and preach for them down there.
So Brother Scott has agreed to bring the message to you. It'll
just be one service, just one at 1015, just the morning service,
1015 only. There won't be an 11 o'clock
next Sunday, but then after that, we'll pick up again. And then
just so you know, we have our midweek service on Tuesday nights,
which is at seven o'clock, seven to eight, 815, 830, we're usually
wrapped up by them. So we're Tuesday nights every
week at that time. If you want to come to a midweek
service and then. So let's see. Oh, and then also
for our conference. We're going to have a conference
in November, Lord willing, on the 12th and the 13th. That's
just a Saturday and a Sunday. And that's because usually they
have this place occupied on Friday nights. There's a dance and a
band that goes on. So we can't have our Friday night
service then. But so we'll have it on Saturday
evening. So in the afternoon, later in the afternoon, I think
around three or four, we'll have the first two messages. Then
we'll have a meal in between. And then another two messages
as well. And then Sunday morning, just
like this, we'll have two messages as a service. And then we'll
have a meal afterwards as well. So all are welcome. If you'd
like to donate to that, because that's probably going to be a
couple thousand dollars to the pastors and putting them up and
such, there are some envelopes there that say comp on them if
you want to donate anything specifically to the conference. Otherwise,
if you just put it in, it goes to meet the needs of the church
itself. And that'll be three pastors
at that conference. That's Darwin, who you all know
well, Larry Criss, who hasn't been here in a while, and Donny
Bell. I don't know if Donny's ever been here. So this will
be the first time for Donny, and they'll be coming with their
wives, Donny and Larry, as well. Donny will be staying with us.
Larry, I think, wants to be in a hotel, but if anybody wants
to put them up, I can ask him if he'll If he's okay with that,
I'm not sure. And then Darwin already has a
place with the Moors. And pray for me with the, I want
to expand the live stream outreach. Right now it's only on Facebook.
Not everybody's on Facebook. Not everybody likes Facebook.
I get that. So I'm trying to at least get to YouTube again.
I just need to download things and get that set up. I got to
work through it. And then, so pray about that as the Lord.
which brings it to your heart. And then today, we have a meal
after services. We'll be taking the Lord's Supper.
It's open to all believers who trust Christ and who believe
him alone for salvation. You're welcome to take with us.
And then afterwards, you're welcome to stay for a meal, and we have
plenty. planning for you all. So you're
welcome to come. So that's just it for the announcements
there. All right, brother, you come
up. I don't know if we started this. Let's begin our second service
by standing and singing Standing on the Promises, 175 out of your
hymnal, 175. Standing on the Promises. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the Spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting
in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God. I'm standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Thank you. May be seated. Good morning, everybody. I'm
going to read Hosea 6. Hosea 6. Come and let us return unto the
Lord. For he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten,
and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
us. In the third day he will raise
us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know if
we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as
the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter
and former rain unto the earth. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto
thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? For your goodness is the morning
cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away. Therefore have
I hewn them by the prophets. I have slain them by the words
of my mouth, and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more
than burnt offerings. But they, like men, have transgressed
the covenant. There they have dealt treacherously
against me. Gilead is a city of them that
work iniquity and is polluted with blood. And as troops of
robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in
the way by consent, for they commit lewdness. I have seen
a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There is the whoredom
of Ephraim. Israel is defiled. Also, Judah,
he has set harvest for thee when I return the captivity of my
people. Let's pray. Father, we come to
you this morning. Thank you. I think full for this
passage of scripture and father. We're also thankful for the message
that you brought us this morning and father for the one that you
sent to bring that message and Father as always we ask that
you continue to support him as he studies To continue to bring
the words that you'd have us to hear and father we ask that
If it be your will that our congregation continue to grow and Father,
if it not be your will that we be happy with 10 people as well
as we would be happy with 1000. Father, we just ask that. Regardless
of what you decide to do with us, father that you make us willing.
and accepting of what you have planned for us. And Father, we
ask that you continue to watch over this group. And Lord, we
ask that you watch over us as he brings the second message.
