I'm going to read from God's word now.
We're going to read from Hebrews chapter 11, verses 29 to 31.
! Just a short reading tonight.
This is God's holy word.
By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land,
but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down
after they'd been encircled for seven days.
By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish
with those who were disobedient
because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Amen. This is God's word.
As Chris mentioned at the beginning of the service,
we're moving towards the end of the series
in Hebrews chapter 11.
Next week, God willing, Chris will look at the final verses
of the chapter, and then the week after,
God willing, I will look at the conclusion,
which really is to be found in Hebrews 12
and the first couple of verses there.
And as we've made our way through this very famous chapter of the Bible,
I think one of the recurring themes
about living the life of faith
is that it involves seeing or apprehending
that which is invisible.
Faith is the conviction of things not yet seen.
Noah was warned by God about events unseen.
Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible.
And the author of Hebrews wants his readers
to live their lives with their eyes,
with the eyes of faith fixed upon the invisible God.
He wants them to see that city with foundations
whose architect and builder is God.
He wants them to be looking forward
to that promised reward
that is theirs in Jesus Christ,
but still yet to be realized.
And this chapter, as we've seen,
is all about traveling the way of faith.
And according to our writer,
faith is about looking beyond
the limited horizons of this life
to the living God.
Many years ago, the Christian writer A.W. Tozer
wrote these words.
He said,
In other words, for the Christian,
faith is focused on God.
He is the great object of our faith and trust,
and we must not lose sight of Him.
And so, as we make our way around
this portrait gallery of faith,
our author wants to draw our attention
really to two key events
involving the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan.
And now, why is he doing that?
He wants us to get God in focus.
He wants us to be looking away from ourselves.
He wants us to see in these great events
the God whose power is made known
amidst human weakness and frailty.
These Hebrew Christians knew a great deal
about human weakness and frailty.
And our writer is trying to get them
to look to God
and to the God of power and majesty.
So, what do we see of God
in these verses before us tonight?
Three verses,
so it should be a short sermon.
Well, maybe not.
We'll see.
What do we see of God in these verses?
Let me highlight three things.
Verse 29,
Faith looks or sees the God of keeping power.
Faith looks to the God of keeping power.
By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea
as on dry land,
but the Egyptians,
when they attempted to do the same,
were drowned.
So, the reference here in verse 29
is back to the destruction of Pharaoh's army
at the Red Sea,
a passage we find in the book of Exodus
and chapter 14.
The people had fled from Egypt
under Moses' leadership,
but Pharaoh, who had allowed them to leave,
changed his mind
and sent out his army to pursue them
and to bring them back.
And in one sense,
it is a strange illustration of faith
because the Red Sea on the one side,
the Egyptian army coming up on the other,
when you read Exodus 14,
it's not clear that the people of God
demonstrate great confidence in God.
In fact, in Exodus 14,
we're told that they were not full of faith,
but they were full of fear.
So, in Exodus 14, verse 10,
and following,
you read these words.
When Pharaoh drew near,
the people of Israel lifted up their eyes
and behold,
the Egyptians were marching after them.
They feared greatly.
And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.
They said to Moses,
Is it because there are no graves in Egypt
that you have taken us away
to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us
in bringing us out of Egypt?
Is not this what we said to you in Egypt?
Leave us alone
that we may serve the Egyptians.
For it would have been better
for us to serve the Egyptians
than to die in the wilderness.
Moses said to the people,
Fear not.
Stand firm.
See the salvation of the Lord,
which He will work for you today.
For the Egyptians whom you see today,
you shall never see again.
The Lord will fight for you,
and you have only to be silent.
The people are terrified.
They are grumbling.
They are complaining to Moses.
And in turn,
Moses tells them not to fear,
but rather to stand firm.
He reminds them
that the Lord will fight for them.
And that they,
well,
in colloquial terms,
they should just shut up.
Stop their complaining.
So,
in a sense,
it's quite an unusual demonstration of faith,
isn't it?
People of Israel
backed into a corner,
almost left with no other option
than to trust God.
Only realistic option
was to do
as the Lord commanded them.
So,
it may not have been
great faith
that they demonstrated,
but it was faith.
It was a weak faith
in a strong
and powerful God.
It's by faith
that they passed through the Red Sea,
and the Egyptian army
was swallowed up
and destroyed
after them.
And Exodus 14
really is a passage
all about
the power of God
to deliver His people,
to accomplish His purposes.
