up to her for judgment and she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoham out of
Kadesh Naphtali and said unto him hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded
saying go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee 10,000 men of the
children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun and I'll draw unto thee the
river Kaish unto thee unto thee to the river Kaish on Sisera the captain of
Jabin's army with his chariots and his multitude and I'll deliver him into
thine hand and Barak said unto her if thou will go with me then I will go but
if thou will not go with me then I will not go and she said I will surely go
with thee notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine
honor for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman and Deborah
arose and went with Barak to Kadesh and Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to
Kadesh and he went up and he went up with 10,000 men at his feet and Deborah
went up with him now Hebrew the Canaanite which was of the children of
Hobab the father-in-law of Moses had severed himself from the key nights and
pitched his tent under the plane of Zainim which is by Kadesh and they
showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinim was gone up to Mount Tabor and
Sisera gathered together all his chariots even 900 chariots of iron and
all the people that were with him from Herosheth of the Gentiles under the
river of Kaish on and Deborah said unto Barak up for this is the day in which
the Lord had delivered Sisera into thine hand is not the Lord gone out before
thee so Barak went down from Mount Tabor and 10,000 men after him and the Lord
discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the
sword before Barak so that Sisera lighted down off this chariot and fled
away on his feet but Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host unto
Herosheth of the Gentiles and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the
sword and there was not a man left albeit Sisera fled away on his feet to
the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite but there was peace between Jabin
the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite and Jael went out to meet
Sisera and said unto him turn in my Lord turn into me fear not and when he had
turned unto unto her into the tent she covered him with a mantle and he said
unto her give me I pray thee a little water to drink for I'm thirsty and she
opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him again he said unto
her stand in the door of the tent it shall be when any man doth come and
inquire of thee and say is there any man here that thou shalt say no then Jael
Heber's wife took a nail of the tent and took a hammer in her hand and went
softly unto him and smote the nail into his temples and fastened it into the
ground for he was fast asleep and weary so he died and behold as Barak pursued
Sisera Jael came out to meet him and said unto him come and I'll show thee the
man whom thou seekest and when he came into her tent behold Sisera laid dead
and the nail was in his temples so God subdued on that day Jabin the king of
Canaan before the children of Israel and the hand of the children of Israel
prospered and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan until they destroyed
Jabin king of Canaan let's pray to Lord God just thank you for everything you've
blessed us with just ask that you would be with our pastor now as he preaches I
pray that you fill him with your spirit and please just bless the message and in
Jesus name we pray amen amen okay we're in Judges chapter 4 and we're gonna come
back to this story in just a bit but if you can go with me to Romans chapter 12
hold your place there in the book of Judges chapter 4 but go to Romans
chapter 12 the title of my sermon this morning is permissible but not sanctioned
permissible but not sanctioned this morning I want to talk about the
principle that just because God allowed someone to do something it doesn't mean
that he sanctioned it meaning that you know the Bible is filled with men and
women doing great exploits doing great things for God God using them in a great
way but the Bible is also filled with the same people doing questionable
things right questionable things that would cause the reader to think maybe
God was okay with it maybe that means that it's okay for us to do something
like that and there's always throughout the Bible this somewhat of permissive
silence from God that can cause people to think oh God is fine with this person
committing this particular action fulfilling this particular role and more
often than not you'll find that many times when people did things that seemed
wrong questionable and you know God didn't correct them for it or something
it's not that he sanctioned it it's but rather he just allowed it okay and
allowing something doesn't necessarily mean that he puts a stamp of approval on
it it just means that he's allowing man to exercise their free will it doesn't
mean it's God's will it doesn't mean that it should be a template for how we
should do things right it simply means that he allowed it now why would God do
something like that why would he allow certain people in the Bible to do
certain things that when we look at the plenary of Scripture would say well that
was wrong how come God didn't correct them why didn't he punish him for that
why didn't he actually say something why was there silence during the time well
here's three reasons why and I already mentioned one of them and the first one
is that there are times when God chooses not to intervene with with man's free
will okay you know God is not a Calvinistic God where he is just
controlling every person's actions and motives and you know essentially just
making robots in this world he's obviously allowing man to exercise
their free will and believe it or not man chooses their will to do wrong
things to make bad decisions to commit sin to do things that are not pleasing
unto the Lord and so sometimes God doesn't intervene because of the fact
that he's given mankind the gift of free will but another reason why he
would allow certain people to fulfill roles or do certain things that are not
approved in the eyes of God it's because of the fact that actions have built-in
consequences so it's almost a matter of God's not willing to punish them because
they're already going to be punished their actions have consequences there
are ramifications to the things that they do and in fact let me read you two
verses here you don't have to turn there in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 31
says therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled
with their own devices Psalm 81 verse 12 says so I gave them up unto their own
hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels showing us that there's
instances where God says okay if that's what you want you can have it but you're
obviously going to be filled with your ways you're going to suffer the
consequences of your actions and hopefully they learn from it right but
here's the last reason I'm sure there's other ones that we can come up with but
here's the last one as to why God allows certain people to do certain things and
that is because of the fact that you know if the person loves God if they
genuinely love the Lord the Lord will work out their situation together for
good not at the expense of the consequence but he will work it out
together for good so even when people make mistakes they commit sin they do
things that are not pleasing in the eyes of the Lord or they do something that is
questionable but they continue to love God and they continue to serve God you
know God can take those bad ingredients of the decisions they made and make
something great about it okay not to say they're not going to suffer the
consequences of their actions it's just the promise that we have in God's Word
that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are
the called according to his purpose and so that should be as a sign of relief
for us because of the fact that we're not perfect we make mistakes we sin we
make stupid decisions sometimes and it's not that we don't suffer the
consequences of our actions but the reality is this is that if we continue
