The Lord, Old Joshua. Joshua 1, verse 2. Moses, my
servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise and go
over this Jordan, thou and all this people. The scripture says in verse 10, of Joshua 1, then Joshua commanded
the officers of the people saying, pass through the host and command
the people saying, prepare you victuals for within three days
we shall pass over this Jordan and go in to possess the land
which the Lord your God giveth you to possess. The scripture said that Joshua
told the people, get ready, three days, we're going over. God told
him Passover, he said, you get ready. We're going over in three
days. In chapter two, something happened
during that three day period. The scripture says in verse 1
of chapter 2, and Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim
two men to spy secretly. If you look in the margin, if
you have a marginal reading, it said that he had sent. He
had sent. God told him, you pass over.
Joshua said, you go tell all the people to get ready. We're
going over in three days. sent out, he had sent out, as
soon as God told him Passover, he had sent out two spies. And we're going to consider what
happened during that three-day period. They went to a place,
a woman's house called Rahab. She hit them. We'll look at all
this. And she told them, she said, go on out. hide yourself for three days,
and then go back. And they go back. And they told
Joshua, at the end of chapter two, I'm not trying to get ahead
of myself, I'm just trying to get us all on the same page.
They came back and they said, last part, truly the Lord has
delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants
of the country do faint because of us. In chapter three, in verse
one, it says, and Joshua rose up early in the morning, And
they removed from Shittim, came to Jordan, he and all the children
of Israel and lodged there before they passed over. The Lord told
him, you're going over. Joshua tell everybody in three
days, we're going over. He sent out two spies, and during
that three day period that was recorded, because the Spirit
of God moved upon Rahab, tell them, say, you stay three days,
and then you can go back. They won't be looking for you
anymore. They went back and told them the next morning, they got
up and they left. Now I want us to look at what happened during
that three-day period while they were waiting, while the vectuals
were being prepared, about the Lord being pleased to rescue
a woman named Rahab, Rahab the Harley. I want to speak as only in the
light that the Lord has given us, but Rahab the harlot, and
it could have been, let me just say this, it could have been,
that this woman was at one time a harlot, but now has been converted,
which I truly believe has happened. But she holds that name just
like Simon the leper. Matthew the publican. God had
called him out of darkness. Kept a memory for them and us. I think about this story that
we're getting ready to look at, about this woman named Rahab. How precious are the words of
the Lord to Moses when Moses says, show me your glory. And
the Lord said, I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll
have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. And the Spirit
of God moved upon the Apostle Paul to write in the book of
Romans chapter nine and to quote exactly what the Lord said. And
then the Spirit of God moved Paul to say, so then it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. According to the word of the
Spirit of God. It's not of Him that willeth.
Salvation is not by the will of man. I say this as simply as I know
how. When somebody tells you that
everybody has a free will, tell them, say, no, not according
to the Scriptures. No, they don't. It's not of Him that willeth. according to the will and purpose
of God. Salvation is not obtained by
the efforts of the flesh, but by the will and purpose of Almighty
God. So I'd like for us to consider
this woman Rahab, Rahab the harlot. Here's what the scripture says
about her in Hebrews 11, 31. By faith, this woman was a believer,
that all men have not faith. I can tell you that according
to scriptures. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believed not, when she received the spies with peace. I asked Brother Jeff to read
this chapter, so I'm not gonna read the chapter again. I asked
him to read that. Normally I don't do that. I ask
the men just to pray about it and you move it. But I felt led
to call him and ask him to read it for the sake of time and to
give us some understanding. So you know the story, what's
happened. This woman was a Canaanite. She was from the land of Canaan.
