Good evening. It's a pleasure to be with you tonight. This is the first time I've been in Brunsfield Evangelical Church, so thank you very much for your welcome this evening.
I also find it a little bit daunting being here. Jonathan Gemmell came on several occasions to speak at ETS, where I teach.
I know Graham Shanks fairly well from ETS as well, so I know the standard of preaching that you're used to, so it's daunting for me to be here.
Also, Judges isn't an easy book, is it? We've already heard about J.L. and her tent peg, so it is daunting coming here.
But I trust that, as God's Word has preached to us, that He'll bless us through it.
The account of Deborah and Barak is unique in Judges in that we get it two times.
There's a story and then a song, so the first part of it in Chapter 4 has already been read to us.
As I begin tonight, I'd like to read the second part, which is the song. I'm not going to attempt to sing it. You'll be relieved.
It's Chapter 5. So as we begin, we'll read God's Word again.
On that day, Deborah and Barak, son of Abinahim, sang this song.
When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves, praise the Lord.
Hear this, you kings. Listen, you rulers.
I will sing to the Lord. I will sing.
I will make music to the Lord, the God of Israel.
O Lord, when you went out from Zer, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook.
The heavens poured, the clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked before the Lord, the one of Sinai.
Before the Lord, the God of Israel.
In the days of Shamgar, son of Anat, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned.
Travelers took to winding paths.
Village life in Israel ceased.
Ceased until I, Deborah, arose.
Arose as a mother in Israel.
When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates.
Not a shield or spear was seen among the forty thousand in Israel.
My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people.
Praise the Lord.
You who ride on white donkeys sitting on your saddled blankets, and you who walk along the road,
consider the voice of the singers at the watering places.
They recite the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down to the city gates.
Wake up, wake up, Deborah.
Wake up, wake up.
Break out in song.
Arise, O Barak.
Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.
Then the men who were left came down to the nobles.
The people of the Lord came to me with the mighty.
Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek.
Benjamin was with the people who followed you.
From Makar, captains came down.
From Zebulun, those who bear a commander's staff.
The princes of Issachar were with Deborah.
Yes, Issachar was with Barak, rushing after him into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben, there was much searching of heart.
Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben, there was much searching of heart.
Gillian stayed beyond the Jordan.
And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.
The people of Zebulun risked their very lives.
So did Naphtali on the heights of the field.
Kings came.
They fought.
The kings of Canaan fought at Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo.
But they carried off no silver and no plunder.
From the heavens, the stars fought.
From their courses, they fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away.
The age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul, be strong.
Then thundered the horses' hooves.
Galloping, galloping, go his mighty steeds.
Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord.
Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the Lord.
To help the Lord against the mighty.
Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite.
Most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
He asked for water and she gave him milk.
In a bowl fit for noble, she brought him curdled milk.
Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman's hammer.
She struck Sisera.
She crushed his head.
She shattered and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank.
He fell, there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell.
Where he sank, there he fell, dead.
Through the window peered Sisera's mother.
Behind the lattice she cried out,
Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?
The wisest of her ladies answered her.
Indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
Are they not finding and dividing the spoils?
A girl or two for each man.
Colorful garments is plunder for Sisera.
Colorful garments embroidered.
Highly embroidered garments for my neck.
All this is plunder.
So may all your enemies perish, O Lord.
But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.
Then the land had peace for forty years.
May God bless his word.
As we begin tonight, I'd like to begin with a question.
And it's a rhetorical question.
I'm telling you that so you know that you're not expecting you to answer.
It's quite a personal question.
In the free church I don't need to explain that
because if I ask a question nobody's going to answer.
But just in case you might feel that I'm expecting you to answer, I'm not.
What's the biggest problem that you face?
What's the biggest issue in your life?
To put it slightly differently, what's most important to you?
To help us answer that kind of question,
when you get up in the morning, what's the first thing that you think about?
Maybe when you're going to bed at night, is you lying there in your bed?
What is it that turns round and round in your mind?
For each of us, that's quite a personal question.
If we were to make it slightly less personal,
if we keep that question in the back of our mind,
but if we make it slightly less personal,
in this passage, in Judges chapter 4,
what's the biggest problem that the Israelites faced?
The narrator has an opinion about that as he tells the story, doesn't he?
