Voice of the Nazarene 2-8-26

Voice of the Nazarene 2-8-26

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Ray, coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene. A week by week, venture into the Word of God, sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:17

I'm reading from Hebrews chapter 12, beginning in verse one been talking about witnesses, he said, Wherefore seeing, we also are compassed about from the great grandstands of heaven, a great cloud of witnesses. Not only from the 11th Chapter, we've been taking a tour through the museum of faith, but all those who have gone on from this ministry and across this district and from the church in general that are counting on us to carry the baton, to keep the gospel clean, not to become faint and to fail and to give up. And he said, Let us lay aside every weight, if you got any hindrances, habits, hang ups, attitudes, if you need to lay them aside, get rid of any sin and look to Jesus, lest we become weary and faint at heart. It's easy to have a prayer that doesn't seem to get answered. It's easy sometimes to carry loads that it seemed like there's no relief from. Are you still running the race? Are you are you still hanging in there and running? What we've been doing, we've been allowing us to run with the giants of the faith and looking at different heroes from this 11th Chapter, and asking them just to run a little lap with us so we can learn from their lives how they made it, what they endured, their failures, their successes, to help us with what we're dealing with on a daily basis, in the lives that we're living. And we're picking up one of the women from that great chapter, only two women listed. Only one was a Gentile. Never forget, Rahab was a Gentile, and it's the 31st verse of that 11th Chapter by faith the harlot, Rahab perish not with them that believed not. Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of Britain, said, if you want something said, ask a man. But if you want something done. Ask a woman during the 21st Century, they say, with all the progression that a fellow had gone to a surgeon, a brain surgeon, and inquired if he could buy a new brain, and the surgeon said, Well, yes, that how much would it cost? Well, if you get a woman's brain, it'll be $5,000 but if you get a man's brain, there'll be $25,000 and he asked, Well, why is the woman's brain so cheap? He said, because it's been used. We're talking about a woman here today, and her name is Rahab. And she went from the hall of shame to the Hall of Fame, lady of the night, but she began to walk in the light. Three quick things. I want you to notice her exercise of her faith. Look at what Hebrews 1131 by faith, the harlot Rahab perish not with them that believe not. And here's what I want you to know, salvation, always has been and always will be, grace through faith. It's grace through faith, the grace of God and our faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Now, Rahab story is found clear back in the book of Joshua with chapter two. I'd urge you to read it. Look at it chronologically and and you'll get a better background knowledge. But it talks about the city in which you lived, city called Jericho, the oldest city in the world. Small population. It was located on the west bank. It's now controlled by Palestinians. It has about 99% Muslim if you go there. Fact of the matter, if you go, you'll have to have an Arab guide. Jews are not allowed to enter into that city. Today, they worship Allah. Back in rahab's day, they they worship the moon god. On a night with a moon in its bright splendor, the Queen of the Night would come out. They the object of their worship was the moon they were passed. Pagan worshiper. She was a pagan and her house was built. It was called a wall city. Her house was built in the wall at the gate. Fact of the matter, strangers coming in and citizens going out would have to pass right through that little red light district. Now, some Bible commentators have cleaned up the act, and they say that she was an innkeeper. She was, let me tell you, hotel No. Tell rooms with benefits. And I'm not trying to make it bad, but it was, in a sense, a kind of a motel, but it had some shady things going on, if you catch what I'm saying. But not only that city, look at her condition. She's an Amorite or a Canaanite, I'm not sure, but she was a Gentile. And there are certain occupations that we associate with, certain biblical characters. And when you bring up a certain biblical names, immediately an occupation comes to mind. We think of Abraham, the herdsman. We think of David, and we think of a shepherd. We think of Herod, and we think of a king. We think of Esther, and we think of a of a queen. We think of Isaiah, and we're talking about a prophet. We talk about Nehemiah, and we think of a cup bearer, Peter, a fisherman, and cavius, a High Priest. Joseph was a carpenter, and of course, Paul was a tent maker. Lydia was a seller, a purple cloth. But when you bring up the name Rahab, the occupation that comes to mind, and only one, prostitution of the lowest four. And let me explain a little bit about her. Not only that, she was called a harlot. She was nothing more, nothing else, nothing less. She traded sex for money, said to be the oldest occupation of the world. Did you notice the Bible makes no attempt to cover it up? It doesn't try to gloss over it. It just keeps repeating and repeating and repeating. Rahab, the prostitute, the harlot. Now, apparently she had done pretty well. I mean, she had a townhouse on the wall, and if you read there in Joshua 215 it said her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelled upon the wall. She done well financially, but