From Bondage to Blessing: Joshua's Leadership and Rahab's Redemption

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast

where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to

this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen

you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has

for us here today.

We're going to continue our Bible study in the book of Joshua.

If you have your Bibles turn there with me.

Joshua, chapter two.

By way of review, what have we gone over so far?

Well, the torch is being passed from Moses to Joshua as the

leader of the nation of Israel.

They've been led out of bondage, let out of Egypt, which

we know is, is literal Egypt, but also a picture of being led out

of the bondage of sin.

And obviously we know that there was that time in the wilderness

where the, the nation of Israel was wandering and, and Moses

was, was barred from going to the promised land.

But now Joshua has the blessing to usher in the people to

the promised land.

And so God says, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

And that means a lot to Joshua because obviously Joshua was there

with Moses and so he saw God's hand on Moses life.

But now he understands that that was a promise for him.

And remember what God promised Joshua was that he would be there

with him through it.

He didn't promise him an easy path.

We're about to talk about the people that Joshua was going to be

taking the land from.

And they're not nice people.

They're not people that are just going to give the land up.

But God made a promise to Joshua, saying, look, as you go through

what I have called you to do, I'm going to be there with you.

It's going to be my power.

It's going to be my provision.

And so we see the picture of the Israelites moving from Egypt

to the promised land is a picture of us moving from a life

of sin to a life of salvation, a life of forgiveness, a life with

the Lord.

And so God made a promise to Joshua.

And Joshua responds by action.

He responds in faith.

And true faith produces true action.

Now remember, God said to Joshua, you want to be successful,

you want to be prosperous, follow these things.

And ultimately what he said was this.

Stay in the word of God.

Obey the Word of God, meditate upon the Word of God, apply the Word

of God.

And when we do that, when we trust in the promises of God and

we live a life of obedience to him, we will See blessing.

And so God makes a promise to Joshua.

And Joshua's proper response was to move on that promise.

And we saw that he moved on that promise last week when he said,

look, we're going to prepare.

We're going to get our provisions together so that we can

move across Jordan.

And then there was the challenge to the other people that

didn't need to cross the Jordan, but there was a challenge

for them to help their brothers and sisters get across to

the promised land.

So we get into chapter two, and we see a continuation of Joshua

preparing the people to move in the promise of God.

And all of us have to realize that, yes, God makes promises, but

the promises don't meet anything unless we rest in those

promises, believe in those promises, and act in faith.

And so we see in verse one of chapter two, and Joshua the son of

nun, sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretively, secretly

saying, go view the land, even Jericho.

So the first place that God calls the people to go to conquer

is a place called Jericho.

At least that's where they're going to scout.

And he says, and they went and came into a harlot's house named

Rahab and lodged there.

So really, chapter two is, yes, a story of Joshua and the Israelites,

but chapter two is the beginning of a story of a lady named

Rahab.

And Rahab is Canaanite, Rahab is a Gentile.

But we're going to see this beautiful picture of God taking a

woman in a life of sin, in a life of rebellion, in a culture of

sin and a culture of rebellion, and moving her to a place

of salvation.

And we're going to see an interesting story of how this individual

who really on.

On the scale of being on paper was not someone that we would expect

God to love, but God extends his mercy and grace to her, just

as he extends mercy and grace to sinners today.

And we're going to study that.

And there's some questions that we're going to have here in

this study, because a lot of times we look at the life of Rahab

and we.

We are a little bit confused because some of you may or may not

know that Rahab actually lies to protect the spies.

And by just an overview, it might look like, hey, did God bless

her lie?

Did God bless her sin?

But we're going to dive deeper into that because I think that there

is a logical and biblical answer to reconciling all the things

that we read here in this passage.

So verse two, and it was told to the King of Jericho.

So the spies go, and the king of Jericho finds out, saying, behold,

there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel

to search out the country.

And so this, this type of careful preparation shows that Joshua

and the people of Israel are being faithful to God's promise.

And so because they're preparing, it shows that they're

trusting in the promises of God.

So God's promises are of success that he gave to Joshua and

to the people of Israel should never.

And the promises that he gives to us, by the way, the promises that

God gives to us meaning, hey, we have everlasting life.

Hey, we have victory over sin.

That should never lull us in to a place of inactivity or apathy.

Sometimes the temptation is, is that we have so much confidence

in God that we can come apathetic in the things that God

has called us to do.

So what do I mean by that?

We're supposed to, as Christians, go and tell the lost

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But because of our comfort and because of the promises of God saying,

hey, everything's okay for you, we think, you know what, I'm

okay.

And so I can just kind of be lulled into a sense of apathy.

And what we can see here is that though Joshua is trusting in

the promises of God, it's followed up in faithfulness and faithful

action.

