Our text can be found in verse
31. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished
not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies
with peace. Now, as we've been studying in
this chapter of Hebrews, Chapter 11, we've been looking at the
many different aspects of true faith. God has given these saints
in the Old Testament as pictures, as tithes and examples of what
true faith is. True faith in Christ. We saw
that true faith has one object. Remember, Abel had one sacrifice. His sacrifice was more excellent
than that of Cain's. We saw that Abraham, Abraham's
faith, was effectual when he was called, that he obeyed God. He obeyed God. We saw that Abraham, as he sojourned
through this world, he sojourned not by law, but by faith. And so then does true faith sojourn
even by faith and not by the law. We saw that through the
faith of Sarah, that faith, though her faith was not perfect in
example, yet in the eyes of God, our faith is perfect, seeing
that it is the faith of Christ, the faith of Christ that is given
to us. We have seen that true faith
endures unto the end. The scripture says these all
die, what? In faith. True faith endures. True faith endures. to the end. We saw that true faith yields
up those things that are most precious. You remember Abraham,
by faith, offered his son Isaac. He gave up that which was most
precious to him. And so it is with us who believe.
We are willing to give up those things that are most precious
to us that we might have Christ, that we might be washed in His
blood. True faith repents. from the pleasures of sin, like
Moses, who refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
to endure the sufferings with the people of God rather than
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. So we saw that
true faith repents from this world and from our kin and from
the pleasures of the flesh in order to obtain the inheritance
that is given to us by Christ. And we saw that true faith pertains
to the Passover. You saw that in verse 28. Through faith he kept the Passover. True faith keeps the Passover
in that Christ is our Passover. Christ is our Passover. And true
faith looks to His blood to redeem us, to keep us, and to cleanse
us. True faith goes through the Red Sea. By faith they pass through
the Red Sea on dry land. So it is true faith in Christ. We pass through the justice of
God by Christ being lifted up. He has parted the justice of
God so that we who have faith might go forward unto glory,
unto eternal life. Verse 30, By faith the walls
of Jericho fell down. We saw this last time, that true
faith marches around Jericho. What is that? That's preaching
the gospel. They were declaring to all Jericho that God had given
them the land. And they marched faithfully,
continually, patiently, silently, marched with only this, the blowing
of the trumpet. What is that? Preaching the gospel.
What are we doing today? We're marching around Jericho.
That's what we're doing. By faith, we are marching today.
And the only sound that comes out of our mouth is the ram's
horn, the blowing of the trumpet, the preaching of the gospel.
And you know what happens when the last trump shall sound. The
dead in Christ shall rise first and the walls of this world shall
fall flat. And God will give us the kingdom. And so now we come to this example
given to us by faith. Harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believed not, when she had received the spies with
peace. Now let us this morning for a
few minutes consider the faith of Rahab the Harlot. How her
faith is a picture of true faith. The faith of Rahab the Harlot
is a picture of true, saving faith. And the first thing I would have
us to know this is that God, the Lord God, before the nation
of Israel ever crossed over to Jordan, you remember He had promised
to give them the land of Canaan. He told them, go over into the
land. The Lord had given you the land.
Go in and smite the land. Destroy them. That was the command
of God. And this was the promise of God.
I will give you the land. I have given you the land. Matter of fact, that makes sense.
I've already given you the land. Now go possess it. That's what
they were to do. Possess the land. And so then
now take your Bible and turn with me to Joshua. And let's
see some of this account that takes place in Joshua chapter
2. Joshua chapter 2. And this whole
chapter deals with Rahab and her faith. The faith of Rahab,
the faith of that harlot that saved her. And so in Joshua chapter 2, verses
1-24, we have this account of Joshua sending two spies out
into Jericho. He told those spies, he said,
you go out and spy He sent out the spies, secretly. He said, go and view the land,
even Jericho. And they went out and came into
the harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. But the problem
was, they didn't go in secretly. They were found out. And it was
told the king of Jericho, behold, there came men, hither to Nile,
of the children of Israel, to search out the country. The king
of Jericho sent him to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that
are coming to thee, which are entered into the house, thy house.
