Chapter 2, Joshua chapter 2.
It says, Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to
spy secretly, say, go and view the land, even Jericho. And they went out and came into
a harlot's house named Rahab. And the king came, said, I understand
there's some men here tonight. She said, oh, they... She told
them down in verse 4, and the woman took the two men, hid them,
said they'd been come out from someplace else. And there came men unto me, but
I wish not which they were. And it came to pass about the
time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men
went out, where the men went, I want not. Pursue after them
quickly, for she shall overtake them. But she had brought them
up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks
of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. And the
men pursued after her. After them, the way to Jordan
under the forge, and as soon as they which pursued them were
after them, going out, they shut the gate. And before they were
laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof, 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 of 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 of Jordan, Zion and Og,
whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we has heard these
things, our hearts did melt, Neither 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 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. I 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.' And the
maid answered her, Our life for yours, if ye 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. Then she left
them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon
the town wall, And she dwelt there. And she said unto them,
Get you to the mountains, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide yourselves
there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may
you go your way. And the men said unto her, We
will be blameless of this, I knowest which thou hast made us swear.
Behold, when we come unto 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
brother, and all thy 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, we will be guiltless. And whosoever shall be within
the house, his blood be upon our head, if any hand be upon
him. And I tell you what, and then
she said down verse 21, 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 wind. You know, Joshua sent these spies
to spy out the land. Even though he sent them out
spying the land, it did not, it did not in no way help God's
promise. God promised them that wherever
they set their foot, that land was going to be theirs. And so
it didn't change the promise that God made. It didn't change
the price. He told Joshua, wherever you
set your foot, He said, that's going to be ours. That's going
to be ours. That's going to be Israel's. And he said, as I was
with Moses, I'm going to be with you. And God's word is true whether
we see it or not. So we walk by faith, we don't
walk by sight. Now we can't justify Rahab's
answer to the king of Jericho when she says that, you know,
those men went out this way when she had them hit up on the roof.
So she said, go out there and maybe you can catch up with them.
I can't justify what she's trying to do. I ain't gonna justify
what she said and I'm not gonna try. But you know how many times
she's mentioned in the scriptures? She's mentioned, I couldn't,
I tried to count the times here in the book of Joshua. But the
next place she's mentioned is in Matthew in the book of the
generation of Jesus Christ. Her name is mentioned in verse
five of Matthew one. It's called the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ. And Rahab married Salmon, a prince
of Judah, and begat Boaz. Boaz was the redeemer that redeemed
Ruth and married Ruth. And Ruth and Boaz begat Jesse. And Jesse begat David. So she's
a great, great grandmother to David. And here's another thing
about her. James mentions her. Two people
he mentions in the book of James, chapter 2. He mentions Abraham
and he mentions Rahab. And not only that, but she's
mentioned in Hebrews 11, 31. In the saints hall of faith. So this woman is well known in
the scriptures. Evidently God honored her in
such a way that he put her name all over the Bible. When he wanted
to talk about faith that was obedient he says, Re'ab the harlot
saved the spines. And oh my, she's mentioned so
many times, and I'll tell you over and over and over. But here's
the thing, she's called a harlot. And why they called her a harlot
was that she had an inn. People come there and get a place
to live and something to eat. And a lot of them were actually
prostitutes, so they called her a harlot. But it's not good people
that our Lord Jesus Christ came to save. Came to save. You know, it's not good people
that are seeking salvation. And here in this story about
Rahab and this scarlet thread, another glorious picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we see the love and grace of God in the
salvation, in the salvation I say, of Rahab. Look what it says first
of all, there in verse 10. She said, for we have heard.
That's the first thing she said, we have heard. That's how, you
know, Cody mentioned that so, you know, very eloquently Sunday
morning. He says, you know, faith cometh
by hearing. You know, how are you going to
call on him in whom you not believe? And how are you going to believe
in him if you have not heard? And so faith then cometh by hearing. Well, she heard, said, we have,
she said unto the men, we have heard. What did you hear? And this is the thing a man has
to hear. And a man must hear what God
has done and what He has done. And His great work of salvation.
