If you take your Bibles and turn
with me, this is just a starting off point, and then we're going
to turn to two places. So if you'll take your Bibles
and turn me to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 31. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
31. The scripture says, by faith,
The harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not,
when she had received the spies with peace." And then take your Bibles over
to Joshua chapter 2. Joshua chapter 2. And the first we hear of this
woman, Rahab. This woman Rahab is found in
Joshua 2. It says, And Joshua the son of
Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view
the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into an
harlot's house named Rahab, and lodged there. The scripture here says, by faith
the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not. The history of Rahab begins here
in Joshua chapter 2, and Joshua sent out these spies. Now then,
you've got to see that Joshua and them have not crossed, Israel
had not yet crossed Jordan. He had sent out spies to go across
Jordan to see the city, the city of Jericho, the first of many
cities that they would have to conquer. And these spies were
sent out, and they came by chance, by accident, no, by providence,
to this one Rahab the harlot. They found refuge in the house
of a prostitute. Now, this king of Jericho, when
he had heard about the spies, he knew either someone told him,
but somehow this man knew Rahab. Obviously, she was a very well-known
and infamous person, and the king went into her unto her and
said, Hey, where's these spies? And she hid them. Rahab did not give up these spies,
even when it meant her death. Now, why would a woman of this
stature, a woman of this character who sells herself daily to strangers? You would have to ask yourself,
why is it that a woman of ill repute like this, that sells
her own self, would not sell out these men? What was it that
caused her to put her life at risk for these strangers? These strangers. The Scripture tells us in our
text that by faith. By faith. She received these
spies by faith. You see, Rahab received these
strangers because she heard and believed the Word of God. She heard and believed. Look
at verse 9 of chapter 2, and you can see what Rahab knew. What this woman knew. Verse 9
says, And she said 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 because of you. For we have heard
how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you
came out of Egypt, and what you did unto the kings of the Amorites
that were on the other side of Jordan, Shihon and Og, he utterly
destroyed. And as soon as we 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. heard a message of destruction. She heard that the Israelites
were coming, who God destroyed the nation of Egypt, who God
destroyed that mighty army and those kings of the Amorites.
She heard of destruction, that Jericho was going to be destroyed. She heard of their victories.
Their accomplishments at what God had done for them and the
whole city. Now, understand this, that the
whole city heard it. It wasn't just Rahab that heard
this, it was the whole city heard the same thing. They heard the
same message. God is coming in destruction. God is coming to destroy this
city. But see, there was a difference
between Rahab and the rest of the city. What was the difference? Faith. She believed it. She believed it. And by the grace
of God, Rahab not only feared, she knew that even though her
house was upon the wall, She believed God's Word, and as soon
as the spies came, she sought mercy. When the king heard the
spies had come, what did he ask for? He wanted their death. He wanted their destruction. She wanted mercy. She wanted
mercy. And you can see this in verse
11. It says there was nobody that
God is God. And in verse 12, he says, Now,
therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I
have showed you kindness, that you will show kindness unto my
father's house and give me a true promise or token. And that you
will save a life, my father, my mother, my brother and my
sisters and all that they have. and deliver our lives from death. This woman Rahab, she trusted
the Lord God in heaven. She believed that if there was
any hope for her, if there was any hope to save her life, she
knew these men would give her the answer. She knew that these
men had the answer because these were the men that God sent. These were the men that God sent.
And she desired a promise of them, that her family would be
saved. This promise. She had heard of destruction.
But friends, nobody heard of mercy until these men came. Nobody
heard of mercy. Nobody had a promise of mercy
until these men came. And they delivered a message
of mercy. And what I want us to see is
what our Lord Jesus Christ himself said, many are called, but few
are chosen. Many are called, but few are
chosen. There are many people who hear
of the punishment of sin. Nobody here is exempt from this. Everyone I know in this, under
the sound of my voice today, has heard of this. We have heard
of the judgment of God. We have heard that God is just,
that God is holy, and in Him He is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all, that God must punish sin. The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. We know this. We've heard this
message of judgment. And there's a lot of people who
hear this message. They've heard of their sin. And
I tell you, even today, they have heard of their need of mercy.
