Good morning. I might drink this
whole glass of water before I'm done. I cut the hay in our field the
other day, I think it was yesterday, and my allergies are tearing
me up today, so just bear with me. If you went to Joshua chapter
six, Joshua chapter six. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none
came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof,
and the mighty men of Valor. And ye shall compass the city,
all ye men of war, and go round about that city once. Thus shalt
thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear
before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, and the seventh
day he shall compass the city seven times, and the priests
shall blow with the trumpets. 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.
And Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests and said unto them,
Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven
trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said
unto the people, Pass on, encompass the city, and let him that is
armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass,
when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests
bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns passed on before
the Lord, and blew at the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of
the Lord followed them. And they are men went before
the priest that blew with the trumpets and the reward came
after the arc, the priest going on and blowing with the trumpets.
And Joshua had commanded the people saying, you shall not
shout nor make any noise with your voice. Neither shall any
word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout.
Then shall you shout. So the ark of the Lord compass,
the city going about it once, and they came into the camp and
lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the
morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord and seven
priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark
of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets and
the armed men went before them. But the reward came after the
ark of the Lord and the priests going on and blowing with the
trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once
and returned into the camp. So they did six days. And it
came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the
dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner
seven times. Only on that day they compassed
the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh
time when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto
the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city, and
the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein to
the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live.
She and all that are with her in the house because she hid
the messengers that we sent. And ye and any wise keep yourselves
from the accursed thing lest you make yourselves accursed
when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel
accursed and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and
vessels of brass and iron are concentrated unto the Lord and
they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted
when the priest blew with the trumpets and it came to pass
when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people
shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat, so that
the people went up into the city, every man 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, ox
and sheep, and ass with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had
said unto the two men that had spied out the country, go into
the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all
that she hath, as ye swear unto her. And the young men that were
spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her
mother and her brother and all that she had. And they brought
out all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel.
And they burnt the city with fire and all that was therein.
Only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and
iron they put into the treasure of the house of the Lord. And
Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household
and all that she had. And she dwelt in Israel even
unto this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent.
despised Jericho. And Joshua adjured that at that
time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up
and buildeth the city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof
in his firstborn and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates
of it. So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was noise throughout
all the country. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the blessing
that it is to come to meet together, to worship you, Lord, in spirit
and in truth, Lord. We pray, dear Lord, that everything
that is said and done in this place today would be glorifying
and honoring to your dear son's name. Lord, we just pray, Lord,
that you would bless each and every one of us with hearing
ears and open hearts, Lord, to be receptive of the truth. Lord,
just thank you for for your dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you sent to this world to die for sinners, Lord. And Lord,
I just thank you for lifting up a people, Lord, and for bringing
them in and for opening their ears and our eyes, Lord, that
we might see the truth and that we might see Christ, Lord, and
that His love would be shed abroad within our hearts, Lord. Lord,
we thank you so much for this. We pray, dear Lord, that you
would forgive us where we fail you. Forgive us of our downfalls,
Lord, in our shortcomings. Lord, there are so many. And
Lord, we look to Christ, the author and the finisher of our
faith. We love you, dear Lord. We thank you again for all things.
Bless the pastor, Lord. Brother Bruce, as he's away today,
pray that you'd lift him up, strengthen him, that you would
bless him as he preaches. Lift him up. I pray for the church
there in Plainfield, that you would bless Pastor Wayne this
morning as he preaches. Lift him up, Lord. Lord, save
Your people, even this day, we pray. It is in your dear and
precious son's name we ask these things. Amen. My subject this morning is the
lack of true conversion. The lack of true conversion.
Jessica has a friend that called her a while back and she has
a couple of kids and she called Jessica and she was very excited.
And she said, my children are going to get baptized this weekend.
And she was very excited. And Jessica asked her, she said,
well, she said, when did the Lord save them? And there was
a long pause on the phone and she didn't know what to say.
And finally, she just said, well, it just seemed like it was the
right time. Just seemed like it was the right time. I'm afraid
we're living in an age that there are many King Agrippas that have
almost been persuaded to be Christians. I'm afraid that's the age we're
living in. There are many good teachers out here that are persuading
men to almost be Christians. I was in Missouri, probably six
months ago, and we were staying at my wife's cousin's house. I was talking to her uncle, who
is a preacher there, and we were walking out the door of their
garage. They got an entry door on their garage. walking through
there, and I looked up in the corner of this door, and in the
jam of this door, there was a frog that had got stuck in this jam.