Father, we ask that you open our eyes and our hearts to hear
the message and to see the direction that you would have us to go.
And Father, we just ask that you continue to watch over us
and care for us in Christ's name. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 472, Heavenly Sunlight, 472. Walking in sunlight all of my
journey, over the mountains, through the deep vale. Jesus
has said, I'll never forsake thee, promise divine that never
can fail. Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing
these praises, Jesus is mine. Shadows around me, shadows above
me, never conceal my Savior and God. He is the light, in Him
is no darkness, ever I'm walking close to His side. Heavenly sunlight,
heavenly sunlight, flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing
His praises, Jesus is mine. In the bright sunlight ever rejoicing,
pressing my way to mansions above. Singing his praises gladly I'm
walking, walking in sunlight, sunlight of love. Heavenly sunlight,
heavenly sunlight, flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing
His praises, Jesus is mine. Thank you. Morning. All right, we're going to be
in Judges chapter 4. Judges 4, this is in the beginning
of the Bible there. You have the books of Moses up
through Deuteronomy and then Joshua and then comes Judges.
Judges chapter 4. Now while you're turning there,
There's an encouraging word that Paul, by the Spirit, writes in
Romans 16, verse 20. And you can put this there at
the top of the heading of your Bible there in Judges 4, because
it does help us in our understanding of what we're looking at here
in this chapter. It says, in the God of peace,
there's true peace with God, not the peace of this world,
not peace with the enemy of our souls as we have by nature, but
the peace of God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. So when you read this chapter,
Judges chapter 4, you're reading in account, in type, and in picture
of what our Savior does, the Lord Jesus Christ, in conquering
His enemies and your enemies, the enemies of our souls. This
is by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who overthrows our enemies
and our oppressors. Now let me just say one other
thing. From this pulpit, we often say that this word declares of
Christ. It speaks of Christ in all the
Bible. All the word speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It says in Luke 24, verse 44,
that when he rose from the dead and came and spoke to his disciples,
he said, these are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets,
and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures." And so, when our
Lord opens our understanding of what this Word is saying,
He shows us that it's speaking of Jesus Christ. He's salvation. He's salvation. It's nothing
to know the historical account, to understand the Bible stories
and the lessons from them, that's nothing. But if you know Christ,
if you have Christ, he's life, that's everything, everything
to the believer. And so this chapter, Judges chapter
four, is speaking of Christ and what he does for you, his people
whom he loves. I've titled this Victory Promised,
Victory Declared. So it begins, this chapter begins
with this familiar pattern we've seen throughout the book of Judges. It's that we need a living, eternal
Savior. That never changes because whenever
the Judge died, the people went back to their sin. But in Christ,
who lives forever, and we in Him, He keeps us, walking in
faith, looking to Him. So Judges 4 verses 1 and 2. And
the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the
Lord, when Ehud was dead. That was the previous judge that
God used to save the people. And the Lord sold them into the
hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor. the captain
of whose host was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles."
Now, in this chapter, we're introduced to quite a number of characters. And each one has a significance
and a meaning, which we see in their names, as we often do.
