Turn with me to Revelation chapter
5, verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside,
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man in heaven nor in earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not, behold the line of the tribe of Judah. The root
of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven
seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent
forth into all the earth. And he came and he took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them
harps and golden boughs full of odors, which are the prayers
of saints. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy. to take the book and to open
the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests and
we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, the beast and the
elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the land that
was slain to receive power. and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever. And the four
beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped Him that liveth forever and ever. Turn with me to Joshua chapter
15, if you would please. When studying the Scriptures,
especially the Old Testament, it's always such a delight and
it's always Such a blessing to see something of the salvation
of the Lord Jesus Christ before he ever came into the world.
The glorious act of redemption, the salvation of sinners, was
purposed by God and secured by Christ from the foundation of
the world. And that's much more than just
a doctrine. People say, oh, you're one of
those that believe in election and predestination. Oh, it's
much more than that. It's much, much more than just
a doctrine. It declares God to be God. Man,
it declares that man had no part in this thing. Before man was
born, before woman was born, before man had done any good
or evil, that God chose, God loved and God chose a people
for no reason outside of Himself. I can't take any credit for my
salvation. God saved me by His grace. Before
God ever said, let there be light in the creation of the heavens
and the earth, God had determined to save a people in and by and
through Christ, who was the Lamb of God. Again, from the foundation
of the world. That's such an amazing thought.
Before there was a sinner, there was a Savior. Oh, the depth of
the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding them. Yet when we
see Christ, His gospel and His salvation in the Old Testament
scriptures, we call them pictures and types. Pictures and types
of what? Who really? Christ, His gospel
and His salvation. We know that these pictures and
types cannot save us, but they certainly point chosen sinners
to the one who can save, and that is Christ Himself. There
are a shadow of good things to come, and they picture and they
typify the one who loved us and gave Himself for us, the one
who is the one thing needful, that good part which can never
be taken away. He can never be taken away from
me. Never. And again, the Lord gives us
such a picture and type of tonight of Christ and His church. Now
in the verses before us, we see our great conqueror. We read
about him just a moment ago in Revelation chapter five. He's
called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who cannot fail and
always prevails. Isn't that a comforting thought
too? My conqueror, my Lord and Savior cannot fail. And tonight
we also have a picture of his appointed bride. Matter of fact,
that's what this entire book, the Holy Bible, is all about.
How a holy God, thrice holy, can reconcile fallen, sinful,
depraved men and women who are void of life, without form and
plagued in darkness of sin, just like the earth in the beginning. We know how the redemption of
God's people is gonna turn out. We see it in the Old Testament.
We see it in the New Testament. John recorded it for us in the
book of Revelation. The revelation of Christ. You
know, I hear folks all the time talk about the book of revelations,
plural. No, it's the book of revelation,
singular. The revelation of one thing,
one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a revelation of Him. He's the only way to be made
perfectly holy. He's the only way to be accepted
by a holy God. Christ is the way and no sinner
comes to the Father, but by Him. Follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now, as we
read there in Revelation chapter five, just a few moments ago,
Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world has prevailed
to open that book, that scroll that no man could open. Now,
whether that book, that sealed scroll refers to the Lamb's book
of life, the book of God's wondrous providence, the book of completion,
the book of all revelation, The book of God's government, the
book of the interpretation of life, all of those things or
none of those things, I don't know. But I do know one thing,
and that is who can open it. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God
is the only one who's worthy and has the ability to open it. And he has the preeminence in
all things, and that's why he's God. God in the flesh came to
save sinners like me. For He, Christ, is the head of
the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
That word simply means the surpassing of all others. Jesus Christ is
all that a true believer desires to see and know. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. There's nothing more precious
than that glorious truth that Jesus Christ came in the world
to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief.
And you say you're chief, and I say I'm chief. For then must
he, Jesus Christ, often have suffered since the foundation
of the world, but now once in the end of the world, hath he
appeared to put away sin. How? By the sacrifice of himself. who being the brightness of God's
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high."
And we know why he sat down. His work was finished. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God from henceforth, expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. And that's my hope,
and that's my comfort, that's my assurance. He did the work
for the foundation of the world, and I simply rest in Him. Now, to our study for tonight,
Joshua 15, the first 12 verses, of this chapter give us the borders
of the land that was promised to Caleb. You remember that Moses
made a promise to Caleb when Caleb with Joshua and the 10
other spies went into Canaan to spy out the land. They came
back. You remember that story well.
