We're singing songs about singing because we're looking at a song tonight in Judges 5. If you'd open your Bibles there, please. Judges chapter 5, we'll be looking at the song of Deborah and Barak. And before we begin our journey, let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we bow before thee tonight, the God of Israel, and we thank you that you have included us into your family. We pray that this passage of scripture will help us become good warriors for thee. May we learn the importance of making proper judgments in this book of Judges. We pray that you would minister to us tonight in a very personal way. In Jesus' name, amen. When the month of May began, it began with news that we had killed Osama bin Laden. We may remember that it happened on a Sunday night after church. I was home watching a baseball game between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies when I learned that the President of the United States was going to address the nation. I immediately switched to a news channel. When it was finally announced that Justice had been served and he had been killed, my first reaction was, praise God. Well, many have wondered since that time, do we have a right to praise God? Do we have a right to rejoice when some Israel-hating, Christian-hating, God-mocking, American-killing Muslim is killed? The answer to that question from scripture is you bet we have the right. The fact of the matter is the Bible gives us the right. When God takes out enemies of his people, they not only have the right to rejoice, they have the responsibility to praise God for what he has done. Now I want you to notice from Judges 5.1 that this song of praise was given on the very same day that God had given Israel victory. We read, then Deborah and Barak, the son of Abin-o-Am, sang on that day, saying, That Hebrew verb saying is feminine, which really emphasizes that Deborah, the prophetess of God, was very much involved in this praise, which includes Barak. Both of them were directing the nation Israel to praise God in view of the victory they'd experienced. Now, I want you to think about this. Deborah is a woman. She has a legal mind. She's very much interested in knowing the word of God, and she's very much interested in very reverent worship. the praise that you're about to see in this chapter. The song that she wants Israel to sing in this chapter is not a bunch of women holding up their hands and swaying while repeating lyrics in some fluffy chorus. I just recently saw one of the Gaither homecoming videos. Now there's tremendous talent, there's no doubt at all, with many of those musicians that associate themselves with the Gaithers. And some of them were singing songs that were very emotional, but they were not biblically and theologically sound. And on one of these things, they had a person quote a poem. And the poem, he was all confused about death and the great white throne judgment. And when he got done, the people were crying. And they were actually standing up and giving him a standing ovation. And it didn't even make sense. That's not like this song. I'll tell you right now, this song requires careful biblical thought and serious focus. This song starts at verse 2. It ends at verse 31. And when women and men are interested in using their minds to carefully understand God's word and work, they're involved in the same kind of praise that you see right here. There was a natural desire of those right with God to want to praise God. And that's the way it should be when God gives any victory. The normal, natural response from a heart that's right with God when God gives victory is there ought to be a desire to praise Him. That's the natural impulse of the heart of one right with God. They want to praise God and worship God. For example, when God delivered Israel across the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam broke out in an immediate praise unto God. When David experienced victory, he said, God put a new song of praise in his mouth. And Deborah and Barak opened that way right here. What you see here is that when God gives great victory, it's right to praise God for that victory. And it's right to acknowledge those who are faithful and see that their action is honored. And those who aren't faithful will be exposed. That's what you see in this song. In this song, you see a song in which those that are faithful are honored because of what God has done. Those that aren't faithful are exposed because they didn't do anything. Gary Phillips said in Judges 4, we're introduced to Deborah and Barack, that is the odd couple. And in Judges 5, we're introduced to them and they're an odd couple. As we said, this is Deborah's praise song, not so much Barack's. You can see that by the personal pronouns of verse three, I to the Lord, I will sing, I will sing praise to the Lord. Those pronouns indicate that certainly it was coming from Deborah, but Barack is along for the ride and he's praising God just as well. And there are eight reasons why they praise God in this particular song. First of all, because the leaders led. Notice verse 2. Praise God, they're singing that the leaders led in Israel. Let's just stop right there. They sing a song that the leaders finally led. This is one time in Israel's history when Israel's leaders got it right. They said we're going to lead people to understanding the Word of God and we're going to lead people to following the Word of God. And when God's work has leaders that are focused on that objective, When God's work has leaders that are focused on understanding the word and applying the word, it is cause for praise. If leaders follow God's word and they're not interested in following traditions, they're not interested in following denominations, they're interested in following the word of God and getting people to believe the word and follow the word, that is cause for