begin our service, opening our
Bibles to Colossians chapter two, Colossians, the second chapter. Assuming many of you have heard
about our brother, Rupert Rivenbark, the Lord was pleased to call
him home Wednesday night or Thursday morning early. The funeral was
yesterday. Very, very thankful that the
Lord answered prayer and took our brother home. This week,
our classes for our young adults will be held Monday through Wednesday,
and our midweek service will be moved to Thursday this week,
where Pastor Marvin Stoniker will be here to preach for us,
and I know we'll all look forward to that. Be in prayer as much
as the Lord enables you to remember these classes we're having this
week. I think it's a very important
time. It's something I have looked
forward to with great anticipation. Colossians chapter 2. Verse 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men,
and after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power. In whom? In him. Also, you're circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body
the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried
with him in baptism, where and also year risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who has raised him from the
dead. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, 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. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it." And we'll end our reading there. All right, let's
stand together as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. Our Sovereign God maintains His
universal throne In heaven and earth and hell He reigns And
makes His wonders known His counsels and decrees Firmer than mountains
stand He will perform whate'er he please, And none can stay
his hand. Law thinks his will control,
And his all-wise decree, As picks the destinies of all In matchless
sovereignty. Jacob, by grace he saved, And
give no reason why, But his soul's heart he left depraved, And who
shall dare reply? What if the potter takes part
of a lump of clay, And for himself a vessel makes, And casts the
rest away? ? Who shall remist his will ?
? Or say wondrous vow ? ? Jehovah is the sovereign still ? ? And
all to him must bow ? ? My soul, bow and pray ? His sovereign till the day he's
born, I will trust his praise. for of Him and through Him, and
to Him all our thanks, to whom be glory evermore. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you, be seated. Can I borrow some of this? You drink on the other side. I got strangled and I couldn't
help that. Alright, $359. $359. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou
Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Thou hear me when I pray, Take
all my sins away. in a way, O let me from this
day be holy thine. May thy rich grace impart Strength
to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire, As thou hast died for
me, O may my to Thee, pure, warm, and changeless be a living heart. While life's dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide, bid darkness
turn to day, Wipe sorrow's tears away, Nor let me ever stray from
thee aside. When men's lives transient dream,
When death's cold, sullen stream, Shall o'er me roll, Blest Savior,
then in love Now let's turn back to 350. Three, five, zero. I haven't sung this song in a
while. I've done it for specials. It's a great song. Got good tune,
good words. Comforting. Teach me to trust when there
is cause to fear When trials come and tempests soar up here
Help me to know that Thou, O God, art near Teach me to trust. Teach me to trust, teach me to
trust when skies are shining bright, or when I grow alone
in sorrow's night. Thy love provides whatever's
best and right. Teach me to trust. Teach me to trust. to trust in all life's tangled
ways. In all its disappointments and
delays, give me a song, a sacrifice of praise. Teach me to trust Teach me to
trust Leads me to trust when weary, worn, and frail, When
sickness, pain, and other ills assail. Thy grace sustains, Thy promise
will not fail, Teach me to trust. Teach me to trust. Good song. Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Judges. Judges chapter four. They want
to mark this. We'll look briefly in the book
of Hebrews chapter 11, then come back and spend most of our time
here this morning in Judges chapter 4. And the children of Israel again
did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud, he was the judge
in Israel before that time, when Ehud was dead. And 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 Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord, for he had 900 chariots of iron, and 20 years
he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. And Deborah, a prophetess,
the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she
dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel
and Mount Ephraim. And the children of Israel came
up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak,
the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh 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, and I will draw unto thee to
the river Chisholm, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with
his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine
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
rose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and
Naphtali to Kedesh. And he went up with 10,000 men
at his feet, and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Canaanite,
which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses,
had severed himself from the Canaanites and pitched his tent
under the plain Zanaim, which is by Kedesh. And they showed
Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, 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 under the river
of Chisholm. And Deborah said unto Barak,
Up, 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 with 10,000 men after
him. And the Lord disconfitted Sisera.
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. But Barak pursued after
the chariots and after the host under Herosheth of the Gentiles
and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword and
there was not a man left. How be it Sisera fled away on
his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, the Canaanite.
