Whine, Women, and Song

Lead Vocalist (Kelly)

Welcome & Announcements (Mike K)

Good morning family!

Ask guests to fill out connect card

2 announcements:

1) Sunday Night Theology, TONIGHT at 5:30 PM

We’ll hear from our missionary Luke Waite on Missions and the Local Church.

Adventure Kids for children ages 0-6th grade.

2) Save the Date for Members Meeting on May 19

Share a brief word on the importance of these meetings

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Ps 95:1-3)

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

For the Lord is a great God,

and a great King above all gods

Prayer of Praise (Phyllis Higgins)

God is For Us

To God Be the Glory

Prayer of Confession (Morgan Nunn), Cowardice

Assurance of Pardon (2 Corinthians 5:21)

It Is Finished

Nothing But the Blood

Scripture Reading (Judges 4:1-23)

Page 239 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Mike Klaassen)

Prayer for PBC—Right understanding of conversion

Prayer for sister church—Justin & Angie Ham (IMB, Belgium)

Prayer for US—Against loneliness

Prayer for the world—St. Vincent

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

Fans of the TV show Bluey were recently treated to a fantastic 28-minute episode filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, and an old Chinese proverb about luck.

The ancient proverb goes something like this:

Once upon a time there lived an old, Chinese farmer who had one beloved son.

It was considered very good luck that this farmer had a son to help him in his work, so the villagers often told him “You’re a lucky man to have a son.”

The old farmer always replied, “We’ll see.”

The farmer’s son also had a beloved horse, which one day escaped.

The villagers came by and said, “This is such bad luck!”

The old farmer replied, “We’ll see.”

The next day the son’s horse returned, along with 12 wild horses.

The villagers came by to congratulate the farmer for his incredible good luck.

He replied, “We’ll see.”

A few days later the farmer’s son was trying to train one of the wild horses when he fell down and broke his leg.

The villagers came to check on the injured son and told the farmer, “That was very bad luck.”

Once again the old man replied, “We’ll see.”

Shortly after the boy’s injury, a traveling warlord came through the village and took all the healthy, young men away to war.

But because the farmer’s son was injured, he wasn’t taken off to war.

Once again the villagers came to congratulate the farmer for his good luck.

And once again he replied, “We’ll see.”

Now it’s no surprise that when the story was told to a room full of puppies in Bluey, everyone was confused. One of the puppies asks, “Is that a happy ending or a sad ending?” [1]

What exactly IS the point of this Chinese proverb?

It’s expressing the Confucian worldview that life is ruled by chance, and yet it’s impossible to tell whether good luck is simply bad luck in disguise, or vice versa.

In Bluey, this story is told to comfort a young puppy that everything will turn out alright in the end.

But if you’re living in a world of chance, and if you cannot even tell if the random events that happen to you are good or bad, how can you have any confidence that anything will ever turn out alright?

Yes, it’s true we often experience things in life that are difficult to interpret.

What seems like a blessing, can actually turn out to be a curse.

And what seems disastrous at the time sometimes turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to us.

But the only logical reason to have hope amidst the confusing twists and turns of life is if there is a sovereign God who works all things together for the good of His people.

And that’s exactly what we find in our text today in Judges 4-5.

Once again we’ll see God’s people returning to idolatry after another leader dies.

Once again we’ll see them yelp for help.

And once again we’ll see God raising up a rescuer.

But in today’s story we’ll clearly see the power behind that rescuer.

It is not luck or chance. It is not a man or a woman. It is not a hero or a judge.

The power behind each and every rescuer in the entire Bible is the sovereignty of God.

The Big idea I hope to communicate with God’s help this morning is that God’s people can rejoice because He is sovereignly working for their good.

In Judges 4-5 we’ll notice Four Examples of God’s Sovereignty, which will make up the outline of today’s sermon.

But before we begin, let’s quickly consider the structure of chapters 4-5.

Both chapters deal with the same events.

Chapter 4 is a battle memoir, telling us what happened from the perspective of the historian.

Chapter 5 is a song, telling us the same events from the perspective of the poet.

In chapter 4 there’s a host of colorful characters on the stage, while God seems to be in the background.

