Judges chapter 4, go there, Judges
chapter 4. As you know, we've been going
through the Old Testament, trying to preach what perhaps our Lord
preached to those disciples on that road to Emmaus. Did he preach
on Barak, on Gideon, on Samson, on Jephthah? Those four names
are mentioned along with David and Samuel in one verse in Hebrews
11. Maybe, maybe the Lord did, maybe
He didn't. Paul wrote there in Hebrews,
time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and so forth.
Well, we have time, so we're going to look at each one of
these. Barak, the name means flashing
sword or glittering sword. Did not our Lord say that in
Deuteronomy 32? If I wet my glittering sword. In the Revelation, it speaks
of our Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ says, Out
of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, and with it he should smite the
nations, meaning His Word. The Lord doesn't have to use
a weapon. His Word is His power. He does all things by His Word,
just speaking the Word. And it says he rules with a rod
of iron. He treaded the winepress of the
fierceness and the wrath of God Almighty. He goes on to say the
remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse,
which sword proceeded out of his mouth. Go back now, Judges chapter 4.
So this is a type picture. Barak is not our Lord. Brother
Mike Anderson said Wednesday that the angel of the Lord is
not a type of the Lord. He is the Lord. That's a good
observation. He was not a type. That was the
Lord. But this man is a type, a semblance,
a picture of our Lord. Look at verses 1 through 3. It
came to pass The children of Israel again did evil in the
sight of the Lord when Ehud, a deliverer, had died. The Lord sold them into the hand
of Jabin, king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor, the captain
of whose host was Sisera. which dwelt in Herosheth of the
Pentile. The children of Israel cried
unto the Lord. He had 900 chariots of iron. Twenty years he mightily oppressed,
strongly oppressed the children of Israel. Again and again it
says, if you've read this, and I have been reading Judges, Again
and again and again and again, it says, Israel did sin again. They did evil again. And the Lord, He raised up enemies
because of their rebellion against Him. The Lord raised up these
enemies to deal with His people. and trouble them and they were
taken captive by their enemies, which is all a picture of how
the things of this world, the sins of people, the troubles
and all that have us, hold us captive to fear and worry and
doubts and lust and so forth. Here's the fact of the matter.
If and when we sin and do evil, we can expect evil to come from
it. Trouble's going to follow. This is all through the scriptures,
the children of Israel. We're going to look at Psalm
106 in the next message. It's just like Psalm 107. Because God hasn't changed, man
hasn't changed, our enemies haven't changed, the world hasn't changed. We live in a present evil world,
and it's full of trouble, and we're in it, and we get in it,
and it gets in us, and we get in trouble. We cause trouble
for ourselves. Romans 15 says whatever was written
the fourth time was written for our learning. All of this is
written for our learning. 1 Corinthians 10 says, all these
things were an example that we might not be overcome like they
were. Because it's over and over again,
it says, God was not pleased with them. They were overcome
in the world, in the wilderness. It looks like we would learn
from our sins, doesn't it? Looks like it. John wrote this. He said, little children, these
things I write unto you that you sin not. Don't do it. Thankfully, he went on to say,
if any man does sin, we have an advocate. We have a captain,
like Barak. The Lord told the man at the
Pool of Bethesda, he said, after he said, After he said, I've
made you whole. Now, go and sin no more, didn't
he? Lest a worse thing come upon
you. That's what he said. The woman
caught in the act of adultery. He said, I don't condemn you.
Your sins are forgiven. I don't condemn you. But he said,
go and sin no more. You're going to get yourself
right back in trouble. Now, I'm not preaching sinless
perfection. That's not possible in this life. But by His grace,
if we would just heed His Word, if we would just hear Him, we
could spare ourselves a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble. Well, the children of Israel
did evil again. In verse 3 it says, they cried
unto the Lord. That's my second message. What's
the first message? Whosoever shall call, They cried unto the Lord. They
cried. Because they were troubled greatly,
mightily oppressed, strong enemies. These enemies had, for 20 years,
they had 900 chariots of iron. There was a fellow named Jabin.