When you hear of judgment, if you hear your sin, you are guilty
before God. I know this. A man who really
believes that will seek mercy. Seek mercy. But with man, even though he
needs mercy, he won't let go of his sin. A man will not part with his
sin or his religion even though he knows it's false. Illustration
of this, I heard of a man who believed in faith healing and
his wife had cancer. And they had prayed over this
woman saying they believed God for healing and she died. And
yet he still continues He still continued in his false religion,
even proved false. There are many who hear of God's
judgment and destruction upon the wicked, and yet this only
hardens their heart towards sin. How many signs did Pharaoh receive? And yet the Lord hardened his
heart by the word that was preached to him. And this word that was
preached to Jericho, it only hardened the hearts of that city. It only hardened them in their
sin to fortify their walls instead of opening their gates and begging
God for mercy. They shut up their gates. And
that's exactly what men do by nature when the gospel is preached.
They shut up the gates. of their hearts. They hate the
gospel of Jesus Christ. They hate the message of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. But praise God, there are some.
Praise God, there are some that God has chosen to reveal His
message of mercy. Rahab was one of those. Rahab
the harlot. Now, do you suppose anybody,
even in Israel, would have thought that God chose Rahab? If God
said to Israel, I chose one out of that city, you go pick them.
See which one you pick. It wouldn't have been Rahab. No. There are some that God has
chosen, and there are some that God has purposed not only to
hear His Word, but also to believe it. And this is the means by which
God has chosen. How did Rahab hear the word of
God's mercy? Only by the men who were sent. Only by those men who were sent
of God. You know this. In 1 Corinthians
1.21 it says, For after in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom
knew not God, it pleased God. Please God, by the foolishness
of preaching, to save them that believe. Paul said, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? It, the gospel of Christ,
is the power of God unto salvation. This is the power of God unto
salvation. To the flesh it is nothing. To
the world it is nothing. But to us who believe, this we
know. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. You know this in II Thessalonians
2.13, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the attaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. By our gospel. He calls you by our gospel. You obtain the glory of God by
our gospel. Is that not something? That's
amazing. And yet to men, this is the most
hated and biggest waste of time to them, is the preaching of
the gospel. We are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible, Peter said. The Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. All flesh is grass, and the glory
of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And
this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you."
I'm going to declare to you the same gospel that Rahab heard
of, the same one that came by the promise of these men. Look
in verse 17 of Joshua chapter 2. And the men said, We will
be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. Behold, when we come into the
land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window."
The first part of this promise has to do with a scarlet thread. And I want you to see how closely
this represents the Passover. See how this pictures the same
thing that the Israelites went through in Egypt. You remember
that the door post, that they would put the blood on the outside
of the door post and the lintel. And God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over that house and death and judgment
will pass over that house. Even so, these men said, hey,
you take a scarlet thread. And you hang it out your window,
scarlet cord, robe. And you hang it outside of your
window. And we'll be blameless of this.
