Let's open our Bibles to Deuteronomy
chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7, we'll read the
first nine verses. When the Lord thy God shall bring
thee into the land, whither thou goest to possess it, and hath
cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Gergesites,
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites,
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord thy God shall
deliver them before thee, Thou shalt smite them, and utterly
destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with
them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them. Thy daughter shalt not give unto
his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they
will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other
gods. So will the anger of the Lord
be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall
you deal with them. You shall destroy their altars,
break down their images, cut down their groves, burn their
graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself. above all people that
are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people. Because
the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which
he had sworn unto your fathers, that the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of Monmouth
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know ye therefore that
the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments
to a thousand generations. We'll end our reading there. to our call to worship in your
bulletin and stand as we sing. Vain are the hopes the sons of
men on their own works have built. Their hearts by nature are unclean,
and all their actions guilt. In vain we ask God's righteous
law to justify us now. Since to convince and to condemn
is all the law can do. Jesus, how glorious is thy grace
when in thy name we trust. Our faith receives thy righteousness
that makes the sinner just. You would now turn in your hymnal
to song number 337, Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord. Teach me thy way, O Lord, teach
me thy way. Thy guiding grace, O Lord, teach
me thy way. Lead me to walk aright, more
by faith, less by sight. Lead me with heavenly light,
teach me thy way. When I am sad at heart, teach
me thy way. When earthly joys depart, teach
me thy way. In hours of loneliness, in times
of dire distress, in failure or success, teach me thy way. When doubts and fears arise,
teach me thy way. When storms o'erspread the skies,
teach me thy way. Shine through the cloud and rain,
through sorrow, toil, and pain. Make Thou my pathway plain, teach
me Thy way. Long as my life shall last, teach
me Thy way. Teach me thy way Until the race
is run Until the journey's done Until the crown is won Teach
me thy way For our Scripture reading, let's
turn to Ecclesiastes 3. Ecclesiastes 3. We'll read the
first 14 verses. there is a season, a time to
every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born, a time to
die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted,
a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time
to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn,
and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and
a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and
a time to sew. A time to keep silence. A time
to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate, a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he
that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I've seen the travail
which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also he hath set
the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the
work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know
that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and
to do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and
drink and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of
God. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it nor
anything taken from it, and God doeth it. that men should fear
before him. Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity
to gather together as a people. Lord, thankful for this place
you've given us to gather. Lord, thankful that you've brought
us here this morning. Lord, indeed, we pray that You've
brought us here to hear a word from Thee. Lord, we thank You
for our brother Luke. Thank You that You've brought
him this way. Lord, pray that You would bless
him as he stands in this place to declare the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Lord, to tell us more of the
Savior. Lord, bless him this morning as he stands in this
place. Lord, and bless us, Lord, that we not just hear the words
of a man, but Lord, truly that you would be pleased to speak
through thy servant here this morning. Take that which you've laid on
his heart, and Lord, enable him to speak freely to us. And Lord,
bless us with a hearing ear. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of trouble and difficulty, Lord, we pray
your hand be upon your people. Lord, that you would heal and
raise up, and Lord, return your people to the worship service.
And Lord, for these many young ones you've given us, Lord, how
we thank you for these little ones, these young ones. Lord,
we pray that you would protect and keep them. that you'd hedge
them about in this world. Lord, chiefly, that you'd save
their souls, that you'd be merciful to our children. And Lord, that
you would continue to bless your word as it goes forth from this
place. Now again, we pray for your presence
here this morning. Lord, be with us in a special
way. And in all places where thy people
have gathered together, bless the preaching of your word. In
Christ's name we pray and give thee thanks. Amen. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of
all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son. will I honor thou my soul's glory,
joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer
still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer
still the moonlight, and of a twinkling starry host. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus
shines pure, Then all the angels heaven can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the
nations, home of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor ? Praise
adoration now and forevermore be thine ? Our pastors should be traveling
home here this morning. In his absence, Brother Luke
Coffey has traveled up along with Tracy and the kids. Luke,
thankful to have you all. Come preach with us. You would open your Bibles to
the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 2. Chapter 2. As a child going to church and
listening to message after message, I remember a few stories that
would always pique my interest. The couple chapters here early
in Joshua were always chapters as a boy that I remember thinking
that's one of my favorite stories. There were spies. There was an
escape. They were climbing down a wall
on a rope. There was a battle. The walls
came down. There was a big victory and celebration. And I loved that story. But as
I grew older and my opinions changed and my understanding
was different, I now think this is a story I like about a person
in the Bible that I absolutely love. I love Rahab the harlot. There are many reasons of that.
