning this
and we know that these are the words of the Lord because God
gave them, the Holy Spirit gave them to Daniel to write down.
Now whether Daniel heard these words, it does not matter. They're written down in the scriptures
and Daniel could, he had them in his book. But we have him
in our book, and we're still encouraged by these words. This
is the captain of our salvation. This is the one, and he's just
not a mediocre. He is a, we want a captain. We want a savior. All right,
Daniel chapter four, and there in verse 34 and 35, we read these
words, and these are the words that Nebuchadnezzar spoke, but
they're written down, and they certainly explain a lot about
our God, and it's just such a succinct point to the point. He said,
in the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes into heaven,
and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever. Eternality. This is God, whose dominion is
an everlasting dominion. His rule is from beginning to
end, everlasting to everlasting. And His kingdom is from generation
to generation. He's the King that rules over
His kingdom, and He has always had those that He rules over. He's always had those that are
submitted to him. And then in verse 35, and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. Now,
we find that that's brought out in the scriptures a number of
ways. They have a body and they have a mind. But there is not
one good thing that we can do in our unregenerate state that
turns God to look at us one iota. We can't do anything good. There's
not one thing that we do good. And then he goes on to say here, he doeth according to his will.
in the army of heaven. So we have someone that can say
he can do it, has the power to do it, and fulfills it. He does
his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. Whoa, that touches us. His will is done. He doesn't say, I hope it can
be done, or I'll plead that it will be done. I'm really asking
that it would be done. His will will be done. So when we have Jephthah inquired
as to being the captain, they recognize the fact that he, as
a type of Christ, that he can get the job done. He is a mighty
man of valor. He has a great deal. to bless
them with. Now, he left under duress. We read about our, we have almost
the same attitude towards the Lord. There's nothing about him
that we should desire him. There's just absolutely nothing. He's not a very good savior in
our lost condition. A Savior that was arrested and
went to a cross, what good could that guy do? And then we realize
in salvation that is exactly how he saves his people from
their sins. All our sin was imputed to him, all of his righteousness
is imputed to us. It was the great trade that we
read about. So all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. None can stay his hand or say
unto him, what are you doing? It's done. So nobody can stop
him. Now, many people have stopped
me. Many people have stopped us, but nobody can stop God. Nobody can stop God. He is going
to accomplish his eternal purpose, and he does it all the time.
We find that it is so true that the Bible, that every blood-bought
sinner will gladly own him as king. We don't get educated and
then we say he's our king. He becomes our Lord in salvation. He is the absolute Lord. And
I appreciated what Thomas had to say. You know, Thomas is belittled
so often. When I was growing up in a church,
they belittled him all the time because he wasn't in church the
first time. He should have been in church,
then he wouldn't have had this. You know, God does his will in the
armies of heaven. Maybe his mother needed to go
to the hospital. We don't know. But the next time
he saw him, Jesus did not find fault with him, but he knew the
conversation that he had made with the disciples, and Jesus
interjected that conversation to Thomas, and Thomas's response
was, oh, I didn't really mean that. That wasn't what he said.
He said, my Lord and my God. That was the response to Jesus
Christ bringing to his mind the very questions that he had brought
up to the disciples. I'll not believe unless I see
the handprints and the footprints and the mark on his side. Well,
Jesus knew all that was going on there and he brought it up
before Thomas could. And Thomas's response to that is the response
of the church. My Lord and my God. Now, turn with me if you would
to the book of John, the book of John chapter 20, another person
who brings up this point. It is a wonderful point to find
out that the Lord Jesus Christ saves us by his grace, and in
that he is appointed to us a Lord, and that's him, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In the book of John, That other
passage was in the book of John with Thomas, but in the book
of John 20, verse 11, John 20, verse 11, we have a dear sister
in Christ, a dear sister in Christ. Bring this subject up here. And
it just touched my heart as I read this because it's so important. It says here in John 20, verse
11, But Mary stood without at the
sepulcher weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked
into the sepulcher. What did she find? Empty. Someone had removed that great
stone, and as she looked into there, there is no body that
has been wrapped, and all of those sweet spices that they
put around his body are not needed. They're there, but they're not
needed. She looks in, she is so broken, so disappointed, that
she goes on here and says, the two angels in white sitting,
and one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of
Jesus had lain. And they said unto her, woman,
why weepest thou? And she saith unto them, because
they have taken my Lord. What a statement. They have taken
my Sovereign. They have taken my Savior. Now, she's going to find out
just instantly that this was all planned, all purpose, and
that He is really raised from the dead and she doesn't have
to be concerned anymore. But even before that, she admitted,
she spoke of Him as my Lord. I know not where they have laid
Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw
Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. And Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou
have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and
I'll take him away. And Jesus said unto her, Mary.
