You know, we're living in a time when things look pretty gloomy out there. But they can't look any more impossible than they did when Joshua led the sons of Jacob across the Jordan River and against the city of Jericho, the fortress city of Jericho. And it was a walled city. And the sons of Jacob didn't have tanks or even major artillery. They had some swords. But they had no human capacity to deal with this. To overtake this city and conquer either the city of Jericho or the land of Canaan. And we look out in the streets and we see this insanity and this hatred of Christ and of country. And we might be inclined to think, what are we going to do? But you know, God is unlimited in His abilities. And we see this over and over again in Scripture. And especially here in these amazing accounts in Hebrews chapter 11. This was a word of exhortation written by first century preacher to first century Jewish Christians. They'd come to believe that they were justified by God through faith in the blood of Christ, not through trusting in those animal sacrifices. They believed that Jesus' blood was the atonement for their sins. It made them right with God forever. And yet, because of persecution and, in some cases, pressure from Jewish families, Some were tempted out of that fear, pressure to return to the old ways. To the old animal sacrifices and the ceremonies of Judaism. To seek to earn God's favor through their own works. And this Word was sent to them. This whole letter of Hebrews was sent to them to encourage them to remain faithful to Christ. To warn them against the danger, which is eternal fire, of drifting away from Christ. So here in chapter 11, the writer recounts some of the men of old, he calls them, who lived by faith. Some were before the flood. Some were after the flood. Some were before Israel was even established. Before there even was a law of God from Mount Sinai. And some were during that period when the law was ruling in Israel. Some were Israelites who lived during the old covenant system. But all of them had faith. And this is what this life comes down to. Do you believe God or not? If you don't, I have to tell you, you're looking at eternal misery. If you believe God, though, and trust in what He's told us about what's happened in the past, about our own sin, about the saving work of Christ, and about the future glory that He has for His people, then you're safe. So here in chapter 11, we read of these people in the Old Testament who responded to the gift of faith by believing God and living according to that faith. Living according to the faith. For them, faith meant belief in promises that were not going to be fulfilled during their lifetimes. One promise was fulfilled for Abraham, the promise of the sun. The promise of the land was hundreds of years away when it was first given. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, all three, died believing promises that were not fulfilled in their lifetimes. God had promised Abraham, remember, who was a barren man, 90 years old. I'm sorry, a hundred years old by the time the son was born, his wife 90. God had promised them innumerable descendants. Not just one, but many descendants. He promised he'd give to those descendants after him the land of Canaan. It was occupied by Canaanites, idol worshipers. God promised them this son. And that through that son, the son of the promise, Isaac, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And here we are. Here we are. He's fulfilled this promise in Christ. And when God called Abraham to offer that son back in whom the promises would be fulfilled, he was willing to do it. Packed him up. Headed up the mountain. Three days journey. Abraham trusted in two things. Both the power of God to even raise the dead and in God's faithfulness to His Word. This does all boil down to this, doesn't it? Abraham died in faith because he believed God would do everything He said He would do, even though He hadn't seen any of it yet. His grandson, Jacob, he was moved by the providence of God, by a famine, to live in Egypt, a large part of his life. And as he was dying, without having received this promise of the land, he affirmed his belief that God would fulfill that promise. to give his descendants the land of Canaan. Now the promise had been made over 200 years before to Abraham. Still hadn't been fulfilled. They still didn't have the land. And in his last hours, we see Jacob leaning on his staff, the symbol of his status as a pilgrim and worshiping God. And he charged his sons to bury him with his fathers in this cave in the field of Machpelah in Canaan. Take me back to Canaan and bury me there, even though we don't own the land yet. All they owned was this burial plot. Jacob's son Joseph, after being sold into slavery in Egypt and rising to be prime minister. When he was dying, he made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel. You say, well we talk about the exodus of the sons of Israel. Yeah, but when he talked about it, it was still 200 years in the future. But he believed a promise God had made to Abraham that he was going to bring them out after these 400 years of bondage. Joseph believed it. So he gave orders concerning his bones. In Genesis chapter 50, he said, I'm about to die to his brothers, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob. He believed God. Now by the time Moses was born, at least 200 years later, sons of Jacob had fallen into slavery in Egypt. The promise of the land was still unfulfilled. It's 