The power of God
over His creation,
and the power of God
over His enemies.
Exodus 14,
30 and 31,
we read,
Thus the Lord
saved Israel that day
from the hand
of the Egyptians.
And Israel saw
the Egyptians
dead on the seashore.
Israel saw
the great power
that the Lord
used against the Egyptians.
So,
the people feared the Lord,
and they believed
in the Lord,
and in His servant,
Moses.
That's a passage,
of course,
that's referred to
right throughout
the Old Testament.
Isaiah 63,
the prophet there
speaks of this
as an event
that brings honor
and glory
to God's name,
a demonstration
of God's
sovereign power
over all other
gods and deities.
Isaiah 63,
11,
Then He remembered
the days of old
of Moses and His people.
Where is He
who brought them up
out of the sea
with the shepherds
of His flock?
Where is He
who put in the midst
of them His Holy Spirit?
Who caused His glorious arm
to go at the right hand
of Moses?
Who divided the waters
before them
to make for Himself
an everlasting name
who led them
through the depths.
So, this event
is a demonstration
of God's great power.
But it's not
to be understood
as a kind of
spectacular floor show.
The context here
is very important.
Pharaoh regretted
his decision
to let the Hebrew slaves go.
He wanted them back.
And what was happening
here in this event
was a kind of contest
about ownership.
Who had the right
to claim ownership
of Israel?
This genocidal king
who'd enslaved them
for years,
who had long been
their master,
or their divine king,
Yahweh,
who had come to Egypt
to claim,
redeem,
and deliver them?
It's the future of Israel.
It kind of hangs
on that question.
Who did they belong to?
Did they belong to Pharaoh,
or did they belong
to Yahweh?
And that question
of ownership
that we see here
is still a pertinent
one for us today.
To whom do we belong?
Who has the claim
over your life?
Who are you serving?
Who are you following?
Who are you worshiping?
Yourself?
The gods of this present age?
The prince and ruler
of this world?
Or the one who is
the God of keeping power?
The one who has sent
His only begotten Son
into this world
to claim you
for Himself?
Question one
of the Heidelberg
Catechism
famously asks
the question,
what is your only comfort
in life and death?
And the answer it gives
begins with these words,
that I,
with body and soul,
both in life
and in death,
am not my own,
but belong
to my faithful Savior,
Jesus Christ,
who with His precious blood
has fully satisfied
for all my sins
and redeemed me
from all the power
of the devil
and so preserves me
that without the will
of my Father in heaven
not a hair can fall
from my head.
You know,
sometimes in the Christian life
we can wonder,
are we ever going to make it?
I think the Hebrew Christians
to whom our author
was writing
were struggling
with that kind of issue.
Sometimes we doubt
we can keep it going.
Have we got
what it takes
to endure?
We're weak,
we're fragile human beings.
How can we make it
to heaven?
There's sin within,
there's evil without.
And the answer
of the Bible
is that God
will keep us
by His own power.
He will guard us
and keep us.
He will preserve us
because we are His.
We belong to Him.
Remember what Paul says
to the Philippians
in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6,
I'm sure of this,
that He who began
a good work in you
will bring it to completion
at the day of Christ Jesus.
By His mighty power,
God keeps His people.
And He does this through faith.
He guards and keeps us
through faith,
not apart from faith.
faith.
And so,
we must go on
believing and trusting
in Jesus Christ.
This is why this letter
has been written.
God's power
keeps us
in Christ.
And we must be confident
and assured
of that power
that will keep us
and preserve us
for heaven.
There's an old hymn,
has the verse,
He will keep me
till the river
rolls its waters
at my feet.
Then He'll bear me
safely over
all my joys
in Him complete.
He will not let us
pass out of His ownership.
He will keep us.
He will keep us in life.
He will keep us in death.
Because He has redeemed us
by the blood of the Lamb.
The Lamb that has now
been raised
and exalted
and given the name
above every name,
declared the Son of God
in power
through His resurrection
from the dead.
Remember Isaiah's words,
Fear not,
for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name.
You are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you.
And through the rivers,
they shall not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned.
And the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord,
your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior.
I gave Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba,
in exchange for you.
Because you are precious
in my eyes
and honored.
And I love you.
Faith looks to the God
of keeping power.
Brings me to the second thing here.
And that is that faith looks
to the God of transforming power.
In verse 30.
By faith,
the walls of Jericho fell down
after they had been encircled
for seven days.
