May it please almighty God to
bless us this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
book of Joshua, and the second chapter, and we'll read the 11th
verse. The book of Joshua, chapter two,
and we'll read verse 11. And as soon as we had heard these
things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any
more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God,
he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. This account of Rahab really
very clearly and wonderfully sets before us what we perhaps
term the sovereign grace of God to this woman. And just so that
you young people understand what I say, when we talk about sovereign
grace, when we use the word sovereign, it normally refers to a king
or queen. And a king or queen, especially
in older times, perhaps not so much today, a king or a queen
had the ability to do and to say whatever they desired, and
those things were brought to pass. If they gave an order,
it was carried out. People didn't think, well, I'm
not going to do it. If it came from a king or queen, it was
carried out. So that's the power of a sovereign. And then the word grace, as you
may know, it can be defined very simply as the unmerited favour
from God. That means that none of us deserve
any blessing, any favour. It is totally unmerited. It's
not because of all the good that we've done. It's not because
we think good things or say good things or do good things. Because
we should always remember that Siddhu, so there's nothing to
do, so there's no reason why God should ever look upon us. Which is a wonderful thing therefore
if we receive what we term His grace, His unmerited favour. So come back to that. Sovereign
grace means that the Lord God, as the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, gives dispenses his grace to unworthy sinners. And it is good to realise that
this woman Rahab was clearly not naturally a good person. She was a harlot, or what we
would term today a prostitute, and she wasn't therefore a good
living person. And yet we see that God wonderfully
and gloriously was that God who came and produced in her heart,
and that's the important relevant point, not just in her mind,
it was in her heart, to change her to a believer. From an unbeliever to a believer. We must realise that all of us
today are born as unbelievers. We don't truly believe the word
of God. We don't truly believe in the
grace of God until God comes and reveals himself unto us,
as he did unto Rahab, as the Lord. It's very significant in
this chapter, which probably the story is pretty familiar
to us, but to think of the detail which may not be. so true to
us and we haven't perhaps studied the details. Sometimes it's very
good to study the detail of things and to recognize how these things
came about. Now, it is interesting how the
Lord in his goodness and mercy brought this about. And we know,
we're told that Joshua He sent two men, and we're told they're
two young men. They weren't old men. They were
young men who would be active and would be able to go and find
out the situation. They were to go and spy out,
secretly, go and view the land, even Jericho, and find out the
true situation. So these men went and they came
to this harlot's house. So we might think, well that
was a very strange place to go. Fancy going to a harlot's or
a prostitute's house. But we should perhaps just think
about it for a moment. They wanted to be amongst people
who wouldn't be observed. And of course, a harlot's house
was a wicked place and the people wouldn't want to have been seen
going to it. They'd want to creep there, perhaps
unobserved. So no doubt they felt this was
one of the places they could go and perhaps be unobserved,
going otherwise to what we might term a hotel or an inn. So they
went to this place, it may have been in a back alley, it may
have been in a dark place, and therefore they went to this harlot's
house. But they were observed. Although
perhaps they tried to do these things secretly, they were observed. people saw them and they realized
they weren't local residents they were people from Israel
they were Israelites and therefore they sent messengers to the king
that he might be told hold on there's some enemies have come
in to this country so the king sent unto Rahab saying bring
forth the men that had come to thee which I entered into thine
house for they become to search out all the country and now it's
Again it's interesting to read what Rahab spoke to those who
came to her. She quite clearly didn't tell
the truth. Now let's be quite clear about
this. We should be honest in the things that we do and say. And we should not really come
and say, well of course I've got the example of Rahab so I
can tell all manner of lies. Well, we shouldn't ever go down
that route. But the Lord, again in his sovereign mercy and grace,
did ordain that Rahab should act in this way. And of course
we have another situation in the Word of God when we know
that Jacob and Esau, Jacob came to his father. under the influence