And so the promises of God should not lull us into a place of

apathy or inactivity, but they should challenge us and motivate

us to step forward in godly activity, acting in our faith and

trusting that God is going to keep his word.

And so that's what they're doing.

They're preparing the way, they're scouting.

They're getting as much information as they can before God

brings them to that place there in Jericho.

So Joshua shows wisdom, he shows planning.

And ultimately God is going to show them that the victory is theirs.

But through this story of victory comes the, the beautiful,

I believe, story of the salvation of Rahab as well, and her

family and how God ties in Rahab.

If many of you know where I'm going with this, ties in Rahab to

the line or lineage of Jesus the Messiah, which is an amazing

story as well.

But I want to give you a little bit of background on the people

that Joshua and the Israelites are spying on who, who they're eventually

going to come across.

And it will kind of give you a context of where Rahab is in her

life.

So what culture is Rahab living in?

It's not the type of culture that the Israelites were used to.

I want to point you to a few passages of Scripture that describe

the lifestyle of the Canaanites.

If you go back with me to the book of Leviticus.

Leviticus, chapter 18.

Leviticus 18 · chapter mention

Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 30, tells us something very interesting

Leviticus 18:30

about the people there that were living in the land of Canaan

at the time of the Israelites coming back into the promised land.

It says in Leviticus 18:30, therefore shall you keep.

Leviticus 18:30

Keep mine ordinance, that you commit not any one of these abominable

customs.

And it's basically contrasting the way that the Canaanite, the pagan

people were living, which were committed before you, that they that

ye defile not yourselves therein.

I am the Lord your God.

And so the Bible says that the people that were living in this land

at this time were acting out abominable customs.

Essentially this detestable actions, things that we would not

want to talk about in public or even in private.

Another passage of Scripture that I think would be appropriate

to describe the.

The type of people that were living in the land of Canaan, just

so you understand the context of their rebellion and you understand

where Rahab is living.

There's another passage In Deuteronomy, chapter 18, speaking

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention

of the pagan practices that the Israelites were supposed to avoid.

We see in Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verses 9.

Deuteronomy 18:9

And, and you could even go further, but we'll just look at 9,

10, and 11.

It says, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy

God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations

of those nations.

And so it says that they were committing abominations, verse 10.

There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or

his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination,

or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer,

or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer.

See, that's some interesting words there.

What's that talking about?

Well, basically it says this.

The people of the land of Canaan at this time, the pagan people

were attempting to cast spells upon people.

They're attempting to call up the dead, essentially demonic activity.

And it tells us here, if you didn't catch it there in the King

James, it says that they would make their sons and daughters pass

through the fire.

That's a way to say that they would burn their sons and daughters

to the gods, they would sacrifice their children to the gods.

And so we see how terrible this culture really was.

And so there was evil going on in the land.

Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 25, says that they were so bad that

Leviticus 18:25

the.

That God wanted to reject them and resist that evil.

The Israel, the Israelites, needed to reject that evil.

And so ultimately, what we can see here is that in Joshua, chapter

two, they're not going into people that are kind, they're not

going into people that are innocent, they're not going into

a land that is.

Is going to receive them well.

And we're going to understand where Rahab is coming from when she

comes to faith.

So for her to lie would be just part of her culture.

For her to lie would be something that, especially if you

understand what her profession was, for her to lie was nothing.

It was acceptable.

And so she's young in her faith, obviously, but we're going

to see that God changes her.

So let's look at verse number three.

We're going to start to see the story of Rahab here and the story

how the spies go into Rahab's house and how ultimately God protects

them and God preserves Rahab.

So look at verse number three with me.

It says, and the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying,

bring forth the men that are come to thee which are entered into

thine house.

For they come, they become, to search out all the country.

And this is where we see her use a misdirection.

And I've.

I've heard commentators say, well, this is a good thing.

We should lie if it's for the cause of the gospel or the cause

of the kingdom.

But that's not what God.

That's not the character of God.

God never expects us to have two wrongs to make it right or one

wrong to make it right.

And so this puts us in a real predicament here, because some people

want to frame this as a good thing that Rahab did.

Other people want to try to say, well, basically God overlooks

this sin because it was for his.

His plan.

But I. I think that there's a better way to look at this.

And so let's look at it in verse number four, it says, and the

woman took the two men and hid them.

Not a bad thing.

I think it's okay to hide people.

But then.

And said, thus there came men unto me, but I wish not whence they

were.

Essentially, she says, I. I don't know where they're from.

And it came to pass.

So again, everything okay?

Verse 5.

And it came to pass about the time of shutting the gate when it

was dark that the men went out.

Whether the men went, I want not pursue after them quickly, for

ye shall overtake them.

