By Faith the Israelites

Sermon Summary

Faith is the foundation of the Christian life. Hebrews 11, often called the “Hall of Faith,” records how God’s people trusted Him through impossible circumstances. This passage highlights three great acts of faith:

• The Israelites crossing the Red Sea (Hebrews 11:29)
• The walls of Jericho crumbling (Hebrews 11:30)
• The salvation of Rahab the harlot (Hebrews 11:31)

Each of these moments in biblical history demonstrates that faith is not based on sight but on trust in God’s Word. True faith moves forward in obedience, perseveres in trials, and brings salvation.

I. Faith Saw the Sea Crossed (Hebrews 11:29)

“By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” (Hebrews 11:29)

A. The Israelites Trusted God’s Power

The Israelites were trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s advancing army. Humanly speaking, their situation was hopeless. But God commanded them:

“Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13).

Faith believes God’s Word before circumstances change. The Israelites walked forward in obedience, and the sea parted. Their faith was not in their own strength but in God’s power to save.

B. The Egyptians Trusted the Water’s Behavior

In contrast, Pharaoh’s army saw the same dry ground and presumed they could pass through as well. Unlike the Israelites, they had no faith in God’s Word. They trusted only in what they could see—the stability of the parted waters.

• The Israelites walked by faith and were delivered.
• The Egyptians walked by sight and were destroyed.

This distinction reveals a critical truth: Faith in God brings salvation, while trust in circumstances alone leads to destruction.

Faith Application: Are you trusting in God’s power or in what you can see?

II. Faith Saw the Walls Crumble (Hebrews 11:30)

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” (Hebrews 11:30)

A. The Israelites Trusted God’s Promise

Jericho’s towering walls were an impenetrable fortress. Yet, rather than storming the city, God instructed the Israelites to:

• March around the city once a day for six days.
• On the seventh day, march seven times, then blow trumpets and shout.

To human reasoning, this seemed foolish. But faith obeys God’s Word, even when it doesn’t make sense. The Israelites believed that God’s promise was greater than their circumstances.

B. The Israelites Trusted God Perseveringly

Faith continues in obedience even when results are not immediate. The Israelites marched for six days, seeing no visible progress. Many might have doubted.

On the seventh day, they obeyed completely—marching seven times, blowing the trumpets, and shouting in faith. The walls fell instantly, not by human effort, but by faith in God’s power.

Faith Application: Are you willing to obey God even when you don’t see results right away?

III. Faith Saw a Sinner Converted (Hebrews 11:31)

“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” (Hebrews 11:31)

A. Rahab Trusted in God’s Salvation

Rahab was a Canaanite harlot living in a city doomed for destruction. She had every reason to trust in Jericho’s mighty walls, like the rest of her people. But instead, she placed her faith in the God of Israel:

“I know that the LORD hath given you the land” (Joshua 2:9).

Unlike the rest of Jericho, Rahab believed before she saw the victory.

B. Rahab Acted on Her Faith

Faith is not passive—it leads to action. Rahab:

• Hid the Israelite spies.
• Risked her life by aligning with God’s people.
• Secured a promise of deliverance for herself and her family.

When Jericho fell, she alone was spared because she had trusted in the Lord. Her faith did not just save her physically—it brought her into the family of Israel, and she later became part of the lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5).

Faith Application: Do you believe God’s promises enough to act upon them?

Conclusion: Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Faith is more than mental agreement—it is obedience in action. The Israelites stepped forward before the sea parted. They marched around Jericho before the walls fell. Rahab trusted God before judgment arrived.

Are You Living by Faith Today?

• Do you trust in God’s power, or do you depend on circumstances?
• Are you persevering in obedience, even when you don’t see results?
• Have you, like Rahab, placed your faith in God’s salvation?

Faith moves forward, even when the path is unclear. It does not demand sight before obedience. It endures, believing that God is faithful to fulfill His promises.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

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I just wanted to place an emphasis there in verse 4—the importance of our hope secured not by what’s going on in our lives, but by God’s Word, trusting Him and what He has said, regardless of what we may see or not see. “Please turn in the Word of God to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11.” We continue in our series in Hebrews. Hebrews 11—we have reached as far as the 28th verse. We come to verse 29. So we’re just going to read the verses that will take our attention this morning—verse 29, 30, and 31. “Hebrews 11, verse 29. They passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, saying to do, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encompassed about seven days. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Amen.

