Please turn with me to Joshua chapter 2 Joshua chapter 1 we saw the Lord give Joshua the command to take the children of Israel over the river Jordan and he gave three days Notice in verse 11, within three days he shall pass over this Jordan. That makes us realize that the events of chapter 2 actually take place before the events of chapter 1, because the spies didn't have three days, they spent more time than that in their spying mission. So, slightly out of chronological order, we read from the book of Joshua in chapter 2, Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim, or Acacia Grove, two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho." Now I should say at this point, of course, that Joshua, forty years earlier, had been one of the twelve spies that had gone to spy out the land before. He, along with Caleb, had said that although the men were as giants there, the Lord would be with them. But the other ten had said no, and the faith of the children of Israel had failed, and therefore the Lord had condemned them to a further forty years in the wilderness. and all of that generation had died out, with the exception of Joshua. So, to send out spies was no new thing. But this time to go, they were probably camped about 7 miles to the east of Jordan, and Jericho about 7 miles to the west of Jordan. So they had a 14 mile journey. And they go to Jericho, the great city of that area, and they went and came to an harlot's house, named Rahab and lodged there, the famous woman Rahab, known as a harlot. There is an argument to suggest that she was actually an innkeeper, and there is some merit to that argument, but I think most commentators come down on the side of the fact that she was indeed a prostitute, and her house there on the wall was a place of ill repute, of course, and she was the lowest of society. And it was told the king, verse 2 of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the country. Now this king was not a mighty king particularly, he was the king of Jericho, and perhaps not very much more than that. Many kings were kings only of their city-states in that day and age. Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the country. The fame of Israel was starting to spread. And in verse 3, the king of Jericho said unto Rahab, obviously a very small society that they had there in Jericho, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house, for they be come to search out all the country. Now, how this was known, I don't know, presumably the spies were a bit particularly indiscreet, but the word had reached the king extremely quickly, and he knew exactly where to look for them, and he knew exactly what they were doing. And the woman, verse 4, took the two men and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were, or where they were from. And it came to pass, about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Whither the men went I watch not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. There's much debate about this, and most people would say that she did clearly lie at this stage, although there is an argument to say it was more allowing people to be misled, and perhaps the nuances of language are lost in what we have here. I know not where they went, which would appear to be a blatant lie in the plain face of it, because she knows they're up on the roof. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them again. does seem to be a strong deception. But, Rahab of course is saved, at least physically, and her faith proves the salvation of herself and her family physically, and she is praised for her faith in the New Testament in two places. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 31, By faith the harlot Rahab perished not, with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace. and also in James chapter 2 verse 25, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way, which is what she did. So her action, her faith is praised, but clearly lying is never acceptable and is against the very character of God, who is a God of truth. Verse 7, the men, deceived by Rahab, pursued after them the way to the Jordan unto the Thors, perhaps seven miles away or so, and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate which would have been closed to that great walled city every night. And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof, and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. It's a very interesting thing to say, isn't it? Why would a Harlots who lived in Jericho, Why would she be in such awe of the Israelites, and why would she refer to this Lord, this God Almighty, Creator, this single God, when she was a pagan? And that terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. That's not just the inhabitants of Jericho, but all of those around as well, terrified of these Israelites, verse 10, for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea 40 years ago for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og which is recorded in Numbers whom he utterly destroyed and as soon as we had heard these things our hearts didn't melt neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." This extraordinary belief and faith that Rahab has. And it's interesting to reflect, isn't it, that if Rahab felt that way, if she had faith, but even aside from the faith, if she was terrified along with the people of the land, If the fame of the Children of Israel had really spread that far in the last 40 years, if everyone knew about the Red Sea, and the death of the Egyptians, and this great people that dwelled in the wilderness, well they were not as without excuse as we might think. They were witted people. And yes, they, as Rahab did, should have known that this was the true God. That a God who could do that, And there was no debate, no dispute. It was known to have been done. A god who could have done that could not have been like unto those foolish idols that they truly worshipped. And so we think of the Canaanites in that light. They were not ignorant people who didn't know that there was a god in heaven, a powerful god. They weren't people who didn't know what was coming upon them. They were people that had already had 40 years to consider these things, and they, like Rahab, could have trusted in this Lord. And that's an interesting insight, and it colours the way we think about this conquest which is about to go on. Now, verse 12, Rahab pleads for her life. She has no doubt that what is going to happen, the Israelites will come, and they will destroy Jericho, and the king of Jericho will be no more, and that all the people of Jericho will be no more. Now therefore I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token, and that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may ye go your way. And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear, Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt buy this line of scarlet thread, which must have been more than a piece of cotton, otherwise it wouldn't have been visible, a rope perhaps, in the window which thou didst let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless And whosoever shall be with thee in thine house, his blood shall be upon our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath, which thou hast made us to swear. And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet line in the window. And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all the things that befell them. And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land, and even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. It's a wonderful chapter. and I'm not going to speak very long at all this evening. I'll very briefly make just a couple of points. The whole chapter is an exercise in faith building on behalf of the Lord for his people. He ordained that the servants, the spies, should go in order that Joshua and the people should have their faith strengthened. And as you see in verse 24, their faith was indeed strengthened. Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hand all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us." Very reminiscent, is it not, of Gideon when he went down to the camp of the Amalekites and overheard the dreams of those two Amalekite soldiers there in the tent, and he knew at that moment that the Lord was with him. But in Gideon's story he'd actually previously asked for faith-strengthening signs from the Lord to help him. And it struck me that this is just pure grace from the Lord, is it not? If you think about it, our God in heaven does not need to justify himself. He does not need to prove himself to us. He does not need to come to us and help us in our faith, and yet he does. We should believe trust Him. And yet, because there is unbelief in all of our hearts, we fail and we fall and we doubt so easily. And yet, by grace, God is prepared to take into account our weakness and to help us. Now, in some cases, He doesn't do that. You think of the New Testament where He talked about the people who desired a sign. He said, you will have no sign. I shall not give you a sign, except the sign of Jonah, he said, on one occasion. And that's what a lot of people wanted. They wanted to come and see these great miracles, and things in the sky, and extraordinary business going on, so that their non-existent faith could spring into life. Remember also the parable of the rich man Lazarus, where Abraham says to the rich man, if they do not believe your brothers who are still alive, if they do not believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe a man if he comes back from the dead. These signs would not build faith as if there was no faith there in the first place. But for those of us who do have faith, he helps us. Very willingly. As you saw, I mentioned the story of Gideon. Gideon was, people say he was weak in faith, but he asked the Lord for signs and the Lord gave him signs. And here in this chapter, the Lord is nerving and strengthening his people, Joshua and the spies and the other people, and saying, I am with you. Now, did they need that? Well, they shouldn't have done, should they? After all that had happened to them? I mean, look at the way the Canaanites believed in God, in that sense. God is the God who opened up the Red Sea. Surely he will be with his people and they will sweep everyone aside. The Canaanites believed, but there was doubt in the hearts of God's people. Isn't that perverse and strange? I wonder if it's the same with us. Isn't it funny, it just occurs to me how the devil is able to tempt Christians in this country to put aside and to disregard the Bible, to not stick to it closely enough, and yet our enemies in Saudi Arabia will ban the Bible, and in so many other lands, because they realise its power to a certain extent, and they want it out, and yet we who should trust it far more than they do, we are weak. in Christian circles in this country, and we do not give it the authority that we ought to give it. How ironic! But, we should take great comfort from this chapter, and from the other places in the scripture where the Lord gives faith-strengthening blessings. And we should ask for them. It's certainly my experience, although I've gone through the darkest times in my life, there's always been a token, something which the Lord would give me or show me to say, now I am with you. It's a dark valley you go through, but I am with you, and I will not forsake you. And this is what the Lord did for these people. Now, practically, the application of that, of course, is that as we go through difficult times in our lives, as we go through barren times, perhaps, or as we go through times of pain, or distress, or difficulty, or anything in our lives, we can ask the Lord, Lord, strengthen my faith. Lord, help me. Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. and he will answer that prayer. Our faith should be strengthened as well by this chapter. It's not just for the strengthening of a faith of people who lived thousands of years ago, it's for the strengthening of our faith as well. And particularly, I want to focus in on that middle part, just with this really general point, I'll make a number of subheadings but I won't speak very long on this at all, but the very fact that Rahab knew about these people, and knew what the Lord had done, and spoke about him in these reverential terms, and saw it as inevitable that he would be with his people, and that there would be great victories, the Lord had vindicated his name among the heathen, among the nations, just as he said he was going to do. Do you remember what the Lord said to Moses when they were out of Egypt but not yet across the Red Sea? He said, don't flee to the place of safety. I want you to go into a cul-de-sac, into a dead end. A place where you'll have the sea behind you and the army in front of you. And the reason I want you to go there is so that you and the nations around will see the glory of God. And here we see, 40 years later, that clearly had taken place. because of what God did there to strengthen his people's faith in the Red Sea, to terrify the nations around, and to say there is a God in heaven who is not like your idols. We are in a similar situation, although, if we don't think carefully enough about it, we will not get the full benefit. Before those spies went out, I wonder what they thought the people of Jericho were thinking. They may not have known whether the people of Jericho were even aware of them. You would have thought they must be, wouldn't you? They're only 14 miles away, and there were about 2 million of them, so it was a bit difficult to miss. However, it would have been open to speculation. Are they scared of us? Do they think we're going to stay over here? Do they want to be friends with us? Do they know what's happened? Are they aware of our history? Have they heard of Abraham? Have they heard of the Egyptian escape? Have they heard of any of these things? It turned out, of course, that they had, and the Lord wanted to reveal those things to the people and to Joshua. I want us to consider a similar issue. Are people aware of what's happened in our lives? Do we stand now? Not that