Whoa! th th th So. six, five, four, three, two, one. Thank you. Good morning, Grace Reformed Baptist Church. Good to see you this morning. All these smiling faces. We have our announcements this morning. We want to Remember the true church conference coming up in February 20 through 23rd in Florence, Alabama. It's a great, great missionary conference. It is something if you haven't been, you should make an effort to at least go. One time and then once you do you probably want to go again because it's there's some tremendous preaching. It's really well organized. And I was I was really impressed and I've been through half dozen conferences. easily before when I was at Temple. So, yes, put that on your calendar if you can. Talk to Isaac White for details and the church will provide a place to stay and provide meals. So, yeah, we need to do that. We have a fellowship meal coming up, breakfast for lunch, September 29th. Everybody loves a little breakfast for lunch, right? Remember to do that. We have the women's Bible study Thursday, October 10th from 4.30 to 8. We'll have the baked potato bar followed by a time of fellowship and prayer. And then the men's have their Bible study at 6 in the morning at the Dunkin Donuts on Highway 58 on Wednesday. Also, we have the coming I guess you call it the Oktoberfest at Reform Farms, right? So everybody should have received an email that they need to RSVP. And if you haven't done that, you need to find that and to let Blake know if you're going to be able to come or not. to their fall festival there. It's a really enjoyable time of a campfire and a lot of good food and fellowship and just a good time to relax and talk things over, you know, get to know each other better, enjoy the usually lovely weather. and to see what's going on out there at the farm. So, thank you very much. Well, I need that, just in case. Thank you. As we go to the Lord to prepare our hearts to worship Him, you will need this song sheet here in just a bit. Sing to the Lord, you saints of His. If you don't have it, it's from Psalm 30. It's in the back. You can pick one up. But I was looking through it, and the content of it is good. All of these hymns, really, that we sing seem to have a very good content that relates to God as he's revealed in scripture. But I'll just tie in this one line to our current memory meditation verse that's in your bulletin. from 2 Corinthians 5, 21. Here at the end of this, sing to the Lord, you saints of his, that last line that's in there, it says that we're praising him really for guilt removed and sins forgiven. Now that might be a concept that we're all familiar with and we would affirm for sure, but if you really think about it, that's an incredible statement for guilt to be removed, not just covered up, but removed, and ultimately sins forgiven. How is that brought about, well, our meditation verse focuses on that, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Here you have the negative and the positive mentioned. The guilt is removed because it's been placed on Jesus Christ, and we know he died. and he triumphed over the grave, resurrected unto newness of life, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, and I want you to take a moment to prepare your own heart to worship Christ today, and then I'll pray for us corporately. Let us pray. Father, we gather together as your people praising your holy name. What an incredible privilege it is to know that our sins are forgiven, that our guilt has been removed. It's not free in the sense that Christ did pay the very penalty that we're due. Your wrath has been appeased. and we can now live in the perfect righteousness that Christ has provided. What an incredible, gracious gift. Mercy and grace mingled down and beyond that, great faithfulness to have made that promise, a promise which you will always keep because you are an unchanging God. And so we praise your holy name for who you are and all that you have done. The fact that you would hear our prayers crying out to you, what is man that you're mindful of him? And yet you are. You've demonstrated your glory in the redemption of the people for your name. I pray, Father, that on our hearts and tongues we would have a great response of praise to who you are and thanksgiving. We're so crowded by the various trappings of the daily life in which we must live, things that certainly we must do and prepare for, and things that we are concerned about and worried about. I pray, Father, that we would get a glimpse of your glorious grace in such a way that it continues to remind us of who you are, all that you have done, all that you are doing, and that all that you promise to do. Oh, Father, I pray our worship time would be special and great. May we think truly on your glory and grace in our hymns as we sing them together. I pray, Father, as your word is read, we will hear the very words of Christ, and may it accomplish what you desire. I pray for the teaching and proclamation of your word, Father, that you speak to each one of us in the way that we need to hear from Christ today. May you be exalted. May many sons and daughters be brought from afar to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And I pray, Father, that you will continue to keep us in that holy faith. I pray this because it is indeed your will, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I pray in Christ's name, amen. Amen. Well, let's stand together and take our hymn books. Let's turn to number 336. We'll sing, Come Thou Almighty King, as we ask Him to help us His name to sing. And it says, Psalm 2410, He is the King of glory. 336. Come Thou Almighty King. ♪ Help us to praise ♪ ♪ Father of glorious ♪ ♪ Lord of victorious ♪ ♪ Come and reign over us ♪ ♪ Ancient of days ♪ ♪ Come Thou incarnate Word ♪ ♪ Word of Thy mighty sword ♪ our prayer ascend. Come, let thy people bless, and hear thy words excel. Spirit of holiness, by us we send. Come, holy house. in this Student number 250. and can it be? Romans 5, 8. But God proves his own love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ♪ An interest in the Savior's blood ♪ ♪ Died he for me, who caused his pain ♪ ♪ In me, who lived to then pursue amazing love ♪ Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me? Empty himself of all that love, and pray for Adam's helpless craze. Tis mercy all. me. Amazing love, how fair it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Lord, Thine embrace and spirit that's found in sin and nature's light. Thine are the years of ripening rain, thy gold, I was before, and I will be. Jesus said, Lord, in Him is life. Oh, my Redeemer, I'm weary, pained, and broken. Let's grab our inserts, if you can. If you don't have one, there's one in the back for you. And let's sing our hymn of the month. Sing to the Lord, ye saints of his. We talked about, this talks about singing, telling, and