This lesson this morning will be taken from Judges chapter 2, verses 11 through 23. The subject of these verses is God proving Israel. He's going to prove that they are Israel. He's going to prove His work in Israel. He's going to prove Israel. You can go any direction you want to go with it, but that's what he's doing. In his own words, he said he's going to prove Israel whether they will keep the way of the Lord, verse 22 there in Judges, to walk therein as their fathers or not. He's going to prove it. He's going to prove it to them, and he's going to prove it to the world.

God has chosen a people in his son to save for the glory of his name. That's what he's doing. That's God's eternal purpose. That's exactly what's going on every minute of every day. He has a people that he's going to save through his son, through the person and work of his son, and he's going to do it for the glory of his name.

Now that eliminates any and all false religion because he's doing it to manifest his glory. His glory is who he is. He won't compromise any part of it in the salvation. And any other religion that does it is just idolatry is all it is. It's not that we are crossways on a few points of doctrine. We worship a different God.

And He's going to save a people. He's going to gather them out of all nations, He said, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. And all of them in perfect harmony, crying salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And in God's time, they're called and given the saving knowledge of Him and taught His way.

What does He mean, His way? God's way is how he saves sinners. That's his way. Do you know before they called it Christianity, it was called the way. You'll see it over and over and over in the Old Testament scriptures and in some of the new. And God's way is Christ. He said, I am the way. We don't know where you're going and how come we know the way. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life.

God's way is the way of mercy. He told the Pharisees, he said, you go learn what this means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to save the righteous. I'm come to call sinners to repentance. And his way is the way of grace. The way of grace. By grace are you saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God.

When the temple spoken of back in Zechariah, when it was finished and they put on the top stone, he said, they'll all come crying, grace, grace unto it. That's what they're going to cry. And that's what they'll cry when God's temple, his spiritual temple, when it's all built and every stone in place, that's what they'll cry, grace, grace unto it.

And God's way is the way of love. Now I'm telling you these things because that's what this chapter is all about. He's going to prove whether Israel, he's going to prove Israel whether or not they'll walk in his way. His way is the way of Christ. It's the way of grace. It's the way of mercy. And it's the way of love.

He that loveth not knoweth not God. I don't care what he says. I don't care how much doctrine he can spit out. If he don't have love, he don't know God. And we love Him because He first loved us. And finally, the way of the Lord is the way of a sovereign. He's Lord. He's Lord. The difference between true believers and false believers, one of the major differences is we submit to the Lord. He's Lord. No matter what He does, He's Lord. the dead and the living, he's Lord. And he reigns over the dead and the living.

And some are privileged to know it, and some are privileged to submit to it, and some are willing to be bond slaves. I wouldn't have it any other way, would you? What good is a God who don't reign? I sure can't do anything about my condition, but one who reigns can.

And God left these former inhabitants in the land to prove his people whether they keep the way of the Lord to walk therein as their fathers did or not. And God spared Joshua and all these ones who outlived him or overlived him, it says both in the scripture, and they kept the way and they served the Lord all their days. Now let's read our text beginning with verse 10. Joshua died, verse 10, and also that generation that walked with him and served him were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after him which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Balaam." That word Balaam, you run across the word Baal, and then you run across the word Balaam. Balaam is just the plural of Baal. It's many kinds of false religion that are under the name of Baal. They served Balaam, and they pursued the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods of the people that were around them, and bowed themselves unto them. and provoked the Lord to anger. And they pursued the Lord and served Baal and Ashtoreth.

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them. And he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. had no resistance. Whether soever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as he had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them, and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that foiled them.

And yet they would not hearken unto the judges, But they went a-whoring after other gods. And they bowed themselves unto them. And they turned quickly out of the way, which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord. But they did not so.

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 good. for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass when the good was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down unto them. And they ceased not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way."

You remember the message that was preached under the Pharisees by a man that they were getting ready to stone, Stephen. He said, as your fathers did, so do you. Uncircumcised heart and mind, you don't know God. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And he said, because of this, people have transgressed my covenant. What's that? That's his gospel. That's Christ, the covenant of grace. They transgressed his 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. And here's why. 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 them nations without driving them out hastily, neither delivered he them unto the hand of Joshua. Joshua didn't kick them out, and the people couldn't kick them out. They were there on purpose, and it's God's purpose.

