The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

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СКАЧАТЬ pillar in the chapter before us. It recites the victories of faith. It begins with one triumph of faith, and then proceeds to others. We have, in one place, faith triumphing over death; — Enoch did not enter the gates of the grave, but reached heaven by another road from that which is usual to men. We have faith, in another place, wrestling with time; — Noah, warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, wrestled with time, which placed his deluge a hundred and twenty years away; and yet, in the confidence of faith, he believed against all rational expectation, against all probability, and his faith was more than a match for probability and time too. We have faith triumphing over infirmity — when Abraham fathers a son in his old age. And then we have faith triumphing over natural affection, as we see Abraham climbing to the top of the hill and raising the knife to kill his only and beloved son at the command of God. We see faith, again, entering the combat with the infirmities of old age and the pains of the last struggle, as we read — “By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.” Then we have faith combating the allurements of a wealthy court. “By faith Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” We see faith dauntless in courage when Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, and equally patient in suffering when he endured as seeing him who is invisible. We have faith dividing seas, and casting down strong walls. And then, as though the greatest victory should be recorded last, we have faith entering the combat with sin, holding a tournament with iniquity, and becoming more than a conqueror. “Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.” That this woman was no mere hostess, but a real prostitute, I have abundantly proven to every candid hearer while reading the chapter. I am persuaded that nothing but a spirit of distaste for free grace would ever have led any commentator to deny her sin.

      2. I do think this triumph of faith over sin is not the least here recorded, but that if there is any superiority ascribable to any one of faith’s exploits, this is, in some sense, the greatest of all. What! faith, did you fight with hideous lust? What! would you struggle with that fiery passion which sends forth flame from human hearts? What! would you touch with your hallowed fingers foul and bestial debauchery? “Yes,” faith says, “I did encounter this abomination of iniquity; I delivered this woman from the loathsome chambers of vice, the wily snares of enchantment, and the fearful penalty of transgression; yes, I brought her out saved and rescued, gave her purity of heart, and renewed in her the beauty of holiness; and now her name shall be recorded in the roll of my triumphs as a woman full of sin, yet saved by faith.”

      3. I shall have some things to say this morning concerning this notable victory of faith over sin, such as I think will lead you to see that this was indeed a super eminent triumph of faith. I will make my divisions alliterative, that you may remember them. This woman’s faith was saving faith, singular faith, stable faith, self-denying faith, sympathising faith, and sanctifying faith. Let no one run away, when I shall have expounded the first point, and miss the rest, for you cannot apprehend the whole power of her faith unless you remember each of those particulars I am about to mention.

      4. I. In the first place, this woman’s faith was SAVING FAITH. All the other people mentioned here were doubtlessly saved by faith; but I do not find it specially remarked concerning any of them that they did not perish through their faith; while it is particularly said of this woman, that she was delivered amid the general destruction of Jericho purely and only through her faith. And, without doubt, her salvation was not merely of a temporal nature, not merely a deliverance of her body from the sword, but redemption of her soul from hell. Oh! what a mighty thing faith is, when it saves the soul from going down to the pit! So mighty is the ever rushing torrent of sin, that no arm but what is as strong as Deity can ever stop the sinner from being hurried down to the gulf of black despair, and when nearing that gulf so impetuous is the torrent of divine wrath, that nothing can snatch the soul from perdition but an atonement which is as Divine as God himself. Yet faith is the instrument of accomplishing the whole work. It delivers the sinner from the stream of sin, and so, laying hold upon the omnipotence of the Spirit, it rescues him from that great whirlpool of destruction to which his soul was being hurried. What a great thing it is to save a soul! You can never know how great it is unless you have stood in the capacity of a saviour to other men. That heroic man who, yesterday, when the house was burning, climbed the creaking staircase, and almost suffocated by the smoke, entered an upper bedroom, snatched a babe from its bed and a woman from the window, bore them both down in his arms, and saved them at the peril of his own life, he can tell you what a great thing it is to save a fellow creature. That noble hearted youth who, yesterday, sprang into the river, at the risk of his own life, and snatched a drowning man from death, he felt when he stood upon the shore, what a great thing it is to save life. Ah! but you cannot tell what a great thing it is to save a soul. It is only our Lord Jesus Christ who can tell you that, for he is the only one who has ever been the Saviour of sinners. And remember, you can only know how great a thing faith is by knowing the infinite value of the salvation of a soul. Now, “By faith, the prostitute Rahab was delivered,” That she was really saved in a gospel sense as well as temporally, seems to me to be proven from her reception of the spies which was a symbol of the entrance of the word into the heart, and her hanging out of the scarlet thread was an evidence of faith, not inaptly picturing faith in the blood of Jesus the Redeemer. But who can measure the length and breadth of that word — salvation? Ah! it was a mighty deed which faith accomplished when he bore her off in safety. Poor sinner! take comfort. The same faith which saved Rahab can save you. Are you literally one of Rahab’s sisters in guilt? She was saved, and so may you be, if God shall grant you repentance. Woman! are you loathsome to yourself? Do you stand at this moment in this assembly, and say, “I am ashamed to be here; I know I have no right to stand among people who are chaste and honest!” I bid you still remain, yes, come again and make this your Sabbath house of prayer. You are no intruder! You are welcome! For you have a sacred right to the courts of mercy. You have a sacred right; for here sinners are invited, and you are such. Believe in Christ, and you, like Rahab, shall not perish with the disobedient, but even you shall be saved.

      5. And now there is some gentleman in the audience who says, “There’s a gospel for you; it is a kind of sanctuary for wicked men, to which the worst of people may run and be saved.” Yes, that is the stale objection which Celsus used against Origen in his discussion. “But,” said Origen, “it is true, Celsus, that Christ’s gospel is a sanctuary for thieves, robbers, murderers, and prostitutes. But know this, it is not a sanctuary merely, it is a hospital too; for it heals their sins, delivers them from their diseases, and they are not afterwards what they were before they received the gospel.” I ask no man today to come to Christ, and then continue in his sins. If so, I would be asking him to do an absurdity. I might as well talk of delivering a Prometheus, {a} while his chains are allowed to remain upon him and bind him to his rock. It cannot be. Christ takes away the vulture from the conscience, but he takes away the chains too, and makes the man wholly free when he does it at all. Yet, we repeat it again, the chief of sinners are as welcome to Christ as the best of saints. The fountain filled with blood was opened for black ones; the robe of Christ was woven for naked ones; the balm of Calvary was compounded for sick ones; life came into the world to raise the dead. And oh! you perishing and guilty souls, may God give you Rahab’s faith, and you shall have this salvation, and shall with her stand there with her, where the white robed, spotless hosts sing unending hallelujah to God and the Lamb.

      6. II. But notice, Rahab’s faith was a SINGULAR FAITH. The city of Jericho was about to be attacked; within its walls there were hosts of people of all classes and characters, and they knew very well that if their city would be sacked and stormed they would all be put to death; but yet strange to say, there was not one of them who repented of sin, or who even asked for mercy, except this woman who had been a prostitute. She and she alone was delivered, a solitary one among a multitude. Now, have you ever felt that it is a very hard thing to have a singular faith? It is the easiest thing in the world to believe as everyone else believes, but the difficulty is to believe a thing alone, when no one else thinks as you think; to be the solitary champion of СКАЧАТЬ