to love the Lord and walk with God God can do something great with that not
because he couldn't do it without it but just because he's working with sinful
man and you know sinful man produces sinful ingredients and so we as
Christians don't want to use examples of God's permissive silence to
automatically think that God approves of their actions okay look at Romans
chapter 12 real quick and we're gonna come back to judges for look at Romans
12 verse number 1 the Apostle Paul says here I beseech you therefore brethren by
the mercies of God they present your bodies a living sacrifice holy
acceptable unto God which is a reasonable service and be not conformed
to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so he's admonishing
the Romans the the the Christian Romans here he's telling them hey you need to
have your mind transformed meaning that you need to know what the Bible says
okay know what God's standard is know what the Word of God says don't be
conformed to the philosophies in the doctrines of this world you need to have
your mind transformed by the Word of God okay in other words look at everything
through a biblical perspective judge all things based upon the Bible right not
based upon philosophy not based upon your favorite secular speaker or
whatever may be based upon the principles and doctrines that are found
within the Word of God so our mind is supposed to be cleansed from the
philosophies of this world and take the mind of Christ right and make decisions
and view situations through the lens of Scripture okay and he says there they be
transformed by the renewing of your mind listen to this that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God so there's a lot of benefits
to having a mind of Christ but the one specifically that we see here is that he
says you know you need to have your mind transform so that you can discern
what is the good what is acceptable and what is God's perfect will and look
obviously God wants his perfect will for your life right but because Christians
don't read the Bible and sometimes they don't know what the Bible says and they
don't necessarily study the Bible or put themselves under preaching and seek to
actually look for the truth sometime and but they still love God sometimes they
get the acceptable will of God or sometimes they get the goodwill of God
okay and here's the thing good is good but it's not great acceptable is
acceptable but it's not perfect acceptable is like you choose to make a
decision that is contrary to God's Word but you love the Lord and so God will
work it out together for good it's not God's perfect will but it's his
acceptable will because you're obviously choosing to continue to serve God okay
the point that I'm making here is that in the Bible there are instances where
things are permissible but they're not necessarily sanctioned by God it's not
God's perfect will it's an acceptable will it's a goodwill of God based upon
the actions of men now go back to Judges chapter 4 now you say what does it have
to do with Deborah and Barak you know I mean like how are you gonna tie that in
well because Deborah is a leader in Israel and Deborah did a great work and
she was used in a great way in the history of the children of Israel but
let's just be honest if we're to take all the principles of the Bible in
regards to spiritual leadership or any leadership for that matter women aren't
supposed to be involved in that but yet you have Deborah who is now here's the
thing before I get into that let me explain the system of the judges briefly
before we get into judges for the book of Judges is a really just iffy time
during the history of the children of Israel okay it's like that is that that
dark period in the history of Israel the Israel is not really proud about okay
you know like probably in your life you probably have some sort of segment in
your life that you hope no one finds out about you know it but if we go you know
far enough back in your Facebook on your Instagram we might we might find it and
you're pretty ashamed of it or something and probably later on today you'll go
through that and you'll delete all those well that's kind of how you know the
book of Judges is for Israel because every man was doing that which is right
in their own eyes there's like a lot of bad stuff that happened during that time
and it's during this era that the children of Israel did not have a king
they were still under what we would consider to be a theocracy meaning that
God was their king he was ruling over them they didn't have an earthly king
like all the other nations and so God instituted the system of the judges
meaning that there are these men who were sanctioned by God to be somewhat
like military generals but also to proclaim the judgments of the Lord to
the people okay and what happened during this era is that you know the children
of Israel they would backslide and get away from God and do that which is not
pleasing in God's eyes they would worship false gods and so God will come
and punish them and one of the ways he would come to punish them is that he
would allow them to essentially be overtaken by a foreign nation to be
taken captive and to be oppressed by some other nation some foreign nation
for decades in some instances okay and so they worship false gods then God's
like okay that's what you want then the nations of these false gods are gonna
overtake you they're gonna oppress you and you'll be sorry and true you know
years later the children of Israel would cry out into the Lord and be like
deliver us and so what God would do is that he would raise up a judge who
essentially had the Spirit of God upon them they operate as someone as a
military general there would revolt against the you know the the oppressors
of that time under you know God's authority and they would deliver the
children of Israel out of the hand of the oppressor okay and then the cycle
would just repeat itself over and over again so the book of Judges is primarily
about those stories just backsliding you know worshiping false gods being
oppressed and then God delivers them the judge rises up cool story and then later
on they backslide again and it just kind of continues well prior to Deborah you
have a HUD okay and he had did a fantastic job killing egg-lon if you
know I encourage you to read that story but then after him of course the
children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord and then God basically sold
him sold them to Jabin the king of Canaan for 20 years okay and then the
children of Israel crying to the Lord again now when you look at all these
judges there is one thing that is very clear and that is that they're all men
except for Deborah now I could say maybe this is a coincidence in the writing but
the vast majority of the judges when God when the children of Israel crying to
the Lord the Bible actually says that God raised up a judge but it actually
doesn't say that about Deborah it just says that she's a judge okay now let me
go through this story we're gonna just go through this story and then I'm gonna
give some principles and just to be look at verse number four the first thing we
see is that Deborah is a prophetess judge of Israel look what it says in
verse 4 in Deborah a prophetess the wife of Lapidoth she judged Israel at
that time and she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Rhema and Bethel
and Mount Ephraim listen to this and the children of Israel came up to her for
judgment so a couple things that we see here we see that she is a judge it's not
necessarily something that God raised up but here's the principle that we can
learn here is that sometimes when the men or when a nation is absent of
strong spiritual leadership unfortunately a woman takes over okay
that's not just in a nation that's in a home that's in all facets of life they
kind of just step up it's not right it's not sanctioned by God it's not something
that God approves of but it's just the nature of the beast when the man when
there's no judge in Israel who is capable of leading the children of
Israel militarily and knows the judgments of God or maybe knows how to
do both but doesn't have the courage to actually carry that out well now you
have Deborah now it says here that she's a prophetess and you know obviously when
