The Faith of Rahab

Transcript

GRS 2-40
9/8/2006
The Faith of Rahab
Joshua 2
Gil Rugh

We are looking into the Book of Joshua together and we are going to begin in Chapter 2. So if you want to turn your Bibles to Joshua Chapter 2. Chapter 1 set the stage for what is taking place in the Book. The Book of Joshua as you are aware is about the conquering of the land of Palestine. Finally some 600 years after God’s promises to Abraham, Israel is now going to be privileged as God’s nation to end of the land of Canaan and take possession of it.

Chapter 2 told us about the encouragements to Joshua and a reoccurring emphasis in Chapter 1 was be strong and courageous, be strong and very courageous. Verse 5, verse 7, verse 9, be strong and courageous. Verse 18, be strong and courageous. This is not just a pumping up of yourself or for Joshua to get his mindset in a positive way; it’s being strong and courageous. The end of verse 5, because I will be with you, I will not fail you or forsake you because your confidence in faith is in the promises of the living God and so you can face the daunting task of entering a land that is filled with your enemies. And it is going to be a battle to the death because you are not to allow any of them to survive, but you are to destroy men, women, and children.

Chapter 2 reinforces what God has promised; I am going to give you the land. When we get down to verse 9 of this Chapter, we will be told that the fear of Israel permeates the land of Canaan. There is indeed a supernatural fear of this people. And you think about it, this is not a mighty army approaching, I mean numbers wise it is a mighty army. But these are the people who had spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt. They have not been trained and equipped to serve as a military force, although the men over twenty have been numbered, Joshua has served as a military commander. They have already been tested by battles since they have left Egypt, but here you come, men, women, and children and going to enter the land and conquer it.

Chapter 1 centered on Joshua, interesting person, a man who fought 40 years. Ever since Israel left the Egypt in the Exodus, Joshua served as the servant of Moses and as we noted and observed some remarkable experiences going upon to the mountain with Moses, experiencing the presences of the Lord, certainly a remarkable Man and prepared over those 40 years for his ministry. The second person given prominence in the Book of Joshua is just the opposite kind of person, going to be a Canaanite woman, who is a harlot and yet she is going to demonstrate great faith, a prostitute and yet she is ready to receive the people of Israel. She believes in the God of Israel. She believes the promises of the God of Israel that he has given to his people, that she has heard and she is sure he will fulfill those promises. So she stands out in the Bible as a remarkable woman and a remarkable woman of faith. She will make the list of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews Chapter 11, so a remarkable person that we look at as when we come to Joshua Chapter 2, verse 1. Then Joshua, the son of nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim saying go, view the land, especially Jericho, so they when came into the house of a harlot, whose name was Rahab and lodged there.

Now back in Numbers Chapter 13, spies had been sent into the land, remember then it was 12 spies, one from each tribe and God had instructed them to send the spies, instructed Moses to send the spies into the land. 10 of the 12 brought back a negative report, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones faithful and as a result they had spent the last 38 years, Israel has wandering in the wilderness. We are not told whether God told Joshua to send these spies in or simply now Joshua using the military responsibility he has to prepare as best he can. Joshua will as we have seen in Chapter 1, be privileged to be directly addressed by God, but you won’t sit in the same kind of intimacy with God face to face in conversation as Moses did, and somehow Joshua’s action just come as the Lord leads him, as a result to the 40 years preparation he has had, it’s good military sense to send the spies into the land here and determine what your strategy in approaching Jericho will be even though Jericho will be taken by supernatural means. They came and lodged in the house of a harlot named Rahab.

Of course they came secretly and is reading the background for this, some of this speculation of they would have gone and crossed the Jordan and probably circled around the north and come in on the west side of Jericho. Israel is to the east of Jericho across the Jordan River, but if they had circled around to the north, there would have been more places to hide in the mountainous region there and the caves and so on none of they came down and approached the city from the west, they would be less conspicuous, Jericho is a significant city. And they come to Jericho; they go to the house of a prostitute whose name is Rahab. It may seems strange to us, they would go there, may be not so strange, but it is the public house where are two strangers who come into Jericho, two men going to go, that may be they won’t be noticed. They don’t have hotels and motels in biblical times. Remember people went to and were taken in by the people of the city, it was an act of hospitality, here to go into the house of a prostitute would not be unusual for businessmen and those involved in commerce and so on stopping at a city like that, being godless people to visit the house of a prostitute. Now just note some say that well really she should be viewed as an innkeeper and Josephus the Jewish historian from the first century identifies Rahab as an innkeeper, not a prostitute; however, we won’t turn there now because we will be there later.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 31 and James Chapter 2 verse 25 call her a porne. We are familiar with that word that have a pornography and so on, a prostitute, a harlot, so the New Testament makes clear for us who have the Bible as our authority that she was in deed a woman as we would call of ill-repute. They lodged there, I don’t think this indicates they were there with immoral intentions, but it was a place to go. They are in the city, there they have to out the city, get a sense. They don’t know at this point that God is going to supernaturally give the city into their hands. So they come to get some sense of the situation in the city by coming into the city, visiting the house of the prostitute, this gives them the opportunity to observe the defenses of the city, what kind of military opposition they can expect, what kind of fortifications there are, they observe perhaps any weak spots and so on. So there they are. He was told the king of Jericho saying behold men from the sons of Israel who have come here tonight to search out the land.

