1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,320 Would you grab a Bible and open to the book of Joshua chapter 2? 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,039 While you're turning there? I'm going to pray for us. 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,120 Father God, we are in need of your word again this morning to 4 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:18,400 sound with power and authority and grace towards us. 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,280 So we pray for these next few moments as we turn our attention 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:24,800 to Your Word. We ask you, Lord, as our Father, 7 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:28,440 in the name of Christ, we ask in the power of your Spirit that 8 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,720 you would speak to us and that you would build up your people. 9 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,560 Speak with clarity, Lord, speak with comfort, speak with 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,440 challenge. Those who need to be reproved 11 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,760 and rebuked, would you do that through your Word? 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,240 Those that need to be encouraged and strengthened, would you do 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,960 that through your Word? And we will give you all the 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,280 credit and all the glory as you exalt the name of Christ among 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,160 us. We ask it in his name, Amen. 16 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,600 So you're in Joshua chapter 2. The title of today's sermon is a 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,560 prostitute in a pickle, which is maybe not the best title of all 18 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:12,440 time, but we are going to be reading about perhaps the 19 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,560 greatest woman who's ever lived, including Mother Mary. 20 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:22,080 Rahab is phenomenal and we are, it's a very familiar story to 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,080 you and it's a pretty straightforward story. 22 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,040 And so we're just going to take it in chunks. 23 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,080 And I'm going to call our attention to a few things as we 24 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:32,520 move our way through it and then have some some application for 25 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:34,240 us at the end. And so the first thing I want to 26 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:39,280 show you from Joshua chapter 2 verses one through 7 is I want 27 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:45,160 to show you a sanctioned lie. Can Christians ever lie? 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,680 Not to your dentist or your doctor, but you can lie to the 29 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,320 tyrant. OK, let's I'm just teasing. 30 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,680 OK, let's let's read this. So watch this. 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:59,200 He said the the text says. And Joshua, the son of Nun sent 32 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:06,680 two men secretly from Shatim as spies saying go view the land, 33 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,960 especially Jericho. Now, if you know your Bible, you 34 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,600 might be tempted to start sweating bullets here because 35 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,520 the last time the children of Israel sent spies into the land, 36 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:19,840 they decided not to go into the land. 37 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,520 And Joshua was one of those spies. 38 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,400 And so he's not sending 12, he's sending two hand picked guys. 39 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,960 I think I know the name of one of them, but I won't fight you 40 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,280 for it. I'll explain that in a little 41 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,880 bit. But he sends 2 spies saying go 42 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,200 view the the land. Especially Jericho. 43 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:39,200 Especially Jericho. The question is why especially 44 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,520 Jericho? Well, they're about to cross 45 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,800 over the Jordan and enter into the promised land, and they're 46 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,400 supposed to take Dominion and Jericho's this massive city with 47 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,440 huge walls that's going to take, If all things go normally and 48 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,480 God doesn't give them miraculous victory, it's going to be a 49 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,240 long, hard siege. It's going to take forever. 50 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:00,720 And you're going to get discouraged. 51 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,360 People are going to die and they're going to go hungry and 52 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,360 they're going to get bored. And he's going to have a fight 53 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:07,760 on his hands. And so the temptation is, hey, 54 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,320 why don't we just skirt Jericho and go somewhere else, go to the 55 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,920 next, like easy target. But the problem is you're 56 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:17,920 leaving enemies behind you. And so Jericho is the first mega 57 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:21,520 city that they come to. Joshua knows I've got to take 58 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,360 it. I have to take the city out. 59 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,640 And so we got to figure out a way to do that. 60 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:30,840 So he sends spies especially to Jericho, and they went and came 61 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,120 into the House of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and they 62 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:39,960 launched there. Rahab is one of the heroes of 63 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,920 our faith. She has mentioned repeatedly in 64 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,560 the New Testament as one of the great models of faith. 65 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,160 If you if you remember James too, James talking about 66 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:56,440 justifying faith also works and he talks about the 2 examples he 67 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:02,640 gives are Abraham and who else discow Rahab. 68 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,240 What are you doing, James? You're you're bypassing Joseph, 69 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,320 you're bypassing Noah, you're bypassing all of these great men 70 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,680 in the faith. And James says, I know exactly 71 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,000 what I'm doing. It's Abraham you need to look at 72 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,399 and it's Rahab, the Jericho prostitute. 73 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,200 And so they stay with the prostitute most likely to just 74 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:29,640 be able to come into town and and not acquire a lot of a lot 75 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:35,640 of visual from the people in Jericho, but that they go to the 76 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:38,360 prostitute's house. And it was told to the king of 77 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,120 Jericho, Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search 78 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:44,480 out the land. Then the king of Jericho sent to 79 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,960 Rahab saying, bring out the men who have come to you who entered 80 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,360 your house, for they have come to search out all the land. 81 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,960 And the woman answered them, yes, Lord, I'm a Christian. 82 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,880 I cannot tell a lie. They're hidden up on my roof. 83 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:00,640 That's not what she says. What does the text say? 84 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:06,720 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said 85 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:09,360 half truth told us a whole truth. 86 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,120 There's a whole lie, my favorite professor used to say. 87 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,400 She says true, the men came to me, but then here's the lie. 88 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,720 I didn't know where they were from, and when the gate was 89 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,520 about to be closed at dark, the men went out. 90 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,240 I do not know where the men went. 91 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,400 Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. 