Last Tuesday night, you may recall,
I told you about a documentary I saw several years ago. I don't
remember who did it. It really is unimportant. I don't
pretend to be in academics. I don't keep record of those
things. It was Discovery or National
Geographic, something like that. I don't know what it was. But
anyway, they had discovered a city in ruins some time back. supposed to be what they expected
was where ancient Jericho should have been, and much to the surprise
of the archaeologists who made the dig and discovered the city,
it appeared that the walls of that city had just collapsed
into the ground, just almost like the earth just opened up
and swallowed them up, and there are the walls sitting below the
ground. But I left out one detail on purpose because I wanted to
save it for tonight. They also discovered in one place
on the walls of that city what appeared to be a house that was
not destroyed by the rest, with the rest of the city. One dwelling
place seems to have just sort of sunk down with the walls,
everything else destroyed. And of course they were very
surprised that it so much coincided with what myth and religion had
said in their opinions concerning Jericho and its fall. Well, it
wasn't surprising at all to me. In fact, that's exactly what
the scripture tells us. Hold your hands in Hebrews chapter
11. Our text will be found there, but turn back to Joshua chapter
6. Joshua chapter 6. We read in verse 20, Joshua 6,
20. 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. Just fell down
flat. So that the people went up into
the city, every man straight before him. They didn't have
to climb over any rubble. went straight before him and they
took the city and they utterly destroyed all that was in the
city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and
ass with the edge of the sword. Look at verse 22. But Joshua
had said to the two men that had spied out the country, go
into the harlot's house. Now you remember the harlot's
house from back in chapter two sitting on top of the wall of
that city. Go to the harlot's house. It's still there. is just
as sound as it was before we ever started marching around
the city. And bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath,
as you swear unto her. Verse 25. And Joshua saved Rahab
the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had. And she dwells in Israel even
unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent
to spy out Jericho. All right, now let's look at
our text. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32, or 31 rather. Hebrews 11, 31. By faith the harlot Rahab perish
not. What a word. By faith the harlot Rahab, one
woman in that whole city, one woman, believed God. And because she believed God,
she hid the spies and she perished not. By faith, the harlot Rahab
perished not with them that believed not when she had received the
spies with peace. Now I want to tell you why it
is that Rahab was saved when others perished. I want to show
you five things from the scriptures, very clear and very simple. First,
Rahab's house was protected from judgment by divine election. Rahab the harlot was the object
of God's sovereign choice. The Lord God Almighty gives us
here a picture of his wondrous, marvelous free grace. This woman,
Rahab, was a sinner. She wasn't just a sinner, she
was a notorious sinner, by choice and by practice. The religious
moralists and self-righteous legalists of our day do everything
they can to make that word harlot mean something other than what
it means. They say, well, that means she was an innkeeper. Well,
she did, but I know the kind of inn she kept. It was a brothel. That's the only kind of inn women
in those days kept. Rahab was a harlot. She was a
harlot. A notorious, willing accomplice
to every manner of evil. Rahab the harlot perished not,
because God chose Rahab. I don't know why men have trouble
with that. Well, I think they do. Because they don't know. that Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, came into this world to save sinners. And we will never by nature acknowledge
ourselves sinners to such a degree that we will put ourselves on
the same ground with a harlot and acknowledge that that's the
ground we rightly have. It won't happen. Not one of you
dear ladies here will ever acknowledge there's no difference between
you and a harlot unless God shows you who you are. Not one of you
men will ever acknowledge there's no difference between you and
those who make it their business to spend a lot of time with harlots
unless God Almighty shows you who you are. But if he ever shows
you who you are, if he ever shows you who his son is, If he ever
reveals himself to you, you'll take your place on this ground.
God gives us but one ground by which to approach him. We approach
him as sinners. Inside, now, nothing else. Just sinners. Just sinners. And
there's absolutely no distinction between us. Absolutely no distinction
between us and any other sinner. Oh, there may be an outward behavior.
They may be because of the restraints of society. There may be because
of the fears we have or the aspirations we have. But inside, we're all
just exactly like Rahab, every one of us. Now, here's the good
news. The Lord Jesus Christ came here
to save sinners. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He didn't die for anybody else. And I promise you, he died for
sinners. Find me a sinner. Find me a man,
find me a woman who takes their place with Rahab and finds themselves
identified with Rahab, and I'll show you a man or woman for whom
Jesus Christ shed his blood at Calvary. You see, mercy is for
the miserable. Grace is for the guilty. Redemption
is for the ruined. Righteousness is for the rotten.