They were not able to arrive in Jericho undetected and we know the city is on guard, everybody is aware that Israel has approached Jordan and that will see as we move into this account. They have been waiting for this for the last 38 years and so they are not surprised. So it’s not surprising, they observed the spies and you see the hand of God in all of this. Well we may call the providence of God, but it’s more even that in some of these details. God working in every aspect, I mean He could have had the spies come in undetected and then to return with their report, but he has the spies recognized and the report given to the king of Jericho, who comes to naturally capture them. All part of the plan of God, so that Rahab can became involved. The ultimate outcome of it will be Rahab will be spared the destruction that everyone else in the city will experience, no accidents in God’s plan. I wonder, if I would not the spy, you say, Lord, we pray the lot about of this. We pray that you would protect us and keep us and guard us and now we are in trouble, but God is not in trouble and since God is their God, they are not in trouble because they are right in the place and in the situation God has for them.

Verse 3, the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab saying bring out the men that have come to you, have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land and you expect in the city everyone is going to be on their guard and we don’t expect Rahab knew who these men were, so the king of Jericho tells her to send them out so that they can be captured and interrogated if you will. But the women had taken the two men, hidden them, and she said, yes the men came to me, I didn’t know where they came from. They came about when it was time to shut the gate, at dark the men went out. I don’t know where the men went, pursue then quickly for you will overtake them. She lied, very simple, they are not here, they were here and she is very smart and very shroud. She doesn’t deny they ever came because then she could be caught in her lie because they were here.

As you know Jericho, you know, it is a prominent city and they have a lot of traffic in and out and these men before the gates closed tonight and they were sealed for the night, those men went out and that is the why we have to do, any of those in town conducting business or commerce or whatever had to leave before the city gates are locked for the night, otherwise you will be locked up in the city. Gates don’t stay open all night, so you can’t come and go all night. So just before the gates were closed, they left and there would have been lot of people probably leaving at that time, go back to their homes and surrounding regions and so on. They make their way out. They are gone. Hurry up, you can catch them and pursue after them. You can still catch up to them, it hasn’t been that long.

But she had brought them up, verse 6, brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid all in order on the roof and here with the pictures of flax roofs in those homes and they would go up on the roofs and spread out the flax over the grain there and let it dry out in the sun and that’s what she did and hid them there, so that if king’s men come in and do a search, you know they are not going to be taking things apart because they do not have any reason to expect that Rahab is anybody, but a loyal citizen of the city and they take her words, even a preliminary search wouldn’t have uncovered them.

What about the lie of Rahab, you know the New Testament calls her Rahab the harlot. You read some of the commentary, you think she should have been called Rahab the liar, that the lie she told becomes the absorbing thing. It is the lie, the law of Israel, back in Leviticus 19 forbids lying, for proverbs 22, Chapter 12, Verse 22, says the Lord hates lying and you are aware the New Testament, if you reach 425 and other verses talk about lying as an evidence of the flesh and so on. But this is not the only occasion where liars are blessed for their lie, because of Rahab’s action here in lying to the King of Jericho, her whole family is going to be spared destruction and she becomes one of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews Chapter 11, and it’s not the only times, turn back just a couple of examples, there are numerous, but we will just take a couple, Exodus, Chapter 1 and why you are turning that, just let me say don’t go out and say you know what Gill preached, he preached it is good to lie, you will be blessed of God. That is not the whole story, but we do not have a proper prospective on what is to take care that issue.

In Exodus Chapter 1, this is, well, Israel was in bondage in Egypt and verse 15 of Exodus 1, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives in verse 16 said, when you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth upon the birthstool, if it is a son put into death, if it is a daughter then she shall live. In other words, we are going to allow the female children to survive, the male children will die, because the male children become a threat to Egypt with the population growing among the Israelites as the men get over, they become a military danger and possibility of a revolt.