One of them is because I think I can identify with her. Throughout
all the times Rahab is mentioned, it always follows the descriptive
term, the harlot. Rahab is included in Faith's
Hall of Fame in Hebrews, where they talk about Abraham, Isaac
and Moses and their great faith. And it includes Rahab in that.
In Matthew, she's included. Talks about how she married Sam
and a prince of the tribe of Judah and was the mother of Boaz
and the great, great grandmother of King David. And in James,
there's two illustrations of faith given. And one of them
is Rahab, the harlot. And every time, it doesn't take
away that term. Now, I don't enjoy the thought
of trying to think of what descriptive term is going to be used after
my name. I love to think that it's something
positive, but I'm not sure if it's Luke the liar, Luke the
cheat, Luke the murderer, Luke the deceit, whatever it is. But
I love the fact that this woman can be talked in this light and
put in this company, yet be described in the way she is. I love that
Rahab and her story is such a wonderful example to a person that thinks
they're a sinner. If you had gone to the city of
Jericho and asked them, just walked up to anyone and said,
who's the worst person in this city? Some of the people probably
would have said, well, it's probably Rahab over there. And that's
a great relief to a person who thinks they might be the worst
sinner. There is a hope for anyone. And
here in Joshua chapter two, we'll look at some of these verses
through this story and see what the Lord has done for Rahab.
And in it, we can see a great illustration of what the Lord
does for all his sheep, for all his children, because her experience
is just like ours. But for us to understand that
this experience could be just like ours, we have to admit that
I'm just like her. We can't look at this story and
think, well, I'm good. It's just that these same things
happen to me. It's very clear in the Bible
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. There's no way
you could argue that He came to save someone who didn't need
saving. So if we're willing to admit we're just like Rahab,
you can call us whatever bad name you want, that'll fit us.
And in this story, starting in verse 1 of Joshua 2, we'll go
verse by verse and see how Rahab the harlot was saved by a scarlet
cord. In verse 1 it says, And Joshua
the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying,
Go, view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into a
harlot's house named Rahab, and they lodged there, or they stayed
there." I don't know why Josh sent spies. His last experience with spies
was 40 years ago, and he was one of the spies. And he came
out, and what happened was they spent 40 years in the wilderness.
Because of the 12 spies, 10 of them said, we can't go in there,
we can't take that land. And only Joshua and Caleb said
yes. And I always wondered, why in
the world would you take that chance again? He sent two people
in there, what if they came back and said we can't go? They'd
have been in the same situation. The reason that Josh Joshua sent
two spies was because they had to go find Rahab. There was a
reason they went and the Lord will always send his messenger
to his sheep. The Lord will send a messenger
to his sheep. It may not be how we think it
come. It may not be in the time we
thought it would, but the Lord sends his messenger to his sheep.
And in verse 2 and 3, we see what always follows a child of
God when the messenger comes. Verse 2 says, And it was told
the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither
tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. And
the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the
men that are come to thee, which are entered into thy house, for
they become to search out all the country. When a child of
God hears the gospel and a messenger is sent, A trial always seems
to follow. And this is a severe trial. This woman had two men come to
her house who were strangers and she hid them. And the king
sent men to her and said, you bring them out. They're here
to kill all of us. That is a severe trial. She had
to make a decision and look in verse four and the woman, Rahab,
took the two men and hid them, and said thus, There came men
unto me, but I wist not whence they were." This doesn't seem like a smart
decision. Two strangers, and Rahab decides to take their side
over the king and the person who has all the authority? The
Lord always opens the eyes of His children. I'm not sure Rahab
knew why she did what she did. But she had her eyes open and
realized these two men are important. I need to hide them. The Lord
also gives us strength in our times of trouble and our times
of fear. You know she was scared. She was defying the king. She
was signing her own death sentence. If he found out she lied, you
knew what was going to happen to her. She knew she was dead.
