read Proverbs 2 Proverbs chapter 2 My son if
thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee
so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine
heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures,
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the
knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom out
of his mouth, cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth
up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly. He keepeth the path of judgment,
and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand
righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine
heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall
preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee
from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward
things. who leave the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do evil and delight
in the frowardness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked, and they
froward in their paths, to deliver thee from the strange woman,
even from the stranger which flatters with her words. Which
forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of
her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto
the dead. None that go unto her return
again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. That thou
mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the
righteous. For the upright shall dwell in
the land and the perfect shall remain in it But the wicked shall
cut off Shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors
shall be rooted out of it Let's pray Father we come to you again this
morning Thankful for our time together and lord we ask that
you open up our hearts and our our eyes and ears as you have
our pastor bring the next message to us and father we ask that
you make it effectual to our hearts and lord let us have an
understanding of what's being preached lord only we can only
understand if you allow us to do so and father we're thankful
for the guests that you had here this morning lord we ask that
you continue to grow this church if it be your will bring in As
so many, we don't even have seats for them, if that be your will.
And Father, we ask that you watch over Michelle as she travels
back. And we ask that you watch over Eric as he brings a message
to us this morning. And Lord, we just ask as always
that you watch over and care for us in Christ's name. Our second hymn will be 129 at
the cross. 129. O less than did my Saviour plead,
and did my Sovereign die, would He devote that sacred head for
such a worm as I. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burning of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight And now I am happy all
the day Was it for crimes that I have done He groaned upon a
tree Amazing pity, grace unknown and love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight and now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun in
darkness hide And shut his glories in When Christ the mighty maker
died For man the creature's sin At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light Then the burning of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy
all the day. But drops of grief can ne'er
repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away,
tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and the burning of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Thank you. Good morning. Let's go to Judges
chapter five. A couple weeks ago, when we were
in Judges last time, we were looking at chapter four, and
we saw there an account in the types in the pictures that were
given to us in those spoken of, and it was revealing to us the
grace of our God given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
it is that saves his people. And we saw how that Christ in
the type of jail overthrew, destroyed, crushed the head of our enemies,
all our oppressors, and delivered the people from the hand of our
enemies. Well, today in chapter five,
we have a song. And it's a song which is led
and taught to us by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. And it's a song of thanksgiving
for the victory of salvation, for the victory and the deliverance
and the inheritance which is given to us in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we have it by His blood redemption. is laying down his life for us,
nailing our sins and all that was opposed to us to the cursed
tree. So the title of this message
is The Spirit's Song of Thanksgiving. The Spirit's Song of Thanksgiving.
Now in verse one, let's read that. Then sang Deborah and Barak,
the son of Abinuim on that day. And so it leads off showing us
that the one leading the singing is Deborah. And Deborah is a
prophetess. She's the prophetess. It said
in chapter four that she was the wife of Lapidoth. And some say that she's of Lapidoth
or the wife of Lapidoth. Either way, Lapidoth is a torch
or a lamp that's burning. giving light, and Deborah is
a bee, she's industrious, she goes forth and as a type of the
Spirit, she brings the light of God, she shines the light
of God in our dark hearts. Well, in Judges 4-5, we're also
told that she judged Israel at that time. She was used of the
Lord, her person was used of the Lord as a judge, as a counselor,
as an instructor of the people of Israel. She gave them the
word of God and told them what the Lord would have his people
to do. And so here in chapter four and
in this chapter, chapter five, she's a type, she is a picture
of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit given to the people of God. And
so, as we go through this chapter, just to give you a high-level
view of this chapter, because it's 31 verses, Deborah, it's
Deborah who's leading the people in this praise, in this song
of thanksgiving. about the Lord's victory which
he's given to the people. She's leading the people. She's
instructing their hearts. She's giving them understanding
of what God has done for his people. And so as we go through
it, we see her declaring to the people the glory and the power
of the Lord. We see her defining, revealing
to us, reminding us of our condition by nature, our ruin and fall
and sin. we see that she leads the people,
directs their hearts to the gospel and to where that gospel word
is being preached that they may be fed and comforted and instructed
by the word and by the spirit. There's also a place that we
come to where she chastens or rebukes those people who didn't believe,
who were slow to believe and didn't go to the work of the
Lord that needed to be done. They weren't obedient to the
word. But we also see her speaking and comforting those who did
believe. and who did go, who were obedient
to the word of God. And we see her towards the end
there, she reveals the Savior, the one whom the Lord used, JL,
to destroy our enemies who gained the victory. In her weakness,
she triumphed over the strong. She destroyed Sisera, the battle
array, set against us. She destroyed that battle, that
array, all those weapons that come against us, and she declares
the judgment of God against the enemies of God and his people. That is what the Holy Spirit
does for the people of God. He reveals. He teaches us. He makes us to know, to hear
what God has done. He reveals faith in our hearts.