And she turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to
say, Master, Lord. She knew it was instantly revealed
to her who this one was, but she had a Lord before she saw
him. She had a Lord before she realized that he'd been raised
from the dead. The Lord, they've hidden the Lord. In the book
of Philippians, the Apostle Paul brings this wonderful subject
up, and this is given to every believer in Christ Jesus, that
this is not a point of discussion. This is not something that we
will think, well, you take your side and I'll take my side. There's
only one side to this issue. And that he's either Lord of
all or not Lord of any. That's just it. And we don't
go through life wondering if we've made him Lord. He doesn't
put it that way. He made himself Lord. And he
causes us to come before him as Lord. Japheth didn't ask for
those guys to come up there. They came up there because they
were moved and remembered that he was a mighty man of valor.
And they did not come up there asking for him to come down and
be the sergeant in their army. He didn't ask him to be the lieutenant
in the army. He didn't ask him to be the general
in the army. They asked him to come down and
be the leader of the army. And that's exactly what is required
of the church with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not
gonna take any other position but Lord. And he gives us the
ability to do that. All right, here in the book of
Philippians chapter three, Philippians chapter three, we read these
blessed words from the apostle Paul as he was led by the Holy
Spirit and left us these words, yea doubtless, I count all things
but loss. Philippians chapter three verse
eight, I count all things but lost for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and then he's privileged to add
these two words, my Lord. Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but
none. that I may win Christ. So he is for whom I have suffered
the loss. Who is it? The knowledge of Christ
Jesus, my Lord, my sovereign. And he was one that demonstrated
just what God does with everyone else is that he is given the
privilege of calling the God of heaven Lord. Lord of my life. We don't go down the road a ways.
We may go down the road a ways and we learn more about him being
our Lord, but when he saves us, he is the Lord of the church. He is the sovereign king and
ruler of the church. In Acts chapter two, we looked
at this some time ago in our study of the book of Acts, but
in Acts chapter two, this is brought up again. Only this touches on this subject,
Acts chapter 2 and verse 36. Now, we don't have to worry about
who made him Lord, and we don't have to worry about who made
him Christ. It tells us here exactly who made him Lord and
who made him Christ. Now the church makes him Lord
and the church makes him Christ in their lives by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. That is where we get it. But
here in the book of Acts, chapter two, verse 36, therefore, let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Messiah. What authority is shared here
with who makes him this? He's been Lord from eternity,
and he's been Messiah from eternity, but the writer here, Luke, led
by the Holy Spirit, shares with us, God the Father, God in covenant
promise, has made him Lord and Christ. So he reveals that very
character about himself to us, and that's what the church delights
in. is that revelation that he's given to us about the Lord. When
we pray, Lord, there's some seriousness about that. That's the one, if
we know Christ, that's the one that Nebuchadnezzar wrote about.