Half his head was out, his feet were hanging out the other end,
and his body was smashed flat in the door. Yeah, that's right. I looked at that frog, and I
looked at him, and I said, you got a message for Sunday? He
said, well, yeah, I got a little something. I said, well, I got
one for you if you don't have one. Almost, thou persuadest
me to be a Christian. That frog was almost out that
door. But that didn't, it was a little
consolation to that frog. He's still dead. He's still dead. You got to be all the way a Christian. You got to be made a Christian
by the power of God. Conversion is what we're talking
about. Regeneration is what we're talking about. I'm not going
to persuade you of anything this morning. It's the Holy Spirit
that's going to have to come and it's going to have to change
you. He's going to have to give you a heart that loves him. That's
what he's going to have to do. He's going to have to take this
heart of stone out and replace it with a heart of flesh, one
that loves him, one that longs after him. Oh, I pray that this
morning, by the power of God, if there's anybody sitting here
that does not know Christ, that they would see him this morning,
that you'd see him this morning. He's not going to come with these
words. The Lord's going to have to speak to you this morning.
He's going to have to come with power and speak to your heart
this morning. I pray that he would. Well, there are many questions
that are asked in true conversion. Many questions are asked. Job
asked three times with his friends in the book of Job. He asked
this question. He said, how can man that is born of woman be
just with God? How can he be just with God?
This is a very telling question. For the one that asked this question,
he knows he's a sinner. He said, how can this vile, wretched,
worthless piece of flesh ever be justified before a thrice
holy God, a God that demands perfection, a God that demands
holiness, a God that demands clean hands and a pure heart? How can man be just before a
holy God? How can that happen? Oh, and
when this question is asked in sincerity, when this question
is asked with honesty in the heart, oh, there's evidence there
that this man knows something. He knows him. He's been revealed
to him that he's a sinner. He's a sinner. And the answer
to that question is salvation. I heard a message one time, Henry
Mahan preached on that text. How can man be just with God?
He was born of woman. And he said, if you know the
answer to that question, you're a theologian. You're a theologian. So the answer to that question
is salvation. It's like Ananias. He held up
that little one, little baby in the temple. He said, mine
eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord. He was holding up
baby Jesus Christ. That's who he's holding up. The
answer is Jesus Christ. That's the answer to that question.
How is man born of woman going to be just with God? The Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only answer. That's
it. Man that is born of woman. Man
that is born in iniquity, man that has no righteousness in
and of himself. We don't. We don't. We like to
think we do, but we don't. Man who from the fall has been
born into this world dead to God, who was born in this world
totally depraved. That man can be just with God. He can be stand in the presence
of God and be justified if he's in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the answer. The gospel message, the truth
leads all those who are touched by the Holy Spirit to ask this
question. How can this poor, wretched sinner
be just in the sight of God? Although we might see the answer.
How is this possible? And if it's possible, how is
it accomplished? And if it was accomplished, who
accomplished it? Who did it? And how in the world
does it apply to the heart of this sinner? How does it apply?
And then after that question is asked and God, by a God given
faith, by the grace of God, the question is answered by a converted
heart, not a not a head knowledge, but a converted heart. And what
follows is directly related to the purpose of God, and that
is to conform into the image of his own dear son. It is. You see, all this, the entire
message, it all revolves Jesus Christ. It's all about him. It's
all about Him. Every bit of it. We are truly
vessels of mercy. That's what we are. Without Jesus
Christ and His fullness in us, we have been made full in the
Lord Jesus Christ. If we are in Him, we're full
in Him. But without Him, we're empty vessels. We're empty. Nothing
good in us. We're vessels of wrath fitted
for destruction is what we are without the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is all. He is all. And by grace, We are
made all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are. Christ is righteousness. You've heard it said, Jehovah's
saken you, the Lord, our righteousness. If we have any righteousness
whatsoever, it's righteousness that is found when we are in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his righteousness. It's
his. Christ is fullness by grace. By grace, we have been made full
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it's all about Christ. He's
the message from beginning to end. The message is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about him. Well, then
why you say is there a lack of true conversion if it's that
easy? If it's just looking to Christ,
why is there a lack of true conversion? I think, you know, it's. There's so many professions and
so few conversions. is because it just seems to people
like it's the right time. That's the reason just seems
to people like it's the right time. Why don't men and women,
boys and girls need Christ? They just don't need him in this
day and age. You don't really need Christ. They don't. Well,
why don't they need it? Why is religion filled with so
much lip service and so little heart service? Why is it? Well,
number one, I think that it's the time of the Lord's return
is drawn near. We know that to be the case.