She lived in Jericho. Jericho was in Canaan. She was a member of a cursed
people, an alien from the Commonwealth of Israel. But is this not a
wonderful type picture of all that God's been pleased to show
mercy? This woman was living in a city
called Jericho, a place that we're going to see in just a
few minutes that God had been pleased to leave the majority,
all of them. The only one that's mentioned
that God showed mercy was Rahab. It says that she asked for mercy
for her family, and that's right. But you read, Rahab was the only
one that the Spirit of God spoke to concerning having believed. God is pleased to show mercy
and compassion to whomsoever he will. I think about that, I read that,
I remember when the Lord was pleased to open my eyes. Somebody said, when were you
converted? I said, well, that's like asking me when was I conceived. I don't know exactly. I can tell
you a period of time. I can remember when the Lord
began to deal with me concerning the gospel. I came out of false
religion, false religion. I believe that I was the author
and finisher of my faith. I had accepted Jesus as my personal
savior and therefore because of my act, I thought I was converted. And I realized in time by the
grace of God during that period of time, that Almighty God shows
mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will. So concerning all these
people in Jericho, if the Lord's pleased to pass by all of them
in Jericho and save one woman, is God right? Now you know the
answer to that. Absolutely. So here we find they're
going to this place They crossed paths with a woman named Rahab. Now just consider the providence
of God in this woman's deliverance. The scripture says, and I won't
read the whole chapter, but there will be some verses I'll read
out of chapter two. Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out or had sent
out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, silently, silently,
Don't tell anybody that I'm sending you. Just go. You go do what
I'm telling you to do. Secretly. You go view the land, even Jericho.
And they went. And they came into a harlot's
house named Rahab, and they lodged there. They went to view the
land. And they came to this house of
a woman that lodged in that place. Her name was Rahab. The scripture
does not reveal that they had any idea where they were going. They were going to Jericho. They
went into a place, but the Lord ordered their steps. The scripture
says in Psalm 37, 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by
the Lord. God's people. God's people are
your people. being led and directed, you know,
and so often we're doing what we want to do, and all the while
the Lord's directing us, giving us a want to do. That's what
I want to do. You know why I'm here this morning?
Because I wanted to be. I wanted to be. I got up this
morning, going over my notes, got ready, because I wanted to
be here. And all the while, The Lord directed
my steps to bring me to this place. So here's these two spies
and they're coming. They're coming to Jericho to
spy out the land. They come to this woman's house,
Rahab. Now God Almighty had purposed
that Rahab would be spared. If this woman is a possessor
of faith, and Hebrews 11 says she was, by faith. If she had
faith in time, it was because God Almighty, before the foundation
of the world, purposed that this woman was gonna have faith. There's
nothing new with God. God is gonna do just exactly
what he's gonna do, and this woman is going to cross paths
with these two spies. The thing is, she had heard,
she'd heard something before, before these men got there. Look at the ground, here was
the mercy of God in crossing her path, was that God sent these
two spies, but the ground of her faith. What was it? Well, the scripture says that
she told these men In verse 10, she had already brought them
up there. And we'll look at it, she hid them a few minutes. But
look at the ground of her faith. She's talking to these two guys,
these spies that she hid. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out
of Egypt. How did they hear that? Well,
I don't know how they heard it. But the scripture says that they
heard. We heard how the Lord, your God,
Dried up Red Sea. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. Faith is hearing what God has
to say. Do we have to hear to believe?
Yes. Yes. We must hear. And God gives us understanding
and He blesses the Word. And He gives us faith to believe. And she heard. We heard. And she says in verse
11, as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt.
Our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any
more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God,
He's God. in heaven above and in earth
beneath, our hearts melted. And I thought about that. She
said, our hearts melted. Theirs with fear and despair. Hers lovingly. God did something for her. Some
were wayside hearers. Some were thorny ground hearers. Some were stony ground here,
but there was one. And that seed fell on good ground.
She was a good ground here. She said, I know this, I know.
God, you serve us, God. By faith, the Rahab, the harlot
perished not with them that believed. They heard, that's what she said.
She said that in verse 10, for we have heard how the Lord dried
up. You know what? They heard what
she heard. Everybody in Jericho, it was
the buzz. Everybody in that city heard
what she heard and heard exactly what she heard and no more than
she heard, humanly speaking. but their hearing obviously wasn't
mixed with faith. The Lord had not blessed that
word to their hearts. How this evidences the difference
that the gospel has upon people. I'm going to be honest with you.
