Morning, everybody. We're going
to turn to your text. It's Judges chapter 12. Judges
chapter 12. As you remember, a couple of weeks
ago, we met and we looked at Judges chapter 11. Judges chapter
11 focuses on a man named Jephthah, a very powerful type of Christ.
He's only mentioned two other times in the scripture. We looked
at him in Judges chapter 11. He's mentioned here in Judges
chapter 12. And he's mentioned one other time in Hebrews chapter
11. And it's where his, briefly, his faith is commended. But Judges
chapter 12 is where his story ends. And so I thought since
the last time we met together, we looked at where his story
began. Let's see where it ends today. But let's see if we can remember
what happened in Judges chapter 11. Jephthah was a, he was a
powerful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was referred to as
the mighty man of valor. This was the only man who could
deliver Israel. The Ammonites came up against Israel. They
wanted a war with them. There was only one man who could deliver
Israel. And that was Jephthah. Only one
man was capable. Only one man could deliver. And that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one man who was
capable of redeeming his people. There's only one man who could
do battle with sin. He could bear it in his body.
There was only one man who could suffer the punishment, the punishment
of hell. times 10,000s and 10,000s and
1,000s and 1,000s. Only one man could suffer that.
Only one man could put away sin. Only one man could keep the law.
Only one man could believe and trust his father perfectly. It's
Christ, our mighty man of valor. Jephthah was put out of his house
by his brethren. His brethren hated him. His stepbrothers,
they shoved him out of his house. He was despised and rejected
by his brethren, just like the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to
this world and the men of this world, us, me and you, we rejected
it. It is in our nature to do so.
It's what we do. And the one time that holiness walked on
this earth and God walked among us, here's what we did, we killed
him. If you wanna know what we're all about, that's what we're
all about, murdering God, hating God. We also saw Jephthah's benevolence,
his love for sinners. His mother was a harlot. She
was a prostitute and he loved his mother. When his brothers
thrust him out of the house, he went, you know who he gathered
himself to? Vain men. That means wicked, and empty,
and worthless. He made his bed, he made his
home with sinners, just like our Lord Jesus Christ. And this
never should get old to us. This man is the friend of sinners.
He is the friend of publicans and sinners. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save sinners. And to a sinner, that never gets
old. Then Jephthah makes his vow. This is terrible. This was wrong. Wrong in both
making of the vow and the execution of the vow. He went to the Lord
and he said, if you deliver the Ammonites in my hand, you give
me the victory. When I come home, the first thing
that walks out my door, I'll sacrifice it to you. This was
wrong. Don't make a deal with the Lord.
But the Lord gives him the victory. He comes back and as he's walking
towards his door, he's gonna take a load off. His only child,
his daughter, walks out that door. And his heart sinks. Think of the deep depression,
the maddening anxiety that would breed remembering your vow, and
what he planned to do after that. And as much as I love Jephthah
as a type of Christ in Judges 11, you know who I like even
more? Jephthah's daughter. She's a beautiful type of Christ.
Because when Jephthah stepped up, and with tears in his eyes
tried to explain to his daughter what he was going to do, I've
made a vow to the Lord, I'm going to sacrifice you. Without any
hesitation, Without even the slightest glimmer of fear in
her eyes, she says, do it. You made a vow, do it. She was
100% willing. She was unflappable, completely
courageous, just like our Lord Jesus Christ. When he entered
into the covenant of grace with his father, he went in with his
eyes wide open. He knew exactly what he would have to suffer.
Once again, The punishment of hell for an eternity over the
course of just a few hours times 10 thousands and 10 thousands
and thousands and thousands. He knew exactly what he was getting
himself into and you already said. Do it. They mean that much
to me, do it. You see the trustworthiness of
Jeff, his daughter. She said, give me one thing. Let me go
for two months. Let me bewail my virginity. I just want two
months to mourn this with my friends. You know what Jeff said?
Without hesitation, he said go. And I'm sure there was a naysayer
around there somewhere. Came by and said, Jephthah, you think
that's a good idea? Because you're going to sacrifice her when she
comes back. Are you afraid she's going to run away? She's going
to leave? Jephthah said, nope. Nope. She's always, always good
to her word. Two months to the very day, to
the very hour, the very minute, she's going to be right back
here and she's going to do exactly what she said she was going to
do. And that's how much trust the father put in the son. He
trusted his son with what was precious to him, his elect. And
he did it trusting him completely. You know who you trust completely?
