The Scarlet Thread

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign and reigns over all creation, as seen in Exodus 3:14 and Psalm 9:16. Biblically, the term 'sovereign' refers to God's ultimate authority and rule over the universe. It's evident in scriptures such as Exodus 3:14, where God reveals Himself as 'I am that I am', affirming His eternal existence and authority. Psalm 9:16 further supports this, stating that the Lord is known by the judgments He executes. Thus, God's sovereignty is foundational in understanding His nature and the unfolding of His divine plan.

Q: How do we know Jesus is God?

Jesus is identified as God through His claims, works, and the recognition of His divine authority, as stated in John 14. The divine nature of Jesus is supported biblically through His own claims and the acknowledgment of His works. In John 14, Jesus invites others to believe in Him based on the evidence of His works. There is a rich theological assertion that true understanding of Jesus aligns with recognizing His unity with the Father. In fact, to deny Jesus' divinity is to misunderstand His mission and person, which is essential to the historic Christian faith.

Q: Why is the concept of atonement important for Christians?

Atonement is crucial for Christians because it represents the reconciliation between God and humanity through Christ's sacrifice. The atonement is central to Christian theology as it highlights God's action in reconciling sinners to Himself through the sacrificial death of Christ. This concept, anticipated throughout the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament, signifies that through His death and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, allowing believers to stand justified before God. The ritual sacrifices in the Old Testament illustrated this need for atonement, culminating in Christ, who embodies the ultimate sacrifice, effectively addressing the sinful state of humanity and restoring fellowship with God.

Q: What does the Scarlet Thread symbolize in the Bible?

The Scarlet Thread symbolizes salvation and deliverance through faith in Christ, as illustrated in Rahab’s story. The Scarlet Thread in the biblical narrative serves as a powerful metaphor for salvation and deliverance through faith in Jesus Christ. In the account of Rahab, the scarlet cord represents her faith and obedience; she was saved from destruction during the fall of Jericho because she identified herself with the covenant promise of God through the spies. This typology is echoed throughout scripture, where the theme of redemption is interwoven, ultimately leading to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, whose blood secures the salvation of all who believe.

Q: Why is understanding typology important in scripture?

Understanding typology is crucial as it reveals the connections between the Old and New Testaments, illustrating the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. Typology is foundational for comprehending the unity of scripture, as it helps illustrate how events, characters, and institutions in the Old Testament foreshadow and find their fulfillment in Christ. This perspective enhances our understanding of the biblical narrative that culminates in the New Testament, affirming God's sovereign plan of redemption. Typological study enriches our faith, as it demonstrates that God's purpose is consistent and coherent throughout the ages, guiding us to appreciate the significance of Christ's work in relation to previous revelations.

