Hearing that song reminded me
of Marvin Stoniker's message just Thursday night. One of the
things I desire more than anything is to not
be seen as I am, but to be seen in Christ. What a blessing. I'll open your Bibles again to
Joshua chapter two. The title of the message this
morning is Under the Blood of Jesus. I would imagine everyone
here knows the story of Rahab very well. Rahab was saved alive
when the Jericho fell, the walls fell, the city was destroyed
and burned with fire, because in her house there was a scarlet
line, and it refers to it here in our text as a line or a thread.
This wasn't just a thread. This was a pretty substantial
rope. Two full-sized men could put their weight on it, climb
down the wall. There was a scarlet line hanging from her window
and that's the only reason Rahab was saved alive. Rahab's life
was saved because she was under a picture of the blood of Christ.
The picture of the blood saved her, saved her life. Think what
the real thing would do. Everyone who's under the blood
of Christ is eternally saved, not just their body. Their soul
is eternally saved from sin because they've been washed in the blood.
They're under the blood of Jesus. Now the difference between heaven
and hell is the blood of Christ. The difference between dying
in our sin, dying in our guilt, having our sin charged to us
and dying white as snow, being washed from our sin, being forgiven
of our sin is the blood of Christ. That's the only difference. Then
here's my question, am I under the blood? Was the blood of Christ
shed for me? Did Christ die and shed his blood
to pay for my sin? You interested to know an answer
to that? We can find the answers to those questions by looking
at Rahab the harlot. Here's first, first thing we
see, if you're under the blood of Jesus, God has showed you
this, that you're a sinner. Look at verse one of chapter
two. And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim two men to
spy secretly, saying, go and view the land, even Jericho.
They went and came into a harlot's house named Rahab, and they lodged
there. Now Rahab was a harlot. If you
read a lot of the writers that I tend to read, men that we love
and respect, They really stumble over this, you know. They try
to make it out that Rahab was not a harlot. They try to make
it out that, well, she just kept an inn. She was just an innkeeper.
She wasn't a harlot. And then they say, well, you
know, she may have been a harlot at one time, but she had reformed.
She quit being a harlot by the time the spies came to her house. Now, I love those men, but I'm
telling you, that's not so. Rahab was a harlot. She was a harlot. She was a harlot
when these men, these spies, came to her. And I'm glad that's
so. I'm glad it's so. That gives
me hope. God came to save sinners. God
didn't come to save good people. He didn't come to save people
who used to be sinners and reform themselves, so then God decided
to have mercy on them. No, God saved sinners. Now, Rahab
did keep an end, but the kinds of ends that she kept in that
day They were brothels. Now Rahab was a vile woman. She lived, she was a vile, she,
I mean, this, Jericho's a vile city. And she was the vilest
of them all. She was such a vile sinner, she
sold her body to men for money. That's offensive. And I'm telling
you, that's, every one of us here is offended by that. Well,
let me ask you this question. Are you as sinful as a harlot? Are you? Are you as sinful? Are
you as guilty? Is your nature just as depraved
as a common street harlot? Are you? I hope so. Because that's who
God saves. Look at Matthew chapter nine.
Christ saves real sinners. He doesn't save reformed sinners.
He doesn't save sinners that try to do good and are better
than others. Christ saves real sinners. Matthew 9, verse 10. It came to pass as Jesus sat
at me in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and
sat down with him and his disciples, And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? You know, if you want to be amazed
at the masters eating with publicans and sinners, you wait a little
bit. He's gonna die for them. Why does your master eat publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice, for I'm not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Look over in Luke
chapter 18. Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. The one a Pharisee and the other a publican. You know
what a publican was. He collected taxes for the Roman
government, cheated his own people. They just looked at a publican
and a harlot as the worst people in society. Well, the Pharisee,
the best that man had to offer, he stood and prayed to us with
himself. God, I thank Thee I'm not as other men are. I'm not
as bad as these fellows. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing far off, would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Don't give me what I deserve.
