Good morning. I trust that the word of God is going to bring blessing to your soul. I'd like you to turn if you went to the book of Judges. Judges chapter four. For our recollection, we have from the actual text of the scripture itself, the three basic divisions. in the book of Judges, the first two chapters constitute a prologue, the body of the letter from chapter three through chapter sixteen, and then chapters seventeen to twenty-one are an appendix, if you would, or the prologue to the book, the epilogue, excuse me. Now, for the actual spiritual instruction or the book of what we would like to suggest is something to glean from this book, apart from its contextual and historical truth, is this suggestion that the Book of Judges gives to us a prophetic an anticipatory view of the church's history. And we've divided into three sections. The first movement that we are in now, the introduction is chapters one and two. Then you notice there is a line running from the left side of the chart, and that would be suggest that from the beginning of the church's history, so the irregular line running upward on the right-hand side of the chart, that is the rapture. To which I would subscribe is the ending of the history of the church here on this earth. And so the import of chapter three is that introducing to us three men who characterize the qualities, the godliness, the various attributes of spiritual power. The first ophthalmial, the import of the man himself and the empowering of the spirit. Second Ahud, the method that is used, the self-disciplinary act of the use of the word of God upon oneself to lay a hold of our inheritance, and then Shemgar, the minor prophet, the first of the minor prophet. There are judges, rather, I should say. There are six major judges and six minor judges. And that simple division is on the basis of the amount of faith given to them. Gideon has a hundred verses, Samson has ninety-six verses, Shamgar has one verse. So we would view him as one of the minor judges or minor deliverers, but yet it's his attribute of using the word of God like a gold to slay the enemy and to help possess God's land. Now, in chapter four, we are introduced in chapter four and five to the laist section and the laist poet, and that is Deborah. Deborah is used as a unique illustration of the ministry of women. Now, as far as this chart is concerned, this is the application that we're suggesting. It's not the interpretation of the book. Historically, she is a prophetess in the nation of Israel. But it suggests this last generation, or the last hundred years, we might say, or less of the church's history, where women have been given a place in accepting their ministry, most particularly on the mission field, Bible studies, work amongst boys and girls, and various ministrations that women have now that they did not have earlier. This particular section, chapter four, is immediately followed by a song, a remarkable piece of poetry and prose written by this woman, Deborah. And this particular piece of literature is in the form of a song, a jubilant, only song that's written in this book. And it elevates the heart of God's people in a retrospect of past history, the present conditions in which the woman Deborah and Bayrak are living, and then it evaluates what has happened. We'll look at this in a little bit of detail, but it suggests to us a possible picture of the judgment seat. And that's why it's on the right-hand side of that irregular line. So now we see that the first movement of the book is to start with the qualities that God is expecting in man. suggested in the three first judges, and then the ministration of women followed, and you notice where it begins, is over on the right-hand side, the last part of our church history just prior to the coming of the Lord, and then the judgment seat. For whatever this is worth, it gives some form of prophetic value to the book and gives us some insight. We shall see as the Lord willing tomorrow that when we begin back in chapter six and go through chapter sixteen, we are then seeing a second movement with more details concerning the men themselves, their exercises of soul, and it suggests three major movements in our church's history. the dark ages, the control of the church's history by Rome, under suggested in chapters nine and ten by Abimelech, and then the Reformation suggested by Jephthah, and the divisions and confusion caused by that. Now enough for that, come back to chapter four with me if you would. And we see now the introduction of this woman, Deborah. In chapter four, verses one to three, we have the problem that is brought to the four at this particular time. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ahud was dead. The Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazar, the captain of whose host was Cicera, which dwelt in Hirosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron. And twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. You recall that we have a little diagram of the cycle of five sequential things that occur and reoccur, and this is no exception. The first word was rebellion, where there was rebellion amongst God's people, and that is described in chapter four, verse one, the first phrase, that children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. After rebellion there was retribution. The Lord sold them into the hand of Javan. Then there was repentance. Historically this is repeated seven times through the book. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. Now God will bring, after repentance, a restoration that will issue at the end of chapter five in verse thirty-one, and the land had rest forty years. The part of the restoration comes from the ministry of a woman. This makes this particular section of the book very significant. This is unique in the nation's history. She stands out as a very special personality. The problem is the Canaanite opposition. The Canaanites were people that lived in the land, that had not been evicted. Because of their own indulgence, their own desire to use them as tributaries and servants and glean whatever they could from these people in direct disobedience to God, the Canaanites pervaded the land and kept all the fertile lowlands along the Mediterranean Sea. This fruitful, productive land gave them possibly their name. The word Canaan means lowly or lowlands or possibly traders, not T-R-A-D-E-R-S, trader, business people, commercial interest. And it suggests possibly to us what might be left in our lives of those natural earthly things that we have not put out, our attachments to this world and its interests. Jabin was the name of the king that was destroyed back in Joshua chapter eleven. He was destroyed and killed, but he raises up again. His name means understanding or intellect. And it's one of the earthly pitfalls that we have as God's people. Many of our spiritual blessings are not laid hold of because we seek to grasp them with our human intellect. A simple phrase taken out of its context, but well worth holding on to, is found in Hebrews eleven. There it has reference to the creatorial power of God. And there we read the sentence, By faith we understand that the ages were framed by God. But it's important to remember, by faith we understand. Many of us have fallen into the characteristic weakness of wanting to understand God's Word in order to put our trust in it. And that is contradictory to what the Holy Scripture holds for us. God is anticipating your simple, implicit trust. If there's a truth in Holy Scripture that is taught, don't eradicate it because it's not your experience. Don't set it aside because you don't grasp it. If it's too large for your soul, believe it. And God shall ultimately give you the intellectual justification to be able to accept it. Many of us struggle with doctrines in Holy Scripture because we don't understand them and so we cannot believe them. That's painful, and it's depriving you, and it becomes a Canaanite oppression. And God wants us to have victory over this in our own personal lives. They had conquered them a hundred years before, but now they're back up again, the similar name or title, and Cicero is their leader. They cry unto the Lord because of nine hundred chariots of iron. Turn quickly, if you would, to Deuteronomy in chapter twenty, and we read their statement by God, anticipating these very problems. God moves, Moses, and Moses said in Deuteronomy twenty-one, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, anticipating what they would meet in the land, and see as horses and chariots and the people more than thou, be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And verse eight, The officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What men is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. The thought there is melting, just dissolving in fear and apprehension. When they do come to the land, in Judges chapter one, verse nineteen, the Lord was with Judah, and he draved out the inhabitants of the mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley. Why? Because they had chariots of iron. The very thing that they were anticipating, the very thing that Moses spoke of, the very problem and dilemma that God promised them power to deliver became a paralyzing force. They created a fearful melting of their will and their confidence in God. The Lord was with them. The nation of Israel were infantrymen, foot soldiers, and the problem is, nine hundred chariots of iron beside a military host that were like the sands of the sea. Multitudinous is numbered, and they were beginning to oppress God's people. Out of this oppression, God raises up a prophetess. And the prophetess is presented to us in chapter four, verses four through nine, and then verse fourteen. The first thing we want to notice about Deborah, who is the prophetess, is her personal piety. The wife of Lapidote, she judged Israel at that time, and she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel and Mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. It's a highly commendable thing. when we can find a woman who believes in inheriting her lofty, heavenly places blessing. Bethel is the house of God. Reina is the high place. She becomes and lives in the palms, the oasis. It's not too often in our spiritual lives, realistically, with no intent but just truth. It's not too often in our spiritual lives that we've become closely related to a Christian woman who believes in spending time in the presence of God, who becomes a spiritual oasis to God's people, who lives in the house of God and in fellowship with God, and Deborah, whose very name means the words or seeking out the word of God. I am deeply thankful for any of you, some of you I'm sure whom I know not, that any one of you who believe in personal Bible study, and