Once again, ending our reading at that juncture. And what you have heard, though it be a shorter reading this morning, is still the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, amen.

Let’s pray.
Lord, give help this morning. We’ve enjoyed Thy presence already, and we could actually leave here and say that through what has been read and what we have been singing, we’ve heard from the Lord. Thou hast spoken. Thou hast blessed. But as we give some attention now to this particular portion of Thy Word, cast away all carnality; deliver us from all power of the flesh. I pray that those that are sitting here, waiting, desiring to hear from God, may not leave disappointed, and perhaps there may be some still ill-prepared in heart, distracted—their minds are upon fears and distractions of various sorts. I pray for them that they would be helped, just to give attention now to Thy precious Word, and to the preacher—cast away any dependence upon previous preparation, our own inherent knowledge. We pray for a message—a message from God. And so we hand ourselves to Thee to be vessels. May we be a vessel unto honor today, Lord. Please give me Thy Spirit. Work through me, not for my name’s sake, but this people desperately need to hear from their God. So grant it, may it be so, and extend Thy kingdom through the foolishness of preaching. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Much of our study through the book of Hebrews has required and needed us to go slowly and carefully, exegeting the language and endeavoring to look at the little details so that we gain a better understanding of what it’s saying. It’s not the easiest book to understand, and certain portions of it require that careful attention as to what is being said. But I fear sometimes when we come to Hebrews 11, at times we miss the forest for the trees. And when we carry on in that very careful exegetical process and look at things in a minutia, we can lose the bigger, wider message of what is going on. We can come to Hebrews 11 and begin to expound on all the particular details of the history that we know concerning those who are named. And certainly there’s context, and we need to be aware of that context. But I think at times, as I have read—and other times listened to sermons from this passage—it seems to miss the bigger picture. The bigger picture really is quite simple: that the apostle is driving his hearers to keep in mind the future orientation of faith—that it’s not dependent upon what we see here and now, but it rests on God’s Word and always looks forward and depends on Him regardless of the peculiar or varying circumstances of their context. That they’re always taking God as Word. And again, no matter the environment they find themselves in, they’re just believing the Word. When that word calls them to worship in a particular way, they worship. When it calls them to go forward, they go forward. When it calls them to offer a child, as in the case of Abraham, they obey. When it calls them to wait for one to be born who’s been promised, again they wait patiently, trusting God will fulfill all that He has promised.

And so when you come to the section that we’re in again, that’s the same emphasis: that you have these contexts, these individuals—and even the party of the Israelites really—in view. When you think of verse 29, “by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.” Verse 30, “by faith the walls of Jericho fell down.” Again, you’re seeing the collective there. It’s a little more individual in terms of verse 31, “by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not.” But again, what we’re going to see is that they saw something future and they trusted God’s Word. At the Red Sea, they saw no path, yet they walked forward in faith because God said so. At Jericho, they saw these immovable walls, yet they marched around in faith because God said so. When it comes to Rahab, when she saw judgment was coming, again she trusted God for deliverance—believing, again trusting, and throwing her whole hope into working with the spies, casting, as it were, her allegiance there. Not because she saw that certainly if she was caught out for what she did she would be under great threat among her own people, but she saw another judgment. She saw what was coming. She believed God and trusted Him and aligned herself with the Lord and with His people—again, believing that God would take care in securing her deliverance. And so, faith stepped into the sea before deliverance was secured. Faith marched around the city before victory was secured. And faith hid the spies before salvation was secured. It sees forward and believes God, and that is the emphasis throughout Hebrews 11.

