I talked to David Edmondson last
night in Madisonville, Kentucky. He said those tornadoes came
within about five miles of them, but that no one in the fellowship
there has suffered any great damage. So he's very thankful. They were planning on having
services this morning. Let's open our Bibles together
to Judges chapter one. Judges chapter one. I've titled this message Christ
Reward. Christ Reward. The Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world to save his people. And his church,
his bride, was his reward for his work. We have many pictures of that
in God's Word. Matter of fact, all scripture
is about Christ and his church, his work of redemption. We have a picture of that here
in the first chapter of Judges. Now, you know as I do that Caleb
generally, in the larger picture, illustrates the body of Christ,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joshua and Caleb were
two of the 12 spies that Moses sent in to spy out the promised
land. And 40 years later, Joshua and
Caleb were the only ones who survived that generation. And Joshua being a picture of
our Joshua, His name meaning the same thing that Jesus means,
Jehovah saves, and Caleb meaning a faithful dog, the one who licks
the hand of his master and follows after him. And that picture is
carried throughout the scriptures. And yet in this story this morning,
I want us to see Caleb as a type of God the Father. And I want
us to see Othniel, who is related to Caleb, as a type of Christ. I want us to see Aksa, who was
Caleb's daughter, as a type of the bride of Christ. And the city that Caleb was,
or that Othniel was to take over, Kirjath-Sephir as the city of
God, the new Jerusalem. Here's what we have a picture
of. Look with me in Judges chapter one, and we'll begin reading
in verse 12. And Caleb said, Caleb said, he
that smiteth keer jath cipher, and taketh it. To him will I
give Axa, my daughter, to wife. And Ophniel, the son of Kenez,
Caleb's younger brother. Now, The word brother is used
often in the Bible just to refer to a close relative. This, obviously,
because they had a different father, was not the immediate
brother of Caleb, but he was a close relative of Caleb. Othniel,
the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it. He took the
city of Kirjath-sephir. And he gave him, Caleb, gave
to Othniel, Aksa, his daughter, to wife. This was the reward
that Othniel got for having taken the city of Kiriath-sephir. And it came to pass when she
came to him that she moved him. Now this is Aksa, daughter of
Caleb who is now the wife of Othniel asking her husband for
permission to make a request of her father. You see where we're going with
this. Look at It came to pass when she, Aksah, came to her
husband, Othniel, she was moved to ask him for her father to
give her a field. And she lighted from off her
ask, and Caleb said unto him, what wilt thou? In other words,
her husband gave her permission to go to her father, Caleb, and
make this request. And she said unto him, give me
a blessing. For thou hast given me a south
land, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the
upper springs and the nether springs or the lower springs.
She needed springs of water to go with this land that her father
Caleb had given unto her. Now, Kirjath Sefer translated
means the city of the book. The city of the book. And I want us this morning to
see this city being taken by Othniel, a type of Christ, as
a picture of Christ coming into this world and taking unto himself
the city of the book. This is the city of God. The
book is a reference to two things, at least, that I can think of.
The first is the book of life, the Lamb's book of life, where
God Almighty, according to his own will and purpose, has indelibly
written the names of his elect This is the book that John wept
over that no man was worthy to open. This is the book that the
lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath prevailed
in winning over this city unto himself and taking it to himself,
was able to open the book and expose the names of those for
whom he lived and died. The city of the book. This is
the city of God. This is our hope that the Lord
Jesus Christ has gotten the victory. A battle had to be won in order
to win this city, had to be fought in order to win this city. And
that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did when he came
into this world. He fought the battle against
sin, against Satan, against the grave, against hell itself, and
his resurrection proves that he was victorious in that battle. And our heavenly father gave
him Kirjat Sefer, the city of the book. We have a city, the scripture
says, which hath foundations That foundation is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world as Ophniel, was called out by Caleb to take that city
in order that he might win to himself a bride. And that's what
our Lord did. Oh brethren, we've got a city.
Our hearts are set, our hearts are fixed on the city of God.
