SPEAKER_00: If you have a copy of God's word, go ahead and drag grab it and turn to Hebrews chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 11 is where we're going to be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to stay in Hebrews 11 for long.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm going to read for you this section of Hebrews 11, and then uh we're going to go back actually to the book of Joshua and turn to Joshua chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: But very quickly, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 31 is what we're going to read this morning, and then go look more in depth at the life of Rahab this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are able and willing, would you stand with me in honor of reading God's word?
SPEAKER_00: We will read Hebrews chapter 11, verse 31, and then we'll pray.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
SPEAKER_00: May God add his blessings to the reading of his word.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we come before you this morning, and God, we ask, as we have looked at these ordinary people that we see throughout scripture that have been used by you for great things, God, as we look now to the life of Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: Someone whose description of their life is not really one that any one of us would want to have added to yet, God, you chose to use her and do great things to her life.
SPEAKER_00: All by your grace.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, as we look at your word this morning, do we see how great you are, how majestic is your name, and how overwhelming your grace is.
SPEAKER_00: May none of us leave here this morning with any feeling of inadequacy or any feeling of shame, knowing, God, that you and your grace can save the lost of us, and and God, you can use the poorest of spirit in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Would we see that that's actually how you desire to work and to move to show yourself as majestic?
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, would we hear your word?
SPEAKER_00: Would you give us ears to hear and eyes to see from your word today what you have for us?
SPEAKER_00: God, would you give me the words to say?
SPEAKER_00: Would it be your words and not mine?
SPEAKER_00: Would you keep me from going and saying anything that goes against your word?
SPEAKER_00: God, we desperately desire to hear from you this morning, and we desire you to receive all honor, glory, and praise that's in Jesus' name that we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: A young man in the fourth century was wrestling with this internal desire that was consuming all of his thoughts and, as he would put, his will.
SPEAKER_00: This was his desire.
SPEAKER_00: While growing up in a Christian family and knowing the teachings of Scripture, this young man loved chasing women.
SPEAKER_00: It actually consumed all of his thoughts to the point to which that there was no desire of him to come to Christ until he had met his desire to chase women.
SPEAKER_00: Here was his prayer as a young man.
SPEAKER_00: God, just give me a few years and I'll come to you.
SPEAKER_00: This young man was greeted by a friend who begins to tell him all that God is doing within his life, while at the same time, this young man has already been worked on by God in the writings of Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually, as he describes, um, he has involuntary loss of all of his uh emotions and his physical actions, and he begins to have an anxiety attack.
SPEAKER_00: He says he struggled with anxiety, he begins to become overwhelmed in his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that he he leaves the house that or not the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: His story says he he leaves his house and he goes out into uh the garden courtyard that he has there, and he is just wrestling with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And as he's there and as he's in this state of just anxiousness and wrestling with the Lord over sin in his life and over uh salvation, he hears the the sound of small children chanting a phrase almost as in a game or nursery rhyme, but he's not familiar with this game or nursery rhyme.
SPEAKER_00: Here is the phrase pick up and read.
SPEAKER_00: Pick up and read, pick up and read.
SPEAKER_00: And at that moment he looks back towards the house and he sees the table he was sitting at, and he sees the the book of the apostle Paul, and he goes and he he picks up that book, and in his mind he said, I'm gonna open it to the first page that thy thumb finds, and I will read from there.
SPEAKER_00: So he opens it up to the first page he finds, he looks down at the page, and it is Romans chapter 13, verses 13 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: Here is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
SPEAKER_00: At that moment, what this man would describe is that he had been in the worst emotional state that he had ever been, and yet at the same time taken to the greatest joy that he has ever had.
SPEAKER_00: This man would grow up to be one of the greatest theological minds in the first 1,000 years of the church's existence, and that is Saint Augustine of Hippo.
SPEAKER_00: God has used St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine of Hippo to minister to and to teach pastors and those that seek to follow after the Lord for the last 1700 years.
SPEAKER_00: This man that could not bring himself to follow after Jesus for a significant period in his life because he just wanted to chase women.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it crazy how quickly and dramatically one's life can change whenever they have a divine encounter with God?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it crazy how God can use people like Augustine who have a hard and horrible past and use them for great things?
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it crazy how we can so quickly forget that?
SPEAKER_00: You could be in here this morning, and your yesterday was filled with drunkenness and sexual immorality and all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: But today could be the day that changes your life forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's how God works.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, but today could also be the day that begins the process of God using you for great things.
SPEAKER_00: All it takes is one encounter.
