WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.679 Well, happy Father's Day. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:09.279 So last week or two weeks ago, Christy and I were tucking in one of my particular daughters. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.320 Not won't mention which one it was, but a particular one. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.519 And we were there and we were snuggled in, and uh Christy was on one side, and I was on the other side. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.800 And uh this particular little daughter, she had her hands up on my face. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:26.960 You know, your children inspect every area of your face when they're little, and uh she was inspecting my face thoroughly. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:39.039 She had her fingers running across my eyebrows, and it's then, you know, eight inches apart, this really sweet moment that we're having together, and she looks up to me and she, you know, just like a you know, like a face like that. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:41.920 And you know, why why are your eyebrows so rough? 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:47.439 You know, like oh, like they're so rough, like like devastatingly like a mistake upon my face. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:56.880 And then Christy just continued this uh theme and pointed out the one rogue eyebrow I have that grows much longer than all the other ones. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.079 Uh so thank you. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:00:59.840 Happy Father's Day to me, thank you for that. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.159 Great humility lesson to show up into your family. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:04.000 That's where we get our humility lessons. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:05.519 So, dads, you know this, right? 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:13.760 You've had that moment probably where your kid just kind of delivers that uh humility to you, uh, or your wife, or sweet someone, or a friend, or your boss. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:14.959 And it's that thing, right? 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:24.879 Like that truth that's laid upon you, and uh you don't know if you were quite ready for it, but when it hits you, you better have some thick skin. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:25.200 Right? 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:26.480 That's what we say in those moments. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:29.920 You need to have some thick skin to handle that. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:31.920 We better have thick skin. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:39.920 So, what my mentor always says over and over and over again, he'll say, thick skin, soft heart, thick skin, soft heart, thick skin, soft heart. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:46.319 So I was thinking about that this week and I started to think about the differences between uh, say, an orange and a peach. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.959 So, like an orange, uh thick skin, soft inside, right? 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:59.120 Like I mean, the outside's pretty robust and thick and kind of hard to break into to the point that we kind of don't love to kind of peel them because it's a little frustrating. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:00.319 So it's really thick skin. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.439 Now peach is really totally different, especially a ripe peach, right? 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.000 Like a ripe peach is quite fragile. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:20.800 Like if you drop it, I mean, usually this one's pretty ripe, and yep, I got a little bruise there, we can start to see it poking out, and like just literally, you could just dig your finger in and just like a little poke, and all of a sudden you can feel how hard the inside is. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:24.960 So fragile skin, hard heart. 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:32.719 And that's in comparison to thick skin, soft heart, which is really what we want. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:41.520 We want to be like this, so that if we take a hit in life, uh we can take it, we can absorb it, we're secure enough. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:48.960 Yet our heart, the inside of us, our heart is soft, vulnerable, loving, accessible for people. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.479 And so that's the question that we enter our story with this morning. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:57.280 The question is: do I have a thick skin and a soft heart? 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:01.759 Or do I have fragile skin and a hard heart? 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.159 So our story is Joshua 11. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:18.479 So we, if you remember a few months ago, we started Joshua, we broke some uh throughout the coronavirus season, and then coming back into the building kind of prepare us for the fact that some of us would be online, some of us would be here, and all the differences of that we kind of broke for a few weeks. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.439 But we're back in Joshua to finish Joshua the next two weeks. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:29.919 In Joshua 11, if you remember where we've been, Joshua is the story of these people of Israel that came out of Egypt out of slavery. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:47.919 They wander around the desert for 40 years, and then finally Joshua becomes the leader of these people, leads them over the Jordan River, and they start winning battle after battle to take back their land, Canaan, the promised land, which is the symbol, the symbol of God's promise and presence and nourishment for them. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:04:00.159 And so then we pick up and we get these interesting verses at the end of Joshua 11, and it is after a chapter, really two chapters of just battle after battle, winning, winning, winning, winning. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.360 And then we get Joshua 11, verse 18. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.360 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:14.240 There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the the Havites and the inhabitants of Gibeon. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:28.879 They took them all in battle, for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:36.160 So we're going to talk about the heart, and then we're going to talk about this idea of hardening of the heart. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:41.519 So the word heart is from the Hebrew word Lab, which means the inner man. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.439 It's the entirety of our the inner self of who we are. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:53.199 So it's our it's our mind, it's our will, it's our emotion, it's our understanding, it's the inner core of ourselves. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.240 See, the Hebrews they didn't have modern science. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:02.319 So, but what they did know is they did know that the heart, the heart and the blood were connected. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:06.480 The heart controlled the blood, and blood was life. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:15.279 So when they use the word heart, they're saying, as clearly as they're saying, the very control center of your being. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:17.600 So that's what heart means. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:22.240 And then verse 20 says, the Lord hardened their hearts. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:24.480 Which raises a few questions, right? 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.720 I mean, read that and go, oh, what you know, what is this? 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:30.079 Maybe I can just ignore it for a while, or you know, eventually we got to deal with this. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.639 Was this against their will, these people? 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:36.160 Like, did they want to have peace with Israel, peace with God? 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:37.519 Was this against their will? 