back to index2021-03-08 God's Grace in Might and Meekness
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11 verses 30 and 31. 00:00:27.480 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for greater insight, greater knowledge of Christ and what He has 00:00:54.800 |
done, that all that we do may simply be a reasonable response to your great mercy. 00:01:01.600 |
Lord, as we continue to study your redemptive history and the examples that have gone before 00:01:07.280 |
us, help us, Lord God, not to simply take it as knowledge, but the source of strength 00:01:13.440 |
for application in our lives, to put our confidence and trust in you and you alone. 00:01:18.400 |
So we pray for your grace and your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us through your word. 00:01:24.000 |
All right, so now we're jumping into the next great event that took place. 00:01:30.720 |
40 years have gone by since they've come out of Egypt, and so we're skipping literally 00:01:37.240 |
from Exodus chapter 14, 15, and we're just speeding through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, 00:01:43.520 |
Deuteronomy, and then now we're at the event that takes place in Joshua. 00:01:48.360 |
And so, but before we jump into this text in verse 30 and 31, I wanted to remind us 00:01:55.040 |
of how we got to chapter 11 so that we can understand this in the proper context, okay? 00:02:00.180 |
So if you remember, the whole book of Hebrews is written to a group of people who have been 00:02:09.680 |
In the very beginning of their faith, they were celebrating their love for Christ and 00:02:14.520 |
they were fellowshipping with those who were being imprisoned, and so it was a very strong 00:02:20.320 |
church, but at some point, maybe after 10, 20, 30 years, the persecution was intensified, 00:02:27.700 |
and so many of them started drifting back to their old life, to the Judaistic life. 00:02:32.120 |
And so the remedy for that for the author is to remind them of the supremacy of Christ. 00:02:37.780 |
So we had chapter 10, 10 chapters of talking about how Jesus Christ is better than everything 00:02:44.320 |
He's better than the angels, better than Moses, better than the prophets, better than 00:02:51.080 |
He's been laying out Christology to demonstrate to them that this great salvation that we 00:02:56.880 |
have in Christ, that if we neglect such a great salvation, how much more deserving of 00:03:03.140 |
So we had 11 chapters of, or 10 chapters of Christology. 00:03:08.000 |
When we get to chapter 12 and chapter 13, it's the application of those 10 chapters. 00:03:13.840 |
If we truly believe that Christ is supreme over everything else, then this is how we 00:03:22.420 |
So chapter 12 and chapter 13, there's a lot of imperatives teaching us instructions on 00:03:28.440 |
Chapter 11 is right in the middle where he's transitioning from the indicatives to the 00:03:32.500 |
imperatives, where he's teaching us this is who Jesus is. 00:03:37.200 |
And if he truly is supreme over everything that we value, then we ought to live this 00:03:43.280 |
And so chapter 11 is, he's saying, but that gap is because of faith, by faith. 00:03:49.100 |
So everything that we've been talking about in chapter 11, that if you believe this, chapter 00:03:56.560 |
And here's some examples of some people who by faith have done this, by faith have done 00:04:01.960 |
And so it's important for us to recognize that I think every one of us have a tendency. 00:04:08.260 |
Some of us are more prone to action, and so we don't have a lot of patience for the theological 00:04:15.160 |
We just want to, teach me the basics and then tell me what to do. 00:04:21.640 |
So we kind of leave our theology at a kind of superficial or at a basic level, and then 00:04:30.160 |
Or we may have a tendency to be on the other end, where we're so into like, we want to 00:04:38.600 |
And then when it comes to the application, we don't pay as much attention to that. 00:04:42.640 |
Well, chapter 11 really is the core of our Christian faith, where it's not one or the 00:04:51.520 |
Is by faith, is what we believe, not just a superficial fundamental, Jesus loves you, 00:05:00.340 |
By faith reminds us that everything that he says in 11 chapters, 10 chapters, is just 00:05:05.760 |
as crucial as what we do, because that's the foundation. 00:05:14.020 |
If you're running and doing something and you forget why you're doing that, eventually 00:05:24.480 |
The action that they took is because they had the right faith. 00:05:27.120 |
So again, I wanted to revisit that before we jump into this, because we want to ask 00:05:31.880 |
the question, what are we to learn from this? 00:05:34.520 |
And obviously we have the same theme that's kind of going through all of it is that this 00:05:42.040 |
And through the ups and downs of Israel's history, that you remain, God remains faithful 00:05:50.840 |
There's two questions that we want to answer here. 00:05:54.200 |
First of it is in verse 30, when it says, "By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down 00:05:58.200 |
