Give Me Also the Springs of Water

Joshua chapter 15 begins with a description of the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families. The border of Edom, west of the wilderness of Zin, southward, was the uttermost part of their south coast. Their south border extended from the shore of the Salt Sea and the bay that looks southward. It went out to the south side, to Ma'ala Akrabim, and passed along to Zin. It ascended up on the south side to Kadesh Barnea, passed along to Hezron, went up to Adar, and fetched a compass to Karka'ah. From there, it passed toward Asmon and went out to the river of Egypt. The goings out of the coast were at the sea, and this shall be your south coast.

Let's pray. Father, as we take this prayer, we ask You to bless us. We ask You to give us the time again this evening to open Your Word. Lord, help us to hear what You would speak to us as Your church, as Your body. I ask that You would open each of our hearts and our ears so that we may hear that still small voice as You speak to every single one of us right now. God, help us to fix our eyes upon You, to have our minds and our eyes set upon You in that day that is soon coming when we will be in Your presence. Father, I thank You that You have made the way open through Your Son, so that we can come before You through worship, through prayer, and through the reading of Your Word. We can approach that throne of grace, Lord. We all need grace and mercy, and we thank You for pouring it out upon us. We ask You tonight to pour out Your Spirit upon us. Speak to us clearly, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

You can be seated. Maybe you noticed tonight in your bulletins there is a map. You might want to take that out. The map shows the land of Canaan divided among the different tribes of the children of Israel. As we have seen, the children of Israel have come into the promised land. They fought battles there for seven years, and by Joshua's hand, under the leadership of the Lord and Joshua, they have now taken control of the whole land. Yet, there are still different enemies throughout that need to be dealt with, and the land needs to be fully possessed. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, the Lord spoke to Joshua and told him that now is the time to divide the land.

Last week in Joshua chapter 14, verse 2, it says, "By Lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine tribes and the half tribe." The children of Israel were to receive their inheritance by Lot. God had told Moses back in the book of Numbers, chapter 34, that he was to divide the land among all the children of Israel. All the tribes that were there were to receive their inheritance by casting Lots.

As we listen to that, we might wonder, what exactly is casting Lots? The word literally means "goral" in Hebrew, which translates to "pebble." In the New Testament, the word is "lanchion," from which we get our word "launch." It refers to launching or casting a pebble. You might think that sounds somewhat like dice, and that is essentially what it was. The children of Israel would cast this pebble for the different tribes to determine their inheritance.

This concept may seem odd, as it doesn't appear to align with God's ordering. However, in the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 33, the writer of Proverbs states, "They cast the Lot, but the Lord is the one who carries it." He determines which land is to be given to each tribe. In our lives, God has given each one of us a Lot, an inheritance that is set before us. Whatever that calling may be—perhaps to parent your children in the Lord, to serve in the body of Christ here at Calvary Escondido, or to go into the Philippines as Tom is leaving this next week—each of us has been given a Lot, an inheritance.

We are to possess that Lot, to lay hold of all of it, and to maintain it. We are called to serve the Lord in it completely. Now, as we come to chapter 15, the Lots are to be cast, and the children of Israel are going to receive their inheritance. They will receive the land that God had given to them.

Remember, the two and a half tribes on the other side of the Jordan—the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh—have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River. Now, on the west side, the West Bank, where we hear a lot of news today, the children of Israel are being given their inheritance, the inheritance that God promised them way back in the book of Genesis, chapter 12, when God called Abraham and said, "I want you to go into a new land."

A land that's far away, where you don't have any family. God promised this land as an inheritance to Abraham and all his descendants. This promise continued through Abraham's son Isaac and on through Isaac's son Jacob. God changed Jacob's name, which means "heel catcher," because he was a deceptive guy. He changed his name and also his heart in the Book of Genesis, chapter 32. God renamed him Israel, meaning "governed by God." Thus, the promise continued through Israel and all his twelve sons. These twelve sons became great tribes, known as the twelve tribes of Israel.

There are some interesting things that happened with these twelve tribes. As you read through the Old Testament and also in some places in the New Testament, you may notice some contradictions regarding the number of tribes. Sometimes there are thirteen tribes mentioned, and sometimes only twelve. A few years ago, when I was in the high school group here, Matt Taft and Mike Santana, the two argumentative fellows in our youth group at that time, had a big discussion that lasted for probably a good few years about the whole twelve versus thirteen tribes issue. I'm sure they asked Pat about it and posed a lot of questions.

