Gillespie, J Stewart: Gospel Message-John 14:6-The Way Of Escape

Event meeting here. So now open our Bibles, please. If you have a Bible, you can follow our reading tonight in the book of Joshua, the book of Joshua, and it's chapter number two. Joshua chapter number two. And, eh, that's right at the beginning of your Bibles, if you're looking it up, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua. It's in the sixth book of the Bible, Joshua chapter number two. And eh, we have been looking over the past few Sundays when we've spoken at at things concerning the Lord Jesus. Eh, we call it aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus, things that the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Perhaps we've heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, uh, and we've maybe even heard of the cross at Calvary. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ did something very important at Calvary, something that affects me today in New Calnock in two thousand and six. It's something that the Lord Jesus Christ did two thousand years ago has an impact upon me right now. Uh, what he did, of course, was he died for my sins at the cross of Calvary. He provided a way for me to be forgiven of my sins and one day to be in the presence of God. And if I'm going to be saved, and this is very important, if I'm going to be saved, if I'm going to be in heaven, if I'm going to have my sins forgiven, God has only made one way, not many ways. There are many ways out there tonight. You could have a choice of religion if you like tonight, everything from Buddhism to Islam to Christianity and all of its variants, but God has made one way in which I might be right with him, one way to heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. I am, said the Lord Jesus, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. And the reason the Lord Jesus Christ could say that was because only the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins at the cross. Now, we've thought over the past few Sundays of things that the Lord Jesus Christ did at Calvary. We've thought that at Calvary he suffered and that he offered a sacrifice for sin, and we've thought too of how if I just come in faith to the Lord Jesus, he's able to cleanse me, to take away my sin. And tonight I want to suggest another thing that the Lord Jesus Christ has done, another way of thinking about the work of the Lord Jesus. And I want to suggest to you that when the Lord Jesus Christ died at the cross of Calvary, he made a lifeline, he made a way of escape, a way that I might be saved. We talk about salvation, being saved, and what we mean by that is that we might have a lifeline. We might grab hold of a lifeline to get out of danger. The Bible tells me that I'm in danger tonight. Now, I know that most people in the village just bury their head in their sands about that danger, and they ignore the fact they're going to die. They ignore the fact that God will judge them. They ignore the fact they'll stand before God. But the Bible tells me that we are in danger. It's a fearful thing, a frightening thing to fall into the hands of the living God because there is judgment. Beware, says the word of God, beware of God unless he come and he takes you away with his stroke. We're in danger, but there's a lifeline, something that I can grab hold of, a way out of danger, and that is the person of the Lord Jesus. Now, we want to look at Joshua chapter two, but oftentimes the Bible will teach us important truth, not only by stating it, but by illustrating it to us, and we have an example of it in Joshua chapter two. Verse number one. And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into a harlot's house, a prostitute's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house, for they they come to search out of the country. And the woman took the two men and hid them and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were. And it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Whither the men went, I wot not, because, eh, I wot not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had, eh, laid in order upon the roof. And the men pursued after them, eh, the way to Jordan unto the fjords, and as soon as they were pursued after them, were gone out, they shut the gate. And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof, and she said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan. Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had 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 and in earth beneath. Now, therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token, and that you will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren and my sisters, and all they, all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. And the men answered her, our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business, and it shall be when the Lord hath given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. Then she let them down by a cord to the window, for her house was upon the town wall, uh, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers, uh, be returned, and afterwards, uh, may you go your way. Verse eighteen, Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren and all thy father's household home unto thee. Now, just over the page a wee bit to chapter six, just a couple of verses, quite a long reading that. Come back to that in a minute. Joshua chapter six and verse sixteen. What we've just read is the story of two spies going into the, uh, great city of Jericho. They were looking around to see what the city was like. They were hid by Rahab, and eh, eh, the, the, the men were, the men escaped from the city by going out of Rahab's window, and she let them down by a cord. Uh, and eh, it was, the deal was struck there, did you notice that the deal was struck in Joshua chapter number two, that when they came eventually, uh, uh, to fight against Jericho, she would take that cord that she had let the men down by, and she would tie it outside her window, uh, and when they saw the cord, then she would escape. Verse number, chapter six, verse number sixteen. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpet, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city, and the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that you sent. In a verse or two in the New Testament as well, you'll find these verses in the book of Hebrews. I'll just read them to you. Hebrews chapter number six. Hebrews chapter number 6, and verse eighteen says this. That That by by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge till they hold upon the hope set before us, which hope they have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. And finally, a very brief reading in First Corinthians, uh, chapter ten, and I'll just read it to you. First Corinthians chapter ten, verse thirteen to fifteen. This is our verse really for the night. First Corinthians ten, and verse thirteen, right at the end of that verse, is a promise that God is faithful, and he will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape. He will make a way to escape. A promise that God will make a way to escape. Well, we've done a lot there tonight. Most of it I suspect we'll forget, but remember that little verse that God has promised he will make a way to escape, and we want to think about that tonight. We want to think, first of all, of the fact that we are in danger. The Bible tells us that we are sinners. The Bible tells us that every single person, no matter how good we might try or how a religious a life we might have or otherwise, the Bible tells us that as far as God is concerned, and at the end of the day, it is God's opinion that matters, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You'll read that in the book of Romans chapter number three. Secondly, the Bible not only tells me that I'm a sinner, but the Bible also tells me that one day God will judge me. God will judge. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God because there is wrath or because there is the judgment and anger of God, beware. So number one, I'm a sinner. Number two, I will be judged. And number three, there is only one way out of that judgment, and it is not by trying hard, it is not by good works, it is by putting my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. For God, says the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that is the Lord Jesus, that whosoever believeth in him need not perish but have everlasting life. So there is a way that I might be saved, I might have everlasting life, I might know what it is to have my, my sins forgiven by putting my trust in the Lord Jesus. Amen. Now, in Joshua chapter two, amongst all of these verses, we found a lady, a lady. Oh, well, I suppose the folks maybe, uh, there in Jericho wouldn't call her a lady. Uh, she was a prostitute. Her name was Rahab, and we want to lift out some lessons from this woman, Rahab. Rahab was in a great city, Jericho. It was one of the, the mightiest cities of the day, and as far as I am able to, to, to, to, to see from the word of God, it had never before been defeated. And if you wanted to stay somewhere safe and sound, then you would stay in that place called Jericho. The walls were many feet thick. And this woman, uh, Rahab, she may have been many things, but she wasn't stupid. She had chosen a house in that place, and she had chosen it set in the wall of Jericho, I suppose the safest place on earth at that time. And there she was. You say she would be safe. She's in Jericho, but the people of God, the Israelites, are going to come against that city. They're really just a kind of ragamuffin army that they've been thrown out of Egypt, and that they're nomads, they have nowhere to stay, but they have the power of God behind them. The people round about begin to hear some of the things that God has been doing through these people. And the great city of Jericho is afraid that the Israelites are coming against them. Two spies come into the city. They end up in the house of Rahab, and Rahab shelters them. She hides them in the roof of her house. Remember, this is her city, and these are spies come out against her, but she hides them and shelters them in a s- in the roof of her home. And then at night time, in secret, she lets them down with a scarlet thread, a red rope, out of her window to escape. Now, I want to just lift out a few lessons from this, uh, this, this, this story of Rahab. The great thing, of course, there at the end is the importance of the red rope. We'll come back to that in a moment. This red rope, you see, that Rahab took, and she let this spies out of her home, that red rope would be the way that she would escape one day as well. For they they they made a deal, the spies made a deal with Rahab that when eventually the the army of Israel came against the city, when they saw the red rope, then she could escape. Now, I want you to see one or two things about this woman, and if you have your Bibles open in Joshua chapter number two, then I just draw your attention to to one or two things that are very important indeed. Look down at verse ten if you have your Bibles. Right, Kira, you're always awful good. I think you just sit round there. Come on, sit round, and you look forward. Always excellent. That's good. I hope you're going to be good tonight, aren't you? Verse number ten. I want you just to look down there, eh eh, chapter two, verse number ten. Here's this woman we have. We're going to lift some lessons out that we might just be able to apply to our own life. Verse ten to this: For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan. Verse eleven: as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt. Here's