But in chapter 5 we see all the ways God has been working behind the scenes.

So even though we won’t read every verse in these two chapters this morning, I will regularly direct your attention to how chapter 5 interprets the events described in chapter 4.

Let’s begin by noticing how...

1) God is Sovereign Over VILLAINS and HEROES

In the first seven verses of chapter 4 we’re introduced to four main characters: two villains and two heroes.

But first let’s examine the context...

Judges 4:1—And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.

This is the same pattern we’ve already seen several times in the book of Judges, so let’s just make one observation here.

Notice how superficial the Israelites are.

Once again God’s people return to the vomit of sin immediately after their leader is out of the picture.

Dale Ralph Davis—“There is something wrong with religion when its degree of fidelity depends solely on outside pressures, influences, and leadership. Then we are ‘Christian’ only because of our surroundings, or because of the expectations of Christian people around us, and lack a genuine, internal work of God.” [2]

Is your walk with Jesus dependent on some other person? A friend, a spouse, a deacon, or a pastor? Are you only able or willing to be faithful when others are watching? If so, I would ask you to consider if the Spirit of God lives inside you or not.

Now let’s look at the first villain in these chapters...

Judges 4:2a—And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.

We don’t know a lot about Jabin.

But we do know this isn’t the first time a king named Jabin has oppressed the people of God.

In Joshua 11, there’s another king of Hazor named Jabin who is conquered by Joshua.

So most scholars believe Jabin may have been a title for the kings of Hazor, much like the Pharaohs in Egypt, King Louis in France, or King Henry in England.

Which means this is renewed aggression from an old, once-defeated enemy.

Don’t be surprised when an enemy you thought you had conquered rears its ugly head to assault you once again. The Christian life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We must keep fighting until the day King Jesus returns!

Even though Jabin is the king of Canaan, he’s actually not the main villain in these chapters.

Judges 4:2b—The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

Here’s the big baddie in our text this morning.

Sisera was the commander of Jabin’s army, a hardened general who had amassed an impressive army with 900 chariots that oppressed the people of God for 20 years.

Jabin is kind of like Emperor Palpatine and Sisera is like Darth Vader. Palpatine is in charge, but it’s Vader who strikes fear in the galaxy.

So too with Jabin and Sisera. Jabin’s the king, but Sisera is the evil, fearful general.

But unlike Darth Vader, there is no redemption for Sisera.

This is a vile character if ever there was one.

We get a picture of just how bad Sisera was in chapter 5.

In 5:28-30, we meet Sisera’s mom, wondering why her son is late returning home from the battle.

And if you look at verse 30, we learn that Sisera’s mom is comforted by the reminder that Sisera is probably delayed because he’s raping and plundering the victims he’s conquered.

You’ve got to be a pretty horrible person for your own mom to know you’re a serial rapist.

As bad as these villains are, we must not forget God is sovereign over them.

Verse 2 clearly says the Lord raised up these villains.

This doesn’t mean God doesn’t care about the evil they’re committing. God will judge wicked rulers. But He’ll do so in His time and in His way.

That’s good news, because the Lord does the same thing today. Christian, you do not need to fret about who will win the upcoming election. No matter which villain is in the Oval Office in January, the Lord is the One raising him up.

And the Lord who will, in His time, bring them down.

In Judges 4 He does that by raising up a couple of heroes...

Judges 4:4—Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

Deborah is perhaps the most unique hero in the entire book of Judges.

And it’s not just the fact she’s a woman, although that’s part of it.

Deborah is the only judge who isn’t a military hero. She leads through wisdom, character, and speaking the truth, not through physical strength.

A few months ago when we studied Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, I argued that men and woman are equal and different.

The three areas where men and women are called to different roles are in marriage, the family, and the church.

But what about Deborah? Does she undermine everything I taught in those sermons?

Some think so. After all, she’s leading God’s people as a judge. And she’s speaking truth to God’s people as a prophet.

But the leadership Deborah is providing is not religious leadership, but civil leadership.

She’s not leading the people in religious observances—that’s the job of the priests.

Even though there are female prophets and female queens in the Bible, there is no mention of female priests among God’s people.

