Thank you, Joy. Good evening,
everyone. Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 38 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book,
number 38. Let's all stand together. Come, every sinner saved by grace,
you who by faith God's Son embrace. Tell all who hear your voice
below the debt of love to Christ you owe. Dear Lord, I lift my
praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. He left his father's throne above
and came to earth on wings of love. For us he lived a perfect
man and so fulfilled the law's demand. Dear Lord, I lift my
praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. Jesus endured his father's ire
and died at the appointed hour. What he endured, no tongue can
tell, to save our souls from death and hell. Dear Lord, I
lift my praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. From death's dark grave our King
arose, and triumphed over all our foes. Up through the skies
the victor rode, and reigns on high our Savior God. Dear Lord, I lift my praise to
Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. From heaven Christ will quickly
come and bring his ransomed people home. There we shall see his
lovely face and chant the praises of his grace. Dear Lord, I lift
my praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be I
owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah 64. We're going to be looking at
a couple of verses in Judges chapter 5 tonight that are a
prayer of God's people for the Lord to save us and to meet with
us. And so I thought this is a good
supporting passage to the message. Look at Isaiah 64, beginning
at verse one. Oh, that thou wouldest rent the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence. Lord gives us faith. We can say
unto this mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the sea. Mountains
here represent separation. And it's a picture of our sin.
And when the Lord comes down, the mountains melt away, and
that separation no longer exists. Verse two, as when the melting
fire burneth, the fire causeth the water to boil, to make thy
name known to thine adversaries and that the nations may tremble
at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things
which we look not for, thou camest down, and the mountains flowed
down at thy presence." We weren't looking for Christ, yet what
he did when he died on Calvary's cross is he put away the sins
of his people. For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him. thou meetest him that rejoiceth
and worketh righteousness. Those that remember thee in thy
ways, behold, thou art wrath, for we have sinned, and in those
is continuance. We can't live in this life without
sin. In those is continuance, and
we shall be saved. That's grace. In spite of the
fact that we cannot live without sin, we shall be saved if the
Lord rends the heavens, if he comes down, if the mountains
flow out of the way. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all
do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth
up himself to take hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy face from
us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O
Lord, thou art our father, we are the clay. Thou our potter,
we are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord,
neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee. We are all thy people. The holy
cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem
is desolate, is a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful houses,
where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, and all
our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself
for these things, O Lord? Will Thou hold Thy peace and
afflict us, very sore? Let's pray. Our glorious and gracious Heavenly
Father, this is our prayer tonight, that You would rim the heavens,
that You would send the fire of Your gospel down to melt away
the mountains, Surely we have all gone astray. Surely our righteousness
are as filthy rags and our sin is continuance. Lord, we are
in need of your mercy and in need of your grace. We're in
need of Christ and his accomplished work of redemption. Lord, we
need your salvation. We pray that you would be merciful
to us in spite of us. Oh, we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Number 212. And let's all stand
together again. Number 212. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? ? Nothing but the blood of Jesus
? ? Oh, precious is the flow ? ? That makes me white as snow
? ? No other fount I know ? ? Nothing but the blood of Jesus ? For
my pardon, this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus, Not of good that I have done, ? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus ? ? Oh, precious is the flow ? ? That
makes me white as snow ? ? No other fount I know ? ? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus ? This is all my hope and peace, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. O precious is the flow that makes
me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood
of Jesus. Please be seated. I love that hymn. That's one
of the simplest and clearest gospel hymns that I know. Nothing, nothing but the blood
of Jesus. Would you open your Bibles with
me to Judges chapter five, please? Judges chapter five. Our Lord tells us that when we
