Judges chapter 4. Judges chapter 4 once again now. Anita and Dolores went out this morning. Brent helped them out. Dolores was struggling. She was not doing well, and she was weak, and Anita said she was kind of swaying back and forth, and they took her out, and Nora went over both emergency rooms trying to find her, and they had released her from Whitefish, so we went up the street to see them this afternoon, and she was having AFib problems. And her heart was racing at 180, 200 beats per minute when she was lying still. And so she was in bad shape. And Anita said they put the paddles on her. I don't know if they do that. Well, that's how they correct the AFib, you get it back into rhythm. And she was back at home. We just want to assure them we're praying for them and make sure you do pray for them. And they just live up the road here a little ways. And of course, pray for Lynn's family at the loss of her brother. And Brother James, we're just a needy people today, aren't we? Brother James is struggling. And Tom said today that he's without power. It's a normal thing. He's without power for probably another week. What would you do without power? And his computer's going all the time because he's studying and he's uploading stuff because he publishes an awful lot of stuff. I assume he still is. But it's good up here if the power goes out, then it becomes fatal in the winter if it goes out very long. Down there, well, it's just inconvenient, but you still pray for them, and Nora's gonna get some cards to send to them, and we'll just start sending cards regularly to remind them that we're praying for them. And if you haven't met Brother James, you're missing out, but you pray for him. I'd appreciate that. Okay, Judges chapter 4, we start in verse 1. We did a few of this, but let's read some verses here. The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan that reigned in Hazor, the captain whose host was Sisera. which dwelt in Herashef of the Gentiles and the children of Israel, cried unto the Lord, for he had 900 chariots of iron, and 20 years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel." They sinned once again. It almost skips Shamgar, which was the last verse of the previous chapter. That was probably a very regional place where that happened. But we're back in the same area that Ehud was. And when Ehud died, the people went back again into idolatry, into the evil that seemed to be plaguing them so much so frequently and so easily. They had had 80 years of peace and it didn't seem to affect them any because they went right back to the same things that brought about the judgment before. And after Ehud died, they went into 20 years of oppression under Jabin king of Hazor. Now imagine that, 20 years of oppression, they didn't learn fast. And when people don't learn fast, remember that's fairly well a common problem with people, isn't it? There are people who go through the same things over and over and over again and should be learning. Our objective needs to be, get a drink of water here. Our objective needs to be is to make sure that our life is on an upward trajectory all the time. that you're growing, that you're learning. You're becoming more fervent in spirit, that you're serving him more faithfully, and all of those things. More and more a student of the word of God, because that's what's gonna change your lives, and what will improve your life in every way. There were 20 years of oppression after Ehud died, and it's probably because of this that they were restrained by a good judge, but there was no change in their hearts. Do you understand how serious that is? There was probably restraint. They were restrained, but their hearts hadn't been transformed. And absent spiritual restraint ends up in martial law. And that's what we see today. I got to thinking about that. I got to thinking about that. There is little or no physical restraint in our country today. Now, I said this to some of the guys yesterday. My daughter sent pictures of her going out to the Statue of Liberty yesterday and some videos of being inside of Ellis Island and all that stuff. And I thought, man, that doesn't mean anything anymore. It never occurred to me before. Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad? Give me your tired, your poor. Yeah, well, they just sneak in and get handed everything. And the people, I've seen videos of folks in North Carolina, their houses are floating down the road. And while we give away the country, and it was a time of pride at one time when people naturalized as citizens, you've seen that in the news, if you live very long, and all of those wondrous things. Well, if you don't have physical restraint, if you don't have spiritual restraint, then it's ultimately going to end in martial restraint. In other words, martial law. And I have no doubt that's what was going on there. They tolerated that for 20 years. In verse 3, the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. Isn't it wonderful they knew where to cry? They knew where to turn. They knew who cared for them, even though they so quickly deserted Him and went back to the idol worship. Israel cried out. Why? Because the enemy was opposing because they tolerated it for 20 years. Maybe they thought there's no choice. These people have weapons of iron, chariots of iron. There's no choice. Yeah, but that's someone who doesn't know that nothing's too hard for God. Nothing's too hard for God. Well then, in verse 4, and that's where we'll begin tonight, Deborah a prophetess, the wife of Lapidus, she judged Israel at that time, and she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam, Now isn't that a wonderful thing? Deborah is judging Israel, undoubtedly. Well, we better pray first. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your goodness tonight, for all your goodness to us, and a good day of fellowship and a good experience of your provision to us every day. Lord, we hold up before you these special needs. I think of Dolores and the physical needs she has. Raise her up, Lord. Give her encouragement today. And Lord, for Lynn's family as they deal with the loss of Keith, just bless them, bring some spiritual fruit out of this. And Lord, for my friend, Brother James, pray that you specially encourage him today and lift up his spirits and provide his special needs, needs that he doesn't even share with most people. But Lord, tonight we have a chance to put the cares of the world away from our hearts, and we have a chance tonight to look at the mistakes of other people and try to learn from them, to look at your provision, and look at how as we cry out to you, your record is that you hear us, let us cry early and often, Lord. Just bless us tonight and let each one of us have our own personal and special and living relationship with you on a daily basis. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, Deborah, Deborah was undoubtedly a judge, but not a captain. That's why she calls out Barak, the son of Abinoam. She was a judge and she was a very respected. If you look at her character, she was undoubtedly known for wisdom and piety. because she had discernment to give good advice to the people. Someone would say, well, that means that women can be preachers. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about someone in a completely different office, and it's not the church at all. In the church, you have different rules and regulations, don't you? And the women are to be silent in the church. You say, well, that's just sexist and all that. Well, then take it up with the author. That's not my opinion. That's what it says. And you know the problem is, you see that too many times the vacuum of leadership because men won't do what they're supposed to do, what they're qualified to do, what they should be doing, what should be a burden upon them, the women fill in the gap. And I'm glad there's some great women out there, but a great woman's not going to promote herself as a preacher. Well, Her character was wisdom and piety such that she had a discernment people sought out, didn't they? She was influential largely as a government of the people, but she wasn't a military leader. Now the judges before and after were military leaders, weren't they? They led the people out, directed their forces, directed them as the general on the battlefield, but this was a separate kind of judge. She was a judge that led the people in judicial things. Well, Israel sought her judgment. Look at, once again, look at verse 5. She dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel. I read about that. There's kind of like an oasis there in that area. And if you look at your map, you need to do that. Have a Bible that has good maps in it, or have a book that has good maps in it. I open mine. And because geography was never my strong suit, I opened mine. I have to look for this. But we know it's in the northern kingdom. And I found that Mount Tabor up to the south and west of the sea of, I think, became Galilee. But anyway, it's up to the north of Israel. That's where this is taking place. Israel sought her judgment. They'd go up to her in this oasis in the middle of the country there. It's named after her. I guess that for many years they still had that kind of a gathering together there, but it was known as a place to get some counsel, and Israel sought her judgment. And what did she do? In verse 6, she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kadesh, Naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee 10,000 men of the children of Naphtali and the children of Zebulun." You know, she isn't ordering him around. What is she doing? She says, has not God said this? Has not God said this? I don't like to see men get used to being ordered around. You understand? See, you can call that sexist all you want. And you can, people today commonly, well, the one people you can bash today are men. Okay? You can't really bash other people because there's something wrong with you if you do. But I'm so glad that you see the proper authority here. There are lots of wise women. In fact, the Bible speaks of many. I think there was one in Ecclesiastes, a wise woman delivered a town. And no one even knows her name. No one even knows her name. But other places where they surrounded the city and they were going to pull the walls down, destroy everyone in. And a woman from inside says, who do you want? And they said, so and so, send his head over the wall. So she told the guys, you know, we can send his head over the wall or we can all die. And that wise woman delivered the town. You say, well, that's a terrible thought and all of that. Here's a woman that's wise enough to say, to ask the question. She called Barak and she said, hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded saying, go and draw. I'm not commanding you, but God's done this. Has he not done this? And as the, obvious spokesman there. She called for Barak and says the Lord has commanded this. Again, she was respected as a judge and as a spokesman for God. And you go toward Mount Tabor, I had to look all over the map because it's not on every one of the maps. And I finally found, how many of you have done that? You look for where this is geographically and it's not that easy to find. And I have all kinds of reference books, and I have several on my table, my desk. My desk is not nearly big enough, and I've thought about making some things to help with that, but that would be more cluttering of my house and my office, and my wife wouldn't like that too much. And she says, Hath not God said to me? Now that's what she's going to say from now on, okay? But, you know, you can find that by a dictionary, but I looked on the map, and I want to get a feeling for this, and it's very important how this all goes