For they become to search out all the country. And the woman
took the two men, hid them, and said, There came men unto me,
but I wist not whence they were. And it came to pass about the
time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men
went out. Whither the men went, I will not pursue after them
quickly, for you shall overtake them. But she had brought them
up to the roof of her house and hid them with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon her roof. And the men pursued
after them the way of Jordan unto the forge. And as soon as
they were pursued after them, they were gone out and they shut
the gate. Now what had happened here is
they were found out by the king, but Rahab hid them. Instead of
giving them up to her king, she hid the spies. Now why would this woman do such
a thing? Why would she risk her own life? Make no mistake about it, she
did. She put her own life in peril for these men. These men
she had just met that night. These men that just came into
her house that same day. She risked her own life to hide
these men. She lied to her kid. Why? Well, verses 9 through 11 tell
us why. and says, before they were laid
down, she came up to them upon the roof, and she said unto them,
listen, I know that the Lord hath given you the lamp, and
that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants
of the lamp faint because of you. For we have heard how the
Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you. And when you
came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites,
which were on the other side of Jordan, Shahan and Og, whom
you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had 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 earth beneath. This woman hid these spies because
she had heard and believed the word of God. She heard Rahab hid these men because she
believed. She forsook her own people because
of this faith. Faith in the Word of God. Now she not only heard the Word
of God, so did everyone else. You got that? She heard the Word
of God and she said, we all heard. Neither did there remain any
strength in any man because of you. We all heard this. We heard
this. God has given you the land. That's
what he heard. We know this, that God dried
up the sea for you. We heard that. We heard God destroyed
Pharaoh for you. We heard God made Sean and all,
you utterly destroyed those kings. We heard this. Everyone heard
this. This wasn't just some noise in
some little small group. This was all throughout the city. But what made the difference
in Rahab was this. She believed me. She believed
me. Today, all of you will hear the
preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of you will hear
the justice and judgment of God against the wicked. that every
sin must and will be punished, hear this, the soul that sinneth,
you listen, it shall surely die. It shall surely die. Not maybe, not perhaps, not might,
it will die. That is the word of God. You must hear the truth. that all have sinned against
God, all have come short of the glory of God. That's the truth.
The soul of the sinner that shall die, this is also the truth.
You've all have sinned. We've all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. As these people of Jericho were
cursed and condemned to death, so are all that are not righteous
and perfect before God. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 2, it
says this, When the Lord your 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. This is what
God told me. He said, when you go on that
land I've given you, you're not going to make a covenant, you're
not going to show mercy to them, you're going to utterly, completely
destroy them. Now you listen, in the day of
God's justice when he comes, listen, there will be no covenant. There'll be no covenant made
in that day. There'll be no mercy given in that day. When you die
and you stand before God and you are then suing for mercy,
it is too late. Too late. Too late. There'll be no mercy
in that day. Do you know that you have sinned
against God? Do you know of God's promise
to punish sin? You listen, so did Jericho. Everyone
in that city knew that. They knew something about the
gospel. They heard something. They heard
something about justice. But you know what? That did not
change their hearts. I could preach to you all day
about sin and judgment, sin and judgment, sin and judgment. You
know what that does? Nothing. Doesn't change one person's heart.
Won't do it. Didn't change their heart, won't
change yours. Didn't save them, won't save you. Why? Because they believe not the
Word of God. How do I know that Jericho didn't
believe the Word of God? Because they didn't beg for mercy.
If they truly believed what God said, they would beg for mercy.
Instead, what did they do? They shut their doors and they
tried to kill the spies. They tried to kill the spies. You listen to what they heard.
Listen. Listen to what she tells them.
She says, I know this, that the Lord God gave you the land. We
all heard this, but I know this. There's a difference. There's
a difference. She said, we all heard God gave
you the land. But listen, I know God gave you
the land. I know God gave you the land. Even so it is with every sinner,
they know they have sinned, They hear the gospel of God, that
God has given Israel the land, His elect. You listen, that's
the gospel, isn't it? God has given Israel the land.
