 sort of chapter by chapter text by text. A lot of lessons to learn here. The Lord is very gracious to us in giving us these very good admonitions from the Old Testament. And tonight we find ourselves in Judges chapter 11 and we're continuing our study through the Judgeship, if you will, of Jephthah. And so we come tonight to Judges chapter 11 verses 29 through 40, hear the word of the Lord. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed through Mizpah of Gilead and from Mizpah of Gilead, he advanced toward the people of Ammon. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon shall surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from Aurora as far as Minoth 20 cities and to Avel Karameem with a very great slaughter. And the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing and she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes and said, alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low. You are among those who trouble me for I have given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back on it. So she said to him, my father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon. Then she said to her father, let this thing be done for me. Let me alone for two months that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I. So he said, go. And he sent her away for two months and she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with her, which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite. This is the word of God, amen, amen. Let's take a few moments now and let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing on our time together. Pray with me. Father in heaven, Lord, we rejoice, Lord, to be together on a Sunday evening and a Sunday evening worship service like this. Lord, thank you for this blessing. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the joy, the blessing, the privilege of studying your word together. There's so much, Lord, you've been so gracious in your revelation to us. There's so much to learn and so much to know of you. And we praise you and thank you, Lord, for how graciously you have revealed yourself, your faithfulness, your steadfastness, your patience, long suffering, kindness, compassion, mercy, grace, justice. And we praise you for how you've revealed yourself and your word. And Lord, I praise you and thank you for the instruction that we have from these texts. All scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable to us and we're grateful, Lord, for the way by your spirit that you profit your people through the preaching and teaching, study, memorization, the meditation of your word. Thank you, Lord, help us to commit your word to our hearts that we might not sin against you, that we might know you, that we might grow in our faith and serve you more fervently, more devotedly, more affectionately, Lord, for all that you've done for us in Christ. We thank you for this time together tonight. Work through your word, Lord, as you are always just so gracious and steadfast and faithful to do. And we thank you for this great blessing, this grace that you've given us in Jesus' name, amen. The title of our sermon tonight is A Bitter Barter. A bitter barter couldn't resist the alliteration from Judges chapter 11 verses 29 to 40. And our text tonight in the book of Judges, Judges chapter 11, is an account of tragedy in the midst of triumph, tragedy in the midst of triumph. There's a sense in which Jepta himself at this point in the book of Judges has been somewhat of a tragic figure. Jepta is a tale, if you will, of tragedy and sorrow. Jepta was cast out of his father's house as a son of a harlot. He was estranged from his family, cut off from his father's house by his vindictive and greedy brothers. Jepta then is forced to flee to the region of Tav where he falls in with worthless men, morally reprehensible men, and he rises to the point of leadership among them, becomes their leader, and essentially in the region of Tav lives as a mercenary, raiding towns and villages around Gilead. But Jepta himself now hardened through hardship, through adversity as he has been, Jepta earns the reputation then of a gibore, as the Bible says, a mighty man of valor. And so then when circumstances in Israel turn desperate, as we've seen them turn desperate time and time again because of Israel's idolatry, Israel's sin, when these circumstances turn desperate, his brothers, now elders in Gilead, believe themselves to have nowhere else to turn. They don't seek the face of God in repentance and faith, rather than doing that. They eat crow and they run back to Jepta. The account, as we've seen, is a shameful parallel to how they've spitefully treated the Lord himself over this time period. They're so quick to forget him. They're so quick to cast him off when they're prospering, but then they shamelessly go back and beg him for help when they're in need. They only seek him when they're in need. Well, Jepta, we see from the text, not quite cut out at this point, not quite prepared for the task that lies ahead. It's fine to run raids in Gilead, but that's a far cry from taking on the amassed armies now of Amon. Jepta has attempted diplomacy with the king of the people of Amon and that diplomacy attempt has