1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,400 One summer day, some families wanted to go blueberry picking. 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,000 The one family had a few younger children who were too young to 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,960 help and so they were dropped off at a babysitter. 4 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,920 There was one young little boy, maybe aged 4 or so. 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,400 He was not happy at having to stay with the babysitter and he 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,440 put up a lot of resistance. Verbally he fussed and 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,520 complained, but to no avail. He was little, he had no power. 8 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,520 His words of protest fell on deaf ears. 9 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,800 He had to stay at the babysitter. 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,680 The babysitter was an older girl, mature, and she tried her 11 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,360 best to calm him down, to bargain with him, offering him 12 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,560 candy and what not, to get him to comply. 13 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,480 I don't want candy, I want to go blueberry picking, he 14 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,760 complained. But he had to stay. 15 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,960 Nothing to be done. Sometime later that morning, 16 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,720 maybe mid morning toward lunch, the young boy came up to the 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,000 babysitter. The girl says, Now I would 18 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,240 already want the candy you wanted to offer me earlier. 19 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,760 The bargaining cards were not with him, they were with a 20 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,520 babysitter. Too often in life we forget to 21 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,000 hold the cards and so we do that. 22 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,120 And so our sermon title this morning is bargaining with God. 23 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,080 You ever done that? Ever pray something? 24 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,720 Lord, if you will, then I will. If you will do this for me, then 25 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:26,600 I will do that for you. Ever done that? 26 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,160 I'm not saying it's sin to bargain with God in that sense. 27 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,560 But what if the promises we make are wrong? 28 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,880 What if the promises we make are not thought through well? 29 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:41,000 And we thought, oh, what did I promise? 30 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,120 We're continuing our sermon series this morning in the book 31 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,040 of Judges. And in the next few sermons, 32 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,600 we'll be covering longer portions of Scripture, so we'll 33 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,560 be skipping some parts. Last Sunday, we finished the 34 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,400 life of Gideon and his son Abimelech. 35 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,960 When Gideon died, Abimelech came on the scene and we learned that 36 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:02,960 he wasn't very bad leader, a very evil man. 37 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,880 He had a very tragic end. Well, after Abimelech, there's a 38 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,720 man named Tola, and then there's Jair. 39 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:11,960 Very little is mentioned. They only have a few verses, and 40 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,480 so we will skip those leaders. In today's passage, we find the 41 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,360 people of Israel again in a time of idolatry. 42 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,280 And the main character of the story this morning is a man 43 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,760 named Jephthah. And in today's scripture we will 44 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,360 find quite a bit of bargaining going on. 45 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,320 One commentator that I read mentions there's five different 46 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:37,120 episodes of bargaining happening from chapter 10, verse 6 to 47 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:42,320 chapter 12, verse 7. Bargaining with God is something 48 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:44,680 that many people did in the Old Testament. 49 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,360 People still do today. But for instance, I'll mention 50 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,680 one in the book of Samuel, chapter one, we find the story 51 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,080 of Hannah praying in the temple. She's childless and saying to 52 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,920 God, if you will give me a son, I will dedicate him to you. 53 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,280 And God blessed her, gave her a son, and she dedicated him to 54 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,320 the Lord. That's not sin, that's not 55 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:13,160 wrong, but we have to be very careful when we make promises to 56 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,080 God. What kind of promises do we make 57 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,160 and are they honoring to Him? On what do they all imply? 58 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,920 So let's begin reading this morning out of chapter 10, verse 59 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:27,960 6 in your Bibles to the end of verse 16, and we will go all the 60 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,880 way through chapter 12, verse 7 towards the end beginning of 61 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,280 chapter 10, verse 6. Then the children of Israel 62 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,360 again did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Bales 63 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,840 and Astaroths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the 64 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,880 gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, the gods of the 65 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,120 Philistines. They forsook the Lord and did 66 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,920 not serve Him. So the Lord anger of the Lord 67 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,200 was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the 68 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,320 Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. 