Well, please turn, if you would, in your Bibles to Judges chapter 4. It's found on page 203 in our Pew Bible. For those of you just joining us, we've been going through the Old Testament book of Judges. And this morning we come to Judges chapter 4, Judges chapter 5. And we need to realize that both of these chapters are dealing with the same subject matter. Judges 4 is the narrative. It gives us this story of what happens in the life of Israel. And then Judges 5 is poetry. God does great things for Israel in chapter 4, and then Israel writes a great song for God in chapter 5. And this should remind us that God's great acts on behalf of his people have as their ultimate end our worship. in our doxology of His great name. Great acts should lead to great songs and great poetry. There's a need for a heightening of language to bless God and to magnify His glory and His power as it's displayed here. And it's so true that songwriters and poets are always needed in the life of the church and in the life of a country as well. I heard someone recently comment that a nation or a community of any kind is on decline if no one knows who its poets are. I thought that was a profound statement. Well, here in Judges 4 and 5, we have this dramatic deliverance of Israel depicted to us, and then it's cemented for all posterity in this wonderful song. So this morning, I actually want to read, I know it's Judges 4 in the bulletin, But I think it might be best to actually read chapter 5. Let's read the song that encapsulates the events, and then we're going to talk about chapter 4 and 5 this morning. So let's go ahead and read chapter 5, beginning in verse 1. Give your attention, for this is the Word of the Lord. Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, that the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offer themselves willingly, bless the Lord. Hear, O kings, give ear, O princes, to the Lord I will sing, I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar, son of Anoth, in the days of Yael, the highways were abandoned and travelers kept to the byways. The villagers ceased in Israel. They ceased to be until I arose. I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel. When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among 40,000 in Israel? My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord. Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way, to the sound of musicians at the watering places. There they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of His villagers in Israel. Then down to the gates march the people of the Lord. Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, break out in a song. Arise, Barak, lead away your captives, O son of Abinoam. Then down marched the remnant of the noble. The people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty. From Ephraim, their root, they marched down into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen. From Machir marched down the commanders. And from Zebulun, those who bear the lieutenant's staff. The princes of Issachar came with Deborah and Issachar, faithful to Barak, into the valley they rushed at his heels. Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea staying by his landings Zebulon is a people who risked their lives to the death Naphtali too on the heights of the field The kings came, they fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanaq by the waters of Megiddo. They got no spoils of silver. From heaven the stars fought, and from their courses they fought against Sisera. The torrent Kishan swept them away. The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishan, march on, my soul, with might. Then loud beat the horses hooves with the galloping galloping of his steeds Curse morose says the angel of the lord curse its inhabitants thoroughly Because they did not come to the help of the lord to the help of the lord against the mighty Most blessed of women be yael the wife of heber the kenite of tent dwelling women most blessed He asked for water and she gave him milk She brought him curds in a noble's bowl. She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workman's mallet. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still. Between her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell, dead. Out of the window she peered. The mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots? Her wisest princesses answer. Indeed, she answers herself. Have they not found and divided the spoil? A womb or two for every man. Spoil of dyed materials for Sisera. Spoil of dyed materials embroidered. Two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil. So may all your enemies perish, O Lord, but your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might. And the land had rest for 40 years. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let us go to him in prayer once again. Lord, we pray now that you would illumine this passage to our heads and hearts, that we might be changed by it. May your word go forth and have its intended effect on our hearts and lives. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, people of God, while living in the Northwest, I was indoctrinated, almost imperceptibly, into the activity of watching hockey. Growing up in Nebraska, hockey was not on the radar too much. But in the Northwest, hockey could be considered the state sport. And in professional hockey, the awarded prize that goes to the best team is called the Stanley Cup. And what's unique about this trophy is that on the trophy are engraved the names of every single player on the winning team. And each player on the team then has the opportunity to keep that Stanley Cup at his home for a time during the following year. Everybody has an equal amount of time with the Stanley Cup. And it's an expression of the fact that in sports, in team sports, all members of the team are necessary, and they all play an important part in winning the cup, each single individual team member. And so all the names are engraved, and everyone on the team gets to enjoy the cup in their own home the following year. So far in our series, in the book of Judges, the narrative has focused in on individual