Spying Out the Land

She will find out that what she did was wrong, and soon she will understand that there was probably a better way to handle it. It's interesting because I like to think that even if she'd said, yes, they're here, but I'm not going to tell you where, that they still wouldn't have found the spies. You know how I know that? Because one time a group of soldiers showed up looking for Elisha.

And do you know what Elisha said? We're not the men you're looking for. I am not making that up. And they all went blind. And Elisha led them into town. God can do whatever he wants to, but this is how God chose to deliver at this point in time. So this is what Rahab says, and of course the men believe her, and they go to pursue the two spies that were there.

But now we get to what I see is the heart of Rahab. Notice what it says in verse 8. It says, Now, before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and she said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you, 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, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

When we heard it, our hearts melted, and no courage. 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 I want you to pay attention to what happens here. You see, while she didn't go about it the right way, she took one of the greatest steps of faith anybody in the Old Testament has taken up to this point in time.

Because she believed in God, and so she protected these spies. I want you to notice how it starts. She says, she goes up to them on the roof, right? She just wants to have a conversation with these guys because she's heard so much about them. So she goes up to them and she says, Hey, listen, I'm well aware of who you guys are. I know that the Lord has given you the land.

Now, I want you to think about the faith builder this would have been for the two spies that were sitting there. Because here they are being hidden by someone so that their lives can be protected. And she comes to them in a moment of just brutal honesty and says, I know God's given you the land. I know that this battle is over. Which is kind of interesting because what did Joshua,

or what did God just tell Joshua in the chapter before? Everywhere that the sole of your foot touches belongs to you because I have given it to you. I have already given you the land. And she knew that. Here this woman who didn't know anything about God other than what she knew about God, and what she'd heard, didn't know anything about the promises, didn't know anything about the covenant.

She believes that God is going to give them the land. I want you to notice the next thing that she says. For we have heard, verse 10, how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea. We heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea. Why is that important? When did that happen? That happened 40 years ago. That was a long time ago. And here is this woman who has,

and they've all heard about this, and they've all heard about it. Here's what I want to know. How did they hear about it? There was no Instagram. There was no Fox News. There was no social media. There was nothing. There were no newspapers as far as I know. How did she hear about it? Well, what did God say he was going to do? He would send his angel before,

and he would cause the fear of them to be on the hearts of all of the people. And for 40 years, she had heard about what God had done to dry up the Red Sea. Now, sidebar, I want to make a quick point here. This would indicate to me that perhaps she was not the only one in the land that had heard about this God who had dried up the Red Sea. You say, Ryan, why do I care about that?

Because God gave the people of the land 40 extra years to repent. 40 extra years to repent. Do you remember way back in Genesis When God made the covenant, when Abraham took the animals and he cut them in half and he was supposed to walk through to make the covenant, but God was the one that walked through and he caused a deep sleep to fall on Abraham. And Abraham dreamed and in his dream, God said, your people are going to sojourn in a foreign land for 400 years. Do you remember why? Because

the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. In other words, God was giving them even more time to repent. And then you tack on to that 400 years, an extra 40 years to repent. And it turns out that it's going to be possible to repent. You know how I know? Because here's Rahab, who has heard about the God of Israel, who has heard what he had done and is ready to repent.

And so I love this because God is always, his default setting is always mercy. His default setting is always patience. His default setting is always to give more time to repent. And that's exactly what he does. And may I say, as just one more sidebar to the sidebar, that's why we're still here. You know, I don't know about you, but I'm as ready for Jesus to come back as anybody,

right? I just am. But every day that we're still here is another day that God is giving for people to repent. And I think that we need to remember that on the days when we're like, Jesus, won't you come soon? You know, when he doesn't come, it's because he's giving more time to repent. He's giving more time for people to repent because God is not slow when it concerns his

promises, but he is long suffering, right? So back to the story. She says, we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when he came out of Egypt. And we heard what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan. In other words, we heard what's been going on over this last year and how many rear ends you've been kicking and names you've been

taking. We know what's going on. And notice what it says in verse 11. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you. The last thing she says, I think is the greatest for the Lord, your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. I love this because it's almost like Rahab has just been waiting for her moment to put faith

in God. She has just been waiting for her moment to follow the one true God because she didn't need them to tell her that he was the one true God. She told them she didn't need for them to say, hey, listen, you need to understand this is the one true God. You can't stop this because she told them he's the one true God. We can't stop this. And I want to follow your God.

