TD Jakes - Hanging On By A Thread
The truth was dependent on a lie, if Rahab didn't lie they would have murdered the truth and so Rahab lied and told them that they were gone. And she said, "Look, I got you out of this, I got you on this now," but Rahab was used to doing business with men, and she knows we are bottom-line-type people. You know? I give you what you need, you'll give me what you need, you know? That's the way men shop, we don't go looking, we go in the shop, "I'm looking for a blue shirt, 15.5" around the neck, 33" sleeve, white collar. Give me that. Thank you very much, here's your money. Bye," transaction-oriented.
So she makes a transaction with them, she says, "Since I saved you, I know your people, I heard about your god, I know that we cannot withstand your people, I know our city will be totally annihilated, completely destroyed. It will be Nagasaki up in here, we will lose everything. But a sister like me looking for a hookup from a guy like you. So what's up? What you gonna do, baby? Hook a sister up". And the spies said, "If you take the same cord that you're gonna drop out the window for us to climb down on and hang it out the window, when we come through to destroy the city, when we see that scarlet cord, we'll save the city, we'll save your house in the middle of the city, everything else will go down. So everything you want, bring it in the house, drop out of the cord and we got a deal".
Are you with me? So she said, "Okay, wait till tonight and I'm gonna drop this cord out the window". She dropped the cord out the window and they climbed down, hanging by a thread. And they were hanging by a thread, "We'll be back," and they made it to safety. And the odd thing was, if anybody would have seen them, they wouldn't have thought it's so strange because men often sneak out in the middle of the night. I'm not gonna explain that, I'm gonna leave that like it is. And they came out by a thread. Are you with me?
Had they not survived, she told them, "Hide in the mountains three days, and after three days, you should be able to get back to your people, and everything is gonna be okay, everything's gonna be good, everything's gonna be fine". And they never heard from each other until, Here come the children of Israel, marching around the wall, around and around the wall and, Rahab is saying, "Give me that thread, give me that thread 'cause I'm going to need this same thread," only this time it has gone from being the principle use being escape to now it's a sign. It's a sign that, when they see this red cord, they'll know not to kill, and when they see this, when they see this red cord, they'll know, when they see this red cord, they'll know not to kill; they could kill everybody else.
In fact, God had told them to, "Kill everything in the city; men, women, children, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, kill everything, save nothing, kill it all," but when they see this cord, when they see this cord. Oh, that sounds like, that sounds like what their parents went through; the death angel is gonna pass by, the death angel is gonna destroy the city, "But when I see the blood," he said, "I'll pass over you". Oh my God, do you hear what I'm preaching to you? When I see the blood, oh, I'm so glad, I only got one thing going for me, I got this red cord, I got this red blood on my door post, and million times the death angel would have took me out, but when I see this red I'm gonna pass over you. Somebody is here right now by the mercies of God, it is not your good works, it is not your reputation, you don't even have a good reputation to be as blessed as you are, your reputation doesn't line up with your situation, but he dropped the red.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you don't want nobody to know, I know you want everybody to think that you deserve to be where you are, but everybody who's there by the mercies of God touch your neighbor and tell them, "I'm hanging by a thread". I'm hanging by a thread, I'm hanging by a thread, I'm healed by a thread, I'm living by a thread, I'm holding on by a thread. I could've been dead, I'm hanging by a thread, to God be the glory for the things he has done. I know I get on your nerves when I shout, I know you say it's not necessary, and maybe it's not for you, but to all of us that are hanging by a thread we owe God a praise. Where my people at? Where my people at? Where my people at? Where my people at? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, shout.
The Bible says that when they shouted all of a sudden the concrete began to crack, shout; when they shouted the walls began to crack, shout; brick by brick and block by block it began to come down, shout. You gotta understand the only thing that was standing in between them and the promises of God was a wall, was a wall, and the only thing that's standing in between you and the promises of God is a wall, shout. The only thing that's stopping you from that degree is a wall, shout. The only thing that's stopping you from buying that new house is a wall, shout. The only thing is stopping you from full-time ministry is a wall, shout.
Now I gotta tell you this but I don't want too many people to know it so I'm just gonna whisper it. I'm gonna whisper it because everybody can't handle it and I'm just gonna pass it out, but the Holy Spirit, when he gave me this message, told me to be sure and tell you this. I don't know what this means in your life, I don't know what God is talking to you about, I don't know what kind of wall is standing in your life, I don't know what kind of Jericho you have, I don't know what kind of obstacle has come against you, I don't know what kind of report you got back that said what you couldn't do and what you couldn't be and what you couldn't handle and what you couldn't attain and what you couldn't overcome. But the Holy Spirit gave me this word to give you and I'm going to give it to you and I want you to tell as many people as you can, "The wall is down".
The wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down. The wall, tell them, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall is down, the wall is down, the wall is down, shout. The wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, the wall, you know the wall, you know the wall. You know the wall that told you to stay in your place, you know the wall that said you couldn't get up, you know the wall that said you wouldn't be here right now, the wall is down.
Can I preach this a little bit further? You see, all of this is predicated on what the Bible calls as an oath. When the Bible says something is an oath, it's an Old Testament word for a contract. I got several lawyers here, so y'all get me if I get in trouble. The Old Testament word for a contract is oath, an oath is a contract. Most contracts today have contingency clauses. A contingency clause means that there are certain things that are built into the contract that you have to perform in order to be eligible to get what is in the contract. For instance, if I will my son the house but he has to be married and 21 before he gets it, that's a contingency clause. If I will him a certain amount of money but they have to donate 10% to charity, that's a contingency clause, means the requirements have to be met in order for you to get the blessing. There are two contingency clauses in this contract: the wall is down, God took care of that, but the contingency clause is you gotta climb over the rubble.
