God's Faithfulness (Deborah)

Add to my ever-growing list of awkward Mother's Day sermons. I believe my first Mother's Day sermon was Hagar getting cast out because she was taken and had a child. She was cast out of the camp. And that was a beautiful picture so that she would learn that God sees her. And then another was John 4, the woman of the well who had many husbands. Here we are, more fitting than those other two, the mother of all Israel. Really in contrast to the mother of Sisera, as I hope we'll see. This morning we're looking at our next cycle of judges. If you're new with us, we've been walking through judges, and I don't plan a Mother's Day sermon. Wherever we end up in Mother's Day, as I'm walking through a book, there we are, here we are. The first couple chapters are setting up the the history of Israel Called to conquer Canaan. They failed therefore God is going to discipline them And we see this constant cycle Israel is unfaithful God disciplines them. They then cry out to God. He is faithful to deliver them They go back and the cycle continues the first judge of any significance of named is Othniel and We don't really have much detail about him. And then Ehud, he has a lot of detail and a very odd kind of assassin-like judge. We looked at that last week. And this morning, we're looking at Deborah, the next judge. For simplicity, we're going to have four words that are going to outline our sermon. Sin, judgment, plea, deliverance. Sin, judgment, plea, deliverance. And this continues the same basic cycle. Israel again did what was evil. God brought an oppressor. Israel cries out, that's the plea, and then God delivers them. And that's much of the text. Most of what we're gonna see is on the deliverance. But we need to see the context. The story is set up, chapter four, and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. We see that at some level, this Judge Ehud, he had a faithful leadership. Even though his act of deliverance was odd, he was able to faithfully lead Israel for generations. But after he died, Israel, again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. I really want to focus on this word again. Here we go again. A new generation has come up and they have not been taught or they have not been faithful to the ways of the Lord. We can go back to Judges chapter 2 verse 10. And all that generation were also gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the Lord or the work He had done for Israel. This is a constant pattern. It is a pattern that God had already foreseen. That is why in Deuteronomy 6-4, He taught Israel, teach the children, teach the children, remind them of who I am and what I've done. What it appears to be is a complete lack of faithfulness of God's people to continue to teach the children who he is and what he had done. There's a really high value in the Old Testament especially, I believe the New Testament as well, of the faith being handed down. That the faith being handed over. The most effective way to train our children is to point them to God. The most effective way to point them to God is to talk about your own sin and how faithful he's been to save you, forgive you, and care for you. We need to see here that they have done evil again. The pattern is they forget Yahweh. They forget that He's delivered them, that He's commanded them, that He's blessed them, and they go after the other gods. They think, you know what, I really wish I had more crops, or I wish my livestock had more fertility, so they're gonna go and worship other gods, thinking they're going to give a better promise than the one true God, who actually has control over those things. We have to realize that the kind of sin that they enter into, the kind of sin we enter into, It's self-destructive. Sin is by definition self-destructive. But the most important thing when you realize that it actually destroys is our relationship with God. That's what's so scary and dangerous about sin. If you're not a Christian, sin is going to bring about God's certain judgment upon you. He is a righteous and holy God, and his fierce judgment will come upon you unless you believe that Jesus died on the cross so that you would be forgiven for that sin. If you are a Christian, sin still affects a relation with God because it takes us out of the blessing. It takes us out of the experience of the blessing and assurance. Sin is dangerous. It's amazing how sin allures us. This is something to delight in. Yet it destroys. Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Next, judgment. That's the sin, verse one. Now the judgment, verse two. And the Lord sold them. Let's stop there. Yahweh has not just come and said, I'm going to be your king. God said to Abraham, before there was any children, I'm going to give you children to be a great nation. He didn't just come and say, hey, you're a great people, I'm gonna be your great God. No, he grew this people. He made them who they are. They grew in number while in Egypt. He has claimed them blessed them, and made them who they are in every way. He is their proper king, and he's chosen to do so. This word sold is terrifying. Let me read for you Exodus 6-6. This is where God is called Moses, and the Moses and Barak stories are a little similar. We're not gonna get into that, but here in Exodus 6, God calls Moses, and he tells him what he's gonna do. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out, that's deliverance language, from under the burdens of Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, with the great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people. I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. God wants them to know who he is and how much he loves them. By the way, he's going to bring them out, deliver them, redeem them. When you redeem someone, you typically pay a price for them. You give something of yours so that they become yours. Redeeming requires a price. When God redeemed Israel, it actually was the price of the blood of the lamb that was put over the mantle. But it was so much more than that. When God redeemed Israel, He knew that what was actually going to finally redeem Israel was the blood of Jesus Christ, the death of His own Son. That is the price that was paid for the people of Israel. God, in His love, paid that price. so that they would be His. And in light of that, we hear the word, He sold them. He sold them. This is meant to be conflicting. This is meant to bring a shock to all the things that Israel is giving up. God has redeemed them and now they're being sold. The consequence of their sin is terrifying. It's the distance from God. It's the discipline from God. It's a physical and circumstantial consequence so that they would yet once again have hearts that would turn to Him. Verse 2. Who is Jabin? Well last week we saw a king of Moab. This week we see a king who's actually in the, the, the, the promised land of Canaan. He rendered Hazor. In Joshua 11.10, Joshua calls this city the head of all the kingdoms. It was a very prominent, significant city for the Canaanites. Joshua burned the ground, and by this time, they've rebuilt it, and the king, Jabin, is leading. But what's interesting is we don't really hear about Jabin until the very end again. Most of the attention is on the commander of his army, Sisera. You actually heard most of that in the poem as well. The focus, the attention isn't on this king, who the final word of chapter 4 is that he was subdued by God. But really we're looking at Ciceron. He's a man who has many chariots. He's terrifying. He is a cruel oppressor of God's people. We see his cruelty actually in the chapter five, the song of Deborah, that reflects upon the narrative. If you look at chapter five, verse six, it looks like he's plundering the people, they've cut off the highway, so Israel has to go on side routes, he's made life very difficult. I think the most terrifying part of what the cruelty looks like is found in verse 30. Here we see the mother of Sisera. She's wondering and pondering, when will my son return from war? Oh, well, the delay must be because they're delighting in the plunder. A mother is delighting in the plunder of Sisera, a womb or two for every man, and that is what it sounds like. The organized rape by Sisera of the women of Israel. This is the cruelty. that God is going to judge very decisively. A man who is organizing the rape of the Israelite women, we believe this must be a pattern of his, that this is the hope of the mother. We're gonna see how God is gonna bring a clear judgment on that cruelty. We look at chapter four, verse three, our third point. We've had sin, we've had judgment. God sold them over to cruelty. Verse three, then the people of Israel cried out. Here we see the plea. God, help us. The people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. Save us. For he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years. This is the turning point. In the cycle of judges, the turning point is, and how God's going to relate to them, either oppressing and seeking to correct them, or blessing them and giving them fruitfulness, is if God, if the people of Israel are going to look to God and ask for help, or they're going to continue to go after other gods. And it takes years, usually, for them to actually repent and turn to God. And it's always amazing how quickly God turns to them Helps So now we look at deliverance and this is as you can see a number of verses Israel again has done evil. The Lord has sold them. They've cried out for help Verse 4 the deliverance begins now Deborah It's a bold introduction This is a book, the Bible, mostly written by men in a male-dominated society. And now we have a woman being introduced at the most important point of the story. Now, Deborah. She is the only female judge. She's also the only judge that we really have any detailed information about that doesn't have some incredibly gross character flaw or gross action. She's the only judge that actually doesn't have some significant problem. Remember last week, we had Ehud. Where's the splendor? And he can't use his right hand. It's going to get worse as the judges go on. But Deborah, the one female judge, actually stands out, not just as a female, but one without the significant character for. Her name is associated with B. I don't know if that really is significant. Now there's the next thing. Now Deborah, a prophetess, just in case that's not obvious, that's a female who prophesies. To prophesy is not to simply tell the future. A prophet is someone who tells the truth of God from God. A prophet is someone who is handed over a message to steward, this is God's word, and repeats it. They reverberate. They don't create, they reverberate. She is hearing the word of God and she is proclaiming the word of God in some fashion. This is her calling. God has gifted her. And the people are coming to her. And it even looks like it was happening as the people cry out. They're actually coming to Deborah and crying out, help us. Plead to the Lord. Help us. Now she is the judge in this story. And whatever a judge is, she's functioning that way. A judge was kind of king-like. You know, we think of a judge as somebody who makes verdicts and declares guilty or not guilty and sentencing. That's not what a judge is doing in the book of Judges. They were almost king-like, but their whole point was they were not kings to demonstrate