SPEAKER_00: All it takes is faith and obedience.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're gonna look at a story of a harlot.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try my best not to repeat words, just trying as best I can for little ears in the room.
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna read of the story of this woman that would be known for her sexual promiscuity, and yet see how God uses this woman to bring his people into the promised land, but not only that, to use this woman for great things within his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The main idea that I want you to see this morning is that God shows the magnitude of his grace through the life of Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: God shows the magnitude of grace through the life of Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: If you weren't here last week, Pastor John uh had us look at Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua was a great man.
SPEAKER_00: God, Joshua was faithful.
SPEAKER_00: God used Joshua mightily from his leading of the army of Israel in the victory over uh uh Abimelech to or the Amalekites to using him to be the successor to Moses to being the one that leads the people into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: God used Joshua for great things.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua is the guy that you want your daughter to bring home to say, I want to marry him.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab is not in this particular story in the beginning, not the woman you want your son bringing home.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab is the complete opposite of Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab lives in Canaan, she is a Canaanite, and the Canaanites were known to be very immoral, uh promiscuous, uh very much sensual-seeking people.
SPEAKER_00: No person that knows the history of the Canaanites would be upset that God's desire is for Israel to come in and bring judgment on the Canaanites.
SPEAKER_00: And and Rahab is a great depiction of the Canaanites because of what she is known for.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, both of these individuals is who God chooses to use.
SPEAKER_00: They are great examples of two completely different people used by a great God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you might be confused by this after all.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first interaction that we see within the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And this woman has a very bleak reputation.
SPEAKER_00: You might be surprised by this because we would sit back and go, oh goodness, how could God use a woman like this?
SPEAKER_00: Or how could this woman's story be within scripture because she doesn't act how I act, and and and and she's not, she didn't go to church like I go to church, but yet what we see is this woman and the status that she has, the state that she is in, recognizes who God's is, who God is, puts her faith in who God is, and walks in obedient to what she God is asking her to do.
SPEAKER_00: What I think God wants us to see here is that his redemption and plans have no bounds.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: They have no bounds for you, they have no bounds for your neighbor, they have no bounds for your family members.
SPEAKER_00: Showered onto a person.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why it is so confusing when we read this story and see how God uses Rahab, and then you still heal people go, I don't know if I can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: I've just done so much.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if God can use me.
SPEAKER_00: I've just I have such a terrible past.
SPEAKER_00: Was your nickname the prostitute?
SPEAKER_00: Hadn't been that bad then.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing I want you to see in this passage that we're gonna look to in Joshua chapter 2, turn there very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter 2 is that God uses sinners despite their sin.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: God uses sinners despite their sin.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab is a great example of you don't have to really be perfect for God to use you, and you don't have to be perfect for God to find you.
SPEAKER_00: He finds you in the mess, he uses you in that mess, and he brings you out of that mess by his grace through the process of what we call sanctification.
SPEAKER_00: But God uses sinners despite their sin.
SPEAKER_00: Look very quickly at Joshua chapter 2, starting in verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 1 and 2 tells us that uh the spies have been sent into Jericho to view the land, and that they came to the house of Rahab the prostitute.
SPEAKER_00: The men of Jericho hear that this has happened, and so they they go to Rahab's house because they hear that that is where the men have gone.
SPEAKER_00: And so, verse 3 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.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter 6, this passage in Hebrews chapter 11 would lead us to believe, and what Rahab is about to say, that the people of Jericho knew that the nation of Israel and the God of Israel were coming.
SPEAKER_00: They knew that he was cut, they were coming to take over the land.
SPEAKER_00: And they were not, apparently, there was some kind of information given, there was some kind of opportunity for obedience because what Joshua or what Hebrews chapter 11 tells us is that Rahab didn't join the disobedience of those in Jericho, but by faith she chose to honor the Lord and to be obedient to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So there has clearly been some kind of warning to the nation uh or to the city of Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: They know these men are there, they hear that they've come, they hear they've gone to Rahab's house, and so now the king comes 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out.
SPEAKER_00: I do not know where the men went.
SPEAKER_00: Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab hides these men, but she does so by by lying, because she's a Canaanite.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they this is what they do.
SPEAKER_00: This this is this is this is this part of living the same way that we see still the marks of Egypt on the nation of Israel as they're going through the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: There's still this uh a sinfulness that's in her.
SPEAKER_00: This is why there's a need for redemption and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: She thinks that lying is going to be the only way that God can save the spies.
