Our text tonight is in Judges
chapter 3, but I want to first look at chapter 2 and let's review
for a moment. As you know, Joshua and his generation
had died, and verse 10 tells us that there arose another generation
after them, which knew not the Lord. They didn't know the Lord,
nor yet the works which He had done for Israel. So what did
they do? Pretty much everything that the
Lord told them not to. Verse 11 of Judges 2, they did
evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam. Verse 12,
they forsook the Lord, God of their fathers, they followed
after other gods, the gods of the people around them, and bowed
themselves to them. They provoked the Lord to anger.
Verse 13 says that they pursued the Lord and served Baal and
Ashtaroth. Again, verse 14, and the anger
of the Lord was hot against Israel. And what did the Lord do? He
delivered them into the hands of spoilers. robbers and they
robbed them. Now these nations of Canaan that
they had taxed was stealing the money right back from them. You
know, I've seen godless men and women today who make millions
only to have it stolen back from them by accountants and lawyers
and other handlers. And at the same time, I've seen
the Lord take a little and stretch it a great deal. to provide for
one of his sheep. This is how the Lord Jesus fed
the multitude with just a few loaves and two fish and had more
in the end than what they started with, 12 baskets full. The Lord can do that. And the
Lord can put a hole in your basket and cause it to go empty quick.
Verse 15, wherever they went, whatever they did, they did not
prosper in any business they undertook. When they went to
war, the enemies prevailed because the Lord was against them, it
says. But even the Lord was merciful
time and time again. Verse 16, nevertheless, regardless
of all these things, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered
them out of the hands of those that spoiled them, those that
robbed them. And how did Israel respond? Pretty
much the way they always did. Verse 17, and yet they would
not hearken unto their judges, but they went a-whoring after
other gods, and bowed themselves unto them. They turned quickly
out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments
of the Lord, but they did not sow. But again, the Lord's mercy
endures forever." And in verse 18, we read, and when the Lord
raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered
them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge
for repenting the Lord, because of their groanings by reason
of them that oppressed them and vexed them." And again here we
see the natural depravity of every man and woman in verse
19. And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they
returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, and
following other gods to serve them and to bow down unto them,
they ceased not from their own doings nor from their stubborn
way." What a true description of men and women by nature we
have in these verses. And I was thinking today as I
read these verses again, it's easy to see in others and yet
impossible to see in ourselves apart from a divine revelation
from God. Verse 20. And the anger of the
Lord was hot against Israel. And he said, because that this
people have transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers
and have not hearkened unto my voice, I also will not henceforth
drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left
when he died. That through them," now look
at this, that through them, I may prove Israel. whether they will
keep the way of the Lord to walk therein as their fathers did
keep it or not. Therefore the Lord left those
nations without driving them out hastily and neither delivered
he them into the hand of Joshua." And here we have the reason that
God left these Canaanite nations among them in verse 22. that
through them, their enemies, that's who it's talking about,
he said, I may prove Israel. Now, chapter three, verse one. Now these are the nations which
the Lord left to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel
as had not known all the wars of Canaan, only that the generations
of the children of Israel might know to teach them war "'at the
least such as before knew nothing thereof, "'namely five lords
of the Philistines "'and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians
"'and the Habites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon "'from Mount
Baal-Herman until the entering of Hamah. "'And they were to
prove Israel by them.'" There's that word again. "'To know whether
they would hearken "'unto the commandments of the Lord which
He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses." Now that
word prove in this passage means to test, to tempt, to try, to
teach, to examine. The English dictionary defines
the word prove as to demonstrate the truth of existence of something
by evidence or argument. to demonstrate, test, tempt,
try, and examine the abilities or courage of one being proved. And you know, the first time
the Hebrew word for proved, which is pronounced, I believe, nassal,
is used in Genesis 22, verse one, and it's translated there,
tempt. And you know the passage well.
