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What a privilege it is to be able to sing the songs of redemption with sincerity, Amen?  As we continue to examine the Epistle to the Hebrews, we find ourselves this morning in chapter 11 once again, and we will be looking at verses 30 and 31. We're going to understand better the concept of triumphant faith as we see it in the life of Rahab. Follow along as I read the text Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 30.

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

"By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish, along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace."

Few believers appreciate the power of God unleashed on behalf of those who fully trust in him, and what an exhilarating thing it is to witness some great triumph of faith in our life. And certainly, Joshua and the covenant people of Israel experienced this along with a female Canaanite prostitute by the name of Rahab. The inspired writer of the Hebrews uses the incredible story of the fall - the destruction of Jericho - and the deliverance of Rahab and her family to encourage the early Hebrew believers to stand firm in their faith; and it will be an encouragement to each of us as well. He has already warned them not to shrink back to destruction like the apostates do, who draw back from their faith in Christ. Instead, according to Hebrews 10, verse 39 we are, he says, "those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." Keep trusting God, trust his promises. And he has given the reader numerous Old Testament examples of men, and now a woman, who trusted the invisible God to do amazing things, but the ultimate example of faith that he will use will be that of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, as we see the beginning of the next chapter, where he says in verse two, we need to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith...consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Fix your eyes on him, whom the Father has promised - the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ - the one who fulfilled all of the symbols, all of the shadows, all of the types of the Old Testament. And when challenges are great in our life and our faith is weak, when we doubt God and we prefer to somehow live by sight rather than by faith, we need to look to Christ, our Great High Priest. We need to study him, seek him, walk with him, because he is our ultimate and our perfect example.

Now, the early Hebrew believers also needed to see an example of God's free grace that would be extended to all sinners, even Gentiles. They needed to be reminded of the amazing power of regeneration that produces triumphant faith. And by examining the historical context of these two verses, especially as they relate to Rahab, we will see these things illustrated, and we will discover how genuine saving faith - the real deal - triumphs over four potentially devastating obstacles. It triumphs over unbelief, over sin, over peer pressure and over fear. And like the early saints, we all struggle with these issues. And as we will see, the remedy in every case is faith; trusting completely in what God has said, obeying him, believing him; knowing that he can be trusted to do all that he has promised. And frankly, that requires having a right understanding of biblical theology. If you do not understand sound doctrine and you have really bad theology that seems to be breeding like fruit flies today, then you're going to be in trouble. So let's begin, notice in verse 30, again,

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days." Oh, I can see my flannel graph once again, with my Sunday School teacher showing me those walls and all of the things that go along with that. So let's wrap our mind around the historical context that we see in the Word of God. 430 years after God made his covenant with Abraham, he began to make good on the first installment of the land portion of his promise. The final fulfillment awaits his second coming when he establishes his Messianic kingdom. And we learn in Scripture that later, under Moses, a generation of Israelites were delivered from the Egyptians; all but Joshua and Caleb died after wandering around for 40 years in the Sinai wilderness. And of course, this was God's great judgment upon them because of their sin, their rebellion, their idolatry, their constant murmuring and complaining, which are always symptoms of unbelief.

And then later we come to the book of Joshua. And it's interesting that at the age of 90, he takes command after Moses. Isn't that interesting? And he will die 20 years later while on the plains of Moab on the east side of the Jordan River in the Promised Land. We read how Joshua tells his people to prepare themselves, because in three days, we're going to pass over the Jordan, cross the Jordan, and we're going to take possession of the land that the Lord God has promised; that he has promised to give us to possess. And according to the census that was taken and recorded in Numbers chapter one, there were 603,550 able bodied men over 20, capable of going to war, that entered into the Promised Land. That's excluding all of the women and children, which would have easily placed that number up around 2 million.

And on the other side of the Jordan was a massive fortress city of Jericho. You can see the ruins today. I've been there on a couple of occasions. Next October, I hope to lead some of you there and we can see it with our own eyes. Let me tell you about the fortress city of Jericho, including all of its fortification around it. It covered about nine acres. So it's not as massive as we might think, but nine acres is still a pretty large area, and it was heavily fortified by a two-tiered system of massive walls with immense round towers made of stone. And we know, according to Scripture, that the Canaanite people were exceedingly evil and cruel. Their counterpart today would be ISIS. They were idolatrous pagans who were so cruel. They were known for putting live babies in jars and then placing those jars in their city walls as foundation sacrifices. They were also known for their gross immorality and for their sexual perversions; they were so wicked. And the scripture says the land is so defiled that, according to Leviticus 18, God used his people to bring judgment upon them, quote, "so the land would spew out its inhabitants."