And so this is where the deception comes.

She says, they've gone, they've left.

And essentially what we can see here is that she misleads these

people, but ultimately it brings about protection for these,

these spies.

Verse 6.

But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them

with the stalks of flax which he had laid in order upon the roof.

And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords.

And as soon as they which pursued after them were gone, out,

they shut the gates.

And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon

the roof.

Now, we're going to stop there because I think it's important to

understand what happens here.

And then what we really see is her make a profession of faith after

this.

And so in, in the culture of the day, and, and even if you go

to the Middle east today, in, in the culture that's already over

there right now, hospitality is a big thing.

And so for her to have these men come into her place.

And by the way, I'll be kind of tactful when I say this, but this

was a good place to go, to have anonymity, right?

For, for this, for her being a harlot, there would be, there would

be quietness on who was going there.

Right.

People were coming there and frequenting this place all the time.

And so what would happen here is that they went in and there was

no sin involved.

This was essentially just where they went and where they were

hit.

And then what happens is Rahab, with that strong tradition

of hospitality, takes them in and protects them.

She puts her own life on the line for these men.

And so initially it's something that she's doing out of

hospitality.

And what then?

What happens next?

Well, I need to make a note here.

The Bible simply just reports Rahab's lie.

I don't believe that it ever praises or excuses the lie.

We're going to see later on that Rahab is mentioned in the hall

of faith, but it's not her lie that is celebrated.

It's her faith that she's about to profess.

And if you say, well, how could God praise Rahab for, you know,

she, she, she was a liar.

God praises a lot of people in the hall of faith that had a lot

of sins in their life.

And so it's not in, in the hall of Abraham, did he have sin?

Yes.

Right.

We, we understand that all the people that are listed in Hebrews

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 had sins in their life.

And so just the simple fact that Rahab had a sin here in her

narrative, that doesn't mean that that's what God is praising.

God is praising her for her faith, which we're going to talk

about now.

And so Rahab's lie was not justified, though it was understandable

in her culture.

Right?

We just read about her culture.

There was child sacrifice, there was abominations, there was

witchcraft.

And so for a lie would have meant nothing for her.

But we see farther on what happens.

Look at with me in verse number nine.

And she said unto the man, I know that the Lord hath given you

the land.

She recognizes the victory of God.

She recognizes the power of the one true God.

And she says, I know that the Lord hath given you the land and

that your terror is fallen upon us.

We see a real recognition of the power of God.

And what does the power of God bring?

The fear of God, which, by the way, the fear of God is not a bad

thing.

We've talked about that before.

There's a healthy respect that we should have for the power of God.

And I believe, culturally speaking, we've lost that within

the church and within Christianity itself, I think we should

have a proper fear of God.

And so she says, terror has fallen upon us.

And I think that the unsaved.

I mean, a lot of times we will say we don't want to scare them into

heaven.

And I understand what we mean by that.

We won't.

We don't want to just bring fear and terror to people when it

comes to the gospel.

But we do need to be clear about what is at stake when we are

telling people the truth of Jesus Christ.

You just tell people that Jesus is going to make your life

better.

Some people might say, my life's pretty good.

I don't need someone to make my life better.

Well, Jesus is going to give you everything that you ever wanted.

That's a lie.

No, Jesus is saving you from the punishment of total destruction.

The wages of sin is death.

So Rahab understood that her only path to life and salvation was

through the God of Israel.

The same thing that we have to tell people today.

Your only path to salvation, your only path to life is through

Jesus Christ.

And so what happens here?

She admits the power of God, and that's proven by her fear.

Not fear and trembling when it comes to condemnation.

We learned about that this morning in Romans, chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

A Christian doesn't have to fear the condemnation of God.

But there is a healthy respect for his power and his judgment.

Then he.

Then we see here in verse nine, it concludes, and that all

the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

So she recognizes that there's other people fearing, but fearing

for the wrong reasons.

Because, by the way, fear can produce two different things, right?

Fear can produce faith, right?

If I fear God properly, I align myself under him and I obey

him and I trust in Him.

But sometimes people, because of the fear of judgment, try to run

farther.

They try to rebel more, they try to ignore.

And so we see that she responds properly to the judgment

and fear of God where the others are not.

They're just in fear that there's going to be some type of

overthrow, and they don't want to have that happen.

Verse 10.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea

for you.

So.

So the story's out, right?

People are hearing about God.

People are hearing about his works when you came out of Egypt

and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on

the other side of Jordan, Cheyenne and Og, whom he utterly

destroyed.

And 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.

Essentially, what we see here is Rahab's confession of faith in

the one true God.

And so we see this outburst of faith showing that she recognizes

that God had a plan, and she.