come into his presence, we bring with us words. What words do
we bring? Well, we bring to him his word. In the song of Solomon, when
the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to his bride, he says to her
that her lips, her lips are like honey to him. And that honey
is a picture of the word of God. And so the Lord's given us words
to speak. We don't speak them in vain repetition. We don't just say words for the
sake of words. But I want to bring a message
tonight from these words, which are a prayer that believers can
offer up. to God. And if the Lord enables
us to to bring these words with some understanding, I believe
that we will see the promise of God fulfilled in making himself
known unto us. Look here in verse 12 of Debra,
I mean of Judges chapter 5. Awake, awake, Debra. Awake, awake, utter a song. Speak, speak peace to my heart. Barak, arise and lead thy captivity
captive, thou son of Obennuan. Then, he made him, remaineth,
that remaineth. have dominion over the nobles
among the people. The Lord made me to have dominion
over the mighty. What I want you to see tonight
is that Deborah is a picture of the word of God and that Barak
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the written word
is a revelation of the living word. And we go to God's word
that he might reveal to us the person of Christ. And so when
we go before the Lord and we say to him in prayer, what I
trust that you are saying right now, and what I plead every time
I try to prepare and every time I try to stand up here and preach,
awake, awake. Oh, Deborah, Lord, cause your
word to be effectual to my heart. Make it, give me ears to hear. Show me the revelation of your
son by your word. You say, well, how does Deborah
represent the word of God? Well, in chapter four, there
was no prophets in Israel. This is that time between the
This is that period of time in the nation of Israel between
the fathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the kings
of Israel. There's no prophet in the land,
and so the Lord raises up judges, and the scripture says that the
people went to Deborah to hear what God's word was. Deborah
was the one who the Lord used to express his word to the children
of Israel. Now, Deborah's name translated
means bee, a bee, a honeybee. And bees do two things. Bees
sting and bees produce honey. And those things are spoken of
in the scriptures. When God's Word stings our conscience
and reveals to us again and again and again that we sin in continuance,
then it is the realization of our sin and our sinfulness that
causes us to flee to Christ as our Savior and for the forgiveness
of our sin. And so when we cry, awake, awake,
Deborah. Lord, make your word effectual
to my heart. Reveal to me, not only Christ,
but my need for Christ. When a bee stings, it sets all
your senses on edge, does it not? It's hard to be lethargic
when you're stung by a bee. It's become very much alive.
And that's our prayer when we go to God's word, that he would
heighten our senses and that he would make us alive and that
his word would be spoken affectionately by his spirit to our hearts. I think about The prophet Ezekiel,
when the Lord brought him before that valley of dry bones, which
is a picture of us. This is the whole house of Israel
is what that passage says. We've been slayed by sin. And Ezekiel prophesies, he preaches
the word of God to this valley of dry bones. And the scripture
says, but yet there was no life in them. And so the Lord says
to the son of Israel, to Ezekiel, he said, son of man, prophesy
unto the wind. Call upon the Holy Spirit to
empower the words that have been spoken that they might give life
to these dead bones, these dried bones. And that's our prayer.
Awake, awake, Deborah. Lord, empower your word. Don't
let it just be words on a page. Make them effectual to my heart.
Cause the bones to come together. Breathe, breathe life into my
soul. Lord, sin has had its way with
me and I'm in need of a savior. And I know the means by which,
by what you sting me is going to be your word. The conviction of sin. How, how
necessary that is for our salvation. the Lord to make us to be a sinner,
to cause us to really believe that all our righteousness is,
as we just read in Isaiah chapter 64, are as filthy rags, that
truly we have all gone astray. We've each gone into our own
way. That Lord, I have no righteousness. I have no claim on God. I'm in
need of Christ. That's the work of the Spirit
of God by the Word of God convicting us that we're sinful. And so, the Word of God also
not only brings the sting of death or the sting of sin to
our conscience, and to our confession, but it also brings us to Christ,
for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the
law. But thanks be to God, through Christ Jesus, we have the victory. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. He has put away our sin. He satisfied
the demands of God's holy law. So here we have the ministry
of the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, showing
us not only are we sinners, but Christ is our successful Savior
who has taken the sting out of sin and out of death. Truly, sin finished its course
in the Lord Jesus Christ. James chapter one, verse 15.