that Israel needs a king. Most of all, you realize that God alone is their true king. Whatever a judge does, whatever a prophet does, this woman is doing. She's in Ephraim. This is in the south. If you want to look at your maps in the back of your Bibles, those are actually helpful as we try to picture what's going on. Hezor is in the north. Ephraim is in the south. And the people are coming, crying out to her, help. Now, an observation we need to make from the poem that was read earlier, this is the poem, this is the song of Deborah, and her own self-reflection in verse seven is, Deborah arose as a mother in Israel. Her position is important. She is a prophetess, judge. Her posture is too. She is one who seeks to love the children of God as if her own. Let's look at verse 6. She has a direct word from God for a specific person. Verse 6. She sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abednom from Kadesh, Naphtali. and said to him, has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you? Now that's rhetorical. She's not asking, didn't God say something to you? It's rhetorical in the sense that she's really communicating, surely, indeed, it is for certain. As a prophetess of God, she's trying to make sure that there's a bold confidence in what God has said. You know that God has spoken and that he's commanded to you, Barack, what? He's got two actions. Go and gather. Go, you need to be a man of action. You're supposed to be gathering, or actually what it means is putting together an army to send out. Go and assemble an army. Go gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. So God is speaking. God is command abroad. The prophetess, Deborah, is simply saying what God has said. She's quoting him. Has he not commanded you? Go, it's an imperative. Look at verse seven. That imperative is backed up with something very significant. Who is the I? It's Yahweh. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river. I'm going to orchestrate this entire battle. If you'll just go, I'll bring him out, and then what? I will give him into your hand. The real commander of God's people, God Almighty is calling this man to be the physical representation of his command to the army. He's going to be the ultimate victor, Yahweh. He just has to go. Be obedient. God will bring him out, he's gonna orchestrate the whole battle, and he will give him into your hand. It's very important that we see God says, I will give Sisera into your hand if you will trust and obey me. Don't look at verse 8. What would you like to see in verse 8? Here I am, Lord, send me. That's what I would like to think I would say. I don't think I would say that. But what we should see here is a man who's been commanded by God, and the response should be, here I am, Lord, take my life and let it be. That's not what he says. He doesn't say anything to God. He doesn't make a plea bargain. He doesn't look for a good sign like Gideon. No, he turns to Deborah and says to her, if you'll go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. The man God has chosen to lead his army, He has his calling. He has his role. He has his instruction. Deborah is the mouthpiece of God. She has got her calling, her instruction. They're supposed to do what they're each saying, but here he's saying, you know, I need you to come along with me to help me do my job. This is just simply not very manly. It's not great strength. It's not great courage. Let's be very clear about what it means to be a leader of God's people. It only means you have faith to trust what He says and obey what He says. That's all it requires. That's the leadership skills of Scripture. Trust Him and obey Him. So Deborah is a great leader. She appears to trust what God says and do what God says. Barak says to the lady prophet, I need you to go with me to help me. Deborah warns Barah. Okay, the promise of God is if you do this, I will give him into your hand. He says, no, Deborah, if you go with me, kinda like a little brother here, right? If you go with me, I'll go. I don't wanna go to a nursery by myself. Verse nine, 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." I understand, Brock. God has commanded you. You've made a qualification. I will go if you'll go. It's kind of odd to respond to God's commandment that way, but Deborah is seeking to be a mother of Israel here. I will go, but you need to understand that if you choose to go this route and not simply trusting and obeying, you will not have the honor of having Sisera under your own hand, but the hand of a woman. You're asking for a woman's help, God will give him over to a woman. Yes, there is intended irony there. Let's meditate on this just for a moment because faith is quite complicated. What we are tempted to see here is a lack of faith in Barak. But yet what we heard earlier read by John from Hebrews 11 is that he is listed in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11. So it appears here there's a lack of faith, but yet he is actually stated by the New Testament authors, inspired and carried along by the Holy Spirit, that he's a model of faith. I think we see here is that faith isn't just so simple. It's pretty complicated. I believe you do see here in Barak that there's some fear. And I think we see in Barak that there's some faith. He has a fear and he wants help, and it's okay to ask for help, but he's not denying God. He hasn't said no. The final word of Barak from Hebrews is encouraging and challenging. It's encouraging because I realize how much fear I have in my own life and how little I walk out on faith. It's challenging because I need to be crying out, help my unbelief. It's a reminder here, do not be double-minded. Seek to