Turn with me to Revelation chapter 21. Scripture says in Hebrews
chapter 13 that we have not here a continuing city, but we seek
for that city which is to come. Have you ever heard someone say,
it's not the destination, it's the journey? Well, that may be true to some
things, I don't know. But it is not true to the gospel. On our way here this morning,
we passed just a couple blocks south of here, a church called
Journey. And I can only imagine the kind
of the kind of messages that are preached in that place. And
I suspect that it's all about the journey. For the child of
God, it's all about the destination. It's all about the city that
the Lord Jesus Christ has fought for and won. Revelation chapter 21, Here's the summary of all of
scripture. Oh, this is where we have our
affections set, on things above. Revelation chapter 21, and I
saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. No
more separation, no more turbulence. Oh, brethren, the journey for
the believer in this life is the pain of being separated
from the one that we love, and the trials and troubles that
he has sent in order to make us dependent upon him. It's not
the journey, it's the destination. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. Here's the city that the Lord
Jesus Christ has won in the battle of his death on Calvary's cross. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and
God himself shall be with them and be their God and God shall
wipe away all tears. from their eyes. And there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying." You see, that's
the journey, isn't it? This journey is filled with tears
and sorrow and death and trials and troubles. But here's the
hope. What is our Lord saying? There
is a destination. There is a city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. It is this new Jerusalem that
we long to be a part of. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away." That's the day we long for, when these
former things are passed away. and all things are made new.
And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it is done."
It is done. And you just see Othniel coming
back to Caleb saying, I won the city. I conquered it. And Caleb
given to Hophniel, his daughter Aska, to wife. What a glorious
picture of our Lord in his saving work. He said, I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Turn over just another
page to Revelation chapter 22. and look at verse one, and he
showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. This is our hope,
that the Lord would rend, this is my prayer this morning, the
Lord would rend the heavens, that he would come down, that
he would cause us to look beyond the temporal things of this life
and to set our affections on things above. This is what our
Lord, this is what Ophniel did. He got the victory over this
city, the city of the book, the city of the book. And in the
midst of the street of it and on each side of the river. Now
John sees this river clear as crystal flowing from the throne
of God and from the lamb and the river's got two sides. Now
here's the truth. We're on one side of the river
right now. But sooner than we all think, we're going to cross
this river and we're going to be on the other side. In the midst of the street of
it, on the other side of the river, there was They're the
tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it. And
his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and
his name shall be in their foreheads. That means the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ will be pressed on our minds and on our hearts.
And there shall be no night there, and they shall need no candle,
neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me,
these sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the
holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the
things which must shortly be done." They must shortly be done. What is your life? Oh, it is
a vapor. It is a vapor. Isn't that so
true? Behold, I come quickly. Now that's God speaking. And
you see how John responds to this in verse 20 of chapter 22. The Lord says again, surely I
come quickly, amen. Even so, even so come Lord Jesus. Oh, the longing of the believer's
heart. is to see him as he is and be made like him. This is
what, this is the end, this is it. This is what the Lord came
to do. He came to bring the city of
the book to his father, a conquered city. And that's what he did. He fought the battle of death
and he conquered death and he conquered the grave and he conquers
his people and he makes them a part of his city. This city of the book is not
just the Lamb's book of life, written before the foundations
of the world, but this is the book of God. You know what the
word Bible means. It means the book, the book. Now, I have no interest whatsoever
in trying to prove to someone that the Bible is the word of
God. If I could prove to you that it was and you could be
convinced, another man could prove to you that it wasn't and
you'd be talked out of it. But when God speaks, And you
come to believe by the grace of God that all scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and that it's all profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in
righteousness, that you may be thoroughly furnished unto all
good works, and that no word came by private interpretation,
but it was all given by holy men of God as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit. They wrote the very word of God. You will hang all the hopes of
your immortal soul on God's infallible, inspired word. This is the city
of the book. What sayeth the scriptures? That's
the only thing that matters. We're not interested in confessions
or doctrinal statements or the opinions of dead theologians.
What does God say? The Scriptures aren't complicated.