failed. And it's now, now that Jepta will face off against the enemies of God's people. Jepta's gonna do that ill-prepared himself and he's about to do that with an army that's frankly unfamiliar with warfare. They've not had to fight a battle like this. So this is a very critical moment. It's a critical moment for Jepta. If Jepta isn't successful here, then the power of the authority that he's garnered is going to slip right through his fingers. Israel will go back into oppression. This is a very critical emergency, if you will. And it's at this time that not merely the Gabor enters the battlefield, but El Gabor walks onto the battlefield, God Almighty. Silent, sort of sitting on the sidelines, so to speak to this point, now walks onto the scene. We've all read stories, haven't we seen movies where the circumstances look bleak, right? The darkness sets in, the storm gathers, sad music begins to play a single flute or a single violin. It looks like there's no hope. Looks like there's no hope, and then the hero shows up. The sun breaks through the clouds, the trumpets blast, and the victory is won. Well, the hero is showing up now on the scene. The Lord, seemingly on the sidelines and all that's been going on since he told them in chapter 10, verse 13, that he wasn't going to deliver them. He says to them, you've forsaken me, you've served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. Go cry out to those gods that you've raised up for yourselves, right? Go cry out to those gods which you've chosen. Let them deliver you in your time of distress. But the Lord, rich in mercy, abounding in grace, loving kindness, compassionate, merciful, loving, having set his love upon the apple of his eye, could no longer endure the misery of his covenant people. And so God then, faithful to his promises, faithful to his word, seemingly absent, but not absent, all along he's been working through sovereignly decreed circumstances to now deliver his people. And so he shows up again just at the right time in chapter 11, verse 29. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and he passed through Mizpah of Gilead and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. And here's our lesson, verse 29. Those whom God has called, God faithfully supplies for the work. You see that? If the work is the Lord's work, then God will see to it that you have the Lord's provision and we can count on that just as Jephthah can. Moses said, didn't he? We learn from Moses' example. Moses said, I'm slow of speech, I'm slow of tongue, Lord. And so the Lord said to him in Exodus chapter 4, verse 11, who is it, Moses, that made men's mouths? Or who makes the mute, the death, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the Lord, done these things? And he says to Moses, go, you go and I'll be with your mouth. I'll teach you what you should say. Well, what was Moses expected to do in Exodus chapter 4? Moses was expected to go and to go in faith. The Lord would supply, the Lord is the one who makes us sufficient for the work that he's given us to do, amen? The Lord has given us a task. Our responsibility in the task is simply to go. Jephthah, the spirit of the Lord comes upon Jephthah. What is Jephthah to do? Jephthah is to go and trust the Lord. He will have the Lord's provision. Paul knew this well, didn't he? In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 4, thinking of Paul's ministry for the Lord and all the work that Paul did. And Paul says this, and we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of ourselves as being anything, but our sufficiency is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. I thought about that many times in Paul's ministry and Paul, faithful to the work that the Lord had given him to do, but Paul continuously going out in faith. This is a difficult ministry, persecution, resistance, right? But Paul continues to go out in faith and why did he go out in faith? Because he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ to make him sufficient to the work, to give him the grace to enable him to do the work that he'd been called to do, just trust of the Lord. And the same is true for you and I, right? The same is true for you and I. What are we expected to do? We're expected to go. And we're expected to go in faith trusting that the Lord will supply, trusting the Lord for his provision. The Lord promises to be with us, doesn't he? He promises to be with us as we go out in his name to make disciples. He says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We have his promised word to us. What's our responsibility? Go in faith, go in faith. Often we have a sense of our own weakness or we get discouraged or frankly we get lazy or we get sluggish or we get discouraged. Whatever it is, we are earthen vessels. The Lord knows it. He knows our frame. He knows we are but dust. We are clay pots, but deposited with that, those earthen vessels, those chosen vessels of his is a great treasure, a great treasure. And God will honor his word. He will make us sufficient. He will supply what we need. We just need to trust him in it. I can honestly say, as I think about the Lord and the Lord's faithfulness and the Lord's compassion, the Lord's goodness, his steadfastness. And