For there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and the house
of Heber the Canaanite. 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 in 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'm thirsty. And she
opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him. And
he said unto her, stand in the door of the tent. And it shall
be when any man doth come and inquire of thee and say, is there
any man here that thou shall say no? Then Jael, Heber's wife,
took a nail of the tent and took an 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. And behold, his barrack 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 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. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent is your matchless name. And Father, we only dare
come before your throne in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ,
pleading his obedience, pleading him as our only righteousness,
pleading his blood as the only way our sin could be paid for,
forgiven. And we come before you thankfully,
how thankful we are To be able to come into your presence, sinners
such as we are, to be able to come into your presence as your
children and call you our Father, how thankful we are. How thankful
we are above all things for our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
who came to put away the sin of His people, who shall save
His people from their sin. Father, we're thankful. And we
met here together this morning to worship thee. Father, I pray
that you enable us to do that. By your spirit, you enable us
to worship you in spirit and in truth. Enable the name of
Christ the Savior to be lifted up and extolled in everything
that we do, especially in the preaching of your word. Cause
the name of Christ to ring forth clearly and powerfully. And let
us leave here this morning, let each one of us leave here this
morning with the name of Christ in our hearts, believing Him
and the name of Christ in our lips as our only song, as our
only hope, as the only subject that we have. For all things
are in Him. You seem fit to put all things,
everything we need in Him. Father, I pray you'd give us
faith to believe Him, that we might be found in Him. not having
our own righteousness, which is of the law, that we might
be found in him, the faith of him. Father, we thank you for this
place that you've given to us, how thankful we are for a place
we can meet together and worship. Father, I pray you'd preserve
it and protect it, that you'd cause us to carefully guard the
unity of the brethren, that you'd carefully cause us to carefully
guard the gospel that's preached here, that it might be preached
here for many, many years to come. For your glory, for our
good, the good of ourselves, our children, our grandchildren,
this community. Father, bless, we pray. Don't
leave us alone. Father, I pray a special blessing
for our classes, for our young adults this week, that you give
us a good time together, that you would Give me something that
would be very beneficial to them at this stage of their life as
they build their lives. Father, I thank you for them
and pray that you bless them mightily. Father, for those who
are sick and who are afflicted, who are going through deep, deep
waters, we pray for them. We pray you'd comfort, that you'd
heal, that you'd provide a way out, that you'd give us a heart
to pray for one another. Some we know are going through
great trials. Some suffer silently. Father, give us the heart to
pray for one another. We pray you'd meet their need
richly according to the riches of your mercy and grace. All
these things we ask and we thank you. And that name which is above
every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We'd like to follow along on
this song. Old School Hymnal, 582. And I'd like for you to sing
the chorus after the first verse and the last verse. Sing it with
me. Have faith in God when your pathway
is lonely He sees and knows all the way you have trod Never alone
are the least of His children Have faith in God Have faith
in God. Sing it. Have faith in God. He's on His throne. Have faith in God. He watches over His own. He cannot fail. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. When your prayers are unanswered, He will never forget. Wait on the Lord, trust His word,
and be patient. Have faith in God, He'll answer
yes. Have faith in God, in your pain
and your sorrow, His heart is touched. With your grief and
despair, Cast all your cares and your burdens upon Him, And
leave them there, O leave them there. Have faith in God, though
all else fail about you. Have faith in God, He provides
for His own. He cannot fail, though all kingdoms
shall perish. He rules, he reigns upon his
throne. Singeth, have faith in God, that
he's on his throne. Have faith in God, He watches
for His own. He cannot fail, He must prevail. Alright, let's open our Bibles first to
hold your place there in Judges 4. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 32. And what shall I more say for
the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and of Samson,
of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets. Last week we looked at the faith
of Gideon This morning I want to look at Deborah and Barak.
If you would, turn back to Judges chapter 4. Well, actually look
in Judges chapter 3 first. You cannot tell the story of
Barak without telling the story of Deborah. They go together.
