Judges Chapter 5 Verses 1 – 2

• “When leaders lead…” The implication there is that they don’t always lead…because real leadership is much easier said than done. Notice, the second part of verse two. “When the people willingly offer themselves…” If that’s the case then what do the leaders do? “Willingly offer themselves!” The difference? Order. The leaders are first…the leaders lead in the willingly offering of self!
• This is why it is so intensely difficult and why so many leaders don’t lead! Because for someone to go first, there’s a mighty risk of failure! In fact all of the risk is on that person. Everyone else watches…everyone else sees…they judge based on sight and comfort and confidence when it is the leader who judges purely by faith and absorbs immense risk!
• And yet that’s not even the hard part in my opinion. That I think is bearable by many…the terrifying side of leadership is that as first to willingly offer yourself, you could be entirely forsaken. I mean if you really lead out, all of your efforts could be entirely discarded and that is an acceptable response. This is why so many don’t lead. (Or why so many press their call upon others) Because they expect and need (in many instances) reciprocation.
• True leadership looks like the cross of Christ, man. Jesus alone doing the work. Jesus alone facing it and once He had willingly offered Himself, He gave rise, His leadership gave rise to countless men and women willing to do the same. All true leadership originates at the cross. Not only in location but also in application.
• And notice, when the leaders lead, rather than just oppress with their superior intellect and arrogant eloquence, when the leaders actually lead, AND the people actually get behind them…the corporate response is worship! All together, they all, we all, all of them, kneel at the One true Leader! Jesus Christ!

Judges Chapter 5 Verses 3 – 5

• Going out from Seir and marching from Edom, these are historical events and yet in light of their recent miraculous victory they are bringing to remembrance these things and that’s a good thing but these events are fairly specific…God had done much, why choose these two? I believe we have a clue here as to how those nine hundred iron-wheeled chariots were defeated!

Judges Chapter 5 Verses 6 – 8

• Notice one of the tactics of stripping the people of identity and strength…Jabin disarmed them. Not a shield or spear was left in Israel! You might be thinking I just went political and maybe I did but there’s a deeper truth here…yes the world wants us disarmed but not in the form of shields and spears. The flesh, the enemy…the threefold monster that we face, wants us disarmed. And what does our weaponry, our spear look like…the Word of God!

• If the enemy can draw us away from the Word of God, guess what…he disarms us. And many are willingly going or already have handed over their weaponry. I see it in marriages all of the time, in ministries, in lives man…the Word of God is left unheeded and most often unlearned and folks are easy prey.
• But what about our shield? What’s that? What comes next after we are disarmed of our weaponry? The armor goes next. The belt of truth in our hearts fail and we lose our spiritual, mental…cognizant grasp on what is right and what truth is (what does that look like? A lack of knowledge? NOPE! A lack of application!)…then the breastplate of righteousness crumbles…the gospel of peace-sandals are kicked off and the shield of faith is discarded. Finally we take off the helmet of salvation and with that, we look just like the world…and the world, the flesh, the enemy all sigh a sigh of relief as they look upon us…disarmed…
• We must arm ourselves man…why? Ephesians 5:10-14a…God has commanded us to be battle ready! All the bells and whistles!! Upgraded Ironman! All of the cool stuff! And He has given us freely all that we need to Robocop up man…all in His Word!!!

Judges Chapter 5 Verses 9 – 27

• Here is the fulfillment of Deborah’s proclamation to Barak in the last chapter…that a woman would be glorified for the victory. That woman was Jael.

Judges Chapter 5 Verses 28 – 31

• Let all Your enemies perish, O Lord! This is a non-politically correct statement…even in the church today! To identify and stand against the enemies of God…yes we want all men saved! Yes we want all to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! But what if they refuse and set their hand to the plow to stand against God. What then!? We now have an enemy.

• I love what Guzik says. He says, “A man or woman is defined as much by who their enemies are as by who their friends are…” The heroes of our Bible study tonight, the Judges and leaders of God’s people, the Word of God proclaims in righteousness, “O Lord, that all of Your enemies would perish…” Wow. I tell you what, I have folks that love me, folks that love the work being done by God through me…and boy do I have the opposite too. Ok. I’m ok with that…they are not only my enemy…I am theirs because they are God’s.

• And notice as we close…the definition of one that is not the enemy of God…, “those who love Him.” Such an awesome truth! Not those that are religious or those that serve or those that discern truth with wisdom…those that love Him…which is so very sweet and so very saturated with power such that it can be seen so clearly! And those folks, many of you folks, shine like the sun in its full strength and become true leaders!