I invite your attention to Joshua
chapter 5. Joshua chapter 5. Two weeks ago,
when I was here with you on a Lord's Day morning, we looked in Joshua
chapter 2 at an introduction to Rahab the harlot and to the
promise of her salvation. Today we're going to begin reading
in Joshua chapter five, verse number 13, and then go through
the end of the next chapter. And we're going to look at the
subject of Rahab's faith. Rahab's faith. In Joshua chapter five, verse
13, And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold,
a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said
to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said,
no. But as commander of the army
of Jehovah, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say
to his servant? Then the commander of Jehovah's
army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot for the
place where you stand is holy. and Joshua did so. Now Jericho
was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None
went out and none came in. And the Lord Jehovah said to
Joshua, see, I have given Jericho under your hand. It's king and
the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city,
all you men of war. You shall go all around the city
once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear
seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh
day, you shall march around the city seven times. and the priests shall blow the
trumpets. Then it shall come to pass when
they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear
the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with
the great shout. Then the wall of the city will
fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight
before him. So Joshua the son of Nun called
the priests and said to them, take up the Ark of the Covenant
and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before
the Ark of Jehovah. And he said to the people, proceed
and march around the city and let him who is armed advance
before the Ark of Jehovah. So it was when Joshua had spoken
to the people that the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets
of ram's horns, before Jehovah, advanced and blew the trumpets,
and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed
men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear
guard came after the ark. while the priest continued blowing
the trumpets. Now Joshua had commanded the
people saying, you shall not shout or make any noise with
your voice, nor shall any word proceed out of your mouth until
the day I say to you, shout, then you shall shout. So he had
the ark of Jehovah circled the city, going around it once, Then
they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose
early in the morning, and the priest took up the ark of Jehovah. Then seven priests, bearing seven
trumpets of ram's horns, went before the ark of Jehovah. And
they went on continually and blew with the trumpets, and the
armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after
the Ark of Jehovah while the priests continued blowing the
trumpets. And the second day they marched
around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six
days. But it came to pass on the seventh
day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and marched
around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day
only they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it was so
when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people,
shout for Jehovah has given you the city. Now the city shall
be doomed by Jehovah to destruction. and all who are in it. Only Rahab
the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house,
because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all
means, keep yourselves from the accursed things, lest you become
accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the
camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. But all the silver and gold
and vessels bronze and iron are consecrated to Jehovah. They shall come into the treasury
of Jehovah. So the people shouted when the
priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people
heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a
great shout that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went
up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the
city. And they utterly destroyed all
that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox
and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. But Joshua
had said to the two men who had spied out the country, go into
the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and
all that she has as you swore to her. And the young men who
had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother,
her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all
her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they
burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the
silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into
the treasury of the house of Jehovah. And Joshua spared Rahab
the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she
dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers
whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Then Joshua charged him at that
time, saying, cursed be the man before Jehovah who rises up and
builds this city, Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with
his firstborn, or that is, at the cost of his firstborn, and
with his youngest he shall set up its gates. And by the way,
if you're interested, it is fulfilled to the letter in 1 Kings 16,
verse 34. So, Jehovah was with Joshua and
his fame spread throughout all the country. Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we are
blessed this day to be in this house with your household, with
your children. We are blessed to have been given
the desire to be here and the wherewithal to be here. We pray
that the hymns we have sung have been acceptable to you. We pray that our praise and thanksgiving
will be received by you. We pray that even at this moment
that you would bend your ear from heaven and hear our prayer. We pray that you'd be pleased
to bless the preaching of the gospel of your son. To your glory,
in Jesus' name we pray, amen. The year is about 1400 BC. almost 3,500 years ago. The children of Israel had come
out of Egypt, out of bondage and slavery about 40 years earlier,
1440 BC. They had come to the promised
land. They had gone into Egypt to free people. When Joseph died,
a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph and put the Lord's people
into bondage. This had been prophesied by our
Lord to Abraham, our father. He said, I'm gonna bring them
out of their bondage, bring them to the promised land when the
iniquity of the Amorites is full. The Amorites and the Canaanites
are just about synonymous terms for the people that lived in
Canaan. The land belonged to Abraham
and his descendants and the Canaanites and the Amorites were occupying
it. And so the Lord was gonna drive
them out and give the land to his people. He had brought them
out of Egypt then miraculously through the Red Sea, drowned
their enemies therein, brought them to Sinai, entered into covenant
with them, then brought them up to the very border of the
land. Joshua and Caleb, young men then,
had said, we can take it. And the people said, no, we are
afraid. So the Lord sent them back into
the wilderness and they wandered there in for 38 years. And then finally he brought them
again to the border of the land. They are at a place called Akasha
Grove. Our King James Version calls
the place Shittim. It is named for the Shittah tree.