And it came to pass after all these things that God did tempt
Abraham, And he said unto him, take now thy son, thy only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah,
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains,
which I will tell thee of." Now that was a real trial. And the
Lord really proved Abraham in that. And we know that Abraham
passed the test. He believed God. and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. We're told that three different
times in the scripture, Romans 4.3, Galatians 3.6, and James
2.23. But most every time in the Old
Testament that the word prove, to try, test, or tempt is used,
it has to do with Israel obeying the commandments of God. To prove
Israel to know what was in their hearts, whether they would keep
his commandments. David used the Hebrew word nassal
in three ways in Psalm 26, verse two. David wrote, examine me,
prove me, oh Lord, and prove me, that's the second way, and
try my reins in my heart. Examine me, prove me, and try
me, Lord, to see what's in my heart. Another way it's used
is to prove whether they would keep the way of the Lord. Now
the Lord proves us to know whether we'll love our Lord with all
our hearts and souls, according to Deuteronomy 13.3. And of course
He knows. He knows everything. But He proves
us in order for us to know. He proves to demonstrate the
existence of obedience in us. God left these heathen nations,
this is what I want you to see, he left them around because of
Israel's disobedience. But verse four says that it was
to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would, here it is,
hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded
their fathers by the hand of Moses. And we see time and time
and time again, from the time Israel left Egypt until they
got to the land of promise, and then afterwards, time and time
again, they disobeyed the commandments of the Lord. And God had, time
and time again, been very clear and very specific about these
other gods and these idols. Now, I want you to hold your
place here and turn back to the book of Deuteronomy with me,
chapter seven. I think it's important that we
see these things in our own Bible. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse
1. We'll come back to Judges 3. And we know that God knows all
things because God ordains all things. But he said here concerning
these nations, listed in verse 1, We've been giving you time
to get there. Deuteronomy 7, verse 1. He said,
when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, whither thou
goest to possess it. That's where they're at right
now in Judges, and we saw in Joshua. And has cast out many
nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the
Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Habites,
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou.
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, we
know it's the Lord that did it, because he says right there,
they're mightier than you are. It had to be the Lord that did
it. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee,
thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make
no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt
thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they
may serve other gods. And so will the anger of the
Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly." This
is serious, serious business. It's still in. Verse five, but
thus shall you deal with them, you shall destroy their altars,
break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn
their graven images with fire. Now look down at verse 22 here. And the Lord thy God will put
out those nations before thee little by little, thou mayest
not consume them all at once, lest the beast of the field increase
upon thee." I thought that was just amazing. The Lord also left
these nations around so that that they that he could use them
to hunt and kill wild beasts that would be troublesome and
distressing to Israel. Isn't that something? God provides
with us in ways we have no Fathom, we can't fathom. And this could
also mean that all the slain Canaanites, you know the multitudes
that they killed there, they didn't bury each one of them.
These slain Canaanites carcasses would invite the wild beast of
the field to come out and feed upon them, which also could cause
Israel some major distractions and issues. The Lord provides
for us in amazing ways, ways that we don't even know. You
know, I've often, we've talked about it, but I get upset with the way people
drive. And there's one thing that I
really don't like is when somebody pulls out in front of me and
then goes like two mile an hour. You know, I'm like, well, I wish
I had a set of forklifts on the front of my car. I could do some
damage. Well, that's ugly. I shouldn't
talk like that. But how many times have you thought
about maybe the Lord is holding you up to keep you out of an
accident or something? We just don't know all the ways
that the Lord provides for us. God has a purpose for all that
he does. And one thing's for sure, whatever
the Lord does, it's for the good of his people. That's why we
shouldn't get upset about things, David. See, I do preach to myself. But the main reason the Lord
left these nations round was to prove, test, try, and tempt
Israel. Verse 23. Let's see, am I still
in... Yes, verse 23 here in Deuteronomy.