Sin can, child of God, sin can never finish its course in your
life. It can't. As long as we're in this world,
we're gonna be threatened, we're gonna be tempted, we're gonna
be accused, but sin cannot finish its course. It finished its course
in Christ. It brought death to him. so that
it cannot ever kill us, not eternally. Now, here we have the glorious
truth of that seen in this one called Deborah, the bee, picturing
the word of God, bringing salvation to the soul of God's people. of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth." The Lord uses his word. He doesn't save
apart from the preaching of the gospel, which is the word of
God. God's word will stand. It'll bring the sting of death
to judgment, which is exactly what it did. when the word of
God bore the sins of these people on Calvary's cross. God's word
is true. And for those who reject Christ, the sting of God's word will
bring about God's eternal judgment on that final day. The Lord told
that rich man who went to hell when he asked to send Lazarus,
you remember, and dip his finger in water and cool his torment,
and go warn my brothers, go warn my brothers. And what did Abraham
say to the rich man in hell? He said, there's a great gulf
fixed between us. Lazarus can't come relieve you of your torment.
And your brothers, they have Moses and the prophets. They
have the word of God. If they will not hear them, neither
will they believe the one raised from the dead. And so, here's the means by which God
gives us. We have the word of God. We have Moses and the prophets,
and we have one that's raised from the dead. We have the word
of God to assure us that the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered
death, that the sting of sin has been put away. I think we
looked at this passage on Sunday, but let's turn again to John
chapter 12. John chapter 12. God's word is true. It will not pass away. The Lord
said heaven and earth will pass away. My word will not pass away.
His word will stand true for all eternity. It doesn't change. And the Lord says here in John
chapter 12, beginning in verse 46, I am come a light into the
world that Whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him
not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth
him the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the
last day. For I have not spoken of myself,
but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what
I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the father said unto me, so I speak." Oh, how simple
is that? They that believe not the word
of God, now the word will stand in judgment against them. And
so here's a picture the Word of God, which stands true, stings
the soul of its need for Christ, stung Christ, and destroyed death,
and ultimately will bring about the sting of death to all that
refuse to believe on Christ. Not only does a bee sting But a bee brings the sweetness
of honey. And how oftentimes we see in
the scriptures that the word of God is likened unto honey.
The scriptures refer to the promised land, which is where we're sitting
right now, as a land that is flowing with milk and honey. The milk is the word of God,
the honey is the word of God. One represents its nourishment
and one represents its sweetness. And so it is that when we say
in prayer, awake, awake, O Deborah, what we're praying is, Lord,
send your spirit to empower your word to not only show me the
effects of its sting, but to sweeten my taste and to give
me that joy and that comfort and that hope that can only be
found in Christ. To give me that everlasting life
that will comfort me in all my trials and troubles. When The children of Israel went to
war against the Philistines. Saul foolishly made a decree
telling all the men at battle that they were to eat nothing
that day. And you remember Jonathan came
across some honey and the scripture says that he took his staff and
he dipped it in the honey and he put it to his lips and his
eyes were lightened. That's what he said when he came
before his father Saul and his father wanted to execute him
to fulfill his decree. And the people stood against
Saul and saved Jonathan. But Jonathan said, my eyes were
enlightened. When I touched the staff into
the honey and put it to my lips, my eyes were enlightened. There's
the sweetness of the word of God. Through all the fog and
darkness of this world and sin and all the lies and deceit,
the word of God enlightens the eyes of our understanding. And
it brings everything into sweetness, into life. When the manna came
for 40 years, six days a week, the manna fell from heaven. And the children of Israel went
out and gathered it up, and the scripture says that it was sweet
like honey. The Lord Jesus Christ, we know,
is that manna. He said, the Lord said, he said,
Moses did not give you that manna that came down from heaven. My
