A Surprising Saint

Born to a woman who wished he'd never been born, abandoned by her, taken into the home of a father who really didn't care enough to insist that he be treated equally, in fact his father's absence is rather obvious, perhaps evidently embarrassed by the constant reminder of his sin, and so Jephthah is left to fend for himself and he eventually ends up leading a gang of guys out there in the land of Tob, where nobody wanted to live.

This is the beginning of the story of a surprising sin. Have you ever known someone you never expected to turn their life around? Someone with a rough past who seemed beyond hope? Today Stephen explores the story of one such man, Jephthah. Rejected by his family, born from a scandalous relationship, and living a reckless life, Jephthah seemed the least likely candidate for something great. Yet when Israel cried out for help, God chose this unexpected leader to deliver his people. Today's message will give you fresh hope.

Here's Stephen. You know I think if we're honest we'll have to admit that we all know one or two what we could call surprising saints. I often think of John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace and his rather well-known admission that when he got to heaven he would no doubt be surprised to see some people there that he did not expect to see.

We have the natural tendency to write someone off because of their past or what we might know of their history. We're often surprised by the grace of God, which is an indication that we think way too highly of ourselves because the grace of God in saving us and using us is no less surprising. Amen? But that's what grace is. Grace is undeserved. It is unmerited.

And can I add the word? It is surprising, favor from God. The truth is God has stooped to redeem all of us, every one of us. We were all dug from the same pit of depravity and defiance and disobedience and that's where he found us. We are all surprising saints, frankly. The grace of God in that manner isn't just a New Testament principle or truth.

It's demonstrated and I've attempted to try to do that in the lives of several people that I've brought to the forefront. And what I want to do in this last message is go back to an Old Testament passage. All of these have been from the Old Testament, perhaps in the future we'll do a series from the New Testament. So take your Bibles and turn back to the book of Judges.

And let me introduce to you one of the most colorful, fascinating judges to date, the kind of guy that if you saw him on the campus of a Bible college, you'd probably move across the street. His biography begins at chapter 11, brief as it is, in verse 1. Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead was the father of Jephthah. And Gilead's wife bore him sons and when his wife's sons grew up they drove Jephthah out and said to him, you shall not have an inheritance in our father's house for you are the son of another woman.

So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tov. And worthless fellows gathered themselves about Jephthah and they went out with him. That word translated worthless is translated by others as adventurers.

That's a bit too Hollywood for me. Woodenly translated it means empty, reckless. You could translate it idle. These are the shady characters from the back alleys of Israel. And they find in Jephthah the kind of leader they're looking for. The only people that seem to want to have anything to do with him are other misfits and vagrants of his generation and they live in the land of Tov. That name can mean wilderness.

It can be translated treeless. In other words this is a gang of of nobody's living in Nowheresville living hand to mouth. Can you imagine with knowing this much, this biography going anywhere but just further down. Born to a woman who wished he'd never been born. Abandoned by her. Taken into the home of a father who really didn't care enough to insist that he be treated equally.

In fact his father's absence is rather obvious perhaps evidently embarrassed by the constant reminder of his sin. And so Jephthah is left to fend for himself and he eventually ends up leading a gang of guys out there in the land of Tob where nobody wanted to live. This is the beginning of the story of a surprising saint. The coming courageous leader of Israel.

Let me pause here for a moment. The famous Scottish preacher Dr. Alexander White knew something of Jephthah's pain and past. I have books written by this tremendous church leader, pastor, author who served Christ ultimately becoming the president of a Bible college in the 1800s. Alexander White had been born out of wedlock and he carried this lifelong stigma. He didn't let it lead him though but he did contend with mockery growing up especially in his generation. The whispers of the townspeople when they saw him.

When Alexander was born his mother gave him his father's surname. Tried to get him on the right to a right start but she reared him in abject poverty. At the same time something had happened in her life and she was a follower of Christ as he grew and she raised him in what he calls deep spiritual piety.

Sort of the vocabulary of later Puritans. In time he became apprenticed to a shoemaker and through hard work he entered the University of Aberdeen and eventually Edinburgh and then entered the ministry a committed follower of Christ. His preaching as you can imagine was deeply marked with sensitivity for those around him.

He identified with especially those who had a past. Over the course of his ministry he preached many sermons on biographies and those sermons were eventually published. I pulled out of curiosity my copy of Alexander White's concise biographies. They aren't concise.

No Puritan is concise. That book is nearly 800 pages long. I turned to see if he had a chapter on Jephthah and did he ever have a chapter on Jephthah. I thought it would be interesting to read to you some of what he wrote.

