John handed me this recorder
before service. I told him, I said, I was at
Donnie Bell's one time, and I noticed the recorder sitting on the pulpit,
but I didn't think anything about it. I thought he'd already started
it, and I laid my Bible down. And then I realized that I'd
laid my Bible down on the microphone, so the first two messages I preached
sounded like, so try to do this right, John. I think that's it. Yeah, it's
counting, so that's a good sign, isn't it? If you would turn with me in
your Bible to Joshua chapter 2, Joshua chapter 2. As most of, some of you know,
dear friends, have been tuning in on Mixler as we study through
Joshua on Wednesday nights. And it's always so encouraging
to me to hear from some of you afterwards and to see that we
had so many listeners. And I think to myself, that's
my friends in North Carolina. But the story before us this
morning is a story that concerns a woman who is a harlot. She
lives in a city that's marked for destruction. No effort is made at all to hide
what she was. We're told here in verse 1, 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 a harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged
there. Her house is said to be a harlot's
house. and that's where the two spies
of Israel lodged. The wise man Solomon said in
Proverbs chapter 7 verse 27 concerning the wiles of a harlot, he said
this, her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers
of death. But not this harlot. Not this
harlot. She's an object of God's mercy
and grace. That's the beauty of God's Word.
It never attempts to cover the kind of people that God saves. In God's Word, Noah's sinful
actions are declared. Abraham's shortcomings are given,
revealed. Lot, Samson, Jacob, David, Solomon
are all seen in the scriptures as they really are, sinners saved
by grace. And that gives us such encouragement,
doesn't it? God would save a rich like me. And it's the same with Christ's
apostles. You know, Thomas doubted the
Lord Jesus. He wouldn't believe until he
saw with his own eyes. And the Lord said, Thomas, blessed
are they that have not seen and yet believe. Philip didn't find
Christ to be sufficient. He said, show us the Father and
it will suffice us. And the Lord said, Philip, have
I been with you so long that you don't know me? He that has
seen me has seen the Father. I and the Father are one. Peter
denied his master three times, Judas betrayed him, all the apostles
forsook the Lord Jesus, and yet other than for Judas, God in
his mercy and in his grace saved them all. Now the words harlot
and saint just don't go together in our self-righteous way of
thinking. Religion would prefer that we
call Rahab a reformed harlot. They would prefer that we say
she had changed and turned over a new leaf. Living for Jesus,
I think, is used, the term's used often. Modern day religion
would say that she became a better person and because of that, God
saved her. But every child of God knows
that's not so. I think of Paul who wrote to
Timothy in first Timothy chapter one, he referred to himself as
a blasphemer. a persecutor, and one who was
injurious. I don't know how to say that. Bruce would straighten me out
on it, wouldn't he? He speaks English a lot better
than I do. But God showed him mercy in spite of those things. And Paul proclaimed, I obtained
mercy. And every child of God will say
that. I obtained mercy. Did you deserve
it? No, that's what makes it mercy. And he obtained this mercy by
his Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same with all God's
elect, and it's certainly the case with Rahab. She too obtained
mercy. I remember, I forget what anniversary
it was, but it was the year of the pearls, whatever that is,
and I bought Teresa some pearl earrings, and I went to the jeweler,
and he showed me these and that, and I don't know anything about
jewelry, but one thing that that jeweler did is he took out a
black felt backdrop and put those pearls against it, and boy, that
pearl just popped, as we say. And just as that the diamonds
and the pearls glitter against the jeweler's black backdrop,
so does God's sovereign grace glitter in glory and in majesty
against the black backdrop of our sin and depravity. This harlot,
the same as all safe sinners, is made righteous one way, by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. She may be Rahab the harlot,
but she's also Saint Rahab. And yet God will never let us
forget that she was a sinner saved by the grace of God. She is forever referred to in
the scriptures as Rahab the harlot. And because of that, it can never
be said that she was not an object of God's wondrous matchless grace. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 31
it said of Rahab, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believe not when she received the spies with peace. Rahab through the many messengers,
she being an innkeeper, I'm sure many stayed in her house and
I'm sure she heard of the God of Israel. Well we know that
she did as we'll see here in a moment. And I can just imagine
these strangers coming into her home and them saying, Ms. Rahab,
did you hear what happened in Egypt? Did you hear what God
did in Egypt, the God of Israel? Ms. Rahab, did you hear what
happened at the Red Sea? Did you hear what Israel's God
did to those two kings, Sihon and Og? And you know, that's
