Transcription
The following program is sponsored by friends and partners of Kingdom [Music] connection.
Today I want to tie this message of Joshua chapter 2 to our lives and uh I want to speak to you on the power of the scarlet cord because this is so powerful when you understand what is taking place here and how it affects us today. I want to give you three things. I've just got three points, quick, easy points that I want to give you about this story.
But you know, the only thing standing between our families and destruction is the blood of Jesus Christ. That scarlet cord. It was a simple little scarlet cord tied in the window, and yet when destruction came, when problem, when when the enemy uh wanted to destroy their home, because there was a scarlet cord, that house stood.
I was thinking about how that the greatest threat to our home is not what happens in Washington D.C. I hear people ranting and raving, and certainly we need to be praying, and we need to vote, and all of that for for things of our convictions and the word of God, and always stand with the word of God. But there is nothing that Washington D.C. has done that can affect my home. The the greatest danger to my home is not what Washington D.C. does. The greatest danger to my home is not what Hollywood does. The greatest danger to my home is what goes on in my home. Hollywood cannot invade my home. I have to invite them in. Filth cannot invade my home. All that stuff going on out there, it really can't get in my home unless I invite it into my home. So the greatest danger is not what they do, it's what I do and what we do in our homes.
And this story is amazing. You see, the battle today is the battle over our spiritual legacy, which is our families. When you say that you've been married 26 years, like Sharice and I, and you and you have five children, and they all love God, and they all serve God, and they all are unashamed and have been filled with the Holy Spirit, people look at you like you have three ears or something. They can't believe that you can raise a Christian family and all of your children love God and serve God just like you did for generation after generation. But it can be done. Our children are worth the fight. Our grandchildren are worth the fight. Our marriages are worth the fight. Our families are worth the fight. So fight the fight. It's worth it. It is our spiritual legacy, our families.
The setting is one of Jericho. Jericho with its impregnable walls. The walls were so thick that chariots could race on the top for entertainment of the inhabitants of Jericho, and God said that it would be the first city that they would take when they conquered the promised land. So Joshua sent in two spies to spy out the city, and they tried to be unnoticed, but someone noticed that there were strangers in the city and reported it to the king. And when they when they reported it, they noticed that they had slipped in to the house of Rahab the harlot. And so soldiers were sent to arrest and soldiers were sent to capture these spies and take them back to the king.
But when they got there, the scripture said that Rahab hid them, not just under her roof, but in the roof in stalks of flax she made them and covered them in the material that made her roof. And so when the soldiers searched the house, they could not find these two men. And she made up a story and she said, "They, they went out the gate. They were here, but they went out the gate as the gate was closing and they went that direction. And if you're hurried, you can catch them." And the and the and the soldiers scurried out.
And there she was with these two spies. And they said, "Help us escape." And they go to the window that was on the house that that was on the wall, and they open a window, and she begins to let them down through with a cord. But the Bible said that she said something before she agreed to help them. She said, "I want one thing from you." She could she could have asked for a lot of things. She could have asked for gold, because they had it. They had just come out of Egypt, and they had all the gold that they had been given. She could have asked for a big estate, because they were about to take land that that had that was flowing with milk and honey, and she should have been set up. But she said, "If I can only have one thing, this is the one thing that I ask of you. I want my family to be saved."
More than I want house, more than I want land, more than I want money, more than I want anything this whole world can offer. I love this, this woman Rahab, the the harlot, because something in her loved her family enough to say, "Out of all of the things that I could ask for, the most important thing that I can get from you is I want my family to be saved." What a powerful, powerful word to get our family saved.
She took a scarlet cord. I'm sure it was a thick rope, but it was a red rope, a scarlet cord, and she hung it out the window. And I'm just using this little prop, but she hung it out the window, and they climbed down. And then when they climbed down, the men said, "Leave it in the window. Bind it." Notice the orders. "Bind it upon your window, and get your family in the house, and everybody who is in the house will be saved." What a good word! All of them will be saved. We ought to claim that this morning. All of them. Come on, let's just let's just make a powerful confession: All of my family will be saved. I feel joy in my soul. All of my family, all of my children, my grandchildren, my great-great-grandchildren. I'm preaching now, but 30, 40 years from now, the blood cord can can weave its way all the way for generations and tie up my kids and my kids' kids and my kids' kids' kids. Hallelujah.