I was working at the Bible college and involved with "To Every Man an Answer." One day, while listening to the broadcast, I heard Matt Taft from Escondido call in with a question for Pastor Chuck, and I believe it was about the twelve tribes. I found that quite interesting.

You see, there were twelve sons of Israel. One of the younger sons, Joseph, was hated by his brothers because his father loved him and had given him a coat of many colors, or more literally, a coat with big sleeves. You might wonder, what’s the significance of big sleeves? Well, the big sleeves were almost like a briefcase; people would carry different things in their sleeves during that time. Joseph had the big sleeves, which meant he had the most responsibilities. His father looked to him and loved him, but his brothers did not appreciate that.

When Joseph began to have dreams about how he would one day be the leader of the family and how all his brothers would bow down to him, his older brothers were not pleased. They decided they were going to kill him. One day, Joseph went out to where they were herding the flocks, and his brothers sought to kill him. Instead of killing him, they cast him into a pit because one of the brothers stood up and intervened.

No, let's not kill him. So they cast him into a pit, and that brother who said, "Let's not kill him" was away for a period of time. They saw a caravan of Egyptians coming through and said, "Well, let's sell him to these guys." They sold Joseph down into Egypt to get rid of him. Then they took his coat of many colors, his coat of big sleeves, tore it, killed a kid of the goats, and put blood all over it. They brought it to their father and asked, "Is this the coat of your son?" Israel thought that the son he loved was dead, but he wasn't.

You have seen "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Ten Commandments" and all those different movies. You know about that story. Well, it wasn't "The Prince of Egypt"; it was the one about Joseph. He was in Egypt for thirteen years, first as a slave and then as a prisoner. One day, the Lord turned everything around and brought him up into the household of Pharaoh, where he became the prime minister of Egypt.

Pharaoh had a dream that foretold a great famine coming to the land of Egypt. Joseph had the plan for how they were going to get through this famine. For seven years, they stockpiled food and prepared for the coming famine. Joseph oversaw all of these preparations. After seven years of plenty, the famine came, affecting not just Egypt but the whole world. People began to come down to Egypt seeking food because they heard that the prime minister had food for everybody.

Among those who came were his ten older brothers. They thought their brother was dead, but he was very much alive in that area. Through a turn of events, you can read the last chapters of the Book of Genesis to see how it came about that Joseph was reunited with his brothers and his father. While he was in Egypt, he had two sons. The first was named Manasseh and the second Ephraim. Their names are interesting because they mean fruitful. I believe it was Ephraim that means fruitful. God had made Joseph fruitful in the land.

His father, Israel (Jacob), came down to him and introduced his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Israel took these two sons of Joseph and made them his own, saying, "These two sons are going to be mine. They will be a part of my family." So, Joseph, you are going to become two sons, two tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh. Whenever you see the twelve tribes listed, remember this.

You won't see Joseph in the list. You'll see Ephraim and Manasseh. So then there are 13 tribes. However, as we saw just a couple of weeks ago, the Levites, the tribe of Levi, were not given an inheritance, for God was their inheritance. This brings it back down to 12. Now the Lord is going to give out to these 12 tribes their inheritance in the land.

The first tribe to receive their inheritance on the other side of the Jordan, on the west side, was the tribe of Judah. This great tribe of Judah, one of the larger tribes in all of Israel, was the one that was going to be looked up to. Joseph, the tenth or eleventh son of Israel, had received a double portion of blessing. His father had poured out a double portion of blessing upon him. However, Judah, the fourth son in the family of Israel, was given a double portion of dominion. They were to be the tribe that would lead the nation. From this tribe would come Jesus. From Judah would ultimately come David, and then through the line of David, our Lord, our King, Jesus.

Judah was to be the leader of the nation of Israel. They were the first to be given an inheritance, and they cast lots to pour out this blessing upon the tribe of Judah. You can look on that map and see the area in the southern part of the nation that was given to Judah. In fact, the area at the very bottom that says Simeon was also Judah's inheritance, given to them by lot. Later on, Simeon was given a portion of it as well. Thus, Judah received a large area of inheritance as they cast the lot.