He corrects us when we need correcting, and He comforts us when we need
comforting. He instructs us. He's the Holy
Spirit. He's the comforter. that does
this for us. In John 16, at the end of verse
seven and into verse eight, our Lord said, if I go not away,
right? He's speaking to his disciples
about his departure. He's going to the cross. He's
going to die and be buried, but he's going to rise again. And
he's going to ascend up to heaven. And he says, if I go not away,
the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you. And when he has come, He will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit does that for
His people and that does account for the outline that we're given
here of Deborah and what she does in this chapter. And so
right in the first couple of verses, it's Deborah leading
Barak in a song of thanksgiving and praise. And we know from
the last chapter that Barak is a picture, a type of the believer,
the child of God. And she leads the children of
God in the song of praise and thanksgiving. Let's look at verses
one and two. Then sang Deborah, and Barak
the son of Abinuam on that day, saying, Praise ye the Lord for
the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered
themselves. We see here that truth which
is worked in us, where we are made, you that believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you that have no hope in this flesh, but hope
in the word of your God revealed to you in Christ, that He is
the Savior, that He has triumphed over your enemies, you that believe,
we rejoice in our God. We're a thankful people for His
salvation. When He rehearses it in our hearts
and in our minds and makes us to know, my God has saved me. He's forgiven me of my sins. Though He slay me, yet will I
praise Him, because I know that He has put away my sins. And
when it pleases Him, He can bring me home. I'll be forever with
the Lord my inheritance and it contents my soul and we rejoice
in God our Savior and so the Lord reveals this salvation in
his people and he gives his people the song of redemption I'm redeemed. I'm redeemed. I've been saved
by the Lord. He's forgiven me of my sins.
I've been purchased by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm his child. He's made this
known to me. And he's given me a hope in him.
The faith, which is the faith of the saints, which is not of
their flesh, but of his gift. revealed in the fruit of the
Spirit given to the children of God. And so we read of the
children of God doing this very thing. In Revelation 5 verses
9 and 10, we see that gathered believers, gathered of the Lord,
and it says they sung a new song. In religion, we sang an old song,
a song of the flesh. I've got to be better. I've got
to do better. I've got to get things right.
If I'm going to stand before the Lord, no, we have a new song.
The works are finished, finished by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we sing, thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us, purchased us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. and you've made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And so we
give glory to God for his salvation. I was ruined, but you came and
laid down your life, Lord, and you spilled your blood as payment
for my sins, that I, who is dead in trespasses and sins, should
live and have light and understanding of my God, and that I should
go free having life in my Savior, and I'm His now. And He's mine
because He's revealed it to me. And that's our song of redemption.