His name means intelligent. They had an intelligent enemy. They had a man who knew how to
afflict and how to cause trouble. He was a mighty man, not almighty. We have an adversary who's wise
in the ways of evil. We need to be wise as serpents. And he had chariots of iron,
it says in verse 3, chariots of iron. Now literally, some
of you may have seen that movie Bend Her. I really liked that
old movie back in the fifties. But you remember those chariots
that had the sword sticking out from the wheels? That's exactly
what he had. He had these chariots, and all
the old writers say that, that used to sweep through Israel
and just mow them down. And they were scared to death
of that technology. of these mighty armies that were
just, they were scared to death. Turn with me to Psalm 20. I just
read that to you, Psalm 20. And I want you to look at it.
Mark it well, may the Lord mark it on our hearts. David was a
warrior. David, now David was a long time
after Judges. Okay, and he was a warrior. He
fought every foe there was to face. From the time he was 16
years old, we think he was 16 when he went out against Goliath,
until he was 70, he fought hand-to-hand combat with swords. with knives, wrestling people
down on the ground. He himself was slain, was wounded,
and they thought he was dead. They picked him up and thought
he was dead. And that was the time they said, you're not going
with us anymore. You're worth 10,000 of us. We don't want anything
to happen to you. David wasn't worried about anything happening
to him. Read it with me. And he faced
every foe with every thing that man had at his disposal and wanted
Israel and God's people dead. Now the Lord hear thee in the
day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. Does he? Yes. Nothing and no one else does. Are you here, maybe? This is
God's Word. Send thee help from the sanctuary. We're here this
morning to get help. What help? God says, I am a very
present help in time of trouble. I am your help. I am your refuge. I am your hiding place. I am
your shield. Nothing and no one protects us
but God. Read on, it says down in verse,
and David wrote this after another battle, just another of many,
where the Lord spared him. In verse 5 it says, We will rejoice
in thy salvation, in the name of our God. Verse 6, Now I know
that the Lord saveth his anointed. I know he does. Verse 7, Some
trust in chariots, some in horses. We will remember the name of
the Lord our God. They're brought down and followed.
We're risen. We're standing upright. And he
ended by saying, Save, Lord. You've saved us. Nothing else
and no one else can. I remind you, Isaiah. Isaiah, the prophet, rebuked
the people. He said, whoa, the rebellious
children that take counsel, but not of me. They go down to Egypt,
strengthen themselves in the strength, the technology, the
might of Egypt, trust in the shadow of Egypt. He says, it's
going to be your shame. He went on to say that the Egyptians'
help is in vain. And Isaiah said, I've cried,
their strength is to sit still, to come and sit still. Verse 15, he said, in returning
and rest. Returning where? To our God,
His sanctuary, with His people. You'll be saved in quietness
and confidence. In who? Him. That'll be your strength. And
he lamented and said, but you would not. We'll flee on horses. And he went on and on to say
a horse is a vain thing for safety. Technology doesn't save us. God saves us. Salvations of the
Lord in every shape, form, and fashion. Not just spirit. If
God just saves our souls and not our bodies, that makes Him
a fire escape from hell only. Right? And we're no different
than false religion. We trust Him with our soul but
not our bodies. Huh? So, now where am I? Judges. Go back to Judges 4. Judges had
to fold. And I was going to turn to 2
Chronicles 20 where Jehoshaphat and all the people were standing
before the Lord. Remember? They had all these
countries. The whole world was after Israel. And Jehoshaphat the king, and
he got all his little ones and his wives and all together before
the Lord and said, We're at our wit's end. We look to Thee. And
the Lord raised up a preacher. Why hadn't He saved them? A preacher!
They weren't saved with a sword. They're saved by hearing the
sword of God's Word. And a preacher stood up and said,
this battle is not yours. It's the Lord. You're not going
to fight today. The Lord's going to do this for
you. If you just sit still and hear what I say. And then Jehoshaphat
said, I believe Him. And Jehoshaphat said, let's just
start singing. It's over. It's all over with
the shouting, over before the battle started, right? What happened? Says the Lord, smoked their enemies.
They didn't lift a sword, but they didn't have to lift a hand. I was going to have you turn
there, but I turned for you. Well, Judges chapter 4, look
at verse 4. Prophetess, wife of Lapidoth,
she judged Israel that time. She dwelt under the palm tree
of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim. The
children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Deborah, prophetess,
judge in Israel. Here's the thing. Israel was
in such bad shape at this time that a woman was leading. That's a fact. Look with me at
Judges chapter 17. It says this four times. Judges 17, the very last verse
in Judges says this. Look at Judges 17. You have it? Verse 6. You have it? Judges 17, 6. In
those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did
that which was right in his own eyes. You know, they had a king. It
was God. But they weren't looking to Him.