after they had been encircled for seven days," how come Joshua's name is not mentioned here? 00:06:04.640 |
I mean, he's the central figure in what's going on here. 00:06:09.760 |
So up to this point, we've had, "By faith, Abraham did this. 00:06:20.360 |
But when we come to the falling of the wall of Jericho, Joshua is the central figure in 00:06:28.520 |
We get to verse 31, and it says, "By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with 00:06:33.560 |
those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace." 00:06:43.800 |
This great event that takes place through Joshua, this man of faith, and his name is 00:06:50.400 |
not mentioned, and the person that is highlighted in the conquering of Jericho is Rahab the 00:07:02.480 |
Why is Joshua's name not here and why is Rahab's name not here? 00:07:05.960 |
And again, whenever we do inductive Bible study, it's very important to ask a lot of 00:07:10.880 |
questions because if you don't ask questions, you won't know when you get the answer. 00:07:16.440 |
So people who ask a lot of questions are usually the ones who end up learning. 00:07:20.640 |
If you come in and I have no questions, it just means even when something profound comes 00:07:25.560 |
up, you're not really going to catch it because you didn't really search. 00:07:28.920 |
And so again, you get in the habit when we are studying the scripture to ask a lot of 00:07:33.440 |
And so again, what we're saying about Joshua's name and Rahab's name is not the central 00:07:38.220 |
thing that we're going to be talking about, but it is going to help us to see why it is 00:07:45.920 |
Before we get into it, I think we need to understand the background context behind, 00:07:50.540 |
before they go into Jericho, what exactly happened. 00:07:54.160 |
For 40 years, they come out and that history of 40 years, there's a lot of things that 00:08:00.680 |
Remember, they got the law, they built the tabernacle, spies went and they came back 00:08:05.260 |
and they were afraid and as a result, they wandered in the desert for 40 years. 00:08:09.840 |
And so Moses was a leader during those 40 years, right? 00:08:16.780 |
And but right before they are about to face their biggest challenge, up to now for 40 00:08:23.260 |
years, all they had to do was when God said to move, you move. 00:08:30.460 |
God says, don't touch it, you don't touch it. 00:08:31.780 |
You just have to do exactly what he had, he got told him to do. 00:08:37.500 |
So it wasn't like there was some, some, you know, enemies waiting to ambush them every 00:08:45.180 |
The first time they needed to go against a fortified city. 00:08:51.020 |
God takes Moses out, this great leader out, and he puts this inexperienced leader, Joshua, 00:09:00.820 |
So if you are a military commander, it's a bad time to do this. 00:09:04.980 |
God didn't, in fact, when God removed Moses, like again, to this day, I'm not exactly sure 00:09:10.180 |
what Moses did, other than God says, you didn't show me as holy. 00:09:16.060 |
I've heard sermons, read through commentaries. 00:09:18.820 |
And to be honest, I don't really understand other than he hit the rock. 00:09:23.820 |
And I've heard whole sermons and, you know, exposition about what that hitting the rock 00:09:33.020 |
I don't know exactly what he did, but what God said was, whatever it was, he didn't present 00:09:44.780 |
And as a result of that, he couldn't get into the promised land. 00:09:48.780 |
So Moses actually is begging God, like, please, look at that land filled with milk and honey. 00:09:55.300 |
I told you I didn't want to do this, but here's the payoff. 00:10:01.460 |
So there was no transitional time for Joshua to learn the trades and Moses to disciple 00:10:16.660 |
And in order to get to the promised land, they face their biggest challenge. 00:10:22.380 |
And in fact, this is how God describes the nation of Israel, who they're up against. 00:10:30.020 |
Here, O Israel, you are crossing over the Jordan today to go into a dispensation of 00:10:42.660 |
Great cities fortified to heaven, a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom you know 00:10:50.060 |
and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak? 00:10:57.300 |
I mean, I don't think God even needed to remind them. 00:10:59.340 |
They knew what they were up against, but God made it sure that they understood. 00:11:12.180 |
The only thing I don't mention is they're better looking than you. 00:11:16.340 |
It's almost like he's deliberately trying to discourage them. 00:11:21.020 |
And you have to remember the experienced adults among the Israelites, what happened to them? 00:11:31.460 |
So not only do they have a young commanding leader who doesn't have experience, anybody 00:11:35.820 |
who's older and more mature already died out. 00:11:39.220 |
So it's all the kids from that generation, brand new, are going into the city. 00:11:43.620 |
And then right before they go, God says, they're better than you. 00:11:49.420 |
You know, and they've been wandering out in the desert. 00:12:05.620 |