They're very clear. All Scripture points to Christ. It all comes back to it. That's
why we read these historical events and we see the gospel
in them. You see how Othniel, who in chapter
three of Judges, is gonna end up being the first judge of Israel
during that 400 period of years of time. But here, as a close
relative of Caleb, he takes the challenge to capture the city
of the book. His word is perfect. We judge all things by it. Even
as I say that, I remember being a fundamentalist in years gone
by, where I believed that the Bible was the word of God, but
I didn't believe the word of God. I was like those Pharisees who
searched the scriptures to see whether they You know, where
they would give them eternal life, I thought, well, if I just
know the scriptures, that'll... And what'd the Lord say to those
Pharisees? No, you've missed the whole meaning
of the Bible. For these are they which testify
of me. So now when we go to the scriptures,
we're looking for Christ and his work and his bride and his
salvation. And that's where our encouragement
comes. The word of God is alive and effectual and sharper than
any two-edged sword. We're the city of the book, the
Lamb's book of life and the written word of God. And if God the Holy
Spirit is pleased to bless his written word and his spoken word,
it will lead us to find our hope in the living word of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what Othniel did. As an Old Testament shadow, a
picture, foreshadowing and foretelling the work that the Lord Jesus
would do when he took the city of the book and conquered it
for his heavenly father. Notice in our text, the scripture
says that he taketh it. He didn't go in and use diplomatic
means to try to persuade them to let him have it. No, he took
it. He took it. And that's exactly
how he's gonna capture you and me. He's gonna take it. Don't
you love it when David sent his servant to go fetch Mephibosheth? He didn't go to Mephibosheth
and say, well, you know, if you wanna come see the king, you
know, you have an invite. No, he fetched him. He went and
captured him and brought him to the king. And all along Mephibosheth,
sure that this was the end of his life. And when he met the
king, oh, David looked at him with such compassion and such
love and said, oh, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth, I'm going to show
you kindness for thy father, Jonathan's sake. And that's us,
we're crippled from a fall, just like young Mephibosheth. And
our father being the Lord Jesus Christ, God shows us mercy for
Christ's sake. And what's he do? He sits us
down at his table and he said, you're gonna eat the King's fare.
You're gonna eat the bread of life. You're gonna feast on the
Lord Jesus Christ the rest of your days. Oh. Here's our hope. He took the city. He took the city. And when he
takes us, he causes us to do what those Thessalonians did. They turned to God from their
idols to worship the living and true God. He makes us willing
in the day of his power. He takes the city. He doesn't
come and ask permission. He doesn't come and try to persuade
us. He just takes us. He does us
just like he did on the Saul of Tarsus. He knocks us off our
high horse and puts our face in the dust and causes us to
cry out, Lord, what would you have me to do? An enemy of God
now bowing. bowing, he took the city, Othniel. By the way, Othniel's name means
the lion of God. That's what his name means. And we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as the lion of the tribe of Judah. What a beautiful picture of the
Lord Jesus conquering this city, a lion who's not threatened by
anything or anyone. In Mark chapter 10, at verse
52, after the Lord gives to blind Bartimaeus his sight, the Lord says to blind Bartimaeus,
go thy way, go thy way. And the scripture says, and immediately
he followed Jesus in the way. Don't you love it when Naomi
said to Ruth and her other daughter-in-law, he said, you know, you've got
no obligation to follow me. You stay behind and find yourself
a husband in Moab. And Ruth said, no, your God is
my God. Your people is my people. Wherever
you go, I'm going. The Lord said to the disciples,
he said, are you going to leave me also? You see, the invitation
is not to persuade men to walk forward and make a confession
of faith. The invitation is leave if you
can. And if you can, you eventually
will. I mean, it's just that, you see,
God's people are not able. They're not able, why? Because
he makes them willing. And he starts a work of grace
in them and he finishes what he starts. He took the city. And God's people think, Lord,
take me. Don't leave it up to me. Don't
give me a choice in the matter. Don't give me a way out. If you
do, I'll take it. Capture me, take me. Arrest me. Keep me. Ophniel, as the lion
of God, took the city of the book. He took it. And this is exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ does through the preaching of the gospel.
He takes his people and he makes them willing servants. They say with that bond slave,
they say, I love my master. I love my children, Lord. And
they bore through the ear. That's what they do. They bow. He captures their hearts and
He causes them to love Him. He makes them happy bond servants. They don't have any interest
in going anywhere else. Here's the picture. All these
Old Testament stories, they're not just for our entertainment.
