Chapter 2. Everybody has heard of Rahab. If you've ever heard much preaching
or ever read the Bible much, you've heard about Rahab the
harp. The New Testament mentions her three times. Just the New Testament alone.
And God works in mysterious ways. I can't justify how she said
what she said, what she did what she did, about despise. But needless to say, God says
she's saved. And God saves her by His grace
and she's mentioned often in the New Testament. You know in
Matthew chapter 1 verse 5, she's mentioned in the book of the
generation of Jesus Christ. In verse 5, she is the wife of
Solomon, prince in the tribe of Judah. She is the mother of
Boaz who married Ruth. She was the great-great-grandmother
of David, the king of Israel. So you know genealogy, you find
a lot of stuff and God puts it in his book. God puts it, David
did you know that your great-grandmother was a harlot? God saved her,
that's why Lord Jesus said, you know the harlots and the publicans
will go into the kingdom of God before you really told them Pharisees and she's mentioned also in Hebrews
11 31 along with Abraham, Isaac and Moses by faith Rahab was
saved when she sent the spies out another way and then James chapter 2 James
used her as an illustration that if you have faith, your faith
is manifested by words. It's not a dead faith, it's a
living faith. And I know this, that God didn't
come to save good people, He came to save sinners. He came
to save men and women who are lost, without hope, without God,
without Christ in this world. And it's hard to find anybody
in that condition. In fact, you won't find anybody
in that condition unless God puts them there. And that's what
God did to this woman. He put her in a condition to
be saved. And that's what I want to show
you. An illustration. She's an illustration of how
God saves a sinner by free and sovereign grace and His love
and mercy. Look what it says down here in verse 9. Let me
start in verse 9. And she said, I know that the
Lord hath given you the land, and that your terrors fall upon
us, and all inhabitants of the land faint because of you. Now
listen to what she said here. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and
what he did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on
the other side of Jordan, Zion and Og. First of all, she had
heard. She heard about God. She heard
about his judgments, heard about what he did, his great power
and his great wondrous works. Now I do know this, that a man
must and will hear about God and his great work. That's what
she heard about. She heard about God. She heard about his great
work. She heard about how he dried
up the Red Sea and they walked through on dry land. She heard
about how that he destroyed two nations and two great kings.
And a man's gonna have to hear about God and His great work.
Nothing about man's work. Nothing about what a man does.
That don't enter into the equation. She had heard what God had done. She said, we have heard how the
Lord... And I tell you, you'll hear about
the great work of salvation. Romans 10.14 says this, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how
shall they call upon Him of whom they have not heard or believed?
And how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? Now, I tell you,
everybody hears the same words that a preacher say. Everybody
here hears the words. They understand words. We're
communicating words. But I tell you what, only the
Holy Ghost, and may God communicate to your heart what words are
coming through a man's mouth. Because if God don't come, and
that's what happened to her, he went before, and this woman
said, I've heard! I've heard! How that God brought
you through the Red Sea on dry land. Ain't nobody else can do
that but God. and saved you out of Egypt with
that great army. And it's like that Passover lamb.
How did He bring you out of Egypt? Through a Passover lamb. Blood
shed. Blood put on the doorpost. Blood
put on the lintel. And I'll tell you what happened
to the firstborn. She said, I heard about how that
those firstborn in Egypt, all of them were slain except the
place where the blood was shed. And I tell you what, beloved,
you gotta hear, and I tell you if you've ever heard, listen
to me, if you've ever heard, you'll say like she did, I've
heard! The hour is coming, and now is
when the dance, you'll hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear, what's gonna happen to them? They're gonna
live! And she not only heard about
this great salvation, but she heard about his awful judgments
too. That's what she said in the last part of that verse.
We heard what you did under the two kings of the Amorites. The
awful judgments you brought, you did utterly destroy them.
