Turn with me again tonight to
Joshua chapter 2. And let me say in the beginning,
in the verses before us tonight, I believe that we have a very
good representation and a picture of gospel preaching. And I just
love the exchange of words here between Rahab and the two spies. It reminds me of believers preaching
and encouraging one another in the gospel. I've heard some very
spiritually profitable gospel preaching in my lifetime. In
1986, Teresa and I first heard the gospel from men like Henry
Mahan and Scott Richardson, Don Fortner, Jack Shanks, Maurice
Montgomery, Rupert Reibenbach, all now deceased, every one of
those men. along with Don Bell, Tim James,
David Pledger, who are all still alive and still preaching. And
I've also experienced some true preaching outside of the pulpit. Years ago, when Tim James used
to have his fall conference, there in Cherokee, North Carolina,
oftentimes, during the day, before the services that evening, Brother
Henry and Brother Scott would pull up chairs out in front of
the motel there, and they'd sit there, the old El Camino Motel. I don't know if you ever went,
but if you did, you won't forget it. I don't think they had TVs
or telephones in the rooms. And before long, everyone that
was attending the conference that stayed at that motel, and
that was about the only motel in Cherokee at the time. That
was before the days of the casinos and all that. But folks would
sit outside, pull up chairs, some sat on blankets and just
sit there in the grass and listen to these two men share stories
and scriptures. And in no uncertain terms, preached
the gospel. Wasn't a pulpit they were standing
behind, but they were nonetheless preaching. And as a young believer,
I can remember that being so profitable to me as a young believer
as I heard them speak. And also, I've many times while
staying in the homes of other preachers and other believers,
I've heard good preaching and preached a little myself around
the kitchen table. And most every time that I went
to visit Brother Bruce at home, I'd leave spiritually edified
because he'd always do a little preaching to me. And for that,
I'm thankful. true gospel preaching happens
more than just when a preacher stands in a pool pit. And you
know, in second Corinthians chapter five, the apostle Paul tells
us that God has given every believer, every child of God, the ministry
of reconciliation. Now that's talking about being
reconciled to God. And we know that God's chosen
means of reconciling sinners unto himself is the preaching
of the gospel. So it pleased the Lord, as we
read a moment ago, to save sinners through the preaching of the
gospel. And a lot of times folks like you say, like, well, I don't
have a ministry or I don't really do much. Well, You do have a
ministry. It's a ministry of reconciliation. And we ought to be telling everybody
that we know what Christ has done for us. And to do so, you're
preaching. In studying these verses before
us tonight, I'm reminded of just that. No doubt the Lord referred
to receiving and preaching the gospel when he in Matthew chapter
10 said, freely you have received, freely give. And the gospel is
freely shared with us and we freely share it to others. And I believe that these two
spies very well represent gospel preachers and there's no doubt
in my mind, as we've already discussed, that no one could
be a better picture of the saved sinner than Rahab the harlot. And we all have opportunities
to preach. Rahab beautifully represents
the saved sinner and she gives us a very good illustration here
of what preaching is in our text. So let's pick back up the story
of Rahab and the two spies in verse 12 here of Joshua 2, and
let's listen in on the words of these two parties. Verse 12,
Rahab. speaks and she says, now therefore,
speaking to the spies, now therefore I pray you, swear or promise
unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you
will also show kindness unto my father's house. and give me
a true token, and that ye will save alive my father, and my
mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they
have, and deliver our lives from death. And the men answered her
and said, our life are yours if you utter not this our business,
and it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we
will deal kindly, mercifully, gracious, and truly with thee. Then she let them down by a cord
through the window, for her house was upon the town wall, and she
dwelt upon the wall. Then in verse 16, Rahab says
these words, and notice the gospel language here that's found in
them. It's amazing when you read them. I've been reading these
verses for three or four weeks now. And in verse 16, and she
said unto them, get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet
you, and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers
be returned, and afterward may ye go your way. Now in these
words to the spies, Rahab gives them a beautiful representation
of what it is to be delivered from death, from this death of
sin. And that's what the gospel is.