As we read in Proverbs chapter 16, the lot is cast upon the lap, but the Lord is the one who discerns; the Lord is the one who chooses. The Lord chose that the tribe of Judah would receive this area in the southern part of the nation, which includes the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace. It also includes the city of Bethlehem, the house of bread, the place where our Lord would be born. Additionally, it includes the area of Hebron, as we saw last week, that place of fellowship. God gave them this area in the southern part of the nation.

The leader of the tribe of Judah at this point in time was none other than Caleb, as we saw last week. As we continue on in chapter 15, if you turn over to verse 13...

After he lists all the different areas for the children of Judah, for the tribe of Judah, that they were going to receive in the first twelve verses, they then come to this area here in verse thirteen. As we saw last week, Caleb came to Joshua and said, "I want this area in this portion of Judah. I want that mountain called Hebron that scared all my other spies when you and I went in, Joshua. I want that city. I want that place, that fellowship with the Lord."

He went into this place, and now we see that he drives out those sons of Anak, those giants that made the people there fearful. When the twelve spies went into the land, the ten spies saw these sons of Anak, these men who lived in this area, and they said, "There's no way that we can get by these giants, for we're in our own eyes as grasshoppers. These guys are too big. We can't get by them. We can't kill them."

But now one man, eighty-five years old, goes in there and drives out from that land the three sons of Anak: Shishai, Ahimon, and Talmai. He went up thence, in verse fifteen, to the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir before was Kirjathsefer. Caleb said, "He that smites Kirjathsefer and takes it, to him I will give Aksa, my daughter, to wife."

As Caleb moves into this land, he is the leader of the tribe of Judah, and he begins to bring his tribe, his people, into this possession that God had given to them by lot. They go in and drive out those three giants. Then they come up to this city called Debir, or before it was called Kirjathsefer, the city of the book.

It is thought by many that there was a university of sorts in this area, a big training place of Canaanites where people would go, and they believed that they had libraries of some sort in this place, the city of the book. In fact, in the last several years, archaeologists who have gone in there believe that there was some sort of library in this place, Kirjathsefer.

So Caleb comes to this city and says, "Whoever will go up and take this city out, you'll go and besiege it and take it."

I will give to you my daughter, Aksa, to wife. So we read there in verse 17, "And Othniel, the son of Kinez, the brother of Caleb, took it. And he gave him Aksa, his daughter, to wife." What we see here is that this man, Caleb, sought for a man. If you're taking notes, write down that he sought for a man. He sought for someone who would go up and take this place, this city of the book. Whoever would take this place, he said, "I'm going to give them my daughter, Aksa."

Her name literally means "anklet," a jewel. He said, "Whoever goes up and takes this place, I'm going to give you this jewel, my daughter, as a wife." His nephew, Othniel, stands up and says, "I'll do it." Othniel, sure enough, goes up and takes this place. Caleb, making good on his word, gives him his daughter, Aksa, to wife.

Caleb sought for himself a man, and Othniel fought for a bride. Othniel fought. He went up and he fought and took this place for a bride, to receive this woman, this lady, as his wife. He wasn't going just to take the land, to take this area of Kirjethsefer, or Debir, as it is called afterwards. He wasn't seeking for that. In reality, he went up saying, "I want this woman as my wife."

It's very likely he knew who Aksa was. Obviously, this is his cousin, and he probably wanted to marry her for a long time. Maybe Caleb knew that this guy wanted to marry his daughter, and so he said, "This is what you've got to do to do it." Caleb sought for himself a man, and Othniel went up and fought for this bride.

Othniel's name is interesting. As I was looking through this, it kind of struck me because Othniel means "lion." A lion of the tribe of Judah, just like our Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus, who went out into this land, into this world, to fight for a bride—for you and me.

If you turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, it should be easy to find. You can turn there as if you're an authority on Scripture. Revelation chapter 5. In chapter 4,

An angel speaks to John, the apostle who wrote the book. He says, "Come on up here. Come into heaven." John goes up and sees the heavenly realm; he observes what is going on there. This is future history; it is going to happen, and it hasn't happened yet. We look forward to the day when this will occur. The angel invites John to come up, and many believe that this signifies the rapture of the church, where the angel says, "Come on up. Let's get out of here. Let's go up to heaven." I look forward to that moment when the angel will descend with a shout, and the Lord will call us home.