great praise. And that's what Deborah's doing here. She's saying, I'm praising God because the leader's led. Secondly, she says I'm praising God because the people volunteered at the end of verse 2 that the people volunteered bless the Lord When you get leaders leading people to follow the Word of God And then you get people volunteering because they want to be part of it. You've got a rare moment on your hands These leaders had led Israel to fight against Assyria and they had won and carefully notice at the end of verse 2 They're giving praise to the Lord It is true and praiseworthy that the leaders were leading people, and they were pointing these people, let's obey God, let's do what God wants us to do. Let's attack in the way God wants us to attack. And it was praiseworthy that there were people who were volunteering and said, all right, I want to be involved in the action. But the one who ultimately gave the victory was, of course, God. And so Deborah and Barack end by saying, bless the Lord. We see around this church people volunteering for all kinds of ministries. It is a wonderful thing. We have different committees, different ministries, children's ministries, choir, meals, prayer. We have people involved in behind scenes activities that most of us know nothing about. And when you see people just volunteering and working for the Lord, praise the Lord, that is cause for praise. And that's what was happening here. There's a third reason why praise was given is because the sovereign God is Israel's God. Verse 3 says, Hear, O kings, give ear, O rulers, I to the Lord, I will sing, I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, even the clouds dripped water, the mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, this Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel. Now at the beginning of verse three, Deborah calls all kings and all leaders to give ear, all rulers of the world to take notice of what this song is going to say. And we would ask just exactly what is Deborah wanting all the great world leaders to think about when she sings this song? Well, I'll tell you, when we go through this song, you'll see what she wants all leaders of the world to know is that God is a sovereign God. And if you tamper with Israel, you start trying to take away her land. You start oppressing Israel. You will find that God will turn against you and destroy you. And in verses 4 to 5, the first picture that Deborah paints of God is He's a sovereign God and He has a relationship with Israel. He is the God of Israel. Jehovah's presence is seen in His work in Israel's history. He is a sovereign God in control of all people in all places that even surround that Israeli area. And Deborah cites instances where God used earthquakes and rainstorms to accomplish his will. And we're going to see that later tonight because he's the God of Israel. He leads her all around that promised land. Mount Sierra is the land of Eden. He leads her into those Arab territories. He gives her the promised land. He displayed himself at Mount Sinai when he showed himself in all of his glory. World leaders would be well to pause and take notice of this fact. God is Israel's God. He has shown himself to be that in the face of enemies. And if you go up against Israel, you're going up against the sovereign God of the Bible and you must have a hole in your head. And literally you may end up with that because that's what happens here. Which brings us to the fourth reason for praise. Praise to God because God reversed deplorable conditions. through his chosen woman. Notice verse 6. In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and travelers went by roundabout ways. The peasantry ceased. They ceased in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel. New gods were chosen. Then war was in the gates. Not a shield or a spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, the volunteers among the people. Bless the Lord. You who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who travel on the road, sing at the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, the righteous deeds for his peasantry in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates. Now there's a shift in these verses and the song moves to the terrible conditions Israel experienced when she was under that Canaanite bondage. She was completely oppressed by enemies in her own land. This was land that she should have been prospering in and she finds herself in slavery to the Canaanites. And Deborah specifically dates the time of these events, the days of Shamgar and the days of jail. Conditions were deplorable physically and spiritually. She describes it. It was a time of economic difficulty. She brings out the fact that the highways were empty and abandoned. People were afraid to walk the streets. They thought if we go out, we might get attacked by terrorists or harassed by enemies. The text says when you wanted to do business, you had to sneak around and do it the back way. You actually had to go around roundabout ways just to do business. The peasants who normally lived and worked the land that were out in the fields, they had to leave their homeland because they were so fearful and try to move into a walled city. Cities weren't safe. You had wars within cities. The military numbers were low. 40,000 in the military were neutered by a lack of weaponry. Verse 8 tells us that they had 40,000 people, but they didn't have any shield, they didn't have any spear. In other words, they didn't have any weapons to fight with. You talk about disarmament. 