Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. I would like to point out especially
to our parents the article in the bulletin on Will God Save
My Children? Of course, there's nothing we
can do to make that happen. Just like I made mention of in
the lesson this morning, that would be works, not grace. There's
nothing we can do to make that happen. But there are some good
good principles that we can follow, instruction we can follow given
to us from God's Word. And I hope you'll read this carefully
and prayerfully. I sound like an old man yelling,
get off my lawn. But trouble in our society probably
could be solved if we address the problem early with our children. Maybe they learn something before
it's too late. And maybe if we try to do something
to raise our children with a little bit of wisdom, put some effort
into it, maybe we would not release upon society the ills that we
see. It's been on my mind for some
time. So anyway, that's where that article came from. I hope
you'll read it and it'll be a blessing to you. Alright, Hebrews chapter
10. We'll begin our reading in verse
4. Read down through verse 10. Where is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins? Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I come to do thy will, O God. Above, when
he said sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not. Neither has pleasure therein,
which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He take it the way, the first
that he may establish the second by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We'll end our reading there.
Let's stand together as Mike leads us in singing our call
to worship. so We'll repeat the last line every
time. Come let us join our cheerful
song with angels round the throne. Ten thousand, thousand are their
tongues, but all their joys are one. But all their joys are one. Worthy the Lamb that died, they
cry, to be exalted thus. Worthy the Lamb, our lips reply,
for He was slain for us. For He was slain for us. Let all that dwell and air and earth and seas conspire
to lift thy glories high, and speak thine endless praise, and
speak thine endless praise, the whole creation join in one to
bless that sacred name of Him who sits upon the throne and
to adore the Lamb and to adore the Lamb. Thank you, may be seated. Turn now to page 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
him. Page 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us tender
to Him all we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us He for conflict fits and arms us Nothing moves and nothing
harms us While we trust in Him Trust in Him, ye saints, forever
He is faithful, changing never, Neither force nor guile can sever
Those he loves from him. Keep us, Lord, O keep us, cleaving
to Thyself and still believing, till the hour of our receiving
promise joys with Thee. Then we shall be where we would
be. Then we shall be what we should
be. Things that are not, now nor
could be, soon shall be our own. Let's turn over to 226. 226. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at
His right hand is one who is my Savior. I take Him at His word indeed,
Christ died for sinners, this I read. For in my heart I find
a need of Him to be my Savior. That he should leave his place
on high, And come for sin all men to die? You count it strange,
so once did I, Before I knew my Savior. And all that he fulfilled may
see The travel of his soul in me, And with his work contented
be As I with my dear Savior. Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my soul, lest from this spring That he who lives
to be my King Wants Thine to be my Savior. Let us open our Bibles now to
Judges chapter 11. Judges chapter 11. Begin our reading in verse 29. Then the spirit of the Lord came
upon Jephthah and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh and passed
over Mizba of Gilead. And from Mizba of Gilead, he
passed over under the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed
a vow unto the Lord and said, if thou shalt without fail, deliver
the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that
whatsoever cometh forth out of the doors of my house to meet
me. When I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall
surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.'
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight
against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he smote
them from Arorah even till thou come to Minneth, even twenty
cities, and under the plain of the vineyards, with a very great
slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were
subdued before the children of Israel. And Jephthah came to
Mizpah unto his house, and, behold, His daughter came out to meet
him with timbrels and with dances, and she was his only child. Beside
her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw
her that he ran his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, thou
hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble
me. For I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go
back. And she said unto him, My father,
if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, due to me, according
to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth. For as much
as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even
of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father,
let this be done for me. Let me alone two months that
I may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity. I am my fellows. And he said,
go. And he sent her away for two
months. And she went with her companions and bewailed her virginity
upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end
of two months that she returned unto her father, who did with
her according to his vow which he had vowed. And she knew no
man. And it was a custom in Israel
that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter
of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in a year." Lord willing,
we'll return to that passage, and maybe the Lord will be pleased
to teach us something here in just a few moments. Let's bow
together in prayer. And our Father, which art in
heaven, holy and reverend, is your matchless name. Father,
we bow before you. We bow thankfully. Thankful that
you are God alone. That you rule and reign, always
doing, always accomplishing your eternal purpose and will. We
bow before you thankfully. by your grace have enabled sinful
men and women such as we are to come before the throne of
God and be accepted in our Lord Jesus Christ, accepted in the
beloved. Father, how thankful we are.
