His Spirit bears witness in our
hearts that these mercies are ours. Faith is the confidence
that these mercies of a covenant God are mine in Christ, and God
bears witness and gives me evidence. We know we've passed from death
unto life, we love the brethren. We know that the whole world
lies in wickedness, and we believe God, so there's evidence. Verse
2, and by this faith, by believing God, All of these elders we've
been reading about, of the Old Testament, all of these Old Testament
believers and saints and patriots, it's by faith, not by works,
that they obtained a good report, not by works that they're saved,
not by works are they accepted of God, by faith. And faith alone
in Christ Jesus. Not because Abraham was a better
man than the men around him, he believed God. That made him
a better man. But he believed God. That was
the cause of all of it. He believed God. That was the
cause of his joy, the cause of his character change, the cause
of his victory, that was the cause of his graduation. Verse 3, it's only through faith
we can understand anything about God. It's by faith, through faith,
that we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.
That's the only way to know anything about God, to know anything about
the works of God, the will of God, the ways of God, is by faith,
by believing God. Forget it if you don't believe
God. I read in the paper, the TV Guide, maybe you want to rush
home and see this, but tonight on one of the channels, some
expert That's the word used. Experts are going to tell us
about what to expect life after death. These are experts on life
after death. You're not even a student of
anything about God unless you're a student of the word of God. Through faith we understand that
the world is framed by the word of God so that things were not
made of things that appear, they were made by the word of God.
And regeneration and the new kingdom and the new heavens and
the new earth will come to pass by the word of God. Here is something that in all
the years I've been trying to preach. Just now see this. The order of these verses. From verse 4 until about verse
to about verse 8, faith is shown and illustrated before the flood.
Faith before the flood. Let's look at it. Faith before
the flood, verse 4. You see, there are three men
mentioned here, Abel, Enoch and Noah, all lived before the flood.
And their relationship with God was one of faith. Everything
that God did in them, for them, through them, was by faith. Look
at verse 4. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being
dead, yet speaketh. Abel's father, Adam. He's the
second son of Adam. And Adam instructed his family
in God's holiness and in our sin, and the only way for a sinner
to approach God was by blood. That's the reason Abel brought
a blood sacrifice. It was by faith. He believed
that he was a sinner. He believed his sins reserved
death. He believed that God had to be
reconciled and his justice had to be satisfied, and so he brought
a sacrifice. He brought an offering, believe
in God. He believed in the Lamb, the
blood of the Lamb. And our Lord Jesus over here
in Matthew 23, here is a testimony about this man's faith and his
righteousness. Our Lord Jesus in Matthew 23.35
called him a righteous man. Now listen to the Master in Matthew
23.35. that upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous
Abel." What made Abel righteous way back yonder, just out of
the garden, second boy born evidently? What made him righteous? He believed
God. And he believed God in Christ,
the blood of the Lamb. The second one is Enoch. In verse 5 it says, And Enoch,
before the flood, was translated that he should not see death.
And he was not found, because God translated him. And before
his translation he had this testimony, he pleased God. Verse 6. But without faith it's impossible
to please God. So Enoch pleased God, and walked
with God, and God translated him, and this relationship he
had with God was faithful. Faith regarding whom? Turn to
Jude, Jude verse 14, the only chapter in Jude, the first chapter
in verse 14. It says, And Enoch, also the
seventh from Adam, and we come down here to the seventh generation
from Adam. That's a long time ago. He prophesied
of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh." This man Enoch
is talking about the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord
where? To this earth. His first coming
and his second coming. He's talking about his second
coming. He's coming with 10,000 of his what? His saints, his
believers. Sometimes people think these
poor fellows were ignorant, didn't know anything. God revealed himself
to them. God revealed himself to them.
And Enoch was talking about the second coming of a Redeemer,
bringing with him the redeemed saints, the lepers. He prophesied in a terrible day,
in a wicked day. His son was Methuselah. Then
John came, well, let's read about the next chapter, verse 7. This
is before the flood. By faith Noah, by faith the elders
obtained a good report, by faith they were accepted of God, by
faith they lived. By faith Noah, what did he do? He was warned of God, he heard,
God spoke to Noah. And God spoke to Noah about things
not seen. The same thing I'm doing tonight
is speaking to people about things not seen. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. whom having not seen, we love.