I think this had to have been one of the biggest faith building conversations that these men had ever seen. I think it was one of the biggest faith building conversations Rahab had had up to that point in time. Because can you imagine how long? She'd been holding this in and not been able to tell it to anybody. Because pretty sure once you go to the people of your land and say, hey, listen, you guys know God's going to destroy us, right?

That makes you the unpopular person in the land. And nobody likes you at that point in time. And finally, she had someone to share these things with. But she wasn't done. Because she knew God was real and because she knew judgment was coming, she said, how can I be saved? Verse 12. Now, therefore, please swear to me by the Lord. Since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also 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. I love this because she basically says, how can I be saved? I know judgment's coming. I know, defeat is coming. Death is certain for me. Therefore, how can I be saved? How can I find some sort of salvation from this, from the storm that's about to come?

And I love what these guys say. So, so they lay out sort of the, they lay out the terms, if you will, of a covenant that they're going to make for her. She said, it says, so the men said to her, our life for yours. If you don't tell this business of ours, it shall come about. When the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully to you. And she let them down by a rope through the window for her house was on the city wall

so that she was living on the wall. She said to them, you go to the hill country so that the pursuers will not happen upon you and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward, you may go to the hill country and hide yourselves there for three days. Then afterward, you may go on your way. The men said to her, we shall be free from

this oath to you, which you have made a swear. Unless when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down and gather to yourself into the house of your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household. It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head. And we shall be free. But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head

if a hand is laid upon him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath, which you made us swear. She said, according to your words, so be it. She sent them away and they departed. She tied the scarlet cord in the window. We'll get to the gospel implications of this in just a moment. Just a little bit, I promise. But they make this deal with her. She says, I want to be saved from

the coming judgment. They said, okay, here's the thing. Our lives for yours. You're letting us down this window in a scarlet cord with a scarlet rope right now. So this rope is hanging in the window. Then anybody who's in the house where the scarlet cord is hanging will be delivered from judgment. Anyone who is not found in the house where the scarlet cord is hanging

will not be delivered from judgment. Now, I want to point something out to you. What I want to point out to you is that it was a scarlet rope. Why was it a scarlet rope? Because what was she? She was a prostitute. What color typically goes along with being a prostitute? Red, right? There's a reason they call it the red light district and all those other terms that go

along with it. And isn't it fascinating that that which had been the sign of her sin would become the place of her salvation? Because God exchanges our sin for his salvation. And it's such a cool thing. But in order to be saved, you had to be in the house. You had to be in the house with a scarlet cord. When was the last time we saw something similar to this? Do you remember? It was the Passover. Except it wasn't a scarlet cord. What was it?

It was blood. It was the blood of a lamb. It was still the blood of a lamb that was spread on the doorpost of a home. And everybody that was in the home could be saved. But if they were not in the home, they were subject to judgment. Isn't it fascinating that the lesson that we learn about salvation is usually the lesson that we learn about salvation? Isn't it fascinating that the lesson that

we pass on to other people about salvation, our own testimony often becomes the most powerful picture of salvation for somebody else? I have to think that that's why they came up with that. I have to think that that's where that came from. And so, of course, she lets them down. They go. They hide for a few days. And now it's time to give a good report. It says in verse 22,

they departed and came to the hill country, and remained there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had sought them all along the road, but had not found them. Then the two men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed over and came to Joshua, the son of Nun. And they related to him all that had happened to them. And they said to Joshua, surely the Lord has given all the land into our hands.

Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have been given to us. And they said to Joshua, all the inhabitants of the land have been given to us. And they said to Joshua, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us. Ah. So first of all, the spies were protected. They were kept safe all along the road they're looking, you know. They were hiding in the hills where the

guards were not looking. They hid out there for long enough. And finally, they were able to go back. And the first thing they do is they find Joshua. Can you imagine the intensity in Joshua's heart at this point in time? Lord, please don't let them bring back a bad report. I can't do this all over again, Jesus. And so they bring back this report. They're like, you're not going to

believe what happened. You're not going to believe this story. We went in there. We were hidden. We were all like under the flax and everything. It was crazy. I don't know how they didn't see us. But anyway, we were hidden. But we did make a deal. We did make a deal with a prostitute because she was the one that saved us. We promised that we would save her. But Joshua, you're not going to believe it.

Everybody in there is scared of us. Everybody in that land, their hearts are melted. Because of us and because of the God that we serve. What a faith builder this would have been for the people. So what do we take away from Joshua chapter two? What do we glean from this from this chapter that I think is much more important than just a story about a couple of

guys that get saved from certain death? I think there's four things that we take away from it. One, God can use anyone. God can use anyone. Oftentimes we find ourselves saying, Lord, because of you fill in the blank here, whatever you usually tell God, I can't be used by you. I can't be used because of these things. Well, I want to tell you what Rahab had going against her. Number one, Rahab was a Canaanite. Why would God use a Canaanite?

Right? She had the wrong birthplace. She had the wrong origin. She had the wrong nationality. And yet God chose to use her. Number two, she was a woman. Now listen, I know it's not a popular thing to say right now, but at that point in time, women were not viewed in a very good light. Women were viewed as property, not someone to be used by God. And yet God chose to use her.

And number three, she was a prostitute. She was the last person, on the face of the earth, that you would think that is who God is going to use. And yet, in spite of the fact that she was a Canaanite, she was a woman, and she'd been a prostitute, God still chose to use her. It doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter what your status is. It doesn't matter what your past sins are. God wants to use you. Now,

He can't use you while you're living in them, but once you're willing to get rid of them, He can use you to do anything. Is it Rahab, who was a Canaanite and a woman and a prostitute, shows up multiple places throughout Scripture? We'll see, of course, in a couple of chapters when she's rescued from the attack that comes upon Jericho. But then as we move a little bit further into history, we'll see that she ends up marrying one of the Israelite men, and they have a son named Boaz.

Boaz will go on to marry Ruth, and they will end up having a great-great-grandson named, David. Not only that, but when we come all the way into the New Testament, we come to the book of Matthew. When we come to the book of Matthew, we find that she is one of the women of ill repute that is listed in the lineage of none other than Jesus Himself. You know why? Because God can use

anyone. And then as you travel your way through the New Testament, you come to the book of James. I think it's chapter two. I didn't write that one down. But in James chapter two, she is used as an example of someone who showed her faith by her works. Matter of fact, James says, think of Rahab the prostitute, who showed her faith by her works when she hid the spies. Not only that, but you come into the book of Hebrews,

and one of the most famous chapters in the book of Hebrews is Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is what we oftentimes refer to as the hall of faith. And you know who's listed in the hall of faith? Rahab, who was a prostitute who hid the spies. It's kind of interesting to me that throughout the New Testament, anytime Rahab is referred to, two things always come up. Number

one is what she had done, that she'd been a prostitute. Number two, that she showed her faith by her works. You know why I think that the Bible lists those two things? So that we know that no matter who we are, we're not going to be a prostitute. We're not going to be a prostitute. Before, faith still overcomes when we show our faith by our works. Because God is so much

greater than our own inabilities. God's so much greater than our past. I was listening to Chuck Swindoll teach on this, and he was sharing a story about himself before he ever came into the ministry. And I don't know if you ever listened to Chuck Swindoll. He's a fantastic orator, fantastic Bible teacher. And I was so shocked to hear him share this about himself.