of his mother and was untruthful in that which he spoke to Jacob. We can never think, therefore,
that it's right to tell lies. And don't ever go away thinking,
well, Rahab told lies and therefore I can justify telling lies. We
can't justify telling lies. But nonetheless, the Lord in
his great almighty plan allowed Rahab to speak untruthfully to
those people that came to search out these two spies and to find
them. And of course they were hidden
under flax on her rooftop and therefore she told them they'd
gone away and they should pursue them, which they did, which therefore
left the way clear so that she could then instruct these two
spies how to escape. She knew which way the pursuers
would go and she therefore instructed them to go in a different way. But it's so important to recognise
what she came and spoke to these people, these spies. Clearly it was very burdensome
to her. that she was to tell them the
truth and tell them what she believed would reference to God. Now you think of this, here was
this vast town of Jericho with all these many people living
in it and the Lord in his great sovereign mercy had seen fit
to come to this woman Rahab and to convince her that those things
which she had heard and the people in Jericho had heard emanated
through and by the power of the Lord God. All the rest of the
people didn't come to that same conclusion. It's a wonderful
truth, isn't it? And it's reason for you and me
today to think of this in our little lives. As we live in a
vast country, a vast, we live in perhaps different towns, but
we live in large towns and there are many, many people in those
towns. And what a blessing it is if God, in his sovereign grace,
should have come to us individually, and God's work is an individual
work, it's a personal work, it's a wonderful work, it's a glorious
work, to be able to find that the Almighty God has come and
convinced us in the same way that the Lord convinced Rahab. As we read down these verses,
it's so clear that she'd been convinced by the Holy Spirit
of God. So the ninth verse tells us,
And she said unto the men, How did she know? It was by the Spirit's
work in our heart. So let us ponder that this morning.
Can you and I say, I know because it's what God
has shown us. I know that the Lord has given
you the land and that your terror has fallen upon us. and that
all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you." Now, all
the inhabitants of the land fainted because of them. But they didn't
realise it was the power of Almighty God. This was isolated to this
woman Rahab. And she goes on. But we have
heard how the Lord, and remember she gives honour again to God
as the Lord." She didn't say, well, this has occurred in some
chance way. No, it wasn't any chance way. She acknowledged it was the Lord
that had dried up the water of the Red Sea. For when you came
out of Egypt, and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites
that were on the other side of Jordan, Zion and Og, whom ye
utterly destroyed. Clearly she was stating that
it was the Lord that had done these things. And again it's
a blessing and it's an important evidence of the life of God in
our souls today, when you and I can acknowledge things have
occurred which the Lord has done. Not just a chance occurrence,
but it's that which the Lord has done. by the powerful influence
of the work of God in our own hearts to demonstrate without
any doubt it is the work of the Lord. Now thankfully today the
Lord rules and reigns in the same way that he did in the days
of Rahab. I am the Lord, I change not. The Lord is the same today. I am the Lord, I change not.
The same yesterday and today and forever. This is the God
that you and I are wonderfully privileged to serve and to know,
and it's a great blessing for us today to be able to declare
it in the same way that Rahab was. It's a very important thing
in our lives to be able to say in this personal way, as she
was able to declare in this personal way, that it was indeed the Lord. And so she gives this testimony
and she says, and as soon as we had heard these things, our
hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any
more courage in any man because of you. And then she makes this
amazing statement, wonderful words of truth. for the Lord your God she's speaking
now to these two men these two men who were believers therefore
she refers to it like this for the Lord your God the God of
Israel the God who she believed in because now she says he is
God in heaven above and in earth
beneath. What a very clear testimony,
wasn't it? To acknowledge the truth and
the greatness of God. And what a blessing for us today,
if we can say, all of us, you children and young people, as
well as those of us who are older, to be able to come to a very
simple statement, isn't it? He is God. in heaven above and
in the earth beneath." In a very simple statement she acknowledged
the greatness of God. The greatness of God who was
ruling in those days over the whole universe and on the earth. She didn't look anywhere else.