It's a message of deliverance. The first words from Rahab's
lips here are, get ye to the mountain. Now that immediately
in my mind brings thoughts of Mount Zion and Mount Calvary. That's where true deliverance
is found. And that's where we must go for spiritual Deliverance. Get ye to the mountain. Get to
Mount Calvary, because that's where the same Lord Jesus hung
in agony and suffered in pain, and He put away the sins of His
people. That's where Christ shed His
blood for the sins of His elect. By a singular glorious act of
substitution, Christ satisfied the demands of the law in our
place. And He redeemed and He justified
and He made righteous all for whom He died on Mount Calvary. And there was God not only satisfied,
but God was glorified. Get you to the mountain. Get
you to the mountain. Get to Mount Zion where God has
set His King upon His holy hill. There He reigns and He rules. He's at the right hand of majesty
on high. And if you don't get to that
mountain, the pursuers will find you and destroy you. These pursuers,
they very well, in our verse, picture the law, the law. The law of God is a great pursuer. Religion today endeavors to bind
people under the law by declaring that the dead sinner must somehow
keep the law to be worthy of acceptance. And then, on the
other hand, many denominations excuse the necessity of the law
altogether. They do so by saying, well, we're
not under the law, we're under grace. And they give a license
for men to sin by saying such things, and though that is true
for every chosen believer, we are not under the law, we're
under grace. But for every chosen sinner who's
in Christ, we've noted many times that sin cannot be simply swept
under a rug because God's law demands perfection. And the whole
law must be kept perfectly in order for a sinner to be saved
by it. And he who offends in one point,
the scripture says, is guilty of the whole law. So sin must
be punished in order for God to be a just God, who by no means
can clear the guilty. And God's holy justice demands
that to be so. Now, sin must be punished on
the one who's offended the law, or it must be punished upon a
suitable substitute. And that's the gospel, the law,
the great pursuer imputes or charges guilt for sin. You know,
where there is no sin, now I wish we could get ahold of this, but
where there is no sin, there's neither reason or warrant for
the law. That's what Paul meant in Romans
chapter five, verse 12, when he said, sin is not imputed when
there is no law. And then he added in Galatians
chapter three, verse 19, wherefore then serveth the law? Or in other
words, what's the reason for the law? Why was the law given? And Paul said very simply, it
was added because of transgressions. Now, contrary to what many today
think, the law was not given to keep honest people honest.
It was given to assign blame and guilt to the dishonest. The
law keeps no one from sinning. I hope we've seen that. I hope God's revealed that to
us. The law keeps no one from sinning. The law would not exist
if there was no sin. The law is not for the righteous
man. Timothy 1.8, let me read you
a couple verses. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made
for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers. for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine. That's who the law was given
for. I wish we could understand that the unlawful use of the
law is found in modern day works religion when it tries to apply
the law to where there is no sin. Now I hope you've picked up on
that. 1 Corinthians 15, 56 tells us just
that the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the
law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, you can't
bind one who is perfect in Christ You can't bind them to the law
because one who is in Christ has no sin. Don't try to put
me under the law because Christ has kept the law in my room instead
and He's satisfied the law on my behalf. Since the law was
given to assign blame and to charge sin, being the strength
of sin, Paul said, The law becomes a relentless pursuer of the one
who does not keep it. God's holy and strict justice
demands it. Now, if the Kentucky State Police
is in hot pursuit of one who's broken the law, they may pass
by many others in their pursuit. Have you ever been on the highway
and a state policeman or a Any type of law enforcement passes
you and they got their lights on and they're headed after somebody. They may pass by you and many
others in their pursuit. You know why? Because they're
only after the guilty party. Those that they pass in their
pursuit are not guilty of the crime. The police have no warrant. They have no reason to arrest
those who have committed no crime. The law pursues only the guilty
and only the guilty alone. You see, the law was never given
to establish righteousness, only to charge sin. And that's why
Paul also wrote, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If I can, by
keeping the law or endeavoring to keep the law, but I can't
because it's got to be perfect. I've got to keep it perfectly
to be accepted. If I offend in one point, I'm guilty of the
