What Brings Songs of Victory? a Yes Moment

JUDGES – LESSON 3 “What Brings Songs of Victory? A “Yes” Moment” Kay Arthur, Teacher

It was a tense moment, but it was a great moment. America was up for the gold. It was the gymnastic events at the Olympics, and Carrie Scruggs had a fractured ankle. But she was part of a team, and she said, “No, I am going to go for the gold.” When she went up on that vault and did what she did, the moment that was so tense was the moment that she would come off that vault and stand on both feet, unwaveringly, in order to get the gold. She went up on the vault. She did what she had to do. She came down, and you could see the pain on her face, but you could hear the crowd. It was a “Yes!” moment. Bela Carolli (?), the Romanian coach, ran and grabbed her and put her in his arms. It was a time of triumph. It was a time to sing. It was a time to rejoice. It was a “Yes” moment. I want to ask you a question: when was the last time you had a “Yes” moment? When was the last time, that although the situation was tense, there was victory, because you did what you were suppose to do? I want you to turn in your Bibles to Judges 5. We are going to look at a “Yes” moment. We are going to look at a time in the history of Israel when the people, after being oppressed for 20 years by Jaban, by a Canaanite king, were finally set free. It was a “Yes” moment. It was a great moment. And what we have is a masterpiece of a song in the book of Judges. People look at it, and sometimes it is so poetic and it is so majestic that they do not know what to do with it. But it is a song that was sung by a woman. It was a song that was sung and written by a woman and a man, by that famous woman that stands out in all of Old Testament history as a judge and as a prophetess of Israel. The reason she stands out is because there are very few woman that you see in positions of leadership as you go through the Old Testament. But as we look at the song, I just want you to know that I am praying for you. I have been praying for you. I am praying for you that God will capture your heart, and that He will give you principles and precepts from this word, from this story, that will cause you to long for a “Yes” moment. If you find yourself in spiritual doldrums, you find yourself in apathy in your life. You know, “God’s just not doing anything,” and you aren’t really sure you want Him to do anything. I am praying that He will say, “Hey, honey, wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Get up. I have something for you to do.” Because I tell you, if you understand (and you may understand) all that is happening in our world at this strategic time, at this new millennium that we are in, if you would realize what is happening in the United States of America, what is taking place, how we are on this downward, downward spiral. We are on that downward spiral, because the church has been asleep. The Bible tells us, “Wake up!” He says it in Thessalonians. “Wake up; this is not the hour to sleep.” Why? The coming of the Lord is near. As I listen to the news, and I listen to all that is going on in all the various countries, even in the United States of American, I think we are set up. We are ready for this one world government, because we cannot handle things individually as nations. Then we are going to be ready for a one-world ruler. And all of that is pointing to the time when, because there is no king today, so to speak, in the hearts of Christians. Yet still the King is coming! The King is coming. We need to wake up. So let’s look at Judges 5:1. “Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, (2) ‘That the leaders led in Israel, That the people volunteered, Bless the Lord!” [Listen, this is a cry of praise. I am going to take this song, and I am going to show you the different things that you see in this song. In verses 1-2, you see a cry of praise. You know that Carrie Scruggs, when she came down, she was in tremendous pain. You know, though, that people were so excited and they were so thrilled, because as she went down on that fractured ankle, she stood fast. She stood firm. There was rejoicing, but there were also tears. There were tears of joy; there was a cry of praise that went up. And I know that, in all probability, that in Israel that day there was praise and there was singing, and there were tears of joy that came down. So we want to look at verses 1-2, at the cry of the praise, because the leaders led, and the people volunteered. In other words, what happened was a momentous event in Israel. They had been under oppression for 20 years, and now the enemy has had a tent peg put through his head. The whole group is going to be wiped out, and they are going to have peace. The land is going to have rest. So it is because the leaders led, and it’s because the people volunteered. Bless the Lord! Judges 5:3 says, “Hear, O kings; give