rejoicing. So let's do that here this morning. All seven verses. Sing to the Lord, ye saints of His. Sing to the Lord, ye saints of His, and tell Him what His goodness is, and all your His love is bright as the morning star. Heard once I howled, my name was cried, and I presumed, could there be none. For God my arm was strong, which made my mountains stand so long. Soon as thy face began to blind, my help was gone, my comforts nigh. O God of grace, I sing, and bring thee from among the dead. Thy word renewed the pains I felt. Thy pardoning love removed my guilt. I froze and tears and thorns awoke. I turned to joy and praises fell. I threw my sack upon the ground, and ease and gladness stirred me round. Verse 7. Amen. Maybe sing it. Good morning, church. What a blessing to be in the presence of the Lord with you all today. Today, our scripture reading is from John 11, verses one through 27. That can be found on page 897 in the Pew Bible. This portion of scripture speaks of the beginning of the story of the resurrection of Lazarus. This entire story is one of my favorites in the Bible. It speaks so intimately to so many deep and personal emotions. It speaks to some visible signs, some visible examples of how Christ loves his disciples, loves his friends. We get to see how his disciples love one another, how they deeply care for one another. We get to see the love for these dear sisters, Martha and Mary, who at that time were not afforded all the same rights or respect as many others, and yet in the eyes of God they are. their equal and given worth. We get to see the love of these women going through such pain and sorrow as they put their faith in God, in Christ, in different ways. We get to see the heartbreak that comes through that, the different ways grief can be played out and the different ways we might be able to comfort. Most importantly, we get to see the assurance that Christ spoke to Martha and to us about where we can place our hope, the hope of the resurrection. We also get to see a beautiful little glimpse in the middle of this parable and I believe that the call of that portion that we're about to read is that we need not fear doing what is right or more pointedly what the Lord has called us to do. which is to bring him glory because though we walk into hostile territory where we have many people that might oppose us, some who might wish to kill us, the example of our Lord in this story is that we have nothing to fear because we have the light of the world on our side. We have the resurrection and the life. Let's look to the word. John 11. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus, of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. The disciples said, To him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he meant taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I'm glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.' So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I and the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, shall yet live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we give you all praise and glory for you are the only one who is worthy. You, God, are the resurrection and the life. You are our only hope. You are perfection and holiness and righteousness. Lord God, we shall sing of the glory of your name. Your praise shall sound through the heaven and the earth for guilt removed and sins forgiven. We thank you, Lord, that you have come down. You have lived with us. You have felt the pain and the sorrow of our loss. You have allowed us to weep. And as we'll read next week, you will weep alongside us. We thank you, Lord, more though, that you have provided an answer to this problem of pain. You have provided yourself through your sacrifice, through the suffering on the cross, you have provided us the resurrection and the life only found in you. We thank you, Lord, that you are good and faithful even though we are not, that you are with us, are consistent, that you love us persistently in ways that we can't even imagine, Lord. We can't fathom the depth of your love, nor the breadth, nor the height. Lord God, we thank you that you are here in this place together with us as we worship you. We thank you that you inspire our songs, that you direct our vision towards you, that you conform us daily through the renewing of our minds, that we might become more like your son. We ask, Lord, that you would be with us, this congregation, as we listen to the words of our pastor, leads us through the word of truth, Lord, that these teachings might rest in our heart, that they might be incorporated into our lives, that we might each day become a better reflection of you. We ask that you would carry that out into the world, that we might be an example for the world, a picture of the Great Commission as we go and preach the gospel that we have heard to all the nations, starting here. Lord, we ask that you would protect our families. We ask that you would raise them up in the knowledge of you, that you would bring many more sons and daughters to glory, Lord God, beginning here in this place with these households, Lord. I ask that you would guide the teachings of the fathers and mothers, Lord, that you would encourage and strengthen the brothers and sisters, Lord, that we would look after one another, we would encourage one another, exhort, rebuke, and reprove when necessary, Lord, but that we would each strengthen one another as iron sharpens iron, Lord God. We ask that you would carry us through our vocations, that you would strengthen our hands for the tasks that you have set before them, that we might be good examples to those around us. of consistency, of faithfulness, that you might receive the glory, Lord, that you would call us to those places you would have us to be despite warnings of death and persecution, Lord, that we would go boldly knowing that in the daytime we walk without stumbling because we are following after you. We are not like those who are walking in the night who might trip and fall, Lord, but we have the light of your word to illuminate our feet. We ask that you would punish the sin in our lives, Lord God, that it might restrain us from committing more that we might not fall into difficulties and the consequences of those things that are far worse than your punishment. Lord, we know that your punishment is merciful and we thank you for that. We ask that you would hold accountable the wicked in this world, that they might not go forever unpunished. We ask that you might bless the works of our hands as they go out into the rest of the world, and bless the offering that is about to be taken, and bless the work of this church that we might ultimately give you glory, Lord. We thank you for all of these things, all of these things done solely through your hand, the work of your Son, Christ Jesus, and all