The faith that is uttered here, spoken and explained, is one that does not shrink back. Go back to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 39: “We are not of them who draw back unto perdition.” We’re not those who pull back, but we keep believing to the saving of the soul. There’s a persistence—a trust, a dependence—that presses on, believing God, believing His unseen hand, believing His promises. And we are not to demand sight before we believe. We will walk forward. We will act. We will obey. We will trust, regardless of what we may see or not see. And if you can take that away, then you take away the heart of Hebrews 11. You’re looking beyond, and especially looking beyond to see the unseen Christ. This whole book has been elevating the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of His person and work. We spent many weeks just in the opening language of Hebrews 1, giving a Christology that is set forth in those powerful words. The whole book is pushing us to trust in Jesus Christ and rest in Him, even though He’s not seen. And part of the way that the Apostle does that is by lifting up Christ—yes, in the accomplishment of His finished work on the cross—but He never leaves it there. He’s pushing beyond to see that He’s now set at the right hand of the majesty on high. And from there He rules, and there He is putting all His enemies under His feet. And from there, He is to be seen, believed on, and obeyed.

So the same is true again this morning. What we’re going to see, then, as we look at verses 29, 30, and 31, is that faith saw the sea crossed, the walls crumble, and the harlot converted. The sea was crossed, the walls crumbled, and the harlot was converted. Very simple, and again, the trust will put emphasis where it is necessary in the context. Verse 29: “by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, saying to do, were drowned.” Attempting to do it, they endeavored to do the same thing here. So picture the scene: go back to Exodus 14, and you have this multitude of the Israelites—maybe around two million men, women, and children, along with whatever their possessions were—moving toward the promised land in obedience to God. There had been a tremendous display of divine power in recent times through the plagues. Egypt had been crushed, and they were devastated. And the thought is, well, now we can go. And they’re let go. And of course, they imagine, well, this is it—it’s done. But soon then, they hear the thundering of the chariots of Egypt coming behind them. And instead, again of just saying, well, God’s got this—He had it before; we don’t have to panic or worry—we’ve seen the display of His power in the plagues. We have trusted Him. He had cared for us. The firstborn of all the Egyptians died. We were preserved because we believed in the efficacy of His salvation—the bloodshed, the whole message of atonement going right back to Adam and Eve, and Abel, and so on. And yet with all this roar of these chariots coming close to them, again they begin to fear. And there is before them this impossible barrier, the Red Sea.

Well, we’ll see a couple of things here in how this is reflected upon in verse 29. First, the Israelites trusted God’s power. They trusted God’s power. The crossing of the Red Sea was no small matter in terms of believing. I mean, imagine you’re standing there at this great expanse of the sea; you have people who want to end your existence or, at the very least, bring you back into bondage behind you, and there’s nowhere to go—you’re cornered, shut in, with Pharaoh’s chariots swift and merciless behind you, and before you a great sea stretching out, deep and impassable. And so, naturally, they fear. And they cry out in panic, “Have you brought us here to perish? Moses, what were you thinking? This is all a sham. You should have left us where we were.” Of course, Moses looks to God, trusts in God, and God speaks, doesn’t He? In Exodus 14:13, “Fear not. Fear ye not.” How many times in God’s Word do we find language like that? “Fear not. Fear ye not.” We are encouraged by that. We are encouraged because we fear at times. And God sees that fear and He addresses it not by changing the circumstances first of all, but by speaking. If you’re here this morning, experiencing your own challenging circumstances and going through your own season that may bring a response of fear—and you would look for deliverance and desire some change—don’t first look for the change in the circumstances. First, look for what God has said: “Fear ye not.” Now, there are times He will say that and the circumstances will not change. But in this instance, they did. But they were first not to fear: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you today.” And so they are given this command in the next verses. Verse 15 tells us that they are to go forward. Go forward. And so, into the midst of the water they are to go.