Joshua said, let's go. Let's take the land. The Lord's
given it to us. Now look at verse 13. And unto
Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, He gave a part among the children
of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the
city of Arba, the father of Anak, which city is Hebron. And Caleb
drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahimon, and
Talmai, the children of Anak. Now, as you know, these were
those three giants that the 10 spies and the people of Israel
feared so greatly in Numbers chapter 13, why they cried all
night about that. It was their fear of these giants
and their unbelief that God could and would deliver them that sent
them packing back into the wilderness for 40 years. And 85 year old
Caleb, did to these giants what he said
he'd do. In our text, it says he drove
them thence. But in Judges 1, verse 10, it
tells us plainly that Caleb slew them. He killed them. Now Hebron
now belongs to Caleb by God's promise to him. And now Caleb
sets his sights on a city called Debir. And he promises his daughter's
hand in marriage to any man that would take that city. Look at
verse 15. And he went up thence to the
inhabitants of Debir, and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsephir. And Caleb said, he that smiteth
Kirjathsephir and taketh it to him, I will give Aksa, Aksa,
my daughter, to what? As we see in verse 16, the beer
was once known as Kirjoth Sephira, and it's also referred to later
in the chapter as Kirjoth Sanna. Now, I'm doing my best with those
names. I do get on YouTube and say how
to pronounce, and even the experts in language or the people that
are from the Far East vary in their interpretation. So we just
do the best we can. But in Smith's dictionary, both
of those two names for DeBeer means city of books or city of
letters. And the name De Beers means a
sanctuary. You know, it's more than likely
that this city that was the capital, it was the seat of records for
Canaan, an ancient city that had a great library of history. And obviously, because of that,
it was a sanctuary, and a sanctuary is a refuge. It was a refuge
to the people that lived there. They took great pride in their
history. They took great pride in their
knowledge and their wisdom. And isn't it amazing that the
things that man will take refuge in? And immediately to me, the
letter of the law comes to mind, but there's no refuge or sanctuary
there. for what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. There's no salvation in us doing
or in us keeping, because we cannot keep it the way God requires
it, and that's to perfection. The knowledge of history will
not save you. The knowledge of the law will
not save you. Only His story will. What is His story? Well, in five
words, it's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We always come
back to that. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now, there's no doubt that Caleb was the leader of his family,
the chief of his tribe. Leadership is not determined
by man, but by God. Caleb offered his daughter to
the one who would go and take this city. It was no small thing. The man that married her would
no doubt advance in rank and in importance, and in the will
and providence of God, this honor fell upon a man whose name is
Ophaniel. and he proved to be a valiant
conqueror. And accepting the challenge of
Caleb, he battled Debeer and he took that city and Caleb gave
him Axa to be his wife. You know, I was thinking in the
Bible, we always find God to be faithful. He's faithful to
promise. That's what makes him God. He's
a faithful God. He's not a man that he should
lie. He's not a son of man that he should repent or change his
mind. He's God. What he says, he does. He means what he says and he
does what he means. And in the Bible, he's always
faithful. And faith in God is what make
men and women faithful. Caleb was faithful to Othniel. When Othniel took the city of
Debar, he did what he said he would. He gave him his daughter
to wed. Now, Deuteronomy chapter seven,
verse nine tells us that. It says, know therefore that
the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God. which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments
to a thousand generations. David said in Psalm 31, 23, oh,
love the Lord, all ye saints for the Lord, preserveth the
faithful. The only reason any of you or
me or any of us here tonight are faithful is because God made
us so. If not, we'd be making our faith
our salvation. We'd be taking pride in our faithfulness,
but it's God that makes us faithful. Paul said, moreover, it's required
in Stuart's that a man be found faithful, 1 Corinthians 4, 2. And Paul also wrote, I thank
Christ, Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted
me faithful, putting me in the ministry. But even if our faithfulness
fails, and often it does, doesn't it? Paul said, God never does. Yet if we believe not, yet he
abided faithful. He cannot deny himself. God is faithful, friend. Faithfulness, it's a fruit of
the Spirit. It's listed among love and joy and peace and long-suffering,
gentleness and goodness, meekness and temperance. Paul said, against
such there is no law. Well, what does that mean? Simply
means that these fruits are perfectly agreeable to the law of God,
which is itself holy, good, just, and spiritual, and approved by
the law. There's no law against these
things. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. The child of God
must believe that God is. That God is what? God is who
He says He is. God is who He declares Himself
to be in this book. We don't believe what our eyes
see. We believe what God's Word says. We walk by faith and not
by sight. Now the difference between Joshua
and Caleb and the other ten spies and all of Israel was the difference
that God made. May we never forget that. It's
so then and it's so now. In 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7,
you know the passage well. The Apostle Paul asked this question,
for who maketh thee to differ from another? What do we have
that we didn't receive? The answer is nothing. Everything
we have, we received of God. If our differing by the sovereign
purpose of God, if that's why we receive the things that we
have, because God gave them to us, why do we glory, Paul asks,
as if we did not receive them? Why do we carry on like we did
something special? The answer is the true child
of God shouldn't, and the true child of God don't and won't.
