Well, good evening. If you would
turn with me again to the book of Joshua chapter 6. As we've
seen in past studies, the first order of business that God gave
to Joshua when he and the children of Israel crossed the River Jordan
was to take the possession of the land in which he had given
them and destroy the city of Jericho. Remember that Jericho
was one of the largest in most prosperous cities and the land,
and probably one of the most secure with the high walls. But God had pronounced judgment. And when God pronounces judgment,
there's no wall too high. There's no fortress too strong
to keep him from exercising his wrath and judgment that he's
pronounced. And he had done so on Jericho
and that city was cursed. It was cursed of God and marked
for destruction some 40 years prior. You don't have to turn
there, but let me read Exodus 23 to you. Verse 27 says, I will
send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to
whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their
backs unto thee. It's hard to fight with your
back turned, isn't it? And we've read in several places
here in Joshua how the folks of Jericho and the land of Canaan
had heard of the great deliverance that God had given the people
of Israel and had said that their hearts melted, sick with fear. And even in verse 1 of chapter
6, we see that they knew that Israel was coming, and they just
flat-locked the city up. So that none went out and none
came in. Prisoners in their own land. And last week we saw how the
children of Israel marched around Jericho carrying the Ark of the
Covenant, which I remind you again is a picture of Christ.
Their victory is no surprise due to the fact that Christ,
the Ark of the Covenant, was in their midst. That's where
the victory is. And they did this every day for
seven days. And then on the seventh day,
they marched around the city seven times, blew their trumpets,
and shouted. And when they did, the walls
of Jericho came tumbling down. They fell flat to the ground.
That's the language that Scripture uses. They fell flat. The whole
city was completely destroyed at once, except for one house. Just one house. There was one
small section of that wall that didn't fall flat. You see, there
was a house on that section of the wall in which dwelt a chosen
object of God's grace. Look at verse 17. It says, "...and
the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein to
the Lord, And the title of the lesson tonight is those next
two words, Only Rahab. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are with her
in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent. Now, what a picture Jericho is
of this world in which we live. The world in which we live and
all those that are born into this world, fallen children of
Adam, is our federal head, our cursed. Cursed. You remember
in Genesis 3, the Lord said unto Adam, Because thou hast hearkened
unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which
I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is
the ground. for thy sake and sorrow shall
thou eat of it all the days of thy life." And we know that Adam
is our federal head and every man and woman, every person born
of woman since the fall have been born accursed and condemned.
Isn't that what our Lord said in John 3, verse 18? He said
that he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that
believeth not is what? condemned already, accursed,
because he hadn't believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. Galatians 3.10, another familiar
passage of Scripture, For as many as are of the works of the
law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. No man or woman ever born of
woman has kept God's law, condemned under the law. And yet in just
a couple of verses later in Galatians 3.13, it says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That's
the best news a sinner ever heard. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree." Now if you would, look down at
verse 20 with me. Let's read a few verses here
through verse 25. So the people shouted when the
priest blew with the trumpets and it came to pass when the
people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted
with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. So that the people
went up into the city and every man straight before him and they
took the city and they utterly destroyed all that was in that
city, both man, woman, young and old and 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 thence the woman. and all that she hath,
as ye swear unto her. And the young men that were spies
went in, and they brought out Rahab, and her father, and her
mother, and her brethren, and all that she had. And they brought
out all her kindred, and left them without the camp 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 of iron they put into the treasury
of the house of the Lord. And verse 25, And Joshua saved
Rahab the harlot alive and her father's house and all that she
had and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day because she
hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Though all of Jericho was destroyed,
Every man, woman, young, old, child. God is no respecter of
persons. You're either in His Son or you're
not. You either are going to have grace upon you or you're
going to have the wrath of God upon you. And although all Jericho
was destroyed under the wrath of God, Rahab and her father's
house were saved. The house of the town's most
notorious harlot, it couldn't fall. The entire wall surrounding
the city collapsed. It collapsed under the weight
of God's wrath, but this harlot's house was left standing. Now
tonight, if God permits, I want to give you some reasons why.
