Synod Sermon by Rev G G Hutton
Judges 5:1-2. Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
It should be obvious from these words that the reason Deborah is praising the Lord on this occasion is that she has witnessed the avenging of God’s Israel. This is the great matter that brings joy to her heart and makes her seek that others would join with her in praising God. If you and I know anything of the history of the Church down through the ages, we know that a spiritual ebb and flow is the constant experience of the Church. Here in the Book of Judges, this phenomenon is brought into very sharp focus. We see the cycle repeatedly: the people backslide and depart from the Lord; then they are brought to cry for mercy. There is a reformation and a reviving, and that is followed by another period of declension. Yet again the Lord in mercy raises up a deliverer and there is another period of reviving. This has been the experience of the Church down through her history.
The people of God today may feel that their lot is cast in a very dark day, and it certainly is. It is in a day of small things that we are assembled as the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. When, however, we turn to a portion such as this in the Word of God, we have reason to consider it and learn from it. When the Apostle wrote to the Romans, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (15:4), he is informing us that the things that were written centuries before his time were written for a reason. They were written for our learning, and he is also speaking of himself and of those people he was then addressing – to benefit them and us. They were recorded so that we, through patience and through the comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.
That is where the Church draws its comfort from and that is where you and I, meeting as Fathers and Brethren on this occasion, are to draw our comfort from – from the Word of God and, in particular, from these things that were written in Judges. They were written for our benefit. They were divinely inspired and maintained on record, so that we, through patience and through the comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. So there is no need to lose heart, no need to despair, but there is reason to take encouragement.
We would like in this context to consider the avenging of God’s Israel as recorded here in Judges 4 and 5. (1.) The conditions that prevailed in Israel
1The sermon preached by the retiring Moderator at the opening of the Synod in May 2010.
before they were avenged by God. (2.) The symbolic timing, as well as the historical timing. The symbolic timing of the avenging of Israel has a lesson for us: “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves”. That word when is a key word in the text; it is vitally important. (3.) How God did avenge Israel.
1. The conditions that prevailed in Israel when God arose with mighty power as the Lord of Hosts and avenged His people. You will see that the conditions were indeed very, very low, spiritually and morally. We cannot read through chapter 4 without being aware that something had to be done if this people were going to have any comfort, and God had to do it.
Would we not think that, if a people had experienced the bitterness of affliction in their souls, they would learn not to do evil again? And these were the Lord’s people, the Lord’s Church. They were His covenant people and He would never forsake them. Yet this is what happened repeatedly: “The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles” (Jud 4:1,2). They sinned again; the Lord afflicted them and brought them low. He caused them to suffer great affliction because of their backslidings, because of their departing from Him.
They then experienced a day of darkness, a day of misery, to such an extent that they were driven to cry unto the Lord: “And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord” (Jud 4:3). That tells us something about how low they were brought; they were not organising a scheme of relief; they were not planning some kind of rebellious deliverance for themselves; they could only cry unto the Lord. There was nowhere else they could turn; this was the only place where they could now go: “They cried unto the Lord”, for they were truly brought low. When we read the various details of the conditions that prevailed among the people we can see why they were groaning; we can understand perfectly well why they were crying unto the Lord.
In her song, Deborah refers to the prevailing conditions: “In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways” (Jud 5:6). What would you expect to meet on a highway? Traffic coming and going freely, commercial traffic moving freely about doing business, but the highways were unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways. Why were they doing so? They were afraid of danger. They were being afflicted by the hand of justice; they were being made aware that they had sinned against God. They were brought so low that afflictions were seen in all spheres of life. We read in verse 7: “The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel”. Village after
village was deserted; the whole land was gripped by fear. They existed in misery – in fear and trepidation. And, if we go back to the previous chapter, we find they were so weakened that, even if they desired to engage in warfare, they did not have the means. They were weakened; they were basically defenceless.
Another problem was that they were fragmented. This becomes obvious when we hear the attitude of some of the tribes. While some were jeopardising their very lives out on the fields of battle, heroically seeking to defend the Lord’s cause, others were not! They had no mind for the struggle; they showed little interest in what was going on. They were so involved in their worldly affairs that they did not rally to the support of their brethren.
