A Battle Plan for Ending Oppression Judges 4:4-16

you me. and still somewhat to this day, I very

much enjoyed the Looney Tunes. Do you remember

the Looney Tunes? Now, not the baby ones so much

where they were running around in diapers, but

the actual Looney Tunes before that. Bugs Bunny,

Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd. You remember them? There's

one particular scene where the whole concept

of the cartoon is Elmer Fudd is hunting and he's

hunting Bugs Bunny. And then even Daffy Duck

gets on board and he's hunting Bugs Bunny. And

then there comes a moment in the scene where

Elmer Fudd is standing there with his shotgun

loaded, ready to go. And Bugs Bunny and Dappy

Duck are standing side by side. And Elmer Fudd

points his shotgun at Bugs Bunny. And Bugs Bunny

says, it's duck season. And Dappy Duck says,

no, it's rabbit season. And Bugs Bunny says,

no, it's duck season. They go back and forth

and back and forth. And after about six times,

he's pointing at Bugs Bunny. And Bugs Bunny says,

it's rabbit season. And Daffy Duck says, no,

it's duck season! And Elmer Fudd shoots him in

the face. That's one of my most favorite scenes

from Looney Tunes, and it's kind of comical because

in that heated moment, Daffy Duck forgot that

he was a duck and that he was arguing for rabbit

season, and suddenly he's arguing for duck season,

and then he gets shot in the face. But quite

a bit more serious than that is that recently,

a systematic review and meta -analysis, that

means an over... broad view of looking at nearly

13 ,800 individuals aged 10 to 29 found strong

links between identity confusion and symptoms

of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

Another study identified that identity confusion,

that is to say not knowing who you are, and uncertainty

during adolescent are consistently associated

with lower psychological psychosocial adjustment,

including increased anxiety, loneliness, aggression,

delinquency, substance use, and depressive symptoms.

Research around identity stress using tools like

the identity distress scale shows that distress

about long -term goals, career choices, and friendships

correlates with higher likelihood of anxiety,

depression, and even mental health treatment.

A survey conducted by Lenovo revealed that nearly

46 % of Gen Z Americans report leading a double

life, presenting different personas online versus

offline. This disconnect is linked then to anxiety,

loneliness, and depression. I could go on, but

I think you get the point. Knowing who we are

and how our choices line up with who we are is

an absolute necessity if we're going to be mentally,

emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually

healthy. And that is not the state that we find

the world in today. That's a fact. So even in

this room, there may be people who are struggling

with identity issues. Who am I? And if you're

a young person, it's all the more likely, but

the reality is it could be all the more likely

if you're in a relationship with your husband

or wife and struggling in that relationship,

or if your health is in jeopardy. or if your

choices surrounding your entertainment have wobbled

slightly into the realm that you think you're

now being entertained by things that you don't

necessarily even agree with, and so on. We're

going to see today a people whose identity essentially

had almost been erased, and then we're going

to see the solution that is proposed. It comes

from a unique place in the Bible, and I'm going

to explain to you why it's unique as we go there

and look at it. But we are working through the

book of Judges, and if you would kindly then

give me a little who to holler amen as we go

to Judges chapter 5. Amen. This is the word of

Judges 5 · chapter mention

God, what we're about to read, and it is a unique

piece of the word of God, which you will not

find anything like it anywhere else, even in

the word of God. So what we're about to read

is the first part of the song of Deborah and

Barak, as your Bible probably subtitles it. We

remember that Deborah was the prophetess. She

sat under the tree. She judged Israel, at least

the people that could come to her. She also prophesied

on behalf of God. It was Deborah who told Barak,

gather an army. It was Deborah who told Barak

to go to face the massive army of Jabin under

Sisera. And he did do what she said. As long

as she would come along with him, he was willing

to do that. So Deborah and Barak, now it says,

Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang on

that day, saying, So what we're about to read

is a song that is attributed that they sang it

on the day of the victory. They have just wiped

out the enemy army and freed Israel from oppression

of decades. So for the first time ever, the people

of Israel, some of them, never in their lifetime

have they seen it. They could walk on the road

freely, not be afraid of being molested or killed.

Never in their lifetime have they seen they could

just go get a job and work for an honest wage.