And we've gathered here this morning to worship thee. Father, give us the spirit of
worship, I pray, and enable us to worship you in spirit and
in truth. Deliver us from just going through
the motions And Father, speak to us through your word, enable
us to worship, give us a heart of true worship. We've gathered
here to hear thus saith the Lord. Father, I beg of you that you
speak to us through your word and that you give us a hearing
ear and a heart that would believe the things that we see of our
Lord Jesus Christ in your word this morning. Father, how much we know We need
you. How we need you. We can't do
anything without you. We cannot understand. We cannot
cry. We cannot come. We cannot worship.
Father, enable us this morning to hear of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to understand something of our need and who He is. Cause us
to come to Him in faith. Father, I thank you for giving
us this gospel to preach and to believe. glorious privilege
that you've given us here. Father, I pray that you give
us the wisdom, the strength of faith, the fortitude, the courage
to preserve and protect this gospel, to sacrifice self, self-interest,
self-desire to preserve and protect the gospel that's preached here,
to preserve and protect the unity that we have one with another,
that this might be a place where your gospel's preached, where
we meet together to worship Christ our Savior, to hear his gospel
preached, and for no other reason than that. Father, we thank you
for the many blessings of this life. How can we ever thank you
enough for how abundantly that you've blessed your people? And
Father, I pray you'd give us an open hand with all the things
that you've given to us to help those who need helping and encourage
those who need to be encouraged, deliver us from being selfish
with all the many blessings that you've given to us. Father, I
thank you for this congregation, from the youngest to the oldest,
how I thank you for them and pray your blessing be upon them,
that you'd bless with your presence, that you'd reveal yourself, that
you'd comfort the hearts of your people, that you'd lead and guide
and preserve us. And what we ask for ourselves,
Father, we ask for your people who meet everywhere today to
worship you. Bless your word where it's preached. Get glory
to your name. Father, in our day, get glory
to your name. Let it be known there's still
a God in Israel and that you will save your people, that you'll
call them out, that you'll save them by your power, by the sacrifice
of Christ our Savior. Father, it's for his glory, the
glory of his name, that we pray and give thanks. Amen. I don't know about tomorrow I
just live from day to day from its sunshine, for its skies
may turn to grey. I don't worry or the future What Jesus said And today I'll
walk beside Him what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow I
don't seem to understand. And I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand Every step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb Every bird Getting lighter Every cloud is
silver lined There the sun is always shining there no tear
will dim the eye at the ending of the rainbow
where the mountain touch the sky I don't
know about tomorrow it may bring me poverty But the one who feeds the sparrow
Is the one who stands by me that be my portion, may be through
the flame or flood, but His breath goes before me. And I'm covered with his blood. Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand I'd like to urge to clap. Leah, that
was outstanding. Outstanding. The older I get, the more I think
I'm supposed to know The more I realize I don't, how shameful little I know. That
song becomes more and more dear to me. That's a blessing. All right, if you would, turn
to Judges chapter 11. Let me read to you the text, the
verse that has served as our text for a number of weeks now,
and we'll continue for a few more. from Hebrews chapter 11
verse 32. The writer says, what shall I
more say? For time would fail me to tell
Gideon of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David also, and
Samuel, and of the prophets. I've told you each of the last
several weeks that before the Lord gave Israel a king, God
ruled Israel and he delivered Israel from their enemies through
judges. And one of those judges was a
man named Jephthah. One of the most difficult stories
to understand in all the Word of God is the story of Jephthah
and his sacrifice. Jephthah sacrificed his own daughter. As we sung a few moments ago,
I'm not skilled to understand much of this story and how that
went on, except to know this, that this story is given to us
as a picture of Christ our Savior. Let me briefly explain to you
the story that led up to Jephthah delivering Israel. The Ammonites
came and made war with Israel in an attempt to take back land
that belonged to Israel for over 300 years. Israel took this land
from someone who, many years before that, had taken it from
the Ammonites, and for 300 years, this land had been undisputed.