you become a help to others and to God's people. The men sometimes feel a responsibility to study the Word of God, primarily because they are called upon for public activity. And all the greater is your temptation to rationalize away your responsibility to your children and family, to your obligations to the household, those mundane things that you have hid behind and covered and protected yourself with in order that you need not be a Bible student. Faithful, as we have been told before, by Tom, to maybe have daily devotional, but not really into the Word of God. I think that there is suggested to us here a very serious ethic in the Church's history and a very definite deep problem for the nation of Israel, and how delightful that as God would scan his eye around all the citizenry of his people in that particular geographical area, at least he could find a woman who lived in fellowship with God and who knew the mind and the purposes of God. And as a result, her personal piety, her accepting of God's order, her being a useful implement and tool in the hand of God, not only commends her, and she goes down in the pages of history, but stands out as a striking example of you, you women that are here who really desire to be useful for God. There is a present movement prevalent in our land that is not worthy of taking much time with it, but it emphasizes certain liberties and freedoms, and it's in direct contradiction to Holy Scripture. A classical illustration is the woman Deborah. Had tremendous influence and power, was a source of guidance, knew the mind and the purposes of God. And yet this delightful soul lived by the palm tree, and men had to come up to be in fellowship and communion with her and understand her thoughts, and to be probed and aroused and fed and given discernment. You know, it's a tremendous thing for a young teenage girl to give some spiritual incentive to a young man. It's a most remarkable thing. when God graces any family unit to have a father or a husband who is mature enough to be able to accept the counsel and the word of God from his beloved partner. One of the marked steps of failure is the superficial ego that we men have, the feel that we have lost something by accepting from a woman either counsel or correction or guidance. We become defensive, we think we have lost ground, we become very superficial, and we have lost out considerably. And this is a lovely picture that's suggested here, a woman with an unusual ministry. She sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kadesh Naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go, draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and the children of Zebulun. And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Cicero, the captain of Javan's army, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine hand. A woman of encouragement, a woman of competence, a woman of courage herself, but primarily because she comes from the presence of God. High, lofty places, and she has a prophetic ministry. The ministry which we would like to bring over in fulfillment in the church period is described in First Corinthians chapter fourteen. Someone who speaks words of encouragement and correction and strengthening exhortation. This can be a very profitable sphere of service amongst God's people. Now, in order to suggest something to you which is really a valuable study in itself, is that God is picturing for us here very graphically the basic essential roles of male and female. Adam was created by God. Man was created by God with a fourfold purpose from the book of Genesis. that of the image of God, the likeness of God, to have dominion and to multiply, replenishing the earth. This is a divinely decreed state, a revelation of truth. And biblically, the reason for sexuality is not merely multiplication or sexual reproduction. The reason for sexuality is that it was not good for man to be alone. And so for the good of man, God designed Genesis chapter two, eighteen, sexuality. The primary emphasis on our being male or female is not for reproduction. The primary emphasis, biblically, is that man has a role to be the image of God and to project the image of God and the likeness of God and to have dominion by force, not of a boorish dominating temperament, but rather by the strength and impact of his own spirit. He becomes a leading, controlling factor under the hand of God. But man could not attain any one of these by himself. And as a result, for the good of man, and to accomplish the purposes of God, God made woman. And the divine statement is, a help meets for him. A help answering to his particular need. And there is no greater role that you can enter into, dear sisters in the Lord, or any one of us, whether believers or not, because this is not a Christian truth, it's a creitorial truth. It has to do with our creaturedom, the very basic fact of our being. And it's a pervading truth no matter whether it's believer or otherwise, but only a believing woman and only a believing man can truly come to the fullness of what God's plan for us is. And here we have suggested for us simply that Eve was made to help man achieve his role. Now this is carried out in this experience. Wherever you see a woman in Holy Scripture taking an aggressive role of leadership in usurpation of man's role, you find sin. The condemnation of God. It is a basic biblical interpretive principle. It is not