They were trapped. and now on this day they have

been set free. And Deborah and Barak are attributed

with this song on that day. Now before I go any

further on this, I want you to understand that

this is believed to be some of the oldest writing

in the Old Testament. So the Hebrew that we have

for this is written in such a way that it sort

of predates in its structure even the books that

come before it. Now we do know that the Genesis,

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all

of that had been reframed into Greek and Septuagint

and then existed in both. And so that caused

a modernization of that language. But some of

the language that's in these verses that we're

about to read is so old that the best scholars

of Hebrew that we have today have a hard time

interpreting it for sure. There's a couple of

places in particular that that happens, and I'll

try to point them out to you. I think there's

only one in the first 11 verses, but we'll see

them over the next couple weeks as we look at

the rest of it, okay? So then Deborah and Barak,

the son of Abinoam, sang on that day, saying,

verse 2, that the leaders led in Israel, that

the people volunteered. Bless the Lord. In other

words, because this happened, that the leaders

stepped up and did what they were supposed to

do, that the people volunteered to do what they

were supposed to do, bless the Lord. Praise the

Lord. Now that first phrase there, bless the

Lord, is kind of unique in Hebrew. There's sort

of two instances of it. One of them is you bless

an underling, someone who has been, who's done

for you, a servant, somebody who works in your

fields or whatever. And that is to say that it

lifts you, you lift them up in a way. You help

them in some way. Maybe you pay them a little

more. You pat them on the back. You encourage

them with a word of encouragement. That's that

kind of blessing. That's not this kind. And the

other is to just focus your eyes on that thing

or that person and recognize their greatness.

And then out of that, to respond, to do something.

Not just to look and say, wow, that is a beautiful

star in the sky. in your mind, but to respond

to seeing that beautiful star in the sky. So

you can bless that beautiful star in the sky

according to this verse if it doesn't stop with

just looking at it. Does that make sense? So

if you just look at it and go, whoa. We were

playing softball on Thursday night and we were...

standing out there, I think it was after one

of the games, getting ready to pray or whatever,

and I looked up and I saw the moon and I pointed

it out to somebody else and I said, wow, look

at that moon. And she said, yeah, I saw that

and that's incredible. And we're standing there

talking about it. We were blessing the moon under

this sense, okay? Now, I went on to bless God

because God is the maker of the moon and God

let us see such an incredible thing and so on.

And so did she because she's a professing Christian,

even committed to come to church here at some

point. But the bottom line is, We understand

she is saying because these people stepped up

and made this difference, because they did this,

bless the Lord. Now that makes this a completely

unique piece of literature. Not only is it already

the oldest text or one of the oldest texts that

we have translated into the Old Testament, but

on top of that, in its day, it is a unique ode.

It is a unique song. The songs were all about

the people who did great deeds. So if the song

was about Deborah and Barak or about Deborah

or about the leaders or about the people who

volunteered, then it would have been the same

kind of song that others were singing in other

cultures, in other faiths, etc. But it was not.

It was unique because they did something incredible,

no doubt about that. They responded in faith

to the Lord, but their virtues are not extolled

because they responded. Because they responded

to the Lord. Rather, the Lord is. So where does

the credit lie in the entire song? It lies with

the Lord. She is saying, Barak is saying, that

the leaders led in Israel, that the people volunteered,

bless the Lord. Let him get all the credit. So

the song in its pronunciation in the very first

verses is saying, this will all be about God

and what God has done. Verse 3 then says, Hear,

O kings, give ear, O rulers. In other words,

those people who are out there who have a lot

of authority yet, kings, governors, rulers of

the surrounding lands, etc. He says, I, to the

Lord, I will sing. I will sing praise to the

Lord, the God of Israel. So she, Deborah, he,

Barak. calling them to recognize that the people

are not taking credit. They're not saying, we

are an awesome and powerful people, we can repel

you, our armies are greater than yours, anything

like that, but rather that God did this, God

is going to get the credit, and we are singing

about God. Verse 4, Lord, when thou didst go

out from Seir, when thou didst march from the

field of Edom, the earth quaked, the heavens

also dripped, even the clouds dripped water.

Now that second part of that, verse there, the

earthquake, the heavens also dripped, even the

clouds dripped water. That is one of those places

where the Hebrew is very difficult to translate

into English. But the New American Standard,

as I have it, and you may have something slightly

different there, usually found in the prepositions

or in who did the what, right? But the bottom

line is, it's saying, God caused miraculous intervention.

We already know that the chariots were bogged

down in the mud and that's how this smaller sized

army was able to defeat them in the lowlands

where they would prefer not to have fought them.

They defeated them because God perhaps had an

earthquake, perhaps had a mudslide, perhaps had

heavy rains, all of that picture there. Verse

5, the mountains quaked at the presence of the

Lord. So we have a recognition that God's power

and authority when he shows up is so great. This

Sinai at the presence of the Lord, the God of

Israel. And so that Sinai, of course, you know,

has symbolism. We're not actually necessarily

at Sinai here, because Sinai is not actually

right by the promised land, right? But it has

symbolism, a moment of contact with the Lord.

Do you remember what amazing thing happened on

Sinai? What was handed to the Israelites on Sinai?