Nobody else will get it. Rahab was a cursed woman. She lived in a cursed place,
and she made her living by a cursed profession, and she came from
a cursed race. She was an Amorite, and yet she
obtained mercy. Why did this cursed woman obtain
mercy? It wasn't because of anything
in her. It wasn't because of anything
done by her. Oh, but pastor, the text says
here, Rahab, she perished not because she believed God and
other folks didn't. You're dead right. That's absolutely
right. But understand that Rahab's act
of faith was not an act of faith by which she obtained God's mercy,
but rather it was an act of faith by which she demonstrated and
was made to know she had obtained God's mercy. Faith does not cause
God to be gracious. Faith does not cause God to give
us mercy. Faith does not cause God to save
us. Faith is that which is the result
of God having given us mercy. Read Galatians chapter 5. Faith
is the fruit of the Spirit. You can't believe God unless
the Spirit of God has already given you life. You will not
believe God until God has given you faith. Faith is the gift
of God, the operation of God. Now, the first time we know anything
about God giving us faith is in the exercise of it. But the
exercise of it is the result of the gift, not the cause of
the gift. Rahab believed God, and she obtained the promise
and the experience of God's grace, believing him. But the faith
with which she believed was his own gift. You see, it was no
accident that the spies stumbled into Rahab's house that night
when those two came into Jericho to spy out the land. Turn back
to chapter 2 of Joshua for a moment. They came to Rahab's house because
God had marked the path to Rahab's house before the world was. They
came to Rahab's house because God Almighty sent them in his
good providence to Rahab's house. Whether they knew where they
were going or not, I don't know, but God knew where they were
going. By some means or another, this woman, Rahab, had heard
the gospel of God's grace. Look in chapter 2 of Joshua,
verse 10. Listen to what she says to the spies. But we've heard. Does it remind
you of anything in the book? Faith comes by what? Hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. What
did you hear, Rahab? We heard how the Lord dried up
the water of the Red Sea. Not before you. Not in front of you. But the
Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you. He did this
for you when you came out of Egypt. And what he did unto,
you see the difference? What he did unto the kings of
the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan, Shihon
and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. Rahab's heart, when she heard
what God had done, withered before the august sovereign majesty
of that true and living God who made himself known in bringing
Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea and dumping Pharaoh and
the armies of Egypt in the Red Sea. Look in verse 11 of Joshua
2. 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. Now the other
inhabitants of the land, all those others in Jericho, when
they heard what God did for Israel and they saw Israel coming across
Jordan River, their hearts withered and there was no strength and
no courage left in them because they were terrified before God. But Rahab experienced something
they didn't. She heard what God did. She heard how God had performed
these things for Israel. And she heard and believed that
He is indeed God in heaven above and in the earth beneath. And
her heart withers in repentance before the Lord God. You see,
she believed God. Here is what she expresses when
she heard about God's wondrous works. Look in Joshua 2, verse
9, back up there. In verses 10 and 11, she tells
the spies all that the whole city of Jericho heard, what they
did. But look what she says in verse 9. She said to the men,
I know. They heard, and their hearts
withered, and there was no courage in them, but I know. I know what
they don't. I know because God's made it
known to me. I know and I believe God. I know
that the Lord has given you the land. I know the promise God
made to Abraham. I know what God told you by the
mouth of Moses. I know it's been reported to
me and I know what God said. He's given you this land. And
I know that your terror is falling on us. and that all the inhabitants
of the land think because of him. Rahab was one to whom God
had graciously made himself known because he chose this harlot.
Why is it that she perished not with the rest of the inhabitants
of Jericho? Now remember, Jericho was a city that was cursed of
God. They were cursed of God and God said it in Exodus chapter
23, 40 years before this took place. All those folks lived
and partied and danced and had a good time. They worked at daytime
and partied all night and got all they could get. They lived
with utter, utter oblivion to God and righteousness and judgment.
They cared for none of those things until judgment was at
their door. She lived in a city that was
a damned city, as surely in hell as if they were already there,
except for one reason. because there was one woman there
whom God had chosen, and she must be preserved. Rahab was
kept because God chose her. Secondly, she was kept because
of blood. Her house was under the blood. Again, look at Joshua 2. Not
only was Rahab an object of God's amazing, free, sovereign grace
in Christ, Her house could not fall under the weight of God's
wrath because it was under the refuge and protection of Christ's
precious blood. Well, preacher, where'd you get
that? Look in verse 18 of Joshua 2. 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 to thee."