There was one God, one true God, one great God. And there is today. Isn't that a glorious truth?
May it strengthen us to know and believe in the same way. Given to Rahab was faith to believe. You and I today need that same
living faith to believe in the true God. Without faith it is
impossible to please God. And it's the Almighty God who
gives faith. And you and I must receive that
gift. It's a glorious gift. It's a
necessary gift. It's an essential gift. Without
it, we shall perish in our sins. So what a mercy for us today
to receive this gift of faith, to believe in God, this gift
of faith, to recognize that we are sinners. It is so significant
isn't it that Rahab as in Harlot was naturally a very great sinner. Well we may not be in that sphere
at all for us but nonetheless when the Holy Spirit convinces
of sin what we might think as small sins become big sins and
we can't think well I've only done a little sin It may be a
relevant small thing but it needs to be forgiven in exactly the
same way that this woman Rahab needed all her sins to be forgiven
and to recognize that she was looking and believing in this
great Lord God, the Lord your God. He is God in heaven above
and in the earth beneath. When all of us today young and
old have heard much about God much about God since we were
perhaps since we were born at least since we were young but
the great issue is can we say in the same words from our heart
like Rahab did He is God in heaven above and in the earth beneath
because if we can say that From our very hearts we are recognizing
that there is a God who rules and reigns, and a God who rules
and reigns in our hearts, and a God who is to us a King, a
God who is the Sovereign Ruler in our hearts. What a mercy for
us today to come to that position and to recognize that This God
is our God. What a glorious statement it
is, isn't it? Perhaps we've read this account
many times, I expect most of us have. And perhaps we have
noticed the importance of it. But it's wonderful when the Holy
Spirit, therefore, directs us to clearly see the faith given
to this Harlot Rahab. who was able to come to this
confession. It was really, we might say,
a confession of her faith. We need to have a confession
of our faith. And our faith is to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this morning, can we answer? Can we have? Do we have? that
glorious evidence of the work of God in our heart, which has
shone into our heart. The light of the glorious gospel
of Jesus Christ has shown to us that He is our Lord and that
He is our God. You see, this woman refers to
God as the Lord and also as God. It's good therefore in our lives
today that we acknowledge that the God who rules and reigns
is our Lord, our Master, our King, the one that we desire
to follow and the one that we desire to honour and the one
that we desire to acknowledge is indeed the Lord. He is God in heaven above and
in earth beneath. Now we should recognise here
that this woman Rahab clearly acknowledged the true God who
was her Lord and was the God of heaven and earth. And it's
an important word to us, it's an important word to the Church
of God that it is beholden and it is evident that the work of
the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Church of God brings out
in their lives, through their words, the evidence that the
Lord, He is the God. the Lord, He is the God, just
like those days in Elijah, you may remember Mount Carmel, a
time when it appeared all the people were worshipping Baal
apart from Elijah himself, that's what he thought, he wasn't right
of course because we read further on the Lord told him there were
7,000 that are not bound to Baal, but nonetheless there was this
occasion when they wanted to find out who was the true God. And therefore Elijah directed
them to have this offering, this sacrifice, and to acknowledge
that the true God was the one who answered by fire. And you
may remember that the prophets of Baal tried all they could
to get Baal to hear their prayer and come down and consume the
sacrifice. And Elijah of course mocked them
and said well perhaps he's asleep or perhaps he's on a journey
and everything else. And they of course they cut themselves
in order that this vain God might hear them without any effect. And then you see Elijah blessed
with faith to believe in the greatness of God, prayed
under God faithfully that he would reveal himself and demonstrate
indeed that he was the God. And as the Prophet concluded
his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice
and the altar and the water that had been poured on it and in
the trench round about it, a very clear demonstration of who was
the God. And of course the result was
all those worshippers of Baal, they turned round and said, He
is the God! He is the God! Who is now demonstrated
by His power that He was the true God. What a blessing that
is for us today. If you and I have a demonstration
of the greatness and trueness of God as God comes and touches