she was a bad woman. But did you know there's nobody that's too bad, but what Jesus can't forgive them of their sin? Do you know there's nothing you can do, or distance that you can go over what God reaches out to you. You see, Jesus didn't come to rub our sins in. He came to rub them out. And remember this, anything that you can remember, he's able to forget. So it. I just may ought to add this, nobody's so good, but what they don't need a savior too. Nobody's so good, but what they don't need Jesus. And I know some folk are too good to go to hell, but they're not good enough to go to heaven. And I worry about it. I see her city. I see her condition, but I noticed her conversion. Moses dies, and Joshua becomes the new leader. And Joshua, he's now left with 2 million Israelis, with Jews, and he's got to get him into the promised land. And then wandered for 40 years. 40 years before, he had been a spy under the leadership of Moses, Moses saw into the promised land, but he wasn't allowed to go in. God buried him somewhere. Nobody's ever able to find his body, but God buried him and Joshua, he knew soon as they cross the Jordan River, their first battle would be with this city called Jericho. In order to get into the Promised Land, it's the line of defense that he'll he'll have to deal with. Now he had been a spy 40 years ago. So he gathers two men with him, and he announces, I want you to spy out not the promised land. We've already done that, but I want you to spy out Jericho, and I want you to bring back a report and let us know what our chances are to bring it down. And here's the amazing thing, these these two spies, when they slip through the gate, of course, they're going right by rahab's house, her business, and in order to hide out, they use that as their hideout. And when she saw him, she immediately recognized these two men of God, these two Jews who were a part of that great crowd that's coming to take. Over the land. And here's what she says in Joshua two nine, she says to the man, I know that the Lord has given you the land. I know we live here, but it's going to be your land, and that our terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you, for we have heard how the Lord has dried up the waters of the Red Sea, for which, when you came up out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you? For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above. Have you figured that out? And in earth below, there's not a devil in hell big enough to defeat God on earth. He's the God also beneath. Now, she didn't fear the army of Israel. She feared the God of Israel. And the good thing is, if God can save Rahab, God can save anybody. And if God can save anybody, God can save you. And if God can save you, God can save your entire household. He can save your neighbors. He could bring him to church and people you work with, he can save them. And what is she saying to these two spies? She was saying, I used to be a harlot, but I've come to accept the true God of Israel. I heard how 40 years ago, God part of the Red Sea, when Moses stepped out and put his rod out. God jumped out of the other end of that rod and part of the waters. She said, I know that in numbers 21 how God help you to utterly defeat those two Amorite kings? And she said, Now I'm a worshiper of Yahweh, the true God of Israel. Now listen, when a person becomes a Christian, when a person gives their heart to Jesus and become saved. It involves three things. Let me give you a little scripture. It's Romans 10 Nine, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. So your question to me is, well, what is a heart? If a man's believing with his heart, what is a soul? Pastor? Well, it's comprised of three things, and there are three elements for a person to come to Christ. First of all, the mind. The mind, look at what she said, for we have heard how the Lord has dried up the waters of the Red Sea. Immediately her five senses kicked in and and registered to her mind and and she said, we've heard that in Romans 1013, says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call upon Him whom they have not believed, and how shall and how shall they believe upon him and whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear unless God sends a preacher? And then that 17th verse, it says so, then faith cometh by hearing. Said, we heard, I never saw the Red Sea part, but I heard I never saw the quail and the manna that for 40 years fed those Israelites. But we heard about it said, I never saw that cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but, but we heard Faith cometh by hearing. Let me tell you something. There's a big difference between hearing something and hearing something. You can come to church. You can kind of hear but it doesn't mean you catch on, especially when your mind is on what happened yesterday and those problems you're dragging in with you are worrying about what's going to take place tomorrow, and salvation involves the mind, and people need to hear that's why preachers preach. Can I just tell you something this morning, there may be someone here that their last opportunity to hear the gospel is this morning, I stood down in Jackson, Ohio some time ago, and preached a revival, and on Saturday night, conviction swept across the crowd, and that night, a man walked out of that service and died and never made it back to the close of the Meeting, whom God was dealing with, it was his service. And what I'm trying to say to you, if God is dealing with somebody they need to hear, don't be moving around. Don't whisper to somebody and distract them from hearing the gospel. For hearing the gospel is what brings our faith. Us into energy