But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy
them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. And
he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt
destroy their name from under heaven. There shall no man be
able to stand before thee until thou hast destroyed them. Now
look, verse 25, the graven images of their God shall ye burn with
fire. Thou shalt not desire the silver
or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee. Don't melt
them down and use the gold. Lest thou be snared therein,
for it's an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou
bring an abomination unto thine house. Don't bring these idols
into your house. lest thou be cursed, a cursed
thing like it, but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt
utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing." And then we find Israel
doing just the opposite. You don't have to turn over there,
but in Deuteronomy 12, verse three, the Lord told Israel,
you shall overthrow their altars, you shall break their pillars,
you shall burn their groves with fire, and you shall hew down
the graven images of their gods and destroy the names of them
out of that place. But Israel failed at every turn. I hope that we've learned that
trials and tribulations are by design, they're by the Lord's
design. They're by divine appointment, and they're given to prove what
they are designed to prove. And these who the Lord is about
to prove, as we know, are a new generation that knew not the
Lord, nor the works that He had done. Now, they'd heard secondhand. They had heard the stories of
the generation before them, just as we've heard stories of the
past by our parents. I don't know about you, but my
parents walked to school uphill both ways. I'm not sure how they
did that. But we've all heard the stories
about our parents, and many of them are true. My parents lived
in the time of the Depression. Things were hard. They went through
things that my generation never experienced. But this present
generation of Israel was unproven. They hadn't experienced war.
They had but few struggles in their life. They hadn't been
proven, tempted, or tried. So the Lord's gonna prove them.
I wonder, have you and I really been proved? Like every generation,
the generation before, their mothers and their fathers had
suffered that they might enjoy the benefits that they now had. And we talked about that last
study. I think it's all of us as parents
want better for our Children what we had. And I think we do
them a disservice sometime. But here in Judges 3, verse 2,
we're told just that. God left these nations due to
their disobedience, but God can and does accomplish His purpose
in many ways all at once. The Lord left these nations for
this new generation so that He might teach them more, for they
knew nothing of such things. Brother Tim James wrote in his
study of this chapter that very little is learned on flowery
beds of ease. That's true. And I agree. The scripture says that we must,
through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of God. You're going
to be tried. You're going to be tempted. You're
going to be proven. And just remember, when you are, it's
the Lord doing it. And He's doing it for your good.
and for His glory. It's God who sends the trouble
and the trials. He's the one that preserves us
in the trials and in the troubles. It's God who makes us stronger.
You know, I've heard an old saying, I know you've heard it too, that
what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, I suppose that's
true, but it's God who makes us stronger. And it's God who
teaches us in the trials and gives us life. And it's all to
prove whether we will love and trust Him or not. Verse 5, And
the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites,
and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Habites, and Jebusites. And they took their daughters
to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and
served their gods." Just exactly what God told them not to do. We're messed up. by nature, we're
messed up. This new generation in Israel
tolerated and accepted the enemy as a way of life. And you know,
it is absolutely amazing to me, and myself included, what men and
women by nature can accept as normal anymore. It's incredible
what we can get used to, isn't it? That goes for the world and
in religion today. Today, religion desires to be
appealing to the world. So what does it do? It adopts
the ways of the world in order to be appealing. I passed by
a big church. Many of you passed by it. I won't
mention the name. It's a first church, I'll tell
you that. And they have a sign out front that advertises both
traditional and contemporary worship. They have something
for everyone. I'm reminded of the words of
our Lord who told the Samaritan woman at the well, he said, you
worship you know not what. We have a lot of that today.
I have a religious friend who recently asked me to tune into
his church's YouTube live broadcast to check out the church's new
worship band. It's nothing more than an attempt
to appeal to the mass multitudes. And like Israel, professing believers
are not coming out and separating themselves from the world. They're
conforming to the world and inviting the world and its way into what
they call the church. But it's not the Lord's church.
It's the world's interpretation of what they want church to be.
Over a year or so ago, I told you before that I heard someone
bragging on their so-called worship service. They said, oh, it was
just so full of the Spirit. They said that the Spirit was
moving so greatly that they never got around to preaching. There's
no worship without true preaching. There's not. I suppose it's just
as well because they don't preach the gospel anyway. But this shows
folks' ignorance of true worship. What they do is not true worship. True worship is in spirit and
in truth. It's done by and through the
preaching of the gospel. And what folks call worship today
is nothing but emotionalism, and it's nothing but entertainment.