trust God in every way. Seek to obey God in every way so that we'll follow him and actually be able to lead others to follow him. So this is the interaction, it is an important interaction here, it's a calling of deliverance. Now we have in verse 10, and Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh, and 10,000 men went up to his heels, at his heels, and Deborah went up with him. So the commandment to gather and go, he's been obedient. And verse 11 breaks this story up. It's an odd inclusion for now. It's a good setup. Now Heber, the Kenite, had separated himself from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the Oaks of Zanim, which is near Kadesh. Okay, so we have here that there's some family living out in the middle of nowhere. in the middle of this calling of a commandment and a great promise of God for deliverance. Oh, by the way, there's somebody who you don't even know of, never heard of, but they live out in the wilderness. Okay, wait for it. Verse 12. Remember, God said, I will draw out Cicero. In verse seven. Verse 12. When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abednum had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out all his chariots. 900 chariots of iron. This is kind of like, this is the tanks of the day. And all the men who were with him, from Haresheth, Hagem, to the river Kishon. He's taken the bait. What we see here is God is orchestrating. God is fulfilling what he said he would do. Verse 14, he has drawn him out. Now verse 14, and Deborah said to Barak, she doesn't go to battle with him. She says, up. This is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you? Again, the rhetorical question is really saying, indeed, God is the leader of this army. He is fighting for you. He is fighting with you. He will give you the victory. In Judges 5, God is going to bring about a great crashing of the chariots. So Barak, he's obedient. We see a man of faith now. So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. So we see here an illusion that is actually very important. The word route here is the same word that's used in Exodus 14, 24, the confusion. Remember as Israel is leaving Egypt, They're there at the Red Sea. The army is coming behind them. The people cry out, God, were there not enough graves in Israel? God splits the Red Sea. They walk on dry land. They're on the other side. Then he unleashes the cloud that was protecting them. He removes the cloud, lets the army come into the Red Sea, and there he routed them. He threw them into confusion. He overthrew the chariots. They got caught up in the mud and the rocks, and then he brought the waves crashing down. That same word, rout, that was connected to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The clear, key deliverance that defines who Israel is. Here that word is used of another man leading another army with chariots to destroy Israel. This is God's great deliverance. He routed them. Look at verse 15. Subject, verb. Who is doing the action? Yeah, Barak is being obedient, but the Lord has brought the victory. And then notice this great powerful man, what he does, he gets down from his chariot and fled away on foot, and Barak pursued the chariots and the army, and we were left, no man was left except for Sisera, who's now running on foot. So God has fulfilled his word. He drew him out, he conquered him, he is the Lord of victory, he is the Lord who makes promises, he keeps those promises, But we now go into our next portion of the story. Remember that odd tent, parentheses, that we heard about in verse 11? Now we're gonna come back to that. But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite. Oh, okay, well, here we go. Now we're connecting everything together. For there was peace. If you know what's happening, that's kind of an ironic word, isn't it? For there was peace. between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. They had had a covenant of peace, but this is not going to be a peaceful place for Sisera. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, turn aside my lord, turn aside to me, do not be afraid. Jael has gone out, assuming she knows who this is, Assuming she's coming out and she's appearing as if she wants to help someone she's calling her lord come to me. Now on one level it was very inappropriate for a wife to speak such to any other man. That's one level of awkwardness. The other is that she appears to be deceiving him. 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. And he said to her, stand in the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, is anyone here, say no. So we have this woman, she said, come, she's given him Some nice warm milk before bed. Make sure he gets to sleep, he's exhausted, he's been running, he's been defeated. He's asked her, stand guard. Verse 21. But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg, took a hammer in her hand, then she went softly to him. and drove the pag into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. Now if you thought Ehud was a cold-blooded assassin, wow. Ehud was cunning, but she lies just in his face. Do not fear. Let me give you some milk. Lie down. Yeah, I'll be right here. And then a cruel murder by her own hands. There's actually an allusion here to Eeuw. Took a hammer in her hand. She went and slaughtered him and drove the pag into his temple. Same word that's used driving the dagger into Eglon's stomach. This is a cruel, harsh murder by the hands of a woman, as God said. This is fulfilling what God said when Barak said, no, I need you to come up with me, Deborah. We need to realize that God is sovereignly working here. And we can wrestle, let's wrestle for a moment. But she lied. But she