and and, and we respond, and not only the mind. Here's the second thing, the emotion. She said, as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man. Now you gotta understand, Jericho was a walled city. Is famous for its walls, and it's only six acres inside of this wall, and they were limited between 12 102,000 population. That's as big as this city was, but it was a stronghold because it had those walls. Jericho is located only two miles from the Jordan River. On the other side of that river, Joshua has got 2 million of those Jews, and they're about to come across the water. And these people 1200 to 2000 realizing that 2 million are about to come. Their hearts are melting. They're frightened in their very boots, the end is coming, and the only thing they can depend on with the walls. And she said it scared us to death. Somebody said, Don't you don't need to go up there to be and see that preacher try to scare you. Well, I'd rather scare you into heaven that allow you to be lulled into hell. I went to a doctor some time ago here in town because they need they need a visit. They're lonely, they don't have as much patience as they ought to have. So I went to help him out a little bit, and he's one of these heart health doctors, and he looked at my blood work, and he said, your cholesterol is high. It's 285 I said, good for me. I'm doing good. No. He said, that's bad. Plus, he said, you're overweight. I said, I'm not. I'm I'm a foot too short. He said, you need an aspirin in the morning. I wanted to tell him what he needed, and he said, you need another pill for your cholesterol at night. Now you tell me something. Why? Why do we go to a doctor and we allow them to scare the very life out of us, but we come to church and we don't want the preacher to say anything that would bring any fear at all. Why do we have a problem with that? When the doctor's trying to help you physically survive a little longer, and a preacher's trying to keep you out of hell, and he's saying, if you don't get right with God, you're going to be lost. And we have a problem with that. Why do we just want to come to church and be comfortable? I'm called to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I'm trying to do my job. I'm called to preach, and so the the mind, the emotions, but there's a third thing, and that's the will. And she made up her mind she was going to serve God. I'm not following this pagan idols anymore. I'm not going to worship the moon. She said, God, Your God is in heaven above and in earth beneath. She made a conscious decision. She used her will. And when you accept Christ, it involves your mind. It involves your emotions. It involves your will. So what is the soul? It's mind, emotions and and will. But I also want you to see the evidence of her faith. What's the evidence of her faith? James two, verse 25 the half brother of Christ, is writing, and he responds by saying, likewise, also was not Rahab, the harlot justified by works. Boy, that's a strange one, isn't it? When she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. Now get this folk. We know we're not saved by works. We're saved through faith, through His grace. But if you get saved, you will work okay, if you become a Christian, you want to serve God. I think too many around the church just kind of want to sit there and hear their favorite song. I shall not be moved. We like singing, standing on the promises. And there we dangle our feet over the side and set on the premises. God didn't save you to set and sour God saved you to serve. Now these two spies show up at the door, and Rahab meets them. Took one look, and she knew they were God sent, and she immediately responded and said, I know the true God of Israel. I know Yahweh, I know what's about to happen. I know that destruction is coming. This city is going to go up and and the walls are coming down, and God's going to take over. And she said, The King is sending his men to find you. If they do, they will kill you. I want to hide. You, and she took him up to the roof and hid him under some stalks of flax. There's a knocking at the door. By the time she gets downstairs, and she answers the door, and there stands the guards, and they said, We're searching for two Israelis. Have you seen him? She said, Yes, I have. But she said, when it got dark, they left. Now, I'm not justifying her. She lied. Do you ever lie? Besides, at night? Do you rely Well, she lied? You say, Well, Pastor, I'm living the sinless life. Well, congratulations. Some people, the only time they'll ever live above sin as if they were in a room above a bar. Zoom that went by and you missed it. I just want to simply say, when we come to to Christ, we become forgiven. We don't become perfect. We're forgiven, but we're not perfect, and we're new believers. I think we ought to be patient with new believers. Now I know what I'm about to say is not popular, and I like being popular, but it's never happened yet, but I'm working on it, but what I'm preaching is true. You become forgiven, but not perfect. You're saying you're being soft on sin. Well, when you become a Christian, you don't become sinless, but I will tell you, you'll sin less. It may been that you had a real cursing problem before you were converted. You get saved, you lose about 50% of your vocabulary, you just have to hunt for words to express yourself after this. And it may be in you, it was a smokestack before, and it may be some folks struggle with something. Some folk get instantly delivered from some things and other areas in their life. They struggle. They're a brand new convert, and they have to deal with some of that and be patient with them. Now back to the story. She said to these