God's design. And the illustration of it, the most vigorous and aggressive illustration of this truth, is given to us right in this portion. Because Deborah is not raised up to be leadership. She is a useful tool in the hand of God to raise up a man who becomes leadership. And that's God's design. And it's divine revelation. And where we find a woman aggressively taking that role of leadership, as quickly for an illustration, Jacob's mother. Don't obey your father. Listen to me. And what was the issue? Lying, deceit, cunningness, separation of the family, and years of discipline for the boy. Wherever it happened, God is trying to teach us important biblical truths. Now it is not a lesser truth. I want to be clearly understood. There is no thought of inferiority in these truths, but rather A compliment of each another, the fulfilling, helping together to achieve what God's design for humanity and for the church. And when I enter into it as a teenage man or a teenage girl, and you come to the fruition of recognizing the separation of sex and sexual roles, and you begin now to influence young men around you, because this is not a marital experience. Beirac and Deborah are not wed. Deborah is the wife of Lapidot. That's clearly stated. And in both of the women in this chapter, J.L., she is clearly defined as the wife of Hebrew the Kenite. They keep their basic marital roles, and yet they are used of God. There's nothing destructive to the family unit. God esteems that. But it's administration that you young teenage girls should start now. The young men in your church and your local assembly, the young men at this conference, need what you can give to them spiritually. their health answering to their personal needs. And, most charmingly and importantly enough, many of you understand that. The very thing that you find unpalatable and restless about the average young man is his lack of serious thought, capacity to verbally communicate, project an image of strength of spirit or character. He's rather interested in the superficial and the physical things. Well, thank the Lord that you have that perception and start stirring those interests in them and not the physical. That's your appointment. If you get into the practice now with your own father and with your own brothers and the own younger children and young men in your local church, then you might be able to reach your peerage influence and control and have a valuable influence for God amongst them. And then you are uniquely equipping yourself for a marital experience. And the issue of the marital experience is that you become a health meat for a man to rise to take the leadership in the local church. The elders is always a masculine plural in the local church. And so God's design for sexuality is gradually moved through our whole life and brought out to its fruition in a wonderful climax in the local church, the picture of the body of Christ. Debra raises up Bayrack. She provokes him. She stimulates him. She excites him to do things spiritual. He is not competent. He is not courageous. But he is a man of faith. And he senses the word of God and responds to that. Praise the Lord for any one of you young men who recognize a spiritual woman when you see her. But you're not going to find her only by what she appears to be on the outside. That's our usual mark. We don't know anything about what Deborah's appearance was. She may have been tall or short or slender or well-formed or plump or she may have been this that or the other. But it was of increasing lack of importance when she really began to seek God's word. It's said that most of us men have an increasing lack of interest in things spiritual when it has to do with a woman. And I pray that the woman would not let us down, in order that we men might project the image and the likeness and the spiritual dominion that you might be a real help meet to us." Barak is gripped with a little bit of apprehension in verse eight. If I will go with me, then I will go. But if I will not go with me, then I will not go. Kind of a small, petulant spirit for a mature man, isn't it, a military man? Well, if you go with me, all right. But still there's a touch of faith in the man. He has some kind of strength and character. But notice the prophetic ministry of the woman. She said, I will go with you, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thy army, for thy honor the Lord shall sell sister into the hand of a woman. So here in chapter four, the ministry of a woman, and the ministries of women brought over into chapter five and song and song about and honoring God because it is using women. It's an epic in the church's history like never before. Look at the mission field. Look at the Bible studies. Look at the women's club. Look at many of the activities in the local church. Because many of us men have been lacking the faith. They rack like we need someone to stir us up. And dear sisters, we do not need someone to take over. that's to be a provoking ministry, to put men back where they belong. Our homes and our families and our local churches are suffering. So show me a family that is torn and divided, and I'll show you a woman that's too active and a man that's become passive. Show me a local church where there is division and separation, and you will see active women and gradually becoming more inactive men. That's not God's plan. And it falls right into the hens of