Israel's a type of what? The elect. They're a picture
of the church. We know this. God has given His
elect heaven. We know this. We know this. that God has redeemed Israel,
his elect, by the blood of Christ. And only Israel, spiritual Israel,
those chosen, elected, God shall be saved. You remember what Jesus
said in that last day when he comes, he's going to divide the
sheep from the goats. He's gonna separate them. And
what does he say to the sheep, his chosen, his elect, his redeemed? He said, blessed are you, come
you blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom. prepared
for you when? Before the foundation of the
world. This kingdom was prepared for
the elect before the foundation of the world. It stands. When you hear that, do you like
Jericho shut it out? Do you not want to hear that? Do you refuse to surrender to
the promises of God? Do you still refuse to believe
on Christ alone? Do you hold out for your merits,
hold out for your self-righteousness to be pleasing to God? Do you
hold out saying, well, it's just all going to work out? It ain't. It ain't going to work out for
you. You know what it's going to work
out for? Israel. It's going to work out for God's people. That's
what it's going to work out for. If you're holding out for that,
you'll be destroyed just like Jericho. Soon as the last march
is made, the last trump is sounded, the last elect soul called to
salvation and faith in Christ, then will the walls of your self-righteousness,
the walls of your vain religion, the walls of your good works,
The walls you have built year after year after year, working
so hard to get to heaven. Those walls are high, they're
thick, but in the last day, when that last trump shall sound,
all your self-righteousness will fall on your head. Come crashing down. If you're
like Jericho, you hear this word, but you don't believe it. You
listen, just as sure as those walls fell, I guarantee you,
you will be judged with God and condemned forever and ever. If
you don't believe on Christ, that's where you're headed. That's
where you're going. There's no question about that. But now I want you to see some
hope. I want you to see some... There's hope here. There's hope
here. There's hope of salvation because
of this. Not all those in Jericho died. There was one woman and her family
that lived. There's hope. There's hope. There was one woman who did not die that day in her
family. Not all those that were cursed
people died. There was one woman who was cursed
and found mercy. And her name is Rahab the harlot. Rahab the harlot. And what made
the difference? Our text says, by faith, the
harlot Rahab perished not. What made the difference? She
believed the Word of God. She believed the Word of God.
This woman Rahab, the harlot. She said, I know the Lord hath
given you the land. I know the Lord your God, He
is God. in heaven above and in earth
beneath. In other words, listen to this.
She says, I know God's given you the land and He has the power
to give it to you. He's not only willing to give it to you, He
alone is able to give it to you. This was the faith of Rahab. And I tell you, this is the faith
of every one of us who believe in Christ. I know God has given
it to the elect. And I know this, that He is able able to give it. Does that not
sound like our faith? Is that not a carbon copy of
our faith today? It is. It is a copy of true faith. And so the first thing I would
say is this, true faith believes the Word of God. True faith believes
the Word of God. The Gospel of Christ is often
represented by light, isn't it? Light. Thy Word is a lamp unto
my feet and a what? light unto my path. Peter said
this, he said, we have a more sure word of prophecy where unto
you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arises
in our hearts. Even so the gospel is like the
noonday sun. You put the noonday sun without
the clouds in the sky in the way and it shines in its brightness
That's a picture of the gospel. Now then, if you took everybody
and you put them in an open field, and the sun was shining down
on them all, that is exactly how the gospel shines today.
It shines bright, it's clear. But though it be preached, the
gospel be preached with perfect clarity and plainness of speech,
though it shine upon all men, yet this is true. Only those
who can see understand its value and worth. Isn't that right? We've got lights on in here.
We understand the value of those lights. Why? Because we see.
Without those lights, we would not be able to see. We understand
something about life. We understand the necessity of
life. And so it is true spiritually.
Only those who can see spiritually understand the necessity of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. We see its value. We see its
worth. But I tell you this, those that
can't see would not see its worth or its value. Though all Jericho heard the
same message, yet it was only known and believed by Rahab because
she alone was able to see her need. You got that? She saw a need. that the other
people could not see. You see, they looked at those
walls and they said, well, we don't have a need of mercy because
we have these walls. They trusted the walls. Rahab
knew the walls would not save her from God. You see, she saw
something that they didn't. She believed something that they
didn't. She saw She saw her need of mercy, and this
was done by faith. By faith she saw the election
of Israel. By faith she saw the power of
God to save them and give them the land. She saw by faith her
cursed position and need of mercy. Behold, I tell you that God is
just, and all who sin shall die. But only those who can see their
need and know the remedy of it will seek it. You got that? Only
those who can see their need. And I ask you right now, do you
see your need? Do you know your need? Are you still trusting the laws?