Now, while Moses was still alive, he sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan; you may remember that story. And after 40 days, they came back, and all of them except Joshua and Caleb gave a terrifying report that caused the people's quote "hearts to melt," according to Deuteronomy 1:28, "saying, 'The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.'" The Anakites were, quote, "great and tall warriors." Much bigger than the Israelites, and they were greatly to be feared because of their military prowess. And in verse 29 of Deuteronomy one, we read how Moses admonished the spies and told the people, he said, "'Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.'" And he gave other illustrations of that, of how the Lord fought for them. But then in verse 32 he says this, "'But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God.'" And it was for this reason - their lack of faith - that an entire generation would not be allowed to enter into The Promised Land.

But as we come to the entrance into the land, we know that by now, all of these people are dead. So this is the second generation that is about to cross the river Jordan, which would have been a huge test of faith. Then once you get across Jordan, you've got the fortress city of Jericho and the Canaanites. I have to pause for a moment. Have you ever noticed that often when God performs some great work of deliverance in our life, and we think all is going well, all of a sudden, bam, there's the River Jordan? There's some great fortress city; there's something else that he places that seems to be an insurmountable obstacle. I've seen this many times. When people first come to Christ, they come to Christ, they trust God for his promise, they experience the miracle of the new birth, and then suddenly they're faced with a Jericho. Why does God do that? Because he wants to give us another opportunity to trust him, another opportunity for us to see how he can prove himself powerful on our behalf and strengthen us and therefore open up the flood gates of blessings. This is why, in James one, in verse two, you remember that great text, it says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect results so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

So as we look at the story, we see first of all that genuine faith triumphs over unbelief. Now let me set this up for you. Can you imagine what would have been going through your mind if you were Joshua, or if you were part of the Israelites with your family? You've been wandering around all these years, and now you've got the Jordan to cross, and then you've got Jericho, I'm sure that they were saying something like this, "God, unless you do something, we are doomed. How are we possibly going to cross this big river with all of our people, all of our possessions? Lord, this is completely outside the realm of our understanding, certainly outside the realm of our ability. And then once we get across the Jordan, we've got to conquer these people? We've got to fight against that fortified city of Jericho, against those mighty, those cruel warriors? God, there is no way that we can possibly do this, but we are going to trust you. We believe in your promises. We have experienced your power in the past and your protection in the wilderness. So here goes." And it's interesting, as we look at the text, we see that there was no complaining with the people, no doubting among the Israelites. In fact, as they were preparing to cross the Jordan, here's what they said to Joshua, recorded in Joshua one, beginning in verse 16,

 "'All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

"'Just as we obeyed Moses in all things so we will obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.'

"'Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words and all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.'"

Now, we know, according to Scripture, that just before they were to cross, Joshua sent two spies into the land to scope it out, kind of a marine reconnaissance type of mission; and they were especially supposed to scope out the city of Jericho. Let me tell you a little bit more about that city, that ancient fortress city. We know from archeological excavations that there was an outer wall that separated and inner wall. And we know that the poor people, and this was typical of that age, the poor people lived in the outer section, and the wealthier people lived in the safer upper section, behind the second wall. And because Rahab was a prostitute, we know that she would have lived on the lower portion the outer wall, and excavations prove that all of the walls fell except one of the outer walls, and that would probably have been where Rahab lived.

By the way, as a footnote, you need to look up biblicalarcheology.org. You need to study Dr Bryant Wood. He is a excellent evangelical Christian archeologist. I've met him. I've heard him lecture on several occasions. And as you look this up and read his work, you will discover that the correlation between the archeological evidence in the biblical narrative is substantial. Let me just give that some of these things to you without giving you all of the Scripture. We see that when you look at the archeological evidence, and what the Scripture says, we see that the city was strongly fortified. Secondly, the attack occurred just after harvest time in the spring. Thirdly, the inhabitants had no opportunity to flee with their food stuffs. Fourthly, the siege was short. Fifthly, the walls were leveled, possibly by an earthquake. And then also, the city was not plundered. The city was burned, and we see that a short stretch of the lower city wall did not fall. That was probably Rahab's house, which, interestingly enough, it was only a short distance to the hills of the Judean wilderness where the spies, we know, hid for three days, according to Joshua two.