She said, we have heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea. She said, oh we heard about your
God. We've already heard about it.
We heard about what a great, glorious God He is. He dried
up the Red Sea when He brought you up out of Egypt. She no doubt
had heard about the Passover lamb and how that the firstborn
in Egypt died that night. All except those where God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And I'll tell you what,
and here she understood this. She not only heard of God's great
salvation, but of His awful judgments. Look what He said. She said,
when you came out of Egypt, and then look what she said, she
heard about God's judgments. She heard about God's judgments.
And look what she said here. And what you did unto the two
kings of the Amorites at the site of Jordan, Zion and Og,
whom you utterly destroyed. Salvation on one hand, You brought
them up through dry land, brought them over into, saved them out
of Egypt, and then you got over here, and we've seen how you
utterly destroyed kings. We see your awful judgments.
And I tell you what, when you hear about things like this,
oh, I see here, you see, she said, you utterly destroyed them.
Now, folks don't like to hear about God destroying things.
But I tell you what, if you're His enemy, He's going to destroy
you. And I tell you, either God's your best friend or He's your
worst enemy. And there's no middle ground.
He's either for you or against you. And I tell you what, I want
Him to be for me. I desperately need Him to be
for me. And oh my, you know, that's why
Paul said when he was preaching in Acts 26, and they said, oh
Paul, Paul, listen, listen. He said, did you tell them all
about what God had done? And he said, and I'll tell you
something about God. He didn't go over here in a corner
and try to do His work over here in a corner where nobody knows
nothing about it. He said, when God works, people's going to
know it. Huh? When God does something,
you're going to know God did it. God did it. Now here's the
next thing she does. She had heard. We got to hear. Men have to hear. And she heard. Then look what happened in verses
11. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did I have any more courage
in any man because of you. Here she confesses her utter
and absolute helplessness, hopelessness, inability. Oh, when we heard
about these things, our hearts melted. We got scared to death. When they heard of God's work,
they were brought to nothing. Oh my, they were reduced to nothing.
She said their hearts didn't melt. Self-confidence is gone. Self-righteousness is gone. Self-help
is gone. Huh? And Isaiah said, and there
was no more courage in any man. No courage in any man. No self-justification
here. No, no. And all the people of
the land, she said. All the people of the land. And
then look what else she said about God now. In the last part
of verse 11. Because of you, because of God.
For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and in earth
beneath. You heard about Him? Heard about
His judgments? Heard about His salvation? Showed,
oh, there's nothing we can do. We're helpless, hopeless here.
We ain't got no courage. We're scared to death. Ain't
no man, not a man in this town that's got any courage to face
you all. And then she confessed that God is God. Not a pretender. Not a pretender. No, no. Not an impotent wannabe. No,
no. She confessed that God is God. And not, you know, there's a
lot of pretenders out here. A lot of pretenders. A lot of
people. They got a paper God. They got
a God of their imagination. They got a God that we... Oh
my, I see these church signs and one of them said, don't let
life's curves derail you. What's that got to do with the
gospel? What's that got to do with God? What's that got to
do with sin? What's that got to do with Christ?
What's that got to do with salvation? Don't let life's curves derail
you. I tell you what, they're God's,
they don't, listen, that's what I'm telling you, they've got
a, people have got a God that has absolutely no power. He has
no strength, he has no ability, he has no rights. Everybody's
worried about their rights. We're in one of the awfulest
states right now where everybody's fighting for their rights. The
only people that ain't got any rights is the people's not fighting
for them. But everybody's fighting for their rights. I want a right
to do this, I want a right to do that, and we ought to be able
to do this, and just, oh my goodness, they want to do that. But you
let God come down and say, I will do this, and I will do that,
and they say, oh no, no, no, no, no, no. My God's not like
that. And I tell you, if there's a
lot of people, As long as God's in heaven. Oh, they love for
God to be in heaven. Love for Him to be on His throne.