Verse 17, but the midwives feared God and did not do as the King of Egypt has commanded them, but let the boys live. They didn’t do what the king told them, till not the end. So the King of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them why you have done this thing, let the boys live and do you know what the midwives did? They lied. The midwives set to Pharaoh because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them. In other words, the Egyptian women had the good life, so they were not as good of condition physically. So they had more difficult births. The Hebrew women are part of the slaves of Egypt and they are vigorous, they work a lot and so they give birth more readily, more quickly. Some people say oh, may be that was true, well even if it’s true, it is a deceitful response because the real reason they are not killing the Hebrew children is they fear God, so they tell a lie and the account goes on, verse 20 so God was good to the midwives.

Verse 21, because the midwives fear God, he established households for them. You know, is this right? They lied. I mean God blessing liars here. I mean if you are God, you think they should have the courage to their conviction and stood up to Pharaoh and say no we can’t do that because we obey God not men and so we fear God, we are not going to kill the Egyptian boys, you have to put us to death. I mean that’s what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did and went into the fiery furnace. They didn’t lie or deceive. They just said no, we won’t bow down to your God no matter what. They didn’t say, okay we will and then tried to get a spot out of sight and not do it but here the midwives lie.

All right, go to Judges Chapter 4. This is a really bad lie, now is that an oxymoron? A bad lie. Well this is the lie that ends up terribly for the object of the lie. This is another woman, you know may be their something to this. I don’t think we will go there. Judges Chapter 4 and verse 18, here is the battle, Deborah is the prophetess in Israel and Barak is the military commander and there is a battle with Sisera, who is leading the armies of the oppressors of Israel and Barak under the sovereign hand of God defeats Sisera. Verse 15 of Chapter 4 of Judges, the lord rounded the Sisera and all his chariots and Sisera the military commander jumps out of his chariot and flees on foot and now he is being pursued.

Verse 17, Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of the Heber, the Kenite and there is peace between the Kenites and the King of Hazor which is the opponent here. So Jael went out to meet Sisera as he is fleeing and wants to get lost in something of the confusion here and said to him, turn aside my master, turn aside to me. She recognizes him and says come in to my tent, don’t be afraid. He hides into her tent. She covered him with a rug. Let me cover you up and conceal you and take a break here. He said to her, me a give me a little water to drink, I am thirsty. She opened the bottle of milk and gave him to drink. She covered him, well more than just water, here’s milk to refresh you and covers him with a rug and he said to her stand in the doorway of a tent.

If anyone comes and enquires of you, says, anyone in there, say no, so that will help cover, you know secured, here you have a woman in the doorway and you tell them, nobody is here, but Jael, Heber’s wife, you are aware of the story, took a tent peg, she has the hammer in her hand, went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, it went through into the ground where he was sound asleep and exhausted and then it is almost something that doesn’t need to be said, so he died, I mean his head is nailed to the ground. She did not just drive the tent peg into his skull, it went through into the ground and then she stands in the door. I have somebody in the tent for you, you know it was a terrible thing to do to Sisera. You deceived him, is at direct lie, deceived him and you acting like, come in here, I will cover for you, I will protect you, you will be safe in here. She told to him, verse 18, don’t be afraid, come in to my tent, I will protect you, you will be safe here.

Turn over the Chapter 5 verse 24 and here you have the song of Deborah empiric celebrating the victory over Sisera and his armies. In Verse 24, Chapter 5 says most blessed a woman is Jael, the wife of the Heber the Kenite, most blessed she a woman in the tent. He asks for water, she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she bought him curds and she really deceived him, brought out the best bowl for him to drink from. She reached out her hand for the tent peg and really a descriptive section here. She reached out her hand for tent peg, and her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she smashed his head. She shattered and pierced his temple.

Between her feet, he bowed, he fell, he laid. Between her feet, he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell dead and in the worse kind of death for a military commander, a death at the hands of the woman and the picture here between her feet, here he is exhausted. She just given him milk and curds in a magnificent bowl and he drank and she has covered him with the rug. Now she walks over, gets that head between her feet, it is the peg and wham. He is not going anywhere. All of that, all through a lie, most blessed a woman is Jael, the liar. She told a lie and there are other accounts of deceit and lies in the Old Testament, that we won’t go into them, it is not all women, it just happened to select these in addition to Rahab, I don’t want the moral of the story to be, it’s alright to lie, if you are a woman, that is not the point. In some such situations, certain contact is acceptable before God, but we don’t have situation ethics because situation ethics do not have an absolute standard of right and wrong we do it and liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire.