I found it moving. He writes, Jephthah was the most ill-used man in all the Old Testament. How's that for a start? And he continues to be the the most completely misunderstood misrepresented and ill-used man down to this day. Buffeted about from his birth by his brothers trampled upon by all men but most of all by the men of his father's house called all manner of odious and exasperating names. When a prophet would come to dine he would be sent away to the fields to be out of sight. The iron of resentment had entered his soul while yet he lay in his mother's womb and both his father and his brothers and the elders of Israel helped deepen his affliction. But then the Lord rose up for Jephthah and said it is enough and he poured oil and wine into his lifelong wounds.

Wow. Written by a man who understood and perhaps you can identify in some way with Jephthah in the endurance of a painful past. Maybe the consequences of parental sins. Maybe the doubts or questions which he no doubt would have had in this treeless wilderness that God has written you off.

You're unusable, unwanted. Well I want to reassure you that the story is about to change. It's going to turn a corner here but I want Jephthah to become an encouragement to you perhaps and the encouragement would be along these lines that no matter what stains the pages of your past God's grace is not finished writing. He's not finished writing.

He has more to add to your biography. God has a way of being able to reach down in grace into the deepest pit. You know it's as if God as you study the biographies of the Bible and those in in the family of God it's as if God mixes the ink for his pen of grace from the darkest moments of your past.

Dark ink but he keeps writing. Corey 10 Boom after surviving a concentration camp during World War II this Jewish believer would often testify there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. Now as far as Israel is concerned Jephthah was beyond redemption but God has other ideas in mind. Let me show you one other phrase where the story begins to turn that provides some additional insight into his early days of rejection. When the elders of Israel look down over seven decide by God's leading obviously that Jephthah is a man to lead them in a battle. Notice what Jephthah responds by saying then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead note this did you not hate me and drive me from my father's house and and you come to me now when you are in trouble. Imagine by the way what that implies the elders had not wanted him around either. This wasn't just a family squabble this this became part of the clan and perhaps even even larger in its dimensions and so here the elders who didn't want him around either we're not sure how this worked out but I can sort of imagine them making this formal trip to the home of of Gilead.