They weren't calling on Him. And as I said, the very last,
the very last verse of Judges says that very thing, repeats
it again. There was no king in Israel and everybody did that
which was right in their own eye. Doesn't that describe the
United States of America? There's no sovereign God, the
world, there's no sovereign God being preached. No king of kings
and lord of lord. No absolute sovereign over all
things, so everybody just does whatever they feel like doing.
Especially religion. And it's all wrong. Whatever's
right in our eyes is wrong. There's a way that seems right
under man. The end is what? Destruction. Every time. Every
time. All the way down through history.
There was a history professor that once said to me, he said,
those that don't study history will repeat it. Well, man's history
is not accurate. But if you don't study God's
history, now this is the true history of man. This is the history
of man beginning when God created him in the garden and when all
the trouble started. If we don't study that, yeah,
we're going to repeat it. We're going to get right back
in the same trouble. That's the history, God's history
books, you know, the actual ones. Deborah, now here's this woman,
what a blessed woman, Deborah. She dwells under a palm tree. Sounds like she's relaxing. She's dwelt under a palm tree.
Deborah, you got a good name this morning. She dwelt under
a palm tree, and verse 5, between Rhema, that's a high
place, and Bethel, that's the house of God. Well, she's in
a good place. Mount Ephraim. Now, this Deborah represents
the church. Look at chapter 5 of her song,
Deborah's song. She said this of herself, verse
7, the song that she and Barak sang after Barak defeated all
foes. It says, The inhabitants of the
valley ceased. They ceased in Israel until that
I, Deborah, arose. I arose, a mother in Israel. She called herself a mother in
Israel. She was. And doesn't Galatians
4 say that very thing about the church? Galatians 4, 26 says,
Israel is the mother of Messiah. We were all born. Isaiah 66,
go there with me. I'll show you that. Now, we're
not saved by the church. You know that. But this is where
you're going to hear the gospel that does say it. This is where
Christ is who does the saving, like Barak. Deborah didn't save
anybody. Barak did. Are you hearing me? And she's the one that called
on him. And he came on her behalf to fight for Israel. See, Deborah's
the church. And Isaiah 66 says, verse 10,
Rejoice with Jerusalem, be glad with her, all ye that love her,
rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her, that ye
may suck and be satisfied with the breast of her consolation.
See, church is where we come and receive the sincere milk
of the Word. For Christ did, and milk out
and be delighted with abundance of her glory. Thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river." Deborah's
under a palm tree. The country's under attack. She's relaxed. In here a little
bit, she's going to say, we're going to call Barrick and he's
going to finish his time. She acted like she wasn't the
least bit worried about Cicero and Jabin and all these people. Read on in Isaiah 66. He says
in verse 12, I extend peace to her, the glory of the Gentiles
like a flowing stream. You'll suck, you'll be born upon
her side, be dandled upon her knees as one whom his mother
comforted. So will I comfort you and you
shall be comforted in Jerusalem. The Lord told Isaiah and he tells
me, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. How? The God of all comfort. I'm preaching a king. There's
a king in Israel. And you're one of his daughters.
He's not going to let anything happen to you that's not for
your good. That he doesn't allow. That he
doesn't direct. That he doesn't send. Anything. All things work together for
good. I'm not mad at you. I'm trying to get this into your
heart. Nothing happens to you but what
God sends. Nothing. No one can touch you
except God. God said, touch not mine anointed.
Isn't he? Unless he says so. And it's going
to be good. Touch him. He said of Job, he
said, touch him but don't kill him. I decided when that happened. So there's Deborah, dwelling
under a palm tree. And we are too, brother. We really
are. In the house of God, Bethel.
A high place, Ramah. This is a high holy colony, Mount
Ephraim. That's where Ephraim dwells.
And the children came to her for judgment. Here this woman
is, telling the Word of God. This woman is, who's a judge
in Israel. You know, who judges the world?
