Judges chapter 4, you may be seated. Judges chapter 4 this evening. Judges chapter 4 this evening. As we continue, we're going to cover two chapters tonight. We're really going to cook with gas, as an old chaplain buddy of mine used to say, when he would say, his saying was, when something was going really good, he would say, we're cooking with gas. I'm not sure how he grew up in South Alabama. If they had another method, probably would when we were together in the early 90s. But his favorite saying, I've always heard, it's here in my mind, we're cooking with gas. As we talk about Judges, we remember as we've begun this series that the Book of Judges takes place About 65, 70 years, it begins about that time after the children of Israel come out of the land of Egypt, 40 years in the wilderness, about 20, 25 years to capture or at least get into the land, several victories, but it's an incomplete victory. They don't really drive out the Canaanites. They don't really drive out the Jebusites. They don't really drive out the Philistines. They don't really drive out all of these tribes. And then they become a thorn in in Israel's side and we're going to see that through the period of the judges. We're going to see the Canaanites tonight are a horrible thorn in their side and God leaves them in the land. It's a little bit like us. He leaves them in the land to test generation after generation if they will honor and follow God. It's a little bit like us, as I've made the application to sin in our lives. When we leave sin in our life, we play around with it. We just kind of, you know, we're good for a couple weeks, and then not so good for a week, and good for a couple weeks, and that goes, and we play around with it. God will not eliminate that taste, that aptitude, that desire for that sin. just as he did for 300 plus years by leaving false teachers, false pagan people in the land because they didn't eliminate them like he had asked them to do. Judges 4, that we're going to look at tonight, the first phrase says, verse 1, when Ehud was dead. when Ehud was dead. Now, we know from the previous chapter, we saw him, that he was this left-handed guy, and he had killed Eglon, and he had stopped the oppression that had come from what is modern-day Jordan into Israel. And there was peace in the land for a significant amount of time, about 80 years. And then we read about Shamgar, who we're going to see again introduced tonight in Deborah's victory song. But there was Shamgar who likely was a judge on the western side of Israel. when Ehud is on the eastern side of Israel. And they probably ruled two different sections of Israel or judged two different sections of Israel at about the same time. And so the writer most likely is Samuel. As I've told you, this is writing probably during the end of Saul's reign or maybe the beginning of David's reign. But certainly before David takes the city of Jerusalem, because we know that that the Jebusites are still living in Jerusalem until this day. That's one of the comments that's made in the book of Judges. So, the first phrase is, when Ehud was dead. So that judge, that one that was able to hold the tribes together and reflect God's goodness, he's dead, and it says the children of Israel again, we're gonna start seeing a pattern, right? They sound so much like us, don't they? The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So Ehud and Shamgar are dead. It has now been about 200 years since God brought them out of the land of Egypt. So stop and think. We're in 2017. That would be 1817, about 200 years ago. So we're talking about the distance now from coming out of Israel to us today would be about the War of 1812. I mean, you stop and think, the War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson hasn't been elected president yet. 1812, you're having Madison and Monroe as president. You're still the third, fourth, fifth president of the United States. I mean, to us today, that's how long a span it had been since they came out of Israel. And now you're into the judges. And it's been about 200 years. And so it says, so the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. I want you to notice, number one, that God's people again walk away from him. Number one, God's people walk away from him. They've done this before. And we've seen Shamgar. We've seen Ehud. We have seen Othniel. They have this in their recent history. But it's been now, oh my goodness, 80 years. A couple of generations have gone by. You know, life is good. Everything is financially. The stock market's up. How's Priester? My IRA looks good. Life is good. And they walked away from God, and God delivered them in the hand of Jabin. Now, Jabin is probably a kingly name, like Pharaoh or Caesar. It's probably not the name of an actual person. But he's not really going to play into this story anyway. It's really going to be Sisera, his general. Sisera, his leading general. They deliver them the hand of Jabin, the king of Canaan, who reigns in Hazor. Hazor is his capital city. If you all can think of a map of Israel in your head, Hazor is about eight and a half miles straight north of the Sea of Galilee. It's about eight and a half miles straight north of the Sea of Galilee. And it was at the headwaters of the Jordan River, because the Jordan River starts up about Mount Hermon. And it flows into the Sea of Galilee and then down into the Dead Sea in the south. So it's a fertile area of Israel. It's the breadbasket of Israel. It has great crops. It's got a temperate climate. Doesn't get snow, but it's not searing hot like it would be down in the south. Extremely, extremely temperate climate. 