Even use the word sovereign. And they'll say, Oh, God's up
in the heavens. And believe me, He knows what's
going on, they'll say. Like He's a bystander up there.
And it's fine for Him to rule in heaven. And then sit on His
throne and get His little bag out and start throwing blessings
out. Here's your blessing. Here's your blessing. Here's
your blessing. Throw them blessings out. But boy, I tell you what,
don't let him get off his throne and come down here and interfere
in my life. I don't want him interfering
in my life. I don't want him interfering in my home. I don't
want him interfering in my marriage. I don't want him interfering
in nothing that I do. He can go back to heaven, just
leave me alone. Huh? But oh my. But they don't want him on the
earth. To others, he's the God of earth. Oh boy, I see God in them trees. Oh, I see them beautiful trees.
God's in them trees. I ain't never told no tree died
for you. God's in them mountains. God's in them, you know, they
go out here and they say, well, we worship God anywhere. Get
on, you know, and see all this thing, see God's, everything
remains in God. That's what one poet said. But
I'll tell you one thing. You know what she said? The Lord
your God. He's the true God. God of heaven
and the God on earth. He was in heaven when he parted
the Red Sea. But he done that on the earth.
He was in heaven when he told him to slay the lamb, put the
blood on the doors. But he done the work on the face
of the earth. And I tell you what, men don't
actually ever think about what God is like, what His nature
is, holy and righteous, infinite, eternal. Don't know nothing about
His character, nothing about what He requires of man. But
to Rahab, Rahab, just because of what she had heard about him,
she said, I know this, that your Lord God, He is God of heaven
above and in earth beneath. Now, He's not somebody like that. And then she, look what she said.
She believed. Not only did she confess and say she had heard,
but look what she says now. She believed. Look back up here
in verse 9. And she said unto the men, now
listen to this, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. Said, I dwell in a house here,
but I know that God's fixed to take it. That's what she said. Said, I'm living here. This is
where I live. But God's given it to you all.
How would you like to find that out, you know? This is mine. Nope, God says, it's mine. I'm
going to take it. And she said, oh, she said unto
the men, the Lord hath given you the land. The land. You know, that's what old Scott
used to say all the time. I heard him say this one time.
He said, people buy them a piece of property and And they'll put
up no trespassing signs all over the place and get them a mailbox
about that big around, stick their name all over it and let
everybody know, name it and all that and let everybody know how
important they are and all that kind of stuff. By the time they
get all that fixed up, then he kills them. But you know, we won't
let everybody know what we got. We got to let everybody know.
But I'll tell you what. I heard a fellow say one time
that That God's on it all, but the devil's got to lean on it.
The devil ain't got to lean on nothing. God owns this earth
and everything in it. He owns the spot of ground your
house is on. And if you're His, He owns you.
He owns the furniture in your house. He owns the money in your
pocket. He owns everything that you got. And beloved, you know
what it has to do to take it away? Take you away from it.
And it's gone. Ain't that right? And I like
it like that, don't you? I love it like that. Where did
you get all this stuff? God gave it to me. How did you
take it? Well, God gave it to me. I stuck
out my hands and He filled it up. Don't deserve it. Oh my goodness. Well, everyone
look what she says here now. And that your terror is falling
upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of
you. Everyone in Jericho was scared
to death. But only Rahab was the only one
who believed. The only one in that whole place
who believed. And who made her to differ? God
did. And her faith produced fear.
Fear of God. And what we see here is a case
of prevenient grace. And what prevenient grace is,
grace goes before grace. Grace goes and prepares And then
when that grace prepares it, it comes grace upon grace. She
goes and prepares it, and then grace comes and makes it effectual. It's like Cornelius. Grace went
before Peter whenever he went over there to preach. That's
preventing grace. And then he went over there and
he preached, and then God saved him by grace. Grace come and
start teaching us long, like that song we sung tonight, you
know, He Opened My Mind. And I tell you, this is what
happens to you. Her faith produced fear. And I tell you what, to
fear the Lord is the beginning of the wisdom. And that's why
she said, oh, we're scared to death of God. His terror, His
terror is falling upon us. And I tell you, beloved, and
here's what happened. She believed, and you know where
she got the faith? The same place you and I do.