So,
the second event alluded to
in these verses
relates not to the Exodus,
but to the conquest of Canaan.
And in particular,
to the fall of Jericho,
which is detailed for us
in Joshua chapter 6.
Jericho was a highly fortified city.
It was a city of huge strategic significance.
It presented a great obstacle
to Israel
and to the leader Joshua
as they sought to claim
that the land
that had been promised to them
for God.
The Jordan lay behind them.
Jericho lay before them.
And in Joshua chapter 6,
verse 1,
we're told this,
that Jericho was barred
and secured,
tightly shut up.
No one went out.
No one came in.
The city was a formidable barrier.
Jericho's walls
were apparently impregnable.
And in their weakness,
how could the Israelites
prevail against this great defense
of stronghold?
How could this stronghold
be demolished
and the city taken?
Well, by faith.
By faith in the plan
that God provided.
And Joshua,
we're told at the end
of Joshua chapter 5,
has to bow the knee
to the one
who is the commander
of the Lord's armies.
And only then
is he given
God's strategy
or plan.
And it was a very unusual strategy.
In fact,
it appeared foolishness.
It involved God's people,
and you can read it there
in Joshua chapter 6,
traipsing around the city
for six days.
And then on the seventh day,
they were to march
around the city,
not once,
but seven times.
And on that final tour
of the city,
the trumpet was to sound,
the horn would sound,
and the people would raise
a great shout,
and the walls would come
tumbling down.
And what Joshua and Israel
were being shown
is that by themselves,
they could do nothing
to conquer Jericho.
Apart from God,
they could do nothing.
It's God
who took the initiative.
It's God
who takes charge,
really.
And God
who outlines
a plan
for taking the city.
Joshua and Israel
are called
to submit themselves
to God's ways.
They're called
to trust
and obey.
And at the heart
of God's plan
in Joshua chapter 6,
central to it,
was the Ark
of the Covenant.
It's a great symbol
of God's presence
and power
with His people.
In fact,
I think in that passage
it's mentioned
around nine times.
It was the Ark
that was to be carried
around the walls.
And actually,
when you read Joshua 6,
the narrative
underlines this point,
that it's the Lord
who delivers
His people.
It's the Lord
of hosts,
strong and mighty
in battle
who routes
the enemy.
It's the Lord,
really,
who encompasses
the city.
It's not Joshua
who fits
the battle
of Jericho,
but God.
Sometimes,
in life,
God brings us
to a point
of helplessness
so that we will
utterly depend
on Him.
Sometimes,
He boxes us in
that,
humanly speaking,
there appears
to be no way out.
He brings us
to an end
of ourselves.
That point
where our own
schemes and options
have come to nothing.
All we can do
is cast ourselves
on the Lord,
brought to a place
of utter weakness,
so that we realize
if we do make it through,
it must be of God,
all of grace,
all of His power.
And that hopeless
situation can be
one of many,
many things.
It can be
crippling anxiety
and stress,
it can be a broken
relationship,
it can be a point
where we can no longer
escape or evade
the consequences
of our actions,
it can be ill health,
fear of the future,
all sorts of things.
But however it happens,
we're brought to a point
where we have
no one else
to turn to,
and all we do
is we can cry out
to the living God
for help.
Now, of course,
plans and strategies
are not wrong,
far from it.
But they're not
the most important thing,
because on their own
they achieve nothing
of eternal value.
God's work must be done
in God's way.
Obstacles,
like Jericho,
are never removed
by mere human ingenuity
and skill.
Paul tells the Corinthians
in 2 Corinthians 10,
verse 3 and 4,
For though we walk
in the flesh,
we are not waging war
according to the flesh,
for the weapons
of our warfare
are not of the flesh,
but have divine power
to destroy strongholds.
You see,
there is a strategy
that is foolishness
to the world,
but is God's way
to victory.
The foolishness of God
is always wiser
than man's wisdom.
How has God's work progressed?
Prayerful communion
with God
must always have
a place of priority
in the work of God.
We've got that example
in Exodus 17,
the battle
with the Amalekites
at Rephidim.
The battle raging below.
Moses, Aaron, and her
climb the hill above
and they engage
in prayerful intercession.
Moses' hands are raised.
And when he raises
his hands in prayer,
the Israelites prevail
in the battle.
And when they're lowered,
the Amalekites then
gain the ascendancy.
The course of the battle
determined not actually
by the fighters on the field,
but by the intercessors
on the mountain.
