All right, let's take our Bibles and turn to the book of Judges. Judges chapter 1, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 3. Let's read these verses together. Judges chapter 1, verse 1. Now after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them?

And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, come up with me into my lot that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go up with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. And we're starting a new study this morning in the book of Judges, but it's more like a continuance of Joshua. Judges not only falls next in line in its chronological order, but also in its context and its contents.

Israel's been led by two great men, as great as any man that's ever been, and the Lord made them that way. They weren't born that way. People say, well, some men are born with extraordinary talents. That may be, but that's not the case with these two men. God made these men great. He told Joshua right after Moses died, he said, I will make thee great in the eyes of Israel. Great men are made by the Lord who serve him. They're made by him.

It's got nothing to do with their natural talents or abilities or anything else. And even if it did, what have we gotten that we haven't received? Is a man able to look at the scriptures and see things that others don't see? Well, how come? Where did he get it? He wasn't born with that. That's the gift of God. And there can be no doubt as to these men's calling God himself accompanied these men with great and marvelous wonders and signs.

I was thinking this morning as I was preparing this lesson, Moses, when he was just a baby, Pharaoh heard about a deliverer being raised up in Israel and purposed to kill all the male children between certain ages. He's going to kill them all. And Moses' mama made a little basket-like thing from the reeds, pitched it inside and out, put that little baby in it, pushed it out in that crocodile-infested river. And in the providence of God, that baby went right down into the arms of Pharaoh's daughter. And that man who, that hater of Israel, was made to raise Moses up in his own house as his own son.

Can you imagine? That's the power of God. You don't want to resist God who controls providence. That's foolish. The Lord had him exiled in his providence out of Egypt. And he just become a sheepherder, more or less. He just, he said out here, the Lord was preparing him for an absolute impossible task.

This man who was exiled out of Egypt is now going to go down to Pharaoh's palace and command that monarch to release the children of God. Without an army, without an escort, he's going to go down there, walk into that palace, and tell that potentate that, you know, Pharaoh was considered to be God in Egypt. He was considered to be a god. And Pharaoh, I mean, Moses goes up to Pharaoh in his own palace and commands him in the name of the Lord, let his people go.

And the Lord accompanied what he said with plague after plague after plague until finally the plague become so bad that the Lord killed all the firstborn in Egypt, man or beast, didn't make any difference. He killed them all. The only reason he spared Israel is because they put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and the And he said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you.

And so great was that deliverance by the hand of Moses, so great was that deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, that the Lord wouldn't even allow a dog to bark and protest. And they walked out. He said, with a high hand, the Lord delivered thee out of Egypt. And surely he did. But Pharaoh, being embarrassed by this whole thing, got angry, collected his army together, and went after them with vengeance. He was going to wipe them out. Nobody from Israel was going to remain. He didn't care to have them as slaves. He was going to kill them all.

And so he charged after them, and God made a way through the Red Sea. I just wanted to go back from my own information and look at the map of that sea. That sea is 1,200 miles long and 200 miles wide at the average. That's a big body of water. That's like Lake Erie. I mean, it's huge. And where they crossed was up in what we call the Suez Canal. Well, it's 29 miles wide and deep enough for ocean liners to freely travel through it. Actually, that whole sea was formed by a tectonic plate, is what scientists say.

I don't know. I guess these two continental bodies come together right there, and it kind of dove down. So that sea is very deep. I know historians like to make it sound like it was shallow, and the wind kind of blowed the water up. like a tide, you know, and dried that. That's not what happened.

That thing's deep, and the Lord split that sea. Moses held his rod out by the commandment of God, and that sea split. And over a million people with their livestock crossed through that river, crossed through that sea on dry ground. And Pharaoh, trying to go after them, The Lord closed the waters in on him and destroyed him and all his army, and the might of that nation just went to zero overnight.