The Ten Commandments, right? So they had this

massive, they weren't allowed to go up on the

mountain unless they'd be destroyed. Right? That

kind of thing. God's presence was there. So what

she's saying, the symbolism in the song, what

he's saying, the Sinai, this moment of contact

with God at the presence of the Lord, the God

of Israel, amazing things happened. We'll just

take it that. Verse 6. In the days of Shamgar,

the son of Anab, in the days of Jael, the highways

were deserted and travelers went by roundabout

ways. And we talked about this. a couple of weeks

ago and looked at this text. We won't get into

it too deep here, but just realize that the peasants,

the ordinary people of this society, were no

longer able to function in their roles. They

had the supreme identity crisis, not just that

they were having trouble figuring out who they

were, but even if they could figure out who they

were, they couldn't do it. Okay, verse 7. The

peasantry ceased. They ceased in Israel. There

it is laid out for you very clearly. Until I,

Deborah, arose, until I arose a mother in Israel.

Now, she's not taking credit for what happened,

but she's setting the time, the moment in time

in which Deborah, on behalf of God, began to

speak to Israel. That's when things started to

turn or started to change. Verse 8. New gods

were chosen. Then war was in the gates. Not a

shield or a spear was seen among 40 ,000 in Israel.

That is to say, soldiers did not have weapons.

Did not have shields. Armies could not resist.

They couldn't resist the oppressors because all

their weapons and armor were taken away. Nine.

My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel,

the volunteers among the people. Bless the Lord.

In other words, I love that people stepped up

and did what God was supposed to do. The commanders

of Israel, the volunteers, it was awesome. My

heart goes out to you. And she doesn't stop there

and say, I love you because of what you did.

I praise you because of what you did. No, she

calls them. To bless the Lord. So you did an

awesome thing. Now if you did an awesome thing,

if that's who you are, bless the Lord. That's

what she's saying. Verse 10, two verses left

for today. You who ride on white donkeys, you

who sit on rich carpets, and you who travel on

the road, sing. So now, she's saying, those who

are blessed, those who have much, those who are

in prosperity, rulers, etc., recognize the Lord.

So if you manage to make it through this time

when Israel was losing everything and you're

still wealthy, bless the Lord. If you're from

outside the kingdom, if you're a king that doesn't

know Israel's God, nonetheless, recognize who

God is and that God did this, bless the Lord.

So she's making an appeal to everyone who has

wealth to bless the Lord. But notice this, the

very specific word there, sing. And so very simply

put, without getting into it too deeply right

there, if you know who God is, sing. That's what

she's saying. Verse 11 and the last one for today

out of the song. At the sound of those who divide

flocks among the watering places, in other words,

as business gets going again, at the sound of

those who divide the flocks, there they shall

recount the righteous deeds of the Lord. So all

the people will be doing what? They'll all be

talking about what God did. Not so -and -so fell

11 men, so -and -so took out 30 men, so -and

-so brought down two chariots, right? Not so

-and -so left his wife and family behind and

sacrificed his life on the battle and honoring

him, but rather the righteous deeds of the Lord.

The righteous deeds for his peasantry in Israel.

In other words, his poor, his people who were

not doing well, his people who were hurting and

crying out. Then the people of the Lord went

down to the gates. And this last phrase is hugely

important. Then the people of the Lord went down

to the gates. So what they're saying is, so the

gates were where business was conducted. So there

was kind of a big room there, the wall on both

sides, gate, room, gate. And the gate would be

open and people would sit in the gate and they

would talk business. They would make trades.

A farmer comes, sells. His agriculture and somebody

in the city would buy it from him and so on.

Or someone so and so offended so and so they

would come to the gates to get justice. And so

what she's saying is, what he's saying is, the

people of the Lord now are in the public eye.

The people of the Lord are governing the business.

The people of the Lord are setting the standard.

And when the people of the Lord turn back to

the Lord and they turn others back to the Lord,

the standards of the Lord become the standards

of society. Not because we're living in a theocracy,

but because the people of the society recognize

that God alone is God and they now know their

own identity in God. This old and kind of hard

to decipher text we've looked at today, and we'll

look at some more of it over the next couple

weeks, and we may see some places where it's

a little bit hard to handle because of that.

We saw one today. Note that the... State of affairs

was that the common people had ceased their work.

Crops were no longer to be planted. Where did

those fields come from? Where did the seed come

from? Now, obviously, we know God created it,

but I mean, how did they get it? They took the

land while the crops were already growing. And

then now this is generations later and the crops

have fallen to the ground and growing again and

fallen to the ground and growing again. And now

they're failing to plant crops in the land that

God has given them because they are hiding. They're

not walking the roads. They're hiding. They're

waiting for the next time that they themselves

would be victimized. Every woman who was in the

middle class and below in Israel was living in

fear that a soldier would raid her hometown,

rape her, and start offspring of half -breed

society. Every man was fearing for the lives

of his wife and children because he couldn't

do anything about it if somebody came. It had

been stolen from them any security, any identity.

Now we know that part of the problem was because

they were following false gods. They had begun

to follow the same gods as the people who were

persecuting them. And so as they were focused

on the false gods, they were not focused on God,

and the false gods could do nothing for them.

Surely the middle and upper classes were having

greater success even in following the false gods.

