“Nailed It! | Sunday, February 25, 2024

Speaking about flying on a plane, I was recently on my way back to San Diego. As I was flying, I looked over and saw someone watching a movie on the screen of the seat back in front of me. The person was watching a film from my youth, one of the top-grossing movies of all time, which was released in the early part of my senior year. By far, the biggest movie of 1997 was James Cameron's "Titanic," that great love story about Jack and Rose. From the very first scene, you knew that this great love story was going to end in absolute disaster—basically like all of Leonardo DiCaprio's relationships since then.

I don't necessarily recommend the movie, but it is fascinating. James Cameron, the director of that film, holds the record for having three of the top five highest-grossing films of all time, with "Titanic" being one of them. It is interesting to take a movie where everybody knows what is going to happen. I can talk about this without spoiling anything; we all know the ship sank. It is a fascinating thing, and you have to be quite the storyteller, which obviously James Cameron is. He was able to get tons of people to fork over a lot of money to watch a movie where you know exactly what is going to happen from the moment it starts.

What is amazing is that he is such a good storyteller that he was able to hijack psychology. He has even talked about this in some of the interviews I have seen with him, where he discusses how he hijacked the psychology of the audience. He knows that residing in every single one of us is this hope that things are going to turn out okay, even though we know it is highly unlikely. There is that saying, "Hope springs eternal."

Through the film, he was able to use our psychology against us, leading us into a state of denial. We have this hope that everything will turn out well, even though we know it is not going to. We know that they are going to sink; we understand that things are not going to go well. Yet, there is this denial portion of us, this bargaining portion, where we think through the whole thing. Maybe, just maybe, they will make it through and everything will be okay in the end. They won't hit the iceberg, though we know they are going to hit it. Perhaps they won't sink, but deep down, we know they are going to sink.

Boat and they will live happily ever after, which they don't. I've spoiled it; you don't need to see it anyway. It's a terrible film, so don't go see it. But he got people to sit through one of the longest movies of the time, knowing that all of it was going to end in disaster.

Judges chapter 4 is just like that. At the end of Judges chapter 3, if you were here with us last week, the children of Israel, by the hand of Ehud, the left-handed man, were able to kill and destroy Eglon, that obese fat cow from Moab. The sword went in, and literally, the King James Version says, "the dirt came out." It's a beautiful picture; every junior high boy loves that passage of Scripture.

At the end of it, Israel has been liberated from their oppressors, and they experienced liberation for a period of time. For 80 years, Moab was subdued that day, as stated in Judges 3:30, "under the hand of Israel," and the land had rest for 80 years. There is a part of us that kind of looks at it and thinks, "Well, maybe, just maybe, Israel will continue to walk in obedience and reap the blessings of obedience."

As the passage goes on, yet we know Judges 4:1 states that when Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. You knew it was coming, even though there's a part of us that hopes it might be different. But it was not different; the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.

So the Lord, just as the cycle shows, allowed them to be sold into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in the city of Hazor. This is in the northern part of the nation of Israel. The commander of Jabin, king of Canaan's army, was a man named Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Haggoyim. The children of Israel cried out to the Lord for Jabin, as he had 900 chariots of iron, and for 20 years, he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

Hope springs eternal. We kind of enter into this section maybe in a little bit of denial, just hoping that they would continue to walk in obedience. But the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. We're going to see those words more as we continue through the Book of Judges this year. Note that word "again"; maybe highlight it or underline it in your Bible. The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and when we read that, there is a sense in us where we're just kind of...

You kind of slowly shake your head in disgust and shame, or maybe you facepalm and think, "Oh, come on, Israel! Why? Why? Why?" Moses had told them probably 100 or 150 years before this that if they would walk in obedience and observe God's statutes to do them, then they would reap the blessings of obedience. However, if they departed from them and began to disobey God, they would reap the consequences of disobedience and be cursed from the land.

