All right, you take your Bibles
now and turn with me to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We'll be
looking at verse 31. And then take your Bibles and
turn back over to Joshua chapter 2. So we're going to be looking
at these two places this morning. Hebrews chapter 11. And then we're going to see the
account of this in Joshua chapter two. We have considered the faith
of Moses. We have considered how Moses
is a type of every believer. His faith is a picture of every
believer and that he forsook Israel and he forsook Egypt and
the pleasures of sin, choosing rather to suffer with the people
of God. That's a picture of true faith. rejecting our self-righteousness,
rejecting the religion of this world, and choosing rather, esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of
this world. By faith he kept the Passover.
True faith keeps the Passover in that Christ is the Lamb of
God. We who believe in Him, we trust
this, that He is our Passover Lamb. And all true faith goes
through the Red Sea in verse 29, we read that. We saw that
the sea is a picture of God's justice and how Christ, Christ
by his offering has parted the sea of God's justice by which
we walk through on dry ground. Then we see this now that in
verse 30 last week we saw the faith that by faith the walls
of Jericho fell down. We saw that Jericho is a picture
of the world, the lost religious world. And how the believers
are pictured by Israel marching around Jericho. And we know this,
that the marching and the blowing of the horns is a picture of
the gospel, preaching the gospel. We know this, once that last
one is brought in, when that last saint is brought in, then
this world and all its religion will crumble and fall, and God's
people will be triumphant at last. Now, in verse 31, we're
going to look at the faith of Rahab. The scripture says, by
faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not,
when she had received the spies with peace. Now, as we consider
the faith of Rahab again, I want to remind you, this book, this
chapter, is what we call the Hall of Faith. And these patriarchs,
these ones who went before us, they picture every aspect of
true God-given faith, and Rahab is no exception. Now, the Lord,
before the nation of Israel crossed into the Promised Land, you remember
that He had given the nations of Canaan to his people Israel. They were to inherit this land
to be their own. Therefore, in Joshua chapter
2, now go over there. In Joshua chapter 2, we read that this chapter is
concerning the account of Joshua sending the spies into Jericho. He sent them in there to spy
out the land. And I'll give you a summation
of this chapter so we get to the meat of it. These two men,
they came, they might not have been very good spies. They were
found out real quick. They abode at this one Rahab's
house. Rahab the harlot, and they were
discovered. And when the king discovered
them, he sent men to Rahab's house inquiring of these men. But instead of giving them up,
instead of handing them over to her king, she hid these spies
and lied. She said, these men, oh yeah,
there's some men came here, but they left. You need to go out
and pursue them. And so they went away and she
hid these spies. And the question is, why? would
Rahab risk her life for these men? These men that she had just
met, why would she risk her life and forsake her own king for
these men? Well, it tells us this in verse
9. Look at this. Look at what Rahab said. This
is her reason. She said this unto the men. I
know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror
is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint
before you. For we have heard, now listen,
she knows this, that they are all fainting. And why? Because
we heard something. We heard how the Lord dried up
the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt.
We heard what you did to the two kings of the Amorites on
the other side of Jordan, Shion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. We heard that. And this is what
happened. And as soon as we heard these
things, our hearts didn't 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 the earth
beneath." Now this woman, as well as all the people of her
city, heard of what God did for Israel. They
all knew that God had given Israel the land. They all knew what
He did to Egypt. They all knew what He did to
Pharaoh and those other kings. Yet why was Rahab hiding the
men? Why was she willing to forsake
her people? Risk her own life to hide these
men? One word. Here it is. Faith. Faith. She, unlike all of Jericho, heard
the word. They all heard it. The only difference
between Rahab and the rest of Jericho was this. She believed
it. She believed the Word of God. Now today I'm going to preach
to you the Word of God. I'm going to declare to you the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. And all of you will hear of God's
justice. Of God's judgment. That's what
they heard, wasn't it? They heard of God's just condemnation.
They heard God was going to destroy them. I'm going to tell you that. Listen to me carefully. The soul
that sinneth, it shall surely die. It shall surely die. I will tell you this. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And as these people of Jericho
were cursed So then is all who are not righteous before God.