All their wealth would have been worth less and

maybe even made them a target from time to time,

but it was not worthless and maybe even gave

them something to cling to. Some promise of enduring

this horrible season. And I submit to you that

all that was happening there was that the wealthiest

of people were splitting their affections between

false gods and mammon, but not turning to God.

The wealthiest people, of course, could make

it expensive to challenge them. They could hire

bodyguards. They could buy weaponry from brigands

and so on. And they could maybe even marshal

some protection for themselves. But God's people

had lost the only protection that really matters.

Three points in this text, then, that I want

you to see in a conclusion. The first one is

that God is getting the glory. God is getting

the glory. It is God that defeated the army.

Just as it was with Gideon, where he took it

all the way down to 300, he had Barak round up

10 ,000, go up on the mountain where fighting

chariots might have made some sense, and maybe

10 ,000 men might have taken out an army of chariots

in the mountains, but they probably wouldn't

have sent all the chariots if they were in the

mountains. And they sent it down off the mountains

into the lowlands where fighting an army of chariots

does not make any sense, and they were sure to

be massacred. And yet, God fought on their behalf

and they destroyed that army. Really, you could

say God did. Because we have repercussions of

earthquakes. And we know that they were bogged

down in the mud and heavy rains and so on. As

I mentioned before, the song is unique among

period odes because it gives God the glory rather

than any human hero. Now, is it not very possible

that Deborah or Barak could have been the subject

of the song? I mean, he was already resisting.

We looked at that last week. Then he's called

out to resist face -to -face. A great army, there's

no chance he could defeat. Should he not be considered

a great hero? Well, yeah, he probably is a great

hero of the faith. He trusted God mostly. He

did call Deborah out to go with him. Could Deborah

not be the great hero? She's the first female,

other than possibly Eve, in the Bible that just

really shines as an example of what it means

to follow God. The song could have been about

her, and it would have matched all the cultural

norms of her day. But it's not. The song is unique

among periods of odes because it is about God

who gives the victory rather than any human hero.

God is getting the glory. The people by and large

give God the recognition, and they're doing so

for his character, for who God is. And when you

give God recognition for who God is, that has

impact on who you are. You could say that it

becomes who I am. I am a person who gives God

the recognition that he deserves. And when people

did that, the gates then were occupied. And notice

that it said, among the flocks, at the watering

holes, etc., recounting the righteous deeds of

the Lord, the righteous deeds for His peasantry

in Israel. And then the people of the Lord went

down to the gates. And so in the gates, among

the flocks, among the herds, everywhere, the

people of the Lord recounting the righteous deeds

of the Lord. Do you recount the righteous deeds

of the Lord in your workplace? Do you recount

the righteous deeds of the Lord when you're shopping?

Do you recount the righteous deeds of the Lord?

In your school? The righteous deeds of the Lord

have repercussions throughout all history. From

long before you and I were ever thought of by

anyone but God Himself. Do you recount the righteous

deeds of the Lord? If we did recount the righteous

deeds of the Lord, if everything that we do that's

good became about what God has done, and we recounted

the righteous deeds of the Lord, then that would...

begin to mend our identity. It would begin to

give us an identity. I am one who recounts the

righteous deeds of the Lord. I submit to you

that those of us who do not recount the righteous

deeds of the Lord, those of us who do not ensure

that God gets the glory, when you receive praise,

when people say how strong you are, how creative

you are, how beautiful, how handsome you are,

how wonderful you are in some way, do you say

to God be the glory? God is the author of many

great things and you too are authored by the

great God of the universe. You too are awesome

in your way. and talk good about them, but not

good about them for good's sake, but good about

them for God's sake? Do you recount the righteous

deeds of the Lord? I submit to you that the church

has an identity crisis because the church is

living in the world, and just as we talked about

Gen Zers having two identities, one, they're

on social media, and this is them at... Disney

World and them doing their projects and their

arts and their crafts and everything that they're

doing out there in their short skirts or in their

muscle shirts or in the gym and then the rest

of the time there they are being who they actually

are or maybe that's who they actually are and

the rest of the time they're faking it. I don't

know which one's fake or if it's some combination

of the two, but the bottom line is if you claim

to be a Christian and you are not recounting

the righteous deeds of the Lord, then you have

an identity crisis. And identity crises are very

Say that again. Identity crises, that's how you

say it, are very dangerous. They yield mental,

spiritual, emotional, and psychological damage.

You struggle with anxiety, loneliness, aggression,

delinquency, substance abuse, depressive symptoms,

because you have an identity crisis. And you

go to the doctor, and the doctor gives you a

diagnosis, and the diagnosis locks that problem,

which is a symptom of your identity crisis, into

your life forever. Do you have an identity crisis?

Or is God getting the glory? When people give

God his proper place, God's people will move

to the forefront. And they will guide and they

will shine. I worked two secular jobs after I

got saved really full time. And in both of those

jobs, even though I maybe wasn't the best person

on the job, God kept pointing people in my direction.