40,000 soldiers with no weapons. Dan Duncan said in his commentary, you basically had 40,000 disarmed men who were crippled by fear. And to make matters even worse, they purposely chose to worship new false gods. They apparently were not forced to do this. They chose this because verse 8 says, new gods were chosen. Look, when God's people move away from following the word of God, life is going to become miserable. When God's people start moving away from what the scriptures tell them they ought to do, things will become deplorable. People will not fight a good fight, and they will live in fear, and one of the fears they're going to have is one day I have to face God. And you must wonder, wasn't there some man around during this time? Apparently there weren't too many. So God says, I'll tell you what, I'm going to raise up a woman to get things moving in the right direction. And God, in His amazing grace, raised up Deborah to become a mother in Israel. And by the way, I want to point out something about Deborah. She was not a businesswoman who wanted to travel. She wanted to stay home. It was Barack who said, I'm not going unless you go with me. She wasn't interested in going out there and just traveling around the country, but she almost was forced to leave. She was a mother who would look out for her children. God called her to point Israel back to him, and she did not have to forfeit any womanly grace in order to do that. And by leading of God, she contacted Barak to be her military leader and God would use those two to turn things around. But I want you to notice, ladies and gentlemen, this woman's heart went out to the commanders of Israel and the volunteers of Israel. She says in verse 9, my heart goes out to them because they were willing to take a stand for God. H.A. Ironside said that he and a friend one time were walking in a park and there was a woman standing in the middle of the park preaching. And the friend said to Ironside, it's a shame that this woman is here in this park preaching. Ironside, I'll tell you what the shame is. The shame is there isn't a man here preaching. Fact of the matter is, I have known of a couple of women who have had more spiritual wits in the church than men. I know of two in other ministries that tried to convince leaders of a church to bring in a Bible teacher to their pulpit, not some charismatic psycho babbler. These were women that had some wits about them. They understood what should take place in the pulpit. There should be a presentation of the word of God and they stood their ground. Those are the Deborah types that God raises up at times to fight his battles. And in verses 10 to 11, Deborah calls on all classes of men to praise God. You who ride on white donkeys, those wealthy people, you can praise God. You that are meeting out there with the flocks at the watering holes, you can praise God. She says, I want all of you to sing, sing to the glory of God because he has given you wonderful victory and deliverance all of Israel is now free you were in bondage you were locked up you were you didn't even dare to go out and now you can wander around on white donkeys you can sit on your rich carpets you can take your flocks out to the watering holes you're not afraid anymore you need to sing to God and when she chooses that particular Hebrew word saying it's interesting because it refers to you carefully think about What it is you're praising God for. You give careful thought and consideration to this great deliverance and then you praise God for it. We're not talking here about some shallow repetition of a chorus that's on an overhead somewhere. This is a song that's serious business and serious doctrine. Which brings us to the fifth reason for praise because volunteers responded to the battle call. Notice verse 12, awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, awake, sing a song. Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abin-o-Am. Then survivors came down to the nobles. The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors. From Ephraim, those whose root is in Amalek, came down. Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples. From Mechir, commanders came down. And from Zebulun, those who wield the staff of office. And the princes of Ishakar were with Deborah. As was Ishikar, so was Barak. Into the valley they rushed at his heels. Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the piping of the flocks among the divisions of Reuben? There was great searchings of heart. Gilead remained across the Jordan. And why did Dan stay on the ships? Asher sat at the seashore and remained by its landings. Zebulun was a people who despised their lives, even to death, and Naphtali also, on the high places of the field. Now, according to verse 12, the victorious plan of God starts with Deborah and Barak. Deborah is waked up by God for the task. Barak is raised up by God for the task. And there is an important principle to glean from that. When God has a work to do, He's going to raise somebody up to do it. The fact of the matter is God always has his chosen leaders that he moves into position to get a job done for him. He'll always stir up somebody when he wants to get it done. He did with Luther and Calvin. He did with Moody and Spurgeon. He did with Schofield and Chafer. God is to be praised because he raises up individuals to set his people free. Now the inspired plan was, you recruit 10,000 men. 