It belonged to Israel, and now the Ammonites wanted to come
take it. And the people there of that area came to Jephthah
to be the captain over them and to deliver Israel. Well, all
right, how is it that Jephthah, by faith, delivered Israel? The writer of the Hebrew says
he did this by faith. Well, it was through faith and
a sacrifice to God. Now, I want to keep stressing
this, that this story is given to us as a picture of redemption
in our Lord Jesus Christ. This sacrifice, the sacrifice
of Jephthah, tells us the kind of sacrifice that God demands
and the kind of sacrifice that we must have. This is the kind
of sacrifice that God's elect cling to. I want to give you
seven marks of the sacrifice that God accepts and the sacrifice
that we need. Number one, God accepts and we
need the sacrifice of the covenant. Judges 11 verse 29. And the spirit
of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he passed over Gilead and
Manasseh and passed over Mizba of Gilead and from Mizba of Gilead
he passed over unto the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed
a vow unto the Lord and said, if thou shalt without fail deliver
the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that
whatsoever cometh forth out of the doors of my house to meet
me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon shall surely
be the Lord's. and I'll offer it up for a burnt
offering." Now, many of the old writers kind of berate Jephthah
here and say that this vow he made was a sign of weak faith. And I don't think that that's
so, but they just cannot get past the fact that a father would
be sacrificing his own daughter. And as a father of daughters,
I have to say I see their point. But this story is given to us
as a type of Christ. We can never get away from that.
If we get away from it, we don't understand what's being written
here. This vow that Jephthah made was a vow made in faith. He made this vow after verse
29 says, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. So he's acting
in faith under the direction of God, the Holy Spirit. The
writer to the Hebrew says that by faith, these patriarchs subdued
kingdoms. And they want righteousness by
faith. Well, Israel's enemy was defeated
through this vow. Look at verse 32. So Jephthah
passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them.
And the Lord delivered them into his hands, and he smote them.
From Arorah, even till thou come to Minneth, even twenty cities,
and unto the plain of the vineyards with a very great slaughter.
Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of
Israel. Now, the enemy was defeated through this vow that Jephthah
made to the Lord. And his vow is a picture of God's
covenant of grace. God's covenant of grace is God's
promise or his vow to save his people by grace. In this covenant
of grace, God the Father vowed a vow. He made a promise to save
his people to deliver His people from their sin by sacrificing
something very important to Him, something that came from His
own house, His only begotten Son. And God's purpose of redemption
is eternal. This covenant of grace is eternal. It doesn't have a beginning.
It doesn't have an ending. God's way of salvation has always
been in His Son. That's why He promised it would
come in His Son. His way of salvation has always
been in Christ. And the only reason God ever
did give the law at Sinai was to show us how sinful we are.
God gave the law to reveal our sin, to show us we cannot keep
the law, and to show us how much we need Christ. We need this
covenant of grace because we cannot be saved by a covenant
of the law. The only way we can be saved
is through God's eternally ordained Savior, the one that he promised
in his covenant. Number two, we need a covenant
sacrifice. Number two, God accepts and we
need a precious sacrifice. Verse 34. And Jephthah came to
Mizpah unto his house, and behold, his daughter came out. She came
out to meet him with timbrels and with dances, and she was
his only child. Beside her, he had neither son
nor daughter. As a father, I cannot imagine
the heartbreak that Jephthah felt when he saw his only daughter
come out of that house. Can't imagine it. She came out
dancing and celebrating the victory of her father. She was so happy
to see him, but Jephthah was heartbroken, heartbroken. This
girl is his only child. Does it sound like to you she's
a daddy's girl? Here she's coming out to meet him, dancing, and
he returns home from the victory. And I just bet you there wasn't
anything in this life more precious to Jephthah than that girl, his
only daughter. Oh my. But he's going to keep
his vow to God. He's going to have to sacrifice
her. You have to sacrifice her, offer her as a burnt offering.
