Go with me, if you would, to
Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 will be our text. In a moment you'll see why I
asked our brother to read Jonah 2 for the Scripture reading. Hebrews 11, let's read verses
30 and 31. By faith, the walls of Jericho
fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith, the
harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she
had received the spies with peace. Now we recently went through
the book of Joshua, the whole book of Joshua, where the account
of Jericho and Rahab is recorded. And this woman Rahab was a harlot
who lived in the city of Jericho. Her house was built into the
wall of the city. The wall was made up of houses. And she lived on the wall and
she and all of Jericho heard how God was with his people.
What was happening, uh, was being noised abroad. And she heard
that God was with them mightily and that they were coming through
and taking all the land and destroying all the cities. God promised
them that land for an inheritance. And as we looked at her story,
we saw God's mercy to her in sending two spies into Jericho
and causing them to end up in her house. They ended up directly
in her house. And she said to them, I know
that you are coming through to destroy the land. Turn with me
over to Joshua chapter two. Joshua chapter 2, verse 9. 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 two kings of the Amorites
that were on the other side, Jordan, Sihon, and Og, whom you
utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these
things, our heart 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. She said, I
know that you're coming through to destroy this land and I know
that you're able to do it. I know that you're going to do
it. And the reason is because the Lord, your God is God. He is God. And she said to these
two men, I am begging you for mercy. I'm begging you to have
mercy. Verse 12, she said, Now therefore
I pray you, swear 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 you 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. Would you
spare me and my family? Would you just show mercy to
us? Verse 14, And the men answered her, 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. They said we swear in a covenant
to you. We are going to destroy this
whole city. We're going to destroy this whole
city. But we are going to spare your life and we're going to
spare every life that is with you in this house. Every person
that's here with you. But they're going to say in just
a minute, every soul that is outside of this house is going
to die. When we come through, if a soul
is outside of this house, their blood is on their own head. In that, we see the fact that
God has always chosen. He's always put a difference. He's always drawn a line. in who he would save and who
he would damn. He's always put a difference,
a particular difference. God's salvation is a particular
salvation. God's salvation is a choosing
salvation. It's an on purpose salvation. Every account, as we have gone
through Hebrews chapter 11, every account tells us that. Don't
turn back over there, but in Hebrews 11 verse 4 it talks about
Cain and Abel. God chose to save Abel and not
Cain. Isn't that right? He put a difference. In verse 7 it said, By faith
Noah. It's estimated that there were
as many people on the earth back then as there are today. God
chose to save 8. And He put a particular difference.
He said, every soul that's inside this ark. Isn't that right? He goes on to say in Hebrews
11, by faith, Abraham, Abraham had a son by his own doing, Ishmael. God said, I don't choose him.
I choose Isaac. The son of promise that I'm going
to give to you in my own time. Isaac had two sons. It says in
Hebrews 11, Jacob and Esau. God said, I choose Jacob and
I don't choose Esau. It goes on to say by faith, Moses,
he led the children of Israel out of bondage. God said, I choose
the nation of Israel and I don't choose the nation of Egypt. And he said in Exodus 11, I want
everybody to know how that I have put a difference. I want everybody
to see that I have put a difference and that difference is Christ.
The difference is Christ. Every soul that is in Christ
is going to be saved. And every soul that is outside
of Christ is going to be damned. Going to be. That's what Rahab's
house represented. Those two spies, two messengers
from God, they told her, judgment is coming to this place. You
tell your family. You tell your loved ones. That's
what they told her. I can't imagine when judgment
comes to this place. It's going to happen in the blink
of an eye. It's going to be a shocking moment. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. Judgment is coming to this place. Judgment is coming to this place.
The flesh doesn't believe that. Our flesh does not believe that.
We hear it, the spirit in there says, that's right. The flesh
says, not in my lifetime. Every soul is going to stand
back on the earth again. Judgment is coming to this place.
They said, you go tell your family. You go tell your loved ones.
You tell your loved ones that if they want to live, they must
be inside this house. They have to be inside this house.
