We Have Heard

• • • Joshua 2:8-14 We have Heard 10 For we have heard how the Lord 

    • Lives are changed when the word of God is publicly preached. 

    • For the Christian that desires to honor God with their lives, they should welcome the word

    • Why? Because when you hear the word of God it changes you. You speak differently, your heart is different, you change how you live and you can be saved from destruction. 

    • The people of Jericho heard the word. Rahab responded. It changed her life. She was saved. 

    • Prioritize your life around hearing the word of God. It will do something to you.  

Second Intro- 

• • • Here’s where I’m going before I get there. This story shows us something about the supernatural power of the Word of God. The Word goes forth and accomplishes what God sends it to accomplish.

    • But the word must GO for it to accomplish Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? People need to hear what God can do. 

    • Throughout Scripture, God uses the preaching of His Word to bring people to salvation, fill them with the Holy Spirit, convict them, change them, direct them, and call them to repentance.

    • And I think it important to understand a basic theology of preaching here. Lets get into

    • The word is ALIVE and WORKS the heart- Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the THOUGHTS and INTENTS of the heart.

    • And ultimately, the Word points us to Jesus because Jesus IS the Word.

    • John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    • We are not preaching information. We are preaching the truth of God that reveals Jesus Christ.

    • The written Word brings us to the living Word. It draws us into relationship with Jesus Christ///

    • The word is Preached in the POWER of the HS 1Cor2:4–5 my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
      that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

    • The word+the Spirit= Power 1 Thess 1:5 NKJV For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, The WORD and SPIRIT together

    • Faith comes through hearing Ro 10:17 faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

    • The Holy Spirit moves through preaching Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.

    • Nehemiah 8:5–8 NKJV READ

    • That is almost a prototype of expositional preaching: Read the text publicly, explain the meaning, help the people understand, and the congregation responds before God.

    • BC here’s the point- What does it mean to us to hear this story? How does it apply to US?

    • You’ll see the Word goes forth. Rahab hears it. Her heart is changed. She confesses what she believes, her faith produces commitment, and ultimately she is delivered from destruction.

    • We see a similar pattern in the life of faith. We hear the Word, the Spirit works in our hearts, we believe, we confess Christ, and genuine faith produces a committed life.

    • Now that you know where we’re going, let’s read it again. And this time, listen for what happened when Rahab heard the word of the Lord.  READ Joshua 2:8-14 AGAIN

• • 1. A Confession

  • • What Rahab heard about God changed what she believed, and what she believed came out of her mouth.

    • She tells the spies, I know that the LORD has given you the land. That is her confession. She is openly declaring what she now believes about God.

    • See, here’s what’s happened in Jericho. V10 They had heard how the Lord. 

    • when a person hears something that changes how they believe it changes what they confess

    • Rahab openly acknowledges what God has done and who is going to win this battle for Jericho

    • Humans are confessors. We speak what we believe to be true. We talk about our intentions, our hopes, our hurts, our beliefs. If you truly listen to people, you will hear what they believe. 

    • And God wants us to speak what we believe: Ro 10:9–10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

    • Biblical confession begins in the heart. If the mouth says one thing while the heart remains far from God, that is only lip service.

    •  God does not merely want words from your mouth. He wants your heart.///

    • Matt 15:8 These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips,
      But their heart is far from Me. HE DOESN’T WANT THE HEART THAT IS FAR AWAY

    • He wants-Matt 10:32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

    • God wants your confession to match with your heart. You can’t confess what you don’t believe

    • Do you believe that Jesus is Lord? Confess it! To God and to others- say- I believe in Jesus

    • 1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

    • This happens when you’re in prayer. You confess (speak) to God what you believe and speak it

    • This happens when you worship audibly You confess (speak) to God what you believe about him

    • Ph2:11 that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    • Here’s an important distinction here- we confess what we know to be true about Jesus now, but also what he will do in the future- Rahab “I know he has given you the land” Us- “I know that you will sustain me, redeem me, heal me, stay with me, protect me, guide me, love me” etc

    • Hold fast to it!Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering

• • 2. A Change

  • • Notice– Joshua 2:11 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. (She added another confession there as well)

    • Our hearts melted- there has to be a heart change from the hearing

    • What they heard about God produced an internal response. This is where you see the difference between fear that merely trembles and faith that actually turns toward God.

    • There is something mysterious and supernatural about heart change. I cannot explain every detail of how the Holy Spirit takes the Word and changes a human heart, but I know He does.///

    • You have to HEAR it for your HEART to be CHANGED- “oh, they beat other enemies, we’re next!”

    • It was what they HEARD that melted their hearts because what they heard was TRUE

    • Christians: We must operate from a position of belief. We must believe what the word says to us

    • Notice how preaching plays into this Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

    • Peter preaches, they hear, and conviction comes. Their hearts are changed by the word of God. 