Now, I want to give you quickly three quick lessons. Number one, I want you to get excited over this point. I'm telling you in advance so you will get excited because it's a powerful point, even though it's simple. This story teaches me these three lessons. Lesson number one: Your family can be saved, no matter what your background is.
[Music] [Applause]
She was a harlot. She was morally unfit. She was socially bankrupt. She was not running a Motel 6 on the wall, she was running a brothel. She was a prostitute. And God did not say, "I'm sorry, you've asked me to save your family, but you have so much baggage that there's no way I can do that." Nope. He said, "Come on in, the family, sis. I know you've got baggage, and I know you've got a past, but if you just get a hold of that scarlet cord that represents the blood of Jesus Christ, it does not matter about your background and how bad you messed up. I can still save your children."
Some of you have such guilt. Some of you have such shame. Some of you almost have accepted, "I'm reaping what I sowed because I lived this stuff, and now my children and my children's children." That is not in the word of God. The blood of Jesus has caused you to become a new creation in Christ, and your family can be saved regardless of your background. I need somebody to shout if you believe I'm preaching truth. God honored the cry of her heart, even with a horrible background, and saved her whole family. No matter what road you took to get to Calvary, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away, and behold, all things are new.
And listen to this. I wrote this down on the airplane. There is nothing, nothing in your past stronger than the blood of Jesus Christ. The devil can't reach in my past and condemn me and say my children are are going to be lost because I was in the things and did things, because I'm a new creation in Christ. That Old Testament tabernacle had the Ark of the Covenant. It was the God box, and in it were three things. There was the pot of manna. They took some of the manna that God fed them with in the wilderness and put it in a pot and put it down in that box. They took the rod that budded, supernaturally, an old dead stick that came to life, and they put it into that box. And they took the tables of stone that Moses brought down off of the mountain that God with his own finger wrote the Ten Commandments with, and they took those and put them in that box. Then they took a a covering and they put it. It was called the Mercy Seat. And then they took blood and they would sprinkle the blood seven times a day on the Mercy Seat.
And I've heard people say, "Well, that was God's museum box. It was supposed to be a testimony to the children of Israel of God's faithfulness." And that could be that way. But really, uh, if it was a testimony box, nobody ever got to hear the testimony because it was in the Holy of Holies, and only one man on one day out of all the people of Israel got to go in and could actually see the table of stone and the and the budding rod and the and the um, and the pot of manna. No, none of the other people. It, it, it was inaccessible. They could not get to it. So why did God put that in that box and then put a mercy seat on on top of it and cover it in blood? Because all three of those things were rooted in the worst failures of Israel.
The only reason that the tables of stone were broken and put in the box was because when Moses came down off of the mountain, the children of Israel were dancing around idols, dancing before the golden calf, and he got mad and threw the stones down and broke them. And they picked them up and put them inside the box. But it was rooted in their failure, in their idolatry. The only reason that there was a budding dead stick that came alive and began to produce almonds was because a woman and a man named Korah and her and and the and the children of Israel rose up, and they tried to um, they tried to usurp authority over Moses and the leadership. And God said, "I'll tell you who my leader is." He said, "Tell all of the children of Israel, the leaders, to bring their dead stick, and the one that comes alive will be the one that I choose to be my leader." And the only reason that it was there was because they were full of rebellion and tried to do things their way, and God slew 15,000 of them, and and Korah had leprosy.
And the only reason that the pot of manna was there, and God gave manna, was because they complained and whined and said, "We don't like the food." And God said, "I'll just send the same thing for 40 days for 40 years, and you eat it morning, noon, and night. If you complain about my cooking, here, take this." And the only reason it was in there, listen to me carefully, was all three of those items were deeply rooted in the failures of Israel. And God took their worst failures, put it in the box, put a thing called mercy over top of them, because mercy is always over the law, and then he covered it in blood.