69 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,320 From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel 70 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,640 for 18 years, all the children of Israel who were on the other 71 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,760 side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead. 72 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,240 Moreover, the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight 73 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,720 against Judah, also against Benjamin and against the House 74 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:17,920 of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed. 75 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,680 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, We have 76 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,280 sinned against you because we have both forsaken our God and 77 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:28,360 served the bails. So the Lord said to the children 78 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,760 of Israel, did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the 79 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,360 Amorites, from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines 80 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,480 also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Mayonites 81 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,720 oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I delivered you from 82 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:43,680 their hand. Yet you've forsaken me and 83 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,440 served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no 84 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:48,880 more. Go and cry out to the gods which 85 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,360 you've chosen. Let them deliver you in your 86 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,680 time of distress. And the children of Israel said 87 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,240 to the Lord, We have sinned due to us. 88 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,880 Whatever seems best to you, only deliver us this day, we pray. 89 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,280 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and serve 90 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:08,840 the Lord, and his soul could no longer endure the misery of 91 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:09,880 Israel. Let's pause there. 92 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:15,040 Notice the prayer in verse 15. We have sinned due to us. 93 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,880 Whatever seems best to you, only deliver us this day. 94 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:19,480 We pray. They're bargaining. 95 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,840 They're praying. Do as you see fit. 96 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:26,760 What's the first thing we notice here? 97 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:33,240 Surrender, the first thing that has to come into place if we 98 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,960 want to come on to God's side, we have to surrender. 99 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,400 We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems best to 100 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,080 you. Only deliver us this day. 101 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,200 We pray. That's desperation. 102 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,360 See, they are now where they should have been before they 103 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,800 started worshipping idols. Before we look at how bad their 104 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,640 situation was, let's look at back again what had happened 105 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,280 that made it so bad. So let's go back to verse 6. 106 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,600 It tells us in verse 6 they did evil in the sight of the Lord 107 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,280 and served the bails #2, the Ashtaroths. 108 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,400 And each of these nations that mentions here had their own 109 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,600 group of gods. The gods of Syria, the gods of 110 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:16,920 Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of Ammon, the gods of the 111 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,280 Philistines. They forsook the Lord, did not 112 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:23,680 serve him. Seven different God groups are 113 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,520 mentioned here. They had completely, totally 114 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,520 immersed themselves in the cultures around them. 115 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,560 Most likely there was not one idol they did not embrace. 116 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:39,120 They blended in well. You know how it worked well in 117 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,440 the first little while? Probably until it didn't. 118 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,200 Why 7? Why 7 different groups? 119 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,240 Again, going back to some commentators that you say that 120 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,040 the number 7 is often used as a symbol of completeness in 121 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:54,120 Scripture. So basically saying there's 122 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,600 nothing they didn't do, they did it all. 123 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,400 They had fallen perhaps to the lowest that this that they had 124 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,320 ever been. We do not find the children of 125 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:06,720 Israel ever having fallen lower than they were at this point. 126 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,680 And as we go through the story of Judges, we find toward the 127 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:12,920 end, it gets really, really, really bad. 128 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,120 It was worse now than it had been. 129 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:16,520 It was going to get worse yet down on. 130 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:18,280 But let's go to this story today. 131 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,560 So the cycle of oppression began again. 132 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:26,280 They embraced all these idols. And in time, it went badly. 133 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,600 For 18 years they came under oppression. 134 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,880 But you know, something in their minds, they remembered. 135 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,120 They knew they had not forgotten. 136 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,280 They had forgotten God, but not forgotten. 137 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,440 They cried out to who? The God they rejected. 138 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,520 It's interesting how people conveniently brush God aside in 139 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,920 life when it's to their advantage to brush him aside, 140 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,360 only to later beg him. Get Me Out of this mess that I'm 141 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,520 in. Please rescue me. 142 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,920 You know what they do after God says Nope, I'm not going to 143 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:57,040 rescue you. You go cry to those gods you 144 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,560 worship. You go after them now you know 145 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:00,720 what they do. We're 16. 