If you're not new to Christian
theology, the term sovereign means to rule. The term sovereign
means to rule the old Saxon term, which means to be lord over everything. The word sovereign means to reign
over. It's actually a compound word,
just so that you can know the root word is terrain. Can you
see that as the stem? And then you have this word solve,
which means over. It means over, it means to rule
over, to rule over. So it means to reign over all. And actually when we use the
term Lord, Lord, that's what it means. When we call Jesus
Lord, we mean that he reigns over everything, not some things,
everything. If you use the term Lord in the
17th century or the 18th century, you would really be saying sovereign
Lord. And that's what the term means
in the Old Testament. I am the Lord. The word Jehovah
is the noun form of the Hebrew verb form. I am. When he said
in Exodus 3 14, who shall I say sent me? And God says, I am that
I am. That phrase is a verb. I am to
be who I am to be. It is two Hebrew words in a conjunction. And what it emphasizes is the
Lordship of Jesus Christ over everything. In fact, the word
Lord is the noun form of I am. It is a noun form of I am. That's
why from that passage on, you never read the phrase. I am that
I am. You only read the Lord. So you'll
read in the scriptures that they might know that I am what the
Lord. rather than that I am that I
am, I am the Lord. It is the noun form of the verb
to be, which means he is the everlasting one, the all existent
one, the faithful one, the unchanging one, the sovereign one, and he
is known by the things which he does. God is known by the
judgments, which he executes. Psalm nine, verse 16, Jesus said
in John 14, again, around verse eight or nine. If you don't believe
me for who I say I am, believe me for my work sake, because
God cannot be separated from his works. His works are a reflection
of his character and nature. In fact, how we really know God,
is not by an appellation or a term or a nomination like Jesus, but
what Jesus means is the way you really know him. And what does
Jesus mean? Savior. For they shall call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. It's
so important that you know that because, I if you if you go through
the Book of Acts is an account in Acts chapter 19 where there
were seven vagabond Jews. They were called the seven Sceva
brothers. Does anyone remember those fellas?
Now the seven Sceva brothers thought that all they needed
to do was quote the name Jesus and that they were good to go.
Now, there's a lot of people in Christianity with that same
type of pagan mindset, that if you just use the name Jesus,
you are good to go. But what you learn in Acts chapter
19, I believe it is, is that when these fellas thought that
they could do an exorcism by merely using the name Jesus,
the devils got in their case, didn't they? Not only did the
devils not acknowledge them, they acknowledge Jesus, they
acknowledge Paul, and then they told those seven boys butts up
so bad and ran them out the house. And the Holy Ghost wrote that
down in order for you and I not to fall into the trap of thinking
just using the name Jesus is your carte blanche as an authority
in the unseen realm. It's not so. The name Jesus has
to be understood. in a comprehensive sense in terms
of who he is and what he does. Because in Jesus' day, there
were a lot of Jesuses. And Paul said in 2 Corinthians
11, if you want to mark this down, 2 Corinthians 11, verses
five, six, and seven, he says, there is another Jesus. another
gospel and another spirit which the church at Corinth had began
to entertain as they received teachings that were contrary
to that which Paul taught. So just to use the name Jesus
isn't to mean anything if you don't understand what Jesus means.
If you don't understand it in its connection with the whole
scheme and panorama of scripture, if you don't have a biblical
Jesus, you have no authority. And so it's very important that
we understand that here, then, as we work our way through the
scriptures, I want you to know that Jesus is headed to Calvary,
but on his way to Calvary, he goes through Jericho, because
Jericho is going to be a very significant statement that he
makes with reference to what he is about to accomplish. Now
here's another important truth about you and I in study of the
word of God. You guys may hear this odd nauseam
from me, but this is very important. Everything in the scriptures
are connected. There is nothing in the scriptures
which are broken in John chapter 10. The Pharisees tried to try
Jesus because Jesus made himself equal with God. He said I am
the father. I want they got mad up at him. They wanted to take stones up
and stone him. They understood that when he
called himself the son of God, he was saying that he was God
because you cannot be the authentic ontological son of God and not
be God. There's a sense in which you
and I are sons of God, but that's only by virtue of adoption. And
in the scheme of redemption is not ontological. Ontological
means we don't carry the precise same quantitative nature that
God does. But now, if I have a son, My
son has my DNA. He has everything that I have.
And even though he's my son, he's just like me. And so when
Jesus is called the son of God, it means he's equal with the
father. And what he's saying when he says to the Jews, you
cannot break the scriptures. Here's what he's saying. You
can't just take a passage here, develop a doctrine, leave it
disconnected from the whole scheme of scripture and think you're
going to be honoring God. So then when Jesus called himself
God, they had known in the scriptures that the Psalms speaks of them
as gods. So if they're going to accept
the ideology, our concept that we have got like characteristics,
how can they deny Jesus who also exhibited more than got like
characteristics? He manifested himself as God.
So Jesus appealed to the scriptures. And here's my point to you. It's
incumbent upon us to be to be clear as to what the scriptures
teach. That's why we're going to go to the Old Testament now,
take a look at this Jericho scenario and learn some things. And I
hope that it will carry some significance as we make our way
to the concluding chapters of Mark, as we see our Lord headed
to Calvary. They came to Jericho. Now, in
your outline, it says the history and significance of Jericho.
We're only scratching the surface. I talked about five things there
in our outline point. Number one, I made mention of
Jericho being what we call a primary point of entrance, a primary
point of entrance. What is Jericho in the historical
larger narrative? It is a primary point of entrance. Does that make some sense? because
what the children of Israel had done was finally crossed over
Jordan into the promised land which God had promised them all
the way back to Abraham. They cross over Jordan. There
is a significant event that takes place in chapters 1 through 4
and in chapter 5 they are preparing to go into Jericho. Jericho is
the first campaign and the first conquest that Joshua engages
in the first campaign and the first conquest of Joshua. Now, for your learning and understanding,
We understand that the Old Testament, while it was very true historically
and documented literally, we have all kinds of documentation
concerning the historicity of the Old Testament. Nevertheless,
that Old Testament served as a type and a pattern of New Testament
realities. Does anyone have a problem with
that? You do understand that the Old Testament then serves
as a paradigm for New Testament realities. You know that, right?
All right. And it's important for you to
know that from the scripture, keep your hand where you are.
Go with me to First Corinthians, Chapter 10. I just want to show
you a couple of passages because I want you to know that it's
important to have a proper hermeneutic or else you're going to you're
not going to be able to get all you need out of the word of God.
I'm in First Corinthians, Chapter 10. And you guys have heard me
expound parts of this a while back when we dealt with the whole
subject of baptism. I just want to make a few notes
here and then we're going to make our way to Joshua. Very important
for you to know the Old Testament is not some archaic Old Testament
literature that has no relevance today. It's the same God in the
New Testament that's in the old in the old that's in the new.
He deals with us the same way, but he deals with it up with
us in the New Testament in a different sphere. a different sphere. But the material in the Old Testament
is so rich with typology and symbolism and figures of speeches
and historical events that God has determined to use it to teach
us spiritual realities. So we still have to do what Jesus
said in Matthew 13, as the scribe did, taking old things and new
things and coming up with the truth as it is in Jesus. Will
you notice what Paul said over in verse 11? of chapter 10. Well, let me back up and say
this. What he does in chapter 10 of first Corinthians is he
renunciates or he enunciates how that Moses brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt. And we're just about there in
our series on Sundays. And he likens Israel's deliverance
through the Red Sea as a type of baptism. Do you see that?
In verses one through three, verse two, and we're all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Paul did that because
under inspiration of the spirit, he knew that there were New Testament