We are not a great big church, in case you hadn't

noticed. We're not running 150 to 2 ,000 people

today. But the reality is, all over the state

of Ohio, people are pointing people in our direction.

And truthfully, all over the world. Why is that?

How does that make any sense that 30 adults and

20 or 30 children would get worldwide notice?

That doesn't make any sense, except if we have

something to say, except if we have some glory

to give to the God of the universe. And it allows

people, little churches like our church, did

you know that the most recent, not currently,

actually it's still true currently, the most

recent two Southern Baptist presidents of the

Southern Baptist Convention, which means that

they essentially are the president over tens

of thousands of Southern Baptist churches all

across the United States, both come from churches

that have less than 150 in membership. What are

we waiting for? Let us be people who decry the

enemy and praise God. recounting the righteousness

and power of our God, lest we should have a real

identity crisis. Well, the people in this story

had a real identity crisis. Many had forgotten

who they were, who God was. Before they heard

this song, before they heard the story of God's

conquest, before they were forced to measure

God against all other things that were working

to identify them, they may have felt secure in

their understanding of the way the world worked.

Even though they were... afraid that someone

was going to come into the village and rape all

their women and take all their children into

slavery and steal all their money and harvest

all their crops. They were afraid to go into

the field with a bag of seed because while they

were out there, they might be picked off by a

group of brigands or whatever. Even though they

were afraid of all of that, they were secure

in their understanding of the way things work.

They would call Baal God. They would go to the

temple and take part with the temple prostitutes

and make donations in order to try to get Baal

to bless their field so they could go out in

the field to raise crops. They had a secure understanding

of the way the world works, but they were just

wrong. They just didn't get it. They may have

felt secure in participating in various activities

that seemed to add something to them, that seemed

to enhance their identity. But when God enters

in, he challenges everything. As a people, they

had already chosen. You go back to Joshua chapter

Joshua 24 · chapter mention

24, and Joshua challenges them toward the end

of his time, ruling over them. Joshua is the

book immediately to the left, and I'm flipping

there, and I'll be there for a second, so if

you want to go with me, you're welcome to. Joshua

24, beginning in verse 14, it says, Fear the

Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. And

put away the gods which your fathers served beyond

the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And

that word Lord there is Yahweh, the creator God.

And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve

the Lord, that is to say, if you don't want to

have your identity being, I follow God, I serve

God, I am God's man, I am God's woman. He says,

then choose for yourself today whom you will

serve. whether the gods which your fathers served,

which were beyond the river, or the gods of the

Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as

for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

And the people answered and said, Far be it from

us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other

gods. For the Lord our God is he who brought

us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt

from the house of bondage and who did these great

signs in our sight and preserved us through all.

the way in which we went, and among all the peoples

through whose midst we passed. There we go. And

the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples,

even the Amorites, who lived in the land. We

also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.

Joshua said to the people, You will not be able

to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is

a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions

or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve

the foreign gods, then he will turn and do you

harm and consume you after he has done good to

you. And the people said to Joshua, No, but we

will serve the Lord. And Joshua said to the people,

You are witnesses against yourselves that you

have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve

him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore

put away the foreign gods which are in your midst

and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of

Israel. And the people said to Joshua, We will

serve the Lord our God, and we will obey his

voice. So Joshua made a covenant with them that

day, and made for them a statute and ordinance

in Shechem. Joshua wrote those words in the book

of law of God, and he took a large stone, set

it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary

of the Lord. Joshua said to all the people, Behold,

this stone shall be for a witness against us,

for it has heard all the words of the Lord which

he spoke to us. Thus it shall be for a witness

against you, lest you deny your God. Then Joshua

dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

You see, the people, as a people, had already

decided, had already submitted, had already come

into contact with the living God. They had already

seen Him do amazing things. Have you come into

contact with the living God? Have you already

seen God do amazing things? And yet, if you can

persist, if you can struggle in an identity crisis

after having experienced that, then I'm just

going to say that you're just getting what you

deserve. You're just getting what you've chosen

for yourself. You're not choosing God above all

things, not allowing yourself to be informed

by God above all entities, not allowing yourself

to be shaped by God as the people they had already

chosen. But by now, they were wandering to and

fro, often dying in their ignorance. But by Judges

4, the people could not use the roads that God

had given them. Generation after generation,

as they did just what they thought was right.

It says they did what was right in their own

minds. They did just what they thought was right.

They were pushed and drifted so far away from

God. And now in this song, we see that God is

redefining them. He's redefining them as a people

who follow God alone and trust God alone. We

don't trust each other like we trust God. We

don't trust money like we trust God. We don't

trust false gods like we trust God. We don't

look for sustenance or enjoyment or success or

strength or endurance in anything else. We follow

God alone and trust God alone. We praise God

with our whole hearts. He was saying, praise

God with your whole heart. Bless God, bless God,

bless God. Praise God with your whole heart.