But the Lord gives us strength in our time of fear. And the
Lord always makes His sheep to choose the correct side. Rahab
did not know why yet she chose this side, but she did. Look
in verse 5. And it came to pass about the
time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men
went out. Whether the men went, I know
not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. Rahab lied. The Lord will always
give us the right words. Now, this is an example to say,
I can't tell you how many times I've been in a situation where
the gospel was brought up and I feel like I am a small child
trying to answer some difficult philosophical question. I just,
I mean, I stumble over things. I've said things before to people
that when it came out of my mouth, I thought to myself, did I really
just say that? But there's been other times
where in a certain moment, I've felt the exact same way. And
I don't know about you, but when someone brings up the gospel,
a stranger or someone that I'm close to that I know that doesn't
know anything, this overwhelming feeling of inevitable mistake
or ineptitude just comes over me. I just think I'm going to
fail miserably. But sometimes the Lord just puts a scripture
in my mind or gives me something to say. And just like this, the
Lord will give His sheep the right words. For some reason,
the things we say sometimes, that's what He gave us to say.
And it's okay. Look in verse 6. But she had
brought them up to the roof of the house, and she'd hid them
with the stalks and flax, which she had laid in order upon the
roof. And the men pursued after them
the way to Jordan under the fords, and as soon as they which pursued
after them were gone out, they shut the gate. The Lord will
protect his sheep from their enemies. It seems as if the king
knew that these men came into her house, but for some reason
they didn't even check the roof or the other parts of her house.
And then it sends them on their way and we see how the Lord always
confounds our enemies. When it seems inevitable that
we will be overtaken, that we will succumb to a moment, the
Lord always confounds our enemies. The Lord is in control and we
need not fear our enemies. And look what happens in verse
8. And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon
the roof. Rahab only had one thought on
her mind. She had to go see about those
two messengers. It wouldn't have been the right
thing to do. The king just came in and told her, where are these
men? And she said, I don't know where they are. And the moment they
walked out, she went running up to where they were. And this
feels like a movie scene where someone just follows them right
up and they catch him because of what she did. But Rahab only
had only one thought, and that was to take care of the two messengers.
The Lord will always make his sheep to care for his messengers.
The child of God really just wants one thing. in this life. They want someone to tell them
about the Lord Jesus Christ and tell everyone they know and everyone
they care about about him. And Rahab just had to go see
them. And again, she may not have known why she just had to
go see them again. Verse nine tells us she said
unto them, 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. How did Rahab know this? How in the world did she know
this about these messengers? Is all she knew, it seems, is
where they were from. But the Lord made her to see
who they were. The Lord will open the eyes of
his sheep. The Lord will reveal his power. She was not worried about her
king because she knew who these messengers came from. She wanted
to be on the side of the king of Israel. The Lord will make
His enemies to fear Him. She said, I know the Lord has
given you this land. I know what's going to happen.
And in verse 10, she says, 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 under the two kings of the Amorites. And we're
on the other side, Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom He utterly destroyed. There's a big difference in verse
10 and 11. And in verse 10, it says here how all of us, we've
all heard, everyone in this city has heard the things the Lord
has done and what he's done for your people. And the point we
can take from this is the Lord makes all, everyone to hear of
him. to hear of him. Look in verse
11, it says, And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts
did melt. Neither did there remain any
more courage in our man in any man because of you. For the Lord,
your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth below. The
Lord makes all everyone to hear of him, but the Lord makes his
children to hear him. All of these people in this city,
how many ever thousands it was, they all had the same viewpoint.
They all saw the power of the God of Israel. They saw what
He'd done at the Red Sea. They saw what He did to Sihon
and Og and all these civilizations and everything He did. All of
them were scared. All of their hearts melted. All
of that. But only one person said, for the Lord your God,
He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. There's a big
difference in knowing the power of God and seeing what He can
do and truly being afraid of Him and believing in Him. The
Lord will make His sheep believe Him, believe on Him. They won't
just see what He's done and think He exists, but to love Him. Verse 12 says, Now therefore,
this is what Rahab says because she knows He is God. I pray you,
swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that
you will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me
a true token. The Lord showed Rahab what she
needed. She needed help. She needed saving.