You are under the condemnation of God. If you are not as righteous
as God Himself, you are under the curse of God. And when God comes, He swears
this. Just as He destroyed Jericho,
He will destroy all who are unrighteous. Listen to what He says of Jericho
and all the nations of Canaan in Deuteronomy 7. The Lord said
this, He said, When the Lord thy God shall deliver them before
thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt
make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. In the day
of God's judgment, when He comes, there will be no mercy. There will be no covenant of
grace to be had. He will utterly destroy the wicked.
Now I'll tell you this, if you are outside of Christ, if you
are not righteous, this should strike fear into your hearts.
It struck fear into the hearts of Jericho. They feared. There was no strength. She said,
there's no strength, no more courage in any man here. Because
of what we've heard. This should strike fear into
your hearts. It should cause you to be like Jericho and melt. Let me ask you, do you know you're
a sinner? Do you know that? Do you see the promises of God's
destruction? Let me tell you this, so did
Jericho. Jericho heard the same thing. And they feared. They feared. There was no courage
in their hearts. But this did not save Jericho
and it won't save you. Knowing your guilt and knowing
the judgment of God does not save you. Why? Because they didn't believe
the word of God. They didn't believe it. They didn't believe it because
they weren't like Rahab who sued for mercy. Rahab believed God's
destruction was coming. Had they really believed it,
they would have sued for mercy. Even so it is with a sinner who
knows their sin, hears God's word. They hear the gospel that
God is an elect people. God has chosen a people before
the foundation of the world, spiritual Israel, and God has
sworn to give them the land, give them heaven. The word of
God declares that Christ Jesus has redeemed his elect people
by his blood. And only Israel shall be saved. Only the elect shall be saved. You got that? Hear that. That's
the message they were hearing. That's the message Jericho heard.
Israel's going to inherit the land. God's going to destroy
you and give it to them. That's what they heard. You like that message? You are if you're Israel, right?
If you're Israel, you sure love that message. Yes. But they,
Jericho hated the message. They despised it. They refused
to surrender to the promises of God. You refuse to believe on Christ
alone? To hold out for merits? To hold
out on your strength of your own self-righteousness? If so,
you, like Jericho, have shut out the Gospel, and you, like
Jericho, will be destroyed. You will be destroyed. The walls of your self-righteousness
will crumble on your hands. You look at those walls of Jericho,
you can measure them, you can feel them, you can touch them,
you can say, look at this, this is strong. And that's what men
do with their works, don't they? They take them, they look at
them, they say, look at my work. They're strong. They should stand
before God's judgment. But just like those walls fell
down, so will your self-righteousness. So will all your religious works
cast down upon your head. But look now at this little text
in Hebrews here, and you're going to see some hope. You're going
to see some hope for citizens of Jericho. Why? Because Rahab
was a citizen of Jericho, wasn't she? It says, By faith, the harlot Rahab perished
not. She perished not. With them that
believed, not. Here's the hope. Not all Jericho
died. Not all the heathen were crushed,
that were cursed, died. But there was one woman in her
family whose wall did not fall flat, whose refuge did not fail. And that was this woman Rahab
the harlot. What made her to differ? Why
is it that that section of wall did not fall while the rest died? The simple truth is she believed
the word of God. She said this, I know. that the
Lord has given you the land. I know God will save Israel. I know God has given all things
to Israel. She said, I know that. I believe
that. And she said in verse 11 of Joshua
chapter 2, she said, I know this, that the Lord, your God, he is
God. By this, she's denounced her
people. She's denounced herself. She's denounced her gods. And
she's confessed. Salvation is of Israel. Salvation's in Israel. And your God is God of heaven
above and earth beneath. So this is the first illustration
of true faith here. True faith, like Rahab, believes
the Word of God. True faith believes the Word
of God. She's heard it, but she, like
everybody else heard it. The difference is this, she believed
it. She believed it. Now the Word
of God, the Gospel in Scripture is often pictured as light. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet
and what? A light unto my path. The Word of God is pictured as
light. In 2 Peter 1, Peter, after testifying that he heard the
voice of God. Now, he, listen to this, he heard
the voice of God. He said, God said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And Peter said, I heard
that voice. I heard him testify of his son. But then he says this in 2 Peter
1.19, he says, we also have a more sure word of prophecy. Something
more than just hearing voices, or seeing signs. What's this
more sure word of prophecy? It is the word of God. It's the
thing you hold in your hand. This is a more sure word than
if you heard a voice from heaven. Matter of fact, if you hear a
voice from heaven and it does not coincide with this book,
it's not of God. The more sure word of prophecy,
where into you do well to take heed. Now how do you take heed?
