Let us turn in the Word of God to the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Let's see here. Hebrews chapter 11 and that would be on page 1625. 1625. Hebrews chapter 11, we will read multiple verses, kind of skipping some, verses one through three, verse six, verses 13 through 16, and our text for this sermon will be verse 31. But verses one through three, six, 11, and then 13 through 16 really give us the content of this chapter. Speaking of faith, that we are saved by God's grace through faith, and what faith is, the hope of faith, the comfort of faith. And so, and then particularly, verse 31, let us be attentive to the reading of God's holy word. The Hebrews chapter 11, Verses one through three says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Verse six, but without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And then verses 13 through 16. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a better or that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from once they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. for he hath prepared for them a city. And then this verse for our sermon this afternoon, verse 31. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. May God bless the reading of his word. Let us pray once more for the preaching of his word. Almighty God, as we consider this wonderful truth and example that we are saved by faith, through faith, Lord, we pray that you would indeed build us up in faith. We pray, O God, that your Holy Spirit would give us understanding of your word and would convict us of our sin. and would instruct us in faith and in obedience, that we should glorify you. Lord, we pray that for those who are in Christ, you would give to us a greater assurance of our union in him and with him. Lord, we pray for those who are in their sins, that you would call them to yourself. And Lord, we rejoice that you have given to us your word. And so we pray, oh God, with our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, sanctify us through thy truth. Thy word is truth. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. The whole of the scripture teaches us this wonderful truth, this saying which was worthy of all acceptation as the Apostle said, that Jesus Christ saves sinners, even the chief, even the foremost of sinners. And here in our text, we find such an example that the Lord saw fit in his grace to display the magnitude and the wonder and the excellency of the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ, by saving Rahab the harlot. And so we will consider this, the chief of sinners saved through faith, and we will consider this in three points as it relates to our text, that by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. We'll consider these three things. First, we are saved through faith, not by works. Second, that God commends our faith, but not our sin. And third, that faith is demonstrated by repentance. And so we see here that we are saved through faith, not by words. We see this in our text, that it was by faith, the harlot Rahab perished not. We have a need for salvation. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. So that apart from faith, the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, we stand condemned before the holy God. We have a need for salvation, first and foremostly, because God is holy. And this particularly confronts our culture in the day in which we live, which is arrogant. It views ourselves as holy, that we are the standard of righteousness, but in fact, God is. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons, is the thrice holy God, whom his created angels in heaven go around in worshiping him, saying, holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. He is the holy God, we are not. Our self-centered culture, which focuses upon us and ourselves rather than God, We are to be devoted to the Lord and to focus upon him. And particularly on the Lord's day, we are commanded to give unto the Lord the glory due his name and to worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness. God's holiness is a consuming fire. And to the wicked, they shall surely be consumed for all eternity in hell. And yet to the righteous, to those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ by faith, our God is a consuming fire and yet we are not consumed like the burning bush, which there burned with fire and yet was not consumed. So we by faith will be in the presence of God whose holiness is a consuming fire and yet not be consumed. The holiness of God is beautiful to the righteous and terrifying to the wicked. We have a need for our salvation because of the holiness of God, but because also the reality of our sin. Rahab's sin is put before us that she was the harlot, Rahab. She was a woman of notorious sins, just as many of us before our conversion may have committed such notorious and obvious sins and even still wrestle against sin, the flesh, the world, and the devil, whether it's the sin of fornication, drunkenness, Sabbath breaking, being a cantankerous wife, being a man who does not lead in your home, being a disobedient child. Not only mentorious sins which are clear and evident before the world, but secret sins, pride, lust, anger, bitterness, selfishness, laziness. There is a reality that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The works of the flesh are evident. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5 19 through 21. Sin is shameful. It must be recognized as sinful, and it is to be hated. Sin is not your friend, but your foe. Sin is not a comforter, but a killer. And Thomas Watson, the Puritan in England, said, Christ is never loved till sin be loathed. That is hated. Christ is never loved till sin be loathed. The holiness of God stands in contrast with the reality of our sin and the wrath of God against the wicked. Jericho, that city of wickedness, which was apart from God, would be destroyed. So all who are apart from Christ shall endure the eternal wrath of God in hell. Our works, therefore, cannot save us. We are not saved by our works. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin, Romans 3, 19. There is a need for our salvation, but there is an accomplishing of our salvation, which is not found in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ. Remember Rahab when she received the word of God by faith. And then she was told that as Jericho would be destroyed, that she was to hang a scarlet thread outside her window, and that as that would be seen, that she would be spared. Well, my friend, that scarlet thread outside the window is a wonderful picture of the blood of Christ. that is covering all of those who look to Christ by faith so that we should not be destroyed. For while we were sinners and our sinners, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, lived in perfect righteousness and obedience to the law of God all of his life so that while we have not loved God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, Christ loved God. with all of his heart, mind, our heart, soul, mind and strength. We did not love our neighbor as ourselves, but Jesus Christ loved his neighbor as himself. He loved his church, his bride. He gave his life for her. And so in Christ, who died upon the cross, he shed his blood for sinners. He took upon himself the wrath of God upon the cross. so that we would be covered through faith, the righteousness, we would receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that Christ rose from the grave on the third day. He is the risen Lord. He ascended to the father. He sits at his right hand. He rules and reigns over all things. He will come again and return to judge all things by him. And by His grace, He has accomplished our salvation. He has accomplished it. As one minister from history said, the only thing that we contribute to our salvation was the sin that made it necessary. Christ has accomplished our salvation. And that salvation is freely offered this day to all who hear the gospel. that you who were dead in sins and trespasses turn from your sin and look to Jesus Christ, the savior of sinners, and receive that grace of God by faith and faith alone. As we confessed from the Heidelberg Catechism, how is it that you are righteous before God? It is only by true faith in Jesus Christ. receiving his righteousness, resting upon his righteousness, that even though your conscience accuses you that indeed we have all grievously sinned against all of God's commandments, we've never kept any one of them and are still inclined to all evil. Nevertheless, without any merit of our own, out of sheer grace, out of unmerited favor, God grants credits imputes, accounts to us the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ as if I had never sinned or been a sinner, and as if I had been perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart. Faith is not a work, but it is a gift of God given and exercised by God's grace. By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. We are saved through faith, the means of salvation, the means of justification, being declared righteous is through faith. But the grounds, the cause of our salvation is Jesus Christ and his righteousness and death and resurrection. And so Rahab received the spies, that is the word of God, by faith. She says in her own testimony that as soon as she had heard about God saving the Israelites out of Egypt and bringing them through and destroying the wicked, she says, as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did we remain any more encouraged in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven and in earth beneath. Now therefore I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you also will show kindness unto my Father's house." This is the work of God through His Word. Our hearts would melt at the sound of it, at the proclamation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. that our hearts would melt and that we would have no trust in any other person, that we would not have our trust in horses and in chariots and in princes, but that we would remember the name of the Lord our God, for there is salvation in no other name but Jesus Christ. Psalm 147 says that he sendeth out his word and it melts them. He causeth his wind, his spirit to blow and the waters flow. He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. And so there is a certainty and assurance that we may have of our salvation. This was Rahab's desire. Our words melted. We know that destruction is coming to Jerusalem. Let me be saved. And how will I know that I will be saved? Give to me a true token. My friends, God has given to you who are in Christ such a sure assurance by his spirit in his word. God swore it with an oath. He made a covenant. He sealed it with the blood of his son, Jesus, that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that we may have an assurance of our salvation as promised and fulfilled in Christ, that these things I have written unto you that believe in the name of the son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. My friends, this is one of the greatest priorities of the Lord's Day. Indeed, every day of the week, but particularly on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day, the Sabbath, is a day entirely set aside for the worship of God and the building up of his people. And when we come to the public worship of God, We come to be in his presence, not just with our friends, not just to hear some arbitrary encouragement, but to meet in God's presence as God's people and to hear his word. And we come to bless the Lord. God calls his people to worship that we should bless the Lord as we sang earlier. And God of His kindness chooses to bless us because He already has all blessedness in Himself. And the greatest blessing we are to seek of Him is to ensure our union in Christ. The Lord's Day is a day of physical rest. On this day, we set aside our common work and our recreations. We set these things aside to be with the Lord, to worship him in private and family and public. We spend this day in the presence of God's people. But this day is also a day of spiritual rest. to rest in Christ. The physical rest of the Lord's day will wane throughout the week, but the spiritual rest that we find in ensuring that by God's word and his spirit, we are united to Christ will continue throughout all of eternity. When you come to the worship of God, do you expect to meet with God, hear from his word, Do you come desiring in the public worship of God that, oh God, give me a greater assurance of my standing in Christ? I want to know without a shadow of doubt that I am not in my sins and trespasses, but I belong to Jesus Christ, not by my works, but by his grace through faith, casting ourselves upon Christ. Do you come desiring that God would confirm to you again his grace, and that you have an eternal life and comfort in him? This is the true blessing that we receive on the Lord's day. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. My friend, we're saved not by our works, but by faith. And we see secondly, that God commends our faith. God commends our faith, but not our sin. As we read earlier, the account of Rahab, we find that indeed she sins against God's law by lying. It says there in Joshua 2.3 that the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house, for they come to search out all the country. The king knew that they're the spies of Israel were. And instead of confronting the king, as we'll consider in just a moment, it says rather that the woman took the two men and hid them. and said, there came men unto me, but I know not whence they were. And so she lies to the king and his men. And this is indeed a sin against God. We are commanded not to bear false witness. Why is it that we lie? Well, we know that selfishly we lie to make ourselves look good in the sight of others. We seek to build up our own reputation. But we know even in times we lie and we think we're doing it for a good cause, and yet is still a sin. Why is it then that we would do that? Maybe you think, well, I'm lying so that I can protect this other person's feelings. or because there's a good cause, and I know that there will be a good end to this. But why would we ever expect that God would bless our sin? Well, it is first, and for Rahab, it is firstly because there is weakness of faith. There is a weakness of faith. Rahab was just an infant in Christ. And so we often sin and lying or whatever it may be because of the weakness of our faith, not trusting that the Lord would overrule the evil intentions. For Rahab, not trusting that the Lord would overrule the evil intentions of the king said that God said he would deliver the land into the hands of Israel and that Rahab and her family would be saved. And yet her faith is weak and she still though commended for her faith. because it was a true faith. And there's a lack of courage here. There's a lying because of a lack of courage. What should we do when a sinful person comes to us and is seeking an answer for a question? And instead of lying, what should we do? We should rebuke that person. Like rebuking the king for his wicked pursuits and calling upon him to join the people of God and to surrender, lest God would destroy him and his path. And yet there is a true faith. God remembers and he commends the faith of Rahab. It says, by faith the harlot Rahab. Why is it that God commends her faith, though he never commends her sin? It is because Christ has satisfied the wrath of God. And that he took that wrath upon himself. He took the sin of his people upon himself. And so he commends our faith. He sees us through the righteousness of Christ. We sing from Psalm 103, God does not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heaven above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far have he removed our transgression from us. And this is because Rahab, as we in Christ also are accounted with, are credited with, or as the word is imputed with, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Rahab was unfaithful. She was an adulterer. And she lied, even after her conversion. And yet she is covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who is called in Revelation 19 faithful and true. And it is the same for you, beloved saint. that by nature we're described in Romans 3. You may remember Romans 3, 12 through 14. They are all gone out of the way. This is every person by nature. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is upon their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing. and bitterness. That is what we are by nature. And yet Christ says, by his grace, in the song of songs, Christ speaks of his church, saying, thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing, whereof everyone beareth twins, and none of them is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet. There it is again, the scarlet thread throughout scripture of Christ's blood and righteousness. Thy speech is comely. Thou art fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. God takes that which was not lovely, and in Christ he makes it lovely. Martin Luther would often describe that we by nature when we men, when you fell in love, as it were, with your wife, it was because she was beautiful. And how often we try and think of God in that light, but that's not how it is. There was nothing lovely in us, but Christ makes it lovely by his righteousness, by his dying, by his rising from the grave. And so as we consider that God commends our faith, but not our sin, we must first, dear brothers and sisters, not think too highly of ourselves. Consider the weakness of your faith. How often are you, as the man who cried out to Christ, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And yet Christ still hears that prayer, does he not? or the weakness of our worship, where we may take pride in ourselves and in the purity of our worship before God, and yet remember the life of Hezekiah, and there's this great reformation that happens in Israel, and there's the purity of worship brought back, and yet Hezekiah realizes that there was all of these people who had not been