That's what they've been doing, basic training for 40 years. 00:12:08.820 |
So it's kind of like getting a bunch of soldiers who've been doing basic training, and then 00:12:16.800 |
And then they give a brand new commander, it's like, go! 00:12:19.180 |
By the way, they have better weapons than you. 00:12:26.260 |
They've destroyed everybody else before you, right? 00:12:30.440 |
Well, he says in verse 3, Deuteronomy 9, 3, "Know therefore today that it is the Lord 00:12:35.640 |
your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire." 00:12:39.540 |
In other words, if you're going in there with any kind of self-confidence, right, by human 00:12:47.740 |
And that's why I want to let you know, it is not you. 00:12:57.420 |
The Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire, he will destroy them, 00:13:02.260 |
and he will subdue them before you so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, 00:13:13.820 |
And I want you to see how many times he says to them, "Remember that it is not because 00:13:18.660 |
of your righteousness that this is happening." 00:13:20.860 |
Verse 4, "Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, 00:13:25.800 |
because of my righteousness the Lord has brought men to possess this land. 00:13:29.900 |
But it is because of the weakness of their nations that the Lord is possessing them before 00:13:34.740 |
It is not your righteousness, for your uprightness of your heart, that you are going to possess 00:13:39.940 |
But it is because of the weakness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them 00:13:43.460 |
out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, 00:13:49.740 |
Know then it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God giving you this good 00:13:54.180 |
land to possess, for you are a stubborn people." 00:13:57.260 |
You kind of get the idea that maybe God was concerned that they're going to become proud, 00:14:03.860 |
That they're going to have such an easy time conquering this fortified city that at the 00:14:08.100 |
end of that they're going to come out thinking like, "We must have done something right." 00:14:14.460 |
Maybe it's because all this marching strengthened their legs. 00:14:23.540 |
And the reason why he wanted to make sure is because our tendency to become proud when 00:14:34.300 |
When they were the strongest was when they were completely dependent upon God. 00:14:39.220 |
How could they have possibly thought that they came out of Egypt by their own strength? 00:14:43.220 |
How can they have possibly thought they would have survived in the desert? 00:14:46.540 |
The water and the food that they ate was miraculous food. 00:14:52.180 |
Normal people would have just died within months with no food, no water. 00:14:57.140 |
But just in case you forgot, I'm not sending you into this city to conquer them because 00:15:01.820 |
I've done enough training and you guys, we have a bunch of trained people who are able 00:15:07.060 |
to fight and we strengthened you, we worked on your arms and your legs, we worked on strategy. 00:15:12.500 |
And so when we get over there, that we're going to put all that to use. 00:15:22.140 |
So make sure when you get over there that you realize I'm going over and you follow 00:15:27.740 |
And just in case after it's done, it is not because of your righteousness. 00:15:31.580 |
Not only are they greater than you, you're not righteous." 00:15:35.940 |
He goes even further than that, verse seven, "Remember, do not forget how you provoke the 00:15:42.720 |
From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have 00:15:48.620 |
He says, "If you have any confidence thinking like, 'Oh, during the 40 years, maybe that's, 00:15:53.140 |
you know, we've been good and that's why God is giving us this land.'" 00:15:56.540 |
He said, "You forgot already what the 40 years was like." 00:16:03.180 |
Right off, right before they even crossed the Red Sea, right? 00:16:13.180 |
They crossed to the other side and they get a little thirsty. 00:16:15.780 |
"You brought us out here where there's no water?" 00:16:22.780 |
It's like, "Oh my gosh, you brought us out here with no food? 00:16:29.420 |
It's like, "Oh my gosh, you brought us out here to eat the same bread over and over?" 00:16:35.020 |
So God gives him quail and he eats the quail. 00:16:36.620 |
It's like, "Oh my gosh, the same thing over and over again?" 00:16:41.340 |
If there's anything in 40 years, remember how many times you provoke the Lord. 00:16:46.900 |
So just in case that you think that somehow you deserve this, it's not because of your 00:16:53.660 |
righteousness, it's not because of your strength, it's not because they're weaker than you, 00:17:01.820 |
He said, "Because the promise I made to your forefathers." 00:17:09.540 |
The covenant that he has made, he is keeping it. 00:17:14.140 |
He says again in Deuteronomy 7, 7-9, "The Lord did not set his love on you nor chose 00:17:19.700 |
you because you were more in number than any of the people. 00:17:24.060 |
