The following message is from the Audio Teaching Library of the Briarwood Pulpit, a ministry of the Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Our speaker is Dr. Harry Reeder, Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church. It is our hope and prayer that this message will equip and encourage you in your walk with Christ. And as a result, you will be used by our Lord as an instrument of change to further his kingdom and bring honor and glory to the name of Christ. Here now is our pastor teacher, Harry Reeder. Take your Bibles, your copies of God's word, and turn with me, if you would, to Judges, chapter four. Judges, chapter four. I had the privilege to speak at one of the celebrations of the Biblical Marriage Institute that Alonzo and Vanessa lead. It was a great blessing for me, and I know that this coming concert with Daniel will be wonderful, and we're grateful for the anticipation of the Lord's blessing. Now, let's turn our attention back to our Sunday evening series that's actually kind of getting us prepared for Advent season. On Sunday morning in the Advent season, I want to do some biblical portraits of those who make up what we call the nativity. that seen who is in the Nativity. We're going to in our Advent series. We're going to take a look at the biblical portraits of those whom you find in the Nativity, and it's going to match up very much with the choir and the orchestra and the drama ministry outreach. Hallelujah that we're going to be having. You know, John continues to build on our legacy of this community outreach each year. And so we're looking forward to that. And I think you're going to find that extremely special. And you want to be inviting your friends to it even now thinking about it. And but building up to that, I thought I would take Sunday night to look at not simply biblical characters, but for those of you visiting with us, it's actually what you might call in the movie world. the B actors or the character actors that Make up, you know, if you ever if you'll ever go back and take a look at any cinematography or or any historiography of filmmaking, you'll find that there are leading men and women. And when you go look at their movies, it's amazing. It's the same set of supporting characters that you see time and time again, because they're that good. And they are so crucial to setting up your understanding of what the leading man or woman is doing in the narrative. that is being filmed. That same thing, I believe, is true in this narrative of the word of God, this glorious narrative of the glory of our triune God as revealed in the preeminence of Christ, our creator, redeemer and sustainer, that God has raised up leading men and women. You can identify him, can't you, Joseph and Daniel and David? And you start naming all of them. But what you begin to see are those people who actually provide the sinew. of the narrative around those people who are playing those crucial roles in the Lord's narrative of his glory as our creator, Redeemer and sustainer. In fact, Howard Hendricks, I think, is the one who did his work and says there are 367 biographical sketches in your Bible. Three hundred and sixty seven. And he goes on to make the point that only forty nine finished strong, but even those that finished strong didn't finish perfectly. And those who finished that did not finish strong or who even did not know the Lord, but extensively are covered in his word, their biography is covered. There are lessons there in the hearing. How do you know that? Well, I know that there are lessons to learn from these biographical narratives in your Bible, because the Bible tells me that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. So God's got them in there for me to profit for doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. I believe there's three ways that you profit from these biblical biographies, whether they're the leading men and women or the supporting cast as we're looking at on Sunday night. I believe that one of the ways that you begin to pick up on the blessing is you see what God's grace did in their life. You see what God's grace, when you see how they blessed the Lord and blessed others and how the Lord uses them, what you're seeing is what God was working in that they then worked out. So we can learn from God's grace at work in the lives of sinners. But thankfully, God's Word is not like other religious books. He does. The Bible doesn't whitewash anybody. The Bible lets us see people, warts and pimples and scars. You get to see not only the beauty marks of grace, but you get to see the scars and the pimples and those things that aren't so beautiful in their life. And you can even learn when did they begin to depart. And by the way, another reason why a third reason is so many of them become a type of Christ to point us to Christ in a particular way. But let me go back to this other one that you begin to see some of the errors. And that brings me tonight to Deborah. Now, Deborah, there's not a whole lot negative that's revealed about Deborah. in the writer of the book of Judges and in the subsequent passages that refer to her in the New Testament. But the one thing that you begin to see about Deborah is that she is in the setting of the book of the Judges. Now the book of Judges covers