you when you study the term prophetess throughout the Bible there's just
different connotations the one that comes to mind is Jezebel in Revelation
chapter 2 you know she's preaching the Bible but here I believe when it's saying
prophetess it just means that she's a musician okay because another definition
of prophet or prophesying should I say in the Old Testament is someone who's
able to play with instruments or sing okay it because singing is just another
word another way of preaching just doing it in song you say well you know how do
you know that's true well the very next chapter is the song of Deborah and she's
just like freestyling the song about this victory that they got it was a
really good song you know but she kind of just came up with it and so she's
very musically inclined but she's judging Israel and at the end of verse
5 it says that the children of Israel came up to her for judgment so you know
Deborah is a godly woman and I believe she's in heaven obviously and I think
she's a wonderful lady but you know when I think of Deborah I'll just be honest
with you I think of Joyce Meyers you say why because every Sunday there are
men that come up to Joyce Meyers for judgment people that actually go to
Joyce Meyers church and not just her church all these other lady pastors that
exist out there they are preaching I guarantee you there's a slew of men who
put themselves under the preaching of those women but my question is is there
not a man among you who is able to preach and lead and you know lead about
a wife and a brother and a sister are you not capable of actually reading the
Bible I mean God has sanctioned man to fulfill that role in a local New
Testament Church and in fact the Bible specifically says when dealing with the
office of a pastor or as the Bible also puts it the office of a bishop that
they're supposed to be the husband of one wife how does that work with a woman
it doesn't without perversion and so we have the clear qualifications in the
Bible in 1st Timothy chapter 3 regarding a pastor you know but I'm sure 1st
Timothy 3 verses 1 and 2 is a is a passage that Joyce Meyers stays away
from and she probably also stays away from from 1st Timothy chapter 2 as well
where it says that they are to keep silence and they're not to usurp the
authority of the man now obviously Deborah is not a pastor but she's a
judge and people are coming to her for judgment why aren't they going to some
man in the nation of Israel is there not a man that knows the judgments of God
during this era well apparently not and that is a blemish on the children of
Israel during this era that in a nation filled with millions of people they have
this woman leader who is teaching in the Word of God and look I believe that
Deborah was probably greatly rewarded for her role that she played because
she's kind of forced into the situation it's not her fault that the dudes are
lame and weak during her era it's not her fault that you know she's surrounded
by a bunch of limp-wristed dudes who don't know the Bible and the judgments
of God she's just kind of fulfilling her role it wasn't right but it's forced
upon her it was permissible just not sanctioned by God and I think that's
important to know because of the fact that you'll have people they're like
well what's wrong with you know woman preaching you know in church and you
know you have Deborah I literally heard that in Bible College from a Bible
College student they're like what's wrong with that you know that we have
Deborah and I was just like Deborah's a judge and the last time I checked
Hebrews 11 honors Barak not Deborah so when when Paul is like writing Hebrew
chapter 11 the Hall of Faith which I'm gonna go over the second part this
coming Thursday you just kind of left out Deborah talk about Gideon talks
about Jephthah he talks about Barak it just leaves out Deborah now I'm not
saying there's anything wrong with Deborah but at the end of the day you
can't use a woman as an example of how churches should be run today in 2024
when you're dealing with a nation that is doing that which is right in their
own eyes they're serving false gods there's not a man among them who can
teach the Word of God so she just kind of stepping up to the plate okay and let
me say this you know one of the curses that God institutes upon a nation that
forsakes God is he gives them women for leaders now this may not sit well some
of you because of the public school system and you know I don't know you
might like Joyce Myers or something you know but I'm telling you what the Bible
says though and the Bible tells us you could look it up in Isaiah chapter 3 it
talks about the fact that when God is cursing a nation he gives children to be
their rulers and women he says women shall rule over you that's what it says
when giving the qualifiers of a nation who is being cursed by God okay and so
the you know in the future if we ever have a woman president you just know
beyond a shadow of a doubt this nation is cursed I mean I believe this nation's
cursed already but that'll be like the cherry on top to confirm this nation is
fully cursed because we have a woman for a presidential leader now again I know
the people don't like that but I'm just telling you what the Bible says and so
you can either you can disagree with me but you can't disagree with the Word of
God that's what the Bible says okay verse 2 go to verse 6 if you would so
she's fulfilling this role she's a prophetess she's a musician and it's not
like she's putting herself out there right because you know Joyce Myers and
these other false prophets they put themselves on the pedestal right to be
heard and all these things Deborah's not doing that she's chilling by a tree of
Deborah she's just kind of being Deborah and then Israel's coming to her for
judgment and so you know this is again when there's a vacuum of male leadership
often women take over and I'm not saying it's right I'm just saying that is the
nature of the beast and I'll give you an example okay a modern-day example you
know in old IFP churches a big thing a big ministry in old IFP churches is
Sunday school classes and a lot of the Sunday school classes the teachers who
are teaching the children and the teenagers are women it's women who are
teaching them and it's not right but you know what I guarantee you there are kids
who have gone to Sunday school class grew up doing Sunday school class had a
woman for a teacher and I'm sure they could tell you I was blessed by some of
the stuff that they taught me they'll probably say you know they're a blessing
to me and so what does that you said the does that mean that God's okay with it
no it means that it's permissible but it's not sanctioned you know what God
can use the pure motives of a woman who is trying to help a child learn the
Bible and use the sincerity of a child who wants to learn the Word of God he
can work it out together for good to the point where he learns Bible she's a
blessing to him but just because there's good that comes out of it doesn't mean
it's something that God approves of understand what I'm saying and this is a
major thing you know in churches today where just because a church does
something and it works somehow that makes it God approved or something you
know you know I'll give you another example you know bus ministry bus
ministry has been used greatly throughout the decades to reach a lot of
children for Christ I was a bus captain at one point I was a bus worker but it's
not necessarily a ministry that's sanctioned by God though and there's a
lot of evil that comes out of it out of that as well children get molested you
know there's just a lot of wickedness that takes place but then you have old
IFP churches like you're not a fundamental Baptist Church if we don't
have a bus ministry there literally say that like if you're a fundamental
Baptist and you don't have a bus ministry don't even call yourself a
Baptist but folks my church is as much a fundamental Baptist Church as any church
that has a bus ministry even though we don't have one and in fact in some cases
we're more fundamental and look I'm not gonna say the bus ministry is sinful
because it's not it's permissible it's acceptable it's good you know I've had I
mean we got former bus kids right here you know and some of you were reached
