to Judges chapter 4. It's been interesting. I've never just studied these men individually like this. It's been an interesting study for me. You know, you only have like, here you only have two chapters on this man Barak. But yet he's in that hall of fame of faith there in Hebrews 11. I titled this Barak, another example of faith. Barak, another example of faith.

Now, here in chapter four, there's a lot of things going on when you really start looking at it. I had to read it time and time again. and just go away and think about it, come back and read it, and then things started to develop. I'm kind of like those old Polaroid, you know, you take a snapshot, and after a while, you can watch it start to develop. That's about the way my messages are. I can start seeing them develop.

But as it developed and I started seeing some things, and one of the things that I realized here that there's two names in chapter 4 and 5 that are inseparable, Deborah and Barak. Where you read of one, you read of the other. They remind us of this, that in the work of God, we see God's servants laboring together for His glory. Deborah told him what the mind of the Lord was for him and he he did it he did it but they labored together for the glory of of the Lord and I thought that the church is not without her members you know the church is the body of Christ and we are the members of that body and God puts us in in the body as it pleases him All of us are not a hand, all of us are not a foot or a leg, you know, we're just different members in the body of Christ. But yet they're just one body.

But here the church has her pastors, her teachers, her leaders, and each one of them God raises up for the time, and the time that's needed. If a church needs a pastor, if it's God's church, THAT CHURCH IS IN NEED OF A PASTOR, THAT PASTOR IS ALREADY IN THE WINGS. IT'S JUST A MATTER OF WHEN GOD MAKES IT KNOWN.

BUT WHEN YOU TURN TO HEBREWS CHAPTER 11 VERSE 32 AS I READ TO YOU, THAT GREAT HALL OF FAITH, ONLY BERIC IS MENTIONED. DEBORAH IS NOT MENTIONED. JAEL IS NOT MENTIONED. JUST BERIC. JUST HIM. And I thought that it's for this reason, in a gospel sense, in the gospel sense, when the battle is won, because the barrack is the one that went into battle. When the battle is won, the man Christ Jesus gets all the glory. All the glory goes to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now here's something that that's been interesting to me these men that we've looked at Gideon last week we see their weakness don't we Gideon said why you why me I'm I'm I'm we're I'm a belong to the least of the tribes Manasseh my family is nothing and yet God chose him and then he was put out the fleece twice he said if it's if you're calling me to do this paraphrasing you know he put that fleece out he wanted to weigh it so he said well let's try this one more time and he put it out again and then the Lord said if you're afraid to go down then take your servant with you and he took his servant with him apparently he was afraid to go down and yet these men are in this In this hall, I call it the Hall of Fame of Faith.

And we'll see here in a little bit, Barrick says, if you'll go with me, I'll go down. If you don't go with me, I ain't going. It's just interesting how, you know, when we think of people of great faith, we just expect these giants, these giants of men, but they're not. Abraham gave up his wife twice. He gave her up twice. And his son Isaac did the same thing. I believe he did the same thing. And yet we hear about the faith of Abraham. And here tonight is Barak. He's the only one mentioned here.

Now Israel's sin is exposed here in verses 1 through 3. And the children of Israel AGAIN, I highlighted that, I underscored it in my Bible, and I highlighted it in my notes, AGAIN. How many times could that be said? Again and again and again. And how many times did they cry unto the Lord again and again and again? And how many times did the Lord deliver them again and again and again? Every time they cried. Aren't you glad of that? That should encourage us. It should encourage us.

When I was younger, I used to feel like the Lord was going to get tired of hearing me beg for mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, forgive me. Oh my, aren't you glad we can't wear Him out? His mercy is infinite. We can't use it up. He delights to show mercy. He delights to show it. And once again, Israel sinned and did evil. They failed. And just as you know, how many times do we fall? More than we know. More than we know. I can tell you that.

Now if you are interested in reading, do a little more reading, go back to chapter 3 and you'll see where Ehud died. He was a judge. And when his leadership faded away, when he died, the people turned back to sin. And their sin, it doesn't say what it was, but it does in chapter 5. In chapter 5, in verse 8, it says this, Let me see here. They chose new gods. They were always, always prone to idolatry, always prone to idolatry. And they turned back to the worship of Baal and the gods of Canaan. That's what they did.