80s and 90s in the summer. The lows, barely ever would you get a freeze. So it's a beautiful, beautiful well watered, growing region. That's where his capital was. And the commander of his army, verse 2, is Sisera, who dwelt in Herosheth, Haggaiom. So let me give you that one. Now that is about 75 miles southwest of where the capital is. It's down near Megiddo. Has anybody ever heard of Megiddo? Megiddo is where the battle of Armageddon, last great battle between Christ and the Antichrist, will take place. He's living about 10 miles from Megiddo. So he's about 75 miles away. He's the captain of this force of which this Hazor city is the leading city. And it says, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Jabin had 900 chariots. Now, I know that doesn't mean a lot to us. Nine-letter chariots is a significant thing in this era. A chariot of this era would have likely had two people in it, a driver and an archer. The archer would have been the pick of the litter, as it would, if you'd use that kind of terminology, would have been a well-armed, well-trained, and a leader. And the archer would be, the chariot would charge down onto a battlefield a little bit, in our terminology, like having an M1A1 main battle tank going up against infantry. I mean, there's just absolutely no... no possible recourse. So the chariot would have an archer in it. So you line up 900 chariots and run down 8, 10, 12, 15,000 infantry army. And while the chariots are coming, they're just firing arrows at the infantry. And the infantry really can't do much back. And at about 100 yards, they unleash a volley of arrows and then another volley of arrows. And by the time the chariots even get to the infantry line, If you had 10,000 infantry laying out there, you'd have 3,000 or 4,000 would be dead before the chariots even get to them to trample them. So having 900 chariots against an army of just infantry in that day and age, it was like having bazookas and machine guns against sticks and stones. I mean, it's just about that technologically difference. It's just an absolute impossibility for the children of Israel. And the chariots were stationed literally in the center of the country, where he describes Megiddo, central valley of the whole northern of Israel, and they were stationed in a valley. Well, you can imagine. They'd gone for the south, it was the mountains. They'd gone for the north, it was the mountains. Chariots, tanks, liked to operate in flat places. That gives them maneuverability. Their speed has an advantage. They don't like to charge up mountains. That's hard for them. They get slowed down. And the enemy infantry has an advantage, can jump out behind rocks, fire at them from behind trees. So they love that flat plain. And that was where all the agriculture was. So they could dominate the agriculture. They could tax the people. The people would grow grain and grow crops. And then the chariots would pull up and say, hey, you're giving us 50% of your produce this year. So it was extremely harsh. They could also say, give us your children, give us your wives, give us your daughters. They were the bosses. And it says, so we see that God's people walk away from him. Now, in verse 4 it says, now Deborah, a prophetess, she's living about 75, 80 miles south, just north of modern day Jerusalem. She is way south. She is not, She is really not impacted by this oppression. She's far to the south of the oppression. The oppression is going on 80, 100, 150 miles north of her. She's really not impacted by the oppression. But the Bible says, now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She's judging in the south. Now, what does judging mean? It means that civil cases were brought to her, and she would decide who was right and who was wrong. And she was so respected for her ability and her wisdom that she become... excuse me, becomes this leading judge in the south of, in the southern part of Judah. She is judging Israel, and it says that she would sit under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. So we know exactly where she was. And it was like her court. She's like Judge Deborah. She got a TV show. Yeah, Judge Judy, some of you, come on, lighten up a little bit, okay? She's Judge Deborah. And she's judging, and the children of Israel come up to her for judgment. Then she initiates. So God's people walk away from him, but number two, God has a plan. Do you know that when you walk away from God, God always has a plan? Do you know when you walk away from God, God always has a plan. Sometimes you think, wow, heaven is like brass. I'm not hearing anything from God. It's just, what's God saying? And there could be a lot of reasons for that. But let me just tell you something. When you take those steps away from God and you're not passionate about pursuing a relationship with Him, God always has a plan to get you back. God never says, oh man, I made a covenant agreement with them when they placed their faith in Jesus Christ and they've walked away. And you know what? Good riddance. Jesus Christ stands up as my propitiation, according to 1 John 2, 1 and 2. And he says, they're bought with our blood. Father, let's put together a plan to get