I can remember before the Lord was pleased to call me out of
darkness. I remember just as clearly sitting
in a living room with a bunch of people sitting around, and
there was a man and his wife, and they were talking to me about
these things of the Lord. That was the most ridiculous
thing I've ever heard in my life. I had no interest in what they
were saying. I think, you people are nuts.
I've gone over the, I mean, I don't mind. Yeah, I mean, you know,
if you wanna go to church, whatever. You know, that was my attitude.
That was my attitude, so I'm telling you, I know, I know what
people, I know what, I know how we are, we are, this is the way
we are. Our hearts, we heard our hearts
did melt. But you know, it hurt it, crossed
over the Red Sea, been a while. Sure, how God dried it up. He hadn't dried up the Jordan
yet. Not yet, it's coming. We heard, they heard, they knew
the story. But it's been a while. Many years
ago, we heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea. How long ago
was that? 40 years, 40 years. Oh, because nothing happened
for a while. You know, they didn't believe. Ecclesiastes 8.11, because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, Therefore,
the heart of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil. All the, with them, the rest
of the city, the conscience stirred for a little while and with Rahab
a new heart. When? I don't know. I don't know. But I'm telling you, it was something
by the grace of God that had happened to this woman. She was like Lydia. The Lord
opened her heart. She heard and she believed. I
know that the Lord had given you the land. And look at the
effect that it had on this woman. The scripture says in Hebrews
11, 31, gives us this information. She received the spies with peace. God had given her faith to the
glory of God. Devils believe that there's a
God. And there's an assent to the
things of God. Well, I believe in God. I said
before, demons believe there's a God. I believe He died on the
cross. Well, they know He died on the
cross. But why did He die? Who was He dying for? Why was
He there? Why did he come into this earth?
This is the declaration of the gospel we set forth. The declaration
of the gospel is the declaration of a finished work. I can tell
you right now. Somebody said, what is the gospel? It's a declaration
of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation
of his people. That's the gospel. The good news
of the gospel. Here by faith, she said, I know
your God is God. And the miracle, the miracle
that this woman believed. I say miracle because she's,
again, the only one that's recorded, that possessed it in that city.
How many people were in that city? I don't know. A bunch,
bunch. They all heard the same thing.
They heard the same report. They all heard reports about
the Hebrews. How did they know? I don't know
how they know. It doesn't say how they know, but they knew.
But nobody in that city had a heart to ask for mercy. One more. How many times have we seen within
the scriptures how God shows mercy to one and passes by another? The other day I was listening
to something that Brother Henry Mahan had said. Brother Henry,
by the grace of God, I was able to spend so much time with him
and I enjoyed my time with him and Doris. And Henry told me
that when they raised that flag on Iwo Jima, those Marines that
went up there and raised that flag, Henry said, I watched him
do it. He said, I watched him raise
that first. The first one was a little bitty one. Went back
and put a bigger one there. But he said, I watched him raise
that first flag. He said, he was a signalman. And he said,
I saw him. I saw him. I thought, man, that
was, man, now you're talking about history. But he told me
that when they were going to Okinawa, they were going to Okinawa. And he said, we were in a convoy.
It was just a bunch of ships. And he said, Marvin, there was
a, A kamikaze, it hit the ship in front of us and it sunk. This
one hit behind us and it sunk too. Sailors, bunch of them killed,
bunch of them in the water. He said, by the grace of God,
I didn't get hit, I think. What providence, what mercy. Almighty God, boom, raise up
this little old fella from Alabama. Call him by the grace of God,
teach him. raise up an assembly in Ashland,
Kentucky, and one day was going to be the instrument. By the grace of God, and I heard
something. This woman alone, by God's good
pleasure, sought God's will, sought God's will before the
safety of her city. He treasured the guarding of
God's servants over pleasing her fellow citizens. This woman was the one who alone,
who said, verse 11, the Lord your God, he's God in heaven
above and earth beneath. And then there's one point I
want us to bring out. I touched on this last Wednesday
night because of the passage we were in in Genesis. But I
want us to be mindful of an answer that she gave these king's men. And I'm going to say some of
the same things briefly, but I'm going to say some of the
same things that I said. Well, spies went into that place. She
came into Rahab's house and Verses four and five says the
woman took the two men and hid them and thus said to these fellows
that had come from the powers that be there in Jericho, and
they said, we want the guys. We want them, turn them over.