Give me mercy. Look what our Lord says. I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than
the other. For everyone that exalted himself
should be abased. and everyone that humbles himself
should be exalted. Now, are you humbled? Are you
humbled so that you're as guilty as Rahab the harlot? I hope so,
because the blood of Christ, why was the blood of Christ shed?
Scripture says it was shed for sin, doesn't it? The blood of
Christ was shed for the sin of sinners, real sinners. Oh, how precious. is the blood
of Christ. Number one, that he would shed
his blood for sinners. He would shed his sin for the
worst of the worst. And secondly, how precious is
that blood that puts that sin away? And if you're not a real
sinner with real sin, then really this message is not for you.
The blood of Christ wasn't shed for you. But if you're a real
sinner, I mean, you're the chief of sinners. Not only are you
as bad as Rahab, but you're worse. I can tell you, now I'm not just
saying this to sound religious, I'm worse than Rahab. From the time I understood language,
I was taught the scriptures and was a rebel. I mean a rebel. Oh, were, are you the chief of
sinners? If you are, you're under the
blood. because the blood of Christ was shed for real sin, for real
sinners. You know, the only people who,
everybody's a sinner, but the only person who knows they're
a sinner is the person the father chose, the son died for, and
the spirit gave life in the new birth. Here's my second point. If you're under the blood of
Jesus, you've heard the gospel. Now, when I say you've heard
the gospel, I mean more than you've heard the name of God
or you've heard the name of Jesus Christ. When I say you've heard
the gospel, it's more than knowing that God exists and that God
saves sinners. It's more than knowing that.
If you've heard the gospel, you've heard of Christ from God himself
by the power of God, not by the power of the preacher, not by
the power of your mama, but by the power of God. You're under
the blood of Christ if you've heard the gospel so that you
know this. God saves sinners. You've heard
who God is if you've heard the gospel. Now, if you're under
the blood, you've heard who God is, you've heard who you are,
and you know what that makes you do? It makes you seek mercy
from God. That's what Rahab did. Look here
at verse nine in our text, Joshua chapter two. She said unto the
men, I know the Lord has given you the land, and that your terror
has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land faint
because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water
of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you
did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of
Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon
as we heard these things, Our hearts did melt. Neither did
there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For
the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth
beneath. Your God is God." Now, here's
Rahab. Think about this. Everybody in
Jericho, that's what she says. Everybody in Jericho, everybody
in all the surrounding country has heard about Israel. We've
all heard about the God of Israel. We've heard how God miraculously
delivered you from Egypt and how he killed Pharaoh's host
in the Red Sea. We heard how every time you came
upon an enemy, God miraculously destroyed them. You didn't fire
a shot and every enemy's been destroyed. You're out there in
the wilderness with no way to provide anything for yourself,
God's miraculously provided for you and fed you all these years.
Everybody has heard that. Everybody has heard of the power
of the God of Israel. God dried up seas so Israel could
cross on dry ground. And that made everybody afraid.
Israel's coming. Now they're coming. We're afraid.
Eventually, they're going to get here. And it made everybody
afraid. Why wasn't everybody begging
for mercy? Why has Rahab alone in this deal begging for mercy?
Look at verse 12. She says, now therefore I pray
you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness,
that you also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me
a true token, and that you'll save alive my father, my mother,
my brethren, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver
our lives from death. Isn't that the prayer of every
believer? Lord, I've heard who you are. Would you have mercy
on me? And don't stop there. Would you
have mercy on my children? Would you have mercy on my parents?
Would you have mercy on my brothers and my sisters? Would you have
mercy on us? Would you have mercy on my loved
ones? See, everybody heard about the power of God of Israel. Everybody
heard Israel's coming. So what did they do? They prepared
for battle. They were scared to death. Now,
they knew the power of God. They knew this was a losing battle.
They knew if Israel comes, we're destroyed. It's a losing battle.
But what did they do? They prepared for battle anyway.
They're scared to death. No more courage remains in them,
but they're preparing for battle. They just went on living in their
rebellion. 40 years ago, Israel came out
of Egypt to come take their land. for 40 years. They just went
on. They went on in their sin. They
went on in their rebellion. You know, well, we've heard Israel's
coming, but maybe they won't come. I mean, you don't know.