Do you hear what I'm saying to you? It's not enough for God to bring the wall down. Give me more power, man. It's not enough for God to bring the wall down if you're not gonna climb over the rubble. I don't care how many walls God brings down, a lot of people still don't get what God has for them because they remain unwilling to climb over the rubble. You're going to get a little dirty but climb over the rubble, you're going to get a little sweaty but climb over the rubble. Slap your neighbor and say, "Climb over the rubble". The wall is down but you gotta climb over the rubble, the wall is down but you gotta climb over the rubble. You got a chance at a brand new life but you gotta climb over the rubble, you got a chance to have a new door open but you gotta climb over the rubble. I know you gotta haters, that ain't nothing but rubble. I know they talking about you, that ain't nothing but rubble. I know they talk about you like a dog, that ain't nothing but rubble. I wish I had a thousand radical people that were ready to climb over the rubble.
So they said, "We're gonna get her out". Now they totally annihilated the entire city of Jericho. I got one problem to show you and I'm done, this is what confused me. I was reading and I learned it in the King James, I can quote it in the King James but I read it out of the NIV, and when I read it out of the NIV, lawyers, I saw a discrepancy. There is a discrepancy between the King James Version and the NIV, and the discrepancy is what started me on the journey with the message. Because when I read it in the NIV, it says that the whole city is the devoted thing, and it says it is to be devoted to God, and it says don't touch anything in the city because it is devoted to God.
When I read, "Devoted," I thought, "Huh, that's not how I remember it in the King James". Put them both up on the screen. If you got it in the King James, yeah-yeah, "And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing," and in the NIV it says, "But keep away from the devoted thing". And I said to myself, "Which one of them is right, is it devoted or accursed"? How you handle it depends on understanding, is it devoted or accursed. See, what God is saying to them, "When you go into the city, don't touch anything in that city, I wanna destroy everything in the city except for Rahab and her house because the whole city is," in the NIV, "Devoted to God," in the King James it's, "Accursed".
So now I'm in a dilemma because I got to preach this Sunday and I found a discrepancy in the text that is perplexing to my mind, I don't understand how something can be accursed and devoted. If you're devoted to God, it seems like you're not accursed, and if you are accursed, it seems like you are not too devoted. And then I understood as I kept looking at it, this is the first city of the Promised Land, it is a tithe of all that God would give them. How they handled it determined the outcome of the rest of the journey. God has given them a city but he says, "You have to give it to me, and if you keep anything," y'all still with me? Are y'all with me up there? Okay, "If you keep anything, it's accursed, if you give it to God".
Are you with me? So whether it is accursed or devoted is predicated on how they responded. My final question to God was this. I said, "Lord, I don't understand. I know Rahab lied, but it kinda make it look like you did too. I ain't saying you did, but you had said that you have given them the city, but it sounds like you gave you the city, 'cause when you tell me you gave me something, I'm ready to move in. So there they were shouting over you have given them the city, and there you are saying they must give it to you. Which one of them is true? Is it their's or is it yours"? Is it their city? "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city". Or is it your city? "If you keep that city, you're accursed".
I love The Potter's House when it gets quiet, that's the best time in the whole message 'cause I know you're trying to outthink me, y'all's brain just popping outside, your forehead's swelling up trying to get there ahead of me. Here is what the Holy Spirit is saying, God didn't lie, he has given them the city, but it is his if they devote it to him. And whether they devote it to him or not determines whether they will be accursed, it is the tithe. "I gave it to you but it's mine and if you give me the first 10, I'll stretch the last 90, but if you keep the first 10, I'll curse". Now, now, now, now, now, I said, "Lord, so it seems like the city is yours". He said, "No, no, no, no, no, it's not mine, because then they couldn't offer it to me. It's important that you understand I have given you the city so that when you give it back it has come from you to me," that way you have devoted the city to God. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
"Bring ye all the tithes and offerings into the storehouse, that there might be meat in mine house, and truth me herewith... if I will not open up the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that you will not have room enough to receive," but the level of your blessing depends on whether you put me first, everything in this text is a thread, Jericho was the thread to the promised land, the wall coming down was a thread to Jericho, the thread out the window saved up the lives of the spies, the thread out the window saved Jericho and saved Rahab and her family, and how they handle the first city is the thread to everything that's going to happen next.
"Seek ye first," watch this, "The kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you". You're trying to build a business but you don't seek God first, you seek God last, you do what you wanna do and then, every now and then, you remember God. It is not the offering that matters, it is a priority, the principle of the first belongs to God. It was in the garden: You can eat from any tree, but you cannot eat from this one, because if you eat from this one you will be accursed, this tree is devoted to God and all of humanity is hanging by the thread of your choice. If you devote it to God, all of humanity will live, and if you eat of it, all of humanity will die.
"Will a man rob God"? "How then have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. Bring ye the tithes and offerings," devoted, "Into the storehouse, that there might be meat, and prove me now herewith... if I will not open up the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, you will not have room enough to receive". And if you do not, you will be cursed with a curse. Devoted or cursed, it's the same principle in Genesis, it's the same principle in the Garden of Eden, it's the same principle in the first city, it's the same principle and it's all hanging on a thread.
To everyone in this room who ever went through something so perilous and so overwhelming that you thought you would die; to everyone in this room that came in here on life-support, and you barely even came to church because you've been going through so much that you have been hanging by a thread; to every marriage in this room that you and Fred are still together, sort of; to every sexless marriage, every empty marriage, every loveless marriage; to every marriage that's hanging by a thread; to every preacher who wants to quit; to everyone who's watching over the internet and you're going through something that you can't hardly even bring yourself to go to work in the morning, and yes, you're still employed but you are hanging by a thread; the Holy Spirit sent me to you to say, "Tie a knot in it and hold on, help is on the way".