realities in the Old Testament scriptures. He knew that Moses
was a type of Christ in this part of the scripture. He knew
that Moses was a type of the new lawgiver, a type of a new
deliverer, a type of a new kingdom. And so he sees the typology there
and he calls it baptism. Then he goes on to speak of a
very significant thing we'll see when we go through the Old
Testament. They all did eat the same spiritual meat. Do you guys
remember what that meat was? The manna, remember that? And
then it says, and they did all drink from the same spiritual
drink for they drink of that spiritual rock that followed
them. And that rock was who? Do you
see that? See, Paul understood the typology
as all landing upon and being consummated in the person of
Christ. It's very important for you to know that he understood
the manna as Christ. He understood the rock as the
law of God. the word of God in that rock
being split open by Moses, which is a type of the law. Christ
is that rock, that rock was broken and out of that rock came the
water of life that nourishes the souls of thirsty sinners.
He understood that. He saw that as Christ crucified
and we will too. Very important significance.
Then it says, as they made their journey through the wilderness,
verse five, many of them were not, God was not well pleased
with them. Do you see that? for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. That's gonna be a major lesson for us as we deal with
why they had to hang out in the wilderness 40 years and why we
do too. Now notice verse six. Now these
things were our what? Now you see that term example,
that's the Greek word tupos from which we get the word type. That's
the Greek word tupos from which we get the word type. It's a
word that was used in the Greek to make an imprint. It's when
you made an impression upon clay with a certain stamp. You put that stamp there. And
what God did was use the Old Testament as a stamp, a two pass,
a framework, a paradigm for believers to learn how God works in this
New Testament age. So you can't miss that because
notice what he says. It was for us. Now these things
were our examples. Do you see it? To the intent
that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted. So
as we go through the Old Testament, we'll be taught how to avoid
idolatry, adultery, and all types of evils that kept the children
of Israel from rejoicing and experiencing the blessings of
God through their sojourn. And notice what it says over
in verse 11, because you can learn from verses seven through
11, that they committed a lot of atrocities and we'll deal
with that back then. But notice 11 now all these things happen
unto them. You see it for in samples. There it is again to pass and
they are written for our admonition. Now, you know what the word admonition
means teaching. Teaching. Teaching, teaching. Yes, it's warning, but it's teaching.
It's instruction. And we are warned by the teaching.
And so we can be taught by the Old Testament as we look to it. And we'll see that tonight. They're
written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have
come. So now let's go back to Jericho
and learn some things. Go with me to Joshua chapter
two. Do you see some things here? Jesus is headed to Jericho right
before he goes to Jerusalem. And you and I are gonna go back
to Jericho now and learn some things. May God open your eyes
to the scriptures and see the gospel tonight and understand
what Jesus meant when he said in Psalm 40, verse seven and
eight, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of
me to do thy will. We're in the book of Joshua.
Now, Joshua is right after Deuteronomy. And you know, Joshua has had
the baton passed to him from Moses, right? You know why, right? Because Moses couldn't lead the
children into the promised land. Moses was a type of the what?
Law. And we know that we cannot be
saved by the law, right? Salvation not by works, it's
by grace, right? Moses can bring you to the promised
land, but he can't bring you into it. Moses can help you see
the promised land, but Moses can't bring you into the experience
of it. Moses had to die in the wilderness, just like the rebels
had to die in the wilderness. So there's a sense in which the
law has to die in us before the gospel becomes a living reality
in our soul, or else all we have is religion. Very important to
know that. So there was a transition from Moses to Joshua because
Joshua then becomes the Jesus that brings his people into the
land of promise. You guys got that right. And
you'll be amazed when you go through the Joshua account and
see how victorious Joshua was. Joshua was exceedingly victorious. He did not miss a beat. The sad
thing is, is that as soon as Joshua died and that generation
that was with Joshua died, the children of Israel went a whoring
again. And the significance of that is as soon as the gospel
is stopped being preached and you don't see Christ Jesus and
him crucified and lifted up and exalted and glorified and reigning
and ruling over all things, the key to everything, the sight
of God's people, as soon as Christ is veiled from our eyes, we're
in trouble. We're in trouble. There is no
power apart from looking to Christ, none whatsoever. And so we need
our Joshua to be with us all the time. And so in Joshua chapter
five, this is what we're going to see here. Over at verse 13,
Joshua 5, 13, because this is going to lay a foundation for
us. Are we there? Joshua 5, 13. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho. First time Jericho was mentioned.
He came to pass at Joshua by Jericho, that he lifted up his
eyes and looked and behold, there stood a man over against him
with his sword drawn in his hand. Do you see that? Now who's that
man? It's the Lord Jesus. You guys
trust that it's so, but some argue that it's not. But see
Exodus 15 three has already told us that the Lord is a man of
war. That's what we're learning in
our study, isn't it? Salvation is still an issue of conquest
and victory and battle. This is what the whole Exodus
account is about. Moses is delivering the children
of Israel as God's representative. He is a man of war. And so Joshua
has met Jesus the same way Moses met Jesus at the burning bush. How do we know this? Because
in a moment, Joshua will be made to do exactly what Moses did,
take his shoes off because the ground upon which he stands is
what? Now notice what it says. And the man over against him
with a sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he
said, no. What did he mean by that? I mean,
you know, if you ask the question that is ambiguous as are you
for us or for our adversaries? He said, no. Well, hold on now. You're a big
dude. I see your sword. You gotta be for one of the two.
And the reality is he said no, because what we have is what
is called a paradigmatic truth here. And what that is is that
his battle was distinctly different from Joshua's battle, although
they were not disconnected. The battle of this man was distinctly
different from Joshua's battle so that he could say, I'm not
for you and I'm not against them because what Joshua was to do
was to reflect what this man was to do. See, we're talking
about two different battles. We're talking about a spiritual
battle in the celestial realm between the Lord Jesus Christ
and the host of minions that had entrapped Jericho and had
dominion over the mindset and ideology and schemes of the rulers
of Jericho and Joshua's captain, which was the captain of the
Lord's host, would have to precede Joshua, go before Joshua, destroy
the principalities and powers that had these kings and rulers
trapped by their own schemes and stratagems in order for Joshua
to have success. Am I making some sense? Now,
we know this is consistent in the scriptures, right? Because
in Daniel's case, it was the same thing. In order for the
children of Israel to be delivered out of Babylon, this is another
deliverance. Under the rule of Darius, Daniel
sees in a vision the angel Gabriel and the angel Michael, the archangel,
having to fight with the principalities and powers in heaven in order
to break up the schemes and stratagems of the earthly kings who wanted
to continue to take dominion over that which was God's. So
there is a spiritual battle. Then there's an earthly battle.
These are called parallelisms. This is a paradigmatic reality. And so what when the host here
says, or the captain says, I'm not for you, I'm not against
you, or I'm not for them. I'm for God. And therefore I
am for you, but in a very different way. And so here's what he says.
And he said, no, but as the captain of the host of the Lord, am I
now come and Joshua fell on his face to the earth. and did worship. It implies to me, and you might
think this through, that what this man said was a revelation
to Joshua. And at that point, Joshua understood
that he was dealing with God. So also what this means is very
often and I don't know if you found this to be the case when
you read the scriptures without a great deal of sensitivity.
There are a lot of things that are being said that you don't
understand and I don't understand that Joshua are the people of
that day would have understood. certain practices, certain terms,
certain statements that were made. Joshua responds by falling
on his face to the earth and he worshiped. And he said, what
said my Lord and to his servant and the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Lucia, loose your shoe from off your