We rejoice in this salvation. And it's the Spirit that makes
it known to us. It's the Spirit that gives us
the new birth. It's the spirit that births us
of the seed of Christ, whereby, as a new and living creature,
we praise our God. We see what he's done and rejoice
in this salvation. And so we rejoice in our God,
thanking him for delivering us from that judgment which is coming
upon the wicked. And we thank him for delivering
us from that bondage, from that death, from that prison of darkness,
where we could do nothing, we could bear no fruit unto God
because we were dead and fleshly and that was it. And so it says
in Psalm 110 verse 3, the beginning of it, thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. So it speaks there in verse 1
and 2 of the people being willing when it says, when the people
willingly offer themselves, it's God that makes us willing. It's
God that made you willing and makes you willing and keeps you
willing in the day of his power. And so we're thankful to our
God who brings healing to us. and life, and forgiveness, and
comfort, and hope by His Spirit. And we see this thanksgiving
throughout the scriptures. Just as Paul when writing to
the Thessalonian church in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, he said, we're bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. We give him
thanks for you. And we thank God for one another
who has revealed in us salvation, right? Because it's God who has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Meaning that the spirit
was sent to separate you out from that death, to take you
out from that grave and reveal Christ in you. to apply that
blood, to give you life, to cause you to hear that gospel and to
believe that glorious good news. And then we see, as we go on,
that the greatness, our greatness, our pride, our might, our strength,
our abilities, are all melted before the presence of holy,
almighty God. We're brought low before Him. We're humbled by Him. Verse 3,
Hear, O ye kings, give ear, O ye princes. That's us in the flesh,
all puffed up, all high and mighty. Hear this though, hear the Lord. I, even I, will sing unto the
Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord
God of Israel. And that speaks to the declaration
of our gospel that it's not man who saves himself, we're not
puffing up and glorifying man, we're glorifying the Lord. Because
all the glory, all the honor, all the power, all the praise
is his. It's unto him. We didn't save
ourselves. We're nothing before our God. And we see in this also that
the greatest thing that we could ever aspire to is to be servants
of the Lord. Oh, to be a doorman in the house
of the Lord, David said. Even to be a doorman. I just
want to be in the presence of God. I want to be with his people.
even if it's the lowest spot, just to be in his presence is
better than to be in the tents and the houses of the kings of
the earth. These things are worthless and they're dumb. And so we see
our God glorified and lifted up, knowing that when he returns,
he'll put all these kingdoms of man to waste. He'll set everything
in order. He's doing it all. Next, just
as the Spirit of God, the sufficiency and power of God does all things
according to purpose, revealing to us all the things of God and
how he does everything according to purpose, so it is that Deborah
declares how the Savior did the impossible for us, how that he
spanned that gap for us. He removed the obstacles for
us, right? The rich man, when he was in
hell, said to Abraham, oh, Abraham, send Lazarus down just to dip
his finger in some water and to give me a little drop on the
tongue. And Abraham said, no, he ain't doing that. But even
if we could, we can't, because there's a gap. There's a chasm.
Too great. Can't be spanned. You can't come
to us, and we can't come to you. And that's us with salvation.
We cannot save ourselves. But there is one who came and
spanned that gap, removed all the obstacles that stood opposed
to us, and opened the way for us to enter into the kingdom
of our God. Verse four and five, Lord, when
thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marched out of the field
of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped. The clouds
also dropped water. God left Edom. He left Esau to himself and flesh
trembled because what are we if God departs from us? But it
says the mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai
from before the Lord God of Israel. So that we see there how the
law which stood opposed to us, the curse of the law that said
you sinner must die. That all melted before our God. It all faded away. That which
was impossible and an obstacle like a mountain that stood before
us opposing us between us and God that we could not cross,
Christ came and he crossed it. His feet are beautiful on the
mountains. He came. He took all the risk.