down. And Mount Tabor is way up there to the north, and she is coming from farther south, but she tells Barak to do this. It's a mountain in Galilee, the northeast corner of the plain of Esdalon. It's a convenient central place for the rendezvous of the northern tribes. This is what's going on. It's an attack on the northern tribes. And it's coming from the north, isn't it? Bring 10,000 troops with you, and they're from Naphtali and Zebulon. And if you look at your map, you'll see that those two tribes are up to the north. And so they're the ones most affected by it. They're the ones that are produced the 10,000 troops. And those 10,000 troops undoubtedly were there for the 20 years they put up with it. It just took some leadership. It took someone that was willing to take charge and say, let's go out and do this. Let's put off this, let's put off this oppression. Go in, go in. It's not yet in possession of that land, but that is obviously the object. Look at verse seven. I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine hand. Well, these are people that are vying for the ownership of that property, and he says, God says, I'm going to draw them out, and I'm going to deliver them to you. And if God said that to you, then you'd have a lot more confidence in going, but you'd still have to go, wouldn't you? you'd still have to go. And so many things require us to take that first step. And we make fun of him, I'm a little ahead of myself, we make fun of Barak, but he did go, and we'll see that in a minute too. But look at verses 16 and 17. It says this, But Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host under Herosheth of the Gentiles, and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left. Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. What does that tell us? What does that tell us? They were not yet in possession of the land, but that's exactly what's going to be the object of this battle. They were going to take fuller possession of the land of their fathers, that was given to their fathers. And 10,000 troops would pay a pretty good down payment on that, even though they'd still be outnumbered. Face it. It's a narrow road that leads to eternal life. A narrow road that's the right road. So you're always going to be outnumbered. That's why it's so critical that God's people enjoy each other's company, isn't it? Hey, we had a good time singing up here tonight. They tolerated me up here singing and it was a good time together singing up here tonight, just practicing. It was a good time today seeing the people come in for church and visitors coming back. Hey, that's what's a fun time to have. What a great way to end a week or begin a new week, because Sunday's the first day of the week. Remember this, you give God your first, and He takes care of the rest of it. And what a joy that is. These 10,000 troops did a great thing in fighting almost certain defeat, and yet God turned the tide of the battle to them. God said He would draw His enemies out. These are enemies with fearsome weapons and overwhelming manpower. Fearsome weapons and overwhelming manpower. It would be certain defeat if God were not on your side. And I hope you're praying for our country today. I hope you're praying for our country today. I'm telling you, four years ago, I fasted and prayed for a week before the election and I was really discouraged. say, well, you're making this political. I want someone who loves the unborn. I want someone who loves Israel. I want someone who cares about our economy. I want someone who has biblical principles. And one of the things I saw this morning was some so-called Baptist praising Kamala's Christianity. I mean, okay, okay. The Democratic Convention, they had an abortion clinic out in front of the convention and they celebrated the butchering of the unborn. How dumb do you have to be to celebrate that? That's just wicked, isn't it? That's just wicked. This was certain defeat. So, though I was disappointed, you know what? I know God's still in control. And sometimes we get what we deserve, not what we want. And these people put up with the wickedness for 20 years until they finally cried out to God. It's time for God's people to cry out to God. today. We're not going to try to transform this nation into a Christian nation. We're just trying to transform converts one by one, aren't we? That's what we need. Brent was telling me his testimony again this afternoon, just before the service. I never get tired of hearing testimonies. I never get tired of hearing them. What a joy to hear how God, how God literally tailored, not just, not the gospel, but he tailored the things that happened in your life to where you're impressed with your need of a savior. It might be as Andrea going from one place to the next, finding a street preacher and she listens to. It might be me as a little talkative boy sitting at the feet of my aunt. It might be you finally making it to church and whatever it is. Our job is to make converts of people and disciple them so that they don't have to go down the same roads that have proven to be wrong all the way along. In verse 8, And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go. But if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. Not one of my favorite verses. You know, not one of my favorite verses. Now, look at this. It says in verse nine, she said, I will surely go with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kadesh. You know, our first response to that is this guy's a little wimpy. That's what we would naturally think. But you know, one of their Eastern customs, and reading verse 9, okay, I will go with you, but you're not going to get the glory for this thing. It's amazing how many wonderful things can happen for the Lord when you don't care who gets the glory, who gets the praise for it. We want God to get the praise, don't we? And this man was a man enough