God gave it to her. God gave it to her. When Abraham
was called to go out, he believed. Well, where did he get the faith
to believe? God gave it to him. There's nobody that ever done
anything that ever believed that God didn't come and go ahead
before them and open their heart and open their understanding
and brought them to where they believed. And I tell you what,
and that's why they say, you get all the glory because I could
not have believed had not you given me faith. You try believing
without Christ. Try not to believe if you can't. You cannot do it. Once you start
believing, you cannot not believe, can you? And oh my, look what
she did now, down in verse 12. She started praying. She prayed
now. 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 oh my, I ask you to swear
by the Lord your God. She believed, so now she prays
to be saved. I want to be saved. That's what
she's saying. I want to be saved. What a request. Here she was, a harlot. A condemned
harlot. That whole city was going to
fall. Every wall in Jericho was going to come down. God is going
to destroy Jericho. She knew God was going to destroy
this place and all these people. But she said, oh listen, show
kindness to me. And look what she said in verse
13. and that you will save a life
my father and my mother and my brother and my sisters and all
that they have and listen to what she says here and deliver
our lives from death. Save us from death. Now she is
talking about physical death but she is also talking about
probably eternal death here. Oh my, what a request. Her faith
made her bold. Oh my. By faith the heart of
Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she sent
out the spies the other way. But her faith made her bold.
It's like that Syrophoenician woman that brought her daughter
to the Lord. And she came to the Lord and
she said, Lord, how about my daughter? My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. Would you have mercy on her?
He didn't answer. Just quiet. She just persisted. Persisted. Finally, the Lord
Jesus said, it's not fit. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, and it's not fit that the children's
bread be fed to dogs. She said, yes Lord, you're right,
you're right, you're right. But you even give the crumbs
to the dogs around the table. He said, as thou, Lord have mercy
on me and help me. And she said, go thy way, thy
daughter's healed. She wasn't going to take no for
an answer. That's what Ray had to do and I ain't going to take
no for an answer. I don't want salvation for me. I want it for
my mother. I want it for my father. I want
it for my brothers, my sisters, my whole family. And then she
says, deliver us from death. Death. And that's why we say
when a believer goes, we get rejoiced. You know why we rejoice?
Because they just start living. Oh my. But in my Father's house,
save our lives. But of all she asked, she asked
this, there in verse 12. Down in the last part of the
verse, that she also show kindness unto my father's house, and give
me a true token. Give me some assurance. Leave
something here. Show me. Show me. Give me a token. And you know
why she asked that? What if you all don't do what
you say, and I perish anyway? And oh my, give me a token. And the men answered her. Look
what the men said to her. In verse 14, the men answered
her, our life for yours. We'll die in your place if we
don't keep our word. 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. And oh my, when God saves
this land, we're going to be good to you, going to be kind
to you. She's now received the promise. She's received the promise. We're going to save you when
we get back here. We're going to save you. If she receives
the promise of men, when we come back, we're going to save you.
She let them down through McCord. And if you receive the promise
of a man, if a man tells you, it's like somebody tells you
something. Somebody in this building here,
some one of these men or women tells you something. You wouldn't
believe what I saw or what I heard or this happened or that happened.
And you'll take their witness and you'll say, that's true.