146 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,840 So they put away the foreign gods from among them. 147 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,800 They clean house. They serve the Lord and God. 148 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,800 True to his character, his soul could no longer endure the 149 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,040 misery of Israel. He's always a God of compassion 150 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,000 and mercy whenever people surrender. 151 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:22,640 But he holds the cards. They ended the idol worship. 152 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,200 They ended it. Did they just somehow now 153 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:28,760 realize it was wrong? No. 154 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:30,280 They knew all along it was wrong. 155 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,760 But it was attractive, it was tempting, and they fell for it. 156 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,679 They knew exactly what they'd done, and before they could 157 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,480 expect God to rescue him, they had to do something. 158 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:47,120 The lesson here is this. For 300 years by now they had 159 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:51,040 been a nation in Canaan. They knew what happened before 160 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,200 they had the history. But it's so tempting and this 161 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,280 will work. The lessons of history were not 162 00:08:58,280 --> 00:08:59,440 gone. They knew them. 163 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,440 God reminded them. And now God says, I'm not going 164 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,880 to rescue you. But then they repent, then they 165 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:12,280 change, they surrender. You know, isn't it amazing how 166 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,400 people know the right thing to do when they get desperate? 167 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:19,840 There's always this thing when children disobey. 168 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,360 They don't know exactly what Mom and Dad instructed, what mom and 169 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,400 Dad said. And then when they get caught, 170 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:27,080 then they bargain, then they want mercy. 171 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,840 But now, having repented, you know, something that did not 172 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,280 change the circumstances, that did not yet get them out of 173 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,760 their situation, they still needed help. 174 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:39,000 I've sometimes said this in the past. 175 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,400 Nobody needs any help in messing up their life. 176 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,080 We could all do that by ourselves. 177 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,040 If anyone tries to tell us you mind your own business, who are 178 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,000 you to judge me? But later, when life has fallen 179 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,200 apart, then we want help. I'm sorry, can you help me? 180 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,320 I did because and I didn't know. And excuses. 181 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,640 When we finally realized excuses do not work, then the next step, 182 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,520 hey, I know I was wrong, but I said sorry. 183 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,640 I apologized. That's not repentance. 184 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:13,880 That's demanding. If we do the right thing, we let 185 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,080 down our guard. We simply say something. 186 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,040 Look, I know I'm responsible. I sinned. 187 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,160 I put myself at your mercy. Do to me as you see fit. 188 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,880 Please rescue me this day. That's the prayer. 189 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,600 They should have prayed a lot earlier. 190 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,160 They had rebelled. They had worshiped idols. 191 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:35,960 Their lives are in a mess now. They're getting ready to get rid 192 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:37,680 of the mess now. They owned it. 193 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,480 But that doesn't fix the mess. That doesn't get them out of the 194 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,000 mess. They have their mess. 195 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,280 They own their mess. Now they need to deal with it. 196 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:49,440 Let's continue reading verse 17. Then the people of Ammon 197 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:51,400 gathered together, the very guys who oppressed them. 198 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,960 They gathered together and camped in Gilead, and the 199 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:57,560 children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah, 200 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:00,240 their idols. They had embraced them, 201 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:01,520 worshiped them, and a bunch of others. 202 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:03,480 Those very people had oppressed them. 203 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:05,680 Now there's a mess. Now they're going to fight 204 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:09,560 against them. A war was coming, verse 18, and 205 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:11,760 the people, the leaders of Gilead said to one another, 206 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,000 who's the man who will begin the fight against the people of 207 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,000 Ammon? He shall behead over all the 208 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,160 inhabitants of Gilead. They got rid of the idols. 209 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:24,480 They're back to to godly worship the life they had behave 210 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,680 themselves into. They now have to fight their way 211 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:29,120 out. They're in a situation where 212 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,080 it's only going to be a very painful way back to freedom. 213 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,520 You see, it's like I've said in the past, you can dig yourself 214 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,280 into a hole. You can't dig yourself out. 215 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:42,080 You need help to get out. It takes a lot of effort here. 216 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:43,520 They are oppressed. Now they're going to have to 217 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:45,520 fight. In Chapter 11. 218 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,280 There's a little small insert into the story. 219 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:51,280 It's it's something that's kind of by itself just gives us a bit 220 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,320 of a backdrop into the character of the guy we're going to talk 221 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,800 about. Let's read 11 Chapter 1 now. 222 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:02,080 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was 223 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,040 the son of a harlot, and Gilead begot Jephthah. 