2026-10-07-They Fought From Heaven

Deborah and Barak sing a song celebrating God's victory in Judges chapter 5. The Israelites, oppressed for 20 years, cry out to God. God discomfits their enemy Sisera, causing him to flee. This victory, like the parting of the Red Sea, shows God's power in battle, where heaven itself fights for the people. The story highlights God's consistent deliverance of Israel throughout history. Well, this Bible is here for our learning and I want to try to preach it tonight, okay? Judges chapter 5. I'm going to read tonight a few verses out of Judges chapter 5. Go with a record here, a piece of history that the Bible has recorded for us. And I hope the church can be edified tonight. God knew who was going to be here tonight. You know that? Sovereign. All-knowing. Oh yes. Somebody might have thought they were going to be here and ended up not being here. But God knew all along. Praise God. Judges chapter 5, verse 1. 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. Hear, O ye kings. Give ear, O ye princes. For I, even I, will sing unto the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. Almost sounds like a couple of Wednesdays ago, doesn't it, where the Camden preached on singing. I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchest out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water, the mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. Drop down to verse 20. Later on, there's a song here in chapter 5, and this is part of the song. Verse 20. They fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river. The river Kishon, O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Lord, thank You for Your Word tonight. Thank You, oh, for the worship. Thank You, God, that we are a people who realize we can worship You. Thank You for our Wednesday night service. I pray for the anointing to come upon me, that I may deliver Your Word in the way that it can be preached effectively. You know, every need in this house, every need, Lord, that those who will hear this message, I pray, You'll deliver in the name of Jesus, amen, amen. I want to preach there those words, the first few words from verse 20. Keep your Bible with you tonight. It's going to be turning to another place here in just a bit. But verse 20, the first few words, they fought from heaven. They fought from heaven. That's what I want to try to preach tonight. Just a few words out of this song that Deborah and Barak had sung. Deborah, at this time, the Bible identifies her as a prophetess in the land of Israel. And the Bible says that she judged Israel in this time. Barak was a man chosen by God to lead the army of Israel out against the enemy of the people of God, against the king of Canaan at that time. They were facing a war between Israel and the king of Canaan. The whole story is told in Judges chapter 4. The armies of Jabin, king of Canaan, has been led by this great warrior. His name is Sisera, great, great warrior, and he's got a reputation, going to lead this army. Well, the Bible tells us that the children of Israel had been in bondage to Jabin, the king of Canaan, for 20 years. This is the book of Judges. There's a pattern through the book of Judges. God delivers people. They stay happy and peaceful for a while, and they fall back into their old ways, and God sends another enemy in and overtakes them until they cry out to God, and God delivers them. And there's just this pattern that goes back and forth. But we're early in the book of Judges here. Joshua has died. Moses is long gone by now. And here these people are. They are under the hand of an enemy for 20 years. We've been here for about three and a half years. You know, think 20 years ago. I'm still older than you. 20 years ago. So that's a long time to have to deal with. Well, these people, they had gotten to the place where they grew weary of being under the bondage of this man, the king of Canaan. They got tired of being without their freedom. They were tired of oppression from somebody that hated them. So the Bible tells us that after 20 years of putting up with this, the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. They had enough history in them. They had enough to remember that that's all they had to do was cry out unto the Lord. Now you and I get in the same situations sometimes. You and I, there's only so much we can take for so long. And you feel like something's got to give. I can't put up with this forever. Something's got to give. We get to dealing with situations so long that we get tired of dealing with this situation. The oppression that the enemy puts on the people of God can be exhausting, tiresome. It'll wear you out. And it'll make a child of God get to the place where he digs into his prayer closet and he closes the door and he begins to cry out to God. I've put up with it. I've dealt with it. I've done what I can. I've been patient. I've put myself in subjection far too long. And now I cry unto God that I might be delivered. Well, when the children of Israel got tired of it and they cried to the Lord, God told Deborah, tell Barak, he's going to lead these people into battle. Ten thousand men go out with Barak to fight against Sisera, this mighty man of war and the army that he's brought. Sisera comes to meet them, the Bible says, with 900 chariots of iron against the nation of Israel. Now that may not seem all that intimidating to us, but in Deborah's song she says there wasn't a shield or a sword found among 40,000 Israelites. So there's the nation of Israel without a weapon to fight with, and here comes Sisera and 900 chariots of iron. Well, Sisera, I'm pretty sure, thought this was a one battle. They rose up and said they weren't going to put up with it. We're going to make sure that they put up with it for a while longer. It doesn't look good for Israel. It doesn't sound good for Israel. Looks like everything's going to be lost because the odds were against them. But then something happened. Then something happened. Look with me in Judges chapter 4 where this story is told. Judges chapter 4 and verse 15, And the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron. 