Last week we spoke a little bit
there from verse two where it says, and the Lord sold them
into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan. And we mentioned some
words and other thoughts about that word sold, but a verse of
scripture was brought to my attention and I'd like to read it before
we go on to our lesson tonight. And that's found in the book
of Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 30. Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse
30, goes along with this very subject that we read about that's
before us here in this chapter, chapter 32, verse 30. The question
is brought up here, how should one chase a thousand? And two put ten thousand to flight,
except their rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up.
So we're speaking about Israel there. How could one soldier
run 1,000 or two run 10,000? Only if the Rock, the Lord Jesus,
God Almighty, had sold them. So the Lord works in mysterious
ways His wonders to perform. All right, let's go back to the
book of Judges now, Judges chapter four, and we have a couple of
thoughts that we'd like to draw out from this passage of scripture.
I was sharing with Brother John just earlier, I read this, most
commentaries on this passage have a general lack of interest
in looking for the gospel. Most of them are historical and
they're talking about Jabin and Barak and Deborah and so forth
and so on. But there are some very key gospel
blessings here found in this passage of scripture. And two
of them that I want to bring out tonight is God must draw
us to Christ. He's going to use that word two
times in this chapter, the word draw. And we also find out in
this chapter that after all the works, that we perform, we find
in the gospel that someone else has done all the work. So we're
going to see that as Barak illustrates that point, when it came to the
last and most serious soldier, someone else took care of it.
And we find that out with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, that
we may go through many activities, many reformations, do many things,
we may change our clothing, we may change the TV shows we watch,
we may not drink anymore, we may not carouse anymore, we've
got it all cleaned up, but there's one thing that's still lacking,
and that is someone to deal with our sin, and we find out that
we cannot do that, someone else has already done that for us.
So as we look at this, let's notice here in this reading,
beginning with verse six, and she sent and called Beric, the
son of Abimelem, out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said unto him,
hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, go and draw
toward Mount Tabor? Go and draw toward Mount Tabor,
the same word we're going to run into in just a moment, and
take with thee 10,000 men of the children of Naphtali and
of the children of Zebulon, and I will draw unto thee. The second time this word is
used, I will draw unto thee to the river Chisholm, Sisera, the
captain of Jameson's army, with his chariots and his multitude,
and I will deliver him into thy hand. And Beric 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 arose and went with
Barak to Kadesh. And Barak called Zebulun and
Naphtali to Kadesh. And he went up with 10,000 men
at his feet, and Deborah went with him. 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
in the plain of Zahamim, which is in Kadish. And they showed
Sisera that Beric, the son of Abiom, was gone up to Mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together
all his chariots, even 900 chariots of iron, and all the people that
were with him, from Herosheth of the Gentiles and to the river
Chisholm. And Deborah said unto Barak,
up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera
into thy hand. Is not the Lord gone out before
thee? So Barak went up from Mount Tabor
and 10,000 men after him. And then we read, the Lord disconfitted
Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of
the sword before Barak. So that Sisera lighted off his
chariot and fled away on his feet. But Beric pursued after
the chariots and after the host unto Herosheth of the Gentiles. And all the hosts of Sisera fell
upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left. I think
it's very interesting there in verse 15, the Lord disconfitted. It was the Lord that was involved
here, it was the Lord that was blessing here, and he used this
barrack. But Barak pursued after the chariots.