1 ear, O rulers! I—to the Lord, I will sing, I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. (4) Lord, when Thou went out from Seir, when thou didst march from the field of Edom, the earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, even the clouds dripped water. (5) The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, this Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.” [Now listen, here is a victory cry. Here is a cry of praise. The second thing you see in verses 3-5 is a call, a call to others, a call to kings to say, “Listen, kings, listen. Look at what our God did. Do you remember our God? Do you remember how He came from Seir (which is a mountain down in Edom)? Do you remember how He marched up in Edom? Do you know how He met with us? Do you know how He spoke to us, Himself, at Mount Sinai? It takes us back to Exodus 19 and 20, where He gives the Ten Commandments. But in Exodus 19, He meets with the people. He is recalling these days, and they are recalling the greatness of the God. This is the God who met us at Sinai. This God now has met with us now at the foot of another mountain. What mountain was that? Mount Tabor, this little mountain there in the land of Israel, this mountain that is just a little bump right there on the plain. This is the call to the kings and you see that when there is a victory, other people are going to know about that victory, aren’t they? Other people are going to see if you remember. If you saw that great event of Carrie Scruggs, and what happened and America winning the gold, you remember what happened, and the talk was all a buzz about what that girl did. The next thing you see in Judges 5:6-11 is the cause for singing, because of the conditions that were overcome. I love this, because when you look at Judges 4-5 (which is just the story of Deborah--two chapters are given to Deborah, and given to the defeat of Sisera and the defeat of Jabin) you see this king of Canaan was brought down because the people in Israel had had enough. They had had enough. That king had oppressed them so much. So you see in Judges 5 the conditions of that time that the Lord doesn’t tell us in Judges 4. So listen to what it says. (6) “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,” [Oh, Shamgar, the son of Anath? Have we heard that name before? Where did we hear it? In Judges 3. What did they tell us about him? They simply told us that he rose up, and with an ox goad he killed 600 Philistines. That is all it says, but it tells us that his name was Shamgar, and it tell us that he was the son of Anath. So you have a correlation between Shamgar and Deborah during those times.] (6) “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and travelers went by roundabout ways. (7) The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel. (8) New gods were chosen; then war was in the gates. Not a shield or a spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. (9) My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, the volunteers among the people; bless the Lord!” [Do you hear the joy? Do you hear the exaltation? Do you hear the “Yes!”? Do you hear the “Bless the Lord!”? Why? Because, look at the conditions. It was so bad in Israel, in that land at that time, that the peasants ceased. In other words, you could walk the fields, you could go out to the homes that were out there, where they would sow and reap the harvest, and they would be empty. And they would be empty because it would not be safe. It was not safe to be out there by yourself. Why? Because these marauders, these Canaanites, would come down, and they would kill the people and they would steal what they had. So the peasantry ceased. They all had to pack up everything, and they all had to move behind the walled villages. When you went on roads, the road and the highways were absolutely deserted. Why? Because of marauders that would come along on the highways. They knew where you were going to travel, and they knew where to find you. So that is where they would come. I think about the time when we went to Guatemala. We went up into a very, very dangerous spot, and we had to be careful. Why? Because the guerillas were out there, and they were so mean and so brutal that they figured out ways to stop cars, and people would be killed, murdered,and robbed. They would be wandering around in the wilderness. This is the way it was. You say, “Boy, I am glad I don’t live in a country like that.” But I want to ask you a question. Is it safe on the streets of America? Are you able to go out? Can you let your child just play outside, like I used to let my child play outside? I would just kiss them (I had three boys), and they would run out the door, and they would run all over the place. They were all over this property; they were all over the neighborhood. You didn’t worry about them. They were supposed to come home for lunch, and when they got hungry they would come home. You can’t do that anymore. We would go to the malls, and they would say, “See you,” and they would run around as little kids. And it was all right. It was safe, but listen, it is not safe anymore. Now I want to ask you a question. Why is it not safe

2 in our land? It’s not safe, because the righteous, in a sense, the moral people, have become complacent and the immoral people have surfaced. And they are out there bent on evil. And you know what? There are no laws to restrict them. I brought a book down, because I wanted you to see it. I heard this woman speak. I have become a friend with her and a friend with the people who published this book. It is a book by Judith Riseman (?), and it is called Kinsey, Crime, and Consequence s. If you knew what the Kinsey reports did (if you understood them), you would see that here is a man who with his evil ways changed the course of the United States of America. He is the one who, when you go back into the 40’s, through his books on the behavior of the human male, and later on the behavior of the human female, changed the way our nation looks at sexual crimes. What happened was this--this man was a pervert. This man was involved in homosexuality. This man, when they would do the experiments, the research (and it has all come out and it is all is documented, absolutely thoroughly here), when they did the research, they heard children, little babies, (they did these sexual experiments on ones as young as five months), they would hear them crying behind these doors. Some of the people who worked with him knew what was going