father gave it unto you, and I am the bread of life. And I
came that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Awake, awake, O Deborah. Lord, make your word living so
that I understand the sting of sin and the sting of death and
how it was conquered in Christ. And Lord, make it sweet to my
soul. Give me a desire for it. Enlighten
the eyes of my understanding and make it that bread of life. Judges chapter 14, Samson kills a lion and then
he comes back and he finds that inside the carcass of that lion
a swarm of bees and honey and you remember he makes a riddle
and the riddle the riddle is out of the eater out of the eater
comes meat and out of the strong comes sweet. And there's the
picture. Out of the one who is able to
consume us all by the breath of his wrath comes the sweetness
of his word and comes the meat of the gospel. And so over and
over again we see this Picture of the sweetness of the
Word of God. I want God's Word to be sweet
to me. I don't want it to be cold doctrine. I don't want it to be old story. I want it to be a new story,
fresh and alive and effectual. And that's why we pray, awake,
awake, O Deborah. Lord, empower your Word that
it might do its work. stinging and in the sweetness
of Christ. In Psalm chapter 81 verse 16,
the scripture speaks of honey coming out of the rock, which
satisfies me. There's the sweetness of God's
word. Just like out of the strong comes meat and out of the eater
comes meat and out of the strong comes sweet. So out of the rock,
the Lord Jesus Christ is that rock. Flows the honey of his
word. Awake, awake, oh Deborah. Lord, don't make your word alive
to me. Revelation chapter 10. The Lord
gives to John a scroll and tells him to eat it. And that's the
word of God. And John puts it into his mouth
and he says, it was sweet like honey to my taste. But when I
swallowed it, it was bitter to my belly. Now you know what the
belly is in the scriptures. It's the flesh. And the word
of God is bitter to the flesh. It exposes the flesh for what
it is. Light has come into the world,
but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil and they won't come to the light lest their deeds
be reproved. And so it is with the flesh.
The word of God is bitter to the flesh. And yet that's the
sting, isn't it? That's the sting of the bee.
And so awake, awake, Deborah. Yes, expose my flesh for what
it is. Be bitter to my flesh, but be
sweet to my taste. Over and over again. In Proverbs chapter 25, verse
27, the Lord said, it is not good to eat too much honey. What does that mean? It is not
good to eat too much honey. And then in Proverbs chapter
25, verse 16, it says, hast thou found honey? Eat so much as is
sufficient for thee. Because if you eat too much,
you'll vomit it. What is the Lord telling us?
You know, men in religion, I can't tell you how many people I've
had over the years tell me who don't know the gospel. I mean,
it's clear in conversation. They're going to a false church.
They don't know the gospel, but you know what they boast about?
How many times they've read the entire Bible. I've had people
tell me, you know, I've read the Bible 10 times. I've read
the Bible, you know, this many times. And you know, the man
that built this building, told me how many times he read the
Bible. And yet he won't come here and hear the gospel. What
are they doing? They're just indulging in too
much honey, and they, and they vomit it up without any understanding. You know, the best, the best
way to read God's word is read it in small portions. And and
ruminate. You remember we looked at that
Sunday about the clean animal who takes his food and the only
animal that's clean is the one who chews the cud. He regurgitates
it and chews it and he draws all the nourishment out of that.
When you read your Bibles, Don't see how much of it you can read.
Look for a nugget of truth that you can regurgitate and ruminate
on all day long. The scripture's clear. If you
found honey, good. Don't eat too much of it. It'll
make you sick. That's what religious people
do. They think, well, if I can just eat more and more honey,
I'll get better and better. No. Take it in small portions. Find a verse or an idea or a
thought or something that you can meditate on all day long,
and it'll be much more profitable to you than trying to consume
large portions of the Bible. There's the honey. Isn't that
true? That's just, well, that's what
the Lord says. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. It's a light unto my path. God
will bless that word unless we, if we keep our portions of honey. That's what Jonathan said. He
took it a little bit, you know, just a little bit. Isaiah chapter seven, verse 15
says, butter and honey shall you eat that you might know how
to refuse that which is evil and choose that which is good.
