Boundaries and Grace (Part A)

Even in his eighties, he is still commanding forces to take territory. This section here is just, it's outstanding what we're coming to now. We're moving from the concentration on the boundaries to what you do within those boundaries. And as you show grace, what do I do, Lord, in the territory you've assigned me in this life that I'm not too happy with sometimes? What do I do within it?

Some are very happy with their boundaries, they're just not very happy with what they're doing in them, neither is anyone else. You have to watch from all directions. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Joshua.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in Joshua chapter 15, as he begins his message called Boundaries and Grace. So it was a lot of the tribe of the children of Judah, according to their families, the border of Edom and the wilderness of Zen southward is extreme, the extreme southern boundary. Well, the discussion of Judah's inheritance began back in chapter 14.

And this is probably heavy, it is heavy-duty reading, much of it, but in between some of the heavier sections are some gems for us. And we have a few left in the book of Joshua. Enjoy them because Judges is coming. The first three chapters of Judges are going to be a little tough. This tribe Judah, it gets the lion's share of the allotments and the patriarch Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, of course, his allotment should have gone first to Reuben, the eldest son, and then Simeon and Levi, but because of their awful sins, they forfeited being in first position and the prominence falls upon Judah. They were disqualified, again, because not only did they sin, that really wasn't, everybody sins, but theirs was over the top.

You could say it like that, I just said it like that, try it. So the border, it says here, of Edom at the wilderness of Zin. Well, we'll touch on borders a bit throughout this book of Joshua, the allotments, the territory assigned to the tribe, and so in this chapter, of course, you're going to get, you know, where their boundaries are, the survey of God. 65 times the word border appears in the book of Joshua. That's more than any other book in the Bible. Ezekiel is next with 33, and Numbers with 25, 26, and together, they don't add up, and so the point is, there is an emphasis put on the boundaries of the tribes.

That's important to us. Job records God's words to him when he showed up at the end of the story in chapter 38, and of course, that famous, where were you when I stretched out to the universe? And he says to Job, he said, when I said this far, you may come no farther, and here your proud waves must stop. Of course, God is saying that I set the boundaries to the sea.

It goes no farther than what I allow it. Well, God does this with us. These Old Testament records of territorial lands, they are loaded with metaphor to describe God's blessings and his limitations for us in the days of our lives. Maybe you're not as good of a this or that that you wanted to be.

You have to work within the boundaries that you've been given, and there is much fruit to be had there. As I mentioned, some of the tribes, like Judah's territory was so large, Simeon's was put in it, and eventually Judah just absorbed Simeon too. But the little tribe of Dan, they couldn't really get it going.

They had to move up north. And you could say, well, that's not fair. Why does one tribe get a little and another get so much? Because God is the one that set the boundaries through Lot by, you know, a divine assignment.

Well, what did it matter to the individual? He was responsible for his field, and it is the same with us. We are responsible for what God has given to us.

We're not to be constantly looking over at the other person, coveting what they're doing and what they have. Psalm 16, verse 5 and 6, Yahweh, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

Yes, I have a good inheritance. So there, the psalmist captures that. He says, you know, I have what I need from God. I'm not going to mess what I have up because I'm so busy reaching for what someone else has been given by God. And so these boundaries, as we talk about the real territory, the land of the individual tribes, we have to see in ourselves also this assigned boundary, the borders of our lives. And when we know the borders that we are to work in, we can be more focused on honoring God and getting work done. And when we go outside of our boundary, sometimes, of course, it's fine to do that. So long as we do not begin to take territory from someone else, begin to steal what is their allotment, we become trespassers. Having gone beyond what God has given us, our God-given rights you could say. We have some of those. They're given to us by God, as it was with the tribes. And so we are careful to strive within the portion that we have, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, therefore, my beloved brethren.