It is also to be noted that Israel was greatly dispirited. In Judges 5:7 Deborah spoke of the low state of things “until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel”. There was no improvement until Deborah arose a mother in Israel and called Barak to give a lead and take action. The whole scene was one of despair. Poor, dispirited men were incapable of doing anything; they were helpless and hopeless in many respects. However, Deborah sang: “Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord” (Jud 5:3). Why would she do so? Because of the avenging of Israel; because, although the conditions were as they were, this was God’s Israel and He was in covenant with His people. Though He would chastise, He would not forsake. And though this mighty, powerful enemy might harass them, making their existence miserable, yet the Lord would not forget them. The Lord was afflicting them, but it was for a reason.
In the events narrated here we are brought face to face with the universal law of cause and effect. We see the effect, so we have to ask, What was the cause? It was their sin. Israel had sinned in forsaking the Lord, and God did not trifle with sin. He does not trifle with sin in His Church today, nor did He trifle with it in the days of the Judges. Yet He avenged His Israel. No one will lay a hand on God’s Israel without consequences. Sisera may harass and afflict the Lord’s people, but the day comes when He avenges His own.
2. The timing. When did God avenge His people? We must learn this and take encouragement from it. The Apostle says that these “things were written . . . that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom 15:4). Here the Scriptures tell us of a glorious, triumphant day when God took honour to Himself, when He brought His people out of despondency. What a day it was! When? When the people willingly offered themselves! Then the very attitude of the people was evidence indeed of a mighty work of God the Holy Ghost.
We read in Psalm 110: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy
power” (v 3). Here is a mighty wonder: a people made willing. They do not become willing just because they have grown weary of being afflicted. Man’s will is in bondage to his corrupt nature; he does not wish to please God or honour and serve Him. The wills of these people were just the same as yours and mine in a state of nature, but God the Holy Spirit made them willing. Then they willingly offered themselves to God and to His cause – to serve Him, to glorify Him, to seek the honour and prosperity of His cause.
We must understand also that it was a day of great grace. Willingness is a grace of the Spirit; you and I would never be spiritually willing without the grace of God. The willingness we find here is a very appealing grace. We see this very clearly exhibited in the Saviour Himself. The Apostle writes: “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). There is the willingness of the Son of God as the Redeemer of His people – willing to humble Himself, willing to engage in that awesome service appointed in the counsel of the triune God in eternity, willing to die in the place of His people, willing to suffer and to make atonement for their sin, willing to be poor so that they might be rich. When we see willingness exhibited in this manner, it is a day of grace; it is a glorious day, testifying that God is mightily at work.
On that day there was also the grace of repentance. What a day it was when their wills went in a new direction! They willed to please and serve God; they willed now the glory and honour of God, which previously they did not desire. Let us note what is actually recorded. The people willingly offered themselves! It was a day of faith. How could they dare think of offering themselves? They did not make any bold claims; they did not present themselves as if they were something that they were not.
Who “willingly offered themselves”? They were broken men, dispirited men, downcast men; they were poor sinners. But they were contrite men, coming to the Lord in penitence. You remember when John the Baptist saw the multitudes coming to be baptised. What did he say to them? They were to “bring forth . . . fruits meet for repentance”. Here were men bringing forth the fruit that is meet for repentance, they were changed men, they now had a new disposition towards God and His truth, and a new disposition towards sin and backsliding. “They willingly offered themselves”.
All around them was evidence of a day of small things, yet this wonder took place. They praised the Lord – no one else; all praise must go to Him: “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel”. When did it take place? When did the tide turn? When was the yoke of bondage broken? It was when the people willingly offered themselves! They were offering what? They had nothing to offer but their willingness. Could they offer themselves as a mighty
army of great, heroic men? No. Could they offer themselves to God as those who had demonstrated they had been faithful and true and deserved help from God? The fact is that they had to come in their emptiness.