She recognizes that God has His power, and the only response

to that is to submit to Him.

And so Rahab here in this declaration, proves her fate.

She professes her faith.

I would argue that at this point in time, it's not strong faith.

She probably doesn't know everything that she needs to know.

She doesn't need.

She doesn't know all the things that follow in obedience.

But she does recognize that she needs God.

And that's where salvation really starts.

That's where it is.

Like we were saying this morning, we don't expect someone

who gets saved to know everything about everything when

it comes to the things of God.

But the one thing that we do have to have right is our faith.

Faith in the right thing, faith in God, faith in him alone.

And so we see that in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

I want you to see that Rahab is mentioned here in the we call

the hall of Faith.

Obviously, most of you know that Hebrews 11 speaks of the definition

of faith, the importance of faith, and the Examples of faith,

right?

We.

We see in verse number one what faith is, believing in something

that we don't see.

We see the importance of faith in verse six.

It's impossible to please him without faith, for he is a he.

For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is

a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

And then if we jump ahead to verse 31, we see Rahab actually mentioned

here.

It says by faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that

believed not when she had received the spies with peace.

The Bible essentially says that she believed the right thing,

and her belief in the right thing caused her to not fall into

the same category as those who believe not.

So she believed.

There's another passage of Scripture in James, chapter 2, verse

James 2:25

25 that says basically she had true faith, but her faith was proven

by her actions.

So she wasn't saved by her works, but her works, her actions

there proved what she believed.

And so for many people, it's appalling to think that Rahab who

was a harlot could be saved.

But the Bible very clearly teaches that nobody is too far gone

for the gospel to change them.

And folks, some of you might have a background that you're not

proud of, and maybe some people that you're praying for in

salvation aren't where they need to be.

And maybe you could say in a very material way, very human way,

I don't ever see that person ever getting saved because of the

lifestyle that they're living.

The Bible says that here the power of God is way more powerful

than the sin that we are living in at that very moment, because

God can change us.

Rahab the harlot living in the land of Canaan, in Jericho, where

there were all those terrible sins, God takes her out of that life

and we're going to see that she acts in faith.

And so despite the fact that she lives in this terrible, detestable

culture that she's living a life of sin, she was not saved by

her works.

She didn't get cleaned up and fix everything and then come to God.

Know what happens is that she comes to God and God changes her.

She.

She knew, she recognized who God was and she trusted God not just

to make her life better, but to change her and ultimately to save

her from punishment.

And that's how we have to come to Christ.

We have to come to Christ as our only option.

The problem is, is that sometimes we want to come to God

and then have a bunch of backup plans.

And for.

For Rahab here, she didn't have a backup plan.

It was God or death.

And that's really what it is when it comes to the gospel anyway.

But we look at this passage of scripture and we see somebody who,

again, they didn't get their life cleaned up and then.

And then come and get salvation.

They get salvation, and that's what changes a life.

So, you know, there's.

There's churches, and I've heard churches say this, come as

you are.

And we know the idea with that.

It's like, come as you are and then stay as you are and then leave

as you are, and nothing changes.

That's not the way it should be.

Well, biblically speaking, yeah, come in.

Come in in your sin.

Right?

How else can you change that?

As a church, we can't just accept people at the door that have

everything, right?

What we have to do is we have to say, come on in and let Jesus

change you.

Let the word of God change you.

But.

But let me say it this way.

Yeah.

So come as you are, but do not leave as you are.

Leave, change, leave transformed.

Allow the word of God.

Allow the spirit to God to change a heart and to move the person.

So.

So what I would say is this.

If a person is truly saved through faith, God will change the

heart.

An individual should not stay in one sin, but to move.

And so, like, for example, let's say the story of Rahab was,

she said all these things, and then she said, you know what?

I'm just going to go back to the.

What I was doing before and live the way that I want to live.

But that's not the case.

We see that there's a change.

There's a dramatic change.

She has to leave her people and.

And follow God's people.

And so it's leaving that old life.

It's leaving that old way and moving to this new path.

And so what we can see here is that Rahab trusts in the Lord and

we know that through many different passages of scripture.

But ultimately we see in Hebrews, chapter 11 that it was faith

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

that saved her and not her works.

So let's go a little bit further here.

Verse 12.

Now, now there's this.

This covenant that's made between Rahab and the spies.

But ultimately it's.

It's God's promise to her.

Verse 12.

Now, therefore, I pray you swear unto me by the Lord, since

I've showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my

father's house and give me a true token.

What's she talking about here?

Well, Ray, Rahab not only has a desire to see, but her life changed

by God and be part of God's family and his people, but she wants

her family, people that she loves, to know God.