92 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:34,080 So she lies through her prostitutes teeth now the text 93 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,720 says. But when? 94 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,440 But she had brought them up up to the roof and hid them within 95 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,800 the stalks of flax, that she had laid an order on the roof. 96 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,960 You use, you use flax to make a linen. 97 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,920 And if you're a prostitute you you use linen to make your garbs 98 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,800 of prostitution. So they she hides them in the 99 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,800 stalks of flax. So the men pursued after them on 100 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,600 the way to the Jordan as far as the Fords in the gate was shut 101 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,400 as soon as the pursuers had gone out. 102 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,760 This is in no uncertain terms a sanctioned line. 103 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,160 So the question is did you do the right thing or did she do 104 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,720 the wrong thing. And they like massive hero of 105 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,600 mine in reading commentary his commentary on the book of 106 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,400 Joshua. He says, look, the Lord blessed 107 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,640 and affirmed her intention, but he did not like the way that she 108 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,000 lied to them and I think he's just dead wrong. 109 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,480 This is a mega theme in the scriptures. 110 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,360 I want to call your attention to two things about this lie. 111 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:43,200 As we think through as Christians our Christ centered 112 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,720 commitment to speaking the truth, the first thing I would 113 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,960 say is it if I were to ask you, why is it wrong for a Christian 114 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,120 to lie, what text would you turn to? 115 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,120 What would you say? Well, it says right here, don't 116 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,600 lie. The the the clearest text in the 117 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:02,840 world would be Exodus 20 verse 16, one of the 10 commandments. 118 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:04,880 You shall not bear false witness. 119 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,880 Can anybody finish that sentence? 120 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:10,040 You shall not bear false witness. 121 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:17,000 What the rest of that verse is against your neighbor. 122 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,240 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 123 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,760 You're not. You can't use your tongue to get 124 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,960 someone in social or legal trouble by lying. 125 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:28,640 It's a thing that you just don't do. 126 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,320 You don't lie to hurt someone. It is disallowed in Scripture. 127 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:37,000 But listen, that's not the same thing as lying to the tyrant to 128 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,200 protect God's people and God's purposes. 129 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,800 This is not the same thing. If you have ever gone into an 130 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,800 airport and hidden money in your boot, you, you are doing the 131 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,600 same thing that Rahab did. You're just realizing I'm not in 132 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:57,000 a just society and I'm going to, I'm going to loyally align 133 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,280 myself with God and with his people and I'm going to protect 134 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,600 those that are in my power to protect. 135 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,440 So First off, is just the understanding that the command 136 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:10,000 is we don't bear false witness against someone, but bearing 137 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,320 false witness to protect someone is a very different thing. 138 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,880 It's the it's the same difference of a doctor going in 139 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,400 with a scalpel and opening someone up to go in and remove a 140 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,720 tumor, right? A cancerous tumor, that's one 141 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:25,920 thing. A doctor going into surgically 142 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,680 remove human life from a mother's womb. 143 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,240 It looks very similar. It ain't the same thing. 144 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,240 This looks like a lie, but it's not what is forbidden in Exodus 145 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,679 chapter 20. Second thing I want to think 146 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:43,440 with you about, and this is where it gets more fun and also 147 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,200 more complicated. The model of Scripture 148 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:52,520 concerning deception is a, a, a principle called lex talionis. 149 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,800 Lex talionis is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. 150 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,640 It's justice, it's retribution, It's it's, it's balance. 151 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,480 And so when you think about the very first sin of our parents in 152 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:08,960 the garden, the enemy of our souls, Satan, lied to our 153 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:10,960 mother. Eve deceived her so that she 154 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,920 would rebel against our God. And she was, she believed him. 155 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,960 He bore false witness. She believed she ate, She took 156 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,400 some of the fruit, gave it to her husband who was with her, 157 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,680 and he ate. And they all fell the, the 158 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:25,960 entirety of the race fell into sin. 159 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:31,080 And from that point forward, what you see is godly men and 160 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,400 women, particularly in the book of Genesis, but also an exodus. 161 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,560 And throughout the entirety of the Bible, you see godly men and 162 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:43,560 women giving that same initial, that same initial attack back to 163 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:48,240 the seed of the serpent. So the seed of the woman can 164 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,640 lawfully deceive the seed of the serpent. 165 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:52,800 So let me give you a few of these. 166 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:58,800 Abraham lied repeatedly about about Sarah saying she's she's 167 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:03,960 my sister, which was, as I say, 1/2 truth told as a whole truth, 168 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:06,200 which is a whole lie. And I used to read that and say 169 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,040 Abraham must have been a coward. What kind of a guy doesn't say, 170 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:12,640 no, this is my wife, get your dirty hands off of her. 171 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:16,000 He says, this is my sister. Well, what was going on in that 172 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:22,240 culture is you have you have men who want to want to marry a 173 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,360 woman go through her brother. And so you can see this in the 174 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:30,400 in the narrative where Abraham's servant goes to find a a wife 175 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,560 for Isaac and he deals not with Rebecca's dad, but with 176 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:39,680 Rebecca's brother Laban. And so Abraham is is deceiving 177 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:41,520 the tyrant so that he can protect his wife. 178 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,960 She ends up getting taken twice anyway. 179 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,560 But that was not sinful. It's not him lying as a coward. 