Fathers and Brethren, I do not even need to try to identify the things that speak so loudly of the low state and the low condition of the Lord’s cause today. We might wonder to ourselves: What will change it? Only God can change it; we know that! This is something, however, that we in this Synod can take encouragement from: these things were written that we might have hope and comfort from the Scriptures. Here is comfort: they willingly offered themselves. They did not have much to offer; they were impoverished; they were weakened and pathetic. But God demonstrates, throughout His Word and through His providential dealings with His people, how much He regards the grace of willingness. Although David was not allowed to build the great house of the Lord that he desired to build, God gave him a son to do it because He knew what was in David’s heart.
God knows what is in our hearts when we come together on an occasion like this. We might feel we are pretty weak as a little Church and we might feel, looking at the big denominations, that we are not very much, comparatively speaking, and neither we are. In all honesty, we are not. We need not try to pretend to ourselves that we are strong, that we are making great progress and advancing at a great pace. We know we are not. Nevertheless, there is one thing that we can take encouragement from: “These things are written”. And here they are: the Lord avenged His Israel when, in all their weakness, impoverishment and need, they offered themselves willingly. All they basically had to offer was their own emptiness, and we might feel we do not have much else to offer.
We are probably justified in thinking just like that; but, remember, the Lord avenged His Israel in a day like that. That is what we should have in mind when we come to this Synod. We are small; in the ecclesiastical world we are probably considered rather insignificant; we do not have in our midst the great names that many are attracted to, but this is what God has a respect for and what He honours – when His people willingly offer themselves.
Notice when Deborah says, “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people” (Jud 5:9). The governors, the men who ruled, gave the lead, they set the example, and Deborah says her heart was going out to them: My heart is stirred with affection towards them who gave a lead, who set an example.
You remember what Paul had to say to Timothy when he was exhorting him regarding his ministry: “Be thou an example of the believers” (1 Tim 4:12). Do not just preach to them; do not just instruct them, but be an example
to them; “be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity”. That is what we must be when we assemble as the oversight of Christ’s Church. Some of us here endeavour to preach; we endeavour to edify the flock; we seek the salvation of our fellow sinners; we seek to do them good. But we are to be examples: every one of us in our walk among our people. In the way we speak, in our very words, and our conversation, (as you well know, it here means conduct), and our charity – the way we love Christ, His cause and His people – we are to be examples.
When we think of the various Church Assemblies meeting here and there, would it not be an encouragement if Christ, the glorified King and Head of the Church would testify that this little body of men, the ministers and elders met in St Jude’s in Glasgow, are an example of true Christianity, an example to the whole Church of Christ. Brethren, you and I know that we all fail! It is almost 36 years since I was ordained to the ministry, and there are men in this gathering who are a lot longer in the ministry. I have witnessed a great change taking place over the years: a change in attitude, a change in the calibre and the character of the ministry and in the spirituality of the Church of Christ. We have all witnessed it; we lament over it.
This is what we must seek to be, Fathers and Brethren, an example of what believers truly are. Let it be exhibited in the way we conduct ourselves, in the way we deliberate. There is no doubt about it: we will disagree on various matters; we will hold different opinions as to what should or should not be done. But may it please the Head of the Church to make us an example of what believers truly are. If we can be such before God, that will be a good testimony indeed!
Deborah’s heart was going out to those men whom she saw giving the lead. They set an example and others followed. They were the governors, yet they were not high and mighty, they did not elevate themselves, saying, The people can offer themselves; Ephraim and others can jeopardise their own lives but we are the men who rule, and we can send others. They gave the lead and they carried the people with them.
How amazing to see men who offered themselves so willingly! There were some who, you might say, might not be suitable; they might not at all be qualified if there was going to be a war. But “out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer” (Jud 5:14). What a day that was when they were willing! Here were men who were more accustomed to accounting and handling the pen – that is what they were gifted at; they were not men for the battlefield.