cleansed. according to the law of God. And so Hezekiah has to pray, God, pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though according to the sanctuary's rules, we're not clean. And it says that the Lord heard the prayer of Hezekiah and healed him. There is weakness of our faith, weakness of our worship. There's weakness in our obedience. Isaiah 64 says that our righteousness are as filthy rags. And yet the righteousness of Christ are as white robes, beautiful and given to all who trust in him. We are not to think too highly of ourselves. But we may be encouraged that God encourages our faith. Like a father pitieth his children, we sang from Psalm 103. Like a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust. Or Isaiah 42, verse three. A bruised reed shall he not break. The smoking flax shall he not quench. That smoking wick that is on fire, and yet the fire is dim and is smoking because of the impurities of the wick, and yet Christ does not snuff out that wick, but he builds up the fire. So Jesus Christ does not stuff us out though our faith, our worship, our obedience is filled with weakness, but he commends our faith and he builds us in our faith. He takes our weak obedience and he builds us in our obedience. And so we're not to think too highly of ourselves, but rather are to be encouraged that God encourages our faith and we are to be patient towards others. remembering God's patience towards us. If you remember that we are to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. How often we may think of that and apply that in many other ways, such as that we are to be quick to forgive. We are to be slow to offend and slow to take offense. How has God been patient with you this week, dear Christian? Let us be patient with others. Above all things, have fervent love one for another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. God commends our faith, but he does not commend our sin. And so let us see, thirdly, that faith is demonstrated, is evidenced by repentance. By repentance. When we are justified, that is, when we are declared righteous before God through faith, God then begins this lifelong process and progress of what we would call sanctification. being made holy, to be like Christ. And how is it that this happens? Well, by the work of God, as we repent from sin, we turn from sin, and if we turn from something, we turn to something, and that is to turn to righteousness. And so it says in Ephesians 4, put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. We put sin to death and we put on righteousness. Thomas Watson in his book, The Doctrine of Repentance, lists that there are six parts of repenting. What does it mean to repent? What does it look like to repent? And this is very well demonstrated in the life of Rahab. There must be a sight of sin, a recognition of sin. In Rahab's case, that she is among the sinful people who will be judged. There is destruction coming. She herself is a sinner. She is the harlot Rahab. There must be a site of sin and there must be a sorrow for sin. A sorrow for sin. As Joseph said, how could I sin against God? How could I do this and sin against God? And he said that in fleeing from temptation. That was his motivation not to enter into sin. But as we're convicted of our own sin, how we should sorrow, not with a worldly sorrow, which just wallows in our selfish unrighteousness, but a godly sorrow leading to repentance. There must be a sight of sin, a sorrow for sin, a confession of that sin. that we agree with God on his standard of righteousness and that he is the righteous one. And we agree with the conviction that God sets forth in his word, his judgment in his word, that we have sinned against him. We have a shame for our sin, a recognition that sin is shameful. It is a scandal. We have a hatred for sin. That we would hate sin. There is a sight of sin, a sorrow for sin, confession of sin, shame for sin, hatred for sin, and this leads to a turning from sin. That we would put these things off. We would put off sin. We would turn from it and put on righteousness. And this is a demonstration of true faith. Faith leads to repentance. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believe not, so we are saved by faith or through faith. And what was the demonstration of that faith? When she had received the spies with peace. James 2, 25 through 26 says, likewise, also was not the harlot Rahab justified by works? Not that she was declared righteous by works, but that her faith was justified, was vindicated. Was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. So not that Rahab herself was declared righteous, but rather her faith was shown, was vindicated, was demonstrated, was evidenced by her works. Our confession of faith, the Westminster Confession of Faith, speaks about the fact that we are saved through faith alone, but that the faith that saves is never alone. It is shown and demonstrated in repentance, in obedience to God. And consider three ways in which we read here in our text, but also from Joshua 2, three ways in which Rahab repented. Firstly, she repented from her heathenism to true faith. She says, we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea for you when he came out of Egypt and what he did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom he utterly destroyed. And soon as we heard these things, our hearts did 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 is the first repentance of the regenerate, of those who are made alive in Christ, that we would turn from our idolatry, from our trusting in our own righteousness or in the righteousness of a false God, and that we would turn to Jesus Christ, that we would confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God had raised him from the dead. So was the faith of Rahab. So is to be our faith. Rahab turned from her harlotry and turned to honest work and chastity. She turned from harlotry, a trade that is in itself sinful and is entirely surrounded with sin. And she turned to an honest work. Remember this odd detail that she brought