the bus ministry I made a post earlier sometime last week about our visitors
here and people were commenting they're saying I was I was reached to the bus
ministry I got saved to the bus ministry and I'm still serving God amen
but here's the thing we can't say well then all churches have to have bus
ministry you know in order to do something great for God or something
like that wrong no it's not true you know it's a permissible ministry but
it's not you can't say that it's sanctioned by God and you definitely
can't say that you're not a real church if you don't have a bus ministry let me
just explain something to you when it comes to bus ministry and old IFP
churches the reason they say that is because they want to relinquish their
responsibility to be sole owners and preachers of the gospel and they want to
relinquish that responsibility to the young people in the bus ministry so they
don't have to do it and they rely upon the numbers that the bus ministry
provides because they lump that in with the attendance so if you have a church
that's running you know to 2,000 or a thousand people a large percentage of
that attendance is from the kids in the bus ministry you see what I'm saying and
so they rely heavily upon the bus ministry to keep their attendance numbers up
now I don't want to chase that rabbit too much but the point that I'm making
here is that just because it's permissible doesn't mean it's sanctioned
by God look at verse 6 it says and she sent and called Barak the son of
Abinoham of Kadesh-Neftali and said unto him hath not the Lord God of
Israel commanded saying go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee
10,000 men of the children of Neftali and of the children of Zebulun I will
draw unto thee to the river Kaishon Sisera the captain of Jabin's army with
his chariots and his multitudes and I will deliver him into thine hand and
Barak said unto her oh my goodness if thou will go with me I will go but if
thou will not go with me then I will not go what and she said I will surely go
with thee now withstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine
honor for the Lord shall sail Sisera into the hand of a woman and Deborah
arose and went with Barak to Kadesh so what's another thing that we see during
this era well I've already mentioned it but let's just reiterate it Israel had
male or excuse me weak male leadership during this time like Barak so Deborah
is coming to him and it's just like hey God's commanding you to step up to the
plate and deliver the people militarily and instead of being like Moses you know
Moses is just like he's the one who tells God you know if you go with me I
will go if your presence go not with me I will not go right because Moses is
dependent on God but instead of doing that what it what is Barak do well
Deborah I'll only do it if you go with me what are you going to the restroom or
something isn't that what girls do like I need to go to Russia could you come
with me or something like that so you tell you like if you go with me I'll go
but if you don't and I can't do it what and so Deborah is just like okay I'll go
with you but here's the punishment of your weakness and that is you will not
be honored and honors an important thing to a man respect is an important thing
to a man and honors an important thing to a man especially if it comes from God
and Deborah says you know here's the thing I'm gonna go with you because
you're whining about it I'm adding that into it you know this is my commentary
you know you you're you're a weakling but you know Sisera is gonna be
delivered into the hand of a woman though now that kind of you know
probably dug into them a little bit because you know every they Barak wants
the head of Sisera because that's an honorable thing like that's victory for
the children of Israel if he's leading but he's she's saying that honor is not
gonna be given to you it's gonna be given to a woman so aside from the fact
that Deborah's leading the charge spiritually even when the war is fought
against the Canaanites against Jabin against Sisera ultimately the person who
wins the war was a woman by the name of Jael what does this show us it shows
weak male leadership doesn't mean that women can't do great things for God
doesn't mean that women can't lead multitudes to the Lord get a lot of
people saved and in fact we would expect the women in our church to get people
saved amen there's some great soul winning ladies in our church who know
how to preach the gospel they're out there on a weekly basis knocking on
doors leading men to Christ leading women to Christ leading children to
Christ doing great things for the Lord that is God's perfect will you
understand that's not even permissible that's just God's perfect will but in
this situation we see that what's taking place is permissible and I'm sure God
was upset at Barak which is why he gave the honor to a woman you know to kind of
shake him a little bit wake him up a little bit and say take the charge
already look at verse 14 verse 14 says endeavor set into Barak up oh man for
this is the day in which the Lord had to deliver Sisera into thine hand is not
the Lord gone out before thee so Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten
thousand men after him and the Lord disconfited Sisera and all his chariots
and all his hosts and with the edge of the sword before Barak so that Sisera
lighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet so here's the thing is
that you kind of wonder you know why does Hebrews 11 like honor Barak then in
such a way when it talks about those who are at faith well because of the fact
that at the end of the day like we're talking about the Lord used what little
courage Barak had and when Barak actually exercised courage and he turned
to flight the armies of the aliens that was a step of faith because he's a scared
little guy he's kind of being a weenie being a little sissy you know he needs
he needs a TED talk from Deborah to take care of business and so when he finally
actually decides to turn to flight the armies of the aliens that was an act of
faith so here's the thing is that even though this was not permissible by God
you know it was it was excuse me it was not sanctioned by God because it was
permissible God worked it out together for good for Barak because it gave him
an opportunity to actually exercise some faith and turn to flight the armies of
the aliens and actually fight back and stand up and and do that which is right
and therefore he's honored for that particular faith okay which goes to show
us in the New Testament that's like the one thing that's really highlighted
about Barak not the other stuff and aren't you thankful that you know God
highlights as far as we're concerned the good stuff about us and it doesn't
highlight all the bad stuff about us and obviously we're not talking about
salvation because there is nothing good and when it comes to our righteousness
and so he used what little courage Barak had go ahead and turn on the AC I said
30 minutes but you gotta turn that thing on right now it's hot look at verse 16
he says but Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host unto
Harosheth of the Gentiles and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of
the sword and there is not a man left that is him turned into flight the
armies of the aliens verse 17 says how be it Sisera fled away on his feet to
the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Canite for there was peace between Jabin
the king of Hazor in the house of Heber the Canite. Jael went out to meet
Sisera and said unto him turn in my Lord turn into me fear not and when he had
turned in unto her into the tent she covered him with a mantle and he said
unto her give me I pray thee a little water to drink for I am thirsty she
opened the bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him and again he said
unto her stand in the door of the tent and it shall be when any man doth come
and inquire of thee and say is there any man here that thou shalt say no then
Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent and took a hammer in her hand and
went softly unto him you know meek and quietly and smote the nail into his
temples and fastened it into the ground for he was fast asleep and weary so he