When we come to destroy this, you'll be safe. You'll be safe. Why? Because of the token of
the blood. This was a token, a picture of
the blood. Did that lamb actually take away
their sin? No, it was a picture. And so
was the thread. The thread was a picture, a scarlet
thread. I like that, that it's even got
the color in there. Isn't that amazing? Because it pictures the blood. And they promise her, they tell
her this, when you bind that scarlet thread out your window,
which thou didst let us down by, And thou shall bring thy
father and thy mother and thy brother and thy father's household
home unto thee. And it shall be whosoever shall
go out of the doors of the house into the street, his blood is
upon his own head. And we will be guiltless, but
whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall
be upon our head. If any man, if any hand be upon
him. Even so, it is with those who
abide in Christ. Rahab abided in the house with
the bread, the same as the children of Israel abided in their house
with the blood. And we know this, that if they
would have come outside of that house in Egypt, those Israelites
would have been killed. And we know this, that if Rahab
or any of her kin were caught outside that house, they would
be killed. Even so it is, with all who have
heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and believed, we have a token
of blood. We have the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ sprinkled on our hearts by the Holy Spirit of
God. And God sees us, He sees the
blood of His only begotten Son, and He passes over us. Why? Because
judgment is passed. There is no judgment for those
who have the blood, those who are in Christ. Behold, the Lamb
of God has taken away the sin of the world. He has already
taken away the sin of His people, and we by faith have His blood
applied to us. And God, by His grace, passes
over us. Now, this thread of scarlet was
only good for those who are in the house. Those who abide. And the first thing I want us
to see about this house is this was a house of sinners. This
was the house of Rahab, the harlot. Now, friends, Rahab, here in
Hebrews, is still called the harlot. How many years has she
been dead and yet she still obtains the title harlot? Sinner! See, only sinners abide in Christ. Only sinners. Only those that
needed mercy went to Rahab's house. And only sinners need
mercy. Jesus said, I came not to call
the righteous but sinners to repentance. Sinners. He didn't come to make salvation
possible, but he came to accomplish salvation for sinners. This woman had nothing to give.
Nothing to give God, but God gave her a promise of mercy. He gave her a promise of grace
that if anyone abides in this house, they'll be saved. And
anyone, I tell you this morning, anyone who abides in Christ,
by faith in Christ, if we believe on the person of Christ, I'm
not talking about a creed. I'm not talking about a doctrine.
I am talking about a person. A man. The man. Jesus Christ,
who is God, manifest in the flesh, came and died for our sins, bore
our sins in His own body on the tree out of great love wherewith
He loved us. He loved us even to the end. And every sinner who comes to
Him will be saved. Every sinner who abides in Him
will be saved. And those that abide in the house
were saved. Is that not right? Was Rahab
not saved? Was this promise unfulfilled?
No. It came to fruition. It came
to pass because it was determined of God. It was determined of
God to save them. Every sinner who abides in Christ
continually by faith, everyone who has stayed in the house of
promise, the house of the blood shall be saved. Jesus said, Abide in me. And
I in you. As the vine, he said, he is the
vine and we are the branches, and except we abide in him, we
can produce no fruit. And if any man does not abide
in him, what good is he but to be cast out and burned, withered? John says this, Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. This
is faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is faith in Christ.
If any man hath not faith in Christ, he is none of his. He's not of God. Have you seen
people come and go? I have. For my life, I've seen
people come, and I've seen people get hot, and I've seen people
get all joyous and all religious, and then soon they're gone. Why? Their faith was nothing. They did not have true faith. Otherwise, they would have abided
in the house with sinners. They would have stayed with us.
John says, if they were of us, they would have no doubt continued
with us. A friend of mine named Carl Pounds,
known him most of my life. They call him Count on Me Carl,
because he was always there. And when the Lord saved him,
he went up to his pastor and he said, Pastor, the Lord saved
me." And he said, that's great, Carl, we'll see in ten years. Ten years came and ten years
went, and Carl says, I'm still here. And he said, that's great,
Carl, we'll see in ten years. Continual faith. We believe. We believed, we believe, and
we shall believe. He that believeth shall be saved. We continually abide in Christ. We continually abide safe under
His blood and righteousness. And everyone that abides in Christ,
listen to me, if you are a believer in Christ, I need to do this
quickly. If you are a believer in Christ, I want you to hear
this comfort, that you are not only abiding in the house, you
are accepted of God in the house. Accepted. Ephesians chapter 1,
look at it. Thumbs are missing the pages,
I guess. Ephesians chapter 1, look at
verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein God hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Friends, Jesus Christ is the
Beloved of the Father. He always was the Beloved of
the Father. You remember in Proverbs chapter
8, he said, before the world ever was, before the world was
created, before there was a particle of dust, before there was anything
made, he said, I was with Him. He said, and I was brought up
with Him. and was daily His delight." So
from eternity before anything was created, God loved Christ. He was daily His delight. Daily
His delight. Forever He was His delight. And He was always rejoicing before
the Father, rejoicing in the inhabitable part of His earth,
and My delights were with the Son. of men. So when was His
delights with the sons of men? His delights was in the sons
of men when He was delighted of by His Father in eternity.