what a preacher is. He's a messenger, bringing the
message for sinners to flee the wrath of God to come. Oh, Rahab
heard some things. Her actions show that she truly
believed God. If not, her faith would have
proved not to be genuine, but it did. My dad used to use the
term a lot, good folks. He'd say, so-and-so, they some
good folks, you know? But the people of God are not
saved because they're good folks. They consider themselves to be
wretched. They consider themselves to be
depraved. They consider themselves to be
less than the least. Not just the least, but less
than the least. They consider themselves to be
the chief of sinners. They're made holy and righteous
by the substitutionary sacrifice and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ came into the world to
save sinners, not good folks. And I am a sinner. In verse 9
here, Rahab said, I know 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." She said, in
another place, when we heard about your God, our hearts did
melt. She heard some things. She believed
the things she heard. Do we? Do we? Do you believe
the things that we've heard this weekend? I believe, Lord, help
thou my unbelief. Look at verse 10, for we've 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. Verse 11, this is where she said
that, 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's God
in heaven above and in earth beneath." How much do you have to know
to be saved? It's who you have to know to be saved. She said, God in heaven above
and He's God in the earth beneath. And we see here from Rahab's
confession that she believed God and she bowed to His greatness. She heard, she believed, and
she sought mercy. That's the order of things. We
hear and by God's grace and His power we believe and then we
seek the Lord for mercy. We know we need help. Rahab lived
in a doomed world, as I said, and she sought to be delivered
one way, by the mercy and the grace of Joshua. You know that
the name Joshua in the New Testament is translated Jesus, same name. Jehovah, let's say. A picture
of the gospel was seen, how the Lord preserved the lives of the
spies by her keeping her promise to them. She told them that she
would let them down from the rooftop to escape the soldiers
of Jericho by a scarlet cord. We all know what that scarlet
cord picture is, don't we? How many wonderful messages have
been preached on that? No doubt. as to what that scarlet
cord refers to, pictures and typifies, it pictures the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was that same scarlet
cord that hung in her window that saved the spies that also
later saved the life of Rahab when Israel came to destroy Jericho. And it's the same with all of
us. That's how we're all saved. by the precious blood, the scarlet
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like the blood on the door
and the lentils of the houses of Israel in Goshen, those who
remained in the house were saved. Look at the words of the spies
here in verse 18. 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. In other words, stay
in the house. Stay in the house. Come into
the ark. Get to the city of refuge. Same
thing. Same thing. Get to Christ. Be in Christ. I love the story
of Rahab the harlot. It beautifully displays God's
mercy and God's grace in the salvation of needy and undeserving
sinners. God shows us our spiritual condition
very often in the physical conditions of certain men and women found
in the scriptures. When I read about old blind Bartimaeus,
I realize that I'm that blind beggar by the highway side begging
for mercy. Oh God, give me eyes to see Christ. I'm that lame and impotent man
laying at the pool of Bethesda called the House of Mercy. I
cannot lift myself up into the angel-stilled water." He said,
I have no man. And the God-man was standing
right in front of him. I'm that man full of leprosy
who the Lord can heal if He only will. And friends, He has never,
never once turned down a needy sinner. Do you know if you want
to be saved, you can be? He never turned down a needy
sinner. Oh, I'm that man with the withered hand who could not
work and do anything for himself. Christ must do for me what God
requires of me. I'm like that woman with the
issue of blood, and my issue of blood is a disease called
sin. And I'm that deaf and dumb man
that threw himself into the fire and into the deep waters causing
myself great harm and pain. Most of my trouble in life has
been caused by none other than me. I'm that possessed man that lived
among the tombs that needed divine deliverance. I'm Gomer. the harlot. I've sold myself
out to my lovers of sin and my only hope of redemption is that
my Hosea, the Lord Jesus Christ, purchase me as I stand on that
slave block and make me his own. And I am rehabbed, the harlot.
And unless God do for me what he did for her, And provide me
with the scarlet cord of Christ's precious blood, I will forever
perish in my sin. Now in verse 20, the spies said, 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. She said, according to your word,
so be it. I believe it, so be it. Amen. Every child of God,
that's what they say. So be it. You're a wretched,
no good sinner. That's right. Yay, Lord, I'm
a dog. But even the dogs get crumbs from the master's table.
Amen, Lord, so be it. And do you see what she did next?