224 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,480 Gilead's wife bore sons, and when his wife's sons grew up, 225 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,200 they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall have no 226 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:13,400 inheritance in her father's house, for you are the son of 227 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,960 another woman. Then Jephthah fled from his 228 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,360 brothers and dwelt in the land of Tobe, and worthless men 229 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,600 banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. 230 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,200 This story is just a tiny insert giving the backdrop of the 231 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:28,320 leader that the people of Israel would end up calling to help 232 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,880 them out of the mess that got themselves into says in verse 4. 233 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,440 And it came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made 234 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:38,520 war against Israel. So here in verse 4, now we're 235 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,320 back to the end of the story in chapter 10, the last part there. 236 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,920 Now here in verse 5 and Chapter 11, it says, and so it was when 237 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,320 the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders 238 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,400 of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 239 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,640 They said to Jephthah, come and be our commander that we may 240 00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,160 fight against the people of Ammon. 241 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:03,160 Now who holds the cards? Listen, we're 7. 242 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,080 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Do you, did you not 243 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,480 hate me and expel me from my father's house? 244 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,520 Why have you come to me now when you're in trouble, in distress? 245 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,160 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is why we've 246 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,160 turned to you again, to you now that you may go with us and 247 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,960 fight against the people of Ammon and be our head over all 248 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,600 the inhabitants of Gilead. You see the back and forth, 249 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:26,640 verse 9. So Jephthah said to the elders 250 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,440 of Gilead, if you take me back home to fight against the people 251 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:34,080 of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your 252 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,000 head? That's the card here. 253 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,040 We see this going on, verse 10, And the elders of Gilead said to 254 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,520 Jephthah, the Lord will be a witness. 255 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,920 No more idle talk. The Lord will be a witness 256 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,400 between us if we do not do according to your words. 257 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,160 Notice the reference. They had not forgotten. 258 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,480 They turned back to God. Now here's the reference point, 259 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,480 verse 11. Then Jephthah went with the 260 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,920 elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over 261 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,760 them, and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. 262 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,640 Now they're back on track. They got this agreement, they 263 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:08,600 got the arrangement. Now it's going to work. 264 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:15,600 See, back in the earlier years when the elders of Gilead, his 265 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:20,280 brothers, rejected him and threw him out, it probably never 266 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:24,520 crossed their minds. Oh boy, we may need this guy one 267 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:26,920 day. We may have to go back to him. 268 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,560 He was a man of valor who's very brave, very courageous. 269 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,960 He had, he had, he had, he had. He's a very daring man. 270 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,600 But now when the idol worship had got them in this mess and 271 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,640 they had now repented and turned back to the Lord, it's enough to 272 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,040 fight their way back to freedom. They have to. 273 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,320 They already humble themselves. Now they go back all small and 274 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,680 little. And you know what that points us 275 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:49,920 to? To the next point here 276 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,840 demonstrate humility. It wasn't easy to convince 277 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,480 Jephthah. He had remembered, he had not 278 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,720 forgotten, he reminds them. But the balance of power now 279 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:04,760 rested with him. Just to recap, first the nation 280 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,680 had rebelled, gone into idol worship, 18 years of oppression, 281 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:09,760 life was a mess. They wanted God's help, God's 282 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:11,680 reluctant to help. Then they totally repent. 283 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,400 God then gets going with this. And so they begged God and God 284 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,240 provides. But the man able and qualified 285 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,240 to do the job, None other than Jephtah the rejected 1. 286 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,800 He'd been treated very badly. But now when things are dark, 287 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,040 can you help us? Jephthah had conditions, he has 288 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:33,760 boundaries. Let's continue reading in 289 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,640 Jephthah in Judges chapter 1110 eleven verse 12. 290 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,360 Now Jephthah gets to work. Jephthah sent messengers to the 291 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,440 king of the people of Ammon saying, what do you have against 292 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,120 me that you've come to fight against me in my land? 293 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,480 He's taking total ownership. He's the leader now, and he's 294 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,880 going to start with conversation. 