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun, and you go to war with Barak and attack Caesarea. You go up against him and his army. And we know that there were at least 40,000 military men available. God said, I don't need them. I don't need the 40,000 without weapons. I don't even need the weapons. What I want are 10,000 recruits. That's what I need, 10,000 people that are willing to obey me. Now, how do you recruit 10,000 men to go to war against a massive Canaanite military and a tremendous warrior who has a great reputation like Cicera, who has 900 chariots, and you don't even own proper weaponry? And what is even more amazing about this is they volunteered. And the Hebrew word volunteer means they did this freely and eagerly. Barak didn't have to twist arms. He wasn't offering a bunch of military benefits or praise. These people were coming out of the woodwork because they were raring to go. God was doing this. And according to verse 13, survivors from that Canaanite captivity, they came and they volunteered. They said, we'll go. And here's another important lesson for you and I to learn. God can make winning warriors out of trusting volunteers. You don't have to have a great background to be mightily used of the Lord. You turn your life over to the Lord and God can make a winning warrior out of you. Watch what he does with this group. Now Deborah in verses 14 to 18 lists the tribes in her military roll call. It becomes obvious from what she says here that God wants all of his people engaged in activity for him. There's no doubt in my mind when you look down through here, God wants all of his people fighting a good fight. He's called you to be a warrior, not a spectator. And so what she does is she gives a roll call of the tribes that were connected to all of this. There was Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Machir, which is the half tribe of Manasseh that lived on the west side of the Jordan. You have Zebulun, you have Ishakar, and you have Naphtali. Now she particularly spells out that three tribes are to be honored. Ishikar, in verse 15, she said, rushed right into battle. That tribe right there went right out there on the front lines into battle. Zebulun, according to verse 18, went into battle with no thought of their own lives. These people despised their lives even to death. They didn't care. they were going to go fight. And then you have Naphtali who went to the tough high ground. Verse 18 brings that out. Naphtali also on the high places of the field and oftentimes those high places are the hottest places of battle because any military wants to get to the high ground so they can have that high ground and they can defend their troops. And it was Naphtali that ran right to that high ground area. Now these tribes are commended because they eagerly went against the enemies of God. They eagerly went into battle. They were good soldiers. And that's what we need in the church. We need to be enthusiastic, good soldiers. We need to stand our ground for reverent worship. We need to stand our ground for the word of God. And we need to be good soldiers on the front lines of the battle for God and for truth. But carefully notice there were four tribes that frankly did nothing. There was a call to service, but there was also a counter call to do nothing. There are those who are listed here who merit dishonorable discharge. Reuben is one. Reuben was a tribe emotionally moved in their hearts. They liked to talk it over. Verse 16 says, did you sit among the sheepfolds? Did you hear the piping among the divisions of Reuben? There was great searchings of heart. Reuben was emotionally moved when they got wind of the fact, hey, they're going to go fight Cicera, but they didn't do anything. They just talked it over. Rubin types are the kind of people that like to discuss things but let's not get involved. Oh, we'll just talk about the work that's going on but we don't really want to involve ourselves. Rubin types are emotional but they never do anything. Then there was Gilead, the half-tribe of Manasseh that lived on the east side of the Jordan. Notice verse 17, Gilead remained across the Jordan. Gilead said, we'll just stay put. We're not going to cross over there and get in that battle. We don't want to get involved in that matter that's taking place over there. Gilead never got involved in fellowshipping and working with the other tribes. They only looked out for their own interests. Their view was it's their fight. Why should we get involved? But then you have two of the most pathetic tribes listed, Dan and Asher. Dan and Asher just running their businesses. Notice verse 17, Dan stayed at the ships, Asher sat at the seashore and remained by its landings. After all, Cicera wasn't affecting them. They were on the coast. They're running their shipping businesses. They're not under any threat. So Dan and Asher said, let's just mind their own business. They kept working on the boats and just taking in the ships as they would come into port, and they just kept mending their docks. They didn't send any volunteers. They made no significant contribution to the work of God. Those tribes are Demas types. They love the world more than the work of God. Look, if we don't have a zeal to be involved in learning and applying the word, if we don't have a zeal to go to work for the war of God, our spirituality can shrivel up in a hurry. If you don't want to go to war for God, you don't have to. If you don't want to witness, don't. If you don't want to contribute, don't. If you don't want to pray, don't. If you don't want to come and study faithfully the word of God, don't. But what you'll discover one day is participation in the things of God is praiseworthy and non-participation is shameful. We're not gonna beg you to do stuff. You either do it for God or you don't do it for God. And if you don't go to war for God, one day you'll regret it because God wants volunteers. He wants volunteers who willingly, eagerly, freely, spontaneously serve Him. And there are some of you tonight on the front lines of everything God is doing out of this church. You've been on the front lines of the battle for years. You're at the services. You pray. You give. You worship. You serve. You volunteer. You help whenever, wherever you can. But there are others that just sit around and talk. They're not involved in the action. They live in their own little fantasy world, only looking out for themselves. You rarely see them at much of anything, and frankly, they don't contribute much of anything. I tell you this, in everything that God is doing with this church, and He's doing things