Someone who is incapable of failure. That's the only person you can
trust completely. And if the father was willing to trust his
son with that which was precious to him, and he trusted him completely,
how much more should you and I trust him completely? Now that is Jephthah's story
through Judges 11. Let's see how the story ends in Judges
12. There's another, another pitfall for Jephthah along here.
Pick up in verse one. And the men of Ephraim gathered
themselves together and went northward and said unto Jephthah,
wherefore passest thou over to fight against the children of
Ammon? And didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn
thine house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah said unto them,
I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon.
And when I called you, you delivered me not out of their hands. And
when I saw that you delivered me not, listen to this, I put
my life in my hands and passed over against the children of
Ammon. And the Lord delivered them into my hand. Wherefore
then are you come up unto me this day to fight against me?
Now consider that statement for a minute. Jephthah said, I put
my life in my hands. You don't hear many people say
that nowadays. Sometimes you hear people talking about they
put their lives in someone else's hands. Talking about people in
high stakes situations. What they're talking about is
I'm trusting someone else with my life. And think about a mountain
climber, right? Guy's on a mountain. He's climbing.
He's got a rope. It's attached to his harness. It's going through
a carabiner. On the other end of that is a man who's called
what's on belay. He's holding that rope. And the idea is if
that mountain climber falls, the guy who's holding the rope
is going to hold that rope and the rope's going to catch him.
That man's not going to die. The climber is putting his life in
the hands of that man on the other end of the rope. What does
Jephthah say here? He says, I put my life in my
hands. Now concerning the salvation
of God's people, God put his life in his own hands. And we
just talked about it a little bit. The father completely trusted
the son, trusted him to do exactly what he said he would do. He
would come, and he would die, and he would put the sins of
his people away. The son just as well trusted the father. That
after he did that work, that after he suffered and then he
died, that his father would raise him from the dead. You see, both
the father and the son trusted each other completely. They put
their life in their own hands. And that shows you how much salvation
truly is of the Lord. Because our hands weren't involved
in it. He put his life in his own hands. Verse four. Then Jephthah gathered
together all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And
the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, you Gileadites
are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the
Manassites. And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before
the Ephraimites, and it was so that when those Ephraimites,
which were escaped, said, let me go over, that the men of Gilead
said unto him, art thou an Ephraimite? And if he said nay, then said
they unto him, say now Shibboleth. And he said Sibboleth. for he
could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him
and slew him at the passages of Jordan, and there fell at
that time of the Ephraimites 40 and 2,000. And I read that, you know what, I
think, I think I feel real bad for Jephthah. You think about
it, so he went through the war with the Ammonites, and although
the Lord gave him the victory, victories always come at a cost,
and no doubt he saw plenty of his countrymen slaughtered, probably
plenty of his friends, and he's gotta deal with that. And he
gets a slight reprieve, and when I say slight, it's literally
the walk home from the battle. Because right after that, he
comes home and he watches his only daughter walk out the house,
and he remembers his vow. And only two months later, he
would kill her. He would do it himself, at his
own hand, and it would be all his fault. It would be his wrongdoing
and it would be his stupidity that caused the death. But he
would do this at his own hand. Imagine the anguish that would
cause. And now he's faced with the prospect
of a civil war. Ephraim is part of Israel. They're another tribe
of Israel. So literally, when this battle takes place, this
is cousin versus cousin. Worst case scenario. And I'm sure what
he's thinking right now is this, Lord, not me, not this time.
Just take me. And you can understand that.
You can understand that. He's war-weary. He has no other children.
He's killed his only daughter. What does he have to live for?
Lord, not me, not this time. Raise somebody else up. I'm just
not capable. My heart's not in it. Jephthah's
life is just like the life of every believer. I heard a preacher
say once that every believer, this is their life, they are
either in trouble, about to be in trouble, or just coming out
of trouble. Just like Jephthah here. And you know what the trouble
we have? Just like Jephthah, it's the trouble we make for
ourselves. Because he made most of the trouble himself. Our sin,
our wickedness, our defiance, our unbelief, we make trouble
for ourselves in this life. But it's not his time. Now, the
Lord's gonna use him this time to deliver Israel from Israel. Like I said, this is gonna be
a civil war. Israel's going to be delivered from herself. And
think about that. Doesn't that align with your
experience? My pastor said this before, and I guess I'm still
chewing on it. I need to save from several things.
