Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1341
“I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back.” Judges 11:35.
IN Jephtha case there were good reasons for going back. He had made a rash vow and such things are much better broken than kept. If a man makes a vow to commit a crime, his vow to do so is, in itself, a sin. The carrying out of his vow will be doubly sinful. If a man’s vowing to do a thing made it necessary and right for him to do it, then the whole moral law might be suspended by the mere act of vowing, for a man might vow to steal, to commit adultery, or to murder—and then say—“I was right in all those acts because I vowed to do them.” This is self-evidently absurd and to admit such a principle would be to destroy all morality!
You have, first of all, no right to promise to do what is wrong. And then, secondly, your promise, which is, in itself, wrong, cannot make a criminal act to be right. If you have come under a rash vow, you must not dare to keep it! You ought to go before God and repent that you have made a vow which involves sin—and as to keeping the sinful vow, that were to add sin to sin! “But,” says one, “would it not be sin to break my vow?” I reply, there was great sin in making it and there will probably be some measure of sin connected with your breaking it, for few human actions are perfect. But to keep your evil vow would certainly be sin and you must not commit the greater sin to avoid the lesser which, perhaps, may be involved in the breach of your foolish promise.
I think it would have been well if Jephtha, though he had opened his mouth before God, had gone back when it involved, as I think it did, so dreadful a necessity as that of sacrificing his own innocent, only child! His having sworn to do it did not make it right—it was just as wrong. If he really did slay her, it was a horrible action, dramatize or disguise it as you may! He had no right to make the dangerous promise. He had still less right to carry it out after he had made it, if it led to such terrible consequences.
But now I am going to speak about other openings of the mouth to God in which there is no ill—openings of the mouth which need never be regretted, which certainly never can be recalled—and of which we may rightly say, before the living God, in the strength which He gives us, “I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back.” My sermon will not have much to do with some of you. You have not given your word to God, or made any sort of promise. No, you remain as you were, far off from Him and negligent of His claims. I do not envy you. Your being under no obligation from any resolution of your own does not prevent your being under as much natural obligation to God on account of your being His creatures and, therefore, subjects under His Law.
I sometimes hear of people who say, “You know I do not profess anything,” and after that assertion they appear to feel at liberty to say and do whatever they like. Now, if we heard of certain persons entrusted with our business that they had not acted honestly, what would we think of it if one man among them should rise up and say, “Don’t blame me. You know I never professed to be honest”? What would that mean? It would mean that he is a confessed and acknowledged thief! Suppose a man were to say, “Well, I never profess to be truthful.” What is he? He is an acknowledged liar! And he who says, “Ah, I never made any vows or promises, neither do I pretend to serve the Lord,” acknowledges himself to be a godless man. He is living in the daily robbery of God, defrauding Him of His rights! He is living in direct and avowed rebellion against the King of kings! He is living without a hope for the hereafter—without Grace in his soul for the present—and without glory in prospect for the future!
Ah, Friend, although the things I may have to say at this time may not directly bear upon you, yet the very fact that they do not bear upon you should make you think, and weigh, and consider, and ponder your ways as to the place which you now occupy! You are, by your non-profession and non-avowal of Christ, making a confession of being on the opposite side, for he that is not with Him is against Him, and he that gathers not with Him scatters abroad.
But now I speak to my own Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus. Dear Friends, there are three things which I would bring to your practical remembrance. First, what we have done—we have opened our mouth unto the Lord. Secondly, what we cannot do—“I cannot go back.” And, thirdly, what we must do—there are some things that we must seek after if we are to be able to hold on and to act faithfully to our profession.
I. First, then, WHAT WE HAVE DONE. “I have given my word to the Lord.” We have opened our mouths before the Lord, first, by confessing our faith in Jesus Christ. I have said, and most of you upon whom 1 am looking have, also, solemnly said, before others, “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. Let others believe what they will and trust in what they please—