with this church, Powerful things with this church throughout the world. They're not gonna be honored because they sat on the sidelines and never plugged in Which brings us to the sixth reason for the praise praise to God because he gave victory verses 19 to 23 We read in verse 19 these words The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Tahanach, near the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder in silver. The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Assyria. The torrent of Cushon swept them away. The ancient torrent, the torrent of Cushon, oh my soul, march on with strength. Then the horses, hooves, beat from dashing and the dashing of his valiant steeds. Curse, Morotes, said the angel of the Lord. Utterly curse its inhabitants. Because they did not come to the help of the Lord to help the Lord against the warriors now this whole battle is Described in these five verses and verse 19 describes what Israel saw verse 19 Israel is up on that mountain and they see a coalition of kings coming straight at them and They are located in the Tahanak area by the waters of Megiddo. And from where they were located on Mount Tabor, it's about eight miles. They could look down to the southwest and they could see that. That's a good visibility spot where they can look down and see that military coming right out straight at them. And that's what they're seeing. They're looking out there and they're seeing these kings and they're coming from Canaan and they're gonna fight. When we lived in Pocatello, we lived on Center Street up on the side of a mountain. You could see American Falls Reservoir clearly 25 to 30 miles away. So eight miles, when you're up on the side of a mountain, is nothing for you. It offers you good visibility. So they see this. What they see is they see this Canaanite king coming at them with full force, 900 chariots, thousands of soldiers. However, the Canaanite kings are not going to win this battle. And they're not going to carry off any silver or plunder. They are going to be completely destroyed by God. In fact, the Canaanites never oppressed Israel again from this moment on. Now what happens here is it was the dry season. So Sisera expected to easily defeat the Israelites with their 900 chariots, iron chariots, but what they didn't count on was God was going to send a torrent of rain to cause that Kishon River to rise up to the point that it was going to wash them away. What Sisera didn't understand is they were in war against God, and specifically, they were in war against the angel of the Lord, who's none other than Jesus Christ. What they forgot to remember is that God controls all atmospheric elements. He can send a horrific storm. He can send ferocious rain. He can cause the banks of a river to overflow. He can cause these chariots to all get stuck in a mud. And if you do that, you're going to spook those horses. And that's exactly what happened. They beat their hooves, verse 22 says. They were dashing and dashing. We're talking even about the valiant states. Now, I've put a horse in a bog three times. First time wasn't my fault, second two times were my fault. The first time I put a horse in a bog, I'm telling you, that horse got in that bog and he started thrashing. And he threw me into the bog. He just threw me way off him because he starts twisting and thrashing because he wants to get out of that bog. That's what horses do. When you get them in bogs, they want to buck and they want to get out of there. And so here are these horses pulling these chariots and it starts raining and the water is gushing over, it's getting muddy. And these horses realize we're sinking and they start thrashing around because God was doing this. See, what Cicero did is he put all of his trust in his military. He put all of his trust in his equipment. But what he failed to realize is I'm up against a God that can wipe me out easily and instantly in one rain storm. You know, ladies and gentlemen, we can be big and strong and impressive and we can be famous. We could be some hero in our own world like Cicero, but God can drop us like a fly anytime he wants. We're talking about the sovereign almighty God. He can wipe us out with a storm, with a disease, with a disaster. He can level us in a minute. Any one of us. That is why we need to keep our focus on Him. And apparently, as all of this was going down, there was a city in close vicinity to where this was happening. The city's name was Meroz. And Meroz was a city that had committed treason because they didn't lift a finger to help Israel. They didn't lift a finger to do anything for God. And so this angel of the Lord said, I'm cursing that city. He says curse be this city curse the inhabitants because it did not come to the help of the lord and to the help of god's warriors And what I find so interesting is this curse was so effective that as one commentator have said there is no trace of this city even to this day The remembrance of this city morose has been completely blotted out Someone wisely said if you're opposed to god and his people your condition is hopeless You turn against God and His people, you are heading down a dangerous trail. Which brings us to the seventh reason for praise. Praise God because of His sovereign work in a woman. Verse 24 says, Most blessed of women is J.L., the wife of Heber the Kenite. Most blessed is she of women in the tent. He asked for water and she gave him milk and a magnificent bowl. She brought him curds. She reached out her hand for the tent peg and her right hand for the workman's hammer. Then she struck Cicera. She smashed his head. She shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. Between her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell dead. JL is praised and blessed by God. Moretz was an entire city, wouldn't raise a finger to help the work of God, but not this