In disgust and disbelief, we shake our heads and wonder why Israel acted this way. The sad fact is that, as much as we sometimes find ourselves pointing the finger in shame and disgust at someone who falls, like Israel in this passage, the difficult truth for us to accept and admit is that we are actually not all that different.

I am reminded of a New Testament passage of Scripture that has caused a lot of debates and conversations among Bible teachers and commentators for a very long time. It is in the New Testament book of Romans. In Romans chapter 7, there is something that Paul writes about, which has been titled by many commentators as the "Romans 7 man." There have been discussions and debates among commentators and Bible teachers for a long time about who this Romans 7 man is that Paul is describing.

Some Bible teachers say he is imagining a person who doesn't exist, a hypothetical individual. Others will say he is imagining a person who is not yet a Christian and does not have the Spirit of God within them. Some Bible commentators suggest he is talking about himself, while others believe he is discussing the experience of the Christian.

In Romans 7:14, Paul writes, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, carnal, and sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." Skipping down to verse 18, he says, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For the will, the desire, is present within me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I want to do, I do not do; but the bad things I do not want to do, that I practice." He goes on to say, "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"

I want to get up early and run in the morning. I want to exercise and do good things, but I often don't. The bad things I don't want to do, I find myself practicing. Oh, wretched man that I am!

There is a debate among Bible commentators about whether Paul is imagining a hypothetical person that doesn't exist, or if he is reflecting on his own experience, or perhaps someone who is not a Christian. I believe Paul is speaking about the experience that every single one of us has as Christians. The good things I want to do, I don't do, and the bad things I don't want to do, that I practice.

I think Israel wanted to do what was right. I say that because, when they first received the law from God in Exodus chapter 20, as Moses was preparing them for the reception of the law, they declared in Exodus chapter 19, "Everything that God has said, we will do and be obedient." Then Moses went up on Mount Sinai and returned with the law. In Exodus 24, they reiterated, "Everything that God has said, we will do and be obedient." They truly wanted to do what was right.

However, within a month and a half, they were dancing around a golden calf, bowing down to idols, and giving themselves over to immorality. The good things that I want to do, I don't do, and the bad things that I don't want to do, that I practice. I believe they wanted to walk in obedience and shun idolatry. When Ehud was gone and they had been freed for 80 years from the Moabites, they still wanted to do the right thing and walk in obedience. Yet again, they did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Their experience, as much as we sometimes don't want to accept or admit it, is our experience. We want to do what is right, and yet we often find that we fail. I have found it helpful to remember this point: in and of myself, I am and will always be weak. My flesh does not like to admit that. I don't want to accept or acknowledge that I am weak, but in and of myself, I find that I am and will always be.

Weak, the spirit, as Jesus said, is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. I have discovered in my life, and maybe you've seen this as well, that when I approach things in life with this humble recognition that in and of myself I am and always will be weak, I am more likely to find strength. As Paul described in his second letter to the Corinthians, when I am weak, then I am strong. What a paradoxical statement! What is that all about?

I realize, as I walk with the Lord, that when I live in this kind of humble recognition, that in and of myself I am and always will be weak, I am more likely to rely upon another source of strength than my own. When I try to rely upon my own strength, I frequently fall and fail. The good things that I want to do, I don't practice, and the bad things that I don't want to do, that I practice. I find a law in myself, as Paul says; there is something that is ruling me in my flesh to the point that I cry out like Paul, "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"

I am so thankful that there is an answer to that question. There is deliverance, but I think that deliverance is only fully realized and experienced when we come to the place where we humbly acknowledge that in and of ourselves we are and always will be weak. It is there that I can begin to experience the power of Christ resting upon me. It is there that I can begin to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might to walk in His strength.

I think, like Israel, many of us want to do what is good and right. By God's grace, this is what we discover when we study through the Scriptures, especially the New Testament. By God's grace and by the enabling power of His Holy Spirit, we can walk in rightness—what is right before God. Righteousness is how the Scriptures would put it. We can walk in the Spirit, and if we walk in the Spirit, Galatians chapter 5 says, we will not fulfill the lusts of our flesh. But if we walk in the flesh, then, like Israel, we very likely will succumb to the lustful desires of our flesh and, again like Israel, do evil in the sight of the Lord.