I think any of the brothers would probably attest to the same thing. I can honestly say before God, clear conscience before God, that as I stand here, I've never felt abandoned here. Never, right? The Lord is always faithful. The Lord is always caring for us. The Lord always supplies what we need. He's very gracious. Paul, in magnifying the Lord's name for that and in glorifying God for that, says don't lose heart. The Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples on the Eve before he was crucified, don't lose heart. Literally means don't shrink back. Don't shrink back. Press on, preaching the gospel. Press on in the work. The Puritan, Richard Rogers said, therefore let the discouragements be never so great. This work shall prosper. It will accomplish exactly what God intends to accomplish through it. Even out of the mouths of blockish, brutish, savage, ignorant, and yay, even profane ones, the Lord shall procure credit to his ministry when he has changed them thereby. It's a blessing. So the Lord, the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. Came upon Jephthah to supply him with the grace and power necessary to carry out the work the Lord had for him to do. In verse 29, notice that with me. In verse 29, the same verb is used three times in verse 29 and again in verse 32. Though it's translated differently, it means he moved. Not just passed or advanced, but he moved through Gilead. He moved through Mispah. He moved through toward the people of Ammon. He moved toward them to fight. In other words, the fourfold repetition emphasizing that his movement was under the power of the spirit. The spirit comes upon Jephthah, what does he do? He moves, he moves, he moves, he moves, right? That movement under the power of the spirit continues in verse 32, look there. Verse 32, so Jephthah moved. He advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them and the Lord delivered them into his hands. No details are given. Isn't that interesting? No details given here. Simply that the Lord delivered them into his hands. That's good. Praise the Lord for victory, but no account of the battle. No record of the event. Look at verse 33, simply that he defeated them from Aurora as far as Minoth 20 cities. So the pursuit lasted a good while. To Avel Karameem with a very great slaughter. That's about all that we know. The people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. Well, that's basically it. No song of celebration like Deborah and Barak had after their victory. Dale Ralph Davis said, short literary work made here of the Ammonites. The Lord easily puts down his enemies, doesn't he? The Lord easily with effortless motion, a swipe of his pen, and thus the Lord subdued the people of Ammon. Awesome. The account, though not preoccupied, if you will, with the battle or with the victory over the Ammonites, the account is preoccupied with another aspect of the historical record. And that's the main issue that we're obviously meant to consider here based on the amount of ink given to it. And that is the very rash and tragically foolish vow that Jephthah makes to God. And because of this foolish vow, whatever victory is enjoyed by Israel, enjoyed by Jephthah at the moment, is swallowed up now in Jephthah's sorrow. We see the vow in verse 30. Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon shall surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. Wow. Jephthah basically bargains here, barters, for two commitments from God. One, that God would deliver the people of Ammon into his hand and two, more implicitly, that he would return in peace or return safe and sound from the battle to his house. Do you see that? Well, God intended to deliver the people of Ammon into his hands. Jephthah could have simply asked him. We see that all over the place in scripture, don't we? David did that many times. Lord, if I go down against them, will you deliver them into my hands? Lord says, yes, I will deliver them. Go down, right? And Jephthah goes down or David goes down. What happens frequently? Jephthah obviously doesn't do that. Jephthah wants assurances. He makes the vow to the Lord to bring about the divine response and assure victory. Jephthah is looking for guarantees, okay? Now, there's nothing wrong in the Bible, nothing wrong with making a vow to the Lord. There are places in the Bible where vows are commendable. Vows are common in the Old Testament. Often vows express gratitude. They express love, devotion, zeal, godly zeal for the Lord. Now think about a couple of them with me. In Genesis chapter 28, Jacob makes a vow to God. We even find some of the very same language in Jacob's vow. Jacob says in Genesis 28, if God will be with me and keep me in the way that I'm going and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on so that I come back to my father's house in peace. Do you see the similarity in the language? So that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And of all that he gives me, I will surely give a 10th to him. Jacob's vow, just even at a surface level look at Jacob's vow, it's thoughtful, isn't it? It's deliberate, it's more biblical. He's pledging to tie the 10th of all that God gives to him. Think about Hannah's vow. In first Samuel