was deceptive, and this just seems like a cold-blooded murder. I want to say, we don't know if she's a believer at this moment. She is related to Moses. She does appear to be acting like a Canaanite, just like all the other Israelites. But let's just take for a moment. Even if she is doing evil by lying to bring about this victory, what we see throughout Scripture that God is a great God of power who is able to use what men intend for evil for his good. That is the lesson that ends Genesis 50. Right? Those brothers who sold Joseph into slavery. What you intended for evil, God has meant for good. Or we can look to Acts 2. You Israelites, you crucified the Lord, but God led Jesus to the cross. We could wrestle with the sin of this just like we could with Rahab. But what we're really supposed to walk away from here is God has kept his word. He is faithful. He is good. He is righteous. Jael then goes and finds Barak, verse 22. Before we go, the poem. He goes down, down, down. The last three words of his death. So he died. Very, very climactic. Wasn't necessary to actually add that. He's died by the hands of a woman. 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 to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead with a tent peg in his temple." Here Barak is recognizing God has said as, God has done what he has said. Verse 23, And so on that day, 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, king of Canaan. So you see here, it begins with Jabin being the main oppressor. But the main focus is on Sisera, that this cruel commander, he abuses God's people. So what do I do with this story? Again, this is not how to fight the Siseras in your own life. Does that, that's just some weird application. Can't go there, this is not a moralistic story. It's also not a therapeutic story. What we're supposed to do here is see as the, I believe the author intends with every one of these stories, how faithless we are and how faithful God is. Over and over again. how faithless we are, how quick we are to forsake God, to forget God, and how faithful He is to do what He has promised to do. Just like last week, everything was in control. Eglon, the fat cow. God strengthened him to overcome Israel, and then he took a man with that lack of splendor to conquer him. God and his power is in complete control. Here, a mighty wicked man, God sells Israel into his cruelty to teach them to worship alone, and then God brings about a mighty victory. God gives a victory. Go back to that word again, again, again, again. The cycle is frustrating. The cycle continues. These cycles of always God's people going after other gods, and God having to deliver them, and they're partial deliverances. It's meant to teach Israel how wicked the heart is when it does what's right in its own eyes. how much they need a King of righteousness and of love to lead them, how much they need to trust God. And it shows us even something more than the original recipients of the judges. It shows us how faithful God is to bring about the final Savior, the final deliverance. Judges points all the way to Christ, who is the true Redeemer, who paid for our sin with his own blood. We can trust him. We're not just called to repent and cry out like Israel did. No, we're called to rejoice because of what a great salvation we have in Jesus Christ, the perfect Savior. That's our response. Hallelujah. Christ is all I have. That's one of the takeaways as we think about this narrative. In addition to chapter 5. What I want you to see that God calls leaders. It is significant that chapter 5 verse 2, the song of Deborah and Barak, that the leaders took the lead in Israel. There's a need for godly leadership. If the whole point of this book is that the people need a king, we need to realize we need to be following. And God alone is the king, but He establishes leaders. He doesn't leave the church without leadership. He doesn't ever leave Israel without leadership. Leaders need to hear the call of God, recognize His voice, and be obedient, to trust Him and to obey Him. This is the most amazing thing about Christian leadership. It's the qualities. The two ingredients of Christian leadership is simply trusting God and obeying Him. It's helping other people see how trustworthy God is and how they can obey Him. But God needs people who will step up and lead. We also see in verse 2 that God calls willing warriors. That the people that offer themselves willingly bless the Lord. One of the most terrifying parts of this song is verses 15 to 17. Where Deborah calls out the nations and tribes and peoples that did not go out to battle? The people who did not join the fight? God does not call any Christian to be a sideline Christian. This isn't a spectator activity. It's something we proactively join in. That there's no neutrality. Faith calls us into battle, and it's not a battle like Barak and Sisera and Jehal, no. We are the church militant. We're fighting by faith and obedience. We saw in Ephesians 6, in the last book we studied, there is an enemy prowling around seeking to destroy us. There's our own sin that's constantly corrupting us. We're supposed to be going out, pressing in against the gates of hell with the gospel. Christian, here we are all to be active. It's a warning against laziness and contentment and sin. I also want to say something very important and that is clearly in our face with this story and that women have a significant role in this story. And I want to say they should have a significant role in our story too. She is meant to be a startling inclusion in judges. A woman will claim the victory over the enemy, not Barak. Deborah has a clear declaration of the prophetess of God. Jael is the