And she said, now you have to understand, the scripture says
that she hid them. She hid them. And she said to
the men, there came men unto me, but I wist not whence they
were. I didn't know who they were. Verse five, it came to pass about
the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men
went out. Whether the men went, I know not. And there's two lies
for sure. She knew exactly who they were.
And she knew exactly where they were. She says, pursue after them quickly,
for you shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to
the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon the roof. One writer said that
her having those flax and those stalks, and it was flax, it was
for making fabrics, I think they said, something like that. And
she was, it said that this woman who formerly they believed was
a harlot. Now she got her an honorable
job. I could see that, I don't know
that, but that's what the scripture says. But anyway, but these men
came and they wanted to know. Now they heard, they heard what
God had done in the opening of the Red Sea and when all the
people of God passed over. And they heard what was going
on, they knew what happened to Those two kings, Sihon and Og,
just briefly, I'll tell you what happened to those two kings.
The nation of Israel was wanting to just pass through their land.
They just, they said, look, we won't bother anything. We won't
touch anything. We just want to know if we can
walk across your land. That's all we want to do. We
just mind our own business, just wanting to give you a heads up
that we're going to be walking across your land. Is that okay
with you? They said, no. Both kings raised themselves
up to come out and they picked a fight. Sihon and Og picked
a fight with the people of Israel. And they wasn't looking for a
fight. And God destroyed them. Sihon and Og defeated them. Israel
took over. She said, we heard what happened.
We know what happened. We know what happened to you.
All the people in that city, they heard. They heard what you
heard. But then, the scripture says
they came and they wanted to know where are the men. The people
of Jericho, except for Rahab, had refused to cast themselves
upon the mercy of God, to bow to God's will. God gave them
what they wanted. Now, those of you that were here,
you'll remember this. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. Reiterate. And listen, I want you to understand
something. Getting ready to read something that we must remember
is the Word of God. I said that Wednesday. Remember
what I'm getting ready to say. This is God's Word. 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 7 to 12. 2 Thessalonians 2, 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be
taken out of the way. Then shall the wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and
shall destroy all the brightness of his coming, even him whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs
and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish." Now, get this, because they Receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause. God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. That they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in on righteousness. Brethren. Again, as I said last
Wednesday night, God help us. Please for myself and I pray
for you. Don't give me what by nature
I want. Well, let me tell you what I
want by nature. I want God to leave me alone. This is what
I want by nature. This is what I want by nature. Leave me alone. It's where you get that. What
did Adam and Eve do when they sinned against God? They hid
themselves. Or to say it, leave me alone.
Leave me alone. All this religious stuff, leave
me alone. Brethren, I pray that God does
not leave me alone or you alone. But if he does, if he gives a
man or a woman what they want, Don't want to have anything to
do with it. If he gives a man or a woman what they want and
sends them a lie, that's what he said, he'll send them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie because they would not
receive the love of the truth. What did these men want from
Rahab? The scripture says they wanted
a lie because they would not. They heard you like her, but
they would not receive the love of the truth. So God gave them
what they wanted. Where are the men? I don't know. They were here. I didn't know
where they came from. I didn't know what they wanted. They left
just before they closed the gate. And if you hurry, you can catch
them. That's a lie. That was a lie.
God said, by faith, by faith, Rahab did that. You say, well,
I don't see how. Well, I'll tell you what I'm
going to do. I'm going to believe God. Believe God. Rahab was commended
by the Lord. Listen to what James James 225,
likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works. What does that mean, justified
by works? You know what the word justified means? No charge, no
charge, no record, no record. Oh, what the blood of Christ
covers. Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works when she had received the messenger
and had sent them out another way? What she did according to
the word of God was by faith and God accepted her, accepted
her in Christ. Just don't ever, you know, fail
to remember where we're found to be justified. And just those
that heard and refused to submit Matthew 11, as I wrap this up,
Matthew 11. Those that, they heard, they
heard, like I said, they heard, they heard what she heard. They
heard what she heard. But listen to Matthew 11, 20
to 26. Listen to what the Lord said.