deliverers that have been used by God. We looked at Ehud and Othniel in particular. There's this short verse, verse 31 of chapter 3, tells us about Shamgar. I hope to cover that a little bit in one sermon that deals with the minor judges. But, right, so far it's all been individual judges. And now this week things change, and we see God use a team of sorts, a committee of sorts. And we see that every protagonist in this story is vital and necessary. If any one of these characters were not involved in the plan, this plan would have unfolded unsuccessfully. We see Deborah, we see Barak, and we see Yael, all vital participants in God's plan of deliverance in this text. And so this morning we want to look at each one of these characters, and the part that they play, and see what God is wanting to reveal to us in and through them. And while we must recognize that no human agent is perfect because of sin, as we've discussed before, our Lord was pleased to use just these characters in particular ways. And so it's important for us to recognize that God used these characters for a reason. So we might understand more about who He is, and what He has done for us, and how He is pleased to work. Now, chapter 4, if you look back up at chapter 4, it starts out with the familiar judges cycle that we've seen before. This is kind of just a repeat of this cycle. That is, the people of Israel again do what is evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud dies. And we see that the Lord then sells them into oppression again. This time he sells them into the hand of a Canaanite king, Jabin, with his army commander, Sisera. And we should notice that, as this cycle goes on, Israel is oppressed a little longer than last time. 20 years, to be exact, in this passage. So we've gone from 8 years, in the first text of Judges, to 18 years, as we saw last time, and now we're up to 20 years of oppression in this passage. So you see things continue to go from bad to worse. And we see this military might, this behemoth in Canaan, is said to have 900 chariots of iron. This is no small military force that is oppressing Israel. These 900 chariots of iron symbolize nothing if not wealth and power and perhaps the largest military force at the time. This seems to be an impenetrable type of force. There's nothing you can really possibly humanly do against this kind of group. And so what is anyone to do in such a predicament? When things look so impossible, Well, the best option seems to be what Israel actually does here, and that is to cry out to the Lord. There's no other place to turn. And so indeed, they cry out to the Lord. And saints, we need to not read too quickly past this. Right because we need to learn to do this in our lives not when things get to their absolute rock bottom We need to constantly learn to cry out to the Lord for he is the one that we must turn to time and again Are you feeling anxious about our country right now? Are you feeling anxious about upcoming elections friends? This is instructive here. I We can cry out to the Lord like we see Israel do in this hopeless situation that they're in. And what do we see here that should assure us and comfort us? We see that God responds to this crying out. He hears Israel's crying out. And he not only hears and listens, but he also acts. He acts favorably on their behalf. And what we see God do starts in the beginning of chapter 4 and verse 4. And this verse is a very standout verse. The ESV translation, which I read, puts it this way, Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lippidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And this verse is really standout in the Hebrew, for the author uses here seven feminine word forms in this one verse. Hebrew, like other similar languages, has both masculine and feminine word forms. And here the author uses seven feminine forms, wanting to emphasize the gender. It's a standout verse. The beginning of this verse very literally translated, could read this. Now, Deborah, a woman, a prophetess... I hope you hear the redundancy there, because it's implied in the word prophetess that she is a woman, yet the Hebrew has both words in the text. Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, and then the text says the wife or woman of Lapidote, which is kind of interesting. The word for wife and woman are the same in Hebrew, and it's interesting that some commentators do not believe that Deborah was the wife of a man named Lapidote. Some translations take it a different way and may simply have that she was the woman of Lipidote. And Lipidote simply means flame or torch or fire or something like that. And so some believe that the author is highlighting her role that she has in battle and carrying a torch or something like that. Or it could figuratively be talking about how she is a spiritual light in the community. We cannot say for certain what the best way to take it is. Now, the reason I bring all this up is because what is very clear, what the author really does want to highlight, is that Deborah is a woman, and she's in leadership at this point in time in Israel. And this is shocking and surprising because the ancient Near East was a very patriarchal society. Only men were given leadership roles in the community. Government, religion, education, so on. It was entirely patriarchal. And the author here definitely wants to grab our attention. by saying, no, no, no, no, no. Things were not this way in Israel at this particular time. God was up to something unique here. Of all the ancient Near Eastern societies and cultures, God was up to something different. And this should remind us, saints, God is not patriarchal and God is not matriarchal. God is triune, and he's the creator of all. And God's ways often do not conform to societal conventions. We see God going against those conventions right here. So it is Deborah that God is using at this time to bring his word to his people, to make decisions about hard cases that require sound judgment. And notice, too, that the author wants to highlight her role of being a prophetess before he even says that he's a wife or woman of Lappidot. And word order is important in Hebrew. And I