He ventured on that way with thieves and robbers and murderers
and liars and killers and destroyers. He came and brought this glorious
gospel to us in our little valley of sin and darkness and preached
to us the glorious good news of what He has done in giving
us life and putting away our sin and giving us life in Him. And so we see what our God has
done for us. We see that we cannot save ourselves. We hear him when he says, when
Christ was speaking to the disciples, he beheld them. And that's a
good picture of what your Savior does for you now, even this morning. He beholds you and all your weakness
and all your folly. in everything that we can think
of that stands against hope that we should have. He beholds you
and he says unto you with men, salvation is impossible, utterly
impossible. No, you cannot make a righteousness
for yourself with God, but with God, all things are possible. And with God, He does save His
people. He has done the impossible. He
has delivered us from the jaws of death and hell and given us
life and liberty in Him and made us to stand firm in Him. Now,
the Spirit of God is also faithful. He tells us, the Spirit of God
reveals to us what I am in nature that I should know my need of
this salvation. There's many people none of us
knows our fall until it's revealed to us by the spirit and we see
here in verse six and seven Let's look at this for a bit. It says,
in the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael,
so he's speaking of two different saviors, the highways were unoccupied
and the travelers walked through byways. I shouldn't say two different
saviors, it's just two views of the savior. They're pictures
of Christ. The inhabitants were told, The
inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until
that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. There's a lot of good things
in these two verses, sweet gospel pictures of our salvation. First of all, we're told that
there were highways, there was a way, a way of holiness, a way
of the King, the right way, the straight way that led to the
kingdom of heaven, but no one was on it. It was entirely unoccupied. No one went on those roads. That way of the Lord, that picture
of Christ who is the highway, He is the way unto God, it was
unoccupied. Not a soul was there. No one
was on that way. Christ is that way. We're told
in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, and he leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for his name's sake. This way spoken of here,
this is the highway, this is Christ the highway where the
righteous walk. The only problem is there was
no one in it, no one in the way, no one was going that way. That
is until the Savior, Shamgar, came. And it says that before
he came, the travelers were walking through byways. They were walking
through byways. If you have a King James and
it has a margin, it should say that that word byways means crooked
ways. They weren't on the highway.
They were going, they were forced out into crooked ways, perverse
ways, ruined ways. They were in false religion,
doing vile things. Now the first time that we meet
with Shamgar, go back to chapter three. We didn't look at this
previously. Chapter three, verse 31. So find,
it's the last verse in chapter three. And it says, after Ehud,
we heard of that savior, the picture of Christ there, after
Ehud was Shamgar, the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines
600 men with an ox goad, and he also delivered Israel. Now a goad that's used with an
oxen, it's used to train them, it's used to keep them on the
straight path. It's used to chastise them and
to force them to go the right way. And with that goad there,
he whooped and defeated all those Philistines. He slew of them.
He killed them. He put them to death. And so
according to this Judges 3.31, and then verse six, where it
says, in the days of Shamgar, in the days of Jael, the highways
were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways. What is
the Lord saying to us? What we see and what we understand
is that those Philistines that had to be defeated, they were
keeping the people off the highway. They were preventing the people
from going in the way of Christ. But instead were going through
crooked ways, in the byways. They were out of the way of salvation
and driven into crooked ways. Turn over to Isaiah 59. Let's
just see this. Isaiah 59. I look at the first
three verses, we see here that. Well, not in this, but I've told
you this a number of times, that when you meet with the Philistines
in scriptures, they are a picture of our sin. That's our sin of
the heart. That's what we are by nature,
loaded with Philistines, loaded with sin, defiled and ruined,
and it keeps us out of the way of God. And we're told here in
Isaiah 59, verses one through three, Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy,
that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you, that he will not hear. And your hands are defiled with
blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken
lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. That's us by nature. Those are the sins of our heart.
We're enmity against God by nature. Those Philistines need to be
slain. They need to be put away. We need to be delivered from
that fear, that ruin by the Philistines of our heart. That's got to be
dealt with. Christ the Savior has to come. And so we see Shamgar,
which means sword, who is of aneth, which means an answer,
as in an answer to prayer. Well, he came and slew 600 Philistines
there in chapter three, verse 31. Six is a curious number because
we know that man was created on the sixth day. And the number
of man is 666. And what that means simply is
We come short of perfection. We come short of the glory of
God. If the perfection of God is 777,
if it's completeness, perfect completeness, we are that number
by nature, 666. We come short. We are sinners. We're ruined in sin and we can
only come short of the glory of God. And so Christ slew 600. Just a picture. He put that old
man to death. He put that old man to death. We were in the crooked way. We
saw when our brother read in Proverbs chapter 2, verse 14
to 15, who rejoiced to do evil and delight in the frowardness
of the wicked whose ways are crooked and froward in their
paths. That's us by nature. We were
in the byways, in the crooked ways. and not in the way of God. But Christ came and slew that
enmity, destroyed that body of sin in us, delivering us from
their authority so that we would be put into the highway, the
way of Christ, the way of righteousness in Him. Not by our own works,
not by the works and the righteousness of this flesh, but by the righteousness
of Christ. We walk in Him. We're delivered
from those crooked ways, He came, the sword of the Lord and divides
us under our hearts, showing us what we are and our need of
him. And so we were in that rebellion,
we were in that death, and Deborah says there at the end of verse
seven, until that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother
in Israel. And she's a picture of the Holy
Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came, and
revealed in us what our Savior did for us in delivering us.