Oh, and verse 17, howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the
tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. And there was a 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 into me, fear not. And when he had turned unto her
into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. 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. Again he said unto her, stand in the door of the tent,
and it shall be when any man hath come, and inquire of thee,
and say, is there any man here? Thou shalt say no. And then Jael,
Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, a tent peg, and took
a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the
nail into his temple, and fasted into the ground, for he was fast
asleep and weary. So he died. And behold, as Beric
pursued Sisera, Jael 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, The nail was
in his temple. So God subdued on that day Jabin
the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And in the
hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against
Jabin the king of Canaan until they had destroyed Jabin king
of Canaan. What a victory we have here,
illustrated by these words that God gave to us through the book
of Judges. You know, God is the God of victory,
and there's two verses I'd like to read in the New Testament
that share with us that, from a spiritual standpoint, He is
the victor for us. In the book of 2 Corinthians,
2nd Corinthians, if you turn there with me in 2nd Corinthians,
we're used to seeing God deliver the children of Israel in the
Old Testament, but how that only pictures a type of shadow of
what he does for the church on a continuous basis. Here in the
book of 2nd Corinthians, New Testament, 2nd Corinthians, and
there in chapter two, 2nd Corinthians chapter two and verse 14, He
tells us about our very existence in Christ. It says, now thanks
be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Now it doesn't say sometimes
or part of the time or 90% of the time, but there in God's
view, we always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh
manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. So he always causeth us to triumph. In Christ Jesus, there is a continuous
triumph. And then along that same line,
turn with me if you would over to the book of Romans chapter
8 as we read here about God's great victory on our behalf.
As we follow that through, and it took some time and it took
some effort there in the book of Judges chapter 4 from the
time that Deborah contacted Barak and the things fell out, but
we find in the overall analysis of that chapter, God gave them
the victory. And here in the book of Romans
8, verse 37, we read this, Romans 8, verse 37, Nay, in all these
things we are more. than conquerors. Now we can go
back and read all of those things that he talks about. Tribulation,
distress, famine, persecution, nakedness, barrel sword, all
these things from a spiritual standpoint. We find here, nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors. Now it doesn't
tell us how many Men from those two tribes, total of 10,000,
lost their lives. But we don't have a record of
anybody losing their lives. But we have the record of all
the enemy losing their lives, every one of them. God gave them
total victory that day. And it says here, we're more
than conquerors through him that loved us. And that word more
than conquerors is what it means. It's superlative. It's absolute. God has given us the absolute
victory and he gives us the absolute victory in Christ Jesus, the
Lord, his blood atonement on our behalf. There's nothing left
to be done by us. It's all been done by him. And
then he says, for I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord." So whatever it is, God said through
the Apostle Paul, there's absolutely nothing in all the created world,
of all the created beings, of all the created situations, that
can separate God's people from God. So as we go back now to
the book of Judges, there in the book of Judges chapter four,
as we start there, it shares with us that Moses, as Moses
wrote of Christ, we're gonna find Christ in this chapter too.
He is everywhere. We're going to find him in the
gospel presented, and I think that that's an interesting thing.
As we go through the book of Judges, we may not see every
aspect of the gospel in every one of the judges, or every situation
that they're in, but when we look at them as a compact, as
we look at them from a totality, we're going to see that God has
declared the gospel in the book of Judges, through his judges,
and how he deals with all the enemy. We're going to find out
from time to time that there's gonna be issues come up. Sin
is, sin has come up, and how God deals with that, and how
oppression and captivity, and then calling on God, and then
raising up a deliverer, the destruction of the enemy, and some aspect
of preaching the gospel is going to be among every one of these
judges, 12 of them as they come up. And so let's spend time from
time to time Looking for those very things. We know that Moses
wrote of Christ because God said so the Lord said so and when
he Mentioned there in the book of Luke towards the two on the
road to Emmaus. How often have we gone there?