Now before the Lord, remember He gave Israel a king. Israel
was ruled by judges. And as long as that judge was
alive, Israel worshipped the Lord. As soon as that judge died,
Israel went to worshipping idols. And that happened so often in
Israel's history. And I believe I can show you
how that often happened. If you look at Judges 3, verse
5. And the children of Israel dwelt
among the Canaanites and Hittites and Amorites and parasites and
high bites and Jebusites. And they took their daughters
to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and serve
their gods. They serve their idols. And the
children of Israel did evil. The evil that they did was idolatry
in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord, their God and
serve Balaam and the groves. See the problem came. when the
people of God married these idolaters that lived around them. And what
invariably happened was the idolater did not start worshiping God. God's people, the Jews, started
worshiping the idol of their new husband and wife. Now let
me say this to our young folks. This is what Sandy used to say,
get for free. This is not exactly the message I have prepared,
but you get this for free. There's nothing wrong with dating
an unbeliever. Lord may use you to bring them
to hear the gospel and save them, could be. Brother Henry said
one time, our young ladies are often our best missionaries. That's happened many times. So
there's nothing wrong with dating an unbeliever. The problem comes
from marrying an idolater. An unbeliever is an idolater.
They're worshiping something, they're just not worshiping God.
The problem comes from marrying someone who refuses to bow to
and worship God through the preaching of the gospel. And an unbelieving
spouse pulling their husband or pulling their wife away from
the gospel is an old, old story, been repeated many, many times.
And this is a warning to us. Marrying an idolater just, it's
caused so much grief in Israel. And just like always, and you
know, if we would do that, we wouldn't be surprised it turned
out the same way. And just like always, when the people suffered
because of their sin, and it was their fault, it wasn't God's
fault, it wasn't the people lived around them fault, it was their
fault. They suffered because of their sin. They cried unto
the Lord. Doesn't that beg the question,
why is it that we don't cry to the Lord until we're in deep,
deep, deep trouble? Why wouldn't we call on Him right
now? Well, they called in their trouble At this time, the Lord
sent judges to deliver the people. And one of these judges was a
woman named Deborah, who she was the judge in Israel during
Barak's lifetime. And like I said, you can't tell
the story of one without the other. They go together. And
I'm going to look at their story, and I want us to see several
pictures of the gospel and salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ and
the story of Deborah and Barak. So Judges 4, verse 1. And the
children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord
when Ehud was dead. And 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 Gentiles.
And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for he had nine
hundred chariots of iron, and twenty years he mightily oppressed
the children of Israel. And Deborah, a prophetess, the
wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she
dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel
in Mount Ephraim. And the children of Israel came
up to her for judgment." Now, people look at this passage and
one of the questions that just jumps off the page, everybody
you read, everybody you talk to, why was a woman the judge
in Israel? I have no idea. But I know this,
he was right, because God did it. Well, what about Paul's instruction
to the church about women not ruling in the church? Well, clearly
it was not in effect at this time. And here's another thing
you get for free. We men, we ought not get puffed
up with pride that the Lord has given us authority in the home
and in the church. The authority in the home and
in the church rests with men, rests with the husband. No question
about it. And that not ought to puff us
up with pride. That ought to make us seek the
Lord. Seek Him for wisdom. Seek Him
that He give us a heart of grace and of love to rule well. That ought to fill us, not with
pride, but with fear. The Lord's given us this responsibility
in the home and the responsibility in the church. That ought to
make us seek the Lord. That we do this well for God's
glory and not to fulfill our prideful flesh. Men are not inherently
smarter than women. And all you got to do is talk
to I know a lot of women who are a whole lot smarter than
me. Men are not inherently smarter than women just because God gave
them authority. God just gave men authority in
the home and the church. It pleased him to do it. And
you can argue about that all you want. I'll just use one example
in scripture to satisfy the question. Where would David have been without
the wise counsel of Abigail? If you don't know that story,
get out your concordance and read it this afternoon. Where
would David have been without the wise counsel of Abigail? So I believe, at least in part,
in large part, God's purpose in setting up this woman as the
judge in Israel at this time was to give us a picture of the
gospel of Christ. So here's the first thing I see
in this story. Deborah is a picture of Christ in this way. Deborah
is not the judge. You and I would have chosen to
deliver Israel from this mighty enemy. Is it? It's easy for us
to see. Oh, I can see Samson. He's the
judge in Israel. I mean, look at this guy. The
strongest man ever lived. Oh, yeah. I can see he'd be the
deliverer. We would never choose this woman,
Deborah. But God did. God did. And here's
the picture. You and I, by nature, would never
have chosen a poor nobody from nowhere, Jesus of Nazareth, to
be the Savior of God's people, would we? We never would have
chosen that. But God did. And if we would
be saved, we're going to have to set aside the pride of our
flesh and submit to Him. Salvation is submitting to Christ. It's submitting to His righteousness.