Yeah, I believe you. I believe you. Just telling you something
that's happened. If you receive the witness of
men, how much greater then is the witness of God. we'll believe one another but
oh what a witness God has and this is what his witness is right
here and oh my faith faith lays on what God says and even though
it's spoken by men you know let me show you something in Luke
let's look in Luke chapter 16 I want us to look at something
over here this is what I'm trying to talk about you know that You've
got to have the Word. And we receive the Word. And
it lays hold of the Word of God. In Luke 16.28, look what it says
here. Now this is the rich man. He's
down in hell. And then he comes to Abraham
and he says, for I have five brethren that he may testify
unto them. Send Lazarus therefore, he said.
I want you to go send Lazarus. For I have five brethren that
he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place
of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They
have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he says,
Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said, If they hear not
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead. And Christ rose from the dead,
and how many people have been persuaded by that? And I tell
you, that's what happens. That's what happens. That's why
she said, oh my, we lay hold of God's word. Then it says in
verse 15, then, then she let them down by a cord through the
window. Then after she had heard, then after she confessed her
other helplessness and inability, then after she believed, Then
after she prayed, then after she received the promise, then
she let them down. Then she let them down. And this
is what James is pointing to when he justifies her by her
words. And I tell you what, and in the sight of the men she is
dealing with, I want to be saved. I really want to be saved. But
what will happen, what will happen if you don't come back? And I
tell you what, look what happens now down in verse 17 and 18. And the men said unto her, We
will be blameless of this thine oath which thou made us swear.
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 come home unto thee. And I tell you, and it shall
be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into
the street, his blood be on his own head, we'll be guiltless.
And whosoever shall be with thee in this house, his blood be on
our head, any hand be upon him. And I said, what he's saying,
bring your father and your mother and let this scarlet thread. And we know that that scarlet
thread speaks of the blood of our blessed Savior. The blood
of our Lord. We're justified by blood. We're
cleansed by blood. We're redeemed by blood. Blood is what cleanses us from
our sin. And I tell you that scarlet thread
hanging out that window, that speaks of our blessed Savior's
blood. And that's the only means by which a sinner is really saved,
is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God justifies us,
made a toll bit with it. When God said, when I see the
blood, not when you see it, when I see it. You notice that scarlet
thread hung out the window? You know why? Because she'd be
able to say, there's where she lives. Right there. See that
scarlet thread? That's where we're going to go
in there and save her. And wherever God sees the blood,
now I mean you're a saved person. Oh my. And she dropped that scarlet
thread by faith. And I'll tell you what, it was
just like the blood that was put on the doors of the lentils
in the Passover. And it's through the blood of
Christ that sinners are redeemed, they're forgiven, He's our atonement,
He's our safety, He's our protection from God's avenging justice and
wrath. Under the blood of Jesus, safe
in the shepherd's fold. under the blood of Jesus safe
while the ages roll and then she said in verse 21 and she said according unto your
words so be it and she sent them away and they departed and this
is what she said here and she bound the scarlet line in the
window you reckon she was safe when
they got there Let me show you. Look over here at Joshua 6. Just
look at Joshua 6. Joshua 6. Verse 1 and 2. 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. Now watch what it says down here
in verse 21. And they utterly destroyed all
that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, oxen,
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 this the woman, and all that
she has, as ye 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. At verse 25, 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 heard the message which Joshua witnessed
by her. God saved her. Told her what
he was going to do. She believed him. God came and
saved her. Now she's in genealogy. of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's
two women, two women in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
both of them were Gentiles. Both of them, one of them was
poor, she had to go and glean from the fields. She was so poor,
so she needed somebody to redeem her. And here's Rahab, a harlot. that she's the descendant of
our Lord Jesus Christ himself. God's ways is past finding out,
ain't it? Well, our Father, oh, our blessed,
blessed Father, thank you for allowing us to meet here tonight.
Thank you for your precious word. Thank you for your dear saints.
God bless them. Bless them when they're going
out and they're coming in. And they're getting up and they're
going down. Lord, let your face shine on us. Let your countenance
be upon us. And let the love of Christ abound
in our hearts and in our lives. For His glory. For His glory. Oh God, give us an abundance
of grace. We certainly need it. And do
cause the love of God to abound. in our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.