Deborah’s role is more like a mayor or a governor than a pastor. And at PBC we do not believe the Bible forbids women from roles of leadership in the public sphere.

Apparently Deborah is quite content in her role as a woman.

She’s willing to speak the truth to God’s people as a prophetess. But she calls upon a man to lead God’s people in battle.

By the way, ladies, we want you to speak the truth to God’s people too.

Like Deborah, we want you to speak God’s Word in a way that disciples your sisters and encourages your brothers to be the men God has called them to be.

Sisters, several of you have spoken words like this to me over the past month or so. A word fitly spoken by a woman of Christ is not a second-rate word. It can be life-changing.

And Deborah is a fantastic model of that as she speaks to the second hero in our text...

Judges 4:6–7—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. 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’?”

We’ll talk more about Barak in a moment, but for now just notice that apparently God has been speaking to Barak.

Deborah’s words suggest she is merely repeating to Barak what he’s already heard from God Himself.

Barak is God’s man to win the victory against Jabin’s army, and Deborah is God’s woman who is encouraging God’s people to be faithful.

God’s people can rejoice because He is sovereignly working for their good.

He is sovereign over villains and heroes, and...

2) God is Sovereign Over FAILURES and FAITH

If you’re familiar with this story, you might have been surprised when I listed Barak as one of the heroes in this story.

After all, he doesn’t get off to a great start.

Judges 4:8—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.”

Barak begins with a colossal failure!

God has already told Barak personally that he will defeat Jabin’s army.

Then God shows even more grace to Barak by repeating these words to a prophetess for confirmation.

By refusing to obey, Barak is denying the Word of God that he heard and he’s denying Deborah’s authority as a prophetess.

It’s no wonder Deborah predicts that Barak’s cowardice will have real-word consequences...

Judges 4:9—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.

If you were reading this story for the first time, which woman would you expect is going to defeat Sisera?

The only natural conclusion at this point in the story would be Deborah.

But Deborah won’t be the one who nails Sisera. It’s going to be another woman!

Like we saw two weeks ago with the story of Ehud, God delights to use the unexpected!

So don’t try to figure out what God is going to do in the world around you. We know what He’s told us in His Word, but we do not know how He’s going to bring about promises. And instead of trying to figure it all out we must learn to trust Him.

Notice also in verse 9 the reality of consequences.

Barak’s cowardice has real-world consequences. He will not get the glory for this victory.

We know, of course, that we should live for God’s glory not our own.

But think of Barak’s glory as a crown that he could have cast at the feet of His Savior. But now it’s just a missed opportunity.

I wonder how often we miss out on similar things.

One commentator writes this...

“When [God] wants to use us, we need to be willing. We may not feel adequate to the task. We may feel that because of our past, God cannot use us. We may feel ungifted in what he is calling us to do. In one way or another, we feel inhibited to serve. When we as Christians do not trust God in these contexts, we lose out on the opportunity for God to work through us. We lose out on his good gifts. And worse, we may find ourselves expending all kinds of time and energy hopelessly trying to make up the difference. We want to have the assurance up front that the risk will be worth it, that we will succeed. But God has often already given the assurance in his Word and wants us to be involved so that he may work to accomplish his plan.” [3]

—K Lawson Younger Jr.

Let’s be clear about this: Barak’s failure will NOT undermine the sovereignty of God. God will still get the victory, because He is still sovereign over our failure!

But thankfully, failure is not the end of Barak’s story...

In verse 10, Barak obeys. He summons God’s people and marches into battle.

He gathers 10,000 men, which seems like a decent army.

But Judges 5:8 tells us there were few weapons in Israel during those days.

So what’s a weaponless crowd of 10,000 men going to do against 900 iron chariots?!?

It’s no wonder the New Testament includes Barak as an example of faith in Hebrews 11:32.

Tim Keller—“Faith is showing courage in the face of humanly overwhelming odds. An iron chariot could cut through foot-soldiers like a hot knife through butter. Nine hundred chariots would beat 10,000 men every time. But Barak still fights.” [4]

Aren’t you glad God doesn’t give up on us when we’re slow to obey?

We teach our children that obedience is the right away, all the way, with the right heart.

By that definition, Barak fails to obey. And so, often, do we. But God is gracious and slow to anger.