And the men of Israel, they took Canaan's daughters to be their
wives, and they gave their daughters to Canaan's sons. And the amazing
thing is, they served their gods. And this is why they served other
gods. Verse seven, and the children
of Israel did sight evil in the sight of the Lord. And here's
the reason, and forget, the Lord, their God. And they served Balaam
and the groves. The groves is where they kept
all their idols. You know, it's easy, I suppose,
to forget one that you never knew. They served a false god,
they served the groves, the idols worshipped in groves. And to
disobey God is the same as forgetting Him. It really is. There can be no mixture between
the true and the false. You can't mix grace and works.
There's no more grace or no more works if you do. The gospel becomes
another gospel. Now hear me, which is not another,
but simply a perversion of the true gospel. In our day and time,
we tolerate other religions because true conversion cannot come by
threatening or constraining someone to do something against their
will. If it could, I would. I'm telling you. I'd stuff the
truth in their heads and hearts if I could, but I can't. God
has to do that. But at the same time, the believer,
the child of God, will not tolerate or accept anyone or any religion
that attempts to pervert the gospel that they love. I don't
have much time to hear men lie on God. I'll be honest with you,
I don't have time for it. I'm not gonna listen to it, not
gonna have it. And I know that sometimes I may
seem a little extreme and intolerant of modern day religion. I'm not
making any apologies for it. Because I have loved ones who
were deceived and taught to believe a lie and are in hell for doing
so. I take false religion personally. I do. And as long as God gives
me breath, I'm going to preach the gospel and I'm going to expose
false religion. I don't want you to believe a
lie. And yet at the same time, I'm
also aware that if not by the grace of God, that I am what
I am and I labor to preach the gospel knowing that woe is unto
me if I don't. And yet, if I do all that's required
of me, the Lord says that I'm still an unprofitable servant.
I'm just doing what I'm required to do. And yet it's not I, but
the grace of God, which is with me. Beloved, let's never think that
we're exempt ourselves from falling into things that oppose God.
If God took his hand off of us for a second, oh, I shudder to
think what we're capable of in and of ourselves. We've got to
be on guard. Adam loved God, but he loved
his wife more. And what did that lead to? The
fall of mankind. Abraham lied about his wife,
Sarah, twice to save his own hide. David, a man after God's
own heart, committed adultery with another man's wife and then
had him murdered. Peter denied the Lord three times. All the disciples fled and scattered
from the Lord like sheep in the garden. Some of the church at
Galatia fell under the spell of legalism. Many of the Corinthians
became followers of men instead of trusting in Christ alone.
Some said, well, I'm of Paul. And others said, oh, I like Apollos. Apollos was my man. Others had
confidence in Peter. And all these preachers were
nothing but ministers by whom these sinners heard the preaching
of Christ. Preachers plant and preachers
water and thank God for them, but it's God that gives the increase.
And the sinner's acceptance is in Christ and in Him alone. Verse
eight, therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,
and He sold them into the hand. Now, this is the longest name
in the Bible, and I got some instruction on this. It's Qushon
Rishutham. king of Mesopotamia, and the
children of Israel served Kushan Rishutham eight years. The warnings of the Lord, they're
real. They're real. Give not that which
is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and
rend you. Matthew 7, 6. Beware of false
prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves." Matthew 7, 15. Brothers, David, salvation
can't be as simple as trusting in Christ alone. Surely we've
got to do something. Well, I fear less by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Yes, it is
just that simple. The Lord Jesus Christ did for
me what I could not do for myself. And because of that, I have his
perfect righteousness by him taking my sin, giving me his
perfect righteousness, and I am accepted in the beloved, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is just that simple. Impossible
apart from a divine intervention from God. But it is that simple. Not everyone that says, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many are going to
say, Lord, Lord, but Jesus Christ is not their Lord. For such are
false prophets, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. Oh, we've got to be on guard.
Be on guard. Now these verses tonight prove
God's people in at least three ways. I'll give these to you
and I'll finish. First, again, as we discussed
last time, it proves our depravity. We have an incurable terminal
disease. We do. Only the great physician
can cure it. We've got serious, serious heart
trouble. Every one of us does. The thoughts
of our heart are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."