these things in his name. We give thanks. Amen. you you Thank you, Amber. Let's stand once more and take our hymnals. And I don't know if it was mentioned this morning yet, but there is youth choir directly after the service over at the apartments. So, 83, be thou my vision. I've set the Lord always before me. Psalm 16, eight. Number 83. By day or by night. true son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one. ♪ Holy first in my heart ♪ ♪ My King of Heaven, my treasure, thou art ♪ ♪ My King of Heaven, my victory, thine ♪ ♪ May I reach heav'n's joys of righteousness ♪ Amen. You may be seated. Amen. Thank you, Blake, Amber, and church. I love that hymn. I put it there because it is one of my favorites, To Think on Christ. I invite you to think on Christ in his word. Specifically, we'll begin in Hebrews chapter 11, where I left off, but we'll be taking another rabid trail, this time to Judges 4. I want to thank Paul and particularly for filling in while I was on vacation and then of course last week while I was recovering from vacation. And I think I'm pretty much recovered, but whoever brought me the coffee filling in for Andy and then Neil is his backup. And the third guy, I don't know who to praise, but here we have it and you guys should thank them. might help me to be able to have a bit of a voice today. I think I'm improving and still have some to go, but we'll get through this, Lord willing. I'm returning to Hebrews chapter 11. I've called it the Hall of Faith. And we'll take another glimpse really at the summary section of really what faith and all that he's getting to for verse 32 and verse 40 through that section. Last time I had emphasized in verse 32, if Hebrews 11, you have What could I say more? And as I mentioned, don't listen to a preacher when he says that, because he can say a lot more. But nevertheless, you have Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and then he mentions, notice here, David and Samuel and the prophets. And I've said what he's trying to do here, he's already gone through some of the characters from Genesis to Exodus and through the entire Pentateuch, and then to Joshua. And the next in line would be the judges who are between Moses and Joshua and the kings who would come, David eventually, and then Samuel, and then all of the prophets. He's really summarizing, real quick, because he's running out of time, and he's getting in his last point, the entirety of the Old Testament speaks to faith, those who had faith in God, and trusted Him, and believed in Him. Now, if you're reading through the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, you're reading along some of these historical accounts, you're like, how did any of them make it? I mean, with all that went on. Really, these are characters who we would point as in the hall of faith. Remember, faith is defined in Hebrews 11.1 as what? You see it? It is the assurance of things hoped for. It is this absolute confidence. In fact, it says conviction of that which not seen. That's what faith is. Ultimately, it's further defined if you'll look here in verse 6 of Hebrews 11. It is this, what is this conviction? What is this assurance? Here it is, God exists. that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. In other words, God will fulfill His promise. He actually exists, He makes promises, and He has not only the power to fulfill them, but He has the unchangeable nature, as we've learned in our training class this morning, that he couldn't change his mind. When he makes a promise, he will fulfill it. His promise here is described then as a reward. So he says, time fails me, if you will, then, to think about all of those that he would point out. But he does point out some. As we mentioned, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and then all of the prophets. taking care of the wisdom literature all the way through to the minor prophets and the major prophets to the very end. Now notice what he says they did. It is through this faith, that is, this absolute assurance and conviction that God exists and that he rewards, that is, he fulfills his promises. So what is that? That is the instrument by which they do what? Verse 33, they conquered kingdoms. And you'll see this conquering here a lot throughout the book of Genesis, as we looked at it, in Exodus, Joshua, and now even the times of the judges. He says they enforced justice and, note, obtained the promises. All right. We're not as familiar with some of the people that he brought up. Gideon we probably know, and we talked about him a couple weeks ago, three weeks I guess. But notice this next one in verse 32. Barak, I did a quick informal survey and found that most people don't remember him. Although you might have read his story, he's not as prominent. In fact, that is, notice, the order in which the preacher uses in verse 32. He gives the order of prominence. Gideon was more prominent. Barak, Gideon, you'll find in Judges chapter six, seven, and eight. Barak, you're gonna find in Judges chapter four and five, which you can turn to. So we'll go ahead and give you this rabbit trail. Go to Barak and talk about it because I think it's helpful. But just keep this in mind. The preacher in Hebrews is bringing up those that would exemplify faith. That is, they believe God and that God will fulfill His promise or reward. And one that comes to his mind is this Barrett. Now remember, as we talked about the book of Judges, that's where we have to go. The theme of Judges, to understand it, Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Sounds like today, doesn't it? In other words, if you go simply from the mind of man, your mind is failed and flawed, and the decisions that you make will be filled with error. This is why we have a divine revelation from God, that which is perfectly right and true, and by which we should measure all things. They did what was right in their own eyes, and it didn't lead to human flourishing. It led to great failure. In fact, they were held captive, in their case, in the times of the judges. As they abandoned the Lord, God would then bring about punishment, if you will, A foreign power would be raised up to oppress them and put in that situation, as bad as that might be, the good aspect is that it caused them to cry out to the Lord, as it would say. And as they cried out to the Lord, this is a a desperation, if you will, in their life. I mean, you've been there when things just absolutely fall apart and fail. You're gonna cry out, Lord, help me. In fact, I remember as a youth, I was 18 years old, I think, working at a construction site and a brick wall fell on me and I was buried under it. You know? And I don't know all the circumstances, but I saw the day of light. This guy had actually lifted up this wall, and I got some fresh air, and I ran. I remember crawling out, should I say, not