He said when he was in high school, he had a stuttering problem. And he was scared to death to ever speak in front of people. Now, that dude's got one of the biggest churches in America. And he's all over the place on the radio and speaks all over the place, right? But God used someone in his life to teach him what it looked like to be a good communicator, to teach him how to overcome the fear and the anxiety and the stuttering. And God took someone

who was not the right person to be a good communicator. And God took someone who was not the right person for the job, and he made him the right person for the job. Because God can use anyone. Number two, God keeps his promises. God keeps his promises. From the time that the children of Israel left Egypt until the time that they entered Egypt, God kept making a promise. I will

send my angel before you. I will send my fear before you. I will cause the people to tremble before you. Even after they had blown it by going in and seeing the land and saying there's giants and giant walled cities, God still kept telling them, I will send my fear before you. And now here we see all of these years later, they go into the land and what happened? God had sent his fear

before them. Because everybody in the world was afraid of God. And God kept saying, I will send my fear before you. And the land was shaking in their sandals at the thought of the nation of Israel coming in there. Because God is a God who keeps his promises. And I reiterate that to us because sometimes when it comes to the promises of God, it feels a little slow sometimes. Would you agree?

Every now and then you're like, Lord, it seems like you've made this promise. Says it right there, but I'm not seeing it take place. I am not seeing this happen. I want you to know whatever it is, he's not going to quit keeping his promises. He's not going to quit keeping his promises. He's not going to keep his promise with you. There's nothing extra special about you that makes

them think, I'm going to stop keeping my promise with him. I'm going to stop keeping my promise with her. No, because he's always the God that keeps his promise. I think I shared this at some point in time, but I follow Greg Laurie on Instagram and he was on Maui with all of the fire, all of the charred damage in the background and over all of that charred damage was a rainbow.

And he said, even, even in the midst of something this bad, we are reminded that he is the God who keeps his promises. And brothers and sisters, we have to hold on to that. We have to hold on to that hope because as I just keep telling you, we live in a world without any hope right now. There's a whole bunch of kids gathering that don't feel like they have a whole lot of hope right now because tonight was the visitation for that young man. And they don't feel like they have a whole

lot of hope right now. And they need to know that God is still the God who keeps his promises. That he has not changed just because of the situation that sits right there in front of them. God always keeps his promises. Number three, God is pleased with faith. God is pleased with faith. You know what I love about this story of Rahab is it is so the story of all of us when we first came to faith in Jesus Christ. Am I right? We didn't totally do it right.

We probably didn't say the right kind of prayer. We maybe didn't even have the right words to say. None of those kinds of things. We just knew that God was God and we were not. And I just want to be saved from the coming judgment. I just want to be saved from all of the things that I'm going through right now. And God is so pleased with our faith even though it's imperfect faith. We didn't understand

what we were doing. We didn't fully grasp the reality of salvation. We just knew he's God. I'm not saved. He's God, I'm a big time sinner. And so we put our faith in God. We put our faith in Jesus. And now we've grown, hopefully, and we understand a little bit more what that looks like, but God was still just pleased with our faith. As weak as it was, as frail as it was,

as small as it was, as imperfect as it was, God was just pleased with our faith. And that's what we find with Rahab. Is that even though she made some mistakes in the things that she did, even though she didn't handle some things the way that she should have, God was still pleased with her faith because she still believed that he is God. And she needed saved.

And God is pleased with that faith. But you know what? She's not the only one that we see God being pleased with the faith. Look at these two men. Look at these two spies. What happened to them as a result of what took place? Their faith was built, and God was pleased with their faith. You know how I know? Because they're going to go in and take the land. I've read the end of the book.