Maybe it is an opportune moment to speak to young men here. There were men who were more accustomed to handling the pen, but a day came when there was a call to arms, in a time of pressing need. And today we need young men raised up of God to preach the everlasting gospel in our congregations and throughout our poor land. The villages may have been empty, but God made them willing. Even men engaged in other activities set their pens aside and took up the sword. Whatever their past, the need of the hour compelled them to offer themselves in the service of Christ and His cause. Surely there must be young men here and there whom God may be calling to leave another occupation, that maybe they are successful at, but there are pressing needs in Christ’s Church, and those needs cannot be ignored.
Now when they offered themselves, they offered themselves to God. We do not mean that everybody offered themselves – there were those who did not, and that must have been discouraging – but those who did offer themselves put themselves entirely at His disposal, to be anything at all or, if need be, to be nothing at all. O that we would have that spirit! It is in our nature to want to be important, but may we be made willing to be anything for Christ’s sake or, if it will honour Christ, to be the very offscouring of all things. That was their spirit, and God honoured it.
3. How God did avenge Israel. Humanly speaking it seemed impossible. What confidence their enemies had, who afflicted the Lord’s Israel! How confidently they could look at all their chariots of iron. For 20 years they mightily oppressed Israel. They had no way of delivering themselves; all the honour and glory must go to God.
When Deborah instructed Barak as to his duty, she asked, “Is not the Lord gone out before thee?” (Jud 4:14). You go and do your duty, she tells him; God says He will draw Sisera and all his chariots to destruction. You imagine yourself as an observer, watching all these great, terrifying chariots and horses and all the thousands of men marching in a certain direction and the ground thundering under them. Yet the eye of faith sees beyond it a controlling power: God is drawing them to destruction, and they do not even know it! What confidence we hear from Sisera’s mother! She “looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming?” (Jud 5:28) She expect only triumph and victory; she expected him to be coming to a hero’s welcome. “Have they not sped? Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two . . .” (Jud 5:30). They were so confident, but God shattered their confidence by His own mighty power, because He was in control.
God was not short of means; here were poor men who willingly offered themselves. They had nothing, but God had everything. “The stars in their
courses fought against Sisera”, and the River Kishon swept away their horses and chariots (Jud 5:20,21). God is not short of means; everything is at His disposal. What does the great King and Head of the Church say? “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Mt 28:18). They did not come along and say, We offer ourselves with all our skills, with all our abilities. They submitted themselves entirely to His controlling purposes. He managed everything; He carried them through to victory and avenged His Israel.
Fathers and Brethren, it may seem that I am emphasising it overmuch, but, if we know ourselves and if we look back on our own ministries, we must hang our heads, for we fail so often. We have to offer ourselves just as these men; they were weak and small in number, but it pleased God to use them. God avenged His Israel and He can do it again – and these things were written so that we might read them and take encouragement from them.
Some of us know perfectly well that the greater part of our ministry is, humanly speaking, in the past; whatever days we have left are becoming fewer. I would seek to encourage our younger brethren, who are in the early stages of their ministry – and some of you have perhaps come here feeling that you are not making much progress; you are not seeing a lot of fruit. Whatever your experience, listen to the voice of the Head of the Church Himself; He made a promise, “I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). Sometimes I think we perhaps misunderstand what the Saviour was actually saying about the gates of hades, the gates of death. What was the Saviour saying? Death will never prevail against the church that I built.
You might think, when you look at your little congregation, that you see few besides old people. In Inverness itself, with the APC split, the whole heart was taken out of the congregation, a whole generation was lost, so that there are many elderly people, and we all know it is only a matter of time before death will carry them away. Some of you have come from little congregations, and you think death is eventually going to destroy your congregation; it will carry the last godly souls away. What does Christ say? Death will not prevail – “the gates of hell shall not prevail”.
That should be an encouragement to us to pray on, to preach on and to offer ourselves willingly without any reservation. If these are the people I preach to, may I preach to them with all my heart! If these are the souls I have been made responsible for, may God help me to give my whole being to seeking their salvation! That was Deborah’s joy: “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves”. May God help us, by His grace, to be like them, believing that God can do again in this dark day what He did then, and do it on an even greater scale.