And you have to pause there. You want to tap Paul on the shoulder and say, wait a minute, Paul, these are the Corinthians you're talking to. What do you mean, my beloved brethren? A good portion of them would like to just throw you out completely and never hear from you again. But Paul was too big for that.

Paul always, as far as we know, operated within the boundaries. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. And of course, Satan always wants to come along and say to us, what you're doing is a waste. It's not worth it. Why don't you just stop?

Don't give in to that lie. Even just being sure of God is going to get us through so many challenges. So much fruit there. Verse 2, and their southern border began at the shore of the salt sea from the bay that faces southward. So here, the position of Judah's allocated land has three fighting, four fighting fronts.

That's where they're put. And God has put this large tribe, the one that has received the lion's share, as I said earlier, in an area where they were to overcome all of these enemies that would have taken them out if they could have, corrupted them eventually. It took centuries. Eventually, of course, they did succumb, but they recovered and have fallen again.

And in the end, of course, Messiah will return and the Jews will again be allotted their lands. But the enemy never fights fairly. And he doesn't like to fight us straight out on the battlefield. He likes to infiltrate.

He likes to undermine, cause problems from within. We'll get that in 1 John. Last session, we discussed the world outside. Then there's a world that makes its way inside also. Friendship with the enemies of God is not good for any of God's people.

Corruption and defeat is not far away. But as I mentioned, Judah's territory is touched by enemies. To the east was Moab. The east is the other side of the Jordan, down by the Dead Sea. And then to the west were the Philistines that remained an irritant to the Jews up to the time of the Romans. To the south, there were the Edomites. And then to the southwest were the Amalekites. Judah's border touched on all of those. God knew what he was doing when he put this strong tribe there.

Had he put a smaller tribe there, a lesser equipped tribe, they would have fallen much faster and things would have went downhill for the nation sooner than it did. We skip down to verse 7 and there we read, Then the border went up toward Dibor from the valley of Achor. Achor, you remember, is where Achan and his family were stoned for not only their sin but the cover-up of their sin and the continued cover-up of their sin.

Even when Achan saw this was, you know, falling apart, he continued to hold. Verse 8, And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom to the southern slope of the Jebusite city, which is Jerusalem. The border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the valley of Hinnom, westward, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim, northward. Well, the valley of Hinnom and the valley of the son of Hinnom and the valley of Hinnom is interchangeable in the Hebrew.

It's fine either way. It's the same place. When we get to the New Testament, Jesus wants to give us a word picture of hell. He uses the Greek, well, the apostles do, speaking of hell as Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom in the Greek. And it is where, of course, the child sacrifices were offered by these peoples of the land that the Jews are ordered to purge out. Remember, the Jews were the scourge of God. They were sent to the promised land to take that land for themselves and at the same time purge it to cleanse it because of the awful things that these peoples were doing in the names of their gods. What you believe and who you worship greatly affects how you behave. Again, last Sunday we talked about how Greek mythology affected the people of that time and they came into the church. Well, when Paul writes his Roman letter and he concludes it in chapter 16, you read those names and the name is Hermes, there's Olympus, there's all of these people that have these pagan god names because it had gotten into them but they got out of it and they came to Christ and it was such a victory. Well, here in this land, their religion had gotten hold of them and child sacrifice was something that tried to take hold of the Jewish people also so Jeremiah writes about it in Jeremiah 2. He says, how can you say I am not polluted?

I have not gone after the bowels. See your way in the valley. Know that you what you have done and he goes on to condemn them for their ways. Isaiah had to deal with it before Jeremiah in Isaiah 57. He says, inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, slaying children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks. These are the peoples that they were supposed to put out. So if you have any sympathy for the Canaanites, it's misplaced, it's wrong, it's going against God and it is siding with the world.