We unite to be God's people. We stand together

and we see somebody straying. We call them back.

We see somebody struggling. We lift them up.

We deny the efforts of redefinition by the peoples

around us. That's what they needed to do. Stop

with the false gods being pushed on you. Stop

with the world's teaching. Stop with the internet

telling you this is what you need to be. Or you

just need this and you'll be healthy. Or you'll

just need this and you'll be strong. No, follow

God alone. Praise God with all your heart. Unite

with God's people. Deny the efforts of redefinition

by the people around them. Recount the victories

of God. Has God won the day? You darn well better

believe that God has won the day. And if you're

choosing to go against God, you're choosing to

lose. And that doesn't make any sense. To know

that he is the ultimate victor and to choose

to lose, that's ridiculous. It certainly results

in an identity crisis. And now she's calling

them... He's calling them, recount the victories

of God. Serve the greater good. Do what's right.

Stop hearing from God what you should do and

then finding other things to do instead. Just

do what's right. Give of themselves. Remember

how we talked about the volunteers and those

who came out. That the leaders led in Israel.

That the people volunteered. That was the standard.

Serve the greater good. Give of yourselves to

minimize the suffering of others. And if everyone,

even those who are suffering, give of themselves

to minimize the suffering of others, suffering

will be gone. It will be overcome. Show faith.

Show courage. Show diligence in the face of adversity.

And then more as God sees fit as we grow a little

bit more, a little bit more in the Lord. So the

three points that I wanted you to see then were

one, God is getting the glory. Two, the people

had a real identity crisis. And three, God was

redefining them as a people who, and I listed

those things for you. I will list them again

in a moment. You know what the solution is to

a real identity crisis? A real identity. The

solution to a real identity crisis is a real

identity. And a real identity happens when a

person makes a bold choice. They look at the

sum total of who they are. Naturalism says that

you are nothing more than the product of your

experiences. That your next decision will be

the sum total of everything that you've done

so far in your life and the new impetus, whatever

it is, the new circumstances that arise. It'll

be linked to whatever you did before, whatever

results you got before, etc. And you'll just

decide. You're not even free. You don't really

get to choose anything. God says otherwise. God

says, if you believe, Jesus said to those Jews

who had believed in him, come follow me, and

then you shall know the truth, and the truth

will set you free. You have a real identity crisis?

What you need is a real identity. That comes

after a bold action, after a bold step. One place

that the field of psychology and theology meet

up is the need for identity. In the Bible, all

the things can generally speaking be related

to the new identity in Christ that God wants

to give you. You can come to Christ and receive

a new identity. Jesus said, in fact, that you

shall not see the kingdom of God unless you be

born again. What does that mean? It means get

a new identity. In the New Testament, so many

times the word metanoia, which is the same Greek

word that psychologists use to talk about getting

a healing or a rendering of your identity to

solve these identity crises that we're talking

about. The systematic review and meta -analysis

of nearly 13 ,800 individuals aged 10 to 29 found

strong links between identity confusion and symptoms

of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

Another study identified that identity confusion

and uncertainty during adolescence are consistently

associated with lower Psychosocial adjustment

including increased anxiety, loneliness, aggression,

delinquency, substance abuse, and depressive

symptoms. Research around identity distress using

tools like the identity distress scale shows

that distress about long -term goals, career

choices, friendships correlates with higher likelihood

of anxiety, depression, and even mental health

treatment. International students and cultural

identity gaps. A study of 171 international students

found that a mismatch between how students see

themselves and how they express themselves existed

and is linked to greater depression, especially

when combined with a culture rate of stress.

That's stress out of your culture. Adulthood

and major life disruptions. Among U .S. veterans

facing difficulties reintegrating after deployment,

nearly half, 49%, experienced identity disruption,

which was tied to more severe PTSD symptoms,

lower life satisfaction, and reintegration struggles.

In broader adult contexts, identity disturbance

marked by an unstable sense of self may be exacerbated

by anxiety, social media, job stress, blurred

life boundaries, particularly during the COVID

-19 era, which is to say from COVID on. Here

is the reality. We live in a day when everybody

who is not truly Christian, who is not truly

following the Lord and receiving a new identity

in Christ, is struggling with an identity crisis.

You need to realize that the solutions have been

laid out in Scripture. for that identity crisis.

You need to allow yourself and to work to help

others to receive an identity that will last

for an eternity. Like Joshua said to them before

they got to this point, choose who you will serve.