chapter one, Hannah makes a vow to the Lord. Hannah says, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maid servant and give me a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, no razor shall come upon his head. Notice Hannah never uses the word for burnt offering. Again, Hannah thoughtful, Hannah considering the Lord, fearing the Lord in her vow. Nothing wrong in the Bible with making vows to the Lord, but the Bible is very, very clear with respect to vows. Vows before the Lord are binding. Deuteronomy chapter 23, beginning in verse 21. When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you and it would be sin to you, do you see? But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. That which has gone from your lips, you shall keep and perform for you voluntarily vow to the Lord your God, what you have promised with your mouth. We pay vows to God or we make vows to God, we pay them. Very, very serious matter, vows are binding. It's okay not to vow, it wouldn't be sin to you if you didn't vow, but if you make a vow to the Lord your God, it would be sin to you not to pay it, make sense? And because of that, because of that, vows to the Lord must not be made hastily or rashly or ignorantly, Proverbs chapter 20, verse 25. It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy and afterward to reconsider his vows. Proverbs 20, 25 is written for Jephthah, isn't it? But it's also written for all of us who may be so tempted to do the same. Be careful with the vows that you make. Jephthah's vow is rash, it's hasty, it's thoughtless, it's careless, it's reckless. And that which he hoped would secure assurances from God proved to be, as Proverbs 20, 25 warns, proved to be a trap and a snare to Jephthah. Verse 30, God, if you will deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, verse 31, then whatever, whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me shall surely be the Lord's. I will offer it up as a burnt offering. The single Hebrew word translated their burnt offering refers to a bloody sacrifice that is consumed by fire and entirely burnt up on the altar. There simply is no other understanding of the word. There's no mistaking the meaning of that term. Burnt offering is the sacrifice, take the life, you shed the blood of the sacrifice. And the sacrifice then is consumed by fire entirely burnt up on the altar. It's the very same word that the Lord uses in Genesis chapter 22, verse two, where he commands Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, and offer Isaac as a burnt offering to the Lord. What does Abraham do? Abraham understands what the Lord is asking of him. And so Abraham fully understanding what God meant takes the knife with which he will slay his son. He takes the wood, which he intends to use for the burnt offering, the wood that he'll use to make the fire. And he sets out with Isaac for the mountain that God had appointed. Abraham knew what God meant. The word there for burnt offering can't be mistaken with simply dedicating something or giving something to temple service or setting something apart. That has a distinct meaning and that is burnt offering, a bloody sacrifice. Now, anyone reading through Judges for the first time, I don't know if you remember when you first read the book of Judges, anyone reading through Judges for the first time could likely be heard gasping when they read this section of text. Oh no, just a little bit of forethought and you realize the foolishness, the recklessness of this vow before you even know what comes next, don't we? It's reckless. It obviously, it calls into question, doesn't it? The heart motives, the mindset of Jephthah in making the vow. Additionally here, the word whatever and references to it in this text are all masculine. I think with me for a moment, whatever comes out of the doors of my house, that word whatever, masculine, it means that at worst, Jephthah actually intended to offer up a person. To offer up a human being. At best in Jephthah's mind, it was literally whatever, literally whatever, and that whatever was inclusive of a person. Now, how do we know that? Well, the fact that Jephthah didn't restrict the sense of whatever in the vow to an animal is seen in his reaction when his daughter is the one who comes out of the house. Jephthah didn't have in his mind that he would restrict the whatever to an animal, or that that's what he meant because when his daughter comes out of the house to meet him, he is heartbroken, isn't he? Whatever, whatever in Jephthah's mind, obviously included his daughter. So worst case scenario, Jephthah intended to offer a person, all those words are masculine. Best case scenario, Jephthah so careless, so rash, so reckless, so thoughtless that the whatever meant literally whatever that was inclusive of a person, which not much better, is it? Not much better. So then, after a great victory over the Ammonites, look at verse 34, Jephthah is returning home. And when Jephthah came to his house in verse 34 at Mizpa, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. She came celebrating Jephthah's victory over the Lord's enemies. And she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes. Jephthah, you can imagine coming back to his house, waiting