to do just exactly that and surrender any kind of glory. The presence of someone dear animates the courage of the others. Now, there's a separate message right there. That's what they would be doing. You know, this is maybe how they would explain this away. He wants to take this woman who is a trusted counselor, obviously a prophetess according to the scriptures, someone whose counsel the people would travel distance to seek out to get her judgment. She's precious to the nation. And with her in their midst, the others would step up their game, wouldn't they? Now that might be one in the East, that's the way they would think about that. But this sanctions the uprising against so powerful a foe as well. because the prophetess is going with them. She was well known. She was well known. This uprising against certain death and defeat is sanctified now by her presence maybe. But her presence gives honor to a woman in verse 9. Maybe this is a rebuke for his unmanly fears. I don't know. But look at Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11. And verse 32, what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson. You know, it's not Deborah that makes it in Hebrews 11. It's Barak. I can tell you some really good things about what he did here. Number one, he didn't care to receive all the glory himself. He didn't care what people thought of him. He wanted to lead with a spiritual leadership there, didn't he? That's what was lacking when they spent 20 years in oppression. And he is praised in Hebrews 11 for his faith, for his faith. We see lots of different examples of faith, don't we? How about, was it Gideon that said, okay, I'm going to put a fleece on. Was that Gideon? I'm not so great with names. I'm going to put a fleece out, Lord, and if it's dry everywhere around and the fleece is wet, then I'll know you're behind this." Exactly that happened. Okay, Lord. Okay, Lord. That was cute. Could you do it the other way around? Isn't it amazing that God did that? You know what you and I would think? Come on. He told you once, except that we're not the ones being shot at. And what happened when he was going in faith was they won a great victory against great odds with the most unconventional weapons. And everything was against them except he went out in the strength of faith in the God that called him. You know, that's what you find out when you're led by God. You're led by God. Most people just jump out and do something, hope God blesses it if it's not right. That's why we have a high divorce rate today. This looks like a good idea. God, would you please bless this? Could be lots of other things too, lots of other things. But the Bible says that the mark of the believer is those that are led by the spirit of God. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Have you ever prayed for something until God gave you peace about the answer? Hey, that's a wonderful thing. And that's all that's happening here with Barak. He says, if you go with me, I'll go. I can't tell you that the context doesn't indicate that he could have been more manly about this. I don't know, but I'd rather be spiritual than anything else. Wouldn't you? I'm not saying I'd rather not be manly. But I want to be spiritual. And he recognized the need of the army. He recognized the stature of this prophetess. He recognized the spiritual leadership and the counsel that she gave. He says, that's fine. Anyone can take the credit for this, but we're going to go out in our full force. What was always missing with Israel when they went into idolatry? A walk with God spiritually. Here's a woman who has that walk. You know, some of the most godly people you're ever going to be met with in this life are some women who have served the Lord through thick and thin, through thick and thin. And their counsel is invaluable. And when you speak to them, my aunt wrote so many books, well, quite a few books anyway. And when she died, my uncle had no idea all the people she had led to Christ, including me and my three siblings. had no idea about that. Why? She didn't care to take the credit for things. And she'd take the hard cases, the ones that Bob was telling me about this, the ones that were about to be shipped and he was happy to ship them, throw them out of college. She took them aside and counseled them, spoke to them, led them to Christ because their need was a savior, not just a change in attitude. and changed so many, so many lives. And she writes some books. She didn't have an easy life. She writes some books that are incredible, incredible to read, insightful and all that. Well, when she went, she became the de facto commander in chief, didn't she? and he called Zebulun and Naphtali, verse 10, because that's who was most affected by the regional problem that was going on. Now, it's almost parenthetical. It says, well, verse 10, Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with 10,000 men at his feet, and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zanim, which is by Kedesh." Then it goes back to Sisera. This verse looks parenthetic. Until you look down a few verses later, verse 17, "...howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite." So Heber was separate from his own people, and his wife is the one that ends up taking the glory for this victory. and it tells us all this stuff, and so you read things in its context and fill in the blanks, and in fact, some of what we see, we'll see in just a minute, is explained in chapter five. I love the way the Bible works that way. Heber, he was severed from the Kenites, his own people. He pitched by Kedesh, and he was at peace with Jabin. Now, that was to Jabin's detriment, wasn't it? I had a Old Testament teacher that wrote a whole poem about jail and her nail. Okay. I wish I could remember it. He was a very dry sense of humor, dry personality, smart man. And he wrote an entire poem about jail and the