Though now we see him not, we believe and rejoice with joy
unspeakable." Noah was warned and heard God talk about things
not seen, talk about a flood destroying the earth. When God
told him that, up to that time there had never been rain on
the earth. The earth wasn't watered by rain, it was watered by moisture
and dew. But God warned him about the
judgment And Noah believed God, and he moved with fear and prepared
an ark, and he prepared one of the greatest pictures of Christ
to be found anywhere. An ark. An ark. And in that ark, God brought
Noah and his wife and three sons and their wives and the animals
and sealed them in. And then the judgment fell from
heaven. from her all around, and they
were safe in the ark, lifted above the floods of judgment.
God's love and mercy was in that ark, and all who were in the
ark were saved. God's love and mercy is in Christ,
and all who are in Christ are saved. When the overflowing scourge
of God's wrath shall pass through, it will not come nigh us, and
it won't, because we are in the ark. He prepared an ark to the
saving of his house. By the roots he condemned the
world. He believed God. They didn't. He came into the
ark. They didn't. God shut him in.
They stayed out. God saved him. They perished.
He became an heir of righteousness, an heir of the mercies of a covenant
God. How? He believed God. Did Noah have some knowledge
of Christ? Let's turn to 1 Peter 3. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
is the key to all. He's the object of faith. His
blood is the blood of the covenant. He's the shepherd of the sheep
of the everlasting covenant. He is the covenant. In 1 Peter
3, verses 18 through 20. Now listen, 1 Peter 3, verse
18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust. that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."
You understand that? Sure you do. Quickened by the Spirit. By which? By the same Spirit. By the same Spirit. He went and
preached to the spirits that are now in prison. People who
died in unbelief, now in prison. When did Christ do it? When did
he, by his Spirit, preach to people who perished in the flood
and ever since. When did Christ preach to those
people? Well, listen. Which sometimes were disobedient
while once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of
Noah. That's when Christ preached to
these people. In the days of Noah. For 120 years. These people
heard the truth. 120 years. By the Spirit of God. Whom did the Spirit of God use? Wherein eight souls were saved
by water." Let's see who the Spirit of God used, 2 Peter 2.5.
Whom did the Spirit of God use? Let's read 2 Peter 2. In verse
4, verse 2 of 2 Peter, verse 4, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5,
2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter
2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter
2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5,
2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5,
2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5, 2 Peter 2.5,
2 Peter And God spared not the whole world, but saved Noah,
the eighth person. What was Noah's occupation? He
was a preacher. He was a preacher of what? Righteousness. Whose? His? No, God's righteousness. Where is God's righteousness?
In Christ. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And God brought in the flood
upon the world and the ungodly, turned the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah into ashes. But God spoke to those people
by Noah. That's what that's saying there
in 1 Peter 3. By the Spirit he went and preached
to those who are now in prison by the voice of Noah, a preacher
of righteousness. Don't you know that while Noah
was preparing the ark, folks were asking him what he was It
was the talk of the whole place. Noah was a well-known man, a
powerful figure, 120 years he preached. He warned them. Don't you know he warned them?
He had neighbors and friends. You think he just stood there
in silence and worked on that? You see, the Word tells us that
the people in the Old Testament heard the gospel, but it did
not profit them not being mixed with faith. That's faith before the flesh.
Enoch, Noah, all declared righteous men, Noah, preacher of righteousness,
and all of them talk about Christ, Christ Jesus. Now, beginning
with verse 8, Abraham, we have faith from the
flood to Moses. In these first verses, Abel,
Noah, Abel, Enoch, Noah, faith before the flood, faith in Christ.
Now faith from the flood to Moses. And of course the first one we
talk about is Abraham. But since we've covered those
verses, let's go to verse 17. We talked about Abraham and Saba
this morning, so we'll go to verse 17. By faith Abraham, when
he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son. of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting,"
or believing, believing God, that God was able to raise him
up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in
a figure. In other words, when God came
to Abraham and said, Abraham, here I, take thy son, thine only
son, whom thou lovest, unto the mount. and sacrifice him as a
burnt offering unto me. And that's all God said. A mount
I will show thee, take him to a mount I'll show thee. Three
days journey near Jerusalem. A burnt offering was put on an
altar with the wood and was quartered and then burned. Slain and quartered
and burned. And this boy Isaac was a pretty
good-sized young man, I'd say in his teens or more. And he
and his dad and these men went to this Mount Moriah after a
three-day journey. And Abraham said to the men,
you stay here and the Lord and I will go up and worship God
and we'll be back. You know what he said? We'll
be back. That's what it says there. Abraham
knew that God promised that his seed would be in Isaac. Isaac
would be his heir. And he knew that if he offered
him up as a burnt offering to God, that he would receive him
from the dead. God would raise him up. God was
able to raise him up. So they started up the mountain.