And prayer is an expression
of our weakness
and our need of God.
And all through the Bible,
we discover this.
God choosing weak,
fragile human vessels,
clay pots,
to display the excellency
of His power.
So it doesn't matter
if it's an aged
Abraham and Sarah,
David with his sling,
Elijah with his cloak,
a wee boy with five loaves
and two fishes.
God delights to take
that which is weak
and fragile
and so act with divine power
that everyone will say,
this must be the power of God.
Paul says,
we have this treasure
in jars of clay
to show that this
all-surpassing power
is from God
and not from us.
And the weapon of prayer
is what God uses
to bring down
the strongholds
of the enemy.
Because in prayer,
we express our abject frailty,
human frailty,
and need
before a sovereign
or powerful king.
And it may appear foolish,
stupid even.
Yet it's through prayer
that walls crumble
and the strongholds
of the enemy are defeated.
This is God's way.
He calls us to walk in it.
He calls us to be a people
looking to Him,
depending on Him,
praying to Him.
He calls us to leave
sometimes our own
human methods
and strategies
of which we are so fond,
and to take up His
utter dependence
on His presence
and power,
the way of weakness
and the way of prayer.
And this is how God delights
not only to transform
circumstances,
but to transform ourselves.
This is how He reveals
His transforming power.
He's the God of keeping power.
Look to Him.
He's the God of transforming power.
Look to Him in prayer.
And thirdly here,
you'll notice He is the God
of saving power.
Verse 31,
Faith looks to the God
of saving power.
By faith,
Rahab, the prostitute,
did not perish
with those who were disobedient
because she had given
a friendly welcome
to the spies.
And this final reference here
again relates to
the fall of Jericho.
This time it focuses
on the salvation
of the prostitute Rahab.
We read about her.
Yes, in Joshua chapter 6,
but also a little earlier
in Joshua chapter 2.
And perhaps a foreign prostitute
is not someone
we would immediately think
of being as a great example
of faith,
but nonetheless,
that's what a writer does here.
Rahab shielded
and harbored
the Israelite spies
that came to Jericho
to find out
what the story was.
And she did that
at the risk of her own life.
She welcomed them.
She hid them
from those who pursued them.
She helped them
make their escape.
Why did she do that?
Well, she did it
because she received
and believed
their testimony.
She had heard
of the great things
that the Lord
had done
for His people.
And so,
in Joshua chapter 2,
verse 8 and following,
this is what we read.
Before the men lay down,
she came up to them
on the roof
and said to the men,
I know that the Lord
has given you the land,
that the fear of you
has fallen upon us,
that all the inhabitants
of the land
melt away before you.
For we've heard
how the Lord
dried up the water
of the Red Sea
before you
when you came out of Egypt,
and what you did
to the two kings
of the Amorites
beyond the Jordan,
Sihon and Og,
whom you devoted
to destruction.
As soon as we heard it,
our hearts melted.
There was no spirit
left in any man
because of you.
For the Lord,
your God,
He is God
in the heavens above
and on the earth beneath.
Now then,
please swear to me
by the Lord
that as I have dealt
kindly with you,
you also will deal kindly
with my Father's house.
Give me a sure sign
that you will save alive
my father and mother,
my brothers and sisters,
and all who belong to them,
and deliver our lives
from death.
And the men said to her,
Our life for years
even to death,
if you do not tell
this business of ours,
then when the Lord
gives us the land,
we will deal kindly
and faithfully with you.
So, Rahab had heard
of what God had done
for His people,
and she formed a conviction
on the basis
of what she'd heard,
and she saw that it was
the living God,
the Maker of heaven
and earth,
and so she sought
refuge in Him.
She cast herself
on His kindness
and faithfulness,
and in turn,
the spies gave her,
as the passage
tells us a little later,
a scarlet cord.
That was to be tied
to her window.
Her house would become
a place of refuge
for all who took shelter there.
And her household,
in a sense,
became a kind of island
of salvation
in the midst of this city
under judgment.
And the story of Rahab
really stands out
as a beacon
of God's grace
and saving power.
She was one of the enemies
of Israel.
She was a pagan.
She was a prostitute.
And yet,
in His grace
and mercy,
God brought her
to faith
and into
God's covenant people.
She and her people
came to settle
in Israel.
On the opening page
of the New Testament,
Matthew 1, verse 5,
we read her name
as one included
in the genealogy
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who would have thought
it possible?