Now let's go back to the story. We know that the spies entered the city, and Rahab hides them. We know that some people saw these guys come in, curious what's going on, because they know the Israelites are coming. They go and tell the king of Jericho, and he confronts her, and she says that those guys left right as the gate was about to be closed, and so you better hurry up if you're going to catch them. But she hid them in stalks of flax that she had on her roof.

Now let's pause for a second here. Here we see that God in his infinite, unmerited sovereign grace has already moved upon the heart of one of his elect, the heart of Rahab. A Canaanite female prostitute. By the way, to the Jews, you can't get any lower than that. I mean, that is the bottom of the totem pole. I want you to notice something else. As we look at verse 31, we see, "By faith Rahab, the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient." This indicates that somehow, we don't know how, God had extended some mercy to the people of Jericho, but the only one that trusted in him for salvation was Rahab.

To help us understand this more, we can go to Joshua chapter two, beginning in about verse nine, we read how Rahab said to the men, to the spies,

 "'I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.

"'For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

"'When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

"'Now therefore please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth,

"'and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.'

"So the men said to her, 'Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.'"

Now, because she lived on the outer wall, she let the men down through her window, probably on some kind of a rope, and the men told her to take a scarlet thread and hang it from her window as a sign that her house would be spared, and she was allowed to have her father and her mother and all of the siblings - all of the household so to speak -  to be with her so that they could be spared as long as they were in her house. Very important. This is so precious to me as I think about it. I mean, the story is fascinating in and of itself, but to think that Rahab believed God. We read her profession there in verse 11 of Joshua two, she says, "'For the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.'" So when the spies came in, she was already trusting in Yahweh, unlike the rest who, although they were terrified, decided they were going to fight against him. That's the insanity of sin, isn't it? But not only did Rahab's faith conquer unbelief, so too did that of Joshua and the Israelites.

Think about it, first you have to cross the Jordan. And we know from the biblical record that it was at flood stage at this time of year. By the way, that's the way God likes it, right? I mean, none of this drought and a little trickling stream. No, no, no, no, let's have a flood stage. And we know that they carried the Ark of the Covenant in preparation to cross it; that we are told that the people had to stay 1000 yards behind the ark. And of course, the ark was symbolic of the Lord's presence before his people. And as we read the biblical narrative, we see that the priests, when they came to the brink of the Jordan, they were supposed to stand perfectly still to hear the word of the Lord and to allow representatives from each of the 12 tribes to come up and gather at the site. Now, mind you, you've got a couple of million people here. They were to come up and behold what was about to happen. And in Joshua, chapter four and verse 15, we read this,

"Then the feet of the priest bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away."

The text goes on to say, and the people passed over opposite Jericho, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan." What an amazing story. It's astounding, isn't it? And I find it fascinating that the Lord didn't part the waters in advance. You know, hey, Lord, would you give us, you know, maybe 100 yards to see what's happening here? No, I'm not going to do it until you exercise your faith. It's one thing to talk about faith. It's another thing to act on, it, isn't it? So when their feet touch the water. That's what happened. He wanted them to walk by faith, not by sight. Can you imagine a better illustration of that? That's what happened.

Now I've seen the ruins of Jericho. And from there, you can easily see the Jordan. So can you imagine what it would have been like to be in Jericho, knowing who the Israelites were, hearing about what their God had done, and then all of a sudden, you look out at a distance, and it would have been hard to actually see the water, because it's a bit far, but they might have, but certainly they could see all of these Israelites coming towards them. I mean, that adds new fear, or new meaning to the word fear, doesn't it? To terror? Now, of course, God had a great military strategy to defeat this city. Let me tell you what the typical strategy would be, and there's many places where you see what happened in what's called siege warfare. Normally, what would happen is an enemy would come up to a fortified city, and they would spend a few months, and they would build a stone fence around the entire perimeter to communicate to the people psychologically that no one will escape. And then they would find the best place to begin to build a ramp, and they would begin to take rocks and dirt, and they would begin to gradually build a ramp that would go up to the wall. And while they're doing that, people are building catapults, and they're building other forms of armament to go in front of the catapults, and then they begin shooting the catapults to weaken the walls. And eventually they make it all the way up and they breach the walls. If you've ever seen the great fortress city of Masada, you can see that's exactly what the Romans did in Lachish, and other places.