If they had driven out the Canaanites and the other nations as God commanded them to, as He commanded them to. If they had done that, they would have not been attempted by all this idolatry. Compromise ALWAYS, ALWAYS brings corruption. It always brings corruption. I thought about this before I wrote this down, I gave this some thought. is written in the scriptures. You see, they never did get rid of the Canaanites and the other nations. In fact, they intermarried with them. And they started mingling with them, then they started worshipping their gods.

The Lord said, come out from among them, touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. But the scriptures say this, mortify the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit. THERE IS A REAL BATTLE BETWEEN THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT, THERE REALLY IS. WE DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES FOR SIN, WE WAR AGAINST IT, WE WAR AGAINST IT.

Listen to Romans 8, 12, and 13, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh. I owe this flesh nothing, zero. I owe this world nothing, nothing. WE ARE NOT DEBTORS TO FLESH, BUT TO LIVE AFTER THE FLESH. FOR IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE. IF THAT'S YOUR LIFE, YOU SHALL DIE, YOU'LL PERISH, is the way to say it. BUT IF YOU, THROUGH THE SPIRIT, YOU CAN'T DO THIS BY YOURSELF, YOU CAN'T DO THIS BY YOURSELF. BUT IF YOU, THROUGH THE SPIRIT, DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU SHALL LIVE, YOU'LL LIVE.

You don't live after the flesh, you don't feed that old man. Listen, here's what Henry wrote about this. Because of the Spirit of God who lives in him, in the believer, the believer's outward conduct and course of life consists of denying the flesh and walking after the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Does it end there? WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT. There's a warfare there, and we're constantly, constantly praying and asking the Lord to give us strength to overcome that inward corruption that's in us. It's a constant battle, and it's a battle we can't win, but greater is He that's in you than He that's in the world. Do you believe that?

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GREATER, GREATER IS HE THAT'S IN YOU THAN HE THAT'S IN THE WORLD.

And as I said, they also intermarried with pagan nations. They started mixing with those pagans and then they started taking up their habits. THEY NEVER TAKE UP! It's like this, I HAVE WHAT THEY HAVE, THEY DON'T HAVE WHAT I HAVE. And what they have is very tempting because there's a part of me that's drawn to it. There's a part of me that's drawn to it because I still have that old nature, that old Adamic nature.

And the Lord has taught, He taught them and He teaches us to not be unequally yoked. Henry said this one time in a message, he said, if you do that, if a believer marries an unbeliever, if you do that, do not expect God to bless that marriage. He might, but don't expect it. Don't expect it. Because it's a direct violation of God's command. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Now after 80 years of peace under Ehud, they had 80 years of peace. After Ehud died, they drifted away, they left. Most of them, for the most part, they did. This happens all too easily. We cannot handle, it seems like we just can't handle peace very long, prosperity. It just seems like we just can't handle it. Can't do it. We get comfortable and we forget the Lord. He warned them about this when they were gonna go into the land of Canaan. He said, now when you build these goodly houses and you have all this stuff, don't you forget me. Don't forget me. Don't you say, well, look what I've done. Don't you forget me. If you get rich, God made you rich. God said, I make rich and I make poor. I do that. These things are warnings to us.

And we see also after Ehud died without a leader, the sheep go astray. That's why you got to have a shepherd. You got to have a shepherd. That's why God gives His church pastors and teachers. That's what it tells us over in Ephesians 4, 11-13. And this is why we come together like this, is to be anchored in truth continually.

Then God hands them over. I'm building up here to the, I might be building up too long, but I'm building up here to the barrack going to war. But the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan.

IF WE SELL OURSELVES TO SIN, THE LORD MAY SELL US TO SORROW. HE MAY DO THAT. SOMETIMES THE LORD'S DISCIPLINE IS VERY HARD. I'VE SAID THIS SEVERAL TIMES, THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO MAKE YOU CRY. HE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE HIS CHILDREN CRY. HE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE THEM NOT FORGET IT.

And 20 years this went on. Jabin, I mean, he had a huge army. And Cicero was a tough, tough general. And they just made life absolutely miserable for 20 years. And the reason why is their idolatry, their sin, their evil, doing evil in the sight of the Lord. If we give in to lust and anger and pride, God allows, He may allow the very thing we want to become our oppressor. He might do it. The very thing we want, He may make it a misery to us. But bless God, He does not destroy us, but He drives us back to Him. All of this is driving us back to Him.