We call that tree the Akasha tree. It's about the only tree
that grows in the wilderness. Quite remarkably, it is the same
tree with which the Ark of the Covenant was made. That Ark of
the Covenant made from this Akasha tree and then overlaid with gold. There is a grove of these Akasha
trees on the east bank of the Jordan River, and that's where
the children of Israel are. Moses has died, 120 years old,
had lived his time, served his purpose, and now it is up to
Joshua to lead the children of Israel into the promised land. The Jordan River is six miles
to the east, or to the west, Six miles beyond the Jordan is
Jericho. Jericho is the first city to
be taken in the conquest of the land. Two Lord's days ago, we
observed that Joshua sent two spies into Jericho. They found
lodging in the house of Rahab the harlot. She told them that
she knew who they were and why they were there. And she asked
for salvation. And the spies told her, we'll
give it to you. We promise it to you. There's this cord, a scarlet
cord, and you're letting us down from your window with it. I take
this cord and tie it to your window. And when we come back
and we see it, We will know that you are believing in our God
and in the promise of his servants, and you'll be saved. So they have returned to the
camp at Acacia Grove, and now it is time to cross the Jordan. In Joshua chapter five, we read
that Joshua had gone out by himself We would assume he had gone out
to commune with his God, and his God came down to commune
with his servant. For Joshua looked, and there
before him is a man in battle gear, and his sword is drawn. Joshua, assumedly with his hand
on his own sword, which probably is still in its scabbard, says,
Are you for us or for our adversaries? And the man says, I am the commander
of Jehovah's hosts. That man is the God man, the
pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Joshua is commander of the army
of Israel. And Jesus Christ is commander
of Joshua and all the rest of Jehovah's hosts. And there they
had that conversation, we read it in the beginning of chapter
six, where the commander-in-chief of all Jehovah's hosts told Joshua,
commander of Israel's army, how they're going to take the city.
And so they began to do what would need to be done in order
to do so. So they marched to the Jordan
River. Jordan River, it's not a very
big river, but it was this day. It was at high flood stage, overflowing
its banks. No boats, no ferries, no way
across. So the people said, how do we
get across? And Joshua said, you're gonna
walk. Joshua, it's overflowing the banks. We're all gonna drown.
No, no, nobody drowns. Walk through the Jordan. So they
took him at his word. His word was Jehovah's. The priests
bearing the Ark of the Covenant came to the very border of the
river. It's overflowing its banks, and
when they stepped into the water, the water was not there because
the Lord caused it to go back as he had done at the Red Sea.
Israel, the whole host, marched across the Jordan River on dry
ground, just as they had done 40 years earlier at the Red Sea. They went across the river. They
came to a place called Gilgal. about two miles to the north
of Jericho. They there pitched camp. And
while they're there pitching camp, this was actually where
the Lord had met with Joshua. And then they began to make their
plans for the taking of Jericho. All the Israelite soldiers marched
to Jericho We know how many there were because
it's recorded in the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers
means the book of the census. A census had been taken, 600,000
soldiers. These are men who are 30 years
of age or older, 600,000 of them, assuming that Most of these men are married,
assuming that most of them have at least a couple children. Folks,
we're talking about a people numbering probably over 2 or
3 million people. And they do the march. They go
to Jericho. Joshua is at the head of the
column. Well, actually, the commander-in-chief is at
the head of the column. Joshua's following him, but you
cannot see him. He has not made himself manifest,
but Joshua's following him. We would assume that the two
spies were very close to Joshua because they were to point out
the token of Rahab's faith, and they knew the window from which
they had descended to escape the city. And behind them, 600,000 soldiers armed for battle. Behind them, probably abreast
were seven priests, and each of them has a ram's horn. We
know it as a shofar. It's also called in the Hebrew