Jabin, king of Canaan, this guy reigns in Hazor, which just means
castle. Or he has a stronghold, and he's
the head guy about it. and he's a picture of the accuser
of the brethren. He's a picture of the devil who
comes and accuses us of our sin, who reminds us of our weaknesses
and our faults, and how we're unworthy of the true and living
God. And the accuser is always there,
or he was accusing us before the Father. Look at what they
did. Look at how they are. Look at how they act. Look at
what they do, that God would destroy us. And his name means
whom God observes. whom God considers, and that's
fitting because he's always calling attention to our wickedness,
to our sin, the sin of our heart. Now Sisera, it says, is his captain,
and his name means battle array, battle array. He's from Harosheth
of the Gentiles. And that indicates that those
people were of the woodland, and they were woodworkers. And
stone workers is what it means. They manufactured weapons, which
were used against the people of God. And this Sisera is a
picture for us. He's a picture of all the weapons
that the enemy manufactures and wields and puts out in battle
array against us to destroy us, to take us down. That includes
things like the fiery darts of the devil, the accusations that
he hurls at us, bringing back to our minds again our sin and
our faults and rebellion against God. These are the persecutions. These are the trials, the temptations
that are all arrayed against us to destroy us, to defeat us. Now we're told in verse 3, And
the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for he had nine
hundred, this Siseragai, had nine hundred chariots of iron. And twenty years he mightily
oppressed the children of Israel. And so brethren, we're reminded
again here of our own infirmities, of our own weaknesses, which
humble us and bring us low in ourselves and bring us to see
our need of a Savior, the Savior, the true and living God, Jesus
Christ. And God uses these trials and
temptations and persecutions and difficulties to give us understanding
and knowledge of Him, who He is, who we are. our nothingness,
our need of his grace and mercy, and to see his sufficiency. This
is why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12 10, he said, therefore, because
God uses these things to bring me to him, therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. When we're weak in ourselves,
that's where we see the strength of Christ, and that's where he
reveals that strength. He'll let us go on for a long
time in our pride and arrogance and in our own strength, and
he'll let us wear ourselves out to bring us to see our need of
him and to see his strength. And no, He doesn't need our strength. He doesn't need our cockiness.
He's provided everything for the sinner in Christ His Son. And so, these providences that
we go through are by the divine appointment of God. Everything
you've experienced is by the divine appointment of God for
your good according to God's purpose for you. Now we read
in verses four and five, and Deborah, a prophetess, the wife
of Labadoth, she judged Israel at that time, and she dwelt under
the palm tree of Deborah, probably that Deborah referring to the
nurse, I think it was, of Rebecca who went out with her. She died,
because this is in Benjamin, between Ramah and Bethel and
Mount Ephraim. And so this location, where this
Deborah prophetess is, is in the tribe of Benjamin. And the
children of Israel came up to her for judgment. So from all
around Israel, all 12 tribes, they knew of this woman. She
was well-respected. And they came to her for judgment.
And they would bring their difficult problems there. And she would
discern for them and tell them what to do. And they would honor
it and do what she said. She was respected. Her name means
B, and that's because she was a busy woman, probably very industrious,
and had a good income for herself. But here, what is she? What is she picturing? She is
a picture of the Holy Spirit. of the Holy Spirit who speaks
to the children of God, who reveals the salvation of God, who reveals
to us the Word of God, to know what is the Lord saying here
to his people? What does this mean? And she
would untangle it and make it known and make it plain to the
people. The Holy Spirit is given to us. The people of God is given to
us to manifest, to make known, Christ to us, to give us the
hearing of faith whereby we hear this word differently than we've
ever heard it before. That we hear it in faith, looking
not to ourselves, not what I need to do, not how I need to improve,
but to look to Christ, the servant of God, who came and laid down
His life for the sins of His people to give us hope and life
in Him, to walk in Him alone. And so she, like the Holy Spirit,
teaches and reveals the word of God and makes known what God
would have us to do and to walk in faith looking to Christ. Now
it says that she was the wife of Labadoth. And some read it
as she was of Labadoth, of a place called Labadoth. And it really
doesn't matter in this picture here of what we see, because
Labadoth means lamp or torches. It means something that you light
with fire and gives light to others. And that's a very good
picture of her as a type of the Holy Spirit who lightens the
people of God, who brings light, the light of Christ, to our hearts
and to our minds and make us to see the true and living God. In fact, the Spirit is often
referred to or compared to a flame or a fire in Scripture. If you
turn over to Acts chapter 2, we see this. Acts 2, in the first four verses, And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord, they were of
one mind, and they were in one place. And suddenly there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all
the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
And so we see that the Spirit is compared to fire. And John
the Baptist said of Christ when He should come that He would
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He gives light
to his people. He is that shining and he's the
brightness and the burning lamp which reveals the truth of God
made known to us. He's revealing it to us that
we should know him, that we should know I'm the sinner, I'm defiled,
I'm in darkness, I need salvation, I'm the prisoner bound up and
shut up from my God, the true living God. How can a man be
justified? How can a man be cleansed of
his sin? And He makes us to know, look to Christ. Look to Christ. He is the Savior. He's the one
who gave His life and shed His blood to purge us of our sins
to obtain forgiveness for us with God. And God is well pleased
with the Son. And in Christ, He blesses the
people. He forgives His people of their
sins and comforts your hearts in Christ. Now, back in Judges
4 verses 6 and 7, she calls a man named Barak. He's a child of God, and she
reveals to him the word of God, which is given for him. It says
there, and she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinuim, out
of Kadesh Naphtali, or Naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the
Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go, and draw toward Mount
Tabor, and take with thee 10,000 men of the children of Naphtali,
and of the children of Zebulun? So again, we see her influence,
her reach, all the way out to these other tribes that aren't
even part of her tribe. And she continues with the word
of the Lord, I will draw unto thee to the river Caishon, Cicero,
which is twisted. It's a winding, twisted river.
