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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Joshua 15:1-20,63
Who doesn’t love good gifts? The greatest gift of all is a fulfilled life. A life that is full of hope, joy, love, security, comfort, and peace. These are the things we all want most of all. Jesus teaches us that our Father in heaven wants to give those good gifts to those who ask him. Seems easy enough, but most often the hardest thing in the world is to find to humility to ask and the faith to believe that what God gives is the good that we so earnestly desire.
Transcript
So when I first began this week reading uh Joshua 15 at least uh through verse 12 I thought surely this is a sermon about health healthy boundaries in our lives um but then I de said no I don’t think that really I don’t think that I don’t think that’s at all what the Lord was although healthy boundaries are important that’s a totally different thing I don’t think that has anything to do with uh with with what we’re looking at uh today because we’ve been going through Joshua because I I I sensed that as uh as God Was preparing his people through the conquest not just to to conquer uh the promised land as he had uh as he had called them to he was preparing them to be the kind of people that he wanted them to be as occupying the promised land because he was calling them to be a light to the the Nations he was calling them to be a reflection of him and his glory to the whole world that other nations might come to him this was God’s uh they were to be a lighthouse a light on a hill and so God Was preparing them to trust him that they might be that kind of reflection and that kind of witness to who he is and so I since going through Joshua this was a time when God Was preparing us while we’re here uh at Ocean Park B uh preparing to be back and take occupation of our our new building and the renovation that’s going on in our old building that this is the time the Lord’s preparing our hearts to be the kind of people that will be his Witnesses and we’ll reflect him to our community and to the world around us uh and so today what I what I sense the Lord’s doing is he’s trying to teach us this basic gospel truth that our heavenly father loves us and that he longs to give us good gifts all we have to do is ask our heavenly father loves us he longs to give us good gifts and all we have to do is asking but how did I get there well I I got there from uh after we get past all the boundaries of the uh of the the tribe of Judah and all that’s being given to to him uh we came back to a familiar uh character who we were talking about last week we really talked about him uh for for this is the third week and that’s Caleb uh we talk about Caleb because Caleb had gone and asked for his uh for his inheritance after we talked about he had waited so patiently and endured so much uh the Lord had given him that that ability because uh because he was able to he trusted the Lord uh that he knew that the Lord uh was was uh the Lord was with him and that uh the Lord would would blessed him and he was able to wait 45 years for the Lord to fulfill uh his promise well he had received it last week but now it’s his job as he takes his inheritance part of that job was to continue the the conquest to continue to to fight uh and to to follow the Lord’s lead and what he was calling them to uh in his the territory that he was given but so there was a particular place uh in his territory uh called curier uh that must have been a particularly difficult place to conquer uh I say that because uh he felt the need that he had to offer incentive right he he had to offer a little incentive in order for somebody to take on this this kind of challenge uh in a way that was uh compelling enough that they would do so and so uh and there’s also a reason for that not just that but Caleb also had to include this little uh incentive because this territory that he was promising the person uh who they uh if they conquered was in the neab now if those who who who know Israel know the neab is it’s a desert now it’s not as bad as some of the deserts I haven’t been to many but I have been to the neb uh and there there are little bits of life around it but when I when I went to to visit Israel the the plan that I we were following as a group uh it took us into the neb first off first thing we went into the negb we were there for like three days I was convinced that there was no water in Israel that’s what I thought I thought this must be what it all looks like uh but uh but so it is a dry Aid place and so there needed to be an incentive at least Caleb thought I I will give my daughter to whoever will go and Will Conquer this land uh the word uh negb it means uh it means dry to dry or to wipe dry it’s 4,650 square miles I don’t think all of it was going to uh the person who conquered there were some other areas of the neab but it was a big part of it uh roughly the the whole desert’s the twice the size of Delaware and as a place it’s a hard place to survive it’s a difficult place to survive now mostly ban tribes lived there and went through and not a lot made it their permanent uh permanent home they had but those who did had to learn how to survive and it was a hard hard life it was a hard life Psalm 126 verse4 says restore our fortunes oh Lord like streams and the Nega it gives you that picture of this dry place this dry unfortunate place that’s desperate for water that’s desperate for life and so uh o othneil uh Caleb’s brother’s son uh took on the challenge we’re told and he captured kiras saur and therefore he was given axaw as his wife now I’m not going to try to explain uh this this was a different time this is uh uh they were cousins obviously but this is one of those things we’ll have to leave there I don’t know that there’s a a grand explanation I don’t know that we can judge uh them for what our what our uh what is it social socially accessible now but once they once they became you know we don’t know if it was husband and wife yet but we didn’t know that she then urged othneil to ask her father for a field you know to ask him for something good in other words you know I think she realized we’ve gotten kind of a raw deal here uh this inheritance that we’re being given isn’t the best uh but you get this picture of this strong willed woman don’t you