foot for the place where you now stand is holy ground. And
Joshua did so. This is exactly what Moses did
right now. I said this before. It's out
of the revelation. It's out of the revelation that
God speaks to his people. Remember that? It's out of the
revelation. God speaks to his people out
of the revelation. Joshua's had a revelation of
the captain of the Lord's host. He sees Jesus in a different
picture, a different model now than Moses saw him. but he saw
the same Jesus that Moses saw. Moses is seeing Jesus as the
protector of his people who are in tribulation. Joshua is seeing
Jesus as the captain of his people who goes before them as a forerunner
to fight the spiritual battles to make the earthly battle successful. And so it's very important for
us to recognize that. And there are instructions now
that are gonna be given to Joshua, whereby he will have success
in Jericho. And I just wanna read a portion
of this, and then we're gonna conclude by going to the other
portions of scripture. Verse one, now Jericho was straightly
shut up because of the children of Israel, and none went out
and none came in. What does that mean? What was
the condition of Jericho? It was it was seized. There was
a seizure. They were blocked in a seize
is when a an enemy foe surrounds your city and sees to it that
you can't go out. And if you can't go out, if you're
already out, you can't come in. So you're blocked in. They could
stay there for years until you starve to death. which would
induce what is called a famine. And in that famine, you would
begin to do things which are unthinkable and unimaginable.
We see this often in the Old Testament, where when famines
occurred, women ate their own children, didn't they? And they
began to do things that were wild and bizarre. And this was
God's judgment on people who disobeyed his word. So Joshua's
encamping Jericho about, and he's waiting on instructions
from the Lord as to how to deal with this. Now, you and I are
only gonna read what those instructions are, and we're not gonna go into
detail, but I'm gonna give you the sum total of why they did
what they did, and then we'll move to our next point. Notice
what it says. The Lord said unto Joshua, see
I have given into your hand Jericho. Do you see it? That's strange
because he hadn't given it to him yet. But the things that
God sees having already been done are such in his, in his
minds, I, even though they haven't been actually worked out in a
practical way, I have given into your hand Jericho and the king
thereof and the mighty men of valor, and you shall compass
the city, all ye men of war and go round about the city once,
thus shalt thou do six days. So six days, they went around
Jericho. They just walked around Jericho
really quietly. Isn't that right? Now notice
what it says in verse four. And seven priests shall bear
before thee the ark, seven trumpets of rams. Our seven priests shall
bear before the ark, seven trumpets of rams, rams horns. And the
seventh day you shall compass the city seven times. And the
priest shall blow with the trumpet. You got that. All right. Here's
something that I want to drive home to those of you who are
members here at Grace Bible Church. Always be. Always be alarmed
by. the number seven because the
number seven always is indicating God's perfection. It's always
indicate indicating God's fulfillment God's completion. He could have
said six times but he said seven and you'll find that now this
event is going to correspond with the book of Revelation completely. Because in the book of Revelation,
the number seven is replete. Seven stars, seven golden candlesticks,
seven churches, seven horns, seven spirits of God, the seven
trumpets, the seven plagues, the seven vials, are you following
me? Because the number seven there is symbolic of God's perfect
rule, his perfect judgment, his perfect righteousness. God's
in control, listen to me. God's in control. He's in control
of this, too. And it's very important that
you see that. The other thing I want to bring to your alarm
as you continue to develop exegetical skills and study is the term
trumpet, the term trumpet. The blowing of the trumpet was
to take place on the last day on the seventh day. They were
to go around the city six times and they were to blow the trumpet.
It would be the blowing of the trumpet that would finally begin
to initiate the destruction of the city of Jericho. Isn't that
so? But before the blowing of the
trumpets, there is the Ark of the Covenant. You need to know
that too. See what God did with Israel
of old, he really made them a tutor for spiritual truths that you
and I have to grasp. Because the reality is, if there
were no Ark, there would be no victory. Now the children of
Israel really took this ark and idolatrized it in its literal
fashion. But as we go through Exodus,
we'll understand the ark in its archetypical reality, and it
represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the covenant of the people. The
ark represents Christ. Christ always goes before the
people. He always goes before the people,
but the ark is always upheld by the priest, never by common
people. And so the ark represents God's
covenant with Israel. And that covenant is Christ.
And if you want to pass a scripture to underscore that, read in your
own time, Isaiah chapter 42, the covenant of true believers
is a person. It's not a thing. That person
is Christ. Christ is the covenant of God's
people. I want you to get that now Isaiah
chapter 42 verses 1 through 8. I have given you this is what
the father says to Jesus. I have given you a covenant to
the people. So my covenant is not a set of
precepts. and dictates it's a person and
that person is Christ. But it's signified by the ark
because when you understand all that the ark implies, you understand
that it represents Jesus in the fullness of his redemptive word. And I'll save that for us going
through the wilderness and enjoy that too. But the children of
Israel look to that art. If it wasn't for that art, they
would have never made it through Jordan. And if they would have
never made it through Jordan, they would have never made it
into the promised land. So here the ark goes before them. They
circle the city six times, very quietly for six times, very quietly,
very quietly for six times. And on the seventh time, the
trumpet was to blow. And as they blew the trumpet,
you'll see that they were to shout. Notice what it says in
verse five. And it shall come to pass that
when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you
hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with
a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat,
and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
Do you see that? That's exactly what happened,
isn't it? That's exactly what happened. Now in the process
of chapter six and seven, something glorious occurs. And I'll just
touch on that as a narrative and move forward. As Joshua and
his people encompass Jericho, there is a woman there. Her name
is Rahab the harlot. Bless God for Rahab. share with
you a very beautiful truth. You'll see this in the Old Testament
all the time. Wherever God's wrath is poured out, there is
a little bit of mercy extended always in order to point us to
the hope of the gospel. The only time that mercy is not
as extended is in the book of Revelation when God finally brings
his judgment upon the world after he has consummated his redemption
plan. But all through history, wherever
God exercises judgment, he always shows a little mercy. Look for
that mercy because that mercy is your hope in mind. You understand? Because it was God's purpose
to destroy Jericho because Jericho was exceedingly wicked. you know,
sometimes we struggle with God's judicial character. Why is God
so judicial in his, his actions? Why is he so, uh, judgmental?
Because people are wicked. Do you believe that? And it's
very important for you and I to see that when God acts in judgment,
it's because he has been patiently waiting for people to turn from
their evil ways, but they won't turn. They won't turn. Do you
know, and we're gonna see this on Sunday, that if God waits
for sinners to turn, sinners will never turn. they will never
turn. If grace isn't bestowed upon
us, we will never turn to God. Did you know that? See, and this
is why we keep preaching that salvation from beginning to end
is of the Lord. Even though God says, turn from
your wicked ways, sinner, repent, come to Christ, you know, abandon
your unrighteous thoughts, and the Lord will abundantly pardon.
He calls, but none come. He calls, but none comes. And
then we read Psalm 80, the last two or three verses in Psalm
80, and then the book of Jeremiah, which tells us that the children
of Israel cried unto the Lord saying, Lord, turn us and we
will be turned. Cause thy face to shine upon
us and we will be saved. You know what I like about that
statement? They're acknowledging that they're so depraved in their
nature that if God doesn't help them to turn, they won't turn.
Isn't that right? Lord, I know you're saying turn,
but I'm not turning. Turn me and I will be turned.
Cause your face to shine upon me and I will be saved. That's
called the grace of God. And this is what is meant in
second Timothy chapter two, verse 21, 22. When the Bible says that
we are to be patient with all men, uh, per adventure, or if
God willing, he might grant them repentance. The word there grant
means gift them, give them the gift of repentance, grant them
repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth that they might
be recovered from the snare of the devil, which are taken at
their own will. In other words, as we deal with
men in terms of the truth of the gospel and they continue
living impenitently, we've got to pray that God grants them
repentance. after you tell them the truth
as it is in Christ and they say, I don't want to have any of it.
Just go praying for them. Lord, break the bondage, remove
the blinders, cause them to see their need of Christ, cause them
to cry out for your mercy and your goodness and your grace,
because it won't happen any otherwise. We're going to see that with
Pharaoh. You understand? We're going to
see that with Pharaoh. So Uh, the, the whole city of
Jericho is very much aware of the fear of the Lord and the
work that God has done through Israel. And they see this nation
encompassing their city about. And the thing that astonishes
me is they've got six days to negotiate. They've got six days
to talk. Somebody should have been on
the walls and say, hey fella, can you guys send an ambassador
over here so we can establish a peace treaty or something?
Let's work out this soon coming judgment so that we can abate
God's wrath and have some peace. But they wouldn't do it. They
wouldn't do it. But there was one woman who did.
Her name was Rahab the harlot. And this is so important because
you see this concept working its way out in what we call Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John with the gospels, whereas the wicked,
evil, ungodly, impenitent rulers of Israel who knew the word of
God, knew the law of God, thought they knew God, saw Christ in
his work, they wouldn't turn and come to Christ, but the sinners
did. Do you understand what I'm saying? The sinners did. Rahab
the harlot heard about what had happened with Israel in the land
of Egypt. They heard about how they destroyed
their foes in the wilderness. They said, look, I believe. I
believe exactly what I heard. Now, I know you guys are gonna
take over our city. I'm just asking you to have mercy
on me and on my house. To me, that's good counsel. That's
good counsel. See, what that's saying to us
is that God granted Rahab the harlot repentance. It means that
God touched her heart. He caused her to believe the
gospel. She believed the message of redemption, the salvation,
which was in Christ. And she appealed to the messengers
to remember her and her house when they come through bringing
judgment. And you know what they said?
We will do that. All we want you to do is cause that scarlet
colored thread to hang from your window. Because you see, the
Bible says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Isn't that
what it says? That's in the book of Exodus
chapter 12. We're gonna see that on Sunday. God says, when I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. When I pour all my judgments
upon Egypt and I see the blood, I will pass over you. Not when
you see the blood, when God sees the blood. Isn't that good? And so this woman said, okay,
just a scarlet colored thread. Sure, I can do that. She hung
a long scarlet colored thread through the window. And as those
men went through destroying the city, They looked up in that
window and they saw and they remember, they remember the covenant
that they made with that woman and all her house was saved.
And she ended up marrying one of those fellows. And out of
their prodigy came the Lord Jesus. Did you know that? Because the
gospel is a sinner's gospel. It's about the salvation of sinners.
It's very important to see that. God will look over everyone,
find the sinner and use that sinner to glorify himself. And
so Rahab is known all over the world because she believed God
for this judgment. Now, what I want you to see now
is in our second point, The city of Jericho is a cursed city. Very important for you to see
that. Look with me down to verse 26. Are we there? Chapter six,
verse 26. The city of Jericho is a cursed
city. And Joshua adjured them or commanded
them or warned them, saying at this time, curse it be the man
before the Lord that rises up and build this city Jericho.
See that? He shall lay the foundation thereof
in his firstborn and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates
thereof. What Joshua did was decree a
curse upon anyone who would attempt to build Jericho again. Jericho
was cursed. There was a desecration, uh,
execration, uh, command or charge given by Joshua upon the man
who did that. Now, you know, there were people
who actually over time went back and sought to rebuild Jericho.
Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't that ridiculous? And we'll
read about this in first Kings 16. I won't go there tonight.
It was a man named Hill. He was a heathen King who existed
during the times of Ahab. Now you guys remember Ahab? Ahab
was the King of Israel and he was one of the most wicked Kings
in all Israel. He was just vile in his wickedness. Now during this period, which
was about 800 BC, And where Joshua is now is 1400
BC. We have a span of 600 years between
the curse and the rebuilding of Jericho, 600 years. You know
what that means? God doesn't forget curses. He
doesn't forget curses. And I'm gonna tell you why, as
we work our way through this, Jericho is a cursed city. But
this man rebuilt Jericho, and you know how he rebuilt him?
In the death of his firstborn, and in the death of his lastborn,
just like Joshua said. See, Joshua was prophesying right
here. And when he prophesied, it came
to pass. So even though this man built
the city, and he built it, listen to me, with a rebellious heart.
He knew the command not to rebuild the city. But you see Israel
at this time was in such a state of apostasy and degeneration
because of their king. And remember he had married who?
Jezebel. And so Israel was in a degenerate
state. Their arrogance was to do the
very thing that God said, don't do. God said, don't rebuild Jericho. And they said, well, we'll rebuild
Jericho because we don't believe the Lord exists anyway. We don't
believe that God brings his judgments like he used to long ago. The
idea that God opens up the ground and swallows people up or kills
them right on the spot, burns them up, consumes it. That's
old mythical talk that doesn't exist today. I would beg your
pardon. I would beg your pardon. I will
tell you that God still judges men and women today. It is more
subtle, but it is just as real. It is more subtle, but it is
just as real. Please believe that. The last
thing you want, or I want, is for God to act in the way he
did in the Old Testament today, just because we need to be convinced
that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. One of the
problems that we have as a human race is when judgment is not
executed speedily, it is wholly set in the hearts of the sons
of men to do evil. In other words, when we start
doing wrong and we continue doing wrong and we continue and we
continue and we continue and we don't see God acting, we think
God's not present. But what we must understand is
God is just as patient in his grace and mercy as he is in his
justice and in his righteousness. He is just as patient in his
grace and mercy as he is in his justice and righteousness. And
so as we can trust God to be gracious to us, we can trust
that he punishes sin. Just as God saves secretly and
privately and graciously, he also judges secretly, privately
and certainly. So you can know that. Please
don't ever try him on that. Well, what I want you to see
is that don't don't don't because it'll be between you and God.
And I'm not I don't want to be there when that happens. When
somebody told me the ground opened up and swallowed you up and passed,
you just you need proof. No, I don't need proof. I believe
the book. Jericho was a cursed city, very
important. A cursed city. Go with me to, no, go with me
now to 2 Kings 2.19. 2 Kings 2.19. 2 Kings 2.19. Not only was Joshua
a cursed city, and I'll talk about that toward the end of
our lesson, but it's very important to see why God would have Jericho
destroyed. In 2 Kings 2.19, very interesting
event. takes place. Second Kings two,
verse 19. Very interesting event takes
place. Now this year is even further down the line than, than,
than King Ahab. We are at the time of Elisha
and Elijah. And if you remember in second
Kings chapter one and second Kings two, the way that second
Kings two opens, second Kings one opens up is with Elijah,
the major prophet about to be taken to be with the Lord. Elijah
is one of those Old Testament prophets who did not die, but
he was translated into glory. Like our brother Enoch was translated
into glory. So was Elijah. Elijah was taken
up in the chariot of horses, that fiery chariot, so that he
did not see death. And Elisha was given a double
portion of his spirit. You remember that? He crossed
over Jordan. And when he went over into Jordan,
there was a scenario that took place with the sons of the prophet.
The way that you can understand this account is the sons of the
prophet constitute a large religious center, a large religious center. Over time, what Israel began
to do was develop what were called the schools of the prophets.
In some cases, they were good. In some cases, they were bad.
But they are very parallel to where we are today. Because if
you had a very bad leading prophet, he would develop a school of
people who were false prophets. And if you had a very good leading