That's when Isaac turned and said, My father, he was carrying
the wood like our Lord bore the cross. And he said, Father, here's
the wood and there's the fire. Where's the lamb? Christ said, Abraham saw my day. Abraham saw my day. He saw it,
he rejoiced, he was glad. And I know he saw it because
he said this, My son, God will provide himself a lamb. Jehovah-Jireh,
God will provide. That's one of the times in the
Old Testament, the name of God, one of the seven names was used
by one of God's people. God will provide Jehovah-Jireh
a lamb. Abraham saw my day and was glad.
He saw Christ. Then when he raised the knife
to slay his son, Isaac willingly got on the altar. This old man,
113 years old, didn't put that young man on that altar against
his will. You see, these men believed God.
Abraham believed God and Isaac believed God. Abraham knew that
God was revealing something awesome to him, testing his faith too. As he got on the altar, Abraham
bound him and then raised the knife. And God said, Abraham,
Abraham, here I am. He still said, here I am. Here
I. Touch not the boy. He proved
faith. God didn't have to have Abraham
prove his faith. Abraham did. Everybody around
him did. You and I do. God knew he believed
it. And God is giving us this awesome
example. of a man who believed God, whatever. When God said, Now I know you
believe me, he already knew he believed him. But now everybody
knows. Now the evidence is that. And the ram was caught in the
thicket. And Abraham put the ram on the
altar and lifted his son up. You see substitution? And Abraham
saw it, too. He saw it, too. He's not a dum-dum. He saw it. He believed God! These men believed God. Let's
look at the next verse, 20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. I want you to turn in your
Bibles to Genesis 27. Isaac was an old man, he was
dying. He had two sons, Jacob and Esau.
And you remember that back before these boys were born, The Lord
said to Rebekah, you'll have twins, but the oldest will serve
the youngest. Jacob hath a love, Esau hath
a hatred. He told her that before they were born, that the purpose
of God according to his election might stand. These boys are grown
now, and their daddy is blind, and he's dying. Esau is a hunter,
and Jacob is an inside person. Esau is a hairy man, Jacob is
a fair man, smooth-skinned. And the old man's dying and he
told his son Esau, I'm going to bless you now. He evidently
didn't believe what his wife told him, what God told her.
Yeah, it can't be. That's against the way things
are. The oldest son is the heir. It's
just always been that way and always will be that way, and
that's what old man Isaac probably said to her. That's the way it's
going to be. But he told that Harry boy, he said, you go out
and get a venison. and slay it and fix me one of
your fine meals and bring it to me." So while he was gone,
Rebecca, she prepared one and gave it to Jacob and told him
to go in and serve his daddy and get the blessing. She even
put some fur around him, some animal skin, so when his daddy
reached out to touch him, he believed it was Esau. So let's
read Genesis 27 and verse 30. You know the story. It came to
pass as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, he
gave him the birthright, he gave him the blessing, he made him
the heir and made him the priest of the home. Jacob was thus gone
out of the presence of Isaac his father that he saw his brother
came in from his honey. And he also had made savory meat
and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, Let
my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul
may bless me. And Isaac his father said, Who
are you? He said, I'm your son, your firstborn,
Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly. He said, Who? You remember Jacob
hadn't said a word. He deceived his father. Who and where is he that hath
taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all
before thou camest? I have blessed him, yea, and
he shall be blessed. I don't understand this, but
it stands. Whom I bless is blessed." That's
faith. He believed God. God's in this
thing. He went on and told her, Esau
wept and cried, and finally his father said to him down here
in verse 37, Isaac answered and said, Esau, I made him your Lord,
and that's who he is. And all his brethren have I given
to him for service. And with corn and wine have I
sustained him, and what shall I do for thee now, my son? The
birthright is his, and it's going to stand." I just believe that
Rebekah's words were going through his mind. The elder shall serve
the younger. I see. He didn't try to change
it. That's where it stands. Let me
show you another over here in Hebrews 11, another blessing. Hebrews 11, verse 21. That's
Jacob. Isaac blessed Jacob, gave him
the birthright. Then it comes along, Jacob's
dying, verse 21. We're still from the flood to
Moses. Jacob's dying, and he blessed
both the sons of Joseph, and worshiped reigning on top of
his staff. Let's read about that. Don't
you love this? Let's go into Genesis 48. That's
where it is. Genesis 48. Now they're down
in the land of Egypt. Israel is down in the land of
Egypt. Israel is Jacob. Do you remember Prince? God said
your name is Israel, Prince. They're down in Egypt and he's
dying. Joseph is there and his sons, two sons. In Genesis 48,
verse 1. Came to pass after these things
that one told Joseph, behold your father is sick. Jacob is
sick. So Joseph took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh is the oldest, Ephraim
is the youngest. And one told Jacob and said,
Behold, your son Joseph comes to you. And Israel, Jacob strengthened
himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God
Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and
blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I make thee fruitful.
