Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 22 - Predestination; Jos 14-17.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 22 - Predestination; Jos 14-17.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

The passing of judgment does not spring from the vices of the human heart or from its wickedness, rather judgment is equivalent to apostasy and is itself the source of wickedness and vice.

 

Judgment is the essence of fallen man, manifesting itself in his thoughts, actions, and speech. He cannot see this in himself for he perceives everything from his own viewpoint of the knowledge of good and evil. The Pharisee or fallen man cannot see it unless he be enlightened by the gospel.

 

The Pharisee and the Pharisee in all men is only seen by the one who has been unified to God through the cross of Christ.

 

2CO 3:12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech [because we now know the truth],

 

2CO 3:13 and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

 

2CO 3:14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

 

2CO 3:15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

 

2CO 3:16 but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

 

2CO 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

 

2CO 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

 

Judging is not a special vice or wickedness of the disunited man; it is his essence.

 

Our lives in Christ are not to be seen from the standpoint of a list of rules but in who we now are in Him. He has elevated us far above the endless debates of the knowledge of good and evil and to see all in the one and only glorious light. It is this understanding of who we really are in Christ and what kind of life that means that is going to properly move us to the action of producing fruit in our predestination.

 

Fallen man can only see himself from the standpoint of his own virtues and vices, but never in his essence, in his apostasy from the origin of life, from his disunion. Jesus alone can overthrow this authority, which is the authority of the sin nature. The gospel of Jesus is the only One who can dispose of this ruler of sin and death.

 

"Judge not" is the call to reconciliation by means of His cross. To the believer it is a reminder of who he is.

 

The believer acts and his action is determined by one thing only - the will of God. His love does not look upon the so-called merit of the object. That falls under the category of man's good and evil. If God were like this than Christ would have only died for some, but He died for all. Man would ask, "Why does Hitler get the option to be saved?" and God would reply, "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?" In other words, they judge God based on their own criteria of deserving and undeserving.

 

In love the believer does not look upon the merit of his object. He acts in the goodness of the will of God no matter what may be the current condition of the one he serves.

 

What that action is, is not determined by a knowledge of good and evil that comes from himself, but solely on the will of God. He also understands that the service he does may mean separation from people according to God's will. His decision comes directly from God through God's word and the Holy Spirit.

 

In his communion with God the believer knows the will of God in the situation or person he faces, and even in dealing with himself. This is heavens above man's good and evil.

 

He has been thrust above the petty squabbles over good and evil and follows Christ alone.

 

1CO 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

 

1CO 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

 

1CO 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

 

1CO 2:4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

 

Persuasive words of wisdom refers to the knowledge man has gained in the art of manipulation; saying certain phrases in certain ways, masking what you really mean with cleverness, appealing to certain emotions, etc. This a part of man's knowledge, which as we have seen, always seeks approval and so manipulation is a handy tool of those who wish to sway and persuade others to their view. The believer rejects this completely. He knows nothing else among men except Christ and Him crucified. His message to others is truth from Christ, the proper truth that fits the moment, which is akin to the will of God and is given in the power of the Holy Spirit as the believer trusts the Spirit to empower his message. 

 

1CO 2:5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

 

This said, we turn to the decisions of the believer in dealing with the world, others, circumstances, himself, and with God. The word of God calls this intensive judging. But after the work we have just finished, we may find a contradiction in this and Christ call not to judge, but of course there is no discrepancy.

 

There is a judging that springs from the believer in union with God. It is a discerning of the proper action according to the will of God.

 

So then, it is proper to entitle this work in the soul as judgment, but it is not of the same fabric at all of the judgment of man.

 

1CO 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

 

1CO 2:15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.

 

"appraises" - avnakri,nw [anakrino] = to distinguish or to separate out so as to investigate (krino - judge) by looking throughout (ana - intensive) objects or particulars.