them back. Now, the problem is the plan might not always be comfortable for Mike Sproul. It's great to know God always has a plan. God has a plan here. Deborah sends for Beric. Now Beric is living 80 to 100 miles north of her. And here's the amazing thing, Beric is living only a handful of miles from the central place where Sisera has his main army encampment. In other words, Beric, this military leader, is in the middle of the occupation. I mean, if anybody should have been rallying the troops, blowing the trumpet, taking leadership, it was his people that were under persecution. It was his tribe and the tribes around him that were under the oppression. He's doing little or nothing. Deborah, nearly a hundred miles away, calls him and says, Beric, get down here and let's talk about what God is doing. Not the first time a man's taken an order from a woman, but this was a good one. This is a good one. It says that she calls him, verse 6, she sent and called for Barak. And he's from Naphtali, so we know he's in the northern center of the country, about where Sisera's main headquarters is. And she asks him a question. Probative questions to ask your children when they're doing wrong is great stuff. Great stuff. What are you doing? What were you supposed to do? Where are you going? Where have you been? Dr. Tedger used to say, one of the most powerful forces you have, especially if your children have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, is the Holy Spirit. Use Him. The Holy Spirit. If your children have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, use the Holy Spirit against them. Ask them questions to stir the Holy Spirit's conviction in their life. Don't just say, I know where you've been. Ask them where they've been. God didn't ask Adam and Eve, I know what you did. He said, what did you do? She says to him, has not the Lord God of Israel commanded? It seems that Barak had been given a charge from God and Barak hadn't responded. I love that God still uses guys like Barak. In fact, when we get later into Hebrews, you're gonna find that Barak is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.32. I got news for you. Barak just doesn't come off too good in this story. I mean, first of all, it seems, by her question, that God has given him the message that he's supposed to get an army. She said, "'Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, "'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor. "'Take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali "'and of the sons of Zebulun, "'and against you I will deploy Sisera, "'the commander of Jabin's army, "'with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon, "'and I will deliver men to your hand.'" Now, you can take that two ways. She could be saying, you've already received this revelation, which is how I kind of take it. Or she could be saying, listen, I'm giving you new revelation from God, and this is what you're supposed to do. Either way, it don't look too good for this general. It really doesn't. Not in their culture. To have a woman revealing God's truth to the general male, this comes across horrible in an ancient Israelite context. It just does. God has a plan. And Deborah says, here's the plan. I want you to go to Mount Tabor. If you go with me to Israel in May, I'll take you right to Mount Tabor. We'll go right there. We'll see the River Kishon. We'll see it. And you'll get to see the battlefield. And you'll understand exactly what God was saying. He says, take your 10,000 infantry and put them up on top of this mountain. Well, strategically, we know that when you own the hilltop, you own the valley. Line of sight. It's easier to charge downhill than charge uphill. You always want to position yourself above the enemy. It's said that General Robert E. Lee picked the battlefield every single battle against the North except Gettysburg. He stumbled into Gettysburg. And Lee always positioned, as a master tactician and strategic thinker, he always positioned the Northern Army like at Fredericksburg, where they literally pinned their names, the Union soldiers, to their uniforms, because they knew it was a suicide mission, and they knew they were going to die, because he always maneuvered the Union Army so it had to fight uphill. It's so much easier to shoot downhill, and then when you get to hand-to-hand combat, they're exhausted from carrying, running up 2, 3, 4, 500 yards, and then you just kill them. It's so much easier when they're out of breath. It just is. So God said to them, here's the plan. Take 10,000 infantry and go sit up on a mountain, and then I'm going to kill. It's almost as if God said, I want you to get 10,000 infantry to watch me kill the bad guys. Because I want a lot of witnesses. Isn't it great that God lets us in when we pray, when we do our part, God lets us in to see him work great miracles. Now you stop and think. What we're going to see is he's going to put them on a mountain that is about 1,300 feet above the valley floor. So it's not some, when we say mountain, you know, we think, you know, Flagstaff or the White Mountains or the Rocky, 1,300 feet. Not, it's Camelback. It's Camelback. Okay? But he's got a plan whereby he's going to put the Israeli forces on this mountain, and then there's 900 chariots. You think about the most, we're going to see it when we get to Deborah's song, that one tribe after another refused to come. She goes after different tribes, we're going to see it in a second. She goes after these tribes because they refused to come. Only 10,000. You stop and think, 900 chariots. That means there's 1,800 soldiers in tanks against 10,000 infantry. Oh my goodness. And that's not counting all the infantry that he had to support. This was a slaughter. 