on, and they did not do a thing. He claimed it as scientific research, and the man was sick to the core. His research was not scientific. A great majority of the people he used in order to come up with his research were criminals, who were already in prisons for sexual offenses. Our laws are now based on his perverted, twisted research. And now the sexual offender is protected, and we are made vulnerable because he is protected. We can’t go out on the highways. We can’t let our children run and play like the good old days. Why? Because an enemy has come into the camp and is assaulting our people mentally, in their thinking, socially in the way they behave, and morally. We need to arise. We need someone to arise. We need people to go back like Judith Riseman did, like this Jewish girl did (who has become a Christian) when her child was raped. It got her attention. She arose. She arose literally, so to speak, as a mother in Israel, as a Jewish mother. She is trying to gather others, so that we can turn the tide around. Listen, the days of Judges are so like our days today. The peasantry ceased. They ceased in Israel. The highways were deserted. The people had to go in roundabout ways. Then it says, “Until I, I arose, a mother in Israel.” I want to ask you a question. What is it that disturbs you? What is it that disturbs you about our society? What is it that disturbs you in your child’s school? What is it that disturbs you in your church? What is it that disturbs you in your community? What is it that disturbs you in Chattanooga, TN? Have you watched how Chattanooga has changed? Have you watched how, at one time, we were a very provincial city? We didn’t have a lot of opportunities for immorality in this city, but now we do. What’s happened? Ask God to show you, “God, what is going on? And God, what do you want me to do about it?” The peasantry ceased. They ceased in Israel until, I arose, a mother in Israel. And when she arose, listen, I want to go back to verse 2, when she arose as a leader, what did the people do? The people volunteered. She did not win this battle single handedly. We will never win single- handedly. So the leader comes up, you arise; you see the need. Look at MOPS; look at Elisa Morgan; look at Beverly LaHaye, Concerned Women for America. Look at Janet Parshal of Janet Parshal’s America; and you will see women who have looked at the situation in United States of America, and they were just ordinary women. They were women at home. But all of a sudden it was like they were smacked across the face with what was going on in their world, in their community, and they said, “This is enough.” And they arose. They arose. Beverly LaHaye arose as a mother, so to speak, in United States of America. Janet Parshal has arisen in her field in Washington D.C., as a mother in Israel. You will see her on “Larry King Live” and other programs. You will see her stand fast; you will see her stand firm. You’ll see her stand unwaveringly, and you will see her stand biblically. Although she doesn’t throw the Bible at them all the time, she stands. And she is known for being unwavering. What has happened? Others have gathered around. What do you see that disturbs you? And what are you doing about it? She says, (8) “new gods were chosen; then war was in the gates.” [Now watch, new gods chosen, then war was in the gates. Do you see the progress? Do you see the sequence of things? New gods were chosen. What is she saying? She is saying, “In Israel we went into idolatry. New gods were chosen.” Then what? War was in the gates. Why? Because the sons of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. So the Lord did what? He sold them into the

3 hands of their enemies. How did they do evil? They did evil in their idolatry. They did evil in their immorality, and God always has to judge idolatry, and God always has to judge immorality. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. What did God tell them in the Old Testament? When you have these people that are sleeping around, that are having sex outside of marriage, what are you to do with them? They were to be put to death, so that evil would be purged from the land. The war came, the enemy came, the bondage came, because they allowed idolatry, because they turned their back on God. Why are we in trouble in the United States of America today? Because we have turned our back on God. Do you know there was a television commission that rose up in the 1920’s? Why? Because Hollywood was coming into its own. They had developed the motion picture industry. Do you remember how it was? First it was silent films, with the guy on the piano, and you had the music in the background. All the pictures were kind of jerky, because the film hadn’t been developed. Then they could talk. Some of those stars were out of business, because their voices were terrible. And they found out that people liked to see immorality. Then (and you can thank God that the Catholic Church rose up) the Catholic Church rose up and said, “We will not have this.” Now, there had to be one person, (and I am sorry I don’t know who it was) in that Catholic Church, the leader, that got the rest of the church to volunteer. But they decided, “You are not going to ruin our society. These films are powerful. What you see with your eyes, the drama, has great power, and it will influence our nation. So they came up with a code. And among the general principles of the code was the requirement (listen carefully) that no picture shall be produced which will lower the standards of those who see it. Did you hear that? No movie will be produced that will lower the standards of those who see it. What’s happened in our nation? Why are we not