It turns. And God is going to turn everything
against the enemy and destroy them. So he brings him to this
river, Cicero, the captain of Jabin's army with his chariots
and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine hand. Now, Barak means lightning or
lightning flash. And that is, he was lighted by
Deborah, the spirit, the picture of the spirit enlightening his
mind and his understanding. Abinuim means my father is the
light. This man delighted in the father,
God the father. He delighted in God. And he comes
out of Kedesh, which is a holy place. In fact, it's actually
a city of refuge in the tribe of Naphtali. And he tells us
that in Joshua 21, 32. We're not going to look at that,
but it's a city of refuge there. And so he's a member of the church
body in the wilderness. Just like all God's people, we're
in the wilderness in the body of Christ. Now Deborah makes
known to him the will of God that he will defeat all our enemies,
that he is the light and strength given to the people. And he's
declaring to Barak the victory before it even comes to pass. He's declaring victory, victory. You're going to be victorious
in the Lord. And so this is a picture of the
gospel, of the good news, wherein God declares salvation for the
sinner. He declares deliverance from
the prison, deliverance from the wrath of God to come on the
inhabitants of the earth. He declares victory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Brethren, our God declared victory
and salvation to all who trust in Christ, to all of you who
have no righteousness of your own, no goodness, nothing to
give to God, who come with empty hand. seeking mercy in the Son
whom he promised for the life of the people. Christ has come
and he has silenced your accuser. He's shut his mouth. He has nothing
to say to you. He's been thrust out of heaven. He's no longer before the throne
of God accusing. His mouth is silenced in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's put away your sin. He's
put away your reproach in Christ and given us eternal life in
Him. How do I know that I have life
in Christ? You that believe are manifesting the work of the Spirit
given to you in grace and mercy. You didn't believe on Christ
and then he did something for you. You believe on Christ because
God has done something for you in grace and in mercy. We give
all the glory and honor and praise to him alone. Now we have the
blessing. We enjoy the blessing of knowing
that that one who was promised to Adam and Eve in the garden,
the seed of woman, that he should come, we have the blessing of
knowing he did come. And He did fulfill all righteousness. And He did go to the cross and
lay down His life willingly as a sacrifice and a sin-atoning
sacrifice for his people, and not one for whom Christ died
is lost. Not one for whom he died shall
ever go to hell, but shall be recovered and delivered from
their death, delivered from their bondage, taken out of the prison.