woman, JL, this housewife that lived in a tent. She didn't even own a home. There was no jail house. And she is the most blessed of all the women who ever lived in a tent. And she did something nice in her final act with Cicera. He asked for some water to drink. She brought him some milk and a wonderful bowl of cottage cheese, which makes a great final meal. One of our elders, I won't mention his name, his initials are there in your notes, said, who wouldn't want to die after a great meal like that? She picked up a tent stake with her left hand. It's careful to bring this out in the text. She picked up a hammer in her right hand and she drove that tent stake right through his temple. And apparently the text says in verse 27 that he bowed, he fell, he lay, he bowed, he fell dead. Apparently when that tent stake went through his temple, it's possible that he tried to get up. He couldn't do it. He fell dead at her feet. What God did was he destroyed all enemies from the foot soldiers to the chariot soldiers to the commanders. He tracked them all down and he destroyed them all. One enemy of Israel, Aglon, gets a knife in his stomach. Another enemy of Israel, Sassera, gets a nail in his head. One enemy of Israel, Saddam Hussein, gets a rope around his neck. Another enemy of Israel, Osama Bin Laden, gets a bullet in his head. It's the same old story. It's the same old story that says you curse Israel and God will curse you. Every political leader, including the President of the United States, had better take a very serious look and notice of what is revealed in the Word of God. Don't you dare become an enemy of Israel. The final reason for the praise is praise to God because the aspirations of enemies are shattered. Notice verse 28. Out of the window, she looked and lamented. The mother of Caesera threw the latest. Why does this chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry? Her wise princesses would answer her. Indeed, she repeats her words to herself. Are they not finding? Are they not dividing the spoil? A maiden, two maidens for every warrior. To Caesera, a spoil of dyed work, a spoil of dyed work embordered, dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler. Thus, let all your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its might, and the land was undisturbed for forty years." Enemies of God have no hope, but they think they have hope where there is no hope. Zosera's mother waited for her son to come home. She's thinking, I went to fight Israel, he'll be home in a short time. He wasn't going to come home. So various maidens that were around her tent started making up stories about what they thought happened that had delayed him. Some were saying, oh, he's probably dividing up the spoil. They had such a good looting that took place of Israel. He's out there just dividing up the spoil. What they didn't know is he's dead. There are many people in hoping things, hope for things that are never gonna happen. Their hope is delusional. They're not really focused in on what is true and right, and they're not going to come home. Deborah's motive for bringing this up is not to gloat over some grieving mother. Deborah's motive for bringing this up is to tell the truth about what happens when somebody turns against God and His people. If you reject God and His word, if you reject the people of God, all your aspirations are going to be shattered. What she's basically saying here is there's a big difference between those that love God and those who don't love God. Those that love God are going to see blessing. Those that don't are going to see major problems and they will perish. And I want you to notice the land was undisturbed for 40 years because God was praised and worshiped and obeyed. He did powerful things. Listen, it is possible for you tonight to hope that you'll go to heaven and really not have any chance of getting there. And you can convince yourself. You can create in your mind some delusional hope that's based on how you feel or how you think. And you can rationalize it. Well, I'm just as good as anybody else. I'm just as good as my neighbor. I'm just as good as all those people that go to church. That's not the issue. That's delusional thinking because none of that's going to take you to heaven. There's only one person. who's in a position to save you from all of your sins. There's only one person that can give you the righteousness, that can get you into heaven, and that is Jesus Christ. And if you'll place your faith in Him, you will be saved. Judges 5 is a song that everyone ought to sing. The political leaders of the world ought to sing it. They ought to sing it because it warns them, you better support Israel. Believers in Jesus Christ ought to sing it. because this song shows us that we'll either be honored for faithfulness or exposed for unfaithfulness. Non-believers ought to sing it because it shows their destiny is doomed. But one of the great themes that comes out of this book of Judges in multiple texts is that your deplorable, miserable life can be totally reversed if you'll cry out to God. If in your deplorable state you're willing to turn to the Lord, you're willing to turn to Jesus Christ, He can rescue you, He can make your life a life of blessing and peace. May we pray. If you're here tonight and you've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ right where you sit, you can do that. You pray something like this, God, let me just tell you the truth for a minute. I'm a wretched sinner. That's the fact. And I know I have no chance in and of myself of gaining heaven. So tonight I place all of my faith in Jesus Christ to save me and take me there. Our Father, we are so grateful for the precious word of God. We pray that you would take your Book of Judges tonight, this fifth chapter, and put a true theological song in our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.