this woman. The first thing I want to tell you about Rahab, she knew she was in danger, and she took her danger seriously. She took her danger seriously. Very important. This is a woman, and she is in one of the strongest cities on the face of the earth. Her home is set in the city wall, but she knows there is danger, and she doesn't do what many of our, our folks round about us in the village do tonight. She doesn't just kind of sweep it under the carpet. She's going to deal with this danger, and she's going to take it seriously. Bible tells me I'm in danger, and as I look around about tonight, I see how people cope with that danger. They deny the reality of death. That's just foolish, but we're all going to die. They turn their back on God, and they pretend that they don't really have to deal with him. That is exceedingly unwise. And they deny that one day God will judge them, and that is utterly wrong. That is based in pride and in arrogance. And folks round about us, they deal with the danger that we're in by denying it and ignoring it. But this woman here, Rahab, in Joshua chapter number two, she was the only one in the whole city that took it serious. Only one. Only one that really had dealings with God in that city. Only one that took the, the danger that she was in seriously. Now listen, tonight we're going to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to tell you that you need to be saved. We're going to tell you that you are a sinner. We're going to tell you that one day God will judge you for your sin, and that if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you will be lost. Now, most people do not take that seriously. And if you believe that message, and if you put your trust in the Lord Jesus, if you become convicted that you're a sinner, and if you ask him into your life, you will be in the minority. But it does not matter. For the real issue is this, not was Rahab in the minority or the majority, but was Rahab right? And the sobering lesson of Joshua chapter two is that in that city of many thousand people, there was one woman who took the danger seriously, and she was right. It doesn't matter whether we're in the majority or the minority tonight, it matters whether or not they're right, they're right. You know, we had a friend who was a good bit older than me, obviously, but he used to work on aeroplanes, and he worked on aeroplanes during the Second World War. And his job was to oversee the repairs upon aeroplanes, uh, before they s- they took off in one of the combat missions to Germany. He he checked them all out and made sure they were fit to fly. Our friend Drew tells a story, eh eh, of one day getting in a a bomber or a fighter plane, eh, into the the the hangar, and eh he had to sort out this fighter plane so it was ready to fly in its next mission. He was under the command of a commanding officer and a number of other men, and the command came from the commanding officer that the plane is to take off and fly. It's needed for a mission. Our friend Drew stood up against the commanding officer, which was a serious thing, obviously, in the army, and he said to the commanding officer, the plane is not ready to fly. The commanding officer told him it is, and all of the men said it was ready to fly, but Drew, he said it wasn't. He was quite baffled for that, and he never went on that plane, which was just as well, because when it took off, it was not ready to fly, and it crashed, and they were all lost. The important point was this. It didn't matter about who was in the majority or the minority. It didn't matter who had the authority. What mattered was who was right, who was right. And Rahab knew she was in danger, and there was only one of her in the whole of the city, but she was right, she was right. So lesson number one from Rahab. She knew she was in danger, and she took it seriously. Now, the second thing I want just to draw your attention to is this, that not only did Rahab take the, the thing seriously, but I want you to see this, that she acted upon the warning. She acted upon the warning. You know, it would seem there, just from that chapter there, some of the verses that we read, you know, verse number ten, for example, that there was in that, that city that, that there was a sense, you know, that, that folks seemed just to be aware that maybe problems were looming. But for the most, they did nothing about it. They ignored it, as we said. But Rahab took the danger seriously, and she did something. She acted upon it. She knew that danger was just around the corner, but she knew she had to. You know, sometimes the thought struck me during the week as I was thinking about Joshua chapter two. The thought struck me, you know, that of all of these folks that leave New Covenant, many of them dying and opening up their eyes in hell. The thought struck me, you know, that for the most, when they open their eyes in hell, it will come as no surprise to them as to where they are. They will know exactly where they are. You know, for a number of, of, of months, I, I worked in an AV department, and people would come in off the street, and maybe they would have collapsed, and eh, you would bring them round, and they would open up their eyes, and the first thing that they would ask is the question, where am I? Where am I? And they would say, well, the last thing I remember, I was looking in a shop window, or or the last thing I remember, I was sitting on on on a stool in the pub, and and they open up their eyes and they're they're in an department, and they don't know where they are. They don't know where they are. But, you know, the sad thing is this, that I think for the most part, that when somebody dies and they open up their eyes and they find that their soul is lost and that they're in hell, they're in a lost eternity. I think for the most part, they'll know exactly where they are. It will come as no surprise to them. And there in Joshua chapter two, for the most part, the city knew that there was some kind of danger, but they didn't take it seriously, and they didn't act upon it. Verse number ten, uh, chapter two, for we have heard, here's a, here's a Rahab speaking about the people round about her. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, uh, when you came out of Egypt. Uh, verse ten, and as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. The people knew that there was a problem, but they did nothing about it. And when the problem finally came, in a sense, it was no surprise, but they were unprepared, and they did nothing about it. This woman, Rahab, lesson number one, she took the danger seriously. And lesson number two, she did something about it. She did something about it. I want you to see what she did. You'll notice down there in Joshua chapter number two. She's going to, she's going to, she's going to have this pact with these two men, these two spies that have come, eh, into to Jericho. Eh, chapter number two, verse number twelve. Look down there, verse number 12. Now therefore I tell you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token. Verse eighteen: Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window, which thou didst let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren and all thy father's household home unto thee. This woman knew that danger was coming. She was going to make provision for it. She was going to lay hold of a way of escape. She was going to get an escape route, a way out of the gate. It's very sad, you know, that when we come across folks in the village and they have met with danger, they've met perhaps with death, and they've come to it and they're totally unprepared. I was speaking to a widow not that long ago, just maybe a week or so ago, and she was speaking about the fact that her husband had recently died. He was an elderly man, and maybe it wasn't completely surprising that he had died, but for her it was a complete shock. And you know the word that she re- she used? It's a strange word that she used. An elderly man had passed away, he had gone into eternity, and a- and I asked her how she was feeling, and she said, you know, it was surreal. It was surreal. What do you mean by that? It was totally unexpected. It was something I had, I had never thought possible. It was something I had never ever planned for. Something that eh eh just it came upon us, and it was, it was just something I could never anticipate. In other words, an elderly couple growing older, the only absolute certainty at the end of the day that one day one of them would die, and they had never considered it a possibility, never considered it a possibility, never anticipated that it might come. And each day that they lived, they lived as if tomorrow was going to happen, as if tomorrow would be exactly the same as yesterday. Never ever making any provision or any plan for the fact that danger was around the corner. This woman was different. She saw danger. She made provision for that danger, and she took that danger seriously. And here in Joshua chapter two, she has what you and I might be able to have when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. She has an escape route, an escape route. And I want you to see this. There are two lovely features of this escape route. The first, uh, uh, verse number twelve, it's a promise, it's a promise. Verse number twelve, let me read it to you. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord. This woman, as she looks for an escape route, the first thing that she's got to do is she's got to rest on a promise. These two men are going to promise her that she'll be safe. Promise. So you'd maybe want more than a promise if you knew that that house and and that wall was going to come down and that every single person in in Jericho was slain. That's what they did, you know, the the Israelites when they came to Jericho, they slew absolutely everybody in Jericho, even the women and the children and even the animals. You see, you would want something more than just a promise. Well, she has a promise, a promise. And secondly, she's going to have something that she can hold on to. She's going to have some proof. Verse eighteen: Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou dost let us down by. She's going to have that rope that she can hang on to. She's going to have a promise, and she's going to have a proof. I want you to turn over with me again into the New Testament. I want you to show, to show you this, you know, that for you and I, if we're going to be safe, if we're going to have a, a way out, an exit, a safety route, then you and I too, we must lay hold of a promise. We read the, the verses there in Hebrews chapter five. I'll read them again, eh, to you. So Hebrews chapter six. How is it that I might be saved? Well, number one, Hebrews chapter six, verse seventeen says this: Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutable, uh, immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two unchanging things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong comfort or consolation who have fled for liberty. In other words, let me summarize that difficult verse. The, the Bible is saying this, you want to be safe. You want to be safe. You realize that there's danger. You realize, like Rahab, one day danger is going to come across your path. You're going to die, you're going to pass into the presence of God, and judgment is going to fall upon you. The thing, the first thing you must, you must put your trust in is this, the promise of God, the promise of God. You're going to have to base your promise upon the word of God. You say, Stuart, I need something a bit bigger than that, a bit stronger than that. I need something I can touch. I need a bit of religion. I