SPEAKER_00: We know that that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: We know that God could have saved the spies without her lies.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter was in prison in Acts chapter 12, God sent an angel and literally just walks him out of the prison.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a better story you might remember.
SPEAKER_00: When Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Macedonia, what did God send to free them from that cell?
SPEAKER_00: An earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, that, and and let this be a lesson for us.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we think that that sin is the only way that God's will comes about.
SPEAKER_00: But no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: God's will comes about despite and in light of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we see here in the story of Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, God uses Rahab despite her sin, and that's the same with us.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a nod at sin.
SPEAKER_00: What we see is a measure of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: This does not disqualify her from being used by God, yet we see that God continues to work in and through her.
SPEAKER_00: God uses Rahab despite her sin.
SPEAKER_00: God uses you despite your sin.
SPEAKER_00: I am up here on this platform in the position that I am in, despite and in light of my sin, to a holy and righteous God.
SPEAKER_00: That is how He operates within every single one of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So to say that God can't save you or use you until you get to the point where there's no sin in the way is to acknowledge, one, your misunderstanding of what grace is.
SPEAKER_00: And number two, you become completely callous to any prompting of the Holy Spirit to move you to action.
SPEAKER_00: For the non-believer that thinks I gotta clean myself up and I gotta get to this place where I'm righteous living until then.
SPEAKER_00: And then at that point I can come to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: They'll find themselves completely paralyzed from any prompting of the Holy Spirit because they'll just say, I'm just too sinful, I'm just too wicked.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Rahab is proof positive that that is not true.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is shown to Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: We see redemption, uh or we see the scarlet cord, uh, the this salvation that that has the saving of her family.
SPEAKER_00: We see God completely redeeming her and changing her.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see that at the end of the story this morning, but we see that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: For the believer, we say, God can't use me until I get to the point to where uh my sin is not in the way, and then I can be used.
SPEAKER_00: And but then the closer you get to Jesus, the more sinful you know that you are because he reveals that to you with that mentality.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You never do anything, you don't go anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Let me put it this way I I love sports.
SPEAKER_00: I love sports, I I like sports that are challenging.
SPEAKER_00: So that's I I like I like golf.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the hard part about golf.
SPEAKER_00: You could go out one day, and man, that wedge that you struggle with goes exactly the yardage that you want.
SPEAKER_00: It goes exactly where you want it to go, and everything's great.
SPEAKER_00: You could go to sleep, wake up the next day, go back out, and that wedge won't go 15 yards in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: That you're just trying to figure that.
SPEAKER_00: You could play basketball, and one day that jump shot is money.
SPEAKER_00: The next day you could build a house with how many bricks you're throwing up.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a constant moving, it's a going.
SPEAKER_00: But do you know how you get better at both of those things?
SPEAKER_00: You play.
SPEAKER_00: You go and do.
SPEAKER_00: You continue to be obedient, you continue to follow what you know that you should do, and you continue to put yourself out there to get better at that.
SPEAKER_00: To serve the Lord and follow the Lord means that you have to put movement to confession, action to words, and actually go and do.
SPEAKER_00: To be used by God means that you actually have to get up and go, not just sit and wait for the perfect time for it to come.
SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That time will never come.
SPEAKER_00: There's some of you in this room that God is calling you to salvation, and it's just kind of like, well, but I just got to get to this point, I get to gotta get to this point.
SPEAKER_00: And that opportunity is not reserved for the moment that you reach perfection and you yourself feel that you are able to be justified.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, in that moment, it is admitting that I cannot earn this and I cannot meet this righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I will never be to the point where I feel like I have to be, and that is the point of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot save yourself, but God can.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in this room and desire to be used by God to reach your neighbors, to serve him within his church, to evangelize to the lost, but you're waiting to reach this level of perfection or this level of sanctification where you have all the answers and there's nothing that goes on in your life that that leads you to frustration or anything like that, you will be held hostage, captive, and paralyzed and callous to the moving of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If God was waiting on you to be perfect in order to use you, that time would never come.
SPEAKER_00: If God was waiting on you to be perfect to surrender what God is calling you to do, you would never move.
SPEAKER_00: And if God was stopped or thwarted by sin, he would never, his will would never be done.
SPEAKER_00: But what we see in the story of Rahab is that God can work regardless of sin.
SPEAKER_00: But then we see why Rahab chose to hide the spies in the first place, and that is because Rahab saw the warning of destruction coming.