God accompanied these men with great wonders, great wonders. The Lord, by the hand of Moses, led these people out in the wilderness. I won't go into all the details as to why, but they wandered out there for 40 years. 40 years. Over a million people in a desert land, a wasteland, for 40 years. And the Lord maintained all his people in that place where there was no water, no food. How do I know that? Because it's a picture of this world where there's no gospel. There's no food, there's no water, there's no spiritual drink. And he maintained over a million people with all their livestock.

He fed them manna, caused bread to rain down from heaven. He caused quails to come down. And they fed on quail and manna. And the water for all these people came out of a smitten rock. Moses would smite it with his staff, and the water would pour out. And according to the book of Acts, that rock followed them everywhere they went, and that rock was Christ. It was a picture of Christ. He goes with Israel. He's the water. And he tells them in John chapter 6 that he's the bread. He said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven. That manna was just a picture. But Moses died.

They came up on the border, and the Lord took him up on a mountain and let him look over at the inheritance. But he'd smitten that rock twice. Christ's not going to be smitten twice. And for that reason, God wouldn't let him go over. He took him up on a mountain and let him look at it. And then the Lord buried him there on that mountain.

And so he raised Joshua up in power. This is the second great man that's leading Israel. And he told Joshua, he said, I'm going to make thee great in the eyes of the people, and I'm going to start in the morning. You have them sanctify themselves tonight, because tomorrow I'm going to show you wonders.

And again, here's the river Jordan at flood stage, powerful, just rolling. And he caused that river to just stand in a heap. I got a vision of it flowing down and just curling around backwards and stacking up while all these men of war crossed that river and came into Canyon. He came to Jericho, one of the mightiest cities. That's what the spies saw and turned around and brought back an evil report.

He said, they have walled cities in there. You can't breach these walls. They'll set up on the wall with a bow and arrow and kill all of us. You can't. They've got machines of war in there. They've got things rigged up. We can't do it. Well, no, you couldn't. But God can.

And here's the second great wonder he did with Joshua is they surround that city and blow on a trumpet. Boy, if I was going to make plans in camp on how to breach the walls of Jericho, that wouldn't have been in, would it? Huh? That's what he told them to do, blow on the trumpet and then shout. And down come the walls. And they just walked into that unbreachable city, just walked in there with a sword and slayed everybody in it. What a miracle.

And then it's hard for us to imagine in this day of tanks jets and missiles and all these things. It's hard for us to imagine what it is to go to war with a sword. Big old broad sword. Little shield up here on your arm and got swinging this, I don't know what they weigh, about 15 pounds, I guess, but sharp as a razor blade.

And they swinging this thing and, boy, one whack, you're done. And going in there head to head, toe to toe. clashing with these people. And they hardly suffered any losses, and the other side was just slain. Well, that's the power of God. That's what that is. That's exactly what that is. You know, if you look at the odds today of false religion versus true religion, true preaching of the gospel, we would have been slain a long time ago. God's providence blocked that. He won't allow that.

And it was the same in that day through Joshua. The Lord guided those swords to find their marks and caused the other ones to miss their marks. And here, when he's given instruction to Judah to go up and fight against these Canaanites that still dwelt in the land, he said, behold, I've already given you the land into your hands.

I've already given it to you. You're just going to go up and go through the motions. And that's pretty much what it is with us. The victory is already ours. The victory is in Christ, who's seated at the right hand of God. And in his hands is all power. He controls providence. He controls the blows. He controls the words. He controls the heart. Answer the tongues of the Lord, preparation to the heart. These things are of him. The battle's already fought. We're just going through the motions. But as I said at the beginning, who could doubt the calling of Moses or Joshua? But now they're dead. Joshua died. Joshua died. Paul said, the living God made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.

When I think about Israel in this place, I think about the purpose of God. It was not in the Canaanites' hands to own this habitation. It's in the hands of God. They lived there for a while. But they didn't give God the glory. And he gave it to somebody else. He gave it to Israel.

Oh, teach this poor sinner to say what Job the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Do I have anything, then count it the blessing of God, whatever it is I have, and give him the glory. And if he takes it away, do the same thing. Because it's his to keep or to take. It's his. Later on with the last judge, we're going to see a man who says this. It's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him right. It's the Lord. You know what he said that about? The death of his two children. It's the Lord.