As a light that shineth in a dark place. This world is a dark place. And this gospel shines as a light
in the darkness. And listen, if you cannot understand
this word, if you cannot perceive this word, you need to take heed
to it more earnestly. Until it shines like the noonday
sun in your heart. That's what he says. Until the
day dawns. and the day star arise in your
hearts. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
a brilliant day star. This morning you see the day
star as you drove in. You look out the window and you
see the effects of the day star. It's a sun. It's beautiful. It's glorious. Nothing is hid
from it. It shines its light so bright. And I'll tell you what, I appreciate
it. When you stand outside and you just look up and you feel
the warmth on your face. You look around this room and
you can see things, can't you? Light is valuable to who? To those that can see. If you're
blind, how valuable is light to you? Not at all. So is the gospel
of Jesus Christ. It's only valuable to those who
see it. It's only received by... If you're blind and you cannot
see it, it's not of any value to you. I like the way the apostle
put it in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. He said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom of God. Which God ordained
before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of
the world had known. For had they known it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory, but it is written. Listen, this
is our nature. I hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor entered into the heart of man the things that God hath
prepared for them that love Him." We knew nothing of election.
We knew nothing of redemption. We knew nothing of His effectual
calling. Why? We were blind. We were blind
to it. We did not know it. But how is
it that you now perceive it? How is it that you who believe
now believe it? Paul says, but God hath revealed
it unto us. The same thing that happened
to Rahab. How did she know something different than anyone else that
had heard the same message? But yet she believed it. How
could she be seeing it? The Spirit of God gave her sight. And so if you believe the Word
of God, if you look at this, you see it's a light. It's a
light that shines into the darkness. And in my heart, it shines so
bright. How could you not understand
this? How could you not perceive that this book is about Christ
and Him crucified? From cover to cover, I see Christ,
the day star. The light that shines out of
darkness is Christ. He said, search the scriptures.
In them you think you have eternal life. But what? They are they
that testify of me. This book is a light. And the
only way to see it is if God reveals it to you. He says in another place in 2
Corinthians 4, he said, if our gospel be hidden, we're not hiding
it. When I stand up here, am I trying
to hide anything from you? I want to preach this gospel
as plainly and as simply as I can so nobody misunderstands what
I say. I do this intentionally. I want
you to understand what I'm saying. But I know this, I cannot make
you see it. I cannot make you believe it.
If you believe it, you believe it because God revealed it to
you. The true faith believes the Word
of God because God reveals it. What did He reveal to Rahab?
He revealed first her end, her destruction. She heard that she
was going to be destroyed along with all her people. Now they
all heard that, but they didn't all believe it, did they? Now
how could you tell the difference? They shut up the kingdom. They
thought there was some hope of holding out. Jericho believed
that if they just stood fast, they could resist God. And so
it is with man. You will not surrender to the
word of God. You will not bow to the Lord Jesus Christ because
you think you've got some hope. You still think you have something
to offer God when you have nothing to offer God. When Rahab saw her in, what did
she do? She pled for mercy. When a man
sees his in, when God opens his eyes to justice and righteousness,
that man will see he has none, no righteousness. Do you remember that when you
found there was no escape? And there was no hope for you? You're never going to be saved.