400, 500 years now. God had told Abraham many centuries earlier, before that these things were going to occur. Genesis 15, 13. And I couldn't fit all of these again in the Scripture sheet, but this one might be there. Your descendants are going to be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. Well it happened. But God also promised Abraham that after their time in bondage, He would deliver them from Egypt and bring them into this promised land of Canaan. So after 400 years, the sons of Jacob cried out for deliverance, and God sent Moses to lead them out of slavery. And when Moses was born, remember Pharaoh had issued an edict. He didn't want the population of the sons of Jacob to grow as it had been. So he ordered that every male child born of the Hebrews be killed, executed. Moses' parents knew of that edict, and they knew of God's promise. And they saw something special in the child. And so they defied the king's order. They hid Moses for three months because they saw something special in him. And they weren't afraid of the king's edict, we're told here. After three months, they placed the infant Moses in his basket and put him in the Nile along the banks of the river. He's discovered there by Pharaoh's daughter. She takes him into the palace. Moses' parents were led on by faith in God. And Moses was educated in all the ways of the Egyptians. He was man of power in deeds and in words, we're told. But approaching the age of 40, he left the palace. He joined his Hebrew brothers, the people of God, and renounced his royal station. Renounced it and went out among the slaves. Because he knew they were the people of God. He made this choice grounded in faith to endure the harsh treatment of a slave over the life of luxury and sin in the palace. He'd been given eyes to see beyond the present earthly circumstances. The same kind of eyes that you have to see what God has in store for you. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And you believe him because he doesn't lie. Moses believed these Israelites were the people of God. That's why he left the palace and went there. He believed God would fulfill His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was looking to the reward and to the coming of the Redeemer, of whom he prophesied in Deuteronomy 18. By that same faith, we're told, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood. So he who destroyed the firstborn, the angel of death, would not touch them. Think about that. Somebody comes up to you and says, here's what you need to do. I want you all to take a lamb. Bring it into the house. Keep it there a few days. Slaughter it. Take the blood. Put it on your doorpost. Because in a few days, this angel is going to come and kill the firstborn in every house in Egypt except the ones that have the blood. Who would do that? Somebody who believes. And you know what happened. The angel of death came through and killed the firstborn in every house that didn't have that blood. We understand that blood was a foreshadowing of the blood of Christ. Whoever is clothed in that is going to be protected and saved in the day of judgment. Well then Moses left Egypt. He didn't fear the wrath of the king. He kept our Lord and His promise before his eyes. And he led the sons of Jacob out of bondage in Egypt. At God's command, He lifted up His staff, stretched out His hand over the Red Sea, and divided it. And the sons of Israel passed through the sea on dry land. You know, God is not a God who's limited by human limitations. He does divine things. He does supernatural things because He is supernatural. And Moses, by faith, saw the hand of God leading him. People of faith, this is how they see God. They see God as unrestricted by anything except His own Word. So the Jewish Christians who first received this word of exhortation in the first century, had already faced persecution and were being pressured to return to the rituals that were given through Moses. But the writer is showing these people that Moses himself, who received the law, gave them the law. He was called Moses the Lawgiver. He was a man of faith. He sought deliverance for himself through faith in the Word of God. Now we come to verse 30 and 31 this morning. And there's a 40-year gap here now in this record of faith. Why? Because those whom Moses led out were a faithless generation. Within 13 months after the exodus, nearly every one of the sons of Jacob had walked away from their Creator and their Deliverer. Turn to Hebrews chapter 3. And we see here, the writer tells and recalls the faithlessness of the people at Kadesh. Those men who had witnessed God's fidelity and power. Who'd been saved in the Passover. Who'd been delivered in the Exodus. Who'd been fed by the manna from heaven. Who'd had water from a rock. But when they arrived at the land, just months after and into the exodus, they refused to go into the land. Hebrews 3, 7. There, just as the Holy Spirit says, the writer warns, Today, if you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me and saw My works for forty years And so I was angry with this generation and said, They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways. And I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest. And the writer of Hebrews says, Therefore take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it's still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Well that's why there's a 40-year gap. God waited until they were all dead. And they all died in the desert. And now, after 40 years in the wilderness, they finally came to the Jordan River on the eastern boundary of Canaan. After all these hundreds of years after the promise, here they are again. And two more people of great faith arose. One man and one woman. One Jew and one Gentile. Joshua and Rahab. And once again, the writer of Hebrews condenses many events and many chapters of Scripture into two sentences. Two sentences. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish, along with those who were disobedient, who believed not, after she had welcomed the spies in peace. So Moses never took a single step in the land of Canaan. Never took a single step, and yet He died believing God. The Lord denied him that blessing because Moses had broken faith with God at Meribah. Who can forget Brother Robert's sermon on this passage? People were grumbling, remember, against Moses and God as had become their custom in the wilderness. Because there was no water, they said. We don't have any water. Well, Numbers 20, verse 8. And we best begin turning to our Scripture sheet now. God said to Moses, Take the rod... He's carrying his rod with him all this time. ...and you and your brother Aaron, assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes. Speak to the rock. that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock, and let the congregation and their beasts drink." So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as he had commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and he said to them, "'Listen now, you rebels! Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?' And then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. And water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. How did the Lord react to this? He said to Moses and Aaron, Because you have not believed Me to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. Every sin matters to God. God told him to speak to the rock. He struck the rock. Well Joshua, who'd been one of the two spies who'd gone into the land at Kadesh along with Caleb and came back and said, We can go in there. God will fight for us. He now was the man chosen by God to succeed Moses as leader of the sons of Israel and to lead them into Canaan. Numbers 27, 15. I'm going to read the story. It's a wonderful story. Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, May the Lord, the God of spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go in and go out before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep who have no shepherd. So the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua... You see, it's the Lord who's selecting Joshua here. ...Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. And have him stand before Eliezer the priest, and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him. Moreover, he shall stand before Elisar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his command they shall go out, and at his command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation. And Moses did what the Lord commanded him. Well now look at Deuteronomy 34. And here's the last day of Moses. He went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. The LORD showed him all the land, Gilead, as far as Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah, as far as the western sea, and the Negev, and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And then the Lord said to him, This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab. And the Lord buried him in the valley of Moab. But no man knows his burial place to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was not dim, his vigor not abated. The sons of Israel mourned Moses for 30 days. Well now we come to Joshua. He's filled with the spirit of wisdom. For Moses had laid his hands on him. God worked this way, especially in the Old Testament. The sons of Israel listened to him and did what the Lord said. So here's Joshua now taking over for the great Moses. And his first challenge in the conquest of Canaan is the capture of this fortress city of Jericho without anything resembling the weaponry necessary to do it. It's just across the Jordan. It's at the entrance from that point into the land of Canaan. And it's for this that the writer of Hebrews remembers his faith. Now look at Joshua chapter 1. Here's the story. At verse 1, it came about after the death of Moses. The Lord spoke to Joshua. My servant Moses is dead. I want you to cross the Jordan, you and all these people, into this land that I'm giving them. every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I've given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river Euphrates, the land of the Hittites, as far as the great sea, toward the setting of the sun, will be your territory. No man... Now listen to this. ...No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I've been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong, be courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers, the power of God, and the fidelity of God to His word. Be strong, be courageous, do all according to the law which Moses commanded you. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you'll make your way prosperous. You'll have success. Be strong and courageous. Don't tremble. Don't be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." And He's with us. Now Joshua sent his officers into the camp. He told them to get ready. We're going to be ready to leave in three days. Get your things in order. Be packed up. We're going to go in and possess this land that the Lord promised us hundreds of years ago. A land of milk and honey. Well then Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho. He says, go in and search out the land. And they went and they come to the house of a harlot named Rahab. She's an Amorite woman and she's a harlot. Verse 2, it was told the king of Jericho that these men from Israel have come to search out the land. And he seems to have found out that they had had some dealing with Rahab. He sends word to her, bring those men out who've come to you. She said, They went that-a-way. Now she'd hid them on the roof. But she told them, if you move quickly, you can overcome them. And so they believed her and they left. But they were up on the roof. So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan. In verse 7, now I want you to hear what Rahab said to those two spies that Joshua sent into the city. Joshua chapter 2, verse 8. She goes up to the roof and here's what she said. She's an Amorite woman. I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, that all the inhabitants of the land have melded away before you. For we have heard ... They had heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea when they came out of Egypt. They had heard what they did to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, on the eastern side of the Jordan, whom you utterly destroyed. Verse 11, When we heard it, our hearts melted. And no courage remained in any man any longer because of you. And look at the words of faith here. For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. It's a statement of faith. A profession of faith. So she asked them to swear that when they come in and take over the land, they will spare her and her family. She lets them down by a rope through the window. Her house was on a wall in the city. She said to them, in verse 16, she told them, go into the hill country and hide for three days, and then afterward you can go on your journey. And that's what they did. They went out and hid after the men from the king had left. And they told her to tie a cord of scarlet thread in the window. keep all her family in the house, that they'd be safe if they stayed in the house. So they left. She tied this scarlet cord in the window. Now, of course, many see the symbolism of a foreshadowing of the blood of Christ again, because when they looked upon that scarlet cord, they went by. They passed over her house when they came into the city. So after the three days, the spies go back across the Jordan to the eastern side of it. They come to Joshua. They told him what had happened. They said, Surely the Lord has given all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us. You think they were just afraid of the artillery that the sons of Jacob had? No, they knew God was with them. Well, we can't cover every aspect of this glorious entry of the sons of Israel into Canaan. And neither does the writer of Hebrews, obviously. In Joshua 3, 4, and 5, we have the history of the crossing of the Jordan River and the laying of the stones and all of these things by the sons of Israel. But the writer of Hebrews here, because he's teaching us, he wants to show us examples of what saving faith is. He shows us the faith exercised by Joshua in Israel's conquest of Jericho and by Rahab in her belief that the sons of Jacob would conquer the city and the land. Now what information did she have? She had what God had said and what God had done. Same things we have. As we've seen so often, in this chronicle of Old Testament people of faith. God uses the faith of His people to accomplish His work. He used the faith of Noah to save Noah and his family. He uses the faith of His people to accomplish the deliverance and redemption of His people. He used them here as a means for this victory. The faith of Joshua, faith of Rahab. They saw as Noah did. that their safety and security was in trusting God. This is the lesson for us. Because He can do anything. He can do all things, and He is always faithful to His Word. Now, if you don't believe those two things, you're without hope. But if you do believe those two things and live by them, you have eternal glory to look forward to. Well let's turn to Joshua chapter 6 and the fall of Jericho. What a great story this is. Joshua 6, 2. The LORD said to Joshua... See, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and the valiant warriors. Now here's the instruction. Here's how they're going to conquer this city. You shall march around the city, all the men of war, circling the city once. You shall do that for six days. And seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. And then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times. and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up, every man straight ahead. Now let's ask ourselves, if anyone told us to do this with an opposing army facing us, what would we do? But this wasn't just anyone. This was the Lord God Almighty. who had miraculously delivered them from trouble and distress over and over again. Who brought them through the Red Sea on dry land. Who'd fed them from heaven in the wilderness. Who brought water out of a rock. So Joshua related these instructions of the Lord to the priests. And you know what? They did what he said. and related them to the priests, then the warriors, then the people. And for six days they did what the Lord commanded. What a remarkable story. Well look at Joshua 6.15. I'd summarize this, but