Who has good judgment in this world? Except the church. Right? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? But now God's people, the Son
of God, hath come and given us an understanding. We have good
judgment. We don't judge with the sight
of the eyes or the hearing of the ear, uh-uh, uh-uh. In fact,
we pretty much want to stop our ears from everything we're hearing,
except what comes from God. Right? Judgment. You know, the daughters of Israel
sometimes act like silly women, don't you girls? But most of
the time, God's women are wise and understanding, able to judge,
make good judgment of things, most of the time. And that's
the way it should be. Because we have the wisdom of
God. We have the Word of God. We cannot lie. We have the truth. The truth shall make you free. Free from what? The world. Free
from fear. We have the truth, right? Girls,
I'm talking to you, Kelly. Girls, we're all weaker vessels,
aren't we? We're all the bride of Christ.
We're all frail and weak vessels. We have a husband. We have a
strong, mighty warrior who's set for our defense. And we ought to be like Abigail
when they were taken captive. And you know she told their captors,
David's coming. You're messing with the wrong
man. He's coming for me. He loves me. And that's what we tell the world
in. Stack your guns. Lay down your weapons. Bow to
the king. He's coming. With 10,000 of His
saints, come for me. I have come for you. Just ask Him.
Well, she sent, verse 6, and called Barak. Come help. She called. Look at her confession. She called, she confessed, verse
6. Hath not the Lord God of Israel
commanded, saying to Barak, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor,
take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali,
the children of Zebulun? And verse 7, God says, I will
draw unto thee. to the river Kishon, Sisera,
I'm going to bring the enemy to you, the captain of Jabin's
army, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver
him into your hand." This is what Deborah said. She called on Barak. What's his
name? Glittering Sword. He called on
Barak and said, Come, for God hath spoken. God hath said that
He will draw all to you. Yea, ten thousand He'll draw
to you, and He'll bring the enemy to you, and you're going to deliver
us from His hand. My, my, my. Isn't that our testimony? Isn't that how we call upon the
Lord Jesus Christ? Didn't he say, this is the will
of him that hath sent me, that all which he hath given me I'd
lose nothing, and raise it up at the last day? Let me read
this to you. John chapter 6. He said this
several times. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. And he said, No man can come
unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. He said, I will raise him up
at the last day. Those that come to me, those
that God bring to me, those that draw. How many? Ten thousand
times ten thousands and thousands of saints are drawn to him. And He saved every one of them. This story makes it sound like
Barak did beat everybody single-handedly. There's a reason for that. Because
our Lord Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sin. Defeated sin. In John 12, let me read you this.
John chapter 12. Our Lord says this. God's Word, old or new, it doesn't
matter. It's John 12, verse 31. He says, Now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the
earth, I will draw all men to myself. Who wrote Judges? Who's it about? Jesus Christ. Amazing, isn't
it? I withdraw. So this is Deborah's
confession. This is Deborah's call because
Barak is Deborah's Savior. She needed saved. She can't save
anybody. She's just a woman. She's not
going to fight a battle. She's not going to wield a sword.
She's not going to kill anybody. Barak's going to do it all. Now, look at verses 8 and 9.
Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will
go. But if thou wilt not go with
me, I will not go. And she said, I will surely go. I will go. Now, Barak is not
saying he needs her. He didn't say that, did he? He
said, I can't do this without you. He did not say that, did
he? It pretty much sounds like she's
just in the background singing while he's fighting. That's exactly
what happened. And what he's saying is, if you're
not with me, I'm not with you. If you don't follow me, I ain't
going to fight for you. Whoever I fight for is going
to follow me, going to be behind me, going to be with me. It's
not with me, it's against me. Who's on the Lord's side? That's
what Moses said. Does the Lord need anybody on
His side? Did Barak need her? No, no, no, no. He's just saying,
if you're not with me, you're against me. You're not going
with me. Who's on the Lord's side? Whoever
follows Him, that's who. Not the world that follows Him. Who's with Him? Whoever's with
Him, that's who He's with. You understand? You forsake Him,
He'll forsake you. You leave Him, He's just liable
to leave you. He said, except you abide in
Me. If you don't abide in Me, you
might perish. You will perish. Luther. So Deborah called on
Barak. You're our savior. You're our
deliverer. You're our help. We all need
you. Without you, we can do nothing. You're the one. You know, Barak
just appeared out of nowhere. Did you read about him before
this? Where did he come from? He just appeared. Like Elijah. Like Melchizedek. That's significant. Now, we're going to sing Martin
Luther's great hymn. Though this world with devil's
fields should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God
hath willed His truth to triumph through us. That's Jesus Christ.