Revelation Chapter 20 tells us, but in a given situation and a given occasion, this lie which deceives the enemy of God’s people is acceptable by God. I mean well it could have been done in another way. The midwives could have gotten around without lying. Rahab could have done other than lying, well we have to take what went on in the Bible and there is no rebuke for them for their lie. Now where I go with that, I wanted to be careful that does not condoned my lying, but it may mean someday I will be in a case, you know, the case always comes up with the few had been living in North Sea Germany, hiding a Jew and they came to the door and said do you have any Jews there, would you have lied? You know, sometimes it is hard for me to put myself in a situation I am not in.

If I am ever in such a situation, I trust the Lord will give the grace and the wisdom and I will respond as I should and if it is an occasion where they are persecuting Christians and I am hiding in the house and someone hits the door answering, I hope they lie toward me and let it in the hands of God. So I am not going to resolve it, there are books, if you get a book on ethics and this is where I have done some of my reading on it written by Christians, telling about a Christian book on ethics. They will usually have an extended section on lies and the lie of Rahab and so on. This occasion, there is the greater responsibility. These are the people of God, let face it. In all the wars and all the battles, they are based on lies and deceit generally, right? Says if we had a football game this weekend, it is based on the deceit, I mean you want to trick these people into believe me we are going to do one thing when your whole plan is to do something else.

You deceived them, I mean could you be a football running back or quarter back and base your whole game and deceit me, say well, that’s not the kind of deceit, that’s condemned and we understand that in war, we had battles that are going to go on and they are going to deceive them, come up here and act like you are going to attack here, but having the main part of your army behind them, will you deceive them. Well in more and so on lies and deceit are part of what is done and it is the little different category than the lies we tell to our wife or a husband or worker or things like that. I would be careful in the realm of lies, but nonetheless those do happen. God tells and will give instruction to the armies of Israel of how to deceive their enemy.

It is obviously God is not a God of deceit, but in these kinds of situations, certain things go on in context of war and here being faithful to God and opposing those who oppose God and his purposes, we are going to recognize the fact that lies do occur and does not make situation ethics acceptable, but we do not want to ignore the fact that these occasions do want to add some other examples written down to and we are going to not take the time for them. Scripture focuses on Rahab’s faith, not on Rahab’s lie. The point is scripture is not to set a pattern for when it is okay for you to lie and however, it does come for that and trust God does give the wisdom in grace and a unique situation, these are occasions where it does happen. Rahab is indicated as a mighty woman of faith and that would place her lie in that context, so lie to the opponents of Israel in the context of the war and that is already underway as Jericho recognizes and Israel recognizes. It is just a matter of when the armies of Israel do arrive.

All right, come back to Joshua Chapter 2, the kings men respond to the lie of Rahab and go off to chase after the spies. Of course, they don’t find them because they are pursuing them on the road to the Jordan where you would cross the Jordan, because naturally they have come from Israel, Israel is across the Jordan, where are they going to go? They are going to go back to report, so we have to pursue them to the Jordan. Now, verse 8, before they lay down she came up to them on the roof and said to the man I know that the Lord has given you the land. What a statement of faith in a woman part of the Canaanite people of the land. The God says that now there time for judgment is right, but here is a believing woman. I know that the Lord has given you the land, I mean what faith, how does she know that?

Israel is not even in the land yet and the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. You know what, what an encouragement this had to be to the spies. What a faith of this woman. Here two spies getting ready to be covered up with the flax on the roof. They have their life spared and she has no doubt Israel is going to be victorious over Jericho and their whole land, I mean, this is the part of Jericho. Everybody coming in and out and she has contact with the people coming and going. Everybody is terrified of you. They have melted away, before you. Why for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, dried up the water of the Red Sea that is 40 years ago. I mean they could have come in 38 years ago when they were at the border of the land.

People already know about the Red Sea, the mighty power of God you can’t stand against the people whose God is this powerful, 40 years have passed since that and Rahab knows all about as the people of Canaan know all about it and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you, for the Lord you are God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. The terror he has fallen on the land.

Go back to Exodus Chapter 15. Now Chapter 14 records the crossing of the Red Sea and the parting of the waters and the destruction of the armies of Egypt, Chapter 15 of Exodus. Jump down to; this is the song of Moses and Israel celebrating God’s great deliverance of them. Verse 3, the Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name. Verse 6, your right hand of the Lord is majestic and power your right hand of the Lord shatters the enemy. We are going to come down to Verse 14, the peoples have heard, they tremble, anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia and the chiefs of Edom were dismayed the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them.