180 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:52,920 It's a very different thing. You the the interesting story 181 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:59,080 where Rebecca lies to she, she leads Jacob to lie to Isaac and 182 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,040 we say, wait, is that OK? Can wives do that? 183 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,920 But when you read that story closely, you, you would 184 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:11,640 understand Isaac got a in vitro prophecy that the older son 185 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,480 would serve the younger. God said the older is going to 186 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,520 serve the younger. And then when they grew up, 187 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,920 Isaac, instead of honoring and blessing Jacob, he just loved 188 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,440 Esau because Esau was a hunter of wild game and Isaac loved 189 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,680 food. And so when you read the story 190 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:33,520 of the blessing, he, Rebecca leads, leads Jacob to deceive 191 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,560 Isaac so that he can get Esau's blessing. 192 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,960 When Isaac goes out, Esau comes in and he says, father, here I 193 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,120 am, bless me. And Isaac says, I have left. 194 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,080 I've reserved nothing for you. I have no blessing for you. 195 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:51,800 And so think about what that meant for Isaac to intentionally 196 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:56,360 plan to go against the spoken word of God about who would, who 197 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,720 would inherit who would be the son of promise. 198 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,280 God said it's going to be Jacob, not Esau. 199 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,680 And Isaac said it's going to be Esau and not Jacob. 200 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,800 And I'm going to completely cut this son out of everything. 201 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,760 Rebecca knew that and loved her husband enough to deceive him so 202 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,800 that he'll wake up when she pulls the covers back. 203 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,920 And very interestingly, in the book of Hebrews in the Hall of 204 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,040 Faith, it mentions Isaac by faith blessing Jacob. 205 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,200 He he didn't do it by faith. He did it because she lied to 206 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,040 him. Well, if you again, if you go 207 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,360 back to that text, she deceives him. 208 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:36,360 He trembles realizing what what has just happened. 209 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,480 And the next chapter is he from his soul, he blesses his son of 210 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:42,960 promise. He blesses Jacob on his way. 211 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:46,920 And so you have this model of Abraham lying, of Rebecca lying 212 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,840 of Pua and Shipra lying to Pharaoh, kill the baby boys. 213 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:54,680 And they say, we're not going to do that. 214 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:56,760 Kill us if you must. No, they don't. 215 00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:58,720 They say, hey, we're trying. We're on your side. 216 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,000 It's just the Hebrew midwives and the Hebrew women are very 217 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,800 vigorous and they and they have their babies fast before we can 218 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:07,560 get there. Kuwa and Shifra lie and are 219 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:10,520 blessed by the Lord. Abigail lies to Nabal. 220 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,720 Don't name your kids Nabal. It means stupid fool Nathan lies 221 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,240 to David in order to bring about repentance. 222 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,480 He's not bearing false witness against David. 223 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,440 He's lying to him for David's good so that he can say, hey, 224 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,600 here's this situation over here. And David, look without bias and 225 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,400 say that's wrong, that guy deserves to die. 226 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,480 He's going to pay fourfold. And then Nathan can say you're 227 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,080 the man. I, I lied for your sake to bring 228 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,160 about repentance. So listen to me, Rahab is simply 229 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,840 walking in a long line of covenant keeping believers 230 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:50,080 practicing lex talionis. I would run out of time if I 231 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,000 covered all of the different ways godly men and women 232 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,280 throughout the centuries lied, used deception to bring about 233 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,960 the purposes of God and are blessed for that deception. 234 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:07,240 Deception is not always simple. OK, so this brings to mind 235 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,400 something we need to think about about Christian loyalty. 236 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:16,000 When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die and he bids him 237 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:20,240 to die to all other loyalties. There's a common misnomer that 238 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,400 when you become a Christian now, Jesus becomes number one 239 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:28,680 priority, and then wife, and then children, and then church, 240 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,840 and then country and then career, and Jesus is the number 241 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,800 one on the priority list. That is fundamentally error. 242 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,040 It's the error of all errors. When you become a Christian, 243 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,960 listen to what Jesus says. Now the crowds accompanied him, 244 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,920 and he turned and he said to them, If anyone comes to me and 245 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:51,280 does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and 246 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:56,440 brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my 247 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,880 disciple. We say, Lord, that's a hard 248 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,920 word. I I love, I love my father and 249 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:06,080 my mother. I love my wife. 250 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:08,240 I love my children. I love my brothers and sisters. 251 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,560 I love my life. I'm supposed to hate those 252 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,240 things. What he's saying is when you 253 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,760 come to me, I am your chief loyalty. 254 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:17,560 I'm the only loyalty that matters. 255 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:22,920 And when that though that can sound oppressive, those of us 256 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,560 who have come and said, look, you have the words of eternal 257 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,200 life. I'll hate who you want me to 258 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:28,720 hate. I'll honor who you want me to 259 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:30,720 honor. I just, I'm loyal to you. 260 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,880 What happens is God gives us back all of those things. 261 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,520 He gives them back to us in a way that won't consume us. 262 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:41,600 If you love your father or your mother or your wife or your 263 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,760 children apart from Christ, they become your God, your chief 264 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,640 loyalty, and they can lead you. Think about this, those of you 265 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:54,200 who have known years of marriage as unbelievers and you're sort 266 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,080 of chief ethic is just make the marriage work, make it go. 267 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,320 And so husbands who just want to keep the peace will let their 268 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,040 wives lead and they won't say no, we're not going to do that 269 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,240 because there's no higher loyalty to to truth or to 270 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:09,640 Christ. It's just keep the peace. 