We know that Rahab is a beautiful picture of God's sovereign mercy
and grace in Christ to sinners like you and I. That's why we
never grow tired of hearing the message of God's grace. That's
what gives us hope and comfort. Let's compare ourselves for a
moment with Rahab. Rahab was a sinner by birth.
And so are you and I. And she was a notorious sinner
by choice and practice. So are we. One writer said that
religious moralists and legalists, they try their best to make us
believe that the word harlot simply means that Rahab was an
innkeeper. But the kind of inn that Rahab
kept, dear friends, was a brothel. The only women in those times
and in countries who kept public houses were prostitutes. God has mercy on sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, Paul said, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. In Matthew 9, we're
told that it came to pass as Jesus sat to eat in a particular
house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down
with him and his disciples. They were welcomed. And when
the Pharisees saw it, they said unto the disciples, why does
your master eat with these wretches? He's no good for nothing, no
count, publicans and sinners. And the scripture said when Jesus
heard that, he said unto them, they that behold, need not a
physician. He didn't come to call the righteous
friends. He came to call those that are
sick. Those that are sick need a physician.
You and I don't go to the doctor just because we enjoy it. We
go when we're sick. And Christ is a great physician.
He heals the disease of sin that there is no cure for. And our
Lord said, you go and you learn what that means. I'll have mercy
and not sacrifice. Paul said in Romans 5, he said,
for when you were yet without strength, That describes each
and every one of us without strength. In due time, Christ died for
who? The ungodly. The ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die. Peradventure for a good man,
some should even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward
us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Now, why did God save Rahab? Firstly, because she was a chosen
and elect child of God. And if God saves you, that's
exactly what you are. I heard Don Fortner say one time,
mercy is for the miserable. Grace is for the guilty. Redemption
is for the ruined. And righteousness is for the
rotten. That's true, isn't it? Rahab was a cursed woman in a
cursed profession. dwelling in a cursed city from
a cursed race. She was an Amorite, yet she obtained
mercy. This is the type of folks God
saves. Faith is never the product of natural religion. It's never
the product of logic, human reason, never, never. The natural man
receiveth not the things of God. Man has devised ways in his own
mind and made a God of his own imagination in order to feel
good about himself. But it's not God's way. There's
a way that seemeth right. But the end of those ways are
what? Destruction. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit. Faith is the operation of God
in the souls of chosen men and women, redeemed, called sinners. And it wasn't by accident, as
we saw several weeks back in Joshua 2, it was no accident
that those spies stumbled into Rahab's house. Oh me, no, it
was no accident. There are no accidents. They
came to Rahab's house because God had purposed that they come
there before the foundation of the world. And why did Rahab
obtain mercy? The same reason you and I obtained
mercy. And every chosen sinner for that
matter. It wasn't because of anything
in her or anything that she did, but because the Lord loved her
and chose her as the object of its grace. And it's true, oh,
how true it is that she and her house were saved because she
received the spies. She hid them. She sent them out
another way, but that was an act of faith. Let's go and get
the cart before the horse. God didn't save her because she
did that. God had already done a work of
grace in her heart. That's why she did it. She had
already obtained mercy. Somehow, someway, and we're not
told, and it doesn't really matter, but I know this much. Somehow,
someway, Rahab had heard of God's salvation. Let's visit that again
back in Joshua 2. Look at verse 10. This is Rahab
speaking and she says, For we have heard how the Lord dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you. Salvation is God doing something
for you, not you doing something for God. 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, whom you utterly destroyed. In
verse 11, and as soon as we had, what? Heard these things, our
hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage
in any man because of you. You. For the Lord your God, He
is God in heaven above and in the earth beneath. All the folks of Canaan's heart
wilted and feared because of the fear of God's wrath and judgment. They'd heard. They'd heard how
Pharaoh's 600 plus, I believe, chariots had pursued after God's
children. And they were between Pharaoh's
army and the Red Sea, and they were, by all practical purposes,
natural purposes, then stand. But God parted the Red Sea, and
they crossed safely. And these folks had heard these
things, and they were afraid. So much so, as I said, that we
find them in chapter 6, shut up in the city. All the doors
locked. The gates closed. None came in. None went out. But Rahab's heart
melted, dear friends, in repentance and in faith. That's the difference.