text a horn of jubilee. Behind them, perhaps four priests,
and they have the poles on their shoulders that hold the Ark of
the Covenant. Behind them, all the rest of
the people, all the Israelites are there going to the battle,
with Joshua and the spies and the armed soldiers and the priests
and even the little children. They come to Jericho on the road from Gilgal to Jericho. They undoubtedly approach the
city at the front gate. They do not go to the gate. Before
they reach it, Joshua turns 90 degrees and begins
to walk Around the city and all the rest of the people and the
army follow him They are in silence you hear
nothing but the shuffling of feet and the blasts coming from
the shofars by the seven priests Every soldier of Jericho is on
the wall watching, waiting for the battle. Undoubtedly, windows of houses
which comprise the wall and are high are open, and the people
are watching, waiting for the attack, which never comes, by
the way. because Joshua and the whole
Israelite people march once around the city, and all that is heard
is the shuffling of feet and the marching of the soldiers
and the blasts from the horns being blown by the priests. As
they march around that city, the two spies are looking for
something in particular. a scarlet cord. They had told Rahab the harlot,
if you desire salvation when we come, take this scarlet cord
that you have used to let us down from your window. Bind this
line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down
and bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's
household. into your house. As we observed
earlier, they were very specific. This token had to be a card,
not a ribbon or any other item. Had to be scarlet, not any other
color. Why scarlet? Because the spy
said so. But there probably is a significance
to this. Scarlet was the color of her
sins. though your sins be as scarlet. Scarlet is blood red. More than that, that word scarlet
probably means double-dyed. Red is a dye that fades away,
so it was usually done twice. Though your sins be double-dyed,
though your sins be red as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
by the scarlet blood of Jesus Christ. There's a scarlet code. The spies are looking for it.
And as they marched around the city in silence, we would imagine
one of them looked and said, there it is. You know what that
means? It means Rahab is still believing. She believes in God. She believes
in the promise of salvation. There it is, Joshua. There it
is. She believes. Rahab and her family
probably have the window open. It was a very high window. And
they watched that army. It marches around the city. Joshua
comes back. to the gate, having gone around
the city once, he does a 90 degree turn away from the gate and marches
back to Gilgal, and everyone goes with him. Now, imagine what
is going through the minds of the soldiers of Jericho on the
wall. Well, that was easy. Not quite what we expected. Imagine
what was going through the mind of Rahab when she sees the army
marching back to Gilgal, what was going through her mind. That
was not what I expected. I expected the city to be destroyed
and I expected myself to be saved. It didn't happen. Not on that
day. So next morning, children of
Israel arise again early in the morning, march two miles from
Gilgal to Jericho, do the same thing all over again. Joshua
marches up to the gate, turns 90 degrees, and the whole people
of Israel march around the city. Nothing is heard but the shuffling
of feet and the blowings of the ram's horns by the seven priests. And again, the spies are looking. Is it still there? Yes, the scarlet
cord is still there. She still believes. They march
around the city, go back to Gilgal. And again, the soldiers on the
wall are probably saying, well, that was easy. That was not what
we expected. And Rahab is saying again, that
was not what I expected. That happens for the third day,
the fourth day, and the fifth day, and the sixth day. Six days. Six days. The same procedure is done, and nothing has happened except
people have marched around the city. Now comes the seventh day. On the seventh day, they march
back up. You can imagine the soldiers
of Jericho on the wall saying, well, you know, this is just
a little bit boring now. Is this what they call an army? Is this what they call a siege?
Is this what they call a battle? So Joshua approaches the wall,
comes to the gate, turns 90 degrees, marches around the city and the
whole people of Israel with him. And the cord is still there.