Which is it? It's either or. You can't do
both. Rahab did not trust the walls. She needed something more than
those walls could provide. She needed God. She needed mercy. Have you seen your knee? This
woman was a vile woman. She was a pirate. A sinner. She was a woman under the curse
and justice of God, but now she had heard of the promise of Israel? She had heard of God's grace
to give them the land? How He declared, how He delivered
them by the blood of the Lamb, by the water of the Red Sea,
how He destroyed their enemies. She saw that these alone for
the objects of God's mercy. Behold, I tell you that God has
promised to give His elect people all spiritual blessings. His
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us with what? All spiritual blessings according
as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. Not by their marriage, not by
their works, not by their deeds, but according to the work of
Jesus Christ. I tell you that by His righteousness
alone, He has made the elect holy. By His blood alone, He
has paid for all their sins. He, having been accepted of God,
having made perfect their salvation, is now risen from the dead, ascended
to the throne of God. He has made them accepted. Accepted before God. But how
then is this hope for me? I know that Psalm 73, Asaph said,
I know God's good to Israel, but ask of me. What about me? I know God's good to you, but
what about me? I know you're made holy, but
what about me? The sinned, the cursed, the condemned,
the harlot, what about me? Is there any mercy for me? How can I know my election and
know if I have a part with Israel? How can I be made fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life? Listen, here it is,
the same as Rahab. Believe on the Son of God. Believe on the Son of God. There's the difference. There's
the difference. You must be like Rahab. You must
not only hear the Word, you must believe the Word. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. So then the question is, do you
believe on the Son of God who is lifted up? Do you believe on His perfect
redemption upon the cross as all your hope? Now, there are many who will
say without question, yes, I believe. I believe that. Ask anybody. Ask anybody. And go around your
family and ask anybody. Do you believe on Jesus? Well,
yes. Of course I do. What do they
mean? Well, I know I made my decision
for Jesus years ago. That's what they mean. They say,
well, I was baptized. I ate the Lord's table. I joined
the church. I give my tithes. I do good works. And you may
do all those things. and yet be without true faith.
There are many who have done all those things and will die
in their sins and go to hell. Many, many church members will
die in their sins and go to hell. Many people who have been baptized
will die in their sins and go to hell. Many people who ate
the Lord's Suffering do good works. Isn't that what those
who are going to hell say? Lord, when do we not do these
things for you? We have done many wonderful works for you.
In your name we've cast out devils. And he'll say to them, depart
from me, you work iniquity, I never knew you. There will be many like Locke's
wife who enjoy the benefits of the church, benefits of God's
saints, but yet in the end, where's their heart? Their heart's in
the world. They say they believed on Christ, but their heart's
back there. That's what she did. She was taken out of Sodom and
looked back. Why? That's where her heart was.
Where's your heart? Can't you tell where Rahab's
heart was? Her heart was with Israel. She didn't look back. Her heart was with Israel. You remember Judas. He preached
the gospel for three years. He did miracles. He cast out
devils only to find out he was a devil. In the end, Demas, that
laborer, fellow laborer with Paul, preached with the apostle.
Paul, can you imagine that? Preached with God's apostle. Paul looking at Demas, he said,
Demas is my fellow laborer. What happened to Demas? Demas,
having loved this present world, hath forsaken me. See, Demas, he claimed to believe
on Christ, but found out. These are all men like those
that are planted on stony ground. They receive the seed with joy
and spring up immediately, having an appearance of faith, but let
some trouble come, let some difficulty, let something from the world
tug at their heart, and sure enough, they'll wither away and
go away from the gospel. Why not? Because they had not
true faith. They had no true faith. They
had no true love for the gospel of Christ. Scriptures are clear to us all
about this matter. Make your calling and election
sure. Is there anything else more important?
Not to the believer. I want to know, am I deceived
or do I really believe on Christ? Paul says, after I have preached
to others that I myself should become a castaway. Paul had this
thought. He said, I don't want to be deceived. I want to know, is my faith real? Do you not want to know that? How does God do this? He proves
us. He tries us. He tries that faith. Didn't He
try Rahab's faith? She believed that before the
spies got there. But she had to prove it. And
she did prove it. How? She rejected her country
and hid those lies. She took God's side and Israel's
side over her. May God, the Holy Spirit, examine
us. Through the light of Scripture,
may we open our hearts to see if we have the marks of faith.
Have you heard the Word of God? Do you believe it? Second of
all, we can see that Rahab's faith was true in this. She was
a harlot. You know in scripture when it
mentions Rahab, she's always got that title. Rahab, the harlot. The harlot. You see, true faith is only given
to true sinners. Good news for true sinners. Not so good for people who have
any righteousness of their own. You see, this woman was a great
sinner. She had no virtue. She had sold
herself to the pleasures of sin. And this is true of all of the
elect and redeemed of God by nature. We are people of no virtue
and people who are sold under sin. You know that the people that
are chosen of God are not chosen because of their righteousness?