All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. By the greatness of your arm, they are motionless as a stone, until your people pass over of Lord, until the people pass over whom you have perished, you will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place of Lord which you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary of Lord which your hands have established. The Lord shall rein forever and ever, for the chariots of Pharaoh went into the sea and they were destroyed. You know that emphasis in verse 15, all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them and what does Rahab say, back in Joshua Chapter 2, the terror of you has fallen on us.

All the inhabitants of the land have melted away. Moses declared in his song of victory after the Red Sea 40 years earlier; how sad you know, a failure to believe what God has said has terrible consequences, 40 years of wilderness wandering all that generation, 20 years and all they had to die in the wilderness, why, because they would not believe God. Here you have a Canaanite woman, who never got deceive firsthand the mighty power of God, she just heard about it and she is declaring what Moses declared in his song 40 years earlier that whole generation is dead. Their bones lie in the wilderness. They couldn’t enter in n, why? Unbelief. But what God said is true. 40 years doesn’t change, you know what, the people are still terrified, their hearts are still turn to water. They had heard about the Red sea, 40 years has been the memory for the Canaanites and their heart has melted away.

Sihon and Og in Numbers Chapter 21, you may want to look at Numbers Chapter 21, this is interesting because this is a more reason account. So the Canaanites have good memories. God has impressed upon them what has happened. They haven’t forgotten what happened 40 years ago. They are well aware of what has happened more recently and here you have in Numbers Chapter 21, down to verse 21, Israel sent messengers to Sihon, King of the Amorites saying let me pass through your land and we won’t take anything, but you know, we just want to pass through the highway. Sihon wouldn’t permit Israel to pass, so Sihon and Israel battle.

Verse 24, Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, took possession of his land and verse 25, Israel took all these cities. Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all villages, for Heshbon was the city of Sihon and then the celebration of that victory. Then you come down to Og in verse 33, Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan goes out to oppose Moses and he is completely destroyed, all his people killed. So this is more recent victory of Israel. The Canaanites, as the people of the land of Canaan there is no hope in standing against Israel. I mean this is the God who dried up the Red Sea, destroyed the armies of Pharaoh in the sea and Sihon and Og with their mighty armies couldn’t stand against them, where we don’t have any hope.

So Verse 11 when we heard it, our hearts melted, no courage remained in any man any longer because of you. For the Lord, you are God; he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. That is very similar to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy Chapter 4 verse 39, you wonder how much of what Moses declared had made its way to the land of Canaanites, so you know we think all these people never heard anything. They did hear you. They knew all about the God of Israel, Rahab recites the words of Moses, the Lord your god; he has God in heaven above and on earth beneath declared the same thing that Moses had declared. Here is a prostitute in Canaan now has contact with the Jews and telling them the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. This will be a great encouragement and down in Verse 24, Joshua will encourage the people with what Rahab has said, which is just reinforces what God had promised would happen.

Down to verse, 12, what she is going to ask for is the life of her family. Now therefore please swear to me by the Lord since I have dealt kindly with you that you will also deal kindly with my father’s household, give me a pledge of truth or faithfulness. Spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters with all who belong to them, their families. Deliver our lives from death. I mean, she is so convinced that she knows that life and death is in the hands of these men. She has no confidence in the fortifications of Jericho. No confidence in the armies of Canaan’s, so the men said to her our life for yours, if you do not tell this business of ours, you shall come about, when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.

I mean, I am amazed, every time I read this account of Rahab; she is a woman of tremendous faith. All she has is the promises of God and the demonstration of the power of God. Israel has that in more and the whole generation has to spend 40 years dying in the wilderness because of unbelief and here she demonstrates just great faith, by which she has by word of mouth. Israel saw this firsthand observation. Israel could see the clouds of God’s presence, the fin, the sin, unbelief as the generation die. Here the women who didn’t get to see any of this. Prostituting Canaan and yet God in his grace reaches down and saves her. It is like you reach down to save Abraham when he was part of the family of pagan worshipers and Ur of the Chaldeans and draws into himself.

Verse 15, then she let them down by a rope through the window and you are aware on many of the houses be built around the wall of the city, so she would have had a window high up, so she could lower them out the window and down the outside of the wall. She let them down by a rope through the window for her houses on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall, remarkable coincidence, isn’t it? This prostitute would have a house on the wall, just worked out how great, I mean if her house had been in center of the city, it would be a little hard to let them down and get them out. She said to them go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return, then after you may go on your way. I mean, she understands, you know, she is a woman of commerce so to speak, she is well familiar.