Well, we know that Jericho, the people of Jericho, were prepared for that kind of a warfare, and one of the reasons we know that is because excavations reveal that there were an enormous number of large clay pots, completely filled with various forms of grain, and that's what they would do to prepare for a siege warfare. But they were filled so there wasn't any siege. It was over very quickly. Well, God had a different plan, and it was a plan that he designed to be so utterly foolish to the minds of the enemy and so ridiculous even in the minds of the Israelites, that only either a fool would trust in it or a person of faith. And that plan was to march around the city once per day for six days. And if you read the text, there was a group of armed men in front of seven priests that were blowing ram's horns continually and then behind them were the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant, and behind them another group of armed men. You're to do this once per day for six days. And then on the seventh day, the plan was to march around the city seven times while the priests keep blowing their horns. And then, according to Joshua 6:15 let's look and see the rest of the plan and what happened.

"Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day, they marched around the city seven times.

"At the seventh time, when the priest blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, 'Shout! For the LORD has given you the city.

"'The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot, and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

"'But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it.

"'But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.'

"So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.

"They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword.

"Joshua then said to the two men who had spied out the land, 'Go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.'

"So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel."

I'm sure that apartment was absolutely packed. Then notice what they did.

"They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

"However, Rahab the harlot, and her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared."

 And I love this next phrase,

"and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua was sent to spy out Jericho."

What a magnificent story of God's mercy, of his love, of his power. I think of First Corinthians one where the apostle Paul tells us how God loves to use the foolish and the weak to confound the wise and the strong, so that no man can boast. Let the one who boasts, what does he say? "Boast in the Lord." Dear friends, what seems impossible to us, is nothing more than an opportunity for God to put his power and his glory on display, and that's why he often brings these types of things into our life. And what a powerful reminder to the first century Hebrew believers, and the almost believers who read this epistle for the first time, a reminder to them to take God at his word. He can be trusted here, even when your family and all of your friends say that all of this is utter foolishness, this placing your faith in Christ; even when they say, "My it is so stupid to think that all of the promises that the Father gave to Abraham are now being fulfilled in a carpenter's son from Nazareth, who was crucified by the Romans because he claimed to be King of the Jews. Are you kidding me? You're going to place your faith in him, that's as stupid as marching around Jericho blowing rams’ horns." Oh, you get the point? You see the danger for them was this: it was so much easier for the Jewish people to walk by sight rather than by faith. Walk by sight according to the familiar old covenant, where you can kind of earn your salvation through your works, rather than trusting exclusively in the promises of the new covenant and being saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

So in the life of Joshua and the Israelites and Rahab, we see how genuine faith, first of all, triumphs over unbelief. But I want to focus for a few minutes primarily on Rahab and what a trophy of God's unmerited and free grace she is. Secondly, we see in her life that faith triumphs over sin. Now, like every prostitute, Rahab was a woman ruled by the fiery passions of sexual lust. I've worked with literally hundreds of people like this over the years, and I've observed that the temporary euphoria of sexual immorality is always followed by an ever-growing sense of guilt and shame, and many times it's accompanied by sexually transmitted diseases and every imaginable misery that can come into a person's life. Yet here's a woman who had faith in the sanctifying power of the one true God; a God who would not only deliver her physically from death but also deliver her from the bondage of her sin. A God who would forgive her and sanctify her; free her from the bondage of her hideous lusts. So she trusted in a merciful God to receive her unto himself, to cleanse her, to change her. Folks, I hope all of you have experienced that miracle as well. The miracle of the new birth. Rahab became a new creature in Christ, saved on credit; didn't understand who Christ was. She was saved by grace, through faith, and God delivered her from her debauchery and gave her a pure heart that longed for holiness. Dear sinner, if you think that somehow you are too sinful for God to save then I wish you would look at Rahab and take comfort in knowing that there is no sin greater than God's grace. In fact, it is the height of arrogance to assume otherwise. When you look at yourself and you see a great sinner, you need to look at Christ, and you will see an infinitely greater Savior. And that's the whole point of this incredible, real, true story. No matter who you are or what you have done, God's grace is greater than all of your sin and your acceptance before a holy God is based solely upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's based upon his blood and his righteousness; and perhaps this is even symbolized in the scarlet thread that she hung from her window to be used as a sign of her deliverance, like the painting of blood and the doorposts and lentils of the Israelites is a sign for the Lord to pass over their house in his judgments.