two spies, when you come back, and I know you will and you take this land, would you spare me and my family? That's why Noah built that ark. Was for the salvation of his family. There was enough room for others, but they didn't choose to get a board. She couldn't get the whole city say. But what about my family? Would you spare him now, when God was going to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt's bondage, you remember that God said He was going to smite the firstborn of every Egyptians family, and he said to the Jews, go out and get a lamb and slay the lamb and take the blood and apply it over the top of the door and on both wall, both sides, put the blood above and put it on both sides. And when the death angel comes and he sees the blood. See the cross. He'll pass over you when he sees Jesus Christ and His blood applied to our life. That's when the death angel passes over. She said, take care of my family when you come back to this land. And she said, I'm going to let you down over the wall. And here he says, In in Joshua 218 and she let him down with a scarlet cord. What saved him that scarlet cord she let him down and said in verse 16, once you get away, stay hid for three days, and then, then you can appear. Do you catch that? Do you ever put some of this stuff together. You are. You just read this stuff. Do you know that Jesus hung on a bloody cross and died, and they took him down to the blood and they took his body and buried it in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day he reappeared, he rose from the dead triumphant over the grave and over death and hell. Aren't you glad? And then they said, that cord that saved us, will you come back? If you'll hang that cord out of your window, up there on the wall, and the cities being destroyed will spare you. And I want to tell you something, when they saw that red cord, they all knew not to touch that house. Now I want to close with her elation of her faith. The walls came crashing down. That's not my message. But I want you to look at Joshua six, verse 25 and Joshua saved Rahab, the harlot alive, and her father's household and all that she had, and she dwelleth in Israel, even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua was sent to spy out Jericho. Everybody in the house was spared. And if you read the story, and I want you to this afternoon, the spies said, if anybody leaves that house. And they die, and they perish, the blood's going to be on them. You tell them to stay in the house. Can I tell you something? You need to be in the house. You need to be getting your friends out yonder and get them into God's house. We need to be under the blood. And she's called Rahab the harlot. Now the story moves from a scarlet woman to a scarlet cord. And you know what sad to me as I read the story? What is sad is a lot of people like her live with this label. She had this label always on her life. Rahab the harlot. What a label. You know, Dan the deceiver, hell of the home wrecker, Andy the addict, there's Bell the molester, there's Betty the bankrupter. And we people live under these labels. And maybe this morning hearing this message, maybe your life more identifies with Rahab than it did with Joseph when I preached on him the other morning and preaching about Noah, maybe your life lines up more. She had a bad background, but she met the true God, and she said, my days of prostitution are over. And then, did you know what happened? A man came along and fell in love with her, said to be one of the two spies came back and looked her up, and his name was salmon. You remember the story? And he said, I love you. I know you've been with a lot of men, but I know that God's forgiven you. Aren't you glad God's in the equation? And he said, I want to marry you. And Solomon married Rahab, and they had a little baby, and they named it Boaz. And Boaz married Ruth. She was a Gentile. And go back to the story Hebrews 11. Well, before I get to that, I just want to remind you that when Ruth and Boaz was buried, they had a son named Obed and on on down the way, and she became the great, great grandmother of King David, and later on, Jesus is born into that whole lineage. This was amazing. This week. I hadn't really thought about it, but Jesus the Jew had a great, great, great, great, great grandmother who was a Gentile, and then following that was another grandmother that was a Ruth, a Gentile. Now here is Rahab with this label always on her Hebrews 11 called her Rahab the harlot. James, chapter two, verse 25 she's called Rahab the harlot. Every place she's called Rahab, that's all. It mentions the harlot. But when you get to the genealogy of Jesus over here in Matthew chapter one, verse five, it says Solomon, the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Pastor. Why didn't they say Rahab the harlot? It's the only time it refers to as just Rahab. Why? Because when you have a birth, you have no past, but wait when you're born again. You don't have a past. You're a brand new creature in Christ, Jesus, and you're not Rahab anymore, the harlot. You're Rahab washed in the blood and how God took her from the hall of shame to the Hall of Fame. Scarlet cord was involved. But the Bible said she perished not because she believed and not with those that believe not. She was a believer. Life had changed by faith. By faith, she became a part of the great kingdom of God. I want you to know something, everything's by faith. Anyhow, you may not have seen but maybe somebody preached a message and you heard, Father,

Unknown: 29:11

thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC pastor Ray La Salle for more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org, you.