The children of Israel, again, as stated in Judges 4:1, did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Evil brings up another thing for us to consider. Those words reveal that there is a category of things—actions, activities, thoughts—that are evil. This is something that we, in 2024, need to freshly acknowledge. Though many of you probably say, "Well, I know that’s true," we are living in a culture that increasingly calls evil good and good evil.

Now, that’s not new or novel; it has happened in various places at various times throughout history. In fact, during the time of the prophet Isaiah, about 2,800 years ago, that’s exactly where the children of Israel were. There were people who called evil good and good evil. They put darkness for light and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

What the Bible reveals is that there is a category of things that are evil. They are clearly and objectively wrong—evil and wicked. What things would actually be in the category of things that are objectively evil? I think, in talking about walking in the flesh versus walking in the Spirit, Paul gives some good indications in the New Testament book of Galatians.

When he talks about walking in the flesh, he says the works of the flesh are evident. Then he gives us a list. Here’s the list of things that the Bible calls the works of the flesh and what results from those who walk in or practice these things:

The works of the flesh are evident, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness (which is a sexual uncleanness), lewdness, idolatry, sorcery (which is connected to pharmakeia or pharmacological substances in the original language), hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.

The list could go on and on of things that are the works of the flesh that are objectively evil. How do we know they are objectively evil? Because I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom or the blessing of God. These are among the things that are, according to the Scriptures, objectively evil. Some of them we hear in the list and say, "Yes, that’s evil—murder, that’s wicked, that’s evil." But in our culture today, there are others that people say, "Well, that’s just your opinion."

In their opinion, they call evil good and good evil. Notice in this passage in Judges chapter 4 that the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Another way to read that would be that the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The word translated as "eyes" or "sight" in Judges 4:1 is the very same word used in the Hebrew language when we read later that every man did what was right in his own eyes.

There will be people who say, "Well, that thing that you call evil is not evil. It's not that bad." We read in that list of fornication. What is that? That's sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage. We live in a culture that says, "No, no, no, that's not evil. That's normal behavior of consensual adults." They say that's perfectly fine, and that's what we are told in our culture. Yet the Scriptures say no; that actually is outside the bounds of what God calls right. He says that is actually wicked and evil, and those who practice such things shall inherit not eternal life in the kingdom of God, but they shall indeed inherit corruption and destruction.

Now, many in our culture will say, "No, no, no, that's not true. That's not objectively evil." Well, look at the outcomes. What does it produce in a culture and society? I think you can see by the fruit you shall know the tree. Every man did what was right in his own eyes, and by doing those things, they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Things are evil based on an authority declaring them to be out of bounds or wrong, evil, immoral.

When we read that they did evil in the sight of the Lord, we are given this understanding, which accords with reality as we understand it and see it. There are things that are objectively evil, and they are objectively evil because there is an objective moral standard, or what we call a moral law. However, we are living in a culture that increasingly says there is no such thing as an objective standard or moral law. It is a socially constructed idea of what is right or wrong. This is what's called social construct theory.

Here in the Western world of 2024, we live in a world that has been feeding us this ideology, this worldview, for a long time: morality is socially constructed. If you ever have a conversation with someone who says that morality is socially constructed and that there are no objective standards of right and wrong, all you have to do is ask, "Was it objectively wrong what happened in Auschwitz in the 1940s?" I've yet to meet a person who will not agree that it was objectively wrong. If it was...

Objectively wrong actions imply the existence of an objective moral law. If there is a moral law, then there must be a moral lawgiver. By necessity, there is a rule giver, who we find in the Scriptures is God. If there is an objective moral law, then there is an objective moral lawgiver, and God is, by necessity, that lawgiver.