And the Spirit gives us life, regenerates us, making us born
again. When the Spirit arose and applied
that blood of Christ, I was taken out of the crooked ways, the
false ways, the vile ways, the ways of the Philistines, the
sin, and put into the way of Christ, looking to Him, trusting
Him. believing Him, walking in faith,
living in the Spirit, by His grace, walking in faith in that
highway of the Lord. And so that's a picture, when
she says, I, Deborah Rose, I'm the mother in Israel, she's declaring
a picture of the Holy Ghost, who is what? The comforter for
the people of God, the children of God. He's a comforter. And
she's saying, I'm a comforter. I'm the judge in Israel, I've
come, and I declare to you the word of the Lord. John 14, 26,
listen, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. You know, we fathers, we try
to do good, and once in a while we seem to do pretty good with
our kids, But it really is a mother's touch, isn't it? Right? The mothers
go in there when the child's crying and says, I got this. I know what they need. I know
what they need. And we're like, go to sleep. Put your head down.
Lights out. Quiet. You know, we don't want
to deal with it. But the mother goes in and says,
I got this. Oh, you need some water? Here's
a little water for you. You know, something. I'll give
you a hug. And they comfort the child. And they give them exactly
what they need. Well, the Holy Ghost is sent
as a comforter to the people. to show you, don't, you're stressed,
you're worried, you're anxious, you're in fear of these things.
Look to Christ. Look to your Savior. Look to
what He's done for you. He's provided everything for
you. And He comforts our hearts with Christ. And we're reminded
of that forgiveness, and we're comforted by His presence again,
and we have that hope in the Lord again. In John 15, 26, but
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of me. And so just like you mothers
who comfort your children, saying those things that they need to
hear to comfort them and calm them down, so it is that the
Spirit of God comforts us and calms us down, saying to us what
we need to hear and puts us at peace and at rest. And so let's
read now back in Judges 5 verse 9 through 13. And notice here
the Holy Spirit, this is a picture of the Holy Spirit addressing
the people of God, revealing Christ in our hearts and working
obedience in us by his power and glory. So verse 9, my heart
is toward the governors of Israel that offer themselves willingly
among the people. Bless ye the Lord. And really,
this is a picture of the Spirit coming and teaching the pastors
and the preachers, those who speak to you. And it's not just
limited to us, but anyone who serves in the body of Christ
It's the spirit that reveals to us the needs that are in the
body and gives us a heart and makes us aware of those needs
that we might serve and labor among one another bearing fruits
of righteousness. Sometimes it's just a kind word.
Sometimes it's just showing love and care for someone. Sometimes
it's the Lord coming when we're preparing a message and giving
us the word to come and bring that word to the people. And so we see that in verse 10. Speak ye that ride on white asses,
ye that sit in judgment and walk by the way. Go and tell the people. Go and minister that which I've
laid on your heart to do. If it's the preach, go preach
the gospel. Declare to them what I've revealed
in your heart. You reveal it to them. You preach
it to them, you that walk by the way in Christ. And so we
declare this word, and then we come to verse 11. which is, it's
declared and it's ministered in the midst of the church. And
by church, I don't mean building, but wheresoever the people are
gathered to hear from the Lord, to be comforted by the Lord. So here's the description of
the church, verse 11. It's the assembled bodies, the
people of God, they that are delivered from the noise of archers. Now, knowing this is the body
of Christ, you see how it's those people that are removed from
the threat of those fiery darts flying at you from the enemy.
