Faith, Hope, Love, - Faith That commits to God

So it's obvious the fall is here because I started my car this morning and my dashboard started flashing because all of my tire pressure is low.

Right?

I don't know what we did before we had those sensors and those flashes on our screens, but uh it will continue to annoy us until we stop somewhere and put a little bit more, just a little bit more air in each one of the tires.

So I encourage you to do that.

Um great game yesterday, right?

Yeah, it was okay.

It was okay.

My uncle um claims to be a Texas person.

He's not from Texas, but he lives there.

And so he was sending me uh some texts, you know, about which UT was going to win, and then he was uh sort of gloating after the fact, and somebody gave me some fodder last night, and so I just sent him back a simple reply.

I just said, remember the Alamo.

And uh left it at that.

So anyway, they did need us at one point in time, didn't they?

All right.

So we're in a sermon sermon series called Faith, Hope, and Love.

And our key reference, our key verse that we're using is 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, and it says, and now these three remain faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

So uh we've been talking, like I said, for the last several weeks, reading from the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, the section that's called The Heroes of Faith.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

It's about several of the Old Testament uh folks who were saints who uh who trusted God in amazing ways, and God moved tremendously in their lives.

And that's been an incredible journey.

And last week, Eben uh did an amazing job opening up to us uh the scriptures concerning Moses.

Moses was one of the most significant figures in all of the Old Testament and even in the New Testament.

And um, and at the end of Moses' life, God takes him up to Mount Horeb, and at the top of that mountain, he's able to see over into the promised land, the promised land that God had put in his heart many years before this, and yet he was not going to be allowed to go into the promised land himself, but he was able to see it.

And one of the beautiful things about Moses, even though God restricted him from entering into the promised land, that did not keep him from preparing the next generation to do so.

He spent countless hours and days and time with Joshua, preparing him to be the next leader of Israel.

And uh so today we're gonna be kind of diving off from that point.

We're gonna be talking about Joshua and specifically concerning Jericho and what happened in Jericho.

And also there's an unusual addition to this list of heroes of faith.

And her name is Rahab.

And so we're gonna talk about Rahab here this morning.

And the title of today's message is Faith Commits to God.

Faith commits to God.

Let's look at Hebrews chapter 11, verses 30 and 31.

Hebrews 11:30

It says, By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

And by faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spot, to the spies.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the light and life that we've experienced even this morning as we prepared to come to church, Lord, and the fact that your presence was with us as we rode in our cars and as we entered into the building, Lord, just a sense of being together and belonging and community, Father.

And the fact that you chose to show up and manifest your presence while we were involved in praising and worshiping you here this morning.

We thank you and praise you, Lord God.

And Father, we know that your desire is to continue to create impact in our lives through the rest of this service and beyond.

And so, Father, we ask that you'd open our eyes so that we can see you as you truly are.

Open our ears to hear your word and the truth from your word that you desire for us to have and to live and to impact and to try uh to change us from the inside out.

Lord, we ask that your spirit would move in our hearts, because it's only He that can change our hearts.

Thank you for doing these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I want to encourage you sometime to read the book of Joshua.

If you've not read that recently, it's a great read, and especially the first six chapters, and we're gonna kind of look at those a little bit this morning.

And uh don't worry, we're not gonna read every single verse from the first six chapters, but we could.

It's that good.

It's an amazing history of Israel.

As they finally prepare to enter into the promised land after 400 years, over 400 years of slavery in Egypt, and then 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, they are finally poised and finally prepared to be able to enter into the land that God had promised them.

Um, and so we're gonna look at a few specific passages from Joshua 1 through Joshua 6, and then uh, but I'm gonna also talk and round out the discussion.

So the book starts with the Lord speaking to Joshua just as he had spoken to Moses.

So let's look at Joshua chapter 1, verses 2 and 3.

Joshua 1:2

He says, Moses this is God speaking, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I'm going going, that I'm giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I had promised to Moses.

What a powerful word, what a powerful message, what an incredible thought that at this moment in time, at this moment in history, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, God is giving the green light for them to be able to enter into the promised land.