And I can show you why God did it that way. Hold your place
there. Look at first Corinthians chapter one. First Corinthians one. Verse 26. For you see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many night mighty,
not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. See, that's why God did this.
That's why God chose what the flesh would call the weakest
possible person who doesn't have the physical power to deliver
Israel. God did it that way, that no
flesh should glory in his presence. Almighty God sent his son into
this world as a poor nobody to be the savior of his people,
that he'd get all the glory, that no flesh would glory in
his presence. Now I do know this about Deborah. She was a wise
judge, very respected by the people. The people came from
everywhere to be judged of her. And she was a prophetess. The
word means an inspired woman. She was inspired by God, just
like all the other prophets. And I thought this was interesting.
Her name means a bee, a bee. Bees are very active creatures,
just always busy doing things to produce the honey that we
all love. Well, that's the type of Christ.
He was always working. He was always about his father's
business. He never rested from doing his
father's will to produce the sweetness of the gospel. The
gospel is sweet because of its subject, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is sweet because of
the one who worked out the forgiveness of sin. He worked out a righteousness
for his people. He gives his people eternal life.
He makes his people accepted in him. Oh, that's sweet. That's
the sweetness of the gospel. It's all found in Christ. And
Deborah was the wife of a man named Lapidoth. And his name
means light. Well, you know, that's a picture
of Christ, the light of the world. We're born blind in darkness,
so we cannot see. We can't see any spiritual truth.
You may be able to see and understand a lot of natural things, but
we can't see and understand spiritual truth by the natural mind, God's
got to give us light. And Christ is that light. Oh,
if we see Him, now I see my sin. Because I see myself in light
of who He is. When I see Him, when God lets
me see Christ, now I've got light. Oh, now it's clear. Now I know
how God saves sinners. It's in him, it's in the beloved.
It's not in my obedience to the law, it's in his. It's not in
something I sacrifice, it's in his sacrifice for me. Now I see. If God gives me the light of
Christ, now I have light to see how to follow him and only follow
him. But that's not the savior the
flesh would have ever chosen. No, God's got to give us light
to see him and believe him. Well, here's the second thing
I see in this story, that the gospel is a commandment of God
to his elect people. Verse six, and she sent and called
Barak, the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh 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. Now, God did not
suggest, that Barak raised up an army, did he? No, God commanded
him to raise up an army and God would deliver Israel. Now, like
I said a minute ago, the gospel is sweet. There's nothing more
sweet than the gospel. It is the sweet balm of Gilead
to our souls. How many times I hear this, especially
on a Wednesday night, have you just been out there in it? And
I mean in it. And you think, I just can't.
I just physically, I just can't. And somehow you drag yourself
in here. Oh, you leave so refreshed. You're so thankful. Why? The gospel is a sweet balm of
Gilead to our souls. The gospel is the children's
bread. It's not hard. No, it's a children's
bread. The gospel is sweet milk for
babes and strong men alike. It's sweet, isn't it? Oh, it's
sweet. Come unto me, all ye that rest, all ye that weary and are
heavy laden. I'll give you rest. That's sweet.
But don't ever be mistaken about this fact. That's a commandment.
Not an invitation, come unto me. That's a commandment. Come
unto me. The gospel is a commandment from
God Almighty. The gospel commands us to repent. And repent doesn't mean the gospel
is not commanding us to be sorry. Well, we ought to be sorry over
our sin, but repentance is not being sorry. It's a turning.
The gospel is a commandment. Turn from your idols. Turn from
trusting in your works. And the gospel is a commandment
to turn to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, to turn to him and trust
him for all of your salvation. The gospel is a commandment. Come to Christ. Oh, that's a
sweet commandment. Isn't that sweet? The gospel
is a commandment. Look and live. Look to Christ
and live. It's that simple. But that is
what a gracious commandment to the dead and dying. But it is
a commandment. And God's people willingly obey
that commandment. They don't obey because God breaks
their knees and forces them to bow. They willingly bow. They willingly submit themselves
to Christ because God makes them willing in the day of his power.
And Barack is going to obey God. And he's going to do it willingly.
And you know, Barack's army is going to obey God willingly too.