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 his chariot and fled away on his feet. Oh, what a turn of events. Something different happened. This mighty captain of the army of the king of Canaan flees his chariot of iron. The Bible says that he begins to run away from the fight. Here he is, a man that's known for fighting, and he runs away from the fight. There's one thing that made the difference here. God got in the fight. God showed up and got in the fight. So there in verse 15 where it says that the Lord discomfited Sisera. Here's what this means. The Lord crushed Sisera. The Lord destroyed Sisera. The Lord consumed Sisera and his army. That's what it means that he discomfited. He crushed, destroyed, he consumed Sisera and his army. God did a mighty work in that day. A work so great that Deborah and Barak sit down and they collaborate on a musical note. Let's get together and let's write us a song. And they sing to celebrate. They fought from heaven for us. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Something worth singing about. Something worth celebrating because heaven was on our side and they fought from heaven. And the Lord did a mighty work that day. This was no ordinary victory for an army. This was not a great conquest because of clever military strategy going out there. Nobody snuck up behind and dug a pit for them to fall into. There were no decoys that were sent out and draw them out this way and come up from behind. This was a supernatural defeat. The Bible says that heaven itself fought that day. Even the stars in their courses waged war against the enemy of God's people. The stars. They were working so that God's people might be delivered. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 14. I'll tell you something interesting that I found here. Exodus chapter 14. Very familiar place. You know the story. It doesn't need to be told where we're at in the Bible. As soon as we begin reading, you're going to know this place. Exodus chapter 14 and verse 21. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night. And made the sea dry land. And the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground. And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea. Even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. And it came to pass in the morning watch. The Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud. And troubled the host of the Egyptians. Took off the chariot wheels that they drave them heavily. So that the Egyptians said, let us flee from the face of Israel. For the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. Very familiar place here. Here's God in Israel's past. Facing up against an army with chariots. Against a nation of God's people that did not have a weapon. And God moves in this place. Look at verse 24 with me there. In the last few words the Bible says that God troubled the host of the Egyptians. That word troubled right there. It's the exact same word that Deborah and Barak sang, discomfited. In the story of Judges chapter 4 when God overthrew Sisera. He used the same word. And the Lord discomfited Sisera. And God troubled the host of the Egyptians. In the same way the children of Israel were delivered by God at the Red Sea. God delivered Israel again in their time of trouble years later. Exodus chapter 14 was a time in Israel's past that they could say of that day. They fought from heaven then. Heaven was fighting for our nation then. And now we pass forward a couple hundred years into the book of Judges. And God proves that He was the same Deliverer that He's always been. Israel has always known a deliverance by God. They have a history of deliverance. They could recount the days gone by when their nation had been a slave nation. They could call to remembrance that their nation was a nation in bondage. But victory was in their history. Every battle that they fought, they could look back and say, our history is full of victory. And when the Bible says that God discomfited Sisera, He's just repeating what He did in years gone by. When He destroyed the chariots of Sisera, He's just doing what He did to the chariots of Pharaoh. When He discomfited, when He crushed, when He destroyed, when He consumed, He's just doing what He did way back then. God had done it before and He was proven He'll do it again. Now tonight, let's bring this home. Think back to a time when you were dead in trespasses and sins. Think about when you were lost without God, having no hope in this world. How did you get delivered from sins? Just think for a moment. How did you get delivered from your sins? Was it because you were so clever and you devised a way to sneak out of your sins? Was it because you had developed strength within yourself to break free from the bondage that sin had you in? Did you figure out all by yourself a method that could cleanse your soul from your own sin? Of course not. That is not how it happens. When you were saved, you were saved by grace through faith. At that moment in time, it was the gift of God. It was without works. Hallelujah! You had no part of it. God did it all. Satan was crushed by the power of God. Sin in your life was destroyed by the power of God. Sin was consumed away from you by the power of God. It was all God's doing. Colossians 2 and verse 14 says it was the blotting out of the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, was contrary to us. He took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. God's the one that did it. So that one might say that the day that you got saved, when everything changed in your life, there was a fight that originated in heaven for your soul. The authority of Almighty God overcame within you a lifetime of sin and conquered sin in you. Hallelujah! God Himself fought against the enemy of your soul and defeated him at the cross of Calvary. God did it. God fought for you. Heaven fought for you. Whoever would have thought that a slaughtered sacrifice on a cross could ever win such a tragic battle? Who would ever have thought that by God giving Himself and what looked like that it was utter defeat for God in all of heaven, who would have thought that through all of that, that the serpent's head would be so crushingly, so destructively, so consummately bruised by the Son of God Himself. But that's what happened, brothers and sisters. God did a marvelous work in us. It's how you were saved. It's how you were delivered from sin. God did it when you could not do it. The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 7 at the end of that chapter, he said, I see another law in my members. Warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. And it brought Paul to this place. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The answer is in God Himself. And so now, now, you find yourself in a different kind of trouble. Things are different now. And we can always point back to the Red Sea experience. We can always point back to that day when you were delivered from sin. But now, now it's a different kind of trouble. It's different. It's different, isn't it? It's not the same as it was back then. The time is different. The circumstances are different. The degree of human difficulty, it's different now. But God is the same. But God has not changed. Israel found herself in a heap of trouble. And just as God had done in the past, just as God had demonstrated in the past, God again fought against the enemy of His people. 900 chariots of iron, nothing to God. The Bible says they fought from heaven. I want you to know tonight, God loves His people. God absolutely loves His people. And God is still willing to fight for us. You remember Daniel? Daniel was a mighty man of God. An amazing, holy man of God. But that man spent three weeks, an agonizing three weeks, in unanswered prayer. The Bible says he was in mourning. He wasn't eating. He wasn't drinking. I don't know if you'd call it a fast. It just might be that he got to the place. I can't. There is so much trouble that's all around me. The man had had visions. Couldn't figure things out. He was so troubled in his soul. He's in mourning. He's not eating. He's not drinking. Days go by. Weeks go by. When the answer finally came. You know what that message was? Daniel got told. You see, all this time, there was a heavenly fight going on on your behalf. Heaven was fighting for you, Daniel. In that day, the stakes were very high. This warfare that was going on would affect nations. It would affect the political landscape. It would affect people's personal lives. So what ends up happening? Heaven fought. They fought from Heaven. On behalf of God's children, Heaven was fighting for His people. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12 We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle against principalities and against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, but we are not alone, brothers and sisters, because that same crushing, destroying, consuming power that delivered you in the past, is this still the crushing, destroying, consuming power that will work for you now? You are not alone, child of God. Heaven still fights on behalf of the people of God. The stars still hang in the heaven just waiting to align themselves the way that God tells them to so that God's people might be delivered again and bring victory to the children of God. Well, they fought from Heaven in the past. That's how Israel got out of Egypt. That's how Pharaoh's armies were defeated, crushed, destroyed, consumed. You got out of sin because Heaven fought for you. There was a fight. There was a battle. And Heaven fought for you. Heaven is still fighting on behalf of God's faithful children. So let it be said, when your testimony is given, when you write your song like Deborah and Barak wrote their song, put this in there. They fought from Heaven. On my behalf, they fought from Heaven. The captain of the Lord's army led the heavens, moved the stars so just I could be delivered. They fought from Heaven. Brothers and sisters, I believe they'll do it again for me. They'll do it again for you in the same way. God pulls up the same Word from Exodus to Judges. I believe He'll use the same Word for us today. Would you stand with me? Lord, thank You for the opportunity to deliver Your Word, to brag on You, to remember that we were brought out of sin because You were willing to fight for us. Thank You, God, when I was too weak, when it was more than 900 chariots of iron, when it was far more than the nation of Egypt coming close behind me, when all of hell was dragging me down when You fought for my soul. God, You were willing to do that then. I certainly believe that tonight, my Father, You made me Your child that You're still willing to fight from Heaven for me. So I pray tonight that whatever situations we're in this evening, that there come a realization in this house, everyone who might hear my voice speak these words tonight, that Lord, You'll fight all the way from Heaven for Your children. Help us as we pray tonight. Give us a remembrance of what You've done and a knowledge that You'll deliver us again in the name of Jesus. Amen. Let's all come into this altar tonight and let's seek God. Let's tell Him, Thank You, God. You delivered me in the past. Thank You, God. You brought me out before. Lord, in the worst battle for my soul, You fought and You delivered me then. There's nothing I can face today that You're not willing to help me out of. If they fought from Heaven then, surely they'll fight from Heaven today. Just as I am without one tweed, but that Thy blood was shed for me and that Thou did come to me, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am without one tweed, but that Thy blood was shed for me and that Thou did come to me, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark flood to Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am without one tweed, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou did come to me, O Lamb of God, I come