SPEAKER_00: She heard about it, she heard about the power of God, and she put her trust in him.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the second thing that I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab's faith, as small as it was, why was used by God to bring about his glorious will.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the life of Rahab and the work that she does here that leads his people into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And as small as her faith was, that we'll see here, it was enough to lead her to obedience, which is what faith produces.
SPEAKER_00: Faith requires repentance and belief, but it produces obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Look quickly at verse 6 Joshua chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out in order on the roof.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Had gone out before the men laid down, she came up to Mim on the roof and said to the men, Listen, 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.
SPEAKER_00: For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, and of Shion and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
SPEAKER_00: 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 and above and on the earth beneath.
SPEAKER_00: Now then please swear, swear to me by the Lord that if I have dealt kindly with you, you also will do kindly with my father's house and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this God that you serve is supreme.
SPEAKER_00: I know he is the creator, sustaining, sovereign creator of the universe and has brought his people out of the land of Egypt through his mighty works.
SPEAKER_00: And I know what you are coming to do here.
SPEAKER_00: I see the warning, I see what's coming because of this.
SPEAKER_00: I will help you for the Lord to come and do these things.
SPEAKER_00: And I will trust that if you see that I've done kindly with you, that the Lord will take care of me by you promising that nothing shall happen to my family.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab believed the promise that she had heard, and she believed that her and her family would be safe by providing protection to the spies.
SPEAKER_00: And she stepped out in faith to protect the spies.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that I want you to see with Rahab's story this morning when it comes to faith.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, you got to jump.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, that that faith should lead you to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in here this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus, then that this knowledge that you have at some point has to lead you to a place where, like Rahab, you see, I see all of this, I see the warning, I see everything, and I'm laying my full weight on you that you can protect, you can save me the same way you sat in that chair this morning thinking that it was gonna uphold all of your weight, is the same amount of trust and faith, even more so that we we surrender the Lord and say, I trust that even as I walk this way and this way, I'm not gonna look at everything and go, Well, I just don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna walk in faith knowing that you've you've gotten it.
SPEAKER_00: For those of us that are in Christ this morning, of what God is leading us to do and prompting us to do to serve Him with our lives, uh, at some point you got to jump.
SPEAKER_00: Uh both of my kids just got done with swimming lessons and and um and and they're swimming like crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Everett, for the longest time, uh, was my firstborn, so he's a little timid to get in there.
SPEAKER_00: Kennedy is a fish and she's just all out.
SPEAKER_00: Anything she does, she's gonna do full speed.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, she was jumping in at like almost two years old, just and Everett's just kind of easing his way in the water.
SPEAKER_00: And with Everett, I would have to come to the to the edge while you stand there with the hey buddy, just jump in the water.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to come swim?
SPEAKER_00: Like you just jump in.
SPEAKER_00: And and if you've had a toddler or played with toddlers in the pool, then there's a phrase that says, Hey, get closer.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd have to scoot closer.
SPEAKER_00: Here, just jump out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm right here, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: Get closer.
SPEAKER_00: Buddy, my hands are right here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna catch you.
SPEAKER_00: Get closer, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: My thighs are touching the side of this pool.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't get any closer.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, you're just gonna have to come with me.
SPEAKER_00: That is exactly the prompting of God on your life to serve Him as a follower of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, you gotta jump.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, you have to say that you have to allow that faith to lead to that obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Because what James says is if your faith never leads to obedience, it's dead.
SPEAKER_00: And he uses Rahab as an example.
SPEAKER_00: Turn very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, obedience to him has to lead you to walk in faith.
SPEAKER_00: It has to lead to works of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 2, starting in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: But some will say, You have faith, and I have works.
SPEAKER_00: Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
SPEAKER_00: As Martin Luther would say, we believe that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, but not by faith that is alone.
SPEAKER_00: And what he means by that is it is a faith alone, it is a faith that is seen and given evidence to by the fruit that comes from it, and that is the fruit of obedient works, of following after Jesus, of being obedient to him, allowing that work to happen within our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So, verse 19, you believe that God is one, you do well.
SPEAKER_00: Even the demons believe and shudder.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
SPEAKER_00: Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
SPEAKER_00: You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.
SPEAKER_00: And the scriptures was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.
SPEAKER_00: For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
SPEAKER_00: This confession that Jesus Christ is Lord eventually has to become evident in how you live your life as someone who is subject subject to Jesus Christ as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When Augustine had received his friend who was telling him all that God was doing, what led him to his frustration is that he said, There are these two men that aren't chasing women and aren't chasing status, but they see the king of the heavens desiring to use them, and they desire to serve him and him alone.
