Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Someone has said, be careful what you ask for, you might get it. For Jephthah, a rash vow cost him his daughter's life. From a difficult passage in Judges chapter 11, we find a sad story of a promise that should not have been made and an outcome that no parent should ever have to face.
What can we learn from all of this? From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, whatever else we may make of this hard passage in Judges 11, one thing is sure, God takes vows seriously, whether made in haste or not. You know, Dave, this is a very difficult passage.
As a matter of fact, there are those who differ in their opinion of what actually happened. But one thing is sure, Jephthah made a very rash vow, and we're going to hear about that in the message. But at the same time, what we have to remember is what you've already emphasized, that God takes our vows very seriously. And we have to vow, yes, but we have to do so with a great deal of care. We all think, for example, of our marriage vows.
But at the same time, we have to recognize that God is there to help us to fulfill vows that are honoring to him. Well, to all those who are listening, I want to let you know that at the end of this month, namely August 30th, it's the end of our fiscal year. I want to encourage you to give a gift to the ministry of Running to Win because whatever you give will be doubled. What an opportunity it is for you to make an investment in the gospel of Jesus Christ going through this ministry in so many different parts of the world. Could I take this opportunity to thank you in advance for helping us? Here's what you can do. Go to RTWOffer.com.
That's RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Of course, I'm going to be giving you that contact info once again at the end of this message. Let's listen carefully. Well, I told you at the beginning of this message that Jephthah is not remembered for this victory. If you ask the average person about Jephthah, he will not tell you, well, he was a man upon whom the Holy Spirit of God came and he won a victory against the Ammonites. Jephthah is remembered for a vow that he made and that's the thing that we want to discuss now. You'll notice it says in verse 30, and Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.
Wow, that makes us pause, doesn't it? What in the world was he expecting to come out of his house? A sheep, a goat.
People didn't keep animals in their houses. Verse 34, when Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter dancing to the sound of tambourines. She was an only child except for her, he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried out, oh my daughter, you have made me miserable and wretched because I have made a bow to the Lord that I cannot break.
Notice this. My father, she replied, you have given your word to the Lord, do to me as you promised now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request, she said, give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends because I will never marry.
You may go, he said, and he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had bowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite.
What in the world is going on here in the text? He makes a vow to the Lord. Now, first of all, you need to understand that vows were, were okay. You could make a vow to the Lord. In fact, you were encouraged to make a vow to the Lord.
Actually, when you look at this, this is foolish for a number of reasons. Number one, this isn't really strictly speaking a vow. He's bargaining with God. You see, if I make a vow that says, maybe you are going to make the vow or all of us together to say that we're going to give 20% of our income to the Lord, be an interesting vow to make, which would really change the nature of our stewardship enrichment program. Let me ask you, that would just be a vow that we'd say, God, we're just going to do this and there's no strings attached. We've just decided to do this because we love you.
Okay. But if we say now, Lord, I'll tell you what, I've got cancer. If you heal me of the cancer, I will give 20% of my income to the Lord. Now that, that may be a vow, but it's bargaining with God. You're trying to buy God's favor. That's what Jephthah is doing here. It's almost as if he's thinking to himself, now, if I do something that'll just tear my heart out, God is going to be so pleased with this that he will give us a victory over the Ammonites.
Now, I need to tell you that there are some commentators who believe that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter. What they believe is this, that the phrase it is a burnt offering at the end of verse 31 is actually in Hebrew, burnt offering has to do with ascending. It'll be ascending to God. It has to do with the smoke actually of the burnt offering and the smell of the burnt offering.
And so, and so the idea is that whatever comes out of my house will ascend. That's the way they translate it, believing that she then ascended to the temple and was a virgin there for the rest of her life. That's why you have this great emphasis on virginity.
She would never marry and she would be a virgin for the rest of her life. And some people say that that's clearly what happened. He did not sacrifice her. The other argument in favor is that we don't find any condemnation of Jephthah. Clearly, if there was human sacrifice, one would think that he would be condemned for what he's doing. The writer just tells us that he did according to his vow and then, you know, we can go and have lunch. Everything seems to be okay. This is a very troubling passage, isn't it?
On the other side, you have this. You'll notice that he goes into this distress. It says, he tore his clothes, verse 35, and cried, Oh my daughter, you have made me miserable and wretched because I made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.
Well, why all this misery? If it's only that she would be a virgin, serious though that is, why all this agony of spirit and why this great to do about having made this vow? If you check the commentaries, you'll know that throughout history, generally speaking, including the Jewish interpreters, the rabbis, they all believe that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter to God. Child sacrifice.