Now, when you read this and you read the various men and their ideas of verse 29—you know, they see the Israelites in view, and they go into the water—but when you read the context, it seems that really Moses is the one who goes forward in perfect faith, as it were, the mediator, the type of Christ, the perfect faith that’s not found in any of us, but He parts the way, He works the deliverance—and that’s true of our Lord Jesus Christ. But they do have faith. And the faith is expressed as they continue forward, seeing the dry land, yes, but also seeing the walls of water on either side. And you can imagine the concern that would have been in their hearts. “Are we to go forward into this? Are we to put ourselves right here between these walls of water? How do we know that they won’t collapse on us?” Well, they trusted God. A path appeared where no path had ever been. Walls of water stood on either side of them, and the Israelites walked through on dry ground. Wonderful thing. So marvelous, in fact, that in various instances throughout the Scriptures this is drawn upon. If you go just for one example—Isaiah 51—you can see how this historic event becomes illustrative of God’s mercy to His people and His great deliverance of them.

So in Isaiah 51, many centuries later, verse 9, there’s this call: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord.” Awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. So it’s saying, God, come to us as Thou hast done in the past, right? These things are written for our learning, and we recall upon God in our own context, drawing from, gaining confidence by what He has done in the past. And one of the examples given is in verse 10: “Although not it which have dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that have made the depths of the sea away for the ransom to pass over. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come as singing unto Zion; everlasting joy shall be upon their head, and they shall obtain gladness: and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” The encouragement for the present people of God is to look back and see what God has done for His people in the past. One of those times where it’s most wonderfully illustrated is in the crossing of the Red Sea.

And so the Israelites—they crossed the sea. Their faith was not perfect. It wasn’t, certainly not, but it was enough to move their feet forward. It was enough for them to obey. And that’s all the faith you need. We pray for great faith, and we should look for an increase of faith—and that’s important—but at least to have sufficient faith to obey. Those who will be rewarded at the last will not be those who had in their past great expressions of appearing to have tremendous faith, and then having none at the end. Those who will be rewarded by the Lord have faith to obey right through to the end.

And so some may have an experience like Judas Iscariot, and they can say, “I have great faith. Look what I’ve seen accomplished. The devils have been subject to me. I’ve seen great works of God by my hands.” But where is he at the last? And it’s true, then, even of these Israelites—they are going to pass through the Red Sea; there’s going to be a tremendous celebration, the song at the other side given to us in Exodus 15, rejoicing in God’s deliverance of them—and then they’re going to immediately, or very soon after, fall into disbelief again, not taking God at His Word, questioning His wisdom, bringing us out into this wilderness. And I wonder at some—they may brag about their great faith, but where will they be at the end? How different heaven may look than we may have imagined. But they had enough at this point to believe and trust God—and that’s what you need too.

But you see how they’re contrasted then. The Israelites trust in God’s power. The Egyptians trust in the water’s behavior. They trust in the water’s behavior, which the Egyptians, as saying to do, were drowned—attempting to do the same. Why would they attempt to do the same? So because they see the water—look, the water’s there. It’s being held back. Some mysterious event is taking place. “Let’s take advantage of it. Pursue these Israelites.” But there was no faith in God, no trust in God. They entered into the sea, not believing in God. They saw the miracle, but they did not see the God behind it. They saw the path through the waters, but they did not perceive the hand that made it. And so, without faith, they charged forward. They didn’t trust God—they just trusted what they could see. “The waters have parted. They’ve made a way for us too. Let us follow them and take them down.” No faith. No, it was arrogance, blindness—made a presumption, “Things will be fine for us as well.” And so they rushed in, chariots and all, all their best—whatever remaining men they had who hadn’t been slain already by the plagues. They rushed in there, but there was no faith. And that very highway that God had made for salvation for His people became the tomb of His enemies, became the place of their final resting. They were swallowed up. They were drowned. They were taken.