woman who is most blessed among women because she had that victory in her hand. This is startling in the culture it was written. Sadly, in our culture, this is seen as like the great token passage for feminists. It's a reminder for us as Christians. God gifts all Christian women to be used for His glory. Women are clearly capable and gifted to do what God calls them to do. The limits in the Old Testament was a woman couldn't be a priest. The limits in the New Testament is a woman can't be a pastor, but there's so much freedom within those limits. It's actually amazing how Deborah is the model of faith in this passage. And most of the women in Scripture, mostly seen in Scripture are women who are faithful. Barak does not get the glory. I want you to see something that it talks about the glory and honor that the woman will have who has victory. What honor? Look to chapter 5 verse 24. What is the honor that is being spoken of there that Barak loses and the woman gets? Verse 24, most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of ten dwelling women most blessed. And then he goes on to the narrative. There's only two women in the Bible that are spoken of this way. There's only two women in the Bible that are spoken of as the most blessed. One is the mother of our Lord, Mary, the virgin. The other is Jael, the tent peg assassin. startling. But what we see here that she, I believe this is pointing that she is a woman of faith. She is doing the will of God. She crushes the head of Deborah is gifted to lead with courage and gives wise counsel from God. Being a mother is a gift from God. We want to hold up that great honor of motherhood, but we need to be careful in thinking that that is the limited role of women. Women are not limited to picking the curtains, colors, and working in the nursery. No one's ever said that, but I fear sometimes it might feel like that. We recognize women are made in the image of God with all equal dignity and honor as a man. And the Holy Spirit that indwells us is the same spirit that indwells women. We all have the same Savior, the same Holy Spirit, and we have many of the same gifts. All women are gifted by God to be used for His glory, and many of those gifts require words. Yes, we see that limit. They are not to be pastors, I want us to build a culture here where we were able to celebrate. Women can celebrate and rejoice that there's that limit and yet know how they can use their gifts within those limits. A key motif throughout Judges is justice. There's a great contrast. The mother of Israel, Deborah, is the one who organizes and leads God's people to trust him. And then we have the mother of Sisera. There is a clear contrast between these two. The mother of Israel is bold and confident that God is going to bring a victory. The mother of Sisera is anxious with where her son is, and then starts delighting that maybe her son and the warriors are just raping all the other women of Israel. That's why we can rejoice. that a tent peg went through Cicero's head. He was a wicked and cruel man, and God brought justice. Men, it is frightening and terrifying of how widespread the abuse of women is. we hear quotes. There's so many things we could point out. Within our own denomination, there's an issue going on with a leader who's been saying inappropriate things about women. Well, we don't need to think about that problem outside. We need to think about the problem here within. How are we not protecting and proclaiming the full dignity and honor of women? They're not to be treated like objects to be used, but human beings, made in the image of God, glorious in beauty and ability. The final word of the song will be the final word we hear this morning. So may all your enemies perish, O Lord, but Your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might. This is a clear declaration there are two kinds of people. There are people who are enemies of God and people who are friends of God. There are people who continue in rebellion and they will perish. There is an eternal judgment and wrath that is for those who continue in their sin and do not turn to God and ask for forgiveness in Jesus Christ. If you're a believer this morning, that's you. We plead with you, cry out to God, who is eager to hear, who's eager to turn, who has already sent his son to die for your sin so that you might be washed clean. Something that's amazing, that Abraham was declared a friend by God, he's declared a friend by God by faith. By simply trusting that God would do what he said he would do, we become friends of God by turning to God. Believing he has done what he said he did. He sent his only son to become like us in every way, yet without sin. To live the life we refuse to live. To die in the place of sinners as someone who had never sinned, but to be treated like a sinner. So we look to him, his life. as a substitute for ours, under the wrath of God, so that when he cries out, why have you forsaken me? He is suffering the wrath and the forsakenness that we have, so that when he rises again, he can lead us back into his presence. Believer, cling to this as your only hope. If you're not a Christian, do not leave here without talking to somebody about what that means. Cry out to him for salvation. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise You that You do not give us what we deserve with wrath, but instead You have chosen to send Your own Son so that He would pay our debt. He would be our substitute. So we seek to lift Him up, not only in our words and in our song and our prayers, but with our entire lives. Help us to be marked by as a people who truly live Jesus paid it all and to all, all to him I owe. In his name we pray, amen.