Number one, I need to be saved from the Lord. His justice, His
wrath for sin, I have to be saved from Him. I have to be saved
from the evil elements of this world, from Satan, from sin,
from all those things. But chiefly, I need this. I need
to be saved from myself, my sin, my unbelief, my apathy, my backsliding,
all those things. I need to be saved from me because
truly a civil war goes on here every single day, doesn't it?
That new man, he's at war with the old man. The old man is at
war with the new man. There's this constant civil war going
inside here, and that new man just wants to be free. Deliver
me from this old man. Do something about this sin.
Do something about this apathy. Do something about this unbelief.
I've got to be delivered. But the Lord gives Jephthah the
victory. He has the victory in this battle. And after that,
Jephthah does a very wise thing from a military and tactical
standpoint. You see, once the Ephraimites, the ones who aren't
slaughtered, they flee. And to get back home, they have to cross
Jordan. They have to cross the river. And only, there's only
a few spots on the Jordan River that you can cross over and live,
right? So Jephthah, he sends his soldiers down there. He sends
a garrison, each one of those river crossings. He says, here's
what you do, right? When you have a man who wants
to cross that bridge and get to the other side, here's the
first question you ask him. Are you an Ephraimite? Are you
an enemy of Jephthah? Did you make war with Jephthah?
Are you currently fleeing from Jephthah? Are you a man that
we can't find any reason to show mercy to? Are you an Ephraimite?
That was the first question you were to ask him. And if he said
no, then he gave him this test. Say shibboleth. This is incredibly
wise on Jephthah's part because he knows that the Ephraimites
have a different accent. They have a different dialect.
He knows they can't pronounce shibboleth and he knows what
they'll say. They'll say shibboleth and you know what the sentence
is after that? Slaughter them right there in the river. Now
this is wise, incredibly wise on Jephthah's part, but you know
what? That's not the point. Not at all. There's gospel significance
to this thing of shibboleth or shibboleth. Turn to Genesis chapter
17. Genesis chapter 17. On the outset, just looking at
it, what is the difference between shibboleth and sibboleth? Just looking at the two words,
what's the difference? An H. The difference is in H. Pick
up in verse one of chapter 17. And when Abram was 90 years old
and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, keep that in mind, Abram,
and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram,
A-B-R-A-M, fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying,
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt
be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abram, but thy name shall be called A-B-R-A-H-A-M,
Abraham. For a father, a father of many
nations have I made thee, and I will make thee exceeding fruitful,
and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
Now look down at verse 15. And God said unto Abraham, as
for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but
Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give
thee a son also of her, yea, I will bless her, and she shall
be a mother of many nations, kings of people shall be of her. Abraham and Sarah, when did they
get the age? when they had the promise of
life. Abraham, you're an old man, but
I'm gonna give you a son. Sarah, you're an old woman, but
I'm gonna give you a son. When they had the promise of
life, that's when they got the age. What is this thing? Shibboleth
or Sibboleth? What is the question? From spiritual
terms, the gospel terms, what is the question that's being
asked there? How can a sinful, wicked, evil man live before
a just and holy God? That's the question that this
story is asking right now. And there's only two possible
answers to that. Only two possible responses you will get. You will
get either Sibylleth or you will get Shibboleth. Salvation is
either by works, in some way conditioned by what a man does,
or salvation is all of grace and is conditioned completely
upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. One of two answers.
Now Sibylleth. Sibylleth. You know what that
word means? It means ear of corn, ear of corn. Remember, back in
Genesis, two men sought to bring a sacrifice before the Lord.
They were gonna make an offering for the Lord. One's name was Abel, one's
name was Cain. Abel, he brought the appropriate
sacrifice. He brought a lamb slain, and on that altar, he
put a lamb slain, and he didn't dare put anything else on there.