See, they cried unto the Lord. Took them 20 years. Isn't that amazing? Took him 20 years, but they came back and they cried it to the Lord. Then he brings Barack to the picture. Twenty years Israel groaned under Jabin's cruel hand, and Sisera's nine hundred iron chariots. He had on those chariots, they're called a scythe, that's a big long knife sticking out by the wheels. If you watch Gladiator, you know what they are. And they would take those iron chariots and their horses, and they would drive through an army. And those things would cut them up as they went through, just like a meat grinder. And he had nine hundred of them.

And the thing that stood out to me, and I never really thought about it before, but the Lord's Israel army was always on foot. These others had horses and chariots and all this, and God's army was on foot, marching. Because they were going to trust in Him. Remember He said, Don't trust in a horse, it's a vain thing to trust in. God stripped them of everything but Him. We trust Him and Him alone to deliver us every time from every trouble, every time.

It's sad how much pain it takes for us to seek the Lord. But I do know this, when the pressure gets heavy enough, the heart cries, Lord, save me. Lord, help me, help me. And then God raised up Deborah. Here's a mystery. God raised up this woman to be a judge. And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. I like what Matthew Henry said. He said, Men may fail, but God never fails. When there was no man ready to stand, God raised up a woman. He will. If men won't be men, God will raise up a woman standing in His place, just like He did Deborah here.

And she was filled with the Spirit and His Word. And her name means bee, like a bumblebee. I thought of this when I saw that, her name has the meaning of bee. Busy as a bee, we've heard that. But I think it's because her judgments were stinging, but the results were sweet. You know, when you're judging somebody, you've got to be able to take what, you know, if that's what it is, it's what it is. But the end result is sweet. And she sat beneath the palm tree between Ramah and Bethel where people came for counsel and judgment. They came to her from all over Israel. They came to her. The palm tree is called the Palm Tree of Deborah.

I think it stood as a symbol of this, the Word of God is not hidden away. She gave them the Word of God, it's not hidden away, it's not in a vault somewhere, it's not in some place where you can't get to it, a monastery. No, no, not that. The Word of God is not hidden away, it's accessible to all who come. All who came to her, she gave them the Word of God.

Every week we come to God's house, the church, we come to God's house to sit under the shadow of His Word, to hear His Word, to hear TRUTH and JUDGMENT. Isn't that what you hear when you hear the Gospel? Have you ever sat under the Gospel? I know you have. If God saves you, you have. I have when I have heard a sermon and it's just convicting. I mean convicting actually life-changing just one of those sometimes it's it's sometimes it's one of those things you just you're just so elated and lifted up and sometimes it's like a dagger we're just stuck in your heart I could I know it by experience I know it.

But every week we come to God's house and we sit here and we hear the gospel and you're instructed. I've had different ones of you say, you were only talking to me this morning. That was just for me. Well, I didn't have you in mind. I got all of you in mind. God has you in mind. He can take the same message and instruct one and whatever's on this person, whatever's on your mind, he can instruct this one, instruct that one, instruct this one about whatever it is that's out of the same message. So rich, it's so rich.

And now we have the CALL TO BATTLE, verse 6 through 10. She calls for Beric, she says, HATH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL COMMANDED? She said the Lord has commanded it. It's like he already knows something about it. He's commanding it. You see, this is not Deborah's idea. The command came from the Lord. Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. That's not from me. That's a command of the Lord to do that.

Listen, Christ went not to the battle Himself on His own, the Father sent Him. He was commanded to go. And look here, she says to him, go. The Lord said, go, take 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun and meet Sisera in battle. 10,000 men against thousands and thousands of men, many times more than what he had, many times more. And we don't hear him saying, but that's not enough. HE'S OKAY, HE SAID OKAY, on one stipulation, you go with me.

But I'll show you what I think he means by this. But listen here in verse 7, and listen to what God is saying here. He's telling Barak to get 10,000 men, you're going to go up against Sisera. BUT NOW LISTEN, AND I WILL DRAW UNTO THEE TO THE RIVER KISHON SISERA, THE HEART OF THE KINGS IN THE HAND OF THE LORD, LIKE THE RIVERS OF WATER, HE TURNS IT WHITHERSOEVER HE WILL. YOU GO, I'M GONNA DRAW HIM INTO THE BATTLE, I'M GONNA DO IT.

Sisera doesn't know that. He has no idea the Lord, he doesn't even know who the Lord is. But the Lord knows who He is, and He knows what He's done to His people. The captain of Jabin's army with his chariots and his multitude. I'm going to bring them all and I will deliver him into thy hand. I'll do it. I'm going to do it.