She still believes. Then they marched around the
city the second time. And the third time. And the fourth
time. And the fifth time. And the sixth
time, and the suspense is building. Now consider how many times they
have gone around the city. For six days, one time each day. On the seventh day, six times. Six plus six is 12, and 12 in
scripture is a number of completion. Rahab's faith is being tried. It has now been completely tried
12 times. After the sixth time around the
city on the seventh day, they come back to where the gate is
and Joshua says, shout! And the horns are blowing and
the people are shouting. And the walls fell just as God
had said they would. The walls of Jericho fell. Now
bear in mind that the walls of the city were actually the exterior
wall of people's houses. Every house was built beside
each other adjoining and one wall of every house was the wall
of the city. and it fell flat. When it does,
every house is exposed. The way into the city is made
clear and plain. And every house has now fallen
except for the house of Rahab the harlot. It's easy to know. Where she lives, her house is
the only one standing. Her wall is the only one that
is still intact. And they go in to get her, and
they do. The soldiers go in to get Rahab,
her father, her mother, her siblings. And they bring them out and put
them outside the camp of Israel. and the city is destroyed. And
Rahab is saved exactly and precisely as God had said it would happen. Now that's my introduction. My
message has seven points and they will be brief because I've
already given them to you. But I want to remind you seven
things about Rahab's faith, and seven things that must be true
of your own faith. First, children of God, learn
this lesson. Rahab's faith was active faith. It was not a dead faith. It moved
her to do the works that justified her. Faith without works is dead,
James tells us, And every time the spies walked around the city
and saw that scarlet cord hanging from her window, they knew she
still believed. It's active faith. Don't let people tell you they
believe in God if their lives do not prove it. Faith must be
active. Saving faith makes a difference
in you. When a man or woman believes
in Jesus Christ, that faith becomes active and does as the Lord says. Rahab had it, and if you will
be saved, you must have the very same faith as well. The token
of her faith was that scarlet cord hanging from her window.
The faith was in her heart. God can see that. You cannot. We cannot see another
man's faith, but we know the faith of others by the lives
they live. When a man says or a woman says,
I believe in Jesus Christ and the life does not bear the fruit,
the faith is dead. Let none of us have a dead faith
in Jesus Christ. Let our faith be that which moves
us to live for him. to serve him and to trust him. Rahab's faith was of such sort. And it was a daily faith, second.
It was a daily faith. It was there for day one, day
two, day three, four, five, six, and seven. Every day of the week,
her faith was there. Well, child of God, your faith
must be not a one-time act. People, they may say, I remember
when I believed in Jesus. Yeah, but do you believe in him
now? Do you believe in him now? When that storm begins to come,
as our preacher this morning told us, do you believe in him
then? Her faith was a daily faith. Saving faith, such as Rahab had,
is a faith that never ceases. It is there seven days a week
and as often in the day as it needs to be. It was a tried,
it was a daily faith. Third, it was a tried faith. It was put to the test repeatedly. I mean, just imagine, day one,
Israel marched around the city, nothing happened. And someone
in the household says, Rahab, was it worth it? I mean, nothing happened. That's okay,
we'll just keep on believing. Happened the second day, we'll
just keep on believing. Rahab's faith was a tried faith. It was put to the test repeatedly. and she had it there on every
day. It was a persevering faith. It
never ceased. Not only are we preserved by
Jesus Christ, but we persevere for Jesus Christ. Our faith is
one that never ceases, it perseveres. When the sun is shining and everything
is bright, We believe in God. When the clouds turn dark and
the winds begin to blow, we believe in God. This is a persevering
faith that never ceases. Fifth, Rahab's faith was rewarded. Faith, she eventually believed
it or received the promise. and received her salvation. It
is a rewarded faith. I'm gonna say to you that if
you will trust in Jesus Christ, he will not disappoint you. He
will not. No one who ever trusted in Jesus
Christ failed to be saved. The promise that God's preachers
give is this. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. That's the only way you can be
saved. You must believe in Jesus Christ, put your trust in that
scarlet blood and show it with your scarlet faith. This is a rewarded faith. I assure
you that if you forsake everything else and trust in Jesus Christ,
he will save you. Rahab forsook trust in everything
else except Jesus Christ and the Lord saved her. Because number
six, Rahab's faith was saving faith. Did you notice what was
read in the text? Every person in Jericho died,
was killed by the edge of the sword. The king and even the
animals in the stalls Every living soul of every sort in Jericho
was killed, except Rahab and her family, because this is saving
faith. It is a tried faith. You'll go
through a trial of faith, but I assure you, if you trust in
Jesus Christ, he will save you. And then number seven and last,
Rahab's faith was exemplary faith. Exemplary faith. In the 11th
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, we are told by faith
Rahab was saved. You want to know what is remarkable
about that? She was a harlot. She was a woman of fornication
and adultery. She was a woman engaged in licentious
sin. She was a despicable sinner, but she believed
in God and he saved her. This is good news for sinners
like you and me. If our Lord saves harlots, he
can save us. He can save us. I have great confidence and full
assurance that if you will trust in Jesus Christ as Rahab did,
he will save you. And note that faith one more
time. active faith, daily faith, tried
faith, persevering faith, rewarded faith, saving faith, and exemplary
faith. So trust in Jesus Christ like
Rahab did, and he'll save you.