John experiences this vision so that he can write it down. The angel says, "Come up here," and John sees all that is happening. He observes the twenty-four elders bowing down and worshiping the Lord in chapter 4. Then, in chapter 5, he describes seeing in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. He sees the Lord God sitting upon the throne, holding a book sealed with seven seals.

A strong angel proclaims with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?" No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book or even look thereon. John weeps very much because no man was found worthy to open and read the book or to look upon it. One of the elders says to him, "Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, of the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof."

John then beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, one of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as if it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. The Lamb came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. When He had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, each having harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.

They sang a new song, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by the blood of every kindred and every tongue and every people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth."

And so we look forward to this Lion of the Tribe of Judah when He is going to take the book. Many believe that this is the title deed to the earth. He is going to take that and open it up because He won. He beat Satan there on Golgotha 2,000 years ago. Satan thought that he had won, but just a few days later, He rose from the dead. He has led captivity captive, and the Lord has set us free.

But why did He come? Hebrews chapter 12 tells us, "For the joy, for the jewel that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Our Jesus, our Lord, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, looked upon us—this anklet, this jewel, this joy that was set before Him—and for us, He endured the cross. He fought so that He could gain the bride, just like Othniel, the son of Kinez, that lion-like man from the Tribe of Judah.

As our story continues back in the book of Joshua, chapter 15, verse 17, we see that Othniel, the son of Kinez, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him Aksa, the daughter, to wife. It came to pass in verse 18 that as she came unto him, she moved him to ask her father for a field. She lighted off her donkey, and Caleb said unto her, "What wouldest thou?" She answered, "Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me the south land. Give me also the springs of water." And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs too.

Caleb sought for himself a man to take this city, and Othniel fought for the bride, Aksa. After he was married to her, Aksa came and brought her request to her father. In this portion of Scripture, Othniel is a picture of Christ, and Aksa is a picture of us, the bride of Christ. She goes now to the Father, seeking a blessing. She brought her request to Him and said, "You've given me a blessing, but give me a blessing still more. You've given me the south land. Now give me the springs of water."

There in John chapter 4, Jesus was at the well when a woman came to him. He told her, "If you knew who I was, you'd ask of me water so that you would not thirst again." Then, in John chapter 7, on the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, while they were pouring out the water, Jesus cried with a loud voice and said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come unto me." That living water will pour out from him.

What is the living water in Scripture? It is the Holy Spirit, the living water. You see, this young lady, Aksa, this jewel, was the bride of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. She came to the Father and brought her request, saying to him, "Give me a blessing." He gave her the springs. Springs in Scripture are different from wells. Wells are hewn-out cisterns or deep places where there is water in the ground. But these springs are living water, water flowing out.

Her father gave her the springs, the upper springs, and the nether springs also. We know in Scripture that God has given to every single person who has called upon His name the Spirit of God. We have been born into the Spirit of God, born again. Those upper springs represent that new life in Christ that we have been given. However, there are also nether springs. Jesus spoke of these in the book of Acts, specifically in Acts chapter 1, where He said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."

In John chapter 20, He breathed upon them with the Holy Spirit, and I believe that at that point in time, they were given that new birth. They were born again, as Jesus had told Nicodemus in John chapter 3, "You must be born again." So, in John chapter 20, when He breathed upon them with the Holy Spirit, they were born anew with the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, He said, "You wait, and you shall receive power when the Spirit has come upon you." Those are the nether springs.

Some people might wonder, "How do I receive those nether springs? How do I receive that life more abundantly that God has called me to have? That spiritual life of the Spirit overflowing and flowing through my life?" Well, Aksa knew what to do. She brought her request to the Father and said, "Bless me."

If you turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, Luke chapter 11, we see Jesus speaking to His disciples. They came to Him while He was praying and said, "Teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples."

Jesus taught His disciples, saying there in Luke 11, verse 2, "When you pray, you shall say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in heaven as it is on earth. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we also forgive those that are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."

He then said unto them, "Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?' And he from within shall answer and say, 'Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.' I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs."

Jesus continued, "I say unto you, verse 9, Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asks receives, and he who seeks finds. To him who knocks, it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you, of his father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he also give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If then you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to him who asks?"