The Israelites are now in possession of their promised inheritance, but they have two problems. Two problems arise. First of all, God's man Joshua is dead. And secondly, the former occupants of the land are still hanging around. They're not all dead, and they're not all gone. They're just hanging around.

And we've been looking at Canaan as a picture of God's kingdom being established in the hearts of men. And in both Luke 11 and Matthew chapter 12, our Lord said his kingdom is established when the strong man that trusts in his armor is overcome by one stronger than he.

And what you do, he takes away from him that which he trusts in. He takes it away. That thing that he's found in the past to give him the victory, the Lord takes it away. And then he binds him. He takes away his power to resist. The Lord did that both in their minds and he did it physically.

In their minds, they had no hope. All their hope dried up. They started thinking about Egypt and the Lord's hand and his deliverance. And then they saw him cross that flooded river on dry ground, and boy, it just melted. All their hope melted away. And then in their victory against Jericho, they just demolished Jericho like it wasn't anything. The Lord just crumbled it down to the ground. Well, what do you think the rest of those cities thought after that?

God sets up his reign. He spoils his goods. He takes away from him that which he had and gives it to the one stronger than he. That's Christ. And he sets up his reign. He runs the house now. Don't ever think that salvation is just swapping one thing for another. And that's basically what people think. That's not what it is at all. It's the setting up of God's kingdom in the heart.

He's going to take the rule of that old man who was the problem. He's going to take it away from him. And he's going to give it to this one stronger than he. He's going to give it to Christ. And if Christ comes in and sets up his kingdom, he's going to be king. He's going to be king. He's not going to be an equal partner. He's going to be king.

Israel, God's elect by the person of Joshua, Jesus, reconciled The people of Israel. And they received their promised inheritance, and not one promise that God had made failed to come to pass. Boy, you think about that. That's saying something, isn't it?

I've made promises in my past that I was sure I could keep. I was dead positive I could keep. I wouldn't have made them if I wasn't. But failed miserably. But God never made a promise that he failed to keep, never, and never will. And this is the very crux of faith. Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform. Now, if I say something, it's questionable. But if he says something, write it down. It's sure. It's sure. Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day. And what a glorious picture the Holy Ghost paints for us in these Old Testament scriptures. Canyon belongs to Israel. They're now occupying exactly the portion of land that God has purposed for them to have. and they have it by his power. They're living in houses they didn't build, in cities they didn't organize, and eating food from fields that they didn't plant. And that's exactly what he told them they were going to do.

But now comes a difficulty. Joshua died. God's man is taken away. Religion said that's not a problem. We have hundreds in reserve, and we're turning out hundreds as we speak. We've got preacher factories, pastor factories. We can turn them out as fast as one dies. We have another one take its place.

The problem with that is they're not called of God. They're not called of God. They're just young men who think they want a vocation as a pastor or a preacher. If God calls a man, he's absolutely miserable doing anything else. He just can't do it. He just can't do it. He couldn't get out of it, even if he wanted to. Preacher, I don't believe that.

Ask Jonah. Huh? Ask Jonah if he could get out of it. He tried. He was determined not to do it, but he did it. Now listen to me. God has a man for every church he establishes. He is to them what Moses and Joshua was to Israel. He's God's man. Now that's just true.

A preacher, you get in the big head. No, sir, I'm not. I'm trying to tell you the truth. I'm not going to be here forever. And I'll tell you what you're going to ask. You're going to ask the same thing Israel's asking here. Who's going to go up for us? Huh?

He is exactly what Moses and Joshua was to Israel. Often finds himself begging God for his mercy on the people, asking for grace for them long suffering. pleading for him. His whole life is now lived with one goal, to preach and teach them and serve God acceptably in this world by Jesus Christ. That's my one goal.

If somebody leaves this congregation, my question is not, what did he do? My question is, What did I do? Have I not said something that needs to be said? Have I not taught something that needs to be taught? You go back and read these accounts of Joshua and Moses again, and you'll find the first person that was suspect in their prayers was themselves. What have I done? What have I done?