271 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:14,120 But when you come to Christ and you realize Christ is my central 272 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:18,440 loyalty and everything I do and as a, as a husband, as a son, as 273 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,880 a father, as a pastor, everything I do is aimed at 274 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:26,760 loyalty to Jesus Christ. Life for sure becomes more 275 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,720 complex, but it's it's simplified in the sense that it 276 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:34,160 is loyalty to Christ, his people, his purposes, and all of 277 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,920 the gifts that he gives me. But every loyalty given to my 278 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,760 father, every loyalty to my mother, every loyalty to my 279 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,960 wife, to my children, to my brothers, sisters, all of those 280 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,880 are in essence loyalty to Christ. 281 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,640 Above all things, Christ is our highest loyalty. 282 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,960 We love Him, we love His truth, we love His people and His 283 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:59,520 purposes more than any covenant existing in the world, more than 284 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,120 marriage, children, country, etcetera. 285 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,640 Which means two things for Christians. 286 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,599 We wouldn't have time, but I would love to get questions so 287 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:11,800 that I can argue for that a little more robustly. 288 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:16,240 But it is true that Christ is your only loyalty, and all of 289 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:22,000 those relationships enjoy your faithfulness in direct loyalty 290 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:24,440 to Jesus Christ. Which means two things for US. 291 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,720 Number one, that Christians are and always have been the very 292 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:33,680 best citizens of just societies, the very best spouses, the very 293 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,000 best parents, the very best friends. 294 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,160 True Christians are the best at all of these relationships 295 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:43,000 because we have a reason above those things that tells us to be 296 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:44,960 faithful. We have loyalty to Christ that 297 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:46,720 says, I want you to be a good husband. 298 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,400 I want you to be a good citizen in your country. 299 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,640 I want you to be a good friend. And so in loyalty to him, we 300 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,840 become the best of all of those things because we have a reason 301 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,600 again above us that says be faithful here. 302 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,920 It also means that Christians are and always have been the 303 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,960 nightmare of unjust civilizations. 304 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,640 You realize, don't you, that original Christians were thrown 305 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,880 to the lions on the accusation of atheism because they would 306 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,560 not worship Caesar. They worship Christ and him 307 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,120 alone. We will not bow the knee. 308 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,280 And in Rome, Caesar worship is that unifying principle that was 309 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,640 trying to hold together a fragmenting nation. 310 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,720 We need one central idea to bind us all together as a civic 311 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,760 unity. And it's and it's Caesar worship 312 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,040 is what they chose. And the Christian said, no, I'm 313 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,720 not doing that. I don't care what you say, I 314 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,400 don't care what you ask. I'm not doing that. 315 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,080 I will pray for Caesar like we're instructed in the 316 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,360 scripture. I will submit where possible, 317 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:47,040 where he doesn't try to leave me in the sin. 318 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:49,360 I will pray for him. I will be the best of all 319 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:52,480 citizen, but I'm not going to buy in there. 320 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,520 I'm not going to be controlled or coerced into sanctioning a 321 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:59,920 country like ours that slaughters millions of innocent 322 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:03,600 babies with tax dollars. A country like ours that is 323 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,640 stripped individuals of life and liberty and property. 324 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,920 Riddle me this Christian. When is the last time you earned 325 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,160 a dollar and were able to keep it? 326 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:19,600 All of it never in life you've never done that thing. 327 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:21,720 They tax it on the way in. They tax it when you spend it. 328 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,120 They tax it when you save it. They tax it when you buy 329 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,240 something. When you save something, it's 330 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:32,000 taxed at every at every turn. And Christians are the ones that 331 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,280 will bring about a fix and a writing to that situation. 332 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:40,440 So it is an entirely Christian thinking about where our 333 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:42,880 loyalties lie. And what's got me on this bone 334 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,400 is Rahab. The question is, did she sin 335 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,760 against her neighbors by welcoming spies in so that her 336 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:52,320 town can be overthrown? And the answer is Rahab, as 337 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,680 you're going to see, has a higher loyalty to anybody in 338 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,040 Jericho. Her loyalty is to the Lord. 339 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,320 And so it is. It's entirely a Christian ethic 340 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,920 to, as an example, serve in the military while actively praying 341 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,360 that God would either grant U.S. National repentance. 342 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:12,400 Or that he would strike us down as a nation. 343 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,520 Rahab did the exact right thing and under the circumstances, and 344 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,440 there's no caveat to that. There's no Well, we wish you 345 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:20,600 would have figured out another way. 346 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,720 She did exactly what she was supposed to do in the Scripture. 347 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:28,680 Never criticizes her for that. Now, I want to show you a true 348 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:31,080 believer. Look in verse. 349 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,320 Look in verse 8. I want to show you what she says 350 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:40,000 she knows what her town has heard and then what she actively 351 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,400 believes and acts on. Look in verse 8, it says before 352 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:49,080 the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and she said to 353 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,600 the men, I know now I want you to to think about that. 354 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,360 She she's just telling them the things that she knows and she's 355 00:20:55,360 --> 00:21:01,520 going to list some things. I know, number one, that the 356 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:08,720 Lord has given you the land. Rahab, brothers and sisters, is 357 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,280 convinced. I know this. 358 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,160 She's convinced of things she cannot see with her eyes. 359 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,280 In a conversation with a brother this weekend, talking about the 360 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:20,680 Kingdom of God. Is it here? 361 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,920 Is it not yet? In what way is it here and, and 362 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,720 all that keeps being repeated is, well, I don't see, I don't 363 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,600 see everything getting better. I don't see the line laying down 364 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,440 with the land. I don't see these things. 