There was another generation, another generation, that's how this passage starts out, that knew not the Lord. And this has been the story of mankind from the beginning, is it not? Adam and Eve knew the Lord. Cain didn't. There's always a new generation that knows not the Lord. It's the story of mankind from the beginning. And it'll continue to be a story to the end.

We have in this congregation men and women that I believe know the Lord. They know the Lord. They've seen His work. They've experienced His work in themselves. They've heard it, they believe it, and they know it to be so. They've seen and experienced His hand of mercy and know something about the power of His grace. He delivered you, he said, from the power of darkness and translated you into the kingdom of his dear Son. And by his sovereign grace you served him all the days since your calling.

But there's also here today another generation that knows not the works which God hath done unto his people. You won't know the works of God except in your head as you read them, but that's not the kind of knowledge that's saved. God saves a person, he knows he's being saved. Sin, not just a word. Salvation, not just a doctrine. It's a work being done in you. So there's here today another generation that knows not the works which God has done for his people.

Now listen to me, like Israel of old, you're highly privileged. You're hearing things from this pulpit I dare say you won't hear in 400 miles of here, anywhere. If you don't believe me, you go on out there and check it out. You can listen to them. Some of them are on TV. Some of them are on the radio. You can hear. You're highly privileged. You're hearing from this pope that things not preached anywhere around here, divine things. Great mysteries reveal God's purpose, His way, His sovereign mercy and grace.

You're not going to hear that down at First Baptist Church. You're not going to hear it down at the Methodist Church. But so did this company of the children of Israel that were born on the other side of Canaan and some of them born in Canaan, or they were very young when they crossed the Jordan, were told in Acts Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And this is not talking about some man baptizing you and holding his hand up and saying, in the name of the Father. It's not what this is talking about. This is talking about in his name, in harmony with his character. And you have a knowledge of it. You have the truth of it.

And the only way they can come is through the preaching of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Now I challenge you to go in this book and see if I'm not telling you the truth. And then he turned to those and he said, for the promise is unto you, now listen, and your children, and to all who are far off. even as many as the Lord our God shall call. What's necessary in this thing? God proving Israel.

He's going to call them. He's going to call them. And he's going to make, you're going to make it, and so is he. He's going to make your calling and election sure. He's going to do it. He's going to do a work in you He's not going to believe for you, but he's going to enable you to believe. And when you do, you'll give all the glory to him. Where are you driving at, preacher? I'm doing the best I can to tell you because your parents are saved. You can't ride into glory on their coattail. It's not our faith. It's your faith. Your faith.

There's four things I pray that the Lord will enable me to say this morning on these verses and make it known to all who hear. The first is the problem. There's an obvious problem going on in Israel. The second is the providence of God. God intervenes in the lives of his people. Thirdly is the proof. He's going to prove Israel. How? How's he going to do it? And then lastly is a predetermined end. So what's the problem? Well, the problem is as old as mankind is sin. Sin. I never realized as a child I had a nature of sin, and neither did you. We're sinners. We're born sinners. We go astray as soon as we be born speaking lies. Baby cries, you go in to see. Why? Is it hurting? What's the matter? No, it just wants attention. We go astray as soon as we be born speaking lies. And we continue our whole lifetime. Sin entered Adam and reigned unto death.

And without an intervention of God, there's no possibility that any man, woman, or child will be saved. It's all on God's part. The story of salvation begins and ends with God, and apart from him, there's nothing to say worth hearing. Religion loves to talk about man and man's decisions and man's works and man's glory, and he's always talking about man.

What are all the great accomplishments of man compared to the salvation of a man's soul? I remember my mother was so excited the day a man landed on the moon and she had her camera and she got in front of this old black and white TV we had and took a picture when he stepped out of that spaceship, took a picture of it. Nobody's going to believe this. A man actually landed on the moon.