295 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,480 He's the leader and verse 12 and on to down to verse 28. 296 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,960 I won't read all of that. We have this exchange through 297 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,080 letters, people bringing letters to the king of Ammon, The king 298 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,080 of Ammon bringing letters back to Jephthah, and this 299 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,320 conversation is going on. Jephthah is trying to reason 300 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:11,880 with the king of Ammon to avoid war. 301 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,440 He doesn't want war, war, but he's the leader now, so he will 302 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:21,120 do what he can to avoid it. Nothing works in the end. 303 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,520 King of Ammon is convinced, Nope, the land you took from us 304 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:26,800 and it wasn't actually true. If you read the story, it's not 305 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:28,920 how it happened. The king of Ammon is not honest 306 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:31,800 and he's trying to convince Jeff that, yeah, you took my land. 307 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,440 Jeff, this says, no, we didn't. We took what God gave us and we 308 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:36,280 didn't actually take your land, somebody else's land. 309 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:38,520 And the king of Ammon just wants it now. 310 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:44,360 And then verse 27, Judges Chapter 11, verse 27 says, 311 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,600 therefore Jephthah is saying I've not sinned against you, but 312 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,320 you wronged me by fighting against me. 313 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:51,160 So Jephthah is taking this really personal. 314 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,760 May the Lord the judge render judgment this day between the 315 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,400 children of Israel and the people of Ammon. 316 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,240 The die is cast. Whoever the king of Ammon did 317 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,440 not heed the words Jephtah sent him. 318 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,359 Well, now the next thing that we need to see what's important 319 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:08,160 here. It's easy to talk. 320 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,119 What is even heavier is when you actually need to do something 321 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,240 and now the fighting will begin. So you have to have courage. 322 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,640 First there was a surrender by the people and they had to 323 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,160 humble themselves. Now it will take courage. 324 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:28,640 It's easy to give way to fear in difficult times, but fear is 325 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,560 something that just somehow doesn't have. 326 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:35,160 He has courage. The king had insisted, Nope, 327 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:36,480 it's my land, I'm going to take it. 328 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,800 And Jephthah says no. And now the next step is battle. 329 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,440 Let's read on to chapter Chapter 11, verse 29. 330 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,480 We'll continue on. Then the Spirit of the Lord came 331 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,280 upon Jephtah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and 332 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,440 passed through Mizbah of Gilead. And from Mizbah to Gilead he 333 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,080 advanced toward the people of Ammon. 334 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:56,880 Now let's pay careful attention to what happens here. 335 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:58,760 Jephtah has some flaws of his own. 336 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,360 Verse 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you 337 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:07,440 will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it 338 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,040 will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet 339 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,400 me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, surely 340 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,000 shall surely be the Lords, and I will OfferUp as a burnt 341 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:26,440 offering. Wow, let's read verse 30 again. 342 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,440 If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands in 343 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,160 verse 31, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors 344 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,840 of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people 345 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,320 of Ammon shall be surely be the Lords, and I will offer it as a 346 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,160 burnt offering. Did God tell him to do that? 347 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,120 No, God didn't tell him to do that. 348 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,280 He did that kind of as a bargaining with God. 349 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,240 God never told him to do that and it would backfire. 350 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:01,360 Well, let's continue reading Judges Chapter 11 verse 32 now 351 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,080 so Jeff that advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against 352 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,120 them and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 353 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,720 The Lord did and he defeated them from a roar as far as 354 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:17,120 minutes 20 cities and to Abel Karamim with a very great 355 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:19,280 slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were 356 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,560 subdued before the children of Israel. 357 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,680 So far so good. Verse 34. 358 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,360 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his 359 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,360 daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing, and 360 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,520 she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son 361 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,160 nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw 362 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,560 her, he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, you've 363 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:42,920 brought me very low. You're among those who trouble 364 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,520 me, for I've given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back on 365 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,360 it. Let's stop there. 366 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,800 Did he think this through when he made that promise? 