prophet, he would develop a school of prophets who knew the truth
and serve the true and the living God. Here's what we find in our
account. And I want to start at at verse
18 of 2nd Kings chapter 2. We're gonna read through verse
23 and notice something about Jericho. Very interesting. And
when they came again to him, that is the sons of the prophet.
Let me see where I wanna start. Verse 15. And when the sons of
the prophets, which were to view Jericho, saw him, that is Elisha,
they said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. Do you see
that? They came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground
before him. And they said unto him, behold,
now there be with thy servants 50 strong men. Let them go, we
pray thee, and seek thy master. Lest for adventure, the spirit
of the Lord have taken him up, cast him upon some mountain or
into some valley. And he said, you shall not go.
Don't don't do this. And when they urged him till
he was ashamed, he said, OK, going on. And they saw three
days, but they didn't find him. They weren't going to find Elijah.
The brother was going into glory. He didn't just take a vacation
down the road somewhere. He was taken in the glory. Now
verse 18. And when they came again to him, that is Elisha,
for he tarried at Jericho, he said unto them, did not I say
unto you, do not go. Now notice how this develops.
And the men of the city said unto Elisha, behold, I pray thee,
the situation of this city is what? Absolutely. Absolutely. The situation of
this city is pleasant. There's a lesson here that I
want us to develop because it was true concerning Jericho.
If you do archaeological study, do a little bit of history, you'll
find that Jericho was a very, very, very pleasant city. That's
an old Hebrew euphemism, which said it was rich in resources.
It was the agriculture was very, very populous. It was dense in
vegetation. It was a well watered land. In
fact, Jericho had Springs of water all over the place. It
was it was a very extravagant place to be. In fact, Jericho
is the Hebrew word for half moon, half moon. It was, it was built
in a half moon form and sort of a half arc. And it had hillsides
that were very steep and it was just a beautiful place to abide
in almost tropical in nature. This is where the prophets wanted
to be. They wanted to be in Jericho because Jericho was a pleasant
city. Now, mind you, now it's only
pleasant from the viewing of the eyes. Are you following me? Sort of like the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil was pleasant to the eyes. God runs
this thing through the scripture. The idea that something looks
good doesn't mean that it's always good for you. And what we find
with this Jericho scenario is even the sons of the prophets
are now being enamored by what they see rather than by God's
command that Jericho should never have been built. Are you following
me? See, here's how this works. A
hundred years earlier in the days or not, maybe about 50 years
earlier, because Ahab was around during Elijah's time, Elijah
and Elijah's time, maybe 50 years earlier, this Hiel who built
Jericho, he builds Jericho. People are wondering, is God's
judgment gonna come down now that he builds Jericho? Nothing
happens. But just because God is silent, doesn't mean that
he's not upset. So nothing happens. Here's what
we do when we see people living rebellion against God. We look
to see if God is going to judge them. He doesn't appear to judge
them. And then we engage in the same wickedness with them. This
is very important. Because you watch people do things
and you know that what they are doing is not in correspondence
with the truth of God's word. But what they are doing seems
to prosper. It seems to work. It seemed to
be producing blessing. And people everywhere in a sort
of consensus agrees that this is a pleasant situation. And
so they begin to engage. And once you have the theologians
saying, this place is all right, then you're in trouble. because
all religious folk need is a few scholars to say, it's all right
to do this. And they're justified to do something
that is blatantly contrary to God's word. And they do it. And
so here we have the bastion of theologians dwelling in Jericho,
but here's the warning. I want you to see the warning.
the city is pleasant the situation of the city is pleasant as my
lord sees watch this but the water is bad do you see it verse
19 but the water is bad now watch this now once you see this watch
this now and the ground is barren Now this is interesting because
the prophets have enough knowledge to know and to be able to discern
that there is some positives on this ledger, but there are
some negatives on this ledger too. And it's always the case. It's always the case when you
are out of the will of God. Whenever you are out of the will
of God, you will see things ostensibly that are attractive to you and
pleasant because the enemy is always there to accommodate you
when you're outside of the will of God. And it's always within
the realm of things seen. His whole objective is to give
you carnal blessings in earthly places. You know that. That's
the devil's objective to give you carnal blessings in earthly
places. But what you know, because you
have enough knowledge of the word is the water is bad. And the ground is barren. The
water is bad and the ground is barren. Now the water here is
symbolic of the word of God. You'll find this all through
the Old Testament often in the wilderness sojourn you'll see
that the children of Israel will complain about bitter waters. Sometimes water in the scriptures
represent the masses of the people. In the book of Revelation and
in the book of Psalms, the psalmist cries out about the floods of
ungodly men have encompassed me about, have almost overwhelmed
me. In the book of Revelation chapter 17, John literally says,
and the waters upon which the beast and the harlot sit are
nations, peoples, tongues, and tribes. The waters can represent
the people, but they very often represent the word of God. They
represent the truth of scripture. Jesus said, now are you clean
through the word which I proclaim to you, John 15. And he says
in Ephesians chapter five, that we are to be washed by the water
of the word. And we read also in the book
of Titus by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
So then the water is symbolic of the word. And in this case
is symbolic of the teachings that are going on in this pleasant
land. So the land externally is pleasant,
but the doctrines are bad and there is no fruit. In some cases,
the water represents the spirit, but wherever the water represents
the spirit or the spirit is signified by the water, it's always in
connection with the word. wherever the spirit is symbolized
by water, it's always in connection with the word because these two
agencies are the means by which people, God's people are sanctified
and regenerated. The spirit of God never works
apart from the word of God in the salvation of sinners. So
when the scriptures say we must be born of the water and of the
spirit, we're talking about being born of the word and of the spirit.
They work in conjunction. See, we're born of three things.
We're born of the father, He has begotten us again unto a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We are begotten of the will of God and James chapter one. We're
born of the word or we're born of Christ Christ quickens us
first Peter chapter 1 verse chapter 2 rather verse 21 or 22. We have
been begotten again by not by corruptible word, but by the
incorruptible word of God, even by the gospel, which lives and
abides forever. So the word of God is a quickening seed that
regenerates God's people. And then we are born again of
the spirit. So all three persons of the Godhead
give life to God's people by means of the word. It's the gospel
that gives us life. That's why David said in the
psalm, you have quickened me according to your word, quicken
me, oh Lord, by your word. We call it the life giving word.
In fact, Jesus said it in John chapter six, verse 63, my word
is spirit and they are what life. So he's not ever separating the
gospel from the spirit. because the spirit works through
these means to give us life. So what we have here in the King's
account is a very interesting warning here. Notice what he
does though. Very interesting. The place is pleasant. The water
is bad and the ground is barren. And here's the remedy. And he
said, bring me a new cruise. Do you see that? Bring me a new
cruise. Now, what is a cruise? Of what? Of what? And he said, put salt
therein. Do you see it? Bring me a new
cruise and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. Now
remember, we learned about the salt, didn't we? We learned that
the salt represents the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Every sacrifice
in the Old Testament was to be what? Salted with salt. Every
sacrifice was to be salted with salt. Jesus says, every one of
you will be salted with salt. That's Mark chapter nine. And
he says in Matthew five, you are the what of the world? That's
because we're in Christ. And Christ is the salt of the
world. Salt signifies God's judgment unto life. Without salt, there
is no life. Did you know a large part of
our physical makeup is salt? You and I are salt creatures.
So even our natural anatomy signifies the importance of the presence
of salt in order for life. And so this cruise of salt was
taken and it was to be thrown into the water. And as it was