Not at all. God says of Israel, He said,
I chose you not because you were the greatest people in number,
not because you were the best people. I chose you because I
loved you. Because I loved you. You remember that high priest
Joshua in Zachariah, where he stood before the Lord in those
filthy garments, and Satan was just about ready to accuse him.
He was just about ready to open his mouth to resist him, and
the angel of the Lord said, the Lord rebuke thee! O Satan, even
the Lord that hath listened, chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. Is this not from the burning. A brand. An old, smoking, dark piece of
charcoal worth nothing. Plucked from the burning. That
is exactly who true faith is given to. Sinners. Sinners. Only sinners need to be redeemed,
only the guilty need mercy, and only the wicked need forgiveness. Only those who are dead need
life, and only those who are blind need sight. Back over in John, when Jesus
healed that man that was born blind, He said this in verse 39, He
said, for judgment I am coming to the world, that they which
see not might see. And they which see might be made
blind. And the Pharisees said unto Him,
and some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words
and said, Are we blind also? You bet they were, but they didn't
like you to tell them they were blind. Don't you tell me I'm
blind. Don't you tell me I'm a sinner.
What do you say, that I'm a sinner too? That I need sight? Well, I have you know that I'm
the top of my class in theology school. I'm the top of my class
in the book of the law. I know all of these things. I
know, I know. Well, if you know, it's not talking
to you. Jesus said, I come that the blind
might see. Now, are you blind? Do you need
sight? Well, good, I got a message for
you. Jesus said, I came just for you.
I came for those who are blind. If you have somewhat to offer
still, somewhat to contribute to your salvation, you listen
to me, you're lost and without God. I don't care who you are
and what school you went to. I don't care what education you
have. I don't care whose son you are, whose daughter you are.
You are lost! You're without Christ! You are
condemned and cursed of God! That's just truth. If you have
somewhat to offer, you're cursed of God. For I have told you the word
of God, that God gave this land to His people and only to His
people, that He has redeemed His people and only His people,
and yet you still shut up your heart. You will not surrender. You don't know you're blind and
you don't know your need. But true faith understands this. By nature, we are guilty before
God. True faith understands who we
are. And true faith surrenders. Surrenders. Rahab surrendered. You got that? She hid those spies,
and I tell you this, she was surrendering. She was. She surrendered everything
for God and His people. She said, I know God gave you
the land. Have mercy on me. This is a message
that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
Listen to it. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save the sinners of whom Paul said, I am chief. See, then the
true faith is only given to sinners. This is a mark of true faith.
I am a sinner and nothing at all, and Jesus Christ is my all
in all. Secondly, true faith flees to
Christ and forsakes all else. This woman, when she lied, now
I'm not going to excuse this lie and I don't want to go into
it because it would take too long. Rahab lied. This just shows
the weakness of her faith. She didn't have the faith of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, did she? She didn't have that
much faith. But she lied to her king. She lied. In other words, she
rejected them as an authority and accepted God at all authority. She gave up everything in her
world, her family, her friends, and anyone else who would not
go with her. She forsook all and followed
after Christ. In that one moment, the Lord
said, if any man come after me and hate not his father, and
his mother, and his sister, and his brother, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. I remember preaching the gospel
in the hospital. This man, if he heard the gospel, he said
to me, he said, if the preacher of what you said is true, then all my And I asked him, why would you
go to heaven with him? Believe on Christ? And that man
went away sad, sorry. Because if he believed the gospel,
he would have to reject his family as all lost and damned. And you
listen, true faith does that. True faith does that. I tell
you, I have a brother that died of his sins. No hope. No hope. If he came to Christ at the last
moment of his life, I'm not going to bank on it. I'm not going
to bank on it. No evidence. I tell you this,
I ain't going with him. I loved him. I ain't going with
him. I sided with Christ and his people and let the world
be damned. You know, the Lord said to that
man that went to bury his father, he said, you follow me. And he
said, oh, let me go and first bury my father. And he said,
no, you let the dead bury their dead. You follow me. Yes, Lord. Let the dead bury their dead.
