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What can we learn from this? That's number one that we can learn. That's the big takeaway from this. Don't make a stupid vow, okay? But the next thing we can learn from this is that sometimes, through your stupidity, you can put yourself in a position where no matter what you do, it's wrong and sinful. You can put yourself in a situation where, well, what do I do, Pastor Anderson? Do I do A or B? And I'm like, both of those are wrong. Both of those are sinful. You can put yourself in a stupid position where no matter what you do, it's a sin. So the moral is don't put yourself in that position. But there are situations where both options are wrong. And it's like you just have to pick between wrong and wrong here, okay? So that's the next thing that we can learn from this. And then, lastly, we can learn from this that even something as unsettling or perturbing or unsavory as this in the Word of God can still point us to something beautiful. Because this points to the Gospel. This points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because here's the thing. When we read this and we feel so bad for Jephthah's daughter and we're lamenting Jephthah's daughter, like why does she have to die, this is so stupid, like man, why did you do this? But here's the thing, actually, as much pity we feel for the daughter, and we can put ourselves in Jephthah's position. He has one child and it's a daughter. And remember, he had a messed up home life, he's probably trying to give his daughter a better situation. But here's the thing. Whatever you feel, whatever emotion you have about Jephthah's daughter, or whatever emotion you can picture Jephthah having about his daughter, think about the Father sending Jesus to be the Savior of the world. Because that's what's pictured here. It's the only child dying. Well guess what? Jesus Christ died for us. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And you say, well I don't think that's an exact parallel. But here's the thing, no picture of Christ in the Old Testament is an exact parallel. I mean nobody in the Old Testament dies on a cross. But yet you have all kinds of pictures pointing to Jesus. The picture's never exact. You know, this is a daughter, Jesus is a son. But still, it's an only child, you know, being sacrificed as a burnt offering. I mean think about it folks. It obviously is pointing us to Jesus Christ. And so actually, as unsavory as this story is, this story can actually help give you a deeper understanding of the Gospel, it can actually give you a deeper understanding of Jesus dying on the cross for us and the Father sending the son to be the Savior of the world. And so there's that aspect of this that we don't want to miss. Now I'll tell you what some people have done with this passage. They're kind of just in denial about this passage and they say, well he didn't really kill her. He didn't really offer her as a burnt offering. She just had to be celibate. Now it does talk about the fact that, hey, she knew no man. She's lamenting the fact that she didn't get to live a normal life and, you know, get married and have kids and so forth. But here's the thing, what does the Bible actually say? What the Bible actually says in verse 39, and it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned unto her father who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. End of story. The narrator is telling us that he did what he said he would do. He did what he vowed he would do. And you say, well that's horrible, I can't handle that. I'm done reading the Bible. This story just has just ruined it for me. Here's the thing about this story. Is it tragic? Yes. But hold on a second. We're all going to die physically. So what happened in the story? Somebody lost a child. A woman died. A young innocent woman died. Hey, we're all going to die. She's most likely in heaven. She seems to be a godly, righteous person. Her dad is Jephthah, he's a great man of faith. Chances are she's saved, he's communicated the gospel to her. It would be bizarre if she weren't. You know, so we can assume she's in heaven. So did she miss out on some things? Yeah, but she also gets to be in the Bible. And she also gets her own holiday. I mean, how many people have a holiday right now in the US, you know? Abraham Lincoln doesn't even have a holiday anymore. George Washington doesn't even have a holiday. They only get a half holiday now. They got combined into President's Day. So she gets a holiday, right? And she gets a four-day weekend, right? It says at the end, the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughters of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. So here's the thing, look. She gets to heaven, and as soon as she gets to heaven, somebody can explain to her, hey, actually, you're a picture of Jesus Christ, and people are going to be preaching about you thousands of years from now, about how you picture Jesus. And you know what? I'm sure she's enjoying her time in heaven. And Jephthah, yeah, this was a horrible thing, especially because it's all his fault. It's one thing to lose your child. It's even worse when you lose your child and it's your fault. So this is horrible for him, but guess what? He got a little honorable mention, shout out, in Hebrews 11. And he's up in heaven, too. And he gets it now. You know? And you know what? I'm sure he's sitting up there thinking in heaven, you know what? Did I live a screwed-up life? Yes. Son of a prostitute, kicked out of my family, hung around with the gangs, right? The vain persons going to, you know, he's got his gang, and Tob grew up hard, and Tob, you know, ends up sacrificing his daughter. But I think at the end of the day, he's up in heaven, and he realizes, you know what? Hey, my life had problems, but at least my life could be used for millions of people. I mean, how many millions and millions of people are reading this story? You think I'm the only one preaching this? Every Baptist is preaching this. Other denominations are preaching this. It's being preached all over the world. It's being preached in non-denom churches, maybe, rarely. But here's the thing. If his life could be used to help millions of other people live a better life, millions of other people could save hassles and heartaches by realizing, don't make a stupid vow. Be careful what you say. Don't hang around with vain people, you know, and they can learn even about Jesus from this passage. You know what? In the end, it's okay. You know? And look, sometimes we're going to have some messed up things happen in our life. But just realize that in the end, all things work together for good to those who love God. And even when we screw things up and do something stupid, sometimes what we mean for evil, God can mean for good, and it can all turn out okay. So even though this is a rough chapter, there are a lot of good things we can learn from this chapter. So let's not try to change the chapter or water it down or censor it. Well, I'm not going to tell this Bible story. It's got the wrong message. You know what? Here's why it's got the right message, because it actually happened, and it's teaching us about real life, and it's showing us that even godly people can do stupid things and ruin their family. So hey, if we love the Lord, if we pray our prayers, if we have faith in the Lord, let's make sure we don't screw up our family or screw up our life. Let's be careful and take this as a cautionary tale. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great lesson, Lord, many lessons from this chapter. I pray that these things will sink down into our ears, Lord, and that we would use Jephthah for a positive example in a few ways, where he did the right thing, where he was a man of prayer, he's a man of faith, and where he's a mighty man of valor, where he sought to be at peace, but then also learn some of the things that we shouldn't do, like being vainglorious, hanging around with the wrong crowd, and making a stupid vow, and making a commitment that we can't keep, Lord. Help us to use these stories to make our lives more godly, and in Jesus' name we pray.