thrown into the water, it would purify those waters. Did you
get that? Now, I want you to see the gospel is very important.
And this is the remedy for every bitter thing, for every curse
thing, for every barren thing cast in the crews of salt. Do you see it in verse twenty
one? And he went forth unto the springs of water and cast the
salt there. He cast the salt there and said,
Thus said the Lord, I have healed these waters. there shall not
be from hence anymore death or barren land. So the waters were
healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha the prophet.
You got that? And they're a very interesting event that takes
place in verses 23 to 24. We won't deal with that. But
what happens here in the scenario of this pleasant land that was
never supposed to be rebuilt, but the people of God are there,
is in order for these waters to be remedied, this cruise of
salt has to be cast into it. And here is very much an important
lesson. In the midst of any type of calamity,
any type of judgment, you'll find all through the Old Testament,
God remedies it. He remedies it by casting something
there in. That verb to cast, to cast signifies
Christ crucified. Don't forget it. It signifies
Christ crucified. When we get into the wilderness,
one of the first things the children of Israel is going to do is complain
about these bitter waters that they had come to. And Moses is
told to cut down a tree and to do what with that tree, cast
it into the water. You remember that cast it into
the water. Remember Jonah in the sea raging? He says, if you just cast me
overboard, you just cast me overboard. I'll fix this. Remember that?
And then you remember also that God told Moses to take the rod,
which he had in his hand. And we know that Rob represents
Christ crucified, right? If I be lifted up, I'll draw
him in unto me. It's the rod by which the Red
Sea was opened up and all the people went across dry shod.
He took that rod and cast it down to the ground, right? And
it became a serpent. See, what we're dealing with
is the remedy for all sin is Christ in him crucified. Never
miss that. This is so clear through the scriptures. Every time a
judgment comes up, the remedy is Christ crucified. We're going
to get into second Kings chapter four, somewhere down the line.
And I'm going to preach this message for the 10th time is
called death in the pot. Death in the pot. Remember that?
Death in the pot. Dealing with false religion.
Dealing with the curse of false teachings. With the damnation
of heresy. And the only way you can cure
death in the pot is to cast in the meal. That's what he said. Take meal and cast it therein.
So he's using the same verb form to teach that there's one remedy
for all evil and that's the crucified Christ. Because he's the meal.
He's the bread of life. He's the corn that's ground up
by which you and I eat and live. And so you'll see that as a very
important signification too. So here it's a pleasant land,
but it's a deceitfully pleasant land. One more thing I want you
to see too, and we already saw at point number four, that it's
a religious center. of 219 verses, chapter two, verse
19. And the men of the city said
unto Elijah, behold, I pray the situation of the city is pleasant
and as my Lord see it, but the water is not and barren. They
wanted to stay there and they stayed there. Go with me to Luke
10 now, one more place, Luke 10. What's very interesting is
that Elisha found a remedy for these men and they stayed there.
They stayed in a place that actually was under the curse of God. I
know the lesson for myself. God is so gracious in our sinfulness.
I know the lesson. This is not hard. This is not
rocket science. He didn't renege on his curse.
He did not renege on his curse. Jericho was a wicked place by
the time we get to Jesus. I want you to see this is why
I'm doing what I'm doing because I want you to understand it was
a pleasant land by the sight of the eyes. It was cursed by
God by decree through Jared Josiah Joshua. It's a place where the
prophets inhabited. But it's a very wicked place
by the time Jesus comes. And I'm going to make sure that
I tell you exactly why. Joshua cursed it because that's
a prominent lesson. After we look at Luke 10, now
the book of Luke has as its appellation or sort of a epithet, Jesus receiving
sinners. That's the book of Luke. He received
sinners. He eats with sinners. Jesus Luke
highlights Jesus comfortableness with sinners where the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and the other rulers kept their distance from
sinners. Jesus ate with them. He hung
out with them. You understand? He didn't engage
in their evil. He didn't condone their sinfulness.
but he loved them and he preached the gospel to them. He made himself
available to them and he was winsome to them and they received
him well. That is the gospel. Are you following
me? That's Luke 15. But I want you
to look at Luke 10 because it's very important to see the lesson
that is going to be developed here. And I'll start over, let
me see here. Oh yeah, I'm at Luke 10 chapter
30. What's happening with this particular parable, and we'll
close here, is Jesus is doing one more time what he has done
many times with the parables. Most of the parables in the gospels
were parables that were to be rebuked, directed at the rulers
of Israel. Most of the parables that were
given were parables that were to be rebukes directed at the
rulers of Israel. When Jesus gave the parables,
he gave parables in order to teach his disciples something
about what was happening right then and there. For instance,
the parable of the sower and the seed. is spoken in the present
tense. He says a parable, a sower went
forth to sow. And as he sowed the seed, some
of that seed fell on the wayside and the birds of the air ate
it up. Some fell on good ground, some fell on shallow ground,
some fell on stony ground, but only the seed that fell on good
ground bore fruit, right? And then he goes on to talk about
the parable of the wheat and the tares. Remember that? He says, someone came along,
sowed tares among the wheat while men slept. And as the wheat grew,
the tares grew. And then he gave the parable
of the drag net that he would cast out into the sea. And in
dragging in, he would drag in good fish and bad fish. And then
at the end of the excursion, they would separate the bad and
put the good in vessels to take to be sold. Jesus would talk
about these parables. And in these parables, he would
always indicate that there is an evil element present in the
work of the kingdom of God. These things are done in a mysterious
form. It's called the mystery. And
you've always gotta be careful for the birds of the air that
would swoop down and take up the seed. You also got to be
careful of your own evil heart that would not allow the word
of God to be planted deep enough to bear forth fruit. 34, 64 hundred
fold. Then Jesus gives parables like
the parable of the hundred sheep. Remember that he gives parables
of the lost coin. He gives parables of the prodigal
son and all those parables. There are rebukes. Here is a
huge parable of rebuke right here. Huge parable. Now notice
what he says. And I want you to see this very
important. Verse 29. Now this comes after his discussion
with the lawyer who tempted him. What should I do to obtain eternal
life? Remember that? Verse 29. But
he willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, who is my neighbor? Verse 30. And Jesus answering,
he said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. See
it? Now I want you to get this now. Jerusalem is above Jericho
is below. He went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho. Now that is a spiritual metaphor
for falling from grace. Did you get that? It's a spiritual
metaphor for falling from grace. It doesn't mean that that individual
saved, it means he was in the atmosphere or in the sphere by
which he could be saved. It actually simply means he was
a religious person. It means he was in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is symbolic of the church. It's symbolic of the
place where people go to receive religious truth, divine truth.
So he leaves Jerusalem to go to Jericho. It's interesting,
isn't it? Now watch this. As he heads to Jericho, what
happens? He falls among thieves. Do you
see it? Now you can be very, you can
be very broad in your application here. Jesus said in John chapter
10, he says the thief comes, but to what? Steal, kill, and
what? You got that? Now I want you to know when Jesus
said that, he was talking about false teachers and false prophets.
And so this man coming from Jerusalem, being tempted to go to Jericho,
has fallen among thieves. Can you see the application?
You need to, because there's a lot of people who fall among
thieves today. Now watch how this works. A certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves,
which stripped him of his raiment. You got it? Stripped him of his
raiment. I like the way that the scriptures
enunciate that, because he was clothed when he was at Jerusalem,
but on his way down to Jericho, the pleasant land, The thieves
caught up with him and stripped him, just took away from him
any hope of righteousness. That's what false religion does
to you. You got it? See, just when you might get
a hold of Christ, some religious folk come along and tell you,
you've got to do something to be saved. You've got to work