They're not just historical events for us to learn. They're pointing
us to Christ and his church. They're pointing us to what the
Lord Jesus did in redeeming his people. He captured the city of the book.
He said, well, how do you know, how do I know if my name's written
in the land's book of life? I can't look into heaven and
look up my name and see if it's there. Scripture says that faith is
the evidence of things hoped for. We don't look to some experience,
we don't look to our Our lives, we look in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We believe God and we can't not
believe him. He's taken captive of us. He's
made us to believe on him. We've got no place else to go.
Now what the disciples said when the Lord invited them to leave,
said, Lord, where are we gonna go? You alone have the words
of eternal life. We know and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. Can you say that?
Lord, I've got no place else to go. You've taken captive of
me. You've arrested me. And I believe that thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. That's good evidence as
you're gonna have. And what great evidence it is.
to be able to rest in Christ, our Ophniel, who took the city,
captured it for the reward of his wife. Go back with me to our text and
look at, look at verse 12. And Caleb said,
he that smiteth Keerjaf's seeper, and taketh it. That's what he
does. He smites it. Paul said, I was
alive once without the law, but when the law came, sin revived
and I died. God has to put you to death before
we can be made alive. What does that mean? It means
before God Almighty, I've got no righteousness. I've got nothing
to recommend me to God. All of my righteousness are as
filthy rags before God. It means that if God doesn't
take a pole from off the altar, like he did for Isaiah in Isaiah
chapter six and touch my lips, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and there's no
man that can help me. I'm completely dependent upon
God's mercy. Smite of the city, put it to
death. Paul said, you know, those things
which I thought were gain unto me. Oh, I was doing, I was doing
so many good things and everybody was impressed with me. Concerning
the law before men, I was blameless. Nobody could charge me of being
lawless. And those things which I thought were gain to me, I
now count but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Those
were, My righteousness was killing me. Light has come into the world,
but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil. Men won't come to Christ. It's
not a person's sin that keeps them from Christ. It's their
righteousness. It's their righteousness. And when God, like Othniel, smites
you and takes you captive, then you know that your only life
is Christ. Christ is your life. Reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ. What Paul said, we die daily.
I'm brought to the end of myself daily. Lord, I've got no righteousness. I've got to have Christ. He's
my life. This is the picture here. Othniel
took the city of the book. Caleb charged him and said, you
take that city and I'll give you my daughter. The Lord causes us to cease from
men. He kills us that we might be
made alive. You've got to be made lost before
you can be found. Truth is that we were always
dead in sin, but until the Lord captures us and slays us, we
don't know it. Don't know that we're dead. Scripture says, when we were
yet without strength, now dead man's got no strength. You know,
you can get really sick to where you feel really weak, but you
can still do something. You can open your eyes. You can
open your mouth. You can maybe wiggle your finger.
Oh, no. The only ones who are without
strength are dead men. Got no strength. That's why our
Lord said, all power has been given unto me in heaven and earth.
If he's got all power, that means we've got none. Here's what Othniel
did. He took the city of the book
and he captured it and he slayed it. He put it to death. And I will give you Aksa. I will give you Aksa, my daughter. And the scripture refers to the
church. as the daughters of Jerusalem,
the daughters of Israel, the daughters of Zion, the daughters
of Judah. Over and over again, the Bible
refers to the church as the daughters of God. Turn with me to Lamentations,
right after Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as the weeping
prophet. And Jeremiah was the penman of
the book of Lamentations. He's lamenting, but he's speaking
prophetically. He's not speaking as a man. He's
speaking prophetically as the Lord Jesus Christ. Lamentations chapter three. Look with me at verse 48. Mine eye runneth down with rivers
of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye trickleth down and ceases not without any intermission
till the Lord looked down and behold from heaven, mine eye
afflicteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. Here's the city of the book of
God. And here's the weeping prophet.