SPEAKER_00: These two friends that he hears about quit their jobs and went to go serve the Lord, and they are now servants of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, And here am I, sitting here too worried about all these other things, as opposed to just submitting to what God has called me to do.
SPEAKER_00: That's what led him to his great deal of anxiety and frustration and ultimately desperation.
SPEAKER_00: What will lead you to that point of desperation this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Say, here's this group of people that that went to go serve a church in Idaho to evangelize to those that don't know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And here am I just saying that, oh, I can't go over there, I can't be used like that.
SPEAKER_00: Or here's these, here's these, uh, this person that tells me that they went to their neighbor's house and had dinner with them, and while sitting at their own dinner table, um, ask them if they knew who Jesus was and had a gospel conversation with them.
SPEAKER_00: Here's this person at 70 years old that said, you know what, I want to go serve the Lord uh internationally.
SPEAKER_00: I want to take the gospel to the nation, so I'm gonna go to Mexico and I'm gonna go uh share the gospel with people down in Mexico.
SPEAKER_00: If you sit and look at those people and go, Well, I'm not to that point yet.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, are you not there because you don't desire to be there, or are you not there because you have automatically disqualified yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Because your thought is, I have to be perfect or near perfect in order to be used by God.
SPEAKER_00: Either one of those will not lead you to walk in obedience and have your faith be lived out.
SPEAKER_00: It will leave you to stay here.
SPEAKER_00: And I hate to tell you, if the grace of God does not overwhelm you to the point of action, I don't really know if you know what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: If the grace of God does not motivate you to live your life, to serve the Lord, to be obedient to Him, to follow after Him, to not just sit in a service on Sunday morning, but to actually read Scripture and look at what God calls us to in Scripture and then walk in obedience to what Scripture says.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever felt that grace.
SPEAKER_00: If you know what that grace is, because that grace should lead us to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: That's the third thing that I want you to see this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The result of faith is obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Not only in hiding the spies was of Ahab obedient, but but look quickly with me down to verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, when we came into the land, when or I'm sorry, behold, when we come into the land, so the spies have agreed that they would not hurt her as long as they're all in her house, and then they give her something to do.
SPEAKER_00: They said, If this, if this is your desire, if this is your desire, if your faith has led you here, here's what we want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you led us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother and brothers and all your father's household.
SPEAKER_00: And 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.
SPEAKER_00: But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in this house, his blood shall be on our head.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, I'm sorry, verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: But if you tell this business, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: And she, Rahab, said, According to your words, so be it.
SPEAKER_00: Then she sent them away, and they departed, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
SPEAKER_00: When you go to chapter six and they come into the land, we see what happens.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody in Rahab's house is saved because that scarlet cord that she tied the moment that they left stayed there, and nobody left the house.
SPEAKER_00: Her trust in the Lord led her to action, but not only that, her faith produced obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab positioned herself under the protection and covering of the scarlet cord.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't go, Well, uh, I did them that favor.
SPEAKER_00: How are they to tell me how to live?
SPEAKER_00: She didn't say, I want to live how I want.
SPEAKER_00: What's the danger in going out into the street?
SPEAKER_00: She didn't go, well, I don't know when they're going to come back.
SPEAKER_00: And so each day I'll just look and see if I see the nation of Israel and not.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just leave the house and then I'll come back.
SPEAKER_00: And then by the time they get here, I'll just run back to the house and be saved.
SPEAKER_00: No, the Bible says that she took everybody to her house and that's where they stayed.
SPEAKER_00: Under the protection of the scarlet cord.
SPEAKER_00: She stayed under the protection that the scarlet thread provided her.
SPEAKER_00: Why would she go anywhere else?
SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 6, Jesus has just told the people that he is the bread of life and they must enter into heaven through him, that no one can come to the Father except through him.
SPEAKER_00: And as he's saying this, and the massive gathering of disciples hears this, they get frustrated, they leave, and the twelve are left.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus looks at the twelve and he says, Are you gonna go too?
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter says a lot of dumb things, but here he said one of the most beautiful lines ever in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 68 of chapter 6 of John, Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
SPEAKER_00: You alone.
SPEAKER_00: You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why would I not be obedient to follow you?
SPEAKER_00: Because I I know who you are, where else would I go?
SPEAKER_00: Just like Rahab, our confession of belief should result in us to stay close to the Father, to be covered by the blood of the Lamb and to walk in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Faith and trust of the Lord compels us to obedience because of the grace that has been shown to us through the salvation that we have received in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have more than a scarlet cord.