But then he said, you are witnesses against yourselves

because you choose God, but actually you will

serve the false gods. I'm going to say it as

plainly as I possibly can. If you are concerned

in your life, one day, day by day, week by week,

listen to me very carefully here. If you are

concerned about money, you are in danger of an

identity crisis. If you are concerned about sports,

you are in danger of an identity crisis. If you

are concerned about your own personal development,

I want to grow, I want to get better, I want

to get a better education, I want to be stronger,

you are in danger of an identity crisis. If you

are concerned about what your spouse does in

their spare time or the way they talk to you,

you are in danger of an identity crisis. Shall

I go on? If you are worried... concerned or apprehensive

about things of this earth that will go away

when we reach heaven, you are not only in danger

of an identity crisis, you have an identity crisis

to which you must respond by, as the song of

Deborah and Barak tells us, follow God alone

and trust Him alone. Praise God with your whole

heart. Unite with God's people. Deny the efforts

of redefinition by the people around you. Recount

the victories of God incessantly. Serve the greater

good. Give of yourselves to minimize the suffering

of others. Show faith, courage, diligence in

the face of adversity and anything else that

God decides to add to you. And hear me now, and

absolutely nothing else that God has not decided

to add to you. Our identity is not based on our

current personal preferences or what we think

is right. It is not based on your best understanding

of the present circumstances. Your identity is

based on what God says you are and that alone.

When light was lingering just out of sight, God

said, light be. And light leapt into existence.

When you are lingering just outside the city

gates where He wants you. When you're just outside

sharing the incredible stories of God. When you're

just outside making God your number one focus.

And God says to you, come now. Come into the

light. Come to the gates. Come to the forefront.

Risk it. Take a bold action. And you refuse.

You instead embrace the identity crisis. You

diagnose yourself. and lock in your own failings

going forward. You say, I'm not good enough.

I'm not strong enough. I'm not capable. God does

not care if you're good enough, strong enough,

or capable enough. He cares whether you will

answer the call. Are you coming or not? When

Jesus comes and the trump shall sound and He

has prepared a place for all of us, it will just

be a question of whether you will come. That's

it. And in that moment, if you're thinking, but

there's a date, but there's a schedule, but there's

a calendar, but there's money to be earned, but

there's a job to do, but I'm busy, I'm tired,

I'm exhausted, I'm fatigued. I've got mental

struggles. So -and -so said to me, I've just

got to solve this problem first. The Trump only

sounds once. And he calls once. And if he calls

once and the Trump sounds once and you don't

go in that moment because of any of these other

things, you don't go. After the boldness to accept

this reality about yourself that Jesus is going

to redefine you completely from the bottom of

your feet to the top of your head and everything,

anytime, anywhere that you can ever possibly

influence is going to be redefined by the new

you, by being born again. That's what it means.

A new identity. And if this new identity is...

Oh, you know, pieces of the old identity, pieces

of what so -and -so said you should be like,

and things that you like, your personal culture.

My dad always liked cars. My dad always liked

football. My dad always liked overtime, whatever.

If that's who you are, that is not a new identity

in Christ. You have to be ready. To make that

bold move to choose Jesus above all of that.

There's got to be a moment in time in which you

say, everything that I am, everything that I've

become, however I got here, I don't even know,

all that I am, I put it on the altar. Jesus,

make me new. That's what it means to be born

again. Then, if he chooses to use part of your

history, if he chooses to use part of your culture,

if he chooses to use part of your success in

finances or your success in work or whatever,

if he chooses to use that, then you, with some

apprehension, says, For those who stand, take

heed lest they fall, right? It says work out

your salvation with fear and trembling. Why?

Because if you take those things from your old

life and add them into your new identity and

God didn't say do so, then you are jeopardizing

your new identity. So you work out your salvation

in fear and trembling because here's a new thing.

I really haven't dealt with this yet. What do

I do with it? Okay, I focus on God. I follow

God alone. I praise God with all my heart. I

unite with God's people. I deny the efforts of

redefinition by the people around me. I recount

the victories of God. Oh, by the time I got there,

this thing doesn't even belong. I throw it away.

I don't sell it to somebody else because it probably

doesn't belong for them either. I throw it away.

It's gone. I drop it. I let go. I drop all things

that would hinder me as I run the race for Christ.

And you'll run into new things. And every time

you run into a new thing, you've got to make

a choice. Is it part of my new identity or not?

Everything you eat, everything you do from now

on, every intentional choice you make becomes

part of your identity. Remember naturalism? You're

only making the decisions based on everything

you've experienced at this point. You really

aren't free. Now you're free in Christ. To add

it or not, to use it as an impetus to subtract

something or not, you have to make those decisions

as you go forward in Jesus. In the Bible, In

the New Testament in particular, Jesus' message

was essentially repent for the kingdom of hand

is near. That's how he started. The kingdom of

God is at hand. Repent. Repent. What is the word

for repent? It's metanoia. Again, it's the same

Greek word that psychologists use when they talk

about getting a new outlook on life. Thinking

differently now. Deciding about things differently

now. That's what it means to be born again. Metanoia.

56 times in the New Testament. 22 of those times

in your Bible you'll find it translated as repent.