There was one thing the Lord would accept. That picture of
Jesus Christ and him crucified, the slain lamb, is the only way
he would have acceptance with God. By offering the lamb, he
said, this is all I have. This is all I have, that this
man, Jesus Christ, is gonna come to this world, he's going to
bleed, he's going to die, he's gonna die for me, he's gonna
put away my sins, and this is the only thing I have to bring
before you, the slain lamb, that's it, that's all he got. And you
know what the scripture says? It says that the Lord had respect,
respect, this is God himself, had respect unto Abel and to
his offspring. Cain, he was a farmer. He knew
what the appropriate sacrifice was, and you know what he brought?
He brought fruits, he brought vegetables, cucumbers, squash,
probably brought a few ears of corn, ciboleth, just like that. And what he was saying was, I'm
gonna bring the best I can possibly bring, the best that comes from
me. But Cain, all he says is the
Lamb slain is the only thing he'll accept. No, no, I want
him to see how hard I've worked. I want him to see what good things
I can produce. I want him to see everything
I've done. He'll accept this, he'll accept this. And he sat
that on the altar, you know what the scripture says? Concerning Cain
and his offering, the Lord had not respect. Now let me give
you the New Testament version of this. Turn over to Galatians
chapter two. Galatians chapter 2, pick up
at verse 16. Paul in very plain language is
going to express what I'm trying to express here. Galatians 2.16
Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now I want to
stop there for a second. Very subtle, I want you to pay
attention to this. It does not say that a man is justified by
a man's faith in Jesus Christ. That is not what that says. It
says a man is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness,
his faithfulness in doing what his father sent him to do. A
man is justified not by his faith in Jesus Christ, but by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. Our faith believes that, that's
all. Read again, knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we
have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ. And listen to this, and not by
the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified. What does that mean, the works
of the law? What's he talking about there?
It means anything you and I have done or intend to do that we
think might earn us some sort of respect with God, some appreciation,
some merit with God, any of those things. Mark it down. Whatever
you think comes from you, you think could earn you brownie
points with God, that's a work of the law. Now, what's some
examples of this? How about this one, better by
comparison? Have you ever talked to someone and they said, listen,
I think God grades on the curve. Now, I'm speaking from experience
here. I actually had a conversation with a man who said this. God grades on the
curve, and I think I'm going to be OK. And what he's saying
is, like, listen, I'm not perfect, right? Nobody's perfect. But
what I can find is a whole bunch of other people out there that
are way worse than I am, right? And I believe God grades on the
curve. He's going to take it on the curve. And I'm probably in, like, the top
30%. 70% is a passing grade. Anywhere you go, I think I'm
going to be just fine, right? Well, let's talk about that for
a second. From his deathbed. David said this, 2 Samuel 23
three, he said, he that ruleth over men must be just. And he ain't talking about a
man ruling over men. He's talking about that one who rules sovereignly
over all men and everything and every event in time. And that's
the Lord. He that ruleth over men must
be just. Here's the bar folks. It's perfection.
It's absolute holiness, absolute righteousness, meaning you have
never done anything wrong, and you have always done that which
is right, and you weren't capable of doing that which is wrong.
That is the bar. And guess what? Anybody who falls
below that, done. That's it. There is no grading
on the curve. The bar, folks, is perfection.
It is the very essence of God himself. That's the bar. But
I'll tell you what, even if it did grade on the curve, it wouldn't
do us any good. Not a bit. Let me read this to you. Psalm
14, one through three. The fool said in his heart, no
God. He rejects him. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. Here's the answer. They
are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Folks, even if you did grade
on the curb, it wouldn't do us any good whatsoever because we're all
on the same level, guilty, nothing, sinners. About free will. Seems to be
the rallying cry of false religion in our day. God loves all men.
Christ died for all men. And the difference between salvation
and not is whether you are willing to accept what Jesus Christ has
done on your behalf or not. Sounds like false religion, right?
Romans 9, 16, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Your will's tied
to your nature. If you have an old, sinful nature,
just like that psalm I just read, it simply says, no God. Not to
saying that they don't believe in a God, it's that they don't
like him the way he is. No God. Your will's tied to your nature.