365 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:38,080 Well, let me ask you a question from Rahab's perspective. 366 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,280 How much of the promised land is in submission to God into 367 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,920 Israel? None of it with her eyes. 368 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:49,960 If she just goes up on the wall and looks out over the land of 369 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:54,320 Israel and says, Look how much of this is in submission to 370 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,520 Yahweh? Answer not a square inch of it 371 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,200 yet. And yet by faith she says, I 372 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:06,760 know not that you will be given the land, but that the Lord has 373 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,720 given you the land. I know this, and I know that the 374 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:16,800 fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of 375 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:21,160 the land melt away before you. OK, These are the things she 376 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:22,560 knows. The Lord has given them the 377 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:24,960 land. Would that Christians today 378 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:29,440 would embrace Rahab's faith to trust and to act upon something 379 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,720 that Christ has said that we can't see with our eyes. 380 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,640 We have to take my faith. Something like all authority in 381 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:38,560 heaven and on earth has been given to me. 382 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,960 Let's just take that as gospel truth, because it's gospel 383 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,200 truth. It's all of it is his. 384 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,560 Would that we had a portion of Rahab's faith. 385 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,880 She knows that the fear of you has fallen upon all of us here 386 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,680 in Jericho and that the inhabitants of the land melt 387 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,080 away. The entirety of the land is 388 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:00,120 trembling at the presence of the Israelites. 389 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:02,760 And we might ask, why is that the case? 390 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,240 How did that did they read a social media post? 391 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,200 Like how did they hear about these things? 392 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,480 And she gives us the answer in verse 10. 393 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,040 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red 394 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,920 Sea before you when you came out of came out of Egypt. 395 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,120 Think about that. They have heard about what God 396 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:22,880 did 40 years ago and they're still living in terror of that 397 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,360 event. How much more now that Christ 398 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,080 has been crucified and risen from the dead and ascended to 399 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,320 the right hand of of all authority, how much more does 400 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,920 the world tremble at what God has done through Christ? 401 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,720 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea 402 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:40,360 before you when you came out of Egypt. 403 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,760 And we've heard what you did to the 2 kings of the Amorites who 404 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,440 were beyond the Jordan, Sahan and Ogg, whom you devoted to 405 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,840 destruction. They were extremely powerful 406 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,680 giant kings and giant people in Israel. 407 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:54,440 Wipe the floor. And they say we know these 408 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,040 things. We've heard what God has done. 409 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:02,360 We've heard what you have done. And then in verse 11, she says, 410 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:04,560 and as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no 411 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:08,840 spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God. 412 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:13,920 And this is her creed. Watch this the Lord your God, He 413 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,600 is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 414 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,200 Brothers and sisters, that is the most UN Canaanite confession 415 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,040 of faith that you can possibly imagine. 416 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,880 When we see some of these fights, they're going to say 417 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,080 things like Israel beats them in the mountains. 418 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:30,840 And so they're going to say, well, their gods must be 419 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:32,720 mountain gods. Let's fight them on the plane 420 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,680 because that's their mindset is you have local deities, 421 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,880 household gods. This is the God of the Martin 422 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,040 family, not the God of the the Kelly family. 423 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,520 So our God is going to overcome their God if need be. 424 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:45,920 There's gods of of trees and of rivers and of all of these 425 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,080 different things. And so you have local deities 426 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,200 and she says that the God of Israel, the Lord your God, he is 427 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,680 God in the heavens above and he is God on the earth beneath. 428 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:04,240 She has infinitely more faith than most American Christians. 429 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,000 There is one living and true God. 430 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,200 And she says we cannot stand against him. 431 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,600 And she's going to she's going to act on this faith in verse 432 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,360 12. And I want to show you 12 433 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:19,840 through the end what I would call the always was nature of 434 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,120 the old covenant. Look in verse 12. 435 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,560 Now then please swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt 436 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,280 kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's 437 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,840 house and give me a sure sign. She says, don't just give me a 438 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:39,680 word, give me a sacrament. Give me something material that 439 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,560 I can grab hold of, I can look at and I can say, OK, I know 440 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:43,640 they're going to keep their word. 441 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:49,040 Swear to me and give me a sign that you will save a life, my 442 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,600 father and my mother and my brothers, my sister and all who 443 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,640 belongs to them, and deliver our lives from death. 444 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:59,360 And the men said to her, our life for yours, even to the 445 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:01,360 death. They are Christ to her. 446 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,080 If you do not tell this business of ours, then we then, when the 447 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,400 Lord gives us the land, notice not there's no if. 448 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,760 When the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and 449 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,160 faithfully with you. She let them down by a rope 450 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,600 through the window, for her house was built into the city 451 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,160 wall so that she lived in the wall. 452 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,920 And she said to them, go into the hills or the pursuers will 453 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,200 encounter you and hide there three days until the pursuers 454 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:29,920 have returned. It's very interesting. 455 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,160 Go into the hills. One scholar has said this is the 456 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,960 mount of, of temptation, Christ baptized in the Jordan. 