No sooner than they got out the door, Rahab hung that scarlet
cord in her window. The Word of God says she bound
it. I've pictured that in my mind
so many times. How tight do you figure she tied
it? I bet she knotted it, double
knotted it, maybe even triple knotted it. And with each knot,
she just pulled it as tight as she could. She didn't want that
cord to come down out of that window, did she? No, that was
her hope of redemption. That was how her Joshua would
see. Oh my. Now, these men did not tell
her when they would return. I'm not sure they knew themselves. Rahab didn't know when Joshua
was coming, and no man or no woman knows the day or the hour
Joshua will come. And I just wonder how often she
checked that scarlet cord in her window. I wonder how many times. I'm
sure it was every hour of every day. She'd walk through the house
and she'd look over there and, yeah, it's still there. Maybe
I'll go tighten it a little more. Oh God, keep me looking to the
precious blood of Christ. Turn over a few pages with me
to Joshua chapter 6. I want to say again, I've been
so comforted by the messages of my dear brother this weekend.
I'm learning to rest under that tree, Bruce. By God's grace,
I'm learning. I'm learning to rest in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has put all things in subjection
under His feet, for in that He put all in subjection under Him,
He left nothing that's not put under Him. He's the God with
whom we have to do. He's our Joshua. In Him alone
we can rest. Doug, when does it take a man
or a woman to truly rest? When their work's finished. And Christ has finished the work
for us, and we can rest. God help me to rest. Joshua chapter
6 verse 1. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none
came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
See, I have given unto thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof,
and the mighty men of valor. What do we say to our children
and grandchildren when we're trying to teach them something?
We say, See? Pay attention. Often times we
say, See? I told you so. That's what the Lord doing here.
See? See? God had already defeated Jericho.
He had already said, I've given you the land and I've delivered
you from every enemy there. God's already defeated all our
enemies, friends. There's no battle for us to fight.
Mike just sung that. The conflict's over. There's
no more war. It's finished. The victory is
already ours, and the Lord continues his instructions here in verse
3. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go around
about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. Verse 4. And seven priests shall
bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh
day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests
shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that
when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you
hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with
a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat,
and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him."
Now let me just make a few comments about God's commission to Israel
here. And I think they very, very clearly
reveal what it is to declare and preach the gospel. The first
evident thing to me is that the preaching of the gospel is repetitive. I've heard men stand to preach
and say, I don't have anything new for you. We better not. We
better not, have we, John? It's repetitive. Faith comes
by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God, continual hearing,
and not just any hearing, but true hearing, the hearing of
the truth. Our Lord confirmed that by saying to His Father,
Thy Word is true. God's commission for Israel was
to do the same thing, not just one day, but for six. And then
on the seventh day, that many times, seven times. And this
was both the responsibility, as we read, of the priests and
the men of war. You see, God has given this responsibility
to His church, not just to preachers, not just to pastors. He's given
us all the ministry of reconciliation. And what a practice of war this
was. It too was an exception to the
rule. They made no contact with the
people. They marched around the city in silence and the priest
blew the ram's horn. And that's the one thing that
we must do. It's the means that God uses
to save sinners. We blow the single note of the
gospel horn. Don't you know that everyone
in Jericho was scared out of their mind? You know they had
to be. They'd heard. Rahab had already
said, we've heard what your God did. And our hearts have melted.
And they're locked into the city. Nobody goes in and nobody goes
out. They're hunkered down. They're scared to death. And
they, you know, they're looking over the wall. They're seeing
Israel walk around the city. And then they blow the sound
of the ram's horn. Everyone was scared out of their
minds. What are they doing? What's that
sound? What does all this mean? But there's a harlot living in
the city on the wall that cannot fall. And when she heard that
ram's horn, she rejoiced. She wasn't afraid. She rejoiced. It was the single note of the
gospel that her Joshua had come. to save her. Oh my. That's why we rejoice
in the gospel. It's that note, that single note,
that Christ came into this world to save sinners. Each day Rahab
woke up to the sound of the ram's horn and each night she laid
down her head in full assurance that salvation and deliverance
would soon be hers. And the ram's horn struck terror
in the hearts of all those in the city who heard it. Why? Because
they didn't know what it meant. It's the same with preaching
the true gospel today. People don't understand it. But
to Rahab, the sound of that one note was the sweetest sound that
she ever heard. That singular note of good news,
the gospel assured her that her deliverance And salvation was
coming, certain and sure. Though the walls had not yet
fallen, though she had not yet been delivered, her salvation
was as sure on the first day as it was on the last. And what
a picture of Christ going before us we have here in these instruments
of war that Joshua used. Were they carrying spears and
swords and shields? No, they're simply walking around
the city. And the Ark of the Covenant was
carried upon the shoulders of the priest. What a picture of
Christ going before us as we lift him up in preaching. He's
all that we need. Christ fought the battle of Jericho,
not Joshua. God had given Joshua and Israel
the city. He'd given them Jericho's king,
the mighty men of valor, according to verse 2. And our perfect Savior
did a perfect work, provided a perfect sacrifice, wrought
a perfect righteousness for his imperfect people. And that is
the gospel. Best news this sinner ever heard.