And so Joshua wisely gives the people a three-day notice.

You have three days to get everything ready because we're about ready to cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

And in the interim period of time, Joshua sends out two spies, two spies into the promised land to take a look at things and specifically to go to the city of Jericho to spy out that particular place, which would be the first city that they would encounter after having crossed over the Jordan River.

And this is where Rahab comes into the story.

I said before that she was an unlikely hero, and let me tell you why she was an unlikely hero.

Maybe you heard it in the phrasing, even within the scripture itself.

She was a Gentile.

Rahab was a Canaanite woman, and not only was she a Canaanite woman and a Gentile, she was a prostitute.

In fact, in almost every place that she is described in the Bible, it says of her, Rahab the prostitute, or Rahab the harlot.

Can you imagine your Instagram profile reading?

Whatever your greatest area of temptation is, or whatever your greatest area of sin is, that's what's, you know, the the algorithm chooses to uh to make your profile name, right?

So this is Rahab the prostitute.

So you can imagine, um, this is this is a really interesting twist on things, and we're gonna look into it.

So the people of Canaan practiced every form of sexual abomination that you can imagine.

And God, because he uh Israel was supposed to live differently than that, God was going to bring judgment on the people of Canaan.

And in other words, God was using Israel to disinherit the nations that lived in the land because of these abominations.

And I want to be real clear here because one of the problems we have with the Old Testament sometimes is that it seems like that God was really strong and strict and ruthless.

And I think sometimes we ask the wrong questions, right?

So instead of asking the question, uh, why doesn't God save everyone, we should ask the question that's more appropriate, which is why does God save anyone?

Why does God save anyone?

We are all sinners, and the the wages of sin is death.

In other words, what we deserve for the sin that we've committed is eternal separation from God, right?

And so having understood that, a lot of times when we read the Old Testament, we feel bad for the different people and understand from a human standpoint that we should do that, but the judgment of God is right and pure.

Now, in the New Testament, we're under a new covenant and we're thankful for that.

How many of you realize that Jesus took upon himself the judgment that we deserved?

He took upon himself the wrath of God, and so judgment in the New Testament has been reserved, and yet it will still manifest itself one day.

There will be a great day of judgment where Jesus will return and he will call all people before himself, and he will separate people out based on really one thing whether they believe him and follow him or don't believe him and don't follow him.

Unbelief is the sin that will send people to hell.

Just make that clear.

So, anyway, getting back to our story.

Although Rahab would seemingly be forever branded by her sin, and it is used as a defining term in most of the scriptures that talk about her, somewhere in her journey, obviously, something happened where she became in a gradual way committed to the God of Israel.

More and more as she had encounters with this God and with the people of God, something changed within Rahab.

And we're going to get to, I don't want to get to the end of the message yet, but when we get to the end of the message, you'll understand what that looks like.

So let's look at a few things that Rahab faithfully committed to, and then we'll move on from there.

The first thing is that Rahab faithfully committed to the people of God.

Rahab faithfully committed to the people of God.

In Joshua chapter 2 it says, And Joshua the son of Nun, insert dad joke, we won't go there because he didn't have a dad.

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

And Joshua the son of Numan sent two men secretly from Shudem as spies, saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho.

And they went and came into the house of a prostitute, whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.

And it was told to the king of Jericho, Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.

Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.

And she said, True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.

And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out.

I do not know where the men went.

Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.

But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.

So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords, and the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

Wow, what an incredible story.

What an incredible journey that Rahab finds herself on.

What an incredible opportunity for her to either choose to protect the people of God and to stand with the people of God or to go against the people of God and to resist them.

The spies went to Jericho, and it's strange that they would have entered into the house of Rahab the prostitute.

Why did they go there in particular?

What was the reason?

And it's because Rahab's house was built into the city wall.

Easy escape, an easy way to get in and out.

And as a woman who ran an establishment for travelers, strangers came in and out of her doors all of the time.

And so it wouldn't have looked strange for visitors, people who were not known to the community there in Jericho, to enter into her place of abode and to leave from that same place of abode.