satanic interest. Poor Barak, he is ready. Man of faith, obviously. Ten thousand soldiers. Can't we get twenty at least? No, just ten thousand men. Go to the top of the mountain. Look eastward down into the valley of Tishon, where the river is down on the lowlands. And from here you may even be able to see the dust rising up from the hordes of the enemy ready to attack on a sail. They sense the opposition. Grip to a fear and a phasm. What does our good friend Deborah do? Take the trumpet, ride on a white stallion and charge? No. Verse fourteen, Deborah said unto Barak, Up! This is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Cicero into thy hand. Is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him. Thus stimulated and provoked by this woman's ministry, he goes out to serve God. In the book of Hebrews chapter eleven, the Spirit of God carefully says, Of the great men of old, I have not time to write, of Samson, Jephthah, and Barak. He is viewed by God as a man of faith, and Deborah remains anonymous. But God knows he has given her these two chapters to show it her remarkable ministry. Is that sufficient for you, dear sister? Will you be useful by knowing the mind and the Word of God? Can God dip into your soul and bring out something profitable and instructive to encourage the men of your local church? Some of you older, more mature, and yet extremely attractive women need to talk to our young people. The young man will be able to use reserve and respect because of your senior years and maturity. And he will not become physically involved with you. And yet that young teenage man needs your administration and guidance and encouragement. It's a sphere of service that's much needed. And your words can be like gold. stimulating them out of the lowlands to be spiritual conquerors and useful tools. The story goes on and we start into the predicted victory in chapter four and verse fifteen. now the two the victory forms in two sides in verse fifteen and sixteen we have the actual victory in the field where the lord goes before they use the edge of the sword and this is amplified in chapter five it's kind of interesting that where the evaluation of the battle comes verses twenty to twenty two part of the song recounts why there was a victory the lord was in it indeed but the lord in the victory was in a most remarkable fashion could be viewed as incidental or coincidental The army was mounted. There they were on the top. Deborah says, go through it, Bayrak. The Lord has done it. You can do it through God. And Bayrak charges down the mountainside. Isn't it nice to have a woman say, go ahead. You can minister the word. Use that exercise of soul. Visit that young person. Maybe that's all the encouragement that husband or friend of yours needs. He goes out to the battle. He conquered the enemy. But the reason why it was accomplished was because of the tremendous flash flood from a torrential lightning storm. And the lightning terrified the horses. And we read it here. Verse twenty of chapter five, they fought from heaven. The stars and their courses fought against Cicero. The river of Kishon swept them away that ancient river the river Kishon. Oh, my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Then were the horses who've broken by the means of the prancing, the prancing of their mighty ones. The implication is the horses were terrified. mashing, riveting, turning, maybe breaking loose from their halters, and maybe damaging or hurting themselves. The floodwaters of the Kishon River backed up and flooded the area, and the very thing that was going to be the cause of fear amongst God's people, the Iron Chariot, became the downfall of the enemy. They were bogged down, they couldn't contend with them, and every single man in Kishon's, or rather in Cicero's army, was killed. Cicera alone escapes. He runs like a frightened rabbit, and that's given to us in verse seventeen of chapter four. Cicera fled away on his feet to the tent of J.L., the wife of Hebra the Kenite. Now, apparently there was peace between Javan, the king of Hazor, and the house of Hebrew, the Kenite. There was a separation from them. They had moved away, we find, in chapter one and verse sixteen. They had separated somewhat from amongst the enemy, and yet there was still some kind of an identification. And this woman is going to have to be forced into a position that for her household, where she has her great, strong influence, she's going to have to take a stand either for the enemy or for God's people. Jail went out to meet Sister, and he said, Turn in, my Lord, turn in, fear not. When he had turned in unto her, in the tent she covered him with a mantle. And he said, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink. I am thirsty. She opened up the bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. And he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man thus come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here that I shall say no? The account and the restore, retelling of the story in chapter five, is really most interesting and we see the dedication of this woman. Stranger comes to the house, turn and sit down, relax. He's all out of breath. He's gripped with fear. Give me some water. She gave him milk. Better than that, the implication I understand in the words is she gave him curds or yogurt and a very special dish. Not just one of the old clocks, but one