This is what Jesus Christ went back through and brought out
Christ. So as we think about that let's
go over to a verse of scripture in the book of John and John
chapter 1 as we think about this looking for Christ here in this
chapter of the book of Judges chapter 4 as we look for the
gospel in Judges chapter 4. Let's look here at book John
chapter 1 for just a moment and verse 45 as we find this is a
statement by one person to another person This is a statement from
what God had revealed to one person to another person. Here
in the book of John chapter one and verse 45, Philip findeth
Nathanael and saith unto him, we have found him. Now, most
of the time when people talked about that, they knew what they
were talking about. They're talking about a Messiah. You know, it's
interesting. We go over there to the woman
at the well and she says, we know when Messiah has come, he
will tell us all things. Well here, we have found him,
we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did
write. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph. We have found the Messiah. We
have found the one the prophets have written about. We found
the one that the judges have written about. This is Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
come. Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth? And Philip said unto him, Come
and see. And Jesus saith unto Nathanael, Come to him, and saith
unto him, Behold, in Israel I indeed, in whom is Nogail. So we have
found him. He brought him to the Lord. This
thought is so prevalent in the scriptures, and it's so prevalent
here in the book of Judges. All right, as we go back to the
book of Judges now, again, sorry about that, but in the book of
Judges, chapter four, in verse six, there is a word that is
used that we find in the book of Judges. we find in the New
Testament a number of times, and it's the word draw. Here
it says in verse six, she sent and called Barak, the son of
Abinoam out of Kadesh Naphtali and said unto him, hath not the
Lord God of Israel commanded saying, go and draw together
toward Mount Tabor? You know, the Lord has the most
interesting way of drawing people to doing his purpose. He used
Deborah at this time to mention, to bring up this very subject,
that it is God that draws us to do his purpose. We're gonna
find that same word used in verse seven, and it says, and I will
draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisera. So you go there and draw,
and I'll go over here and I'll take care of the drawing of this
rotten group of people that has invaded Israel and cause such
hate and discontent among my people, I will draw them into
battle." You know, this subject is mentioned in the New Testament.
We often go there in the book of John. It says, no man can
come to the Father except the, which has sent me, except No
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw
him and I will raise him up in the last day. It's a principle
of the gospel that we must be drawn. There is no way we will
turn aside to look at God, to come to God. And in the Song
of Solomon, chapter one, verse four, draw me and I'll run after
thee. So once we are drawn, we follow
that one we're drawn to. We are brought to Him with cords
of love. And so here in this chapter of
the book of Judges, we find that the principle that God uses in
bringing people out of darkness to His marvelous light, He draws
them. Like dragging on a net or drawing
a bow back, effort is put into it. God puts effort into drawing
His people to Himself. And it's on purpose that He does
that. And here we find that that principle
is being brought out. Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah,
if you would. Jeremiah chapter 31, that God
shares with us in multiple places how it is necessary that he gets
involved with drawing. We're going to see a significant
battle won as a result of God drawing a whole army into battle. I like that passage over there
about those four lepers, where that whole host, that whole army
that was encamped against Israel, they heard a noise and thought
another army was coming and left everything. They skedaddled on
foot, left everything. God is able to draw enemy or
his people to do according to his purpose. The book of Jeremiah,
Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31, we have
these glorious words written about in verse three there. The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Now that's consolation for the
church. That's a glory that we find that
John, the Baptist father, spoke about. He's brought the consolation
of Israel. Because it says here, yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love. He hath appeared of old,
and yea, I'm going to bring consolation. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, an unchangeable love, and therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. It was loving kindness that He
drew Saul of Tarsus. It was loving kindness that He
drew Peter. They were on the brink. They
were without help or hope or without God in the world. But
when He brought them to Christ, He was showing His loving kindness
to them. If we were in the river, in a
boat, and someone was going by that is within a grounding, You
know, we would demonstrate loving kindness whether we knew him
or not by pulling him out of the brink. And yet we find that
God's people have hated him. And then he demonstrates great
loving kindness toward them. and with loving kindness have
I drawn thee. This principle that God uses
throughout the scriptures to draw people to himself or draw
people into a situation where he's going to take care of them
as an enemy. In the book of Ezekiel, would you turn with me to the
book of Ezekiel? Ezekiel chapter 38. In Ezekiel chapter 38, as
we think about this principle, it's a gospel principle. We may
preach the gospel, but nobody's going to come to God or to Christ
without the Father drawing them. And we find the converse of that
too. We must be drawn. We must be pulled. You know,
I like when we get to the passage of Scripture, I'm going to put
a hook in your jaw. It's for our betterment. All right. Ezekiel
chapter 38, verse one. Ezekiel chapter 38, verse one. He says, the word of the Lord
came to me saying, son of man, set thy face against Gog, the
land of Magog. Oh my goodness. In some quarters,
this is end times. This is gospel. God, Gog and Magog, too much
has been made out of them, this cheap prince of Meshish and Tubal
and prophecy against them, and say, thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the cheap prince of Meshish and
Tubal, and I'll turn thee back and put hooks in thy jaws, and
I will bring thee forth, and all thy army, horses and horsemen,
Now, when I go back over there to the book of Judges, I wonder
how God turned that entire army with 900 chariots of iron and
all those soldiers to go to one place that He had determined
ahead of time that they were going to meet 10,000 men of Israel.