This location would have allowed the spies, like I said, to move quickly, to come in to the play to the house and to leave quickly if they needed to to escape any kind of risk.

And so she, at tremendous risk to herself, hides the spies on the roof under some stalks of flax, and she tells a story to the king of Jericho and to the leaders who were trying to pursue them to harm them.

She puts herself in extreme in harm's way, doesn't she?

And why does she do this?

Because she knew that God was with these people.

And you see, God also knew that he could trust Rahab with this mission.

He could trust Rahab with his people.

In fact, he was the one who had prepared her heart.

He was the one that had uh seen the fact that she could, she proved out that she could commit even more fully than she had been committed before in her story.

The next thing is that Rahab faithfully committed to God himself.

So she was not only committed to protecting the people of God, she was also protec uh committed to God Himself.

In verses 8 through 11 of Joshua 2, it says, Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt.

And did you hear that?

We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan.

Remember the story that uh that Evan told us last week, right?

Uh all of these things that were going on, whom you devoted to destruction.

And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you.

For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Do you see what's happening in this prostitute, in this woman, in Rahab?

Something is beginning to change within her heart.

Something is beginning to move beyond just factual information to becoming very real to her personally.

We don't know when, but sometime within the last 40 years, the word of the Red Sea parting before Moses as the Israelites walked across on dry land, and then as the Egyptians who were pursuing them on horse and chariot, and the water closed up over top of them, and the threat was no longer there for the Israelites.

These people in Jericho, and especially Rahab and her family, had heard of the good works of God, how God had been with his people.

And this had affected her in tremendous ways.

In fact, what does she do?

She confesses out of her own mouth, out of her own words, she says, the God of Israel is the Lord, and he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

How many of you know that one of the things that we must do in order to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we must believe in our hearts that Jesus is real, that God raised Jesus from the dead, that he died for our sins and trespasses, that he lived a life that we could not live, a perfect life.

All of those things that the gospel speaks of, we must believe those things.

And we must confess out of our mouths the fact that Jesus is Lord.

Not just Lord in a general way, like Jesus is Lord of the heavens and the earth, but Jesus is Lord of Tyler's life.

Amen.

See Rahab's progression of faith here, as she even out of her own mouth confesses that the God of Israel is the true God.

So not only was Rahab faithfully committed to the people of God and also God Himself, but she was committed to the salvation of her family.

Let's read in Joshua 2, verse 12.

Joshua 2:12

Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.

Isn't that amazing?

It's one thing to be concerned about self-preservation.

Just me, me and Christ, Christ and me alone, that's all that matters.

No, it's more than that, isn't it?

Our hearts should be for more.

Our hearts should be that every single person who God has called to be a part of his family, that every single one of them would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And for Rahab, she had this similar impulse.

She did not want to be preserved and saved herself.

She did not alone, she did not want to even be promised any of that without her family being spared as well.

And it goes on to say that the men said to her, Our life for yours, even to death.

If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.

Powerful promise, right?

And what did she do?

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.

And she said to them, Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned.

And then afterward you may go your way.

The men said to her, We will be guiltless with respect to the oath of yours that you have made us swear.

Behold, when we come into the land, you listen to this, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you led us down.

And you shall gather into your house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father fathers' household.

Then if any one goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless.

But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on your our head.

But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.

And she said, According to your words, so be it.

Then she sent them away, and they departed, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

In Joshua 24, verse 15, when Joshua was speaking about his own family and about their preservation, he said these words As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

What was Rahab saying?

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

We are reliant upon the Lord.

We are trusting in the Lord.

We are trusting for Him to provide the salvation that only He can provide.

I know we've talked about this a lot recently.

I just did a sermon a couple of weeks ago about generational faith.

But I also feel like the Lord is really wanting to encourage us to not let go of our family, to not give up on our families.

I know that for some of us, and for some of you in particular, I know some of your stories, and I know that you're going through times right now of great difficulty when it comes to your family.

And it looks like there's no hope.

It looks like there's no way that anything is ever going to change within your family, and that they're not going to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

But I I just want to encourage you if you want to exercise faith toward God, don't just exercise it for yourself.

