I. Judgment Is Unthinkable To Many People: some can’t accept the idea of irrevocable, final judgment
1. Some object to the death penalty because it is too final and doesn’t rehabilitate the criminal
2. Rob Bell (of Michigan) teaches that “Love wins”, eventually love will win everyone over
II. Judgment Is For God’s Children: “Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”.
1. Sin maybe exciting and attractive at first but it gets boring. Sin isn’t creative and new.
2. 1 Peter 4:17 says “judgment begins at the house of God”. Hebrews 12:7ff about discipline.
3. Sisera cruelly oppress Israel for twenty years (4:3) because they choose new gods (5:8).
III. Judgment Is Risky (4:4-10): Israel is vastly out-matched
1. Deborah summons Barak (4:6) and tells him to lead an army against Sisera.
2. Sisera has 900 iron chariots, like tanks today. Israel hardly had spears and shields (5:8).
3. Several tribes talked it about and it thought of it was too risky. Some were too busy.
4. Barak mustered 10,000 from Zebulun and Naphtali. They “risked their lives to the death” (5:18).
5. To be a Christian who lives his faith outside of church is risky.
IV. Judgment Is Providential (4:11): at first looks like it is an irrelevant detail
1. Heber the Kenite moved near an oak tree near Kedesh because God arranged it. It’s providential.
2. Everything was arranged so that the right person was in the right place.
3. The problem with astrology is that it gives credit to the creation that belongs to the Creator.
4. There was a storm so that river Kishon, flooded (5:21). Those iron chariots were bogged down.
5. God’s providence arranges things, in ways we are unaware of, like a trap before it springs.
V. Judgment Is Unavoidable: many people today think judgment is unnecessary
1. Judgment, some think, is a barbaric idea for people who don’t understand the right techniques.
2. Sisera believes his vastly superior army, his better equipment would keep any judgment away.
VI. Judgment Is The Lord’s: “the judgments of the Lord are true and right altogether” (Psalm 19:9)
1. Keep two things in mind: (1) God is in control of all things and (2) God is always right.
2. The Lord “routed” Sisera. Barak was just His instrument. (4:14-15.)
VII. Judgment Is Unexpected: Jael, wife of Heber, invites Sisera to come into her tent.
1. Jael covers him with a “rug” (blanket) and gives him milk. He is lulled into relaxation.
2. The last thing that went through his head was something he never expected.
VIII. Judgment Is Brutal: Jael knew what she was doing all along
1. Jael takes a tent peg and a mallet and drives it so hard it goes through his skull into the ground.
2. It was a horrific scene, with blood and brains and bits of bone lying around. Disgusting. Gory.
3. Hell is so brutal it’s known for its wailing and gnashing of teeth.
4. Either God is out of control or else there is something so wrong with us that we deserve the brutality of death and God is right to give it.
IX. Judgment Is Humiliating: the great general who has cruelly terrorized them for 20 years, has a smashed skull and his mother is mocked for looking out her window, vainly expecting him to return.
X. Judgment Is Without Mercy: 5:28-30 contradicts what many of us have been taught is Christian
1. Sisera’s mother knows that they’ve been raping and pillaging and she couldn’t care.
2. “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.” (James 2:13)
XI. Judgment Is Thorough: this was the beginning of the end of the power of Jabin and the Canaanites (4:23-24). Judgment doesn’t just curtail evil. Judgment will thoroughly destroy it.
XII. Judgment Is Celebrated: Chapter 5 is for celebrating their victory. When finally the world is judged, the response is, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for His judgments are true and just.” (Revelation 19:1f).
XIII. Invitation: The sins that make judgment necessary are borne by the Son for His people. Isaiah 53 says, Jesus made “many to be accounted righteous.” the Servant, Jesus, was taken away by judgment. He bore our iniquities. Judgment was without mercy on Him, on the cross, so that He could have mercy on us. In the end, love does win: love for God’s people, whom He saved; love for God’s glory in all things. Love wins because God is love.