nail. And I think of that every time I read this. Well, think about this victory. So it gives us the background for Hebrew in verse 12. And they showed Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up to Mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even 900 chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him. Pharaoh shifted the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, up, for this is the day in which the Lord had delivered Sisera. into thine hand is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and 10,000 men after him. So what's happening is Sisera gathers together his confidence, the superior weapons, the superior weapons. Now if you were to lay on the table Goliath's sword on one side, and the Bible says there's no sword like that one. Goliath's sword on one side and a little sling on the other. I mean a great big shield and sword and spears and all this stuff on one side and a shepherd's bag and no armor. You would never give a dime to the odds for that shepherd boy to win, would you? And by the way, a whole army of Philistines were pushing on their champion and a whole army of Israel that was afraid to go out there. and David won. David won. You'll never know what you could do until you're forced to do it. I saw a perfect example of that and now it's escaped my mind tonight. A perfect example of what you could do and you just haven't tried it. So sister gathered together all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron and all the people that were with him, we don't have a number for them, we just know that they all died. And undoubtedly there were more than the 10,000 that Israel brought. They all died. They had all these chariots because their confidence was in the chariots. And we don't always see evidence that the children of Israel had much in the way of armor, much in the way of spears and things. It's like taking a slingshot to a knife fight. Well, Deborah said unto Barak, Up, for this is the day that the Lord has delivered them. That means that he is standing there with 10,000 men, and he's seeing these chariots come his way, and a huge host of people coming his way, which looks like certain defeat. He says, Come on. He's told, This is the day of the victory. They're going to be delivered into your hands. particular moment in time kind of lets you understand why he wanted Deborah around, doesn't it? She was the one that encouraged. Now remember this too. You're going to have a positive impact on people around you or a negative one. I guess sometimes a neutral one, but mostly it's going to be one or the other, isn't it? Why not encourage? That's why the Bible says, consider one another, provoke to love and good works. That's why it says not to discourage the hearts of your fellows. And all those other things, be considerate of each other. Well, Barak went down from Tabor, and the Lord discomfited Sisera and his chariots. Now isn't that verse 15, the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword. Now, what in the world happened? Well, if you go to chapter 5 and verse 4, now act surprised when we look at that next time. This is the song that they sang. You know what happened to those heavy chariots? That whole valley was turned into a mud pit because God sent the rain on them. How much of a, how much, if your entire program is based upon those chariots that give you superiority, and all of a sudden the chariots are stuck in the mud, your spirit goes out of you, doesn't it? Your spirit goes out of you. You see that in the next verse, that's when they sing about it. But Deborah said, go down, God's given you the victory. So they went down there, and the rain bogged the chariots, and their pride, their source of pride was gone. Hey, it wasn't gone in Israel, was it? It wasn't gone in Israel. We can say all these great things like, I've read the last chapter, and I have. I'm on the winning side, and I am. But in the midst of the battle, isn't it wonderful to see God intervene? And one of the greatest things, one of the greatest truths in the Bible is that God intervenes in the affairs of men. Shown over and over. Book of Daniel. It's shown over and over again in the Bible. It's shown over and over again. Zechariah 14, where Israel is defeated and Jesus comes back to that city. Over and over and over again, our extremity is God's opportunity. And so often, we just don't want to stick with it until it's desperate like that. And no one enjoys that. But boy, it'd sure be interesting. It'd sure be wonderful to see how God turns that defeat looming to a victory won. And you notice it says, And let's see, verse 15, the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before Barak, so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host under Herosheth of the Gentiles. And all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword. There was not a man left. You know, it doesn't matter how many there were. They're all dead. Isn't that right? It doesn't tell us that Israel lost any. They're in the mud. Have you ever walked through mud where your foot's stuck in the mud and to get your foot out of the mud you left your boot there? That's probably what it would have been, isn't it? They were counting on these chariots, not even the horses or whatever they pulled them with, not even those, I hope not, camels. Not even those things could navigate the mud. Why? Because though Deborah was there maybe to inspire Barak, give him some courage. Barak was there to lead them. The army was behind him. God fought with him. God fought with him. And I said, God intervenes. God intervened in your life if you're saved today. And whatever brought that about is a wonderful story to tell over and over again, isn't it? And like Thanksgiving, I think Scott and I were talking about Thanksgiving. He says, we like to have the grandkids say something they're thankful for at Thanksgiving. That's