You're never going to believe God's Word. You've got to believe that. You have to believe that you
are the sinner. And the only hope for you is
mercy. Mercy. She saw her need. Have you seen your need? This
woman, what kind of woman was she? She was a vile woman. She
was a harlot. She was under the curse of God,
but now she had heard of God's promise to Israel. She had heard
of God was giving them, gives his people the land, and she
believed it. She believed how he delivered
them by blood. She believed that they were delivered
through the Red Sea. She believed that God destroyed
the people, their enemies. Behold, I tell you, God has promised
his elect people to give them all spiritual blessings. Now
what he said in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the Godfather of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Have you considered this? According
as he has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that He has purposed His people to be holy and without
blame before Him, that in love He predestinated us to be the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ, not by our merits, not
by our works, but by Christ unto Himself according to the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He has made us accepted. Who's
accepted before? Israel is accepted before God.
The elect are accepted before God. And Christ has come and
redeemed them by His offering to God. He has made His elect holy and
paid for all their sins, provided a perfect righteousness for them.
And God promises this to his elect people. None of them shall
perish. None of them shall perish. They
shall all come to repentance and believe on the Son of God. But how then is there hope for
me? Was Rahab a child of Israel or
Gentile? By nationality, she was a Gentile. By nationality, she had no right
to any of the promises of Israel. And so we too, by nature, by
nature, are sons of Adam. How then is there hope for us?
How can I know of my election? How can I have any part with
Israel? How can I be made fit to be a
partaker of the inheritance of the saints of life? Listen to
me, the same way Rahab the harlot found mercy and was saved, listen,
by faith. By faith in the Son of God. By faith in the Son of God. For God had said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and what? Thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth and is baptized,
shall be saved. You must, in order to be saved,
be like Rahab. You must not only hear the word,
but believe it. Our Lord Jesus Christ talking
to Nicodemus He gave that statement, you must be born again. And He
gave the experience of that. He said, the Spirit, the Spirit
is the one that gives this new birth. The wind bloweth where
it lifteth. You can hear the sound there. You can't tell which
is coming or where it's going. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. Then in John 3, verse 14, He
gives us the means by which the Spirit uses. The preaching of
the Gospel. What does Jesus do? He preaches
the gospel. Here's the gospel. Most people will tell you the
gospel is John 3, 16. That's not the gospel. The gospel
is found actually in John 3, verse 14. As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. You remember that those people
of Israel murmured against God and they were bitten by those
fiery serpents. And they cried unto God, and
God said to Moses, take a brass serpent, put it on a pole, and
stick it up. And God said, whosoever looks
upon this shall live. Look and live. Look and live. Jesus says, even so. That was
a picture of me. That's a picture of me. We, Israel,
sinned against God. We, Israel, have been bitten
by the serpent. The poison of sin runs through
our veins. Death is imminent! But what's
the message? Look and live! You know who looked
at that serpent? Not just those who heard the
word, but those who believe the word. This morning, I'll tell
you, look to Christ. Now you hear me. You hear me. Do you believe? If you believe, you look. If
you believe your condition and your need, and you believe that
that was the remedy, you would look. That's what true believers
do. We look to Christ. He is the
remedy for sin. He was made sin. That serpent,
he made a serpent of brass. He made it in the very image
of the thing that bit them. So Christ was made sin for us
and endured the justice of God. You know what could stand the
fire? Brass. Put it under fire, it doesn't
do anything to it. What happened to Christ? He endured the wrath
of God in our stead. And listen, this is the manifestation
of the power of God in the new birth. Verse 15. That whosoever
believeth. What's the power of God in the
new birth? What's the manifestation of the
power of God in the new birth? It's not speaking in tongues.
It's not doing good things. It's what? Faith. Whosoever believeth. Whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. So the question is, do
you believe on the Son of God. Do you believe on Him who was
lifted up? Do you believe on His perfect
work of redemption? Do you see your condition and
need and behold Christ as the only hope? Now listen, there
are many who just answered yes, yes, yes. I believe. You know,
I made a decision. People say that. They look back
and they say, well, yeah, I made a decision. I accepted Jesus.