for your salvation. Have you now if you really want
to be blessed of God, you got to do this. You've got to do
that. You've got to do the other thing. You know what they're
doing stripping you stripping you of your Raymond leaving you
naked because see if you stand before God naked, there's no
hope for you. You know that right? And see, I remember the book
of Job talking about this specifically. In the book of Job, between chapters
28 and 34, Job uses the analogy of the adulterer and the oppressors
and the extortioners who take away the garment from the poor
and take away his pledge from the widow and take away these
people from their homes and strip them of all their goods. And
Jesus indicted the Pharisees for these very same things. You
devour widows' houses and you are extortioners. You got it?
Why is he saying that? Because it's true. Notice what
he says. And he fell among thieves who
stripped him of his raiment. Not only did they strip him,
they wounded him. And they departed, leaving him half dead. That's
bad, isn't it? That's bad. Now that could be
executed a whole lot of ways. You can take this socially if
you want to, but you'll miss the point. You can take it socially
if you want to, but you'll miss the point. I'll tell you, if
you get a hold of bad religion, you're wounded. You understand
bad religion wounds you. Bad religion abuses you. Bad
religion does not cover you. It makes you naked. It makes
you vulnerable. It sets you up for destruction. Notice what
it said, it left him half dead. Now, it's interesting because
in the scriptures, it talks about two types of death. It talks
about spiritual death and it talks about physical death, doesn't
it? Before we're saved, we're dead spiritually. Do you know
that? That means we're half dead. You missed that. Did you get
it? Ephesians chapter two, verse
one through four, Colossians chapter two as well. You and
I are dead in trespasses and sins until God quickens us together
with Christ. Isn't that right? For by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's
a gift of God, lest any man should boast. So, when the Spirit of
God enters in and gives you life, He quickens you from the dead,
spiritual death. Jesus said in John chapter 5,
the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God, and they that hear shall what? Live. So, men and women
are walking around and they are talking and they are as animated
as can be, but apart from the Spirit of God, they're dead,
aren't they dead? dead in trespasses and sins. When you don't know
Christ, you're dead. You may be as religious as all
get up and you may be able to make all kinds of noise as a
bellwether, but you're still dead until the spirit of God
enters into your heart. See, life is not about noise.
Life is about the presence of the true and the living God in
your house. Now listen to this now. This is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus whom thou hast
sent. Life eternal is a vital living faith in the living Lord
Jesus, a dynamic that takes place in the soul by the grace of God. Are you following me? You know
him and he knows you. And it wasn't that way while
you were dead in your trespasses and sins, plain religion. But
when the spirit of God quickened you, there was a dynamic that
took place and you found yourself able to look to Christ and rest
in Christ and hear his voice and trust him and delight in
him. That's called salvation. Now
I want you to see what Jesus says here because it's very important.
He stripped him, wounded him, leaving him half dead. And by
chance, there came down a certain priest that way. You see it?
Verse 31. And by chance, there came down
a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. You got it? Now see, Jesus is
automatically indicting the priesthood for being unable to help this
man in his condition, right? But it's not about him being
unable to help this man in his condition. It's about him being
unwilling to help this man in his condition. Do you see that?
See, it's one thing to be unable. I'm unable to help you. You're
unable to help me. We're unable to help each other,
but I'm willing to help you. But this man wasn't even willing
to help them. And when the gospel's not preached,
we're not willing to help sinners. Do you hear me? If a man is lost,
and you talk to him about how he can be blessed by God materially,
you're not willing to help him. Do you hear me? You're not willing
to... A good pastor friend of mine,
he's too old, but if he were here, he would tell you that
what this young man is saying to you is absolutely true. I heard him say this a couple
of days ago as I listened to one of his older sermons. He
said, I remember one time I was in a meeting and I was preaching
the gospel to a small group of people and I was pressed to make
sure that I pointed these people to Christ. After the message,
one young man went back to the coal mine that he worked at.
The next day, this was the next day. And as he was at the coal
mine, he reached over this smokestack. For whatever reason, he was reaching
over the smokestack and the smokestack blew up in his face. It took
him and threw him 40 feet into the air. He hit a wall and he
was in the hospital. My pastor friend said that he
went to the hospital that next day after he preached to them
that next day and that man died. But the day before he heard the
gospel, which is able to save your soul and give you an inheritance
among them that are sanctified, see, it's very important that
the gospel is preached all the time because somebody is going
to die. Somebody's going to see now my
pastor friend wasn't like this Levite priest. He was willing
to help, wasn't he? Now he couldn't save the man,
but he had a God that he proclaimed that could. And so now we come
to one more point. Notice what it says. And likewise,
a Levite, when he was at that place, notice what it says, came
and looked on him and passed by on the other side. He did
the same thing. You got a priest and a Levite,
verse 33. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, do you see it? Came where he was. And when he
saw him, he had compassion on him. You got it? Now what's interesting
about the parable, Jesus is doing this on purpose. Jericho is hated
by the religious rulers because it's not part of Jerusalem. but
the Samaritans are even more hated by the religious rulers
because they're half-breeds and they have a makeshift religion.
What Jesus is teaching, however, is that the Samaritan had more
compassion on this man who was half-dead than the two who supposed
to have been in connection with God. You got it? Now, the Samaritan here is not
you. I know you think you're a good
Samaritan, but you're not. You're just not, I want you to
know that. You're not a good Samaritan. You think you are,
but you're not. You and I are more like the Pharisees and the
scribes and the Sadducees, unfortunately. If you do a good deed, if you
do a good deed and you acknowledge to yourself, look, I did a good
deed. I must be a Samaritan. That means you're not a Samaritan.
Do you understand? That just means you're not a
Samaritan. Because a Samaritan would never take thought for
what he did. He just does it. When you're a Samaritan, you
don't talk about your good works. See, legalists always talk about
their good works. Listen carefully to me. A person
that knows the grace of God doesn't have to talk about his good works.
You just do them. And you never talk about. Do
you hear me do good, but never talk about it. Because the moment
you talk about it, you receive your reward. And all you get is all you get.
And you didn't even get what you got from God. because God
rewards openly those who work privately. Did you get that?
See, but now the legalist has to have some type of accolade
and acknowledgement for what he or she does. So make sure
you're not a legalist because your works are really filthy
rags. You do know that, right? And so when you go to talk about,
look at my good works and look at my good works, they're full
of worms. Worms, W-O-R-M, worms, maggots. That's what they are in the sight
of God. And so the Samaritan here is
Christ. You do know that, right? Don't
you know the Samaritan is Christ? Because it was the, yeah, you
didn't know that, huh? Read it in yourself, John chapter
eight. The Pharisees called Jesus a Samaritan and a devil, didn't
he? Isn't that right? So here's what
Jesus does. He takes these derogatory terms
that are commonplace among religious folk as they indict others for
being less than themselves. And he attributes it to himself.
So what he says is that very person that you despise and reject
and condemn as being cursed of God, that's me. Isn't that right? Because he was despised and rejected
and cursed of God, wasn't it? Isn't that right? And it was
only this Samaritan that could help him.

The Scarlet Thread

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know Jesus is God?

Why is the concept of atonement important for Christians?

What does the Scarlet Thread symbolize in the Bible?

Why is understanding typology important in scripture?

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The Scarlet Thread

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know Jesus is God?

Why is the concept of atonement important for Christians?

What does the Scarlet Thread symbolize in the Bible?

Why is understanding typology important in scripture?

Sermon Transcript

About Jesse Gistand

Comments

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