Verse 21, and she said, according to your word, so be it. And she
sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet line
in the window. That scarlet cord Every time I read that, I think
about the message of this book. It is the blood of Jesus Christ,
the crucified Lamb of God, that runs as a scarlet line through
all the pages of this book and binds it all together. It's the
same thing that Abel came to God with that was represented
in the blood sacrifice he made. It's the same thing with which
God Almighty Thomas graced Adam and Eve when he killed an animal
and clothed them with the skins of the innocent animal. It's
the same thing that Israel saw when they stood behind the door
and the blood was on the doorpost in the little and they abiding
in the house stood behind it as God in judgment passed over
all of Egypt. It is this scarlet cord which
throughout the scriptures is that which speaks of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Redeemer. I deliberately
stress it because it's precious, and I deliberately stress it
because it's so belittled and despised in our day. I know this
day folks, they don't like to talk much
about blood. Even folks who talk about the blood of Christ and
the accomplishments of redemption try to soft pedal things so that
it doesn't come across quite so bad. We know the blood represents
the life of Christ. We know the blood represents
all that he is. We know the blood represents his life poured out
unto death. But the Lord Jesus Christ poured out his life's
blood willingly and voluntarily. And at the same time, his blood
gushed out of his body as the blood of a lamb on the day of
atonement with his throat slit. And in the violence of that act,
its blood gushes out because wrath is displayed. And I'm telling
you that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died under the violent
sword of divine justice, and his blood was spilt by the sword
of justice that we might have life everlasting. It is by the
blood that we are redeemed. It is by the blood that we are
forgiven. It is by the blood that we have access to God. It
is by the blood that we are accepted with God. It is the blood that
gives us peace and gives us assurance before God. And we dwell continually
here, knowing our just wrath, knowing our just condemnation,
knowing our guilt, knowing our depravity, and knowing that we
are a people naturally cursed, of a cursed race, under the judgment
of God Almighty. Except for one thing, God chose
us. and God redeemed us by the blood of His darling Son. Look
in Romans chapter 8, Romans 8 chapter. The saints of God in heaven,
when they sing the praises of the Lamb, say, Thou art worthy,
for Thou hast redeemed us to God by pouring out Your life. That's not what they say. Thou
hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood. Oh, the precious blood
of the Lamb of God. Look here, Romans 8 verse 1.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. That is,
there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ and no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. We know it. We experience it.
We enjoy it as we believe God. That's what it is to walk after
the spirit. I'm sorry, let's read verse 2. For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, because of sin,
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh. but
after the Spirit. Rennehad saw in that scarlet
cord what was portrayed in all the law and what was prophesied
in all that had been revealed by God up to that time. One is
going to die, blood is going to be shed by which God Almighty
will turn away his wrath. by which God Almighty will put
away his anger, by which God Almighty will accept and receive
sinners in the holy character that he is without compromising
himself in the least. The Lord God declares, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. As I was looking over my
notes this evening after I'd finished my work for the day,
I thought of something there I hadn't seen before. Y'all look out that window there. Just look at it. Now, tell me,
is there anybody who can see that floor on that porch under
that window? Anybody? Well, I'd know, preacher,
but I'd know it's out there. I've been walking on it. But
you can't see it. And there are times, maybe much
of the time, when I can't see anything. My faith is weak. nearly blind, nearly dead. Rahab
couldn't see that cord hanging out that window. She couldn't
see it, but she knew it was there. And the issue was not whether
she saw it or not. It was when Joshua and the armies
of Israel saw the cord hanging out the window on that basis,
she was preserved alive. And God Almighty says, when I
see the blood, I pass over you. I recall Brother Scott Richardson
years ago. We were preaching together down
in Rocky Mount, Virginia. He'd just been to see a relative who'd
been in an insane asylum for nearly most of his life. Didn't
even know he was in the world. He said, it may come a time when
old Scott Richardson won't even know his name, much less God's
name. Won't even be able to look at anything in Scripture and
know anything about it. But the issue is not what Scott Richardson
sees, it's what God sees. God Almighty saw the blood from
eternity. He saw it long before we saw
it. He saw it when we saw it. He sees it now. And if the time
comes we can't see it anymore, he still sees it. When I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. Now then, here's the third thing.