our heart. And you might say, well, what
does that mean? Well, I'll tell you really what it means. It
touches our heart in this way, to convince us, first of all,
of our sin before God, so that we can never think that we are
a sinless person, we can never think that we're a righteous
person. We can never really think, well
I'm relying on what I'm doing and what I've done. We have to
come before God and acknowledge that all our righteousnesses
are worthless. The Bible tells us this, they
are as filthy ranks that have no value. And we come therefore
seeking for mercy. We understand then what the Lord
said with regard to the publican. and we cry out from our heart,
God be merciful to me a sinner. Now that was a true prayer and
it's a prayer of every true believer. When we come before our God pleading
for mercy, pleading for mercy, because we'll recognise that
we need mercy and we'll plead to God for mercy. and then what
a glorious truth it is when God comes and touches our heart and directs
us to the Lord Jesus Christ who wonderfully and gloriously dispenses
and gives us his grace to show us his mercy and that mercy is
displayed in his love to warn us We are unworthy to receive
it and yet God gloriously displays it to us. And the effect is that
our hearts are moved. We might say strangely moved. There's a movement in our very
minds and hearts which we never had before. And what is it? It's the work of the Holy Spirit
of God to show to us The Lord is looking upon us and the Lord
is showing to us nothing less really than that which God has
shown to this woman Rahab. Now it was clear that this woman
Rahab had been brought to this view in a personal way. She wasn't favoured to meet with
a lot of God's people, but God had come to her in this wicked
town of Jericho, and it clearly shown to her, the Lord, He is
the God. Now that's what all of us need
to be shown, personally, by Almighty God, the Lord, He is the God. And to be able to say, and she
did, He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. He is the
God, as we view the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has taken away
my sin. I plead it for mercy. You will
plead for mercy. It's not something transient. It's not something you think
of one moment and then forget about when you and I are under
condemnation, when we are under the condemnation of Almighty
God, we may very much tremble, because if God doesn't have mercy
upon us, we shall realise we are lost, eternally lost. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit warms our heart and we view by faith the Lord Jesus
Christ. dying upon that cross at Calvary,
to redeem our sins, to save us from our sins, to forgive us
of our sins and to direct us to realise that there was only
one Lord Jesus Christ who could forgive my sins and the price
that was required. You see, you and I have a debt
to pay because the Bible tells us this the wages of sin the
payment for our sin is death eternal death all of us have
sinned we all deserve to die in our sins and to inherit that
eternal state in hell what a terrible, terrible scene what a blessing
it is when the Holy Spirit therefore directs us to view, again, by
faith, living faith, the Lord Jesus Christ dying upon Calvary's
cross. And when we read of it, and when
we read those words that the Lord Jesus spoke, as He completed
the work that His Father gave Him to do, and He said, it is
finished. The whole plan of salvation was
complete, and the thing that it was completed on your and
my behalf." What a wonderful revelation by the Spirit of God
to our souls and what an effect it has in our heart. It produces warmth in our heart. It produces love in our heart
to the great and glorious Saviour for His amazing love toward us
in saving our soul, to hearing our prayers, They may have seemed
very weak, they may have seemed very poor, but you see if they
bid off and up in faith, they would enter in. God will hear,
God will answer, God will forgive us. We will therefore have the
evidence to be able to humbly and yet truthfully say in these
words, He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. this morning,
may we bless God. If God has brought us, and it
will only be God that has brought us, you won't bring yourself
there, God brings us there. By His grace, by His unmerited
favour, in His time, in His way, to be able to rejoice in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will not just be an
historical name. You may say, well what will he
be? He will be our Saviour. He'll be the one who saved my
soul. The one who's died on my behalf. And as we think upon these things,
the Gospel will expand and we'll see how How wonderful it is that God
should have saved our souls. Well, God has saved Rahab's soul. Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ
hadn't come, he hadn't died. But you see, God clearly given
her faith to look forward to the Messiah who was, of course,
the one that they desired, who was, of course, Jesus. And He