    • Friends, we need to be in the word and we also need to be hearing the word. It will change you

    • God promises that we will get a new heart Ez 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

    • God promises it will be WHOLE for him Jer 24:7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

    • Do you see why I preach Scripture after Scripture after Scripture? Because I know the Word of God can change hearts!

    • Here’s the charge: Read your Bible every day no matter what. Let it do the heavy lifting

    • When you read the word, it cuts to your heart, you are faced with what needs to change

    • then you align yourself with the word. You pray and ask God to change that part of your heart

    • Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

    • Also- Sit under the preaching of the word. It’s the biblical model. God calls a preacher and then the preacher preaches what God has already said and then the word can change the heart

    • This is why I rarely preach on Wednesdays. I need to sit under the word like anyone else

    • I need to have it cut to my heart and reveal things in my life that don’t line up with God’s word

    • Jesus once told a parable of the sower READ Luke 8:4-8, 11-15

    • Luke 8:15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

• • 3.  A Commitment

  • • Rahab moves beyond acknowledgment. She puts herself and her household under the promise of Israel’s God: Swear to me by the LORD

    • Rahabs commitment is to the spies, that when the battle happens, she’s standing with them. 

    • And we’ll get into the commitment next week- but she’s going to hang a scarlet cord in her window, the troops (and the spies) will see the scarlet cord and spare her family

    • But she makes a commitment. Yes her heart was changed, yes her mouth confessed, but she committed- there is something that I am going to do because my heart changed and I confessed

    • imagine for a minute what It would look like with a changed heart and no commitment?

    • Yes Mr Spies. I’ve heard the stories. I was changed by them! I told you! Them: “so we’re needing some assistance here, we need someone behind enemy lines, you in?” 

    • Rahab: No, I know I’ve been changed. I told you my confession, why is there any action required of me? Isn’t it enough that I was changed and I told you I was changed? I think that’s enough. 

    • A genuinely changed heart does not stop at confession. Genuine faith moves toward obedience.

    • God does not call us merely to say what we believe. He calls us to walk in what we believe.

    • 2 Chro 15:12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

    • Covenant = commitment. It is a public, covenantal commitment to seek God wholeheartedly.

    • This is what followers of Jesus do. They commit. They are committed to the ways of Jesus.

    • Psalm 119:106 I have sworn and confirmed That I will keep Your righteous judgments.

    • Psalm 37:5 NKJV Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

    • I think this is missing piece for many Christians. They are changed- they just aren’t committed

    • Here’s what commitment does– It sets you on a course of completion no matter the process

    • Like marriage- You stand, your heart is for the person, you confess and you COMMIT

    • You commit that through sickness and health, prosperity and adversity- you will not quit

    • The Spirit draws you. Faith saves you. Commitment keeps you walking in what you believe.

    • You say: I am committed to this. You- Pro 16:3 Commit your works to the LORD 

    • Many people do not experience the fullness of an experience because they quit when it hurts

    • My mom never let me quit a sports team. It got hard- She said- You made a commitment 

    • How much more spiritually? Battles will come. Make a commitment to God and stand on it

    • 2 Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

• 4. A Covering

• • Rahab is asking for mercy, preservation, and rescue from the judgment that is coming.

  • She says- Deliver our lives from death. This is the end result of belief in God and his ways

  • Deliverance. Rahab and her family will now be protected when the battle ensues. 

  • I’m not going to conjecture that Rahabs confessed and committed only to be protected

  • If I were to guess, it was the heart change of belief- This God is real. He can protect me

  • She had heard of the protection through the red sea, through battles, Israel was protected. 

  • The truth that she believed was that YHWH was the protector and she wanted his protection

  • Look at the scriptures- Ps 91 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. Ps 121:7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. Psalm 27:5 In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion.

  • This is the inheritance of the Child of God, that nothing can ultimately take us out of the protecting hand of God.

  • Do you see the connection? Heart change, confession, commitment, covering.

  • But our covering is not earned by our commitment. Our hope is Jesus Christ. ///

  • We believe in Him, and genuine faith produces a life committed to Him.

  • In Christ, we have an eternal covering that even death cannot defeat.

  • John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. John 11:25-26  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

  • 1 Cor 15:54–55 Death is swallowed up in victory.Ro 8:38–39 Neither death nor life… shall be able to separate us from the love of God.1 Peter 1:5 Kept by the power of God through faith for salvation. Jude 1:1 Preserved in Jesus Christ.

  • Friend. Embrace the story of Rahab. Hear it. Let it melt your heart. Confess that you believe it and commit to follow the Lord all the days of your life. You will be covered from your sin

  • This really is the life of faith. That we are able to overcome any battle that may come, because we are under the protection of the Lord in this life. Commit today to following him. 

  • 2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.

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