By the way, it's interesting that in both cases, those protected were not under any circumstance to venture outside their houses. And in both cases, spared those who believed in his word, people of faith, both Jew and Gentile. We also see, by the way, the scarlet cord in Genesis chapter 38 verses 28 verse 30. It's in the story you will recall of Judah's daughter in law, Tamar, another immoral woman. A woman who wrapped a scarlet cord around the wrist of one of her twin boys as he was being born, a son named Zerah, who, interestingly enough, is remembered in Jesus' genealogy in Matthew chapter one. And what an amazing testimony of God's saving grace. To see how Tamar and Rahab are both listed as two of four foreign women in the same genealogy of Christ. Intriguing, isn't it? Two women, both foreigners, both social outcasts, both prostitutes and both in possession of a scarlet cord, and both in the providence of God, became part of the lineage of the very One who gave his life for them.

As you may know, Rahab later became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth, who was the great grandmother of David, and therefore an ancestor of Jesus. Isn't that just an amazing testimony of God's marvelous grace, sanctifying grace, grace that radically changes, grace that triumphs over sin? And folks, you must understand that no man comes to Christ in genuine saving faith and remains unchanged. All who come to Christ are radically changed, and they, along with Rahab and all of us who have been saved, will one day stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. We will all be with the heavenly hosts above. We will be clothed in the white robes of Christ's righteousness, singing eternal praises to the Lamb that was slain, and Rahab will be right there with us. No more deserving than any of the rest of us.

So genuine, saving faith triumphs over unbelief and sin. But thirdly, it triumphs over peer pressure. And you all know what peer pressure is. It's when your attitudes and your values and your behaviors conform to those around you, people that you have given somehow great power, great influence. I want you to think about it again. The Canaanites were aware of what had happened 40 years ago in Egypt. They were aware of the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh's army. In those days, it would have been like, shall we say, another group of people being aware of the fall of the United States of America, because Egypt was the great power of that day. And again, in Joshua two nine, we read,

"...the terror of you has fallen on us, because all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.

"'For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the kings of the Amorites and who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

"'When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you.'"

And again, what an amazing thing is to think that despite being terrified, rather than humbling their hearts in repentant faith and worshiping the one true God, they decide to fight against him again. What an amazing picture of unbelief to hide behind the walls of perceived safety against the Most High God and think that you can somehow deliver yourself. I mean, folks, if that is you, you're living in a fool's paradise. The king probably gave an Obama, "Yes, we can!" victory speech to all of the people. By the way, do you remember that? Obama probably got it from the king of Jericho, we don't know for sure. He would have said something like this, "This is our time to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace. To reclaim the Canaanite dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people, Yes we can!" And all the naive people of Jericho bought it, except Rahab the harlot. She was willing to go against the national fervor against her countrymen, and by faith, she could see that there was something far greater than being a Canaanite. She wasn't fooled by the soaring rhetoric that I'm sure must have taken place. She didn't join in with the millions of lemmings that were about to walk over the cliff together.

Now what's interesting is, although there is no indication that she had anything more than just a general knowledge of Yahweh, of the God of Israel, there's no indication she had any grasp of God's covenantal promises, no understanding of any theology; nevertheless, she had been given the gift of faith, and she acted upon what she knew to be true. And what a great example of James' warning that faith without works is what? It is dead. Remember in James 2:25, he uses "Rahab the harlot, who received the messengers and sent them out by another way." He uses her as an example of a man being justified by works that is being proven to be righteous because of the works that he does, having a determined, faithful willingness to obey God, that's what? Proves genuine saving faith. Folks, please understand this. Genuine saving faith does not succumb to group think. It does not succumb to, like in our day, political correctness. It stands alone, if necessary, like Rahab.  It dares to be a Noah. It dares to be a Joseph. It dares to be a Daniel. It dares to stand up against the very forces of hell like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You see, true faith triumphs over peer pressure. It never succumbs to it. What others think really is of no concern to those who trust God, because all that matters is what he has said.