people would be frightened of us, but that people would say that there is a person who is different, who has something about them, who does not live the way I live. They are a rebuke to me. the personal walk that we have, the beliefs that we have, and even without explicitly explaining the gospel to people, the way we behave. Now, my neighbours up in Park Drive, we know them mainly through the children, but they know that we are different, that we are strange, if you like. Now, I'm a white, middle-class male who lives in London, and people like me aren't supposed to be religious, really. Most people who look and sound like me and have a background like me are not religious, we don't go to church. And yet, I do. My wife comes with me, and my children are taught from the Bible, and we believe the Bible is true, and we live according to that. And it is a witness. Even without saying anything, there are four or five families in our cul-de-sac who look on us as being different. And simply because of that, they know that not everyone thinks the way they do. Not everyone buys the line which is peddled on the BBC and through the Guardian. That's important, it's not enough. But it is important and it is an encouragement to each one of us to think how we affect the people who live around us. There's others of course, the adults that come into contact with this church, not even necessarily coming to the services, the parents of the Sunder School children, and others who are neighbours with this church, they know that something goes on here which is different. They know that there are people here that believe the Bible, and when all they hear all day long is that the Bible is a myth, the Bible is nonsense, the Bible is foolish, when they get preached all they know about Christianity, they've learnt from Dr Rowan Williams, or from the Pope, or from extreme charismatic cults, they know that that isn't the only kind of Christianity. There is a quiet sensible Christianity, which goes on here, and they see that. I was over at Lakeside in Essex a couple of days ago. I wasn't shopping, I actually went there for a business meeting, sadly enough. But as I was over there in the shops, I bumped into a lady who lives just over the road from this church. And she used to come to the Mother and Toddler group, and she was very friendly, greeted me warmly, and she knows our family. She knows our church family here as well, and although she's not a Christian, and she's been to one or two services, she knows that there is something different here. We mustn't underplay that. We mustn't say that this is the aim of what we're doing to be here, but we must remember the Lord is using this testimony that we have. The people that come into the services. We might say, well it's very disappointing because those people came and they never came back, or they came a few times and they stopped coming, or they only come once a month. However, although there are a vast number of people like that who've been in the last few years, They have come here. What have they heard? They've heard people putting a great deal of trust and faith and belief in the Bible. They've heard people singing God's praise. They've heard people treating the Bible as authoritative. And we have no idea what that will mean for them in the future. I mean, that's the root of most people's problems, isn't it? They don't come to the Bible. So-called Christians who look to worldly philosophies to work out what their faith is all about. I'm reading a book at the moment. It's all about a man who kind of lost his faith. He doesn't even say what kind of flavor of Christian he was, really, but he talks about how he grew up a Christian, how he kind of lost his faith over the period of his life, and I keep reading the pages and thinking, why didn't you just open the Bible? The answers are there for you. That is where you will find solidity, that is where you will find truth. Don't look for it outside of the Bible, because you will certainly lose your faith if you do that, if it's not a real faith, of course. but people will come to this church, and even if they only come a few times and never return, they will have been impressed by the fact, the weight that we give to the scriptures. Then there's the Sunday school children, of course, now they're little children, we don't get much out of them, we don't know what it is that they think, but any child who comes to this Sunday school for months, years, hopefully some of them will come for many, many years, will be deeply, deeply impressed. Now there are many things that they won't hear in school, and they will be taught that it is acceptable, proper even, to believe the Bible, to go there for truth. We would have drummed that into them at least. And if they don't come to the Lord until they're 99, the Lord can still use that truth. Then of course there's the people that we directly witness to, and there are dozens that some friends in this church are able to directly witness to, to speak to in the street, and of course to hear the preaching in the open air, and of course you don't see much immediate fruit We can be sure that there is unseen fruit. Just as that fear in the hearts of the Canaanites and those people in Jericho would have remained unseen if the spies hadn't gone out, we must take God at his word and know that the things we are doing are worthwhile. There's a Christian firm over in America which is called the Tapestry of Grace, which is an excellent phrase, isn't it, if you think about it. It's all about how the different strands weave together to show the big picture. And here in this church, we would love to see many, many people saved and baptised and brought into membership in this church. We'd love to be able to expand the work and plant churches and send out evangelists and missionaries. But maybe that's not entirely what God has in plans for us. Maybe He's testing our faith. He's saying, OK, you go on doing what you know is the right thing, and I'm not going to show you the results until you get to heaven. That hymn which says, talks about when we stand with Christ on high, looking at all life's history, not till then will we fully know what we owe the Lord, but also what the Lord has used us to do. So much of it we don't see the results of, but it's there. We don't want to imagine that things are happening, but we have God's promise. He promises He will use our efforts faithfully. He promises He will hear and use our prayers. When we see a chapter like this, we realise that much of the effect of what we're being used to do here will be unseen. We pray to the Lord, though, that he will give us enough tokens, enough visible evidence that our faith will be strengthened and we may carry on doing these things. But be encouraged, friends, by chapters like this. The Lord will not let our labours, feeble as they are, or our prayers go unheard. He will use. He will bless. When we get to heaven, no doubt there'll be many, many stories that we will hear about how the Lord used works in ways that we were totally unaware of in this life. Amen.