Here's our Lord Jesus Christ, weeping over his people in love. And that compassion is what moved
him to redeem her, to go to war, to lay down his life for his
sheep, to lay down his life for his bride. And God gave to him
the church as his spoil of war. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
40. Isaiah chapter 40. And look with me at verse 9. Isaiah 40 verse 9, O Zion that
bringeth good tidings, get thee up to the high mountain, O Jerusalem
that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift
it up and be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold, your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his
reward is with him, and his work goes before him." Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the strong right arm of God, and he's the only
one that can send his work ahead of him to recommend him to God. And God's rewarding him for his
work. We can't send our works before
us to prove to God anything about us. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the forerunner of his church. He's the one that went before
us. Look at verse, look at verse
11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the
lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently
lead those that are with young. Oh, what a, what a compassionate
savior. Here's what, here's what Othniel
did. The Lion of God. took the city of the book. He
slew it, he captured it. He makes his people willing servants
that they might be made part of that new Jerusalem. The city
that comes down from heaven where there is no weeping and no more
sorrow and no more death. say, somebody says, well, you
know, I'm not worried about dying right now, I just need to get
through this life. I would say to you, you're very,
very short-sighted and very foolish. Truth is, the only way to be
able to live in this life is to die. And it's only, it's only
when we when we know Christ that we have any understanding of
all or any ability at all to survive this world. Go back with me to our text in
Judges chapter 1. I want to draw out this last
point. Axa had to go to Othniel in order
to get permission from him to go to her father to ask request
of the upper and the lower springs of water. What a glorious picture. No man can come to the Father
but by the Son. You ask anything in my name. You see, when we come before
our Heavenly Father, We've got to claim and insist upon the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ for any hope that our Father
would hear us. We dare not approach God without
Christ as our mediator. We have no claim on God, apart
from what our Othniel, the Lion of God, has done in conquering
us. When we go to our Heavenly Father,
what are we doing? We're just expressing our complete
dependence upon Him. That's what prayer is. It's the
proud, the self-righteous, the self-reliant that don't pray.
And when we fail to pray, it's what we're saying. Prayer is
just the expression of our dependence upon God, is it not? If we only knew how dependent
we really were, we would pray more than we do. Oh, you have
not. because you asked not." And what
did she ask for? What did she ask for? She asked
for wells, springs of water. She said to her father, you've
given me a land, you made me part of the city of God, but
I need, well, what is the springs of water? Here's what our Lord
said. On that great day of the feast, when the priest was pouring
out the drink offering, all of Jerusalem was silent, waiting
for that pronouncement of God. And the Lord Jesus, the scripture
says, cried with a loud voice. And he said, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me, and out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. And this he spake concerning
his spirit, which had not yet come. He was talking about the
day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God was poured out. Here's
the water. Lord, you've made me, you've
given me part and parcel of this land. I need your Spirit. I need
the Holy Spirit to point me to Christ, to comfort me, to encourage
me, to teach me, to show me. Our Lord, I know I quote this
verse a lot, but our Lord said, if you, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him? Oh, we come before our heavenly Father, Caleb, in this story. And we get permission from our
husband, Othniel, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we rejoice that our
Heavenly Father has made us part of the city of God. And we never
are without a need for the water of life to be poured out. Lord, This is the river that's clear
as crystal that flows from the throne of God. And we're always
calling. Why? Because we quench the Spirit
of God and we grieve the Spirit of God and we lose sight of the
things of God. And it is the Spirit of God that
opens the eyes of our understanding. It is the Spirit of God that
gives us faith. We're not talking about some
some foolish behavior that people do because they think that they've
got the Spirit of God, where they're talking in foolish language. No, we're talking about a work
of grace in the heart. I will not leave you, the Lord
said, comfortless, but I will send unto you the Comforter,
and He will take that as things of Me, and He'll show them unto
you. He'll lead you into all truth. He appoints you to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ heard his
father say, take Kirjot Sefer, the city of the book, and I'll
give you my daughter. And Othniel took it and he slew
it, put it to death. The Lord gave him his bride,
the church, always recorded in the book of God. And then the
evidence, the evidence that she was married to Othniel is that
she saw her need to go through her husband to get to her father for the water. Our heavenly Father, thank you
for your gospel. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for the declaration of Christ and thank you for his accomplished
work. And Father, we come before thee
in the name of thy dear son, and ask for your Holy Spirit
to convict, to comfort, to reveal, to bring us to our Ophniel, to find in him
our life. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. 268, let's stand together.