And so it is with regard to the gospel. At the last, the determining factor for all will be, “What think ye of Christ?” We are to see that the pathway through the Red Sea is made as a type of Jesus Christ, which you either trust and rest in—that takes you to the place of safety and security—or you don’t. And though you may try to walk that path, or whatever you do with that path, if you don’t trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, that very path will be the means of your destruction. So, not believing in Christ, rejecting the gospel of His Son, finding something else to trust in—ultimately, what we think of Christ is the test. And the book of Hebrews is pounding on that theme constantly. You have to look unto Jesus. You have to trust in Him. You have to rest in Him. Keep your eye fixed on Him. There’s no hope outside of Him. And in the times in the past when He is drawn even from the Israelites, He is drawn from that time through the wilderness as an illustration of those who do not believe to the saving of the soul. And it’s not just that they don’t believe God—the language that is used is they have rejected the gospel. Go back to chapter 3. Go back to chapter 4. Read it for yourself. Again, you see that the key thing is the rejection of the message of salvation. And this is what the Israelites did. God had displayed His saving power. God had shown that salvation is by means of the blood. I’m sure they were talking. I’m sure the Egyptians, as they lamented the death of their firstborn, had the question go up, “Well, what about the Israelites?” And the news comes from their messengers: the Israelites are all fine; their firstborn are fine. How? How come? Apparently, they applied the blood to the doorpost of their home. What else? That’s it. They shed blood, put it on the doorpost of their home. That’s it. “By the shedding of blood is deliverance, salvation.” Know how they should have humbled themselves, but they didn’t. They trusted the water’s behavior. Oh, how many are like this? I mean, it’s the same thing the Israelites did when they came to the sea itself. They saw, and that’s what they believed. And they have to be helped. God speaks, and they have to believe what He says—not what they can see. The Egyptians rushed in there. “The walls of this water, they’ll stay up there, we’ll be fine.” And they were destroyed. Oh, it’s this kind of presumption. I think there’s a lesson here—though it’s not spelled out at this juncture for the Hebrews—that is not the apostle equating the Jewish system with the presumption of the Egyptians. Is that not the point? Verse 29, which the Egyptians were saying to do—attempting to do, attempting to carry on the same way, thinking things will be fine. And here you have this Jewish system. The veil was rent in twain from top to bottom, and you think you can carry on not knowing that the way of salvation has been opened up through the Messiah. We have to believe on Him, and this priestly system is over—it is done. That’s Hebrews chapter 10 to remind you. It’s all been put away. And every priest standing, daily offering oftentimes the same sacrifices—which can never take away sin—yet there they are, carrying on, presumably thinking they’re doing the work of God, but they’re not. And so now they have become the Egyptians—which is not for the first time, because Israel is called Egypt by the prophet Isaiah as well—full of unbelief, trying to mimic faith, trying to mimic a way of salvation. If you have not Christ, you perish. Underline it. Get it into your heart. If I do not have Christ, I have nothing—no hope, no salvation.

Faith also saw the walls crumble—not just the sea crossed, but the walls crumble. Come to verse 30: “By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encompassed about seven days.” So, you think of the Israelites here—they trusted God’s promise, right? God had given them a word, and I can’t take time to go back again to the scene and take you to Joshua 5 and 6 and read through all those details, which are quite lengthy. I’m sure many of you are somewhat familiar with what happens—going into the promised land, or going at God’s Word—and they’re facing their enemies, and there’s this great walled city of Jericho that seems to stand in their way. But they’re told to go forward. And they’re given a specific command here in relation to the city. This second generation who have come out of the wilderness—in Hebrews 3 especially, when the focus is on the wilderness period, it is used to illustrate what you don’t want to be—but the second generation comes. They’re on the edge of the promised land; they’re coming in, facing a city of towering walls, a fortress that defies every effort of humanity to pull down, but they are to do something specific. They stand there, prepared, ready for battle, and yet they’re told, “Don’t wield your swords at this point; just be quiet, and go around the city once a day, and keep doing that for six days. Then on the seventh day, you go round it seven times, and the final time then, you’re gonna blow your trumpet and so on and so forth, and the walls are gonna come down.” I mean, it sounds absurd. The whole thing just sounds bizarre. But they are to obey. It may not have made sense to them; it may not have made sense to anyone. But they took God at His Word, and they went forward. They blasted their trumpets, and the people shouted, and the walls came down. “By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down.”