You know, we never go to war in our own strength. We go in obedience of His Word and of His Spirit, and He's with us, and the battle's His. The battle's His.

And Barak has a little hesitation here, Barak. If thou wilt go with me, then I will go, but if thou wilt not go with me, then will I not go? It sounds like he's afraid, doesn't it? I don't think that's what it is. I don't think that's it. I think it's this. I think he knew the presence of God. The word of God was with Deborah. He's with Deborah and he didn't want to go without it. I want his presence. I want his presence here tonight.

I never fail. And I can say this, I never fail to ask the Lord TO MAKE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN AMONG US EVERY TIME I STAND HERE TO PREACH. EVERY TIME WE GATHER TOGETHER. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ASK FOR HIS PRESENCE. I DON'T WANT TO COME OUT HERE WITHOUT HIS PRESENCE.

Moses said this in Exodus 33 15 and he said unto him if thy presence go not with me carry us up not hence don't if you don't go with me if you don't go with me don't don't don't carry me forward

So Deborah agrees and she says, she says to him, the honor will not be thine for the Lord shall sell Cicero into the hand of a woman, but you're going to go, you'll get 10,000 men and you're going to go to the battle. And she's not speaking here of herself, but she's speaking of JL. I don't think she knew who JL was at that time. But she knew this, God said that the honor of the victory is not going to go to Beric, it's going to go to a woman.

In every victory, the honor belongs not to us, it belongs to Christ. This is in a gospel sense, it always belongs to Him and His Church. It's the body of Christ, isn't it? Well, if the head is honored, the body is honored. So we get to SHARE in the honor, what I'm saying. We SHARE in His honor.

But now we see providence in motion in verse 11 and 13. We see all things working together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. While the armies are gathered, God's already arranging every detail. He's arranging every detail.

Cicero doesn't know that God's moving him to go in that direction. If you'll read this on through here, let me read 11 and 13 right here. It's just so interesting to me to watch the hand of God work.

Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent into the plain of Zanaim, which is by Kadesh. And they showed Cicero that Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up to Mount Tabor. Somebody went there and they said, Look, you know what's going on? Barak's moved his army up there. And they said, Well, that ain't going to happen.

God's in this. God's doing this it's amazing God's doing it he don't know he's been stirred up by the Lord because the Lord's gonna put an end to him it's time for him to die and so he moves his tent near Kaddish and that little decision that little decision to do that would soon become a key part of God's purpose in this battle never doubt this never doubt this EVEN SMALL DETAILS ARE WOVEN INTO GOD'S GREAT DESIGN. EVERY LITTLE, EVERY LITTLE DETAIL.

You know, there's a few people I know that are given to detail, not too many, but there are some I know that are absolutely given to detail, but nothing like God, nothing like Him, even the weather, even the weather.

Now Barak stood with 10,000 men looking down the mountain at Sisera's 900 iron chariots. He's got his little 10,000 men up there, and that sounds like a lot, but when you're probably looking at about 200,000 down there, that's not much. You've probably got about 1% of what he's got. And I know to him it looked impossible, but when God commands the battle, And if God be for us, who can be against us? You think we'll ever learn that before we die? If God be for us, who can be against us? The outcome is already settled. God said, I'm going to deliver him into your hands.

And notice here, the Lord wins the battle in verse 14 and 16. Deborah cried and Deborah said unto Barak, This is interesting. Up, for this is the day, this is the day, this is the time. There is a time and a season for everything and today is the day that Cicero is going to die. This day has been marked on the calendar before creation. This is the day in which the Lord has delivered Cicero into thy hand. Boy, that ought to give you courage, shouldn't it? This is the day the Lord has delivered him into, that's past, that's past tense.

IS NOT THE LORD GONE OUT BEFORE THEE? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and 10,000 men went after him. But oh, you've got to love this.

IS NOT THE LORD GONE OUT BEFORE THEE? Did not the Lord go out before us in eternity? Can you imagine God, as great as He is, actually thought about YOU? YOU, as if no one else existed. and purpose to your salvation and everything about you in this time that you're living right now on this earth, God arranged and purposed everything about you. Everything. The Lord has gone before us in eternity. He went before us in the covenant of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ stood for us in that covenant of grace. Listen, He went before us in the grave. I haven't gone to the grave yet, but He did. He took the sting out of it. He took the victory out of it. And He's gone before us into heaven. Our forerunner is seated at God's right hand. Our elder brother is seated at God's right hand. Our king are all in all, because he's at God's right hand.

