Faith In Dangerous Places

Joshua’s Conquest of Jericho

Our Old Testament reading will come from the book of Joshua. We'll be reading Joshua 6, 1 through 21. Please stand for the reading of God's word. Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel.

None went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once.

Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times and the priest shall blow the trumpets.

And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city will fall down flat and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.

So Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, go forward, march around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.

And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of the ram's horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them.

The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets and the rear guard was walking after the ark while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, you shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout, then you shall shout.

So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about at once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord and the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord walked on and they blew the trumpets continually.

And the armed men were walking before them and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned into the camp.

So they did this for six days. On the seventh day, they rose early at dawn of day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.

And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, shout for the Lord has given you the city and the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.

Only Rahab the prostitute and all who were with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction. Least when you have devoted them, you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.

But all silver and gold and every vessel of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout and the wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him and they captured the city.

Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep and donkeys with the edge of the sword. You may be seated.

God’s Rescue of Paul in 2 Timothy 4

New Testament reading this morning is from second Timothy chapter four. I'll be reading verses 16 through 18. Please stand. At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them.

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me, the message might be fully proclaimed and the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. You may be seated.

Faith That Perseveres in Hebrews 11

If you would, take the scriptures and let's turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 as we continue to look at what God has to say to us in this book. I'm gonna begin reading in verse 23, reading to verse 31.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. 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 had 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.

Let's pray. God, now we come to your word and we are utterly dependent on your spirit to minister it to us. I would ask that you would not just minister that words that we know something, but this would be transformative, that this would give us the kind of faith that we need to endure.

God, help us as we look into your word. What a privilege it is to see and to hear the very words of God. Help us now to reverently approach these scriptures so that we can be changed and profitable for you and faithful to the Lord Jesus.

We'll thank you for what you're going to do today. In Jesus' name, amen. Following Jesus can be a dangerous undertaking. One day, Jesus was with his disciples and he said to them these things. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you're of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. So Jesus made it clear from the beginning, we see it in this book, that identifying with Jesus and the people of God can put you in a dangerous place.

In Saudi Arabia today, you can get your head chopped off if you convert from Islam to Christianity. In China, if you're identified as a follower of Jesus, you could lose your job and your livelihood or worse.

In India, Hindus have cornered Christians and beat them to death just because they were Christians. Now, the readers of this epistle, if you recall, know that it's dangerous to follow Jesus. They were actually experiencing forms of persecution.

But always remember that whenever this kind of danger arises the danger that comes in following Jesus, there's always a lure in that danger. And that lure is this. If you give up your allegiance to Christ, you will gain comfort, you will gain peace, and even acceptance.

Now, you cannot abandon Jesus, but how then can you remain steadfast in the faith? How can you do that? Well, to persevere, to endure, you must first know the promises of God. And if you're going to endure, if you're going to persevere, you have to believe the promises of God.

And what we need to see, let me remind you again, is that this book is calling us not to give in, not to give up, not to abandon our allegiance to Jesus. And right away we start thinking, oh man, this is gonna be, I gotta grit my teeth, I gotta get through it.

And what we're finding is that kind of perseverance, that kind of endurance that would keep you from abandoning Jesus is fueled by the promises of God, not by your utter expenditure of willpower. It grows out of, it's anchored in the promises of God.

If you believe the promises that God has made to you, you can endure, you can persevere. And that's what we're learning from chapter 11. Our ancestors in the faith faced the same kinds of dangers, and they show us how to persevere with God's promises.

They show us the kind of faith that fuels perseverance. So here today in our text, verses 29 through 31, we're going to learn from the Israelites at the Red Sea, the Israelites before the city of Jericho, and Rahab the prostitute.

And they teach you about faith in dangerous places. First of all, here's what they tell us. Trust God when there's no escape. Trust God when there's no escape. All of Israel has left Egypt, right? But then Pharaoh regrets his decision.

He says, what have I done? I've let those people go. What is wrong with me? Even though he lost his firstborn. And so what he does is he gathers his military forces together, primarily a chariot force together, and he goes after the Israelites.

Israel now stands on the shores of the Red Sea. And as they look back, they see the dust on the horizon coming from the chariot forces of Egypt. They know the forces are coming, and they are trapped between impassable, impassable water and implacable foes.

They are caught. There is no way out.

What now?