safe? Why are there so many crimes? Why are your children always vulnerable to someone’s twisted, perverted mind? Why are people stealing and robbing? Why are people shooting? Why are so many kids pulling out guns and shooting them off at schools and killing people? Why? Because, what do they see? “Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little eyes what you see. The Father up above is looking down in love. Be careful little eyes what you see.” I wish I could sing. So they came up with a motion picture code. I wish I had time to read it all to you. Listen to #1 – The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Is that happening today? Wait a minute! Where did the code go? Where did the code go? The code went in the 60’s, with one judge, making one decision that opened the door for the film industry to say, “We have the right to say whatever we want to say.” With them doing that, but with the people that made up this group that saw that the production code was always was upheld, they became apathetic. They stopped saying and resisting and fighting. And the enemy scored a coup, and we are in bondage, so to speak. Motion picture producers recognize the high trust and confidence which has been placed in them by the people of the world. They recognize their responsibility to the public because of this trust and because entertainment and art are important influences in the life of a nation. When right standards are consistently presented, the motion picture exercises the most powerful influences. It builds character, it develops right ideals, it inculcates correct principles. Now listen to the next one. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationships are accepted or the common thing. Obscenity in word, gesture, song, joke or suggestion, even when likely to be understood by only part of the audience, is forbidden. It has been fast, hasn’t it? It’s been fast. New gods were chosen, and the enemy was at the gates. New gods were chosen, and what do you have? There is war at the gates. “Not a shield or a spear was seen among the forty thousand in Israel.” [In other words, how big was their army? Their army was only 40,000 men that were ready to go to war. And yet, if you sent them to war, they had no weapons against the enemy. Now what do you know about Sisera? What do you know? What did Sisera have? He had iron chariots. He had 900 iron chariots. So this was the condition in Israel. Until what? (I want you to see that.) Until…Debra arose, a mother in Israel.] She says, (9) “My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, the volunteers among the people; bless the Lord!” [She knew she couldn’t do it by herself. She could see the problem, she could see the situation, and she could analyze it up one side and down another. She could even have a plan. But if others did not rally around her she could not do it. Why do you think the ACLU has been so successful? Why do you think these organizations, why do you think the gays and lesbians have been so successful? Why? Because what

4 happened was, together they rallied around a cause. And they have a tenacious grip on that, and they believe they are right. They absolutely believe they are right. And because they believe they are right, they are going to stand for what they believe is right. And they are going to go after it, and the reason they are succeeding is because they won’t let go, and because we have. I picked up an article from the Washington Times, and it says: “Judge: Straight Pride Shirt OK”. There is a school in Minnesota that has, in the middle of the school, an area they call “the safe zone.” In that safe zone they have pink triangles. The pink triangles are a symbol of homosexuality and lesbianism. They have posters up in that section of the school. The principal is really quite proud about it. He is proud of this because, he says, “We just accept everybody. They just have to make their own decisions.” But this kid gets a T-shirt, and it says, “Straight Pride”. Not gay pride. So he gets this T-shirt and it says “Straight pride”, and it has a couple, this guy and girl holding hands. He wears it to school. The principle calls him in and says, “You are not going to wear that to school.” Now listen, there is a safe zone, there are all these posters, all these pink triangles promoting and saying homosexuality and lesbianism is all right. And a lot of teachers hang out in that area. But he can’t wear a T-shirt that says, “I am proud of being straight.” The principal says, “Take it off.” But he arose, and his parents arose. And they said, “No, this is not right. This is the United States of America. I am not taking it off.” They won; praise God, they won. Praise God he can wear his T-shirt that says, “Straight Pride.” Now what do you see here? When I see people like this, my heart goes out to them. My heart goes out to them, because they see the situation, they see what is going on, and they arise as a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a kid. A kid--kids your age have made differences. There was a young boy (and somehow I don’t remember his name), but he went down into a section of town where the homeless lived. He saw the homeless, and he saw those terrible conditions. Do you know what he did? He went home and he started collecting blankets and things. People heard about it, and they caught the vision. This kid was running a ministry to these people in the street, these homeless people. He saw the conditions, and he saw that it wasn’t right, and he said, “What can I do?” So it doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t even matter if you are a man, you can arise as a father in Israel. Now, it took Deborah this time, but