Each day we live, the return of the Lord is drawing near.
It is. And there's going to be fewer
and fewer conversions until that last soul is brought into the
kingdom, until that last soul is regenerated. And then the
Lord's coming back, isn't he? He's coming back. Why stands
he gazing up into heaven? That same one who ascended up
into heaven will so return in like manner. He's coming back.
The Lord is coming back when conversions work is done here
on this earth, when Christ's saving work is done, when redemption's
work is done, Christ is coming back. He's coming back. So I
feel that, number one, the purpose of God in this day and age is
that many will be called, but few will be chosen. Few will
be chosen. But I feel this also, that God
has allowed men, now listen to me, He has allowed men to stand
in pulpits all over this world and to preach lies about God.
He has. He's allowed them. If they're
standing in pulpits and they're preaching, it's because He's
allowed them to do it. There's many times I've sat and
I've watched people on TV preaching and I just cringe. I'm thinking
the fire is going to come down from heaven and they're going
to consume these people any minute. But the Lord allows it to happen.
He allows them to keep spreading lies about himself. There are
lies being told all over this country about God. There is. And the worst lie is a lie that's
going to send more people to hell than Satan ever could. It's
a lie that when Satan hears a preacher preach this from the pulpit,
he's clapping his hands and jumping up and down saying, thank you,
thank you, thank you. He is. It's a lie that's on bumper stickers.
It's on billboards. It's everywhere you look. It's
on tracks. It's coming out of the mouth of every TV preacher
you hear. It is. And that's the lie that
God loves everybody. It is. That God loves you indiscriminately. That's a lie. That is a lie. It's one of the greatest lies
ever told. It is. There are many, many great truths
shown about the God of this Bible in this Bible. Many great truths.
But two of them are these. God loves his people in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's the only way he loves
them. That's the only way he loves them. And the other is
that God hates all workers of iniquity outside of Christ. That's the truth. That is the
truth. The God of this Bible, he loves
some and he hates others. That's what this book says. That's
what it says. Romans 9. Look at it. Turn over. with me, Romans 9. We've heard
these verses many, many times. Romans 9, 11 through 13. It says for the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now listen to me, you can water
that down any way you want to. You can. You can say that's just
a passing by hatred. Listen, that's a little consolation
to Esau. It's a little consolation to
him sitting in the pit of hell. God loves some and he hates others.
He does. I wonder this morning if people
realize that we worship the same God now as the God in the Old
Testament. We worship the same God now.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the same God. God is never changing. The God
of the New Testament is the same as the God of the Old Testament.
He is. There is no difference in the
God that we worship. Did God love all the people in
the flood? Did he? No. Did God love all the people in
Sodom? Did he love all the people in
Gomorrah? Did God love all the Philistines? Did God love that
uncircumcised Philistine that stood before the armies of the
living God and defied them? Did he? Could David have stood
there and looked at Goliath and said, Goliath's dead. God's going
to give me your head. It's all right, you can smile.
Because God loves you. That's foolishness. That's absolute
foolishness. It is. It's absurd to even say.
The Bible plainly said, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated. This is not just a hating of
the actions of the person. God's not just going to send
your sin to hell. He's not. He's going to send
your soul if you're not found in Christ. He is. The God of
this Bible, he hates sin. He does. And any of you this
morning, let me tell you that I'm saying this in all sincerity
and with a love for you. I am. I've got many, many relatives
don't know the Lord. I do. And every time I stand
in front of a group of people and I look at it, I have to think
this in my heart and I know this to be a fact. But if you are
not found in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, this God of this
Bible. He has a holy hatred for you.