There's no escape. All seems lost. What could they possibly do? What the first thing they do in their panic is say to Moses, great, this is great. Were there not enough graves in Egypt? Did you have to bring us out here to kill us?

That's their first response. And so this is what Moses says to them. He says, fear not, stand firm, and 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. God says he's gonna gain his glory by the utter destruction of these military forces. He then says to Moses, tell the people of Israel to go forward.

What, right?

What is that all about? He says, tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea.

On dry ground.

And the narrative says the wind starts to blow, and the water start piling up, right? They start piling up in these two great walls of water on either side. And then the people head into this canyon. I want you to see that in your mind's eye.

They walk into this canyon of water. And by the way, they walk on dry ground. You ever notice that little detail? They walk on dry ground. Now, you know, when you cut off a river, you build a dam, you wanna do some work, and you cut off the river.

What happens? What happens is, like I did when I was a kid, I went down, when they cut the river off, the Bark River in my town, I went out there, and we were walking around, it was like this.

Right?

But they go across on what? On dry land. This is amazing. When the Egyptians follow, it says, this is another detail that really gets to me. When the Egyptians follow, their wheels get stuck in the sea bottom.

It starts mucking them up.

And then what happens? They go into that canyon, and the waters collapse on them, utterly destroying all the forces of Pharaoh. Now, do you see the faith of these people at this point? Do you see their faith?

Now again, recall what faith is, as we saw at the beginning of the chapter. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Not meaning that if you believe something hard enough, you're sure it's gonna happen.

That's not what it means.

It means what?

Even though God has promised it, and you don't see it, you believe it because God promised it. All right? Had they ever seen a sea split?

No.

It's inconceivable. But the sea splits. Was there an army nearby that would cut off the Egyptians and destroy them by force of arms?

No.

God said, I will take care of them, right? Now, add to the fact, add to that fact, they entered into that canyon, believing that it wouldn't collapse on them. What would you be, do you ever, you know what?

Sometimes we think the Bible is just a bunch of cardboard characters. You've gotta go back and live it. You're standing at the edge of the Red Sea. The water piles up, and now you're told, let's go. Now, what do you think your first reaction would be?

Right?

But they went through, right?

There's their faith. There's their faith. Even though they'd never seen such things, they believed that God would do it. What is faith? Taking God at his word. They'd never seen it. God said it. So they took God at his word.

Now, sometimes we have to think, am I in that position? Am I in a position where there's no way out? You remember the readers of this epistle were in a difficult position, that they could not escape. For some, it was choose Christ or lose your property.

We saw that in chapter 10. Choose Christ, and you'll lose your property, right? For others, it was confess Caesar is Lord. This was a major one in the first century, first, second century church. Confess that Caesar is Lord, and the Christians would say, no, Jesus is Lord.

But to say that would mean imprisonment, maybe even worse. And they had to believe that God would work in some fashion. They believed God and his promises, and so they could face the music. The only reason why they could say, no, I confess Jesus is Lord, is they believe the promises of God.

Now, you may find yourself in that position.

Maybe you own a venue.

It's yours, you bought it, you fixed it, you built it up. And then the state says to you, you have to let that same-sex couple get married there. You have to do it. You got a choice now. What are you going to do?

Right?

Think about that. All the money, all the effort you put into making this, are you going to choose Jesus because he's promised you something better?

You see?

Choose Jesus, lose your job. It could come to that. What are you going to do? Are you going to believe the promises of God rather than compromise and abandon the Lord Jesus? You see, trusting God and his promises fuels the kind of perseverance that God requires, the faithfulness that refuses to abandon Jesus.

Trusting God in Impossible Situations

Trust God when there's no escape. Here's what else we learned. Verse 30, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. Trust God in impossible situations. Trust God in impossible situations.

How did the walls of Jericho fall? The city of Jericho held a strategic position. It guarded the entrance to what the Israelites knew as the Promised Land. It was very strategically located. You had to cross the fords at the Jordan.

This city held the gate to the land. Now, like the other cities, it was a walled city. It was a fortress, if you will, and it had to be overcome if they were going to enter the land. It had to be dealt with.

But think about it. This was just a bunch of slaves, right? Now, they've spent 40 years in the wilderness, and now this generation's gonna enter the Promised Land, and the best they had was a ragtag army.

I mean, come on, you're 40 years in the wilderness. They've already proven themselves to a certain degree, but it's a ragtag army. It's not anything consequential. And how much siege equipment do you think they had?