Here's what God's Word does. It reveals Christ, the sweetness
of his way. I mentioned John in Revelation
chapter 10, taking that scroll and eating it, and it was sweet
to his taste and bitter to his belly. The same thing happens
in Ezekiel chapter three. when the prophet Ezekiel takes
a scroll and he's commanded of God to eat it. And he eats it
and he's sweet like honey to his taste and it's bitter to
his belly. And then the Lord says, now go speak. Take that which you've eaten
and declare it. Speak to my people. John the Baptist, the scripture
says, lived on locust and wild honey. And locust are driven by the wind. They're high in protein and they
were actually approved by the Levitical law as in the dietary
laws for the children of Israel, they could eat them. People eat
them all over the world. I'm glad we don't have to eat
them here, but they're driven by the wind. And so here's another
picture of honey. There's one more thing that we're
talking about this prayer. where we come before the Lord
and we ask the Lord, Lord, awake, awake in your word. Make it effectual
to my heart. I pray this will be our prayer
every time we come together. Lord, cause your word to be alive. Let it sting where it needs to
sting, but always show me the sting of death that it accomplished
in Christ. and let it be sweet, Lord. I don't want to just be hearing
and saying the same things over and over again without any feeling,
without any beauty, without any sweetness. One more thing that honey does,
I mean that bees do, I'm sorry. You know what it is? They pollinate. I don't hear much about it, but
from what I understand that we have threatened our own existence
with pesticides in killing off large colonies of bees. And there's
beekeepers around the world that are concerned. That if we continue
to use certain pesticides on our crops, that it, you know,
that it infects the bees and kills the bees. That would be
the end of civilization. If we had no bees, we would have
no way to pollinate the crops and produce the fruit, the food
that we need to survive. In the bee is life. And so it
is with the word of God. Awake, awake, oh, Deborah. Lord, I'm, I can't have, I'm,
I'm nothing but death in myself. Lord, unless you make the sweetness
of your word and the sting of your word effectual to my heart
by your spirit, there'll be no life. There'll be no life in
me. And there's plenty of, there's
plenty of pesticides in my sin to kill off the bees if, uh,
If you don't, if you don't help me, Lord, we're dependent on
bees for life. And yet here's what the Lord
said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall
never pass away. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to fulfill the word of God. He said, I did not come
to destroy the law, but to fulfill it and to make all the promises
of God. Yay. And amen. Awake, awake. Oh, Deborah. Lord, cause your
word to be alive and effectual to my heart. The other thing
we know about Deborah from chapter four of Judges is her father's
name was Lapidoth, which translated means a flaming torch. So everything about Deborah points
us to Christ and his word. You remember in Genesis chapter
15, when the Lord was confirming his covenant promises with Abraham
and Abraham took those animals and he divided them and put them
one on this side and one on the other side. And the scripture
says that a smoking furnace and a flaming torch came down between
those animals. Now there you have Christ. His
word be in the flaming torch. and the smoking furnace being
his prayers, his intercession on behalf of his people. Peter,
Satan has asked to sift you, but be of good cheer, I've prayed
for you. There we find the difference
between Peter and Judas, don't we? The Lord interceded on behalf
of Peter in his sin. He didn't do that for, I pray
not for the world, I pray for them which thou has given me
out of the world. And so here Deborah's father's
name means a flaming torch, the light of the gospel in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself is the light of the world.
And he said in John chapter 17, he said, I have given them thy
words, which thou gavest unto me. So here we have Deborah's
father being a flaming torch. Our Lord said, Lord, I didn't
speak my words. I spoke the words that I got
from my father. I have given them the words that
thou has given me to be, to give unto them. And they have received
them and they've believed them. Here's what we're praying. Awake,
awake, O Deborah. Lord, might the light of the
gospel shine by your word into my heart and might the sweetness
of the Lord Jesus Christ be made real to my life. Not believing the Bible, not
believing God's word is calling God a liar. Anything more offensive
to you than for someone to call you a liar? It's pretty offensive,
isn't it? How much more offensive? We are
by nature liars, but to call God a liar? To not believe His
word? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the word of God. Believing God is not believing that he will
do something or that he wants to do. It's believing that God
will do everything that he said. Every word that he has spoken
is true and faithful. And so we pray, Lord, give me
faith to believe all that you've declared. Give me faith to believe
on Christ. Give me faith to see Christ in
your word. Awake, awake, O Deborah. bowing to God's word as true
and faithful and bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ as the living
word of God. That's what faith is. Faith is
a gift of God. So we pray. Here's our prayer. Awake, awake, oh Deborah. In chapter four, not only do
we learn about Deborah's father, but we learn about where Deborah
was. Scripture says that she was by
the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel. Now, Ramah
translated means a high place and Bethel means the house of
God. And here we have again, a picture of the word of God,
which is on a high place. It's not like the words of men.