You do not want to start back yet. You run into those who have been looking for you. Go up and hide in the hill country. Then after three days return back, they will have spent themselves looking for you and give up assuming you made a safe escape. The men said to her we shall be free from this oath to which you have made us swear, there are some conditions here now. We have sworn that we will spare you and your family, but you have to meet these conditions unless when we come to the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window, through which you let us down and gathered yourself into the house, your father, your mother, your brothers and all your father’s household, you come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, we shall be free, but anyone who is with you in the house his blood will be on our head, if his hand is laid upon him and if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from this oath.

She said, according to your words, she let them down and out to go, so here she has this rope that she has woven of scarlet thread to make so it has be to a steady rope, these are two men and will have to carry their weight. And it is a long rope, we are not told why she had it, what it was there fore. The Lord uses that to lower them down and this will be sign because it is unique enough. You tied in your window up there. And you know they will be able to identify this house from outside the city, so they will know where it is and they can inform the armies of Israel that they have made an oath that binds the armies of Israel here and it covers everyone in the house. I would expect she might have had a packed house, when the armies of Israel will arrive all her family is there.

They go back, follow her advice, go to the hill country, wait after three days, then they return to Joshua, and at the end of verse of 23 they related him all that happened to them. They said to Joshua surely the Lord has given all the land into our hands, moreover all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us and it is too bad that the other ten spies being come back with the similar report as Joshua and Caleb had and now these spies had 38 years earlier and all the people of Israel in faith couldn’t have celebrated we have a great God. The enemy may see great, but we have the greatest God. You know this where likely looking at in Corinthians, no temptation is taken you, but this is common to man that God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested about what you are able.

We will have these promises and for somehow we find it hard to place our faith in them and stand firm, but here they are ready to go and there is no wavering now and there is none talking about how fierce the enemy are, I mean take it and consider, the Canaanites in the land have had 38 years to fortify, 38 years to make more weapons. I mean Israel hasn’t gone away; they are wandering around of there. They does not know what God’s plan is, Rahab knows what happened 40 years earlier when they came out of Egypt, but we see as we go along the reports of the pledges have infiltrated through Canaan as well. I mean you thing we are worse off. We have gone in 38 years earlier; they wouldn’t have had the time to get ready horse. It is not issue now and they are ready to go in.

So Chapter 3 will open up, Joshua rose early in the morning, he and all the sons of Israel and Chapter 3-5 will be about them, the conquering of the first city, the city of Jericho. I wanted to just say several things about Rahab because she is remarkable person, but first of all we remember Israel will conquer Canaan because they are right for judgment, that is the bottom line. Remember, they went down into Egypt where God said they will be 400 years in Genesis 15, 16 because the people of Canaan were not yet right through judgment, so their lives are long and here 400 years is a long time getting away, but the time for Gods’ judgment has come and now we will poured out in the fierceness of his wrath.

At the very beginning of that we were confirmed with the salvation of Rahab, why Rahab? Why a person in her condition and first thing we remember it is all on God’s timing, it is time for judgment, but even in judgment there is God’s grace and salvation. They can know on Rahab is not only she a gentile, but she is not even quote a good gentile, a good person, she is a prostitute. You note in the people she wants spared. It’s her father, her mother, her brothers, her sisters, there children because she is not a married woman. I mean she is buying the trade of the prostitute and this is not even a good person trying to live the best wife they could and now they see upon an opportunity to place their faith in the God they have heard about, the God of Israel. This is a woman of we would consider a low life, the prostitute. Example of God’s grace, not only we reaching into the land of Canaan into those right for judgment, but to reach into one of the morally bankrupt people of the land of Canaan and that drawing her to his salvation. She is a great example of faith.

Turn over to the New Testament. I have referred to Hebrews 11, you have to turn there and you have to read it together. Hebrews Chapter 11, what we call the heroes of the faith and those from the Old Testament drawn out as examples and they are just sampling, these are not all of them, but because later in the Chapter we are told that verse 32 what more shall I say, time will fail me to tell and he starts listening the names. But verse 30, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they have been circled for seven days.

Verse 31, by faith, Rahab the harlot, the porne, did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peaceful, by faith Rahab the harlot, I mean here she is in the list of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Sarah, Moses, Rahab the harlot, God’s remarkable grace and she comes to believe in him. You know, she is in the list of those and none of this list to faith as we have observed in our other studies, are these who just made a decision, an act of faith at a point in time and that is it. The heroes of the faith demonstrate that they are those who have their faith in the living God by what they do. We have noted saving faith begins at a point in time, but then that is the characteristic of the life. Rahab’s actions are actions of faith that she truly does believe in the God of Israel, that he is the God in heaven above and earth beneath, that he is the only God and her action shows she believes in this God and that is the heroes of the faith here.