But if you were to actually ask the Israelites,
what's your biggest problem?
We get a sense of that in verse 3, don't we?
It's talking there about Sisera,
this man who was the commander of their enemy's army,
and tells us that because Sisera had 900 iron chariots
and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for 20 years,
they cried to the Lord for help.
There's a bit of irony in that, isn't there?
It took 20 years for them to cry out to the Lord.
But if you were to ask the Israelites,
what's your biggest problem?
What would they answer?
Sisera.
Sisera and his 900 chariots and his 20 years of oppression.
That's, I think, what they would say was their biggest problem.
But as we look at the way this story is recorded for us in the Bible,
we see that the author of it is wanting us to recognize
that that's not their biggest problem.
What's a problem?
There's actually only a symptom.
Their bigger problem was different than that, wasn't it?
In verse 1,
After Ehud died,
the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin,
a king of Canaan,
who reigned in Hazor.
Their problem was not Jabin,
or his commander Sisera.
Their problem was themselves.
Their problem was the fact that they had rejected God.
Now, often,
in our day,
if you saw people who were being oppressed like that,
we would view them rightly as being innocent victims.
But in the narrative,
we discovered that the Israelites were not innocent victims.
The troubles that they were going through
were troubles that they had made for themselves
because of their rejection of God.
Their biggest problem was one of allegiance,
or loyalty.
Their biggest problem was a lack of allegiance to God,
a lack of loyalty to God.
Now, it's not just at the beginning of this account
that that issue of allegiance arises, is it?
We look at verse 11.
The first time you read through the story,
verse 11 stands out as being rather strange, doesn't it?
It's as if the story is interrupted
and we're given this seemingly superfluous detail.
Now, Haber, the Kenite,
had left the other Kenites,
the descendants of Hobab,
Moses' father-in-law,
and pitched his tent near the great tree
in Za'ananim,
near Kadesh.
What's the point of that?
Why does the author bother telling us about Haber?
Well, it's partly because of his wife, Jael,
who becomes significant later on in the story.
But if you look at verse 17,
we read what it meant that Haber
had decided to leave his family and move.
In verse 17, we're told that Cisera, however,
fled on foot to the tent of jail,
the wife of Heber the Kenite.
This is why we're told about him now.
Because there were friendly relations
between Jabin, king of Hazor,
and the clan of Heber the Kenite.
Do you see what Heber was doing?
Back in verse 11,
when it says he left his relatives and he moved.
Heber moved because he was changing sides.
To be very simplistic,
in the Old Testament,
you could divide people into two groups.
There were those people who were for God
and those people who were against God.
And in the middle,
we have the Kenites,
Hobab and his descendants.
Now, Hobab,
he was connected to Moses by marriage.
He and his people had seen
what God had done for the Israelites.
And they had said to themselves,
the God of the Israelites is the true God.
And so they had cast their lot with the Israelites.
They had recognized that the God of Israel
was the true God.
And so in chapter 1 of the book of Judges,
in verse 16,
we're told that the descendants of Moses' father-in-law,
the Kenites went up from the city of Palms
with the men of Judah
to live among the people
of the desert of Judah in the Negev.
They had made the right choice.
They had sided with God.
Now, if Heber is moving,
if he's leaving his family
and he's siding with Jabin
and his wicked, violent regime,
it's not merely that Heber is leaving his family,
He's forsaking God.
He's going in the wrong direction.
And this issue of allegiance,
we see it not just in the beginning,
not just in the middle.
If you look at the very end of the account,
in chapter 5,
if you want to know what a passage in the Bible is about,
often it's instructive to look at the end of it.
And at the end of this account,
in verse 31, chapter 5, 31,
we read,
So may all your enemies perish, O Lord,
but may those who love you
be like the sun when it rises in its strength.
There's two groups of people there, aren't there?
There are those who are God's enemies
and those who have sided with God,
those who love God.
Two different groups of people.
And this issue of allegiance comes up,
this issue of loyalty.
So, if we can become personal again,
I began by asking you,
what's your greatest problem?
Perhaps it's not a problem,
we could think more generally,
what's the greatest issue in your life?
Well, through this passage,
God is calling each one of us to recognize
that He ought to be the most important,
the most significant thing in our lives.