Every soul outside of this house is going to die. Then they gave
her a token of promise. They gave her a red rope. A SCARLET LINE. Verse 18 here
in Joshua 2, it says, 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 all 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 shall be upon His head, and we will be guiltless. And
whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall
be on our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this
our business, then we will be quit of thine oath, which thou
hast made us to swear. And she said, According unto
your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they
departed, and she bound the scarlet line in the window. They said,
you tie this into your window, and on the day of judgment, when
that day comes, when we see this scarlet line, we're going to
spare this house. We're going to tell every soldier
in the camp of Israel, if you see that scarlet line, do not
touch that house. Don't touch it. That scarlet
line represents the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty
has said that His judgment is coming, but He said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. And if you're in the house of
the scarlet line, you're safe. You're safe. And Rahab and her
family were safe. Over in chapter 6, if you turn
to Joshua 6, The children of Israel, they
came up to the city of Jericho, and they marched around that
city for seven days. And on the seventh day, they
marched around that city seven times. And on the seventh time,
they shouted with the shout of God. And the priest blew the
trumpets of God, and God gave them the victory over that city. Joshua 6 verse 20 says, And the people shouted with a
great shout that the wall fell down flat, so that the people
went up into the city, every man straight before him, and
they took the city. The entire wall of Jericho fell
down flat except for one little sliver of wall. Rahab's house. And it says in verse 21, they
utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman,
young and old, ox and sheep, and ass with the edge of the
sword. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out
the country, go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the
woman and all that she hath as you swear unto her. And the young
men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father
and her mother and her brethren and all that she had. And they
brought out all her kindred and left them without the camp of
Israel. And they burnt the city with
fire and all that was therein, only the silver and the gold
and the vessels of brass and of iron they put into the treasury
of the house of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot
alive. and her father's household and
all that she had, and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day,
because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out
Jericho." Now, having looked at her story already
twice as we were going through Joshua, we looked at it when
we were in chapter 2, that's where the story begins, and then
we looked at it again when we were in chapter 6. And having
already looked at it together twice, I started thinking of
the moment after the story ends. They went in and got her and
her family and they took them out of danger's way and they
set them in the camp of Israel. And there she stands looking
at Jericho and the absolute destruction. There stands her house. That
scarlet line still hanging on it. All the death, all the the judgment
of God's wrath down on that place. And she's standing there looking
at that thinking. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Every
account that we have looked at in Hebrews says the same exact
thing. Every account says, and this
one says, that all of this happened by faith. It keeps saying by
faith. It keeps saying by faith. These
people believed something. I mean, they were absolutely
convinced of something in their heart. Every single salvation that has
been written in this book, every soul that was saved believed
something. Every single one of them. Rahab believed with all
of her heart the same thing that we believe with all of our hearts.
Every true salvation that has ever taken place and ever will
take place, the one saved is absolutely convinced of something. And nobody said it better than
Jonah. Nobody said it better than Jonah. Jonah laid in the
belly of a whale at the bottom of the ocean for three days. That's a tough place to be. That's
an impossible place to be. And when God finally delivered
him to dry land, this is what he cried. Salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Rahab
was convinced that salvation was of the Lord. She still is. It says in verse 25, Joshua saved
Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household and all that
she had and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day. She's right
now among spiritual Israel. She is right now in heavenly
Israel crying at the top of her lungs. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. I want to enter
into the truth of that. I want to enter into what Rahab
believes and what Jonah right now believes and what every other
child of God believes. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. I want us to
see five reasons why. Salvation is of the Lord, number
one, because He is the architect that drew up the perfect blueprint
of it. He created salvation. He authored salvation. It started with Him. It started
with HIM. The song says, HAIL SOVEREIGN
LOVE THAT FIRST BEGAN THE SCHEME TO RESCUE FALLEN MAN. Before there was ever even a
sinner walking on a created earth. Okay, now this is a statement
that's not original to me, but this is good, good. Before there
was ever even a sinner walking on a created earth, God provided
a Savior. Before there was ever even a
created earth or a sinner standing on it, God provided a Savior.
Look with me at Revelation 13. Revelation 13 verse 8 says, and
all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names
are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from,
and the word from translates before, the foundation of the
world. The wisdom and knowledge of God
is wonderful. Before the world had foundations,
the world had a lamb slain. Before the world even had foundations,
the world had a lamb slain. Isaac asked Abraham, he said,
my father, where is the lamb? Abraham said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb. God will provide Himself a Lamb.
What a wonderful and amazing salvation that was fully, completely
provided before any of us even knew we needed it. Salvation
was always of the Lord. It was there all along, waiting
for His people. There all along. Isaiah 40 says,
Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? It says, with whom
took he counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path
of judgment? The answer is no one. No one. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. It did not
start with me realizing I need salvation. Would you consider
something called salvation? It started with Him. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord because He created
it, number two. It's of the Lord because He executed
it. He executed salvation. No one helped or took part in
the execution of our salvation before God. No one. He executed
salvation through His cross alone. alone. It is recorded in history
that Peter died on a cross. That's how the apostle Peter
died on a cross. Martyrs died at the stake. They
died on crosses. It was not though the blood of
Christ and the blood of Peter that saves us. It was not the
blood of Christ and the blood of martyrs that saves us, it
was the blood of Christ alone. The scripture says He trod the
winepress alone, He by Himself purged our sins. Not only did
He accomplish it alone, it was God only who sent Him to accomplish
it. Look with me at Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2 verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." The world believes that Christ
was done wrong. That's what the world believes.
This is what everybody believes. If I was alive back then, I would
have stopped it. They believe Christ was done wrong. He came
to do a good thing, He came to show the way, and He was done
wrong. That's not what happened. God executed salvation. He accomplished that salvation
alone and God alone sent Him to accomplish it. That mob of
people laid hold of Him. Judas got that mob of people
together and they grabbed Him and they took Him before Pilate.
And Pilate said, okay, go ahead and crucify Him. They had nothing
to do with it. They were only carrying out what
God determined before to be done. Look at the next chapter, chapter
3, verse 18. But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all His prophets that Christ should
suffer, He hath so fulfilled." He did it. He did it. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord because number
one, God authored it. Number two, God executed it.