And there came a time when the box was kidnapped by the Philistines, and they decided they were going to lift off the mercy and the blood and reach into the box and pull out the past failures of Israel. And and when they did, 50,000 of them were slain. God was saying, "Don't you ever, when I put something under the blood and under the mercy of God, don't you ever let anybody lift the lid and try to dig out what I have already covered in my blood and in my mercy." You don't hear me. Don't you let the enemy tell you that he has a right to your children if it's under the blood. He can't remove the mercy seat. My children are under the blood. Come on, my children are under the mercy of God. Woo! Let's just take a praise break, everybody. Thank Him that your past is covered. Anybody got a past that you're glad can't curse your children because the mercy and the blood have covered it? So maybe your dad wasn't alcoholic, but your children aren't going to be. And maybe you've had a problem, but your children don't have to today. The blood of Jesus Christ can reach beyond your background and save and set free.
The second thing that I want you to see in this story is he said, "Rahab, if your family is going to be saved, there's going to be work involved on your part. Take the cord and bind it in the window." He did not say, "Have the priest do it." He did not say, "It's the pastor's job." He did not say, "Have the youth pastor." If you want your children saved, tie and bind is the word, the cord in the window. No, he said, "If you want your family saved, then you have to get involved. If you want your family to go to heaven, you have to get involved. You have to do something about it."
You take the scarlet cord and you bind it in the window. You put it there. You put it there every time you pray. Moms and dads, call your children's names out and put that cord and bind it there. Fast for them. Pray for them. When you get a burden for them, call their name out in prayer. Put the cord there. Mom, put the cord there. Dad, grandparents, put the cord there. Pray and fast and pray and fast and believe God for your family. You do something. Get up every day and make sure that scarlet cord is there. I'm sure if you understood that if the cord was not there, the family would be destroyed. So if something's that important, I'm sure the last thing she did before she went to sleep is she went and checked the cord. I'm sure the first thing she did when she got up in the morning is she went and she checked the cord. Have I got the blood on my children? Have I got the blood on my house? Have I got the blood? Because without the blood, we can't overcome the culture that we're in. It's a culture of death. But if we've got the blood, no matter what's going on out there, we'll have victory in here, as long as we've got blood. Check it, recheck it every day and every morning. Keep checking up, making sure your family is safe. Be sure, be very, very sure that it is there every day. Pray for them every day. Call their name in prayer every day. Every day, every day. Bind it. He didn't say Scotch tape it. Bind it. You got to nail some things down.
"Neither is there salvation by any other name. You must be born again." And you have to so nail it down into their spirit that when they go there, no wind of doctrine, no false wind of doctrine can come along and just blow it away. If it's bound, if you've bound it into their spirits, if you've taught it until they understand, then then then then nothing can remove. No wind of false doctrine. Paul said, "Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, for the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but they'll be blown away with every wind in the false doctrine." But when you've bound it like you're supposed to, no boyfriend can take it away, no girlfriend, no beer party at college, no no college professor can remove that cord because it's bound. It's not Scotch tape, it's bound. And wherever they go, when they go off to school, they're bound down to it, and they can't get away from it. And when the college professor gets up and throws the Bible and says, "This book's a lie," and I'm going to tell you, there's a cord that they're wrapped up in that says, "Even though I may be in a hostile environment, my family has not Scotch taped me, they've bound the truth in my spirit." Buy the truth and sell it not. The scripture said, "Bind it." Bind it. Talk about it. In Deuteronomy 6, it said, "When you get up in the morning, talk about it. When you go to bed, talk about it. When you're driving around, talk about it." Talk about it. You're binding it. You're na- you got to nail some things down because you can't keep them but so long, and at some point they're going to go into the world. But if you, man, I feel like shouting right now because I'm not just preaching theory. I've watched five children, and they tried their best to get away from it. Some of them did, but glory to God, the cord holds. The cord holds. The cord is work. It has worked for my family, and it will for yours. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and at 16, you shall be saved and your house." Shout, "My family shall be saved!" and give God a shout if you believe it. Oh, Hallelujah! I'd rather have this than a billion dollars in the bank. I've got the cord on my family. Bind it. It's going to require effort from you. That's right. You're going to have to pray. You're going to have to fast. You're going to have to stand. You're going to have to, oh God, pray for that child right now.