In verse 4 we're told there were 7 priests and 7 horns and it's
on the 7th day. As you know, 7 is the number
of completion. Friends, our work is finished. It's perfectly finished. Perfectly
complete. We have a perfect result. And it's there that we can rest. Will you rest? Our work's finished. As Bruce said, there's no chairs
in the tabernacle. You know why? The priest's work
was never finished. Never finished. But friends,
Christ, the great high priest, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, he sat down. Where did he sit? At the right
hand of God. For by one offering, he, our
great high priest, hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. What was another instrument of
battle? Well, we see that they have the horn, and on the last
day, the shout. You tell somebody, a soldier,
well, here's how we're going to defeat the enemy. We're going
to take a horn and blow it, and we're going to shout at them.
They think he's crazy. The enemies of God were already
defeated, and they were defeated by a noise and by a voice. The voice of the trumpet and
the voice of a man, both a single note, the same note over and
over. That's what preachers are. We're just voices crying in the
wilderness and we blow that single note in our preaching. Christ
and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. Come
to the waters. There's a river that never runs
dry. Christ is that river. And Jason,
it's a one-note musical masterpiece. I found it interesting that the
ram's horn in the original language doesn't just mean the horn itself,
but also the sound that it makes. The phrase comes from that word
jubilee. It's not just preaching that
saves, friends, it's the sound, it's the message of the preacher. It's what we preach. There's
a lot of people preaching, but they're not preaching salvation
in Christ. Paul didn't say, woe unto me
if I preach not. Paul said, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Big difference. It's the message of Christ crucified
that saves. That's why we never grow tired
of hearing it. Tell me again how Christ died for sinners like
me. This horn that the priest blew
was the same horn that was used to begin the year of Jubilee.
And at the sound of the ram's horn, with that singular bright
note and sound that it made, the slave was set free. Do you
hear me? The debtor was now forgiven.
And all that was lost was now returned. Look down at verse
21, and they, being Israel, utterly destroyed all that was in the
city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and
ass, with the edge of the sword. I've heard people say, boy, that's
a bloody, bloody gospel that you preach. The holy justice
of God. Somebody told me one time, and
I know I've heard other people say that they've been told this,
he said, you're God, my devil. And he may be, but you better
get ready to deal with the devil then, because he's God. And what
he does is always good. Joshua had said unto the two
men, verse 22, but Joshua had said unto the two men that had
spied out the country. Now look at this. Go into the
harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she has as you swear
unto her. And the young men that were spies
went in and they 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. 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 to this day, because she hid the messengers
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. James said that Rahab
was justified by works, but that doesn't mean that the Lord saved
her because she did this. This was the result. This was
the fruit of her justification. Faith without works is dead being
alone. We don't do good works to be
saved. We do good works because we are
saved. Because of what Christ has done for us. And I picture
this, Rahab walking through that city, devastation everywhere
she looked. People she'd known all her life,
gone, dead, slain by a sword. But her mind and her heart's
not on Jericho anymore. She's going to forever be a citizen
of a new kingdom, in whom the King of Kings reigns. And Rahab
married Salmon and gave birth to Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. And Boaz married Ruth, and to
her was born Obed. And Obed was the father of Jesse,
and Jesse was the father of David. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
David's son, but he was David's Lord. What a gospel. What a gospel. What a Savior. You know, used
to, I'd hear messages like I've heard this weekend, and I'd say,
what a message, what a sermon. And now, by God's grace, I say,
what a Savior, what a God, what a Gospel. And friends, if God
saved a harlot like Rahab, then there's hope for wretches like
you and me. And I want you to rest there.
Just sit and rest. There's nothing for you to do.
The work's been finished. The conflict's over. May God
be pleased to make it so. For his glory, our good, and
for Christ's sake. Let me say again how much I love
you and appreciate all that you've done for us. It's just wonderful
to be here. Words can't describe it, so I
won't even try. But thank you, and I love you.
Thank you, Brother John.