367 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,320 Did he think that the chances could be his only daughter would 368 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,560 come out of the door? What was he expecting? 369 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,880 Was he expecting an animal? One speaker listened to me to 370 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,960 mention that the Israelites in those days, their houses often 371 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,120 were built in a way. The animals and the people live 372 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:14,040 in the same house, except the different ends are in the animal 373 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,280 and was a bit lower than they were and where the people were 374 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:19,560 at. So that could have been was 375 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,800 expecting maybe a goat or a sheep, could have been, we don't 376 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,080 know. We're not told what he was 377 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,840 expecting, but we do know what he was not expecting. 378 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:29,120 He was not expecting his daughter. 379 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:33,480 That much we do know. You see, when we make promises, 380 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,400 we need to be ever so careful to think through what we promise. 381 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,880 So next point, promise carefully. 382 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,440 God had not told Jeff to make that vow. 383 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,120 And the story gets very complex. It's very difficult. 384 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,000 Not everything is clear in this story and I won't read the rest 385 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,600 of Chapter 11. But to summarize, his daughter 386 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,920 was a submissive surrendered girl and she didn't ask to be 387 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:02,560 spared from what her father had vowed to God he would do with 388 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,800 her or to her. So she asked her father for 389 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,240 permission to take a two-month leave and go with her friends 390 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,280 and mourn her virginity because she would never marry and have 391 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,360 children. It tells us in the end of 392 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,160 Chapter 11, at the end of those two months, just that did to her 393 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,600 as he had vowed to God. It's a tragic story. 394 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,520 In studying this, what I found interesting is different 395 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:29,520 commentators come to polar opposite conclusions of what 396 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,520 actually did happen. They're commentators who, on the 397 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,480 one hand, are fully convinced that Jephthah did in fact kill 398 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,080 his daughter and offer her as a burnt offering on an altar to 399 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:46,000 the Lord. Well, that's weird. 400 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:49,760 That's strange, and commentators give their reasons as follows 401 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,000 and the reasons they give why they believe that is human 402 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,680 sacrifice was widely practiced in Canaanite culture, in the 403 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,000 Canaanite countries, the idols that they had embraced, this 404 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,880 would have been very normal. We read later on the kings of 405 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,320 Israel did the sacrifice children to the God Molotch and 406 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,960 so on. Human sacrifice was common or at 407 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,600 least practiced, shouldn't say common, but it was widely 408 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,440 practiced. Many did that, and the passage 409 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,240 simply reads that way. So commentators say, well, 410 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,200 that's what happened. Then there are those 411 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,360 commentators who totally disagree and for the following 412 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,520 reasons. Well, the Israelites knew the 413 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:26,600 laws of God. Sure, they worshipped idols, but 414 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,040 they were not stupid. They knew what Deuteronomy said, 415 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:36,320 Deuteronomy 12, and there was a death penalty on sacrificing 416 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,000 people, Jeff. They would have known that it 417 00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:43,920 was a capital offense. Leviticus 20 verse 2 talks about 418 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,800 that. It's a capital fence to offer to 419 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,280 sacrifice human beings. And not only that, the the New 420 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,280 Testament writer of Hebrews in Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 32 421 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,040 includes Jephthah in the Hebrew Hall of Fame. 422 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,480 So did he kill his daughter? Some commentators say he didn't. 423 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,720 Who's correct? There are those commentators who 424 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:12,560 say that the Hebrew reading of the passage of the text could be 425 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,600 interpreted differently based on how the wording is understood. 426 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:18,840 I'll just let's put it on the slide here. 427 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:22,400 Then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my 428 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,720 house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of AM 429 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,400 and I shall sure it shall surely be the Lords and and some 430 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,360 commentators said the word or can be used as well shall surely 431 00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:37,760 be the Lords or I will offer it up as a burnt offering that 432 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:39,040 makes that makes a huge difference there. 433 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,000 So I'm not a Hebrew scholar. I'm not an authority on this 434 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,440 question, but was does stand out as this Jeff that made a vow 435 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,760 that cost him unnecessarily and put his daughter in a bad 436 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:50,880 situation. Whether he killed her and 437 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,600 sacrificed her or whether he dedicated her to the Lord for 438 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,960 for temple service or House of God service. 