The door is open, and Christ says, sinner, come forth. Show yourselves. Show yourselves. And he brings us into the light,
and we rejoice to see that all this was God's compassion and
mercy. for me so we have that blessing
but we also have the word of promise that he has done this
for us and it is a walk of faith because we see in ourselves things
we would not see things that we don't think we should see
we see our need of him continually because it is a walk of faith
looking to christ always and he gives us his word that he
shall return again So we have the promise of God declared to
us that He shall return and we shall be raised victorious out
of the grave. We shall be raised again and
given newness of life. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15
and we'll see this. There's a promise spoken to Barak
here, and he believed it. There's a promise spoken to you,
who believe Christ, that he shall return and raise you from the
dead. 1 Corinthians 15, go down to
verse 51, and we'll read it to the end, verse 58. Here the Apostle Paul, Says,
behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. He's
talking about our flesh, which is corruptible and is mortal,
means that we die and go into the grave. And he's saying that's
all going to be changed for the believer. So when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
is written, death is swallowed up in victory. The day is coming. The promise is declared to you
that death shall be swallowed up in victory. The sting of death
is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. That's why we die. That's why we that know not Christ
don't want to die, because we're laboring in fear, trying to do
good works, trying to work off our debt. But God says to his
children, you can't work it off. There's nothing you can do to
atone for your sins. He's provided everything, all
the cleansing we need in His Son, Jesus Christ. And so thanks
be to God, verse 57, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord, because the fruits are eternal, and they're worked
in us by the Spirit of Christ, who makes us fruitful in Him,
in faith, and patience, and love, and joy, and peace, and kindness,
and gentleness to one another, we bear those fruits of righteousness,
trusting in the Lord. I don't have to fight you for
what I want. I have everything in Christ, and he gives it freely
to you, his people. Trust him, rest in him. And so this is the promised victory
of your God to you gathered here this day. Come to the Savior. Look to the servant of God for
the washing of your sins. Trust Him. Believe Him. All who look to Him shall never
be ashamed. Those who look to themselves,
those who come in their own works of righteousness, you shall be
ashamed, and you shall die in your sins. But you that have
nothing, look to Christ. God has provided everything for
the sinner in His Son. Look to him, and so he's gained
the victory over Jabin and Sisera, who are a type, a figure of all
that oppose you and stand in the way of life for you. He's
defeated them. Now, back in Judges 4, verses
8 and 9. And Barak said unto her, If thou
wilt go with me, then I will go, but if thou wilt not go with
me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go
with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall
not be for thine honor, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the
hand of a woman. And Deborah rose and went with
Barak to Kadesh. Now, historically, when we look
at this, this is seen as a knock on Barak for unbelief. And the
Lord says, I'm going to give honor not to you, Barak, for
defeating Sisera. I'm going to sell him into the
hand of a woman. There's a picture. I'm going
to sell him to one who is weak, one who should not be able to
overcome this Sisera god, this mighty warrior, but a woman's
going to take his life. And so in Christ, though, even
though this is a knock on Barack here, historically, say you should
not have done this. You should have trusted the word.
In reality, this is my prayer and this is your prayer. Lord,
don't send me into the battle except you go with me. Lord,
I don't have the strength. I don't have the might. I don't
have the wisdom. I have no righteousness of my
own. I have no standing. but in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, go with me. And if you won't go with me,
don't send me. Don't send me there, Lord, except you be with
me. And so that's our cry. That's our prayer. That's the
prayer of faith. Lord, I don't want to go alone.