Let's exercise faith toward God concerning those whom we love, who we believe that God that we have this desire.

Desire for them to know God and to know Jesus.

Let's continue to stand for them.

Amen.

Can we just take a minute and pray together?

Father, we do stand for our families.

And Lord, as I look around this room, I know some of the stories of family members, even within this room, and the difficulty that people are facing right now.

With people not knowing you and even causing there to be a separation, a division with families, and persecution is rising because of those who do have faith in you.

And so, Father, I just pray that you would continue to work.

We cry out to you like Rahab did.

God, would you not only spare our lives, but you would you spare the lives of our family members, Lord?

Would you cause them all to be drawn into your house?

The only place where there is true safety, Father, is in your house.

And Lord, we ask that you would do this in whatever way that you choose and help us to be conduits.

Help us to be people who would represent you well to those that are around us, and especially when it comes to our families, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So the prop the spies have promised Rahab that she and her household would be spared as long as she stays silent, as long as she doesn't give up the mission, as long as she keeps her family within the confines of her house in the wall, they will all be safe.

Her place would be distinguished by what?

A scarlet cord or a scarlet thread that would be hanging out of the window.

And we're going to come back to that in just a few minutes.

But let's talk about Joshua.

Let's talk about Joshua for a few minutes.

Joshua, Yeshua is an Old Testament word that means the same as Jesus, Savior.

He's an Old Testament example, very symbolic, very similar in a lot of ways to who Jesus is.

Obviously, we know that Jesus is the ultimate and no one can replace him.

But Joshua was a type and shadow of that.

And Joshua displayed committed faithfulness in three ways as well.

He was faithfully committed to practicing the presence of God.

He was faithfully committed to practicing the presence of God.

In Joshua chapter 3, we read that Joshua was instructed by the Lord to cross the Jordan River.

Joshua 3 · chapter mention

Now, he's instructed to cross the Jordan River when?

In the drought season?

When is he instructed to cross the Jordan River?

During the rainy season.

In fact, he's instructed to cross it at the time when it's at its highest point, when it's reaching beyond the banks, when it is full to overflowing.

And unlike Moses, who was able to just kind of stretch out his staff, Joshua has to take it to another level.

Joshua is required to ask the priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant and to step into the waters of the swiftly moving Jordan River.

And as they would stand in the river holding the Ark of the Covenant, by the way, what does the Ark of the Covenant represent?

The presence of God.

As they would stand in the river holding the Ark of the Covenant, representing the presence of God, what would God do?

God would blow some kind of mighty wind, God would create some kind of storm, God would create something that would separate the waters once again so that they could walk across.

All of those who remained could walk across on dry land.

What an amazing story.

And then God also instructs Joshua to have some of the people, after this journey has occurred, and while actually, while it is occurring, to grab 12 large stones from the bottom of the Jordan River and to carry them over to the other side.

And when they reached the other side, what were they supposed to do with those 12 stones?

They were supposed to build a monument.

A monument not to be carried with them, right?

What was to be carried with them?

The presence of God.

Sometimes, unfortunately, we hold on to things from the past in such high regard that we want to carry them with us.

They're not meant to be carried with us in the sense that we say, God can only move this way.

They are to be remembered and they are to be memorialized.

And what was the thing that was spoken?

When you pass by here in future generations and your children and your children's children, you can tell them the story of the faithfulness of God on this day crossing the Jordan River.

And as they cross over, they get to the other side, and they have just arrived in time for what?

To celebrate the Passover.

So the first Passover to be celebrated in the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.

And at the end of the Passover, guess what happens?

The heavens open up and manna, sorry, the heavens close up and manna no longer falls.

And Joshua and Caleb would have no problem with this.

And why was that?

Because 40 years prior, guess what they were?

They were the two spies that were sent in by Moses.

And what did they come back with a report?

There were 12 that were sent.

Ten of the spies came back with negative reports about giants in the land and places to conquer.

And it's impossible for us to be able to do this.

But Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report, carrying on their shoulders grapes and all of the produce and fruit from the land and saying, This is a place of promise.

This is the place.