Look in James, just after Hebrews, James Chapter 2, verse 14, what use is it, my brethren, if someone says he says faith, but has no works? Can that faith save him? Can faith that does not change the life, a faith that doesn’t produce a life of faith save a person, the answer is no. Verse 17, faith, if it has no works is dead being by itself. Verse 19, you believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder. Oh I believe in God, I believe in Christ, well fine, you know what, the demons also believe.

Remember when Jesus walked the earth, what did they say, we know who you are, the holy one of God. They still have access into the throne room of God. They believe there is one God; they believe enough that they shudder, they tremble, what did they ask Christ, have you come to destroy us before the time. They know he is the judge of all, that some day they will be judged by him. The demons aren’t saved, so you have faith, fine, because that far that put you in the camp of the demons saving faith transforms you and changes you. Are you willing to recognize, verse 20 you foolish fellow, faith without works is dead.

Verse 21, our father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his Son Isaac on the altar, so life has justification by faith alone. They say by grace, by works, well saving faith always is accompanied by works of faith that is the point. Faith was working with his works and his faith was perfected as a result of the works. So the scripture was fulfilled, which declared Abraham believed God, God was reckoned him as righteous, that was the promise was made years before Isaac was ever born, then later Isaac’s offered and Abraham is demonstrating the reality of his saving faith that brought God’s righteousness to him when he offered his son years ago. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Verse 24, in other words true saving faith is the beginning of a life of works of faith and why are we here? Verse 24, in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. Here she is demonstrating the faith she had in the God of Israel as the only true God and the only hope of salvation for her and her family was in him, and so she received the messengers and sent them out another way, that was demonstrating her faith was real, it was genuine, manifested itself in what she did for just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without work is a dead faith. It is a demoting faith, so all I believe in Jesus, I believe in God.

Fine, now we are as far as the demons are, but as a saving faith will change your life and now you live a life of faith which produces works, which is in other way of saying obedience to the living God. Amazing here is this Canaanite prostitute and she is an example in the New testament of a life of faith, both in Hebrews and in James and you know, I don’t know if it is more remarkable than the fact that she is an example of faith, but even beyond that she is not a save person. She is in the line of Messiah as you are aware.

Go to Matthew, Chapter 1, verse 4, we are going to the genealogies. We had the genealogy of Jesus to Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So go back to Abraham that is foundational and then has to be the descendant of David to be Messiah of Israel as you are aware. We are not going to read through the whole list, but you come down to verse 5 where in the genealogy of Christ. Verse 5, Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. And you have Rahab and then Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth and here you have two women that are non-Jews, Rahab and Ruth, Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess.

Then you have Beersheba down in verse 6, comes into the line through terrible situation in David’s life. I mentioned these because these women standout because it is not normal to put the wives in this genealogy. In fact, these are the only wives mentioned until you jump down to verse 16 where you get to marry the wife of Joseph in the line and these women are selected out for special reasons, all these other men obviously fathered the sons that are mentioned with their wives, the women, but they are not mentioned, but these women are mentioned because in the plan of God, he marks out to show, here Ruth, who would have thought Rahab, who could believe that she get be saved, the Canaanites won’t be expected to find a Canaanite women, let me with open hearts believing in the God of Israel, but by God’s grace, she is saved and then one should know that going to be in the line of the promises to Abraham and not only in the line of the promises to Abraham, but the line of the greatest promise to Abraham and the seed in which all nations will be blessed and she will be in that line.

Reminder, nobody comes into God’s family as a second class citizen, I mean, it’s not well, you know she got safe, squeaked in, saved by the skin of her teeth as job prefers to and so that you know, you don’t expect her to move to the top of the class, well she does, I mean how what more if you want, be in the genealogical line of the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the world. I mentioned that deliver it, because I think the church battles with this. It did in the New Testament, James and James Chapter 2 had, we read the last part of James 2, but earlier in the Chapter, if you warned the Church to be careful about you know, a poor man comes into your congregation and you don’t care where he sit, you don’t care if he comes back. But a rich man comes in, now everybody is parks up, want to be sure he is comfortable, I hope he sits in a good seat, hope he can hear well, I hope the people greeted him and talked to him, but you know the low lives, the straight people come in and I just hope, you know I don’t know, I hope they don’t sit near anybody that you know might not be comfortable next to them and who do we talk about.

Did you know who was here today, but you know, if a prostitute comes, we will have first thought, wonder what they are going here, hope they do not talk to my kids and you know, that you are reminded who did Christ come to save. I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. I mean righteous people are unreachable. They were criticizing him in that context to Matthew Chapter 9, verses 10-13, he is a friend of sinners. He goes around to the sinners. You have to tell them, you do not understand what it is all about. I did not come to call the righteous, you are not open to him, I came to call sinners, people who know they are lost can’t get saved until you know you are a sinner, Paul had caught up with their own self righteousness are unsavable at that point. They are going to have let go of their self-righteous and recognize their sinfulness.

