A Conquering, Courageous Faith, Part 1

John MacArthur: The demonstration of faith is always obedience. The kind of obedience that has courage. It endures. It expects triumph. It expects victory.
Phil Johnson: Welcome to Grace to You weekend, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. There's perhaps nothing more heartbreaking than someone who, as death approaches, realizes he didn't live for God. He worked only to acquire wealth. He never broke sinful habits, and he wasted the life God gave him. Thankfully, you can avoid that kind of regret, regardless of your age or circumstances. John MacArthur helps you with that today as he looks at two Old Testament saints, examples of lives not wasted. They obeyed and glorified God in very different ways. One was a war hero, the other a harlot. And yet, eventually, both had the kind of faith God wants you to have. To explain, here's John MacArthur with a lesson.
John MacArthur: Hebrews chapter 11. This is known as the faith chapter. Stretches into the beginning of chapter 12, as we will see. We have been reminded all the way through this chapter that anyone who has a relationship with God has that relationship based on faith and not works. So, let's look at some of those who were tested and demonstrated the kind of faith that true the kind of courage, I should say, that true faith possesses. Verses 30 and 31. 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. And the story is given to us in Joshua chapter 6. So, let's go back to that for a moment. You're familiar with it. Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel. They had been told that the children of Israel were nearby. They were massive. Some would would estimate that that originally when they came out of Egypt, there were as many as 2 million. We don't know exactly how many were left by the time they were ready to enter the land of Canaan, but they were formidable. Jericho had already been spied out. Remember that earlier in Joshua chapter 2? And Jericho was now on lockdown because of the sons of Israel. No one went out. No one came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and its valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the men of war, circling the city once. Just do that for six days. And seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. Then on the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people will go up every man straight ahead. Just natural human skepticism would say, could you go over that again? What? We're going to conquer how? We're going to march around the wall once a day for six days, and on the seventh day, we're going to march around the wall, and the seventh time, we're going to shout at the top of our voice, and the walls are just going to fall out flat? I would conclude that obedience to this command would be an act of faith, wouldn't you? It seems such a strange thing. And of course, you know the story. It's exactly what they did. They did it, and the the chronicle is given of each day. And then you come down to verse 20. The people shouted. The priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout. The wall fell down flat so that the people went in 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, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. It was a massive slaughter. So, here we are at the entrance into the land of Canaan, the land of promise. And there is a demonstration of faith. Faith on the part of Joshua, who is the leader, and faith on the part of the people. Moses is gone. Joshua is the new leader. They have crossed the Jordan, and in crossing the Jordan, they are now sandwiched between the Jordan and Jericho. And Jericho is kind of a frontier fortress guarding the southern part of Canaan. This is their first obstacle, and is the test of their faith. Are they going to believe God when God tells them what he wants them to do? Jericho was a strong city. It was barred. It was fortified. To take it seemed an impossible task. It was fortified on purpose because it was the guardian city of the southern part of the land of Israel. It is one of the cities that scared the spies and caused them to say back in Deuteronomy 128, the people is greater and taller than we. The cities are great and walled up to heaven. And of course, they got punished for that. That's the reason they had to wander around for four decades because of their unbelief. But Jericho had to be captured. It is the gateway to the land, and the people obeyed, and it fell exactly as God said it would. God commanded them six days go around each day. The seventh day, go around seven times. Seventh time, it will collapse. That's exactly what it did. Maybe they seemed a little embarrassed while all the Jericho whites up on the top of the wall watched them walk around and then leave six days in a row. It appeared ridiculous. Surely, they were puzzled as well as frustrated. This didn't seem a right approach at all. But they obeyed the word of God. They learned not to disobey because the consequences were so severe. You know, this tells us or reminds us that God delights in slaying the pride of men, doesn't it? Not only the pride of the Jews who probably thought they could conquer Jericho just by their sheer force, even though they had no army and they had no weapons. But even more so, God delights in slaying the pride of men with regard to the Philistines. They they thinking back how they were defeated by a shepherd boy and a stone. And here, the land of Canaan suffers its first defeat when people simply walk around its walls and blow a horn and shout. But the people exhibit faith. That is the testimony of scripture. That is the testimony of God. There are four degrees of faith, just to kind of expand that a little bit. There is faith which receives. Faith which receives. When the empty-handed beggars come and receive what God has to give, that's that's one component of faith. Then there is faith which reckons. It's the simplest faith to receive the gift. It's the next level of faith to reckon that God has made promises. And we can count on God to fulfill