How did He do that? Exactly how he says he did it
here. I will turn thee back and put hooks in thy jaws and I'll
bring thee. And he did it in such a manner
that those guys thought it was their will that they did it.
He turned them, you know, they've got a good thing going. They're
ruling in Israel. They're collecting taxes. They
are in charge. And lo and behold, all of a sudden,
They are saying, well, you know what? Get all those chariots
hooked up and get all them in marching because we're going
to go over there. And to find out, God said, that's where I
want them, that's where I purpose them. So I'll put the, verse
four, I will turn thee back and put hooks into thy jaws, and
I'll bring thee forth, and all thy army, horses and horsemen,
and all them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great
company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.
Persia, Ethiopia, Libya with them, all of them with a shield
and helmet. Gomer and all his bands, the
house of Togarmah of the house north quarters, all his bands
and many people with thee. Be thou prepared. and prepare
for thyself thou and all thy company that are assembled unto
thee and be a guard unto them." So here we find God saying, I'm
gonna turn this whole group of folks around and I'll put jaws,
I'll put hooks in their jaws and turn them around. And they
will think that they're doing their own will when they are
actually fulfilling the very purpose of God. In the book of
Amos, turn with me to the book of Amos if you would, the book
of Amos chapter 4, God is able to move a mountain of people
in an instant by drawing them by his great sovereign majesty. And he calls it putting hooks
in their jaws, turning them around like a bit in a horse's mouth. He swings them around. And here
in the book of Amos chapter 4, verse 1, the scriptures say this.
Hear this, O kind of Bashan that are in the mountains of Samaria,
which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to
their masters, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord hath sworn
by His holiness that, lo, the day shall come upon you, that
He will take you away with hooks, and your prosperity with fishhooks,
and He will go out at the breeches every cow at which it is before
her, and shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord. Come
to Bethel, and transgress, at Gilgal multiply transgression,
and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after
three years, and offering a sacrifice at Thanksgiving with leaven,
and proclaim and publish the free offering, for this is like
in you, O children of Israel, saith the Lord. There in verse
4, come to Bethel and transgress. I'm going to turn you. I'm going
to bring you. And here we have God doing this
very thing that they thought they wouldn't do, but they were
convinced that they would do it. I get tired of this word
free will. I hear it so often anymore. By
their free will, they came with a hook in their mouth, because
they rage against me. Thy torment has come up into
mine ears. Therefore, will I put my hook
in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips. That's in the book
of, in the book of 2 Kings chapter 19. He's going to 2 Kings chapter
19, verse 28. We have this principle again, brought out 2 Kings chapter,
2 Kings 19. First of all, I'd like to read
verse 20. This principle that God draws. Now we know He draws
the lost ones that He has purpose to save. He draws them out of
darkness to His marvelous light. He draws us to God. He draws
us to Christ Jesus. We would not come on our own,
but He draws us. An illustration we find in the
life of the Saul of Tarsus as he goes down to Damascus. As he goes down there, how God
drew him. out of His own nature, His own
self-righteousness, and caused Him to bow. Here in the book
of 2 Kings chapter 19 and verse 20, Then Isaiah the son of Amos
sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of
Assyria, I have heard. Then go down, if you would, there
to verse 27. Verse 27. But I know thy abode, and thy
going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me, because
thy rage against me, and thy tumult has come up into mine
ears. Therefore, I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle
in thy lips, and I'll turn thee back by the way by which thou
camest. I'm gonna send you home. I'm
gonna purpose to do this, and it shall be accomplished. God
has a purpose in doing what he does. And that is, his principle
is to draw his people. And he draws the lost in the
same capacity. He has strength over all. And
going back to the book of Judges chapter four, and there in verse
seven, we read the same principle brought out. The same word is
used here that God is going to demonstrate to the children of
Israel there. I just wonder if any of those
folks is, now I wonder why they're doing that. I wonder why they're all getting
their horses and chariots put together and everybody's getting
their armor on. I wonder what's happening over
there. Well, in Judges chapter 4 and verse 7, we read this. Judges chapter 4 and verse 7.