439 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:02,240 I will leave that open. But it's a vow he regretted, it 440 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,880 says in verse 39, and it was. So at the end of two months, she 441 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,080 returned to her father. He carried out his vow with her, 442 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,160 which he had vowed, and she knew no man. 443 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,800 At the worst, she was sacrificed as an offering, or at best she 444 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,840 was dedicated for service in the House of God as a virgin. 445 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,320 She could never marry. So whichever case that way that 446 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,720 may have been, it was a bad vow should not have made it. 447 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,560 And I won't claim either position here, but it does tell 448 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,240 us make promises carefully. Well, these were not the end of 449 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,840 Jeff, this problems. This was not the end of it. 450 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:39,040 He had been rejected before. He had lived in the land of 451 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,120 Tobe, did not live the best lifestyle. 452 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:43,600 Worthless characters followed. He went raiding. 453 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,600 That's not a good thing. The people of Gilead come to 454 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:47,800 him. We need help. 455 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,760 We've come back to God. We want help from the Ammonites. 456 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,280 We need you. And he bargains and they bargain 457 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,400 and they agree. And God gives the Ammonites into 458 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,240 his hands and and he has this experience with his daughter. 459 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,920 It's not a good experience. So now the lands in freedom, 460 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:03,640 right? Problems not over yet. 461 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:05,880 Let's continue reading. 12 verse one to three. 462 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,280 Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over to Zephan 463 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,160 and said to Jephthah, why did you cross over to fight against 464 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,280 the people of Ammon and did not call us to go with you? 465 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,280 We will burn your house down on you with fire. 466 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,080 What's that all about? Read verse 2. 467 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,240 And Jeff said to my people, and I were in great struggle with 468 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,880 the people of Ammon, and when I called you, you did not deliver 469 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:31,960 me out of their hands. So when I saw that you would not 470 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,200 deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against 471 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,160 the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my 472 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,040 hand. Why then have you come up to me 473 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:44,520 this day to fight against me when you think it should be 474 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,880 better? Then there's internal problems. 475 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,320 He had a hard life partly because how he was treated, 476 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,720 partly because his own personality and not making good 477 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,800 choices. Now again with other people 478 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,360 messing around. But one thing these Ephraimites 479 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:04,960 forgot or didn't think of, Jeff, there was not a man to be messed 480 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,040 with. Remember, he was a man of valor. 481 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,840 Things have gone well with the Ammonites, not with his 482 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,280 daughter. Now the men of Ephraim are 483 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,000 giving him a hard time telling him we're going to kill you, 484 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,040 burn you alive. And here Jephthah does 485 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,160 something. It's not judged, it's not right 486 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,280 or wrong, it's not mentioned, but I question his, his, his 487 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:31,240 path. Let's read verse 412, verse 4, 488 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:33,920 chapter 12. Now Jephthah gathered together 489 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,240 all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. 490 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,960 And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim because they said the 491 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,240 Ephraimites said, You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among 492 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:44,960 the Ephraimites and among the Monasites. 493 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,000 The Gileadite seized the Fords of the Jordan before the 494 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,640 Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who 495 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,280 escaped said, Let me crossover, the men of Gilead would say to 496 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,400 him, Are you an Ephraimite? If he said no, then they would 497 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,400 say, then say shibboleth, and he would say sibboleth, for he 498 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,720 could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and 499 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:05,040 kill him at the Fords of the Jordan. 500 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,960 There fell at that time 42,000 Ephraimites and Jeff the judge 501 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,080 is over six years. Then Jeff the Gilead died and 502 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,000 was buried among the cities of Gilead. 503 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,800 What a mess. What a mess. 504 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:26,520 Back to Jeff the here these arrogant proud posturing of the 505 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:32,440 men of Ephraim expecting special treatment, recognition and so 506 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,760 on. Jeff, I did call you Jeff that 507 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,240 says but you didn't come. Nothing to be done. 508 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:42,320 What they didn't count on who was Jephthah his old character, 509 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,120 Jephthah the Gileadite, who was he? 510 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,440 A man of valor not to be messed with. 511 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,200 That leads us to her last one. Beware of your old nature. 