Then he began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty
works were done. because they repented not. Woe
unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida! If the
mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre
and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell.
If the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done
in Sodom, It would have remained until this day, but I say unto
you, it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. You know what is going to be
horrible? Horrible. Horrible to leave this
world without Christ. But to leave this world without
Christ and be in the place where the gospel was preached? To be in a place where the gospel
is preached? Woe unto you, Farmington. Woe
unto you, Fairmont, Bridgeport, and Clarksburg. Woe unto you,
if the mighty works which was done in you in this vicinity
right here, where God's raised up the gospel, had been done
in Sodom, Sodom would have still been there. Beloved, we are not competent. to understand the ways of God. Man, by nature, hears of God's
ways and his righteous judgment against wickedness. And man, in his depravity, sits
there in judgment against God. I just can't believe that God
would do that. The scripture says in Revelation
15 through 3, great and marvelous. or thy works, Lord God Almighty,
just and true, are thy ways, thou King of saints. Well, she
protected those spies and she opened her mouth wide and she
said, in verse 12, back in Joshua 2, 12 to 14, she said, now therefore
I pray you swear unto me by the Lord, since I've shown you kindness,
that you'll show kindness unto my father's house and give me
a true token. that you will save alive my father,
my mother, my brother, my sisters, all that they have and deliver
our lives from death. And the man answered her, I'll
live for yours. If you utter not this, our business
in it shall be when the Lord hath given us the land that we
will deal kindly and truly with thee. You know, this is an amazing
thing. This woman, she wanted a token
before she lowered him down. I need a token. I need something
from you. That I got your word on this.
I want you to show mercy. And they gave her a token. She lowered him down by a cord. And he said, now I want you to
put this scarlet ribbon, this cord, in the window that you're
lowering us down from. We come in, and you're gonna
get it as soon as I say it. Come in, what we're gonna be
looking for is that scarlet ribbon. When we see the ribbon, we're
gonna pass over you. Man, was that preaching ill or what? This woman, before they left,
that woman right there, look at verse 21. She said, according
to the word, so be it. She sent them away, they departed,
and she bound the scarlet line in the window. God was getting
ready to send them in in three days. That's what Joshua said. We're going in in three days.
Well, here, these three days are past it. But this woman, they entered
into a covenant with her. Deuteronomy 7, remember when
the Lord said, when you go into the land of Canaan, Don't marry
them, don't have covenants, don't do anything. But I was blessed. I looked at
that word, covenant, that was used in Deuteronomy 7. You can
go back and look it up if you want to. I would encourage you
to do so. It was talking about a covenant
between men. A covenant between men. Don't
enter into any covenant. Listen to what she said. when
she asked him in verse 12. Now, therefore, I pray you swear
unto me by the Lord. I don't want your word. You swear
to me by God's word. You tell me what God's will is.
You tell me the truth. Swear to me by the Lord. Since I've showed you kindness,
that you'll show kindness to me. wanted God's word, she appealed
to the mercy of God, the God who deals with his own in covenant
mercy. That's what David said. That's
what David said. He said, although my house be
not so with God, yet he hath made, he hath made with me. An
everlasting covenant ordered in all things ensured. This is
all my salvation. God promises His people. She
sent them out. Brother Jeff, you read it. She
sent them out. She said, listen, go out and
stay gone three days. It ain't amazing that the Lord
moved Joshua to tell the people. He said, now, we going over in
three days. She said, you go three days and hide. Men of the
town came out and they headed, they went by the way of Jordan.
They figured these guys are going back. We know they're over there.
They were right on the other side of the Jordan River, so
they started searching for him, searched for him, couldn't find
him. Three days later, came back, told Joshua, the Lord's given
us the land. It's ours. Joshua rose up the
next morning, and they got ready to pass over the Jordan River.
And Lord willing, we'll kind of look. I may just stay in Joshua
for a little while, and let's just see what God has to say.
I pray God bless this time.