we want the men. So it says, (9) “My heart goes out to the commander of Israel, the volunteers among the people; Bless the Lord! (10) You who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who travel on the road —sing! (11) At the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places, there they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord,” [Now listen, the watering places were dangerous places, because that is where you would bring all of your flock; that is where you would talk, and that is where you would water them. So if people wanted to steal your flock they would go to the watering places. But now, because the enemy has had a tent peg through his head, now they can be at the watering places. They are back in the good old days. They have their flocks there, and they have the opportunity to talk there. And they talk about what happened. There is rejoicing there among those who water their flocks. Why? Because the situation has changed.] It says, (11b) “There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, the righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel.” [In other words, “Yes, God looks down, He sees the peasantry ceasing, He sees what is happening, and God is grieved in His heart.” So what does God do? He tries to wake up someone. “Wake up, somebody. Would one of you listen to me? Listen to me; I want to wake you up. I want to do something. I need a leader that the people might volunteer.” So what do you have here? You have the Lord rejoicing.] It says, (11) “There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, the righteousness deeds for His peasantry in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.” In the next section, verses 12-18, what do you have? You have commendation and you have conviction. You have commendation for those who did well; you have conviction for those who did nothing. (12) “Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam. (13) Then survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the Lord came down to me as warriors. (14) From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, following you, Benjamin, with your peoples: from Machir (which is the half tribe of Manassas east of Jordan) commanders came down, and from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.” [They all gathered there at Mount Tabor, in that valley of Jezreel, we call it, that valley of Escalon. They all gathered there. The people volunteered. These are the ones that volunteered.] It says, (15) “And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; as was Issachar, so was

5 Barak;” [In other words, they were moving as one) “into the valley they rushed at his heels;” [Do you hear the commendations? Do you hear the exaltation? Do you hear the praise of those who volunteered? Did you hear your name? It’s good sometimes to hear your name, isn’t it? To know that they noticed I was there. They noticed what I did. But whether you hear your name or not, in your heart you know you did what was right. So here is a commendation. Now watch, in the middle of verse 15 it says,] “Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart.” [“You know, it’s about time somebody did that? Let’s think about going and helping them tomorrow. Or if the battle is going right, maybe we can get there a little bit later.] (16) “Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the piping for the flocks?” [Why were you sitting there hearing the shepherd going toot, toot, toot on his little wooden instrument? He says, “Why were you doing that?] He says, “Among the divisions of Reuben, there was great searching of heart.” I love what Gary Inrig says in his book on Judges, Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay. He says, “They were moved by sentiment, but not by sacrifice.” And you know, I bowed my head after I read that, and I said, “God, it is so easy to stir me up and get my passions aflame, but do I always carry through? Do I always carry through? I know I can’t do it all, but am I helping others to see what they can do? Am I giving them the support they need? Sometimes is there sentiment in my heart, but it is just too hard for me to go, just too hard for me to make the sacrifice?” You know the battle was over, and it was too late for Reuben to do anything about it. In Genesis 49:3, when Jacob talks about his sons, one of the things he says about Reuben is that, “Reuben is unstable as water.” In other words, flowing all over the place, but never channeled. (17) “Gilead remained across the Jordan; and why did Dan stay in ships? Asher sat at the seashore, and remained by its landings.” [Now listen when He says Gilead, who is in Gilead? Gilead is east of the Jordan. Gilead is a beautiful land. When you drive from Jerusalem, and you take the desert route, and you go up that side and along the Jordan, Gilead is absolutely gorgeous. But it is on the other side of the Jordan. That is where Gad and the half tribe of Manassas were. Did they stay over there because they were not connected? See, why do I tell you the things I tell you? Why do I pick out those illustrations? Because I want to get you connected. Why, in all my business, do I try at least…? (I don’t even know what is on television.) Why do I try to grab that newspaper, or grab that magazine when I have a chance? I need to stay connected, because when you are connected, you know what is happening. “Oh, I didn’t know that. That’s awful!” Yes, it is awful; yes, you need to know. “I don’t want to know about it. I want to stay on the other side of the Jordan. I want to stay in those beautiful, beautiful pasture lands. That’s where I want to stay.” Gilead remained across the Jordan. Why did Dan stay in