Caleb sought for himself a man, and Othniel fought for himself for this wife. Now Aksa brought her request before her father and said, "Give me springs. Give me the living water." That life more abundantly that this beautiful picture of the promised land is a type of in Scripture. That life where you have to step out and say, "Lord, I desire that You would pour upon me, with that Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of power, Your third person of the Godhead, that You would pour upon me, Father."

We're evil, the Bible tells us.

The heart of man is deceitful and wicked above all things. Who can know it? And yet we, being evil, know how to give good gifts. We know how to pour out upon those who are around us, and it brings us joy oftentimes to give a gift to a friend or to a family member.

And yet our Father, who is perfect and who is holy, will He not give us the Holy Spirit if we give Him a gift? If we come to Him and ask, "Lord, would You pour out upon me?" As Aksa, the bride of the lion of the tribe of Judah, here in Joshua chapter 15, she said, "Dad, will You give to me this blessing?" And he gave her the upper springs and the nether also.

Tonight, there may be some here who are desiring that the Lord would pour out upon you with those nether springs, that Holy Spirit, that life more abundantly that you desire. Maybe you've been a Christian for a while and you've tried to do this Christian life, yet you just can't seem to get a handle on it. You try to wake up early, like I do, and read the Word, but it doesn't always work. The alarm clock goes off, and, well, you just turn it off. If you're like me, that's something that I struggle with.

Maybe you're trying to overcome some sin in your life, something that you've held onto for a long time, but you can't seem to find the power because you're in a dry place. You need those nether springs, that flowing water to pour out upon you and through you to give you the power, that dunamis power spoken of in Acts chapter 1—the ability to live this Christian life.

I believe it was Oswald Chambers who came to a point in his life before he had written the great devotional that many of you have, My Utmost for His Highest. He realized that there was no way he could do this Christian thing. One night at a Bible study, he stood and told his brothers and sisters there, "If this is what Christianity is about, then I'm going to give up. I can't do this."

It was there that they all sought the Lord, asking that He would pour out upon them with His Holy Spirit. And God did. He used Oswald Chambers in a powerful way after that point to write maybe one of the greatest devotionals that has ever been read or written. Many of you have it; I have it. It's amazing to me how the Lord ministers to me through that, how I pick it up, and it's exactly what I'm going through at that point in time. That's only a work that the Spirit of God could do. And so he received the nether springs.

That water, that flowing water, as he sought the Lord, he said, "Lord, I desire that you'd pour out upon me. You've made me the bride. I'm yours. Would you now pour out upon me a blessing?" The Father doesn't say, "Oh, get out of here. I don't have time for you." No, notice what Caleb did when she got off her donkey there in verse 18. He said unto her, "What do you desire? What wouldest thou? What are you looking for? What are you longing for?"

She said, "Give me a blessing. Father, give me a blessing." How many of you tonight, that's really your desire? "Lord, bless me. Pour out upon me. Give me that blessing." He didn't say, "Oh, you know, I've already married you off. I don't have time for you." No, he poured out upon her and gave her something that she would absolutely need every single day of her life as she was living there in the southern part of the nation of Israel.

Some of you in this room have gone to Israel. I've been there, and it's a difficult place down there in the lower part of the nation. It's hot and unpleasant, and yet the Lord pours out through that place. There are these wonderful springs down there where the Lord is just flowing in a magnificent way. Aksa came to her father and said, "You've given me this south land, but give me the springs also." And he poured out upon her.

As this chapter continues on, there are tons and tons of names that we're not going to read through. Maybe you're saying, "Oh, thank God." But see, the interesting thing about all of these names is that as you read them, very few of them do we find ruins of today in Israel. If you were to go to Israel today and follow along with some of the archaeologists and go down this list, you'd be hard-pressed to find them on the map, and you'd be even harder pressed to find them out in the dirt, the different mounds of dirt that they call cities.

Why? Because you see, the children of Israel did obey the command of the Lord for the most part—to utterly destroy these places, to get rid of them completely. But if you look down there in the last verse of chapter 16, or chapter 15...

In verse 63, we read that as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out. But the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day, the day that this was written.

As you go through the majority of these cities that are mentioned, you can open up the back of your Bible. Many of you may have a map that is a little bit more detailed than the one I have given to you. However, as you go through city by city, you'll have a hard time finding them because the children of Israel utterly destroyed many of them. They didn't even leave any ruins behind because they completely consumed them. Yet, this small verse, the last verse in all these 63 verses, says that the Jebusites were allowed to remain because they could not drive them out. They couldn't get rid of them. They didn't follow the example of their father, Othniel, or the example of Caleb. Caleb and Othniel went through Hebron and got rid of all those giants, but the children of Judah did not follow that example.