of the nicer dishes. She really made him feel at home. She's a cunning woman, isn't she? You know, hospitality is a lovely thing, but it can go a little too far. She makes him feel thoroughly at home. And he says, now just stretch out and relax. And he dozes or sounds asleep. Now God has noted, not only did she make him feel at home, not only did she give him the drink, but she purposed in her heart to thoroughly disarm him and do something special. You see, God even knows the kind of china that you use when you serve your company. And God knows the special efforts that you make. The extra bed that has to be made because the preachers come in. Then when he brings his wife along with him, wow, that's two beds to make. And the Lord knows what that means. The Lord knows how hard it is to work in the kitchen when there's another woman hovering over your shoulder trying to tell you what to do. And she understands these things. And God is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love. And it's carefully chronicled here even her attitude in what she has sought to do for God and God's people. Slips outside, must have been a massive decision for her to make. Just think of that. There's that long wooden ten peg. Can she do it in one stroke? How long did she hover over him waiting? If he had wakened up, he would have broken her legs with a swash of his sword. There's a terrible, just a dreadful experience of this woman. A real time of decision and commitment. What will I do with his enemy? Will I serve God? And she places that tent peg against his temple and in one blow drives it right through and pins him to the ground. By the time Bayrak arrives, he's dead. The lesson, don't take a nap in a stranger's house. The enemy is conquered. Chapter five gives us the rehearsal and the great song. And it has four major divisions. Verses two and three. Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinouam, and that's a saying, You know, every one of us who are born again knows this song of redemption. And I'm thankful for that. I pray that you will be able to sing Deborah's song. A song that looks to the fore. A song that anticipates the reward. Do you look forward to the judgment seat of Christ? Ah, beloved of God, it was never meant to be a whipping pose for God's people. During the past week you may have seen on the television some of the Olympic Games, and these people have disciplined themselves and striven and sacrificed to do what? To stand on a podium, to stand on a judgment seat and be rewarded with a golden medal. And her whole life has been geared toward that. And that's a dramatic and exciting time. And that's exactly what God would put before you in Holy Scripture. The judgment seat where your life is rewarded by God. And the things that are a nuisance to you now, the flesh and the world, all that gets burned out. The useless, fruitless service for God that's been done in the flesh and out of boredom and tedium, like wood, hay, and stubble are flipped aside, and you're left that every man shall have praise of God. First Corinthians four, one to five. And it's not important how your brethren estimate your service for God, but it is how God evaluates the quality and the character and the dedication with which you have yielded yourself and thought in these little things in the whole life and in the relationship to others around how to serve the Lord. sing Deborah's song to anticipate the judgment and the prophetic values. And it starts off in verses two and three with a look upward. And the look upward is to praise God for his delivering power in his grace. Then the look backward from verses four to eleven about God's dealings in the past and his blessing and prosperity for the nation and for God's people. Verses twelve to thirty give us the look around and evaluating all the interesting things. God doesn't look over anything. You'll notice in this portion he talks about those men that gave up writing jobs, scribes, and entered into the battle. They weren't fit for service or military, but they were willingly giving up. But he also reminds them about the men of Dan that stayed down with their ships in commerce. The men of Ruben that were so busy wondering about their sheep, and if they could afford to leave them to go to battle, and they decided they'd stay with the sheep. God knows how many times you made the decision whether or not you would sit down and study the Word of God or watch TV, and he knows just how much you've lost out. He knows where our priorities are, and I'm sure that we'll be glad to get rid of those things in the day of judgment with clear conscience to stand before our blessed God. a lovely song evaluating. Then she has a look forward in the last verse. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love him be as the Son when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest. The Church of God's people. the family, a local assembly, all those that come in contact with you shall find spiritual blessing and rest. Dear sisters, if you're ready to accept the role that God has provided for you, and in which He shall richly bless and enable you to be a help to the godly men around that need your correction and guidance and spiritual administration. I'd like Jim to lead us in number two oh six, but really there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to just sacrificially lay down and accept what God has for us.