It is not simply repent and turn away from sins,

but repent and turn to God. And when you repent

and turn to God, the Bible says God shows up,

He makes you new. And then in being new, repentance

becomes a thing. Every time something else new

comes and tries to redefine me, every time something

else comes and tries to pollute my identity,

rather than allowing an identity crisis, I choose

Jesus again. I look to God again. Not just to

look to God, but to bless Him. To talk about

Him. To recount His deeds. To praise Him. To

sing. If you can't talk about God, get yourself

a praise song and don't open your mouth unless

that's what's coming out. Either talking about

God or that praise song. Get yourself a Bible

verse and every time you're talking, relate that

Bible verse to everything you're talking about.

That will bring to an end. your identity crisis

because you'll be mounting an offense out of

who you now are. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians

5, 17, that all old things have passed away and

everything has become made new. And whatever

is not made new to fit into your new identity

has passed away. It is by definition old. It's

gone. Let it go. Romans 12, 1 and 2 talks about

the ongoing renewing of our mind. I get that.

submitting ourselves to God, which is our spiritual

act of worship. And I submit to you that Deborah

and Barak had no idea of those phrases or the

words that would be used that Paul would write

to the Romans many years later. But if Paul did

know what Deborah and Barak had said, he knew

that we were to follow God alone and trust and

praise God with our whole heart, unite to be

God's people, deny the efforts of redefinition

by the people around us. That's what it means

when it says, do not be conformed to the ways

of the world. We were to recount the victories

of God. When you're sitting alone in the dark

despair of a difficult moment, recount the victories

of God and let who you are be informed by that

rather than by your own impressions of what you're

going through. Serve the greater good. And we

can hear him saying, don't walk away. James writes,

I believe, don't walk away from that mirror,

but rather be found as a doer, not just a hearer

of the word. Serve the greater good. Give of

themselves. to minimize the suffering of others,

show faith, Paul says, overcome evil with good,

show faith, courage, diligence in the face of

adversity, and more, but only as he sees fit.

Too many supposed Christians forget that Jesus

used the term metanoia. It's the same term that

psychologists use to refer to coming to think

about everything in your life differently than

you do. And this is when they teach metanoia.

If you go to a psychologist, this is when they'll

teach it. When your life is crushed. When you've

got almost nothing left. When your identity is

broken and you can't figure out who you are,

they'll say, what you need is a metanoia. You

need a metanoia. You need a new way, a new reality,

right? You need a new way of perceiving everything

and thinking about everything. And Christianity

is that. And without that, there's no Christianity.

A new way of thinking about everything. Metanoia.

And only a person who receives a metanoia and

adjusts to the new normal will ever be healthy

ever again. Everyone else will always be stuck

in whatever happened in their past. You've had

a tragic event. You can think about it right

now. It'll probably flash in your mind. You'll

probably see it as if it were happening again

right now. You can be stuck in that event or

you can live with a new way of looking at life

that says that God alone will define me. Jesus

simply said, Metanoia, for the kingdom is at

hand. If you are standing at the door to the

kingdom of God, please understand that it includes

methanoia. It may take time, but your entire

way of thinking about things, your whole identity

must be rewritten, centered around not who you

used to be or even who you are now, but who He

is. And that's what it means to be born again.

If you have had an experience with the Lord Jesus

Christ, if you've come to Christ for salvation,

if you felt the ground shaking, the pits of your

gut filled with His Holy Spirit, knowing that

you were approaching the living God, fearful

that he wouldn't accept you, and you've been

accepted. If you've come to Christ for salvation

and for lordship, then it's time you realized

the highest priorities of your life are following

God and trusting him alone, praising God with

your whole heart, united to be God's people,

denying the efforts of redefinition by the peoples

around you, recounting the victories of God,

serving the greater good, giving of yourself

to minimize the suffering of others, show faith,

courage, diligence in the face of adversity,

and more. as he sees fit. If you make that bold

choice to be born again, your born again nature

will include those things. And out of that boldness,

God will get the praise. You will praise him.

Others will come to praise him. God's people

will move into the light. God's people will be

the people doing the business. They will be the

ones looked to. They'll try to celebrate us for

our deeds and we will not allow it. We will redirect

all the praise that we receive to the God of

heaven. We will use our platforms to recount

his mighty deeds. If indeed you have been born

again. At this point in time, I cannot even say

to you as Joshua did, if this is too difficult,

if this is too challenging, Then serve whomever

you will. I can't say that to you. Because it's

akin to telling you to go to hell. And I won't

do that. I will rather say. Choose the God of

heaven. Choose Jesus Christ his son. Await his

next coming. Be found faithful. Literally divorce

yourself. Die. Die to your old self. Let all

those things be gone. Let them all be old. And

in yourself. in your new self, that all your

days, day in, day out, decision by decision by

decision, be without fear, anxiety, depression,

or struggle. Because you, among a world full

of people who have an identity crisis, have no

identity crisis. Because you have a new identity.