Now, before we get too caught up in the personal thing here,
let's remember this. The story is a picture of redemption
and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're such great
sinners. Our sin debt is so great. It's
going to take a precious sacrifice to be valuable enough to pay
for our sins. And nothing is more precious
to the father than his only begotten son. This is the son of his love. All of the father's love is in
his son. The only one who's ever pleased
the father is his son. All the son is the delight of
his father. Proverbs 8 tells us that the
son was the father's delight from eternity. Before creation,
before the sons of men were daily, he said, I was the delight of
my father. Oh, how precious the son is to
the father. But remember that vow, the father
vowed a vow in the covenant of grace, he vowed to save his people
through the sacrifice, the burnt offering of his only son. You see, there's got to be a
sacrifice that pleases God's holiness. There's got to be a
sacrifice that pleases God's justice that actually is valuable
enough to pay for sin, and only the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, will do. No other sacrifice can pay that
price. There's got to be a sacrifice that is precious enough that
it will honor all of the attributes of God. And only the Lord Jesus
Christ will do. The price to pay for sin is one
high price. It's so high. All we know is sin. We can't
imagine how heinous sin is. It's all we know. But this will
give you some idea of how horrible sin is. The price to pay for
sin is so high, the only thing that will pay for it is the blood
of God. The blood of God. The Apostle Paul told those Ephesian
elders, you take care of this church. which God purchased with
His own blood. How did Peter say we're redeemed?
He said, well, we can't be redeemed with corruptible things. We can't
be redeemed by religious tradition we've received from our fathers
because those things don't have any value. We're redeemed, Peter
said, with the precious, the precious blood of Christ. He
is the only thing precious enough to pay for the sin of His people. And the Father showed His holiness
by sacrificing the most precious thing He had, the one most dear
to Him, His only Son. The Father loves His people.
You know how we know that? He showed His love, His great
love for His people by sacrificing the person most dear to Him to
put their sin away, His own Son. human father, I can't imagine
such a thing. I cannot imagine it. I would
die first without even thinking about it before I would kill
one of my children, before I'd see one of my children die. But
God the father did sacrifice his only son. He did it to keep
his covenant, to keep his promise. He sacrificed that precious son. because that's the only way God
could be honored. The only way sin could be paid
for in full is the sacrifice of God's precious Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we would be redeemed, we need
a precious sacrifice, don't we? Peter went on to say, unto you
therefore which believe. Oh, he's precious. He's precious,
isn't he? That he'd sacrifice himself for
you. Oh, he's precious. Thirdly, God accepts. And we
need a willing sacrifice. Verse 35. And it came to pass
when he saw her that he ran his clothes and said, alas, my daughter,
that's brought me very low. And thou art one of them that
troubled me, right? Open my mouth unto the Lord and
I cannot go back. And she said unto him, my father,
if thou open my mouth unto the Lord due to me, according to
that, which hath proceeded out of thy mouth. For as much as
the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even
of the children of Ammon." Now you see, both father and daughter
were willing in this thing, weren't they? Jephthah must have explained
his vow to his daughter, and he told her, I have to do this. I've made this vow to God, I
cannot go back. And his daughter said, I agree.
I agree, you can't go back. I agree to this thing. Because
this, this vow, this promise, this covenant, this is how the
Lord took vengeance on our enemies. This is how the Lord set us free.