Now notice something here in verse 14. Deborah says, Up! This is the day the Lord is going to give you sisterhood. Is not the Lord gone before you? So Beric, she says, Get up! And Beric went down. Isn't that the life of a believer? The life of a believer, up and down. every believer has to go down before they go up because he said she said you get up and his getting up was going down i'm not stretching it that's the way it is if we go up we go down first we gotta go down and then listen here in verse 15 tells us this and the lord discomforted cicero who won the battle

WHO'S GIVING THE CREDIT IN HEBREWS 11? Barak speaks of his faith, and God HONORED his faith, He DID! He DID believe God! He DID go to the battle! He was ready to fight, he was ready to do whatever he needed to do, but all the Lord did was bring him to the battle and let him WATCH! Isn't that what we do? We sit here and the gospel is preached, and we just get to sit here and watch Christ battle. We get to see the battle. We see what He did for us at Calvary. We see Him defeat Satan. We see Him put away sin. We see Him redeem us from our sins. Oh, the LORD WON THE BATTLE! ALL BERIC AND HIS MEN DID WAS MARCH IN OBEDIENCE AND WATCH GOD WORK!

That's the same thing true for us. The battle is the Lord and basically we are just witnesses of the Lord's glory. Your enemies, your fears, your sins, they are no match for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, He's got His 10,000 men behind Him. The Lord told Him how many men to bring too. And these all, if you go over and read chapter 5, these are WILLING men. These all WILLINGLY, WILLINGLY joined up. Who made them willing? Why are you here? Why do you believe? Because of this, Psalm 110, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. That's why you're willing. He CHOSE us and He made us willing. He does it all, doesn't He? He does it all.

And then we come to the death of Cicero. Cicero fled the battle on foot, running to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, where he thought he was safe. Brethren, there's no way we can hide from God. You can't hide from God. I thought of this, he rode in and he ran out. He rode in a chariot, but he ran out on foot. God took him out of that chariot, and he took off running. And she welcomed him in, covered him with a blanket, gave him milk to drink. He thought he was SAFE! He thought he was SAFE! And I thought, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT A FALSE HOPE DOES FOR YOU! A FALSE HOPE WILL MAKE YOU THINK YOU'RE SAFE! A FALSE HOPE WILL GIVE YOU FALSE PEACE, WHICH LEADS TO REAL DEATH! He thought everything was fine. He was all covered up, had him a glass of milk. I'm gonna take a nap, I'm gonna go to sleep. You're gonna sleep to sleep to death, what you gonna do? That's just what he did. While he slept, JL took a tent peg and hammer and drove with a nail through his temple. Here's one of the thoughts that came to me. The death blow to Israel's enemy came by a nail. Came by a nail. And the death blow to our sins came by nails driven through our Savior's hands and feet. He drove those nails through His hands and feet and put an end to our sins. What Jael did in her tent, Christ did on His cross, crushing the enemy for the last time. And the FINAL VICTORY, and I'm going to close.

So GOD subdued Jabin, the king of Canaan, before in front of the children of Israel. Every time the cross is preached, every time Christ crucified is preached, YOU AND I ARE GETTING TO WATCH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DEFEATING OUR ENEMIES EVERY TIME. SATAN, SIN, CURSE OF THE LAW, DEATH. GOD SUBDUED JAPAN. WHO SUBDUED YOUR SINS? Your guilt and your shame, who subdued them? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's who subdued them.

And the hand of the children of Israel prospered. Under Christ and His grace, we prosper. Are you prospering? I'm not talking about worldly things. I'm talking about victory over sin, Satan, and the world. Brethren, we have a good end. We have a really, really, really good end.

1 John 5 verse 4, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Oh well Barrick went down there to fight he went down he did what the Lord said to do and the Lord just took him down there let him watch the battle. It says they fell on their own swords. To Christ goes all the glory. He's the man of perfect faith. HE'S THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD PERFECTLY, FOLLOWED AFTER HIM PERFECTLY, KEPT EVERY JOT AND TITTLE OF THE LAW OF GOD, THE WORD OF GOD PERFECTLY. AND ALL THE GLORY GOES TO HIM. AND THE CHURCH, HIS BRIDE, HIS WIFE GETS TO SHARE IN IT. SHE GETS TO SHARE IN IT.

I tell you this, after reading these things about Gideon and Beric and others, God does remarkable things through ordinary people who just believe Him. Man, I tell you, what can be done by a man or a woman that believes God? It would be astounding.