And so Rahab had a desire to see her family saved as well, and

she was willing to sacrifice for them.

And that shows that she had love for them.

And, and we show that we have love for people when we want them

to come to the Lord.

I can't say that I love somebody but don't have enough love

to tell them the truth about Jesus.

That.

That's just the reality of things.

I think that for many of us, it's hard for us to wrap our minds

around what that type of love looks like.

We.

We had a discussion in our Bible study this morning, and I hope

that the person that was discussing it with me isn't embarrassed.

I won't say who it was, but there was this point where we're

saying, like, how it's so hard to forgive people that are mean to

us, like someone that's wronged us, it's like, so hard to

get over that.

And, you know, and I just, I had one of these moments where God

put a light bulb in my mind.

I said, you know what?

When my children are mean to me, it's very easy for me to forgive

them.

I don't, like, hold it over my children's head like a proper parent

can hear that, you know?

And sometimes our children can lash out and say things that maybe

they don't even mean, or maybe they do mean it, but we, we don't

have a hard time forgiving them, right?

I'm like, if my child yells at me and says something to me, I'm

going to feed them today, okay?

I'm going to take care of them.

I'm going to protect them.

Why can't I forgive them?

Because I love them.

Right?

The love for that child supersedes the, the offense that

that person did to me.

It's the same thing when it comes to an ins.

Like, like, like someone in the church.

Someone in the church wrongs me.

So what do I do?

Well, I don't love them anymore.

No, I, I love them more than the offense.

So I forbear them in love.

I forbear them in grace.

And I.

And I leave an open opportunity and opening for rest,

restitution, to come back and fix this.

And so what do we see here?

We see that if we love somebody, we're willing to tell them

the truth about Jesus, we're willing to sacrifice for them.

And that's what she does here.

She says, I want my family to be saved too.

It's not just about me.

It's about others around me.

And then we see what she says.

She's like, swear to me, verse 12.

Swear unto me.

What is this?

Well, I think this is a picture of her desiring to have assurance

and confidence in.

In some type of promise of God.

She wanted to leave that sinful life.

She wanted to leave that culture.

She wanted to go to God and be part of his people and his purpose.

So ultimately, I think that's a picture of a newly saved individual

that wants to bring people with them.

And sometimes, when.

Sometimes the best evangelists for the gospel are newly saved believers,

right, because they're on fire for God.

Sometimes the people that have been saved for the longest amount

of time have lost that desire and love and are comfortable with

where they are.

I think all of us need to rekindle that desire for those people

to come to Christ that need Jesus.

And.

And so that's what we can see here.

Verse 13.

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.

Verse 14.

And the men answered, our life for yours.

If he utter not this our business, and it shall be, when the

Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly

with thee.

Then she let down, let them down by a cord through the window.

For her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the

wall.

And she said unto them, get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers

meet you and hide yourselves there.

Three days until the pursuers be returned.

And afterward may ye go your way.

And the men said unto her, we will be blameless of this thine oath

which thou has made us swear.

And so here, essentially, Rahab is extending to them more advice

and trying to help them more improving that she loves God by loving

his people.

And by the way, that's something I think that we can do,

right?

First, John tells us the way that we prove our love for God is

not just saying that we love God.

Okay, I can say all day that I love my family, but unless I demonstrate

that love, I can say whatever I want to say.

And we can say all day that we love God.

But first John says this, and.

And the Gospel of John says that if we love God, we love his

people.

So we want to protect them when they're weeping, we're weeping

when they're laughing, we're laughing.

We protect, we lift up, we encourage.

And so here, that's what we see happening.

And we see the plan for her salvation.

Verse 18 says, Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind

this a scarlet thread in the window, which thou didst let us down

by.

And thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren,

all thy father's household home unto thee.

And so the.

The sign is, hang out of your window.

The red cord.

The scarlet cord.

Some of you know this story.

And the plan would be this, to put that out as a.

As a.

As a sign so that they would not attack that household.

Going.

Going farther here.

And then we're gonna.

We're gonna dive a little bit deeper into that.

Verse 19.

And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy

house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and

we will be guiltless.

And whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall

be on our head.

And if any man be upon him, and if thou utter this, our business,

then we will be quit of thine oath which thou has made us to swear.

And she said, according unto your words, so be it.

She agrees to this.

She says, I will do this.

And she sent them away, and they departed.

And she bound the scarlet line in the window.

She immediately obeys, and she immediately follows this path.

She wants the salvation.

And they went and came unto the mountain and abode there three

days until the pursuers were returned.

And the pursuer sought them throughout all the way, but found

them not so.

The two men returned and descended from the mountain and passed

over and came to Joshua, the son of nun, and told him all the

things that befell them.

