WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.959 Hello everyone, I'm Dr. 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:01.679 Steve Holt. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:04.799 I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:07.280 Each week we go into God's Word. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.160 We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:15.599 And we are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:21.440 So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:35.679 Hey, it's been now, what, four months because of the sabbatical and all that we were in the book of Joshua. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:38.799 So turn in your Bibles to Joshua. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:46.240 We're gonna pick it up where we left off and want to give you a little bit of a background on Joshua again. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:55.520 A, because some of you were not with us when we were doing Joshua, but B, to just remind us of what Joshua's about as we look at it again. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:05.280 And I want to give you just three quick aspects of the historical nature, and then I'm gonna look at three aspects of the spiritual nature of Joshua, and then we're gonna jump right into chapter two. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.799 But first of all, historically, Joshua's interesting. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.560 It's the first book in the Bible named after someone. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:17.120 So it's the first book named after a person, and that's significant. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:18.879 We'll come back to that in a moment. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:30.640 Number two, it is the first book of the Bible that in which those participants in the book had the book. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.000 So in other words, Moses had written the Pentateuch. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:41.760 Okay, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, those five books, were now available to Joshua. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:46.959 So as they're getting ready to go into the Promised Land, they actually don't have just oral tradition. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:56.799 They actually now have a written code of ethics and a relationship with God through both the Ten Commandments and all that was contained in those books. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:58.959 But it's also a bridge, you guys. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.280 It's a bridge to the historical books. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:03.680 So Joshua stands in the middle. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:12.319 You got the first five books called the Pentateuch, and then you have, after Joshua, the historical books, okay, like 1st and 2 Samuel and 1st and 2 Kings. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:16.719 So those are the three historical aspects to Joshua that make it unique. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:21.840 But there's three parts spiritually, and I'd ask you to just jot these down. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:22.879 These are really, really important. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.840 This is why we're studying the book of Joshua. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:32.000 And the first is that Joshua is about a spiritual inheritance. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:32.560 Okay? 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:44.000 It is, we might say, if I was teaching at a seminary or a Bible college, I might say, Old Testament concealed, New Testament revealed. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:59.039 Meaning that what we see in the Old Testament through participants, people, real characters, people who really live, there's a kingdom principle in the life they live that we pick up in the New Testament. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:00.080 Does that make sense? 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:03.599 So you have stories, that's why you do it with kids in Sunday school and stuff. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:12.319 You do a lot of Old Testament stories because kids, up until about the fourth grade, don't necessarily think three-dimensional yet. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.280 They just literally see things as they are. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:24.080 So that's why, even as you tell your kids, hey, I love you, that doesn't mean anything to them when they're young unless it's backed up with action. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:31.919 And one of the ways it's backed up with action is eye-to-eye contact, physical touching, listening to them, those kind of things. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:37.919 So we can say, I love you, I love you, until the cows come home, but they won't understand it until after about the fourth grade. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:44.719 And so what you're doing in those early years is you're actually doing stuff with them where they know that they're loved. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:45.439 Does that make sense? 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:58.240 So kind of similar in that the Old Testament is stories that the principles of the kingdom aren't necessarily explained like they are in the New Testament. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:04.879 So a companion book in the New Testament to the book of Joshua in the Old Testament would be Ephesians. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:12.000 So Ephesians, in my opinion, is the companion to Joshua, because Ephesians is about spiritual inheritance, you guys. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:24.000 It's if you start reading the first three chapters of Ephesians, it's all about where we are and who we are in the heavenly realm over principalities and powers. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.439 But remember in Ephesians 6, it's about spiritual warfare. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:40.399 Well, that's also a key part of, I would say it's the second part of the spiritual principles of Joshua, is it's about spiritual battles won and lost. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.040 I'd like to say it's all about winning. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:44.319 It's not. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:57.680 They're gonna find out right after they take Jericho as they go into I, that they're gonna lose that battle because of one person, Achan's sin that he commits. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:00.560 So here's the deal. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:07.680 You can be promised a spiritual inheritance, but it doesn't mean you're gonna get it. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:09.680 You have to walk it out. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.680 You can only get as healed as you want to get healed in anything. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:22.800 So God has given us spiritual laws, men and women, that he chooses not to break because he's given you and I a free will. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:30.720 So you can say, well, God told me that my marriage was gonna, you know, be this or that, but it doesn't seem to be working out. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:31.360 Where's God? 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:33.279 Well, it might be where's you? 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:36.800 Because God has to work through people. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:38.399 And he works through your will. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:42.319 I've had many people come to me over the years and say, Would you cast out my demons? 