and I will draw unto thee to the river Caishon Sisera. I have the exact place. Isn't
it interesting that God would divulge the place that He's going
to send these people to, to His people, so that they could be
disconfitted and destroyed? I will draw unto thee to the
river Caishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots
and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thy hand. I
will draw him from complacency and rule to over here where he,
his people shall be destroyed. Oh, God has said, what if God
willing to show his wrath? And he did. And he disconfited
them. An interesting verse along this
line is found in the book of Ezra chapter one. A number of
years ago we went through the book of Ezra and this was an
interesting verse of scripture to contemplate. Here is a man
being drawn. Now another word is used here,
but I don't think in a thousand years Cyrus, king of Persia,
would have ever have done what he did. His counselors would
all have been against it. His treasurer would have been
against it. Nobody in his realm was in favor
of this, but it says in the first year, Ezra chapter one, verse
one, now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the
word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit
of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout
all his kingdom and put it also into writing. So we're gonna
have a proclamation and we're gonna have writing and this is
what it is. It's a fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah or Jeremiah. Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,
the Lord God of heaven. hath given me all the kingdoms
of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem,
which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all
his people? His God be with him, and let
him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build a house
of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. and whosoever remaineth in any
place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him
with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts beside
the freewill offering for the house of the God that is in Jerusalem. And then it goes on to say that
all of the things that Nebuchadnezzar, in verse seven, the things which
Nebuchadnezzar brought out from Jerusalem, all those vessels
of the house of the Lord, you send them back to. Now this is
an act of God Almighty in drawing a king, a mighty, powerful king
to do his exact will and purpose. So he can deal with it as we
find in the book of Judges, by taking him out and having the
very last one taken care of, killed, Or he can raise him up
and say, this is what I want you to do. I want you to, the
people who want to can go back. Here's the money for them and
all the things that came out of the temple is going back with
them and they're going to rebuild the temple. Well, I've said before,
I'll say again, I wonder what people were thinking had come
upon him. A little dementia. In the book of, Going back to the book of Judges
chapter four, let's do that. Judges chapter four. We have the principle that God
has always worked on. He is going to draw his people
to himself and he will also draw the enemy. He'll deal with them
according to his will. As he said, he could put hooks
in their jaws and turn them around and send them home. He could
draw them to a place and they'd all be slaughtered. Now in Judges
chapter four, We read this, I wanna read just a thought here about,
in verse six, she, Deborah, she said and called Barak. Deborah called Barak. In verse
seven, this is the word of the Lord, I'll draw them to this
place. Barak in verse eight said, if thou will go with me, I'll
go, but if you won't go, I won't go. We could spend a lot of time
there and find out it was God's purpose, but if we were in religion,
we'd say, oh, Beric disobeyed the Lord there. Well, we'll leave
that to religion. Verse nine, and she said, I will
surely go with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest
shall not be for thine honor. And then in verse, let's drop
down to verse 14 here. And Deborah said unto Beric,
up, For this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera
into thy hand. Is not the Lord gone out before
thee? So Barak went down from Mount
Tabor, and 10,000 men after him. And in verse 15, the Lord disconfited
Sisera. In verse 17, in verse 16, not
a man's left. In verse 17, we read how This Sisera fled on foot to get
out of the area. And then we know the rest of
the story. You know, Beric pursued Sisera. And I'm sure he was doing
it with great intent. And as I think about this, Beric
reminds me, in a type, he reminds me of a person, me. that has
been very successful in taking care of certain problems, such
as drunkenness. You know, I never had trouble
with drunkenness. Immorality? No. Cheating? Lying? I worked very hard to
make sure that the outside was pretty clean. I didn't want anybody
noticing. I took care of all of those things.