Some people may say, "I just don't agree with that." However, your agreement doesn't matter at all. There are many things people might disagree with, such as the law of gravity. If someone were to say, "I just don't agree with that," I would suggest they test it out and see how that works for them. I love that phrase from Dr. Phil: "How's that working for you?" It doesn't seem to work very well.

When Isaiah spoke 2,800 years ago about those who call evil good and good evil, he articulated it like this in Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." The word "woe" is translated in other English versions as "sorrow awaits" or "judgment is certain." Sorrow awaits the person who calls evil good and good evil.

This raises the question: Where does evil come from? It's fascinating that in the Bible, the first use of the word "evil" appears in the opening chapters. God gives the first command to humanity, saying, "Of all the trees of the garden, you shall freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." Through humanity's decision to disobey God's command, we gained an awareness, an understanding, and experiential knowledge of what evil is. Through that disobedience, which the Bible calls sin—because sin is disobedience to God's command—death entered the world, and evil entered into our hearts.

Where does evil come from? Some philosophers in our culture today argue that evil is the result of society, claiming that people do evil things because they have been oppressed by society. But where did the oppression of society, which is itself evil, come from? Jesus provides an answer in Mark chapter 7 when he states that it is "from within, out of the heart of man" that evil arises.

Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness—all of these things come from within and defile man or destroy humanity. Where does evil come from? It is the result of sin's effect in our lives and in our hearts. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and it spread to all humanity.

These things that are identified by Paul in Galatians 5 as the works of the flesh are recognized as the evil results of an evil heart by Jesus in Mark 7. Adultery, sexual immorality, murder, theft, and lewdness are all, according to God, evil.

Point number two, if you're taking notes: apart from God's intervening redemptive action, I am the subject enslaved to moral evil and sin. Evil comes from our hearts. A broken heart affected by sin produces sinful thoughts and evil actions, and there is no way to deal with that apart from the intervening redemptive action of God. Without God intervening, we are subjects of and slaves to moral evil and sin.

This is why, even with all their hopeful ambition and professions, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Note those words: "in the sight of the Lord." This is something we need to really take to heart and understand. God sees, and He knows the fullness of the depths of the wickedness of our sinful hearts.

Even though, here's the amazing thing, we often do not even know it. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart of man is desperately wicked; who can know it?" Yet the very next verse, verse 10, says, "I, the Lord, search the heart; I know the heart." They did evil in the sight of the Lord. Sometimes we think that our sins are private, personal, or hidden, or that they are not harming anybody because they are our own personal matters.

Nothing is hidden from the Lord. Jesus said in Luke 12:2 that nothing is covered nor hidden that will not be known. In Hebrews 4, we read that all things are exposed and naked before Him, before God, to whom we must give an account. Again, in that very same book, it is stated that it is appointed for all men to die once, and then there will come a judgment. He who sees all and knows all, one day I will stand before Him completely exposed and open before Him.

Woe to those, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 29:15. Woe to those, which means sorrow awaits or destruction is certain. Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and they say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" In the time of Isaiah, there was a group of people in the land of Israel who were doing all kinds of immoral and sinful things, but they did it behind closed doors. They thought nobody knows, nobody sees; it doesn't harm anybody, it's no big deal. But God sees and He knows.

The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Jabin had 900 chariots of iron and for 20 years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel. Apart from God's intervening redemptive action, I am the subject of and the slave of sin and moral evil. If God does not intervene and if I do not receive His redemptive intervention, then I am under sin and subject to justice. The wrath of God will be revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

God was moved to anger because of Israel's sin. As I have shared many times over the last several weeks, He steps back and allows passive punishment. He allows them to reap the consequences of their sin, and immediately their enemies come in and oppress them. Jabin, king of Canaan, and his commanders with 900 chariots of iron.

What is amazing about this is that not very long before this, maybe a century at most, the children of Israel, when they came into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, subdued Jabin, king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. Jabin is probably a title, like Pharaoh in Egypt. So, Jabin, king of Canaan, was ruling in a city called Hazor during the time that Israel came into the promised land under Joshua.