Ain't that what she said? Who you utterly destroyed. You saved your people and undestroyed
your enemies. And she heard of all the awful
judgments of God. It's one thing to hear about
His salvation, the other side of it is the awful judgments
of God. And I tell you that said, now listen, oh I hear about how
He saved you, but I hear about also how He destroyed you. Not
just anybody, kings. Kings. And oh, listen, God's
never done His work hidden over here in the corner. What God
does, He does where everybody can see it and everybody can
know it. If they will hear and that they'll believe. Look what
else she says now. So she had heard. Have you ever heard the
gospel? Have you heard the gospel of your salvation? Have you heard
the truth that God has manifested truly to you? And look what she
said here down in verse 11. No, she heard but she confessed.
Look what she said in verse 11. And as soon as we heard these
things, oh we heard them, oh my we heard them. Somebody come
and told them, and that's what preachers are for, to come and
tell you. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did
melt, neither did there remain any courage in any man because
of you. What did she say? What can I
do? I'm helpless, I'm hopeless, I
don't have any ability to stand before this God. She confessed,
she said, our hearts, our hearts did melt within us. When they
heard of God's Word, they were reduced to nothing. They said,
their hearts didn't melt. That means that they just absolutely
got so weak that they couldn't stand. They said, oh God, how
are we going to deal with you? What's going to happen when He
comes here to do judgment to us? And that's all she's saying,
the judgment day was going to come. And all she says, there's
no more courage. These men don't have no courage
to stand before God. These men have no strength to
stand before God. I certainly don't have any strength
to stand before Him. All self confidence is gone.
All self hope is gone. She's in a hopeless condition.
And there was no self-justification here. Listen, she didn't say,
well, I'm a pretty good person and I've been doing the best
I can. Would you please, please tell God how good I am and when
He comes to town, would you please, please, please put in a good
word for me. As people say that, oh, preach
and put in a good word for God for me. That's a horrible thing
to say. I couldn't put in a good word
for anybody. I can't even put a good word in for myself. What good word can I put in for
me? If I'm going to say anything about anybody, I'm going to talk
about me. What good word am I going to put in for me? You can't put
in a good word for anybody. I'll tell you who can. The Lord
Jesus Christ can. And if He takes up your case,
if He takes up your name, if He takes up your case, you, beloved,
God will hear about you. And he'll hear about what Christ
did. And that's the only way you'll
ever, ever be able to approach God. It's through His blessed
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you're going to only
have to talk about Him. And His goodness, and His grace,
and His merit, and His value, and His blood, and His righteousness,
and His worth. Everything about Him is the only
thing you've got to listen to. Ain't that right? And oh,
they come here, no self-justice to all the people. She said,
she said, all the people said, all the people said, oh, as soon
as we heard it, oh, no more help, no more hope. Oh, and she confessed. Look what
else she confessed. Not only her utter helplessness
and hopelessness and inability. I know folks don't believe that
they don't have no ability. When it comes to salvation, you
don't have no ability. You're absolutely hopeless to
do anything for yourself in the business of saving your soul
and putting away one's sin. Just absolutely hopeless and
helpless, no ability. Our Lord says, no man. can come
unto me, except the Father which sent me drawing. And that word
can has to do with ability. Now he says, no man may come
unto me. Then that means that you might
be able to. But he says can, that has to
do with ability. No man can come, except my Father
which sent me drawing. And I tell you, look what else
she said about it here. Look what she said about God. She said in the last part of
the verse, she confessed that God is God. For the Lord your
God, He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Oh my, did you hear that Joel
Osteen? That guy is one of the biggest
fools that's ever, God will ever law a dog bred. He stands and
says, you can do anything and you got more power than you can
overcome anything. You, you, you, you. You know
what she says? She confessed that God is God.
I ain't got no courage. These men over here, they ain't
got no courage either. They're scared to death. My heart's
melting within me. I just have no ability. My heart just turned to wax inside
of me. And she said, Oh God is God.
He's not a pretender. He's not like ours. He's not
like that statue we got sitting out in our garden. He's not like
that idol that we got sitting on our shelf. He's not a pretender. He's not an impotent one of them.