Rahab's house was protected by faith. She believed God. She's held before us here in
Hebrews in this great hall of fame as a great example of faith. Right alongside Abraham, Moses,
and Joshua, Sarah, the mother of us all, here's Rahab the harlot. James tells us that she is just
like Abraham in that she's justified by her works. Now, that doesn't
mean that Rahab added to her faith, her works, and thereby
obtained justification, but simply declares this. She declared she
believed God. And she proved she believed God
because she hid the spies. Her faith was not a theory. It
was not a notion. Her faith was a principle of
life. And with that principle of life, she lived and acted.
And thus, by her behavior, she justified her claim of believing
God. She believed the report that
she had heard of God's salvation and God's grace. When she heard
the report, then she received the spies that came. She didn't
just receive them, she cared for them, and she protected them. She cared for and protected God's
messengers in her home, and she did so at the risk of her own
life. I read the other day Mr. Pink's
commentary on Joshua, I'm sorry, on Hebrews, dealing with this
event in Joshua. And Mr. Pink took great, great issue
with Rahab, as many do, and said her faith failed because when
the people came and asked about those spies, Rahab lied. That was not a failure. That
was an act of faith. It was an act of faith. She hazarded
her life for their sake. Oh, but preacher, how do you
justify that? I don't have to. Rahab promised
those men she'd hide them. For the honor of God, she hid
them. For the saving of God's people and herself and her house,
she hid them. They come up and say, well, where'd
you find them? Well, I don't know. Well, we'll
search that. No, Rahab, she acted the part
of one who's strong. She said, those fellows came
in, they were here. Yes, sir. They came in, they came to spy
out Lambeth. They left just a little while
ago. If you run now, you can get them. And she ran up and
told the fellows to get out of here before they come back. And
she acted in faith. She acted in faith. This book
says it was an act of faith. And that's sufficient. How on
earth you can reconcile that with our understanding of things? by telling you this book is accurate,
and our understanding of things is perverse. You understand that? So whenever the book seems to
contradict what we think is right, we bow to what God says in the
book, regardless of what it is. Believe in God. This woman Rahab
did something else. Look back at Joshua 2. I want
you to see this. Joshua 2. I get very concerned because of my selfishness with
regard to my family. And when I say my family, I'm
not talking about my wife and my daughter, my son-in-law, and
my grandbabies. I'm talking about my family.
I'm talking about my family, my fleshly family, and yours. And I don't know how to rid myself
of the selfishness that's involved in my concern and prayers. And
yet at the same time, I know that it's altogether right that
we exercise great care and responsibility in that sphere of responsibility
which God has made us immediately, immediately, immediately responsible
for before him. Here in Joshua 2, verse 12, Rahab
says to these spies, now therefore I pray you, swear unto me by
the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also
show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token,
and that you will save alive my father and my mother and my
brethren and my sisters and all that they have, and deliver our
lives from death. Last month I got Brother Shank's
bulletins, like I always do. And for some reason, I stuck
this aside after I read it. Now I know why. There's an article,
All Your House. He said, Shirley and I were sitting
around talking. I won't read you the whole thing. I'll give
you the gist of it. Wondering if maybe God might save our children
that are lost. He said, I know salvation is
an individual thing. But I know this, it's a blessing
to see whole families in Christ. Sometimes, sometimes men and
women go to heaven alone. Sometimes God saves one or two
in a household. Sometimes he passes by the whole
household. And if God's pleased to save
our families, it will be by his sovereign grace and purpose.
Yet, he says, there's nothing selfish about exercising special
care for your own family and earnestly seeking their salvation. In God's providence, your family is your primary responsibility. It's natural and proper that
first you seek earnestly your loved one's salvation, those
who are a part of you. have a special claim on your
care and your concern. Let every believer then resolve
by the grace of God to do whatever he can or whatever can be done
to bring his or her family into the kingdom of heaven and ask
God to have mercy. Rahab didn't just believe God She so believed God that she
dared ask a great thing of God. Lord, may you promise to have mercy
on this old harlot. You've been gracious to this
harlot. You sent your word to this harlot. You've given life everlasting
to this harlot. Now, Lord, promise me, give me a true token. Will you
also have mercy on my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters,
my kin? Bring them into your kingdom.
Bring them into the pale of your grace. Eli, I'm sure, thought
the same thing. And God killed his sons, and
Eli said, it's the Lord, let him do what he will. They deserve
his wrath. Oh God, if you will, have mercy
on me. Rahab hung everything, everything, her life, her hope,
her salvation, everything on the blood, on the scarlet cord
that was a token of a covenant made, symbolized in that cord. Those spies said, all right,
Rahab, you hang this red rope out that window, and we come
into this land, when we see that red rope hanging out your window,
God will save your family, the whole family, every one of them. And she brought them into the
house and waited for God. Rahab the harlot, so thoroughly
believed God that she, in God's good providence,
brought her whole family into the pale of His grace. This old harlot, who had been
the shame of the family, I don't know about her daddy,
if I was her daddy, she'd probably have to do some talking to get
me to go in her house. She'd been the shame of the family.