You know, nowhere in this book, I've heard this recently, I accepted
Jesus or I crowned him king of my heart. Nowhere in this book
does he ask you to accept him. And acceptance is something equal. You know, you can accept or reject
something. You can take it or leave it,
we say. Well yeah, eternal life, I guess
I'll take it. That's not the way it works. No. So people say that, I've been
baptized, they look to something they've done. Now listen, you
can do all these things and still not have true faith. There'll
be many in that last day like Lot's wife. She enjoyed all the
benefits of the church, didn't she? All the benefits of Abraham
and her husband. But in the end, what? Her heart
was still in Sodom. Many will be like Judas, who
walked with the Lord for three years, did miracles, preached
the gospel, and yet he himself was found out to be a devil.
Many who profess faith in Christ will be like Demas, who preached
the Gospel for a while, but because he loved this world and the things
in it, he forsook the Gospel. Many will be like those stony
ground hearers. They hear the Word, they receive
it with joy, but when trials come and tribulations come and
persecutions come for the Word, they fall away. Therefore, the Scripture says
this to you and me, make your calling and election sure. Make your calling and election
sure. If God has only chose the elect
and Christ has only died for the elect and these chosen and
redeemed are only the sons of God, how may I know that my faith
is genuine? That's important, isn't it? God says this, he'll try your
faith. If you profess faith, listen, it'll be tried. God says
this, I will bring a third part through the fire and we'll refine
them as silver is refined and try them as gold is tried. And
this is their response. They shall call on my name. I
will hear them. And this is what I'm going to
say to them. You are my people. And they shall say, You are my
God. You are my God. I do pray the Holy Spirit set
forth faith, our faith, even now under a microscope. And I'm
going to give you a few marks of this faith that Rahab had.
Rahab perished not. Why? By faith she perished not. With them that believe not. First
of all, I want you to know whose faith is giving you. What type
of people does God give faith to? What type of person was Rahab? You know, every time she's mentioned,
she's mentioned as Rahab the harlot. Even after she was delivered.
Even after she was delivered, she was still Rahab the harlot.
What type of people does God give faith to? He gives faith
to sinners. Sinners. In Deuteronomy 7, God describes
His people. He says, Thou art a holy people
under the Lord thy God. Could you look at Israel and
honestly say they were a holy people by looking at them? Hey,
they're a bunch of stiff-necked, rebellious, self-righteous, arrogant
people. Yet God says this of them, they
are a holy people. unto the Lord thy God. The Lord
thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself
above all the people upon the face of the earth." Why would
he do that? Why would he say that? He said, the Lord did not set
his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any other people. Matter of fact, you were the
fewest. In another place in Ezekiel 36, he says, not for your sakes
do I this. Speaking of the covenant of grace.
Not for your sakes. I do this for my own glory. Why
did God choose His people? He didn't choose them because
they were the best. He didn't choose them because they were
the most moral people upon the face of the earth. He did it
out of sovereign love. He said, because the Lord loved
you. Now why did the Lord love you?
Because the Lord loved you. That's the only reason He gives.
It's sovereign love. Because the Lord loved you, and
because you would keep an oath, he swore to your father. Two
reasons God chose you and loved you. He loved you because he
would, and he loved you because of a covenant he made with himself.
He loved you because of a covenant he made for his own glory. The elect are not holy in themselves. The love of God in election of
His people was not because of anything but His sovereign love
and eternal covenant and God's love and their election was only
manifest by their redemption and their deliverance. Herein
is the love of God. Not that we love God, but that He loved us. And what's
the manifestation of that? He gave His Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. The manifestation of the love
of God. Believer, how do you know God loves you? Can you see it in Providence? I can't. Matter of fact, I feel
more His anger in Providence. The world is against you. The
world hates your gospel. The circumstances don't seem
to roll out well for the believer. It always seems to be painful
and difficult. You're not going to tell God's
love by providence and circumstances. How can you tell God's love?
Look at the cross and see what it gave. The whole manifestation
of love of God is that he sent his son into the world to save
who? Who did he come to save? Who is faith given to? Only sinners. Only sinners is faith given to. I like that picture of Joshua
the high priest. Remember that? In Zechariah chapter
3, Joshua the high priest standing there in those filthy garments.