Now some people, they like God in heaven. They don't mind God
being in heaven. They're grateful that He's in
heaven. And it's time for Him to rule there. And give out His
blessings. Just, you know, just throw them
out like this, like Santa Claus. Just throw out blessings, you
know. Here's you want, here's you want, here's you want, here's
you want. Just come, bring your wants to Jesus this morning,
and He'll pass them out to you. It's Christmas time. Jesus is
Christmas. Let's just give, give, give. And it's fine for him to rule
there and give out his blessings. But they said, no, no, no, don't
come down here. Don't come down here. Don't interfere
with our lives. Don't interfere with our wills.
Don't interfere with our rights. Don't interfere with our goodness.
Don't interfere with our morality and all of our righteousness.
Don't bother me about that. Just don't involve yourself in
my life. I can run my own life and run
my own affairs. Oh, listen. And to the other
people, He's the God of earth. They walk out and look in the
trees and say, Oh boy, He's the God of the trees. Oh, look at
these animals. I was talking about killing a
cat the other day and the girl said, Oh, I couldn't eat a cat.
I couldn't do that. So I said, Oh, why would you
want to do that? She said, I just feel so sorry for animals. That's
what God made him for. That's what He made him for.
Oh, He's the God of nature. They get out and talk about the
God of nature. He's the God of that owl that
got to get up there and pretend. No consideration when they go
out in nature. No consideration that He's an
actual person. that he has a character and it's
holy character righteous character and beautiful character sovereign
power right and glory and majesty in his whole person no consideration
of his nature no consideration of his requirements but you know
what Rahab said here she said he's the Lord your God He is God in heaven and whatever
He does, He's pleased to do up there, that's what He does. And
He's God in earth beneath. He does what He wants in heaven
and earth and in the seas and all these places. She understood
that. She said, listen, this God you
all got is not like ours. And I tell you what, that's the
condition she is in. And then look what happened too.
In verse 9, she goes back up here and says this, And she said unto the men, I
know, she believed see, she said, I know that the Lord hath given
you the land. I know that the Lord is going
to turn this outfit, it's yours. He's going to come and claim
this place for himself. He's going to come in here and
he's going to whip this city, he's going to whip everybody
in it and he's going to plant that royal flag right here. I
know that the Lord has given you the land. People say, well,
it's mine. Well, God just lets us live on
it until we pass away. And then we pass it, you know,
it's all His to begin with. Huh? We don't even have a lien
on it. I heard a fellow say, the devil's
got a lien on it. No way, nobody got a lien. The earth is the
Lord's and the fool is not. He just lets us live on it until
we're gone. I've been lots of places and
people say, you know who used to live there? And there ain't
a sign of anybody living there now. You know who that farm used
to be? No, I don't have any idea. That's
been passed down for so many generations and nobody don't
remember who had it. And oh, listen, God says
it's mine. God's going to give the land
to you. And I'm going to give it to whom I will, and I'm going
to give it to my people. And he's going to give us a new
heaven and a new earth where we can grow His righteousness.
And everyone was afraid in Jericho about what was going to happen.
But only Rahab was the only one who believed. You remember that. Rahab was the only one in this
whole city who believed. It's like eight people were saved
in Noah's day. Only eight people. And when they
come out of Sodom and Gomorrah, God had to drag Lot out of there. Only one man, righteous man,
was in that whole city of Sodom and Gomorrah, in that whole area.
But oh beloved, only Rahab believed. Who made her to differ? Who made
her to differ than anybody else in that city? Who made her to
differ? Who made her a believer? Who
done something for her that she says, I believe, I know that
the Lord has given you the land. And I'm hopeless and helpless
and I can't do nothing about it. And everybody around me is
scared to death. No courage to stand up and fight.
We're just going to stand. There ain't nothing we can do
to stop this force, this power, this majesty, this might that's
coming our way. Who made you to differ? Her faith
produced fear. Now you know, here's an example
of prevenient grace. Now what's prevenient grace?
That's grace that goes before grace. God goes and does the work before
he comes and does the work. That's the same thing he did
with Cornelius. God went before and prepared
his heart so that when Peter went down to preach to him he
believed. And Grace went to prepare this woman's heart so that when
these men came in there and told her what was going to spine out
that lamb she said I know what's going to happen God went before
her and prepared her heart to believe the truth and that's
what God did behold the heart goes before grace goes before
grace grace before grace and oh listen and the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom and look what she says terror
Look what she said, verse 9, 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. Oh my, she believed. I know what God is fixing to
do. I know He's going to do this. I know He's going to do this.