All the fruits of the Spirit, faith included, are the gifts
of God. You know, fruit is given by God.
It's not obtained by the work of our hands. I've told you several
times about my father put out a big garden. It was a beautiful
thing. It really was. It looked like
too much work to me. My mom always told me I wanted
a job with all the work picked out of it. Well, maybe so. But folks often complimented
his garden and the work of my dad's hands. And you know, he'd
always say, thank you, but only the Lord can make this garden
grow, no matter what I do to it. And he sends the sunshine
and the rain, dad would say, and he makes the seed to grow.
And he certainly does. Any fruit that we have is God's
gift to us, especially the fruit of the Spirit. Okay, now, 45
years have passed since the spies of Israel first saw the giants,
the sons of Ammon. And as we discussed, I think,
last study, of course, we didn't have service last week because
of the weather. Why did the Lord leave them giants
around for another 45 years? Well, to build the cities. and
to erect the housing and dig the wells and to plant the vineyards.
They were God's contractors. And the people of God enjoyed
the use of them. Isn't it amazing how God does
things? Everything that God does is ultimately for His people
and for His own glory. I remember Brother Montgomery
saying years ago that he had no doubt that GE had a plant
right here in Madisonville because of a couple people in this church
that worked there. That's the way God does things. Why did God raise up Pharaoh? That he might show his power
in him. How? To bring Pharaoh down. Pharaoh
at that time was the most powerful man on earth. And the world knew
that only God could do what he did to Pharaoh. That God's name
might be exalted throughout all the earth. That's the reason
God does what he does. To show the world that God can
and God will have mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and compassion
on whom he'll have compassion, and whom he will, he'll harden.
Pharaoh brought glory to God, as wicked as he was. And none
can reply against God. None can question His will, His
power, His purpose. None can stay His hand. None
can question Him. And let me just throw this in. He's your Heavenly Father, and
He loves you, and He watches after you, and He does everything
for you. He does according to His will
an army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. He's the King of
heaven. His works are truth. His ways are judgment. And those
who walk in pride, He's able to abase. Ask old Nebuchadnezzar. He'll tell you. So with that said, in just a
few short verses that are easy to pass over at a glance, we
have the gospel. Now look at verse 18. And it
came to pass as she, that being Caleb's daughter, the bride of
Othniel, came unto him, she came to her husband Othniel, not to
Caleb. That's important to understand. That she moved him, Othniel it
says, to ask of her father a field. And she lighted off her ass and
Caleb said unto her, what wouldst thou? Who answered, give me a
blessing for thou has given me a south land, that being a dry
land, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper
springs and the nether springs. Now, let me just comment for
a moment here. Isn't that what the child of
their heavenly father and the bride of their great conqueror,
the Lord Jesus Christ does? They asked their heavenly husband
to petition their father for them. Not to bless them with
that dry and barren world and what it has to give, but they
desire the blessing of the springs of living water, which is Christ
himself. Aixa asked her father for this
blessing, but she asked him through her husband. He was now her spokesman. He's now her mediator. You see,
friends, there's only one mediator between God and me and the man,
Christ Jesus. Father, give me springs of water. And I absolutely love the four
words that follow. And He gave her. And He gave her. Caleb gave her
the upper springs and the nether. Now, the nether, means the lower
springs. He gave her the upper and the
lower springs. God gives us this living water on earth, the lower
springs, and Christ is our living water in heaven. And with our
great conqueror, the Lord Jesus Christ, we got it all, because
we get it all when we get all of Him. Caleb, the father, gave
to Aksa, the bride, through Othniel the conqueror, because he conquered
all for her. Did you hear me? Othniel's name
means the lion of God. Othniel is of the tribe of Judah. And Othniel has prevailed, and
you know who that typifies. The Lord Jesus Christ, the lion
of the tribe of Judah. Othniel voluntarily took on himself
to conquer. The request was any man that
taketh Debeer could have my daughter, and Othniel was the first one
in line. He took the lame, all for the
hand of a special bride. An ox hath come seeking a blessing
from Caleb, and Christ's bride seeks a blessing from their father.