So Christ exampled, back to Titus Chapter 2 if I could. I am always dump founded, get all these church growth material and part of it what they want to do is help you identify your target audience, of course in our country the largest churches are targeting this certain group of people, middle class, upper middle class, of course. I mean they are just the people you have to reach your kind 30 years ago when I took a course on Church growth .they were saying you know, you have to realize the principle of homogenous units and all of that you know people like their kind and we have to be careful and we do end up being, you know together and well you know you have these people fit with us, these people don’t, but the New Testament does not know that kind of church.

The New Testament church is viewed and supposed to be a mixture of all kind of people as a testimony of God’s grace, that we are not here because we are all middle class or upper middle class, we are here because we are all sinners redeemed by God’s grace and we easily forget that. That is why, Titus Chapter 3 Paul tells Titus remind them to be subject rulers to authorities to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle showing every consideration for all men, why, for we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved various lust and pleasures, spending our life in malice, envy, hateful, hating one another. You know Paul does not say, you know we were the best of the crowd and God gets went across and skimmed off the best of the sinners and saved them. Why they remind them, God when to the bottom of the barrel to get them.

We spent our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, enslaved various lust and pleasures. The danger, why do they have to be reminded, proper altitude toward unregenerate people because, you know after you have been saved well, it is easy to forget what you were and then I just don’t like these kind of people and you know I can’t go to work, I mean those people have been talking him more of their godless, they get drunk on the weekends, they take the name of the Lord in vain, they talk about things, oh I just and then we don’t like to be around simple things. We will need to be careful; these are the people Christ came to redeem.

I mean who is he going to save, well hopefully my wealthy neighbor, hopefully my neighbor who you know is good more of a person and has a good stable family and a good job and you know is not safe, but you know they are not really bad people humanly speaking and though we are more comfortable with that. Lord saved a bunch of them and bright them to our church, but you know the low lives, I know they can be saved, but that probably won’t not fit here, probably would be better if there was a church that be comfortable, but they are not comfortable here, may be we need to change our thinking. Heaven forbid if he commence on Sunday morning and one of them sitting in your seat, we are going to say, what are they doing here, guess that they won’t be in this Church. You know what, Paul goes I am on a sidetrack here; you didn’t know that, did you?

Verse 4, It’s not a sidetrack as he simply knows. Verse 4, but when the kindness of God, our savoir. You have word kindness marked for we haven’t been through this and his love for mankind appears, he saved us not on the basis of these which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, have marked mercy, by the washing and regeneration, renewing by the holy spirit which he poured out on its ritually through Christ, he is our savior, so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, kindness, love, mercy, grace, that is why where we are. That can save the low lives of the sinners.

Rahab in the Old Testament saved by the love and kindness and mercy and grace of God. Salvation has always been on that basis and so as we are praying for God to use us as testimony of his grace, we have to limit ourselves to distraught, but also be praying for the worst of the sinners, God in your grace help me to share the gospel with them to reach out what Jesus Christ to them, who knows what God hasn’t stored. Paul was a persecutor of the Church, a murder of Christians, we would have thought that God had installed that he would become a great of angelus and apostle of the faith and Rahab the lovely prostitute among the Canaanites who are right for judgment, yet God’s is going to reach out in Grace to bring her salvation, what a great God we have, Salvation is his work. We don’t know who brought the message to Rahab or how she heard it? But when she heard it she believed it by his Grace.

Let’s pray, thank you Lord for Rahab, thank you for the story that we have recoded in your word, the brief story focusing on just one aspect, her faithful works, which was demonstrated her faith in the truth she had heard concerning you. Thank you Lord for your grace that worked in her life. Thank you Lord, you are not only saved her, but she is an ongoing testimony of a life of faith and in your grace she was in the line of the one who is our savior. We reminded that your salvation is a power of all salvation, it removes all the defilement, all the filth, all the guilt of sin and makes the lowliest of sinners, the chief of sinners, the worst of sinners clean and pure and holy in your side.

We are thank you for saving us. Lord, may guard against the self-righteousness and guard against thinking that we were something more than we were. We were, but sinners enslaved to our sin and to our lust, serving the devil, and yet you in grace touched our hearts, turns as to yourself. We have had the privilege of believing in your son and experiencing the wonder of your salvation. Lord may we have the privilege of sharing that with people everywhere in every situation. May we rejoice such a privilege. In Christ’s name, amen.