And I tell you, God gave her faith. God gave her grace, and
with that grace came faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God. Now look
what else she done, not only did she confess and she believed,
but look what else she said, she prayed. Look down at verse
12. Now therefore I pray you, swear
unto me by the Lord, since I showed you the kindness, that you will
also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token.
Now she prayed. She believes, she prays, she
confesses, swearing unto me by the Lord. She believed. And now she prays. What does
she pray for? To be saved. To be saved. And that you'll save, in verse
13, you'll save me and my father and my family and my father's
house of life. Oh my, she prayed, she believes,
and now she prays to be saved. What a request. What a request. Here's a woman that's a harlot.
And she knows that God, if he comes in there, and if something
don't happen for her, she's going to die with the rest of them.
She's going to perish with everybody else in the city. She's going
to perish with everybody else in town. She was not only a harlot,
but she was a condemned harlot. And she knew that God was going
to come and destroy this place and destroy this people. I know
that God speaks to come. I know that He said, your terror
has fallen on us. We're just standing here condemned,
already condemned. We're just waiting for God to
come and execute that judgment. That's what she said. She said,
we're terrors on us and we know that this is what's going to
happen. And I tell you something, now
listen to me. If you don't want to face God
in judgment, and I will not face God in judgment. The terror of
the Lord ain't on me like it was on her. You know why it ain't? Because it already fell on my
master. Already fell on my Savior. The terror of the Lord don't
fall on me now. I'm not afraid of what God's going to do. I'm
not afraid of what God's going to do in my home. Now I'm afraid
for my children. I'm concerned for my children.
They're condemned. They're already condemned. You
know, man's born condemned. He's not going to die condemned.
He was born condemned. He was born lost. He was born
in the condition that unless God intervenes for him, he'll
live lost, die lost, live condemned, and die condemned. And we're in the world, it's
the only place you can get out from under this condemnation,
this judgment. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to condemn the world. The world was condemned already.
But I came to save. I came to save them that were condemned. I came to give life. I came to
give light. And I know what it was to be
condemned. I know what it was to feel guilty. I know what it
was to have this chair of the Lord on you and have to come
and say, Lord, I've got no claim. I've got no rights. I've got
no power. You absolutely owe me nothing. The way I've lived,
the things I've thought, the things I've said, the things
I've done, the preaching I've done, the life, all my sin is
ever before me. And Lord, you absolutely owe
me nothing. But if you will, if you will have mercy on me, The bird was going like that. It wasn't a long prayer. But that's what she said. She
said, oh, she began to pray. She made a request. Oh, please,
please. She knew God was going to destroy
this place and this people. But her faith made her bold.
Her faith made her bold. She's like that woman that brought
her daughter to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord just ignored
her. She said, it's my daughter. She's grievously fetched from
the devil and the Lord just ignored her and ignored her and said,
go away, go away. And finally he said, it's not
right. It's not me, not fit that I should give the children's
bread unto dogs. And she said, Lord, you're exactly
right. What you say is true. I'm a dog? But even a dog gets a crumb from
his master's table. You know what he said? Whatever you want, that's what
you're going to get. And her daughter was made whole from
that for a minute. She just said, Lord have mercy on me, on my
daughter. Her faith made her whole. That's
the way it was. Her faith made her just keep
coming to Christ. And the scripture says, Baphe, the Hebrews 11.31,
Baphe, the Rahab's harlots, perished not. But everybody else did, but she
didn't, in her house. And she not only prayed to be
saved herself, but her father's house. Look what she said in
verse 13. and that you will save alive
my father and my mother and my brother and my sisters and all
that they have and deliver our lives listen to this from death
save us from death certain death sure death ain't no way to get
around it oh my save our lives from death oh my You know, it's a wonderful thing
to see a whole family saved, a household saved. Gary's two
children. Eleanor's got a bunch that's converted in her family. Four dollars, I believe one of
her sons is. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? Look at all them Shelby's sitting
back there. Oh boy, God save us, God save
the whole house. But you know what David said? The Lord hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordained all things in sure. This is all
my salvation and all my house and all my desire, though it
be not so with my house. David had some rebels in his
home. And we all may have rebels, but boy, for God to save our
house, save our children, and our grandchildren. God said, oh, it's a blessed
man that can see his children's children's children. And I see my children's children. I see them great grandbabies.