approximately 430 years. So Israel has come in and under Joshua have occupied the land of promise, but they have not fully occupied the land of promise. They left the high places. They left some of the fortified cities. They didn't go and completely drive out those Canaanite nations. And the result was what was up on the high places of paganism began to filter back down into the lives of God's people. And the book of Judges has a very interesting statement. In fact, before I read chapters four and five, would you take your Bibles and go with me to Judges chapter 21, Judges chapter 21? Now, here's this will help you just go to the back of the book of Judges. And here's a phrase that you'll find in the book of Judges. And the Book of Judges leaves you with a message it certainly wants you to remember. Look at the last verse, 21, 25. In those days, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. No king in Israel. And everyone did what was right in his own eyes. But, of course, that was a deduction that is true and false. There was no king like the other nations in Israel, but they had a king. Their king was the God of glory. This was not like any other nation. This was a covenanted nation, a nation that God had established a covenant with them through Abraham, renewed it with Moses, and he was his covenant people. This was a true theocracy. God was king. And yet the people did not respond to their God as king. And because they did not respond to him as king, they continued to face seasons of judgment from that from their God, seasons of oppression from those who surrounded them and seasons of debilitation and descending even into depravity as a nation. Thus, the Book of Judges, how many judges does it record? It records 12 judges, and as it records the 12 judges, We begin to see that these judges. They not only have some beauty marks of grace, they have a lot of warts and pimples. I'm going to preach on one of them for you. One of the most. One of the most challenging studies I've ever done in my life is the life of Gideon. He ascends to the ascent to the hill of triumph and trust in the Lord. Yet he continually descends to faithlessness and eventually becomes a blight, he and his family, upon the people of Israel. But there are judges after judges, and in the midst of this, the one we look at fourth is this woman named Deborah. And we begin to see her. Now you say, Pastor, did you choose this because you wanted to do a woman, a study on a woman in the Bible? And my answer is yes. My wife told me I had to include one. No, I really couldn't wait to talk about Deborah. And by the way, she's not the only one I'm going to talk about. I'm going to talk about another woman in a couple of weeks. And that woman, we're going to study from the Old Testament, is a woman who existed in the same guild as Deborah. Her name is Miriam. Now, Harry, what are you talking about? Well, the Bible identifies, as we're about to read, the Bible identifies Deborah as a prophetess. There are only five prophetesses identified in the Old Testament. One of those prophetesses is Miriam. She also was identified as a prophetess. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at Deborah, anticipation of others. But tonight you actually get two for one. Tonight, the Lord delivers his people through Deborah, not only this woman of God, but also through another woman. In the same narrative, two women are used of God to dispatch the enemies of God and deliver the people of God. So tonight you're going to see us take a look at, this is really interesting, in the book of, in the Judges, you usually have a judge and an antagonist. But there are a couple of times in the Book of Judges that you have two and two, not one and one. And this is one. You have Deborah and you have Barak. And then you have the antagonist, the king of Canaan, and that is Jabin and Sisera. So you have Deborah and her appointed general, and that's Barak. And you have Jabin and his general called Sisera. And so that is what is set up for us in the text. And we're going to do what we've always done. And that's take a look at origin, her origin and her calling and then her legacy. So I'm going to ask you to do something that I haven't done. I'm going to take you through, as I promised in each one of these. And I'm not going to just talk about what comes from the text, but I just want to walk you through the text. But I want to wait a minute to walk you through judges four and five because I because there's a special thing I want to do with judges four and five. So let me do a couple of things about giving you Deborah's origin and then Deborah's calling and then walk through the text as we look at her legacy. So in your Bible, there are two Deborah's. Who knows who the other Deborah is? Mentioned in the book of Genesis twice. Does anyone know who that Deborah is? Well, that Deborah is the servant of Rebekah, who came along with Rebekah from Paddan Aram as she was brought by the servant to marry Isaac. And she outlived her mistress, and the Bible records that she became a part of God's covenant community. And the word, the name Deborah, by the way, I was going to do this at the beginning, and I didn't, but I think I'll go back and do it anyway. We're going to get to, we're going to find out how God conquers