They allowed this place in Jerusalem, the city of the Most High God, to remain occupied. Four hundred years later, God would use David to drive out the Jebusites, and then God would plant the tabernacle there. Yet, the children of Judah would not drive them out; they could not drive them out. So, they just let them remain.

If you allow some area of sin, some little Jebusite, to remain in your life, it will bring you down. It will hinder the work that God desires to do in your life. Nothing can separate us from the love of our God, but Scripture does say in the Old Testament, in Isaiah, that your sin has separated you from God. There are times when I sin and refuse to confess it, wanting to hold on to that little stronghold where Jebusites reign. When I refuse to give it over to the Lord and confess it, saying, "Lord, this is sin. Please remove it from my life," during that time, I am separated from the Lord. He desires so much to be in fellowship with me. He desires so much to have a relationship with you, to walk with you in the cool of the day.

In the cool of the garden, as He did with Adam, we remember that Adam and Eve hid themselves. There are times when I hide myself from the Lord through my sin. I find some fig leaf to cover myself and think, "I'm just going to go do this thing on my own right now. Lord, you stay there." The Lord walks about and asks, "Where are you?" Yet, I am hiding from Him because I allow some little area of sin to remain. This would be Israel's downfall in many ways, as they allowed these cities to remain.

As we continue into chapter 16, we read that the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho unto the water of Jordan, for Jericho on the east side to the wilderness that goes up from Jericho throughout Mount Bethel. They move from the tribe of Judah and the inheritance that was given to Judah, and now they come to the tribe of Joseph, which was split into two tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh. They begin to give this area to these two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and the text lists all these different places.

As we move down to verse 10, we read that they did not drive out the Canaanites that dwell in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day. They serve tribute under them. Ephraim and Manasseh were given this territory of land, and then Joshua said, "Go in, possess this land, take it, and get rid of all those who are inhabiting it." For the most part, they did, but they did not drive out the inhabitants of Gezer. The Canaanites stayed there and served the Ephraimites under tribute.

Maybe tonight there is something in your life that you are trying to still use for the Lord, but it is sinful. You might be trying to find a way in the will of God to keep this little habit that you've held onto for so long, thinking it doesn't really affect the church or your life completely. However, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. You can't put sin under tribute. You can't use it in any way to further the kingdom of God. It has to go. Yet, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh did not drive out these Canaanites, and the Canaanites would rise again at one point in time with great power, as we will see.

As we continue through our studies and throughout the Bible, you'll see the Canaanites come up quite a bit. Why? Because they got rid of most of the cities. Most of the cities they went through were plowed through, and they said, "All right, we'll get rid of these guys." However, they came to certain places, certain strongholds, and they said, "Well, we can't do it." They didn't follow the footsteps of their brother Caleb, who was faithful and said, "No, we can take it," and Othniel, who followed the Lord. Instead, they let this little sin remain.

Continuing on in chapter 17, it says there was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh. Ephraim's inheritance was given in chapter 16, but now Manasseh's is given in chapter 17. They begin to pour out upon the people the second tribe, the portion of Joseph. Manasseh is given their cities, which are listed in the next couple of verses.

We then move down to an interesting story in verse 3, where it says, "But Zelophehad, the son of Hefer, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters." These are the names of his daughters: Maala, Noah, Hogla, Milcah, and Tirzah. When they came near to Eleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, they said, "The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren." Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their brethren of their father.

There is this interesting story as we go through this portion of Scripture about a man named Zelophehad. How would you like to sign that on a check every day? Zelophehad had no sons; he had five daughters. Before this time, the inheritance would normally not go to them; it would just be absorbed into his family. However, back in the book of Numbers, chapter 27, they came to Moses and said, "This isn't right. We should receive this inheritance. Our father's name should not be blotted out." Moses said, "Well, let me inquire of the Lord." He went before the Lord, and the Lord said, "Listen to these girls." Moses promised that they would receive an inheritance.

Now they come to Joshua as the land is being given out. When he calls upon the tribe of Manasseh, they stand up and say, "We're of the tribe of Manasseh."