God has not led us to a place where He's not going to provide for us.

Amen.

And God did exactly that.

They began to eat the fruit of the land.

And Joshua was next encountered by what was most likely a Christophany.

Do you guys know what a Christophany is?

How are you doing, bud?

He wants to help me preach.

The Lord has moved upon him.

Yeah.

We're a family church, guys.

We don't let things like that bother us, do we?

Amen.

All right.

Let's look at Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 through 15.

Joshua 5:13–15

This is most like a Christophany.

What does that fancy theological word mean, Christophany?

Yeah, it's an appearance of Christ, specifically in the Old Testament.

So you know, Jesus, I don't want to blow your minds here, but Jesus didn't begin to exist one day when he was laid in a manger.

And Jesus is eternal, right?

Forever was, forever is, and forever will be.

And so there were times in the Old Testament where it seems like Jesus appeared in different ways to different people.

And here in Joshua chapter 5, we read one of those examples.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked.

And behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

Now, if you and I, does that seem like a reasonable question to ask?

In other words, are you on our side or are you on their side?

First of all, this dude was pretty awesome, right?

He's glowing, he's got this sword drawn of fire.

He's just it's an amazing uh image and depiction of Christ.

Are you for us or are you for our enemies?

And he said, No.

In other words, you're asking the wrong question, Joshua.

But I am the commander of the army of the Lord, and now I have come.

And what did Joshua do then?

It says, He fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?

And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.

And Joshua did so.

Just as it was in the days of Moses, where he is confronted by this burning bush that will not be consumed.

And God speaks out of the burning bush and he says to Moses, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Here in this other example, another example, God meets with Joshua in the form of Jesus, the commander of the Lord's army.

And what is Joshua told?

Take off your sandals, for where you are standing is holy ground.

Now, if you remember reading the Old Testament, there were many times that Moses encountered God in huge ways.

Remember the time when he said, God, don't leave without me experiencing who you are.

I want to see you for who you are.

And so God took him and he hid him in the cleft of the rock and he passed by him so that Moses could see his back.

Just as much as he could show him without him being destroyed.

And Moses came down from the mountain.

You remember what his appearance was like?

He was a glow.

And all the people hid themselves from him and said, Go back, go away.

You're too holy.

We can't be near you.

How many of you know God's intent was never just to have a relationship with Moses?

His intent was to have a leader who knew him, but also a people who knew him.

How many of you know it's not enough for elders within this church to, by the grace of God, attempt to follow the commands of God and to live lives that represent Jesus Christ to the best of our ability.

Again, by the grace of God, it's not enough.

Each and every one of us has an opportunity to represent God through having a real personal relationship with Jesus ourselves.

Amen.

In many of those stories of Moses encountering God, it says sort of at the end of those stories, and Joshua standing afar was observing everything that was happening.

Joshua had seen Moses encountering God.

He had been somewhat near in the proximity of the presence of God, and yet now God is welcoming him in to his very presence himself.

Joshua was also faithfully committed to the plan of God.

And we see that in Joshua 6, verses 2 through 5.

Joshua 6:2–5

It says, And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king, uh with its king and mighty men of valor.

You shall march around.

Listen to the plan.

Can we listen to the plan?

And let's give it a score, okay?

On the uh on the uh like the practical side of it.

Like uh if you if Pete Heggseth were to gather the generals of the military together and say, we need a strong military plan, do you think that they would probably come up with something?

Maybe they should come up with something like this, but they would they?

Let's let's ask ourselves.

See, I have given Jericho into your hand with this king and mighty men of valor.

You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once.

Thus you shall do for six days.

Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark.

And on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets, and when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.

Again, how does this rate as far as military intelligence or a plan that seems like that is going to work?

How many of you know the only thing that we need to know about this plan is that God's the one who said, Do it.

Because when God makes a plan, he fulfills it.

So the Lord gives Joshua this crazy same plan as the seven priests are gonna walk around with trumpets, and I'm sure when Joshua's explaining this plan to them, they say, We need to go first again?

We just did this in the river.

Do you have it out for us?

I'm just assuming they were human.