That's a, what a blessing. Pray for him, pray for him, and
pray for him. And that's what we do from the
Father's house. John Mitchell, just the Lord
took him home last week. As far as I know, almost
everybody in that family, if I'm not mistaken, is converted. I mean, they give a good testimony.
Give a good testimony. But that was not all she asked
for. She asked for her father's house to be saved, save us our
lives from death. That's not all she asked for.
Look what she says there. In the last part of verse 12. And give me a true token. In other words, she says now,
I'm asking to be saved. And I want my home saved. I want
my family saved. But I need a token. I'd like
to have some assurance. I want some assurance that I'm
going to be saved. Give me some assurance. Give me a true token.
Some evidence. Some proof. Some assurance for
my heart. And that's what she asked for.
Give me a true token. Give me some assurance. Give
me some assurance. I want some assurance that I'll
be saved alive. My family will be saved alive.
Give me a true token. And the Spirit Himself shall
bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And then look what happened in
verse 14. Not only did she believe and
confess, but she received. And the men answered her, Our
life for yours. She received this token. Our
life for yours. And what it says, instead of
you to die, we'll die in your stead. Our lives are yours if
you utter not our business. We'll die in your stead if our
promise fails. When God gives us this land,
we'll deal kindly and truly with you. Truly with you. And that's
why he promised, they promised their sister, when we get here,
if we don't keep this promise, if something happens to you,
then we'll die in your stead. We'll be the one to suffer the
judgment. And so she's received the promise. And now listen,
if she received the promise of men, how much more should we
receive the promise of God? Look over in 1 John chapter 5
with me, just a minute. 1 John chapter 5. Men are so
quick to believe what a man says, but what about what God says?
If you receive the testimony of a man, look in 1 John chapter
5. She's now received the promise.
He said, Oh, listen, if we will die in your stead, if we don't
deal truly and kindly with you and keep the promise we've made
to you, then we will die in your stead. It will be us that will
have to deal with the judgment. And if she received the promise
of men, how much more should we receive the promise of God?
Now look what he said here in 1 John 5, 9. If we receive the
witness of men, And that's what a preacher does, he just witnesses.
And that's how people, they come up to you, and they witness to
you, and they talk to you, and they witness to you about God,
witness to you about Christ. The Scriptures witness about
the Scripture. And here a man comes up, that's what I'm doing,
I'm being a witness today. God told Paul, be a witness of
what you've seen and what you've heard. That's what you do. And
if you receive the witness of a man, like me, or somebody's
other man, when they are preaching, You talk about greater, the witness
of God is greater. Oh my! God witnessed Himself? For this is the witness of God
which He hath testified. God makes Himself a witness.
And this is what God testified to. And He testified this. And this is the witness of God. He that believeth on the Son
of God has a witness in Himself. Witness of what? The Spirit Himself
bears witness that we are the children of God. Christ in you,
the hope of glory, for this is the witness of God which ye have
testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness himself. He that believeth not God, O
my soul, nobody surely would do this, hath made him a liar,
because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record. This
is what God recorded. Put on record. Put before the
world. That God has given to us eternal
life. And this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. Not going to get it. Got it. Got it right now. He that hath
the Son hath got life. Look what he says. And he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things, John
said, have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the
Son of God. I believe on the name of the
Son of God. And that you may know that you
have eternal life. John's telling me I know. He
wants me to know what God's done for me. He wants me to know the
reckoned testimony of God. And God bears witness to this,
and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. I believe,
I do believe, and I shall believe. And all beloved faith lays on
the word of God as it's spoken by men. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Oh, you know,
our Lord Jesus Christ, He told this about the rich man that
went to hell. And when he got down there, he
wanted ladders that were laid out of his gate, full of sores
and pores. Would you send ladders and let
him just take a drop of water and let him fall down on my tongue?