Remember, high priest is supposed to have white garments on. He's
not supposed to stand before God in filthy garments. But there he is. He's in filthy
garments. Satan at his right hand, ready
to accuse him before God. But before he can make one accusation,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord, standing there,
rebuked Satan and said, is this not a chosen vessel? Have I not
chosen Jerusalem? Is this not a brand plug from
the... You know what a brand is? It's a dead stick in the
middle of the fire. It's what it is. How much value
is a dead stick? Pick up a dead stick, stick it
in the ground, and wait for fruit. Y'all did some gardening, didn't
you? Y'all did some gardening, weren't that about the same? Put a dead stick in the ground,
you don't get any fruit. Worthless. Anybody worthless? Listen, if
you're worthless, There's hope. Take your place. You believe
God's Word concerning who you are. There's hope. There's hope for brands. There's
hope for dead sticks. He rebuked him. He said, this
one's chosen. Shut up. You got nothing to say against
this one. It's chosen. And Joshua's clothes, those filthy
garments, stood before the angel of the Lord and he said, take
away those garments. Why? I have removed your iniquity
from you. You who believe, listen to this.
Jesus himself has removed your iniquity from you. Where is he? Where did he go? took it on himself. God's justice had to be satisfied. And Christ removed your iniquity
from you, bore it in his own body on the tree, and gave you
his righteousness. This is what faith receives.
He gives this to sinners. To sinners. He only saves sinners. Listen, true faith is only given
to true sinners, as life is only given to the dead, mercy is only
given to the guilty, grace is only given to those with no merit.
Who obtains true faith? Only sinners. Second of all,
true faith flees to Christ for forgiveness. This woman, when
she heard When she heard what God was going to do, what did
she do? She hid these spies. Seeking what? What she'd want
from them. Look at what she tells you. She
says, I knew the terror of the Lord. I knew that God was going
to give you this land. And in verse 12, she says, in
verse 12, she said, now, therefore, I pray you, swearing to 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,
that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brother, my sisters,
and all that I have and deliver our lives from death." What did
she want? She wanted life. What is the
truth? What does a person who has faith
want most? What does he need? He needs life. He needs to be saved. He needs
to be delivered. So true faith recognizes in its
need and then finds it, seeking mercy. Mercy. True faith rejects our former
life. In order to have mercy, in order
to be a part of Israel, she had to reject everything else in
her life. She had to reject her whole world. She had to reject her sin. She
could no longer live as a harlot. And so she fled to these men.
She sought mercy. And that's what true faith does.
It flees to Christ for mercy. and shuts out the world. Remember
that guy in Christian and Pilgrim's Progress? When they were screaming
at him to come back, begging him to come back, what did he
do? He put his fingers in his ears and he ran saying, life,
life, eternal life. He ran away, rejecting his family,
rejecting all that he had. This was the faith of Rahab,
and this is the faith of a true believer. He sees his need, and
he sees Christ, and he sues for mercy. And thirdly, true faith
believes this. Only Christ is a sure refuge
for our souls. Only Christ is a true refuge
for our souls. After Rahab confessed, she rejected
her people. Rahab pleads for mercy in verses
12-14. And is this not our plea? Show
us kindness. Show us kindness. Show us mercy. And you remember what she did?
She let down that scarlet thread, let those guys out. And they
told her this, when we come back, you have this same scarlet thread
hanging out your wall. And we take this city, we swear
to you this, we swear that no harm will come to anyone in your
house. Remember, her house was on that
wall. Her house was on the same wall as everybody else's house. I like what these men say. Look
at this. I know I've got to go, but I want to see these men,
what their answer was. And these men said to her, listen
to this. Tell me if this is not the same thing as like Judah said for Benjamin when
he was surety for him. He said, I'll be surety for the
last. Let me bear the blame if he returns
not again. That's a picture of Christ, isn't
it? Same thing these men said, look at this. Our life for yours. Our life for yours. If you utter
not this our business, and it shall be when the Lord hath given
us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee, since
you let them down by the court. Our life for yours. Is this not
what our Lord Jesus Christ said? My life for yours. My life for yours. And they also said if someone
comes, see what verse is that again? Look at verse 19. And it shall be that whosoever
shall go out of the doors of thine house into the street,
his blood shall be upon his own head, and we shall be guiltless.
And whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall
be upon our head, if any man hurt him." What does Christ say
if any of his people lost? He said, let me bear the blame.
He's surety. He's surety for his people. This
is what true faith receives, it's what true faith believes,
is that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them. Where did he go? They imputed
them to Christ, made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Therefore, all
true faith flees to him for refuge. You see, if anybody outside got
outside of that house, they would die with the rest. Listen to
me, you who are in Christ, is there any other place you want
to be? You suppose Rahab wanted to go anywhere else? No, she knew this was the only
place of safety. And I know this, the only place
of safety for sinners is in Christ. If you're not in Christ, you
will be destroyed. All who are outside of Christ
will be destroyed. Listen, but if you are in Christ,
you are as safe as Rahab and her family on that wall. And
what made the difference? The cord. What made the difference in Israel
that night in Passover? It was the blood. Where was the
blood? From the outside of the door.
The firstborn could not see the blood. That didn't matter. God said, when I see the blood.
Rahab had the cord outside the wall. It only mattered that Joshua
saw it. It only mattered that Joshua
saw it. And you know what happened? When
they came and marched around the city, all the walls fell
except one. Her house. all the walls of religion will
fall except one. Jesus Christ. And in crucified,
are you in Christ? Therefore all faith, true faith,
abides forever in the house. In other words, all true faith
endures. Rahab, she saw who she was. She saw her need. True faith
sees its need. There's a sinner. That's good
because God only gives faith to who? Sinners. What's the object
of their faith? It is Christ and Christ alone. He's the object of our faith.
You know I don't have faith in my faith. I have faith in the
object of my faith. Jesus Christ. And so true faith
submits to Him. True faith believes in Him. True
faith flees to Him. True faith finds him to be a
refuge for our soul. And true faith, listen, all who
have true faith shall be saved. I'm gonna read this out of Joshua
chapter six. Listen to this. Joshua chapter
six in verse 25. Look at verse 24, it says, and
they burnt the city with fire and all that was therein, only
the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron they put in
the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua, Save Rahab
the harlot alive. What's the true object of, what
is the object of our faith? That Jesus Christ will save this
harlot alive. I like that story of the hubster who went around the village saying,
I'm a sinner and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all and all. Do you have true faith? Do you
have the faith of Rahab? Listen to this, you will be saved
alive. I had a dear friend pass away
this last week. I know and have great confidence
she is alive and well. I know when I think about it,
I weep for me. I'm sad and I'm going to miss
her. But I can't weep for long because she's not dead. She's alive and happy. Would you want to
take that away? Would you want to bring her back
to this? No. Oh, she's saved a life. That's
what happened to you and me. because of Christ will be saved
alive. Who? All who believe on Jesus Christ's
will. All who abide in the house shall
be saved. Pray God keep you in the faith,
looking only and always to Christ. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Glenn, this message is in prayer,
please. I'm faithful to my forefather. We bow before you this day to
the merits and the blessings of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for him who
loved us and gave his life for us. We bless you for your kindness
and your generosity for those that my father, that you give
to your darling son, before the world ever began, to be redeemed
by his precious blood. Lord, we thank you that you've
allowed us together this morning to this place to hear the gospel
of your darling son, him who procured, for all those that you gave him. Thank you for faith. Lord, it's
not in us, but it's given from you for us to believe. And we thank you for it. We boast
not in our sins, but we boast in that great work that you've
done. and redeeming sinners. Thank you all for your tender
mercies. Thank you for this message. We
bless you and praise you for it. That we once again have heard
of our redeemer who came to save, seek and save in Jesus' name.
We pray that we depart from this place, that you keep your hand
upon us, Be merciful to us. Call us to look to Christ. In
the name of our dear Lord. We bless you for all that you
do. Lord, in your wonderful and precious name, we ask these things.