died that's pretty cool you know one if if we have another daughter I mean
that's actually gonna be her name is Jael I like that name but it makes me
think of you know Jael from the Bible here because what's happening is you
know she knows that this is the enemy of Israel so she's being a little subtle
about it and meek and quiet and she brings him in and she grabs a nail from
the tent and this isn't like a nail this isn't like a Walmart tent nail you know
the plastic little nails or whatever this is like a spike it's very thick
made of iron very strong fortified right it's a legitimate tent nail and you know
he's like he's like sleeping he's not on his face he's not he's not on his
stomach he's not on his back probably sleeping on his side and we see in the
next chapter that you know he fell asleep because she provided milk in a
lordly dish so he asked for water she gave a milk so he thinks you know I'm
fine she's gonna protect me or whatever and man she smote him right in the
temple and the next chapter says that his head fell off so you just use your
imagination you know if it's putting it right through the temple it's a pretty
strong nail probably half of his head just kind of you know just use your
imagination and let me just say this Jael's strong you know cuz she fastened
it to the ground she's like you know she hit the nail right on the head right and
so you know God's honoring Jael for her courage her subtlety and her ability to
get rid of the enemies of God but obviously Bayrak was not honored in this
manner now what can we learn from this story well it's a great story but you
know we shouldn't use it as an example why we need women leadership okay and
I'm gonna give a really important principle at the end of the sermon
regarding these types of stories but Deborah is not an example for women to
become pastors Deborah's not an example of why a woman is a better leader than a
man or why she should be the head of the household or why she should do XY and Z
or why you know these homesteaders who are trad wives and are doing so well and
you know their husbands work for them and all these things oh you know oh yeah
but you look at Deborah yeah but Deborah is in an era where every man is doing
that which is right in their own eyes do you also want to use judges 19 as an
example of how a nation should be because judges 19 you have you know
sodomites raping people it's not a good example and just because the story is in
the Bible doesn't mean it's sanctioned by God the Bible records the testimonies
of people and in some instances when things worked out work out together for
good it's permissible it's not sanctioned and we need to learn the
difference okay go with me if you would to first Kings chapter 11 first Kings
chapter 11 what are some other examples of this particular principle well let's
talk about polygamy and concubines because this is pretty big even today
believe it or not you know you have this concept known as throuples okay and if
you've never heard of that it's it's a perversion where three individuals are
consenting in a mutual relationship whether in marriage or they're not
married they call themselves like a couple but it's like a throuple that's
what they call it it's wicked but you know there's polygamous even in this
country they're known as Mormons okay we obviously know that Muslims promote that
Muslims participate in that but even in the United States of America
you have an entire state known as the state of Utah that houses these perverts
that participate in polygamy where a man marries multiple women has multiple
spouses and you have people like what's the guy's name on the internet who weak
dudes really like Andrew Tate you know he promotes a form of concubine
having concubines and being a polygamist as well because he actually
sees nothing wrong with getting married and he thinks marriage is a great thing
but then he says but you know also have your side chick as well that's called a
concubine okay because a concubine is essentially a woman who almost operates
as the office of a wife but it's not a wife it's not legally your wife okay
they're essentially like a secondary subservient wife so they get all the
benefits of a wife as far as a husband taking care of her treating her like a
wife but you know they never put the ring on the finger type of a thing
understand that's what a concubine is and so you have guys like Andrew Tate
and you know these stupid idiotic young Christian men who are using that
philosophy and saying oh yeah you know cuz men in the Bible did it great men
in the Bible did it and they'll point to David they'll point to Solomon they'll
point to Abraham they'll point to all the patriarchs of the Old Testament who
were great men of God because let's just be honest one of our favorite Bible
characters of the Old Testament has to be David I said one of them right like
he's like up there with a lot of people he's like a man's man he's a psalmist
he's chopping heads off chopping other things off you know for dowries he is
like a man after God's own heart like God loves David and like deep within
every man we want to be like a David because he's manly but he's also has the
tender hardness to love the Lord and he's very in tune with God type of a
thing right but the guy was a polygamist though and people point to him and be
like yeah but David is a great man of God look how successful he was and God
loved him and he participated in polygamy this is what they'll say and
not just polygamy he had concubines as well he had a bunch of live-in
girlfriends he said well I mean if you have all these wives what's the point of
having all these girlfriends it's literally for physical pleasure that's
what they had him there for that's all they had that's the only reason they had
concubines in the Bible there's no other reason they had a bunch of
girlfriends just for sexual pleasure and that's it okay that's wrong but yet
people point to that and be like you know and by the way Andrew Tate doesn't
even believe the Bible he doesn't believe in God he doesn't believe the
Bible he doesn't love the things of God oh how convenient though that when you
want to justify your perversion and your sin and your garbage now you want to use
the Bible as a means to justify that right and it's just like alright the
Bible did it all the time you know yeah David you have all these people who
commit a polygamy and you know they had their side chicks or whatever it's
garbage and here's a perfect example folks yeah it was permissible by God but
it was not sanctioned by God and yeah God didn't bring the hammer down a hard
on David and Abraham and Solomon and all these other people who committed
polygamy and had concubines yeah he didn't punish them right away and let me
explain to you why he didn't punish them right away because they already had
built-in punishments with it and it's funny how these guys want to leave out
the details did anybody read the fine print go ahead and read the fine print
of how those relationships went those guys suffered a lot they their life was
a living hell okay and you know this is what happens when you go outside of the
scope of what God sanctions to be marriage which is between one man and
one woman to be one flesh you understand and let no man put asunder and obviously
and then start adding all these other spouses for your lust and for your
desires look at first Kings 11 let's look at the craziest example of this
okay because Abraham did it David David collected concubines and wives like he
was collecting what are those called what that's not what I was thinking I'll
think in beanie babies but yeah I guess you guys collect Pokemon cards or
something yeah we know what marks a hobby is not skinny yeah he was just
like coins or so let's use coins pogs who remembers pogs anybody remember pogs
you guys don't know what pogs are you guys are missing out I'm a 90s kid so
you know literally like he would go to a city and he's going to war for the Lord
and he's slain people left and right I mean the man can fight right the Lord
taught his hands how to fight actually he was incredible with the sword he's
incredible with a slingshot too he was a very strong man in the Lord he loved
the Lord but after the war was done he's just like wife wife wife wife wife