Just one drop. He said, no, can't do that. He
said, well, would you tell him to go and witness, I've got five
brothers, would you go and tell them to witness to them? Because
I don't want them to come to this awful place. And he says,
well, they've got Moses and the prophets, if they don't believe
them, they wouldn't believe no one rose from the dead. And he
said, yes, please go tell them. He said, no, if they don't believe
Moses and the prophets, they wouldn't believe. If somebody
rose from the dead, and Christ rose from the dead, and people
still don't believe. And I tell you, now look what
her faith. Now so she received, she received that token, she
received the promise. Then look how her faith works.
Faith actually works, and this is what James was talking about
now. Faith is something God sees, faith is something God gives.
But we can't see faith in anybody until they manifest that faith.
Confess that faith. Live that faith. Faith without
works is dead. I mean a man who's got faith,
he loves the gospel. He loves Christ. He loves his
word. He loves to pray. He loves to
worship. He loves to be with the children
of God. He's a new creature. And then look why she said her
faith, look how her faith works. And then it says down there in
verse 15. Then, She let them down by a cord through
the window. Her house was upon the town wall. She dwelt upon the wall. Then
she let them down by a cord through the window. Then after she had
heard. Then after she confessed her
inability in God. Then after she believed what
God was going to do. Then after she prayed. Then after
she received the promise. Then, after she knew her helplessness,
then she let them down. And oh my, that's why, oh my,
her works manifested that she had faith in the sight of men
she was dealing with. And I tell you, she says, I believe
and I want to be saved. I say I'm saved, but what will
happen to me if I don't let you down? And they find out, that's
what she's saying. Then she left him down by a cord
through the window of her house in the town wall she dwelt upon.
And then look what she said. Oh, her faith went to work. Her
faith believed. And then look what happened here.
She let him down. Oh, my. I want you out of here.
I want you saved. Because if you're not saved,
I won't be saved. And she said unto them, in verse 16, Get you
up to the mount. Lest the pursuers meet you, and
hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers return. Afterward,
go your way. So she let them down. She let
them down by a cord. She let them out. She let those
fellas go. Because they hadn't a promise.
There's one made a promise. She know they was coming back.
Now look what happens in verse 17. Start there. Then she obeyed
what these men said. And the men said unto her, We
will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us
swear. Behold, when we come into the land, it's not maybe if we
come into the land, I hope we come into the land. 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 you bring
your father and your mother and your brethren and all your father's
household home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever
shall go out of the doors of thy house unto the street, his
blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever
shall be with thee in the house, his blood be on our head, if
any hand be upon him. And you know what he said? Now
everybody's got to come where you are. The promise is to you. And I tell you, I made a promise
to you. If you want your father safe, you're going to have to
get in your house. If you want your mother safe, you're going
to have to get where you are. If you want to save, they've
got to come where you are. And if they go out from where
you are, if they're not where I've told them to be, if they're
not where salvation is promised, then there ain't going to be
no hope for them. And if you utter our business, you tell
anybody what we're doing here, then we're We're free of all
of our debts. Don't head your bets. She said,
well, these fellows went that way, and if you'll catch them,
maybe you can find out what's going to happen, and maybe we
can all be saved then. But no, she didn't try to head
your bets. And he said, let that scarlet thread down. And this
scarlet thread is the emblem of our Savior's blessed blood.
That scarlet thread runs all the way through this blessed
book. Red line runs all the way through this blessed book. And
it's an emblem of our Savior's blood. And this is the only means
that a sinner is saved. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses us from all sin. And the blood of our Lord, when
she dropped that scarlet thread out of my hand, it was just like
the blood on the Passover, on the door on the Passover, because
that's the only way in the world they're going to know where this
woman's at, by that scarlet thread. That's scarlet thread. See that
scarlet thread up there? That's where we made the promise.