God gives Barak a second chance, and Barak is remembered and blessed in the New Testament as an example of faith.

But be careful, friend. Do not presume on the patience of God. Do not assume your story will end like Barak’s.

The key for Barak was his eventual obedience.

But not everyone in this story obeyed.

In Judges 5 we learn of three tribes and one city that did not step up to fight against Sisera.

The tribe of Reuben thought about it, but decided against it.

The tribe of Manasseh didn’t want to cross over the Jordan River.

The tribe of Dan had ships that needed to be taken care of.

And the citizens of the city of Meroz were cursed because they did not help.

If you’ve been slow to obey, repent before it’s too late!

Those who have repented can rejoice because God is sovereignly working for their good.

He is sovereign over failures and faith, and...

3) God is Sovereign Over MOLEHILLS and MOUNTAINS

In other words, God is sovereign over the mundane and the massive, over the ordinary and the extraordinary, over the tiny decisions we make that seem so insignificant and the massive decisions we make that can affect the entire course of our lives.

Notice first God’s sovereignty over a mundane molehill in...

Judges 4:11—Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

If Judges was a TV show, it would be like watching all the armies marching towards the battle lines, and then the scene changes to a family loading up their stuff into a U-Haul. And then the action quickly returns to the battlefield in verse 12. You would probably be tempted to think that this is a commercial. Or maybe somebody accidentally changed the channel.

What in the world is going on here?

Eventually we’ll learn that Heber’s wife is the one who will kill Sisera. But right now all we see is a little snapshot of a family moving their tent.

Which means that even simple, ordinary, mundane, everyday molehills like moving your tent from one place to another are under the sovereignty of God.

Dale Ralph Davis—“Neither the Jerusalem Gazette nor the Hazor Herald thought the item newsworthy. Here is a mere puny detail, a dry insertion into an otherwise interesting story. Yet verse 11, dry as it seems, points to the providence of God.” [5]

This is incredibly encouraging, because these molehill decisions make up the majority of our lives.

Who you talk to—or avoid—after the service today. Whether or not you wake up early enough to read your Bible before work tomorrow. How you respond to your children when they disobey. How you choose to relax this weekend.

None of these things are outside the control of our sovereign God! And all these things matter to Him!

Now if God is only in control with our little molehill decisions, that’s not very comforting. Because all those little decisions eventually add up to major life-altering impact.

So it’s also important to know that God is in control of our massive, mountain-sized decisions.

In verses 12-16, we see Barak and his armies win a massive victory over Sisera’s technologically superior army.

Chapter 4 tells us next to nothing about this victory...

Judges 4:15—And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot.

How did Barak win? Why is Sisera getting off his chariot and running away on foot? What in the world happened?

The answer is found in chapter 5...

In 5:4-5 we learn there was an earthquake and a rainstorm

In 5:20 we learn there even the stars in heaven were fighting against Sisera’s army in some way

And in 5:21 we learn that the earthquake and rainstorm caused some sort of massive flooding of the Kishon river, which inevitably led to Sisera’s downfall.

Just like Pharaoh’s chariots in the Exodus, Sisera’s chariots were no match for the God who controls the winds and the waves.

Christian: all the technologies and sophistication of this world are no match for the sovereignty of God.

It’s easy to say we believe this until we’re face-to-face with our own chariots of iron.

Maybe that’s an corporate environment that is force-feeding ideologies that are contrary to your faith. And you’re convinced there’s nothing you can do to stand against it. You just need to give in. You have no choice.

Maybe it’s a stubborn teenager demanding the same technology and social media accounts of her friends. And you’re convinced the only way to save the relationship is to give in to her demands.

Maybe it’s a challenging pregnancy and your doctor is telling you your only choice is termination.

Or a sin struggle that seems absolutely unbeatable, so you might as well give in.

Christian, there is no force, no power, no technology, no nothing that stands a chance against our sovereign God.

Psalm 20:7–8—Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

So rejoice, Christian, because God is sovereignly working for your good.

He is sovereign over moles and mountains, and...

4) God is Sovereign Over SIN and SALVATION

Now we get to the climax of the story. Back in Judges 4:9 we learned that Sisera would be defeated at the hands of a woman.