900 chariots against 10,000 infantry is an absolute slaughter. There might be a couple of chariots that would be lost, and everybody was going to die on the Israelite side. It was a suicide mission to volunteer to be in the army to fight Sisera. God has a plan. His response is very poor. Oh, my goodness. Look at what he responds. He says, after she says he's going to be delivered, she tells him where to go. She gives him the tactical advantage. She gives him the strategic overall vision and the promise of God. And Barak says, I'm going. Is that what he says? He goes, if you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go, I won't go." What a wimp. I mean, you're just almost at a loss. You're like, dude, seriously. Oh my word. If you'll go with me, Missy, I'll go. God has this plan. And really, number three, God assembles Israel to watch his work. That's really what takes place. Number three, God assembles Israel to watch his work. So she says to him in verse nine, she says, I will surely go with you. If she was tweeting this, there would have been a heavy sigh. I roll. I'm coming at Barak. So I roll. But there will be no glory for you in the journey. You are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." The great glory of a general was to either take the head of the commanding general and put it on a pike so everybody could see, or to parade him in front of all of his soldiers and all of the women that his troops had raped and pillaged and stolen from, and then execute him in front of people. It was to execute the leader of the opposing army publicly. The Romans did this constantly. Bye. The Greeks did this. The Persians did this. This was to inspire great hope and encouragement in your people and to depress the spirits of the others. She says, you're not going to get a victory parade in Israel. A woman is going to kill him. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. He went up with 10,000 men under his command, and Deborah went up with him. In other words, the majority of the northern Israelite tribes were too afraid to go with him. We're going to see that when we get to the Song of Deborah. They're too afraid. They don't go. You only get two tribes, and they only commit about 5,000 guys. So this is, I mean, this is like, you know, we'll commit a couple guys, but if this doesn't work out, we want deniability to Jabin and Cicero that we really weren't a part of this. Don't hurt us too bad when we get crushed. So we see number three that God really assembles Israel to watch his work, verse 11. It says, now Heber the Kenite. Now don't forget this guy. He's going to appear later. Samuel is creating a storyline for us by introducing this character to us because we're going to see who the hero of the story is. It's going to be Heber's wife. Then he connects them by clan. The children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. So it's been a hundred and... 65, 70 years since Moses' father-in-law came up and said to Moses, this company is too great. You need to divide it down to captains of tens. Remember when he came up and he said, this group, you're killing yourself judging two million Israelites. Divide them down. So what the author is doing is he's saying, there is a clan connection that's about 160, 175 years old between the Kenites, who are Moses' in-laws. Wow, these are great in-laws. 160, all those bad in-law jokes you hear, right? These are great in-laws. 160, 70 years later, they still remember the Israelites. They still remember their connection. And it says, he had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near a terabith tree in Zanaim, which is by Akedesh. So in other words, he's like right near the battlefield. And he's got a tent. And he's there out, And they reported to Sisera, verse 12, they reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinom, had gone up to Mount Tabor. So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the people were with him. He had support troops, he had infantry. This is probably an army of 25,000, maybe more. And all the people who are with him from Harasheth Hegiom to the river Kishon. So the river Kishon actually runs north to south and it bisects Israel in the center. So it kind of runs Actually, it runs north. It runs south to north to the Mediterranean Sea. And it runs on a northwesterly course like this. Okay? And Tabor is over here. So he's going to come from Kishon to the west, and he's going to attack across to the east. Then Deborah said to Barak, verse 14, Up! Stop laying around! Wow, wouldn't you have loved to have her as a wife? Get up! Stop goofing off! We've got work to do here, buddy. Every man needs a good woman like that. For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered sister into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him." Now, here's what's interesting. Why shouldn't Barak have done this? Strategically and tactically, he's making all the wrong choices. He is giving up a position of geographic tactical superiority to go down into the valley where the chariots will be more powerful. He should