For you were the fewest of all the peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the 00:17:27.860 |
oath which he swore to the forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and 00:17:32.740 |
redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 00:17:36.340 |
Know therefore that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant 00:17:41.780 |
and his loving kindness to the thousands generation and to those with those who love him and keep 00:17:49.980 |
You know the mystery of our salvation isn't that somehow God has seen a diamond in the 00:17:58.180 |
You know, every once in a while I hear somebody saying that. 00:18:00.060 |
There's something in us that God saw that maybe even we didn't see and therefore he 00:18:07.620 |
The diamond in the rough and he polished us and he made us as great people. 00:18:11.340 |
Which means that the non-Christians were not worth saving because there was something special 00:18:23.260 |
The fundamental question is he just chose to love us. 00:18:27.380 |
In fact, if you're honest with yourself, right? 00:18:31.580 |
If you're honest with yourself, we're not even talking about before you became a Christian. 00:18:36.160 |
We're talking about after you became a Christian. 00:18:39.940 |
Do you really think you've lived up to the calling of what God has given you? 00:18:47.540 |
Don't answer that because I don't want to refute you, right? 00:18:53.340 |
How many of you, including myself, after we've been a Christian, whether you've been a Christian 00:18:58.620 |
a year or 30 years or 40 years or 50 years, look back on this 30, 40, 50 years of our 00:19:07.780 |
I know I was an unfaithful person, you know, didn't know God. 00:19:13.180 |
But after I became a Christian, majority of my life was lived in obedience. 00:19:18.900 |
Majority of my thoughts, my human relationships was faithful. 00:19:23.820 |
I lived up to the gospel that the Bible talks. 00:19:26.460 |
I've lived up to the calling that God has given me." 00:19:34.700 |
My guess is if you're honest with yourself, you have memories year after year after year 00:19:40.380 |
struggling with certain sins, with anger, bitterness, maybe pride. 00:19:47.660 |
All these things that we can think of and we probably feel more unworthy today than 00:19:56.900 |
The fundamental questions of the gospel isn't, "Why did God punish the sinners?" 00:20:14.620 |
If somebody irritates you, do you not punish them? 00:20:18.620 |
Somebody slaps you, do you not slap them back? 00:20:23.960 |
So we know why rebellious people get punished. 00:20:30.140 |
So when Jesus comes, I don't think the first question that we should be asking is, "Why 00:20:37.740 |
Why is there so much suffering in the world?" 00:20:39.780 |
The answer is clear, because mankind, all of sin, falls short of the glory of God. 00:20:44.580 |
But the question that remains a mystery, and I'm not sure exactly if it's going to make 00:20:48.700 |
sense even after we die when we meet Christ, is, "Why did you choose us? 00:21:00.300 |
It really isn't a clear answer, other than the fact he said, "He chose you, and he chose 00:21:04.180 |
to love you, and he's being faithful to his covenant promise." 00:21:07.580 |
See, he wanted Israel to make sure that they believe, because the moment we stray from 00:21:16.220 |
that, and we begin to think to ourselves that, "Maybe I was bad before, but maybe if I'm 00:21:21.700 |
good afterwards," and that's the difference between a good Christian and a bad Christian, 00:21:25.700 |
or somebody who bears fruit, somebody who doesn't bear fruit, is somebody who works 00:21:38.060 |
Does the Bible tell us, like Paul said, "I buffet my body and make it my slave, after 00:21:41.420 |
I preach to others that I may be disqualified?" 00:21:48.140 |
All those things are true, but the fundamental place where the gospel brings us, always, 00:21:53.980 |
past, present, and future, is absolute helplessness before God. 00:21:59.820 |
Because our battle is not against flesh and blood. 00:22:04.340 |
You can't get into a demonic wrestling match by working hard. 00:22:11.740 |
You can't change the Spirit's work by being smart, by being determined. 00:22:25.140 |
There's a church that really was battling each other for righteousness. 00:22:29.740 |
And so the church started splitting because they said, "In order to be really righteous 00:22:33.220 |
and right with God, you need to have the right leader." 00:22:36.260 |
So some were saying, "I follow Apollo," some saying, "Paul," some being, "Peter." 00:22:42.780 |
And then Paul is trying to remind them that division is coming because of your spiritual 00:22:48.820 |
That somehow, some of you think you're more righteous because you've stood in the right 00:22:54.340 |
Some of you think you're more righteous because you have the right training, or whatever it 00:22:59.780 |
And Paul comes in and he says, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not 00:23:08.420 |
I want you to think about what he's saying here, okay? 00:23:21.720 |