We see such buffoons in politics to this day, wanting to strengthen those who would cut our throats and take everything from us. Satanic work. You don't have to wear a hood and march around a fire to be satanic. You just have to line up with his will. Well, the worship of the Canaanite deity Molech, of course directly connected to child sacrifice, forbidden by God, Leviticus 18, and you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh. God says, don't even connect me with that stuff. When God said, don't associate me with little statues and little idols, I'm none of that and I don't want you to get it in your head for a moment that I tolerate such nonsense. These practices of idolatry and child sacrifice, they did not stop with the ancient people.

They're here to this day. They call them abortion clinics. It's a euphemism for murdering the unborn and now you can murder the just born. It's disgusting. And you say, well, what can I do? You be a Christian where you are. That's what you can do because while you may not be able to stop the practice, you may be able to be used by God to rescue those who are foolish enough to be either apathetic towards it or actually participating in it. They can come out and they can be forgiven and we hopefully will be used part of that process. Well, what great, if you've ever preached Christ to a stranger or a coworker, what a thrill, what a spiritual thrill that gives you. Yes, God was with me. Remember that time if you go through a season of drought and you don't hear the voice of the Lord, remember those days.

You have your monuments, your Ebenezers that you remember that God is on the throne and it is his right to be silent when he wants to be, but he will speak when he's ready. Verse 12 now, the west border that was the coastline of the great sea. This is the boundary of the children of Judah all around according to their families.

I just want to take that one clause out. This is the boundary of the children. How many thoughts are into that? Children don't like boundaries, well not consciously. Years ago we had a border collie in the neighborhood, a little tiny collie and he was a sweet dog and he'd come to the backyard and the kids would be playing out in the backyard, neighborhood kids or whoever was over, and after a while you'd see them all kind of, the kids in the middle together and they didn't even know it. The collie herded them. Just running in circles until they all just kind of moved in and didn't even know what was happening. He set their borders for them instinctively.

He didn't even know what was going on. I read his book. He left that whole section out, but anyway, on sale at a pet shop near you. So Joseph Parker, great preacher from London said, God helping me, if I cannot have genius I can have grace, if I cannot be great I can be good. That's living within your boundaries. That's what I was trying to say. I said it better than him though.

No I did not. Those great people of God, liberty within boundaries otherwise we are prisoners and so when we hear these words, this is the boundary of the children. That's good for you parents with small kids. You can say to them, this is the boundary of the children.

Don't touch my cookies. Anyway, incidentally only Judah and Manasseh had allotments that touched both the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. So now you'll sleep better knowing that. Verse 13, now to Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he gave a share among the children of Judah according to the commandment of Yahweh to Joshua, namely Kirijeth Arba, which is Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak and Caleb drove out three sons of Anak from there and of course he has to name them for us pastors to avoid reading. The children of Anak, they were giants and Caleb was part of that first reconnaissance team that went into the promised land. They saw the giants.

The ten other spies were frightened. We can't do this. But Caleb of course and Joshua said yes we can and Caleb had to wait 40 years to prove it in the promised land and now he is doing it just now.

Even in his eighties he is still commanding forces to take territory. This section here is just, it's outstanding what we're coming to now. We're moving from the concentration on the boundaries to what you do within those boundaries and as you show grace, what do I do Lord? In the territory you've assigned me in this life that I'm not too happy with sometimes.

What do I do within it? Some are very happy with their boundaries, they're just not very happy with what they're doing in them, neither is anyone else. You have to watch from all directions. Caleb said well if I'm a grasshopper I'm a fighting grasshopper.

I'm a giant killing grasshopper. That was his approach. He mentions the three sons of the giant anak, because three is a crowd. Some of you might be too young and sheltered to know what that means. You know you go on a date, your first date and the girl wants to bring her girlfriend.

That's the crowd. It's supposed to be me and you, not me, you and her. Caleb, that's what we're talking about. This is no time for you to reminisce.

Who are you talking to? Caleb, he followed what Paul taught centuries later and this is such a gem for all of us. Well I like to use the one from Exodus very often or from Moses. You know the Jews were complaining God God you told us out of Egypt to kill us off in the wilderness.