512 00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:57,920 It may get the job done, but not necessarily in the right way. 513 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,440 The men of Ephraim had no right to threat threaten Jephthah when 514 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,080 in reality he had done them no wrong. 515 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,480 And they had no right in mocking the men of Gilead and calling 516 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,760 them fugitives either. There's a lot more history here 517 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:12,240 than meets the eye. But for our purposes this 518 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:17,280 morning, obviously for the men of Ephraim, they did need to be 519 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:19,600 taught a lesson. They picked the fight with the 520 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,600 wrong man and paid dearly. Well, Jetha was having none of 521 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:25,320 it. And true to his nature as a 522 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:31,440 warrior, the men of Geddes followed him and 42,000 523 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,480 Ephraimite men lost their lives. Was this God's will? 524 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,320 I don't believe so, but God allows people to make choices 525 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,960 and reap the consequences of their choices. 526 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:44,960 And here the men of Ephraim chose badly. 527 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,680 One could say, well, they had it coming true doesn't make it 528 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:51,600 right. They lost thousands of men 529 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,280 because of their stubbornness and arrogance and pride and 530 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,080 Jephthah might have found ways better than to deal with them 531 00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:58,920 that way. We're not told. 532 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:03,120 Proverbs Chapter 11 verse 2 says when pride comes, then comes 533 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,760 shame. Isn't that the case? 534 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,320 But with the humble, there's wisdom. 535 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:13,640 And this whole mess here, the people of Israel was so ugly. 536 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:20,160 How much struggle, how much pain could have been avoided all 537 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,040 these years if they never wandered away from God in the 538 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:27,640 1st place? All these cycles, this repenting 539 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,240 and coming back, how much better to not have to repent. 540 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,440 We'll never get out of repenting by the way, just let me tell 541 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:33,840 you, we all need to always repent. 542 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:35,840 But there's a difference in how we sin. 543 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,880 Is it because we just didn't know something or we see 544 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:39,760 something? OK, that's sin. 545 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,280 I'm going to repent or I'm going to do this anyway. 546 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,800 I remember having a conversation with a man many years ago. 547 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,240 He was going to do something and I remember telling him I said 548 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:56,960 that's wrong, I don't care. God made you and me in His 549 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,600 image. He wants a relationship with you 550 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,480 and me, but guess what? They're on His terms, not ours. 551 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:05,240 He holds the cards. We don't. 552 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,240 We can surrender ourselves, humble ourselves, become honest, 553 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,280 transparent, watch our words, watch our steps, walk with Him. 554 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,240 We can spare and save ourselves a ton of trouble. 555 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,280 Maybe you're here today and you've behaved yourself into an 556 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,640 oppressive situation, whatever that may be. 557 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,800 You've done things that in hindsight shouldn't have done, 558 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:32,680 that you never thought this would happen, or you're in that 559 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,640 process right now. You know what I'm I know it's 560 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,840 not right, but hey, I'm going to do it anyway. 561 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:43,280 Watch out. Sin in the end never brings good 562 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,120 fruit. And yes, God is patient, but 563 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:50,200 remember, He holds the cards. You can try bargaining with Him, 564 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,000 but in the end He will get the glory. 565 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:57,520 But if we do it right, if we repent, humble ourselves, come 566 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:02,520 to Him on His terms, maybe not perfectly, come on His terms, He 567 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,560 will save us. It'll cost us everything we 568 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:06,640 thought it would give us, our pride, our sin. 569 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,600 But we'll be left with something better. 570 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:15,960 We will have peace, joy, love when we walk, and surrender and 571 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:17,840 humility in relationship with Jesus. 572 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,000 May that be our goal this morning. 573 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:24,240 Let's pray or we thank you for the story of Jephta. 574 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,120 Not a pretty story. He had serious problems in his 575 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,680 life. He was rejected, had his own 576 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:32,840 issues, made decisions he shouldn't have. 577 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:34,680 But Lord, you never gave up on him. 578 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:36,040 And today he's in the Hall of Fame. 579 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,880 Or there may be people here this morning who feel that they've 580 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,640 made so many wrong choices, they have no hope a pray will touch 581 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:47,080 their hearts and minds. But thank you for the promise in 582 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,400 your word that you'll save us when we call you. 583 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,160 Reach out to all who repent and believe, and if we do, we'll be 584 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,640 saved. Or maybe take heed and follow 585 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,480 your teaching. We pray in your name.