You say, “Well, how did they come down?” There must have been—maybe it was, as they walked and marched around the walls, they were thumping their feet. And it was the vibrations of their feet against the walls, repetitively over that week, that eventually diminished the strength of the walls. Or maybe they were sabotaging the walls in some way as they made their way around—doing something, maybe a little chisel here and a little chisel there, just weakening the structure through engineering prowess—so that the final call with the blast of the trumpet and the shout of their voices, the whole thing would just fall apart. No—the apostle tells you how it came to pass: by faith, believing God’s Word. You need to get this, because you’re faced with—and if you’re not currently, you will face—challenges where you will be so tempted by every machinery of your own power to manipulate an outcome. And everything in God’s providence will be indicating to you, “Just sit still, just watch, just trust, just believe.” Seek my faith in this matter. And still, you’ll be so desperate to try and manipulate some kind of end. I’m not saying we are to shirk our responsibilities—no, we’re not to walk away from duty—but you have to assess at times when God is saying, “Just watch.” When our children come before us, making decisions that grieve us, when they start to make choices and go down certain paths, and you want to harness whatever remaining power you have to make it impossible for them to go down that way—you may try it, but at some point you’re gonna realize that what God is putting before you is not a conundrum for you to solve, but a challenge to your faith—their hearts you’re not sovereign over. But who is? And you’re to pray and intercede, and you’re to depend on Him until He works.

So this is what they did: they trusted God’s Word, they clung to it, believing what He said would happen, that He would do. But they not only trusted God’s promise—they trusted God’s promise perseveringly. That’s the emphasis of verse 30: “By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days.” It didn’t happen immediately. This protracted experience, the event is drawn out, and it is tied into the perseverance that undergirds this chapter frequently. Again, Abraham promised his son, Sarah, being encouraged to wait and trust God. They have to wait for it. And the emphasis—if you go back again to verse 13—is, “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.” What is it saying? That undergirding genuine evangelical saving faith is this aspect of perseverance wherein you’re given promises that you may not see come to pass. They received the promises; they saw them, but they could not see them come to pass. That wasn’t God’s time. And this is so much of what Hebrews is driving at. And so there’s this expression again of persevering in a certain path—just obeying the Word day by day, trusting Him, walking around—even though it may not make any sense, looking to an unseen or unknown future, in the sense that they’re not in control of it, but they believe God is going to do something, and that’s enough for them. And so they keep going around—there they are, day after day, just going, plodding along. That’s your life, Christian. That’s your life—you are plodding around the city, as it were, waiting for God to do what He has promised. And again, they could have been those who come to a point—maybe get up some morning and say, “What’s the use in this?” Because maybe they had in their mind that progressively, as day by day they walked around that city, there would be a gradual deconstruction of the walls of Jericho. And so perhaps in their company were those that were getting up on the fifth and sixth day and saying, “What is the point in this? This isn’t doing anything.” And by this stage, those within the walls are laughing at us.

Oh, there’s so much that I could say. We think of the act of preaching—it’s described by the apostle as the foolishness of preaching, because there are better ways to spread a religion in terms of you’re just looking for the sheer efficacy of it. That’s why Muhammad takes the sword; that’s why you have Jihad. Because if you really want to see the spread of something, then bring fear, threat of your life upon people. You can spread something that way—the foolishness of preaching. That’s how the church goes forward. We are in a present context; there’s a lot of talk of Christian nationalism. And listen, I am the last person who’s going to stand up and say, “I would rather ungodly people lead our country.” No—given the choice, I’ll take a God-fearing person every day of the week. And given that choice, I trust if we are given such choices when it comes to voting—where we have God-fearing people that are there to be elected—that we do so. But I sense undergirding some of the language is more a spirit of jihadism: “Force America into a Christian state of mind.” Well, that’s not foolish. That’s a tactic that makes perfect sense to the human mind. But the gospel that God blesses is extended through the foolishness of preaching. Let us never forget it. And you can win short battles through political machinery, and you can lose the war. Let our churches shine. Let us see that what you’re a part of as a Christian is God’s plan—a plan for the furtherance of His kingdom, which is number one through the church. Now, does it reach out to the state? Should it put its arms into the political sphere to influence? Yes, I think we should pray for that—you hear me, pray for that. But we have to be careful. And again, I think there’s a fine balance here when it comes to assessing what really is the motivation. But I’m urging you to make sure that we prioritize that which may, to the world, appear foolish, and not rally around that which just seems to make sense to men. We may find ourselves on the wrong side, all told. So we don’t throw away our opportunities, but we must be careful that we don’t fall into the same kind of religion as the unbelievers—where it’s all about what we can see and what we can do, and there’s no trust, no resting in the Lord. Oh, how we need to keep persevering, keep walking round those walls, keep going to those lost souls, keep going to the streets, keep going to the boys’ home, keep going to the opportunities and the open doors, and endeavour to keep opening the Word in the home, keep giving yourself to these foolish, apparently weak and insignificant means that God has appointed and will bless, and trusting Him to use it. We grow weary in prayer because the answer has not come. We may falter in our being because the results are not immediate, but let us not stop on the sixth day. Let us not make our way halfway around on the final day. Let us be all the way to the end, persevering, trusting the Lord, believing His words.

