if you'll open your Bibles to Joshua chapter 15. Joshua 15. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to Open your book and read it. And we thank you that you give to us the grace to understand it. For Lord, we realize that that ability doesn't come from within us. And that there. Well, the majority of this world. Could read this Bible and have no idea what it means. So we thank you for that blessing, that grace. Extend it to us again this morning, in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, let's read verses 18 and 19. One day when she, and that's Aksa, daughter of Caleb and now wife to Othniel, one day when she came to Othniel, She urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, what can I do for you? She replied, do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water. So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. Now, the previous story in the verses just before that relate to us how that Caleb, having conquered Horeb, went on to conquer, or wanted to conquer, the other cities in the area that were under, that had been given to him by Joshua. And one of those cities was called Devir, Oh, big long Hebrew word, but it meant the city of records or the city of writing or something like. In other words, the city had more than one name. But he said, anybody who conquers that city, to that person I will give my daughter, Aksa, in marriage. So Othniel did exactly that. He conquered Devir or Dever. Therefore, Caleb gave to him, gave to Othniel his daughter, Axa. And Caleb, who is the father of the woman, gave to, or gave Axa, the bride, to Othniel, the conqueror. And that pictures for us how the father gave to his conquering son, the bride, the daughter of the father. Now the bride's name, or excuse me, Othniel's name means the lion of God. A name, or similar names given to Christ in the book of Revelation who's called the lion of the tribe of Judah. The bride's name is Aksa, which means a trinket, an anklet, or a bangle, something like that. Something worn on the ankle which makes the sound of bells. But the root word of ox's name means to sound out or to expound or disclose, and may even refer to the bell on the hem of the garment. Now, in the Old Covenant, the priest wore bells on the hem of his garment for a specific reason. He would go there, go into the most holy place once a year with the blood of the sacrifice. Now, no one else was ever allowed to go back there, and even he wasn't allowed to go back there except that one day each year. And I can't recall if this, I don't think this is written in the scriptures, but tradition says that they would actually tie a rope to his ankle because if he approached God without the proper sacrifice, whatever, he could die. Well, nobody else was gonna go in there and get his body, so they would have a rope on him so they could pull him out if he was unsuccessful. But the only way they would know whether he was still living was that he had bells on the hem of his garment, and as long as they could hear those bells, you know, making their little noise, they knew he was still alive and going about the work in there, and then he would come out. But what those bells signified, if nothing else, was that the priest is alive, that God has accepted him. Well, oxen. Her name could refer to those bells. And does not the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not her primary message that this high priest lives, that his work has been accepted, redemption and atonement have been accomplished. AXA represents The church and thus also represents the gospel because in this world, that's what the church ought to be to the world. That is, that's the face, that's the only face that the church ought to present to the world. Where the church is not to be in the business of politics, social change, that is, you know, advocating for it. Certainly they do works of charity and things like that. The only message we have for this world is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the church does that, the elect hear it. Now, no one else hears those little bells tinkling, but the church that is the elect of God will hear it. And then, We can then make this conclusion, this summary. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in this world, our Lord Jesus Christ is known by the sound that the church makes. I realize that the Holy Spirit is required and he's the one that truly makes Christ known. But we don't want to discount the means by which God causes this to happen. Christ is not revealed through science, observation, any natural observation at all. The only way he is known in this world is when his people declare him. And that's one thing I think that can be demonstrated by this, the meaning of this woman's name. Now in verses 18 and 19, we have a record of Aksa seeking a blessing from Caleb and being granted her desire by Caleb. And this picture's the bride of Christ seeking a blessing from the father. Now this blessing is not born of fleshly desire. but is born of need. You know, there are some promises given to the church concerning prayer, and many people misunderstand them. I was baffled by these promises for a long time, but the Lord said things like, if you ask anything in my name, it will be given to you. If two of you agree on anything, it will be granted to you. If you pray believing, it will be granted to you. And people look at those promises and say things like, well, then whatever I pray for, as long as I end it in Jesus' name, then I should believe that I'm gonna get it. Or if I'll work myself up into some kind of faith that what I ask for, I'll get, then I can get anything I want. Or if I can just get someone else in the church to agree with me on this, I can have it. Well, that's the kind of interpretations you get when you take those verses clear out of their context. All of them, the context of all of them is going to limit us in our praying, or limit us in our appropriation of that promise. It's gonna limit us to the things which God has promised to give. In other words, we may believe with all our heart that God's going to give us a new car. That doesn't mean we're going to get it. Why? He never promised us one. Faith cannot exist apart from a promise. Now, that doesn't mean you're not allowed to ask for a car if you think you need one, but we have no reason to believe that he will give us one. We can just hope for it. Asking in his name, well, that doesn't simply mean to tag that little phrase on the end of your prayer. In Jesus' name we pray, as though that's some kind of spiritual abracadabra that makes things happen. To ask in His name means truly from the heart to approach the