You know, it's disheartening for me as a pastor, and I'm sure for many of you to see many professing Christians, especially so many of our young people being ruled by the opinions and the fashions and the immorality of the world; people who are dead in their sins, at enmity with God, and yet we want to be like them. We want to look like them, talk like them, think like them. This was a danger the Apostle Paul warned about in Romans 12. Remember, in verse two, "Do not be conformed to this world." Literally, meaning, do not allow the world to shape you into its image without you even realizing it's happening, "but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Now, folks, make no mistake, as Christians, we are going to spend our entire life swimming upstream against the world. That's the reality of living in this fallen world. But know this: only dead fish float downstream, right? It's the live, healthy fish that swim upstream.

Now, can't you just hear the laughter and the scorn of the Jerichoites as they watch the Israelites marching around their city with seven priests blowing ram's horns. By the way, have you ever heard those things? I've got some. I've blown them. Man, when I blow it, every dog in the county starts howling. I mean, they're just weird sounding things. I'm sure they're looking down laughing, saying, "Look at those little clowns. I mean, what idiots? These people are mad. What do they think we're going to surrender? What are they doing? Bunch of slaves that have come out of Egypt. They don't have a clue how to defeat us. I guess they must think that that all the superstitious marching around and blowing of a horn is is going to make us cower in fear." Can you imagine if you were Rahab and you hear all of your friends laughing and mocking. You're hearing all of this, and yet you know in your heart that you have trusted in the very God that they're mocking. We've all experienced that at some level, haven't we? What must she have said to her family? I like to think of these things Rahab. I mean, what? Really, I mean, look what they're doing. They've been doing this now for six days. So if you're her family, you're saying, "Rahab, really? This God is going to save us? We don't understand. Listen, what everybody's saying." So you have to ask the question, "How on earth could Rahab possibly have stayed so committed?" And folks, the answer is this, God had given her the gift of faith. This is not something you conjure up with your own willpower. This is a gift from God. She had the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Reminds me of Martin Luther, who, about 500 years ago, said this when he was called before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles the fifth; remember at the Diet of Worms to defend his faith, he said, quote, "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, or by evident reason; for I can believe neither Pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves. I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis. My conscience is captive to the Word of God thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen." Oh dear friends, may we all be willing to stand alone. Not yield to group think, to not join in with all of the people that seem to think one way, and if you don't think their way, your all kinds of names. Don't fall for that. We need to enter through the narrow way that leads to eternal life, not the broad way that leads to destruct destruction.

And finally, in closing, we see that faith triumphs over fear. Think about this, she placed her faith in God and Yahweh, before the spies even showed up, and that risked her life. Can you imagine what they would have done to her if they would have caught her? So she willingly took them in, knowing that her treason could cost her life. Why did she do that? Because by faith, she feared God, not man. There are people coming to faith, dear friends all over the world today, and as they come to a saving knowledge of Christ, their lives are placed in jeopardy. It's costing them their family, their friends, their careers, even their life. And certainly, this was the great concern for those elderly Hebrews who first read this letter, and this is why this is such an encouragement, moreover, to be reminded of God's unmerited free grace that he extended even to a female Canaanite prostitute. Like Moses, she was willing to endure the ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

So for this reason, verse 31, "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish, along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace." My friend, if you don't know Christ, I plead with you today to place your faith in him. Don't be like those standing on the walls of Jericho mocking the one true God. Rather trust in his unfailing mercy and grace and love for you as a sinner. And for those of us who know and love Christ, I hope that you will be encouraged. I hope that you will take comfort knowing that God uses sinful ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Isn't that great? Sinful ordinary people, like Rahab, like me, like you. And we need to dare to be a Rahab; to trust God and act upon the faith that he has given us, and then watch God do great and magnificent things. And I would challenge you this week to trust God for some remarkable thing in your life. Trust him to do something, cry out to him and ask him to give you the faith of Joshua, the faith of the Israelites, the faith of Rahab; to trust in him come what may. And then with the psalmist, we can say, as in Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven, but You. And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from You will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the LORD God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works." Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for this remarkable story of your sovereignty, Your faithfulness, your mercy, your grace, your love, and Lord, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will cause these truths to impact each and every heart; that we may enjoy more fully all that you have for us as we walk by faith and not by sight. We thank you and we give you praise in Jesus’ name, amen.