Okay, that would have been a human thought to have, right?

But they're gonna march around the walls of Jericho, and you need to understand that the walls of Jericho were not like a single uh block that you would imagine being a like a retaining wall or something like that.

These walls were so large that it is said historically that chariots would have been able to ride around on the tops of them.

Huge walls, tremendous walls, amazing walls.

This was a city that was supposed to have not been able to be breached.

The security of it was uh unrivaled in its time, right?

And yet God gives this plan.

And of course, on the seventh day, they're gonna walk around seven times and they must remain completely silent the whole time.

Why do you think that God told them to remain completely silent?

Because what would the person towards the end of the of the uh the crowd that's walking around tend to be saying?

We gotta do this again, another time around the walls of Jesus.

Come on now.

God's pretty sharp, isn't he?

Remain silent, remain silent, be disciplined, follow the instructions, and on the seventh time, we're gonna stop.

And when we stop this time, the priest is going to blow.

I wish we had a trumpet here this morning or even a shofar.

The priest is going to blow the trumpet, a loud blow, a long blow.

And when he does that, everybody needs to shout.

And only then the walls would come down.

How many of you know the walls came down?

I've been to Jericho.

How many of you have been to Jericho?

I've walked around that place, and guess what?

There are none of.

There are none, there are none walls.

There are no walls.

The walls have come down.

Can we say together?

Let's put it up on the screen and let's say this the saying together.

The next one.

Yeah.

God is always faithful to perform his word to perform it.

One more time.

God is always faithful to his word to perform it.

In the simplest form, guys, in the simplest way I know how to define it.

That is what faith is.

It's believing that.

Amen?

Joshua believed that.

Rahab believed that.

And finally, Joshua faithfully committed to fulfilling the promise made to Rahab.

This brings us back to the woman with the scarlet cord hanging out of her window, holding on to a promise made to her that she would be spared along with her family.

In Joshua chapter 6, verse 22, it says, But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, Go into the prostitute's house.

Joshua 6:22

Come on now.

Can we drop the title?

Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belonged to her, as you swore to her.

So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her.

And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel, and they burned the city with fire and everything in it.

Only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and of iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive.

And she has lived in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers from Joshua, sent to spy out Jericho.

God was faithful to his word to Joshua.

God was faithful to his word to Rahab.

Both of them were also faithful to God.

You see how faithfulness is cyclical?

God is faithful and so we are faithful.

God is faithful and so we are faithful.

That's the rhythm of Christianity.

We respond to the faithfulness of God.

So what is it about this scarlet cord?

The scarlet cord hanging out of her window.

It served as a marker for the invading Israelite army.

Do not go there.

Do not harm anyone associated with that house.

Hanging the cord must have required immense courage because if it had been seen or if it had been found out by the leaders of Jericho, what would have happened?

Her and her family would have been tortured and killed.

Must have been very common in its day, and I'm sure that it was, but let's not dismiss it too quickly.

Is it just coincidence that she was told by the spies to hang a scarlet rope uh cord or rope out of her window?

The rope in her window was a sign of her faith, and that faith which led to her salvation, as she was not destroyed with the rest of Jericho.

The scarlet rope is the color of blood worked for Rahab, much as the blood of the Passover lamb had worked during the Exodus as it was placed over the doorposts and windows of every Israelite.

They were spared death the night that the death angel came through Egypt.

God's mercy and forgiveness of Rahab the prostitute was signified by a rope of scarlet thread, which becomes a symbol of what?

The blood of Jesus Christ.

You know, theologians and Bible students have often talked about the scarlet thread that is woven through all of Scripture, Old Testament and New.

It's running through the Bible.

It is the theme of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and the redemption of mankind that comes because of his sacrifice.

The blood of Christ runs throughout the entire Bible, at least symbolically.

It is seen in the animals killed in the Garden of Eden to provide garments for the new sinners, Adam and Eve.

It is seen as the ram that took Isaac's place on the altar of Moriah.

We see this theme as well as the Passover lamb was killed and the blood placed over the doorpost.

We see it in the institution of the sacrificial system so that men could at least have some opportunity to be in relationship with God.