See that scarlet thread up there? Everybody with that scarlet thread
is going to be saved. Everybody that's behind the door
with the blood ash is going to be saved. Don't you have a hair
of their head and it's through the blood That sinners are redeemed. It's through the blood that we're
forgiven. It's through the blood that we're
justified freely. It's through the blood that Christ
is our atonement. It's through the blood that our
sins are washed away. It's through the blood we're
safe. It's through the blood we're
there for protection. And they're behind the blood,
under the blood, with the blood, washed over us from God's avenging
justice and wrath. We sing that old chorus, under
the blood of Jesus, safe in the shepherd's fold, under the blood
of Jesus, safe while the ages roll. That's right, ain't it? Huh? Who wants to believe in
that old fashioned bloody religion? I do! Without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission. You know what takes away our
guilt? The Holy Spirit takes the blood
of Christ, brings us to the obedience of the sprinkling of the blood
of Christ. Not of gold or of lamb or of bullet or nothing
like that. The Holy Spirit takes the blood
of Christ and applies that to our conscience. And when that
blood of Christ is put, Nothing, nothing or no one in heaven or
hell or earth or place, no place can bring condemnation to a heart
where the blood's been applied. Oh my, there's a fountain filled
with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and Rahab's. James's, Doug's, Bruce's, where people like this
are plunged beneath this flood, lose all their guilty stains. And that precious dying, that
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God, listen to it, be saved to sin no more. I know of two dear, dear brothers
the Lord took home this week, one yesterday morning. And my
heart rejoices for both of them. They'll never remember anything. They'll never remember any pain. They'll never remember ever suffering. They'll never remember a thing
that ever happened on this earth. They're right now rejoicing in
the presence of Christ. Able to stand up. Able to feel. Able to move. Able to breathe.
Able to live. Finally for once in their life
living. They're alive! And they was alive
when they died, and they really, when that body, soul was let
through from that body, that soul was so free. That body will never ever cause
them any more grief. Huh? Oh. I'm not afraid for me or for
my wife and I'm not afraid for her or anybody else that knows
the Lord Jesus Christ that's under that blessed blood. Huh? Well, you know where you're going.
I'm a sinner and Christ satisfied God. That's enough for me. Huh? Whatever God said. That's right. That's true. And
look what else now she said in verse 21. Oh, what she said now. And she said, according to your
words, so be it. According to your words, that's
it. That's it. She bound that scarlet
thread and let it down out of the window. She bound that scarlet
thread in the window and said, so be it. It says, according
to your word. We'll stay right here behind this scarlet thread.
We'll stay in the house. There's no salvation for those
who venture outside God's prescribed means. And this is where God's
means was through. And let me look over in chapter
6 and I'm going to give you a couple verses and I'm done. Where salvation
was accomplished. Where this salvation was accomplished. In verse 1 and 2 of chapter 6.
In Jericho, was straightly shut up, because of the children of
Israel. None went in, none went out, and none came in. And the
Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho,
and the king thereof, and the mighty men of Babylon. Now look
down at verse 21 with me. And 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 this the woman, and all that
she had, 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. And they burnt
the city with fire, and all was therein, only the silver, and
the gold, and the vessels of brass and iron, that brought
in the treasure of the house of the Lord. Now listen to this,
And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot, 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
out. Now this very woman It's very
warming. It's in the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ. That's the book of the generation. It's the book of life. There
she was. Are you a Rahab? You may not
be a Rahab. You may not be a Harlot. You
may not have done some of the things she has. But oh my, God
do something for you. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior.
How wonderfully, wonderfully gracious you was to us today.
Thank you for this privilege. Oh, God thank you for letting
me preach. Let me be here with the children
of God. Oh, thank you for it, Lord. Thank you for your word.
Blessed to the hearts, to the minds, the understanding, O Holy
Spirit, take this gospel, take this salvation that our Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished and apply to men's hearts and minds.
We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. We'll sing one chorus. Everybody knows it. There is
a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath that
blood. He sings I'll see you tonight, God willing. The Lord's will. I'll be here
again tonight.