Believer in Christ, there was never a time that we were not
God's daily delight. Why? Because we were accepted
in the Beloved. We were accepted. There was never a time that God
didn't delight in Christ. And friends, there's never a
time He didn't delight in us. Jeremiah says, Thus saith the
Lord, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. What other love do you need?
Do you need the love of men? Really? I love you, but truly,
my love is limited for you. God's love is limitless. As the
father had loved me, Christ said, I've loved you. In his high priestly
prayer, he says that the world may know that thou has sent me
and has loved them as thou has loved me. How has he loved him? How long is Christ's love been
loved of the father eternity? How long have I been loved of
the father from eternity? How long was Rahab loved for
of the father from eternity? Accepted in the beloved. We were loved of the Father and
accepted because by the grace of God, we were in union with
Christ. He was our surety. He stood up
before the Father and said, I'll guarantee. I'll guarantee them
that I'll pay for their sins. And the Father accepted his surety,
accepted his guarantee. and put us in Christ. And all our sins, all the sins
of His people, were laid on Him. This is why the Gospel is so
adamant in using the word, must. Do you remember the Lord Jesus
Christ said, other sheep I have of this fold, them I also must
bring. And I'll tell you what, for God
to must do something, only God can make God do something. Only God can make God must do
something. And He had obligated Himself,
just as these men said, His blood be upon our heads if He's not
safe. And that's what Christ said.
If my people are not safe, then I'm to blame. Friends, that just
ain't going to happen. He has accomplished salvation,
and we are accepted in Him We are as the jewels that adorn
the shoulders and the breastplate of the high priest. You remember
the jewels on it, two jewels on his shoulders, and on the
names of the tribes of Israel written on his shoulders. So
when he went into the Most Holy of Holies before God with that
blood, he bore on his shoulders the names of Israel. And so Christ
bore us on His shoulders when He came before God with His own
blood. He bore our sins and iniquities before God. And not only that,
He had those jewels on His breastplate close to His heart. You see,
we were on the heart of Christ when He died. I don't know about you, but when
I get sick, I think a lot about me. And I'm always dying. I'm always,
when I'm sick, Cheryl testified of this, that I'm just a sissy.
I mean, I get really bad. And I pity myself and all that.
The Lord Jesus Christ, when He died bearing our sins, He thought
of you. And think of Himself. He trusted God. And He loved
you. He loved me. Even me. And having loved His own, He
loved them even until the end. And the last thing, the high
priest also wore a hat called a mitre. And the Scripture says
that there was a gold plate over the top of his forehead on that
mitre. And it said, Holiness unto the
Lord. that when the high priest went
in, he bore the iniquity of the holy things. Exodus chapter 28
is where all this is mentioned, if you want to read it later,
but he said he bore the iniquity of the holy things. What does
that mean? All our holy things are full of sin. And so Christ didn't just bear
the evil of our sin, even the things that we would consider
the best, He had to bear as sin. But know this, our prayers are
accepted, our worship is accepted, our preaching is accepted, our
witness is accepted. How? As holiness unto the Lord. You are accepted. Where? In the beloved? Is there any acceptance outside
of the beloved? No. And I have you know this, Rahab's
house, where she abode was on the wall. Now is that not something? One string of thread hanging
down out of a window on that massive wall. And when that massive wall fell,
there was only one house standing. It was the house with the blood. That's it. I think that's very important
for this reason. Christ did not shed his blood for everyone. It was only those who abode in
the house. Are you abiding in Christ? By
faith? Believing Christ? Trusting Christ? Loving Christ? Testifying of
Christ? Is He all? If you believe on Christ, He
is. And you will be safe. There's nothing can touch you. And I tell you, if you believe
on Christ and die in your sins, your blood will be on my hands,
if that weren't so. But I tell you, I'm clean. Because
I've told you. Now believe, and you'll be safe, just like
Rahab. I pray that the Lord blesses
through your hearts.