It is not up to whether you are willing to accept Jesus Christ,
it's whether he's willing to accept you or not. And if you
want the evidence of that, you just go one verse above. In verse
15 of Roman 9, it says, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. You see, he's the one who chooses.
Don't believe me, here's another one. John 10, 14 through 15.
I am the good shepherd, this is Christ speaking, and know
or love my sheep. You see there's sheep and there's
goats. He knows he loves his sheep. And of none of mine, as
a father knoweth me, even so I know I the father, and I laid
down my life, for who? For the sheep. See folks, it's
up to him. Now here's a subtle one. How
about making a work out of faith? I suspect there's a whole lot
of people who would be willing to stand up and say, I believe
that salvation is by grace through faith. Salvation is by grace
through faith. And they would be very content
to say that. And what they mean by that is you, you make a decision
and you muster in and of yourself, faith, right? You make a decision
to believe on Jesus Christ. You muster that faith independently.
And when God sees your faith and you express your faith, he
then rewards that faith with salvation. That's salvation by
works. That's all it is. It's a denial
of how truly sinful we are, and it's the denial of how much of
salvation truly is of the Lord. Ephesians 2.1, and you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. What does that mean? Dead, what does it mean? It means
dead, stone cold dead. It means you can do nothing.
Those things spiritually, you must have faith. You must be
brought to repentance. You must have a changed mind.
You must have love for God as he is. You must have love for
the brethren. By nature, you can't do it, you're dead. Absolutely
dead. Now I want to be very clear about
what I'm saying here. I'm going to make these couple different statements.
Number one, everyone in this room understand this. It is your
command. And I say that specifically your
command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to reject your
works of the law, leave them all behind you. They do you absolutely
no good. And to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ too. No man
will be saved apart from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Understand
that. But three, faith knows its place. Faith is not the cause
of salvation. Salvation is the cause of faith. Let me read this to you. 2 Timothy
1, eight and nine. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling. Which one came first? The saving
or the calling? The saving. Listen to this, Hebrews
111. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. See folks,
he's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Everyone
who's eternally united to Jesus Christ, everyone who God loves
and he's always loved, everyone God chose in divine election
before the world ever began, we have always been safe and
secure in the person of Jesus Christ because he's the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. He saved us before
this world was ever coming to be. And the evidence that a man
is saved is that he believes the gospel. The Lord delivers
him in time, delivers him that life, that Holy Spirit, and he
believes, he responds with belief. How can a man possibly know that
he is loved by God? He believes the gospel. How can a man possibly
know that he was elected by God and he was chosen? He believes
the gospel. How could he know that Jesus Christ died for him?
He believes the gospel. See, faith is not the cause of
salvation. Salvation is the cause of faith. Now two more thoughts on Sibyleth.
Go back to your text. Look at verses one and two. And the men of Ephraim gathered
themselves together and went northward, and said unto Jephthah,
Wherefore passest thou over to fight against the children of
Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn
thine house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah said unto them,
I and my people were a great strife for the children of Ammon,
and when I called you, you delivered me not of their hands. Did you
notice that they lied there? They bold-faced lied. They said,
listen, we're mad because you didn't call us to come fight
the battle with you. And Jephthah responds and says, wait a second.
As you'll recall, I did call you. You guys were just a bunch
of cowards, so you wouldn't show up. They knew that Jephthah had
called them, but yet they were willing to believe this lie.
They were willing to bold-faced deny the truth. Now, here's my
point. Everything I just told you about salvation by works,
trying to seek some sort of something with God based on what you do.
To continue on with that is to deny what it says in this book.
You have to boldface believe a lie. Because if you read this
book, what it says is you can't come into the presence of God
on your own and live. That he won't accept anything from me
and you. That all our works are nothing but filthy rags. That
is the message of this book. And to continue on with that,
to stand on those grounds before God, is to lie, to boldface lie
and deny what it says in this book. But here's the question. Why were they so willing to believe
this lie? Overtly they were believing this lie. Why are they so willing
to believe this lie? What's at stake here? Glory. They could
not stand the fact that Jephthah got all the glory. Jephthah fought
the battle himself. All the glory belonged to Jephthah.
And they could not stand the fact that Jephthah was gonna
get all the glory. Folks, that's the natural man.