Trying to teach you to have No confidence in the flesh. None whatsoever. Every time Israel got in trouble, they got in trouble because they had some confidence in their flesh. You got too much on you, Moses. We're able to do this. Well, you would be if God called you. But if he don't, it's impossible. Not going to happen. Joshua died. Jesus died. And when I think of what the Lord Jesus Christ meant to the Israel of God, I'm simply just lost in wonder when I think about how those apostles must have felt.

They walked with him. Three and a half years, walked with him. Saw his miracle, saw his power, saw the power and presence of God with everything he said and did. They were eyewitnesses of his glory. That's what John says. I watched him doing the works of God and obtaining our redemption most of his life, giving himself to the preaching of the gospel, teaching of the gospel.

But he died. They came and took him, nailed him to a cross, and he hung there till he died. And they came, and finding him dead, they didn't break his bones. They took him down from the cross. He was begged by a rich man, Nicodemus, to take him and put him in a borrowed tomb.

He just needed it for a little bit. After three days, God raised him from the dead, and then he spent nearly a month to confirm his resurrection among the saints. He appeared to a young lady. He appeared to Peter and John. He appeared to all the disciples and of over 500 brethren at one time. There is no doubt about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Over 600 people didn't lie. He died. And God raised him from the dead, and he was the victory. He dispensed the inheritance to the people, and they have a victory through him.

But he's not physically among them anymore, is he? Christ's not walking this earth anymore. And these former occupants of the land are still hanging around. I'm trying to draw a correlation here, but I'm having difficulty with it. Christ died, who's our heavenly Joshua. He's dead. We saw God's works in him. We're absolutely persuaded that this man was a man sent from God, but he's gone now. And we're not out of trouble. Canaanites are still here. They still live in the land. The Lord's given us the earnest of our inheritance, but we still live in a sinful world, and even worse than that, the sinful world lives in us.

We're so bad to look out here and condemn the world. Oh, I don't know why anybody would do that. Look in here, you'll see why. Here's the black hole right here. What right have you got to talk about the world? I can talk about the world because the world's in me.

Huh? Isn't that right? Every time I see something condemned of God in a man, I think to myself, that's the same potential that's in me, and the only reason I haven't done it is because God's blocked it in His providence. Huh? Is that right? Yeah, his grace precedes us, keeping us, blocking us from things. And we mistake that for personal righteousness.

That's why we make statements like that. We ought to look at this thing and say, there go I, but for the grace of God, that's me. That's exactly what I do. That's me, old Charlie Manson. That's me, but for the grace of God. And so we look at these things. We're in the same situation they were. That's what I want you to see. We're in the same situation.

God's given us his grace. He's given us the earnest of our inheritance. He's given us the spirit. But the Canaanites still live here. Now, who's going to go up for us? Joshua's gone. Who's going to go up for us? Who's going to guide us and teach us? How's God going to lead us? Who's going to go up?

Judah. I'll tell you who's still in the land, Satan and antichrist religion and sin and the sinful desires of this flesh. And while the victory overall is won, there's still everlasting or overwhelming odds to face an enemy yet to defeat. And things to avoid. Who's going to go up for us against the Canaanites? Now watch this, verse 2. And the Lord said, huh?

Most of us ask questions we really don't want answers. with things we don't really want to know. Do we really believe that there's enemies that are a threat to our soul? Do we really believe that? Do we even perceive a danger out there? They'd overcome their weapons, their spears and their bows. But the real danger now isn't bows and swords, it's religion. That's where the war is, is in religion. And you'll find that out as we study Israel and the many times that they fall. How many times have Israel fell captive to the enemy over what? Over swords and power?

No, sir. Over religion. That's where the danger is. Religion. Their ways and means and motives. Their fictitious gods and means of worship. No enemy can stand before our God. He's already established that. But there's a danger of us departing from him. And what would draw us away from him? Another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit. That's right. That's what Paul said. And Joshua warns him about it before he dies.