It's a revelation that comes directly from God. It's heaven's
word, it's God's word. And she's, where is she? When
the children of Israel go to Deborah to get the word of God,
where is she? She's at a palm tree. And the
scripture says, they shall flourish like a palm tree. And palms,
you know, are not really trees, they're grass. They're not trees
at all. And the Lord said, tell them
they're grass. So we have Deborah hanging out between Ramah and
Bethel at a palm tree, dispersing the Word of God. Here's what
we are. The life of a palm tree is in
the heart of the tree. Palm trees are evergreens, and
palm trees are fruit bearing, and palm trees only grow where
the sun is warm. and palm trees withstand storms
that other trees can't stand. And so it's a picture of God's
church. Here's where Deborah is. We come
here to hear God's Word. And by hearing, we're asking,
Deborah, Deborah, awake! Lord, make your word effectual
to my heart. Let it sting me where it needs
to sting me. Show me how it has stung Christ.
Show me how it is a flaming torch and reveals the truth and make
it sweet to my taste, though it be bitter to my belly. Awake,
awake, oh, Deborah. This is where she is. Now look
at the rest of this verse. We're gonna conclude with this.
Look at, if Deborah awakes, if God answers that prayer, then
Barak will awake. For Barak here is a picture of
Christ. Arise, Barak. Here's what the
awakening of the word of God does in our hearts. It causes
us to see the Lord Jesus Christ having conquered death and having
arisen and having ascended back to heaven and seeing him seated
at the right hand of God. And so our prayer is awake. Lord,
send your word in power. Rend the heavens. Open the eyes
of my understanding. Make your word effectual to my
heart. Make these little taste of sweetness
and nourishment to my soul. Show me Christ. Show me Christ. Barak's name means lightning. That's what it means. And if
you think about the history of the world, how long is 33 years? It's a flash of lightning, isn't
it? And I don't know enough about
it to be able to explain it, and I wouldn't waste your time
in trying to if I did, but I do know enough about lightning to
know that the ions in our atmosphere and that the magnetic fields
in our earth require lightning. If lightning ceased in the world,
we would all die. Those flashes of lightning have
an effect on the natural world in which we live, and we can't
live without it. What a picture. Arise, O Barak. Lord, cause your lightning to
flash. Scripture says that even as the
lightning flashes from the east and is seen all the way to the
west, so is the Son of God. Lord, arise. Arise, show yourself. We pray for so many things in
vain, don't we? We pray amiss for many things
that we might consume it upon our own lust. Here is a prayer. The Lord said, come to me with
words. What do we pray? Lord, make your
word alive. Make it a two edged sword. Make
it sweet to my taste. Give me a desire for it. and
reveal Christ to me through it. Barak's father's name was Obenoim. You see that in our text. Look at our text in Judges chapter
five. Awake, awake, Deborah, awake,
awake, utter a song. Make your word musical to my
soul. Oh, songs are pleasant, aren't
they? This isn't a dirge. This isn't
a sad song. This is a song of praise and
rejoicing. Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity
captive. That's what the Lord Jesus did.
When he came into this world, he broke down the gates of hell.
He said the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against
the gospel. He went in and took those who were captive to death
and hell and sin, who could not believe. And he made them captive
to himself. And the scripture says that he
went back into glory. Look at Psalm 68. Look at verse 18 in Psalm 68. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men. Yea, for the rebellious also
that the Lord might dwell among them. This is that prayer. Lord, thou hast ascended back
on high. The father said to his son, sit
down here at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
I have made thee a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
And the Lord Jesus said, I must go to my father or the Holy Spirit
will not come. Here's our prayer, Lord, rend
the heavens, send your spirit, give me your spirit. Without
your spirit, the word of God is just gonna be empty words.