to see what or who might approach him, might come to greet him. It's interesting there to think about it, isn't it, that it wouldn't ordinarily be at this point in Israel's history that an animal would have been coming out of the house or that an animal would have greeted him. Ha. Just lends more evidence to the fact that Jephthah was thinking horribly, horribly wrong here. When he saw her, his daughter in verse 35, he tore his clothes, he's distraught, heartbroken. And he said, Alas, my daughter, you've brought me very low. Victory is swallowed up in sorrow. You are among those who trouble me for I've given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back on it. And what Jephthah experiences in that moment when his daughter comes out of the house to meet him is a deeper loss than any loss he might have experienced on the battlefield, the bitter fruit of a rash barter with Almighty God. Although he hadn't restricted the sense of the word whatever, it was obvious that Jephthah didn't want or didn't intend the sacrifice to be his only child, his only child. In Jephthah's heart and mind, maybe he thought he could pay God off with a sacrifice. You know, that was very common to pagan theology at the time, very common to Canaanite pagan religion that had taken a foothold in Israel at this time, very common to paganism. However, in thinking that way, Jephthah had dramatically underestimated the unspeakably high cost of their deliverance, hasn't he? Now think with me for a moment, Jephthah and what may have been in Jephthah's heart and mind is he considered this vow. He's thinking to himself, I want assurances, I want guarantees that God is going to give me the victory. So God, I pledge to you, whatever comes out of my house and maybe Jephthah was thinking, whoever. And so Jephthah makes this rash, reckless, sinful vow to God, whatever comes out of the doors of my house, I will pledge to you God as a burnt offering, trying to manipulate God, assurances for the victory. And Jephthah dramatically underestimates. He doesn't think to himself. He didn't intend that to be his daughter. He didn't imagine that would be his daughter. Otherwise, Jephthah might've thought twice about the vow. He's heartbroken when his daughter comes out of the house. He wasn't thinking that way. But maybe what Jephthah was thinking was that I'm gonna pay God off here with his vow and what Jephthah inadvertently does then is dramatically, dramatically, dramatically underestimate the unspeakably high cost of their deliverance from the judgment of God that was justly due their sin against him in their idolatry and in their rebellion. Do you see? Jephthah doesn't realize. Doesn't realize. It would cost the sacrifice of God's own son, his only begotten son to redeem wicked, rotten, deplorable, disgusting sinners like you and I. The unspeakably high cost of our redemption. The unspeakably high cost. And Jephthah, in this rash, thoughtless, reckless vow to God, whatever, whatever comes out of my house. Whatever, and his daughter, his only child, his only child, the ultimate in infinitely high cost of our redemption, pictured, foreshadowed, illustrated here in Jephthah giving up his only daughter, his only child. Jephthah really hadn't even considered that this vow would have cost him his daughter's life. Seems obvious from the text. He wasn't prepared. He wasn't prepared to give up that much. He might have thought twice, right? If he thought that victory, if he thought that deliverance, if he thought that salvation would cost him that, he wasn't prepared to give up that, which was most precious to him. God is prepared. Amazing thought, right? God was prepared. God, the Bible says, was pleased to crush him, pleased to deliver him up for us all, pleased to give up his only begotten son, that we sinners might be reconciled to him. Well, Jephthah's daughter's response is remarkable. Verse 36, his daughter said to him, my father, if you have given your word to the Lord, due to me, according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon. You know, in this, she's not unlike Isaac, is she? We see Isaac's submission to what is about to happen with Abraham on the mountain. Here, she demonstrates great submission, and that is an understatement, great submission, great courage, extraordinary faith in the Lord, right? You've given your word to the Lord, due to me, according to what has gone out of your mouth, the Lord has avenged you on your enemies. And all of this, despite this foolish vow, but it wasn't easy on Jephthah's daughter. She became a victim, if you will, of her father's rash vow. All her hopes, imagine with me, all of her hopes as a young woman, his only child, all of her hopes as a young woman at that time of becoming a wife, of becoming a mother, which by the way, was the pinnacle of that which should have been hoped for among the young women in Israel. It was a glorious calling, a glorious blessing, right? To be a wife and a mother, to raise the next generation, to honor the Lord in both childbearing and in raising kids, a glorious blessing, a glorious privilege, a glorious honor that is entirely shoved off and put aside today as something shameful in the eyes of this wicked world. All of her hopes as