And they said unto Joshua, truly, the Lord hath delivered into

our hands all the land, even all the inhabitants of the country

do faint because of us.

And so the sign is this, the scarlet cord.

And so Rahab immediately puts her faith into action by identifying

herself by the red cord.

And many scholars, even.

Even back as far as the first century, some of you may or may not

know this guy.

His name's Clement of Rome.

He was Earl, one of the earliest Christian writers, very

shortly after the apostles.

Clement of Rome, identified the scarlet cord as a symbol for

the blood of Jesus Christ.

Others like Justin Martyr and other ancient theologians saw that.

And I think that it's a picture that we can see.

It's not a stretch to see that that scarlet cord was not just a

literal scarlet cord, even though it was.

But it's also a picture of the only saving grace that we have, and

that is the blood of Jesus Christ, a precursor to what we trust

in as a gentile believer.

There's only one path.

There's only one way to salvation, and that is the blood

of Jesus Christ.

Without the shedding of blood, there's not remission of sins.

And so it's only through Jesus that we can find salvation.

If Rahab heard, hey, it's the red, the red cord, the scarlet cord,

and she said, yeah, but I've got other things I can do.

Why don't I do this color?

Or why don't I go this way?

There's a lot of people that say, okay, that's the way to go.

Well, I want to find my own path.

Rahab found the path to salvation through one way, and we

find salvation through one way, and that is believing in Jesus

Christ as our Lord and Savior to know that that is the only path

to salvation.

And so we see here a sense of desperation from Rahab.

This is my only way.

I'm going to throw this out the window.

And that's my only path of salvation.

And so often we preach the gospel is this is just an option

for you to add onto your life.

It's just an app that you can add onto your phone.

It's, it's just a, a, a, a add on to the package deal of life.

No, salvation is the only thing that will save us from sin,

save us from destruction, save us from eternal punishment.

So what happens here is Rahab puts her faith to action.

She, she trusted in the promise of God through the scarlet

cord.

So here in this case, Joshua.

But by extension, God was the Savior for Rahab.

In the same way Jesus is the Savior for us.

For those that trust in him, he is a savior.

He judges those who don't go his path.

He judges those who don't believe in him.

Just as all those people in Jericho did not believe.

So, you know, ultimately God would judge them by destruction.

So God will judge all of those on this earth who reject him, who

don't believe in the one true way.

There, there, there are a lot of well intended people, but I think

misleading people that will say there's more ways.

As long as you're genuine with what you believe, as long as you

say you're religious, as long as you call yourself a Christian,

as long as you're a good person.

Folks, there's a lot of people that try to be good people, but we

know biblically speaking, there is no good.

No, not one.

There's a lot of people that try to be religious, but religion

will not save.

There's, there's a lot of people that are passionate about

what they believe, but they're passionate about the wrong things.

Folks, we have to be okay with saying that Jesus is the way, the

truth and the life.

People will ask me, do you think that these people over here

are Christians?

Are they going to heaven?

If they believe in Jesus, in faith, in Jesus alone, for salvation,

then yes.

I don't care what their title is.

But at the same time, if someone truly believes a countless

number of paths, if they, if they go that path, I don't even need

to list all of them, but if they, if they go any path that says

Jesus plus or Jesus who is different, or, or Jesus plus works

or, or Jesus but in a way that we define, they're not saved.

I don't care what their title is.

I don't care if they call themselves Baptist, if they believe

in anything else other than Jesus Christ for salvation, they

are not going to be saved.

It's the red cord.

Rahab only had one way.

Her family only had one way to salvation.

And like I said, they, they could have been skeptical.

They could have been like, well, that's probably not a really

good way.

And that's what we're hearing today from people that are what we

would call coming from Christian backgrounds.

Well, isn't it a little bit narrow minded and bigot bigotry to

be saying that there's only one way?

What about a person who was born in a country that has other

faiths?

Doesn't matter, right?

You know, it doesn't matter.

We make concessions for people to say, well, it's okay as long as

they want to find the right thing.

There's a lot of people wanting to find the right way, but

it's Jesus.

And if you want to call it narrow minded, you're aligning with

scripture.

It's, it's the narrow path that saves.

Broad is the way that leads to destruction.

And so it is narrow for salvation.

And, and it's okay, I'm willing to say that I, I'm willing

to say it's Jesus and it's the only way.

And so when we get to that, when, when we come to the church,

that, that, that isn't going to be something that necessarily

excites people in our world today.

Actually when you say there's only one way, people start getting

very upset because knowing that there's only one way means I

cannot save Myself, you're just as desperate as Rahab was.

Israel was coming.

They were coming.

We're going to read about how they come to Jericho.

And it's a very interesting.