You can read about this in Joshua chapter 11. Probably about a century before this, in Judges chapter 4, the children of Israel overcame Jabin, king of Canaan, in Hazor. They utterly destroyed the city. In fact, Joshua chapter 11 says they wiped out all the Canaanites. Those words really bother people in 2024 here in the United States and in the Western world. They say, "Look at these horrible genocidal people, the children of Israel, thousands of years ago. They utterly destroyed everybody."

I have shared before that I think those are more hyperbolic words. Just like when you say something like, "Man, the Kansas City Chiefs destroyed and crushed the 49ers." No, they didn't actually go out there and physically assault and destroy them, although there were times when it looked like it. We use hyperbolic language. When we read in Joshua 11:11 that the children of Israel struck all the people who were there in Hazor with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, and that there was none left breathing, we see that they burned Hazor with fire and destroyed all the people. If they did that, how is it that less than 100 years later, Hazor is rebuilt and there is a new Jabin, king of Canaan, on the throne?

This serves as a reminder of a truth that we would do well to remember: any sin allowed to remain will inevitably become a snare. I think this is the third time I have shared this exact same point in the last five weeks or so, and I will probably share it a half a dozen more times. Any sin allowed to remain will inevitably become a snare. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul says that all these things that happened to the children of Israel happened to them as examples, as learning lessons for us. We should take and apply the spiritual truths of what they were doing in the land of Canaan.

If we do not root out and destroy sin in our lives, it will come back. It will come back stronger and more powerful. Old enemies rise again if they are not continuously subdued. Decades after Israel found themselves free from Jabin, king of Canaan, and the city of Hazor, they are under his thumb once again. The children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

At that time, Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel. She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel, in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Judgment came, and she called for a man named Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh in Naphtali. She said to him, "Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, 'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor? Take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun. Against you, I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the river Kishon, and I will deliver him

God describes Himself as all-powerful, so why would He choose to use us? Paul answers that question right after he states that God has chosen the foolish things of the world. He does this so that no flesh would glory in His presence. God chooses the foolish, the base, and the weak so that He gets the glory.

We see this in the passage with Deborah and Barak, and we will meet another individual in a moment. We will see this again when we get to Judges chapter 6, where we are introduced to Gideon and his army of 300 that destroy the Midianites. We will see it again in Judges chapter 11 when we read about Jephthah, a man with all kinds of issues and problems. Then, in Judges chapter 13, we read about Samson. If ever there was an unlikely and unexpected judge, it was Samson. He gets the largest section of the Book of Judges because, boy, was he a screw-up. If God can use him, He can use us. This is so that no flesh would glory in His presence.

God chooses to bring deliverance in unexpected and unlikely ways, and He does this so that it will forever be clear that God did it.

Point number four, if you're taking notes: God alone has the authority and power to deliver us from the snare of sin. He is the one who has the power to set us free. God chose to use Deborah to bring forth deliverance from Jabin, the King of Canaan, and Sisera, who had 900 chariots of iron.

It’s fascinating the way Deborah approaches this whole situation. She understood her culture; she understood that there was a hierarchy, a patriarchy, shall we say. I know that kind of freaks people out in 2024 in the Western United States, but there was one, and she understood the world that she lived in. She knew that God had set her apart and called her. People were coming to her for counsel and leadership in the nation of Israel.

So, she calls out to a man named Barak, who was apparently a leader in his day as well. She approaches him with great wisdom. She basically offers him a question; she doesn’t say, "Thus saith the Lord, God has told you to do this," even though she is called a prophetess in this passage of Scripture. Instead, she asks him an inquiring question: "Has God been speaking to you about what He’s been saying to me?" She wisely kind of puts it over into his court.

Have you heard the same thing that I've heard? Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, "Go, deploy troops against Jabin and his army"? This is not a bad way to approach a situation in your life. If there is someone who has a higher rank than you and you have been put in a position where you are trying to direct something, sometimes it's better to offer an inquiry than to impose your idea.