a young woman at that time of becoming a wife and a mother were shattered. They're gone. All of her desires, they were wrapped up into that blessing, now gone, as a result of her father's rash, reckless vow. She bewailed as what would be a great loss in her untimely death, the loss of these hopes, dreams of becoming a wife and a mother, verse 37. So she said to her father, let this thing be done for me, let me alone for two months that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I. Virginity is a term that would encompass becoming a wife and a mother. And it's not that she was bewailing the fact that she would never simply be with a man. She was bewailing the fact that she would never be a wife, would never be a mother, would never reach her calling in that way. So Jephtha grants her request, verse 38. He said to her, go. And he sent her away for two months and she went with her friends and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so that at the end of two months that she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with her, which he had vowed that she knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephtha, the Gileadite. You know, in light of verse 40, what was the cause of their lamentation, right? What was the cause of their lamentation? What exactly did Jephtha do? Well, there are arguments that are made against what is, frankly, the plain reading of the text. They would say, well, for Jephtha to have sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering was obviously against the law of God. It couldn't have been that. Certainly that burnt offering would have been unacceptable to God, very true. They say, well, because of that, it couldn't have been that Jephtha would have gone through with the sacrifice. Some believe that his daughter, Jephtha dedicated her to temple service that she was given in her virginity to temple service for the rest of her life, dedicated to perpetual virginity. Many would say that Jephtha knew the law. We know that Jephtha knew the law because in his argumentation or in his negotiation with the king of the people of Ammon, Jephtha knew Israel's history really well, right? He understood Israel's history. He seems to be a man of faith. He seems to be a man of the knowledge of the Old Testament. Jephtha makes the hall of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11, would Jephtha actually carry out a vow that he made to sacrifice his own daughter as a burnt offering? Later King Ahaz, later King Manasseh, both actually do sacrifice children and the Bible condemned them as grotesquely evil for that act and here we have Jephtha in the hall of faith, Hebrews chapter 11. Some say, some would say that his daughter doesn't mourn her impending death. His daughter is mourning her virginity. Women did serve at the doorway of the tent of meeting. All of these are valid arguments, all valid arguments. However, none of them simply consistent with the language and with the grammar of the text. There's simply no other way to understand the plain meaning of the text than to believe that Jephtha carried out the awful vow that he had made and he actually offered his daughter as a burnt offering. Luther said, one would like to think that he did not sacrifice her but the text clearly says that he did. God did not stay his hand. God provided no ram caught by the horns in a thicket. Jephtha must face the awful consequences of his sin. Well, how do we explain Jephtha's actions? What explanation is there for this? Not only had his rash vow become a snare to Jephtha now and entrapment to him but it appears as though that this is yet another example of where the Canaanite worldview had once again become a snare, not only to Jephtha but to Israel as a whole. The Israelites had failed to drive the Canaanites out of the land and just as God had said the Canaanites became a snare to the people of Israel. Jephtha actually believed because of that Canaanite influence on his thinking, on his mind, on his heart, Jephtha actually believed that this was somehow acceptable and necessary. He had been living in exile, right? Cast out of his father's house. Israel had forgotten the Lord their God. They've plunged themselves back into pagan idolatry. The influence of the Canaanites cannot be underestimated. That pagan influence was deadly, deadly. And his actions weren't uncommon, weren't inconsistent with paganism. Ungodly, worldly Canaanite influence. And Jephtha believes that he is serving the Lord and doing good in making this vow, this bitter barter. Jephtha very well may have meant well. And yet Jephtha has found doing evil. How many today, right? How many? Think that you are doing God's service and yet they are found doing evil. They kill you thinking they offer God service. The Lord warns us of such. Jephtha had negotiated with the elders of Gilead for power. Jephtha had attempted a negotiation with the King of Ammon and now Jephtha presumes the thing that he can negotiate with God, manipulate God. Jephtha believed that he could get God to make concessions. You do this for me, I'll do this for you. Jephtha, you see, is trying to set the terms. It's different, isn't it, from Jacob? Different, isn't it, from Hannah? Essentially, he attempted