How many battering rams to knock down the doors, to shatter the gateways? How many ladders do you think they had to scale the walls? How in the world are they going to conquer this strategic position?

How are they gonna get it done? Well, God tells them the strategy. He says, here's how we're gonna do it. Take your soldiers and place them in the front of priests who will have these trumpets, these ram's horns, and those priests, those seven priests, will be leading the Ark of the Covenant to be followed by a rear guard of the army.

And here's what you're gonna do.

You're gonna walk around the city every day for six days, and the priests are gonna blow their trumpets, and that's all. You're just gonna march around the city, once around the city every day for six days.

On the seventh day, here's what you're gonna do. You're going to walk around the city in that fashion seven times. And then after the blast of the trumpet, tell the people, all the people of Israel, to give up a great shout.

The walls will come down, and you'll be able to take the city. Now imagine how you would react when you heard this unbelievably crazy and absurd strategy for conquering a fortified city. How do you think you'd react, right?

I mean, put yourself there.

You'd be going, what?

Did you just hear what I heard? Did I imagine this right? This is absurd. This is crazy. But instead, our writer says, look at the faith of these people. They took action in response to God's word. They took God at his word, even when the circumstances, even when the circumstances made his commands seem foolish, and the promises impossible, right?

They put their trust in God's word about things not seen. I mean, frankly, had anyone seen or heard of just making noise walking around a city and conquering it? You ever seen that? Not before and not since.

Who's seen that? Nobody, but they believed God. They believed God, and they watched their divine warrior throw down the walls of Jericho. Now you know what? You may find yourself in some impossible positions.

When you face injustice and ridicule, and you're placed on the margins of society, when you are publicly chastised for your views, we're there now. We're there now. We are publicly chastised because of our views, for example, on sexuality as haters and bigots and people who should be shut up.

Now how are we supposed to respond to that? How are we supposed to respond to that? What weapons, what strategy does God give you? Let's take a sampling. Let's look at Luke 6. Luke 6, verses 21 to 23.

Here is the promise that we bank everything on. Here is the promise. Luke 6, verse 21. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. All right, let's get a hold of that. We talked about this in our flock Wednesday night, the power of the present as opposed to the promises of the future.

The power of the present, which says, I don't want to weep.

I want to laugh now, right?

I don't want people to make fun of me. I don't want to go through sorrow now. That's the power of the present, but there's a promise of the future. You will laugh. You will find joy. Let's go on. Blessed are you when people hate you.

Again, these are radical statements. You're really blessed when people hate you for Jesus' name. I mean, it gets more radical. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

That should be very familiar to us now. We should be familiar with those things. Now, rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Okay, let me just ask, how many of you have been leaping for joy recently because you've been called a hater and a bigot?

How many of you say, yes! How many of you have been doing that lately? Don't ask me when I had done it. Here's what he says. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.

Why?

For behold, your reward is great in heaven, for so their fathers did to the prophets. There's the promise. You're gonna live in the power of the present, which is I hate being reviled. I hate when people call me these things.

I hate it when they exclude me. I hate that. I really hate it. What's gonna get me through? There's something better. There's a reward of heaven. They did this to my prophets before. They're doing it to you.

Rejoice because you have a reward in heaven. There's the promise. What are the strategy and the weapons? Let's keep going. Beginning in verse 27. Look at verse 27. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies.

Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.

Give to everyone who begs from you and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. There's our strategy, right? God's commands seem foolish and his promise impossible, right?

God says, trust me in the impossible situations.

Rahab’s Faith and the Risk of Allegiance

Last thing.

Verse 31. By faith Rahab, the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Trust God in risky decisions. Trust God in risky decisions.

You remember the story of Rahab. When the two spies went out to reconnoiter the city, they came into her place of business. She was a prostitute. She came in, they came in, and what did she do? She took them to the roof and she hid them.

She took a great risk. She hid those spies on the roof of her house and then let them down outside her window by a rope out on the outer wall, right? When the coast was clear. She took a risk. A risk that could have cost her her life.

And she took that dangerous risk because she trusted God. She had faith. Let's turn back to Joshua two. Joshua two. Here's the story of Rahab. We'll begin reading Joshua two, verse eight. Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and all the inhabitants of the land can melt away before you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the red seed before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.