The argument is that Jephthah saw the situation and says, you know, if the Ammonites win against us, all of us are going to be sacrificed. We're all going to be put to death. I'm going to be put to death. My daughter is going to be put to death.
All my relatives are going to be put to death. So if Lord, you get us out of this, if you help us win, then I will sacrifice my daughter to you. Well, he didn't say his daughter, but whatever would come out of the house first to greet him. And we don't know who else was in the house.
I hate to smile on such a difficult passage, but I was thinking, was he kind of hoping his wife would come out instead? There are two comments I'd like to make. Comment number one is, look at the submission of his daughter. Isn't this remarkable? You'll notice it says in verse 36, you have given your word to the Lord due to me as you have promised.
Wow. Even if it just meant that she ascends to the temple and she is there as a perpetual virgin, never able to have children, which was a great, great travesty in this culture. Even if it was just that, think of how remarkable her submission is.
And if it meant death even more so due to me as you have said, wow. Jephthah must have had a good impact on his family to think that he raised a daughter with that kind of a heart. Second, I'd like to point out Jephthah's great commitment to fulfill his vow. You'll notice it says that he says, I have made a vow last part of verse 35 that I cannot break. Now, if this was the sacrifice of his daughter, some of us think he should have broken it. But the simple fact is let's give him credit for this sense of integrity that that which I have promised I will do no matter what.
We could use some of that in our society. You know, the Bible says, if thou vows to bow to the Lord, defer not to pay it for the Lord does not have pleasure in fools. It is much better not to bow than having bowed to not keep the promise. Isn't it interesting that this morning in my devotions, because of the schedule that I follow, I read Psalm 15 and 16. In Psalm 15, the NIV reads this way. You remember the King James says, blessed is he who swereth to his own hurt and changeth not. My translation reads, blessed are those who keep an oath even when it hurts.
You know how casually we make promises to God. Yes, Lord, I'll give myself to you. I'll go where you want me to go. I'll say what you want me to say.
I'll be whomever you want me to be. And then things get a little tough and we begin to take it back. And sometimes we make promises to give. And many of us made faith promises in our stewardship enrichment. And then difficulty comes and we're tested and we say, well, you know, this was just a promise. And it was just a promise. Strictly speaking, it was not a vow.
But the simple fact is that we tend to blow off our commitments because of inconvenience. The Bible says, blessed is he who keeps an oath even when it hurts. What I'd like to do is to summarize this by giving us simply two lessons that grow out of the passage. Two lessons from the life of Jephthah. Number one, you are not a prisoner of your past.
You're not a prisoner of your past. Whatever we may think about Jephthah's vow, the fact is that he knew God. The Spirit of God came upon him. He was blessed of God. And he's mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 as being a hero of faith. And who was he? A son of a prostitute. Dr. Alexander White was born out of wedlock at a time when it had a lifelong stain and stigma connected to it. He was a great Scottish preacher. His father, John White, would have gladly married Janet Thompson.
But Janet did not want to get married, and she never did. She raised him as a single parent. She raised him in poverty, but with great piety, taught him to love Jesus.
Eventually, he attended the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh. And his preaching was marked with sensitivity and great power. And some of us today have books in our library written by Alexander White.
He's a name that is frequently referred to in the history of preaching, mightily used of God. What Alexander White would say is, the issue is not where you came from, but the direction you are going. And I say to those of you from broken families, I say to those of you who were brought up in situations where there was no sense of family identity, no mother and father and your own origin, perhaps was without the benefit of marriage. Don't ever overlook all that God can do in your life, because your past is redeemable. There are so many people who think that their past is just a vast wasteland, and there's nothing in it that God can redeem. Yes, my friend, no matter where you were raised, no matter the circumstances of your birth, your past is not your prison.
Walk in fellowship with God and he will bless you abundantly, perhaps more than those who have all of the right contexts and the right histories. There's another lesson, and that is that halfhearted repentance is not really repentance at all. Halfhearted repentance is not repentance at all.
Why do I mention that? You'll notice that when Israel was crying to the Lord, they said, oh God, we don't want to serve other gods, come and help us. The Lord said no, until the repentance was heartfelt. And the reason that God used Jephthah at the end of the day is because despite all of his faults, he did have a heart for God. Did you know that Jephthah uses the name of the Lord more often than any other judge in the book of Judges? Jephthah did have a heart for God. Have you ever led somebody to Christ, and then there's no follow through and they give no evidence of having savingly believed, but they made a profession. We use that word, we say, well, you know, so-and-so made a profession of faith.
They prayed a prayer. But somehow it does not take. It never goes from the level of the head to the heart. It's verbal. It's a commitment that is made without feeling.