The Lord brings you in to hear his word, takes you out of that
battlefield there for a little while, out from under the threat
of the hail of arrows raining down upon you to discomfort you,
to trouble you, to try you, and he sets you down to here, what? Where? In the places of drawing
water, right, where we draw up from that deep well of our God,
that fresh, clean, pure water of Christ, and we minister that
word, or that spirit, or whatever the Lord has laid on our hearts
for one another, but we draw out that water in the preaching
of the word and minister it to the people of God to refresh
you, to extinguish those fiery darts, to put them down, so that
we're delivered by the Lord for that time. there shall they rehearse
the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward
the inhabitants of his villages in Israel, preaching Christ and
him crucified in the church, to the church, to the people
of God, ministering, rehearsing. Look to the Lord. Remember how
he's provided for you. Remember what he's done for you
in mercy, compassionately, graciously, and because he loves you. Then it says there, at the end,
then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. The gates in the cities at that
time, that's where the men would go, and they would sit down in
the gate, and they would resolve, and they'd hear matters, and
they'd give advice, and they'd settle contracts and disputes.
Whatever it was, they would do that there in the gate. And the
Lord is saying, after you've been ministered to, you'll go
down to the gate. And you'll know clearly, right?
Because you'll have been instructed and reminded of the grace of
your God. And you'll minister to one another
in the grace that God has shown to you. And you'll be kind and
tenderhearted. And you'll speak with the wisdom
and understanding of Christ. And you'll minister that sweet,
gracious spirit which has been ministered to you by the grace
of God. Verse 12 Awake, awake, Deborah,
awake, awake, utter a song. There's a picture of us with
the spirit of adoption, breathing out, making prayers, crying out
cries with groanings that can't even be uttered. Lord, help. Lord, save me. Lord, remember
us. Lord, bless us with your presence.
Lord, come upon us again. Awake, Lord, remember me. Have
mercy upon me, O Lord. So we're breathing out that cry
for help. And then the Spirit says, arise,
Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinuim. When the Spirit rises in our
hearts, when the day star rises in our hearts, and we see and
feel the warmth of our God and our Savior, we arise. Wake up,
O sleeper, he says to us, and he strengthens us. turning our
eyes once again upon Christ, and lead thy captivity captive.
Again, we don't lead the captivity captive. Christ, when he rose
from the dead, just as when he rises in our hearts and he rose
from the dead, he led captivity captive. and gave gifts unto
men, as Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4. Christ takes captivity, which
was burdening us and trying us and troubling us, that's taken
captive and led away in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so he delivers us from all our foes. He leads captivity captive. Then, verse 13, then he made
him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles. And love how
it says that he made him that remaineth have dominion over
the nobles among the people. The Lord made me have dominion
over the mighty. Again, that's the Holy Spirit,
which is given unto you. Don't stumble over the fact that
Deborah is a woman. It's a picture of the comforter
who nurtures us, who hovers over us, who broods over us, and takes
care of the people of God, comforting them, putting our eyes on Christ,
and he dwells with you. He has dominion over you. He
dwells with you. The body of sin doesn't have
any more dominion over us. What we do, the fruit we bear,
isn't for righteousness. We're not laboring in fear anymore
and worry that we're gonna perish. We trust our God, that he that
which has begun this work in us shall complete it until the
day of Christ Jesus. And he's returning. And so we
labor in faith. and thanksgiving, and in joy
and in peace. And he dwells with us. Paul said,
what? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6.19. The Holy Spirit of God dwells
with you, and Christ dwells in your hearts by faith. Now, I'm
not gonna read all of verse 14 through 23, but I'll just tell
you that these verses, they give us a picture of how the spirit
affirms, rebukes, chastens the people of God. We even see in
verse 23 where he curses the wicked, Miraz, for not doing
anything. That name is a refuge. Miraz means refuge. It was a
false refuge. Didn't help the people of God
at all. And that's cursed. Christ is your refuge. He's where
we are blessed of God, you that believe in him. But he does correct. So first he says to Ephraim and
Benjamin and Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali, and Barak, these were
all commended for joining the fight, for hearing the word of
the Lord and believing the word of the Lord and going and standing
with the brethren and doing that which the Lord gave them word
and commanded them to do in battle against Sisera and against the
enemies of God. But Reuben, Gilead, and Asher,
they were shamed because they made like they had good intentions.
