WAITING FOR SISERA'S CHARIOT

Judges Chapter Four

Sermon of the Week#200539-October 7, 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen, the bottom line of every trouble this world has ever known is the effort of the Devil to destroy the work of God, His Christ and His Church. Today in the physical sense he wars against God, His Christ and His Church with atomic devices, poisonous gasses, biological warfare and terrorist attacks. He does not attack America as a nation; he already has America in his hip pocket. A casual glance at our abortion laws, the drug traffic, drive-by shootings, the movies, the porn, sexual perversion, the wreckage he has made of marriage and the home should be enough indication that the Devil is in control of America.

However, it is God’s work he wants to destroy. And it has always been this way. The first fight on this planet was over religion. Cain murdered Abel in an argument concerning the sacrificial shedding of the blood. Every enemy of God, His Christ and His Church has been a Cainite.

While the Devil may not have used our hi-tech weapons in ages gone by, the weapons he used were just as effective. One such enemy was Jabin, the king of the Canaanites. His Field Marshall was Sisera and he had the super weapons of that day, nine hundred chariots of iron.

The chief executive officer in the nation of Israel after the days of Joshua was a succession of around fourteen judges for a period of over three hundred years. Only one of the fourteen judges was a woman. Her name was Deborah and she governed Israel at this time.

Deborah directed Barak to go fight Sisera and his nine hundred chariots of iron. During the battle God fought from Heaven and the stars in their courses fought against the nine hundred chariots of iron. The rain came and the river was swollen. Sisera's chariots were stuck in the mud and he fled on foot.

During his flight he came to the tent of Heber, a former ally of Sisera’s king, but now with Israel. Heber wasn't home but his wife Jael was. She invited Sisera in and told him to relax. He was tired from all the running he was doing so he was thankful that she let him hide in her tent. She put a mantle over him. He asked for a drink of water and she gave him a bottle of milk and butter in a lordly dish. This was in the days before they delivered milk in cartons. I remember those days. The milk was not homogenized and the cream rose to the top of the bottle. Sisera drank the whole bottle, cream and all, and told her to stand in the door of the tent and if anybody came by and asked where he was she was to say, “He went that away.”

Jael did what he said. She stood in the door of the tent and when she heard him start to snore she took a nail of the tent in one hand and a hammer in the other. She crept in and kneeled down beside the form of the sleeping Sisera. She aimed carefully and with one sure deft stroke drove the nail through his head and pinned him to the floor; and that is not all she did. She also cut off his head. About this time Barak came driving by and Jael flagged him down. “Come in,” she said, “I think there is someone here you would like to see.” Barak came in and sure enough there was the head of Sisera with a nail stuck through the temple. The last verse of the chapter says that the hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin, the king of Canaan.

After the battle Deborah composed a song of victory. One statement in that song is worthy of note at this time. I was not there and so I do not know the melody but I think it was the same tune as ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’. Verse twenty-eight pictures the mother of Sisera waiting for her son to return from the battle. Listen to this, “The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariot? Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colors?”

           The mother of Sisera was waiting for someone who never came and never would come. She was WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT. Many are waiting for that chariot today. Sisera’s chariot is a chariot that will never arrive. There are several ways we might illustrate, but the bottom line is always the same. First, consider salvation apart from the blood of Christ is WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT.

SALVATION APART FROM THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He told the Apostles, “This is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many unto the remission of sins.” Paul in Hebrews states, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”

If Jesus was of normal size there were about eight quarts of blood in His body. When you consider the multiplied millions who have been washed in the blood, a number that no man can number, we can say that under the microscope of faith, every drop of the Savior's blood is multiplied and enlarged into an ocean of redemption.

In First Corinthians fifteen Paul says, “The power of sin is the law.” The law has no power over the Christian because Paul says again in Colossians chapter two, verses twelve through fourteen, “Buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. You, I say, did He make alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and He hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.”

Sisera was no longer a threat to the Lord's people because he lay dead in Jael’s tent with a nail through his head. The law can no longer condemn us because it also has a nail that was driven through it when Jesus died on the cross.

Please note again that we are made alive with Him when we are buried with Him in baptism. There is one truth that is taught in scripture above all other scriptures and that is the fact that a soul without the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely and utterly without hope in this world.

Paul encourages the Christian when he tells us in First Thessalonians, “But I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that fall asleep that ye sorrow not as they that have no hope.” According to the inspired Apostle Paul, the person who is not a Christian has no hope in this world of Heaven.

To expect salvation any other way than by obedience to Christ is to wait for something that has no promise of ever taking place. You are WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT. Another way to considering the hopelessness of life without Christ regards the Church which is His body.

WAITING FOR SALVATION APART FROM THE CHURCH

OF CHRIST IS TO WAIT FOR SISERA'S CHARIOT

           Back in the sixties some of the Jesus freaks had signs that said, “Jesus, Yes—The Church, No”. Someone said that Jesus is all right but they wished He would leave that leprous bride behind.

It must be remembered that the Church is the Bride of Christ. In Acts the second chapter we are told that those who repented and were immersed for the remission of sins were added to the Church. To separate one's self from the Church is to separate one's self from Jesus. Ephesians chapter five informs us that He will present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, having neither spot, nor wrinkle. The Church may seem to some of you that it has ugly spots, full of wrinkles, and tied up in knots, but that is not the way it looks to the Lord. If you are looking for salvation apart from your loyalty to the Church, the Church that Paul told the Ephesian elders was purchased by the blood of God, that Jesus purchased with His own blood, you are WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT. Again we note that the salvation of the rest of the world can only be accomplished by the preaching of the Great Commission.