I'm willing in this thing. It's like she's telling him,
Father, you keep your honor, you keep your vow and don't lose
your honor on account of me, because I'm in agreement. I'm
willing. Well, here's the picture. God, the Father, willingly sacrificed. His precious Son. That precious
Son that He promised. The Father willingly sacrificed
His Son. It could be that the Lord has
given us this picture here to give us some understanding. I'm
afraid it's blasphemous to use that word. To give us some understanding
of the heart of the Father and the Son and this thing of the
sacrifice of Christ. I know I don't understand. everything
that I know about Calvary, what went on there. But I know it
was no small thing. It was no small thing to the
father. At Calvary, the father turned his back upon his precious
son, the son of his love, the son in whom he said, I'm well
pleased. The father turned his back on
him. The father took his loving presence away from his son. and
made his son feel nothing but his wrath and suffer alone in
the darkness. The father is the very one who
drew his sword of justice and plunged it into the heart and
into the soul of his son. He didn't give it to somebody
else to do, he did it with his own hand. Plunged the sword into
his son. The father did that Because he's
holy. That's his character. He hates
sin. He must punish sin. He finds
pleasure in punishing sin. The father was pleased with the
sacrifice of him. He was pleased to sacrifice him.
He was pleased to bruise him. But that was still his precious
son. Like I said, I don't understand everything I know about that.
But the father was willing in it. He was willing to sacrifice
His precious Son. And the Son was willing. The
Son willingly went to the cross to be the sacrifice for the sin
of His people. Nobody made Him go there against
His will. He did it willingly. But even though He was willing,
it caused His soul great agony, didn't it? He prayed in the garden,
if it be possible, Let this cup pass from me. Oh, his suffering
was real. It was great. He sweat, as it
were, great drops of blood, afraid that his physical body would
die right there in the garden. Just the thought of what was
awaiting him. The thought of being made sin.
The thought of being separated from his father. The thought
of his soul suffering. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. To show us his suffering was
real. But he went willingly, didn't he? Nevertheless, not
as I will, but thy will be done. Now, he went willingly. He's
telling his father, Father, you keep your vow. You keep your
covenant and don't lose your honor on account of me. I'm in
full agreement with this thing. Glorify your son, that your son
also may glorify thee. He was willing, wasn't he? His
suffering was very, very real. His willingness didn't diminish
his suffering. He still cried even though he
was willing. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That
must have been the height of his agony to be separated from
his father. Oh, the horrible blackness of
suffering and vain sin. And he knew that's what he would
suffer. This was no surprise. He knew that's what he would
suffer. But he set his face like a flint to go there to suffer
it. And even in his untold agony,
he suffered willingly. He could have put a stop to it
like that. But he didn't do it. He could have called 12 legions
of angels, couldn't he? But he didn't do it. Because
he suffered willingly for his people. He is the willing sacrifice. He suffered willingly. To honor
His Father's character, His Father's holiness, His Father's justice,
His Father's mercy and grace. The only way mercy and grace
can come to sinners is through this willing sacrifice. The Lord
Jesus Christ suffered willingly to keep His vow in the covenant
of grace and not lose His honor. And He suffered willingly because He loved His bride. She's not much to look at. Nobody
else would have her. But he loved her. Oh, he loved
her. And he willingly suffered. He
willingly suffered everything, the loss of everything, so that
she could be redeemed. He's a willing sacrifice. Fourthly,
God accepts and we need a pure, sinless sacrifice. Verse 37. And she said unto her father,
Let this thing be done for me. Let me alone two months that
I may go up and down upon the mountains and be well my virginity,
I and my fellows. And here scripture points out
this daughter was a virgin, which is a sign of purity. To show
us the sacrifice must be pure. It's got to be sinless or the
sacrifice can't take away sin. Now I thought this was interesting.
It doesn't sound to me like Purity is anything to mourn, does it?
She wants to go mourn her virginity. So is this daughter, she wants
to go up into the mountains to, why does she want to mourn her
virginity if it's a symbol, a sign of purity? Is she mourning the
fact she'll never get married? I don't know. Could be. But I
believe, I believe it's deeper than that. The hope of Israel
was that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. And they would
call his name Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Could be she's mourning. She's
not going to be the mother of the Messiah. And more than anything,
what she had wanted was to see God's Christ. Could be that's
why she's mourning. But her virginity is given to
us as a picture of the sinlessness of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the only righteous the only holy man to
ever live. He's the only person that ever
could keep God's law. And he obeyed it perfectly in
every detail, in word, in thought, in deed, in desire, in motive. He did that not for himself,
but for his people. And his perfect righteousness,
his holiness, his perfect obedience makes him the only sacrifice
that could put away sin. Even when he was made sin, he
was not a sinner. Even when he was made sin, he
was still holy, the sinless sacrifice. The sin of his people became
his. And he put it away by the suffering
of his body and soul, shedding his perfect blood to put that
sin away. And the only way sinners like
you and me can ever be saved is by faith, seeing Christ sacrificed,
his perfect blood. shed for me, payment for my sin. We need a sinless, pure sacrifice. Fifthly, God accepts and we need
a trusted sacrifice. Verse 38, And he said, Go. And
he sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions
and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. How did Jephthah know she's coming
back? I believe I wouldn't have. It
would have been easy to escape across the mountains, wouldn't
it? Never come back. How did he know she's coming back? It
would have been real easy to disappear. And he could say,
eh, nothing I can do about it. How did he know she'd come back?