his enemies through a bee and through a mountain goat. Now, what do you mean, Harry? Well, guess what the word Deborah means in Hebrew, B, B, B. I love bees. I love bees because I found out about 15 years ago that one spoonful of local honey from a bee that would be a local bee. If you're going to get local honey, we'll deal with your allergies. So I have come to love and adore bees who produce the only perfect food that can't go bad. I love bees, and I love Deborah. Deborah is bee. She is a bee, and this Deborah, who is a bee, is a woman who has been called of the Lord to serve Him, and she exists, to the praise of God, out of these northern tribes that were now dominated that were now dominating. Now, the kingdom of Israel has not been divided in the north and south, but the northern tribes that are up around the Galilee area are being dominated by the Canaanites, because the Canaanites were not driven out. They still occupied this chief city called Hazor. So where are you in time? Well, Deborah is ministering in the 13th century. This is 1209 B.C. And as she is ministering, she is by far the most godly, the most godly of all of the prophets. And as she is being called to serve the Lord, we find out what her calling actually is. Here is what she is called in the Bible and identified. You'll see it as we walk our way through Judges 4 and 5. Number one, she's a prophetess. As I mentioned, she is one of five prophetesses. Miriam. And then the second prophetess is my great-great-grandmother was named for her. Her name was Huldah. Huldah was a second prophetess in the Old Testament. And then Isaiah's wife is called a prophetess. And then another prophetess is Noadiah, who is a false prophetess and proved to be a false prophetess. And those are the five identified in the Old Testament. But she's not only a prophetess, she is also a judge. And she sits as judge, the only female judge that we have in the twelve judges, and she sits in judgment, and the people of Israel begin to come to her at the palm tree. And that palm tree was up in northern Israel, and it is there that the people would come for their cases to be decided. So that's where she was, and from there, this prophetess, who was a leader, a judge, who was a prophetess, a leader, and a judge, is called of God to call on a man named Barak. And Barak is called of the Lord to serve him, and he is called of the Lord to serve him as the general of an army that he is to raise. Now, chiefly, this army is to be raised from the tribe of Zebulun, and of the tribe of Naphtali. But it ends up, he ends up drawing troops. He's supposed to raise an army of 10,000. He probably raised more than that because there was not only Zebulun and Naphtali that became a part of it, but four other tribes contributed to the war effort against Jabin and Sisera. So he is called on by Deborah to join him for the battle against them with the promise from God that he would give him the victory. So, Barak, when he receives the call, reveals his availability, but also his cowardice and his lack of faith. He says to Deborah, I'll come. And she says, well, come. God has promised you victory. God has promised you victory over King Jabin. God has promised you victory over Sisera. God has promised you victory over them and all of their chariots and all of their instruments of war. He has promised that he will give you the victory. And he says, I'll come. I'll raise the army. But only if you'll go with me. We're going to see this time and time again when you study the judges. OK, Lord, I'll come, but I need this one or that one or something or someone else. There's always there seems to be a qualifying dynamic. And so it is true in Barak the General. He tells the prophetess Deborah that he will go, but only if she goes. And she then tells him, oh, I'll go. She doesn't hesitate. Her courage and her trust in the Lord is abundantly clear. But she tells him, if you have chosen such a route to go only if I go with you, then your honor that you should have in serving the Lord and the Lord using you will not be given to you, but will be given to a woman. And that's going to be abundantly clear. So what happens? Well, folks, here's what I want to do. I want to walk you through this text in the time that we've got left, but I want you to see something. And that's this. Whenever you're studying the book of Judges, there are two cycles that are always prevalent as you work your way through this book. Cycle number one is 40 years. And it's actually amazing that what we see in the book of Judges, we see in church history. I tell people about the PCA, the Presbyterian Church in America, there is an amazing, precarious moment that local churches, denominations, seminaries and ministries seem to always encounter between the 40 to 80 year mark. And that is a downgrade, a downgrade from faithfulness, a downgrade into sometimes outright apostasy. You always have to fight it. You always have to be aware of it. I've been so blessed. I've been so blessed to see ministries that are aware of it and have responded. And every single time that I have seen churches that avoid the downgrade or the departure or the apostasy in that 40 to 80 year mark, every church that I've ever seen, that every denomination, every institution, they've always They've always avoided