WAITING FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD

Jesus said to the Apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” To expect the world to be saved apart from carrying out this program is to WAIT FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT. The job of the Church is to preach the gospel.

Some like to look at a ministry like the radio ministry and call it a para‑ministry, as though it is something apart from the Church. A more gross error could not be made. The job of the Church is preaching the gospel.

It is said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Today it is the church many times that fiddles around with games and entertainment while much of the world is left in ignorance about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too many times we have been content to shoot off a few fire­crackers when we should have been dropping the whole arsenal of God’s atomic bombs. Too many times we have picked out a tune with one finger on the piano when we should have pulled out all the stops on the organ of God’s grace. Too many times we have tried to feed a hungry world on soda crackers when we should have been feeding them beefsteak, including the whole cow, horns, hooves and tail. Too long we have tried to quench the thirst of the world by using a medicine-dropper when we should have opened the floodgates of God’s great river of grace. Salvation of the world without the carrying out of the great commission is WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT’. Again the Bible is the only book with the message of salvation. Apart from that Bible somebody is WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT.

APART FROM THE BIBLE

In the second epistle of Peter, in the first chapter, the Apostle said, “Seeing that His divine power hath given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us by His own glory.”

The Bible is a complete source book of what God wants us to do and expects us to do. It is the only authoritative book given to us from the Almighty.

Many years ago I read of a noted journalist who said that he never went to Church because no man could speak as often as a preacher does and have anything important to say. I agree with this. None of the stand‑up comics on television seem to be able to do it on their own. They all need ghost writers, even if they appear only once in a while. But a preacher speaks to the same au­dience week in and week out, on the same subject, three and four times a week. How can he do it and have anything fresh and dif­ferent to say? He can't do it unless he has a ghost write---HOLY GHOST. If the preacher uses the Word of God, his message is worth hearing over and over again because it is the message from the Lord Himself. The Bible is an inexhaustible source of the will of God for fallen man. To expect to find salvation within the pages of any other book is an exercise in futility. You are WAITING FOR SISERA'S CHARIOT. And a person is waiting for Sisera’s chariot apart from a repentant life style.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND THE CHARIOT

Paul tells us in Hebrews twelve, verse eleven, “Follow after peace with all men and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” That statement is enough to tell us that if you expect to go to Heaven apart from the Christian life you are WAITING FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT. But we have strong encouragement in the scripture. Jesus in His farewell address to the Apostles said in John sixteen, “These things I speak unto you that ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Remember in the song of Deborah as she sang how they fought from Heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The stars in their courses are still fighting against the enemies of God. In the Book of Job the angels are identified as the morning stars that sang together when God laid the foundations of the earth. In the Book of Hebrews it is said, “The angels are ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation.” These stars in their courses are even now in our service.

Sisera had nine hundred chariots of iron. He had the super weapon at that time. The Canaanites were the super power, but the super power with the super weapons was no match against the One fighting against them from Heaven.

Consider also how Paul tells us in First Corinthians, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as it common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able to bear but will with the way of salvation provide a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Then in Timothy again, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom to Him be the glory forever and ever.”

One time in an effort to build the evening attendance I had a deacon to dress up like the Devil. Before services we drained the baptistry and the deacon hid in it before services. I told him that when I made the announcements he was to come up out of the hole and jab at me with a pitchfork. I was told that one little girl went home crying and said, “I am not going to that church anymore because that is the place where they keep the Devil locked up all the time.” Some people have that idea about the Lord. The Church is where we keep the Lord locked up all the time. We come on Sunday, sing a few songs, preach a sermon, say a closing prayer and then say, “Good‑bye, Jesus, see you again next week.”

Ye call Me Master and serve Me not. Ye call Me the light and see Me not, Ye call Me the way and walk Me not. Ye call Me wise and follow Me not. Ye call Me fair and love Me not. Ye call Me rich and ask Me not. Ye call Me eternal and seek Me not. Ye call Me gracious and trust Me not. Ye call Me noble and serve Me not. Ye call Me mighty and honor Me not. Ye call Me just and fear Me not. If I condemn you, blame Me not.

To wait for salvation apart from a dedicated life in the Master's service is to WAIT FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT. Once more we say to wait for a cure all from the modern day social ills without the gospel is to ‘wait for  Sisera’s chariot’.

WAITING FOR SALVATION FROM SOCIAL ILLS

The social ills of the world are many and obvious: drugs, abortion, pornography, sexual perversion, to mention a few. The only answer is Christ. Everything else has been tried to no avail.

One time I was walking down the crowded street of a big city on a Saturday night. Thousands of people were on the street. As we came to the corner we saw a man lying in the gutter. His body was molded around the curb and his head was in the grating. We stopped to pick him up. He was as stiff as a board. We leaned him against a light pole like a plank. As we walked off down the street I looked back and thought, “We did not help that poor fellow too much.” I found a man in the gutter and when I left him he was up on the curb with me. That is just about as high as we can lift anyone with the social gospel. The only power that can lift a man from the gutter of this life to the golden sidewalks that will pave the streets of the New Jerusalem is the power of the death‑conquering Christ. To expect the world to change any other way is to WAIT FOR SISERA’S CHARIOT.

The mother of Sisera looked out of a window and cried through the lattice, “Why tarry the wheels of his chariot? Why is his chariot so long in coming?”