That's the one that created the heavens and the earth. That's
the one who went to the cross and was able to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. It is Great Lord, capital L,
capital O, capital R, capital D. Now we find that in the Old
Testament, we know that's Jehovah. But when we come to the Lord
in any age, It is capital all the way through. That's who he
reveals himself as to the church. All right, if you go back with
me to the book of Judges for just a moment, we're gonna be
looking at some other verses, but in the book of Judges, again,
as we follow this and see how it speaks of the Lord so often,
Jephthah is truly a picture of the Lord. And here in the chapter
11, of the book of Judges, and verse 11, then Jephthah went with the elders
of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them. And Jephthah uttered all his
words before the Lord in Mizpah. Now, I kind of think that all
the words he spoke before the Lord in Mizpah was probably a
prayer. He's probably in prayer. One
translation gives this, Jephthah uttered everything he had to
say with the solemnity of an oath in the Lord's presence in
Mizpah. I just kind of think he's like
the Lord Jesus in the 17th chapter of John. as the great high priestly prayer. He's there with regards to what's
gonna happen. Lord, give victory. Lord, watch over us. Lord, bless. And it's just a statement that
God gives us here with regard to Jethro and his heart. I can't
do it alone. And then in verse 12, Jethfe
does something that we find the Lord do a number of times. Jethfe
sent messengers, that's interesting, to dispatch as a deputy, an ambassador,
one who walks for another. That's what that word, and that
word messenger, that same word is used several times right here
in 12, 13, and 14. There's messengers, but he sends
them. It's interesting, he didn't go
himself. He sent messengers. He sent apostles. He sent evangelists. He sent
12 out, two by two. That's what we read with regard
to the Lord. And then 72 by two. We'll read that in just a moment.
But he sends out messengers. He stays where he is, but he
sends out ambassadors. He sends out people who speak
for him. Now ambassador never is going
to try to interpret the will of the true ambassador, the Lord. They're going to be instructed
on what they should say. They're going to be instructed.
We wish they all would do that. Don't speak for yourself. You're
speaking for us. You're speaking for the king.
You're speaking for the queen. You're speaking for the president.
And what you have to say should have great impact on you because
you're an ambassador. You're the mouthpiece for the
Lord. Now, it's not that the Lord couldn't
do it, but this is the way he does business. by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. This is his prescribed
way of doing things. I'm gonna sit back here, I will
direct everything according to my eternal purpose, but I am
going to send out ambassadors. And these ambassadors have been
instructed. Where's our instructions? We
take nothing but the Bible. I don't know, two or three times
I looked back and I said, you know, I tried to discuss things
with people And I tried to use it in a human way, and I just
made a terrible botch of it. And I should have just taken
the word. Now, they may disagree with it,
but it's not gonna be a botch. They have that now. All right. Jethro sent messengers there.
He sent someone. that would speak for him. He
didn't go on his own. And we're going to find out that
the Lord has done this in his public ministry. Would you turn
with me to the book of Mark, chapter 7. Mark, chapter 7. The Lord, even now, he sends
us in the power of the Holy Spirit. He sends us in the filling of
the Holy Spirit. As we read there in the book
of Acts, four or five times they were filled with the Spirit,
but they and being filled with the Spirit, they only brought
the word of God. They brought the gospel. Well,
here in the book of Mark, book of Mark chapter 6 and verse 7,
chapter 6 and verse 7 of the book of Mark, it says, he, the
Lord, all caps, called unto him the twelve. and began to send them forth
two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits." You know
what that tells me? He gives his ambassadors power. The apostle Peter brings up there
that in the Old Testament it mentions, and the Lord brought
it up in his ministry. He said, don't give a lot of
thought about what you're gonna say, just bring the word. And
that's what we find the Apostle Peter did. He just quoted much
of the Old Testament. And he commanded them that they
should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, no
script, no bread, no money in their purse, and be shod with
sandals and not put on two coats. and said unto them, in whatsoever
place, soever ye enter into the house, thereby till ye depart
from that place. And some other instructions are
given here, but the Lord sent ambassadors. And in one place,
he sent them unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Keeping
that in mind, would you turn with me to the book of Luke again,
Luke chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, the Lord,
again, he's gonna send them out. He's gonna send ambassadors.
He's gonna send messengers. And they have a message, just
like we have a message. It's not our message, it's his
message that he gives us the privilege of bringing. So in
the book of Luke chapter 10, verse 17, the book of Luke chapter
10, verse 17, and it talks about, oh, I wanna back up to verse
one of that chapter. We're gonna read verse 17 in
a moment. After these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also,
Now, I read several commentaries. They said that in the original,
it doesn't mean this is the second 70 he sent out. He's talking
about the predecessors to this were the 12. Now we have the
70 sent out. They sent them two by two before
his face into every city and place, whether he himself would
come. So this is where they're to go.