Were there no cemeteries in Egypt? You know they were real wise guys, chains in the neck. They were looking at their record. We were not shocked that they didn't get into the promised land. But Paul says it this way in Philippians 1.6, so much more grace in this. He says, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. When I was a young Christian, there was a Christian brother that would quote this often and he would quote it to me and it was just so God has begun a good work in you and he'll finish it.

And that's what he's saying here. Being confident, Paul says, of this very thing, the very thing I'm talking about. He who has begun a good work in you, God is not going to abandon the work. And when we go through these tough times, we think that he has forsaken us. I don't know about you, but more than once I have not in my heart, I know God I know you're there but it sure doesn't feel like it and what good is that to me?

By faith, you fight back those thoughts and you know that I know you're there. Numbers 14 verse 24, but my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went and his descendants shall inherit it. And now this is what we're talking about.

This is just what's going on. This man with a different spirit that said I can take the giants, said I can take Hebron where the sons of the giants live. And we're going to see him in a minute give some of his land to his children, to his child at least. Another charming character of scripture we're going to meet in a moment. And so looking again at verse 14, Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak. Verse 15, then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Deber.

Formerly the name of Deber was Kirajeth Sefer. And Caleb said, he who attacks Kirajeth Sefer and takes it, to him I will give Axah my daughter as wife. Well, the first thing, before we open up this new package that Caleb's handed us, is he's using the youth. Well, Othniel is not all that young.

He's going to be the first judge of Israel when we get to judges. But he is younger than Caleb. He's a nephew of Caleb.

And Caleb is giving this opportunity. The Jews were mindful of this. When the angel of the Lord appeared to the parents of Samson, the father wanted to know, how was my child going to make it through life?

Judges chapter 13 verse 12, what will be the boy's rule of life and his work? You see, they're in tune with the story of the boy's life. They're in tune to this next generation, what they had to do to survive.

They did not just have offspring and abandon them. And so when Caleb now comes to Kirajeth Sefer, he says to the young men, he's probably got his favorites already picked out, he probably even knows who's got the right stuff. And he says, who's going to take the city? I'll give them Axah, my daughter.

Now I know in our generation, we say, oh, that's bad. And Axah didn't have any problem with that, as a matter of fact. But he doesn't offer gold or land or even fame.

No. The prize, the inspiration to conquer was a beautiful woman. Here we go again. I mean, we got it last Sunday in the Iliad. Helen of Troy, that was the boy. She wasn't Helen of Troy then. She was Helen of Sparta.

She was the prize. And so how come? Here we are. What is with men and women?

It would be no problem for the fall. Well, it's true of every single thing that's wrong here. How many of these type of situations have brought down generals, armies, yielded information for spies? It is an escapable fact. It is throughout the Bible. It is throughout history and culture, and there's no getting away from it. And the Christian has to learn, what am I going to do with facts? Because they belong, or they don't belong maybe, but they are in the boundaries. They're here. And I have to learn how to face these things as best I can. And nobody gets 100 on this test, this test of life. No Christian comes out. What did you get?

I got a 90. No, you did not. I tell you now. We opened up and looked inside your head.

First of all, all we see was a noodle and an old cracker. So here we have a man saying, I'll die for her. I'll risk my life for her. If she's going to be my wife, I'll take the city. That's what's going on.

There's no way to get around that. He knows he can die in this sally, this attack of the city. Pharaoh, Pharaoh wanted Abraham's wife. The king of Gera, the Philistine king, later on we read Genesis 20 verse 2. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister. And Abimelech, king of Gera, sent and took her. That's your sister?

Okay, I'll have her. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. You can learn about this ministry by visiting our website, crossreferenceradio.com. You'll also be able to listen to more teachings from Pastor Rick, as well as subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified every time we post a new edition of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast store. Or just follow the links you'll find at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from God's word with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross Reference Radio.