I'll multiply thee, I'll make of thee a multitude of people,
I'll give this land to your seed, after you, for an everlasting
possession. Now, your two sons, Ephraim and
Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before
I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine, as Reuben and Simeon
are mine. They shall be mine. And thou,
Israel, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and
shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
Joseph wants his father, Jacob, to bless these boys. So in verse
10, Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could
not see. And he brought those boys near
to him, and he kissed them and braced them. And Israel said
to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face, I thought you
was dead. And, lo, God hath allowed me
also to see your seed. And Joseph brought them out from
between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the
earth. And Joseph took them both, these two boys, Ephraim in his
right hand toward his father's left hand." Ephraim is the youngest
one. So Joseph brought him up here. Here is Jacob sitting in
the chair. He brings Ephraim, the youngest,
over here on his father's left hand. The left hand, not the
blessing. He brought Manasseh on the right
hand. Joseph took them both, Ephraim
his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh his left
hand toward Israel's right hand, and both of them knew it. And
Jacob stretched out his right hand and crossed it. Blind now, but he knows where
that young boy is, and he knows where that older son is. He crossed
that hand, put that right hand on Ephraim's head, left hand
on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands willingly,
for Manasseh was the firstborn. In verse 18, Joseph said to his
father, Not so, my son. This is my firstborn. Put your
right hand on his head. And his father refused. I know,
my son, I know. He also shall become a people.
He shall be great, but his younger brother will be greater than
he. and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. These
men God spoke to them. The older shall serve the younger. It was so Cain and Abel. It was
so Moses and Abel. Abel was the oldest. It was so Jacob and Esau. Jacob
was the youngest. It was so Manasseh and Ephraim. He knew what he was doing. Believe
God. Believe God. He didn't bring God's purpose
and will to be challenged by what he thought. He did what
God told him to do. Well, now he's dead and Joseph
is dying, verse 22. Jacob's dead and But wait a minute,
let's go back to Genesis and show you where Jacob sees Christ
and knows about Christ in all of this. Turn back to Genesis
49. Before Jacob died, he blessed Joseph's two sons, Ephraim. Ephraim
is the granddaddy of Joshua. Joshua is his grandson. That's
the line of Ephraim. That's the reason Jacob's got
his hand over here, because Ephraim is mighty. Now he is blessing
his 12 sons, Jacob, here, Genesis 49. And he came to Judah, he
blessed Reuben and Simeon and Levi and all these 12 boys there,
12 tribes of Israel named for these 12 sons. Now he is blessing
Judah, in verse 8, Genesis 49. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before
thee. Judah is a lion's wealth, from the prey my son doth gone
up. He stooped down, he couched as
a lion, as an old lion, who shall rise him up? The sifter shall
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
shallow comes. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be." You talk about a man, bleak God. Here were these
twelve sons, and they weren't They were fine sons, I'm sure,
but they did some awful things. And he gave them the blessing,
and when he came to Levi, he talked about how God would use
him. He came to Judah, he said, here's the king, here's the king
tribe, here's the tribe from which will come the Messiah,
the Messiah, whose goings forth have been from of old, and to
him shall the gathering of the people be. Believe God, looking
for Christ. Now, Joseph's dying. Hebrews
11, verse 22. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel out
of Egypt. He told them, he said, you're coming out of here. God's
going to lead you to Canaan. That's what Jacob talked about
all the time, Canaan, my land. God gave Canaan. That's what
he talked about. Abraham's land, that's right.