Maybe they won't, you know. But just in case, let's build bigger
walls, thicker walls, stronger walls, better gates. You know,
let's build us an army and amass lots of weapons. Let's prepare
for battle. Everyone was preparing to do
war against God except one woman. The harlot Rahab. She said, now,
we've heard all these things. We heard them. And this is, because
of what I've heard, this is what I know. The end of verse 11.
The Lord's your God, he's God. In heaven above and in earth
beneath. Now, she didn't have Spurgeon's commentaries.
She couldn't go down to the library and get Gill's commentaries.
How'd she know that? There wasn't a gospel church
there, Jericho. How'd she know that? She'd heard
from God. She didn't hear just the rumors
of men. She heard with the ear of faith
that God gave her. Rahab learned this the exact
same way the thief on the cross learned it. God's God. You're
coming into your kingdom. God taught her. And when God
teaches a person, what does that make him do? Rahab and the thief,
what'd they do? They both ask for mercy. Lord,
would you remember me? Would you spare my life when
you come into the kingdom? And that's your story if you're
under the blood. If you're under the blood, God's
gonna send his servant to you. He's gonna preach the gospel
to you. That's what scripture says, is please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. God's gonna send a man
to preach the gospel to you. Now, many people, many people
hear a preacher Many people do. I looked, I can't remember what
made me look, but I looked Friday morning about 10 o'clock. 50
people had already listened on sermon audio to Bro Marvin's
message Thursday night. 50, just overnight. Many people hear a preacher.
Many people have heard the words that I say. You heard the word. I'm not talking about men, men
of God, men of God sent to preach the gospel. You heard what they
said. But if Christ died for you, if his blood was shed to
pay for your sin, God's going to make you hear it. He'll make
you hear. And he's going to reveal himself
to you through the preaching of the gospel. And people wonder,
well, How can I hear from God through a message and somebody
else can't? How can that be? The same way
Rahab heard and everybody else in Jericho didn't. The exact
same way. If you're under the blood of
Jesus, you're gonna hear of Christ and you'll beg for mercy. God's
gonna see to it. Now here's the third thing. If
you're under the blood of Jesus, You're an object of free, sovereign,
electing grace. It is of grace. Now, if you're
under the blood, you know this. You don't believe Christ because
you're better than somebody else. You don't believe Christ because
you used to be a harlot and then you reformed and changed your
ways and quit sinning so God saved you. No, you know this,
you know. You believe Christ because you're
an object of God's free, sovereign, electing grace. You're a chosen
object of God's mercy from before the foundation of the world.
That's your story if you're under the blood. The events of the
lives of God's people are arranged in such a way that they wind
up finding themselves hearing God's preacher preach the gospel.
He preaches Christ and they believe. How'd you come to hear the gospel?
You who believe, how did you come to hear the gospel? Well,
it wasn't just dumb luck, because there's no such thing as luck.
Well, was it just coincidence? No, no. Tara Kendall, boy, you're
lucky, aren't you? Your parents, your grandparents
love Christ, love the gospel. It just so happens Tara was born
in a home where her parents taught her the scriptures, brought her
to church, brought her to hear one of the greatest gospel preachers
of our generation. Boy, it's lucky. Good thing you
heard, because you might not have. Tara might have just been
thinking about whatever smart people I ever think of and not
heard. That's not luck. That's God's divine purpose,
his eternal divine purpose of love and grace to his people,
to bring one of his children to hear the gospel, bring her
to faith in Christ. That is God's doing. God puts
you where you are so you'd hear the gospel. And if you believe,
you believe because you're an object of God's sovereign, distinguishing,
electing grace in Christ Jesus. From eternity, God chose a people
to save. Out of Adam's fallen race, just
because God's good and he's gracious, he chose a people to save. And
in order to save them, the father gave his own son to save them. He sent his son to become a man
so he'd be the substitute. He'd be the sacrifice for his
people. God loved the people so much He gave his own son to
be sacrificed for them. And God's the spirit. He didn't
leave this thing. Christ died for, God gave his
own son to be the sacrifice for those people. God's not gonna
leave the chance if that blood is gonna be effectual or not.