ships? Now listen, Dan is in ships; you find Dan all over the place. Dan’s here; Dan’s there; Dan’s there. Dan doesn’t put down his roots. And you find Dan all messed up in the last part of the book of Judges. But what is Dan doing staying in a ship? What are ships? Commerce. What does that mean? Money. Do you know why a lot of things go on television that are not good for the country? It is because of money, honey. Dan stayed with the ships. Dan was interested in the commerce. He was involved. Asher sat at the seashore. Asher sat at the seashore, and remained by its landing. You know, one of the battles I have to fight is that I get tired of going. I get tired of going, because in my flesh, I love home. In my flesh, I love homemaking. In my flesh, I love decorating. In my flesh, I love pretty things. I can make pretty things. I can go out and get them off the bushes, and put them in a vase. I use to put them in a jar, now I can put them in a vase. But I love home. Asher loved home too. Asher sat by the seashore and remained by its landing. Catch the contrast, in v. 18. Commendation, and then condemnation then, verse 18, commendation. “Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death, and Naphtali also, (catch the “also”) on the high places of the field.” [Now, on the high places of the fields is the most difficult place to fight. And he stayed on the high fields. He took a difficult spot. He wasn’t going to be in the easiest place in the war. So here she commends Zebulun and Naphtali.] What do you have in v. 19? In vv. 19 to 23, you have the collaboration of the Lord. You have the Lord coming along and seeing, “Here is My people, and they have awaken. They have arisen. Now I am right behind them.” (19) “The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;” [now the Kishon River is right there) “they took no plunder in silver. (20) The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera. (21) The torrent of Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength.” [What is he saying? He

6 is saying, “God fought from heaven. Here are these 900 iron chariots. It’s not the rainy season, but God sends the rain; and the rain fills the Kishon, and the Kishon fills the valley, and it makes mud. And chariots don’t work well in mud. God fought with them.”] (22) “Then the horses’ hoofs beat from the dashing, the dashing of his valiant steeds. (23) ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘utterly curse its inhabitants; because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the warriors.’” Now this is a city, why curse them? Because, they did not come to the help of the Lord against the warriors. In other words, they saw the enemy coming against the others, and they put up their picnic tables, and their lawn chairs. They got out their beers, so to speak, and they watched. They shouted from the sidelines, and gave instructions, but they didn’t get up. They didn’t come to the help of the Lord. They just sat back, so this city is cursed. Watch the contrast as we move into verses 24-31. What do you see here? You see the conquest of the enemy. Now watch the conquest of the enemy. (24) “Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed is she of women in the tent. (25) He asked for water and she gave him milk; in a magnificent bowl…” [What did she do? He asked for water and she gave him milk,--she went all the way. She gave him milk in a magnificent bowl, not some old skin.) “she brought him curds. (26) She reached out her hand for the tent peg, and her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.” [She knew how to put up a tent. That was a woman’s job in those days.] “Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; and she shattered and pierced his temple. (27) Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; between her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell dead.” [What do you have? You have two women in this story. Who does the victory go to? Who is the one whose name is mentioned as putting the enemy to death? It is Jael. Who lead them to battle? Deborah. You have two different women. You have an “out front” woman, and you have an “at home” woman in her tent. Yet both of them are used by the Lord. This is what I want you to see as women. God wants to use you. If it is time for you to be in your tent, stay in the tent. He will bring the enemy to your door, and you can put the tent peg through his head. He will show you how to do that. That is what he did with Beverly LaHaye, and that is what He did with others, and eventually He moved them out front. So He will show you how to do that. (28) “Out of the window she looked and lamented, the mother of Sisera through the lattice, ‘Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’” [She couldn’t hear the chariots.] (29) “Her wise princesses would answer her,’” [Now watch. “Yeah, they told me; yeah, they told me. I heard you.” She repeats the words of her wise princesses would words to herself.”] (30) “Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A maiden, two maidens for every warrior; to Sisera a spoil of dyed work, a spoil of dyed work embroidered, dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler’ (31) Thus…” [What does God say? The princesses say, “They are bringing home the prey. They are getting the maidens. They will be home. It is all right, Mama. It is all right, Mama. Your boy is okay.” Her boy is not okay. Her boy is dead, and she doesn’t know it yet.) “Thus let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let those who love Him (love God) be like the rising of the sun in its might.” [Now listen; let those who love God, if you love God, you have got to wake up. If you love God, you have