457 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,080 And then he goes into the wilderness immediately to be 458 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,080 tempted by the devil. And so these spies, they go into 459 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:45,440 the wilderness for three days, and then and then they return. 460 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:48,080 And then she says, Then afterward you may go your way. 461 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,720 The men said to her, We will be guiltless with respect to this 462 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,120 oath of yours that you have made us swear. 463 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,320 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie. 464 00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:01,200 And if you write in your Bibles, this is it, the scarlet cord. 465 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,000 Tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us 466 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,040 down, and you shall gather into your house your father, your 467 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,160 mother, your brothers, and all your father's household. 468 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:15,800 And then if anyone goes out of the doors, circle that word. 469 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,240 It's massively important. If anyone goes out of the doors 470 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,520 of your house into this street, his blood shall be on his own 471 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,800 head and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone 472 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,840 who is with you in the house, this blood shall be on our head. 473 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,200 Please, please see a new Passover for this Canaanite 474 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:38,120 woman in her family. You have, you have, you have a 475 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:41,640 red cord hanging and you have protection at the door. 476 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,280 And they are now the new Angel of death coming in and she's the 477 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:49,360 new Israel enjoying protection. Stay within the door. 478 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,760 But if you tell this business of ours and verse 20, then we shall 479 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,200 be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us 480 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:57,760 swear. And she said, according to your 481 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,640 words, so be it. Then she sent them away and they 482 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,680 departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in 483 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:05,760 the window. OK, few things here. 484 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,240 The always was nature of the covenant. 485 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,640 This scarlet cord has two big ideas to it. 486 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,840 The first is the word. There I have it on great 487 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:20,080 authority is thread. It don't see a rope or a flag or 488 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,040 a banner. It's just a thread that's 489 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,760 hanging. It's a cord which can't be 490 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:29,000 really seen well by anybody, but gone. 491 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,560 It's just like the Passover, the Passover blood. 492 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,440 You were to slaughter a Passover lamb and put the blood on the on 493 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,040 the doorpost and on the lentil. And it did. 494 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,640 You were not to see the blood. You were to shut the door. 495 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,560 God was to see the blood and God was to pass on. 496 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,960 So God is going to make the Wallace fall flat and he's going 497 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,440 to see and he's going to honor the window that he sees the cord 498 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,360 in and they're going to protect those that are behind the door. 499 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,880 And the second thing that I want you to know about this cord is 500 00:28:55,880 --> 00:29:05,600 again, the idea that Rahab's, her vocation was prostitution. 501 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,600 And there's, there's a very high likelihood that this scarlet 502 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,400 cord came from the garment of her prostitution that she has, 503 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,120 that she has torn it asunder. She has turned her back on 504 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,760 former life and she has identified herself with the 505 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:25,360 people of God. And I want you to be reminded of 506 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,160 this, of this biblical mega theme of two witnesses to a city 507 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:34,520 about to be destroyed, some sign on the door and protection 508 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,280 beyond the door. So remind, be reminded of Enoch 509 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,320 and of Noah who preached to the antediluvian world. 510 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,840 And then the text says very highlights very significantly 511 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,600 that when Moses or when Noah finished the ark, they went in 512 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,200 and God shut the door and everyone in the door survived 513 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,640 and everyone outside the door perished. 514 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,360 You have how many angels went into Sodom and Gomorrah before 515 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,920 it was destroyed? 2 And is there a theme? 516 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,120 Is there a door there? Yes, there is. 517 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,920 The men come, the homosexual men come and say we want to rape the 518 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:12,240 men that came to you. And the angels pull them in and 519 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,360 shut the door and they strike them in with blindness. 520 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,680 And they, the text says that they groped about all night to 521 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,880 try and find the door and everyone inside the door was 522 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,280 rescued. Moses and Aaron come into Egypt. 523 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,600 And the highlight, the climax of all of the plagues and the 524 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:32,600 judgment that got poured out was the Passover where they were to 525 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,680 take blood and paint it over the door and on the sides of the 526 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,920 door. And everyone within the door was 527 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:40,960 protected. The Angel of death came and saw 528 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,080 the blood and he passed over their house. 529 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:49,000 You have the Jericho spies protected in the protected those 530 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,480 that were, that were inside Rahab's door. 531 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,400 And then you have, I believe, John and Christ coming to 532 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:59,200 Jerusalem, Christ being the door and all within him as a they, 533 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,000 they came as a witness against Jerusalem. 534 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,600 And when he came to destroy that place, all that are hidden in 535 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,280 the door, we're safe. OK, three things. 536 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,160 Closing matters. First of all, this gospel. 537 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,880 This is gospel and story form in some fantastic ways. 538 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,080 I can't prove it, but I told you, I think I know one of the 539 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,000 names of one of the spies. And I think his name is Salman. 540 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,760 Not salmon like you eat or catch in a river, but salmon. 541 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:29,840 And the reason I think that it's Salman is because we're told 542 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,000 later on in the Bible that this Rahab, the Jericho Canaanite 543 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,240 prostitute, was not just rescued, but she married a man 544 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,320 named Salman. And Salman was a descendant of a 545 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:47,040 guy named Judah who who was prophesied about him that he 546 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:50,240 would give birth to the Messiah. The Messiah would come from his 547 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:55,160 line. And so Rahab marries Salman, 548 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,920 who's a descendant of Judah. And Rahab and Salman have a son 549 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,480 and his name is Boaz. And Boaz married a Moabite, A 550 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,640 persona non grata in Israel. Moabites. 