The Holy Spirit comes and applies that blood. He gives his people
life and faith in the new birth. That's the story of every believer. and every child of God knows
it. I didn't earn anything. I didn't do anything to deserve
this or earn it. The only thing I've done is earn
God's wrath. Thank God he didn't give you
what you deserve, but rather he made you an object of his
free, sovereign, electing grace in Christ Jesus. Amazing grace. How sweet to sound. It saved
a wretch, a harlot like me. It's grace. Fourth, if you're
under the blood of Jesus, God's given you faith in Christ. Look
at verse two. And it was told the king of Jericho
saying, behold, there came in hither tonight of the children
of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho said
unto Rahab saying, bring forth the men that are come to thee,
which are entered into thine house, for they become to search
out all the country. And the woman took the two men
and hid them and said thus, They did come in unto me, but I was
not whence they were. And it came to pass about the
time of shutting of the gate when it was dark that the men
went out. Whether the men went, I don't know. Pursue after them
quickly, for you shall overtake them. But she brought them up
to the roof of the house and hid them among the stalks of
flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. Now this is risky
business. If these men sent from the king
caught Rahab lying, if they caught her hiding these spies, they'd
have killed her instantly, just put her to death. Rahab put her
life on the line to hide these two men she'd never seen before
because she believed God. That's saving faith. True saving
faith looks to Christ. Saving faith looks to Christ
for the forgiveness of our sin. It's my only hope is in His blood.
That's the only hope I have that my sin is forgiven. It's the
blood of Christ. True saving faith looks to Christ
for all of our salvation. Christ is my Savior, I'm lost.
There's no backup plan. He's my Savior, I'm lost. He
saved me by Himself, I'm going to hell. True saving faith looks
to Christ to be my righteousness. Christ is my righteousness, I'll
have it. In true saving faith, ask God
for mercy, for Christ's sake. Not because, I mean better anybody
else, for Christ's sake, would you have mercy on me? That's
saving faith. But now listen, saving faith
always acts. Saving faith is never alone,
it's never dead, it's never something hidden in your closet. Saving
faith always acts. True saving faith is more than
saying, Yeah, I believe that. That's so. I mean, I see that
from what you're saying from the word. Yeah, I believe that. Does your life depend on it?
Does your life, your eternal soul, does it depend on this
gospel being true? Does your life entirely depend
on the Lord Jesus Christ? See, there's a difference in
thinking something's true and staking your life on it. Faith
puts all of the difference between life and death on Christ. Faith
puts all the difference between heaven and hell on Christ. Now
look over in the book of James. In the book of James, we see
this, how faith always acts. Now, everybody here, most people
in all the world, Know that Abraham the patriarch had faith, right? He's the father of the faithful.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Well, James compares the faith of the harlot Rahab to the faith
of the patriarch Abraham. James 2 verse 24. Now you see
then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith
only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works
when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead also." Now you know James is not teaching there that a
sinner is justified before God by our works. Of course not.