The Lord shows all of his sheep. We need to be saved. We're helpless
on our own. The Lord makes us to pray. She
immediately says, I know who you are. I know where you came
from. I know you're God and you must help me. She went to the
person that she could find to get help. She went to these messengers,
says, please, please promise me you'll help me. And also the
Lord will give his sheep urgency. This woman, when she was down
there talking to the king's servants, being threatened probably of
her life if she didn't give these men up, is all she could think
to herself is, I got to go see those men. And I got to beg.
I got to figure out some way that I can be saved. I am in
trouble. And the reason so few people
see this is because they see the same situation Rahab has.
She's inside the walls. She's in a protected place. The
king is there. She doesn't have any danger around
her. But that's not where she's safe. And she realizes that all
the things of this world, none of them provide any protection,
any hope, any safety. She realizes that the God of
these two messengers, that's who she needs to talk to. That's
who she needs. In verse 13, she says, 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. It's very shameful to say this,
but for the vast majority of my life, I have thought mostly
solely on my own salvation. I have prayed a lot for myself. And I guess part of that is maybe
I felt like most of the people in my family were in a better
situation than I was when it came to that. I always thought
I was the one who was the last one. I was always the one who
didn't see things, didn't understand it. And I felt like I needed
to worry about me. But when I had children, all of the perspective
changed. And I understand where Rahab's
coming here. This is the first time it seems that she's ever
talked to anyone who knows who God is. And she says, please,
I know who you are. I pray that you would save me.
But just immediately after that, she says, and you'll save my
father and my mother and my brethren and my sisters. And she just
starts naming everybody. She just says, just save all them
too, please. I know he can save me. Just save all of us. The
Lord gives his sheep a desire for the salvation of their family.
He really does. Verse 14, this is the response. The men answered her, our life
for yours. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His
life for ours. He sacrificed Himself. He gave
Himself for us. And we can say that as a one-on-one
transaction. He gave His life for me. He gave
His life for each of His sheep. That was the deal. He had to
die to take the blame, take the wrath of God for our sins. He
did it. And then verse 14 continues.
our life for yours if you utter not our business. And if and
it shall be when the Lord has given us this land that we will
do kindly and truly with thee. The Lord deals kindly and truly
with his sheep. That's what he does. And even
though we don't see it that way, we do more complaining than we
ever do giving thanks. It would be in a normal moment
if you ask, you know, what's the best thing that happened
to you? I would think of five bad things that happened to me
today before I think of the first good thing. That's just who we
are. But every single thing that happens to us throughout the
scriptures, we see this. The Lord deals kindly and truly
with his sheep. He really does. Everything that
happens is for our good and his glory. Look in verse 15, then
she let them down by cord through the window. For her house was
upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto
them, get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and
hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers may be returned,
and afterward may you go your way. 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 this land, thou shalt bind
this line of scarlet thread in the window, which thou didst
let us down. 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. These messengers told her, that
the scarlet thread, the picture of the blood of Christ, and there's
an entire message just in that right there, that the blood of
Christ is the only protection for any child of God or any sinner. The blood of Christ is your only
hope. They said if that scarlet thread is in the light in the
window, no one in this house will be harmed. No one under
the blood will have one thing happen to them. And I just absolutely
love what Rahab does. In verse 20, it says, 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 told her when we come back,
we don't know when it'll be, but when we come back, put the
red line, put the scarlet line in your window and you'll be
safe. We know that they are going to go to the woods for three
days to hide. And then we don't know how much
longer this battle will take place. If Rahab is found to have
a rope in the window, you know what's going to happen to her.
It's obvious she's up to no good. And what does Rahab do? She doesn't
know if it's going to be three days, 10 days, a month or whatever.