it by leadership. And you're going to see in the book of Judges when you study that every time God does something to deliver them from that inevitable 40 year downgrade, he raises up a leader, even with imperfections. He raises up a leader to do it. I've had the privilege to watch it. I've had the privilege to watch a seminary that I love dearly. Reformed Theological Seminary come upon those same years. And I thank God for the leaders that they've had. And so when that time came where they could go the other direction, God raised up not only a Luther Whitlock, but then a Rick Canada and then Ligon Duncan. I watched it in my alma mater, Westminster Seminary, as God raised up Peter Lilback to reclaim and renew that seminary now in some of its greatest faculty it's had since its original faculty and its burgeoning enrollment of training ministers for the gospel that stands against the trend all over America. I've seen it in parachurch organizations and now I pray for it and I'm laboring for it to make sure the same thing's true in my own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America now in its 48th year and that it will be able to meet that with leaders. So you've got that pattern in the book of Judges. But that's not all. There's another cycle that's there. I call it the pattern and the pattern that has seven elements to it. And that's how I'm going to walk you through this text. The seven elements that you begin to see. Number one, Israel would do evil. They would depart from the Lord. They would do evil in the sight of God. And then, what would happen? What would happen next is the Lord would discipline them. The Lord would bring discipline by giving them over to oppressors. The oppressors who were all around them, who had infiltrated them, and to whom they had begun to succumb, then God uses them as a hand of discipline, bringing the oppressor into mastery over his people. Thirdly, he then puts the people in a period of time where they serve their oppressors, where their oppressors not only are oppressing, but they are actually in full control over Israel, or at least seemingly in full control. Then number four, Israel finally cries out to the Lord. And then as Israel cries out to the Lord, the fifth thing you see is that God answers. And the divine answer of God's grace is He raises up a deliverer. He raises up a deliverer and a leader. In these cases, judges and these deliverers and these leaders will be anointed by the Spirit of God for what they've been called to do. And the result is the oppressor is defeated. What seems to be an insurmountable and unconquerable enemy is defeated miraculously by the Lord working through his people, being led by the deliverer whom he is anointed with his spirit against the oppressor. Then the last thing that happens, the seventh thing that happens is that the Lord, the land is given rest by the Lord and the people are given peace by the Lord. Until what? They do evil in the sight of the Lord. Forty years. And then they start to do evil. So that pattern is always there in the book of Judges, and that helps us in looking at the life and gleaning the lessons from the life of Deborah. So would you look with me and in chapter four and verse one? Well, my goodness, it doesn't take us long to start working our way through these seven points, does it? And the people of Israel again, this isn't the first time, again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud, a previous judge, died. And so what happens? Well, the Lord disciplines them. Look at the next verse. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Herosheth Hagoyim. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. So what happens? The people of Israel do what's evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord disciplines them, selling them into the hands of the oppressor. They then serve the oppressor, and then they cry out to the Lord. So what comes next? Number five, God raises up a deliverer. That starts in the next verse. Go with me to the next verse. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for this oppressor had 900 chariots of iron. And he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years, 20 years of serving Jabin and his king and his commander Sisera, backed up by a war machine that included 900 chariots of iron. Now, Deborah, God's going to raise up a leader. God's going to raise up a deliverer. God's going to anoint that deliverer with his spirit. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lepidoth, so you now know her husband, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. That's where she was from, that tribe. And the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh Naphtali. and said to him has not the Lord the God of Israel commanded you go gather your men at Mount Tabor taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun and I will draw out Sisera the general now this is not Deborah this is the Lord through Deborah speaking to him I the Lord will draw out Sisera I will draw out the general of Jabin's army to meet you by the River Kishon. The River Kishon runs through the Valley of Jezreel. And it is during the most of the year, it's a dry, it's a dry, almost a dry bed, almost just nothing much more than a creek. I don't know why they would call it a