Nobody is saved by works. We're saved by Christ. He is
our salvation. And salvation is received by
faith in Christ. No sinner can be justified before
God by our works. We're justified by the blood
of Christ. But our faith is justified. Our
faith is shown before men by our works, what we do. Now, I'll
give you an example. I can tell you, I've studied that chair. I've
looked at it, and I believe that chair will hold my weight. I
believe that. And then you watch me, and I
sit down. And you say, he don't believe
that chair will hold his weight. My faith is not justified. But
if I sit down, you say he believes that chair will hold. His faith
was justified by his works. See what I'm saying? If you believe
God, God's given you faith in the blood of Christ. Your faith's
going to be justified by your works. You're going to put your
money where your mouth is. Rahab believed God. You know how I know that? She
put her life at risk to save those spies just because she
believed God. Rahab is going to die. When she
hid those men, she knew this. I'm going to die tonight if God's
not who he said he is. If God's not going to keep His
word, I'm going to die tonight for hiding those spies. But she
hid them, and her faith was justified. Saving faith stakes our eternal
life on Christ. Heed my only hope. Saving faith
identifies with Christ. Saving faith, the way your faith
is justified before men, is your faith is going to be publicly
confessed in the Savior. Look back in our text, Joshua
chapter 2. I just love this. I just love
Rahab. Look at verse 18. Now the spies
tell her, behold, we come into the land. You 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,
all thy father's household home unto thee. When we come into
the land, Rahab, we don't know when that's gonna be, but you
bind this line in the window and you'll be saved. I want you
to look at what she did, verse 21. And she said, according unto
your word, so be it. And she sent them away and they
departed. And she bound the scarlet line in the window. She didn't
wait until Israel was at the gate to hang that scarlet line
in the window. The spy said, we're coming back,
we don't know when. But when we come, you hang us
in your window. She hung that scarlet line in
her window immediately. Because she had faith. She was
identifying under the blood. She immediately hung that picture
of the blood of Christ and confessed Christ publicly. And if God the
Holy Spirit reveals Christ to you and he gives you faith in
Christ, you're not going to say, you know, I'm going to sow my
wild oats for a while. I'm going to have fun. And then
when I get to be too old to have fun anymore, then I'll believe
Christ and then I'll confess him. No, sir. When God the Holy
Spirit reveals Christ to you in faith, saving faith, you will
confess Christ. You'll identify with Him. Saving
faith is justified before me and it's confessed by following
our Lord and believers baptism. Confessing, this is how Christ
saved me. Through His death, His burial,
and His resurrection. He's all my hope. Saving faith
will identify with Christ by being where his people are. When
they're gathered together to worship, you'll be there. Saving faith identifies with
God's people. Saving faith puts his money where
his mouth is. You'll give out of love and thanksgiving
and nobody twists your arm to do it. Now if you have that kind
of saving faith, you're under the blood of Jesus. Christ died
for you. Look at Romans chapter four.
I know that's so because God only gives faith to those that
Christ died for. Romans chapter four, verse 13. For the promise that he should
be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are
of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made
in effect because the law work with wrath and where no law is,
there's no transgression. Therefore, it is a faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to who? To all the seed, to those that Christ died for. If you're
under the blood, you'll confessing. Fifth, if you're under the blood
of Jesus, you're protected by the promise of God himself. Look
back at Joshua 2, verse 14. And the man answered her, our
life for yours. If you utter not this our business,
and it should be when the Lord has given us the land, we'll
deal kindly and truly with thee. We're gonna deal mercy and truth
with you. Then she let them down by the court 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 be returned. And afterward may you go your
way. And the men said unto her, We'll be blameless of this thine
oath, which thou hast made us swear. Behold, when we come into
the land, thou shalt bind this lion's scarlet thread in the
window, which thou didst let us down by. And thou shalt bring
thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's
household home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever
shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his
blood shall be on his head, and will be guiltless. And whosoever
shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on his head,
or on our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this
our business, then we'll be quit of thine oath which thou hast
made us to swear." And she said, according unto your words, so
be it. Rahab's safety depended on these
men keeping their promise, didn't it? She's protected by their
promise. Well, yes and no. Really, Rahab's
life is going to depend on Joshua keeping his promise. Look over
in chapter 6 of Joshua. Chapter 6, verse 17. Really,
her life depends on Joshua keeping his promise. Now this is Joshua giving instructions
to the people, they're going to march around the city and
the walls are going to fall flat and they're going to go in and
destroy everything. In verse 17, Joshua says, and the city
shall be accursed, even it and all that's 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.
Rahab's life depends on Joshua keeping his word. Well, what
happened? Verse 21, the walls fell 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 said unto the two men that 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. And the young
men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father
and her mother and her brother and all that she had. And they
brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp
of Israel, and they burnt the city with fire, and all that
was therein, only the silver and the gold and the vessels
of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of
the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive. Her life was
dependent on Joshua keeping his promise, and he kept his promise. And every believer under this
picture, you are eternally protected by the promise of God almighty.