She immediately, the moment they're leaving, at the end of verse
21, it says, and they departed. and she bound the scarlet line
in the window. She immediately put the rope in the window. She
thought, I don't know when this is going to happen, but there
is no way I am being caught without that rope in the window. The
Lord makes all his sheep understand that they just want to be under
the blood of Christ. It doesn't matter what the repercussions
are. It doesn't matter what anyone
thinks. It doesn't matter what it looks like. It's irrelevant. I'm going to be under the blood
of Christ. That's all they care about. The
Lord provides his sheep with a salvation. Rahab had no idea
what was going to be her saving grace in that moment. She just
happened to have a red rope, a red cord in her place. That
red cord was there well before these messengers even got there.
In the same way that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, His
blood is there well before we have any idea of our need for
it. And the Lord makes us so ecstatic about this situation. They told Rahab, you have to
do something that could cost you your life. You're going to
put a rope out here. Now these people are protecting
their city. There's no way in. And Rahab puts a way in out her
window. That's the one thing they said,
don't do anything like that. But she is ecstatic about the
deal she's gotten. They told her, if that rope's
there, everyone in your house is going to be safe. No matter
who you bring in, everyone is safe. She was ecstatic about
that deal. She was also content with that
deal. Now, content is a word in our
society that is very much frowned upon. Somebody would ask you
that thought maybe you weren't doing very well. They'd say,
like, are you content with your life? Are you content with your
job? Are you content with those grades
you're getting in school? All implying you should do better
than that. But the child of God is content. with what the Lord
has done for them. Because we see there's nothing
greater. There's no better deal. There's
no other way. We only have a hope just like
Rahab. The only thing we've got is a
red rope in the window. We just have the blood of Christ.
And boy, how happy we are we have that. And then we also see
that the Lord makes us want to be under the blood. Now, that
seems like a very obvious thing to want. Wouldn't you want to
be in the place of salvation, the place of hope? Wouldn't you
want to be under the one who's done everything for you? Well,
our actions and the actions of most of the people in this world
just seem to be the exact opposite. How often we do things and it
very much appears that we just don't really care about being
under the blood of Christ. It's really easy for me to find
a reason not to come to church. I remember a time in my life
where when I was teaching school, that it seemed like the only
day I stayed late to work was on Wednesday. Just because I
was trying to find an excuse, somehow I'd find any way I could
not to go to service or not to read the Bible, not to listen
when a conversation was going on, somebody talking about the
gospel. And I just I'll just go watch
the game and just do this stuff. But the Lord makes His sheep
want to be under the blood. That's where we want to be. Look
at verse 22. And they went and came under
the mountain and abode there three days until the pursuers
were returned. And the pursuers sought them
throughout all the way, but found them not. The Lord always hides
His sheep. The Lord protects them. The Lord
shows them the way and He protects the sheep. In verse 23. So the
two men return. descended from the mountain and
passed over and came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and told him
all things that befell them." Joshua here is obviously a picture
of Christ. Joshua, throughout all the things
he does, is the deliverer and all these things of Israel. And
it says here that the two messengers came and told Joshua what had
happened. The Lord knows all things. The Lord knows everything. The Lord is aware of everything
going on in our situation. In verse 24, they said unto Joshua,
Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land.
For even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because
of us. All of them melt because of us. The Lord will have his victory.
I love that these men come back and say it's ours. The Lord's
given us the victory. Not one sword's been raised,
not one battle cry's been given, but these men come back and say,
the Lord's given us the victory. And that's how salvation is in
Him. The victory's won. We don't have to do anything.
The Lord opens our eyes and shows us He's already done it all.
The victory's ours. And the only reason that the
battle that we keep fighting is just because He's already
won and we don't have to do anything. But our pathway, it's not our
time. And these same men here, the battle of Israel that go
to Jericho, the battle is won. And what they do here in the
next couple of chapters is all of the people come out and the
Lord tells them to march around the city. They do it for seven
days. And I imagine all of the people of Jericho were scared
to death, except for one person, except for one place. She just
thought, I've got the rope. The rope is what I've got. No
one else has it. And they marched around for those
seven days. And look in chapter 6. Go over to chapter 6 of Joshua
and verse 15 to see the conclusion of what happens in this story.