The places that he has instructed them that he's going to be there.
So they're his messengers. Prepare you the way of the Lord
now drop down to verse 17 and the 70 returned again with joy
Now how long they've been gone? It doesn't tell us but they return
and it's interesting that the 70 return all about the same
time Whether he gave them instructions be gone for a month Six months
or whether he moved upon them to come back at the appointed
time Just like he did with all the critters that came to Noah's
Ark And he said unto them, oh, they said, oh, even the devils
are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them,
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto
you power to tread on serpents and scorpions. And I just cannot
help but think that he's not talking about physical serpents
and scorpions. He's talking about spiritual.
serpents and scorpions, which are much more deadly. And that's
false gospel. I'll give you the power. The
message will counteract this. Over all the power of the enemy,
and nothing shall by any means hurt you, notwithstanding in
this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but here
is the real rejoicing. but rather rejoice because your
names are written in heaven. Rejoice that I am the Lord. Don't necessarily rejoice on
what you've been doing. Rejoice that I am the Lord. I wrote your names down in the
Lamb's Book of Life before creation. So I'm the Lord and your names
are there because I put them there. So rejoice in that. In
the book of Acts 13, Acts chapter 13, we have the Holy Spirit come
to a church and brings us out. The Lord has two ambassadors
he wants to send out. Now, I'm sure they prayed about
it, but he didn't say pray about it. He didn't say, I want you to
do this, but you go home and pray about it. He just does this,
and I think he still does this. This is not something that only
happened one time. It tells us here in Acts chapter
13, verse two, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy
Ghost said, now this isn't the preacher that called him, this
isn't the deacon that called him, the Bible class teacher
that called him, The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and
Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. What does he want
the church to do? Pray for him. God bless you as
you travel. We know you've been called. There's
their ordination. And when they had fasted and
prayed and laid their hands on him, they sent them away. So they being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost departed unto Cilicia, and from thence they sailed to
Cyprus. So the Holy Spirit called him
and sent him as a messenger. I just wanted to go through some
of these verses and let us see what it was that Jephthah did
when he sent messengers. He did not go himself, but he
sent men with authority to speak for him. And that's all we can
do as a messenger, we're speaking. 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians
brings this up. 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2
Corinthians 5, we read this, verse 20. 2 Corinthians 5, verse
20. This is really a statement about
being a messenger. Jethro sent messengers. Christ
sends messengers. The Holy Spirit sends messengers.
And their message is the message of Christ. I was talking to a
young fella today, and he was bringing up, he had visited with
a guy, and the guy said, when I go to church, I wanna hear
Christ. And he brought up, he says, when
you go to church, you should hear about the plan of salvation.
You should hear about this and that and all this. And I just
said, what did Jesus tell Peter? After the resurrection and after
he met him, What did he tell Peter to do? Peter, do you love
me? Yes, I do. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs and feed my sheep. I told that young man, I said,
there may be lost people in that crowd and that message may strike
them, but it's the same message. We don't change the message.
We don't have to have soul winning going on because the message
is the gospel. So here we have, now then we
are ambassadors for Christ. What a solemn statement. We speak
for the master. And if we speak for the master,
we're going to have the master's words. The Word of God, that's
all we have. We cannot discuss philosophy,
or we might do that, but we're not gonna do that from a standpoint
that we're gonna get somebody to think about God. We're not
gonna discuss creationism, we're gonna discuss God. We're gonna
discuss Christ, the Word of God. So now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God does beseech you by us. Couldn't that
be said about Jethro? My messengers are going to speak
to you as I would speak. We pray you and Christ did be
reconciled to God. I'm going to send messengers
to the enemy, those Ammonites. I want you to take this message.