running out. And the only thing I could think was, help me, Lord. And I said that. That's the only thing I can think of. And he did. When we're in a tough situation, whatever it might be, we cry out in desperation, and I think you understand that. Well, that's their situation, and God does help them. And in the cases of the judges, he brings up a judge, which, by the way, is a concept which we'll get into, is a deliverer, a savior for them. But unfortunately, in time, sometimes it's a little time, sometimes it's a lengthy time, the people go back to doing what was right in their own eyes. And it doesn't bring about flourishing, it brings about failure. God uses various deliverers. to empower his people to live by faith. And one of those that is called to do that is Beric, and you're gonna find him in Judges chapter four. Now let me give you just a quick overview of this. Remember this, he is in order sequentially, he is before Gideon, okay? He follows on Ehud. Long time which God had delivered the people and they had been faithful, but now they're unfaithful and now they're being oppressed, if you will. In the case of Barak, if you remember, in Hebrews he points to Barak as an exemplar of faith. But I'm gonna go ahead and read you the whole story. And as you're reading through it, I want you to also think about why is he included here? Because if I had to describe Barak's faith, I'd put it this way, he was a coward. But yet he's mentioned, and we'll get to that maybe here in just a bit. His natural disposition must be cowardly, but there's a supernatural grace that's given to him that allows him to fulfill what God has called him to do, and in his case, to become mighty in war. to be strong, and if you've jumped from Hebrews 11, that's my fault, but I'll just mention. You can go back and look at it, verse 33. He's strong out of weakness, see. These people that are brought up as great heroes of the faith isn't because they're heroes of the flesh. We think that way, and we put people up as celebrities and hold them high in what they do and what they accomplish. But is anything good that is accomplished, is accomplished by the grace of God, empowered by the Spirit of God? Less than that, you're walking in the flesh. He does become mighty in war, and in his case, as we read through this story, you're gonna hear about somebody who helps him along, which is a beautiful aspect of faith. There's a lady with great courage, her name is Deborah, and she encourages the coward, Barak, as I see it. We'll read the story. You look at that as well. And ultimately, what you're going to find sprinkled throughout this, really, the hero of faith is God. God is the sovereign king. God is the one who empowers and also brings about the encouragement in Barak's life that he would need. I'm going to note three characters and maybe I can get through it. We'll see. But three to note as I read chapter four for you, because I want to just read the whole story. And then we're going to go back and look at some points. But I put it on the back of your worship folder. Deborah, I want you to note her. Beric, obviously that's who we're talking about. And then J.L., she's there right at the end. And there's some others that are mentioned, Jabin the king, and by the way, I'm just using English pronunciations. Really, in the Hebrew, it's Yavin and Yahel, but I don't speak Hebrew fluently, and neither do you, so we'll just use the English constructions here for these names. All right, so I do want to tell you one other thing. Chapter four is the historical narrative concerning Beric. Pay attention as I read through it. Think through particularly the three characters that I mentioned, Deborah Beric and Jael at the end. Chapter 5, which we're not going to read, but you can look at, is poetry. Chapter 4 is prose, 5 is poetry. Chapter 5 is a song, it says, Deborah and Barak's song. What they're doing is looking back at all that happened, and they put this composed together in a Hebraic hymn to which they can sing. You're going to find a few extra details about this event this narrative, this story in chapter four, and we might touch on a few of those points. All right, so let me just read it for your hearing. If you want to turn with me as well, look at Judges chapter four. And notice, as I've kind of introduced, and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after he had died. And the Lord, verse two, sold them into the hand of Jabin the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera. You'll want to note him. He is the commander, so keep track of this, of this king of Canaan. All right, verse three. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. You see the pattern that I've mentioned? The hand of the Lord. The Lord brings about judgment. They cry out for help. And why? Because He had 900 chariots of iron and He oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years. Verse 4. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidot, was judging Israel at the time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abaddonom and Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded you, go gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 for the people of Naphtali and people of Zebulun? And I will draw out Sisera from the general of Jabin's army to meet you by the river Kishan with his chariots and his troops. And I will give him into your hand. By the way, this would have been like a bunch of tanks in modern warfare. But notice here, God says, I will give him into your hand, verse seven. Well, Beric said to her, Well, if you go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. Coward. She said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you're going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Then Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went with him. Now Heber, the Kenite, had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hoab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak of Zanonim, which is near Kedesh. This will tie in here in just a minute. Now he's looking at something else, at about another place, this would be north of Jerusalem. When Sisera was told that Barak, the son of Adonai, had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out his 900 chariots of iron and all the men who were with him, from Hagarash-hayyim to the river of Kishan. And Deborah said to Barak, verse 14, up, for this is the day which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him, and the Lord routed Sisera. Note this, verse 15. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and his armies from before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot, and he fled away on foot. barrack, pursued the chariots of the army to Hirosh Hagoim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword, and not a man was left." Except for one guy, remember? See it? Sisera? Any case. Sisera, verse 17, he fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Mentioned him before, remember? For there was, and he tells you why, there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and his house of Heber the Kenai. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. This is Jael, you want to keep a hold of it, this is a woman. She said, 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'm thirsty. So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man asks you, is anyone here, say no. But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand And then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down to the ground while he was laying fast asleep from weariness so he died. Behold, as Beric was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, Come, and I'll show you the man you're seeking. So he went into her tent, and there lay Sisera dead with a dead pig in his temple. Verse 23. So on that day, God, remember he's the hero of the story. 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. Let us pray. Father, I pray that you give us insight into your word. May we understand the realities of what is penned here. and may you take it and apply to our needs and circumstances in this day. And ultimately, I pray that we would grow in grace and knowledge of you, that our faith would be enhanced, encouraged, and be strong. I pray in Christ's name, amen. All right, I noted ahead of time, and hopefully you thought about it as we read through, a lot of characters here. And when you read a biblical narrative, it is helpful to note the people involved. Some are more important for you to know and remember than others. And I think in this particular story, Deborah, Barak, and Jael are the ones to note. Deborah, as I mentioned, is someone that is often confused from people who study and read the scripture. I'll tell you what I think of her. She's an exemplar of feminine courage. She's a woman of faith. And it's demonstrated that way. Notice verse four in our text. It says two things about her. This is what is often misunderstood. And I think they minimize and really miss really what she's all about because the way it reads as we're looking at the story and just glancing at it, verse four, it says she's a prophetess and she was judging Israel. And so many, if you hear teaching, you get very little about Barak, but it's Barak that the preacher in Hebrews points out. He doesn't point out Deborah. She does have a role. It is behind the scene. In our contemporary culture, we typically have a tendency to put our current worldview spin on a world in which we're not living, particularly at this time, a biblical worldview. From our contemporary culture, we have this egalitarian view that, and I would say it this way, they wrongly conclude that there are no distinctions in the roles of women and the roles of men. And from that idea, what people would think is right in their own eyes, They extrapolate from this passage that, well, a woman could be a preacher today and fulfill a pulpit. And I'm just saying that because that's often pointed to when they talk about Deborah. They do injustice to Deborah. She's a great servant of God, and she fulfills her role in a unique way, a role that she was called to do. She was not called to be barrack. She was called to support barrack, and she does so. And she is a woman of great faith and great courage and great wisdom. And she exercises those gifts in ways that support and fulfill what God has called her to do. The Bible is clear on this subject about the role of women in the contemporary church, and I'll just address that briefly, and you can listen or look it up. From 1 Timothy 2, 11, Paul simply says, Notice, the call is for them to learn. There are to be disciples of Christ, like a man is to be a disciple of Christ, and they are to learn just as much. In fact, learn all things that Christ has taught, but to do so with a certain submissive. Submissive how? Submissive in different relationships and roles which we'll get into, and specifically he mentions one in verse 12 of 1 Timothy 2. He says, I don't permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over man, rather she is to remain quiet. And then he goes and says why? It's because that's the way our culture is right now. Okay, so we would allow it today because our culture is different. Oh, wait a minute, I forgot. He actually does put it in context, verse 13, and again, I don't want to go on too far in this, but I think you can see this, what he points to, verse 13, for Adam was formed first, and then Eve. He's looking at the divine creation in which God had determined various roles. God made man and He made woman. Both are made in the image of God. They are image bearers. Therefore, they're equal in that sense, in their being or essence, but not equal in their roles. In fact, what will be the purpose to have a man and a woman if they're just interchangeable and one and the same? So you diminish, oftentimes, what a woman actually is. And unfortunately, one of our Supreme Court justices who was just appointed has no idea what a woman is, because she might be incredibly intelligent, graduated from law school, but certainly not a biologist, so she wouldn't know. At least that's what she said. The culture has a different idea, and it goes on, and I know this is a little complicated, but it does talk about Adam wasn't deceived, verse 14, the woman was deceived and became the transgressor. There was a different role, and he's pointing to that, and yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. God has unique roles. for men and women. That is what he's talking about, and specifically when it comes to the church, you can find it in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3. Those that are called to that position are not called because they're better exemplifiers of the image of God, they're called because that is what God has purpose to do, and he has called the men to be the husband of one wife. That is one woman kind of man, and if you're not, you're no longer, even if you're male, you're no longer qualified to speak on behalf of God in that connection. Historically, Incompetent rulers have been given as a judgment of God. And again, I'm not trying to diminish women. I want to exalt them. I think the role that God has uniquely created for a woman is very helpful in all manners of society. But one of the things you'll find in the biblical example is there is judgment. I think it's a divine judgment to have women that would call themselves pastors and lead the church. You can find in Isaiah 3, verse 12, for example, there's a cry out, my people are like children. Infants, then, are their oppressors, and women rule over them. It isn't diminishing a woman. It's saying that God has ordained a structure, and they instead have