have stayed on the mountain and made Cicero attack with his chariots uphill. He doesn't do that. This is God's plan for him. So that God would get all the glory in what's going to take place. And it wouldn't be to the glory of Barak or the children of Israel. And it says, so Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak. And Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot." Now we're going to find out in the next chapter why the chariot didn't work and how God did the battle. We're going to find out about that in Deborah's song. So keep this idea. But why would you be a commanding general and get out of your chariot like a tank and start running? I just got news for you. Most generals aren't 18 and in good, you know, two mile, three mile, four, they're just really, they don't tend to be, I speak as a senior colonel and those 20 year olds get out and we do our PT test and they go, whoosh, and I go. And I guarantee you he hadn't had to do a PT test in years and years and years and years. He'd had little slave girls dropping grapes in his mouth for a long time. He was not a long distance runner. What is gonna get this general to get out of his tank and walk? We're gonna talk about that when we get to chapter five because that's what God has done. He humbles the mighty and then he kills them. He humbles the mighty and then he destroys them. He flees. Baruch, Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Her-sheraph-hegiom and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left. We always know that an army is retreating is when it's most valuable, vulnerable because it turns its back on the enemy. This army, when it saw what God is going to do, what God did, we're going to talk about in chapter five, what God did, they realized that God was fighting on the side of Israel. And it's a very similar destruction as it was at the Red Sea 200 years before. And it says in verse 17, Sisera fled away to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber." So we saw God assembles Israel to watch his work. And then we see God accomplishes his will through weak vessels. I love this. Jael is going to become the hero as Jael with a nail kills Sisera. I'm a poet and don't even know it. I worked all week on that one. Jael with a nail. God loves to use you because you're weak. God loved using jail. Because Barak doesn't act and live in faith to the level that he should have. God says, I'll use whatever I have available. Aren't you glad that God uses whatever is willing and whatever is available? Because that's you and me. God doesn't say, bring me all your gifts and talents. Because he says, be available, be ready, be willing, be humble, be a servant. I'll use you. The God of the universe is going to use this woman who all of her peers, nobody knows their name. But for millennia, we have said, what a heroine jail is. And she's not Jewish. She's not Jewish. Kenite, he says, and there was peace between the Kenites and Jabin. And Jael went out to meet Sisera right near the battlefield. She had seen people running by and all that kind of stuff, and she'd heard about it. And Jael went out and said, turn aside, my lord, turn aside and do not fear. And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket, probably turned down the air conditioner too. Then he said to her, please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty. So she opened a jug of milk. She knows that milk helps you go to sleep. He'd been running. He's probably fat, out of shape. He's exhausted. He's never in 20 years of occupation been this close to death. He's inflicted death on many people. He has pillaged, most likely raped Jewish women, sold Jewish women into slavery, stolen from the Jews. And now he's seeing his army and his chariots befuddled and his army being killed. And he's in terror for his life. And she gives him something to drink, and he's exhausted and weary. And he said to her, stand at the door of the tent. If any man comes and inquires, say, is there a man here? And you shall say, no. Then Jail Heber's wife took a tent peg and took a hammer. It must have been quite great milk. That must have been really good milk to knock him out. Jail takes a hammer and a tent peg and drives it through his head and pierces him to the ground. Now that would be a made-for-TV movie. Not sure the children should watch that one, but whoa. And she leaves him there. I just love it, you know? Husband comes home. Hey, sweet, can you imagine the conversation? Hey, sweetheart, what you been doing today? I don't know, there's some guy in here with a tent peg in his forehead, you know? Not much. I don't know how that conversation went between the husband and the wife. It says, and he was, for he was fast asleep and weary, so he died. Well, I guess the Bible is so full of understatements. This is not Frankenstein coming out with a ten peg through his head. So this is not Halloween. He died. With the peg in his temple. The author has to add that one more time if you missed it. So on that day, God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him. What you find here is that Barak is chasing him, and Jael says to him in verse 22, Come, I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he went in, there lay Sisera. We know that from this time forward, the Canaanite tribes really no longer are the oppressive agents. This successfully breaks the back of the Canaanites against them. Well, I've