And so the question for us is to ask ourselves,
how important is God to me?
Or if we think of Heber,
which direction are you going?
Do you find that you're going towards God?
Or do you find that you're going away from Him?
Now, many of you here tonight,
maybe you have taken a decision about that.
Maybe for some of you,
these things are new to you,
and you're still wrestling with that.
But this is the point this passage is driving home.
There is nothing more important for us to know
than the God who created us.
Now, if this passage is seeking to convince us,
if God is telling us through this passage,
that He is the most important thing,
or that He ought to be the most important thing in our lives,
that allegiance to Him is the most important thing,
we might ask, why?
Why?
Why should Deborah and Barak and Jael,
why should all of these people,
on what grounds did God have to expect them to side with Him?
Couldn't have been an easy decision for Jael
to take a side with the God of Israel, could it?
Why should they take this decision?
I would suggest that as we look at this passage,
that there are at least two reasons that are given here
as to why they should have sided with the God of Israel.
Two reasons why you ought to side with God,
why you ought to follow the Lord Jesus.
First of all, God has made Himself known,
and secondly, God is victorious.
So first of all, God makes Himself known.
Now, if God were difficult to know,
if God were hidden,
it would have been unfair to expect Barak to side with Him,
wouldn't it?
It would be unfair to expect Jael to side with the God of Israel.
But the fact is that God isn't unknown to them.
If you look with me at verse 6,
in the NIV, now this is talking about Deborah,
the Israelites are being oppressed.
In chapter 4, verse 6, Deborah sends for Barak,
who's going to be their military leader.
He's going to be their champion.
In verse 6,
Deborah sent for Barak, son of Abinuam,
from Kadesh and Naphtali,
and said to him,
The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you,
go, take with you 10,000 men.
Now, as we read that in the NIV,
we would get the impression
that this is the first time that Barak has heard anything about this.
I don't know if any of you have different translations.
In the ESV, it translates it rather differently.
She sent and summoned Barak, son of Abinuam,
from Kadesh and Naphtali,
and said to him,
Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you,
go and gather your men?
Now, in the language that it's originally written in,
that is a more direct translation,
Deborah does, in fact, present him with a question.
Hasn't God commanded you to do that?
Now, some people suggest
that that was just a way of emphasizing the truthfulness
that the surely God has commanded you,
and that's why the NIV translates it this way.
I think it's more natural to take it as an actual question.
Now, a question like that is implying something.
If you say,
Hasn't God told you this?
Well, that implies you're going to answer yes.
But if Barak has to answer yes to this question,
it implies that God had already told him to do this,
and he hadn't done it.
That means that Barak's problems start not in verse 7,
sorry, in verse 8.
As we read through the account,
we get to verse 8,
and Barak says to her,
If you go with me, I'll go.
But if you don't go with me, I won't go.
Barak's name in Hebrew actually means lightning.
Barak doesn't respond with very lightning-like speed
to God's directions to him, does he?
But if this is true,
it means that his problems didn't start in verse 8,
when he says that he won't go unless Deborah goes with him.
Actually, his problems had already started before this,
when God had told him to go,
and he did nothing.
But for just now,
our point in looking at this
is that God had made himself known to Barak.
Now, the good news for us
is that God isn't hidden from us.
If God were hidden,
if he were distant,
if it were difficult to know God,
we might think it was unfair of him
to expect us to know him.
But the fact is that God has spoken to us.
God speaks to us in lots of different ways.
Most clearly,
God has spoken to us through Jesus.
So, for example, in Hebrews,
in the New Testament,
we read that in the past,
God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets
at many times and in various ways.
But in these last days,
he has spoken to us by his Son.
That's Jesus.
If you want to know God,
you can.
Because God is speaking to you.
God spoke to Barak
in various different ways,
not least through Deborah.
God is speaking to us
through his Son,
through Jesus.
And that's why the Bible is so important to us,
isn't it?
Because it is pre-eminently this book
that tells us about Jesus.
So this book is about, isn't it,
what God has done for us
through the Lord Jesus.
So first of all,
the reason that we should side with God
is because he is a God
who has made himself known to us.
He speaks to us.
Secondly, as we look at this passage,
we're confronted with the fact
that the God of Israel
is victorious.
It's important that we know him.