And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is the 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 and 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 yours, 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. Now here is a pagan Gentile woman outside of the covenant people of God, and yet, and yet, she abandons all of that and believes in the one true God.

Notice what she says in verse 11, right? For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. This is a woman who is abandoning everything she's believed in and now entrusting this one God who she recognizes now as the one true God.

Now everybody's heart may be melting, but they don't believe that this is the one true God. She does, and notice in verse 12, she accepts an oath made in the name of that God, right? She says, you swear by that by your God, meaning the God, the God of all.

You swear by that because I know if you swear by him, that's a sure thing, all right? She's certain of things not seen. This God, not seen, which is totally foreign to her, right? An idol worshiper? This God, who is not seen, will destroy this city and will take the land, neither of which is seen either.

And because of that belief, she takes the risk of hiding the spies. That's why she's doing it. That's why she's doing it, okay? Because of her faith. She proved her faith by giving those spies, as Hebrews tells us, a friendly welcome.

How do you know she believed? Because of what she did. She took the risk. Now look at chapter, let's keep reading. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall so that she lived in the wall.

And she said to them, go into the hills or the pursuers will encounter you and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward, you may go on your way. The men said to her, we will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear.

Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down. And you shall gather into your house, your father and mother, your brothers and all your father's household.

Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.

But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear. And she said, according to your words, so be it. Then she sent them away and they departed and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

By the way, that's a sign of faith, isn't it? She does what she's told to do. She trusted that God would spare her family. She trusted that. And because of that faith, she did not perish. Now the question is, will you take risks because you believe what God has promised?

Are you willing to take risks? So we're not just talking about taking the risk of another job that may not pay as much, but we'll see. It means taking a risk that may even cost you your life. Taking a risk that may cost you your livelihood.

Remember in chapter 10 of this book, they had taken the risk of identifying themselves with God's people because that could lead to their imprisonment, but they did it. They did it because they believed that God had said in chapter 10 that they had something better and lasting.

So we will take the confiscation of our property. We will take imprisonment because we believe that God has promised something better and something more lasting. Days may come where you will have to take a dangerous risk by faith, okay?

It may come. Now look, part of why I want to be passionate about this chapter is because I believe that we are not immune to persecution as Christians.

Now I'm not a prophet.

I pray that that doesn't happen. I mean, we are being reviled. We are being put out to the margins now, and it would be wonderful if God would do something where all that would turn around. I would love that, but there's no guarantee of that, and I would rather us be prepared now, okay?

If it doesn't come, great, but let's get ready for it, okay? Let's get ready to practice this kind of faith. That's part of my passion behind this. You know, when it comes, we gotta say, oh, what are we supposed to do?

We know what we're supposed to do now, and what happens when you have to take a risk, a dangerous risk by faith? You know who I think of? I think of John Bunyan, the one who wrote Pilgrim's Progress. Now in England, in John Bunyan's day, they're trying to get everybody uniform.

That is, everybody has to be part of the state church, the Anglican church, and you preachers who don't wanna be part of that church, you know what you need? You need a license to preach, right? And by the way, the license doesn't come from the church.

It comes from the government. If you're gonna preach, anybody who preaches needs a license. Well, guess what? The Baptist pastors and the congregational pastors were saying, hey, you know what? God doesn't give you the right to license preaching.

That's not what God's told you to do. He's told you to do other things. You leave us alone. And that's what John Bunyan said. He said, I'm not gonna get the license. And they said, if you preach, you're gonna end up in jail.

So he took the risk. I mean, there were lots of preachers. They might not have got all of them, but he was the kind of guy that reached the hearts of people. We were talking about this yesterday in Men of Faith.

I think it was Andrew or Jake had said that John Owen, one of the most learned men of that day, right, said, I would give up all my learning if I could touch the hearts of people like John Bunyan. He was an effective preacher.

And he took the risk and he ended up in jail for 12 years. Let that sink in. He took the risk and he ended up in jail for 12 years, okay? How in the world could he do that? Because he knew this wasn't the only reality.

There is another one coming that is better by far. And it lasts forever. Trust God in risky decisions. Last thing I wanna say to you is trust God to deliver. In all this, you find that God delivers his people.

But you say, God hasn't promised that he's gonna deliver all of us from the dangers that we face. In light of the persecution of the readers of this letter, the persecution of others that we see all around the world, and maybe the persecution we might face in the future, you might say, there's no absolute promise of deliverance.