Father through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, fully aware that that's your only real entry into His presence. It's a sober thing to do. It's not light and insignificant to invoke the name of Christ. That should not be done lightly. But we'll move on. What Aksa asked of her father, Caleb, was not simply something that she wanted or would make her life easier. It was something that she needed. She had been given the Southland. Now, our Bible, Our translation calls it the Negev, but that's what the Negev is. It's the southern region of the land of promise, and I looked it up, and it is desert and semi-desert. I mean, you know, it's not really the land you would pick out if you wanted to grow things there. And it's dry and arid. It does not have in itself the capacity to fulfill the need of its inhabitants. If you live there and that's the only, all that you've got is what's right there, you're not gonna make it. Well, that's a great picture of the child of God in this world. The world is where he lives, but it is not his home. You know, we should become concerned if we find too much satisfaction here. You know, you think about that. If you can find your satisfaction here, you know what that means? This is your home. Now, we're speaking here in generalities. We can be content here, but contentment and satisfaction are different things. We are content even if we don't have everything we want. Why? Because we live in the assurance that someday we shall have that which will satisfy us. But for the time, you know, we can enjoy our lives here to a certain degree in the sure and certain hope of being in the presence of Christ and being made like Him in the future. But those who can find satisfaction in this world, it suggests that they are of this world. And that's not a good thing. C.S. Lewis made this statement, and I thought it was a good one. He says, does not the fact that I can find no satisfaction in this world, demonstrate that I was made for another world. And that's the believer. Our citizenship is not here, it's in heaven. It's in the presence of God, faultless and full of joy. That's where our citizenship is. So we're not really going to feel at home here in this world. The need of a believer is such that nothing here can truly meet that need. His need can only be fulfilled by God. His need is that God make this world a habitable place for him so long as he must live here. Our need is not to leave this world, that will eventually come, But our need is simply that for the time that we must remain here, God makes it a habitable place for us. Now Aska, that's kind of interesting, Aska asked for a field. Let's read this here again. In verse 18, one day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. Now, the next words, when she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, what can I do for you? Well, we've got to realize this significant time transpired between those two sentences. Because she first goes to Othniel and asks for a field. Then the next thing we read, she's at Caleb's tent. She has traveled wherever it is that Caleb lives. She gets off her donkey. And then she says to him, you gave me a field. So she already asked and received the field. Or either that or often he'll went and asked in her behalf. But that which she requested in the first part, that's what she requested from her husband, Othniel, has already been accomplished when the next sentence begins. And she goes to Caleb and Caleb says, what can I do for you? Now, the Jews were much more willing to talk about things that we may feel uncomfortable talking about, intimate things. And even if they would couch them in what we call euphemism, there wasn't any question about what they were talking about. Here about, well, not quite a year ago, but we finished up that series on the Song of Solomon. And when you look at the Song of Solomon, it's quite obvious, you know, the situations and the, relationship between Solomon and that woman named Shulamith and their relationship with each other. Well, there's some things in this first verse that if they weren't so glossed over in the translation, it would give us a little better insight and some better understanding of how Acha got what she wanted. We read in verse 18, excuse me, verse 17, Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, took it. That is, he took the city, so Caleb gave his daughter, Oxa, to him in marriage. Now, our translation says one day. That's not what's written there. It essentially says it came to pass. You could actually put the word so in there. When she came to Othniel, what's this a reference to? Caleb gives his daughter to Othniel and she goes to him as his bride slash wife. This isn't just saying, you know, somewhere down the line, on some day, Oxa decided to go and talk to her husband. This is likely, very likely, a reference to her actually being given to Othniel and the two of them being married. And here's one of the things that kind of bolsters that. It says, it came to pass, when she came to Othniel, she urged. That word urged. I look this up, look in the original languages, just see if there's any significance. The word means to allure or entice. This wasn't just her saying, hey, Othniel, I want you to get my father to give me a field. She evidently went to Othniel as his wife in a way that only a wife can approach her husband legitimately. And she just didn't ask him, she enticed him. Now, we look at those things and we think, well, is that right for a woman to use her womanly attractions to get what she wants from her husband? Well, I'm not gonna answer that question. I'm just gonna say this. It's what's being indicated here. And if we take it out of the simple fleshly aspect of it. What's it saying? Well, that relationship and that approach of her to her husband, it pictures the most intimate relationship between believers and their husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is no more intimate expression of that relationship than when we communicate with Him in prayer. When we sequester ourselves from the rest of the world and approach the Lord Jesus Christ one-on-one as His beloved bride. He rejoices in that approach. In the Old Testament, and I can't give you the chapter and verse at the present time, but there's a point at which God says, let me hear your voice. Now, how many times have we prayed, God, let us hear from you? Isn't it remarkable? that our God, our Savior, our Heavenly Husband says, let me hear your voice. I want to hear from you. Prayer, worship, all of this, these are times in which the church and each individual believer within the church approaches Christ in the most intimate