It's important that we side with him
because he wins.
Now, as we look at this passage,
we see God's victory in two different ways.
We see that God is victorious in judgment.
And then secondly,
we see that God is victorious in salvation.
So first of all,
God is victorious in judgment.
Now, this takes us to Jael.
In verse 22 of chapter 4,
at the very end of that,
we read that
Barak went in with Jael,
and there lay Sisera
with the tent peg
through his temple,
dead.
On that day,
God subdued Jabin,
the Canaanite king,
before the Israelites.
And the hand of the Israelites
grew stronger and stronger
against Jabin,
the Canaanite king,
until they destroyed him.
And then if we turn over
to chapter 5,
having repeated again
what Jael did,
we read in verse 31,
So may all your enemies perish,
O Lord.
What Jael did
is presented to us
as being God's victory
over his enemies.
Now,
this is a troubling passage
for us, isn't it?
I used to live in Skye.
In Skye,
there are lots of B&Bs
and things like that.
People talk all the time
about Highland hospitality.
People talk similarly
about Middle Eastern hospitality
or ancient Near Eastern hospitality.
you're talking about the Bible.
Well, this is the opposite
of that, isn't it?
What was Jael doing?
She went out and met him
and tricked him
and lured him in.
Cicero is presented
as an almost pathetic figure.
Isn't he?
Almost like a baby
being put to bed
and tucked up
with a blanket
and given milk
until she takes a tent peg
and drives it
through his temple
and nails him
to the ground.
We think,
my goodness,
what do we do with this?
We find this very troubling.
It's important for us,
I think,
understanding this passage
and what the Bible
is doing with it.
First of all,
to consider
what kind of man
Cicero was.
We're not told
a lot about him,
but if you look
at chapter 5,
do you notice
at the end of that,
Cicero hasn't come home
and his mother
is worried.
His household
is worried.
Where is Cicero?
Why is he taking
so long
in coming back?
And do you see
what they tell themselves
to try to comfort themselves?
Well, he's only taking
so long
because he's so busy
gathering plunder.
And in verse 30,
are they not finding
and dividing the spoils
a girl or two
for each man?
The words that Cicero's mother
there uses for a girl,
it's literally womb.
Now,
this isn't Cicero speaking.
You understand,
this is his mother
speaking about him.
Tells us something
about Canaanite culture,
doesn't it?
This is what she hoped
her son was doing.
He was someone
who dehumanized
other people,
who dehumanized women,
who treated them
as nothing more
than sexual objects.
And this was the nature,
this and other things.
This was the nature
of his 20-year oppression
of the Israelites.
Cicero was a wicked man.
To try to think of it
in modern terms
in our own day,
a different
but similar example,
in 2011,
when U.S. Special Forces
finally found
where Osama bin Laden was.
And they engaged him
and Osama bin Laden
in the end of that
encounter.
He died.
We didn't feel sorry
for him,
did we?
Because he was
a wicked person
who was bent
on destruction
and created
an organization
that specialized
in killing
innocent people.
And when he died,
we thought,
well,
he got what he deserved.
When we read
through this account,
we need to recognize
that we are not
to feel sorry
for Cicero.
he got what
he deserved.
I think there are
two further considerations
when we encounter
this kind of thing
in the Old Testament.
First of all,
we need to keep in mind
that at this time,
for God's people,
there was the church,
if you will,
as an organization,
and there was the state,
and they were
the same thing.
For Israel,
there was no distinction
between the church
and the state.
So very often
in the Old Testament,
you see that those
people who were
leaders of God's people
ended up being
military leaders.
The Bible itself
is quite clear
that that is no longer
the case for us.
There is a distinction
between the church
and the state.
Those who are leaders
in the church
are not military leaders.
God's kingdom
is not to be
advanced
through military might.
There is a difference
in that sense.
We also need
to keep in mind
that as we read
these kind of accounts
in the Old Testament,
very often,
these pictures
of judgment,
the flood,
Sodom and Gomorrah,
what happened
to the Canaanites,
for example,
what happened
to Sisera,
typically,
these are presented
to us
as foreshadows
of a greater event.
One day,
every single person
will stand
before God.
we will give
an account
of our lives.
We have consciences,
that's testimony
to the fact
that we know
that that's true.