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:44.000 I said, No. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.000 Well, wait, you're a pastor. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:47.920 You're a professional Christian. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.399 You're supposed to cast out my demons. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:51.920 And I know I'm not. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.240 I said, you don't, you don't want your demons cast. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:55.199 Well, I do want my demons. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:56.319 No, you don't. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:00.800 I can just tell by your actions and your attitude, you don't really want to be set free. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.639 You just want a quick fix to take away the pain. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:13.920 And I'm telling you that the remedy for you is the disciplines you're gonna have to develop to drive them out by you becoming the disciple of Christ that God's called you to be. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:15.360 That makes sense? 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:21.279 So that's that's the second thing is that there's a spiritual inheritance, it's about battles won and lost. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:25.199 Joshua's gonna give us real examples of what's true in our lives. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:30.639 And then thirdly, it's about how to be strong and courageous. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.000 To use a theological term, this life sucks. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:35.040 Okay? 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:40.399 And what I mean by that is that it's malevolent, it's hard, it's difficult. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.439 And if you're not going through the swirls of difficulties, just hang on, they're coming. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:56.800 Because the reality is that you're constantly up against demonic forces that are out to steal, kill, and destroy all around us. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:04.160 So learning to go into the battle, as it were, with strength and courage is so important. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:16.240 So turn to chapter one and look at this very, very beginning of Joshua, where Joshua probably isn't the most confident guy in the world. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:19.759 He's probably not sure what he's doing. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:27.839 He's following the greatest leader that Israel's ever had, Moses, and I think he feels probably insufficient and insecure. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.279 So God says to him, Be strong and courageous. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.079 So look at verse 6 of chapter 1. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:37.759 Be strong, Joshua, and of good courage. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:39.439 Look at verse 7. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:43.519 Only be strong and very courageous. 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:45.120 Look at verse 9. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:50.079 Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage? 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.639 Look at verse 18, last sentence. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:55.199 Only be strong and of good courage. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:56.879 You ought to underline all those. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.600 God doesn't repeat himself unless he needs to. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:17.199 So I think Joshua is not this strong and courageous leader, like sometimes we may have thought of him that way, which is great that we think of him that way, but the fact that God had to say it four times to him, be strong and courageous, can't you relate to that? 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:20.879 You know, I shared last week some of the stuff that I'm going through. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.759 And I mean, every morning when I wake up, the first thoughts are negative. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:28.879 The first thoughts in my mind are not good. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:31.120 And I have to be strong and courageous. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:34.799 I have to do it again and again and again and not quit. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:40.399 And if if I was writing a book of the Bible, he'd have to say it 20 times to me. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:40.960 Okay? 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.000 So I think that that's what we get from Joshua. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:47.279 The book of Joshua is also strength and courage. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:51.519 And the fact, and I think it's important to remember, it had to be repeated. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:54.559 It has to be repeated in your life. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:09:07.519 I wish there were these moments, and I love that sometimes you have these, where you encounter God, you have a revelation of God, it's unique, it's supernatural, it's positive, it's amazing. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:09.519 Those are great. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:20.240 But a week later, you're gonna be weak again, you're gonna be faltering again, you're gonna be doubting yourself again, and God's gonna come and say, Be strong and courageous. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.200 Be strong and courageous in me. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.399 What you can't do in and of yourself, I can do through you. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:34.799 You can do all things if you'll let me strengthen you. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:50.639 You can be one who's learning to be anxious for nothing, but in all things through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, letting your request be known unto God, so that the peace of God will come and guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:53.120 You're learning, we're all learning that. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.480 We don't just get it. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:58.159 That's why we come to church. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:03.840 That's why we come to this gathering place every week is we need each other. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.639 You have bad weeks, good weeks, terrible weeks, but you need each other. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:11.919 So you come back and there's something that happens. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.639 It's actually supernatural by gathering together. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:24.799 And so many a believer has come here and to any church in this city, beat up from the week. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:29.600 It's been a difficult week, but they come and they get strength and courage from each other. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:30.960 You're gonna see Rahab. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:33.600 We're gonna talk about Rahab this morning. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:38.720 She needs fellowship, she needs relationship, she doesn't have that. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:41.120 She's embryonic in her faith. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:42.320 And we're gonna see that. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:47.360 I think she actually does have believing faith, and her testimony is embedded right here in chapter two. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:49.519 So look at chapter two, verse one. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:51.039 We'll pick it up here. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:57.600 And then for the next number of weeks, we're gonna just march through Joshua. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:18.960 Now, Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Acacia, Acacia Grove, which is right there at the Jordan River, to spy secretly saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:22.159 Now just stop right there. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:28.159 So do you remember how many spies Moses sent out? 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:29.360 Twelve. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.360 Do you remember who decided who the twelve were? 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.559 The people did. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:36.639 Bad call by Moses. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:44.159 How many of you come out of churches where you elect elders? 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:51.759 Like you came out of a church where they they have like almost it's almost like a political event every year where you elect elders. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.440 Anybody come out of churches like that? 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:53.919 Okay. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:57.120 That's one of the dumbest things I think around. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.480 You're gonna let the people decide who the elders are? 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.120 People start campaigning and everything. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:18.080 No, I think the the senior leadership team should decide who the leaders are because they're looking for spiritual men and women, not who drives, you know, a Mercedes or something to church and has all the money. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:26.000 And so Moses made a strategic and tactical mistake by letting the people choose 12. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.279 Ten come back and say, we can't take the land. 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:32.639 There's giants in the land, there's Nephilim in the land. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:33.840 Remember that? 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:37.360 And we can't, we're grasshoppers in their sight. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.639 And there's just Joshua and Caleb say, we can do it. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.360 God's given us this land, it's ready for us. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:51.519 Look, it's fertile, it's full of milk and honey and abundance and productivity, and we can take it, just have faith. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:58.080 And they preach it and they're just shut down, and for the next 38 years, they just they're just in the wilderness. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:12:59.440 Bad mistake. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.759 Well, Joshua remembers that. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:07.840 And he remembers his buddy with him, Caleb, who's gonna show up in here in a really cool way in our story. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:13.279 But he picks two, we don't know who they are, and he picks them, and it's only two, and guess what? 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:15.120 He doesn't tell them he's doing it. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.240 It was a with Moses, it was a big announcement. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:32.960 Hey, we got the 12, we're gonna go in, and they're like, And then they come back with grapes and they've got it all racked up there, all set up, where they went into these, these, uh, these groves and stuff and come back and they say, but we can't take the land. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.320 Oh, there's giants on the land. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:38.399 And they just created a lack of faith in everybody. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:51.679 Well, two things to remember is that maybe Joshua's not really confident himself as a leader, but these are two really good decisions that he makes right off the bat. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:55.440 The first one is just two men, and he chooses them. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:56.559 He knows they have faith. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.720 And then secondly, he does it secretly. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:00.480 He doesn't let everybody know. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.080 He he doesn't, if they come back and it's a negative, it's like it never happened. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:05.279 What are you talking about? 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:12.720 Oh, they were just taking a stroll over there on the other side just to see what, you know, maybe Jericho looks like. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:17.120 How many of you know that everybody doesn't need to know everything in your life? 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.320 Now, you know a lot about what's happening in my life. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:23.279 You don't know everything. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.159 And I don't know everything's happening in your life. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:28.240 And all of you are working on stuff. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.000 All of you have stuff you're working on. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:35.039 All you every one of you that wants to know the Lord has stuff you wish was better, right? 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:42.799 So Joshua as a leader is making a strategic decision, a tactical decision, which is really smart. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:50.720 He's picked two guys that he feels like are gonna come back with a good report, because it's now is a time to take the land. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.159 Number two, he does it without a bunch of fanfare. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:57.200 Don't need a lot of fanfare, he does it kind of quietly. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:05.039 And Jericho is about, we believe historically, archaeological discoveries indicate six to eight acres. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:06.480 So that's Jericho. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.679 So don't think of this as a massive thing, like a city. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:16.240 It was a city, but it was a small city right there, six to eight acres is what it was, inside the 12-foot walls. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:25.840 So you had 25-foot walls, 12 foot wide on the outside, six foot wide on the inside, and it's in a major trade route. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:36.240 So Jericho is a significant city at that time in ancient times, because you had the riches of Tyre and Sedon flowing through the Jezreel Valley and the Jordan Valley. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:40.639 So the Jezreel Valley is over what would then be called Jerusalem. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:51.440 But coming down the Jordan River was the Jezreel Valley, I mean the Jordan Valley, and so that's why Jericho was very, very significant because of the trade route. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.480 And you know this is true even in Colorado. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:16:03.840 When Liz and I were looking to get like a house or cabin up in the mountains, I was so convinced that it had to be on a river. 