concubine wife why would you just he would just collect a bunch of them and
just take them with them that's literally what he did and one of the
funny stories that I see in the Bible when it comes to David is when he takes
Abigail because Abigail's husband was a reprobate he was a child of Belial okay
and he ends up dying so you know when you read it if you just read just a
couple verses it's like oh how romantic you know I mean because he ends up
marrying Abigail and she's such a godly woman she's so wonderful and it's like
they live happily ever after yeah with all the other wives and concubines too
you're just part of his collection of wives you know that's not in the fine
print you know that's not at Hobby Lobby that's not a story that Hobby Lobby
wants to highlight but you know what the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree
because then you have Solomon his son who you know David marry wives little
Solomon shall marry than much put it that way look at verse 1 of 1 Kings 11
but King Solomon listen to this loved many strange women so basically the
Bible is just kind of putting his you know sins that he struggles with and one
of them is the fact that he just loves women he has a lust issue and not just
like any type of women he loves strange women meaning foreign women okay
together with the daughter of Pharaoh okay that's an issue right there women
of the Moabites Ammonites Edomites Zydonians and Hittites hey at least we
know that he's you know he's not racist
he likes black women he likes white women he likes red he doesn't care what
color they are he just loves many strange women he doesn't care what you
look like I mean I'm sure he cares you know but apparently he's not really that
picky when it comes to what nation they come from of the nations concerning
which the Lord said unto the children of Israel ye shall not go in unto them
neither shall they come in unto you and people read them like oh man God's
racist it's my stuff why he's against interracial marriage or what well why is
he telling his people not to marry foreigners and why foreigners should not
marry his people this is why for surely they will turn away your heart after
their God so in other words if you know a Christian marries a Mormon there's
gonna be conflict in that relationship not because you know the Mormon will
I guess Mormons a bad example because they're all American you know white
people you know let's what's a religion you know a Muslim okay that would be a
major issue because there's gonna be conflict of beliefs there okay and
here's the thing folks is that the man can say well you know we're gonna be
Christians and we're gonna this is the way we're gonna go but at the end of the
day you're spending decades and decades with that person you're gonna end up
compromising on one way or another and I've known people who married into a you
know married a person who was of a different faith okay they were not
Christian and they had to compromise a lot going to Catholic Church going to a
Mormon tabernacle or whatever that's majorly you know it's a lot of conflict
there so you know be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers the Bible says
so I God says that Christians should marry Christians let's get let's get
specific say people should marry say people and here is a safe thing for you
to do marry a fundamental Baptist okay and you know if you guys got married in
here and one of you was not a fundamental Baptist I'm not talking
about you but hey I'm telling the young people you should go for fundamental
Baptist you know instead of going for your non-denom you know person or
whatever you're still gonna have conflict you say how do you know because
of the fact that you guys have different Bible versions so you're over
here trying to put King James as the final authority in your household but
then your spouse wants to do all these other modern perversions and so there's
always gonna be some sort of conflict so anyways with this story God told them
you know hey don't marry other nations because they have different belief
systems that are gonna cause you to leave me that's what God said okay look
what it goes on to say Solomon clave unto these in love so he's just
enamored with all these women the dude has a chick problem okay and here's an
issue okay because of the fact here's the problem because Solomon is powerful
so when you have that much power that much money that much authority you're
just like the most important person in the land nothing's really gonna be kept
from you and who's gonna tell you hey didn't you write Proverbs no one's gonna
come up to you and be like didn't you say you know something about strange
women and stuff no one's gonna correct you if you're like the top of the food
chain per se you're like the head honcho you're the big cheese in the nation no
one's really gonna correct you and so he's just kind of given unfettered
access to fulfill his desire of loving strange women now here's the thing is
just that you know having two wives is bad having three is really bad having
three and two concubines is really bad let's just say say having a hundred is
bad let's see how many Solomon had verse three and he had 700 wives legal wives
and you think of yourself like you think yourself okay that little excessive
Solomon my lord the king you know that's kind of but hey we'll keep it at that
right you know you should 700 should content my lord you know princesses and
300 concubines so a thousand just women at his bidding or whatever 700 of them
are wives legally married the other 300 are just girlfriends that he has now
here's the thing folks you know he's obviously not having any type of
meaningful relationships with these women right because even to even be with
them whether physically or emotionally for any length of time it would have to
be at least two to three a day because it's a thousand you know these guys are
like oh man that sounds kind of cool though you know having all those wives
and all those girlfriends and man that's what a player you know that sounds great
yeah why don't you ask him how he felt about that later on how his heart turned
away from the Lord he was miserable how he had all this conflict and God ended
up stripping the kingdom from him in the coming generations because of it and I
guarantee you when you get when you get to heaven and you ask Solomon hey so how
was it he's gonna be like I wish I would just stuck with one that's it because at
the end of the day it's not glorified it's not something that's awesome having
all these women around you folks one is enough okay and anybody who's married
knows one is enough because it's not just like the physical really you know
they're women they have emotions that crazy sometimes they're emotional they
are women they're emotional hey imagine just having a thousand women what if
what if they're all just emotional on the same what if like let's say 400 of
them are emotional on that day what is Solomon gonna do he's like go play with
the camels or something you know send him to the Apes and obviously he's
taking care of them he's housing them he's feeding them their princesses you
know he's giving them the royal treatment but folks that's a lot of it's
a lot of talking it's all listening I was like oh that's where he found the
time to write the Proverbs he's like I'm working on a project I don't want to be
disturbed but the most the most the the the most devastating effect of having
all these women is that his heart turned away from the Lord and folks it was when
his heart was you know clave unto the Lord that God blessed him he blessed him
with all the riches you know with peace and wisdom and knowledge I mean he gave
him everything that he wanted and he even gave him beyond what he asked for
he gave him exceedingly abundantly above all that he could ask her thing because
God came to Solomon and said hey you know ask what you will not give it to
you I mean think about that if God says you asked for it I'll give it to you no
matter what it is and Solomon said I want judgment to judge your people and
God was so impressed by his answer that said you know what I'm gonna give you
that and I'm also gonna give you money I'm gonna give you fame I'm gonna give
you the peace I'm gonna give you everything because you asked for the