And God
will defeat
his enemies.
One day,
God will be victorious.
He will put to right
all the wrongs
of this world.
And these things
that we read,
for example,
with jail,
they aren't examples
for us
of what we are
to go out and do.
The Bible isn't here
teaching us
that we should go
and do something
like what jail
has done.
But this is
a picture to us
of God's
final judgment
over his enemies.
Even though
we are not
to do these things
ourselves,
it doesn't mean
that it has
nothing to teach us.
So,
God
will be victorious
in judgment.
Now,
that was true
in Judges chapters
4 and 5.
God could expect
these people
to side with him.
He could expect
Barak to side with him
and Deborah
and jail
and the rest
because he was
victorious.
And if that was
true now,
it's still true
today.
There's,
I think it's
a striking passage
in the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul
has arrived
in Greece
and he is there
making known
his gospel,
this message
that he presents.
And he's speaking
about what happened
in the life
of Jesus.
Jesus came,
he taught,
he performed
various miracles,
he was betrayed
by his enemies,
he was handed over
and crucified.
But then Paul
goes on to say
that God
has set a day
when he will
judge the world
with justice
by the man
he has appointed.
Now,
in the context,
that man is Jesus.
Now,
do you see
what Paul
is saying?
Paul is saying
that there will
be a day
of judgment.
There will be
a day when
God will be
victorious
over all
of his enemies.
Now,
that's a big
claim.
He says
that this
will happen
when Jesus
comes in judgment.
That's the man
that God
has appointed.
Now,
as Paul
proclaims this
message,
notice why
he expects
people to
believe this.
He doesn't
say,
well,
just take
my word
for it.
He has
given proof
of this
to all
men
by raising
him from
the dead.
Jesus
did truly
die,
but three
days later
Jesus was
raised from
the dead.
And one
of the points
that the Bible
makes with
regards to
that is
that Jesus'
resurrection
is proof
that he
is judge.
It's proof
that he
wins.
He will
come victorious.
Now,
that's good
news,
isn't it?
The hymn
that we
began with
tonight
is rather
striking
hymn,
isn't it,
the way
I've never
heard it
before,
speaking about
the darkness
and the way
the darkness
is heavy
upon this
world.
But that's
true,
isn't it?
We're told,
for example,
that there's
more slavery
and people
trafficking
now than
there has
ever been.
There is
much darkness
in this
world,
and sometimes
we experience
that in
our own
lives.
if God
will one
day come,
if he
will be
victorious
over his
enemies,
that's good
news,
isn't it?
But perhaps
not by
itself.
Because if
God were
only victorious
in judgment,
we might
wonder,
well,
what about
us?
Who among
us could
stand in
the presence
of this
God?
God.
But the
good news
is that
not only
does God
call you
to turn
to him
in light
of his
victory
in judgment,
he also
emphasizes in
his passage
that he
is victorious
in salvation.
If you
turn with me
back to
chapter 4.
After
Ehud died,
the Israelites
once again
did evil
in the eyes
of the
Lord.
Again,
if we
render that
slightly more
literally,
the passage
says,
the Israelites
once again
did evil
in the eyes
of the
Lord,
and Ehud
was dead.
Chapter 4
is echoing a
statement which
you will have
seen over and
over again,
haunt you.
Back in
chapter 3,
verse 7,
the Israelites
did what was
evil in the
eyes of the
Lord.
In chapter 3,
verse 12,
once again
the Israelites
did what was
evil in the
eyes of the
Lord.
And in
chapter 4,
we read the
Israelites once
again did
evil in the
eyes of the
Lord.
But Ehud
was dead.
They had
messed up
before,
but God
had sent
Ehud.
God had
sent this
man who
delivered them
from the
mess that
they had
created.
And as a
result of
that,
back in
verse 30,
we see that
the land had
peace for
80 years.
Such was the
impact of what
God did through
Ehud that it
lasted for 80
years,
more than one
person's lifetime.
But he's dead,
and they've
messed up
again.
hope for
hope.
And he might be
tempted to
think,
well,
what hope
is there
now,
honestly?
Maybe you've
gotten to that
point in your
own life.
Maybe you've
messed up again
and again
and again,
and you start
to think,
well,
what hope
is there for
me?
Well,
that's what we
get to at the
point of this
passage.