There's nothing more deceitful than our hearts. The imagination
of the thoughts of the heart are only evil continually, Genesis
6-5. So the design of being proved
here is a test to reveal what we really are. Trials don't make
us better. They reveal what we are and they
should cause us to cry out for mercy. They do, every child of
God. We do take sides with God against
ourselves. Just like that Gentile woman
did that we talked about Sunday. He said, it's not right, it's
not lawful for me to give the children's bread and give it
to dogs. And she said, you're right on that. I'm a dog. But
even the dogs get the crumbs. that fall from the table of the
master. In other words, you're my master.
And his crumbs are all I need. I'll take his crumbs any day.
Outside of Christ, we are proved to be totally depraved. I've
been accused of preaching a negative message, a down message. In the matter of grace, the way
up is to go down. And in verse nine, we're given
the second thing. And when the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the
children of Israel." Who raised up the deliverer? The Lord raised
up a deliverer to the children of Israel. Who delivered them? Even Othniel, the son of Canaaz,
Caleb's younger brother. So here we see something of our
impotent condition. Our depravity turns our eyes
from self to Christ. When the Lord showed me that
no man can come, no man has the ability to come that he might
have life, I knew that was true. I had tried all my life to come
to Christ. I tried to straighten up and
follow right. I tried to be a good boy and
only to fail time and time again, just like Israel. Oh, they picture
me so well. We cannot deliver ourselves,
friends. We cannot save ourselves. We see that our help must come
from outside of ourselves. The way down brings us to the
feet of Christ. It was when Peter began to sink,
he walked on the water, he started looking at the world around him,
the waves and the storms, and he began to sink, and what did
he cry? Lord, save me. And the Lord reached
down his hand for him. There's no higher place than
at the feet of Christ. The trials that the Lord sends
are designed to be mercy for the lack. We see our sin and
we repent of our sin. And we say, Lord, I'm a mess.
I need your help. I'm a dog. I need your help. I need your crumbs. We see our
impotence and we cry to the only one that can help us and do for
us what God requires of us, which is by the way, perfection. Trials
prove that we are indeed impotent sinners in need of a deliverer,
in need of a savior. And God has provided the deliverer
for us, just like he did Israel. Thirdly, these trials prove that
we are the people of God because of just that. He sends us a deliverer. He doesn't send everyone a deliverer.
Verse nine. And when the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the
children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of
Canaaz, Caleb's younger brother. And look at this, and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He fought for
Israel, and he went out to war, and the Lord delivered Qushan
Rishethem, the king of Mesopotamia, into his hand, And his hand prevailed
against Cushon Rishu Tham." You see, it's God that sends the
one with whom the Spirit resides without measure. The Lord said,
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And the Spirit of the Lord
came upon Othniel, the Lion of God. That's what his name means,
as you know from our study in Joshua. And friends, it's Christ,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who delivered us from all our
enemies, every single one of them. He's the divine deliverer
who saves us from our sins. The appointed trials of the Lord
bring us down to bring us up, and it brings us out to bring
us in. So, if you belong to Christ,
you will be proved. Do you hear me? The next time
you be improved, the next time a trial and trouble comes your
way, the next time you're tempted, remember that. It's the Lord
that sent it, and He sent it for your good, and He sent it
for His glory, and we must stand and resist the devil. How do
we resist the devil? When we, having done all to stand,
stand therefore. Keep on standing. Keep on quoting
the Word of God. Keep on trusting in Christ. Keep
on believing. Keep on keeping on. Ephesians
6, 13. Romans 12, 2. And be not conformed
to this world. That's what happened to Israel.
But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you
may prove. Prove. What is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God. Nothing can separate us
from the love of God. But where is that love of God?
Which is in Christ Jesus. Got to keep looking to Him. Keep
looking to Him. When things get tough, got to
look to Him. Keep your eyes upon Him. And
it was then that Paul said for us not to think of ourselves
more highly than we ought. You know what? We are nothing.
We have nothing. and we can do nothing to save
or deliver ourselves. Has God shown you that? I know
He has because that's why you're trusting in the Lord Jesus. Being
in Christ and trusting in Him alone will prove in the end to
be that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Trust me
on that. Trust me on that. That's what
this book teaches. That's what God says in His Word. May God be pleased to make it
so for His glory, our good, and for Christ's sake. Amen.