This is what the Hebrews needed to hear, facing persecution, facing trials, facing the mockery coming from the walls of Jericho—as they would laugh at them for what they’re doing, as they would mock them. Some of the theology of this book has been in addressing the mockery and the theological attacks upon the Christians—the Jewish Christians—questioning, “How could Jesus be priest? He’s not of the tribe of Levi.” And that’s what’s been argued. Well, here’s how: God’s Word prophesies of a priest who is not of the tribe of Levi. We’re waiting for Him to come, and He has come. He is after an order that is distinct and different. We see then the fulfillment of messianic hope in Him, and so on and so forth. I mean, coming with their mockery and their theological challenges and saying, “How can you have any hope in this? You have nothing. What have you? You have no temple, no place to worship, no blood sacrifices, no priesthood, and so on.” No, we don’t. We have something better—something greater. That’s Hebrews. A better sacrifice. But again, it’s unseen.

Finally, faith. “By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” As you make your way through this, I doubt very much if you were writing it and saying, “Give me the best historical examples of faith. Throw them at me—come on.” And then, would you think of Rahab? Would she come into your mind? Probably not. But she is put there because of what faith she had. And again, you have to see this future orientation of it. Here’s a harlot—a Gentile, someone who had no spiritual privileges and had certainly lived a life of ill repute—and we still can’t go over it; like we still can’t get past her past. I mean, you’re not calling your daughters Rahab, are you? But she is spared. She did not see the Red Sea part. She did not accompany all the miracles through the wilderness. She had not heard the thundering voice of God at Sinai, nor feasted on the manna. But Joshua 2:9 says, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land.” She heard the rumors, God’s mighty works—all that He had accomplished, all that He had done—and she believed. Before they got there, before the marching armies under Joshua had reached Jericho, there was a woman in there believing. And she’s looking for deliverance. Her heart is increasingly filled with a sense of hope. And she’s there in a place in which judgment is about to fall. She’s determined to get on that ark, as it were. She is determined that she is going to avoid that judgment and align herself with the believing people. And so she doesn’t sit there doing nothing. At personal risk, she welcomes the spies, conceals them, sends them out in safety. Jericho—all the inhabitants, all the people around her—they’re all trusting the walls. Not Rahab. She’s not trusting the walls at all. Her heart’s already trusting God—resting in Him, depending on Him. Deliverance is not behind these walls; deliverance is in the God of Israel. So this is what she did. She perished not with them that believed not.