And in
verse 4,
in verse 3,
we see that
the Israelites
cried to the
Lord for help.
It's at this
point,
in the pattern
that's been
established in
the book of
Judges,
it's at this
point that you
expect to be
told that God
raised up a
deliverer for
them.
And what,
in fact,
we read is
that of
Deborah,
a prophetess,
the wife of
Lapidoth,
was judging
Israel at that
time.
Now,
at the risk
of sounding
sexist,
in their
culture,
if you're
facing military
oppression,
and you want
a military
leader,
what you
want is
not a
woman.
And yet,
that's who
we read
about.
And so,
you're still
left wondering,
what's going
to happen?
How are
these people
going to be
delivered?
Well,
then we
encounter
Barak,
but Barak
is less
than impressive,
isn't he?
And still
you're wondering,
is there
really any
hope for
them?
These people
really don't
seem to
measure up.
Barak doesn't
measure up to
the standard
of Othniel,
or Ehud,
for example,
the judges
that we read
about earlier
in the book,
and yet,
the point is
that God
responded to
his people,
and even
though the
situation
seemed hopeless,
and even
though at
first you
couldn't even
see how God
was going to
do anything,
there's a
lesson there,
isn't there,
in terms of
how we interpret
providence.
Often we're
perplexed by the
situation that we
find ourselves in,
and we think
it's somehow
wrong,
and we
forget what
God is able
to do,
and he can
do beyond
what we
would ever
imagine.
But through
these people,
as unlikely
as they
seemed,
through Deborah,
and through
Barak,
and through
Jael,
God did
save his
people.
God was not
only victorious
over his
enemies,
he also
saved his
people.
And that
is so
important for
us,
because it
is not
merely true
that God
is a God
of judgment.
It is not
merely the
case that
every person
will give
an account
of their
lives to
God,
to Jesus.
That is
true,
but if I
could quote
again from
the Apostle
Paul,
in another
passage,
Paul is
again speaking
about the
resurrection of
Jesus,
he says,
the one
whom God
raised from
the dead
did not
see decay.
That is
a reference
to the
fact of
Jesus'
resurrection.
And notice
the result
of that
in Paul's
thinking.
Therefore,
my brothers,
that is
because Jesus
has been
raised from
the dead,
I want
you to
know that
through
Jesus,
the forgiveness
of sins
is proclaimed
to you.
Through
him,
everyone who
believes is
justified from
everything you
could not be
justified from
by the
law of
Moses.
There is
hope for
us because
God is
victorious in
salvation.
Jesus was
raised from
the dead,
and that's
proof not
merely that
he will
come in
judgment,
but it
is also
proof that
Jesus is
the one who
is able to
forgive you,
even when
you have
once again
done evil
in the eyes
of the
Lord.
Again and
again and
again,
we find
that in
the book
of Judges,
these people
messed up
over and
over again,
but God
didn't write
them off.
And you
can know
that God
won't write
you off,
that you
can turn
to him
through
Jesus,
and he
will forgive
you all
of your
sins.
So,
God calls
you to
allegiance to
himself.
Through
his word,
he's telling
you tonight
that he
should be
the most
important
thing in
your life.
He's calling
you to
know him.
He's given
you reason
to do that
because he
is victorious.
In the
death and
resurrection of
Jesus,
God has
demonstrated that
he will be
victorious in
judgment and
also victorious
in salvation.
And so he
calls you to
know him.
Now,
my time
has gone,
I think,
really.
I would
like to
say very
briefly that
as we
look at
this passage,
that it
is a very
challenging
passage,
because going
beyond that,
it's not
merely enough
to profess to
be on God's
side,
is it?
That's a
point that's
repeatedly made
in this
passage.
We look
at Barak.
Barak isn't
really held up
as a positive
role model for
us,
is he?
We read
of Deborah
and Jael,
they're profoundly
different.
They are.
They respond
immediately to
God.
They take the
initiative.
This theme
carries on
into chapter
five.
Do you
notice that
on the one
hand,
there is praise
for those
who follow
God.
In chapter
five,
verse two,
note how it
speaks about
those who
willingly offer
themselves.
In verse
nine,
my heart is
with Israel's
princes,
with the
willing
volunteers,
among the
people of
God.