you get a real picture of this because before o oil even has a chance to get down and ask his father now his father-in-law and Uncle uh for you know for something good she hops off the donkey and she gets off the donkey and Caleb said to her what do you want what do you want and she said to him give me a blessing since you have given me the land of the negtive G give me also Springs of water it’s a bold move isn’t it you you get a real picture here that she she wasn’t uh this this pensive uh n girl she knew what they needed and she was bold and she went to her father and she asked but she asked boldly and she asked firmly for him to give her uh to to give her a blessing that word blessing it it it means to give her a present to give give her a gift give me a good gift that she’s saying that will give me life you’ve given me the the situation that looks pretty bad and so I’m now asking you to give me something that’ll actually give me life she doesn’t ask hey give give me more money she doesn’t ask give give us more land she doesn’t ask give us more possessions more influence in the world in other words she says give us life give us life give us a a source of life in this harsh and arid and inhospitable world that you have given us give us life Springs of water that’s what they are aren’t they Springs of water are the places where the Earth brings forth life where water comes from where the life grows Isaiah 4118 says God says I will open rivers on bare Heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys I will make a Wilderness a pool of water and the dry land Springs of water the Lord uses this imagery over and over again these Springs of water that bring life in the midst of the dryness and the aridness and the harshness of Life Isaiah 58:11 and the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in a Scorch in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered Garden like a spring of water whose Waters do not fail in John 4 Jesus says the water that I give him will become in him a spring of Living Water welling up to eternal life Jesus is saying he is the spring of water he is the life in the midst of death and struggle and pain and suffering in Revelation 7:17 it says this of Jesus for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd and he will guide them to Springs of Living Water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and then in Revelations
216 the Lord said it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning in the end to the Thirsty I will give from the string of spring of the Water of Life without payment it’s this beautiful image of Life springing forth from
Death axaw saw this what they had been given this inheritance this Aid place with death all around them the scorched land and she had the audacity to go and to ask her father for life to ask her father for life you know life is just in some ways yeah it’s literal here for oaw and for AO but it’s also a picture of what we’re all longing for what we’re all longing for in the depths of our hearts we live in a falling fall in world as if we needed a reminder after yesterday right where pain and suffering abound our hearts what our hearts are truly longing for are Springs of Living Water we’re longing for life itself and more than just eternal life that’s easy right we can all just say you know we’re longing for eternal life but when when the Springs of Living Water represents so much more than eternity they represent life right here and now a life that’s truly alive to the Lord meaning a heart and a life that truly prospers a life that’s full of safety and comfort and joy and peace and love and hope all those things that we long for that’s life that’s part of the Springs of Living Water that we’re longing for and God has given us that very Fountain of Life he’s given us his son Jesus Christ and he’s promised that when we thirst we can drink from him and that life that we’re so longing for he will give it to us and he’ll give it to us freely without payment the free gift of his grace and as we read in our in our Gospel reading this evening in Matthew 7 Jesus said if then you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give you give good things to those who ask
him God promises us just as Caleb promised to his daughter when she asked for Springs of water that he as he willingly gave to her God promises to give us the same spring of Living Water when we ask him what an Incredible Gift our heavenly father father loves us and he longs to give us the gift of life when we ask him but with such a
gift all we have to do is ask all we have to do is ask then why is it such a
struggle why is asking him for the life that we need such a struggle that Joy the hope the peace the Comfort the security and love all the things that are the the Springs of Living Water of Jesus give to us why do we struggle so much to ask him for them because there are ours for the asking this that’s what we’ve been told why do we struggle so much trying to find Joy desperately searching for something that we could possibly be hopeful for why do we experience so much Brokenness and turmoil danger and animosity with others and life Jesus said all we have to do is ask the
father axaw all she had to do was ask her father and he gave her the gift that she was longing for but there’s something in us that strugg that we struggle so much with the simple Act of asking such a simple act and it’s just so