I need you every hour. And thankfully, our Lord says,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. And so we're made partakers
in this victory. We're given an eternal inheritance. But, and we bear fruits, but
the honor and the glory belongs not to you and not to me. It
belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Savior. He's the one
who accomplished salvation. And so we make our boast and
we sing of Christ. We speak gloriously of what he
has done for me. The world and religion talks
about what you've done for the Lord, what you need to be doing
better, what you need to be doing more of and less of. We declare
and sing of Christ and what He's done for us and we rejoice in
Him. He's our boast. As it says in
1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 and 31, but of Him, are ye in Christ
Jesus who has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord. And so that's scriptural. That's
what the Spirit reveals, that we boast in and rejoice in Jesus
Christ. He's all to the believer. And
the more we grow in Him, the longer we go in Christ, the more
we see our need of Him and how glorious, how merciful, how loving,
how kind He is to unworthy, undeserving sinners Like us, like us, we
see the glory of Christ and we rejoice and love him all the
more for it. So, Barack does according to
the word of the Lord. He goes and gathers the people
and Deborah goes with them and he goes to Mount Tabor and then
we read here, oh and then we read that this Sisera guy, he
was drawn there just like the Lord said. And verse 14, Judges
4, 14, and Deborah said unto Barack, For this is the day in
which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand. Is not the Lord gone out before
thee? So Barak went down from Mount
Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And so this battle here,
brethren, over the word of God which was spoken, it's a picture
of the word of God, which is to us as a double-edged sword. It has two edges. What I mean
is, to Barak, this was the word of life. This word declared victory
and deliverance. And he believed the Lord, and
he went and witnessed victory by the hand of the Lord against
his enemies, just as God said. But this word, at the same time,
that word which was glorious and life to Barak was death to
Sisera. It was death that Sisera declared
that he has no part in the Lord. He has no part in this inheritance. Verse 15 says, and the Lord discomfited
Sisera, discomfited him, and all his chariots and all his
host with the edge of the sword before Barak, so that Sisera
lighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet. James says something about this.
He says, Brethren, trust in the Lord, resist the devil, and he
shall flee from you. He shall flee from you. We resist
him, not in ourselves, not in our own strength, but in Christ.
That's why he says, submit yourselves to God. Put your hands and put
yourselves in the arms of Christ. Believe on Him. So this word,
discomfited, it means to make noise. It means to confuse. It
means to trouble and to destroy. And that's what we see in the
preaching of the gospel. To one, they hear life. They hear rejoicing. They hear
Christ. They hear salvation. That's the
people of God. And to the other, that same word
is but noise and confusion. It doesn't make sense. It does
nothing for them. They're troubled by it and destroyed,
ultimately. That's all done in the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. We don't need to do anything
more but preach Christ, but lift Him up and exalt Him before the
people. And He draws all whom He will
to Himself to believe Him, to trust in Him. I'll read from
2 Corinthians 2 verses 14 through 17. It speaks to this. Paul says,
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph
in Christ. In everything we have the victory
in the Lord. Whether we see it or not, we
have victory in Christ. And maketh manifest. He makes
known the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. That's
the preaching of the gospel. That's making known the savor
of his knowledge everywhere we go. We just preach Christ. For
we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved
and in them that perish, who die in their sins. To the one
we are the saver of death unto death, that's Sisera, and to
the other the saver of life unto life, that's Barak. And who is
sufficient for these things? We can't look at anybody and
say, well, this one's a child of God, and that one isn't a
child of God. We're ignorant fools. We don't
know nothing. But God knows. He knows whom
He chose and gave to Christ before the foundation of the world,
and He draws them in, and He gives them the hearing of faith
as He will, and they hear Christ. And they hear, I need that Savior. I can't save myself. I have no
righteousness. I need that Savior. Lord, save
me. Have mercy on me. And who's sufficient
for these things? God does it according as He pleases,
as He will. And so we give glory to him.
For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but
as of sincerity, but as of God and the sight of God speak we
in Christ. And so we preach Christ and he
does the dividing as he will. He takes his sheep and he puts
them on this side and he takes his goats and he puts them on
this side and one has life and one is dead. One has death, goes
to eternal death. It's all the Lord. It's all the
Lord. We don't have to tell people what to do. We tell them Christ.
We preach Christ. Now the assault that Sisera brought
against Barak, it failed. It was destroyed. It completely
failed. And so Barak and his people weren't subdued, but they
witnessed that victory in Christ. Now go back to Judges 4, verse
17 through 19 there. Howbeit Sisera fled away on his
feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For
there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor, and the house
of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera,
and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me, fear not.