Deborah asks, "Has God been speaking to you the same thing He's been speaking to me?" She is walking in wisdom, as Jesus would say, "wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove." I love Barak's response in verse 8. Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I am not doing it."

So she said, "I surely will go with you, but just so you know, there will be no glory for you in this journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." She says, "Listen, Barak, I'm trying to help you out here. God is calling you to do this. He wants you to go do this. He’s going to deliver them into your hand. It’s not even you; it’s Him. He’s going to go with you."

He responds, "Well, I really want you to come with me." She replies, "Fine, listen, I will come with you, but you really don’t need me with you. You need God with you, and He’s already with you. So you need to go. But fine, if you need me to go with you, I’ll go with you. Just so you know, it’s not going to be written down in the annals of history that Barak was awesome, because a woman is going to get the fame here."

Interestingly, it’s not Deborah, as we shall see.

Now, in verse 11 of Judges chapter 4, we read about Heber. Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the Tabor tree in Zaanannim, which is beside Kedesh. You may wonder, "Why do I need to know this?"

Note this in verse 12: "And they reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor." What on earth is going on here? There is a man who was connected relationally to the children of Israel. He has moved away from his family and is living as an informant for the enemy. He tells Jabin and Sisera, "Hey, just by the way, there are some people in Israel gathering a group of warriors against you." He is a spy, and he reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.

Mount Tabor. So, Sisera gathered together all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him from Heros Hagu to the river of Kishon. Then Deborah said to Barak, "Up! For this day is the day which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera alighted; he got off his chariot and fled away on foot.

This great commander, the Canaanite commander Sisera, saw the children of Israel's armies come down, and God delivered the Canaanites into his hand. Now Sisera was running for his life. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Heros Hagu, and all the army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left. However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite.

Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord. Turn aside to me; do not fear." When he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Oh my goodness! You're like, what on earth is going on here? The Kenites were connected relationally to the children of Israel, but now he had been informing against the children of Israel to the Canaanites, and now his wife was going to hide the commander of the army.

Then he said to her, "Would you please give me a little water to drink? I am so parched and thirsty." So she opened a jug of milk. Now, this was the 14th century BC in an arid climate in Israel. As John so astutely recognized just a moment ago, there was no refrigerator, and milk in that day was not exactly like you might think of, like in the "Got Milk" commercials with a big tall glass of cold milk. Some people really like that, but that's not this. This is like curdled, yogurty, sour milk.

She came in with a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. He said to her, "Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires, you shall say..."

Is there a man in here? You shall say no. So, hide me, feed me, and lie for me. Cicera says to her, "Look at this verse." This is where the junior high boys are like, "Yes!"

Then Jael, Eber's wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand. She went in softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. So, he died—nailed! That's what I call a splitting headache. I think it's safe to assume that Cicera had never popped that outcome into his head before. She got him. Do you think he got the point? She drove it home really well. I could keep going all day long.

Point number five: God frequently chooses unlikely sources and methods to accomplish His purposes and plans. It's like a Jewish housewife circa 14400 BC.

Then Barak pursued Cicera, and Jael came out to meet him and said, "Come, I will show you the man whom you seek." When he went into her tent, there lay Cicera dead with a peg in his temple. So, on that day, God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of the children of Israel. God did it, and the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him.

For Israel to be free, Cicera had to die. He came to Jael's tent and said, "Listen, you've got to hide me." What is this? Well, it's a picture of the Canaanite wanting to be hidden. So, she takes him in, and he says, "Hide me." She's got a Canaanite in her closet hiding. Then it says, "Tend to me, feed me, take care of me." That's what our flesh does; it just wants no one else.

Has to know it. It says to her, "Lie for me." That's exactly what your flesh does. You just kind of think, "No one has to know about this. It's private. It's hidden. It's not bothering anybody. Just keep me hidden here." That's what the flesh does.