That's the difference. Look back at verse 9 in chapter
2. And she said unto the men, I
know, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that
your terror is fallen upon us, and that all inhabitants of the
land faint because of you. Friends, Rahab believed God. She believed God. I know, she
said. I know that the Lord has given
you the land." Well, how do you know, Rahab? And I ask you tonight,
how do you know that salvation is of the Lord? Well, it's revealed
in this book. But many read this book and it
never is effectual to their heart. So, how do you know? Most of God's people would just
say, I just know. It's faith. We walk by faith,
not by sight. His Spirit has bore witness with
our spirit. That's what Paul said in Romans
8. He said the Spirit, speaking
of the Holy Spirit, itself beareth witness with our spirit. What
does it bear witness to? That we are. We are the children
of God. I know. I know. You really believe that they
walked around this city for seven days and on the seventh day they
walked around it seven times and they blew a trumpet and they
shouted and them walls fell down? I do. I believe it with all my
heart. I know that that happened because
it's God. It's God's doing. Rahab believed
God. Another thing that we must consider
again is that Rahab and her house was under the blood. The child
of God is saved because they're under the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look here while we're in chapter
2 at verse 18. Verse 18. Behold, when we come
into the land, I shall bind this line of scarlet threads. in the window which thou didst
let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother,
and thy brethren, and all thy father's household home unto
thee. And it shall be that whosoever
shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his
blood shall be upon his head, and we be guiltless. And whosoever
shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head,
if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this our business,
Then we will be quiet of thine oath which thou hast made us
to swear. And she said, notice this, according
to your words, so be it. Amen. Amen. And she sent them
away and they departed. And she did what, dear friends?
She bound the scarlet line in the wind. You suppose she did
a whole lot of chores and maybe went and visited a few friends
and did her shopping and then came home and put that scarlet
cord in the window? No, sir, Ray, I guarantee you
they hadn't got down that wall and let go of that cord before
she was putting it there. She was putting that scarlet
ribbon, that scarlet cord to drop from Rahab's window. It's
just like that blood of the Passover lamb upon the houses of the Israelites. And when God's wrath came to
strike the firstborn, all those that He saw the blood, He passed
over. That's what this scarlet cord
is that we saw in our study in Joshua 2. Just like that blood
of sin offering was offered in the tabernacle, it's a picture
and a type of the precious blood of Christ. The blood of Christ
is everything to the child of God. It is. The rite of Hebrew said, without
shedding the blood, no remission, no forgiveness, no putting away
of sin, Peter said, for as much as you know that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish
and without spot. That's how we're redeemed. Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, the child of God. It's by the blood of Christ that
we have redemption. In whom we have redemption, Paul
wrote in Ephesians 1. How? Through His blood. Through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. It's by Christ's precious blood
that we're accepted in the beloved, Hebrews 10. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's how we enter in. by a
new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God." Let us draw near with a true heart, full
of assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. What
did God say? He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. I'll pass over you in wrath.