Barack's army is going to be a volunteer army. Everybody that
comes is going to come voluntarily. Yet every single soldier in that
army has been drafted into it. God told Barrett, get your army
from two tribes, just two. They're not going to be a soldier
from one of the other 10 tribes, just two. That's election. God chose those two tribes. You
take your army from that, those two tribes, and I'll make them
willing. But everybody who came was willing. If you look in chapter 5, this
is Barak and Deborah's song of praise. Verse 1. Then sang Deborah and Barak,
the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying, Praise ye the Lord for
the avenging of Israel when the people willingly offered themselves. They willingly offered themselves.
Now, God chose them. He chose those two tribes to
be the army, but they came willingly. And if you go on reading in that
chapter, you'll find the other 10 tribes, they didn't come because
they didn't want to. They didn't want to. It wasn't
because God didn't choose them. They didn't want to. So here's
the picture. Everybody does exactly what they
want to do. People do just exactly what they,
if you want to do something bad enough, you'll do it. Unbelievers,
they refuse to believe Christ. Because they don't want to. They
don't want to. And God leaves them alone and
gives them what they want. And believers, they come to Christ. They believe Christ and they
trust Him. They rest in Him because they
want to. You know why they want to? God
made them willing. in the day of his power. He gave
them a new want to. He gave them a new nature that
has a new want to, and they want to believe Christ. They wouldn't
have it any other way. So every believer is a willing volunteer,
aren't they? Yet they've all, every one of
them, been drafted into God's kingdom. And only God could do
it that way. That's what he did here with
Barak's army. All right, here's the third thing
I see. God's in control of this thing.
The salvation of God's people, God's in control of this thing.
Verse 7, And I will draw unto thee to the river Chisholm, Sisera,
the captain of Jabin's army with his chariots and his multitude,
and I will deliver him into thine hand. Now, the Lord commanded
Barak, you raise up this army. But this is clear. God's going
to be the one who gets the victory. God's going to give the victory.
You're not going to get it by your own hand. God's going to
do it. And God tells Barak what he's going to do before he does
it. So everybody will know Beric
didn't do this. When this all plays out, this is God's will
being carried out because he's been directing it and controlling
it all along. And nothing's changed from Beric's
day to our day. Right now, all that God is doing
in time is just exactly what he purposed to do in eternity.
He's just carrying it out now. He's just doing what he purposed
to do in himself before time began. And he gave us a taste
of that in the Old Testament. You know, the Holy Spirit inspired
men to write the Old Testament, to record these stories as pictures
of Christ. So we would know, oh, he told
us in the Old Testament, this is what he's going to do and
how he's going to do it. Then we flip over to the New
Testament and say, oh, he's just doing here what he always said
he was going to do because God is the one who's in control.
And the Old Testament gives us types and pictures of Christ
to show us God never intended to save his people through the
law. The law wasn't plan A and that failed, so now he's got
to come up with plan B. God shows us in the Old Testament in picture
and type and shadow, God always intended to save his people through
the obedience and through the sacrifice of his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, then why did God bother
giving the law? Why did God give the law first?
God gave the law first to show us how sinful we are, to show
us we can't keep the law, and to make us desperately need the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then, in our most desperate
hour, the Father revealed the Savior. That's why He gave the
law first, to show us our desperate need of forgiveness, and then
He showed us the one who forgives sin. See, God does that to show
us He is the one who's in control. of the salvation of his people,
just like he's in control of all things. And all we're commanded
to do is believe him, bow to him. And here's the fourth thing. That's what Barak did. He obeyed
by faith. Verse eight. And Barak said unto
her, if thou wilt go with me, then I'll go. But if thou wilt
not go with me, then I will not go. Is this fear and weakness
on barracks park? I read some, some, uh, old writers
that kind of made it sound like this is weakness, you know, in
barracks park. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think this
is faith. Look back in Exodus chapter 33, Moses said the very
same thing in Exodus chapter 33 verse 12. And Moses said unto the Lord,
see, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people and thou shalt
let me know whom thou sent with me. Yet thou said, I know thee
by name and thou also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore,
I pray thee, if I found grace in my sight, show me now thy
way that I may know thee. Moses didn't want to know things,
did he? I want to know thee. I want to know the person. Let
me know thee. that I might find grace in thy sight and consider
that this nation is thy people. And he said, my presence shall
go with thee and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him,
if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. And I've
told you many times that is my prayer before every worship service. If you're not going to go with
me, don't let me go. put a tree over the road, send a flood,
do something. If you're not going to go with
me, don't let me go. And that's what Barak is saying.