That's why he wants to believe in this thing of salvation by
works so much, why it means so much to him. Because if salvation
is in some way based on what a man does, he gets some glory
in his salvation. The issue is always who gets
the glory. I tell you what, for the sinner, we don't want any
glory. We want a bit of it. We want
the Lord Jesus Christ to get every aspect of that glory because
he deserves it also too though, if some glory is due me, that
means there's something I have to do. And I can't come up with
the goods. So the issue is always glory
and the natural man will believe this lie because he's looking
for some glory. He's not content for Christ to
get all the glory. Now we've talked a lot about
Shibboleth. Let's talk about Shibboleth. And if Sibylleth represents salvation
by works, Sibylleth, obviously, salvation by grace. It means
a flowing stream. Psalm 46.4 says this, there is
a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,
the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. Those streams,
that river that's being talked about there, those are the streams
of grace. You ever watched a river, a stream, it just keeps flowing,
it just keeps flowing, keeps flowing, and never runs dry.
Look at the Euphrates, right? I've actually seen that. Been
going on for thousands of years, never run dry, just keeps on
going. Grace, to the Lord's people, just keeps on coming, just keeps
on coming. It's a never-ending stream that just keeps on coming
our way. And make no mistake, it takes a whole lot of grace
to save the sinner. takes loving and electing grace. When we talk about this we are
going to talk about it again. For a man to be saved God has to
love that man. He has to have always loved that man because
that man is in eternal union with Jesus Christ. He has to
choose that man. He has to will that man's salvation.
That's the only way a man can be saved. Now we are talking
again about the sovereignty of God in salvation. But you know
in our story it talks about this and it frames it in a very interesting
way and I think we can learn something. Go back and look at
verses 5 and 6 of Judges 12. And the Gileadites took the passages
of Jordan before the Ephraimites. It was so that when those Ephraimites,
which were escaped, said, let me go over, that the men of Gilead
said unto him, art thou an Ephraimite? And if he said nay, then said
they unto him, say now Shibboleth. And he said Sibboleth, for he
could not frame to pronounce it right. You see, there's a
right answer and there is a wrong answer. Then they took him. and
slew him at the passage of Jordan. There fell at that time the Ephraimites
40 and 2,000." Now, here's the setup, like I told you before.
Jephthah, he sends out all his soldiers to all these passages
over Jordan, right? Which means if you're an Ephraimite,
you're going to want to go home, which means eventually everybody
has to answer to Jephthah. Sooner or later, you've got to
cross over, and everybody has to answer to Jephthah. And whether
you cross over that bridge whole, or whether you are slain right
there in the river, it is completely and utterly up to Jephthah. But
sooner or later, everybody's got to answer to Jephthah. Folks,
that's the sovereignty of our Lord and salvation. Eventually,
everybody's got to answer to the Lord. And whether you cross
over whole, or whether you are slain right there in that river,
it is completely up to Him. I want you to get that. But consider
the test. This is the first question you
were to ask when a man wanted to cross over. Are you an Ephraimite? Are you the enemy of Jephthah?
Did you make war with Jephthah? Are you currently fleeing from
Jephthah? Of all the men out there, are you one of these men
that there's no reason we should show you mercy? Are you an Ephraimite? And the only way you were supposed
to challenge him is if he said no. And you know what that seems
to infer? That if he confessed and he said
yes, That's me, that he would be given safe passage. Are you
an Ephraimite, the enemy of Jephthah? Yeah, that's me. Did you make
war with Jephthah? Yeah, that's me. Are you on the
run? Yeah, that's me. Are you one of these people we
should slay you right now? There is absolutely no reason in and
of yourself that we should have mercy on you. Are you one of
these people? That's me, that's me. Here's what I'm getting at. First John 1.9, if we confess
our sins, He is faithful, which means he always does this. And
he is just, which means it's right for him to do this, to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Folks, God is absolutely sovereign
in salvation. But recognize this, any sinner
who comes begging mercy, confessing what you are, what does it mean
to confess your sins? You are sin. There's nothing
good about you. Nothing you can bring to the
table. I'm guilty as charged. No reason you should show mercy
on me. But if you look to Christ, you'll find all the reason you
need. If we confess our sins and we're just like that, the
answer is always go free. Cross over and cross over whole.