You're protected by God's promise to forgive your sin through the
blood of his son. You're protected by God's promise
that you'll be made righteous in Christ. You're protected by
God's promise that he will accept you in Christ. Look over Titus
chapter one. This is God's eternal promise
to his people. If I tell you you're protected
by my promise, you say, well, I might think Frank's pretty
trustworthy, but I don't know if he's got the power to do what
he promises to do or not. This is the promise of God. He's
faithful and has the power to accomplish his promise. Titus
1 verse 1, Paul, a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of
the truth, which is after godliness. in hope of eternal life which
God, that cannot lie promised, when? Before the foundation,
before the world began. But hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior. Why did you hear in due
times that preaching? Because of the promise that God,
that cannot lie promised, before the world began. Before the world
began, The Father chose a people and He promised to save those
people through the sacrifice of His Son. And God the Son promised
that in the fullness of time He'd come as a man and He would
purchase the salvation of those elect that the Father gave Him.
And friend, He kept His promise. Christ came as a man and He purchased
the salvation of His people. Christ came in the flesh and
He earned a righteousness that He'd freely give to His And he
died and he shed his perfect blood as payment for their sin.
He kept his promise and the father kept his promise too. The father
sees the blood and says, it's enough. It's enough to satisfy
me. It's enough to make me pleased.
And he sends his spirit to each one of his elect from Christ
died. And the spirit reveals Christ
to them, gives them a new heart to the preaching of the gospel,
gives them faith to believe Christ. And there's not a single chance
that any of those people will be damned. There's not any chance
any of those people will be destroyed by God's wrath because God promised
to save them and He always keeps His promise. That's what's pictured
when the walls of Jericho fell. Those walls of Jericho, they
were a double wall. So many feet between them, I
forget. But they were great big thick, two big thick walls. And
they had some houses built on the top of those. That's where
Rahab lived to kind of hold them together. And when they blew
that trumpet, those walls fell flat, flat to the ground. I mean,
they didn't just crumble and leave a big mountain. They fell
flat. And the people just walked in.
It wasn't difficult, except for one section. There was a section,
a little section of that wall still standing. That wall went
seven acres, I think is what I read. All seven acres fell
except for this little section. There it stood, strange as it
could be, not crumbled a bit because there was a scarlet rope
hanging out the window. That's why it stood. That section
of wall stood because it was under a picture of the blood
of Christ and it could not be destroyed. Remember when the
Lord went and told Abraham, I'm going to go down and destroy
Sodom. We looked at this a few weeks ago when Abraham interceded
for Sodom and the Lord went down there and he told Lot, you got
to leave this place. I cannot destroy it while you're
here. I can't do it. because you're under the blood
and you can't be destroyed. All of God's elect are like Lot
and like Rahab. We're the worst of the worst
like the two of them and we're protected by the blood and by
the power and promise of God. Sixth, if you're under the blood
of Jesus, you're gonna stay right there under the blood. Those
spies told Rahab, now you get your family in this house and
don't leave these doors. If you go out in the street,
and you die, it's your own fault. We told you we're gonna kill
everybody out in the street. That's your fault. But if you stay in
these doors, under the blood, under this rope, your life's
our responsibility. We'll save you. Like I said earlier,
a believer who's been given faith in Christ, you'll identify with
Christ. You'll confess his person, his work, his sacrifice, and
you won't leave him either. You know why you won't leave
him? You don't have any other hope. He's your only hope. You're
not gonna leave him. The Lord asked his disciples
one day, will you also go away? I'm making you stay. Will you go away? Peter said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? We don't have another hope. We believe and we're sure thou
art that Christ, the son of the living God. Why would you go
anywhere else? Nope, there's no place else to
go. Rahab and her family stayed in that house. The walls are
crumbling around them. I mean, it sounded like a horrible
disaster outside, and there they stayed in that house. They didn't
run for cover. They stayed right there with
that rope hanging out the window because they knew they could
not perish as long as they were under the picture of that blood.
