Barak (And Deborah?) Hebrews 11:1-2 [1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the people of old received their commendation. Hebrews 11:32 [32] And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— Proverbs 26:11 “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.” 2 Peter 2:22 “What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”” Void of transformation, humans are like dogs and pigs. It is foolish to rage against God’s way. It is foolish to disobey. It is foolish to return and ingest the filth we have been rescued and redeemed from; foolish to walk in the dark - down to the mire - and wallow around in muck. This is foolish when we have the wellspring of life, rivers of living water, and the Spirit of he who is the very light of life abiding within us. BIG IDEAS: ● Remember the LORD and His work! ● What is obedience? ● God goes before us. ● Tell of the LORD and His work! 1. Remember the LORD and His work. Judges History Judges 2:8-10 [8] And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. [9] And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. [10] And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. The enemy wants to allure us and entice us to let down our guard, put up our feet, take off our helmet, flip on the tv, rest our eyes for a bit, get comfortable and find ever increasing ways to pursue casual, care-free, pleasurable lives. Deuteronomy 6:6-9, 12-15. [6] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [8] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [9] You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [10] “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build… [12] then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [13] It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. [14] You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—[15] for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. Take care to obey! Take care to remember! The enemy of God wants the people of God to forget the goodness of God and believe themselves to be little gods. Judges 2:11-17 [11] And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. [12] And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. [13] They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. [14] So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. [15] Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress. [16] Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. [17] Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so. This pattern in Judges outlines humanity's deep need for the ever renewing mercy and grace of God. Judges 4:1 “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD after Ehud died. Why? Because of Judges 2:10. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. Judges 4:1-3 [1] And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD after Ehud died. [2] And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. [3] Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years. For two decades he allowed them to be cruelly oppressed, desiring that they would turn back to Him. A true repentant and dependant heart is what God desires. Cries for help do not always indicate repentance. Reprieve? Sure. Cries for repentance come from conviction not just crisis. Judges 4:4-5 [4] Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. [5] 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. How wonderful that God appointed and rested His Spirit upon a woman to judge and lead the nation of Israel during this time period. Since the fall, the oppression, objectification, and suppression of women has infected humanity and continues to break and enrage the heart of God their maker. The dominance and thirst for power and possession and pleasure of unsurrendered and faithless men has wreaked havoc upon women in ways too numerous and horrendous to count. Worldviews across the planet for thousands of years have missed and marred God’s delight in and design for His female image bearers. Sin has blinded us to faithfully steward the opposite sex. Judges 4:6-7 [6] She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. [7] And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” 2. What Is Obedience? Obedience: compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority. “Obedience is doing what we ask, when we ask, and how we ask.” Judges 4:8-10 [8] Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” [9] And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. [10] And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him. 1 Corinthians 1:27–29 [27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Judges 4:12-14 [12] When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, [13] Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. [14] And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the LORD go out before you?” 3. God Goes Before Us Deuteronomy 31:8 [8] It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 1:28–31 [28] Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ [29] Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. [30] The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, [31] and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Psalm 60:11–12 [11] Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man! [12] With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes. Judges 4:14-24 [14]So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. [15] And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. (The "edge of the sword" is a figure of speech, representing the swift and decisive power of God in bringing down Sisera and his army. ) And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. [16] And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. [17] But Sisera fled away on foot 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. [18] And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. [19] And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. [20] And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” [21] But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. [22] And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple. **Coffee mug picture [23] So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. [24] And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. Psalm 20:7–8 [7] Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. [8] They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. Judges 5:20-22 [20] From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. [21] The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might! [22] “Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds. • From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera… • The torrent Kishon swept them away… • Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds… God’s plan will never be thwarted. His arm will never tire, never be beaten. No plan can succeed against His designs! He told of His victory to Barak, then to Deborah, and now showed the world that He is a God of deliverance who goes before us for His name's sake, and because He loves His people! He is able. God Goes Before Us! Judges 5:10–11 [10] “Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets and you who walk by the way. [11] To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. Tell of the LORD and His work. White Donkey Riders: The wealthy Rich Carpet Sitters: The leaders Walkers: The commoners Take Aways: 1. What does daily remembrance of the LORD look like in your life? 2. What causes disobedience within you? 3. What are you afraid of? 4. How are you telling of the LORD and His work?