did come, as the Word of God tells us so very clearly. He
did come. He fulfilled all the prophecies
that were made by Him. He was fulfilled. The evidence,
the great and glorious truth of God. Oh, what a wonderful
thing it is, isn't it, to know these great and glorious truths. Some people might say, how do
we know that Rahab was in actual fact a true believer? We do because
the Bible tells us. Thankfully there are those words
in the New Testament which clearly tell us about Rahab. In the epistles of Paul to the
Hebrews there is that great long list of those believers who were
given faith, as you and I need, and in verse 31 of the 11th chapter
of the Hebrews, we're told this, By faith the harlot Rahab perished
not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies
with peace. You see, quite clear, wasn't
it? in that long list of worthies who the Lord had called by sovereign
grace and then also in the little epistle to James we read these
words in the second chapter and the 23rd verse we can start reading
and the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God
and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called
a friend of God. You see then how that by works
a man is justified and not by faith only. He did that which
was right. And then it comes to likewise also was not Rahab
the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers
and had sent them out another way? clear word there to demonstrate
the truth and favour and blessing of Almighty God. It's a wonderful
thing, isn't it, to know the Lord in his sovereign grace,
therefore, has given us these confirmations so that we are
not left in any doubt that Rahab was a true believer, Rahab was
a true child of God. We today are blessed therefore
with these signs. You remember there was that case
of Thomas, who when the Lord was risen from the dead and he
appeared to his disciples and the disciples told Thomas, Hey,
we've seen the Lord. And he said, I won't believe,
you know, until I've actually seen and put my fingers into
the holds in his hands and feet and thrust my hand into the side.
But of course when Jesus did come again and after eight days
again his disciples were within and Thomas with them then came
Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said peace
be unto you he said to Thomas reach hither thy finger behold
my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust into my side
and be not faithless but believing. Thomas didn't do what he said
he was going to do. He just said some very simple,
true, great and glorious words. My Lord and my God. Jesus addressed him in this way,
which is good for us today. Thomas, because thou hast seen
me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed." Well, that applies to us, doesn't
it? We haven't physically seen the Lord Jesus Christ, but we
are as blessed as Thomas was if God has given us faith to
believe in the great and glorious words of God. And the Lord goes
on, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have
life through his name. That's good news, isn't it? That's
good news for us today, isn't it? We don't see Jesus physically. What a wonderful mercy it is,
therefore, if we see Jesus as he gives us faith to believe
the great and glorious word of God. And just one other little
reference we have in the word of God, a woman of Canaan came
to the Lord asking, for mercy upon me, O Lord, thou son of
David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. Well, she
said, first of all, Lord, have mercy upon me because of her
daughter. And she goes on and comes down. She came and, but he answered
and said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Then came she and worshiped him
saying, Lord, Help me. It's not a long prayer, isn't
it? We can all pray that, can't we?
Lord, help me. I do want to believe the great
and glorious truth of God. Lord, help me. And the aunt said,
it is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it at the dogs.
And she said, truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from the master's table. And then Jesus said this. Oh, woman, great is thy faith. Perhaps you didn't think it was,
but it was, because it was God giving her faith. Great is thy
faith, be unto thee even as thou wilt. And a daughter was made
whole from that very hour. Well, this woman, you see, Rahab,
was blessed with this living faith. My friends, today, may
you and I be blessed with this living faith to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look unto me and be ye saved
for I am God and there is none else. It is a mercy then to have
a God that you and I can come to today and believe in in the
same way that Rahab did all those years ago. Her trust, her hope
was in the Lord God. You and I today need that same
faith and trust to believe in the Lord God and to thank God
that we have an account like this in the Word of God and be
able to say, as she did, for the Lord your God, He is God
in heaven above and in earth beneath. Amen.