The Reject Who Became The Ruler

Pastor Allan Kircher

Shell Point Baptist Church

October 6th, 2013

Judges 11:1-11

THE REJECT WHO BECAME THE RULER

Intro: Judges can be very depressing

• Chronicles/years/Israel between/Joshua/Saul first king

• Book is a scene of lawlessness.

• Describe the cycle.

Spiritual climate during those days is summed/Judges 21:25 ,“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Discouraging about this book? Ample evidence we humans don’t learn our lessons well.

Left to ourselves, we get ourselves in trouble time and again.

• Positive side/book/fact/God never completely forsook His people.

• They failed Him/He chastised them/always took them back

• Let’s me know He will never forsake us.

• The church/purchased/blood/His Darling Son

• He will ever stand by us, Heb. 13:5.

Times /Judges/dark/dismal days for Israel, a few lives stand out as bright lights against the darkness.

• One/lights/man before us in our text today.

• Introduced to a man named Jephthah.

What the word of God teaches us about this man should serve as an encouragement to every person in this room.

• Walked through some hard places in his life

• He overcame all/obstacles/life and he accomplished great things for the Lord.

• Man rejected by his family, outcast by society

• written off by everyone who should have cared about him

• In the end Jephthah became the leader of his people.

Jephthah is not an altogether good example.

• Chosen to lead/people by the people/not by God.

• Jephthah/mixture/spiritual/fleshly.

• life is confusing at best.

• not the Lord’s choice/Judge

• Lord allowed Jephthah to lead the people to victory for His Own purposes.

• God had a plan.using Jephthah; don’t know all/details/plan!

Let’s get to know Jephthah and learn the lessons his life reveals. I want to preach about The Reject Who Became The Ruler.

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I. v. 1-3 AN APPALLING REJECTION

A. v. 1 Jephthah’s Character

• First revelation/Jephthah “a mighty warrior”.

• “mighty warrior” means/marked by “great bravery”.

• A very courageous and powerful man.

Kind of man:

• Who did what needed/done/every situation he faced in life.

• Who refused to back down

• You would like to have at your back in a battle.

• Others would look to for leadership.

He was a strong, able and efficient man.

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B. v. 1 Jephthah’s Challenge

• Next truth “he was the son of a harlot”.

• His father’s named was “Gilead”.

• Gilead/man who frequented prostitutes.

• One became pregnant and bore him a son named Jephthah.

• Major strike against Jephthah/marked him/illegitimate son of Gilead.

Like everyone in this room, Jephthah had marks in the plus column and marks in the minus column.

• Areas/life/extraordinary while other areas/problematic.

• We are all in the same boat.

• Most of us do not trumpet our abilities

• Yet we go to great lengths to conceal our problems.

• Reminds us that we are human

• No matter how far up the ladder of holiness we climb, we will still be sinners, we will still desperately need a Savior

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C. v. 2 Jephthah’s Conflict

• Jephthah’s father also had children with his wife.

• When these legitimate children reached maturity

• they all turned/Jephthah/forced him out/family home

Apparently, their father is dead and they refused to share their inheritance with Jephthah.

• Most likely they were motivated by greed.

• With Jephthah out of the way, there/more money go around

• Jephthah’s presence/family/constant reminder/father’s infidelity.

• They probably hated Jephthah all their lives.

• May have even envied him since he was a strong/efficient man.

• Probably everything they were not/they turned on him.

• They hated him because he represented everything they could never be.

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Jephthah paid a price for the sins of his father.

• Father/philanderer who brought/illegitimate child into/world.

• child lived/stigma of his father’s sins his whole life.

• His life/scarred/actions of his father/his half-brothers

• He did not stoop to the same level of evil he saw in them.

• Jephthah broke the cycle of sin in his family

• Became a better man than the others in his family.

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We need to stop here/learn a valuable lesson. Exodus 34:7…

• Doesn’t mean God will punish you/what your parents did.

• Does mean what your parents did/often bear fruit/your life.

Children often develop attitudes/similar parents.

• Develop ways of living like their parents.

• They have prejudices;

• Likes/dislikes were built into them by their parents.

• The fact is, a lot of what we do is generational.

• We carry/influence/family with us/all days we live.

If/mother was hateful, good chance you might have/tendency

• If/father/drunk, you/prone to problems in that area.

Grew up hearing criticism and negativity

• good chance of becoming a negative person too.