Oh, how that is meant to punch those Hebrews—it’s meant to hit them in the gut. “Ye are at risk of believing not. God sent His Son. He lived, He died, He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven. Ye believe this. Ye have testified to this. And now, are ye going to turn back?” Let me warn you, ye will perish with them that believed not. For these Israelites—who could give their credentials like Paul in Philippians 3, and of the Hebrews, the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, and so on—are like us. And yet, if you’re not careful, you’ll perish. When Rahab, the harlot, was saved—save, why? Because she could look forward and see what the natural eye could not see. She was trusting God before even Joshua with his armies appeared. And oh, how God honored her. She becomes a mother in Israel, truly—great, great grandmother of King David, an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Himself. You see how God takes these people—people that we won’t even name our children after—and He says, “She is mine.” “By faith, the harlot Rahab…” You know, you read that and you think, “Is it fair to keep describing her that way?” I think it gets to even some of what we dealt with last Lord’s Day evening—the whole subject of shame. If our modern psychology were writing this, they would not put in the word “harlot.” They would say, “She’s in Christ. It’s all in her past. Don’t bring it up again.” And there’s truth in that; there’s truth in that. But the way it is communicated is in such a way that I believe is unhelpful—remembering the pit from whence you’ve been digged, to use that language—reminds us of how merciful God has been. I don’t feel shame about it in the sense that I am overcome by it or that it is my identity. No, I am in Christ and I’m blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, and I’m seated in heavenly places with Christ. But I like to remember that God didn’t save a clean, perfect person. God saved a harlot. God saved an atheist. God saved an idol worshiper. God saved a self-righteous wretch, or however you may describe your past before you came to Christ. The heart of Rahab perished not.

Yes, you Israelites—with all your pride, and all your identity, and the oracles of God, and the promises of God, and the covenants, and everything given to you—and you, God has sent His Son, and you’re veering away. You’re thinking about drawing back. Verse 39 again. Verse 38: drawing back. And there’s Rahab—she did not. No. Wonderful thing. What a wonderful thing the blood of Jesus Christ is. What a wonderful thing true evangelical faith is—that just takes God at His Word and believes Him, aligns with the Lord, even at the threat of her own life. She would have been caught by any of the inhabitants of Jericho; it was over for her if she had not trusted God. You know, her name is used in various ways in Scripture. But one of the meanings of Rahab is the idea of spacious—a spacious place. Rahab’s past had been confined to the walls of Jericho, and our future was to be brought into this spacious place. And I’m not talking necessarily about the land; I’m not referring to where she would live finally. I’m talking about the space for her soul—the expanse of divine mercy—the knowledge that those walls, in which she was trapped, confined her to her sin, and people would have written her off. She looked and saw in God a mercy that would receive her. I would say she looked and saw in God something that some of the Israelites would have struggled to see. There’s no way anyone in Jericho was going to be saved—least of all the prostitutes of the city. Don’t you love the way God writes the story? Don’t you love the way redemption meanders into places that we would never imagine going to? God’s message goes and finds those impossible cases and makes them not just to be saved, but an example of faith. “By faith, Rahab…” the heart. So here you are. Do you trust God? Really believe God? Are you so living like someone trapped in the walls of Jericho, and all you can see is the material, and all you can see are the problems, and all you can see are the difficulties? Or has faith broken you out of those walls, enabled you to see the promises of God, even though you have yet to fully see them? One day we’re going to stand before Him. We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. You will—you will give account.

The bottom line is, have I put Christ first? Have I trusted Him entirely for the salvation of my soul? Is my hope built completely on His person and work, or am I trying to layer up my own little walls of salvation—to build my own little way to God? I trust in this: we find no religionists here, just those endeavoring to work their own way to God. Christ—Christ alone. Though He be unseen by the physical eye, He is the only way of salvation. May God help us to trust Him.

Let’s bow together in prayer.
Children, are you saved, you boys and girls? Are your sins all forgiven, washed away? Are you still trapped in the walls of unbelief in a city? Are you stepping out, trusting God for salvation, believing that He will save you, forgive you, and make you His child? Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst bless Thy Word; help us to dwell upon and consider, to meditate upon what we have heard this morning. Wherever we are succumbing to circumstances, if there be any part of our lives being governed not by Thy Word but by what we can see and feel, I pray that it might be demolished and our whole faith and our whole trust would be in what God said. I pray then that we would truly love Thy Word, and that it would be our meditation all the day—that we would be a people who enjoy the strengthening influence of the sweetness of the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. Oh, what wonder it is that God would speak and reveal Himself to men and give us the preciousness of His Word. That we might dwell and meditate therein. Oh, make us frequent visitors of Thy Word. May our souls be nourished and our whole lives governed by Thy precious, infallible truth. So bless us, build us up in our most holy faith. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.