Well, what's that compared with the salvation of a soul? Your soul's eternal. What's that mean? It means it's going to exist forever. You're going to live in this world with that soul for a few years, just a dot in eternity. Remember, when a people are left without a messenger of God, what's he got to do with anything? Well, God raised up judges, didn't he? When a people are left without a messenger of God, they'll always return to their fallen state and corrupt themselves worse than before. I've seen it in churches. I've seen it in individuals. I've seen it my whole life.

You remember the story of the man who the demonic spirits that inhabited his body left for a little while. Not told why they just left. And he said, boy, a lot of dirt in here. I think I'm going to clean my house out. So he swept it and cleaned it. The demonic spirit said, boy, he fixed this place up. They went and invited their friends. And Moore inhabited the house at the end and was at the beginning.

He said, the second state of this man is worse than the first. Well, that's the way it is with us. God takes away his restraining grace, pulls his mercy back, and man, he'll corrupt himself worse than he was before. That's the story of religion, by the way. I don't know how many times I've been saved in religion. Many times. Walked down that aisle. Problem never changes. To be saved is to be delivered from sin. Secondly, let's look at God's providence. The salvation of God always takes place in His providence.

We're told in the scripture, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. What time? That time ordained in His providence, set in His providence. You reckon it could have been at any other time? No. God says it's going to happen at this time. And at this time, it happened.

And all the events surrounding it, he quoted them hundreds of years before Christ came. He quoted them word for word what they were going to say, what they were going to do, the decisions they were going to make. They met together. They discussed this thing from one end to the other. And they said, here's what we're going to do. If you care to read over in the book of Acts chapter 4, he'll tell you what they did. These foreign nations in Israel and all these men, they did what God's hand and God's counsel determined before to be done.

And there's a time set for Christ to come, and he came when that time was at its fullness. And there's a time for the conversion of his people. And when the time comes, he calls it the time of refreshing in the scripture, and he uses other things to describe. But there's a time set.

All the means of God's in place, and it's all going to fall in line in his own time. God intervenes in his providence. And if I have a right view of the context here in Judges, I can see the eternal arrangement of God's providence to accomplish his eternal purpose of grace. You can see it. He'll prove his people to be his people to the glory of his grace, and he'll prove the rebel to be a rebel and the reason of it lying at his own door. God arranged for these former inhabitants to abide in Canaan.

He could have kicked them out. Joshua was a faithful man. He could have led Joshua up there into battle and drove them all out. He didn't do that. But what did he do? Well, he arranged for judges to be raised up in Israel. What in the world is all these judges about?

I know what the king was about when David come along. He's king. I know what the high priest is all about. That's a picture of Christ. But what's these judges all about? They're forerunners of pastors. Now, you do with that whatever you want to do. But the word judge means what? to discern.

Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he's talking about the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. And then in verse 15, he says, he that is spiritual judgeth. That is, he discerneth all things. Yet he himself is not judged, that is, he's not understood or discerned of any man.

Judges are forerunners of pastors. God raises up a man and gives him some discernment. And he declares what God's given him an understanding of. Brother Barnard used to say, you can't tell what you don't know anymore and you can come back from somewhere you haven't been. And that's the truth. He raises up men, gives them discernment. Not because they're smarter than somebody else or more talented than somebody else. He just gives them discernment.

I've often said in my study, and God will give me a revelation of a passage, and I just sit there and weep. I sit there and weep. Not another writer, Had anything to say about it? Not another preacher I've ever met had anything to say about it. He did this with me at a Bible conference up in Danville. Gave me discernment of that old, it was actually an elixir.

And the woman who was accused of adultery, they had this spiritual elixir, I guess you'd call it, made from the apothecary. She was to drink it. If she lied, she'd die. Drinking this potion, she'd die. Well, the gospel is that potion. It's that spiritual elixir. And it'll kill you, and it'll justify you. It'll do both. It'll do both. But anyway, we're talking about judges. Judges are men with discernment. You remember Solomon? And the woman that brought the baby and another woman claiming it was hers and so on gave him discernment.