hard there’s something in us because the truth is asking actually requires something of us it requires something of us what it requires of us is humility it it requires true humility in us we have to actually die to ourselves to ask our heavenly father for the good things that he longs to pour out into our lives and the truth is we either don’t ask our heavenly father for the gift of life or if we do ask most often we ask wrongly that’s the message that James preached in James CH 4: uh 1 through four he said you do not have because you do not ask those those are harsh words right you do not have because you do not ask why don’t we ask why don’t we ask one reason we do not ask is because we don’t think that God can or he will do what we desire we struggle with that we struggle to really believe we don’t think that God can or will really give us the life that we want that we’re longing for that we’re imagining that we’re dreaming about the way that we wanted to be and so what we do instead is we seek life on our own and we seek life in the world we seek Prosperity from things like the accumulation of wealth we seek Hope by making ourselves Stronger by trying to gain more power than the people around us we we seek for we seek Joy in all kinds of way maybe for you it’s traveling more taking vacations having more stuff in your life we seek Comfort by just uh we thinking you know if we just get enough quiet in our lives and peace then that that need for life that desire for for that kind of comfort and peace we’ll find it and so on and so on instead of asking God to give us those things what we tend to do is we tend to befriend the world and the result is an emptiness the result is even anger and fear here’s how it works in practicality and I can only point to myself but I don’t know how it works for you but I desire Comfort I long for Comfort right especially uh when it’s been a long day uh I’ve been uh dealing with with lots of ministry issues there’s been hospit hospital visits sermon preparation leading staff and vest I’m tired my I’m mentally just gone I’m checked out right I’m just poured myself out and I’m at the end of my rope and so I come home uh and all I want to do is just sit on the couch and uh read something or listen to something or watch something and have no one talk to me or bother me
anymore that’s not how life works does it inevitably there’s a need there’s an issue there’s something going on that uh for that person is probably an immediate need and when I’m thinking you know this is not something this isin’t my problem right now uh and all I want is Comfort all I want is to sit down I want to be left
alone and I didn’t get it now that’s not just the problem you know the problem is the problem is is that I usually lash out when that happens my my patience is gone I am angry I am short I am not kind uh Carter is looking at me from back there she uh she’s experienced this probably most recently I’m just can’t can’t deal with it because all I want is is comfort so what don’t I do in that moment I can tell you what I don’t do I don’t ask the father to give me a drink from the Fountain of
Life I don’t look to Jesus who alone can give me the comfort that I need and that I’m longing for I look to the world I look to the world to be the place where I’ll find it so of course when I don’t find it there I lash out at those that I even love and care about and hurt them we don’t ask because we don’t really believe believe we either most likely we don’t believe that he’s really going to give it to us or not in the way that we want or the way that we think that we need and we think that we can find it into the world which just leads to more and more pain and suffering or we don’t ask because maybe we haven’t gotten what we wanted for so so long and that we just give up on the idea altogether that our heavenly father is good and that he’s able and that he longs to give us good things but there’s a second problem with the asking James said as well in James 43 you ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly dis spended on your passions how can we ask wrongly we’re we’re welcome to ask but now we’re being told that there’s we can actually ask wrongly well the easy one here to ask wrongly right is that we ask for the big toys that that’s the easy thing right that we want the the the shiny new car or the uh the big boat the yacht or a new big house and those things will make us happy that’s obvious that’s the obvious asking wrongly but what’s not so obvious that’s the deeper desires within us that can even betray the good things that we’re asking for we may be asking for something good and be asking it for entirely the wrong reason and then our Heavenly father’s not going to give us the thing that’s just going to feed the sinful desire in our own Hearts you know let let’s think about it this way we pray for our children and our grandchildren don’t we and that’s a good thing that they’ll have health they’ll have be successful uh that they’ll grow to know the Lord those are good requests those are things we should be asking for uh that they grow up to be good and and healthy prod productive citizens in the world but for many of us maybe we’ve been praying that a long time and we haven’t experience and we have to ask ourselves the question what’s the true why are we really asking in the first place why are we asking the Lord for this is it truly for their good is it truly for God’s glory is that what we’re asking for because that pleases the Lord that pleases the Lord or in that ask does there exist any of our own pride and self-righteous needs that the successfulness and the the well adjusted and the the God-fearing children that we rear will actually be a reflection and a source of our own pride and self-righteousness in the world do we check ourselves about that do we ask about our own
motives because in that case even though we’re asking for a good thing we’re asking not out of humility and love but totally out of self-interest and again you know what normally happens that’s when we react in anger and rage when our kids misbehave when they do go the wrong direction when we get called by the principle and we act out in anger not that we shouldn’t discipline that’s not the point here and we tell them that this is a reflection on us that you are you are uh shaming your family that’s an asking out of our our own self-righteousness in James 46 and then in verse 10 says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you and then in verse 10 humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you friends the hope of the Gospel the good news of Jesus Christ is that the spring of living water has been given to us freely without price and all we have to do is ask but in asking we have to come in humility dying to ourselves and admitting that we are desperately thirsty for only the water that Jesus can
give and the promise is that he’ll give it to us he will give us from the goodness of life in him and in him alone and we will find in him the deepest desires of our hearts the Comfort the peace the prosperity the hope the ch joy and the love friends your heavenly father loves you and he longs to give you the good gift from the spring of living water that is our Savior Jesus Christ thanks be to God Amen