That's faith. I'm not going to go without you
because I'm going to be a failure without you. I'm not going to
go without you because I must have you. I've got to have Christ.
And that's what saving faith does. It willingly obeys and
follows Christ and just don't want to go anywhere the Lord's
not leading us. Don't want to do anything that the Lord is
not going to be with me to do. That's faith. The constant prayer
of saving faith is, Lord, go with me. Don't let me go anywhere
without you. That's what Barry did. All right,
here's the fifth thing. God is going to get all the glory
in this matter of salvation, and none of it's going to go
to a man. Verse 9, Judges chapter 4, 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 Kedesh. Now, Deborah made this plain.
No glory for this victory is going to a man. Nobody's going
to be singing about Barak like they did about David. David's
killed his ten thousands, no? Then nobody's going to see, oh,
a brave, valiant man, a warrior, you know, delivered Israel. The
glory for this victory is going to go to God. It's going to be
plain as the nose on your face. This victory is going to be won.
The enemy is going to be delivered by a weak woman. So everybody
will know God's the one who did this. This didn't happen by the
strength of man. It happened by the purpose of
God. That's such a clear picture of the gospel and a clear picture
of our relationship with God. God's going to get all the glory
in this thing and we're going to get none. I like what Brother
Todd Nyberg says, God will save everyone where he can get all
the glory and saving them. And if God can't get all the
glory and saving them, he won't. They'll be damned. God's going
to get all the glory in this thing. And isn't that right?
I mean, it's just right that it should be that way. We shouldn't
get any glory in this matter of salvation, should we? What
did we contribute to the equation? All we contributed was our sin,
our rebellion, and our need for a savior. That's all we contributed
to it. God provided the salvation. God provided the payment. God
provided the ransom. He should get all the glory because
he did everything from beginning to end. God is the one who purposed
and planned salvation. God is the one that chose a people
to save. If he didn't choose a people
to be saved, nobody would. God did that. God came in the
person of His Son and He purchased the salvation of His people with
His own blood. The blood of God purchased the
redemption of His people. And God the Holy Spirit applies
that salvation to the hearts of His people, giving them a
new heart, giving them faith in Christ and the new birth.
And God's the one who keeps all those people safe to the end. God's going to be the one to
present them before the Father Saying, here they are, I and
the children which thou hast given me. So who should get all
the glory now? God should, shouldn't he? And
God's people willingly give it to him. They wouldn't want it
any other way. God used the most unlikely person
to deliver Israel from this mighty king, this mighty general, a
weak woman. Now the way our natural wisdom
looks at things, God used the most unlikely person to save
his people from their sins. Jesus of Nazareth. That shows
you how ignorant we are. We think Jesus of Nazareth, that's
the most unlikely savior you could find when there's salvation
in no other. He's the only possible savior.
But natural men thought that the Lord Jesus was the most unlikely. I mean, they thought he was so
unlikely they stumbled over him. They thought he was so unlikely
they refused to believe him. They stumbled over his birth.
He was born to a poor, working class family. He wasn't born
a king. He was born a stable, for goodness
sakes. They stumbled over where he grew up. Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth? Surely not. They stumbled over
his friends. His friends were uneducated fishermen,
publicans, and harlots. And they stumbled over his message.
message of salvation by grace. It's not by works. It's not by
the works of your works of the law. It's by the works of another
by grace. And they stumbled over that.
They stumbled over his cursed death. Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree. How could he possibly save his
people? I mean, saving anybody. How can he possibly be a king?
He's cursed. Cursed is everyone that dies,
that hangeth upon a tree. The flesh stumbles over those
things. But God's people rejoice in those things that cause the
flesh to stumble. God's people rejoice in His birth. Oh, I'm so thankful Christ appeared
in the flesh, in the flesh, in flesh just like mine, bone of
my bone, flesh of my flesh, to be the representative of His
people who are in the flesh. Now that He's appeared in the
flesh, now He can be their substitute. Now He can be their representative
and take their sin away. He came as the seed of woman,
not the seed of man. He came as a seed of woman, so
He didn't partake in Adam's sin. That makes Him sinless. Oh, aren't
you thankful He appeared in the flesh, the seed of woman? God's
people rejoice over where He grew up. I'm glad He grew up
in Nazareth. I'm glad He grew up what the
world thought was a nobody, because God certainly did bring something
good out of Nazareth, didn't He? He brought our righteousness
out of that place. God's people rejoice in his friends. I'm thankful his friends were
the ignorant, the uneducated, publicans and harlots. That's
me. That's me. I find hope that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the friend of sinners. real bonafide, dead, guilty,
stinking sinners. That's the only hope I got. That
he'd be the friend of sinners. Oh, I rejoice in that. God's
people rejoice in his message. The only possible way I could
be saved is by grace. If salvation is not by grace,
I've got no hope. Don't you? Oh, if salvation requires even one
of my works of the law, I'll be damned. Because everything
I do is sinful and would ruin it. The best righteousness that
I have is filthy rags. Rags that are defiled with sin.