She'd been the reproach of the family. She'd been the talk of
the town. She brought her daddy's name
down in the mud. She was the off-scouring of the
whole town, much less her family. She became Lindsay Campbell,
the instrument by which God saved her whole family. It's called
grace. Rahab the harlot, believing God,
obtained a place for her family and obtained a place for herself
as well in the family tree of the incarnate God. I've often
told you this in Matthew's gospel. There are four women other than
the Virgin Mary who are mentioned in our Lord's genealogy, just
four. All four of them have a black spot. Tamar, Ruth the Moabitess, Bathsheba,
and Rahab. condescending, gracious God. Our Savior, in all things, identifies
Himself with sinners and His mission to save them. Rahab had something else that
protected her. She had the Word of God. Her house was protected
by the promise of God. If you read the second chapter
of Joshua again, we won't come back there now, but I'll give
you the summary of it. God sent his messengers to Rahab,
and this is what they told her. They said, you go get your family,
bring them back here into this house. You bring them here and
bind this scarlet rope in the window. And you stay right here
in this house, you and your family. And when the Lord gives us the
city, We will deal kindly and truly with them. Will you listen
to me? Unless I am totally deceived,
I'm standing here as God's messenger to you. And I've got a message
for you. Come into the house of God's
grace. Believe on the Son of God. Hang everything you've got
on His blood. Hang every hope for your soul
on His atoning death. And God Almighty will bring you
to glory at last. He will deal kindly and truly
with you. He that believeth on the Son
of God, listen now, hath everlasting life. And they shall never perish. Ah, but preacher. Oh, wouldn't
it God I could get you to just shut up and believe God. Just quit making excuses and
believe God. Quit finding reasons not to believe
Him. Believe Him! I can't imagine why. Well, I
know why. Because men are depraved. Their
hearts are corrupt. If there was a thirsty man here,
I'm talking about somebody who's been Hadn't had anything to drink
for two or three days. And we're in the midst of a summer
drought. And somehow or another, they
managed to crawl up those steps to get in this building. And
they just saw me just hold out that glass of water. I mean,
maybe they could get hold of it. They wouldn't wait for an
invitation. They'd grab it and drink it. Oh, but I don't know whether that
poured for me or not. Well, I don't know whether I
had the right to take that or not. Are you thirsty? Must have been poured just for
me. Must have been. Well, how can you be sure? Let
me show you again. Yeah, it was just for me. Quenched
my thirst. And I'm telling you, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
shed his blood for every sinner who dips into the precious fountain
of his blood by faith and washes his soul clean, trusting the
Lamb. Every one of them. Tell you one more thing, Rahab didn't perish because she
stayed in the house. The spies said, now Rahab, you
bring your family, take them into this house, and there's
going to be some stuff going on out here. I mean, there's
going to be a lot of commotion. There's going to be a lot of
noise. There's going to be a lot of confusion. And you're going
to look out your window if you hadn't looked out when this stuff's
going on. And you may get terrified because these walls are going
to fall. The houses all around you are going to fall. Everything
is going to crumble around you. But you stay in this house. Don't even crack the door. And
you'll be all right. You know what she did? She stayed in the house. She stayed in the house till
it was all over. She stayed in the house till the spies came
to the house and told her everything is all right. Everything's all
right. Now listen to me. My brothers and sisters, abide right here in Jesus Christ
our Lord. trusting his blood. I love this
hymn. Of course, we sing sometimes.
Under the blood of Jesus, safe in the shepherd's fold. Under
the blood of Jesus, safe while the ages roll. Safe though the
world may crumble, safe though the stars grow dim. the blood of Jesus, I am secure
in Him. That's it. And you know what? When the walls of this damned
city we call this world are burned to nothing, by the
judgment of God. I'm not going to perish. I'm not going to perish. When
God Almighty raises his glittering sword and casts multitudes into
hell, I'm not going to perish. I'm not going to perish. What
makes you think you're so good? I don't. I know better. But I trust Him who's represented
in the blood on the mercy seat. And God Almighty has promised
me life. I've got His word for it. Amen.