right thing but then all that's just basically taken away at the end of his
life because he ends up losing the kingdom you know his descendants are
gonna suffer the consequences of his actions because of that and so we can't
look at a story of Solomon and say well Solomon had a bunch of chicks he had all
these girlfriends he was he was pimping it he'd be a little player you know and
he loved the Lord yeah but not for long he like well you know but yeah what
about David though he loved the Lord all the way to the very end yeah but here's
the thing David is a very unique case though and I wouldn't base my Christian
life off of being just like David because Solomon is listen to this the
wisest man that ever lived in the Old Testament and even he succumbed to it
and by the way all the men you know these three men in the Bible the
strongest man of the Bible the godliest man of the Bible and the wisest man of
the Bible all succumbed to lust David Samson Solomon they've cast down many
wounded the Bible says you know the the those who are strong those who love the
Lord and so you know and by the way when they married these wives and had these
concubines they were literally in direct violation of God's instructions for the
Kings according to Deuteronomy 17 because he says don't God literally told
him don't multiply wives now why would God say that because he knew you're
gonna be popular you're gonna be famous I'm gonna be using you and so that the
the temptation is to just start racking up the wives because all these women
like you he's like don't multiply wives and don't multiply horses what a Solomon
do okay multiplies wives concubines not just horses apes peacocks the guy had a
freaking zoo at his palace he's like importing all these exotic animals into
his palace and it's like God told him like I just told you not to do that but
obviously this this comes with the territory of having too much power
you see what I'm saying and so you know we can't use Solomon David Abraham just
because there were godly man as an example folks God permitted it because
at the end of the day you said well why did God permit polygamy and and
concubinage to take place in the Bible why you know what's what's what's even
they're beneficial about that well here's the thing is that you know think
about this okay and it from a practical perspective and I'm not saying the
polygamy is right I'm not saying that being a concubine is right okay because
it's wrong according to the Bible but think about women in that situation
which in that time if there were a widow if their town was pillaged and they
survived if they didn't have any kind of authority you know it's either being
someone's concubine someone's third fifth or in this case 700th wife or the
other the alternative is prostitution being a harlot you know or some other
evil that made me fall that so a lot of instances during this time you know
these women they're just like well I'll be Solomon's cock because at least I'll
be taken care of you know I'll have housing food you know I may see him one
day out of the year because he has all these other women but hey at least I get
to be at the palace and be taken care of you said so then God's okay with it no
he wasn't okay with it and here is an important principle folks and that is
that sin complicates things sin will always complicate things and people like
they get into sin they suffer the consequences of sin and then it's just
like they want an answer to just fix all their problems and it's just like here
are your three options but they're all bad because anytime you sin any option
is just bad you know it's like David when God is judging Israel and he's like
here are your three options either you die by the hand of your enemy I plague
the nation of Israel like I forgot what the other one he gave up or famine he's
like here it is just like you know can I call a lifeline it was like is that can
I call a brother or something like all those three options are bad and he ended
up going with the best of them which is well let me now fall into the hand of
the Lord because he knows that you would be merciful basically like God
wouldn't punish him forever but when you sin folks it complicates things and so
they're not the best none of them are the best option but what's another
reason why he allowed polygamy and concubines to exist without punishment
well here's another reason it's because the population grew think about this and
I'm not saying this is right but the children of Israel are a result of
polygamy like like oh man you know Israel had 12 sons yeah from like a
bunch of different women now God's will was for the children of Israel to exist
that was God's will but you know they went about it the wrong way okay I mean
we could look throughout the Bible and how sons and daughters were born into
men and it's not their fault but population grew because of it but here's
here's the final reason why God would allow something like this to take place
and that is God allowed it listen to me to serve as an example to future
generations of why it's not a good idea so he allowed Solomon to do this he
allowed David because he would think that maybe some of you young guys have
some common sense when you read in the Bible and be like well that's a really
bad idea I thought it was really cool to have a
bunch of chicks and have a bunch of wives but I'm reading about Solomon and
it looks like it sucked for him so he's allowing it because he knows that
future generations will learn from the actions of others or he hopes that they
will learn from the actions of others there's no I'm saying so a lot of times
people who sin and did wrong in the Bible you know God didn't punish them
right away because they will serve as a byword in a proverb in a future
generation where young men and women will read that and be like well you know
that didn't work for them and therefore I know it's not gonna work for me okay
and by the way you can't afford 700 wives anyway so you know so it's
permissible but not sanctioned by God okay God's will is for a man to leave
father and mother and cleave unto his wife singular not wives okay and so you
know another example of this principle would be divorce because you know the
Pharisees came to Jesus you're like well Moses you know let us give her a right
bill of divorce meant you know that means that God was okay with it no it he
permitted it for the hardness of your hearts but from the beginning is what it
was not so the Bible says in other words that's not God's original will but he
allowed it because you guys are just stubborn and unforgiving that's why let
me give you one last example here go to Exodus chapter 1 if you would Exodus
chapter 1 and after Exodus 1 we're gonna go to act 17 and we're done I was
gonna cover some more in here but you know times just not permitted me to do
so but think about the the think about stealing it's stealing something that
God just allows people to do obviously thou shalt not steal is the command the
standard of the God has in the Bible right but you know the Bible says men do
not despise of thief if he steal to satisfy his soul his hungry soul the
Bible says so God is saying you know if someone steals food because they're
hungry don't despise him it's wrong that he did that but you should not despise
him because he's hungry so it's all you have to understand like God condescends
the men of lowest state so even though he's not sinful he understands the
sinfulness of man that we're weak and we make dumb decisions so he's in
admonition people hey if someone steals because they're hungry and they're
famished and they're trying to feed themselves don't despise them but here's
the thing folks he's not giving he's not sanctioning being a thief he's just
saying it's permissible if they're hungry but hold on a second let him that
stole steal no more but rather than let him labor with his hands that which is
good he may give to him that needeth so God is like I'm not gonna despise you
but you better fix up your ways and actually be an honest person and not
just be like this continual thief or whatever but here's another example
lying bearing false witness is wrong we should know that as Christians right but
you know there's Christians are just like yeah but there's people in the