And they pressed in and said, "We want this land that was promised to us." He gave it to them. Why? Because they persisted. They petitioned persistently. They said, "We want this area. We want the inheritance. So we'll do what we have to in order to take it."

The lot that I've been given, the lot that you've been given—will you do what you have to in order to lay hold of that life? Will you petition persistently like the daughters of Zelophehad? Will you press in and say, "Joshua, Jesus, I desire more of You. I desire more of the land that You've set before me. Father, pour out upon me as Aksa did"?

It's interesting to me as we go through this portion of Scripture that it's the ladies who stand up and say, "We desire to lay hold of this land." They were the ones who brought their request before the Father and petitioned persistently. Yet the men, it says of them, did not drive out the Canaanite and did not kill the Jebusite.

If you continue on in chapter 17 down to verse 12, it says, "Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, all the cities that were listed above. But the Canaanite would dwell in the land." As the children of Manasseh went in to seek their inheritance and to take it, they didn't completely drive out the inhabitants. They allowed the Canaanites to stay.

But it's interesting as we continue on. In verse 13, it says, "Yet it came to pass when the children of Israel were waxed strong that they put the Canaanites under tribute. But they did not utterly drive them out." They made them slaves and kept them around. You would think that the children of Israel would have learned from their own experiences being slaves in the land of Egypt.

As slaves in Egypt, they grew so large that they outnumbered the Egyptians, which caused Pharaoh to be fearful. Pharaoh said, "We've got to do something about these Hebrew slaves because they're outnumbering us and they're going to take us over." Ultimately, the children of Israel did take over Egypt; they totally annihilated Egypt. It was never a world power again after that point in time after they left.

Yet here, they didn't learn from their past experiences in Egypt, and now they took these Canaanites and put them under tribute. But these men of Manasseh and the men of the tribe of Ephraim...

The sons of Joseph, instead of pressing in and taking the land, spoke unto Joshua in verse 14, saying, "Why have you not given us more land? Why have you given us one lot and one portion to inherit? Seeing I am a great people, for as much as the Lord has blessed me hitherto."

Instead of taking and possessing the land that was before them, they came to Joshua and asked, "Hey, how come you didn't give us a bigger piece of land? We're a big tribe. We deserve more." The tribe of Ephraim probably thought, "Well, Joshua's from the tribe of Ephraim. Maybe he's going to say, 'Yeah, you're right. You should have more.'"

So these sons of Joseph, the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim, approached Joshua and said, "Joshua, we think you should give us more land. We're not possessing the land that you've given to us, but we think you should give us more."

Joshua, in verse 15, answered and said, "You are a great people." At that point, they may have thought, "There we go. We've won him already. He knows we are great." He continued, "Get thee up into the wood country and cut it down for yourself. There in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants in Mount Ephraim, if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for you."

He said, "You know what? You are a great group of people. You are a huge tribe. Ephraim and Manasseh, if you're so big and this land is too small, then go up. Take this land to the north. Go up into the mountains and cut down the trees. Get rid of the Perizzites and the giants that be there. If Ephraim is too narrow for you, if this land's too small, then lay hold of more of it."

But you see, they longed for more, yet they refused to labor for more. They desired something more, but they refused to go in and take it. They said, "We want this land. We need more. We're a bigger tribe." And he said, "All right, then go and take it." But they refused to do it. They wanted just a handout.

"If Ephraim be too narrow for you, then go and take this." The children of Joseph said, "That hill, that hill of Ephraim, it's not enough for us to dwell." They pointed out that all the Canaanites dwell in the land and in the valley, and they have chariots of iron. Both those who are of Beth-shan and their towns, and those who are of the valley of Jezreel, posed a challenge.

They said, "Listen, Joseph, we can't take that place. Those guys have chariots of iron." Perhaps they too quickly forgot how the Lord had already gotten rid of the 20,000 chariots of iron that we looked at just a couple of weeks ago.

And yet they said, "Joshua, we need more land, but we can't go take that land in the valley because the Canaanites are strong there. They've got chariots of iron, and there's no way that we can do it."

Joshua spoke unto the house of Joseph in verse 17, even unto Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, "Thou art a great people, and you have great power. Thou shalt not have only one lot, but the mountain shall be thine. For it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down, and the goings out shall be yours. For thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and though they be strong."