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, in other words, you were foolish, to 00:23:27.180 |
And God has chosen the weak things of the world, in other words, you are weak, to shame 00:23:31.500 |
the things that are strong and the base things of the world, the most fundamental. 00:23:38.300 |
And despised, God has chosen the things that are not so that he may nullify the things 00:23:45.740 |
So that no man may boast before God, but by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus. 00:23:58.220 |
Satan wanted to get the glory and worship that God had. 00:24:04.340 |
As soon as they had the opportunity, they built the Tower of Babel because they wanted 00:24:09.780 |
And God deliberately destroys them and scatters them. 00:24:12.740 |
And so the fundamental rebellion of mankind is he wants to elevate himself near to God 00:24:22.220 |
God says he comes and the gospel message is that he's coming to destroy what the world 00:24:38.980 |
And he's deliberately chosen the weak things in order to dumbfound the wise. 00:24:45.580 |
He flipped the table and that's what he was trying to tell the disciples. 00:24:51.500 |
They wanted to follow Jesus and if they stay close to him enough, when the kingdom comes, 00:24:54.980 |
am I going to sit to the left or to the right? 00:24:57.180 |
And that's why he deliberately got on his knees to serve his disciples and to do the 00:25:08.020 |
And he said those who are the servants in the kingdom of God, they are the greatest 00:25:13.940 |
He was taking the weakest things and he was flipping the table over this sinful world 00:25:20.900 |
And that's why our salvation is described by Ephesians 2.8.9, "For by grace you have 00:25:24.900 |
been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of 00:25:42.060 |
A Christian who is boasting doesn't know the gospel. 00:25:46.500 |
He doesn't know Christ because he thinks somehow he did it. 00:25:50.740 |
He thinks somehow he worked harder than other people. 00:25:53.220 |
He thinks somehow he achieved greater things. 00:25:56.140 |
See the whole point of this Jericho, before he goes in, he reminds Joshua and the rest 00:26:05.000 |
This wall is going to fall but it has nothing to do with you. 00:26:13.300 |
If this promise that God made was a conditional promise that God made to Abraham, it would 00:26:21.900 |
You guys would have never made it out of Egypt. 00:26:24.900 |
You would have never made it through the Red Sea. 00:26:27.700 |
You would have never crossed the Jordan River if it was you. 00:26:32.700 |
That was the point that he was trying to make. 00:26:34.740 |
He's trying to be faithful to his own covenant. 00:26:39.140 |
Now as fundamental as this is to our faith, it is so hard to shake. 00:26:50.900 |
Because ever since we are born, we're taught to mature. 00:26:59.220 |
I remember when that thought really gripped me. 00:27:03.780 |
I think I was a freshman or sophomore in college and I had a job out here in Irvine. 00:27:09.940 |
I was going to Biola and somebody I knew was a manager of some restaurant over here. 00:27:16.420 |
So I had to come here every day, five to one in the afternoon. 00:27:21.700 |
I remember working and I just happened to be really sick that day and there was nobody 00:27:40.860 |
But there's no break because no one could take my place. 00:27:44.180 |
The boss who was there, he needed me to do my job or else he can't run the thing. 00:27:49.420 |
So I remember feeling so bad and it got so bad in the middle I went into the closet and 00:27:58.220 |
As soon as I caught my breath, I had to go back out to work. 00:28:02.140 |
I was there for the rest of the day, probably about three, four hours just sweating and 00:28:07.340 |
Through that whole process of misery, I was thinking, "This is life." 00:28:27.200 |
So that's been my theme of life since, suck it up. 00:28:32.300 |
There's certain things that you can't change. 00:28:37.740 |
Sometimes you're sick and you have to go to work. 00:28:42.260 |
So that's kind of like pride myself being suck it up. 00:28:49.260 |
I thought I was the suck it up king and then I met my wife and she's really the suck it 00:28:57.340 |
But the reason why this is so hard is because the world values hard work. 00:29:04.380 |
We talk about how many of our immigrant parents work two jobs and three jobs. 00:29:12.940 |
When we raise our kids, money doesn't grow off of trees. 00:29:21.820 |
The harder you work, the more you can achieve. 00:29:24.460 |
So everything that we do since we're children, we're taught to work hard, to move ahead, 00:29:32.140 |
Even as Christians, work hard to be disciplined, to memorize scripture, to pray longer and 00:29:38.940 |
All of these things, again, none of these things in and of itself innately is wrong. 00:29:45.140 |
But that is so hard to shake because when it comes to our spiritual life, it does so 00:29:56.540 |
Because the very get go of our salvation is to come before God and recognize how helpless 00:30:01.180 |
we are and that's what brings us to repentance. 00:30:06.820 |
I should have gotten an A, but I got a C, but I'm going to try harder to get an A." 00:30:13.100 |