But for Israel to be free, Sisera had to die. For you and I to be free from the oppression of sin, Jesus had to be nailed to a tree. Through His death, we're set free, just like the children of Israel were set free as Sisera was put to death. We also can be set free from sin, the oppressive power, the bondage of sin, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

He frees us first from the punishment of sin because He bore your punishment and mine on the cross. That's called justification. He frees us from the punishment of sin, but not only that; He desires in your life and mine now to free us from sin's power. We are no longer under the oppressive hand of Sisera and Jabin, king of Canaan. We can be set free from sin's power by the sanctifying work of God, by His Spirit.

How does He do that? Well, through the work of the cross, He sets us free. As we come to Him, when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. If you have trusted in Christ today and you've been set free from the punishment of sin, you no longer abide under His wrath.

But here's what He wants to do in your life now: He wants to set you free from the power of sin today. That sin that's hidden, that nobody knows about, that Canaanite in your closet that has been oppressing you and saying, "You got to lie for me," for however long it's been. That sin that so easily ensnares you and keeps you under burdensome bondage—God wants to remove that from your life. He wants to set you free.

As you confess your sin to the Lord, He is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. But that old man, the flesh, needs to be crucified. The Apostle Paul, in Galatians chapter 2, says, "I have been crucified with Christ; I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

God wants to set you free, and He accomplished that liberating work to set you free on the cross, which is a perfect segue for us.

This morning, we are going to partake of communion in just a moment, where we remember His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us so that we could be freed from the power of sin. I am going to invite the worship team to come up, and they will lead us in a song shortly. As they lead us in a song, the ushers will come and bring the communion elements. If you don't already have them, just hold on to them until the end.

This is the time when we remember that Jesus died in our place on the cross to liberate us from sin and death, to liberate us from the punishment of sin, and to liberate us from the power of sin. One day, He will liberate us from the presence of sin when He glorifies us and brings us into His presence. God wants you to be free and to walk in that liberty. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free by His death, burial, and resurrection.

Father God, I pray that You would cement these realities in our minds and in our hearts. God, begin to do a greater liberating work in us, Lord, as we trust in You, as we trust in the power of Your Word and the power of Your Spirit. As we trust Jesus in the power that You demonstrated on the cross, would You set us free so that we can walk in liberty? For whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

God, help us to be those who are no longer under the bondage of sin and death, the Canaanite hiding in the closet, to be set free. We praise You, Lord, that You have the power and the authority to do that. We rejoice in You today. Amen.

Lord, we owe all to You today. We thank You for Your grace, that You who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might receive righteousness. Today, because of Your work on the cross, we can be clothed in Your righteousness, not our own. Apart from You, we have no power; we have no strength. We are weak, slaves, and subjects to sin—sin that ensnares us, sin that holds us down. Jesus, You have the exousia, the authority and power to deliver us. We thank You for Your grace. We thank You, Jesus, for the work.

That you did for us to be delivered. Jesus, on the same night that He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's partake together, remembering His body broken for us.

In the same manner, He also took the cup after they had eaten and said, "This is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." Let's partake together.

Lord, we understand that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, forgiveness, or removal of sins. But Jesus, You led and died on the cross for us. You died for our sins according to the Scriptures. You were buried, and You rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures so that we could be set free—set free from sin's punishment, from its power, and one day from the presence of sin. We will be with You in Your presence, and there will be no more flesh and sin. There will be no more death; every tear will be wiped away.

God, we rejoice in You. I pray that we would be those who are free, walking in the liberty that You have given us, rejoicing in Your freedom. May that be evident to the other people we interact with, because we live next door to, go to school with, or work with many people who are still under the bondage of sin, slaves to sin. You want to set them free.

In the same way that You used the unlikely and unexpected Deborah to bring deliverance, Lord, would You use us? We may feel like we have nothing to offer, but that's exactly what You're looking for—people that You can empower by Your grace and by Your Spirit. Would You pour out Your Spirit and empower Your people? Help us this week to shine brightly as lights in a dark world. We pray and praise You.