And he said, Joseph said, Now, you're coming out of here, and
he gave commandment concerning his bones. Now, all right, let's
go to Genesis 50, the last chapter of Genesis. Joseph's dying. What I'm establishing all the
way through this chapter is faith before the flood, faith from
the flood to Moses, faith. These men all were justified
by faith. And their faith was directed
toward Christ. Now, listen to Joseph. Genesis
50, verse 24, when Joseph said to his brethren, I die, God will
surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land
which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Joseph made the
children of Israel agree to an oath. He took an oath of the
children of Israel, saying, God will visit you take you out,
and you carry my bones from him. Don't you leave my body buried
in Egypt." Joseph died being 110 years old, and they embalmed
him. I'd like to know a little bit
about the embalming of the Egyptians, wouldn't you? They embalmed him,
put him in a coffin in Egypt. Somebody said the book of Genesis
is the beginning. That's what the Genesis means,
the beginning. It starts right out with, In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and he
said, It's good. And the book ends in a coffin in Egypt. The
greatest man of that day was in a coffin in Egypt. Did they
take his bones? I know you want to know. Turn
to Exodus 13. Let's see what Moses did about
that. Do you reckon Moses honored that
request? Exodus 13, verse 18. But God
led the people about through the way of the wilderness of
the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went
up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt, and Moses took the
bones of Joseph with him. For he had straightly sworn the
children of Israel, saying, God will visit you and carry you
up, and you shall carry up my bones. He believed God. Ah, the identification
and relationship of these people with God, His people, His purposes. Well, I don't have too much longer,
but let me show you from Moses to Canaan. Faith from Moses to
Canaan. Here in verse 24. Verse 23, Moses,
when he was born, was he had three months of his
parents. His mother saw, you know, Pharaoh had given an order
to, when these Israelite women had babies, throw the boys into
the river, let the girls live and kill the boys. When Moses
was born, his mother believed that this is a goodly child,
this is a special child. God spoke to her, I'm sure, and
she hid him for three months, and then she took him down and
put him in a little boat in the water of the river and put bullrushes
around and put his sister Miriam over there to watch him. And
she was over there watching him and Pharaoh's daughter came down
and she saw that baby and she took that baby up and her maids
took him back to the palace. Before they went, she took him
up in her arms And Miriam came out of where she was hiding.
And Miriam said, Would you want me to get a nurse for your baby?
She said, Well, yes, I would. It's a Hebrew baby. Well, I'll
get a Hebrew woman for you. And she went and got her mom.
And Moses' mom moved into the palace and raised her boy, teaching
him the things of God, teaching him about the Messiah. He was
a proper child. They weren't afraid of the king's
commandments. Verse 24, by faith Moses when he was come to years,
he was 40 years old, he made some choices. First, he refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Secondly, he chose rather to
suffer the afflictions with the people of God. than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. Thirdly, he esteemed the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Fourthly,
he had respect under the recompense of the reward. So by faith he
left that place. He forsook Egypt, not fearing
the wrath of the king. He endured, as seeing him who
is invisible. Moses was 40, and 40 years later
he was 80 years of age, and that's when God appeared to him in the
bush and said, you deliver my people. Moses said, I'm not a
speaker, I don't, I'm not a, but he said, I'll send your brother
Aaron with you, but you're going to deliver my people. And so
verse 28, by faith he kept the Passover, sprinkling of the blood. lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them." You know, when a man truly fears God, he
doesn't fear men. I see up there where he said
he didn't fear the King. They didn't fear the King, not
fearing the wrath of the King. When a man fears God, he doesn't
fear men. When a man bows to God, he no
longer bows to idols. When a man trusts His confidence
in the Lord, he depends on him. And he kept the Passover. All
right, let's move on. Verse 29, By faith Israel passed
through the Red Sea. By faith those people went through
that wall of water, those walls of water. Dry as dry land, when
the Egyptians are saying to do so with ground. By faith the
walls of Jericho fell down, after they were encompassed about seven
days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed
not, but she had received the spies." Would you like to take
a moment and read about Rahab? Turn to Joshua. This is interesting,
Joshua 2. This is some more of those green
pastures that comfort and encourage us. Israel was about to take
Canaan. They were coming across the river. Moses was dead, Joshua was leading
them. In chapter 2 of Joshua, Joshua
the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying,
Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came to a harlot's
house named Rahab, and they lodged there. She was a keeper of a
house where people slept and fed them and all these things. They lodged there at her house.