a good thing to do, isn't it? What are you thankful for? Young kids might say, well, I'm thankful for something we'd laugh about, but they're thankful for it. I don't want to laugh at what they're thankful for, but what are you thankful for? Dr. Bob Senior used to say, when the fire of gratitude dies on the altar of a man's heart, that man is well nigh hopeless. When you cease being grateful, you're in trouble. Remember the verse we saw in Lamentations 3 today? This I recall of mine, and therefore have I hope. It is the Lord's mercies were not consumed. His compassions fail not, they are new every morning. And he's speaking that in the immediate context of absolutely darkness before him, as if God's leading him intentionally into darkness. And he says, every day I wake up and think, God's mercy gave me a new day. And they do. They do give us a new day, don't they? His mercies give us a new day. So Barack went down. The Lord discomfited them, the rain bogged the chariots, and the source of Cicero's pride was gone. And he ran. And he ran. All of his hosts perished. Now that wouldn't be a great, you're not gonna come back to your people rejoicing if you're the only one that comes back, you know? Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. So he fled away and took refuge in this house, thinking it was a place of safety because they had that safety negotiated already. And verse 18, And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me, fear not. When he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water. to drink for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him. I remember Dr. Anderson's poem had something, he asked water and she gave him milk. And all this stuff, he'd made quite a poem out of it. Again he said unto her, stand in the door of the tent and it shall be when any man doth come and inquire of thee and say, is there any man here that thou shalt say no? That's probably true. Then J.L., Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died." Now that's not the way you want your tombstone to read. He died after the battle. Sound asleep. Nail through the temples. Remember when Barack wouldn't go without Deborah going? Deborah says, well, you'll go and you'll succeed, but a woman's going to take the glory. She's the one that finished the conquest, isn't she? She's the one that finished it. And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan. until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. This is probably finishing the conquest of the northern areas. And it happened because a captain didn't seem to want to go without the spiritual leadership there. And again, I'm not making her a preacher. Someone who was a faithful counselor. And there are lots of people that give good counsel, isn't there? Most of the time when we ask for counsel, we find someone that is going to agree with us and we get counsel from them. And I've heard, I've heard preachers say that when you give counsel to people, just find out what they want and then just tell them that. That's not counsel. That's not counsel. Every time you've looked at the Bible to give you counsel, does it just tell you what you want to hear? It's not always is it. It's just that he's not going to lead you astray. And so jail is the one that brought about the ultimate victory because Cicero sought refuge at the wrong feet at the wrong place. So a great victory was won here and much can be made of it. But what I like is this that Barak is commended for his faith in Hebrews 11. Not everything is conventional. He doesn't tell us about his ability to use the sword or the bow or anything like that. Tells us that he wanted to go out with the right leadership and the right counsel immediately present. That's what Deborah would have represented. And the right image to the people that, yes, he's the political leader, but their long-time judge is close by to the one who hears from God and says, hasn't God said go out and fight them? You wouldn't want to hear that, that God tells you to go out and fight someone that outnumbers you greatly and has major weapons of war greater than yours. But he went out anyway. He probably went out, had to be in the strength of his faith in God because he's in Hebrews 11. And sometimes that's what you do. You go out in the faith that you have in God. That's why early on in life, you get accustomed to a prayer life that asks God for specific things. God, give me wisdom about this. Give me the right comfort about this, about this decision to be made. And God, give me a provision for this need and all the things that we might need. And you wait and see what God does. What we pray for from early on is the right spouses for our kids. And what a blessing that is. What a blessing it is to see them follow on to serve the Lord. And that's not just a given. You're dealing with lots of other people involved too. What you do is early on get some victories in trusting God through faith. And your faith grows stronger and stronger so that it's not hard to trust Him for greater things. He wants us to grow in grace and to grow. puts whole chapters on faith in there, and gives us examples of the most unlikely faith that you could imagine. Isn't that wonderful? Because we're all capable of far more than we think we are. And sometimes it just takes the duress of a bad situation for us to realize if there's no one else to trust, you have to trust the Lord, it works out all right. Doesn't it? It works out all right. Some of our needs are comfort. Sometimes they're physical needs or spiritual needs or something in between. But we have a God who welcomes us to approach Him, who promises us the needs of our hearts. And you see that already here, so much so that it's spoken of in Hebrews 11. Not very many people in Hebrews 11. Not very many people there. And He's one of them. He's one of them. That's a blessing, isn't it? Let's pray.