And her presence
in that sacred genealogy
is a reminder to us
that Jesus
has come to welcome
sinners into His family.
He's come
to show
and to demonstrate
God's amazing grace.
He has come
to reveal
the saving power
of God.
Sometimes,
as human beings,
we can be weighed down
with a sense
of our guilt,
our unworthiness.
sometimes,
we're rightly ashamed
of things
that we've said
and done.
Our lives,
we know,
are stained
and unclean.
They're dirty.
How can people
like us
ever belong
in God's family?
How could God
ever love us
after the things
we've done?
We know,
deep down,
that we're not
good enough for God,
that we will never
be good enough.
I mean,
how can Jesus
have anything
to do with us?
Why on earth
would He?
But friends,
that's why He came.
He came to be
the friend of sinners.
He came to welcome
people like us
into His fellowship,
into His family.
That's why the church
isn't a social club.
It's a hospital
for sinners.
It's a shelter
for refugees.
It's a family
for abandoned
outcasts.
for if our Lord
Jesus was happy
to associate
with someone
such as Rahab,
He is happy
even to associate
with someone
like you.
And that's
the power
of God's
amazing
and surprising
grace.
Think of the
Apostle Paul
or someone
like the slave
traitor
John Newton
who wrote
that famous hymn,
Amazing Grace.
Who would have
thought it possible
that they might
be welcomed
into the family
of God?
But it's true
for all of us,
isn't it?
Who would have
thought of it
of us?
It's all too easy
to forget,
but we must
never lose
sight of the
God of saving
power.
God
gets His people
like Rahab
from Jericho,
from the city
of destruction.
This is where
Jesus Christ
claims His people.
He doesn't
get them
from heaven.
He gets them
from the world.
Think of those
words of Paul
to the Christians
in Corinth,
1 Corinthians 6,
verse 9 and
following,
Do you not know
that the unrighteous,
he says,
will not inherit
the kingdom of God?
Don't be deceived.
Not the sexually
immoral,
idolaters,
adulterers,
those who practice
homosexuality,
thieves,
the greedy,
drunkards,
revilers,
nor swindlers,
will inherit
the kingdom of God.
That's what he says.
Then he says this,
And such
were some of you.
Such were some of you,
but you were washed,
you were sanctified,
you were justified
in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit
of our God.
And that is the
wonderful reality
of the gospel.
No matter who we are,
no matter what we've done,
you were washed,
you were sanctified,
you were justified.
That is what happens
when you become a Christian.
That's what happens
when you're united
to Jesus Christ
by faith.
This is what Jesus
offers to all
and everyone
who will come
to him in faith.
He invites you
to come to be washed
from all the guilt
and shame of your sin.
He invites you
to come and belong
to him as a child of God.
He invites you
to come and not only
be forgiven,
but actually be declared
righteous in his sight.
The God
of keeping power.
Don't be a believer
filled with fear
and anxiety
about the future.
Here is the God
who has shed
his blood for you,
whose power
will keep you.
Jesus said,
my Father
who has given them
to me
is greater than all.
No one is able
to snatch them
out of my Father's hand.
The God
of transforming power.
Don't be trapped
in despair
and despondency
over what's happening
in your life
or what's happening
in the world.
Here is the God
whose power
can transform
the most impossible
of situations.
With God,
all things are possible.
As the old hymn advises,
take it
to the Lord
in prayer.
And he's the God
of saving power.
So,
no matter who you are,
no matter what you've done,
you can come
to Jesus Christ
and find in him
all that you need.
Don't give up
on that person
who seems lost,
disinterested,
for this God,
his powerful grace,
can save the most
far gone of sinners
and save to the uttermost.
Paul reminds us
in 1 Timothy 1,
he saved even
the worst of sinners.
Help me now
to live a life
that's dependent
on your grace.
Keep my heart
and guard my soul
from the evils
that I face.
you are worthy
to be praised.
Within my every thought
and deed,
O great God
of highest heaven,
glorify your name
through me.
Fix your eyes
on this God.
Look to him,
the God of keeping,
transforming,
and saving power.
Let's pray.
Almighty God,
we bless you
and praise you
that you are indeed
a God of power.
We thank you
for the way
in which you have
revealed your power
in years past
and generations past.
And we thank you
most of all
for the way
in which you have
revealed your power
and your grace
and your love
in the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord,
may we be found
looking to him
this evening
and trusting in him.
May you keep us
and preserve us.
May you use us
and bless us
in your service
and for your glory.
Amen.