to barter with God in exactly the same way that he bartered with the Gileadites and attempted to barter with the King of Ammon. This is not ultimately faith in the Lord, is it? Going to the Lord to seek his face for what the Lord will do in the battle with Ammon. He relies on worldly thought, influenced by a Canaanite worldview and he doesn't know what he's doing. There's no fear ultimately of the Lord, of what the Lord will do in that circumstance. It's wrong, wrong headed on so many levels. And even though he may have meant well, this was all done in amazing ignorance. It was rash, brazen, foolish, ultimately tragic. How many examples? Do we see in scripture where fallen men believe that they could have some say in setting the terms of their relationship to God? Not always fallen men, sometimes believers too, right? Nadab and Abihu thinking that they can set the terms of the worship of God under the law in Israel. We saw how that worked out. Saul offering the sacrifice in the place of Samuel when he should have just waited. Saul thinking, well, I can do this myself. What's the big deal? What's the big deal? I can do this. Uzzah reaching out with his hand to steady the ark. Jeroboam building another altar to God in Bethel. What's the big deal? No fear of God before his eyes. Peter taking aside Jesus to rebuke him about the crucifixion, far be it from you, Lord. This shall not happen to you. What does the Lord say to Peter? Get behind me, Satan. And here's Jeff, another tragic example, a very tragic example. Brothers and sisters, vows. Vows must be carefully considered. Vows must be carefully considered. You're not required to make vows, but vows that you do make, you are required to pay. Psalm 76, verse 11, make vows to the Lord your God and pay them. Making commitments to the Lord, making commitments before the Lord is a serious, serious matter. Ananias and Sapphira, they make a promise, don't they? They're found lying to the Holy Spirit and God takes their life from them. They didn't have to commit the money, but they did having committed the money they should have paid it. We see examples of these commitments on a regular basis. Now, some of you may think to yourselves, well, I've never made a vow that way. I don't anticipate myself fearing the Lord that I'm going to make a vow like that. I wanna be careful in the vows that I make, but you make a vow when you get married. When you take a husband, when you take a wife, married couple stands before God, before God and makes a vow, one another, to one another, makes a vow to God to love their spouse, to cling to them, husbands, to sacrificially love her, wives, to submit to him and to respect him. That is a serious, serious vow that you make before God when you take a spouse. Your commitment to the church. When you join this church, you make a vow before God to serve him as a member of this church, committed to following, obeying and applying his word, endeavoring heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love him and to serve him as a member of this church. That's a vow, a covenant commitment that you make before the Lord your God. Vows are a very, very serious matter. How often, how often do we see those vows? Just shove to side, set aside as a meaningless, worthless, negligible, common, thoughtless thing. How carelessly, rashly, recklessly, thoughtlessly those vows are just set aside. And set aside for the purposes of convenience, set aside for the purposes of personal desire, set aside for the purposes of sin, whatever it is. And vows are a serious, serious matter. You see how the world has just abandoned the covenant commitment of marriage, how people left and right just abandoned their covenant commitments to God in the church. Decisions must be thought through carefully with wisdom. Don't be foolish. And when you make a vow, pay it. God himself, God himself would meet every need associated with our deliverance by offering up his very own son. Praise be to him for paying such a price. He does all of that through a promise that he makes in the new covenant, where God will save his people. I will be their God and they will be my people. And we serve a God who never goes back on his word. Steadfast and faithful into the ages. And we are by faith in Christ, beneficiaries of that steadfast love. It's a beautiful, amazing gift. No one stayed his hand and the son willing to lay down his life for his own. Praise God, amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you or that you have in covenant love decreed and have carried out your word, your promise, to send your only begotten son into the world to save sinners. Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you and thank you that you voluntarily laid down your life for your people, shedding your blood and atonement for their sin. We're grateful to you Lord that through faith, the spirit of God, you apply those benefits of the person and work of the son to us, to save us, to forgive us of our sins, to justify us, to sanctify us and to one day glorify us. And we Lord, trophies of your grace will praise and worship you into the ages. Grateful to you Lord for all that you've done. May your steadfast grace and love be praised for all eternity in Jesus' name, amen.