Who's going to go up for us and fight against the Canaanites first? Who's going to lead this? This crowd, who's going to lead these people into war? They don't even know who to fight or where to fight. Who's going to lead it? Who's going to go up first?

Judah. That's what the Lord said. Now, I tell you, we sit back and we think of all kinds of things when we try to reason things out, don't we? You really want to know the answer? Listen to what the Lord says. That's what it says in verse 2. The Lord said. That's what matters, isn't it?

Now, I don't know how many people felt confident in that crowd to go up and fight the Canaanites, but the Lord said who had the victory was Judah. Judah's gonna go up. Well, how in the world Judah's gonna go up? He's gonna go up and figure the same as Moses and Joshua. He goes on to tell us in verse 19 that that the Lord was with Judah.

That's what counts, isn't it? Oh, it's not just hearing a man. If the Lord ain't with him, what's the point? We're just up here yammering on and on and on about this and that and some promise and some word, and it says over here, I heard that my whole life. Matthew said, and John said, and Ezekiel said, I heard that my whole life. is not until you find out what the Lord says.

And then when you find out what the Lord says, you know that that man standing in front of you is of the Lord. He's telling you what the Lord says. He's not telling you what religion thinks or what natural man reasons. He's telling you what the Lord says.

That's the old prophets. That was their byword. Thus saith the Lord. The God of all providence He overrides all circumstances when it comes to those who prefigure the Savior, don't he? Their victories and power are given to them to show us something of the glory of the coming King.

My friends, our Lord died, but he arose the third day and after Approving his resurrection for more than 30 days, he ascended to the right hand of God, and there he received power. That's what he told them before he left the earth. All power in heaven and earth given unto me. How much power is that? That's all power. Think about that. All power in heaven. All you've got to do is this, and those angels are gone. He said, I could right now call 10,000 legions of angels down. That's what he told Pilate. If my kingdom was others' world, all I got to do is this.

They'll be standing right here. That's not his purpose. He's seated at the right hand of God, and the providence that we live by Every day, every week, every year, he's working it out for our good and his glory, everything that comes our way. Who's going to go up for us? Whoever the Lord says, whoever he appoints.

There were 12 tribes there. He could have pointed to Benjamin. He could have pointed to any one of them. He pointed to Judah. Judah's going to go up. There was no hesitation. God's not thinking matters over. He's not going to change his mind. He knew who was going to go up.

He said it years before. The scepter's not going to depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. Judah's going to be preeminent in this thing. There's a king coming in a few hundred years. You know where he's coming from? Judah. Judah. And there's another king coming after him. You know where he's coming from? He's the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He reigns over all things. And from his throne and glory, our providence is ordered and works always together for our good and his glory. I'm not saying that everything happens is good. I'm saying it works together for good. It may cut the legs out from under you, but it's working together for your good and his glory.

And having received power over all things, he orders and arranges such means as suit our God. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Is that going to stand? That's the king's orders. He's running things, isn't he? We better think about these things. If he commands us to love one another, we better love one another. It comes from the king. And he's going to use all such means as please our God. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. If he tells you something, you can mark it down. It pleases the father.

Judah, symbolic of the promised redeemer, deliverer of Israel. And if I had time, I could show you in the scripture where these old men, as they wrote, they wrote about a futuristic time and a coming Redeemer. And they said they wrote it by the Spirit of Christ that was in them.

So what's going to be reigning in Israel? The Spirit of God. Well, who will he work through? Whoever he chooses. At this minute, it's Judah. It's Judah. Couldn't somebody else go up? No. Has to be Judah. Oh, this guy's got more college than he's got. Don't matter. Judah's going up. Judah's going up.

May the Lord help us, give us some understanding of these types and shadows and pictures. But what I'm trying to get across in this first lesson, God's always got a man in Israel. Always. He led them the whole time, ever since their conception. He led them with a man. With a man. And he still does that. He still does that. Read the book of Revelations. Everything he had to say to the churches, he said through their pastor. Everything. Not one revelation was given to them directly. It was given through their pastors, because of the angels of the church.