He does. So you can't say that. You can't
say that's not politically correct. It's not. God did not call me
to be his PR man, his public relations man, to try to make
him palatable to you. That's not what he called me
to be. He called me to stand up in front of you and proclaim
the truth that is revealed about God in the scriptures. And this
is true. And one thing about God, he is
not political. He is correct. He is correct. That's what he is. The God of
this Bible, he does not send people to hell that he loves. He doesn't do it. He does not
do it. And let me tell you, hell is
going to be full. It's going to be full. Listen, the God of
this Bible, he sends men, he sends women, he sends boys and
he sends girls to hell. He does. Anyone who that has
been born of a woman, Anyone that has man as his father, anyone
that has not kept the Levitical law to perfection, every dot
of the eye, every jot, every tittle, everything of the holy
law, if it is not done perfection, if it isn't, which is all of
humanity, that's everyone falls under this category. Everyone.
They will be sent to everlasting damnation and the fires of hell
for eternity. That's what this book says. That's
what this book says. The Bible clearly states the
wages of sin is death. And that is eternal death and
eternal hell. That's what it is. It is. You
say, wait a minute. Wait a minute, my God wouldn't
do that. My God only sends really bad
sinners to hell. Not just the everyday Joe Blow
sinner is not going to go to hell. That's not what this book
says. That's not what this book says.
This book says anybody outside of Christ is going to go to hell. Anybody outside of Christ. Turn over back over to Joshua,
chapter six, if you still have your place there. Joshua, chapter
six. I'm going to tell a little story
here. I would, if I could, I'd like
to put you in the army of Israel this morning. All right, Ethan,
you're in the army now, OK? You're in the army, all right? And you're sitting there around
the campfire here in Joshua's army, all right? And you've got
two mighty men sitting beside you, all right? And you're listening
to Joshua give this speech. He had just met with the captain
of the Lord's host. That was Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate
appearance. That's who it was. And he just
met with him. And now he comes up before his
group of mighty men, his group of army men. And you're sitting
in there listening to him. He's standing up in front of
you and he's telling you what's going to happen here, what's
going to go down here. And he tells the army, he says,
we're going to march around this city one time every day for six
days. That's what we're going to do.
And then on the seventh day, we're going to march around this
city seven times. And when we're done marching,
the ram horn is going to blow, and the trumpet's going to sound,
and we're going to let out a shout. We're going to let a shout out
with a great voice. And the walls of that city are
going to fall down. They're going to fall down. They
are. By faith, the walls of Jericho
fell down. And you look around at these
men of war that are sitting beside you. You look around at these
men. You look at your commander, Joshua,
this type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you say
to yourself, these men actually believe what he's saying. They're
all shaking their heads. They believe that those walls
are going to fall down. You look up at those mighty walls.
Now, this Jericho was built on a big hill, big mound. And on
the bottom base of this hill, they had an embankment. It was
about 13 foot tall by I think they said 12 foot wide. This
archaeologist had it kind of drawn up. And he said on top
of this wall was built another wall that was 6 foot wide and
26 foot tall. So if you're sitting down to
the top of the first wall, it's about 40 feet. And then inside
the city, there was another wall built that was level at the bottom
with that one, up another 26 feet tall. So it's close to 70
foot tall of high walls. And you're sitting down here
in this city was 10 to 12 acres on the inside of these walls.
This is a big city. It was. And you're sitting down
here and you're looking up at these walls. These men actually
believe that those walls are going to fall down. They're going
to fall down. These men had a true concept
of the God of this Bible. They did. They understood unbelief
was not an option. All right. We're marching. That's
what we're doing. We're marching. All right. These men truly feared
the Lord. Joshua said, these walls are
going to fall. And when they fall, listen, when
these walls fall, we're going to go into that city and we're
going to destroy every living thing in that city. Everything
that's walking. That's what the God of this Bible
commanded. He commanded them to do it as a command of the
Lord from the God we worship right now. That's a command from
him. So the next day they get up early.
You get up early and you start marching. Around the city you
go. You're going. Joshua said in
verse 10 of chapter 6, you shall not shout nor make any noise
with your voice. Neither shall any word proceed
out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. And then you
shall shout. Nobody's saying a word. Just
marching. That's all we're doing is just
marching. Next day, same thing. Six days we do it. Seventh day,
you get up early. They're waking you up early.
Them mighty men got you, and they're wrestling you. Let's
go. And you start marching. Around you go. Around you go. It's a long ways to march. You're
saying, wouldn't it have been smarter if we had to march seven
times for six days and gotten shape? And then on the last day,
we'd just march one time, and then we'd have been in shape.