got to arise. Look at those words--awake, awake, arise. Let me go back real quickly to chapter 4, and tell you what you need to do. What do you need to do? You have heard the lesson. You have studied the lesson. You have discovered the lesson. This is what you need to do. Look at Judges 4:6. “Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh- naphtali, and said to him, ‘Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, “Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.” [Now where is Deborah at this time? Deborah is down south; Deborah is in the land of Ephraim. Deborah is down there between Bethel and Ramah. And where is Barak? He is clear up north, just at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee, at Kadesh. So she has got a plan, so she is sending word to him. Now he comes down to her, and this is what she tells him. And when you look at what she tells him, you see some principles, some precepts for your life and my life, some practical things. So this is what I want I want to tell you as we wrap it up. #1 – Look around you. Get a good look. What do you see that is breaking your heart? What do you see that grieves your spirit? What do you see that shouldn’t be? Look around and see what the conditions are. Have the peasantry ceased? What are the

7 conditions in your family, your city, and your community, in your home? What are the conditions? What do you see that should not be? #2 – Get on your knees. Get on your knees and talk to God about it. Sees what God says. Get His message for you. Maybe it is to do nothing else but to intercede. I think about Stormy Omarkian (?), my dear friend. I think about a marriage that was so hard, how she wanted to walk out, how she wanted to leave her husband, how miserable she was, how full of anger her husband was. And how she would cry out to the Lord, “Change him, change him, change him.” Then one day she got on her knees. She is a Jael; she is at home in her tent, and she cries out to God. And God tells her, “Stormy, first I want you to look at you.” And then He gives her a plan. Then He says, “Stormy, now get others that you can trust to pray with you for your husband.” And the marriage survives and succeeds. And this woman writes a book, The Power of a Praying Wife, that has already sold over one hundred thousand. Why? Because the leader led, and the people are volunteering. Other women have been raised up to deliver their husbands, to deliver their children. (The power of the praying parent.) So she sees the need. She goes to the Lord, she asks, and then God will tell you what to do. And when He tells you what to do, then you do it. If you will look at Deborah you will see that she says, “This is what we are to do, and this is what God is going to do.” She gets up off her knees, so to speak, and she has the command of the Lord. She gets the man of the Lord to help her, Barak. She knows who is to help her, and she has a plan, and she does what is needed. Now listen, Barak comes all the way down here between Ramah and Bethel, where she is at the Oaks, where she judges. He says, “I am not going to go unless you go with me.” It was unheard of, but that woman did what was necessary. She made that journey, she went up, and there was victory. Listen, when others would not volunteer, and you saw that, that woman was not defeated. If you would look at Judge 4:14, Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; What is my message to you today? My message to you today is: it is the Lord’s time. It is the Lord’s time for you to arise, a mother, and for the people to volunteer. It is time. It is time for us to get out of our apathy. It is time for us to take this book that we are so diligently studying, especially if you are doing your homework, you are diligently studying this; but listen, it is not just for your knowledge. It is not just for your knowledge. It is so that you can take these principles and these precepts, and put them inside of you, put them into your heart, put them in your mind, and then go forward, and when you go forward they are like a shield. They are like a shield against the enemy. It is all right, because whatever the enemy throws against you, you are all right. You are protected, because it is a shield, and you also have your helmet of salvation on, and you know it is the Lord. And when you go through Judges 4, what do you see? The woman had a plan. The woman got the people together. What did our president say the other day? I loved what he said when they were commending him. He said, “Listen; a leader is only as strong as their team.” I love the team at precept ministries. They make up so much for my shortcomings. She saw; she got the volunteers. She had the plans, she was willing to sacrifice, and nothing was going to deter her from what God had called her to do. Even as a woman, if she had to go to battle, if she had to leave her place and go all the way up there to that battle, she would go. But she was also a very frank and honest woman. Because she looked at Barak and she said, “O.K., I am going, but I want you to know this. The victory will not be yours. The victory will be given to a woman.” It was a disgrace for a man to be killed by a woman. You see that in battles. When a woman throws down a rock, and a man is killed, or he is still barely alive, he says, “Kill me, I don’t want to be known to have been killed by a woman.” And you know what, you look at Deborah and she is not jealous that Jael is going to have that role. Why? Because there is a job to get done, and you only do it when you are linked together. She knew it was God’s time. This day the Lord is going to deliver the enemy. And what happens? The Lord does. The Lord does.