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:41.839 Did God cause them to not be able to come to peace with him? 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:44.800 And then if that's true, could that be true with me? 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:48.319 Or could that be true with, say, one of your children? 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:50.560 Or maybe a friend of yours? 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:55.839 Well, uh, God is sovereign and just, he can do as he chooses. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.720 I believe that, and I believe there's more. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:08.639 Okay, so I'm not gonna say we've got to pick two sides here, we don't have to make this like a dualistic notion, but I do believe God is sovereign and just, he can do as he chooses in his world, and I believe there's more. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:09.600 This is what I mean by that. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:15.120 That word hardened in the Hebrew is the word kazakh, which means to strengthen. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:30.079 So these people, look in the context of the story, these people, they made no plea for God's mercy, they made no plea for God's grace, no confession of need, no desire for a relationship with this Yahweh God, no desired relationship to make peace with Israel. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.319 None of that ever happened. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.639 They wanted to do it their way, and then God let them. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.279 See, God strengthened the already intent in their heart. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:47.199 This is what the hardening of their hearts means in this context: strengthening that which is already there. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:51.600 So this is point number one, and it's a tough point for us to swallow, but it is point number one. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:57.040 God may strengthen the darkened resolve already in the human heart. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:00.079 And this pops up several places in scripture. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.120 It's here, it's in Romans, it's in Hebrews, we see it pop up. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:11.040 And at the same time, we have to remember these sort of like surprise pop-ups in scripture where you read them and you go, oh, like how does that fit in? 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:12.399 And we're trying to wrestle that. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:18.319 It's a mystery, and it fits in, we have to fit it into the arc of the scriptures. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:25.439 Meaning we embrace them in mystery, certainly, while we rest in the arc of the biblical story. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:33.439 And that is a just and sovereign God who can do as he chooses, and what he chose to do was incarnate himself in Jesus. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:46.879 And the finished work of Christ allows us to know him as sovereign and just and as a heavenly father, where we are welcomed and we are accepted. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:48.639 And that's point number two. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:54.000 By God's grace, we are rescued to live with him and not independent from him. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:56.800 When I was a boy, my family had a routine. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:04.319 So we would have dinner, and after dinner, my sister and I, we'd go upstairs, we'd change into pajamas, we'd come back downstairs, and we get each get a bowl of ice cream. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.600 Every single night we had a full bowl of ice cream. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:16.319 And I always had vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top, and I'd let it melt just a little bit, and you swirl it up, and so it's all like a chocolatey mix, kind of like a milkshake. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:19.759 And then we'd watch a TV show, you know, we'd probably tune into some Family Ties. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:21.360 I don't know if there's any Family Ties fans. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:22.639 That was big for us back in the day. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:36.720 So we're watching Family Ties, we're eating that ice cream, and then I would like to finish my ice cream about halfway through that show because I like to get up on the couch with a blanket, cuddle up, and then at the end of the show, I love to fake like I was asleep. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:38.159 Did y'all notice? 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:41.440 And then, because then your dad, because I loved it. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:43.200 My dad would come and he'd pick me up. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:50.399 Seven, eight years old, he'd pick me up, carried me upstairs to put me to bed. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:51.600 And I love that. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:58.799 Now, a few weeks ago, I told you, if you remember the story where I hit my dad in the face with a tennis ball, if you remember that, same dad, okay? 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:00.320 That's an important part of this. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:01.279 Same dad. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.000 That was dad wrath, that was dad justice. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:06.320 We know that dad also. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:14.559 But our hearts desire that tender embrace of a father, of an Abba Father. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:16.080 And that's what the scriptures give us. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.960 We have a just and sovereign Yahweh. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:30.879 And the biblical story takes us through the finish work of Christ to where Jesus and the New Testament writers are teaching us the dominant metaphor is a father, a heavenly father. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.440 Jesus' most famous parable, at least to me, it's probably the most famous, right? 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:36.799 The prodigal son, right? 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:45.120 Where the father is waiting to accept and welcome and pour lavish love on that rebellious, hardened-hearted son. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:56.000 And this is how God's promise and presence to us changes everything because it's not based in your performance, it's based in his love for you. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.440 Verse 21 and 22 of this Joshua story. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:13.519 And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Dabir, from Anab, and from the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:17.200 Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:21.600 There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:25.600 Only in Gaza and Gath and in Ashdod did some remain. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:31.519 So point number three is this: by God's promise and presence we can let go of needless fears. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.639 By God's promise and presence, we can let go of needless fears. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:54.080 We could read right over verse 21 in this reference to Anakim, but if we pause, contemplate a little bit, dig a little bit, what we can remember is back in Numbers 13, 40 years prior, the people of Israel were just absolutely afraid of these Anakim. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.440 The Anakim, the commentator I read this week said that they were hulks of the land. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.440 I mean, they were to be feared. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.919 And the people of Israel feared them. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:05.600 Feared them. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:13.600 And now we have in this story, 40 years later, by God's promise and presence, over and over again to Joshua, say, be strong and courageous. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:15.679 I'm with you, I'm with you, I'm with you, I'm with you. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:21.039 All of a sudden, the thing they feared the most, they have had victory over. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:27.679 What used to paralyze them is no longer there. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:39.519 See, as we grow in thick skin and soft heart, as the Holy Spirit is working inside of us, as we're growing deeper in our belovedness in Jesus, we're gonna grow aware of our fears. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:42.000 Because our heart's gonna be softened. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:49.759 If God gives you that new heart, that heart starts to soften up, you're gonna grow aware of the fears that have been driving you your whole life. 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:56.000 Now, the earlier in life we begin that process of recognizing those fears, the freer we get to become. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:00.639 Fears like what if I'm defective or unwanted? 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:02.480 What if I'm unloved? 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:03.840 What if I'm worthless? 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:05.519 What if I'm incompetent? 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:07.039 What if I'm harmed? 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.159 What if I'm in pain? 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:10.639 What if I'm not in control? 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:15.039 These are real fears, but the fears don't have to define us. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:15.519 That's the point. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.759 Anakim doesn't have to define us. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:19.919 And our victory is not in the fears going away. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.759 Our victory is by God's promise and presence for us to deal with them. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:26.000 So the gospel implication is this. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:27.279 We'll put it up on the screen. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:41.679 In the gospel, by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can feel our fears, name our fears, and not allow our fears to define our hearts or drive our behaviors. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:43.679 That's our victory. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:59.360 In our membership process of our church, so a lot of you have been through that process, and in it, we have that big packet, and I made you read through it. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:04.399 And at the end of the packet, there was a long quote by Tim Keller, pastor and author of Tim Keller. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.360 Here's a bit of that quote, and I've read it in sermons over and over again. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:08.480 I'll read it again right now. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:13.840 When Paul says he is the worst among sinners, he's not exaggerating. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:18.320 He is saying that he is as capable of sin as the worst criminals are. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:22.480 The gospel has equipped him with emotional humility. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.519 At the same time, you can't be gracious to someone if you're too needy and insecure. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:33.600 If you know God's love and forgiveness, then there's a limit to how deeply another person can hurt you. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:38.799 He or she can't touch your real identity, wealth, and significance. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:44.559 The more you rejoice in your own forgiveness, the quicker you will be to forgive others. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.799 You are rooted in emotional wealth. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:55.679 So what I think Keller's saying here is a thick skin, soft heart. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:10.879 Because you're already loved, already forgiven, already righteous, you have a beloved identity in Christ, because all of that is given to you, not based on your performance, but by his welcome and lavish love upon you. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:20.639 Because of that, we are moving more and more and becoming more and more secure, thick skinned, and yet vulnerable and loving a soft heart. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:22.639 Two questions for our hearts. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:25.440 Perhaps these would be good to contemplate this week. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:27.759 Maybe finding a quiet moment. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:33.279 Abba Father, how would you like me to feel and name my fears? 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:43.039 Abba Father, what does your acceptance of me and presence with me say to my fears? 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:48.720 What's clear in this story in Joshua is promise and presence over and over again. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.279 That's what we get from God to Joshua. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:53.919 And Joshua feels all sorts of ways. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:55.279 That's what's so great about this story. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:59.600 It's not like he's just some hero that's untouchable or inaccessible to us. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:00.879 He's just like us. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:07.279 He's winning battles, but at the same time, he feels weak and doesn't know how to, he's not sure if it's gonna work out, what's gonna happen, and then he doesn't want to move ahead. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:10.799 And God over and over is saying to him, Hey, hey, I under I understand that, but be strong. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:11.519 I'm with you. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:13.120 I've promised this, I'm with you. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:15.519 Be strong, be courageous, I'm with you. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:19.759 And in that, he keeps having victory. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:29.360 But it's not because he's perfect, it's not because he's performing perfectly, it's because of God's promise and God's presence. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.320 I read this verse this week, I'll close with this. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:37.840 I read it this week in one of my devotions in the morning, Isaiah 54 verse 10. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.559 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:47.919 Okay, so that's a way to say, for the mountains may depart and the hills be removed. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.919 That's a way to say maybe you feel exposed. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:54.240 That's how you fear. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:58.080 If you go into your fears, you're gonna feel exposed. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:00.879 The mountains may depart, the hills may remove. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:05.279 So anything that is keeping you feeling safe and secure, that may depart. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:08.480 And if that departs, you're gonna feel exposed. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:21.600 Into the verse, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion over you. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:22.559 Let's pray. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:40.960 God, thank you for your goodness and your grace that you do not desire us to move through life stuck in fears, stuck fearing anicum, but you desire for us in your promise and your presence that we can feel our fears, name our fears, bring them to you. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:47.600 And ask for your strength and your courage to gain victory over them. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:54.559 Not because we're perfect, and not because we're gonna perform perfectly, but because you are with us. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.480 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:57.279 Amen.