FHBC Sermon Notes

It is good to be back. My family has been out of town for three weeks. What joy to gather with the fellowship of the saints once more!In this story we may ask who is the main character. One might think it is Deborah, but at the center we see that Yahweh is in fact the true central focus. So should be our own worship.

Some review...
In the book of Judges we have seen a pattern of rebellion, judgment, and deliverance.  It is a continual illustration of the human condition. We also see a continual degradation of the people and of the judges who deliver them. With each cycle of the story, the state of things gets worse and worse. So it is when we are left to ourselves. In is our natural state that we rightly put other idols, other habits and practices before the face of God, putting the idol of self first. My way, my will.

The story...
The story begins with a desperate state. The little group of Israelites are faced with a huge, cruel and technologically superior force. It is a time of pain and anguish. Yes, this shows God's faithfulness. After all he is keeping to his word. This is the curse that was promised if they broke their side of the covenant. But God is both just and merciful. His judgment reveals his mercy. What in the penalty of their rebellion, of their abandonment, their mockery of the promises given. Is it not death?  Yet we see less than what is deserved. He does not bring to completion the judgment deserved. The best and full illustration of this coupling of mercy and judgment is found fully on the cross. Why does God do all of this?  He is a gracious and compassionate God. He gives mercy because he is merciful.

v. 1-10.  First we see here is that Deborah is a prophetess. The people came to her not for her own judgment.  She is not sitting as a judge. They were looking for the judgment of God on them.  Verse 3 says they were crying out to God, and so they went to Deborah to receive God's judgment. In this we might ask, why aren't they going to the tabernacle?  We have begun to see that the priesthood has become very corrupt.  Where were the people to hear from the Lord? This we see in the prophets. Deborah is the next prophet after Moses in the Bible.

God's answer is that he tells Deborah to summon Barak to gather the people and march on Sisera, saying that God will deliver him.  Yet Barak acceptance of this is halfway. He believes perhaps that the prophet is a sign of the presence of God. What it entails in the end though is an opportunity for God's glory to shine.

Is this not an story of God's total sovereignty? God purposed that Sisera be the oppressor, for Deborah to proclaim, for Barak to lead, but ultimately for God to be the deliverer. 

Why do we need not fear? God has sent us, but we do not go alone. God goes with us, His Spirit in us.  We goes in power, His power before us. There is assurance. We respond in faith, for God is faithful.  Amen!