551 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,480 All Moabites are to die to the third and 4th generation. 552 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:15,280 And Boaz, whose Mama was a Jericho prostitute, looks out on 553 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,560 on Ruth and says, I'm going to marry this gal. 554 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:26,880 And they have they have a son who has a son who is David. 555 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,400 And David marries a woman that he had no business marrying in 556 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:33,160 Bathsheba. And they give birth to Solomon. 557 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,960 And we read in Matthew's account of the lineage of Christ that 558 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:42,200 here is this Jericho prostitute, one among many scarlet women in 559 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,400 the lineage of Christ that that the that the people of God 560 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,160 viewed as unclean. This is gospel and story form 561 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:53,080 because Rahab is a Jericho prostitute under a just sentence 562 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,360 of death and condemnation due both to her family. 563 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:58,800 She's an Ammonite and a Canaanite. 564 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,480 So she's under the judgment of God according to law. 565 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,720 She's under the judgment of God. So just not only her family, but 566 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:09,080 also her vocation. She was a prostitute, which is 567 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,800 which is antithetical to life with a holy God. 568 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,560 And yet, listen to me, brothers and sisters, If you don't hear 569 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:19,320 me on anything else, hear me on this. 570 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,800 She doesn't just get rescued. That would be awesome. 571 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,120 Jericho prostitute. We're not going to kill you with 572 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:27,720 the rest of Jericho because you've got faith. 573 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,320 You're free to go and roam about the country. 574 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,560 Much better than that. You're free to marry into 575 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,440 Messiah's line. From your loins will come the 576 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:40,040 one who will be the Redeemer of all of the universe. 577 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,120 She doesn't just get pardoned, she gets pursued. 578 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,440 She goes from being the whore of Jericho to being the Princess of 579 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,440 God's people. Listen to me. 580 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:55,480 It is her, the fruit of her womb, that is seated on the 581 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,480 throne of authority in the heavens right now. 582 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,200 This is the woman of faith that is the embodiment of the Church. 583 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:07,080 We who are enemies now, rescued and reconciled and corporately 584 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:10,679 wed to King Jesus, glory be his name. 585 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:16,040 So Christian, you are not merely tolerated. 586 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,920 Think about what a great news that would be that like, yeah, 587 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,199 you have this this list of sin that's against you. 588 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:24,679 Christ died to set you free, and now he's going to bring you to 589 00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:27,520 heaven and he's going to send you into the corners to be free 590 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:28,920 to kind of wander about his sheep. 591 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,400 That would be amazing, much better than death and damnation. 592 00:34:33,159 --> 00:34:37,639 But how much more wonderful that He redeemed you, not just to set 593 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:41,320 you free, but He redeemed you to make you His own, His own 594 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,880 people, to have deep and intimate relationship with you. 595 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,440 You have the gospel and story form in the term of covenants 596 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,360 and families. I said Once Upon a time, a long 597 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,120 time ago, that God does not save on the family plan, which was a 598 00:34:55,159 --> 00:35:00,720 well-intentioned error. Everybody, every one of us needs 599 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:04,000 to repent and trust in Christ and receive from Him mercy. 600 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:07,320 So in that sense that there is a truism to that statement. 601 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,000 But to say that God, God does not save on the family plan is 602 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,400 to utterly abuse and ignore the scripture pop quiz. 603 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,360 Who gets saved here? Rahab. 604 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,840 Just Rahab? No, she intercedes for her 605 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:23,440 father, her mother, and all of the people that belong in her 606 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,520 family and all of them get saved. 607 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:32,280 So does does being a part of a covenant family help you come to 608 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,960 saving knowledge of God? Please say yes. 609 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:39,520 Would you rather be 1 of Rahab's family members that get saved 610 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,080 and therefore gets to do life with Israel, or would you rather 611 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:45,320 be one of the Jericho people that just die when the walls 612 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,160 fall? Well, there's great blessing in 613 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,600 the families of God. And so there is a sense of God's 614 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:56,280 covenant continuity to people and to families, and we see this 615 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,480 lived out here. Secondly, if we come away from 616 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,880 the Old Testament with an idea that Israel is good and Canaan 617 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:08,320 is bad, or that Jew is good and Gentile is bad, we have not been 618 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,880 paying attention. The original promise to the 619 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:17,240 original Jew, it was Abraham, was that through him one would 620 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:19,720 come there. You would have one seed come 621 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,880 from Abraham, and through that seed all of the families on the 622 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:28,720 earth would be blessed. Not just Abraham's physical 623 00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:31,320 descendants, but all the families on the earth would be 624 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,160 blessed. And as we read the Scriptures, 625 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,320 we see men like Jobe and Melchizedek and Abimelech and 626 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,840 Jethro, the mixed multitude of the Egyptians that came out 627 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,800 under the Exodus. We see Uriah the Hittite, 628 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:48,640 Sheba's queen, Ruth the Moabite naming the Syrian the widow of 629 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:52,520 Zaratha, the centurion in Christ day that caused him to marvel. 630 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,800 I have not found faith like this among any in Israel. 631 00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:01,440 And perhaps the most important, Rahab, the Jericho prostitute. 632 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:05,640 It was never just about Israel, brothers and sisters. 633 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:09,200 It has always been about Christ, and through Christ to all 634 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,560 nations. And then lastly, you have the 635 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,760 gospel and story form. When you see that the the works 636 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:20,520 of God have been accomplished in public, it is important for us 637 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,000 to bear in mind that what God did in the Exodus and the 638 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,120 destruction of Sahan and Ogg had universal ramifications. 