his promises. At the point of salvation, you have a kind of a beggar faith. He comes to receive the gift. She comes to receive the gift. The next level of faith begins to understand that with this gift are massive promises that stretch into the endless eons of eternity, full of promise. Faith reckons that God will fulfill those promises. Then there there is faith that risks. Because these promises grip the heart and are held with confidence, faith begins to dare to be obedient in any circumstance. And then lastly, there is faith that rests throughout suffering. It is unmoved. But always faith rules the life of a true believer. So, faith is demonstrated in obedience. The kind of obedience that has courage. The kind of obedience that will occur no matter what the price, no matter what the cost. And that's what we're going to learn in this last section. We've already seen it in the earlier heroes of the faith, but here in particular, it's about the courage of faith that faith can't be broken no matter how dire the circumstances are. It endures. It expects triumph. It expects victory. True faith has the courage to believe God in impossible conflict with ridiculous orders and incredible promises. And the experience of Jericho is an illustration of that kind of faith, to do what seems ridiculous, unnecessary, foolish. But what marks faith is obedience, obedience. We often talk about that when you say, well, how do you know when someone's a Christian? Anybody who's a Christian obeys the word of God. That's the pattern of their life. Perfect obedience, no. It's not the perfection of their life, but it is the direction of their life. We have then a more personal illustration in verse 31. By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. Interesting that the word disobedient is there. It's the opposite of faith demonstrated from the same Old Testament account, by the way. The Holy Spirit chooses the next illustration of faith, conquering faith, courageous faith, and a harlot of all people to a prostitute. A prostitute in the Hall of Fame? Well, we know one thing. If there were any Jews still believing you you got into the kingdom of God by works, it would be hard to figure out how Rahab got into this list. She's a shocker. She sort of blasts the sensibilities of the the Jews in the community who are still hanging on to the notion that salvation is given to those who earn it. She's a Canaanite, not even a Jew. She's a Gentile. She's an Amorite. And the Amorites, their whole seed was devoted to utter destruction, being cursed by God. But Rahab believed God. And one of the staggering staggering realities about Rahab is she ended up in the messianic line. Now, there were, of course, in Jericho unbelievers who perished, disobedient. People of Jericho didn't believe. They didn't obey. This implies that the truth of God had been deposited in their midst. They must have received the word of God to believe or not to believe, to obey or not to obey. Some translations say they believed not, but it's which means disobedient. They must have heard the truth about the true and living God. That maybe they heard the story about the them being delivered out of Egypt. Maybe the message from the spies had been given to some people and been spread. They sought no mercy from this God. They sought no grace from this God. They sought no forgiveness from this God. They had no interest in obeying him whatsoever. As a result, the whole city was wiped out. As I read, all the animals, all the people died by the edge of the sword except Rahab. Why? Rahab welcomed the spies in peace. Welcome, to welcome with hospitality. Her story is worth looking at. Go back to Joshua. We'll take a brief look at it. Chapter 2. Joshua sent two men as spies into the land, go view the land, especially Jericho. They went, came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. It was told the king of Jericho, saying, behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land. The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, bring out the men who have come to you who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land. They are coming to spy on us because they're going to conquer us. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, yes, the men came to me, but I didn't know where they were from. It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark that the men went out. I don't know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. Was that the truth? No, it was a lie. Was it necessary? No. It's never necessary. Would God have protected the spies if she had told the truth? Absolutely. We would have just had a different story of how God protected the spies. This doesn't justify the lie, but we can commend her for her courage in the case of hiding them. So, she chases away the people who are looking for them, telling them that they have to hurry because they're out of town and they're going to have to run if they want to catch them. In the meantime, verse 6, she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. So, the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, to the fords. They're chasing them, and of course, they're back in Jericho on her roof underneath the flax. As soon as they were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now, before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land. Wow. 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 into Egypt, and what you did to the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, two amazing stories whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted. 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. She believed in the true and living God, and she believed fully in all the revelation that was available to her. 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, mother, brothers, sisters, all who belong to them, deliver our lives from death. So, the men said to her, our life for yours. If you do not tell this business of ours, it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. She sent them away as the rest of the story tells. They verse 16 are told, go to the hill country so that the pursuers will not happen upon you. Hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. 