And God was pleased with their faith. And brothers and sisters, I think we have to remember that God is so pleased with our faith. Sometimes we have this picture of what faith is supposed to look like and what a man or a woman of faith is supposed to look like. And it's usually a picture of absolute perfection. But I'll remind you that if you read through the hall of faith,

the mistakes of the people aren't listed. Because all of the people in the hall of faith did some things really, really wrong. What's listed? Their faith. Their faith is what's listed. Why? Because God, is pleased with our faith. And then number four, we of course have here the most beautiful picture of the gospel. We have here the most beautiful picture of the gospel possible.

You have someone who is well aware of their sin. And can I say that the message of the gospel always has to begin with me becoming aware of my sin. Of the recipient of the message of the gospel. Becoming aware of their sin. Because if people don't know that they're a sinner, they don't know that they need a savior. And all she knew was, she was in line for judgment

just like everybody else in the land. And when people are aware of their sin, all of a sudden they start looking outside of themselves. And that's exactly what she did. These men came in and she thought, this is my opportunity. I need something outside of myself. I think they've got it. And so she asked them that awesome question. What can I do to be saved?

What can I do to be saved? It reminds me of the Philippian jailer. Remember the book of Acts? When Paul and Silas were in the prison after they'd gotten the tar kicked out of them and they're in their stocks and they start singing praises and Jesus all shakes the prison and whatnot. And everybody's about to leave and he's about to kill himself because he thinks everybody's left.

And they say, don't do it! We're all still here! And what's the first thing? And the Philippian jailer says to him, what must I do to be saved? And of course, what do they tell her to do? She has to believe. What does she have to believe? She has to believe the most ridiculous thing on the face of the earth. I want you to think about how ridiculous it is. We're going to come in

and we're going to destroy your city. Hang a rope, right? Like hang a rope outside of your window, the red one right there that tells everybody in the world that you're a prostitute. Hang that out of your window and I promise everybody, everybody in your house will be saved. It's the most ridiculous thing I can imagine in my life. But you know what else is the most ridiculous thing

I can imagine in my life? Someone saying, Jesus died for you and all you have to do is believe that that death was enough to cover your sins. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't have to make any sense. It just has to be true. And it was true. And all she could do was put her faith in it. And then, of course, there's the last part. The most important thing is

that you have to be in the house. Anybody outside the house, they can't be saved. Why? Because you have to be in the place that's covered. You have to be in Christ. Too many people trying to get saved outside the house. Too many people trying to get saved while the rope's hanging off the house and you're out there trying to do your own thing. People are out there

trying to do their own thing. And they're like, I know. Let's read another book on psychology. That's probably what'll help. I know. Let's have another self-help message. That's probably what's going to help. I know. Let's come up with a new devotional book. That's probably what'll help. No. You need the message of the gospel. You need to be in Christ. Because if you're not in Christ,

I cannot guarantee your salvation. I cannot guarantee it'll work. As a matter of fact, I can guarantee it won't work. Because the only place of salvation is in Christ. Not the next new thing that comes along. Not the next new thing that comes along. Not the next new thing that comes along. Not the next new movement, the next new way, the next new book that gets written.

It's in Christ. And it's the most beautiful picture of the gospel. Not to get ahead of myself, but she gets saved. Right? It works. Because all of the walls fall down except in one spot. Selective demolition. And it's a beautiful picture of the gospel. Brothers and sisters, these are not just stories of a nation. These are stories of faith. These are gospel stories

because whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament, the theme remains the same. There's one place of salvation and that's found in Christ. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thanks so much. Thanks so much for what your word has to say. Thank you so much that you're so good to us. And Lord, may we hold tight to those promises. Lord, may we hold tight to the hope

that is in the promise of you. And Father, I just want to pray that you would bless each person that's here this evening with an extra measure of your Holy Spirit. Lord, an extra filling of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, may we take this word and make it a part of who we are. Father, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.