The blessing she desires is born of need. You see, the land that
she had inherited was a dry land, a south land, dry land. It didn't
provide her need, just like the world doesn't provide ours. It's
a dry and barren wilderness, it's a desert. All around us
is sin and death, everywhere we look. Corruptness. Decay. But. AXA moved off near her husband
to ask her father for springs of water. That's pretty much
what we pray and. Lord, give us that water from
heaven that. Fountain of living water that
we may never hunger or thirst again. That word mood there means persuaded. And it even gives implications
of being seduced. When the bride appeals to a man
based upon his love and attraction for her as his bride, it's difficult
for him to reject her. Now you men know what I'm talking
about. I remember even My daughter caught on to this pretty early
on in life. I remember Leah one time batting
her eyes at me and going, daddy. And I'm like, I don't know what
you want, but you're more likely going to get it. My, my. It's difficult to reject based upon love and attraction
And Christ loves and is attracted to his church, his bride. And
it was effective. Caleb gave her the upper and
lower springs. I found that very interesting
that he gave her more than what she asked for. God always does,
doesn't he? He gives us more than what we
ask for. Christ was moved to intercede
for his people. He's our one and only mediator. God always provides our needs
by supplying Christ, who is the one thing needful. But my God
shall supply all your need, singular. How? According to His riches
in glory by, in, and through Christ Jesus. Christ being the
one thing needful, need, singular, supplies all our needs, plural. That's what the Lord Himself
said in Matthew 6. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these other things, plural,
will be added unto you. If you have the one thing needful,
you're going to get all the other things. All the other things
that you need. And even more, as Axel did, all
blessings on earth are in Christ. In Him we live and we move and
we have our being. He's before all things and by
Him all things consist. Job said, in whose hand is the
soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Our
Lord said, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you
shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Our Lord
also said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in
my name, he may give it you. Fear not, little flock, our Lord
said, for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. Luke 12, 32. Paul wrote, giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. It was the possession
of Caleb and the fathers to give. That's right. God gave it to
him. He could do with it what he will.
The Lord Jesus said, is it not lawful, is it not right for me
to do what I will with my own, with what belongs to me? And
Caleb gave it all to his daughter according to the conquering work
of her husband. Is that not the gospel? If it's
not, I don't know what it is. Now in closing, I want to summarize
these few verses found in Joshua 15. And I take these six conclusions
from Tim James' commentary on the book of Joshua. I'm sure
you've figured out by now that these studies and anything that
I preach is not original with me. It better not be. I thank
God that He sent forth men before me to write these things. and record them to where we can
use them as study tools. So this is a great little outline
Tim came up with, and I'll use it in conclusion. Number one is we have a city
to be conquered. It's a city of letters, it's
a city of books, a city of law. This city, this world, minds
the things of the flesh. It's the city that the Lord came
to conquer. Righteousness cannot be earned
by our doing. It cannot be obtained by our
keeping of the law. It was earned for us by what
Christ finished for us. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it's the, what? Power of God. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where's the
scribe? Where's the disputer of the world? If not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world, he most certainly has. That's
part of his conquering. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called. both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Second, we have a conqueror. In Joshua was a man named Othniel,
the Lion of God, and he was of the tribe of Judah, as we've
seen, and he prevailed to take the city. Christ, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, has done the same for us. He took the
city of letters and He fulfilled the law. He did so by the sacrifice
of Himself as we've read. Our debt is paid in full. In
Christ we've satisfied God's holy justice. In Christ, the
Beloved, we are accepted. What a wonderful conqueror we
have. He's called the captain of our salvation. And what a
captain He is. Thirdly, we have a father espousing
his daughter to one who is able to conquer the city. Christ conquered
our sin. He paid our debt in full. Again,
he fulfilled God's law and satisfied God's justice. In short, he put
our sin away. has sanctified and cleansed his
bride and presented her to himself without spot, wrinkle, or any
such thing, that she should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians
5, verses 26 and 27. Fourthly, the conqueror takes
on this battle for the possession of his bride. That was his motivation. That's why he came. It's for
faithful, sane, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. Othniel did it for Axa, his future
bride, and Christ did it for the church, his future bride. Our Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh to me, I'll in
no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do my
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which He's given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again the
last day. John 6, 37 through 39. John 17
too, and thou hast given Him, Christ, Areophanel, power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. To the whole world? No, no. To
all that God gave to Christ. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Fifthly, if the city's not conquered,
if the city's not conquered, then the conqueror is not a conqueror.
If Othniel did not take Debeer, then he cannot possess the bride. Isn't that right? Caleb said, whoever takes the
city gets the bride. If he doesn't take the city,
he doesn't get the bride. Our conqueror is a conqueror.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not fail because He cannot fail.
All that the Father giveth Him shall come to Him. They're gonna
come, every single one of them. They will in no wise be cast
out. They will of a certainty be His bride. There are none
of them for whom Christ died that will not be saved. Not a single one will be lost. Perish the thought. The Lord
Jesus cannot and He will not fail. Why? He's the line of the
tribe of Judah. And lastly, it's finished. The conqueror was successful
and he and the bride were married. See, we know how it's gonna turn
out. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall, He shall save His people from their sin. Who has
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. Who's
able to open the book? the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the Root of David, the Lamb slain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, even in hell, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory,
and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb forever and ever. May God be pleased to reveal
this to you and to me in a new way for His glory, for our good,
and for Christ's sake.