Because he trusted her. He trusted her because she was
trustworthy. And in eternity, the father and
the son entered into a covenant where the father chose a people
to save. And he gave those people to his
son. And the son agreed that the father's appointed time,
many, many years out into the future, that he would come incarnate. He would humiliate himself to
become a human being, to become a man in the womb of the virgin.
He would come incarnate. And that at the appointed time,
after a perfect life, which could draw nothing but praise, certainly
never condemnation, that he would suffer and die. for those people
that the father gave him at the father's appointed time. And
the father trusted the son to do what he promised. And I can
make good on that, look in Ephesians chapter one. I mean, that just stands to reason,
doesn't it? The father trusted the son, but here the word of
God tells us he did in Ephesians chapter one. Verse 11, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Now there's the covenant of grace
purposed in the counsel of God's own will. Verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Now who is that talking about?
Who is the one that first trusted in Christ? It's to the praise
of his glory. It's God the Father. God the Father is the first one
who trusted the Lord Jesus Christ to do what he promised he'd do
and save his people from their sin. The Father trusted the Son
because he's trustworthy, because he cannot break his word. He
cannot sin. Now, if the Father trusted the
Son, I believe you and I can trust him too, don't you? If
the Father trusted him, I believe you and I can trust him too.
He is a trusted sacrifice. You trusting, all your sin will
be put away in Him. All right, here's the sixth thing. God accepts and we need a faithful
sacrifice. Verse 39, back in our text, Judges
11. And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned
unto her father, who did with her according to his vow, which
he had vowed, and she knew no man. Now, after two months, Jephthah's
daughter came back from the mountain just like she said she would.
And when she returned, Jephthah fulfilled his vow. And he sacrificed
her, a burnt offering. Both father and daughter were
faithful to fulfill their vow, their promise. And that's a picture
of the sacrifice we must have. Sinners like us need a faithful
sacrifice. Who will do what God promised
he would do? In eternity, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit entered into this covenant. The Father, He gave
a people to His Son, and He promised their salvation in the obedience
and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the fullness
of time, God's Son came incarnate, made a man, born of a woman,
born under the law, just exactly like God promised He would come.
And as a man, The Lord Jesus did exactly what He promised
He would do. He obeyed the law perfectly for His people, working
out a righteousness that He could freely give them. And then He
went to the cross where He suffered and died, made Himself a willing
sacrifice to put away the sin of His people, to redeem them
from their sin, just exactly like He promised that He would.
The vow was paid, wasn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only person who's ever lived who can say, I paid my vow to
God. The only one. Ecclesiastes 5
verse 4 says this, When thou vows to vow unto God, defer not
to pay it, for he hath no pleasures in fools. Pay that which thou
hast vowed. The Lord Jesus Christ did. He
paid his vow and the Father has pleasure. all His pleasures in
His Son because He fulfilled His vow, did what He said He
would do, cleansed His people from all of their sin. And the
Father promised that He would accept everyone for whom Christ
died, and why wouldn't He? There's no reason for Him not
to keep His promises. Their sin's gone. The Father is pleased with
His Son, and He's pleased with everyone who's in His Son. So
He sends His Spirit to His people. See, God the Holy Spirit's involved
in this covenant too. God the Holy Spirit promised
he would come and give life, give faith, give repentance to
everyone for whom Christ died. He promised he would come and
show them the things of Christ and he would reveal Christ to
them and in them through the preaching of the gospel. And
you know, God the Holy Spirit's keeping his promise. He is. The gospel's still being preached
today. God's people called out of this world, they're given
life and faith to believe it. The Spirit keeps blessing the
Word and feeding the hearts of God's sheep, comforting the hearts
of God's sheep, strengthening them through the preaching of
Christ. The Holy Spirit is still coming, giving faith in Christ.