way, a way that no one else in the world is able or even allowed to approach Him. And just as an earthly husband is likely to be receptive to such approaches, so our heavenly husband, when we draw near him with our hearts open and bare in his presence, we are alluring to him. We are enticing. You say, I can't imagine that of myself. That's the wonder of the gospel. We might think, how could the Lord Jesus Christ look on me and see something He wants? How could my presence before Him be alluring? Well, it says that we are made comely, beautiful. by His comeliness. The work of salvation does not merely put us in a situation where we are called righteous. It certainly does that. That's justification to be declared to be righteous. But He actually causes us to become righteous. The new birth brings about a spiritual rebirth. It is the work of God. And as John says in 1 John, the one that is born of God does not sin. You say, well, I'm born of God and I sin. Spiritually speaking, you don't. That which has been born again, it's a work of God. There is no flaw in it. The reason we continue to transgress, the reason we still fight with confusion and doubts and fears is that which is reborn in us is not all there is to us. We've still got all the old stuff to go with it. But prayer is a spiritual work. It's something done from the heart. And the heart of the believer, the reborn spirit of the believer is alluring to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is enticing. We come to Him not trying to manipulate Him, as a woman may do with her husband, simply to get what she wants. We come to Him as He has made us to be, enamored of His beauty, knowing He'll be enamored of ours, and we shall have what we ask of Him. So certain was it that she would get what she wanted from Othniel, which was either that he would approach her father on her behalf or give her permission to do so. So certain was it, the scriptures do not even record the event. It just says she asked him. And the next sentence, already assumes the fulfillment of that request. Well, she says to her, she's already gotten the field, and so it says, when she got off her donkey. So maybe Othniel went and approached Caleb and says, your daughter wants this field. And Caleb says, fine, she can have it. Othniel goes back and tells her, well, she's seen the field. Remember, it's in the desert. There's no water. All she has is dry land. So, having already been represented by her husband in securing the field, she now gets on her own donkey and goes to her father herself. You know, our Lord said some startling things to his disciples. He said at one point, I'm not saying that you shall ask in my name, for the father himself loves you. And you may go directly to him. Now, I know that we say that we need a mediator to approach God, but we've already done that. We've already come to the Father through Christ and been accepted. And now the door to the Father's house is open to us at all times. We are not in the sight of the Father, a criminal against His kingdom, a rebel a rebelling slave. No, we are His children, and we're welcome in His household all the time. I'm kind of stunned by those words of the Lord because We often think that we're always coming to the Father through Christ, and our Lord says, the Father himself loves you. Let us never get the idea that even though we come to the Father through Christ, the Father is in any way reluctant to receive us, and he only does it because, well, I told my son, anybody that comes through him, I'll let them in, so I guess I gotta let you in. The very reason the Son came to be the Mediator is because the Father, full of love, sent Him. So we approach Him through the Mediator, Christ Jesus. We approach Him and we find, we receive His grace, we find His favor. And having done that, the door is always open to us. Well, Caleb asked, what can I do for you? Oh, if we could learn that when we come to our Father, He is a generous Father. I remember being told that it's very important for fathers to exhibit a gracious attitude towards their children because for the most part, at least on the natural level, children are going to perceive God to be like their father is. That's why he's called the heavenly father. Now, none of our earthly fathers were perfect, but I had a really good father. And therefore, I grew up knowing that I deserved the judgment of God, but then Never really being terrified by that concept because I knew that through Jesus Christ, the Father loved me. I cannot remember ever thinking seriously about God apart from my acceptance in the presence of God through Jesus Christ. You know, I've heard some people say, well, you've got to know your sin and tremble under the weight. Yes and no. We've got to know that we deserve God's wrath. But how that affects us depends in great measure on how quickly God reveals his son. At any rate, she goes to him and she asks for water and he gives it to her. The Lord said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me. Let him drink of the water of life freely. And what is Aska asking for? She's saying, I'm in a dry and thirsty land. I need water. And it's interesting that, um, It says Caleb gave her the upper and lower water. Now I don't know exactly what that meant in the context of the land, but it's clear what, at least it is to me, it's clear the spiritual significance of it. He gives to us, water here, the lower springs. Here on earth, he causes his truth to bubble up for our sake. He waters our spiritual garden from, you know, it says in the Garden of Eden, it said there wasn't rain, but a mist came up and watered that garden. And so here we are in what would otherwise be a dry and thirsty land for us, a place in which we could not live, and yet God has made it habitable for us. And then he gives us from the upper springs. He makes this world habitable for us by His restraining work, that He restrains the world from being as awful as it could be. And then yet, that heavenly manna, I'm using another picture here, but the heavenly food comes down to us. Peter put it this way. You have, through the knowledge of Christ, everything you need for life, this life. and godliness, things spiritual. Our Lord said, ask or seek and ye shall find. Ask and it will be given to you. Knock and it will be opened. Let us never hesitate to approach our Father. Our heavenly husband has already gotten our field for us and opened the door to his father's household. And we are welcome there. And our father will hear us. And if we come to him. Expressing the need. He will give it to us and give it to us in a measure we did not expect. Upper and lower spring. All right.