I'm going with you. That's exactly what Rahab did
by faith. She pursued everything. And followed Christ. That's what
true faith does. And true faith does this. It
finds its refuge only in Christ. Now after her confirmation, after
her confession and rejection of her people, Rahab then pleads
for mercy, verses 12-14. She says, show kindness unto
me. Show kindness unto me. Is this
not the plea of everyone that comes to Christ? Show kindness
to me. Show mercy to me. Not Lord, let me show you what
I've done for you. That's not what we say. No, Lord,
have mercy on me. The heart, have mercy on me.
The sinner, that's what we say. That's what truth faith says.
Have meekness, have mercy on me. And you remember, she let those spies
down by that cord, by that scarlet cord out of her window. And this is the promise of those
spies. They said, our life is yours.
Now, I want you to hear this. This is the Word of Christ. My
life for yours. I want to show you kindness. I want to show you such kindness
that you've never seen. My life for yours. Behold. You who repent of your
sins in the world and self, we know this, we have no place to
go. Where are you gonna go? Here's where the spies, they
said, look, you go into your house, and you let down this
scarlet cord outside, and when we come, we swear, we swear You see, that house was a refuge. That house on the wall of Jericho
was a place of safety. What? The scarlet cord had been
hung out the window. You see, this is a picture of
Christ. My life for yours. Come unto me, all you that labor
heavy laden men. I will give you rest. Believe on me and you shall never
perish. And I tell you, those who have
true faith, we come into Christ. As Noah went into the ark and
was safe. As Rahab went into the house
with the scarlet cord. As the Israelites went into the
house with the blood. Even so, we enter into Christ.
And when that last trumpet shouts out, when the last message is
preached, and the walls of Jericho fall, you know what? There'll
be one wall standing. What wall is that? The wall of
Christ. The refuge for sinners. It's the only place to be left
standing. Imagine that, the whole city wall was destroyed and there
was one house, one portion of that wall that was just as strong
and sure as if it were all ruined. Safe. Safe. Rahab and her people entered
into that house and they were safe. We who believe in Christ
enter in and are what? I don't feel safe a lot. Do you?
I don't feel safe. I don't care how you feel. In this
house, you're safe. Nothing will hurt you. Nothing will harm you. Though the world collapse around
you, you are safe from the justice and judgment of God. And listen, true faith endures
to the end. You know what? Rahab and her
family, they stayed in that house. After the spies were gone, that
family got everything they got and they went into that house
and they lived in that house. They didn't move out of that
house. They didn't go to the store. They didn't go see friends
and neighbors. They stayed in the house. You
remember the promise of the spies. They said, look, as long as you're
in the house, you're safe. Now, if you go out of this house,
your blood's on your hands. Okay? This is talking about apostates. These are apostates. This is
the idea of apostasy, is that people say, well, I'm in Christ.
I'm in Christ. And they go out. They go looking
for something else. I know many men have done that.
They say, oh, I love Christ. I love Christ. I believe in Christ.
And then they go out looking for more. There's got to be something
more than faith in Christ. Got to be something more than
this refuge on the wall. There's got to be something else
out there. And they go out, and they never come back. The Apostle said this, those
who go out, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.
You got that? They're gone forever. This is why the trial of our
faith is so precious. Because true faith always remains
in the house. Now I ask you again, is your
faith the faith of our heaven? Have you heard the word of God?
That God has people, God has redeemed those people, God has
given them the land. Do you know that God is God?
Do you believe that? Well if you do, you'll know this,
you're a sinner and nothing at all. True faith is only given to sinners. everything else but Christ. True
faith believes God's Word about myself. I believe my God's Word
about myself, don't you? I believe God's Word about Christ,
don't you? Therefore, we flee to the refuge, Jesus Christ.
And you know where we're going to abide? We're going to abide
in the refuge until the walls fall. And you're saved. Nothing can harm us. Safe in
the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast. There by His love
more shaded, my soul sweetly finds rest. Rest. May God give us the understanding
of our faith. Is it real or are we pretending? You know what? If it's real,
it'll be tried. And when it's tried, it'll be
proven. And guess what? Then it'll be
tried again. And then it'll be proven again. Then it'll be tried
again. Then it'll be proven again. That's
true faith. That's what God does. He tries
that faith. Tests it. Why? So that you may know. Now
God knows. He gave you the faith. Don't
you want to know? Nothing. Not my family, not my
free energy, not this body. Christ. Christ alone is all. I pray God blesses you.