only got a few minutes, but let me go through a favorite part of scripture. This is very similar. If you remember Miriam's song in the book of Exodus, After they crossed the Red Sea, and after the destruction of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea, we have another leading female in Israel, and she sings this incredible song. And it's Miriam's song, and she talks about the horse and his rider, and it's just this beautiful song of praise. Deborah is now 200 years later, and she first of all surveys the current state of Israel before she launches into this incredible song of praise. She surveys the current state of Israel and she says then Deborah and Barak son of Abinadam sang on that day saying when the leaders in Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, bless the Lord, Here, O kings, give ear, O princes. I, even I, will sing, the Lord I will sing. Praise the Lord God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, speaking of Sinai, when you marched from the field of Edom, which would speak to them coming into the land out of the east, when the kings forbid them from coming and they defeated the kings on the east side of Jordan, the earth trembled. So they're recounting the Exodus. They're recounting those 40 years that happened 160, 200 years before. They're recounting those years. And it says, the clouds also poured water, the mountains gushed forth before the Lord, this Sinai before the Lord of Israel. And then she says, in the day of Shamgar, remember he's just died, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, which was current, so it's recent, so they go back distant past 200 years, recent past Shamgar, recent, like yesterday, jail. So she's surveying history. The highways were deserted. And the travelers walked along the byways. In other words, they were afraid. Village life ceased. It ceased in Israel. Why? Because the Canaanites would come and steal all their stuff. It says, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel. They chose, speaking of Israel, new gods. Then there was war in the gates. Not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. In other words, the Canaanites had basically disarmed Israel so they couldn't rebel. It was difficult to find any kind of weapon, offensive or defensive weapon, a shield or a spear. My heart is with the rulers of Israel who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord. Then she says this. Speak you who ride on white donkeys. That's speaking of wealth. She's saying you rich people who sit in judges attire and those who walk along the road. In other words, the poor who don't have a car and the rich who have a car. That's basically what she says. So she's being inclusive. She's saying, everybody, everybody in Israel hear this. Far from the noise of archers among the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord. The righteous acts of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates. Awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, awake. Sing a song. Arise, Barak. And lead your captives away, O son of Abinadam. So she has surveyed the situation. Now she's going to sing her song. And she's going to tell us what happened. It's very fascinating. So first of all, Deborah surveys the current state of Israel. And now, as we read through the text very quickly, Deborah sings a song of victory. Sometimes when I talk to you all about singing, I know sometimes you go... Almighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing. Yeah, Jesus. And I know I hear some people say, well, I don't have a very good voice. Well, if you would, if you would, poor Dave Sturtzpah for years and years. I mean, I have kind of a voice that can carry a little bit of tune, but 40 years of preaching kind of hurts that a little bit. I don't know that Deborah had a great voice. And I think Barrick probably sang soprano. So I'm not sure he was a real he-guy, he-man kind of person there. Deborah sings a song of victory. You know why I love singing on Sunday? First of all, I love being with God's people. But I love singing songs of praise to my God who I love. And it doesn't really matter to me who hears, or who thinks, or what they think. It really doesn't matter because I'm so involved in the worship of my God, I don't care what you think. I really don't. And as long as you're worried about what the person next to you thinks about your voice, you're not worshiping God. You're not. You're still worshiping yourself. The whole point of congregational worship is to get you out of yourself and get you metaphorically on your face with your brothers and sisters rejoicing and praising and honoring and glorifying God. That's what it's about. And when we have these great things to rejoice, our salvation, our redemption, our country, our families, all these great blessings God has given to us, we must lift our voice in song, just as Deborah is going to do. She says, then the survivors came down, verse 13. The people against the nobles. The Lord came down for me against the mighty. From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek. In other words, the Amalekites had been living in that part of the land. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples. From Mekur, rulers came down. And from Zebulun, those who bear the recruiter's staff. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, as Issachar was with Barak, sitting in the valley under his command. Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart." Then she's going to say this, why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the pippings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. In other words, she's saying, Reuben, you didn't come out to fight. You need to go back and examine your heart. You discouraged Israel. Let me just tell you something. When you complain, when you gripe and other people hear you, you discourage Israel. You're just like Reuben on this day. You are just like Reuben. Praise God, there were two tribes that said, we're not going to follow Reuben's lead and gripe and complain and caterwaul. We're not going to do that. God rebukes Reuben. He says the divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. What he's saying is they need to look into their heart because, putting it in our verbiage, they're a carnal tribe because they refuse to follow Barak and Deborah, God's appointed leaders. They refuse to follow them. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. In other words, the tribes Manasseh and half the tribe of Ephraim stayed on the other side of Jordan. They didn't even come over to help. So in the middle of this great song of victory, Deborah's going, you tried to discourage Israel, and you tried to discourage Israel. Let me tell you something, discouraging those who are in the battle, discouraging by not participating, by being critical, by being caustic, all those things God remembers. God watches. God understands. It says, Gilead stayed beyond Jordan. And why did Dan remain in ships? The whole tribe of Dan put out to sea and said, oh, this isn't our problem. Asher continued at the seashore and stayed in his inlets. Zebulun, who was a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death. Naphtali, also on the heights of the battlefield. In other words, here were the two heroes. And everybody else was too afraid. And if Israel, if Zebulun and Naphtali had followed the example of Reuben, and the tribes over on the other side of the Jordan River, and Dan, and Asher, they would have never had this great story. They would have never had this great victory. They would have never seen God's great work. The kings came and fought. Then the kings, verse 19, then the kings of Canaan fought at Tannach by the waters of Megiddo. So this is the same place where the Battle of Armageddon is going to happen. Napoleon, when he oversaw, looked at this battlefield, he said, the armies of the world could fight here. It was the most perfect battlefield he had ever seen. Many, many famous battles have taken place on that spot. They fought by the waters of Megiddo. Let me just say this. If she is accurate geographically, and of course I believe she is, coming off Mount Tabor and fighting in the plains of Megiddo should have been an absolute tactical impossibility and the absolute wrong thing for Beric to do. He should have stayed up on that mountain. and he should have made the chariots charge uphill. Instead, he went down where he was most defenseless so that God would do a miracle. And we're going to see in her story what God does. She says this, they fought from the... He says the kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought at Tanak by the waters of Megiddo. They took no spoils of silver. They came because they were going to get wealthy from what was on the corpses of the Jewish soldiers. And then she says, they fought from the heavens. The stars from their choruses fought against Israel. Now what does that mean? Does that mean that Alpha Centauri fell on top of them? No, it's a metaphor. It's a metaphor for a great storm. What in battlefield tactics, what Sisera had done with his chariots is it was the dry season. And these washes are a lot like our washes around here this time of the year. They're not full of water. He brought his chariots down the western side of Israel and he was going to cross the river Kishon to attack Barak at Tabor. As he begins to cross Kishon, what happens is God sends a massive rainstorm, a massive flood in the driest season. He would have never tried to cross the Kishon with 900 chariots in flood season. Flood season only lasts for about six weeks, and he would have waited until flood season was over and the washes all stopped running with water. He comes in dry season, and in the middle of the dry season, God gives a flood. Isn't it great to know that in the dry seasons of your life, God can turn that around and bring a flood, metaphorically and spiritually speaking, to fill you, to bless you? Well, in this case, the flood was to destroy the enemies. The torrent of Kishon, verse 21, swept them away. That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon, in other words, It was just like the crossing of the Red Sea. Remember Miriam and Deborah, 200 years apart? It's because the chariots of Pharaoh were lost in the Red Sea. The chariots of Sisera were lost in the flooding Kishon. So the reason Sisera is getting out of his chariot and running is all of a sudden a massive flood comes down the riverbed, spreads out over the valley, and immediately his chariot is stuck in the mud. Nothing worse for anybody in a tank than to have the tread go off in the middle of a lot of bad guys. You're known as a sitting duck. All of a sudden, you're not powerful because you don't have maneuverability. You can't fire and move and fire and move and fire and