I'll pass over you in judgment. Things you deserve, I'll have
mercy. I'll pass over you. And you know
what? Rahab believed Him. Do we believe
Him? By His grace, we do. And when
Joshua, this day in Joshua 6, when he saw that scarlet cord,
picture of the blood of Christ hanging in our window and he
saw the blood upon her house. It says that Joshua saved Rahab
the harlot alive. Alive forevermore. See, she dwells even today in
the house of Israel, and that's true. With the true Israel, even
today, Rahab dwells. And so will you and I. Rahab
was saved because she was protected by grace. Rahab was redeemed
because she was protected by blood. She was saved because
she had faith and she believed these things. Hebrews 1131 says,
we looked at it last week, "...by faith the harlot Rahab perished
not with them that believed not when she had received the spies
with peace." Alongside Abraham and this amazing, as we call
it, the Hall of Faith. Alongside Abraham, Moses, Joshua,
And the many other distinguished and highly favored people of
God, here we find in Hebrews 11, Rahab the harlot. It gives me hope that my name
is in that hall of faith. Center. Center by birth. Practice. Saved by grace. Rahab's faith
wasn't an empty, unfruitful, meaningless profession. That's
what a lot of people call faith today. It's no more than a profession
of faith. A walk down an aisle, a decision
made, a prayer repeated. Most of the time when folks do
that, you very rarely ever see them again. But this was much
more than that. She believed God and she proved
that she did. Now listen, by her works of obedience. Well, you believe salvation by
work? I believe salvation by the work of Christ alone. But
I believe a child of God is going to be obedient to His work. God
helped me to be more so. Oh, friends, I can barely hide
the shame and guilt that I have for bringing reproach to His
name for so long. And my earnest prayer before
God even now is, Lord, help me to be obedient. Help me to be
obedient. James, speaking of Rahab, said
in James 2.25, Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified
by works, when she had received the messengers and had sent them
out another way. Now that doesn't mean that she
was saved by works, but that means that because she was saved,
she was obedient and did that that was pleasing to God. That's
what that means. The messengers of God made a
solemn promise to Rahab. They said, now you get your family
and you bring them into your house and you bind the scarlet
cord in your window. And he said, you stay in the
house. We've got to stay in the house.
Nothing but death and destruction outside. Stayed upon Jehovah,
hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised, perfect
peace and rest. I'm stayed upon Jehovah by God's
grace. You stay in the house. And when
the Lord gives us this city, He said, we'll deal kindly and
truly with thee. Oh, may we as children of God
endeavor to bring our family and friends into the household
of faith. Now, friends, I'm not talking
about standing out on the corner and handing out tracts or getting
up on a soapbox and preaching as people go by. I'm not talking
about that. But we can invite people to come
hear the Gospel. That's a reasonable service,
isn't it, Nod? And to God, if we truly love
folks, wouldn't we not want them to have what God has freely given
us? Oh, may God cause it to be an
urgent thing in our own hearts that we might truly care for
the lost and the unsaved. Stay in the house. Stay in the
house. We sing that little chorus, Under
the Blood of Jesus. I wish we'd really pay attention
to the words that we often sing in these hymns. I know you go
to great lengths to pick out hymns that are glorifying to
God. We need to sing the same thing
we preach. Under the blood of Jesus, safe
in the shepherd's fold. There's no safer place than in
the great shepherd's fold, is there? Under the blood of Jesus,
safe while the ages roll. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. If I'm saved by His grace, I'm
saved forever. I'm always saved. I'm safe. Safe in the Great Shepherd's
flow. Under the blood of Jesus, safe
while the ages roll. Safe though the worlds may crumble.
And friends, the world's crumbling. It's crumbling around us every
day. every single day. And if each and every one of
us wanted to, we could, we can all find plenty of things to
worry and to fret about. But we're safe, though the worlds
may crumble. We're safe, though the stars
grow dim under the blood of Jesus. But I am secure in Him. He's our security. He's our security. I love the story of Rahab because
that speaks of me. That speaks of me, a wretch,
a prostitute in my heart. falling after false gods and
things that don't amount to anything. But one day God had mercy and
compassion on me. And He said, David, stay in the
house. That house is Christ. Keep your
eyes fixed upon that scarlet cord that hangs in the window
of your heart and your mind forever. Stayed upon Jehovah. May God
make it effectual to our hearts.