They said, well, I'll pray about that. I'll think about that.
But they never did anything. They didn't do anything. I'll
read just so you could see that at the end of verse 15 and into
verse 16. The end of verse 15 says, for
the divisions of Reuben, he really gets called out here, there were
great thoughts of heart. Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds? To hear the bleedings of the
flocks? You know, actually, that's a picture. Reuben's the firstborn,
isn't he? And a picture of what we are in Adam. We don't do nothing. This flesh doesn't do anything.
This flesh is just interested in the cares and the riches of
this world. You just want to hear the bleeding
of the sheep. You just want to hear all the empire that you've
built for yourself and surrounded yourself with, because they had
many sheep in Reuben, right? And they were serving and loving
the riches of the world. They were buried in the cares
of the world. For the divisions of Reuben,
there were great searchings of heart. In this flesh, that's
all there's ever going to be. That's all there'll ever be,
good intentions that never get done. But in Christ, that new
man, that creation of Christ, that's where we not only have
the will when his power rises in our hearts and makes us willing,
but he sends us, he goes. And that's what he's done here
in your hearts, brethren, right? In bringing you, gathering you
here to hear the word of the Lord. to believe the Lord, to
pray for this work, to pray for one another, to care for one
another. That's the work of your God, gathering you, blessing
you, rehearsing in your ears the gospel of His Son, Jesus
Christ. Listen to what our Lord said,
be encouraged. I'm not saying this to discourage
us, but to encourage us. He said in John 4, 34 through
36, Jesus saith unto them, my meat, my satisfaction, I'm satisfied
with doing the will of him that sent me and to finish the work. All right, just like Barak did.
Apparently, Reuben heard from Deborah, but never went. Didn't
do anything, but Barak heard. And Zebulun heard, and Naphtali,
and others. They heard and did the word of
the Lord. Say ye not, Christ said, say
ye not, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? The
flesh is like, well, it's not time yet. It's not time yet. We won't go there. And the flesh
finds excuses. But he says, behold, I say unto
you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white
already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And that's
our reward is seeing the glory and the power of our God and
Savior who promised and tells us that the Father is glorified
and bearing much fruit in you. He's glorified in you and the
fruit that you bear. And it's not as religion teaches
us. It is in that tenderness, in
that love, in that kindness to one another, in that faith, in
that pointing one another to Christ again and reminding each
other of what the Lord has done for us. Blessing the hearts of
the people by turning us again to Christ. And so he's telling
us, go sow the word. Water that word. Maybe you'll
even reap. in that word, it'll be a rejoicing
together for us. If the Lord lays it on your heart
to go and do some kind thing, do it. Even if they're not a
believer or you're not sure if they're a believer, be kind.
Where can you go wrong in showing love and generosity and kindness
and impatience? There's no law against it, no
law against those things at all. And so Barak heard Deborah and
obeyed her voice. And that's what we're doing when
we hear the Lord and pray, Lord, help me, help me to serve you
and to put my hand to the plow and not turn back, Lord. And
so he sends the spirit of truth to testify of Christ, to turn
us to him. Now at the end there, and we're
coming to the end here in Judges 5, verse 24 through 27, Deborah says Blessed above women
shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be. Blessed shall
she be above women in the tent. He asked water and she gave him
milk. Verse 26 She put her hand to the nail and a right hand to the workman's
hammer. And with the hammer, she smote
Sisera. She smote off his head when she
had pierced and stricken through his temples." And again, Jael,
just as Deborah is a picture of the Holy Spirit here, so Jael,
a picture of weakness. A woman is the destroyer of the
one who was the destroyer. She defeats the mighty warrior.
She defeats that mighty foe that we And all our manly strength
couldn't do it. We were afraid, and we had no
strength or no ability. But the Savior came, and he took
the nail. And he took up the hammer, and
he went to do the father's work. And he smoked the enemy, crushing
the serpent's head. He defeated the head of the enemy.