chosen to do what was right in their own eyes. R.C. Sproul will comment on this, the punishment for trusting in human leaders is the replacement of those leaders by unprepared and ill-equipped stand-ins. And you can make your own applications in our modern day as you wish. My point is simply this, from a biblical perspective, God has uniquely created man and woman to demonstrate, image forth, the glory of God, if you will, in unique ways, and it is often expressed in our functionality. In the Old Testament, you're not going to find any female kings. None. Some might argue from 2 Chronicles 22 that there was this woman named Aletheia. It says she reigned. But if you read the story, she wasn't reigning because God had ordained that she would. She was reigning because she murdered the entire royal family, but she forgot one guy whose name was Joash, and in the very next chapter, Joash takes the leadership. There were no women who wrote scripture. It doesn't devalue them, it just has a different role. There's no women who held a prophetic office. Now again, you might say, well what about, now we're back in Judges 4, what about Deborah? Is she not said to be a prophetess, if you will? Deborah is a prophetess in the sense that she spoke divine revelation that was given to her by God for a specific event. That's all you're going to find. There's no ongoing ministry like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elisha, Elijah, God had given her a word, and if you're in Judges 4, notice she sent and summoned Beric, the son of Abitamin, from Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, and here she says, quote, He had already had that, and now she's speaking forth what God had said, in that sense, prophesying. Go gather your men at Mount Tabor. She's quoting God, and God gave her that word for that specific circumstance. Look down at verse 9, and she, by faith, then says, well, I'm going, God has called you to go, but if you're not going to go, unless I hold your hand, That won't bring about your glory. That'll be to your demise. She says, it's not gonna lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of women. This is a prophetic word, right? Hadn't happened yet. So in that sense, she's called to be a prophet. She's not Jeremiah. She's not Isaiah. She's not any of the minor prophets. She's just speaking forth that which is true, and yes, given divine revelation for a specific purpose. It's forbearic. Notice verse 14, she again says to Barak, "'Up, this is the day which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Doesn't the Lord go before you?' So she does get this revelation, and this is what God has called her to do. And I'll get to it, maybe, if time permits. What she's doing, you can see it right here in this particular ministry, she's speaking forth God's Word. She's encouraging. She is coaxing. Let's use the word nurturing a man to be strong in the Lord. Now she is. She is strong in the Lord. So why doesn't God just call her to go? That wasn't her role. Could she have done it? Certainly. But God didn't purpose for that. He purposed for Barak to go. Notice the very word says, God has commanded you to go. Now go! And this is a great gift that a woman of great courage and faith can do, and that is to bring about glory to God by confirming His purposes and encouraging those to walk in it. There are other Old Testament women that are also called prophets for various reasons. Isaiah's wife had a child and that was considered prophetic in a way because we know what that child would speak, the prophetic meaning. Miriam sings a song, Huldah gives a word of judgment at a particular time. But these women did get messages from God for specific engagements, but not in ongoing ministry. So that sense of a prophetess is different, is what I'm saying, than a prophet like Jeremiah or Isaiah. Now, second aspect, this idea of judging. which here some of my brethren would disagree with me on, but look at verse four. This judge has this connotation of leadership. So what, isn't she judging Israel? Wasn't she leading Israel? Well, really this idea of judging here is how it's used in its context, and it's a bit of a different word. Her judging Israel is in a non-technical sense. describing what she did. What did she do? She gave wise counsel or judgment. She isn't judging in the formal sense. You know what the formal sense of a judge is in the book of Judges? You know what it means? It means Messiah. What's Messiah mean? Deliverer. Savior. She didn't do any of that. She encouraged somebody, in this case Barak, to do what God had called him to do. She wasn't the judge, Barak was the judge. And why doesn't he get a lot of acclaim here in this text? Well, it tells it because of his cowardice and his weakness. In fact, a woman would get the glory instead. But yet the preacher of Hebrews, when he goes to point out someone from this period of time, notice he doesn't talk about Deborah, he talks about Barak. You and I might want to talk more about Deborah and commend her for her courage, if you will. But God had called Barak, and there's a reason for this. You can see then Barak, although he might have been a coward and weak, he was encouraged and helped along the way, and particularly by a woman, which that gets back to my premise that I began with, and maybe I'll have to finish with. We'll see. When you say that Deborah was a prophet like all the other prophets, or a judge like all the other judges, diminishes the uniqueness of who she was. and who women are. They're not the same. Women are not men that just dress a little differently at some times, or could dress the same. Wisdom here, notice verse five, what she's doing. She sat then under this palm, and they called it the palm of Deborah. And people came up to her for judgment. That is, they wanted her wisdom in how to apply God's Word to their life and how to make good decisions. And women can do this very well, and Deborah is an exemplar of that and should be commended and By the way, encourage your young gals to do the same, to be wise, to grow in that grace and knowledge. And I'll tell you somewhere you can find about the strength and wisdom of women is Proverbs 31. And you can go ahead and turn here if you want. I was just going to mention a little bit of that, but since I've gone so deep in my rabbit hole, I think I might have to just finish up with this aspect of it. Proverbs 31, we're familiar with that. It talks about a woman who fears the Lord in verse 10. I'm in Proverbs 31. In fact, Ben, an excellent wife, he says, who can find she is far more precious than jewels and the heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life." So he's talking about the beautiful character of a woman who would complement a man, not compete with a man, and not take the same role of a man. She does all kinds of things. It mentions