Most of you know there's a song about it.

Most of you know how they conquered Jericho.

And I'm going to tell you, not just Israel was coming, but God was

coming and judgment was at hand.

And so Rahab's like, I know that God is going to judge.

I know that everyone that is not believing in you is going to

be judged.

I know.

I don't want to be judged.

That was her salvation.

She wanted to find salvation, and that's the only way that we can

find it.

So what do we preach to the world today?

Well, Pastor, don't be a fire and brimstone preacher.

Pastor, don't be doom and gloom.

Well, we always preach hope.

The hope is Jesus.

But we have to preach both sides of the coin.

We have to preach the alternative to what happens when

someone doesn't trust in Jesus.

Judgment.

Well, that means that you're calling people sinners.

Yes, I'm.

I'm a sinner, but just saved by grace.

And so when we look at the world, we don't say, well, hey, it's

okay.

There's multiple ways.

We say, no, there's Jesus, there's one way.

And, and that's not a scary thing.

If you are willing to submit yourself and identify that you are

a sinner and that you need Jesus Christ as savior.

Even someone who lived a life like Rahab.

I mean, we wouldn't look at Rahab and go, well, that's the one

that we thought from Jericho would be saved.

Think about her lifestyle.

Think about who she was around.

But some of you might say, you know what?

I wasn't like Rahab, but I had.

I had a pretty difficult background.

I came from a lot of different culture and different sin and.

And I was raised not as a Christian.

Maybe that doesn't mean that you're exempt from the blessings

of God and the promises of God.

That's the beauty of God's economy, is that it wasn't just for

the Israelites.

It's for all.

It's for the Gentiles as well.

Yes, the Bible does say in Romans, chapter one, the gospel came

to the Jew first, but also to the Greek.

But we are all, I think, pictures of Rahab when it comes to

our sin and our background and our culture.

Think about our culture.

We have no excuse.

We have.

It's such a sad thing now to talk to People, young people and

adults that have no, no biblical clue.

They couldn't even tell you one Bible story.

They couldn't even tell you the true story of the gospel.

I mean, it's just like out of their minds.

It's not even been instituted into our culture anymore.

So we use as an excuse, well, culture's so bad, culture so dark.

That's just what it's going to be.

No, I think all the more that's why Christians need to ramp

up our message.

The world isn't afraid of indoctrinating our, our children.

You know, just turn on any streaming service that's not a believer

based streaming service and you're going to find every way of

sin and evil being indoctrinated to our children.

It's just the reality of it.

We've got to be on guard and we don't need to just be on guard

on defense, we need to be on offense.

Preach the gospel to your children, preach the gospel to your

neighbors.

Preach the gospel to your co workers.

We as Christians cannot be afraid to profess the truth.

We, we, we are victorious, right?

So the Israelites, when they followed the plan of God, they were

going to be victorious.

Doesn't matter who they're against.

It's when they went their own path.

And some of you are, you're, you know, there's some foreshadowing

that's going to come.

It's when they went their own way, is when they found destruction.

And so we'll conclude it with this.

If you see the end of the passage here, Joshua, chapter two,

verses 23 and 24, we see basically that the spies come back

with confidence.

They come back with the understanding that God would give

them the victory they believed.

It Sundays.

So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, passed

over and came to Joshua the son of nun, and told him all the

things that befell them.

They tell Joshua the story of God's work.

They said unto Joshua, truly the Lord hath delivered into our

hands all the land.

For even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of

this.

And so the mission itself wasn't a mission to I think win at

that very moment.

I mean, they obviously didn't initially win, right?

They just went into spies or the spies.

And then what we see here is this, though it wasn't the initial

victory, they were aware of God's power that's already working

ahead of them so that they could have confidence that the mission

is already done.

So, so one woman's faith showed them that God's plan was already

being at work.

And so you, you may be the one who might doubt the promises of God,

but, but how do we get fueled with the promises of God?

Well, even though the victory isn't in front of us yet, like today,

God has not completely sealed his victory, but we know the end

of the story.

So the confidence of knowing the end of the story should bring

us the confidence to say the victory is won.

And so that's essentially what's happening here, is that even

though the victory was not there yet, they saw God working ahead

of them.

And therefore, because of God's work ahead of them, they realized

that they would win.

And so you may know people that, that seem impossible to come

to Christ.

Like, oh, man, you don't know their culture, you don't know their

background, you don't know where they work, you don't know what

they were raised like.

But God's power is so strong that people like Rahab, people like

the person you're thinking of right now that I'm describing, that,

you know, can come to Christ through the power of the gospel,

through the power of the Spirit, and God can still do amazing

work as he did back all these years ago, you know, and I think

about that, think so many times because of, for whatever reason,

we sell short the power of God, that what he can do in our lives,

who he can change.