We now see it in the scarlet rope that is hanging out of Rahab's window and the thousands of years of sacrifices performed at the tabernacle and then at the temple.

And the scarlet thread did not end there, but it runs all the way to John the Baptist's declaration on the banks of the same Jordan River as he says, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and it flows all the way to the foot of the cross where Jesus cried out, it is finished.

It is the scarlet thread, it is the scarlet rope, it is this scarlet uh blood applied to our lives that changes us, that transforms us, that saves us, that redeems us, that brings us out of whatever our former sin has been.

Tyler the liar, Tyler the robber, Tyler the whatever you wanted to give to me as a profile, all of those things can only be removed in one way, and that is by the blood of Jesus Christ properly applied to my life.

God, in a symbolic way, allowed Rahab even before the sacrifice, and hundreds of years before the sacrifice would ever appear in life, in this life, God gave her an example, a symbol of that sacrifice.

And how many of you know we don't we no longer have to hold on to just a symbol?

We no longer have to have a red bookmark in our Bible.

We no longer have to wear a red shirt.

We no longer have to do those things because the blood of Jesus sacrifice was once and for all.

And when it is applied to the doorposts of our heart, how many of you know we are covered?

We are protected.

We are saved.

We are kept.

We are transformed.

You know, there's one place in the Bible where Rahab is not called a prostitute.

It's in Matthew chapter 1, verse 15.

Matthew 1:15

It says, and Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahad.

And Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed, the father of Jesse.

And if you follow Matthew one far enough, guess where you land.

And Joseph, the father of Jesus.

When was Rahab's journey complete?

When was she free from being any longer a prostitute?

When she became a power part of God's family.

She was welcomed in to the lineage of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Are you a part of the family of God this morning?

Is your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life?

In blood.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for these great examples.

Heroes of faith.

Not based on really none of these stories have been based on them.

They did some things in response to you.

But all of these stories magnify you and your faithfulness.

Father, I pray for anyone who's listening, either here in this service this morning or watching online, who has never yet become a part of the family of God, who are still living under the old description of who I am.

We pray in Jesus' name that today would be the day that they would recognize that there's a Savior who came to save them not only from their sins, but to transform them so that they could be called children of God.

Father, we thank you that we are blessed to call you Abba Father.

And I pray now that by the work of your Holy Spirit that you would move in every heart, Lord, to bring them closer to you.

Also pray, Lord, for those who feel like I can't be used.

I am I've got too much of a history.

There's too many things that I've done wrong.

I can't, how could God ever use somebody like me?

Lord, would you help us?

Thank you for putting in your word the words of life.

Show us that you use a woman who was only known as a prostitute.

Not that she would remain that, Lord, but that she would be changed by you.

Help us, Father, to see that when we do things for you, when we obey your voice, when we follow your plan, when we are committed faithfully to you, Lord God, help us to see that you're the one that's glorified, that you're the one that receives honor, power, and praise.

I also pray, Lord, for those who know you and yet find themselves in a place of distance.

Lord, I thank you that you have not moved.

You are as close as the mention of your name.

And so, Father, I pray that you would give them hope and courage and faith this morning to call on the name of the Lord, to repent, to acknowledge their need.

And Father, to find themselves back in your warm embrace.

Thank you for restoration.

Thank you for causing prodigals to return to you.

And Lord, we also ask that you would continue to give us your heart for the people around us, Lord, that we would, like Rahab, not just be concerned for ourselves, but be concerned for the eternal, the eternity of every single person that we encounter.

Help that to be among the primary thoughts that we have and not something that's secondary.

We thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're going to have a prayer team up here in a few minutes.

And if you're here this morning and you realize, maybe for the first time, that God's calling you to put your hope and trust and faith in Him, this altar prayer team is amazing.

And they're here because they want to pray with you.

They want to walk with you through the process of you understanding who Jesus is.

We have a Bible that we'd like to give to you if you don't have a Bible.

So please make that a part of your journey today.

Don't leave this place without talking to somebody and praying with somebody about this the most important decision you'll ever make in your life to follow Jesus.