here in verse 13, of her working, of working with her hands. By the way, I know I'm not going to get to Je'el in a minute, but you'll have to come back next week for it. She's the one that takes the tent peg and drives it through the skull of that man. This is a woman with great conviction I'll talk about later, but you know how she knew how to do that? She worked with her hands. the women in that culture would have set up and take down the tents. And if you've ever been out camping and tried to drive a stake into a hard ground, you know it takes a little skill. And God had developed that in her life for just such a time as that. She was strong, she was powerful, she could accomplish much, but it's not the same. That's the point. There's a distinction and a difference. And to not make that kind of distinction diminishes what women are. And I think that's really what's going on a lot in our culture is the devaluing of a woman. When a man can just dress up like a cartoon character and claim that he's somehow a woman, he's not. And even the women then that would shed the beauty of how God had made them and then claim somehow that they're a man, they never will be. It's just mockery. Ultimately, it's a mockery of God, the God that would bring about human flourishing. I think one of the reasons that they do all of this behind, I don't know, other than it is a devilish lie, a Satan, but if you think about one of it is, it brings about human failure. It isn't going to bring about human flourishing. to then take the roles of men and women and pretend that they're somehow the same. They're not. God has uniquely made both, and both are of equal importance and value. I mean, you mothers with your children, you recognize how important your job is. And I know some people may have to work outside the home and the culture and various things, I'm not getting into that. But generally speaking, the priority of the life for most women that might have children is to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Where did Timothy get that faith as Paul looks to? He says, I see it, it was nurtured, how? By your mother. and by your grandmother, who poured their life into them like no other man can do, to raise up a godly generation. He will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Oh, you may not see them publicly speaking out there, but I would say that's of lesser importance than the day-to-day private speaking. and the private living, and that nurturing all along the way, like Deborah, who just sat under a tree, and people came to her for wisdom. And here, she's giving great words of wisdom that she knew, and of great value. And in fact, again, God calls people to do different things, but I mean, compare her to Barak. He's just a coward. Yeah, he finally does what he's supposed to do, And God gives him the victory. But suddenly, quietly, and behind the scenes, there is this beautiful faith of Deborah and her strength. Verse 15 in Proverbs describing this kind of woman. She rises wisely at night and provides food for her household. Hard worker. day and night, always engaging. She's even doing things that are in mercantile. She considers a field. She plants. Verse 17, she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She's a hard worker is what it's getting to. She makes judgments calls in her own household. Her lamp doesn't go out at night. It says here, she helps out those that are poor. She's not afraid of calamity, of the elements when they come, verse 21, because she's already taken care of her family. She's made that a priority. She's covered herself. In fact, this then makes her husband look good because she's supportive. She isn't doing nothing. She's doing a lot, and all that's done, most of it, is behind the scenes, and no one knows. Look at verse 23, but her husband, he's at the gate. This is the area in which judgment would have come down and so forth. The only reason he can fill that position is because this woman that is supporting him along the way, he sits down to the elders of the gate and she has made him look good. Strength, verse 25. Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come. She's not anxious, if you will. And notice verse 26. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. I would argue that women have a natural God-given imaging forth of kindness in a unique way. The feminine mindset often has a great caring and compassion for others. It already mentioned she was compassionate for the poor, but notice, much more kind. She looks well to the ways of her household, verse 27, and doesn't eat the bread of idleness. Ultimately, her children rise up and call her blessing. We've learned from the scriptures, not only in Deborah's case, I would argue what she's doing is she's supporting Barak, who was called to be the judge and the deliverer, and he was a weak man in his faith, but God uses this Deborah, who is very strong in the Lord and courageous to support Beric, not to usurp him, but to stand behind and support him. And even if he needed her to hold his hand. She said, okay, I'll go with you. This is the beautiful aspect of nurturing that is exemplified by Deborah. If you remember in the New Testament you had in Acts chapter 18 you had this man Apollos who was a great preacher, had great oratory skills. He was an eloquent man, as the Bible says, and was very competent in the scriptures. Yet, if you read the story, I won't get into it, you can look at it later, Acts chapter 18, you're going to find that a woman by the name of Priscilla, with her husband Aquila, came alongside him. privately. Even though he was competent in the Scriptures, and even though he was a great orator of it, they took him aside and explained to him together, jointly, more clearly the Word of God more accurately. So there is this role, even a teaching role and a equipping role, but it is in a supportive way. I mentioned that the Bible doesn't present this idea that many in our contemporary culture take about Deborah as if she was this prophet and judge. With this ongoing ministry, she was neither. And I did mention it then diminishes the beautiful role of women. I hope you see it in our reading from this text in Proverbs. 