river. When we go to Israel, I always show people the River Kishon. And except during rainy season. And particularly back then, in the 1200s B.C., where they hadn't yet built all the irrigation that you see in the Valley of Jezreel today, the Valley of Jezreel stands under the shadow of a mountain called Megiddo, Ar-Megiddo, Ar-Mageddon. It is that battlefield. Napoleon, when he marched through it, said this is the most perfect battlefield in all of the world. It is amazing battlefield. It is a battlefield in which many battles have been fought, and this is the first one. It fought in the Valley of Jezreel beside the banks of the River Kishon that is recorded in Scripture. It won't be the only one. They'll be back there in the days of Gideon. In the southern part of the, in the south, in the southwest, I'm sorry, the southeastern part of the Valley of Jezreel. It is there that Gideon will fight the Midianites. Then they'll be back again in the Valley of Jezreel. And there, and again, the southern part of the Jezreel Valley, Saul will be defeated. and he will be killed along with his sons. And that's not the only time. Elijah will be back at this same river of Kishon and will do battle with the prophets of Baal and defeat them and destroy the hundreds of prophets of Baal. And that's not the only time. It will be a place for a battle during World War II. And that's not the only time the Bible tells us it uses this same valley and battlefield to depict the consummation of the ages in the book of Revelation. So here is this battlefield with the first recorded battle that we have in the scripture of the valley of Jezreel, Armageddon, under the shadow of the valley of the battle of the mountain of Megiddo. And he is set. He instructs him that I will deliver you. I will deliver them into your hands. I will draw them out to the River Kishon with it and I'll bring out his 900 chariots and his troops and I will give him into your hand. What does Barrick said? Well, count me in, Lord. No, here's what barracks direct. I'm sorry, Barrick says. And he said to her, if you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. In other words, it's not enough for the Lord to make those promises and go with him. He needs Deborah. Well, Deborah, of course, in the one hand, rebukes him and in the other hand is saying, well, let's just get the job done. And she said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory for the Lord will sell Cicero into the hands of a woman. So here you've got Deborah and you've got David. Here you've got Barak Barak Barak and here you've got and I'm sorry I'm stumbling there because we've had a president that has the same name and I'm trying to remember who's pronounces what how and so here is an over here is a sister of the commander of that army. So you've got these these couplets there that are facing each other and she says yeah I'll go. I'll go and let me tell you what's going to happen is the road that you've now chosen will not lead to honor and to glory. He is going to sell that into the hands of a woman. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh and Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh and 10,000 men went up at his heels and Deborah went up with him. Now, back at the ranch. This is one of those back at the ranch moments. This is a scene in the middle of the unfolding narrative. Now Heber, the Kenite, had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zananim, which is near Kedash. Well, he just said, now there's this guy. His name is Heber. His name is Heber, and he belongs to the Kenites. Now, that is the people who befriended Israel when they were in the wilderness, and that is the people from which Moses got his wife, Zipporah. And you now find out that there's a lot of names referring to his father-in-law, Ruel. He is called Ruel. And so there's a, here he's called Hobab. Here in the text, he is identified as Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in, say, Ananim. And it was said that Israel would befriend Kenites, and the Kenites would befriend Israel. We're about to get an individual application of that. When Sisera was told that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. Now, let me stop here. Mount Tabor, when you stand up on Mount Carmel, you look straight across and you look north, you look northeast, and when you look northeast, you see Mount Tabor and you can spot it immediately. It is a smooth, round-topped mountain. Some people believe it was the site of the Mount of Transfiguration. It is a smooth mountain that in the north, bordering the Valley of Jezreel on the northeast side. And when you look at it and see it, you can unmistakably see that that place is when you look at it, you know that thousands of troops gathered on the side of that mountain and the thousands of troops gathered at the call of Barak, the commander, but under the direction of Deborah, who is there with them. there at that place of Mount Tabor. Sisera called out his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him from Heresheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon. And Deborah said to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor. Can you imagine 10,000 troops coming off the side of that mountain? So Barak comes down off of it, leading his troop, 