Many of you here this morning, you have faith in Christ. Isn't
that amazing? It's amazing. How did that happen?
Why did it happen? The Spirit did what He promised
to do and come and give it to you. The Holy Spirit feeds God's
sheep. He causes them to grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ. Now, not one of us here are happy
with our growth or our knowledge, but there's been growth and there's
been knowledge gained. Not what I like it to be, but
it's there. Isn't that amazing? The Spirit
gives it through the preaching of the Word. God, the Holy Spirit,
keeps God's sheep. He keeps them from leaving Christ.
He keeps them from falling away. Many of you are still here. You've
been here for years and years and years and years and you're
still here. Isn't that amazing? Why is that? The only explanation
for it is the work of the Spirit in it, making you need Christ
and bringing you back. The Holy Spirit comforts God's
sheep. He comforts the hearts of God's
sheep. And he does it the same way he does everything else.
By showing his people Christ. Taking the preaching of the gospel
from a poor, stumbling, cracked clay pot and blessing it anyway. To comfort the hearts of God's
sheep by showing them Christ. Only a child of God can understand
this. that your fleshly circumstances you think are going to crush
you. You think, I can't do this another
second. And you somehow drag yourself
into the worship service and you find that your heart is comforting. But your fleshly circumstances
haven't changed a whit. It's the Spirit showing you Christ. Why does he do that? Why does
he keep doing that? Because he's faithful that promised.
He promised he'd do it for God's people, and he's still doing
it. Oh, this is the sacrifice we
need. A faithful sacrifice that will do everything God promised
it would do to save his people from their sin. All right, here's
the seventh thing. God accepts that we need a remembered
sacrifice. Verse 40, right at the end of
verse 39 says, and it was a custom in Israel that the daughters
of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the
Gileadite, four days in a year. Now, the friends of this daughter
gathered every year to remember the sacrifice of their friend.
And isn't that what God's people do? We often gather together
to remember the sacrifice of Christ, our Savior. Every time
the gospels preached, we remember his sacrifice. We better remember
it because our message is better be Christ and Him crucified,
right? So we remember His sacrifice. We remember the sacrifice of
Christ every time we eat the Lord's table. Every time we take
that broken bread and we drink that wine, we're remembering
His sacrifice till He comes. Oh, what a good thing. What a
blessing God's given us to be able to remember the sacrifice. I need to be reminded, don't
you? I get out there in the world and get inundated and twisted
and turned around every way but loose? I need to be reminded. Oh, the sacrifice. God reminds
His people of it. Constantly reminding us. Constantly
pointing us to Christ. Alright, that's the sacrifice.
Let me give you this. I want to take this picture,
this message. I want to apply it to your heart
and to my heart. I want us to see Jephthah here
as a type of Christ. Now look back at verse 1 of Judges
chapter 11. Now Jephthah, the Gileadite,
was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot. And
Gilead begat Jephthah. Jephthah was the son of a harlot.