And you who believe, you believe Christ, you can never perish,
never. as long as you're under the blood
of Jesus. What does the blood of Christ mean? His blood was
shed because he died. Well, if Christ shed his blood
and he died for your sin, God'll never punish you for it. God'll
never kill you for it. There's already been death for
your sin. So you cannot die as long as you're under the blood
of Christ. And God's given you faith in Christ. He's put you
under the blood. You'll stay right there. Now I want to show
you this last. I was going to quit there. I
saw this yesterday. I thought I've got to put this in here.
This is such good news. If you're under the blood of
Jesus, you're in the family of God, the family of God. Now what happened to Rahab? What's
the rest of the story? Joshua, he saved Rahab the harlot
alive. And Rahab the harlot, she's called
Rahab the harlot throughout scripture, but you know, she got a new name.
She got a new husband and she got a new genealogy. Rahab the
harlot married a young man named Salmon. Salmon, I don't know
much about him, but I know this. He was a prince in Israel. I
just kind of wonder about Salmon's mother. Salmon begins to date
this woman. That woman from Jericho? The
harlot? Salmon, can't you pick out a
nice Jewish girl, you know, good family, nice, you know, reputation?
I'm sure he could have. Salmon was quite a catch. This
man's something else. He's a prince in Israel. But Salmon picked his bride the
same way Christ did. He picked a harlot. God chose
harlots. He chose sinners that he had
to get down to the bottom of the barrel to find. That's my
bride. I set my love on her. I gave
her a new name. She got my name. This is the
name wherewith she shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu, Lord our righteousness. Rahab got a new husband. She
got a new name. She became a mother. Salmon and
Rahab had a son. They named him Boaz, the kinsman
redeemer. Rahab the harlot is the great-great-grandmother
of King David. King David, she's in a royal
family. Rahab the harlot is a full-fledged
member of God's family. She's not on the outskirts somewhere. Now she's a full-fledged member.
And to prove it to us, where do we read Rahab the harlot's
name? In the genealogy of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, there are many women. I
mean, you know, every husband's got a wife. That's how you have
a baby, you know. But there are just a few women named. One of
them, is Rahab the harlot. Wonder why? Because God came
to save sinners. This is who he identifies with,
Rahab the harlot. That's why I said, I hope you're
as guilty as Rahab the harlot. I hope you're as vile as Rahab
the harlot, because this is who God identifies with. This is
who the son of God identifies with and came to save every sinner. It's been washed, and the blood
of Christ is in God's family. There are no black sheep in God's
family. They've all been washed white as snow in the blood of
Christ. And Rahab the harlot, we read
this to open the scripture in Hebrews chapter 11. Her faith
is named right alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph, and
Moses, and Rahab Does it seem like one of those
things doesn't fit? No, they all fit, because every one of
them, from Abraham to Rahab, has God-given faith, not something
they conjured up, faith God gave them. When James gave two illustrations
of faith, he named Abraham and Rahab. Rahab, just as much a
daughter of God as Abraham's a son of God. because this thing
is by grace, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
are you under the blood? Well, if you are, you've got
a good hope, don't you? You've been washed white as snow in his blood. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for the blood, the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, human language,
can express how precious His blood is to us and how we thank
you, Father, for God-given faith. How we thank you that this matter
of faith in Christ and being washed in the blood and being
drawn to Christ and staying in Him is not left up to us, is
not left up to our intelligence or our religious activity. But
it's by your grace, by your sovereign calling, keeping, saving grace. Father, we're thankful. And I
pray by your mercy, by your grace, by your eternal purpose and will,
that as we leave here this morning, We leave with God-given faith.
Father, would you, in your mercy to your people, give us faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cause us to be faithful. Cause
us to look to him, be faithful to him. Oh, how we thank you. Thank you for the blood that
cleanses us from all sin. Father, we thank you. It's in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. Amen.