And when he had turned unto her into the tent, she covered him
with a mantle. She put a blanket on him. And
he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink,
for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk,
and gave him drink, and covered him. she basically lulled this
guy to sleep. She just put him to sleep to
be slain. Now all these here, all these
words, this word here again are shadows and pictures and therefore
as with any any allegory or shadow or picture, it doesn't always
line up neatly with what we think it should say. Sometimes there's
variations and things that don't fit perfectly in there, and that's
why so often so many stumble when reading the word to see
Christ or to look for the gospel in a passage like this. Historically,
it just seems like an account of a battle for Israel, but it's
preaching to us Christ. It's declaring salvation and
victory in the Lord to us. And so, JL here, this woman,
she's a judge. She is the one raised up by the
Lord to save the people. She's going to put this Sisera
fella to death. And because she's the Savior,
she is a type and a picture of Christ. She's not a man. She's
a woman. But she is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the righteous, the true and living Savior of
His people. This tent of JL means that there
are nomadic people. There are transient people going
from place to place. They don't stay still. They have
herds, and they take them to different fields to feed and
eat. She's out in the wilderness.
This is a tent in the wilderness. And the enemy came there. Why?
Because it says that peace, there was peace between Jabin, the
king of Hazor, the devil, and the house of Heber, the Kenite. Heber means comrade. These people
were friends with this enemy. They had united in unholy union
with their enemy. And the Kenites, it says they
were smiths. That's what it means. They were
blacksmiths. They probably helped manufacture those iron chariots
which were used against the people of God, which were weapons set
up in that battle array against the people of God. And so we
read of this. This is what we are by nature.
God hath made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions,
many devices. We're all guilty of it. We've
all pursued the sins and the wickedness and the idolatry and
the covetousness of our own heart. None of us is sinless. None of us is free in this flesh. We're all enemies by nature against
the true and living God. That's how we all come forth.
But in this we see a picture of Christ. Christ, like his brethren,
took upon him a tent, a tent of this flesh, and came into
the wilderness where we are, in this fallen, wicked place. and this sinful place, and he
came to a people who had fallen in sin and had an unholy union
with the enemy of our souls, walking according to the course
of this world, doing the things that we would that please our
own flesh, that which delights and suits our fancy. Christ came
to that people, and he, for his people, went out to meet the
enemy of our souls, and he faced off with him. And he dealt with
him, and he said, come here. Come here. I'm going to deal
with you. You come here. And he destroyed
our enemy. When we could do nothing, he
came in weakness. Weakness like this woman, who
no one would have thought she could defeat Sisera, a great
mighty warrior, so Christ came in the weakness of the flesh,
having laid aside his glory, who didn't say a word to deliver
himself, but did deliver us by the death of himself, by the
shedding of his own blood. And so it says in verse 21, then
Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the temp, and took a hammer
in her hand and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into
his temples, and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast
asleep and weary. So he died. So we die. Brethren, this is a picture of
what Christ did for all our enemies, all our sins, all the ordinances
of the law, all the perfections, everything that stood against
us, the curse of the law, which demanded our death, Christ took
it and nailed it to his cross. Let's see that in Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians 2, verses 13 through
15. And you, this is Colossians 2.13,
and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with Christ, having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. He brought it in his own
self to the cross and put it to death for you. Put it to death.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, things like Sisera
and Jabin, he made a show of them openly. He put them to shame,
triumphing over them in him. Christ The true and living Savior
has conquered all our foes, all our enemies, put it to death,
and made a show of them, embarrassed them, put them to shame. So you
that hope in Christ, you shall never be ashamed. You shall stand
before God in that day of judgment, faultless, because you that trust
in Christ have your sins put away, your sins forgiven, washed
clean, looking to Christ, standing in the righteous robe of his
righteousness, not your own, his. And he has made you righteous,
so that you stand faultless before the throne of holy God, who knows
all and sees all, because he's satisfied with his people in
Christ. Rest in Him. Trust Him. Believe
Him. He is the Savior God has appointed
to save His people from their sins and give them an expected
end of hope and peace and joy with God Almighty forevermore
in Christ. And so he sends this word now
to his people. He declares this good word, this
good news, that all the enemies are defeated. They're done. He
tells us, it's all done. It's all put away. There's nothing
more for you to do. He sets his people at liberty
with this word. So I'll just wrap it up here
in Judges 4, 22 through 24. And behold, as Barak pursued
Sisera, Jael, this woman who killed Sisera, came out to meet
him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man
whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent,
behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the
children of Israel. And the hand of the children
of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin, the king of Canaan,
until they had destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan. That's the good
news. Our Savior has already defeated
all the enemies. Yeah, the devil's out there running
around causing trouble, and he does what he does, but he's already
defeated. Sisera has been put to death.