639 00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:29,320 He did not do these things in a vacuum. 640 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,720 He didn't do them in a corner. He didn't hide them. 641 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,480 He did them publicly in broad daylight, and the entire world 642 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:40,520 trembled when they watched it. What God had done 40 years ago 643 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:43,920 to rescue His people had already won the battle in Joshua's day. 644 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,360 How much more can we view the crucifixion and resurrection and 645 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,920 exaltation of Jesus Christ through that same lens? 646 00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:54,960 Does the world know about Christ? 647 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,000 Of course they do, because God did it publicly. 648 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:02,560 Have you not noticed that in our culture, you can be a radical 649 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:05,360 Islamite? You can be a baby murdering 650 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,560 feminazi. You can be a sex cult rock star, 651 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:12,000 a lesbian dance teacher, a dirty dude in women's underwear on a 652 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,760 float in public shaking your goods in front of children. 653 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,440 You can be a pedophile in politics and nobody cares. 654 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,080 You just get away with all of that stuff. 655 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:27,400 But what you can't do is say Christ is Lord and everyone must 656 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,120 bow the knee or perish. You can't do that. 657 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:32,840 We won't tolerate that. We'll tolerate all other manner 658 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:38,520 of evil, but we won't tolerate that because the exclusivity of 659 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,960 Jesus Christ means something to the world. 660 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:46,880 It means that he still has the power to conquer nations and 661 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,680 that he is bent on doing just that. 662 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,880 He is feared by all and obeyed by some. 663 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,920 This should be radically encouraging to us that the 664 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,640 reason the Jericho folks stayed stayed up at night was because 665 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,400 God and his people were at their gate. 666 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,400 And this is the reason our politicians restrict and 667 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,120 persecute Christians at every turn. 668 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,440 They're not doing it nearly to the measure that they want to do 669 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,000 it. God be praised, but they're 670 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,440 aiming at those things. And the reason is because at 671 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:19,520 every turn, they know what Christ has done in history. 672 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,680 When people simply trust and obey him, they know that every 673 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,280 single place where the gospel has rooted down into a culture, 674 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,800 that culture has become a Christian culture. 675 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:34,120 It is a it is a health. Christianity is a healthy 676 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:38,120 disease that inflicts everything it touches, and they know that. 677 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,480 And they don't want the lordship of Christ. 678 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,400 Christ has never failed to fail wicked regimes when his people 679 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,720 engage in the fight with faith and valor. 680 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,960 And that is why wicked regimes fear the church rightly aligned 681 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,640 according to the mind of Christ above all things. 682 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,560 And it is why we should look at the world with optimism, knowing 683 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:58,760 that Christ will have the prize for which he died. 684 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,440 And that prize is the inheritance of all nations, all 685 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,000 nations. As Trey read us, we'll give 686 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,560 thanks to this God because they, all of them will speak of the 687 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:09,760 wonderful works that he has done. 688 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:14,440 And so. To you, I say, Rahabs one and 689 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:19,560 all, come to the Lords Table if you have repented of your sin 690 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,680 and then baptized into his triune name. 691 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:26,720 Then come to the table. If you are trying to hold sin 692 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,760 that Christ abominates in one hand, greed, idolatry, 693 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,720 homosexuality, adultery, porn, cowardice. 694 00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:37,120 If you're holding these things in one hand and reaching for the 695 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:39,600 bread and the cup with the other, then I'm telling you 696 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:43,280 because I love you. This table might just be the 697 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:47,120 last thing you ever do. It might be the last thing you 698 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,600 ever do if you're trying to hold on to your former self. 699 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,600 Hold on to your prostitution while reaching for the Lord. 700 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:58,840 No, no. But if you have burned the ships 701 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:04,080 like Rahab torn your garment, and you're, you are desperate to 702 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,000 know the mercy of Christ, then this is your table. 703 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:12,640 There are none of us so foul in our sin that he refuses us a 704 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:17,200 place at this table. Brothers and sisters, Rahab is 705 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:20,040 our mother and she was a prostitute. 706 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,760 She is our example. And so I don't care who you are. 707 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:26,800 I don't care what you've done, if you have repented and you've 708 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:28,680 come to Christ, this is your table. 709 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,600 So come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 710 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:39,080 Let me pray for us. Father, it is marvelous to see 711 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:45,360 how you would include a woman like Rahab and not just include 712 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:50,240 her, not just rescue her from destruction, but also marry her 713 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:54,960 into the lion of the lion of the tribe of Judah. 714 00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:00,160 God, what a blessing for our souls to see the type of people 715 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:05,360 that you save. Lord, as we come to this table, 716 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,080 I pray for those of us that are struggling with guilt, 717 00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,720 struggling to believe the promises that you have spoken 718 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:16,160 over us, promises of redemption and reconciliation, promises of 719 00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,560 love. Holy Spirit, would you come? 720 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,680 Would you take this word? It's encouragement from Rahab. 721 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:26,280 And would you, would you give us rest in these things, and would 722 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,400 you grant us the faith that she had to come to the table and to 723 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,760 take up the bread and the wine and to enjoy the gifts that 724 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:40,000 Christ lived and died and rose and ascended so that we can 725 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,200 have? Would you meet us at the table? 726 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,480 We ask it in the name of Jesus, Amen.