31. Women and men are not the same. And it's a devilish lie, I would say, to accept that kind of idea. One of the best explanations of biblical manhood and womanhood, you can find a great resource of that. I think it's called the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. You can download a 500-page treatise that gets into great detail from an exposition of Scripture to discuss the various roles But the short form of it, and what I do typically every, both Father's Day and Mother's Day, instead of talking about biological reproduction and engagements and responsibilities, I emphasize the idea of motherhood and fatherhood. Because whether you actually physically have a child or not, or whether you're done with that responsibility, femininity includes this idea of motherhood. And at the way that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood would describe femininity, they put it this way, and you'll see it again on Mother's Day, because I bring it up every year. At the heart of mature, and look at this compared to the story I just told you about Deborah and her interaction with Beric. At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive, and here it is primarily, nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in appropriate, in ways appropriate to a woman's differing relationships. i.e., you may have a husband-wife relationship, you may have even a pastor and congregate relationship, you may have a relationship of co-workers or friends, whatever that relationship might be. Here, What does Deborah do in this story? She doesn't take on his position as judge, as deliverer, as Messiah, as Savior, but what does she do? Strongly encourages him, do what God has called you to do. And that is a great word from a woman of great courage and faith. Indeed, she does it. Notice if you're still in our text in chapter four, she does say, hasn't the Lord commanded you? In verse six, she's just reminding him what God has already told him. He's already been called to do this. And she does it, I would suggest to you, doesn't give you all the tone of what's going on here, but read it in the context of the story. I think she's doing this with gentleness and kindness, but with firmness. And sometimes, guys, you need a stiff word from a woman. Stop that and do what God has called you to do. It's a good word, and it's a helpful word. She has faith, she demonstrates that God has said, I'm going to give this army, which again, this would have been an impossible thing without God's might. Remember the whole chariot thing when Egypt was chasing after Israel, when they had the exodus? They were going to catch him and get him. And what does God do? Drowns them in water. Same thing's going to happen here in this story. If you want to see more of that, you can find that in the song in chapter 5. But God ultimately destroys that army in a similar way. God has already done it. They should know that. But instead of looking to the Lord, they looked to themselves and what was right in their own eyes. What they needed really in the time of the judges is men. men to stand up and do what they were called to do. Here in this story, we'll get two women who do what they're called to do, but they're not usurping his responsibility, but encouraging him to do it. And as I mentioned, she'll even hold his hand. Verse eight, she'll go, but that will cost him. Deborah, I would say, demonstrates this feminine role of nurturing strength, leadership, and does so in great dignity. Now here's where I'll jump to chapter five. We'll finish with this. Chapter five is the psalm. It's what they write after the event. Notice verse one of chapter five, if you're in Judges, then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abednon on that day. And so what are they saying? Verse two, that the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord. So that's recapping what happened in chapter four. Barak was the ultimate leader, and then he had some subordinates with their 10,000 men. The people went on to do that, and so they could sing about that. And you know how it came about? What means did God use to bring out strength in a very weak and cowardly man? He was a mom. who functions in a motherly role. And don't believe me that I'm just making that up. Look at verse 7. Do you see it? The villagers ceased in Israel, they ceased to be until I arose." In other words, they had given up. The chariots were too much, Barak was afraid to go, and a woman of great courage stands up, and listen how she describes herself. I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel. This is what a mother does, by the way. And this is who a woman is. It's somebody that has been made in God's image and has a high calling. Much of her work, if not most, maybe even all in some cases, are never seen. But she demonstrates this feminine ideal described as a mother, one who nurtures strength, and in this particular case, in Berwick. You know what she's imaging forth? She's imaging forth that aspect of God, that ideal about God, who would nurture strength, and it's expressed by a woman in this feminine ideal. And through that instrumentality, a coward is given great courage to accomplish what God has called. Let us pray. Father, we pray that you will bless the reading, the studying, and hearing of your word. I do pray for the women, particularly I think of some that even in my life that have always been there, never really getting much public notoriety. but accomplishing what you have called them to do. And so I pray that you bless them and keep them. I pray that your face would shine upon them. I pray that you would raise up many more many more daughters who would confess Jesus Christ as Lord, who would live a courageous life of great conviction. May we all be blessed, encouraged by those who express that beauty of your grace in a specific way that would lead to faith and flourishing. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Take a moment now to think on these things, a time of reflection. Father, we're thankful that indeed you are always with us. I'm thankful for those who point out that truth, and may we walk in great faith. I pray this in Christ's name, amen. I'm going to do my audible that is unexpected, and that's to go back to 83, Be Thou My Vision. I love singing it, that's why. Also, I just want to encourage you to, again, hopefully at the end of this you're not thinking so much about the greatness of Deborah, but the greatness of God, who would call others to see the truth of who He is, and for God to be your vision. Let's stand together as Jerry comes to lead us. 83, and be thou my vision. You want to do the first and last? I like this high king of heaven as it finishes, because that's what they would point, that's what those who have courage, courageous faith would point us to. 83, be thou my vision. I have set the Lord always before me, Psalm 16a. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. ♪ Thou my best thought, my day or my night ♪ ♪ Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light ♪ ♪ My King of Heaven, my vict'ry light ♪ Amen. Let's go ahead and pray and we'll be dismissed. Gracious Father, help us to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. To not quench the spirit, and not to despise the word of God, but to test everything, to hold fast what is good, to abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who calls you and is faithful and will surely do it. Amen and amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.