He was an illegitimate child. This is exactly what people thought
about our Lord Jesus. Yeah, we know. They're figuring
out the time frame here. They think something's up. This
is what they thought. Oh, they thought he was a, they
called him a winebibber, a publican. No good thing can come out of
Nashville. Oh, how they despised him and looked down, just like
they did Jephthah. Verse 2, Gilead's wife bare him
sons, and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah
and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit our father's house,
for thou art the son of a strange woman. You're not in this inheritance
with us. See the picture? Our Lord Jesus
Christ came unto his own, and his own received him not. They
thrust him out, didn't they? Verse 3, Then Jephthah fled from
his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tog, And there were gathered
vain men to Jephthah, just like those vain men, publicans and
fishermen, harlots, uneducated people gathered to our Lord Jesus
Christ and went out with him. And 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 Tob. And 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? And why
are you coming to me now, when you are 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, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home
again, to fight against the children of Ammon, And the Lord delivered
them before me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead
said unto Jephthah, the Lord be witness between us, if we
do not so according to thy words. 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 you see, why is it that even
though they despised Jephthah and they kicked him out, Why
is it they went and tried to get him to come back? Why is
it they agreed? Oh, we want you to be the head
over us now. Same thing as what I told you
in our Bible class this morning. It's a question of need. It's
a question of need. Oh, and they needed him. That's
when they sought him. And they found him, didn't they?
They went and knocked on the house's door. He opened it to
them and they found him. And he became head and captain
over them. and He delivered them from their
enemies. Now this morning, many times in the past, all of us
here have heard about the sacrifice of Christ. The question I have
for you and me this morning is, do we need? Do we need Him? Do we need Him or can I fight
this battle on my own? Do I need Him or can I be accepted
on my own? Do I need Him? Well, if you need
Him, You can come to Him and beg Him, beg Him for mercy. And
He'll become captain over you. Before He's going to be your
Savior, He can be your captain, your king. He'll be captain over
you and He will deliver you from your sin. Now in conclusion,
let me give you this. There are many learned men, I
read and heard this week, many learned men, respected men, who
think that Jephthah did not kill his daughter. They think he did
not sacrifice her, but that he gave her to the Lord, just like
Hannah gave Samuel to the Lord. It doesn't sound like it to me.
The word burnt offering he uses there means holocaust. That's
what the word means, a burning until something's gone up in
smoke. But that's not really the point.
The point of this is not, well, did Jephthah actually kill his
daughter or did he not? That's not the point. I know
that's what our flesh gets hung up on because we love our daughters.
Oh my goodness. But that's not the point now.
It's not the point. Let's stick to the point. We don't know. Maybe we don't.
I mean, I think he did sacrifice her, but we don't know. So let's
stick with what we know. Stick with what we know. This
is what I know. God, the father did sacrifice
his son. I know that. And by God's grace,
I know that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is the
sacrifice we must have. You must have it, and I must
have it. I must. I need the sacrifice
of the covenant. I need a sacrifice that's precious
and willing. I need a sacrifice that's sinless,
that's pure. I need a sacrifice that's trusted
and faithful. I need a sacrifice that can be
remembered, a sacrifice that's worth remembering. See, the blessing
in this story, let's not get confused now, hung up on the
sacrifice of a darling daughter. The blessing is the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I pray we'll be enabled to
look to Him and believe Him this morning. Let's bow together in
prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank You
for giving us this picture to show us the glory, the majesty,
the majesty, sufficiency that the human mind cannot comprehend
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we
freely admit we can't believe, we can't know, we can't understand,
but we beg of You, would You send Your Spirit upon us this
morning. Send your spirit upon the heart
of each one here and give us an understanding. Give us life. Give us faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ that we might rest fully in his glorious sacrifice for
the sin of his people. Father, we ask your mercy. We
beg your grace. Would you be merciful to us?
Would you be gracious for your namesake? It is for our good.
It is for our forgiveness. It is for our peace, we ask.
But Father, would you get glory to your name in saving your people
here, calling them out, preserving them, protecting them, and keeping
them all the days of their life. For your glory, Father, we ask. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. We'll stand and sing 224. We'll
do the chorus after the odd numbers 1, 3, and 5. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me He hath made known, Nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeem me for His own. But I know whom I have believed
and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. I know not how this saving
faith to me He did impart, nor how believing in His Word brought
peace within my heart. I know not how the Spirit moves
Convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word. Creating faith in Him But I know
whom I have believed And am persuaded that He is able To keep that
which I've committed Unto Him against that day I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see, I know not when my Lord may come at
night or noonday fair, nor if I walk the vale with Him or meet
Him in the air. I am believing and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. Thank you.