Repentance that leads to salvation is recognizing that I can never bridge this gap. 00:30:19.260 |
There is nothing I can do to bridge this gap between me and this holy God. 00:30:27.140 |
I repent not only of what I did, I repent of who I am. 00:30:31.780 |
And you completely surrender everything to God. 00:30:40.380 |
At some point in our sanctification, we pick back up. 00:30:50.220 |
And then when things don't turn out the way it does, we get frustrated. 00:31:11.800 |
Not simply our determination, not simply because of our knowledge, not because of our experience, 00:31:20.140 |
And that's the point that he's trying to tell us. 00:31:27.900 |
The zealots were people who were willing to die to preserve Israel. 00:31:37.820 |
And if they get an opportunity, they're going to knife somebody and create a revolution. 00:31:42.340 |
So these guys, in their own way, were picking up the cross. 00:31:46.620 |
They were sacrificing because they were willing to die for Israel. 00:31:50.420 |
Jesus didn't come to them and say, "Good job. 00:31:55.780 |
He didn't say the Sadducees were very politically savvy. 00:32:00.660 |
They're going to preserve Israel through having a great relationship with the Romans. 00:32:05.100 |
They used their intellect and their influence to be able to preserve Israel. 00:32:09.260 |
So they were politically trying to preserve the nation. 00:32:12.180 |
Jesus didn't show up to the Sadducees and say, "Good job. 00:32:15.520 |
You guys are so savvy, and because of you, Israel is being preserved." 00:32:19.260 |
He didn't say it's the Sadducees who are trying so hard to keep the law. 00:32:24.980 |
The Bible says and Jesus says, they were proselytizing, they were praying, they were tithing. 00:32:31.260 |
As far as discipline is concerned, they were more disciplined than anybody else. 00:32:35.100 |
And he didn't say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant, because you tried harder 00:32:41.020 |
He said, "You pray, but you pray for other people to see. 00:32:46.300 |
You study the Bible so that you can show off. 00:32:48.940 |
You're proselytizing, and you proselytize and convert them and make them just as much, 00:32:56.060 |
You give, but you give so that other people can recognize how generous you are. 00:33:01.020 |
Everything that you're doing, you're doing for other people to see." 00:33:09.260 |
Whenever you see the term, "Jesus was amazed," do you know what follows after that? 00:33:17.780 |
Whether they were rich or poor, whether they were strong or weak, what surprised Jesus 00:33:26.060 |
When he was disappointed, he said, "You of little faith." 00:33:32.860 |
It was what connected them to the Holy God, because their power didn't come from them. 00:33:45.780 |
Whatever faith that they had is what connected them to this Holy God that caused them to 00:33:52.260 |
That's why he said, "If you want to be fruitful, work hard. 00:33:59.460 |
If you want to be fruitful," he said, "abide." 00:34:08.900 |
So our primary call as Christians is to abide in Christ. 00:34:40.140 |
That's why the only instruction that God gives Joshua in Joshua 1, 6-9, he says, "To be 00:34:48.980 |
For you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their forefathers. 00:34:56.460 |
Verse 8, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on 00:35:00.340 |
it day and night so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it. 00:35:03.700 |
For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success." 00:35:06.340 |
And it said, the only instruction is be strong and courageous. 00:35:12.340 |
Don't turn from it to the left or to the right. 00:35:14.300 |
Whether it makes sense or doesn't make sense. 00:35:16.740 |
And remember, the instruction God gave them was, when you get in there, remember that 00:35:22.460 |
Ark of the Covenant, remember that box that I gave you? 00:35:25.500 |
Get seven priests to walk ahead of the rest of you and the distance was about 2,000 cubit. 00:35:38.460 |
If you're going into battle, that's the worst thing to do. 00:35:45.740 |
And my guess is, while they're marching, they're Muslim. 00:35:53.860 |
My guess is somebody grumbling is like, "What are we doing? 00:35:55.860 |
Didn't he say we're going to conquer this land? 00:36:11.900 |
My guess is there was some grumbling in there. 00:36:21.820 |
On the seventh day, this is the day that the Lord is going to give you this. 00:36:40.180 |
Don't turn from it to the left or to the right. 00:36:51.140 |
You go left, you go right, and then I'll be the command when I blow the trumpet, all you 00:36:58.620 |
Which the covenant was representative of the presence of God in Israel. 00:37:05.300 |
And it was to show the nation of Israel that the Lord is going to give you this, not you. 00:37:14.380 |
Can you imagine how tired they were after seven? 00:37:16.780 |
I know there were wonders in the desert, but seven times around the city carrying this 00:37:20.380 |
box and then they stopped and they're like, Oh my gosh, you're so tired. 00:37:27.020 |