We could rush up in there. You know, if these walls really do
fall down, we're going to have to fight these people. That's
not the way God fights His battles. It's not. God wins his battles. He's the one that's going to
win it. Not to the strong is the battle. Not to the swift
is the race. Yet to the true and the faithful,
victory is promised through grace. It is. It's all of God. So you
keep marching. And finally, seven times, the
great army stops. It stops. And their ram's horn,
it blows. And the trumpet blasts. And there's
a great shout like you've never heard before. Guess what? Those walls fall down. They fall
down. And before you can even think,
those two mighty men's got you and you're running up into that
city. You're running up into that city and people are screaming
and they're yelling. You're with those two mighty
men and they're destroying everything in their path. Everything. They're destroying it. And the
three of you come to this door, this house. All right. Come to
this door, this hut and knock on the door. And you come in
there, and in the corner of this hut, there sits a family, a man
and a woman, boys and girls, and they're huddled down in the
corner. And you say to yourself, surely, surely these men are
going to have mercy upon this family. Surely they will. They must have mercy upon them.
Oh, and seconds later, there's screams and there's yells. And
you put your hands on your head, and you say, oh, my. The judgment
of God upon sinners. The judgment of God on sinners.
I tell you, that's not the judgment of God on sinners. Every one
of us are going to have an earthly death. We are. But I tell you
this, I'm going to take you a little farther with this family. Take
you a little farther. In a moment, this father and
this mother, this boy and this girl, they're instantly transported
across the Jordan. Across that thin divide that
separates the God of this Bible from earthen vessels. It's a
very thin divide. It is. It separates the God of
glory, the God of wrath and judgment from these vessels. And these
are, these are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. They
are. Why? Because God's love was never
placed upon these. was never placed upon it. Mercy
never shined its face upon these. It did. The blood of the Savior
and the mind and purpose of God was never shed for these. It
wasn't. But ultimately, they failed to
obey that single command. Believe. Believe. But you say
they never had a chance to believe. They never had the opportunity
to believe. They'd never heard of Christ. They'd never heard
of the God of this Bible. Romans 9, verse 20 says, Nay,
but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made
me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to form one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? Does he not? So these vessels
are placed in eternity, where they are met with angels who
bind them in chains. And they're led up to the great
throne of God. They offer. And there they stand. Naked. Destitute. With nothing. They have nothing
to offer God. Nothing. They stand empty handed. Nothing to give to Him. Nothing
to show for themselves. No defense. Their mouths are
shut. Words of sinful man cannot be uttered in the presence of
God. They can't be. The Bible says every knee shall
bow and every knee is going to bow. Every knee will bow. These vessels never bowed on
earth. They never did. Oh, they needed no protection
on this earth. The walls of the city were their
protection. They had plenty of protection.
They never feared the afterlife because they had no thought of
God. They had no thought of eternity. They didn't. But now, now they
fall. Now they fall. They fall in submission
before the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. They bow their
head to the judgment of the sovereign ruler of eternity. And that's
where everyone outside of Christ will find themselves one day. That's where they're going to
find themselves. And they're going to hear that
word, depart from me. Depart from me, you worker of
iniquity, for I never knew you. I never knew you. The God of
love and mercy Never shined his face upon you because he never
knew you. He never knew you. Oh, what horror
to hear these words. What horror it would be to hear
these words. For now, eternity awaits with
no way of escape. No way of escape. And the God
of glory looks at the angel on his right and he says, bind them
hand and foot and cast them into the lake of fire. Where this
book says, this Bible said it, I don't want to stand up here
and say this any more than you want to hear it. But this book
says, if we're going to tell the truth, this book says, where
the worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched. That's what
it says. That's what it says. I'm not
making this up. I'm making it up. This father
would listen to the screams and yells of his family for eternity. For eternity. That's the truth. And you say, now I understand. Now I understand why the apostles
gave their lives for the preaching of the gospel. Now I understand
why this man stands before us every Sunday and he preaches
Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, message after message after message,
that one person, just one, will escape this awful reality. And
it is reality. It is. All of it. Seemed like
such foolishness. Seemed like such foolishness
before. But now I see. Now I see what it's all about. But God forbid I leave you there.