She had a house in the wall of Jericho. And it was told the
king of Jericho, Behold, there came men in hither tonight, of
the children of Israel, to search out the country. And the king
of Jericho knew where they would be hanging out and where they
would be staying. So he sent to Rahab and said,
Bring forth the men that come to you, which are entering into
your house, that come to search out and spy on our country. And
the woman took the two men and hid them. And she said to her
king, she lied. But she said, there came men
to me, but I don't know, I wish not whence they were, I didn't
know who they were. And it came to pass about the
time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, they left.
They left. And whether the men went, I don't
know, but if you go quickly, you can go to take them. They're
gone. They were hiding upstairs in
her house. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house,
and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in
order upon the roof. And the king's men pursued after
them the way to Jordan and all the way to the river. As soon
as they were pursued after them, they had gone out to shut the
gates. But before they were laid down, she came up to the men
on the roof. She came up there where these
fellows were hiding. Listen to what she said. This is faith,
by faith, Rahab. I know the Lord has given you
this land. And that your terror is falling
upon us, Jericho is going to fall. And all the inhabitants
of the land faint because of you. We've heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea. That was 40 years ago. That
was 40 years ago before this. And what you did unto the two
kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan,
Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. As soon as we heard
these things, our hearts didn't 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 the earth beneath. Now I pray
to you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I've showed you kindness,
you show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token
that you'll save me alive, my father, my mother, my brothers
and my sisters and all that they have. and deliver our lives from
death. And the man answered and said,
Our life is yours. If you utter not this our business,
it will be when the Lord has given us this land, we'll do
it kindly with you." Jericho's walls fell. They fell. What did Joshua do about this
woman? That's rated. Joshua 6. I love this here, Joshua
6. God's men are faithful, and their
God is faithful. Joshua chapter 6, verse 21. And they utterly destroyed all
that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox
and sheep, ass with an edge of the sword. But Joshua had said
unto the two men that spied out the country, he had already told
them, Go to the harlot's house and bring out the woman, and
all that she has, as you swear to her, And the young men who
were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and
her mother and her brethren, all that she had, and they brought
out all their kindred and left them without the camp of Israel."
She became an Israelite. She believed God. This is all
by faith. She married a father named Salmon,
S-A-L-M-O-N, Salmon. He and Rahab had a son named
Boaz, who married Ruth. And Boaz and Ruth had a boy named
Obed. And Obed and his wife had a boy
named Jesse. And Jesse had a boy named David.
Ah, me, this woman who believed God, became the great, great
grandmother of King David, right after God's own heart. The ways
of our God are marvelous before our eyes. Why don't people believe
him? I do. Aren't you glad you do?
I believe God. I tell you, the stories people
make up have nothing on the joy and beauty of these true things
that God has brought to pass. All right, then I'll close with
this. Faith in the fourth place in
verse 32. Faith from Canaan to Christ.
You have faith before the flood, faith from the flood to Moses,
faith from Moses to Canaan, and faith after Canaan, which includes
Gideon, verse 32, Barak, Samson, the judges, Jephthah, David,
Samuel, the prophet, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, the Lord our
righteousness, Isaiah, the Lord our Redeemer, And then down here in verse 39,
and all these, these all, having obtained a good report through
faith. That's the whole foundation,
they believed God. And they obtained a good report,
name them, before the Flood, during the Flood, after the Flood,
Moses, Canaan, to Christ. The whole Old Testament is about
people who believed God. and they obtained a good report,
salvation, accepted of the Lord, not having received the promise,
not having received the fulfillment. But God provided some better
thing for us. They had Christ in promise, we
have Christ in person. They had Christ in type, we have
Christ in flesh and blood. They believed and were saved
by the Christ who would come, we believe and are saved by the
Christ who did come. But he says, they without us
should not be made perfect, and we without them should not be
made perfect, because their sins and our sins were expiated at
the same time on Calvary's cross. Their persons and ours were justified
at the same time by the righteousness of Christ. They and we make up
the same church, the same body, the same kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. So verse 1 of chapter 12. No,
I'm not going through chapter 12. Relax. But chapter 12 verse 1 tells
us, Therefore, seeing that we're compassed about with so great
a cloud of believers and witnesses, let us believe God. Let us lay
aside every weight. Let us lay aside the sin which
doth so easily beset us. What's that? That's it, lay it aside, and
let's run with patience the race set before us. I hope that's
a blessing to you as it was to me to prepare it for you. That's thrilling, comforting,
encouraging, faith of God's elect.