whole law. So I can't keep it. I can't keep it perfectly. And
if righteousness come by the law, then why did Christ come
and die? So we know it's impossible because
it's a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to do what? Save sinners who could
not keep the law. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ is dead in vain. Those who are in Christ are blameless
before the law. The law has no charge on the
believer. Now, did you notice here in verse 16, what Rahab
said next to the spies? She said, when you get to that
mountain, hide. Hide. Hide yourselves. Rock of ages, it's left for me. Let me hide myself. Indeed, the only place to hide
from God's law is to hide in God himself. David knew this, he wrote in
Psalm 17 and eight, keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me
under the shadow of thy wings. He said, thou art my hiding place
and my shield, I hope in your word. Deliver me, O Lord, from
mine enemies, I flee unto thee to hide me. Thou art my hiding
place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
the songs of deliverance. You see, the gospel declares,
get you to the mountain and hide in Christ. Oh, get you to Calvary
and hide yourself in the one that hangs there. Get you to
Mount Zion where God in the flesh sits at the right hand of God
and hide yourself in Him. This speaks, no doubt. Did you notice there too, she
said, get you to the mountain and hide yourself there three
days. All right. This speaks of the burial and
resurrection of Christ. We were in Christ when he died.
We were in Christ when he was buried. And we were in Christ
when he rose from the grave. And it is our being hid in Christ
that keeps the great pursuer off our trail. The great pursuer
doesn't have any claim on us who are hidden in Christ. Now,
hold your place here in Joshua 2, stick your marker here, and
turn over to Romans chapter 6 if you would with me. We're coming
back to Joshua, but I want you to see these verses in your own
Bible. It helps me sometimes to see
these verses in my Bible, where I can mark them and read
them again at another time. But Romans chapter 6, Verse three, I'll give you a
moment to get there. Romans six, verse three. Paul says, know ye not that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized unto
his death? Therefore, we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we had been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him. that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he
that is dead is freed from sin." Freed from it. Now, if we be
dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him. Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Now
look at verse 11. Likewise reckon ye yourselves
also to be what? Dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. You know what those
verses are saying. Being in Christ, we're dead to
the law, dead to the pursuer. Look down at verse 14 here in
Romans 6. It says, for sin shall not have
dominion over you. Why? For you're not under the
law, but under grace. Our Lord rose from the grave,
we were justified. Turn back a couple pages to Romans
chapter four. Look at verse 20. Romans four,
verse 20, speaking of Abraham here, Paul said, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. and being fully persuaded that
what he, God, had promised, God was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness." Speaking of Abraham. Now it was not written
for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. Oh, aren't you glad it says that?
but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on
Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses, our offense against the law, I might add.
He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. You remember what justification
is? We talked about it Sunday. It's
being rendered innocent. rendered innocent, made innocent.
So beloved, when the pursuers are in hot pursuit of the guilty,
just pull on over and let them go on by. Let them pass. If they're seeking to blame you
for sin, they will not be able, because it's been put away. The
Lord Jesus put your sin away, and you're not guilty. Now back
in Joshua chapter 2, I want you to look at verse 22. Talking about preaching the gospel
here. In Joshua 2 verse 22 it says,
And they went and came into the mountain, and abode there three
days, until the pursuers were returned back to Jericho. Now
look at this, and the pursuers sought them, Threw out all the
way, but found them not. Why? They were hid. Hid in Christ. That's our only hope. And what
a gospel message that is. The wrath, the judgment, and
the justice of God has sought every sinner. But to some, it'll
be said, they sought them and found them not. All that are
in Christ, The law pursued, but it found you not, because you
hid in the Lord Jesus Christ. Being righteous in Christ Jesus,
the pursuers will not find you. They're after the unrighteous.
They're not looking for you. Your debt to the law was paid
on Calvary. They can charge you with nothing.
You have no sin. Well now, we take that literally?
Brother Dave, we better. Yeah, we should take it literally.