I'm not going to leave you there. I'm not going to. I'm taking
you back to the battle. All right? And you're still with those two
mighty men. You're still with them. And you're looking for
something now. They're looking for something. These two guys
are looking for something. You're wondering what in the world they're
looking for. What are they looking for? They're running around the
city and one of them points up to the window and he says, I
see it. I see it. Look, there it is. And you look
at what he's pointing to. Terrence, you know what he's
pointing at. You see that scarlet line hanging
from the window. He does. That picture and that
type of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees it from
that window. He does. at the blood on the
doorpost to the children of Israel, when that angel of the Lord was
passing through and killing all the firstborn in Egypt. He said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. When I see the
blood. And this scarlet cord, this picture
of the blood of Christ, this picture of sinners being covered
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, when these soldiers saw
it, they'd pass by that house. They'd pass by it. But these
two you're with, they enter in. They go into that house. And
where you went into that house before, those people were huddled
in the corner. But not these people. They got their bags packed. They're ready to go. They're
ready to go. Why? Because they had received
the promise. They had received the promise.
They had. God's providence had caused these
men earlier to enter into the window. Rahab's window. Rahab
the harlot's window. They'd entered there. Oh, you
say, and I imagine if it had been us, we'd probably had to
pick another window, wouldn't we? Oh, God's providence. Oh my, the providence of God.
They entered into Rahab the harlot's window. But God is a God of purpose. Romans 8, 28 says, And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to his purpose. His purpose. Praise God. He is a God of purpose.
That's why any of us are here. Because God's a God of purpose. And as the soldiers leave Rahab
and their family out of the city, that one who was once a harlot
out of the city, you say to yourself, oh, the love of God for sinners,
the love of God for sinners, that he would spare one like
that. Oh, and we say the same thing about ourselves, don't
we? The love of God for sinners, that he'd spare one like me.
So undeserving. Oh, but he has spared us. But
I tell you that this earthly picture pales in comparison to
the love of God shown to sinners. It's just earthly right here.
Oh, it pales in comparison to that. If I take you a little
farther into Rahab's life, I do. When Rahab's lying on her deathbed,
she's looking up in her son's face, that's Boaz. Lo, as her
son, who would someday meet that Moabitess woman Ruth, and Ruth
would marry that one Obed, and they'd have a son by the name
of Jesse, and Jesse would beget David, King David, and out of
the line of David would spring the line of the tribe of Judah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the God of this Bible is
truly a God of purpose, isn't he? He is truly a God of purpose. If He's saved you, He has a purpose. He has a purpose. But when Brahav
breathes her last breath on earth, she is instantly transported
across that Jordan. Here she goes. And we're going
again. Here we go. And you see the angels
meet her too. They meet her too, but this time
not with chains. Now they got a robe of righteousness
they're draping over her. They do. And they're leading
her up. To the great white throne, this time the angels don't have
their heads bowed. Oh no, they're singing praises
to Christ. To the God of this book. Singing
praises. Oh, and they anoint her head
with the sweet savor of the Savior. They do. The angel is singing,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And she's brought before
her King. And that same God that we just
witnessed, that God of wrath, That God of judgment on sinners
is now a God of love and compassion for this one. This one. What
made the difference? It's the blood of Christ. The
blood of Christ. And this God of love and compassion,
this God of mercy and grace, do all those that by God-given
faith believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God,
says, well done. My good and faithful servant.
For thou has done all things well. Thou has done all things
well. And the door of heaven's open.
It's open. And paradise awaits. Paradise awaits. That's the love
of God. That's the love of God. Men,
women, boys and girls, they never see their need of a Savior. They
won't until they understand the wrath of God on sinners. They
won't. The person doesn't believe he
has to be saved, he'll never be saved. He won't. You're going
to have to see it. You're going to have to see it.
The God of this Bible is a God of wrath and a God of judgment
on sinners. He is. Oh, but he is also a God
of love and compassion and mercy on those that are found in his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is. Oh, he has provided a
sacrifice. He has. Well, Rahab, I'm sure,
went through the gates of heaven singing praises. Singing praises
to God. You know, singing praises, that's
going to be the only form of worship that we take to heaven.
You know that? It is. There will be no need
of preaching. What do we need preaching for?
Jesus Christ will be right there on the throne, right in front
of us. There will be no need of prayers. Talking right with
Jesus. But singing praises, oh, we'll
do that for all of eternity, won't we? Saying in his praises,
well, should we sing a song? Number 67 in a hymn book.