10,000 troops, against the army of Sisera with his 900 chariots who were lined across the edge of the, who were lined across the river Kishon. And the Lord routed Sisera And the Lord, and I'm sorry, so he went down from Mount Tabor with the 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army of Herosheth Hagoyim and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left. But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite. Remember, you just got introduced to him. You got introduced to him. What the text didn't earlier tell you is he had a wife. And believe me, you don't want to meet with this wife. Have y'all ever heard of a song from the 1960s? Some of you are way too young. Killing Them Softly. It was written for J.L., whose name means mountain goat. So what happens? Well, here's what happens. He comes to the wife of Heber the Kenanite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. Do not be afraid. So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug, and he said to her, Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. So she opened a skim of milk, and she gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, is anyone here, you say no. But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg, took a hammer in her hand, then she went softly to him to kill him. She drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness, and so he died. And behold, as Beric was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking. So he went into her tent, and there lay Sisera dead with the tent peg in his temple. So on that day, God subdued Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the people of Israel. And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin, the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin, the king of Canaan. And the Lord delivered his people miraculously. And a woman got the honor of taking Sisera out of the scene. Deborah? Oh, yeah. But more precisely, J.L. The bee and the mountain goat had done their work in the hands of the Lord. And now his people were at peace, and now the land was given rest. Then comes the only song in the book of Judges. It is an absolutely wonderful song for study. I wish I had time to give it all to you. I've only got three minutes to sing it for you. Well, maybe Alonzo can sing it for you. Then, saying Deborah and Barak, the son of Abba Noam, on that day that the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord. So here's the call to worship. Hear, O kings, give ear, O princes, to the Lord I will sing. I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. When God defeats his enemies and ours, we rise up to worship him, right? Right? That's why we get together on the Lord's Day. That's why that's a priority, to praise God in worship who has won the victory. The Lord whom you went out from, the Lord when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yet the clouds and, yes, the clouds dropped water, the mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel. In that day, so what is he doing? He's calling to mind the thunderclouds around the mountain of God in Sinai, and that that same God now showed up in the valley of Jezreel in the shadow of the Mount of Megiddo. And that same God came, and what happened? There's the thunder. See the ground shaking. What is he telling you? God brought a thunderstorm. And that little dry brook became a rushing torrent. And it is really hard to use a chariot in about six feet of mud. So what begins to happen in that battle? The Lord shows up. He is sovereign in command of all of the laws of nature to do his supernatural work. And in the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of J.L., the highways were abandoned. The travelers kept to the byways. The villages ceased in Israel. They ceased to be until I arose. I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel." Now you've got another calling. She is a mother in Israel. Can I just stop there? We need male and female leaders. Now, each has its role. We understand qualified men in the ordained offices. But the church needs fathers and mothers in their complementarian relationship, not only in the family, but in the family of God. And here was such a mother of Israel. She didn't try to be a father of Israel. She called Barak to do what he was supposed to do. But here is a mother of Israel who there was who was there and ready to serve the Lord with all of her heart. I, Deborah, rose 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. She saw the courage of the outnumbered troops. She saw her own commanders lead this army, outnumbered four to one, into the battle with 900 chariots facing them. Then what happens? Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys. That would be referring to, not kings necessarily, but various people of stature. She's telling the people of stature in the culture, you go tell this story. Here is what you're supposed to tell people. You who sit on the rich carpets, you who walk by the way to the sound of musicians at the watering places, sing this, she says. She says, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. Notice what she has done. She has said, who won this victory? God, a sovereign God. But she also affirms men and women rising up to do what God called them to do, the responsibility of men and women. She honors and gives praise to God alone who could win the victory, but she also honors those who trusted in the Lord and they showed up for the battle. The villagers, the commanders, the soldiers, all of them. Then, down to the gates, marched the people of Israel. Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, break out in 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 from me against the mighty. From Ephraim, their root, they marched down into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen. From Macare 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 Baruch, and in 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 set still at the coast of the sea. In other words, there were tribes that didn't show up and they receive now the judgment of God. Dan, Naphtali, Reuben and Issachar. They said, they said, well, let us think about this. And they didn't show up with the other six tribes that are being named in this song. Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death, Naphtali too, on the heights of the field. Then kings came, they fought, they fought the kings of Canaan at Tanak by the waters of Megiddo. There at the, Kishon runs right under the shadow of Mount Megiddo, Armageddon. The torrent Tishon swept them away. Now, folks, Tishon is barely a creek, but on that day it was a torrent. Why? God brought the storm, and the storm caused the waters to rise and overflow their banks, and the entire fields became nothing but mud carpets that bogged them all down. Now the torrent of Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. March on, my soul, with might. Then loud beat the horse's hooves with the galloping, galloping of his steeds. Curse Miraz, 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. So if sovereign God won the victory, but he honors those who showed up and he will bring discipline on those who ran from the moment of the battle. And then he says, Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Aber the Kenite, of ten dwelling women most blessed. He asked water, she gave him milk. She brought him curds in a noble's bowl. She said her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workman's mallet. She struck Cicero. 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. Now, listen, he was already laying and under a rug. That's not telling you the physical dynamics of his death. That's a metaphor to show that this woman was used of God to bring down the powerful. Because it's God who accomplishes the battle. with his servants. Where he sank, then 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 hoof-beats of his chariot? Her wisest presence answers. Indeed, she answers herself, have they not found and divided the spoil, a womb of 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 forty years. So these two chapters walk you through those seven steps that you see repeated in judge after judge. And here's with Deborah. I'm over time. Would you just walk away with this? God uses leaders. And if you don't step up, God won't be stopped, he'll raise up another leader. Our lack of availability and faithfulness does not stop the hand of the Lord. The question is not, is he going to win the victory? The question is, will you get in on it? Or will somebody else take your place? Barrick didn't get the full engagement because he didn't trust. So honor goes to Deborah. Honor goes to jail. And yet all of those who did show up villagers, people who walked by the wayside, people who are don't even considered who are considered worthy, showed up in a citizen army, arose that day and the Lord led them to victory through their fighting. And then with his supernatural power as he elements stand at his command to accomplish his purposes. Folks, we got a battle in front of us. Praise God. Jesus has won the war. But don't be found wanting in the day of battle. And don't be found wanting because you're home contemplating. Trust the Lord, put on the full armor of the Lord. Some of your leaders of 10, some of your leaders of 20, some of your leaders of 30, some of us are to be led. But let's be there. And let not another take our place, for the Lord wins the victory. Harry, do you want honor that much? You better believe it. Because then I get to take that honor and give it to him in worship and praise when I stand before him. because he won the victory. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for our time together in your word. Thank you for a woman of God, a mother of Israel, one who spoke forth your word, one who had wisdom for the judgments when people came to her and one who would not be stopped by the shortcomings of others and one who you used, Deborah. We give you praise. May her tribe increase. Raise up the mothers of Israel who will show wisdom, discernment and will lead their families and the family of God into the battle for the glory of God. I pray in Jesus name, the one who makes leaders and uses them, our leader, triumphant Christ in his name. Amen. You have been listening to a message by Harry Reeder, Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. For more information on the resources available through Briarwood Presbyterian Church, or for more information on the teaching ministry of Pastor Reeder, visit us at briarwood.org or call 205-776-5200. you