Their collars are starched and pressed and their hearts are buttoned up tightly as well. They knock on the door and they're invited into the parlor. Jephthah can hear the low murmur of voices. He can make out enough to know exactly what they're saying as they talk to his father Gilead your illegitimate son an embarrassment to the community your reputation at stake it's best he isn't here he needs to pack up and leave the elders. So with his brothers sneering in the background and his own father cowardly perhaps half-heartedly apologizing his mother evidently nowhere around to say goodbye Jephthah is effectively rejected by his people and his family and he's exiled in the land of Tov and he gathers around him other men with similar pasts but with this one thing in common none of them had had a future none of them. By the way Alexander White points out that Jephthah becomes something of an illustration of Jesus Christ's biography. Born amid suspicions of an immoral mother conceived out of wedlock growing up to eventually be rejected by the elders of Israel and the man who seemed to gather around him sinners and tax collectors people with the past people everyone everyone had written off as people with no future but enter the grace of God enter the grace of God the grace of God isn't given to those who deserve it for none do it is undeserved favored and Paul writes it is lavished out upon us people like Jephthah people like us who without him would have no future. Now the next stage in his biography is the expression of God's grace because the elders come to seek him out you can read here where in fact go to verse five it happened when the sons of Ammon fought against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tov and they said to Jephthah come and be our chief that we may fight against the sons of Ammon the people need a fighter they need somebody scrappy they need somebody that doesn't lay down after the first round they need somebody that jumps back up on his feet they need somebody with a little experience leading misfits like he has who is now prepared to lead the armies of Israel and you almost get the idea that the elders probably looked around to find somebody else and they couldn't find anybody who wanted to there's that there's that gutsy guy out there in that treeless wilderness it's one tough guy let's go get him can you believe the irony can you just imagine the elders going out there and showing up I hear them stuttering and coughing and well you know come on and be we'd like you to well we decided that we'd like you to be our um our chief oh my Jephthah says why do you come to me now when you're in trouble verse seven that's a valid question by the way you're coming to me now that your backs are against the wall what about an apology what about we got you all wrong in fact they ignore his comment verse eight and the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah well for this reason we have now returned to you that you may go now with us and fight with the sons of Ammon and become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead it's as if they you know they said we're prepared to announce you as president and supreme commander of the allied forces without even voting you're our man Jephthah let's let bygones be bygones what do you say now at this point you can expect Jephthah to say something that he might have rehearsed in his heart many times but he never thought this would happen but if it did I would imagine him responding with you know why should I care about you and the people who've rejected me and it's not my problem in fact I hope the sons of Ammon wipe you guys off the face of the earth you hated me you kicked me out of my home and country it's time you took your own medicine that's how most stories like these end instead the most amazing thing happens verse 11 then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead and the people made him head and chief over them you might read these verses by the way and think that all that mattered to Jephthah was that promotion you know that would be revenge enough no he actually goes back and he will lead them to war he will risk his life for people who hadn't really cared about his now there are lessons at this point that would take us longer than we have but let me give you two of them first Jephthah teaches us that it's possible to choose to move past your past it's possible by the grace of God to move past whatever happened to you in the past how well the key in Jephthah's own biography is found in verse 11 look I didn't quite read the last line Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead and the people made him head and chief over them now notice and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah that that tells us literally that he's having this ongoing conversation with his covenant keeping Lord very tender expression by the way here's a surprise Jephthah will use the personal name name of God more often than any other person in the book of Judges something happened to this guy out there in that land of nowhere that garden-less tree-less place evidently Jephthah had been found as it is demonstrated through him by the grace of God it's amazing often and I do hope that you have as part of your discipline reading biographies periodically I try to keep one or two going at any given time it's amazing who God uses to reach people an evangelist named Dio Moody who never went past a fifth grade a shepherd by the name of Philip Keller a doctor to lepers like Philippiancy an ex-con like Chuck Colson the son of an alcoholic like Josh McDowell a college dropout like Chuck Swindoll let me let me say it this way another way not only does Jephthah teach us that it's possible to move past your past secondly Jephthah shows us that it's possible to help those who refused to help you I think his buddies in tope thought he was crazy you're going to go help who you're going where you're crazy why would you help your half brothers why would you help your father why would you help those elders and that nation forget them they had it coming but Jephthah effectively chooses to show grace to those who had withheld grace from him I can't think of anything harder to do can you than that how did he do it he had an evidently an ongoing conversation with God who had not deserted him and had been for him a parent and a companion out there in that land without trees everyone had abandoned him but he knew God had not and so here you have this incredible demonstration of humility and grace where he does in a way model as alexander white says our own lord in helping those who refuse to help giving his life to those who rejected his life I wonder what that conversation was like with him out there in tope after the elders left I kind of envisioned him saying something like god you'll you'll never believe what happened to me you'll never believe who just came to see me you'll never believe the you'll never believe the job I was just offered and I'm gonna lead them but I'm gonna have to tell you all the words and have this ongoing conversation if it's ever going to work he becomes a surprising saint a lot of people know about the writing ministry of Josh McDowell evidence that demands a verdict been wonderfully used used over the years but few know his testimony I found it tucked in one of his smaller paperbacks called the resurrection factor it's interesting that he was raised in a home with an alcoholic father and a very abusive father he grew up literally defending his mother sometimes when he wasn't there he'd come home to the farm and she wouldn't be in the house he'd have to go look for her and he would find her he writes in the barn lying in the manure behind the cows beaten so badly she could not get up and he'd help her up he wrote that when he would have friends over from school which was rare he'd take his drunken father out to the barn and tie him up and then he'd drive his father's car around and park it behind the silo and then he and his mother would tell his friends that his father had had a an appointment to go to he writes in his book quote if there was anyone that I hated it was my father he went on to enter a university and there he tells his testimony he heard the gospel as a freshman and didn't respond wasn't interested he heard it again and again and finally as a sophomore the grace of god opened his eyes and he believed the gospel and trusted christ and he said this quote god immediately began doing something in my life the spirit of god began producing surprising fruit it was the fruit of grace he writes it took me about a year and a half before I could even look at my father and only later I was able to tell him I loved him later in his college years he had an accident and and had to spend time home at home on the farm recuperating and his college studies were put on hold and while he was at home his father one day came into his room sober which was unusual but in his sober state of mind he came over and he said to josh I don't understand how you can tell somebody like me that you love me and he had an opportunity for the first time to share the gospel with his father god had already been at work in his father's life he said to him yes I I hated you but something has happened in my life and it came in the person of jesus christ and because of him I can love you he wrote after an hour or so my father had entered my room he actually knelt there beside my bed beside my bed and believed the gospel and trusted christ as his savior talk about the surprising grace of god it rescued us it still redeems others today that may surprise us yet so as recipients of the grace of god and by the way let let's not ever quite get over the surprise of that in our own lives let's demonstrate the gospel of grace to our world around us frankly there's no telling where those surprising saints are going to come from because god isn't finished writing yet that was stephen davey and this is wisdom for the heart jeptha's life reminds you that god's grace reaches even the most unlikely people today's message is called a surprising saint it's the final message in a series stephen called forgotten lives remembered truths if you'd like to go back to listen to this series again there are two ways to do it we've taken it and put it together as a cd set and we'd be happy to build a set for you dial 866-48-bible or 866-482-4253 you'll also find this 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