submit to you that the author is wanting to highlight the most important thing about Deborah, that she is a servant of God, first and foremost, before any domestic role is assigned to her. And saints, this should also be instructive for us, for this should be true of all of us in Christ. Our primary identity should not be in our careers. Our primary identity should not be in our households. It should not be in anything else than in God. Our first identity is to be a servant of God, to be a Christian. and we're to serve God in whatever He gives us to do. And you see, sometimes society's expectations can get confused with God's. We all struggle with this. We can be a slave to our job or career instead of being a slave for Christ. We can be a slave to the home and the homestead rather than being first and foremost a slave to God in Christ. desiring to be obedient to his call. So we need to learn from this verse here. Deborah, first and foremost, is a servant of God, and that should be true for us. Deborah is obedient to the Lord, even when the role God assigns to her flies in the face of societal customs at the time. And saints, we need to be encouraged to follow Christ in just this way. We need to not fear man and not fear what people may think of us, but we need to simply follow God and find our true calling and our true identity in Him, and to vigorously be on guard in distinguishing God's calling on our life from society's expectation of what our lives should be. We constantly need to follow Him wherever He leads us, no matter what society's thinking is. Now, something else that we should notice about Deborah is her unique office space, which is not where you might expect it to be for a prophetess. Deborah is not in Shiloh. She's not in Jerusalem. She's not in Bethel. The text says that she is working here between Rama and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. In other words, her office space was way outside the centers of Israelite religious life and culture. She's not in this tabernacle here. And by the way, the tabernacle and any hint of worship is absent in the book of Judges. And it's a very, very loud silence, I would submit to you, that nowhere in this book do we see the tabernacle and we see worship. In fact, the only worship you read about in Judges is pagan worship. Usually, the Israelites partaking in pagan worship. So, of course, this is obviously troubling. And the point here is that Deborah isn't in the mainstream of Israelite religious culture. She's God's chosen servant, yet she's way out in the country. It's a bit reminiscent, I submit, of when John the Baptist comes on the scene in the New Testament. She's kind of out there. She's in a place where you would not expect to find the Word of the Lord. And again, this is something that we should pay attention to. It's never safe to assume that the traditional centers of where God's Word is found are the perpetual centers of where God's Word will be found. In this life, as our Westminster Confession of Faith says, church councils and churches can and do err, that is, make errors. The Confession says, in particular, in chapter 31, all synods or councils since the apostles' time, whether general or particular, may err, many have erred, and therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice. Indeed, may we always be a people devoted to our shepherd's voice, wherever he may lead us. And thankfully, we see this exemplified for us in the next character that we meet in Barak. Barack comes on the scene, he's summoned to this unique place where God's Word is being spoken, and he listens to the Word of God spoken through Deborah, and he submits to that Word. Now sometimes we can read this chapter really think completely negatively about Barack for it seems as though from Deborah's word to him It seems as though God's already commanded him to go out into battle But it seems like he was hesitant to do so and he's not gone yet. I And while possible, we also should observe some other things here. We see that Deborah does not condemn him here. If anything, she's simply reminding him of God's command. There's no explicit statement against Barak. And sometimes I think we're being a little too harsh on him. Indeed, we can go to Hebrews 11, where Barak is commended there as one whose faith commends his witness to us. And so we can see Barak I submit in a more sympathetic light here. Also, we should notice that after Barak does get this word from Deborah, he is submissive and he goes where the Lord calls him. And verse 9 is quite telling too. In verse 9, Deborah clearly tells Barak that what's about to take place is not going to be for his glory at all, but for the glory of God. And Barak doesn't take issue with this. Barack submits to this. Barack doesn't fight for his glory in this passage. He humbly realizes that this should be what this is all about. God's glory. So Deborah goes with Barak and we see how good this is for Deborah is with Barak and she gives him the green light for when he should rise up to battle and Barak goes and God makes good on his promise to thwart the Canaanites through Barak. Yet we do see one interesting thing, don't we? We see that Sisera, this army general, actually successfully flees the scene, even though God had explicitly promised that he would deliver Sisera into Barak's hand. Well, God still makes good on this promise, yet he does so, once again, in a most unlikely and unpredictable way. For here, we are introduced to the other woman character in the story, Yael. And again, the narrator kind of goes out of his way in this scene with Yael to show us that Yael really reverses societal conventions. At first, Yael does do things according to stereotypical expectations for women at the time. She welcomes this male soldier as a gracious host. She comes out and invites him into her tent. She shows hospitality. and really takes on the role of a mother to this military commander. And all of this is in keeping with the conventions of the ancient Near East. Notice she provides milk for him, and the text says that she even covers him up in a rug, almost like she's putting a child down to sleep. And this is, right, the most powerful military commander of the day. So this is a remarkable scene here. Yet it's right at this point where she upends all these societal expectations by routing Sisera with a tent peg and a mallet. She goes from host and provider to warrior. in a matter of minutes. And warrior is a role definitely not assigned to women by society at this time. So this is a remarkable scene. Cicera is the commander of this enormous army. He's one of the most powerful people in the world. 