Bible that lied though and it seems like you know God was like cool with it you
know he's fine with it he didn't punish him for it and some instances seem to
bless them for it yeah because it's permissible but it's not sanctioned by
God and I've literally heard people try to like finagle their way through these
stories of people lying and be like well maybe it's permissible if we're doing it
to the enemies of God though if we'd like lie to them it's not right okay
it's never right to lie now I'm just giving this disclaimer because you know
I might behave in a very sinful way against the haters of the Lord in the
future okay and I'm just letting you know right now that I'm not perfect okay
and if and when I do that you know just remember it's still permissible but it's
not sanctioned okay I'm just saying that because you know the enemies of God just
bring out the worst in me sometimes and I might just do things that are not
pastoral okay I'll try not to but you know I'm a sinner look at Exodus 1 15
it says the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives of which the name of the
one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Pua and he said when you do the
office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools if it be a
son then you shall kill him but if it be a daughter then she shall live so they
were trying to do in fantasize here killed the children but the midwives
verse 17 feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them but saved
the men children alive and the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said
unto them why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive
and the midwives sent into Pharaoh because the Hebrew women are not as the
Egyptian women for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in
unto them now that's a lie they're just saying that because they don't want to
kill the kids but they're kind of giving that excuse so they don't get in trouble
now look at verse 20 therefore God dealt well with the midwives and the people
multiplied and waxed very mighty he's not blessing them because they lied he's
blessing them because obviously they fear God and you know sometimes people
who love and fear the Lord they have dirty hands they don't know necessarily
how to do things the right way you understand and it's it's it's great that
God looks upon the heart sometimes because I guarantee you you and I have
done things out of zeal out of love for the Lord out of you know because we're
just zealous for the things of God and it's probably not something that God
would approve of but then God's like you know what I'll allow it not because he's
approving of the action but just like the heart behind the action is obviously
what's important I don't sanction it but I'll allow it and this is one of those
instances he's not approving of their deceitfulness of them lying because that
would contradict the rest of the Bible where God is completely against
deception and people lying and bearing false witness but he's honoring them
because at the end of the day that did fear God and even though they didn't do
it the right way it worked together for good and you know another example is
that Rahab when she hid the spies and then they came to like we saw them come
here and they're like oh no you know I don't know where they went but she was
hiding them she lied but she was still blessed in the long run because at the
end of the day she favored God's people you understand what I'm saying and so
the point that I'm making go to Acts chapter 17 and we're done the point that
I'm making is that just because it's permissible doesn't mean it's sanctioned
by God and we need to learn the difference between the two and this is
not a sermon to say yeah go ahead and sin you know I mean permissible even
though it's not sanctioned because the sins that you and I commit have built
in consequences to them okay now here's a good verse for all of us passage look
at verse 29 for as much then as we are the offspring of God we ought not to
think that the Godhead is likened to gold or silver stone graven by art and
man's device now what is the Apostle Paul talking about well he's preaching
to the heathen and he's trying to explain to them who the unknown God is
and he's saying you know the true God of the universe are not these gods that are
made of gold and silver and stones you know this is not who the God of the
Bible is he says in verse 30 and the times of this ignorance God winked at
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent now what does that mean that he
winked at it well in the Old Testament God viewed idolatry and paganism as
being abominable but when it says he winked at it literally means like he
overlooked it though no those people died and went to hell if they didn't get
saved okay but he winked at it because it's just you know the way of the heathen
he didn't come down super hard on them although obviously once they died they
went to hell but he says but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent
what is the major major difference well now because in the New Testament Jesus
is revealed as being the Christ and now there's an aggressive campaign from God
for his people to go into the world and evangelize the heathen so therefore
everyone all around the world has heard about Jesus at one point or another so
you know at the times of this ignorance God would wink at it but now commandeth
now how does this apply to the sermon well here's the thing is that we can
look at these examples of people who did wrong and did very questionable things
but at the end of the day God now commands all of us to repent you say
what do you mean by that well because of the fact that you know the people of the
Old Testament were ignorant of certain things because they didn't have the full
Bible you know if David Solomon and Abraham and all these other men had this
to work with they probably wouldn't have committed polygamy or concubinage why
because they have all these examples but we have the full Bible now so it's just
like yeah God winked at their ignorance he kind of overlooked it he didn't
punish them greatly but folks us in the New Testament to whomsoever much is
given of him shall be much required and we have way more to work with we
understand way more about the Bible we have way more knowledge and we
understand polygamy just didn't work for these guys so our standard is higher
in the New Testament people always say oh the God of the Old Testament was so
hard the God New Testament is so nice no it's actually the other way around God
was God was actually more lenient in the Old Testament than he is for us in the
new you know why because now we have the entire Bible to work with yeah but what
about all that carnage then read Revelation there's more carnage in the
book of Revelation in the three and a half year span then in the thousands of
years that are recorded in this book put together because God is just destroying
the entire world he's just going crazy and in the end times when he's pouring
his wrath upon the world the point that I'm making is the fact that you know we
are responsible for more in the New Testament we have the Word of God so
these people who are saying well because the Bible says it therefore it is
sanctioned by God God is okay with it you know they're gonna receive a greater
punishment because they actually have a Bible that they can reference and read
and see and they choose to ignore it you understand what I'm saying and so just
because it's permissible does not mean that it's sanctioned by God let's pray
father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the testimonies
of God or as we can learn and we know the things that were written a fourth
time a river our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come and we
can read these stories and learn from them Lord and avoid the pitfalls and
traps and the bad decisions of the patriarchs and others in the Bible I
pray that you'd help us as your people to continue to develop wisdom Lord and
and may you continue to give us knowledge and discretion and I pray you
fill us with your spirit bless the remainder of our day our Sunday night
service may we see many come back in Jesus name amen
you starting your song books the song number 100