And recognize what this is. This is not a reward for an appropriate
confession. This is not mercy being shown
because it was asked for. This is mercy was shown long,
long before the confession was ever made. The evidence that
mercy was given was that he confessed. Man must be the object of calling
and regenerating grace. Now you remember Lazarus. Lazarus
was stone-cold dead. He was rotting in a grave. The
Lord came to Lazarus where he was at. That's so important.
He didn't have Lazarus meet him halfway. He was dead. The Lord
came to him where he was at, and he gave Lazarus a command.
Simple command. Lazarus, come forth. With that
command came life, and with that life came the ability. And Lazarus,
he staggered out of that grave, wearing them gray clothes, and
he came to Christ. He had no other choice and he wanted no
other choice. And this is what's necessary.
This grace must be shown to every child of God that will be saved.
The Lord has to come to you where you're at. In time, he speaks
the truth to you through the gospel message. He makes it effectual
to you and he gives you life. And you know what you do? You
believe. You respond with belief. You have no choice and you want
no other choice. All you want is Christ. Men must be the object of preserving
grace. It's because we must persevere all the way to the end. At the
very end of my life, my last breath, I have to die believing
on Jesus Christ, trusting him. And you know what? If that's
up to me in any way, it's not going to happen. But we're kept by
the power of God. See, we're shown preserving grace
to keep us all the way to the end. Man must be the object of
justifying grace. He must made to be what he is
not, sinless, righteous, holy. He must be justified before God.
When the law looks him over, it must have nothing to say to
him, absolutely nothing. The law is satisfied. You've
always kept me, and you've never broken me. That's what it must
say. All these graces are necessary. But I love how it says here,
it talks about grace being shown as a stream, a river. For every
source of water, there has to be a point of origin. There has
to be a fountain, if you will, for where everything starts.
Zechariah 13 one says this, in that day, there shall be a fountain
open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness. Now what fountain is he talking
about? What day? He was talking about the day that our Lord Jesus
Christ hung on the cross. And the fountain that was open
was the fountain of his blood and water that flowed out of
his side. Complete atonement was made. Complete cleansing
was made right there at that cross. Every one of God's people
was justified, was saved. That blood put away our sin,
made us just before a holy God, completely and utterly acceptable.
And here's the outcome of all that. Isaiah 53 11, he shall
see, speaking of the father, the travail of his soul, speaking
of the son, and shall be satisfied. When the Lord Jesus Christ hung
his head and he said it was finished, God was satisfied with him. And
as he was satisfied with him, He was satisfied with everybody
He died for. The sin was put away. The work was done. It truly
is finished. Hebrews 10, 14 says, for by one
offering, the offering of His self, He hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Don't miss that word, perfected,
which means nothing lacking. Everything God could possibly
demand, the price was paid at Calvary. When the Lord Jesus
Christ hung His head, it really is finished. Folks, there's nothing
left for you to do. They've been put away, the work is done. 1
Peter 2.24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body
on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness
by whose stripes ye were, past tense, healed. And it's this
act, it was this fountain by which all the streams of grace
flow. Now I'm going to end with this.
I'm going to make this as simple as I can. On the night of the
Passover, the Lord said, I'm going to pass through Egypt.
And every one of the houses, I'm going to kill the firstborn.
I'm coming through, and death's following me. I'm going to kill
every one of the firstborn. But you, my people, Israel, here's
what you're going to do. You're going to take a lamb.
Take a lamb without spot, without blemish. You're going to slit
its throat. You're going to catch the blood in the basin. You're
getting a bunch of hyssop. You're going to put that blood
over the top of your doorpost and on the sides of the doorpost
and you're going to get inside that house and you have this
promise. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now here's
my question. What was God looking for on that
night? Blood. Not blood and, not blood
in your best efforts, not blood in your faith. One thing he demanded
that night, blood. Get inside that house with the
blood over the door. Now, here's what I want to encourage everyone
in this room to do. All your works of the law, if there's
any of them you're hanging your hat on, get rid of them. Leave
them at the door and you get inside that house with the blood
over the door. How do I do that? You believe
on Christ. You look to him, you trust him
and you never look back. So. Sibyleth. Or shibboleth. Or groundiest
anal. I'll leave you there.