This is all in God's providence. He's going to prove his people to be his people to the glory of his grace and mercy, and he'll prove the rebel to be a rebel. He arranged for these former inhabitants to stay in Canaan. And he arranged for judges to be raised up in Israel. And it says the Lord was with the judge. That's what made him a judge. The Lord was with him. The Lord was with him.

Many a man tried to be a preacher. The Lord wasn't with him. I've seen it, and it's sad. It's sad. And there are forerunners, I believe, of pastors. The Lord was with the judge, verse 18. And the Lord delivered Israel out of the hand of spoilers by way of the judge he raised up.

What's these spoilers? What's he talking about? One rotten apple spoiled a whole barrel, is that what he's talking about? No, he's talking about back in the days when a sovereign attacked another country, and he came in and took everything they had. That was the spoils, they called it the spoils of war. Well, we've been given things by God, or at least we assume that we have. If he turns you over to the spoiler, you know what he's going to do? He's going to rob you of your election. He's going to rob you of your peace. He's going to take away all your joy.

David prayed that the Lord would return him to the joy of his salvation. Oh, how miserable we are when he turns us over to the Lord. He takes from us things that are rightfully ours, or at least that's the way we see them. Our Lord, in defining his kingdom, said this.

When the strong man, he trusts in all this armor he has. He's like Iron Man. He's got this special armor. Nothing can harm him. Well, that's the way he feels. But when a stronger in him comes upon him, takes away the armor wherein he trusted, he spoils all that he has. That's talking about God's elect. He takes them over. He takes back over their mind, their heart, their will. He spoils his house. He takes it away from the strong man. Who can do that, one stronger than him?

Is that you? No, that's the Lord. That's the Lord. The Lord was with the judge. And he delivered them out of the hand of the spoiler. How'd he do it? By telling them the truth. Telling them the truth. Showing them the way. The way. And then thirdly, here's the proof. Someone said the proof's in the pudding. Well, the proof's in God's providence. That's where the proof is. The judge was sent, he declared the truth as God gave him discernment, and the hand of the Lord delivered them from the spoiler.

Our problem is the same. That's where we began with the problem. Sin, the nature of it, the love of it, The ease of it. Oh, how easily. The sin which does so easily beset us. The pleasures of it. But he says, sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. And then God's providence. It's the same as it's always been. It's arranged. to pay in favor of his elect, isn't it? All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Was it not for a favorable providence, no man had ever been saved. Our Lord, they were murmuring because he said he was the bread that came down from heaven. They murmured, and he said, don't murmur. He said, no man can come to me except my Father draw him. As it's written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. The proof's in the will, in the submission, in the walk, in the works of Israel. God will prove to Israel whether they will keep the way of the Lord.

What separates us from the religion of this world? God's way. Is that not what separates us? And he's going to prove whether you walk in that way like your fathers did or not. Now listen to me. Trials are not given to reveal your strength. That's what religion says. A trial, it's going to reveal your true strength. No, it's not. I'll tell you exactly what trial is going to reveal, your unbelief, your inability. That's what the trial is going to.

Oh, David was tried. This is a man after God's own heart. He was tried. What did he find out? He was his worst enemy. That's what he found out. He had no will at all. He just thought he did. He had no power at all. He was king. He thought he had power. He didn't have any power.

Why would God do this to us? Why would he leave these former inhabitants there? And he's given them their inheritance, but now they've got to deal with this People that they, I'll tell you why, to prove that they're children of God. Now how's he going to do it? He's going to show them their inability. And what are they going to do as a result?

They're going to flee to Christ. You ain't got anywhere else to go, do you? Flee to Christ. I'll tell you what trials are for. Peter said it's like gold being put in the furnace. What's it going to do? Reveal your strength? No. It's going to burn away the dross. That's what it's going to do if you're a believer.

And that predetermined end. All God's elect are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. And it's to this end that God left these former inhabitants in Canaan to prove His people, and it's the same reason He leaves this old nature in us, to prove that salvation by grace, salvation of the Lord, it ain't of you. May the Lord give us some discernment that we might glorify God and walk in His way as our spiritual fathers.