The scarlet thread dictated access to the home. Once that cord was there, I don't think they use that window for anything else. I think it was so important, they knew that when when judgment comes to the city, if that cord is not seen, we're going to die like all the other families. And so Rahab probably had some new rules. "Kids, I know you used to go in and out of that window and climb through it, but never again will you climb through this window. Some things, nothing, things will not go through this window again." I'm sure there were times when they pulled up and they said, "Hey, uh, we're going to throw the groceries up and somebody grab them and put them through the window, window, since you know." And they pull up in the chariot and say, "Let's unload, kids." And I'm sure they put groceries through that window. But once they put that that scarlet thread in that window, it dictated what had access to that home. And what I'm saying to you is, you have to stand your ground and guard the window. Guard the window. Train up a child in the way that they should go. Online posting pictures, cell phones, what's coming into your home, satellite. You have to guard your house. Again, nothing out there can destroy. Hollywood can't. I have to invite it in through the internet, through through through through stuff. I, I, I almost did this in the first service, and I, I, I thought about doing this, but I, I don't know how to do it. Somebody would lose their cell phone. But I thought about saying to all of the kids that are 20 and under, all of the youth in here, 20 and under, how many of you want to go to heaven? All right, if you're 20 and under, you want to go to heaven, raise your hand. I want to see your hand if you want to go to heaven, raise it and wave at me. I want to see you all over this room. There's thousands and thousands of you, 20 and under. That's astonishing. Look at the hands. Wave at me. Wave at me. I want to see you, 20 and under. All right. How cool would this be? Watch the joy just drain right out of their little souls. How cool would this be if I gave an altar call and I said, "If you want to go to heaven, bring me your cell phone." And I made them come and put it on the altar, and then I say, "Go sit down." And then I would say something like this: "How many of you parents want your children to go to heaven?" Raise your hand. Then I would say to the parents, "You come down and look at what's on your children's cell phone." I'm, I'm, I'm Pastor Franklin. What about my privacy? See, let me explain some things. You get privacy in my house. That's right. When you have a mortgage note, as long as you're living under my house and under my court, you don't have any website, you don't have any codes, you don't have anything that I can't get access to. You don't shut your door and lock it and say, "Stay out and don't go through my room." Not in my house. And you know why we can do that with them? Because any of my kids can take my cell phone or my computers and they can track me anytime they want to. I don't have anything to hide. I'm guarding the windows. What have you got to hide? Give the code to your wife. Give the code to your children. If you haven't got nothing on there, don't be ashamed. Let the whole world see it.
Here's what got me. That cord worked so good that that family that came out of that house shows up in Matthew chapter 1 in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, regardless of her background, because she bound a scarlet cord in her window and guarded the access to her home. She and her family became part of the genealogy, the great-great-great-great grandmother of Jesus Christ.
I believe today's message has spoke to your heart. I know that uh, there's nothing more near and dear to my heart than my family, and to know that there is a scarlet thread or cord that can secure our families' salvation and deliverance, and help the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse and cover our families. What kind of blessing is that that you wouldn't cherish and want for your family and your children?
I really want to encourage you today to make Jesus Lord of your home and your household. Pray this prayer: "Say, Lord Jesus, I give you my family. I give you my loved ones. I want that blood, that scarlet cord, to deliver my home and my family, and I receive you as my Savior. I give you my marriage, my life, my future, my home, my children. Be Lord, Lord of our lives, in Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen."
I know, I know the power of the blood of Jesus Christ is working for you. It's for you right now and for your family, and no weapon formed against you will prosper, is my prayer over your family in Jesus name.
In our closing moments together, I want to say thank you for helping us with our outreaches, and the one specifically that we're focused on is the work in Haiti. It's really amazing what God is doing there. We've already been able to send over $300,000 because of your generosity to this work. We're laying the foundation, even as I speak, on the 20-plus acres of buildings that are going to be built there, the Miracle Marketplace that will provide food for life for tens of thousands of people. It's such an exciting project, and uh, we're just now sending another $190,000 on top of that. So that's, that's almost a half a million dollars that we've been able to send in the last few months because of your generosity. So open up your heart, ask God what He would have you do. We are depending on your generosity, and I thank you for it.
This program has been brought to you by the friends and partners of Jensen Franklin Media Ministries. For more information on this broadcast or for additional resources, go online at JensenFranklin.org.