I do it.

I, I look at, you know, a lot of times I make a judgment call.

Well, this person is, is easier to talk to because they're

more like me.

And so I'm going to go after that.

But this person over here, I, oh, they just, they just don't look

like they're accepting the Holy Spirit.

They, they, they wouldn't accept the gospel message.

So I'm just going to avoid them.

Who knows what kind of conversation, what kind of action

that you do in your life could be an impact to someone.

You know, God doesn't call us to reach everyone, but he calls us

to reach someone.

And I'm not going to reach everyone.

God's, you know, getting into the ministry, I never knew where

God was going to send me.

My thought was that God was going to send me to a place that

I was going to be comfortable with.

And I've told you guys this story before, and I hate saying it

because it sounds like I don't like Delaware.

First of all, I didn't even know Delaware.

It was just not even on my, like, mental radar.

But when we, when I was praying privately about where God

would send me I circled two areas of the country.

I was just like, that's not.

I just don't see myself, like, being there.

I don't have a passion for that place.

And one of those areas was around the northeast of the United

States.

I just.

It was not somewhere that I felt, you know, growing up in the

south, you're told, those are a bunch of people that are different

than you.

Don't.

Don't go there.

They're different.

And they.

They act different.

They don't.

You know, they.

We were always told everyone was just going to tell you the truth,

because down in the south, everyone sugarcoats everything.

Like, just.

They'll talk bad about you behind your back, but they'll.

They'll bless your heart.

They'll just love you.

And that's what we were used to.

And they're like, when you go up to the Northeast, people are going

to tell you the truth.

And I was like, okay, I don't know.

I didn't know what that meant.

Now I know what that means.

Completely understand it.

And you know what?

I appreciate it.

I appreciate it.

Now I know where people stand most of the time.

It's a good thing.

But the point I'm trying to make is I would have never dreamed

in a thousand years, number one, I would have never dreamed that

I would be a pastor.

That was not in my radar.

If you guys don't believe that, ask my wife, okay?

When we got married, I wasn't a pastor.

And we.

We.

We didn't sign up for that.

But God signed us up.

Secondly, we would have never dreamed that even if we did get into

the ministry, that we'd be in Delaware.

It just would have never been the case.

But.

But God led us here.

And therefore, if God leads us here, you know, I know I'm not going

to reach people in California.

I know I'm not going to reach people in other countries.

That's just not the reality of it.

God has me in Delaware to reach the people that I am in.

In Delaware with.

It's the same thing for you, God, and even take it on a more micro

level.

God has you in your workplace to reach the people in your workplace.

I might not be able to reach people in your workplace or your

sphere of influence, but God has you there for a purpose.

And so God led the Israelites to this place in Jericho.

And I don't think that they were coming on an evangelistic effort.

They were coming on a conquering effort.

But through this, Rahab comes to know God, and we know the story.

If you.

If you don't know the story.

Rahab's destiny was to be married into the family of God and

be in the lineage of King David and be in the lineage ultimately

of Jesus.

But who would have known that?

No one would, except for God.

God has a plan for each one of us.

And you don't know who today you.

Sowing into the life or praying for them could be an impact.

I mean, it could be that you lead someone to Christ and they lead

someone to Christ and they lead someone to Christ and it could

be the next, you know, person that leads thousands of people to

Christ across the world.

You never know.

You never know what one seed being sown or watered will do when

it comes to the kingdom of God.

And so we're going to talk more about how the Israelites crossed

the River Jordan, which, again, awesome story.

Most of us know the story of them crossing the Red Sea, but they

also crossed the Jordan river, which is a really neat story as well.

Then of course, you know that they eventually get to Jericho, and

that's a classic story.

The Book of Joshua, whether you know it or not, has many of the

stories that were told to us in, in our Sunday school classes.

And it's an exciting, exciting book of the Bible.

So if you ever attempted to think that the Bible's boring, Joshua

is not a boring book.

There's a lot of awesome miracles that happened.

And I believe, okay, I believe all of these things happened.

I believe this isn't just symbolic.

I believe that this isn't just fairy tales.

I believe these are literal people in a literal place having

real miracles that are happening in their life.

And I think the same God that's working these miracles is

the same God that's at work today.

And I think that when we sell short the power of God, we sell short

what God has promised us in our life.

Now encourage you to come back and study this passage of scripture

and we'll know more about this book of the Bible through the study.

It's a long book.

Joshua's a long book.

But I think there's so many other smaller stories within the

larger story that I think we'll really enjoy the study and

hopefully grow in this study as well.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church

podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church

or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org

or find us on Facebook or YouTube to.

You could also email me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.

Com.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.