SPEAKER_00: We have a scarlet cross that is covered with his blood, that he says, all who look unto him, all who believe on him, all who are covered by that blood will not perish but have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: They will go from dead in sin to alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Why would I go anywhere else or seek anything else?
SPEAKER_00: Obedience to follow Christ comes first, and we we walk in obedience with what God has called us to, that we read in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: If you're like, okay, so how do I be obedient to the Father?
SPEAKER_00: Read His word, and He'll tell you what He desires you to do.
SPEAKER_00: One of the big things He'll tell you is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: And so that is to remove all idolatry, that is all desires of the flesh, and to focus on him.
SPEAKER_00: And then he'll say, and from there, what I want you to do next is love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That obedience to follow after the Lord should then lead to how I serve and love others.
SPEAKER_00: The most loving thing I can do within the church to other brothers and sisters in Christ is to serve them, just as Jesus served his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The most loving thing that I can do with those that are my neighbor but outside of the church is to tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see how both of those require you to do something?
SPEAKER_00: To live subservient to Christ and to serve him for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00: We must find our comfort and security in the bloodstained cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: From there, be strengthened by his spirit to be equipped and to walk in obedience to serve him.
SPEAKER_00: In closing, here's what I want you to remember.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab is proof that you don't have to be perfect to be saved by God or used by God.
SPEAKER_00: Rahab is proof positive that you don't have to be perfect to be saved by or used by God.
SPEAKER_00: That is the end, that is anti-Gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not come to me, all who are perfect, and I will give you rest for your soul.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel has come to me, all who are weak and heavy burden, and I will give rest for your soul.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not come to me when you feel like you've got it all figured out.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is blessed are the poor in spirit who recognize they have no spiritual currency of their own to give to the Lord, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: God has done great things through imperfect people.
SPEAKER_00: God did great things through Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you just one more thing of how God just kind of puts the cherry on top?
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 1, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Or two, I'm sorry, through five.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham is the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zarah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Aminedab, and Aminadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon, and Salomon the father of Boaz by Rahab.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember the kingsman redeemer, the the shadow of Jesus in the Old Testament, and Boaz redeeming Ruth, is he the son of Rahab who lived in the land of Israel all of her days after Israel came in and overthrew Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: Who God redeems her to then show his redemption through her son to Ruth.
SPEAKER_00: And we know the rest of the story.
SPEAKER_00: And Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David, the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And the seed of Jesse ultimately coming forth in who?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This woman of such ill reputation, such poor reproach, is proof positive that God can save anybody and use anybody to serve him, that you don't have to be perfect to be used by him.
SPEAKER_00: The great great grandmother of King David and the line of Jesus is a picture of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That God can redeem any life and use it to display how majestic and perfect his grace is.
SPEAKER_00: God's not after your perfection, he's after progress.
SPEAKER_00: He wants fruit.
SPEAKER_00: He will do the work within you to strengthen you and equip you to serve him by his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But your faith has to lead to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in here this morning, and like Augustine before his encounter with God, there's intellectual arguments and there's just a desire to live the way that he wants to live until one day that you know, just let me get it all out, and then God, you can save me.
SPEAKER_00: God does not owe you that moment.
SPEAKER_00: And he does not guarantee you that moment.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't guarantee you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't guarantee you six o'clock this evening.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, would you take the leap and trust him?
SPEAKER_00: Much greater than a scarlet thread today is the bloodstained cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And all who trust in him who came, died, and rose to provide salvation and find themselves in him will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Would you trust him today?
SPEAKER_00: Would you trust him for salvation?
SPEAKER_00: For believers this morning, the call is simple for us.
SPEAKER_00: Would we trust and obey God?
SPEAKER_00: Would we allow that faith to lead us to obedience to what God has called us to do?
SPEAKER_00: From basic obedience that we see in scripture of following after Jesus to being obedient to what God is prompting us to do to serve Him with our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Would you trust Him and then obey what He's calling you to do?
SPEAKER_00: You're singing it in your head already, so I'll read you the last chorus or the last verse.
SPEAKER_00: Then in fellowship sweet, we will sit at His feet or we'll walk by His side in the way.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this last part, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Where He says, or what He says we will do, and where He sends we will go.
SPEAKER_00: Never fear, only what?
SPEAKER_00: Trust and obey.
SPEAKER_00: Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.
SPEAKER_00: Are you trusting Him to the point of obedience where your obedience knows no bounds?
SPEAKER_00: Would you by faith walk in that kind of obedience today?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.