900 iron chariots. And don't lose this. He's routed by this housewife. this outsider, this woman with no public office or role and he's routed with these simple domestic items, a tent peg and a mallet. And it's interesting as well how in the Song of Chapter 5, Yael, as we read, is said to have crushed Sisera's head and that he fell between her feet, which is the language that the Apostle Paul uses in the New Testament in talking about Satan. Paul says in Romans 16, 20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Yael's actions here typify the ultimate victory that God secures over his enemy, Satan. And Yael's actions, Saint, should be a good reminder this morning that God is the one who ultimately delivers you and I from our enemies. The battle belongs to the Lord. And God is the one who has power to defeat anyone or anything that stands against you, His people. That power belongs to God, and He'll use whatever means necessary to protect you. He uses whatever means necessary to get a hold of you and to draw you back to Himself. God uses this woman and a tent peg and a mallet to end this huge war between the Israelites and the Canaanite world powers. Saints, you can be sure That whatever you're going through, whatever challenge you are facing, God can deliver you. And God will use whatever is necessary to deliver you. No matter how odd the means. No matter how much they run against societal conventions. God is faithful to his promise. He's faithful to deliver his people. And again, we should realize that God uses a committee in this narrative. He uses all three of these protagonists, Barak, Deborah, and Yael. And this reminds us, too, that we all have a part and role to play in God's world. God is our deliverer. But God gives us the roles that He gives to us, and we are to be used by Him. And we are to use the gifts that He gives to us in cooperation with other people that God is using. I think that's a valuable lesson this text brings out. Think of 1 Corinthians 12. The Bible says, now there are varieties of gifts. but the same spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. There are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. This text really highlights that. God uses each one of these different individuals working together in cooperation. They have their different gifts. They have their different roles to play. And God harmonizes those things to carry out his purposes. And I submit this episode should give us fresh inspiration for how we as God's people have gifts to share and gifts for the body of Christ. God has given his unifying spirit so that we might cooperate and contribute together in living out God's purposes for us. And you know, this story also highlights how God works above and beyond human stereotypes, as we've already talked about. Human stereotypes and expectations and societal norms. Saints, God's work in the world is never predictable. It's never predictable. We see this time and again in scripture. His means are unlikely means. He's a God who's doing new things. And indeed, we see this fully in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. This humble carpenter comes into the world. Nobody thinks anything of him. And yet he is God's chosen means to deliver you and I from sin and death. This is how our God is. And everything we do in Life Saints is connected to this story of God defeating His and our enemies. God is the ultimate warrior king. who has won the battle for us. The Bible teaches death is a defeated foe. Death, hell, and the grave were defeated at the cross and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the Bible says that you and I are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So you know this morning every one of us here have uncertainty about the future. Everybody here has anxiety about different things. We all face battles of different kinds. But we can all be assured this morning that there's a God in heaven who has won decisively the ultimate battle for you. And thus we can have confidence each moment of every day that our part and our role in God's story will be carried out fully. Satan is defeated. Jesus Christ is our risen and victorious king, and we should turn from our sins, trust in him, believe in him, and know that he will not let us down. 1 Peter 3 says this, For the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. The Bible says that's over. The time for that is past. A new day has dawned in the Lord Jesus Christ. Death, hell, and the grave has been defeated, and we can walk in newness of life. God has promised to equip us for every good work right where we are. And the Bible says that today is the day of salvation. So friends, seek to love God by the power of the Spirit working in you. Seek to love your friends, your family, your church, your neighborhood, your country by the grace of God. Seek out the purposes that God has for you in all of these different callings. Do not let society define who you are. Be defined by God. Be defined by the gospel. Be defined by His promises. and thus seek out his purposes for you and press on by the goodness of his mercies that he's given to us in our lord and savior and warrior king amen let's pray lord god we thank you that we can trust in you and rest in you and commit ourselves to you and that you will not let us down Father, that you will lead us and guide us no matter how odd that seems to the world around us. And Lord, we pray that you would carry each and every one of us today. Lord, that you would assure us of your presence with us and your goodness to us. And Father, that your spirit would give us the grace to walk in your ways. We pray and ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.