If you’re new to the story, you’d be expecting Deborah to be the woman who does Sisera in, but that’s not what happens...

Judges 4:17—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.

Notice three things about Jael.

She’s a woman.

She’s a Gentile—the Kenites were not ethnically Jewish.

And she seems to be on Sisera’s side.

After all, her husband has made a treaty with Jabin and his armies.

It’s hard to imagine a more unlikely threat to Sisera.

And that’s exactly why Sisera is so willing to entrust himself to Jael’s care...

Judges 4:18-19—And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.

Chapter 5 calls Deborah a mother over the nation of Israel. Barak’s like a little boy who needs to be nagged by his mom to do the right thing.

Jael too is looking a lot like a mother in these verses. She’s tucking Sisera in with a blanket and giving him milk to drink so that he’ll fall asleep.

But all the while, she’s got an axe to grind with Sisera. Or, more accurately, a nail to hammer.

Judges 4:20—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.’”

Look carefully at the words Sisera says.

He’s concerned that some man will come to try to take his life. He’s completely oblivious to the fact that his life could be taken by a woman.

Think of that incredible scene from The Return of the King when Eowyn comes face-to-face with a Nazgul.

The Nazgul says, “You fool! No man can kill me. Die now!”

Eowyn responds by removing her helmet to reveal she is in fact a woman and says “I am no man!” [6]

Jael’s about to have an “I am no man” moment of her own...

Judges 4:21—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.

What are we supposed to make of all this?

Jael lures this man into her tent. She promises him safety. She takes care of him. But once he is fast asleep, she brutally murders him.

Sisera is a horrible guy, but Jael’s actions aren’t really great either. In our world we’d put her in prison for this!

If anything, Sisera’s assassination was even worse than Eglon’s. At least Eglon was standing up!

And to make matters worse, the Bible seems to celebrate her actions in Deborah’s song in chapter 5.

How should we respond to all this?

We need to remember there’s a difference between what the Bible reports and what the Bible recommends. [7]

The Bible is not calling us to follow in Jael’s footsteps.

We shouldn’t start selling a new WWJD bracelet—what would Jael do?

Instead, we should look beyond Jael’s bloody victory to a God who uses the sin of His people to bring about the salvation of His people.

Our job here is not to lure villains into our bedrooms so we can drive nails through their skulls. Our job is to look beyond this bloody mess to the God who uses sin sinlessly, to the God who can use sin to defeat sin and save His people.

And the greatest evidence of God’s ability to do this came at the swinging of another hammer.

Not to nail a sleeping man to the floor, but to nail the Son of God to a cross.

Never in human history has a hammer been used for something more wicked than that.

And yet, God used the swinging of that hammer to bring about the greatest salvation imaginable.

Rejoice, Christian, because God is sovereignly working for your good.

If you’re not a Christian, this is the universe you want even if you don’t fully realize it.

There’s something in you that desperately wishes it were true.

You want to believe there’s a good God working behind all the events in your life.

Why not consider the claims of Christ?

Why not repent and believe today!

Near the end of that Bluey episode, as the Heeler family starts to see how bad things are turning into good, the most natural response is to sing and dance. To celebrate like there’s no tomorrow.

And if that’s true for a bunch of fictional dogs living in a universe governed by indiscernible luck, how much more should it be true in our universe, governed by a sovereign God who is working for the good of His people?

If you are a Christian, here’s how I want you to respond.

I want us to respond the same way the Israelites did in Judges 5.

I want you to sing and celebrate. With all your might, with all your heart, I want you to sing.

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well with my soul

Why is it that we can sing those words? Why can we say “it is well” even when everything around us seems to be falling apart?

It is not some vague belief that “everything happens for a reason” or “everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

We can sing those words because we believe in a sovereign God who is working for our good!

And we know that because He’s shown us on the cross...

My sin, oh the bliss

of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross,

and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Prayer of Thanksgiving

It Is Well

Benediction (Ps 90:14, 16-17)

May God satisfy you with his steadfast love

and make you glad throughout all your days;

may he show you his work

and glorious power,

and may his favor be upon you

and establish the work of your hands.