They blow the trumpet exactly as God said, and the wall comes tumbling down and all they 00:37:41.380 |
In fact, the primary sin of Israel was whenever they forgot that and they became proud. 00:37:48.460 |
And that's when sin started coming into their camp. 00:37:52.660 |
So the same lesson that God's been trying to teach them over and over again, it is not 00:38:03.100 |
Your power, your fruit, it doesn't come from you. 00:38:16.060 |
So Joshua, when he was ready in Joshua 3, 5, he says, "Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow 00:38:36.140 |
Whether his name was mentioned or it wasn't mentioned, it was not, that was not the point. 00:38:42.500 |
But the second question, we're not going to spend a lot of time on this one, then why 00:38:51.140 |
At some point in history, Rahab was a harlot. 00:38:55.380 |
But because her name is written in the Bible, she will forever be known as Rahab the harlot. 00:39:02.800 |
Because that's how it was mentioned to us in Joshua, and that's how it's mentioned to 00:39:07.340 |
Why is the fact that she was a harlot described here? 00:39:10.300 |
David is not described as David the murderer. 00:39:15.060 |
David is not described to us as David the adulterer, David the murderer. 00:39:22.700 |
But why is Rahab's name even on this list of, I mean, think about who's on this list. 00:39:44.940 |
Do you think when we get to heaven, we're going to see Rahab's like, "There's Rahab the harlot." 00:39:54.900 |
Why is her name here when Joshua's name is not? 00:40:07.140 |
Well, the only thing that we know is Joshua 2, 8 through 11, this is what Rahab says. 00:40:12.380 |
The spies come to spy out the land and she basically protects them. 00:40:17.060 |
But the reason why she protects them is what is mentioned in verse 8. 00:40:20.140 |
"Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men," this 00:40:23.820 |
is the men, the Israelites who are hiding, "I know that the Lord has given you the land 00:40:28.180 |
and that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land have 00:40:37.060 |
Before they even came, there was a reputation of the Israelites. 00:40:42.500 |
Verse 10, "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea." 00:40:50.660 |
Dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt. 00:40:53.900 |
I said, "Wow, the Egyptians couldn't find them. 00:41:02.060 |
And what you did to the two kings of Amorites and beyond the Jordan to Sihon and Og, whom 00:41:09.940 |
When we heard of it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer 00:41:15.860 |
For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on the earth below." 00:41:23.420 |
Think about this great faith that made it into the hall of fame, right? 00:41:36.580 |
Did not perish along with the other disobedient. 00:41:43.060 |
That's why she's on this list of people, right? 00:41:47.780 |
Rahab the harlot, by faith, did not perish along with the others who were disobedient. 00:41:56.500 |
She was trying to save herself because she heard that here's this nation coming. 00:42:03.500 |
Clearly they're not powerful, but there's something supernatural going on. 00:42:12.300 |
I mean, what kind of God do you serve that even the Egyptians can't bind you? 00:42:20.860 |
But the difference with her is she decided to side with Israel. 00:42:29.460 |
There's nothing necessarily noble about what she did other than she was trying to save 00:42:34.300 |
her neck and she was trying to save her family. 00:42:39.180 |
But the reason why she made it on this list is because by faith. 00:42:47.060 |
She believed in the God of Israel more than whatever it is that she was holding on to. 00:42:55.020 |
So the point of this isn't about Rahab, it's not about Joshua, it's not about Moses, it's 00:43:01.660 |
That's why each of these passages start with by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. 00:43:06.860 |
That even Rahab the harlot was preserved and even in her imperfect life, known as a harlot, 00:43:16.820 |
because of faith, she made it into the Hall of Fame. 00:43:24.380 |
There's going to be a lot of people in heaven, I believe, that we're going to be surprised 00:43:46.220 |
There's going to be some people up there that I think many of us are going to be surprised. 00:43:53.140 |
And then there's going to be some people up there thinking like, how come he's not here? 00:44:01.260 |
Because you and I have a tendency to measure everything by what we see. 00:44:21.100 |
And so by faith, even somebody like Harlot made it onto this list of Hall of Fame. 00:44:28.780 |
In fact, eventually she ends up marrying an Israelite. 00:44:33.460 |
She becomes a great, great, great, great grandfather of King David. 00:44:36.780 |
And then King David is a great, great, great, great, great grandfather of Jesus. 00:44:47.060 |
I don't know about you, but our God is amazing. 00:44:54.260 |
I mean, it humbles us and lifts us up at the same time. 00:45:00.940 |
It destroys our pride and fills us with hope all at the same time. 00:45:13.100 |