It's a sense of seeking God's help with no understanding of how desperately we need him. This past week, Rebecca and I had breakfast with a man who was converted out of Buddhism. Very interesting story. He was responsible for worship in the Buddhist temple. And somebody at college, the college that he was attending in Korea, told him about Jesus Christ, and he began to read a little bit of the Bible but could not accept it. And yet when he went to the Buddhist temple and was supposed to be the first one to bow down with everyone else taking their cue from him, this group that he had of Buddhists that he was leading, he could not bow down before the Buddha. He was frozen because he knew that Jesus would not be pleased. Later he came to know Christ as savior.
And now he's in America and has been studying here for several years. But he asked us this question. He says, when I go back, he says, I am going to have to become a part of the ceremonies of ancestor worship.
And he said, I know that God is displeased with ancestor worship. In order to be accepted by my family, my friends, my relatives, what do I do? Well, you know, when you're giving advice, talk is cheap. I'm not the one who faces that dilemma. So I'm well aware that it's easy to give advice if you're not the one who's going through the agony. But I said to him, think of how much God would be honored if you would take a stand and not participate, lovingly not participate, but be a witness to your family that you are indeed converted and that your life is sold out to Christ no matter the consequences.
And later he wrote me a note, which he shoved under my door. And he says, definitely I'm willing to suffer for Christ. He goes back in about three weeks to say to his family and friends, I'm a follower of Christ no matter what. But there are some in his family to whom he has witnessed who have made a profession of faith, but there's no evidence.
They still go along with all of these traditions without seemingly any sense of conviction or recognition that they are wrong. Do you see what I mean when I say that half-hearted repentance may not be repentance at all. There is a transformation of heart that God brings about in our lives that is so deep that it has far reaching implications. The bottom line I think of what Jephthah would tell us is that it's not your history, but your heart that God blesses. When Jesus died on the cross, he died as a sacrifice for sinners. And I've led people to faith in Jesus Christ, some of whom whose lives were immediately changed and you knew that they had come to faith in Christ, who was the only savior. And then there are others who quote, make their profession, but there's no evidence that they were ever converted.
So I speak to you now, it's heart to heart time. Let me ask you, where are you in your relationship with God? Is your accepting Christ as your sin bearer, is that kind of an intellectual thing that did not transform you? Or was it a recognition of your great need that you came to him? He regenerated you by the Holy Spirit.
He made you a new creature. And today you know not only because of the word, but because of your life, that you belong to God. I don't care about your history. I don't care about your origin, who your mother was or your father was.
Because remember, it's not your history, it's your heart. But God blesses. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that you shall take these words and help all of us to receive encouragement. May we all know, Father, that at the end of the day, you still go back and forth throughout the whole earth, seeking those whose hearts are perfect toward you. We thank you for the work that you did in Jephthah's heart, and we pray that you shall do the same in ours. May we be clothed by your spirit, wholly devoted to your will and purpose, we pray. And now before I close this prayer, what is it that you need to tell Jesus?
Whatever is on your heart. Have you accepted Christ as Savior? And you've done so with your whole heart. Do you live for him that way?
You talk to him. Our Father today, help us to be honest people. Whenever we hear your word, help us to respond with integrity and with a sense of commitment to your total will. Oh, do that for us, Father, we ask even in this moment. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Well, this is Pastor Lutzer. And of course, I know that it is important as to who your father was and your mother. But the point that I was trying to make is that our relationship with Jesus Christ transcends all that.
And receiving Christ as Savior through faith, through repentance is absolutely basic to knowing God and walking with him. I want to emphasize that at the end of this month, this is the end of our fiscal year. What that means is, we here at the Ministry of Running to Win want to take this opportunity. Indeed, we invite you to help us as we move forward. Here's what you can do as a result of your gift. Just know that it is going to be doubled. What an opportunity it is for you to invest in the kingdom.
You know, running to win is heard in 50 different countries in seven different languages. We are doing all that we can to get the gospel to as many people as we can. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the many of you who do connect with us. But there are some of you who perhaps have never given to this ministry before.
This would be a great opportunity for you to become involved because as I've already emphasized, your gift will be doubled. So this is the last few days when you have that opportunity. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now because this is so critical, and because our fiscal year ends in just a few days, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again. But I want you to know that we here at Running to Win want to emphasize that this is not our ministry, this is your ministry, and really it is God's ministry. Here's what you can do.
Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Blvd, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Pastor Erwin Lutzer concluding, God, man, and a foolish decision. The eighth of twelve messages on the topic we've been down this road before, taken from the book of Judges. Next time we encounter the most famous of Israel's judges. Join us as we meet Samson, the man who had it all. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