We have several stories here in the midst of our text tonight. We see the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh who longed for more, but they refused to labor for more. Even when Joshua said, "You can take it. You have the power to go in. You will get rid of these Canaanites and their iron chariots, and if they're strong, God will go before you. He'll get rid of them. You don't have to worry about that. Just go in and take it." And yet they said, "No, we can't. We're not going to. Why don't you just give us another handout? Why do we have to go fight for it? Why do we have to go lay hold of it?"

Tonight, I question myself as I look at this passage of Scripture and I say, "Where am I in this text? Am I one of those who petitions the Lord persistently, saying, 'Lord, I desire whatever you will give to me. I desire more of you. I want to lay hold of more'?" Many of you have probably read the prayer of James. What was the whole story there? "Lord, bless me." Just like Acts has said, "Father, bless me." And He did.

You may think, "Well, that's just not going to work." The Bible says in James to bring your requests to the Lord, and the Lord will give to them who ask. In Philippians, the Lord tells us not to worry, not to be anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God.

So we have these stories here. We see this woman named Aksa and these other five ladies, the daughters of Zelophehad, who came in and said, "We desire a blessing, and we're going to knock on your door until you pour out." But then we have this other story of the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh and the tribe of Judah.

Who didn't drive out the inhabitants of the land? They said, "We want more," but they refused to go and take it. The life as a Christian is a life spent seeking hard after the Lord. As Psalm 63, verse 8 says, "My heart follows hard after Thee, and Your right hand upholds me." Am I one of those people who says, "Lord, I'm going to follow hard after You wherever You go"? I'm going to petition You persistently. I'm going to knock on the door until You pour out. Lord, pour out. Give me those nether springs. Give me that Holy Spirit, the power, the ability to follow You.

Or will I be like Ephraim and Manasseh, who kind of sit back and say, "Well, those guys are just too strong for me. I can't take this"? Or will I be like Judah, who didn't really take the city of peace? Philippians chapter 4, verse 7 goes on to say that after you've brought your request to the Lord, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In the midst of all these victories, as we go through this portion of Scripture, there are such sad little thorns here and there—just one verse here or one word there. I pray that my life will not be like that. That as you look at my life, people will say, "Yeah, he did a lot of great works, but there was this little area of sand on his foundation." And when that hard time came, he fell. Oh, Lord, I pray that You just help me. Help me to be like those who say, "Lord, give me more of You." Not so that other people can go, "Gosh, that guy's got a whole bunch of stuff," but so that I can lay hold of that for which You've laid hold of me.

And Lord, pour out upon me those nether springs, that living water, so that I can follow hard after You, so that I can bring about great exploits and go in and get rid of those Canaanites that maybe dwell in certain areas of my life—those sins that so easily ensnare you and me. Who are you seeking after tonight? Are you following hard after the Lord? Or are you seeking for just more territory so that you can have a whole bunch of land and say, "Look, we got more land than Judah"? How sad it is that Ephraim never really took the land that God had given to them because they refused to labor for it.

To press in and lay hold of it, these young ladies, the daughters of Israel, the daughters of Zelophehad, and this daughter, Aksa, received the blessing of the Lord. Why? Because they petitioned persistently and brought their requests before the Lord. May we be those who do that too.

Let's pray. Father, I ask that you would take this word and knit it into each of our hearts. Lord, tonight, if there were anything that was just kind of not easy to follow, I pray that you would bring it all back together by your Spirit. You're so able to minister to us. So, Lord, by your Spirit right now, I pray that you would do that work in our hearts of drawing us close to you.

Lord, give us that desire to come before you every single day and petition persistently, saying, "Lord, I'm knocking. Lord, I want more of you." I thank you that your word says in Revelation chapter 3 that if we would hear your word and hear you knocking, and if we open the door unto you, you would come in and sup with us, that you would dine with us. Lord, may we be those who are knocking upon your door to spend time with you.

As Aksa prayed, would you bless us, Lord? Would you pour out your Holy Spirit upon us? Tonight, if you're here and you desire that the Lord would pour out upon you, as we finish up tonight, the pastors are going to be up front here. We will anoint you with oil and pray that the Spirit would come upon you. We'll give you an opportunity to pray that as well. God has promised that He will give the Holy Spirit to him or her who asks.

Father, I thank you that you have given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So tonight, would you just plant this word in our hearts and do a work in each of our lives, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.