All those things. Dress stride. You know, when
I went in the pulpit, I always had dress stride. It's very important
that I had the right suit coat on. Most of the people now don't
notice that I don't ever wear a suit coat. It's uncomfortable. I don't wear clothes for show. And Cicero, or Beric, went out
and destroyed that army, those chariots, and all those things,
and went after the last leading guy. All the things that other people
can see and know. And one thing is left. And that's the thing that we
cannot take care of. We can make ourselves look good,
but there's one thing that we cannot take care of. And that's
the thing that escapes us. Just like this Cicera escaped
a barrack. It's the thing that escapes us.
We just can't get a hold of it. We can't latch onto it. It is
so away from us. We take care of the platter,
the outside of the platter, but the inside is full of dead man's
bones. We take care of whitewashing
the tomb, but the inside is full of dead man's bones. It's a terrible
situation that we find ourselves in, and yet we continue to work
and work and work and try to get to that last person, that
last thing, that sin. If we could just get that sin
taken care of, It tells us in verse 17 that Sisera fled. He
eluded Barak. He eluded him. He ran away from
him. He got away from him. And Barak,
in verse 22, it tells us that he pursued after him. pursued
sister of it, I've just got to get this last thing taken care
of to be successful. And that's just the way we are.
We want to be successful, and yet there's always one thing
that eludes us, and that is sin. And then we find in verse 21
that there's a lady And, you know, she is related in some
way, if we look back here, that she's related in some way to
Moses' father-in-law. And what that's brought in there
for, we'll have to look at another time. But she is in there, and
she invites this guy into her tent, gives him some milk, he
lies down, he goes to sleep, and she takes care of him. You
know, there are commentaries that call her a murderer. I look at it as she is an absolute
picture of what God intends to do with our sin and did at the
cross. And she did it without Barak's
help. Barak is pursuing him. Barak's
after him. Barak would like to get a hold
of him. Barak would like to deal with him, but he never could
get a hold of him. And when it came time, we find
out there in verse 21 that he has already been taken care of
when Barak shows up. What a statement about our Lord
taking care of business. The Lord has met the last of
our enemies. Turn with me to the book of Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter
9. We find this wonderful passage
of scripture about the blessings of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hebrews chapter 9 and there in
verse 26. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26.
Barak wanted to, but he was not permitted, unable to take care
of that last enemy, the elusive one. He's taken care of by someone
else. And here in the book of Hebrews
chapter nine and verse 26, it says, for then must he have often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared, this is speaking about
the Lord Jesus Christ, Hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself? He was pinned to a cross. He was impaled to a cross. He's nailed to a cross. And it
is he that has dealt with our last thing we can't take care
of. You know, we really find out
then that our righteousness is as filthy rags and as all those
things that we attempted to do to clean ourselves up and make
ourselves respectable were not any benefit to begin with, except
from a fleshly standpoint. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. You know, the Lord in the book
of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, these things are things we could
never take care of, even though we wished we could. Things that
we wished we could have taken care of, we could never take
care of. We could never put away sin.