And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about
the dawning of the day and encompassed the city after the same manner
seven times. So the army of Israel marched
around the city for six days and the seventh day they're doing
the same thing again. Only on that day they compassed the city
seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh
time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said unto the
people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. The celebration
happens before the battles won. This wall, no one had a way to
get around it. No one had a way to defeat Jericho.
But yet these people, as all they had done is marched around,
yet the words come from Joshua, shout, for the Lord has given
you the city. We can celebrate. The victory
is ours. We don't have to wait to see
what happens. The rest of our lives, the rest of our days,
they're immaterial for our salvation. The victory is ours. Verse 17,
and the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein,
to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live,
she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid
the messengers that we sent. Joshua tells them, or the Lord
says, anyone under the blood is safe. Anyone under the blood,
that is the only people that will live. You go get everyone
that's not under the blood. And in verse 22, 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 ye swear unto her." The Lord kept His promise. The Lord kept His promise. He
sent the two messengers. I'm sure Rahab was so excited
to see those two messengers. Joshua could have sent anyone.
to go and save her. But he sent the only two people
that she knew who they were. And when she saw those two people,
she was assured, I'm safe. The battle was raging. The wall
had crumbled down. There were fighting going everywhere.
And the two people that she saw, she thought were safe. The Lord
will keep His promise to His sheep. Verse 23, And the young
man 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 families and left them without the camp
of Israel. The Lord went in and took all
that she'd asked out and brought them. And where did it take them?
To the camp of Israel. The Lord brought them home. He
took them out and brought them to him. He kept them. Oftentimes, when we we hear promises
from the scriptures, we we have a tendency to have, we struggle
to actually believe that they could happen for us. We see so
many things that the Lord promises and we think, well, those were
just miracles. Those were just things he did for those people
like those that he did that when he walked on the earth, all those
things. But this story is a great illustration of If we just ask,
we might do it. Rahab simply asked for her father
and her mother and her sister and her family. And what does
it say right here? It says all of them. And it actually
gives more words here and more descriptions of more people than
she even asked for. It says in that verse, it says,
and all that she had, And then it says, and they brought all
her kindred families, all her families, plural. If we ask. The Lord can do it. The Lord's able. There's no reason
for us not to ask our our limitations of our mind, thinking that he
might not do something or he wouldn't do that for me is just
foolishness. We should ask of the Lord of
everything. We should ask these exact same
things that Rahab asked because he is able to do it. I read this
verse when I was studying this and I realized to myself, I'm
not sure I've ever prayed that broadly for that many people
in a prayer. And how foolish is it that I would not include
everyone I can think of when I say this? Because Rahab had
plenty of room in her house for everyone that came. Everyone
that the Lord brought. And let's close with verse 25
here. And it says, And Joshua saved
Rahab the harlot alive. You know, when the Lord saves
his sheep, they can call us whatever they want. I don't care what
adjective you put beside my name. if you say, saved Rahab. If you say my name with being
saved, I don't care what everybody thought of me. I don't care what
I am. I know that you could put a lot of words right there. But
it says that Joshua, the Lord, saved Rahab, the harlot Eli,
and her father's household and all that she had. And she dwelleth
in Israel even unto this day. The Lord saved Rahab, and where
is she even unto this day? She's in Israel. She's with Him.
And that's what every child of God is. We'll spend eternity
with Him. And it says, because she hid
the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho, the Lord
saves His sheep and we will dwell with Him, with the Lord, for
all our days. And let me just read the verse
of one of my favorite songs that goes with this. Under the blood
of Jesus, safe in the shepherd's fold, under the blood of Jesus,
safe while the ages roll, safe though the world may crumble,
safe though the stars grow down, under the blood of Jesus, I am
secure in Him. Luke, thank you for that. Thank
you for that message. This scripture came to mind in
Ephesians 3. Unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us, unto him. Unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Oh, how thankful we are for His
Word. Thanks for coming and preaching to us, Lord. John, you come lead
us in a closing. If you would, please turn to
song number 296 and stand as we sing, All the Way My Savior
Leads Me. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know on earth
before me Jesus doeth all things well. For I know on earth before
me Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed and mortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless
ages, Let me all the way. This my song through endless
ages. Jesus, let me all the way.