And then you're filled with confidence and courage at the same time. 00:45:19.180 |
He destroys our pride because only when our pride is destroyed will He be lifted up. 00:45:28.140 |
Remember the story of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, right? 00:45:33.620 |
And those two stories are really meant to be read together because, you know, John is 00:45:38.500 |
introducing the gospel and Nicodemus comes out because he's considered the most righteous 00:45:42.540 |
man because he's on the Sanhedrin and he's a Pharisee among Pharisees, so he kept the 00:45:48.780 |
So he comes and remember, he's afraid of his reputation. 00:45:52.420 |
He comes at night so that his friends wouldn't see. 00:45:55.780 |
And he's conversing with Jesus like, "How do I get to heaven?" 00:46:07.620 |
So he tells this man who had a reputation of being holy, who's already made it to the 00:46:11.580 |
top of the heap, all of that's not going to help you at all, right? 00:46:18.580 |
The very next chapter, he meets a Samaritan woman. 00:46:27.300 |
By the Jews who's considered half-breeds, right? 00:46:37.220 |
He's come to the middle of the day and she was probably considered a harlot among the 00:46:42.620 |
And he talks to her and he draws her out and says, "The water that I give you will give 00:46:47.380 |
you eternal life and you won't be thirsty again." 00:46:50.180 |
And then she meets Christ and she becomes the first evangelist to the Samaritans. 00:46:56.140 |
The Samaritans come to Christ as a result of her. 00:47:00.220 |
But if you read that two-story together, here's this man who's filled with pride, who's top 00:47:04.580 |
of righteousness according to Israel, he humbles him and says, "You must be born again." 00:47:09.940 |
And then he chases after this woman who was living in sin and then raises her up to tell 00:47:16.100 |
them that the gospel brings the mountains low and the valleys high and the entrance 00:47:28.800 |
Whether you are high, whether you are significant, whether you are educated, whether you are 00:47:32.620 |
talented, no matter how old you are, no matter how awful you think you are, no matter what 00:47:38.100 |
your past is, no matter how much you've fallen, it is the same grace of God that brings us 00:47:47.020 |
So the point of chapter 11 is by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. 00:47:56.700 |
It is not, it is not because of my faithfulness that our church has gotten here. 00:48:05.380 |
It is not because of the faithfulness of a few of the leaders that our church got here. 00:48:12.500 |
And I'm not saying that as a humble brag because I know myself better than you know me. 00:48:22.020 |
And God knows me much better than even I know myself. 00:48:27.340 |
Whatever fruit that we are allowed to experience, God is pursuing his own glory. 00:48:35.700 |
If there's anything that I have to work toward is to make sure that we don't touch that glory. 00:48:42.980 |
It is man's arrogance to think that somehow if we have the right smart people, disciplined 00:48:47.900 |
people, trained people, good people, that we'll see good things. 00:48:55.580 |
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:48:59.340 |
When we recognize that, we can be more patient with people who are struggling. 00:49:05.900 |
We can be more patient with people who are not up to par. 00:49:11.540 |
We can help them, we can assist them, but we can be more patient because we see ourselves 00:49:24.460 |
So whether you are Rahab, whether you are Joshua, by faith and by faith alone, we're 00:49:33.540 |
I pray that this truth that Hebrews 11 keeps pounding over and over and over and over again 00:49:41.700 |
would really transform our paradigm of how we look at our spiritual life and how we work 00:49:52.900 |
Because what God has called us to show the world should look different than the world. 00:50:00.940 |
In the world, you work hard, you make a lot of money, you become something successful, 00:50:07.060 |
you become influential, then you become honored, then people follow you, then you are adored. 00:50:15.980 |
But the kingdom of God is completely different. 00:50:19.540 |
The kingdom of God challenges the principles of this world where he dumbfounds the world. 00:50:27.700 |
Where people who are nothing, people who recognize that we have nothing, and yet this community 00:50:44.540 |
Let's take a few minutes to pray again as we ask the praise team to come back up. 00:50:53.540 |
All of us, to some degree or another, some of you are A students spiritually, or maybe 00:51:08.700 |
You're like, "Oh my gosh, I keep struggling with the same thing over and over again." 00:51:21.460 |
Because all of our eyes are focused on ourselves. 00:51:25.460 |
And that's the whole point, is to take our eyes off of ourselves and see God. 00:51:30.220 |
Because if your hope is on yourself, look at God. 00:51:39.580 |
And yet when we look at the cross, God restores all of it back. 00:51:49.580 |
And to thank God that it is by faith and by faith alone. 00:51:54.580 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leaves us.