need a nice cross that I can hold on to. I need a piece of jewelry. I need a nice big, uh, chapel or a big church to go to. I need some baptism. I- I- I need, I need some religion. No. The only thing that I can rest on that is going to be a way out, a safety route, is the promise of God, the promise of God. You say, what promise of God? Let me tell you the promise of God that will get me out of danger. John chapter three verse sixteen, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him need not perish but have everlasting life. You say, Stuart, how are you going to cope when death comes? How are you going to cope when you know that one day you're going to meet God? And Stuart, we know, we know that you've not lived a perfect life. We know some of your mistakes that you've made. So how are you going to cope standing in the presence of God? I'm going to cope the way that Rahab the harlot coped. I'm going to lay hold of the promise of God, the promise that God has offered to forgive my sin and to save me because I've put my trust in the Lord Jesus. You see, if I'm going to be in the presence of God, if I'm going to have my sins forgiven, I'm going to need more than just a dose of religion. I'm going to need something eternal, someone eternal, someone that is able to forgive my sin, and only the Lord Jesus Christ is able to do that. Only the Lord Jesus Christ has died for my sin at the cross, and only the Savior is able to forgive my sin. I remember once, you know, I knew a chap who was a Buddhist once. He was an interesting chap, and I remember that there was a problem came. He found it difficult to deal with. There was a big argument erupted in a place of work, and eh, I heard about it later, and I said to the folks at work, I said, we, we haven't, we'll call him John, we haven't seen John for a while at work. She says, no, he's left. I said, what happened? I said, she said, well, you know he's a Buddhist and that. I said, I knew he's a Buddhist. She said, well, he fell out with somebody, and he came into the office, and he couldn't cope, so he stood on his head for an hour. Stood on his head for an hour. You know, we're going to have to have something better than standing on our head for an hour, or crossing our fingers, or some lucky charms, or a dose of religion. We're going to have something that is dependable and reliable. If I'm going to be in God's presence and have my sins forgiven, the Bible tells me there is one way of escape, one way out, and it's by putting my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe, says the Word of God, on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And so I have a promise, and I have a proof as well, you know, Hebrews chapter six, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into within the day hour, enters into heaven, where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. You see, I have a promise. A promise that if I put my trust in the Lord Jesus, if I believe that I'm a sinner and that Christ has died on the cross for my sin, I have a promise that God will forgive my sin and save my soul, and I have proof of it. And the proof of this, that Christ has gone before. Uh, you see, that's what Rahab did, wasn't it? She let down that, that red rope. You say, how did you know that red rope thing was going to work? It worked the last time, hadn't it? How did you know that hanging a red rope outside her window was going to save her against the might of the army of Israel, an army that was about to slaughter every inhabitant of the, of the city of Jericho? Just a piece of red rope. How did she know it was going to work? She knew it was going to work because it worked the last time, and it worked to let those two men out of Jericho, and so she could get out. And tonight we have proof, and the proof is this. The proof is this, that the Lord Jesus Christ himself, he himself has been raised again from the dead, and he's now in the presence of God. You see, what we're preaching tonight isn't just stories, it's history. It's history. It's something that's been seen. It's something that that John saw, and Matthew and Mark and Luke saw. It's something that that the Apostle Paul saw. It's something that those who wrote the New Testament, they observed that there was a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for sin, the Son of God, and such was his victory that God raised him from the dead and that he went into the presence of God in heaven. So tonight, God has produced a lifeline. He's produced a way out, a way out of danger and a way out of judgment, and it comes by laying hold of his promise that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him need not perish, but have everlasting life. A way out of perishing by laying hold of his promise, and the proof of it indeed, the proof of it is this, that Christ has died and that he has risen, and he has gone into the presence of God. And tonight I have something more than just fables or stories that I can lay hold of as a way of escape from this. Our Father, we do just come before thee. We thank thee for thy word. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus. We thank thee for the message of the gospel. We pray that thou would bless it, uh, to our hearts. We pray, our Father, that thy spirit would take up some of the thoughts that have been shared, uh, that we, our Father, we do just pray, uh, that thou would, uh, really speak to each of our souls. Some of us, our Father, know the Lord Jesus, encourage us. Some of us perhaps do not know the Lord Jesus. Now we pray that thy spirit would really penetrate through into our souls and, and show us our Father in need of a savior. And we ask tonight that each might know what it is to be saved. So be with us, our Father. Bless us now as we part and give help later on as we just open up the word of God again as we return thanks. Jesus.