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 yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers and your father's household. In other words, they're not going to know who these people are to spare their life unless they're all collected in one place and that house is identified because there are going to be many of them sweeping in. If you tell this business of ours, then we'll free from the oath which you made us swear. She said, according to your words, so be it. So, she sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet cord in the window. Go over to chapter 6, verse 21. This last verse is enough in the record of the destruction. Verse 21, they utterly destroyed everything in the city, man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. That's just a devastating thing to think about. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, go into the harlot's house, 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, her mother, her brothers and all she had. They also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. So, 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 she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Jericho, the city was rejected and destroyed. Rahab and her family were spared. What about the destruction of the Canaanites? Can you legitimize that? Now, historians tell us that the destruction of this Canaanite city and all Canaanite culture was a great boon to the welfare of humanity from a purely social perspective. They were so debased. Believe me, God punishes sin, and he has the right to punish it whenever and wherever he desires. And he punishes those who do not believe in him and do not obey his commands. But in the case of Rahab, she acknowledged faith in the true and living God. She believed and staked her life on it. She put herself in a dangerous dangerous position, hiding spies on the roof. She staked her life on the fact that this was the true God. She had a kind of adventurous courage to fling her lot with this deity about which she had only heard from secondhand sources. But she believed in the true God, and because of that, she was spared. That's what faith does. Doesn't crumble because the circumstances are threatening or difficult. True saving faith, true faith that grips God does what is right, obeys God no matter what the price. This is essentially all wrapped up in the words of Jesus that have become so familiar to us. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The price might be death, even horrendous death on a cross.
Phil Johnson: You're listening to Grace to You weekend, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current study is titled A Faith That Pleases God. Now, friend, today's lesson looked at two very different people, the great military leader Joshua and a prostitute named Rahab. Both of them are side by side in the Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith. Is there a lesson there about the kind of people who can have a faith that pleases God? We asked John that question some years ago. Here's what John said.
John MacArthur: Yeah, it is an interesting partnership in the book of Hebrews to put Joshua alongside Rahab the prostitute. Of course, they come at the same event and the same time in history in the Old Testament. But that's how it is in in the kingdom of God. You go to the beginning of the book of Matthew where you have the genealogy of the son of God, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it starts, you know, with Abraham, and then it's David, and it goes through all the heroes of the Old Testament that are in that messianic line all the way down to Jesus. If you look a little more closely, you're going to find Rahab in that genealogy. And you're going to find other sinful women in that genealogy and a whole lot of sinful men as well. This is how it is in the world. And and I've said this so many times. Look, if God couldn't do his work through sinful people, he couldn't do his work because that's the only kind there are. Let me remind you about the book 12 Unlikely Heroes because everybody who serves the Lord faithfully is an unlikely hero. We have to be transformed. Well, like Isaiah, he says, Lord, you you certainly can't use me. I'm a man with a dirty mouth, and I live with people with dirty mouths. And he put a curse on himself, and the Lord said, I want you to serve. Go. Be my man. That's what God does with all of us. We're all unlikely heroes in the kingdom of God.
Phil Johnson: Yes, we are, friend. And 12 Unlikely Heroes will be a great encouragement to you. It's a great book to read as part of your family devotions or to go through with your home Bible study or to give to someone you've been discipling. Order a copy of 12 Unlikely Heroes for yourself and a few to give away when you contact us today. Call us at 800-555-Grace Monday through Friday, 7:30 to 4:00 Pacific time. Those are our regular business hours, 7:30 to 4:00 Pacific time. And here's our number again, 800-555-Grace. And you can also place your order online anytime at gty.org. 12 Unlikely Heroes is affordable, and shipping is free. Again, to order, call 800-555-Grace or visit our website gty.org. And if you've been encouraged by John's current study on A Faith That Pleases God or if someone you know has professed faith in Christ after hearing John's teaching, we'd love to hear about it. Include this station's call letters when you email your note to letters at gty.org. Again, that's letters at gty.org. Or drop a letter in the mail addressed to Grace to You weekend, box 4000, Panorama City, California 91412. Now, for our entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace to You television this weekend. Check your local Christian station for air times, and then be here next week as John MacArthur shows you what you should be doing right now to make sure that you are ready for Christmas. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You weekend.