He said, Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be
losing. We're not the right man on our
side. The man of God's own choosing.
Do you ask who that may be? Lord Jesus it is He. Lord Sabbath
of hosts, of a host is His name. Age to age, the same. He must
win the battle. He went on to say, one little
word is going to fail him. One little word. Now what happens? So she called
on Barrett. What happened? He came. What
did he do? He slew them all. He slew them all. My, my. And you know, Deborah made it
sound like he couldn't fail. She acted like, she said, he
can't fail. He shall not fail. He'll deliver
Israel. Oh, for the faith of a Deborah.
But she said, now this is interesting if you wonder, verse 9, it says,
This shall not be for thine honor. The Lord's going to sell sister
in the hand of a woman. There's a woman here that the
Lord led this man to her house, and she pretended to protect
him, and all the while intending to slay him, and she took a nail. You know what killed the enemy,
the adversary of Israel? A woman with a nail, and drove
it through his temple. Are you with me? What's a nail?
What's power? God says God shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. What? How? Are you going to find
him? How? What nail is the scripture talking
about, Brother John? A nail in a sure place. The Lord
Jesus Christ. And we wield that power. We have the power of God. I don't
have any power. You don't have any power. Man
doesn't have any power. But the gospel is the power of
God. And she drove that nail through
his temple. And she never said, Barak, this
is not going to be for your honor. The Lord's going to honor this
woman. Well, at that time it wasn't
for his honor. Who are we talking about right
now? Who's getting the honor? Barak. That woman's name is not
in Hebrews 11. Whose name is it? Barak. You
hear me? Our Lord was dishonored. He was
hung on a cross in shame. Wasn't it? The whole world dishonored
the Lord. The world that worships and serves
a creature more than the Creator. But I'm telling you who's getting
the honor in the end. You want to know who gets all
the honor in the end? Jesus Christ. Every one of God's people. Now,
God uses His church. God uses His people. Hebrews
11 is full of people just like men and women. It speaks of it. Deborah has spoken of that. The
Lord honors them that honor Him. The Lord honors those that fight
for Him, as it were. But we're not going to get the
honor. Oh well, he is. As said, Deborah didn't lift
a finger against Cicero. Barrett did all of that. That the Lord honors those. And
he wrote, as I said, Hebrews 11, to honor his people that
are with him. So she said in verse, so verse
10, let me conclude. Barak called Zebulun, and Naphtali,
and Kadesh, and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet,
and Deborah went with him. Listen to Jude 14. This is wonderful. Say what chapter? There's only
one. Jude 14. It says this. It says, Enoch prophesied, the seventh
from Adam, prophesied of these saying, Behold, the Lord cometh
with ten thousand of his saints, executing judgment upon all of
them. He's coming. So they all gathered
up, they all gathered together, and this story talks about all
the Kenites and all these enemies that gathered
against Merrick. And the scripture says that of
a truth, Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Jews and the Gentiles
and the whole world, Psalm 2 says, The heathen rage and the people
imagine a vain thing, and the kings of the earth stood up together
against the Lord and His anointed. No, everybody against Barak. Who won? Huh? Who came out victorious? Barak
did. Look down at verse 16. Barak
pursued after the chariots. Chariots of iron? They're running
from him. after the hosts. And it says,
they fell upon the edge of the sword. Whose sword? Barak. And
there was not one man left. Not one. Chapter 5 is the song that they
sang after this battle, after Barak. Oh, brethren, we're going to
sing someday. And we're really going to sing. Do you enjoy singing
now? You're going to really sing then
when you see what all the Lord has done for us. We didn't do
nothing. And He did it all. And we're
going to wonder why we ever doubted Him. It says, Then sang Deborah
and Barak. Barak's singing with her. They're
singing together. And this whole song, you've read
it, haven't you? It's mysterious, isn't it? It's
deep. It says, Praise ye the Lord.
Verse 3, Hear, O ye kings, give ear. Who's she talking to? Kings.
What kings? He's made us kings and princes. Even I, even I will sing unto
the Lord. I'll sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. And she
went down in verse 12, she said, wake, Deborah, wake, wake, utter
a song, arise, rise up, Barak, lead captivity. Captive. Did you enjoy that? Oh, bless those that know the
joyful sound. We live in a world full of devils
and trouble and seemingly danger, but we've got the right man on
our side. We're on his side. Okay.