They're not gonna be effectual to my soul. They're not gonna
show me the sting of death in me and in Christ. They're not
gonna be sweet to my taste. Lord, you've ascended into heaven.
You've led captivity captive. You've taken your captives with
you so that all the blessings of God are in the heavenlies
in Christ right now. And he has sent gifts unto men,
the gift of his spirit, that this prayer might be answered. Arise, arise, Deborah. Arise, arise. Sing a song. Awake. And arise, Barak, thy
son of Obenoim. Now, Obenoim means the delight
of my father. So the Lord Jesus Christ delighted
in his father and the father delighted in him. And everything
he did was according to the will of his father. To please his
father, he said, I've come to do thy will, O God. I have done
away with the first, the law, but I might establish the second,
grace. He came to save his people. And the scripture says that Barak
came out of Kadesh. Now, Kadesh was one of the cities
of refuge. God gave to the children of Israel
cities of refuge so that if they accidentally killed someone,
Though the law said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
And if you killed someone in malice, then you were put to
death. That was the law. But if you
killed someone accidentally, the Lord provided cities of refuge
that you could go to and stay in that city. And the avenger
of blood, which was the nearest of kin of the person that you
killed could not touch you as long as you were in the city
of refuge. How many people do you think
were guilty of manslaughter, killed someone accidentally in
the Old Testament, and rather than running to the city of refuge,
they pled, well, I didn't mean it. It was an accident. I'm sorry. You know, that's what
men say today. Well, you know, I didn't, I didn't
really mean to do that. It was an accident. And the Lord Jesus affirmed that
sentiment when he said to his father from the cross, father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. In fact, all of
our sin, we're guilty of it, we're charged with it, but we
don't understand the horrors of it. Nevertheless, the city
of refuge is Christ. He's that place. Barak came from
the city of refuge. We've got to go to the city of
refuge to meet our lightning, the son of Obinnawan. Daniel chapter 10. I think I
quoted this this past Sunday, where Daniel saw the Lord and
he said, my comeliness turned within me into corruption. That which I thought was beautiful
and strong in me when I saw the Lord. Well, what did he see?
Daniel chapter 10, verse six says, his face was like the appearance
of lightning. Here's Barak. Here's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that exactly what happened
on the Mount of Transfiguration? When Peter, James, and John saw
him and the brightness of his glory was such that they had
to hide their faces. It was like the noonday sun is
what the scripture says. You can't look into the sun with
a naked eye. Like lightning. Awake, awake. Oh, Deborah, God, make your word
effectual. Cause me to see and to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, who conquered death and hell. Psalm chapter seven, verse six
says, awake for me, awake for me. to the judgment which thou
hast commanded. The father commanded the son to become the substitute and
sin bearer. He agreed into that relationship,
didn't he? But all the commandments and
will of God were accomplished at Calvary's cross, the agreement
that God made with God in the covenant of grace. And here's
the believer saying, awake unto me and fulfill the judgments
of thy commandments. Bring unto me words. We don't
speak these words in vain repetition. We speak them from our hearts.
In one fashion or the other, rend the heavens and come down.
Lord, give me your Holy Spirit. Lord, open the eyes of my understanding.
Lord, cause your word to be sweet and effectual to my soul and
reveal to me the Lord Jesus Christ, that the judgments of your commandments
might be exercised in my soul. to the putting away of my sin,
the saving of my soul. Lord, I've got, I've got no place
else to go. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, this is
our prayer. And we pray that you would keep
it on our hearts and lips continually as we Look to Christ through
your word, depending on your spirit. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. 168. Let's stand together. 168. Thank you. Lord, I hear of showers
of blessing, Thou art scattering, full and free. Showers the thirsty
land refreshing, Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me, Let Thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor, whilst
Thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me, even me. ? Even me, let thy blessing
fall on me ? ? Pass me not, thy lost one bringing ? ? Bind my
heart, O Lord, to thee ? ? While the streams of life are springing
? ? Blessing others, O bless me ? Even me, even me, let thy
blessing fall on me.