Jabin's still out there running around, but his day's coming.
And when Christ returns, it's over. it's over. And we shall
be raised in victory according to the word of God who spoke
it to you, the word of promise. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts and help you to hear it and rejoice in Him. Amen. Let's pray and then I'll just
remind us of a couple announcements and then we'll take the Lord's
Supper together. Our gracious Lord, again, we thank you for
your word. We thank you, Lord, that you
open our eyes to see Christ in all the scriptures, even in this
Old Testament account, how we see the glory of your gospel.
and we rejoice in the victory which you declared to us in Christ.
Lord, help us not to look to ourselves, not to look to what
we have done, not to our sins or not to our good works, but
to look to your Savior, your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we have
nothing but Him, and we are satisfied with Him, even as you are satisfied.
Help us, Lord, to continue walking in this faith, trusting you.
always. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. And Lord, again, help us with
our needs and infirmities and our weaknesses. Help us make
us strong in Christ. Help us to serve one another,
to be kind and patient, and to bear those fruits of the Spirit
with one another. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. All right, brethren. So we're
going to take the Lord's Supper Brother Joe and Jordan, if you
can just hand out the bread and the wine. And I'll just say it's
for believers. If you believe Christ. I don't
have to know you. Christ knows you. If you believe
Christ and you trust Him, you're welcome to take it. You can take
the bread and the wine. It is wine, just so you know.
And you're welcome to take it and pray to the Lord. Help us
to look to Him. Trust Him. That's what we're
doing. We're remembering what He's done for us in faith. If
you don't take it, there's no judgment. We're not here to judge
people. We trust Christ. All right, I'll be reading from
1 Corinthians 11. Before I do that, I'll just pray. Lord, thank
you for your sacrifice and coming in the weakness of this flesh
among a people of sin and wickedness and for going forth to meet our
enemy and destroying him completely. putting him to death and everything,
Lord, that stood opposed to us for, for destroying it all on
your cross. Lord, thank you. We don't thank
you enough. We don't think of it and remember
it enough, Lord, but you're worthy of all praise and honor and glory
and power. And we thank you for making us
partakers of this inheritance by your grace. Lord, help us
now as we take this bread and this wine. Help us indeed to
remember what you've done for us. Strengthen us, not in ourselves,
but in Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen.
So I'm reading from 1 Corinthians 11. I'll just read it all and
I'll sit down and then we'll take the bread and the wine together. Paul says in verse 23, for I
received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. that
the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took
bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said,
take, eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped,
saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft
as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till
he come. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 447, the lily of the valley, 447. I've found a friend in Jesus,
He's everything to me, He's the fairest of ten thousand to my
soul. The lily of the valley, in Him
alone I see, All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole. In sorrow He's my comfort, in
trouble He's my stay. He tells me every care on Him
to roll. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. He all my griefs has taken and
all my sorrows borne. In temptation He's my strong
and mighty tower. I have all for Him forsaken and
all my idols torn. From my heart and now He keeps
me by His power. Though all the world forsake
me and Satan tempt me sore, through Jesus I shall safely reach the
goal. He's the lily of the valley,
the brightest morning star. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. He ever, never leave me, nor
yet forsake me here, while I live by faith and do His blessed will. Of all the fire about me, I've
nothing now to fear. With His manna, He my hungry
soul shall fill. Then sweeping up to glory, I'll
see His blessed face, where rivers of delight shall ever roll. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of 10,000 to
my soul. Thank you.