He defeated all your foes. At her feet, the enemy bowed. He fell. He lay down. At her
feet, he bowed. He fell. Where he bowed, there
he fell down dead. And that's what Christ did. He
came in the tent. the tent of our flesh, the likeness
of the sinful flesh, but without sin. And he came into this wilderness
where we are and where we were slaves and fearful and afraid
and unable to get it done. Christ came and he met our enemy. He went out to the enemy and
met him face to face and defeated him, crushed his head in weakness
and the laying down of his life. And that speaks of the river
Kishon in there means twist. A twist was worked where Christ
in weakness defeated the might and strength of our enemies.
The best he had couldn't defeat Christ because the weakness of
God is greater than the strength of man. And so God sent our Shamgar,
right? And he sent out our JL. To defeat Sisera, the mighty
warrior, he died at the hands of a woman. And Christ in weakness
defeated the might and strength of our enemy, put him to shame,
shamed him mightily. And so our God is faithful. We see his accomplished salvation.
We see his grace for us. So be encouraged. He's given
you his spirit that gives you the song of the redeemed in your
heart. that causes you to cry out to
Him, to look to Him, to hear what the Savior has done, to
believe it, and to rehearse that in the midst of one another.
So go, brethren, rejoicing in your Lord, telling others what
He's done for you. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your glory, your power. We thank you for, again,
showing us rich, beautiful scenes, reminders, rehearsals of what
you have done for us in putting away our shame, in driving away
our enemies, even the enmity of our hearts, which was against
you in our flesh, in our nature. We were driven out of the way.
We had no part in you, but you came faithfully for your love's
sake, with which you loved us before the foundation of the
world and destroyed the enmity in our hearts and put us in the
way of Christ. Lord, arise. Arise in our hearts. Arise in our thoughts. Arise
in our minds. Let us see Christ. Take our captivity
captive and draw it away. delivering us repeatedly over
and over again in our Savior, giving us life and light and
liberty in him. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness
in doing the work that needed to be done and not turning away
and not cutting it short, but finishing that work fully, that
you went to death for us, that we should live in you. And Lord,
thank you for rising again and letting us see you and going
to the throne and interceding for us richly, abundantly, continuously,
Lord, for keeping us and not letting us go. Lord, keep us
ever looking to you. Keep us focused steadfastly on
you. Help us, Lord, to bear fruits among one another for your glory,
for your praise, for your honor. Lord, we believe you. We thank
you again for the visitors. We thank you for You're strengthening,
you're nourishing, you're keeping, you're provision. Lord, we pray
for those of us who are sick, who are anxious, who are troubled
and tried. Lord, have mercy upon us. You
know our weak frames. You know that we are but dust.
Lord, strengthen us and keep us. Don't let us fall away, but
keep us, Lord. Keep us in the way, the highway
of Christ. And Lord, we pray even for our
visitors concerning their daughter, that you would strengthen and
heal her back, help her to be able to go to school and sit
there for the length of time that's needed. And that you would,
indeed, if it please you, knit their hearts with ours and bless
us together in Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. And Lord, all the other things that are unspoken,
the cares, the worries we have for our family, remember them,
Lord. Have mercy. Reveal your your
hope in their hearts, we pray. Lord, what a rejoicing, what
a glad day that would be for us. It's in Christ's name we
pray and give thanks, amen. I really like these hymns. We'll
get used to them too, you know. But the consistency, I think,
we'll get used to. We're going to try another one. I know we sing this one a lot,
488, I will sing of my Redeemer, but I think it matches the song
of Deborah. 488, I will sing of my Redeemer. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered,
from the curse to set me free. of my Redeemer, with His blood
He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
made the dead and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save, In His boundless love and mercy
He the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me, On the cross He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I'll tell, How the victory He giveth over
sin and death and hell. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me, On the cross He sealed my pardon,
Paid the dead and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer, and
His heavenly love to me. He from death to life hath brought
me, Son of God, with Him to be. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. Thank you.