I can't tell this nearly as well as the Scripture does. On the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. Only on that day they marched around the city seven times. At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. This city shall be under the ban. It and all that is in it belongs to the Lord. Only Rahab and the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But as for you, keep yourselves from the things under the ban so that you don't covet them. And take some of the things under the ban. Make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. All the silver and the gold and the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They will go into the treasury of the LORD. So the people shouted, and the priests blew their trumpets. And when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat. It's quite a passage for separating believers from unbelievers, isn't it? To the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. They utterly destroyed everything in the city. By the way, the city was destroyed. That's not in question. It's just a historical matter. Both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. So marching around the city seven days. Seven times on the seventh day. Then blowing some trumpets. Making a shout. How could this make this massive fortress fall? You know, the soldiers and the commanders on the other side. And sitting on the walls with their weaponry. They must have mocked and taunted them for days as they circled the city. You think the soldiers defending Jericho were at all concerned about this? Think they had any fear of those who marched around the city? And there's only one thing that could make people attack a city in this very strange way. It took faith. Not in something they dreamed up in their heads. That's not faith. Faith in what God has said. That's what we're talking about. Not just faith in whatever. Faith in what God has said. Faith in things not seen. Thinking back to verse 1. So when the priest blew the trumpet and the people shouted, suddenly here comes the sight of the walls coming down. They didn't fall because of the shouts of the men. They didn't fall because of the sound of the trumpets, but because the people believed the Lord would do what He promised. So they did what He called them to do. Had to appear to be a ridiculous thing. I mean, let's be honest, this must have looked just beyond stupid. But it's what he said to do. And Joshua obeyed the divine command because he believed God. He didn't put limitations on God. As in the case with Abraham and Sarah and with Moses and the deliverance of Israel, God worked through the faith of Joshua. That's what he did. Same thing with Noah. To do what he said he would do. And so the promise of the land, after hundreds of years, was now being fulfilled. Here they were in the land of Canaan, marching in. Must have been some kind of celebration. And, you know, by bringing them into Canaan this way, what was God showing them? He was showing them He was with them, and it was He who brought them in. They knew their shouts couldn't have made those walls go down. They knew their trumpets couldn't have made them. They knew it was Him. They knew it was He who delivered them from bondage in Egypt. They knew it was Him who got them through the Red Sea. He didn't use any human instrument here. Sometimes He did. Nothing. Rather, it only could be the mighty hand of God. Now God can step into creation and do whatever He wants. He does that. I always say when people say what, you know, really could God do all this here? He made everything. You think He can't step in and adjust one little section? If you can make everything, you can do what you wish to do within that everything that you made. Well what about Rahab and her family? Look at Joshua 6.22. This is a short passage. So Joshua says to the two men, the two spies he'd sent, he says, Go to the harlot's house and bring her and all she has out of there, as you promised her. So they go and they bring out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all her belongings. brought out all her relatives and brought them outside the camp of Israel. And then they burned the city with fire and all that was in it. Only the silver, gold, articles of bronze, and iron were put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab and her family were spared, as Noah and his family were spared. And we're told by Joshua here, she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Verse 31 of chapter 11 here of Hebrews. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient. The King James says who believe not. But unbelief is at times called disobedience because disobedience is nothing less than unbelief. We disobey because we don't believe. They're connected in Hebrews 3, 18 and 19 as well. Here's this woman, Rehob, an Amorite, one of the Canaanite nations. A prostitute who acted in faith. She'd heard that God had brought the sons of Jacob out of slavery in Egypt, she said. She'd heard He'd parted the waters of the Red Sea. She knew, she said, that He had defeated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. And she knew that God had promised the land of Canaan to Israel. She had heard all these things, and she had no doubt, and she believed that He would do as He promised. How does this happen? Well, she had faith in the Word God had spoken. He opened her eyes. This is a non-Jew used by God in not only bringing these people into the land of Canaan, but she was used in bringing redemption to all believers. As she sits standing over there and seeing this people across the river, as they prepare to enter the land, there didn't seem to be a chance in a million that they could succeed, that they could capture Jericho. But she knew they could. That's amazing. These were nomads from the desert, been out in the desert 40 years. And yet, you know what she did? She staked her entire future. on the belief that God would do what looked impossible. That's what she did. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, she believed Jericho was going to fall. And she acted on that belief. That's what faith is. That's the works component of faith, acting on your faith. So in Rahab here, the writer shows a Gentile woman who was of humble state even in her own people. A harlot had been adopted into the family of God. How? By faith. Calvin says those who are most exalted in this world are of no account before God unless they have faith. On the other hand, those who hold a low station among the profane and the reprobate are by faith brought into the company of angels. You know that's true. That's true. She left her place among the enemies of God and wanted to come in among the people of God. This is what we all do when we come to faith. That's exactly what we do. She heard the promise of God. She heard of the mighty works. And even though she wasn't among those who received the promises, she just heard about the promises, she believed. You know, James, the brother of our Lord, draws on two examples of faith being manifested in works. And you know who they are? Abraham, our father Abraham as they called him, and this woman, Rahab. James 2.18. Someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without the works and I'll show you my faith by my works. You believe God is one? You do well. Demons also believe and they shudder. So much for that. But are you willing to recognize, you fool, that faith without works is useless? Wasn't Abraham our father justified by his works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see, faith was working with his works. And as a result, his faith was perfected. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which said, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. He was called a friend of God. Now look at verse 25, "...in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?" Her faith produced works, not that merited salvation, but works of faith that proved her faith, that demonstrated her faith. She believed what God has said, and by her actions, she entrusted her entire destiny to the truth of His Word. That's what we're doing here. People of faith entrust their entire destiny to truth in His Word. People who don't entrust their destiny to the truth of His Word will have eternal misery. A man never acts more wisely than when he takes God at His Word. I love those words. True faith hears God speaking and acts on His promise. Well we do see Rahab one other place in Scripture. I wish this was an ending that everybody didn't know. It would be kind of a surprise ending that I know most of you do. Look at Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. I didn't put it in the Scripture sheet. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. We know that. Isaac the father of Jacob. Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab the father of Nashon. And Nashon the father of Salmon. Now we're going to start to see some names that are familiar to us. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed, father of Jesse, And Jesse was the father of David the king. That doesn't send a tingle up your spine. I don't know what will. For Hob became the great-great grandmother of King David and an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what we see this morning is not those things. It's that she was a woman of faith. That she was saved from her sins through that faith. and resides now in the presence of God because she believed Him. He gave her assurance, evidence of something she couldn't see, and she believed, and she acted on that belief. This passage, like the earlier passages we've seen in this chapter, show us the nature and the power of faith. Shows us how faith places little value on worldly things, worldly riches. Faith enables men to set aside their fear so that we may live in joyful communion with the people of God. It emboldens us. It obeys. It trusts God. And faith finds deliverance from all danger in the blood of an innocent victim. Like Rahab, we've all heard the promises of God. Every one of us has heard His promises. We've all seen countless demonstrations of His faithfulness. And like Rahab, we've heard of His mighty works. She believed Him. Are we responding to what we've seen and heard as she did? That's the question that's raised here. So this morning, as we approach the table of the Lord, let us look to the cross, folks. See the fulfillment of the promise of God at the cross. And the assurance of the glory to come. Look to the cross and see our Savior suffering and dying and doing the only thing that was essential to the ultimate fulfillment of the great promise of God. Eternity with Him in paradise. He came and He lived and He died for all the people of faith. So let us live for Him. serving Him in this life in the manner He's taught us. And looking forward to that heavenly city that He's gone to prepare. Well, let's spend a quiet moment in meditation on these great and wonderful truths. And then we will gather at His table.