Number three, God applied it. God applied it. Don't turn, but
Ephesians 2 verse 1 says, and you hath he quickened. There comes a point in a believer's
life when salvation is applied. The lamb was slain from the foundation
of the world. In time, God executed that salvation
on the cross. And we're born into this world
dead in trespasses and sins, totally blind, wrong, error,
rebels, and all of a sudden, in His good time, He applies
it. And you have He quickened. The
Word calls us dead. It calls us unwilling. You will
not come to me that you might have life. It calls us unable. No man can come to me. It calls
us ungodly. It calls us his enemy, enmity
against him. But this word says, and you hath
he quickened, made alive. He said, I'm going to make my
people willing in the day of my power. All of a sudden, they're
just going to be willing. He said, God, my father is going
to draw them. That's how they're going to come.
And God, my spirit is going to give them a new godly nature
that loves God and serves God and worships God. I'm going to
apply this salvation to them. Look at Isaiah 35 with me. This
is one of my favorite chapters. Isaiah 35. Verse 3, Strengthen ye the weak
hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of
a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come
with vengeance. Even God with a recompense, He
will come and save you. He said, you go tell them that.
What that means is you preach the gospel to them. Verse 5 says,
then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as a heart. and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams are going to start flowing in the desert."
That's going to be the response to the gospel. The response in
my people. Salvation is of the Lord because
He created it. He executed it. He applied it. And number four, he sustains
it. He sustains it. Charles Spurgeon
said, the grace that God gives to his child is daily grace. He gives us grace for today. And he said, we must have grace
for the next day and grace for the next day. And grace every
day until our days are over. He said just like the manna that
fell. That was God given manna for
today. Isn't that right? That manna
was for today. It's for today. If they tried to gather enough
manna, if they tried to get extra for tomorrow so they wouldn't
have to come back, you remember what he said to them? Don't try
to gather for tomorrow so you won't have to come back. It'll
spoil every time. The only time it didn't spoil
is if it was on the Sabbath. No work. You don't need to work
on the Sabbath. But He said it's grace for today. And God's children
don't scoop up grace, get this doctrine of five points and three
R's Get their mind around election and get their mind around total
depravity. And then they take it on and
say, well, we're good. We have grace. We got it. I got it. Yeah. Man's totally to pray. I got
it. Got elected to people. I got it. Christ only died for
those people. I got it. God's going to call
them. Got it. God's people don't take
that grace on and just go on. It's grace for today. And he
said God will keep giving it to his people every single day. All the grace they need. Fresh
daily grace. Our Lord said after this manner
pray ye, give us this day our daily bread. Lord give me the
bread I need today. call out to him for food. But
he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Lord, give it to me today.
He said, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Salvation is of the Lord. That daily saving salvation is
of the Lord. And here is God's promise of
it through His Word. He said back in, you can turn
or listen, He said in Deuteronomy 33, He's speaking, this is Moses
speaking to the children of Israel and it says in Deuteronomy 33
verse 20 5. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,
and he said, As thy days, so shall thy strength be. As thy
days, so shall thy strength be. You're going to be taken care
of. Every day for the rest of your life, you're going to be
kept by the power of God. The apostle Paul said, he that
has begun a good work in you will perform it every day until
the day of Jesus Christ. So salvation is of the Lord because
he started it. It's of the Lord because he executed
it. It's of the Lord because he applied
it. It's of the Lord because he sustains
it. And it's of the Lord because
he will ultimately finally perfect it. Now see if you can enter
into this. He's going to ultimately, finally perfect it. Charles Spurgeon
said, this was in our bulletin either last week or a couple
of weeks ago. This is just, this is so good. This is so comforting. He said, I do verily believe that if it should ever be my
lot, to put my foot upon the golden
threshold of paradise and put this thumb upon the pearly
latch. I should never cross the threshold
unless I had grace given me to take that last step. whereby
I might enter heaven." What he's saying is salvation is so of
the Lord. It is so of the Lord. It is so
start to finish of the Lord. He said, if I had my foot on
the threshold and my thumb on the latch of the gates of heaven
itself, I would never enter in. I would
never take that last step except for the grace of God pulling
me in, opening the door, pulling me
in, and ultimately perfecting my eternal salvation. That's
how of the Lord it is. That's how of the Lord it is.
The song Amazing Grace says, "'Twas grace that brought me
safe thus far, And grace will lead me home all the way home. We'll close with revelation 19.
Revelation 19 verse one. It says, And after these things,
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Everybody said, I heard much
people in heaven. All of them were saying, Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Saying, Hallelujah. Salvation. And glory. and honor and power unto the
Lord our God every soul there Rahab right now Jonah right now
and I pray I pray you and I also Lord keep us keep us don't let
us go don't let us go between now and then We're crying, salvation is of
the Lord. I pray all of us in that great
day, every soul there is gonna cry at the top of his lungs.
We are what we are by the grace of God. Every soul there. It's by the grace of God. Salvation
is of the Lord. It is of the Lord. Start to finish. Alpha to omega, it is 100% of
the Lord. Amen. Let's all stand together.