The pursuers have returned to their place, having been satisfied. The gospel message to the believing
child of God really is simple. Get to the mountain, hide, and
then go your way. Isn't that what it says? Get
to the mountain, hide, and then go your way. What wonderful liberty
and freedom is found in the gospel that we preach and believe. Our
Lord said, I'm the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall
be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. Stand fast,
Paul said, therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. No,
don't put me under the law. Don't try to put me under it.
I'm free from the law. Oh, happy condition. Jesus Christ
is bled, and there's remission. Remission of my sin. The gospel
says, go your way, for you're not motivated by fear. You see, the pursuer's not looking
for you. Go your way, for you're constrained by the love of Christ
and full assurance of faith. That's what I love about the
gospel. I'm not trusting in my faithfulness. If I was, I'd never
have any peace, comfort, or record. I'm trusting in His faithfulness
to me and what He's done for me. And I'm hiding there. I'm hiding there. I'm staying
in that house. I'm staying in that ark. I've
made it to that city of refuge. I'm going to stay there. Yes,
sir. By God's grace, I am. And then here we also have a
true representation of the gospel by the words of these spies to
Rahab. Look at verse 17. And the men
said unto her, we will be blameless of this thine oath which thou
hast made us swear. You remember what that oath was?
Well, we read it in verse 12. Rahab said, swear unto me by
the Lord. Promise unto me by the Lord.
You see, all the promises of God are in Christ, yea and amen. Everything God does for us is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. His love for us is in Christ. His forgiveness to us is for
Christ's sake. And this was the gospel given
to Rahab. And this is the gospel to you
and me. And it's all in the blood. Verse 18, Behold, when we come
into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in
the window, which thou didst let us down by. And thou shalt
bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and thy father's
household home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever
shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his
blood will be upon his head, and we'll be guiltless. And whosoever
shall be with thee in the house His blood should be on our head.
If it ain't hand, be upon him. You see, friends, if you're in
Christ and Christ's blood is upon you, you are as safe and
secure as it can be. No man can pluck you from his
hand. No man, nobody can pluck you
from his hand. Every father, mother, or brother
that stays in the house, stays in the ark, stays in the city
of refuge shall be saved. And the child of God says with
Rahab, according to the words of this gospel that you just
said, so be it, yea and amen. Last study, when we looked again
at Rahab and the scarlet cord, Clayton said to me afterwards,
And a lot of times these men will say things to me after I've
preached a message, and I always think, I sure wish you could
have told me that before I preached it. Well, this time I get a little
opportunity to say what Clayton said to me. There were probably
many, Clayton said, you know, there were probably many that
Rahab warned of judgment and invited into her house that would
not come. because it was the house of the
harlot. And you know, I thought about
that. They would not come because of whose house it was. Well,
it was the same with our Lord Jesus. Many would not come to
Christ because they saw him only as Joseph's son, as the son of
a carpenter. They said, well, his mother and
father we know. How is it that he said he came
down from heaven? Many in our Lord's days said,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? But the gospel message
is come and see. Come and see. Come and see. For 120 years,
Noah cried, come into the ark. And they thought Noah was a flaming
idiot. until it began to rain. Dear sinner, get into the house
on the wall that cannot fall. Look at verse 23. So the two
men returned and descended from the mountain and passed over
and came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and told him all things
that befell them. And they said unto Joshua, Jehovah
saves. Truly the Lord hath delivered
into our hands all the land, that being the land of promise,
the land that God promised and gave to them. He said, for even
all the inhabitants of the country do faint, that word means melt. because of us. The inhabitants
of Canaan fainted and melted because they'd heard of Israel's
Lord and Israel's God. We read that a study or two ago. And this is the same God, dear
friends, with whom we have to do. God hadn't changed. God's the same yesterday and
today and forever. Sinners will either faint, they'll
either melt for fear of His judgment, or they'll either faint, melt,
bow, bow, and worship Him with praise. And the question of the
hour is, which will it be for you? Which will it be for you? Well, may God enable us to worship
Christ. Bow to Him. May He melt our hearts
and cause us to fall at His feet. May He do so for God's glory
and our good and for Christ's sake. Amen.