I rejoice over salvation by grace. And God's people rejoice over
his cursed death. Those that stumbled over his
death and say he's dying a cursed death, you know, they weren't
wrong. He was cursed. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree. But I rejoice in that because the only way I can
be free from the condemnation of the law and the curse of the
law is if the Lord Jesus Christ has made a curse for me. I rejoice
in that. See, all the glory for this should
go to God because He's the one that did it all. Look over at
Romans chapter 3. Romans 3. In verse 23, For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness. that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus, that God might be just
when he justifies them because Christ made him righteous. Christ's
sacrifice put their sin away. Well, where's boasting then?
It's excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, by
the law of faith. Salvation by grace through faith
eliminates all boasting, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, that's the gospel story. That's how God
saves sinners. Now look back in Judges 4 and
let's read this story and sit back and just watch it all unfold
just exactly like God promised us it would. Judges 4, verse
10. And Barak called Zebulun and
Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with 10,000 men at his feet,
and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Canaanite, which
was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had
severed himself from the Canaanites and pitched his tent under the
plain of Zionam, which is by Kedesh. And they showed Sisera
that Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up to Mount Tabor. Now
this man, Heber, had aligned himself with Sisera. He was the
general of the army opposing Israel. And Heber acted kind
of like as a spy for Sisera. And he told him everything that
Barak was doing and where he was going. And you know, that
kind of intel from a spy normally will doom an army. But now you
remember this man Heber and his family. We'll come back to him
in just a minute. But verse 13, Assyria gathered together all
his chariots, even 900 chariots of iron, and all the people that
were with him from Herosheth of the Gentiles under the river
of Chisholm. Now, you know, Sisera didn't
know anything about what God told Deborah, what Deborah told
Barak. But do you find it interesting? He did exactly what God said
he was going to do. He did, didn't he? Now, Sisera
did just exactly what he wanted to do. He went down there to
that river because God drew him, because God put it in his heart
to do that, because God's the ones in control of this thing.
In verse 14, and Deborah said unto Barak, up, for this is the
day. He wished the Lord had delivered
sister into thine hand. Is not the Lord gone out before
thee? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men after
him. Deborah told Barak up, get up,
quit sitting there up. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day the Lord is
going to deliver the victory into your hand. Now you go take
it because God's given it to you. Nothing wrong with taking
what God gives, gives you is there. And I say this to God's
children, today is the day of salvation. Today is still the
day of grace. You know how I know that? The
gospel's still being preached. Today's the day of grace. Now
up and by faith lay hold upon the victory that God's given
you. And the victory is victory, the salvation of sin. And that
victory's sure, because the Lord's gone out before you. He's always
gone out before. That's what the shepherd does.
He leadeth the sheep out. He goes before the sheep. Our
Savior's always gone before us. He went before us in eternity
in the covenant of grace when he stood as our surety, agreed
to be the surety of his people, put them into my hand. I'll save
them, he said. He went before his people and kept the law for
them. They couldn't do it, so he went
before them and kept it for them. He went before us to the cursed
tree and died in the place of His people. He died first and
He went to the grave. He went before us to the grave
and He came out of it too. And you will too because of Him. Now what do you have to fear?
Huh? What do you have to fear? If the Lord's gone before you,
you've got nothing to fear. You don't have to fear the law.
Christ kept it for you. You don't have to fear condemnation.