In verses
13 to
15,
it wasn't
actually just
those two
tribes.
We read in
chapter five
that there
were other
tribes that
went out
with Barak,
with Deborah.
Then the
men who were
left came
down to the
nobles,
people of
God.
Some came
from Ephraim,
Benjamin was
with the
people who
followed you,
and so
forth.
even in
verse 20,
even the
elements
sided with
God.
The heavens,
from the
heavens the
stars fought.
So you have
that on the
one hand.
On the
other hand,
notice in
verse 15,
partway through
the verse,
in the
districts of
Reuben,
there's much
searching of
heart.
Why did
you stay
among the
campfires to
hear the
whistling for
the flocks?
Gilead stayed
beyond the
Jordan, and
Dan, why
did he linger
by the
ships?
The tribe
of Dan had
their allotment
by the sea,
this telling
passage of
people frittering
away with
their boats,
other people
out literally
whistling after
sheep, trying to
ignore the fact
that anything was
going on.
Afterwards,
there was much
searching of
heart as
they realized
that they
hadn't done
anything.
Do you see
that there's a
challenge here,
not merely to
side with God,
but to live a
life that's
consistent with
that?
The passage is
teaching us that
it's not enough
merely to say
that we're
Christians,
it's not merely
enough to go to
church, that's
important, it's
not enough
merely to know
the Bible.
God calls us
to live a life
that's consistent
with that.
Now, I want
to conclude
very briefly
with one
practical point
as to how
we do that.
We all know
it's very
difficult to
do that.
It's easy
to be like
Barak.
It's easy to
know what God
wants us to
do and not
to do it.
We need to
remember that
Jesus has
come in
forgiveness.
We experience
forgiveness not
merely when we
first become
Christians.
We constantly
need to be
reminded that
Jesus is our
Savior.
But if we
take the
example of
Barak to
conclude with,
Barak wasn't
everything he
ought to have
been, was
he?
But at the
same time, he
wasn't a
complete disaster,
to be fair to
Barak.
He did
ultimately do
what he was
meant to do.
In chapter
five, he's
commended.
Verse one,
on that day,
Deborah and
Barak, son of
Abinuam, sang
this song.
Why is it
that Barak
turned out
better than
he might
have done?
That's because
of Deborah.
I think there's
a profound
point here.
We are not
to lead the
Christian life
on our own.
Because on
our own, we
would typically,
I would typically
make a mess of
my life.
But God
hasn't left us
on her own.
He has made
you part of a
congregation here
in Brunsfield.
And as
Christians, if
you are
Christians, if
you have
decided to
follow Jesus,
you have
responsibilities not
merely towards
God, but you
have responsibilities
towards one
another.
To challenge
one another, to
comfort one
another, to
encourage one
another.
So what is it
that you think
about when you
wake up in the
morning?
And what is it
that you think
about as you're
lying there on
your bed at
night?
God.
This passage is
telling us that
that thing, that
person, ought to
be our creator.
The God who has
revealed himself to
us through Jesus.
The God who is
victorious in
judgment, but also
the God who is
victorious in
salvation.
You bow your
heads with me as
we close in
prayer.
Our Father in
heaven, we thank
you that you
have given us
your word.
We pray that as
we leave here
that we would do
so knowing that
you have spoken
to us and we
ask that your
word would remain
with us.
We pray that we
would not be
people who merely
know your
word, but we
pray that your
word would touch
our hearts, be
at work within
us by your
Holy Spirit.
God, we ask
that you would
make Jesus to
be precious to
us.
May we marvel
that not only
did he die and
give his life in
our place, but
that on the
third day he was
raised from the
dead and that
because of his
resurrection we
have hope.
And so we pray,
Father, that
through him you
would be at work
within us by your
Holy Spirit.
We ask that you
would bless us as
your people, bless
this congregation
here in Brunsfield.
We ask that you
would be with
those whom you
have raised up as
leaders in this
congregation and
bless everyone
here connected
with it in all
of their various
different roles.
We pray that you
would enable them
individually and
as a people to
live a life that
honors you, to
live a life that
is a witness to
you and that
through this
congregation that
many more people
would come to
know you.
We ask, Father,
that you would
watch over us,
that you would
forgive us all
our sins, for
we pray this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.