Number one, we didn't know the desperateness of it. But here
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 26, we read this. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 and 26, the Lord Jesus dealt with the last enemy. He
dealt with it. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. And this is going to be by the
blood of Jesus Christ, the last enemy. And we find this principle
found throughout the scriptures. Turn again to the book of Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews chapter two. In Hebrews chapter
two, verse 14 and 15, we read this about the enemy that we
are dealing with that we could never latch onto. You know, I'm
convinced that when Barak left, he said, well, hallelujah, it's
over, it's done anyway, I didn't make it. And here in the book
of Hebrews chapter two and verse 14, for as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who
had power of death, that is the devil. You know, I don't know
whether you've noticed or not, but I don't spend much time preaching
on the devil. I like this verse. He destroyed him that had power
of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
I've said this about the devil, he is not omniscient, he is not
omnipresent, and he is not omnipotent. And my Bible tells me he was
put to death, or put into chains and bondage, or however God wanted
to deal with him, but it's not something that I have to deal
with. We blame the devil for a lot
of things, it's just natural man's activity. Alright, turn with me if you
would. to the book of Isaiah chapter 25. Isaiah chapter 25. And as someone said about the
devil, he is God's devil. Isaiah 25 verse eight. He will,
I like that. You know, Mike brought up again
Sunday about all the I wills there in the book of Ezekiel
in that chapter. We continuously go there because
we just love it. It's just, it's a love letter
to the church. I will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces and rebuke. And the rebuke of his
people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord
has spoken it. And it shall be said in that
day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He
will save us. And this is the Lord, we have
waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in
His salvation. What a statement that we have.
I'll swallow up death, He will swallow up death. So the last
enemy, death, that last sin. Sin brings death and Jesus Christ
died on the cross as sin was imputed to Him. In Hosea chapter
13, there's a ransom going to be taking place, though we can't
do it. And oh, we tried to be religious,
and we tried to be righteous, and we tried all the things.
Let's put away all these negative things about us. Let's not have
our TVs, and let's not have any records, and let's not have all
the stuff that we did in religion. And then we find out that was
absolutely of no avail anyway. The real enemy was sin. And we couldn't take care of
it. And there is one that did. Here in the book of Hosea. Hosea. Hosea chapter 13 and verse 14. I will ransom them from the power
of the grave. I will redeem them from death. Oh, death, I will be thy plagues. Oh, grave, I will be thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from
mine eyes. What a statement God makes here
with regard to his ransoming us from the power of the grave,
taking care of the issue that we could not take care of. Someone
else did. As Barak entered into that tent,
and saw that man laying on the ground with a tent peg driven
through his temples, he could walk out and say, well, I don't
have to worry about him anymore. That fight's over with. I don't
have to deal with this issue anymore. I'm weary for running
after him, but the fight is out of him now. And so it is with
us, as we have favor with Christ. In the book of 2 Timothy, turn
with me to 2 Timothy chapter one, 2 Timothy chapter one. I don't think that Barak was
disappointed in the result, just as we are not disappointed in
the result. We thank God, what I could not
do, what I didn't do, you have taken care of. In the book of
2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 10, we read this. But is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death,
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Oh, what a victory he has given
us. So he draws us with cords of love. He draws the enemy into
destruction. And we find here, I want to read
two verses back in Judges chapter four. before we close tonight,
just to sum it up, Judges chapter four, we have these two verses
and it says in verse 15, Judges chapter four in verse 15, it
says this, and the Lord disconfited Sisera and all his chariots,
all his hosts with the edge of the sword before a barrack so
that Sisera lighted off his chariot and fled away on his feet. And
then the last verse of that chapter, and the hand of the children
of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin king of Canaan
until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. And the victory
was the Lord's and the beneficiaries were Israel. And so it is with
us. Thank God for his drawing power.
He's drawing power. He moved us even when we did
not know Him. He put us in positions. He put
a fish hook in our jaw and turned us. And we would think we're
doing our own will when He would move us to a place or situation. And then we find out He put us
there on purpose. And then when we heard the gospel,
He draws us with cords of love. We are no longer in rebellion
against him. We come to him openly and desirously. And then we find out that God
in the gospel has taken care of every enemy of the church. He has taken care of the enemies
that we hoped we could take care of but could not because of the
flesh. But he sent Jesus Christ the Lord to deal with him. Deal
with sin, death, hell, and the grave. And we walk out and say,
well, I won't have to worry about that anymore. We'll stop there for tonight.