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:04.960 Gotta be on a river. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.440 That's like the coozing fly fish and everything there. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:14.799 Didn't take me long to figure out that rivers in Colorado are always associated with roads. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:16.399 Did you guys know that? 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:22.960 So if you're looking, if you got this dream house, it's gonna be on a river, you're also gonna be beside a road. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:35.120 Because that's how they developed the roads with the wagon trains and the railroads back in the late 1800s was according to rivers, because rivers are on level ground, right? 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:36.240 So that's where they go. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:42.080 And if you think about it right now, with 24 and 50 and others, those all follow along a river. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.240 Well, same thing back in those times. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:53.679 They needed water as a traveling, they could just stop the wagon train, and in the case of the Middle East, they could stop the caravan, and they've got water. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:55.759 So that's why Jericho was significant. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:00.320 Now, look at the next paragraph, because how would you like this to be said of you? 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.480 In the Bible. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:11.599 So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:22.240 How would you know some of you in this room struggle with alcohol, some of you may have struggled with drug addiction, maybe you've gone through a divorce, maybe you've gone through some really bad stuff. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.000 How would you like your name to be Alcoholic Joe? 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:30.000 Drug addicted, Susan. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.240 Harlot, a prostitute. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.839 That's the first thing we know about Rahab. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.119 And yet, God's gonna mightily use her. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:47.680 A prostitute named Rahab lodge there. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.640 She's got three strikes against her. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:54.720 The first is she's a Canaanite, so she's not Jewish. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.359 Number two, she's a woman and not a man. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:59.839 And number three, she's a prostitute. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:05.119 And yet God's gonna, God's gonna mightily use Rahab. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.160 So let's just stop right there and say this. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:17.599 God can use anyone if their will is engaged to a personal, vital, dynamic, growing relationship with him. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:20.799 No excuses in our lives. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:25.680 The long arm of God's grace is there for you and me. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:35.039 Whatever your background, whatever struggles you've come out of, that long arm of Christ is with you. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:40.240 You cannot outsin the long arm of God's grace. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:47.599 You can't out hate the deep heart of God's love for you. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:55.440 You can't out-addict the chain breaker that is God in our life. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.039 Rahab's gonna discover that. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:02.400 Rahab has been has been working on stuff, I think, in her life. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:04.400 Verse 2. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:13.039 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:18.079 So these people in Jericho are getting very, very insecure. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.519 Think about what they're seeing. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:34.000 They've been hearing for 38 years, which is going to be a part of the testimony of Rahab that's coming up in just a few moments, of what God has done through Israel, but because of the fear in Israel, they haven't crossed over. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:55.839 They could have gone straight from Egypt, right through, taken on the battles that they took on, of course, crossing over the Red Sea and all that was involved with that and the miracles that happened, manna coming down from heaven, and could have walked right into the right into the promised land, but they didn't because of ten spies instead of twelve spies saying, God can do this. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:57.440 They weren't willing to trust God. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:08.240 So they've been hearing stuff, and now he looks out, there's a Jordan River out there a few miles away, and he can see fire by night, cloud by day. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:10.000 Because they're still getting manna from heaven. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:10.799 That hasn't stopped yet. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:12.160 They haven't crossed the Jordan River yet. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:26.799 So they're seeing fire at night from the presence and power of God, and then he hears or someone sees something we don't know, but see, spies have come in, and so the king is paranoid. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:31.759 So the king of Jericho, verse 3, sent to Rahab. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.079 Now, why did he send it to Rahab? 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:35.759 Like duh, right? 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:44.960 If this is a trade route that's coming down the Jordan River, the prostitute's house is probably the busiest place in Jericho. 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:47.359 Saying, bring out the men. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:48.720 Obviously, they've come to you. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:59.519 You're a prostitute, they came to see you, who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:11.440 So what we here's what we believe happened is that they crossed the Jordan, probably a few miles north of Acacia Grove. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:21.680 So what they did, we believe, is they they went up the eastern side of the Jordan River, crossed over up there where they wouldn't be seen, and then came down the trade route. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:23.599 So it looked like they're coming down the trade route. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:34.240 But they're by this time, with fire by night coming down on the encampment of the Israelites, there's spies all over the place for Jericho. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.400 So they they see something, they observe something, that's why he's paranoid. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:39.440 Verse 4. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:41.759 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.559 So he's right, they did come to her. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:50.960 So she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:52.000 Lie. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.759 And it happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark, that the men went out. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:58.640 Lie. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.559 Pursue them quickly, you may overtake them, lie. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:07.119 Is it okay to lie? 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:12.319 She's flat lying. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:20.319 And if she gets caught, man, she'll be ripped apart by everybody in Jericho. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:22.400 She'll be stoned to death, probably. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:24.960 She's already not super esteemed in the city. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.359 She's just a she's just a harlot. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:29.440 And so she's lying to them. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:32.880 You know, and I call it the ethics of smuggling. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:36.240 The biblical ethics of smuggling. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:45.359 So in 1980, I had the privilege working with Campus Crusade for Christ, now called crew, to go into Hungary. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:50.880 Now that was an Eastern Bloc country to smuggle Bibles into Hungary. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:52.160 I lied. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:08.640 Came in, guards, communist guards were there when they met us there, and I was packed in my backpack with these little Bibles, those small New Testaments, to get to Christians in the city. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:11.039 And then when they asked me, do you have anything you need to declare? 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:12.160 I said, No. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.200 But I'm not the sharpest pencil in the drawer. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:23.599 And when we were driving in, I was having a quiet time with my Bible, and I put it right on top of my backpack when they opened it up. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.279 So stupid. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:30.559 We had gone through all this training in New York City at King's College on how not to do that. 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:33.920 And then all the team is behind me, and everybody's just going, oh. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:36.000 I saw everybody just go like this. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.599 And then I said, he said, What's this? 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:38.960 And I said, That's a Bible. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.200 And he says, Why are you carrying a Bible? 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:43.039 And I said, Because I'm a Christian. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:45.599 And they said, Well, you shouldn't have a Bible. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:48.799 Or he said something like that, and it was broken English. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:55.759 I can imitate what Japanese sound like in broken English, but not Hungarian, so bear with me. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:57.359 So I said, Yeah. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:58.720 And he goes, Okay. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:06.480 And then we talked for like two minutes just about my Bible, and he never checked anything else in the whole backpack. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.279 And so all of us lied our way through. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:10.880 We just lied our way through. 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:12.400 They didn't take any of the Bibles. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:18.640 And then for the next two months, all summer, we gave Bibles out to believers and stuff like that. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:20.880 We were liars. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:23.440 All four of us were liars. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.559 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a liar. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:43.279 He pretended to be a part of what would be called the kind of like the CIA of the Nazis because he had an in-law that was a general that got him the job as a pretext so he could get Jews across the border into Switzerland. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:44.559 He lied every time. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:50.079 You can read about it in some of the biographies on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:58.160 Corey Tinboom and her father and her family, they lied to the Nazis as they hid Jews and they got them through and to freedom. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:24:59.680 Ethics of smuggling. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:03.440 So sometimes it's the principle of the good, the better, and the best. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:10.799 That to save a life, we have to tell a lie even for God's glory. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:16.720 And in James, it says of Rahab that she was justified by her works. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:18.960 Not just by faith alone. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:20.400 If you read it, it's by her works. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:21.839 So what was she justified? 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:29.599 Because he says later in the passage, just there it is, you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:41.680 Likewise, was not Rahab, the harlot, also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:56.000 So, church, sometimes, in unique situations, God calls us to work with his spirit in ways that are deceptive against demonic powers. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:01.440 And so, Bonhoeff, the Tin Boom family. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:08.880 Here's the thing, though, to remember is that in those kind of unique situations that we're in, you have to be willing to also suffer the consequences. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:12.640 In other words, you're willing to die for what you believe in. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:13.759 And they were. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:17.759 These are great men and women of God who are willing to die for what they believed in. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:20.079 We don't know where things are going in our country. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:21.599 We don't know what's happening. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:28.559 We know that Colorado's kind of messed up right now, and that's why we need a congressman like Jeff Crank in the position that he's in. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:30.880 Because we're battling these forces. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:36.640 But remember when we were going through COVID, I mean, the stuff they were asking us to do, we were not going to do. 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:39.359 We weren't going to shut down our church. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:41.599 And we didn't shut down our church. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.240 And we weren't going to do some of the other things that happened. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:50.160 And I was willing, and I think all of you that were a part of that were willing to suffer the consequences. 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:58.240 I had to ask myself, am I willing to go to jail if that's if that's the degree to which they're going to enforce these new edicts? 00:26:58.480 --> 00:26:59.599 Yes, I was. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:02.880 And so were all of our county commissioners. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:20.799 Because if you remember, we did a declaration of liberty for El Paso County, and 350 of us all went downtown, and as each of the county commissioners made their statements about the declaration that they had developed, 11 standing ovations. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:23.119 And that was filmed. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:25.920 And we believe that Governor Polis saw it. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:28.240 So we were all willing to do that. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:43.440 And so sometimes we take stands that are unpopular and maybe even go against what would be what we might call the natural ethics of the kingdom because there's a greater ethic, there's a greater kingdom principle being worked out. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:47.839 Well, that's that is Rahab. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:50.319 And God will use anybody. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:51.200 Who knows? 00:27:51.279 --> 00:28:00.640 He might have looked to and fro all over Jericho to find someone who had a pretty moral life, ethical life, who looked a lot better in Scripture to have them. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:04.240 You know, a Cornelius, as it were. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:10.400 But the only one he could find that really had faith that he knew he could trust is a prostitute. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:17.119 But she brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax. 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:18.960 She ought to underline stalks of flax. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.039 That's actually a kind of an important part of this. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:22.319 Stalks of flax. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:25.200 Which she had laid an order on the roof. 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:26.880 It's parenthetical. 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:29.440 Then the men pursued them by the road of the Jordan. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:34.720 So there they they follow her roost and start looking for these guys to the fords. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:38.880 And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:43.519 So I think that okay, it's just my opinion. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:57.200 Can't prove it exactly, but I think that God's been working in Rahab's life, and that she's actually trying to have a legit business. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:06.880 The fact that she's got stalks of flax which grew in the Jordan Valley there, and has a business where she had lined them up. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:19.680 So what they would do is they would take the stalks of flax, they would soak them in water, they'd lay them in the sun, they would crack open, and the fibers inside the flax is what they made cloth from. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:20.880 Alright? 00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:33.519 So what they would do is they would take the red rocks of Edom, which were nearby, the red rocks of Edom, they would boil those red, they would, they'd crush the red rocks, then they would boil them and make red water. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:36.400 This is going to be important next week for the message. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:47.680 But it would make red water, and then they would take the fibers of the flax, dropping it into the red water as it's boiling, soaking them into red. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:54.079 They would make a rope out of it, they would braid it, make a rope, it's red. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.000 So you got a red rope. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:08.880 And then if you were dyeing cloth that you wanted red, you cut off a section of the rope, and then you put the cloth in with the boiling water and the red rope, and it would turn it red. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:10.480 That's how they did dyeing and stuff. 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:21.359 When I was in Morocco years ago, you could see this process already still at work in, I think that was 1987 or so when I was there. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:25.839 But you could see them still doing that, dyeing cloth that way using flax. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:34.960 So I think that though it's not perfect yet, that Rahab is doing the best she can with what she has to work with. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:41.599 She doesn't have the word yet, she doesn't have scripture yet, she doesn't have a church yet, she doesn't have anybody disciple her or treacher or train her. 00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:47.680 She's trying to follow God as best she can, and she's trying to get a legit business with the stalks of flax. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:49.519 So anyway, she hides them up there. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.480 Now, here's the testimony of Rahab. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:53.680 This is really important. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:55.200 This is a really key thing. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:56.960 Verses 8 through 11. 00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:04.319 Now, before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and she said to the men, I know. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:15.759 In other words, I believe, I know, I believe that the Lord Yahweh, that's what this means here, Yahweh, the one true God, has given you the land. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:24.880 That the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:32.400 For we have heard how the Lord Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:36.160 That's like 38 years ago. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:37.839 They've been hearing about that. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:41.680 And I think she's saying, What took you guys so long? 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:45.680 I mean, he dried up the Red Sea. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:48.720 What's Jericho compared to that? 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.559 What's the Jordan River compared to the to the Red Sea? 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:09.119 You dried up the water of the Red Sea, and Yahweh guided you, and you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the other side of Jordan, Sahon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:11.440 We've been hearing these stories. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:15.359 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:23.759 Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God. 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:26.799 He is God. 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:34.799 She's the first one proclaiming in Canaan, in the promised land, the Lord Yahweh is God. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:37.039 And she's a and she's a harlot. 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:44.160 God doesn't care what you've done, He cares what you believe. 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:52.160 In heaven above and on earth beneath, man, this is one of the great testimonies in the scripture. 00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:56.960 Rahab, a harlot, has been getting saved. 00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:59.119 She's getting saved. 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:00.000 She's there. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:06.319 She says, way back, verse 9, I know the Lord. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:07.839 I know the Lord. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:09.119 She knows the Lord. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:11.440