Well, let's go over here. Let's go over here to the Book
of Judges again. The Book of Judges. Now let's
look at these messengers as they're sent out. They are messengers
of justice. He's the judge. He is elevated
to captain. He's been made captain not only
by the men, but also by God. He is their judge. Here in the Book of Judges chapter
11. And there in verse 12 verse 12 chapter 11 verse 12
It says there in Jethfah sent messengers unto the king of the
children of Ammon saying Now who is saying this? It's the
messengers they have the message of Jethfah This is what the Lord
says You know, and that's what we have. Whenever we're talking
to someone about the gospel, about the Lord, we have, the
Lord said this. It's not my words, it's the Lord's
words. And you either believe the Bible
or you don't. It's going to be the thing that we're going to
discuss or we don't have anything to discuss about. All right,
Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon
saying. Now, it doesn't tell us that
they took a written message or they memorized the message and
went. That doesn't matter. They delivered the message. Jephthah's
message. And that's what the apostles
did. They delivered the message. That's what Paul did. He delivered
the message. And then we have the results
of it. were ordained to eternal life believed. All right, so
saying, what hast thou to do with me that thou art come against
me to fight in my land? What are you doing? You want
to fight me in my land and then Verse 13, the response, and the
king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers
of Jetha, because Israel took away my land. When they came
up out of Egypt from Arnon, even unto Javak, and unto Jordan,
now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. What? are you doing? This is the reason we're upset.
You know, I could almost hear people say, I was not in the
Garden of Eden. So why should I be held accountable
for that stupid guy's decision? And you know why? God said it. That's why. In the day you shall surely die,
and you're gonna pass this on to all your children. This nature
is gonna be passed on. All right, let's follow this
just a little bit longer. And Jephthah sent messengers
again unto the king of the children of Ammon. Another time, Jephthah
does not go. He sends messengers with the
message and said unto him, thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not
away the land of Moab nor the land of the children of Ammon.
This thus saith Jephthah, whose message? It's Jephthah's message. It's not their message. Now they
may have had an altogether different message if it was their message,
but they went as honorable men, as messengers, as ambassadors,
as apostles, as Jesus said, they went with the message. Now, you
know, we follow their lives sometimes and they really messed up their
lives. But you know what? They never messed up when they
brought the word of God. That's not, they can't mess up.
Oh, I wish I'd had that other verse. Any word of God is not
gonna be a mess up. All right, so it said, thus saith
Jephthah, Israel took not away. We are ambassadors. I'm delivering
the message. We're delivering. We're messengers.
But when Israel came up from Egypt and walked through the
wilderness by the Red Sea and came to Kadesh, 40 years are
traveled right there. Red Sea to Kadesh. Then Israel,
no, that's two years. We're going to have to go back
into Kadesh. And Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom,
saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land. But the
king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they
sent unto the king of Moab, but he would not consent, and Israel
abode in Kadesh." Okay, here's the problem that we're facing.
We came to you with kindness. We were going to pay you. We're
going to go through and not even leave a footprint. And you would
not allow it. That is your attitude towards
the children of God. And you know what? Today, that's
the attitude towards God Almighty. I said, this will happen. And
they say, we said, no, it's not. Let me read just a couple more
verses, and then we're going to have to close tonight. The time is
up. What exciting passage of Scripture. What interesting passage of Scripture.
How it ties Jephthah as a picture type and shadow of the Lord,
his messengers, his message, and the response to the message.
Then they went along through the wilderness and come past
the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east
side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of
Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab, for Arnon was
the border of Moab. And Israel sent messengers unto,
uh-oh, we got more messengers, unto Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and the king of Hezbollah. And Israel said unto them, let
us pass, we pray thee, through the land into my place. But Sihon
trusted not Israel to pass through the coast. But Sihon gathered
all his people together and pitched at Jahaz and fought against Israel."
We're going to stop there for right now tonight and just pick
up this place the next time. But here we have Jethamid. Captain? Jeff has sent out messengers,
Jeff has sent out messengers that took the report, and the
report was, what are you doing? And the response is, we'll do
whatever we want to do, and then we're gonna let Jeff take care
of the problem. All right, we'll stop there for tonight.