move. You're not faster than the other guy. He's going to hop off of his chariot because it's stuck in this mighty storm. It says the torrent of Kishon swept them away. Then she says the horse's hooves pounded, the galloping, galloping of his steeds. They couldn't, it's like that big truck that gets caught in the mud, you know, and it's spinning its wheels and spinning its wheels. So the horses, she's picturing the horses trying to pull the chariots out of the mud, being beaten by the soldiers. Get up, get up. They can't, they can't move. Curse Meraz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse its inhabitants bitterly because they did not come up to help of the Lord, to help of the Lord against the mighty. In other words, when it was time for other people to help, they refused to help. Most blessed among women is jail. The wife of Heber, the Canaanite, blessed is she among women in tents. He asked for water, she gave milk. She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. She stretched her hand to the tent peg, her right hand to the workman's hammer. She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head. She split and struck through his temple. At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still. At her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell dead. And then, in a picture that is so picturesque, because this man had caused so many to be widows in Israel. So many women had stood at the door of their tent or their house, waiting for their husband or their son or their brother to come home, only to be told he'd been trampled by one of Cicero's chariots. There had been mothers who had waited for their daughter to come home out of the field, only been told that she had been kidnapped and raped by one of Sisera's soldiers and taken as a hostage. In very picturesque language, these trepidations had happened for 20 years. And in very picturesque language, now the table is turned on Sisera and his mother. And Deborah says, the mother of Sisera looked through the window and cried out through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots? Her wisest ladies answered her. Yes, she answered herself. Are they not finding and dividing the spoil, get it, to every man a girl or two? Are they not raping the women of Israel? Of course they are. That all takes time. Stealing the money, killing, that takes time. He'll be back. Don't worry about it. For sister, a plunderer of dyed garments. In other words, the most expensive garments that the Israelites would make, he would take and steal their work. Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter. In other words, she's saying, the maiden is saying, Deborah's imagining the mother becoming concerned. He's knocking back and her maiden saying, oh, he's bringing you back. He's stealing the best finery. He's stealing the best clothes. He's raping a couple of girls. He's stealing money. He's coming. All that stuff just takes time. See, this has been his behavior for 20 years. He has sinned and sinned and sinned. And then Deborah closes and says, thus let all your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength. And then Samuel closes by saying, so the land had rest for 40 years. Wow. Have you ever thought about singing a song of your personal victory? Have you? Your personal victory. I loved what Trish Brown played for us. I love that song. The arrangement was new and kind of fun arrangement. You know, when you hear the same song but arranged a little bit different way, but you can hear the tune rolling through it. So I really enjoyed that. But have you ever thought to truly sit there and list 20 or 30 blessings that God has in your life? Some of you younger people that get frustrated because you have all the answers and you don't even know the right questions? You really ought to sit back and count your blessings. What are all the good things God's done in my life? The older I get, the more I recount Just blessing, after blessing, after blessing, after blessing, after blessing, after blessing, after blessing. And then we so quickly walk away from God. Have you ever just sat down and say, well, I'm not a poet. I can't put it in rhyme. I can't put it in meter. I get that. But have you ever just said, you know what? I'm going to be like Deborah. And God has delivered me here. And God has spared me here. I was talking to somebody not long ago, and their comment to me was, God spared my life so many times when I was young so I could come to a point where I placed my faith in Him. Because there's no way I should be alive today. I am so grateful. Maybe that's your song. Maybe your song is God gave me a godly family. Maybe your song is, God gave me a wonderful spouse. Maybe your song is, God gave me great parents. Maybe your song is, I don't know what your song is, but let me just tell you something. We can become like Israel so easily and walk away from our God because we don't let a song resonate in our soul and in our hearts about how good our God is. And Satan deceives us into thinking, well, I don't have that, and I don't have that, and I don't have that, and a good God would let me have that, and that, and that, and that, and that, and that. There's a billion dollar industry out there to make you miserable. And they do a really good job. It's called advertising. Don't let them be successful. Sing a song of praise like Deborah did this week. Father, thank you so much.