the spies to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax. She had laid, she had laid these in order upon the roof. Rahab had flax upon her roof to make linen. That's what you make with linen. She turned from her former sinful profession and began a new trade. She left adultery and fornication and became a virtuous woman who, like in Proverbs 31, verse 24, maketh fine linen and selleth it and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Remember Ephesians 4, 28, let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Back in Durham, Pastor Butterfield, Kent Butterfield, often remarks, a man who was a thief and just stops thieving, stealing, is not repenting, but is just a thief on vacation. Rather, we are to stop our sin and not just stop our sin, but to put on righteousness. The one who steals is to work and to work so that he may provide for his family, but also so that he may give to the poor and needy. She turns from harlotry to honest work, but also to chastity, that she puts off fornication, even that she becomes a godly wife, married to Salmon. As it says in Matthew 1.5, Salmon begot by Boaz by Rahab. so that she even is included in the line of Christ. So we are to turn from sexual sin, whether it's fornication, adultery, lust, homosexuality, and we are to be godly in all of our relationships, to be the husband of one wife, the wife of one husband. faith is demonstrated in obedience, or lastly, from identifying with the wicked to desiring to be numbered among the church. Rahab left her own country. She left Jericho. The young men that were with the spies, they went in and brought Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and all that she had. And they brought her and her kindred. So she left her home. But not only did she leave her home, but she even left her family, her father and her brothers. They were brought out of Jericho, but they were not brought in to Israel. It said in verse 23 of that chapter in Joshua 6, that her family was left outside the camp of Israel. But Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive in her father's house, and she dwelled in Israel, even to the day that that book was written. She dwelled in Israel. She left her country, but she also left her family. She followed the faith of Abraham, who was called from a strange land, and instead to be a pilgrim and sojourner looking to the city of God. We are to prefer being numbered among the people of God. We as Christians have a preference. It is for the household of faith. We prefer the company of the saints. We prefer to be numbered among the people of God. And so dear brother and sister, We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Our faith leads to and is demonstrated in obedience to God. And as we conclude, we may consider this, that we may be encouraged by God's blessing upon such faith and obedience. God will bless the sanctification, the pursuing of righteousness. He will bless that. He will grow and encourage that. Even through suffering, God blesses through suffering the faith and obedience of His people. And He does so. He encourages us. He blesses us in five ways. He blesses ourselves. It is a delight to walk with the Lord. Sin is burdensome, but God's law is not. He blesses our families. Rahab was saved, but so was her whole family. God's covenant is a covenant of blessing. We know that God is God to us and to our children. And to you children, what a great blessing it is to have godly parents. It is a testimony to others who are around us and come after us, that others would see us, and that even if they knew our former life, that they would know the change, and that they would give glory to God. Rahab was the father of Boaz, and Boaz was a relative, or I'm sorry, yes, Rahab was the father of Boaz. Boaz was a relative of Naomi's husband, Elimelech, if you remember the book of Ruth. And Naomi would doubtlessly recount God's covenant faithfulness to her and to her family, to her daughter-in-law, Ruth. And Ruth would make the same profession that Rahab made, where she would say, do not urge me to leave or to return from following you. Where you will go, I will go. Where you will lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Our obedience to God, our faith and repentance is a testimony to others of the excellency of Christ. It is an encouragement to the members of the church. We are to receive God's discipline, whether it's in our conscience, whether it's in his providence through consequence, or in formal discipline within the church. We are to receive God's discipline with readiness, with gratitude, with humility, and with application. Remember at the Lord's supper, and that there are those who are coming unworthy to the supper, and they were struck down. And it says that when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Let the righteous smite me, it is a kindness, says the Psalms. And ultimately, this is all for the glory of God. You are saved by grace alone, through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast. And the next verse, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. And so my dear brother and sister in the Lord, we are saved through faith, not by works. God commends our faith, not our sin. And faith is demonstrated by repentance. And so as we have considered God's work of grace in the life of Rahab, that Christ Jesus saves the chief of sinners, may it be so of us that we would look to Christ, that we would cling to him by faith. and that we would walk in obedience. May God bless his word to us. Let us stand together for prayer. Almighty God, we give you thanks for your word. Lord, as we have sought blessing to understand it, we pray you would bless us to apply it. that truly by faith we would cling to Christ. Lord, that you would grow us in faith and obedience, and that we would continue to rejoice in the excellency of your holiness, in the beauty of your holiness, and that you would cause us to be your holy people. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen. Let us sing from God's word in Psalm 32.