Christ is already condemned for you. You don't have to fear death. Christ took the sting of death
out of his people. Your body's going to die, but you're not
going to die. He took the sting of death out. You don't even
have to fear the grave. Christ the Savior came out. You
will too. You will too. So lay hold on
Christ by faith because salvation in him is sure. Today's the day
of salvation. Well, verse 15, he took this
army down there, and the Lord disconfited Sisera and all his
chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before
Beric. So the Sisera lighted down 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." Wasn't a single man left. Every one of them was
dead. It sounds a lot like Gideon's victory, doesn't It sounds here
like Barak's army didn't kill anybody. The Lord confused the
Sisera's army and they all killed each other. And all Barak and
his 10,000 men did was just stand there and watch. And God gave
him the victory. Now that's salvation, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus Christ defeated every one of his enemies. We
didn't kill him yet. We didn't fight in this battle.
The battle is not yours. Battles of the Lords. He fought
the battle. And all we do is just stand there and watch in
amazement how he won the victory. He won the victory over sin,
over death, over hell, over Satan. They've all been defeated by
Christ our Savior. Now verse 17. Howbeit Sisera
fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber,
the Canaanite. For there was peace between Jabin,
the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber, the Canaanite. 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 in unto
her in 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, Now stand
in the door of the tent, and it shall be when any man doth
come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? God
shall say, No. Then Jael, Heber's wife, took
a nail of the tent, 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." Now Sisera thought he had an ally in this woman
Jael. She's the wife of Heber, his
spy. He thought he had an ally in
her. He found out otherwise, didn't he? That story reminded
me of when Janet and I got married. We were engaged and I think we
had a, I don't know, a party or shower. I don't know what
it was. But anyway, my grandmother pulled me aside and told me,
she said, now you better treat her right. You better treat her
right. She said, you got to sleep sometime. Pretty good advice. Well, that's
what happened to sister. He had to sleep sometime, didn't
he? And God used this woman he thought was his ally. to kill
him, nail his head to the ground while he slept. There's that
unlikely deliverer again. This woman everybody thought
was Sisera's ally. Unlikely deliverer, just like
our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 22, Behold, as Barak
pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him. And suddenly him
come, and I'll show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when
he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead and the nails
in his temples. So God subdued on that day Jabin
the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. God did that.
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. Now, Jahiel told Barak, you come
here and I'll show you your enemy. He's dead. And that's what the
Lord tells his people. Come here. Come here. Let me
show you your enemies. Every one of them's dead. Satan's
head. was crushed, his power was crushed
by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. The nails in the hands and the
feet of our Savior, they didn't destroy him, did they? No, they
destroyed Satan. Just like a nail through his
temples, he was destroyed by the death of Christ when he put
away the sin of his people. Oh, Satan bruised his heel, but
Christ crushed his head. Just like God said would happen.
What about our sin? That's an enemy. Well, Christ
says, look at it, it's dead. It's nailed to the tree. Paul
says, I'm crucified with Christ. Just like Cicero's army, there's
not one left. Not one sin left. They're all
been put away. Well, what about the law? The
law is against us, isn't it? Because we can't keep it. Look
back at Colossians chapter 2, we read to open the surface.
What about this matter of the law and its commandments that
I cannot keep? The law that would demand my
death. Colossians 2 verse 13. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, 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, having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. That's what happened. God delivered Israel by the most
unlikely prophet, a prophetess, by the most unlikely judge, a
woman named Deborah and someone everybody thought was Sisera's
ally, Jael. God has, and this is the picture,
God has delivered his people from all of their sin, given
them the victory by what to the flesh seems like the most unlikely
source. Lord Jesus Christ. It's all in
Him. It's all in Him. What do you need? It's in Him. God's given me one more chance
to say it, so I'm going to say it. Come to Christ. Right now,
right where you sit, you submit. Submit to Him and come to Him. Oh, may God give us the faith
to believe Him and rest in Him. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for
sending such a savior that would put away all the sin, every enemy
of his people, and set us free. Father, we thank you for giving
us your gospel. Thank you for setting it forth
so clearly in your word. And Father, I pray you'd bless
the word as it's been preached. Cause it to go forth in power.
that your people would not remember the words of a man, but that
you'd cause your word to take root in the heart of your people,
to cause us to look only to Christ, to rest in Him and Him alone. It's in His blessed name, for
His glory, we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing 220A and
do the chorus after the first and last verse. Chorus after
first and last. My faith has found a resting
place, not in device for greed. I trust the Ever-Living One. His wounds for me shall flee. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Enough for me. that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. My great physician heals the
sick, the lost he came to save. For me his precious blood he
shed, for me his life he gave. gave. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me.